From: Torange Khonsari <torange@publicworksgroup.net> To: Frédéric Sultan <fredericsultan@gmail.com> Cc: commonswatch@lists.p2pfoundation.net Subject: Re: Reboot ECA Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2018 10:42:33 +0000
Dear Frederic
Thank you for this. I agree with most of what you are proposing however what we all need to articulate is what is a centralised system that we reject. If this is not precisely and critically unpicked and mapped then some dogmas that are not necessarily productive can set in and block what is an incredible movement.
There is centralised possession of resources, centralised decision making, centralised governance, knowledge and many many more. These of course are not what we want but a coordination platform or body to enable common voices, concerns and actions to take place is essential and without that I really don’t believe any movement will work. The nature of that coordination body as a governance model to enable commoning practices to emerge and flourish is essential. This coordination body needs to be transparent in its resources, how its shared and of course needs to implement systems for collective decision making and not centralised ones but the million dollar question is how, which I imagine has been the issue. The coordination platform may have a rotational participatory governance rather than always being one set of people. After each ECA the next body is selected collectively.
As Ostrom also eludes heterogeneity than homogeneity is very important as long as the larger common goal is clear. How exactly we all get there is down to initiatives, countries and organisations and those may have very different methodologies. We all need to embrace differences towards a larger social movement of the Commons. We need to agree to sometimes disagree and continue working together to grow the network rather than people feeling its not for them as it does not exactly align with their ways of operating. How does the ECA nurture that?
In London a few years ago what depressed me was not so much the massive towers that were going up (although thats very depressing but predictable) but the austerity march which I was part of and in every corner one social organisation was arguing with another one or telling them what they were doing was wrong. Very much like the labour party in UK today. One common goal and lots of differences on the way is fine.
Sorry this is not a solution but I think systemically something that we should all be aware of.
Perhaps some of you may disagree but as Frederic says we just have to keep trying until we find a solution that is workable but perhaps not perfect
Best Torange
