EVENT: Commons against and beyond capitalism?

A Thinkery with Silvia Federici, George Caffentzis and Anne B. Ryan

Thinkery imageThursday 28th May 2015

University College Cork, Ireland

During the first part of this day-long Thinkery, which will be led by Silvia Federici and George Caffentzis, you will be invited to listen, think and converse with others about anti-capitalist commoning. Based in New York, they are part of an international movement that asserts ‘commons’ can be the seeds of a society beyond state and market.

A long-time feminist and anti-globalization activist, teacher and writer, Silvia Federici’s books include Revolution at Point Zero: Housework, Reproduction and Feminist Struggle (2012) and Caliban and the Witch. Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation (2004). Founding member of the Midnight Notes Collective, George Caffentzis’ latest book is In Letters of Blood and Fire: Work, Machines and the Crisis of Capitalism (2013). An overview of their perspective on the commons can be found in this article http://cdj.oxfordjournals.org/content/49/suppl_1/i92.full.pdf+html

Learning together about the commons will continue in the afternoon, but here the focus will be on actual and emergent commoning in Ireland. Discussing her work on the radical concept of ‘enough’ and her practical experience of Community Supported Farming, this will include a contribution from Anne B. Ryan. She is the author of Enough is Plenty: Public and Private Policies for the 21st century (2009).

There is no charge for participation but booking in advance is essential. Please book by emailing Órla O’Donovan at o.odonovan@ucc.ie.

The event follows on from Commons Sense – A Thinkery on the Commons held in Kimmage Centre for Development Studies in 2014 and addressed by Gustavo Esteva, Mexican post-development theorist and commoner. A video of that event can be watched here and a transcript of the conversation can be found here.

10.00am – 4.30pm, Thursday, 28 May 2015

CACSSS Seminar Room (ORB G27), University College Cork

This event is organised in association with the Community Development Journal, University College Cork, UNIDEV and Kimmage Development Studies Centre.

Free Special Supplement: “Commons Sense: New thinking about an old idea”

Commons announcement imageWe’re delighted to announce that articles from the Community Development Journal Special Supplement on “the commons” are freely available for anyone to read on a permanent basis. With contributions from internationally influential scholar-activists, the supplement contains a series of critical reflections on the current blossoming of new interest in this old idea.

The special issue can be found in full on the Oxford University Press website.

Introduction
Mary McDermott

Learning from The Wealth of the Commons: a review essay
Mae Shaw

The commons, the Battle of the Book and the cracked enclosures of academic publishing
Órla O’Donovan

An Urban Commons? Notes from South Africa
Richard Pithouse

The water is ours damn it! Water commoning in Bolivia
Alexander Dwinell and Marcela Olivera

Playing, praying and preying: cultural clash and paradox in the traditional music commonage
Fintan Vallely

The commons: a brief life journey
Massimo De Angelis

Green politics and the republican commons
Derek Wall

Commons against and beyond capitalism
George Caffentzis and Silvia Federici

No commons without a community
Maria Mies

Community and commons: The role of community development support in sustaining the commons
Frank Van Laerhoven and Clare Barnes

From imagination to action: building a commons movement from the ground up: an interview with Julie Ristau and Alexa Bradley
Tom O’Connell

Commoning in the new society
Gustavo Esteva