Every few weeks, I seem to give extended radio and pocast interviews about the commons, and write occasional talks and essays that find their way to the Web. Here is a quick round-up of some of my more notable recent media appearances.
Writer’s Voice on Patterns of Commoning. One of my favorite interviewers is the skilled and sophisticated Francesca Rheannon of the syndicated radio show Writer’s Voice. In early August, she aired our half-hour conversation about Patterns of Commoning, the book that I co-edited with Silke Helfrich that profiles dozens of successful commons around the world.
Progressive philanthropy and system change. In June, I had an extended interview with Steve Boland, host of the podcast Next in Nonprofits. We talked about progressive philanthropy and system change, a dialogue prompted by my April essay prepared for EDGE Funders Alliance on this same topic.
The importance of public squares. The Hartford, Connecticut, public radio show, The Colin McEnroe Show, featured me and two other guests talking about “Democracy in the Public Square," on April 28, 2016. I focused on the tension between the government as the lawful guardian of public spaces, and the moral authority and human rights of the people to congregate in public spaces.
The two other guests had some great insights. They were Catie Marron, Director of Friends of High Line – the elevated NYC park -- and editor of City Squares: Eighteen Writers on the Spirit and Significance of Squares Around the World; and Jehane Noujaim, an Egyptian-American documentary filmmaker whose film about Tahrir Square, “The Square,” was nominated for an Academy Award.
Surveying the commons world on Love (and Revolution) Radio. In a different vein, on March 22, 2016, I was a guest on “Love (and Revolution) Radio, a weekly podcast program hosted by Sherri Mitchell and Rivera Sun. Our hour-long interview discussed a wide range of themes related to the commons. Sherri and Rivera bring a keen perspective about nonviolent change, indigenous peoples, spiritual life and the Earth.
Art & Survival, a video talk at Double Edge Theatre. Finally, I gave a 35-minute talk on August 6 surveying the state of enclosures and important commons-based strategies at the Double Edge Theatre’s workshop, “Art & Survival.” The Boston-based theater commons HowlRound http://howlround.com made a video recording of my talk and posted it on YouTube.
French translations of my writings. I’m happy to report that there are some new French translations of my writing. The essay that I wrote last year for the Next System Project, “Commoning as a Paradigm for Social Transformation,” is now available in French at the P2P Foundation website. It is entitled “Faire en commun: un paradigm social de transformation.” Many thanks to Maïa Deriva for her beautiful translation.
For those of you who are interested, the English version can be found here along with a short video, “How Does the Commons Work?” (Small correction to the video: I’m not an economist.)
Earlier in 2016, I gave an interview with some editors at Lutopik magazine, an activist-minded quarterly in France. The interview – with Anne-Lise, Guillaume and Sonia – was published in issue #10 on August 1 under the headline, “Les communs proposent un nouveau modèle social et économique.”
Evonomics website. Let me give a brief shout-out to the website Evonomics -- “The Next Evolution of Economics” – which is publishing a variety of great pieces about how economics needs to reflect the findings of evolutionary science. On May 18, the website published a chapter from Think Like a Commoner under the headline, “Can Capitalism Survive Without the Commons: What can bind people together beyond the minimal social and civic ties?”
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