Reclaim the Commons's topics - tribe.net

www.reclaimthecommons.net

Ethan — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 01:50:27 GMT

ReclaimTheCommons.Net
http://www.reclaimthecommons.net

New Sections:

Reclaim New Orleans!
GMOpposition 2006 Day of Action
"Energy Dissent" and the 2006 G8 Summit in Russia
a call to resistance from the tropics of south florida

Initially formed to oppose Bio 2004 (the world's largest biotechnology and pharmaceutical conference held at San Francisco CA in 2004), RECLAIM THE COMMONS has quickly grown from a single mobilization into an ongoing commitment to teach and demonstrate sustainable, life-affirming alternatives to biotechnology and corporate power in general: organic food, community gardens, water reclamation, urban transformation, a gift economy, and so much more. We do this hoping to inform, enrage, and inspire, as we spread the skills and tools we need to bring our vision of ecological democracy to fruition.

Build the Movement * Rewild the World * Reclaim the Commons!

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Petition for NOLA

orlandooffthedeepend — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 19:39:36 GMT

To: US Congress

When Iraq was destroyed the rebuilding contracts went to American companies such as Kellog Brown and Root and Halliburton taking all that profit out of the hands of Iraqis and giving it to Bush cronies.

New Orleans is going to be rebuilt. ALL of that work should go to local New Orleans people. New Orleans people need work. New Orleans people need thier beloved city to rise again. New Orleans and the rest of us need New Orleans to be the multicultural gumbo at it's full glory again. All the materials where possible should be bought from New Orleans and Louisianna business people, from local sustainable local resources. All supply and subcontract orders should go to the people of Louisianna. If the local ecomony of our beloved New Orleans is going to recover it is going to be because NOLA rebuilds herself...not because contracts go to outside contractors from far away who benefit from thier relationship to the Bush administration. New Orleans without it's residents is a Disneyland for the rich. Instead we need a WPA project making it possible for NOLA residents to rebuild thier own town.

New Orleans is the soul of America. Without it's residents it has no soul.

Save the soul of America... support NOLA residents in moving home and rebuilding thier own beloved hometowm with our help, with our money and support.

Federal monies must be made available to follow through on the subsidence mediation, levee and channel projects. Where large outside contractors are ABSOLUTELY nessesary they MUST hire and TRAIN local residents to do the work and get paid for that work.

Cronyism killed New Orleans, by putting a man with O DISASTER RECOVERY experience in charge of the effort. Localism will save it. The people of NOLA will save it.

STOP IT BEFORE CRONYISM BURIES HER.

Thank you please pass this on!

Sincerely,

go here to sign

http://www.petitiononline.com/tru56ppa/petition.htm

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Reclaim the commons, June 8th

ninjaberry — Sat, 11 Dec 2004 01:40:48 GMT

Hi folks,

i was looking for anyone who was at reclaim the commons who lives in LA - it was such a wonderful crowd of people, and i'd like to get to know more activist folks who have the same mentality down here.

i was part of the arcata biodiesel roadshow - i lived there at the time, but was forced to move back here to LA (ugh) when i couldn't find a job...

hope to hear from any of you!
Love,
Mary

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street party! mutant theme! help reclaim the streets june 8th.

reclaimsf — Wed, 26 May 2004 20:11:01 GMT

Reclaim the Streets SF needs you!

Help organize for the next RTS, the theme is MUTANT STREET PARTY. Congregating 5 PM at UN Plaza (the Civic Center BART) and leaving around 6 PM... June 8th!

website: www.rts-sf.org
email: sfrts@ziplip.com

* Do you know performers who we should contact? Email us!
* Can you print or put up flyers? They're on the web, or make your own!
* Will you email/call/tell your friends about it? Do it now!
* Want to come to a short, fun organizing meeting? Theres one today (wed), and watch the site for the next one after that!
* Will you come in costume? Plan ahead, put it together now!

Next planning meet: Wednesday, in bernal heights, at 8:00 PM (highland house). If you need directions then reply to this message!

* If you don't know what the hell is going on, visit www.rts-sf.org and read the front page, the part about the upcoming street party!

*** Get on our email list by emailing
reclaimsf-subscribe@lists.riseup.net!

comments and ideas welcome on this forum too. pls. try to keep them positive. if you dont like partying in public... the theme or the message, then just sit this one out!

SFRTS!

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free listings in UK radical queer zine

stepneygreenman — Fri, 26 Mar 2004 21:09:42 GMT

I'm working with a group of fellow radical queer activists in London to put together an agitprop broadsheet, the Pink Pauper (a spoof of the mainstream Uk gay paper, the Pink Paper), which will be out in a couple of months.

In place of the usual gay travel ads to the usual gay resorts, we want to include a directory of interesting radical/queer projects around the globe.

If you're involved in any kind of radical queer project and would welcome visit from cool queer nomads (from the UK and beyond), please post the contact details of your group/project/commune/venue/sancturary here (or message me) and we'll try and inlcude a free listing for you.

cheers

Gavin (for the Pink Pauper collective)

posted in Reclaim the Commons - 0 replies

World Charter for the Right to the City

stepneygreenman — Tue, 13 Jan 2004 21:39:26 GMT

The following charter is being discussed at the World Social Forum in Mumbai next week. What do folk think of it?

Gavin

CHARTER FOR THE RIGHT TO THE CITY
We begin this new millennium with half the world´s population
living in cities. According to forecasts, the world´s population will be 65% urban by the year 2050.

Cities are potential territories of great wealth and economic,
environmental, political and cultural diversity. They are much more than simple physical spaces marked by greater population density. The mode of urban life influences the manner by which we establish connections with our fellow human beings and with the territory.

Nevertheless, contrary to these conditions, today's models of
development being implemented by most countries of the Third World are characterized by patterns of concentration of income, power and accelerated urban processes, which contribute to the degradation of the environment and to the privatisation of public space, generating exclusion and social and spatial segregation.

Cities are far from offering equitable conditions and
opportunities to all of their inhabitants. The majority of the urban population is deprived or limited - due to its economic, social, ethnic, racial, gender and age characteristics - in the possibility of satisfying their basic needs.

This context favours the growth of representative urban struggles. But at the same time, they are often fragmented, and therefore, incapable of producing significant change within the present development model.

Confronted with this reality, civil society organisations meeting at the First World Social Forum 2001, discussed and committed themselves to the challenge of building a sustainable model of society and urban life, based on the principles of solidarity, freedom, equity, dignity and social justice. One of its fundamental principles must be respect for diverse
urban cultures and the urban and rural balance.

The participation of local actors, especially the social movements and the popular associations, is fundamental for the construction of this model. Governments and international organisations should recognize them as significant partners and guarantee permanent spaces for democratic participation.

The Habitat Agenda, approved by all national governments that
participated in the Habitat II International Conference, June 1996, in Istanbul, Turkey, already focused on these issues, principally when it states: "We commit ourselves to the goal of sustainable human settlements in an urbanising world by developing societies that will make efficient use of resources within the carrying capacity of ecosystems and take into
account the precautionary principle approach, and by providing all people, in particular those belonging to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, with equal opportunities for healthy, safe and productive life in harmony with nature and their cultural heritage and spiritual and cultural values, and
which ensures economic and social development and environmental
protection, thereby contributing to the achievement of national
sustainable development goals." (Habitat Agenda, art. 42)

Significant Elements for the Right to the City:
Urban struggles are generating a need to recognize, within the
international human rights system, The Right to the City, defined as the equitable usufruct of the cities based on the principles of sustainability and social justice. It is understood as a collective right of the inhabitants of cities, especially vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, conferring the right to organise and act, based on their own traditions
and customs, with the objective of securing their full exercise of the right to an adequate livelihood.

The Right to the City is holistically conceived as being
interconnected and interdependent with all internationally recognized human rights. Therefore, it includes the rights to: land, livelihood, employment, health, education, culture, housing, social welfare, security, healthy environment, basic infrastructure, public transportation, recreation and
information. It also includes the right to meet and to organise, respect for minorities and ethnic, racial and cultural diversity, respect for immigrants and the guarantee of the preservation of historical and cultural heritage.

This right presupposes interdependence between populations,
resources, environment, economic relations and quality of life -for both present and future generations. It implies radical structural changes in both production and consumption patterns and in the forms of land use and natural resource allocation. It refers to the search for solutions to counteract the negative effects of globalisation, the privatisation of
scarce natural resources, the increase of world poverty, environmental vulnerability and their consequences for the very survival of humanity and of the planet.

Principles of the Right to the City:
Full exercise of citizenship: Understood as the fulfilment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, ensuring the dignity and well-being of all the inhabitants of a city, in conditions of equality and justice, as well as the full respect for the social production of habitat. It implies the creation of conditions for peaceful co-existence, collective development and the exercise of solidarity. It means to guarantee the
full usufruct of the city, respecting differences regarding class, sex, age, race, ethnicity and political/religious orientation and the preservation of the collective memory and cultural identity.

Violations to the right to the city are considered to be any
actions or omissions, be they legislative, administrative or legal measures or social practices which result in the violation, impediment or constraints towards the cultural identity, forms of peaceful co-existence or the social
production of habitat. It is also considered a violation, any
obstacle to the preservation of all forms of public demonstrations, organising and action, based on the tradition and customs of social groups and inhabitants of cities, especially the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.

Democratic Management of the City:
Understood as the control and the participation of civil society, both by direct and representative democracy, in the planning and governing of cities, giving priority to the empowerment and autonomy of local authorities and popular organisations.

It includes the right to free and democratic election of local
representatives, the realization of referendums and popular
legislative initiatives and the equitable access to public debate and public fora. It also includes the right to equitable participation and decision-making in the defining of municipal policies and budgets, and in the institutional channels, including the municipal councils and sectoral and territorial
commissions. It presupposes the adoption of principles of
transparency and efficiency in public administration.

Violations to the right to the city are considered to be any
actions or omissions, be they legislative, administrative or legal measures or social practices which result in the impediment, denial, constraint and inability for the collective political participation of social groups and inhabitants in the management of the city, such as in the fulfilment of the decisions and defined priorities in the participatory processes
that are core and essential to city management.

Social Function of Property and the City:
Understood as the prioritisation of the common interests over individual property rights, in the formulation and implementation of urban policies. It implies the socially just and environmentally sustainable use of urban space. It includes the obligation of government institutions to regulate
and control urban development by land use policies, which give priority to the social production of habitat in response to the collective social, cultural, and environmental welfare above individual interests.

Any omission, by public authorities, resulting from not applying or not adopting these principles in the implementation of urban policies at any level of government in the field of administration, involving the elaboration and implementation of projects, programmes and plans is considered a violation of the right to the city; in the legislative sphere, through the publication of laws, control of public resources and government actions. And in the judicial sphere, in decisions and rulings
regarding widespread collective conflict referring to urban issues of interest.

posted in Reclaim the Commons - 0 replies

actively reclaiming through lifestyle choice

Sat, 27 Dec 2003 22:03:12 GMT

one way in which i have begun to reclaim a certain part of the commons is by choosing to walk as my main mode of transportation. by doing so, i am taking more contol over my movement within the local space & increase my experiential options.
i think one of the main ways to help open people up to the effort needed to build communities around the ethics & lifestyle choice of sharing is to get them to reconnect with their local experience.
we are bombarded all of the time with messages of separation & protecting "what is ours".
we need to remind people that the fear they feel about connecting is unreal & for the most part unwarranted.
when this starts to occur, i think that the movement towards a more common space oriented society will happen.

Reclaim the Commons's topics - tribe.net

www.reclaimthecommons.net

Petition for NOLA

Reclaim the commons, June 8th

street party! mutant theme! help reclaim the streets june 8th.

free listings in UK radical queer zine

World Charter for the Right to the City

actively reclaiming through lifestyle choice

So what's all this about then?