With free permaculture courses, a community garden, recording studio, rehearsal space and much more, Spike is an exemplay example of volunteer community based regeneration. It is an important local resource.

If you haven’t already done so, please sign the petition to help Save The Spike!

If you have already signed the petition, please forward it on to your (e.g. myface) friends and networks.

For an idea of how great this space is check out the pictures on their myspace homepage:
http://www.myspace.com/spikesurplus

Also, be sure to listen to SIGN THE PETITION track by David J, its great stuff!

(recorded live at a recent Sunday Sounds event at Spike)

And check these youtube videos for an idea of the great events that have taken place at Spike:

Malalma at recent Manu Chao night

Spike Halloween 2007

Again, PLEASE sign the petition, this is one of London’s most important spaces.
http://www.petitiononline.com/paulk/petition.html

Many thanks in advance,

Josef.

Here is Michel’s post about it, and this is how it happened…

1. As I browsed the archives of the Strategic P2P list I came across this old thread (from mid-Dec 07) where Michel asked “would it make sense to have a ning-based p2p network”?
2. As I explain at the end of that thread, I thought Why Not?
   

   Hi Michel,

   I think we chose ning because it is simple, free and featureful and
   therefore we’ve got nothing to loose.

   Ideally it would be open source too (its not, although they do let you
   download your source if you want).

   I think the biggest reason is: why not?

   After all, I’ve already learnt lots more about some of the faces and people
   behind the e-mail addressses on these lists, and if we’re all going to work
   together to build a p2p world (which we are) then we need to know who each
   other are and start building trusting relationships

   I sent an invite to our http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/open list too where
   lots of like minded people are.

   Smiles,

   Josef.

Anyway, the network seems to be coming along pretty well.

Within 24 hours he had over 20 members and we’ve not got 63!

Some of the existing members include (in no particular order)

• Vinay Gupta of Hexayurt fame
• Marcin Jakubowski and Samuel Rose from Open Source Ecology
• Patrick Anderson of EcoComics (see also User Owned)
• Sergio Lub of Friendly Favors
• Paul B Hartzog of Panarchy
• Matt Cooperrider of Swarm Foundation
• Espian tav
• Sepp Hasslberger
• Franz Nahrada
• Robin Good of Master New Media
• Stan Rhodes who is working on the Peer Trust Network System I linked to earlier.

As you can imagine with such an amazing group of people, there has already been plenty of interesting discussion (more than I can keep up with!) on the forum

This chap Stan Rhodes has a vision that is very familiar to me…

http://www.p2pfoundation.net/Narrative_on_Discovering_the_Peer_Trust_Network_System
http://www.p2pfoundation.net/Peer_Trust_Network_Project

And if you haven’t caught up with Open Source Ecology lately, you’ve got to check this out:

CEB (Compressed Earth Block) Phase 1 – Done
http://openfarmtech.org/weblog/?p=91

Open Engineering: Better Than Sliced Bread
http://openfarmtech.org/weblog/?p=155

How it all (could) work
http://openfarmtech.org/weblog/?p=156

Here comes the p2p economy…
as the Harvard Business Review’s Breakthough Ideas for 2008 report put it:

http://tinyurl.com/3bc3eg

with an almost identical article here:
http://www.internationalistmagazine.com/2007-earlyfall/2007-earlyfall_commentary.html

Enjoy!

Josef.

Now I figured I should embed their splendid video here too for your delight and enjoyment:

Their about page is also great, and so I reproduce that here too…

About Cheatneutral

Cheatneutral is about offsetting infidelity. We’re the only people doing it, and Cheatneutral is a joke.

Carbon offsetting is about paying for the right to carry on emitting carbon.
The Carbon offset industry sold £60 million of offsets last year, and is
rapidly growing. Carbon offsetting is also a joke.

Find out more:

• The New Internationalist’s offset special: www.newint.org/issues/2006/07/01
• George Monbiot on offsetting: www.monbiot.com/archives/2006/10/19/selling-indulgences
• and: www.monbiot.com/archives/2006/01/17/buying-complacency
• An excellent, detailed analysis of offsetting: www.carbontradewatch.org/pubs/carbon_neutral_myths.pdf

Five ways that Cheatneutral is like carbon offsetting:

1. Cheatneutral tries to make it seem acceptable to cheat on your partner.
   In the same way, carbon offsetting tries to make it acceptable to carry
   on emitting excess carbon.
2. Cheatneutral doesn’t really do much to reduce the amount of cheating in
   the world. Carbon offsetting does very little to reduce global carbon
   emissions.
3. It seems impossible to measure how much harm cheating on someone does.
   With carbon offsetting, there is currently no practically feasible way
   of measuring how much carbon offset projects actually save.
4. Having Cheatneutral’s services available could actually encourages you
   to cheat more. If the carbon offsetters persuade you that it’s possible
   to offset your emissions, you’ll carry on emitting excess carbon through
   your lifestyle rather than think about reducing your emissions.
5. Cheatneutral is fundamentally the wrong way to go about solving problems
   with your relationships. Carbon offsetting is fundamentally the wrong
   way to go about tackling climate change.

Two ways which Cheatneutral is not like carbon offsetting:

1. We don’t make any money out of Cheatneutral. Offset companies in the
   voluntary carbon market take a cut of every transaction and make a
   profit.
2. Cheatneutral is a joke we thought up in the pub. Carbon offsetting
   presents itself as a credible solution to climate change, described by
   the government’s chief scientist Sir David King as
   “the most severe problem that we are facing today, more serious even
   than the threat of terrorism…”

What can I do instead?

• Measure your carbon footprint. There are good resources to do this online —
  visit www.resurgence.org/carboncalculator for a good, detailed analysis of your footprint. For a slightly quicker calculator try www.carbongym.co.uk, or www.chooseclimate.org to look in more depth at the CO2 emissions associated with flying.
• Think about reducing your carbon footprint. There are lots of easy ways to reduce the emissions from various areas of your life. You might want to think about your home,
  transport and what you eat and consume. There are lots of resources on the internet to help you reduce your emissions.
• Learn about Contraction and Convergence. C&C is a framework for agreeing a global cap on carbon emissions. We believe that to make our individual sacrifices count, we need a global framework that caps the amount of carbon emitted, creates a timeframe for reducing emissions to a safe level, and distributes carbon credits equitably. C&C satisfies all of these, and would make carbon trading fair and effective. Good resources are www.climatejustice.org.uk and www.gci.org.uk
• Use your influence as a citizen. You could lobby your MP for the adoption of C&C and telling them you are concerned about climate change. You can also talk to and lobby your elected representatives from local and regional and European government. You can find out who your MP is at www.theyworkforyou.com. Think about joining a pressure group, lobby group or charity that you feel shares and promotes your concerns.
• Get together with your friends or family and discuss what you think. How we face up to the new challenges of climate change should be something everyone has an opinion on. Although individual action is needed, we also need ways to make government and businesses take a lead in responsibly dealing with emission reduction.

Moreover, I’ve got fed up with manually creating the guide each week and so things are changing.

To start with we’ve put up a nice google calendar that includes all our recommended events…

http://uniteddiversity.com/events/

Enjoy!

Josef.

Well, the answer is Dialstation.

There are lots of ways to an initiate a call (including a facebook app) but the one I’ve personally found most convenient is to simply text a contact from my address book to Dialstation.

Say, for example, I want to call my Dad in Spain. Both he and I only have mobile phones and he has never even used a computer so voip is out of the question for now.

Normally, (unless I buy international calling card, dial and massive long number, enter and code and then enter my dad’s number, the call from a UK mobile to a Spanish mobile costs me a bomb. This has led to me not speaking to my dad much.

Now, with Dialstation, calling my Dad on the cheap is as simple as texting one contact from my address (my Dad’s) to another (Dialstation).

After texting my Dad’s number to Dialstation I almost immediately get a call (from Dialstation) that appears to be from my Dad (his name comes up on my screen as if it were him calling).

Moments later, my Dad receives a call that appears to be from me (my name comes up on his screen).

In effect Dialstation is simply making two local calls and connecting them up over the internet.

Dialstation is simple, cheap, effective, AND founded on principles of economic democracy.

I love it!

Dialstation was built using free software by our friends at Telekommunisten, a company wholly owned and controlled by the workers and organised as a “Venture Commune“.

Welcome to the 4th edition.

Send feedback and submissions to josef @ uniteddiversity.com

Enjoy!

CONTENTS

1. NEWS
   United Diversity News
   More good news
   Other recent news
2. VIDEOS
   There’s A Better Way
   The Matrix by Paradox
   The Meatrix: The Truth about where our food comes from
   T. Boone Pickens: we peaked last year, globally
   The Rub. George Bush is an islamic fundamentalist
   Cybermoor: Rural Community Wireless Project
   SOCPA – THE MOVIE trailer
   Talk by Naomi Wolf – The End of America
   A No-Nonsense Look at Climate Change and Petrocollapse
   The War on Democracy
   star-nose mole
3. EVENTS THIS WEEK
   Tues | Weds | Thurs | Fri | Sat | Sun | Mon | Upcoming

NEWS

United Diversity news

• We’ve booked some amazing acts for our United Diversity Gathering @ Passing Clouds on Saturday Dec 15th. The Impossible, the incredible 17-piece International Love Collective, and Paula Daunt are all already confirmed, and the unstoppable Bad Science should be by tomorrow Buy your tickets now!
• Barbora Patkova from The Magnificent Revolutionary Cycling Cinema and The Otesha Project got in touch again and they might get involved with the Gathering too, helping out with the movies and possibly powering it with their bike generator! We’re hoping they’ll join us on our cycle tour to Spain next year too…
• In addition to our Facebook group and event, we now have a United Diversity MySpace too. If you’re on either network add us, join the group and invite your friends to the Gathering!
• We’ve also set-up a group on https://we.riseup.net to help full United Diversity members to organise and make decisions together.

CONTENTS | NEWS | VIDEOS
EVENTS | Tues | Weds | Thurs | Fri | Sat | Sun | Mon | Upcoming

More good news

• The Post Carbon Institute’s have published the first edition of their long awaited guidebook for Post Carbon Cities: Planning for Energy and Climate Uncertainty. While it is aimed and city authorities in US and Canada, it is well worth a look and a free abridged version can be downloaded from their website
• Rob Hopkins reports RTE Radio Explores the Transition Concept and Visits Kinsale
• Eco neighbourhood fights climate change” in Birmingham
• The UK’s leading Staw Bale Building company Amazon Nails is up for an award
• Plans are moving forward for the South East’s first ‘zero-carbon’ affordable housing scheme
• Apparently London Councils want eco-centres
• And Dover is set to become the site of one of the first new eco towns although this should be read in conjunction with Green Party principle speakers reason why Gordon Brown’s eco-towns could actually be a bad idea
• London’s National Theatre has switched to low energy lighting
• The former Graylingwell hospital site in Chichester is set to become one of the country’s most environmentally friendly communities

CONTENTS | NEWS | VIDEOS
EVENTS | Tues | Weds | Thurs | Fri | Sat | Sun | Mon | Upcoming

Other recent news

My goodness. Each week things are accelerating and the need for radical mass collaborative action becomes ever more starkly clear. The prices of food and energy is up again and the US dollar (linchpin of the global economy) continues to decline. Surely it can only be a matter of time before more and more people begin to rise up (as the landless in India have recently been doing).

• Crude oil hits record $93, fuelling fears of a recession
• Inflation may prompt food price controls: UN food chief
• Highest-ever food inflation increase in September
• Australia considering grain imports
• Soviet-style food prices return to Russia
• UN warns of food inflation effects
• The era of cheap food is over
• Kremlin orders a freeze on food prices as country gets set for polls
• Charles Merrill Fears Market Crash
• Dollar strikes another record low against euro
• Dollar pushed to new record low on rate cut expectations
• Poor but defiant, thousands march on Delhi in fight for land rights
• India’s march of the dispossessed

CONTENTS | NEWS | VIDEOS
EVENTS | Tues | Weds | Thurs | Fri | Sat | Sun | Mon | Upcoming

VIDEOS

• There’s A Better Way
  A nice little feel good tune about how There’s A Better Way, described as a “sustainability music video”.
  http://www.metacafe.com/watch/795663/theres_a_better_way/
• The Matrix by Paradox
  A great poem from our friend Paradox. “According to the World Bank just 227 families own 47% of the world’s wealth. Here is a poem about that”.
  http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=10874821
• The Meatrix: The Truth about where our food comes from
  The classic award winning first edition of The Meatrix triology. If you haven’t seen this yet you’re going to love it!
  http://www.themeatrix1.com/
• T. Boone Pickens: we peaked last year, globally
  Legendary Texas oilman and chair of BP Capital, T. Boone Pickens, holds an impromptu video question and answer session at ASPO Houston with Global Public Media’s Julian Darley and other journalists. Pickens talks about the peaking of world oil production, which he says occurred in 2006. View the entire video interview at GlobalPublicMedia.com
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lweCK8spBX8&sdig=1
• The Rub. George Bush is an islamic fundamentalist
  An interesting theory on the foriegn policies of George W Bush. And a classic sing-a-long tune from The Rub
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AX9_aNnhKc
• Cybermoor: Rural Community Wireless Project
  This video is about a little community located in the north-west of the UK and what has happened after broadband, computers and training has been given to its citizens.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNziJDdVDzE
• SOCPA – THE MOVIE trailer
  SOCPA (Serious Organised Crime and Police Act) was a law introduced to stop protest near Parliament in England. Designed to get rid of 6-year peace protestor Brian Haw, so far it has failed. This film tells the story of the battle against this law, and the surreal comedy at times when police try to enforce it. The whole film runs to an hour, and features an original music soundtrack. Screenings and other news at http://socpa-movie.blogspot.com
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol9hcQlVX9M
• Talk by Naomi Wolf – The End of America
  Talk by Naomi Wolf author of “The End of America: Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot” given October 11, 2007 at Kane Hall on the University of Washington campus. Basically, the US is quickly becoming a fascist state. This video reminded me of this that draws comparisons between 14 recognised characteristics of fascist regimes and George W Bush’s administration.
  http://youtube.com/watch?v=RjALf12PAWc
• A No-Nonsense Look at Climate Change and Petrocollapse
  Peak Moment 81: Former energy analyst Jan Lundgren opens by singing “Have A Global Warming Day” and closes with “The Depaver’s Song.” In between is an unabashed look at climate distortion, peak oil, and declining ecosystems, all bringing a necessary collapse of our “pigging out” economy. He envisions a future with radically curtailed energy use, and people coming together to find local solutions, see www.culturechange.org
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1KD_rBb2xk
• The War on Democracy
  A brilliant and must-see new feature length documentary from John Pilger about the reality of USA’s role in Latin America and the world. “It is about the struggle of people to free themselves from a modern form of slavery.”
  http://uniteddiversity.com/the-war-on-democracy/
• star-nose mole
  star-nose mole, digging expert with a star-nose.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zZcrHyqKFA

CONTENTS | NEWS | VIDEOS
EVENTS | Tues | Weds | Thurs | Fri | Sat | Sun | Mon | Upcoming

EVENTS THIS WEEK

Tuesday October 30th, 2007

• Photography Exhibition CLIMATE CAMP 07 @ The Foundry
  86 Great Eastern Street London EC2A 3JL
  http://www.minimouse.me.uk/show
  It was August 12th – just before midnight – when climate change activists took over a piece of land at Sipson and started to build Climate Camp 2007. With access roads blockaded by police, hundreds of people carried everything they needed to build a self sustaining village in the shadow of Heathrow. Then for ten days concentrated the attention of the world’s press on the stupidity of planning air expansion on a threatened planet. The Climate Camp exhibition documents in sound, words, installations and images the life, workshops and direct action of those ten days. It examines the issues and thinking of people who seek to stop the world sleep-walking into a disaster that is manifestly preventable, but hugely profitable for a powerful few. Opening on Tuesday 30th October at 7pm the exhibition runs until 4th November before touring UK cities threatened by regional airport expansion. Workshops, talks and film screenings will appear at http://www.minimouse.me.uk/show as they are confirmed. Photographs from the show are a selection from those to be seen at http://www.minimouse.me.uk For further details mail mini_mouse[at]riseup.net or call Mike on 07878 892486
• Music: Synergy Tuesday @ The Synergy Centre
  220 Farmers Road, London SE5 0TW
  http://www.thesynergycentre.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=75
  Acoustic music and poetry
  7pm – late
  £5/3
• Music: One Taste Upstairs @ The Distillers
  64 Fulham Palace Road, London W6 9PH
  http://onetaste.co.uk
  http://www.myspace.com/onetaste
  http://www.myspace.com/thedistillerspub
  Loads of great lives acts in a intimate surrounding.
  8.30 pm to 11 pm
  £5
• Music: LIVE BANDS X3 + DJs @ The Good Ship
  289 Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JR
  http://PowPowPow.com
  http://www.thegoodship.co.uk/whatson.shtml
  PowPowPow.com presents a night of grindpunk, zombified garage and experimental musical genius. Live music from Rolo Tomassi +Team Brick + The Sticks plus Special guest DJs!
  7.30pm – 11pm
  £5

CONTENTS | NEWS | VIDEOS
EVENTS | Tues | Weds | Thurs | Fri | Sat | Sun | Mon | Upcoming

Wednesday Oct 31st, 2007

• Music: Heads High @ Jrink
  62 Frith Street, Soho,, London, W1D 3JN
  http://www.myspace.com/headshighmusic
  Every Wednesday, Heads High residents Cal Jada and Duke Etienne will be serving up a quality mix of jazz, afro beat, disco, boogie, (the deeper side of) house, hip hop, reggae and some yet to be classified material – for your pleasure only. Joined by guest DJs and a full live band complied of various musicians, producers, emcees and vocalists once a month, these Wednesday sessions are set to be so much more than just your regular drinking hang out.
  7pm – 1am
  FREE
• SAVE TARA!: Tara Celtic New Year Samhain @ Tara Hill
  http://www.savetara.com
• Halloween: Blackout Halloween
  http://www.blackoutbritain.org.uk/
• Halloween: March of the Dead in Dalston (meet at Hoxton Square, march, then Party @ Passing Clouds)
  http://myspace.com/halloweenmarch
  http://www.myspace.com/strangeworkscollective
  http://www.myspace.com/passingclouds
  Welcome all Strange Spirits and gather at Hoxton Square at 7.30 for an almightly celebration March of the Dead. Dress in Black and white and bring an instrument or something to bang!
  7.30pm @ Hoxton Square, march, then – late @ Passing Clouds
  FREE (party after probably £5 or something, not sure)
• Halloween: Halloween Party @ The Spike, Peckham
  39b Consort Road, Peckham. Between 2 railway bridges.
  The legendary Spike Halloween party returns.
  9pm – til dawn
  FREE

CONTENTS | NEWS | VIDEOS
EVENTS | Tues | Weds | Thurs | Fri | Sat | Sun | Mon | Upcoming

Thursday November 1st, 2007

• Music and Bday Bash Speakerscorner @ Jamm
  261 Brixton Road, London, SW9 6LH
  http://www.myspace.com/speakerscorner
  FREE ENTRY FREE SPEECH LYRICIST OPEN MIC EVENT “The second last Speakerscorner there will ever be…Two more an we gone, so come help us make em live! In many ways the event has been historical, we looking to end on a high note…Celebrating this month we have the long overdue “Rogue State” release party from Speakers own Chain of Command, thats Manage, Conflix, CLG & Syande, made extra special by both the fact that they will be performing all their tracks with full live band backing & that this is to be the final performance ever from the mighty CLG, who will also be celebrating his 30th BirthDay… Live support comes from the creme of the UK underground spitters…Rhyme Asylum drop an exclusive live preview of their anticipated “State of Lunacy” LP… The TextOffenders make there way all the way down from Newcastle to make their Speakerscorner debut along-side original crew member Stig of the Dump… Stig ofcourse reppin the live set with the doctor known as Syntax, thats 2 of EOW UKs top champs of 07, Stig now being the offical World EOW MC Challenge Champion also… Catch Verb T coming through to hit us of with some tracks from his new solo LP “Verbs with a vengence”… Minority Report drop in with some quick knowledge to celebrate the release of their debut 12″ “The Violence Of War” & Genius Squad (new crew outa Brighton featuring Conflix) come through to kick off the open mic… DJ Jazz T will be coming with a fresh routine & the Speakerscorner Quartet will be firing out the riddems for the open mic alongside myself DJ Snuff & DJ Steaz….. Big Fukkkkkkin night.. not to mention Keith Lawrence & Dark killing it in the Reggae room….book your time of work, bring some pennies to cop records (you know your saving money on the door tax so dont be a stingy c*nt, support)”
  8pm – 3am
  FREE
• Music and Film Movimientos presents Dia De Los Muertos Celebration (and Launch of the 17th Latin American Film Festival 2007) @ Salmon and Compass
  58 Penton Street, Angel, N1 9PZ
  http://www.movimientos.org.uk/sitio/content/dia-de-los-muertos-celebration
  An event and special Day of the Dead Shrine dedicated to the victims of repression in Oaxaca, Mexico, with those that continue the struggle against state brutality and human rights violations, and in solidarity with the social movements there. With films documenting the resistance towards neo-liberalism, state terrorism in Oaxaca and beyond. Plus launch party for the Latin American Film Festival now in it’s 17th year, special guest Mexican DJ and the usual Latin dance-floor fire from Movimientos DJs and guest musicians.
  7pm – 2am
  FREE before 9pm, £3 after
• Dinner, Free software, Networking: Free Software as Social Innovation @ The Hub
  5 Torrens Street, London EC1V 1NQ
  Check link and below for more details
  Thurs 8pm: get together dinnner
  (Friday 9am – 6pm: event at The Hub – see below)
  FREE
• Music: Fingathing @ 229
  229 Great Portland Street, W1W 5PN
  http://www.myspace.com/fingathing
  Groovy act playing a London gig. “With turntables, an upright bass and bold live animations of crazy mutants in tow, Fingathing are a mass fusion of technical effects and live instruments creating an explosion of far-flung funk and crunching avant hip-hop. The grooves grip tighter than a black hole, the drums smack the cheeks like an asteroid rain-storm, and the bass rumbles and hums like an imploding star.”
  7pm – 12am
  £12

CONTENTS | NEWS | VIDEOS
EVENTS | Tues | Weds | Thurs | Fri | Sat | Sun | Mon | Upcoming

Friday November 2nd, 2007

• Dinner, Free software, Networking: Free Software as Social Innovation @ The Hub
  5 Torrens Street, London EC1V 1NQ
  http://fsfeurope.org/projects/stacs/london.en.html
  Free Software is a unique social innovation which promotes an empowered, sustainable and inclusive information society through its freedoms of use, studying, modification and redistribution. Popular Free Software applications include the Firefox web browser, the Wordpress blog engine and the Juice podcast receiver. The philosophy behind Free Software has also inspired new social projects like Wikipedia, Creative Commons and Open Access. Free Software Foundation Europe and M6-IT would like to invite you to a one day event. The event will help people learn more about Free Software and provide opportunities for hands-on experience with the technology. It’s organised as part of the work in the STACS project.
  (Thurs 8pm: get together dinnner)
  Friday 9am – 6pm: event at The Hub.
  FREE

CONTENTS | NEWS | VIDEOS
EVENTS | Tues | Weds | Thurs | Fri | Sat | Sun | Mon | Upcoming

Saturday November 3rd, 2007

• Climate Change: National Climate Camp Gathering @ East Oxford Community Centre
  44b Princes Street, Oxford, OX4 1DD.
  http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/nextmeeting.php
  The Climate Camp on its own didn’t stop climate change – but it’s part of a growing social movement that can! Come and take the next steps forward at the upcoming UK-wide meeting on Nov 3-4 in Oxford. Everyone is welcome, whether you came to the camp, or were simply inspired by it. The Climate Camp had 4 key aims: education, direct action, sustainable living, and building a social movement to collectively tackle climate change and build a better world. Regional meetings have been happening up and down the country, and in Oxford we will meet to collectively share all our ideas for taking our aims further. The agenda for this meeting has not yet been set – if you have any ideas about topics you think it is important for us to discuss, or if you are up for helping with planning and facilitating this meeting, please email meetings[at]climatecamp.org.uk.
  Local groups: please send any write-ups of discussions from your debrief meetings to website[at]climatecamp.org.uk, so they can be put on the website, and meetings[at]climatecamp.org.uk, so they can be fed into the national meeting agenda.
  Practical info: The meeting will run 11-6 on Saturday Nov 3 and 10-5 on Sunday Nov 4. The venue is the East Oxford Community Centre, Princes Street, Oxford (follow link for directions and a map). Vegan food will be provided at a cost of approximately 5 pounds a day. Floor accomodation is available (bring a sleeping bag!) and do please email oxford[at]climatecamp.org.uk in advance so we know how many people are coming! If you have any dietary, access, creche, or other needs, please get in touch by emailing oxford[at]climatecamp.org.uk.
  11-6 on Saturday Nov 3 and 10-5 on Sunday Nov 4
  FREE
• Music and Poetry LIVE BOX 2 …with Sparhla & Zena Edwards @ Bernie Grant Arts Centre
  Town Hall Approach Rd, London, N154RX
  http://www.myspace.com/berniegrantartscentre
  http://www.berniegrantcentre.co.uk/pl53.html
  Live Box 2 makes its next stop on the journey through black music in the space where jazz meets soul with two internationally respected female artists Sparlha Swa and Zena Edwards. New York based singer-songwriter Sparlha Swa has been likened to Sade, Billie Holiday, Joni Mitchell, and Miriam Makeba. Born in Jamaica she has performed on an extensive international circuit with artists such as Hip-Hop artist and producer Carlos Mena and master of both bass and percussion Shree Shyam Das. Tottenham’s favourite daughter, spoken word poet and singer Zena Edwards, has taken the world by storm. From Def Jam Poetry in the US to the North Sea Jazz Festival, Edwards is one of the definers of the UK spoken word scene. A wordsmith, kora-player and jazz vocalist, Edwards is the original renaissance performer. As is Live Box style, musicians and vocalists are welcome to join the party. “Internationally acclaimed – creates her own intricate, mesmerising and unforgettable performance”- Apples And Snakes.
  8pm
  £7.50 / £5.50 conc.
• Music: The Ancients Did Jazz @ Trinity Centre, Bristol
  Trinity Road St Phillips Bristol BS2 0NW
  http://www.ancientsdidjazz.co.uk/event.php
  An Epic Party of Ancient Proportions to celebrate the greatest and most important discovery in made up History: Ancient Civilizations Did Jazz!!! Dub Funkery from ‘PlanetMan and the Internationalz’. Lyrics of Wisdom from Hip Hop Bard ‘Knowledge Is Power’. Future Jazzmatazz from ‘Ashowka’. DJs spinning da funk and beats till dawn cometh. Theres more… Belly Dancers. A Philosophers Corner. UV body art. Nostalgia. U.V. Zones. Massage area. Historica. Fully licensed Bar. Chai stall. Ancient Trading post. Healing zone. A multitude of Ancient and Exotic Attractions.
  10pm – 6am
  £8 in advance from usual Bristol ticket outlets order online at www.bristolticketshop.co.uk or £10 on the door.
• Film: No Volveran: The Venezuelan Revolution Now @ The Phoenix Cinema
  52 High Road, East Finchley, London, N2 9PJ
  The oldest purpose built cinema in the UK, the Phoenix is a community cinema showing independent, art-house & world cinema in a unique art-deco auditorium. Tonight will be the amazing new documentary that takes you into the heart of the Venezuelan revolution. Plus Q & A from the film makers William Roche & Melanie MacDonald. For more info about the film see here
  1.30 – 4pm
  £5

CONTENTS | NEWS | VIDEOS
EVENTS | Tues | Weds | Thurs | Fri | Sat | Sun | Mon | Upcoming

Sunday November 4th, 2007

• Music: Antehc Productions & The Shrine present… Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba LIVE @ Cargo
  83 Rivington Street, EC2A 3AY
  http://www.myspace.com/bassekoukouyate
  http://www.cargo-london.com
  “…one of the year’s sensational new arrivals.” *****The Independent (UK)
  “…dynamic stage presence that exploded with glorious combinations of the ngoni.” El Mundo (Spain)
  “Both ancient and utterly contemporary… like some African answer to Hendrix.” The Guardian
  “Malian lute master Bassekou Kouyate and his group, Ngoni Ba, were belting out their densely percussive music to a clearly enchanted [WOMAD] audience.” The Daily Telegraph
  “…a genius, a living proof that the blues comes from the region of Segu.” Taj Mahal
  “A new star to replace the king of the blues from Timbuktu” MOJO
  7pm – 1am
  £10 + booking fee

Monday November 5th, 2007

• Know of something I should’ve included here – let me know!

Upcoming

• Nov 8th Networking: w00t! 7 @ The Dog Star
• Nov 15th Music and Film: Kalabash South Africa @ The Salmon and Compass
  http://www.myspace.com/kalabashworld
• Nov 10th Film and Music: Bicycle-powered Bonanza
  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=5842999537
• Nov 10th Art and Performance: Take Your Tongue Out of My Mouth (’cause I’m Kissing You Goodbye) @ Area 10
  http://www.area10.info/
  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=28148035360
• Nov 10th Music Future Music Vol.1 @ Jamm
  http://www.archangelbreaks.co.uk
• Nov 13th Networking Global Tribal Meetup – Inspiring Entrepreneurs @ The Hub
  http://globaltribalmeetup.eventbrite.com/
  http://ogunte.com
  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=8245870119
• Nov 15th – 17th Conference and Networking: The Sky’s The Limit – 3 days towards a blueprint for a sustainable future. Be The Change @ Central Hall, Westminster
  http://www.bethechange.org.uk/
• Nov 15th – 29th Art: Artists for 2012 @ 491 Gallery
  http://af2012.org/
• Nov 16th Tech: 48 Hour Web App Framework Shootout @ London/Berlin/
  http://challenge48.espnow.com/
• Nov 16th – 18th Conference: Shared Planet @ University of Sheffield
  http://peopleandplanet.org/events/sharedplanet
• Nov 23rd Club and Music: The Synergy Project @ SeOne
  http://thesynergyproject.org
• Nov 23rd DO NOT SHOP Buy Nothing Day
  http://www.adbusters.org/home/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buy_Nothing_Day
• Nov 24th Music: The Little Green Planet Full Moon Adventure
  http://www.thelittlegreenplanet.co.uk
• Dec 8th Demonstration: London Climate Change Demonstration @ Grosvenor Square
  http://campaigncc.org/

CONTENTS | NEWS | VIDEOS
EVENTS | Tues | Weds | Thurs | Fri | Sat | Sun | Mon | Upcoming

END

Visit the United Diversity website:
http://uniteddiversity.com

Join the list:
https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/uniteddiversity

Invest in the Commons:
http://commonscreation.org
http://uniteddiversity.com/we-have-land/

INTRO
As some of you know already, I’m out in Spain acquiring land for the Commons!

I came out here with 4 main tasks:

1. to see and help my Dad
2. to get my Dad’s land transferred into my name so we can invest it in the Commons!
3. to send out this long overdue Commons Creation update!
4. and to come up with a clear strategy for United Diversity.

Most of these overlap in some way. Since Commons Creation is a project co-ordinated by United Diversity I couldn’t really do 3 without doing a lot of thinking about 4 first (all whilst trying to deal with 1 and 2).

Therefore what follows is a bit of a rambling mix, part overdue Commons Creation update, and part United Diversity strategy.

BACKGROUND
I gave my first Commons Creation presentation on Sunday January 21st. At the meeting Peter Brownell said he’d give me 6 months to come up with a full legal model.

Well, 6 months is up! In fact, its over 8 months!

My last update was on Feb 16th and a lot has happened since then.

Only x (about 10 – need to check current status) people have actually set-up their standing orders and we only have £xxx (about 500 – got to call bank) in the bank.

But we now have land! And a plan!

LEGAL MODEL
Over the last 8 months I’ve done heaps of research into suitable legal model for the Commons Creation project. I’ve put the word out for legal models and documents and have collected a selection of rules for numerous Community Land Trusts and similar projects (such as Findhorn’s Ekopia project and Eko currency) across the UK.

Almost universally similar projects in the UK are registered as Industrial Provident Societies for the Benefit of the Community (IPS BenCom for short).

These guarantee a democratic co-operative structure whilst providing both a legal asset lock (ensuring assets brought in common are not sold off for private profit) and a simple way to raise money (i.e. it is possible to sell “shares” called “loan stock” that are basically fixed low-rate loans to the co-op).

Individuals can only invest up to £20k in an IPS, but there is no such limit on other IPSs investing in each other (which is significant considering how many similar projects are IPSs).

The IPS legal structure has a lot going for it and is currently under review and so could improve further (e.g. Credit Unions and similar might be allowed to perform more banking functions, limits on investment may change and registration costs may come down).

A handful of like minded projects in the UK are also registered as Community Interest Companies, or CICs, a new legal structure that requires a Community Interest Audit to guarantee community interest (an IPS BenCom also has to show how it will benefit the community but the rules aren’t quite the same), provides a legal asset lock, and can either be a Company registered be Guarantee or Shares (which could also be sold to raise funds).

Then there are Limited Liability Partnerships, or LLPs (what United Diversity is already). This is also a relatively new legal structure and is very tax efficient and flexible (its what all accounting firms are).

Unlike other legal structures that have fixed legal formats and rules that have to be followed, LLPs are simply governed by their Member Agreement, and this Member Agreement can be whatever format the Member’s agree (at present United Diversity doesn’t even formally have one, which means we default to standard partnership law).

I originally described the Commons Creation collective as “a network of individuals and groups raising funds for and awareness about world changing land, money and media projects”. This is actually a much better description of what I’ve always dreamt United Diversity will become.

Commons Creation is just part of that dream. The land investment part.

More specifically Commons Creation is a co-operative long-term investment fund whose purpose is to acquire and develop land and property into order to provide food, housing and energy that doesn’t cost the earth (economically or ecologically), and to provide a fair income return to investors (of time, money, or “monies worth”).

The proposed long-term plan for the Commons Creation legal model is to create something like a Community Land Partnership (CLP) described at http://www.opencapital.net/co-ownership.htm

The examples given are of an LLP with four Members:

1. a Trustee Member – which holds the freehold of the Land in perpetuity on behalf of the Community;

   For any land acquired in the UK this is will either be an IPS or a CIC. Its hard to make a decision on details while IPS laws and regulations are being reviewed, so its best to wait and see what happens (in part simply because its expensive to register an IPS with customised rules and these fees may fall).

   With land outside the UK, e.g. Spain (or wherever else we happen acquire it) is probably better to entrust it to some local body incorporated under Spanish law than to either an IPS or CIC registered in the UK. This requires further investigation.

2. an Occupier Member – which consists of the community of individuals and/or enterprises which occupy the Land and the property on it;

   In Spain this will be my Dad and whoever else ends up living or working on the land. Again, probably some kind of local association will probably be best and we need to research the options (although I think what they call an Association is likely to be the best bet)

3. an Investor Member – which consists of the consortium of individuals and enterprises who invest money and/or money’s worth (such as the value of the land) in the CLP;

   By creating and signing a Member Agreement that stipulates minimum levels of member investment in the commons, Members of United Diversity will effectively be forming this consortium. An important first step.

   With our banked fivers and my Dad’s land already in the pot we’ll be able to convince more and more people to join the fun. Eventually people will begin to wonder Can I afford not to?”

4. a Developer/ Operator Member, which provides development expertise and manages the CLP once the development is complete.

   This could be an existing or new local association, co-op or business, United Diversity, or whoever really. The point is that all stakeholders can become members of the Community Land Partnership and earn/invest proportional shares in the rental revenues collected on the land.

If we wait for such a complex structure to be in place before we do anything, we’ll never start. Trying to set-up such a partnership now would also be premature. We need to build capacity before attempting to manage such a complex partnership.

So lets just formalise (with a Member Agreement for United Diversity) and expand (via our events and existing social networks) what we’re already doing (banking our fivers in the United Diversity saving account).

Proposal: continue to use United Diversity LLP, but get legal help to write up a legal Member Agreement that formalises a minimum level of member investment in the Commons (and what that means, i.e. how investment decisions will be made and how returns on investment will be distributed).

Assuming everyone likes this plan, existing members of Commons Creation will then legally become members of United Diversity LLP and existing members of United Diversity LLP will need to sign the new agreement and start investing their minimum amount in the Commons too (if they haven’t already done so!).

DEFINING SCOPE OF PROJECTS
United Diversity is transforming, from a small social enterprise with big ideas, into an exciting social action network implementing big projects.

Commons Creation is the land project. It is a co-operative long-term investment fund whose purpose is to acquire and develop land and property into order to provide food, housing and energy that doesn’t the earth (economically or ecologically), and to provide a fair income return to investors (of time, money, or “monies worth”).

The long-term plan is to set-up a Community Land Partnership (CLP) as described and outlined at http://www.opencapital.net/co-ownership.htm and above. For now we’re just pooling our funds in the United Diversity saving account, but first bit of land – 5 acres in Spain – has already been acquired!

OpenCoin is the money project. And the first 30k of funding for that has been obtained too! See http://opencoin.org and http://uniteddiversity.com/ideas/ for more info.

MUST.tv is the media project. A MUST Report promo is nearly finished and we’ve got a regular slot on BBC World next spring! Check out the MUST.tv invite on http://uniteddiversity.com/ideas/ for more info and see http://biovoyager.wordpress.com

There are other exciting ICT projects too (notably Hub+, Dissconnected, CopyCan, and The Merton Rule – plus Dialstation once Dymitri is officially a member). Everyone needs to communicate, and money and media are both subsets of information really, so we end up doing a lot of information and communication technology!

MARKETING THE COMMONS AND THE UNITED DIVERSITY NETWORK
Everyone loves the name “United Diversity”.

Coupled with our “Together We Have Everything” strap line people seem to instantly understand the essence of the whole thing.

Conversely, very few people understand immediately what “Commons Creation” is all about and nearly everyone (including me!) confuses “Commons Creation” with “Creative Commons”.

Commons Creation is a fitting name for a long-term investment project that seeks to create and develop parcels of common land, but it will be much easier to get people to join a collective called United Diversity.

Therefore rather than member groups saying “join Commons Creation!” and linking to http://commonscreation.org we’ll say “join United Diversity!” and link to http://uniteddiversity.com.

The “Commons Creation Flyer” becomes the “United Diversity Guide” (something I’ve wanted to do properly since the early days, eg. http://tinyurl.com/3azozo from back in 2002).

PLAN
Here is a brief outline of the plan (i.e. the beginning of the United Diversity Strategic Plan).

1. Open a United Diversity Triodos saving account and put all Commons money into there for then on.

   Due: ASAP.

2. Get legal help to create United Diversity Member Agreement and formally sign up existing Commons Creation and United Diversity members.

   Due: Before Feb 8th, 2008 (Synergy Project @ SeOne and United Diversity’s birthday).

3. Hold regular (monthly-ish) United Diversity Gatherings (at Passing Clouds and other venues). These will be all day events with food, film, dotmocracy, stalls, music and dancing.

   I’ll need help organising them from members but any time contributed will be counted as an investment in the commons and will earn shares proportionate to the “monies worth” invested.

   Due: at least one before Feb 8th, 2008. Ideally every month starting in November 2007 up until late spring/ early summer 2008 (and throughout the year if we’ve got enough capacity in London)

4. Publish a regular United Diversity Guide – a weekly round-up of member news and projects (OpenCoin, MUST.tv, IdSpiral’s Ekopia Cafe project etc.), inspiring links, videos and events. Member groups will re-post/share the Guide with their MySpace friends, mailing lists etc.

   The wide distribution of the Guide will not only inform and inspire, but will help recruit further members and potentially provide a additional revenue stream (we could sell advertising in the Guide to approved ethical businesses – much like we intend to do with MUST.tv/BioVoyager) generating further funds for the Commons.

   To begin with, I’ll compile and edit the Guide each Monday (for publication on Tuesday) using information gathered from all the lists and feeds I subscribe to and all the social networking sites I’m on.

   For good measure members will also be able to submit news and links on the website or via e-mail. Eventually (once more elaborate systems are in place) the Guide will be edited collaboratively by members.

   The whole thing will be good practice (and will pave the way) for the MUST Report (a 6 monthly video round-up of all the most significant positive changes happening in our world, made up from BioVoyager footage and film submitted and shared on MUST.tv)

   Due: I’ll attempt to do a first edition on Monday 8th October, 2008 for publication on Tuesday 9th, 2008. I shouldn’t have any problems pulling together the content, but will need help creating a nice template for future editions.

5. Organise an annual United Diversity Tour, initially to our land in Spain – a vegoil/biodiesel tour and/or cycle tour. Visit and document inspiring projects and throw parties along the way.

   Due: First small Tour (hopefully more than just me on my bike!) Spring/Summer 2008. Plans need to begin being made immediately. I’m going to make it happen in some shape or form, event if it is just me cycling there on my own! Proper ideas can be discussed online and planning meetings can be help at gatherings.

6. Organise an annual “Building Man” Festival, initially very small, on and around our land in Spain – a cross between all the green festivals in the UK, Burning Man and a Village Building Convergence (see http://vbc.cityrepair.org )

   Due: First small Festival in Summer 2008. Probably Aug 1st – 16th, 2008 for the main event although hopefully we’ll magically manage to get a load of stuff done before then too (because it’ll be a bit too hot to work too hard by August). Aug 1st – 16th are nice dates because a) Aug first if a New Moon b) Aug 8th is my Dad’s birthday and it will be 08/08/08 c) Aug 11th – 15th is Buenache Festival d) Aug 16th is a Full Moon. All seems fitting

That’s it!

I could go on and on with more details, but I think this document is both long enough and good enough to go.

I hope I’ve made myself clear, that existing members of Commons Creation and United Diversity are happy with my proposals, and everyone get as excited about all this as me!

Whatever your thoughts and feelings, please please give send some feedback – I’d love to know what you think!

I leave you with a toast…

“to United Diversity – Together We Have Everything!”

Big smiles,

Josef.

Want to help raise funds to support important work with children in worn torn areas across the globe?

Fancy some of this?

Then get yourself down to the exclusive War Child Summer Gala, Those Were The Days, Thursday, June 28th.

Tickets are £155 each or £1400 for a table of 10.

A bit pricey, but well worth it, and if you can’t afford it yourself, please forward on the details to someone who can.

The night includes the UK’s leading burlesque performer Immodesty Blaize (as shown in video above) and swing sensations Kitty, Daisy and Lewis.

Plus a champagne reception, a 3 course meal and an auction with lots including signed Damien Hirsts, a personal portrait by celebrity photographer and film maker Rankin, exclusive Vivienne Westwood and Stella McCartney and Enter Shikari goodies (plus Immodesty’s nipple tassles!).

To make things even more exciting the auction will be hosted by Christopher Biggins.

For more information or to buy tickets contact wendy@warchild.org.uk by 21st June.

See also, these facebook events, here and here, plus here, here and here.

And check out the flyer below…