YouTube – Seva Cafe – Ahmedabad,India

Nice little video about an organic cafe in India where you pay what you like.

“This video is made by students of NID – Ahmedabad,India.
To know more about Seva Cafe Visit us as : www.sevacafe.org or mail me at whiznitesh@gmail.com…..My name is Nitesh Jain, Ahmedabad,Gujarat,India
Love all, Serve all
Living is Giving
Guest is God

ADDRESS :
Seva Cafe
4th Floor,
Shppers Plaza,
Opp. Muncipal Market,
C G Road, Ahmedabad
Ph: +91 79 32954140″

I just came across this video after reading this interview

Google Tech Talks July 31, 2007

ABSTRACT

Rick Falkvinge, the founder of the Swedish Pirate Party and the international politicized pirate movement, talks about the rise and success of pirates, and why pirates are necessary in today’s politics. He’ll also outline the next steps in the pirates’ strategy to change global copyright laws.

The fight against copyright aggression tends to focus on economic aspects of the shift to a networked economy. Rick explains how this conflict is much more important than that: the fight against the copyright regime is about the right to fundamental civil liberties – down to the postal secret, whistleblower protection, freedom of the press, and the very right to an identity. Rick Falkvinge is the founder and leader of the Swedish Pirate Party, as well as the founder of the international politicized pirate movement. His leadership and vision took the Pirate Party from nothing into the top ten parties in the last Swedish general election, without a dime in the campaign chest. His personal candidacy came in at rank #15 out of over 5,000 candidates for the 349 parliamentary seats.

While he didn’t win one of those seats due to threshold rules, the Swedish Pirate Party has inspired similar parties to form in over 20 other countries, and the fight for civil liberties against copyright and patent aggression continues.

The primary focus of Rick and of the Pirate Party is to fight back against the current copyright aggression and surveillance populism using the one thing lobbyists can never buy – votes in a democratic election. Rick demonstrates how much more than business models are at stake in the copyright debate: today’s copyright and essential civil liberties have become mutually exclusive, and society must choose.

Rick Falkvinge lives in Stockholm, Sweden. When not engaged in the fight for privacy and citizens’ rights, he can usually be found cooking, reading, or riding a motorcycle.

Ever wondered what the best way to make international calls from your mobile is?

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“.

Yesterday I had the most amazing and inspiring phone call ever.

A man called Ray called me from Cornwall, 2km from where Oli was already but totally randomly literally on his way to (thanks to Katharine), and basically said that he wants to entrust his land to a community very much like the commons creation collective – i.e. one with shared values (create a whole new economic system based on new land ownership and monetary systems etc.) he can grow to trust and love.

He’s got an 1.5 acre and is about to buy another acre. He wants to build sustainable housing and stuff. His partner runs a theatre company and they are both really into open space technology (self-organised meeting/conferences) and new forms of organisation.

I’ve just had another long conversation with him (we spoke for 2 hours before, and about another hour or so just now) and its seems that we may well try to have a what I call a “Building Man” festival on the land this summer (open space, build, celebrate)

Oli is going to make contact and hopefully go visit the land. It sounds very beautiful, near the sea and relatively high up with sea views and access to a lake (that they share with the quarry on the other side).

They’ve already got a load of waste materials from the quarry, enough to build a few cob/straw type structures.

Looks very like we could be off to a flying start!

To the Commons!

The first Commons Creation meeting took place on Sunday 21st January:

So far I’ve got some great groups signed up to the collective:

Peace Not War: http://peace.fm
The Synergy Project: http://thesynergyproject.org
OneTaste: http://onetaste.co.uk
Movimientos: http://www.movimientos.org.uk/ (site down!) they bring together all the Latin America solidarity groups and do regular monthly events with film and music.

This is just the beginning, but together these groups already regularly connect with 1000s of people. And they have all agreed to promote the Commons Creation project on all their flyers, mailouts and websites, and to offer special offers to members to the collective.

All these people collaborating to pools funds to buy land and build share infrastructure (The Fund) and working together as a marketing and media collective (The Flyer) is going to be a very powerful and exciting project (to learn more read through the background information ). Together We Have Everything

UPDATE: A copy of the presentation given can be downloaded here as a PDF (1.1Mb), PPT (2.4Mb) (PowerPoint), or ODP (2.3Mb) (OpenOffice.org Impress) file. Enjoy!

If you’re already sold on the idea and up for committing £5 a month from February onwards, please set up a standing order and join the list.
Commons Creation list:
https://lists.open.coop/mailman/listinfo/commons

Bank Account details:
name: uniteddiversity LLP
sort code: 09-06-66
account: 40375992:

If you still need convincing, check out the presentation or comment with your proposals!

Commons Creation: PDF (1.1Mb), PPT (2.4Mb) (PowerPoint), or ODP (2.3Mb) (OpenOffice.org Impress) file. Enjoy!

I’m going to do my best to attend this conference.

Should be a great networking opportunity and a good place to tell people about Commons Creation

Birmingham, 17th – 19th September.

The Development Trusts Association is planning the biggest ever community sector conference in the UK. Enterprising Communities 2006 is for anyone interested in creating community assets, setting up new community enterprises, accessing finance, tackling poverty, celebrating diversity – and for anyone who wants to be inspired. We are expecting 600 people to attend, from front-line activists to key policy makers including ministers Ruth Kelly and Ed Miliband.

Enterprising Communities 2006 is on 17th – 19th September in Birmingham.

For further information go to: http://www.dta.org.uk/Content/current_activities/conference%202006.htm

via Social Enterprise London

UPDATE: the first Commons Creation meeting was held at Limehouse Town Hall on Sunday 21st January, 2007. A copy of the presentation given can be downloaded here as a PDF (1.1Mb) file. Enjoy!

Introduction

The Commons Creation Collective is all about harnessing the wealth and power of our networks and working together to raising funds and awareness.

It will initially bring together conscious event organisers, radial media publishers, and their supporters, to collaborate on two complementary projects:

1. The Commons Creation Fund
   Lots of people contributing a minimum of £5 a month into a common fund and deciding together how to best to invest it in shared infrastructure. Purpose: to create a commons; a pool of collectively owned/ shared resources (thereby building the foundations for a scaleable community banking and exchange system).
2. The Commons Creation Flyer
   A regular A3 (folded to A6) flyer, distributed by members, that encourages people to become a member of the collective (i.e. contribute £5 a month, help distribute flyer, promote the collective), give details of all the events organised by members, and links to news and issues they deem important.Purpose: to ensure the success of the Commons Creation Fund, and to inform as many people as possible about all events organised by members, and all the news/issues they deem important.

So, what’s the deal?

INDIVIDUALS

To become a member of the Commons Creation Collective, individuals agree to:

• Contribute a minimum of £5 per month to the Commons Creation Fund
• Help distribute the Commons Creation Flyer/ promote the Commons Creation Collective (this can be as simple as inviting friends and forwarding e-mails, or getting involved with day to day admin jobs etc.)

In return, members:

• Become shared owners of The Commons, our pool of collectively owned/shared resouces
• Decide together (using Dotmocracy?) how best to spend the money contributed to the Commons Creation Fund
• Are kept informed about all the latest news and events relevant to the collective
• Can submit and rate news, events and short articles to be included on the flyer
• Get FREE entrance to exclusive member gatherings and parties
• Get discounts from other members of the collective (eg. concessionary ticket prices, cheap books, CDs etc)
• Get fair access to use of the resources in The Commons (obviously, you own them)
• Get connected to other people and groups who share similar values and/or are interested in the same things (all the other members and the wonderful people you’ll meet at member events)

GROUPS

If a conscious event/radical publisher/other group wants to get involved they agree:

• To put a link to commonscreation.org on their website
• To put a link to commonscreation.org on all their flyers/mailouts/publications
• To offer discouts and/or special offers to members of the collective

In return, groups will get:

• A profile on commonscreation.org highlighting all the good work the groups does, including details about how to get involved and links back to their own site etc.
• Details of all events organised by the group included on the Commons Creation Flyer
• A link to the group’s website on all copies of the Commons Creation Flyer
• Additionally, and perhaps most significantly, groups will gain discounted access to and use of the resources held in The Commons (eg. web experts, CD burners, printers, vans, lighting rigs, staging, land, venues, etc.)

Who needs to be involved?

Event Organisers:

• uniteddiversity – signed up!
  Josef, Oli, Tom
• Peace Not War – signed up!
  Mudge, Katie, Rob, Sarah, Katie, Fidel, etc.
• One Taste – signed up!
  Dannii, Jamie
• The Synergy Project – signed up!
  Dom, Gian, Daniel, Alex, Rowly, etc.
• Movimientos – signed up!
• Neo-Dogma-Non – signed up!
  
• Creative Forum
  Alan, Teresa, Shane, Gareth etc.
• Art Music Politic
  Will etc.
• Guerilla Zoo
  James etc.
• Small World Solar Stage
  Pony, Emma, etc.
• The Synergy Centre
  Steve, Matt, Jo, etc.
• Kingston Green Fair
  Bernadette, Des, etc.
• NODE London
• Big Green Gathering
• Sunrise Celebration
  Daniel etc.
  
• Buttercuts
  Andy etc.
• Raison d’etre
  Yvan, Crystal
• Needle and Thread
  Len etc.
• Signs of Life
• Crystal Field
  Enoch etc.
• Sangita Sounds
  Darren etc.
• Planet Angel
  Pete, Angel, etc.
• etc.

Radical Media Publishers and Bloggers

• Red Pepper
• Bulb Magazine
• Resurgence
• Undercurrents
• Peace News
• Green Events
• City Hippy – signed up!
• Shorno.net
• Leighton Cooke
• Ceridwen Devi
• Indymedia
• i-conscious
• germination
• contaminant media
• media venture collective
• etc.

How will it be financed?

The aim is for the whole thing to be self-financed by member contributions (we encourage those who can afford to contribute more than £5 a month to do so). Some seed funding will also be sought, but there is nothing stopping a group of co-operatively minded people from pooling £5+ a month straight away.

Next Steps:

• Gather some of the people who need to be involved and get agreement on the above (or at least something very similar to what is outlined above)
• On the back of this initial agreement, get more of the people who need to be involved signed-up, whilst also working on the initial website and flyer

APPENDIX
Suggested Initial SMART Goals/Objectives (specific, measurable, acheivable, realistic, time-based)

• Get first version of http://commonscreation.org up (a nicely designed site explaining the idea, who the existing members are, how and why to join, etc.) no later than one month after getting initial agreement from some of the people who need to be involved.
• Design and produce the first version of the flyer no later than one month after getting initial agreement from some of the people who need to be involved. Start to distribute flyers.
• Get 400 members to sign-up and start contributing £5 a month by December 31st, 2006.
• Hold a monthly member’s gatherings (meal and jam session), starting no later than Januray, 2007.

Suggestions about where to put/invest money

• La Base – “Some seek to destroy the pyramid by taking the power of the top. La Base creates by giving power to the base. When the base rises, a new structure rises with it.”
  

  What is La Base
  La Base is rooted in the idea that real democracy and human rights can only be meaningful when accompanied by economic rights and autonomy.

  La Base is not an organization, but a fund of productive capital owned in common. Access to this resource is universal but entails an obligation to ensure its sustainability for all, now and in the future. Those who use La Base are free to create their world as they will.

  La Base’s resources are currently used as fair loans to individuals to help them pursue their economic independence in democratic collectives. Loan repayments go back to the common fund to be used by others. To learn more about loans and other practical applications of La Base, please see the actions.

• Rootstock – “supporting co-operatives working for social change”
  

  Rootstock is a social investment society set up as an initiative of the Radical Routes network of co-operatives. Radical Routes is a growing network of housing and workers’ co-operatives working for social change.

  Radical Routes co-operatives are active in many fields, including:

  Sustainable land use through permaculture, land restoration, woodland creation, and growing and distributing organic food.

  Communal housing – co-operatively owned housing is a resource for the whole community rather than a commodity for the profit of a few.

  Resource centres for communities

  Information through publications, radical bookshops and practical support for new co-ops.

  Campaigning on issues such as ecological preservation, animal rights and housing.

  International peace work

  Home education

  Electrical, plumbing and small scale building work

  Support services including Book keeping and accountancy, Computer services, Training and consultancy, Mediation and group working

• Triodos – Europe’s leading ethical bank that only finances projects wtih affect positive social, environmental and cultural change.
  
• Ecology Building Society – a mutual building society dedicated to improving the environment by promoting sustainable housing and sustainable communities.
• London Rebuilding Society and other CDFI’s (Community Development Finance Institutions)