An alternative to capitalism working its way into every corner of society – the story of the commons

Media Education Foundation recently released a new documentary titled "This Land is Our Land." The video is critical of fair market fundamentalism, arguing that the idea of "the public commons" is fundamental to America's past successes. "We forget what the commons is and why it matters." Air, water, government research, community garden, public forests, public libraries, the G.I. Bill, material protected by only limited copyright and the public airwaves. Some states named themselves "commonwealths." The idea of the commons has been with us forever. Even Babylon had nature preserves. "This Land is Our Land," narrated by David Bollier, offers dozens of examples of the importance of the commons. The idea of public property is critically important: "We have a moral personal connection with it." Yet those who dare to honor this age-old idea of the commons now face blistering allegations that they are communists, or at least socialists.  Bollier runs a website titled "On the Commons."   At that site you can read a well written article titled, "Why the Commons Matters Right Now." What is hard to miss is that recognizing the importance of the commons is often not convenient to corporate interests. Especially amazing is the section of the documentary discussing the fact that, according to a law from the mid-1800s, companies have, with out any payment reaped great profits from public lands. What we have today is the "enclosure of the commons," the process by which the commons is clawed back from The People. A prime example is the fact that huge telecoms are currently working hard to gain control over the Internet, incrementally winning the battle over those who are fighting for net neutrality (And see this speech by Senator Al Franken). Perhaps the most salient part of the documentary is the opening story about Jonas Salk, who refused to apply for a patent on his polio vaccine. When Edward Murrow asked him, "Who owns this patent?", Salk replied, "No one. Could you patent the sun?." Those with possible interest in purchasing,"The Land is Our Land," can view a low-res version of the entire documentary here.

Continue ReadingAn alternative to capitalism working its way into every corner of society – the story of the commons

Passion Fruit – 2010 48-hour Film Project Winner

What if you were given only 48 hours to write, shoot, edit and score a film? This is the challenging premise of the 48-Hour Film Project: "On Friday night, you get a character, a prop, a line of dialogue and a genre, all to include in your movie. 48 hours later, the movie must be complete." Local competitions occur in more than 80 cities worldwide. The 2010 winner of the 48 Hour Hampton Roads Film Project was "Passion Fruit," by Jon Abraham (Jon also happens to be a friend of mine--I wrote about his still photography here). Check Jon's winning film at the accompanying YouTube. He is now going to compete against the 80 other international 48 Hour Project city winners--10 of the films will be featured at Cannes. After watching Jon's film, I viewed the winners from some of the other cities. There is a lot of film-making experience on display. For instance, here is the St. Louis entry (the specific requirements for St. Louis were: Charles Crosby, Grocery Store Employee. Prop: a brick. Line of Dialogue: "We'll just have to wait."). Many of these entries are quite humorous. In addition to the above entries, consider this film called "Unwanted," the winner of the Portland Oregon competition.

Continue ReadingPassion Fruit – 2010 48-hour Film Project Winner

JFK on transparency in a time of war

I found this speech of JFK's to be tremendously powerful, and the applicability to today's situation should be obvious. Kennedy was speaking to the American Newspaper Publisher's Association on April 27th, 1961. The whole speech is worth reading, but I wanted to highlight a few key excerpts, especially in the context of Wikileaks' release of war documents from the Afghanistan theater. Kennedy simultaneously pleads for a more well-informed public, while arguing that the press ought to be mindful of national security issues in choosing which stories to publish. You can almost imagine him talking about the danger posed by terrorists in the present day, rather than the danger of Communism in the Cold-war 1960s:

The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it.

Continue ReadingJFK on transparency in a time of war