The idea I had was to declare my self a Commons- under the democratic control of the community. OK, a Commons- under the democratic control of the community, what does that mean?
Commons are a shared resource but they are neither Public nor Private. Traditionally they were common land or other resources, but you could also include Open Source Software. Modern life has removed the distinction between public and private. I see myself as a Commons, a resource available to the community, providing many different things; goods and services, yes, but also intangible benefits, like a smile or tea served from a teapot with home-made cake when you are down, or a timely piece of advice.
Under Democratic control. I am unsure of the best way forward. I don’t know whether I do the right thing or waste my time. Some advice and guidance would help me. Also, we need to start working together to build a new world for us all to share, why not start with myself?
Be the change you want to see in the world or Model the behaviour you want to see used. I want more people to join me. I want the Commons to be regained, defended and extended. I can’t ask you to share you life with others if I don’t do it by example.
You might think of this as a piece of Conceptual Art if you like. It isn't but you can think of it that way if it helps. I want to promote dialogue; The World it is a’changing! We need to start talking to each other about how we are going to organise things. The people who have been telling us that they are in charge have been shown to be self-serving, corrupt fools who have lost legitimacy. The demand for Growth, more goods, higher pay, business as usual cannot continue, and by trying this experiment I am hoping to put forward a different way of living.
We all want to do good. Jobs prevent us from being all we could be. Fear stops us giving ourselves freely.
We are more than a commodity. A job turns you into a commodity. I am closer to a forest. I have Multiple “fringe" benefits rather than one product. I have many different experiences to offer.
Trust. I want to trust in those around me, and be trusted by them.
Transitional Position. I don’t have all the answers but I am willing to experiment. To test ideas in the laboratory of my life.
Consume Less. Share More, Enjoy Life. We have to work together for this to work.
How I envisage it working
I (will) have a website. Projects that, I and you, want me to work on. My calendar, It will show my budget needs and have a way of coming to consensus or majority decision, and a chance for you to donate some cash eg rent or other resource eg food to help make it happen. You will get to decide what and how I do it through democratic community control. The commons is not public. To vote will cost you £1 per week of something in kind.
Things I will do
Essentially whatever the community decides.
Maybe you need someone to cover the office for a day.
Maybe you need help at the party.
Maybe you need someone to visit the chemist once a week.
Or whatever you decide
and you will be saying who else I should help and in what way. I will be an agent of the local civil society. I have a few ideas of my own so it may be best to work with what we have got.- Community. I have worked on community events, etc but I want to do more. I think we have to start talking and working with our local community. Ideas I would like to develop include: Weekly meals for all, public astronomy, litter picking blitz, residents associations, green spaces forums.
- Theatre & Arts. I trained as a dancer and actor from a young age. I have performed in many productions. I also worked for 10years as a theatre dogsbody before specialising in Box Office and Marketing.
- Food. I like to cook. I would be happy to cook for you.
- Permaculture. Transition. Sustainable future. Going off Grid. Giving away your surplus. I have a piece of paper that says I was interested enough to pay and study Permaculture. Everything is about design. The more publicly held and understood the better for the commons.
- Education. I have worked in education and training for many years; In-house theatre training, video production, I have also been a support worker for Deaf and disabled people in secondary and 16+ education. I like to learn and share what I learn.
- Co-op. One of the long-term goals is to set up a workers co-op that will focus on Transition in peoples lives, their work and the wider world.
- Graphic Novels. I have made a few. I want to make more. I have some ideas.
- Volunteering. I want to work with established groups and help them flourish. Peace News, Unlibrary
- Foraging. I want to explore the Common foods, make a urban forage map. Pick fruit in peoples gardens, turn some into jars of jam to give away.
- Research. Collate information and disseminate it.
- Communication support. I know British Sign Language. I have a 1st class Hons. degree in Deaf Studies, seems a shame not to do something with it.
- Video. I have edited and made a few films in my time. I can help.
- Life. Everything else.
What you get for your money
I am cheap. You can just give me £1 when you feel like it and receive 1 week of voting rights and be able to make 1 project proposal (which could, for example, involve me cooking/painting/gardening for you for a day) or go all the way and give me £52= £1 per week. I will even take payment in kind. For that donation to paying my rent (equal to one weeks rent) you get-
- At least, 1 day of my total attention doing whatever you require. If the community thinks I should do more for you then that is what I will do but for £52 you will have 1 day dedicated to you to decide.
- The chance to have a meal. Let me know and I will cook a bit extra, or I could cook at yours.
- Stuff I make & do. You will get a bit of it. Puppets, Posters, Pickles, Planetariums, plants, poems, all the stuff I “own" am happy to share. Books, music, films, games.
- Democratic control over Me. So you get to decide what I do everyday.
- Feeling special. I don’t need lot’s of money. Just enough to pay the essentials, so I don’t want lots of people giving me money. I just need a few, as many as I could properly serve without breaking one of the rules of the commons; that it should be improved or in a better state of health after use.
- You will be creating a new world model. We all know this way isn’t working, and will probably only get worse, never better. Unless we, that means you and me, start to do things differently. We need to start treating living things / reclaiming and defending the commons.
I am asking you to think beyond your personal gain (a bit) and manage a beautiful resource (me).
I am not really trying to offer you a commodity I am trying to work out a way to live as neither slave nor master. I am not selling myself; I am no one special. I am not asking you to buy something off me; I am offering it freely. I just need to pay the rent, and to feel that I am doing good in the World, and I need a bit of help and guidance. I think the Commons need reclaiming and defending; I am trying to set an example.
Things I think I need on website
Spectrum tool; where does everyone stand on a project? Agree <-----> Disagree
Voting by majority but option to go consensus if needed.
Project page in a format that allows votes to be cast, and time to be allocated.
Calendar: What am I spending my time doing?
Budget Visualiser: What am I spending money on?
Blog; I say something.
Forum; Community to discuss, all can view.
Twitter feed; all can comment, only the community decide in forum.
Way of donating Cash, in kind and keeping track of who does what.
Maybe I should just start “free” with Blogger etc? But I think I may have to spend more time maintaining the “free” option rather than paying some cash to get it integrated.
All will be open. I will publish weekly (or monthly, you decide) accounts.
Basically I need-
£52 per week at least for the rent which in total is £109:42 per week.
£25 for food (I plan to forage and grow more but would like to feed people communally)
£25 per week on other bills.
About £102 per week, and I would be very comfortable and secure.
£408 per month or £4896 per year.
If you have any queries or questions please feel free to ask. If you think I am unclear or you think I should expand or edit this post let me know.
Consume Less. Share More, Enjoy Life.
OK I seem to have exceeded a word limit. Posting in chunks...
ReplyDeletePreamble:
I am in the odd position of being voluntarily unemployed at the moment. I could not stand where I was working, vicious office politics prevented me helping clients. I also found that twenty years talking to people about the negative shit in their lives takes a toll on you. I am looking for what to do next and anxious about how I will make a living and be happy. I am also looking for ways to put my skills and experience to use so I’m very intrigued by your thinking.
The way that shit is going this sort of thing seems quite zeitgeisty. Since you posted a friend from my ex-workplace is glad to be taking redundancy since she cannot take the bullying anymore. Our jobs were being butchered and downgraded so there was little point staying since we could no longer help the people that we wanted to effectively. She is looking to set herself up as a fixer (bad word - her skills are in the advice sector) for disadvantaged/disabled people using the skills she has developed to analyse their problems, identify what she can sort and find other people that can help with the rest. Unfortunately with three kids and a mortgage she badly needs cash so she is looking at ways to insert herself into the Big Society push of council services to the poorly-regulated sector.
I think what you are describing is admirable. “Be the change you want to see in the world“ and “Consume Less. Share More, Enjoy Life“ are maxims that it would be fair to say that I struggle with. My gut reaction to your scheme is anxiety, but that is not necessarily an indicator one way or another, it probably says more about me than you.
It is important to care about those in your area. That was what I loved about my job and after twenty years it also burned me out. I am trying to focus my comments on the practicalities of your plans so please do not take them as being negative, I think this could be a great idea done right.
Part 2...
ReplyDeleteThoughts and suggestions:
How does it help you develop? Be clear with yourself what you want from it so that you can tell if you are getting it or not.
How do you avoid turning into the odd job guy? I would suggest having very clear and published ground rules.
- What are you trying to achieve?
- What are you expecting from other people?
- What are your boundaries?
- Stick to them.
Do not get isolated. Can you get other people involved, not just as clients but on your side of the deal?
Look after yourself. Make sure your needs are met.
Democratic control - thoughts on how this could work:
- You badly need an effective means of advertising, communicating and voting outside of your browser. A significant percentage of those needing a hand will be disenfranchised if you rely on online communication. What community centres do you have? What community organisers can you liaise with? Who already sorts things around you? Work with them. How did people organise before twitter?
- I am a little unclear on how people are paying you. If they give a pound that gets them a vote. Do you then have a £52 threshold before you will do something for one day? I’m not sure how this works.
- Will people accept that they can give you money and that it may go towards you working on a project that they do not support - I guess that this is one of the basic problems with democracy and taxation in any system ;)
- If people are paying for voting rights how will you account to them for the money received? Are you going to publish what you have been paid/given so that people trust that they get what they pay for (even if that is just a vote).
How will you balance things if you feel the need to become more deeply involved in on particular project or person needing support and the community is voting/paying you in a different direction?
What about the future? Do you have an exit strategy if this does not work? As above, how will you exit if it develops into something brilliant that you are not expecting?
“Foraging. I want to explore the Common foods, make a urban forage map. Pick fruit in peoples gardens, turn some into jars of jam to give away.” Love this bit (also love jam). I have been talking to a guy in Sheffield who raids supermarket bins for the good stuff and makes what he doesn’t need available for other people on his front wall. He is also trying to organise people to look out for fallen wood for wood for our stoves and wood burners so that we can round up a van and a chainsaw when we get lucky. Harder in London I guess.
Public liability insurance - stuff will go wrong and you cannot rely on other people not needing to recoup losses or just being arseholes. (My experience is that listening to their grievance and an early apology restores a lot of goodwill and reduces consequences, but do not rely on this)
Part 3...
ReplyDeleteMoney - one of the things that I learned working alongside debt advisers is that you need more money for general expenses than you think just by totting up what you think you spend each week. Does that £25 allow for buying clothes and shoes at odd intervals through the year? There will also be one-off larger expenses and unexpected costs that will bump up your average weekly needs. These can badly fuck up your finances if you have not built in something to allow for them. Also you will need a break or you will go insane, so budget something for getting away on a cheap holiday occasionally. Add in any business expenses. I think you can survive on £100pw but I would not say you will be secure.
How are you planning (or not) on fitting with the tax and benefits system? You might not want to play but HMRC probably will. Take advice but I think that you would count as self-employed and you may need to demonstrate that your profits are way below your expenses. Keep receipts. I think payment in kind is also taxable, but am not sure. This all depends on your attitude to playing along with the system, but bear in mind that later on if you do find your life’s desire as a career and are trying to set yourself up as a legit on-the-books trader (musician, artist, accountant, fuck I don’t know) then you may not want any skeletons in your closet.
Do you want to stay on top of NI contributions? It is very hard to make predictions about how the benefits system will play out in future but it is going to be much harder for them to take away pensions based on contributions than to scrap, restrict or reduce the means-tested part of the system once you are old and in need of heating more than you need idealism. Did I say get advice?
Good luck with all of this. If you do get it up and running I will be wanting to see how it all works out. This could be a lot of fun.