Why the P2P and Commons Movement Must Act Trans-Locally and Trans-Nationally

Article by Michel Bauwens here. Some edited excerpts follow:

"When capital becomes too dominant in the Capital-State-Nation system, the nation, the locus of community and reciprocity dynamics, revolts and mobilizes, and forces the state to discipline Capital. [...] The bug is that ‘Capital’ has developed a trans-national logic and capacity. Globalized and financial neoliberalism has fundamentally weakened the capacity of the nation-state to discipline its activities."

"Our own recommendations in the P2P Foundation, following our work on Commons Transitions, is that progressive coalitions at the city and nation-state level should first of all develop policies that increase the capacity for autonomy of citizens and the new economic forces aligned around the commons.
Simply initiating left-Keynesian state policies will not be sufficient and will in all likelihood be met with stiff trans-national opposition. These pro-commons policies should be focused not just on local autonomy, but on the creation of trans-national and trans-local capacities, interlinking the efforts of their citizens and ethical and generative entrepreneurs to the global civic and ethical entrepreneurial networks that are currently in development. [...] The only way to achieve systemic change at the planetary level is to build counter-power, i.e. alternative global governance. The transnational capitalist class must feel that its power is curtailed, not just by nation-states which may organize themselves inter-nation-ally, but by transnational forces representing the global commoners and their livelihood organizations."