Oekonux

URL = http://www.oekonux.org/

Description

"The originally German Oekonux (pronounced "urkonooks") project was founded to research the possibilities of free software to fundamentally change the current political and economic structures.

Oekonux considers that the mode of production of free software represents a new mode of production that has the potential to supersede the capitalist mode of production." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oekonux)

History

George Dafermos:

"The P2PF was not alone in theorizing peer production from a radical perspective at the time. A project that was heavily involved throughout this period in the development of peer production theory was Oekonux. The project was launched in 1999 in Germany by Stefan Merten and a small group of activists and intellectuals who were interested in exploring the subversive potential of this model. Its main thesis was that the development of Linux and F/OSS is prefigurative of a mode of production without the alienation that is characteristic of wage labor, which can transcend capitalism, leading to a free “society beyond labor, money, exchange” (Merten interviewed in Richardson, 2001). In this “GPL society,” there would be no coercion and people would engage in productive projects out of intrinsic motivation: this would allow their “self-unfolding”, while benefiting society as a whole. Based on an analysis of peer production’s transcendent potential that was largely influenced by the work of Karl Marx, Oekonux theorized peer production as a “germ form,” thus hypothesizing that the peer production model could gradually become hegemonic, superseding capitalism (for a more extensive discussion of Oekonux theories, see Merten, 2000, 2009; Merten & Meretz, 2009; Meretz, 2012; Richardson, 2001; Euler, 2016) Oekonux members interacted mainly through two mailing lists: one for German speakers and another for discussions in English. In the beginning, most of the members of the group were from Germany, but because of the open and outward-looking character of the project, that soon changed. From 2001 until 2009, Oekonux organized four important international conferences: in 2001 in Dortmund, in 2002 in Berlin, in 2004 in Vienna and in 2009 in Manchester.10 These conferences were unique in that they were the first (and only) ones to focus exclusively on the exploration of F/OSS and peer production as a mode of production for the transition to post-capitalism. Their unique character attracted thinkers from all over the world, such as Graham Seaman (2003; 2004), Christian Siefkes (2007; 2009), Johan Söderberg (2008), and Raoul Victor (2003; 2004; 2009) who made significant contributions to the project. Michel Bauwens was also involved in the project and as a longtime member of the mailing list, he played an active role in the Oekonux debates. In fact, the ideas of Oekonux resonated so well with his own that in 2009 he co-organized the fourth and final Oekonux conference on “Free Software and Beyond: The World of Peer Production” in Manchester, highlighting the affinity between the theories and aspirations of the P2PF and Oekonux. This synergy between the two projects attracted the interest of many people from the network of the P2PF, thereby helping the propagation of Oekonux theories." (http://peerproduction.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Chapter-07_Prophets-and-Advocates-of-Peer-Production.pdf)

Discussion

Magnus Lawrie:

"Sharing, and the exchange of ideas, then, exist as both the mode and form of the knowledge economy. Freely distributed immaterial forms (services such as software), embody and perpetuate activity in this domain. The economy of intangible forms derives value from ’immaterial labour’. These are the main subjects of inquiry for Oekonux, a German and English mailing list-based project. Oekonux participants theorize about ’germinating forms of the GPL-society’. The marxist-informed discussion aims to learn the lessons of 20th century revolutionary movements. Stefen Merten, a defining voice in this community, explains this work in a paper, ’Milestones on the way to the GPL-society’. He says, that because of the contradiction between mechanization and profit, capitalism has entered a crisis phase from which it cannot recover. A way is now open for a society modelled on the ’special features’ of GNU/Linux (including therefore, the GPL). Oekonux in 2003, sees that society is moving through the series of initialization procedures before it will reach the run-mode of the GPL-society. In this future society, ”...people will be free to arrange their relations to each other and to things consciously and by free decision” (Merten 2003, p.12)." (http://ditch.org.uk/download/forms_and_modes_free_software_society.pdf)