Numerous organizations and movements worldwide oppose the neoliberal paradigm of privatization and have dedicated themselves to the preservation and the sustainable and innovative use of the commons. A selection of protagonists from different commons-friendly initiatives will discuss the following questions:

Which decisive struggles for the commons are being fought today? Who are the driving forces of privatization, who are the ones opposing it? How can the power relations between both sides be assessed? What do the conflicts about the access to the genetic information of plants have in common with those about copyrighted music? How are seed breeding and the production of free software connected? What unites the struggle for the preservation of biological diversity with the activism for the availability of public knowledge? Which visions do all these different struggles share and by which means and strategies do they operate? How can they join forces?

panel discussion with Percy Schmeiser (CA),  Petra Buhr (DE), Ronaldo Lemos (BR), Massimo De Angelis (UK), Stefan Meretz (DE).

opening statement: David Bollier (US)

moderator: Silke Helfrich (DE)