Manual for
KOMMUNE
 Kommune infostand |
 Kommune cafe |
Introduction:
KOMMUNE is a small commune/municipality initiated by persons living in
an area. KOMMUNE enables persons to work with their local environment
and improve various living conditions in collaboration with other persons.
It aims to take on the responsibility, when necessary, of for example
urban planning, housing, public furniture, public utilities, playgrounds,
childcare, healthcare, schools, libraries, roads, waste etc.
Any person or group of persons can initiate their own KOMMUNE. Any person
can join an existing KOMMUNE. N55 has established a local KOMMUNE called
N55 KOMMUNE in Copenhagen.
Background:
Existing municipalities are often large concentrations of power
Concentrations of power do not always respect the rights of persons. If
one denies this fact one gets: concentrations of power always respect
the rights of persons. This does not correspond with our experiences.
Concentrations of power characterize our society. Concentrations of power
force persons to concentrate on participating in competition and power
games, in order to create a social position for themselves. Concurrently
with the concentrations of power dominating our conscious mind and being
decisive to our situations, the significance of our fellow humans diminishes.
And our own significance becomes the significance we have for concentrations
of power, the growth of concentrations of power, and the conflicts of
concentrations of power.
The decisions made by municipalities are often decisive to the existence
of persons that live in a certain area. Politicians, urban planners, architects,
civil servants, etc, do not necessarily live in the areas affected by
their decisions
Large companies that represent large concentrations of power are turning
cities into centers for shopping, banks and offices and other commercial
entities, leaving space only for the wealthy to live in the cities. As
a consequence, a monoculture is appearing, leaving no room for diversity.
In many cases, infrastructure and public services are privatized and land
and buildings that were previously publicly owned, are sold out. This
means that companies now can make a profit on things that persons used
to share
KOMMUNE politics:
Attention is directed to the logical relation between persons and the
rights of persons. Persons should be treated as persons and therefore
as having rights. If we deny this assertion it goes wrong: here is a person,
but this person should not be treated as a person, or: here is a person,
who should be treated as a person, but not as having rights. Therefore
we can only talk about persons in a way that makes sense if we know that
persons have rights.
The fundamental purpose of politics is to protect the rights of persons.
If we deny this assertion we get: the fundamental purpose of politics
is not to protect the rights of persons. This suggests that one of the
basic tasks of politicians could be, for example, to renounce the rights
of themselves and of others. This has no meaning. Or that there is a more
important purpose to politics which does not have anything to do with
persons and therefore also has nothing to do with the rights of persons.
That is plain nonsense. Therefore, we now know that the basic purpose
of politics is to protect the rights of persons. In other words we can
not talk about politics in a way that makes sense without the assumption
that the fundamental purpose of politics is to protect the rights of persons.
Concentrations of power do not always respect the rights of persons. If
one denies this fact one gets: concentrations of power always respect
the rights of persons. This does not correspond with our experiences.
It is obvious that if we want to protect the rights of persons we have
to organize in as small concentrations of power as possible. Since the
fundamental purpose of politics is to protect the rights of persons it
is of decisive importance to politics that we seek to organize in as small
concentrations of power as possible. It is clear that we can not leave
it to others to protect the rights of persons. The notion that it is possible
to elect a small number of people to protect the rights of a vast number
of people is absurd, because here we are by definition talking about concentration
of power, and thus about a concentration of power. And we know that concentrations
of power do not always respect the rights of persons. It is clear that
if one is conscious of persons and the rights of persons one must be concerned
with politics. It is clear that if one is a person and thus concerned
with politics and conscious of the rights of persons, it becomes of decisive
importance to organize in as small concentrations of power as possible.
It is recommended that a KOMMUNE is divided into smaller parts if it becomes
too powerful.
Making a KOMMUNE:
Any person can make a new or join an existing KOMMUNE. If persons make
a KOMMUNE any other person should be allowed to join the KOMMUNE. If you
want to join N55’s list of existing KOMMUNE initiatives with your
version of KOMMUNE, email N55 on n55@n55.dk .
An updated list of KOMMUNE initiatives and information about their activities
will be available at www.N55.dk/KOMMUNE.html
Maintenance:
The things initiated by a KOMMUNE are maintained by the KOMMUNE.
List of existing KOMMUNE INITIATIVES:
N55 has established a local KOMMUNE in Copenhagen. Email N55 at n55@n55.dk
in order to participate
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