We have been informed that Silke Helfrich has passed away. Helfrich was a long time commons-think and co-author with David Bollier on the book Free, Fair and Alive which Casco has been studying. Our thoughts go out to her close ones. Read this touching and beautiful remembrance by Bollier. We would like to leave you with this inspiring quote from the text:

“Silke and I didn’t want merely to study commons as economic resources or property, in the style of traditional academics. We wanted to understand the commons as a new/old worldview that could transform the capitalist market/state system. We wanted to learn how commoning could remake the very character of politics, culture, law, ethics, and modern understandings of life itself. After experiencing decades of tepid, ineffectual results from mainstream politics, we figured, why not go for it?”