PREFACE

v.8 n. 2 Mar./Ago. 2022

P2P&Inovação Journal is pleased to publish the second issue of its eighth volume. It's been eight years working to create and maintain a common space for authors and readers to meet freely. We have managed to cultivate researchers and students to publish their work in the journal, at the same time as we are building a readership for a thematic area under construction.

 P2P & INOVAÇÃO Journal is a biannual publication, linked to the Research Group on Collaborative Economies and P2P Production in Brazil of the Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology – IBICT. Our journal's mission is to offer a space for reflection and debate on the different experiences of solidarity economy and collaborative peer to peer production, especially considering its innovative nature in  environmental, social, political, economic and cultural spheres.

We especially want to disseminate experiences and research on the emergence of P2P production and the promotion of the common good by and in civil society. In addition, the journal is open to related topics and innovative approaches.

Among the topics of interest for publication are: science and technology policies; open science; sustainable development; innovation policies and practices; information and communication technologies; digital technologies, surveillance and privacy; public regulation of communication, access to information and use of data; artificial intelligence; intellectual property and special use licenses; culture and creative economy; organizational studies and information management; challenges and innovation in scientific communication; human rights controversies in science, technology and innovation; critique of the political economy of information and communication.

It is important to reaffirm our journal’s commitment to building another, solidary and collaborative world. Our journey began eight years ago by publishing the works written from a free course on peer production taught by Michel Bauwens at the School of Communication of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

We are living in very difficult times, in which our ability to resist and dream is being tested every day. There is a convergence of threats to life in balance. First, there is environmental devastation and an economy based on the use of fossil fuels that are resulting in global warming and climate change. The signs and symptoms of these changes are all over the globe. Yes, the earth is round.

The emergence of the global Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 is yet another symptom of global changes. The global health alert decreed by the World Health Organization was not able to prevent 480 million cases and 6 million deaths of people. The health tragedy has faces, families and addresses. These are not just morbid accounting numbers.

On the other hand, the tragedy opened important questions for life in contemporary society. The idea of a monolithic economic order that led to the naturalization of inequality and poverty seems to have fractured irreversibly. Capitalism's hands are incapable of responding to the simplest needs. On the contrary, it seems to contribute to the scarcity and increasing exclusion of social groups.

Another important aspect for us Brazilians was the affirmation of the State as an agent for promoting well-being. It was and has been the National Health System that took on the role of protecting our health. It should be mentioned that when the pandemic emerged, there was strong rhetoric of privatization of public services. The federal government itself had initiatives in this direction. Well, the results obtained by the SUS turned this destruction into something unthinkable.

Another important issue was the use of rationality, especially scientific, as foundations for the construction and execution of public policies. There was a denial of the seriousness of the pandemic and of the measures necessary to face it, including the denial of the usefulness and effectiveness of vaccines. However, rational knowledge prevailed and, despite difficulties and delays, measures were taken. This prevented an even greater humanitarian tragedy.

When the advance of vaccination covered half of the global population, and it seemed that the pandemic was moving towards a reasonable level of control, the human species showed that stupidity has difficulty defining its limits. Russia has invaded Ukraine, on Europe's eastern border, unleashing more destruction and deaths. Of course, once again, it is power and money that show their claws.

Humanity is in need of resources to expand measures to control the Covid-19 pandemic, to protect the most vulnerable and to recover social activities, such as schools. The direct consequence of the war in Ukraine is that most rich countries are doubling their military budgets. The billion-dollar arms industry is grateful for the destructive investment.

It is in this scenario that the focus and scope of the P2P&Inovação magazine are stated. It will not be egocentric individualism and the invisible hand of large corporations that will build a better and less threatened life. The world needs to change, urgently. Only solidarity and the mediation of law can protect the environment and society, and promote health and well-being in it. Only public policies on a rational basis can be effective in building another world. It's possible.

Rio de Janeiro, March 25, 2022

Clovis Ricardo Montenegro de Lima

Editor