Abstract

This paper proposes that we think of the modern, technology-enabled open movement as a powerful response to the neoliberalism which exploded in the United States and United Kingdom during the Eighties and gained far wider hegemony in the following decades. This iteration of open may be seen as starting with the free software movement in the Us, whose approach to dealing with the classically liberal foundations of Us copyright law was an explicit model for other parts of the open movement such as the Creative commons (Cc), open education, and open educational resources. This version of the recent history of open is a little different from the one that is often told today. However, it has the benefit of making clearer the sequence of innovations from which the modern open movement arose, how that movement stands firmly in opposition to the negative impacts of neoliberalism, and how it opposes attacks on academic and other freedoms. Clarifying these oppositions also makes clear what is at stake when we fight for increased use and availability of Open educational resources (Oer), and gives us a lens through which to consider various proposals for supporting that increase. We finish with both individual and collective strategies for helping increase the availability of Oer