[P2P-F] Fwd: THE STRUGGLE FOR THE COMMONS

[Michel Bauwens]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David Bollier <david at bollier.org>
Date: Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 3:55 AM
Subject: Fwd: THE STRUGGLE FOR THE COMMONS
To: Silke Helfrich <Silke.Helfrich at gmx.de>, Michel Bauwens <
michelsub2004 at gmail.com>


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*THE STRUGGLE FOR THE COMMONS*

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*by Jay Walljasper, The Nation, 29 September 2011.*

** **

*Jay Walljasper, a senior fellow at On the Commons and editor of
OnTheCommons.org, is the author, most recently, of *All That We Share: A
Field Guide to the Commons* (The New Press)*.****

** **

The commons is an old value that’s resurfacing as a fresh approach to
twenty-first-century crises such as escalating economic inequality, looming
ecological disruption and worsening social alienation.****

** **

In essence, the commons means everything that belongs to all of us, and the
many ways we work together to use these assets to build a better society.
This encompasses fresh air and clean water, public spaces and public
services, the Internet and the airwaves, our legal system, scientific
knowledge, biodiversity, language, artistic traditions, fashion styles,
cuisines and much more. Taken together, it represents a vast inheritance
bequeathed equally to every human -- and one that, if used wisely, will
provide for future generations.****

** **

Tragically, this wealth is being stolen in the name of economic efficiency
and global competitiveness. As the disparity between the world’s richest
individuals and everyone else grows, a massive takeover of the commons is
occurring. Through privatization schemes, land grabs, excessive copyright
and patenting claims, no-new-taxes policies, neocolonial globalization and
the gutting of government services, we are losing what is rightfully ours.
These radical policies inflict economic pain but also diminish the natural
world, our sense of community and the ability to participate in decisions
affecting our future.****

** **

Of course, this is nothing new. It has been happening ever since feudal
lords in **Europe** enclosed forests and grazing lands (the original meaning
of the word “commons”), which helped set the stage for the brutality of the
Industrial Revolution and colonial invasions. The assault on the commons has
intensified over the past thirty years, however, because of the rise of
market ideology as the overpowering force in international politics.****

** **

But all is not lost. We still depend on and take advantage of the commons
every minute of the day, from the tap water we use to brush our teeth in the
morning to the fairy tales we tell our kids at bedtime. We have no choice
but to redouble efforts to save the commons in its many forms, from
essential public services in our communities to net neutrality to a spirit
of cooperation in our everyday lives. As awareness of what belongs to all of
us grows among progressives, the commons is gradually emerging as both a
critique and a strategy to challenge the dominance of market-based values at
every level of our society.****

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* * *****

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The work of the commons points us toward a brighter future where the
out-of-control individualism of modern society is balanced with a new
appreciation of what we can accomplish together -- a welcome shift from “me”
to “we.” This can range from community gardens and budget-cut protests at
the grassroots level to open-source initiatives in professional fields to
economic justice and environmental campaigns in the political world. (Of
course, most people doing commons work don’t call it that, and many may not
be familiar with the term at all; for them it’s simply the “common good.”)**
**

** **

Although a new concept to us, the commons stands as a central organizing
principle of indigenous societies, peasant communities and many advanced
industrial nations. Social democracy, as practiced in **Europe** and other
places, embodies a basic commons principle -- that no one should be denied
basic needs like food, housing, healthcare, daycare, education,
transportation, job training, paid vacation, a comfortable old age and a
measure of dignity in their lives.****

** **

Even American society has been grounded in the commons idea since the
beginning. Nature’s gifts are “the common property of the human race,”
declared Thomas Paine. *The Land Ordinance of 1785*, drafted by a committee
of the Continental Congress that included Thomas Jefferson, established a
cooperative model for settlement of the West (and removal of Indian nations)
by setting aside one square-mile section of every township as common
property to be used to support a public school.****

** **

New Deal legislation, crowned by the Social Security Act and the GI Bill,
drew upon a sense of the commons -- the belief that we’re all in this
together -- to elevate millions of families into the middle class. In many
cases, however, these benefits were denied to African-Americans, Latinos and
American Indians, a situation Ira Katznelson chronicles in his book *When
Affirmative Action Was White*. Repairing longstanding racial and economic
injustice remains one of the central themes of commons activism today.****

** **

Although rarely articulated as a distinct philosophy, the ideals of the
commons provided inspiration for key advancements throughout our history --
ranging from public health improvements and civic reforms of the Progressive
era to the gains made for working families by labor unions to the
accomplishments of social movements since the 1960s. All these success
stories refute frequent claims that individualism alone accounts for ****
America****’s progress.****

** **

For progressives today, a new focus on all that we share will provide a
boost in forging strategies and policies that win the hearts of Americans.
Until the Great Recession hit in 2008, increasing numbers bought into the
market mantra that you cannot depend on anything you don’t own. Although
this made little sense to the majority of Americans left behind by the
economy, especially those who never shared in the prosperity, many
middle-class people came to accept that logic. Who cares that the recreation
center at the park is padlocked, when you can buy into a private health
club?****

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Then, suddenly, all that we share -- parks, libraries, transit, public
schools, a social safety net, a sense of community cooperation -- has become
increasingly important. Yet, ironically, at a time when demand for public
and civic services is rising, sharp reductions in tax revenues and
charitable giving (along with politicians’ refusal to raise taxes) mean that
these services are being cut back or eliminated.****

** **

More Americans understand it’s crazy that library hours are being slashed
when increasing numbers of people can’t afford Internet service, magazine
subscriptions or new books. It’s ridiculous that transit fares are rising
and routes are being cut when it’s harder than ever for some people to
afford cars or gas, and when it’s clear that auto emissions are affecting
the world’s climate. It’s criminal that programs helping the poor, both in
government and in civil society, are struggling to find money when so many
more people now depend on them.****

** **

In my new book, *All That We Share: A Field Guide to the Commons*, I call
this situation “a tragedy of the commons.” In fact, that’s the opposite of
how this phrase is generally understood -- that the commons itself is the
tragedy, not its destruction. This negative view dates to 1968, when
wildlife biologist Garrett Hardin published a hugely influential essay, “The
Tragedy of the Commons,” in which he speculated that collective ownership of
resources was a major factor in environmental destruction. Describing a
hypothetical common pasture, he argued that because no one owns it outright,
no one has an incentive to take care of it. This means that everyone will
graze as many cattle as possible there until the land turns barren.****

** **

Free-market advocates seized on Hardin’s parable as proof that any system
other than rigid private property leads to ruin. It took decades of work by
****Indiana** **University**** political scientist Elinor Ostrom --
co-winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Economics, the first woman so honored
-- to debunk the belief that the commons inevitably leads to tragedy.
Ostrom’s fieldwork in **Kenya**, **Switzerland**, **Guatemala**, **Nepal**,
**Turkey** and ****Los Angeles**** shows that people in real communities
generally create rules and systems to protect the resources they share.
These can be enforced by government regulation, local customs or other
means. Other examples include the rules New England lobstermen developed
through the years to prevent overfishing and the acequia irrigation systems
in arid New Mexico, which have been successfully governed by community
groups as long as four centuries.****

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The tragedy of the commons, in Hardin’s sense of the phrase, does indeed
exist, as seen in the collapse of global fish stocks and continuing
greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. But Ostrom’s research shows
that the lack of commons management, not the commons itself, is to blame.***
*

** **

The recognition of Ostrom’s work, along with a culture of online sharing
fostered by the Internet, is sparking the emergence of a new movement
championing the commons -- as a precious inheritance we must save and as a
way of looking at the world. It’s actually a movement of movements, as
activists concerned about seemingly distinct issues as indigenous rights,
fair access to the Internet, economic inequity, the environment or the
growing lack of democratic participation realize what they have in common.
There’s real potential for “more than the sum of the parts” results here.
The surprising rise of Europe’s “pirate” parties (which recently won seats
in ****Berlin****’s state legislature), sparked by opposition to restrictive
copyrights and patent laws, points to the political possibilities of the
commons.****

** **

The number of people who identify as “commoners” is still small; yet the
commons movement already has a global reach, with citizens from thirty-four
nations attending the first International Conference on the Commons, in **
Berlin** last November, including a government minister and a former
president of the national assembly from ****Ecuador****. The World Social
Forum issued a call for “all citizens of the world to deepen the notion of
the commons.” So far the ideals of the commons seem to appeal most to people
in developing nations and social democracies, where individualism and the
market mentality are not so ingrained as in the ****United States****.****

** **

But the financial implosion of 2008 and its still-reverberating side effects
could be the catalyst for Americans to rethink some of our assumptions about
what matters most in society. In the immediate aftermath of the crash, many
sought comfort in the nostrums of the Tea Party. But as it becomes clear
that high unemployment, economic uncertainty and escalating wealth
disparities are here to stay under current policies, the values of the
commons will resonate with more Americans. The emergence of this progressive
worldview could help redefine the American Dream and our political
priorities.****
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