Occupy the commons - by James Quilligan
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Transcript of Occupy the commons - by James Quilligan
Occupy the Commons James B. Quilligan
Garrett Hardin
• A pasture is shared by herders
• No herder has an incentive to limit the number of cattle put into the pasture
• Pasture will be overgrazed and destroyed
Tragedy of the Commons
Private Sector Government
Failed Commons
Open Access Common Pool Resources - unorganized, unclaimed resources
Open SourceCommons - organized through informal practices, norms and rules
Commons
Inherited or created gifts that we organize, use and steward during our lifetimes through informal practices and rules which we pass on to future generations
Modes of Commons
• Traditional - seas, rivers, land, forests, atmosphere, arts, indigenous communities
• Emerging - solar energy, internet, social networks, intellectual property
Key Elements
• Resources
• Community
• Boundaries
• Rules
• Value
Resources
Depletable Replenishablematerial, natural, genetic social, cultural, intellectual, solar, digital, natural, genetic
Community
• Producers
• Managers
• Providers
• Users
Boundaries
• Extent of the Resource
• Community Membership
Rules
• Preservation
• Access
• Use
• Governance
• Production
Value
• Arises from the gifts of nature
• The capacities and cultures of past generations
• The collective capacities of people today
Karl Polanyi
Society-centered markets Market-centered societies
Rural households Urban markets
Matriarchal Patriarchal
Credit-based Debt-based
How Did We Lose The Commons?
• Inalienable rights eroded
• Commodification
• Enclosure of property
• Division of labor
• Universal standard of value
• Private and public goods
Duopoly
Market State
Liberal Capitalism
Market State freedom equality
Distorted through
capital accumulation enforced private property economic & social inequality sovereign boundaries interest-bearing money state coercion
Modern Society
Market State
less government more governmenteconomic freedom social equality
(people & their common resources taken for granted)
Third Sector?
Market State
Civil Society
Civil Society
• A genuine voice of public opinion, but ...
• Endorses private ownership models
• Doesn’t involve resource users in production
Commons
Groups of people produce and organize their own resources and create value through their practices, norms and rules
Devolves Power to Local Communities
• Pluralism
• Subisdiarity
• Polycentrism
• Checks & Balances
• Horizontal Democracy
Ends the Division of Labor
Private Producers Govt Producers & Managers & Managers
Workers/Users/Consumers become producers of their own resources
Restores Democratic Decision-Making
• Co-Governance
• Co-Production
• Social Charters
• Commons Trusts
Creates Trusts
• Marx: Ownership of the means of production
• Commoners: Production of the means of non-ownership, i.e. trusts
Transforms Property
Private Ownership State Ownership
Commons Trusteeship
Cooperative associations distribute decision-making and productive power among resource users, workers and producers
Redefines Resource Domains
Recovers the Vision of Democracy
Market State
spontaneous, rule-based self-organizing society system
Commons self-organizing communities produce and manage their own resources through informal practices, norms and rules
Creates Living Democracies
Market State freedom equality
Commons people participate actively in their own cultureresource users become producers of their own resources ownership > trusteeship
Enclosure Movement
Liberal Capitalism
15th C - Today
Government and market enclosures remove people
from the sources of their living wealth and sustenance
Nonclosure Movement
Occupy the Commons
• Governments and markets are not the solution to failed commons, but the cause of their overuse and deterioration
• Roll back enclosures that deny the rights of people to their means of survival, livelihood and well-being
• ... and do not promote life, human dignity, security and peace
Occupy all Commons
• Social
• Cultural
• Intellectual
• Digital
• Solar
• Natural
• Genetic
• Material
Why Occupy?
• Financial system >
• Monetary system >
• Ecological and energy crises >
• Low-carbon production and trade >
• Redefine the boundaries of resource domains
Occupy the Commons
• Transform the economy and government into component parts of the biosphere >
• Redefine the boundaries of resource domains >
• Occupy the commons ...