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The Commons refers to resources that are collectively owned.^[1] This can include everything from land to software.^[2] The process by which the commons are transformed into private property is often termed enclosure.

The commons were traditionally defined as the elements of the environment - forests, atmosphere, fisheries or grazing land - that we all share. These are the tangible and intangible aspects of the environment that no-one owns but everybody enjoys.

But there are other conceptions of the commons. Today, the commons need to be understood within the cultural sphere as well. The commons within this sphere include literature, music, performing arts, visual arts, design, film, video, television, radio, community arts and sites of heritage. The commons can also include ‘public goods’ such as public space, public education, health and the infrastructure that allows our society to function (such as electricity or water delivery systems). There also exists the ‘life commons’ – the human genome that makes us a unique species. Though a central government may ‘manage’ these, realistically we have inherited them and any governing body only holds them in trust for the public as well as future generations.

The commons can also include the areas of human relationships such as the need for safety, trust, cooperation, shared intellect and so on. These are aspects of culture that our society shares and promotes a more functioning community.

The Ecologist (1996: 9)^[3] refers to the commons as “the social and political space where things get done and where people have a sense of belonging and have an element of control over their lives”, providing “sustenance, security and independence”.

For the commons to thrive, we must work to protect and enhance our natural environment and promote aspects of our cultural heritage. An important aspect of this is the sharing of information and the education of the wider public of Australia.

There are a number of important features that can be used to describe true commons. The first is that true commons cannot be commodified – and if they are – they cease to be commons. The second aspect is that while they are neither public nor private the Ecologist (1996: 9)^[4] claims that they tend to be managed by local communities. While this may be true to a degree, commons cannot be exclusionary. That is, they cannot have borders built around them otherwise they become private property. The third aspect of the commons is that, unlike resources, they are not scarce but abundant (the Ecologist 1993: 9).^[5] In fact, if managed properly, they work to overcome scarcity.

[edit] Historical Movements in Defense of the Commons

• The Diggers
• The Levellers
• Kett's Rebellion

[edit] Contemporary Movements in Defense of the Commons

• Abahlali baseMjondolo in South Africa
• The Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee in India
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• The EZLN in Mexico
• Fanmi Lavalas in Haiti
• The Homeless Workers' Movement in Brazil
• The Landless Workers' Movement in Brazil
• Movement for Justice en el Barrio in the United States of America
• Narmada Bachao Andolan in India

[edit] Key Theorists of the Commons

• Iain Boal
• Silvia Federici
• Michael Hardt
• David Harvey
• Peter Linebaugh
• William Morris
• Antonio Negri
• Elinor Ostrom
• Raj Patel
• Kenneth Rexroth
• Ariel Vercelli
• Gerrard Winstanley

[edit] See also

• Accumulation by dispossession
• Biopiracy
• Ejido
• Enclosure
• Common land
• Primitive accumulation of capital
• The Tragedy of the Commons
• Tragedy of the anticommons

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Hardt, Michael. Politics of the Common (2009).
• Zizek, Slavoj. Censorship Today: Violence, or Ecology as a New Opium for the Masses (2007).
• Linebaugh, Peter. Charters of Liberty in Black Face and White Face: Race, Slavery and the Commons (2005).
• Hardin, Garrett. The Tragedy of the Commons (1968).
• Angus, Ian. The Myth of the Tragedy of the Commons (2008).

[edit] External links

• The Commoner
• The Commons: Open Society Sustainability Initiative
• On the Commons - dedicated to exploring ideas and action about the commons—which encompasses natural assets such as oceans and clean air as well as cultural endowments like the Internet, scientific research and the arts.
• The Peer to Peer Foundation
• iCommons
• The Factory of the Common - network of research events that explore the dimension of the ‘common’ and its institutions in times of financial crisis and cognitive capitalism.

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