The commons

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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.

Historical Movements in Defense of the Commons

• The Diggers
• The Levellers
• Kett's Rebellion

Contemporary Movements in Defense of the Commons

• Abahlali baseMjondolo in South Africa
• The Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee in India
• The EZLN in Mexico
• Fanmi Lavalas in Haiti
• The Homeless Workers' Movement in Brazil
• The Landless Peoples Movement in South Africa
• The Landless Workers' Movement in Brazil
• Movement for Justice en el Barrio in the United States of America
• Narmada Bachao Andolan in India
• The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign in South Africa

Key Theorists of the Commons

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

See also

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

References

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).

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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