COMMONS MAGAZINE
Making Worlds: An Occupy Wall Street Forum on the Commons
February 16-18, 2012
Church of the Ascension, 122 Java Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
An Invitation
On February 8, 1921 twenty thousand people, braving temperatures so low that musical instruments froze, marched in a funeral procession in the town of Dimitrov, a suburb of Moscow. They came to pay their respects to a man, Petr Kropotkin, and his philosophy, anarchism.
Some 90 years later few know of Kropotkin. And the word anarchism has been so stripped of substance that it has come to be equated with chaos and nihilism. This is regrettable, for both the man and the philosophy that he did so much to develop have much to teach us in 2012.
Throughout Europe, we are witnessing massive transfers of resources from the public to the private sphere. The political responses to the crises have been defined by austerity measures and by cuts to social spending, driving Europe further into recession.
Before her untimely death at 40 in January, from cancer she had been battling ferociously for a year and a half, the artist, scholar, and activist Dara Greenwald made clear that the first thing she wanted her friends to do after she died was to throw a big dance party. When the time came, Dara’s mandate, not just her permission, to dance in the void she had left behind generated a supremely joyous affair. Never have I seen so many people at a dance party actually dancing at one time.
In December while you were wrapped in holiday festivities, a huge shift was occurring in the American economy—one that will have a major influence on our towns and cities.
What happened? A lot of Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa and Solstice shopping migrated to the Internet.
While a great many commons seek to develop alternatives to conventional businesses – and even to bypass markets altogether – the struggle to democratize capital should not be lost in the shuffle. Popular ownership of capital assets and business enterprises is still a great strategy for building the commons and advancing the public good. Fortunately, there’s a growing enthusiasm for this approach.
It’s worth a long night’s conversation over your beverage of choice to explore the history of how becoming institutionalized affected the course of the civil rights and women’s movements, among others. Was the radical spirit of each distracted or stifled? Each of those movements came out of the gate with a powerful set of demands. Yet, once organizational dynamics took hold and divisions were confirmed by structure (think SCLC vis-à-vis SNCC, or NOW vis-à-vis NARAL) the chance of maintaining one strong voice committed to radical change diminished.
A few weeks ago John C. Nienstedt, Catholic Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis wrote a widely publicized letter to a priest threatening to strip him of his “ministerial assignments” if he spoke out against a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
Is the Super Bowl a socialist enterprise? Yes the language is provocative but not, I believe, inappropriate. After all Indiana, the site of the next Super Bowl, is currently governed by those who insist government should play a minimal role and the word they, and their Republican counterparts around the country use to describe those who disagree is socialist.
By any definition, the February 5th Super Bowl in Indianapolis is socialist from head to toe.
Recent comments by Mitt Romney, the probable Republican nominee for President all but guarantee the inequality issue will remain front and center this election year.
Recent comments by Mitt Romney, the probable Republican nominee for President all but guarantee the inequality issue will remain front and center this election year.
You are likely one of the unsung heroes of modern life—part of a massive commons-based mobilization of people who keep our society and economy running.
I am talking about parents raising kids, friends and family helping out parents, people caring for their aged relatives and neighbors; volunteers doing what needs to be done in the community, and anyone looking out for the common good.
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You are likely one of the unsung heroes of modern life—part of a massive commons-based mobilization of people who keep our society and economy running.
I am talking about parents raising kids, friends and family helping out parents, people caring for their aged relatives and neighbors; volunteers doing what needs to be done in the community, and anyone looking out for the common good.
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Let me suggest a sure fire way Barack Obama can win a second term. Stand in the doorway of a post office scheduled for closing and declare, “Not on my watch.” He will be standing with tens of millions of Americans who are rising up to defend our must trusted and ubiquitous public institution.
You would expect a Business School to focus its teaching on making profits from the world as it is instead of encouraging students to fundamentally change the world by studying the practice and potential of the commons.
FICTION, POETRY & TALES
Legends of Robin Hood
Tales of a principled English bandit who gives to the poor while protecting the commons have been told and retold since the 14th century.
“Stone Soup”
This French fairy tale reminds us of the rewards of cooperation.
“Remembrances”
John Clare ( 1832).
An English Romantic poet’s lament for the lost common lands of his youth and the vital way of life they fostered.
Resurrection
Leo Tolstoy (1899).
In his last novel, Tolstoy chronicles a repentant Russian prince who decides to return his vast estate to the peasants.
1. The Commons is Not an Abstract Theory, But Rather an Organic Organizing Principle of Human Civilization
In May 2008, On the Commons launched Our Water Commons, a collaborative program seeking to make the governance process involved in water stewardship more participatory, democratic, and community-centered. For two years, Our Water Commons developed and implemented commons-based water management solutions through local and international projects.
The Great Lakes are not for sale
As the largest source of freshwater on this continent, the Great Lakes seem infinite and eternal, a remarkable natural inheritance left for us by glaciers that receded millions of years ago. But in truth, our Lakes are being stolen from us right now. And we could lose them forever.
I declare the Great Lakes a commons because I believe:
I pledge to stand with others to reclaim the Great Lakes as a living Commons.