[ox-en] Commons Manifesto: Strenghten the Commons. Now!
- From: Stefan Merten <smerten oekonux.de>
- Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:03:55 +0100
Hi!
Under
http://commonsblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/commons-manifesto-strenghten-the-commons-now/
you find a thing called Commons Manifesto. The entry says:
This thesis paper (4 pages) was developed in collective authorship
in the context of the Interdisciplinary political salons of the
Heinrich Böll Foundation's
The Heinrich Böll Foundation is the political foundation of the German
green party.
Most of the time it doesn't talk about peer production IMHO but it
mentions Free Software and Wikipedia so it's probably appropriate on
this list. I'm not 100% sure that the connections which are made in
the manifesto are really helpful.
Below you find a reply-friendly text only version generated from the
PDF found at
http://commonsblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/commonsmanifesto-engl.pdf
If you reply you may want to keep Silke in the Cc.
Grüße
Stefan
=== 8< === 8< === 8< === 8< === 8< === 8< === 8< === 8< === 8< === 8< ===
=============================
Strengthen the Commons - Now!
=============================
"Commons are institutional spaces in which we are free."
-- Yochai Benkler
How the crisis reveals the fabric of our commons
================================================
Over the last two hundred years, the explosion of knowledge,
technology, and productivity has enabled an unprecedented increase of
private wealth. This has improved our quality of life in numerous
ways. At the same time, however, we have permitted the depletion of
resources and the dwindling of societal wealth. This is brought to our
attention by current, interrelated crises in finance, the economy,
nutrition, energy, and in the fundamental ecological systems of life.
These crises are sharpening our awareness of the existence and
importance of the commons. Natural commons are necessary for our
survival, while social commons ensure social cohesion, and cultural
commons enable us to evolve as individuals. It is imperative that we
focus our personal creativity, talents, and enthusiasm on protecting
and increasing our social wealth and natural commons. This will
require a change in some basic structures of politics, economics, and
society.
* More social prosperity instead of more gross domestic product!
When the economic growth curve drops and the GDP sinks, it seems
threatening to us. Yet appearances deceive. The GDP merely maps
production figures and monetary flows without regard for their
ecological or social value; such numbers do not measure the things
we truly need to live, - they may simply count their destruction.
Social prosperity cannot be measured through such means. A reduction
in the GDP does not necessarily signal a reduction in the real
wealth of a society. Recognizing this fact widens our perspective
and opens doors for new types of solutions.
* The commons can help us overcome the crisis, but it requires
systematic advocacy.
This is our contribution to give the commons a voice.
What are the commons and why are they are significant?
======================================================
* Commons are diverse.
They are the fundamental building blocks and pre-condition of our
life and social wealth. They include knowledge and water, seeds and
software, cultural works and the atmosphere. Commons are not just
"things," however. They are living, dynamic systems of life. They
form the social fabric of a free society.
* Commons do not belong to anyone individually nor do they belong to
no one.
Different communities, from the family to global society, always
create, maintain, cultivate, and redefine commons. When this does
not happen, commons dwindle away - and in the process, our personal
and social security diminishes. Commons ensure that people can live
and evolve. The diversity of the commons helps secure our future.
* Commons are the foundation of every economic activity.
Thus, they must also be the result of what we do. We have to
constantly revitalize our commons, because everything we produce
relies upon the knowledge we inherit, the natural resources that the
Earth gives us, and cooperation with our fellow citizens. The
activity known as "the economy" is embedded in our social fabric.
Depletion of resources, failures in education, needless barriers to
creativity, and weak social bonds compromise the generativity of the
whole. Without vital commons, production is impossible. Without
commons, companies cannot earn money.
* Commons are often destroyed and thus driven from our consciousness.
One reason that commons are threatened is because many individuals
claim a limitless right to use things. But where fair usage rights
to water and seeds are curtailed by economic calculation or through
governmental policies, where resource exploitation destroys our
natural inheritance, where breach upon breach is inflicted on public
spaces, where patenting software limits creativity and impedes
economic progress, where reliable networks are lacking, there
dependency and uncertainty will increase.
There's something new afoot - a movement to reclaim the commons!
================================================================
There is a movement that reminds us of what is worth keeping. A
movement that seeks to reclaim what belongs to us, that affirms human
dignity and creates something new. This movement to build and protect
the commons is expanding the horizon of what is possible.
* Commons are being rediscovered and defended.
People all over the world are defending themselves against attacks
on the web of life that sustains them - against dams and mining
projects that destroy life and land. Against a wasteful economy that
fuels climate change. Against efforts to turn education and health
into profit-oriented thinking. Against the re-engineering of our
genetic heritage and overzealous restrictions on access to knowledge
and culture. The commoners seek only to reclaim that which belongs
to them, whether they are communities struggling to win back control
over water utilities, indigenous communities seeking to protect its
land in the Amazon Basin, or the worldwide movements for climate
justice and an open internet.
* Commons are newly created and built upon.
Countless people are creating new things for all and meaningful
social and physical spaces for themselves. They invest energy in
community gardens, carry out sustainable and ecological agriculture,
and design intergenerational living and working spaces. They produce
free software and free knowledge, and create films, music, and
images to be shared. Thus emerges a treasure of free culture
available to all. It is maintained and enhanced by many, and it has
become as indispensable as Wikipedia. Taken together, scientists and
activists, citizens and politicians are developing a robust and
innovative commons sphere - everywhere.
* Commons are maintained and cultivated.
People are fostering neighborhood institutions, looking after
playgrounds, running citizen foundations, and creating and sharing
stories, culture, and our collective memories. They are engaging
themselves, personally and directly, with the common wealth and are
pushing the state to carry out its duties to protect the commons.
For that they gain something in return, because to live in a culture
of commons means both giving and taking. This culture establishes
rights and duties equally. The commitment to our common wealth is
borne from the awareness that the current economic model endangers
our livelihoods - and fails to satisfy us at deeper levels. This
commitment corresponds to the wish for creativity and inspiration.
It is fueled by our self-directed passions, desire for social
conviviality, and a sensitivity and mutual recognition of each
other. It's all about a simple idea: the need to learn from each
other and to create excellent things for their own sake.
* Commons inspire and connect.
To take them into account requires a fundamentally different
approach in perception and action. Commons are based on communities
that set their own rules and cultivate their skills and values.
Based on these always-evolving, conflict-ridden processes,
communities integrate themselves into the bigger picture. In a
culture of commons, inclusion is more important than exclusion,
cooperation more important than competition, autonomy more important
than control. Rejecting the monopolization of information, wealth,
and power gives rise to diversity again and again. Nature appears as
a common wealth that must be carefully stewarded, and not an
ever-available property to be exploited.
* To live in a culture of the commons means to assume shared,
long-term responsibility rather than the pursuit of an ethics of
dominance.
A culture of the commons honors fairness over unilateral benefit
optimization, and interdependence rather than extreme individualism.
* The commons helps us confront one of the major social justice issues
of our time: no one may extract more from the commons than what he
gives back to the commons.
This applies to market players as well as the state. Whoever
replenishes and expands the commons, rather than just drawing from
them, deserves social recognition and praise. In the interest of
this and future generations, market players, the state, and each
individual must align their behavior and thinking with the commons.
This must become a fundamental element in any calculation of
economic, political, or personal success.
Neither no man's land nor boundless property
============================================
* The commons is not only about the legal forms of ownership.
What matters most is whether and how community-based rights to the
commons are enforced and secured. "Property entails obligations. Its
use shall also serve the public good" (Article 14 Paragraph 2,
German Constitution). This limitation, anchored in the basic law,
designates the boundaries of the availability of common pool
resources to individuals. This principle helps us recognize that
each single use has implications for resources that belong to us
all. With my phone I transmit my message through the finite
electromagnetic spectrum. My car pollutes our shared air. My work
may contain a novel thought, but I also depend upon the commons of
culture and knowledge to inform it. The usage rights of fellow
commoners are the stop signs for individual usage rights.
* Absolute and exclusive private property rights in the commons
therefore cannot be allowed.
This principle applies regardless of whether the things are of a
tangible or intangible nature, or whether they are associated with
natural, cultural, or social spheres. In order to avoid overuse and
under-utilization - the dramatic plundering of fish or the
"orphaning" of creative works, for example - any form of property
(itself a creation of the state) has to now, more than ever, be
measured by two conditions:
* Each use must ensure that the common pool resources are not
destroyed or over-consumed.
* No one may be excluded who is entitled to access and use the
shared resource or who depends on it for basic needs. Access and
usage rights must therefore be designed to assure that the commons
can be preserved, maintained, and further developed.
*These are the principles of fair participation and
sustainability.*
* What is public or publicly funded must remain publicly accessible.
Public research, for example, must be available to everyone. There
is no overwhelming reason to grant publishers and pharmaceutical
corporations excessive and exclusive copyrights and patents over
publicly funded research. Legislatures, at the behest of business,
have nevertheless done so, making scientific journals inaccessible
and vital medicines overly expensive. Alternatives arise from the
commons movement. This is demonstrated by numerous projects for
fairer licensing and alternative incentive models in science and
culture.
* The commons helps us reconceptualize the prevailing concept of
property rights.
The exploitation of our commons has grave drawbacks for the majority
of people living today and tomorrow. This is demonstrated by climate
change and the exhaustion of many natural resources, as well as by
the financial sector whose private profit motives have become, to
the detriment of the commoners, ends in themselves. Our shared
quality of life is also limited by knowledge that is excessively
commercialized and made artificially scarce. In this manner, our
cultural heritage becomes an inventory of lifeless commodities and
advertising dominates our public spaces.
* Commons are the basis of life in a double sense. Without natural
commons, there's no survival. Without cultural commons, no human
development.
Everyone is directly affected by the issues raised here. Even
businesses need commons in order to earn money now and in the
future. We all need commons to survive and thrive. This is a key
principle, and it establishes why commoners' usage rights should
always be given a higher priority than corporations' property
rights. Here the state has a duty to protect the commons, a duty
which it cannot abandon. However, this does not mean that the state
is necessarily the best steward for the commoners' interests. The
challenge is for the commoners themselves to develop complementary
institutions and organizational forms, as well as innovative access
and usage rules, to protect the commons. The commoners must create
their own commons sector, beyond the realm of market and state, to
serve the public good in their own distinctive manner.
For a society in which the commons may thrive
=============================================
* Just as commons and people are different, so are the organizational
forms of user communities.
We encounter these forms everywhere and with many faces: as
self-organizing groups, civil organizations, private agencies or
networks, as cooperatives or custodial organizations, as small
neighborhood communities or the international Free Software
movement. The rules and ethics of each commons arise from the needs
and processes of the commoners directly involved. Whoever is
directly connected to a commons must participate in the debate and
implementation of its rules.
* Agents of the commons do not have one but many centers.
We need them locally, regionally, and globally. Conflicts can be
resolved directly in well-arranged communities and their commons.
But the global commons is an almost insolvable challenge, because
where does the "world community" really come together and define
itself as such? How should it agree upon the sustainable usage of
its shared resources? The more complex the system, the more
important it is that there is an institutional and transparent
framework for the careful management of the commons. When the state
achieves this and protects the commons, government action will be
supported by society.
* Commons need more than just rules.
We must realize that rules require the art of proper application.
Commons are driven by a specific ethos, as well as by the desire to
acquire and transfer a myriad of skills. Our society therefore needs
to honor the special skills and values that enable the commons to
work well. A culture of the commons publicly recognizes any
initiative or project that enhances the commons, and it provides
active financial and institutional support to enhance the commons
sector.
* Conflicts are part of the diversity and constant reproduction of the
commons.
In addition to the rule of law, commons in the future will require
innovative institutional structures, conciliation and mediation
bodies, networks, and interdisciplinary stewards for the commons.
These institutions will be constructed again and again from the
areas of needs and conflict. Each has a common goal: to raise a
strong voice to preserve the commons!
* Awareness of the commons means being conscious of our living
conditions and exploring on all levels how much productivity and
wealth we create directly from the commons.
It requires a fundamental shift in thinking about the foundations of
society. It means using, sharing, and multiplying our common wealth
in a free and self-determined way. This challenge requires a lot of
work, but it is also a great source of personal satisfaction and
enrichment.
* Our society needs a great debate and a worldwide movement
for the commons. Now!
Dr. Frank Augsten (Green Party, spokesman State of Thüringen)
Petra Buhr (Wissenallmende-Report.de)
Dr. Hans-Joachim Döring (Commissioner of the Lutherian Church
Central-Germany for Development and Environment)
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Duchrow (theologist, University of Heidelberg)
Fritjof Finkbeiner (Global Marshall Plan Initiative)
Lili Fuhr (Heinrich Böll Foundation)
Andrea Goetzke (newthinking communications)
Prof. Dr. Franz-Theo Gottwald (Schweisfurth-Stiftung)
Jörg Haas (Climateexpert)
Benedikt Härlin (Foundation for the Future of Agriculture)
Hermann Graf Hatzfeldt
Silke Helfrich (author)
Kathrin Henneberger (Green Youth)
Gregor Kaiser (Social Scientist)
Dr. Wolfgang Kessler (Chief Editor Publik Forum)
Prof. Dr. Rainer Kuhlen (information scientist, University of Konstanz)
Julio Lambing (e-5 European Business Council for Sustainable Energy)
Berthold Lange (Freiburger Kantstiftung)
Prof. Dr. Bernd Lutterbeck (University for Technology Berlin)
Annette Mühlberg (Network New Media, nnm)
Rainer Rehak (Wuppertal Institut for Climate, Environment and
Energy)
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Sachs (Wuppertal Institut for Climate, Environment
and Energy)
Jill Scherneck (Heinrich Böll Foundation)
Christoph Schlee (Network Basic Income)
Dr. Christian Siefkes (Software Developer, author)
Malte Spitz (Member of Federal Board, Green Party)
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Steinvorth (philosopher, University Bilkent)
Dr. Antje Tönnis (GLS Treuhand/ GLS Trust)
Barbara Unmüßig (Member of Board, Heinrich Böll Foundation)
Translation: Michelle Thorne, Silke Helfrich, David Bollier
The thesis paper was developed in collective authorship in the context
of the Interdisciplinary political salons of the Heinrich Böll
Foundation's "Time for commons," 2[PHONE NUMBER REMOVED].
Published under "Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Germany"
License, Version 3.0. The copying, linking and creative development of
this document is explicitly encouraged.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Contact: Silke Helfrich, E-Mail: Silke.Helfrich AT gmx.de
_________________________________
Web-Site: http://www.oekonux.org/
Organization: http://www.oekonux.de/projekt/
Contact: projekt oekonux.de