Can Humanity Survive without the Commons?

One of the most insidious things about enclosures is how they eradicate the culture of the commons and our memory of it. The old ways of doing things; the social practices that once bound a people together; the cultural traditions that anchored people to a landscape; the ethical norms that provided a stable identity — all are swept aside to make room for a totalizing market culture. Collective habits give way to individualism. Cherished traditions fall victim to whatever works now or saves money today. The colorful personalities and idiosyncratic lore of a community start to fade away.One of the most insidious things about enclosures is how they eradicate the culture of the commons and our memory of it.Karl Marx memorably described the commoditizing logic of capitalism, saying, “All that is solid melts into air.” Enclosures eclipse the history and memory of the commons, rendering them invisible.The complex, overlooked history of the commons tells a different story.Commons tend to be nested within other systems of power and institutional relationships, and therefore are not wholly independent.The stark reality is that commons tend not to be dominant institutional forms in their own right.With the dawn of civilization, legal traditions were invented that sought to protect the shared interests of the many and of future generations.The real aberration in human history is the idea of Homo economicus and our globally integrated market society.This is worrisome on…