[Commons-Law] Fwd: [Commons-convergence] Fwd: [Debate] (Fwd) 'Commons'
Via: Jeebesh
Could be useful......
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Leo Saldanha
> Date: 4 November 2009 11:27:22 AM GMT+05:30
> To: Jai Sen
> Cc: Post Commons Convergence
> Subject: Re: [Commons-convergence] Fwd: [Debate] (Fwd) 'Commons'
> Reply-To: leofsaldanha@gmail.com
>
> Thanks Jai for sharing a very interesting article and also a link to
> an very resourceful site on the commons.
>
> ESG has been involved in major litigations over the past few years
> to secure the commons, especially in the urbs. Interestingly,
> Courts have agreed with our positions and secured urban commons -
> such as lakes - from potential acquistion for private profit.
> Recently, as a result of our ongoing litigations, Karnataka State
> cancelled an agreement to privatise one lake, and we think this is
> precedent to cancel all other agreements.
> Thsoe interested can access our PILs and some interim orders by
> visiting our website: www.esgindia.org (look for PILs on Lake
> Privtisation and Road widening). The road widening case is
> interesting because most of us assume the Government has an absolute
> right to renegotiate its form and structure. We contended this
> argument, and have succeeded in winning the Court's support to
> subject such decision to the due process of public consultation as
> laid down in the law.
>
> Somewhat disappointing is the lack of interest amongst many
> activists and academia in these litigation initiatives, particularly
> in exploring its possible implications to securing the commons. I
> hope with renewed interest in the topic, thanks to the Nobel prize
> given to Ostrum, interest may pick up on such issues amongst
> activist and academic communities.
>
> The future as I see it, in light of the worst predictions of climate
> change, will be all about how successful we are in securing the
> public access quality of our commons... be they local parks,
> streets, beaches, atmosphere, forests, cyberspace, etc....
>
> Leo
>
> Jai Sen wrote:
>>
>> Begin forwarded message:
>>
>>> *From: *Patrick Bond >
>>> *Date: *November 4 2009 9:47:03 am GMT+05:30
>>> *To: *DEBATE
>>> list@fahamu.org>>
>>> *Subject: **[Debate] (Fwd) 'Commons'*
>>> *Reply-To: *pbond@mail.ngo.za , Debate
>>> is a listserve that attempts to promote information and analyses
>>> of interest to the independent left in South and Southern Africa
>>> >
>>>
>>> The Commons: From Tragedy to Celebrity
>>>
>>> United for a Fair Economy
>>> October 2009
>>> http://enews.faireconomy.org/2009/October2009.html
>>>
>>> The recipients of the 2009 Nobel Prize in economics were
>>> announced on Monday October 12th. The prize was shared
>>> between two Americans, Elinor Ostrum and Oliver E.
>>> Williamson.
>>>
>>> Ostrum deserves a special toast for several reasons.
>>> First, such high-level recognition of her work brings
>>> the idea of The Commons into the spotlight, which is
>>> fitting given how broken our current economic system is.
>>> Second, she is only the second non-economist to win the
>>> award and, as the first female recipient of the award,
>>> she shattered yet another glass ceiling for women the
>>> world over.
>>>
>>> Ostrom's research, which essentially bridges political
>>> science and economics, focuses on community vs. private
>>> or governmental management of common resources like
>>> land, forests, irrigation waters and fisheries. One of
>>> her key findings is that successful governance can
>>> result when end-users - the people actually using the
>>> resources - actively participate in the process.
>>>
>>> This directly contradicts the long-standing theory of
>>> the "Tragedy of the Commons," in which property rights
>>> and privatization are seen to be the only means to
>>> preserving finite resources.
>>>
>>> The commons doesn't just refer to natural resources,
>>> however. It includes anything that is shared by members
>>> of local, national or even global communities. And it
>>> raises the idea that we can shift from a market-based
>>> society narrowly focused on private wealth, to a
>>> commons-based society focused on managing common assets
>>> so they benefit everyone. Essentially, it offers a
>>> framework for revamping our currently flawed economic
>>> system, and seeks to do so to benefit the many - an idea
>>> that is right up our ally.
>>>
>>> About the Commons
>>> http://onthecommons.org/content.php?id=1467
>>>
>>> The commons is a new way to express a very old idea-that
>>> some forms of wealth belong to all of us, and that these
>>> community resources must be actively protected and
>>> managed for the good and all.
>>>
>>> The commons are the things that we inherit and create
>>> jointly, and that will (hopefully) last for generations
>>> to come. The commons consists of gifts of nature such as
>>> air, oceans and wildlife as well as shared social
>>> creations such as libraries, public spaces, scientific
>>> research and creative works.
>>>
>>> Biopiracy: The practice where traditional knowledge of
>>> natural resources, especially medicinal and agricultural
>>> plants, is appropriated by international companies to
>>> create products, for which they are awarded exclusive
>>> rights to use under patent laws.
>>>
>>> Cap-and-dividend: A practical solution to the problem of
>>> global climate disruption, based upon the commons
>>> principle that the atmosphere belongs to everyone. (Also
>>> known as the Sky Trust.) First articulated by On the
>>> Commons co-founder Peter Barnes in his 2002 book, Who
>>> Owns the Sky? cap-and-dividend is a response to cap-and-
>>> trade proposals in which polluters are granted
>>> permission to buy and sell pollution rights as a way to
>>> curb carbon and other emissions causing global warming.
>>> This essentially gives existing polluters ownership of
>>> the air in order to create incentives to reduce
>>> emissions. Cap-and-dividend starts at the same place by
>>> creating a cap on pollution that gradually reduces the
>>> amount of greenhouse gases that can be dumped into the
>>> air and creating a market where the right to pollute can
>>> be bought and sold. But rather than letting historical
>>> polluters reap all the financial benefits, fees that
>>> companies pay to pollute would be collected and returned
>>> to citizens in the form of a regular dividend. This is
>>> not only a more equitable way to distribute the wealth
>>> created by a commons, it also increases public support
>>> for measures to stop global climate change. For more
>>> information see Peter Barnes 2008 book Climate Solutions
>>>
>>> Common assets: Common assets are those parts of the
>>> commons that have a value in the market and which are
>>> appropriate to buy and sell (see "inalienability").
>>> Radio airwaves are a common asset, for example, as are
>>> timber and minerals on public lands and, increasingly,
>>> air and water. By recognizing certain resources as
>>> common assets, it becomes natural to ask: Are the common
>>> assets being responsibly managed on behalf of the
>>> general public or a distinct community of interest? Is
>>> the capital being depleted?
>>>
>>> Commons movement: A growing social and political
>>> movement that believes the commons is a crucial sector
>>> of the economy and society and useful prism for talking
>>> about resources that should be shared. The commons
>>> offers not only an affirmative vision of a more
>>> equitable, eco-friendly society: it also serves as a
>>> countervailing force to keep excesses of the market and
>>> government sectors in check. Some speak of an emerging
>>> commons paradigm as a new way of looking at the world,
>>> one that opens up the competitive, mechanistic, profit-
>>> centric mindset that has ruled Western civilization
>>> since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, with a more
>>> humanistic, environmentally aware and holistic world
>>> view. A wider appreciation for the enduring importance
>>> of the commons has developed over the last eight years,
>>> especially among people deeply involved in the politics
>>> of water issues, the internet, the over
>>> commercialization of culture and public spaces. This
>>> world view is now reaching into many other arenas,
>>> including economics, the environment, social justice and
>>> numerous citizens movements around the world.
>>>
>>> Copyleft: This refers to a license that allows free re-
>>> use and modification of creative work so long as any
>>> works derived from the original remain available on the
>>> same terms. Copyleft, formally known as the "General
>>> Public License" or GPL, was initiated by computer
>>> programmer Richard Stallman and the Free Software
>>> Foundation. By protecting the creativity and energy of
>>> the commons from private appropriation, the GPL has
>>> enabled communities of programmers to build shared
>>> bodies of code, such as free software and open source
>>> software. A similar set of licenses for other types of
>>> creative works has been devised by the Creative Commons.
>>>
>>> Corporation: A self-perpetuating legal entity whose
>>> mission is to maximize short-term return to
>>> shareholders. In its aggressive pursuit of this mission,
>>> the corporation not only produces new innovations and
>>> efficiencies, it also displaces costs onto the
>>> environment, our communities and our personal lives (see
>>> externality).
>>>
>>> Enclosure: Historically, this refers to the
>>> privatization of common grazing lands beginning in 15th
>>> Century England, which impoverished many peasants. Today
>>> it is used to describe the conversion of a commons into
>>> private property. Enclosure entails not just the
>>> privatization of a resource, but also the introduction
>>> of money and market exchange as the prevailing
>>> principles for managing that resource. Enclosure shifts
>>> ownership and control from the community at large to
>>> private companies. This in turn changes the management
>>> and character of the resource because the market has
>>> very different standards of accountability and
>>> transparency than a commons. (Contrast a public library
>>> with a bookstore, or Main Street with a private shopping
>>> mall.) Because of its compulsion to extract maximum
>>> short-term rents and externalize costs, market enclosure
>>> often results in the "tragedy of the market."
>>>
>>> Externality or illth: A social or ecological cost that
>>> is not paid by its creators. As the scope of market
>>> activity expands beyond a certain point, engulfing more
>>> of nature and daily life, it yields less and less
>>> happiness and wellbeing even as it causes more and more
>>> unintended problems. In market logic, the expanding
>>> output must be regarded as "progress" and "wealth." In
>>> fact, the accelerating pace of the market machine is
>>> producing more "illth" - the opposite of wealth. Author
>>> Peter Barnes ( Who Owns the Sky ) has popularized this
>>> term, coined by John Ruskin in the 19th century, to
>>> describe the unintended but increasing destruction of
>>> nature, social disruptions, health problems and other
>>> (unacknowledged, unintended or disguised) costs of
>>> market activity.
>>>
>>> Gift economy: A community of shared purpose, such as an
>>> academic discipline, whose members give time and
>>> creativity to the community and reap benefits in return.
>>> In gift communities, money is an unacceptable "currency"
>>> because relationships are rooted in personal, particular
>>> and historical experiences of each individual, and
>>> cannot be converted into cash or any other fungible
>>> unit. Despite the absence of cash, legal contracts and
>>> market exchange, a gift economy can be tremendously
>>> productive, efficient and innovative, as seen in free
>>> and open software communities, online wikis and other
>>> collaborative websites, blood donation systems and
>>> scientific research disciplines.
>>>
>>> Inalienability: The principle that a given resource
>>> shall not be freely bought and sold in the marketplace,
>>> but shall remain intact, in its natural context.
>>> Inalienability derives from a social consensus that
>>> certain things and behaviors are so precious and basic
>>> to human identity that they are degraded if they are put
>>> up for sale. "Goods" that have traditionally been
>>> regarded as inalienable include votes, babies, bodily
>>> organs, sex, genes, living species and most aspects of
>>> nature, but market forces are increasingly challenging
>>> long-standing norms of inalienability.
>>>
>>> Land trusts: An alternative model of land ownership in
>>> which a tract of land is owned by a non-profit
>>> organization-usually to preserve its natural assets or
>>> to maintain it as affordable housing. There are more
>>> than 1,600 land trusts in the US today encompassing 37
>>> million acres. Land trusts provide a good example of how
>>> a commons economic model can exist outside the realm of
>>> both government and private control as a distinct sector
>>> for advancing the public good. Professor Carol Rose of
>>> Yale Law School has cited land trusts as an example of
>>> "property on the outside, commons on the inside"-meaning
>>> that the resource exists within the market system as
>>> legal property yet is managed internally according to
>>> commons principles.
>>>
>>> Open source software: (See copyleft) Open source
>>> software is functionally similar to free software that
>>> is protected under the General Public License, or GPL,
>>> except that open source programs allow a program to be
>>> freely copied, modified and distributed, but do not
>>> require it. In addition, the open source community does
>>> not necessarily subscribe to the political agenda of
>>> Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software
>>> Foundation, who regards the GPL as the foundation for a
>>> vision of political and creative freedom. Open source
>>> programmers tend to be more focused on the practical
>>> value of open source code in developing superior
>>> software.
>>>
>>> Public goods: Resources that, because of their "public"
>>> nature, are difficult or costly to exclude anyone from
>>> using. Examples include lighthouses, city parks,
>>> broadcast programming and the global atmosphere. In the
>>> lingo of economists, these are "non-rival" and "non-
>>> excludable" resources. Government often steps in to pay
>>> for public goods because it is difficult to get
>>> individual beneficiaries to pay for them. But in the
>>> networked environment of the Internet, it is
>>> increasingly feasible for self-organizing groups to
>>> create and pay for public goods. Open source software is
>>> a prime example.
>>>
>>> Public space: Any place where people are free to gather
>>> for social or civic interaction. The value of public
>>> spaces is increasingly being recognized as essential to
>>> the health of local communities and democratic societies
>>> in general. While usually defined as parks, streets and
>>> sidewalks, plazas, libraries and public institutions,
>>> the concept can also be expanded to include congenial
>>> privately owned settings such as a coffee shop, corner
>>> grocery or a plaza outside an office building. Shopping
>>> malls, which in many suburban communities function as
>>> Main Street, have stirred controversy by forbidding
>>> civic activities such as gathering signatures for
>>> petitions-a policy upheld by the courts which worries
>>> many civil liberties and public space advocates.
>>>
>>> Public trust doctrine: A legal doctrine that says that
>>> the state holds certain resources in trust for its
>>> citizens which cannot be given away or sold. Public
>>> trust doctrine has its origins in Roman law, which
>>> recognized that certain resources such as fisheries,
>>> air, running water and wild animals belong to all. Under
>>> the doctrine of res communes , the king could not grant
>>> exclusive rights of access to a common resource. The
>>> point is that there is a clear distinction between
>>> common property (which belongs to the people) and state
>>> property (which can be controlled and mismanaged by
>>> government).
>>>
>>> Sky Trust (See Cap-and-Dividend)
>>>
>>> Tragedy of the commons: Title of an influential 1968
>>> essay by biologist Garrett Hardin, which argued that
>>> overuse of common resources is a leading cause of
>>> environmental degradation. This was interpreted by some,
>>> especially economists and free-market libertarians, to
>>> mean that private ownership is preferable to the commons
>>> for the stewardship of land, water, minerals, etc. Yet
>>> in recent years many have challenged this view on both
>>> empirical and philosophical grounds. Professor Elinor
>>> Ostrom of Indiana University has been a leading figure
>>> in demonstrating the practical utility and
>>> sustainability of commons governance regimes,
>>> particularly in developing countries. Other analysts,
>>> such as Professor Yochai Benkler of Harvard Law School,
>>> have shown how people in online commons can indeed
>>> collaborate sustainably to produce and protect valuable
>>> resources. This suggests that the vision of human
>>> behavior implicit in the tragedy of the commons metaphor
>>> is not as immutable as many economists assert, and that
>>> collective management is an eminently practical
>>> governance strategy in many circumstances. The tragedy
>>> of the "anti-commons" is now frequently invoked to
>>> describe the problems associated with excessive
>>> privatization and fragmentation of property rights, such
>>> that collective action for the common good is thwarted.
>>> An example is the proliferation of patents on bio-
>>> medical knowledge that impedes research on cures for
>>> malaria, or the proliferation of copyrights in film and
>>> video that prevents documentary filmmakers from clearing
>>> the rights to images for use in new films.
>>>
>>> Trust or stakeholder trust: A legal institution for
>>> protecting the commons and managing any assets that may
>>> arise from it. If the corporation is the preeminent
>>> institution of the market, the trust is the premier
>>> institution of the commons. The managers of a trust, the
>>> trustees, have clear legal responsibilities to manage
>>> its resources on behalf of the beneficiaries. This
>>> includes strict fiduciary responsibilities, transparency
>>> and accountability. (See land trusts)
>>>
>>> Value: Economists tend to regard "value" as a
>>> quantifiable object with a price tag. But as commoners
>>> realize, "value" can also be something intangible and
>>> not available for sale. An example is the social
>>> satisfaction of belonging to a community and
>>> contributing to a shared goal. A commons can also create
>>> economic value as efficiently as a market; examples
>>> include Wikipedia, the online user-generated
>>> encyclopedia, and Craiglist, the online advertising
>>> service. The difference is that a commons usually does
>>> not convert its output into a marketable commodity.
>>>
>>> _____________________________________________
>>>
>>> Portside aims to provide material of interest
>>> to people on the left that will help them to
>>> interpret the world and to change it.
>>>
>>> Submit via email: moderator@portside.org
>>> Submit via the Web: portside.org/submit
>>> Frequently asked questions: portside.org/faq
>>> Subscribe: portside.org/subscribe
>>> Unsubscribe: portside.org/unsubscribe
>>> Account assistance: portside.org/contact
>>> Search the archives: portside.org/archive
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Debate-list mailing list
>>> Debate-list@fahamu.org
>>> http://lists.fahamu.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/debate-list
>>
>> ______________________________
>> Jai Sen
>> jai.sen@cacim.net
>> CACIM, A-3 Defence Colony, New Delhi 110 024, India
>> www.cacim.net
>> Ph : +91-11-4155 1521, +91-98189 11325
>> *DELETION OF OLD EMAIL IDs : *Please note that I am no longer using
>> my earlier email ids, jai.sen@vsnl.com
>> and jai_sen2000@yahoo.com . *PLEASE
>> KINDLY DELETE THESE FROM YOUR RECORDS ! Thanks.*
>> *NEW :*
>> ‘On open space : Explorations towards a vocabulary of a more open
>> politics’, @ http://cacim.net/twiki/tiki-index.php?
>> page=Publications (May 20 2009)
>> *Check out* both *CACIM* @ www.cacim.net and
>> *OpenSpaceForum* @ www.openspaceforum.net
>> >
>> *Subscribe to* WSFDiscuss, an open and unmoderated forum on the
>> World Social Forum and on related social and political movements
>> and issues. Simply send an empty email to worldsocialforum-discuss-subscribe@openspaceforum.net
>>
>>
>> P *Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail*
>>
>> *Note :* In case you are having problems opening any Word
>> attachments I have sent you, you could try one of the following :
>> (a) Put your cursor on the icon, do a right click, see ‘Open With’,
>> and open with Word…; or (b), try saving the document onto your
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>> advance if this advice seems to question your technological literacy…
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>
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> http://lists.kandalaya.org/listinfo/commons-convergence_______________________________________________
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Could be useful......
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Leo Saldanha
> Date: 4 November 2009 11:27:22 AM GMT+05:30
> To: Jai Sen
> Cc: Post Commons Convergence
> Subject: Re: [Commons-convergence] Fwd: [Debate] (Fwd) 'Commons'
> Reply-To: leofsaldanha@gmail.com
>
> Thanks Jai for sharing a very interesting article and also a link to
> an very resourceful site on the commons.
>
> ESG has been involved in major litigations over the past few years
> to secure the commons, especially in the urbs. Interestingly,
> Courts have agreed with our positions and secured urban commons -
> such as lakes - from potential acquistion for private profit.
> Recently, as a result of our ongoing litigations, Karnataka State
> cancelled an agreement to privatise one lake, and we think this is
> precedent to cancel all other agreements.
> Thsoe interested can access our PILs and some interim orders by
> visiting our website: www.esgindia.org (look for PILs on Lake
> Privtisation and Road widening). The road widening case is
> interesting because most of us assume the Government has an absolute
> right to renegotiate its form and structure. We contended this
> argument, and have succeeded in winning the Court's support to
> subject such decision to the due process of public consultation as
> laid down in the law.
>
> Somewhat disappointing is the lack of interest amongst many
> activists and academia in these litigation initiatives, particularly
> in exploring its possible implications to securing the commons. I
> hope with renewed interest in the topic, thanks to the Nobel prize
> given to Ostrum, interest may pick up on such issues amongst
> activist and academic communities.
>
> The future as I see it, in light of the worst predictions of climate
> change, will be all about how successful we are in securing the
> public access quality of our commons... be they local parks,
> streets, beaches, atmosphere, forests, cyberspace, etc....
>
> Leo
>
> Jai Sen wrote:
>>
>> Begin forwarded message:
>>
>>> *From: *Patrick Bond >
>>> *Date: *November 4 2009 9:47:03 am GMT+05:30
>>> *To: *DEBATE
>>> list@fahamu.org>>
>>> *Subject: **[Debate] (Fwd) 'Commons'*
>>> *Reply-To: *pbond@mail.ngo.za , Debate
>>> is a listserve that attempts to promote information and analyses
>>> of interest to the independent left in South and Southern Africa
>>> >
>>>
>>> The Commons: From Tragedy to Celebrity
>>>
>>> United for a Fair Economy
>>> October 2009
>>> http://enews.faireconomy.org/2009/October2009.html
>>>
>>> The recipients of the 2009 Nobel Prize in economics were
>>> announced on Monday October 12th. The prize was shared
>>> between two Americans, Elinor Ostrum and Oliver E.
>>> Williamson.
>>>
>>> Ostrum deserves a special toast for several reasons.
>>> First, such high-level recognition of her work brings
>>> the idea of The Commons into the spotlight, which is
>>> fitting given how broken our current economic system is.
>>> Second, she is only the second non-economist to win the
>>> award and, as the first female recipient of the award,
>>> she shattered yet another glass ceiling for women the
>>> world over.
>>>
>>> Ostrom's research, which essentially bridges political
>>> science and economics, focuses on community vs. private
>>> or governmental management of common resources like
>>> land, forests, irrigation waters and fisheries. One of
>>> her key findings is that successful governance can
>>> result when end-users - the people actually using the
>>> resources - actively participate in the process.
>>>
>>> This directly contradicts the long-standing theory of
>>> the "Tragedy of the Commons," in which property rights
>>> and privatization are seen to be the only means to
>>> preserving finite resources.
>>>
>>> The commons doesn't just refer to natural resources,
>>> however. It includes anything that is shared by members
>>> of local, national or even global communities. And it
>>> raises the idea that we can shift from a market-based
>>> society narrowly focused on private wealth, to a
>>> commons-based society focused on managing common assets
>>> so they benefit everyone. Essentially, it offers a
>>> framework for revamping our currently flawed economic
>>> system, and seeks to do so to benefit the many - an idea
>>> that is right up our ally.
>>>
>>> About the Commons
>>> http://onthecommons.org/content.php?id=1467
>>>
>>> The commons is a new way to express a very old idea-that
>>> some forms of wealth belong to all of us, and that these
>>> community resources must be actively protected and
>>> managed for the good and all.
>>>
>>> The commons are the things that we inherit and create
>>> jointly, and that will (hopefully) last for generations
>>> to come. The commons consists of gifts of nature such as
>>> air, oceans and wildlife as well as shared social
>>> creations such as libraries, public spaces, scientific
>>> research and creative works.
>>>
>>> Biopiracy: The practice where traditional knowledge of
>>> natural resources, especially medicinal and agricultural
>>> plants, is appropriated by international companies to
>>> create products, for which they are awarded exclusive
>>> rights to use under patent laws.
>>>
>>> Cap-and-dividend: A practical solution to the problem of
>>> global climate disruption, based upon the commons
>>> principle that the atmosphere belongs to everyone. (Also
>>> known as the Sky Trust.) First articulated by On the
>>> Commons co-founder Peter Barnes in his 2002 book, Who
>>> Owns the Sky? cap-and-dividend is a response to cap-and-
>>> trade proposals in which polluters are granted
>>> permission to buy and sell pollution rights as a way to
>>> curb carbon and other emissions causing global warming.
>>> This essentially gives existing polluters ownership of
>>> the air in order to create incentives to reduce
>>> emissions. Cap-and-dividend starts at the same place by
>>> creating a cap on pollution that gradually reduces the
>>> amount of greenhouse gases that can be dumped into the
>>> air and creating a market where the right to pollute can
>>> be bought and sold. But rather than letting historical
>>> polluters reap all the financial benefits, fees that
>>> companies pay to pollute would be collected and returned
>>> to citizens in the form of a regular dividend. This is
>>> not only a more equitable way to distribute the wealth
>>> created by a commons, it also increases public support
>>> for measures to stop global climate change. For more
>>> information see Peter Barnes 2008 book Climate Solutions
>>>
>>> Common assets: Common assets are those parts of the
>>> commons that have a value in the market and which are
>>> appropriate to buy and sell (see "inalienability").
>>> Radio airwaves are a common asset, for example, as are
>>> timber and minerals on public lands and, increasingly,
>>> air and water. By recognizing certain resources as
>>> common assets, it becomes natural to ask: Are the common
>>> assets being responsibly managed on behalf of the
>>> general public or a distinct community of interest? Is
>>> the capital being depleted?
>>>
>>> Commons movement: A growing social and political
>>> movement that believes the commons is a crucial sector
>>> of the economy and society and useful prism for talking
>>> about resources that should be shared. The commons
>>> offers not only an affirmative vision of a more
>>> equitable, eco-friendly society: it also serves as a
>>> countervailing force to keep excesses of the market and
>>> government sectors in check. Some speak of an emerging
>>> commons paradigm as a new way of looking at the world,
>>> one that opens up the competitive, mechanistic, profit-
>>> centric mindset that has ruled Western civilization
>>> since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, with a more
>>> humanistic, environmentally aware and holistic world
>>> view. A wider appreciation for the enduring importance
>>> of the commons has developed over the last eight years,
>>> especially among people deeply involved in the politics
>>> of water issues, the internet, the over
>>> commercialization of culture and public spaces. This
>>> world view is now reaching into many other arenas,
>>> including economics, the environment, social justice and
>>> numerous citizens movements around the world.
>>>
>>> Copyleft: This refers to a license that allows free re-
>>> use and modification of creative work so long as any
>>> works derived from the original remain available on the
>>> same terms. Copyleft, formally known as the "General
>>> Public License" or GPL, was initiated by computer
>>> programmer Richard Stallman and the Free Software
>>> Foundation. By protecting the creativity and energy of
>>> the commons from private appropriation, the GPL has
>>> enabled communities of programmers to build shared
>>> bodies of code, such as free software and open source
>>> software. A similar set of licenses for other types of
>>> creative works has been devised by the Creative Commons.
>>>
>>> Corporation: A self-perpetuating legal entity whose
>>> mission is to maximize short-term return to
>>> shareholders. In its aggressive pursuit of this mission,
>>> the corporation not only produces new innovations and
>>> efficiencies, it also displaces costs onto the
>>> environment, our communities and our personal lives (see
>>> externality).
>>>
>>> Enclosure: Historically, this refers to the
>>> privatization of common grazing lands beginning in 15th
>>> Century England, which impoverished many peasants. Today
>>> it is used to describe the conversion of a commons into
>>> private property. Enclosure entails not just the
>>> privatization of a resource, but also the introduction
>>> of money and market exchange as the prevailing
>>> principles for managing that resource. Enclosure shifts
>>> ownership and control from the community at large to
>>> private companies. This in turn changes the management
>>> and character of the resource because the market has
>>> very different standards of accountability and
>>> transparency than a commons. (Contrast a public library
>>> with a bookstore, or Main Street with a private shopping
>>> mall.) Because of its compulsion to extract maximum
>>> short-term rents and externalize costs, market enclosure
>>> often results in the "tragedy of the market."
>>>
>>> Externality or illth: A social or ecological cost that
>>> is not paid by its creators. As the scope of market
>>> activity expands beyond a certain point, engulfing more
>>> of nature and daily life, it yields less and less
>>> happiness and wellbeing even as it causes more and more
>>> unintended problems. In market logic, the expanding
>>> output must be regarded as "progress" and "wealth." In
>>> fact, the accelerating pace of the market machine is
>>> producing more "illth" - the opposite of wealth. Author
>>> Peter Barnes ( Who Owns the Sky ) has popularized this
>>> term, coined by John Ruskin in the 19th century, to
>>> describe the unintended but increasing destruction of
>>> nature, social disruptions, health problems and other
>>> (unacknowledged, unintended or disguised) costs of
>>> market activity.
>>>
>>> Gift economy: A community of shared purpose, such as an
>>> academic discipline, whose members give time and
>>> creativity to the community and reap benefits in return.
>>> In gift communities, money is an unacceptable "currency"
>>> because relationships are rooted in personal, particular
>>> and historical experiences of each individual, and
>>> cannot be converted into cash or any other fungible
>>> unit. Despite the absence of cash, legal contracts and
>>> market exchange, a gift economy can be tremendously
>>> productive, efficient and innovative, as seen in free
>>> and open software communities, online wikis and other
>>> collaborative websites, blood donation systems and
>>> scientific research disciplines.
>>>
>>> Inalienability: The principle that a given resource
>>> shall not be freely bought and sold in the marketplace,
>>> but shall remain intact, in its natural context.
>>> Inalienability derives from a social consensus that
>>> certain things and behaviors are so precious and basic
>>> to human identity that they are degraded if they are put
>>> up for sale. "Goods" that have traditionally been
>>> regarded as inalienable include votes, babies, bodily
>>> organs, sex, genes, living species and most aspects of
>>> nature, but market forces are increasingly challenging
>>> long-standing norms of inalienability.
>>>
>>> Land trusts: An alternative model of land ownership in
>>> which a tract of land is owned by a non-profit
>>> organization-usually to preserve its natural assets or
>>> to maintain it as affordable housing. There are more
>>> than 1,600 land trusts in the US today encompassing 37
>>> million acres. Land trusts provide a good example of how
>>> a commons economic model can exist outside the realm of
>>> both government and private control as a distinct sector
>>> for advancing the public good. Professor Carol Rose of
>>> Yale Law School has cited land trusts as an example of
>>> "property on the outside, commons on the inside"-meaning
>>> that the resource exists within the market system as
>>> legal property yet is managed internally according to
>>> commons principles.
>>>
>>> Open source software: (See copyleft) Open source
>>> software is functionally similar to free software that
>>> is protected under the General Public License, or GPL,
>>> except that open source programs allow a program to be
>>> freely copied, modified and distributed, but do not
>>> require it. In addition, the open source community does
>>> not necessarily subscribe to the political agenda of
>>> Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software
>>> Foundation, who regards the GPL as the foundation for a
>>> vision of political and creative freedom. Open source
>>> programmers tend to be more focused on the practical
>>> value of open source code in developing superior
>>> software.
>>>
>>> Public goods: Resources that, because of their "public"
>>> nature, are difficult or costly to exclude anyone from
>>> using. Examples include lighthouses, city parks,
>>> broadcast programming and the global atmosphere. In the
>>> lingo of economists, these are "non-rival" and "non-
>>> excludable" resources. Government often steps in to pay
>>> for public goods because it is difficult to get
>>> individual beneficiaries to pay for them. But in the
>>> networked environment of the Internet, it is
>>> increasingly feasible for self-organizing groups to
>>> create and pay for public goods. Open source software is
>>> a prime example.
>>>
>>> Public space: Any place where people are free to gather
>>> for social or civic interaction. The value of public
>>> spaces is increasingly being recognized as essential to
>>> the health of local communities and democratic societies
>>> in general. While usually defined as parks, streets and
>>> sidewalks, plazas, libraries and public institutions,
>>> the concept can also be expanded to include congenial
>>> privately owned settings such as a coffee shop, corner
>>> grocery or a plaza outside an office building. Shopping
>>> malls, which in many suburban communities function as
>>> Main Street, have stirred controversy by forbidding
>>> civic activities such as gathering signatures for
>>> petitions-a policy upheld by the courts which worries
>>> many civil liberties and public space advocates.
>>>
>>> Public trust doctrine: A legal doctrine that says that
>>> the state holds certain resources in trust for its
>>> citizens which cannot be given away or sold. Public
>>> trust doctrine has its origins in Roman law, which
>>> recognized that certain resources such as fisheries,
>>> air, running water and wild animals belong to all. Under
>>> the doctrine of res communes , the king could not grant
>>> exclusive rights of access to a common resource. The
>>> point is that there is a clear distinction between
>>> common property (which belongs to the people) and state
>>> property (which can be controlled and mismanaged by
>>> government).
>>>
>>> Sky Trust (See Cap-and-Dividend)
>>>
>>> Tragedy of the commons: Title of an influential 1968
>>> essay by biologist Garrett Hardin, which argued that
>>> overuse of common resources is a leading cause of
>>> environmental degradation. This was interpreted by some,
>>> especially economists and free-market libertarians, to
>>> mean that private ownership is preferable to the commons
>>> for the stewardship of land, water, minerals, etc. Yet
>>> in recent years many have challenged this view on both
>>> empirical and philosophical grounds. Professor Elinor
>>> Ostrom of Indiana University has been a leading figure
>>> in demonstrating the practical utility and
>>> sustainability of commons governance regimes,
>>> particularly in developing countries. Other analysts,
>>> such as Professor Yochai Benkler of Harvard Law School,
>>> have shown how people in online commons can indeed
>>> collaborate sustainably to produce and protect valuable
>>> resources. This suggests that the vision of human
>>> behavior implicit in the tragedy of the commons metaphor
>>> is not as immutable as many economists assert, and that
>>> collective management is an eminently practical
>>> governance strategy in many circumstances. The tragedy
>>> of the "anti-commons" is now frequently invoked to
>>> describe the problems associated with excessive
>>> privatization and fragmentation of property rights, such
>>> that collective action for the common good is thwarted.
>>> An example is the proliferation of patents on bio-
>>> medical knowledge that impedes research on cures for
>>> malaria, or the proliferation of copyrights in film and
>>> video that prevents documentary filmmakers from clearing
>>> the rights to images for use in new films.
>>>
>>> Trust or stakeholder trust: A legal institution for
>>> protecting the commons and managing any assets that may
>>> arise from it. If the corporation is the preeminent
>>> institution of the market, the trust is the premier
>>> institution of the commons. The managers of a trust, the
>>> trustees, have clear legal responsibilities to manage
>>> its resources on behalf of the beneficiaries. This
>>> includes strict fiduciary responsibilities, transparency
>>> and accountability. (See land trusts)
>>>
>>> Value: Economists tend to regard "value" as a
>>> quantifiable object with a price tag. But as commoners
>>> realize, "value" can also be something intangible and
>>> not available for sale. An example is the social
>>> satisfaction of belonging to a community and
>>> contributing to a shared goal. A commons can also create
>>> economic value as efficiently as a market; examples
>>> include Wikipedia, the online user-generated
>>> encyclopedia, and Craiglist, the online advertising
>>> service. The difference is that a commons usually does
>>> not convert its output into a marketable commodity.
>>>
>>> _____________________________________________
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>>
>> ______________________________
>> Jai Sen
>> jai.sen@cacim.net
>> CACIM, A-3 Defence Colony, New Delhi 110 024, India
>> www.cacim.net
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