Theresa Alt asks Dario Azzellini about the concept of commons, economic activity that is neither capitalist nor governmental. The commons existed before capitalism, and capitalism requires enclosure of the commons. Now many see commoning as a way to decommodify some resources. Labor power too could be decommodified. But capital tries to take over more and more.

Organized by The Center for Global Justice

Research/Learning for a Better World & Empowering a Solidarity Economy

Discussion with Hilary Wainright, Judith Dellheim, Dario Azzellini and Birgit Daiber

World Social Forum

Webinar hosted by transform! europe

Today, everyone is speaking about commons and ‘commoning’, everyone wants to build commons. The World Bank has a group which is supposedly ‘protecting and improving the global commons’ and it reaches out to the private sector to ‘advance common goods’. You can find texts on commons on the website of the European Union, banks organize seminars on the commons. Transnational companies tell us they are building the commons, big magazines declare that Uber is commoning cars, and that the “sharing economy” is a form of commoning.

What are commons? Who can develop commons? Is commoning based on harmony?

En el transcurso de la historia las utopías han jugado un papel importante en la construcción de alternativas sociales. En este artículo se analiza al mecanismo de autogobierno local venezolano de las comunas como prefiguración utópica o como “utopía concreta”. Se discuten diferentes conceptos marxistas y emancipadores de utopía conectándolos con el pensamiento latinoamericano, para demostrar cómo la prefiguración utópica es de considerar necesaria en los procesos de lucha revolucionaria.

This article argues that labour can be understood as a commons, located in the discussion of how commons can advance the transformation of social relations and society. To manage labour as a commons entails a shift away from the perception of labour power as the object of capital’s value practices, towards a notion of labour power as a collectively and sustainably managed resource for the benefit of society.