I’m back to the blog after spending the entire month of March researching, rethinking and revising Chapter 8 of Turning Signs (and welcoming the spring of 2021). The chapter isn’t completely done yet, but in the meantime i want to share this excerpt from Free, Fair, and Alive (pp. 204-205), a book on Commoning by David Bollier and Silke Helfrich (New Society Publishers, 2019):
Geographer Dina Hestad of the University of Oxford has studied what characteristics must be present for actions and strategies to be socially transformative. She has provisionally identified the following criteria:
- Work towards a vision which reflects the need to live in balance with the carrying capacity of the earth
- Consider that change in a complex system cannot be controlled due to uncertainty
- Avoid displacing problems to other locations or times, which could prevent wider system change
- Tackle the root causes of acceleration and growth — the feedback loops that cause most of today’s ecological and social crises
- Work towards systems that avoid unchecked imbalances of power and help avoid triggering humans’ (destructive) ancient tribal circuits
- Promote understanding that humans are part of a much larger whole, and create possibilities for resonance and meaningful, affective relationships between people and nature
- Develop healthy human agency at individual and collective levels for transforming and co-creating our future
- Open up new possibilities for acting rather than shrinking our opportunities to act
- Communicate a compelling and inspiring story of system change that names the problems and identifies commensurate leverage points and resonates with people from all walks of life and across ideologies
- Promote social cohesion and a sense of togetherness at different levels, which includes trust, a sense of belonging, and a willingness to participate and help
- Promote critical thinking, generosity of spirit, and openness to learn from diverse ideas and perspectives
Commoning has a rich potential to meet all of these criteria. Of course, implementation is critical! That is to say, strengthening and expanding commoning from within a market/state polity will be really difficult. But it is entirely feasible.