Free, Fair, and Alive

David Bollier is an activist, scholar, and blogger who is focused on the commons as a new/old paradigm for re-imagining economics, politics, and culture. He pursues his commons scholarship and activism as Director of the Reinventing the Commons Program at the Schumacher Center for a New Economics and as cofounder of the Commons Strategies Group, an international advocacy project. Author of Think Like a Commoner and other books, he blogs at www.Bollier.org, and lives in Amherst, MA. Silke Helfrich is an independent activist, author, scholar, and speaker. She cofounded the Commons Strategies Group and Commons-Institute, was former head of the regional office of Heinrich Böll Foundation for Central America, Cuba, and Mexico, and holds degrees in Romance languages/pedagogy and in social sciences. Helfrich is the editor and co-author of several books on the Commons, and she blogs at www.commons.blog. She lives in Neudenau, Germany.

• Introduction Part I: The Commons as a Transformative Perspective1. Commons and CommoningCommoning is Everywhere, but Widely MisunderstoodWhat Island Is Not a CommonsCommons in Real Life Zaatari Refugee Camp Buurtzorg Nederland WikiHouse Community Supported Agriculture Guifi.net Understanding Commons Holistically in the Wild 2. The OntoShift to the Commons The Window Through Which We See the World The OntoStory of the Modern West OntoStories as a Hidden Deep Dimension of Politics The Nested-I and Ubuntu Rationality: The Relational Ontology of the Commons Complexity Science and Commoning Making an OntoShift to the Commons 3. Language and the Creation of Commons Words, Terms, and Categories The Tenacity of Systems of Opinion; The Harmonyof Illusions Language and World-Making Frames, Metaphors, and the Terms of Our Cognition Language Evokes and Sustains a Worldview Keywords from a Fading Era Misleading Binaries How Commoning Moves Beyond the Open/Closed Binary Glossary of Commons-Friendly Terms Part II: The Triad of CommoningIntroduction Principles and Patterns A Word on Methodology 4. The Social Life of Commoning Cultivate Shared Purpose & Values Ritualize Togetherness Contribute Freely Practice Gentle Reciprocity Trust Situated Knowing Deepen Communion with Nature Preserve Relationships in Addressing Conflicts Reflect on Your Peer Governance 5. Peer Governance Through Commoning A Few Words About Governance Patterns of Peer Governance Bring Diversity into Shared Purpose On the Origins of Peer Governance Create Semi-permeable Membranes Honor Transparency in a Sphere of Trust Share Knowledge Generously Assure Consent in Decision Making Sociocracy and Consent-Based Decision Making Rely on Heterarchy Peer Monitor & Apply Graduated Sanctions Relationalize Property Keep Commons & Commerce Distinct Enclosures as a Threat to Commons Finance Commons Provisioning 6. Provisioning Through Commons Make & Use Together Support Care & Decommodified Work Share the Risks of Provisioning Contribute & Share Varieties of Allocation in a Commons Pool, Cap & Divide Up Pool, Cap & Mutualize Trade with Price Sovereignty Cecosesola, or How to Ignore the Market Use Convivial Tools Rely on Distributed Structures Creatively Adapt & Renew Part III: Growing the CommonsverseIntroduction 7. Rethinking Property Me, My Freedom, and My Property Property is Relational Collective Property as a Counterpoint to Individual Property? Possession is Distinct From Property Custom as Vernacular Law Inalienability: A Crucial Concept for Commoning Rediscovering the Power of Res Nullius Property and the Objectification of Social Relations 8. Relationalize Property Decommodifying a Supermarket Why Relationalize Property? A Platform Designed for Collaboration: Federated Wiki Neutralizing Capital in the Housing Market: The Mietshäuser Syndikat Story Hacking Property to Help Build Commons Platform Cooperatives Open Source Seeds Commoning Mushrooms: The Iriaiken Philosophy Building Stronger Commons Through Relationalized Property Re-Introducing Meaning Making into Modern Law 9. State Power and Commoning "The State" and "The People"Equal Under Law, Unequal in Reality Some Working Notes on State Power Beyond Reform or Revolution The Power of Commoning Revamping State Power to Support Commoning Catalyze & Propagate Establish Commons at the Macroscale Provide Infrastructures for Commoning Create New Types of Finance for the Commons Commons and Subsidiarity What about Fundamental Rights Guaranteed by the State? 10. Take Commoning to Scale Charters for Commoning Distributed Ledgers as a Platform for Commoning A Brief Explanation of Hash and Hashchain, Blockchain, and Holochain Commons-Public Partnerships Commoning at Scale Acknowledgments Appendix A: Notes on the Methodology Used for Identifying Patterns of Commoning Appendix B: Visual Grammar for the Pattern Illustrations Appendix C: Commons and Commoning Tools Mentioned in This Book Appendix D: Elinor Ostrom's Eight Design Principles for Successful Commons and Commoning Tools Notes Index About the Authors A Note About the Publisher

"If you want a truly exciting glimpse into what the world after this one might look like, this book is for you. When we move past "markets solve all problems" into a more mature approach, it will incorporate precisely the insights in this lively and engaging volume."— Bill McKibben, author, Falter and founder, 350.org"David Bollier and Silke Helfrich don't just establish that commoning can work, and work well. They've analysed the contours of successful experiments in how humans have come together to make their worlds freer, fairer and more alive. This book is an expansive, thorough, and deeply thoughtful guide to a possible future politics. All that remains is for us to take up their call: not to do it ourselves, but to do it together."— Raj Patel, author, The Value of Nothing and Stuffed and Starved"Wiki has confused educators and economists, but not our authors. They explain how and why its social system allows people to make things that couldn't have been made any other way. You will find here a handbook for tackling seemingly intractable problems by sidestepping the mistakes that make them hard."— Ward Cunningham, inventor of the wiki"Free, Fair and Alive is an inspiring treatise for our troubled times. It presents a passionate argument for commoning and lays out thoughtful rules to follow to enact a commoned world. Its insurgent worldview is bold, caring, exciting, and challenging all at once. This book offers hope as well as down to earth strategies to all who care for the future of this planet."— J.K. Gibson-Graham, Jenny Cameron and Stephen Healy, authors, Take Back the Economy: An Ethical Guide for Transforming Our Communities"Free, Fair and Alive shows the path to respond to the ecological emergency and the polarisation of society, economically, socially, culturally. The recovery and co-creation of the commons offers hope for the planet and people. Through commoning we sow the seeds of Earth Democracy and our future."— Vandana Shiva, activist and author, Earth Democracy"Like a medieval cathedral this book is both philosophically lofty and as down-to-earth as a gargoyle. Its structure is encompassing and harmonious, buttressed by psychology, cybernetics, and social science. Magnificent windows let insights illuminate a new world of common facts and a new paradigm of understanding. Major ideas such as the Nested-I or Ubuntu Relationality infuse the whole, tentatively at first but with mounting conviction as this edifice of our future is constructed block by block of example and of reasoning to become a place of refuge from the destructive elements of neoliberalism and a place of collectivity against the fears it instills. Common sense and the sense of the commons are united at last, so, men and women of the commons, let us be up and doing."— Peter Linebaugh, author, Red Round Globe Hot Burning"[Free, Fair, and Alive] is grounded in the contemporary practices of commoning and present the transformative potential of commons. With great enthusiasm and a thoughtful attitude the authors introduce the commons as set of practices, believes and values for politicizing the needed societal transformation for a fairer and more sustainable world. If you aim to initiating commoning actions or you are already entangled in a networks of commons, this is the right book for you; after reading it you will have new sparks, new ideas, new energies and the right dose of bravery to (re)launch again and again the counter-hegemonic logic of commons and enjoy the performative power of the everyday commoning."— Giacomo D'Alisa, Center of Social Study, University of Coimbra, Portugal"Free, Fair, and Alive eloquently describes a worldview that is both old and new. Old, because it is based on an accurate conception of human nature and society. New, because it provides a robust alternative to individualism, which has dominated social science and public policy for over a half-century. A must-read for all who are working toward an ethics for the whole world."— David Sloan Wilson, President, Evolution Institute, and author, This View of Life