The Commons

We live in the midst of one of the potentially worst social and economic crisis in the history of capitalism, while the environmental crisis, according to the predictions of the vast majority of scientists, is approaching catastrophe. Neither states nor markets seem to have been able to offer solutions. Indeed, on the contrary, many believe that they are the main sources of these crises. It is in this context that talks of (and social movements for) commons have become not only increasingly commonplace, but also increasingly relevant. In general terms, the commons are social systems in which resources are shared by a community of users/producers, who also define the modes of use and production, distribution and circulation of these resources through democratic and horizontal forms of governance. But these commons are far from being utopia, if nothing else because they exist and are produced vis a vis a social force, capital, that often demands their cooptation, if not enclosure.