The Commons: Achieving a Just and Equal Society

Posted by Laura Hanna and Gavin Browning, The Nation at 11:52 AM on February 9, 2009.

In a perfect world, wealth--be it money, ideas or access to natural resources--belongs to all of us. But in our decidedly unjust and imperfect world, wealth is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few. There is be a better way. The notion of The Commons--shared land, resources, or the knowledge passed down through generations--is a common-sense way to allocate our natural, cultural and intellectual riches.

In this innovative animation, filmmaker Laura Hanna, writer Gavin Browning and video artists Dana Schechter and Molly Schwartz examine the concept of The Commons as a means to achieve a society of justice and equality.

Inspiration from the film came from four provocative books:

• Unjust Deserts: How the Rich Are Taking Our Common Inheritance and Why We Should Take it Back by Gar Alperovitz and Lew Daly

• Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water, by Maude Barlow

• Viral Spiral: How the Commoners Built a Digital Republic of Their Own, by David Bollier

• The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All, by Peter Linebaugh

On the Internet, the "viral spiral" is a way ideas and innovations grow and be shared with ever-larger numbers of people. That spiral path could be the way the ideas of the commons can help shape a more just society. Learn more at On The Commons.org.

--Joan Connell

Tagged as: justice, philosophy, equality, the commons