New Commons video

[Michel Bauwens]

Via Caitlin Graf, The New Press


The New Press and OnTheCommons.org are pleased to announce a new collaborative video project which addresses the commons—the theory that, according to Peter Linebaugh, “vests all property in the community and organizes labor for the common benefit of all.” The Commons video is being featured on The Nation's website at: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090126/commons_video?rel=hp_mediaband

Animated with whimsy and style by artists Molly Schwartz and Dana Schechter, The Commons is more relevant today than ever. Far more than a dusty historic and economic term, the commons are the public streets, parks and playgrounds where we thrive; the land, water, air that we depend on for life; the Internet where we exchange information and ideas; and the moments of collective action and resistance, in which citizens stand up to the misuse of common resources.

The Commons was assembled with the help of OnTheCommons.org, a network of citizens and organizations that champions the cause of the commons on many fronts, and features the work of New Press authors Maude Barlow (Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water); Gar Alperovitz & Lew Daly (Unjust Deserts: How the Rich Are Taking Our Common Inheritance and Why We Should Take It Back); and David Bollier (Viral Spiral: How the Commoners Built a Digital Republic of Their Own).

Nobody owns The Commons. We'd like to invite you to upload the video on your website, and to share it in the spirit of the commons.

If you would like to arrange an interview with David Bollier, Gar Alperovitz and Lew Daly, or Maude Barlow, please contact: [e-mail]