Bringing Commons Concepts To Latin America
OnTheCommons.org | The Rise of the Commons in Latin America
David Bollier reports back on a Mexico City conference that he attended. The conference raises awareness about commons concepts in Latin America. David writes:
People in Latin American countries are only too familiar with the abuses that unfettered markets are inflicting on their lives. They know how corporations are plundering genetic resources that have been sustained by indigenous communities. They are being hurt by corporate privatization of scarce fresh water supplies. By global warming that affects the countries of the South with more intense weather changes. By copyright and technology controls that lock up culture and prevent normal sharing. By trade agreements that undercut local and regional economies, limit development and subvert the sovereignty of nations. And so on.
While it is not entirely clear that the words “commons†and “enclosure†will be adopted by Latin Americans, there is little question that the basic concepts resonate. Participants seemed to relish the way that the commons brings together a wide variety of issues that are not usually seen as connected (biopiracy, trade policy, water privatization, free culture, etc.), and how the commons helps people assert a trans-national solidarity in fighting market excesses and corporate domination.
One of the key truths about the commons is the differences among them. Each commons bears the stamp of its local culture, the nature of the resource, its history, and other factors. So while I approached the conference with some general ideas about how commons work, it was an education for me to see how other people describe and emotionally connect to their commons. Some of the most moving moments in the conference came when indigenous activists from Oaxaca and Chiapas spoke about their struggles to assert control over their economies and their lives. Since social communities tend to be richer and more dynamic in Latin America than in the U.S., I think many people there intuitively understand the idea of enclosure. That may be why the commons may take hold among more Latin Americans — it helps name something that does not otherwise have a good name in official government and economic discourse. I think indigenous peoples may have a lot to teach us about the commons, in particular: they live it more intensely than most of us.
