“The Radical Commons Working Group seeks to address two gaps in our understanding of the commons:

(1) An unwarranted gap in the political philosophy of the commons: a lack of conversation between the Tocquevillian associationalism favored at the Ostrom Workshop and the Marxist autonomism explored by a global network of commons practitioners and theoreticians.

(2) A gap in the application of rigorous Ostrom Workshop methods to topics of political contention, namely: sites of commoning behaviors, social arrangements & spatial resources unique to social movements and generalized social struggle, including but not limited to: occupied public squares & parks, pools of debt, pools of material waste, squatted buildings & autonomous zones.

We seek to stir these conversations and create situations where dialogue is emergent, in the absence of abject evasion. To this end, we will seek to publicize demonstrations, events, and talks that contribute to bridging these worlds, not only for the sake of conceptual clarity and enhanced analyses but for the transformative manifestation of emancipatory commons potentialities.

We sponsor the Critical Commons Caucus for the 2014 Workshop on the Ostrom Workshop, we host a Marx Reading Group, and we host “radical” speakers and collectives with insights on the commons.”