Barcelona Conference on Social Commons

Review

Birgit Daiber:

"The preparation of the conference took at least 9 months – including a preparatory conference in Manila - of intense cooperation between activists from Europe and South-East-Asia. At the three days’ conference participated around 40 experts with contributions and in the debates[1]. Here is a short summary of some of the essential statements of the contributions:

Tina Ebro started with in a short presentation of the history of AEPF (Asia-European-Peoples-Forum). Since it’s beginning in 1996 the biennal people’s Forums are organised parallel to ASEM summits every two years. AEPF is campaigning reclaiming people’s dignity by promoting Climate and Ecological Justice, Food Sovereignty and Resource Justice, Just Trade and Corporate Accountability, Peace and Security, Social Justice, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights. AEPF is a success story how civic organisations are able to create transnational cooperation and work together. There is no similar cooperation project between European civic organisations and other regions. The Barcelona-conference is the second preparatory conference for the next general AEPF-meeting in Ghent (BE) in autumn 2018.

Koen Detavernier (BE) and Francine Mestrum (Head of the social justice cluster of AEPF) gave an introduction to the at least since 30 years ongoing change in social politics and the dominance of a neo-liberal paradigm. Francine gave a general definition on Social Commons as based on social citizenship and human rights.

Dario Azzellini reminds Capital’s strategies exploiting social production of societies and people for it’s own purposes means it is fighting autonomous use: in this sense the creation of commons is the result of struggles.

Anna Coote (UK) says the central purpose of ‘social protection’ or welfare systems is not to supply a productive workforce, but to ensure that people’s needs are met. This means everyone must have access to resourcesthat are essential for survival and flourishing – for health, critical autonomy and participation in society. Care and meaningful relationships are just as important as land, water, air and energy.

Paths towards a new politics are:

1) Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

2) Not competition, consumerism and choice, but caring for each other, pooling resources, sharing risks – reasserting the collective ideal.

3) Valuing unpaid activities on which the formal economy depends.

4) Goals: social justice, environmental sustainability, more equal distribution of power.

Dinesh Devkota(Nepal) from the governing communist party stressed the facto f 25% percent citizens of Nepal living beyond poverty level and 80 percent living in rural areas. They work on two commons-issues: Climate and social commons – related to ILO-standards.

Shalmali Guttal (Thailand) names the actual global situation a war of the rich against the poor with a enourmous redistribution of wealth from the people to the rich.

Bru Lain Escandell (Barcelona) gives an overview on different law-traditions concerning property. This contribution seems to be of extraordinary relevance for all political initiatives to implement laws on Commons (the pp-presentation is on the website of aepf.info). Just to give an example: While Roman Law knew different aspects of common Law (such as res publicae, res nullius, res universitatis and res communes) the modern liberal law sets private property in the centre: From the liberal era on all Property rights are the guardian of any other rights – and dispossession makes people dependent. But even under this law-regime property on water and land cannot be reclaimed simply as private property rights.

Chantal Delmas (co-organiser of Transform! working-group on Commons) is coming back to the general discourse on the structure of capitalism and the challenge The Common Good means to it. She gives some practical examples from French Workers’ recuperated enterprises.

Peter North (UK) reflects the failure of traditional socialism to transform the capitalist system based on exploitation and asks how to ensure and make practical the Commons approach based on generosity. He’s putting the finger on the fact that it is much easier to take anti-capitalist positions than to build alternatives.

Sandeep Chachra (India) says in India there is urgent need for change as there exist extreme forms of inequalities and extreme forms of ecological crisis. Very high rates of cancer make it urgent for action on access to clean water and air. At the same time about 500 Million people un- or underemployed and new waves of mass-migration take place. Class-struggles and struggles for commons (on natural resources, equal rights, womens’ rights, labour and welfare-state) are connected. He refers to the struggles of tribal people defending traditional commons and to rural farmers defending access to land.

Marco Berlinguer (Barcelona) introduced the debates on digital commons, concentrating on FOSS – Free Open Source Software – and peer-production emerging as post-capitalist mode of production. The “giants” of digital economy generate data as immense process of commodifaction – while the FOSS model is contradictory to the model of exchange-value.

Dong Huy Cuong (Vietnam) says, about 20 Percent of the population in his country need social support, and there are many fields of action for commons initiatives, while Government has to ensure access to education, health care, clean water and electricity. Koen Detaverniercomes back to social commons as rights based comprehensive basic social protection for all, financed by multiple stakeholders.

Roland Kulkefrom Transform! Brussels gives an introduction in their productive transformation project and

Roberto Morea (co-organiser of the Transform! Working-group on Commons) starts a reflection on the actual composition of classes that is today far away from the classical industrial proletariat of former times. The possibility to get power for the commons movement depends on class struggles.

In a last round table participants stress specific issues b.e labour, land and food health, housing, care and Elisabetta Cangelosi explains the importance of the gender question in all commons activities.

Finally Francine Mestrum and Roberto Morea present the draft of the “Barcelona Declaration”." (Transform mailing list, July 2018)