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The concept of "the commons" is new to me and it is the first time I read about it. I read a few posts before writing my own and saw the topic of desiring to belong to a common and that really stuck with me. many of the commons are at their core just about being a part of something. It is human nature to try to fit in and find your group of people, but then again some never do and turn out just fine. (695995)

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I loved all of the questions that you brought up in your post. The question of is something public when it belongs to the state really stuck with me when reading the article as well. The concept of the tragedy of the commons really does get you thinking about the future and the resources.(695995)

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Agreed with you here Roshni that one of the really interesting things here, and one I hadn't really thought of before was that "state-owned" does not equate with "public": 'we need to question if something is public when it belongs to the state'. That the protests were concerned with moving BEYOND simply petitioning the state and more to do with what public access/state control actually meant for management and access was really interesting.

I also enjoyed the discussion of how commoning, and the structures that surround management practices regarding common resources, extend far beyond the simple question of that resource itself and reach into community formation: 'the water committees go far beyond water' - commoning processes here actually constructing and strengthening communities and their functioning themselves.

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Really enjoyed this paper as it's an area which I'm so interested in and one I've been encountering a lot recently. I've been looking at the Samburu (close relatives of the Maasai) and the conflicts that are developing around boundaries conservancies in Northern Kenya over grazing areas for cattle during a rapidly worsening drought. Over and over again the argument I've heard from the conservationists in the area has reflected that detailed in the paper: that the Samburu have mismanaged their 'own' grasslands, that they're obsessed with cattle and can't keep their populations under control, and that conservation areas have to be boundaries and strictly patrolled because if herders do break into them all they cause is chaos and depletion.
It seems to me that huge factors such as loss of prime grazing lands (and enormous loss of land generally) and loss of autonomy over the management of pasture and grazing (only replaced by models which seem to at best pay lip service to 'traditional techniques') are being completely ignored by many in the region.

I think it's also to necessarily complicate the issue, particularly as it's playing out today, and look at the political aspects to how regional politicians can manipulate and use divisive issues of commoning and local ethnic divisions in this area to their own ends. I've also come across people claiming that most Samburu cattle are now privately owned by such politicians and wealthy individuals in the region, which further complicates.

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I found this article really interesting in highlighting what is really ours or what is purchased from the state. It also demonstrates that local collective action can work in challenging oppressive state systems and systems of governance. I found it interesting to read that certain communities in the Andes see water as a living and divine being. 'Water is everybody's but also nobody's.' I feel that this reverence for the natural world should be channelled into all debates regarding water, forests and natural elements.

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I also agree with this point. Although food co-ops are good in theory, it still seems that many people who use food co-ops are middle class, white and financially stable. I currently work for a company that is trying to adopt the food co-operative approach however, one big issue that we seem to be facing is that the majority of our customers are middle-class people with the time and freedom to spend their income on 'ethical options'. We are trying to find ways of making our products accessible to everyone, however have found that the products themselves are expensive so it is hard to bring the price down/

I found Zitcer's comparison of the two Co-op's really interesting and allowed me to better understand the nuances of this large issue.

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After reading this material regarding Water War, it reminds of the geopolitics in Hong Kong and how the control over natural resources determines the political dynamics between states and different actors.

During the British colonial era, Hong Kong authority established independent local water supply by building reservoirs & catchment areas. However most of those infrastructure were abandoned after the handover in 1997. Since then the water supply of Hong Kong is heavily relying on mainland China at a very high cost, and this has become a discourse that Hong Kongers should be thankful and grateful that China had provided the water to them.

It shows that how important to have controlled the natural resources before taking over of a city.

I think the concept of commoning is inseparable from (deliberative) democracy. The power of state is supposed to be delegated by the people, state should be the agent of the people. Democracy is the important element that ensuring the source of power of a state is legitimised.

People's participation in decision-making of water resource management is crucial. Experts and professionalism create information asymmetry, and it easily makes people far away from being well-informed and having controlled over the natural resoruces.

Being able to self-governance depends on people's willingness and ability to engage. People having control over natural resource is the very first stage of being able to self-govern.

By Ho Yee Mak 695106

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I guess the point is that the state, under the neoliberalism context, is never meant to address the sustainability but making the profitability sustainable. The problem of the state is that she never respected and put efforts to deal with the indigenous communities, instead she prioritised the profit-making & being obsessed with 'scientific' value.
By Ho Yee Mak 695106

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Blockchain Technology - Commoning for Intellectual Property

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Blockchain Technology - Commoning for Intellectual Property

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https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/agriculture/high-tech-on-the-ground-blockchain-technology-to-boost-small-farm-incomes-64782

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High-tech on the ground: Blockchain technology to boost small farm incomes

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Three-way partnership between ICRISAT, Eleven01 and KHETHINEXT to create a transparent marketplace

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235786- Darla R
In response to Jake's concern that resistance by communities can worsen their situation, I feel the example in this article demonstrates that commoning/ collective decision making can create a force stronger than the state. However, the issue, which was well covered in the lecture was continuity or sustainability of the results of this resistance. In other words, without the state, can communities self-manage? To what extent? What is needed?

Overall, this topic is eye opening.

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What the Tragedy of the Commons meant for me is that natural resources are not just resources that can be managed through public institutions. Resources also represent cultural relations to the land. The anthropological critique to ToC can be seen as the attempt to overcome the utilitarian-perspective of the question in the first place. As we could see with the reading about the Masai people in Kenya. Cultural practices are inherent to the way we relate to the natural environment. When confronted to the tragedy of the commons, our public institutions should be able to acknowledge their own biases and prejudices when it comes to 'dealing' with the environment.

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This article shows how the history of colonization has created government institutions that are completely alienated from the historical precolonial practices in Kenya. Evidently, the great tragedy of the commons in this context is that the social and ecological organizations that used to manage land in Masai-country are being transformed by 'formal and external' institutions. The communication between cultural practices and land-management is broken. By showing the different steps of this rupture, we come to notice how discriminating and damaging contemporary governmental institutions are. They are not effective at addressing the core questions of sustainable development and the subsequent ecological transition.

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I found the critique of the right-based strategy of the state very thought-provoking as this is what may of us have been conditioned to believe is the correct route to equitable and sustainable life worldwide. It made me re-think how I view public goods – it seems state ownership comes with a lot of bureaucracy that can lead to disillusionment and perhaps an adoption of the ‘tragedy of the commons’ idea (with people thinking, it is not worth it to follow these rules and regulations to access something that is meant to be ‘public’!).

I wonder to what extent the citizens of Bolivia see commoning as a way to respect the rights of the water itself, seeing as they view it as “a living being, a divine being”. This links to Nigel’s point about how we may steer away from anthropocentric framing of these issues…

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I totally agree! A very good critique of the tragedy of the commons, they effectively prove that colonial interference made the ecology less resilient. Although I am curious to what extent the Kenyan state will actually learn that as you said... (695065)

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I agree, it is never black and white and that a combination of various groups working together might be the way forward.
Although wishful thinking to answer your last question, perhaps having people in power who have a true heart for their people are are in touch with the needs of others would be a starting point.
Nana 686258

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This reading brought up a lot of questions for me! Co-ops provide an interesting paradox of something that is simultaneously promoting community control of resources (food) and food justice, while also being exclusionary in many aspects (most noticeably wealth). I am wondering what people think about the assertion that co-ops are anti-capitalist or operate at the margins of capitalism, aren't they still businesses? And to what extent can they actually control/be sure that the products they sell are actually made ethically? Some of the co-ops I've been in in the U.S. have loads of products from large brands and I doubt that all of those companies are in line with the ethics of the co-op. This also made me think about the power and role of individual/collective action.

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I really liked your post and how co-ops are not actually flawed as some have said but they are responding to changing circumstances. This shed light for me. 696262

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This reading offers a lot of food for thought and like anything in anthropology forces us to  critically examine initiatives many of us may be drawn towards. Zitcar's closing sentence summarises what would be required for a successful alternative  economic system in food ways and the positives of co-ops:
- ability to change governance and ownership in food system
- goal to be more accountable and democratic
- critical awareness of injustice is imp when trying to improve economic and social landscape
- commonly controlled economy to be inclusive and politically vocal is stated to be good for communities wanting to change the landscape for the good
taken from pg. 16
Nana

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I agree that it is very important to adhere to the common goal of a group and loyalty is a competitive advantage that cooperatives need to preserve. But I think it is also important to think about the exclusivity that may come with the loyalty. How to maintain a sense of group affiliation yet not to overlook or even discriminate other groups or neighbors is also a challenge that cooperatives need to face and deal with. 695184 Tingting Ye

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As raised by others I found this article raises the question of how much the state needs to involve itself within these practises. Communities want to be able to decide what is best yet the state is needed to protect their resources from external threats. The relationship between the states and communities regarding commons is interesting.

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Argentina has some well-established organisations dedicated to alternative food provision that links consumers directly to agroecological producers (definitely a reaction to the big expansion of agribusiness in the country). One of them is the UTT (Union de Trabajadores de la Tierra - Union of Land Workers), which has a very strong political component that addresses issues of gender, class and race in the food system and provides very affordable ecologically produced food. They have a few co-ops that are quite 'successful' (would be interesting to see them from within, maybe some of the issues that Zitcer addresses also happen here ...). Their work has had such a positive and broad impact that at the start of the pandemic the president of the UTT, Nahuel Levaggi was given the role of president of the Central Market of Buenos Aires (the biggest market for conventionally grown fresh produce in Argentina). One hopes this will bring a shift towards agroecology on a national scale.

Sarah's mention of Argentina made me think of this case and I thought it would be worth mentioning it to bring a fruitful/optimistic case to the conversation. Apologies for the long post! - MJ 685585

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We can see a positive trend in people's awareness of the benefits of cooperatives versus multinational corporations like Walmart who are imposing negative effects on community empowerment. Even if the Co-ops still have many problems in practice, it cannot be denied that it increases the probability of future cooperation and it provides a new possible social system for the future.

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Reading about co-ops in America (in a city I used to live in!) I can't help but think about Broad City's parody of the co-op as a cult-like space where members who failed to contribute enough hours would be (socially) penalized. In this episode (and maybe IRL) the co-op was a space of strict behavioral norms that made you think that if you weren't performing properly, you would lose not only co-op membership but social membership as well.

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I find myself asking the same question. I don't think the answer is black and white - a mixture of governance + power to the commons is arguably the best way to manage resources. As long as the government stays true enough to their role to ensure the welfare of society and the environment, a sustainable management of resources is possible. But how do we distance the logics of capitalism from the government to ensure socioeconomic welfare of the commons? (696247)

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I thought this was very interesting as well. Beyond that very interesting to read about how communities build a set of practices around commons and then ensure that these practices can continue to serve everyone. It's like Catherine mentioned in lecture, the process of creating or maintaining a commons allows for the creation of social organization.

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I enjoyed reading on co-ops attempting to shift the habits of consumers and inspire collective good through purchase of goods. It illustrates alternative economic practices that does not always need to abide by the logics of capitalism. Leveraging on consumer habits for activism is an intriguing idea but I wonder how effective it can be on a bigger scale as even the paper suggests the radical co-op has less visibility. I am not very familiar with the concept of co-op but it does feel rather exclusive as it requires membership, making it harder to make a greater impact on consumer habits.

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I really enjoyed the activist component in this article and how it managed to remain critical but very constructive and engaged at the same time. I also really enjoyed seeing a food related text in the context of this week’s subject. I think thinking about food and the social relations around food labour as Commons can open up some interesting discussions. Despite all the ‘flaws’ in both initiatives, I found their job very valuable and I think this piece is hopeful. - MJ 685585

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This article inspired me that how the terms “state” and “public” are often confusing with each other. Especially, sometimes it was confused by the state on purpose to expand its power.so yes, the key element is an empowering community to decide their own issues and reclaim their right to define what is “public”.

Ramsey 694929

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This article really efficiently broke down various assumptions of the tragedy of the commons, crucially its assertion that self-governance will inevitably cause resource degradation. Although it was frustrating to see how colonial institutions destroyed previously effective ecological management systems, I think it's so important to bring attention to. In general discourse, I think the tragedy of the commons is too readily accepted (especially when you consider Hardin's other theories, including his white supremacist lifeboat ethics). (695716)

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Agreed, it is the banalness that can normalize the co-op in societies. Zitzer concludes that the political motives should be more apparent to the users of the co-op for real change to be made, but I am not sure what might be more effective, both have their benefits, of course.

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The most astonishing thing I found in this interesting article is the contrast of how the SES system was built between Maasai before 1890 and that during the colonial period. It is really insightful where Mwangi and Ostrom concluded the Maasai interactive SES system (p202.) I found that the former system a success while the British system a failure in a reason that the Maasai system was non-artificial. It was not designed by anybody and it was spontaneous.

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Your reflection on the fact that co-ops don't really exist anymore or often seem to have disappeared resonated with me. I think that when co-ops try to navigate in an existing capitalist framework, it often means that any proposed solutions will fall short of addressing the issues they sought to solve in the first place as they get side-tracked in profit making.  However, I do think customers need to remember how powerful they are as a collective. Ultimately for food retailers to be successful, whether they're a co-op or one of the top 5 retailers, they need to be customer centric. This customer centricity means that there is space for customers to guide and lead. 694871

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I thought this article was very interesting and relevant - it connected really well to a debate we had in last week's seminar (community control over food justice vs centralised control), and introduced a criticism of state ownership of public resources that I hadn't previously considered.
I'd be interested in learning more about the tactics used in the water war, and how these tactics could be adapted in other contemporary popular mobilisations - for example Extinction Rebellion. (695716)

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Meyer and Hudon: This paper shows the diversity within CCs which i found particularly interesting regarding their relationship to (inter)nationally regulated currencies and/or capitalistic and meritocratic exchange values. the LETS and Time currencies produce a common, and have the power to alleviate poverty, but their minimal governence allows participants to use the prevailing capitalist values i.e. a doctors time is more valuable than a cleaners. The relationship to the prevailing currency appears to be the hinch-pin on how radically anti-capitalist a currency can be; by shortening the supply chain but keeping it tied to the hegemonic currency, is the commoning aspect too opt-in, opt-out? Particularly, as the Truque illustrates, a decentralized governence system seems to be the key to their success.

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Eliza 686948.
I agree Jake and also with Melanie. it was great (and useful) to see the breakdown of the effect of different institutions on  ecological resilience. Its a great question you ask Jake, and it makes me further ask. If we reconnect people and governments in 'developed nations' to natural resources (to help them understand how much we too depend and rely on them) will there be a transformation in the way the climate crisis and sustainability is dealt with?
Also, it is uplifting to read how local movements and collective action have overthrown policy - Decentralising the control of central governments. Masai governments have created their own institutional rules and maintain their unique understanding of land and resources.

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I agree with you both. I also loved reading the article and knowing more about the ways in which the Masai territory was managed before colonialism. It is frustrating that in today's society we have this perception that "written" knowledge/sources is reliable, while "oral"/"anecdotal" information isn't. I believe that this argument might have been used to dismiss what is written in the text, as we will never be able to know "for sure" how the territory was managed before it was put in writing... Elena (695342)

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Love this point. Agree with it.
I almost feel like the world is moving towards focussing back to what worked locally. For a long time, we have been trying to organise, and add structure to undefined local community practices. I think we are reaching a point where we are realising that some of the nuances in local rules / norms and understandings are best left undefined. Formal structures and frameworks cannot accommodate for the convoluted and interconnected factors that made the communities build these un-written rules and understandings in the first place.

Harish 695003

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The Cochabamba shows us how the Morales state adopted a "rights-based" strategy to actually reduce the power and enclose communities. I do believe in the concept of "commoning" and I do believe that humans are able to govern themselves outside of the state without prioritizing their personal interest only. However, I don't want to draw out the state completely without reflection. Isn't there any positive examples where a "rights-based" state strategy did good to people? Isn't that the reason why the State was created in the first place - to talk and represent the people, rather than "enclose" them?

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Desire to belong to a common :: “Global citizen”

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Desire to belong to a common :: “Global citizen”

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This is my first time learning about the “commons”. Sharing something that’s more of a general realization while I was reading through the articles. A lot of the commons are heavily connected to this idea of belonging to a particular community / eco-system / group. I find myself in a strange position where I am yearning to belong to a common, but not sure where I fit. I’m wondering what happens to those who have moved around a bit (location), or have a varied sense of belonging and/or assoiciation (across cultures). Are they the ones who fit well into the “incosequentiality theory”?

Harish 695003

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I was astonished by the amount of people that participated in the demonstrations of the water war in 1999, over 50,000 and got even higher in the next days when people saw that their demands weren't being heard. Even after a very violent behavior from police the public didn't stop fighting and was very relieved when I read that it was Bolivia's first victory after 18 years during neoliberalism and "had changed history". - 695883

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Fully agree. I think the best part of this piece was when they said (rough quote from my notes) the "real tragedy of the commons is the lack of understanding shown by government officials (colonial and modern) of a nested governance system for sustaining SESs over time."

Local communities have a unique understanding of both the resource itself and the other members of their community that any imposed state or market force is not going to be able to replicate. Also, the trial and error of centuries does produce robust governance systems that again, a government can't come in and impose overnight.

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to reply to 675479 on whether co-operatives can survive....ever. I found this an interesting question to grapple with, as perhaps this is only the case when a complete collapse happens like in Argentina back in around 2001. When the country's business class started to abandon ship the workers started to run things themselves, including co-ops. I suppose desperate times can bring about change for the better and become a working permanent part of an economy.... sarah 683385

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This article reminds me of water shortage in California, and how farmers have been vilified in the press, whereas in fact the state has been letting water out of reservoirs bolstered by the rhetoric of 'environmental policy', to help endangered species of fish, which hasn't worked within the 30 years they've been doing it. In 2019 it was reported that the state still held back on water from the farmers and rationed citizens - highlighting how the government can use policy and rhetoric to control the commons and intervene in people's human right to water. Although there are still arguments over whether it's the farmers fault or the government, the citizens still have to pay for this very man made problem. On the one hand, perhaps we need state intervention because of neoliberal companies stripping resources for financial gain, but on the other, the state can also be negligent and act like a formless body, detached from human community input and led by policy making. 683385 Sarah

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I found this article very thought-provoking. I have always been pretty staunchly against privatisation of water (and still am) but I suppose I had assumed the state could step in and fill that role. This piece makes a compelling argument that the state is too detached from the realities of local communities to fill that role in a truly equitable and functional way. The water committees showed a much deeper understanding of the local communities' water needs. It seems like the underlying theme this week if that those local communal management systems have a localised historical perspective that both private corporations and large state governments can not emulate.

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I totally agree. I think that all 3 readings this week reinforce the need for decentralised control to ensure appropriate knowledge / action is pursued. The interests of central governments / colonial administrations continue to be based on exploitation and extraction, without any respect for alternative or ancestral knowledge. Profit-driven practice will never produce sustainable outputs.

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This is a thought-provoking analysis which at times reads like an op-ed. I didn't know that Oxford journal accepts articles written by activists. What I find noteworthy is that the illegalization of community-based management and entitlement to public asset, in this case water, is highlighted here.  It shows a clear separation between the state and the public even though water is essentially a resource needed by everybody. But the privatization, exclusion of the public, many of them rural and working class members, and even state and private actor's punishment dawned upon these members (Aguas del Tunari  could sue them for unlawful competition and take control of the existing community-

owned systems to serve the company’s needs) also reflects the fact the gap between people who are fighting to protect access to the commons and those who are trying to make money off it. Members of the political and economic elite might not have suffered from lack of water access or high water bills. A familiar tale.

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I agree with you, that article also left me wondering about how we live our lives and how nowadays paying for natural resources is the normality of our society. The part in Dwinell's and Olivera's article that said about how people in Andes think about water, that water is a "living being" and that is "everybody's and nobody's", really touched me as well and made me reconsider.  - 695883

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I find the idea of rural communities as ‘in need of being empowered’ quite disturbing. Some of these groups have been managing common resources for centuries, even millennia (existing pre-columbian irrigation techniques and systems such as qochas and waru warus are still being used throughout Andean countries) very efficiently, and have a very strong socio-political base organisation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq2LY1AsH0A

I certainly agree with George and others that the state must protect commons and communities from international and national threats, but I think we need to move past this narrative of ‘empowerment’ as it denies agency to these groups and it implies a unidirectional transfer/movement of 'power' from top to bottom.

I think this article accurately highlights the already existing power of subaltern groups by describing different situations, such as the outcome of the water wars, or the case of a Community in Cochabamba that carried out autonomic collective research to figure out the best way to provide water for the neighbourhood.   - MJ 685585

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The mystery of the Waru Waru or Camellones

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I can really relate to the exploration of exclusion in food cooperatives. Back home, the only food cooperatives are in neighbouring villages that are extremely affluent, as opposed to the town, which is working class. There is little to no outreach efforts, and because the villages are small, the treatment of people coming from outside the village is very apparent! Maybe my experience is just very unlucky, but the undeniable trend of food sustainability has in my area been co-opted by a lot of trendy yummy mummy’s in range rovers, as they are the only ones who can firstly afford the produce but also access it by driving to the shop. Whereas due to poor infrastructure and bus services, residents from my town face logistical difficulties in getting there. Therefore, their whole cooperative approach is highly uncooperative. I am just venting now, but this piece really evoked a certain rage I have with sustainable food cooperatives as being spaces of exclusion which is totally antithetical to the purpose of changing attitudes around shopping??? But i really do love the idea of food cooperatives, they definitely are the way forward. But i'm not sure i was totally convinced by Zitcers conclusion? Maybe I was too overwhelmed by rage to comprehend haha

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Second you on how frustrated yet triumphant this paper made me feel. Just makes me realise more and more that the people who truly have their ear to the ground end up having the most sustainable responses and solutions. The mindset has to be less governance and more coexistence.

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The Tragedy of Commons as a concept has left me reflecting on how we've been living our lives and the ways in which humans try to exert control over natural resources. The article says "the state cannot be the horizon at which we seek to arrive". But the answer seems to end up at a human entity, public or private. Who is the advocate for nature and its rights? The "horizon" cannot only be where the needs of human society are met.

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This is the first time I have read about the Water war of 2000 and Gas war in 2003. This article made me question public ownership in unexpected ways. In the UK where anyone on the political left calls for public ownership of health, social care, educational institutions, of utilities and infrastructure (railways etc) as a matter of course - owned by the people for the people. This doesn't acknowledge the power being handed to a centralized state as the major decision maker - we then have to accept that different governments will exercise their will/political ideology upon institutions and therefore 'the people'. I had never quite 'got' this dynamic before.......

If water (and air) are 'commons' the endless desire for ownership, particularly in neoliberal states, as we see has occurred in Bolivia, will continue to cause disputes between the people and the state.

We have seen in this country the purposeful running down of publicly(state) owned institutions to then convince 'the people' that  privatisation will be the answer if we want 'better' service. I hope the Bolivian water committees are successful in retaining at least some autonomy over decisions that pertain to the distribution of the local water supply.

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I thought this piece was interesting as I am in favour of public ownership of water. However, the manipulation of the Bolivian state to control public rights which subsequently removes power from the public and redistributes it back to the state is so demoralising, and something that would likely happen in the UK if we were ever to be successful with nationalising water & energy supplies. “Water is everybody’s and nobody’s” – I really like this quote, because it reinforces equal access for all and simultaneously that it is nobody’s to profit from.

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For me, this article raises multiple very interesting issues when trying to shift power from community to state. It demonstrates the collective notion of community, and the people. It makes me sad that the Bolivians are having to determine conditions of their own sanitation and lives. It demonstrates the strong link between the states maintaining of the commons and human rights. The privatisation of the commons has potentially very damaging effects on rural communities and causes further discrimination and marginalisation. The politics of community and rights to water. I do think sometimes state action may be needed but I fear of the complexity and power of the state and how they define 'common' and 'commoning' to build state designed frameworks and action forgetting about the local level and lack of respect to indigenous voices.

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I like how you connect this piece with neoliberalism. I also think that the movement in Bolivia was somehow driven by political economy factor and we can see how dynamic "the commons" was used as a purpose by the state or the community itself.

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Co-ops as Community Empowerment (694529)

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Co-ops as Community Empowerment (694529)

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I think the notion of co-ops lies in the empowerment of the community, which has the mission of just and equal access to its members. After contrasting a liberal and radical co-ops approaches, the author suggests that democratic one would be better at embody a good governance in the food system, along with sense of justice and vision to transform the community itself into betterment.

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Like Melanie, I am curious to know about examples where there has been a post colonial/post neoliberalism return to localised knowledge and management of natural resources. This article also made me think of the consequences that establishment of parks and wildlife preservation area has on the life of local communities. In general, local involvement seems crucial. As Mwangi & Ostrom say it is "officials who suffer little arm from making decisions" that bring major damage to the citizens on the ground.

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I really enjoyed how this article portrait the  commons in Bolivia are their relation with governances. When it is stated that they are not working against the public system, but for the ability to decide how and at what extent to connect with the public network. I feel that this is a key element for empowering communities. When public management is available, and people have the power to decide. Either taking, shaping or changing models in order to fulfil their own needs.

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I think it's important to focus on the fact that cooperatives were born to allow a group of people to achieve a common goal that would be impossible or more difficult to achieve individually. This mission is what gives a cooperative its identity, which is then fragmented to reflect the different identities of its members/the way its members interpret the mission of the cooperative they belong to. In this sense, cooperatives are not flawed per se, they face moments of change and transformation like any other social organization does. The way a cooperative responds to changing circumstances depends on how well it understands and manages the meshing of identities that occurs within itself. Capitalist enterprises too have to evolve and face internal changes and changes in the market they operate in, so dealing with change is not unique to cooperatives. Since cooperatives can hardly compete over price and availability against conventional business practice, loyalty is the competitive advantage they need to preserve at all costs.

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I agree totally. Even though the article shows the struggles and differences that a couple of co-ops may face, I still believe that there are plenty of guidelines and structures that co-ops bring to alternative ways of managing resources as communities.

696601

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I was impressed by 'public ownership through the state does not necessarily create a common and enacting a 'right to' a resource does not necessarily place the resource in a commons'. it makes me reflect my own country and many policies. Indeed, state has the power to alter the geography scenery, redistribute resources and decide who will benefit first. And many enactments were in the name of benefiting all people but to some extend were robbing the commons from people.

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I agree with you on how this case started as a water war but then evolved to be a fight for the rights of the community. It also showcases that when the states control the commons, then it is easier to fight back whereas when the commons are privatized, the community loses that power.

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This reading was interesting and quite inspiring in a way where it showcased an example of the power being in the hands of the people—an idea I’ve oftentimes become disillusioned with since it seems to so rarely occur. The mobilization of the Bolivian people through the Coordinadora to demand lower-water rates was very interesting. With demonstrations not only being in person protests but also the communal refusal to pay the water bills until the people’s demands were met showcased that when the people fight hard enough, there’s not much else the government can do. The reading states that this issue was not simply about water utility but “was a popular struggle to expand participation in determining the conditions of people’s lives and, it can be argued, that is why it succeeded.” These decisions by the people were made outside the state’s regulations and used to push the state to give its people the rights they demanded. The reading really showcased how neoliberalism, though a popular idea in recent years, minimizes the power of the people even though it’s been touted to do just the opposite.

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I found this article very interesting because it dealt with the complexity of commons. The community wants to be able to decide but sometimes the community need the government to help. The question here is how far does this help given by the government used to take control of the community in need. I feel that the article was not just about the question of privatization of water which I think should not be done, but more on the complex relationship between communities and their governments regarding commons. The government has the responsibility to provide water for everybody. Governments use this responsibility to take control of commons and therefore taking away the autonomy of the local people.

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Thanks for your inspiration! I couldn't give my answer, but I want to add another perspective to re-examine your question. I think it is important to analyze the co-op within different context. Co-op is not only popular in US but also exist in China, while it is run in the different market. One is capital market and are governed by the 'logic' of market competition; while the other is socialistic market with Chinese characteristics. I believe co-op will have different political visions and thus may be different from either 'radical' or 'liberal' forms.

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In response to the thread so far, I think this reading has raised some very interesting discussion. I think state involvement is required at some level because communities commoning on a local level cannot protect their resources and ecologies from national and international level threats. However, the state should empower communities at the local level wherever possible. The complexities and difficulties of state involvement are particularly demonstrated by criticism of Morales' government, though not neoliberal, but progressive and respecting of indigenous voices, it still took a centralised approach that disempowered local communities.

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For me this article really sums up the problem with the tragedy of the commons, that it overlooks the critical factor of any commons that has persisted over time - that it has been managed. Mwangi and Ostrom compare Maasai and Kenyan state governance of the ecology as institutions. It is clear that the long evolution of Maasai governance had created 'nested layers of institutional rules' that the Kenyan state must learn from if it will be able to protect the ecology.

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694981. I completely agree, it was infuriating to read on the reduction of resilience of the Kenyan ecosystem during the colonial period. I was very happy to learn that the Maasai trial-and-error methods of learning on how to make better decisions was in the end the most "robust" and ecologically-friendly institutional method.

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I really enjoyed this article although I had some difficulties relating it to the other two readings which focused more on the commons. I do agree with the author, a hybrid co-op which installs qualified management, considers input from staff, and retains a critical analysis of race, class, and gender is crucial to ensure societal change.

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It was eye-rollingly frustrating to read about how colonial arrogance led to land degradation by enforcing top-down decisions that failed because they ignored the nested system that the Maasai had themselves evolved over long periods of time using trial-and-error methods.
But it was refreshing to see in this article how local empowerment can overthrow restrictive policies through collective action rooted in Maasai's traditional norms of reciprocity. 694871

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695127 - Melanie
I agree with you Jake - I loved the breakdown looking at the different types of institutions and their impact on ecological resilience - and the focus on showing how pastoral communities enabled resilience. Interesting hypothetical question! I would like to see some examples in the world where we have seen a return (post neoliberal influence) into more localised environmental care and what that impact was on resilience.

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695127 - Melanie
while the article paints a picture regarding the difficulty in practice of food co-ops - I still remained hopeful after reading. There is a chance for co ops to make meaningful change either as 'radical' or 'liberal' - and make positive change within the neoliberal system.
I can think of a couple of communities in London that are using commoning (or similar to commoning) format that on a small scale are using their platforms to make positive change within small communities.

There is a great podcast- try listening to: Jon Richardson and the Futurenauts - S3 Ep4: The future of the state for some inspiration.

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I found this article really interesting because it made me think about how much space or even possibility there is for commoning or any form of radical collective action within the neoliberal system. I think neoliberalism has a way of co-opting social movements. I would love to hear any ones thoughts on this.
(695001)

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Your question "Do we need a state to maintain and help control the resources that we require to continue living on this planet, and if so, what is the best way to go about this?" has really got me thinking.

In a neoliberal world I think state intervention is needed, as the motivations of controlling resources are more for economic gain, or individualistic benefit - whereas if we look in comparison to he Mwangi & Ostrom paper, we see that family and kinship ties were more powerful in managing resources than government, or state intervention. I think our Western ontologies and ways of thinking are so far removed from this idea of planetary care or environmental action as stewardship, which we see in Indigenous communities' narratives, it's impossible to create a world where we manage finite resources successfully, and independent of person gain, therefore state intervention is needed.

694963

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In response to 695002, I also liked how the use of commons and customs are linked. And the commons has definitely varied over time! Just think of air traffic space or maritime laws for broad-stroking examples. -695166

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In response to 637370 - on talking about attempts that have been made to control the commons, the right frameworks and shifting the power from the community to the state. I wonder how these attempts by the state are never really accepted or successful because they are devoid of input of the community? I could relate it to beauty as state control from week 6 and think about firstly, how subtly the neoliberal state can assume power in different ways. Secondly, how maybe the only acceptable way of 'development' is from within the community. Thirdly, if that is not taken into consideration perhaps the way out is collective action by the community? Either way I think there is a lot of power in the commons, commoning and collective action if executed well.

695002.

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I liked the part of the reading that talks about customs. How commons depend on them and how they are used. It made me think -  what is considered common may vary with time and place.

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In response to the previous posts, the consensus seems to lean towards an inalienable human right to access the 'commons' such as water, thereby refuting Hardin's thesis put forward in 'Tragedy of the Commons' that people cannot be trusted to behave responsibly and access to the commons should therefore be regulated to protect them from over-use. In the Neoliberal world in which we currently live, I find these anthropocentric arguments disturbing, as too often there is an absence of a sense of harm that results from environmental exploitation (check out the depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer for example). Only if we lived in a world where Aldo Leopold's 'Land Ethics' prevailed could the commons be left unprotected.

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In response to the previous posts, the consensus seems to be that Co-ops are a great idea in principle, but flawed in practice, due to the reality of the market system within which they have to operate and compete for both consumers and staff. I don't disagree, but I liked Zitcer's assertion that 'banal acts have the potential to [....] transform existing social and economic relations'. So, adopting a positive position, the very existence of an, albeit imperfect, alternative to mainstream grocers provides a forum for that banal potential for change.

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This article was incredibly empowering, mainly the notion that the pastoralist communities are ENABLED to cope with environmental challenges, and not made vulnerable by them (which is often the narrative especially when discussing Africa). These pastoralist institutions who employ natural resource governance and strategies are more resilient, adaptable, and strong to environmental hazards. Drawing on a key theme in this course, that it’s the societies most interlinked and dependent on their environment for livelihoods who have developed effective ‘sustainable’ strategies to adapt. A part of me hypothetically wonders that if ‘developed’ nations and the elite were directly reliant on natural resources -  from a historical personal ground based level - would we see the climate crises that engulfs our planet today?

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Interesting points and fundamental questions raised, especially regarding the states maintaining of the commons, and this relationship with human rights. I found Dwinell and Olivera’s argument that the state used the human right to water as a means of control and enforcement to be alarming, and it also got me thinking about the new era of global climate change resource management. Ultimately, the privatization of the commons continuously poses threats to rural communities and enhance social marginalization. The public resistance (commoning), demonstrated in the article, does offer a starting point to your “what is the best way to go about this?” question. This community political engagement does create collective democratic bonds, but I fear that in many cases the state backlash following this can worsen situations.

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I agree with you - after reading this article on co-ops, co-ops do seem to be extremely exclusionary despite the efforts they make/have made. I think that more research needs to be conducted into how companies that advocate for sustainability can actually reach out and communicate for those groups that feel marginalised by those same companies. Only then can stores really think about and construct beliefs and practices into their companies.
-637370 Roshni

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The article presented a question which really stuck with me: "Is something public when it belongs to the state?". So do we as humans really have a "right" to anything? Do we need a state to maintain and help control the resources that we require to continue living on this planet, and if so, what is the best way to go about this? Privatisation of resources such as water and sanitation is something I do disagree with, however this concept of 'The Tragedy of the Commons" that I have only found out about in this week's topic has really has me questioning the future of our finite resources, and the attempts that have been made to control it and our uses of it.
-637370 Roshni

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I agree that Food Co-ops are common in the US and other places around the world but still non on the Co-ops showed success or managed to sustain to achieve its objective  " to achieve social, economic and cultural transformation " .I believe under capitalism ideology the co-ops can not survive .

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This article shows the success story of community members and collaboration to keep the management of the commons at the community level and under public control through exploring the Bolivian Case and water war .The coalitions created to defend the case of water war evolved to be committees responsible to fight for the rights of the community such as water,security ,electricity and more .
Although the Bolivian government insisted to maintain local control and autonomy, the water committees in Bolivia continue to resist the state’s effort to manage the commons.This stories shows the exploitation of commons depends on who uses this and how in the daily life .Still resisting such regimes is the only and best option for Bolivian people and same to all exploited people all over the world .

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694963

Reading this article I really can see the benefits of food co-ops to local communities through food justice, employability and political activism - however, I'm struggling to envisage a way that this can be done in a way that benefits all - not just the exclusive white, rich population.

I can really relate to the managerial issues that these co-ops face, especially when looking at high staff turnover, due to feelings of not being valued Mariposa - at what point do you decide whether a more hierarchical, or traditional structure of business is good (like we saw with the other co-op opening a business in a wealthy company) for the sake of business survival, or do you decide that your company values are worth upholding, even if it results in the business not being viable...

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Food co-ops are super common in the US, but like the author here says-- it's true that most of them have sold out and aren't really co-ops anymore. The summary of this author's findings are really on point and a bit depressing, on a par with the reality of the situation.