A POSTCAPITALIST PARADIGM: THE COMMON GOOD OF ...

2 Multiplicity
The one same basket of Commons holds, side by side, genes and bytes,
water and Internet, land and knowledge, biodiversity and libraries, seeds
and utility services, as well as many other tangible and intangible goods.
Evidently, there are many unanswered questions, both on the theoretical
level and as to the concrete forms of specific governance of such diverse
spheres, in different places and different cultures. But the theory
of Commons was not born of the Academy (which usually takes to flight,
like “Minerva’s owl” in Hegel, only when the shades of night are gathering,
and claims to offer us insight), but it is developed by Commoners
themselves and among the movements’ activists, in the midst of social
practices.
Numerous different possible taxonomies and definitions of the Commons
have been proposed and developed, some more relational or
more essentialist, more universalist or more communitarian: definitions
which coexist within the Commons as a global movement, without conflicting,
as each one can illuminate a different level of this multi-faceted
reality. For example, one can distinguish natural Commons (such as
water or a specific forest) from social and man-made Commons (such
as language or free software); material from immaterial Commons; excludable
ones (such as a road) from those which are not easily excludable
(such as the atmosphere); rival (e.g. a pasture) from non-rival (e.g.
knowledge); traditional Commons (e.g. fisheries) from “new commons”
(e.g. the Internet); or yet again, global Commons (such as the
oceans) and local ones (e.g. a specific river). Or one can identify some
primary and irreplaceable Commons – access to which cannot therefore
be discriminatory – as I will attempt to argue below, such as water, the
air or knowledge.
Every distinction brings with it substantial implications. To separate Commons
into global and local, for example, calls into play the definition of
the “reference community” which is to decide and draw up the rules
for joint enjoyment of the good and for its shared governance: who actually
governs the Commons? Who establishes the rules on them? Who
has the right to access them? Where are the borders, which may be
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