A POSTCAPITALIST PARADIGM: THE COMMON GOOD OF ...

and managed as collective property. If this concept has the merit of illuminating
a significant real-life fact, that is, the importance of commoning
as a fundamental element of Commons, on the negative side it appears
to cast shadow on, or fail to notice, another equally true real-life fact:
the fact that some structures are common and shared regardless of our
desire or capacity to recognise the fact – think intuitively of our language
or our genetic code, but also of the water which makes up our bodies
or the knowledge which circulates in our brains. These are what I will
shortly refer to as fundamental or primary Commons. While it is true
that to be really and actually Commons it is certainly necessary that
there be social “recognition” and a Commoning activity behind the
shared resources, at the same time it is difficult not to see how some
gifts of nature and many social creations are, in themselves, goods belonging
to everyone, that is to say, precisely, primary Commons. The privatization
of seeds, of water or of our genetic code is misappropriation
by the few of goods which belong to everyone: goods which pre-date
us and to which we belong, to recall once again the ecosystemic point
of view, but also the vision of so many indigenous cultures in Latin America.
Water, the atmosphere and biodiversity existed long before man appeared
on Earth and we are alive only thanks to these “goods” that we
share. Natural Commons are not social constructs: they are also life’s
building blocks (not only for human life). As Marx wrote in a famous and
often-quoted passage, not even all human societies put together can be
considered owners of the Earth, which we should, rather, take care of
like “boni patres familias” for future generations. For this reason it is
useful to continue to distinguish between primary Commons (material
or immaterial resources, limited or unlimited common pool resources)
and commoning activities, as a substantial social relation, the only one
appropriate for managing and governing Commons.
3 Fundamental or primary Commons
The right of access to fundamental or primary Commons must be guaranteed
for everyone on this planet. This category of Commons is to include
all shared goods that are irreplaceable and essential, either for
material survival (such as, for example, water, air, food and energy) and
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