Silent Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth PDF
Preview Silent Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth
DAVID BOLLIER SILENT THEFT THE PRIVATE PLUNDER OF OUR COMMON WEALTH ROUTLEDGE New York and London Published in 2003 by Routledge 29 West 35th Street NewYork, NY 10001 Published in Great Britain by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane London EC4P 4EE Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group. Copyright © 2003 by Routledge Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Design and typography: Jack Donner All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording or in any information storage or retrieval system without permission in writing from the publishers. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 32 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data BoUier, David. Silent theft: the private plunder of our common wealth / by David BoUier. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-415-94482-1 (pbk) 0-415-93264-5 (hbk) 1. Public goods. 2. Commons—United States. 3. Capitalism—United States. I. Tide. HB846.5 .B65 2002 333.2—dc21 2001045727 To my parents CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 I. The Commons, Gift Economies, and Enclosure 1 Reclalnfiing the Narrative of the Commons 15 2 The Stubborn Vitality of the Gift Economy 27 3 When Markets Enclose the Commons 43 II. Varieties of Marl(et Enclosure 4 Enclosing the Commons of Nature 59 5 The Colonization of Frontier Commons 69 6 The Abuse of the Public's Natural Resources 85 7 Can the Internet Commons Be Saved? 99 8 The Privatization of Public Knowledge 119 9 Enclosing the Academic Commons 135 10 The Commercialization of Culture and Public Spaces 147 11 The Giveaway of Federal Drug Research 163 and Information Resources III. Protecting the Commons 12 The Commons: Another Kind of Property 175 13 Strategies for Protecting the Commons 189 Notes 211 Bibliography 247 About the Author 251 Name Index 253 Subject Index 255 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A project of this ambition and breadth requires many friends, facihtators, supporters and advisors. I have been blessed with a generous community of such people. Norman Lear, an irrepressible student of our political culture, quickly recognized that the commons is one of the great, neglected issues of our time. I am grateful for his support of this project, his advice on various drafts, and his wonderful friendship. The New America Foundation also played an indispensable role in the inauguration and completion of this book. Ted Halstead, Steve demons, Sherle Schweninger, and Michael Calabrese each offered advice, helpfiil conversation, and a welcoming work space when I visited Washington, D.C. My thanks as well to Edward Skloot and the Surdna Foundation for recognizing the long-term importance of this topic and providing generous financial support just when it was needed. I am also gratefiil to Eric Nelson, my editor at Routledge, for his many insightfijl suggestions that improved the final manuscript. As I attempted to pull together the disparate threads of research and activism dealing with the commons, I realized anew how certain activists and thinkers have greatly inspired and informed me. This book stands on the shoulders of giants, among them Ralph Nader, who was a first mover on many issues in this book, Peter Barnes, James Boyle, Larry Lessig, James Love, John Richard, Jonathan Rowe, Gary Ruskin and Gigi Sohn. Many other people have provided me with valuable insights as the manuscript progressed. For this, I am indebted to Richard Behan, Lara Bergthold, Harry Boyte, John Seely Brown, Paige Brown, Bill Curry, Brian Dabson, Ned Daly, John Echeverria, Brett Frischman, John Herron, Jennifer Horney, Michael Kazin, Joanne Kliejunas, Gene Karpinski, Emily Levine, Ansje Miller, Jane Pratt, Laurie Racine, Jed Shilling, Ed Stanek, Jim Stodder, Jennifer Washburn, and Helen Payne Watt.
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