Do we produce enough to live dignified, meaningful and creative lives? Yes. And “public-commons partnerships” can get us there, says Abundance
From Abundance
Other than the fact that we adore their animated GIF (reproduced above, and designed by Lottie Kingslake), Abundance is an intriguing new thought-leading initiative, coming from the think-tank Common Wealth and the author of Generation Left, Keir Milburn.
They are most actively promoting something called “public-common partnerships” (a counter to the “public-private partnerships” of recent years in the UK). What is a PCP? They describe it here:
Public-Common Partnerships are a way for organized communities, working in partnership with relevant public bodies, to gain ownership and control over the assets and resources (buildings, enterprises, farms) which impact their lives.
Communities should be the ones making decisions about changes to the places they live. But communities can only do that when they are active, organized and resourced.
The common ownership and governance of assets and resources provides the stable infrastructure around which organized and active communities can be built. And it gives control over the assets and resources (buildings, enterprises, farms) which impact their lives.
A PCP always has the following features:
A joint enterprise (JE) such as a mixed-use market, a pharmaceutical company, an intertidal aquaculture farm, or land & property portfolio.
Shared ownership and governance of the JE by (at minimum) a public body, employees, and a common association (a participatory democratic membership body).
A set of rules governing the operation of the JE which define the social and ecological objectives of the JE, and ‘lock’ assets to these objectives.
The transfer of surplus from the JE to the common association who will decide on its investment in line with the objectives of the JE.
More here. They also explain “abundance” pretty well:
Societies have always produced more than they need to survive, and have long since passed the point where they produce enough for everyone to live dignified, meaningful and creative lives.
Yet whilst societies produce untold levels of wealth for some, the global majority experiences a world of scarcity. This is neither natural nor accidental, but a functional outcome of our economic system.
To focus on abundance is to understand how societies control their social surplus, and what the distribution of that surplus means for how our societies are organised.
Through democratic economic decision making and common ownership, an ecologically sustainable life of abundance is possible for everyone.
More here. Case studies? (Go here or click on the picture below):
from ‘case studies’
Obviously, we like the emphasis on any such partnership with the state/local government having as its “core aim… to strengthen organised communities and to increase their scope to make decisions over resources”. And we would like to see what the balance is between local govt initiating, and localities themselves initiating projects - where the sense of community enterprise is strong, organic and original, the balance will be right between communities and the “partner state”.
But in the spirit of Stir-to-Action (for which they’ve done interviews), Abundance is most welcome to the plateau.