Co-operatives and Anarcho-spatialism

By: John E. Peck

“Let us not be satisfied with the liberation of Egypt, or the subjugation of Malta, but let us subdue Finchley Common; let us conquer Hounslow Heath; let us compel Epping Forest to submit to the yoke of improvement.”

- British aristocrat, Sir John Sinclair in 1803

One of the cruelest oxymorons of our time has got to be the myth of “private property.” As a social construct, private property only exists because a political authority - usually a hegemonic state in the western context - recognizes and protects the “ownership” of a “commodity” by one person against another. Yet, for most societies through history the integrity of such entities as air, water, soil, other species, ecosystems, and human communities was considered essential for survival and thus they were spared the downward spiral of privatization and degradation.

The 19th century Industrial Devolution was only possible because of a violent “enclosure” campaign that not only expropriated the “commons” from communities, but also transmogrified people, other species, and even land itself into “resources” for hedonistic market-based exploitation. This conflict continues today - whether its between indigenous peoples and multinational corporations in southern Mexico and northern Wisconsin; between homeless families and slum lords in Chicago and Milwaukee; or between feminist activists and porn kingpins on Madison Avenue and State Street. Only in the “belly of the beast” would one find the likes of Wal Mart™ gloating that there are now more shopping malls than high schools in the United $tate$.

Thankfully, there are alternative paradigms that can help people to rediscover a “land ethic” which meets everyone’s needs without objectifying and commoditizing our earth and each other into oblivion. Anarcho-spatialism is one such guiding concept and revolves around three principles:

1.) Each person shall have access and use of the land (and its derivatives)

to meet their basic requirements - water, food, shelter, play, etc.

2.) In order to ensure democratic egalitarianism and nonextractive utilization, the land shall be allocated, managed, and protected by the community

3.) Being a living member of the community, the land (and its dependents) shall not be alienated or violated by any human being

“As an imaginative method of domination (private property) has worked well in forcing us to believe that the land upon which we stand belongs to this fictive concept of ‘owner,’ but by acts of will it is possible to transcend ourselves and the cop in our head.” - Anders Corr, Fall 1994 issue of Kick It Over!

Those of us who live in housing cooperatives often make light of our “commons” - how many times have you heard the joke “we own it, so let’s trash it”? Yet, as an intentional community based upon collective responsibility, the cooperative is one of the best sites for anarcho-spatialism to grow and flourish. The motto for MCC - “housing for people, not for profit” - clearly reflects such principles and stands in sharp contrast to the conventional serf-lord, client-patron, tenant-owner, peon-boss relationship we find replicated everywhere in the capitalist greed-o-rama.

Better still, these anarcho-spatialist institutions extend beyond the physical space where we happen to live to include the natural communities upon which we all depend. Thus one finds many housing co-ops now acquainting themselves with their “upstream foodshed” by investing time and energy in community supported agriculture (CSAs). By literally putting our money where our mouth is, we can ensure the viability of smallscale family agriculture and sustain a healthy rural ecosystem, simultaneously.

Community landtrusts (CLTs) are another handy social tool to further anarcho-spatialism. In urban CLTs the community retains formal “title” of the land itself, while individuals, families, or groups can take advantage of the nonprofit status to lease or purchase space at affordable rates. In rural CLTs, conservation easements are donated to the community that limit subdivision and destruction of the land, and in exchange the owner receives a hefty tax break, as well as peace of mind. Of course, real-estate vandals and sprawl speculators loath CLTs, since they induce constipation in an otherwise “runaway” marketplace and serve a preventative role against “cancerous” development.

When the system is unwilling to cooperate, than people have every reason to “liberate” private property for their own use. Squatting is one time-honored strategy that has enjoyed widespread success in exposing inequality and instigating change. Landless peasants who seize absentee farmland in South Africa and poor urbanites that occupy vacant apartments in New York are both envisioning and practicing anarcho-spatialism to a certain degree. This is even more the case once they consolidate their gains and begin to build their own community identity and solidarity network.

“If all wisdom was acquired from without, it might be politic for us to make our culture cosmopolitan. But I believe our best wisdom does not come from without, but arises in the soul and is an emanation of the Earth spirit, a voice speaking directly to us dwellers in the land.” - Irish revolutionary, AE, in 1922

Probably the most inspirational aspect of anarcho-spatialism, though, is found in its bioregional perspective. It is only from a deep sense of time and place that we can hope to contextualize our existence on earth and our relationship with others - and this “indigenous knowledge” becomes a source of both power and respect in our ongoing project to create a better world. By actively living and generously sharing the cooperative experience, we can also hope to encourage others to escape the vapid culture of the “private property” theme park.