The Commons: Reclaiming What Is Ours (2019)

The Commons is a documentary film about communities re-asserting sustainable futures using consensus, equity and shared resources – ancient Commons principles. 

The film explores increasing privatization and destruction of commons, primarily in the United States.  It also shows how many activists are re-taking commons, re-establishing communities controlling their own commons: maker spaces, land trusts, cooperatives, local food production and distribution, shared housing, free education, community centers – all as Commoners stewarding what they share.

During the making of the film, we found a re-awakening in progress. Tired of waiting for government, many Commoners are taking action to push back the tide of un-just privatization or the destruction of shared resources. Similarlypeople are working democratically, money is being re-imagined, new schools starting, co-operatives launching – most – with the new idea of ‘Open Source’ deeply embedded in their planning. People are asking for sustainability, not destruction, sharing not privatization, and justice – not brutality.

Nine years in the making, we listened as 49 communities in the Americas, Europe, Africa and south Asia told us what has made their Commons work over the centuries.

We found that commons-based inspiration flows through people, especially young people, telling them not to settle for less than what they know is possible: to make that incredible future they see just ahead of humanity: vitality, goodwill, sharing – what Dr. Andreas Weber describes as ‘Enlivenment’ . We found there are already laws protecting the rights of Commoners. Many of these laws are the underpinning of our legal system itself.

pierreterre.com
Activism   Community   Economics   Politics   Solutions   Transition
Rate this video 
Community
Trending Videos
Louis Theroux: The Settlers (2025)
62 min - Fourteen years after his first visit and 2011 film The Ultra Zionists, Louis Theroux meets some of the growing community of religious-nationalist Israelis who have settled in the West Bank.Louis...
Chicago 10 (2008)
98 min - Protesters and activists in the face of an oppressive and armed government speak out and take a stand, and after being denied permits for demonstrations they repeatedly clashed with the Chicago...
Red Path
7 min - "Red Path premiered at the Unmentionables Film Festival in New York, a festival dedicated to breaking taboos and this first year the taboo was menstruation. I truly believe
Hey Corporate America, THIS Is What Happens When You Piss Off a Rapper And His Friends
6 min - Food Fight is the story of a kid who lives in a world where the food at the local corner store is killing his neighborhood -- literally. SHARE IT? Accompanying FREE CURRICULUM, LYRICS & SONG...
Jordan Klepper Charts Trump's Long History with Epstein & Ghislaine Maxwell
13 min - With MAGA and Democrats demanding answers about the Epstein files and Trump denying their existence, Jordan Klepper charts the presidents well-documented history with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine...
Planet Local Voices Series: 33 Voices United by a Vision of Ecological Economies, Healthy Communities and Local Food Systems
445 min - Planet Local Voices is video and podcast series featuring cutting-edge thinkers, writers, movement-builders and activists from across the world, united by a planet local vision of ecological...
Christianity
Alternatives to Capitalism: Economic Democracy, PROUT, Market Socialism & More
Subscribe for $5/mo to Watch over 50 Patron-Exclusive Films
Subscribe $5/mo View All Patron Films

 

Your support keeps us ad-free and financially independent

Our 10,000+ video & article library is 99% free, ad-free, and entirely community-funded thanks to our patron subscribers!


Want to double your impact? You can subscribe for $10/mo or more as an extra show of support.