Silent Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth

[Tony Gosling]

Silent Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth
by David Bollier
'They hang the man and flog the woman That steal the goose from off 
the common, But let the greater villain loose That steals the common 
from the goose.' - Traditional nursery rhyme Until a 1998 federal 
court decision, a Minnesota publisher claimed to own every federal 
court decision, including Roe v. Wade and Brown v. Board of 
Education. A Texas company was recently allowed to calm a patent on 
basmati rice, a kind of rice grown in India for hundreds of years. 
The Mining Act of 1872 is still in effect, allowing companies to buy 
land from the government at USD5 and acre if they pan to mine it. 
These are resources that belong to al of use, yet they are being 
given away to companies with anything but the common interest in 
mind. Where was the public outcry, or the government intervention, 
when these were happening? The answers are alarming. Private 
corporations are consuming the resources that the American people 
collectively own at a staggering rate, and the government is not 
protecting the commons on our behalf. In Silent Theft , David Bollier 
exposes the audacious attempts of companies to appropriate medical 
breakthroughs, public airwaves, outer space, state research, and even 
the DNA of plants and animals. Amazingly, these abuses often go 
unnoticed, Bollier argues, because we have lost our ability to see 
the commons. Publicly funded technological innovations create common 
wealth (cell phone airwaves, internet addresses, gene sequences) at 
blinding speed, while an economic atmosphere of deregulation and 
privatization ensures they will be quickly bought and sold. In an age 
of market triumphalism, does the notion of the commons have any 
practical meaning? Crisp and revelatory, Silent Theft is a bold 
attempt to develop a new language of the commons, a new ethos of 
commonwealth in the face of a market ethic that knows no bounds
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0415944821/

[audio] Dialect: Occupy London, Ownership to Stewardship
http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/64350
http://www.radio4all.net/files/tony@cultureshop.org.uk/2149-1-Dialect16Nov2012.mp3 

Subtitle:  Reclaiming the commons with Tim Flitcroft
Featured Speakers/Commentators:  Wai Hnin, Timothy Flitcroft, Jason 
Yannacopoulos, Olivier Griffiths, Tony Gosling
Contributor: 
<http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/contributor/2149>Bristol 
Broadband 
Co-operative 
[<http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/contributor/2149/contact/>Contact 
Contributor]
Summary:  http://www.bcfm.org.uk/category/shows/dialect-radio

This week the featured artist is Bill WIthers as

we go to former British colony Burma and hear Wai Hnin explain the 
country's Burma Oil resources and post colonial killings of 
democratic activists. Also the military rule and assaults on 
indigenous people, and her father, by the totalitarian government 
with little real democracy. WIll Aung San Suu Kyi actually be allowed 
to stand for president as she is married to a foreigner?
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/

Then Jason Yannacopoulos begins a two-part discussion about the 
history of the disabled in the UK, beginning in 1388.

Tim Flitcroft works with Occupy London on spreading the ideas around 
a global commons and stewardship of the earth rather than 
privatisation and ownership. He has just hosted his own Putney 
Debates which were first conducted during the English Civil war in 
1649. See also articles by David Bollier (not Derek as Tim 
accidentally says) who is visiting London on 23rd November if you 
want to meet him.
http://commonsrising.ning.com/
http://www.schoolofcommoning.com/

Olivier Griffiths is standing in for Jeff Sparks this week with his 
what's on and song of the week.















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"The maintenance of secrets acts like a psychic poison which 
alienates the possessor from the community" Carl Jung
<https://217.72.179.7/members/www.bilderberg.org/phpBB2/>https://217.72.179.7/members/www.bilderberg.org/phpBB2/

Fear not therefore: for there is nothing covered that shall not be 
revealed; and nothing hid that shall not be made known. What I tell 
you in darkness, that speak ye in the light and what ye hear in the 
ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. Matthew 10:26-27

Die Pride and Envie; Flesh, take the poor's advice.
Covetousnesse be gon: Come, Truth and Love arise.
Patience take the Crown; throw Anger out of dores:
Cast out Hypocrisie and Lust, which follows whores:
Then England sit in rest; Thy sorrows will have end;
Thy Sons will live in peace, and each will be a friend.
http://tinyurl.com/6ct7zh6  
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