Free, Fair, and Alive The Insurgent Power of the Commons

Free, Fair, and Alive is a penetrating cultural critique, table-pounding political treatise, and practical playbook for "commoning" — free, self-organizing systems ranging from alternative currencies to open-source everything. It presents a bold and compelling alternative to the dead-end, predatory market-state system.

The power of the commons as a free, fair system of provisioning and governance beyond capitalism, socialism, and other -isms.

An expansive, thorough, and deeply thoughtful guide to a possible future politics.
— Raj Patel, author, The Value of Nothing and Stuffed and Starved

A truly exciting glimpse into what the world after this one might look like.
— Bill McKibben, author, Falter and founder, 350.org

FROM COHOUSING and agroecology to fisheries and open-source everything, people around the world are increasingly turning to "commoning" to emancipate themselves from a predatory market-state system.

Free, Fair, and Alive presents a foundational rethinking of the commons — the self-organized social system that humans have used for millennia to meet their needs. It offers a compelling vision of a future beyond the dead-end binary of capitalism versus socialism that has almost brought the world to its knees.

Authored by two leading commons activists, this guide is a penetrating cultural critique, table-pounding political treatise, and practical playbook. Highly readable and full of colorful stories, coverage includes:

• Internal dynamics of commoning
• How the commons worldview opens up new possibilities for change
• The role of language in reorienting our perceptions and political strategies
• Seeing the potential of commoning everywhere.

Written for a popular, activist-minded audience, Free, Fair, and Alive presents a compelling narrative: that we can be free and creative people, govern ourselves through fair and accountable institutions, and experience the aliveness of authentic human presence.

An inspiring treatise for our troubled times.
— J.K. Gibson-Graham, Jenny Cameron, and Stephen Healy, authors, Take Back the Economy

A handbook for tackling seemingly intractable problems.
— Ward Cunningham, inventor of the wiki

DAVID BOLLIER is Director of the Reinventing the Commons Program at the Schumacher Center for a New Economics, and author of Think Like a Commoner. He blogs at Bollier.org and lives in Amherst, MA.

SILKE HELFRICH is an independent activist and author who cofounded the Commons Strategies Group and Commons-Institut. She blogs at commons.blog, and lives in Neudenau, Germany.