David Bollier - The Wealth of the Commons

Thisbook has been an extended global exercise in commoning a collective ventureof sharing, collaboration, negotiation and creative production among some ofthe most diverse commons scholars, activists and projects leaders imaginable.It is as if many, many different streams and rivers from all kinds of landscapeshad come together into a mighty new torrent. That, at least, is what theexperience of editing this rich, kalaidoscope of a book has been for us. It hasbeen a joy to engage with the 90 contributors to this volume; a privilege tolearn about their fascinating projects and absorb their reportage and analyses;and a challenge to assemble this book so that it would be rigorous enough foracademic readers yet accessible enough for the layperson.

Our first thanks, then, goes to the contributors who took the timeto share their experiences and thinking about the commons. We hope that theiressays, as now assembled in one volume, will begin to open up new conversationsthat might not otherwise occur. Many of them were brought to wider attention atthe landmark International Commons Conference in Berlin in November 2010. Inmany respects, this book is a continuation of the cross-discplinary, transnational,heart-to-heart dialogues that began there.

The Heinrich Bll Foundation has been an indispensable partner inthe conception and development of this book over the past two years. We wish tothank Barbara Unmig, President of the Foundation, for her unflagging support indeed, her demand for a book that would probe more deeply into the worldthat exists beyond market and state. Heike Lschmann, the head of Department ofInternational Politics at the Bll Foundation, was also a vital force inthinking through the themes of the book, developing its framework and pushingthe project forward. Our partner at the Commons Strategies Group, MichelBauwens, provided important insights and encouragement to us on numerousoccasions.

The Wealth of the Commons benefited greatly from the parallel preparation of a Germanedition of this book, edited by Silke Helfrich and the Bll Foundation. Thepreparation of that volume helped bring the English edition into focus, andmany essays written for the German edition were the basis for Englishtranslations for this volume. We are especially grateful to Sandra Lustig andCharles Roberts for their conscientious translations of many essays over thecourse of months, and their struggle to find just the right words for ideasthat are sometimes quite difficult to translate.

A huge thank you to the many people at the Bll Foundation whohelped in the preparation of either the German or English edition, or both.These people include Simone Zhr, Joanna Barelkowska and editor Bernd Rheinbergas well as friends and colleagues Brigitte Kratzwald, Katharina Frosch, ThomasPfeiffer, Martin Siefkes, Andreas Weber, Jacques Paysan, Stefan Meretz andStefan Tuschen.

Publishing this unusual book required that we find an unusualpublisher, one that could understand the significance of the commons and entertainimaginative publishing strategies. We found that publisher in Levellers Pressof Amherst, Massachusetts, and are grateful to Levellers director SteveStrimer for his innovative approach to book publishing.

David Bollier wishes to thank Ellen Bollier for her abiding loveand support during the rigors of yet another book project. Silke Helfrich isgrateful to her family, especially her kids for the enthusiasm and patiencethey show toward her endeavors.

We noted earlier that the preparation of this book was an exercisein commoning. Our immodest hope is that The Wealth of the Commons willbe but a simple foretaste of an outrageous banquet of commoning that liesahead.

DavidBollier

Amherst, Massachusetts USA

&

Silke Helfrich

Jena, Thringen Germany

Commons Strategies Group

May 1, 2012