Thursday, January 5, 2012

Resistance against commons

Who resists commons? What kind of interests prevail in the resistance against commons? What are the successful stories and processes which has overcome such resistance?

10 comments:

Arshia said...

Commons would primarily be resisted by the ‘haves’ who do not want the ‘have-nots’ to reap similar benefits as them in any which way whatsoever. The ‘haves’ have an interest of being superior in the community. They do not want to do away with the notion of power which they acquire by virtue of possessing or having a sole right of use over a (scarce) resource.

Arshia Gupta

Kireet said...

A person will stand in support of the philosophy of commons only when the gains reaped by him from being a part of the common is more than he can get using the resource individually. Profit is the major motive that determines ones attitude as pro or anti common, anyone who feels that formation of a common group would reduce his returns would resist it.
Kireet Pande

Pavan EVSR said...

Although we might be inclined to attribute resistance of commons to the economic situation of members, I think it is power more than economic condition which might spur resistance. If a property is made common and this action makes someone less powerful, he/she might resist it or mobilize community to resist. Here power primarily implies rational/legal authority. A common example that can be stated is approval of acquisition of grazing lands by Panchayat in villages. With the loss of grazing lands, people become less autonomous and dependent wither on state or resourceful persons in the village.
Pavan EVSR(32084)

lipsa said...

Despite representing the majority the common control fewer resources and possess less power. They are resisted by the dominant class who own the scarce resources are unwilling to part with these resources. Any beneficial activity taken up collectively by commons is opposed by the elite because it will reduce the dependency of poor on powerful. One incident where commons have overcome such resistance is the local farmers in Singur protested the forced acquisition of their land for the factory by State. As the protests continued Tata first delayed the Nano launch and later yielded to the protests.
Lipsa Mishra (32078)

a said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
a said...

Resistance to common emanates from quarters which derive benefits from disjoint status of poor. The interests guiding resistance to commons are ensuring continuation of income of powerful through appropriation from income of the poor. The collective action of poor poses a threat to power enjoyed by them in status quo. They also want to derive benefits from scarce resources and collective action could create a competitor in utilisation of these resources. The co-operative movement in Gujarat where farmers under able leadership of Tribhuan Das Patel and support of Dr. Verghese Kurien overcame power of Polson dairy is a successful story.
Avinash Kumar(32059)

Ankush said...

Commons would be resisted by people who lose or do not gain much by such a joint effort of people. It could also include people who are doing well, but do not want others to come on par with them, even if by a collective action, they too might get a small amount of benefit. Also, at times, commons would be opposed by people who do not want to join hands with others – based on gender, class, caste, regional differences – even when there is a dire need to work together. – ankush khanna

Chocodips said...

For example, the resistance was from the tree-fellers in case of the Chipko movement; from the government and the corrupt in case of the Lokpal Bill Movement, from the men in power and those related to the accused Manu Sharma and others in Jessica Lal Murder case, etc.

BLOGupta ! said...

Atheists and socialists are of the opinion that religion and politics were created so that a small number of haves sitting on top of the citadel could easily control the larger masses or commons and define their rights and duties(of commons)in a manner so that they reap the maximum benefit. The only difference is that in developed and modern societies the latter ( politics)is a more innovative and lethal weapon to exercise power. Thus in most instances the resistance against commons has been there and success is achieved by dividing the commons.
Mayank gupta(32022)

Anonymous said...

Commons are resisted by people who do not fall into the category of “COMMON”. These people are more powerful both financially and socially. People, who show resistance of any form to commons, want them to be dependent on them and don’t want their status to be enjoyed by commons in the society. So, when they sense that they might lose on this dependence of commons they create obstacles in their development.