Ida Susser and Stéphane Tonnelat are right to
view the question of the urban commons in
global cities as a crucial issue. It has precipitated
massive urban and often violent struggles. We
know that the ideological basis of these fights is
very similar from one continent to another.
Within the global space there is a global repertory
of urban mobilizations and urban riots.
Global cities can also be analyzed through the
clashes that occur there. Where is this car burning?
Beijing, Dakar, Buenos Aires, Tunis, or
Mumbai? Where is the "southern world" and
where is the "northern one"? When the riot
erupts, who can distinguish the political regimes
of the country? Against which government
is this Molotov cocktail thrown? Against a
democratic power or against a dictatorship? All
that remains are the national peculiarities of the
urban context. Why? First, because residents of
global cities are faced with national states, national
laws, national polices, in historical contexts.
Second, because urban residents are in
charge of the question of the people as a nation,
as a collective subject in the heart of the cities.
Urban commons and urban struggles