The Collective Creation of Civil Commons

Since the dawn of civilisation, human communities have collectively allowed for the creation, and regularly taken advantage, of concepts, social arrangements and simple as well as complex tools aimed at fulfilling life-enabling ends for their members, under remarkably diverse circumstances. Natural and artificial languages, food recipes, universal health plans, urban sewers, open paths in the countryside, sports and games, pollution controls, old-age pensions, and regulated maximum working hours and minimum wages have all been tokens of “civil commons”, a term coined in the 1990s by Canadian value theorist John McMurtry, meaning the “social constructs which enable universal access to life goods”. In this chapter, McMurtry's axiology is presented, explained and applied, so as to highlight its implications for responsible and sustainable business practice.

Europe’s Constitutional Law in Times of Crisis: A Human Rights Perspective

In this paper, we aim to survey representative constitutional amendments in the European Union’s area, whether attempted or accomplished, as well as significant adjudications by constitutional bodies, since the outset of the ongoing international economic crisis, 2008-2015. We assess these legal phenomena in light of human rights jurisprudence. Pivotal reference in our work is the recently released 7th volume of the Annuaire international des droits de l’homme, edited by G. Katrougalos, M. Figueiredo and P. Pararas under the aegis of the International Association of Constitutional Law. Have European constitutions continued to function qua civil commons in the crisis years? That, at the deepest level of value scrutiny, is the question that our joint survey and analysis aim to answer.

Rights and Value: Construing the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as Civil Commons

This article brings together the United Nations’ International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and John McMurtry’s theory of value. In this perspective, the ICESCR is construed as a prime example of “civil commons,” while McMurtry’s theory of value is proposed as a tool of interpretation of the covenant. In particular, McMurtry’s theory of value is a hermeneutical device capable of highlighting: (a) what alternative conception of value systemically operates against the fulfilment of the rights enshrined in the ICESCR; (b) the increased relevance of the ICESCR with regard to the current global economic crisis; (c) the parameters to determine the degree to which the rights at issue have been realized. Reflections on environmental implications of both the ICESCR and McMurtry’s axiology conclude the article.

Learning for Life: The People’s Free University and the Civil Commons

This article stems from the author’s experience as one of the organizers of an alternative form of higher education, which drew its inspiration from the civil commons. In the early years of the new millennium, the People’s Free University of Saskatchewan (PFU) offered a wide variety of courses to members of the public without charge, adopting as its founding principle the belief that “Everyone can learn, Everyone can teach.” As a form of community-based education, the PFU accommodated the needs and aspirations of a diversity of individuals and groups too often denied by “research-intensive” universities. The civil commons itself is a web of interlocking institutions based on the life-code of value, which strengthens the public interest and enhances the growth of organic life. Unlike the money-code of value, whose goods are only available to those who can pay, the goods of the civil commons are accessible to all. This inner logic enables a full realization of life value as exemplified in the living tradition of popular university education.