On the Commons:
“Time alters what can be owned, and who can do the owning.”
—The Overstory, Richard Powers
A newsletter about ownership, private property, and what we lose in the privatization of the commons, by essayist and author of A Walking Life: Reclaiming Our Health and Our Freedom—One Step at a Time Antonia Malchik. I have written essays for Aeon, The Atlantic, Orion, High Country News, and many other publications (most published essays are on my website). On the Commons comes from, and is often about, where I live in the Rocky Mountains of northwest Montana.
Private ownership and theft of the commons has ancient roots. Its enabling of resource and power hoarding is at the foundation of widespread societal and environmental ills. My writing on the commons, privatization, and commodification comes from extensive reading, years of professional writing, and a trove of ongoing research into the structures and systems that prevent equity, justice, and true progress at every turn.
On the Commons is about deep structures and systemic forces, no hot takes, political commentary, or current event updates.
This research on private property discards centuries of philosophical and legal arguments made in its defense—by philosophers like John Locke and William Blackstone—for a much simpler explanation: theft. Or, “I took it; now it’s mine.”
This newsletter grew out of my first book, A Walking Life, about how walking makes us human, and how we lost it through a century of car-centric infrastructure—the theft of public rights of way and access in service of the automobile.
It’s hard to wander free when most of the land is blocked with roads, motorways, and No Trespassing signs.
On the Commons’ first big project was an extensive exploration of books and essays related to private land ownership throughout history, including the original 15th-century papal bulls comprising the Doctrine of Discovery, which the most powerful Europeans used to colonize as much of the world as they could. I’m continuing to explore those ideas through ownership of land, water, seeds, people, data, labor, and more.
A paid subscription supports this work, along with my book-in-progress, No Trespassing: How the Ancient Struggle for Ownership, Private Property, and the Rights of the Commons Will Shape Our Future.
Paid and free subscribers have access to the same writing and ability to comment. More paid subscriptions translates into more writing and deeper research shared with everyone—no gated community or enclosure.
All essay posts have an audio version, read by me and also available in podcast form on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and elsewhere.
On the Commons donates 5% of revenue each quarter to an Indigenous-led not-for-profit in or near Montana, such as FAST Blackfeet, All Nations Health Center, the People’s Food Sovereignty Program, and Blackfeet ECO Knowledge. Receipts of funds from these organizations are on this page in the Research & Resources section.
Please consider supporting sovereignty wherever you are.
A little about me: I was born and raised in Montana, where my great-great-grandparents (from Denmark-ruled Prussia) homesteaded in the early 1900s. A lot of what I grapple with comes from being a descendant of homesteaders I respect while knowing that that land was stolen, and I don’t want to sugarcoat that reality. I didn’t inherit that land and don’t have any power to return it, but do advocate for Land Back.
My father, on the other hand, is Russian-Jewish and grew up in the Soviet Union under the dictator Joseph Stalin. I lived in Soviet Moscow in my early teens and my father has been running a small business there since 1991. Much of my approach to politics and discourse comes from that perspective and his and my other relatives’ experiences living under authoritarianism—then, and again now under Vladimir Putin.
I cross-post every newsletter to my WordPress site, where you can also find contact details and other published writing.
THANK YOU for being here!
