Free event! RSVP ESSENTIAL. Please email dominic.jarvis@griffith.edu.au to RSVP. Refreshments provided. Free parking information for the evening available here.

The Commonwealth of Nations was born through the brutal enclosure of The Commons. From the Highland Clearances to Terra Nullius, the British Empire consolidated its wealth and power by destroying ancient ways of life based on cooperation and stewardship of land, forcing people into individual paid labour, and claiming resources for private profit.

But across the Commonwealth today, communities of all kinds are coming together to build new Commons. From online co-creation to local sharing groups, from repair cafes to community gardens, from participatory budgeting in local governments to new worker- and user-owned cooperatives, the Commons is being reborn in exciting ways.

Can the rebirth of Commons practices around the world point to a new, cooperative, participatory, green future for this global project?

Taking its lead from a Griffith Review essay by the Green Institute’s Tim Hollo, this forum will discuss how The Commons provides an exciting model for a better politics, economy and society.

Featuring:

Tim Hollo – Executive Director of The Green Institute.

Dr Mary Graham – Associate Adjunct Professor of the School of Political Science and International Studies, President of the Murri Mura Aboriginal Corporation and a Board Member of the Centre for Indigenous Cultural Policy.

Dr Natalie Osborne – Lecturer at Griffith University, teaching and researching in the areas of urban and environmental planning and critical human geography.

Dr Michelle Maloney – Co-Founder and National Convenor of the Australian Earth Laws Alliance (AELA).

With thanks to presenting partner, the Griffith Review.