The Loss of the Commons to Corporate Control
The creeping conversion of public plazas and parks into privately-managed spaces like POPS (Privately Owned Public Spaces) is a modern enclosure of the commons, a core process of colonial rule Mamdani detailed. These spaces are not truly public; they are governed by corporate law rather than civic right, where activities like protesting or loitering are criminalized. This creates a bifurcated experience of the city: a “civilized,” controlled space for consumption and a “savage,” policed space for the poor. A Marxist analysis sees this as capital’s relentless drive to commodify every square inch of life. A feminist perspective recognizes how these rules disproportionately target homeless women and youth of color. The solution is a militant reclamation of these spaces through mass assembly and a political fight to revoke their private management, asserting that the city’s heart belongs to its people.
Originally posted 2025-10-25 10:50:12.
