 TIPS: Changing the Conversation By Kim Klein
In the past two years, issues of public space, also known as “the commons” have started becoming a movement. In fact, David Bollier, author of Silent Theft, and certainly one of the leaders of this movement, says, “I believe we are on the cusp of a commons movement: a messy, uncoordinated, bottom up assertion of a new political philosophy, cultural outlook and vehicle for creative wealth, both economic and social.” By way of some proof that we are in a “commons” movement, he notes that entering the word “commons” into Google gives you 6.3 million links!
The commons is a generic term for describing various socially managed resources, much as the “market” describes buying and selling. Often we think of the commons (correctly) as water, air, the human genome, the internet, wilderness—in other words things that can be given a tangible market value and that many of us struggle to keep out of private hands. The notion of the commons is often juxtaposed against privatization.
Today I’d like to explore briefly one element of public space, of the commons, that is not as obviously market driven, but which the market is trying to enclose. It is “quiet.”
The right to quiet: The most obvious quiet public space is a library, and for the most part, libraries that remain open, remain quiet. People whisper, there is no buying or selling, no loud music, no advertisements on the walls or bookshelves. Another is a public park. Here we might have noise – children playing, dogs barking, friends greeting each other from a distance, sometimes hot dog vendors or street artists – but this noise is actually part of the “quiet,” what makes a park comforting and restful. A park entirely empty of people, dogs, or bicycles, is creepy and unwelcoming. Again, for the most part, parks remain “quiet.”
Here are two stories of proposed intrusions into “quiet”:
Former community organizer Wayne Muller tells of a time he and another organizer were meeting with a group of poor people in Old South Church, a beautiful and traditional church in Boston. To make a point about the structural disparity between rich and poor his colleague said, “Take this church. It is obscene, all this stained glass and gold chalices and fine tapestries. If the church really cared about poor people they would sell all of this and give it to the poor.” A woman from the neighborhood responded, “This is one of the most beautiful places in the city. It is one of the only places where poor folks can afford to be around beauty. All other things in this city cost money. Here we can be surrounded by beautiful things and it all belongs to us. Don’t even think of taking away what little beauty we have.” We rarely demand quiet in our organizing, yet it is fundamental to all that we do. (From Sabbath by Wayne Muller)
Another is a law to go into effect in April from the Federal Railroad Administration to make railroad crossings safer. Apparently some 600 people are killed every year crossing tracks in front of a train, usually because they drive around the flashing lights and barriers that warn them a train is coming. The FRA says that a study has shown that up to three lives (this is not a typo!) could be saved by sounding a 100 decibel horn twice at every crossing. Of course, trains already toot their horns and many of us find that a poignant and sentimental noise we would not object to. The problem is that these regulations are to be put into effect at in the 2000 “quiet zones” which prevent whistle-blowing. These “quiet zones” usually are residential areas with hospitals, nursing homes and other places where people might want some quiet. Illinois has 900 of these quiet zones, which the FRA is mandating now use horn blasts. The conversion costs are upwards of $200 million, and would lead to some people hearing a horn blast every minute of the day. So many people are objecting to this that the regulation may have to be dropped. (From the East Bay Bicycle Coalition newsletter, RideOn. www.ebbc.org).
The point of these stories, and of highlighting QUIET as a value in the commons is to give all of us permission to push to the front of our agendas values that we may not even have claimed in the past, so used to them were we. Values like being able to sit on a public bench in the sun, to hug a friend, to chat with someone just because you and that person were in the same space at the same time, to window-shop, to walk down the street, to hear birds singing, to take a child to a playground, to take a deep breath.
All of these, in various ways, are being enclosed by the market. Public benches are being removed, ostensibly to control drug dealing but also to insure that people have to move into cafes if they don’t want to sit at home, fewer and fewer playgrounds are being well maintained and some are gated, the air we breathe is polluted, killing birds and other wildlife and limiting the amount of deep breaths we will want to take while standing outside. People (especially young and of color) report increasingly being asked for ID, or just told to move on as they meander down the street. The motive for all this is not always profit, but someone does always profit.
Jonathon Rowe says, “The commons insists that social communities and their values come first. The social is foundational. It is a source of value creation in its own right.”
Take some quiet time today and think about it. |