‘Omnia sunt communia’ is the Latin proverb that stands for ‘all things held in common’ and as such, the foundation of social relations and processes creating and protecting common resources. While the commons underlie the very essence of human existence being “a plurality of people (a community) sharing resources and governing them and their own relations and (re)production processes” they in contemporary times organize in opposition to and collaboration with markets (capital) and authorities (state) as social movements “through horizontal doing in common, commoning” (de Angelis, 2017, p.10). This ‘commons turn’ in social collaboration is considered to offer great potential for ecological transformation and social justice in commons-based movements. Networking takes place in commons assemblies, which are inclusive spaces for collaboration for a wide range of actors including individuals, civil society actors, state authorities and private companies. Our approach is based on an ongoing ethnographic research comprising of participant observations at local commons assemblies and interviews with key informants. The tentative contributions of our paper illustrate on the central dynamics of creating inclusive spaces of exchange in attempts to generate social and economic justice, social change and good organization.

de Angelis, Massimo. (2017) Omnia Sunt Communia: On the Commons and the Transfomation to Postcapitalism. London, UK: Zed.