oco manifest
An oco is an invocation or prescription of a type of organization already almost existing, which holds great promise for creating equitable and just economies of human and planetary sustainability.
On one hand it is as old as time, the gist of it is present where beings gather around a commons - a common resource or a common need. It is what happens when beings are commoning. It is found in families, in groups of friends, in tight-knit communities. It is closely related to mutual aid and what David Graeber calls everyday communism: "... the foundation of all human sociality anywhere".
On the other hand it is new, in the sense of being an explicitly named form of organisation with specific properties. It brings together a set of principles that are hyperrelevant in our current plethora of crises, combined to form a coherent alternative to the inhuman market-logic that pervades everything — especially our collective imagination.
When the logic of the market infects our collective imagination, striving for global justice, planetary balance and sustainable living on the planet, is often formulated in terms of products and markets. And their success is measured in terms of the market. This makes it all moot. You cannot fix the problem with the problem.
By organising in ocos, every need fulfilled, every service provided, every mutual aid performed — all acts of commoning — is a direct attack on the market. This is a battle for the survival of the planet, and every inch counts.