The Enclosure Algorithm
Enclosure is not weather. It does not fall from the sky. It is a repeatable procedure, an algorithm, that turns a shared resource into private rent, the same way every time. Once you can name the steps, you can see the program running anywhere, at any scale, in any century.
- TARGETFind shared value not yet owned.
- REFRAMECall the commons a tragedy, so seizure sounds like rescue.
- ABSTRACTTurn the living thing into a countable, ownable unit.
- TITLEVest the unit in a private owner, by paperwork.
- INVERTMake the old custom a crime.
- TOLLCharge for access, and dump the cost downstream.
- NATURALIZEErase the memory of the commons, so the fence looks like it was always there.
An algorithm can be interrupted, and this one has a known inverse. The commons has been defended and rebuilt before, deliberately, step for step against the first. The whole of Hold in Common is the work of running it in reverse.
Start here
The two essays are the keystone. The Quiet Fence tells the history; The Enclosure Algorithm gives you the reusable lens. Then Spot the Fence runs that lens on one commons at a time.
The Field Guide to Spotting Enclosure
Seven steps, seven questions. A short, free pocket guide for seeing the fence go up while the gate is still open. Walk the questions on anything in your life that has quietly gotten more expensive or more restricted.
The map
Every topic is a spoke that runs the algorithm on one commons and links back to the keystone. The library grows in clusters.
Keep it in common
Hold in Common is independent and freely readable, and it is meant to stay that way. Your support funds the research and writing, keeps it answerable to readers rather than owners, and helps seed a nonprofit dedicated to keeping the public domain public. Some things were never meant to be owned, and that includes this work.