David Rovics, “The Commons” and the Biosafety Alliance

David Rovics

It’s the commons, our right of birth
And to you who would enclose the land all around the Earth
Our future is your downfall, when we cut this ball and chain
You who’d sacrifice the public good for your private gain.

The Diggers (along with the Ranters and the Levellers) were 17th Century English revolutionaries who objected to enclosures- the appropriation of common land by private owners. In the 21st century (the age of the Occupiers), David Rovics “The Commons” harks back to this long tradition of opposition to this appropriation of the public good for private gain, which has given us the absurd notion that ideas and bits of nature (right down to the chemicals in our bodies) can be owned.
The Biosafety Alliance has a vision:

Our vision is to expand our coalition to include additional groups who have not traditionally acknowledged the issues of GMOs as a central theme. Some of these issues include health, biodiversity, food sovereignty, social justice, environmental issues and corporate consolidation. We feel it is important to create a forum in which a broad coalition can come together to address these issues in order to facilitate a systemic shift in the current food system.

On the 12th-13th of September, they are exploring this convergence, in the form of a conference called “Justice Begins With Seeds” in Portland. These issues all come together, too, in the work of David Rovics. This is a very high level conference. The speakers are many, varied and prestigious. But as Charles Bukowski once said, “”An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.” Sometimes the art speaks more clearly.

In a tribute to the Biodiversity Alliance and in support of their convergence, here’s a playlist