While the achievement of universal ontological rights in South Africa has been a marvellous step forward, writes Jason Hickel, the paradigm of a rights-based revolution is seriously and fundamentally flawed, and cannot serve the ends that South Africa intends it to. Cautioning that the state can grant people discursively constituted rights with one hand and strip them of the conditions for sustainable life with the other without ever having to confront the contradiction, Hickel says it’s time to reclaim the heritage of the commons. Read more
South Africa: From rights to commons