Star Wars: Why the Left Should Protect the Status of Space as Humanity’s Commons

Space is one of the few remaining commons of humanity protected byinternational law, thanks to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. Outer space is a rare case where a legal and institutional infrastructure of common ownership and commoning of resources already exists. Today, this status of space is under threat. It is increasingly eroded by the pressure of lobbying corporate powers and their institutional and ideological supports, who are pushing to export the structures of ownership that currently exist on Earth to outer space. Why should the left fight to protect the common ownership status of space? This scene-setting report goes back to the New Space lobby’s attack on international space legislation to open a larger debate on how space can be developed in ways that guarantee shared prosperity and the flourishing of all people and future generations.