On Liberty and Earth Ownership

Investors like Blackrock are rapidly buying up the earth. How does it affect our freedom if we can no longer own our homes, farmland, or workshops?

Most of our lives are determined by earth ownership. In a material sense, some people have to pay rent or mortgage their entire lives, while others become super rich thanks to land ownership. We rightly fear the consequences if we don’t — or can’t — pay our rent or mortgage. We do not dare to live how we prefer. We refrain from starting our own business because we are afraid of the consequences if it is not successful, and we have to sell our house. We refrain from going out into the world with a backpack because we fear a hard life the moment we return without a home and a permanent job. And that’s why we spend the best years of our lives in a boring office.

Nature provides some things for free, such as air, water, and land. Today clever investors can charge others a high price for their place on earth. If they could, they would extend this to the air we breathe. Geoism is the insight that people are equally entitled to these things. More equal access to natural resources would be a powerful way to reduce inequality within and between countries.

This approach can help us to better address issues such as unaffordable houses, work pressure, the decline of small businesses, climate change, political oppression, and mass migration. An enormous government and mass surveillance are not the best way to make our world a better place. This booklet sketches an alternative to capitalism and socialism, and outlines what a truly free world might look like. Dutch artist Tobias Osterhaus has created drawings that make it a must-have even for people who hate reading.