Defending the Commons Against Enclosure

Sor Juana understood that knowledge was humanity's commons—not something to be owned by those with power, but essential to all. When corruption occurs, it typically involves enclosure: privatizing public resources, monopolizing institutional decision-making, hoarding information that should be shared. Fighting corruption requires defending the commons. This applies practically through: protecting public institutions from privatization that benefits connected elites, preventing monopolies that exploit consumers, maintaining open access to public information and public spaces, and ensuring that shared resources serve public interest rather than private profit. Sor Juana's insistence on participating in intellectual life models how defending the commons means defending everyone's right to know, to contribute, to participate. Corrupt systems thrive by creating artificial scarcity—controlling access to knowledge, opportunity, resources, and decision-making. Anti-corruption work involves actively maintaining institutions and knowledge as genuinely public goods, accessible to all rather than controlled by elites. This requires vigilance against privatization schemes, regulation of monopolies, and cultural commitment to commons-thinking over extraction thinking.