First off, what am I referring to when I say ‘The Commons”? This is an old term, used for centuries in England to describe the public lands that peasants used to grow food, raise livestock, and to socialize. It was essential to their livelihood and to their tightness as a community. Occasionally, the rich would try and absorb these public spaces into their own lands, making peasants pay for its use. This would work for a while, until the landowners’ greed was too much and the peasants would revolt, taking back what was theirs to begin with.
Fast forward to the modern day and not much has changed. Betsy Devos is trying to profit off of public education. Donald Trump is trying to use executive orders to open national forests to logging. It is the privatization of resources that belong to the people as a whole. It’s the abuse of power to generate a profit while exploiting the planet and its inhabitants.
Where does community acupuncture fit into all of this?
It is the reclaiming of space. Communal space. City Garden Community Acupuncture is a shared resource between all its patients. When we are all together in the treatment room with the acupuncture needles in, we are collectively managing our health. City Garden Community Acupuncture is supported by us and no other entity, not insurance and not drug companies. It’s every patient doing their part and participating in our community.
