Threefold ownership

Threefold ownership in practice

My interest for collective ownership started during a five month long journey. It was the summer of 2022 and we visited nine ecovillages in Sweden and Denmark. We, in this case, refers to myself, my sweet love Eva and our two little girls Aaf and Rosa (respectively four and two years old then). Our stay in the ecovillages varied between a tour of one and a half hour and five nights in one and the same village. Inspired by the different communities, we grew a desire to live in an ecovillage ourselves. Collectively taking care and responsibility for food, shelter and energy. Supporting others when necessary and feeling supported by others as well. More room for taking initiatives, sharing stuff, meetings and most of all: time for each other. In short, a way of life which feels more natural than the disconnected way we use to live nowadays

In August 2023 Eva and I did a five-day ecovillage workshop of GEN-NL (Global Ecovillage Network Netherlands) to help us making our plans concrete. The story by Henry Mentink, as he told it during his workshop on ‘New economy’, left a big impression on me. In an inspiring manner he described how a new economy could come about. For example, by taking business initiatives in a way that only rewards you when you contribute to society, when you add real value. Or the other way around, how you prevent people from earning money with money without contributing socially. Henry’s story had me seeing new opportunities for my working life. By that time, after being on the payroll for 24 years, I found myself looking for something new. Initially, I focussed on jobs similar to what I had done before: directing capital intensive projects from a management team in a big complex organization. But I actually felt that I was done with that. The thought to take up such a role again did not give me energy.

Henry tipped us to the book ‘Vrij, Gelijk & Samenleven’¹ by Damaris Matthijsen (participant and founder of Economy Transformers). After reading several pages, I was hooked. Her book, in combination with Henry’s story, touched me in such a way that I came to see and understand a new and appealing perspective. Deep down inside I had a negative view on the future with regard to humanity. That view started to shake now. 

Damaris sketches the current situation from an economy based on growth and exploitation, exhausting the Earth, to an increasing battle for resources and a growing amount of crises (climate, housing, farming, energy, etc.). The book also offers a perspective that clicked with me, namely ‘The fourth scenario’², the title of a book by Jac Hielema, who is also shareholder of Economy Transformers. In this scenario, you can live from the inside out. That means giving priority of your own will above others’. It’s based on an image in which everything and everybody is connected. It results in more room for initiative, coming into your own powers and relating better to your direct environment. This all lead to a feeling of possibilities for my own life to match with my worldview. The books from Damaris and Jac, as well as Henry’s workshop brought me the idea to start for myself. I can also deal with the Earth more consciously, as well as the resources I use. I can make our plans concrete. In short, a new scenario that got me to leave my negative perspective on the future.

Economy Transformers
After reading the books I signed up with Economy Transformers to take part in the two-year basic education Samenlevingskunst. Economy Transformers is a movement and a school for and by people who long for a society that does justice to people and the planet. They are there for everybody who want to contribute, from their inside out. It’s an education that teaches you what it is to live from the inside out, how ‘the fourth scenario’ looks, what ‘free-equal-together’ means and what the six keys are (I am, Value, Ownership, Relation, Organization, Earth). You also learn what you need to live and do business in this scenario. Had I been full of doubt of my capacities before the summer, now I got energy again. My confidence was growing and I saw possibilities and chances to take the initiative in accordance with the ‘free-equal-together’ principle.

One of the six keys in the ideas of Economy Transformers is ownership and the related insight that claiming land, labour and capital makes way for speculation. Speculation, then, makes people rich without them doing anything for society. The amount of available capital is finite. That means that an increase of one’s capital, always comes at the cost of the other’s. In short, you don’t want any single individual nor the state to own land, labour and capital. It should be ‘of itself’ and stay so.

From a young age I have been bothered by the  in my eyes unacceptable and unfair gap between poor and rich. At home, I grew up with the idea that there is a place for everybody. I never understood why so many people find it normal that differences in income can be so big. How come people to believe that an income is completely depending on their success (or failure)? And the question to everybody who does not believe that is: why don’t we then value efforts in a fair way? Why do people who add a real value (a farmer, a baker, a caretaker, a teacher, etc.) get paid comparatively worse and should people who earn money with money, without adding real value, be paid that much? To me, it seems logical that claiming land, labour and capital is the main cause for the widening gap between the rich and the poor. In other words, I feel the immense importance of collective ownership. 

Threefold ownership
One idea that cathces my interest, is taking real estate (especially buildings) of the market. This doesn’t only go for real estate by the way, also for other forms of capital, like production means, knowledge, data and money. Housing is a basic need, meant to protect people from the weather. This need should at all times be central, so the idea to make real estate untradeable stuck with me.
Without a lot of knowledge or experience with real estate, I started an initiative to help communities with doing that. This was in 2023. My point of departure is the idea of ‘threefold ownership’ (from free-equal-together) from Economy Transformers. When you apply this, you create a distinction, both in the law and in organizations, between different forms of ownership. Creative ownership (free, the entrepreneur or the resident), the eternal legal ownership (equal, the safe for land and companies) and the economical ownership (together, the community around the place or business). This distinction, both in law and organization, is meant to make for a healthy alignment between the user (resident or entrepreneur) and the needs of the community, without motives of money or capital playing a role. You do that by making the sale of both land and businesses as difficult as possible and by serving the communities in relation with the creative owners, whenever property or money is appointed.
Vrijcoop is a nice example. Different living communities like Bajesdorp (Amsterdam) and Eco-dorp Boekel (Boekel) have already joined them. With Vrijcoop, the threefold ownership comes to expression in a construction with three legal forms; a resident association (BeVer), a real estate association (VaVer) and the Vrijcoop association. You could see the BeVer as an expression of creative ownership (free) and the VaVer as an example of economical ownership (together), while VrijCoop secures the eternal legal ownership. By joining this construction and their veto, they enable the residents (united in the BeVer) to sell the buildings. 

My initiative
With my initiative ‘Vast&voorGoed - Samen onderdak’, I guide communities in all the relevant aspects in designing their building (new and old) by following the principle of threefold ownership.  Besides that, I establish one or more organs similar to Vrijcoop.
These organs (legal entities) also prevent a community or the creative owners from selling their property. At some point I expect a growing need for multiple organs.
In my opinion, it’s important that such organs do not grow too big. It’s about people being in touch. Confidence, and with that enough room for contact, is important for a good collaboration. A lot of knowledge comes together in such organs. I imagine multiple organs per sector or region, organs which are then interconnected.

The first project under the Vast&voorGoed flag I will take part in, is the food community ‘Ús Iten’ by Michel Pauluis and Bregje Hamelynck in the village Sibrandabuorren, Friesland. Accidentally or not, it’s the village where my dad used to go to school.
In roughly nine years Bregje and Michel got an active community of volunteers together for a future proof market garden (Ús Hôf). The garden is made transferable in a way that doesn’t force future successors to raise the prices because of big investments in land and buildings. Higher prices could lead to a loss of many subscribers, thus the community.
The Ús Iten community now wants to take the next step, namely buying the land free and build a garden house. Of course, both ‘of itself’. As a fresh Economy Transformers offspring, I am happy for Damaris to be my mentor to help both me and the community. Together we work out an organization strcuture for Ús Iten, with the threefold ownership being the focal point. We will use the existing foundations (BD Grondbeheer of Grond van Bestaan) and establish new legal forms. Additionally, we will have one or multiple agreements between the involved parties.

Besides the ownership we also pay attention to other keys, for example organization and ‘I am’. In order to support the organization we practice with the involved people how decision making and consultation works by following the free-equal-together way.
With regard to ‘I am’, we do resource work to get behind the intention of the initiative and to let the community experience that intention. That way we make sure that collective ownership really gets in place in practice.

1) Het boek ‘Vrij, Gelijk & Samenleven’
Geschreven door Damaris Matthijsen
Steeds meer mensen verlangen naar een samenleving en een economie die goed is voor alle mensen en de Aarde. Damaris Matthijsen reikt met haar boek nieuwe ideeën, begrippen en vormen aan voor zo’n wereld: de vrij-gelijk-samenleving. Na twaalf jaar werkervaring en onderzoek in de nieuwe economie, werd het tijd om die inzichten te bundelen tot het boek Vrij, Gelijk & Samenleven. Een basiswerk voor alle mensen die verlangen naar een mens- en Aardewaardige samenleving en vanuit vertrouwen in zichzelf en elkaar hieraan mee willen bouwen. Of met andere woorden, een praktijk- en doeboek, gebaseerd op nieuwe begrippen en ideeën over mens en economie. Je krijgt oefeningen aangereikt die je helpen om bestaande overtuigingen in beweging te brengen en praktische aanwijzingen en voorbeelden om tot vormen en structuren te komen die in lijn zijn met je nieuwe uitgangspunten.
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2) Het boek ‘Het Vierde Scenario’
Geschreven door Jac Hielema
In Het vierde scenario verdiept Jac zich in de grondslagen van het westerse, sociaalwetenschappelijke denken en de verschillende manieren van samenleven. Al doende ontdekte hij dat de uitwisseling en toewijzing van grond, arbeid en kapitaal niet alleen via de markt (kapitalisme), de staat (communisme) of een combinatie van die twee georganiseerd kunnen worden (het zogenoemde Rijnlandse model), maar ook buiten markt en staat om, liefdevol van binnenuit, in goed onderling overleg. 
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