The title makes reference to the classic event of enclosure in Britain starting in the 16th century (see this) and the subject of a classic work by Karl Polanyi entitled The Great Transformation. It had profound effects on working people in Britain, and continues to be employed today by capitalist agents in their quest to "own" everything everywhere that might be of value to anyone (see this).
In this article we see the same principle pursued by global corporations to "own" seeds.
In a sign of how far the forces of enclosure have come, the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Monday that re-using seeds that are patented, knowingly or not, amounts to an act of piracy. Of course, re-using seeds has been the tradition in agriculture for millennia, just as re-using songs and text is an essential element of culture.
No matter. The masters of "intellectual property" hold the whip hand, and they don't want us to re-use and share seeds as the natural course of things. If you think that a farmer ought to be able to use the seeds from one crop in the next season, you are entertaining illegal ideas.
