Since the breakdown of historic socialism, the category of private property has practically disappeared from the discussion on economic justice. The cold-war alternative was: private property or state ownership. As the latter has become obsolete, there seems to be “no alternative” to private ownership. The discussion on neo-liberal globalization normally deals with the three main characteristics: liberalization, deregulation and privatization. But even in the growing struggle against privatization of public services, there is hardly any reflection about the fundamental role of private property in the make-up of the dominating political and economic system leading to so much impoverishment of people and destruction of nature. The thesis of this essay is that we cannot design and implement alternatives to neo-liberal globalization unless we tackle the issue of private property.
