“Philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; but what matters is to transform it.” The famous Eleventh Thesis on Feuerbach by Karl Marx suggests that there is a clear difference between abstract theorizing and revolutionary action. The apparent opposition between reflection and action, between theory and practice, was retroactively reinforced in the version edited by Friedrich Engels, in which he added the word “but” to the sentence. Through an interpretive intervention he thus underscores the merit of action. But is Marx truly concerned with the difference between philosophizing about the world and changing it? Or is he rather hinting that we should take philosophers at their word if we want to achieve the objectives they show us with their analyses? If our ultimate aim is the emancipation of all humanity, then we must try to find the inherent potential for liberation within the societal conditions, however difficult they may be at present, and “force them to dance,” as Marx writes elsewhere. And that is what this publication is about—with regard to a fundamental contradiction in contemporary society: the contradiction between the social character of production and the private appropriation of the results of this production. Specifically, it deals with the question of ownership of land and data, and the effects of these ownership relations on the production of space.

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