Dear Mofwoofoo (and other comrades who wish to follow this line)-- The article you read is not about a utopian or anarchist autarkic solution... It is based on the real experiences of some millions of people in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America -- it is NOT extolling the praises of single community efforts -- and although we use the expression "Communitarian Revolutionary Subject" we are not referring to individuals or single communities, as I tried to make clear in the accompanying note. Rather the community organizations that are constructing these new societies have a long and proud history of resistance and then re-existence (to use an expression of Walter Porto-Goncalves), creating their distinct but complementary worlds that are effectively challenging the "powers that be." These are not modeled on the "transition towns" of the UK or the small-scale cooperatives that struggle to survive world-wide. They are functioning complex communities that offer their members new horizons and are deliberately but carefully challenging the institutionalized powers that would like to destroy them. David Barkin Mexico On Wed, Sep 29, 2021 at 4:16 PM Mofwoofoo <[email protected]> wrote:
I am writing as a long time radical anarchist activist "on the ground". I am not a scholar, but I have read a lot over 55 years. While I view the article (The communitarian revolutionary subject, new forms of social transformation) worthwhile, it is nothing new at all. Anarchist literature and scholarship goes back to the 1860's when these same ideas were expressed. Anarchists have seen through the problem of hierarchies in gov't. and in general. I have submitted the 7 minute animation that I made in 2020 which explains a lot about organizing in a horizontal fashion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wywMhg604W8&t=5s. And how it might be the only way to eliminate once and for all corruption in governments.
Citizen participation a la transition towns initiatives, localization, collectivism, decentralization, deconsummerism, self-reliance, economies that promote the good of the whole, cooperation, respect for the environment, etc. are ideas whirling around throughout the internet and the world. And as I am sure it is clear to everyone in this group, that the current system of capitalism is the perfect recipe for suiciding the human race.
Meanwhile, as capitalism is collapsing or is being collapsed, there seems to be a rush to assert authoritarianism as soon as possible. And clearly the vaccine mandate and the pcr tests are ways to do this. But since the vaccine mandates will not go away no matter how hard the pushback is, they seem to have plan b ready to go: world-wide food shortages which would result in world-wide food riots and chaos, which will justify martial law and state of emergency declarations, which at least in the USA would empower FEMA to overstep the Constitution and do whatever they want due to the executive orders that give them total power.
To avoid this from happening, people need to check on where their area's food sources are coming from and if they will be available or not. And in this way, using google or duck, duck, go one can ascertain what really is happening and what is going to happen in these regards. And if food shortages are indeed imminent, alert the citizenry to prepare by storing up on rice, beans, lentils, grains, tins, and storing food in preserves and salt for perhaps 6 months and setting up programs for those who don't have a few hundred dollars to spend to be able to be prepared as well.
Finally, I am the founder of a mostly latino, artist, eco-community in Ecuador (chambalabamba.org, under construction) since 2012, and believe me, this is not the solution for the world. It takes years to get it going, most communities fail for lack of funds or cohesion, it is not for everybody, and it is a false hope for those who believe that this is the way, imho.
-- David Barkin Mexico