Some Thoughts on Achieving Economic Independence Within an Urban Setting.

(Formerly titled "leftist or Rightist: is that the best we can do?"

I subscribe to the notions of national sovereignty and individual autonomy, yet I also recognise the broader family connections of my humankind.

I champion self-reliance and deplore the dependencies cultivated by the welfare state, yet I support supporting those in need as well as free education for all.

I appreciate that there are no boarders, no dotted lines, when I pass between Portugal and Spain. Yet the mass migration that destroys cultures and economies, and makes of humankind one homogenous blob, needs to stop.

I recognise that science is not settled, and that CO2 is essential plant food, and that levels of atmospheric CO2 increase following warming (with quite a long delay, I may add). Yet I also recognise the importance of not destroying natural environments and eco systems.

I deplore feminism, but I love women. Men too, come to that.

I dislike international women's Day, Earth day. Children's day. And Mother's and fathers days.

I fucking hate globalism. And nationalism. And “human rights” and the neoliberal “economy-stupid” and the NGO's that support it by providing “aid” to those it starves and bombs, those great sticking-plasters over the UN mind-fuck.

So what am I, a leftist or a Rightist?

Here’s the thing, ladies and gentlemen, there are solutions to all of the world's woes, but none of them are to be found within the existing economic or political paradigm. None!

Thank goodness then that Uncle Klaus and his billionaires club are busy tearing it all down! But the fact that they plan to build a technocratic prison within which to enslave us once and for all, means that we really need to get busy building, or at least envisioning and planning, our freedom and independence, pdq!

Have you guessed yet that I’m an Anarchist, dear reader? Not aspirationally anarchist, you understand, but actually so.

As such I’ve spent a lot of time, particularly since “The Covids”, devising ways in which my system-dependant, city-bounded, disenfranchised, increasingly impoverished and immiserated fellow humankinder's might feed, shelter, heat and clothe themselves in a post-apocalypse, post “economy-stupid”, post-shtf West.

You may be comforted, or dismayed, to learn that the key to your surviving with your freedom intact depends entirely on mutual cooperation and support for mutual benefit, survival and, ultimately, thrival.

As a first step I suggest reaching out to your neighbours, and/or friends and/or family (dependant on your personal circumstances, naturally) to establish food-growers and garden-share cooperatives. Leafleting your neighbourhood to establish links with potentially like-minded solution-seekers could be a helpful first step, even if you live in a gardenless area. - Maybe there’s some communal green-space nearby that you can think about cultivating, or maybe vertical gardens will be a viable option for you? However it goes - garden sharing, cultivating communal green-space a, vertical gardening, or whatever else you might come up with, the important thing is to start getting as much food into the ground (or containers) as you can. This comes with the added bonus that, believe it or not, gardening is really exciting! - Wait till you get your first tomato flower on your first tomato plant, and say it ain’t so.

I’ll save you all the lectures on preserving your produce, and skip straight to the …

Community Stores! (This is where it starts to get interesting and slightly anarchic.)

A community store can be either a physical or an online space, or even a notebook listing the contents and whereabouts of your communal stores. Either way it’s the place where you deposit not only your surplus produce, fresh or preserved, but also your surplus time, your skills, knowledge, your tools, your ideas, spare bedding, clothing, building materials, and whatever else you can think of that might be helpful to supporting your community. The maxim that I personally prefer for such an endeavour us “give only what you can (or what you are comfortable giving), take only what you need”. This way nobody feels cheated or put upon, and your cooperative community can grow in trust and abundance. Again, personally, I would suggest NOT including money as part of your store, though money may certainly be needed from time to time (when it is, have a collection!) because the moment money becomes involved, accounting and mistrust may arise.

From here your cooperative community can grow to include all kinds of people with all kinds of skills and experiences. Everyone has something to offer, to share - from the little old lady with arthritic hands, but a lifetime of stories to tell your children, to the troubled misfit who’s great with a spade, to the amature engineer (and the professional) who’s learned all there is to know about solar and wind power generation, to the families with children keen to get growing…

Once you have your community store, and have developed your mutually supportive systems, so that everybody’s needs are being met in an atmosphere of cooperation and trust, then coming together with other local cooperative communities, for inter-communal cooperation - for the maintenance of roads and other infrastructure, for example - becomes possible. As does the creation of inter-communal stores, and the fractal iteration of mutual cooperation, trust and support, to cover your whole region.

OK, I know what you’re thinking (especially if you’re reading this in North America). You’re thinking of those people you really don’t trust, or want to be involved with (America being a more deeply divided nation than most). But one of the central and crucial aspects of coming together in mutually supportive, cooperative communities is that it is all entirely voluntary. I'm sure you’ve heard the old adage/truism “birds of a feather flock together”. It’s a truism because it's true. And there is no rule saying that you must come together with people you prefer not to. Simple.

OK, I know what you’re thinking, again (particularly if you’re reading this in North America again). You’re thinking if those gangs of criminals who may threaten your community or “trample it's gardens”, so to speak. You’re thinking that your cooperative community lacks defence! But what’s to stop you including defence as part of your cooperative endeavours? Including offering training in defensive marshal arts, weapons training, and the like? And why not, as your cooperative community develops and connects with other local and regional community “fractals”, make mutual defence, and training, part of your cooperative efforts?

Of course, there’s lots more to explore, consider, envision, once one starts thinking outside of the boxes so carefully crafted to contain us. Most would think it wise to devise some form of local money or trading scheme. I don’t, because I prefer faith in the Divine and to develop trust. But then I’ve been doing this longer than most. But if that something that makes sense to you and your cooperative group, then go for it. (I can even recommend a book on the subject if you’d like.)

There are probably lots of things that you can think of that I haven’t, or that I’ve forgotten to mention, but hopefully I’ve at least given a glimpse of an idea that may help sustain you, your family and your community outside of Uncle Klaus’s “great reset” global technocratic slave empire.

Finally, here’s a link to a documentary that you may find interesting and helpful.

The Power of Community: how Cuba survived peak oil.

https://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/the-power-of-community-how-cuba-survived-peak-oil-2006/

Thanks for reading!

With love,

Kali.