"It is no longer enough to sloganeer and say things thoughtlessly like “smash the state” or “tear it down”, without an alternative to the urbanized, mechanized, socialized lifestyle you are struggling against.
Remember: We are attempting to live a heroic lifestyle- but there are others out here in the wasteland that need you to be a hero, to show them that their fears and concerns and dissents are well-founded, and that they, too, can make their own way out of the ruins and into a new way of life that they create for themselves in an unmediated fashion- one that allows, encourages, supports and strengthens instead of crushing, controlling, dominating and debilitating.
The alternative we suggest is the tribal model- a small, self-sustaining, holistic community of equals, all struggling to ensure the good of each individual within that community. This differs from the tired (and often unhealthy or simply non-functional) idea of the “commune” in that instead of what usually degenerates into a bad scene which too often becomes a microcosm of governmental control, or the opposite end of the scale in which no one accepts any accountability and uses buzzwords like “anarchy” as an excuse to be lazy and counter-productive, the tribe is run by a council of its entire membership. Each is held accountable to the other, tribal law is only another word for group consensus, and the entire structure looks inward for strength and determines its own social needs and methods.
We eschew the ideas of “communal ownership” and “worker’s unions” and replace them with heroic individuality, personal achievement and the idea that each person is, in fact, unique and has a role to play- knowing what that is is part of the exploration. This emphasis on individuality leads to fair treatment in the event of any problem, based on knowing and communicating with one another, allowing the group to deal with situations from a personal standpoint that takes into account things like personality, circumstance and so on, instead of relying on the faceless horror of a “legal system.”
We feel that through developing and living the ongoing adventure of this tribal model (which remains in a constantly new and growing state as we deal with the challenges and joys of each day and year) that we can encourage others to develop and grow their own communities and tribes, forming a network of people building small groups to meet their own unique and individual needs as human beings, instead of cog-wheels in that great and terrible machine. Imagine, if you will, tribes of savage and wild hunter/gatherers on the edges of the urban jungle, each one expressing itself through diverse marking and art, rubbing shoulders and exchanging goods in a gifting fashion with small farming communities who have claimed parcels of land for themselves out in the fringes of civilization, living and loving in their own way without fear.
Work is reduced to an often pleasurable group effort instead of a soul-crushing daily horror and the imagined need to rely on the supermarket and corporate giant for our every want becomes a fairy tale for our children.
Before you sneer and shrug these ideas away as “impossibilities,” just know that out here in the Wasteland, there are heroes making it a reality, one step at a time."
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