A further resonance between the [ #IntentionalCommunities ] movement and anarchism resides in the idea and practice of networked federation. The best known anarchist proponent of federalism was Proudhon. Many other anarchists have based visions on the idea of small and diverse self-governing communities associated through networks and loose associations, forming non-coercive organizations to communicate. Federation is a partial response to the issue of scale. Many aspects of anarchism, for example, decentralized production, affinity, community and limits on authority, require communities not to expand over a certain size. Federation in anarchism means that ‘the basic idea is to reproduce the collective, not expand it’. The principle of small-scale communities is also espoused by eco-anarchists such as Leopold Kohr who anticipated the deep-ecology movement’s preoccupation with bioregions and decentralization through his promotion of ‘human scale’ and small communal life. The issue of size and scale is also important in utopian studies. John P. Clark argues that the dominant utopia is based on a fantasy of innate superpower that ‘drives relentlessly toward the destruction of all diversity and complexity’ in the name of progress, whilst anarchist utopias are experimental and connect the rich specificity of ‘sense of place’ with diverse cultures and ecosystems. Tom Moylan also argues that whilst top-down, totalitarian utopias assume a singular jurisdiction over a very large area, critical utopianism assumes a proliferation of diverse small-scale experiments, calling for an ‘alliance of margins without a centre’.

Many intentional communities practice federation through the organization Radical Routes. Radical Routes is ‘a network of radical co-ops whose members are committed to working for positive social change’. Four times a year, nominated members will attend a gathering at which issues affecting cooperatives will be discussed, such as national laws and policies, and new applications to join, as well as issues facing groups financial need (Radical Routes can provide loans). The organization’s purpose is to provide ‘a form of structured mutual aid’ that is ‘about people taking control of their own housing, work, education and leisure activities’. In a very real and practical sense, intentional communities, networked through #RadicalRoutes, are engaged in renewing society from the grassroots, here-and-now, as called for by anarchists like Buber and Landauer. . . .

#RhiannonFirth

To live the impossible dream: an introduction to ACitN
Warren Draper delves into the thinking behind ambitious anarchist project A Commune in the North (ACitN).

It would be hard for anyone who has been involved with anarchism, cooperatives or radical ecology over the last three decades not to have come across the legend that i
https://freedomnews.org.uk/2022/05/18/to-live-the-impossible-dream-an-introduction-to-acitn/
#communalliving #Lancashire #RadicalRoutes #WarrenDraper #Yorkshire