Obviously, to dismantle civilization we need to stage a revolution. Society cannot be replaced by an ‘un-society,’ that is, a state where humans digress to a lower stage of development and remain unaware of their environment. But what would revolution look like? And what would society be replaced by?
The biggest problem with revolution is that, in the mind of the public, it can often border on anarchy. Most imagine that the state is dismantled and then ruled by whoever has the brute strength and force to overtake the others. This is not the solution, as it is identical to our current state of affairs.
All of the problems with civilization seem to surround power. Someone has too much, someone has too little, and in the end no one is happy. Can we envision a culture constructed without power? How about something like a collective farm, where everyone has his or her own duty and plays an equal part in contributing to the product/society? In turn, they all receive equal shares of the profits/benefits. This type of arrangement is distinct from socialism or communism, as it does not hold one party in charge of harnessing the wealth and distributing it equally. It is simply a responsibility shared by everyone.
Even more productive than pushing the case to dismantle civilization may be brainstorming ways to replace it. What do you think? What would you like to see happen to civilization after it is dismantled?
Hi,
First I’d like to see that “culture-of-converting-life-into-commodities” disappear completely. I think that people need to understand the root causes of this Great Mistake aka Civilization. Then, the many “truly viable” cultures that will emerge around the world will, I’m hoping, develop ways to make sure it never happens again.
The people will have to live in a way that adds to their ecosystems instead of this present stupid ecocidal, genocidal and suicidal way of living that sucks the life out of every living thing. For example, instead of destroying vast ecosystems for the production of their food and other so-called necessities, people will have to live in a way that adds to the topsoil, and to their ecosystem as a whole. The solutions exist. And if humans truly have the mental capacity that they now brag about, well, they should be able to manage. I mean, a worm can do it! Why not us?
Obviously, the power seekers that might emerge into these future sane cultures will have to be dealt with, so they can’t propagate and infect once again the whole biosphere.
Its not ‘power’ per se that is the problem, but ‘power over’ or heirarchies. There are plenty of examples of people living in non-heirarchical collectives, although they invariably still have to interact with the heirarchies outside, and are forced to pay taxes so have earn money in some way. In the UK, radical routes is one network of cooperatives, while diggers and dreamers lists uk intentional communities.
http://radicalroutes.org.uk/
http://diggersanddreamers.org.uk/
and of course, there are still indigenous peoples living outside of empire – again, though, they are coerced and often forced to give up traditional ways, or face agression and genocide.
our page what is civilisation: http://www.endgame.org.uk/what-is-civilisation/
is a short list of what we define as civilisation – a culture without these things would be a fine thing.
empire tries to standardise all aspects of life and create conformity all over the world, whereas an alternative world would see far more diversity of culture and lifestyles, much closer connected to the local habitat. perhaps its not possible to say ‘this is what we want’ because what we want is diversity and freedom to live differently whoever, however and wherever we are.