Sustainable without trying? The case of direct democracy and sharing economy in an egalitarian kibbutz

The capitalist order of the post-war period has been responsible for growth in global household income, productivity, and innovation. At the same time, it has caused structural inequalities, exploitation, and the destruction of the ecosystem as direct/indirect outcome. To better understand how the current capitalist order can be combined or transformed with/through other ideas, we need to learn from decade old experiments. Kibbutz Samar is one of them. Situated in the southern Arava Valley of Israel, with 46 years of direct democratic organisation and one shared bank account amongst its 111 members, kibbutz Samar is a cooperative and egalitarian organised community that stands as unique among democratically organised intentional communities, and a clear outlier to the historical development of the Kibbutzim Movement in Israel. In contradiction to the development of the traditional Kibbuzim, from a “global socialist approach” organisations to privatisation and renewal by “national Zionist” capitalist systems, kibbutz Samar represents an alternative entity through its exclusion of written down and formalised rules and prioritising individual over collective needs. It is said to be a unique community that appears to provide a model for future ways of sustainable living.