Building the New World from Below: The Communes Redefining Social Change and Reflecting a Paradigm Shift

Beneath the discourse about the high price of neoliberalism, the rise of ethno-national populism, and the decline of the left, widespread social change activities are taking place, especially since the turn of the 21st century (perhaps even 1990s). These activists have come to realize that the western system is collapsing and, with it, their physical, welfare, and health security, but they are not waiting for the state or capitalism or the left to save them. I suggest recognizing them as those who have begun to build the new or renewed world from below: They have begun to construct or renew social institutions (e.g., urban communes, ecovillages, artists communes, cooperatives, independent knowledge centers and media, new synagogues open to all genders with alternative Torah readings, and so on), and a new kind of humanity that is not built on structured identity (national/ethnic/gender or other).

This paper is based on a series of talks with some of the activists in Israel, close personal observations of the new urban communes in Israel, and learning about the reappearing communes elsewhere (published on the internet or in academic articles). I first examine several aspects of the new urban  communes (that are part of this movement) such as redefining identity as local and hybrid in order to replace state and nationalist identities, constructing an alternative family (rather different from the kibbutz family structure), and creating a new value system, especially building a shared life and a gift economy environment (inside and around the communes), as well as reviving the collective instinct that was almost exterminated by individualism and competition.

I then argue that if we understand the rise of the renewed communes (and the new activism) as a response to the crisis of western civilization, it is incumbent upon us as sociologists and thinkers to unveil its deeper meaning. Some see this as the basis of postmodernism or a ‘movement of movements’ (Naomi Klein, Paul Hawken). Aware of indigenous wisdom, the matriarchal legacy, and the maternal gift economy that has existed throughout history and today is hidden and exploited by capitalism, I suggest conceptualizing them as part of an alternative paradigm that in many ways is beyond patriarchy, capitalism, and white, western culture, and reflects a shift to a new sociopolitical-economic order, one that marks the beginning of the transition to the indigenous feminist era.