Source: The Peaceful Revolutionist
by David S D’Amato
“The state and capital have, quite together, managed to hollow out true society, the kinds of community organizations (often volunteer-run, informal, controlled by neither government nor capitalists) that create a vibrant and diverse social ecosystem and collective culture. Without this intermediate social sphere, the popular masses become even more politically and economically atrophied and dependent, losing the strength and know-how to organize and bring out liberatory change. Perhaps the local, the tangible, and the practical can’t ever truly match the splendor of the state, with its stirring songs and symbols. And this may give us a plausible explanation of why it is that people continue to invest in the state (emotionally and in every other way) and to see it as an anchor of community, despite its history of mass murder and hateful disregard for human life.” (08/31/25)
https://dsdamato.substack.com/p/community-commons-and-the-state