Collective action does not require, and in my view is not even helped by, the existence of the State. Defying the government is (insufficient and) unnecessary to push off the water crisis to the future, e.g. the government can physically import water from elsewhere (although I wouldn’t bet on it), but defying the government is necessary (but insufficient) to permanently (on human time scales) solve the water crisis there, precisely because the State is designed to prevent the people from solving their own problems when it conflicts with capitalists’ interests.
Any collective organization that can form a bureaucracy for the management of capital is a State, for all intents and purposes. Any large capital project needs administration and expertise to function and a means of socially reproducing these roles in order to continue to function over time.
The question becomes how to integrate yourself and your neighbors into the mechanics of statecraft without overwhelming people with bullshit or hedging them out into serfdom. But trying to prohibit statecraft is as much a fool’s errand as trying to impose it at a great distance through imperialism.
People will organize into state bodies whether you want them to or not.
Collective action does not require, and in my view is not even helped by, the existence of the State. Defying the government is (insufficient and) unnecessary to push off the water crisis to the future, e.g. the government can physically import water from elsewhere (although I wouldn’t bet on it), but defying the government is necessary (but insufficient) to permanently (on human time scales) solve the water crisis there, precisely because the State is designed to prevent the people from solving their own problems when it conflicts with capitalists’ interests.
Any collective organization that can form a bureaucracy for the management of capital is a State, for all intents and purposes. Any large capital project needs administration and expertise to function and a means of socially reproducing these roles in order to continue to function over time.
The question becomes how to integrate yourself and your neighbors into the mechanics of statecraft without overwhelming people with bullshit or hedging them out into serfdom. But trying to prohibit statecraft is as much a fool’s errand as trying to impose it at a great distance through imperialism.
People will organize into state bodies whether you want them to or not.