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anarchy 107
removed from technology and city-life. This area is settled by
‘original native peoples’ and ‘non-native bio-regionalists’ or ‘neoprimitivists’
who live side-by-side in a harmonious nomadic existence.
In its political and economic organization the new world has
both communitarian and syndicalist features. Relations between
Bear City and the other neighbourhoods in the bio-region are informal.
Mollie explains that since the neighbouring areas ‘share the
same river systems’ they organize ‘regular inter-regional watershed
councils as well as many other cultural, political, industrial and
interest-related gatherings of one kind or another’. Tom does not
stay long enough in the future to witness any disputes between these
areas, but is told by Jack that from time to time violence and fighting
occur. When this happens, mediators like Aristotle facilitate the
resolution of disputes by bringing the parties together so that they
can find consensual solutions to their problems.
There is no property in ‘public or civic goods’. For example,
bicycles line the road tunnels, freely available for common use. Bear
City is run on a system of simple exchange. There is no money in the
economy and no attempt is made to assess the value of work. Mollie’s
friend Peter calls the system ‘social anarchism’. Some regions have
more formal voucher arrangements, much as Guillaume and
Maximoff envisaged, but in Bear City people give and take according
to need. Goods are brought to and taken from warehouses. A simple
computerized database keeps a check on supply and demand. Whilst
this local database ensures that overproduction and scarcity are a
thing of the past a more sophisticated database, called Reclus, provides
information – available in schools – about the regional management
of eco-systems. Life is lived communally. Whilst all houses
have their own kitchens, most people prefer to use the more efficient
communal facilities. Work is organized on a voluntary basis. There is
still a division between domestic and non-domestic labour, but the
performance of work is not gendered (Tom is told that ‘old people
who can’t get around too much’ look after kitchens and gardens).
Domestic chores are reduced to a minimum since composting has
replaced the need for most washing and washing up. Non-domestic
workers organize themselves in syndicates. These syndicates represent
all the most important services and industries and operate on a
worldwide basis. Aristotle tells Tom that Bear City is the world centre
for Cycology – the Bike syndicate. But Tom also learns of a variety of
others: the Teacher’s Syndicate, the Builder’s Syndicate, Mechanical
Engineer’s Syndicate, the Astronautical and Satellite Maintenance