The question seems to me to be, why has it become so difficult to debate?

It’s obvious that within any group, and given the complexity of the realities we face, there are bound to be various points of divergence, or even quite different approaches and preliminary analyses, while aiming for quite similar objectives.

How could it be otherwise, without falling into a limp consensus that would cover nothing but emptiness? Hence the need for an open, ongoing debate that brings these points of divergence into the open and helps to overcome them. This is what we call democracy, which should enable everyone to take their place in the Common and make their contribution to it. When we speak of Communalism, this should even seem obvious and a prerequisite.

However, it is clear that this is far from being the case, and it is more than legitimate to ask questions. What is it that stands in the way of debate and lively dialogue?

It seems to me that, beyond the particularities of each individual, what’s lacking here, as everywhere, is desire.

Market society has constantly sought to reduce desire to need, a need that is supposed to be satisfied by the acquisition of some object, by means of its market value, by its consumption. What fundamentally differentiates need from desire is that it disregards the living subject. Desire is utopian in the sense that it doesn’t aim for a particular object, but aims for a different state, a different becoming, a promise, a surpassing. It is probably the most defining characteristic of our humanity. Needs, on the other hand, are a series of renunciations designed to put an end to desire. We can also associate it with notions of comfort and security. And need – and this is a good thing for the capitalist system – is manufactured, in every sense of the word.

Beyond these considerations, which can just as easily be seen as abstract or lowly material, the question that remains is: what have we done with our desire? What have we done with our desire, with our aspiration for something other than need?

Desire alone is revolutionary, but what lies behind our renunciations, behind this atrophy of our deepest selves?

How can the current calamitous societal system be overturned without a storm of desire to sweep it away?

In this sense, it seems to me that one of the main objectives of a consistent Social Ecology is to work towards awakening this desire in everyone, starting with ourselves.

“What has been transformed into consciousness no longer belongs to the enemy powers”.