“Caminando preguntamos.” — EZLN
Two years ago—on May 11 and 12, 2024—we founded “L’Adventice,” a free association dedicated to Communalist Social Ecology. We chose our name with care: inspired by the Canadian fleabane—Erigeron canadensis—that herbaceous plant which industrial agriculture classifies as a “weed” to be eradicated, yet which resists glyphosate, grows in cracks, and takes root in wastelands, along railroad tracks, and on the urban fringes. An undesirable, some say. But undesirable to whom, and by what standard?
For this very plant is edible, aromatic—pungent—medicinal, and honey-bearing. It discreetly accompanies other species, adapts to the most barren soils, and springs up where nothing else grows. Native to Central America, it has naturalized in Europe without asking permission—a pioneer, tenacious, useful to those who know how to look at it. In a post-capitalist world, many weeds would rediscover the beneficial appeal of what they truly are: dye plants, honey plants, aromatic plants, edible plants, medicinal plants. Companions, allies, not enemies.
It is in this spirit that we chose this name. We, too, grow in the cracks. We, too, resist the herbicides of the dominant consensus. We, too, are judged by a framework we reject and call for its abolition in favor of a different future.
To those who have walked with us from the beginning: thank you. Your loyalty, your reading, your feedback, your quiet or active support are the fertile ground without which none of this would have endured.
To those discovering us today: welcome. You haven’t arrived too late. The path is made by walking, and “As we walk, we question.” — at our own pace, with our doubts but with perseverance and determination.
In two years, we’ve produced over 550 posts—though actually slightly fewer articles, as some texts have been translated into multiple languages, a subtle yet real sign that ideas travel. On our own site, nearly 60,000 views from some 31,000 visitors. And thanks to the faithful support of infoLibertaire, which increases our visibility tenfold, these texts have in fact accumulated more than 600,000 views in total. To which we must add—and this is no small matter—the in-person gatherings: forums, conference-debates, and on-the-ground exchanges in France and abroad, where ideas cease to be pixels and become conversations and actions.
This remains modest in the face of the historic challenges we face. We’re not fooling ourselves. But it’s no small thing either: it’s a real, gradual, persistent spread—like seeds carried by the wind.
These past two years have not been easy. Nor is the context: a democratic crisis, the rise of authoritarian right-wing movements, the complete disintegration of the left, an ecological emergency that the institutions of the Megamachine continue to grossly ignore, wars. In this landscape, upholding a perspective of social and communalist ecology—that is, refusing both resignation and illusion—requires a certain endurance.
Perhaps this is where our strength lies. Not in the scale of our resources, but in the coherence of our approach: a radicalism without dogmatism, a rigor without sectarianism, a perseverance fueled not by quick victories but by the conviction that just ideas eventually find their way. We believe that prefigurative practices, spaces of autonomy and mutual aid, assemblies, and the commons can connect, multiply, and eventually form an instituting movement—from below, against and outside capitalist and state institutions. Not tomorrow. But in praxis—that of a living communotechny: not merely a reappropriation of tools, but an ethical and political horizon—that of communities reclaiming mastery over their technologies (in the broadest sense), deliberating on their ends, and making collective creation an act of emancipation.
“The future must be planted in the present.” — Murray Bookchin, The Ecology of Freedom (1982)
“The future must be sown in the present.” — Murray Bookchin, The Ecology of Freedom (1982)
That is why we invite you, today, to walk with us. Joining L’Adventice does not mean adhering to a fixed program or subscribing to a particular line. It means participating, at your own pace and according to your abilities, in something that is still finding its way. Contributions are voluntary, unconditional, and there is no hierarchy between those who give a lot and those who give what they can.
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Weeds do not disappear. They grow back, they spread, they find other soils, other cracks, other wastelands—and when they multiply, a whole world slowly shifts, and another spring is on the horizon, a utopia seeking to transcend itself, to realize its full potential..
— The L’Adventice Collective