On Anarchism
The goal of this article is not to wax lyrical about the potential of pre-existing anarchist societies and projects, I will not be discussing Rojava, the Zapatistas or Chaz. Indeed, Benn Jordan and The Pondscum Collective have both done such a topic more justice than I ever could. My goal instead is to use examples from the society you currently live in to convince you of the premise at the very bones of anarchism. The philosophical conceit that people are inherently well meaning, and will do good things without financial incentive or a legal mandate, even if they are mundane or difficult.
Example 1: Wikipedia
It is in fact, very easy to to grief a Wikipedia article. There is no real punishment for it either, if you get banned you can return from a new account, if the page gets locked, you can ruin the hard work of an entirely different community. Almost no one ever does this though. As a species, we have no interest in burning down things for no reason. Indeed, the continuation of Wikipedia as a real world Library of Alexandria, the most reliable means of finding information in a web now dominated by algorithms and SEO optimisation, is a wonderful argument for the productivity of anarchism.
Wikipedia is maintained entirely on donations, there is no data collection and no price of entry. It exists only because people know that it is a public good. Likewise, Wikipedia articles and pages are built by volunteers, without financial/legal incentive. The process of maintaining and creating pages like this is one I have engaged in, it is often mundane and time consuming, but we do it anyway because we recognise it is for the public good. No money changes hands and no one is legally compelled to do any of it.
The most reliable information comes from the goodwill of people willing to do what's boring for the greater good.
Example 2: Open Source
Open Source software is software that you could copy and paste and iterate on yourself at a moments notice. Fully decompiled code made publicly accessible for free, the digital world is one that is truly post scarcity, and open source is post intellectual property. Open source developers also make and maintain things via donations, with each project being iterated on by a fully fledged community. It is a group of people designing valuable production tools like FFMPEG or OBS without financial incentive, with only the collective goal of a better world with better software. These tools are often industry standard, and there is beauty in a production industry so dominated by ghoulish models like Adobe's still having to rely on the collective altruism of volunteers when it needs to convert a file. It is that collective altruism that creates the best and most unanimous software.
It is a world without money that creates the best tools.
Example 3: Local
Some of you might know me as the "football leftism" guy and I wanna elaborate on one of the projects that really pushed me towards this philosophy. In my youth I played for a Little League that provided free football for children of all abilities and ages. My Dad kept managing teams after I left, and roped me back in. I am now a player co-ordinator and manager in this project, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Unlike most Little Leagues we do not ask for any fee at all, we are ran entirely on donations, all staff are unpaid, and of course, we have one more method of funding. Volunteering. Parents are encouraged to volunteer their time once a year to do shifts in a cafe that provides the vast majority of the League's funding. The managers (and by extension referees at lower age groups) are also volunteers, usually parents. Entertainment for hundreds of children every Saturday morning is provided with nothing but goodwill and time.
There is no real penalty for not returning the kits we hand out, or not volunteering in the cafe beyond social ostracization, and yet there doesn't need to be. People turn up anyway, people are willing to volunteer their labour, and their time, to keep the league running because they know it provides an innate social good. They are not paid for their time, they are not arrested if they decline. The innate pro social instincts of the average person is enough to keep this miniature society running.
Equipment is also donated locally, boots that could be sold for more capital are donated so that parents who can't afford them can buy them for a pound. Parents build connections to their local community otherwise severed by atomisation and financial struggle. Children build vital connections in their formative years despite living in a world that financially incentivizes them to stay inside and do nothing. The world is built on good people who want to help others.