@ctrlaltdog 100%. The common factor among all free stores, free pantries, community libraries, etc. is that they receive more donations than they can give away. It's really astounding once you see it in practice, all you need is a space for people to leave stuff and the community will have a bounty to share
Sharing spaces like this need to become a big, big part of anarchist praxis, because they're just that easy and effective
corvids
@socalledunitedstates @ctrlaltdog@chitter.xyz yet another reason public libraries are so important—they're probably the first exposure most people get to anything organised like this
@socalledunitedstates @ctrlaltdog@chitter.xyz oh absolutely i'm not saying it's The Best Example In All Cases i'm saying it's important people get exposed to the basic system of "anyone can give to this, and anyone can make use of it, without any exchange of money" that libraries are largely built on
tho i've been made aware of the existence of a so-called """for-profit library""" and i hate everything about it
@autistikai @ctrlaltdog Yes, but the problem with that is people see public libraries as an Institution funded by the State, as an untouchable thing that requires all this bureaucracy and money to work and obviously you couldn't do that with anything else
Community libraries are instantly a different image to people. It's just a shelf out in the open, and people are happy to leave books there. You can drive by every day on the way to work and see new shelves being added regularly because people's generosity outpaces their need, wordlessly shattering the economic ideas of capitalism. And all it is is a shelf - no funding, no organization, just a place to put books