At first sight Kibbutzim in Israel and the ZADs (Zones à Défendre, i.e. zones to be defended) in France appear too dissimilar to be compared. In both of these political experiments however, the ways in which collective agricultural and industrial resources are used and the importance given to mutual assistance and self-management offer points of comparison. The norms and grammars that govern how these communities organize are targeted to achieve emancipation based on collective experience, regardless of any exogenous determination or relations of production. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the two political and social forms based on their quest for political autonomy as a path to emancipation. We highlight similarities such as their reverence for self-management, non-domination, direct democracy and the rejection of wage labour. We also charter their differing relations to the State and self-sufficiency. The comparison enables us to conceptualize new figures of space and time that are devoid of any ultimate aim or projection beyond the present.