Commentary
The Growth of Degrowth and The Confusion of Democratic Socialists
It has to be said, whoever coined the term Degrowth has done a tremendous disservice to those who advocate scaling down the current industrial mode of production to simultaneously stop climate change and improve human conditions for all. To briefly summarize, Degrowth is a proposed method for decreasing carbon emissions which calls for scaling down…
Why We Should Fear Kleptocracy and Monopolism
It’s been 32 years since capitalism came to Russia. Starting with Gorbachev’s reforms, which legalized entrepreneurship on the 5th of February 1987, capitalism reigns wild in Putin’s Russia. Bureaucracy has evolved into wild capitalism and a lot of party members have become democrats and criminals. In modern Russia, everything that must belong to the people…
The Cryptocurrency Revolution is Already Underway
According to Black Cat, money without the state involves a “core paradox” – “it [non-state money] will inevitably be used without the state being there to stop its usage, but it cannot be used while the state is present.” However, as the author also acknowledges, “as people free themselves from the state, moving beyond its…
Constitutionalism As a Threat
When the average american thinks of libertarianism, they often think of right-wing minarchists and self-proclaimed constitutionalists. These types don’t believe in full anarchism, but in limiting the state’s powers to only the bare minimum needed to enforce the united states constitution. These types often champion rights they see the constitution as protecting:  freedom of speech,…
The Economics of the Black Bloc
The black bloc, at least as I have experienced it, is a very extreme departure from everyday economic life.  No one buys or sells anything — in fact, you shouldn’t even bring your wallet to something like this. They’ll use it to ID you. Instead, everyone gives everyone else things — if you need anything…
The Struggle for Hawaiian Decolonization Erupts to Protect Maunakea
Over the past few weeks, the topic of indigenous self-determination and the decolonization of US-occupied lands has re-emerged, not only with the protests against neoliberal austerity in Puerto Rico, but also in less-covered protests by indigenous Hawaiians and allies on Maunakea. What’s occurring on Maunakea could very well be considered the next DAPL protest, as…
Drugs, Harm Reduction, and Restorative Justice
In Brantford, Ontario, the police recently escalated their drug sweeps, ostensibly in response to a record number of overdoses in the community from drugs laced with fentanyl. Mayor Kevin Davis, who is on record as supporting a proposal for a supervised injection site, showed his cognitive disconnect by also speaking glowingly of the raids. But…
Trumpism Reveals the Danger of Fusionism
There is a lot of talk lately about fusionism, the term coined by National Review writer Frank Meyer in the Cold War to describe the alliance between conservatives and libertarians against communists that aligned them with the Republican Party. Some wonder if fusionism is truly dead; I wonder why it lived so long. The alliance…
Peer-to-Peer Ridesharing, Not Corporate Profiteering!
Uber and Lyft sometimes get cited as agorist ventures by misguided anarcho-capitalists. While it could be claimed that these models are slightly more agorist in nature than the traditional taxi industry, it is far from the model we should be striving for. Instead of being an agorist model for transportation services, it is merely traditional…
Mock Assassinations, Or: My Milkshake Shoos All the Proud Boys From the Yard
The Brexit Party has just done extremely well for itself in the EU elections, though it should be noted that it and the Tories got less than half the total votes. If I had to describe the whole affair, it would be as such: the whole thing became, essentially, a second Brexit referendum. The “remainers”…
All Cops Are Bastards: Jon Snow Edition
Jon Snow isn’t exactly a cop — the fantasy realm of Game of Thrones doesn’t map perfectly onto our own social and political institutions. He is, however, involved in a system that does some pretty terrible things — while claiming that “he’s not like the other ones” and that the machine can be driven to…
The War on Hamburgers: A Practical Alternative to World Veganism
Since the introduction of the newest incarnation of the Green New Deal, conservatives have been hard at work battling the non-existent boogyman supposedly trying to ban hamburgers. Now, of course, such claims are completely absurd and have no basis in the actual reality of the Deal itself, but that hasn’t stopped the idea from spreading…
Howling The Names Of Our Fallen
As the Haymarket Martyrs went to their deaths they were resolute, in no small part because they knew future generations of anarchists would remember them. This sentiment extended from August Spies, “The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are throttling today,” to Louis Lingg, “I die happy…
An Anarchist Case for UBI
Universal Basic Income (UBI) is quickly becoming a hot topic this presidential cycle due to the likes of Andrew Yang and his supporters. Since he began his campaign, many other candidates have been interrogated about their support for the idea and more and more are responding positively, even if half-heartedly. Sadly some, such as Bernie…
Red & Brown Alliances: Nativism, Migration & The Anglo-American Left
In both the US and UK, the political commentariat are gripped by two related phenomena: Brexit and Trump. It is now generally accepted that the rise of Trump and the vote for Brexit were driven largely by two factors. The first was anger at the unequal nature of modern capitalism, the second was fear of…
A New Hope
A new generation is growing up in a world where the deep-seated problems of society are at their most severe and most prevalent. Thousands are thrown in jail for victimless “crimes” by a police state which has been emboldened by an aging and desperate aristocracy who seem hell-bent on protecting the social order. Even more…
Bernie vs. Corporate Welfare
Endless pages could be written criticising Bernie Sanders’ platform and voting record, but despite his affinity for trying to pass off milquetoast social democracy as democratic socialism he has suggested some useful solutions on occasion. One such occasion was when he introduced the Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act or the Stop BEZOS…
Tear Down the Campus Wall
The allegations in the Operation Varsity Blues college admissions scandal outline a seemingly unlimited trove of dishonesty that wealthy parents have been using to get their children into top universities. Bribery, special accommodations under false pretenses, and even entirely made up athletic or classroom achievements, are some of the ways parents have tried to get…
A Libertarian Take on the Green New Deal
With all the current hype surrounding the Green New Deal and the urgency to combat climate change, one must wonder where libertarians fit into the debate. Many more broadly on the left have embraced the Green New Deal, seeing it as proof that the Green Party and Progressive movements have successfully influenced the conversation. Even…
No, Bernie Will Not Save Us
It shouldn’t have to be repeated so often, but Bernie Sanders is not anti-capitalist, a socialist, nor even much of a solid leftist. Sure, he’s much further to the left than your average Democrat. Social democrats are in general slightly more to the left than traditional Democrats. However just because he’s more to the left…
Anarchy and Democracy
Fighting Fascism
Markets Not Capitalism
The Anatomy of Escape
Organization Theory