STIGMERGY: The C4SS Blog
Anti-Nazi Gaming League: Antifa The Game

This month, we’re joined by YouTuber Eron, host of the popular RE-EDUCATION channel to discuss mutualism and play Antifa (the game).

Tune in on Friday, July 15th at 7:00pm EST.

Watch on Facebook: C4SS Facebook

Watch on YouTube:

Apology from The Enragés

[Hear Eric Fleischmann’s apology on this episode of The Enragés]

In the very first episode of The Enragés that I hosted, I interviewed Andrew Kemle on his article “Libertarianism versus Psychopathic Dumbfuckery,” in which he criticizes the destructive pandemic policies of so-called libertarian politicians like Rand Paul as being similar to psychopathy. It was soon after pointed out to both me and Andrew—by folks both in and outside of C4SS—that this kind of language is deeply stigmatizing towards people living with psychopathy and other antisocial personality disorders and inherently ableist in general. These criticisms are 100% correct and I want to apologize from the bottom of my heart for not just using that language but embracing it so enthusiastically and wantonly. Andrew has also written an apology that can be found on the C4SS website titled “An Apology to the Neurodivergent Community.” I have no excuses for this behavior. Particularly as someone who is neurodivergent and suffers from mental health problems myself, I should have known better. In addition to removing the episode from public listing (while leaving it accessible so as not to try and erase our mistake), I want to promise—to both our audience and the broader neurodivergent community—that going forward as the host of The Enragés, I will be more responsible and inclusive with my language. Finally, I want to echo the point made by Maxx Crow that “in order to be an anarchist, you must be not just anti-racist, not just anti-sexist, but also be anti-ableist, to include everyone who’s part of the struggle.” Thank you to everyone who has helped hold us accountable. I hope you enjoy this latest episode.

Anti-Nazi Gaming League: Castle Wolfenstein with Comedian Roundtable

Join your C4SS co-hosts next Friday, June 17th at 7:00PM for our next ANGL stream with special guests Charles-Thomas Vidrine, Joey Thibodeaux, and Riley Suarez to honor the memory of comedy legend George Perez.

We’ll be playing Castle Wolfenstein and talking comedy, MegaCon, and more.

Watch on YouTube:

Watch on Facebook:

The Enragés: Typologies, Patterns, and Heuristics with Dawie Coetzee

​​For the 16th installment of The Enragés, host Eric Fleischmann met with Dawie Coetzee to discuss Dawie’s article Towards Prefigurative Design (https://c4ss.org/content/56371).

Dawie Coetzee is a former architect based in Cape Town, South Africa. He has described his position as roughly where the anarchic end of Chestertonian Distributism overlaps the individualist end of Proudhonian Mutualism. His peculiar fields of interest include urban design and automotive history, though each of those is linked to a broader underlying philosophy.

Support C4SS – https://www.patreon.com/c4ssdotorg

Cathy Reisenwitz on Sex, Power, and Feminism

Cathy Reisenwitz joins Mutual Exchange Radio to discuss power, play, humility, religion, conservatism, bodily autonomy, and being an open book on the internet.

Cathy Reisenwitz is a writer and OnlyFans creator with bylines in TechCrunch, the Daily Beast, Reason, and other fine publications. Her newsletter is Sex and the State.

Jason Lee Byas on The Curious Task: “How Should We Deal With Historic Injustice?”

C4SS fellow Jason Lee Byas recently joined Alex Aragona on “The Curious Task” to discuss the complexities of responding to questions of historic injustice, reparations, and compensation within a libertarian framework.

Cory Massimino on Non Serviam Podcast: “Do Presidents Read Books?”

C4SS fellow, Cory Massimino, was recently on the Non Serviam Podcast to cover the all important question: “Do Presidents Read Books?”

Summary from Non Serviam: 

Returning from hiatus, the Non Serviam Podcast is back for a 37th episode! Now with long-time friend of the collective Lucy Steigerwald in the hot seat. Lucy is an accomplished writer and a self-described market-anarchist, feminist, and history nerd. Lucy is Contributing Editor at AntiWar.com, and you may also know Lucy from her writings at FEE, Vice, Reason, or her blogs; www.thestagblog.com, and www.lucysteigerwald.com.

For our first episode back, Lucy forced previous guest and market-anarchist Cory Massimino back onto the show and into an interview about everything from American Politics, to Ukraine, to Batman. If you don’t know Cory yet, he is a student of Philosophy and Economics with a focus on Anarchism, Market Processes, and Virtue Ethics.

View the full, downloadable catalog online at https://nonserviam.media/

Coming Up: Anti-Nazi Gaming League with James Weeks

Join us this Friday for the third Anti-Nazi Gaming League stream with special guest James Weeks, host of Podcast Titles are a Spook. We’ll be playing a good old-fashioned classic, Rogue Squadron, and discussing the latest in comic, gaming, and otherwise geeky news. In particular, we’ll be discussing Star Wars, the changes to Disney’s status in Florida, and the Square Enix shift toward blockchain games.

Tune in next Friday, May 20th from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM EST to catch the stream!

You can watch in these places:

The Enragés: Credit As an Enclosed Commons with Kevin Carson

For the 15th installment of The Enragés, host Joel Williamson (@NalevoA3) met once again with Kevin Carson (@CPostcapitalism) to discuss Kevin’s two-part article series titledCredit As an Enclosed Commons” (https://c4ss.org/content/52718) andCredit As an Enclosed Commons, Part II” (https://c4ss.org/content/53425).

Kevin Carson is a senior fellow of the Center for a Stateless Society (c4ss.org) and holds the Center’s Karl Hess Chair in Social Theory. He is an anarchist without adjectives, heavily influenced by autonomism and the new municipalist movements. His written work includes Studies in Mutualist Political Economy, Organization Theory: A Libertarian Perspective, The Homebrew Industrial Revolution: A Low-Overhead Manifesto, The Desktop Regulatory State, and Exodus: General Idea of the Revolution in the XXI Century, all of which are freely available online.

Please note the new release schedule!

The Enragés will now release new episodes on the first Friday of each month.

URGENT: Logan Glitterbomb Needs Your Help

Logan Marie Glitterbomb – a longtime IWW organizer, one of the Center’s most prolific writers, and a close friend of mine – is at risk of being unhoused. She needs $3000 by the end of the month, or she and her roommate will be homeless. Logan is a disabled trans woman whose access to medicine and treatment is as tenuous as it is necessary for her survival. If she gets kicked out, she might die.

If you’re able, please donate and share this post or the attached links wherever you can on whatever platforms you have access to. This is always a tough ask, especially considering not everyone has social media or an income to spare, but please give whatever you can to help keep this woman alive. Small donations add up, we’ve seen this in action before, and we genuinely need all the help we can get on this one. Anything and everything is sincerely appreciated.

Below is Logan’s paypal and the link to her legal fundraiser, funds donated to either will go directly to her.

Thank you so much for your continued support, what we do isn’t possible without you.

Paypal: http://paypal.me/glitterbombqueen

Legal fundraiser: https://gogetfunding.com/legal-defense-for-logan-glitterbomb/

Mutual Exchange Radio: Abigail Devereaux on Complexity Economics

Abigail Devereaux joins host Cory Massimino on Mutual Exchange Radio to discuss the connections between complexity economics, systems theory, emergent order, science fiction, and more.

Dr. Abigail Devereaux is a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Economic Growth and Assistant Professor of Economics at Wichita State University. She’s also affiliated with the Independent Institute, the American Institute of Economic Research, and NYU’s Classical Liberal Institute. Abigail holds degrees in math in physics, both from Boston University, and had a career in high-tech focusing on complex systems science before getting her economics PhD from George Mason University. She fielded in complexity economics and Austrian economics. Her work these days is interdisciplinary and focused on two research programs: the mathematical and social implications of accelerating technological innovation, and the emergence of spontaneous orders.

As always, please consider supporting C4SS and our podcast project on Patreon.

The Enragés: Psychopathic Dumbfuckery with Andrew Kemle

[This episode has been removed from public listing. See Andrew’s apology here and Eric’s apology here.]

For the 15th episode/14th installment of The Enragés, host Eric Fleischmann met with Andrew Kemle (@SadKemle) to discuss Andrew’s article titled Libertarianism vs Psychopathic Dumbfuckery or The Difference between Libertarianism and Psychopathic Dumbfuckery (https://c4ss.org/content/54821). 

Andrew is a master’s student in Political Science at the University of Calgary, specializing in Political Theory, Political Economy, and Comparative Politics. His major focus right now is on Jurgen Habermas’s conceptualization of the “public sphere” and the ways in which it does and does not intersect with anarchist political philosophy.

To get early access to episodes like this one, bonus content, and more, support C4SS on Patreon today!

Coming Up: Anti-Nazi Gaming League with St. Andrewism

Join us this Friday for the second Anti-Nazi Gaming League stream with special guest Saint Andrewism (Andrew Sage). Andrew is an Afro-Trinidadian solarpunk anarchist and YouTuber, and we’re excited to have him on the stream to chat about anarchism, Mardi Gras, Carnival, and more. In particular, we’ll take a look at the recent Batman movie The Batman and discuss anarchist perspectives on the franchise, along with boycotts in gaming, new releases, and other news.

We’ll be playing DC Universe Online and exploring all the different ways to be The Batman.

If you missed it, check out first stream, the Coup de Gras kickoff event here.

Then, tune in this Friday, April 15th from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM EST to catch our second stream! 

You can find the stream in these places:

Call For Help For Elizabeth Sciabarra (Ms. Ski)

This is the kind of appeal that the family of Elizabeth Sciabarra (Ms. Ski to her students) never wanted to post. But we are facing some very difficult realities. My sister became seriously ill and nearly died in November 2020, which was followed by extensive spinal surgery in mid-March 2021. We nearly lost her again in mid-October 2021. Since that time, she has been receiving in-home hospice. As her devoted brother, I have been her primary caregiver—despite dealing with my own lifelong medical issues. As my own health has been compromised over these many months, we have been compelled to turn to health aides to assist with my sister’s in-home care.

My sister brings in a pension from her many years of service as an educator in the New York City public school system. She also brings in a Social Security retirement check. Given the state of American healthcare, she is in the unenviable position of being in that great “middle” ground where so many others find themselves—not “wealthy” enough to cover all her medical expenses; too “wealthy” to qualify for Medicaid. As a woman who has worked for over fifty years, and paid millions of dollars in taxes to local, state, and federal governments, she qualifies for a single Medicare home health aide, 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, though she needs 24/7 care.

Having maxed-out some assistance from the Council of Supervisors and Administrators for both the 2021 and 2022 calendar years, she is spending, on average, approximately $15,000 a month on aides and other non-insured medical supplies—more than she earns with her pension and Social Security combined. She has sold her car, exhausted her savings, and cashed-in retirement accounts—paying taxes on that too. Complete financial collapse can be avoided if my sister is placed in a Medicare-insured inpatient hospice, which would constitute a dramatic change to her quality of life. She wanted to remain at home, but without the financial capacity to do so, she will be compelled to make a decision that will break all our hearts. And hers most of all. Out of personal embarrassment and a sense of pride, she never wanted to make an appeal such as this. But after being in-and-out of hospitals and medical facilities for 17 months, even she realizes that this situation is financially unsustainable, threatening her ability to pay for even the basic necessities of life … food, clothing, and shelter.

We appreciate anything anyone can offer; we have no hope of paying anyone back. We only hope that a woman who, as an educator, devoted her life to helping thousands upon thousands of children and young adults, can raise enough funds that would allow her a level of dignity moving forward—despite the serious health challenges she continues to face every hour of every day.

Sincerely,

Chris Matthew Sciabarra (on behalf of my sister)

DONATE HERE

Anarchist Black Cross Musical Solidarity

One way that you can support anarchists in Ukraine is by purchasing Mother Anarchy:

A benefit album to raise money for anarchist and anti-authoritarians defending their communities against invasion in Ukraine, specifically the Committee of Defense affiliated to the Black Headquarters. All proceeds of this compilation will go to the Dresden Anarchist Black Cross, which is coordinating aid to these comrades.

Even if you can’t afford the $8 price tag right now, the music is still worth checking out. Defiant, somber, irreverent, and radical, Mother Anarchy spans borders, languages, and genres alike.

Mutual Exchange Radio: Special Cast – Inside Operation Solidarity

Host Alex McHugh interviews Salem, one of the founders of the radical humanitarian project Operation Solidarity, which is helping to organize anarchist resistance to the invasion as well as humanitarian support networks.

If you’re able to support this vital project with funding or material aid, please click through the linktree below.

CALL TO ACTION: Stop Upcoming “Patriotic Socialist Rally” in Austin, Texas

Tomorrow, March 12th, a group of self-proclaimed “patriotic socialists” (i.e. reactionaries) are gathering at the Austin Southpark Hotel. The event, “Free America from Neo-Liberalism,” will be hosted by Russia Today reporter and r/okaybuddytankie favorite Caleb Maupin, joined by Jackson Hinkle, Sameera Khan, Peter Coffin & Ms ACD, and Haz From “Infrared.” The rap sheet for all of these individuals is long, exhausting, and, for our present purposes, pointless. This is a deliberate attempt to radicalize white southerners with a surface-level emphasis on anti-imperialism and resisting neoliberal sorry, “neo-liberalism.”

The venue, as of right now, has no idea who these people are. One phone call can change that.

Here’s how you can help:

  1. Call the Austin Southpark Hotel at (512) 448-2222
  2. Tell them you’re making an inquiry about an event on March 12th titled “Free America from Neo-liberalism”
  3. Ask the clerk to take a message for the manager (if the manager is on the line, all the better)
    • Make sure you state Caleb Maupin’s full name and his direct ties to Russia Today
    • Express your concern that “heavy security” will be provided by Maupin/The Center for Political Innovation
    • Emphasize first and foremost that these people (and of course Caleb himself) are spreading Russian propaganda in the explicit interest of spreading disinformation and radicalizing locals to side with Russia
  4. Remind them that you are a concerned caller who is worried about the kind of crowd (i.e. violent and disruptive folks) this will attract and the reputation of the hotel. You’re doing this for the hotel, not yourself.

This is only a rough outline of what, in my own experience, led the person on the other line to follow through. Feel free to add or omit whatever details you see fit.

Obviously there are many, many other more important issues with these folks than their ties to Russia, ranging from vehement antisemitism to genocide denial — and you’re absolutely free to recount these issues. I offer these points of emphasis mainly in the interest of your (and the hotel staff’s) time and to ensure this message is focused on issues that directly concern hotel management. As receptive as these folks seem to be, they probably don’t care about politics as much as we do, so I suggest emphasizing these core talking points instead. Remember, you’re trying to influence management at a private business, they don’t have time for a rant about the messy details of Maupin’s poor excuse for “journalism” (no matter how warranted it may be).

We will always stand against the tanks no matter where they roll up. Will you stand with us?

Mutual Exchange Radio: Special Cast – Inside the Russian Resistance

MER host Alex McHugh interviews C4SS Russian translator Citizen Ilya on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, anarchist resistance to war, and what things look like on the ground in Russia. 

We intend this to be a two-part series. An interview with some of the folks behind the anarchist humanitarian project for Ukraine, Operation Solidarity, is forthcoming in the next week or so.

Links:

Mutual Exchange Radio: Sarah Skwire on What We Can Learn from Literature

In this month’s episode, Alex McHugh interviews Sarah Skwire, Senior Fellow and Director of Communications at Liberty Fund about the importance of studying literature and language, and why social scientists should pay attention to works of fiction and literary history.

We got into quite a few interesting topics, including Shakespeare, early modern debates on economics, and how literature can be an excellent site for studying social debates from multiple sides and perspectives.

Sarah’s work can be found most often in the following places:


Next month, look out for Cory Massimino’s episode with Abigail Devereaux to discuss her work on complexity economics. We’ll also hopefully be publishing several bonus episodes about Ukraine in the coming month or so. It’s currently uncertain when those interviews will be done, but we’re in contact with anarchists in both Ukraine and Russia and working on getting a few dispatches together.

The Enragés: Boycotting Bad People with William Gillis

For the 13th installment of The Enragés, host Joel Williamson met with William Gillis to discuss Will’s article titled “Bad People: Irredeemable Individuals & Structural Incentives.”

William Gillis is a second-generation anarchist, lapsed physicist, and transhumanist, who has been interested in the egalitarian potential of markets since 2003. Will is the former Lead coordinator at C4SS whose writing can be found at the Center as well as humaniterations.net.

To get early access to episodes like this one, bonus content, and more, support C4SS on Patreon today!

Anarchy and Democracy
Fighting Fascism
Markets Not Capitalism
The Anatomy of Escape
Organization Theory