Lunedi tredici gennaio due poliziotti di Fullerton, in California, accusati di aver pestato a morte Kelly Thomas, sono stati assolti. L’accusa ha annunciato l’intenzione di non procedere contro un terzo agente coinvolto. I milioni di persone che hanno seguito la storia hanno ascoltato il verdetto con incredulità: come è possibile, dopo aver visto il video…

It was Thomas Hobbes, in his book Leviathan, that declared without a state man is in a constant climate of struggle and fight. He called this the “state of nature” whereby it is a “war of all against all”. He makes a compelling argument for the coming together of all peoples, and the creation of…

C4SS has teamed up with the Distro of the Libertarian Left. The Distro produces and distribute zines and booklets on anarchism, market anarchist theory, counter-economics, and other movements for liberation. For every copy of ALL Distro’s “CAPITALISM” that you purchase through the Distro, C4SS will receive a percentage. Support C4SS with ALL Distro’s “CAPITALISM“. $1.00 for the first copy. $0.60 for every additional…

C4SS has teamed up with the Distro of the Libertarian Left. The Distro produces and distribute zines and booklets on anarchism, market anarchist theory, counter-economics, and other movements for liberation. For every copy of Mikhail Bakunin’s “What is Authority?” that you purchase through the Distro, C4SS will receive a percentage. Support C4SS with Mikhail Bakunin’s “What is Authority?” $1.00 for the first copy….

Ahmad Barqawi discusses American imperialism. William Sheppard discusses state violence and rape. Sheldon Richman discusses how Obama and Kerry are jeopardizing peace with Iran. Max Border discusses the rise of the new libertarians. Murray Dobbin discusses Stephen Harper’s loyalty to Israel. Michael Munger discusses what positive vision libertarians can offer. Laurence M. Vance discusses hard…

Na segunda, dia 13 de janeiro, dois policiais de Fullerton, na Califórnia, acusados do espancamento até a morte de Kelly Thomas foram inocentados e o promotor anunciou sua decisão de não processar um terceiro policial envolvido. As milhões de pessoas que acompanhavam o deenrolar dos fatos encararam o veredito com incredulidade: como alguém que tinha…

C4SS has teamed up with the Distro of the Libertarian Left. The Distro produces and distribute zines and booklets on anarchism, market anarchist theory, counter-economics, and other movements for liberation. For every copy of James Tuttle’s “Direct Action on the Job!” that you purchase through the Distro, C4SS will receive a percentage. Support C4SS with James Tuttle’s “Direct Action on the Job!” $1.00…

James Tuttle alerted me to an appendix discussing Hayek’s conception of coercion in Murray Rothbard’s, The Ethics of Liberty. It serves as the jumping off point for a broader discussion of what constitutes coercion. Let us begin by contrasting the definitions of coercion employed by Hayek and Rothbard. Rothbard defines coercion thus: the invasive use…

In the 19th and early 20th century, anarchism was in many ways making strides into mainstream culture and thought. It was not through theory that this occurred, but rather through immediate expressions of one’s autonomy. This revolutionary method was known as direct action. Direct action emphasizes the right or duty of each individual to insist on the…

When the basic premise of the drug war is that we do not own our own bodies, the recurring theme of police sexual assault in the media over the last several months seem less like freak occurrence and more like an expected, perhaps its inevitable outcome. Last year there was the police rape of a New Mexico…

Jeffrey St. Clair and Alexander Cockburn discuss the terrorist character of the late Ariel Sharon. Binoy Kampmark discusses the march to war with Iran. Andrew Levine discusses what will happen for Obama upon the unraveling of Iraq. Alfred McCoy discusses the surveillance state. Kevin Carson discusses the worship of authority. Jose Martinez discusses Wal-Mart racism….

Qualche tempo fa la cantautrice Ani DiFranco ha dovuto cancellare il suo “Righteous Retreat in the Big Easy”, un ritrovo di autori di canzoni ospitato nella Nottoway Plantation and Resort, una ex piantagione di schiavi in Luisiana. La scelta del luogo aveva provocato un meritato scontento, costringendo la DiFranco alla ritirata. La cantante ha poi…

In his 1815 Principles of Politics, French liberal author Benjamin Constant defended the monarch’s “right to dissolve representative assemblies.” Constant’s position might seem surprising. Wasn’t securing the independence of parliaments from the royal will one of liberalism’s hard-won victories? His reasoning ran as follows. The “tendency of assemblies to multiply indefinitely the number of laws” is the inevitable…

Say the words “class analysis” or “class conflict” and most people will think of Karl Marx. The idea that there are irreconcilable classes, their conflict inherent in the nature of things, is one of the signatures of Marxism. That being the case, people who want nothing to do with Marxism quite naturally want nothing to…

“This is one of the most horrifying, despicable things that I have seen all day. People who post this kind of adulation for this mass murderer — an immensely privileged millionaire dynastic politician, who imprisoned hundreds of thousands of innocent people in military internment camps solely on the basis of their race, who repeatedly turned…

John Stossel recently penned a piece titled Equality vs Liberty. In it, he argues that wealth inequality is not a serious issue. This post is the beginning of a lengthier response to him. It will be expanded into an opinion editorial. Quotations from Stossel will be used in both pieces. Stossel remarks: It’s true that…

On Monday, January 13, two Fullerton, California police officers charged with the beating death of Kelly Thomas were acquitted, and the prosecutor announced his decision not to press charges against a third officer involved. Millions who had been following the story met the verdict with incredulity: How could anyone who watched that horrific video of…

More than a few libertarians appear to hold the view that only rights violations are wrong, bad, and deserving of moral condemnation. If an act does not entail the initiation of force, so goes this attitude, we can have nothing critical to say about it. On its face, this is strange. If you observe an…

Professor David Levy of George Mason University has pointed out that when Thomas Carlyle labeled economics “the dismal science,” he wasn’t referring to the pessimistic conclusions drawn by Thomas Malthus. No, what Carlyle found dismal was that market-based societies entail free labor and rule out slavery, specifically black slavery. That depressed Carlyle. Perhaps slavery was gone in Britain…

I – What Is Anarchy. The statesman, intent on schemes to compromise principles and tide over clamorous demands for justice, says it is disorder and spoliation. New taxes are then levied to defend the state, to repress incendiary talk, and protect privileged prerogatives. Or false and surface issues are prepared to distract attention, to embroil citizens in partisan quarrels,…