Tag: hierarchy
Join Hands, Unite the Riot
The United States and Russia appear to have reached an agreement over the conflict in Syria. The powers have adopted a diplomatic resolution to bring Syrian chemical weapons under international control. For now, this development has calmed the rhetorical march to war as it is now unlikely to see a U.S. military strike on Syria in the…
Achieving Social Justice Through Liberty
C4SS Trustee and Senior Fellow, Gary Chartier, gave the talk “Achieving Social Justice Through Liberty” at the University of Oklahoma. http://youtu.be/yYGYH3eC5yI Q&A: http://youtu.be/81uWXAiTC0k
Especuladores de la guerra, esclavitud y la hipocresía del imperialismo
En todo el mundo, la gente protesta contra la intervención de EE.UU. en Siria. Los sondeos muestran un escepticismo generalizado ante la amenazante guerra. En lugar de aumentar la seguridad de los estadounidenses, es probable que la intervención apoye a fuerzas vinculadas a al Qaida. No obstante parece inevitable que el Gobierno de EE.UU. lance…
Doublethink at New Heights: Libertarians for Conscription?
A few days ago, US Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) recycled his familiar contention that “[w]hat enables [the United States’] war-friendly philosophy is the fact that there is no military draft to dodge.” Yoking ordinary people to the decisions of the political class, he argues, would somehow disincentivize U.S. bellicosity abroad. In tandem with Rangel’s proposal…
War Profiteers, Slavery and the Hypocrisy of Imperialism
Across the world, people are protesting against US intervention in Syria. Polls show widespread skepticism of the impending war. Rather than making Americans safer, intervention is likely to support forces connected to al Qaeda. Yet it still seems inevitable that the US government will launch cruise missiles at Syria, escalating the country’s bloody civil war….
Support C4SS with Nathan Goodman’s “The Knowledge Problem of Privilege”
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 Nathan Goodman‘s “The Knowledge Problem of Privilege” that you purchase through the Distro, C4SS will receive a percentage. Support C4SS with Nathan Goodman‘s “The Knowledge Problem of Privilege“. $1.00 for…
News Flash: Obama Doesn’t Work for You
As the US government ramps up toward war on Syria’s regime, a sense of puzzlement seems to have descended upon America. Politicians can’t seem to identify any “legitimate” US “interest” that war would serve; polls show that the public opposes the project; military leaders, when pressed to propagandize for intervention, have instead repeatedly cautioned that…
TOL Response: 5 Foreign Policy Problems Libertarians Need to Address
The online liberty group “Thoughts on Liberty” pumps out some good stuff more often than not. The site is intellectually managed and operated by “a team of ladies writing about freedom” who offer their unique perspective on libertarianism. Like most addressing the liberty movement, the authors usually take a right leaning (or all-out right stance)…
Chelsea Manning and the State’s Abusive Transphobia
Trigger warning: The following article discusses rape, sexual assault, and transphobic violence Chelsea Manning, the whistleblower who released evidence of US war crimes to WikiLeaks, has announced that she identifies as a woman. “Given the way I feel and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible,” she wrote…
With Enemies Like This, Who Needs Friends?
The U.S. government’s persecution of Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning (who came out publicly as a transgender woman after sentencing) is the latest example of a general rule: In the transitional struggle between networks and hierarchies, sometimes networks’ most powerful weapons are the hierarchies themselves. You spend a few thousand bucks to yank a network’s…
Support C4SS with Jeremy Weiland’s “Let the Free Market Eat the Rich”
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 Jeremy Weiland‘s “Let the Free Market Eat the Rich” that you purchase through the Distro, C4SS will receive a percentage. Support C4SS with Jeremy Weiland‘s “Let the Free Market Eat…
Support C4SS with Kevin Carson’s “Organization Theory: A Libertarian Perspective”
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 Kevin Carson‘s “Organization Theory: A Libertarian Perspective” that you purchase through the Distro, C4SS will receive a percentage. Support C4SS with Kevin Carson‘s “Organization Theory: A Libertarian Perspective“. $25.00…
A Reação do Estado a Snowden Mostra Por Que o Estado Está Fadado ao Fracasso
Em 2006 Ori Brafman e Rod Beckstrom, em A Estrela-do-Mar e a Aranha, contrastaram o modo pelo qual redes e hierarquias reagem a ataques vindos de fora. As redes, quando atacadas, tornam-se ainda mais descentralizadas e capazes de pronta recuperação. Bom exemplo são Napster e sucessores, cada um dos quais aproximou-se mais estreitamente de modelo ideal de ponto-a-ponto,…
The Security State’s Reaction to Snowden Shows Why It’s Doomed
Back in 2006 Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom, in The Starfish and the Spider, contrasted the way networks and hierarchies respond to outside attacks. Networks, when attacked, become even more decentralized and resilient. A good example is Napster and its successors, each of which has more closely approached an ideal peer-to-peer model, and further freed…
Disability Rights are Human Rights
Imagine if you had to fight in a court of law in order to be permitted to move in with friends, go to work, and make basic decisions about your daily life. Jenny Hatch doesn’t have to imagine, because she just fought and won that battle for her basic liberties. Hatch has volunteered for political…
A Radical Constitutional Amendment to Protect Whistleblowers
Lately, it hasn’t been clear what exactly the First Amendment protects. Between whistleblowers PFC Manning and Edward Snowden, one awaits a sentencing of potentially 90 years in prison, and the other finds himself trapped in a country where he doesn’t speak the language. Perhaps it’s time to find a better way to protect free speech….
Don’t Hate on Welfare Recipients — The Real Parasites are Elsewhere
Everywhere you look in the right-wing commentariat, you see the recurring theme of the “underclass” as parasites. Its most recent appearance was the meme of the productive, tax-paying 53% vs. the tax-consuming 47%. And of course there’s the perennial favorite mythical quote attributed to Alexander Tytler, trotted out by many who should know better, about…
The Futility of State-Directed “Market Reform”: Deregulation
A decade after Califormia’s disastrous experience with Enron-style electrical utility “deregulation” — rolling blackouts and price spikes — caused Arizona to abandon a similar project, the Arizona Corporation Commission is once again considering it. The real problem with “deregulation,” as promoted by the libertarian establishment — the think tanks and lobbyists who pressure the state…
What puts the “Left” in “Libertarian Left”?
One of the quickest and simplest ways to gloss what “Left-Libertarian,” or the “Libertarian Left” part of ALL, means, is just to say that we are for left-wing social ends through libertarian means. This inevitably involves a certain amount of oversimplification — does “through libertarian means” just mean “by getting rid of government controls and letting social outcomes emerge spontaneously,” or does it mean something…
Prison Abolition is Practical
In California, prisoners are fighting back against appalling human rights violations. Their hunger strike is into its third week, with nearly 1,000 inmates still participating. When the strike began, 30,000 prisoners refused meals. The prisoners are striking against long term solitary confinement, a punishment recognized as a form of torture by sources as diverse as…
Anarchy and Democracy
Fighting Fascism
Markets Not Capitalism
The Anatomy of Escape
Organization Theory