The Freedom Umbrella of Direct Action
View the second edition of The Freedom Umbrella of Direct Action. – Download a PDF version of this article.
By: Matt K. [social title=”” subtitle=”” link=”www.endtheterrorwar.tumblr.com” icon=”fa-tumblr”]
August 21, 2015
PART 1: A CASE FOR DIRECT ACTION
This list is subject to future revision, and serves the purpose of presenting alternatives to reformism, that is, the political means. This list comprises the economic means of direct action, which I call the “freedom umbrella” and it’s optional, not obligatory. As mentioned in my previous article, “Hope for Ending the Terror War is Alive“, there are always alternatives to reformism and it’s NOT the default position that everybody “must” or “should” do something to practically achieve individual liberty and experience its fullest extent in the absence of Leviathan.
If you don’t understand what the economic means are, here is a quote from Albert J. Nock’s “Our Enemy, The State” that should improve your understanding of what myself, Shane and Kyle have mentioned repetitively during previous broadcasts and applies to the freedom umbrella:
“There are two methods, or means, and only two, whereby man’s needs and desires can be satisfied. One is the production and exchange of wealth; this is the economic means. The other is the uncompensated appropriation of wealth produced by others; this is the political means. The primitive exercise of the political means was, as we have seen, by conquest, confiscation, expropriation, and the introduction of a slave-economy. The conqueror parcelled out the conquered territory among beneficiaries, who thenceforth satisfied their needs and desires by exploiting the labour of the enslaved inhabitants. The feudal State, and the merchant-State, wherever found, merely took over and developed successively the heritage of character, intention and apparatus of exploitation which the primitive State transmitted to them; they are in essence merely higher integrations of the primitive State. The State, then, whether primitive, feudal or merchant, is the organization of the political means. Now, since man tends always to satisfy his needs and desires with the least possible exertion, he will employ the political means whenever he can – exclusively, if possible; otherwise, in association with the economic means.” (pg. 59)
Economic means are consistent with the twin libertarian axioms of self-ownership and the non-aggression principle, the counter-economics of Agorism, black flag anarchy, and most importantly, any form of direct action that DOESN’T seek the political means of making money in order to address complex societal issues or otherwise plead the State to answer contrivances that can be voluntarily and peacefully resolved in the free market – thus rendering the whole dangerously coercive experiment of ANY and ALL forms of government completely null & void. If you truly believe in “We, The People” (not to be confused with the Federalists who are the actual parties to the U.S. Constitution, as the signers thereof), then direct action requires, by logical deduction alone, that begging the rulers for scraps from the king’s table is absurd, it’s more profitable in the exercise of freedom to organize resistance with the goal of successfully leaving the plantation, instead of waiting every several years to “choose” for a new slave owner at the ballot box. And on the note of boxes, I recommend folks read, or listen to, Kyle Rearden’s “The Restoration Trilogy” in full.
There is market selection within the freedom umbrella, wherein you can focus singularly on something (ex: homeschooling) or you can mix and match (ex: INFOSEC, civil defiance, affinity groups). What better indication of living in a free, peaceful, voluntary world wherein we all adhere to the economic means and get to enjoy the nearly endless freedom of choice in the absence of government ‘permission’, licensing, regulatory intervention, extortion racketeering/taxation, and depopulating war? Thus we have the necessity for the freedom umbrella.
If you encounter a cynical voter wondering “Without the vote, what would we do?” or who naively believes that “we only need the right person in office”, the freedom umbrella is a list of actions that can be taken to increase liberty WITHOUT engaging in counter-productive reformism that has a notorious history of failure. Direct action succeeds when it DOESN’T devolve itself into political ‘activism’, summarily making its entire purpose of resistance to the status quo of government ineffective and worse, counter-intuitive. Integrity and consistency is paramount to the freedom umbrella providing effective cover from the deluge of living in a Statist hell that’s determined to keep you bound in chains from cradle to grave. Monopoly adhesion contracts are dangerous, and that’s precisely how state and federal laws (including Constitutions) work within The States. Article 1, Sec. 2 of the Nevada Constitution is particularly disturbing:
“Purpose of government; paramount allegiance to United States. All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for the protection, security and benefit of the people; and they have the right to alter or REFORM (author’s emphasis) the same whenever the public good may require it. But the Paramount Allegiance of every citizen is due to the Federal Government in the exercise of all its Constitutional powers as the same have been or may be defined by the Supreme Court of the United States; and no power exists in the people of this or any other State of the Federal Union to dissolve their connection therewith or perform any act tending to impair, subvert, or resist the Supreme Authority of the government of the United States. The Constitution of the United States confers full power on the Federal Government to maintain and Perpetuate its existence, and whensoever any portion of the States, or people thereof attempt to secede from the Federal Union, or forcibly resist the Execution of its laws, the Federal Government may, by warrant of the Constitution, employ armed force in compelling obedience to its Authority.”
As I’ve mentioned previously, there is an inherent contradiction between the insurrection / militia clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article 1, Sec. 8) and the Declaration of Independence’s “right to abolish government“. (I don’t believe in “forming a new government”, thus it’s omission in my last sentence.) A stratagem for securing liberty must tackle that conundrum to the best of its capabilities, especially for the right of revolution. Without resorting to the legal racket, the only feasible means of abolishing government lies in the armed resistance of the governed. The difference between myself and a Constitutionalist, however, is that I’m not seeking to “restore” a miniature government within a paper cage – much less any other form of government.
Subcategories in the direct action list with question marks (?) beside them are an open question to discuss, write future articles on, and bring up during the LUA broadcasts on FPRN when we’re live and dealing with relevant subject matter. Obviously the same rule applies to the entire list in general, but those specifically can be treated as anomalous yet plausible candidates for direct action.
As a final note, I leave you with the words of Samuel Konkin III, from the “New Libertarian Manifesto“:
“Agorism: Our goal. The basic principle which leads a libertarian from statism to his free society is the same which the founders of libertarianism used to discover the theory itself. That principle is consistency. Thus, the consistent application of the theory of libertarianism to every action the individual libertarian takes creates the libertarian society. Many thinkers have expressed the need for consistency between means and ends and not all were libertarians. Ironically, many statists have claimed inconsistency between laudable ends and contemptible means; yet when their true ends of greater power and oppression were understood, their means are found to be quite consistent. It is part of the statist mystique to confuse the necessity of ends-means consistency; it is thus the most crucial activity of the libertarian theorist to expose inconsistencies.”
PART 2: THE GOLDEN PARACHUTE OF FREEDOM
The Direct Action List
Security culture:
- Threat modeling & risk analysis
- Grey man (side benefit from political field trips)
- Role-playing police interrogations
- Keeping your own counsel (INFOSEC)
- Inconspicuous car
- Vetting
- Home hardening (camouflage, early warning/detection, traps/barriers)
- Secured record archival
- Dual encryption (digital + cryptograms)
- Anonymous cell phone
- Simon Jestering (posters, DVDs, stickers, freedom holidays, waving Gadsden/black flags)
Family & romance:
- Homeschooling
- Peaceful parenting
- Free love/polyamory
- Free-range parenting
- Psychotherapy / journaling
Entrepreneurship: (Financial & Work Freedom)
- Freelancing
- Agorism (Cannabis, raw milk, underground railroads, lemonade stands, street racing/gambling, fight clubs, private defense agencies, dispute resolution organizations).
- Family farming (food co-ops, free range livestock)
Networking & organizing:
- Affinity groups (Security teams, freedom cells, (?) retreat groups, firearm instruction schools)
- Freedom communities (Free Manchester/Free State Project, Liberate RVA, Blue Ridge Liberty Project, American Redoubt, (?) Sea Steading Institute, Mars 01, Liberland, Sealand).
- Freedom conferences & festivals (Porcfest, Liberty Fest West, Jackalope Freedom Festival, Freedom Fest, Anar-con, MPLC Midwest Peace and Liberty Fest, Anarchapulco).
- Ostracism (exposing informants, no doxxing, scorn and ridicule, right to refuse service, blacklisting, wildcat strikes, MGTOW, memes)
Technology:
- Cryptography (PGP for email, OTR for instant messaging, ZRTP for VoIP and telephone calls, cryptograms, learn foreign languages)
- 3D printing
- Cryptocurrencies (Bitcoins, Litecoin, Freuicoin, Darkcoin, Dogecoin, Zerocoin, Titcoin, Ripple, Primecoin, Potcoin, Peercoin, NXT, Namecoin, Monero, Mazacoin, Mastercoin, Etherum, Digitalnote, Dash, Blackcoin, Aurocoin)
Lifestyle & personal choice:
- Free banking (crypto-currencies, silver/gold stacking, mutual aid, financial independence, nano-economy).
- Survivalism (food-stocking, water storage, bug-out bags, firearms, batteries, HAM radios, safe houses, networking, self-defense, supply caches, early warning systems).
- Urban homesteading (off grid power, edible gardening, backyard livestock, listening/observation post);
- Voting with your feet (wilderness homesteading, state citizenship (?));
- Voting with your wallet (comparison shopping, boycotts, shareholder activism)
- Bodybuilding (paleo-diet (?), martial arts, NOOtropics)
- Freeganism (dumpster diving, minimalism, tiny house movement)
- Spirituality (Meditation, yoga, and visualization)
Protesting & Good Samaritan:
- Individual or group (sit-in, stand-in, ride-in, pray-in, sit-down, stay away, stay-at-home, teach-ins, Black Bloc, culture jamming)
- Strikes (hunger strike)
- Boycotts (electoral)
- Refusal (refusing appointed rulers)
- Withdrawals (withdraw allegiance, cancelling voter registration)
- Non-action (Lysistratic)
- Classic protest (flag display, placards)
- Simon Jestering (posters, DVDs, stickers, freedom holidays, waving Gadsden/black flags).
- Communication (radio or online radio)
- Leaflets, pamphlets, and books.
- Helping others (mutual aid, sheepdog).
- Environmentalism (recycle, minimalist application at home).
- Food supply & demand (Freeganism, Food NOT bombs).
- Celebrate freedom holidays
Self-defense, fighting & revolution:
- Legal remedies whose goal is NOT to change the State, but rather to avoid or escape its enforcers (canceling voter registration, formal religious defection, expatriation, dual citizenship (?), reclaiming unclaimed property, committees of safety + militia).
- Committees of Safety (espionage network, early warning system).
- Satyagraha (?)
- Whistle-blowing
- Civil defiance (Lexington & Concord before first shot fired, cattle un-rustling, non-compliance gun rallies in WA & OR)
- Guerrilla warfare (Raids, ambushes, prison breaks, monkey wrenching/sabotage, vigilantism, assassination markets)
For future additions and categories to the freedom umbrella/direct action list, please contact the author: [email protected]
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