Monday, April 26, 2010

My Return to this Damn Blog and Brief Defintions of Stuff

Well, it's been a while, but after telling myself to get my blog going again about a GAJILLION times, I have returned, somewhat different, somewhat changed. Over the passed few months I've worked with a variety of anarchists, and I've learned a shitload about a shitload. Plus, it has a new name!

To keep it short: I used to oppose the black bloc, now I don't, but I don't participate in it, but I support those who do. I used to be a staunch free market capitalist, now I'm not. I used to hate socialism, now I don't (at least not as much).

What I've discovered over the passed few months is that anarchism is as varied and diverse as any other socio-political theory, and as such, there is a lot of room to grow within the framework.

And now I emerge a post-civilization agorist (kudos to Lentil for the term).

What does this mean, exactly?

Post-civilization is best defined at http://www.postcivilized.net/post-civilization/. It reads: "It might be simplest to understand that we are green anarchists who do not outright reject technology or mediation, who do not fetishize pre-civilized methods of survival.

For those whom none of the above made any sense, let me say it this way: we believe in radical sustainability – we want to create a society that can actually continue. And we want that society to be egalitarian, that is, a society of equals. We don’t believe in the myth that this civilization represents the pinnacle of human achievement, nor do we believe in the myth that pinnacle of human culture was when we were nomadic hunter-gatherers. We believe that the future can be awesome, if we make it awesome."

Agorism is participation in the open marketplace. In the context of our current system, it is "counter-economic" activity. It is a libertarian principle at it's core, and begins with the first principles of non-aggression and voluntaryism. It is free and open trading using a variety of non-violent trading methods (monetary, barter, gift, etc.) The agora is a truly free and open marketplace.

Combing the two concepts results in a free market environment wherein individuals have the opportunity to create and share without the aggressive forces of the state, or institutions like the state, hindering them. It encourages local technology and sustainable technological development, ie-a synergy of ecology and high technology.

In short, it's a fucking rad social theory.

As always, I leave my old posts up to show my trajectory form the time I started the blog and all the changes I've been through philosophically.

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