Sheldon Richman recently posted a report aboout Israeli funding of Hamas. It contains other lessons for left libertarians.

After 1967, a great part of the success of the Hamas/Muslim Brotherhood was due to their activities among the refugees of the Gaza Strip. The cornerstone of the Islamic movements success was an impressive social, religious, educational and cultural infrastructure, called Da’wah, that worked to ease the hardship of large numbers of Palestinian refugees, confined to camps, and many who were living on the edge.

“Social influence grew into political influence,” first in the Gaza Strip, then on the West Bank, said an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity…

…A further factor of Hamas’ growth was the fact the PLO moved its base of operations to Beirut in the ’80s, leaving the Islamic organization to grow in influence in the Occupied Territories “as the court of last resort,” he said.

The implications for radicals are broad, but not too hard to find. A movement to abolish political power could greatly benefit by providing useful services to people it wants to influence. This idea can be put into a framework of counter-economics or mutual aid. A “court of last resort” sounds suspiciously like those Dispute Resolution Organizations you frequently hear about in market anarchist literature.

Related to this post are Jeremy’s observations of Richmond Food Not Bombs:

The hours spent working with the group seemed to obscure the usual skepticism I hold about the larger anarchist project. The joy with which the group brought food to grateful people, making a political statement without having to spell it out, floored me. Spontaneous organization is not just about abstract social dynamics; it requires the human touch of good will and love to work. Any organization that wants to empower and free people must care about them, appreciate them, and provide a space where they can form that community of equals.

As I have said before,

When desired goods and services are provided in a revolutionary context, the consumers then join entrepreneurs in building revolution. A revolution based on libertarian principles ought to build liberty outside of the system. It is not enough simply to tell people that the free market can do things better. They must be shown that we will make it do things better.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 1:20 pm and is filed under history, info share, libertarian. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.