Center For a Stateless Society is definitely in need of graphics: at the very least, a logo and banner ads.

I was trying to think of appropriate designs today. I thought of images that emphasized the cooperative aspects of anarchism.

Early ideas involved a picture of Earth. A handshake or circle-A could be superimposed on it.

A lot of C4SS works talk about decentralized production technology and free resilient communities. Solar panels or windmills probably wouldn’t do it. I considered a lathe, that wouldn’t work well in a logo. A simpler tool, the adjustable wrench, seemed like a good one. It is adaptable to many scenarios and can be used for building or taking things apart. Then I remembered that Crimethinc already did that, which is probably why I thought of it.

So then I actually looked up “tools” in Google Image search (seriously!) and found this:

What about a similar four-block image with one letter of “C4SS” superimposed over each square? With or without tools in each square?

Then I took a look at other think tank logos. It doesn’t look like it would be too difficult to best some of these.

So I went ahead and messed around in Photoshop.

Black for Anarchy, Sea Green as a pleasant libertarian color (the color of the Levellers)

They look good, but this logo looks like it belongs on a chemical tank, not a political study.

So I channeled the market for a new color:

I feel the same about this color scheme.

Try dropping adjectives and going gold and black?

Total chemical warning label.

Blue seems to be a think-tanky color. How about throwing blue in there?

I could deal with these.

But what about a banner?

Too dark.

This would look good cleaned up and with a picture of breaking chains added in the upper left region. I don’t feel like doing that right now.

I do like the color scheme of c4ss.org so it might be a good idea to design for that.

My first feature article for Center For a Stateless Society is now online.

When seeking such a radical change as the abolition of the state and the creation of a consensual society, it’s good to put some thought into how to help the transition go as smoothly as possible.

This article will bring up some ideas on the transition and try to encourage thinking about possible future scenarios. It focuses on the region claimed by the United States government, because that is where the Center For a Stateless Society works from and because the US is currently the most influential state. However the ideas presented will likely be applicable elsewhere…

Read the rest at C4SS.

My latest Center For a Stateless Society commentary is online.

Poverty as we know it is enforced by authority. The state clearly functions to bolster the interests of those who will share influence with it. Since the poor have little influence in policy-making circles besides what professional advocates represent, they are generally regarded as pawns or discards who should join the military if they want a free lunch.

I worried that posting an excerpt from every C4SS piece I do would clutter up this blog, and make it irrelevant if all I posted were C4SS links. But I’ve decided to post excepts of all my C4SS stuff here. I can always break it up with metal videos.

Thanks to the internet, it was very easy to look up the source of Frederick Douglass’ famous quote about “Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation”. It’s from an 1857 speech on the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the West Indies. The speech is a great short read.

[copied from Anarchist news dot org]

Submitted by anon on Wed, 2010-01-20 07:07

A network of street medics, action medics, and other skilled individuals with politics of mutual aid has developed to help send organized teams of volunteers to Haiti to help earthquake survivors. This network is building off experiences gained working at the Common Ground Clinic in New Orleans and as street medics and campaign medics from the West Coast to Appalachia to the Northeast Anarchist Network, with varying levels of medical and herbal knowledge & clinical experience.

We are:

* Providing direct medical aid, medical and social advocacy;
* Documenting the developing situation on the ground and providing an alternative media source; and
* Establishing a grassroots structure that allows the effective distribution of aid.

Donations will immediately go towards:

* Provision of emergency medical supplies and gear;
* Travel costs for medics and team to reach devastated areas of Haiti; and
* Supporting grassroots relief efforts on the ground.

The first team of five landed yesterday, just in time to live through a 6.0 level earthquake this morning. They are safe and sound, treating patients, and beginning to establish a new field hospital.

Breaking news and reports form the field:
http://mutualaiddisasterrelief.org/reports.shtml

Our network, and a link to donate:
http://mutualaiddisasterrelief.org/

Who to e-mail if you want to help:
mutual-aid-disaster-relief-in-haiti@googlegroups.com

Hellz yeah!

ALLiance Journal recently posted a Utah Phillips quote on class relations. I like that Phillips clarifies that class is based not on income but on whether or not one controls his workplace – the struggle is less about wealth than it is about the freedom to produce it. However, the distinction he makes would seem to place the self-employed outside of the working class. Also, as an old quote, it does not specifically say how to categorize the vast numbers of managers who have command, but not ownership of a workplace but still answer to a boss. The work done in drawing out an Agorist Class Theory might be a useful complement here.

Reason Magazine’s article Class War is certainly a worthwhile read concerning government employees’ privileges that the rest of us are forced to pay for. But I wish it spelled out the differences between unions that operate through government force and unionism in general. By focusing on the damage done by certain unions, the article might leave the inexperienced reader with the impression that any time workers organize they are seeking advantages they don’t deserve at the expense of the general public. And while I certainly don’t want cops or bureaucrats making money, a lengthy article called “class war” that does not address privileged business interests is a little misleading on the nature of current power relations.

Of course, as someone who does not idealize the “free society envisioned by the Founders” as Greenhut does, the inability of the state to keep providing what it has promised is less of a crisis than it is a strategic factor. How can we encourage defections toward a consensual society, and thwart those who want authoritarian privilege to continue?

Whether labeled public or private, rich or poor, the important question for me is “What are you doing in your life, in your situation, to advance the liberty of all individuals?” Subvert authority at every opportunity.

Last night’s Thinking Liberty was a fun show, even though nobody in the studio turned into a Super Saiyan.

This isn’t a scripted show or a lecture. We discuss things as we think of them, and we like the audience to think through them with us.