ALLiance Journal recently published its fifth issue. I’m proud to be a contributor to this excellent project.

Issue Five is centered on radical labor movements and their relation to the libertarian left. Get it at Scribd or LibertyActivism.info.

And don’t miss editors Chris Lempa and James Tuttle on Thinking Liberty tomorrow! The show runs from 8-10pm Eastern on June 1.

Exciting things at Center For a Stateless Society!

I posted my feature article for May. In The State and the Energy Monopoly I look at state and corporate control of energy production.

An advanced society requires energy – in the form of fuel or electricity – to power the devices necessary to sustain it. Politicians and capitalists would not ignore such an opportunity to exert tremendous influence over society, and their efforts to control the market in energy harm the environment and the economy for the rest of us.

Last week’s commentary, No State Solution took a look at the Gaza Blockade and the relief flotilla (which Israeli forces attacked last night).

Israel has blockaded Gaza since Hamas gained control of the area in 2007. Israeli authorities allow only a limited amount of food and medicine into Gaza, causing economic stagnation and harm to those who cannot afford expensive smuggled items. It also severely impairs construction of vital infrastructure, including that destroyed during Israel’s 2008-2009 attack on Gaza. Denouncing the importation of supplies as support for Hamas, Israeli officials have said the navy will divert the ships.

No State Solution is the first in a new style I’ve been trying to adopt for my weekly commentaries for a while: shorter pieces that would be easier to squeeze into editorial spaces without editing.

Another change is that I will now be writing two weekly commentaries, while Thomas Knapp will adopt the new role of Media Coordinator, and focus on getting our work distributed in the media. I’m very excited about this, and I think Tom will do a great job.

Of course, our jobs are easier when we get monetary support for our efforts. Please throw in for our monthly fundraiser.

Thanks to ALLy James Tuttle for creating a solid handout in support of George Donnelly.

Download the .pdf at LibertyActivism.info.

Thomas Knapp notes in a recent Center For a Stateless Society column:

“The [Libertarian Party],” wrote Samuel Edward Konkin III in a footnote to the third edition of The New Libertarian Manifesto, “continues to co-opt idealistic young radicals, suck out their enthusiasm, disillusion them, and either drive them into pessimistic apathy or deliver them — radicalised and re-energised by their disappointment — to the welcoming arms of agorism.”

There are some decent local chapters but the national Libertarian Party at best provides a target market.

So Rand Paul’s comments on the Civil Rights Act and segregation got him in a bit of a pickle.

The most pathetic thing about this is when Rand Paul supporters use the word “smear” to describe Rachel Maddow politely asking Rand Paul to answer a yes or no question. I guess it’s irresponsible for a reporter to not take a politician’s evasive responses at face value.

Regarding segregation on private property:
No, you don’t get to actively help build a system in which some people are given the status of “inferior,” and thus in reality help subject them to violence and coercion, and be immune from the consequences when you’re on your property like you’ve reached home base or something. When property is used to further a wholesale violation of liberty, then liberty comes first.

For examples of how desegregation could be, and largely was being accomplished without government action, see Rad Geek’s comments on direct action.

And yes, political taskmaster, history is always relevant. Especially when it contains parallels to the present.

Rand Paul made a clear statement against racial segregation, but showed hesitance to use government force to prevent it. So apparently he thinks private property is important enough that he has problems using the government to desegregate it, but doesn’t think it’s important enough to stop the government from confiscating income by threat of force to finance war machines (CHT Roderick Long).

In blogosphere douchebaggery, there’s Why Libertarians are a Danger to the Economy by Ben Cohen.

The debate between Libertarians and the economic Left should have ended after the spectacular collapse of the deregulated financial sector. Not only did deregulation cause the crash, but government interference into the market prevented it from getting much, much worse.

So the lack of government regulation is obviously to blame. Would that implicate the free market in which government acts to raise living expenses and boost real-estate and banking profits, the free market in which $663.8 billion dollars are spent (officially) to secure and project the power of the United States government, the free market in which banking and corporate giants give politicians money in return for favors, or some other free market I’ve missed?

But hey, if the economy’s running well for bureaucrats and corporate managers, then it must be good for everyone, am I right? Progressives sit on the left side of the bosses’ table!

What clinches this essay for the douchebag-wing of liberalism isn’t Cohen assuming the store owner would be a liberal, but his boasting that “of course I didn’t” visit any of the websites suggested by the man who was “so absolutely certain of his own position, and so well armed with his own set of facts that there was no point in discussing it with him at all.”

Responding to Cohen’s post, Eric Dondero, in addition to his typical semiliterate tantrum throwing, lies by saying “We libertarians”. “Libertarian” means supporting individual liberty and minimizing authority. A person who is so enamored of the power of the most extensive empire in the history of the world that he has trouble separating sex from macho flag-waving is not a libertarian.

And fuck Mark Zuckerberg too.

My latest commentary is up at Center for a Stateless Society.

Lots of pundits are piecing together lessons from Tuesday’s US primary elections. But what lessons might the primaries hold for anarchists in America? Read the rest

I was going to do one on the new NYPD tape recordings, but Radley Balko already did a good article about it.

Last night’s Thinking Liberty was one of the best shows we’ve done. Xaq Fixx joined us to talk about anarchism, Fr33 Agents, and DIY culture.

Download the archive from ThinkingLiberty.net.

Thinking liberty is an interactive audio broadcast where Darian, Tennyson, Bosco, and Bile banter and plot to free the world. We often have guests join us by phone, and listeners can call in or chat with us on Skype. Check out ThinkingLiberty.net for the latest updates.

George Donnelly, a Pennsylvania activist, was tackled and arrested for filming federal officers harassing pamphleteers. After being held in a federal detention center he was released under a number of oppressive conditions. He has been charged with resisting and striking federal officers, which could carry an eight year sentence. See Penn. Activist Facing 8 Years in Prison for Video.

It is well known that cops lie, and that they will accuse people of being violent to try to deflect criticism from their own actions.

I ask you to join me in supporting George, not only because he is one of the friendliest, most committed, and most principled advocates of liberty I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, but because there is so much that is important about this case.

Individuals attempting to peacefully prevent government assaults on liberty by advocating jurors exercise nullification power are harassed by agents of the state who would prefer to settle things through violence. An individual documenting this struggle, attempting to hold government officials to some kind of accountability, is violently assaulted, hauled away in chains, and put into a cage. If you believe that government officers should be held accountable for their actions and that we have the right to document what they do while on duty, then you should care about George Donnelly.

So please help George defend himself against the state.

Horns will be raised for Ronnie James Dio, July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010.

Charles Johnson’s Bits & Pieces on Free Market Anti-Capitalism is a highly readable and insightful look about how capitalism is opposed to liberty. I highly recommend reading and sharing it.