Help keep awareness about Antonio’s felony case by spreading this flyer and the new video that shows the affidavit and video. More information about his case here.

Affidavit Harassment

Link to No Spit! No Wipe! .pdf flyer

On Saturday January 28th, 2012, well over a hundred people from all walks of life, protested on the steps of the Austin Police Department for solidarity of the victims of police abuse on January 1, 2012. This was the second rally that was organized to protest police abuse in Austin, the first was Occupy Austin Courts on J19 at the criminal courthouse. I helped organize both of these events and was happy to see the support from Occupy Austin, anarchists, Ron Paul supporters and moms who were previously non-activists. The is a great example of how people in the community can come together and support each other for a noble cause. Activists took part in street actions stopping traffic with their signs and many speakers rallied the crowd with the use of a bullhorn. The support of the community was evident, with all the honks in support from all the vehicles passing by. We also had different local news media show up and shoot interviews, similar to the first protest. The police left us alone for the most part, although we did notice some on a roof observing, it was a peaceful rally without any trouble. It seemed as if everyone had a camera that day to capture this historically and for personal protection. We also had live coverage of the rally online that day with gonzo journalist, Kit O’Connell, live tweeting and I livestreamed video with my smartphone. The rally ended with a march through the streets of downtown around APD headquarters. It was an empowering experience exercising our rights and showing solidarity for the NYE 3.

Stay up to date with case on the Free the NYE 3 and Free Antonio Buehler Facebook pages.

Below is my interview on the Freezone with Freeman, talking about the events that happened on NYE and the Occupy APD protest. Also below is a great video compilation by Mike Hanson Archives and a photo slideshow from various attendees of the rally.

During a DWI stop on January 1st, 2012 police violently assaulted a woman for informing a friend about her right to refuse a sobriety test. A bystander, Antonio Buehler, who saw the violence (and captured it on film) was then also assaulted and arrested on trumped-up charges. The entire incident was caught on video and shows the officers’ version of the events is untrue. Recently police Corporal Hipolito stated to Keye news, that he did not see evidence on the dash cam video of Antonio spitting on the officer.

This is a Rally to protest the APD for adding additional charges to the female victim and withholding the dash cam video that would further exonerate Antonio of the felony charge.

Demands:
*All charges against the victims dropped.
*Police officers Patrick Oborski and Robert Snider immediately fired, and criminal charges filed against them.

Bring:
*Yourself and at least one other person.
*Cameras
*Signs

Free the NYE 3 Facebook page

Occupy APD Facebook Event page

Occupy APD .pdf flier

Click on image below and ‘right click save’ for this image below.

Come out and show support for Antonio Buehler and the other victims of police abuse on January 1st, 2012. This is a peaceful showing of solidarity. All you really need to bring is some friends and cell phones/cameras. Learn about the incident here. Click on the image below to maximize then ‘right click’ and save it. For better quality download the pdf through the link below.

Occupy Austin Court pdf file

Occupy Austin Courts Facebook Page

The New Years Day incident in Austin involving police officers Robert Snider and Pat Oborski abusing peaceful citizens has reached nationwide media coverage. It all began with a DWI traffic stop in front of a 7-11, while the driver was out of the vehicle with police, the passenger Norma Pizana was informing her friend her rights. She is quoted in an interview here, “Yelling out of the car to my friend her rights is not interfering, it’s telling her rights,” said the woman. “And sitting in the passenger seat, never opening the car door, I’m not harming myself, I’m not harming others.”

Apparently officer Pat Oborski didn’t like her shouting to her friend about her rights, so he approached her sitting in the car and warned her to stop. Antonio Buehler was parked getting gas at the 7-11, he and his friend were watching the driver perform a field sobriety test in heels. He was the designated driver that night and was driving his friends truck home from a party. Pizana continued her 1st amendment speech and was yanked out of the car violently, causing bruises on her arms and legs. At this point she began to scream for help, as she was being pulled up from the ground by her arms over her head.

Shocked at what he saw, Buehler began to take pictures of the girl being manhandled by the two officers. Then officer Oborsky leaves the woman and begins to confront Buehler for taking pictures, “‘What the hell are you taking pictures for,’ or something along those lines,” said Buehler. “My response was, ‘I am allowed to. Public official in a public place.’” Then things turn for the worst as the officer accused him of interfering with an investigation (a charge that isn’t listed against him) and began to push him in his chest. Buehler has his hands up in the air, seemingly complying but asking why he is being assaulted.

While  pushing Buehler’s back over the tailgate, Oborsky declared that Buehler spit on him and then proceeded to take him down hard. It was at this point that Buehler said he feared for serious injury, the officer began to twist his arm back unnecessarily in order to inflict pain. Although he was complying and not resisting on the ground, he heard another officer state that he was going to taser him, he then yelled out “don’t taser me”. They picked him up and dragged him to the BAT mobile for a breathalyzer test, in order to pin some  DWI or public intoxication charge on him. Buehler states that while in custody, officer Oborsky told him that he was going to teach him a lesson for messing with the police. He was then charged with harassment of a public servant (a police officer), which is a third degree felony and resisting arrest.

Thankfully the police spectacle was being filmed by a witness from across the street using their cell phone. Miraculously, through public pleas across the internet, he was contacted by the witness and received the video from a post on Craigslist. The witness also stated that they are willing to testify to what they saw. It seems that the police are the ones getting a lesson about the power of smartphones and social media. They also learned that they can’t judge people by appearances and that they should treat us all with respect when performing their duty. This serendipitous moment, could be the tipping point that will allow for positive change in Austin’s police culture.

Buehler’s bio speaks for itself, and illustrates that he is a man of integrity who seeks to help others:

Antonio Buehler is a Westpoint graduate, Army Ranger and graduated from Stanford with a MBA. His philanthropic activities have focused on education and helping disadvantaged youth. He currently serves on the Board of Governors for the West Point Society of New York. Antonio covered Congressional Districts NY-8 and NY-9 as a Field Force Representative for the West Point Department of Admissions. Antonio coordinated all college fairs for West Point in the five boroughs of New York City. He also served as a liaison for both West Point and Stanford University at various college fairs in New York City. Previously he has served as Treasurer and board member of A Caring Hand, a New York based non-profit focused on child bereavement. Antonio ran a program to clothe children in war-torn Kosovo, volunteered at a Bulgarian orphanage, coached high school football in Germany, mentored children in the United States, and has sponsored three African children for the past eight years.

Similar past behaviors of the police in different cases, lends credence to the theory that the problems at APD are more than a few bad cops, its institutionalized. The lawyer that Pizana retained went through something quite similar herself. Attorney Mindy Montford was arrested for public intoxication in 2009 after giving legal advice during a traffic stop to a friend who was driving. The false charges were thrown out by a judge, but the detective just filed it with another judge, got another warrant and started it all over again. This is called “judge shopping”, and is a tactic they use to retry people in order to skirt double jeopardy. So it seems we have another instance of APD seeking to silence and arrest anyone that is trying to advise someone of their rights. Again, they made the mistake of messing with someone who could fight back and expose their corrupt behavior.

It also seems that APD has an aversion to citizens filming them. On December 4th, 2010, John Bush And Matthew Medina were arrested for not complying with a lawful order. The two activists were performing a cop watch that night and the arresting officer is shown at the beginning of the video grabbing Bush’s arm. They continue to observe the officers from a distance and then that same cop comes up to him and demands that he leave. It’s strange that he is so visibly upset about them, considering the other cops around seem not to care, because they are busy doing their job. The cop then tells Bush to go behind some pole, he complies but the officer keeps advancing towards him. The officer continues to close the distance while telling them to get behind a pole that they are actually standing near. Although they are clearly away from the location and not interfering, the officer decided to arrest them for not complying with a lawful order.The situation could have been handled differently by the officer, he could have diffused the situation by going back to whatever he was doing once the two backed up. Watch video of the incident here.

A recent First Circuit court ruling, affirms citizens rights to film police officers performing their duties in a public space. The three judge panel also concluded that citizens have the right to gather information about public officials to protect and promote the free discussion of governmental affairs.

The First Amendment issue here is, as the parties frame it, fairly narrow: is there a constitutionally protected right to videotape police carrying out their duties in public? Basic First Amendment principles, along with case law from this and other circuits, answer that question unambiguously in the affirmative. It is firmly established that the First Amendment’s aegis extends further than the text’s proscription on laws “abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press,” and encompasses a range of conduct related to the gathering and dissemination of information. … The filming of government officials engaged in their duties in a public place, including police officers performing their responsibilities, fits comfortably within these principles. Gathering information about government officials in a form that can readily be disseminated to others serves a cardinal First Amendment interest in protecting and promoting “the free discussion of governmental affairs.

The courts ruling makes it very clear that we have the right to film public officials in public, especially if you feel that they are abusing their authority. As pointed out in my interview of Buehler on Stranger Advice:

“I’m very fortunate and blessed because I’m a Westpointer, a military guy, a Stanford MBA, people tend to give my story a listen, hey he’s got credibility. This cop was wiling to send me to jail for a very long time just because he didn’t like me taking pictures. If I was a black or Hispanic male, or a white person from a very poor neighborhood, I think things would have turned out very differently.”

This is a very true statement considering the history of APD and their use of deadly force against people of color in East Austin. The Austin police department is currently fighting a lawsuit by the Carter family for wrongful death of their son Byron Carter Jr., who was shot dead as a passenger in a moving car. After 7 months, the debate still goes on due to the fact there isn’t video evidence, and the testimony of events by police are questionable.

Buehler’s story has been covered by the media very well to my surprise, local Austin news KVUE filed a Freedom of Information Act request for any other complaints about officer Oborsky. The media and others are also demanding that the on board camera video be released. The footage is apparently being held by the department because of their ongoing investigation. Buehler plans to take the case all the way to jury trial if he has to. He has also filed a report of police abuse through the Police Monitors office. Pizana has also stated to the media that she also seeks to file charges against the officers for abuse.

The public has rallied behind Buehler, a Facebook group was launched in support of his heroic action, with many lending support in anyway they can. Others have stepped forward to tell their own stories of abuse, some that even involve officer Oborsky. A donation fund has been setup for Buehler, Pizana and the other woman driver, as well. This incident has been a catalyst for people to work together in order to take action against police abuse. The first court date for the Buehler and Pizana is on January 19th at the Austin Criminal Court building on West 11th street downtown. We will keep covering this case as it progresses.

Occupy Austin Courts January 19th Flier pdf

Occupy Austin Courts Facebook Page

___

Help support a driver who was coerced into a breathalyzer, a passenger who endured police abuse – and former Army Ranger Captain Antonio Buehler, who was fraudulently arrested upon questioning and photographing the abuse. This fund will be split three ways equally to help defray legal expenses for Antonio Buehler and two other victims of police mistreatment in an incident that occurred early New Year’s morning in Austin, TX.

https://rally.org/APDvictimfund/donate

Related Links & Info

News & Blogs

West Point Grad Arrested For Defending Woman Abused By Austin Police
APD officers accused of abuse during New Year’s arrest (KVUE)
Two APD officers accused of abuse during New Year’s arrest (KVUE/Yahoo!News)
Man Accuses Two APD Officers Of Abuse During New Year’s Arrest (MyFoxAustin)
Austin DWI Stop Leads To Abuse Allegation (KSAT)
West Point Grad Arrested For Defending Woman Abused By Austin Police (DailyPaul.com)
Chivalrous Veteran Confronts Abusive Austin Police — Gets Assaulted and Arrested(LewRockwell.com)
Republic Magazine, Police Abuse in Austin: Iraq Vet Antonio Beuhler Assaulted, Falsely Charged for Photographing Brutal DWI Arrest
Austin Man Facing Felony After Photographing Cops Making Arrest (Pixiq.com)
Veteran Arrested for Attempted Chivalry (or spitting on APD officer) (Daily Kos)
His Name Is Pat Oblarski (CopBlock.org)
Video: Antonio Buehler Covered On Freedom Watch
Video: Austin Police Abuse Victim Speaks Out & Shows Bruises – Will File Formal Complaint Against Officers
Alleged victim of APD police abuse retains attorney Mindy Montford (KEYE coverage on female passenger)
Woman involved in a controversial New Year’s day arrest talks (KVUE)

In-Depth Radio Interviews: Antonio Buehler

InfoWars Nightly News (01/06/12, footage mark 59:23)
Liberty Talk Radio (01/06/12)
Stranger Advice (01/06/12)

Grace Lee Boggs says she would like the chapter titles of her new book, The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century, written with Scott Kurashige, to become buzzwords for progressive activists.

So I imagine “Detroit, Place and Space to Begin Anew” or “We Are the Leaders We’ve Been Looking For” on T-shirts, trying to fit them on for size in the coming era of struggle to rebuild Detroit and Michigan.

More than just buzzing around, Boggs wants people to really ponder the meaning and implications of those words. “What does it mean to start anew? What does it mean to say we are the leaders we’ve been looking for?” she asks me rhetorically. “I think instead of growing our budgets, we need to be growing our souls. What are the economics of happiness instead of gross national product? People of every race are beginning to think differently. They’re beginning to recognize that life isn’t just about making a living. It’s about making a life.”

Boggs is a political philosopher whose thought and activism have been reaching around the globe from her modest home near Mack and East Grand Boulevard. Last week, I sat down with her and Kurashige, a Boggs Center board member and director of AC Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies at the University of Michigan, to ask how her ideas relate to some of the tumultuous events taking place these days. The large, though not fancy, brick house is filled with books and papers. It’s not an advertisement for the electronic age and predictions of a paperless society. Boggs, the daughter of Chinese-American restaurant owners, earned a Ph.D from Bryn Mawr in 1940, became a leftist, and married black autoworker-activist James Boggs. The Boggses collaborated with the Marxist historian and theorist C.L.R. James during the 1950s, and, starting in the 1960s, set their own course, writing several books either separately or together. These days, Grace, a widow recently turned 95, is the leader of the nonprofit Boggs Center, headquartered at her home, which is the hub around which a number of efforts — Detroit Summer, the Allied Media Project, Detroit City of Hope, the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality and others — maintain their philosophical grounding and connection to a broader, growing movement in Detroit.

Boggs’ revolution is not a call to seize political power from the government. “A cultural revolution has begun to take place,” says Boggs. “It’s a phenomenon as historic and as far-reaching as the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture, and from agriculture to industry. Now we’re at the heart of a change from industry to a world where people work not so much at jobs. Work is something that we do to develop skills as much as to produce goods and services. We’re so used to the idea that we work in order to make money, but that’s not why people have worked throughout history and that’s the kind of way we’re going now. It provides a very different perspective of revolution. It’s not about seizing state power to plan the economy. [...continue reading at MetroTimes...]

Much of the radical left subscribes to some version of “Dump the bosses, put the workers in charge.” Brian Edwards-Tiekert tours a bakery in Oakland that went out of business — until its workers brought it back. Melissa Hoover describes how worker-run businesses adapt to a bad economy. And Gayle McLaughlin discusses her plan to create jobs by following the model of the cooperatives in Spain.

(Audio at the link)

Attack Tyranny at Its Weakest Link — Enforcement
by Kevin Carson of C4SS

Goo-goo liberals and “good citizens” of all stripes are fond of saying that “We must continue to obey the law while we work to change it.” Every day I become more convinced that this approach gets things precisely backwards. Each day’s news demonstrates the futility of attempts at legislative reform, compared to direct action to make the laws unenforceable.

The principle was stated most effectively by Charles Johnson, one of the more prominent writers on the libertarian Left (“Counter-economic Optimism,” Rad Geek People’s Daily, Feb. 7, 2009):

“If you put all your hope for social change in legal reform, …then… you will find yourself outmaneuvered at every turn by those who have the deepest pockets and the best media access and the tightest connections. There is no hope for turning this system against them; because, after all, the system was made for them and the system was made by them. Reformist political campaigns inevitably turn out to suck a lot of time and money into the politics—with just about none of the reform coming out on the other end.”

Far greater success can be achieved, at a tiny fraction of the cost, by “bypassing those laws and making them irrelevant to your life.”

Johnson wrote in the immediate context of copyright law. In response to an anti-copyright blogger who closed up shop in despair over the increasingly draconian nature of copyright law, he pointed to the state’s imploding ability to enforce such laws. The DRM of popular music and movie content is typically cracked within hours of its release, and it becomes freely available for torrent download. Ever harsher surveillance by ISPs in collusion with content “owners” is countered by the use of anonymizers and proxies. And the all-pervasive “anti-songlifting” curriculum in the publik skools, in today’s youth culture, is met with the same incredulous hilarity as a showing of “Reefer Madness” to a bunch of potheads.

The weakest link in any legal regime, no matter how repressive on paper, is its enforcement.

I saw a couple of heartening news items this past week that illustrate the same principle. First, a judge in Missoula County Montana complained that it would soon likely become almost impossible to enforce anti-marijuana laws because of the increasing difficulty of seating juries. In a recent drug case, so many potential jurors in the voir dire process declared their unwillingness to enforce the pot laws that the prosecution chose to work out a plea deal instead. The defendant’s attorney stated that public opinion “is not supportive of the state’s marijuana law and appeared to prevent any conviction from being obtained simply because an unbiased jury did not appear available under any circumstances…” The same thing happened in about sixty percent of alcohol cases under Prohibition.

Public agitation against a law may be very fruitful indeed — but not so much by creating pressure to change the law as by creating a climate of public opinion such that it becomes a dead letter.

Another morale booster is the rapidly improving technology for recording cops, which Radley Balko (a journalist whose chief bailiwick is police misbehavior) describes in the January issue of Reason Magazine (“How to Record the Cops”). Miniaturized, unobtrusive video cameras with upload capability can instantly transmit images for storage offsite or stream content directly to the Internet — which means that the all-too-frequent tendency of thuggish cops to seize or destroy cameras will result only in video of the very act of seizure or destruction itself being widely distributed on the Internet. “Smile, Officer Friendly — you’re on Candid Camera!”

The practical implication, according to Balko, is this:

“Prior to this technology, prosecutors and the courts nearly always deferred to the police narrative. Now that narrative has to be consistent with independently recorded evidence. And as examples of police reports contradicted by video become increasingly common, a couple of things are likely to happen: Prosecutors and courts will be less inclined to uncritically accept police testimony, even in cases where there is no video, and bad cops will be deterred by the knowledge that their misconduct is apt to be recorded.”

As such technology becomes cheap and ubiquitous, police will increasingly operate in an atmosphere where such monitoring is expected — and feared — as a routine part of their job. Even the most stupid and brutal of cops will always carry, in the backs of their minds, the significant possibility that this might be one of the times they’ve got an audience.

New technology, empowering the individual, will soon deter cops in a way that decades of civilian review boards and police commissions failed to achieve.

So the goo-goos have it backwards. Don’t waste time trying to change the law. Just disobey it.

A good article by Ross Kenyon from the Center for a Stateless Society, illustrating the pervasive stereotypes that are perpetuated against anarchists.

How would the NAACP respond if a politician or other public figure had said this about all black people?

Recently, US Representative John Boehner (R-OH) odiously mischaracterizedanarchist philosophy and painted an inaccurate portrait of its core values, saying that at Tea Party events there are “Always a couple of anarchists who want to kill all of us in public office.” Anarchism is an ideology based on individual freedom and opposition to institutionalized aggression, not on some insane love of public mayhem.

Yes, when people hear the word “anarchist” their neurons start firing on images of Molotov cocktail-wielding, black bandanna-wearing street fighters at G20.

That impression is more a product of 200 years of Boehner-style smear rhetoric than an accurate perception of what anarchism means or what anarchists do. It’s on par with any other stereotype — the “lazy/violent Negro” used to justify Jim Crow, the “potential pedophile” trotted out to support discrimination against homosexuals and other sexual minorities, the hopped-up robber or rapist offered up as justification for the war on drugs.

Yes, there are violent and insurrectionary anarchists, just as there are people who resemble those other stereotypes. No, those particular people are not representative of this diverse movement any more than those other stereotypes are representative of African-Americans, LGBTQ persons, or recreational drugs users.

I’ve attended Tea Parties as an anarchist because I’m a sincere libertarian who cares about limiting the power, scope, and size of government and fighting its unjustified intrusion upon the lives of peaceful individuals. Many of of my fellow Tea Party attendees intuitively and intellectually grasp the danger of the unlimited state and seek to reduce its influence over their personal lives. Anarchism is a radical extension of that reasonable impulse, not the nihilist tantrum that Boehner makes it out to be.

At Tea Party events, I like to ask questions of people who care about limiting governments.

How is land is justly acquired? Most people accept homesteading, occupancy and use as appropriate justification to call a parcel of land one’s own.

In reply, I note that the state homesteads nothing, produces nothing, but merely draws a political boundary and declares that if one lives within the stated arbitrary geographical area one must buy defense and justice services from its monopolistic organization.

What happens if someone attempts to buy competing services not linked to artificial political borders? Agents of the state will throw that person in a cage (and kill them if they resists).

Market anarchism is such a basic and consistent idea, an idea so in tune with the values professed by the Tea Partiers, that it’s only natural for anarchists to show up and challenge fellow freedom-lovers to adopt it.

I agree that a consistent philosophy which values and respects the peaceful choices of the Tea Partiers and their neighbors is indeed a threat to Boehner and his ilk, but not a threat of the type he claims. It’s not a death threat, it’s the threat of a pink slip.

—–
C4SS News Analyst Ross Kenyon is a senior of American History at Arizona State University. He is a member of the ASU Students For Liberty leadership team, as well as a summer intern in Washington, DC.

An article from the Vancouver Sun, is a great illustration of how black markets rise in response from increased theft from the State. The article highlights the rise of Canada’s black market trade of cigarettes, due to increased taxation from the state.

The State seeks to invade every facet of our human experience, in this instance, gaining revenue from the invasive taxation of behavior. The social controllers believe a tax increase targeted on behavior, will be easier to implement on the public. Although they say it’s for behavior modification, they simply want your money, the trick is how to get you to go along with it. As the State seeks to increase their theft, people inherently turn to the Agora for solutions.

Via Vancouver Sun

High tobacco taxes intended to cut the smoking rate in Canada help create a black market where organized crime profits from the increased demand for contraband cigarettes, according to a new report from a Canadian public policy think-tank.

“Smuggling and trafficking of contraband cigarettes is an unintended consequence of federal and provincial tobacco tax policies,” said Diane Katz of the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute in a statement.

The study, Contraband Tobacco in Canada, documents various federal and provincial tobacco tax policies and anti-smoking initiatives that have been implemented in Canada since the 1980s, and describes how governments have attempted to counteract the black market.

The research showed that the illicit trade of cigarettes increased whenever tobacco taxes were raised, and that anti-smoking campaigns are just as effective at cutting smoking rates.

“If smokers are evading taxes by purchasing black market cigarettes, increasing taxes to discourage smoking is essentially ineffective,” said Katz.

This is the inherent flaw of the statist, they believe that they are justified stealing money from you in order to keep you safe. If someone wants to ingest something, it’s their right to do so. In addition, the State always seeks new ways to extract wealth from the public, transferring it into their corrupt system, with little to no benefit for the citizens.

Through propaganda public relation campaigns, they target demographics, then categorize it as negative social behavior. Citizens who live in fear of true liberty, applaud these efforts, even though it’s highly likely that a demographic that they fit in will be targeted next. This is how government works; they tax the public dry, say it’s not enough, increase taxes more, complain that people are cheating the system, then claim the need to increase taxes even more. Complete insanity.

No matter how regulated and oppressed society might become due to statist policies, the Agora is always present. The organic market will always be ready to provide a beneficial solution for the public, whenever the State interferes with liberty.

Agora! Anarchy! Action!

During this embryonic stage of identity, we have sought after the historical beginnings and trailblazers who helped shape these ideas. The one thing you notice when researching, is that there isn’t much new material on the subject presented in the 21st century. This is the very reason we decided to launch this site, coupled with self-sufficiency and personal empowerment. The idea of making an updated documentary, or series of videos on the subject in a practical modern sense, is something we are working for in the future as well.

It seems that some other non-statist brothers and sisters have had the same idea, they are seeking to produce a modern documentary on anarchism. We applaud the efforts of Aragorn, Steffi and friends, as they take on this big project.

Please help them in anyway you can to help their idea manifest to a reality that will benefit us all.

Agora! Anarchy! Action!

—–

Via Anarkismo.net

To the best of our knowledge, no comprehensive documentary about anarchism has ever been made. This is a project to create a documentary which is as much a basic introduction to anarchism, as well as a story which looks at anarchism historically and globally.

Anarchism: A Documentary

Fellow anarchists!
To the best of our knowledge, no comprehensive documentary about anarchism has ever been made.

Of the often very dated films on anarchist themes that are available, most either misrepresent anarchism (1981’s pro anarcho-capitalist ‘Anarchism in America’), are focused on specific moments in anarchist history (‘Living Utopia’, ‘The Angry Brigade’, ‘Lucio the Anarchist’, etc), or discuss the wider social justice / alter-globalisation movements (‘Fourth World War’).

Such an absence is unfortunate, for we think that now, more than ever, a broad, accessible documentary introduction to anarchism would be of tremendous value to those of us who wish to share the history, ideas and promise of our diverse, protean movement with a general audience.

Instead of complaining though, we’re just going to knuckle down and make it ourselves!

We envisage creating, over the next year or so, an engaging, entertaining, relatively mainstream film that will cover – via interviews with prominent anarchists mixed with archival footage, narration, person-on-the-street discussions and explanatory animations – a historical overview of anarchism, an explanation of the core principles (anti-authoritarianism, anti-capitalism, mutual aid…you know the stuff!) and an exploration of all the contrasting but ultimately complementary views held by contemporary anarchists from around the world.

We’d also like to deliver a message of realistic hope and a call for action in this time of social and ecological crisis.

Being long-time anarchists ourselves, we recognise the importance of a supportive community in ensuring our project succeeds in fairly portraying both contemporary and historical anarchism and does not fall prey to personal biases or prejudices. We will thus be communicating openly and honestly with the broad anarchist community about our progress and underlying vision.

More pressingly though, we also recognise the importance of mutual aid and so, even though we’re soliciting it through capitalist channels, we humbly request your modest donations (at http://www.indiegogo.com/Anarchism-A-Documentary). These will help us with our frugal travel, eating and living expenses, as well as with editing and post-production costs. Those who cannot help financially are more than welcome to offer couches for the night. Shared dinners and good company will also be essential to the completion of this ambitious task we’ve set ourselves, and if you donate some music to the soundtrack we’d be eternally grateful

We eagerly await your participation, your suggestions and your constructive criticisms. We promise to weigh them up fairly as long as you promise not to pepper pie us if, in some cases, we respectfully disagree.

With love and hope,
Steffi, Aragorn and friends

PS: Our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Anarchism-A-Documentary/1…=info
Both pages linked here contain a FAQ section for further information.

Related Link: http://www.indiegogo.com/Anarchism-A-Documentary

Anarchy logo at top of article by anarchia89

The article highlights a significant rise of “unbanked” households, seeking financial privacy from unwarranted actions by the state. Federal, state and local tax revenues are decreasing, due to the increase of personal transactions “off the books.”

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) released a report last week concluding that 7.7 percent of U.S. households, containing at least 17 million adults, are unbanked (i.e. those who do not have bank accounts), and an “estimated 17.9 percent of U.S. households, roughly 21 million, are underbanked” (i.e., those who rely heavily on nonbank institutions, such as check cashing and money transmitting services). As an economy becomes richer and incomes rise, the normal expectation is that the proportion of the unbanked population falls and does not rise as is now happening in the United States.

People also avoid having bank accounts because they are vulnerable to asset seizure, judgments, levies, etc. Increasingly, bankers and others who provide financial services are forced by governments to spy and snitch on their own customers, and this is a real turnoff for many people, which causes them to find other ways of maintaining financial privacy.

I think this is a good indication of the spread of agorism and the inverse relationship it has with the state. The beauty of this is the fact it’s not a movement, this is occurring as a natural reaction against the states growing oppression. I would say an overwhelming majority of the people involved have never heard of agorism, but we all share a common enemy, the state. This organic rise of agorism, also coincides with the growth of activists subscribing to the philosophy in the present liberty movement.

Many studies have shown that when people believe the taxes they are required to pay are reasonable and the political leaders tend to spend their tax dollars wisely, tax compliance rises, and vice-versa. In the United States, there is increased evidence that many tax dollars are not being spent wisely and are often used to pay off political cronies.

Over the past year in particular, the public has become aware that many in Washington who advocate higher taxes and argue that everyone has a responsibility to pay taxes are themselves not complying with the tax laws and regulations.

When you have a secretary of the Treasury and the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee (the tax writing committee) accused of cheating on their taxes, it greatly undermines the moral authority of the tax collectors, making the common citizens feel like chumps and, hence, much more willing to try to legally avoid or illegally evade taxes themselves.

These two rising vectors will further increase agorism in the social dynamic by social interaction on the web and direct actions publicly. The philosophically aware agorist explaining the basics to those already practicing it, will help demystify and introduce the concept.

The summation of the article, contends that the ever oppressive and corrupt state, conversely gives rise to the black market.

The evidence is unambiguous; governments cannot increase tax compliance and decrease the size of the underground economy by ever increasing and more onerous regulations.

It is no accident that those governments that allow their citizens a high degree of personal and financial liberty, including financial privacy, and spend taxpayer dollars wisely, honestly and competently, have much smaller underground sectors than corrupt and oppressive governments. Washington, take note.

The public is detaching from the statist mindstate incrementally, awakening to a paradigm shift of liberty from the state. There is no need to protest and hit the streets, just invest that energy into direct action in counter-economics that don’t empower the state.

Agora! Anarchy! Action!

I hate capitalism and loathe the state, so I'm gonna smash this window and grab this nifty smart phone. Never mind the fact I just helped capitalist corporations, insurance companies and police officers pockets get fatter. FAIL!

Frankly, I’m fed up with protests that achieve nothing, but more power for the state and less credibility for dissent. We can walk out of the system anytime, you don’t need to go to these criminals and ask for your inherent rights.

Agorism promotes the idea of ignoring government, by dispelling the myth that these crooks are your rulers. Therefore no need to protest, assert your rights through direct action, siphoning power and money from the state, eventually causing its demise.

At these protests, you see cops dressed up like stormtroopers, protecting the so called leaders. These police state minions have families, and are just as much affected by the globalists as we are. The global elites at the top, have cleverly placed us in opposition, positioning both sides to attack each other, while the puppet masters remain unscathed.

Okay rant begin…

This years G20 resulted in another failed smash and burn protest conducted by undercover cops, and misdirected black-bloc anarchists. Do these political activists really believe that thrusting themselves against the system with aggression will work? The crime syndicate posing as our leaders, can care less about you marching in the streets, yelling at the top of your lungs with signs and breaking things. The people who are performing these acts, are unknowingly playing a part in their plan. They need public dissent to their tyrannic reign, displayed as violent inarticulate troublemakers, who are a threat to the public. This justifies the states authority, allows more police state measures, and loss of liberty through legislation.

At past events, undercover cops have been exposed posing as anarchists, in order to create havoc that enables all protesters at these events to be targeted. We have covered this extensively in a previous article with video evidence, here.

Paul Joseph Watson from Prison Planet also makes some good points about these provocateurs:

An eyebrow-raising photograph of one of the anarchists who set fire to a Toronto police car during anti-G20 protests this past weekend shows him wearing Nike clothing, a potential indication that provocateurs dressed up as black-bloc “anarchists” were again employed by authorities to cause mayhem in order to justify a brutal police crackdown and crush free speech, as peaceful protesters were attacked and arrested while the anarchists who torched the cars were left alone.

The picture shows the two culprits who set fire to the police car congratulating each other and looking remarkably relaxed about potentially being caught by police considering what they had just done. One of the men is wearing Nike pants – the distinctive logo of the company can be seen above his left pocket.

Why would a hardcore anarchists so dedicated to his cause that he is willing to torch a police car be wearing clothing made by a company that anarchists universally abhor, and one that has routinely been targeted by anarchists for well over a decade?

During this years (2010) G8/G20 summit, Canada spent 1.2 billion on security. Considering the ridiculous staged and organic violence that has occurred, the state can save some face and justify the enormous bill that the taxpayers get stuck with. Just think if no one showed up to protest, it would be a much more powerful statement of dissent with no media spin. The state would look like despotic fear mongers, who are afraid of their own citizens for no apparent reason. But instead, the state will grand stand about the destruction, seeking more political control, and the capitalist imperialism system will get a new influx of cash to fix all the broken glass, destroyed cars and buildings. So who benefits? The people who work for the capitalist system fixing things, insurance companies, police making overtime, politicans and so on. The media and government can also keep the stereotypical perceptions about anarchism intact, bolstering the state further.

While the G20 craziness was going on, individuals rejecting the system with direct action, gathered at the annual Porcupine Freedom Fest in New Hampshire, sponsored by the Free State Project. Events like this, should take place during these globalist meetings worldwide, in order to demonstrate our freedom, and viewpoint that the state isn’t our ruler. Imagine if more people organized peaceful festivals that coincided on those days and refused to work, buy, or watch TV for example.

Seems to me that planning a major freedom festival or event during these globalist meetings on the far side of town, away from the police, would be more productive. All the cops will be tied up protecting the crime syndicate, leaving us free to express ourselves and congregate. Meeting like minded people, minus the pepper spray, rubber bullets, and possible arrest, would be a far more beneficial experience.

Agora! Anarchy! Action!

PorcFest 2010 group photo

Photo via nealus on Flickr

Kevin Carson takes on statist liberals and anarcho-capitalist ideologues alike in this brilliant article about Somalia and anarchy.

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Somalia — Is That Really All You Got?
by Kevin Carson

Rachel Maddow, a popular liberal commentator on MSNBC, recently iterated — for the umpteenth time — the standard liberal talking point of Somalia as a supposedly unanswerable argument against anarchy. The Somalia reference, when done according to formula, comes as the follow-up to a one-two punch – usually preceded by the “drown government in a bathtub” quote from Grover Norquist.

Following a snarky allusion to the idealized “small-government conservative” vision of society (“which, you know, when you put it that way, it sounds kind of bucolic and awesome, right?”), Maddow went in for the kill: “When you see it in action in a country that hasn‘t had a government in about 18 years, it actually looks like this. This is Somalia.”

But this is dirty pool for several reasons. First, no intelligent anarchist argues that the sudden and catastrophic implosion of the state will result in a peaceful, self-regulating society.

We’ve lived through centuries of the process which Pyotr Kropotkin described in “Mutual Aid” and “The State,” by which centralized territorial states suppressed bottom-up, self-organized alternatives, and caused civil society to atrophy. Under such circumstances, when the state suddenly disappears, the result is likely to be a power vacuum with nothing ready to take its place, and the proliferation of all sorts of social pathologies.

What most of us want to do is reverse the centuries-long process Kropotkin described, by building alternative social institutions, organized on a voluntary cooperative basis, to supplant the state. Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, conventionally regarded as the father of anarchism, described it as devolving or submerging the state in the social body. And this by no means implies the anarcho-capitalist vision of a society where all functions are performed by for-profit business firms. It could just as easily mean a society of worker and consumer cooperatives, common property, free clinics, community supported agriculture, intentional communities, urban communes and squats, and the kinds of mutual aid arrangement described by Kropotkin in “Mutual Aid” and E.P. Thompson in “The Making of the English Working Class.”

So it would make far more sense to look at a stateless or near-stateless society that’s been that way for a long time, under comparatively stable conditions (like some of the near-stateless areas in Southeast Asia described by James Scott in “The Art of Not Being Governed”), and the institutions by which people peaceful govern their lives.

Second, “Somalia” does not equal “Mogadishu.” Most of the horrific, Mad Max scenes captured in Somalia are in Mogadishu, where the central state was most powerful before the collapse and the institutions of civil society were accordingly most atrophied. As Roderick Long, director of C4SS’s parent body the Molinari Society, put it, “the farther one gets away from Mogadishu, the more one gets into relatively peaceful areas that have always been anarchic or close to it, barring occasional intrusions from the statebuilders in the city.” In other words, the further you get from Mogadishu, the less Somalia resembles “Somalia,” and the more it resembles the kind of stable society described by James Scott.

Third, the proper comparison to Somalia is not the United States and similar societies in the West, but to the actual state that existed in Somalia before the collapse of central power. Given that comparison, things in Somalia aren’t that bad at all. For example: a study by Benjamin Powell, Ryan Ford and Alex Nowrasteh took “a comparative institutional approach to examine Somalia’s performance relative to other African countries both when Somalia had a government and during its extended period of anarchy.” And it found that Somalia, when subjected to an honest comparison — “between Somalia when it had a functioning government, and Somalia now” — is less poor, has higher life expectancy, and has experienced a drastic increase in telephone lines.

I’d also add, parenthetically, that while Somalia is often celebrated by anarcho-capitalist types, in reality it hardly fits the anarcho-capitalist stereotype (especially in those areas away from Mogadishu). For example, there’s widespread communal ownership of land by extended families and clans, with only possessory or usufructory rights by individuals.