Anarchoblogs

Various items of interest that have crossed our paths in the last few weeks:

• Somalia: Failed State, Economic Success? An interesting perspective on how Somalia has in some ways done better despite a lack of central government.
• Using social ills of the future to bootstrap networked resilient communities.
• The Internet: Serving the Revolution? The internet as friend and foe.
• Fighting the fascists using direct action hacktivism.
• 1024-bit encryption cracked.
• The Brain Rejects Inequality: Physiological responses to unfairness.
• Using magnets to manipulate morality.
• Why I Won’t Be Buying an iPad, and Why It Doesn’t Matter as Much as You Think
• Standing orders for open-source warfare

Anarchists are radical types and some of us love a good boycott. The recent immigration law in Arizona, being an abominable piece of garbage, seems as good a reason as any to ostracize the hell out of somebody. But I’ve seen a few calls for “boycotting Arizona.” Not Arizona business X or Arizona group Y…just Arizona. It’s quote possible that this is just a shorthand way of saying the government or supporters of the law; sloppy, but right on. If they mean something more like anyone or anything from the artificially-demarcated area known generally as Arizona, I have to raise an eyebrow. Isn’t boycotting AZ residents or products en masse akin to the tactic of state sanctions of other states? State sanctions aren’t normally something I see anarchists praise. So why would we want to emulate them?

Jim Davidson, in a conversation on Facebook, agrees:

…a boycott of Arizona as a region makes no sense, to me, because of the parties not involved in, or opposed to, the acts of oppression being boycotted and ostracised.

But he also point out a subtle difference:

I don’t know about the extent to which private actions are similar to state actions….it would be individual actions in a boycott by persons consenting to participate. A state sanctioning another state or country causes everyone in the state which is sanctioning to suffer even if they don’t consent to the sanctions, as well as causing all those in the state being sanctioned to suffer even if they don’t agree with the actions purportedly motivating the sanction. Sanctions are different from individual action in the extent to which they are coercive to all parties.

This is a good point as far as it goes. But the fact remains that they are, if used indiscriminately, directed at “those in the state being sanctioned…even if they don’t agree with the actions purportedly motivating the sanction.” Is it appropriate to boycott just anyone (primarily businesses I imagine, export or tourist) that happens to be from AZ just because the government that no one can ever consent to passed a horrible law? If so, it seems to give credence to the idea that “you are where you live.” That seems to be more than a little ironic when used in support of the idea that people should not be discriminated against because of an accident of birth. I just question the sense of wide-ranging boycotts over large territories simply because the goons forcibly maintaining a monopoly over force there are behaving goonishly. You lose something in both efficacy and the moral high ground.

A while back I was introduced to new online garden marketplace DoLeaf – an innovative search engine for finding and purchasing plants from independent garden centers and specialty nurseries.

DoLeaf offers twenty-six pages of exotic plants for every USDA zone. Of course I couldn’t resist, I ordered a few plants.

They’re here, they’re here!

Agave potatorum – Butterfly Agave

**One gallon container costs $13.00 and shipping is $10.00/$5.00 each additional.  

Ficus elastica ‘Ruby’ – Ruby Rubber Tree

**Four inch container costs $7.00 and shipping is $11.00/$1.00 each additional.

Dracaena draco – Canary Island Dragon Tree or Drago

Dragon tree is pictured on the left. I could not find a link for it on DoLeaf’s site so it may no longer be available. I was way excited to recieve this plant and forgot to capture the big reveal. After attending Debra Lee Baldwin’s seminar – Succulent Container Gardens at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show last month I’ve been planting all my succulents in containers.

A couple of caveats – I ordered from three different vendors therefore I received three different packages. There go my carbon credits! Shipping is also a little spendy but hey plant material is being transported.

What I loved – Plant diversity, in all my garden center travels I have never seen a Dragon Tree for sale. Plant care instructions are included with every purchase and prices are reasonable. DoLeaf vendor Colors of Creation offers a one-gallon Agave Blue Glow for $13.00. I paid $60.00 for mine; I kid you not.

A word of advice, if you fancy anything on DoLeaf’s site act quickly. Many of their plants are sold out. DoLeaf is currently in beta mode and welcomes suggestions. My two-cents, I’d like a Show All button.

DoLeaf is filling a void commonly echoed amongst gardeners, the need for more variety. Vendors and new plant offerings are introduced frequently. Check them out and follow them on Twitter: @doleaf

If you prefer text, then: Occupied London blog BBC’s Paul Mason Athens Indymedia (all Greek to me)

Anti-social researcher and commentator Slack Bastard was quick off the mark with his answers to newmatilda.com’s 20 Questions. Dr Slack Bastard is a regular commentator on Australian anti-social trends on radio, in print, on television, and online. His most recent book, Eating the Rich: Food and Equality in Australia was not published by Black Inc. in [...]

Continue reading at slackbastard …

Do you like Canadians? Who doesn’t right? (They’re who you can thank for delicious Molson Canadian beer!!*)  I ask because a very special group of Winnipegers are having a big twenty-four-hour fundraising campaign starting this Saturday, May 1, right after their local May Day march.

A few months ago in my bio, I told you (as if you didn’t already know!) about the Old Market Autonomous Zone (the A-Zone!) in Winnipeg. That’s the building that houses wonderful Mondragon Bookstore and Coffee House, Natural Cycle, G7 Welcoming Committee Records, Winnipeg Copwatch, Anarchist Black Cross, the Rudolf Rocker Cultural Centre, Junto Local 91 (the library), CanPalNet, and more! Wonderful, wonderful. They’re banding together to buy their building, and as part of that effort, they’re having a twenty-four-hour telethon beginning this Saturday at 3 PM CST. Now, while I think you should all call in and donate (number below), we all know that nothing in this life comes for free. So for your internet pleasure—and in return for your donation—they will be your performing monkeys, streaming the fundraiser live! Music (for example, “Smash Mahkno Smash!” for godsakes!!) and poetry performances, comedians, DJs, readings, singalongs, a puppet show, Emma Goldman (2:30 Sunday!), probably some extremely tired people saying some silly things… Something for everyone!

The building houses a lot of great projects and their efforts to buy it and run it more collectively should be supported! To find out more about what they’re doing go here.

I’m sure any and all donations will be appreciated, so consider giving them a call as you’re enjoying your third Molson Canadian on May Day.

Telethon runs 3PM CST Saturday to 3 PM Sunday.
Broadcast live at http://www.a-zone.org
Donations can be called in at (204)942-6994
Or cheques made out to Winnipeg Parecon Worker Council can be mailed to:
Old Market Autonomous Zone Co-op
2D - 91 Albert Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3B 1G5
Canada

* No one at the A-Zone is responsible for unleashing Molson Canadian upon the world. They should not be penalized.

Before I was involved with Center for a Stateless Society, I supported their work and asked others to do the same. My reasoning was simple: Center For a Stateless Society is the only organization that consistently produces uncompromising and original market anarchist material, neither bowing for politicians, corporations, or dogma. Now that I’m a paid news analyst, I’m asking you to help keep us at it. All the writers put a lot into our work, the organizational staff tirelessly works toward liberty, and we often go above and beyond our stated responsibilities. If you’re unfamiliar with the Center, check us out at c4ss.org. If you think this is a project worth supporting, please click the widget below to throw in some cash.

If you don’t have the funds right now, there are other ways to help the Center. You could spread our articles through Facebook, Twitter, and email. You could pass along our work in print form by a) printing the C4SS pamphlets at LibertyActivism.info and Invisible Molotov, b) making your own pamphlets out of articles you like and sending them to either site, or c) making good old flyers or broadsides by copy-pasting our works into a word processor then printing them.

And don’t hesitate to give us feedback in any of the comment threads or by email. We want to help you make a free world.

A new pamphlet, Against Borders, has been posted on libertyactivism.info. It includes a 1-page individualist anarchist view on state borders, my Center for a Stateless Society commentary Escalating the War on Freedom, a New Jersey Alliance of the Libertarian Left statement, and a Nation article by Jacqueline Stevens. Download, print, fold, staple, subvert!

• A new project, Books for Anarchists Outside the West, has just been launched, in order to help provide materials to comrades with less ready access to such things.
• The Center for a Stateless Society has gone to a monthly fund-raising schedule, and now has options for monthly "subscription" donations. 
• And the project with Kate Sharpley Library has succeeded well enough that I now have a copy of Dyer Lum's Utah and its People in mid-digitization. Thanks, folks! You can contribute towards the next acquisition at the Corvus Shop.