Burning Man And 3 More Examples of Anarchy Working In Real Life [VIDEO]
There are now many examples of anarchy working in real life.
For example, I happen to be a diplomat and one of many “founding fathers” of the anarcho-capitalist country, Liberland, which continues to expand its operations and become more recognized in Europe.
I just returned from Cheran, Michoacan, which has been government-free for the last seven years and happens to be one of the nicest towns of 30,000 people I’ve ever visited.
I also just briefly visited the anarchist town of Freetown Christiana in Denmark which has been government-free since 1971… and while it was a rainy day and I didn’t have much time to explore too thoroughly there, it was as nice as every other anarchist place I’ve visited.
Prior to that, I spent three days at Burning Man which is essentially an anarchist enclave of 90,000 people who gather for a week every year in the desert of Nevada, to live free, without much government rule.
Brainwashed statists try to claim, “anarchy can’t work in real life”... well, these are four examples and all four of them are perfectly safe and wonderful locations without an oppressive dick-tator.
There were some signs of government at Burning Man. Road pirates (police) were attempting to extort people coming in or out of the area. In some cases, undercover cops would sneak into Burning Man and try to kidnap or extort people who they caught smoking cannabis.
That’s pretty funny considering you can buy as much cannabis as you want at many nice stores in nearby Reno.
Otherwise, however, Burning Man is a voluntary community that gathers for a week each year and does have a set of rules or guidelines. Still, those guidelines are agreed upon by everyone entering. And none of the rules are anything oppressive. They include leaving “no trace” of you having been there, meaning that everyone is expected to take all garbage with them when they leave.
The one rule that I wasn't entirely fond of was the emphasis that it’s exclusively a “sharing economy” where everyone shares everything and money (whether fiat or honest currency like crypto) isn’t supposed to be used to sell anything.
And yet, it works for them. You can’t buy anything there. Pretty much anything you want or need can be found by people who are sharing certain items.
The rules are generally agreed to by everyone in the community, so I had no problem adhering to it all.
I did leave fairly quickly though, as I much prefer the luxury and convenience of just calling Uber Eats or paying for a nice dinner rather than having to find someone willing to share some particular food or drink with me!
That said, Burning Man was yet another example of how well voluntary communities can work without government. There is very little resembling government or police in the entire place and I never met or heard of anyone who had anything stolen or who had been assaulted.
There is something about a peaceful, anarchic community that creates a very happy and safe environment---quite the opposite of what the state and the mainstream media want you to think.
Freedom is definitely a growing idea. And, one of the best places to experience true freedom is at Anarchapulco every February in Acapulco, Mexico.
As Chris Harrigan mentioned in our interview, Acapulco as a whole is very anarchist and that’s what makes it a perfect location to host the world’s largest anarchist conference.
Anarchapulco just launched its new website design and theme for 2019, “Life Unchained”. You can check it out and grab tickets now before it sells out at anarchapulco.com.
This post also appears on DollarVigilante.com
Burning Man is far from anarchy. The 24 /7 police presence where officers are trained and a judge is actually present just outside the fenceline to process tickets & accept fine payment, mostly for drug usage, speaks to just how little actual anarchy is there.
I was involved with setting up the event for a decade and sadly, the info in the following report is true. Typically people don't want to hear about this stuff, focusing only on the positive - I mean, it is a great experience - but when one falls from favor with event organizers and is summarily uninvited with zero options for redress of grievances, then & only then are people willing to talk about the negative aspects. I watched this sad cycle occur over & over. Too bad no one had the balls to stand up for their friends & co-workers until they themselves were verboten. Thus the suicides. What could hurt more than finding one's extended family, feeling a wonderful sense of belonging in such a vibrant community - and then to be excommunicated in such a manner and regarded as toxic?
https://www.salon.com/2018/08/24/exclusive-burning-man-a-utopia-for-guests-can-be-a-hell-for-many-workers/
Wow great thought, I like it.
The thing of a event like Burning Man is that it is controlled and like minded peaceful people attend. I know that it does not mean criminals will not attend, but with very little of value there, there is no incentive for them to attend. If all places had no form of policing, criminals will blossom as can be seen in many countries where governments has collapsed. I agree, that I don't want all the rules and taxes, but some basic rules should exist to at least protect the community from criminal elements. You should see how people here in South Africa raid shops of innocent shopkeepers, just because they are foreigners!!
What is Chris Harrigan's steemit address? Great interview. Uv & Rs
Always like your videos Jeff. Thank you for the work you do. In my opinion you may even have your place in anarchist history. I show some of your videos to many of my friends all the time while explaining Anarchism. I wish I could go to Anarchapulco, but I'm broke AF, and I have a warrant, and no passport. But when I some how make it and acquire enough wealth I hope to move there or some where out of the usa maybe in Cambodia. If I do you will get free drinks at my bar for life lol.
What an interesting post. As a new to your post I find great interest to your bolg. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Jeff, without you I would today not even know steemit and now I'm somehow kidnapping your post in the hope to make it possible to get up once again and see you next year in Acapulco on Anarchapulco. If you are bothered about the kidnapping, please let me know, and I will edit my comment to empty it. Why I do it? Searching for some job to get up once more in my life. So please, every fellow anarchist ho has to offer a job or knows another fellow anarchist who need's a good coder: https://steemit.com/anarchy/@vthor/sometimes-everything-seems-to-go-wrong-and-you-think-it-can-t-go-any-worse