http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/14/256121/fbi-raids-homes-of-occupy-activists/
the offical excuse is "violent crime investigation"....
warrants were sealed.....
"The paper said the agents were searching for “anti-government or anarchist literature or material” and “documentation and communications related to the offenses, including but not limited to notes, diagrams, letters, diary and journal entries, address books, and other documentation in written or electronic form.” "
Malachi:Wouldnt it be easier to find “anti-government or anarchist literature or material” at the library?
No kidding, I keep wondering what the tipping point will be. We have two movements in this country, one a libertarian freedom oriented movement, the other a socialist (corporate capitalist) movement that are getting stronger and larger. Somethings going to give.
Simultaneously you see the "crony capitalist" organizations bringing the economy to it's knees through subsidized losses and inflation/credit expansion. On the other side private unions have destroyed certain sectors of American Industry and public unions are slowly bankrupting the cities and states across the nation.
There's a very real social/political/economic storm coming. It will make Hurricane Katrina look like a brief summer rain.
Any of a myriad of social institutions could trigger it, but I don't think the trigger will be political. I suspect it will instead be economic. We all get angry about stuff like that we see or read in that article above, but we don't get up and do anything because it doesn't impact us directly. We might see localized activism around something like that above, but it doesn't boil over unless there's an immediate tipping point.
My guess is that it will be the interruption of the supply of some essential goods or services, whether they are privately or publicly funded.
It would be interesting to study and understand some of the dynamics of these types of macro-level social reorderings. But of course conducting such research might be a red flag...
Sigh... It's really getting scary. The only hope at this point is to keep your head sufficiently low, and hope the many local, state and federal bureaucrats don't pay attention to you during this rush to political self-destruction. In the meantime, I think it's our job to continue to build and strengthen the only accurate and useful social theory, Praxeology. Our hope has to be that in building this system and educating our fellows within our various online and local communities we help to lay a foundation that can improve the quality of the social institutions and processes that emerge to replace the current failing ones.
I'm not so sure. Look how bad things had to get in the USSR before people finally said, "Screw it." Plus we have no relative comparisson to make in the US. We're still so much better off materially than most anyone else on the planet.
"I'm not so sure. Look how bad things had to get in the USSR before people finally said, "Screw it." Plus we have no relative comparisson to make in the US. We're still so much better off materially than most anyone else on the planet."
plus look how bad things got in North Korea....and the people still don't revolt....
I've been meaning to bring this up, but this as good a time and place as any. Remember that not only do states rely on their subjects for their existence and maintenance, but they rely on other states for their continuation and expansion. Just as one state, say the US, can "justify" its existence, and what's more, "justify" its expansion, by pointing at "allies" like the UK, and do the same (albeit in a different light) when pointing at "enemies" like Iran, so too can the states of the UK and Iran. So on the one hand, the US is basically fabricating a need of state control when saying things like "Look at these aggressive and anti-Western nations like the USSR and North Korea!" to generate fear and passion for expanding centralized power, the USSR and North Korea can say "Look at the imperial tendencies of the aggressive US!" accomplishing the same purpose.
I guess all that I'm saying is people don't revolt here or there, then or now, for mirrored reasons.
The only one worth following is the one who leads... not the one who pulls; for it is not the direction that condemns the puller, it is the rope that he holds.
Are you an anarchist how long youve been?
Whos your friends? where ya meet?
cointel pro....
Ron paul is very popular. The reason hes not winning is because the republican party is cheating, not playing by the rules, and hurting our delegates (physical hurting), and obstruction.
“Since people are concerned that ‘X’ will not be provided, ‘X’ will naturally be provided by those who are concerned by its absence.""The sweetest of minds can harbor the harshest of men.”
http://voluntaryistreader.wordpress.org
Malachi: Hahaha, the tipping point for what? Open revolt? Thats the tipping point you want to avoid. The solution is a critical mass of educated people that spread the ideas around. You cannot kill enough people to destroy an idea, the only way to defeat an idea is with a superior relevant idea. This war is ideological, not kinetic.
Hahaha, the tipping point for what? Open revolt? Thats the tipping point you want to avoid. The solution is a critical mass of educated people that spread the ideas around. You cannot kill enough people to destroy an idea, the only way to defeat an idea is with a superior relevant idea. This war is ideological, not kinetic.
No, I don't mean open revolt. I mean any large scale rapid reorganization of social institutions. So, all of the little interferences and interruptions of political institutions and agents in the social interactions (economic or not) provide small slight pressures to the individuals in the society. And as these build they put the overall social system under a certain amount of tension. At some point, the dam bursts. We reach a tipping point. Unless we can find ways to create small localized pressure releases, I don't see how we can untangle the built up risk in the system. Doesn't mean it can't happen, just that my limited intellect doesn't see how it can be undone.
Again, this is why I argue for a value-free science of conflict, as an expansion of existing Praxeology.
Given such a tool it might be possible to analyze at the micro and macro level how specific political institutions and processes (technology and techniques) might be developed or employed so that such pressure CAN be released in a controlled way.
We remember two people for non-violent revolution from the last several hundred years. Malcom X was a better spark for change than MLK. We need someone with balls to stand up to them not a bunch of tent happy faux tea party peaceniks.
Think about it.
The actual tea party was a group of people who disguised their identities and destroyed the property of a corporation. Not to mention the Sons of Liberty burned down merchant ships as well as held symbolic gestures of independence, like planting a steel pole in the ground in an unapproved area.
Non-violence is an approved concept of the state. The state can do what it wants and you can sit in a diner and let it, that 's what non-violence is.
The state may prefer non-violence, but there are some problems with violent revolution. Here are just a few in no particular order:
1) Who wants to actually live in a war-zone?
2) You risk death/imprisonment over a standard of living. In other words, you have to decide if it's worth risking your life over losing 50% of your income to a huge gang of thieves. Not everyone will consider it worth it.
3) It's one thing to revolt against a foreign power, as they have to send their soldiers into a foreign country in order to dominate it. But it's another thing to revolt against a domestic power. It has far more resources and people closer to its power base.
4) Maybe you overthrow the federal (really national) government, but are you going to be able to overthrow the state (really provinces) government? What about the cities? Are you going to attempt to overthrow each individual city government?
With non-violence, you don't have to risk losing your life. Now, maybe it's worth it to risk your life sometimes, but you won't really know until you are in those situations.