Taken from The Anarchist Library

Once upon a time, the captain and the mates of a ship grew so vain of their seamanship, so full of hubris and so impressed with themselves, that they went mad. They turned the ship north and sailed until they met with icebergs and dangerous floes, and they kept sailing north into more and more perilous waters, solely in order to give themselves opportunities to perform ever-more-brilliant feats of seamanship.

As the ship reached higher and higher latitudes, the passengers and crew became increasingly uncomfortable. They began quarreling among themselves and complaining of the conditions under which they lived.

“Shiver me timbers,” said an able seaman, “if this ain’t the worst voyage I’ve ever been on. The deck is slick with ice; when I’m on lookout the wind cuts through me jacket like a knife; every time I reef the foresail I blamed-near freeze me fingers; and all I get for it is a miserable five shillings a month!”

“You think you have it bad!” said a lady passenger. “I can’t sleep at night for the cold. Ladies on this ship don’t get as many blankets as the men. It isn’t fair!”

A Mexican sailor chimed in: “¡Chingado! I’m only getting half the wages of the Anglo seamen. We need plenty of food to keep us warm in this climate, and I’m not getting my share; the Anglos get more. And the worst of it is that the mates always give me orders in English instead of Spanish.”

“I have more reason to complain than anybody,” said an American Indian sailor. “If the palefaces hadn’t robbed me of my ancestral lands, I wouldn’t even be on this ship, here among the icebergs and arctic winds. I would just be paddling a canoe on a nice, placid lake. I deserve compensation. At the very least, the captain should let me run a crap game so that I can make some money.”

The bosun spoke up: “Yesterday the first mate called me a ‘fruit’ just because I suck cocks. I have a right to suck cocks without being called names for it!”

It’s not only humans who are mistreated on this ship,” interjected an animal-lover among the passengers, her voice quivering with indignation. “Why, last week I saw the second mate kick the ship’s dog twice!”

One of the passengers was a college professor. Wringing his hands he exclaimed,

“All this is just awful! It’s immoral! It’s racism, sexism, speciesism, homophobia, and exploitation of the working class! It’s discrimination! We must have social justice: Equal wages for the Mexican sailor, higher wages for all sailors, compensation for the Indian, equal blankets for the ladies, a guaranteed right to suck cocks, and no more kicking the dog!”

“Yes, yes!” shouted the passengers. “Aye-aye!” shouted the crew. “It’s discrimination! We have to demand our rights!”

The cabin boy cleared his throat.

“Ahem. You all have good reasons to complain. But it seems to me that what we really have to do is get this ship turned around and headed back south, because if we keep going north we’re sure to be wrecked sooner or later, and then your wages, your blankets, and your right to suck cocks won’t do you any good, because we’ll all drown.”

But no one paid any attention to him, because he was only the cabin boy.

( More … )

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Keith Preston addresses the recent phenomenon of “thick libertarianism” in his new essay, Should Libertarianism Be Cultural Leftism Without the State.

Congratulations to Keith Preston for writing the winning essay in the 2008 Libertarian Alliance Chris R. Tame Memorial Essay Competition. Entitled Free Enterprise: The Antidote to Corporate Plutocracy, Preston’s essay addresses the competition’s topic, ““Can a Libertarian Society be Described as ‘Tesco minus the State’?” Breaking with the stereotypical right-libertarian defense of big business as an oppressed minority, Preston lays out a refreshingly radical take on libertarianism, bringing in class analysis, a revisionist reevaluation of capitalist history, and a decentralist approach to populism. For winning the competition, sponsored by the U.K.-based Libertarian Alliance, Mr. Preston will receive a £1000 prize.

The essay has been reproduced in full here.

ARV members and supporters may be interested in an organization that is trying to articulate a radical, direct action component of the libertarian movement that is both anti-corporate and anti-government: the Alliance of the Libertarian Left. Here’s a summary of the group’s purpose:

The Alliance of the Libertarian Left is a multi-tendency coalition of mutualists, agorists, voluntaryists, geolibertarians, left-Rothbardians, green libertarians, dialectical anarchists, radical minarchists, and others on the libertarian left, united by an opposition to statism and militarism, to cultural intolerance (including sexism, racism, and homophobia), and to the prevailing corporatist capitalism falsely called a free market; as well as by an emphasis on education, direct action, and building alternative institutions, rather than on electoral politics, as our chief strategy for achieving liberation.

The group is organized primarily on the internet, and you can meet many of its most active members on the LeftLibertarian2 list. There’s also a blog aggregator that syndicates much of their writing that may give you a better feel for this flavor of libertarianism.

In addition to the explosion of online activism, local chapters have started to form, including in central Virginia and southern Nevada. There is a clear anti-system message, and I see a key role as providing a space for radical leftists and libertarians to work together on the many issues they agree on. While this group may not appeal to all ARV supporters, it is an example of the diversity of movements that could form a coalition against empire both domestically and abroad. Remember: revolution is a form of direct action!