Richmond Tea Party
April 14th, 2009
The Alliance will be cautiously participating in the Richmond Tea Party event tomorrow at 5pm at Kanawha Plaza. We're a bit concerned about the mainstream conservative and Koch-affiliated institutions behind the scenes, the censorship overtones, and their insistence on focusing solely on taxes and not the related issues (such as the Fed, the warfare state, etc.). We will be there distributing Carson's seminal pamphlet The Iron Fist Behind the Invisible Hand, supporting the Central Virginia Campaign for Liberty's agenda of getting support for auditing the Fed, and generally refusing to fall in line behind a Republican agenda merely because we oppose the Obama administration. See ya there!
The Domestic Costs of Empire
March 16th, 2009
Who enables the massive governmental spending on violent policies? Which key organization promotes the growing concentration of power in corporations? What entity pumped out more free money for big banks and connected businesses than any other bank or country in the world?
On March 19, 2009 the Richmond Left Libertarian Alliance invites you to participate in a demonstration that aims to tie our corporate militarism to the economic meltdown of the past months. We will assemble first at the Virginia Employment Commission at 4:30 PM to demonstrate solidarity with those suffering from the economic downturn. At 5:00 PM we will march to Kanawha Plaza (8th and Canal) to stage a protest against endless war and economic privilege right in front of the Richmond office that helps makes it all possible.
See the flyer here and contact me with questions or concerns. Help us take back control of our markets and our security!
A Libertarian Alternative to the EFCA
March 1st, 2009
Over at nolanchart.com, longtime left libertarian Dan Clore wrote an excellent article presenting yet another libertarian perspective on the Employee Free Choice Act. Once again, the libertarian critique is not that the act is too radical, but that it doesn't go far enough in leveling the playing field that government distorted in the first place.
The form of government interference in the marketplace on behalf of employers that I speak of is incorporation. When a government grants a charter of incorporation to companies, it creates by fiat a "collectivist legal entity", or corporation. Among other things, this allows the many owners and investors in the company to be legally considered a single collective entity for business purposes when this is to their benefit, while at the same time granting them "limited liability" that considers them separate from the company when this helps them avoid responsibility for it.
This creates an asymmetrical situation in which employers enjoy the benefits of collective organization and representation, but can deny these benefits to their employees. Unionization, with its collective organization and representation for employees, makes this situation more symmetrical and thus fairer.
So, my suggestion for a libertarian alternative to the EFCA is simply this: Any employer (company) that refuses to allow its employees to unionize, should be disallowed the charter of incorporation and its consequent benefits.
Hopefully, the statement we put out a few days ago coupled with the above article will show workers' rights advocates that we are serious when we talk about about free markets. We think labor would be better off, not worse off, by eschewing government intervention in labor organizing. Of course, given all the faux-free market rhetoric from the corporatocracy, it's incumbent on us to show what we mean - and we hope our ideas will get a fair seat at the table when pro-labor options for action are considered.
Statement in Support of the Employee Free Choice Act
February 25th, 2009
Why would free market libertarians support the Employee Free Choice Act? Simply put, the Richmond Left Libertarian Alliance offers qualified support for this act because this country has never seen a genuine free market. If we can't have a free market, we demand at the very least a fair market - and this implies letting workers organize on their own terms without the interference or permission of bosses. While the long term goal must be the complete separation of state and business, and while we believe labor would be better served by radical direct action than legislative reform, we favor fair laws over unfair laws, and the EFCA provides for a fairer regulatory regime.
From the very beginning of this republic, labor has seen continual intervention by government - whether it was propping up the institution of slavery, using militaries to break strikes, or dictating terms for collective bargaining and union formation. In such a setting, how can it be said that wages are a product of an actual market governed by aggregate supply and demand? Especially given the privileges bestowed on the corporate form to allow capitalists to conspire, labor should at least have the same ability to organize on their own terms.
In the long run, all government regulation of collective bargaining must be terminated, including the Wagner Act. Employers benefit from the stability provided by labor regulations, which provide a bureaucratic framework (such as the National Labor Relations Board) for resolving labor disputes, making the strike play out on terms most favorable to capital. Workers, on the other hand, have natural advantages in agility, flexibility, and spontaneous organization which the current regulations deny them, and this has a direct impact on their bargaining power. To put it another way, capital needs these regulations far more than labor does.
However, until such time as we have a radical movement to level the playing field between labor and capital, allowing workers more freedom to form unions at their workplaces is only fair. After all, do employees demand a seat at the table when businesses draft articles of incorporation? Why, then, do bosses have any role whatsoever in the workers' organization of a union? The EFCA will promote a fairer market until labor reawakens to its true power.
March on the General Assembly on Wednesday at 4:30 PM
January 12th, 2009
The march will start at Kanawha Plaza, otherwise known as the Richmond branch of the Federal Reserve System. We'll march to the G.A. to present our demands as constituted in Saturday's Virginia People's Assembly. Here's the sign the Alliance will be using in the action:
Urban Warfare Training in Richmond
January 11th, 2009
Once again, the central Virginia region has to endure a bunch of helicopters buzzing our homes, alarming and frightening peaceful people, because our rulers need to be able to fight wars in foreign cities.
The 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, in coordination with the FBI and local officials, will be conducting a Realistic Urban Training Exercise (RUT) in the Richmond, Va. area Jan. 9-24, 2008.
The purpose of RUT is to enhance the 22nd MEU's capability to conduct operations in a realistic urban environment prior to an overseas deployment this spring.
Virginia residents may begin to see and hear aircraft from the 22nd MEU flying overhead on Friday while pilots and crews conduct area familiarization flights. On Saturday, pilots and crews will practice landing in pre-planned landing zones throughout the area....
The use of airspace has been coordinated with the Federal Aviatioin Administration. The use of landing zones has been coordinated with city and county officials and police departments. Specific aircraft the 22nd MEU will operate in the area include the UH-1N Hueys, AH-1W Super Cobras, CH-53E Super Stallions, AV-8B Harriers, and MV-22B Ospreys.
It's important to remember this when we work against empire; training soldiers to oppress others necessarily entails training them how to repress us.
Announcing RadicalRichmond.net
January 9th, 2009
One of the great things about Richmond is that we have a pretty decent activist community already here. The Alliance has benefited from working with these groups, since building alternative institutions that can displace the state doesn't mean ignoring those that already exist! I've learned so much just by participating in other organizations, getting to know the people who care enough to act, and hitting the streets with them.
However, one of the problems I've noticed is that there's not enough communication between activists about their activities. While different groups and people may have different priorities or divergent agendas, there are too many issues where we agree - but because we're not a member of one or another group, we never find out about opportunities to join forces with like minded activists. What is needed is a central clearing house that everybody can come to in order to see what's going on in Richmond.
I've been talking about this idea for a year or two now, and I've finally found a core group of motivated people who can help me run such a site. They represent a variety of activist interests throughout the metro area, but we all agree that the community as a whole benefits when one hand knows what the other is doing. RadicalRichmond.net will attempt to serve as a community site and dissemination point for activism info in the central Virginia area. Please spread the word and contribute!
Richmond Food Not Bombs: You Rock!
January 4th, 2009
This afternoon I had the wonderful experience of working with the awesome folks at Richmond Food Not Bombs. I had been meaning to come out and help prepare the weekly meal they serve at Monroe Park for some time, and I'm going to try not to miss any again. It was a genuinely uplifting, fun thing to do, and I learned a lot about "anarchism in action".
Richmond Food Not Bombs has been around for about 15 years, serving meals to many needy and underprivileged people every Sunday at 4pm. In fact, they've only missed two Sundays in that whole 15 years. That is a record of activism few groups can rival - let alone an anarchist organization without leaders, hierarchies, or rules. Yet, as I arrived this afternoon, I was amazed at how everybody simply did their job while having a blast. I was the weirdo who had to be "told what to do", which is anarcho-lame of me, I know.
The hours spent working with the group seemed to obscure the usual skepticism I hold about the larger anarchist project. The joy with which the group brought food to grateful people, making a political statement without having to spell it out, floored me. Spontaneous organization is not just about abstract social dynamics; it requires the human touch of good will and love to work. Any organization that wants to empower and free people must care about them, appreciate them, and provide a space where they can form that community of equals.
It's now clear to me that, coming from the more clinical anarchist thought of left libertarianism, I've neglected the opportunities that local people working together have to "build the new society within the shell of the old". There's fellowship in the building that is crucial to truly voluntary society. It's not all about nailing the theory and the organization - it's about your heart, too. Thanks, Food Not Bombs, for teaching me that.
Thanks also to the new Whole Foods in Short Pump for their extremely generous donations of food; there was so much great food nobody knew what to do with it all!
Radical Richmond Watch #2
December 9th, 2008
Here's some noteworthy events on the horizon in Richmond:
The Alliance supports Republic Windows and Doors workers in Chicago, Illinois who are occupying their workplace in an effort to compel their employer to honor the terms of their labor agreement. It's reassuring to see the return of such militant labor tactics, demonstrating that people - not corporations and capitalists - are the basis for all economic and political progress. While the Alliance supports the freedom of parties to negotiate terms with each other free of interference, it is clear that the state-privileged Bank of America is intervening to compel Republic Windows and Doors management to violate the terms of their agreement with workers, which were negotiated under laws that neither party disputed at the outset.
Therefore, in solidarity with the workers, Richmond Jobs with Justice, and labor everywhere, the Alliance heartily endorses the planned demonstration tomorrow, December 10, 2008 at noon in front of the Richmond Bank of America offices at the corner of 12th & E. Main streets. We salute radical labor tactics and the physical assertion of the primacy of the human being over the privileged hegemony of capital and government.
The Alliance is also interested in and supporting the Virginia People's Congress, which will hold its fourth planning meeting at Asbury Methodist Church (324 N. 29th Street) at 6pm on December 11th. This is a great opportunity to shape a genuine people's agenda, and the Alliance supports the spontaneous and populist organization of resistance to elite domination in Virginia. We may not support the entire platform, but we support the concept of solidarity and the dialogue it promotes.
Radical Richmond Watch (UPDATED)
November 9th, 2008
Yes, we haven't gone anywhere; posting has been light, but we're still working on several projects to keep the left libertarian perspective relevant to Richmond as well as bringing diverse radicals together under a common aegis of opposition to privilege. Here's some newsworthy items to watch:
We're proud to endorse the recent call for a Virginia People's Assembly by its organizing committee, which went out via email a couple of weeks ago. We've reproduced the call in full here as a PDF, but here's an excerpt:
What we are proposing is an actual alternative to the Virginia General Assembly – a Virginia People's Assembly – a body so broad and so deep that it could be recognized by the people as their genuine representative. The demands developed by the People's Assembly will constitute a People's Agenda, one that we can fight for long after the legislators have gone home. And we will need to keep fighting.
Therefore, we have formed an Organizing Committee for a Virginia People's Assembly. We are inviting all progressive forces to come to a General Organizing Meeting to be held in Richmond from 2-5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15 at Asbury United Methodist Church, 324 N. 29th St., Richmond, Virginia 23223 (That's at the corner of 29th and East Marshall streets in Church Hill.). At that meeting, we will discuss and strategize on how to build the actual Virginia People's Assembly. Together, we will put out a broader call, inviting all Virginians being left behind in this economic crisis to come to the People's Assembly.
The End the Fed project aims to stage protests against the Federal Reserve System in cities across the country. With a Federal Reserve Bank right here in Richmond, our city will be a center of demonstration as well on Saturday, November 22. This action is being led by the Richmond Campaign for Liberty group, so watch this event page for details as they develop.
Finally, just a sneak peak at a project I'm working on with a fellow radical activist in Richmond that will serve as a one-stop shop for news and discussion amongst central Virginia radicals. We're still in the planning stages, but stay tuned!
I'd also like to hold a social gathering at a local watering hole in the not-too-distant future. Any suggestions on time / place?
Why we need a left libertarian alliance
October 17th, 2008
Roderick Long, a founding A.L.L. member, has been writing some great articles over at The Art of the Possible, a group blog dedicated to finding common ground between progressives and libertarians. He brings an Austrian analysis to the problem of scale in our political economy, demonstrating how the vertical integration of huge corporations mirrors the calculational chaos of socialist central planners:
The good news, then, is that the unlovely features of the economy that often get blamed on the free market (or on something called “capitalism,” which means either the free market, or plutocracy, or somehow magically both) are in fact the product of government intervention. We can embrace the free market without embracing big business.
But it’s not just opponents of the free market that get markets and business interests mixed up. All too many libertarians still rush to defend giant corporations like Microsoft and Wal-Mart (two firms whose whole business model in fact depends heavily on government intervention – via, e.g., IP protectionism for Microsoft, eminent domain plus socialised transportation costs for Wal-Mart, and general suppression of competition from the less affluent for both) as though such a defense were part and parcel of a commitment to markets. As libertarians we can hardly complain when we’re accused of being apologists for corporate plutocracy, so long as we’re actually contributing to that perception ourselves by allowing ourselves to lose track of the basic facts about the price system that we of all people should remember.
So long as the confusion between free markets and plutocracy persist – so long as libertarians allow their laudable attraction to free markets to fool them into defending plutocracy, and so long as those on the left allow their laudable opposition to plutocracy to fool them into opposing free markets – neither libertarians nor the left will achieve their goals, and the state-corporate partnership will continue to dominate the political scene.
Read more here. Remember: the problem is privilege!
William Gillis speaks out
September 5th, 2008
I cover Alliance of the Libertarian Left activist William Gillis's contribution to the RNC Welcoming Committee press conference at leftlibertarian.org:
William’s willingness to personally speak out, not just against the brutal, self-destructive police state, but also as an unrepentant and bold advocate for anarchism at a time when adherents to that peaceful philosophy are being singled out as terrorists, is nothing short of heroic. We all owe William a debt of gratitude, for I’ve never felt more proud of my opposition to the criminals and serial sadists of the state as I did watching him speak.
Goodbye to protest
September 3rd, 2008
The Alliance wishes to convey it's unconditional support for the resistance against the fascist police state occurring in the twin cities. We wish we could be there, because we believe there are important lessons being learned on site about how the Seattle model has been rendered ineffective by the Miami model. Essentially, as I argue at my blog, we need to realize that protest is dead:
So if we’re in a police state now, what do we do? Obviously, there was a point at which the citizens of Germany in the ’30s gave up on speaking out. There was a point at which the Soviet citizens stopped protesting the Bolshevik treachery. Throughout history, people who found themselves under a totalitarian government had to face a terrible fact: that the modes of democratic society were no longer tenable.
But to admit to yourself the horrible truth, that we have lost our country, that is the truly difficult thing. Keep in mind, however, that it has always been through denial, self-deception, and lack of honesty on the part of the people that totalitarianism has gained a foothold. We must be courageous, pragmatic, and most of all careful. The rules have changed, and if we’re going to play this game we do well to use our time-outs to strategize, not simply to feel sorry for ourselves. In other words, as much as I hate to say it, we’re going to have to unlearn the bad habits of citizenship in a democratic republic.
...
It’s time for the activist movement to modify their tactics to reflect the new environment. Flaunting our outrage in the hopes of media attention and citizen backlash has failed. Throwing our bodies on the gears of the machine has not slowed it, let alone stopped it. Protesting every violation of our rights just demonstrates in spades how vulnerable and dependent we are. Demonstrating and organizing just provide easy targets for agent provocateurs, infiltration, and extralegal, preemptive harassment.
What can we do in Richmond to move the resistance forward? The Alliance wants to hear from you on what the next steps are in the fight. Yes, it is a fight: if the uniformed thugs in Minneapolis have demonstrated anything, it is that normal civil society is a thing of the past. In a way, they have done us a favor by making their intentions so clear. Time to stop lamenting the police state and start resisting it.
For more information, check in with Twin Cities Indymedia for ongoing coverage. Also, listen to this week's program on Weekly Sedition - big ups to RVA's own Kontra for a thoroughly compelling show!
Virginians oppose war with Iran
July 15th, 2008
From the RPEC mailing list:
Rally for Peace: End the Occupation of Iraq, Say No to War Against Iran
The Church of the Brethren Witness/Washington Office (BWWO) will be leading a public rally for nonviolence at the 2008 Richmond Annual Conference in Richmond, VA, July 15. The Tuesday afternoon event will call for an end to the violence of all current wars and focus on the need for direct conversation and mediation with Iran.
The event will begin at the 5th Street entrance to the Richmond Coliseum at 4:40 p.m. with a march up 5th to Broad Street, then east on Broad to City Hall between 9th and 10th streets, where there will be a rally. The event will conclude by 6 p.m. Organizers invite Brethren and Richmond area peacemakers to join in this time of witness for peace.
In organizing this event Phil Jones, director of the BWWO, hopes Brethren can "once again give faithful witness to who we are as a peace church and work in faithful partnership with area peacemakers toward the common goal of justice and equality, something that can never be achieved through the violence of war."
The rally was arranged with help from Adria Scharf of the Richmond Peace Education Center and Phil Wilayto of the Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality.
Even though it's short notice, I'm going to try to make this action; let me know if you're going!
Also, the Defenders are planning another antiwar action:
The protest will start at noon on Saturday, Aug. 2, outside Gate 5 of the Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, corner of Shore Drive and Independence Blvd. in Virginia Beach. The demands are "No War on Iran - U.S. Out of Iraq - Money for Human Needs, not War!" The protest is being called by the Hampton Roads Peace & Justice Coalition and Norfolk-area members of Veterans for Peace. For more information, contact the Hampton Roads Peace & Justice Coalition at (757) 470-9797. This protest will be one of more than 50 around the country being held in response to a call by StopWarOnIran.org, which is affiliated with the Troops Out Now Coalition.
And more actions in the central Virginia region:
In addition, United for Peace & Justice is also calling for protests against an attack on Iran, to take place on Saturday, July 19. We are also calling for support for these actions (there will be one in Charlottesville, at least), but we thought one week was too soon to get something together here in Richmond. Instead, RVA4Peace will initiate a call for a Richmond protest outside the offices of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, which has been running increasingly incendiary stories and headlines about what it it projecting as a near certain war with (not on) Iran. That protest will take place at 1 p.m., Saturday, July 26, 300 E. Franklin St., downtown Richmond. We will project that effort in solidarity with both the UFPJ and StopWarOnIran.org actions, and will use it to try and build momentum for the Aug. 2 protest.
Libertarians are crucial allies in the antiwar movement and the Richmond Left Libertarian Alliance heartily endorses these actions. It's not enough to make principled, logical, abstract arguments against war - it's time to put our bodies on the line. By standing in solidarity with our friends on the left, we help build the kind of coalition that can change things in this country. Do your part to help bridge the libertarian / left gap and show that war is a priority for the radical libertarian movement in Richmond!
Anti-Iran War Action
July 11th, 2008
Via the Defenders of Freedom, Justice, and Equality's Phil Wilayto:
It's looking increasingly like the U.S. or Israel will attack Iran this summer, then hope for a response from Iran, and then, in Hillary Clinton's words, attack again to "obliterate" the country.
The Defenders will be hosting an emergency meeting tomorrow morning to plan Richmond-area participation in a very important protest to take place Aug. 2 in Norfolk to oppose any attack on Iran. Norfolk naval forces would be heavily involved in any attack on Iran. All progressive-minded folk are welcome.
The meeting will take place Saturday, June 12, 10:30 a.m., in the Fellowship Hall (basement) of Asbury United Methodist Church, 324 N. 29th St. (corner of 29th and East Marshall streets) in Richmond's Church Hill area. Please enter through the parking lot in the back of the church.
Please contact Phil Wilayto (philwilayto at-sign earth link period net) to RSVP.