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"Anarchist" commune in Detroit

Discussion in 'Anarchism and radical activism' started by ungovernable, Sep 14, 2013.

  1. ungovernable

    ungovernable Autonome Staff Member Uploader Admin Team Experienced member


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    With Detroit’s Bankruptcy, Anarchists Have Begun Project “Free Detroit” – Starting a Community

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    The city of Detroit isn’t looking too pretty to date. On July 18th as many know, Detroit filed for bankruptcy after falling an estimated $20 billion in debt to over 100,000 creditors. Due to the inability for the city government to provide for goods and services it once could, common emergency calls are questionable on reply, police hours have been cut back, and ambulance and fire services are not completely reliable. Other services such as education and social benefits from the state-run workplace are showing decline as well.

    With much of the city in disarray and literally moving away, the cost of living has gone down dramatically with housing prices in some cases reaching only a single dollar. Taking advantage of the opportunity to cash in on cashless houses, Michigan market-anarchists from the “Michigan Peace and Liberty Coalition” are coming together to put “theory into reality” when it comes to free markets. The group has deemed the project “Free Detroit” and they mean business, literally.

    In their plans, coalition members believe they’ll be purchasing an estimated five blocks of property, whether it is the individual who pays for the house and lives there or someone who buys it merely to invest in the idea. Katie Testa, an active member in MPLC and participant in Free Detroit, contacted The State Weekly, telling us that there’s been a tremendous amount of support towards the project. Testa also said many entrepreneurial spirits are joining in on the project, as they see Free Detroit as a way to explore anarchy.

    Testa explained that part of having well-aligned market-anarchists to “utilize their own unique skills and abilities” will result in providing goods and services that city officials can no longer promise. Part of what Free Detroit members hope to provide is food production, security, water collection, education, construction, communications, child services and many others – through agorism, without any government intervention. The Michigan native told TSW that her hopeful role would be educational services.

    “I have connected with a few other individuals who are interested in founding a free school in alignment with meeting the unique needs of each individual child involved while honoring their autonomy and curiosity,” bringing up the idea of “unschooling” in a group setting. In addition, Testa told TSW that a dispute resolution and mediation service would inspire her as well, looking towards solving community problems through a win/win situation and not a punishment/reward model – calling that the status quo.

    The State Weekly got in touch with Rob Bert as well, who is an active member for Free Detroit. Bert told TSW that support for the market-anarchist approach has been worldwide with true consideration online and idea sharing. Asking Bert how a community-based anarchy inside a government-run city would work, regarding conditions, Bert replied, “Literacy programs, job opportunities through privately owned farms and home renovation, extensive permaculture development to feed the hungry,” and other outreach programs.

    Without setting the bar too high, Bert noted, “I feel that fundamental concerns like security, blight, food production, and other immediate issues will need to first be taken care of before longer term services like education cooperatives can flourish.” The Free Detroit organizer sees this opportunity as a way for mutual cooperation and understanding as a community to arise, which in the future could only bring market-anarchist qualities, to a place where Free Detroit members say it’s needed.

    Boiling down to it, what Free Detroit hopes to prove to Detroit, the nation and apparently the world, is that free market enterprise, voluntary actions and mutual cooperation are the laying foundations of a free and prosperous society. Organizers of the project have met in Detroit recently to construct and brainstorm their plans going forward.

    http://thestateweekly.com/with-detroits ... mmunity-2/
     

  2. punkmar77

    punkmar77 Experienced Member Uploader Experienced member


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    Re: Anarchist commune in Detroit

    What exactly is the difference between market anarchists and Anarcho-Capitalists? I am sensing that these folks hold more to Kropotkin than anything else am I missing the connection here?
     
  3. marsha

    marsha Member New Member


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    Re: Anarchist commune in Detroit

    OH PLEASE! (sorry for shouting, but you really broke a motown heart and I bet even whats left of kropotin is rotating in anger...)
    there is NO difference between "libertarians" and "left" libertarians" = market anarchists, it's just that the latter have learned to use the recent hype of "anarchy" and hide behind some social potemkin villaging, including the promise of "protection and security" and of course it isn't about the actural situation on the street, it's about the win/win solution in petty personal affairs...
    during recent criticism these fucks adapted even better step by step, their facebook presence changed name at least three times, "folks" like katie testa give the cute pictures and the "native" toucht too.
    i can't find it at the moment, but almost a year ago someone mentioned "yuppie ventures turning the community into corporate property" right here on the board.

    some of the connections to certain organisations and web sites aren't that obvious, but some radio interviews were setting a few others and me on the track, basic sermon:
    i don't know if i can post the links to certain websites or the names of "alternative" journalists traceable back to these websits without getting in trouble here on the board and back home, i already had some "friendly advice" to keep my mouth shut, my home is "sadly" in the way of some "community friendly" gentrification project, maybe one of the mods makes up his mind and reads the links i can provide privately.

    and please:
    checking a background before posting such propaganda shit doesn't hurt!
     
  4. THEBLACKNOVA

    THEBLACKNOVA Experienced Member Experienced member Forum Member


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    Re: Anarchist commune in Detroit

    check out these 2 videos from "Free Detroit"...

    The first one is on privatized security forces in the community...

    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAeurucvtdk[/video]

    The second video is about whats going on in the above article....

    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdIewb5afnY[/video]

    since i have not been there i imagine there are anarchists there working on projects and others who are there selling the idea of a new type of community and trying to exploit the situation for mofo money...

    the word GENTRIFICATION comes to mind....

    capitalist trying to reinvent themselves and sell a new product... A NEW COMMUNITY and SOCIETY... :ecouteurs:
     
  5. punkmar77

    punkmar77 Experienced Member Uploader Experienced member


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    Re: Anarchist commune in Detroit

    Marsha you can post questionable links by just modifying the "." to (dot) so that you can't actually link from here but can copy/paste and correct it back to "." - I had a sneaking suspicion that it was the an-cap crowd but some of the language used in the article are Kropotkin ideas...fuckers are getting really good at corrupting the language and ideas into double-speak. :@
     
  6. marsha

    marsha Member New Member


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    the "native" communities are still working hard, maybe even desperately hard just to prepare and they have to, because so many people depend on that work - but the "new" detroits are not only selling their "ideas". they are already about setting them into reality, using resources we never even could have dreamed of while the simple " midtown title of ownership" is a nightmare we never had.
    yesterday we had some crisis assembly, someone compared the actual situation with colonial sideshows like cuba before '59 - upper michigan instead of miami, maybe we should start to feel more like havaneros in this rusting el dorado we call home...
    gentrification like the "new" bars, shops and deluxe apartment blocks on offer is just one thing that could be dealt with per boycott and anyways: most of us just don't have the money.
    but the upcoming garden- and waterprojects undermine our very basis, we can't competete with the much larger and more effective undertakings. they already draw out the communards with the promise of a regular income, job security and this strange travesty of kinda corporate identity:
    we are all in this together - this is our chance, why waste a worry who's earning out of this...
    thanks for the reply, but i'm not the only one to decide about outing involved people and their connections,
    there are some of us with a far more vulnerable situation than mine, some have doubts about the how-to and even this forum with lots of youngsters who might be not that good at debugging double-speak.
    we are still discussing if, where and how to do the public action - and how to deal with the predictable far too resourceful "reaction"...
     
  7. ungovernable

    ungovernable Autonome Staff Member Uploader Admin Team Experienced member


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    Re: Anarchist commune in Detroit

    yep i also thought the part about free market was weird and i suspected they could be anarcho-capitalists but it was very unclear in the article.

    However, we must admit this is a really interessing project even if it could have started by squatting instead of just buying buildings. But if they can really get buildings for a few dollars, why not...

    Edit: i didn't see the other posts before replying, thanks for bringing this up. The idea of profiting detroit bankrupcy to try organizing an anarchist micro-community is still very interessing, it's just sad if it turns into an anarcho-capitalist community...
     
  8. hobolosophy

    hobolosophy Active Member Forum Member


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    I did some good old search engine research and those guys really seem to be suspect. Just look at their facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/LiveFreeDetroit) with tons of anarcho capitalist memes. They also share stuff from The Michigan Peace and Liberty Coalition (https://www.facebook.com/MichiganPeaceandLiberty) and they look like diehard anarcho capitalists to me. They probably work out loan plans with the banks to buy back all the properties for little money. In the end they might even praise it as an economic miracle. "Buy your dream house in Anarchopolis. Revolution is just one loan away." Damn, I should start an advertising agency... Does anyone wants to join? We could open an office in Detroit. I've heard that they have some cheap buildings and everything is super anarcho. :lmao:
     
  9. Berserksteve

    Berserksteve Member Forum Member


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    Man, I was hoping some real anarchist would flock to Detroit for the Capitalists :( At least this could help draw some more attention to the city.
     
  10. ungovernable

    ungovernable Autonome Staff Member Uploader Admin Team Experienced member


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    Yeah they are definetly anarcho-capitalists,in august they posted "Support our friends in the Calumet region at Free Calumet with a LIKE!"
    Free Calumet define themselves as voluntarist anarcho-capitalists
    https://www.facebook.com/FreeCalumet

    Fuck them
     
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