Mutualist journal club

Scottish independence? No fear! Jimmy Reid Alasdair Gray Christopher Harvie - openDemocracy

Seems like OpenDemocracy is on a secession kick. Anyway, the fragmentation of the UK seems to be a no brainer (if that's what the Scotts want). Scotland is a developed nation with a sense of fairness at least as strong as that of hte UK, it has a national identity that was suppressed by violence, and it would result in the fragmentation of one of the more powerful countries in the world, meaning that it decreases the overall risk of international imbalances of power.

It looks like a number of Latin American countries are at risk of fragmentation, according to The partition temptation: Iraq to Latin America Juan Gabriel Tokatlian by Juan Gabriel Tokatlian at Open Democracy.

This is interesting, and I generally support independence movements in accordance with the ideas set forth by Murray Rothbard in National Liberation. With many anarchistic movements active in Latin American countries, it seems that the more fragmented the countries are, the more possibility that an especially good society will emerge ("laboratories of democracy", and that).

Of course there are conditions under which fragmentation would be against the interests of liberty--if it results in warfare, allows a small elite to dominate others in their secessionist region (such as the Confederate States of America), or weakens the society to the point where foreign powers can dominate it.

Something to think about...

If you might be up for writing a 500 word manifesto, check out gapingvoid: change the world, 500 words at a time

Introducing a new type of blogging--the blog review: Egypt Blog Review

This site is run by a journalist, and does exactly what it says--reviews blogs about Egypt. I suspect that the purpose is to create a greater sense of community among these bloggers and their readers (similar to the Mutual Journal Club or a the Blogosphere of the Libertarian Left). However, it also separates the wheat from the chafe, which can make the material more accessible to "outsiders" who would get bored or turned off by some of the low-quality content that exists on any blog.

One more advancement in the bottom-up organization of information.

Some anarchists are attempting to follow the "think tank" publicity model. Good luck to them.

Center for a Stateless Society