Mutualist journal club

Logan Ferree wrote an excellent critique of the rhetorical role of the Constitution in libertarian discourse. The title says it all: The Constitution as Libertarian Myth

I want to bring your attention to Debatepedia--basically a Wikipedia designed to catalog various debates.

I expect that this site will attract all types of readers and contributors--just as Wikipedia does. That means that content added to this site will be read by partisans and ideologues of all types, and also by regular Joes who just want a quick overview of an issue. You may want to contribute arguments as part of your outreach activities.

This seems to be aim to be a popular reference site, as opposed to rigorous debating wikis like Chains of Reason or Wikireason (apparently defunct). All contributions to Debatepedia should reflect points made by "third-party" authors. I hope that they are pretty liberal for deciding what counts for "third-party"...and that this rule only serves to make sure that all the arguments have been thought through and vetted by at least one person before being added to the Wiki.

Think of your favorite writers, and add their arguments to Debatepedia!

Former Alaskan Senator Mike Gravel is campaigning for the The National Initiative For Democracy, which is basically an attempt to establish a national referendum system.

A cornerstone of this campaign is convincing the American people that representative government is deeply flawed. I think that this is a good opportunity for us to promote a broad discussion of the problems with representative government, as well as discussing organizational principles for a democratic society (such as a bottom-up federations).

I'll try to write on these topics at Freedom Democrats and Daily Kos.

Asia Sentinel - Righting Mao’s Wrongs

A interesting article about the struggle for freedom of speech in China today--putting the struggle in the historical context of the "hundred flowers campaign" of 50 years ago, which was meant to promote freedom of thought but was quickly suppressed (the "anti-rightist" campaign) when it expanded to include criticism of the Chinese state.

I sometimes feel that our movement is undermined by the absence (as far as I can tell) of anarchist/mutualist movements in other countries, such as China and Russia. However, for now those peoples are struggling for the most basic freedoms, so a movement for full freedom may be out of place.

Anyway, how can we spread our message to these countries. I've heard that the Chinese government is tolerant of writings that criticize the USA...even if they introduce concepts that implicitly condemn all governments. Too bad I don't know Chinese...

tip to How the World Works.

How the World Works - The Napster pirates of transgenic biotech

The transgenic IP and regulatory system collapses in India--as farmers combat the de-skilling process and institute an anarchistic market system. As always, I recommend the entire HTWW blog --- lot's of stories of interest.

Is communism emerging "within the shell of the old system", in the form of Terra Bite coffee shop? How will Starbucks respond? How will the state respond?

The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: A Kirkland cafe with no prices