This article was originally posted @ the Salt Lake Freedom Hive.
The concept of Agorism is one of the many concepts that will be discussed often here in the Freedom Hive. Not only discussed, but practiced and promoted with the hope of inspiring others to adopt the ideas of Agorism and counter-economics.
While researching human control systems that attempt to enslave and control people advertently or inadvertently, I’ve come across one of those systems and spent a large amount of time researching it, the Federal Reserve System. This is the current monetary system in place, not only in the United States, but the same system has been setup all over the world.
A lot of my research on the topic of the Federal Reserve System has been tracked in my WebBrain, The Creature of Control.
I’ve also compiled a lot of data on the Fed on a Facebook page I manage End The Federal Reserve – End Slavery.
It did not take long in my research to find that the Federal Reserve System is directly opposed to the philosophy of freedom and the main purpose of the Fed is to enslave human beings to endless debt and a monetary unit (the Federal Reserve note) that is based on no actual value.
For those who are not familiar with the Federal Reserve System and how it works, I would recommend starting with the book by the great researcher and activist, G. Edward Griffin of freedomforceinternational.org, The Creature from Jekyll Island.
For those who like a video format, a good starting point would be a video produced by another great researcher, journalist, podcaster, activist, James Corbett of corbettreport.com, Century of Enslavement: The History of the Federal Reserve System.
With the understanding that the Federal Reserve is a system of human enslavement based in coercion and control over human beings, one has to eventually come to the thought, “what can I do about this?”.
Introducing: Agorism
Among other solutions that can be found (and they can be found), the idea of Agorism is one that has sparked my interest in a big way.
What is Agorism?
The Wikipedia definition tells us:
“Agorism is a libertarian social philosophy that advocates creating a society in which all relations between people are voluntary exchanges by means of counter-economics, thus engaging in a manner with aspects of peaceful revolution. It was first proposed by libertarian philosopher Samuel Edward Konkin III in 1975, with contributions partly by J. Neil Schulman.”
I don’t like to heavily rely on Wikipedia being the ultimate authority for defining everything and presenting an accurate historical view. However, they do a decent job providing a definition for us here.
We can look to Konkin, the creator of the concept of Agorism, from his book “An Agorist Primer”:
“Agorism can be defined simply: it is thought and action consistent with freedom. The moment one deals with “thinking,” “acting,” “consistency,” and especially “freedom,” things get more and more complex…..”
“…..Reality is our standard. Nature is our lawgiver. In a general sense, agorism is scientific in that it bases itself on verifiable observations about reality.”
Konkin Continues:
“Agorism is the consistent integration of libertarian theory with counter-economic practice; an agorist is one who acts consistently for freedom and in freedom”
For anyone serious about Agorism and ending the Federal Reserve human slavery system, I would recommend reading the full text of “An Agorist Primer” which can easily be found online and there are many audiobook versions available.
Also, Back again to our friend, James Corbett for a great podcast episode on Agorism:
The Corbett Report: Episode 309 – Solutions: Agorism
For more information on the specifics of Agorism, please check out this external link (not my website): http://agorism.info/
Back to Konkin, he dropped a clue in the brief clips I used from his book , “Agorism is the consistent integration of libertarian theory with counter-economic practice”.
We can use Wikipedia here again for a basic definition of Counter-economics.
“Counter-economics is a term originally used by Samuel Edward Konkin III and J. Neil Schulman, libertarian activists and theorists. Konkin defined it as “the study or practice of all peaceful human action which is forbidden by the State.” The term is short for “counter-establishment economics” and may also be referred to as counter-politics. Counter-economics was integrated by Schulman into Konkin’s doctrine of Agorism.”
This idea of Agorism using counter-economic measures is not only a solution which people can start adopting (and are already), but this concept also falls in-line with the supporting and expanding individual human freedoms. It supports the Non-Aggression Principle, Voluntaryism, and if adopted widely can bring about a peaceful society in which people can choose to voluntarily interact with others without the enslaving overhead of systems like the Federal Reserve and the coercive force of the state.
These ideas can seem extreme and unfounded to someone who has not spent time grasping the uncomfortable position that humanity finds itself in. Monetary systems designed on human slavery, government which use coercion with the threat of violence to control their “citizens”, mind controlled masses who refuse to face the reality around them and continue to participate in their own enslavement.
However, one who does understand the world around them and how it’s operating undoubtedly seek solutions that they themselves can participate in.
There is no “one size fits all” path that each person can take to start integrating these solutions. However, our decentralized action toward the common goal of seeking truth, freedom, and prosperity, will all unfold into an avalanche that chokes the state and the immoral institutions like the Federal Reserve System.
One way we start to integrate this concept is by building Agoras on a local level. Starting with others in your community and teaching, sharing, and acting on counter-economic activities. We can find others integrating this such as activist Derrick Broze with The Conscious Resistance.
Check out Derrick’s video on building Freedom Cells, 10 Tips For Building a Freedom Cell.
I will explore Freedom Cells further in an upcoming article on the topic. The Salt Lake Freedom Hive itself is a form of this concept.
Here is another site which I’ve signed up on and you can join me there: The Freedom Cell Network. Which is powered by the coeo.cc Community Connector.
What the Freedom Cells website has to say about Freedom Cells:
“Freedom Cells are peer to peer groups organizing themselves in a decentralized manner with the collective goal of asserting the sovereignty of group members through peaceful resistance and the creation of alternative institutions.”
(Agora, Anarchy, Action!)
