We can be Heroes

[resist_anywhere]

Okay, so we've gotta do something to fix society, or move it closer to the right track at least.  I just can't really decide what the first thing to do should be.  Food not bombs starting this summer.  Treehouse fort starting this summer.  Biking groups starting this summer.  But all of that is just recreational stuff, in my opinion

Comments

[zer]

There's something to be said in many situations for economic organization into smaller, reactive, adaptable groups that are self-responsible, flexible, and which operate with a minimum of unnecessary bureaucracy, and this I think is the strength of 'markets', rather than the many of the magical market mechanics lauded by marketeer economists in-and-of-themselves (long possible discussion here). So I would maintain that the above can be perfectly communistic: Communism through networks, not pyramids! Anarchist communism just needs a little applied information theory to bring it into the 21st century, then maybe the market thing can be side-stepped or redefined.

I've been working in and exposed to the independent video/computer game "industry"/community a lot lately, and it is fascinating in that it is possible to make and sell a product with very little capital input -- basically, the cost of computer and an internet connection. The most difficult part is having the knowledge required to run a business and finishing a software project. I've been meaning to make a worker-owned co-op 'electronic media company', but damn if I have any knowledge of how to run a business. Even doing freelance art is a learning experience (and I'm sure there are all kinds of things I should be doing that I'm not, to start, setting myself up as a LLC or some shit) - but I'm getting a hell of a lot of connections, which may come in handy in the future.

Yeah, that's my get-not-rich-but-at-least-make-a-living scheme. I bet it could work if I got the right people together; The hardest part may be finding a programmer that isn't a right-wing douchebag, they tend to be Libertarians and hostile to worker-run things. Plus they can make lots of money in the real software industry anyway. I just have to get enough extra cash between myself and my partner that she can quit her job and become my programmer.

[resist_anywhere]

That sounds totally awesome... like much of your Canuck life! Yes, I do read your journal a lot, I just usually don't post. Thanks for the input here, though! And yeah, by 'markets' I certainly didn't mean 'force yourself to the possibility of hostile takeovers by huge Western corporations' or anything like that... just economies where individuals or small cooperatives can make their own decisions.

[zer]

Haha, well, my Canuck life isn't all awesome -- I'm living with my partner's parents and it's driving me bloody crazy; well, more like making me depressed and apathetic, but on the other hand I've been developing some great self-discipline in the course of doing freelance graphics work. I feel like a bloody teenager, like I can't make "adult decisions" or express myself how I want because I'm a guest in someone elses' home for way too long, and it clearly isn't -my- home, set up how I want and am comfortable with. I just don't want to bitch too much about it because I don't want to come off as hating Laura's parents -- I don't, I just /really/ don't want to live with them.

Neither does Laura, so hopefully we get this awesome apartment near downtown Victoria for May 1st (woo!); It's like a half-block from a grocery store, 4 blocks from the provincial capital (So if I ever want to Smash The State I only have to go 4 blocks! And I shall never tire of this joke.), and it's within walking distance of the ocean. Goddamn we better get that apartment; Enough whining from me, heh.

Canada is pretty good though, and I'd recommend it to anyone. It -is- slowly eroding to be more like the US though.

Regarding markets, I think what I want to do is take the useful parts of them (as well expressed by, like, chris_acheson) and leave the ideological baggage and connotations of the word "markets" behind. I dunno, I'm just thinking more and more that anarchists really must develop more sound & current economic theory than naive-primitivism/dropping-out or the traditional socialist centralization. I guess Parecon was a sort of shot at progressive economics ... I should probably read that one.

[resist_anywhere]

Yeah, chris has put forth a lot of good ideas that I like. And you're right, I probably lose more by using the term "markets" than I gain. I'm just stuck in an Eastern European mindset; go figure. I've never read Parecon either.

Anyway, I really feel you in terms of needing to control your own living space. I'm saving up money, at the cost of all kinds of great experiences I could be having in Europe, just because I can't stand the thought of living with my mom while I get back on my feet when I return stateside. And my mom's a totally awesome person... I just need my own place. The new apartment sounds awesome, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!