Tuesday, August 27, 2013

‘National Personal Autonomy’ in a Post-Modern World?

‘National Personal Autonomy’ in a Post-Modern World?
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By Josh Munro NTNA

For a while now, I’ve been curious about the Austromarxist concept of National Personal Autonomy.  After reading what I can about it (very little information on the subject is available in English), I’ve come to the conclusion that in a decentralized, Pan-Secessionist/Tribal Anarchist world, it could be a very useful concept.
The following is the best (and most available) description of the NPA concept in the Austromarxist sense:

“Let us consider the case of a country composed of several national groups, e.g. Poles, Lithuanians and Jews. Each national group would create a separate movement. All citizens belonging to a given national group would join a special organisation that would hold cultural assemblies in each region and a general cultural assembly for the whole country. The assemblies would be given financial powers of their own: either each national group would be entitled to raise taxes on its members, or the state would allocate a proportion of its overall budget to each of them. Every citizen of the state would belong to one of the national groups, but the question of which national movement to join would be a matter of personal choice and no authority would have any control over his decision. The national movements would be subject to the general legislation of the state, but in their own areas of responsibility they would be autonomous and none of them would have the right to interfere in the affairs of the others”. – Vladimir Medem, “Social democracy and the national question”

The following excerpt presents us with an interesting concept: different nationalities in a given State will be autonomous and run themselves.  Now, this is an interesting concept, one that could be altered to suit a decentralized world.  What I’m proposing is a concept that could solve an important factor in a decentralized world, which is geography.  Geography is not the only factor in what makes a nation, but it would be, especially after the collapse of the system, an important matter as people re-organize themselves along endless lines.

Before I go any further, let me just clarify that the title of this article isn’t entirely accurate.  I don’t mean National Personal Autonomy in a racial sense, or even a Statist sense.  I’m talking about the term ‘nation’ in a voluntary sense.  What I’m advocating is a libertarian concept similar to NPA, but at the same time one that is used in a somewhat different way. I still refer to my idea as NPA in this article, though, because I do believe that the name adequately sums up what I’m proposing; so, in its most basic sense, you could call it a modern interpretation of the ‘National Personal Autonomy’ concept.

I personally subscribe to the belief that a nation or tribe is merely a group of people who choose to associate with one another, and that it doesn’t have to be ethnically exclusive (some may choose to form such a community, and that is entirely their own prerogative).  The factors for a nation/tribe are endless: interests, religion, friends and/or associates, culture, race, etc.  But I digress.  In a decentralized world, there will be nations/tribes everywhere, as well as micro-nations, city-states, etc.  The overall goal of a decentralized world is to create a truly voluntary society where people can live their lives as they please, so long as they don’t infringe upon the rights of others.  But what happens when location becomes a factor in life?
In North America, for example, there is a strong affinity toward private property.  I myself have no intent to give up my home.  This is a great example as to where the NPA concept, or at least something similar, could come in handy.  Let’s say an area is the territory of a nation or tribe, but there are people still living in their homes within the, let’s say, intentional community, who don’t identify as members of such (either sovereigns or members of another nation/tribe).  Well, if you were to use at least a similar idea, there should be no problem.

If you were to ask me, I would say that they’re more than free to live in the same area, so long as they respect the Non-Aggression Principle.  If they’re a sovereign or a collective of sovereigns, then I would recommend that they be self-sufficient in one way or another.  The same can be said of the member(s) of another nation/tribe, although they may also be dependent on their respective nation/tribe (people make nations, after all, not geography; however, as I’m stating in this article, geography can play an important role).  Or, they could even have trade deals with the other nation(s)/tribe(s) that they share the area with.  Of course, not everybody would agree with this idea, and may not want people of a certain kind (I don’t necessarily mean race, I just mean in general) sharing the same area with them.  That’s entirely their prerogative.  The whole point of this concept is simply to offer a solution to the geography factor, especially in the large countries that make up North America, where a lot of people have family, associates, etc., spread out in different geographic locations everywhere.
In a Post-Modern, decentralized world, the possibilities will be endless, after all.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

American Revolutionary Vanguard Twenty-Five Point Program


Audio version

  1. Recognizing that the United States of America is rapidly degenerating into a totalitarian police state domestically and steadily being brought under the rule of a global corporate state internationally, American Revolutionary Vanguard is established for building a unified resistance front among all groups, organizations and movements opposed to the common enemies.

  2.  American Revolutionary Vanguard is non-partisan, non-ideological, non-racial and non-denominational. Our allies and supporters may come from any political party, ideological background, ethnic group or religion. We make no distinction on the basis of gender, nationality, sexual identity, physical disabilities, cultural identity, age or class origins.

  3. American Revolutionary Vanguard works for the development of media outlets that provide alternatives to the state-corporate dominated media including shortwave radio, internet news services, public access television, independent publishing houses, newsletters, speakers’ bureaus and any other opportunities that may arise.

  4. American Revolutionary Vanguard seeks to network with and form alliances with all groups and individuals engaged in active resistance including decentralists, non-supremacist separatists, constitutionalists, autonomists, patriots, populists, anti-corporate libertarians, anarchists, sovereigns, common law advocates, regionalists, anti-state conservatives, non-statist nationalists, agorists, mutualists, syndicalists, individualists, guild socialists, council communists, individualist anarchists, collectivist anarchists, national anarchists, municipalists, Georgists, farmer liberationists, agrarians, radical traditionalists, micronationalists, Luddites, radical environmentalists, deep ecologists, non-reactionary third postionists, geonomists, geolibertarians, libertarian socialists, non-racist militias, anarcha-feminists, libertarian feminists, queer activists, anti-globalists and non-statist class struggle advocates of every kind.

  5. Recognizing that youth are the future, American Revolutionary Vanguard focuses its primary recruiting efforts towards intelligent, committed and capable young men and women who will naturally develop into the leadership corps of the struggle to come.

  6. American Revolutionary Vanguard encourages its supporters to join and seek leadership positions within larger popular organizations including dissident political parties, neighborhood associations and grassroots community organizations, mainstream pressure groups, territorial secessionist movements and public educational institutions.

  7. American Revolutionary Vanguard works for the creation of an economic base for the common struggle and therefore encourages revolutionary individuals and organizations to develop enterprises oriented towards sustainable economic autonomy and the generation of income for revolutionary activities. Such enterprises might include restaurants, hotels, nightclubs, recreational facilities, craftworks and manufacturing.

  8. American Revolutionary Vanguard encourages labor militancy, particularly in resistance to globalism, and engages in strike support activities and the creation of enterprises operated directly by the workers themselves without corporate or government involvement.

  9. American Revolutionary Vanguard seeks to help the poor free themselves from state wardship through the creation of alternative assistance programs, unions for claimants of public assistance and non-governmental public works programs.

  10. American Revolutionary Vanguard supports the development of cooperatives and guilds for the provision of affordable health care to the poor and workers, care for the sick and elderly, provision of reliable information to consumers and the organizing of tenants in opposition to slumlords and public housing authorities without reliance on statist, classist “zoning” laws, “building codes”, “land use” regulations and other forms of government interference.

  11. American Revolutionary Vanguard supports the establishment of stable monetary systems where the incomes of working people are not subject to the hidden tax of inflation. The implementation of private currency or local and regional public currency subject to a gold or silver standard would be the proper method for achieving this aim.

  12. American Revolutionary Vanguard opposes state-controlled education and works for the ultimate abolition of both government schools and compulsory school attendance laws. State schools should be replaced by community based neighborhood schools, home schools, self-education via individual tutors, the internet and CD-ROM as well as private schools for those who desire them.

  13. American Revolutionary Vanguard supports the establishment of special clubs for youth oriented towards various forms of fashion, music, entertainment, sports and other features of youth culture along with the parallel provision of sound political education and training in firearms safety, competency and civilian defense techniques.

  14. American Revolutionary Vanguard works for the creation of special organizations for the defense and protection of youth, students, runaways, the homeless, the mentally ill, street vendors and other small-time enteprenuers, prisoners, addicts and prostitutes. These classes of persons are the most victimized and brutalized by the present system and are therefore in need of special assistance and recognition of their plight.

  15. American Revolutionary Vanguard works for the abolition of all laws criminalizing consensual adult behaviors including drug laws, gun laws, sex laws, prohibition of alternative medical treatments, prohibition of suicide, seat belt and motorcycle helmet laws, zoning laws, involuntary civil committment and drinking ages. Only acts of physical aggression against other people and their possessions can justly be considered crimes.

  16. American Revolutionary Vanguard supports the abolition of jails and prisons which are simply the modern version of slavery. Persons who do minor harms to others should be required to compensate the victims in some way with economic sanctions being the primary means of enforcement. Serious criminals should be sent to separate, penal communities where they will work ordinary jobs, live in ordinary housing, wear ordinary clothes, etc. but pay restitution to compensate victims and finance whatever supervision they may require.

  17. American Revolutionary Vanguard supports both formal and informal, individual and collective, resistance to the tax system. Taxes are a means by which working people and small businessmen are robbed in order to subsidize corporate welfare, the financing of tyrannical foreign regimes, military aggression against other nations, the fascist War on Drugs and the prison-industrial complex.

  18. American Revolutionary Vanguard unconditionally supports the right of all persons to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense against any threat to their lives, liberty, family and property including government. Persons who use firearms for criminal purposes should be sent to penal communities.

  19. American Revolutionary Vanguard calls for the establishment of a neighborhood-by-neigborhood, city-by-city, county-by-county volunteer civilian militia system for the purpose of resisting creeping domestic and global tyranny. Such militias may be either entirely private militia, operating without any government involvement whatsoever, or locally-based public militias, under the supervision of local political institutions.

  20. American Revolutionary Vanguard supports the establishment of locally-based common law courts supervised by volunteer juries and private judges not connected to the state. Such courts should serve as as alternative to and eventual replacement of the corrupt, incompetent, tyrannical state legal system. In addition, common law juries are to have the right to acquit any defendant for any reason.

  21. American Revolutionary Vanguard recognizes the right of all individuals to declare themselves “sovereign” citizens whereby all legal obligations for taxes, the obtainment of drivers’ licenses or social security cards or the display of motor vehicle tags may be renounced in exchange for the forfeiture of one’s right to use public services or vote in public elections.

  22. American Revolutionary Vanguard seeks dialogue and mutually advantageous cooperation with non-political outlaw organizations including street gangs, motorcycle clubs and prison gangs. We applaud those organizations of this type who have negotiated truces among themselves and who have sought to take up political struggle. We seek similar dialogue and cooperation with non-political, non-governmental clubs, leagues, orders, guilds, unions, fraternities and sororities of every kind.

  23. American Revolutionary Vanguard supports the seeking of local and regional elective office by revolutionary candidates. Useful offices might include city councils, county boards of supervisors, zoning commissions, school boards, local sheriff and state representative. In addition, parallel, provisional political institutions should be established at the local level.

  24. American Revolutionary Vanguard opposes all military aggression by the government of the United States against other nations. The natural allies of American revolutionaries are nationalist, separatist, anti-globalist, populist, anarchist, libertarian and class struggle movements throughout the world. The peoples of the earth who desire sovereignty for themselves are asked to support the struggle of domestic American revolutionaries, whether they be Arabic or Islamic nationalists, European separatists, anarchists or anti-globalists, indigenous peoples everwhere and Latin American rebel forces.

  25. American Revolutionary Vanguard aims to organize and actively engage the enemy on all fronts for the purpose of carrying out a comprehensive program of political, economic, social, cultural and military struggle against the common foe and the establishment of a decentralized collection of independent regions, communties, free cities, sovereign townships and counties, villages and kingdoms, tribes, republics and homelands in place of the tyrannical empire to whom the peoples of North America are now subject.