A Free Society, the Labour Market, and Job Security
Christopher Awuku
2008-02-18 17:00
Evidently, a free market in employment would exist within a stateless society. This naturally would manifest itself as a labour market lacking any governmental regulation of wages, health and safety issues or methods of hiring and firing. To seasoned libertarians at the least, a vindication of why minimum wages, or the imposition of health and safety legislation, is negative would be akin to...
Competition and Free Market Currencies
Christopher Awuku
2008-01-29 17:00
January 30, 2008
It must be said that libertarian outreach, or at the least the mere discussion of libertarian tenets with others, is often hard and taxing. Granted, many in Western society are brainwashed (if you will) into the passive acceptance of state powers, and thus cannot help but be statist. Still, dealing with statists, or those otherwise uninitiated with libertarian values, can be...
Voluntaryism, the Free Society and Economic Diversification
Christopher Awuku
2007-10-21 16:00
For the past month, I have been residing in Trinidad and Tobago in the West Indies , after deciding to take a break from the United Kingdom . Trinidad and Tobago has the largest per capita income of all Caribbean countries and benefits from reserves of fossil fuels, such as crude oil and natural gas. However, in the past few weeks, a number of companies in the energy sector have produced audits...
Voluntaryists, Market Anarchists, Left Anarchists and Marxists
Christopher Awuku
2007-07-31 16:00
From time to time, I often hear of libertarians claiming that left-anarchism and Marxism are diametric opposites to libertarianism. As a result of this claim, such libertarians would advocate that our movement be wary of such people, since they may call for initiations of force against us. Superficially, I can understand where these libertarians are coming from. Libertarians believe in free...
Some Thoughts on Voluntary Education, Part 2
Christopher Awuku
2007-07-26 16:00
After reading through the Strike The Root forums, I have been inspired to write this follow up piece to an earlier column on voluntaryist outreach. In particular, the Root Strikers' forum proved to be ample food for thought, especially in reference to my previous article. One specific post can be read below:
Voluntaryism: Voluntary Action Summed Up
Christopher Awuku
2007-07-09 16:00
One salient rebuke which arises in opposition to voluntaryism, especially from minarchists and other statists, is the free rider problem. Statists generally fear that within a stateless society, consumers may be able to receive goods and services without any payment for them. The Penguin Dictionary of Economics 1998 defines the free rider problem as:
"The problem, arising in many situations,...
Voluntaryism: Voluntary Action Summed Up
Christopher Awuku
2007-06-21 16:00
June 22, 2007
It seems to me that left-anarchists, such as anarcho-communists and anarcho-syndicalists, continually state that voluntaryism is not truly voluntary in nature. One salient point they cite is that employer-employee relationships could still exist in a voluntaryist society. As left-anarchists, such people naturally reject the concept of hierarchy in human social interactions....
Some Thoughts on Voluntaryist Education and Outreach
Christopher Awuku
2007-05-31 16:00
June 1, 2007
Ever since I became a libertarian, I've possessed a great desire to spread the word and "proselytise" (if you will) others about voluntaryist beliefs. I steadfastly believe that the state is an unnecessary evil and warrants removal without hesitation. Nevertheless, spreading the word is not as easy as it may seem and is an art, to a great degree. In this piece, I hope to outline...
Politics: Why Care About It?
Christopher Awuku
2007-04-18 16:00
April 19, 2007
Recently, a friend who visited my house noticed some political books I had collected over the years. After browsing through some textbooks and political dictionaries, she asked me:
"Chris, why do you own all of these?"
"I dunno really, I just find them interesting."
"Politics bores me. Each to their own, I guess . . . ."
How Far Should Self-Ownership Go?
Christopher Awuku
2007-02-26 17:00
February 27, 2007
In the spring of 2006, a German cannibal was convicted of murder, after he killed and ate another human being. This wasn't like any other murder, since the victim had consented to being killed and eaten. The standard libertarian approach to such an incident is that the victim possessed every right to exercise his self-ownership. But did he really? Are there limits to one's...
One Nation' Market Anarchy
Christopher Awuku
2007-02-19 17:00
February 20, 2007
In my country, the Conservative Party is one of the traditionally dominant political parties. One of the great Conservative Prime Ministers was Benjamin Disraeli, who, apart from being a politician, was also a noted writer. In one work, named Sybil, he spoke of:
Jury Trials: Are They Really 'More Libertarian'?
Christopher Awuku
2006-12-31 17:00
January 1, 2007
America didn't only gain the English language from its former British colonial masters. America also acquired the legal tradition of common law. If anything, the spread of common law around the globe was probably one of the greatest hallmarks of the British Empire.
Tell Them 'You Own Yourself'
Christopher Awuku
2006-12-14 17:00
When discussing market anarchist theory with others, especially statists and non-libertarians, I continually arrive at the same dilemma. I can successfully explain how the state undermines individual liberty. I can explain, in a reasonable fashion, how protection agencies (or DRO's) are viable alternatives to state-run police and judicial services. But I still come up short when attempting to...
The Stateless Society: Some Ideas on How to Get There
Christopher Awuku
2006-11-12 17:00
In my last article, I briefly touched upon the nature of political outreach and how it could be beneficial in the eventual creation of a stateless society. In this piece, I have decided to expand upon this ideal and discuss methods of actually creating a market anarchist society.
I Want Liberty and I Want It NOW' - A Futile Goal?
Christopher Awuku
2006-10-19 16:00
I've been a libertarian since 2002, and became a market anarchist within the past six months. Naturally I value the full and complete exercising of one's self-ownership and the elimination of the initiation of force against life, liberty and property.
As market anarchists, we would all rejoice at the eradication of the state. However, how close is such an occurrence? Could market anarchists...
Foreign Interventionism - an Inevitable Aspect of Power
Christopher Awuku
2006-09-25 16:00
As principled and long-time libertarians would know, a non-interventionist foreign policy has been a traditional mainstay of libertarian belief. We would feel that foreign conflicts around the world are none of our business, provided they don't affect the sovereignty of our country. After all, leading our own lives (and thus exercising our own self-ownership) is paramount, and this naturally...
Reparations and the Stateless Society
Christopher Awuku
2006-09-12 16:00
At my workplace, I was having a conversation with a co-worker, a black man. We were discussing various things and the issue of reparations for slavery came up. He said:
"You know, I think it's high time that Western governments coughed up and acknowledged the brutality of slavery."
"Well yeah, slavery was terrible. But reparations? That sounds foolish to me."
"Oh no? Well my ancestors...
The North American Union - A Warning to All Canadians, Americans and Mexicans
Christopher Awuku
2006-08-28 16:00
Since 2005, there have been rumours (and only rumours thus far) regarding the creation of a "North American Union," based upon the structure of the European Union. I'm not an American citizen, nor am I even a native of North America , still I first heard of these rumours on the American libertarian radio talk show called Free Talk Live.
Now what are to be made of these rumours? Should they be...
Humans Are Inclined to Submit to Authority: Oh Really?
Christopher Awuku
2006-07-27 16:00
I have been a libertarian for the past four years. Within the past 6-12 months, my views have altered from being minarchist to market anarchist/anarcho-capitalist in character. I realised to myself that if no one is permitted to initiate force against the person and/or property, then this naturally includes governments. In essence, I was logically applying and extending base libertarian...
Black Market Anarchism
Christopher Awuku
2006-07-26 16:00
The articles of Robert Wicks and Wilton Alston have made me ponder the nature of libertarianism amongst black and non-white people in general. I am black, but I'm not an American citizen. I live, and was born, in the United Kingdom .
Reprint Rights
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