Rad Geek People's Daily

official state media for a secessionist republic of one

Markets Not Capitalism on tour!

Here's a pretty old post from the blog archives of Geekery Today; it was written about 12 years ago, in 2012, on the World Wide Web.

So I’ve mentioned already that I did a book event a while back with Roderick back in Auburn, and that I am going to be in Austin, Texas this weekend to do a couple more book events for Markets Not Capitalism. What I’ve been working on, behind the scenes, but haven’t announced publicly yet is that these are just the first two legs in a seat-of-the-pants sort of book tour that I’ve been working to put together over the next few months. In addition to the events this weekend in Austin, there are also confirmed events in late February in and around Nashua, New Hampshire, and in mid-March in Asheville, North Carolina. As with all these events, I’ll be doing a brief talk, a reading, Q&A and book-signing. (In New Hampshire I’ll also be holding down tables at Liberty Forum and AltExpo with a wide selection of left-libertarian and market anarchist literature.)

Editor and contributor Charles Johnson will be here for a discussion of his new book, Markets Not Capitalism: Individualist Anarchism Against Bosses, Inequality, Corporate Power, and Structural Poverty (Autonomedia, Nov. 2011).

Individualist anarchists believe in mutual exchange, not economic privilege. They believe in freed markets, not capitalism. They defend a distinctive response to the challenges of global capitalism and social justice: eliminate the political privileges that prop up capitalists. The economic crisis needs fresh new responses, which emphasize the ways in which poverty and economic inequality have resulted from collusion between government and big business, which has enriched a few corporate giants at the expense of the rest of us. Rather than turning back to politics, the authors argue that working people must begin to free themselves of the mistakes of the past, and work together to take back control over their own lives and livelihoods through individual freedom, mutual exchange, human-scale markets and nonviolent grassroots social activism. Books for sale, books signed, discussion to be had, Q&A to follow. Come on down!

Charles Johnson (b. 1981) is a market anarchist writer from Auburn, Alabama. He is a member of Occupy Auburn and the Industrial Workers of the World, and a Research Associate at the Molinari Institute. He has published the Rad Geek People’s Daily weblog at radgeek.com since 2001, and is a frequent speaker and columnist on radical responses to the economic crises, stateless social activism, and the philosophy of anarchism.

Here are the dates we’ve got more-or-less confirmed so far:

Interested? I hope I’ll see you somewhere along the road! Come on down to one if you can; invite your friends; spread the word. I’m excited; these events are always a lot of fun, and vital to helping get the word out, and I’d like to do what I can to keep this market anarchist roadshow going as long as can be managed. If you’re interested and able, here’s a couple things that you can do to help keep it running.

  1. Set it up! If you would like to get an event in your neighborhood, and you know a good space to get in touch with, contact me by e-mail or phone! Radical bookstores, infoshops and (A) community centers, and independent community bookstores are usually the best bet, but I’ll show up anywhere I’m invited to talk. I’m especially interested in dates that I might be able to connect with one of the existing appearances — I’m open for any stops along the way from Alabama to New Hampshire during the days before my appearances in Nashua; immediately after the appearance in Nashua, I’m going to be in Chicago, Ill. for other reasons (but if you’re interested in getting an event set up there, I’ll have the time; just let me know!). And I’m happy to add stops to the trip after Asheville in mid-March. (Or anywhere else, after the March 15th appearance.) I’m definitely willing to go just about anywhere east of the Continental Divide; for points West, get in touch with me anyway, as we might be able to hook something up with either me or Gary. Let me know what you think! Hopefully I’ll be adding more details and stops as they come in and get confirmed.

  2. Chip in! If you want to support the progress of the rolling free-market anticapitalist caravan, you can help us out by tossing a few coins into the hat to help cover the costs of transportation and lodging. I’m working on as thin a shoestring as possible, by combining trips, packing a lunch and couch-surfing for crash spaces; with support from y’ALL, I can keep this going a lot longer and make the most of the opportunities to talk about market anarchism and free-market anticapitalism, make connections with local radicals, and put the good word out among our fellow Anarchists.

Here’s the shoestring so far, for reference. (Costs are estimated using AAA’s fuel cost calculator, etc. This budget may be revised as new events are added.) Donations go to the Molinari Institute; any proceeds above reimburseable expenses will go to support left-libertarian scholarship and market anarchist outreach.

Markets Not Capitalism 2012 tour shoestring budget
Cost Description
$290 Austin, Tex. Feb 3-6: Travel expenses. 2 events: Brave New Books and MonkeyWrench Books.
~$0~ Lodging in Austin (crash space secured!)
$210 Nashua, NH. Late Feb. Travel expenses (one way). Multiple events: appearances in and around Liberty Forum and AltExpo 2012, bookstore event(s) TBA.
$50 Lodging en route to Nashua
~$0~ Lodging in Nashua, NH (crash space secured!)
$110 Asheville, NC. March 15. Travel expenses. Firestorm Books in Asheville, NC.
$660 Total costs (estimate as of 3 Feb 2012)

Today Austin, tomorrow the world …

5 replies to Markets Not Capitalism on tour! Use a feed to Follow replies to this article · TrackBack URI

  1. Grabrich

    Hi Charles,

    I think it would be great if you could be interviewed on RT (Russia Today). Many programs/hosts appear to be quite libertarian friendly. They regularly feature Cato Institute reps. It’s one of the few channels that present Ron Paul in a favourable light. Even Lew Rockwell has been interviewed many times. Recently, Jeffrey Tucker was interviewed.

    Surely a “left” libertarian could make headway!

    The best shows, IMHO, are (in order):

    http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAlyonaShow#p/a

    http://www.youtube.com/capitalaccount

    http://rt.com/usa/podcasts/

    I live in Canada, and this channel is part of our basic satellite TV pkg (at least the one provided by Bell).

    Richard G.

  2. RJ Miller

    I just had to stop by and say up front that this book has single-handedly changed the way I view radical Libertarian thought as well as what the business structure of a market anarchist society would look like once and for all!

    You and Gary Chartier have made history with the publication of this book! Not only does the collection of essays distinguish Left-Libertarianism from mainstream schools of thought more clearly than other works that only begin to scratch the surface, but this is probably the first book capable of destroying all the presumptions found in Beltway thinking once and for all.

    Previously I was more inclined to emphasize how corporate executives “earned” their fair share by contrasting their salaries with the value of their management, but now I am in serious doubt that the corporate hierarchy we see today even remotely resembles a true free market outcome.

    It was very refreshing to see that Sheldon Richman has mentioned the book on Reason.com. Hopefully other Libertarians will reassess their rhetoric as well.

    -RJ Miller

  3. RJ Miller

    On second thought (regarding that last sentence), maybe it will not be right-Libertarians that will primarily make the switch, but those coming from marxist/collectivist anarchist traditions. To my surprise, many of those that I met at certain OWS protests seemed surprisingly open to the idea of voluntary exchange.

— 2014 —

  1. Discussed at radgeek.com

    Rad Geek People's Daily 2014-11-05 – Markets Not Capitalism lets threedom ring:

    […] To the Gnu’s Room (Auburn/Opelika), Brave New Books (Austin), MonkeyWrench Books (Austin), Firestorm Books (Asheville), and the folks at AltExpo and Libertopia, who generously provided a forum for book readings and open discussions; […]

— 2015 —

  1. Discussed at radgeek.com

    Rad Geek People's Daily 2015-11-05 – Markets Not Capitalism’s Fourth Fifth:

    […] To the Gnu’s Room (Auburn/Opelika), Brave New Books (Austin), MonkeyWrench Books (Austin), Firestorm Books (Asheville), and the folks at AltExpo and Libertopia, who generously provided a forum for book readings and open discussions; […]

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