Voluntaryism

The Charity That Just Gives Money To Poor People

"We talked to a man named Bernard Omondi who used the money — $1,000, paid in two installments — to buy a used motorcycle. He uses it as a taxi, charging his neighbors to ferry them around. Before he had the motorcycle, he says, he sometimes worked as a day laborer, but often couldn't find any work at all. We talked to several other people who started small businesses. One family bought a mill to grind corn for their neighbors; another started selling soap and cooking oil. All of the people who got money from GiveDirectly lived in mud-walled houses with grass roofs. Many of them spent part of the money on metal roofs to replace the old, grass roofs." Continue reading →

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Police Crackdown at Burning Man Alarms the Community

"Workers and volunteers who arrived early to Nevada’s Black Rock Desert for the annual art, self-reliance, and free-expression event called Burning Man are reporting an unprecedented police presence on the playa, and whispers of a police crackdown on the event are spreading. Burning Man has historically been a peaceful event with little to no incidents that would merit increased law enforcement. For example, at last year’s event, which had more than 52,000 attendees, a total of four drug-related arrests were made and 13 nonviolent misdemeanor citations were given (in lieu of arrests) according to the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office. No violent crimes were recorded." Continue reading →

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100 Outgunned Mexican Women Join Self-Defense League

"More than 100 women in the southern Mexican town of Xaltianguis have taken up arms to protect their community from organized crime groups, a local self-defense force official said Monday. The women signed up over the past four days with the Union of Peoples and Organizations of Guerrero State, or UPOEG, Xaltianguis community self-defense force commander Miguel Angel Jimenez told reporters. 'We have an average of nine groups' of community police, with each one made up of 12 women who will work in the daytime in the neighborhoods of Xaltianguis, located about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the resort city of Acapulco, Jimenez said." Continue reading →

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Christian school defies Arkansas attorney general, arms teachers & posts sign

"Two weeks after the attorney general of Arkansas, Dustin McDaniel, forbid the state’s school districts from taking advantage of an obscure law that would have allowed armed teachers to serve as de facto security guards, a private school in Bryant has decided to arm its staff. Pastor Black previously placed armed security guards outside his Sunday services, and claims that anywhere from one to seven staff members or teachers will be armed on a given day. Legislation explicitly allowing concealed weapons in schools operated by churches was passed in February of this year." Continue reading →

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Detroit’s Anarcho-Progressive Homesteaded Community

"They live off the grid for the most part, with only minimal services. They homestead abandoned buildings, applying their love and labor to make the structures functional and livable. They do accept donations to help them rebuild the abandoned structures. They also run a neighborhood bicycle collective and use vacant lots for urban farming. They appear to communicate that there has been no bureaucratic resistance to their homesteaded community. That is what makes Detroit so special right now – a lack of political officialdom in these areas of blight, allowing a spontaneous order to root and thrive." Continue reading →

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An Idiot’s Guide to Bitcoin: the man behind the book

"He explains, 'Because I’m from Africa, I pay a lot of attention to what’s happening there. The developing world is absolutely poised to pioneer this revolution, if you want to call it that, because their national fiats are inflation-ridden, over-taxed and over-controlled; the places with the highest buy into bitcoin is the developing world. Then you have the western world, who are complacent, who are comfortable, who are kept that way and who don’t have an immediate, on the ground need for bitcoin, where the developing world do. If it can go viral in India then a sixth of the world’s population will accept bitcoin. That would be wonderful.'" Continue reading →

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The Century of Arbitration and Peace

"All of this provides a real-world example of the possibility of adjudicating disputes in a private and contractual manner. It does not take a huge leap of faith to conclude that a decentralized arbitration system could be extended to smaller and smaller segments of the population, ultimately leading to a private security environment. If it can be done between states, why not between individuals (or private insurance / security companies) in a world without states as we currently use the term? Why limit the possibilities by geographical boundaries – some form of panarchy, if you will?" Continue reading →

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I Am Young Detroit: Andy Didorosi

"Andy Didorosi is a serial social entrepreneur. He’s founded several ventures including Paper Street, Detroit Bus Company, The Thunderdrome, and Wireless Ferndale. He started working when he was sixteen, buying and selling auction cars. He would buy them really cheap and spend a long time fixing them up and sell them for a lot more online through Craigslist. At the same time he’d be working at a little Italian restaurant bussing tables, but realized it wasn’t for him. 'I’m a terrible, terrible employee,' he says, 'I could never work for anybody ever again.' Detroit is better off with him doing his own thing anyway, because he’s helping to fill in a few of the gaps the city has failed to." Continue reading →

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Redditors Raise More Than 32 Bitcoins (over $4,000) for Homeless Shelter

"In May of this year, the Pensacola City Council passed a 'camping ban' ordinance despite significant opposition. The ordinance bans camping on city-owned and residential property and prohibits sleeping, bathing and shaving in public restrooms. The ordinance effectively make it a crime to be homeless. In his post, Greg called Bitcoiners to action by sharing his experience and offering to match donations made to Sean’s Outpost. Hundreds of donations came in (and were matched) with several donations over $100. The largest single donation came from Redditor 'shakethatbass' who donated a whopping 15 bitcoins – worth over $1,700." Continue reading →

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Ladar Levison’s Lesson

"Bureaucrats, inspectors, cops, and soldiers have guns. All of them, whether they realize it or not, have the power to damage and even ruin lives. When that happens, some maintain they're just following orders. Instead, I want them to have a crisis of conscience. I want them to learn Ladar Levison's lesson and declare, 'I don’t want to become complicit in crimes against the American people.' Right now, there’s a vast and growing body of evidence that the police are not here to protect and serve. They’re being given unlawful or immoral orders. Yet they’re NOT responding with Ladar Levison's words." Continue reading →

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