File spoon-archives/anarchy-list.archive/anarchy-list_2004/anarchy-list.0412, message 92


Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 20:34:51 +0000
From: Iain McKay <iain.mckay-AT-zetnet.co.uk>
Subject: Re: LibCapitalism, Enemy of Rationality


hello all

Ali Kazmi wrote:
> How is the baby doing? If you think this is tiring,
> just wait for the crawling phase, and then the
> toddling phase and then the ....
> (just kidding, enjoy every second, they grow up too
> fast.)

she is fine. a wee bit of a cold, but a happy bunny. 
about a dozen Japanese teenage girl tourists took
pictures of her today in the British Museaum. She is
quite cute! Adorable, to quote a non-relative...
 
> I have had some lib-cap types throw Somalia at me, and
> was trying to see if MJ reads stuff other then by the
> FB and the Pope(?).

I know, they mention it sometimes. at least its not
medivael iceland... how they fail to mention the 
welfare community system is amazing. and the common
lands. and the popular assemblies. and the other 
non-capitalist bits of it.

> Having lived in Somalia back in the early 80's, I have
> always followed the happenings there. What you are
> saying is correct for the rural areas, when the
> government collapsed they went back to their old style
> of living, however, in the urban areas, (mainly
> Mogadishu) the situation is more interesting. 

so we are basically talking a city state, more or less?

Sub-clan
> warlords control areas, affinity based on tribal
> lines,  but tribal ties and rules are much weaker in
> the cities, and the fact is that you have a lot of
> businessmen operating without any government
> regulation or interference, not just small shopkeepers
> and such, but also telecommunications, power
> generation, shipping, air and sea ports. hospitals,
> schools. etc.

and can they swap the warlord they pay protection to?

 different businessmen print their own
> money. When I was there city real estate was privately
> held (mostly by women). So, there is private ownership
> of land in the cities.

how easy is it to transfer? Can it be sold outside the
family?

> Urban Somalia, these days approaches a lib-cap
> "Utopia". Descriptions of Mogadishu reminds me of a
> low tech "Norlonto" of Ken McLeod's Fall Revolution
> series. And like the protagonist adds after describing
> that Utopia, "of course, the slavery is unfortunate."

:)

> Analysing Somalia shows the weakness of the system.
> There are schools, but only 20% can afford them. Same
> with hospitals. If you don't have money, you have
> nothing. And where is this money coming from? Mainly
> remittances sent in from abroad by the Somali
> Diaspora. 

sounds lovely. I assume that there are no unions?

And you have to be aligned with a militia.
> paying protection money. Always at the mercy of the
> guy with the bigger gun. And everybody has guns,
> leading to skirmishes in the streets. Constant
> low-grade urban warfare. The poor with violence and
> crime their only means of support.

sounds like fun. The rural areas sound much better.
strangely the libcap webpage did not mention that
aspect of it and instead concentrated on the rural
areas. Still, I got the impression the webpage was a
scam as it was trying to raise money to build a free
port. scams and lib caps seem to go together, for some
reason.

> Somalia as a Lib-Cap Utopia proves our point.

thanks for the extra info. always useful, in case
another libcap idiot pops up on the list.

> Sort of sad. I still remember my amazement when a
> Somali proudly told me that he could walk from Berbera
> (north) to Kismayo (south) with just the clothes on
> his back as hospitality for travelers was assured.

must be one of those local customs which are against
natural law which the lib caps want to get rid off.
clearly the somali have to learn that charging people
money is more efficient!

Iain


   

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