Letter to a Young EWM Major

Letter to a Young EWM Major

Submitted by Katherine

Hello there!

If you’re like me, you made the tragic mistake of going to college and majoring in English. Of course, that’s the only way one could really get ahead nowadays, so we’ll just have to suck it up. I started as a Philosophy major, then switched to Literature, and then to EWM. Whatever your feelings are on the major, you may very well be sick and tired of deadlines, responsibilities and being told what to do. Who wouldn’t?

I wrote this letter to try and tell you about a fun new alternative, Black Flag, a digital nation that I co-founded. Why is Black Flag better? Well, I wouldn’t want to tell you how to think or what kind of nation to be a part of- that would be ethically presumptuous. What I can say, is that if you’re in need of a place where you can be yourself, follow your own rules and not anyone elses – no matter if they were written in an ancient holy book or on a scroll and signed at the bottom, you'll find a place in Black Flag.

Below is our list of policies, i.e – Stuff we stand by.

Creative Commons- The usefulness of this venture is two-fold. First, it allows individuals to share their creative and non-creative content for others to add or substract to, but also, it allows for individuals to register their information in the public domain, free of charge and without having to pay royalties or submit to an umbrella organization.

Free Association- Individuals may come and go as they please, and share the same way.

· Mutual Aid- By becoming part of this, you receive help from others and vow to help others as well. This is NOT a mandatory program.

Ostracism – We do not believe in capital punishment, instead, we have a three strike rule and after three strikes, you are ostracized/expelled from Black Flag.

Agorism – A fancy word for voluntary interaction and exchanges.

Black Market Trade- With no corporations, everyone is free to compete with everyone and expect no subsidies. We also have no fiat money system, rendering the concept of inflation obsolete.

In addition, here are six things you will enjoy as a member:

No one asking you this, because we honestly couldn't care less.

Orderly lawns.

Nice architecture

Access to hilarious memes.

Cool conceptual art like this.

Nice graffiti murals. And anyone can make them, or destroy them for that matter, so make sure you take pictures.

The one reason to join Black Flag? We’re unlike any other.

GROUP ITINERARY - BFN

DAILY ITINERARY FOR THE BLACK FLAG NATION

David J. Dodd - Dj - djd09c

1. Morning: Wake up at a reasonable hour. Most individuals might be tired from late nights of intellectual discussion, open-minded dialogue, and peer2peer music exchanges. Most bands traded would be heavily influenced by counter-culture revolutions of years past.

2. Mid-day: Contribute to the digital organic garden and co-op. Although the society is a digital anarchist network, there is a safe-haven hidden in an isolated, yet digitally connected, location where participants of the society can gather and live in a self-sustaining society.

3. Afternoon: Because the nature of an anarchist society is based on abolishing the state, the majority of a digital members afternoon might be spent trying to overthrow the current system, or simply work against the standards already in place. That is to say that illegal peer2peer operations may occur, as well as exposing of information and literature that might be copyright protected, simply in response to the fact that they part of the established system. The later half of the afternoon may involve covering their digital footprints after making such actions.

4. Evening time: Exchange healthy, pro-local and co-op style food recipes with an emphasis on simple natural and anti-mass consumerist food shops. Supporting outlets like “Walmart” is not encouraged. In fact, it is outright forbidden. Props are awarded to individuals who pilfer from these establishments.

5. Night: Get ready for bed, begin idea exchanges on virtual forums. Fall asleep to some ambient random band no one knows about.

A Day in a Life

I wake up to a pretty nice day in Black Flag. I start my day off with submerging myself in some social networking. I log onto facebook to post on my friends walls, comment on some pictures, and instant message. After getting my fill of that I download some torrents from multiple websites and my roommates and I watch movies for most of the day. We decide it is time to make some dinner but do not know what to cook. So we google “delicious homemade recipes” to see what we can find. We decide to make homemade greenbean casserole. During dinner we talk amongst ourselves but we also are bbming (blackberry messenger) on our phones. After dinner I slip myself into my bed and read on my kindle for the next hour or so. Once I am done reading I stream videos through the internet and catch up on my weeds episodes, at the same time I slowly fall asleep.

A Day in the Life of an Anarcho Social(ist) Punk

A Day in the Life of an Anarcho Social(ist) Punk

It had been seven months since James moved onto the Anarchist Compound known as the Black Flag Nation: location – northern Oregon or Remote Mountain area in Europe, the specifics are still unknown to mainstream society. He had been involved in the Anarcho Socialist internet forum for a few years, and had finally made the commitment to move out to their secret compound to live “off-the-grid” as he so put it to his family seven months ago. The Black Flag Nation was still wholeheartedly attached to this grid, because the Internet connection is its only weapon. He walked out of his modest hand-constructed home, and took in a huge whiff of morning air.

“Good morning, world,” James exhaled across the grassy field below him, the sunrise crested over the mountains on the horizon, illuminating the organic farms surrounding the compound.

James waved to his neighbor and trotted to check on the local crops and animals, he was not required to, but he did it out of the need for the society to work smoothly.

HE met up with an old forum friend, and they reminisced about their punk-rock albums of yesteryear. James showed off his leftover collection of cd’s. They were in his high school shoebox.

James went to the Internet café. It was one of the few reliable electricity sources, run by solar and wind power from up the hill. He updated the nations website, and conducted more social exchanges on the digital marketplace that had helped the society flourish in its early days. He was inspired by the vigor of some youth located across the world. They were contributing to the Nation’s efforts, spreading anarcho socialist ideals to societies that might not know little of their efforts. He smiled as he logged off the computer, walking to the mess hall.

Frederich was the chef tonight, making a big paella, a recipe he learned from a South American member. Frederich still laments this friend, a casualty of the more violent aspects to Anarchist revolution. James cursed the bureaucratic pigs who have been holding the proletariat down for decades. He began to wonder if living separate from society really changes anything, but quickly made his mind travel elsewhere.

James marched home after the Nation’s Town Hall meeting. Many words were exchanged, and new recruits were introduced. James entered his home and lit a few candles. He was content, but he knew something bigger was necessary. He didn’t know what, or when, but he just knew: it was coming.

Policies

1.      Creative Commons- Non profit organization used to devote time and energy on the expansion of creative works for others to build upon.

2.      Free Association- People are invited to work, study, or talk with eachother in hopes to learn more about themselves and their surroundings. Its goal is not to unearth specific answers or memories, but to instigate a journey of co-discovery which can enhance the patient's integration of thought, feeling, agency, and selfhood.

3.      Mutual Aid-organization used to signify the a voluntary reciprocal exchange of resources and services for mutual benefit

4.      Ostracism  1,2,3- Guidelines put in place that must be met. Not  following the guidelines results in punishment inclusing a warning, fee, our expulsion.

5.      Agorism – Philosophy with the goal of bringing a society together in all relations between people and voluntary exchange.

6.      Black Market Trade- The trade of goods, and services without the official economy of a country.

A Day In The Life

A day in the life of a Black Flag Nation citizen is very pleasant. For starters I wake up whenever I want too.  Some may say that’s lazy but I can’t begin to tell you how much better my health has gotten since I started this routine. Today being a Monday I have regular weekly routine as anybody else would my age. I wake up, go to school, and then do my individual chores. Only in the Black Flag Nation there’s no such thing as a ‘dreaded Monday’, it could be Saturday for all I know. And although I go to school and have daily routines such as work, school, and chores I get to choose when to do it just as long as it’s done by the next day. Sometimes people slip behind but most people here are understanding and will let it go once in awhile.  When I go to school its nothing like school used to be for me. Here it is more about free thinking. We discuss philosophical questions and are focused more on being self taught rather then told what we should learn. We tend to study and ask questions in groups and unlike most schools, kids are allowed to help other students and everyone is allowed to talk to one another. Most schools would find this to be a nuisance because of the noise, but, because this is a digital society all our students talk to each other on online chats. This is very handy when it comes time for studying or when a student has a problem or doesn’t understand something. The same goes for test taking and attendance, everything is done digitally. After school I usually have work. Work isn’t the same as the outsiders work though. I don’t get paid to work But, I do get to live here at Black Flag Nation. That’s right; as long as you participate daily you are allowed to stay here. For work I am given a list of chores that are needed to be completed by the end of the day. It’s up to me to choose when I do them as long as their done by the end of the day. Certain tasks take longer than a day and for those tasks you are given a decent amount of time to complete them. Everybody gets a task that goes according to their job title. We decide who has what job by the prior knowledge and experience one has gained before they came to Black Flag Nation. Once my daily chores have been completed I have the option to go to the nightly social or I can go back to my place and call it a night. The nightly social is a club/bar that most kids my age go to at night to meet each other and have fun. Once the social is over though then it’s definitely time for bed. Our living arrangements are 3 people per roof and we each have our own bathroom. Talk about awesome. I love it here and wouldn’t move for anything.

A Day in the Life - Katherine

Today was a pretty decent day in Black Flag. I woke up to a few nice text messages that made me smile in the morning. Unfortunately, my phone is garbage at times and I had to attempt to resend my responses a few times. After breakfast, I decided to take a walk in the park with a notebook to get some writing inspiration. While there, I saw a pretty cute squirrel and managed to take a picture of it, but when I attempted to send the picture to my friend’s phone via MMS, I got a notification that their service provider has limits for sending/receiving media. Damn. So, I emailed it instead. Hurray. Later, after taking some notes in the park and picking up some takeout before getting home, I got in bed and watched TED conference videos for a few hours, added some books to my reading list (which grows daily, but because of my possible ADD/ADHD does not shrink) and read a few pages of one of the said books before drifting off to sleep. Good day, no drama. No complaints on my end.