Freedom is cool, but free stuff is also really cool.

Sometimes anarchists focus on the latter, like when CrimethInc put out "Days of War, Nights of Love" and "Evasion":

"Days of War, Nights of Love" by CrimethInc.

"Evasion" by Anonymous

For less tangible stuff, anarchists have said a few things about computer and internet stuff like free software, open-source, and the likes:

The Poverty of Post-Open Source by Gnuxie Lulamoon and Hayley Patton

On cyber syndicalism: From Hacktivism to Workers’ Control by Jeff Shantz

However, a lot of these ideas seem like antiques now. Crimethinc later decided that their time focusing on these things had come to an end. The Free Software movement has lost the magical aura it once had. Some of the best free resources around - libgen, scihub, Buy Nothing Project, etc. - they don't have much in the way of anarchist messaging and anarchists don't often refer to them as examples of anarchist practice. But that doesn't mean we aren't accessing these resources all the time...

So this week, let's share the wealth of free stuff we love!

Go on now... tell us about your favorite resources, tactics, whatever you think it makes sense to talk about...

Comments

Anon (not verified) Mon, 07/29/2024 - 13:49

I'd agree the Really Really Free era had seen a pretty significant decline from like 2012-2020ish, but honestly since the pandemic and mass uprising, and huge growth of mutual aid crews, I think the importance of accessing and sharing free resources is becoming more center again?

But yeah, dumpstering, accessing free narcan and clean needles to share, free building supplies from Craigslist and taking down old barns, sharing food bank finds, five finger free stuff, torrented films, clothing swaps, getting shit from big money non profits to share, etc etc

anon (not verified) Mon, 07/29/2024 - 17:33

There is plenty of free stuff organized by anarchists offline. The problem with Anews is that it's perspective is skewed entirely online and the people lording over it have forgotten about anarchy without the internet. Really really free markets, etc. are everywhere and if they're not near you, you start one.

GEF (not verified) Mon, 07/29/2024 - 18:45

In reply to by anon (not verified)

I gotta double-check, but the ancoma in my area seem to be brutally opposed to such a project, while I saw some homeless loner doing it on his own. So this can serve as a pretty good indicator or.how healthy vs shitty your anarchist milieu can be.

Also this makes for a good starter proposal for stuff to do with others even if you didn't know then for centuries. And equally I guess I'd put my money on rando strangers coming up with a similar plan. I still gotta lot to spare... even precious metals now, lol

GEF (not verified) Mon, 07/29/2024 - 18:55

In reply to by GEF (not verified)

Meant to write "ancoms" but, WOW, that soft typo just created some AWESOME new designation for them!

lumpy (not verified) Tue, 07/30/2024 - 10:29

In reply to by GEF (not verified)

but really tho, what does "seem to be brutally opposed" mean?

just because those words don't even make sense together, perhaps if you contextualize?

anon (not verified) Tue, 07/30/2024 - 10:46

In reply to by lumpy (not verified)

"brutally" as in "hard-convinced"... or dogmatically set on not undergoing this type of action or project, due to being deadlocked by a more exclusive ideology of the "rev".

anon (not verified) Mon, 07/29/2024 - 20:54

In reply to by GEF (not verified)

"Brutally opposed" sounds like the vicious ancoms gave the poor vagabond a proper thrashing! I sure hope that was not the case. Whether really really free markets/freeshops, bike workshops, FnB, etc are revolutionary activities in themselves is highly debatable, but sharing is just a nice thing to do.

Maggot Brain (not verified) Tue, 07/30/2024 - 08:44

In reply to by anon (not verified)

"Whether really really free markets/freeshops, bike workshops, FnB, etc are revolutionary activities in themselves is highly debatable, but sharing is just a nice thing to do."

Sure. But nothing done on the internet without offline analogs are "revolutionary activities." The 'free stuff' this topic is asking about only becomes a meaningful aspect of anarchy when it's applied offline. This is an absolute truth: There is no anarchy to be found online as it is always already a mediated and moderated space.

But, the idea for these things aren't for "revolutionary" activities, they're for anarchy.

anon (not verified) Tue, 07/30/2024 - 08:56

In reply to by anon (not verified)

"debatable" is fine with me, as unarguable truths are for believers. But who said "the revolution" has to be the driving motive behind really-free shit. I wanna work for my own, first, then maybe for a radically-different social relation deprived of property and money, that arises from free sharing. Revolution may come later, if it wants to...but diving is when I hold my breath.

anon (not verified) Tue, 07/30/2024 - 05:09

Domestic cat is an underrated meat, and if you're vegan, the common dandelion weed has more vitamins that spinach/cabbage. Learn edible plants, like rose buds are a rich source of vitamin C.
Easy individualist anarchist 101 free stuff.

anon (not verified) Tue, 07/30/2024 - 06:27

The repugnant 05:09

"Domestic cat is an underrated meat"

And you should be fed to a wood chipper.

minona (not verified) Tue, 07/30/2024 - 10:11

"The 'free stuff' this topic is asking about only becomes a meaningful aspect of anarchy when it's applied offline"

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but I feel like people are overlooking the possibilities of using the internet as a tool -- a tool that is not ideal, but is something that can be used to gain access to those things which are there for the taking, if you only have the will to reach out and grab them. For a simple example, on the topic of free shit, many companies will offer a full refund for packages when you claim that they never arrived on your doorstep. Some websites/companies are better than others for this, but many will do this. In principle you (arguably) don't need the internet for this, but regardless how you place the order, you're inevitably using a tool of alienation, but you're doing so consciously and for your own gain (and in a world already saturated with that tool).

There are much more creative possibilities also, available to people who, unlike me, have the patience and interest in learning the tech. The thing about internet activity is that it's almost never PURELY online, in other words much online activity has offline effects, it has impacts on the real world, it reaches out beyond the space of virtual reality and into lived reality.

Abstaining from the internet and similar technologies is understandable, but it doesn't put you on a moral high ground, at least not in anarchyland. It's like veganism -- it's a personal choice like any other. But other people can take a different tact, and might use these technologies to their own gain and their own benefit.

TranslationBot (not verified) Tue, 07/30/2024 - 10:29

In reply to by minona (not verified)

"The Master's tools can set you free."
Let's also become cops to use the cops to our anarchist advantage! OR or we could become CEOs of Fortune 500 companies to use the wealth and power to create anarchy!
It's all just how you use these tOoLs.
OooOooKay, minobrah.

anon (not verified) Tue, 07/30/2024 - 16:16

In reply to by TranslationBot (not verified)

That's why I condemn all the commenters here for typing in English, the master's language, in a comments section, the master's digital town hall, and hoping to be taken seriously.

Bjørn (not verified) Tue, 07/30/2024 - 23:38

Although I grew up in the bush of Alaska with back-to-the-land hippy parents, subsisting off of fish, game and the garden, I have taken subsistence to a whole new level over the last ten or so years. "Free" subsistence food is only free if you think in terms of economic value and put a dollar amount on it. We put in the time, energy and effort to hunt, fish and gather every year, and live, by and large, off the bounty that nature provides. We work hard the rest of the time to make the greed-heads, the developers, the speculators, and the pro-job crowd—who aim to undermine our ability to subsist off the land, sea and air—feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. I used to dumpster dive every time I went to Anchorage, but I eventually realized that the majority of the civilized food that gets thrown in the trash is actually trash and not fit for human consumption. I love to salvage building materials and other useful things. My favorite spot to hit is outside the Salvation Army after hours before they have a chance to itemize the donations and profit from it. Our local transfer station has the most anarchic institution in my community. It's a big covered tent that people can leave their still-useful stuff so that others can re-purpose it. It's wonderful. Every colonizer understands/understood, that in order to subjugate the masses, they first need(ed) to remove the people's ability to procure their own food. They didn't quite succeed yet here in Alaska and in that fact I find hope.

"However, a lot of these ideas seem like antiques now. [...] The Free Software movement has lost the magical aura it once had."

tell me you didn't read The Poverty Of without telling me you didn't read The Poverty Of (or when we pondered why piracy is unsustainable, as it so happens that making things is convenient)

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