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What is Liberty?

01 07 09 - 19:34

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Liberty, equality, and fraternity! This has been the call of countless revolutions since the dawning of the revolutionary period. The three are co-equal and co-dependant: without equality, there can be no liberty, without fraternity there can be no equality, without liberty, there can be no fraternity. As is logically customary, let us provide cursory definitions of each before proceeding with further discussion.

Fraternity is the natural disposition of mankind. It is a sentiment of empathy and understanding; knowing that at all levels of interaction, the human condition is shared and universal. It is an appreciation that individuals, regions, and indeed the whole world, are dependant upon one another, and an understanding that to improve the lot of those close to you improves your own lot, thus carrying to every economic and political interaction, from the smallest to the largest. Above all, fraternity is the expression of altruism and frienship, of kinship and of comradship. For a sentiment of fraternity to prevail, it is essential that a condition of equality among people is prevalent.

Equality is a condition in which no one individual, organization, or institution possess more rights or privileges than another; a condition wherein political and economic advantage are not used for the sake of exploitation and domination, and in fact wherein such advantages do not exist. Joeseph Conrad wrote in his seminole work The Heart of Darkness that "power is an accident arising from the weakness of others." Indeed, power only exists in a tangible form when it is used by one group against another, and only when one group percieves advantage in the domination and exploitation of another. As such, power is not itself evident of any fundamental or existential difference, of superiority or inferiority, of providence or propriety, between the two, but is rather a manifestation a temporal difference in disposition and opportunity. Equality prevails when advantage is not derived from the temporary condition of power, or the abuse of power for the sake of advantage; it prevails when the distribution of power is such that the creative processes and productive energies of the people are not misappropriated by force or guile for the sake of maintaining the status of an unequally powerful and influential class, political party, organization, or individual. When the distribution of power is unequal, fraternity is impossible; iniquity breeds hostility and strife among people, and is the root source of most social problems and personal woes.

For either condition to exist, the people must know their Liberty. Liberty is ubiquitous, which is to say it is held in common by all people. This is true today as it has always been. Indeed, the greatest feat accomplished by ruling classes throughout history has been to convince people that they are not possessing of liberty. Liberty is a natural right, above all; by this it is meant that all people are born with liberty--- it cannot be given, nor can it be taken away. It is intrinsic and universal to the human condition, regardless of time, place, social standing, or sanction. Liberty is, in short, individual expression. It is your right to be who you are, and to express that as you personally see fit. It is your right to produce what you want to produce, to accomplish what you want to accomplish. To live your life the way you want to. To be free. In reality, all people everywhere have total liberty at all times of their lives. However, self-perpetuating institutionalized hierarchies of power utilize inequality, dissinformation, and brute force to dissuade people from expressing their liberty. They establish means of indoctrination, such as governments, laws, religions and state-run education, in order to control the flow of information and enlightenment, so as to prevent the people from seeing through the carefully constructed (and entirely false!) "reality" upon which the power and justification for and the existence of the ruling class are totally dependant. Through control of basic economic and political resources, the ruling class are able to provide severe sanctions and punishments against "deviant" (an arbitrary distinction made at the discretion of the ruling class) actions and behavior, principally the withholding of food and other vital resources. And underscoring all forms of oppression and domination are the use of violence and force, manifested through armies and police, to deprive people of their precious and already too-brief lives in the event that all other means of control prove inadequate. The purpose of centralized power is to maintain itself and the status of its membership, and this is accomplished through the subversion of Liberty from the majority of the people for the service of a small ruling minority. The productive and creative energies, the blood and sweat and tears, the hopes and dreams of the people, of WE the people, of WE the workers, are harnessed and exploited to this end. This is why Anarchism is called the social revolution- it is a revolution of thought and perspective, every bit as much as it can be a revolution of arms and armies. Through revolution, we utilize our liberty to establish equality, and fraternity is the natural result of that.

Liberty is the ongoing condition of human life. It is the supreme struggle and ultimate goal of all human endeavour. At the same time, it is the primary motivator for all action, it is that which drives us all to our own individual goals; it propels us throughout the course our lives as individuals and as members of our communities. Liberty is the perpetual and universal pursuit of self-improvement and social interaction. Through our common liberty, we are bound to share our condition as equal human beings, simultaneously independent from and dependant upon all others, in our shared situation on our shared planet. Liberty is not an ending, it is not a singular purpose--- it is a continuing process of development and learning, of growth and of evolution, expressed and bourne through the lives of each of us. Each of us uniquely expressing the sum total of our own individual humanity, in turn building upon that humanity which came before and developing that humanity which shall yet come, unceasingly and without end. Liberty is the supreme good; the good at which all others aim at.

The most important question anyone can ever ask themself is "What does Liberty mean to me?"
The most important question anyone can ever ask anyone else is "What does Liberty mean to you?"

What does liberty mean to you, comrades?

-Hale

{post-script: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muHg86Mys7I }
22 comments

Your great, honestly your ideas are real. Praternity is nothing without equality and liberty, and equality and liberty are not better withour praternity . No man is an island and because of that reason all men must be part of a praternity or a group. We people must fight for self onwership to have liberty and equality. Honestly election is one kind of thing who stop us from liberty because even a man have the right to choose his own leader/leaders he have no right to do the same for other and the leader/leaders have no right to use power against other who dislike his leadership. Thank you and I like the topic you made. I am a Filipino and not so good in english language buit wish you understand my comment.
[carlium] () - 03 07 09 - 07:53

Thank you and I like the topic you made. I am a Filipino and not so good in english language but wish you understand my comment. Ignorance, Government, and State are one of the great enemies of the Liberty, Equality, and fraternity. In Philippines the schools does not let the students to be part of a praternity in school or even outside the school. we are slave of patriotic and religious mind control. Corruption and political killings are the biggest problems in the history of the Philippines except poverty, illeteracy, and poor health.
[carlium] - 03 07 09 - 08:01

Nicetopice will you please create another topic. I just want to enhance my knowledge about Anarchy.
carlium () - 14 07 09 - 23:13

Nice topic and I wish you can create another topic. Keep up the good work and soon we will be free and if we can’t see liberty in our time, why we doesn’t try to work for it if not for us let it for the next generation of generations.
carlium () - 14 07 09 - 23:17

It’s very difficult, and of course, takes time.
Blak-Toothgrin - 15 07 09 - 10:36

I like this article, this is the kind of thinking that will make a difference.
I try to enlighten others on this subject of liberty and what it really means to be free, but ultimately people argue against anarchy because they think that it will create chaos, when in actuality chaos is the RESULT of this system of governing that we have implemented today.
Everything is in balance and anarchism is simply another way of living, another less destructive balance. One that will give us liberty by freeing us from our dependency with government and instead live as independent, free thinkers.
Once we all establish equality, there will be less fear and with less fear there are less laws. Realizing our fraternity is the building block.
Thankyou for sharing this.
jenny - 16 07 09 - 10:30

lots of talk !
thats all we do on this site
a few people out of millions
complaining
im in support with this nothing ever happens though with it
its not jesus - 20 07 09 - 12:14

hale i admire your intelligence
its not jesus - 20 07 09 - 12:15

Thank you very much for this post Hale. Being an anarcho-communist myself, the basis of liberty is the foundation of my beliefs. Also: I am a firm believer in veganarchism, that is, expanding the practice of liberty unto those living things which may not be able to defend it for themselves, or fully grasp it as a concept. So therefore, I offer my simple definition for liberty: “The freedom to do as one wishes, to attain happiness, or to achieve any personal goal, both as an individual, or as a solidified group, until it unnecessarily infringes upon the ability of another living being or group needed to achieve such freedom as well.”

Thanks again,
James
James Saunders () - 20 07 09 - 15:42

What book was it that quoted, “Jefferson, Lenin, and Hitler weren’t causes, they were results”
Nikolai () - 26 07 09 - 00:54

i have to say im also like jenny. when i try to explain the ideas of complete freedom, noone truely listens since they believe chaos will occur or just another tyrant will rise. i dont have faith in all of humanity to come to their senses. it is worth the try though, right?
[-a silent influencer-] - 28 07 09 - 17:04

i am an anarchist from this young generation. i am young myself but see the wrong in the government. i dont say violence but there will in good time be a cause for it because i believe that if we can acheive the goal of our vision that we will need to enevitably shed blood, i would like some input on this topic. i will look forward to speaking with you about this because i feel our time is near.
big K () - 21 09 09 - 10:44

Liberty is anyway a matter it needs bravery and righteousness to fight for. Read about Noor Inayat Khan or about Sophie Scholl then You will understand that all.

There is an information that is most important for the whole world and we German Anarchists have to spread it: The SS of Himmlöer has survived, taken only another mask in 1945, and is as evil as before, but much more powerful:

http://123anarchy.wordpress.com/2009/10/..

Please help us to spread that information!

With kindest regards

Your sincer

Winfried Sobottka, Speaker of United Anarchists in Germany.
Winfried Sobottka () (URL) - 14 10 09 - 17:07

Man, this site is slowing dowm, come on people. This site rocks!
Keep it alive. Communicate!

~Chuck
Revolutionist AKA Maddog! (URL) - 20 10 09 - 05:26

This site doesn´t rock because this site offers critics but no solutions. On the other site there is no discussion in internet because agents conforming to the system have destroyed that, whether in the U.S.A. or in Germany or wherever else.

Let me write an article here – about instruments of changing society and politics and You can be sure that it will rock. I am the best fought writer in German internet, German state´s protection has founded several blogs on WordPress to defame me and United Anarchists.

Fact is that You cannot (even peaceful) abolish slavery without getting pression. Vice versa: No pression from the system means no revolutionary use.

Look at this and You see, for instance, how agents conforming to the system try to push useful discussions of resistance away:

http://www.usmessageboard.com/politics/9..

My offer stands: Let me write an article here and will write a very good article conforming to all laws but really very revolutionary.

With kindest regards by the name of United Anarchists

Your sincer

Winfried Sobottka, speaker of United Anarchists in Germany.
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