Achieving a free society requires a great deal of education. The current statist paradigm has been beaten into every mind governments can touch, because exploiting people is so much easier when they believe their exploitation is necessary. There are plenty of people who are ready and eager to hear the message of freedom, but others need to be shaken by the collar, as if to wake them from a stupor. There are those who will eagerly pursue self-education once given a peek behind the curtain. There are those who need encouragement and assistance. But for all those who cling to statism as if mistaking an anchor for a life jacket, there is activism to separate them from their delusions.
Education of others starts with education of ourselves. To be advocates for freedom, we don’t need to be academic experts, but it helps to have a complete grasp of the message. It helps to have a thorough understanding of how statism affects those around us. This is not just researching, but listening and observing in order to point out the most relevant immediate tangible benefits of increasing freedom. Do not underestimate the significance of studying economics to understand the destructive consequences of governments. Be prepared to relate economic principles to real needs. We must be as careful about what we put in our brains as our bodies.
Education in the name of freedom can take many forms. Sometimes it’s as simple as sharing a thought in conversation or an important news story on the internet. If we find satisfaction from such efforts, there is nothing wrong with keeping it simple! In fact, one-on-one conversations are often the most important factors in changing how someone thinks. Of course education includes flyering, blogging, writing books, making art, hosting events, certain elements of running for political office, making speeches, standing on a street corner with a bullhorn or a sign, writing letters, organizing petitions, graffiti, hanging posters, media production, chalking, skywriting, picketing, protesting, or just wearing a button to start a conversation.
When advocating for freedom or educating those around us, it is important to stay true to core principles. If we argue for the fantasy of limited government, we are promoting at least limited injustice, which is still promoting injustice. One approach when discussing these issues with people close to us is to personalize government violence. It helps people understand the immorality of what they are advocating when we can put their positions in terms of individual implications. Every time they advocate for government, they are suggesting that some form of violence be used against us for disagreeing.
All education is a form of activism because it seeks to change the status quo. In a sense, every deliberate act is a form of activism, but that might be too broad a definition to be useful. Activism can be a powerful way of grabbing people’s attention to educate those who would never seek education on their own. Street theater, protests, and civil disobedience have this effect. More direct actions, like widespread disobedience, boycotts, direct interference with enforcers, tax resistance, seizing land, ignoring trade restrictions, going on strike, or even rejecting elements of government altogether, can achieve immediate change. Blind obedience is thoughtless and reckless, but disobedience is always thoughtful and deliberate. Disobedience is civil. Obedience is uncivil.
It’s easy to talk about the ideal of a voluntary society, but it takes some effort to actually create one. Fortunately, it is already happening all around us in our daily lives. Did you point guns at people or threaten them with violence today or did you only initiate non-coercive interactions? Every time we create a relationship free of force, violence, and coercion, we are helping to build a freer world. When those relationships are deliberately conducted outside the government’s ability to inject violence through taxation, legislation, or other means of control, we are practicing agorism.
The term agorism comes from the ancient Greek word for an open marketplace, “agora.” Governments try to demonize agorist activity as the “black market,” but that is only because they want our trade to occur where they can control and tax it, in their coercion-dominated “white market.” Agorism comes naturally to anyone who can see its tangible benefits. To achieve a voluntary society, agorism will be essential to building the economic structures that will help us wean ourselves from governments.
While we might be tempted by flashier activism, reaching out to those closest to us and in our communities is most important. Help people understand government and how to avoid its exploitation. Start creating a freer society in your community by building it yourself. If you can’t convince your friends and family to not support using government against you, it does you no good to try to wake up those who might never support you if your activism gets you in trouble. If you find the message of freedom valuable, share it as a gift. It only increases in value the more it is given away.
