The Agora
The marketplace is one of the oldest institutions known to man. The heart of any city is its market where goods are bought, sold, traded, bargained for, and (sometimes) stolen. From Ancient Greece to modern shopping malls, the marketplace hasn't changed much in all that time. 'Agora' in Greek means an open area for meeting and marketplaces. In ancient times, this is where the action was. It was the town square and the grocery store all in one.
The Grand Bazaar, Istanbul. One of the oldest covered markets in the world
Black Markets
I wasn't alive then, but my guess is that when the first tyrant banned the first product, the first black market was created.
As many people on Steemit know, people are rarely satisfied when something is banned. It doesn't matter if it's speech or items; people want to be free to get what they want. When they aren't free to get it in the open market, they go to the black market. This has been true for as long as history has been written down and most likely before that. Prohibition of alcohol in the United States didn't stop the speakeasies and bootleggers- on the contrary, it allowed them to thrive. Here we are again, back into the new prohibition of our times, the 'Drug War'.
Most people think of drugs when they hear 'black market, but it's far greater than that. With all the ridiculous laws we have now, if someone gives a dollar to someone and they don't report the dollar as income, they are a part of the black market. Even Steem Power and Dollars could be considered income by the thieves in Washington! If I fail to report it, I have just participated in the black market. It's far more common than you think.
Agorism: Black Markets + Activism
When I was 18 years old or so, I had an idea for a form of activism that involved my more... 'unregulated activities'. I saw my participation in the black market as a statement of personal freedom from state control as well as being a lot of fun. I didn't know it at the time, but I had just become an Agorist. After about 10 years or so, I became more sophisticated and began imagining what could be done to create a society as a sort-of black market outside of the state. So, I began writing.
Not long after that, I found Samuel Konkin and Agorism itself. I read [An Agorist Primer](http://www.kopubco.com/pdf/An_Agorist_Primer_by_SEK3.pdf) and [The New Libertarian Manefesto](http://agorism.info/docs/NewLibertarianManifesto.pdf) and was at once depressed and excited. Depressed because my book had already been written and far better than I had imagined, excited in that I wasn't alone in thinking this way.
At this point, you may be asking what Agorism is and how does it help me? Let's see if I can convince you.
Agorist Theory
The problem that has plagued the minds of all anarchists and libertarians is one of strategy. How do we not only get rid of the state, but also build what's needed in a modern society? The solution of Konkin was to look at the market that already existed and to expand it into an structure itself that can compete with the state for services. That market is, as you might have guessed, the black market.
There are millions (probably billions) of people operating outside of the state already, why not expand that into a plan for eliminating the state? To do this, Konkin identified the steps to do so and created a term for the activity: counter-economics.
Counter-economics is "An explaination of how people keep their wealth from the state" as defined by Konkin in the New Libertarian Manefesto. It runs the entire range of activities that people do to keep their money from state theft, from radar detectors to tax havens. This is only the first part of the strategy, "our means" as Konkin puts it. The next part deals with "our strategy".
Before I move on, it's worth mentioning how one decides to partake in counter-economics. Konkin puts it best, so I'll let him explain. From the New Libertarian Manefesto:
>Using government figures on criminal apprehension, always exaggerated in the State's favor simply because they cannot know how much we got away with, I find an apprehension rate of 20%. One may then find out the percentage of those cases that come for trial and the percentage of those that result in conviction even with a good lawyer. Let's say 25% make it to trial and 50% result in conviction. (The latter is high but we'll throw in the legal fees involved so that even a decision involving loss of legal costs but acquittal is still a "loss.") I therefore incur a 2.5% risk (.20 x .25 x .50 = 0.025). This is high for most real cases.
>Suppose my maximum fine is $500,000 or five years in jail - or both. Excluding my counter-economic transactions (one certainly cannot count them when deciding whether or not to do them), I might make $20,000 a year so that I would lose another $100,000. It's very hard to ascribe a value to five years of incarceration, but at least in our present society it's not too much worse than other institutionalization (school, army, hospital) and at least the counter-economist won't be plagued with guilt and remorse.
>So I weigh 2.5% of $600,000 loss or $15,000 and five years against $100,000 gain! And I could easily insure myself for $14,000 (or less) to pay all costs and fines! In short, it works.
The formula from An Agorist Primer:
>Counter-Economic Payoff = profit minus loss = (Promised price) minus (cost minus overhead) minus ((Penalty or Fine) x (probability of arrest) x (probability of conviction))
>If positive, go. If negative, don’t go.
The Strategy
Konkin identified a number of steps to get to the ideal stateless society. It's a revolutionary strategy without the need to pick up a gun (at first). Because we won't be fighting an actual war, it must be done gradually. The steps are as follows.
Phase Zero: Zero-Density Agorist Society
In this phase, there are no counter economists or they are scattered and not organized. This is mostly what we see today. There is a black market, but the majority of the participants are not actively moving towards an Agorist society. At this phase, Agorists raise awareness of Agorism and promote it as best they can. ;)
Phase One: Low-Density Agorist Society
Here, we already have a number of Agorists but still a small number. The goal at this point is to continue the conversion and to also convince other anarchists that this is the best strategy. The first Agorist clubs are formed at this point to bring us together for the next phase. This stage is more involved, but I'll leave it to you to read more about it.
Phase Two: Mid-Density, Small Condensation Agorist Society
This is where it gets tricky. At this point, there is a contamination of Agorism in the host state. This is where it becomes more organized into physical communities and an umbrella organization. In this organization, there are spokespersons who can call for tolerance of Agorists and who can advertise for it being a superior way to live. Arrests are possible at this point, but unlikely. Once again, read the Manifesto to get the exact details.
Phase Three: High-Density, High condensation Agorist Society
The State is doomed at this point and all efforts should be concentrated to hiding this fact. The Agorists are the majority at this phase and counter-economic activities are everywhere. This is when the state will surely fight back. This is also when Agorists will organize a defense against the blowback of state violence.
Phase Four: Agorist Society with Statist Impurities
This is largely a mopping-up of the remnants of the state. The Agorist defense collapses into market competition and society becomes free.
Conclusion
Of course, this is a very basic view of Agorism and should only be taken as such. To learn more about it, you should read the source materials I posted above. I'll post some more links below. I'll also gladly answer any questions in the comments.
This is a compelling strategy for anyone who wishes to be free while not being broke at the same time. For many people who participate in dark markets on the web and in real life, this is a different way of thinking about their chosen way of life. Agorism not only gives a reason behind it, but a method of organizing it into something greater than individuals acting on their own behalf.
We are close to phase one and to phase two in some ways. The [Free State Project] (https://freestateproject.org) is what I would call a near-phase 2 project. There are other efforts as well but are more scattered. I'm certain that there are many people participating in counter-economics than even the state suspects. This is an effort to make the counter economists aware of Agorism and the ideas behind it.
I hope you'll join us!
Links and Sources of Information:
The New Libertarian Manesfesto: http://agorism.info/docs/NewLibertarianManifesto.pdf Read this first!
An Agorist Primer: http://www.kopubco.com/pdf/An_Agorist_Primer_by_SEK3.pdf The in-depth version.
Agorism forum: https://www.reddit.com/r/Agorism/ Lots of good info here. Check out the wiki in the side bar and the sister subreddits as well.