Maybe your local CS chapter is a bunch of pussies, but the LA chapter knows how to rawk.

Check out their tags: la.cacophony.org/

Yeah, I'd say there are a fair number of self-proclaimed anarchists that go to the event, but not many people who know about or work the event would misapply that label.

Why bother anyway? Anarchy is an anachronism like most of our isms. I've heard BM described as communism, socialism, fascism, anarchy, blah blah blah they're all just a bunch of 20th century words. Semantics from another age. BM is something new, probably needs a new ism.

Or we can just recite the ten principles like a bunch of good little hippie raver punks.

Buying a book doesn't lead us closer to forming our own opinion (as ill-formed and un-informed as same may be). Mine is already mine, and may very well be wrong or right based on where I am now.

If you'd like to send me a book, reply off list for an address.

Actually Gabe...they are also naturally collaborative and given to mutual aid.... as they have been for the entire existence of human tribes.... we are pack animals.

Climb inside my head, if you will, and see what has been transpiring as I attempt to find meaning to the label..... Remember, its a discussion, that's all :-)

Let us entertain the different forms of anarchy, for discussions sake, shall we?

Individual anarchy:
"Individualist anarchists believe that "individual conscience and the pursuit of self-interest should not be constrained by any collective body or public authority."

...Both Bmorg and the state of Nevada set up a system that constrains ones authority. "You can't do this, you can't light the man on fire, you can't drive out of line and onto the playa during exodus....etc.

Collective anarchism:
"collectivist anarchists oppose all private ownership of the means of production, instead advocating that ownership be collectivized."

...I don't own BMorg....you don't either. Do I come up with the theme? Neither does Halcyon (bless his heart,) or the lamplighters...does this make for a "Private ownership?"

Mutualism:
"Mutualist anarchism is characterized by a concern with reciprocity, free association, voluntary contract, federation, and credit and currency reform. Many mutualists believe that a market without government intervention would drive prices to labor-costs, eliminating profit, rent, and interest, as predicted by the labor theory of value, because firms would be forced to compete over workers just as workers compete over firms, which would raise wages.

...well, so much for this one, no commerce is allowed in BRC....or is it? Ice? Coffee? Does BRC have its own currency in this event? I am saving my commemorative "man that burnt the man" coin for Ebay ;-)

Anarchist Communism:
In anarchist communism, individuals would not receive direct compensation for labour (through sharing of profits or payment), but would instead have free access to the resources and surplus of the commune.[62] Anarchist communists believe that the value of labor cannot be measured, since the value of every creation is relative to the creator, and the creation of all products is made possible by the labor of past generations.[citation needed] They believe everyone should be free to consume without the restraint of arbitrary measurement of the worth of their labor.

...ok...were getting closer to a free market BRC, but the problem lies with having to buy ice and coffee. If everyone were free to consume, I could walk into the ranger HQ eat their food, drink their beer, belch and say thank you...and walk away. Ok, maybe they wouldn't let me walk away without the gift of broken legs...but anyway.

Anarcho-synicalism:
More heavily focused on the labour movement than previous forms of anarchism, syndicalism posits radical trade unions as a potential force for revolutionary social change, replacing capitalism and the state with a new society, democratically self-managed by the workers.

...I don't think Bmorg office is a trade union, although I did see a strike a couple of years ago in front of the Bmorg office....they tried.


Anarcho-Capitalists:
Anarcho-capitalists, like earlier American anarchists such as Benjamin Tucker, would like for all services, including law enforcement and security, to be performed by multiple private providers all competing for business, rather than by a monopolist state agency funded by taxation. Most anarcho-capitalists believe that in the absence of the institutionalized aggression carried on by the state, non-coercive capitalism would naturally and inevitably develop through market processes, and thus other forms of aggression would be diminished.


....yikes! We can't make things, sell them or buy them at BRC. So much for self employment. Pity, this was a close one!


Green anarchism:
Green anarchism advocates a return to a pre-industrial and usually pre-agricultural society.

...heh! I don't think so, unless the folks at thunderdome could beat each other with wicker branches, and the 40,000 watts of techno coming from that camp with 3 people dancing to it would like to pull a "Bobby McPherin" and mouth music the thumpa-thumpa-thumpa.


....and the list goes on....I am sure you get the point by now. :-)


So, at this point you might be wondering "why the hell is this moron spending so much time wrestling with this concept?

Gabriel had it correct, but now I am attempting to find meaning to the word in relations to the event, based on your responses....so thanks for that :-)

Tribe is a discussion base, and I wanted to see what you all thought, in hopes that (instead of judging people,) I would opt for learning how you see things in relations to how people are labeling the event...

That's all. Thanks for engaging the conversation *smiles*

Oh, Burning Man has completely lost any connection to a T.A.Z. I am not privy to the small internal decisions that led the event in the direction away from that . Certainly, there were huge external pressures that forced change. It would have been interesting as a sociology experiment to have followed it closely to see what could have been different and what necessarily had to happen.

Don't confuse Burning Man ( Harvey and James) with the event in Black Rock (Cacophony Society). The Burning Man was invited to join up with the event in Black Rock. How it took over the event, I can't tell you.

Also, I also completely disagree with the illusion that one person or a group can adequately "look down" from their pedestals to see the "big picture". The big picture is that most of the 60,000, or whatever the figure actually is, know how to behave themselves in their community. Do you think 60,000 people are being held in check by the LLC and LEOs? They are not. They are being held in check by community bonds and self-regulation.

Sweeny:
> "Burning Man is not a bureaucracy."

Hahahahaha.... Hahahahaha.... Hahahahaha.... Hahahahaha.... Hahahahaha.... Hahahahaha.... Hahahahaha.... Hahahahaha....

I proposed creating a town-hall. I even suggested that the community would be willing to create the town hall for them - - the only thing that would be required of the BMORG would be to show up.

That was rejected - the BMORG for some reason feels a need to keep tight reins on everything. Now, that idea may or may not be muddling around in the bureaucracy somewhere.

Andie:
"There are actually a lot of steps to creating such a forum and it would require discussion and long term planning even if it were approved. ... So I can't answer on the new town hall forum suggestion, but do invite it to be submitted in the feedback loop process ... I can help to see a place to put that idea up the flagpole through a public feedback process and see what discussion can get us to."

bm.tribe.net/thread/e938...1195075b7df5