Ever since 2012, when Ron Paul's failed run at the Republican nomination for President proved that there is no changing things through the political system, I have followed the libertarian/anarchist community. At that point I made the transition from minarchist to anarchist. Or to be a little geeky, I went full Grey Jedi. Since then I followed various people as well as any news about liberty events or conferences. It is a community I have been wanting to get involved with for some time. Unfortunately health issues, a long story, and in the last two years family and personal issues, an even longer story, inhibited my attempts to get involved. But earlier this year I said screw it and dove right in.
One of the biggest liberty events I have followed over the years is Anarchapulco, the OG anarchist conference. It is a conference I've been wanting to attend for some time. Next year I will finally make it down. This year though there were several spin off conferences. Anarchizona was the first. In April I heard about Anarchadelphia from watching an interview with Carey Wedler on The State of Anarchy on YouTube. In May I came across an interview with Erin Nakamoto discussing Anarchovegas. I had never heard of Erin before but I was intrigued and excited by the idea of an anarchy conference happening here. So I bought my VIP ticket right after I finished watching the interview.
Anarchovegas was scheduled the weekend that Freedomfest, another event I was aware of, ended. There was a little scheduling chaos in the beginning at the original venue but another was found quickly. I had a chance to meet Erin and the other organizers of the event at that months Bitcoin Meetup that Erin and her boyfriend, Kingsley Edwards, run. It was on my birthday so as I had nothing else going on I decided to go. There I met them as well as the other two involved with the event, Yaakov Martel and Josh Sigurdson of World Alternative Media. It was nice to not only meet the organizers of the event but also others in the local community. I was able to chat with Erin, Yaakov and Josh. I believe Erin said that Kingsley had a poker tournament to attend and had to leave early. After the event I spoke to Josh for an hour with another attendee about some of his research on ancient civilizations and ancient science.
At next month's meetup I had the chance to not only meet Kinglsey but also hang out with everyone, minus Yaakov afterwards when they went to get a bite to eat and a drink. I even got the chance to meet Josh's partner Anam Paiseanta, whom he went to Mauritania with. In addition to talking a little bit about the upcoming conference we chatted about a couple of the attendees and some general stuff about Josh's travels. I was just getting more excited about the conference at this point. In fact that day I had purchased my ticket for the Speakers Brunch that took place right before the start of the conference at the venue.
Come July I only needed a few clothing items as well as a couple of costume items for the Free Ross Fundraiser Party, which had a 20's Prohibition/Great Gatsby theme. The party was to raise funds to help free Ross Ulbricht of the Silk Road who was sentenced to two life sentences +40 years I believe for illicit activities that other people were involved with. Anyone interested can check out Freeross.org/petition for details. But getting back to the conference when it seemed like things couldn't get better the week of the Free Ross Party it did. Avens O'Brien, the opening speaker, second generation libertarian and all around awesome person, who was also a speaker at Freedomfest was throwing an open karaoke event. Since several of the speakers at Anarchovegas were attending Freedomfest I decided to go. I figure the people I met prior to the Free Ross Party the more time I would have to meet new people there. By the end of that night I had met half of the speakers and hung out with quite a few of them afterwards.
The night of the Free Ross Fundraiser, with the exception of a couple of people on the crypto panel I met all of the remaining speakers. I went from following several of these people over the years to not only being able to meet them but to get to mingle with them for several hours. All in all it was a wonderful night and prelude to Vegas' first anarchy conference. And no, Freedomfest doesn't count as an anarchy conference it is a liberty conference. To paraphrase Mace Windu from Revenge of the Sith, we allow them on the council but we do not grant them the rank of anarchist.
I'm the tall guy in the front row middle section. -^- Right there.
The day of the conference at the Speakers Brunch I sat at a table with Beau of The Fifth Column and his wife, Ford Fischer of News2Share.com and Lynn Ulbricht, Ross Ulbricht's mom. Then afterwards I took a seat and awaited the conference to start. The conference was being live streamed on the wonderful new social media app Flote.app from Kingsley Edwards company. Benny Wills of Joy Camp was the MC. He used his brand of stand up poetry as a segue into the various speakers talks. From listening to different ideas of libertarian principles, different ways to advance anarchism/voluntarism, the struggles of the independent media, information on the current use of cryptocurrency as well as its future, homeschooling and other topics I was amazed at how so many ideas could be expressed over the course of about seven hours. And since I had the chance to meet and mingle with so many of the speakers the night before along with the ones I got to know over the previous two months I was hanging out with many of them on the floor like I had knew all of them.
The after party was a simple pool party and get together. It was a wonderful chance to speak with the speakers and other attendees before everyone went their own way. Over the course of just two months I went from following people online to making their acquaintance and even a few friends. Now I can look forward to Anarchapulco to meet not just meet new people but to meet many people for the second time in person in addition to interacting with them on Flote. This was a wonderful testament to the idea of anarchism and voluntarism. In just the ninety days that it took to organize this conference a series of events was set in motion that made a big impact on my life. To be able to step out of my relatively solitary life and step into a new community. And for each month to bring more opportunities to get involved with that community. Out of a chaotic couple of years a spontaneous order arose. And that is the real power of Anarchism/Voluntarism. People getting together to connect and share ideas and for the ripples of those ideas to extend outward and create further ripples to positively advance the cause of liberty. I hope not only that Anarchovegas grows year after year but that more of these events continue to pop up all over the United States. Once upon a time there was a spirit of liberty in this country. It is a true joy to see it being rekindled. And it will be a dream come true to see its fire burn down the state.
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