About this Episode
Lily Forester, of HBO’s “The Anarchists” documentary series fame, joins Craig to discuss freedom, anarchism, and agorism. Lily is a trailblazer of agorist activity, putting anarchist and agorist ideas into action in her own life. She was a part of the Fireweed Universe City anarchist community in Detroit until her and her boyfriend John moved to Mexico and joined the Anarchapulco community. She ran a restaurant and farm from her house until John was killed in a shooting. These days she keeps herself busy training in circus arts, crocheting custom orders, blogging, building websites, and working with Anarchapulco and Anarchoforko.
Craig and Lily discuss their frustrations with self-proclaimed anarchists who don’t act like anarchists. Both the ones that go back to the Libertarian Party to try to work through the state and the ones who abuse the title, complicating explanations of anarchist philosophy. Craig and Lily define the term agorist and discuss where it overlaps with anarchist as well as the differences. Where anarchists may shy away agorists tend to follow through on anarchist activities. They are the ones asking themselves how far they are willing to go and using their skills to build healthy communities of voluntary exchanges. Lily gives some advice on becoming an agorist, how to find an agorist community and using crypto-currency.
Where to find Lily:
Episode Timestamps:
5:15 – Who is Lily Forester?
Girl with a fake name
Arrested for cannabis related stuff in Ohio
Raised by agorists: practical anarchists
Mother was actively a fugitive in Ohio
On the fringe of the Anarchapulco community
Started Anarchoforko
Had a restaurant and farm at her house
Boyfriend murdered in 2019
Trains in circus arts
Features in “The Anarchists” documentary
7:58 – Frustrated with anarchists
Why do anarchists go back to working with libertarian parties?
Anarchists should be principled
When they aren’t, Craig is disappointed
This drew him to Lily’s words in The Anarchists
Anarchapulco in The Anarchists seemed to be all about partying
Shed the term anarchist for agorist
Fireweed Universe-City in Detroit is the most truly anarchist community Lily has lived in
Fixing abandoned houses
Growing food
Community garden
Agorists are practicing anarchy
Changing their lives
Unlicensed businesses
Winters in Detroit were hard, so Anarchapulco was appealing
Anarchists don’t all live their stated philosophy
When times get hard, some go back to the state
Or run for President
Some use the label to treat people poorly
“Don’t tell me what to do, I’m an anarchist.”
Manipulating people
Anarchists that believe the ideas and try to practice have overlap with agorists
They will face hardship
18:04 – Anarchists paying taxes
Anarchists do not “pay taxes” they are forcefully taken
It’s self-defence
It’s not voluntary
No one wants to live in a cage
Anarchists who run for office are not anarchists
Elections are like the movie “Groundhog Day”
Lily campaigned for Ron Paul
Became an anarchist after he failed
Craig was booing him off stage
It’s hard to take anarchists seriously when they discus changing laws or using the libertarian party
What Donald Trump calls anarchy is not anarchy
Explaining the actions of some self-proclaimed anarchists is not easy
Complicates explanations of anarchy
Agorists tend to shy away from calling themselves anarchists for this reason
Agorists build healthy communities through:
Using their skills
Voluntary interactions
Agorists need to ask themselves:
What laws are they willing to break?
How far are they willing to test the IRS?
Anarchists say stop paying taxes and don’t vote
Don’t always follow-up
The mark of a good community is how they respond to crisis
When John was killed agorists were there for Lily
Anarchopulco failed
They were a bunch of broken people calling themselves anarchists
They couldn’t get along with each other
When the police were called they took everything from Lily
Her dogs
Solar panels
Vehicles
In the US police conduct “Asset Forfeiture” and do the same
Barry Cooper ex-cop fled the US and founded NeverGetBusted
Anarchists are suspicious of police officers
Craig had an ex-officer on the show
They protect politician’s laws
33:04 – How to become an agorist
Replace goods and services with people who are agorists
Directory: https://www.agoristnexus.com/
Do what makes you happy, produce things
Accept payments in crypto currency
Buy from people who are building the counterculture
Cryptocurrency
Monero
Find ways to transact without having to turn it into fiat currencies
A tool to send and receive money that may hide your identity
Behaves like a regular market with booms and busts
Is unregulatable
Decentralised and worldwide
A stepping stone to seeing the state collapse
The IRS can’t see it
Buying and selling services with agorists
Crypto wallets are untraceable with a VPN
Some businesses accept it
There is a whole community building and using it
44:56 – Spirituality
Psychedelics have been a part of Lily’s journey
Prayer works
No face or name or doctrine or worship
There is something out there who helps good people
People personify the unexplainable
Something is keeping Lily out of jail
The world is not completely random
Human Design
Focus on being good people
Doing things in ways that use your best modes
Makes life easier
A taro reading suggested a female lawyer would help and then one contacted her
Jesus said to love your neighbor and love your enemy
Lily got involved with Anarchopulco and they went from enemy to friend
Building what she wants to see
Now there are more people from various religious camps now
No more drunken parties, like in the past
Bringing people together who are actually doing stuff
More families, chill people, and business people come now
55:37 – Food
Lily’s guac recipe
Mexican guac is just avocado, cilantro, white onion, jalapeno, salt, and lime
Tastes cheesy
Texans believe beans don’t belong in chili
White people are the worst
Hot dogs go on every food in Acapulco
1:02:35 – Close the interview
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