Seven Habits of Highly Effective Anarchists

These habits are meant for anarcho-agorists working to transition

their societies "from here to there". It is also a pun on

Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

1) Be an individual. The first step in the micro strategy starts with yourself. A participatory polis and economy can be achieved by individuals who are innovative, take risks, and to the degree which they are comfortable, autonomous. Individuals create a fruitful marketplace of ideas. They also create the kinds of marketplaces and the kinds of public spheres which are only possible through their consent.

2) Scheme with the end in mind. Keep in mind your macro strategies. The goal is to create a lively polis where governance is not imposed by force. Therefore every action can be seen as aimed toward that end.

3) Put the Revolution first. Visible imbalances are symptoms of the greater problem which is the state apparatus itself. The state has become the object of immense politicking, lobbying and control. The agorist addresses deep-seated structural problems such as patriarchy, coercion or the institutions of torture, with a consistent position proclaiming that society's movement away from statism and towards agorism ought to be accelerated and this will undermine its practices.

4) Reflect on rights. The anarcho-agorist reveals the contradictions in the state through a reflection of individual rights. The principles of 'liberalism' in general are built upon assumptions about the arbitrariness of the state and the primacy of individual will. Every interaction in a society that is coercive is therefore viewed from an external point of view, and it is this very idea that individuals have rights and want to use them which the state condemns as subversive.

5) Seek first to counter. Counter-institutions and counter-cultures cannot gain substantial ground in a society dominated by modern conditions of production and their ideologies. As long as the state offers incentives obtained through coercion, counter-hegemonic options will be less attractive to those who do not see the larger picture. Direct political action and education serve therefore as a starting point for the creation of a society which will eventually sever its ties to the surplus-sucking bureaucrats who have stolen your community.

6) Agorize! Agorists recognize that effective change will not take place through political reform alone, so seeking first to agorize and strike the state's centralized power at its root will be the most effective long-term tactic. Agorization includes forming labor unions, forming tax-resistances, creating sanctuary cities and anarchovillages, forming security alliances to counter the state's, creating participatory institutions that fulfill the same needs as coercive institutions, and otherwise severing local ties from arbitrary state and federal authorities.

7) Wield your shield. The state will stop at nothing to prevent you from succeeding from its power. Pogroms (mass arrests) may occur if the state believes the threat of losing its power is great enough, or that "widespread anarchy" may come about. Violent revolution is not necessary, only insofar as the state does not provoke one, though a fundamental tension will brew between individuals who deny the state's institutions and the concept of citizenship which may require allegience to various institutions. At this point, collectivized security operations, like extensive neighborhood watches, to protect against the state's marauders may require diversified defensive tactics.