There were a few anarchists in the town where I grew up, and a lot more in the city nearby. But perhaps because these individuals were not as organized as Keeniacs, the activism in which I participated seemed to live or die with my action.
I could get a few of my friends together and shout from a megaphone and sign-wave in Rittenhouse Park. We would go “Robin-Hooding,” where individuals feed parking meters for strangers in an attempt to “cost” the State the “revenue” of the ticket. But even in a city of 1.5 million, there were only a handful of us doing activism on a regular basis. “What’s the deal?” I wondered.
At the same time, I was seeing videos and blogs produced on a regular basis of all sorts of interesting activism going on in New Hampshire, especially Keene. One of those videographers is Garret Ian of FreeConcord.org. In fact, it is he who was the inspiration behind this blog post.
I missed Garret’s Chalking trial today. I felt terrible about it because I wanted to be there to support an awesome activist and a great guy. I later tuned in to FreeTalkLive only to hear the hosts talking about the trial, and I suddenly felt much better about today. I was relieved knowing that while my presence would have been useful and appreciated, there are so many activists here that my absence was barely felt.
When one is among a small group of liberty-lovers, activism can live and die with one’s actions. While it’s awesome as an individual to have such a disproportionate impact of activism in the community, it can burn a person out.
The Shire is going to do activism with or without you. If you live in a place that only does activism when you do, why not move to the Shire? That way, you can add your efforts to an already humming machine — a place where you can take a break once in a while and the machine will keep running.
I’ve only been here 7 months. There are people who have been here for years. I know the Shire hasn’t always been this way and I think it’s completely awesome and mystifying that through the continued efforts of those individuals, this harbor for activism is possible. Thanks to those of you who paved the way. If you haven’t moved here yet, what are you waiting for?
