There is enough to go around. Watch.
distribution includes everyone who practices generosity in the spirit that there is enough to go around, if only we would circulate resources responsibly and without self-interest. These resources include information, love, and good energy, among other material and immaterial resources.
dis·tri·bu·tion (n.)
The forces of self-interest (including your own) would have us believe that business is itself a form of distribution. In fact, buying and selling are methods of accumulation, characterized by everyone trying to get the best deal. In business, distribution happens reluctantly, almost as a concession rather than the primary objective.
distribution distributes resources altruistically, and has no respect for the self-interested practices and values of business.
distribution is primarily accomplished by sharing and giving, especially to whom through which your efforts will benefit the most people.
"Your past is a prison with an open door. You can walk out whenever you like..."
iMAGIne. aCKt. Find The Others.
To Find The Others in IRC-land your best bet is to just leave yourself logged in and lurk all the time. (You can do that with IRCCloud on a smartphone if you don't care about security.)
If you do care about security, the irc server is compatible with the TOR network. We recommend Tails, or something similar.
Or log in at the agreed upon time:
Every Monday at 11:11 GMT.
(am or pm!? both!!!)
We're all in it together, kid!
More than any other time, it is up to us whether we consume media that motivates and inspires us to act, or media that tells us to work and consume as we march to our doom.
"Are you going to choose media that wakes you up, or lulls you back to sleep?"
Awakening to the reality of exactly how we got so headfucked as a species, and why we haven't gotten our shit together, yet. We hope the media and information provided here can be a tool for keeping your head clear of the bullshit, as well as something to point others to if they're wondering why you're so nice or want to further understand your perspective on things. We tried to use mostly bite-sized bits of information so it can be easy to share the information on the go, or in the middle of a conversation.
"May we all empower each other to become the fullest expression of ourselves in our journey to learn to live in harmony with each other."
We must embrace and accept the dark reality of our plight without looking away before we can truly understand where we stand and how we can help each other get out of it.
Anger can be used as a catalyst that pushes you to act. But still try to act out of love instead of anger. Do not allow your anger to control you, but do not repress or deny it, either.
"The only way to keep from moving backward is to keep moving forward."
"Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds."
"Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that's real power."
The road may get tough, but we must remain united. People may argue between Gandhian tactics of loving non-violence or the right to use force to defend your community by following the sacred principle of "do no wrong, but take no shit." Even this debate must not divide us. And for those who do choose to use violence to defend their community, please do it with love for your enemy, seeking ways out of the conflict at every turn.
"Each day, awakening, are we asked to paint the sky blue? Need we coax the sun to rise or flowers to bloom? Need we teach birds to sing, or children to laugh, or lovers to kiss? No, though we think the world imperfect, it surrounds us daily with its perfections. We are asked only to appreciate them, and to show appreciation by living in peaceful harmony amidst them. The Creator does not ask that we create a perfect world; only that we celebrate it."
There is enough to go around if we make it.
An emergent behavior or emergent property can appear when a number of entities of simple behavior operate in an environment together, collectively forming more complex behaviors.
Anonymous is the emergent behavior of a generation of disgruntled hackers becoming politicized, in a spontaneous and simultaneous yet completely uncoordinated way. Just as global warming is the emergent behavior of a generation either in denial or ironically cynical about the harm our lifestyles cause, while still feeling entitled to all the same luxuries.
Reflecting on how our actions contribute to the emergent behaviors of the whole is a good organization principle for a decentralized movement. It embraces the importance of the health of every part, and the relationships between them. It avoids developing co-dependant relationships, and leans toward each individual part working to improve itself and it's relationships to all the other parts rather than any part trying to impose their idea of order onto others.
"The whole is greater than the sum of it's parts."
"The technological capacity to produce enough to satisfy everyone's needs already exists globally and has for many decades. Yet needs continue to remain unmet on a massive scale. Why?
Quite simply because scarcity is a functional requirement of capitalism itself."
Have you ever used an appliance from the 50's and were suprised how robust it was, that it still worked after all these years? That's because you've become used to modern products, which are invariably made to break to encourage a constant flow of business. If appliances were still made to last, we would have made enough stoves and refrigerators to last the next couple generations by now. But a truly satisfied customer never comes back - which is a big problem for businesses (even though it looks more like a solution for customers and environmentalists). And that's just one example of artificial scarcity.
The reason scarcity is permanently embedded into our economic system has to do with the laws of supply and demand. If a product seems it could be easily made at home, or is apparently abundant enough that you might find another later on down the road, then there isn't going to be as much demand for it. Which means businesses can't charge as much money for it. So businesses use a slew of techniques to make their product stand out as something rare and unique, even creating a sense of urgency around the product ("for a limited time only!").
Unfortunately, as businesses compete for our attention, the similarities between their messages blend together and what emerges is a chorus of people telling us we don't have enough. That we need more. That our lives could be so much better if only we had what they had... Bombarded by this message we develop a feeling of being left out, and come to believe that money is the only thing that can fix the feeling. Which is how our worldview has been slowly funneled into this frantic state that there isn't enough to go around. It seems true enough, anyhow. We're running from job to job, trying to keep up on rent, never able to afford the newest things we feel we need to keep up...
Meanwhile, there is such an abundance of resources that those same businesses hide or destroy their own overproduction just so no one can get it for free (to maintain the scarcity they think they depend on). This is the real reason we have such an excess of food, clothing, and other necessities which goes to waste: not because they're broken or spoiled but because they're actively destroyed by producers and retailers. This is also why there are so many homeless even though they are actually far outnumbered by empty houses: because banks hold the houses off the market just to inflate prices.
We live in a multi-faceted illusion. There would be enough to go around if we circulated resources more altruistically, but generation after generation our perception of resources has been funneled into an economic perspective that is consumed by the primary objectives of getting money, and buying things. And yet to get that money, we must play into the overall illusion of scarcity ourselves, even going so far as to physically impose actual scarcity by destroying abundance where necessary. We've created a feedback loop of misperception that continuously misleads us all to want those things which are least accessible to us. Meanwhile, we've been distracted from the inherent abundance of the natural world, like the wild edible plants growing all around us, often much more nutritious than our domesticated vegetables, yet long forgotten as some pesky unnamed weed in your vegetable garden.
Capitalism is simply the emergent behavior of individuals believing that things can be bought and sold, and then acting on that belief. It's the self-fulfilling prophecy of the belief that there isn't enough to go around, and so we must hold onto what we have and leverage it against others to maintain a decent quality of life. Of course, it is this scarcity mentality that creates the felt experience of scarcity in the first place. And by depending on a tit-for-tat mentality rather than trusting in the flow of resources to altruistically get things where they need to go, wealth accumulates rather than circulating.
And as time has shown, by putting a price on anything, we've put a price on everything. Even land costs money, so everything else ends up costing money in the struggle to pay the rent. And it doesn't do us any good - often it encourages all the wrong behaviors. Trees are profitable only once they're chopped down and sold as lumber. Tap water is more profitable when it's put in a plastic bottle and shipped across an ocean. And in the prison industry, people are more profitable for every day they're in jail.
Things can be outlawed, but markets can't be stopped. And since scarcity increases demand, the black market is always booming. Drugs are more profitable when they're illegal. Sex is still bought and sold. You can still pay for a murder, if you know the right people. At some point we have to ask - is it worth it to put a price on anything?
Given the viral nature of capitalism in monetizing every last thing on Earth, it seems the only realistic alternative to capitalism would be to refuse to put a price tag on anything. This is the idea of the gift economy. Once we rid ourselves of this idea that everything can be bought and sold, we'll be open to being more generous as well as more receptive to the generosity of others.
And as we ween ourselves off of money, and learn to meet our needs for free, we find the only incentive left is to do that which best serves our community. And in turn, our community supports us in our efforts. This becomes a feedback loop of positivity and mutual aid - and that's something money certainly couldn't buy.
When something has a price, or expectations attached, those are hooks. Like the hooks in fish bait. And almost everything in this world has hooks in it thanks the capitalist perspective. "No such thing as a free lunch". No love without expectations. No shelter without paying for it. Living in a world of such deficit, many feel they have no choice but to leave the hooks in and pass 'em on, in hopes of profitting a bit themselves.
But just because you paid for something, whether in money or pain, doesn't mean you have to pass on the hooks. Pay forward the beautiful things, but not the ugly ones. The love, not the hate. Someone needs to be the strong person who can bite the bullet, and take the hooks out. By refusing to pass on the same strings attached, and instead giving freely to those most likely to pass it on without putting the hooks back in, you can be the one to stop that cycle here and now.
"What about using money to end money? We could run an ad campaign to persuade people to turn away from capitalism. Or buy land to start a commune."
The problem with using money "just a little more" is that it's a slippery slope with no end in sight. It leaves money the primary objective, attracts the destructive forces of greed and self-interest, and risks becoming a sort of non-profit industrial complex which uses the distant, imaginary goal of one day no longer using money as nothing more than an excuse to continue turning a profit. (Much like State Communism used the imaginary future of a communal worker-run state as an excuse to maintain totalitarian control.)
Money has always been a matter of convenience, and as long as people believe in it there will always be something that is easier to get with money than without. But it is convenience at the cost of other's comfort or even survival. What's important is making the connections, cultivating the community, and pooling the resources to make it all happen for free. Which is why we would be wiser to focus on distribution, which is good for everyone, everywhere. Such a force will inevitably draw in more and more people, and with them more knowledge of living free, as well as more resources with which to build from.
Beware! If you get it in your head that even just a little money can help the cause, you become the infiltrator of capitalism pissing away all of our efforts to distribute resources. We would no longer be embodying the values of distribution if we help you get a squat only to have you rent out the rooms. Nor would we be helping distribution by getting you a free bike only for you to sell it. If you're putting the hooks back into things, you've fallen out of line with the values of distribution.
The definition of a word or phrase in the minds of the people is a living thing, extremely dynamic, and highly affected by the ebb and flow of culture and historical significance. But most importantly, it is affected by the most recent uses of the word. In a sense, a word is redefined with every use.
Mass media, employing all the latest research in psychology and mass manipulation, has developed an incredibly strong influence on the worldview of an unprecedented number of humans over the past few decades. And because mass media is inherently motivated by profit, it is laced with the messaging of a multi-billion dollar advertising industry, which uses any and every word, phrase, or concept available to divert people's attention toward consumer products, consumer experiences, and a constricted consumer outlook on life.
With the battle over words and concepts growing fierce, the phrase "sharing economy" has arisen out of necessity as there was once again no commonly accepted way to refer to the idea that hadn't somehow been co-opted or slandered beyond recognition. It's a powerful phrase, and a powerful move by the ones who coined it to adopt the language of their aggressors by using the word "economy". While economics has always downplayed, ignored, or obscured any form of sharing or giving because of the nature of economic formulas, and the immeasurable nature of love and gratitude, the phrase "sharing economy" strives to return the idea of sharing and giving to the arena of economics by portraying it as an alternative economy rather than a non-economy. And by putting it in economic terms, one might have hoped the phrase could remain more resilient.
Unfortunately, even as new of a phrase as it is, businesses have already caught on and have been completely misusing the phrase in their ads, propagating it's misuse far and wide. This creates a huge obstacle for any new concept, movement, or community still trying to gain traction by eclipsing it's original meaning and obscuring it's existence. Especially when it goes against the profit motive. In this case, a phrase that was made to catch someone's eye, ignite their imagination, and lead them on a path of discovery to a world of people who believe in a more equitable world, might instead be ignored as a meaningless for-profit slogan that's been overplayed a million times.
That's why as fast as our concepts are being co-opted and commodified, we must be creating new words, new concepts, new meanings, and meanwhile fight to retain or return a sense of meaning to the words and concepts we already have. Here we've chosen the word "distribution" to try to return to the world a way of referring to the concept of altruistically circulating resources, giving to where it will be most wisely put to use, and will ultimately help to conspire toward a world of greater abundance and access to resources for all.
Studies have shown that people instinctively help each other when there is no time to think. Yet, given time to think, we have a plethora of ways to justify not helping one another. Perhaps our only hope is in learning to turn off the mind, and turn on the heart. Our minds have become so cluttered with culture and mass media, our hearts have been shoved deep down under layers of baggage. We have arrived in Babylon. Language has become uprooted, co-opted beyond recognition. There are no more meetings or discussions that can help us, because we quite literally aren't speaking the same language, even as we use the same words. Perhaps our only hope is to live in the moment, act from the heart, and stop letting so many words and ideas distract us.
In this pursuit, learning to quiet the mind, if only for a few minutes every day, is indispensible.
Your comfort zone is closing in around you! It's enslaving you! To what? Safety. Normalcy. Habit. Routine. Boredom...
Here's a bit of advice. It's hard to learn how to live outside of a cage you've been in your whole life without leaving the cage. Which is why you've got to break out!
Necessity is the mother of invention, so if you're still using money then you're likely making little or no progress in learning to live without it. You can do it! Find some free resources, or just find your inner stubborness and combine it with your burning passion, and just stop using money!
Besides, there's sort of a spiritual aspect to it, too. You're only innocent until you understand what you've been participating in. After that it becomes urgent for the health of your own psyche that you promptly find ways of correcting your behavior and start doing the right thing.
Unofficial curriculum for those interested in distribution.
"Never let schooling get in the way of a good education."
Only through your own understanding can you be sure you're making your own wise decisions and not just following blindly.
The world is one big interconnected mess. And working for distribution is nothing short of doing your best to be a part of a holistic solution that can help clean it all up. So let's take a holistic outlook on the situation and start by putting things into context.
We are not separate from our environment. We are an intrinsic part of our environment. And being a part of our environment, we must live as one, in harmony with each other and the rest of our environment, or our Earth will become an increasingly uninhabitable planet that will eventually refuse to sustain us.
The closer we look, the stranger our Universe appears to be. From our perception of reality literally shaping our physical reality, to the equations that describe our physical Universe uncovering something like digital computer code.
"The modern theory of the perpetuation of debt has drenched
the earth with blood, and crushed its inhabitants under burdens ever accumulating."
Thomas Jefferson
In 1924, Montagu Norman, Governor of The Bank of England, addressed the United States Bankers' Association in NYC saying:
"Capital must protect itself in every possible way, both
by combination and legislation. Debts must be collected, mortgages
foreclosed as rapidly as possible.
When, through process of law, the common people lose their homes,
they will become more docile and more easily governed through
the strong arm of the government applied by a central power of
wealth under leading financiers.
These truths are well known among our principal men, who are
now engaged in forming an imperialism to govern the world. By
dividing the voter through the political party system, we can
get them to expend their energies in fighting for questions of no importance.
It is thus, by discrete action, we can secure for ourselves
that which has been so well planned and so successfully accomplished."
NB: This quotation was reprinted in the Idaho Leader, USA, on 26th August 1924, and has been read into the Australian Federal Hansard twice: by John Evans MP, in 1926, and by MD Cowan MP, in the session of 1930-31.
"It is well enough that people of the nation do
not understand our banking and monetary system, for if
they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."
Henry Ford
The surveillance state is rapidly approaching some sick hybrid between SkyNet from "The Terminator" and Big Brother from George Orwell's "1984". This is not something to be ignored, despite being downplayed by old world media.
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who
believe they are free."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Advertising may be described as the science of arresting human intelligence long enough to get money from it."
Stephen Leacock
Now that we know what's up, let's listen for some advice from our friendly gaurdians of the Earth, Anonymous.
"Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea ...and ideas are bulletproof."
"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."
Oscar Wilde
Beware, there are Anonymous videos that are made by agents of disinformation, such as the governments, the corporations, and the ignorant. To the best of our vigilance, we haven't included any of those here.
To really understand how to interpret Anonymous videos, keep in mind that one of the reasons for anonymity is to give the author the freedom to make a logical argument without being judged for their identity.
True, you may still be able to peg the author of a video as one "type" or another based off of the content of their video. But to remain in the spirit of Anonymous, no information should be discredited because of someone's identity, even if that identity is only formed throughout a single video. Everything that Anonymous says should be considered separately. In part because it's easy for someone to clip together a bunch of clips from different Anonymous videos so you can't tell what information is coming from where. But also because we are all genius-idiots in our own right, holding both good and bad ideas. Which is why you should never close your mind to other people's ideas, while still being careful not to believe anything without looking into it yourself.
We are Anonymous. We are Legion.
We do not forgive. We do not forget.
United as one. Divided by zero.
We are uniting humanity.
Expect us.
We're all in it together, kid!
Don't sit around feeling sorry for yourself, and blaming everyone else for the world's problems. Get out there and do something about it. Remember, we aren't doomed until we give up.
Pooling resources. Together, we have enough.
The open-source revolution is well underway, bringing us everything from Wikipedia to WikiLeaks. You can learn almost anything for free these days.
"Information wants to be free"
DIY instructions on how to make almost anything.
Trying to help everyone on the planet learn how to do anything.
Learn how everything works!
This is an encyclopedia written by everyone, for everyone, drawing from all the knowledge connected to the hive mind of the Internet.
The collaborative world-wide guide for creating value from trash.
A collaborative website for gathering information about hitchhiking and other ways of extremely cheap ways of transport.
The one and only! Still pumping out new secrets everyday.
Post items to give away. Browse other free items being given away. The "free stuff" section of Craigslist.
An online gift economy. A simple location-based social network to connect neighbors through sharing. Each user lists items they're lending out or giving away, services they're offering their neighbors for free, and items or help they are requesting.
Offer to help out in whatever you do best, and most enjoy. Request advice, borrow equipment, or ask for help with finishing a project you're working on. No accounts, just anonymous offers and requests.
This is a platform for sharing campgrounds and camp sites you have discovered. We are community driven, and while we will be adding many free camping spots, we hope that you will add some of your favorite camping places as well.
A yardsharing community. Excellent when online, but currently remodeling. Hope to see it back soon! They're accepting email addresses to be notified when they're back.
Vortexes of info about the sharing revolution.
Shareable is a news, action and connection hub for the sharing transformation.
"What's the sharing transformation? It's a movement of movements emerging from the grassroots up to solve today's biggest challenges, which old, top-down institutions are failing to address."
We believe in the inherent generosity of others and aim to ignite that spirit of service.
Through our small, collective acts, we hope to transform ourselves and the world.
Gift Economy
This website provides a discussion of the gift economy and its culture as a way to
peace and abundance for all. We distinguish between gift and exchange, in order to
understand them both and to finally phase out exchange altogether.
Sharewiki is a place for initiatives that promote sharing. We invite you to share projects that you know off in your town, city or country. Think food-cooperatives and bike-sharing projects.
Altruists International has many pages eloquently describing concepts related to the gift economy,
as well as pages of links to other gift economy related projects. Unfortunately, the site reads like
a maze of links, more and more of which go nowhere as time goes on. And yet, they really have their finger on
the pulse with their ideas, so it's still worth checking out.
"We are united by our commitment that a money-centred struggle for personal gain is no way to make the world a better place. We try to ignore money but put people at the heart of what we do, concentrating on what will be of real benefit to others."
Don't just stand there... do something!
You don't have to be a busy-body to work for distribution. We're human beings, not human doings. And sometimes what we don't do can be just as important as what we do.
Spend some time at the end of each day thinking of everything that happened to you that day, and all the people and things you have to be grateful for. Then think about all the people and things you have to be grateful for in general, not just for today. You'll notice the more grateful you are, the more blessings and synchronicities the Universe will shower you with.
Smiling at each other connects us deeply, if only for a second. And even if someone isn't in the mood to smile back, they're still smiling inside. Joy is contagious, but so is misery, so just by smiling and saying "hi" to each other we're working together to beat back the constant onslaught of misery we're always battling. Eye contact is the gift of vulnerability, and being receptive to whatever the other person sends our way. It may be a smile, it may be a frown, it may be an amazing experience, an opportunity to help, and perhaps even a lifelong friend.
If you pick an area to hang out, and stick with it day after day, then just by talking to passers by you become a connector for all the people passing through the area. Smile, and say "hi" to everyone. Lend a helping hand where you can. You'll find as you get to know people that often people already have what it takes to depend less on businesses and more on their own neighbors, they just don't realize it because everyone is busy pushing past each other and not taking time to understand each other's wants and needs. But if you manage to make those connections for people, they'll be extremely grateful, and you may have even helped create connections between people in the area that last long after you've moved on.
The world is still just waking up. They're still rubbing the gunk out of their eyes, and haven't splashed water in their face yet. Be patient, but confident. The illusions that need to be dispelled still have their strangle-hold on a lot of people. Many people you come across might not see what is wrong with money, sometimes even after you try to explain it. Nevertheless, remain confident. You are not alone. When someone asks what you do, say you work for distribution. Say it proudly, and confidently. Explain it where appropriate, but don't try to sell the idea. You have nothing to prove. You are already on the right track. The world is destined to move in this direction. Focus on distribution, and the rest will follow.
If you have something to give away but you don't know who it's meant for, tie a tag on it that says "pass it on (or keep it)" on one side and "do not sell" on the other side. Anyone who honors distribution will prioritize getting it to where it needs to go.
Set a reoccuring day like the first Sunday of every month to gather for a potluck type event of sharing food and other things. Give things away. Help people fix their bikes. Whatever you can do to contribute and help out. Promote the Really Really Free Market with a big sign, and put up posters everywhere. Flyer coffee shops. Ask people to bring blankets or tarps to lay their stuff on so everyone is responsible for getting rid of or taking home their own stuff - otherwise it could become a trash heap. And if anyone tries to sell anything, or even barter, explain the concept of the gift economy to them so they understand what it means when it says really really free.
Gather publicly or privately, with a group of friends or strangers, arranged by word of mouth or by flyers in coffee shops or posters on the street. Sit in a circle and take turns describing your needs. Then go around the circle speaking up if you can help meet someone else's need, and offering up whatever else you have.
When all who are present are gathered under these three agreements, and they're gathered on liberated land that is held by means other than economic sanction, we call it a Portal:
When all who are present are gathered under these three agreements, without being on liberated land, we call it a Gateway.
On a piece of paper, write something you're offering to do or give away. Add some contact information, and write the instructions "contact me or pass it on". This will pass from hand to hand forming decentralized distribution lines which value generosity over greed. For extra fun, make them look like some kind of currency with a pretty border.
If it's really hard to get around without a transit pass, but it costs money, try making one yourself that somehow artistically points out the absurdity of having to pay for the pass.
Spread information on an extremely local level. Writing your own news, share your perspective, and help us all remain collectively aware.
No better way to tell the system to fuck off than by leaving it entirely and building your own nest.
Here is a hobbit hole that someone is working on which he is documenting the progress of pretty nicely.
Here's another hobbit hole where a man in Oregon lives.
And then there's this hobbit hole, built by a young couple for them and their newborn baby, which was found out in nature and completely off the grid. Yet, despite setting a shining example of how we can once again live in harmony with nature, they've been told to leave and their home is planned for demolition. Fortunately, after pushing back as hard as they could, and gaining lots of support, their hobbit hole was saved!
Remember, there's plenty of space out there. Don't get stuck in one place!
If you would like to suggest content, make a correction, or ask a question, please contact our public relations representative: