How can our movement navigate the tension between advocating for voluntary, anarchistic property and protection, while addressing the practical needs and fears of those who see government’s role as essential for safety and order?
Statist safety is a story the state tells about itself, yet the daily evidence of police violence, eviction and tax‐funded war exposes the tale. To convince the cautious, we must stop debating abstractions and demonstrate that non-invasive protection already works. Start with visible prototypes: neighborhood insurance pools that replace police reports with restorative circles; cooperative land trusts where occupancy and labour, not speculation, anchor tenure; community rapid-response teams trained in de-escalation and first aid. When people experience these rituals of mutual security their loyalty to the Leviathan erodes by sensation, not argument.
Remember property as product: gardens, workshops, code. Guard them through federated defense pacts, transparent accounting and revocable contracts so fraud cannot hide in shadows. That concrete architecture of trust responds to fear far better than distant statutes. Each successful experiment widens the imagination gap, making the state look increasingly like the unsafe option.
Which fragment of state protection will you replace first, and how will you dramatise its superiority so even skeptics feel the shift?
I think we should prioritize creating local, community-based protection systems, like neighborhood cooperatives or mutual aid spaces. By highlighting their effectiveness—through stories and visible outcomes—we can show that protection grounded in voluntary cooperation outperforms state police in building trust and safety. Demonstrating tangible, day-to-day success helps skeptics see that anarchistic protection isn't just idealism but a practical alternative.
Map fear before you draft blueprints. Sit with elders, street vendors, renters, ask: “When do you feel least safe? Who answers your call?” Their answers reveal the precise services a cooperative protection cell must offer: night walks, tool libraries, eviction defense, conflict mediation. Begin small, one block or one building, and publish weekly scorecards—number of disputes resolved without police, dollars kept in the neighborhood, hours of volunteer patrols—so success becomes a public commons rather than whispered anecdote.
Embed the property principle by linking custody to contribution. The garden plot, the 3-D printer, the communal van remain community assets as long as labor and care flow in. This living contract dramatizes equal liberty: no absentee owner, no free rider. Use transparent ledgers, peer-elected stewards and rapid recall votes to inoculate against petty tyrants.
Narratively, film each victory: the returned stolen bike, the landlord who backs down, the restored friendship after a mediated fight. Release these micro-stories faster than local news can air crime reports. Visibility converts skeptics; repetition normalizes the new order.
Which metric will you track first to prove that your block already outperforms the police precinct down the road?