LOCAL ASSEMBLIES OF EGALITARIANS

 

IMMAGINARY LAWS LIKE ONES  YOUR COMMUNITY'S LOCAL ASSEMBLY OF EGALITARIANS MIGHT WRITE

 

(Click here to see (as PDF files) what laws egalitarians in some communities have already written and posted publicly)

 

Some say that despite all of the faults of our capitalist society, there is no alternative to it that is both better and realistic. The egalitarian laws ("Notices") at the bottom of this page show this is not true. Egalitarianism is much better and very realistically possible.

 

Egalitarians are all those who support the values of equality (no rich and no poor) and mutual aid (solidarity) and fairness.

 

One of the principles of egalitarianism is that the only laws people in a local community must obey are laws written by the Local Assembly of Egalitarians, at which all egalitarians of the community (i.e., residing in the community or, in the case of a person who resides outside the community, working reasonably in an enterprise located in the community), and only they, have a right to participate as equals in writing the laws.

 

PDRBoston encourages egalitarians to increase your own, and your neighbors', understanding of egalitarianism by doing the following:

 

In your local community (a population of around 30 to 40 thousand, typically), announce meetings of the Local Assembly of Egalitarians of [Your Community]. At the Assembly meetings, discuss what laws you, as the Assembly, would enact and decisions you would make if your community were an egalitarian one. Some laws could be very general, and others very specific about particular community resources--land, buildings, etc.; and decisions could be general or specifically about particular organizations or individuals.

 

Then post a single "Notice" from the Assembly after each of its meetings announcing its latest law or decision. Post the "Notices" throughout your community so people can start to get a sense of what it could be like if they lived in an egalitarian society, see how wonderful it could be, and converse with each other about this to find out that their neighbors feel the same way.

 

To give you an example of what such "Notices" might look like, PDRBoston has drafted some "Notices" (see below) for the imaginary town of Somewhereville. We have tried to create "Notices" that convey several things: a) how fundamentally different an egalitarian society is from what we have today, b) how practical egalitarianism can be, c) how all of the novel laws and policies fit together coherently and consistently reflect the positive values of egalitarianism, and d) how WONDERFUL it would be if society were like this. To the extent that the "Notices" do this, and do it in both general and locally specific terms, they will help everyone in the community see that there really is a MUCH better alternative to the unequal society that we have today--one worth fighting for.

 

We hope the following "Notices" for Somewhereville inspire you to want to write and post your own "Notices" by your own Local Assembly of Egalitarians, expressing your vision of what egalitarianism could mean. You may choose to express your vision very differently, but we trust you will add to the growth of an egalitarian revolutionary movement however your notices are worded. (PDF files with four "Notices" per page are here, here, here, here and here.)

 

 

(The links below are to PDF files.)

 

Notice #1 (announcing the first Assembly meeting, who's invited)

Notice #1.5 (The Golden Rule is the Basic Law)

Notice #2 (Gentrification is Ilegal)

Notice #3 (Squatting is Legal)

Notice #4 (Public Transportation is Free)

Notice #5 (All Health Care is Free)

Notice #6 (School Policies Are Set Only by those who Reside or Work in     Somewhereville)

Notice #7 (All Education, pre-K through PhD, is Free)

Notice #8 (Entrepreneurs Get What they Need for Free)

Notice #9 (There Are No Taxes)

Notice #10 (There Are No Politicians Any Longer--this explains 'voluntary federation')

Notice #11 (Somewhereville Decides With What Other Egalitarian Communities to Share Goods and Services According to Reasonable Need and Desire--explaining the 'sharing economy')

Notice #12 (Somewhereville Decides Its Own Foreign Policy)

Notice #13 (Workplaces are Democracies  where All  Have an Equal Say)

Notice #14 (Mr. John D. Hog is Not in Good Standing)

Notice #15 (Somewhereville Will Not Share with Greedyville--explaining more about the 'sharing economy.')

Notice #16 (It’s Officially “Reasonable” to Work a Bit Less)

Notice #17 (A Good Reputation, Not High Profits, Is the Basis for Being in Good Standing)

Notice #18 (Involuntary Unemployment is Abolished)

Notice #19 (The Local Assembly Alone Decides How Land and
Buildings in Somewhereville Shall be Used)

Notice #20 (Retirement)

Notice #21 (Parental Leave and Child Day Care)

Notice #22 (Membership in the sharing economy is voluntary)