Agorists,Ubered!

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I've been meaning to address this for a long time. Uber,the ride hailing app,isn't an Agoristic endeavour. So when I hear Agorists on podcasts using Uber as an example of Agorism in action,I'm left wondering why an Agorist feels that using the "white market" is so great? Libertarians and An-Caps I can understand. They're just looking at competition within the free market as a good thing,and that uber is very convenient for the user because Taxi services in many cities around the world aren't very good.

Well I'm a Londoner,and the best and fastest way to get around London is in a London black cab. For Agorists in, or just passing through London should always use them. To use a black cab in London is to use the "grey market". Every black cab Driver in London will prefer cash payments,you can barter with every cabbie over fares that take you out of the city, fares to and from all airports. Some are using Cryptocurrency now like SatoshiCab who you can contact through Twitter. 

When using an uber,a company with very close ties to governments,who also spend millions of dollars lobbying governments around the world,raising money to stay afloat from  massive corporations,many of whom are operating in the "pink and red markets". They have access to your personal details,can deplatfrom you anytime they want and every trip with them is logged and stored along with all your data.. Black cabs on the other hand operate in the free market... Uber hates competition,hates the free market and wants to dictate its terms,and dominate every aspect of your life..

So,Uber isn't a great example of Agorism in Action.

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$ 0.10
$ 0.10 from @georgedonnelly

Comments

I hear your point. I think we would be wise to less often emulate whole companies, projects and strategies, and more often emulate aspects of them.

Cabs deal in untracked cash. Point for agorism. Uber breaks taxi licensing laws. Point for agorism. Etc.

Let's break things down more and look at the details. Kudos on your first article and on publishing at read.cash. Subscribed.

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3 years ago

Thanks for your reply, and tip.

I understand what your saying about breaking things down and looking at the details. But the point I was trying to make is London taxi's are very different to many city's. Every cab driver has earnt his badge,so he doesn't buy it,and they're all individual's, self employed so every penny the driver takes ,thats his,no one has a piece of the him. Konkin believed that everyone should be self employed, and was against wage labour.,Which the libertarians and ancaps can't seem to get their heads around..

I haven't written a blog for about 13 or 14 years but I really like the look of this platform. I've had a bit of time on my hands and thought I'd give it ago. Thanks again..

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3 years ago

Just because Konkin had mutualist tendencies doesn't mean we have to emulate that aspect of agorism, which is actually another example of going for details over ideology/package deals.

I like mutualist ideals. I like the idea of everyone being self-employed. But at the end of the day, it is not in my hands.

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3 years ago

When I say "against wage labour",I don't mean in the Marxist sense. Konkin didn't have mutualist ideals, he believed wholly in the individual. But I also know that everybody being self employed isn't, at this moment in time anyway realistic. Cheers!

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3 years ago