This week Bitcoin.com chatted with Derrick Broze, an agorist activist, writer, host of the Conscious Resistance Network and organizer of the Decentralize Your Life 2017 tour. Broze tells our readers about the philosophy of agorism, his travels across the U.S. promoting decentralized living and emerging technologies like bitcoin. Broze has a long-term goal of planting seeds that create a stateless society “free of coercion” – and cryptocurrencies are just one of the tools that will forward this movement.
Embarking on the Decentralize Your Life Tour
Bitcoin.com (BC): Can you tell our readers at Bitcoin.com about the tour you embarked on?
Derrick Broze (DB): The Decentralize Your Life Tour is an effort to spread a message of freedom, decentralization, and self-empowerment. We do this by informing people about tools, both philosophical and physical, which can lead them to independence and abundance. The tour started on June 1st in Houston, Texas with the Gulf Coast portion. We leave on July 10th for the West Coast and Midwest portions. We head to the east coast in October. Full dates and details on the tour can be found here.
BC: What got you into the promotion of Agorism?
DB: I first heard about Agorism via a friend and activist named John Bush. He gave a speech in Houston at an End the Fed rally in 2011 regarding the strategy as the most effective way to opt out or vacate the state and economic slavery by simply competing directly and creating the institutions we wish to see in the world.
BC: When did you first hear about bitcoin?
DB: I think I first heard about bitcoin because of the deep web and Silk Road. Once Ross Ulbricht was arrested I covered the trial and learned a lot more about BTC. I have also been paid in BTC as a journalist for a few years now.
BC: How do decentralized currencies like bitcoin help promote what you are trying to achieve?
DB: In order to achieve a world of decentralization where individuals are free to do business, exchange ideas, and live as they please, we need tools that are not dependent on centralized systems or monopolies.
Cryptocurrencies (and local currencies, barter networks, time banks, etc.) offer an alternative to centralized money. This is also a part of the Agorist strategy of counter-economics, which simply means working outside of the state-controlled “white market” by shifting economic resources towards the gray and black markets.
BC: Can you tell us about the ‘Houston Freedom Thinkers?’
The Decentralize Your Life Tour: An Interview With Derrick BrozeDB: The Houston Free Thinkers is an activist community I co-founded in 2010. We have been active in the city for seven years, hosting protests, marches, documentary screenings, benefit shows, garden days, skillshares, and much more. Our goal has always been to move beyond the mainstream left/right political paradigm and focus on local solutions to the problems we see. We have successfully raised thousands of dollars for local groups, confronted politicians, built a community, and helped Houston become the only city in the U.S. to successfully remove the TSA from the buses. We also have The Free Thinker House, our community space for all our events. I currently live there with the two other free thinkers.
BC: What are ‘Freedom Cells?’
DB: Decentralized peer to peer groups aimed at providing knowledge, skills, and independence to group members. The goal is to build local power by connecting small groups (8-10) of like-minded people focused on achieving mutual goals, sharing skills, and eventually defense for local communities. It is the “how” when it comes to Agorist philosophy. The Freedom Cell Network is also a website where people can search to find like-minded people based on skills and interests. For more information check out Freedomcells.org.
BC: Can you tell our readers about your book?
DB: My most recent book is called Manifesto of the Free Humans. It is the final part of The Conscious Resistance trilogy authored by me and John Vibes. The book series as a whole is aimed at exploring the intersection between spirituality and anarchism, as well as expounding on Agorist theory. The Manifesto is the most practical in terms of being a straightforward guide on how to exit the state. So far the books have been very well received.
We are now taking the message on the road to help build freedom cells and agorist minded communities.
BC: What is the tour’s overall mission?
DB: Short Term: Educate people about agorism, counter-economics, freedom cells, and anarchism.
Long Term: Create a stateless society free of coercion.
It’s going to take a lot of work, and it is a generational change. I want to help build people up (both spiritually and philosophically), so they have the tools to lead a joyful, independent, compassionate, fulfilling life and can help others do the same. Yeah, it’s ambitious. However, nothing else feels important at this time in my life.