Who we are...

This is an open manifesto, meaning it is open to editing by all and any of the SLA's members with agreement from two others.

(This document was last altered on Feb 26th 2007 by Hanako Nakamura)

SLanarchy (The Durruti Group) is a loose federation of sovereign individuals who share some of their many and various beliefs.
We have come into being as a result of a number of events and situations. Some of us came here from the Do not Buy Land Campaign, others from one or other of the 'established' Left wing groups, yet others from other Anarchy groups, the anti FNSL movement and some who just walked in off the street. The feeling amongst us is that we are approaching a critical point here in SL which will soon define its social direction and fabric. We'd like to have some say about that, and feel that we need to do so with some urgency.
Some of the ideas that we hold in common are listed below. There are probably others, but we'll stick to these for now.

We, the members of SLanarchy, believe that while SL should not be mistaken for reality, there are similarities which can be drawn. We also believe that some of these similarities should be adopted for use here and others rejected. Let's put it this way: This is Second Life..., not Real Life 2.

While we are happy to see that many aspects of SL are extremely anarchistic, we believe in a social system with even more minimal (note we didn't say 'zero') rules or restrictions. Were this RL, we would probably be arguing for a total ban on money and personal property. However, as SL has to exist within RL (like it or not) we see that for some strange reason, many require an incentive to create and expand this, our world, and that the opportunity to obtain such 'rewards' must be offered. It's a human thing.

We at SLanarchy therefore support the existence of L$, it's exchange and accumulation. We would, however, like to see this 'money' to be based on value added rather than opportunistic speculation which inherently implies the abuse of a privileged position to deprive a fellow SLitizen of the opportunity to purchase at the same price as the speculator paid. Call it "supply and demand" or" luck and determined effort" if you like. We call it ripping people off.

We also believe that supply and demand need not be a factor in a virtual economy, and that supply should never be outstripped by demand as the whole darned thing is virtual, for goodness sakes. Restricted supply is meaningless here. If something is wanted (even if not sometimes), it will be created somewhere. Once created, no more expense is required to knock off another 10 or another million.

The economy here runs like that already in all respects but one. That one is the most crucial of all. Land.

Land is restricted because LL declared it to be so.

Excuse us this digression:
While we laud LL for their foresight, and technical achievement in bringing SL to be, and find it hard to fault their stewardship of this world to date, we would argue that their management and interference in the goings on here are no longer appropriate nor required. We are sure that they're now able to retire to their virtual beach huts and mansions in the knowledge that their technical and managerial skills have allowed them to turn a hobby and a dream into a reality for millions with the potential to expand in directions and to extremes barely imagined by it's creators. These skills and the reputation that they were the creators of a whole world, no less, will also, we believe, enable them to live the rest of their lives at a level of opulence unknowable to 95% of this worlds inhabitants. Well done LL, you are free to retire now.

As we were saying:
LL has declared land to be in restricted supply. We at SLanarchy despise this and can't help but think that whatever they were taking when they made this decision was indeed some bad, bad shit indeed. As discussed a few sentences earlier, we see no need for this artificial lack of 'supply'. SLanarchy would like to propose that SLitizens are smart enough to create and manage their own worlds now, and call for LL to set free the tools required to embark on this unprecedented opportunity to enable every man, woman and child on the planet, to create their own parcel on this, the next digital frontier. Open the source code for the servers LL. Let us, the Slitizens, take on the burden of responsibility for our own future and the creation there of.

We have other areas of agreement too.
We believe that a certain amount of respect is due the people behind AVs here. Each and every one of them is a human being with a heart, a brain and feelings. We call for recognition of this in people's behaviour here for all it's faults. Let's take a couple of examples for sake of... examples.

Let's imagine a right-wing racial supremacist decides to expound his ideas here. Well, he should certainly be able to do so. On the other hand, if one were to think that the only way to challenge this person were to spread virtual shit all over their dwelling, we'd support that. You sir, have pissed of your fellow SLitizens. You really should know what the results of your actions are likely to lead to. Self responsibility. No need for regulation here.

SLanarchy believe that what ever forms of protest take place here, whether in the form of "armed" insurrection, metaphorical acts designed to impart an opinion or indeed acts of vandalism, such acts can never be categorised more seriously than graffiti would be in RL. No-one is hurt, no physical property is damaged. The worst that can be said to have happened is that an ego can be bruised.

SLanarchy. Free Land. Free SLife. Freedom of expression.

Power to the SLitizens!