The Really, Really Free Market

Ah, anarchy. You get such a bad rap, when really you have so much in common with conservatives! Or at least these guys. Ain’t that a thing, huh?

Most people just think of anarchists as dirty people who live in squats and smell and throw homemade firebombs through the windows of 7/11s. Ok well, that’s what I picture. Maybe most people don’t. But, still, there IS an undesirable connotation in many people’s minds about anarchists.

Which is why it was really fun to meet a lot of nice, helpful people at the Really Really Free Market, a monthly bazaar organized by none other than anarchists. They happen all over the country (perhaps all over the world, I dunno, I’m just a dumb American what do I know about what happens in fancy Europe?), and people are encouraged to start their own.

Essentially, The Really Really Free Market is a place to exchange goods or services through barter or just free giving. No money is exchanged. And yet a market still happens. Imagine!

At the one I attended this month in New York, there was a band playing, and people were giving haircuts, and someone was leading a group in laughter yoga, and there were clothes and printers and other goods for people to take, freely. Everyone was having a really, really great time.

And yeah, there was a lot of junk being given away, too. And for a jerk like me whose first instinct is to laugh when someone falls down, my first instinct was to laugh at some of the junk on the tables. A lot of the stuff NO ONE WOULD EVER NEED. So I’ll admit, I struggled at first, because I LIKED these people and didn’t want to be a JERK just because of a few baubles.

Once I got over my initial giggles and started walking around, things got better. I met some really kind, interesting people, who – like me – think the old white men in charge are a bunch of C-students. And I got a mix tape! A really fun mix tape. I like finding other people’s mix tapes. So I was happy, because I found a gem.

And I guess that was the point, right? One person’s junk is another person’s gem? Or whatever that saying is, if there is an actual saying.

The bottom line is that the people at the Really Really Free Market have really, really open minds, and are trying to do something nice and positive instead of just being angry at the system. And for me to rail on them just for a few pieces of junk would only make me a jerk.