Is Free town Christiania an example of anarcho-capitalism?

Question

They're free from the influence of the state, but they still exchange goods in a (almost) completely free market. Isn't that the essence of anarcho-capitalism?

Comments

i don't have enough information on christiania to answer this. i wish people wouldn't just downvote though. say why!

Answer 1

A better question would be is anarcho-capitalism an example of anarchism? No.

Answer 2

Not really.
The residents of Christiania reject the concept of land ownership, which is a foundation of capitalism. Usually, any money collected by the community isn't collected for profit, but for buying outside resources from the rest of the non-free world(i.e. many of the restaurants there -- which are completely volunteer -- simply ask for a small donation from each customer so they can keep the restaurant up and running).
Though there is the hashish trade and lots of tourist-related stalls with the purpose to make a profit, most of these merchants are not residents of the town, while some even pool their profits to provide more resources available to the entire town.
Basically, there's only money and what you label as "capitalism" because the rest of the world currently requires money and capitalism.

Comments

Not sure if land ownership is necessary for anarcho-capitalism.
I hear often from anarcho-capitalists talking about Lockean philosophy, which does not advocate full land ownership in the traditional sense. Only through homesteading can land be claimed for use and not all use, specifically agricultural.
So I guess it would depend on if the community rejects all land ownership or views their land as collective ownership.

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*ring ring*
Hello?

It's the Lakota Sioux. They say fuck your agricultural homesteads

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Not my agricultural homesteads.

And I am confused why you bring up the Sioux since that is an example of racist government taking land from people and giving it to others. Not homesteading. Part of homesteading is that the land must be un-owned and occupied.

But I'm not a history major so perhaps I am missing some key piece of information. Can you supply it?

Answer 3

Someone before me already gave details on actual practices on Christania and how they are not "anarcho"-capitalist. I can suggest though examples of current "anarcho" capitalist practice. I think the most clear examples of "anarcho"-capitalist enterprises are drug trafficking mafias like the Tijuana of Gulf Mexican Cartels. They avoid and violate state rules (and so they are "anti" state) and for security they hire payed private security in the form of assassins (sicarios) and small private armies instead of relying on the state police. Also they fulfill the main capitalist characteristic which is wage labour and class stratification (and so the reason why "anarcho"-capitalism is not a form of anarchism since it rejects it as an obvious form of hierarchy) and also act within a market (the international drug trade market) and compete with each other. Oh, also they don´t pay taxes to the state.

So the ones who are contemporary practicing "anarcho" capitalists who are doing what Murray Rothbard suggested are Los Zetas, Tijuana Cartel and the Gulf Cartel.

Comments

I would disagree with this. Those are not examples of anarcho-capitalist enterprises. They betray them.
From what I understand of the works of anarcho-capitalists like Rothbard, using this highly manipulated area as an example is incorrect because the free market is not at work here. There is no open competition or self regulation due to this being a black market economic, which functions differently than free market economics.

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doesn't a black market simply mean it is not "legal" (sanctioned by the state)? there is nothing about black markets that implies a lack of competition or self-regulation (what a fucking joke that one is). ever heard of silk road? just one well-known example of a black market that has extensive and open competition.

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Because it is "not sanctioned by the sate", as you put it means their behavior is not that of the free market. They spend resources moving products via secret means, for fear of being thrown in a prison and their cannabis taken from them. This causes them to put time and energy into doing things that aren't needed, like building tunnels that are hundreds of miles long, instead of using a road.
This causes this economy to function in a completely different way than an open economy.

In a normal economy, if you buy bread from a bakery and that bread is horrible, you stop going to that baker. Because drugs are illegal, it means that competition is highly limited. Instead of anyone being able to learn and grow cannabis and providing competition, you have a very select view able to do grow and distribute the drug. This creates oligarchies, which are what you listed above. So because it is illegal, the state has created a drug oligarchy and it functions as such.

You mention the silk road, another good example. Not everyone has the skill and intellect to use the deep web and avoid government crack down. Most people do not even know what an IP address is, let alone how to scramble/hide it. So while there are free market aspects to the silk road, it is much harder for someone to learn how to function in that business than in a store setting or legal online website like ebay.

You are also talking about one market place. All buyers can register for free on the Silk Road but you have one organization controlling who the sellers are.  So SR is still quite closed, as an economy goes but it is a better example than the others you listed. It still suffers from many market altering effects due to federal government law. An example of this is the same as above. Some have the ability to grow in their homes, assuming they have the room and access to the knowledge and materials. Not everyone can grow safely outside and just the added fear of having your entire life destroyed because you are growing a plant completely distorts the market.