Tent City Lakewood

[Freddie]

Alex, what do you say about Ferguson?

[ChaimMoskowitz]

Alex, what do you say about Ferguson?

Not sure one has anything to do with the other.

[Freddie]

Not sure one has anything to do with the other.

Who said they do? I just want to hear what Alex has to say.

[ChaimMoskowitz]

Who said they do? I just want to hear what Alex has to say.

OK. Maybe he can comment on this one also: http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=32956.0

[Freddie]

OK. Maybe he can comment on this one also: http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=32956.0

Naw, that's too unrelated. Although if Alex would post on it, I would read it.

[ChaimMoskowitz]

Naw, that's too unrelated.

Now I am confused. So you are saying TC and Ferguson are related?

[Freddie]

Now I am confused. So you are saying TC and Ferguson are related?

Somewhat, yes. But I don't want to ruin it by writing the talking points.

[ChaimMoskowitz]

Somewhat, yes. But I don't want to ruin it by writing the talking points.

I can't wait to see this. 

[churnbabychurn]

Nothing to do with this specific incident .
 I happen to agree with Obama about the demilitarization of the police throughout the country....

[Alex Libman]

Minister Steve Brigham is putting some finishing touches on our Tiny Home model, The Angelo (pictured below). The estimated per-unit cost continues to decline, especially when compared with over $15,000 a year that Ocean County currently spends on the band-aid solution of temporary housing!

Whether housing the homeless in $100 tents for emergency shelter, or in Tiny Homes, the problem of homelessness and extreme poverty has clear and viable solutions - "cheap living" communities, voluntary charity, and mutual aid!  But one major problem remains: artificial scarcity of affordable land.

The government holds large quantities of unused so-called "public land", where even the poorest people cannot camp. The government also spends huge amounts of taxpayer money on ineffective services for the poor ($60,000+ per year per household below the poverty line), while millions of people fall through the cracks and end up living in the streets! We can do better!

Here are the prepared remarks that I delivered at the Lakewood Township Committee Meeting at 7:30 PM Thursday Night:

My name is Alex Libman.  I am homeless, living in Lakewood Township, in deliberate violation of its anti-homeless laws.  I've been arrested a total of four times in my life, all for my Civil Disobedience this summer.  I've so far spent a total of 14 days in jail, all on a hunger strike - in expression of my protest against the anti-homeless laws, the hypocrisy of so-called "public land", and the growth of the Welfare / Police State.  My campaign of Civil Disobedience against government injustice will continue indefinitely, and my focus on Lakewood Township will continue until the anti-homeless laws for which I've been arrested are repealed (or overturned by higher court).

It is very easy to dismiss my efforts as foolish and futile.  I have no knowledge of the prevailing legal system, no legal advisers, no media connections, no charisma, and almost no support.  What can one man do against the overwhelming power of government - with all of its layers and compartments, which controls trillions of dollars of military might, including the increasingly militarized local police?  The government has influence over all things: the courts and other "legal monopolies", the government-privileged media institutions (like the Lakewood Scoop), and even the education of children.  People are raised to believe that government is magic: that it can "lawfully" steal your land and other fruits of your labor, that it can decide what you can put into your body, and that it should patronize everyone from cradle to grave.

And yet the power of government has its limits, as it is imperative for it to maintain the popular illusion of its benevolence.  Righteous and persistent Civil Disobedience has a long history of ultimately being effective, even against overwhelming odds.  One of the earliest recorded incidents of Civil Disobedience took place during the Roman Empire, when unarmed Jews gathered in the streets to prevent the installation of pagan images in the Jerusalem Temple.  Non-violent resistance movements in India took on the might of the British Empire.  The so-called Singing Revolution in the Baltic Republics took on the might of the Soviet Union.  All movements started small, with just a handful of individuals who refused to "color within the lines", and thereby brought the harmfulness and self-contradiction of those governments to public light.  They were ridiculed, they were vilified, they were jailed...  But, in the end, they've won!

In loose alliance with several other supporters of Lakewood's now-demolished Tent City, I've initiated a new organization, called the "Tent City Movement".  It is a decentralized movement consisting of independent local chapters, ideological outreach groups, and affiliated charity organizations.  We already have chapters in four New Jersey counties - we hope to someday have a chapter in every sufficiently-populous county nation-wide!

The purpose of the Tent City Movement is to raise public awareness of the current economic situation, including the underlying causes of extreme poverty and the on-going ineffectiveness of the Welfare State, and to fight for solutions that are more effective, economically viable, and humane.  We will work both inside and (occasionally) outside the system to challenge laws that hurt the poor, and to obtain land for the establishment of villages where poor people can live freely within their means, and achieve a higher quality of life through self-sufficiency, economic efficiency, voluntary charity, and mutual aid.

This Monday, at the Trenton Statehouse, we've launched our far-reaching petition drive, calling for legislators, elected officials, and public policy decision-makers on Municipal, County, State, and Federal levels to: donate appropriate plots of so-called "public land" to non-governmental charitable organizations affiliated with the Tent City Movement, and adjust any prohibitive zoning laws, to facilitate the establishment of residential communities for homeless and low-income individuals.  We are currently getting hundreds of petition signatures a day, and someday it will be thousands and tens of thousands...

This isn't about rebuilding a Tent City in Lakewood, which, being a densely populated town with a rapidly growing population, probably isn't the best place to do this.  We will most certainly get land elsewhere in Ocean County, where much better low-income communities could be built.  This will hopefully make Lakewood's anti-homeless ordinances redundant, but I will continue to oppose and resist them for as long as they remain on the books.

Thank you for listening.

Want to get the bums out of Lakewood?  Print this petition (DOWNLOAD PDF), make lots of copies, cut (it's two per page), sign, get your family and friends to sign, and circulate it throughout your community...  Then put all the signed copies in manila envelope(s) and find me, or mail it to PO Box 326 in Lakewood.   

[Alex Libman]

I see this must be spelled out in a slow, clear and deliberate fashion.

Spelling out "the earth is flat" in a slow, clear, and deliberate fashion will not help you.

We live in United States...

Is that a fact?  It certainly isn't an objective fact of reality, which is what I deal with.  In more objective terms, I am stationed at around latitude 40.109818, longitude -74.224366, on the planet we call Earth.  That land has no legitimate chain of private ownership through initial homesteading and voluntary trade.  That aside, subjective legal fictions vary.

From a historical perspective, the first humans to touch this land were the hunter-gatherer migrants who came across the ancient land-bridge between eastern Siberia and present-day Alaska.  One native tribe fought another for thousands of years, all of which is lost in the fog of pre-history.  At the time of contact with Europeans almost 500 years ago, the area where we live was populated by many tribes of the Lenape.  Giovanni da Verrazzano, sailing in the service of France, explored the Jersey Coast.  Then came Henry Hudson for the Dutch East India Company.  The Dutch set up colonies in what we now call Northern New Jersey.  The Swedish set up colonies in Southern New Jersey.  Their dealings with the Natives, who didn't have a solid concept of Property Rights, were understandably flawed and not up to the highest ideal of business ethics, but there's nothing anyone can do about this now.  Dealings between European powers were often even more barbaric, and many wars were fought, with English ultimately being triumphant.  And then came the American Revolution, which had some grounding in rational ideals, but its government quickly grew beyond all restraint...

Long story short, whether we live in "USA" or a British Colony or New Netherlands or New Sweden, etc, is just a matter of historical bloodshed.  I of course recognize that on paper I am a US Citizen (and in some ways it is advantageous), but that is a fiction forced on me under duress.  If a crazy man holds a loaded gun to my had and says that I live in his magical mushroom kingdom, his claim would be just as legitimate!  (Perhaps even more so, due to the direct way he can exercise his power over me, unburdened by bureaucracy and concern for public opinion.)

which is a democracy.

Wrong!  USA was founded as a Constitutional Republic.

That is a government of the people, for the people.

And the Flying Spaghetti Monster died for your sins...   

Gotta run, will finish later.  You can read some free market literature in the meantime.

Donate Bitcoins and I'll make this thread a higher priority: 16KKRGa3fkKDzmGJukc6REWjV1rmbXgvMD.

[Freddie]

Alex, someone (me) actually requested you to speak on a topic and you didn't. I am dissapointed. Is this a soap box or a conversation? Regular people have conversations. They interact; give and take. I feel used.

[Alex Libman]

Yes, this is give and take.  I both reply to what people post and use this thread as a soap-box, about 50:50.  But my time and energies are limited, and this thread isn't my top priority in life.  I haven't been following the news stories I've been asked about.  I will catch up when I have time.  If I miss something else in the backlog, please send me a private message to remind me.

For daily discussion of current events from a libertarian perspective, you can check out various libertarian blogs, forums, or talk radio / podcasts like Free Talk Live.

[Baruch]

Long story short, whether we live in "USA" or a British Colony or New Netherlands or New Sweden, etc, is just a matter of historical bloodshed.  I of course recognize that on paper I am a US Citizen (and in some ways it is advantageous), but that is a fiction forced on me under duress.  If a crazy man holds a loaded gun to my had and says that I live in his magical mushroom kingdom, his claim would be just as legitimate!  (Perhaps even more so, due to the direct way he can exercise his power over me, unburdened by bureaucracy and concern for public opinion.)

Great point!

[EJB]

Yes, this is give and take.  I both reply to what people post and use this thread as a soap-box, about 50:50.  But my time and energies are limited, and this thread isn't my top priority in life.  I haven't been following the news stories I've been asked about.  I will catch up when I have time.  If I miss something else in the backlog, please send me a private message to remind me.

For daily discussion of current events from a libertarian perspective, you can check out various libertarian blogs, forums, or talk radio / podcasts like Free Talk Live.

What is it? #2? Top 5?

[Freddie]

Long story short, whether we live in "USA" or a British Colony or New Netherlands or New Sweden, etc, is just a matter of historical bloodshed.  I of course recognize that on paper I am a US Citizen (and in some ways it is advantageous), but that is a fiction forced on me under duress.  If a crazy man holds a loaded gun to my had and says that I live in his magical mushroom kingdom, his claim would be just as legitimate!  (Perhaps even more so, due to the direct way he can exercise his power over me, unburdened by bureaucracy and concern for public opinion.)

Actually, Torah acknowledges and upholds the legitimacy of countries and borders as well as conquests. Interestingly, I think Meshuggener posted a thread voicing the same idea (but in his own unique style.)

[yuneeq]

This isn't about rebuilding a Tent City in Lakewood, which, being a densely populated town with a rapidly growing population, probably isn't the best place to do this.  We will most certainly get land elsewhere in Ocean County, where much better low-income communities could be built.  This will hopefully make Lakewood's anti-homeless ordinances redundant, but I will continue to oppose and resist them for as long as they remain on the books.

Want to get the bums out of Lakewood?  Print this petition (DOWNLOAD PDF), make lots of copies, cut (it's two per page), sign, get your family and friends to sign, and circulate it throughout your community...  Then put all the signed copies in manila envelope(s) and find me, or mail it to PO Box 326 in Lakewood.   

I am happy you finally decided to address the reason that most people are opposed to Tent city.
NIMBY.

Helping the homeless is nice , but no one wants to pay the price when a social experiment goes sour.
Find them land out-of-town and you'll quadruple your Lakewood supporters overnight.

[shnoz]

He's back ! http://www.thelakewoodscoop.com/news/2014/12/former-tent-city-resident-arrested-after-pitching-tent-in-red-square.html

[Alex Libman]

He's back!

What do you mean "I'm back"?  I never left!  And I've been pretty busy: ongoing activism, 7000+ likes on Facebook, 600+ e-mail list subscribers, etc, etc.  Always doing a lot of reading.  Slowly working on book writing projects: philosophy, economics, political strategy - all for later.  There are small Tent Cities in and around Lakewood that I'm helping operate - we're currently saving the taxpayers about $500,000 a year in motel room costs alone (very conservative calculation).  Several allied 501c3 orgs in the works (ex: L4H).  In Civil Disobedience, I'm still just slowly learning the trick of the trade (longest jail Hunger Strike so far: 19 days, 5 hours).  Good things take time.  I'm also juggling many programming projects, etc.

I just find this forum to be somewhat unproductive use of my time.  If you want a faster response time, pay me.   

[https://archive.is/FZ2LA]

Lakewood Poop coverage sucks as always.  I recorded better footage of my own arrests myself:

In answer to the idiot commenting on the Poop (like in Nazi Germany, all reasonable comments there are deleted) — "no excuse for pitching the tent" and "why does it have to be in Lakewood?" — here's a couple of my Lakewood Township Committee Meeting speeches from this spring:


Feb 5:

I'm Alex Libman, the libertarian activist living in a tent in the woods. I am here today to profess my love for the town of Lakewood. I love Lakewood, despite of its government becoming increasingly famous for its unfairness and oppression, and even despite of the stated desire to drive me out of town.

Lakewood has been my home-town since about 1998, when my mother, following a heart transplant, moved to the Eleanor Levovitz Senior Citizen Apartments on 6th St. She had lived in Lakewood for 13 years, and has been an active member of the local Russian and Jewish communities, until her death in July 2011. Although I've lived in other nearby locations for college or work, I've always visited Lakewood at very least once a week to spend time with my mother. We would go for walks in Lakewood's many beautiful parks or streets, visit downtown shops, attend community events, watch the Independence Day fireworks, etc - things I've never done in any other town! I've finally moved from Jackson into Lakewood proper in October 2010, two and a half years prior to even hearing about Tent City. I've rented a room at the Capitol Motel on 7th St, in order to be on-call and make it possible for my mother to stay in her home rather than a hospice...

Following her death, I've decided that Lakewood is where I would like to stay. This is the town to which I've had the greatest connection for more than half of my life. I like everything about this town - except for its government.

My family came to this country from Moscow in the Soviet Union, where my parents had been greatly oppressed by the state. I have been gravely disappointed to now see this country moving in the same direction, consistently declining in various measures of individual freedom. By many objective measures, New Jersey, Ocean County, and Lakewood in particular have been superlative in their declines. Is it time for freedom-loving individuals to run away once again?

A decade ago I've walked away from a highly-paid career in Software Engineering and IT Security to focus on full-time self-directed study of philosophy, history, economics, and many other interconnected topics. Over the past decade I have been contemplating something called the Free State Project - a libertarian political migration movement to New Hampshire, which was chosen for already being one of the freest states. New Hampshire often ranks #1 among U.S. states on various rankings of personal and economic freedom, while New Jersey usually ranks close to last. It would certainly be a much easier place to be a libertarian writer and activist, and attract more local support for my causes.

But I've decided to stay in Lakewood, Ocean County, New Jersey - despite of the higher taxes, more oppressive regulations, and much fewer economic opportunities. I chose to stay and practice my philosophy, even if Lakewood is the worst place to do it! I started following the local news and found out about "Tent City", or more specifically the Homeless Hate Laws passed here in the spring of 2013 in order to shut it down. I have been fighting against such laws the best I could ever since.

I've decided to stay in Lakewood - even as its so-called "red square" begins to resemble the Red Square in Moscow in more and more ominous ways! Even back in Russia, I've heard of something called the White House Peace Vigil - a tent that has been permitted in Washington DC, that stands in protest against nuclear proliferation. This vigil is about as old as I am, having been maintained around-the-clock since 1981! But my attempts to hold a peaceful public vigil for the homeless in Lakewood have been treated as they would have been in Moscow!

I have repeatedly been arrested, and have thus-far spent a combined total of 50 days in Ocean County Jail - all for my peaceful protests against your oppression, and all on a zero-calorie Hunger Strike. My most recent incarceration was 19 days and 5 hours, during which time I was kept in 24/7 lock-down in a "medical" cell, couldn't even get a book from the library, and was subjected to psychological abuse from the guards. But I can take it - and, if necessary, a lot more. My campaign against injustice will continue, and it will continue in Lakewood! Because Lakewood is worth fighting for!

And so I'm here to proclaim that Lakewood is much more than its government! I love Lakewood and everyone in Lakewood: all of its residents - of all income levels, all ethnicities, all religions. Even the persons involved in government are good people - the problem is institutional, not personal. Individual freedom would be good for all!

Thank you for listening.

March 12:

My name is Alex Libman.  I'm still living in a tent in the woods.

I would also like to express my appreciation for the volunteer firefighters, and I am very happy that Lakewood has a higher rate of volunteerism than other towns.  Unfortunately I am here to read my remarks regarding a much less pleasant matter.

I supposedly am the "criminal mastermind" who's "terrorizing" Lakewood - by reminding people about the injustice of the Anti-Homeless Laws, and the pogroms perpetrated against financially destitute people living in tents on unused "public land".

My co-called "crimes" include: holding peaceful silent solitary vigils at Lakewood Town Square, talking about the principle of Freedom Of Speech, and pointing to several articles of the Bill Of Rights that are being ever-more-routinely subverted by the ever-growing power of government.  For these "horrible transgressions" against government power, I am now facing AT LEAST another SIX MONTHS of being locked up in a cage.

My court date is on March 23rd (so if I'm lucky I'll be out before next winter, which is the time when my online fund-raising work for the local homeless charities is needed the most).

There is no dispute about the facts of what happened.  On three occasions in December, I had put up a tent in the middle of Lakewood Town Square.  I then spent between one and twelve hours either inside the tent (to keep it from blowing away in the wind) or pacing around the tent (to keep warm), until each time the police came to put an end to my vigil.

Each time I politely talked to the police, and explained that I was here exercising my Right to Free Speech with a prop tent.  On most occasions I openly tried to video-record the event, and posted clips and photos publicly on my personal Facebook Timeline.  When told that I am under arrest, these times I not only submitted myself to the police power, but actually assisted the officers in removing myself and my protest props from the scene.  It seemed from my conversations that the police officers would have preferred to just leave me alone, but they had been ordered to arrest me.

I was not harming anybody, obstructing anybody's path, or inconveniencing anybody - except those who are inconvenienced by the Truth that I believe I was artistically expressing.  The legal dispute is over what my actions signify: "camping" or Speech; and to what degree the government can stifle the Speech that it finds inconvenient.  People may disagree with what I am expressing, or how I express it - and they too should have the Freedom to peacefully and unobtrusively express themselves however they see fit.

Today the possibilities of political Speech are limited through misapplication of the Anti-Homeless Laws; if this goes unchallenged, who knows what other arbitrary limits may arise in the future!

The tent did no harm!  It was a $20 summer tent; without insulation, and without the many other things that would be necessary for actual "camping" in December.  The freezing cold bricks at the very center of Town Square, without much nearby tree cover to block the wind, are probably the coldest spot in town.  It should be obvious to any reasoning person that the tent was a prop used to communicate a point; and that I chose that location as an established "public forum" for political Speech, and not a place to go "camping"!

During all of my previous experiences in Lakewood Municipal Court, I have never been allowed to engage in any discussion of Justice; there's only wheeling and dealing, with the prosecutor and so-called "public defender" trying to get me to falsely denounce my principles in exchange for leniency.  But I refuse to plead "guilty" for peacefully confronting injustice and expressing the Truth, no matter how much violence you will perpetrate against me!

Rosa Parks had plead "NOT GUILTY" (without disputing the facts of the case, and fully expecting to be convicted), and I humbly intend to follow in that example.

I am here today to say that, although you are capable of using great violence against me, you have no power to hurt me.  I will spend my time in your cage productively, strengthening my mind.  By putting me in a cage you are also hurting the taxpayers, who will be paying hundreds of dollars a day for my imprisonment, and the probable Guantanamo Bay style forced-feeding to violate my Right to be on a Hunger Strike.  The more violence you use against me, the further you discredit any illusion that your arbitrary legislation constitutes Justice.

Thank you for listening.

[snapit]

What do you mean "I'm back"?  I never left!  And I've been pretty busy: ongoing activism, 7000+ likes on Facebook, 600+ e-mail list subscribers, etc, etc.  Always doing a lot of reading.  Slowly working on book writing projects: philosophy, economics, political strategy - all for later.  There are small Tent Cities in and around Lakewood that I'm helping operate - we're currently saving the taxpayers about $500,000 a year in motel room costs alone (very conservative calculation).  Several allied 501c3 orgs in the works (ex: L4H).  In Civil Disobedience, I'm still just slowly learning the trick of the trade (longest jail Hunger Strike so far: 19 days, 5 hours).  Good things take time.  I'm also juggling many programming projects, etc.

I just find this forum to be somewhat unproductive use of my time.  If you want a faster response time, pay me.   



Lakewood Poop coverage sucks as always.  I recorded better footage of my own arrests myself:

In answer to the idiot commenting on the Poop (like in Nazi Germany, all reasonable comments there are deleted) — "no excuse for pitching the tent" and "why does it have to be in Lakewood?" — here's a couple of my Lakewood Township Committee Meeting speeches from this spring:


Feb 5:


March 12:

I don't claim to know what's going on at this point, but it did take you 7 months to respond, so I guess shnoz is right, and I'll say the same thing again now: he's back (to troll on our popcorn threads again!)