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Occupy Wall Street: Strike The Root! Video Contest

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This post is current as of 3PM EST Friday, Sept. 30th – updates (additional sponsors, prize money, judges added, etc.) will be added to this related page: Occupy Wall Street: Strike The Root

UPDATE: October 18th, 2011
Drew Phillips Takes OWS Video Contest

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.
– Henry David Thoreau

Striking the root is a concept advocated by abolitionist, individualist anarchist and trancendetalist Henry David Thoreau. He believed that striking the cause (the “root”) was preferable to hacking at the effects (the “branches”).

The effects of corporatism and subsequent gaps in wealth that exist between the haves and have nots are obvious. Those active with Occupy Wall know this better than most. However, to not recognize that these are only things that stem from a root cause is to unfortunately miss the matter.

What is that root? It is the state, that group of individuals who claim a monopoly on the use of “legitimate” violence within a geographic location. Is it not the state that “permits” corporate class plunder? One must focus on the state and not just its allied corporate class.

OccupyWallSt.com describes Occupy Wall Street as a:

leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%.

Occupy Wall Street: Strike The Root! aims to speak to these people. They are already disillusioned with the Statist Quo. They know things are messed-up. But many (- not all!) focus their attention on berating corporations and banks. Do people operating corporations and banks do fucked up shit? Yes. But that’s only due to the existence of the great fiction of the State. It’s just classic rent-seeking.

Can YOU make a video that communicates the ideas of
complete liberty to those at the Occupy Wall Street protests? Do it!

If you’re following the Occupy Wall Street developments you understand the protest and its potential. You know that almost without exception those on the ground are driven by noble intentions, to live in a freer, more prosperous world. Through video, communicate to them how that is best achieved.

Criteria:

  • The names of sponsors (listed below) must be included in the video for a minimum of ten seconds (all the organizational names can be put on the same screen)
  • Save for YouTube’s 15min-max, there are no other constraints, so be creative!

Prizes:

  • Best video – 2/3 the total raised for the Occupy Wall Street: Strike The Root! video contest
  • Runner-up video – 1/3 the total raised for the Occupy Wall Street: Strike The Root! video contest

Judges:

Deadline:

  • 11:55PM EST on Sunday, Oct. 16th
  • Post your video on your own outlet & email us a link with “Occupy Wall Street: Strike The Root” in the subject line
  • Questions? We’re here: OperationStrikeTheRoot [at] gmail.com (replace the “[at]” with “@”)

Money:

CURRENT POT: $300

  • Each of the sponsors below have already contributed $100 toward the Occupy Wall Street: Strike The Root! video contest (CopBlock & LibertyOnTour donated $100 together)
  • If YOU think this is a worthwhile investment, a good bang-for-your-buck, please considering donating as well. All funds will go to the winners. Think of this as an X Prize or crowdsourcing at its finest – we’re a community after all!

 

Video Posting:

  • Winners will be announced by 3PM EST on Tuesday, Oct. 18th
  • The videos chosen as “best” or “runner-up” will be posted on the respective YouTube channels of all the sponsors
  • Attribution will be given in each video description and the announcement post (if your video is selected we’ll contact you – you can choose to share whatever you like – remain anonymous, provide your full name and a paragraph overview about yourself, your aims, your projects, or anything in-between

Resources:

More resources:

 

Sponsors:

  • Cop Block
    Cop Block is a decentralized project supported by a diverse group of individuals united by their shared goals of police accountability, education of individual rights and the dissemination of effective tactics to utilize while filming police. We seek to highlight the double standard that some grant to those with badges. By documenting police actions whether they are illegal, immoral or just a waste of time and resources then calling the police stations involved (ideally while recording and then later sharing your conversation), we can work together to bring about transparency and have a real impact.
  • Freedom’s Phoenix
    Freedoms Phoenix is the premier Freedom, Liberty, Peace and Love R3volution website in the world. Our network is re-igniting the flames of freedom one mind at a time. Today’s governmental structure is imploding under its own weight, and its death rattles aren’t going to be pretty. At Freedom’s Phoenix we observe, comment and try to stay out of the way. We know Freedom will rise from the ashes, and we want to make sure that everyone’s Freedom is never signed away again by those who believe they have the power to do so.
  • Liberty On Tour
    Liberty on Tour couples on-the-road activism with new media to advance the voluntary society. Through in-person interactions, online networking and constantly-varying content, LOT advocates for self-government, personal responsibility and consensual interactions.
  • Strike The Root
    Strike The Root is a daily journal of current events and commentary from a libertarian/market anarchist perspective. The mission of STR is to advance the cause of liberty, primarily by de-mystifying and de-legitimizing the State. STR seeks a world where people are free to live their lives as they see fit, as long as they don’t use force or fraud against peaceful people.

Want to get on-board as a supporter?
Email us at: OperationStrikeTheRoot [at] gmail.com (replace the “[at]” with “@”)

EPN

Pete Eyre

Pete Eyre is co-founder of CopBlock.org. As an advocate of peaceful, consensual interactions, he seeks to inject a message of complete liberty and self-government into the conversation of police accountability. Eyre went to undergrad and grad school for law enforcement, then spent time in DC as an intern at the Cato Institute, a Koch Fellow at the Drug Policy Alliance, Directer of Campus Outreach at the Institute for Humane Studies, Crasher-in-Chief at Bureaucrash, and as a contractor for the Future of Freedom Foundation. In 2009 he left the belly of the beast and hit the road with Motorhome Diaries and later co-founded Liberty On Tour. He spent time in New Hampshire home, and was involved with Free Keene, the Free State Project and The Daily Decrypt.