How to be more pirate- means following the way the pirates have led us to a future that is in rebellion to the authoritarianism, fascism, and corporate totalitarianism that we find ourselves in.
- From Flynn and Olivia De Havilland in Captain Blood- which I watched a LOT with my brother and cousins when I was 10-12. We lived with our grandparents during that time, and it was the movie we alternated with Mary Poppins. Pretty fun, actually, because it showed a group of people who were fed up with the current system, and who decided to go off and form a real democracy on a ship, elect their leader, have equal shares of wages and claw back a better life than they could have on land. This movie was produced in 1934 and 1935, so a lot of the gender stuff is… outdated let’s say. Let’s say that.
- To Pirates of the Carribbean, which stole a LOT from Captain Blood,
- To the current Yemeni Houthi pirates that are blocking shipping lanes in protest of the famine and genocide in Gaza
- Why should we look to pirates to be our heroes and heroines?
I recently read two works on Pirates, David Graeber’s book, Pirate enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia, and it starts strong.
Let us tell, then, a story about magic, lies, sea battles, purloined princesses, slave revolts, manhunts, make-believe kingdoms and fraudulent ambassadors, spies, jewel thieves, poisoners, Devil worship, and sexual obsession that lies at the origins of modern freedom.
Pirate Enlightenment started out strong, with great promise. (See opening quote above.) It continued with fun and provocative passages, giving great hope for another brilliant, outsider, Graeber take:
”The toothless, or peg legged buccaneer hoisting a flag of defiance against the world, drinking and feasting to a stupor on stolen lute, fleeing at the first sign of serious opposition, leaving only tall tales and confusion in his wake, is perhaps just as much a figure of the Enlightenment as Voltaire, or Adam Smith, but he also represents a profoundly proletarian vision of liberation, necessarily violent and ephemeral.”
Unfortunately the rest of the book is super boring, because it’s got history and anthropology that can’t be substantiated.
I also had large problems with Be More Pirate by Sam Allende, mainly because it’s boring, but also he’s a Musk stan and a cryptocurrency enthusiast but also because he says Mahalia Yousefai is like a pirate? I…. don’t think so. That’s a reach. She just wanted to get an education.
However Pirates were really ahead of their times when it comes to building a fair society, where everyone is treated equally. Take the Pirate Code, reproduced below. If you’ve seen a pirate movie, then you probably know how it begins.
They practiced non-hierarchical structures, fair salary schemes, and even injury compensation.
They challenged the status quo and created their own rules. Even branding and marketing was high on their agenda, to create fear and powerful rumors stating their dominance and vigilance.
I would take it one step further.
Be more pirate also means
Shifting from External Validation
To Internal Validation
Let me explain. External Validation is all about the eyes of the world. Doing what society says to do. Getting people’s approval
Internal validation is all about asking yourself,
Does this system make sense to me? Is this nurturing the kind of life I want? If not, what kind of life DO I want?
If I want a more equal life, instead of corporate fascism, and totalitarianism in an at-will work environment where I can be fired at anytime for no reason if I don’t please my boss, enduring constant surveillance, then… how do I want to live instead?
Do I want to be hostage to a rapacious extractive capitalist system that always demands more and more and more every! single! year! Or!
Do I want to opt out?
Do I want to work for myself? What does that look like?
Can I work in a synarchy environment where it’s more equal and less hierarchical?
How we work is even more important than what we do.
What would post-capitalist philanthropy look like?
Recently I chatted with Donnie Macluren at the post growth institute, who came up with the term post-growth, and he pointed me to this article: our post-growth future is already here.