Monday, November 24, 2008

“A common language of resistance . . .”

Beyond the Internet and Talk Radio: A Call for Creating New Committees of Correspondence

“A common language of resistance . . .”

Colonial rebellions throughout the modern world have been acts of shared political imagination. Unless unhappy people develop the capacity to trust other unhappy people, protest remains a local affair easily silenced by traditional authority. Usually, however, a moment arrives when large numbers of men and women realize for the first time that they enjoy the support of strangers, ordinary people much like themselves who happen to live in distant places and whom under normal circumstances they would never meet. It is an intoxicating discovery. A common language of resistance suddenly opens to those who are most vulnerable to painful retribution the possibility of creating a new community. As the conviction of solidarity grows, parochial issues and aspirations merge imperceptibly with a compelling national agenda which only a short time before may have been the dream of only a few. For many Americans colonists this moment occurred late in the spring of 1774. -- T.H. Breen, The Marketplace of Revolution: How Consumer Politics Shaped American Independence, Oxford University Press, 2004, p.1.

I ran across this as part of my reading in the economic basis of the Revolution, searching as always for clues to our own Restoration of that Revolution. (Another book that a cursory examination promises much from is Smugglers and Patriots: Boston Merchants and the Advent of the American Revolution by John W. Tyler. Thank the Lord for the Birmingham Public Library.)

The Breen observation enunciates a fundamental truth about movements such as ours. Before we can be successful, we must overcome the isolation we all initially feel. I have personally experienced how the Internet has broken through that isolation for many people. But the fact of the matter is that we must develop ways of continuing to communicate if the new regime denies us talk radio and the Internet.

We need new Committees of Correspondence in every town, county and city. We must develop NOW alternate communication paths so that the regime cannot win simply by pulling this plug, or flipping that switch. The first thing that occurs to me is ham radio networks. The second thing that occurs to me is how little I really know about radio communications in its entirety. And we mustn't restrict ourselves to simply radio. We need a lot of "out-of-the-box" thinking here.

The Soviet Union was laid low by “samizdat” – leaflets that attacked the lies of the regime and which were produced by individuals in one town and laboriously distributed by hand to another. The Soviets had been safe when they controlled all the printing presses. However, when they needed to modernize their offices along Western lines, they began using Xerox machines. Machines that stood unguarded in offices overnight. A good argument can be made that it was the Xerox machine that destroyed the old Soviet order.

We must find the modern day equivalent of the Xerox machine/samizdat networks. And we must recreate the modern equivalent of the Committee of Correspondence, only it must be a system that will able to get and receive the word on multiple bandwidths by multiple means.

So let this be a call to all of those out there who have been doing a lot more thinking along these lines than I have. What shall we do when AM radio and the Internet are denied us by an increasingly tyrannical regime? What is to be done?

Whatever solution we craft, it must be one that allows us to speak “a common language of resistance.” It must be a system that enables us to organize, to fight for and to win the restoration of the Founders’ republic.


ReverendFranz said...

Its a little passe in this age of nightclubs and mindless drunken youth culture, but if im not mistaken, at one point or another, most of the original language of resistance was forged primarily in taverns, a venue clear of many class constraints, where talk seems to run free. Not owning a TV, i spent election night in a local sportsbar turned election result central, and my few offhand escaped outbursts seemed to be well received by a person or two who would chime in with their own opinions, and after a short time a dialogue develops. I think to show up in a t-shirt with some bold statement, or perhaps a copy of that logo that had been mysteriously been showing up in graffiti around town, would soon spark a conversation or two that would soon be joined in by someone who overheard something they were interested in.

A friend my always chimes in that more people should smoke, as smokers also congregate and invariably begin talking.

We are surrounded by communities of all sorts, the real problem is that so many of them seem mute, and so few of us are talking to our fellow community members, instead staying at our workdesks and at home in front of our little screens. If supporting vices of some sort doesnt appeal to you, there are a few other open areas where such conversations can begin.

As far as more organized communication, Ham Radio is a fine idea, though not entirely common, and fairly easy to find. as long as the internet is here, and i think it will be for some time, everyone should familiarize themselves with concepts such as anonymous proxies and basic encryption such as PGP. a good place to start for each is with
TOR and Cryptomail


Concerned American said...

Thanks, ReverendFranz,

This is exactly the kind of feedback I'm looking for. I might even work some of it into Absolved, if it's OK with you.



chris horton said...

Good advice,RF. I too think Ham Radio is a great idea. As a trucker for the last 10 years,I can't tell you how many times Ham Radio operators bled through my CB radio.

They are a powerful communication tool,for sure.

Sam said...

RF good advice. The "communities" definately need be familiar with secure types of communication, be it email, chat, regular postal mail, and just talking. I forsee a time when you will have to watch not only what you say but who you say it to. Its actually started in a weird way, friend at work live in a dense dimmocrat area, and his wife told him last week one of thier kids could not play with another child as that childs parent found out they didnt vote for the savior. Crazy!

So start figuring out who your true like minded friends are, start congregating, and look at secure comms



Stephen said...

Need common 'code cards' for email and I believe 'burner' phones (as the 'hood' refers to them) would be a very useful tool.

Loren said...

Open source phones like the Android(and the Blackberry Storm for those more sophisticated) can support purpose built software for encryption and possibly even ways to make it harder to trace. I've not looked into it aside from a starting point for other projects, but it holds possibility.

Walter Lee said...

Masonic lodges and churches (King George III refered to the Revolution as a Presbyterian Insurrection) formed much of the communication network in the 1770s. People in connectional churches and lodges know each other from regional and national meetings. Furthermore, they share values and that leads to trust.

Furthermore, unless there is some sense of transcendent value, there is no reason to risk life and livelihood. If it is all for "stuff" then if the odds turn south, it becomes a bad bet. Liberty, freedom and rights are all concepts that are not rooted in the material world. While I would not argue for the language of a particular religious group, I believe that the language of faith is imparative for social reformation. Rousseau, an atheist, argued for the language of civil/civic religion. (He also argued that it usurp the language of Christianity so Christianity would be cooped. He was convinced that a nation cannot have two value centers, i.e., the nation and a god that is not a national diety. I would argue for the transcendent GOD, and declare that all nation states are contengent and stand under judgment. That is a different debate.)

The thing to remember from Rousseau is that he argued that the broad "faith" words of civil religion created the feeling and the mood, and the specific content could be filled in by changing laws and mores which could be controlled by the nation state. That's what we are seeing today with "patriotic" people who are supporting ideas that are unconscienable.

In terms of HAM radio, that is certainly as controllable as talk radio or the internet. HAMS are licensed and the rules of what can be talked about (particularly internationally) are restricted. You can talk technical stuff all day long but if you get into politics or business, you can get on shakey ground. HAMs have been highly restricted in times of war.
Signals can be tracked very easily.

What HAMS do have is the ability to listen. If there are pirate stations that give the news, HAMs can hear them with little risk.

Cell phones have killed lots of interest in HAM radio. Currently, there is no code requirement for licensing. Most of the cheap, home built HF transmitters that were used during the 1920s and 1930s were for code. People forget that most of the long range communication in WWII (even from airplanes) were sent in morse. That's becoming a lost art.

Just some thoughts.

flacmonkey said...

As a Ham, I have to say that Ham radio is a good option, but should not be the only one. Being a Ham means that you can also get into ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) or RACES (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service) this allows you to work closely with the local government, learn their procedures, and participate in their emergency drills. This would allow three percenters to build relationships with potentially like minded individuals in the community and government. And if there are no like minded individuals, then you can get some good intelligence on those who stand against freedom.



Bruce Krafft said...

I don't believe that the Internet can be shut down without crashing the economy even more than is going to happen, but if/when it does get restricted, there are a couple of fairly simple (if slower) ways to get word out. [WARNING: Product Plug Ahead] MicroCenter has 2GB micro SD cards for $5 each, you can pick them up in a store or have them shipped. Shipping on one is $6 but shipping on 20 is $25.

Two things I like about these cards are 1) they fit in most cell phones and 2) they are small enough that a few pieces of paper will hide them in a standard envelope.

So the two simple methods of spreading the word: US Mail and cell-phone to cell-phone.

This is where the art/science of steganography comes in. If you send an encrypted message it is usually obvious that it is encrypted, and thus may raise the hackles of an officious jackboot. But what is suspicious about sending someone a picture of your cat? Or a photo of the drawing that your niece did in kindergarten today? The thugs have no way of knowing that this isn't just a snap that you took with your phone, but is instead a message carefully crafted on your home computer, then copied to your cell phone and sent out to a couple of friends.

Likewise with US Mail. Yes, if you are on a list, your mail can be checked, but there are only so many Postal Inspectors, and only so much time. Even if they do find the SD card in the letter, if they look at it and see pictures of your new deck, photos of some recipes that you made, and a bunch of shots from your vacation, 99% of them will think nothing of it.

The trick is to get the information before it's flagged or supressed, and find 'fellow travelers' before the crackdowns.

And always, always be on the lookout for agents provocateurs, Fudds and snitches.

Chris said...

Don't underestimate the huge value of false flag operations like number stations. I love the idea of twits in Langley, Yuma, and Ft. Meade tearing their hair out trying to figure out what nonsensical phrases mean.

Phelps said...

We need a secret society. The revolution would have failed without Masons -- and Masons on both sides of the revolution, Colonial and British.

Ham radio can be easily jammed, tracked, and regulated. The only thing preventing it is will from the government to pull the trigger. It could even be done in stealthy ways, like broadband over alternating current (which essentially turns every power line into a jammer.)

We need tradecraft, cells, and protocols. All those come with fraternal societies. said...

All of these radio can be zeroed in on. The equipment is to costly to simply drop a radio and let it air a recorded message and when the fcc or whomever find it it's gone for good..

As for printing little do ye know that they have nowmade printers or maybe it was the paper coded so that they can trace the number/recipets, etc...

We are going to be slaughtered until we form sustainable communities on such a large scale that the military will not be able to respond to. Simple as that folks.

Unless I'm missing something?

Dutchman6 said... said...



Unless I'm missing something?

Actually, yes, you are.

Let me go in reverse order.

"Sustainable communities on such a large scale that the military will not be able to respond to."

I see, putting all the eggs in one basket. The US military, if it comes to that, has no one single target it cannot slice, dice, blend and puree.


Uh, huh. Is this as well documented as the 9/11 theories you have posted on your website? If so, I'll be polite and hold my "howls of derisive laughter, Bruce."


Actually, I don't know much about radios, but I do know about stand-off repeaters. In any case, their problem becomes one of volume.

So yes, in conclusion, I can say with confidence that there is a great deal you are missing.

Mark said...

I'm not known to any of you, so take this with whatever grain of salt you like.

It could be you're thinking either too hard or too grand about it.

HAM radio is great and all, but its hardly common, and as pointed out, it can be traced all too readily. The core problem is one of signal, then content.

What may surprise you is that, in places like NYC, there's almost always some bright kid who sets up a pirate radio station, either AM or FM. These typically are low-powered, going over a few blocks maybe, but in a place like NYC that covers thousands of folks.

The interesting point to all of you is this: a low-powered station falls beneath notice or is not regulated by the FCC as it falls outside of their jurisdiction.

A small town could certainly support one station, perhaps with content from a central source.

Mark said...

Also, you guys have the beginnings of a secret society with the III stuff.

DougHuffman said...

Re Ham radio; too easily, even trivially jammed.

It is understood that there are 'six degrees of separation' between any two common individuals. How many degrees are there between any two patriots that might allow reasonably secure communication without use of infrastructure too easily controlled.

Anonymous said...

Bruce Schneier reviewed an interesting book on ad hoc organization and the new tools to support them. Written by Clay Shirky, it's called "Here Comes Everybody." (Read his review at Here's a relevant portion of the review:


Clay's book might point to some useful tools and methods for the kinds of communication you're looking for.

jdege said...

Ham radio?

It's not the technology that matters, it's the personal networking. It's the personal relationships across the country that need to be built. Or have been built, or are being built.

Why do you think they're so bound and determined to close down gun shows?

Because they are places where gun nuts get together and talk to each other.

AlanR said...

To maximize the amount of time that blogs and mail servers are available, mirror blogs to private sites. How many RKBA blogs would go down if it became a forbidden topic on blogger? Private hosted blogs on your own web account or, even better, on a web server you control in your house. For further protection use TOR's hidden services to hide the IP address of the blog. It's easier than you may think to setup and run your own free Linux-based webserver/mail server.

Texas Shooter said...


Unfortunately, GreenvilleRaod is correct about the copier thing.

Please check out:

Forewarned is forearmed.

Anonymous said...

What about Iridium satellite cell phones? The gov has bought into them, so the network will need to remain "up". Not sure how one would identify privileged users and deny service to everyone else under certain circumstances. (This is out of my area of expertise).