Antigua and the Pirate Bay

Ususally I don't report on intellectual property piracy, but my love of Temporary Autonomous Zones and Pirate Utopias provokes me to throw this news into the mix.

Antigua is holding out its hands to The Pirate Bay as a data haven, creating a nation that does not recognize copyright laws.

The World Trade Organization awarded the tiny island nation the right to ignore American copyright laws last December if negotations [between the US and Antigua over Antigua's lucrative online gambling business] fail.

Antigua has a rich pirate history and it's no shock that they are parlaying the independance and free-thinking of their heretage into the modern era.

From G4, Antiqua Threatens to Host Pirates

From ValleyWag, Antiqua could offer Pirate Bay safe harbor

What Have Pirates Done For Me Lately? -Bicameral Legislature

The Pirate Utopia of Salé on the Moroccan coast was a truly independent state for decades in the 16th century. While the rest of North Africa was being carved up among the Ottomans and various Sufi princes, democracy of a kind was flourishing.

Salé was ruled by the Taiffe Reisi or Council of Captains and the Divan, which was populated by former commander-in-chiefs. Becoming a voting member of the legislature was as simple as staying alive long enough to rise through the ranks of corsairs. Every two months a new commander-in-chief, "Agha of Two Moons," took over as head of the corsair fleet. This gave an unprecedented level of opportunity to men who took up the vocation of corsair. A man, regardless of birth, could rise to the highest levels of government.

This form of government was the first democratic government after Greece and heavily influenced European Democracies that would follow it.

Modern Salé and Rabat

Book Review: Pirate Utopias

Pirate Utopias: Moorish Corsairs and European Renegadoes
by Peter Lamborn Wilson

I simply cannot get enough of this book. Wilson is a renowned resource on Sufism and the Muslim World and in this tome he takes a stab at Barbary Corsairs, Early Democracy and the interplay between Islam and Christianity in 11th century Europe.

An excellent entry point into the concept of Temporary Autonomous Zones, Wilson finds ways to incorporate the beauty and majesty of Islamic poetry and the sensuous feeling of Moroccan culture and the excitement of the freedom and cacophony of the Barbary Capitals: Libertalia, Tunis, Algiers, Salee.

A few years ago I was able to see Peter Lamborn Wilson speak at a party for a New York City Secession Movement. His charming style and command of his subject matter kept the audience rapt and I found this book to have a similar highly entertaining, often funny voice. A non-fiction book that you can't put down is a rare bird indeed and I felt as soon as I'd opened it I was transported to a time of possibility and hardship, when men were carving political power out of raw chaos and a new religion was drawing the dregs of Europe and forging the basis for modern governments.

Five out of Five Hooks
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An Essential Part of any Pirate Library