NHfree.com: Putting the band back together

General Discussion
#1

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(Above) Early free staters protest an overstep by the “Town of Hampton” in 2005.

Before YouTube activism sucked all the air out of my room, I was involved in some successful agitation under the banner of “NHfree.com.” This 2005 type of activism may be worth revisiting
now that deplatforming has made videography less useful.

NHfree did a variety of things but the most successful play tended to look like this:

1 ) Keep an eye on the mainstream NH news outlets
2 ) Look for a story that reads along these lines:
------- A government in New Hampshire is aggressing against someone, usually over a victimless crime.
-------The targetted person is not a liberty activist
-------The abuse is so eyebrow-raising that even lapdog media are raising concerns
3 ) Contact the victim and find out what types of help they would benefit from. A list of ways to help…is better than just one thing.
4 ) Announce a demosntration in front of the offending government office:
-------Send letters-to-editor and news releases to this effect, about 10 days before the demonstration.
-------Ideally, protest outside an official meeting where the aggressors and/or media will be present.
-------Ideally, schedule the protest to start 90 minutes before the meeting and end 30 minutes before the meeting.
5 ) Speak against the aggressors during public comment
6 ) Film/photograph/publicize the demonstration ourselves, especially on Free Talk Live.

Here is an action we undertook along the lines above in 2005:
" Defend Myrtle Woodward and Her Family! "
We did this because the government of Hampton was persecuting a family for housing their elderly aunt without permission:
" TheWMURChannel.com - News - Woman Fights To Keep Apartment In Zoning Dispute "

This process represented a promising path of action which we didn’t fully explore in the following years… now maybe we should. Most of the key players from '05 are back in the area now.

I’ve acquired the NHfree.com domain name and am redirecting it to this thread. I’m beginning step 1 above and waiting for the right incident to occur. Do you have any thoughts on how this project should proceed? Do you know of any authoritarian abuses along these lines, and would you like to help?

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Old School Activism
#2

Hell yeah!
I get a lot of exercise here at BarterTowne keeping the rooms and place welcoming to visitors but that’s a great idea to have people break sedentary routines.

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#3

Cool. I have an old NHFree.com “Axe the meal tax” METAL SIGN if you want it! It’s pretty badass.

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#4

ya actually the lady victimized by the town in the incident above …made those for us. i didn’t know they were going to be metal with deadly edges lol !

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#5

I’d love to see people getting out and doing more activism. People actually doing stuff is what makes a movement like this actually interesting and worth partaking in. It doesn’t have to be this specificallly, but this sort of activism is engaging and draws attention to why people should move. Its something anyone can do.

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#7

While we’re waiting for the right incident…I’ve also started the project below.

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#8

Ernie Hancock and friends have asked me to be on their show tomorrow discussing this thread. They’ve asked me to write up an updated bio. Here it is:

Dave Ridley is a former TV news videographer who moved to New Hampshire in 2004 as part of the Free State Project’s libertarian migration. He owns the NHfree.com and NHexit.com domains but is best known for RidleyReport.com. The latter focused on ambush interviews of politicians and other types of gonzo journalism around NH in the 2015 era. Now mostly de-platformed, he’s experimenting with ways to bypass the “Great Silencing.” Thus far, the most promising of these has been the successful team effort to put secession legislation in front of New Hampshire’s state house. Though this ultimately did not pass, it did put free staters back in the headlines and is thought to have triggered an uptick in activist migration.

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#9
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#10

I’ve received a link from one of the original NHfree.com folks… suggesting that we may now have a government abuse incident that matches the above parameters. Details are at:
" Keene jail abuse complaint"
On that thread I’m asking…Should this recently alleged Keene jail abuse become NHfree.com business? Should we confront the Keene jail and the Cheshire County govt. in a similar manner to the way we confronted Hampton’s rulers in 2005?

Here’s another question, more related to NHfree generally: There was an incident in the past where liberty activists went to demonstrate in support Silk Road guy Ross Ulbricht during his trial. but then the judge threatened to sequester the jury over these demonstrations. After this threat, his mom asked the liberty folks to stop protesting. They complied, but their compliance didn’t help Ulbricht at all… he wound up with two or three life sentences. They gave up the one thing that was working…for nothing.

So…we should be thinking… do we defend someone, even if they or their families have Stockholm syndrome and are (under duress) telling us to stop defending them?

On the one hand, there are folks who actually want to be defended and aren’t succumbing to Stockholm syndrome… maybe they should have priority over the wavering. On the other hand, you don’t want to let a person under government duress have influence over your activities…if you comply with the pleas of the hostage, you reward the hostage taker and wind up with more hostages.

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#11

This is just the type approach I’ve been trying to get folks interested in where I live, and I strongly encourage it - keep an eye out in the media for stories about ordinary people who are victims of government, get in touch with them, and offer our help. Delighted to hear others thinking along similar lines!

Regarding your question, should we try to help those who don’t want the help (Stockholm Syndrome or whatever), I think it has to be determined carefully on a case by case basis. Ross’s mom may have guessed wrong about what would help her son most, but in a case like that it seems unfair not to give deference to her wishes.

Of course it can’t hurt for the future to have some examples like this to bring up to those who think being quiet and subservient and relying on the mercy of the State is their best bet (usually it isn’t).

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