What is a Parallel Economy? [A Road Map]
St. Diogenes

Participating in a society’s economy is essential to everyone’s livelihood. But what happens when the ire of Cancel Culture, or an increasingly oppressive government, sets its crosshairs on a large section of society? A Parallel Economy is born.

A Parallel Economy is an economic system which functions outside the purview of the sanctioned economy. Other names for this are: The black market, the shadow market, or the underground. Parallel economies not only emerge from the desire to profit from illicit activities, they also spring from necessity when a portion of society is shunned from participating in the mainstream economic system.

Considering the current socio-political climate, one in which “vaccine passports” are being implemented in countries around the world, people are “de-banked” for expressing heterodox ideas, and careers are terminated for refusing to acquiesce to medical fascism, the need- and demand- for a true parallel economy is becoming ever clearer. 

Let’s take a closer look at what we should do to build- and engage in- a new parallel economy.

Be Your Own Bank

The monetary system is quickly becoming weaponized by big banks and governmental alphabet agencies. Primary methods of creating a second class citizen tier is to deny certain people access to the financial system, including closing their bank accounts without discussion or recourse, and barring access to participating in the mainstream economy. 

During any other time in history, financial blacklisting and de-personing from the sanctioned economy would have been the kiss of death. But, now we have Bitcoin. 

We don’t need their corrupt financial system anymore. 

Bitcoin is a direct, peer-to-peer digital currency; it’s decentralized, immutable, and uncancellable. Neither banks nor third-parties can prevent people from transacting with one another anywhere in the world. Bitcoin is financial freedom. To understand the magnitude of Bitcoin’s affects on individual, fiscal sovereignty, read Why Bitcoin Will Succeed. To purchase Bitcoin while retaining your privacy, read How to Buy Bitcoin Anonymously.

Detaching from the current economic system is a necessary step toward a new parallel economy. 

Other notable cryptocurrencies to use:

PirateChain: The most anonymous cryptocurrency to date.

Monero: One of the first privacy coins in the cryptospace. Private, but not anonymous. 

Suggested Reading: What Are Privacy Coins + Why You Need Them

Join New Tech

During the early aughts, the internet was just beginning to pick up steam. Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter joined the Wild West of online life; it was glorious bacchanalia. Millions of people worldwide joined the global conversation, there were no gatekeepers, and the online space was open and free.

Sadly, it took less than a decade for these platforms to curdle like bad milk; Ultimately becoming controlling, censorious, and rabidly ideological extensions of the government. 

But, while the dinosaurs of Old Tech overplay their hand, New Tech is creating another digital Wild West, bringing the internet back to its original form: Decentralized, online spaces where creativity flourishes. 

It’s time to leave old tech behind, and join the New Tech revolution. 

Odysee.com : A YouTube competitor, Odysee is a video platform which runs on its own decentralized blockchain (LBRY). Users earn LBRY cryptocurrency for watching videos, and these credits can be saved, used as tips to their favorite creators, or even exchange them for other cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin. Content creators on Odysee can accept tips in the form of LBRY credits or cash; Their videos will never be removed, censored, or shadow banned. With over 30 million users on its platform, Odysee is a serious contender in the New Tech space. 

Gab.com: Originally a Twitter alternative, Gab is now becoming a force to be reckoned with. Starting from the ground up, Gab runs on its own private servers, shielding itself from being “cancelled”. The platform is also branching out from a Twitter-like social media site; Now, Gab has its own advertising (“Gabvertising”), has GabTV (it’s YouTube competitor), and is currently creating their own in-house payment processor, bypassing censorious PayPal, Stripe, and banking institutions. 

Other notable New Tech platforms to check out: 

Rumble.com: YouTube competitor

BitChute.com: YouTube competitor

Minds.com: Facebook competitor

Protect Your Digital Privacy

When society began embracing the internet in the early aughts, no one could foresee just how much of our personal privacy we were giving away. Names, birthdays, credit card info, browser history, social security and phone numbers, email contents, text conversations, DMs, photos of friends, family and children… all of this has been continuously collected, stored, and sold to large corporations, and filed away by Big Government.

Threats posed by relinquishing control of our personal data aren’t some tin-foil-hat-wearing conspiracy theories. Edward Snowden tried ringing the alarm bell by whistleblowing against his employer, the National Security Agency (NSA), when he uncovered the government’s mass surveillance program targeting all American citizens. From social media posts to text messages, phone conversations to online purchases- all this data is being collected and stored by one of the most powerful governments in the world… without probable cause, or the Constitutional authority to do so. When governments collect information on its citizens secretly, en masse, it’s always for the consolidation of power, and never for the protection of the People. 

For a vibrant, functioning parallel economy, we must leave behind these systems of surveillance and control.

Email 

Get off Gmail and any other email service that reads your emails, and migrate to services that prioritize privacy. Here are some of the most popular options:

Protonmail: A Swiss-based email service, Protonmail boasts end-to-end encryption, meaning the sender and receiver’s email contents are encrypted, and even the servers hosting the emails cannot read them. However, Protonmail is far from perfect: In order for emails to be encrypted, both parties must use Protonmail; and when the data is flying through the ether en route to its receiver, an interested third party could- potentially- grab that packet of information before landing on the other side, encrypted. Also, it’s important to note that email subject lines are always visible with Protonmail, they’re never encrypted. 

Tutanota: A German-based end-to-end encrypted email service which provides slightly more privacy than ProtonMail. Unlike ProtonMail, Tutanota maintains user’s anonymity by not requiring a phone number to register, as well as encrypting email subject lines, has Two-Factor Authorization, and offers an encrypted calendar all on open-source, transparent software. 

VPN

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) help hide your IP address and encrypt your data, making hacking and spying more difficult. While VPNs cannot guarantee your complete anonymity, it is the first, most basic layer of protection for online privacy.

ExpressVPN: One of the most popular VPNs on the market, ExpressVPN bills itself as one of the most private, secure VPNs available. When users turn ExpressVPN on, there are 160 server locations in over 90 countries to choose from- increasing privacy. And just recently, ExpressVPN added Bitcoin as a payment option, further increasing one’s anonymity (especially if you have a private Bitcoin wallet from which to pay). 

For all its benefits, ease of use, great customer service, encryption, and Bitcoin payment capabilities, ExpressVPN has been embroiled in a bit of controversy leaving some users unsettled. Chief Information Officer, Daniel Gericke, was previously employed at cybersecurity firm, DarkMatter, located in the United Emirates. Gericke was involved in “Project Raven“, a spy operation focused on gathering information and surveilling those critical of the UAE’s regime.

Although there has yet to be any indication that Gericke’s current employment at ExpressVPN has compromised user security, some customers have expressed concern about the potential of the company spying on their data. ExpressVPN responded to these concerns, reiterating their commitment to privacy rights here. 

Mysterium: Mysterium is a decentralied peer-to-peer (P2P) VPN service, which allows users to run their own nodes. Instead of centralized servers (like NordVPN or ExpressVPN), Mysterium runs off the nodes of its users world-wide. Like the Ethereum or LBRY blockchain, Mysterium incentivizes users to run their own nodes by paying them in cryptocurrency. The more nodes running around the world, the more secure the entire decentralized system becomes. Here’s how the system works:

Other notable VPNs to check out:

ProtonVPN – Centralized VPN from the makers of ProtonMail

KelVPN – Decentralized P2P VPN

Deeper Network – Decentralized P2P VPN and Firewall solution

Search Browsers

Most search engines collect a slew of information on users, including websites visited, purchases made (potential future purchases), interests, hobbies, personal predilections, and location. Data gathered is used to construct avatars of each user, which is then used to manipulate algorithms for “tailored” search results (this is also a social engineering tool). 

In order to maintain more control over our digital privacy, it’s time to get off the standard search engines like Google, and start using those that don’t track searches, store data, or sell personal info to third parties.

Brave: The Brave Browser is an open source platform that does not track your searches or clicks, and blocks data-collecting ads. Search results are based off Brave’s own indexing- not Google’s- making your online behavior even more secure. Another great feature of Brave’s interface is the search page’s counter: Showing users how many ads have been blocked, bandwidth saved, and the time saved by users on the platform. 

DuckDuckGo: One of the most popular Google-alternatives, DuckDuckGo claims to be a safe, secure way to browse online without being tracked or your search history being stored. However, it’s important to note that there’s been some speculation as to how private it truly is, primarily due to the optional cookies setting. Though the default is no tracking cookies, some users are wary of any search engine that has a tracking option at all.

Presearch: The first open, decentralized search engine which runs on blockchain technology. Presearch boasts its privacy features as well as its David versus Goliath vision: Fighting for an honest search engine, one that doesn’t manipulate algorithms in order to shift public perception to fit the narratives of oligarchs or technocrats. 

Delete Yourself from the Internet

The more we live our lives online, the more data we leave behind for large companies to scrape and sell to the highest bidder. Without taking any measure to protect our digital information, anyone can search for- and easily find- your name, age, home address (past and present), marital status, occupation (past and present), places of employment (past and present), annual salary, colleges attended, degrees obtained, personal photos, phone numbers, family members, and more. 

Luckily, there are services that erase this information from the internet. DeleteMe scrubs your personal information on a tri-monthly basis, for an annual fee. Every time they complete the scheduled deletion process, customers are sent a detailed report within seven days. Consistent DeleteMe checks are necessary, as every time we use the internet, we’re leaving behind bread crumbs for others to find; Having a service that cleans up that digital trail is immensely important for those who value privacy. 

Homeschool Your Kids

Sending children to an over-packed, one-size-fits-all, Common Core-teaching government school is putting kids in the belly of the beast. In the parallel economy, it’s important to take back the reigns of control, and no longer give money to institutions that work against the freedoms for which we’re fighting. 

There are alternatives to government schools, such as: Homeschooling, learning pods, private school, or charters. 

Ron Paul Homeschool Curriculum: Ron Paul’s curriculum focuses on a non-bias, non-partisan approach to education. With over 8,000 lecture videos, assignments, and projects, this is a well-rounded, rigorous homeschool curriculum for motivated students. All required readings are in PDF format, so there’s no need for expensive, supplemental books. In addition to standard lessons, this curriculum includes courses on entrepreneurship and financial literacy. 

Start a Learning Pod: Learning pods consist of small groups of children from multiple families who are put together to learn and socialize. Planning is important in order to have a successful learning pod, from finding like-minded families to participate, to setting academic goals, and finding the right teacher to lead the group. So, if you’re interested in starting a learning pod in your community, here is a helpful guide to get you started. 

Charters: Although funded by public monies, Charter schools are those which generally function outside the purview of the State and its educational regulations. Curricula is more flexible and often more robust, and expectations for student scholastic outcomes and behavior are often higher than those found in public schools. However, the caliber of charter schools varies widely, so do your due diligence if considering this as an alternative. 

Private Schools:  Private schools are often the most expensive alternative, with many costing over $10,000 per year (not including uniforms, books, or other extra materials). If the price tag doesn’t give you sticker shock and is a viable option, make sure to thoroughly vet whatever institution you’re considering.

Support Like-Minded Companies

An important step to take when building a parallel economy is to support like-minded businesses. Focus on patronizing local shops and farmer’s markets, and encourage them to start accepting cryptocurrencies in lieu of fiat. Start weaning yourself off Big Business that uses your money to further subjugate. 

If you have a skill or passion, it’s time to throw your hat in the ring and start a business yourself. Are you a teacher? Find a learning pod in which to teach. Can you build websites? Start your own or freelance gig, offering services in the new parallel economy. Maybe you’re a healthcare worker- Set up a website and do home-visits. If you love screen printing, become a competitor of Shopify or TeeSpring- there’s plenty of consumers looking to patronize platforms that don’t censor or cancel customers. Whatever your skill set, there’s a place for you, and a ready audience for your product. 

The more we support each other, the stronger the parallel economy grows. 

Final Thoughts

While millions of people are being cast into second class citizenry, a parallel economy is emerging.

This new economy includes the concerted move to decentralized cryptocurrency, migrating to New Tech, taking back control of our digital data, shifting away from centralized education, and supporting like-minded businesses. 

Start small, in whatever way possible. Though leaving the old paradigm behind and creating anew feels like an insurmountable task, with every small step taken, the closer the reality. 

Related Posts: Faraday Fashion: Be Untrackable

Bitcoin is for Criminals (and 6 Other Crypto Myths)

How to Buy Bitcoin Anonymously 

 

 

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled is convincing you he does not exist. The greatest trick The System ever pulled is convincing you that you cannot resist. As long as there is resistance, there is hope. -Robert Barnes

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