Anarcho-Capitalism in real life: Hong Kong's Kowloon Walled City

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bluechinagroup

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So there's a lot of know-it-alls and people who think they know-it-all (Lukep) that claim Anarcho-Capitalism is the ideal way to establish a society without a State nor laws.

Are there any real life examples of Anarcho-Capitalism in action? Well nothing in real life is going to be exactly like what you see on paper, but there are indeed some examples of societies that practice many of the concepts of Anarcho-Capitalism.

Hong Kong is a place that has a government that more or less follows Chicago School concepts such as positive non intervention.

Full article on positive non intervention here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_non-interventionism

Positive non-interventionism is the economic policy of Hong Kong; this policy can be traced back to the time when Hong Kong was under British rule. It was first officially implemented in 1971 by John Cowperthwaite, who observed that the economy was doing well in the absence of government intervention but it was important to create the regulatory and physical infrastructure to facilitate market-based decision making. The policy was continued by subsequent Financial Secretaries, including Sir Philip Haddon-Cave. Economist Milton Friedman has cited it as a fairly comprehensive implementation of laissez-faire policy, although Haddon-Cave has stated that the description of Hong Kong as a laissez-faire society was "frequent but inadequate".[1]
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This economic policy is ultimately what continues to allow HK to remain the freest economy in the world when ranked by libertarian think tanks such as Heritage Foundation and Cato Institute.

But that doesn't come close to Anarcho-Capitalism. After all Hong Kong still had a society with a government and a legal system. However there was one tiny 2.6 hectare enclave called Kowloon Walled City where Hong Kong law did not exist and HK law enforcement mostly steered clear from. It existed due to this portion of land not being included in the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory of 1898 and thus not recognized as a part of Hong Kong nor China.

Kowloon Walled City had no official government and was considered a no mans land. Despite that, it became the most densely populated and ungoverned settlement on the planet complete with 300 buildings crammed into one city block built without the contribution of a single architect and with absolutely zero regulatory oversight.

The people who lived and worked within the walls of Kowloon Walled City did so without any health or employment regulations. All kinds of illegal businesses such as drug dens, gambling dens, unlicensed factories, and unlicensed dental clinics sprung up in the city. Although these businesses did not pay tax, they ultimately did have to pay protection money to the Triads who served as a de facto governing authority. Supporters of Anarcho-Capitalism claim that criminal elements would not turn into a governing authority, and that good people would chase them out, but Kowloon Walled City had demonstrated that the opposite is true.

Nevertheless, Kowloon Walled City was a mostly peaceful tightly knit community albeit cramped and unhygienic. As long as people doing a business or trade paid their protection money, they were fine.

Check out this eye opening documentary about the Kowloon Walled City and see for yourself.

Part 1:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lby9P3ms11w"]Kowloon Walled City documentary (Part 1/4) + english subtitles - YouTube[/ame]

Part 2:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYXPRSRIAPQ"]Kowloon Walled City documentary (Part 2/4) + english subtitles - YouTube[/ame]

Part 3:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMlbr-zqnQQ"]Kowloon Walled City documentary (Part 3/4) + english subtitles - YouTube[/ame]

Part 4:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGhvEcbAnxc"]Kowloon Walled City documentary (Part 4/4) + english subtitles - YouTube[/ame]

and check out this Kickstarter:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1060791749/city-of-darkness-revisited

To conclude, Kowloon Walled City is a fascinating example of the closest thing out there to real Anarcho-Capitalism besides Somalia. Is it however the ideal society that we should strive for?

Kowloon Walled City was major contribution to Hong Kong's massive economic growth in the 80s and 90s, thanks to all of the cheap and unregulated manufacturing that was done within the enclave. It helped transform Hong Kong from a developing economy to a developed one.

Unfortunately life in Kowloon Walled City was hard, and the unregulated environment posed health and safety concerns that can not be brushed away. People there worked hard and died young. It was demolished in 1994 and the area is now called Kowloon City Park. It is currently under the jurisdiction of Hong Kong law.

Echoes of Kowloon Walled City still exist in HK due to its legacy of positive non interventionism. In the rural New Territories for example, there is almost no government oversight much like in Kowloon Walled City. Legally recognized male villagers are allowed to build a 3 story house, and many bend the rules by adding additional floors and other illegal structures because government bureaucrats almost never go there. When they do, their enforcement power is severely limited due to the influence of the Heung Yee Kuk (Rural Committee). The Heung Yee Kuk is a private entity that serves as the de facto governing power in the rural areas of the New Territories. It sides with the villagers during land and property disputes, and when it does the government can't do much about enforcing the law because the Kuk won't let them. So rather than create a conflict, the government just avoids confronting the Kuk.

The rural areas of HK aren't the only place the government keeps a hands off regulatory policy. Sub divided flats for low income people who either don't qualify for public housing or are still in the queue waiting for a public house are another example of something the HK government turns a blind eye to.

Each flat is a cramped 120 to 150 square feet and is the closest modern example we have to the cramped conditions of flats in Kowloon Walled City. The government doesn't want to regulate these sub divided flats, because if it declares them illegal and evicts everyone there will be a housing crisis. So instead we have the status quo.

I hope everyone enjoyed reading my OP. This is officially my third ever thread on WF that I've made. Normally I prefer to contribute to other people's threads rather than making my own. I hope other WFers will contribute to my thread regardless of where they stand on the political spectrum. I am sure we can have a very interesting discussion here.
 


Nice post, OP. I'll have to check out that documentary.

A decently well informed market anarchist might argue that simply discarding the state won't necessarily eliminate society's ills in the same way a global ban on churches/temples/synagogues wouldn't eradicate religion.

Likewise, an anarchist might also argue a culture of violence won't magically become peaceful in the absence of government (take Somalia for example).

Government isn't the disease so much as it is a symptom of civilizations prevailing paradigm.

I personally have no fucking clue if a stateless society is possible (or even sustainable), but I can imagine that an organized, concerted effort on the part of society to gradually transition into statelessness would result in something fundamentally different than what we see with Kowloon Walled City (which was basically an abandoned military outpost).

Still, a good find. An interesting example of how truly spontaneous organization can still succumb to rule quite easily (even if the rulers were really just unsophisticated criminals).
 
bluechinagroup said:
Supporters of Anarcho-Capitalism claim that criminal elements would not turn into a governing authority, and that good people would chase them out, but Kowloon Walled City had demonstrated that the opposite is true.
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I don't think this is totally black and white. I've seen examples of where criminal elements have been run out by force but I do think criminal enterprise survives as long as it doesn't piss off the mob of good. So it really depends.
 
So a cramped, filthy shit hole where I would live in a 10sqrm apartment, and forced to pay protection to the Triads gang (or be strong armed), while living surrounded by sweat shops, drug dealers, pedophiles, and other wonderful people? Yeah, definitely sounds like paradise society to me.

Why wouldn't I just go live in the slums of Rio de Janeiro? It'd be cheaper, and the cops don't spend much time there either.

From what I can gather, this whole anarchy thing is moreso an American movement than anything. Most residents of other countries want some form of government, but that's because they don't live in a country where the police constantly harass and strong arm citizens for no legitimate reason.

It's the pendulum effect. The more you push it one way, the further it's going to swing the other way. Govt and cops in the US have pushed it so much, that fuck it, US citizens are now 100% fed up with anything and everything to do with govt, and would prefer to live in anarchy. That's not the case in the vast majority of the world though.
 
Andrew Scherer said:
I've seen examples of where criminal elements have been run out by force but I do think criminal enterprise survives as long as it doesn't piss off the mob of good. So it really depends.
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Hell's Angels are a prime example of this, at least decades ago. Back when around my parents were my age, communities around Canada would welcome the Hell's Angels with open arms. They would literally clean up entire communities of petty crime, gang bangers, and other low lifes and undesirables. When they moved into an area, crime would almost immediately drop.

Granted, they would take over the drug trade, prostitution, and so on in the area, but they kept it under wraps so your kids didn't see it while walking to school, kinda thing. You didn't want to start a strip club or anything in an area controlled by them, but for common folk, they thought it was great. Everything is calm and peaceful, streets are safer, people know where to go for the illicit shit, etc. It worked!

Nowadays, you have cops in Canada preventing Hell's Angels from even getting together. Little while ago they planned a get together in Alberta, and the cops went around beforehand basically warning all the businesses in town they would be punished if they allowed the Hell's Angels to sleep / stay / eat / whatever there. Dicks.
 
Kiopa_Matt said:
Nowadays, you have cops in Canada preventing Hell's Angels from even getting together. Little while ago they planned a get together in Alberta, and the cops went around beforehand basically warning all the businesses in town they would be punished if they allowed the Hell's Angels to sleep / stay / eat / whatever there. Dicks.
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Only one gang can run the city.
 
Kiopa_Matt said:
From what I can gather, this whole anarchy thing is moreso an American movement than anything. Most residents of other countries want some form of government, but that's because they don't live in a country where the police constantly harass and strong arm citizens for no legitimate reason.

It's the pendulum effect. The more you push it one way, the further it's going to swing the other way. Govt and cops in the US have pushed it so much, that fuck it, US citizens are now 100% fed up with anything and everything to do with govt, and would prefer to live in anarchy. That's not the case in the vast majority of the world though.
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Well, there's political anarchists and then philosophical anarchists.

Political anarchists actively call for the disbandment of government. They're the LukeP types who envision a stateless society, and if they could, would bring it about (peacefully, in most cases). Political anarchism is typically more reactionary in nature.

Philosophical anarchists, on the other hand, subscribe to anarchy simply because they don't believe political authority holds any validity whatsoever. That said, most philosophical anarchists are more pragmatic and concede that at the present moment, governments are unfortunately necessary (or rather, a "necessary evil" that we must endure until we have a better solution).

I lean towards philosophical anarchy. The more I study political philosophy, the more I'm certain the state's political authority is a moral illusion (regardless of the benefits/costs of government).

P.S. Anarchy is a global thing. Europe has TONS of (frequently violent) left-wing anarchists. Those motherfuckers cray cray. Anarcho-Capitalism is mostly American.
 
bluechinagroup said:
The rural areas of HK aren't the only place the government keeps a hands off regulatory policy. Sub divided flats for low income people who either don't qualify for public housing or are still in the queue waiting for a public house are another example of something the HK government turns a blind eye to.

Each flat is a cramped 120 to 150 square feet and is the closest modern example we have to the cramped conditions of flats in Kowloon Walled City. The government doesn't want to regulate these sub divided flats, because if it declares them illegal and evicts everyone there will be a housing crisis. So instead we have the status quo.
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Here's a video of King's cube:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKf08vWTkKA"]King's Cube - YouTube[/ame]

It's actually a mock promotional video made by a film student, but these types of flats are real and available for rent.
 
Have read about that district recently. Unique story. This is how it looked back in the day, a state within a state:

3ac73aa597bf0dc0a3d3544c9abd4b1b.jpg
 
GimpSpack said:
I personally have no fucking clue if a stateless society is possible (or even sustainable), but I can imagine that an organized, concerted effort on the part of society to gradually transition into statelessness would result in something fundamentally different than what we see with Kowloon Walled City (which was basically an abandoned military outpost).
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If this documentary shows you anything, it's yes, people can specialize and make the most of any bad situation - that doesn't make it the best way forward. Humanity has built up through working together in society and this is the hypocrisy that anarchists don't want to see. Also, that market with one billion people next door had much more impact on Hong Kong's boom than just Kowloon city.
 
Fierce said:
If this documentary shows you anything, it's yes, people can specialize and make the most of any bad situation - that doesn't make it the best way forward. Humanity has built up through working together in society and this is the hypocrisy that anarchists don't want to see.
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Not sure I understand you.

Are you suggesting that anarchists are opposed to organization and cooperation?
 
GimpSpack said:
Not sure I understand you.

Are you suggesting that anarchists are opposed to organization and cooperation?
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Yes, why else would you want to overthrow government organizations that cooperate to run countries? Don't exactly see a better plan being put forward, just a mindless free-for-all.
 
Fierce said:
Yes, why else would you want to overthrow government organizations that cooperate to run countries? Don't exactly see a better plan being put forward, just a mindless free-for-all.
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That's not what anarcho-capitalism espouses whatsoever.

Whether or not a stateless, propertarian society would devolve into a mindless free-for-all is debatable, but your assertion that market anarchism intends to dispense of all rules, defense, organization, cooperation, structure, trade, etc.. is false.

Just do a Google search for "Anarcho-Capitalism" or "Voluntaryism" if you want to learn more about it.

It's actually pretty interesting stuff once you get passed your initial "WTF IS THIS BULLSHIT?" misgivings about it.
 
mattseh said:
So for the people not wanted by Hong Kong police, assuming they are rational, it was a better system, right?
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Maybe for their circumstances it was a better system. Like for example if they wanted to run an illegal business then Kowloon Walled City was the ideal place for them. The unlicensed dental clinics in the Kowloon Walled City documentary looked kinda cool actually. I like how the proprietor showed their previous work to prove their skill.
 
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