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Per Bylund

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Per Bylund (born December 13, 1975 in Stockholm, Sweden) is an anarchist and a radical libertarian writer and thinker. He is the founding editor of the anarchist web site Anarchism.net.

Apart from being frequently published on radical libertarian sites such as Strike-the-Root.com, LewRockwell.com and ezines, he has edited the anthology As Such is Capitalism! (Sådan är kapitalismen)[1] and the quarterly libertarian magazine Libertarian Forum (Libertarianskt Forum) (both in Swedish). His work has been cited favorably by mutualist Kevin A. Carson in the Journal of Libertarian Studies.[2]

Bylund is also an activist and events organizer. He was a core member of the Swedish libertarian network The Freedom Front ("Frihetsfronten"),[3] and arranged the Walks for Capitalism in Stockholm in 2001[4] and 2002[5]. Bylund also frequently attends the International Society for Individual Liberty's annual World Freedom Summits, and is a member of the Alliance of the Libertarian Left.[6] He is also known for being the original designer of the Libertatis Æquilibritas, a symbol of anarcho-capitalism that has gained significant following among anarcho-capitalists worldwide.

Biography

In 1991, at the time of the general elections, Bylund joined the Moderate Youth League. He remained an active member for ten years, and was elected in 1998 for the municipal council of Österåker, but resigned in early 2000 utterly disillusioned with party politics as a means of change.

After some years as a classical liberal minarchist, libertarian he proclaimed himself to hold market anarchist ideals. Although once elected, in the general elections of 2002 he refused to vote and argued for non-voting as a means of resistance[7] and for the right to shun voters.[8] The early anarchist Per Bylund was, as he would himself say, "ignorantly pro-capitalism"Template:Verify source advocating a free market resembling the contemporary capitalist system — along with Big Business and globalization.[unverified]

In 1998 Bylund started the portal Anarchism.net together with two other Swedish anarchists, Per Ericson and Thord Swedenhammar. The website went through a number of re-designs and finally in 2003 ended up a gathering place with the purpose of unifying the global anarchist movement. The continuously changed mission[9] of Anarchism.net, along with its content focus, closely followed Bylund's evolution from being a right libertarian, anarcho-capitalist towards agorism and anarchism without adjectives. The same course of change in values is evident in Bylund's writing, going from the early essays reflecting a libertarianism strongly influenced by the philosophy of Ayn Rand to a less right-wing politics conviction.[10]

Bylund has a BSc in Business Administration (1998), a MSc in Informatics (1999) from Jönköping International Business School and a MA in Political Science (2005) from Lund University. As part of his studies in Jönköping he spent two semesters at Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu, Hawaii, studying, among other things, economics under Ken Schoolland.[11] He was also awarded a prize for best academic thesis in 1999.[12]

After several years working as a systems developer and business analyst, he is since fall 2007 attending the PhD program in Agricultural Economics at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo., studying under Peter G. Klein.[13]

References

  1. Template:sv icon Sådan är kapitalismen! on Frihetsfronten accessed at December 14 2007
  2. Carson, Kevin, Journal of Libertarian Studies, Volume 20 Issue 1 Winter 2006: 97–136
  3. Projects & Sites on PerBylund.com accessed at December 14 2007
  4. Walk for Capitalism 2001 covered by Sveriges Television on YouTube accessed at January 28 2008
  5. Walk for Capitalism 2002 promo video on PerBylund.com accessed at February 9 2008
  6. agorism.info official website accessed at December 14 2007
  7. The Purpose of Voting on Strike the root accessed at December 14 2007
  8. The Right to Shun Voters on Strike the root accessed at December 14 2007
  9. Mission Statement on Anarchism.net accessed at December 14 2007
  10. Recent Articles on PerBylund.com accessed at December 14 2007
  11. Relationship with Ken Schoolland mentioned on Bylund's blog, accessed February 15 2008
  12. Per Bylund's CV accessed February 15 2008.
  13. Grad student listing at the Department of Agricultural Economics web site accessed at February 9 2008.

See also

External links

Swedish