Pirate utopia
Channel: all the knowledge of the universe PRINCIPIA
Date: 12/01/2022

Pirate utopia, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1007621 / CC BY SA 3.0

#Utopias_and_reality
#Barbary_Wars
#Political_philosophy
#Social_philosophy
#Piracy
#Anarchism
Autographed title page of Wilson's Pirate Utopias Pirate utopias were defined by anarchist writer Peter Lamborn Wilson, who coined the term
in his 1995 book Pirate Utopias: Moorish Corsairs & European Renegadoes as secret islands once used for supply purposes by pirates.
Wilson's concept is largely based on speculation, although he admits to adding a bit of fantasy to the idea.
In Wilson's view, these pirate enclaves were early forms of autonomous proto-anarchist societies in that they operated beyond the reach of governments and embraced unrestricted freedom.
Located on the Barbary Coast （Salé, Algiers and Tunis）, these bases were havens for renegade Muslim pirates from the 16th to the 18th century.
The pirates, dubbed "Barbary Corsairs", ravaged European shipping operations and enslaved many thousands of captives.
Wilson focuses on the Pirate Republic of Salé, in 17th century Morocco, which may have had its own lingua franca.
Like some other pirate states, it even used to pass treaties from time to time with some European countries, agreeing not to attack their fleets.
Wilson/Bey's idea of Temporary Autonomous Zones developed from his historical review of pirate utopias.
In describing them, Wilson has said: We've certainly had to use our imagination more than a "real" historian would allow, erecting a lot of suppositions on a shaky framework of generalizations,
and adding a touch of fantasy （and what piratologist has ever been able to resist fantasy?）.
I can only say that I've satisfied my own curiosity at least to this extent: That something like a Renegado culture could have existed; that all the ingredients for it were present, and contiguous, and synchronic.
Wilson writes about the large influx of Europeans converting to Islam, forming the "Renegados" and joining the pirate holy w...