FECRIS 2013
“FREEMEN, SOVEREIGN CITIZENS, AND
THE THREAT TO PUBLIC ORDER IN
BRITISH HERITAGE COUNTRIES”
Stephen A. Kent
Department of Sociology
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Canada
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FECRIS 2013
“FREEMEN, SOVEREIGN CITIZENS, AND
THE THREAT TO PUBLIC ORDER IN
BRITISH HERITAGE COUNTRIES”
Stephen A. Kent
Department of Sociology
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Canada
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7 TYPES OF ANTI-GOVERNMENT
MOVEMENTS
1.Tea-Party –libertarians; government minimalists
2. Militias—anticipate defending America against
government/UN forces. Many violent plots thwarted
3. Oath-takers —current and former military and law
enforcement personnel who re-take oath to defend
the U.S. Constitution, believing it is under threat
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7 TYPES OF ANTI-GOVERNMENT
MOVEMENTS
4. Racist groups –government and banks controlled
by Jews, etc.
5. Various cults –God’s law more important
6. Terrorist cells– Destroy Western governments
7. “Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Argument
Litigants (OPCA)” (Rooke, 2012)
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5 Types of “Organized Pseudolegal
Commercial Argument Litigants (OPCA)”
(Rooke, 2012)
A. De-taxers—avoiding income tax
B. Freemen (or Freeman)-on-the-Land —libertarian;
strongly anti-government; try to opt out of social and
government obligations. Sometimes violent (in U.S.)
C. Sovereign Men/Sovereign Citizens—see
governments as corporations entangling people in
unwanted contracts. Practice ‘paper terrorism.’
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5 “Organized Pseudolegal Commercial
Argument Litigants (OPCA)” (Rooke, 2012)
D. Church of Ecumenical Redemption International
(CERI)—claim a religious right to use marijuana; use
religious language to claim exemption from
governmental and court authority
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5 “Organized Pseudolegal Commercial
Argument Litigants (OPCA)” (Rooke,
2012)
E. Some groups within the Moorish law
community—
Exempt themselves from governmental authority
and engage in fraudulent financial, property, and
housing schemes
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The behaviours of people in each
category overlap; boundaries blur
Easiest just to call these antigovernment types either Freemen or
sovereign citizens
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ORIGINS OF THE AMERICAN ANTIGOVERNMENT MOVEMENT
1. Posse Commitatus of the 1970s:
anti-Semitic, anti-tax, hatred of
officials above a county level;
violence against police. Very similar
to contemporary Freemen
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ORIGINS OF THE AMERICAN ANTIGOVERNMENT MOVEMENT
2. American Farm crisis (1981-1986)—235,000
farms failed, along with 60,000 supportive
business
3. American bank failures—between 1986 and
1995, over 1,000 banks failed, costing taxpayers
$153 billion
4. New bank failures beginning in 2008, with
nearly 4 million house foreclosures by 2012, which
included 3.8 million victims of illegal foreclosures
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ORIGINS OF THE CANADIAN ANTIGOVERNMENT MOVEMENT
Interest rate jump from 10.31% in August
1978 to 21.46% in September 1981,
leading to thousands of foreclosures
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ORIGINS OF THE UK ANTIGOVERNMENT MOVEMENT
1. 1998-200 Drop in farm income, with more than
20,000 losing their properties
2. 2001—foot and mouth disease
3. appalling weather/floods
4. 4. 2011 Occupy London Protests
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UK FREEMEN ACTIVITIES
1. 2010 endorsement by a British libertarian
professor
2. Two letters in the Guardian by Occupy London
protesters—anti-tax and sovereign citizens outside
the law
3. 2011 attempt to arrest a judge in Merseyside (NW
England) in a council (i.e., property and services)
tax bill case; crowd of 300 wanted to ensure
Magna Carta rights
4. Examples in British courts of people signing their
names like Freemen (with colons or odd phrases)
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REACTION TO UK FREEMEN
Harsh reaction by barristers:
“irresponsible,” “a commitment to
jargon,|” “against social progress,”
“nonsense,” “risible [i.e., laughable]
shite”
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ORIGINS OF THE IRISH ANTIGOVERNMENT MOVEMENT
1. 2002-2007—growth built upon credit and high
personal indebtedness
2. Beginning August 2007--Risky bank-lending
practices led to huge losses when property value
dropped
3. Government covering bank losses put its own
burdens on federal debt repayment
4. Huge governmental money borrowings to meet
debts and expenses
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IRISH FREEMEN ACTIVITIES
1. May 2010-- typical freeman courtroom antics
in a traffic court case (speeding, driving
without a license or insurance
2. September 2010—typical fee-charging
threats against the garda
3. August 2011—defendant asks for a judge’s
oath of office
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REACTION TO IRISH FREEMEN
Irish barrister wrote .”There is literally
not one single instance, worldwide, of
Freemen arguments ever succeeding
before a court.”
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ORIGINS OF THE AUSTRALIAN AND
NEW ZEALAND ANTI-GOVERNMENT
MOVEMENTS
Drought
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AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND ANTIGOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES
1. American sovereign citizens have done
speaking tours in both countries
2. Internet web sites in both countries are
raising typical sovereign concerns (taxes,
fines, property rights, sentencing,
natural law, birth certificates, etc.)
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PSYCHOLOGICAL.PSYCHIATRIC
INTERPRETATIONS OF SOME
PARTICIPANTS
1. Some may suffer from delusions of other types of
mental impairment—a judge’s comment
2. “Delusional Disorders” in the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual includes:
A. Irritable moods
B. Anger and violent behaviour
C. Flooding judicial officials and courts with
documents
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