From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Part of the Politics series on
Anarchism
Schools of thought Agorism · Buddhist · Capitalist Christian · Collectivist · Communist Crypto · Egoist Feminist · Free market · Green Heathian · Individualist Infoanarchism · Insurrectionary Leftist · Mutualist · Nihilist Pacifist Pananarchist · Philosophical Platformist · Post-anarchist Post-colonial  · Post-left Primitivist · Social · Socialist · Syndicalist Vegan · Without adjectives · Zen
Theory · practice Anarchy · Black bloc Class struggle  · Communes Consensus democracy Decentralization · Deep ecology Direct action · Direct democracy Dual power · Especifismo Horizontalidad · Illegalism Individualism · Individual reclamation · Law Participatory politics Permanent Autonomous Zone Polycentric law Prefigurative politics Private defense agency Propaganda of the deed Refusal of work · Rewilding Social ecology Spontaneous order
People William Godwin · Josiah Warren Max Stirner · Lysander Spooner Johann Most · Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Mikhail Bakunin · Henry David Thoreau Peter Kropotkin · Benjamin Tucker Emma Goldman · Murray Rothbard Noam Chomsky · John Zerzan
Issues Anarcho-capitalism · Animal rights Capitalism · Criticisms · Islam Lifestylism · Marxism · Nationalism Orthodox Judaism · Religion Sex/love Violence
History 1999 WTO Conference protest 1919 United States anarchist bombings Amakasu Incident Anarchist Catalonia Anarchist Exclusion Act Anarchy in Somalia Australian Anarchist Centenary Barcelona May Days Biennio rosso Carnival Against Capitalism Escuela Moderna · Hague Congress Haymarket affair High Treason Incident Congress of Amsterdam Kate Sharpley Library Kronstadt rebellion Labadie Collection · LIP Manifesto of the Sixteen May 1968  · May Day Paris Commune Provo · Red inverted triangle Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine Spanish Revolution Third Russian Revolution Tragic Week · Trial of the thirty
Culture Anarcho-punk · Arts Black anarchism · Culture jamming DIY culture · Freeganism Independent Media Center Infoshop · The Internationale Jewish anarchism · Land and liberty Lifestylism · Popular education Property is theft! Radical cheerleading Radical environmentalism Squatting · Symbolism Terminology · A las barricadas
Economics Agorism · Capitalism · Collectivism Communism · Co-operatives Counter-economics · Free market Free school · Free store Geolibertarianism · Gift economy Market abolitionism · Mutual aid Mutualism · Participatory economics Planned Economy Really Really Free Market Self-ownership · Syndicalism Wage slavery Workers' self-management
By region Africa · Austria-Hungary · Brazil Canada · China · Cuba · England France · Greece · India · Ireland Israel · Italy · Japan · Korea Mexico · Poland · Russia · Spain Sweden · Turkey · Ukraine United States · Vietnam
Lists Anarcho-punk bands · Books Communities · Fictional characters Jewish anarchists · Musicians Organizations · Periodicals · Poets Russian anarchists
Related topics Anti-capitalism · Anti-consumerism · Anti-corporatism Anti-fascism · Anti-globalization · Antimilitarism Anti-statism · Anti-war · Autarchism Autonomism · Labour movement Left communism · Libertarianism Libertarian perspectives on revolution Libertarian socialism Situationist International
Anarchism Portal Politics portal

A Permanent autonomous zone (or a PAZ) is a community that is autonomous from the generally recognized government or authority structure in which it is embedded. PAZs are not controlled by any government (as recognized by other governments) or by any religious authority.

Applications

The phrase permanent autonomous zone has been applied to groups such as:

• An autonomous, collectively-run community center
• A community living space: communes, squats, self-sustaining villages, treehouses
• Independent schools and/or free schools, self-education centers
• A community garden or greenspace, efforts to preserve nature
• A non-authoritarian news organization, publisher, low power or pirate radio station, infoshop, internet service provider, or other non-profit group that provides a service to the community
• Collectively-run organizations or networks that promote non-hierarchical principles and localized autonomy
• Any continuous space, group, co-op, or individual effort accessible to a community that is founded on anti-authoritarian principles and autonomy within an egalitarian community.

Examples

• Freetown Christiania, is a partially self-governing neighbourhood in the city of Copenhagen, Denmark, which has established semi-legal status as an independent community.

• Burning Man, though of course a Temporary Autonomous Zone, is considered by many to be a model of a PAZ, despite the fact that it is not truly autonomous, being patrolled by law enforcement officers from neighboring communities

• Dreamtime Village, is a hypermedia permaculture eco-village project in southwestern Wisconsin, where the PAZifesto was first written & published as a broadside in an edition of 500.

• PAZ Ecovillage, is an oasis of biodiversity in the Chihuahuan Desert near Terlingua, Texas that represents a Permanent Autonomous Zone that is dedicated to self-reliance, self-expression, sustainability, freedom, and peace from the conventional standards of society by utilizing the path of least resistance; the natural environment, conserving its resources, and living in cohesion with the Earth while maintaining a general consensus based community of dwellers and free thinkers.

• The Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities are currently composed of 32 "rebel autonomous zapatista municipalities" (independent Zapatista communities, MAREZ from their name in Spanish) in the Mexican state of Chiapas. Established following the 1994 Zapatista uprising, these communities operate, in practice, outside of Mexican law. They are governed internally by "Good Government Councils" composed of community members and also often by weekly general assemblies open to all members of the community. Each community also sends delegates to a regional council in order to report decisions made in their respective communities.

Fictional uses

In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, PAZ is a small monarchy in Europe (near Copenhagen, Denmark) named "Freezone" or "The Keep", run by Victor Van Damme, aka Doctor Doom. Inhabitants were given free housing, food, and other necessities. In return, they had to swear fealty to Doom. To ensure their loyalty, Doom had each inhabitant given the tattoo of a dragon, which contained nanotechnology in the ink that allowed him to control their minds. Eventually all Freezoners were freed by the Fantastic Four and left.

External links

• Semi-Permanent Autonomous Zone
• The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism
• Permanent TAZs By Hakim Bey