What Is “Free Mondays”?

Free Mondays is a personal and communal rejection of servitude 
and an embracing of LIFE.
What is more fundamental to our civilization than billions of people, every Monday, going to work—wasting yet another day of our short lifespans in servitude to undeserving elites? Whether those elites are plutocrats, dictators, communist parties or oil sheiks, it’s the same. Wasting life.

This “work” is the core unit of our civilization and we “produce” mostly useless stuff, crap that ends up in landfills. We exchange hours, days, decades of our lives producing things that don’t meet human needs. Furthermore, while we waste our lives, we destroy the beautiful planet that sustains us. We abuse Mother Earth.

We should do something else. Something different. We are starting that on Mondays. Some of us are reclaiming Mondays, as a day of freedom and community and a celebration of life. We believe in a better society and we are setting an example today.

We believe that people should fulfill human needs, but not waste life. We intend to produce healthy food, medicine, housing and the other physical needs that humans require. We won’t waste our lives producing useless crap. We will all work 80%-90% less than we do today. All of us will get food, clothing, shelter and medicine AND be free to LIVE most of our lives as social beings, as creative creatures, as people who imagine and wonder and play.

On Mondays, we erase the core symbol of our servitude: the workweek.

This is just the beginning, but it’s an important beginning. How does this work? Where are we going? How can you be a part of this?

A Better Society

We make the world better by what we choose to do and what we choose not to do. Dictators are removed twice as often through nonviolent noncooperation as they are through violent revolution. We are taking the former approach—an approach that matches our moral values and our hunger for success.

But we aren’t merely removing a dictator. We are starting a new civilization, a new era ushered in by different behavior, and built on a foundation of community, of kindness, of good sense, of curiosity, and of love. People are good, not evil. What they tell us about “human nature” is a lie, a convenient lie that protects an evil civilization by pretending that it is necessary and unavoidable.

We expose those lies and provide a glimpse of the civilization we are creating on Mondays. Furthermore, on Mondays we begin living in that better civilization. Strategically over time, we will add the other six days.

We won’t directly destroy dictatorship or plutocracy. We won’t attack. We will simply exercise our ability and choice to do something else. Evil will whither from non-support.

Yes, I know you have jobs and commitments and that taking Mondays off may be difficult, or unwise, or impossible. Many won’t be able to do this. You can still encourage and support the effort.

On Mondays, those of us who can will be out in front of our homes. We will display signs, play music, offer snacks, and chat with neighbors and strangers who pass by. We will hand out copies of this flyer.

Each of us will celebrate in our own fashion, our personal style. Some of us will take sick days, or personal days to do this. Some self-employed people and gig workers make their own schedules and can take off Mondays more easily.

We may not (yet) be in open defiance, but we are creating a new norm. As the movement grows, people will expect to not work Mondays. We already have Monday holidays. We are expanding on that.

Try it. For just one or two Mondays. And then occasionally as you can. It will get easier and begin to feel normal. That’s the goal.

There is a plan. We have more steps ahead. We will begin growing and sharing food. We will turn our neighborhoods into true communities. We will spend less time being Human Resources and more time being human beings.

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Download this essay as a flyer.

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