The Anarchists (2022–…): Season 1, Episode 6 - Episode #1.6 - full transcript
(WIND HOWLING SOFTLY)
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
NATHAN FREEMAN: I remember,
like, waking up one morning
-and being very depressed.
-LISA FREEMAN: Yeah.
NATHAN: And I was depressed
about the realization
that all these people
that I thought were gonna be
the greatest people I'd ever
get to know,
um, some of them were just
flat-out assholes.
And that realization
was very dramatic.
When the universe tells us
it's time,
-it's not quiet at all.
-(CHUCKLES)
At least, I'm listening.
It hits us over the back
of the head pretty hard.
LISA: All of a sudden,
everything that we had built,
everything that we had loved
and embraced,
and was living for,
was falling apart.
The freedom movement,
the conference,
Acapulco, like everything.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-(WAVES CRASHING)
-(SEAGULLS SQUAWKING)
JUAN GALT: It felt
like the authenticity had
kinda been drained
in a way.
The resounding symbolism,
for me,
was that a meteor hit
the pyramid.
A meteor crashed on the pyramid,
you know? (LAUGHS)
(WATER BURBLING)
We were in love with that place.
Now, Acapulco's just a puddle
of bad memories.
So I was determined to leave.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
LISA: We were done,
like so done.
NATHAN: Uh,
it was, uh, somebody that...
This is no longer an interest
for us. It's...
It's just a bunch of shit.
♪ (DREAMY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
JEFF BERWICK: When you look
at true anarchists,
true people who really
understand the philosophy,
that's less than
point-one percent
of people on Earth.
There's not too many instances
of these sort of people
gravitating to one area.
♪ (LIVELY DANCE MUSIC
PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS) ♪
JEFF: And in many ways
it's been absolutely fabulous,
but it's not perfect,
whatsoever.
We started out wanting to fight
the government,
but we ended up fighting
ourselves.
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
But I think that's a stage
of evolution.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
JEFF: It's just a--
an evolution of growth.
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
-MC: Make some noise!
Let's go motherfuckers!
JEFF: I think it's preparing us
to be stronger
for way harder times to come.
♪ (TENSE MUSIC SWELLS, FADES) ♪
-(BELL TOLLING IN THE DISTANCE)
-(WAVES CRASHING)
♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LILY FORESTER: I bounced around
for a little while...
and then I ended up moving
to Morelia, Mexico.
When I moved to Morelia,
I was, like... (SIGHS)
...I was a real big hermit.
I was depressed
and I was real anxious,
and I was just trying
to survive.
I had to first become
comfortable being alone
'cause I'd never been
alone before.
Everything with John,
like that was the first time
I was truly alone.
I was trying to process
all of it.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
And I started to see
the relationship with John
for what it actually was
and not what I had always wanted
it to be.
If I'm being honest,
my relationship
with John was awful.
It had its great highlights
that kept me around,
but, like, neither of us
were happy for most of it.
We'd almost broke up
many times.
And it just took admitting
all of that.
I didn't have
very much self-esteem,
and he had a habit of kind
of putting the bigger things
on me when they went wrong.
So, I was very much feeling
the guilt.
I had kind of internalized it
by that point.
Then he told me I was useless,
and that I shouldn't have
crossed the border with him.
We had two phases
in our relationship...
"I fuckin' hate you,"
and "You and me
against the world, baby!"
I just put up with so much shit
because I had zero examples
of what love and relationships
were supposed to be like.
I had no memories of my parents
together, for example.
There were no happy memories
of Mom and Dad.
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
-♪ (SOMBER MUSIC FADES) ♪
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
LISA: Everything just kept
pushing us out of Acapulco...
(DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE)
...and so we drove.
♪ (TRANQUIL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LISA: We packed up our stuff
and we moved.
We had a couple of places
that were on our radar
that were within
an eight-to-ten-hour drive
from Acapulco.
And one of them was San Miguel.
♪ (TRANQUIL MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
LISA: We found a couple
of places we really liked,
and one of them
that we ended up going with
was across the street
from a park.
I mean, it was just beautiful.
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LISA: We had talked about
another conference
and that inspired us
for a little bit.
But Nathan slowly, slowly
got more,
um, withdrawn.
♪ (MELANCHOLIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LISA: Nathan had always been
a drinker,
but his drinking took on
a different level.
He would start drinking
at 10:00 in the morning.
He basically became depressed...
'cause there had been
so much possibility
with the community,
with the conference.
But it had fallen apart,
and he felt like it was a shame.
There were so many nights
where he would be crying
in my lap
and like hyperventilating
and shaking
and just on his knees,
trying to figure out
what we did wrong.
-(WAVES BURBLING)
-♪ (MELANCHOLIC MUSIC FADES) ♪
(SEAGULLS SQUAWKING)
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
(BOAT ENGINE WHIRRING)
LILY: I just had to figure out
what I wanted
to do
with my life and my future.
It was just, like, I had
to be able to talk to people
and stop being so afraid
of everything.
SUSAN KASSON-KURILICH:
As devastating as Shane's death
will always be for her,
it was nice to be able to see
my granddaughter-in-law
move forward.
Susan is a saint of a woman.
(LAUGHS)
♪ (LIVELY MUSIC PLAYING
ON TAMBOURINE) ♪
LILY: After John died,
she hugged me and she was like,
"Take a couple months
to yourself.
But in a couple months,
if you meet somebody nice,
don't ignore him 'cause you're
too traumatized." (CHUCKLES)
And I was like,
"Are you telling me
to date somebody
in a couple months?"
She's like, "That's exactly
what I'm saying."
♪ (LIVELY MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
I had a, like, friend that was
going on, like, weekly hikes.
He was getting me
out of the house,
him and his girlfriend.
And I went out on a hike
with them,
and halfway up the mountain
on this hike...
I met this really,
really tall Mexican.
♪ (LIVELY MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
♪ (DREAMY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
BERNARDO EZETA: When I met her
in the forest, it was just,
like, an accident.
But, you know, it's like saying,
how is that accidents
become so meaningful?
We just saw each other
and I began
to ask questions like...
Because I thought
she was a mere tourist.
Yeah. He was asking me
questions and I was just like,
"Ah, crap, he speaks English."
(CHUCKLES) "I'm not ready
for this."
I have been totally alienated
from this thing
in the anarchists in Acapulco.
I knew nothing about it.
So he Googled me
and then he found all of the...
Yeah, that same night.
And it was like,
-"Okay. Oh, I see."
-(CHUCKLES)
-♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-He promptly Googled that night
and shat his pants
as he was like, "Murder?"
But he still went for it.
-My mind was...
-Running.
...was running quite fast.
I questioned all the things
in your story
that were not clear
to me, right.
But the story itself was, like,
not so surprising to me
because of the drug war
in Mexico.
There are so many stories
that are so similar.
And, well, I just thought
they were very naive
by living as they were.
It was, like, these gringos
are certainly alienated,
isolated, from the rest
of Mexicans.
JEFF: ...summit there.
All kinds of stuff,
so really looking forward
to seeing you down
in Anarchapulco.
Uh, this year is gonna be a--
a ton of fun.
♪ (UPBEAT R&B MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
♪ Anarchapulco is so hype
I'm tryna tell ya ♪
♪ This the event of the year ♪
♪ And best vacation ever
Get your tickets ♪
♪ You don't wanna miss it... ♪
PROMOTER 1: For people who
don't know, it's Anarchapulco
February 13th to 16th.
PROMOTER 2: An incredible,
incredible place.
And we still have
our promo code, WRC,
where you get
40-percent off tickets.
Come and be a part
of the incredible things
-that are happening here.
-♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
PROMOTER 2: This is where
the conference is gonna go on.
Let's try to walk in. Let's see
what we can get in here...
JEFF: The same thing
every single person
that's ever gone
has ever said is,
"The best thing
about Anarchapulco
is the other people
at Anarchapulco."
You just get to meet, you know,
hundreds or thousands of people
that you just generally
don't get to meet
in your sort of day-to-day life
for the most part.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC FADING) ♪
LILY: I heard from Anarchapulco.
Somebody called me
and was basically, like,
"Would you be open-minded
to speaking?"
And I told her, I was like...
"I'll consider it,
but honestly, like,
that freaks me out."
Like every time I think about it
I get anxiety. I get anxiety
for everything
from the fact that I'm afraid
to give a speech
on the main stage,
to announcing that
I'm gonna be someplace
at a specific time to--
You know, last time I was
at Anarchapulco I was with--
Every time I've been
at Anarchapulco,
it's been with John
and it's like
mostly just paranoia, really.
Like, it's just something
happened before,
maybe it'll happen again.
♪ (ENIGMATIC FOLK MUSIC
PLAYING) ♪
BERNARDO: Día de los Muertos.
It's kind of a recreation
of nature and symbols.
And the entrance of autumn
symbolizes the premonition
of death.
♪ (ENIGMATIC FOLK MUSIC
CONTINUES) ♪
Hi, honey! Oh, I'm so happy
to see you.
LILY: John's grandma came
for Day of the Dead.
The whole idea is,
it's three days to celebrate
your lost loved ones.
BERNARDO: It's just kind of
saying that
no matter how vain we are,
we are all going to die.
SUSAN: None of us get out
of it alive.
No. And that's precisely...
-We're all dying. (CHUCKLES)
-...the comic thing of it,
or the tragic thing of it.
SUSAN: Being able to come back
and get to meet her new love,
and seeing that the scabs
were growing,
for me, that was part
of the healing.
LILY: The whole idea
is you build an altar
with these flowers,
which attract a spirit.
And then, you have pictures
and their favorite foods,
plus sugar sculptures.
-♪ (ENIGMATIC FOLK MUSIC
FADES) ♪
-(BIRDS CHIRPING)
(DOG PANTS)
(RAIN POURING)
JASON HENZA: I feel like
I was robbed.
♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
The Day of the Dead
has really got me thinking
about John a lot
and the anarchist community.
Losing John really, really hurt
because he was a person I wanted
to build around.
Um, I'm trying to recover,
and trying to still build
a community.
I think that's the difference
between me and him is, like,
the whole event, like,
kind of PTSD'd me
towards communities,
whereas he is hopeful.
-(THUNDER CRASHING, RUMBLING)
-(RAIN PATTERING)
He's telling you,
"I'm making it rain hard."
Well, it's raining like
a motherfucker right now.
(CHUCKLES) On me, currently.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LILY: It is worth noting
that life with John was just,
in general, like full
of anxiety.
It was full of risks.
(RAIN PATTERING)
LILY: Because we were just going
from sunup to sundown
for fucking years straight...
essentially pushing
his idealist beliefs
and everything.
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
John's big thing
that he was always
real strong about is,
"You gotta know
what you're willing to die for."
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
He had it all wrong,
you need to know
what you're willing to live for.
-(RUMBLING CONTINUES)
-♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC SWELLS) ♪
LILY: So I keep seeing things
like Acapulco sand...
dog hair and, like,
other weird gunk.
SUSAN: Combing out the past
of your life.
Hold on to the memories
that are precious to you
and let go of the things
that are painful.
LILY: My dreadlocks, that was
the closest thing that we had to
like, a wedding ring.
I did that to essentially
fully commit myself
to his lifestyle.
Like, devote my entire life
to it
and make that
my only choice in life.
I was moving on.
I was tired of being associated
with all of that.
I wanted to figure out
who I was,
and who I was, was tired
of fucking dreadlocks.
-♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC FADES) ♪
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
LILY: At that point,
I decided to take the risk
-and tell my story.
-♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
I was going back to Acapulco.
I was going to speak
at the conference.
I wanted to send a message
and a warning.
♪ (SOMBER MUSIC FADES) ♪
(CAR HORNS BLARING)
♪ (JAUNTY BAND MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-♪ (MEDITATIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-MC: Sisters, brothers,
hear this!
The time has arrived
for a new kind of fearless
as we near
this pivotal moment...
DAYNA MARTIN: Our theme
for this year is "evolve."
To move past the anger
and the frustration
and to live successfully
as a sovereign individual.
CONFERENCE SPEAKER:
...Anarchapulco 2020,
as we evolve
toward an Earth of purpose,
beauty, freedom, and liberty!
(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
RAPPER 1: Yeah.
RAPPER 2: All right,
everybody time to stand up.
-Get on your feet
-PERFORMER 2: Anarchapulco!
Let's go!
DANNY SESSOM: Welcome to
The Crypto Show in Anarchapulco.
And we're lucky enough
to have Jason Henza.
And, gosh, I don't know.
Should I go,
just Lily Forester?
Yeah, that's what I go by.
That's what most people
know me as, or Lily Divine.
♪ (DREAMY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
Everything about you changed
to a completely different aura.
I don't know. You know,
I don't like
going into hippy shit,
but for real.
Yeah, no, I get what you mean.
Like, and it's something...
LILY: People see me
getting better now,
but, like, they don't know
what all I had to go through
to become what I am.
And it's been an awful process.
I want people to truly
fully understand
the ugly side of anarchy
and freedom.
(CROWD GRUNTING RHYTHMICALLY)
PRESENTER:
Nice, that's it.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
♪ (UPBEAT MUSIC
PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS) ♪
VOICEOVER: He stood outside
the Federal Reserve
in Philadelphia, shouting
"Fuck you, Ben Bernanke."
Rapped "Bitcoin All the Way Up."
He's been drunk as fuck
on his podcast,
battled depression,
injected stem cells
into his own dick,
and taken every psychedelic
known to man.
Ladies and gentlemen,
your host for Anarchapulco 2020,
Jeff Berwick.
-(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
-♪ (UPBEAT MUSIC FADING) ♪
JEFF: How many people were told
by their friends, family,
or Facebook friends
that they shouldn't come
to Acapulco, Mexico,
it's too dangerous?
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
-It's pretty dangerous, right?
-AUDIENCE MEMBER: So dangerous!
(CHUCKLES)
If there's one little piece
of advice I can give you is,
whatever those people tell you,
do the exact opposite, always,
basically and you'll be good.
-(CHUCKLES)
-(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
JEFF: I do want to say
something though.
This is incredibly hard to do,
this stuff.
It's like the whole world
is trying to fight us.
You know, you can try
to change the system,
or the whole system fights you,
I guess.
I guess.
I'm trying to figure it out.
Actually, I don't even care
anymore.
It's like, "Whatever."
'Cause I used to want to, like,
save the whole world.
And I don't think I--
Well, obviously I can't.
Well, anything's possible.
I don't know if this is, like,
some sort of spiritual war,
or maybe it's all
in my own head, right?
♪ (UNSETTLING MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
Like maybe I'm creating
all this.
Hey, Lucy. (CHUCKLES) Yeah.
That's my girl, yeah.
All right, we're almost done,
Lucy.
Let me ask you guys,
should we try to help
the whole world?
-AUDIENCE: No.
-It's about 50/50
-yes and no there. Yeah.
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
I'm trying to figure that out.
♪ (UNSETTLING MUSIC FADES) ♪
(SIGHS)
-AUDIENCE MEMBER 1: Love you.
-AUDIENCE MEMBER 2: Thank you.
-AUDIENCE MEMBER 3: Yeah.
-I'll leave it there.
Enjoy your time, thank you
very much for coming.
-(AUDIENCE CHEERS, APPLAUDS)
-Thank you.
-♪ (LIVELY POP MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-PROMOTER 1: Have a magical
Anarchapulco 2020.
PROMOTER 2: You are
surrounded by evolving
human beings.
And that is what it's all about.
-♪ (POP MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
-(PLANE ENGINE ROARING
IN THE DISTANCE)
Wow.
I haven't got that concept.
I don't quite understand what
this is all about, you know?
♪ (EMOTIONAL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
STAFF: We're way back here,
somewhere.
RANDY WEBB: I got past
these airports. These airports--
I don't like airports.
I had no desire
to ever cross that border.
Closest I've been to Mexico
was Tucson.
Acapulco...
you know?
I had to look at the map.
"Where the hell is that?
It's way down there." (CHUCKLES)
RANDY: Um... Since, um,
her and Shane got in trouble.
Uh, five years or better.
TODD SCHRAMKE: Why did you
continue to stay disconnected
from your father
for all these years?
♪ (EMOTIONAL MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
Because I couldn't contact him.
I wasn't allowed.
It was very much like,
if I contacted him,
then I picked my family
over John,
and John was gonna make
a big thing out of it.
-(SIGHS)
-♪ (EMOTIONAL MUSIC
SWELLS, FADES) ♪
(ROOSTER CROWS)
♪ (DREAMY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LILY: (SNIFFLING) Welcome
to Acapulco. (CHUCKLES)
-RANDY: (CHUCKLES)
Yeah, I made it. I made it.
-(LILY SNIFFLES)
Welcome. This is baby dog.
Renegade.
RANDY: He's a big puppy.
(PANTS)
LILY: This is Bernardo.
-Hello.
-He's very good to me.
Wow, this is beautiful.
LILY: I'm gonna go
stick my feet in it.
RANDY: You have fun.
(LILY CHUCKLES)
(SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)
RANDY: It was good see her
after all that time.
It's just sad that it had
to take Shane's death
for me to get back in contact
with her.
So where you guys originally
were over on the other side...
-On the other side of that.
-...of that big mountain.
Yeah.
♪ (DREAMY MUSIC FADING) ♪
LILY: The murder
was a big shakeout of people.
(BIRDS CAWING)
LILY: Like, there were a lot
of people that kind of gave up
on the anarchy thing
because somebody got killed.
I'm like, "Okay,
at least you're admitting
that you aren't,
you know, this."
TODD: Despite efforts to rebuild
from the chaos
of the previous year,
Anarchapulco 2020 saw
a 70-percent drop in attendance.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
JEFF: Every year, there was
always a few people
who were just causing a lot
of problems,
and they don't seem
to be coming anymore,
which I think is fine.
(CHUCKLES)
♪ (UPBEAT SYNTH
MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
JEFF: There's just such
a different vibe here now.
A lot of people
in this community
have really transformed
themselves a lot.
RON PAUL: I figured they were
really into this philosophy
and I made a statement,
and I said, "You know,
some of my best friends
are anarchists."
JEFF: A big part of the problem
in the past is,
it was a lot more kind of just--
What's that saying in the US?
"Give us your broke
and your downtrodden."
That's kind of similar
to what we've been doing
for the last few years.
♪ (UPBEAT SYNTH MUSIC
CONTINUES) ♪
JEFF: Everyone's damaged,
of course,
but the people who kind of
wake up to what we know
are some
of the most damaged people.
And you get them all
in one place
and a lot of crazy stuff
can happen.
-♪ (HIP-HOP MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-♪ Each and every one them ♪
-♪ Fuck government ♪
-Sing it!
♪ Fuck government ♪
-♪ Fuck government ♪
-Sing it!
♪ Fuck government
Fuck government ♪
-Sing it!
-♪ Fuck government
Fuck the government ♪
♪ Each and every one of them ♪
♪ Dollar vigilante
All up in your hearsay ♪
♪ Yes, I'm back, once again
Here to rock the party ♪
♪ And I ain't talkin'
'Bout political parties ♪
♪ Those parties suck ♪
♪ I'm talkin' bout
Wreckin' the party ♪
-♪ Fuck government ♪
-♪ What, c'mon ♪
♪ Fuck government
Fuck government ♪
-♪ Say what ♪
-♪ Fuck government ♪
-♪ Fuck government ♪
-♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Fuck government
Fuck the government... ♪
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
TODD: How much the conference
had truly changed
wasn't immediately clear.
And things only got muddier
that first night when Jeff
was confronted
by one of his new speakers.
QUINN EAKER: I don't care.
Like he can do
whatever the fuck he wants.
I'm not gonna fucking try
to ruin him.
QUINN: I mean,
this is his conference,
and it's just
a fucking religion.
They pretend, and they go
to the fucking conference
like they go to church
on Sunday.
And just because you go
to a conference,
you're fucking free,
you're an anarchist. No.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(INDISTINCT CLAMORING)
-CROWD MEMBERS: Yeah!
-♪ (TENSE MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
CROWD: Ooh!
JEFF: I think when I hit him
in the face once, he--
Maybe he has a memory
from when he was younger
of someone really hurting him,
and he lost it.
(INDISTINCT CLAMORING)
I didn't actually have
my bodyguard there,
or he'd be dead.
But, uh, yeah, he-- Yeah, yeah.
It's all good, it's all good.
My nose is bleeding right now.
Okay?
-(CROWD CHEERING)
-♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
JASON HENZA: When we give in
to these negative urges
and we act like
completely wild, crazy people,
we're putting up this persona
that we're a bunch
of high school kids
with no-- no consequences.
We're all lumped together
down here,
like it or not.
And when I see
these people fail,
they make Statism look like
a better idea,
and that pisses me off.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC
SWELLS, FADES) ♪
TODD: The low turnout
and general lack of cohesion
made me wonder if things
might have been different
had Nathan stayed involved.
How did it seem Nathan
was handling all of this,
just for him to see this happen
to this conference
that he worked so hard to build?
LARKEN ROSE: I think
it was just a travesty.
You know, first of all,
he loses control of it
and then he watches it
turn into this giant mess
because he wasn't there
to make it not be a mess.
♪ (UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LARKEN:
He did a lot of juggling acts
in the earlier years.
I got called back to the floor
'cause there was a crisis.
And then I got called away
to another crisis.
Sorry, just hang on there
for a second.
And there were little peppers
of problems in between,
but they weren't crises,
they were just problems.
So, finally, I got them all
taken care of.
AMANDA ROSE: Like everybody
involved cared about everybody,
-because he also cared
about everybody.
-LARKEN: Yeah.
AMANDA: He just desperately
wanted to see the world
much more happy
and much more free.
And Anarchapulco was just
his way
to help make that happen.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LISA: Nathan is a very,
very sensitive, loving person.
But... he just lost the--
(SIGHS)
I don't know, he lost faith
in the goodness of people.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
LISA: At the time,
we had kind of gotten
into a not-so-financially-stable
place
because we invested
in a lot of people's projects,
especially around
the Freedom Movement,
books being written
or podcasts being produced.
We gave a lot of our own money
to the conference,
both of them, Anarchawakening
and Anarchapulco.
And Nathan always believed
the better of people,
that they would inevitably--
It would come back around.
(IRA BELLE FREEMAN FUSSING)
LISA: It's just one
of those times
where everything is just hard
to do everything.
META FREEMAN:
Can you imagine...
LISA: Just like grinding,
you know, when you're just--
Nobody wants to pay,
everyone's got issues.
Nathan started getting snappy.
His personality shifted.
He was always
under the influence.
And he just was working
all the time,
even on Saturdays and Sundays.
And it was him
in his office drinking,
trying to wrap his head
around the world.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC
SWELLS, FADES) ♪
LILY: Living like this
is not easy.
-♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-LILY: If you fully commit
to this lifestyle,
you're gonna lose a lot.
MC: Our first presenter today
is very special
to the Anarchapulco family.
She and her partner, John...
LILY: It's not that easy
and it's not that fun.
It's fucking hard
and it's getting harder.
MC: Please welcome
Lily Forester.
♪ (LIVELY MUSIC
PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS) ♪
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING, CHEERING)
(LILY CLEARS THROAT)
-♪ (LIVELY MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
-Well, hi.
This is in case
I get too-- too light-headed
'cause I'll admit it,
I'm a little nervous.
Um...
I was a little naive
when I was 18
and I found anarchy,
and I was like,
"Fuck yeah,
we're gonna do this.
Taxation is theft
and voting doesn't work,
and, you know, we're all slaves
and all this bullshit."
-And, uh...
-♪ (SOLEMN MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
...it kinda seemed
a little abstract at the time.
Not necessarily, anymore.
My story is all about
what happens when you live free
in an unfree world.
When I first moved here,
I was like,
"Anybody can do what I do."
And, um, no. (CHUCKLES)
If you're not ready to live
truly in anarchy,
don't worry about it
'cause it's hard.
It takes a special set
of cojones.
♪ (SOLEMN MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
LILY: I don't think everybody
should move to Mexico.
Not anymore.
(MOUSE CLICKING)
LILY: So when people say,
"I'm thinking about going
on the run too."
-(MOUSE CLICKING)
-LILY: And I'm just like,
"You can't handle it.
I can barely handle it."
In 2019, this happened.
And it was the loss
of everything.
Everything that could go wrong
did go wrong.
And I was like, "All right,
well, I'm totally fucked."
When the event happened,
there were two types of people.
There were the people
that were fucking there.
And then there were the people
that were like,
"You are a security risk
in yourself."
We used to say,
"Acapulco is safe,"
but I've learned that safety
is an illusion.
I'm tired of the whole
"Acapulco is perfectly safe,"
when it's not.
We acted as if it was,
and it never was.
Acapulco's not safe,
but I never came here
to be safe,
I came here to have freedom.
And I got that, but you have
to take that if you come here.
If we do that, we need
to recognize
there is inherent risk,
loss of life, freedom or both.
So, just be careful.
-Thank you.
-♪ (SOLEMN MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING, CHEERING)
Proud. (CHUCKLES)
Um...
Um, most definitely,
if she'll be here. (CHUCKLES)
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
-I'd like to see
her come home,
or be able to come home.
I get it, you know, I've seen
what she loves about Mexico.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
I can see the friends
that are surrounding her.
I'm gonna feel a lot more
at ease going home tomorrow...
knowing she's with good people.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
I mean,
that I don't get deported.
JASON: Don't get deported.
That's a real good
birthday wish.
(LAUGHS)
That's the only one I really
care about. I like my life.
Fuck it.
What are you hoping for
with your legal status?
I just want to not have
to look over my shoulder.
It doesn't really make sense
to force me back into the US...
into a culture
that I never belonged in.
LILY'S FRIENDS:
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪
LILY: I love Mexico.
I've been in here for six years
and I've never left the country
and I don't have interest
in leaving the country.
Fuck you, guys.
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪
-(FRIENDS CHEERING)
-(CHUCKLES)
We have to sing
the Mexican version.
TODD:
What's the Mexican version?
♪ (BOTH SINGING IN SPANISH) ♪
LILY: There's a program
in Mexico
called The Asylum Program.
It's a refugee program.
And if you can convince Mexico
that you had a good reason
to flee your home country
and then come
into Mexico illegally,
they'll give you
permanent residency.
-♪ (SINGING IN SPANISH) ♪
-LILY: That's something
I'm hoping for.
♪ (CONTINUES SINGING
IN SPANISH) ♪
♪ (VOCALIZING,
SINGING CONCLUDES) ♪
(ALL LAUGHING)
RANDY: That was really good.
PRESENTER: As you take
this opportunity to turn inward
and allow yourself
to sink deeper
and deeper and deeper
into this space...
-And instead be your sound.
-...and into this moment.
-(CROWD CHANTING)
-♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
(CHEERS, GRUNTS)
(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
You know the tagline,
and I think we're doing this.
It is, "We are, it is time
to evolve." Thank you.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
TODD: In the past, there's been
a lot of effort to promote
Acapulco as a safe place.
But then Lily gets up on stage
and says,
"Well, Acapulco actually
is kinda dangerous,
but anarchy isn't
about safety."
Have you changed your mind
at all on this?
People sometimes say, well...
"You guys are utopian. You think
if you get rid of government,
then there'll be never anyone
who would get robbed anymore.
Or anyone will have a--
No one will die anywhere."
No, the-- Life is
a very dynamic, very--
Anything can happen in life.
(PRESENTER VOCALIZING)
JEFF: One thing
I've noticed too,
is there's too many men
out there.
I can't believe it when a man
comes up to me
and goes, "Is it safe
to go to Acapulco?"
Or, "Is it safe to go to..."
Name any other country?
Are you a man or not?
♪ (MEDITATIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
JEFF: Men need to become
much stronger men again.
And that's really what it's
gonna take, in my opinion,
to get to a stateless world,
is men becoming men again
and protecting
their communities.
(PRESENTERS EXHALE
RHYTHMICALLY)
(RHYTHMIC EXHALING CONTINUES)
♪ (MEDITATIVE MUSIC FADES) ♪
(DISHWARE, CUTLERY CLINKING)
LISA: When you have
a very injured community...
even when the shit hits the fan,
they're still naive to it.
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
It took a while to get people
to believe
what was happening with Nathan.
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
ROGER VER: Nathan T. Freeman,
a once-thriving
and active person
in his family
and his community
is struggling to get out of bed,
use the bathroom, or even drink
a glass of water.
TODD: For most of
the community,
the first update
from the Freemans
in over a year came
from a GoFundMe page
created by Lisa.
-(MOUSE CLICKING)
-♪ (MELANCHOLIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LISA: Everything around Nathan
was falling apart...
-(MOUSE CLICKING)
-LISA: ...including his health.
He had missed about a week
of work
because he was so ill
and in bed.
-(WATER BURBLING)
-(BIRDS CAWING)
LISA: We had
a visit to a doctor.
The blood work came back.
His liver was really
not in good shape.
It was stage four cirrhosis.
♪ (MELANCHOLIC MUSIC
CONTINUES) ♪
And then I--
We had a scam that happened
and we lost a bunch of money.
ROGER: His caring heart
created the circumstances
in which our financial security
was erased.
He fell victim
to a financial scam
and we lost our family savings.
Controversies aside...
LISA: Roger Ver made a video
talking about what happened
with Nathan.
TODD: Roger Ver,
the headlining crypto expert
at Anarchapulco, helped to boost
Lisa's fundraiser,
after discovering his likeness
was used by the scammer.
I just want to talk about
these crooks that are out there.
There's a bunch
of these accounts
that are pretending to be me.
One of these fake accounts
convinced Nathan that he was me
and that he should send him
some money, for whatever reason.
They're using cryptocurrency
to do that.
LISA: There had been other
fraud situations happening
in our community.
There was definitely a target
on our community's back.
ANNOUNCER:
Known as BitClub Network...
LISA: In the moment,
I said to Nathan,
"Wouldn't it be kind of ironic
if this person wasn't real
and they just stole our money?"
And he was like, "Yeah,
it would be ironic,"
and he passed out,
he was very drunk.
Well, it turns out
that's exactly what happened.
Nathan didn't want to go
to the doctor,
because he didn't want to spend
our last bit of money
on saving him
because he felt so bad
about what happened
with the-- the scam.
So, he's literally dying
because he doesn't wanna spend
our money. (BREATHES SHAKILY)
-♪ (SOLEMN MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-(MOUSE CLICKING REPEATEDLY)
LISA: I keep showing him.
I'm like, "Look, look,
we have, like, 10,000 dollars,
we can go to
the fucking hospital now."
(SOBS)
And he wouldn't--
He still wouldn't go.
(BREATHES SHAKILY)
(SOBS)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
-STAFF MEMBER: This way.
-CREW MEMBER: This way? Perfect.
-Come on in.
-♪ (SOLEMN MUSIC FADES) ♪
Sorry, I couldn't save you,
my love.
(SOBS)
Please watch out over us.
We'll be fine.
(SNIFFLES, BREATHES HEAVILY)
♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LISA: Goodbye. (SNIFFLES)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(LISA SNIFFLES)
-(LISA WHIMPERS)
-LISA'S FRIEND: Hey.
(LISA SNIFFLES)
(SOBS) I never-- I don't know.
(SNIFFLES, EXHALES DEEPLY)
-(INDISTINCT ANNOUNCEMENT
OVER PA)
-♪ (SOMBER MUSIC FADES) ♪
LISA: The diagnosis
didn't look good...
but nobody wanted to believe...
(SIGHS) ...that it was...
I mean, looking at it now,
he definitely
was in stage five cirrhosis,
and kidney failure.
♪ (SOLEMN MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LISA: We were-- we were in ICU,
in a special ward
for people that are about
to pass.
When I went to go visit him
at the hospital to say goodbye,
because there
wasn't much I could really say,
because I could--
he couldn't even respond
with anything
'cause he could barely speak,
I only said, "Hello."
♪ (SOLEMN MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
AXIOM FREEMAN: Now,
I've learned a lesson,
that alcohol is...
Why the fuck
did he keep drinking?
He said he'd stop.
LISA: To be quite honest,
as soon as we got
into the room, I was like,
"You can go, just go.
Just-- There's no reason
for you to hang on.
I got this, the kids and I
are gonna be fine.
I'm really mad at you,
and if I ever see you again,
I'm gonna punch you
in the face.
But past that, you can go."
-(VENTILATOR HISSING)
-(ECG MACHINE BEEPING)
Okay.
(SOBS)
LISA: I played Rush for him.
The Rush song,
"Time Stands Still."
One of his favorites.
♪ ("TIME STANDS STILL"
BY RUSH PLAYING) ♪
♪ Time stands still ♪
♪ I'm not looking back
But I want to look around... ♪
-♪ (SOLEMN MUSIC RESUMES) ♪
-LISA: You know,
every moment matters,
and holding on to the moments,
you know, to slow down time
a little bit more.
♪ (SOLEMN MUSIC FADES) ♪
LISA: And I said, "I love you
and I hope to see you again.
You can go now. It's okay."
And about ten minutes later,
he left.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LISA: I think losing purpose
and passion
around the freedom community
really hurt him, significantly.
I think he may have died
a little bit from
a broken heart, you know?
I mean, he helped a lot
of people,
and sometimes it--
often it wasn't reciprocated.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
LISA: A lot of people
reached out to me...
I-- but never heard a thing
from Berwick.
Nothing.
♪ (MELANCHOLIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LISA:
Even in the death of someone
who supported the community
and the conference...
it only shows how broken...
we are.
No! Cielo, no.
Cielo, Cielo, Cielo, ven.
I wasn't sure what to do,
because as far as I knew,
Lisa hated me.
That's-- that's what it seemed
to me.
So, I didn't actually reach out
to them,
which I feel a bit bad
about now.
You know, Nathan has now
passed away,
but I would say, if he was here
right now, I would say...
"You did a good job,
with what you had."
♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
JEFF: Nathan even said,
the first year, he was like,
"It's gonna be 60,000 people
in a football stadium,
'Anarchy!'"
Beautiful vision. Beautiful,
beautiful, beautiful.
And you know what?
He came close.
That last year he ran it,
it was just amazing.
(PERFORMERS RAPPING
INDISTINCTLY)
♪ (SOMBER MUSIC FADES) ♪
-♪ ("BEHIND THE WALLS"
BY DOUGLAS DARE PLAYING) ♪
-NATHAN: All right,
and now we're gonna do
one where we wave and smile.
Like, we're talking
to Anarchapulco.
(ALL CHEER)
♪ I saw it in the day ♪
♪ And again at night... ♪
TODD: I first went to Acapulco
curious to understand
the community's dream
of one day finding
absolute freedom
and personal sovereignty.
But it was the novelty,
the hope,
and the absurdity
of the experience
that kept me coming back
for six years.
And regardless of whether or not
the anarchists succeeded
in their dream,
lessons were learned
from this journey.
ERIKA HARRIS: At the beginning
of it, I went to a conference
and I had my mind blown,
and I had my life totally
just sort of, like, shaken.
You know,
like the amazingness
of everyone else here...
But, as far as living
in a community,
one of the things
that was missing was intention.
♪ But you don't fool me... ♪
ERIKA: You know, after a point
you just didn't understand it.
When there's emergency,
when there's need,
when there's pain
and there's no one around
to have your back,
I would question
whether you're in a community.
JUAN: My twenties are profoundly
interlinked with Anarchapulco.
Hola, amigo.
♪ I don't find it funny... ♪
But, at that point,
I was kind of done with it,
like, I was just kinda like...
you know, tired of it.
So I grabbed my stuff
and I left Acapulco
and I started traveling,
did a little tour of the world.
I was such a hard anarchist...
that the only way that I could
possibly become deradicalized
was by living there
and experiencing it...
-(EXPLOSION)
-CAMERAMAN: Whoa!
JUAN: ...and seeing the reality
of human conflict,
and drama and crisis,
and shit hitting the fan.
JASON: Like the main principle
is, "Treat everybody
how you want to be treated."
And it sounds pretty basic,
right?
But everybody wants
to be treated a little bit
differently,
and it makes it
a very subjective situation.
♪ I've lived here all my life
I've seen it all... ♪
JASON: Stay here, Beans.
This is my life.
What I do now for a living is
I run expedited freight
across country.
It's hard to live with a dog
in a van,
and it's hard to live
without a dog in a van.
I've gotten rid
of all my property.
I don't live in a house,
I don't pay for rents.
Our properties become
such a hindrance of freedom.
A lot of the people with money
in the community,
they have so much security,
they've gotten to a point
where they're
really comfortable.
And they feel like everyone
can just interact voluntarily.
But if you take away
our comfort, our food,
and all that kind of stuff,
we're animals.
We will do the worst things
to each other.
We have to see the animal side
of ourselves
before we advocate
for the responsibility
of freedom.
-♪ I know about the beach... ♪
-(WATER BURBLING)
(SEAGULLS SQUAWKING)
♪ And the roadside hotels... ♪
LISA: We had created this world
with people that we looked up to
that believe in a philosophy,
that wanted to change
the world,
but had their lives
in shambles.
Had a drug problem.
Had no idea what the hell
they were really talking about.
-IRA BELLE: Mama.
-LISA: Yes.
IRA BELLE:
I need to pee...
♪ You underestimate
The child with you... ♪
-(BABBLES INDISTINCTLY)
-LISA: Even though
people are awake
and want to follow
their philosophies,
it still doesn't make everything
work. Like, you...
You need a lot
of personal growth.
Yeah, all right, I'll tell--
Oh, my God.
LISA: Very recently, have
I started to set up shop
in the grey area,
the nuances of life,
not these blanket
belief systems
that only keep you trapped
in the right or the wrong.
(WIND WHISTLING)
LISA: Like, it's either anarchy
or nothing.
That is such a bullshit,
baby belief system.
♪ I'm not scared ♪
♪ I'm not scared... ♪
LILY: At this point,
I don't care what anybody
else does.
And I just care if people
are good people.
So, I have a lot of friends
that I've connected with
from home that are what
I would consider
statist as fuck.
But I also know that they're
on their own life path
and, you know, I've got nothing
but love and respect for that.
I just want to be left alone,
like a state can exist
if it's gonna leave me alone.
(LAUGHS) You know, like...
♪ (SONG FADES) ♪
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
JEFF: Yeah, some people
will be watching this
and laughing, going,
"Ah, I told you,
that's what anarchy is,
you know, it's crazy."
Well, yeah, life is crazy.
There's a lot
of crazy individuals out there,
and someone might get killed.
Well, that's what happens
every day,
in every place on Earth.
(SEAGULLS CAWING)
JEFF: But, you know, one thing
that I've learnt
is, as bad as the world is...
you can kind of just ignore it,
really, and work on yourself.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
JEFF: There's quite a few people
who came here,
people who were just damaged...
you know, just because
they didn't fit in, in society.
But they kind of felt like
they had a bit of a...
bit of a community.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC FADES) ♪
I don't know why that makes
me emotional.
♪ (TRANQUIL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
♪ Oh, see you later ♪
♪ Oh, this is not the end ♪
♪ Oh, do me a favor ♪
♪ Tell me this is just ♪
♪ Tell me this is just ♪
♪ Tell me this is just ♪
♪ Everything, everything
Is tied to you ♪
♪ I don't know, I don't know
What I'm gonna do ♪
♪ Do you ever think ♪
♪ That everything
That you receive ♪
♪ Is simply ♪
♪ You seeing yourself
In the mirror ♪
♪ (SONG CONCLUDES) ♪
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
NATHAN FREEMAN: I remember,
like, waking up one morning
-and being very depressed.
-LISA FREEMAN: Yeah.
NATHAN: And I was depressed
about the realization
that all these people
that I thought were gonna be
the greatest people I'd ever
get to know,
um, some of them were just
flat-out assholes.
And that realization
was very dramatic.
When the universe tells us
it's time,
-it's not quiet at all.
-(CHUCKLES)
At least, I'm listening.
It hits us over the back
of the head pretty hard.
LISA: All of a sudden,
everything that we had built,
everything that we had loved
and embraced,
and was living for,
was falling apart.
The freedom movement,
the conference,
Acapulco, like everything.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-(WAVES CRASHING)
-(SEAGULLS SQUAWKING)
JUAN GALT: It felt
like the authenticity had
kinda been drained
in a way.
The resounding symbolism,
for me,
was that a meteor hit
the pyramid.
A meteor crashed on the pyramid,
you know? (LAUGHS)
(WATER BURBLING)
We were in love with that place.
Now, Acapulco's just a puddle
of bad memories.
So I was determined to leave.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
LISA: We were done,
like so done.
NATHAN: Uh,
it was, uh, somebody that...
This is no longer an interest
for us. It's...
It's just a bunch of shit.
♪ (DREAMY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
JEFF BERWICK: When you look
at true anarchists,
true people who really
understand the philosophy,
that's less than
point-one percent
of people on Earth.
There's not too many instances
of these sort of people
gravitating to one area.
♪ (LIVELY DANCE MUSIC
PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS) ♪
JEFF: And in many ways
it's been absolutely fabulous,
but it's not perfect,
whatsoever.
We started out wanting to fight
the government,
but we ended up fighting
ourselves.
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
But I think that's a stage
of evolution.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
JEFF: It's just a--
an evolution of growth.
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
-MC: Make some noise!
Let's go motherfuckers!
JEFF: I think it's preparing us
to be stronger
for way harder times to come.
♪ (TENSE MUSIC SWELLS, FADES) ♪
-(BELL TOLLING IN THE DISTANCE)
-(WAVES CRASHING)
♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LILY FORESTER: I bounced around
for a little while...
and then I ended up moving
to Morelia, Mexico.
When I moved to Morelia,
I was, like... (SIGHS)
...I was a real big hermit.
I was depressed
and I was real anxious,
and I was just trying
to survive.
I had to first become
comfortable being alone
'cause I'd never been
alone before.
Everything with John,
like that was the first time
I was truly alone.
I was trying to process
all of it.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
And I started to see
the relationship with John
for what it actually was
and not what I had always wanted
it to be.
If I'm being honest,
my relationship
with John was awful.
It had its great highlights
that kept me around,
but, like, neither of us
were happy for most of it.
We'd almost broke up
many times.
And it just took admitting
all of that.
I didn't have
very much self-esteem,
and he had a habit of kind
of putting the bigger things
on me when they went wrong.
So, I was very much feeling
the guilt.
I had kind of internalized it
by that point.
Then he told me I was useless,
and that I shouldn't have
crossed the border with him.
We had two phases
in our relationship...
"I fuckin' hate you,"
and "You and me
against the world, baby!"
I just put up with so much shit
because I had zero examples
of what love and relationships
were supposed to be like.
I had no memories of my parents
together, for example.
There were no happy memories
of Mom and Dad.
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
-♪ (SOMBER MUSIC FADES) ♪
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
LISA: Everything just kept
pushing us out of Acapulco...
(DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE)
...and so we drove.
♪ (TRANQUIL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LISA: We packed up our stuff
and we moved.
We had a couple of places
that were on our radar
that were within
an eight-to-ten-hour drive
from Acapulco.
And one of them was San Miguel.
♪ (TRANQUIL MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
LISA: We found a couple
of places we really liked,
and one of them
that we ended up going with
was across the street
from a park.
I mean, it was just beautiful.
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LISA: We had talked about
another conference
and that inspired us
for a little bit.
But Nathan slowly, slowly
got more,
um, withdrawn.
♪ (MELANCHOLIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LISA: Nathan had always been
a drinker,
but his drinking took on
a different level.
He would start drinking
at 10:00 in the morning.
He basically became depressed...
'cause there had been
so much possibility
with the community,
with the conference.
But it had fallen apart,
and he felt like it was a shame.
There were so many nights
where he would be crying
in my lap
and like hyperventilating
and shaking
and just on his knees,
trying to figure out
what we did wrong.
-(WAVES BURBLING)
-♪ (MELANCHOLIC MUSIC FADES) ♪
(SEAGULLS SQUAWKING)
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
(BOAT ENGINE WHIRRING)
LILY: I just had to figure out
what I wanted
to do
with my life and my future.
It was just, like, I had
to be able to talk to people
and stop being so afraid
of everything.
SUSAN KASSON-KURILICH:
As devastating as Shane's death
will always be for her,
it was nice to be able to see
my granddaughter-in-law
move forward.
Susan is a saint of a woman.
(LAUGHS)
♪ (LIVELY MUSIC PLAYING
ON TAMBOURINE) ♪
LILY: After John died,
she hugged me and she was like,
"Take a couple months
to yourself.
But in a couple months,
if you meet somebody nice,
don't ignore him 'cause you're
too traumatized." (CHUCKLES)
And I was like,
"Are you telling me
to date somebody
in a couple months?"
She's like, "That's exactly
what I'm saying."
♪ (LIVELY MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
I had a, like, friend that was
going on, like, weekly hikes.
He was getting me
out of the house,
him and his girlfriend.
And I went out on a hike
with them,
and halfway up the mountain
on this hike...
I met this really,
really tall Mexican.
♪ (LIVELY MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
♪ (DREAMY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
BERNARDO EZETA: When I met her
in the forest, it was just,
like, an accident.
But, you know, it's like saying,
how is that accidents
become so meaningful?
We just saw each other
and I began
to ask questions like...
Because I thought
she was a mere tourist.
Yeah. He was asking me
questions and I was just like,
"Ah, crap, he speaks English."
(CHUCKLES) "I'm not ready
for this."
I have been totally alienated
from this thing
in the anarchists in Acapulco.
I knew nothing about it.
So he Googled me
and then he found all of the...
Yeah, that same night.
And it was like,
-"Okay. Oh, I see."
-(CHUCKLES)
-♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-He promptly Googled that night
and shat his pants
as he was like, "Murder?"
But he still went for it.
-My mind was...
-Running.
...was running quite fast.
I questioned all the things
in your story
that were not clear
to me, right.
But the story itself was, like,
not so surprising to me
because of the drug war
in Mexico.
There are so many stories
that are so similar.
And, well, I just thought
they were very naive
by living as they were.
It was, like, these gringos
are certainly alienated,
isolated, from the rest
of Mexicans.
JEFF: ...summit there.
All kinds of stuff,
so really looking forward
to seeing you down
in Anarchapulco.
Uh, this year is gonna be a--
a ton of fun.
♪ (UPBEAT R&B MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
♪ Anarchapulco is so hype
I'm tryna tell ya ♪
♪ This the event of the year ♪
♪ And best vacation ever
Get your tickets ♪
♪ You don't wanna miss it... ♪
PROMOTER 1: For people who
don't know, it's Anarchapulco
February 13th to 16th.
PROMOTER 2: An incredible,
incredible place.
And we still have
our promo code, WRC,
where you get
40-percent off tickets.
Come and be a part
of the incredible things
-that are happening here.
-♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
PROMOTER 2: This is where
the conference is gonna go on.
Let's try to walk in. Let's see
what we can get in here...
JEFF: The same thing
every single person
that's ever gone
has ever said is,
"The best thing
about Anarchapulco
is the other people
at Anarchapulco."
You just get to meet, you know,
hundreds or thousands of people
that you just generally
don't get to meet
in your sort of day-to-day life
for the most part.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC FADING) ♪
LILY: I heard from Anarchapulco.
Somebody called me
and was basically, like,
"Would you be open-minded
to speaking?"
And I told her, I was like...
"I'll consider it,
but honestly, like,
that freaks me out."
Like every time I think about it
I get anxiety. I get anxiety
for everything
from the fact that I'm afraid
to give a speech
on the main stage,
to announcing that
I'm gonna be someplace
at a specific time to--
You know, last time I was
at Anarchapulco I was with--
Every time I've been
at Anarchapulco,
it's been with John
and it's like
mostly just paranoia, really.
Like, it's just something
happened before,
maybe it'll happen again.
♪ (ENIGMATIC FOLK MUSIC
PLAYING) ♪
BERNARDO: Día de los Muertos.
It's kind of a recreation
of nature and symbols.
And the entrance of autumn
symbolizes the premonition
of death.
♪ (ENIGMATIC FOLK MUSIC
CONTINUES) ♪
Hi, honey! Oh, I'm so happy
to see you.
LILY: John's grandma came
for Day of the Dead.
The whole idea is,
it's three days to celebrate
your lost loved ones.
BERNARDO: It's just kind of
saying that
no matter how vain we are,
we are all going to die.
SUSAN: None of us get out
of it alive.
No. And that's precisely...
-We're all dying. (CHUCKLES)
-...the comic thing of it,
or the tragic thing of it.
SUSAN: Being able to come back
and get to meet her new love,
and seeing that the scabs
were growing,
for me, that was part
of the healing.
LILY: The whole idea
is you build an altar
with these flowers,
which attract a spirit.
And then, you have pictures
and their favorite foods,
plus sugar sculptures.
-♪ (ENIGMATIC FOLK MUSIC
FADES) ♪
-(BIRDS CHIRPING)
(DOG PANTS)
(RAIN POURING)
JASON HENZA: I feel like
I was robbed.
♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
The Day of the Dead
has really got me thinking
about John a lot
and the anarchist community.
Losing John really, really hurt
because he was a person I wanted
to build around.
Um, I'm trying to recover,
and trying to still build
a community.
I think that's the difference
between me and him is, like,
the whole event, like,
kind of PTSD'd me
towards communities,
whereas he is hopeful.
-(THUNDER CRASHING, RUMBLING)
-(RAIN PATTERING)
He's telling you,
"I'm making it rain hard."
Well, it's raining like
a motherfucker right now.
(CHUCKLES) On me, currently.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LILY: It is worth noting
that life with John was just,
in general, like full
of anxiety.
It was full of risks.
(RAIN PATTERING)
LILY: Because we were just going
from sunup to sundown
for fucking years straight...
essentially pushing
his idealist beliefs
and everything.
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
John's big thing
that he was always
real strong about is,
"You gotta know
what you're willing to die for."
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
He had it all wrong,
you need to know
what you're willing to live for.
-(RUMBLING CONTINUES)
-♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC SWELLS) ♪
LILY: So I keep seeing things
like Acapulco sand...
dog hair and, like,
other weird gunk.
SUSAN: Combing out the past
of your life.
Hold on to the memories
that are precious to you
and let go of the things
that are painful.
LILY: My dreadlocks, that was
the closest thing that we had to
like, a wedding ring.
I did that to essentially
fully commit myself
to his lifestyle.
Like, devote my entire life
to it
and make that
my only choice in life.
I was moving on.
I was tired of being associated
with all of that.
I wanted to figure out
who I was,
and who I was, was tired
of fucking dreadlocks.
-♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC FADES) ♪
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
LILY: At that point,
I decided to take the risk
-and tell my story.
-♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
I was going back to Acapulco.
I was going to speak
at the conference.
I wanted to send a message
and a warning.
♪ (SOMBER MUSIC FADES) ♪
(CAR HORNS BLARING)
♪ (JAUNTY BAND MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-♪ (MEDITATIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-MC: Sisters, brothers,
hear this!
The time has arrived
for a new kind of fearless
as we near
this pivotal moment...
DAYNA MARTIN: Our theme
for this year is "evolve."
To move past the anger
and the frustration
and to live successfully
as a sovereign individual.
CONFERENCE SPEAKER:
...Anarchapulco 2020,
as we evolve
toward an Earth of purpose,
beauty, freedom, and liberty!
(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
RAPPER 1: Yeah.
RAPPER 2: All right,
everybody time to stand up.
-Get on your feet
-PERFORMER 2: Anarchapulco!
Let's go!
DANNY SESSOM: Welcome to
The Crypto Show in Anarchapulco.
And we're lucky enough
to have Jason Henza.
And, gosh, I don't know.
Should I go,
just Lily Forester?
Yeah, that's what I go by.
That's what most people
know me as, or Lily Divine.
♪ (DREAMY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
Everything about you changed
to a completely different aura.
I don't know. You know,
I don't like
going into hippy shit,
but for real.
Yeah, no, I get what you mean.
Like, and it's something...
LILY: People see me
getting better now,
but, like, they don't know
what all I had to go through
to become what I am.
And it's been an awful process.
I want people to truly
fully understand
the ugly side of anarchy
and freedom.
(CROWD GRUNTING RHYTHMICALLY)
PRESENTER:
Nice, that's it.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
♪ (UPBEAT MUSIC
PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS) ♪
VOICEOVER: He stood outside
the Federal Reserve
in Philadelphia, shouting
"Fuck you, Ben Bernanke."
Rapped "Bitcoin All the Way Up."
He's been drunk as fuck
on his podcast,
battled depression,
injected stem cells
into his own dick,
and taken every psychedelic
known to man.
Ladies and gentlemen,
your host for Anarchapulco 2020,
Jeff Berwick.
-(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
-♪ (UPBEAT MUSIC FADING) ♪
JEFF: How many people were told
by their friends, family,
or Facebook friends
that they shouldn't come
to Acapulco, Mexico,
it's too dangerous?
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
-It's pretty dangerous, right?
-AUDIENCE MEMBER: So dangerous!
(CHUCKLES)
If there's one little piece
of advice I can give you is,
whatever those people tell you,
do the exact opposite, always,
basically and you'll be good.
-(CHUCKLES)
-(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
JEFF: I do want to say
something though.
This is incredibly hard to do,
this stuff.
It's like the whole world
is trying to fight us.
You know, you can try
to change the system,
or the whole system fights you,
I guess.
I guess.
I'm trying to figure it out.
Actually, I don't even care
anymore.
It's like, "Whatever."
'Cause I used to want to, like,
save the whole world.
And I don't think I--
Well, obviously I can't.
Well, anything's possible.
I don't know if this is, like,
some sort of spiritual war,
or maybe it's all
in my own head, right?
♪ (UNSETTLING MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
Like maybe I'm creating
all this.
Hey, Lucy. (CHUCKLES) Yeah.
That's my girl, yeah.
All right, we're almost done,
Lucy.
Let me ask you guys,
should we try to help
the whole world?
-AUDIENCE: No.
-It's about 50/50
-yes and no there. Yeah.
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
I'm trying to figure that out.
♪ (UNSETTLING MUSIC FADES) ♪
(SIGHS)
-AUDIENCE MEMBER 1: Love you.
-AUDIENCE MEMBER 2: Thank you.
-AUDIENCE MEMBER 3: Yeah.
-I'll leave it there.
Enjoy your time, thank you
very much for coming.
-(AUDIENCE CHEERS, APPLAUDS)
-Thank you.
-♪ (LIVELY POP MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-PROMOTER 1: Have a magical
Anarchapulco 2020.
PROMOTER 2: You are
surrounded by evolving
human beings.
And that is what it's all about.
-♪ (POP MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
-(PLANE ENGINE ROARING
IN THE DISTANCE)
Wow.
I haven't got that concept.
I don't quite understand what
this is all about, you know?
♪ (EMOTIONAL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
STAFF: We're way back here,
somewhere.
RANDY WEBB: I got past
these airports. These airports--
I don't like airports.
I had no desire
to ever cross that border.
Closest I've been to Mexico
was Tucson.
Acapulco...
you know?
I had to look at the map.
"Where the hell is that?
It's way down there." (CHUCKLES)
RANDY: Um... Since, um,
her and Shane got in trouble.
Uh, five years or better.
TODD SCHRAMKE: Why did you
continue to stay disconnected
from your father
for all these years?
♪ (EMOTIONAL MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
Because I couldn't contact him.
I wasn't allowed.
It was very much like,
if I contacted him,
then I picked my family
over John,
and John was gonna make
a big thing out of it.
-(SIGHS)
-♪ (EMOTIONAL MUSIC
SWELLS, FADES) ♪
(ROOSTER CROWS)
♪ (DREAMY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LILY: (SNIFFLING) Welcome
to Acapulco. (CHUCKLES)
-RANDY: (CHUCKLES)
Yeah, I made it. I made it.
-(LILY SNIFFLES)
Welcome. This is baby dog.
Renegade.
RANDY: He's a big puppy.
(PANTS)
LILY: This is Bernardo.
-Hello.
-He's very good to me.
Wow, this is beautiful.
LILY: I'm gonna go
stick my feet in it.
RANDY: You have fun.
(LILY CHUCKLES)
(SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)
RANDY: It was good see her
after all that time.
It's just sad that it had
to take Shane's death
for me to get back in contact
with her.
So where you guys originally
were over on the other side...
-On the other side of that.
-...of that big mountain.
Yeah.
♪ (DREAMY MUSIC FADING) ♪
LILY: The murder
was a big shakeout of people.
(BIRDS CAWING)
LILY: Like, there were a lot
of people that kind of gave up
on the anarchy thing
because somebody got killed.
I'm like, "Okay,
at least you're admitting
that you aren't,
you know, this."
TODD: Despite efforts to rebuild
from the chaos
of the previous year,
Anarchapulco 2020 saw
a 70-percent drop in attendance.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
JEFF: Every year, there was
always a few people
who were just causing a lot
of problems,
and they don't seem
to be coming anymore,
which I think is fine.
(CHUCKLES)
♪ (UPBEAT SYNTH
MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
JEFF: There's just such
a different vibe here now.
A lot of people
in this community
have really transformed
themselves a lot.
RON PAUL: I figured they were
really into this philosophy
and I made a statement,
and I said, "You know,
some of my best friends
are anarchists."
JEFF: A big part of the problem
in the past is,
it was a lot more kind of just--
What's that saying in the US?
"Give us your broke
and your downtrodden."
That's kind of similar
to what we've been doing
for the last few years.
♪ (UPBEAT SYNTH MUSIC
CONTINUES) ♪
JEFF: Everyone's damaged,
of course,
but the people who kind of
wake up to what we know
are some
of the most damaged people.
And you get them all
in one place
and a lot of crazy stuff
can happen.
-♪ (HIP-HOP MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-♪ Each and every one them ♪
-♪ Fuck government ♪
-Sing it!
♪ Fuck government ♪
-♪ Fuck government ♪
-Sing it!
♪ Fuck government
Fuck government ♪
-Sing it!
-♪ Fuck government
Fuck the government ♪
♪ Each and every one of them ♪
♪ Dollar vigilante
All up in your hearsay ♪
♪ Yes, I'm back, once again
Here to rock the party ♪
♪ And I ain't talkin'
'Bout political parties ♪
♪ Those parties suck ♪
♪ I'm talkin' bout
Wreckin' the party ♪
-♪ Fuck government ♪
-♪ What, c'mon ♪
♪ Fuck government
Fuck government ♪
-♪ Say what ♪
-♪ Fuck government ♪
-♪ Fuck government ♪
-♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Fuck government
Fuck the government... ♪
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
TODD: How much the conference
had truly changed
wasn't immediately clear.
And things only got muddier
that first night when Jeff
was confronted
by one of his new speakers.
QUINN EAKER: I don't care.
Like he can do
whatever the fuck he wants.
I'm not gonna fucking try
to ruin him.
QUINN: I mean,
this is his conference,
and it's just
a fucking religion.
They pretend, and they go
to the fucking conference
like they go to church
on Sunday.
And just because you go
to a conference,
you're fucking free,
you're an anarchist. No.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(INDISTINCT CLAMORING)
-CROWD MEMBERS: Yeah!
-♪ (TENSE MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
CROWD: Ooh!
JEFF: I think when I hit him
in the face once, he--
Maybe he has a memory
from when he was younger
of someone really hurting him,
and he lost it.
(INDISTINCT CLAMORING)
I didn't actually have
my bodyguard there,
or he'd be dead.
But, uh, yeah, he-- Yeah, yeah.
It's all good, it's all good.
My nose is bleeding right now.
Okay?
-(CROWD CHEERING)
-♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
JASON HENZA: When we give in
to these negative urges
and we act like
completely wild, crazy people,
we're putting up this persona
that we're a bunch
of high school kids
with no-- no consequences.
We're all lumped together
down here,
like it or not.
And when I see
these people fail,
they make Statism look like
a better idea,
and that pisses me off.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC
SWELLS, FADES) ♪
TODD: The low turnout
and general lack of cohesion
made me wonder if things
might have been different
had Nathan stayed involved.
How did it seem Nathan
was handling all of this,
just for him to see this happen
to this conference
that he worked so hard to build?
LARKEN ROSE: I think
it was just a travesty.
You know, first of all,
he loses control of it
and then he watches it
turn into this giant mess
because he wasn't there
to make it not be a mess.
♪ (UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LARKEN:
He did a lot of juggling acts
in the earlier years.
I got called back to the floor
'cause there was a crisis.
And then I got called away
to another crisis.
Sorry, just hang on there
for a second.
And there were little peppers
of problems in between,
but they weren't crises,
they were just problems.
So, finally, I got them all
taken care of.
AMANDA ROSE: Like everybody
involved cared about everybody,
-because he also cared
about everybody.
-LARKEN: Yeah.
AMANDA: He just desperately
wanted to see the world
much more happy
and much more free.
And Anarchapulco was just
his way
to help make that happen.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LISA: Nathan is a very,
very sensitive, loving person.
But... he just lost the--
(SIGHS)
I don't know, he lost faith
in the goodness of people.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
LISA: At the time,
we had kind of gotten
into a not-so-financially-stable
place
because we invested
in a lot of people's projects,
especially around
the Freedom Movement,
books being written
or podcasts being produced.
We gave a lot of our own money
to the conference,
both of them, Anarchawakening
and Anarchapulco.
And Nathan always believed
the better of people,
that they would inevitably--
It would come back around.
(IRA BELLE FREEMAN FUSSING)
LISA: It's just one
of those times
where everything is just hard
to do everything.
META FREEMAN:
Can you imagine...
LISA: Just like grinding,
you know, when you're just--
Nobody wants to pay,
everyone's got issues.
Nathan started getting snappy.
His personality shifted.
He was always
under the influence.
And he just was working
all the time,
even on Saturdays and Sundays.
And it was him
in his office drinking,
trying to wrap his head
around the world.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC
SWELLS, FADES) ♪
LILY: Living like this
is not easy.
-♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-LILY: If you fully commit
to this lifestyle,
you're gonna lose a lot.
MC: Our first presenter today
is very special
to the Anarchapulco family.
She and her partner, John...
LILY: It's not that easy
and it's not that fun.
It's fucking hard
and it's getting harder.
MC: Please welcome
Lily Forester.
♪ (LIVELY MUSIC
PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS) ♪
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING, CHEERING)
(LILY CLEARS THROAT)
-♪ (LIVELY MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
-Well, hi.
This is in case
I get too-- too light-headed
'cause I'll admit it,
I'm a little nervous.
Um...
I was a little naive
when I was 18
and I found anarchy,
and I was like,
"Fuck yeah,
we're gonna do this.
Taxation is theft
and voting doesn't work,
and, you know, we're all slaves
and all this bullshit."
-And, uh...
-♪ (SOLEMN MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
...it kinda seemed
a little abstract at the time.
Not necessarily, anymore.
My story is all about
what happens when you live free
in an unfree world.
When I first moved here,
I was like,
"Anybody can do what I do."
And, um, no. (CHUCKLES)
If you're not ready to live
truly in anarchy,
don't worry about it
'cause it's hard.
It takes a special set
of cojones.
♪ (SOLEMN MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
LILY: I don't think everybody
should move to Mexico.
Not anymore.
(MOUSE CLICKING)
LILY: So when people say,
"I'm thinking about going
on the run too."
-(MOUSE CLICKING)
-LILY: And I'm just like,
"You can't handle it.
I can barely handle it."
In 2019, this happened.
And it was the loss
of everything.
Everything that could go wrong
did go wrong.
And I was like, "All right,
well, I'm totally fucked."
When the event happened,
there were two types of people.
There were the people
that were fucking there.
And then there were the people
that were like,
"You are a security risk
in yourself."
We used to say,
"Acapulco is safe,"
but I've learned that safety
is an illusion.
I'm tired of the whole
"Acapulco is perfectly safe,"
when it's not.
We acted as if it was,
and it never was.
Acapulco's not safe,
but I never came here
to be safe,
I came here to have freedom.
And I got that, but you have
to take that if you come here.
If we do that, we need
to recognize
there is inherent risk,
loss of life, freedom or both.
So, just be careful.
-Thank you.
-♪ (SOLEMN MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING, CHEERING)
Proud. (CHUCKLES)
Um...
Um, most definitely,
if she'll be here. (CHUCKLES)
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
-I'd like to see
her come home,
or be able to come home.
I get it, you know, I've seen
what she loves about Mexico.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
I can see the friends
that are surrounding her.
I'm gonna feel a lot more
at ease going home tomorrow...
knowing she's with good people.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
I mean,
that I don't get deported.
JASON: Don't get deported.
That's a real good
birthday wish.
(LAUGHS)
That's the only one I really
care about. I like my life.
Fuck it.
What are you hoping for
with your legal status?
I just want to not have
to look over my shoulder.
It doesn't really make sense
to force me back into the US...
into a culture
that I never belonged in.
LILY'S FRIENDS:
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪
LILY: I love Mexico.
I've been in here for six years
and I've never left the country
and I don't have interest
in leaving the country.
Fuck you, guys.
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪
-(FRIENDS CHEERING)
-(CHUCKLES)
We have to sing
the Mexican version.
TODD:
What's the Mexican version?
♪ (BOTH SINGING IN SPANISH) ♪
LILY: There's a program
in Mexico
called The Asylum Program.
It's a refugee program.
And if you can convince Mexico
that you had a good reason
to flee your home country
and then come
into Mexico illegally,
they'll give you
permanent residency.
-♪ (SINGING IN SPANISH) ♪
-LILY: That's something
I'm hoping for.
♪ (CONTINUES SINGING
IN SPANISH) ♪
♪ (VOCALIZING,
SINGING CONCLUDES) ♪
(ALL LAUGHING)
RANDY: That was really good.
PRESENTER: As you take
this opportunity to turn inward
and allow yourself
to sink deeper
and deeper and deeper
into this space...
-And instead be your sound.
-...and into this moment.
-(CROWD CHANTING)
-♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
(CHEERS, GRUNTS)
(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
You know the tagline,
and I think we're doing this.
It is, "We are, it is time
to evolve." Thank you.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
TODD: In the past, there's been
a lot of effort to promote
Acapulco as a safe place.
But then Lily gets up on stage
and says,
"Well, Acapulco actually
is kinda dangerous,
but anarchy isn't
about safety."
Have you changed your mind
at all on this?
People sometimes say, well...
"You guys are utopian. You think
if you get rid of government,
then there'll be never anyone
who would get robbed anymore.
Or anyone will have a--
No one will die anywhere."
No, the-- Life is
a very dynamic, very--
Anything can happen in life.
(PRESENTER VOCALIZING)
JEFF: One thing
I've noticed too,
is there's too many men
out there.
I can't believe it when a man
comes up to me
and goes, "Is it safe
to go to Acapulco?"
Or, "Is it safe to go to..."
Name any other country?
Are you a man or not?
♪ (MEDITATIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
JEFF: Men need to become
much stronger men again.
And that's really what it's
gonna take, in my opinion,
to get to a stateless world,
is men becoming men again
and protecting
their communities.
(PRESENTERS EXHALE
RHYTHMICALLY)
(RHYTHMIC EXHALING CONTINUES)
♪ (MEDITATIVE MUSIC FADES) ♪
(DISHWARE, CUTLERY CLINKING)
LISA: When you have
a very injured community...
even when the shit hits the fan,
they're still naive to it.
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
It took a while to get people
to believe
what was happening with Nathan.
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
ROGER VER: Nathan T. Freeman,
a once-thriving
and active person
in his family
and his community
is struggling to get out of bed,
use the bathroom, or even drink
a glass of water.
TODD: For most of
the community,
the first update
from the Freemans
in over a year came
from a GoFundMe page
created by Lisa.
-(MOUSE CLICKING)
-♪ (MELANCHOLIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LISA: Everything around Nathan
was falling apart...
-(MOUSE CLICKING)
-LISA: ...including his health.
He had missed about a week
of work
because he was so ill
and in bed.
-(WATER BURBLING)
-(BIRDS CAWING)
LISA: We had
a visit to a doctor.
The blood work came back.
His liver was really
not in good shape.
It was stage four cirrhosis.
♪ (MELANCHOLIC MUSIC
CONTINUES) ♪
And then I--
We had a scam that happened
and we lost a bunch of money.
ROGER: His caring heart
created the circumstances
in which our financial security
was erased.
He fell victim
to a financial scam
and we lost our family savings.
Controversies aside...
LISA: Roger Ver made a video
talking about what happened
with Nathan.
TODD: Roger Ver,
the headlining crypto expert
at Anarchapulco, helped to boost
Lisa's fundraiser,
after discovering his likeness
was used by the scammer.
I just want to talk about
these crooks that are out there.
There's a bunch
of these accounts
that are pretending to be me.
One of these fake accounts
convinced Nathan that he was me
and that he should send him
some money, for whatever reason.
They're using cryptocurrency
to do that.
LISA: There had been other
fraud situations happening
in our community.
There was definitely a target
on our community's back.
ANNOUNCER:
Known as BitClub Network...
LISA: In the moment,
I said to Nathan,
"Wouldn't it be kind of ironic
if this person wasn't real
and they just stole our money?"
And he was like, "Yeah,
it would be ironic,"
and he passed out,
he was very drunk.
Well, it turns out
that's exactly what happened.
Nathan didn't want to go
to the doctor,
because he didn't want to spend
our last bit of money
on saving him
because he felt so bad
about what happened
with the-- the scam.
So, he's literally dying
because he doesn't wanna spend
our money. (BREATHES SHAKILY)
-♪ (SOLEMN MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-(MOUSE CLICKING REPEATEDLY)
LISA: I keep showing him.
I'm like, "Look, look,
we have, like, 10,000 dollars,
we can go to
the fucking hospital now."
(SOBS)
And he wouldn't--
He still wouldn't go.
(BREATHES SHAKILY)
(SOBS)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
-STAFF MEMBER: This way.
-CREW MEMBER: This way? Perfect.
-Come on in.
-♪ (SOLEMN MUSIC FADES) ♪
Sorry, I couldn't save you,
my love.
(SOBS)
Please watch out over us.
We'll be fine.
(SNIFFLES, BREATHES HEAVILY)
♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LISA: Goodbye. (SNIFFLES)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(LISA SNIFFLES)
-(LISA WHIMPERS)
-LISA'S FRIEND: Hey.
(LISA SNIFFLES)
(SOBS) I never-- I don't know.
(SNIFFLES, EXHALES DEEPLY)
-(INDISTINCT ANNOUNCEMENT
OVER PA)
-♪ (SOMBER MUSIC FADES) ♪
LISA: The diagnosis
didn't look good...
but nobody wanted to believe...
(SIGHS) ...that it was...
I mean, looking at it now,
he definitely
was in stage five cirrhosis,
and kidney failure.
♪ (SOLEMN MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LISA: We were-- we were in ICU,
in a special ward
for people that are about
to pass.
When I went to go visit him
at the hospital to say goodbye,
because there
wasn't much I could really say,
because I could--
he couldn't even respond
with anything
'cause he could barely speak,
I only said, "Hello."
♪ (SOLEMN MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
AXIOM FREEMAN: Now,
I've learned a lesson,
that alcohol is...
Why the fuck
did he keep drinking?
He said he'd stop.
LISA: To be quite honest,
as soon as we got
into the room, I was like,
"You can go, just go.
Just-- There's no reason
for you to hang on.
I got this, the kids and I
are gonna be fine.
I'm really mad at you,
and if I ever see you again,
I'm gonna punch you
in the face.
But past that, you can go."
-(VENTILATOR HISSING)
-(ECG MACHINE BEEPING)
Okay.
(SOBS)
LISA: I played Rush for him.
The Rush song,
"Time Stands Still."
One of his favorites.
♪ ("TIME STANDS STILL"
BY RUSH PLAYING) ♪
♪ Time stands still ♪
♪ I'm not looking back
But I want to look around... ♪
-♪ (SOLEMN MUSIC RESUMES) ♪
-LISA: You know,
every moment matters,
and holding on to the moments,
you know, to slow down time
a little bit more.
♪ (SOLEMN MUSIC FADES) ♪
LISA: And I said, "I love you
and I hope to see you again.
You can go now. It's okay."
And about ten minutes later,
he left.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LISA: I think losing purpose
and passion
around the freedom community
really hurt him, significantly.
I think he may have died
a little bit from
a broken heart, you know?
I mean, he helped a lot
of people,
and sometimes it--
often it wasn't reciprocated.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
LISA: A lot of people
reached out to me...
I-- but never heard a thing
from Berwick.
Nothing.
♪ (MELANCHOLIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LISA:
Even in the death of someone
who supported the community
and the conference...
it only shows how broken...
we are.
No! Cielo, no.
Cielo, Cielo, Cielo, ven.
I wasn't sure what to do,
because as far as I knew,
Lisa hated me.
That's-- that's what it seemed
to me.
So, I didn't actually reach out
to them,
which I feel a bit bad
about now.
You know, Nathan has now
passed away,
but I would say, if he was here
right now, I would say...
"You did a good job,
with what you had."
♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
JEFF: Nathan even said,
the first year, he was like,
"It's gonna be 60,000 people
in a football stadium,
'Anarchy!'"
Beautiful vision. Beautiful,
beautiful, beautiful.
And you know what?
He came close.
That last year he ran it,
it was just amazing.
(PERFORMERS RAPPING
INDISTINCTLY)
♪ (SOMBER MUSIC FADES) ♪
-♪ ("BEHIND THE WALLS"
BY DOUGLAS DARE PLAYING) ♪
-NATHAN: All right,
and now we're gonna do
one where we wave and smile.
Like, we're talking
to Anarchapulco.
(ALL CHEER)
♪ I saw it in the day ♪
♪ And again at night... ♪
TODD: I first went to Acapulco
curious to understand
the community's dream
of one day finding
absolute freedom
and personal sovereignty.
But it was the novelty,
the hope,
and the absurdity
of the experience
that kept me coming back
for six years.
And regardless of whether or not
the anarchists succeeded
in their dream,
lessons were learned
from this journey.
ERIKA HARRIS: At the beginning
of it, I went to a conference
and I had my mind blown,
and I had my life totally
just sort of, like, shaken.
You know,
like the amazingness
of everyone else here...
But, as far as living
in a community,
one of the things
that was missing was intention.
♪ But you don't fool me... ♪
ERIKA: You know, after a point
you just didn't understand it.
When there's emergency,
when there's need,
when there's pain
and there's no one around
to have your back,
I would question
whether you're in a community.
JUAN: My twenties are profoundly
interlinked with Anarchapulco.
Hola, amigo.
♪ I don't find it funny... ♪
But, at that point,
I was kind of done with it,
like, I was just kinda like...
you know, tired of it.
So I grabbed my stuff
and I left Acapulco
and I started traveling,
did a little tour of the world.
I was such a hard anarchist...
that the only way that I could
possibly become deradicalized
was by living there
and experiencing it...
-(EXPLOSION)
-CAMERAMAN: Whoa!
JUAN: ...and seeing the reality
of human conflict,
and drama and crisis,
and shit hitting the fan.
JASON: Like the main principle
is, "Treat everybody
how you want to be treated."
And it sounds pretty basic,
right?
But everybody wants
to be treated a little bit
differently,
and it makes it
a very subjective situation.
♪ I've lived here all my life
I've seen it all... ♪
JASON: Stay here, Beans.
This is my life.
What I do now for a living is
I run expedited freight
across country.
It's hard to live with a dog
in a van,
and it's hard to live
without a dog in a van.
I've gotten rid
of all my property.
I don't live in a house,
I don't pay for rents.
Our properties become
such a hindrance of freedom.
A lot of the people with money
in the community,
they have so much security,
they've gotten to a point
where they're
really comfortable.
And they feel like everyone
can just interact voluntarily.
But if you take away
our comfort, our food,
and all that kind of stuff,
we're animals.
We will do the worst things
to each other.
We have to see the animal side
of ourselves
before we advocate
for the responsibility
of freedom.
-♪ I know about the beach... ♪
-(WATER BURBLING)
(SEAGULLS SQUAWKING)
♪ And the roadside hotels... ♪
LISA: We had created this world
with people that we looked up to
that believe in a philosophy,
that wanted to change
the world,
but had their lives
in shambles.
Had a drug problem.
Had no idea what the hell
they were really talking about.
-IRA BELLE: Mama.
-LISA: Yes.
IRA BELLE:
I need to pee...
♪ You underestimate
The child with you... ♪
-(BABBLES INDISTINCTLY)
-LISA: Even though
people are awake
and want to follow
their philosophies,
it still doesn't make everything
work. Like, you...
You need a lot
of personal growth.
Yeah, all right, I'll tell--
Oh, my God.
LISA: Very recently, have
I started to set up shop
in the grey area,
the nuances of life,
not these blanket
belief systems
that only keep you trapped
in the right or the wrong.
(WIND WHISTLING)
LISA: Like, it's either anarchy
or nothing.
That is such a bullshit,
baby belief system.
♪ I'm not scared ♪
♪ I'm not scared... ♪
LILY: At this point,
I don't care what anybody
else does.
And I just care if people
are good people.
So, I have a lot of friends
that I've connected with
from home that are what
I would consider
statist as fuck.
But I also know that they're
on their own life path
and, you know, I've got nothing
but love and respect for that.
I just want to be left alone,
like a state can exist
if it's gonna leave me alone.
(LAUGHS) You know, like...
♪ (SONG FADES) ♪
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
JEFF: Yeah, some people
will be watching this
and laughing, going,
"Ah, I told you,
that's what anarchy is,
you know, it's crazy."
Well, yeah, life is crazy.
There's a lot
of crazy individuals out there,
and someone might get killed.
Well, that's what happens
every day,
in every place on Earth.
(SEAGULLS CAWING)
JEFF: But, you know, one thing
that I've learnt
is, as bad as the world is...
you can kind of just ignore it,
really, and work on yourself.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
JEFF: There's quite a few people
who came here,
people who were just damaged...
you know, just because
they didn't fit in, in society.
But they kind of felt like
they had a bit of a...
bit of a community.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC FADES) ♪
I don't know why that makes
me emotional.
♪ (TRANQUIL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
♪ Oh, see you later ♪
♪ Oh, this is not the end ♪
♪ Oh, do me a favor ♪
♪ Tell me this is just ♪
♪ Tell me this is just ♪
♪ Tell me this is just ♪
♪ Everything, everything
Is tied to you ♪
♪ I don't know, I don't know
What I'm gonna do ♪
♪ Do you ever think ♪
♪ That everything
That you receive ♪
♪ Is simply ♪
♪ You seeing yourself
In the mirror ♪
♪ (SONG CONCLUDES) ♪