> Free land never went away. Demand for it did. there are places where an individual can hide and gradually go insane alone. But I don't know where today one c

> Free land never went away. Demand for it did. there are places where an individual can hide and gradually go insane alone. But I don't know where today one could go and bring their whole family/tribe/clan and settle down. No matter how dry or hostile the area, the moment you're moving from surviving to thriving (which you often will if you're in a pack) the locals or the government will find ways to remove you. And it would be even worse if you don't hold a passport from that country. Humans are pack animals so the "no more demand" argument perhaps isn't too strong. When I lived in France in July/August the pigs regularly picked up Roma[1] traveling through from Spain. They usually got by washing windows at traffic lights. They drove them 20-30 km away into a forest where they set them free and let them walk home. I walked my dogs in the Parc de la Valmasque where they were frequently set lose among other places (even further away). Many times I watched it unfold in my parked car and the pigs abusing some person with a baton or simply shouting and threatening them. When the pigs were gone I offered them a drive back to Cannes or Nice. Sometimes kids with age 10 or 12 literally alone not knowing where tf they were or how they can get back (and then having to trust as stranger to offer a ride in their car to drive them back). It's not that "there simply is no demand for it". But we no longer see it when the system commits these crimes[2]. It's expected normal behavior the moment you monopolize violence by giving it to one group over another. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_people [2] UK Johnson government launches anti-Gypsy/Traveller/Roma measures https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/12/28/trav-d28.html https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/12/28/trav-d28.html