
Ask HN: How to survive/fight mafia states? - throwa8457634
Throwaway for obvious reasons.<p>Apologies, some parts are not core to HN, but I&#x27;m a &quot;startup&quot; &quot;founder&quot; (read: struggling micro company with bootstrapping), and I&#x27;m looking for complex suggestions that also involve IT systems.<p>I&#x27;m living in a ex-Soviet-occupied country, where courts, media&#x2F;propaganda, oligarchs and most aspect of everyday life is under control of the powerful prime minister and its mafia connections. When they want your business, they modify the laws, suffocate your market position, you are forced to sell, then restore the law or make it even more uneven towards their side.<p>I&#x27;ve lived in the free West for a few years, but for family reasons, I am now stranded where I am now. I have an independent income source: working remotely for Western companies. I have a small but growing local business interest, which, if grows and becomes profitable, will be certainly in the focus of the oligarchs.<p>What are your advice on how to (figuratively and literally) survive in such hostile environments?<p>I&#x27;d look for way of life and advice inside&#x2F;under mafia organizations, e.g. triads, yakuza or drug mafia. As far as I know about these, the organizational logic is very similar to what we see here among politicians.<p>I&#x27;m also interested in how should the suppressed people organize themselves, how to communicate? Is there a good tech&#x2F;method for it? How to protect against adverse agents?<p>I&#x27;m also looking for ways to accept the situation and reach inner peace. My mind always races against the daily injustices that are common here, but the &quot;locals&quot; are too tired to fight them, they keep their heads low, in the hope that they will not be picked as next targets.<p>I&#x27;d also look for inspiration and stories where persons go against all odds.<p>Thank you!
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InGodsName
1\. If your market is outside the country with mafia issues, hire every
workers remotely and have get together meetings once a week or a month to sync
on stuff

You can simply store the cash in a foreign firm and contract out the labor to
your local company.

You can use a few offshore companies, so it appears as if you've bunch of
portfolio clients who are giving you the work.

Keep local company margin at average for your industry at your size.

Usually, the corrupt Governments lack international support, so they fail to
crack down on your offshore activity.

They go after easy targets surfacing in the country.

My friend lost his Steel Rolling Mill in Belarus after 5 years of struggle
producing 10 million Euros net profit per year.

2\. If your company does local stuff. Hire ex army chiefs/policemen/security
guards and given them equity in your company and show them how you've ideas to
grow the pie, in turn increasing their size of pie.

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DoreenMichele
_I 'd also look for inspiration_

Reading Lolita in Tehran

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis_(comics)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis_\(comics\))

 _What are your advice on how to (figuratively and literally) survive in such
hostile environments?_

Focus on food security for yourself and others. Consider growing some of your
own veggies, etc.

There are a lot of important things rooted in food security and good
nutrition, and it tends to not draw a lot of attention. It isn't a showy form
of wealth.

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gesman
>> I have an independent income source: working remotely for Western
companies.

Grow your income to levels which affords you to move into friendlier
surroundings.

Also - your post is too involved into being pissed off by things you cannot
control.

Build upon things you can control and evolve from there.

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snyena
By "ex-Soviet-occupied country" you mean a country of the former Eastern Bloc
or something like Transnistria?

