Probably the saddest sign of our times is how many people respond with complete bewilderment if you mention direct action. Cutting border fences? punching nazis? sharing resources? blocking arms transports? building alternatives? They’re not even outraged, they’re just confused.
It’s like they’re so caught up in the spectacle of petitions, calling senators, ‘awareness’ and media visbility that they’ve completely forgotten that you can also just do shit without begging for permission.
Seriously, we’ve been so conditioned to seek permission for literally anything that the idea of just doing something yourself is seen as utterly unfeasible, pie in the sky, nonsense.
I for one am a huge believer in direct action and just making the changes we want to see instead of asking the powerful to implement them.
Want to house the homeless? Occupy some abandoned buildings. Want to replace your yard with a vegetable garden? Get you hands on some seeds and plant that shit. We can accomplish so much more by doing instead of begging.
I, for one, would just like to say it’s a bad idea to do the whole punching Nazis thing. There’s nothing worse than being sued by a Nazi and having them win and fuck up your life.
On Tumblr I see a lot of concern about safety under every single post about direct action and honestly, that’s good. Looking out for each other is good, wanting to keep each other safe is good.
Because yeah, direct action can be very dangerous. But it’s a good thing some people are willing to do dangerous things to change the world. Because you know what else is very dangerous? Letting nazis organize. Allowing weapon transports to pass. Allowing border fences to stand. These things are deadly. And conversations or petitions are never going to stop them. Pretty much the only time governments do what nice activists want is when they’re worried about what the not-so-nice activists will do if they don’t change a thing.
So I would respond to the need for safety not with inaction but with prepared action and security culture. Which means shit like cover your face, don’t bring your phone, have a getaway plan, make your plans offline, understand how modern surveillance techniques work, gather intel on nazis before deciding who to punch, never brag about what you did, leave out that comrade that can’t punch nazis without bragging about it, have a good lawyer to back you up if things do go wrong. And more.
And important: work with experienced activists and choose an action that matches your experience level. It’s probably not a good idea to go from handing out leaflets to a prison break, or to make the G20 your first blackbloc experience. Start small, start local. But do something.
Also, do what you feel ypu can handle. Like, yeah, I’m the person who can barely keep it in when they’ve done something. How I control that is having one or two designated people I know and trust with my life to tell. I am best utilized as support and research or intel and planning/strategizing. Those are what I’m good at. I can strategize and give excellent strategic advice. But I am not the one you want actually out there doing it.
When I got caught lifting and my backpack had been left behind (with identifying information and my medications), I ran to my friend’s house who I know lifts and got a ride elsewhere. And I ended up getting things back through careful planning, but the fact is that I made a mistake. I make mistakes in the moment but planning is where I shine. I can see a potential landmine problem a mile away and come up with a patch/remedy or alternative plan.
I am good at strategizing. But I’m bad at the actual action. And that’s okay. We all just have to play to our strengths. We’re all different and we won’t all be able to do the same things.
YES. YES. YES.
Also:
- High stress actions become easier with time and slow build up. Jumping into a high stress action without experience can knock you off your feet. It takes time to build resilience.
- Having a solid base in your life (supportive friends, a safe home, a rhythm that involves enough sleep and good food, time for yourself, creative outlets, etc) is an important part of being able to do high stress activism.
- Having a good safety net on the day of the action (like a coördinator team, a legal team, a medic team and a psych help team)
is an important part of being able to do high stress activism.
- Information and training go a long way. Knowing what to expect when arrested makes it easier to take risks that might result in arrest. Crossing a police line together to retrieve an arrested comrade is a highly coordinated move that can be done if it is trained properly.
- The best way to train, exchange information, create safe lines of communication and take care of each other before, during and after an action is to form an affinity group
- Always have at least one protest buddy.
And so on.
Take action safely, but take action! I’ve found myself caught in the trap of talking myself out of action when I could’ve & should’ve taken action. I think it happens to all of us. It’s really important to remember that taking action, on whatever scale, is far better than taking no action out of fear of punishment.
If there’s too many people out for graffiti? Hand out some zines or fliers. Too many cops at a demo to realistically evict Nazis? Record some license plates & get some pictures.
Remember that there more to direct action than violence and that every action must be prepared for appropriately. Do do something stupid but make sure you do SOMETHING.
Inaction has it’s own cost.
Stuff to stay active:
– Alternate high stress and low stress actions. Was your last street action very intense? Consider joining the cooking team next time.
– Try to find a level of activity that you can sustain. There is no point in going to every action for a year and then crashing.
– It is okay to take breaks when yoi need to but if you are in a ‘high action – drop out – high action – drop out’ cycle, chance your pace before you burn out completely.
– Count recovery in the cost of your action. It is as vital as every other stage of an action.
– If an action group doesn’t have members who have been around for a decade, seriously question why. You could be stepping into a group that systematically pushes activists past what they can sustainably do.
THANK YOU for this post it remotivated me. Also while we’re on the subject (well not so much so feel free to ignore me), are there any mentally ill activist people in here who know how to deal with their cycle/level of activity??
Coz im exactly the “high action-drop out-high action” type of person, have been this way for years and yea its actually really hard to stay active like this. Its that when im okay, i accomplish myself though activism and ive got a sense of purpose and belonging and control of my life so im exhilarated and do everything. And then one morning i loose all sense of myself, of sense of meaning, and i dont even know why i should be getting up, much less why i should protest. So i drop out, and when im feeling kind of ok again im like ashamed to have drop out and play dead+i feel alien in my collective because when i was out they actually keep on going and created new or deeper relationships with each other+i feel ridiculous to feel this way (”baaah i dont want to be an activist anymore because my comrades dont love me as much as before :’((” is kind of pathetic) so all in all i dont feel good in activism anymore and then drop out again and do this in cycle, each time moving to a new place.
Im sure im not the only one in this situation ! does anyone face the same problem ? if so, what do you do to make things alright again ? how do you manage your mental illnesses and activism ??
There’s a lot to talk about here and i don’t have answers to any of it so I’m gonna share this to see if anyone else wants to contribute.
My own experience is that the collectives that last are the collectives that don’t just share the work together but also the recovery, the having fun, the hard times. Sharing vulnerability and boredom and fear build a foundation for being able to stick together when people hit a wall. If you’ve never cried with comrades while you were reasonably okay, how are you going to be able to do it when shit really hits the fan?
Sharing more than actions also means creating spaces where you can meet your comrades without doing or preparing an action. If a person that isn’t doing actions for a while isn’t able to be a part of the life of a collective, how are you going to keep people close through illnesses and bad break ups and burn outs and identity struggles and child birth and all the other parts of life that can demand all your energy for a while?
As for mental illness and activism, it probably depends a lot on what type of mental illness you’re dealing with and what kind of stress your activism involves. Almost everyone with a mental illness is more vulnerable to long term and strong negative reactions to high stress events (known by the psychiatric industry as PTSD, but I’m gonna ignore terms like that) but which sort of actions put them at risk varies a lot.
QueerAnarchism 