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.
Let’s revisit this
Reblogging again for @equality-is-anarchy‘s great comment.
How is shoplifting and organizing a prison break direct action?
Or at least in any way helpful?
Hmmm.., how is seizing the means of our survival and quality of like and releasing incarcerated people from the system direct action or helpful?
Difficult question that one.
(Not sure if anyone actually mentioned a prison break, but still.)
You mentioned handing out leaflets for a prison break. And I could use without the sarcasm, please. I asked you without it, you can answer me without it.
Shoplifting is not gonna solve widespread poverty, or be a viable long term solution. All its going to do is send you to an unjust, for-profit, and inhumane prison sytem. A system you will probably not be able to escape because organizing a prison break is not realistic, not to mention that is also not gonna fix the gigantic problems with mass incarceration and the prison industrial complex. You think the police wouldn’t go after you? And then you would have to spend the rest of your life running and hiding.
Instead why not organize a food drive, or find a way to feed the poorest members of your community. Organize and find ways to help people in jail, visit them, keep them sane, help them when they are out, help them find jobs or a house, food, etc. All the while continue fighting to fix the broken, evil system you live in, and vote and organize with that goal in mind.
It seems to me that these sort of not-outright illegal tactics focused on long-term goals (that will not bring your life to a screeching halt if caught) should be where your focus is. Direct action should be about transformative and impactful work that helps the most people… not about unecessarily reckless and somewhat pointless actions that will only send activists to jail.
If I am wrong, please tell me why. Not just reply in a condescending way.
Oh that sentence.
Well, there I was saying you probably SHOULDN’T do a prison break if all your activist experience so far is handing out some leaflets. So I was actually calling for caution and not taking on projects larger than you can manage. I wouldn’t do a prison break either cause it’s too damn difficult.
On my Tumblr, I talk a lot about doing long term sustaining work like food distribution and writing to prisoners. A LOT. My ABC list is probably my most popular post right now.
But sticking only to legal actions is a trap. It ends up limiting your options, attracting state apologists and leaving you without the necessary skills when a law needs breaking. Every legal food drive I’ve seen eventually got takes over by pacifists and shut down a few years later. If you are unwilling or unable to organize illegal activity, continuing your actions is dependent on the mercy of the state.
And I will always defend shiplifting. It varies from place to place but in general, if you work with other people in your anarchist community to exchange information about what kind of security different shops have and how to circumvent it, shoplifting without getting caught can be quite easy and can effectively supply big action campaigns as well as just keep us all alive on a regular basis.
Sure, we’d all rather not take the risk and shoplifting for the community is best done by people in a position privileged enough to get away it (think white, educated, documented, without a record) but it is certainly a valuable skill to have in your repertoire and it definitely contributes to the movement. Shoplifted goods have fed and supplied more protests than I can count.
QueerAnarchism 