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Title: Blocs, Black and Otherwise Author: CrimethInc. Date: November 20, 2003 Language: en Topics: Black Bloc, protest, how to Source: Retrieved on 29th October 2020 from https://crimethinc.com/2003/11/20/blocs-black-and-otherwise
As one middle-aged mother observed while members of the Quebec Black
Bloc hugged each other before going off to battle the cops, âI always
thought this was going to be sinister, but these are just brave kids!â
For a more specific consideration of dressing for anonymity, consult
Fashion Tips for the Brave
or expect chemical weapons attacks), food (donât rely on shops or
shopkeepers in contested zones), etc.
stages of the action
placards), steel-toed shoes (should still be comfortable for running!),
body armor or padding, gas masks or goggles and bandannas soaked in lime
juice (store in ziplock bags until necessary), rain coats or chemical
protection gear (if there is a risk of chemical attack), whatever
relevant medical supplies you know how to apply, etc
thick poles (or just plain poles), molotov cocktails, bright lights (to
obscure police or camera vision during night actions), ladders and/or
bolt cutters for scaling or breaching barriers, etc.
flags, drums, shared codes for making internal announcements
SUV (easy there, killer, itâs just a joke!)
You may have heard of the notorious Black Bloc, a venerable, if not
doddering, anarchist tradition in which a mass of direct action
enthusiasts gather, all wearing black clothing and masks, and engage in
some level of confrontational activity. This tactic has won some famous
victories in the past couple decades, and failed more times than anyone
can count, too. The specific cultural characteristics that are
associated with the Black Bloc tactic today can make it easy to overlook
the long history of the Bloc tactic and the wide variety of applications
for which it can be used. The Boston Tea Party, for example, was a
perfect example of a Bloc at work: the participants organized secretly,
wore matching disguises (though their choice to costume themselves as
âIndiansâ wasnât exactly politically correct), and engaged in a mass act
of provocative property destruction; presumably their strategies for
communication and mutual defense werenât much different from those used
by the famous Black Blocs that, a couple hundred years later, attacked
similarly noxious coffee corporations in Seattle. Those who practice
direct action would do well to keep in mind the wide range of scenarios
in which a version of the Bloc approach can be useful.
Acting in a Bloc is especially useful when the participants in the
action expect that the police, fascists, or other adversaries will wish
to identify the participantsâwhich is to say, very often, nowadays. When
everyone in a group looks the same, it is difficult to single out
individuals. Many militant activities are better carried off in a way
that attracts less attention, but there are situations in which it is
necessary to step outside the limits in public. The Bloc tactic is best
for conditions in which the action called for occupies the grey area
between overt and covert, and as such it must be applied carefully: if
you participate with a Bloc in an entirely legal action, you may make a
target of yourself unnecessarily, or needlessly frighten bystanders. On
the other hand, if you intend to engage in serious organized illegal
activity, you might be better off doing so outside the traditional Bloc
format, in a totally closed group, with the element of surprise and so
on. Itâs not a coincidence that people donât usually liberate animals
from fur factories in Black Blocs (although this did occur once in
Brazil).
One of the positive sides of public Bloc activity is that, unlike
entirely underground activity, it can create open-ended situations, in
which the actions of a few can open the floodgates for others to join
in. At best, invite-only militant actions are a spectator sport; a Bloc,
on the other hand, can be a participatory and contagious radicalizing
experience.
The most obvious way to facilitate this is to organize an open or
semi-open Bloc. In an open Bloc, a general call goes out to all
interested to gather and act in a Bloc; open meetings are held to
discuss goals, strategies, and so on. The benefits of such an approach
are that more people can be involved; the obvious drawback is that
security is so compromised that the possibilities for action are
severely limited. In a semi-open Bloc, the organizing takes place in
secret, between people who know and trust each other, but when the Bloc
itself comes together, others in Bloc attire are welcomed to it; in the
past few years of Black Bloc activities, this has been the most frequent
format. In such Blocs, it is still necessary that the participants be
prepared to deal with infiltration, but they at least have the benefit
of secure planning and internal structures. In an entirely closed Bloc,
the participants prepare in secret and do not welcome the participation
or company of any outsiders during the action. Even when such a Bloc is
called for, it can still be valuable to act openly, as a Bloc, rather
than covertly: the public nature of the action may send an important
message, others outside the Bloc may be inspired to engage in similar
actions of their own, the crowd cover itself might enable an escape that
would be more difficult for those opting for a clandestine approach.
There are many reasons to act in a Bloc. Bloc participation can be
rexciting and good for moraleâacting in a mass of people who are
ostensibly prepared to do what they believe is right regardless of
police intimidation is often a hell of a lot more empowering than
chanting weakly with the liberals, and matching battle-dress is a ritual
for inspiring courage that need not be abandoned to our uniformed
enemies. A Bloc presence may convey important information: to the powers
that be, donât fuck with this march, or donât you dare rig that jury; to
allies or possible allies, donât despair, weâre with you. Finally,
anonymity: there are countless reasons to conceal your identity at mass
actions. Even if you do not plan on committing any crimes, even if you
donât mind the secret service capturing your image for their files, you
still do a great service to others by masking up and increasing the
number of people who are disguised, thus making it more difficult for
the police to keep up with all of you. Those others might not just be
criminals, either; they might be foreigners who donât want their
participation in radical activities to be used as grounds for
deportation, or teachers who donât want to risk losing their jobs.
Sometimes a masked crowd is unnecessarily intimidating to the public;
sometimes few enough people are masking up, or police attention is so
focused on the Bloc, that you may deem it safer not to draw attention to
yourself by doing so, even if you may engage in illegal activities; and
sometimes itâs better to show your neighbors where you stand, or let the
public and the cameras see that not everyone involved in radical
activity is young, white, and male. Otherwise, if others are masking up,
you might as well do the same.
Those masks donât necessarily have to be black ski masks, anyway; there
are plenty of more fun, family-oriented ways to obscure your identity.
Beyond the Black Bloc, endless possibilities open up: pink Blocs, clown
Blocs, doctor Blocs, maintenance worker Blocs⊠Wherever there are a
bunch of people wearing either identical clothing or costumes, the Bloc
tactic could be deployed utilizing the matching crowd for camouflage.
Halloween, for example, could offer a great opportunity for Bloc
actionâas could a high school graduation!
Black Bloc actions have been a hit at mass actions over the past couple
decades: there have been Blocs in the protests at meetings of such
despicable gangs as the World Trade Organization, at political events
such as debates between presidential candidates, at anti-war
demonstrations and solidarity marches with communities that are
suffering police brutality. Wherever there is a mass gathering of
protesters, it may make sense to deploy or call for a Bloc.
In such environments, the Bloc can serve many purposes. As mentioned
before, it can simply be present as a promise of solidarity, or a
threat. It can act as a line of defense for or a distraction from other
activists doing civil disobedience actions such as lock-downs and
blockades, who will be unable to defend themselves from the police. It
can engage in property destruction: this can achieve economic ends, such
as inflicting financial losses upon wicked corporations, or other
practical goals: a city can be persuaded never to risk hosting another
fill-in-the-blank, or alienated workers (and even activists!) can
experience firsthand that the stranglehold their oppressors seem to have
on reality can literally be broken. A Bloc can attempt to prevent
delegates from reaching an unwanted meeting, or trap them inside the
meeting space to make sure they get the message that their shenanigans
are not welcome. It can reclaim urban space, opening up and protecting a
street or park for others to reinterpret and enjoy, or rerouting a
permitted march into unpermitted areas. It can engage the police in
conflict, and thus disrupt business as usualâa meeting in Quebec City to
discuss the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement had to be halted
temporarily when tear gas from the streetfighting below entered the
vents of the building hosting it. It can offer the possibility of
contesting power and control in immediate actions, rather than mere
words, and thus keep spirits up and appetites whetted. A Bloc might
attempt to set off full-scale rioting, in hope of precipitating an
insurrectionâor it could simply create a spectacle, to emphasize the
anarchist presence and foreground its romantic appeal: liberal carping
about âalienating the publicânotwithstanding, the Black Blocs in Seattle
and afterwards did as much to increase the mass appeal of anarchist
action as any propaganda publication ever has. If nothing else, a Bloc
action can be good practice for future such actions that may achieve
more.
When choosing goals for a Bloc at a mass action, it is critical that the
intentions, needs, and comfort levels of locals and others who will be
involved or present be taken into account. Alienating people needlessly
is not only counterproductive, but endangers Bloc participants; the
police are already enough enemies for anyone breaking the law. The last
thing you want to do is endanger others with your actionsâdonât throw
stones at the police from the back of a crowd, donât risk provoking
police attacks on peaceful marches, especially if youâre not planning on
sticking around to bear the brunt of them. If youâre operating in a
mostly out-of-town group that will be acting in a residential
neighborhood, donât be so arrogant as to think you should be the ones to
decide what level of conflict is most appropriate for the situationâfar
better you show that you respect the needs and perspectives of the
locals, and are willing to follow their lead. There may be cases in
which it is appropriate to bring a level of intensity to an action that
others arenât prepared toâfor example, if liberal organizers are
addressing a gross injustice with useless gestures that will do nothing
to put things rightâbut itâs good form to make sure that the first ones
to pay the piper for whatever goes down will be you and your companions,
not innocent bystanders.
Similarly, it is important to be realistic about what you can hope to
accomplish in the situation at hand, given your experience, numbers, and
other resources. If the local populace hates the arrogance of the
leaders who are meeting in their city, but mistrusts the equally foreign
hordes who have gathered there to protest them, it might make more sense
to target those leaders than to smash corporate windows in what the
locals might perceive as an outsidersâ attack on their home streets.
Take everything into account: the personality of the police force, the
current local political climate, how aware others will be of what
happens to you and your companions, whether the authorities will want to
teach you a lesson this time or avoid inopportune media coverage,
whether the police will be trying to secure the whole area (in which
case you can expect them to attempt mass arrests, if they have the
numbers) or simply protect a part of it (in which case they may resort
to dispersal or defense tactics, if they are outnumbered or uncertain).
Is your action intended for media coverage, for those who witness it in
person, for those who participate in it, or for those who foot the
bills? Is your goal worth the risk, is it appropriate to the event in
question?
Outside the mass at mass actions, acting in a Bloc is a much riskier
proposition, for the Bloc can be easily surrounded and neutralized by
the police. Historically, at demonstrations, almost every Bloc that has
mixed well with a much larger mass of law-abiding protesters has managed
to maintain some degree of safety and coherence, while almost every Bloc
that has attempted to operate in their absence has suffered or at least
risked serious police repression. Some lessons we can draw from such
previous successes and failures are:
the benefit of broad crowd cover, at least not unless it is expected to
be of vast numbers, high morale, and great defensive experience, or
unless the purpose of the action is to get a lot of participants
arrested.
events should always take place on or before the big day of general
protest, never after them. When direct action precedes or coincides with
massive marches and gatherings, it often sets the tone for everything
that follows, upping the ante and radicalizing the event in general;
when direct action enthusiasts are the only ones left out on the street
after the law-abiding activists have gone home, the police know they can
isolate, abuse, and arrest them without fear of stepping on the toes of
the âwrongâcitizens, or being observed by such citizens as they do so.
The presence of others who would witness police brutality is an
important deterrent; work without it at your peril.
respect of some, if not most, of those outside the Bloc, so as to ensure
their safety on the field, let alone general good will in the activist
community. In one historic instance, a Black Bloc was surrounded and
cornered by police, who were moving in to finish it off when a march
organized by a liberal womenâs organization was re-routed to pass
through the area and provide members of the Bloc with an opportunity to
blend in and escape. To this end, it helps a great deal if the goals or
targets of the Bloc are instantly comprehensible to outsiders, so
whether or not others agree with the tactic itself they can at least
understand why it is being employed.
On the other hand, there are cases in which none of these rules of thumb
is relevant. Entirely outside the realm of mass actions, as long as the
element of surprise is present, there are many other environments in
which the Bloc tactic can be applied; indeed, such applications may be
the most promising for the future of the Bloc, now that police are very
familiar with and prepared for Bloc presence at demonstrations. A Bloc
operating swiftly and with the element of surprise against an
unsuspecting target can accomplish a great deal, especially if it is of
decent size. Consult the illustration at the end of this text for an
example of how a Bloc can be deployed outside the demonstration format
to wreak havoc on corporate and governmental property.
When acting in a Bloc with no demonstrating mass for cover, the most
important advantage you have to work with is surprise. If you organize
in such a way that the authorities in question donât see your action
coming, you may be able to get everything done and escape before theyâre
able to respond. Even when they do arrive, chances are they will not be
prepared to make mass arrests, so you can expect them to attempt only to
seize individuals; in this situation, the individuals carrying out high
risk actions may be able to disappear in the commotion (enthusiasts of
civil disobedience could even snarl the police up in petty arrests to
facilitate this, though they might thus risk a conspiracy charge if they
were connected to the Bloc)âor, if the group is able to act with a high
degree of solidarity and audacity, staying close together and not
permitting police to get their hands on individuals within it, it might
be possible to negotiate a departure en masse, though you can expect to
be followed at the very least. It has happened before that groups of
activists breaking the law together, who showed that they would not be
intimidated nor allow members to be picked off, have been permitted by
unprepared police to leave an area in return for concluding their
action. Itâs also happened that theyâve had rubber bullets shot at them,
though! If some of you are planning illegal activity of a serious
nature, it may be a good idea to have others in your group applying a
wide range of less confrontational tactics, so the police wonât be as
likely to treat you all as hard-core criminals . Always be sure everyone
in your group, especially the ones who arenât keen on taking great legal
risks, knows exactly what the highest level of possible illegal activity
is in advance, as you never know whether the police will choose to hold
others responsible for the actions of those they couldnât catch!
If youâre showing up at a corporate office at sunrise, you can expect to
be practically the only ones there, and youâll have to count on speed
and clever escape routes for your liberty; but there are other
situations in which, just as at a demonstration, there will be crowd
coverâeven potentially supportive crowd coverâto melt into. Who knows, a
Sports Fan Bloc mixing with the jubilant crowd celebrating a home team
football victory might be able to touch off hard-core anti-corporate
vandalism and looting!
When making plans and setting goals for a Bloc action in a particular
context, it is always important to look back in history for precedents.
If the last time someone tried something similar to what you are trying
was a disaster, you had better figure out what new element you can throw
in to give yourself a better chance. History tends to repeat itselfâat
least when we donât use our ingenuity to derail it! Get familiar with
the history of Bloc actions over the past few years; whenever youâre
considering joining in one, pick out and consider the previous example
that best indicates what you can expect from this oneâkeeping in mind,
of course, that your adversaries have been doing the same, so counting
on a particular stratagem to work twice is a risky proposition. It is at
least as important to know when not to do a Bloc action as it is to know
when to try one: unsuccessful attempts to act in Bloc, when there are
not enough participants available or the conditions are not favorable,
can sap energy better applied elsewhere. When you strike in Bloc, strike
hard and impressively, then wait for the next realistic chance to do so
again.
Naturally, the affinity group is the basic building block of any Bloc.
It is impossible to overstate the importance of engaging in Bloc
activity as part of a small group capable of fending for itself and
making decisions; to do otherwise is to abdicate responsibility for
yourself to the mass, and to deny that mass the benefit of your
participation as an equal. Blocs made up of self-sufficient affinity
groups can make democratic decisions quickly, can split up into equally
effective smaller groups, can handle stressful situations without the
added stress of herding a flock of confused followers. It goes without
saying that within your affinity group, you should establish common
expectations about what goals are, what level of risk is acceptable,
what kind of security is appropriate. Security is especially important
in Bloc activities, because of the sketchy mix of public and unlawful
activity that may be involved; be sure everyone has the same sense of
security culture.
Regardless of the total size of the Bloc, each affinity group should be
totally self-sustaining, at least in regards to the goals it intends to
achieve. Escape routes, legal resources, emergency backup plans,
knowledge of the areaâevery affinity group should have all of these. A
buddy system inside a group is useful, so if the group itself is
dispersed individuals can take responsibility for the safety and
whereabouts of their partners. Internal roles can be assigned: for
example, scouts who keep track of activity and police presence (these
can be equipped with hand radios or cell phones with which to
communicate with the main group, and can ride bicycles for extra speed
and mobility; it usually makes the most sense to position them a block
or so away from the group, so they can provide early warnings and
broader perspective on the area), communications people (also with
radios or cell phones, and perhaps a police scanner) to exchange
information with the scouts and other groups, runners to communicate new
information to nearby groups, experienced folks to correlate and
consider information and take responsibility for making split-second
decisions, persons to actually carry out the actions planned, lookouts
to cover them, perhaps a flag-bearer or marching band to maintain morale
and keep the group visible from a distance, and so on. It might be wise
to have one person in non-Bloc clothing to attend the Bloc, to handle
such tasks as explaining to spectators that they should not take
photographs, for the police can seize their cameras and use the pictures
in court. The role the affinity group plays in a larger group can also
be specialized: an affinity group could serve as scouts for a larger
Bloc, or set out to blockade a particular intersection, or concentrate
on maintaining a banner at the front of a large group.
An affinity group can form a small, ad-hoc Bloc on its own, but a
larger, more powerful Bloc can be formed as a cluster of affinity
groups. In this case, it is critical that efficient and democratic
structures be set up within the cluster. It should be possible for news,
questions, and answers to be communicated swiftly between individuals
within affinity groups and between affinity groups themselves, in even
the tensest of situations. Some have argued in favor of a more
militaristic Bloc model, that would presumably operate more like the
hierarchical regiments our enemies pit against us, but the very strength
of the Bloc is its decentralized, unpredictable nature; it seems foolish
to try to beat our oppressors at their own game rather than capitalizing
on our own strengths. Better we improve our coordination, rather than
control: we are conductors setting the stage for improvisation, not
military tacticians with underlings and commanding officers.
In a Bloc made up of affinity groups from different areas, the local
group will inevitably have the most information about what is possible,
and may well consequently have done the most thinking and preparing.
This is not necessarily a problem, as long as others trust them and are
organized enough themselves to retain their autonomy. The local group
should make provisions for sharing as much information with others as is
safe, and also be sure not to assume unthinkingly a position of
authority over the other groups; a local group attempting to lead an
uninformed mass on an unrevealed secret mission can be a real recipe for
disaster.
One of the most important things to do before an action is learn the
area. As many members of each group as possible should spend time
traversing it, taking careful note of escape routes and dead ends,
cameras, places the police may mass or seek to protect, possible
targets, possible resources (barricading materials such as moveable
fences, etc.), and above all making sure they will not get lost. Those
who cannot be there in advance should at least memorize maps. It is
possible to get aerial maps off the internet, for locations for which
street maps are unavailable or do not suffice.
Make sure you have safe accommodations before the action, if thereâs any
chance the police are expecting it. Far too many times, the police have
raided activist housing before an action and arrested hundreds of
people; do everything you can to find a place to sleep and prepare that
is off their radar, so you wonât run that risk. Stay with a friend of
your uncle, or rent sleeping space at a YMCA. Donât be stuck trying to
sleep in your car on the streets theyâre patrolling in preparation for
the next dayâs riot! If youâre from out of town, make equally sure your
traveling group (which may not be the same as your affinity group) has
planned a safe regrouping and departure from the area, and has a backup
plan in case of emergency. Keep in mind that if things really go off,
certain parts of the city may be closed off to you after the action, so
youâll need to regroup elsewhere.
Advance meetings are a critical part of the preparation for most Blocs.
Again, how secure or public these meetings are will depend on how many
people (and with what level of direct action experience) you hope to
involve, and what degree of legal risk youâre willing to take. If youâre
trying to organize a massive but largely symbolic open Bloc, you might
choose to circulate meeting times openly; if youâre organizing the core
of a Bloc that will be open in the street but needs some preparation in
private, tell others you trust to pass on an invitation to the meeting
only to those they trust; if youâre preparing an entirely closed Bloc,
not only should you only reveal the time and place of the meeting to
your companions in the action, but you should also make sure they all
know not to mention the existence of the project itself to anyone, and
to have alibis ready so their other friends wonât wonder what theyâre up
to.
Meeting location is an important factor in security. You donât want a
place that can be monitored (no private residences), you donât want a
place where you can be observed all together (not the park across from
the site of the next dayâs actions), you donât want a place where you
can be seen entering and leaving or that someone could enter
unexpectedlyâpost scouts, lock the door once things get started, watch
out for anything suspicious. Iâll never forget exiting an ultra-high
security meeting in a university basement only to discover that while
weâd been locked in, a crowd of liberal student protestors had flooded
the adjoining room to watch a slideshowâwhich all the organizers of the
next dayâs militant Black Bloc had to wade through in embarrassment!
Oops! Small groups can take walks and chat; larger groups can meet in
quiet outdoor settingsâgo hiking or camping, if thereâs timeâor in
private rooms in public buildings, such as library study rooms or empty
classrooms. Best case scenario: though he has no idea youâre involved in
direct action, youâre close with the old guy who runs the cafĂ© across
town, and he doesnât mind letting you have the back room one afternoon
for a private party, no questions asked.
Once everyone is together, if the folks in attendance do not all know
each other already you can establish the level of security by playing
the âvouched forâgame: each person puts a hand on someone else present
they know and trust. Hopefully, everyone in the room will be touching,
through one connection or another, and the meeting can begin with some
degree of confidence in the air.
If you are part of an affinity group participating in a larger Bloc,
youâll want to have your own meetings first, so when a representative of
your group attends the larger meeting she can present the information
you have, the resources you have to offer, the goals you hope to
achieve, and the plans you propose, according to how much of this you
trust a larger number of people to know. If this is a mass action and
there is a larger spokescouncil meeting taking place, at least one
person from the Bloc or in communication with it should attend; it may
or may not be safe for this person to identify herself as such, but she
should at least be there to take note of what else is going on. A
representative of the Bloc could attend the spokescouncil presenting
herself as a part of an affinity group hoping to do support for those
involved in Bloc activity, and thus test the waters or even meet others
interested in the Bloc.
In the meetings with your affinity group and the Bloc, youâll want to
establish a plan of some kind for the day (these almost never come off
as intended, but they help to get everyone in practice thinking about
the situation, and itâs good to be prepared to have something to do in
case everything does work out), and a structure to facilitate the Bloc
communicating and making quick, democratic decisions, as described
above. Structure will make you adaptable and thus effective, whether or
not your plans come to fruition. You should establish a meeting point
for the Bloc, plans for dispersal, and a possible time and place for
regrouping, if that would be desirable should the Bloc be divided early.
Share legal information, what resources will be available for those who
are arrested. Go over every possible scenario, what you can expect from
each other in each of them. Psychology is important here: plan for the
worst, but donât demoralize yourselvesâyouâre considering the possible
problems so youâll be ready for them, not to talk yourself out of
action.
Finallyâif there will be more than one language spoken among
demonstrators or locals, make sure to learn a few important phrases in
each of them: âwe are not against you, we want no trouble with you,â
âdonât run, walk!â âmedical assistance needed!â
It is often wise to write the phone number of a legal contact on your
body in permanent marker shortly before an action, so you can be sure it
will be available to you if you are arrested, regardless of what else
transpires. You may need to know other cell phone numbers and so on for
the dayâs actions: try to learn them by heart, or, failing that, write
them on your skin in an ink that you can rub off if absolutely
necessary. Youâll also want to have enough money on you for food,
transportation, and phone calls, but no more, as that would probably
disappear in the event of arrest. Remove piercings that could be torn
out. Do not carry your address book, or unnecessary anarchist
propaganda, or anything needlessly incriminating or illegal; take your
I.D. with you if you want to be processed as your âtrueâ identity in the
event of arrest, make sure you have no identifying papers on you if you
plan on withholding your identity from the police in that event. Carry
plenty of water and high-energy foods with you; be prepared for
emergenciesâif you get separated from everyone and have to spend the
night hiding out in a dumpster, you donât want to be starving tooâbut
donât weigh yourself down with anything unnecessary. Carry with you
whatever first aid supplies you know how to use that might be useful. Be
aware of what medical assistanceâsuch as street medics and clinicsâis
going to be present in the streets, and have a plan if you have to go to
a hospital (a fake name and social security number, and an alibi, if you
fear you might encounter police there); be similarly aware of whether
legal observers and media will be present in the streets, and whether
youâll want them around or far away from you.
Be prepared for the situation at hand. If the police outnumber you, are
waiting for you, and there are reporters and civilians in the area,
donât come in a gas mask and body armor like the folks in your favorite
street riot photographsâtheyâre not going to gas and beat you, theyâre
going to try to encircle and arrest you, and youâll need to be able to
move quickly and blend well to avoid it.
Clothing is the one essential feature of the Bloc tactic, and the rock
upon which it rests or founders. Far away from the action itself, you
may want to practice moving and acting freely in your Bloc gear, so you
wonât still be getting used to it when itâs too late. The whole idea of
a Bloc is to look indistinguishable from each other, so make sure
whatever your Bloc theme is, everyone is on the same page about it, and
that your own clothing doesnât bear any features that distinguish it. In
a worst-case scenario, you can make a t-shirt into a mask: use the neck
hole for your eyes, tie the sleeves behind your head.
Your clothing should protect you from the hazards you expect, while not
weighing you down unnecessarily; it should be adaptable should
unexpected situations arise. Layers are key: if possible, wear an outer
layer in which to travel to the Bloc action, a layer of Bloc clothing,
and then another layer of getaway clothing beneath thisâwithout risking
hyperthermia, of course. It may be most sensible to carry the outer
layer of your getaway layer in a sealed bag, in case you are covered in
paint, tear gas, etc. by the time you need to use it. If you expect
chemical weapons attacks, wear a waterproof outer layer that admits no
access, and under that synthetic fibers that wonât absorb chemicals
(cotton will). For serious confrontations, choose a gasmask with
shatter-proof lenses and replaceable non-asbestos filters that wonât
obscure your vision too much; otherwise, you can breathe through a
bandanna soaked in vinegar or lime juice (transport the bandanna to the
action in a sealed bag; you can carry a lime or two with you to keep it
fresh) and wear swimming goggles (these can be obtained in prescription
form for those who wear eyeglasses; when not wearing them over your
eyes, keep them inside out on your forehead so they wonât fog up). You
can add a particle mask underneath the bandanna for extra protection.
Iâve read that ear plugs can offer some protection against concussion
grenades, but how one is supposed to know when to put them in and when
to have them out so as to be appropriately attentive is beyond me. If
you expect to risk receiving blows or projectile fire, wear body armor
of some kind (sports gear can suffice) and foam or padding, and a
bicycle or motorcycle helmet.
A Bloc that intends to defend territory in clashes with the police may
decide to use shields. These can be made from trash can lids or cut
traffic barrels, inflatable rafts or inner tubes heavily reinforced with
duct tape and possibly a layer of tarp, good old-fashioned cardboard, or
layered (super-glued together) and reinforced plexiglass. Soften up the
handles with a thick wrapping of duct tape so the shock of impact wonât
break your wrists, and provide plenty of room on the grip so your
knuckles donât take all the blow. Larger shields are better for
protecting against projectile weapons or functioning as a mobile
barricade, while smaller ones provide better mobility and serve better
in hand-to-hand combat. A line of individual shield-bearers can form a
shield wall, especially if they are practiced at moving together;
alternatively, massive multi-person shields can be constructed, such as
the insulation board placards mentioned below. The latter shields should
have enough joints in them to navigate narrower streets; keep in mind
that these joints are also their weakest points.
Slapstick as it is, it often happens that comrades who discussed and
prepared together will not be able to recognize each other in their Bloc
gear on the day of the action. You may want to identify yourselves to
each other early on, especially people from different cities and
affinity groups who intend to work together, so it will be easier to
keep up with each other in the chaos.
The moment the Bloc forms can be pivotal. Where and when to mask up is a
hard question: if you do it too late, once youâve joined the Bloc, you
risk being identified; if you do it too early, before youâve joined the
Bloc, you risk being nabbed by the police. Little masked groups walking
around before or after events are perfect targets for their enemies. At
a big demonstration, one of the best options is to get in your gear in
the midst of a large crowd that is not yet under much surveillance, with
people around you that you trust, and to move in the body of the crowd
to a meeting point with your fellows in the Bloc. Wearing layers is
important here, too: if you can start in a disposable outermost layer
that makes you look like a civilian or liberal activist (if perhaps one
overdressed for the weather), masking up will simply mean discarding it
and simultaneously pulling up your mask. At an action in which you have
the benefit of surprise, you can always pick a safe, quiet place near
your convergence point and mask up there.
In a mass action situation, the convergence of the Bloc should never
occur before other protesters are out in the streets; once again, the
police will simply pick off the Bloc when no one else is there to
provide crowd cover or bear witness. Donât mill around for long at your
convergence pointâbe timely, and get moving. It can happen that the Bloc
has a difficult time getting out into the field of action, once it has
gathered. One of the best options at a mass action is to have the Bloc
form somewhere outside the area of heavy police presence, and move into
it (uh, if thatâs really where you need to go! maybe you should consider
what you could accomplish in the other directionâŠ) as part of a much
larger group, before separating to act as a Bloc. When moving with a
mass of others, a Bloc should keep close to them as well as tight
internally; police may try to push in and isolate the Bloc.
Once together, stay tight spatially (with the obvious exception of the
scouts, who need to be further out)âyou need to keep police out of your
ranks, prevent snatch squads from getting in to grab individuals, and
also keep your friends at your sides rather than strangers or possible
undercover officers. Banners (reinforced with PVC pipe or, far better,
if you can get them safely out into the streets, great placards made
from tough but limber insulation board, with hand-holds cut into them;
these can be tied or chained together, to create a mobile, jointed full
size barricade) down the front and sides of a group can offer useful
barriers to this end. Remember, your physical presence and togetherness
comprise your strength, your readiness to repel police charges and foil
arrest attempts is your marching permit. If you strike when theyâre not
prepared to make mass arrests or attack with chemical weapons, theyâll
be forced to try to intimidate you by singling out individuals for
attack or arrest; make this impossible, defend each other and donât back
down.
Itâs possible to conceal useful materials in an area in advanceâa
dumpster can be filled with sticks and rocks or spraypaint cans.
Sensitive materials (such as projectiles) can be transported to the
action concealed in puppets, and puppets built from paper mache over
stronger stuff can serve as effective shieldsâthough those poor
puppeteers get enough shit from the secret service already without
suffering on your account too. Keep in mind that carrying a bag of
rocks, bottles, gasoline, etc. will not look good if you get arrested.
Donât forget, also, that with a simple tool itâs always possible to
break concrete or asphalt up into projectiles on the spotâbeneath the
concrete, the paving stones, isnât that how the old French saying goes?
Everyone in your group should have a one-time-only nickname for the
duration of the planning and action, so you can address each other
without giving away your identities. Those communicating over cell
phones or hand-held radios can count on the possibility that the police
are listening in; it may be wise for those doing communications to learn
a code of some kind, or at least keep in mind what not to say over the
air. It can also be good for an affinity group or Bloc to learn coded
announcements in advance, so you can communicate openly without anyone
else understanding. âTighten up!â, âThe pigs are moving in!â, âWe need
to break through their lines!â, âItâs time, letâs do it!â, âSplit up and
regroup at convergence point B!âare all examples of typical
announcements you might want to code. Donât use codes unnecessarily, or
assume that if you just say âcookieâ every time you mean âmolotov
cocktailâitâs going to protect you; clumsy use of code can actually put
you in greater danger, for the authorities can claim that your coded
terms stood for more serious things than they actually did. Also, donât
be afraid to make uncoded announcements to everyone: âDonât panic, stick
together!â, âWe need to get closer and fill in this space here, slow
down up ahead!â, âMedic!â, âWho can verify what heâs saying?â, âHold the
fucking line!â
In the heat of action, itâs easy for all the structures you have set up
in your affinity group to dissolve as individuals get caught up in new
developments. Donât lose your head and let the mob mentality take over;
make sure to stay spatially close with your group at all times, keep in
communication with them about what is happening, donât get distracted
from your role. It might help to have an informal formationâyou can stay
a couple paces behind a particular companion at all times, with another
friend always at your side, and another behind you, for example. Plans
will change, but donât lose the structures that enable you to change
them in unison.
Donât panic, donât believe unsubstantiated rumors. You probably wonât
get a clear idea of what was going on everywhere else during the action
until the day after, if you ever do; in the midst of everything, it will
be easy to get buffeted about by waves of faulty information, so resist
acting on news until youâve double-checked it. Donât spread rumors
yourself, and donât just tell others your conclusions based on what
youâve seen or heardâtell them what youâve seen or heard and let them
draw conclusions too.
Scouts should practice using communication equipment without being
obvious, and while bicycling, if applicable; those recognized as scouts
can count on police harassment, which will be all the more problematic
because they are alone and critical to the success of the group. They
should be particularly quick and alert. Those using radios should make
sure they have decided together on a channel to use in advance, and a
backup channel should there be problems.
Barricades can be made out of anything from newspaper dispensers to
burning dumpsters, and can serve to slow police progress or simply halt
traffic; if youâve scouted in advance, you should be able to get them in
place very quickly, amid crowd confusion. Donât ever completely block
off an escape route you may need! In a less confrontational situation,
you can make it more difficult for the police to follow you in an
organized line by simply moving the wrong way up a one-way street,
provided thereâs still traffic coming down it. Offensive use of
projectiles is serious stuffâone can go to prison for many years, if
arrestedâbut it can serve to keep police at a distance in order to
protect an area, or provoke them into using tear gas (which may actually
be a tactic they hoped to avoid). Donât begin throwing projectiles in a
small group that can be surroundedâsave it for massive clashes in which
the city belongs to the police in one direction and the protesters in
the other. When you throw, do so as part of a large group, from the
front of the crowd, and maintain a steady hail in the contested area.
Those behind the throwers can take provide more ammunition via bucket
brigade.
If youâre planning to do property destruction, come equipped with the
appropriate tools. Make sure youâre informed about your targets and
their weakness or strength; if you get in position and strike that
felonious blow only to find youâre unable to break the shatter-proof
glass, youâve just risked a lot for nothing. Sometimes spray paint can
be more eloquent than broken glass: âNetwork TV, keep your eyes on the
issuesâacross the front of the smashed corporate storefront theyâll want
to filmâor, of course, if possible, you can always just spraypaint their
camera lenses! Stay abreast of the different stationsâ coverage, so you
can offer a pithy retort to the reporter who accuses you of interfering
with free speech: âWe saw your coverage of the social forum last
nightâyou know as well as I do you donât care about free speech.â Then
disappear into the crowd while he angrily telephones his boss.
The most dangerous weapons you should probably ever consider using in a
street confrontation are molotov cocktails. Understand that if you use
these, you can expect serious reprisals from the police; only do so when
youâve got a police-free zone behind you and a sympathetic crowd close
by that you can escape into without unnecessarily endangering anyone.
Best case scenario, you split from the angry mass in a small team, apply
your cocktail, and disappear. Try to aim them at property, not officers,
if possible. Of course, with the government spending thousands of
dollars on each officerâs special storm trooper suit, throwing stuff at
cops is practically a victimless crime (and donât give me that shit
about more police officers than demonstrators going to the hospital at
the anti-I.M.F. protests in Pragueâfirst of all, how many demonstrators
do you think felt safe going to those hospitals, and second of all,
havenât you ever heard of offensive injuries?)âbut youâd be much better
off throwing paint bombs at them (which can be made from glass bottles,
light bulbs, hollow Christmas tree ornaments, or wax balls filled with
paint), or shooting paint gun pellets from your slingshot. If they get
paint over their clear helmets and shields, no oneâs injured, but
theyâre rendered blind in their expensive armor and have to retreat.
There is a variety of police weapons that may be deployed against you:
pepper spray, tear gas, water cannons, concussion grenades, rubber
bullets, clubs, charging horses or vehicles. Know what to expect in each
situation, and be prepared. Sometimes the best defense really is a good
offense; a Bloc prepared to act more quickly and courageously than law
enforcers expect can disable a water cannon before it is employed
against them. Tear gas canisters can be thrown back at the police, but
they will be extremely hot when they land; if you expect to be doing
this, make sure you have on welding gloves or other serious protection
from heat, and that you have a good enough throwing arm and aim to get
them out of the area entirely. Donât pick them up until they begin
releasing gasâthey may explode and injure you. Horses may balk at
approaching an area where things are on fire; a less confrontational
mass can deter a horse charge by all sitting or lying down.
Police will endeavor to disperse unwanted crowds when they are not
prepared to arrest them. Tear gas, concussion grenades, horse charges,
rubber bullets, etc. may be employed first, if the mass seems
particularly rowdy; then, when they deem it safe, the officers will move
in. They will probably do so in lines, charging and falling back to
regroup and consolidate their gain before charging again. Violent
individual arrests will take place at this time to intimidate the mass,
unless the side of the throng facing them is tight-knit and protected by
barricades or united by linked arms. While the crowd seems volatile and
daring, the police may well keep a distance; if the crowd is confused,
passive, or disintegrating, they may move in to form lines in its midst,
to speed the process along. At no point should you panic and runâthis
can only increase your chances of charging into trouble, and endanger
others in the process; if others start running, shout out âWalk, donât
run!âAt the same time, keep moving quickly, keep things chaotic to
prevent the police from getting a sense of where their opponents are or
what to expect; never let them come together inside the mass.
If you are on the street, they will attempt to force you onto the
sidewalk; this thins the crowd, lowers morale, and puts you a step
closer to being cornered. If you are forced onto the sidewalk, you can
use a street crossing or turn onto a side street to retake the asphalt;
banner-carriers can rush forward and block the space to be taken while
it is filled with people, as can bicyclists. The same goes for other
lanes of traffic, if they are endeavoring to limit you to the one you
have seized. If the police cannot get everyone onto the sidewalk, they
will at least try to scare the less militant in the crowd into moving
onto it and adopting a spectator role, so they can then deal with the
hard core contingent; in this case, try to keep moving and circulating
so the âspectatorsâcan be absorbed again, though of course if you are
moving in a tight Bloc you donât want to lose your cohesion in such a
situation. In an urban environment, it can be possible for an organized,
alert group to move more quickly on foot than even mounted police
officers; always keep moving and stay ahead of your foes. Sudden bursts
of speed and changes in direction can keep them particularly
confusedâjust make sure your group can engage in these without itself
becoming confused or divided. To coordinate simultaneous action in large
groups, you can shout out a countdown from ten to one.
Police snatch squads can be sent into a crowd to grab individuals the
police consider leaders or dangerous (or who have been observed
committing a crime). Sometimes you can clearly see the commanding
officer point out an individual to be snatched (this can also be the
case if there is an officer firing rubber bulletsâanother officer may be
picking out the targets for him, and by watching you can tell who is
about to be targeted). The squad will attempt to surround the target,
while keeping an open corridor back to police lines. To protect against
this, keep a close watch on police movementsâthey may form a straight
line perpendicular to the mass before pushing in. If you know who the
target is, get them out of the area and into different clothing. Put
your body between approaching officers and the target; keep moving and
obstructing their path, while making it seem as accidental as possible,
so as not to become a target yourself. If a group can isolate and
surround individual officers that have entered a crowd, these will back
off if they donât feel in control.
Others can attempt to unarrest individuals who have been nabbed. The
time to do this is as soon as the police strike, before they have made
their way back to their lines. Youâll need a few people to break the
officersâ grip and others to block their path. As soon as your comrade
is free, link arms and disappear immediately into the crowd. The squad
will probably try to snatch again, and will aim for the unarresters now
too; keep in mind that unarresting may result in more serious criminal
charges than the original target would have faced, so only hazard it if
you have a good chance of success or the stakes are too high not to. It
has happened before that police vehicles surrounded by an angry crowd
have been forced to release arrestees, but they have to be trapped
there, not just heckled. If their tires are punctured (stick the
sidewall, not the tread), that will force them to a halt, but popping
tires can be loudâagain, donât try this unless youâre in a trusted crowd
with cover in range.
If you are grabbed by police, keep in mind that even self-defense of the
mildest sort can result in assault charges. If you expect your
companions to try to snatch you back, keep the arresting officersâ job
difficult by continuing to move, or else go limp: this will not result
in assault charges (though âresisting arrestâis not unheard of), and
will force the officers to work much harder to move you. Bear in mind
that going limp may provoke them into being even more violent to you. If
every arrest they make costs them a lot of manpower and time, your
friends will be in a better position to escape or attempt to rescue you.
Thereâs always the chance that the police will totally surround your
group and arrest you one by one. If this occurs, youâre in trouble. The
best defense is to keep abreast of police movement by means of scouts:
they may attempt to move up side streets to surround you, or lure you
forward while sending a line around to cut off your retreat. If you find
your group surrounded by police lines that are thin in one direction,
you can attempt to charge out: use your own tight front line, protected
with a barrier (banner, shields, fencing, linked arms at the least), to
push as a solid wall, potentially with a plow point at the very front to
divide them. A Bloc once used a wheelbarrow appropriated from a
construction site to front a charge that broke through police lines.
Apply this tactic as soon as possible after youâve been encircled,
before they are entirely sure of the situation, and with maximum
confidence if you want it to work. Often your best chance to escape will
be all together as a cohesive group; this also allows you to keep your
equipment and clothing in the process, so you can maintain your
effectiveness as a Bloc, even if you only choose to use it to escape. On
the other hand, if you are part of a crowd that is moving into what you
think is a trap, it may be wisest just to disappear onto the sidewalk
and out of your Bloc gear before you enter a space you canât escape. If
you are hopelessly trapped, make sure you ditch all incriminating items
before you are arrested, hopefully in such a way that they cannot be
connected to you.
Remember that the police wonât be able to make mass arrests unless they
have lots of plastic handcuffs and vans or busses in the area, so these
can be a good tip-off for what to expect. The same goes for chemical
weapons; if theyâre ready to use tear gas, theyâll all be wearing
gasmasks themselves.
Think about what the goals of the police will be, and how these affect
your options: if they are trying to keep a parade route or fenced area
secure, you may actually have free run of other areas for some time. If
they are trying to keep a massive march under observation, they will
have to split their forces to keep up with a breakaway march; this will
only be difficult for them if they are unprepared in numbers, of course,
but in certain situations it may be true that ten groups of fifty are
much more effective than one group of five hundred. There will be
moments during unexpected developments when they are paralyzed waiting
for orders; take advantage of theseâbut if an unusually long period
passes without police activity, it may be an indication that they have a
trick up their sleeves, such as a new, more heavily armed and armored
force massing nearby.
At an action the powers that be see coming, you can expect to be under
surveillance by undercover officers, and you may have to deal with
agents provocateurs, too. Stay aware of those around you, especially
strangers; undercover agents may be easy to identify (pairs of big men
with two days of stubble on their faces, nice wristwatches, and
communications equipment), or very difficult to. Keep your companions
aware of every person you suspect, but donât âoutâ undercover agents
unless you are absolutely sure they are agents (for example, one of your
scouts has been following one, and seen him chatting with his
coworkers), and something concrete can be gained from it.
Unsubstantiated accusations between demonstrators can only make
situations more tense and demonstration environments less welcoming. As
for agents provocateurs and just plain stupid people, they may be moving
among or near you, smashing locally owned stores and private vehicles;
whether or not you can prove they are cops or allies thereof, you can
certainly make it clear to them that what they are doing is unacceptable
and has to stop. Donât get snarled up in a tactical debate in the middle
of an action, just make your point (or, in a worst case scenario,
intervene) and get on with things.
Stay aware of others, too, besides the police; other demonstrators of
more âliberalâor authoritarian bents may take it upon themselves to
interfere your activities, unmasking you, assaulting you, or pointing
you out to authorities; the same goes for local civilians. Never, ever
respond to this with violence; walk away, or run if necessary. A direct
action that turns into a brawl with locals or other activists is
disastrous for everyone. Attempt to talk out differences, if this
appears possible and worthwhile, when tempers have cooled, in a safe
space removed from the immediate action; send a spokesperson if
necessary, preferably a supporter from outside the Bloc. At the least,
this can distract the meddlers while the rest of the group moves on to
other actions.
As crazy as things get, remember that the police have firearms, and
thereâs rarely any reason to risk getting killed for an action. A street
confrontation with better-armed police officers is almost always going
to be something more of a spectacle of confrontation than a
no-holds-barred, life-or-death battle; thereâs no shame in this fact,
itâs just important to take into account. The police are restricted in
what they can do by what public opinion will decree about it; you are
limited in what you can do by a similar question, for whenever you move
up to a more confrontational tactic the police will immediately upgrade
their tactics to a level higher than yours. In this sense,
streetfighting is a matter of chivalry for us radicals: we always permit
our opponents the more powerful tools, in order to keep the violence
from getting too out of handâand, of course, to show off how much more
noble and courageous we are! If the papers read (as they have before)
âViolence erupted when activists began throwing back tear gas canisters
fired by the police,âit will be clear to everyone whatâs going on.
Stay flexible, tactically. If you showed up in riot gear for a
confrontation with the police, but find yourselves totally outnumbered
and unprepared, you can turn the other direction and move through nearby
neighborhoods picking up trash and beautifying the areaâthatâll give the
media a confusing message to distort!
Once again, all this will be very different if you are applying the Bloc
tactic outside the demonstration setting. Rather than engaging in a
confrontation with the police which you hope will be contagious, or at
least risking the possibility, you will probably be doing everything you
can to avoid encountering the police. Scouts, in this case, will serve
more to warn you about the approach of the police than to monitor the
lumbering movements of nearby police forces, and, accordingly, may be
better posted at freeway overpasses or in disguise outside the liquor
store than on bicycles.
Escape: at the end of the action, the final remaining challenge is to
get out of your gear and disappear. Layers, once again, are key: under
your Bloc clothing, you should be wearing clothing that will make you
blend easily with whatever liberal protesters or civilians will be in
the area. You may have to get down to this layer at an instantâs notice:
for instance, if the police have singled you out and are pursuing you.
Make sure itâs a quick and easy transition to make (though not one that
can happen accidentally, in the midst of the action!). Try to do this in
a mass of inattentive people, or around a corner or in a bush; if youâre
seen or caught on camera changing, all that trouble you went to masking
up may be wasted. Hopefully you have a clever escape route or two
already planned out: an inconspicuous alley, an open space too wide for
any police barricade to block, a fence you can climb more quickly than
any pig officer. If possible, you might want to lock a bicycle somewhere
nearby, so once youâve gotten away you can hop on that and move quickly;
in urban environments, you can also try to get a taxi (provided theyâre
out and about), or get on the subway (though in a serious situation this
may be shut down, or the police checking people coming in), or duck into
a restaurant and just eat fries in a quiet corner in your civilian
disguise until things quiet down. Unless things have gotten really
hairy, you should still be with your partner, if not a few members of
your affinity group.
Finally, the number one rule of all direct action: quit while youâre
ahead. Take things as far as you can, but live to fight another day,
unless this really is the Last Battle.
After the action, gather again in your affinity group at a place and
time safely removed from danger and surveillance. Give everyone a space
to share how theyâre feeling. Discuss and critique what happened, what
you learned from it, what it means for the future. If applicable, make
sure to report on your conclusions to other affinity groups who were
involved, and seek their feedback as well. If any of you have been
arrested or are facing other difficulties such as injury, discuss how to
handle this. Celebrate your achievements, offer emotional support, swear
and plot revenge if need be. Make sure above all that everyone involved
knows they are loved and supported.
Donât ever brag about your achievements in a Bloc, or share anything
others donât need to know, especially if it could incriminate someone.
Keep in mind that itâs possible youâve been caught on camera and,
however carefully disguised you were, identified by the authorities. In
Sweden, a few months after a street confrontation at a meeting of the
European Union, early one morning the police arrived at the residences
of a couple dozen activists who had been involved and arrested them all
at the same moment. Thatâs a worst case scenarioâdonât let it make you
paranoid. Just stay aware of the dangers; if youâre doing a lot of heavy
stuff, or organizing for it, you might want to live in such a way that
your enemies would be hard-pressed to know where to find you any given
morning.
Some important related subjects not covered in this recipe:
Molotov Cocktail: a martini made with too much vermouth and not enough
olives.
Local anarchists and Earth First!ers wanted to make an offensive strike
against a biotechnology company whose crimes had not been brought to
public attention (in fact, the corporation had bribed the local town
government). There was considerable discussion about what tactics to
useâand there was a huge variety of tactical differences, with some of
us committed to non-violence and others being wild militant
anarcho-primitivists! Being from small towns in an area not well-known
for having lots of activists, we had to work together to allow everyone
to participate at whatever level they were comfortable. The non-violent
folks could have dropped a banner, or someone might have come at night
and shredded the crops, but what could be done that would allow us to
work together, be safe, damage this evil corporation, and provide a wake
up call such as our placid small towns had never seen before? What
better than the âblocâ! Who says we need a major mobilization or a giant
anti-war protest to use such tactics? We can have the excitement and the
action of any global day of action any day of the week in our own town.
Itâs not like thereâs more state to smash in Washington D.C., Genoa, or
Seattle than there is in our own neighborhoods. Not only that, but this
time the cops wouldnât be ready for us.
Since we were going to combat biotechnology, it made more sense for us
to dress in biohazard suits than in blackânot only did they disguise us,
but they got our message across by themselves. Bought in bulk, they were
less than three dollars each. The suits lacked face masks, so we made a
quick trip down to the hospital for them. We started spreading news of
the action to our friends by word of mouth, keeping our bloc limited to
only those we trusted.
Committed folks drove in from out of town and set up a âbase campâ for
the action at a local farm, building banners, preparing flags, writing
flyers and media releases. The excitement was contagious: local
puppeteers brought down a gargantuan puppet of an indigenous farmer, and
a local farmer wanted to dig up the front lawn of the biotechnology
company to plant organic seeds. Work was spontaneously and naturally
divided among teams: media, art, etc. The media team made different
pamphlets for different peopleâone for the corporate media, one for
people walking down the street, even one for the employees working there
to explain to them what was happening. As time progressed and more and
more car-loads of people drove down the dirt road to the farm, we knew
that Monday morning, our day to strike, was going to be larger than we
expected.
We had picked our target in complete secrecy, and only a few people knew
its name and location. If somehow word had leaked to the biotechnology
company that we were planning something, our action would have been
ruined. Unlike many blocs at protests, we didnât have a horde of
protesters to serve as a distraction, so the main element in our favor
was surprise. We told everyone else to trust usâit was going to be a
biotechnology target somewhere nearbyâand that we had scoped it out.
Indeed, we had discovered that the entire complex, one of the main
research centers for a biotechnology company, had only a few security
guards!
This company had genetically engineered corn to feature âtraitor
seeds,âseeds modified to be dependent on their expensive pesticides.
Farmers would purchase these cheap seeds, and then go into debt buying
the pesticide, losing their land and livelihood. This destruction of
small and indigenous farming and of biodiversity was leading to huge
demonstrations in Brazil and India in which these crops were ripped from
the ground and the seeds burnt, in public! These seeds were being
designed right down the streetâand no one even knew about it. The
company was so smug they didnât even hire much in the way of security.
Everyone agreed that it was a worthy target, and everyone from pacifists
to militants was happy with keeping the exact location secret until the
day of action.
The night before, we went over a map, including aerial photos (which are
easily downloaded from the internetâtry terraserver.com) and detailed
maps. We didnât give away the precise location except to one driver from
each of the cars. People were given an all-too-quick training on
un-arresting and bloc techniques, and communication equipment was
distributed among the affinity groups. This lack of training, especially
considering most of the participants had never been part of a bloc, was
a great mistake. Still, affinity groups had come together naturally over
the few days before the action, everyone joining groups with close
friends who wanted to risk the same level of arrest and participate in
the same type of action. Without any argument or coercion, autonomous
groups had formed for a truly diverse range of actions: climbing on the
roof of the building and dropping banners, digging up the front yard of
the biotechnology company to plant seeds, doing independent media work,
passing out flyers on the sides of nearby highways to the traffic that
would be snarled by the spectacle we were to create, performing in a
play involving the giant indigenous farmer puppet, acting as police
liaisons (a police liaison is a person whose job is basically to delay
the police by acting as the âspokespersonâ for the group), and, of
course, property destruction. Surprisingly, there was no predictable
conflict about violence versus non-violence; everyone felt that they
were participating in a collective action in which every group and every
action was vital to the overall success of the whole projectâthe project
at hand being to utterly humiliate a biotechnology company that had
counted on no one even knowing they existed.
At the crack of dawn, everyone put on their biotechnology suits,
double-checked their props, and jumped into their cars. We parked in the
parking lots of a nearby hotel and family restaurant, and ran into the
front yard of the massive biotechnology complex. Immediately groups
scrambled up onto the roof and dropped banners; other groups began
spray-painting âFuck Biotechnologyâ and âFree the Seedâ on the walls of
the building. Giant banners were unfurled, and within minutes an
unearthly play began, with groups of biotechnology-suited people and a
traditionally-dressed farmer tearing up the carefully manicured lawn of
the company, planting organic seeds, while giant biotechnology corn
visuals were erected facing the highway. The employees of the company
must have thought one of their own experiments had gone horribly awry,
and fled inside, locking their doors and staring out the windows. The
security guards, vastly outnumbered, just watched with mouths agape.
This entire action was visible from the highway, and more participants
dressed in biohazard suits handed our flyers out and carefully talked
through the issues with passing trafficâtraffic that soon ground to a
halt. Within fifteen minutes, our action had completely paralyzed one of
the largest biotechnology companies in the world and had frozen traffic
on one of the major highways in the United States. Of course, it was the
cops that actually shut down the highwayâmaybe in fear the public would
see the spectacle ahead.
Of course the cops did come eventuallyâalthough, due to the element of
surprise, we had free run of the place for almost an hour. Even when the
first cops arrived, they realized like the security guards that they
were outnumbered by a large mass of maniacs in biotech suits. They tried
âtalkingâto our police liaisons, who repeatedly told them we had to
consult with each other on any decision, a delaying tactic that enabled
us to get more of the action doneâa mistake in retrospect, since that
was when we should have re-grouped and prepared for the inevitable
police assault. Even after reinforcements arrived, the cops were afraid
to act until some of the businessmen came out of the office and
whispered in their ears. A few of the officers began trying to arrest
people, starting by arresting the only person they could identifyâthe
farmer. Unfortunately, all the affinity groups were so absorbed in
carrying out the actions they had planned they let some precious seconds
pass before they could actâand by then the police managed to
pepper-spray one individual in the face. However, through quick
thinking, our white biotech suit disguises, and some ridiculously brave
unarresting techniques (including giving cops wedgies and pulling people
free from their grasp) we managed to protect almost everyone from
arrest.
At this point the bloc had become a very loose cluster of affinity
groups, most folks not even spatially near each other, which played into
the hands of the cops. When calls to âbloc upâ were made, it soon became
apparent most people didnât have any idea what we were talking about,
and had little grasp that by gathering together as a larger group we
could stand off the copsâa difficulty due to our lack of training
beforehand. Still, when cops came out on bikes, protesters nimbly jumped
over fences to avoid them, leading one cop to a near-collision with the
fence! For a good fifteen minutes pure pandemonium reigned, with cops
unsuccessfully chasing protesters and protesters swarming outside the
copsâ grasp without evacuating the premises of the company. The farmer
chose to be arrested non-violently while the person who was
pepper-sprayed was finally cuffed after a considerable battle. Finally,
the cops settled down and agreed to let us move our protest off the
premises. Rescuing our giant banners, we managed to regroup our
scattered forces and make a quick getaway to our cars. Altogether, out
of fifty-some people at the action, there were three arrests.
We tried to make it back to our secret hide-out, only to find out the
city had sent undercover cops after us. After some quick driving, we
escaped the police and pulled into a truck stationâwe had to dispose of
our biotech suits, which we were still wearing! We went around back to
an isolated dumpster and began throwing our biotech suits and other
incriminating evidence inside. Then, to our surprise, we noticed a
trucker watching us through his shades. He gave us a thumbs up and a
shady smile. Our victory was all over the CB radios!
Reunited at our secret hideout, we gathered around and decided to march
downtown and to the jail. Everywhere, people were talking about our
action, at diners and in shopping centers, old men and young womenâno
one had seen it coming, and people got the message! Not only that, but
almost everyone was supportiveââI donât believe theyâre putting that in
our food,â âtheyâre messing with Godâs creation,â âthat companyâs just
out to make money regardless of the cost to this town or the worldââŠI
had never before seen such a positive reaction to an action. When we
finally got to the jail, our boring little town was scandalizedâas was
the biotech company!
A lawyer agreed to defend the defendants for two hundred bucks, and we
raised the money through benefit concerts in which every style of music
from punk to bluegrass was played. In court, the cops admitted that due
to everyone wearing white biotech suits they were unable to identify
exactly who did what, so they couldnât really make any charges stick. At
the end, the defendants were let off with community service and the cops
even apologized!
As in any action, there were things that went wrong and things that went
right. We definitely had free run of the place for a while, and could
have inflicted much more serious damage on the biotechnology company
than we didâat the risk of possibly alienating some people. Given the
weight of the issue, it probably would have been worth it. We definitely
should have done more unarresting trainingsâthe methods we used, like
jumping and wrestling with cops, may be courageous, but are not
recommended. We could have also used a good bloc trainingâpeople didnât
really respond when folks called out âbloc upâ to tighten our ranks.
Fifty people together could definitely have stood up the cops, but when
people panicked and began running around as lone individuals, the cops
managed to nab them. Lastly, we should have had a lawyer ready ahead of
time. Still, hindsight is always clearer than foresight, and the
creative use of bloc tactics with great public outreach made this an
action people in our small town will be talking about for yearsâand one
thatâs caused the biotechnology company considerable grief and expense.
There are some that say the bloc is dead, but it is only as dead as the
ideas that motivate it. Trying to repeat Seattle is going to fail: those
ideas died after they were employed, but they were well and alive at the
time because they were new and creative: the cops couldnât see them
coming. Donât just think about previous blocs, look around you for
living inspiration. The real question is not whether the bloc is dead or
alive, but what ideas we can come up with for striking the next blow
against capitalism. May that next blow be a killing one!