February 2021 – Anarchy in the 'Burbs

The Lewis Lemon Committee for Revolutionary Abolition Zine

The Lewis Lemon Committee for Revolutionary Abolition is an informal crew based in Rockford and the surrounding areas. They are anarchists, communists, and abolitionists developing political analysis about history, conditions, tactics and strategy in the region. They ground their work in anti-oppression politics and organic intellectualism emerging out of class struggle.

To reach out or submit analysis, email them at
lewislemonrevcom@protonmail.com

Presenting Towards Communism and Anarchy in Rockford

Anarchy in the Burbs Zine (2020)

Dear readers,

We are excited to present to the world our very first zine! But before we tell you about how this zine came about and its contents, we want to share a bit about ourselves and our aspirations for resistance in the region known as the Inland Empire.

Anarchy in the Burbs began as a project aiming to become a source of collaborative information and resources, by and for IE locals. We initially got the ball rolling with i.e.uprising as an informal news source providing information on – you guessed it – the IE uprisings. We also wanted to provide some political education from a radical, autonomous angle and encourage our community to cultivate agency over our living conditions. We seek to share knowledge and resources for people interested in building a strong base for future liberatory movements in the occupied Inland Empire region.

A call to action: The Inland Empire Will Breathe By Any Means Necessary!

Summer 2020 saw hella people from our hometowns taking the streets in opposition to the police and white supremacy. The fire and fervor also revealed that there are many people in the IE who all envision a world beyond exploitation, prisons, borders, or oppression. In recent years, our communities in the IE are starting to confront another huge problem. Poverty has plagued this region for decades and has become a direct gateway to the logistics beast that’s taken root in our community. Mega-companies such as Amazon and other logistics companies feed off of our people by taking advantage of our economic desperation and precarity. The lack of opportunity in the IE is no accident; we are only wanted as cheap, disposable labor for the wealthy’s profits. We all know that the warehouses and logistics sector have forcibly imposed themselves onto the lives of every resident of the Inland Empire, but it is much more than that: we are confronting a system that is organized in such a way that it literally deprives us of our ability to breathe clean air. We all live within this system that is designed to suffocate life, not nourish it.

Racial capitalism in the Inland Empire is suffocating us all. The encroachment of logistics development is transforming these indigenous lands into large warehouses, changing our communities into diesel death zones where residents struggle between life and death. San Bernardino County residents suffer from a range of illnesses, all of which have been linked to poor air quality caused by the warehouses and the logistics sector. Breathlessness is a fundamental feature of this white supremacist, settler-colonial system that constantly imposes harm and violence upon Black, indigenous, Latinx, and non-white communities. The Black struggle against police brutality and institutional racism has been teaching everyone about this system’s violent mechanisms, and it is summed up by the Black Lives Matter movement with one phrase: “I can’t breathe.” Racial capitalism’s link to the state continues to primarily oppress Black people, and the anti-Blackness that these systems are built on have constructed the blueprint for all other experiences of systemic suffocation, which includes the environmental racism and mass exploitation that we are experiencing in the IE.

In the face of systemic suffocation, we now have to collectively re-assess the meaning of life and move away from the violent system that continues to cause rampant death and the suffocation of our communities. We cannot wait for the good will of our leaders: why would we wait for their good will when we are running out of air to breathe? The time has come for us to become self-determining communities. We all deserve better and we must believe in our ability to reorganize our society in ways that nurture life, not suffocate it. We do not need to have all the answers right now in order to recognize the urgent importance of abolishing the existence of the warehouses and logistics sector that poison our communities. As we can clearly see, life cannot continue this way, and breathing will become impossible unless capitalism and its warehouses are abolished as a whole. Let’s navigate the unknown together and put our minds together to create a better reality than the one that has been imposed on us. As the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN) movement once said, we learn by walking, and by walking we will learn.

Ultimately, we cannot be hesitant any longer: we must begin a collective departure away from this present civilization of death and its mechanisms of suffocation. Let the IE show the world that we can throw down hard. Let’s combat breathlessness with the fresh air produced by revolt. In the closeness of our bodies and minds in struggle, let us find ways to pass the air that we have left to more of our communities and to other generations. We must attack the foundations and institutions that deprive us of the sacred air we breathe and construct a new reality that does not commodify and exploit the planet and our people. We just want to breathe: this is not a demand but a threat. We will not ask for permission anymore. We will breathe by any means necessary.

Let’s hit the streets now: How this zine came about

In the wake of the George Floyd uprisings as well as movement organizing in the time of COVID-19, we tried to consolidate useful, consumable information for the IE locals who were beginning to take the streets and organize for the first time in their lives. We centralized information for actions until street demos died down, at which point we decided to focus on providing an informal and introductory political education. We broke down what we felt were useful organizing concepts and theory as well as addressed common questions and concerns in an effort to welcome folks new to this scene, analyzing with an IE lens so that anybody could use these findings in a local (or similar) setting when the time comes. Simply: there isn’t enough writing on suburban-based and small city autonomous organizing (especially for new folks coming into it), so we tried to remedy that.

Of course, for COVID and non-COVID reasons, there were limits to organizing (especially social media organizing), but the webpages have been a starting point for many faceless readers as well as for the working relationships we’ve made since then. Although organizing in the IE has obviously existed prior to summer 2020, there was a palpable invigoration of interest and mutual aid following the uprisings in memory of George Floyd, and we’re grateful for the projects and communities borne of or multiplied by it. Our contribution is small but hopefully significant to somebody, and so we’ve compiled this zine in memory of the wildfire George Floyd produced and the ensuing history made in the Inland Empire. We hope that the lessons and advice offered in this zine can help push movement organizing in the IE to new, unseen levels in the future.

Get up to speed: What you will find in this zine

A lot of our thought processes and writing interventions center around addressing common obstacles that get in the way of increasing our autonomous capabilities. Our writings address these issues by attempting to unpack – and thus, remove – those obstacles that get in the way of increasing our collective power, removing them one by one. Below is an outline of some of the information we have compiled, practical advice, and critiques of common organizing logics that we felt were important to address and unpack. We hope that y’all find some of these arguments relevant and timely, and that they lend to making our movements stronger. We hope that you can share this zine and discuss it together in community, only by collectively discussing and seeing each other will we figure out the ways to set our communities free at last.

I. Info Hub
An informal directory of Inland Empire projects and groups that readers can plug into. This section also contains further readings and resources on abolition and autonomy.

II. Know-How
Some brief resources and guides on essential skills, from the digital to the streets to general survival.

III. Practice
Introductory (but crucial) concepts and practical information for folks interested in autonomous organizing.

IV. Critique
Various critiques of common obstacles seen in left organizing spaces, including criticisms of 1. rigid ideology and political labeling, 2. symbolic protest, 3. representation, 4. non-violence, and 5. electoral politics.

A Reportback from Anarchy in the Burbs: The Spirit of Rebellion Takes the Streets of the California Inland Empire

The rebellions have arrived in the occupied Native lands now known as the Inland Empire, a largely forgotten region that encompasses San Bernardino and Riverside counties in Southern California. This text is a report-back from autonomous individuals who were on the ground during summer 2020. This report-back remained in our drafts since June 2020, and so it is a combination of our initial reactions to the uprisings, as well as our reflections on the mobilizations (as we complete this writing in January 2021).

Reports of manifestations had been found in almost all cities of the region, a phenomenon without precedent in this area’s history. Documentation of demonstrations in the IE occurred in the following places: San Bernardino, Rancho Cucamonga, Fontana, Rialto, Yucaipa, Redlands, Riverside, Moreno Valley, Highland, Upland, Chino, Chino Hills, Montclair, and others.

The legibility of these manifestations had yet to become clear to both people within and outside of the Inland Empire. For many, this was the first time they had taken the streets. Some of us had yet to find the language to describe the days and nights of uprisings in the IE as we processed our experiences, feelings, and thoughts. For those of us that joyfully participated in the uprisings, common feelings and affinities had become clear between strangers in the streets. Drawn together by a passion for Black liberation and abolition, new communities were taking hold in the Inland Empire.

Even so, we want to push back on the tendency to come up with some grand narrative or final word on the events of summer 2020, with respect to the IE. We tell only one story — among many others’ stories — and do not believe ours is the most “legitimate” narrative or assessment of the uprisings. It is a white supremacist, colonial tendency to cut up historical moments into objective “periods” or to pretend to provide the “official account” without paying attention to power dynamics or erasure. We tell only a partial, unfinished story of the revolutionary possibilities of the place known as the Inland Empire, and hope that you find some of what we have to share as inspiring as we feel about it.

Setting the Stage: On the Significance of the IE Uprisings

Speaking truthfully, some of us thought that the scale of IE mobilizations during summer 2020 would take years of work on the ground to cultivate. Instead, it began to organically self-organize almost overnight, beginning in the last days of May. We are not arguing that there was no “leftist” activity or base-building occurring before June 2020, but a considerable amount of autonomous activity began to sprout in unforeseen, visible ways. We are also not arguing that we should always depend on spontaneous self-organization, mostly because spontaneity “versus” organization is a false dichotomy. We are merely pointing out that living conditions are fucked up out here: there is a considerable weight of oppression on the lives of people in the IE, and we have all had enough of living in complacent silence.

Inland Empire residents live with the burden of unique problems, such as the emergence of the racial-logistics sector and its ensuing warehouse gentrification, among many other issues. With a working-class burdened by debt, the high costs of living, low-paid labor, and racist state violence, the boiling point has arrived and we aren’t taking this system’s shit anymore. The more fucked over that people are, the more we will be seeing of emergent, rebellious self-activity against this shitty system. In our opinion, the Inland Empire is one of the most strategic areas for resistance against racial capitalism because of the system’s hyper-dependence on this region for cheap labor and the movement of goods to the rest of the country. Our resistance has and will look like hundreds of burnt down warehouses (such as the one from Redlands, June 2020) and the proliferation of hundreds of gardens from the ashes.

The uprisings in the California Inland Empire were connected to the greater national upheavals that occurred in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. We will say, however, that in most cases, there were no riots or large-scale revolts in our region. Nevertheless, we want to propose that insurrection did in fact occur in the IE, although it is not the mainstream image of an “insurrection” that most people are familiar with. What took place in the IE after the initial George Floyd demonstrations was the eruption of unprecedented activity, abolitionist initiatives, autonomous direct actions, and newly cultivated affinities. We want to counter the grain of mobilization culture by expanding the notion of the insurrection: imagining insurrection as the event that catalyzes routine proliferation of new affinities and projects that are able to then create the wide-scale movement base from which future uprisings can form from.

The manifestation of anarchy from the (predominantly working-class and BIPOC) suburbs is dynamically different from the mainstream image of anarchy that many are acquainted with. Anarchic activity in the Inland Empire must grapple with unique formations of oppression, such as warehouse gentrification, alienation and individualism in working class suburbs, the hyper-invisibility of the racist state and patriarchal violence, and so on. Modern day revolt in the belly of empire, then, has been taking place in unpredictable places, such as here in the IE. The explosion of affinities that emerged from the 2020 protests are what we understand as the true nature of our insurrectional summer. What we took away from the 2020 uprisings is that relationship-building might be a key point of emphasis for abolitionist, autonomous movements, with a particular focus on having the capacity to move in coalition and handle conflicts. If affinity is the glue to any insurrection, then we are well on our way as people in the IE continue to find each other and build connections in the community. We must nourish emergent communities and the feeling of co-ownership in the formation of our power so that everyone can participate and stoke the flames with us. Building in the community now can serve as the catalyst for the future insurrections to come in the IE.

Situating the Uprisings: On the Importance of Centering the IE’s Ungovernability

The uprisings in 2020 have shown social movements the importance of learning from the antagonistic methods created and cultivated from revolts in overlooked and forgotten regions. In particular, organizers could benefit from learning about the methods of self-organization and self-activity initiated by working-class/ proletarian BIPOC predominant communities, especially from areas in the outskirts that rarely ever make it onto the map of visible resistance in the US. When we shift our attention to the creative modes of resistance and militancy in these overlooked communities, our tactical and strategic repertoire will continue to grow and expand our collective ability to foment revolutionary situations. As we saw in the Inland Empire, all of the established leftists and non-profits were left in the dust as primarily Black and Latinx insurgents took the streets. While the old Left is caught up in attempts to hold officials accountable, spending energy on social democratic laws, and wasting their time with petitions, IE proletarians led the insurrectionary initiative. The insights from comrades Shemon and Arturo on the 2020 uprisings also ring true for our context:

“In the United States, black proletarians are constantly refining and sharpening forms, tactics, and strategies of struggle… The fact of the matter is that leftist organizations are simply not prepared to deal with the illegal nature of the revolutionary struggles and politics that are taking place in the present moment. The black proletariat continues to show a practical commitment to fighting the police, setting fire to carceral infrastructure, and looting the commodities of this dying capitalist system.”

We can learn a lot from BIPOC-centered struggles emerging from otherwise overlooked non-urban places:

“Organizational, tactical, and strategic clarity is emerging for the first time since the 1960s, but it is not coming from the left – it is coming from the practical initiatives and strategies of the black proletariat. Leftists [and Marxists] run their mouths about organizational questions in abstract and antiquated terms, regurgitating a played out formula modeled on Russia or China that has been repeated ad nauseam for many decades now, but which has produced little more than sects and cults. They ignore the concrete forms of revolutionary organization that are already taking place in the uprising.”

Shemon and Arturo elaborate further on the significance of this autonomous BIPOC self-activity in the United States context:

“Revolutionary organizations are not built in the abstract, but are expressions of the real tactical and strategic challenges raised by the proletariat in the class struggle. The fundamental organizational question that revolutionaries face is how to contribute and relate to the uprising, specifically in terms of street fighting, looting, and other riot tactics. Those who are truly committed to revolution will have to push past the stale organizational forms of the past and begin to account for the diverse, illegal, and creative organizational forms that the black proletariat is developing in the present, the use of cars being one of the most innovative and effective tools in this emerging tactical repertoire.”

By shifting our attention to creative modes of resistance and militancy within new sites of struggle, we can see new horizons and points of intervention that radicals and communities can begin to tap into. For example, a common tactical innovation that sprung up from uprisings in the outskirts – and that we also observed in the IE – is the strategic use of cars in reclaiming space and the streets. In Shemon and Arturo’s words:

“What we see from Ferguson to Philadelphia is the growing use of the car as a weapon of mass struggle. In Ferguson cars were used for defensive purposes, while in Chicago, Louisville, Philadelphia and elsewhere cars were used for offensive purposes: for looting, for attacking police, and for spreading the geography of the uprising. We should expect cars to continue to play an important role as riots continue to unfold and the uprising potentially mutates into other forms of mass struggle: blockades, strikes, and occupations. Undoubtedly, the state will respond with new forms of surveillance and repression, but how it will do that is unclear. In the meantime, black proletarians will probably take advantage of the state’s lack of capacity to deal with widespread car-looting.”

By honing in on new forms of self-organization from places such as the IE, we can better strategize ways to fuel the fires next time.

Notes on Insurrectional Possibilities in the IE

What follows is a loose collection of our experiences and observations in a few of the many uprisings that have occurred since late May. In sum, the conditions in the Inland Empire allow for the emergence of extremely effective autonomous movements, but the lack of experience, infrastructure, and its overall nascent organizing are currently hurdles that hold back autonomous potential and must be intentionally overcome. The following are our preliminary notes on the IE uprisings.

The invisibility of state, economic, and police violence in the Inland Empire:

The IE leads in cases of police violence statistics for the state of California, yet police violence in the IE is not really discussed or documented.

The staggering poverty rates and forms of exploitation in the IE are almost unheard of, especially given the high relevance of warehouse and logistics sector labor in this region.
The IE is on average predominantly BIPOC, working-class, first and second generation, and younger. The millennial discontent and frustration are especially prevalent here with the suburban structure of the area and enclosure, creating conditions for a potentially unruly and fed-up population of young people.

The character of the police in the IE uprisings:

San Bernardino police was almost nonexistent vs Fontana or Riverside Police.

The magnitude of police presence and force was contingent on the size of the city budget.

Helicopter and other aerial surveillance were greatly prevalent.

Police encouraged white supremacist vigilantism in predominantly white places like Yucaipa and Redlands.
It’s clear that in places like San Bernardino, the police force has never seen these types of gatherings before. How could this inexperience possibly affect future protests? What about in cities with more seasoned officers, like Riverside?

The presence of white supremacists at protests:

Guns were pulled out in Upland.

Man threatened to run protestors over in Redlands.

Trump supporters and white supremacist vigilantes brutally attacked outnumbered protestors in Yucaipa.

Violent men in Highland aggressively tore down Black Lives Matter banners and posters in front of protesters.
(CW: anti-Black violence/ lynching) A young Black male was hung from a tree in Victorville and although the perpetrators have not been caught, there was speculation that supremacists might have done this. Assumptions stem from the high number of white supremacists and conservatives living in areas bordering outer regions of the Inland Empire, such as the High Desert where this took place.

Unique sightings and tactics discovered at the uprisings:

In the initial days following the Minneapolis uprising in late May, spontaneous actions emerged in places like Fontana and Rancho Cucamonga, which have never experienced protests before.

Most of these initial uprisings were youth-led and composed mostly of hood Black and brown youth/ young adults.

There were hella smaller scale marches coordinated and organized by local high schoolers and youth.

As the weeks passed, a few reformist/ liberal minded protesters tried to monopolize the momentum, with varying results across cities and contexts. For the most part, none of these self-appointed leaders co-opted most of the power.

Actions were still relatively autonomous and self-organized, and as time had passed, the momentum had surprisingly not ended just yet (as of June 20th, 2020).

The lack of non-profit and leftist specialists truly created a unique protest context.

Lack of leadership/ organization is both good and bad: the movement is harder to contain when there are no organizations or leaders as the “face” of it, but there is also a lot of inexperience in the streets and a vacuum in the organizing scene that can be filled with anything (another double-edged sword).

Car caravans in San Bernardino followed the demonstration in support and also served as a barrier between cop cruisers and protestors.
Respectability for protestors in the San Bernardino area: There was a big concern with being perceived as “ghetto” and a strong attempt to prove wrong the classist (and racist) stereotypes of the Inland Empire. People here are very conscious that we already have very little resources, leading to folks guilting rioters and looters with calls for respectability and “morality.”

We want to end off on a few words by James Baldwin from “The Fire Next Time”:

“Neither civilized reason nor Christian love would cause any of those people to treat you as they presumably wanted to be treated; only the fear of your power to retaliate would cause them to do that, or seem to do it, which was (and is) good enough.”

See y’all in the streets again next time.

Moving at the Speed of Trust: Autonomous Community Agreements

We all want to live lives outside of the hardships imposed upon us by oppressive, violent systems of power. However, as we seek to break away from these violent systems, we must be careful in not reproducing the dynamics of systems of power — such as those of patriarchy, ableism, and so on — within the spaces we navigate and the new realities that we create. In order to do so, we must pay attention to the means that we use in our abolitionist movements and not just towards to goals we aspire to.

What we propose is that, as we build our power and capacities to liberate ourselves, we must move at the speed of trust; what this means is that our movements are only as strong as the relationships that constitute them. We cannot assume that individuals are immediately trustworthy when they claim to be against the police, capitalism and so on, if they replicate oppressive behaviors. In addition, working in coalition or with other organizations must also move at the speed of trust: we cannot know every detail of the internal politics or agendas of other groups or organizations, so we must coordinate together on the basis of autonomous community agreements. By assembling and linking up together in community, we can actively achieve specific goals through temporary formations that emphasize material concerns and affinity, instead of abstraction and ideology.

The practice of autonomous community agreements must not be confused with points of unity, party line, or political program. Community agreements are a contextual, flexible, and “formal” informality of practices that individuals and groups consent to in their collective organizing, with special care for process and means. We must embody today the new realities that we aspire to and wish to see actualized. What we have here is a rough set of boundaries and agreements that others can model off of. They are not rules nor are they principles; they are meant to be community truths and modes of conduct that are never to be set in stone or policed. They can be subject to change given the dynamic situations and community needs that folks can face at any given time. Those who cannot abide by the agreements must create their own spaces on their own preferred terms. Ideally, there should not be harm nor personal beef that stems from this because of reference to the dynamic collection of agreements. Conflict can be generative and can help proliferate multiplicity and autonomy when certain alliances are no longer useful. Autonomous community agreements are meant to facilitate the growth of power and groups that can eventually create self-determining communities that move at their own terms and set their own priorities in their fight for self-liberation. In the end, proactive trust and attunement to each other’s needs and conflicts is the foundation for autonomy and abolitionist praxis.

Loose Blueprints for and Example of Autonomous Community Agreements in action:

First and foremost, we acknowledge that we are on occupied native lands and must keep that in mind in all of our organizing. – We could inadvertently recreate settler-colonialism in our organizing if we don’t prioritize native people’s plight and acknowledge that this land is stolen in the first place. For example, autonomous land projects — such as the purchase of land to build a commune — must be considered through this lens to prevent said projects from recreating colonialism. This can happen when we continue to ignore native people’s ancestral ties to the land being “purchased” and reinstate smaller scale settler-colonial relationships to land and natives.
This space is run horizontally, meaning that: everyone will have a voice at the table, there is no one single leader or shot caller, we proactively delegate tasks and rotate roles, and we ask for each person to actively contribute to the best of their ability and capacity. – Vertical or top-down organizing means that orders come from the person in charge and trickle down to bottom ranks; this happens in any group or organization with a hierarchical leadership structure, such as CEO to manager or manager to laborer. Instead of enforcing hierarchical relationships, horizontal organizing is a practical way to encourage autonomy and self-representation in our spaces. Furthermore, it’s safer to be a leaderless organization or group because you can be incognito from and untraceable to the state and state collaborators.
This is a space that is actively building power outside of the state and its institutions: if you are a fed, cop, snitch, abuser/abuse apologist, non-profit, mainstream media, or state collaborator (i.e. reformist or politician) you will be asked to immediately leave the space. – The purpose of autonomous organizing is to build power beyond the state, its institutions, and its style of relationships. To do that, we must push back against and remove those who collude with the state directly and indirectly. This includes removing literal agents of the state (feds and cops), state collaborators (snitches, mainstream media outlets, and reformists/ politicians), and those who recreate oppressive interpersonal behavior (abusers/ apologists, nonprofits, and reformists). There is no way to work with these kinds of people without risking state repression or liberalization of our movements and spaces, and attempting to change their minds is a waste of resources.
This is an autonomous space, meaning that we are trying to empower ourselves and our communities to liberate themselves: this is not a space for recruiting, centering ideological debates, or for cliquey behaviors. We should not be concerned about trying to persuade people to follow one ideology over another or argue with each other: we are more concerned about working towards a material change in our lives, not necessarily in abstract ideas. – In continuation to the above point, we should be cognizant of our limited resources and energy. If we focus on working together to create material changes in our communities, we will naturally be less concerned with people’s exact placement on the political compass and why ours is “better,” recruiting people for some other organization or event, canceling and shunning people who haven’t exhibited harmful behavior just because we don’t “like” them, and other inane issues that just waste time, take up space, and create further unnecessary divisions.
Please respect the privacy and security of others in the space: what is said in Vegas stays in Vegas, and do not record participants of this space without their consent. – For the sake of security culture, it is imperative to make sure the information said in any anti-state organizing space stays within that space and the folks in communion. Otherwise, sensitive and even incriminating information can fall into the wrong ears. Dry-snitching is also a very real threat, and a recording of people at a secret meeting or even at a protest can help the feds build a case against someone. Don’t be that person who accidentally collaborates with the state.
As we continue to work in community together, we do not want to reproduce cycles of harm to ourselves or each other while building power. No anti-Blackness/transphobia/queerphobia/sexism/classism/racism/fatphobia/ableism/will ever be tolerated in the space. – Similar to other points regarding the need to build power outside of hierarchical, colonial, and state relations/ institutions, we need to also make it a priority to prevent all oppressive and harmful behavior in our interpersonal relationships. If we are to be intentional about our liberation, we must treat one another with respect and be mindful of the way we may recreate harmful dynamics in our personal spaces. After all, the micro scale is just a reflection of what already exists at a macro scale, meaning that the way we socialize at a small, personal level will be influenced by the systems and dynamics at play in greater society.
Although this is a BIPOC-centered space, we still have to acknowledge the privileges between certain identities and proactively work to center the most oppressed voices, such as Black, indigenous, and trans voices. – Just because we work together does not mean everyone has the same experiences, and we shouldn’t reduce people’s identities and experiences to such just because they are BIPOC. In fact, it’s damaging to treat all BIPOC as static or identical because that can recreate harmful dynamics and ignore important intersections within already marginalized identities. It’s important to listen to the most affected voices and center them when organizing.
On Democrats and Liberals: Being a democrat is not radical since liberals play respectability politics and prioritize capitalism over BIPOC communities. Any person that comes to the space with these kinds of views will be removed. – It’s a waste of time and energy to argue with Democrats and liberals, and people with shared values should be prioritized for the sake of conserving resources and maintaining the integrity of our spaces. Point 3 stated that collaborating with reformists posed a risk by liberalizing our goals and our spaces; working with Democrats and liberals functions similarly. Ultimately, although many “nice” people may be Democrats or self-proclaimed liberals, they are ultimately moderates who in reality, seek to reform instead of radicalize the world. The DSA and nonprofits already exist.
We all agree to keep these agreements open to adding and editing as we continue to share space. – In the spirit of horizontal organizing and collaboration, it’s necessary to listen to our comrades’ input when making decisions and setting agreements to make sure that we aren’t merely imposing our will against others’. Similarly, people and life itself are fluid, and the adaptability of our community agreements should reflect that.

Further Resources on Learning Essential Skills

Disclaimer: this is all publicly accessible knowledge and information. We share all this information for purely educational purposes.

We highly encourage everyone to explore the skills outlined in the “Skills for Revolutionary Survival” series hosted by the Indigenous Anarchist Federation (you can also look up these categories into the Duckduckgo search engine or a Tor Browser to find other resources in order to be well-rounded and informed on these topics):

Trauma Medical Gear/IFAKs: https://iaf-fai.org/2020/08/31/skills-for-revolutionary-survival-1-trauma-medical-gear/
Basic Personal Protective Equipment: https://iaf-fai.org/2020/08/31/skills-for-revolutionary-survival-2-basic-personal-protective-equipment/
Ballistic Protection: https://iaf-fai.org/2020/09/01/skills-for-revolutionary-survival-3-ballistic-protection/
Primary Firearms: https://iaf-fai.org/2020/09/26/skills-for-revolutionary-survival-4-primary-firearms/
Communications Equipment for Rebels: https://iaf-fai.org/2020/10/11/skills-for-revolutionary-survival-5-communications-equipment-for-rebels/
Secondary Firearms: https://iaf-fai.org/2020/11/11/skills-for-revolutionary-survival-6-secondary-firearms/
Tertiary Firearms: https://iaf-fai.org/2020/12/06/tertiary-firearms/
Cutting Tools for Field Craft: https://iaf-fai.org/2021/01/04/cutting-tools-for-field-craft/
Basic Wilderness Field Craft: https://iaf-fai.org/2021/01/19/basic-wilderness-fieldcraft/

Other important topics to explore:

Introduction to physical conditioning for insurgents: https://inhabit.global/tools/inhabit.body_strength_conditioning_guide_2020.pdf

Beginner’s Guide to Guns:

https://www.pewpewtactical.com/beginners-guide-guns/

Military Science:

https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Military_strategy

Insurgent Strategy:

https://archive.org/details/Insurgencies2

Pods and Pod Mapping Worksheet:

https://batjc.wordpress.com/pods-and-pod-mapping-worksheet/

Planning for a Disaster:

https://truthout.org/audio/planning-for-disaster-a-writing-exercise/

First Aid/Medical information (accounts on Instagram with further resources/links):

@doc_opfor, @bootleg_medics, and @guerilla_tactical (guerrilla-tactical.com)

DIY: Building an Emergency Short-Term Bag

The following is some suggestions, resources, and items think about when building an emergency short term bag. Depending on your location and situation, you might want to add more things. Add what you want and feel that you will need, but these items will be a base idea of important items to add.

There is a general guideline of thought to think about in a survival situation to stay alive called the Rule of 3: 3 hours without shelter, 3 day without water, and 3 weeks without food. Depending on your location and your activity, these can lower significantly.

Another general guide line for items to add your emergency kit is called the 5C’s: 1. Cutting tool, 2. Combustion device (i.e. to start a fire), 3. Covering device (i.e. shelter, something to keep you warm or block the sun), 4. Container (i.e. preferably a single wall metal one; can also be used to boil water), and 5. Cordage.

The following are some items that you can add that follow these guidelines. It is good to carry items that can be used for multiple things; some items are good to have multiple of…

For Shelter:

– Tarp

– military poncho (can also be used to protect from rain, blanket, gather rain water)

– thick trash bag (cheap and you can stuff leaves in it to make an insulated mat)

– reflective blankets

For Water:

– Single wall metal container to boil water

– water purifier filter

– water purifier tablets

For Fire:

– lighter

– Ferro rod

– matches

– cotton balls covered in petroleum jell (cheap and simple to make fire starters)

Basic first aid, IFAKs, and trauma kits are important to carry but you also need to learn how and when to use these items. When you are able to expand your knowledge of being able to make things out of your surroundings, the less items you will have to carry (being light and mobile is hella important). However, it can still be more convenient to just carry extra items. Making things takes a lot of time and energy, and—depending on the situation—you might not have the time or resources at hand.

Medical supply websites:

– Rescue essential

– North American rescue

Survival/ self-defense websites:

– Self Reliance Outfitters

– Optics Planet

Etiquette for the Streets

Essential affinity group questions to ask yourselves before actions:

1. Are you able to and willing to be in situations that may involve a risk of arrest and or police violence?

2. Are there any reasons why you CANNOT go to jail? Do you need meds/medical attention if incarcerated, people others not incarcerated that you think should be notified/called/emailed?

3. What is our plan, what are our goals, and how do we do our exit strategy? Roles within affinity groups:

• First aid, medic, snacks water carrier

• Facilitator

• Spokesperson

• Cop watcher

• Safe retreat lookout

• Use the buddy system, move in a group

Essentials:

• Bandannas soaked in vinegar in plastic baggies

• Shooting glasses/sunglasses, googles

• Fresh shirt in a plastic bag, hella water!!!

• Cloth, and gauze for chemicals

• Gas mask/ chemical and or gas respirator for hazardous gases

• Heavy duty welder’s gloves for throwing tear gas canisters back at pigs

• Snacks, cash, maps optional Clothing:

• All black, and/or dark colors

• Good running shoes

• Cup/ sports bra

• Layers!!! Cover logos with duct tape

• Water repellent everything if possible

• Hammer, paint, rocks, bats, brass, fireworks, lighters

Other Recommendations:

• Disposable gloves, no DNA traces

• Don’t all carry your phone at demo

• Emergency phone numbers and contact info written multiple times on your body

• No contact lenses

• Hide piercings, hair, tattoos, etc.

Important Notes:

• Rendezvous if split up

• Never run when the police use anti crowd devices

• Comfort levels before during and after should always be vocalized

• If disagreements arise break up into smaller groups of at least 2

• Discuss plans for possible scenarios

• Don’t carry identification

• Do not resist arrest or touch an officer

• Identifying safe spaces

• Always have exit plans in mind

• Embrace crowd dynamics/mood and tune into the local police force’s personality

• Send scouts to scope the area—a communications team

• Don’t act on rumors—if you did not see it, it did not happen

• Assume that the pigs may be coming

• Keep 360 degree view with your team

• Prepare to maybe be photographed/filmed

• Keep others calm

• Never let the police snatch your friends, learn to de-arrest others!

Police tactics:

• Dispersing crowds

• Surprise attacks and sporadic arrests/force

• Surrounding, isolating and dividing crowds

• Blocking entrance and exit, kettling crowds

• Snatch squads secretly target leader-like individuals from the crowd

• If caught, do not make sudden movements and keep your hands in view

Know Your Rights!

In sum: Do not talk to law enforcement! Not at your house, at the protest, never. The only thing you should ever say to pigs is “I am going to remain silent. I want a lawyer. I do not consent to a search. Am I free to go?”

Scenario: I was stopped by the police while protesting Your rights:

• Stay calm. Make sure to keep your hands visible. Don’t argue, resist, or obstruct the police, even if you believe they are violating your rights. Point out that you are not disrupting anyone else’s activity and that the First Amendment protects your actions.

• Ask if you are free to leave. If the officer says yes, calmly walk away.

• If you are under arrest, you have a right to ask why. Otherwise, say you wish to remain silent and ask for a lawyer immediately. Don’t say anything or sign anything without a lawyer.

• You have the right to make a local phone call, and if you’re calling your lawyer, police are not allowed to listen.

• You never have to consent to a search of yourself or your belongings. If you do explicitly consent, it can affect you later in court.

• Police may “pat down” your clothing if they suspect you have a weapon and may search you after an arrest.

• Police officers may not confiscate or demand to view your photographs or video without a warrant, nor may they delete data under any circumstances. However, they may order citizens to cease activities that are truly interfering with legitimate law enforcement operations. What to do if you believe your rights have been violated:

• When you can, write down everything you remember, including the officers’ badge and patrol car numbers and the agency they work for.

• Get contact information for witnesses.• Take photographs of any injuries.

• Once you have all of this information, you can file a written complaint with the agency’s internal affairs division or civilian complaint board

written by the American Civil Liberties Union

https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/protesters-rights/

Digital Self-Defense

Strategies & Tools:

Before anything: Threat Modeling! (see EFF site below)

Secure Messaging: Signal Private Messenger (texting), ProtonMail (emails), Jitsi Meet (video calls)

Safe Web Browsing (for both phones/computers): TorBrowser, Firefox, ProtonVPN or Mullvad VPN

Other apps/tools (for phone and/or computers): Privacy Badger, HTTPS Everywhere, DuckDuckGo, Riseup Pads, Cryptpad.fr, Jumbo

Security Culture conduct & agreements (see site below)

Other strategies: know-your rights, anti-doxing, social media, ephemerality tactics, & crypto-parties!

Key websites & Further reading:

PRISM Break prism-break.org/en/

Electronic Frontier Foundation: Digital Privacy (see “Tools”) — https://www.eff.org/pages/tools

EFF’s Surveillance Self-Defense –https://ssd.eff.org

Security in a Box –https://securityinabox.org/en/

Helpful Articles and Videos:

“What is Security Culture?”: https://crimethinc.com/2004/11/01/what-is-security-culture

“Your Phone is a Cop 2” (search up on):https://itsgoingdown.org

“Anti-Doxing Guide for Activists”: https://medium.com/@EqualityLabs/anti-doxing-guide-for-activists-facing-attacks-from-the-alt-right-ec6c290f543c•TROUBLE Episode 5 on Doxing and State Surveillance: https://sub.media/video/trouble-5-you-are-being-watched/

“Quick Tip: How to Mask up”: https://vimeo.com/183849378

“30 Day Security Challenge”: https://www.operational-security.com/category/30-day-security-challenge/page/3/

For more info about doxxing/stalking, contact: armageddon@protonmail.com

Security Culture

The central principle of all security culture— the point that cannot be emphasized enough— is that other people do not need to know sensitive information that they do not need to know. Don’t get too distracted worrying about whether people are infiltrators or not; if your security measures are effective, it shouldn’t even matter. Don’t ask others to share confidential information you don’t need to know. Don’t brag about illegal things you or others have done, or mention things that are going to happen or might happen, or even refer to another person’s interest in being involved in such activities. You can say no at any time to anyone about anything. Don’t ever turn your friends over to your enemies– never snitch! Don’t make it too easy for your enemies to figure out what you’re up to. Develop methods to establish the security level of a group or situation. Be aware of the reliability of those around you, especially those with whom you might collaborate in underground activities. Security culture is not institutionalized paranoia, but a way to avoid unhealthy paranoia by minimizing risks ahead of time. Security culture involves a code of silence, but it is not a code of voiceless-ness. Balance the need to escape detection by your enemies against the need to be accessible to potential friends. When you’re planning an action, begin by establishing the security level appropriate to it, and act accordingly from there on.

Treat your technology like an eavesdropping stranger. If you wouldn’t discuss it in front of a stranger, don’t talk about it online, on your phone, or better yet, at all. How we show up in the fight to abolish the current world isn’t for clout or social media likes anyway. In some cases, private or crucial information must be communicated by technological means, but always remember there are risks and this should only ever occur between trusted individuals. Talk to your homies and your family members to create a culture of awareness, so everyone knows their rights if the feds or the pigs knock on someone’s door. When you go to the protest, what are you wearing that might be traceable back to you? Are your tattoos showing? What alias will you use so people aren’t shouting your name for all to hear? What agreements have you made with people around you so that they do not accidentally dry snitch? Protecting ourselves is also protecting our loved ones and our comrades.

Other things to keep in mind for movement defense—

Mobilize legal support, raise money for bail funds and lawyers, track people’s cases through the court system, attend court support where possible, publicize cases as appropriate.

Offer protection and support for those who are targeted by the state.

Do not open the door if agents are at your door, you are not legally obligated to.

Do not spread rumors or conspiracies, do not act when given very little information.

If the feds visit your door, ask for their card and they should go away. Immediately notify your community and networks of what you said/what was asked of you verbatim.

Do not cooperate with grand juries, organize non-cooperation materially with networks.