Category: Organizer Essays

The systems of oppression operated by the 1% are vulnerable — they are unsustainable and they can be defeated — but they won’t crumble on their own. People just like us help with protests, riots, middle of the night missions and other acts of resistance. Affinity groups are small direct action cells — usually 4-8 people — who share attitudes about tactics and who organize themselves during actions for effectiveness and protection. Affinity groups can organize actions or make them better once they’re going down.

Many affinity groups choose a legal support person for each action who stays at another location to avoid possible arrest so they can handle things if members of the group are arrested. Jail aims to isolate and disempower us so we’ll sit down and shut up. But when we support each other, we can resist and return to the streets stronger. Here are very brief tips for being a jail support person.

Before the action

• Agree on a phone number that accepts collect calls to call if someone gets arrested and then be at that number.

• Make a list of the real full name, arrest history, outstanding warrants, emergency contacts, and other special needs of each member such as kids that need childcare, medical needs, doctor’s names, etc. Note if a person’s chosen name is different than the one on their ID and if there is a concern that they might be held in housing that does not match their gender identity.

• Discuss scenarios for bailing people out of jail if necessary. If bail is high, some people may want to use a bail bond which involves losing 10% of the bail. Other people might be okay waiting a while in jail to save money and because bail bond companies prey on the poor. Paying bail puts resources into the state and may incentivize arrests. Some people may have money available to pay bail in cash and the support person needs to know how to get the money. Groups can also prioritize people to get bailed out first based on who may be injured, gender non-conforming, have childcare responsibilities, risk losing their jobs or other factors.

During the action / if an arrestee calls

• Remind people that phones may be tapped and conversations in police cars or jail cells recorded so it is best to avoid discussion of the circumstances of anyone’s arrest.

• Write down arrested people’s booking and arrest numbers, jail #, charges, bail, expected release time, special needs, information about injuries, and upcoming court dates. It can help to keep a log and write down the time and date and all (non-incriminating) relevant information which can help if there is a lawsuit or criminal trial later. Write legibly!

• If someone is arrested you can notify loved ones and the other group members.

• If someone calls from jail, you can pass on messages form the outside which is a huge morale booster. Being in jail can be scary. Ask if they are okay and offer emotional support to arrestees (and their family and friends.)

• When you know someone has been arrested but they haven’t called, you (along with a lawyer in some cases) can call the jail to locate them so the system knows someone is looking out for them and so you can inform their family and friends and feed pets or pick kids up from school, etc. Lawyers may be able to invoke the right to remain silent / not be questioned without representation.

• Arrange travel home when people get released. Often the support person and other affinity group members wait outside jail for members to be released and greet them with donuts and hugs.

• In some cases a support person can help organize demands for prisoners to be released or notify the media and government officials about unlawful arrests and police violence.

• Once people are released, write down relevant information about the arrest, police misconduct and other relevant information while it is fresh in everyone’s mind.

Info from Midnight Special Law Collective (www.midnightspecial.net) gone but not forgotten

Here are some tips on low-cost, do-it-yourself bike touring — taking your bike on roads outside cities. You don’t have to have a ton of money, a fancy bike, or tight spandex pants to bike 100 miles to the next town over a couple of days — or even bike across the whole damn country.

Planning your trip

Picking a good route is key to a good trip. Look for secondary roads that will have less traffic. Even if there is no shoulder, you can just go in the ditch whenever a car goes by. If your trip is in a hilly area, you may want to look at a topographical map to avoid hills. If a road follows a river, it will usually be more or less level until it leaves the river and jumps to the next valley. You can buy fancy bike maps from groups like Adventure Cycling that show lots of details important to cyclists or look at books about bike touring or just use a road map. Asking about routes at bike shops also helps. If your route doesn’t go through a town at least every 40 or so miles, you’ll need to carry extra food and water. Not every town on a map has food and water in very rural areas.

What to bring

You don’t need a fancy bike but more gears helps. Tires thinner than knobby mountain bike tires are better because they have less friction. Make sure your bike is adjusted so riding doesn’t hurt your body. Check that the seat is adjusted to the right height — your knees shouldn’t be too bent at their lowest position. A comfortable seat makes a huge difference. You’ll at least want working brakes. Pumping the tires to the full pressure is free and makes riding easier. Make sure your bike has a rack for carrying camping gear if you are going to camp. Carrying stuff in a backpack or shoulder bag is hard on your back. You can get used bike bags or make your own out of plastic tubs. The most common mistake bike tourists make is bringing too much stuff but you’ll at least need the basics:

• bike tools like a patch kit and pump, allen or hex wrenches, and a pocket knife with a screwdriver. You don’t necessarily need every tool there is. If you break down you can usually hitchhike or take a bus to a town with a bike store. Avoid silly weight like extra tires!

• water bottles and a bit of food, but keep in mind that bike touring is not like backpacking. You don’t have to be self-sufficient for days. You’ll fill your water bottle and get food every time you hit a town.

• a tent or tarp, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, sunscreen, toiletries, and soap.

• fewer clothes are better. One change is sufficient if you wash each day and dry ‘em on the back of your bike when you’re riding.

• safety stuff like a helmet and bike light which can double as a flashlight.

Where to stay

Some people camp in campgrounds, a few of which even have cheap hiker/biker sites. Some city parks, churches or country stores allow bike camping; ask around. Lots of times people will let you stay in their yard or on their land if you make friends and ask. Or you can camp illegally where no one can see you. Figuring out where you’ll stay before you go will make your trip WAY less stressful and more fun.

Bonus tips

You can put your bike on some city bus routes or commuter trains to get beyond the urban sprawl for a nicer start for your ride. The more you talk to people you meet and ask questions or for help, the better time you’ll have.

 

As we build new non-hierarchical projects, houses and communities, clear and open group process can make our work a lot easier. Making decisions as a group doesn’t have to mean sitting in endless frustrating meetings or letting our groups be dominated by those with the loudest voices. Here are some tips on how to create effective, fun, cooperative structures for liberation.

Decision Making Process

• If possible, come to meetings having already thought about concrete things to say and discuss.

• Starting a meeting well sets the tone for what is to come. Make a clear agenda that everyone understands and agrees on. Select people to play roles at the meeting: a facilitator or co-facilitators, a time keeper, someone to take minutes, and maybe a stack-keeper and vibes watcher for bigger meetings. Go around the circle and have everyone introduce themselves and perhaps check-in with how they’re feeling to build a cohesive spirit for the meeting.

• Meetings are more fun when there’s food and drink served.

• It can be helpful to have a brainstorm to generate ideas on a particular agenda item. Everyone throws out ideas and no one comments on them or discusses them at the time. They’re written down and organized or discussed later.

• Sometimes people raise their hands to speak to a point. The facilitator or stack-keeper will call on people and keep their comments in order. Other times a “talking stick” gets passed around — only the person holding the stick can speak.

• Sometimes, it is nice to have a “go-round” so that everyone in the circle can speak to a point or at least say “pass.” That will give quieter people who might not raise their hand a chance to speak.

• During the meeting, after discussing a point on the agenda, one or several people can state specific proposals or counter-proposals for the group to act on. This avoids general discussion that doesn’t lead to a clear decision or action.

• When a meeting is having a hard time getting to a decision, it can be helpful to take a non-binding “straw poll” to get a sense of how people feel on an issue. It may be that most people already favor one course and a straw poll can move the meeting from discussion to reaching a decision.

• Many groups use consensus to reach a decision — the process of only making a decision when, after thorough discussion, everyone agrees to a proposal or agrees to stand aside and not block it. This can take longer because it takes time to hear everyone’s point of view and requires people to compromise but avoids a group splitting between winners and losers.

• At the end of the meeting, make sure the date is set for the next meeting. Doing a check-out to state how people thought the meeting went can help heal hard feelings that may have developed during the meeting. It also helps to have people repeat what they agreed to do at the meeting so everyone remembers who will do what later. Write up minutes and distribute them to the group.

Organizational Development

• Groups that grow slowly and organically — starting with small goals and letting the project expand with the group rather than biting off a huge task right from the start — tend to keep going rather than burning out. Avoid endless discussions of abstract structure and procedures before you’ve actually done anything.

• Collectives work best when they stay small — maybe the size of a band or at most a smaller chamber orchestra. If a project requires more people, several independent collectives can communicate and cooperate on it.

• Having an established welcoming ritual for new members will help the group seem open rather than a closed clique of friends.

• Some collectives are open to anyone who wants to join. Others are closed collectives — new members have to be invited to join by the existing group. Figure out which kind your group wants to be based on the goals and needs of the group. It is okay to decide who you want to work with — being closed can help deal with disruptive people. On the other hand, open groups can include new energy, people and diversity outside your personal friendship network.

• Finances should be open and not mixed with anyone’s personal money.

• Keep a binder with all the minutes of meetings to maintain history as membership changes.

• Avoid development of an “in-group” by rotating tasks, sharing information about how things work, and publicly posting meeting times if the group is an open collective.

 

“Open relationships” and “polyamory” are are two terms used to describe having the freedom to be sexually and/or emotionally involved with more than one person. Open relationships and polyamorous relationships are explicitly designed to be practiced honestly, with the mutual consent of all parties — where no one is deceived and everyone chooses to enter this type of relationship.

Some people in open relationships live with a “primary” lover or spouse, but occasionally have casual sexual relationships outside their marriages. Others have more than one committed long-term relationship concurrently. Still others are in “group marriages,” living with several adults who share sexual and spousal relationships. Some people call their lifestyle “relationship anarchy,” meaning that each relationship is allowed to evolve organically with very few restrictions or preconceptions about the form or substance of the relationship. And a few people are inclined toward multiple casual or less committed relationships, because they have an overriding commitment to their work, their art, political activism, raising children, or to community building.

Many other people enjoy having the option of having more than one lover, but may not have the time or energy for more than one relationship. Even though they consider themselves polyamorous, they may not “practice” it, but they like having the option and having an agreement with their partner that this would be acceptable if it does happen.

WHY DO SOME PEOPLE CHOOSE POLYAMORY?

Many people try to live a monogamous lifestyle and find it just does not meet their needs. They come to believe that it is unrealistic to expect any one person to fulfill all their needs for intimacy, companionship, love, and sex.

People are drawn to an open relationship because they want either MORE or DIFFERENT. If they are looking for MORE, they are not getting quite enough of an important resource, such as not enough romance, attention, sex, time, etc. They want to supplement their current relationship by getting some of that missing quantity with someone else. If instead they want DIFFERENT, they enjoy their current relationship, but there is one crucial ingredient missing that really would make them happier, so they are seeking that from someone else. They may want a different type of sexual activity, or seeks a partner of a different gender, would like a person who is more romantic or adventurous, someone with whom they have some specific shared interest (“my partner hates camping and I love it”), or may just desire the novelty of sexual and romantic variety with a new person.

MANAGING JEALOUSY & SETTLING HEALTHY BOUNDARIES

Living in a new way requires learning new skills and overcoming a lifetime of socialization. What sounds reasonable in theory is actually much more complicated, logistically as well as emotionally. People with the best of intentions often discover that they have many intense insecurities and fears based on core beliefs about themselves, about their partner(s), and about love, sex, and relationships.

Most people find that they experience jealousy, especially when first embarking on this lifestyle. It usually takes time, effort, and reassurance from partners to manage jealous feelings. Some people find that while they continue to feel jealous at times, these feelings are outweighed by a much more positive experience of the benefits and freedom of polyamory.

After the initial anxiety and discomfort subside, many people can handle an open relationship as long as they feel secure that they are loved and will not be abandoned. It usually helps to specify some parameters which feel safe and supportive, and negotiate with your partner to reach agreement on what type of relationship best fits your needs. For instance, is it okay to have only casual sex, or are you comfortable with them falling in love with someone else? Do you want advance notice if your partner meets someone and wants to initiate a sexual relationship? Does your spouse or partner have “veto power” over your choice of potential partners? Do you have an agreement on safe-sex guidelines to prevent being exposed to sexually transmitted infections? How much time can your partner spend with other lovers? Are you going to “come out” about your lifestyle to family, friends, and co-workers, or would you prefer to keep your relationships private? Most people experience less of the anxiety and insecurities and more of the satisfaction and rewards of a polyamorous lifestyle if they know what to expect, and feel secure that their partners will be honest and will abide by agreements.

There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part. You can’t even passively take part! And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop! And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it — that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all! – Mario Savio

Building a new world based on freedom, cooperation and environmental sustainability in the face of powerful corporations and governments that seek to maintain their domination is not easy. The system isn’t going to topple on its own just because a few of us refuse to participate in the death machine and retreat to our gardens and other lifestyle politics — it needs our help. A wide variety of tactics and strategies — from strikes, street protests, direct action and riots to street theater, community building or educational campaigns — can move us forward. These pages suggest how to create disorder and disruption because sometime doing so is the best option, but other tactics may be more effective in a particular situation.

General Theory

Order is when those in charge know where a crowd is and can manage the situation by re-routing traffic so business as usual can proceed everywhere else. From a police perspective, a bank occupation isn’t such a bad thing. There are a lot of banks so having one shut down for a couple of hours is tolerable.

Disorder is the rare, exciting, spontaneous moment when internal and external systems of repression lose their grip. Suddenly anything can happen and no one knows what is going to happen next. Those in charge fear and hate disorder because they’ve lost control.

When promoting disorder, the main goal isn’t to look tough confronting a line of riot cops. When you confront the police, it usually results in order not disorder, because the police know precisely where you are and its only a matter of time before they can amass enough forces to surround and bust your ass if they so choose.

For disorder, you want to avoid ever seeing the police but rather keep them guessing and confused while you’re free to cause chaos everywhere the police aren’t. Big protests often concentrate police forces and leave the rest of the city unguarded. The police are organized centrally so multiple mobile groups can scramble their hierarchical structures.

Disruption and disorder can take many forms. The system loves a conventional war within traditional categories. Like guerrilla fighters, it’s our job to figure out forms of struggle where we have an advantage. Creating beautiful expressions of the world we seek to build — music, art, gardens, public sex, bicycle swarms, etc. — avoids the system’s us vs. them paradigm.

Organization

Upsetting order is easier when friends cooperate.  Affinity groups are small direct action cells — usually 4-8 people — who share attitudes about tactics and who organize themselves for effectiveness and protection during protests, riots or for middle of the night action missions. The best affinity groups are people with pre-existing relationships who know and trust each other intimately. Decisions are made as collectively and quickly as possible depending on the circumstances. In a chaotic protest situation, affinity groups enable decision making (as opposed to just reacting to the police) while watching each others’ backs. Affinity groups with experience and a vision within a bigger crowd can take the initiative and start something when the crowd is standing around wondering what to do next.

Some affinity groups use a code word which any member can yell if they have an idea for what the group should do next. Upon hearing the word, others in the group yell it too until the whole group gathers up and the person who called the huddle makes a quick proposal. The group can then agree to the proposal, or briefly discuss alternatives, and then move. A code word can also allow regrouping when the group gets separated in a chaotic situation. It is a good idea for everyone in the group to discuss their limits before an action. During the action, taking time to check in about how everyone is feeling will keep the group unified. Don’t forget to eat and take pee breaks, which will be a lot easier when someone can act as lookout while you duck behind a dumpster.

Some affinity groups have division of labor in which some member say away from the action to support members who might be arrested. An affinity group can send scouts on a bike to check out action opportunities. Affinity groups can be ongoing groups that last for years, or they can form just before a particular action.

Sometimes multiple affinity groups cooperate before or during an action using a spokes council. A spokes council is a meeting for making decisions involving large numbers of people more quickly in which each affinity group is represented by a single member. Often the rest of the affinity group sits behind the member who is the speaker so the group can let the speaker now the group’s views.

Watching while our society destroys itself triggers despair and anxiety. Yet it is possible to summon the courage to stay engaged with the world, survive and fight back. When you’re suffering from depression and anxiety is often the hardest time to ask for help from others around you — and paradoxically when you need help the most. Feelings exist for reasons — if you repress them too hard, you can miss important lessons they may have for you. Here are some tips you can use when you’re in crisis which can also be helpful if you’re trying to care for someone having a breakdown.

• It can help to focus off the crisis and onto what you find joyful until you can gather more resources.

• Our brains are connected to our bodies so concentrating on physical health can help treat mental distress. Eating healthy food on a regular schedule and getting enough sleep are key. Exercise, dance, biking and physical movement can help. So can fresh air and having a stable, calming place to stay.

• There is no shame in asking for help or discussing disturbing mental states with others. It helps everyone when these feelings are out of the closet.

• When things are really painful or stressful, it can help to step back and disconnect from feelings that you’ll be destroyed unless you achieve a particular outcome like keeping a particular lover or avoiding changes. Change is inevitable and our greatest source of pain can be our attachment to keeping things static. A year or two from now, whatever is happening now will be a memory and the pain of wishing it was otherwise will be gone. Most changes, even when they are painful, open up other opportunities. When you accept that your life is an adventure, you can see painful changes as plot twists – great stories you can tell later. When you avoid attachment to a particular outcome, you can step back and watch your life like you would watch a movie, which can really reduce your suffering.

• Dissociating from emotions can be a useful short-term survival strategy, but in the long run, those emotions will find other ways to come out — such as in physical symptoms, panic attacks, or periods of emotional crisis.  If you’re having trouble feeling your emotions, getting help is a really good idea.

• Joining a mutual support group of peers listening to and helping peers as equals can validating, while not necessarily endorsing your feelings. You can form one yourself or join an ongoing group.

• Find a counselor who supports your self-determination. Ask about confidentiality if someone else — such as your parents, boss, or governmental program — is paying for your therapy.

• There is no shame in using psychiatric drugs such as those for depression or bipolar disorder if you know they work for you.

• Keep in mind that some current emotional crises may be caused by traumas from the past, which may need to be emotionally and consciously processed in order not to keep recurring.

• When you’re depressed, the most helpful thing to realize is that the depressed feeling will eventually pass and your life will begin to seem meaningful again with time. Depression inhibits your ability to perceive and understand the world correctly. Your perceptions of isolation, loneliness, un-lovability, and hopelessness are not realistic when you are depressed. You have to get through the low point so you can correctly understand reality again on the other side. Avoid making any decisions or drastic moves such as hurting yourself when you are unable to correctly perceive reality.

• Distracting yourself from depressed thoughts can help: listening to music, washing dishes, or doing a project alone or with others.

• Many communities have 24 hour a day crisis hotlines or crisis centers. Call 800-SUICIDE if you’re thinking about killing yourself or 800 646-HOPE to reach a rape crisis line for survivors of sexual violence.

• For anxiety, try to remember to breathe. Practicing meditation may also help you relax.

• Acupuncture, massage and other body work can be ways for others to give your whole self some gentle attention.

• Ecopsychology is realizing nature and wilderness are our greatest healers. Spend some time outside the city to get centered and get away from pollution which is in itself mind-altering.

• If you have a loved one in crisis, the most helpful thing is to make it clear that you care and be there to listen. They may not be able to call or ask for help — it can be very helpful to keep calling them every day or two to check-in, even if they don’t answer the phone or seem to want help. Sometimes it is okay to want to be alone so don’t be too pushy. Just make it clear that you care.

• Social change: Actually address the stressful factors in your environment. Revolution can heal.

• If someone is having delusional thinking or expressing violence related to mental issues, these suggestions may not be helpful and it is okay to reach out for professional help.

 

Active resistance to the death culture of eco-destruction, sweat shops and cultural homogenization is alive and growing. The communities who create and use this organizer are diverse, but we’re united by our inability to fit in with a world organized around injustice, power and greed. A key response to the oppressive corporate system revolves around building alternatives based on freedom, cooperation, beauty, pleasure and love. When faced with endless concrete, we build gardens. When the system builds malls and TV, we share what we have and start our own band. We’re trading their career path for skill shares and self-knowledge built around meditation and psychedelic drugs. And if the corporations persist with poisoning the air and water to make a quick buck, we’ll throw a monkey wrench into the works or climb over their fences and seize the fucking factory.

This organizer comes to you straight from the underground. The historical events you’ll find here illustrate the huge number of ways our resistance expresses itself — reaching into every aspect of what it means to be human from organization to work to personal life to our relationship with the earth to sexuality, technology, art, psychology . . . Many people are working on their own little corner of reality to come up with a response to the unsustainable oppressive monster. It’s time to pull together and synthesize what we’ve all been working on into something even more irresistible.

The organizer created collectively — a power sharing alternative to the hierarchical structures that surround us. Operating collectively is messy and complex and the fact that we end up producing a functional calendar at the end of it is kind of hilarious. It’s messy because it’s alive. We hope the organizer helps people access other pockets of resistance. We are glad to have you with us.

This is the 21st time we’ve amused ourselves by publishing the Slingshot organizer. Its sale raises funds to publish the quarterly, radical, independent Slingshot Newspaper. We try to distribute the newspaper for free everywhere in the US. Let us know if you can be a local newspaper distributor in your area. Thanks to the volunteers who created this year’s organizer: Aaron, Alex, Ali, Angie, Ara, Ari, Audrey, Aya, Bill, Claudia, Cody, DA, Eggplant, enola, Fil, Finn, Gina, Heather, Isabelle, Jasmin, Jesse, Jett, Joey, J-tronn, Kathleen, Kathy, Katiri, Kermit, Korvin, Lew, Lindsey, Liz, Marlene, Mario, Melody, Nat, Nausicaa, Nick, Solomon, Sophia, Soren, Susan, Vanessa, Zoe and those we forgot.

 

Slingshot Collective

A Project of Long Haul

Physical office: 3124 Shattuck Avenue Berkeley, CA 94705

Mail: PO box 3051, Berkeley, CA 94703

510-540-0751 ex. 3 • http://slingshot.tao.ca • slingshot@tao.ca • @slingshotnews

 

Printed in Berkeley, CA on recycled paper

 

Anti-copyright.

 

All volunteer collective – no bosses, no workers, no pay.

Some of the most exciting moments we have experienced in the last few years have been in the streets, getting teargassed by armored riot cops, running around corners and through holes in fences with the people we love, scattering, regrouping, and coming back stronger than ever.

The clarity of these moments is exhilarating. Realizing that the police have all the power in the world but still can’t control us; seeing the way that power can shift and reverse, even in this entrenched world; knowing, without doubt, which side we are on. Experiences like these bring everything in to focus and can become bright shining beacons with which we navigate more effectively through the rest of our lives, but our years are also filled with other moments that make us feel more alive including many experiences where the lines are far less clear and understanding subtleties serves us better than the satisfaction of moral certainty.

It is crucial to oppose the ugliness we see in the world, to name our trauma and make visible the systems of power that shape so much of our lives and undermine our ability to connect with each other. The temptation to turn the moral clarity of a particular moment into a general kind of reductive self-righteousness, however, is strong. It often relies on the logic of the very systems we are trying to oppose.

We are more interested in amplifying the moments we feel most alive, honing our skills for when we face down cops in the street, but also for when we dance and fuck and go on walks with people, when we negotiate sharing our lives and working on projects together and have expansive conversations with each other. We hope that this organizer will give you a place to take notes and make plans, conspire and record all of the moments that make up your life, definite or potential, exciting or logistical, filled with all the clarity and subtlety of life, but never dull.

This is the 22nd time we’ve amused ourselves by publishing the Slingshot organizer. Its sale raises funds to publish the quarterly, radical, independent Slingshot Newspaper. We distribute the newspaper for free everywhere in the US, often at the places listed in the Radical Contact List. Let us know if you can be a local newspaper distributor in your area. Consider sending us content for the paper. Thanks to the volunteers who created this year’s organizer: Ali, Amanda, Angie, Bernadette, Brooke, Caitlan, Claire, Dave, Eggplant, Elisa, Fern, Fil, Finn, Heather, Isabel, Jacob, Jesse, Jesska, Joey, Katie, Kelsey, Kermit, Korvin, Kristi, Lee, Lew, Lindsay, Maggie, Mel, Reishim, Rory, Stormy, Vanessa, Xander & those we forgot.

Slingshot Collective

A Project of Long Haul

Physical office: 3124 Shattuck Avenue Berkeley, CA 94705

Mail: PO box 3051, Berkeley, CA 94703

510-540-0751 ex. 3 • http://slingshot.tao.ca • slingshot@tao.ca • @slingshotnews

 

Printed in Berkeley, CA on recycled paper

 

Anti-copyright.

 

All volunteer collective – no bosses, no workers, no pay.

 

 

 

 

 

These suggestions from the National Lawyers Guild “Know Your Rights” guide summarize the rules to which the police are theoretically subject. Since the police, the courts, and the government can and do ignore these rules when they feel like it, these tips should be taken with a grain of salt. Sometimes these tips may help you later on in court, and sometimes they won’t. But even though the state can’t be counted on to follow its own laws, it still may be helpful to know what these laws are so you can shame particular state agents or deal with particular situations. Always use your best judgment — if you aren’t doing anything wrong, there may be no reason to be excessively paranoid or escalate a potentially innocent and brief encounter with a police officer who is just saying “hi” into an ugly situation by acting suspicious and refusing to say “hi” back. The point is to avoid giving information. We don’t want people to interpret these suggestions so strictly that the suggestions themselves cause problems.

Providing this information isn’t intended to scare you into inactivity or make you paranoid. The vast majority of radical projects are legal and proceed with no interference from the police. The police hassle and arrest people because they hope that such repression will frighten 99 percent of the population away from radical activity. We can take reasonable precautions while continuing the fight for liberation.

Never Talk to the Police

Anything you say to an FBI agent or cop may be used against you and other people — even if the questions seem routine or harmless. You don’t have to talk to FBI agents, police or investigators on the street, if you’ve been arrested, or if you’re in jail. (Exception: in 20 states, you can be prosecuted for refusing to give your name. Refusing to give your name in the other 30 states may arouse suspicion.) Only a judge has the authority to order you to answer questions. Many activists have refused to answer questions, even when ordered by a judge or grand jury, and subsequently served jail time to avoid implicating others. It is common for the FBI to threaten to serve you with a grand jury subpoena unless you talk to them. Don’t be intimidated. This is frequently an empty threat, and if they are going to subpoena you, they will do so anyway. If you do receive a subpoena, call a lawyer right away.

Once you’ve been stopped or arrested, don’t try to engage cops in a dialogue or respond to accusations. If you are nervous about simply refusing to talk, you may find it easier to tell them to contact your lawyer. Once a lawyer is involved, the police usually back off because they’ve lost their power to intimidate. Even if you have already answered some questions, you can refuse to answer other questions until you have a lawyer. Don’t lie to the police or give a false name— lying to the police is a crime. However, the police are allowed to lie to you — don’t believe what they say. If you’ve been arrested, don’t talk about anything sensitive in police cars, jail cells or to other inmates — you are probably being recorded. All of this applies whether you’ve been busted for a minor infraction, or a serious felony.

What To Do About Police Harassment On The Street

If the police stop you on the street, ask, “Am I free to go?” If yes, walk away. If not, you are being detained but this does not necessarily mean you will be arrested. Ask, “Can you explain why you are detaining me?” To stop you, cops must have specific reasons to suspect you of involvement in a specific crime. Police are entitled to frisk you (pat you down) during a detention. If the police try to further search you, your car, or your home, say repeatedly that you do not consent to the search, but do not physically resist.

You can fight police harassment by watching the cops. You have a right to be in public and to observe police activity. Write down all police officers’ names & badge numbers, addresses of witnesses, the time, date, place and details of the incident, etc. If stopped, get people to watch for you.

What To Do If Police Visit Your Home

You do not have to let the FBI or police into your home or office unless they have a search or arrest warrant. Demand to see the warrant. It must specifically describe the place to be searched and the things to be seized. If they do present a warrant, you do not have to tell them anything other than your name and address. Tell the police that you do not consent to the search – this will (theoretically) limit them to search only where the warrant authorizes. If the officers ask you to give them documents, your computer, or anything else, look to see if the item is listed in the warrant. If it is not, do not consent to them taking it. You have a right to observe what they do. You should take written notes of what they do, their names, badge numbers, etc. Have friends who are present act as witnesses.

What To Do If Police Stop You In Your Car

If you are driving a car, you must show police your license, registration and proof of insurance, but you do not have to consent to a search or answer questions. Keep your hands where the police can see them and refuse to consent (agree) to a search. Police may separate passengers and drivers from each other to question them, but no one has to answer any questions.

What To Do If You Are Arrested

Repeatedly tell the police “I don’t want to talk until my lawyer is present.” If you suffer police abuse while detained or arrested, try to remember the officer’s badge number and/or name. You have the right to ask the officer to identify himself. Write down everything as soon as you can and try to find witnesses. If you are injured, see a doctor and take pictures of the injuries as soon as possible.

Searches at International Borders

Your property (including data on laptops) can be searched and seized at border crossings without a warrant. Consider backing up or not bringing important data before going through customs.

Police Hassles: What If You Are Not A Citizen?

In most cases, you have the right to a hearing with an immigration judge before you can be deported. If you voluntarily give up this right or take voluntary departure, you could be deported without a hearing and you may never be able to enter the US legally again or ever get legal immigration status. Do not talk to the ICE, even on the phone, or sign any papers before talking to an immigration lawyer. You do not have to reveal your immigration status to any government official. If you are arrested in the US, you have the right to call your consulate or have the police inform the consulate of your arrest. Your consul may help you find a lawyer. You also have the right to refuse help from your consulate.

Police Hassles: What If You Are Under 18 Years Old?

Don’t talk to the police — minors also have the right to remain silent. You don’t have to talk to cops or school officials. Public school students have the right to politically organize at school by passing out leaflets, holding meetings and publishing independent newspapers as long as these activities do not disrupt classes. You have the right to a hearing with your parents and an attorney present before you are suspended or expelled. Students can have their backpacks and lockers searched by school officials without a warrant. Do not consent to any search, but do not physically resist.

Common Sense Activist Security Measures

Don’t speculate on or circulate rumors about protest actions or potentially illegal acts. Assume you are under surveillance if you are organizing mass direct action, anything illegal, or even legal stuff. Check out the authenticity of any potentially disturbing letter, rumor, phone call, or other form of communication before acting on it. Ask the supposed source if she or he is responsible. Deal openly and honestly with the differences in our movements (race, gender, class, age religion, sexual orientation, etc.) before the police can exploit them. Don’t try to expose a suspected agent or informer without solid proof. Purges based on mere suspicion only help the police create distrust and paranoia. It generally works better to criticize what a disruptive person says and does without speculating as to why.

People who brag about, recklessly propose, or ask for unnecessary information about underground groups or illegal activities are a severe danger to the movement. The police may used infiltrators/provocateurs posing as activists to entrap people on conspiracy charges of planning illegal acts. You can be guilty of conspiracy just for agreeing with one other person to commit a crime even if you never go through with it — all that is required is an agreement to do something illegal and a single “overt act” in furtherance of the agreement, which can be a legal act like going to a store. It is reasonable to be suspicious of people in the scene who pressure us, manipulate us, offer to give us money or weapons, or make us feel like we aren’t cool if we don’t feel comfortable with a particular tactic, no matter why they do these things. Responsible activists considering risky actions will want to respect other people’s boundaries and limits and won’t want to pressure you into doing things you’re not ready for. Doing so is coercive and disrespectful — hardly a good basis on which to build a new society or an effective action.

Keep in mind that activists who spend all their time worrying about security measures and police surveillance will end up totally isolated and ineffective because they won’t be able to welcome new folks who want to join the struggle. We have to be aware of the possibility of police surveillance while maintaining our commitment to acting openly and publicly. Smashing the system is going to require mass action as well as secretive covert actions by a tiny clique of your trusted friends.

More info contact the National Lawyers Guild: 415 285-1055 or 212 627-2656; read The War at Home by Brian Glick or Agents of Repression by Ward Churchill

 

 

Many people in radical circles spend a bit of their time doing prisoner support activities. This can range from joining a books-to-prisoners project that mails free books to inmates, to individually becoming penpals with a prisoner. Some people focus on political prisoners — prisoners held because of their involvement in radical actions or framed because of their beliefs. Other people see the entire prison-industrial complex as illegitimate, criticize the way that it targets marginalized communities, and/or believe that it is wrong to imprison people at all. Many people are in prison because of the war on drugs, or because economic inequality under capitalism impoverishes entire communities and pushes people to do illegal things to survive.

A key way we can support prisoners is by communicating with them. Prison is a deeply isolating environment. In an email-dominated world, writing an old-fashioned letter on paper can be surprisingly rewarding for you as well as a prisoner. There are many penpal networks that connect prisoners with those on the outside. Here are some tips on writing letters to prisoners.

• When writing to prisoners, you have to put their prisoner number on the first line of the mailing address to get it through. Prisons prohibit mailing certain items like books, food, money, etc. Ask the prisoner for the rules.

• Make sure to put a return address on your letter. If you are writing to a prisoner you don’t know, it may be best to use a PO box or other neutral address.

• If you’re writing to a prisoner, keep in mind that the prison officials or other authorities may read your letter. Don’t discuss anything sensitive. If the prisoner is waiting for trial or sentencing (or on appeal), it may be better not to discuss the details of their case.

• While the state locking people up is shitty, it doesn’t follow that all prisoners are angels. They are people just like everyone else, and some of them are flawed or can be manipulative. Use reasonable caution and treat prisoners like you would another penpal.

• Be careful about accepting collect phone calls from jail — they are usually expensive.

• Don’t make promises you can’t keep like offering to find a lawyer to take their case, sending them money or expensive items, offering them housing on release, organizing a support campaign, etc.— being let down when you’re locked up can be especially devastating. Be clear about your intentions. If you’re not looking for a romantic relationship, it can be helpful to all involved to say so right off.

• You can find penpals by contacting your local prison literature project – check the radical contact list because many of these spaces host prison related projects.