Strategy: Call for autonomous zones

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=03/04/02/8782590

Check out this recent news item from Portland,Maine's indymedia site. They have taken over a square and maintain it as a 24 anti-war zone. This is what we need to do in San Francsico, establish a temporary autonomous zone (TAZ) which we control physically and whose image we control, pure and simple.

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This strategy is more intelligent, I believe, and more impressive to anyone watching, and more effective in uniting us and helping us exchange ideas with one another and with the onlookers we are supposedly trying to speak out to (though I differ on this point with others).

By keeping our heads in a constant fight-or-flight mode, marching or running through the streets, we not only tire outselves out, but we never give ourselves a chance (nor are we allowed a chance by the police) to actually build links and exchange ideas and news and build the action into something greater than trying to stay one step ahead of police.

I'm arguing this - that the cops 'n' protesters game is played out and I'm suggesting that whoever shows up in the future should bring some strategies to maintain a presence without ending up in jail, ending up as a crazy-looking voiceless media poster child for pro-war agendas, or going home exhausted and feeling useless when the paddy wagons have taken away our friends.

The strategy I'm suggesting is this, and no, I don't think it matters if cops read this one bit:

1 - if you bring signs, bring signs which are SOLID, made out of plywood with sturdy handles, which can shield you or others from batons, and psychological intimidation. I think it's very important to say here, I'm very explicitly NOT suggesting that signs be used offensively (that would be idiotic), but rather than, if you're holding a piece of plywood, even a thin one, the cop knows, and you know, that the baton means nothing anymore! This creates an opportunity for you to not be intimidated. Think of it as psychological deterrence. The cops rely on this all the time, their armor and helmets make them feel secure, and we should feel just as secure!

Flimsy, generic, "popsicle-style" cardboard signs are often hard to see, create a lot of waste, and have no defensive capability whatsoever. Sturdy signs can present larger, more visible murals, displaying more interesting images to the media, such as Picasso's Guernica, and they show a longer lasting commitment to the message on them.

When the police show up and start to intimidate us, you will be very glad you brought something to protect your body, and your personal space which you are establishing legally as a protester.

2- let's take over a plaza, square, park, or something. and try to create at least a 24-hour autonomous anti-war zone. this will give us

- breathing room, a place to rest so we're not constantly in fight-or-flight mode

-coordinating possibilities i.e. media linkups, best thing would be a space including a payphone and tables, i'm thinking a more stable node for internet and video connections and communications

-a space to plan together in person

-better media positioning (especially if we're in a very visible place)

-more secure possibilities for making protest into a cultural experience. the guys who had their sound equipment confiscated recently would have stood a better chance at running their system if we'd had a TAZ to protect them.

-most importantly, a significant defensive capability against illegal police intimidation, which is what's been really lacking so far. police agression can be held back quite effectively with physical barricades (*not* property destruction!), individuals or groups employing physical shields/murals, lengths of rope, chain, or twine, and anything which would create some sort of barrier between us and a bunch of angry, belligerent, emotional guys holding sticks and guns. what good is their stick if it can't hit your body? what good is their vocal intimidation if they can't be heard over our music?

3 - let's keep our imagery capabilities, (which represent a very real war of imagery, metaphor, and interpretation against the mass media in my book), fluid and more flexible. I'm suggesting more use of art supplies and dynamic messaging (i.e. white boards and chalkboards). think about it - marker on cardboard = one message for the entire day. marker with whiteboard equals dynamic, constantly changing hundreds of different messages throughout the day, which can be responsive to the immediate conditions of the protest and can be used to express immediate concerns to the media covering us.

These are my ideas and I want to share them with as many people as possible! Please spread these ideas ifyou judge them to be useful and intelligent and sane.

I think that since the 60s, the police and agencies of repression have been watching, recording, and learning from protesters. I do not think we have adapted as much as they have, and we are paying the price now, where even in the face of enrmous numbers, we have demonstrated very little ability to communicate our message via mainstream media, nor have we had a significant impact on our national policy. Our protests continue to go "by the book", textbook displays of what protesting is supposed to be like, with little in terms of results. We go to the symbolic locations of power but nobody is there anymore - a bunch of people at the steps of the capitol building only means something if there's someone there who hears you. If you feel that this is unfair to you and the work you doing, I sincerely apologize - it isn't meant to be a blanket statement about all of us, I'm just addressing the way our protests are being by the "public" (i know, we *are* the public) with collective yawns and the further sticking of heads into the sand.

Let's step out of the realm of the symbolic protest and take some physical space over and make up new ideas and strategies. Just one of many lone voices in the wilderness. - dumpy