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Indybay Feature

MARCH 20th BREAKAWAY

by ojo
Breakaway March. SW Corner of Civic Center. Meet Polk & Grove at 2 PM, after the ANSWER march arrives.
BREAKAWAY MARCH

THIS Saturday, March 20, at 2 PM
MEET AT: Polk and Grove, SW Corner of Civic Center
LOOK FOR: Tall red and black flags with houses on them

This is a short announcement to let folks know that there will be an unpermitted breakaway march this Saturday. As before we will march in solidarity with the ANSWER march. We will reconverge at the usual spot at civic center, and depart again at 2:00 PM.

The march will take an unspecified route through San Francisco. This march also has a specific destination, one which will allow us to focus some of our energy on issues that are local. Look for the tall red and black flags. Bring friends and/or affinity groups, masks, noisemakers, party favors, food and water to share, the usual.
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by timing is key
All tactics are great in this movement and should be encouraged ... but, when there is a well attented peaceful march is going, maybe spraying one anarchy symbol on one cop car isn't really all that effective ... but, hey I hope something is good is in the works and all that ...

One good break away march idea ... is to break completely away and end up at Lawrence Livermore Labs ... or break away to Houston Texas, at Enron's Hdqtrs ... or just end up somewhere really targeted, surprising and so on ... just a thought ...
by just wondering
or just militant liberals?
by none

Please please please learn from the past and stay off of streets paralleling market in SoMa. Every breakaway I have been in has been corraled on these streets.
by ...
right on about SoMa. your points are noted, i'm sure ;)
by curious
Is this the faction which opposes same-sex marriage?
by inaccurate
1) no, that is gay shame

2) it's opposing same-sex marriage, it's about opposing any kind of marriage. it's about finding other ways to achieve liberation than binding yourself to the state.
by inaccurate
eek, sorry, big typo in my last post. i meant to say

it's NOT about opposing same-sex marraige, but marriage of any kind....

by just wondering
Why do people never avoid this by dispersing, exfiltrating in twos and threes, and regrouping at a remote location, behind the police lines?
by reader
"Every breakaway I have been in has been corraled on these streets"

Even the ones that are perpendicular to Market and Mission . . . I'd guess it's more the planning and tactics of the activists than the location, but that is one factor.

But it sure feels good to know this will be happening! It's worth the risk of getting corraled. I'm already getting in shape for the sprints.

This is the best part of the these useless marches. Why? For one, because it shows we won't just wander and carry signs - we will act. And it prepares people for our real life future, the same reality that people in Haiti and the Middle East are facing now. Eventually, that will happen in a gradual way here.

I'm looking at the old / new tactic of bombing to change an election, bombing to start a war, bombing to make a headline, and I see world chaos in the future.

A huge amount of learning happens when people face off with police on the streets. The media can spin it, sure, but in the end, the people that experience that carry it with them for the rest of their life, like creating an antibody - once you've been exposed, that's it. And then you pass it on. And a small number of people can make huge changes.
by 123
"Why do people never avoid this by dispersing, exfiltrating in twos and threes, and regrouping at a remote location, behind the police lines?"

It's because everyone has such a commitment to their black clothing and countercultural jewelry. In Sacramento last summer, my group was always easily able to get out of those situations where the police kept marching people with black clothing 20 blocks out of downtown, using batons and pepper spray, because we wore plaid and tourist hats. Do you see the photos here of the arrest of John Blanco during a march last spring by union square where the police had concentrated about 250 officers protecting union square. They were letting shoppers and tourists permeate the line, but only wouldn't let black drssed people in. But notice the position of the photographer here. They allowed this indymedia photographer/editor walk right amongst them because his tan colored jacket rendered him invisible!
http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/02/1575808.php

from other side of line: http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/02/1574666.php
by been there, done that
Once, at a demo long ago, one clever demonstrator wore tight, but innocuous looking, tourist type clothes. Over top, he wore baggy, black clothes, a knit cap and a bandana. One thing led to another and pretty soon Bruce “The Moose” Marovich, head of the red squad at the time, had this demonstrator by the wrist.

In the demonstrator’s other hand was a brown paper sack. In the sack was a couple hundred feet of 100 lb. monofilament fishing line. The plan had been to stretch the line across a street, provoke a charge by the cops on horseback, escape under the fishing line and laugh our asses off when the cops’ necks hit the line and swept them from their saddles.

Unfortunately, this particular demonstrator lacked sufficient discipline to stay away from the front of the demo until the proper opportunity presented itself for the plan to be carried out. Marovich saw the bag, and expecting explosives or something, tried to capture it and the demonstrator.

He almost succeeded. He had a firm grip on the demonstrator’s wrist with one hand. With the other hand he grabbed the sack and flipped it open. When he saw, not contraband, but perfectly legal fishing line, his poor little pea brain couldn’t process it. Fishing line!?! WTF, he thought. In the ensuing moment of confusion, the demonstrator aikidoed his way out of Marovich’s grip, fled into the center of the crowd, crouched out of site, shed his outer clothing, and immediately walked back to the front of the crowd, where Marovich looked him right in the eye for a second or two from fifteen feet away and didn’t recognize him.

Hahahahahahahahahaha. Stupid pig, easily confused.
by kight
I just happen to be the photographer - no, not the tan coated photographer, the photographer who took took that photo you linked to. I got that position for three reasons:

1. I have experience in photojournalism which has taught me to *hustle* and to *get the shot*, no matter what it takes. Nothing beats experience.
2. I *planned ahead* by only 1 minute, I could see the movements of the crowd versus the movements of the police.
3. I wasn't afraid to hide in the flower booth, to accost tourists for film when I ran out (god bless him), and to weasel my way out of the grips of a nervous cop once he finally noticed me.


My main point is that we activists must *think*!! Look ahead! Make the connection. Don't be afraid to run! Hustle! Be a Leader! Which means... take the lead instead of following, for once. Sometimes that means splitting off.

In addition, it's true that experience is more important than the short lived reputation of a small group of activists. In my opinion.
by kight
Now I've taken credit for someone else's photo! I'm very sorry, I hope offense isn't taken.

And I hope my point still holds. That, in that situation, I was there before the police closed in because I looked ahead, threw some hustle into it and wasn't afraid to hide in the flower booth. How many times last year did I see people waddling about or chasing a flag...
by 123
Yes, I was the one who had the pictures from the other side where you can see our big clot of people all holding up a camera in their hand.
There were more than one photographer who were able to get to the police side, along with many many people who looked like they were shopping. However, look at what happened as soon as a protester-looking person tried to walk through- bam.
yes, on that particular walk, several people got a bit irritated with how everyone would get to one spot (like right there by union square where there were 200 police) and we would stand around and watching the exhibitionists do minor stunts. However, there is also something to be said for having 95% of the people be generally uninformed of anyone's specific plans, and be out for a walk. I'd personally prefer not to know that someone happens to be targeting X building, making me an accessory.
by ken morgan
As I was coming into the main San Francisco library, at about 3:50pm, I noticed a sam trans bus full of cops, and about a dozen motorcycle cops with sirens on, heading east on Market and Mission. The federal cops at the US circuit court in San Francisco were armed with what look like either rubber bullet or bean bag rifles.
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