Recipes for Disaster: an anarchist cookbook

Act swiftly. If you are painting more than one target, don't attract attention to yourself by rushing around, but don't linger in the area any longer than necessary, either. Take care of your targets in ascending order of conspicuousness?a dozen little stenciled images on the sidewalk might not tip off the authorities that vandals are on the loose, but once "police everywhere justice nowhere" is scrawled thirty feet long across the wall of the courthouse, you'd better be on your way home.

For particularly challenging missions in areas into which it is difficult to smuggle large quantities of paint and equipment, you can stash your gear nearby ahead of time. In many situations, you should consider finding a hidden place to suit up just off-site, so you won't have to leave your house looking the way you do when you are painting.

"This brings to mind the hilarious video footage in which a Swedish activist climbs onto a roof during a demonstration and begins to spray paint antifascist graffiti. He runs out of paint before it is finished, however, and stands there, before hundreds of his compatriots and the cameras of various journalists, shaking his empty can in desperation, having just spray painted a swastika on the wall.

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If you are working with lookouts, it may be wise to have separate escape routes, and designated points for regrouping. After the action, keep clear of the area for a little while, keep your authorship to yourself (see Security Culture, pg. 461), and try not to make it obvious if you do eventually return to admire your work.

Distance Painting and For painting from a short distance?for example, putting a slogan on a tall billboard Projectiles from the ground?attach a spray paint can to the end of a long stick and operate it by means of a lever {figure 10.2). Put a "spacer" extending from the business end of the apparatus, so you can keep the paint can a steady distance from your canvas; the spacer should slide smoothly across the surface. You can also use paint rollers on long poles.

To decorate from a greater distance, fill a "super soaker" squirt gun {figure 10.^) with paint; precision is diflficult with this method, to say the least, but sometimes all you have to do to get your point across is make a mess. Better yet, find an old-fashioned pressurized fire extinguisher?the chrome kind wdth the flexible hose, used for spraying water (figure 10.4). Make sure it's empty, then use a fiinnel to refiU it with a mixture of one part water to one part acryHc house paint. Make sure your mixture is not so thick that it clogs the spraying mechanism; if you're using salvaged or otherwise lumpy or dirty paint, filter it through pantyhose first. Pressurize the canister surreptitiously at a gas station, or with a bicycle pump. The fire extinguisher will either have a pressure gauge on it to indicate when it is sufficiently pressurized, or a plaque listing the maximum pressure in pounds per square inch. Using this, you can spray paint up to fifty feet; you could improve a billboard, or paint the visors of a fine of riot police, or detail an entire lot of suburban utility vehicles. Be sure to wash the extinguisher out thoroughly afterwards so you can use it again. Practice before using it in the field, so you'll know how much paint you've got to use. Graffiti If you need to do your painting with projectiles, you can fill Christmas tree ornaments

262 with paint, or open up the bottoms of used light bulbs and do the same (figure 10.5). Both

can be sealed with duct tape or candle wax, and carried in empty six- WJ-pack containers. Be sure not to get fingerprints on them?you should wear gloves while preparing any projectile. For maximum splatter, mix the paint in equal parts with paint thinner (for oil paints) or water (for acrylic paints). Think in advance about which color paint will best complement the color scheme of your target. To be sure a projectile will not bounce off the target and break on you, throw at an angle; this will also ensure that the paint splatters away from you. To make a paint projectile out of wax, take a balloon filled with air and dip it in melted wax; let it cool, then repeat the process about twenty times before extracting the balloon from the shell, filling it with paint, and sealing the hole wdth more wax. Much less than twenty dippings, and it may break too early; much more, and it might not break at all.