Recipes for Disaster: an anarchist cookbook

advantageous for the people who do the bulk of the scouting not to be involved in the action; all the same, everyone who will be on the site in the action should spend time there, not just the scouts. Ideally, conduct a dry run, with everyone who will engage in the action participating. If need be, take photographs to study, but do so very subtly, and don't develop them in such a way that there is evidence of your reconnaissance.

While scouting, make note of schedules, security, random^ traffic, and the nearness of and travel time from locations such as police stations that may launch a response. Staff hours, garbage collection, janitorial service, the times at which trains pass by?anything pertinent should be knowTi to you. Trash can often provide important intelligence on a corporation or institution (see Dumpster Diving, pg. 219). Keep an eye out for items in the area that can be applied in your action; the less you have to take in and out on the big day, the better. Survey the surroundings: are there heavy woods that could provide cover, or consumer outlets where people can be camouflaged as customers? Pay attention to changes in the area over the course of successive scouting missions, to minimize the chances that any significant ones will occur unexpectedly between the last scouting mission and the action. Scout at various times of day and night, but especially at the time of day when your action will take place; if need be, post a full-time watch. You may need to test whether and where there are security systems, and measure the speed and scale of the response; be careful not to give anything away in the process. Since your action likely depends on the element of surprise, you should probably cancel your plans if anything compromises this at any point during reconnaissance.

Finally, consider precedents for your action. Chances are someone has attempted something similar; learn what you can about how it went, and lay your plans accordingly.

You can hinder logging in the last of our forests by spiking trees in woods that are to be cut. Using a big hammer, drive a nail at least six inches long into each trunk, above the level of your head, and cut off the heads of the nails or cover them with bark; repeat this process randomly throughout the v^oods, working in the rain if necessary to muffle the noise and using ceramic spikes if you need to outwit loggers with metal detectors. Inform the forest service that the trees have been spiked.

Sabotage 437

Recruiting Sometimes you can carry ofFa simple act of sabotage or subversion on your own. In other cases you will need a team to do so. This team should consist of the smallest number of people necessary to accomplish all of the tasks involved; the fewer people involved, the smaller the risk of misunderstandings and individual mistakes, and the stronger each participant's sense of personal responsibility. In larger groups, some people may drop out of the project in the course of your preparations, so be sure there are enough of you to provide for this possibility. If only a few people are needed, your affinity group (see Afinity Croups, pg. 28) should suffice; if more are called for, consider inviting other affinity groups to collaborate vidth you. Any large group working together should divide into smaller sub-groups, to simplify organization and decision-making.

You should only invite people to work with you that you have reason to trust deeply. Every person you invite who opts not to participate is another needless security risk, so choose with care. Approach people with general questions first, in a private environment, and only make your proposal if they express concrete interest in doing something. Individuals who aren't going to be working with you shouldn't even be aware of your interest in illegal activities; innocent speculations as to who carried out a well-known ac-You can put a blue filter on your *^°^ ^^^ ^^ extremely dangerous. The team that forms should be capable of cooperating flashlight: this will enable you to use it amicably in the most harrowing of situations.

in the dark without ruining your night Bringing in Others means respecting them as equal participants in the project, with

vision, and with much less chance of 1 ? 1 ? -n i ? 1

being seen by others. ^^ equal say m how it Will be earned out. Don't mvite people to work with you unless