Recipes for Disaster: an anarchist cookbook

to notice anything, or a forgotten zone suitable for squatting or camping, get together for a short period of intensive preparation (see Thinktanks, pg. 550). In urban areas, the home of a vacationing trustworthy friend may suffice. Everyone should have an alibi?and not the same one!?going into the action camp. Organizing food and shelter for a group over a period of time can be taxing in itself; individuals who desire to play support roles can take responsibility for delivering food and other resources. Make sure that traffic in and out of the camp does not attract undue attention.

During the planning phase, establish the potential legal repercussions of every action you are considering, so you can weigh these as you make decisions. If you're not ready to do the time, don't do the crime. Before carrying out any serious illegal act, you should have a legal support structure in place in case anyone is arrested (see Legal Support, pg. 329). Be sure there are people not directly involved in the action who can provide legal support to arrestees, so no immediate link between them, the people supporting them, and the action can be made.

Legal Preparations

Sometimes weather wiW be integral to your plans?^you might need a full moon for cross-country travel, or a new moon for cover of darkness or a rainstorm to soften noise. Snowfall can make it impossible to pass through an area without leaving a track, while hot weather might make you look more suspicious in your disguise. Schedule accordingly. Stay abreast of other developments; if there's a manhunt on in the area of your target the night of your action, you'd better know about it before you head out.

Conditions

Sabotage 441

Communications

Sabotage 442

Unless your action is to be carried out by one or two isolated individuals, you will need a secure and reliable system for communication and counter-surveillance. This could range from simply having the option for an emergency cancellation to be announced at the last minute, should something go awry, to several groups staying in close contact throughout the action. The more elaborate your communications structure, the more coordinated your activities can be; on the other hand, the more you rely on communications technology, the greater the chance that your tiransmissions can be monitored, and the greater the confusion should communication break down. The simpler your communications structure is, tihe safer it is, and this goes for your plan in general.

Scouts can be posted at entry points to await and announce police response, or can rove the area to keep tabs on security and passersby. A police scanner can be used to monitor police interactions, though it is illegal to use them from vehicles. A communications center can be established, to which scouts and action groups report, and which is responsible for contacting other groups to pass along news and announcements; alternatively, information can be distributed by means of a "phone tree," hi which each person or group that receives a message is responsible for passing it on to a few others.

Communications technology is constantly evolving, as are police surveillance techniques; keep up to date on your options. Two-way radios come in varying ranges; they can be monitored easily enough, especially if police are prepared to do so, and often fail to work when they are most needed, but they can be used to contact a number of different people instantaneously, and if unmonitored they leave no record of use. Cell phones work more reliably and over much longer ranges, and are not quite as easy to monitor, assuming they are not already tapped; on the other hand, they leave a permanent record of where, when, and to whom calls were made. A cell phone borrowed from a noncombatant or registered to a fictitious owner is much safer than a personal cell phone. This is the only kind of phone you should use in a serious action.

On the day or night of the action, go over every step of the plan together, with each par- Action ticipant describing his or her role. This will provide crucial clarity and reassurance.