Recipes for Disaster: an anarchist cookbook

Your plans should specify the order in which activities are to be carried out; they should take into account the amount of time each activity will require, providing for transportation time as well. Everyone whose actions are to be coordinated should have synchronized watches. A full route, including alternate escape routes (see Evasion), should be charted for everyone involved?not just in and out of the target site, but all the way from the starting point of the day's events to their conclusion when everyone is safely dispersed. This route should be planned so as to leave as little record as possible of the movements of those who participate in the action; avoid toll roads, for example, and surveillance cameras at gas stations.

If there are getaway drivers, it's better for them to return at a predetermined time or when called for than to wait around attracting the attention of neighbors or passing police. Have your time budgeted in advance, and adjust your plans as you go in order to avoid awkward situations. If you have a time established in advance to be picked up, and it takes longer than you'd expected to get onto the site from your drop-off and pickup location, set aside the same amount of extra time for getting back, and subtract that from the time you had planned to have on the site.

You should have backup plans worked out, in case something goes wrong, and establish what conditions will prompt you to switch from one plan to the next. Everyone should have an alternate mode of transportation available in case they cannot leave the area by the planned means, and should carry cab or bus fare if applicable.

Make sure you have the necessary tools for the job, but take nothing extraneous with you?nothing potentially incriminating, nothing needlessly heavy, nothing you might accidentally lose. After the action, destroy all the tools you used, or, if you're sure the action sabotage was not dramatic enough to provoke a serious investigation, keep them far away from 443

any space associated with you. Make sure all other evidence is destroyed?every last map, every scribbled note, every piece of clothing you might have been seen wearing.

Have an alibi prepared: arrange to have been seen in public, or to have a record?such as a parking lot ticket, movie stub, or campground receipt from a location you are certain is not under surveillance?of your activities away from the scene of the crime. Don't ever speak of the action again, except within the group with whom you accomplished it, and even then only under secure conditions. There are two exceptions to this: if you are caught, tried, and sentenced for an action, you can speak about the actions for which you were convicted, on the condition that you not give away anything about anyone else; and if you succeed in overthrowdng the government and all other oppressive institutions, you and your friends and everybody else like you will finally be free to own up to having participated in subversive activities back in the bad old days. Imagine the stories we'll all have to tell then!

Communique and Press Coverage

Sabotage 444

You may want to disguise your strike as an accident or a random act of vandalism, so as not to help investigators by narrowing the pool of suspects. On the other hand, if one of your goals is to attract public attention, you will do well to take publicity into your own hands. The best of sabotage actions can go unnoticed or even be deliberately covered up, unless they are accompanied by compelling and wide-ranging media campaigns.

The simplest way to do this is to issue a communique. This is essentially a press release (see Mainstream Media, pg. 358}: it should begin by covering the who, what, when, and where of an action, then explain why it was carried out and elaborate on the broader goals behind it. It should be written simply and precisely, in a generic writing style that will not give away the identity of the author or authors. Mainstream press coverage will include a sentence or two of the communique at best, so make sure every line of it is eloquent and capable of standing alone. Sometimes humor can be helpful for getting

your point across and maintaining readers' attention; tiiis is most useful if your communique is going to be published in full somewhere, such as on an independent news website. Include a link to an informative webpage or two, if possible, keeping in mind that this can also bring attention or repression to those who host them.