Recipes for Disaster: an anarchist cookbook

Many fascist groups, such as the KKK, like to hold public rallies to gain attention. Others, like the National Alliance, hold secret organizing meetings to train their cadre. White power concerts serve to draw in youth. All deserve to be shut dovm.

Start by collecting information on who is planning the event. What is their history, where are they from, and who are their local contacts? This will give you some background on the fascists for propaganda purposes, and will help you to identify what and whom to target. Fascist groups often have a local member who invites the group to town, hoping to draw more recruits. The local is probably the one who reserved the event space. When fascists arrive from out of town, they are likely to visit this person's home. This is a perfect opportunity for surveillance and intelligence gathering, or to expose them early on and disrupt their plans beforehand.

Step i: Call a meeting. Invite groups and individuals you think would be willing to cooperate on a tactical level, even if you have political differences. Be firm that the purpose of this organizing is to shut the event down, not just to protest or raise awareness. Make it a point of principle that the coalition will not work with the police, that it vrill support a diversity of tactics, and that it will organize on a grassroots, horizontal level. Develop a spokescouncil (see Affinity Groups, pg. 28) and get representatives from involved groups to take on roles. Get commitments from people. If others have already initiated an organizing meeting, figure out if it is worth attending. If it is, raise the same issue of direct democracy and the goal of shutting the event down. Unfortunately, there may be some liberals who wUl be outraged by your suggestions and will try to isolate you. Some people may not want to engage in confrontation, so space should be provided

for them to participate safely?support roles are just as crucial as action roles, after all. Make your points and try to win people to your perspective, but be careful not to say anything potentially incriminating. Liberals have a long and sordid history of acting as police informants when they are confronted with more radical organizing attempts.

Step 2: Get the word out. Leaflets, stickers, spray paint, stencils, the internet, whatever it takes. If your area is multilingual, try to get your stuff translated. It makes a big difference to break down the language barriers and avoid the assumption that everyone speaks American English. This has the benefit of attracting people from different scenes to the organizing?both of this counter-event and of long-term antifascist actions.

Your main goal at this stage is to get the fascist event cancelled in advance. Sometimes simple exposure will do the job. Many businesses do not want to be associated with fascists and will nix an event once it is publicized that they are hosting them; in many cases, they wiU not reaUze whom they are dealing with until they are informed, as fascists often conceal the true nature of their groups and intentions. Others will initially defend the event on misguided "free speech" grounds, but will cave in to public pressure if you organize a call-in campaign.

In some circumstances, you may want to avoid public organizing. A call to action is likely to get media attention, and the police will certainly take notice. This guarantees that the fascists will have a state-sponsored security force for the event, decreasing your chances of direct confi-ontation. You may not want them to know you're coming. In this case, organize by word-of-mouth among select antifascist groups, and catch them by surprise!'

It's very rare for the fascists to hold any sort of pubHc raUy without massive police pro- Public Rallies

tection defendmg their "free speech" while silencing ours. This may include massive

numbers of not cops?sometimes hidden out of sight nearby until needed?armed with

tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and flash grenades, not to mention helicopters T'^"'""'""""""

snipers, command centers, dogs, horses, and tank-like vehicles. The fascists will often be defended behind fences, with supporters and opposition herded into caged-in protest pens. The main fascists will be escorted in and out by the pohce, often in police vehicles.