Recipes for Disaster: an anarchist cookbook

You can check to see if you have electricity by switching the breakers off and on; if you have a power meter on the back of your building, you may be able to activate it yourself (see Utilities, pg. 585), but this should only be attempted with extreme caution. Pirating electricity may be as simple as running an extension cord out to an outlet at the foot of a streetlight, but if it's not, don't attempt it unless you are a trained expert; the same goes for messing vrith damaged wiring. If you have no heat or electricity, insulate the walls with carpet or similar material, and use thick plastic to make tents for sleeping. You can use candles and kerosene heaters and lanterns, but don't store kerosene near them or leave them burning while you are asleep or absent. Steal a fire extinguisher or two, or leave around buckets of sand or water, and put up smoke detectors. You can make a wood stove out of a discarded steel drum, if you can attach a safe chimney for the smoke. To discourage vermin, hang your food and trash off the floor by wires. As for getting a phone connection, you may find that telephone companies are more willing than other utility providers to activate or install lines in unusual contexts, though it's just easier to use a cell phone.

If you're in a district where you face the risk of break-ins or violent eviction and you're not trying to pretend you bought the place with your arts association, keep the windows barred or covered with plywood, anchor broken glass in cement atop walls.

If your presence in a neighborhood might otherwise pave the way for gentrification, you can undermine this with reverse gentrification. Use targeted graffiti, vandalism, and similar tactics to scare off potential invaders and investors, while being careful not to make anyone native to the area feel uncomfortable.

Squatting 5"

Yoii can compost your waste to reduce

garbage or fertilize your gardening

projects: place your biodegradable

waste in a fenced area, adding leaves

or sawdust and turning it regularly,

and pissing in it when possible.

Squatting

J12

secure the place. Don't leave the building unattended, especially not soon after moving in. Make sure no one you don't trust knows the location of your squat; the last thing you need is a lot of disrespectful uninvited guests showing up. Don't let police or city officials in without a warrant; don't identify yourself to them unnecessarily, either. The only officials you are required by law to admit without a warrant are the fire department and child services.

Legally, police aren't supposed to regulate trespassing on private property vrithout express direction from the legal owner, nor are they to adjudicate on property disputes; so, assuming you're not obviously breaking any other laws and you say you have the legal right to be in the building, the cops are supposed to leave it up to the courts. But since when do police abide by their own laws? In all likelihood, the more legitimate your presence appears to be, the less harassment you will face. All the more reason to fix up the place! To that end, it's worth checking out books on do-it-yourself home remodeling and repair from the library, and talking to folks at the local reuse and salvage center, if there's one in your town?these are invaluable resources, and will give you much more practical information than could fit here.

Take before and after photos to show off the improvements you've made to the building. Scavenge at construction sites for materials. Although, as described, you can get utility services vidthout paying for them, obtaining them through the official channels can bolster your case as residents. The same goes for receiving mail at your squatted address. To facilitate this, make an eflFort to befriend your mail carrier; failing that, you can have your mail held for you at the local post office. As well as utility bills and received mail, voter registration, shipping receipts, library cards, and state IDs will all bolster your case that you are a legal resident. You might want to begin gathering these before you move in, so if the police show up you will be able to persuasively argue that you are the legal resident.

On the other hand, it might be wise to attempt to avoid interacting with authorities all together. You could create a hidden entrance to your squat, through which you come and go quickly and quietly: for example, a window that appears to be boarded up but actually swings open on hinges. If you're going to go this route, barricade any entrances through which poHce and city workers might try to enter. Electrical cables can be hidden in empty pipes, across ceilings, and under piles of junk, just as rooms can be hidden behind false walls or covers.