Recipes for Disaster: an anarchist cookbook

The wooden dowel serves as a handle for the torch, so it should be long enough that the flames wdll not be too close to your face or head. Nail or screw the tin can to the top of the dowel, mouth upward. You may want to use a drill to make a pilot hole in the dowel. The nail can be difficult to reach within the confined interior of the can; use the bottom of the hammer if need be. You may want to use a washer, too. The can should be securely 558 attached to the dowel You do not want that connection to fail out on the mean streets.

Take an old ioo% cotton shirt or rag and wet it with kerosene or lamp oil. Place rags in a plastic bag or margarine container when you wet them, so you don't spill or waste any fuel. Do this in a well-ventilated space, away from any open flames. Store the rags in a scalable container. Rags can be stuffed into the cans and lit when ready.

Torches will last for roughly twenty minutes before they need to be relit or replaced. They can be extinguished by turning them upside down on the ground for several minutes. You can also extinguish them by covering the can entirely with a wet towel. If you are concerned about the rags falhng out, or if you may be running while carrying the torch, string metal wire through the holes you punched in the can and across its mouth.

Warning: Using fire always involves risk, and not just of arson charges. Being organized helps create a safe, romantically-lit environment, and keeps the chaos where you want it. Bring along fire extinguishers and designate people who are responsible for them. Make sure you keep torches away from heads and faces. Never add kerosene or flammables to a lit torch. Do not light a torch after handling soaked rags.

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You can blow fire by holding a torch? an old 100% cotton t-shirt wrapped around a bent coat hanger?and spitting a cloud of paraffin lamp oil through it. Be sure not to swallow it, and have on hand both water to wash out your mouth and a towel to keep your face dry so you won't blow yourself up.

Torches 559

Undermining Oppression

Instructions Ask an urban bird what a polluted sky is. You'll get no answer. Even if birds could tell tiieir tale so you could understand it, they would likely have no explanation for the pollutants they breathe and fly through every moment of their lives. Polluted air simply is. Birds take it for granted.

The first step in combating oppression is learning to recognize it. Many people in North America seem to think racism, for example, is a thing of the past, banished now by affirmative action programs and Black History Month. Radicals often have a stronger awareness of how prevalent racism still is, and may even develop an analysis of how it is only one manifestation of systematic white supremacy, but many go no further than this. To undermine and ultimately abolish oppression, it is necessary to take the step of confronting and undoing it in ourselves and others.

There are almost as many kinds of oppression as there are facets of our complex identities; some strains are based on visible traits like race or sex, others are not. Fortunately, there are also tools that can be used for identifying, resisting, and dismantling 560 all of them.

Throughout this recipe, we focus on white supremacy so as to offer concrete examples, though it is not necessarily more widespread or pernicious than patriarchy or any other form of oppression. Oppression and privilege intertwine in extremely complex ways; racism, classism, heterosexism, ableism, ageism, and others overlap and extend into all spheres of our lives. Traditional single-issue activism focuses on contesting one manifestation of these at a time: fighting the prison-industrial complex, opposing corporate exploitation of low-wage workers, challenging specific foreign policies. Such activism can benefit greatly from a holistic understanding of oppression and how it operates?in these examples, how state repression, capitalism, and imperialism all rest on oppression and privilege. Whatever one's chosen focus, it is important to be aware of diverse forms of oppression and to challenge them on every level

Working against both institutional and personal manifestations of oppression can be emotionally intense and challenging. In the course of learning to recognize and struggle against oppression, one is likely to encounter and experience deep resentment, regret, and heartache.