Recipes for Disaster: an anarchist cookbook

Fold the edges of both sides of the banner over equal lengths of rope or chain, and sew the fabric around it. Run the thread through the rope or chain and the banner, so the banner won't just slip off when it is vertical, and make sure to leave plenty of rope or chain at the top. Chain is heavier and thus provides more stabilizing weight for the banner than rope does, but is also much harder to transport and use quickly (and more expensive, unless you're hunting/gathering it); it is much more difficult for police to break, but they will probably pull the banner up before cutting it off, anyway, so unless you can somehow anchor the bottom of it as well as the top, using chain will probably not add to your banner's time in the limelight. If your banner is exceptionally long, it's probably wise to sew a length of rope or chain along a segment in the center of the top side, too, leaving some of it on each side, so the banner can be hung from four points rather than two.

At the bottom of the ropes or chains, attach your water bottles, full of water. Attach them very firmly, so they won't drop off, as that could cause problems. These are weights to hold the banner in place (the first banner we dropped, off the balcony of a restaurant at which we had bought a root beer as a pretext, simply tangled up in the wind and was useless). For further protection against the wind, make U-shaped cuts in the fabric?the wind should blow through these without troubling the rest of the banner {figure 2.1). Roll your banner up bottom first, with the water bottles inside and the text facing the inside of the roll; practice being sure which way your banner unrolls before you are in the moment of truth, so you don't lose time panicking or, worse, get it wrong. Be careful not to roll your banner too tightly, especially as the paint, even dry, can make it stiff and a little sticky; it may not unroll all the way when you drop it, forcing you to pull it up and unroll it yourself in perhaps less-than-optimal circumstances.

For deployment, a team of two is usually best. Pick a time and location where the visibility balances out the risk. You'll have to get the banner there, somehow: if it's a freeway overpass, you could pull over and hop out, or just run up the ramp with it if you don't want to risk a license plate number being taken; if it's at the top of a busy corporate ofhce building patrolled by guards during a terrorism scare, you're probably better off not carrying a huge, suspicious parcel up in the elevator?are there stairs in the back.? If you find an abandoned building that you can get in and out of easily enough and that isn't frequently checked upon, and you don't have anywhere else to work, you could theoretically smuggle in the materials and go through some or all of the banner-making process inside before dropping the banner(s) off the roof?and securing the hatch behind you with your own padlock for extra longevity. The hard part is always going to be getting out of the place after you've dropped: generally speaking, the more conspicuous the location is, the more people know immediately that you're there, and the longer it will take you to get down and out?and the less likely you are to have any kind of crowd cover as you do so. Dress

2 7

Banner Drops 77

In the laund^ bins behind

restaurants, hotels, and similar

institutions, you can find napkins

and tablecloths for making

patches, banners, and other art

projects that require fabric.

Banner Drops

as nondescripdy as possible (or as maintenance employees!), and practice moving quickly up and down stairwells without getting suspiciously out of breath. Check the area out ahead of time; if you're going to be on security cameras at any point, bring a change of clothes, glasses, a hat, a reversible jacket, or other accessories to disguise your identity.

Transport your banner in such a way that you know exactly how to orient it when the moment comes. Unless you think you'll have time to tie knots at a leisurely pace, consider using padlocks or carabineers: have a loop pre-tied at the end of the rope so you can simply loop it around the bar or pipe or whatever you're securing it to and snap the lock or clip onto the loop and the rope on the other side. If there's nowhere to attach a rope or chain, you can use heavy weights?plastic jugs filled with sand, for example?to anchor the banner. Make sure the ropes or chains suspending your banner are stretched tight apart at the top, so it won't bunch up?check in advance to make sure this is possible, and that your anchor can handle the weight you're suspending from it. Then walk or run like hell and keep your cool.