Recipes for Disaster: an anarchist cookbook

Blocs, Black and Otherwise H4

Once together, stay tight spatially {with the obvious exception of the scouts, who need to be further out): you need to keep police out of your ranks, prevent snatch squads from getting in to grab individuals, and also keep your friends at your sides rather than strangers or possible undercover officers. Banners down the front and sides of a group can offer useful barriers to this end. You can reinforce cloth banners with PVC pipe or wooden planks; far better, use tough but limber insulation board to construct great placards?these can be tied or chained together, to create a mobile, jointed full-size barricade. Remember, your physical presence and togetherness comprise your strength, your readiness to repel police charges and foil arrest attempts is your marching permit. If you strike when they're not prepared to make mass arrests or attack with chemical weapons, they'll be forced to try to intimidate you by singling out individuals for attack or arrest; make this impossible, defend each other and don't back down.

It's possible to conceal useful materials in an area in advance?a dumpster can be filled with sticks and rocks or spray paint cans, and all the better if it's on wheels. Sensitive materials (such as projectiles) can be transported to the action concealed in puppets, and puppets built from paper mache over stronger stuff can serve as effective shields? though those poor puppeteers get enough shit from the authorities already without suffering on your account, too. Keep in mind that carrying a bag of rocks, bottles, gasoline, etc. vidll not look good if you get arrested. Don't forget, also, that with a simple tool it's always possible to break concrete or asphalt up into projectiles on the spot?beneath the concrete, the paving stones, isn't that how the old French saying goes.^

Everyone in your group should have a one-time-only nickname for the duration of the planning and action, so you can address each other without giving away your identities. Those communicating over ceU phones or hand-held radios should assume that the police are listening in; it may be wise for those doing communications to learn a code of some kind, or at least keep in mind what not to say over the air. It can also be

good for an affinity group or bloc to learn coded announcements in advance, so you can communicate openly without anyone else understanding. "Tighten up!," "The pigs are moving in!," "We need to break through their lines!," "It's time, let's do it!," "Split up and regroup at convergence point Bi" are all examples of typical announcements you might want to code. Don't use codes unnecessarily, or assume that if you just say "cookie" every time you mean "molotov cocktail" it's going to protect you; clumsy use of code can actually put you in greater danger, for the authorities can claim that your coded terms stood for more serious things than they actually did. Also, don't be afraid to make uncoded announcements to everyone: "Don't panic, stick together!," "We need to get closer and fill in this space here, slow down up ahead!," "Medic!," "Who can verify what he's saying.^" "Hold the fucking line!" The more everyone feels entitled to do this, the better, so long as it doesn't create more confusion than it solves; this will make it hard for your enemies to single out supposed leaders they perceive to be giving orders.

In the heat of action, it's easy for all the structures you have set up in your affinity group to dissolve as individuals get caught up in new developments. Don't lose your head and let the mob mentality take over; make sure to stay spatially close wdth your group at all times, keep in communication with them about what is happening, don't get distracted from your role. It might help to have an informal formation?^you can stay a few paces behind a particular companion at all times, vidth another friend always at your side, and another behind you, for example. Moving in lines can maintain cohesion and make police snatches and infiltration more difficult. Plans will change, but don't lose the structures that enable you to change them in unison.

Don't panic, don't believe unsubstantiated rumors. You probably won't get a clear idea of what was going on everywhere else during the action until the day after, if you ever do; in the midst of everything, it will be easy to get buffeted about by waves of faulty information, so resist acting on news until you've double-checked it. Don't spread ru-

Btocs, Black and Otherwise H5

mors yourself, and don't just tell others your conclusions based on what you've seen or heard?tell them what you've seen or heard and let them draw conclusions too.