by Crimethinc. Workers' Collective
Available in 284 free installments
Owner:
In the winter of 2003, before the second Gulf War began, direct action was happening all across the globe in an attempt to stop the war before it started and to connect the impending invasion of Iraq to the larger war that capitalism wages everywhere. Direct actions in New York City and San Francisco had shut down the Holland Tunnel and Financial District, respectively, and other protests were also making headlines.
Anarchists and direct action enthusiasts in DC were organizing regular actions, while trying to put into place a plan that could be carried out once it was announced that the bombs had started falling on Iraq. Our theme was "When the War Starts, America Stops." We put out fliers calling for an "Emergency Response Direct Action?^the Morning After War on Iraq Starts." People who wanted to participate on bikes could show up for a "Race Against War" in Dupont circle; at the same time, people who wanted to participate on foot would head to the other side of tovini for a "March of Resistance" at the Eastern Market Metro stop. We also put out a call for groups to carry out actions on their own to further disrupt business as usual throughout the city.
We've had a lot of direct actions in DC over the last few years. The state is usually aware when there's going to be a lot of protest activity, and the police presence is really intense. Given this atmosphere, just meeting up for a protest without being shut down from the start can be really difficult. To counter this, we came up with a complicated
Account
Blockades and Lockdowns V3
To get a flammable barricade
through the streets and into place,
you can stuff newspaper soaked in
gasoline into large cardboard boxes,
connect them together, and drape a
banner across them. March through
the streets bearing this structure to
the site that must be blocked, set it
down, and strike a match.
Blockades and Lockdoivns V4
plan like nothing we'd done before. We would use the city's public transportation system and the fact that the city is wedged between two different states to our advantage. The march started in southeast DC, near the US Capitol. But instead of the march taking to the streets of what is a pretty typical area of DC for protests, the crowd was led down into the subway station. We handed out different colored slips of paper which corresponded to the colors of the flags participants were to follow onto different cars of the same subway train. The people leading the groups into the different cars were responsible for making sure no one got separated from the protest and that everyone made it to the correct stop. On the train people sang, chanted, had conversations with commuters, and passed out fliers about why we were there. A lot of folks in DC ride the train to work at that hour, so it was a good opportunity to take our message directly to many people.
After the train crossed the river into Virginia, the various color-coded groups were instructed to exit at the Roslyn stop, a short walk from the Key Bridge. The Key Bridge is a main artery between DC and Virginia, and serves as the entrance to Georgetown, one of Washington's richest and most upscale shopping districts and also full of targets which could be related to the war. In addition, the Metro stop was only a couple of short blocks away from the oflices of the Boeing Corporation, another possible target with obvious connections to the war.
Meanwhile, as the march headed toward tiie Key Bridge on the Virginia side, the Critical Mass ride was weaving its way through the DC streets to meet the march on the DC side of the bridge. This, we hoped, would allow us to block the bridge effectively from both sides and thus bring business as usual to a halt, focusing attention on the war begun only hours before. To add to the display of visible resistance and accompany our actions with precise and pointed messaging, other affinity groups, separate from the march and bike ride, brought banners to the bridge and hung them up around the main
intersections while others handed out fliers detailing our reasons for shutting down the bridge and explaining our opposition to the war.
Two drivers sat in junker cars near the bridge on the Virginia and DC sides, waiting for the word that the march and bike ride were nearing so they could get into place. When they learned the march was coming, both cars drove out, and stopped and parked at the DC side of the bridge. Originally there was to be a car on each side, but the pohce presence on the Virginia side of the bridge, combined with the landscape of the area, made a successful getaway for the driver who would have to abandon the car there seem very unlikely.
