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Notes on the Strategic Importance of the Protests
August 28, 2004 - 6:31pm -- nolympics
Tactical Assessment of NYPD for Direct Actionists, Some Notes on the Strategic Importance of the Protests
by Volunteers of America
28 Aug 2004
from nycindymedia.org
Newswire After the unprovoked mass arrests at the Critical Mass bike ride on Friday, August 27, we can expect police to use a pattern of a) attempted containment, b) surge, c) demonstrative violence, and d) mass arrest.
We can expect the liberal establishment to fear the popular response to Bush's contempt for democratic rights, the war and the NYPD's suppression of legitimate and non-violent protest.
We can be certain that the everyday people of New York are turning out to give Bush a Bronx cheer. We just need to keep our heads, act smart and keep focused about why we're coming out to protest in the first place. Direct action activists will play a central role in facilitating these historic protests.
After the unprovoked mass arrests at the Critical Mass bike ride on Friday, August 27, we can expect police to use a pattern of a) attempted containment, b) surge, c) demonstrative violence, and d) mass arrest. We can expect liberals to fear the popular outrage at the war, Bush's contempt for democratic rights and the NYPD's suppression of legitimate and non-violent protest.
We are winning. The city is coming out. Energy is on the trains and in the streets. It's unprecedented. Now we just have to do this here thing.
Previous coverage of police tactics from Alex Vitale, a professor at CUNY, details some of what we can expect in terms of general NYPD tactics. What follows here is an analysis of the politics behind the protests and some observations for direct action activists.
http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9882 0
------------
DIRECT ACTION TACTICS IN THE FACE OF THE NYPD
So the question then is what are we doing Sunday and through the convention?
Activists with experience in direct actions will be crucial for the success of the day. Instead of lock-downs and ritualized civil disobedience, the task of the street radicals will be to help coordinate the crowds of first-timers, keeping them in the streets and in motion. With the kind of numbers being projected, we need to facilitate constant motion on the part of the crowd and keep the city filled throughout the week.
Chants should be raised that call for protests all week. This is key. The numbers must stay in the street beyond Sunday. Particular tactics of confrontation have been superseded by the numbers. That is the action. We will jam the city by existing. We will confront the attempt to cow us into going home by staying in the street. Do not court arrest. Even if we try to avoid it, they may grab us anyway. So just keep moving and keeping people in the street.
Additionally, countless small actions such as the Mouse Bloc, the Man in Black Bloc and others are already planned. The following observations are for the non-violent, large crowd actions starting on the 29th and continuing through the RNC.
1) The police have acted preemptively with admitted surveillance, organizational infiltration and scare tactics in the press. They came hard at Critical Mass yesterday, but this backfired as crowds on Second Avenue taunted the NYPD as they arrested non-violent bicycle riders who are widely admired downtown. The popular sentiment of the city will shield us from extreme violence. We should not expect tear gas. Pepper spray is likely in hotspots, and rubber bullets and "beanbag" chemical weapons are also stocked. They have never been deployed in New York before, but since the development of the "Miami Model" of protest suppression, anything is possible.
Of the 5-10,000 riders at the Critical Mass, approximately 250 were arrested. While that sucks, it is insignificant. They do not have the resources to arrest everyone, so they will attempt to isolate the stubborn and possibly provoke clashes with groups believed to be "anarchist." Stay mobile. When cordons happen, blend and leave the area. Always have a place to reconvene if you are separated from your crew.
2) The March for Women's Lives protest was treated differently on Saturday Aug. 28, as it is not identified with the direct action movement. The basic line is political. Those actions which step outside the electoral realm of possibility will be deemed illegal and suppressed. We can expect the police hostilities to be generalized enough to force activists into confrontation. Once the large marches begin, the police will not be able to draw clear lines between the "good and bad" protesters. Because no such line exists. The popular sentiment against police violence will be our best shield. That said...
3) The NYPD relies on massive numbers to block areas of the city and then narrow down the cordon to the area they want to arrest. Large numbers of undercovers (DTs) were deployed in sporty clothes, often in clusters of several beefy men with one or two women. They circulate through the crowd looking for leaders to cherry-pick. And, despite rumors to the contrary -- they are not all easy to spot and sometimes you guess wrong.
Don't waste your psychic energy fretting about the police. Keep sober. Plan your range of action and do it. Don't waste time on DTs except to try and lose them. Invisible Bloc tactics of "everybody in khakis" is really only for those who plan direct actions. If you are a radial, don't wear the subculture uniform that says to police: Arrest that guy. Layer. Do not wear a scarf, but keep it in your pocket. Wear a baseball cap.
4) If you are personally targeted: duck down, move quickly through the crowd while taking off your over shirt and putting on/taking off your hat. You will lose a tail/snatch squad like this.
They have the resources to arrest up to a thousand people a day, but even still, that will not be enough to stop the protests.
5) Do not engage in property destruction of small businesses. Many of them are with us and small merchants are not the problem. No group of any kind has called for this and virtually all have strongly urged not just restraint, but a populist orientation that takes the majority of the population with us.
6) The key to direct actions will be obstructing the illegal suppression of our democratic rights. If hostiles use large amounts of horses, scooters and cars to break into and isolate crowds, the way to stop them is by blocking traffic far away from the conflict zone. If traffic is generally obstructed throughout Manhattan, it will "congest" the city greatly slowing the ability of hostiles to surge into crowds. Obstructions can be made that last after you leave the area. In Philadelphia, there were reports of streets being chained, newspaper bins and dumpsters in the street and even cars being rocked to block traffic. Human blockades will have very little time to operate before police arrive with overwhelming force.
7) Helicopters are being used as "spotters" along with that fucking Fuji blimp. Again, wear baseball caps with a bill. They can observe all they want, but if affinity groups are blocking general traffic AWAY FROM THE RED ZONE, hostiles will not be able to successfully deploy the surges and non-violent crowds will be able to move with greater liberty as police leave the red zone to chase flies.
8) After any action, leave the area as quickly as possible. Change and swap clothes with friends, and remember that we attempted to gain the permits supposedly guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. The Declaration of Independence states that the correct response to tyranny is rebellion. The people are sovereign, not the state. If they choose to break the law, then they are the rebels and we are the defenders of liberty.
9) Much of the local and world media has NOT been hostile to the protests. In particular, New York Newsday, the Times and the Voice have (basically) supported the protests. Even the Post came out for permits. So know that everyone in the establishment is not our enemy. Treat everyone like a friend, even if they don't come correct.
10) Again: direct actionists need to slow and obstruct illegal attempts to suppress our democratic rights by slowing the whole city. DO NOT engage in masochistic clashes with overwhelming police force.
We have a right to defend ourselves from illegal assaults, but do not provoke violence or destruction that sends no clear message. Protests are by their nature a "demonstration" of sentiment to a global audience. Resistance is good, but not when it is vague and undefined. There is no call for a Black Bloc. Do not form one "on the fly." Do not assault delegates or "straight" looking people. Do not engage in verbal back-and-forths with the police. They are under orders. They will target you if you do. So ignore them.
11) TRY NOT TO GET ARRESTED ON SUNDAY. It's going to be a long week and for the protests to be successful, they need to be sustained. Experienced activists have better things to do than sit in jail.
------------
WE ARE WINNING: THE PEOPLE REJECT BUSH IN NYC AND AROUND THE WORLD
Police denied permits to disperse on the 29th into Central Park to incite confrontations. This is a political move based on the assumption that clashes will aid the sitting president in a "law and order" campaign, as with the supposed "Nixon effect" of 1968. They are using an out of date playbook.
80% of registered voters in the city are against the convention. 58% support acts of non-violent civil disobedience. 11% are personally planning on attending the August 29 march. Bush made a mistake coming here from the same deluded hubris that made him say occupation soldiers in Iraq would be greeted with flowers. Conservatives wanted to capitalize on the pain New Yorkers feel from September 11. We reject them. Direct action forces should know that the people here in NYC, and around the entire world are with us.
Some liberals, notably tenured hacks like Todd Gitlin and the Clintonite leader of the DLC Terry McCauliff are trying to depress the turnout because they believe confrontations will swing centrist voters away from Bush.
The problem isn't Bush – it's the "Bush agenda."
Since Kerry has effectively endorsed that agenda including the war, "free trade" and a domestic prison state, we need to send the world a message that we do not support the militarist course the elites have taken. We have a different audience than the liberal triangulators and we shouldn't be defensive or ashamed for taking our right to dissent. No fear.
A popular resistance to the war and domestic repression will energize tens of millions alienated from any political action, and will let people under threat of American cruise missiles and F-16s know that we do not consent. We are not "good Germans" doing the leaders' business. We are a free people whether the government gives us permission or not. If we have to choose between the warmongers and the world: we choose the world. Our audience is small town America, the city we live in and the rest of the world. The conservatives are a tiny minority and the liberals defeated.
We believe another world is possible and we're going to show it tomorrow. We will not allow police to suppress the will of the people. We are marching and the world will know. With their help, we can win.
--------------
See you in the streets
Email: jedbrandt (nospam) yahoo.com"
Tactical Assessment of NYPD for Direct Actionists, Some Notes on the Strategic Importance of the Protests
by Volunteers of America
28 Aug 2004
from nycindymedia.org
Newswire After the unprovoked mass arrests at the Critical Mass bike ride on Friday, August 27, we can expect police to use a pattern of a) attempted containment, b) surge, c) demonstrative violence, and d) mass arrest.
We can expect the liberal establishment to fear the popular response to Bush's contempt for democratic rights, the war and the NYPD's suppression of legitimate and non-violent protest.
We can be certain that the everyday people of New York are turning out to give Bush a Bronx cheer. We just need to keep our heads, act smart and keep focused about why we're coming out to protest in the first place. Direct action activists will play a central role in facilitating these historic protests.
After the unprovoked mass arrests at the Critical Mass bike ride on Friday, August 27, we can expect police to use a pattern of a) attempted containment, b) surge, c) demonstrative violence, and d) mass arrest. We can expect liberals to fear the popular outrage at the war, Bush's contempt for democratic rights and the NYPD's suppression of legitimate and non-violent protest.
We are winning. The city is coming out. Energy is on the trains and in the streets. It's unprecedented. Now we just have to do this here thing.
Previous coverage of police tactics from Alex Vitale, a professor at CUNY, details some of what we can expect in terms of general NYPD tactics. What follows here is an analysis of the politics behind the protests and some observations for direct action activists.
http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/988
------------
DIRECT ACTION TACTICS IN THE FACE OF THE NYPD
So the question then is what are we doing Sunday and through the convention?
Activists with experience in direct actions will be crucial for the success of the day. Instead of lock-downs and ritualized civil disobedience, the task of the street radicals will be to help coordinate the crowds of first-timers, keeping them in the streets and in motion. With the kind of numbers being projected, we need to facilitate constant motion on the part of the crowd and keep the city filled throughout the week.
Chants should be raised that call for protests all week. This is key. The numbers must stay in the street beyond Sunday. Particular tactics of confrontation have been superseded by the numbers. That is the action. We will jam the city by existing. We will confront the attempt to cow us into going home by staying in the street. Do not court arrest. Even if we try to avoid it, they may grab us anyway. So just keep moving and keeping people in the street.
Additionally, countless small actions such as the Mouse Bloc, the Man in Black Bloc and others are already planned. The following observations are for the non-violent, large crowd actions starting on the 29th and continuing through the RNC.
1) The police have acted preemptively with admitted surveillance, organizational infiltration and scare tactics in the press. They came hard at Critical Mass yesterday, but this backfired as crowds on Second Avenue taunted the NYPD as they arrested non-violent bicycle riders who are widely admired downtown. The popular sentiment of the city will shield us from extreme violence. We should not expect tear gas. Pepper spray is likely in hotspots, and rubber bullets and "beanbag" chemical weapons are also stocked. They have never been deployed in New York before, but since the development of the "Miami Model" of protest suppression, anything is possible.
Of the 5-10,000 riders at the Critical Mass, approximately 250 were arrested. While that sucks, it is insignificant. They do not have the resources to arrest everyone, so they will attempt to isolate the stubborn and possibly provoke clashes with groups believed to be "anarchist." Stay mobile. When cordons happen, blend and leave the area. Always have a place to reconvene if you are separated from your crew.
2) The March for Women's Lives protest was treated differently on Saturday Aug. 28, as it is not identified with the direct action movement. The basic line is political. Those actions which step outside the electoral realm of possibility will be deemed illegal and suppressed. We can expect the police hostilities to be generalized enough to force activists into confrontation. Once the large marches begin, the police will not be able to draw clear lines between the "good and bad" protesters. Because no such line exists. The popular sentiment against police violence will be our best shield. That said...
3) The NYPD relies on massive numbers to block areas of the city and then narrow down the cordon to the area they want to arrest. Large numbers of undercovers (DTs) were deployed in sporty clothes, often in clusters of several beefy men with one or two women. They circulate through the crowd looking for leaders to cherry-pick. And, despite rumors to the contrary -- they are not all easy to spot and sometimes you guess wrong.
Don't waste your psychic energy fretting about the police. Keep sober. Plan your range of action and do it. Don't waste time on DTs except to try and lose them. Invisible Bloc tactics of "everybody in khakis" is really only for those who plan direct actions. If you are a radial, don't wear the subculture uniform that says to police: Arrest that guy. Layer. Do not wear a scarf, but keep it in your pocket. Wear a baseball cap.
4) If you are personally targeted: duck down, move quickly through the crowd while taking off your over shirt and putting on/taking off your hat. You will lose a tail/snatch squad like this.
They have the resources to arrest up to a thousand people a day, but even still, that will not be enough to stop the protests.
5) Do not engage in property destruction of small businesses. Many of them are with us and small merchants are not the problem. No group of any kind has called for this and virtually all have strongly urged not just restraint, but a populist orientation that takes the majority of the population with us.
6) The key to direct actions will be obstructing the illegal suppression of our democratic rights. If hostiles use large amounts of horses, scooters and cars to break into and isolate crowds, the way to stop them is by blocking traffic far away from the conflict zone. If traffic is generally obstructed throughout Manhattan, it will "congest" the city greatly slowing the ability of hostiles to surge into crowds. Obstructions can be made that last after you leave the area. In Philadelphia, there were reports of streets being chained, newspaper bins and dumpsters in the street and even cars being rocked to block traffic. Human blockades will have very little time to operate before police arrive with overwhelming force.
7) Helicopters are being used as "spotters" along with that fucking Fuji blimp. Again, wear baseball caps with a bill. They can observe all they want, but if affinity groups are blocking general traffic AWAY FROM THE RED ZONE, hostiles will not be able to successfully deploy the surges and non-violent crowds will be able to move with greater liberty as police leave the red zone to chase flies.
8) After any action, leave the area as quickly as possible. Change and swap clothes with friends, and remember that we attempted to gain the permits supposedly guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. The Declaration of Independence states that the correct response to tyranny is rebellion. The people are sovereign, not the state. If they choose to break the law, then they are the rebels and we are the defenders of liberty.
9) Much of the local and world media has NOT been hostile to the protests. In particular, New York Newsday, the Times and the Voice have (basically) supported the protests. Even the Post came out for permits. So know that everyone in the establishment is not our enemy. Treat everyone like a friend, even if they don't come correct.
10) Again: direct actionists need to slow and obstruct illegal attempts to suppress our democratic rights by slowing the whole city. DO NOT engage in masochistic clashes with overwhelming police force.
We have a right to defend ourselves from illegal assaults, but do not provoke violence or destruction that sends no clear message. Protests are by their nature a "demonstration" of sentiment to a global audience. Resistance is good, but not when it is vague and undefined. There is no call for a Black Bloc. Do not form one "on the fly." Do not assault delegates or "straight" looking people. Do not engage in verbal back-and-forths with the police. They are under orders. They will target you if you do. So ignore them.
11) TRY NOT TO GET ARRESTED ON SUNDAY. It's going to be a long week and for the protests to be successful, they need to be sustained. Experienced activists have better things to do than sit in jail.
------------
WE ARE WINNING: THE PEOPLE REJECT BUSH IN NYC AND AROUND THE WORLD
Police denied permits to disperse on the 29th into Central Park to incite confrontations. This is a political move based on the assumption that clashes will aid the sitting president in a "law and order" campaign, as with the supposed "Nixon effect" of 1968. They are using an out of date playbook.
80% of registered voters in the city are against the convention. 58% support acts of non-violent civil disobedience. 11% are personally planning on attending the August 29 march. Bush made a mistake coming here from the same deluded hubris that made him say occupation soldiers in Iraq would be greeted with flowers. Conservatives wanted to capitalize on the pain New Yorkers feel from September 11. We reject them. Direct action forces should know that the people here in NYC, and around the entire world are with us.
Some liberals, notably tenured hacks like Todd Gitlin and the Clintonite leader of the DLC Terry McCauliff are trying to depress the turnout because they believe confrontations will swing centrist voters away from Bush.
The problem isn't Bush – it's the "Bush agenda."
Since Kerry has effectively endorsed that agenda including the war, "free trade" and a domestic prison state, we need to send the world a message that we do not support the militarist course the elites have taken. We have a different audience than the liberal triangulators and we shouldn't be defensive or ashamed for taking our right to dissent. No fear.
A popular resistance to the war and domestic repression will energize tens of millions alienated from any political action, and will let people under threat of American cruise missiles and F-16s know that we do not consent. We are not "good Germans" doing the leaders' business. We are a free people whether the government gives us permission or not. If we have to choose between the warmongers and the world: we choose the world. Our audience is small town America, the city we live in and the rest of the world. The conservatives are a tiny minority and the liberals defeated.
We believe another world is possible and we're going to show it tomorrow. We will not allow police to suppress the will of the people. We are marching and the world will know. With their help, we can win.
--------------
See you in the streets
Email: jedbrandt (nospam) yahoo.com"