You bring the news back to your affinity group. It was decided amongst the spokes council to make a demonstration of your collective strength in solidarity with indigenous land defenders before any actions take place. This will hopefully act as a precautionary measure to deter the government from taking action against the blockade.
Many people use the word demonstration as an interchangeable synonym for protest, but this is not entirely accurate. To protest is to voice opposition, and though this is also true of a demonstration, there is the added significance that demonstrations carry the additional threat of further direct action if their demands are not met. This peaceful show of force offers opponents one final chance to change their minds before the threat is carried out. The power of that potential threat is what is being demonstrated such as a union may do by showing their numbers before declaring a strike. Thus it is one thing to march in the streets to show how many people care about an issue, but quite another to march alongside thousands of others, who like you, will wreak havoc throughout the city if the government makes a single move against the blockade.
The march is organized for a few weeks ahead of time in accordance with every rule and bylaw on the book, giving the authorities no excuse whatsoever to crack down and prevent it from happening. On the day of the demonstration, everything is peaceful and orderly but the vibe is downright rebellious. As tame as it may be this demonstration is so much more than just a symbolic march. It is a declaration of resistance, a commitment to bring the city, indeed the whole nation to a standstill, if the government chooses to go ahead with their plans to allow petrochemical companies to open fracking wells.
People line the streets, marching shoulder to shoulder, bearing banners and beating drums. Somebody had the great idea of getting everyone to bring pots and pans and noisemakers with them, and the combined effect is a thunderous roar that drowns out even the wail of police sirens and the thumping drone of helicopter blades as they hang in the air above. It’s not the largest march you’ve ever seen, but it’s certainly the loudest. Your voice is lost as soon as it leaves your mouth, mixing with the chaotic rhythm of a thousand drummers all marching to their own beat. The sun blazes down upon you, intensifying the sensation to a trance-like state. You feel as though you are but one cell of a great beast that has become self-aware of the role it plays within the organism. It is a powerful quasi-spiritual experience.
In whole, the event feels more inclusive than any protest you’ve ever attended. Instead of standing around and listening to speakers addressing the crowd from a position of leadership and making statements on behalf of the group, the demonstration today has a real element of the grassroots. All who attend today are participants of a collective statement: respect existence or expect resistance.
One week later the government’s response comes in the form of an early dawn police raid on the blockade. The news footage that evening shows the barricade dismantled by heavy machinery, drilling equipment brought in on the back of flatbed trucks under armed guard, and the horrified look of protesters bound and shackled surrounded by paramilitary forces. An interview with one of the people arrested in the raid speaks of a terrifying black ops manoeuvre utilizing excessive force carried out beneath a cloud of secrecy, and unconfirmed rumours of gunfire. It is now up to you and your allies to make true on your commitments and prove to the government that you were not bluffing.
In such a situation, there are many ways you can construct a blockade. If you are numerous you can form a human chain across the road, otherwise you can park a vehicle sideways across the lanes like a police road block. If you want something a bit more permanent and defensible you may wish to build a barricade. You can pull a chain across the road blocking traffic; or, on rural highways a few trees felled across the lanes will suffice. In cities, the refuse from our consumerist lifestyle provides a different kind of building material. The pallets on which all of our consumer goods are transported are found readily in quantity behind every department store or shopping centre, and construction waste or even dumpsters will form a formidable barrier to road traffic. Depending on how much you value good public relations, you can even turn the traffic you are stopping into the barricade by disabling vehicles where they stand, although this will certainly not help the public perception of your cause.
No matter what you choose to do, there are some things that you should always consider. Make sure that vehicles have enough advance warning to come to a stop. Consider the speed they will be travelling at and place ample signage, pylons, road flares whatever it takes to get people’s attention long before they reach the roadblock, and consider wearing a high visibility vest if you are going to be on the road. This is especially important if you are blockading a railway as the conductor will not be able to stop the train even if they see you, so be sure to contact the operator ahead of time.
You will definitely want to contact the media once the action is underway. Send out a press release to the news editors of local media outlets. This should include several key pieces of information including who you are, not necessarily your real name but the name you wish to go by or at least the name of your affinity group. Tell them precisely what you are doing without giving away any strategic advantage. And most importantly, tell them why. Be very clear about this. What, specifically, are you protesting; what is your objective; and what, if any, are your demands. Finally, if you wish to conduct interviews you will want to include the contact information of your media liaison/spokesperson.
Another thing to keep in mind is emergency vehicles. You probably don’t want to obstruct an ambulance transporting a sick patient or a fire truck responding to a blaze, especially if you are blocking a rural highway which may be the only route to the hospital. In this situation having a part of the barricade which is removable, like a parked car or a locked chain, may be desirable. If you are using tire spikes, which you can make easily by hammering nails through a long thin strip of ply-wood, make sure that you paint them day-glo orange so that nobody steps on them by accident.
You will also have to decide in advance what kind of strategy to use when dealing with the public. This will depend greatly upon who is being stopped and what is their relationship to your cause. If you are blocking equipment from reaching a drilling site, and the only traffic you will encounter is industrial, then you may want to maintain an aggressive public image. If you are blocking a highway however, then the people you are stopping are going to be regular citizens with no direct connection to the issue. In this case, a friendly approach may be more suitable. Have specific members of your collective who are especially charismatic interact with the public. Always make sure to have printed literature available, and maybe even consider wearing costumes. For example, you can block a busy street with an impromptu festival or a parade.
Regardless, there will be some people who are going to be very irate and potentially dangerous. You should have a plan for how to deal with them. The safest route is that of de-escalation: do not respond to insults, do not raise your voice, do not threaten, but be firm. Take evasive maneuvers. Stay out of arm’s reach of someone who’s being aggressive. Try to talk them down. “I’m sorry you feel that way, we feel strongly about our future too.” For your own safety always stick together in groups, and at least one person should have a camera and a cellphone.
Finally there’s your exit strategy. At some point in time, if you’re doing it right, you are going to attract the attention of the authorities. It’s much better to have a clear idea of what your plan is ahead of time, than it is to start making one when you hear the sirens. Make sure that everyone in your group is aware of the plan and okay with it before you even begin your action. Will you abandon ship and run away? If so, will you scatter separately or in groups? What route will you take? How will you avoid being followed or identified? Do you have a change of clothes or a disguise? If you are not going to run, will you resist arrest or surrender peacefully? If you resist arrest will you do so non-violently by chaining yourselves together using lock boxes? Or will you light fires and fight the police?
All of this is considered and discussed at great length amongst the members of your affinity group, and in the end it is a government building, the Ministry of Natural Resources, that you choose to target by locking down the premises.
The morning of the action, you all gather in a nearby café before heading to the Ministry. Your nerves are on edge and you’re already feeling jittery, so you stick to tea. The scene before you is so unremarkable that it’s hard to imagine how the rest of your day will unfold. You watch the morning commuters come in and line up for their coffee, talking and texting on their phones. In less than an hour from now you will be disrupting a government office from carrying out its lawful business, it seems impossible. But at nine o’clock, just after the Ministry opens for the day, you rise with your friends and head for the door.
Moments later you’re standing outside the Ministry. People brush by you on their way in. You feel as though everybody knows what you’re about to do, but of course they don’t, and they hardly notice as they pass you by. You take a deep breath and make a point to appreciate the calm before the storm.
“Everybody ready?” you ask. “Let’s do this!”
By sheer force of numbers you manage to push your way into the offices. Stunned and frightened government workers stare are you with awe and disbelief as you burst through the doors. They definitely were not expecting this. You stand by the door and address the employees in the room in a clear but firm voice.
“You are all going to have to leave immediately! That is, unless you want to get locked inside here with us because we are shutting this branch of the government down!”
People are clearly upset by this. They don’t want to leave, but they’re afraid to stay. You find it disturbing how easily you can evoke fear in them. They’re just people after all. This is not what you wanted, but it’s useful. To indicate you’re serious, you turn off the lights and start shutting the blinds.
“Shows over. Get out of here!” you yell, trying not to sound too intimidating. People reluctantly shuffle out. Some utter cusses under their breath, others avoid eye contact. You’re relieved when they’re finally gone. The last you want is to be accused of taking hostages.
The action consists of two components, the interior and exterior. On the outside are your press liaisons, public representatives and sympathisers who wish to show their solidarity but do not want to risk arrest. It was decided by the lockdown crew on the inside that, while no one is comfortable using violence, everybody is okay with resisting arrest by peaceful means, even if it involves a little property damage. So, as soon as the employees have left the building you set to work securing the entrances by gluing locks and using bike locks. Once inside the secured offices you set up the lock boxes.
A lock box is designed to make it hard to remove an activist by allowing them to lock arms together or to an object. While there are some very elaborate designs, the basic lock box is a metal tube about eighteen inches in length and four inches in diameter or wide enough for you to put your hand inside and make a fist. By first drilling holes in the walls of the tube and then inserting a bolt through the centre, you should be able to reach into the tube and grab onto the bolt. Glue a nut onto the bolt, and you have a handle inside a metal tube that cannot be removed. You can lock your arm into the tube by wearing a snug-fitting bracelet around your wrist and locking it to the bolt inside the tube. You can then lock your arm to another activist by inserting their hand into the other end of the pipe. That, or you can wrap your arms around a tree, a post, or piece of equipment, and insert your other arm into the other end of the tube, putting a whole new twist on the term tree hugger.
Having secured the building and laid out the lock boxes there is a lot of excitement inside the now defunct offices. It feels empowering to know that you can strike back against the government for yesterday’s raid on the camp.
“Are there many other actions going on?” you ask, a little nervous to find out that you’re the only ones to take the pledge seriously.
“Are you kidding?” asks Fox. Fox is a media junkie and is always on their phone checking the web for updates. “The city’s at a standstill! There are protests blocking both major highways. The Centertown Mall is closed. The authorities are totally overwhelmed!”
This is welcome news and helps bolster everybody’s spirits, which is really important since fear is one of the police’s greatest weapons. Confidence goes a long way in this business.
“I’m glad we brought lots of snacks with us. It looks like we may be here awhile,” you say, already feeling slightly victorious. “You know they can deal with mass protest for a couple of days during the G20 summit, but they just don’t have the resources to deal with us on an ongoing basis.”
“It’s called critical mass,” Casey pipes up. “Doesn’t matter what tactics you use, if there’s enough people on board, at a certain point the balance of power tips.”
“The important thing at this point, is to keep up the pressure,” Alex chimes in with their analysis. “Unless we can force them to the realisation that the only way to stop these occupations is to abandon their fracking plans, this will all be for nothing.”
“That’s right comrade. Even if they bust in here and drag us all away in cuffs, we’ve got to keep up the pressure. Regroup and reoccupy.”
You gaze out the window overlooking the city and settle in for the long haul. When you consider the facts from a broader strategic perspective, the battle has only just begun.
Part way through the day you hear from local news radio that all of the highways have been completely cleared, though other occupations continue. Everyone gathers round and listens to the reporters crackly voice over the small battery powered radio.
“All but one of the blockades surrendered peacefully, though traffic is still a long way from returning to normal. Elsewhere, the Centertown Mall is still occupied as is one government building.”
Hey that’s us! A cheer goes out as you listen to the reporter reading from your manifesto. It’s not until the evening that you hear anything from the police.
With a light tap on the door, it’s Marley, your press liaison, that bears the message.
“There are dozens of police here now,” they say in a solemn voice. “They want you all to come out quietly. They’re saying that none of you will face charges if you surrender now.”
“It’s a sign of weakness.” Alex speaks out. “We should stay locked down. That’s what we came here to do.”
“It’s hard to keep fighting from inside jail, and we need to keep this struggle going,” says Marley. “I suggest you just walk away and live to fight another day. All of the other occupations have ended.”
A debate circles around these two perspectives for some time but in the end it’s the police who make up your mind for you. They are not going to sit around and wait for you to come to consensus.
When they finally come they take their time, slowly filing into the occupied offices as though it were a casual affair. It’s clear you’re not going anywhere locked in place as you are. With a certain fatalistic feeling you slide your arms into the tubes and lock your wrists to your adjacent neighbours, forming a large circle. Now that you’ve committed you feel a certain strength knowing that there is nothing they can do that’s going to change your mind.
The police fill the room, completely surrounding you from all sides. Two cops secure you in place by kneeling on your chest and shoulders while another holds you by the arm so firmly that you cannot budge an inch. Thus begins the slow process of cutting through the lock boxes one by one with a hacksaw. Part way through the procedure, either because they ran out of patience or just because they’re complete assholes, an officer holds open your eyes with gloved fingers and swabs them with chemical irritants. Your tear ducts flood and your eyes burn, your instinct is to cover them with your hands but you can’t even blink let alone resist, restrained as you are by two locking devices and three cops. Some people in law enforcement call this treatment ‘pain compliance’. Others call it torture.
You’re almost relieved by the time they finally cut through the lock box freeing your hands from the device, if only to slam them back into cuffs. You are dragged off to prison and held overnight until bail court in the morning, where you are charged with vandalism, mischief, unlawful entry and resisting arrest. You plead not guilty, and become one of hundreds of other cases clogging up the courts while the lockdowns and occupations continue.
In the days that follow it is revealed that the police had used rubber bullets during the raid on the blockade, and that, fortunately, there had been no fatalities. Still, it is alarming to see such force used by a government against its own citizens. Rubber bullets are real ordnance fired from real guns, unlike the plastic pellets fired from special compressed air weapons that are commonly used for crowd control. While designed to be non-lethal, they are devastatingly brutal and can very easily lead to life-threatening injury. The authorities also have a lot of explaining to do concerning the lack of transparency surrounding an operation supposedly carried out in the public’s interest.
In the eyes of many, this seriously calls into question the government’s commitment to the public, versus their commitment to the interests of private corporations in relation to environmental health, and social welfare. In the wake of such heavy-handed police oppression, and political indifference to the public’s demand for accountability, many more people have hit the streets than had originally participated in the day of action.
The news continues to pour in of all types of creative rebellion. You hear of one group who have taken action against the resource extraction industry along huge stretches of railway. These transportation corridors carry massive amounts of raw materials destined for markets, which makes them valuable targets. They are also long, and difficult to patrol, which makes them vulnerable to tampering. Taking advantage of this weakness, the group dug holes into the gravel beneath the railway bed and cemented their own bodies into the track shutting down the line. You also hear of another action carried out by a group of mischievous monkey-wrenchers called the Earth Liberation Front, which saw multi-million dollar drilling equipment reduced scrap metal through sabotage.
This type of action is called economic disruption. The goal this type of campaign is to increase the cost of doing business to the point where the target is forced to concede or face insolvency. It is the same tactic used by unions when they strike, and once committed to this strategy you are committed to seeing it through to the end. Your opponent must realize that they cannot win against such steadfast opposition. This tactic only works if you are capable of crippling the opponent, which takes a widespread and united front. Since the stakes are high, it would be a shame to take such risky actions without some degree of certainty that you will succeed. Your opponents will do their best to make you believe that you won’t. But in the end, if a critical mass are committed to the long term success of the movement, the people can prevail. This is precisely what happened in Berkley’s People’s Park. It took decades of community activism, but eventually even the national guard couldn’t sway the people’s will. Perseverance is the only way to win this type of battle, and victory comes to only those who stick to their principles with unbreakable determination. So get on out there and raise some hell!