“Let’s face it,” you say. “The top one percent own more than the rest of the earth’s population combined. True fact. Consequently, the world’s poor live on the brink of life and death, and natural ecosystems are being threatened everywhere you look. Now these human parasites are never going to stop unless we make them. But if we’re going to beat those bastards, we’re going to have to start thinking more strategically. We need to attack the source of their power, and I don’t see how militant confrontations with the police are going to do that.”
“Oh on the contrary my friend,” the skinny punk retorts back, shaking their dreads, “people power in the streets is the ONLY way to shift the balance of power. Look at Ukraine, look at the Arab spring. The corporate elite may have the government in their pocket and protection from the police. But when we fight the police in the streets we win. We can even topple governments. Without a fighting presence in the streets the movement is dead in the water, the pigs can bash in your front door whenever they please, and the fat cats win! That’s what the panthers realized when they took up arms to protect themselves”
“Look you can’t compare what’s going on here with the Arab spring or the Black Panther Party. It’s completely out of context. Both of those movements arose from situations where the majority of the population faced routine brutal oppression and were desperately poor. They had little or nothing to lose and a lot to gain from confronting the system. Take a look around you. Most of the people here are literally clothed in the products that the people of those movements produced, and we’re at a punk show! This is Babylon, this is the home of the bourgeois. These people don’t want a revolution, they want their car, their high speed internet, their sports apparel. Sure people are conscious of the injustices of the system. They’ll march in the streets for a day, but that’s about it. There just isn’t the level of discontent to support a sustained movement. On the other hand, if those of us who are serious about change, use our position within a privileged society to mount an underground campaign against the institutions that maintain this global inequality, then we can be more useful to our oppressed brothers and sisters around the world than we would be in some dramatic and highly symbolic confrontation with the police.”
“Use whatever justification you need. If you just want to sit around and philosophize about some non-existent guerrilla movement in the hypothetical future, that’s fine. But we’re talking about real action in the present. Whether you join us or not we’ll be in the streets tomorrow. I ain’t wasting no more time with idle chit chat, I got shit to do,” with that they turn and walk back into the crowded room leaving the two of you alone for now.
“Hey I agree with you,” your friend says, “we got lucky today. But we can’t win against the pigs out in the open. We’ve got to move underground.”
“I know,” you say, “but how is that even possible? How would you know you’re not being infiltrated by informants?”
“You’d have to do what no cop would every do.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
“Take drugs , have group sex with dirty hairy hippies and eat only vegan food.”
You both laugh at the suggestion but you can’t help but return to the question. How could a revolutionary cell create the trust required to carry out illegal acts that could land you in jail for the rest of your life. And then it hits you.
“Seriously though. It takes time but once you’ve known someone for long enough. Once you’ve seen them organize, seen their dedication. Not to put together one demonstration but to be in movement for the long haul, to build a network of mutual aid and solidarity, to create those relationships in the community. There’s just no way to fake that.”
“Yeah, I know people like that. But they’re just too valuable to the community as organizers to disappear underground. And besides, they’re too visible. Too… known by the police.”
“Wasn’t there that cop in the UK that infiltrated the environmental movement, planned actions, lived with other organizers, had romantic relationships, even had a kid with another activist, and they turn out to be a rat the whole time.”
“And then there’s the Earth Liberation Front. They all snitched on each other in the end.”
“That’s true, but there is one thing we haven’t thought of yet and it’s a testament to our good intentions,” you say. “If you want to plan illegal activities you’ve got to start thinking like a criminal. Where do gangs go to recruit? In jail. Ain’t nobody serving time who’s wearing a badge. If you want to find people you can trust not to snitch on you. That’s where you go.”
“Either way, I hear that a bunch of people are headed down to the prison tomorrow. My partner is locked up in there right now. That business over at the police station is just a distraction, we should be showing support for our comrades on the inside. We need to make sure that our friends are alright, then we can plan our next move.”
Original photo by: seven resist