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1st RESOLUTIONS ON ANTI-WAR DIRECT ACTION BLOC

kon4m | 07.03.2002 16:19

In the last couple of days there has been a lively and passionate discussion on UK Indymedia regarding the creation of an Anti-War Direct Action Block, not only for the following anti-war demos, but as a permanent network of active struggle: here are some of the conclusions reached. This is just the beginning!

Brothers and Sisters,

more and more people within the movement feel that if we really want this war to be stopped, we must be ready to take the struggle up to the next level. what does this mean? I ask everyone to listen before judging. it means that alongside mass street demos (which play a crucial role), a more ACTIVE kind of struggle, following the "philosophies" of Direct Action and Civil Disobedience, must rise up to show those in power that the will of the people cannot be silenced forever. we are ready to take over the streets, the schools, the workplaces and to STOP the system from working if this is what is necessary to be heard. let there be no doubt, mass demos play an extremely important role in the struggle, we simply feel it is not enough. we don't want any divisions within the movement, just mutual respect between people that, with the aim of reaching the same goal, follow different paths of resistance. here are some of the conclusions that were reached in the first UK Indymedia discussion: it was suggested that a mass sit-in could be heald in Grosvenor Square, a "Picnic for Peace", blockading the roads, on March 30th, the day of Stop the War/CND demo. it was also said that we could try and "attack" the US embassy, but the effectiveness of this is to be discussed, as well the consequences this action could have (in short: police repression). The idea is the creation of a Direct Action Block Against the War that would bring its own methods of struggle to every anti-war demo, as well as organizing its own actions. Topics such as the way the Block should interact with the rest of the march were also discussed, if we should follow the march and then brake off or follow a different rout from start.we don't want to endanger or involve those who don't want to get involved. if you want to join it will be your choice. to view the thread go to:  http://www.uk.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=24282&group=webcast
the aim is to bring together all those groups and individuals that believe it is time to raise the heat of the political struggle. these actions shouldn't be seen as "violent" acts, blockading a road is a completely non-violent way of "stopping the system"(metaphorically speaking), even if only for a short period of time; and is an effective way of gaining attention for our cause. the group could also get involved in occupations etc. actions would be decided through a democratic process. our limits are our imagination and our inner strenght.
help up build a network of creative resistance!
propose, criticize, discuss, ask question, just don't hate! help us build something new!
i have created a mail account for anyone who wants to get involved: Direct Action Against the War Now! the D.A.A.W.N of a new struggle:  direct_action_against_the_war_now@hotmail.com

let the revolution begin!

"everything for everyone, nothing for us"

kon4m

kon4m
- e-mail: kon4m@hotmail.com

Comments

Hide the following 13 comments

Building Bridges

07.03.2002 16:53

Perhaps we should be building links between this groups and those who have signed the ARROW Non-Violent Direct Action pledge. This would ensure that the Block is not percieved as the anti-war equivalent of the "Black Bloc" a perception which would vastly reduce the potential membership. It is also important that the Block has room for different levels of militancy in it. I'm up for sit-ins and stuff, but wouldn't want to get involved with an "attack" on the American Embassy, a move which would most likely result in us getting our sordid asses kicked and the media presenting the whole anti-war movement (and particularly the more radical sections therof) as "terrorists". You know they would.

Disillusioned kid
mail e-mail: s30party@hotmail.com
- Homepage: www.justicenotvengeance.org

Support for non-violent direct action

07.03.2002 17:01

I am in agreement with your idea of a block. In my estimation, these sort of blocks need to be done worldwide simultaneously to be extremely effective, but certainly starting when and where it is applicable. Here in the U.S. there are going to be mass demos on April 20th in D.C.,S.F., and hopefully throughout the country. International Answer.org is sponsoring along with many other notable orgs. I only get limited info with how Europe is reacting but get a sense that activism is strong there. I live in Minneapolis Mn. and strength is not as powerful or large as I would like to see and this is supposed to be a fairly liberal section of the country. Too many people are afraid to put there bodies in the fray. Fear as a weapon, is used extremely well by the power structure,as was witnessed and felt Americans on 9/11. I realize the rest of the world was affected directly and indirectly by 9/11 but it was Americans who for the first time got a direct taste of TERROR in your face. I, don't for one moment, relish that fact but it has increased our fear of ourselves and everyone around us. FEAR is exceptionally dangerous!!! My hope is that WE, all of us worldwide, can seize this opportunity to control our own destinys and rise above any gov't intrusion to retake our world for the good of all!!!
Sincerely with P-atience
E-ffort
A-cceptance
C-ompassion
E-quality
Bill Vigneri

Bill Vigneri
mail e-mail: bvpclv@hotmail.com

Keep Up the Good Work!

07.03.2002 18:36

Yep, I´m in agreement with all of this.

One minor tactical note for the day though - it is inadvisable for any Direct Action Bloc to form up on Speaker´s Corner and expect to march to Grosvenor Square. The "anti capitalist" bloc attempted this feat last November, and inevitably were repulsed by lines of police standing on Park Lane.

A far better (and sneakier) tactic is for individuals and small groups to make their own way to Grosvenor Square - the cops won´t be able to stop people "infiltrating" the neighbourhood, and then we can gather in the park by the Franklin Roosevelt statue. They will obviously realise what is going on, but by this time it will be too late and the Picnic For Peace cum sit-in will have commenced!

I think it´s fairly inadvisable to talk about "attacking" the embassy compound. It´s guarded 24 hours a day by armed cops and yes, they will shoot at us if we try to storm the front door! It´s better for propaganda purposes if we restrict ourselves to a little creative mayhem, before moving off to Trafalgar Square under our own steam. This will give the cops the option of either arresting us all, detaining us under Section 60, or letting us wander at random through central London, staging sit-ins and lock-ons as we so choose!

Come on, let´s show the world what real protest is all about!

Anarchist Rioter

Don't forget

07.03.2002 20:44

Always remember that THE COPS READ INDYMEDIA! Discussion of tactics is fine, but never post any information which, if it were to get into the hands of the police, would damage the effectiveness of the campaign/action.

uiop!

how the movement perceives us and how to act

07.03.2002 21:39

I completely agree with Disillusioned kid: we don't want to be seen as the "bad fringe" of the anti-war movement, as the black bloc is perceived within the new-global (the term anti-global doesn't do the movement justice, as we are trying to build something new, as well as bringing the old system down) movement. Although I personally agree with many tacticts of the black bloc, I realize they have alienated much of the movement from themselves, not involving themselves enough in a dialogue with the more moderate factions. We must not committ the same errors: I believe we shouldn't close ourselves in a too "militant" attitude, distancing ourselves too much from our fellow comrades who are not yet ready for such actions yet. A "holier than thou" attitude will bring us nowhere. let's build this in mutual respect. Our efforts must be put on trying to gain support for out actions, and this can only be done if we keep an open dialogue with the rest of the movement and convince them to come and judge what we are doing by themselves, without giving in to prejudice against what is a different approach to the struggle. On the other hand, within the Block itself we can engage in different kinds of actions, more or less "confrontational" in nature, that people can freely choose to partecipate in or not. As you said, you wouldn't partecipate in the "attack" on the embassy (remember, this is still only a proposal). This is perfectly understandable. The emphasis on the people engaging in such action should therefore be not to endanger the rest of the block, who has chosen to stay away. I believe this is a crucial point: the Direct Action Block shouldn't be a loose mass of people where anyone can feel free to do what they feel like. In my opin ion we should democratically decide before hand what we are going to do: for example, if some us want to "attack" the embassy, we should talk about it to the rest of the Block, have an open discussion, see how people feel about it and, if the majority of the Block believes that would put at risk the whole Block, we should respect their decision. This can be done through consensus/voting etc. The problem with groups of a non-hierarchical nature is also the high risk of infiltration, both from the enemy (gov., police etc.) or troublemakers. We will have to deal to this.
Regarding the way to get to get to Grosvenor Square, the "scramble and re-assemble under the Roosevelt Memorial" tactic is a good idea. As a united block it would be quite easy to stop us.

In Solidarity,

kon4m

kon4m
mail e-mail: kon4m@hotmail.com

A suggestion for group action

07.03.2002 23:02

I have a suggestion running on from Tony Benn's speech at the March demo. He said that the moment we hear about Iraq being attacked by US or British, that we should stop what we are doing and for one hour commit non-violent civil disobediance to bring the trains, the buses, the schools, the colleges, our workplaces, etc. to a standstill.

I would like to suggest that everyone tries to form small affinity groups and the we network through indymedia to co-ordinate an exact time to strike. In London and other major cities, small groups of people could put chains across the roads at junctions and padlock them to railings and stage non-violent sit-downs. By working in small groups a great many of these events could occur at different venues within the city and in a short amount of time could cause gridlock. The police may be aware of the time of the campaign, but we would have the element of surprise in choosing our targets. Such an action would surely provoke media coverage and be a powerful message to the government that we the people do not want their bloody war.

I hope this idea can be taken up and spread with the help of indymedia, and through organisations such as ARROW and Stop The War. Perhaps even the Socialist Workers could do something useful for once, put down their newspapers, and form affinity groups for this action.

Feedback and help to spread the idea would be welcome here.

One suggestion might be to perform the acts on the first day after media coverage of an Iraqi attack at a certain time.

What do you all think?

rikki

keep talking

07.03.2002 23:03

I'd like to agree with Disillusioned Kid about not being comfortable with "attacking" the embasy. If people want to do an action against the US embasy then I'd suggest either an occupation or a blockade would be more effective, both in what it acheived and in the fact that more people would feel able to join in. I know the primary aim here is to cause disruption but there's no point in going out of our way to gift them the opportunity to demonise us. I don't know if this block would want to take a stance on whether to be non-violent or not in principle but I do think that we should at least decide in advance whether to be non-violent or not for each action. I would actually argue in favour of non-violence in principle (very active non-violence that is) but we definitely need to decide as a tactic for any particular action what approach we take.

In response to uiop! I would say that we know the cops can read this but that it doesn't matter. If you're talking about a really serious "get inside place x and damge equipment y" actions then you're better off doing in a small affinity group anyway. If we want to do a mass action then we have to tell people about and we have to assume the police will find out, so we might as well accept that and tell as many people as possible. I personally favour the "tell them and see what they can do about it" approach. For instance I like the "disperse then meet in the square" idea partly because the only way the police can then stop us meeting is to close the square and every road into or out of it. If they do that then they've done half our work for us without us needing to anything more than send a few emails:)

Spread the word.

Adam
mail e-mail: a_d_conway@yahoo.co.uk

And anyway . . .

08.03.2002 10:15

. . . even if the cops do close the square (this is unlikely, because it is a major traffic thoroughfare), we can just pre-arrange to meet somewhere else - preferably somewhere visible where it would be hard to detain us. Oxford Circus would do very nicely as a back-up.

On the subject of the cops reading Indymedia . . . yes, they do - but strangely enough, they seemed to be genuinely surprised when the Indymedia demo kicked off outside the Italian embassy two weeks ago. Maybe their resident surveillance officer was on holiday!

Anarchist Rioter

Perception

08.03.2002 10:21


The post above about letting the police close the square - a very interesting way of looking at things.

For instance I've always thought that the frustration of being Section 60'd at demos could be easily dissipated by deciding to view it not as the police detaining us, but us detaining them. As long as we are there, they have to stay too. It's just a question of who's standing where.

Mercury Kev

Good point, but

08.03.2002 11:01

The question is, if we are portrayed as being similar to the Black Bloc, who will it be from? The media, or the trots/reformists/greens/pinkos when we fail to tow their party line?

Gonzo

The corporate media

08.03.2002 12:25

The corporate media will probably try to brand a DA bloc as the black bloc equivalent of the peace/anti-war movement. I don't think the greens, reds, pinkos etc. will do that. This discussion is one of the most interesting I've read on Indymedia for months. The philosophy behind it is well thought through. Especially when it comes to respect for other 'blocs' is a very important 'addition' to the discussion of DA tactics that I sometimes find lacking in other similar discussions.

I all of the proposals are excellent. Well, apart from the storming the US embassy one. Not that it is a bad idea, but considering the circumstances - well, getting shot is not my idea of fun.

Anyway. The best idea I think is the Tony Benn one. I will most definately try to get people on my campus involved in this. However as we can't stop what we're doing (other that not go to a lecture or study or doing nothing) I think a sit-in somehere would be apropriate for students. It would definately be a huge thing if affinity groups could organise like this in a lot of places.

I urge everyone to send the link to this discussion to every anti-war activist they know. More people should read about this brilliant proposal and take part in the discussion. Never mind the cops, they will probably find out anyway, and besides I don't think we've got anyting to hide. We are proud of why we do the things we do!!!

Midnight Moron

And Anyway #2

08.03.2002 13:23

If the police close the Square, and we can get them to keep it closed for some time, that's not a bad payoff. We will be detaining them (as was wisely pointed out), + causing hassle for embassy staff etc. All these SyF people would rather be at home watching TV, but I *like* being there, meeting great people, and struggling for a cause I am passionate about.

James Thorne

Just wondering...

08.03.2002 15:00

Where are the D10 lot in this? Are they a functioning group right now? Anyone know?

The Drop-out Continuum