![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/02/06/10.jpg\")
\nThis week, demonstrators in the Twin Cities have been experimenting with filter blockades, a means of monitoring traffic for federal agents and, in some cases, obstructing their activities. Here, we present a guide to maintaining filter blockades, share accounts from filter blockades in the Twin Cities this past week, and conclude with a broader look at the history and potential of the model.
\n\nYou can find updates about the use of filter blockades in the Twin Cities here.
\n\nWinter 2026 has seen a protracted struggle in The Twin Cities. On one side are the mercenaries of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Donald Trump’s attempt to build a federal police force answerable only to him for the immediate purpose of committing ethnic cleansing and the longer-term purpose of terrorizing all opposition. On the other side are the people of the Twin Cities who are moved by their consciences to protect their neighbors and defy tyranny. Their resistance has emerged as rapid response networks tracking ICE movements and impeding their attempts to kidnap people. It has also given rise to blockades at the federal building, a general strike, and riots that have forced ICE and police to withdraw from neighborhoods.
\n\nOver the past week and a half, we have witnessed the emergence of a new tactic: the filter blockade.
\n\nAs seen in the Twin Cities, filter blockades are barricades that turn intersections into roundabouts, crewed by rapid responders who check for ICE vehicles. The filter blockades function to slow or stop occupying forces; everyone else is waved through with a smile. In addition to this “filtering” function, they also serve as informal hubs for sharing food, meeting neighbors, creating art, performing music, making plans, and meeting other immediate needs for camaraderie and connection.
\n\nThis tactic has provoked the ire of ICE and local police—an indicator of its effectiveness. In order that this model might proliferate, we present a how-to guide, a brief overview of the recent history of this tactic, and some lessons learned from prior filter blockades, illustrated with accounts from the past week’s experiments.
\n\n\nFilter blockades are a simple and effective way to resist the occupation of our communities. All you need is a few determined friends or neighbors and some widely available materials. The goal is to slow traffic, without fully blocking it, in order to identify potential ICE vehicles. The more filter blockades, the more effective the strategy becomes.
\n\nThe more participants, the better, but even a small determined group can operate an effective blockade. Make sure to discuss ahead of time what to do when you encounter ICE—whether that means blocking the intersection or just passing on news of the sighting to everyone who needs to know.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/02/06/4.jpg\")
\nWhile filter blockades are a relatively new tactic in the resistance to “Operation Metro Surge,” barricades have already taken a variety of forms in the Twin Cities. After police murdered George Floyd in 2020, mourners transformed the site into George Floyd Square, maintaining a self-organized autonomous zone. At the same time, several groups took community safety into their own hands, including Rocksteady Alliance, Powderhorn Safety Collective, Little Earth Protectors, and the Brown Berets. Some set up checkpoints around their neighborhoods.
\n\nDuring the rebellion in Whittier in response to the murder of Alex Pretti on January 24, people built barricades on several roads. This inspired both the barricading of University Avenue at the noise demonstration at Home2 hotel the following night and the filter blockades that appeared thereafter.
\n\nThe first filter blockades of 2026 emerged out of rapid response foot patrols. Shortly after the beginning of Operation Metro Surge, rapid responders who chose not to pursue ICE vehicles by car or bike began to take up positions on street corners, intersections, and sidewalks throughout their neighborhoods—particularly in areas with populations that were targeted for ICE harassment. These foot patrols served both to monitor ICE activity continuously in a given area and to create a mobile standby force capable of documenting, engaging, and interfering with the operations of ICE agents when they entered neighborhoods.
\n\nSome of the most spectacular moments of opposition thus far during Operation Metro Surge emerged as spontaneous responses from foot patrollers and rapid responders who bravely sought to defend their neighbors from abduction. Because of ICE’s high-speed snatch-and-grab tactics, the success of these defenses relied on community members either arriving at the scene of ICE activity incredibly quickly or already having defenders in the area.
\n\nThe earliest filter blockades blossomed in areas where foot patrols and neighborhood defenders gathered in roundabouts and side streets, often around fire pits, where multiple people could keep a watchful eye out for vehicles driven by ICE agents. These first filter “blockades” were essentially occupied roundabouts. Their purpose was primarily to slow down traffic, giving neighborhood defenders time to look inside vehicles for ICE agents. At first, there were no real mechanisms for actually halting ICE vehicles. Nonetheless, there are reports of ICE vehicles turning around and abandoning particular routes after seeing them staffed by neighborhood patrollers.
\n\nStarting at the beginning of February, community defenders in South Minneapolis have taken a more confrontational stance with the filter blockades. While filters had previously only been deployed in residential side streets, organizers began to move roundabout barricades into more populated thoroughfares that were known to be used regularly by ICE agents. Whereas previous blockades only had to contend with a limited number of vehicles, moving into larger streets meant that the barricades had to process hundreds of vehicles per hour while remaining vigilant for potential ICE activity.
\n\nFollowing a direct intervention by the Trump Administration’s border Czar Tom Homan, Minneapolis police stormed the three most prominent barricades, temporarily shutting all of them down. However, it is easy to rebuild a filter blockade.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/02/06/1.jpg\")
Barricades around the site where ICE murdered Alex Pretti on January 24, 2026.
\nHere are a few takeaways for future community defenders who find themselves at the barricades.
\n\nFor those who are primarily interested in documenting ICE activity and relaying it to rapid response threads, a simple roundabout is likely enough to slow ICE vehicles down long enough to identify them or potentially deter them from attempting to drive down a street. Others focused on community building have made blockades that become block parties, serving as both monitoring points and spaces for community building.
\n\nHowever, if you want to halt ICE vehicles and repel them from an area, you must prepare ahead of time and design your blockade accordingly. At one of the larger filter blockades, two vehicles containing ICE agents were able to pass through because the blockaders were not prepared to halt them. Community members adapted by deploying makeshift gates constructed out of pallets, which they moved into the road to halt cars long enough to run their plates through an ICE database. They reinforced these by readying furniture, pallets, and other materials and resolved to challenge ICE directly. The next day, when an ICE vehicle came through, they confronted the driver and eventually compelled him to flee the area.
\n\nCommunity defense hinges on community consent. Especially when deploying more assertive strategies like checkpoints, organizers should be friendly and welcoming to drivers and passerby alike. Thus far, the filter blockades have been popular in the Twin Cities, receiving widespread support in the form of encouragement, food, and supplies. Groups seeking to set up filter blockades should do so with the broadest possible coalition of community support, taking every measure to ensure that the blockades don’t disrupt everyday life in ways that people don’t appreciate.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/02/06/7.jpg\")
Photograph courtesy of Minneapolis Spring.
\nOnce you have established what you are trying to achieve, make sure that everyone has a clearly defined role. When ICE arrives, what happens will be fast, loud, and intense. At that point, it will be too late to discuss what to do. The response of a blockade is only as good as the response of each individual; preventing access in such a situation means moving with speed, precision, and coordination.
\n\nWho is running license plates? Who is communicating with rapid response threads about ICE sightings in the area? Who is crewing the pallet gates at the checkpoint? Who is tending the fire? These are questions that any neighborhood group should ask themselves ahead of time and revisit throughout the duration of the blockade. Don’t be afraid to adapt and switch roles as needed. Situations change—so can we.
\n\nLarger blockades on bigger streets are more likely to wind up directly confronting ICE agents. However, that may not be your goal. Smaller blockades on residential streets can disrupt operations on a smaller scale or protect specific locations.
\n\nWhile larger blockades are flashier, they are also more likely to face pressure from local law enforcement groups that are collaborating with federal occupiers. For community groups that seek to challenge ICE directly or expose the complicity of local and state authorities, this may be welcome; for others, it could be unnecessary.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/02/06/9.jpg\")
\nThe goal of filter blockades is simple: protect neighbors and establish a culture of resistance to injustice. It is almost inevitable that someone will respond to this with anger, but it is not the task of community defenders to convince them or engage in conflict with them. If this person is not affiliated with or collaborating with law enforcement, those holding the barricades should simply let them through. Choosing your battles is a fundamental part of strength. To be effective, a culture of resistance to the state must cultivate a culture of respect for our neighbors—even the ones we experience as annoying, rude, or wrong. This mindset is crucial to cultivating a popular struggle.
\n\nLikewise, some people will push back against direct action tactics, framing their concerns in the language of safety or deescalation. Yet choosing not to resist ICE is also a decision with serious consequences. Those organizing in a particular context must make their own decisions on the basis of how they understand the specific dynamics at play within their communities. We may not be able to win over everyone, but centering an ethic of participatory community defense, we can proceed with clear minds, strong hearts, and the knowledge that nothing they can throw at us is greater than the spirit of people who have chosen, against all odds, to resist.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/02/06/6.jpg\")
Photograph courtesy of Minneapolis Spring.
\nWe put the checkpoint up around 8:30 am. After about 30 minutes, one ICE car slipped through unbeknownst to us. A few minutes after it passed, it was radioed in as confirmed ICE and to be on the lookout for it.
\n\nShortly thereafter, another ICE vehicle came speeding toward the checkpoint, veered into the opposite lane of traffic to avoid being stopped, and sped away.
\n\nAround 10 am, we heard whistles and car horns, the signal warning that ICE was in the neighborhood. At least half a dozen people ran to address it. The vehicle escaped, but accidentally sped toward the checkpoint. When the driver realized this, they turned around, running right back into the crowd. The vehicle came away with some light damage to the taillight and driver-side mirror.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/02/06/8.jpg\")
\nI joined a group of neighbors curious about the filter barricade on 32nd and Cedar. We wanted to learn more about what they were doing, what their goals were, and to figure out if we could do something similar in our own neighborhood.
\n\nWe drove through in the car to see what sort of vibe they were putting out. Was this a checkpoint, a filter, a stationary patrol point, or something else entirely? The people standing in the middle of Cedar with pallets gave us a wave and we responded with a few honks in solidarity. Their traffic circle functioned as a deterrent, something like a store greeter, except with more warmth than you can expect from customer service.
\n\nWhen we arrived, there were a half dozen people there doing barricade work, two on either side of the intersection on Cedar (the thoroughfare street) and two in the middle relaying plate checks/rapid response SALUTE reports to the people stationed on Cedar. The outer ring of the barricade was made of an amalgamation of wood pallets, traffic equipment, furniture, shopping carts, and tarps. Inside that there was seating and makeshift tables offering posters, PPE, and lots of snacks and drinks. At the center was a firepit, offering a modest but well-stoked fire to warm the patrollers and anyone else who happened by.
\n\nIn stark contrast to the checkpoints that the National Guard set up, it really felt like they brought the community out. When we walked up to the edge of the barrier, they welcomed us in right away. If you’ve done any ICE watch, it gets easier to just walk up and start a conversation asking what’s going on, does anyone need assistance or a supply run? Obviously, you’ll be treated better if you’re trying to be helpful, but the mutual aid bug is part of how we distinguish ourselves from ICE (since we, too, hide our faces).
\n\nThe two guys in the middle were doing fine on supplies—they said more and more people were bringing stuff or just handing it off as they passed by in their cars. We stood around the middle talking shop a bit. Eventually, I went off to talk to some of the people standing on the south side of Cedar.
\n\nThe person holding up the piece of plywood he’d just spray-painted to read “ICE OUT” told me that he’d been out there for about three hours; the other person had walked over about an hour earlier and decided to help out. After we talked for a bit, he let me know that he needed to leave soon, so I took over his position and stood on Cedar with a walkie-talkie. We didn’t get any confirmed plates while I was there.
\n\nWhile I was on Cedar, one guy drove up and gave us three pizzas. Another, driving a car hand-painted with a mural, handed me a three-dimensional cardboard representation of a middle finger on a stick with the inscription FUCK ICE. Neither said a word. Another dude slowed his car down, rolled down his window, and asked if we needed anything. After the person tending the fire asked for more wood, the man gave a thumbs up and returned ten minutes later with a massive trash bag of firewood, like he was Santa Claus.
\n\nAbout 90% of the interactions I had there were positive: honks of solidarity, waves, salutes, people rolling down their windows to thank us or ask if we needed anything. Every single school bus driver that drove by opened their window to thank us.
\n\nThe only negative interactions were with a few larger vehicles. No 18-wheelers came through, but some truck drivers didn’t appreciate the tight squeeze. Nonetheless, we experienced no verbal or physical altercations.
\n\nWe did see a couple police officers pass through the roundabout without issue, offering a slight nod or a polite wave off the steering wheel. I assume that those gestures just represented those individual officers’ opinions.
\n\nLater, I saw a sheriff’s truck with its lights on across the South end of Cedar, blocking off the road. I told my buddy to report it to the center, and I left my spot to go ask what was happening. The officer was outside the truck directing traffic off Cedar.
\n\n“Hey are you shutting down this road to destroy the barricade?”
\n\n“Yeah, sorry, some residents complained, so we have to get rid of it.”
\n\nWhen I got back to the barricade, the fire was extinguished and everyone was on the sidewalk. A single officer pushed over anything left standing. Cruisers were blocking off the intersection, along with a van full of geared-up officers. A garbage truck rolled in after them and they threw everything they could into it. We gathered all we could, saving food and mutual aid supplies. They left as fast as they arrived.
\n\nIt didn’t make the dent in morale I think they wanted. We lost a lot of stuff, yet the thought in our minds was—how can we do better?
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/02/06/5.jpg\")
\nThe practical impulse on the part of an insurgent population to assert control over space through the use of barricades is likely as old as cities themselves. The barricade is the political expression of a basic mechanical principle: with the right means, every flow or throughway can be interrupted. The castle has the castle door and drawbridge, the city its walls, and so on.
\n\nIn the past decade of social and ecological struggle, this strategy has assumed various forms. On the ZAD (Zone à Défendre, “zone to defend”) at Notre-Dame-des-Landes, where a popular squatting movement sought to prevent the government and private construction companies from paving over historic farmlands to make an international airport, the occupation of the territory led to a proliferation of diverse barricades, including trenches and even the excavation of entire stretches of road. Several regions of the Zone consequently became inaccessible to motor vehicles, while others were only accessible with varying levels of difficulty. While no two barricades were exactly alike, the trend was away from temporary, ephemeral structures toward more durable constructions.
\n\nDuring that same period, an explosive teachers’ struggle in 2016 in Oaxaca experimented with short-term, high impact takeovers of major arterial roads. The Oaxacan blockades were a radical expression of a paradigm of struggle familiar to those of us who grew up after the heyday of the classical labor movement and learned to attack the economy from positions outside it.
\n\nIn the classical paradigm, factory strikes withhold productive labor, thereby forcing production to stop, while port worker strikes withhold circulatory labor, leaving ships and trucks unable to load and unload. However, since teaching is neither productive labor nor circulatory labor, teachers who sought to impact the bottom line of the state and the ruling class had to select a site of intervention suitable to their own initiative. Taking to freeways, the teachers and their families and supporters occupied strategic positions such as toll booths and interchanges in order to block large stretches of road. This sometimes took dramatic forms, such as burning looted semi-trucks positioned sideways across multiple lanes. The interruption of highway transit offered the teachers’ movement a means of asserting control over the circulation of commodities in order to inflict financial harm on the state and the ruling bourgeoisie. However, as one teacher observed in an interview, the stoppage was not intended to be total: they let through “cars, but not trucks hauling goods for major corporations like WalMart and Coca-Cola.” In other words, the model of this barricade was not the trench, but the filter.
\n\nA few years later, again in France, a version emerged that combined the models from the ZAD and Oaxaca. During the Yellow Vests movement of 2018-2019, thousands of residents in smaller towns took over the roundabouts, where they built shacks and cabins out of pallets. For the most part, they selected roundabouts at the entrances to their towns, beside the on-ramps to major freeways. As in Oaxaca, this strategically positioned the movement to levy the circulation of commodities via trucks; like the ZADists, their occupations also played a positive role, functioning as hubs for self-organization, sharing, and political encounter. At the roundabouts, participants in the movement were able to find each other and interact with the neighbors and friends who passed through.
\n\nSomething similar occurred in Colombia in 2021, shutting down entire cities.
\n\nWhat is happening in the Twin Cities represents another innovative expression of the filter blockade, though leveraged against a different enemy with different aims. Rather than targeting the flow of commodities, the filter blockades of the Twin Cities respond to the need to combat fascistic state terror. To this end, they represent a development of a new strategy in an evolving dialectic of cat-and-mouse between ICE agents and the rapid response networks that have been pursuing, recording, and obstructing them. Instead of chasing after agents, the filter blockade points towards the possibility of excluding them from entire zones of the city by asserting popular control over the means of circulation.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/02/06/2.jpg\")
Barricades around the site where ICE murdered Alex Pretti on January 24, 2026.
\nIn A History of the Barricade, Eric Hazan observes that the virtue of the barricade lies in its tendency “to proliferate and form a network that crosses the space of the city.” It is this “faculty of rapid multiplication” that gives it its offensive potency: “victorious barricades,” Hazan writes, “are those that pin down the forces of repression, paralyze their movements, and end up stifling them into impotence.” Since it is easy to circumvent one or two barricades, for barricades to function effectively as a weapon, they must mushroom up all over, for it is only in conjunction with each other that they become effective at controlling enemy movements through a terrain. Although the past week of experiments with filter blockades in the Twin Cities has garnered attention online, they have only just begun to spread.
\n\nIn addition to hindering enemy movements, filter blockades can serve other useful functions. While the rapid responder networks enabled individuals to act in concert through live Signal chats coordinated by dispatchers, with drivers converging together around sightings only to disperse just as quickly, the primary form of connection they facilitated was mobile, temporary, and remote. By creating consistent places for neighbors to find each other, cooperate, and collaborate, filter blockades offer a starting point to reweave the fabric of everyday life.
\n\nBy contrast with the “centros” model, in which people established a presence at the sites of ICE raids targeting day laborers, filter blockades leverage the geography and resources of residential neighborhoods, enabling activities usually reserved for the private spere to take on connective political implications, while incorporating cultural activities often reserved for other venues—poetry readings, potlucks, art builds, snowball fights, hip hop performances, know your rights trainings, and the like. While their political function is circumscribed and spatial, their role in the lives of the neighbors around them is inherently open-ended and should foster a wide range of experimentation.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/02/06/3.jpg\")
Barricades around the site where ICE murdered Alex Pretti on January 24, 2026.
\nIn the following account, participants in the noise demonstrations targeting hotels that house federal agents in the Twin Cities recount their experiences and explain how this tactic might be employed elsewhere.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/01/27/26-3.jpg\")
January 26, 2026.
\nOn Monday, January 26, a hundred protesters converged on the SpringHill Suites by Marriott in Maple Grove, Minnesota to see off disgraced former “Commander at Large” of Customs and Border Protection Greg Bovino, freshly demoted and set to be shipped back to California. Demonstrators blew whistles, beat snare drums, and banged on pots and pans. Border Patrol officers collaborating with local police responded by shooting tear gas and pepper balls and shoving people indiscriminately, arresting at least two protesters.
\n\nThis was the latest in a series of noise demonstrations targeting the hotels housing this occupying force. So far, multiple hotels have closed as a result, and it is conceivable that some mercenaries have gone without rest, as well.
\n\nTwo days after the Whittier neighborhood chased out federal agents following the brutal murder of Alex Pretti, the regime chose to rotate out Bovino as the public face of the federal occupation. His “Commander-at-Large” position has been abolished. This will reduce the number of federal mercenaries occupying the Twin Cities by at least one, but it leaves thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to continue terrorizing us, now likely with more assistance from the Democratic governor and mayor.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/01/27/26-1.jpg\")
January 26, 2026.
\nNonetheless, this is the first crack to appear in our oppressors’ armor. They are not making this concession because they murdered Alex Pretti, but because the people fought back. The struggle is far from over—Immigration czar Tom Homan will be arriving to replace Bovino soon, and we will have to pivot to confront a new strategy. But it is instructive that CBP BorTac officers, who were the most theatrically violent agents in the first act of this invasion, are the first to withdraw from the fight after suffering a single defeat, the way cowards do.
\n\nWhat happens in the Twin Cities is a prelude to a much larger struggle that will unfold around the country. We can help to equip you to fight these same bounty hunters when they show up in your town by sharing the tactics with which we are fighting them here. Alongside the rapid response networks, the general strike, the blockades, and the revolts when they shoot people, we have been experimenting with noise demonstrations.
\n\nHere is what we have experienced, so far.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/01/27/26-2.jpg\")
January 26, 2026.
\nThe first noise demo I attended was at the Home2 Suites by Hilton in Bloomington, Minnesota by the Mall of America. This was very early into the occupation, when rapid response was still being run primarily out of South Side networks and had yet to proliferate through the rest of Minneapolis and the greater metro area. I saw an infographic shared in the daily patrol chat, asking for people to attend with noisemakers and not to post about it on social media.
\n\nWhen we arrived at the hotel, there were about a dozen protesters and four Bloomington Police squad cars waiting in the parking lot with their lights on. The word on the ground was that the Signal loop being used to plan the demo was infiltrated, necessitating the creation of a new, somewhat vetted planning chat on the spot. We did a lap around the hotel banging pots and pans, blowing whistles, playing brass instruments, and setting off car alarms. When we finished our lap, we pressed on and did another. Then the squad cars drove up to block our path and we left.
\n\nThe group that emerged out of this demonstration involved all sorts of everyday people, but it was de facto headed by representatives of a certain longstanding formal organization, which published recordings of the demonstrations and claimed responsibility for them. To give credit where it is due, the experience, confidence, perceived legitimacy, and organizational capacity of this larger public-facing organization may well have been essential to popularizing noise demonstrations as a tactic in the Twin Cities.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/01/27/25-1.jpg\")
January 25, 2026. You can obtain these stickers here.
\nThe strategy has involved two kinds of demonstrations:
\n\nRegarding the invite-only noise demonstrations, the group quickly coordinated new ways to identify and protest at hotels that were collaborating with the fascist occupiers. Some people would go to the hotels, acting like guests, and ask workers if they had heard anything about ICE staying there. Others would follow up on tips by scouring hotel parking lots for confirmed ICE license plates. When one worker was fired for tipping the planners off that ICE was staying at their hotel, people developed online forms for anonymous tips.
\n\nEverybody brainstormed new ways to make more and more noise. Full drum kits quickly became a mainstay of the demonstrations, showing up in both stationary and mobile forms. One person brought handheld personal alarms that poduce a high-decibel noise when a pin is pulled and do not shut off until the pin is replaced. These devices, widely distributed among the participants, made for quite a headache for hotels when left behind in inaccessible locations after protesters departed with the pins. People began to bring powerful flashlights, shining them into the windows of hotel rooms.
\n\nTo decide on a time and location, the participants would create a new chat for each demonstration, picking a nearby location at which to meet and discuss the specifics of that night’s plan. One innovation has been to start by setting off car alarms for an agreed-upon amount of time, then leaving our vehicles to make noise on foot, going around the hotel in laps. When the police show up and issue a warning, we leave, reasoning that smaller groups are not as effective at resisting those orders as a massive crowd is.
\n\nEventually, people began to prepare a list of hotels to target on a given night. We’d protest at one hotel until the police arrived, then simply move on to the next in another neighborhood or even city.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/01/27/25-8.jpg\")
January 25, 2026.
\nIn late December, comrades had gotten word that there were feds staying in the Canopy by Hilton in the Mill District of Minneapolis and, once again, the Home2 Suites in Bloomington by the Mall of America—the same location mentioned above. The plan that night was to meet up at midnight nearby to go over how we wanted to start the demonstration. Certain people took on specific roles: one person would be police liaison, another would de-escalate angry bystanders and try to recruit them into the demonstration. Our goal was to ensure the demonstration could go on as long as possible, even after local police departments showed up to shut it down.
\n\nThe action at the Canopy started shortly after midnight. It drew a larger crowd for one of the smaller demos. Folks had brought a wide range of noisemakers with them: pots and pans, speakers, whistles, an entire drum kit, megaphones, even a didgeridoo. A few also brought flashlights and a laser pointer to shine into the windows of hotel rooms. Staff inside of the hotel quickly called the cops to quash the commotion, but the police responded slowly.
\n\nThe noise was audible from several blocks away in multiple directions. Neighbors from many apartment buildings came outside to check out what was happening. Someone even hopped out of their car to hand a demonstrator an airhorn, then circled the block honking their car horn! Roughly 20 to 30 minutes into the demo, a few Minneapolis Police Department squad cars started to show up, driving slowly by the demonstration, but the officers did not exit their cars or declare the crowd to be trespassing.
\n\nAt one point, there were four squad cars stationed at the end of the street to the left of the demonstration, presumably chatting about how to engage with the protesters. After what appeared to be a lengthy discussion, they departed.
\n\nThe noise demonstration went on, uninhibited by police or angry residents, for a solid hour. My companion and I left the Canopy location to head to the next meeting spot in Bloomington. After we had left, comrades who were still at the Canopy by Hilton lingered to speak to press about the action. Shortly after that, MPD rolled in with an absurdly heavy-handed show of force. According to our comrades who were still present, they showed up with a dozen or more squad vehicles—one activist joked that there was one car per police officer that responded to the demonstration. An officer on a loudspeaker announced that the activists had to leave and declared the action an “unlawful assembly.” No arrests took place.
\n\nAfter the action at the Canopy, our comrades rendezvoused with us in Bloomington to establish our plan of action for the next hotel. It was cold and raining, so we decided to keep it short and sweet. We drove into the hotel parking lot and set off our car alarms for a few minutes before getting out to do a couple laps around the hotel making noise. The police responded differently to this demonstration than they had to the one earlier this winter. They weren’t already stationed there waiting for us, but their response was quick. The officers who responded told activists to leave the premises immediately or be trespassed.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/01/27/25-9.jpg\")
January 25, 2026.
\nThe first of the public demos with mass attendance took place in Edina, an affluent suburb of Minneapolis. The crowd easily numbered around 200. More and more people showed up throughout the night, a common feature of noise demonstrations. The crowd was furious, but the atmosphere had the energy of a party. Protesters danced and laughed and socialized when not using their noisemakers. Some identified the vehicles of the federal mercenaries and exchanged notes about how to recognize them. The organizers tried to keep the crowd on the sidewalk and off of hotel property, in hopes of delaying a police response, but largely failed in this effort.
\n\nFor the first time, ICE agents staying in the hotel walked into the lobby in plainclothes with their faces masked in order to watch the uproar. This incensed the crowd, many of whom charged up to the doors and windows to scream at the occupiers, pound on the glass, and shine strobe lights in their eyes. When one fed attempted to blow off the crowd by visibly watching basketball highlights on his phone, a protester shouted “You’re watching ads, you broke bitch! Kill yourself!” The federal agent returned to his room shortly thereafter.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/01/27/25-2.jpg\")
January 25, 2026.
\nEach time the crowd began to directly confront the federal agents, yellow-vested peace police desperately sought to corral the demonstrators into taking another lap around the hotel. Again, these efforts met with only moderate success. Eventually, two Edina police officers arrived, placing themselves at the hotel’s front entrance. They tried to give a dispersal warning but were completely drowned out by of the protesters.
\n\nYou should wear earplugs at any noise demo—my tinnitus has taught me that lesson well.
\n\nThe protests marshals decided their job was to do the work of the police for them. They told everyone it was time to disperse. A large segment of the crowd didn’t listen, and the marshals simply left. Police repeatedly attempted to disperse the crowd by issuing warnings, without effect.
\n\nFinally, Edina police and officers from four neighboring police departments all showed up in riot gear, declaring an unlawful assembly at the whole hotel and the surrounding blocks, and threatened to deploy chemical weapons. When the thinning crowd of protesters saw that the police outnumbered them, they left, having averted arrest or injury. At this point, there were five different police departments standing around protecting the property of the collaborators.
\n\nIn this case, the protesters escalated to the maximum possible extent, then decided for themselves when the situation was no longer favorable—a decision that the protest marshals had tried to reserve for themselves.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/01/27/25-7.jpg\")
January 25, 2026.
\nThese protests were effective at their intended goals. Multiple hotels eventually ceased to house the murderers, even after the demonstrations had ended, and some hotels in St. Paul shut down operations entirely.
\n\nBearing this in mind, the initial organizers began to encourage other groups to plan their own noise demonstrations. The advantages of this more decentralized approach are illustrated by the demonstration that took place on University Avenue on January 25, one day after the summary execution of Alex Pretti and the ensuing street battles.
\n\nThe participants in the January 25 noise demonstration had taken notes on what had worked in the streets. The clashes that established Alex Pretti square on January 24 were characterized by the rapid proliferation of barricades. On the night of January 25, by the time I could see what was happening at the Home2 Suites on University Avenue, trash cans, wood pallets, and mattresses had been pulled into the street, blocking off University Avenue on both sides of the hotel. The protesters made plenty of noise. At least one window was smashed, while the rest were decorated with messages including “Fuck ICE, ICE Out!” and “Killers stay here.”
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/01/27/25-6.jpg\")
January 25, 2026.
\nSome protesters pulled signs off the building; some entered the lobby and rearranged the furniture.
\n\nAfter at least two hours of this, for the first time, the feds took it upon themselves to respond to a noise demonstration directly, setting the stage for the demonstrators to break new ground. With the roads blocked off, the federal agents had to run in on foot from the side, filling the street with tear gas and shooting riot munitions into the crowd in order to enter the hotel.
\n\nNonetheless, the demonstrators remained for a while, even throwing a metal pot at the head of a federal agent who was menacing the crowd with a riot shotgun in the front door. Eventually, scores of feds and Minneapolis police arrived in riot gear to clear the barricades and evacuate the ICE agents staying in the hotel. They arrested 14 people in the ensuing melee. The pigs held skirmish lines while a now smaller group of protesters to west of the hotel waited patiently on the sidewalk, heckling the feds. After roughly an hour, the feds drove off, once again filling the neighborhood with tear gas as they retreated.
\n\nAfter the police and feds left, the protesters went right back to the front of the hotel and began making noise and adding new paint to it for another hour. Minneapolis police returned in riot gear, this time with public works crews in tow, using the same bulldozers and garbage trucks they weaponize against unhoused neighbors to clear the barricade materials off the road.
\n\nOnce more, protesters simply waited for them to leave, then resumed making noise. By the time I was no longer able to follow the events, the demonstration had gone on for six hours—the longest I’ve heard of by far.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/01/27/25-3.jpg\")
January 25, 2026.
\nPublic pressure campaigns can get the ball rolling. Escalation serves to achieve more immediate results.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/01/27/25-5.jpg\")
January 25, 2026.
\nPick your battles. Fight your enemy while they are at rest.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/01/27/25-4.jpg\")
January 25, 2026.
\nA good noise demonstration in progress advertises for itself.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/01/27/25-10.jpg\")
January 25, 2026.
\nBy early morning on Sunday, January 25, the autonomous zone that people had established around the site of the federal execution of Alex Pretti had dissipated. While the flowers and memorials around the vigil remained, continuing to draw mourners, the National Guard had removed the barricades around Nicollette Ave in the early hours of the morning. Those who were willing to put their rage to a purpose needed a concrete point of intervention.
\n\nThe Party for Socialism and Liberation had called a march, but the march offered no opportunity to engage federal agents or ICE infrastructure. Fortunately, as described above, demonstrations directly confronting ICE where they slept were already happening consistently in the Twin Cities. Thanks to weeks of collective effort, several hotels had already been identified as housing ICE. A flyer circulated on Sunday only a few hours before the noise demo. Under other circumstances, this could have been too late to draw any participants—but thanks to the urgency of the moment, people wanted to come, and the last-minute announcement left the cops little time to prepare. When we walked up to the noise demo, there was no law enforcement around, federal or local.
\n\nAbout fifteen people were already there, crowded around the glass walls of the hotel lobby, through which we could see several men who looked like ICE agents as well as some other hotel guests. The energy was high—someone had brought a small drum kit and another person had a percussion set and cymbals. People blew whistles, shook noise-makers, and blasted music on portable speakers. For an hour, we channeled our rage about the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti and the months of terror that immigrants had experienced in the Twin Cities into creating a loud, joyful, communal space. As the crowd grew, we spread out across the sidewalk, moving in front of the doors, where someone had spray-painted, “ICE OUT, ICE KILLS.”
\n\nPeople started moving into the street—first standing in the bike lane, then dragging a trash can into the road. Soon, people were grabbing any bin they could find, pulling pallets and old mattresses out of the alleys until they had completely blocked one side of the street. The barricade on the other side was smaller—a couple trash cans, a few traffic cones, and some parking markers from the hotel—but it sufficed to stop traffic. At one point, a man we suspected to be a plain clothes agent, who had been walking around taking notes on his phone, attempted to dismantle the barricade. People rebuilt it and he retreated inside the hotel.
\n\nCity busses on each side of the street had to turn around or pull over. Multiple cars pulled up and parked, forming their own barricade. Families with children in their cars watched the demo from a safe distance: they cheered, honked their horns, blasted music, and set off their car alarms. In addition to noisemakers, people shined flashlights at the windows and set off a few roman candles. Agents could be seen looking out from their hotel windows with cameras or phones. On the street, there was a cacophony of trumpets and drums. People started kicking the trashcans to a beat, and we danced with friends and strangers.
\n\nThe hotel had locked the front sliding doors and left a paper sign instructing guests to go around the back. We learned that ICE was going in and out the back, and people spotted men who had been seen filming us through the glass walls go out the back and leave in their cars. Maybe if the crowd had been bigger, there could have been more people watching the back of the hotel, in order to note which cars they used—an idea for future demos. Some of the people inside the hotel who were not agents seemed supportive. Others played ostrich—after someone delivered food from Sweetgreen and left it outside the locked front doors, a guy staying at the hotel went downstairs and pried the doors open to grab his delivery. By that point, the doors were broken.
\n\nAfter about an hour and a half, agents—or perhaps they were hotel security—opened the front door momentarily to yell at those outside. People crowded in front of the doors and yanked them open, as the agents and security inside scrambled to retreat. Both the outer and inner sliding doors of the lobby were forced open and people crowded into the vestibule. Chanting “Fuck ICE!”, the crowd forced the doors to unhook and swing open completely, facing off against an agent and some hotel security. By this point, most of the windows had been painted. A lone Minneapolis police officer forced his way through the crowd to join the agents.
\n\nFor about an hour, he was the only law enforcement there, repeatedly pelted in the face with snow and screamed at by the crowd. There was a small row of people in the front at the vestibule, a larger row of streamers and press filming and taking photos, and then the rest of the crowd behind them. People threw snowballs and trash over the heads of the press. Some young women drummed on a trash can by the entrance; their friends danced together while other protestors grabbed the contents of the can to throw inside. The agent and security attempted to barricade the entrance with vending machines, which repeatedly fell back on them. The lobby filled with trash. Eventually, a window shattered, and people took videos of masked and helmeted ICE agents leaving out the back door with their luggage.
\n\nWhile this was happening, people went into the parking lot and checked all of the license plates against the massive database of known ICE plates that Minnesotans have been collecting for months. The plates of two known ICE cars were announced through a megaphone, and by the end of the night, the cars had been smashed and painted.
\n\nBy this point, the building had been damaged, agents’ cars wrecked, and the agents were evacuating. Three hours after the noise demo began, three federal agents from the Bureau of Prisons showed up with firearms and deployed tear gas. After waving their guns around wildly and escorting the agents out of the hotel with their luggage, they eventually called for backup against what was by then a much smaller crowd of mostly press. One of the BOP federal agents was hit in the head by a flying object. Finally, additional federal officers arrived and deployed tear gas, flash-bang grenades, and green smoke, as well as large numbers of Minneapolis Police attempting to carry out a mass arrest. They arrested several members of the press and some protesters, but most people had already left.
\n\nSetting up a noise demonstration is relatively straightforward: someone had to confirm where ICE was staying, choose the most promising location, pick a time, make a flier, and spread it around. But it was only possible to do so quickly because of cumulative months of building networks and collecting information. The infrastructure of hotel and license plate databases equipped people to make a snap decision about which hotel to target. Likewise, the courage with which people built barricades, blocked the street with their cars, and confronted the agents in the hotel emerged from months of confrontation in the Twin Cities. It did not hurt that people were able to see the agents on the premises—they were there filming us and trying to figure out what to do.
\n\nThe noise demonstrations represent an effective use of secondary targeting. In the Twin Cities, hotel noise demos have offered another way to address agents at a fixed location where they lack the defenses and organizational structures that they have at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building. Most of the confrontations in the Twin Cities have arisen out of spontaneous responses to raids, with a few taking place at the Whipple building; while the immediate responses to raids are critical and the demonstrations at the federal building have enabled activists to exert pressure on a choke point at the time of their choosing, the hotels are stationary targets with fewer defenses. Publicizing the noise demonstrations in advance can give the cops time to prepare a response, but people should prepare creatively and not let this deter them.
\n\nWhen there are no better options on the table, people will join symbolic marches or stay at home. But when options are available, many people will seize the opportunity to act courageously and effectively. In places that are not under overt federal occupation, where the lower density of ICE agents or ICE-watch organizing can make it more difficult to respond in time to ICE raids, finding secondary targets can offer a way forward, whether those are hotels, contractors, local officials, or business collaborators.
\n\nThe rapid response networks people organized to defend their communities against federal agents seeking to kidnap, brutalize, and terrorize them have undergone a whirlwind evolution to keep up with ever-shifting Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics. Over the past month and a half of occupation, volunteers in the Twin Cities have continuously updated their rapid response model, arriving at a dynamic and resilient system. In the following report, we explore the details of that system for the benefit of others around the country who may soon be facing similar pressures.
\n\nOn December 2, 100 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were deployed to the Twin Cities as part of a multi-city surge in detentions and deportations. Since then, the Twin Cities have become cities under siege, unrecognizable to many residents. The number of federal officers occupying them has jumped 30-fold to nearly 3000. For comparison, the Minneapolis Police Department has roughly 600 officers. The murder of Renee Nicole Good, a member of the rapid response network, on January 7, followed a week later by the shooting of another person on January 14, has caught the attention of the nation.
\n\nNonetheless, most people assume that what is happening in the Twin Cities looks like ICE enforcement and resistance in other parts of the country. On the contrary, the scale of detentions, deportations, and clashes is without precedent.
\n\nTo learn about the earlier iteration of the rapid response model, developed in Los Angeles and refined in Chicago and elsewhere over the fall, start here. To learn how to set up admin-only Signal loops, start here.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/01/15/a/3.jpg\")
\nDuring the months preceding the surge of ICE agents to the Twin Cities, local people and organizations created a relatively centralized rapid response network, in which observers would submit sightings with varying levels of substantiation to an admin on a mass text system. As soon as admins could intake, reformat, and verify the reports, they would blast it out on the system and people nearby would converge. This seemed to work for turning people out to major operations, like a raid on an apartment complex, but began to falter as ICE experimented with faster, more lightweight operations.
\n\nThen, around December 1, the raids essentially stopped, and the influx of agents began a campaign of door knocks and snatch-and-grabs. The previous model was immediately rendered obsolete, because the window of time to intervene shrank to a matter of minutes. Community members who were wanting something more confrontational than the existing legal-observer-style bottle-necked system started to build out a parallel system to fill the gaps and move more nimbly.
\n\nThis new system began with a large-scale chat for Southside reports, where anyone can drop an alert of any kind. As ICE operations accelerated in volume and speed, the open, more nimble chat grew in members and became a space that attracted those who wanted to do more than simply record ICE operations. People integrated the existing whistle program to alert targeted people about ICE’s arrival and to harass the agents, then increasingly got in the way—blocking ICE vehicles with personal cars, using their bodies to block agents, using crowds and car patrols to intimidate small groups of agents into withdrawing.
\n\nAs the chats got larger, more chats were made to break the city up into smaller and smaller segments—some of which have gotten as small as a four-block radius. This allows people to see reports directly relevant to them and respond to nearby sightings quickly and effectively.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/01/15/a/2.jpg\")
\nThese networks have benefited greatly from a program of counter-surveillance at the local ICE headquarters. The Whipple, a federal building in Fort Snelling on the outskirts of the Minneapolis and St. Paul, has long been a regional headquarters for ICE, having previously housed other federal agencies. The complex is located across the street from a National Guard base, down the road from a military base, and next to the preserved fort itself. The fort sits on the sacred site of the convergence of two rivers. It was one of the earliest sites of colonization in the area; at one time, it was a concentration camp holding native Dakota people.
\n\nThe Whipple includes offices, processing and detention facilities in the basement, and a sprawling parking lot. Community members identified this complex as a key location over the summer; they have maintained a presence there since August.
\n\nThe building is hemmed in by two state highways, two rivers, and an airport. With only two vehicle exits, tracking ICE vehicles entering and exiting the facility is easy. Whipple Watch, as it’s called, has involved protesters and observers stationed there for months, gathering intel on the convoys headed into the city or taking detainees to the airport, identifying patterns of operations such as surge days and times, and carefully cataloging the plates of vehicles going in and out. This database of plates gets near constant daily use, enabling rapid responders on foot and in cars to confirm known ICE vehicles in real time. ICE has begun swapping out cars and plates throughout the day to undermine this counter-surveillance, but the volume of submissions pouring in is only growing.
\n\nWhipple Watch describe their goals as threefold:
\n\nWhipple Watch has undeniably succeeded in achieving these particular goals, even in the face of a hostile militarized force.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/01/15/a/1.jpg\")
Much of ICE watch consists of patrollers in cars or on foot, monitoring and reporting on the movements of federal agents.
\nEach chunk of the city (Southside, Uptown, Whittier, and so on) has rotating shifts of dispatchers, who admin a running Signal call throughout operational hours. Sometimes, multiple dispatchers overlap to split up the extra tasks of watching the chat, relaying reports to other channels, and checking license plates. Dispatch also helps people evenly distribute patrols across an area, takes notes, and assists people through confrontations. All patrollers in cars and on foot and stay on the call throughout their patrol. There is a constant flow of information, allowing other cars to decide whether they are well-positioned to join in, take over tailing the car, or continue searching for additional vehicles.
\n\nSince the structure has divided up into more granular neighborhood-based zones, people in many areas have also developed a daily chat system, with chats that are re-made and deleted each day to keep them clear and not maxed out of participants (as the maximum number of members of a Signal group is capped at 1000). Various areas of the cities and the suburbs have replicated the basic structure of this system but with slightly different models, chat structures, vetting systems, and data collection.
\n\nA data collection team collects anonymized data submitted from Whipple Watch and many of the local rapid response chats, aggregating them into consumable formats, such as interactive maps of hotspots. This team also admins the searchable database of license plates sorted by “confirmed ICE,” “suspected ICE,” “confirmed not ICE,” and other categories.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/01/15/a/7.jpg\")
\nAdditional place-based chats have emerged around school systems, faith communities, mutual aid grocery deliveries, and the like. Another development was the Neighborhood Networks intake chat, which acts as a clearinghouse for incoming volunteers. New people from anywhere in the city—or anywhere in the state of Minnesota—can be added and oriented to a list of chat options, and admins will add them to the open chats or connect them to the vetting and training processes for the more closed chats.
\n\nMost recently, dispatchers have experimented with a relay system in which patrollers who tail vehicles to the edge of their zone can communicate through dispatch across chats to pass off the vehicle to a patroller in the next region. This allows the patrollers to remain in tighter and tighter routes, which they can swiftly come to know intimately well in order to navigate them better than any ICE agents.
\n\nFinally, Spanish language relayers copy ICE alerts from dispatch calls and local chats, translate them, then send to large Spanish-language Signal and WhatsApp networks.
\n\nWhat might look from the outside like an over-formalization of chats for different kinds of information, or else like too little structure in the completely open calls that all patrollers for a given zone join in simultaneously, coheres into a highly effective, self-organized, and well-maintained communication ecosystem. Information moves reliably across scale through the chats and dispatchers, and patrollers quickly adopt cultural practices that enable them to avoid talking over each other and to relay information in a clear and organized manner. Volunteers self-select into shifts of varying lengths, deciding what routes to run based on their knowledge, skill, interest, and availability.
\n\nThis system is constantly shifting, highly adaptable, somewhat difficult to explain to outsiders, and surprisingly easy to integrate into—once you get over the shock of receiving over 1500 new messages per day.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/01/15/a/4.jpg\")
\nThe response from ICE has been measurable. They have changed their tactics. They have been chased out of neighborhoods during operations. They have been caught discussing how scared they are and the fact that many of them have left.
\n\nThey’ve also continuously and aggressively escalated their violence against observers. Patrollers who follow ICE too closely or for too long will often be boxed in so that between four and ten officers can surround the car, beat on the doors, yell, film, and threaten them with arrest. Patrollers who have blocked ICE with their cars have been rammed, have had their windows busted in, have been pulled out to be detained or arrested. People have been put into ICE vehicles, driven miles away, then thrown out of the car. Agents have taken people out of their cars, then driven their cars several blocks away and left them running in the street. Recently, agents have been pepper spraying cars—sometimes trying to fill the interior of the vehicle in order to force people out of it, other times just using the chemical weapon to brightly mark the cars for further harassment and targeting.
\n\nRecently, ICE agents threw a tear gas canister out of their vehicle while driving on the highway to try to deter someone from following them. Agents have not only followed patrollers home, but have identified the driver or vehicle following them and led drivers to their own home addresses as a form of intimidation. Patrollers shared with us that agents have beaten them, have tried to run them over, have driven directly at their vehicles head on, held them at gunpoint, shot out their tires, and dragged them out of moving vehicles. While the murder of Renee Nicole Good shocked the nation, it came as no surprise to those who have been on the streets of the Twin Cities over the past six weeks.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/01/15/a/5.jpg\")
\nWhat sets apart the Twin Cities rapid response network and its surrounding ecosystem is not strict adherence to a particular structure. It is a clear analysis of their conditions, a willingness to adapt, and the courage to fight back as the violence increases.
\n\nThe people of the Twin Cities have paid close attention to their opponents. They know how ICE agents deploy, where ICE agents stage, how ICE agents dress, drive, and react. They live in a relatively small and densely populated urban area, walkable in many parts, gridded for easy navigation by car. People are connected to their neighbors, building on the connections that remain from past movements and uprisings. The mayor of Minneapolis is trying to maintain the liberal veneer of his administration; police are unlikely to deploy as reinforcements for ICE operations. These are concrete and observable conditions that have directly defined the design and implementation of resistance here.
\n\nThose embedded in the model are committed to agility and adaptability as conditions change. The city has neighborhoods with distinct demographics and characteristics, so the expansion of the model was built to vary from one neighborhood to the next. After the raids stopped, ICE deployed almost exclusively from one main location with limited entrances and exits, so organizers invested heavily in counter-surveillance there. When ICE operations switched to fast, random street abductions and door knocks, the only possible way to predict where they would act was to identify ICE vehicles as they approached, so people shifted focus to identifying ICE vehicles on the roads and staying on them. ICE needed to rely on surprise and ambush tactics, so responders employed noise—whistles and honking—to quickly give warning across distance. ICE officers don’t like to operate when outnumbered and don’t like to be surrounded, so patrollers amass cars and form impromptu traffic jam blockades.
\n\nFew of these conditions could have been predicted in advance. The only way to adapt effectively was to nurture an open, invitational culture that encourages taking initiative and welcomes self-organization.
\n\nWe cannot overstate the importance of the courage pouring into the streets of the Twin Cities. It can be easy to write off rapid response networks, because we know that simply filming and observing this accelerating campaign of violence is not enough. Many networks across the country have demobilized themselves before they even got going by trying to rigidly control what their participants could do, despite widespread willingness to escalate. Trainers often preach non-interference; some rapid responders police each other in the streets for throwing projectiles or even for yelling. In some cases, this comes from a self-preservationist fear about repression targeting the NGOs involved in rapid response. In other cases, it shows up as a well-meaning but misguided focus on “safety” that is simply paternalism, deciding what risk levels are appropriate for other people.
\n\nSuch overcautiousness can be found in the Twin Cities, too. There are trainers and dispatchers who, by default, tell people to disengage rather than supporting them in whatever they feel called to do. There are bystanders who get in the way of those who are taking action rather than in the way of ICE.
\n\nBut the fight here is defined by those who push the envelope. People use their cars and bodies to block agents and de-arrest targeted people. They throw snowballs and rocks; they kick back canisters of tear gas. They cover cars and agents with paint and break the windows of their cars. They don’t stop screaming in the faces of abductors when they are hit, pepper sprayed, or shot with rubber bullets. They are witnessing the masked abductions, undisclosed disappearances, and record-breaking deaths of this new emboldened ICE, and they are willing to take real risks to stop them. They are experiencing the retaliative violence, and they are more, stronger, and braver in spite of it.
\n\nBeing ready for the incoming surge of ICE enforcement in your city—and mark these words, it is coming—means studying the terrain you are fighting on and getting creative. What works best for your city likely won’t look exactly like these daily observation units at their headquarters and mobile patrols of rapid responders. It will require a thorough analysis of how best to use your strengths and exploit their weaknesses in your specific circumstances. Start studying, planning, connecting, and experimenting now.
\n\nWe look to the Twin Cities, not to replicate the details, but for their clarity of analysis, swift and decisive action, agile experimentation, deep care for each other, and infectious courage.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2026/01/15/a/6.jpg\")
\nThis report was submitted by visitors to the Twin Cities, who were kindly welcomed into the network for a few short days. Thank you to all those who showed us your city, talked us through the systems, and brought us along on patrols. Love and rage.
\n\nAre masked agents showing up in your town to kidnap your neighbors? Want to do your part to protect each other, but don’t know where to start?
\n\nWe hope this guide will help you prepare to stand up to federal agencies like\nImmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as they attempt to abduct people from your community. The guide is not exhaustive—it could not be—but it is based on the knowledge that an array of people have accumulated in Chicago over the past several months during “Operation Midway Blitz.” As federal agents expand their assaults on communities across the country, it is crucial to share and build on these practices.
\n\nBecause the mercenaries who work for ICE and other federal agencies are constantly updating their strategies in response to popular resistance, a guide like this is chiefly useful for getting started thinking about how to resist. We encourage you to draw on this guide for ideas while adapting them to the local context that you and your neighbors know best.
\n\nDigital security matters. It is crucial to your own safety and the safety of those you organize with.
\n\nWe are all still learning about which aspects of our digital lives can be used against us. Don’t put yourself or the people around you at further risk: use encrypted messaging apps and documents, regularly delete anything you aren’t using, and be cautious about what you put in writing.
\n\nLearn the acronyms and agencies: Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security.
\n\nHow to recognize immigration enforcement agencies:
\n\nOnce local migra watch organizers have enough experience to synthesize, it could be useful to prepare and circulate a guide to identifying ICE vehicles, such as this one.
\nWhen seeking to escape attention, we have seen federal agents employ these tactics:
\n\nRisks to be aware of during ICE watch and rapid response activities:
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/12/03/3.jpg\")
A federal mercenary threatens civilians in the Brighton Park neighborhood of Chicago on October 4, 2025.
\nIf you show up during an abduction:
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/12/03/4.jpg\")
\nIf you show up after an abduction:
\n\nIt’s important to keep migra watch chats both vigilant and actionable. When people are afraid, they are more likely to report activity that is not actually a threat. This clogs up chats and hotlines and makes everyone more paranoid. Some rules of thumb for reporting:
\n\nReduce risks and keep each other safe during ICE watch:
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/12/03/2.jpg\")
\nGoal: to respond to activity and abductions that are already happening.
\n\nAdvantages:
\n\nGoal: to prevent or at least limit future abductions by creating a safe, well-networked community.
\n\nAdvantages:
\n\nAlso known as a Centro or hub.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/12/03/1.jpg\")
A federal immigration agent throws a tear gas canister at people on October 14, 2025 at 105th Street and Avenue N; a Chicago police supervisor who did not have a gas mask washes the irritant from his eyes afterwards. It can be valuable to map the legal and political fault lines between local, state, and federal mercenaries.
\nAnti-ICE community assemblies can enable existing networks to recruit participants and coordinate, as well as providing a venue for brainstorming new initiatives.
\nResearch local ICE logistics to identify choke points and other strategic opportunities.
\nA media group can organize to prepare infographics and circulate videos in order to get information out quickly.
\nHelicopter watch guide—For tracking the activity of police and government aircraft.
\nAnd finally, an important rule of thumb.
\nIn a post on Truth Social yesterday, Donald Trump declared that he is designating “Antifa” as “a major terrorist organization.” What does that mean? How can we prepare to weather the storm? Everyone should read this guide.
\n\nIt’s always difficult to tell how seriously to take Trump’s performative declarations. He makes wild statements to see what plays to his audience, throwing things against the wall to see what sticks, and then doubles down wherever there is no pushback. But this time around, his administration has stuck very close to the classic fascist playbook, with one supporter going so far as to declare without any irony that the shooting of Charlie Kirk “is the American Reichstag fire.” The obvious next step in that playbook is to expand from targeting immigrants to go after anarchists, leftists, and other opponents of the regime as well.
\n\nYes, Trump has previously declared that he would designate “Antifa” a “terrorist organization,” most famously at the outset of the George Floyd Revolt. But at that time, the rest of the federal government largely acted as a brake on his impulses1—whereas today, the entire executive branch of the federal government is comprised of toadies and sycophants who are incapable of distinguishing their interests from his.
\n\nGranted, there is no law authorizing the president to designate domestic terrorist organizations. But even without new legislation or an executive order, Trump has direct control over the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and other federal agencies. What he says on social media is probably indicative of what he will direct his underlings to do.
\n\nThe fact that “Antifa” is not an organization at all, but rather a nebulous category that could include virtually anyone who disapproves of Trump’s autocratic agenda, is convenient for Trump.2 This means that, regardless of who you are or what you do, you, too, could become a target. That’s why everyone should review the following suggestions, whether or not you think they apply to you. Rather than spreading panic, preparing ourselves in concrete ways will enable us to approach this situation calmly and effectively.
\n\nWhile no “domestic terror organization” designation currently exists—and nor does any obvious mechanism to establish one—far-right prosecutors already have a track record of groundlessly pressing trumped-up terrorism charges as a means of terrorizing activists and supporters of social movements. Trump has explicitly called for the use of racketeering charges to suppress his critics. Far-right Republican senators are already sponsoring a bill that would add rioting to the list of offenses that the Justice Department can use as part of a probe under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations [RICO] Act.
\n\nThere are obvious precedents for how this might go. Two years ago, a wide range of defendants in Atlanta, Georgia were randomly charged under the RICO act as part of the repression of the Stop Cop City movement. The cases have been endlessly delayed—and earlier this month, a judge dismissed most of the charges on a technicality.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/09/18/2.jpg\")
Supporters of the Stop Cop City defendants in Atlanta.
\nUnder Donald Trump, many federal agencies are disorganized and focused chiefly on managing perceptions. This precisely describes the authorities who brought the haphazard RICO charges in Georgia two years ago. If the trajectory of the Stop Cop City RICO case offers any indication of how other RICO persecutions of accused activists might go, the chief threat may not be that the crackdown Trump is calling for will send people to prison, but rather that the charges will discourage and immobilize people, creating the conditions for the Trump administration to eventually supersede this form of repression with something worse.
\n\nIt remains to be seen how seriously the administration will carry out Trump’s threats, and whether they will start by attacking grassroots groups or proceed from the top down, targeting massive liberal institutions and fundraising platforms. In either case, our long-term prospects will depend on whether we can enable large numbers of people to act in solidarity with each other, taking up the kind of grassroots direct action tactics that can be effective regardless of whether the people who control the state wish to listen.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/09/18/3.jpg\")
We all live in Atlanta now.
\nHere are some steps you can take to protect yourself and your community, proceeding from the immediate to the general.
\n\nKeeping your morale up is essential to resistance. Do not surrender in advance. Our adversaries aim to cow us into submission because they know that they cannot subdue us by brute force alone. Remember, managing perceptions is core to the fascist project—they seek to project strength at all times precisely because they are not invincible. Even when things seem grim, keep your hopes up and keep fighting. Defeatism only serves the enemy.
\n\nSeveral recent examples show that a determined movement can beat repression. On January 20, 2017, only a few hours into Trump’s first presidency, hundreds of people were arrested in proximity to his inauguration. They were charged with eight identical felonies apiece—two of which were not even on the books as legitimate charges—and threatened with decades in prison. The defendants could have reacted by taking plea deals or going it alone in the court system. Instead, in an astonishing display of solidarity, nearly two hundred people committed to fighting the charges together—and after a stressful year and a half, they beat every single one of the charges.
\n\nThe Stop Cop City RICO case has foundered thus far for similar reasons. RICO and conspiracy cases often hinge on whether some of the defendants can be frightened into cooperating with the prosecution. If the defendants form a united front and their communities stand resolutely beside them, the chief advantages of the state evaporate. Solidarity is power.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/09/18/4.jpg\")
\nDonald Trump and the institutions he presides over are hierarchical, centralized, formally structured, and profit-driven. They would prefer to fight a symmetrical adversary. By contrast, the movements that challenge them are largely decentralized and horizontal, without formal roles or funding. This is a good thing—not only because it undermines prosecutors’ concocted narratives, but also because it makes it more difficult to figure out who to target in the first place. If they have to focus on the population at large, if resistance could come from any direction, they won’t be able to concentrate their forces.
\n\nThe autocrats are not in a position to repress everyone who opposes fascism. Remember, on June 14, 2025, the day of the No Kings demonstration, well over 5 million people flooded the streets to defy Trump. Safety will not come from hiding from the authorities, permitting them to go after their targets one at a time, but rather from spreading resistance tactics, strategies, and momentum as widely as possible.
\n\nEveryone who is against fascism is an anti-fascist. In seeking to target everyone who opposes fascism, Trump is biting off more than he can chew—provided we don’t roll over and let him win.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/09/18/7.jpg\")
\nReview what to do in the event of a visit from police or federal agents, whether they are simply making inquiries, show up with a subpoena, or execute a no-knock raid. Back up your electronics and store the backups somewhere secure that cannot be easily connected to you. Remove items from your house that should not fall into the wrong hands. Get legal representation in place ahead of time, so you know what lawyers you will work with.
\n\nIf you learn of someone else’s house being raided, show up and take video footage. The more attention is focused on every state assault, the safer everyone will be.
\n\nInstruct your friends in advance as to how they can support you in the event of a raid or arrest, whether that means feeding your cat, providing childcare, or reaching out to your employer or family members. Make your preferences known in advance: for example, if you are arrested, would you prefer to be bailed out immediately, or to wait to see if your bail is reduced? The more precisely you can specify your desires in advance, the better—in a worst-case scenario, you don’t want rival factions of your support committee to be wrangling over what you would prefer without any way of resolving the question.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/09/18/1.jpg\")
Click on the image to download the guide.
\nIf you are the target of repression, talk openly about it. They want to isolate you and make you paranoid. If you’re already on their radar, you gain nothing from trying to hide that they are targeting you. Don’t draw any connections for them that are not already clear for all to see, don’t make yourself unnecessarily easy for them to find, but double down on your public connections. If federal agents visit you or subpoena you, the best way to get the support you need and maintain the trust of your community is to refuse to cooperate, document everything about the encounters, and publicize it so that everyone knows what is going on.
\n\nIf you play a role in a project or community effort, however formal or informal, make sure others know how to do what you do. That goes for you as an individual and for any groups you participate in as a whole. Spread your skills and knowledge far and wide. Copy the key to the bookstore; share the login to the social media account with someone you trust. Help people to found another food distribution or legal aid project like your own. Making it easy for others to replace you can diminish the incentive to target you.
\n\nLikewise, make information about how to counter repression as widely available as possible. Hold regular educational events in your community about security culture and distribute materials about it. Educate people about how to respond if agents pressure them to become informants or subpoena them to a grand jury. The more people know these things, the better, as federal agents sometimes begin by exerting pressure on those they perceive to be on the periphery of social movements.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/09/18/9.jpg\")
Click on the image to download the guide.
\nReach out to others in a similar situation. For example, if you run a radical bookshop or student group, you could create a network of similar projects so that all of you can move into action as soon as one of you is targeted for repression. Brainstorm about what forms of leverage you can employ to maximize the cost of targeting you and to ensure that any assaults on you mobilize people rather than intimidating them.
\n\nPrepare a contact list and a list of responses tailored to different scenarios. Give copies of these documents to comrades you can rely on to support you in the event of repression, so that as soon as something happens, everyone will hear about it and know what to do. For example, “If we are arrested and not immediately released, [group] will hold a press conference the next day, [person] will conduct an online publicity campaign, and [other person] will arrange a fundraising campaign.”
\n\nWhile Donald Trump and his henchmen have sought to bend the legal system to their will and sidestepped it outright wherever that was not possible, this involves some drawbacks, as it diminishes the perceived legitimacy of institutions that they nonetheless rely on. Promisingly, multiple grand juries have refused to indict defendants charged by prosecutors serving Donald Trump. We should popularize the tactic of jury nullification as a means by which ordinary jurors can throw a wrench in the gears of federal repression. Wherever possible, we should erode public faith in the institutions that Trump will use for his crackdowns.
\n\nDespite the false promises of liberal politicians, the wave of momentum towards defunding the police that crested in 2020 secured no major changes in legislation or budgets; the one lasting effect of the movement was that, through grassroots action, the participants succeeded in compelling large numbers of people to quit the police force. Today, exerting continuous low-level pressure against the Trump administration and its lackeys will diminish the number of people who are prepared to serve Trump as traitors to their communities, whether as ICE agents or in some other capacity.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/09/18/8.jpg\")
\nWe need a strategy to compel “opposition” politicians to actually impede the police state rather than simply standing aside. Left to themselves, most politicians will simply cultivate an image rather than helping those who are under attack. But if their image depends on the perception that they are opposed to Trump, that can offer points of leverage via which to impel them to take a stand.
\n\nIdentify every institution, group, and influential individual that you have access to that is not inextricably invested in the rise of fascism. Work out what forms of leverage you can exert on each of them. With some of them, a conversation will suffice; with others, it might require other means. Set concrete goals, such as dissuading jobseekers from working for ICE, getting influential figures to issue solidarity statements, or compelling local politicians to instruct police not to cooperate with federal operations. The police state requires the smooth functioning of the entire apparatus of power; that makes it vulnerable at countless different points.
\n\nThe liberals who helped to create a fracture between Trump and Elon Musk simply by holding signs at Tesla dealerships have demonstrated how to divide the alliance that supports Trump. This should be repeated over and over, especially targeting those who are peripherally involved rather than those who are most deeply committed to his authoritarian project. Peel away the pillars of his support structure one by one.
\n\nThe United States is polarized and divided, regionally as well as locally. If communities, cities, or whole regions can eventually put themselves concretely beyond the reach of federal repression, a model for real resistance will emerge.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/09/18/5.jpg\")
\nIn chess, once you become focused on defensive maneuvers, you have lost the game. To face down Trump’s power grab, we need proactive strategies. Rather than simply reacting over and over, we have to choose the time and place of conflicts; this can be a way to tie up the resources and labor cycles that will otherwise be directed against us.
\n\nTrump’s oligarchal policies are immiserating countless millions all around the world. We need to demonstrate means of addressing the urgent needs that he is creating, in a way that conveys a revolutionary vision of social change. The best defense is a good offense.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/09/18/6.jpg\")
They can’t repress us all.
\nWhen repression succeeds, its most damaging effect is not the immediate impact of the blow, but the fault lines it opens up. Trump’s chief goal is to make us doubt ourselves and resent each other. Resolving misunderstandings and conflicts is a fundamental part of resistance.
\n\nPresent criticisms in good faith, holding open the door for those who are currently your rivals to eventually become allies, provided that they learn to conduct themselves responsibly. Those spreading divisiveness and toxicity are doing the work of the state.
\n\nFor example, Trump’s tweet at the end of May 2020 was followed by a similar announcement from Attorney General William Barr, who had already publicly complained about Trump and was forced to resign only a few months later. Trump’s director of the FBI at that time, Christopher Wray, acknowledged in testimony that “antifa” is an ideology, not an organization. ↩
\nIn Italy, for example, prosecutors have repeatedly treated vague movements such as Autonomia Operaia as if they were formal organizations, and fabricated imagined organizations where none existed, as in the case of the “Insurrectional Anarchist Revolutionary Organization.” ↩
\nHow do police and federal agents identify and target those who participate in demonstrations? What countermeasures can we take to hinder this kind of repression? In this anonymously submitted text, one affinity group explores how they address these questions.
\n\nOnce upon a time, only those who intended to engage in high-risk confrontational protest activity had to concern themselves with surveillance and security. Today, surveillance and policing are becoming much more invasive and arbitrary. Even if you never violate any law, the state may nonetheless seek to make an example of you. Everyone who might participate in a demonstration at some point should familiarize themselves with the security protocols that radicals have developed over the years.
\n\nIf you are new to demonstrating, do not be intimidated by all of these considerations. The more people take the streets, the safer it will be for everyone—and nothing could possibly be more dangerous than remaining isolated and passive, letting the police state come for all of us one by one. This guide simply outlines how to maximize your safety while engaging in protest activity.
\n\nFor more general background in the subject, start by reading about how to form an affinity group in which to participate in demonstrations, how to plan direct action, and how to dress in matching clothing in a demonstration, in what is often referred to as a black bloc. The appendix includes a host of related material.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/08/28/8.jpg\")
\nWhile it is certainly a good idea to don a mask before engaging in protest activity, what clothing you wear is only one of many questions worth considering. You can reduce the risk of being arrested and prosecuted by applying an array of countermeasures—also known as operational security measures, or “opsec.”
\n\nIf, despite your best efforts, you nonetheless find yourself in handcuffs, having thoughtfully applied these countermeasures will minimize the usefulness of any evidence against you. No trace, no case.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/08/28/1.jpg\")
A demonstrator protecting their community from tear gas. Note how their jacket is hiking up, potentially revealing more than they intend. Make sure to pick clothing that will keep you fully covered in any position.
\nWhen our affinity group meets to prepare for an action, we try to give ourselves enough lead time to go over everything. To begin with, what are our goals? Where is the demonstration taking place and what details do we know about the location? Do we have everything we need? Who’s bringing what, and how do we plan to get it there? Will others we know be coming as well? At what point will we want to leave, and how? Does anyone have particular fears or concerns?
\n\nDemonstrations can be inspiring opportunities to act effectively alongside other people. They can also be upsetting and traumatizing. It’s important to discuss any limits to your personal capacities that could be relevant to the rest of your affinity group. For example, does someone have an injury that could limit how much running they can do? Does someone’s choice not to wear glasses during a demonstration inhibit their long-range vision? How familiar are you with the streets in this area of the city? Are certain scenarios likely to trigger feelings of panic due to past experiences?
\n\nThere is nothing to be gained from pretending we have no fears, traumas, or physical limitations. We want to support each other so that we can be as effective as possible together.
\n\nIn discussions ahead of demonstrations, there is a tendency to make generalizations. “It’s always like this.” “It’s clear that the cops will act this way,” “This will definitely work.” It’s best to avoid definitive statements and remain open to what might happen. We try to focus on clarifying our personal goals and making sure that we will have everything we need to act when opportunities present themselves, while trying to imagine what the most likely opportunities will be. It’s a terrible feeling to see a window of opportunity open when you did not prepare adequately because someone said “that’s not going to happen.”
\n\nTry not to overplan. We aim for flexible preparation: we think about what we want to do and prepare to do it while staying open to the unexpected. We’ve found that if we discuss something for hours, it often proves not to be particularly helpful because events turn out differently than we anticipated. We’re not talking about small-group actions in the middle of the night that can be planned out in precise detail, but demonstrations involving a large number of people in which many factors develop dynamically. That said, knowing the lay of the land is important; it can help you to identify interesting routes and to outwit the police. Some demonstrations involve a pre-planned route; in those cases, it can be helpful to walk it beforehand to see where there might be good areas for changing clothes, bringing in material, and exiting. Make note of camera coverage, dead ends, bottlenecks, and opportunities.
\n\nBut don’t underplan, either. Don’t take it for granted that someone else is going to kick things off. If you want something to happen, you may have to be that someone. Likewise, it’s better for a bag of materials to go unused than to lack what you need at a key moment.
\n\nIf we want to bring tools or resources that could attract the wrong kind of attention and there is a risk of bag searches around the meeting point of the demonstration, we will wait to join the demonstration until it starts moving and the police shift their focus from monitoring the perimeter to crowd control. If we don’t know in advance which route the demonstration will take, those who are transporting materials use bicycles to get in and out; this also limits the amount of time they are visible to police flanking or tailing the demonstration. Hiding materials along the route can work, but too often, this has failed us after the demonstration took an unexpected turn; these days, we prioritize other solutions.
\n\nIt’s helpful to think through how police tactics have evolved in your context. Is the local riot squad in good shape? Do they often use the tactic of “kettling” a crowd, blocking all exits to make mass arrests? Do they often target the meeting points of demonstrations in a particular way? What kind of tear gas do they use, and what situations have they used it in? When do they use rubber bullets? What other patterns can you recognize in their behavior?
\n\nYour local police department likely studies demonstrators’ tactics and develops crowd control tactics in response. These will also change depending on available personnel, police resources, and other issues, such as whether political or legal developments have made certain crowd control tactics impracticable. Demonstrations are inherently unpredictable, and it is difficult to anticipate what the police are planning on any given day, let alone what they will do if something surprises them. For this reason, we try to take a broad, historical perspective in our analysis, aiming to think through how the tactics and strategy of repression vary according to context rather than simply asking “What happened last time?” and expecting it to happen again.
\n\nFor a more structured approach to planning, try “threat modeling”—considering the capabilities and motivations of your adversaries, reflecting on how you might be vulnerable to them, and deciding on countermeasures that will reduce those risks while enabling you to achieve your goals. For inspiration, you could take a look at the No Trace Project’s Threat Library and their tutorial, which explores threat modeling in the context of a black bloc.
\n\nTo emphasize this—if you are planning for an action in a single small group, you should probably focus on achieving one or two concrete goals and remain flexible beyond that. If you put together a complex plan based on a series of contingencies that are beyond your control, things may not work out as you anticipated. If your plan does not allow for flexibility, it may be wise to carry out it out and then focus on leaving safely. By doing what you have prepared to do and doing it well, you may be able to create a context in which others can also accomplish their goals.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/08/28/5.jpg\")
A black bloc demonstration in Bandung, May Day 2019. Photograph by Frans Ari Prasetyo.
\nObtaining everything you need to carry out a plan can cost money: gloves, new clothes, materials, travel, and other expenses. We try to share the costs among ourselves in such a way that no one experiences financial stress.
\n\nWe make all purchases in cash, and we make any sensitive purchases in advance, spreading them out between different stores and wearing clothing that preserves our privacy, such as a hat and an N95 mask. For each significant item, we think about how investigators might be able to reconstruct where it was purchased and we remove any relevant serial numbers or RFID tags.
\n\nWe treat any clothing that will be visible while participating in a black bloc as disposable. Some people wear their personal rain jackets and simply tape over the logos, but we consider this insufficient. If we participate in high-risk activity while wearing particular outfits, that will be the last time we wear them. We’re careful to minimize any features of the clothing that could be used to distinguish us from other people in the bloc. Sometimes it is enough to cover a logo with black marker or remove the stitching, but it is better to find items without logos in the first place. We prefer baggy clothing because it helps to conceal the shape of one’s body.
\n\nHere are some guidelines for shopping for a disposable layer, listed from head to toe:
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/08/28/11.jpg\")
How to make a t-shirt into a mask.
\nDepending on how frequently demonstrations are happening, having to obtain clothes for each one separately can take a lot of energy, so we usually buy several of each clothing item and store the extras at the house of a trusted friend. Shoplifting materials offers one way to avoid memorable interactions with the person at the cash register, but if one is suspected of shoplifting, the store may keep the CCTV footage for longer than they would otherwise—and being caught in the act could enable the authorities to connect the dots.
\n\nWhen packing for the demonstration, we apply a “need-to-bring” standard, similar to the “need-to-know” standard we apply when sharing information about our plans beyond our affinity group. If anyone is arrested, whatever they are carrying could be harmful to them or others—a flyer for the demonstration could be used to establish that that the arrestee attended intentionally, the contents of a wallet could provide investigators with a wealth of new information, a day planner could reveal information about relationships. For this reason, beyond clothing and plan-specific materials, we keep it minimal.
\n\nOur standard is to carry a single piece of identification in case of arrest or injury, as well as some water and a few energy bars or similar snacks. If you take a daily prescription medication, you can bring a few doses in a prescription bottle in case of arrest. It is also important to have enough cash for a taxi or public transportation or to blend in at a café or restaurant afterwards. If relevant to the local jail context, you may need to bring coins for making a call in the case of arrest. Beyond that, leave everything else at home. Check your pockets and bags for stray items like flyers, receipts, zines, and notes. Even if you don’t get arrested, anything you bring is one more item that could get lost in the chaos to be picked up later and potentially linked back to you or others.
\n\nHow to make a t-shirt into a mask. You can also use boxer briefs or other ordinary tight-fitting clothing items. In contrast to the model in this video, you should make sure to cover your eyebrows.
\nAfter a demonstration, it’s common for a forensic team to search for items of clothing and tools left near the demonstration route or dispersal point—so it is important to be careful while handling, storing, and transporting materials.
\n\nWe never touch any tools we plan to bring without wearing gloves, to make sure there are no fingerprints on them. It is easier to avoid leaving fingerprints on something in the first place than to rely on removing them with an acetone-soaked cloth, which can be less effective on some types of surfaces. For example, on a metal surface, fingerprints can leave an imprint which must be removed with an abrasive material like sandpaper.
\n\nIn some cases, it may be important to try to keep materials free of our DNA. Skin cells, hair, saliva, blood, and sweat are all sources of DNA—and unlike fingerprints, DNA cannot be reliably removed from an object once it has been contaminated. A good starting point is to put on a fresh pair of non-permeable gloves (i.e., rubber dishwashing gloves rather than cotton or the like) before handling objects, without ever touching the outside of the gloves. The likelihood of DNA forensics being used seems to be directly proportional to how expensive the testing is in a given jurisdiction. Some countries already have forensic labs that enable the collection of DNA evidence even for the investigation of minor crimes, but in the United States, DNA testing is not yet common for evidence collection at demonstrations.
\n\nIf DNA is found on a moveable object, the person it is associated with could have interacted with that object weeks earlier, so it is less convincing that someone was present at the scene compared to if their DNA is found on a stationary object such as a smashed window. It is impossible to avoid leaving DNA traces on clothing that has been worn, so we make sure not to leave clothes behind whenever DNA forensics is a consideration.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/08/28/4.jpg\")
Note how this demonstrator in Chile has pulled socks over their shoes to conceal their footwear while endeavoring to protect their community from this water cannon. Mysteriously, however, they are not wearing gloves, and wearing a sweatshirt with a recognizable design on it.
\nAn essential element of preparation is planning for worst-case scenarios. Repression always hits hardest when you aren’t prepared for it. Finding yourself in police custody with no idea who will be your lawyer, take care of your dog, inform your boss that you will not make it to work, or pay your bail is rough. We prepare collectively for every demonstration as if we might be locked up for at least one night—for example, by having a lawyer on retainer and memorizing their number. This may sound emotionally draining, but we find that it actually empowers us to act more freely. Other ways of preparing could include giving someone a spare house key, arranging for child care or pet care, arranging for someone to pay bail or rent, sharing the logins for an email account or collective social media account, and the like.
\n\nAnother important question to consider is—if police search your home for evidence, will they find any items that could help them build a case? Of course, everyone will have to answer this question contextually, but the important thing to remember is that one never knows when a house raid will occur or what the police might be looking for. Therefore, we should make sure that our homes are always as free as possible of materials that would be interesting to a prosecutor.
\n\nAs a general rule, don’t store anything particularly sensitive at home. It’s not always the single incriminating item that is a problem, such as an article of clothing caught on surveillance footage—we also avoid what we call the sketchy collection. Some examples of things we don’t keep at home are fireworks, slingshots, too many items of the same type of clothing (gloves, masks, black hoodies), and the like.
\n\nSensitive items must be stored somewhere, of course. One option is in the homes of trusted friends who are unlikely to experience a search themselves—though once again, in order to avoid creating a collection of items that look suspicious together, it can help to store different items in different locations, or distribute them between the homes of different friends. Another option is to hide items outdoors in a place no one will stumble upon them, where it is possible to access them without being observed (buried in a forest far from any paths, hidden in the ceiling of an abandoned building).
\n\nAs for the items that we keep at home, we don’t store them on a “demonstration” shelf, we keep them where they belong—for example, a sealed package of gloves with the cleaning supplies. Our lawyer should be able to provide convincing, legitimate reasons for anything in our homes.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/08/28/6.jpg\")
Demonstrators in Chile in 2019.
\nPolice investigators often analyze the phone and computer use of suspects in order to try to build a case against them. The culture of smartphone dependence that has become normalized throughout society over the last decade makes their job much easier. On the other hand, whereas the state could once remotely monitor unencrypted voice calls and text messages, this is no longer the case thanks to the widespread adoption of encrypted messaging apps like Signal. The chief threats have assumed other forms.
\n\nWhen it comes to phone surveillance today, there are three main areas of concern: covertly activating the microphone, location tracking, and data retrieval.
\n\nOf these, covertly activating the microphone often receives the most attention, but it is actually the least likely, as it requires the most resources. The phone must first be infected with some type of malware in order to covertly activate its mic to turn it into a “bug.” Generally, this means that the device must be specifically targeted for infection.
\n\nAs for location tracking, a phone’s connection to cell towers inherently reveals its location to the mobile service provider, and this location data can be accessed retroactively. Just by knowing a phone number, police can quickly map everywhere that phone has ever been and easily display patterns and connections over a given period of time—for example, the preceding year, or the week before the demonstration.
\n\nIf one of us is arrested, even the dumbest cop or prosecutor may think to ask who we were with and where we were in the time leading up to the arrest. The automatic location tracking of cell phones makes this information easily accessible. Anyone who could be targeted for investigation should know that carrying their phone with them as they go about daily life can give investigators a more or less comprehensive understanding of who they organize with, as it is easy for them to analyze which phones are regularly in proximity. It is of particular interest to the police to know who is participating in a meeting—if everyone arrives at a meeting with phones, it is easy to determine who was at the meeting, even if all the phones are turned off beforehand.
\n\nThe only way to defend against location tracking is to avoid habitually carrying your phone around in the first place—to leave your phone at home on a regular basis, not just for sensitive meetings and demonstrations. The more that our communities collectively implement this practice and resist the dominant norm (for example, by making plans in advance rather than relying on constant digital availability), the easier it will be to change our practices on an individual level.
\n\nAs for data retrieval, if the police gain physical access to a phone, we must assume that they will eventually be able to read its contents. Arrests are often accompanied by a warrant to seize all phones and computers, and many police departments have contracts with companies like Cellebrite that develop technology to bypass disk encryption. A leaked document from July 2024 shows that Cellebrite can unlock almost all Android and iOS phones (with the exception of GrapheneOS, a security-focused variant of Android that we recommend). It’s also important to keep in mind that encrypted messaging apps like Signal do not solve this problem. No mobile phone app is capable of “disappearing” messages from a disk in a way that will ensure that a forensics specialist cannot recover them, because truly erasing data requires reformatting the entire drive. To get an idea of what type of phone data the police are interested in, read the testimony of a J20 defendent whose phone was seized.
\n\nIt is inconvenient to be careful with our phones, but it is even more inconvenient to end up behind bars. The extensive possibilities for phone surveillance become less threatening when we treat our phones as untrustworthy and leave them at home whenever possible. As stated in a recent security proposal, “Carrying your phone with you has security implications for everyone you interact with.”
\n\nWhenever you type something into a phone, consider the possibility that it could eventually be read aloud in court. All truly sensitive conversations should take place in person, outdoors, with phones left at home. Phones are useful for exchanging non-sensitive information or scheduling a meeting time, but not for communicating anything that could be interpreted as evidence of criminal conspiracy. If a plan requires remote communication, consider anonymously purchased “burner phones” or walkie-talkies.
\n\nWhenever we are compelled to use digital technology for anything sensitive, we exclusively use the Tails operating system, a Linux variant which runs from a USB stick and leaves no trace on the computer. Take note that the only trustworthy disk-encryption for computers requires using a Linux operating system—it’s not possible to rule out backdoors in Windows and macOS because their source code is not publicly available, and security researchers have repeatedly broken Windows disk encryption.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/08/28/3.jpg\")
Demonstrators in Berkeley, California on February 1, 2017.
\nWhen a black bloc forms, participants usually change into their matching black clothing near the meeting point of the demonstration. Individuals filter into the area in civilian clothing, change into black bloc attire to join the black bloc, then change back into civilian clothes to leave the area afterwards. In order to ensure that no one can make a connection between your “civilian” and “bloc” clothing, it is important that these two outfit changes are not documented or witnessed by police, journalists, or anyone else you wouldn’t trust with your freedom. For the same reason, once you start to change clothes, you should do so immediately and completely, with no intermediate stage mixing together elements of both outfits. You can be seen in either civilian or black bloc clothing, but not in a mixture of the two. Even in your civilian outfit, it’s better if it is still difficult to identify you; again, a generic N95 mask and hat can go a long way without attracting too much attention.
\n\nRather than assembling at a convergence point, black blocs can also form on the move, which can make it more difficult for the police to get footage of people changing. This can be easier within a larger crowd.
\n\nWe change into our bloc clothes in the best place we can find that is out of the sight of cops, surveillance cameras, and filming smartphones. The ideal spot is outside the immediate area that the police are focused on but close enough to the convergence point that you can reach it without being stopped. If there is no better option, we withdraw as deep into the center of the crowd as possible and change while huddled behind banners and umbrellas. Whenever possible, it is better to change beneath awnings, overpasses, or other forms of cover that block the view of drones. In some cases, there will be police specifically tasked with identifying people, and investigators may spend hours afterwards going through all the available footage. It is a good idea to practice changing into and out of the bloc layer ahead of time to make the process quicker and less stressful.
\n\nIf our outfits serve their purpose, police will have a more difficult time distinguishing between individuals, keeping track of who is who, and providing convincing testimony in court. After changing, we quickly check each other to make sure that no hair, eyebrows, or (ideally) skin remain unconcealed, no clothes from the “civilian layer” are visible, and no other details such as scars, piercings, or tattoos are exposed. To carry materials, we generally favor plain black tote bags over backpacks, as the latter are easier to distinguish. Some backpacks can compress well when worn under a hoodie; this can be helpful for carrying gear we don’t need immediately, such as clothing. If we are going to use protective gear (body armor, helmets, gas masks and goggles), it may be a good idea for participants in the black bloc to decide collectively on a specific model in advance—this way, even if the protective gear has some distinguishing features, at least it won’t be possible to distinguish a black bloc participant on that basis alone.
\n\nSometimes, instead of wearing black bloc clothes, a group makes the decision that it is more appropriate to participate in a demonstration as a light bloc. In this case, rather than dressing head-to-toe in black, participants conceal their faces while wearing everyday clothing such as nondescript hoodies or rain gear, choosing dull colors such as gray and brown. The idea is to blend in with other demonstrators, since police can more easily identify and target a clearly distinguishable bloc.
\n\nHowever, if arrests do occur, it can be easier to convict a “light bloc” demonstrator than a demonstrator participating in a black bloc. Wearing “nondescript” clothing does not render the participants indistinguishable, so it will be easier for an undercover cop, informant, or spectator within the demonstration to reliably track someone they witnessed taking a given action, and easier for a prosecutor to establish a convincing continuity between the person who was seen committing an action and the person who was later arrested. Wearing black clothing with no logos that looks virtually identical to what many others are wearing makes it much harder to establish such continuity, whether through testimony or surveillance footage. Black clothing is hard to distinguish from other black clothing, in contrast to colored clothing, which has distinct shades. The color black also absorbs the most light, making it less likely for body characteristics and details like pockets and hemlines to be identifiable in video footage.
\n\nFor these reasons, we generally prefer to wear all black whenever there are enough people participating to make it effective. The logic of wearing all black is fairly self-evident, so the tactic has the potential to spread widely in the streets. For instance, during the protests in Philadelphia after the dismissal of charges against the cop who murdered Eddie Irizarry, one report noted that masked looters and rioters were overwhelmingly wearing black clothes.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/08/28/10.jpg\")
\nGroup decision-making can be difficult when time is short in stressful circumstances. During planning meetings, we aim to discuss proposals extensively and make sure that all the participants have a chance to explain their positions—but that’s not always possible during a demonstration. Consequently, we make sure that everyone is matched with a buddy or two that they stick with throughout the demonstration, so that they can make time-sensitive decisions in smaller, more agile groups.
\n\nIt’s usually impossible to know whether there are undercovers within earshot, so we’re careful not to use anyone’s real name during demonstrations. We choose a temporary (one-time only!) group name to call out when we need to regroup during a chaotic moment or to signal that we all need to touch base. We also create temporary aliases to identify ourselves if it seems necessary, although simply pointing can usually do the trick.
\n\nIt’s important to avoid panic or spreading rumors. We try not to make decisions based on unverified information, but rather on what we can observe directly—for example, paying attention to how police are moving in terms of gear, numbers, and vehicles rather than assuming the worst when things get scary. When sharing information, pass on what you have witnessed (“I saw the front line of police putting on gas masks!”) rather than the inference you are drawing from it (“They’re going to gas us!”), so the people you are addressing can draw their own informed conclusions.
\n\nWhen reporting what you have seen yourself, you can use the SALUTE (Size/strength, Activity, Location and direction, Uniform/description, Time and date of observation, Equipment) or ALERTA (Activity, Location, Equipment, Response requested, Time and date, Appearance) protocols to maximize the usefulness of the information you convey.
\n\nDemonstrations can become very fast-paced, which can make it challenging to communicate with each other in a thoughtful way, sometimes resulting in hurtful or frustrating interactions. This can be quite difficult to navigate in the moment, especially since everyone reacts to stressful situations differently. We usually find it’s best to address these kinds of dynamics later on, during a debrief.
\n\nThere are tools for reducing the negative impact of this stress on our physical and mental health and relationships. Every affinity group can benefit from learning about somatic practices for regulating the nervous system under stress and incorporating these into their street action routine.
\n\nIt is always possible that undercover cops will try to infiltrate combative crowds, especially in larger black blocs in which no one participant will recognize all of the others.1 If they take this risk, their goal will probably be to watch who is engaging in high-risk actions, note what those people are wearing after they change clothes, and follow them after the bloc disperses in order to arrest them with the assistance of other police in the area. Several years ago, in one North American city, demonstrators verbally confronted undercover police, who pulled out extendable batons. At subsequent demonstrations in that city, the undercovers either showed up in such a large group that they were impossible to miss, or—apparently—didn’t show up at all. The police are unionized, and even their high salaries aren’t enough to persuade them to risk injury when they can avoid it, especially given that undercovers can’t carry recognizable police protective gear.
\n\nThe uniformed cops policing the demonstration will often be filming in some capacity, and the quality of this footage can be quite good. Police departments are already using drones to carry out surveillance of demonstrations. Police typically analyze at least some of this footage in real time, while the action is still happening, to facilitate targeted arrests during police charges or in the moments following the dispersal of the demonstration when there is no longer a collective capacity to fight back.
\n\nIf we ever see police pointing at someone, especially commanding officers, we make sure to let that person know. Sometimes, this may be just for intimidation purposes. If this happens to you, changing clothes when they are focused on you may not solve your problems if the police are able to maintain a line of sight. The last thing you want to do is burn your exit outfit when you are already a target. Make sure to get safely out of their view before you change clothes.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/08/28/12.gif\")
\nNot only the police will be filming—surveillance cameras, spectators, and even other demonstrators may also be shooting footage. Many participants in the George Floyd uprising were arrested and convicted solely on the basis of this type of evidence. Filming those engaged in high-risk activity is functionally equivalent to testifying against them in court, regardless of your intentions. We try to foster a demonstration culture where there is zero tolerance for filming (whether livestreamers, journalists, or other demonstrators with smartphones), inspired by how black blocs in Portland have sought to normalize this collective expectation after several court cases hinged on this sort of evidence.
\n\nThe sooner that cameras are removed from the demonstration, the better—ideally, before anything happens that they could document. It’s important to give people who are filming an opportunity to put their devices away when asked. Participants or supporters can distribute flyers during a demonstration that explain why filming is not tolerated. While some livestreamers will stubbornly try to continue putting others’ freedom at risk in hopes of building a social media following, most people simply haven’t given much thought to how filming ultimately helps the police. In any case, when someone continues filming after being told not to, it is perfectly reasonable to assert a boundary. Rather than getting into a distracting scuffle, one option is simply to cover their lenses with spray paint, using a fat cap designed for graffiti, which has long reach.
\n\nUnfortunately, even legal observers who exclusively film police arrests can still make it riskier to resist arrest or to de-arrest arrestees. There are many ways to contribute to impeding police that don’t require creating documentary evidence that could be used against people. Barricades, reinforced banners, shields, umbrellas, extinguishing tear gas, lasers, fireworks, flagpoles, fire extinguishers, smoke screens, caltrops , and paint can all serve to prevent arrests from happening in the first place.
\n\nEven ordinary cloth banners can play a helpful role by blocking photographers. For this reason—not to mention for the sake of making the messages painted on them visible to spectators—participants in a march should not carry banners in the midst of the crowd, but rather should line the front, sides, and back of the march, holding the banners high enough to conceal the bodies of the participants without blocking their view of the streets around them.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/08/28/2.jpg\")
Even well-meaning photographers can pose a threat to demonstrators.
\nPolice will probably be the most powerful threat you have to contend with, but they may not be the most dangerous one. Far-right reactionaries can act more unpredictably and with less restraint. In the United States, at least, this can sometimes involve vehicular attacks or firearms. During the George Floyd Rebellion of 2020, in order to protect crowds against automobiles, it became common practice in some cities to flank demonstrations with cars. This model has obvious drawbacks—it can slow marches and inhibit their mobility, as well as exposing the drivers to legal risk.
\n\nRegarding the threat of shooting attacks, you should know the location of the closest hospital with a trauma center and have a plan regarding how to reach it; read this guide detailing how to respond to gunshot wounds during demonstrations. You can attend demonstrations in bullet-resistant body armor, but often it is best simply to focus on remaining aware of your surroundings and quick on your toes.
\n\nFor now, the likelihood of being endangered by a driver or shot at during a demonstration is not much greater than the likelihood of being endangered by a driver or shot at in any other situation in the United States. The question of how to deal with firearms at demonstrations raises a host of other questions which are beyond the scope of this text.
\n\nAgainst a well-resourced adversary trained for symmetrical conflict, the chief strength of demonstrations lies in mobility. Riot police have to carry a lot of heavy gear; this makes it difficult for them to keep up a jog for very long. Their strategy tends to rely on short sprints to disperse or “herd” a crowd before they have to pause or get into a vehicle, and police vans need the streets clear of barricades in order to keep up with a demonstration.
\n\nKeeping this in mind, if the numbers are on our side when the cops charge, it is often not necessary to run, and in any case it is important not to panic. A demonstration that moves too fast tends to become less compact, and this can make it easier for the police to single out demonstrators for targeted arrests or to split the demonstration.
\n\nAt the same time, there are also moments when it may be crucial for a small number of people to act quickly. For example, when a small number of police attempt to form a line to kettle demonstrators, if enough demonstrators can get on the other side of the line, the officers may choose to withdraw rather than risk being surrounded. In Germany, the slogan “five fingers make a fist” has described a variety of tactics involving small groups penetrating police lines in order to come together in a large group on the other side.
\n\nHistorically speaking, projectiles, fireworks, and barricades can obstruct police from advancing. If you attend a large number of demonstrations, you may end up in a situation in which people are using some of these tactics. Regardless of whether you ever choose to participate in them yourself, it is important that you understand what those people are doing and why.
\n\nIf people begin employing projectiles, it is crucial to emphasize to everyone that they should only throw things from the front of a crowd. When people throw projectiles over the heads of other demonstrators, this can result in serious injuries. The same goes for throwing projectiles at a target that has people in front of it or beside it. However good the aim, objects sometimes bounce off windows and hit those nearby, or send pieces of broken glass flying. Riot police are equipped with expensive taxpayer-funded protective gear, but demonstrators or passersby could be severely injured.
\n\nWe have seen groups collect projectiles beforehand in order to empty bags full of them onto the ground between the crowd and the police at the opening of a confrontation, enabling those who arrived empty-handed to join in.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/08/28/7.jpg\")
\nStones and hammers can both break windows, but each entails different security considerations. Stones can serve a wider array of functions; when no longer needed, if left in an appropriate setting, they will attract less attention from a forensic team than a hammer would. Hammers can be safer to use in a chaotic or crowded situation. They can be used over and over, they are easier to aim, and they are helpful for windows, which are more liable to break when struck in the corners, where the glass is more rigid. If someone breaks a window with a hammer, this will spray tiny particles of glass onto the clothes of anyone nearby, and police have special flashlights to detect these traces, whereas stones can be thrown from a sufficient distance to avoid this issue. Another risk associated with using hammers to break glass is cutting oneself—for example, if the momentum causes the user’s hand to go through the window when it breaks. With a properly weighted construction hammer, a flick of the wrist alone can suffice to generate enough force to break most windows, while holding the arm still and away from shards of glass.
\n\nIncreasingly, banks, corporate chains, and government buildings are outfitted with expensive windows that are difficult to break. The glass may be thicker and laminated with special layers, or it may feel especially bouncy, typical of polycarbonate panels. We don’t know of a simple method for identifying these stronger window types, and we recommend against spreading myths to the effect that some broad category of windows is “unbreakable.” Often, more force is simply needed, or multiple strikes to the same corner. Chunks of an exceptionally dense material such as porcelain may be more effective than stones.
\n\nThe Molotov cocktail has been glorified as a symbol of resistance for several decades. But romanticization can be dangerous, obscuring safer and more efficient means of achieving the same goals. Unlike a bottle of accelerant in its original packaging, a Molotov cocktail is legally classified as an “improvised explosive device,” and this intensifies the sentencing guidelines for possessing or using one. Anyone who is considering making or using one should reflect long and hard on the risks involved, including the possibility of serving significant prison time.
\n\nThe bottom line is that, just as nothing is more dangerous than the imposition of authoritarian “law and order,” there is nothing safer than a city that has spiraled out of control. When the police give up trying to dominate the entire terrain and limit themselves to defending fixed territory,2 many things become possible that are otherwise impossible.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/08/28/9.jpg\")
\nIt is important to recognize when the cops have succeeded in regaining control of the situation. Once most of the crowd has dispersed, it is probably time to withdraw. Whether to go home at this point depends on how likely it is that things will pick up again, or if there is still activity somewhere nearby. However, it is best to avoid “grazing”—when groups of people who have just changed out of their bloc clothing mill about in one place, waiting to see if something exciting will happen, without taking any initiative themselves. This provides the police more opportunities to make arrests, while generally not achieving anything useful.
\n\nWe pay special attention to whether anyone appears to be following us in the minutes after we change out of our bloc layer, so that we can evade them before they have time to coordinate an arrest. We don’t gauge this threat based solely on whether someone looks like a cop—if the police have any sense, they’ll be assigning undercover roles to those who do not look like officers. Rather, we watch to see if any stranger trails us after the demonstration has dispersed. We turn frequently so that anyone in pursuit is forced to make the same illogical series of turns to keep us in sight. If anyone does this, we have to act as though they are an undercover cop or informant. We continue walking calmly until we turn the next corner or otherwise escape their line of sight, then immediately sprint, seeking to break their line of sight repeatedly until we lose them completely. Ideally, we should have escaped by the time they realize that we are evading them. We may keep jogging to exit the area, taking routes that are harder to intercept by bike or car or track via drones—for example, up or down flights of stairs, or through parks, malls, transit stations, pedestrian bridges, and tunnels. We can’t emphasize enough how useful it has been to learn the basic techniques of parkour for things like jumping a fence without rolling an ankle.
\n\nIt’s always a difficult decision whether to dispose of our bloc clothing and materials soon after dispersing or to carry them further away (for example, in a colorful tote bag, shopping bag, or backpack) before disposing of them. We make this decision in the moment, trying to assess the likelihood that our bags could be searched on our way out of the area. Even if the contents of a bag might not be enough to secure a conviction in a trial, catching charges can still mean months or years of stress and inconvenience. We balance this risk against the risk that an evidence collection team could find items in the vicinity of the demonstration and send them to a forensic lab. If you can safely transport clothing and materials out of the area, you should.
\n\nWhen we discard things, we seek to take advantage of locations where the evidence collection team won’t easily find them. We aim to use separate locations for ditching materials (which we’ve done our best to keep clean of forensic traces) and clothing (which will inevitably retain at least some DNA on it) so that they can’t be easily associated even if they are found. If we’re going to ditch materials, we try to find discreet opportunities to do so before the bloc disperses so that anyone arrested after dispersal will only have clothing on them. Even if we ditch materials, we may still decide to carry out clothing.
\n\nWhen carrying things out of the area, a bag search will be less incriminating if the clothing is indistinguishable from that of other participants in the demonstration. Once we are far enough away from the area, we dispose of everything discreetly—for example, in a dumpster or garbage can.
\n\nSometime the following week, we debrief as a group, outdoors and without phones. What worked? What should we avoid in the future? What did we want to do but couldn’t do? What do we still need to figure out? Is there a need for arrestee support? How are people feeling? Should we (securely and anonymously) publish our reflections on the events? What’s next?
\n\nDuring the periods of social peace between flare-ups of widespread social revolt, the forces of repression only have to contend with a relatively small number of adversaries. We take all the countermeasures discussed here because we want to be able to continue taking direct action over the long term, even if significant investigative resources are devoted to repressing the networks we participate in.
\n\nThat said, it’s important to keep in mind that in the United States context, the vast majority of cases against demonstrators in recent years have relied on just a few sources of evidence that are easy to address:
\n\nToo often, discussions about “security” result in people needlessly limiting themselves. Instead, we want to approach this subject in a way that equips us to realize our aspirations and develop a stronger continuity of resistance. While standing up for each other will always involve risk, we can strive not to make it any easier for them.
\n\nIf we make good fashion decisions, people shouldn’t be able to recognize us easily even if they know us, at least not without hearing our voices. ↩
\nThis occurred to some extent in Washington, DC on the afternoon of Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017, and later that year in Hamburg during the G20 protests, but most spectacularly in 2020 during the first days of the George Floyd Rebellion. ↩
\nThis guide explores how to construct reinforced banners that can function as a mobile shield wall during demonstrations.
\n\nTo be clear, we do not encourage anyone to engage in illegal activity with banners or shields. We only offer these designs to satisfy the curiosity of historians.
\n\nIn our city, anarchists have spent several months improving a design for reinforced banners. We use these banners to protect ourselves from police violence. Often, in large actions in which dozens of people arrive with a plan, these banners play a role in both offensive and defensive activities.
\n\nInitially, we used a wooden frame for our banners. This involved light but solid pieces of wood, metal handles for a firm grip, and a tarp across a wooden frame. The frame was solid and a team of three could carry it. However, even though the wood was light and we made several experiments with different kinds of lighter and lighter wood, the design was still too heavy. In addition, a comrade from another country observed that the banner attracted too much attention going in and out of actions. Where he came from, you could fold banners. Another issue was that it was not especially difficult for a kick or police baton to pierce the tarp that covered the frame.
\n\nOur new design, which we have tested with satisfactory results, has four core advantages: it is 1) light 2) cheap 3) foldable 4) dense.
\n\nWe prepared this guide after comrades from many different cities responded enthusiastically to our new design.
\n\nYou can use shields and reinforced banners to accomplish many different things:
\n\nCompared to reinforced banners, shields have the benefits of being lighter and easier to make; they allow whoever is holding them more agility and spontaneity. When you have a shield, you can easily ditch it, run around, and make your own decisions. In a context in which agility is needed, shields may be best.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/06/16/7.jpg\")
A shield wall in Myanmar.
\nWhat reinforced banners bring to the table is their size and their physical and organizational power. Because these banners are held by several people, they are harder to tear away, offering more protection. A police officer cannot simply tackle a person on the other side of a reinforced banner. For the same reasons, it is harder for opponents to withstand pushes from these tools. Reinforced banners can stop not just one but several officers from entering a crowd. In this way, they can enable a crowd to assert a balance of power with the police, establishing distinct areas of control.
\n\nIn our city, we have seen more than a dozen comrades pushing forward a single reinforced banner as a dozen cops push against the other side,1 in a contest of strength as the police tried to attack the crowd while paint, rocks, and fireworks rained upon them from behind the banner. Organizationally, seeing several people holding a banner seems to encourage crowd unity around them, creating a focal point for defense and action. This has the benefit of impeding police from using intimidation to break up a group, especially when they simply do not have the numbers to do so by other means.
\n\nIn the end, the choice between shields and reinforced banners depends on whether you aim to employ a symmetrical or asymmetrical approach to conflict. Is your goal to engage in a direct contest of strength in order to gain or maintain terrain, or is it more important to prioritize agility and ability to separate from a crowd as needed? How long do you need to be able to sustain frontal clashes after losing the element of surprise? Reinforced banners can offer more protection from many police actions, but defending a fixed position can quickly open up other vulnerabilities. The answer to these questions likely depends on the nature and location of the action. If it is a general riot, the shield may be better, but if it is a focused offensive or an effort to defend a large crowd, a reinforced banner may be better.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/06/16/3.jpg\")
Diagram I.
\nIn Diagram I., you can see another group’s design for a shield that uses some cardboard for cushioning, cut up pieces of a trash can, and rope, hose, or bike tube. We are a little confused over the function of the second layer of plastic (the trash can lid), and would recommend using the cardboard as the cushion that your arm rests on—otherwise, a strong impact such as a baton could break the plastic, severely injuring your hand. Plastic is generally not a forgiving surface for you to be directly touching during any kind of impact.
\n\nSimilarly, it is probably advisable to make sure that any sharp edges are covered with duct tape in case you fall on your shield or hit yourself with it. In our city, we made some shields with a trash bin part and wrapped them thickly in duct tape so that the cardboard stuck on firmly, and made handles using duct tape as well. Basically, shields are easy to make with items you can find lying around.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/06/16/10.jpg\")
Improvised shields in a demonstration against US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement assaults in June 2025.
\n\n\n\nDifferent shield designs are better for different situations. Like umbrellas and leaf blowers, shields can do things in large numbers that they cannot do alone. If you want to form a shield wall, ideally your shield should be big enough to cover your body. But the bigger your shield is, the heavier, bulkier, and more difficult to transport it will be. Smaller shields can be lighter and easier to sneak into a protest area. Many people have been carrying smaller shields with them while playing other roles besides maintaining the shield wall. Having even just a little bit of protection has saved people from serious injury and provided the confidence to hold territory they might not otherwise have been able to.
\n\nA common Portland shield design involves cutting a plastic barrel vertically into three or four curved rectangles, leaving the circles from the top and bottom of the barrel for making smaller shields.
\n\nTo form a shield wall, it is best to be able to line up shields so that they overlap slightly, as even slight breaks in the wall can present a vulnerability. Consequently, plywood may be preferable to barrels for that particular application.
\n\n \n
July 2020, day 58 of Oakland participating in the George Floyd Uprising: a shield wall at an event expressing solidarity with those in Portland resisting federal attacks. Footage by Sarah Belle Lin.
\nImportant: The visual in Diagram II. shows just two segments of reinforced banner, though we recommend reinforced banners with three segments, as they provide more coverage. Each segment is held by one person; as you can see in Diagram II., each has two handles, one for the left hand and one for the right. Each piece is connected by zip ties all along their connecting edges so that they can fold in on each other. We recommend making banners with three pieces so that they can be held by three people.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/06/16/2.jpg\")
Diagram II.
\nFingerprints: We recommend that you use gloves while interacting with the materials that you use to make the banner and while handling the banner itself. It’s not illegal to make a reinforced banner, but nonetheless, for a variety of reasons, you might not want to be connected with one.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/06/16/4.jpg\")
Diagram III.
\nThe following legend elucidates the seven elements of Diagram III.
\n\n1.) Metal: We get our metal frame by cutting out a piece of temporary construction fencing. You can use bolt cutters. The kind of metal you want is firm and light—not flimsy or bendy like chain-link fencing. The size you want to cut out is roughly 3.5 feet in height by 2.5 feet in length. In measuring, our aim to make sure that when crouching low, we can cover our bodies with the metal, and when standing up straight, we can duck our heads behind the metal while still covering some of our legs.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/06/16/8.jpg\")
This is the kind of metal fencing you want.
\n2.) Corrugated Plastic: We use a sturdy but shock-absorbent corrugated plastic, the sort that is often used in yard signs. Sturdy cardboard could fulfill the same purpose. In any case, you want this to be larger, in length and height, than the metal part. This will protect you from hitting yourself with the metal once you connect the cardboard behind the metal.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/06/16/9.jpg\")
Corrugated plastic.
\n3.) Zip Ties: Use zip ties to connect the corrugated plastic or cardboard to the metal. Make sure the second layer is completely firm against the metal.
\n\n4.) Handles: As depicted in Diagram IV., the handles require three components: 1) sponges 2) zip ties 3) duct tape. The sponges should be fat and shock resistant. Your hand should rest comfortably on the sponges, shielded from impact. Cut a hole through the plastic or cardboard layer so that the sponge can be zip-tied all the way through to the metal. Create another hole in the cardboard above and below the sponge so that you can lace duct tape through the metal. Lace the duct tape many times over until it forms a durable handle. Make sure your hand fits in between the duct tape handle and the sponge.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/06/16/5.jpg\")
Diagram IV.
\nMake two handles: one higher, another directly beneath the other, both centered horizontally. You should now be able to lift the banner.
\n\n5.) Cover the Edges: Cover the edges of the metal with several layers of duct tape so that it is softer, in case the banner strikes you or someone else.
\n\nRepeat the above steps three times so as to create three segments for your banner.
\n\n6.) Zip Ties to Connect the Segments: Connect the three segments to each other by adding zip ties along their adjoining edges. So, for instance, in the graphic showing a two-person banner, the left and right pieces are connected by zip ties running through the middle. These will function as hinges, enabling you to fold the banner.
\n\n7.) Painted Tarp: Attach a long tarp across the front of all three pieces, wrapping the edges around onto the back of the banner and zip-tying them tightly into place. The tarp is the banner component of the reinforced banner. Paint something on the tarp such as a slogan or sign. If you use spray paint to make your job easier, consider using stencils for better results.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/06/16/6.jpg\")
Diagram V.
\nForm a crew that will carry the banner. Because they will be taking up positions at the front line of any conflict, they should be equipped with helmets, goggles, masks, and gloves. They should discuss their goals and plans in advance, including their specific shared commitments to each other and their backup plans for various scenarios.
\n\nIt’s important to develop a shorthand to communicate and make decisions rapidly, so as to be able to move swiftly when necessary. Go over this ahead of the action.
\n\nOrganize a support team for those carrying the banner. These people can be equipped with a variety of tools to defend the banner carriers, including umbrellas. We have seen crowds use laser pointers, projectiles, paint-filled fire extinguishers, and other tools from behind banners.
\n\nThe greatest points of vulnerability are at the edges of the banner. You can address this by flanking the banner with a crowd bearing shields and umbrellas, or perhaps by keeping a wall to one side of you. Be careful not to risk being surrounded—the chief source of security for those carrying the banner is the crowd controlling the area behind them, which can back them up or pull them to safety if need be. If they can get close enough, police may also try to grab the top or bottom of the banner in order to pull it down or up. Stay mobile and make sure that they are discouraged from doing so.
\n\nYou could coordinate discreetly in advance with other crews you trust so that they know that you are bringing a reinforced banner. Discuss how your plans might interact with theirs.
\n\nYou should identify your goals in advance and discuss when and where to deploy the banner. It may be necessary to smuggle it into the area where the action will take place folded up—for example, disguised as a pile of protest signs—in order to maintain the element of surprise.
\n\nPolice will not necessarily let you enter a potential conflict zone with a reinforced banner if they can identify it in advance. In especially challenging conditions, you could bring it into the area ahead of time and leave it somewhere relatively safe (for example, hidden on an inactive construction site), or wait for a march to get started and then join it with the banner while police are scrambling to keep up with events. This banner design is light enough that it could be delivered by bicycle.
\n\nOther strategic questions include figuring out which area of the action to position the banner in, especially if you intend to employ it for both distraction and defense.
\n\nDo not hesitate to abandon the banner if necessary. We usually drop ours once an action is over and it is time to disperse. The banner is a tool, not property to retain. The banner is not a person. Protect people over banners. It is ideal if police cannot recover your banner in order to learn its construction and perform forensic tests on it, but it’s not worth risking arrest or identification for that purpose.
\n\nPeople elsewhere in the world have experimented with rolling floats built on metal shopping carts or other devices, which can serve as mobile barricades or even as rams.
\n\nWe don’t see reinforced banners as a substitute for building stationary barricades, which can provide equivalent protection to a larger group of people in a given location.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/06/16/1.jpg\")
\nWe have seen shields deployed in uprisings in Chile and Hong Kong in 2019, and in cities like Portland during the George Floyd rebellion of 2020, and have witnessed reinforced banners in struggles such as the fight to defend Weelaunee Forest in Atlanta.
\n\nRight now, unrest is deepening. Here are some words of encouragement for uprisings.
\n\nRevolt: A revolt is comprised of combative direct action against the forces of authority. If this kind of street activity is an option for you, focus on it. In our city, we have sometimes been caught up focusing on writing projects, social media, and big meetings during moments of unrest when we could have been making immediate plans for street action or targeting infrastructure. Uprisings are the time to put everything aside. These are the moments we have been waiting our whole lives for. Let’s plan actions that aren’t ritualized resistance, that show just how far we can take things and how seriously we take this moment.
\nAffinity: Focus on working with the small group of people you already deeply trust. These should be people you are aligned with, with whom you share ideas, values, and a comparable degree of risk tolerance. Meet to form plans and to prepare so that you can arrive confident and coordinated, especially at events that are likely to become unpredictable. At the minimum, this could look like a quick meeting in the morning, preparing tools together midday, and going to a protest at night. Stick together and look out for each other. Do what it takes to protect your comrades. Show them how much you care about them during, before, and after.
\nSelf-Organization: To become real revolutions, revolts require anarchist ideas and social organization. Make a clear list of short-term priorities to make the best of these fleeting moments of insurrection. Do not become overambitious. If you have time outside of street activity, pick a project and do a good job of it. This could mean creating shields or other tools, engaging in social media work, distributing flyers, organizing small-group invitational actions away from big crowds, or planning actions in larger groups and coalitions. You could call for neighborhood assemblies through word of mouth, flyers, or social media in order to create an opportunity to discuss ideas and strategies. It is necessary to cultivate opportunities for people to meet, spaces where our perspectives can be shared, readings can be spread, and we can build confidence that we can arrange our whole lives via self-organization without need of governments, hierarchy, or capitalism.
\nAnd, for extra credit:
\n\nFor an example of this, see the cover of the first issue of Rolling Thunder. ↩
\nThis May Day, gather in defiance of tyranny and oppression. Gather to create communities based in solidarity and mutual aid. Gather with everyone who wants a better life. Gather to honor those who fought before us. Gather to show that another world is possible.
\n\nAs May Day 2025 approaches, we face an increasingly grim situation. Donald Trump and his lackeys are restructuring the state, redirecting even more resources towards repression and filling their pockets along the way. They are already deporting students on the basis of their political views and they have made it clear that they intend to escalate to deporting US citizens as well. All the while, the ecological damage, climate disasters, wars, and genocides that were already in progress are only intensifying.
\n\nWhile some are laying low, hoping that the tide will turn, that is a terrible mistake. How far this nightmare can go will be determined by what people do now to build movements of resistance. The more time passes, the firmer Trump’s grip on the institutions will be, and the better positioned he will be to expand and intensify repression. Even if Trump’s ill-thought-out policies alone suffice to turn the majority of the population against him, that will not answer the question of how to push him out of power—he has already shown that he will not leave office willingly. It also will not ensure that what comes after will be any better. Remember, we ended up in this situation because of the catastrophic reign of the Biden administration.
\n\nThere’s no way around it: we have to build powerful grassroots movements through which to defend each other and popularize a radical analysis of what we are up against.
\n\nMay Day offers a perfect occasion for this. For nearly a century and a half, anarchists and other revolutionaries have observed it as a day of celebration and resistance. Tapping into this longstanding tradition offers many reference points for what we can do right now.
\n\nWherever you are, you can do something for May Day. Better yet, organize a week of events, including education, mutual aid, arts and entertainment, and a march or demonstration.
\n\nWe’ve prepared a poster design to support you in organizing and promoting events in your community.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/04/04/08/4.gif\")
Click on the image to download the poster.
\nMost of the suggestions that follow here are things you can do with two dozen people. Organizing doesn’t have to involve massive numbers to be worthwhile. Even in movements that do involve massive numbers, the best way to ensure that they will be resilient and effective is to make sure that people are in the habit of talking, making decisions, and taking action in small groups so as to maximize the agency of the participants.
\n\nIn Washington, DC, an ad-hoc group is calling for an occupation of the National Mall:
\n\n\n\n\nOur strategy is to establish a 24/7, legal, non-violent demonstration on the National Mall, calling on Congress to take the only logical step in this crisis: impeach and remove Donald Trump.
\n
You can follow their announcements here.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/04/04/08/2.jpg\")
\nElsewhere around the country from Seattle and Eugene to Minneapolis, Bloomington, and Providence, longstanding groups are planning events. People in Aberdeen, Washington are planning a whole day of activities the preceding weekend just to get things started.
\n\nBut don’t leave everything to them. If anything really exciting is going to happen, it’s up to you.
\n\nSpring is in the air; it’s a good time to make new connections. Even if you are already organizing in a tight-knit community of anarchists, this is a chance to reach out to people you don’t know yet. Invite them to events! Talk to them about their concerns! Propose ideas for what you could do together!
\n\nEven if you are completely isolated and cannot organize events with other humans, you can order stickers from Municipal Adhesives—and, sure, from us as well—and bring the bus stops and electrical boxes of your neighborhood to life. Pocket a paint marker and add “ICE” to every stop sign in your county. Cut a stencil design into the bottom of a thick paper shopping bag and walk around your neighborhood with a can of spray paint in the bag, leaving a little trail of messages everywhere you go. If you are not a gifted artist, Municipal Adhesives mails out stencils, too. Download and print posters, make wheatpaste or obtain wallpaper paste, and go out putting postering. You could do all of these things even if you are the only sentient life form within a hundred miles.
\n\nOn the other hand, if you are not the only sentient life form within a hundred miles, you could also print or order some zines and set up a literature table at a punk show, a campus, a farmer’s market, or, failing all else, at that bus stop where you put up your first sticker.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/04/04/08/1.jpg\")
\nFor May Day, you could organize a reading group around a text engaging with the history of May Day. You could host a presentation on anarchism, or on the history of resistance in your local community. You could call for a discussion connecting one of those themes to the various attacks that the Trump administration is currently carrying out, with an eye to strategizing a response.
\n\nYou could also announce a gathering in a public location at which people read aloud the final statements of the Haymarket martyrs—the ones whose sacrifice for the labor movement gave rise to May Day as we know it today. Likewise, you could read one of the speeches of lifelong anarchist organizer Lucy Parsons, whose husband was among the murdered.
\n\nAs the Trump administration smashes and loots the infrastructure of state-sponsored education, it is important to be building up our own educational models in their place.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/04/04/08/3.jpg\")
\nYou could call for an assembly bringing together different people affected by or working on an issue such as ICE deportations or environmental damage, at which to coordinate resistance.
\n\nEven if the administration has not targeted your local community yet, you should do this now, in order to be prepared. For example, you could come up with a plan and get all the resources in place to respond as soon as they take a given action.
\n\nThe May Day parade is a time-honored tradition, especially in places like Minneapolis. If there is already something like that happening near you, great—all you have to do is organize a contingent for it. But if there is not a May Day parade in your area, that is also great—it means that you can organize one according to your own preferences.
\n\nDon’t neglect to prepare banners, giant puppets, or other artistic elements. In 2017, anarchists in Portland made giant spiders for their May Day parade.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2017/05/03/header.jpg\")
The spiders of mutual aid, solidarity, and direct action: May Day in Portland, 2017.
\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2017/05/03/10.jpg\")
How to make spiders of your own!
\nFor later in the evening—or over the weekend—you could book a benefit show featuring local bands. For extra credit, you could host a show in a subversive location, such as under an overpass or in an abandoned warehouse.
\n\nEnd the night with a dance party!
\n\nFor the occasion, you could host a Really Really Free Market, a potluck, or a work day at a community garden or social center.
\n\nAll of this will be of little use if we can’t also go on the attack. Limiting ourselves to attempting to manage the details of our survival in a non-hierarchical way while the state inflicts brutal violence on more and more people means accepting defeat in advance. We should respond to their offensives, but it is crucial that we pick the time and place of our own.
\n\nThus far, the one solid example of this is the Tesla protests, which have opened up a new front of conflict, distracting the attention of Elon Musk and Donald Trump and laying bare their vulnerabilities. But there are many other ways to take the fight to our oppressors—recall the ICE occupations of 2018.
\n\nIdentify a target and call for a protest or some other form of action there. If there is no obvious target available, you could still organize a public demonstration for the purposes of getting people used to moving together and engaging in collective expression, however symbolic. A smaller group of people preserving the element of surprise could also take action, sending up a signal flare to let others know that they are not alone in their rage.
\n\nRemember, at any demonstration that could be subject to repression, leave your phone at home and dress to preserve your anonymity.
\n\nYou can find more resources about taking action here.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/images/weare/weare2_b.jpg\")
\n Massive liberal organizations are promoting protests around the country here. The following events have a more grassroots character; the majority of them are organized by anarchists or involve anarchist contingents.
\n\nYou can consult a list of May Day events around Brazil here and fully forty-four events around Germany here.
\n\nA complete guide to assembling and employing lockboxes and other means of blockading.
\n\nThere is a broad spectrum of tactics to choose from between simply holding up a protest sign and setting things on fire. If you are looking to intensify a pressure campaign or to stand your ground more effectively when challenged, consider the following options.
\n\nFrom the vantage point of 2025, more than two decades after the original version of this guide was published in the book Recipes for Disaster, civil disobedience has become somewhat more dangerous as far-right politicians have put more laws on the books and police and other fascists have become less concerned with preserving human life. Civil disobedience presumes that your adversary is constrained from inflicting permanent harm upon you. In some cases, if you are prepared to get arrested, you may be able to accomplish a great deal more by remaining mobile and risk-tolerant rather than engaging in an activity that is scripted to end in arrest.
\n\nNonetheless, there are still many regions and contexts in which the following information will be applicable.
\n\nThere are many reasons to blockade: to call attention to or prevent an injustice, to support other direct actions by securing a space or creating a distraction, to decrease traffic fatalities.
\n\nThere are many sites that can be blockaded: highways, factory and shopping mall gates, business districts, the front doors of restaurants that are to host corporate dinners or party delegates. Intrepid blockaders can lock themselves to the equipment that is to destroy a forest, or lock authorities out of a building that has been occupied in a political action.
\n\nOne of the most common implements for blockading is the lockbox.
\n\nWhen it comes to blockading, lockboxes can be very useful, assuming that you are not facing adversaries who are willing to do serious harm to you and that you are willing to be arrested.
\n\nThe design described here has been used in many cities, including some in which the police are experts at handling protests—and all the same, it can take police hours to move blockaders who use these devices from a busy street. This is one of the simplest designs; there are many other possibilities. You can make lockboxes with 90-degree angles in them that accommodate both arms of one individual, so one person can comfortably lock down to a gate, a truck axle, or even a railroad track. For serious engagements, you can make big concrete barrels with lockboxes fitted inside them, or dig a hole in the ground and build a vertical one-way lockbox into it with concrete and rebar, or drive a junker car into place, disable it, and lock down to it.
\n\nLockdowns can be used to stop movement into and out of an area, providing a spectacle perfect for attracting media or other attention. They can stall traffic to allow support teams to hold an awareness-raising rally, and distribute leaflets to or otherwise engage drivers stuck in traffic. After blockaders are removed from the area, police generally block the area for another hour or more themselves, lengthening the impact of the action. Lockdowns can appeal to the public by showing that people are dedicated enough to put their bodies on the line; they are descended from a long heritage of non-violent civil disobedience that many civilians find less threatening than other brands of direct action.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/04/03/8.jpg\")
A June 2018 demonstration against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office on Second Avenue in Seattle. Impeding the actions of heartless mercenaries determined to rend apart communities is a moral duty if there is any such thing.
\nA lockbox is a piece of pipe by which a person can be locked securely to another person or object. The average lockbox accommodates two people; with several lockboxes and people, you can form a human chain.
\n\nLockboxes utilize the width of your torso and arm span to take up space. To lock down, you attach yourself to a mechanism inside a piece of pipe; in order for a police officer to unlock you, he would have to get his arm into the pipe as well, but as the pipe fits snugly around your arm, this is impossible. Should police attempt to pull you apart, the strain will be on the metal chain and bolt, not your shoulder joints, assuming your box is built correctly. If you use a carabineer to connect to a bolt within the pipe, you will be able to detach from the box immediately whenever you choose. With lockboxes, a group of people can swiftly move into a space, block it, and defy the efforts of police officers who would remove them.
\n\nThe first step is to scout the area you want to blockade.
\n\nThere are a wide variety of environments in which you might choose to apply lockboxes, but for the purposes of this introduction, we’ll assume that you will be operating in an urban environment. You could blockade the entrance to an event or business, or an entrance to a tunnel, highway, or access ramp. The first step is to figure out where the traffic—whether it be car, foot, or other—can best be bottlenecked. Often, if you block one street successfully, you can snarl traffic in a large area. Look for streets that lead to main roadways, and watch the traffic patterns. If you are planning to block a road, listen to traffic reports; determine which roads gridlock easily and which roads feed major transportation routes. Note all the details of your target, including the length of traffic lights, which lanes are open at certain times, and which directions the majority of cars turn.
\n\nOnce you have found the location that best serves your purposes, you’ll need to determine how many people it will take to block it. If you have a well-chosen target, but you do not have enough people, traffic will still be able to pass, and you will simply be a nuisance, not a blockade; if you cannot create a “complete circuit” with your human chain, connecting it at either end to immovable points, it may be easy to move you out of the way even if the lockboxes that connect the participants are secure. To measure distances quickly without drawing too much attention to yourself, you can count your steps heel-to-toe across an area, or run string or yarn across it. You’ll also need to take into account the sizes of the lockboxes you are making and the people locking down. If a street is 20 feet wide and your lockboxes are 3 feet long, you’ll probably need five or six people.
\n\nPlan your formation carefully. If you are locking down in a line, the two people on the ends can be locked to stationary objects—with bicycle U-locks around their necks, for example, or by a less secure means such as chain locks. If you use bicycle locks or any other locks that require keys, have an accomplice on hand to spirit the key away quickly, or be prepared to hide it where it cannot be recovered. For a less durable blockade, you could leave the ends of your formation open and sit or lie down. Alternatively, you could close the formation at both ends, locking down in a circle, or form two lines crossing each other in an X.
\n\nWhen planning, take into account the strain of being locked in place for a long period. If the lockboxes are not supported by something, those locked together will quickly be worn out by holding them up. There are also the matters of food and blood circulation to consider.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/04/03/9.jpg\")
On April 2, 2025, a Jewish-led group of Columbia University students chained themselves to the locked campus gates in solidarity with Palestinian students, demanding that the University provide the names of the trustees who reported Mahmoud Khalil to ICE. Chains may suffice, but a lockbox will usually provide more staying power.
\nOnce you have worked out your plan, the next step is to gather materials. These can be expensive, so look around for places you could acquire them for free. PVC pipe can be found at construction sites; chain can be cut from a locked dumpster; tools can be borrowed or stolen. If you do not want to draw attention, you may prefer to buy the supplies at multiple locations. While purchases of bolts, carabineers, and glue will not attract attention, a septum-pierced revolutionary may raise eyebrows if she brings thirty feet of PVC pipe to the counter. Rumor has it that before and during mass mobilizations, store employees are told to look out for such purchases. Use the same care you would for buying spray paint, crowbars, bolt cutters, or glass etching solution.
\n\nDo not use a credit card if you do not wish to create a paper trail.
\n\nSummary:
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/04/03/1.jpg\")
\nConstructing lockboxes can be a fun group activity.
\n\nMake sure the people who are going to use the boxes try them on and modify them according to arm length and other variables. How much of your arm goes inside a lockbox is a matter of preference and tactical strategy, but on average your pipe should be about 4 feet in length. The more of your arm is covered by the PVC pipe, the more of your body is safe from police action. For example, if your bicep is exposed, the police could attempt to use pain compliance there to force you to unlock yourself; if your entire arm is in the pipe, this is impossible.
\n\nEveryone’s arms are unique. If you are locking down, you need to be able to put your arm far enough into the pipe to grab the bolt, so you can easily connect and disconnect your carabineer. If the people who are to use the box can be present during the construction, measure their arms and custom-fit the pipe. If this is not possible, build the box to a length that almost anyone can use—say, between 3 and 4 feet. If you are using PVC pipe, it can easily be cut with a standard hacksaw. For more long-lasting lockdowns, use more durable piping.
\n\nIt’s important that your pipe be the right diameter; you should be comfortable sliding your arm in at least to your bicep. Unless your arm is especially small or large, the pipe should be between 4 and 6 inches in diameter.
\n\nAfter the pipe is cut so that both people who are to use it can put their arms in as far as they want and touch fingers, secure a bolt at the point where their fingers touch. The length of the bolt should be longer than the diameter of the pipe; if you use 5 inch pipe, make sure your bolt is at least 5.5 inches. Stay away from bolts with sharp threads or a sharp point on one end, unless you are prepared to modify them for safety and comfort. Your bolt should be thick and difficult to cut; it will probably be the weakest link in the chain, so you’ll want to make sure it’s as secure as possible.
\n\nDrill a hole all the way through one wall of the pipe and out the other. If you have to drill the top hole first and then flip the pipe to drill the bottom hole, make sure the holes line up! Put the bolt through both holes. It should be slightly off-center in the pipe, so the people locking to it can fit their fingers around it and have space for their knuckles. Now use nuts to secure it in place; these can go inside the pipe, or outside it, or both. You can use powerful glue to strengthen the bolt; better yet, if you have the means, weld it into place.
\n\nYou could include multiple bolts in your design, to make it harder for the police to know where to start. If you have more than one bolt, you can also experiment with attaching yourself to all of them.
\n\nNow you have to build the chain bracelet that secures you to the bolt inside the pipe. Cut a length of chain that can loop around your wrist at one end, and attach at the other end around the bolt in the pipe; it will be in the shape of a P. Experiment with chain length until you have a comfortable fit. Make the clasp that holds the chain around your wrist permanent and durable; use a carabineer to clasp the chain around the bolt, so you are able to unclasp from the lock box in an emergency.
\n\nAttaching the chain to the central bolt with a carabineer is a very secure and safe option, but there are others. For a simpler, though weaker, variation, skip the central bolt entirely and run a length of chain through the tube to attach your wrist to the wrist of your partner. This option might be useful if you have limited time and funding to prepare for the action. A benefit of the central bolt is that when you are pulled, the bolt absorbs some of the force, and gripping it can provide some control; if you are connected to another person by a chain directly, and one of you is pulled or dragged, both of you will bear the brunt of it.
\n\nOnce the device is assembled, the holes drilled, the bolt secured, and the chain attached, make sure it all fits comfortably. Put some padding around the chain at your wrist, and pad the entrance to the tube if need be. If nothing else, wrap the chain in an old sock or two, and sand down the edges of the pipe to prevent it from cutting your arm.
\n\nThe final step is to fortify your creation. Many police departments now understand how lockboxes are constructed and know how to disassemble them. This does not mean locking down is ineffective, since it still takes the police time to react, retrieve the necessary tools, and cut apart each lockbox; but it is worth brainstorming about how to stay ahead of their technology. The police are likely to try to cut the pipe to expose your hand and the carabineer, or attack the box at the bolt. Consider ways to slow this process. You could wrap the lockbox in materials that dull saw blades, for example, or wind layers of duct tape and wire around it, or cover it in viscous tar and sand, or weld rebar armor to it—or do all of these! The more layers of material that require different forms of cutting technology, the better.2
\n\nFor heavy lockboxes that can anchor you in place, you could put a layer of concrete around your pipe, and a layer of plastic or aluminum drain tubing around that.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/04/03/10.jpg\")
A police officer attempting to cut through a lockbox.
\nAfter all of the boxes are constructed, practice locking in and out of them. Do this alone until you have it down, then try it with a partner, locking at once into both sides of a box. Before an action, practice for speed and organization with everyone who will be involved, so things will go smoothly on the big day. To prevent confusion, you can label each end of each lockbox, and plan out which direction each person will face and the order in which people will lock together. It can help to have individuals involved who do not actually lock down on the line; not only can they help get things together quickly at the beginning, they can also provide food and water to the people who cannot move their arms, and help deal with police and others.
\n\nIt can be a challenge to get all the lockboxes to the site of the lockdown. You could hide them nearby in advance, or bear them there in a march, disguised as puppets or banners. If you have access to a car, you can use it to drop off all the lockboxes at the very moment your group suddenly converges at the chosen site. If you are doing a long blockade line, you have access to several cars, and speed is of the essence, pairs of blockaders could lock together in vehicles before driving to the area, then all be dropped off at the site and link up in a matter of seconds.
\n\nA large group of people walking any distance with bulky lockboxes will probably attract the wrong kind of attention, especially if the authorities are on the lookout for civil disobedience, but you could come up with clever ways to camouflage them in a pinch.
\n\nAs in all blockading, if you are blocking a road or highway that is in use, it is crucial to stop traffic first. This can most easily be accomplished by another group working in concert with those who lock down; it is a lot to ask of a small group that they stop traffic, then lock themselves together properly while holding it at bay. Angry drivers can be even more dangerous than police under these circumstances; be careful not to give them the opportunity to do anything stupid.
\n\nThe people who have come with you to play supporting roles can complement your blockade with a rally, street party, or outreach event. If you are blocking a street, there will be drivers to witness street theater or receive pamphlets; if you’re blocking the entrance to an official event, there may be reporters to record you issuing your statement. Either way, there will be curious passersby who deserve to be told more about what’s going on and why, and perhaps to be entertained in the bargain. If your lockdown is going to create a traffic jam, and you are concerned that the action might be misinterpreted as an attack on civilian drivers, consider distributing peace offerings of some kind.
\n\nThose locking down can be dressed in symbolic or expressive garb or draped in a banner explaining the reason for the action. If your human chain is not connected to anything at the ends, you could conceivably move from one point to another while locked together, but this will not be easy or particularly safe. If you are planning on moving at all, you should practice in advance, and perhaps designate coordinators to talk everyone through certain movements or count off marching steps.
\n\nWhether you expect this to be an issue or not, it is wise to prepare a basic communication and decision-making structure in advance, if there are more than a couple of you planning to lock down together.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/04/03/7.jpg\")
\nUltimately, there is no way to predict for sure how the police will react, so there is probably little to be gained spending hours debating it in your group.
\n\nIt is important to have a police liaison present to negotiate with the authorities or at least make sure they understand the situation, and reporters or other witnesses to temper or at least document their behavior. If they start to do something that seems dangerous, calmly inform them that your arm is inside the tube and that you are unable to remove it, and that a team of crack lawyers eagerly awaits the chance to sue them into oblivion. Police will always try to intimidate you; call their bluff while maintaining your composure. They may use pepper spray or similar weapons on you, but this could cost them a lot in the public eye, especially if you bear this persecution courageously.
\n\nIf your line is anchored at each end, they may begin by trying to disengage the people in the anchoring roles. If they can move the entire line out of the way and work on you once you are no longer blocking traffic, they probably will, but this will be difficult if you are seated or supine. If they can’t move you all, they will work lockbox by lockbox, cutting the line into smaller, more moveable sections. The method the police use to cut you out will depend on how experienced they are. No police department wants a lawsuit, so they will probably try not to injure you. If you hide the location of the central bolt, they will have no way of knowing where your hands are inside the tube; this will prevent them from simply cutting the tube in half.
\n\nOften, the police will call in the fire department to use special tools designed for removing people from wreckage.
\n\n\n\n\nLast time I locked down, the police brought special wooden frames to support our PVC pipe lockboxes, then slowly dismantled the boxes with wire cutters, saws, and various other tools.
\n
It is also difficult to predict what your charges will be when you are arrested at the end of your lockdown. In the past, at least, the charge was often “incommoding,” the same charge associated with blocking a street or similar conduit with one’s body. The use of lockboxes is not a separate crime, though the police may make threats or try to tack on additional charges such as “possession of implements of crime” (PIC).
\n\n\n\n\nIn both the lockdowns in which I participated, the police told us that because we used the lockboxes we would be charged with an additional PIC offense, but of course, as police are wont to do, they were lying. PVC pipe, chain, and carabineers are not implements of crime, no matter how you slice it.
\n
In multiple cases in the Stop Cop City movement in Atlanta in 2024, demonstrators who locked down were repeatedly charged with misdemeanor trespassing, but when two activists climbed a crane at a Brasfield & Gorrie construction site and locked themselves in place, a prosecutor charged them with “False Imprisonment,” a felony kidnapping charge. Absurdly, the police claimed that the crane operator—who was on the ground the entire time—was “unable to leave” due to the activists suspended 250 feet above him.
\n\nIn any case, you should have a group ready to provide immediate legal support.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/04/03/6.jpg\")
Barricades and blockades have a storied history in labor struggles in the United States. In this illustration, police officers face off with striking streetcar employees in New York City on March 4, 1886.
\nCommitting to a lockdown is a serious matter. You must be prepared for the ordeal of interacting with infuriated police officers over a protracted period of time, while being unable to move freely. This will be followed by the further ordeal of being arrested and spending time in jail. Embark on a lockdown in a state of inner peace and resolve, properly fed and hydrated, prepared to weather storms of danger and drama—and if you think you might be there for a long time, wear an adult diaper!
\n\nThere are many other ways to create blockades. The most traditional is to build a barricade. An individual who desires to lock herself to something or someone can do so by putting a bicycle U-lock around her neck, though this requires the same support infrastructure that a traditional lockdown does. Extremely experienced and prepared groups can build tripods and suspend individuals from them, taking the civil disobedience of lockdowns to another level. Dirt roads can be blockaded by digging ditches across them; fencing, metal or wood poles, cables supporting such poles, or other materials can be planted in them, too.3 If police become anxious or confused enough, they may block off an area for you.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/04/03/4.jpg\")
A barricade at la ZAD in France.
\nWhen blockading a busy thoroughfare, it is important to slow traffic to a safe speed first. A bicycling group could slow to a stop, becoming a blockade in itself and offering the opportunity for more permanent blockading to take place. Old bicycles, perhaps outfitted with extra metal, could be locked together and abandoned as a blockade at the conclusion of a bicycle ride. It is possible to set off the automatic arms of railroad crossings by using jumper cables to complete the circuit between little trigger wires on the tracks. Individuals dressed as construction workers can put out traffic cones and barrels and wave down cars; for that matter, giving drivers a spectacle of any kind to stare at will slow them down. A banner drop over a busy highway can slow traffic significantly, potentially creating a traffic jam which might itself constitute a blockade of sorts—nothing obstructs cars like more cars!
\n\nSpeaking of cars, you can drive old junker cars into place and disable them; better yet if you managed to buy them with cash from people who won’t remember anything useful about you if the authorities come asking. They can be loaded with barricading material, ready to be deployed wherever they end up; people can even lock down to them.4
\n\nOnce traffic is slowed or stopped, you can stretch cables or fencing across highways and affix it to telephone poles, light posts, or guardrails.
\n\nDon’t forget that quick-drying concrete can effectively seal many gates and other means of access. Mixing nuts and bolts or other material into it can make it more durable.
\n\nFor a humorous effect in a low-risk environment, you could brick up the door of an office or business. Pick a quiet night, so the mortar will have enough time to dry.
\n\nWhen blocking off both ends of a street or bridge, make sure you leave an exit. You don’t want to let traffic in, but you also don’t want to trap civilians—or yourself. Always make sure that you are not blocking access to a hospital or similar establishment.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/04/03/3.jpg\")
Ecuador. A supposedly unstoppable force meets an actually immovable object. “Let your tears freeze to stones we can hurl from catapults.”
\nIn winter 2003, before the second Gulf War began, people were carrying out direct action 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.
\n\nAnarchists and other direct action enthusiasts in Washington, DC were organizing regular actions while trying to prepare a plan to carry out as soon as the bombs 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 town 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.
\n\nWe had organized a lot of direct actions in DC over the preceding few years. The state was usually aware when there’s going to be a lot of protest activity, and the police presence would be really intense. Given this atmosphere, just meeting up for a protest without being shut down from the start could be really difficult. To account for this, we came up with a complicated plan like nothing we’d done before. We would use the city’s public transportation system and the fact that Washington, DC is wedged between two different states to our advantage.
\n\nThe march started in southeast DC, near the US Capitol. But instead of the march taking to the streets of that area, a typical setting for DC protests, the crowd was led down into the subway station. We handed out different colored slips of paper corresponding 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.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/04/03/2.jpg\")
You can disable cars and trucks quickly and easily by using a stick to push a large raw potato into the exhaust pipe and out of sight. This technique can baffle even skilled mechanics. Once the potato is removed the automobile will work again.
\nAfter 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; it serves as the entrance to Georgetown, one of Washington’s wealthiest 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 few short blocks from the offices of the Boeing Corporation, another possible target with obvious connections to the war.
\n\nAs the march headed toward the 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. We hoped that this would enable us to block the bridge effectively from both sides, bringing business as usual to a halt, focusing attention on the war that had begun only hours before. To add to the display of 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 still other groups handed out fliers detailing our reasons for shutting down the bridge and explaining our opposition to the war.
\n\nTwo 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 that 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 police presence on the Virginia side of the bridge, combined with the landscape of the area, made it seem very unlikely that a driver who had to abandon a car there would be able to make a successful getaway.
\n\nThe drivers parked their cars at an angle to take up as many lanes as possible, hopped out, moved to remove the license plates that had enabled them to drive around safely, and ran like hell to get away. Unfortunately, there were hundreds of cops on the DC side of the bridge, some of whom immediately began chasing one of the drivers. They eventually caught up to him, punched him a couple of times, and threw him in the back of a paddy wagon. They also picked up one of the scouts who was doing communications on the bridge, mistaking her for the guy who had been driving the other car. In custody, she heard over the radio that the cops had realized their mistake. They suddenly opened the doors to the police van, saying, “Get out, we don’t want to deal with you right now”—and let both people go!
\n\nThree people were arrested on the Virginia side of the bridge. We had a bail fund and legal support team ready to go to get them out. They were out in a couple of hours, and thanks to the coordination of the National Lawyers Guild and DC’s local direct action legal collective, a local lawyer took the cases for free.
\n\nLet’s back up and talk about how we put this together. This action posed several organizing challenges because we did not know when the war would start. Because of that, we took steps to ensure that we had all the needed action roles sorted out weeks in advance. We even had understudies for some of the roles, in case certain people happened to be unavailable the day we needed to carry out the action.
\n\nIn the planning for the action, we secured two junker cars to help stop traffic from reaching the bridge. The two cars, one of which was a minivan, were also loaded up with big scraps of wood and metal (including a bed frame), chains, and locks that would be used to form barricades that would fill in the areas around the cars. In the vicinity of the site of the action, there were also road signs and other construction-related barricades that could have pulled into the street. The plan was for an affinity group in the march to open up the cars and pull out all the materials to set up the barricades—but it happened that the folks who were going to do this were tied up on the other side of the bridge by a heavy police presence. By the time they got near the cars, the police had blocked them off and made them inaccessible.
\n\nIn addition to getting drivers for the vehicles and people to assist in building the blockades, we secured volunteers for several other key roles. We had a loop of communications people within the bike ride, the march, and on the bridge as scouts, as well as folks on site in advance to check for any early police presence. Cell phones were used to insure the simultaneous arrival of both the march and the Critical Mass ride. We also had a couple of people set to lead the various risk levels of the march: those who couldn’t risk arrest followed one color flag to a support rally across the street, while those who could engage in blocking the street followed another. While our ultimate goal was for no one to be arrested, we wanted to make sure that those for whom arrest was not an option were able to participate as well, and to feel comfortable participating. Action medics and legal observers accompanied the march, and the variety of roles allowed for those who could not engage directly in the blockades to play an equally active and important part.
\n\nThis plan was largely organized in public, so the police presence awaiting us was unavoidable. Only a handful knew the full details of where we would end up, but unfortunately that must have been leaked. Had we done a better job of keeping the target a secret, we might have had more time to get things in place. On the other hand, the bridge we picked is one of the main entrances to the city, so it might have had a large police presence regardless.
\n\nHowever, the bridge was completely shut down for about 30 minutes, and partially shut down and made into a spectacle for hours after that. It was a nasty day, cold and pouring rain. The action didn’t entirely go as planned—the idea was to shut down both ends of the bridge and have a street party against the war in the middle. Instead, the police cleared all of us from the bridge pretty quickly. But it was shut down, our message against the war and business as usual was all over the news, and the action clearly affected the morning commute to work. In addition, we gained useful experience for our future endeavors.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/04/03/5.jpg\")
A barricade in Lebanon.
\nSubsequent to the original publication of this guide in the book Recipes for Disaster, the Swedish d-beat band Auktion took this section title for the title of their hit song of the same name—a dream come true for any anarchist publisher. ↩
\nFor example, barbed wire need not only appear in your life as an obstacle; you can also apply it yourself to obstruct the movements of your foes. ↩
\nYou can heat rocks in a fire and use them to blockade a road or thoroughfare. Use porous rocks, as nonporous rocks will simply explode, and be sure to identify them for everyone’s safety. For the sake of convenience, you could set the fire, rocks within it, at the location to be blockaded, so as not to have to work out how to move them. ↩
\nWhen puncturing tires, aim for the sidewall; if you want to be sure the spare won’t help, you can puncture at least two of them. You can also use a pocket-size valve stem remover to disable tires without puncturing them. ↩
\nThe Trump administration is paving the way for mass deportations by building new prison camps and invoking the Alien Enemies Act, which was used to justify the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Motivated by nativism and white nationalism, Steven Miller and other officials are attempting to ethnically cleanse the United States, while tech and prison companies profit on lucrative government contracts and corporations continue to exploit immigrant labor. Knowing that mass deportations will inflict devastating costs, Trump has chiefly been concentrating his efforts in cities like Chicago and Denver that are governed by his political adversaries.
\n\nNonetheless, people are getting organized. Communities across the US are mobilizing rapid response networks that can respond to raids and support those targeted by state violence. Students across the US are staging walkouts; people are holding mass demonstrations and fighting back against deportations.
\n\nIf we fail to stand in solidarity with those targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today, the same infrastructure of repression will eventually be turned against others, as well. An injury to one is an injury to all!
\n\nDo your part to melt the ICE.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/zines/8-things-you-can-do-to-stop-ice/8-things-you-can-do-to-stop-ice_front.jpg\")
Click on the image to download the PDF. Please print these out and distribute them in your community!
\nLearn your rights in interactions with ICE and law enforcement. Trump officials have complained that people knowing their rights makes it “very difficult” to carry out raids. Asserting our rights can disrupt their plans, delay their efforts, and shift the power dynamics in encounters with law enforcement. Distribute “Know Your Rights” cards and fliers in your community. Organize teams to get them into schools and workplaces. Host a training at your local community center, church, or union hall. Publicizing this information is an chance to get people together to strategize about how to accomplish the other tasks on this list.
\n\nDisinformation spreads quickly when people are afraid. Set up hotlines, Signal loops, and social media accounts that can vet information, verify reports of ICE activity, and circulate reliable updates. If your area already has a hotline, volunteer to help keep it running. Don’t amplify rumors; when you see them spreading, debunk them. Reports about ICE activity should include the exact time, date, and location of the sighting, the number of agents, and a visual description of their uniforms, vehicles, and badges—or better still, photographic evidence.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/02/11/2.jpg\")
For more information, continue reading here.
\nOrganize a rapid response network to mobilize against ICE raids by recording their activity, providing support to the targeted, and organizing an immediate response. Documenting ICE activity has proven useful for understanding how they behave; it has also helped people in court. Wherever possible, block or slow their actions. In the past, crowds mobilized by rapid response networks have blockaded ICE deportation vans and protested outside ICE facilities.
\n\nYou can read about some rapid response networks here and here.
\n\nICE raids disrupt lives and break families apart. Many people are afraid to attend school or go to work for fear of being kidnapped by ICE. Organize mutual aid programs to provide support to those in hiding and to families whose breadwinners have been abducted. Start a free grocery program. Deliver meals. Connect with existing support networks and organizations to expand their efforts. Support bail funds to get arrestees out of the system as soon as possible.
\n\nOrdinary interactions with police are one of the chief risks to those targeted by ICE. A single false criminal charge could ruin a person’s life, even if it would never hold up in court. Encourage neighbors and coworkers not to call the police. Organize neighborhood networks, conflict resolution projects, and other ways to address community needs without involving the criminal “justice” industry. Debunk false narratives about rising crime rates—these are just excuses to increase the scope of repression and the profits of those who invest in it. Explain what everyone has to gain by standing in solidarity with those who are on the receiving end of criminalization. Publicly shame police officers and other mercenaries who sell their capacity to inflict harm to the highest bidder.
\n\nStand in solidarity with those locked inside ICE facilities. Support their efforts to organize. Prisoners in many ICE facilities organize hunger strikes and labor stoppages demanding better food, better conditions, access to healthcare, and legal representation. Organize to prevent the construction of new ICE facilities. Mobilize against contractors that work with ICE or supply technology to ICE. Connect the struggle against ICE to other organizing within and against prisons.
\n\nThese tactics will be most effective if you pursue them in community with those who are immediately at risk. For example, if you maintain a platform sharing verified sightings of ICE in your community, this will do little good unless it reaches those who need that information most. Strengthen the ties between those who are targeted by ICE and the rest of your community.
\n\nBuild a culture of resistance in your neighborhood, school, or workplace. Make the walls of your community speak with stickers and posters. Encourage non-cooperation with ICE. Strategize with others in your community about how to support those facing repression and take the offensive against those who are scapegoating the undocumented.
\n\nEvery time ICE wants to attack your community, they should know that their activity will be recorded and reported, that people will converge on them wherever they show up, that there will be consequences for their actions. Every operation should cost them more resources than the last. If all of us do what we can, the accumulation of our efforts will save lives and preserve communities.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2025/02/11/1.jpg\")
\nYou have constitutional rights!
\n\nI do not wish to speak with you, answer your questions, or sign or hand you any documents based on my 5th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution. I do not give you permission to enter my home based on my 4th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution unless you have a warrant to enter, signed by a judge or magistrate with my name on it that you slide under the door. I do not give you permission to search any of my belongings based on my 4th Amendment rights. I choose to exercise my constitutional rights.
\n\nICE agents often carry administrative rather than judicial warrants. They would like you to think that these are the same, but they are not. If the agent does not have a judicial warrant with all the correct information for the specific person they are looking to detain, they do not have authority to enter private areas without consent, including private areas at a workplace. Talk with your coworkers so that everyone understands which areas are public and private; put up signs and keep doors closed. Create a policy on how to respond if ICE comes to your place of work. You can learn more about how to deal with workplace raids here.
\n\n" }, { "id": "https://crimethinc.com/2024/11/26/insurgent-survival-reflections-on-the-fight-against-sweeps-targeting-the-homeless-in-austin-texas", "url": "https://crimethinc.com/2024/11/26/insurgent-survival-reflections-on-the-fight-against-sweeps-targeting-the-homeless-in-austin-texas", "title": "Insurgent Survival : Reflections on the Fight Against Sweeps Targeting the Homeless in Austin, Texas", "summary": "Stop the Sweeps set out to defend homeless camps in Austin, Texas against forced removals. We explore the history of the movement and what it can teach us.", "image": "https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/header.jpg", "banner_image": "https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/header.jpg", "date_published": "2024-11-26T11:02:30Z", "date_modified": "2024-11-27T22:22:36Z", "tags": [ "mutual aid", "solidarity", "homelessness", "texas", "disaster" ], "content_html": "In 2019, militants in Austin, Texas started an organization with the aim of defending homeless camps against sweeps—forced removals disguised as “cleanups” carried out by cops and work crews. This organization, Stop the Sweeps, intervened in a cycle of struggles that included the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the George Floyd uprising, and the winter storm of 2021 while attempting to consolidate a pole for confrontational activity and strategic thinking. Here, we explore the history of this movement in detail, seeking to distill lessons about autonomous organization that can aid revolutionaries in future struggles against dispossession.
\n\nIn June 2019, Austin City Council passed a reform legalizing “camping,” taking away the tool of misdemeanor ticketing from the Austin Police Department, which had used it for two decades to push homeless encampments into the deep woods and routinely dispossess the residents. The NGO left promoted this as a dramatic advance in the civil rights of houseless people, while NextDoor reactionaries decried it as a sign of the debasement of the once great city of Austin. In the news and on Twitter, Texas’s Republican Governor Greg Abbott exchanged barbs with Democratic Austin Mayor Steve Adler, each taking one of these sides.
\n\nThe following November, friends and comrades formed Stop the Sweeps Austin (STS), a political intervention intended to undermine both of those positions. The core aim of STS was to show that both the progressive city and the reactionary state used similar techniques, rationales, and low-wage contractors guarded by police to systematically dispossess the poorest and most marginalized people in Austin—and that in doing so, they were continuing policies of displacement that had begun more than a century earlier with colonization and the policing of enslaved and formerly enslaved populations. Confronting the sweeps was both materially and discursively strategic. The idea was to cut away at the foundation of the post-decriminalization strategy for displacement, heightening antagonism towards both of the political factions that depended upon it.
\n\nTo do this, Stop the Sweeps Austin rallied sympathizers to intervene against weekly encampment sweeps by city and state forces while building parallel networks of mutual aid and political support. STS drew on existing solidarity networks descended from decades-running projects, informed by the living memory of the social movements of the homeless in the 1980s. We also benefitted from historical research and movement elder storytelling to extend our understanding of local history to the founding of Austin.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/13.jpg\")
The sweeps are intended to destroy what little stability and sense of home the houseless are able to establish.
\nWe now recognize that we were a part of a national movement against sweeps that peaked early in the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing on the momentum of the George Floyd Uprising. Autonomous groups in California, including the Sacramento Homeless Union and Where Do We Go in Berkeley, had been organizing against sweeps through 2019. In an early phase of STS organizing, we were roped into coalition building and national legal work by the Western Regional Advocacy Project; yet these projects did not offer meaningful coordination between groups to advance an autonomous vision grounded in direct action. There were efforts in Los Angeles to build out anti-sweep programs that seemed similar to ours from afar, though they started from a stronger orientation towards social democratic city politics. Fiercer resistance in Minneapolis built to flashpoints in 2020 including the occupation of an empty hotel and militant encampment defense. The circulation of the insurrectionary framework “You Sweep, We Strike” saw attacks on contractors and city infrastructure in Seattle, Santa Cruz, and Minneapolis. It was difficult to connect with these projects to learn from them directly, but easy to boost each other’s content from afar.
\n\nFive years after the founding of Stop the Sweeps Austin and two years after its quiet dissolution, we are writing this piece in hopes of refining the lessons of this recent high point of movement activity. We will begin by painting a picture of the moment in 2019 when Stop the Sweeps emerged, then situate that moment in a longer history of colonization, development, and homeless resistance. Having done so, we will distill the strategic frameworks that guided our organizing, then follow the trajectory of the movement to the limits it encountered. In each section, we will present our hypotheses and the lessons we learned along the way, illustrated via specific practical experiences.
\n\nWe offer these as reflections both for the local movement—to remind it of its history, its victories and defeats—and for revolutionaries everywhere seeking to think through crucial questions about autonomous organization. Today, we are preparing to confront a new phase of camp repression in the wake of the Supreme Court’s “Grants Pass” decision, which green-lights criminalization and displacement in California and elsewhere.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/33.jpg\")
A sign on a tent in downtown Austin.
\nBefore 2019, most encampments lasted about three months before police evicted them—a cycle of temporary inhabitation and dispersal. This constant motion is essential to the cycle of development, as it opens up land and keeps bodies moving through the various infrastructures built to profit on them—shelters, social services, housing, prisons, hotels, and stores, all of which increasingly resemble each other.
\n\nThough “camping” was formally legalized in June 2019, enforcement had actually ceased during the winter of 2018-2019. Citing a paucity of funds due to the consequences of the catastrophic Hurricane Harvey in southeast Texas, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) paused its contracts providing camp removal, attempting to hand them off to the City of Austin. The city government did not immediately pick up the contracts at the same pace. At the same time, informal directives were given to APD to slow the pace at which they inflicted tickets for camping, fearing court rulings enforcing an expansion of the Martin v. Boise circuit court ruling, which had slowed camping ban enforcement on the West Coast. This occurred alongside a soft strike by organized Austin Police officers who had significantly slowed their response times to minor crimes, aiming thereby to press their demands for more power.
\n\nThe repeal of the camping ban created a political opening, enabling the camps to survive indefinitely on public land. Tent cities blossomed in January and February, mainly under state-owned freeways, and grew more elaborate. Shanty towns and shelters made from wooden pallets, political signs, and tarps as well as more modest tents and cardboard populated the city north to south and east to west, dotting the parks and the underpasses of major highways and appearing beside libraries and around the social services buildings downtown. This offered new forms of collective stability and security for the unhoused: the camps served as points of connection, stable locations at which to receive social services, and places for those new to life on the streets to get oriented and find support. They represented a strategy for mutual safety against harassment by reactionaries and police, providing a sense of collective life and care.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/36.jpg\")
An encampment below the I-35 overpass in the heart of downtown Austin.
\nThis occupation of space shocked liberals and conservatives alike, many of whom saw it as a display of public disorder or an embodiment of the ever-intensifying crisis in affordable housing. In Stop the Sweeps, for our part, we saw the expansion of the camps as a sign of the self-organizing capacity of the homeless and a demonstration of the power of land occupation—indeed, a signal of disorder for those invested in the property system. STS sought to build connections centering this sense of self-organization to build a defense network against the waves of displacement that were the cause and consequence of life in the camps.
\n\nAt that time, the displacement of the housed poor had continued unabated across Austin for decades, in keeping with national trends and local plans to develop and gentrify first West Austin and then East Austin, which was historically home to Black and brown Austinites following a century of segregation. Recent statistics show that most homeless Austinites were displaced from the zip codes that they currently reside in, often in areas suffering intense gentrification. While most recent literature on rising rents in Austin focuses on the spike following the pandemic, money had been pouring into Austin neighborhoods long before that, aided by historically low interest rates intended to flip houses and entire blocks into money makers. Projects that had been paused since the previous real estate bubble burst in 2008 were resumed during the 2010s with towers and “luxury” apartment blocks mushrooming from the mycelial networks of capital and property that had accumulated and expanded during the “bust” period.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/39.jpg\")
\nIn the late 2010s, the local Maoist movement (now mostly disbanded and critiqued as a cult by former members) waged a years-long struggle against a development slated along East Riverside, an effort to reinvent a low-income area as a luxury new-urbanist hotspot: the Domain on Riverside. The developers ultimately succeeded in evicting low-income renters from multiple high-density apartment complexes, which consequently remained boarded up for years just a short walk away from one of the largest encampments on that avenue.
\n\nThese Maoists represented a political pole in 2019 Austin, offering a mixture of public and secretive activity that prioritized direct action and confrontation with a diffuse array of enemies that they saw as aligned with the interests of capital. On the one hand, this meant that developers were confronted in public meetings and at their homes, and on the other, that former allies were castigated online and in person after political breaks. The Maoists also confronted other minor political figures, including DSA-oriented candidates, and disrupted their meetings. At the time, the Maoists had developed a reputation for being arrested, both at marches and in their homes, and facing elevated charges. Their former leader, Jared Roark, who went by the name Dallas, was arrested in his home for weapons possession after a tragicomic confrontation with an expelled former member of the Maoist’s armed unit.
\n\nThe DSA and an array of activist non-profits oriented towards electoral and council-level reforms represented another pole of activity. While less active in the streets, this alliance fused respectable political activity—rallies, press conferences, and testimony at City Council—with flirtations with abolitionist frameworks. The Homes Not Handcuffs coalition emerged out of this scene; they won the 2019 camping ban rollback, spawned the autonomous mutual aid organization Street Forum, and recomposed briefly to defend the camping ban at the polls in 2021. Their organizing relied heavily on personal relationships with City Council “progressive” heavyweight and current Texas Representative Greg Casar and on a progressive political machine comprised of organizations like Grassroots Leadership and Workers Defense Project, which had won reforms at similar scales through the City Council in the 2010s.
\n\nSTS oriented ourselves by drawing from political traditions and organizations that overlapped with these but were distinct from them. Many of the initial organizers were drawn from the local anarchist milieu, which had been working to draw links between different tendencies and organizations. One was the Peaceful Streets Project, which had emerged from right libertarian circles amidst the Occupy Wall Street cycle at the end of 2011, but had split left in the course of a decade of anti-police struggle. PSP served as the local Copwatch, filming police interactions and developing an aggressive interventionist style in which they named and shamed local cops, occasionally becoming personally known to the police themselves.
\n\nAnother influence were members of the Autonomous Student Network, who had cut their teeth organizing at the University of Texas and had gone on to participate in the Peaceful Streets Project and the Occupy ICE movement that established an occupation outside a detention center in San Antonio; they also helped to start Street Forum. These organizers brought an experimental streak to organizing, with a willingness to take risks and say what only anarchists can say.
\n\nContributing historical memory and serving an organic link to Austin’s homeless movement were members of The Challenger Street Newspaper, also born in 2011 out of the ashes of The Advocate, a long-running more traditionally NGO-style paper. From its beginnings, The Challenger was smaller and scrappier than the Advocate, with more will to participate politically in social movements. The Challenger published monthly issues with articles written mainly by homeless people in Austin, focusing on life on the streets of Austin, political commentary, poetry, and art. The Challenger had resuscitated the memory of Homer the Homeless Goose, the mascot of the Street People’s Advisory Council—a direct action organization of homeless Austinites in the 1980s who led occupations of vacant buildings and, famously, the downtown lake.
\n\nAlong with contributions from other early members involved in anti-prison struggles and the Libertarian Socialist Caucus of the DSA (which was focused on mutual aid), these organizations helped build the political framework that STS used as we attempted to build an alternative pole, intervening in the fight to defend the camps. This enabled us to synthesize tactics and strategic insights from a variety of experiences. Coupled with insatiable demands and a hostile attitude to the state, that equipped us to punch above our weight.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/27.jpg\")
The shelters were full.
\nNow that we have set the stage in 2019, let’s back up to explore the history of homelessness in Austin and the movements combating it.
\n\nThe City of Austin was established as a military maneuver intended to project burgeoning Anglophone power westward after Texan independence from Mexico in 1836. Settlers established a semicircle of forts to the west to defend the new capital from raiding Comanches and other Indigenous people. Austin’s famed Barton Springs are part of a chain of springs in Central Texas that had been in continuous use by Indigenous peoples for over 10,000 years; they appear in some Texas rock art. Military campaigns and raiding and surveying parties sought to drive Indigenous peoples from their lands throughout Texas. The city’s first camping ban excluded Indigenous peoples from camping inside city limits.
\n\nSlavery was an integral part of the economy of early Austin, with up to a third of its earliest recorded population comprised of enslaved Black people. White people who enslaved twenty people or more were known as “planters” and held special status. As a consequence of the boom-and-bust cycles of for-profit agriculture, planters often enslaved more people than they could put to work on the plantations that ringed the city. Consequently, many enslaved people worked and lived in the city instead of on plantations. They provided various urban services, remitting a percentage of their income to their enslavers.
\n\nSome elements of the ruling classes sought to target these Black people who were enslaved but living somewhat independently. They formed Vigilance Committees of private citizens to maintain white power in the districts where these people lived. Later, they demanded the establishment of a municipal police force so that the public would have to pay for the policing of Black people. This was one of the origins of what became the APD.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/34.jpg\")
A continuing history of white supremacist violence: troopers playing a role in the sweeps targeting the houseless.
\nAnother famously followed the Civil War some years later. With slavery abolished and the fighting over, freedmen and former Confederate soldiers arrived in the city alongside other poor whites. Black freedmen established communities—sometimes permitted on private land, but often squatting near creeks and in other undesirable or far-flung areas of town. To discipline these surplus populations, the city government proposed a police force. The Black Codes forced Black people who did not find employment to labor in conditions resembling slavery. Black work crews assembled that way played a major role in constructing Austin’s State Capitol.
\n\nAlongside the police, a series of city plans served to structure the racial order of the city. Following the official decree of segregation in 1928, slums comprising over ten percent of the town’s area were evicted. People who were renting or who did not have clear title to the land where they resided were displaced en masse through these “Slum Clearance Plans” and federally funded Urban Renewal programs, and the land was often turned over to state use (including the sites of the University of Texas, the state government, and the hospitals between Congress and the I-35 Freeway). These displacements served to impose a line between a Black and brown East Austin and a white West Austin. This segregationist project shaped the messy post-emancipation reality of scattered Freedmen’s towns and Mexican enclaves over the following 80 years.
\n\nAccording to Gus Bova, in the 1970s and 1980s, subsidized housing fell out of favor alongside a generalized crisis in manufacturing work. Across the country, people were being thrown out of industrial work while cheap housing was disappearing, and Austin was no exception. The local booms and busts in the housing construction market, which employed low-wage labor, contributed to this. Federal policy also began to support housing as a collateralized asset, both for big banks and consumers, seeing a hot real estate market as a sign of a healthy economy that bolsters consumer spending and debt. Periodically, this policy gets ahead of itself, spawning crises like the one in 2008—but even at the best of times, it inexorably raises housing costs for everyone while concentrating property in the hands of fewer and fewer landlords.
\n\nThe city’s “Innovation Team” traces the beginning of NGO work intended to benefit the homeless to 1966, citing a charity’s pamphlet offering services to “transients” and “non-residents.” Bova and the “Innovation Team” both point to 1985 as a watershed year in which the city set up the first of many task forces to fight homelessness. Bova concludes that by 1985, the accumulation of crises in employment and housing had produced considerable homelessness in Austin.
\n\nNot long after, the Street People’s Advisory Council (SPAC) formed, bringing together rebels from the Task Force with politicized homeless people. Drawing lessons from actions against the Vietnam War, these activists purchased a goose which they publicly threatened to kill and eat, after first considering a swan donated to the city by a member of the local elite. After the goose drew the attention of an outrage-hungry press, they pardoned the goose and named him Homer. Homer and his human compatriots went on to lead occupation marches on abandoned buildings and the flotilla occupation of Town Lake.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/22.jpg\")
Activist Molly Ivins, who camped out in protest of Austin’s 1996 Camping Ban, meets Homer the Homeless Goose.
\nThe SPAC and Homer captured headlines, hearts, and minds for several years, helping to generate an activist milieu that included the Mad Housers (a collective of builders that constructed mobile shelters and the flotilla rafts that were used to occupy the lake) and the Blackland CDC (a neighborhood organization which co-organized the occupation of vacant houses being demolished by the University of Texas in east Austin). They operated as a part of nationwide movements, joining organizations like the National Homeless Union, the Houston Homeless Union, and others in coordinated campaigns, including one dedicated to takeovers of vacant housing.
\n\nThey won some reforms, including increased shelter funding, the dedication of vacant housing to serve as transitional housing, and a decades-long detente on UT development of the Eastside; but the SPAC campaign was ultimately repressed. The APD consistently hounded the organizers; allegedly, so did other homeless people, and “animal rights” activists concerned for the well-being of the adventurous Homer. City officials played a role in repressing the flotilla protest, changing a “night-fishing” ordinance that allowed the legal occupation of the lake to create new restrictions that made it possible to seize the boats. Nonetheless, the story of Homer and the SPAC and their direct action served as inspiration for activists from the Challenger Street Newspaper to launch several efforts of their own throughout the 2010s.
\n\nThe next major cycle of struggle emerged in response to Austin’s camping ban in the mid-1990s. Research by Gus Bova locates the impetus for the camping ban in activism by the Downtown Austin Alliance (DAA), a consortium of downtown business and land owners. According to Bova, the DAA was incorporated as a Business Improvement District, a quasi-governmental organization to which businesses pay special taxes to fund private security and political activity. Their first move was to organize “Downtown Rangers” who biked around downtown harassing homeless people and acting as the DAA’s private arm of the Austin Police Department, which supervised them.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/2.jpg\")
Austinites protest the camping ban proposal at City Hall in 1996.
\nThe DAA also began to organize for a camping ban, picking up model legislation from the American Association for Rights and Responsibilities—which shared white nationalist co-founder John Tanton with the anti-immigrant group Federation for American Immigration Reform. Though the ban passed easily in 1996, its passage led to a brief wave of campouts by housed people in protest. A year later, the city council was preparing to repeal it, as it had only served to shuffle people from place to place in the city and deeper into the woods. Amid pressure from the DAA, the council led by then Mayor Kirk Watson “compromised,” keeping the ban but establishing homeless services in downtown Austin. This led to the establishment of the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH), which served as an anchor for similar services in the area. It also illustrates the connection between homeless services and policies that police and harm their clientele.
\n\nIn addition to the camping ban, city police and administrators used their powers to harass homeless people and encampment communities. One example is captured vividly in the 1995 documentary Bouldin Creek Greenbelt Family, filmed by camp residents themselves as well as housed cable access volunteers. The film chronicles the daily life and communal practices of the camp, including a scene in which the residents grill burgers for more than a dozen people for dinner time. This pastoral peace is disrupted by cops on horseback who bark orders at the residents to vacate before sending heavy machinery to destroy their property and territory. The family is scattered about town with whatever possessions they can carry.
\n\nThe Bouldin Greenbelt Family.
\nThese practices of harassment and disruption met an opponent in the late 1990s in Leslie Cochran, a gender-defying homeless resident who, encountering repression upon moving to town, became a one-man army agitating against the police. Leslie’s crusade—which included city council appearances, elaborately painted signs protesting his treatment by APD, and a run for mayor—put him front and center in the popular imagination of Austin in the late 1990s and early 2000s. His legacy is complicated. His nonlinear, playful relationship with gender made him the butt of jokes about trans people and a celebrated spectacle of the Austin Weird. Many people forget that around his much gawked-at thong, his ass was often painted “Kiss this, APD.”
\n\nAlongside Leslie and the camping ban campout, other homeless organizing lacked the thread of direct action and independence that had characterized the SPAC. One such campaign was House the Homeless, established by legal aid worker Richard Troxell. Troxell took credit for creating the concept of the police Winnebago in Philly, and for the one-hour health exemption to the no-sit no-lie ordinance that followed the DAA’s campaign for the camping ban. Troxell, to his credit, acknowledged the roles of both the wage system and the police in creating and perpetuating homelessness, but followed these ideas into increasingly wonkish policy proposals. Also on the scene was the Austin Advocate, which successfully organized the first street newspaper with homeless vendors, including Leslie, staged prominently around Austin. While the Advocate relied heavily on these vendors, the vendors had little role in the writing or publishing process.
\n\nA split in the last months of the Advocate led Val Romness, a longtime producer of homeless media involved in the Austin Cable Access scene that released “Bouldin Creek Greenbelt Family,” to establish the Challenger in early 2011 with Advocate vendor Fred Pettit after the Advocate had ceased meaningful production. The Challenger began operations without nonprofit status or funding, operating more horizontally, though helmed consistently by Romness. This openness, along with creative participation by local anarchists, led to increased ties between the paper and radical milieus, with early collaborations with Monkeywrench Books, Austin Anarchist Study Group members, Treasure City Thrift, and remnants of the then-dissipating Rhizome Collective. In late 2011, these relationships helped to foster the Challenger’s intervention in the local iteration of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement.
\n\nWhen the revolutionary wave that took shape in Tunisia and spread to Tahrir Square in Egypt reached Austin in the form of the Occupy Wall Street movement, the results were mixed. The first General Assemblies were announced by a distinctly Austin mixture of white yogis and libertarians, who hoped for a non-confrontational interpretation of “Occupy.” In contrast to the tent encampments popping up in other cities, they proposed a 24-hour protest at Austin City Hall with sleeping quarters in an electric taxi warehouse several miles away. The ad-hoc leaders cited the camping ban as the main reason they chose this tack, not wanting to break the law and burn bridges with the police, whom they regarded as part of the “99%.”
\n\nChallenger Newspaper members saw themselves as a part of this eclectic upswell of the downwardly mobile and called for an alternative encampment called Tent City across the river from City Hall to bring attention to their own issues, including the 1%-driven camping ban. Organizers attempted to rally support from Occupy Austin (OA) participants for a sunset confrontation with police, but APD moved in early, dispersing the camp before it could gather steam. Tent City organizers and anarchists relocated the tents to City Hall and set them up, confronting several more conservative members of OA. Tent City and the Challenger made a bold claim for autonomous action early on with the support of an OWS founder, the late, great David Graeber, who was in town visiting his girlfriend and happened to save a toddler occupant from an overzealous opponent of the tents.
\n\nThrough shrewd maneuvering and the opposition of a roused crowd, the ones with the tents won a standoff with APD, establishing precedent for a more robust occupation and the participation of the homeless movement. As the occupation wore on, more and more of those in the occupation at City Hall were homeless, sleeping at the site overnight, though usually on the limestone stairs rather than setting up more tents. This led to tensions within the Occupy Austin movement, as some participants grumbled that their movement had been “coopted” by the poor. Against this tendency, and alongside organizing by participants of color, a more radical streak emerged, making space for a diverse array of voices and actions. The “anniversary” event in 2012 was led by Challenger/Tent City-oriented occupiers. The Challenger had moved its weekly meetings to the occupation and was organizing within it through the Ending Homelessness Working Group (EHWG). On the first birthday of Occupy Austin, the EHWG, the OA General Assembly, and the Challenger called for a march on the City-owned vacant Home Depot building with the intention of occupying it, taking inspiration from OWS and Occupy Oakland.
\n\nThe march on the Home Depot was unsuccessful, but led to several other attempts to occupy other vacant lots around Austin. Homeless occupiers established a camp, also called Tent City, in South Austin, which focused mostly on recreating daily camp life rather than advancing political conflict. Though it was intended as an experiment, the camp hosted a small group of members mostly focused on avoiding the cops, not unlike other camps. It gradually disbanded after several evictions, without the sort of flashpoint of camp defense that might have re-politicized it. Its fizzling led to questions about what sort of organizational capacity successful camp defense would require, questions later consciously taken up by Stop the Sweeps Austin.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/35.jpg\")
Tents line the trail along the Colorado River on the south edge of downtown Austin.
\nFrom 2019-2022, the camps that surrounded and besieged the Capitol practiced an ungoverned and unregulated form of life that violated the order of capital. Recognizing the camps as forms of insurgent self-organization on the part of the dispossessed, we sought to defend them and expand their potential in the face of attacks from a wide array of political forces. This runs counter to the logic of specialization and legibility that typically characterizes activist campaigns, which often aim to represent the dispossessed as a distinct constituency (“the homeless”) through demands and negotiation on the terrain of policy, recruiting to an organization to negotiate on their behalf, and cultivating a specialized minority of “directly-impacted” activists. Instead, we emphasized the defense, generalization, and expansion of forms of insurgent self-organization that are illegible to politicians, social service providers, and activists alike. Where much of the NGO left saw a lack of organization, demands, interests, and representatives, we saw an abundance of potential in the camps themselves.
\n\nWe did not romanticize camps as the revolutionary communes-to-come. Different camps had different cultures and different levels of cohesion. In some camps, people took lots of responsibility for each other, checking in to ensure others were fed, warm, and healthy, with those taking responsibility for assisting others and mediating conflicts forming an organic leadership. In other cases, big personalities declared themselves leaders, with mixed reactions from other residents ranging from dismissiveness to outright hostility. Some camps’ internal dynamics were defined by competition and hostility, with fights and thefts common as people merely tolerated living alongside each other. People would often move between camps as a consequence of conflicts with other residents or as a means to seek different conditions in regards to drug use, fights, noise, pests, or other issues. Recognizing the camps as self-organized phenomena means taking all these contradictory realities into account while still affirming the self-activity at their core as a response to a shared condition of dispossession.
\n\nWhatever the internal dynamics of each camp, their occupation of public space constituted an attack on the logic of property and capitalist development. Land belonging to the city or state government was taken over by forms of organization beyond their control and put to unauthorized and unregulated uses. While privately held property was never directly taken over, the public presence of the dispossessed rendered class conflict explicit and impeded development. The proliferation of camps in close proximity to sites of commerce or luxury apartments made these places less appealing to the comparatively wealthy, who complained about the numerous signs of the dispossessed living their lives in public—including accumulated survival supplies, the buildup of waste from humans living without infrastructure, and public expressions of mental and emotional crisis and other things that those with houses have the luxury of doing in private. A public homeless population coming into contact with students, tourists, consumers, and investors threatened to make Austin an unattractive location for new festivals, conferences, companies, and residents.
\n\nThe proliferation of camps from 2019 to 2022 was an impediment to development and gentrification in Austin, alongside and overlapping with system-wide shocks including the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic downturn, and the George Floyd Rebellion. While the camps are sources of power that impact the political and economic terrain around them, they are not properly political: they do not make demands, they are not legible forms of organization or constituents that can be represented. In recent years, others have used the term ante-political to refer to forces that precede or exceed the traditional sphere of politics. This framework helps us understand the power of the camps and the nature of the political attack on them.
\n\nThe attack on the camps and on the unhoused in general was carried out according to two distinct logics of governance. One is outright exterminationist, its aim being to socially cleanse undesirable populations by dispersing the camps and driving people out of town or into jail cells. The other is managerial, the aim being to regulate the homeless and precarious through services and facilities administered by the state, social service providers, or private and non-profit landlords. The former attacks the camps for simply existing; the latter aims to subjugate their ungoverned activity to managed and profitable social services. Both attack them for violating capitalist order. The same institutions can make use of both logics, like when Governor Greg Abbott opened a Texas Department of Transportation parking lot—now known as Camp Esperanza—as a “shelter” to regulate the homeless and legitimize his sweeps, or when the city government used sweeps to enforce the newly reinstated camping ban in 2022.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/7.jpg\")
A hole in the fence at the sanctioned camp opened by Governor Greg Abbot on a Texas Department of Transportation lot in 2019.
\nThe mainstream movement to repeal the camping ban framed the struggle as a conflict between conservatives and progressives: Greg Abbott and the reactionaries of Take Back Austin on one side, Austin’s social movements, city council, and social service providers on the other. This battle was encapsulated in the ongoing Twitter war between Abbott and Adler over the camping ban repeal. In reality, both the state and city governments depended on the sweeps to manage homelessness, only according to distinct logics. Before the repeal of the camping ban, the city government had been sporadically using sweeps to clear camps, and they kept their own sweep schedule parallel to the state government’s sweeps under the highways. When sweeps resumed after pausing for the pandemic, the city government had taken over all of the sweeps from the State. This shared dependence was most explicitly laid bare when the city government swept the ARCH camp the same day the state government began its sweeps of the highways.
\n\nRe-framing the camps as an ante-political insurgent force can give us a clearer picture of the competing forces that aim to attack this form of insurgency, enabling us to move away from some of the limitations of activist frameworks. Reformist activist approaches can lead us into the trap of allying with the managerial logic of governance in the name of pragmatism, as seen in groups like The Other Ones Foundation (TOOF), Austin Mutual Aid (AMA), and Little Petal Alliance (LPA). More radical activist approaches can end up fetishizing the thinking and activity of the activists themselves, creating organizations that exist for no sake but to reproduce themselves or insular scenes that become disconnected from any material force. Rejecting both of these errors, we believe that focusing on our relationship to existing forms of insurgent self-organization can provide a counterweight to both reformist managerialism and radical impotence.
\n\nWhile Stop the Sweeps used activist tactics, we did so while understanding the insurgency of the camps as primary, rather than our own activity. Faced with the practical question of how to join forces with the camps and mount a defense against sweeps, we recruited and mobilized from within activist milieus, and we used activist tactics such as creating media, pushing limited demands (but not policy), rallies, home and office demos, and call-ins as part of campaigns against specific targets. Similarly, after Abbott opened what eventually became Camp Esperanza, we maintained an early presence to build relationships, trace the fault lines, and conspire with the residents to undermine this new form of management. When the COVID-19 pandemic created a crisis, we participated in shaping the camp support infrastructure that filled this gap, temporarily helping sustain the camps while developing new forms of collaboration with them. But we did so with a determination to bolster the defense of the camps, not seeing these things as ends in themselves, nor claiming to “organize” the homeless or integrate the camps or their residents into the terrain of political representation.
\n\nNow, on the other side of this movement arc, we feel it is important to re-articulate this position, which may have been forgotten amid the frenzy of service-oriented mutual aid, activist infighting, and reacting to our enemies’ offensives.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/8.jpg\")
Governor Greg Abbott, scumbag.
\nInformed by the tactical sensibility emerging through the last two decades of struggle—the port shutdowns during Occupy, the highway takeovers during Black Lives Matter protests, the targeting of ICE and prison contractors, and other struggles that we have participated in or learned from—Stop the Sweeps understood power as a question of infrastructure and logistics. Decision-making bodies are largely empty political theaters carrying out the will of dominant social forces—be those reactionary populist movements or factions of capitalists, non-profits, or police. Their emptiness makes demonstrations at the well-guarded halls of power ineffectual. The real power in this world is in the infrastructure that is used to administer and maintain this civilization; a decision to carry out sweeps can only be enforced if there are workers, trucks, and money that can be mobilized to that purpose. Infrastructures can be vulnerable to pressure, and this makes it a strategic site for potential pressure and direct action.
\n\nWe understood that City Hall and Abbott would never willingly stop the sweeps. Instead, once the state government started conducting sweeps in November 2019, we paid attention to who was conducting them. The sweeps were carried out by a work crew driving a few contractor trucks and overseen by a couple supervisors directly from the Texas Department of Transportation. The police were not actively removing people’s belongings; they served as a passive backup force that intervened only to suppress unrest or resistance. They were largely hands-off with us, allowing us to be in the camps as we filmed, harassed the work crew, and talked to residents. We noticed the same dynamic when the Austin Public Works Department carried out sweeps in November 2019 along other public easements with a different contractor’s name on the truck.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/40.jpg\")
A group of contract workers throw away belongings at a sweep under a highway overpass.
\nDigging through city and state contracts, we traced a whole web of contractors. We discovered that the city and state both contracted through WorkQuest, a central contracting agency offering services and products and employing disabled people. WorkQuest, in turn, contracted out to other agencies: EPSI for the state sweeps and Relief Enterprises for the city sweeps. Sometimes these subcontractors also recruited labor from temporary staffing agencies like Pacesetters or received people doing “community service” through Downtown Austin Community Court. Sometimes the work crews themselves consisted of other homeless people, though some we met ended up leaving because they couldn’t stand to participate in oppressing other people in the same position as them.
\n\nOnce we uncovered the contractors, we saw the WorkQuest contract as a strategic vulnerability. Our theory was that if there was enough pressure to make contractors back out or make the sweeps more costly, it would diminish the political will to carry them out. We hoped that if WorkQuest dropped out, it would impair both the City and State from doing sweeps. We identified the phone numbers of WorkQuest employees, the locations of offices, and the addresses of executives; we used these for targeted phone zaps, a home demo, and a guerrilla fliering action at the WorkQuest store. This strategy draws a lot from the “tertiary targeting” model used in the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty campaign and more recently in the Stop Cop City movement. While the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted our focus on WorkQuest, we learned months afterwards that they had dropped the contract in March 2020 due to our pressure.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/19.jpg\")
A home demo.
\nUnfortunately, WorkQuest dropping the contract did not stop the sweeps. As the city government took over the sweeps in the fall of 2020, WorkQuest passed off the contract directly to Relief Enterprises; we had only removed the middleman. Relief Enterprises had fewer physical sites to target; we had little luck finding a truck lot where we could mobilize a blockade or some other collective action. The few locations we did find appeared to be shared with other businesses in industrial parks, and the vehicles appeared to be dispersed between a few sites rather than concentrated in a single lot. Much of our energy targeting them was directed into call-in campaigns to City Hall when their contract came up for renewal, or car demos targeting the Mayor and City Council members. Beyond the car demos, we lacked effective ways to mobilize groups of people offensively during the height of the pandemic, and our energy was tied up in other initiatives like the camp support network.
\n\nFrom 2020 to 2022, we succeeded in using these methods to win concessions that softened the sweeps. The authorities let people keep their tents and belongings, permitting them to name what was and was not trash and to remain in their camps during the sweeps; the City tried to frame them as progressive “clean-ups” to appease critics. While they continued throw away furniture, mattresses, structures, and temporarily unattended belongings—and we continued to push back on each of those fronts—these sweeps were a far cry from the early Texas Department of Transportation sweeps that forced people to move all their belongings across the highway or lose everything.
\n\nAll these advances were undone when Prop B, a reactionary referendum initiative spearheaded by local anti-homeless forces with Save Austin Now, reinstated the camping ban and the sweeps returned as a force of devastating displacement. Since we had tied up so much of our energy in pressuring City Council alongside initiatives like the camp support network, we had not built up the forces we needed to take the fight directly to the sweeps infrastructure once the political terrain was closed off to us. By the time Prop B came down, the movement was already declining, and it was too late to reorient towards a new strategic framework. When we got started, we had been critical of Homes Not Handcuffs for only pushing the policy front without building the capacity to defend that victory against the inevitable reactionary backlash. In our pursuit of political leverage on the sweeps contract, we fell into a similar trap: we had not built up the power to defend the gains we had made against an inevitable reaction in the political terrain.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/24.jpg\")
\nIn our experience, an infrastructural understanding of power also opened offensive paths for us to avoid getting locked into head-on, symmetrical conflicts with better-resourced adversaries. It does not usually make sense to attempt to meet our enemy’s repressive forces head on with greater numbers or force—whether in a defensive attempt to hold a space against a siege or an offensive attempt to besiege the guarded fortresses of our enemies (City Hall, the Capitol, downtown). While there are conditions under which such confrontations are strategic, in general, we have found that if a movement’s strategy is defined around pursuing those, this will exhaust the movement, incur defeats, and reduce it to largely reactive activity. An asymmetrical approach instead considers where our adversaries are weak, how to stretch them thin by going where they are unprepared, and finding pressure points that maximize impact—such as the infrastructure undergirding a project. This enables a movement to take the initiative, forces its adversaries to respond from a position of weakness, and creates the conditions to win victories and mobilize greater forces.
\n\nWe learned some of these lessons the hard way in camp defense. While the initial defense of the ARCH was inspiring for stopping a sweep head on, it also illustrated the difficult of repeating such a victory: our adversaries could come back at any time, and being ready to stop them on short notice would have required an unsustainable level of vigilance and capacity for rapid response. Similarly, the weekly schedule of the highway sweeps meant that one day’s victory could be swept away by the work crew’s return the next week. By pivoting to an asymmetrical conflict model, targeting WorkQuest with pressure at places we weren’t expected, we opened up new fronts and took the initiative, acting on our own schedule rather than responding to the sweeps schedule.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/12.jpg\")
The camp outside of the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (right) and its late-night removal by city workers armed with a mechanical claw (left).
\nThis does not mean that movements should abandon defensive fights, but that we should shift our approach to them. Asymmetrical approaches de-emphasize holding terrain at all costs, while recognizing it as essential. Rather than an all-or-nothing fight, defending terrain becomes a question of maximizing the costs for our opponents, minimizing our own losses, increasing combativeness and offensive opportunities, and rebuilding or seizing new terrain after the siege. Even when our movement was smaller, our efforts were strongest when they balanced tactical, defensive retreats with counteroffensives against the infrastructure of the sweeps.
\n\nWe continued to maintain a presence at sweeps, where we aimed to maximize delays, build connections and courage to support resistance in the camps, and help people rebuild afterwards. We knew that the sweeps operated according to a tight schedule, and that substantial delays along their route would either force them to come back another day, delay a sweep until the following week, or impact their obligations to other contracts. We reasoned that any delays we could force might give some relief to those further down the schedule who would get passed over that week, and that delays would drain more money and labor out of the contract. We also helped people to replace the tents and other survival gear that they had lost in sweeps in order to minimize the impact on people’s lives and ensure that the camps could persist.
\n\nEmploying this strategy, we achieved a couple major victories when entire camps resisted the sweeps, refusing to move or harassing the sweeps crews to slow them down. Some of these moments of resistance emerged spontaneously; others only after sustained efforts building direct relationships that gave us a basis of trust and courage to act alongside camp residents. Based on internal emails from Public Works, we know that our presence was a major nuisance for them. Eventually, they cracked down on our ability to mess with the sweeps from within the camps by enforcing a “work zone” rule allowing them to arrest people for trespassing while a sweep was ongoing.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/30.jpg\")
An early graphic used by Stop the Sweeps to orient new volunteers to the wide range of ways to engage a sweep.
\nBy the end of the sweeps defense movement cycle, many of these lessons had been forgotten or had not spread widely enough, or we simply lacked the capacity to act on them. We had lost the ability to put pressure on the infrastructure of the sweeps or to turn the conflict into an asymmetrical one rather than a head-on clash. By 2022, due to the enforcement of the work zone rules, sweeps watch crews were unable to do much more than bear witness to the suffering of others or help them move their belongings. At a moment when the movement was declining, some tried to mobilize larger groups to resist each sweep head on, but these groups never really materialized. Actions like the City Hall occupation, while politically important in other ways, remained focused on targeting the symbolic halls of power rather than the material infrastructure of the sweeps. There was one small appearance at the home of the Relief Enterprises CEO, but it was far less forceful than the 2020 home demo against WorkQuest.
\n\nWhile it likely would not have stopped the post-Prop B sweeps, it remains an open question how returning to an understanding of the infrastructural nature of power and a strategy of asymmetrical conflict might have opened new avenues for the movement when it was facing decline. What if sweeps watch didn’t just invite people to bear witness to devastation, but converted camp defense into highway blockades that stopped the circulatory system of the city? Such a strategy could have employed the car demo tactic as well. What if the occupation of City Hall had targeted the offices and homes of sweeps contractors, or other politically and economically important parts of the city beyond the trap of downtown?
\n\nThere are no guarantees, only possibilities and questions to bear in mind in future fights. But it is essential to recognize that for now, our enemies are much bigger and better equipped than us, and we are strongest when we target their weak points rather than being drawn into direct clashes.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/25.jpg\")
Posters left behind after a small 2021 home demo at the home of the CEO of Relief Enterprises, the contractor responsible for the sweeps since 2020.
\nOne of our hypotheses, tested and refined through our experience in Stop the Sweeps, is that what we call social movements can be better understood as an open field of forces, each engaged with others to various degrees in relationships of collaboration and contestation, affinity and hostility, coalition and competition. What we describe as a “movement” is an emergent culmination of the interplay of these forces, irreducible to any sum of its component parts. Distinct actors within this field might be understood as poles—rallying points around which cohere a set of ideas, strategies, and ways of acting. These poles exert forces within the field of the movement, attracting new people and connections, pushing back on others, and spreading or clashing with other ideas within the terrain. Some poles may be able to affect those around them through their actions, transmitting ideas or causing shifts in the field of possibilities; other poles may find themselves isolated or ineffective, unable to act on their own terms or influence others.
\n\nThis view of movements as a field of forces and polarities clarifies a few things. First, it directs our focus not just to what an individual or a group is but to what it can do—how it affects the field of the movement and others in it. This emphasis on doing can help us let go of anxieties around recruiting people to join our organizations, focusing us instead on ways to spread autonomous and militant ways of acting. Influential poles can generate powerful proposals, models, or invitations to act that spread across crews, organizations, and networks. Furthermore, we can better understand the lines of transmission between groups, factions, and ideologies in movements through this framework. Rather than perceiving distinct sects (as implied by the term sectarian), we can discern how the force exerted by a pole can overflow the boundaries of a particular organization, or how people and groups themselves can move between different poles of a movement through their activity.
\n\nUsing this framework, we can perceive and act upon the possibilities latent in open-ended situations. We can see how these situations emerge as organic reactions to flashpoints of oppressive force; we can grasp how a protest movement can reach a scale and intensity that escape the control of those who “organized” it to become more potent and infectious. Perceptive and strategic militants can find the openings in such moments to contribute in ways that help to shape the outcome—forging new relationships, advancing new strategies or tactics, and enabling greater coordination, self-organization, or escalation. In Stop the Sweeps, this was one of our greatest strengths, whether we were engaging with a sweep, the waves of activity in the course of the George Floyd Uprising, the Abbott encampments and city COVID hotels, or rallies and occupations initiated by other groups.
\n\nStop the Sweeps emerged to fill a gap in the existing movement. While the Homes Not Handcuffs (HnH) coalition had secured the legislative victory of repealing the camping ban, they had failed to build the political force necessary to defend their win. So, when the city government responded to a wave of reaction a few months later by sweeping the ARCH at the same time that the state government cracked down with sweeps under the highway, the non-profit coalition was caught flat-footed. They scheduled a meeting at Street Forum the weekend before the sweeps to plan a response that would focus on legal observing, documentation, media campaigns, and continued legislative advocacy. The non-profit coalition kept most of its focus on Abbott’s exterminationist rhetoric, drawing no attention to the city’s or NGO’s use of sweeps to control the unhoused.
\n\nThe cell that became Stop the Sweeps began as a group of friends who started showing up in the mornings at the camp outside the ARCH in anticipation of the sweep. The timing of these sweeps was left vague and constantly delayed; but keeping this rhythm for two weeks led to a series of connections with people at that camp and some strategic conversations among the handful of us. When the announcement finally came that the ARCH sweep would occur on the same day as Abbott’s sweep of the camps under the highway, we had already laid the groundwork for launching Stop the Sweeps.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/18.jpg\")
A Homes Not Handcuffs rally at the Texas Governor’s Mansion in 2019, protesting Abbott’s threats to sweep camps.
\nWhen we attended the Homes Not Handcuffs response meeting and noticed that their plan did not include any attention on the sweeps at the ARCH, nor plans for direct resistance to the sweeps, we decided to break out into our own group adjacent to their meeting. At that meeting, we developed our own plan to mobilize a combative presence at the ARCH. While we could not stretch ourselves to mobilize on multiple fronts, we retained some presence at the highway sweeps to support any organic resistance to them. We took the name Stop the Sweeps—both a demand and a form of action—and put out our own call to action on our nascent socials.
\n\nRather than attempting to convince the HnH coalition to adopt a more confrontational strategy (or calling them out for their failure to do so), we identified an opening in the movement where we could act and filled it. We sidestepped direct conflict with the non-profit wing of the movement in favor of opening up space for autonomous action alongside the non-profit’s strategy. Seizing the opportunity to mobilize where the rest of the movement did not have a presence was advantageous in this regard, and helped avoid conflicts over “hijacking” or about escalating beyond the risk tolerance of HnH. Similarly, while those of us at the highway camps communicated with HnH forces on the ground, we made separate decisions to support unhoused people planning to resist the sweeps while the others focused on their strategy.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/29.jpg\")
\nMaking our own plan enabled us to connect with other scattered forces, both within and outside the movement, that had been looking for more combative forms of engagement. In the days leading up to the ARCH sweep, we connected with members of the DSA-LSC who were involved in HnH and hungry to employ direct action tactics against the sweeps. They were able to leverage some of the contact lists that the coalition had not utilized, using email blasts and phone banking to turn people out to the ARCH. Through our existing connections, we were also able to pull in friends from anti-fascist and anti-police organizing.
\n\nConsequently, a small group without its own base was able to bring together about thirty people on a Monday. We temporarily prevented the destruction of the camp at the ARCH—at least, until they came back at 4 am.
\n\nFrom its inception, Stop the Sweeps existed in this delicate balance between maintaining connections to other actors in the movement and acting on our own terms. We attended the meetings that Homes Not Handcuffs hosted and maintained lines of communication with people in those groups; at the same time, we planned our own ways to engage on the ground, created our own narrative, and called our own actions. Calling our own action at the sweep that Homes Not Handcuffs had decided not to respond to was one example of this; mobilizing to support unhoused people who planned to resist the sweeps under the highways was another.
\n\nHomes Not Handcuffs held one more meeting after the sweeps started. We attended and made up most of the “sweeps defense” breakout group; the other two groups were focused on policy advocacy around criminalization and housing. We ultimately absorbed the sweeps defense group into our efforts; we later learned that the other groups never got off the ground after that meeting. The consolidation of this pole and its rapid growth gave us the momentum to transition into confronting the Texas Department of Transportation’s weekly sweep schedule after November 4. As the only group still actively following, resisting, and shaping the narrative around the sweeps, we were able to shift the movement towards a more radical position.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/31.jpg\")
Mercenaries destroying the homes of the houseless.
\nA few months into our work together, we had started to develop relationships with a wider range of groups. Seeking to increase the coordination and strategic intelligence of the movement, we initiated a closed assembly called The Hive. We framed it as an assembly that we were curating to be focused on shared action and reflection, explicitly not a decision-making space. The space was organized around three central principles: priority to grassroots, autonomous groups over non-profit and political organizations; a commitment to not undermining the work of other groups; and a commitment to not collaborating with the police against other wings of the movement. This last principle was intentionally crafted to make space for groups organized at state-run camps, which navigated complex relationships with the police and security that governed them, while holding a line to insulate the rest of the movement.
\n\nThe Hive brought together a wide range of factions including non-profits, self-organized homeless collectives, the street newspaper, DSA, mutual aid groups, tenant organizers, and harm reduction groups. It served as a venue for communication and cross-pollination across different groups and fronts of the struggle. At various points, the assembly grappled with questions related to squatting and takeover schemes, pushing back against policing in the COVID hotels, and forming locally-rooted support and defense groups for camps. Many of the relationships that formed through this assembly came to form the initial core of the Camp Support network.
\n\nBuilding on the relationships formed in the Hive, we were positioned to bring groups together to build out the Camp Support mutual aid network after existing social services shut down following the outbreak of COVID-19. One comrade connected us with a church kitchen; the local Food Not Bombs chapter provided know-how and a network of cooks to start sending out meals. As we met more groups after the George Floyd Uprising, we were able to help them connect to this work in addition to sweeps watch, bringing together a dozen or so small organizations offering everything from harm reduction to resources for sex workers. At first, the success of this network underlined the painfully slow response of the city government to the public health crisis.
\n\nThis was complicated when city resources finally caught up months into the pandemic and approached the network about using our volunteers to shuttle its prepared meals. The network accepted this deal, opting to use them as we pleased and to build what we hoped would be fighting relationships with camp residents. This part of the mutual aid work remained underdeveloped; the volunteers who brought food only showed up to fight alongside people at sweeps on rare occasions. Camp support coordinators did use their access to city food program meetings to pester city bureaucrats into putting pressure on the agencies running sweeps, and this was one prong of a successful effort to defeat most of the sweeps during the initial months of the pandemic.
\n\nOur ability to act decisively and maintain a wide range of complex relationships with other formations depended in large part on the high degree of trust and shared context within the core group of Stop the Sweeps, which emerged from our long-term relationships and experience throwing down together. The strong connections among our core group enabled us to take bold action and gave us the emotional resilience to engage in more complicated coalitional relationships with tact and grace. We had space to voice and think through critiques of other formations and strategies and to reflect on our relationships to other groups despite our differences. This helped release pressure and avoid unnecessary direct conflict.
\n\nAs time went on and some of our initial crew stepped back, we started to bring in new people we met through our activity. We developed a set of principles and a process for onboarding people, emphasizing experience working together and a sensibility that resonated with our principles and strategy. We avoided rushing to recruit people, and emphasized the many ways to get involved in specific forms of activity that did not require formally joining Stop the Sweeps—such as planning specific actions, coming to the Hive, and coordinating around sweeps defense. This process helped to expand our crew and bring in new energy at crucial moments, especially when the movement was beginning to scale up and we encountered a number of other fellow travelers.
\n\nThis also meant that the group composition slowly shifted so that there were fewer long-term, high-context relationships in the group. Eventually, many of us only knew each other from the movement against sweeps. As the latter phases of the movement brought more intense conflicts and we encountered new limits, members of our crew responded differently to these situations. Some members pushed to engage more directly in the intra-movement conflicts, such as by making demands of Austin Mutual Aid (AMA).
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/23.jpg\")
Unhoused people and activists rally at an encampment set up at City Hall by Little Petal Alliance in response to the passage of the new camping ban.
\nWhen Little Petal Alliance (LPA) launched an occupation at City Hall in response to Prop B, our group was divided in new ways. Some members saw the occupation as an open-ended situation full of potential and self-organization that exceeded any one group, and wanted to engage with it; others were wary due to a combination of tactical critiques and legitimate criticisms of the harmful and opportunistic behaviors of members of LPA. When the camping ban ushered in the demolition of camps, some members pushed for more urgent activity and took out their frustrations on other participants in the movement. Most devastatingly, this led to a split with one of the unhoused activists who was a founding member. Our experience demonstrates the need to remain attuned to how the changing composition of a group over time, alongside shifting movement conditions, can change the forms of trust and collaboration that are possible, even if it nominally remains organized around the same principles and strategy.
\n\nUnderstanding our activity in terms of the constitution of poles allows us to evaluate our relationships with other formations on the basis of what they make possible or foreclose. Relationships with other groups—even those with whom we have significant differences when it comes to our orientation towards demands, reform, the state, or other institutions—can open up opportunities to leverage information, increase our ability to circulate proposals and influence other factions of the movement, and produce openings for creative forms of activity. If we understand the porous, shifting, open-ended nature of all groups, we can see how they might transform in the course of a movement. Cultivating relationships with groups that work with the state while maintaining our own irreducible antagonism towards it can create new tensions, reshaping the demands of other wings of the movement and making it more difficult for the authorities to divide a movement into those they can co-opt and those they can repress.
\n\nThe central consideration in such relationships is to keep the initiative and always maintain autonomy. Relationships can also have the effect of stifling possibilities rather than generating them; we can stifle our own initiatives for fear of upsetting other factions, end up tailing other formations, or become absorbed in the efforts of other groups. Maintaining the initiative within the field of movement polarity moves us away from the habit of merely critiquing other groups’ activities that we disagree with, so that we focus instead on how to develop and spread our own ideas and models for action as we collaborate and compete with others for influence.
\n\nThese relationships require minimum standards of respect. Active hostility or denouncements, undermining others’ efforts, collaborating with the state against other wings of the movement, or acting as an extension of state, politician, or capitalist influence over the movement often precludes such relationships. Such dynamics have often defined the relationship between autonomous groups and other factions of movements, whether reformist, non-profit, or authoritarian left. However, it is not inevitable that these relationships must always be antagonistic. An understanding of movement polarity can identify the avenues for collaboration beyond simplistic ideological categories, so that autonomous groups can avoid becoming trapped in a self-fulfilling prophecy of conflict with everyone else.
\n\nOur relationships with Homes Not Handcuffs enabled us to receive and leverage certain forms of information regarding the motivations of city council members and the dynamics between them, upcoming meeting items and policy changes, and pressure points and information about the effects of our actions on the departments enacting the sweeps. We were also able to produce scandals as a means of shaping the demands that HnH brought to City Council, which enabled us to exert influence on the negotiations without participating in them. At the same time, we were able to continue agitating against the city departments and social service providers that the coalition negotiated with.
\n\nThis framework also helped us to locate our work in this particular campaign in relation to the broader radical milieu in Austin. In 2019, the organizing terrain was complicated for autonomous organizers. Most organizing was dominated by non-profit organizations, the vast majority of which were hostile to more radical activity. There was a range of progressive non-profit and community advocacy organizations that had more radical political ideas, but whose activity was mostly oriented around policy advocacy and rallies at City Hall. Within the radical milieu, the Maoist milieu surrounding Red Guards Austin (RGA) had absorbed many of the people looking for more militant activity who were dissatisfied with the community organizer scene. As a consequence of sectarian conflict with other movement organizations, abusive authoritarian dynamics, and reckless disregard for their members’ well-being, Red Guards Austin had poisoned the well for militant activity. It was hard to engage in militant organizing, criticize non-profits, or even to wear a mask without being accused of being part of Red Guards.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/17.jpg\")
An encampment at City Hall.
\nPart of our goal was to use our activity in Stop the Sweeps to open the field for more activity beyond the influence of the non-profit organizations and the Maoists. We developed a way of acting that emphasized autonomous principles without explicitly flagging ourselves as anarchists. We experimented with ways to push the tactical repertoire of the movement without entering into direct conflict with other factions or alienating potential collaborators. Many of us were intimately familiar with the caustic effect that the Maoists specifically had on movements that they entered and knew that we could not maintain our autonomy or initiative while working with them. We also knew that they thrived on direct conflict and polemics against other groups. So when they made attempts to gain inroads into the movement, we simply ignored them and did our own thing.
\n\nThere is a long history of conflict between the autonomous factions of various movements and those oriented towards reformist negotiations or party organization building. In some cases, the strategies of autonomous militants contribute to this dynamic, particularly when they create a situation in which the contradictions between groups are resolved through a simple sorting of ideological or tactical alignments. Call-outs and polemics, direct conflict with reformist or “less militant” factions of a movement, and filtering all political allegiances through a rigid ideological filter can mirror liberal denunciations, collaboration with the state, and peace policing.
\n\nIdeally, the framework of movement polarity offers an experimental path beyond this impasse, though it can challenge assumptions about the role of ideology. How correct our critiques are will make no difference if they only result in us constructing isolated cliques instead of developing the ability to intervene in complex situations. Our hypothesis is that positioning ourselves within these contradictions rather than forcing them towards a simple resolution can open up generative possibilities. We hope others will test and refine this.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/15.jpg\")
\nWe were media savvy yet media critical. This is rare in a milieu divided between anarchists who oppose any engagement with media on principle and anarchists whose primary form of communication is the Instagram-Infographic-Industrial-Complex.
\n\nWe used social media as a tool to develop our own narrative and analysis of the sweeps. Every week, we would get practice writing reports on the previous week’s sweeps—drawing attention to their cruelty and to the growth of the resistance. This regular rhythm helped us document the sweeps at a point when most of the media coverage had dried up along with the attention of the larger organizations. As our posts spread—sometimes, ironically, due to reactionary hate comments boosting our performance in the algorithm—we were able to invite more people to join us in sweeps watch. For those who wouldn’t or couldn’t join, combining these posts with calls for phone and email blasts offered ways to enable spectators to participate.
\n\nAt the same time, we strategically engaged traditional news outlets. We had access to some media contacts thanks to Homes Not Handcuffs, and we mobilized a number of these outlets to cover the ARCH sweep and create political pressure around it. In the process, we developed a number of relatively friendly media connections who helped to circulate our narrative and occasionally follow up on reports and questions that helped to inform our campaigns.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/28.jpg\")
Austin police move to arrest a homeless Stop the Sweeps member who set up a protest tent outside of the downtown homeless shelter after the camp there was evicted.
\nAt a certain point, we were able to use an offensive media strategy to produce scandal. Whenever we caught the sweeps crew on camera in an egregious act—throwing out water during the height of summer, destroying camping supplies in violation of their stated “clean-up” policies, or harassing and threatening sweeps watch volunteers—we could circulate the media and draw negative attention. Sometimes, this alone was enough to exert pressure on the higher-ups, and we saw the crews act differently on subsequent sweeps.
\n\nSometimes, we took this further. We would generate a scandal, then tap one of our friendly media contacts to reach out to the relevant city department or company for comment. The department, trying to maintain public legitimacy, would make some minor concession to something we were demanding. The journalist would tweet out this response and, without waiting for a formal article, we would seize on this as new “policy.” Then we would launch a new set of demands, always pushing the envelope. We did not treat these demands as points of negotiation, but as discursive trenches—as soon as our enemies made a concession, we would dig new a new trench to keep pushing them further, ensuring they remained on the back foot. Combined with phone zaps and on-the-ground resistance, this approach de-fanged the sweeps for most of 2020.
\n\nWhether we were publishing our own reports or engaging with journalists, our strength came from developing our own strategy for engaging each of these media forms rather than letting them impose their logic on us. We used social media to circulate report-backs, but we avoided using it for discourse or petty conflict; we did not subordinate our political activities to the pursuit of followers or engagement. Similarly, we used corporate media to circulate our analysis and to produce scandals for our opponents while refusing to get mired in concerns about optics or respectability. Releasing a press release for a home demo was a way of seeking publicity on our own terms. We intentionally avoided news stations that we knew were hostile; we did not fetishize talking to media as an end in itself.
\n\nAll media and communication tools contain their own internal logic. If we don’t intentionally impose our own logic on them, they will impose their logic on us. Our movements already recognize how corporate media represent specific class interests. We are starting to become aware of how social media do the same—from outright censorship to the ways that algorithms privilege certain forms of interaction while suppressing others, thereby shaping how we think, act, and relate.
\n\nThis became especially clear to us as we reflected on one of our most-used tools, the Signal chat.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/1.jpg\")
What happens when all organizing moves to Signal?
\nEarly on in our campaign, we used Signal chats in limited ways. We communicated via one core chat for the Stop the Sweeps crew. Some of us maintained a small text blast system that we would plug new contacts into; we used this system to announce upcoming sweeps and bring people out to sweeps watch. We would follow up with them in direct messages, then orient them on the ground. This worked well enough until one week, the person bottom-lining follow-up fell ill. To streamline communication, they made a Signal chat including all the people who would be coming out for sweeps watch that day so we could coordinate with each other. Over the next few weeks, this pattern of starting coordination-focused group chats for sweeps days continued until we created a general sweeps watch chat, where a growing layer of participants from outside the core group could share information and self-organize breakout chats for specific sweeps.
\n\nThe sweeps watch Signal chat became the movement’s defining platform. As we encountered new allies and plugged them into sweeps defense, they would be added to this chat. The chat took on a life of its own, with people announcing upcoming sweeps and self-organizing separate chats for each week’s sweeps. At first, most people in the chat probably knew most other people in it, or else came to know them by participating in sweeps watch. The conversations were mostly limited to sweeps-related planning. The big Signal chat enabled us to scale up our organizing by taking the labor of follow-up and orientation off our hands: someone new could connect with other people on the ground and get the lay of the land from whatever experienced people were there. Creating another large channel to coordinate camp support—complete with its own array of breakout chats related to specific projects, infrastructure, and camps—increased the movement’s capacity to scale.
\n\nIf you’ve been running in activist circles long enough, you know where this is headed.
\n\nAt some point, the Signal chats hit a crucial turning point. They had expanded in size, in part due to the ballooning camp support network that was bringing new people into sweeps watch. By that time, a large number of the participants had not met each other. The expansion of the movement ecosystem meant people in each chat were likely involved in a number of other projects, with varying degrees of affinity or tension with other groups in the ecosystem. While this communication system worked for a while, it began to break down around the same time that the movement began to hit other limits.
\n\nThe big chats slowly lost their focus on coordination as people started to use them as discussion forums in which to debate strategy and tactics. At times, a small group of people would engage in lengthy discussion in the chats, with dozens of others as a captive audience. This became particularly fraught in moments of emotional intensity (for example, immediately after a sweep)—especially when the parties in conflict did not know each other or already had existing tensions. Over time, other movement conflicts were imported into the chat, as well. By the time the camping ban came down, these dynamics had already drained collective engagement in the big chats. Consequently, the movement fragmented as economic normalcy was imposed at the conclusion of the lockdown.
\n\nThe Signal chat is a useful tool, but like other communication platforms, it tends to impose its own logic. As a Signal chat grows, two things happen. First, the chats can generate too much noise to be helpful. High-traffic conversations among dozens of participants quickly add up to hundreds of messages, especially if there are not shared norms regarding what sort of information belongs in the channel. Second, the levels of trust and vulnerability decrease as fewer of the participants are connected by real relationships. This compounds with the way that tone, body language, and other aspects of communication are lost via text—so that when conflict takes place, it occurs without a basis for trust, leading to escalating tension and hurt feelings.
\n\nIn our experience, Signal chats were most useful when organized around a defined purpose, usually limited to coordinating and sharing information. Ideally big, chats should keep chatter to a minimum, making space for deeper coordination or planning conversations in smaller breakout chats, such as the date-specific sweeps watch chats. Strategic debates and conflicts should be worked out in small groups or private chats between comrades engaging in good faith. Higher-stakes emotional conversations or strategic debates should ideally take place in person or at least on a call, to maximize the extent to which the participants can be emotionally present and engage in a full spectrum of communication. It may be helpful to set a precedent for moderating and maintaining norms in a chat early on to ensure that chats do not devolve into meetings or amorphous discussion forums. Because we had not set that precedent at the outset, it was difficult for us to intervene as moderators.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/11.jpg\")
Sweeps watch.
\nThese are ways to adjust how we use the tool; but we should also reduce our dependence on the tool. If a Signal chat is frequently being overwhelmed with other kinds of conversation, that indicates a need for additional containers. In our experience, while there were lots of meetings to deal with the week-to-week activities, our movement had few containers for broader reflection or debate, few release valves for tensions and conflict. Building these missing components into our movements is essential—otherwise, what you repress will eventually burst into the chat in explosive ways.
\n\nSome of these things are more feasible with Signal now. Signal has since added Admin roles and permissions, which enable better moderation and the creation of announcement-only channels. Movements may benefit from centering dedicated announcement-only channels in order to ensure that a broad range of participants receive the most essential updates. Letting smaller chats handle planning, coordination, and strategy can create more intentional and sustainable avenues for those conversations.
\n\nOn the other hand, it can inhibit a movement to over-correct and impose limits too early. If your organizing channels consist of small chats without much activity, it’s not helpful to impose rules to limit activity—and rather than reducing message quantity, too many breakout channels containing the same five people will only gratuitously inflate the number chats. While it eventually limited us, for a time, the open Signal chat enabled us to grow. The best thing is to anticipate the limits and develop plans for addressing them as you reach them.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/14.jpg\")
Home: don’t steal.
\nThe last year or two of the camp support movement was defined by conflicts around money. This mirrored similar conflicts elsewhere around the country between 2020 and 2022. Questions about who raised money and what they used it for became divisive, provoking inflammatory conflicts that dissolved organizations, even entire movements. We want to reflect on our experiences for the next time these questions resurface and offer some thoughts for movements elsewhere to consider as well.
\n\nIn the early weeks of Stop the Sweeps, we carried out limited goal-oriented fundraising, chiefly to replace tents, sleeping bags, and other essential survival gear lost in the sweeps. This was strategic as well as ethical: replenishing these supplies helped maintain the camps and thwart the goal of the sweeps. Our largest fundraising effort was a $3000 GoFundMe to buy 100 tents. The member with keys to the GoFundMe tracked itemized withdrawals and purchases. Since the goals were clear and the stakes relatively low, we were able to make most decisions easily over Signal chats, filling time-sensitive needs for shelter after each sweep. Most discussions focused on which stores to purchase from. Occasionally, we also fundraised for bail and legal funds for friends who were arrested resisting the sweeps. Had we expanded the scope of our fundraising, made larger purchases, or made fundraising a core facet of our organizing strategy, we might have needed a different container for financial decisions.
\n\nMoney played a bigger and more controversial role in the camp support movement, which from its early days networked together a number of different initiatives around shared infrastructure, such as collective kitchens that relied on various organizations for their distribution network. One group, named Austin Mutual Aid (AMA), began to form a fundraising apparatus for this network. Its founder, Bobby Cooper, was a contentious figure; a white man from New York who had organized in Occupy Sandy, his ego and abrasive personality caused some tensions in this network. For the most part, the network was big enough and Austin Mutual Aid small enough that people could hold them at a distance, only approaching them for funds around things like water in the summer or cold-weather gear in the winter.
\n\nThings changed with Winter Storm Uri in 2021. AMA had had the forethought to claim a name primed for search engine optimization. As millions around the country turned their attention to supporting groups in Texas, AMA’s winter fundraiser gained mainstream attention—going so far as to be shared by cast members of Queer Eye. It ballooned to some $3 million, and AMA gained the national media spotlight as the face of mutual aid in Austin. Suddenly, a group that had been marginal and annoying was central to the movement. This inflamed the existing tensions and resentments, adding stakes on the scale of millions of dollars.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/10.jpg\")
Volunteers sort through clothes at an ad-hoc Austin mutual aid donation center during Winter Storm Uri.
\nThe following months saw protracted conflicts over the allocation of this money, the handling of the Winter Storm response in general, and AMA’s role in relation to the rest of the movement. The conflict crossed Signal threads, Instagram slide decks, and many-hours-long Zoom and Jitsi calls. Probably every organization in the movement had at least one meeting about AMA, and many participated in AMA’s “community meeting” to decide how to distribute the money. Among other things, people accused AMA of taking credit for work that was largely carried out by other groups, raising money and gatekeeping access to it, white saviorism, charity-style work, using other groups’ media for their own fundraising, and not using the funds to offer people long-term housing, whether in the hotels that were taken over during the freeze or in regular apartments.
\n\nStop the Sweeps participated in some of these conflicts, including private criticisms of AMA, social media call-outs, and hour-long Zoom calls. How might we have approached those conflicts differently? How could future movements avoid or mitigate them?
\n\nThere was certainly truth to the criticisms of AMA. There was a crucial moment when AMA’s fundraising far exceeded what they had hoped to raise or had plans for. That could have been a good time to pause their fundraiser and direct potential donors to some of the other projects that were raising funds, like the Jordan’s Place police-free autonomous zone established by the Black revolutionary organization 400+1 in East Austin during the 2021 winter storm. Instead, AMA leaned into the spotlight, taking media appearances, speaking on behalf of the movement, and claiming others’ work.
\n\nAMA’s blunders should serve as a warning to any group that might accidentally stumble into large sums of money—as a number of pre-existing bail funds and mutual aid projects did in 2020—to take a cautious and disciplined approach to finances. Organize fundraisers with clear plans for how much you hope to raise and how you will use it. While it can be great to exceed goals, at a certain scale, raising more money than anticipated can create confusion, liability, and conflict. It may be better to shut down a fundraiser once it has exceeded its goal and direct people to other groups. This can insulate your crew from money conflicts, redistribute resources in crucial ways, and help build goodwill with the broader movement.
\n\nRegardless of who raises them, large sums of money can generate conflict and create liability. While AMA was a particularly controversial organization, we doubt that any organization that ended up in that position would have avoided criticism and conflict. Controlling large amounts of money and attention inevitably stokes resentment, jealousy, and political factionalism. Even if a group has a solid plan for raising and using large amounts of money, and even if that group maintains good relations and collaboration with other factions of the movement, the existence of that fundraising capacity can give rise to all sorts of friction. The project you are funding will be criticized: it’s not militant, not mutual aid, not strategic, not sustainable, not democratic enough, it doesn’t center the right groups, it’s not safe enough, not organized enough. Not all of this critique will be in good faith; some of it will simply be a cover for interpersonal or factional competition.
\n\nWe should be generous and graceful in our criticisms of groups that stumble into money. While we should generate and share good-faith political critiques of the decisions that they make, moralizing and attacks often do not help anyone. Groups are not necessarily enemies or threats to a movement because they don’t use money in the ways that we think they should or distribute it through the process we consider most just. Many such groups are simply figuring out a complicated situation as they go, the same way we would in their shoes.
\n\nIf we aim to work in movements that involve a wide range of political and strategic orientations, we will have to accept diverging perspectives on big questions. Unnecessarily escalating political conflicts into movement-wide fractures consumes a disproportionate amount of everyone’s energy, sapping it from more fruitful activities. When we identify the political differences that distinguish us from another group, those offer ripe ground for launching new projects, leading by example, and acting on our own terms, rather than simply criticizing.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/32.jpg\")
Winter Storm Uri in 2021.
\nTo understand the rapid growth of the movement against sweeps and its ultimate collapse, it is helpful to think of movements as always running up against and struggling to transcend particular limits. Focusing on the limits of movements moves us from a framework that externalizes our problems (blaming them on liberals, non-profits, the state, the police, sectarians, authoritarians, rival factions) to a framework that approaches our problems chiefly as internal, organizational questions. If our movements will inevitably confront co-optation, repression, or fragmentation, we should look inward to understand what aspects of our strategy make us vulnerable to these and experiment with ways to become capable of overcoming them.
\n\nThe effectiveness of any tactic is determined by context. This includes considerations such as whether it brings new people into the movement, whether the movement can sustain the tactic, and how prepared our enemies are to mitigate its effectiveness. The same tactic repeated in a different context, or even at a different point in the same movement, can produce completely different results. Innovation and experimentation can help overcome limits related to tactics, while fetishizing or stigmatizing tactics can keep a movement stuck in ineffective repetition.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/26.jpg\")
Sweeps watchers try to save a tent during a sweep off Riverside Drive in 2019. This sweep was one of our early victories; we stalled the crew for hours and ultimately saved the camp.
\nTranscending the limits of sweeps watch by reorienting towards camp support helped us expand the movement at a crucial moment. For the first few months, the rhythm of sweeps watch helped us connect to people in the camps, plug people into a concrete activity, gather information about the contractors, gain experience in confrontational action, and make a political scandal out of the sweeps. Over time, we began to hit new limits, as we could not add numbers fast enough to keep up with the sweeps and faced arrests as a consequence of new work zone rules. Before COVID-19 hit, we had already begun to imagine alternative ways to approach sweeps watch, such as creating locally-based networks in the neighborhoods near particular camps.
\n\nThe switch to camp support activated a new, broader network of people and activities. People built consistent relationships with the specific camps they supported, which enabled them to report back on camp needs and any sweeps announcements. This brought more people into sweeps defense generally, so that our smaller group’s capacity wasn’t always stretched to its limit. Camp support also overcame a barrier to using the old sweeps defense model during the pandemic: when traveling between the camps posed the risk of inter-camp viral transmission, the distributed defense model helped mitigate that threat. As camp support grew, so did our capacity to mobilize people against the sweeps through sweeps defense, phone zaps, and car demos. This network also leaped into action with the George Floyd Rebellion. One of the main battlegrounds of the rebellion in Austin was in front of APD headquarters, where protestors shared the space with a camp under the highway overpass at I-35 and 7th Street. After the height of the uprising, many individuals and new groups joined the network, turning to mutual aid work as a continuation of the uprising, sometimes at the same location.
\n\nTactics that generate potential at one time can themselves become limits. This becomes clear when we reflect on the missed opportunities of “mutual aid.” Camp support arose at a critical moment when existing social services had shut down due to the pandemic, leaving many on the street without consistent access to food and other necessities. Filling this gap, mutual aid was a way of securing the survival of the camps; this hearkens back to some of the forms of mutual aid as communal care and support that precede colonialism and capitalism, and which oppressed and exploited peoples have used to survive within them. During the first phase of the pandemic, the Camp Support network basically supplanted the city’s disaster response efforts. This recurred when the network mobilized to supply and shelter dozens of people during Winter Storm Uri, filling in where the city government did nothing. In both cases, the network’s efforts compelled the city to offer access to some food program meetings and to ask to use the network to deliver its prepared meals. The network made use of these resources, nominally towards its own ends.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/9.jpg\")
Supplies stored in an Austin Mutual Aid donation center after Winter Storm Uri.
\nThese efforts were closely tied to confrontational movement activity, as they were connected to sweeps defense, the rent strike movement of the early pandemic, and the George Floyd Rebellion; consequently, they were also part of a broader strategic framework. By the end of 2021, however, something had changed. The initial political context of camp support had been forgotten. Moralistic rhetoric framed mutual aid as a radical act unto itself, putting it above criticism and turning it into an obligation. This erased the need for mutual aid to be connected to other confrontational political activity; the only purpose was to provide the most meals to the greatest number of people. At the same time, the conditions were changing: social services had resumed, making camp support food distribution less essential, and even wasteful in some cases. Yet to make an argument for focusing on something other than “mutual aid” was considered unthinkable.
\n\nWe suspect that our experiences with the fetishization of “mutual aid” were a fractal reflection of a national trend. For us, mutual aid is important as a political project, not a moral task. Camp support and food distribution are good, but whether they are worth the majority of our organizing efforts depends on the conditions we are acting in and what the results will be. We understood camp support as a way to deepen our relationships with the camps, seeing the meal as a chance to build a foundation for trust so as to collaborate in more militant sweep defense or combative activity around other issues. This framework is distinct from a social services model that treats service provision as the end goal. It demands that we evaluate how much energy mutual aid efforts take and whether they are worth pursuing at the expense of other tasks.
\n\nThis form of mutual aid also ran up against limits we can see in previous cycles of autonomous disaster response and mutual aid. In the initial window of a disaster, autonomous groups can effectively set up and sustain infrastructure to support large groups of people. While highly effective during this window of time, they are rarely able to translate this into a deeper crisis for the state or the economy, nor to undermine the inevitable reimposition of normalcy, organize new and enduring social relationships, or transform these efforts into sustainable and combative projects after the disaster recedes.
\n\nNotably, what people were calling mutual aid was decidedly not mutual; it was a largely one-directional, service-oriented model of activism. Early on, this emerged of necessity due to COVID-19 precautions, which limited our ability to build more collective relationships and gather with people. However, over time, this meant that the relationship between a camp support volunteer and a food insecure person in a camp was primarily defined by the giving and receiving of a meal. Sometimes, this relationship included other “case worker” services, such as help with medical services and public benefits—but that, also, failed to break the dynamic of service provider and recipient. Delivering food did not in itself generate deeper political relationships, enable shared struggle, or build the reciprocity that could grow into new kinds of social relationships and life-giving infrastructure.
\n\nAdditionally, this meant that very little of the infrastructure built for camp support could actually sustain the ones doing the work—instead, it wore out the small handful of people who coordinated most of the effort. The early growth of camp support was possible in large part due to the pandemic shutdown, with paused or remote work and increased benefits enabling large numbers of people to dedicate time to the efforts. By spring 2021, however, the slow reimposition of normalcy meant that benefits were drying up, life was getting more expensive, and more people had to go back to work, draining the network’s capacity. With most of the infrastructure geared towards outward-facing service provision, the mutual aid networks could not provide people the support they needed to stay engaged in the movement. In the slow decay of the mutual aid networks, we were neither living nor fighting.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/21.jpg\")
\nThis model of activism is ripe for cooptation because it is essentially similar to state or NGO social services—just horizontally organized and less well-funded. Without no political strategy beyond feeding as many people as possible, in the face of waning capacity due to changing economic conditions, it was difficult to justify refusing to collaborate with the city government or social service providers. While the radical wings of the movement decried these changes with radical rhetoric, there was no alternative strategic framework to illuminate the limits of the camp support model. Radical ideas do not sustain people in a movement, resources and infrastructure do—and the radical wing of the movement was largely competing with the state and the nonprofit-industrial complex on their home turf. The limitations of the camp support model set the stage for the cooptation of certain wings of the movement, with groups like AMA working with social service providers like ECHO and Little Petal Alliance forming the mobile outreach wing of Sunrise Church.
\n\nIf power is fundamentally determined by infrastructure, movements also confront infrastructural limits. What are the supply lines that move resources, the entry points that bring in new people, the sites of care that help reproduce the movement, the hubs where we can organize combative actions or spaces for reflection? What are their vulnerabilities, and how can our adversaries attack them? These may be direct attacks—raids, evictions, restrictions, regulation—or other issues, such as an economic shift that forces people to step back from a movement in order to resume earning money.
\n\nIf we accept that movements inevitably go through phases of growth and shrinkage, we can orient our strategies towards anticipating and responding to these moments. Movement growth can necessitate new organizing formats or infrastructure to accommodate new participants, lest they overload the existing channels; movement shrinkage also requires abandoning rigid practices to make room for new possibilities. In the growth phase of a movement, the key thing is to be flexible and decisive in order to seize opportunities to level up. During movement decline, it is important to make space for reflection and strategic reorientation, to be prepared to drop practices that are no longer effective or sustainable. A movement increasing its capacity during a growth phase feels very different from a movement contracting in its decline phase, even when the movement’s actual capacity is in fact greater in the latter case.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/20.jpg\")
A tent set up on the lawn of the WorkQuest CEO during a Stop the Sweeps home demo that took place at a time when the movement’s capacities were growing.
\nWhat could have helped us to surpass the limits we reached? In view of the camp support network’s ability to out-organize the city government in the early phase of crisis, how could we have used this position of power to undercut its legitimacy, make deeper connections with those we were supporting, reinvent social relationships via new experiments in organization, or build enduring infrastructure to enable collective survival? We can try out Phil Neel’s use of the concept of “competitive control,” a term used by military strategists to describe insurgencies that produce a base of support and an alternative geography of resistance by providing services and stability where the state has failed, often alongside efforts to destabilize the state. While this framework is derived from military thought and applied to a range of repressive forces like the Taliban, it can help us to consider how autonomous forces might build power in conditions of crisis and collapse.
\n\nWe can consider the efforts of 400+1 to establish an autonomous zone named Orisha Land during Winter Storm Uri as a source of inspiration. 400+1 was a federation and cadre organization oriented towards Black revolutionary autonomy that acted parallel to the camp support network, with some overlap, collaboration, and connection between the movements. During Winter Storm Uri, they declared an autonomous police-free zone called Orisha Land in the historically Black (but gentrifying) Rosewood neighborhood. They occupied a park to establish a resource hub and shelter for unhoused Black people. Renaming the park Jordan’s Place, after a Black man named Jordan Walton who was killed by APD, they maintained the occupation for a few weeks after the storm and broadcast proposals for transforming the park with gardens, community programming, and ambitious visions for shelter and housing.
\n\nThe city government ultimately cleared 400+1 out of the park in a repressive maneuver parallel to its recuperation of “mutual aid” groups. While the city government incorporated some aspects of the mutual aid network, using the groups as volunteer pools for future crisis responses such as running warming and cooling centers and distributing supplies, it repressed the militant faction that was contesting its legitimacy. This counterinsurgency strategy undoubtedly inflamed some of the later movement conflicts, as those who witnessed the eviction of Jordan’s Place while AMA aligned with the city government and service provider alliance directed their ire against the latter.
\n\n400+1 were not without their own limitations, some of which they shared with the broader movement. While they were capable of powerful gestures, these were often primarily spectacular, such as a live-streamed armed procession around the neighborhood to declare the autonomous zone. Some former members report that they did not manage to follow through on all of the promises that they made to people during the Winter Storm occupation. In 2022, the group saw an exodus of members in response to internal hierarches and conflicts over responses to harm within the organization.1 Still, without romanticizing this organization, we can evaluate the strategic direction they pursued: exploiting the crisis of the winter storm and the failure of the police to maintain order to contest the state’s control of territory and promote combative visions of neighborhood-based autonomy.
\n\nWhat similar experiments could the camp support and sweeps defense networks have undertaken? Attempts to occupy vacant housing, hotels, or restaurants in order to establish autonomous shelters, kitchens, or resource hubs would have served to contest the state and private property. Such gestures, even if unsuccessful, can erode state control and legitimacy during crises, while opening directions that counterbalance the threat of cooptation. Some of us discussed this and followed some of these threads over the course of the movement.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/16.jpg\")
The police and cooptation are two sides of the same coin.
\nThere were moments when this approach seemed possible, such as when the network was able to run a shelter out of a hotel during the winter storm with the acquiescence of the manager. There were loose discussions about turning this into an ongoing occupation after the storm, but the necessary combination of attention, resources, and opportunity never coalesced. Perhaps if some of these gestures had proliferated, they could have worked in tandem with the efforts in Orisha Land to heighten the crisis, creating an ecosystem of escalation that could have frustrated efforts to repress some initiatives while recuperating the others. Since winter storms have become a nearly annual occurrence in Austin, mutual aid groups could build the relationships and capacities over the year to launch such initiatives when the next one hits.
\n\nBeyond these offensive paths, the network also could have tried to create lasting autonomous infrastructure. Building infrastructure for outdoor mobile kitchens or collectively-managed kitchens that could operate long term without dependence on churches could have enabled the movement to grow and transform. Perhaps, as vaccination access made it possible to begin gathering with others again, the network’s activity could have shifted from constant meal delivery services to hosting community dinners at which food was not simply given but shared, fostering new kinds of social relationships while sustaining the people making the food and running the space. Such communal gathering spaces could host trainings, assemblies, and strategic conversations—so that sharing food would give rise to collective deliberation, forming the basis for future projects. Ambitious proposals like these could have flourished by making use of the money AMA doled out after the winter storm.
\n\nAnother path could have included shifting away from food delivery towards projects that addressed a need while simultaneously creating new relationships beyond the service provision model. Community gardens could have opened up new kinds of relationships with housed people supported by the mutual aid network; tending gardens offers a shared project to bring together activists and neighbors, which can help sustain households and open up relations of sharing with other neighbors. The vegetables grown could supply a broader network of food delivery and collective kitchens. A squatted garden in an occupied lot could offer space for unhoused people to camp and a rallying point to defend against gentrification.
\n\nWe can’t know what path the movement should have taken. Actualizing any of these possibilities would have involved messy, situational questions. We can keep these horizons and strategic directions in mind for the next time we enter a similar cycle of struggle, but seizing these opportunities depends less on analytical precision than on our ability to strategize and plan in the midst of an emerging situation.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/4.jpg\")
Take the offensive.
\nThe dwindling phase of the movement from spring 2021 into 2022 was a perfect storm of movement shrinkage, fragmentation, conflict, and escalating state repression, with each factor intensifying the others in destructive feedback loops. Economic pressures compounded the cumulative effects of over a year of intense movement activity, contributing to a buildup of tension, trauma, and burnout. Unaddressed emotional dynamics exploded around high-stakes contention following the freeze, worsening previous resentments. Escalating conflicts accelerated the process of decline as they consumed the movement’s limited capacity, while others who were less invested simply withdrew. The escalation of repression with the passage of the city camping ban, the statewide camping ban, and the scorched earth sweeps over the summer increased the pressure on the movement in the midst of these dynamics. Heightened urgency and stakes caused an even greater explosion of conflict as people took out their frustrations about the movement’s limited capacity on each other. Decline produces conflict produces decline; repression causes decline and conflict, which amplify the effects of repression. A vicious cycle in which we were the main actors, with our enemies largely in the background.
\n\nIn addition to being our own worst enemies, our entire milieu was targeted by at least one bad actor using the moniker “Precious.” This person sought to map our traumas and fault lines, extract money, and exacerbate tensions. In the aftermath of the massive monetary windfall received by Austin Mutual Aid, a member of our collective began corresponding with the “Precious” Instagram account. “Precious” was later linked to a set of other accounts across social media that had targeted organizers across the South in Houston, New Orleans, and Atlanta using the same playbook of social mapping techniques and warped social justice language to call out organizations for various failings, real or invented. Several of these accounts were revealed to carry right-wing content if one scrolled back.
\n\nThis episode was later documented and reported on by others using a dossier created by members of the impacted organizations. We mention this here to emphasize that when trust is already low and strategic thinking compromised, other actors will find ways to exploit the opportunities that open up.
\n\nMovements in decline must learn to lose better. That means clearly assessing our capacities, the conditions we are facing, and what is and is not possible. This can be a heavy task. Admitting defeats means accepting the grave consequences that come with them; in 2021, it would have meant admitting that we were no longer in a position to stop the sweeps and all the devastation they inflicted. We must grieve these losses while discerning what we can preserve from a phase of struggle in order to position ourselves for the next fight, wherever it emerges. Seeking to do this would shift our focus from desperate attempts to throw what little we have at our enemy to identifying which relationships, infrastructure, practices, and actions can equip us to lay the groundwork for the next phase of struggle. That approach could enable us to return to an asymmetrical conflict framework and to avoid getting locked into losing direct confrontations with our enemies. Strategic retreats, regrouping, and reorientation can enable a movement to continue taking the initiative instead of merely reacting, in order to be better prepared to intervene in the future.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/6.jpg\")
Our enemies in orange.
\nStrategic thinking should not depend on the analytical, perceptive, or strategic capabilities of select individuals; it must become a political practice involving the entire movement. Even small gestures by crews and collectives articulating new principles and strategies can open a space for reflection. Collective infrastructure or practices can offer space for the movement to reflect on and adjust its activity, analyze changing landscapes, identify strategic opportunities and limitations, and release difficult emotions, tensions, and concerns. Such spaces can help build the strategic capabilities and emotional resilience of the movement. They can enable people to encounter each other across organizational or ideological lines, facilitating a circulation of ideas and strategies that can prevent the calcification of rigid ideological camps.
\n\nSuch efforts can take various forms. In our experience, they included articulating a set of political principles and strategic interventions through sweeps defense in order to constitute another pole in a movement; building working relationships with a wide spectrum of actors, from factions within encampments to activist groups, in order to enable collaboration and the circulation of tactical insights; and assembling The Hive as a space for coordination, reflection, and proposing new directions. In The Hive, in particular, we see both positive examples and missed opportunities.
\n\nThe relationships we built through the early Hive assemblies became the foundation of the early camp support network, which implemented some of the strategic conversations that had started in The Hive about neighborhood-based camp defense networks. This enabled the movement to level up at a critical moment. The Hive continued at a slow but steady rhythm through 2020, growing to include a wide range of factions at the height of the movement. However, by 2021, we had fallen out of practice. Assemblies saw less attendance as people focused on more urgent day-to-day work and meetings, and we put less effort into facilitating or reinvigorating them. By the time that the movement began to fracture and decline, there was no dedicated space or practiced rhythm for processing, addressing tensions, or big picture strategy discussions. Without dedicated infrastructure for facilitating these conversations, most organizations simply focused on the immediate needs of their particular project.
\n\nContinuing The Hive might not have resolved these problems. Strategic thinking is a habit that must be practiced and built into the rhythms of our work. We can offer a space for it, but that doesn’t guarantee that others in the movement will accept the invitation. If participants do not take it seriously, or cannot dedicate time to it due to the demands of their projects, the benefits will be limited. Nonetheless, such infrastructure has value even if only a minority of movement participants utilize it. It can still position them to make more effective interventions and proposals, holding open the window for strategic thinking and initiative. We must move from diagnosing our movement’s crises in the aftermath of their collapse to actively experimenting with ways to overcome their limits.
\n\nThose who participate in future cycles of struggle will continue to grapple with these questions. How can autonomous mutual aid efforts use the opening of a disaster and their ability to out-organize government responses to further undercut the legitimacy of the state and the economy? If we understand daily life within capitalist social relations as a constantly simmering crisis, how might projects that arise in reaction to acute crises (such as COVID-19 and the winter storm) maintain their initiative as the window of the disaster closes? How do we move away from a unidirectional, service-oriented model of activism to a model that generates new social relationships and communal infrastructure for meeting shared needs? How can mutual aid and crisis response enable a movement to take the offensive? There is no single right answer or right tactic; what counts is the ability to pose the necessary questions, stay creative, and take the initiative.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/38.jpg\")
This could be you.
\nWe believe the questions we grappled with will reappear because the struggle against sweeps is a harbinger of the struggles against precarity, dispossession, and displacement to come. We have already seen the encampments reappear in the refugee camps around Gaza and the solidarity encampments on college campuses in the United States—where, in Austin, some have experimented with using Signal to transcend some of the limits we discuss here. The camp is an image of the future—a future in which increased economic precarity, climate crises, wars, and state repression produce new waves of displacement and migration, and new forms of repression and managerial governance arise in response. Migrant caravans form tent cities at the border, facing the brutality of Border Patrol and police alongside the bureaucracy of the immigration system and resettlement programs; migrants bussed to New York end up circulating between camps and shelters, facing the brutality of sweeps and the bureaucracy of NGO management alongside a precarious working class that already cannot find sustainable employment or afford rising rents due to waves of gentrification.
\n\nAs these crises intensify, the question of insurgent survival appears on the horizon. We need to organize collective sustenance and dignity in the face of the dispossessions to come—and to do so in ways that will undermine and fragment the forces of the state and capital. To do so, we will have to act both from within and alongside the ranks of the precarious and dispossessed and to join forces with the forms of insurgent self-organization that emerge, such as encampments and migrant caravans. The question is how to simultaneously survive the crises inflicted by the prevailing order with dignity while throwing it into crisis in a way that enables us to explore new ways of living.
\n\n—Some former members of Stop the Sweeps ATX
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/25/5.jpg\")
\nThe successes, limits, and lessons of 400+1 are not our story to tell. We encourage our comrades who participated in that organization to publish their own reflections. ↩
\nAt the end of September 2024, western North Carolina and the surrounding states experienced 30 inches of rainfall over two days when an unnamed storm collided with Hurricane Helene over the mountains of Southern Appalachia. The resulting catastrophe laid waste to the entire region. At a time when misinformation, rising authoritarianism, and disasters exacerbated by industrially-produced climate change are creating a feedback loop of escalating crisis, it’s crucial to understand disaster response as an integral part of community defense and strategize about how this can play a part in movements for liberation. In the following reflection, a local anarchist involved in longstanding disaster response efforts in Appalachia recounts the lessons that they have learned over the past six weeks and offers advice about how to prepare for the disasters to come.
\n\nThe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated that Hurricane Helene poured 40 trillion gallons of water on the region. This caused an estimated 1800 landslides; it damaged over 160 municipal water and sewer systems, at least 6000 miles of roads, more than 1000 bridges and culverts, and an estimated 126,000 homes. There have been over 230 confirmed deaths across six states with many still missing.
\n\nThe entire region was completely cut off from the outside world for a day or more, with all major roads shut down by landslides, collapsed bridges, and downed trees. Water, power, internet and cell service all went down within hours of the hurricane arriving, and remained down for days or, in some areas, weeks. There are still communities that will likely not have electricity for another three months because the roads that the power company would use no longer exist. Six weeks into this disaster, there are still tens of thousands of people who lack access to drinkable water. Not only have thousands of homes been wiped off the map—in many cases, the land they rested on no longer exists. Massive landslides have scoured canyons 30 feet deep, exposing bedrock that has not seen the light of day for tens of thousands of years. The torrential floods moved so much earth and caused so many rivers to change course that scientists have designated the hurricane a “geological event.”
\n\nIn response, a beautiful web of mutual aid networks has emerged, saving countless lives by bringing in essential supplies, providing medical care, setting up neighborhood water distribution centers, solar charging stations, satellite internet hubs, free kitchens, free childcare, and more. Name a need and there are folks out here who have self-organized to meet it. We share these lessons we have learned in hopes of helping others to prepare for similar situations, aiming to increase our capacity to build autonomous infrastructure for the long haul.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/13/6.jpg\")
\nThere is no time like the present to get organized.
\n\nOur mutual aid group has been around for almost eight years. Within 72 hours of the floodwaters receding, we had a functioning mutual aid hub and were mobilizing folks to check on missing people and chainsaw crews to cut people out of their homes and open up roads. We were only able to do these things because we had already put in the work in our community to build the trust and relationships that are so vital in times of crisis.
\n\nWhile we are a small group, we have an extensive network of friends and allies that has grown throughout years of smaller-scale mutual aid and organizing efforts. The best way to prepare for a disaster is not to stockpile supplies, but to build trust in your community and nurture a healthy web of relationships. The best way to accomplish this is to start doing mutual aid projects in your community before an acute crisis arises. This will give you practice operating as a group and organizing logistics, and it will also connect you with others you wouldn’t otherwise meet and show them that they can count on you. Because of the work we had already put in, when the crisis hit, people turned to us and spread the word that we are a good group to funnel supplies and money through. You can only build that kind of reputation by putting in the work now.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/13/7.jpg\")
\nOne of the biggest initial challenges we faced was that most means of communication went offline for between 24 hours and several weeks, depending on where you lived. That includes landlines, cell phones, and internet. We can’t stress enough the importance of having multiple back-up options in place to be ready for a situation like this. First of all, make sure you have a place and time established in advance where folks know they can find each other in the event of a disaster. This is probably a good idea even if communications don’t go offline—nothing beats face-to-face communication.
\n\nSatellite internet was invaluable during the first couple of weeks. For some particularly hard-hit communities, it remains the only means of communication six weeks into this disaster. Unfortunately, Starlink, which is owned by the white supremacist Elon Musk, has proven to be the most useful and the easiest to set up in a disaster scenario. We know from past experience that he is eager to suppress social movements that use his companies’ services. There are other companies that provide satellite internet, but it tends to be slower, with significant data limits. These are generally not mobile systems and would be challenging to set up in the middle of a disaster.
\n\nDon’t forget that you will need a source of electricity such as a generator or solar power to make satellite internet work.
\n\nRadios, especially ham radios, are another important means of communication that should be arranged in advance with people who already know how to use them. Our mountainous terrain limits the distance that radios can broadcast, but it would still have been helpful if we had possessed ham radios.
\n\nSupply chain logistics are a huge piece of the puzzle. They will be one of your biggest headaches. In the first couple days of a disaster, you will probably only have access to the supplies you already have on hand in your immediate community. Stores will be closed and gas will not be available.
\n\nSoon, supplies will start pouring in from outside the disaster zone. The problem is that there will be a significant lag time between the announcement of a request for supplies and the time when those supplies arrive. In some cases, too many people will eventually answer the call, or by the time the supplies arrive, the needs on the ground will have changed. Social media can be useful in getting the word out about what supplies are needed, but it greatly exacerbates the lag time, especially as old posts are screenshotted and shared long beyond their relevance. When you make requests on social media, put a date in both the text and the visuals so people will know when the request was made.
\n\nLearn to anticipate what your needs will be a week from now, not tomorrow, because that is when the supplies will arrive. If and when regional support hubs are established, it is generally more efficient to communicate your needs directly to one of these hubs rather than blasting them on social media.
\n\nThat being said, not every disaster is going to receive the kind of national spotlight that Hurricane Helene did. You may well find yourself in a situation where there are not enough donors or supplies.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/13/1.jpg\")
\nWe need more people in our sphere that own or at least know how to operate heavy equipment. The floods destroyed hundreds of miles of roads and countless bridges. Massive piles of debris and tens of thousands of downed trees also blocked the roads, rendering many areas inaccessible. This is not the kind of problem you can solve with shovels and wheel barrows.
\n\nIn many cases, communities that were totally cut off literally bulldozed their way to town; some used excavators to build new bridges out of pieces of the old bridges. It was not the state doing this work, but hillbillies who own heavy equipment who took matters into their own hands long before the state or federal government showed up. The rural activist scene is pretty well prepared to tackle anything involving a chainsaw, given that our network includes more than a few professional arborists and many of us already cut our own firewood. But we were not prepared for scenarios involving debris piles and earthmoving. Even beyond the immediate need of opening access to cut-off communities, heavy equipment such as dump trucks and track hoes remains crucial to the long-term demolition and clean-up work in the months following the storm.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/13/2.jpg\")
\nAt the risk of repeating a cliché, acute crises such as natural disasters really do break the spell of normalcy that so many of us live under. Across western North Carolina, tens of thousands of people have experienced the joy of breaking out of the shell of isolated individualism and diving into the exhilaration and sense of purpose that collective action offers. Suddenly, people see that we are better off when we work in cooperation with each other, and that there are enough resources to meet everyone’s needs when we collaborate rather than compete. Even for radicals, there is a difference between knowing these truths intellectually and living, breathing, and feeling them 24/7.
\n\nTo be clear, we don’t think that mutual aid groups should approach their work with the question “How do we radicalize people?” as the primary objective. Our primary goal should always be to save lives and make sure that people’s basic needs are met. But it is true that in the course of this crisis, thousands of people have gotten a taste of how we could organize society better. Many of them have a real hunger to keep that spirit alive but don’t know where to begin or where to plug in.
\n\nWe should not show up in disasters the way that authoritarian or Christian groups do, looking to prey upon the vulnerable. Rather, we should make sure that there are ways that those who are radicalized by disasters and the experience of responding to them have opportunities to become involved in something lasting.
\n\nReliable information is hard to come by in a disaster. Even when phone and internet access return, rumors run rampant as everyone scrambles to figure out what happened and what kind of help is available or on its way. Many people will be deeply traumatized: when you have suddenly lost everything or your sense of stability has been pulled out from under you, fear and anxiety reign. On top of this, many of those joining in relief efforts will be running on pure adrenaline. None of these states of mind are conducive to clear thinking. It is important to get grounded and spread calm.
\n\nDo not repeat unverified information, especially on social media. If a statement starts with “my best friend’s uncle said…” or “I heard from a reliable source that…”, there is a pretty good chance that it is a rumor and not verified information. The more sensational the rumor, the more tempting it will be to spread it.
\n\nWe can’t count the number of rumors that circulated here. Most of them only served to spread fear. “The military is coming in and shutting down mutual aid hubs and seizing supplies.” “Militias are out hunting FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] workers.” It is best to take note of such rumors and be prepared in the event that they turn out to be true, but in the meantime, to keep on doing what you are doing until you see otherwise with your own to two eyes. The best way to get reliable information is in face-to-face interactions with primary sources.
\n\nAsk questions of people as you are distributing aid. Whenever we did a supply run or a wellness check, we made sure to ask extensive questions, such as:
\n\n“Do you know of people who are still cut off from supplies?”
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/13/3.jpg\")
\n Count on it: the far right will hurry to capitalize on any disaster, no matter what the scenario, in order to advance their fascist agenda. Within hours of communications returning, there were racist fake news stories alleging that Black and brown people were looting. Soon, these morphed into absurd claims that FEMA couldn’t help people because they had spent all their money on immigrants, and then into even wilder conspiracy theories suggesting that the government had manufactured the storm to disenfranchise Republican voters and that FEMA was going to seize people’s land for lithium mining. Never mind that there is no lithium to be found in the mountains of western North Carolina.
\n\nOn top of this, many far-right and white nationalist groups made appearances in western North Carolina to provide aid. In most cases, they just showed up with a few supplies and left as soon as they had taken pictures to post on social media. It is worth distinguishing between groups that are part of the organized far right, like Patriot Front and the Proud Boys, who are only showing up to score political points, not to help people, and groups that really are there to provide direct aid but also happen to lean to the right. There should be no tolerance for the former. We feel that people should approach groups in the latter category with caution and evaluate whether it makes sense to work with them on a case-by-case basis. Crises make for strange bedfellows; there were a lot of Trump supporters working alongside anarchists to save lives, clear roads, and deliver supplies.
\n\nThe best solution to countering the influence that the far right can build in disaster scenarios is to be better prepared and better organized. The groups that get the most done, deliver the most supplies, and do the most good are the ones that garner the most respect. It’s as simple as that. A good social media game doesn’t hurt, either. It is vital that we crank out reliable information and inspiring memes and narratives to counter the racist fearmongering that the far-right disinformation machine churns out.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/13/4.jpg\")
\nWe need more nuanced ways of thinking about government aid. Anarchists find themselves in a awkward situation in regards to FEMA and other forms of official government assistance. We rightfully criticize the government for its painfully slow and inadequate response to the disaster, but when the government finally shows up with significant resources, we aren’t sure how to engage.
\n\nWe’d suggest that people should approach FEMA and similar organizations with the same cautious curiosity as aid groups that lean to the right but are not actively organizing for fascism. While grassroots mutual aid efforts are a thousand times more flexible and efficient in responding to disasters than the lumbering bureaucracy of the United States government, our access to resources pales in comparison to theirs when it comes to money, machinery, and labor. There is simply no way that we can crowdfund the estimated $17 billion in damages that Helene did. We need to strategically tap into those resources without compromising our principles or weakening our own efforts. Strategies such as helping people to navigate FEMA’s cumbersome aid applications and insurance claims can take pressure off our own fundraising efforts.
\n\nAnother example of how we need a more nuanced approach to engaging with the government concerns the military. The presence of the military drastically changes the atmosphere in a community as soon as they show up. The communal feeling of mutual aid and cooperation can start to dissipate as their chain of command takes over. It is crucial to keep our mutual aid hubs completely separate from the military; do not let them staff or set up shop at our locations under any circumstances. But that does not mean we cannot strategically engage with them to use their free labor (and machinery) to muck out buildings, split firewood, and swing hammers.
\n\nThe majority of military personnel are working-class folks in their late teens or early twenties who were sold a lie by military recruiters, a decision many of them come to regret. It will not hurt if they catch a glimpse of a better way of helping people.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/13/5.jpg\")
\nDirect financial assistance is a huge need that most disaster relief groups are unable or unwilling to provide. If your group has the ability to raise large amounts of cash, you can be an absolutely invaluable resource in the days and weeks after the disaster. Donated supplies can only do so much.
\n\nIn our case, tens of thousands of people have not only lost their homes, they’ve also lost weeks or months of employment. Bills are coming due and the overwhelming majority of folks are not getting anything close to the kind of assistance they need from FEMA or insurance companies. If you have a mutual aid group, set up a checking account in the group’s name and a few different digital wallets like Paypal and Venmo. Set up a website and social media accounts with clear links on how to donate. Do not wait for a disaster to do these things.
\n\nIf you know that a disaster is on its way, take out a large amount of cash to have on hand. Remember, Venmo and credit cards are not going to work when the power grid and communications are down. We have found that most people are able to set up some sort of digital wallet if they need to, but it is important to have cash on hand for those who can’t.
\n\nIt is also likely that if you are suddenly receiving and sending out large amounts of money in a short time, your account will get frozen or the people you send the money to won’t be able to access it immediately. This is infuriating, but there seems to be nothing that we can do about it—these companies have automated systems that flag accounts and they claim that they can’t override the system when your account is flagged.
\n\nGrassroots disaster relief is no longer the exclusive province of church groups and small bands of autonomous mutual aid groups. The notion has gone mainstream since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when so many people discovered that their neighbors were all they had to count on. At this point, well-organized and well-resourced groups of every stripe are prepared to mobilize quickly—from reactionary right-leaning groups like the Cajun Navy and to networks of volunteer helicopter pilots, not to mention radical groups like Mutual Aid Disaster Relief. Beyond these specific groups, more people understand how to self-organize now. Within three to five days of the flood waters receding, you couldn’t drive more than ten minutes without running into a do-it-yourself relief hub or water station in someone’s front yard, church, or gas station parking lot. It would not be an overstatement to say that within a week, western North Carolina had the highest concentration of four-wheelers, all-terrain vehicles, and dirt bikes in the world, as people poured in from all over the South and beyond to help with search and rescue and to get supplies out to cut-off communities.
\n\nMost of these hubs were truly grassroots, with no formal organization behind them. This is an overwhelmingly positive development, but it does not come without challenges. The chief problems were redundancy of effort and lack of coordination between relief hubs, road clearing crews, and people doing supply runs, search and rescue, and wellness checks. The sooner you can develop relationships and good communication systems with other hubs, the better, so you won’t have to be constantly reinventing the wheel.
\n\nCreating an intake system for incoming volunteers and arranging for people to coordinate them is a huge piece of the puzzle. We had to turn away many offers of help in the first few weeks because we didn’t have a good system in place for fielding newcomers, especially those from out of town, nor could we guarantee that we could plug them into a project on any given day if they just showed up, despite the fact that there was always a mountain of work to do. Connecting volunteers to communities and individual homes that need medical care, mucking, gutting, and repairs requires an enormous amount of legwork on your part, not to mention building trust between you and the residents. You would do well to have someone in your group that has a deep love of spreadsheets.
\n\n" }, { "id": "https://crimethinc.com/2024/11/10/how-to-organize-an-assembly-preparing-to-respond-to-an-era-of-disasters-and-despotism", "url": "https://crimethinc.com/2024/11/10/how-to-organize-an-assembly-preparing-to-respond-to-an-era-of-disasters-and-despotism", "title": "How to Organize an Assembly : Preparing to Respond in an Era of Disasters and Despotism", "summary": "In an era of disasters and despotism, one way to get people connected and ready to respond is to host an open assembly. Here's how.", "image": "https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/10/header.jpg", "banner_image": "https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/10/header.jpg", "date_published": "2024-11-10T09:45:35Z", "date_modified": "2026-02-19T06:40:18Z", "tags": [ "assemblies", "meetings", "outreach" ], "content_html": "There are times when people who have kept to themselves, counting on politicians and specialists to solve their problems, suddenly realize that their only hope is to make contact with others like themselves and work together. Perhaps a hurricane has just torn through the state, or a demagogue has just won reelection on an explicitly fascist electoral platform. For many people, this is one of those moments right now. But how do we connect with them—or at least connect them with each other? One answer is to host an open assembly.
\n\nHere, we’ll offer a brief guide, along with some sample discussion questions you could use to discuss how to prepare for the second Donald Trump administration.
\n\nFirst, talk with the people you already work closely with. Get on the same page about what kind of assembly you want to organize, who you want to invite, and what you want to achieve together.
\n\nIs your chief goal to enable people to get to know each other better? To draw new people into existing projects? To establish new working groups around pressing issues? To formulate a collective strategy spanning different groups and tendencies?
\n\nThen announce your assembly. Nowadays, everyone relies on social media to spread the word—but if you want to reach people outside your usual circles, you should also make handbills that you can distribute in person. If you want to organize with a modicum of confidentiality rather than turning out the largest possible crowd, you could limit your announcement to handbills and Signal messages. Generally speaking, you’ll want to maximize the number of earnest participants while keeping your assembly off the radar of people with bad intentions.
\n\nHopefully, you’re already connected to local projects that have some reach through which to make the announcement. These could include mutual aid projects, community spaces, bands, Signal loops, reading groups, DJs, student groups. Consider approaching other groups at the outset and inviting them to help organize or at least publicize the assembly. The more different groups are on board from the beginning, the wider the range of people you will bring together, and the less the gathering will feel like the private property of any one group.
\n\nTiming is everything. If you want to bring people together in response to urgent news, you have to announce your assembly while the news is fresh and people are still prepared to change their priorities. Ideally, they should hear about your assembly within a few hours of whatever news you are responding to, and it should take place soon enough that it will still feel urgent.
\n\nIn the announcement, make it clear what the subject and character of the assembly will be and what people should bring with them (e.g., a chair, a snack, a proposal, a question).
\n\nChoose a space that will be accessible to everyone who might want to participate. Will people be warm enough, comfortable enough? Is there seating? A public park with covered areas and restrooms could work—or, if inclement weather could be an issue, consider a community center. You might be able to reserve a room at a library or arrange with someone who runs a music venue to let you use the space during off hours. Whatever you choose, the space should feel equally inviting to everyone you want there.
\n\nPrepare for success. Don’t underestimate the number of people who might come. This might be your only chance to make contact with some of them. You’ll want to impress them with the quality of your organizing, and you’ll want it to be easy for them to identify a role they can play. Make sure you have enough fliers, zines, snacks, and masks for everyone.
\n\nMake sure people will be able to hear each other. How are the acoustics in the space? Is there likely to be background noise? Should you bring a microphone and portable speaker? Is there reliable electricity, or will you need to bring a power source, as well? Will you need a visible place to write important information? Will people need to be able to make notes themselves?
\n\nIf you are in a multilingual community, consider accommodating multiple languages. Don’t promise more than you can deliver—if you advertise the assembly in multiple languages, make sure that there will be translators prepared to interpret in each of them. If it’s just a matter of translating for a few people, a couple skilled translators may be able to quietly offer simultaneous translation. If there are many people participating who don’t share a language in common, you’ll have to have an interpreter offer consecutive translation; bear in mind that this will more than double how long everything takes.
\n\nHave a plan to deal with disruption. One of the few advantages of a private venue is that it will be considerably easier to remove people who should not be there.
\n\nThink about how to create an environment that will make people feel at home and bring out the best in them. Snacks, warm drinks, and tasteful décor can go a long way. If you want to offer reading material, you can choose from a wide array of zines to print here.
\n\nAt the beginning of the event, you’ll want to welcome everyone and make it clear what the parameters of the space are. For example:
\n\n\n\n\nWelcome everyone! We are so glad each of you has come. In order to ensure that everyone will be comfortable, there will be no filming or recording here. This is a space for us to talk about participatory community initiatives—about concrete things that we can do together to address our shared needs. We will not be talking about or recruiting for political parties of any kind; there are plenty of other spaces for that. Our hope is that in two hours, we will all understand each other better and have a sense of what we can do together.
\n
Spell out how you intend to structure the time. Don’t overschedule! Make time and space for informal conversation before and after the main event. Often, the most important initiatives arise out of informal conversation by the snack table.
\n\nBe clear from the outset whether the assembly is intended to be a decision-making space, and if so, what the process for making decisions will be. It can be difficult to reach consensus in an open assembly comprised of a diverse crowd without preexisting shared commitments; it may make more sense to focus on sharing information and ideas so that the participants can make decisions and take on commitments autonomously. If you are organizing an open assembly, it may not make sense to think of it as a single social body, but rather as a space of encounter where multiple social bodies can form, interchange perspectives, and embark on different projects.
\n\nPlan your time according to your goals. If your objective is to connect people to local organizing in the face of an emergency, you could begin by inviting organizers to announce existing local projects and upcoming events, then invite people to propose new projects, then break out into groups to discuss the proposals, and conclude by coming back together to share the results and planning for the future. Alternatively, if your goal is to formulate a collective strategy, you could begin by opening a space to propose questions, then break out into groups to discuss them.
\n\nEspecially if you are hosting an assembly attended by a hundred people or more, you’ll want to make it easy for people to know how to find the discussion that is right for them when they break into small groups. You could do this by having a point person with a sign for each group to cohere around, or by designating the spaces in advance, whether with signs or on a map that everyone can access.
\n\nBe clear about how much the participants should trust each other. If you are putting strangers in contact who have no real basis for trust, make sure that no one shares compromising information or overextends themselves. If necessary, have someone speak about security culture at the beginning of the assembly.
\n\nIf the assembly is intended to plug new people into ongoing organizing, think about the things that you take for granted that may not be familiar to newcomers. For example, if you are using Signal for encrypted communication, you could circulate handbills with a QR code for downloading Signal, a second QR code directing the user to instructions for how to use Signal, and perhaps a third QR code leading to an announcements-only Signal thread.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/10/2.jpg\")
Click on the image to download the poster. You could use the space on the flier to add a third QR code directing people to a local announcements-only Signal thread.
\nAim to keep your assembly under two hours, with one or two breaks. Better for everyone to leave with unfinished business and enthusiasm than to leave everyone exhausted. The idea is to create a situation in which everyone will want to gather again. And again.
\n\nAvoid unstructured large group conversation and back-and-forth exchanges between two people that reduce others to spectatorship. As a general rule, the more people are speaking, the more people will be engaged.
\n\nWhat follows is not a full meeting facilitation guide, but an example to help you design your own plan. You can consult this source for more ideas and points of departure. Peter Gelderloos has also written a guide to consensus decision-making.
\n\nAs an example, this is a list of questions, divided into personal reflection, local context, and broader systems-scale thinking, about how to prepare for the second Donald Trump presidency. These questions can be used to facilitate large or small meetings, to help think together in order to orient to the present and start making plans.
\n\nYou could pick a few questions from each category and use them to facilitate assemblies and meetings. Choose the ones that are inspiring, troubling, or thought-provoking, and use them to help develop a shared orientation to the present moment.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/11/10/1.jpg\")
An assembly during the Occupy movement in 2011.
\nAs billionaires have clamped down on social media, secure group messaging platforms like Signal have moved to the fore as spaces for discussion and organizing. In this interview, organizers in Austin, Texas describe how they established Sunbird, a Signal account that runs an announcements-only thread to enable participants in the Palestine solidarity movement to share news and coordinate horizontally.
\n\nThis model represents an alternative to centralized, top-down leadership models, showing how a movement can scale up without losing its decentralized, egalitarian character.
\n\nTo skip directly to a step-by-step guide to establishing your own announcements-only Signal thread, click here.
\n\nTell us about Sunbird.
\n\nSunbird was started on April 24 by a group of unaffiliated students and community members in Austin, Texas. Our intention is to serve as an anonymous, real-time announcement and coordination platform to foster greater participation and activity from everyone who is involved in the struggle for the liberation of Palestine.
\n\nA principle that we hold dear is diversity of tactics. Everyone should be able to plan and promote events and share announcements while retaining their anonymity. In the current climate of repression, in which public organizers are being targeted all around the country, this is especially important. Here in Texas specifically, the 5th circuit ruling in McKesson v. Doe criminalizes organizing protest-related activities.
\n\nSunbird is a creative technological solution to this problem. We draw inspiration from decades of movement infrastructure going back to Indymedia, the origins of Twitter as TXTmob, and the work of the Riseup collective, not to mention anonymous partisans in Ukraine, Hong Kong, and elsewhere who have creatively used Telegram groups to similar effects.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/05/27/2.jpg\")
An announcement on Sunbird.
\nWhy did you establish Sunbird?
\n\nSunbird was created in the wake of the internationally coordinated economic blockades of April 15. When students established encampments at Columbia and then elsewhere, it became clear that in order to ensure the longevity and widest possible ownership of the movement locally, there was a need for an anonymous switchboard to potentiate fearless and confident participation.
\n\nThe best way to combat the repression of social movements and to empower ourselves to act is to eliminate the distinction between organizer and organized. We believe that no individual or organization in Austin speaks for the entirety of the Palestinian resistance; consequently, we wanted to create a space that could empower everyone who feels ethically called to respond to the ongoing genocide to take action, announce events, and share live updates.
\n\nWho are you? Are you students?
\n\nWe are an all-volunteer collective. Some of us are students at the University of Texas at Austin, others are community members. We are not affiliated with any organization, student or otherwise.
\n\nWhat scale is Sunbird operating on?
\n\nSunbird is a platform for the Pro-Palestine, anti-genocide movement in Austin, Texas specifically. The need for platforms for anonymous coordination of diverse and creative movements exists wherever hearts yearn for liberation and freedom. We are inspired by similar projects elsewhere, but Sunbird is a special and unique solution deep in the heart of Texas. The power of Sunbird lies in our attention to and participation in our local context; rather than seeking to scale up this project, we encourage people to establish similar experiments with switchboard-style announcement threads elsewhere. We have heard that movements around the country are exploring creating platforms inspired by Sunbird.
\n\nWe grew rapidly during our first few days, quickly hitting the 1000-person limit for Signal groups. To address this, we initially started a Telegram channel, as Telegram has better support for larger groups, but we ended up returning to Signal, establishing a second announcement channel that mirrors the content on the first. Downloading Signal in order to keep up to date with Sunbird was the first time many movement participants had installed an encrypted messaging application on their phones; Signal threads already existed for supply coordination, jail support, and other core functions, so sticking with Signal was easier than changing platforms. Though numbers fluctuate, there are currently approximately 1200 people across both announcement groups, a number that represents a sizable percentage of the most active and committed participants in the local pro-Palestine, anti-genocide movement.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/05/27/6.jpg\")
State troopers and other violent mercenaries prepare to attack students on the University of Texas campus on April 29, 2024.
\nWhy did you choose Signal?
\n\nThere are two major benefits to using Signal. First, the messages are end-to-end encrypted, which means that Signal (the company) does not have access to them. Only you and the person on the other end can access the messages. This makes Signal different from texting and social media. Second, while you need a phone number to make an account, following a recent update, it is now possible to withhold your phone number from the people you message. This is very important for those who prefer to remain anonymous, because your phone number can be used to connect your messages to you.
\n\nWe live in the age of surveillance capitalism. Big tech is actively working with governments and private security companies to monitor and undermine individual activists and entire movements. We see this in the shadow bans on Instagram and Twitter, the firing of pro-Palestine employees from Google, and the well-documented collaboration between law enforcement and tech companies.
\n\nWe are normal people who live normal lives, but we take digital security very seriously. We are not technological or cryptography experts. We don’t have specialized skills. What we have set up is something anyone can do.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/05/27/8.jpg\")
Anonymity is an important part of the Sunbird model.
\nHow does Sunbird work?
\n\nWe use Signal to coordinate, as well as encrypted documents in Riseup and Cryptpad. We work in shifts, since we receive up to hundreds of messages a day from different individuals, organizations, and journalists. To make sure that we all understand what is happening while any one person is away, we keep detailed notes, message drafts, and the text of frequently sent messages in a cryptpad.
\n\nWe set up our Signal groups to only allow admins to post messages. This way, users can keep up with important developments and event information without being bogged down by chatter. All of the announcements in the group are aggregations of group member submissions. Though we edit for clarity—and we would have weeded out content by those opposed to Palestinian liberation had we ever received it—we welcome shared resources and announcements that movement participants believe would benefit others.
\n\nWe don’t forward everything we receive. We avoid posts that would sow fear and disinformation; these can function as a form of self-repression, doing the work of the state. We work to verify all information that we send. We happily forward messages from many organizations in our role as a sort of “switchboard,” but we are not affiliated with any one organization. Our focus is on hyper-local announcements rather than nationally- or internationally-focused graphics, news, and content, though we do include some virtual events that movement participants submit.
\n\nHow does Sunbird interface with larger established organizations?
\n\nIn many movements, there are large, well-funded organizations that, despite their good intentions, undermine movements when they try to establish a central role as the single or authoritative voice of the movement. Just as resistance movements in Palestine collaborate to enable diverse forms of political action to take place alongside each other, we see Sunbird as encouraging a plural and diverse movement not monopolized by any one group. In places where a single organization has been able to establish itself as the “authoritative” voice of the Palestinian movement, this often undermines independent initiatives. These organizations can limit the bravery, ferocity, or creativity of movements, as the organizers are too cautious, unprepared, or incapable of directing those initiatives.
\n\nBy using an anonymous switchboard-style model instead of the centralized model we have seen in the past from groups like the ANSWER [Act Now to Stop War and End Racism] coalition or PSL [Party for Socialism and Liberation], we protect all organizers—regardless of organization—from being held responsible for the activity of the movement as a whole. This is especially important in Texas in the wake of McKesson vs. Doe.
\n\nWhat has Sunbird enabled people to do?
\n\nDuring the first violent crackdown on students and community members, on April 24, Sunbird sent out live announcements to help keep students safe as state troopers called in from Houston violently attacked a planned rally. Sunbird facilitated the distribution of a jail support hotline phone number and circulated updates on police movements and other developments, helping students to remain calm amid the worst state violence seen on campus in decades.
\n\nThe original organizers of the rally tried to work with police to disperse the crowd when the police declared it an unlawful assembly. After the police arrested the student organizers who were trying to de-escalate the situation and end the protest, the crowd became significantly bolder, leading to a several-hour standoff in which the state troopers were eventually forced to withdraw from campus. After the students successfully expelled the police from the campus, they declared the South Lawn a “Liberated Zone.”
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/05/27/1.jpg\")
A student paints a sign at the South Mall on April 25, 2024.
\nThe courage and intelligence of the crowd in these moments—as well as the care, commitment, and initiative of ordinary students who were transformed by their experiences—represent an important corrective to the inertia one often finds in larger organizations.
\n\nOver the following days, Sunbird became a crucial element of infrastructure for students and others who wanted to organize events in the Liberated Zone. We invited everyone to submit event announcements, which we circulated on their behalf. We ourselves organized no events in the Liberated Zone, but we received event submissions from dozens of people and organizations, including a Popular University organized by the student organization that had planned the original protest on April 24, a talk from a doctor who had recently returned from medical mission in Gaza, and a call for musicians to participate in a jam session—not to mention reading groups, live call-ins with other student encampments, art makes, meetings for various newly-formed groups, and workshops on direct action, protest first aid, digital security, and the legal system for protesters.
\n\nWe helped coordinate large supply runs for the Liberated Zone, helping off-campus supporters figure out the on-the-ground needs for food, water, art supplies, literature, and shade. We also helped put people in touch who took on the responsibility of storing these materials every night and bringing them back to the Liberated Zone each morning.
\n\nMany people told us that they would not have felt comfortable planning things without the anonymity, support, and encouragment that Sunbird provided. It often occurred that people would message Sunbird with an idea, saying something like “I think students/alumni/artists should…” In response, we encouraged people to organize events themselves and to use Sunbird to promote them. This approach to political organizing contrasts with the narrow vision of political change that is common among non-profit organizations and authoritarian political groups, which seek to maintain tight control on who participates in a movement and how. For our part, we believe that movements are stronger when people are able to determine for themselves how to contribute their particular talents, experiences, capacities, and specialized knowledge; the role of organizers should be to encourage autonomous initiatives.
\n\nThrough Sunbird, University Baptist Church, which is located just off campus, declared itself a sanctuary space. Intitially imagined as a police-free space for student protestors fleeing violence, over the course of a few weeks the UBC space became a robust movement space with nightly dinners, workshops including media and legal trainings for those who had been banned from campus, and a place to store materials that could not be kept on campus overnight. The church held a nightly dinner for almost three weeks before switching to a weekly dinner. Arrestees from April 24 and 29 have used this space as a place to heal and plan as they face legal charges and pending disciplinary action. Here, Sunbird helped not by seeking to impose any one vision of organization, but by encouraging and promoting different local iniatives, in this case helping to put the pastor of the University Baptist Church in touch with people who had been contacting Sunbird looking for a space to hold workshops.
\n\nThe first meeting of graduate students concerned about Palestine was announced via a message through Sunbird and took place in the Liberated Zone. No one there acknowledged being the person who posted the call, but within an hour, over 30 graduate students had formed a new robust organization with plans to coordinate graduation day actions and to draft a letter from the grad students to UT Austin president Jay Hartzell. As of today, the letter has well over 1000 signatures and graduate students are continuing to talk into the summer about how to use or withhold their labor to continue to pressure the university in the fall.
\n\nOn April 29, we were contacted by students who were planning to set up an encampment. We were able to send out live updates during a second violent crackdown by Texas state troopers on UT campus, which led to the largest mass arrest in Austin since the anti-apartheid movement and the largest mass arrest with charges in this city’s entire history. Receiving live updates from people on the ground, Sunbird was able to help many people quickly mobilize to join and defend the students. We also shared announcements about post-arrest support logistics, including a jail support vigil that ran for nearly 48 hours as the arrestees were released.
\n\nOn Commencement Day, several student walkouts took place at graduation ceremonies while other actions occurred around campus. All of these were announced on our Signal channels or described in live updates we received from students in attendance.
\n\nThese are just a few examples of the events that Sunbird facilitated over the past month. Some of them were organized by established groups, but a large number of the events submitted to Sunbird were organized by individuals or informal groups that had just met, many of them new to organizing.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/05/27/4.jpg\")
Demonstrators stand with linked arms to protect a solidarity encampment at the University of Texas, calling attention to the university’s relationship with defense companies on April 29, 2024.
\nHave there been any similar efforts in Austin since Sunbird got started? How have those fared? Can those efforts show us anything about how best to use this model, or what it is best for?
\n\nYes. Both larger organizations and autonomous initiatives have started announcement-only Signal groups clearly inspired by Sunbird or attempting to compete with it.
\n\nIn the group started by a larger organization, several admins were using their legal names, a practice we would caution against as it can allow the state to target organizers. Furthermore, a group like this can easily become limited in perspective, since it is not informed by submissions from other participants in the movement.
\n\nIn general, it appears that the groups set up to compete with Sunbird were not able to last as long or experience as much success as we did because they did not adopt the principles we used to run Sunbird. The messages they posted were often poorly formatted, included conflicting or alarmist information, and did not foster the same sense that users could directly participate and interact with the admins. This was acceptable if you only wanted to receive announcements from organizers telling you what to do, but many found this a disempowering experience.
\n\nOn the other hand, when smaller autonomous initiatives such as the church canteen or the organized arrestees have started announcement threads, it has been clear that the announcements are specific to those entities. In these cases, the model that Sunbird provided as an announcement-only thread was adopted, becoming part of a more broadly shared strategic intelligence across social movements in Austin.
\n\nHow do you anticipate that the model you are employing might be repressed or coopted? Do you have any ideas for how people like you might deal with such challenges in the future?
\n\nThis model cuts against the impulse to manage or consolidate. Our commitment to the principles outlined above sets Sunbird apart from established organizations. We have gained much of our influence by being calm and faithful cheerleaders of initiatives of all kinds. We sincerely want the movement to win. Established organizations want a megaphone for themselves, not a switchboard for everyone, so a model like this would probably feel like a waste of time compared to the larger reach available via social media. Our wager is that the movement itself requires a reliable switchboard that platforms many kinds of initiatives and trusts the creativity and intelligence of the participants. Without this advantage, we suspect that competing sectarian announcement threads would quickly fade into irrelevance or be eclipsed by better models.
\n\nBecause of their centrality to movements, announcement platforms of all kinds receive a lot of attention. Since October, we have seen state and non-state actors go to great lengths to identify organizers in the movement for Palestine. Though it remains to be seen exactly what forms of repression will emerge in response to this cycle of movement activity, we want to reiterate that anyone employing this model should take precautions to do so anonymously, following good digital security practices and only working with a small number of trusted comrades.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/05/27/7.jpg\")
Packing up signs after a protest at the University of Texas campus on April 25, 2024.
\n1) Obtain a burner phone and set up Signal on the burner. Use Signal settings to hide the phone number and set up a Signal username. To assist people in contacting you, post your Signal username in your profile byline.
\n\n2) Assemble a few trustworthy friends who are willing to take turns as admins. This is the hardest part. These individuals must be reliable, good writers, and willing to sit in front of a screen during entire shifts. The group of admins must be large enough that everyone can take breaks so as not to burn out, while being available to offer second opinions or review message drafts; but it should be small enough that everyone can trust each other and the identities of the admins won’t be widely known. Because of state repression, maintaining the admins’ anyonymity is of utmost importance. This is not something to discuss freely or in public organizing spaces; the admins’ identities should only be revealed on a need-to-know basis.
\n\n3) Install Signal desktop on the admins’ laptops (this is currently limited to five devices). Have each admin send the QR code from their Signal desktop to the person holding the burner phone to link their device to the same Signal account. If you already use Signal desktop, you can download Signal Desktop Beta to use for your own personal device and link your shared admin account to the more secure and stable Signal Desktop app.
\n\n4) Set up shifts. Shorter shifts are better during high-activity periods when admins must be monitoring messages constantly. During lulls, day-long shifts are feasible.
\n\n5) Set up a separate Signal group for admins. This is a good place to discuss message framing, workshop tricky submissions, and generally figure out how to stay on the same page. Determine a setting for disappearing messages that is long enough for consistency and short enough for security (we set our timer to one day). Utilize riseup pads as secure ways to draft messages, keep track of important contacts, paste old messages for reference, and keep lists such as supplies offered/supplies needed.
\n\n6) Set up the announcement thread with your burner number as the group admin and adjust the settings so that only admins can send messages to the group. Put a description of the function of the group and instructions for sending submissions (including your admin account’s Signal username) in the description of the group.
\n\n7) Advertise your group! We created small flyers with a description of the group’s function on one side and a QR code on the other. Friends of ours passed these out at large rallies and marches, explaining what Sunbird is and actively guiding people in downloading the app and setting up a Signal account. Our group’s growth started slowly, then snowballed as more people added their friends. Eventually, we reached the 1000-person Signal group maximum capacity and started a second mirror group to which we forwarded all the messages posted to the first group. If you do this, be sure to link successive groups in the initial group’s description so folks can easily send it to their friends.
\n\n8) Start sending messages! There are a few that we would send at least once a day: “What is Sunbird?” “How to hide your phone number and create a username,” and “How make an announcement or submit an event to Sunbird.” We sent out daily schedules comprised of submitted events, supplies needed at the encampment, and requests from people wanting to connect with others to get organized.
\n\n9) Dispatch trusted friends to actions and events to send you live updates via text, photo, and video.
\n\n10) Don’t burn out! Add admins as needed, take breaks sometimes, and be transparent with the group about posting hours, response times, and the like. It’s OK to match your posting frequency to upticks and lulls in movement activity.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/05/27/5.jpg\")
Police use chemical weapons to attack protesters at the University of Texas on April 29, 2024.
\nShare some tips for writing Signal announcements.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/05/27/3.jpg\")
An example of an announcement on Sunbird.
\nWhat principles can make a switchboard service like Sunbird successful?
\n\nNo one way works. Our movements are powerful when everyone takes initiative. This means that we post events and messages from everyone in the movement, seeking not to monopolize or centralize control but to proliferate a sense of empowerment and participation. While the power of running a platform might make sectarian decisions to exclude certain groups seem appealing, over the long run, this sort of control and exclusion runs contrary to the goal of the platform and could undermine trust in it.
\nTell no lies, claim no easy victories. We work hard to verify all the information we send out. In some cases, this has meant following up to verify that jail support forms calling for confidential information or fundraisers for medical support were being hosted by trusted groups—that they were not honeypots or scams. Overwhelming people with poorly written, factually dubious messages is a surefire way to lose the respect and attention of movement participants.
\nDon’t Panic, Stay Tight, We’re Gonna Be Alright. In high-stakes protest scenarios, fear and panic can rapidly sap a crowd of confidence and undermine the bravery, determination, and resolve necessary to keep everyone safe and accomplish goals. While Sunbird played a crucial role providing live updates, we made an effort to keep our announcements factual. At some points, we held off on posting information (like confirmed gatherings of police far away from campus) that might instill panic rather than equipping people to act.
\nNo Police Orders. The police have megaphones, guns, chemical weapons, and the backing of the courts and the prison system. They can announce their own orders and to enforce them. While other announcement threads reposted police dispersal orders or the ever-shifting rules of university bureaucrats, we chose to not amplify the messages of our enemies.
\nTake yourselves seriously. We are doing this because we want to stop the genocide in Gaza and because we are revolutionaries who believe in the liberation of Palestine and all oppressed peoples. The least you can do is take your historic task seriously: spend the extra time it takes to format things nicely, write clearly, treat every communication with the respect it deserves. The political culture in the US that treats “activism” as an unserious hobby undermines our movements and often results in people treating the political projects they value deeply with less care than the work they do for the careers they hate or the degrees they don’t really care about.
\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/05/27/9.jpg\")
Professors, students, and supporters demonstrating at the University of Texas Austin campus on April 25, 2024
\nIn the following account, a participant describes how people involved in an anarchist social center set up a haunted house last October as a fundraiser to support defendants facing RICO charges as a consequence of repression targeting the movement to Stop Cop City. This is an excellent example of how creative efforts can add a joyous element to political outreach and legal support.
\n\n\n\n\n“I don’t know what to say about it other than it was one of the coolest events ever. I literally felt like you could get lost in our space. I didn’t recognize where I was.”
\n\n-Participant testimony
\n
This video offers a walkthrough of the haunted house. Watch at your own risk!
\nMany Halloweens ago, in a galaxy far far away, our local anarchist puppet troupe (not to be confused with the other local radical puppet troupe, which also involved anarchists) hosted a haunted house fundraiser for the local books-to-prisoners project.
\n\nIt was a wild success. With a sliding scale admission of just $5-10, we raised over $10,000. Dozens of anarchists artistically collaborated, improvised, and laughed together throughout two nights of performance. The haunted house attracted hundreds of townspeople who otherwise would never have set foot inside our books-to-prisoners space, or been to exposed to the abolitionist and anti-authoritarian ideas undergirding the jokes and jumps throughout the haunt.
\n\nSo, years later—to be precise, at our Weelaunee Defense Society meeting last September—when someone made a passing comment to the effect that we shouldn’t limit our imaginations to only the traditional rote tasks of solidarity committees, I leaped at the chance. “Halloween Haunted Weelaunee Forest! But, uh, I can’t work on it. I’m too busy…”
\n\nIn the end, I was still nailing wooden trees together minutes before opening. Not because no one else was willing, but rather because the collective’s creative energy was too electrifying to resist.
\n\nPersonnel:
\n\nMaterials:
\n\nTools:
\n\nLights and Electricity:
\n\nDon’t let this list intimidate you—we made our haunted house a success with the initiative of a half dozen people. That’s all it really takes to get started.
\n\nAs for brainstorming props and mechanics, go to a library and check out books about how to make your own haunted house. There’s a wealth of information on the subject.
\n\nOur anarchist social center is, for lack of a better term, federated. The building has its own name, but inside it, there are half a dozen spaces, each managed by a freestanding organization or project: a community print space, a radical lending library, a queer Jewish zine archive, a co-working space for a handful of anarchist publishers and podcasts, a semi-squatted garden, a harm reduction warehouse, and a free kitchen that serves two meals a week. To pull off the haunted house, we had to get permission from each of these projects and acquaint ourselves with their preferences.
\n\nThe garden and library were already reserved, as another collective had already booked those areas to throw a Halloween rager on the same night that we wanted to do the haunted house. That left us with the harm reduction warehouse, the office, the kitchen, the print shop, and the hallway between those areas.
\n\nTo coordinate with the party crew, we met face to face with as many collective members as we could gather. It was hard to find time for a critical mass of us to meet, but I think it was worth it to sit down in person. There are some things that just can’t be expressed well over text, like the fact that we sincerely weren’t trying to compete with the party, we wanted to collaborate with them.
\n\nWe took a different approach with the project spaces. We chose point people for each room who would be responsible both for coordinating with the regular users of their space and for bringing together the materials and design for that room in the haunted house. By decentralizing responsibility, we maximized each point person’s investment in their room and their ability to respond to the needs of those who would normally use it. The project would have been too much for one person to take on alone. It also meant that each room had its own creative vision for the scares and wonders. The results included jump scares, compressed air guns, falling spider babies, chainsaw chaser guys, and a grotesque, impaled dummy representing a cop.
\n\nInternally, we met in person for a couple of hours once a week, and established a signal thread for discussion between meetings. Both the thread and the meetings were completely open to whoever wanted to contribute. All in all, the project took about a month and a half from start to finish. It was surprisingly little work for what we accomplished. Only afterward did it become clear how much more we could have achieved with just a little more time and teamwork.
\n\nWe only had one “casting call” for actors. As it turned out, this was less a matter of selecting the best actors and more a question of begging the few people who showed up to commit to the roles, days, and windows of time that we needed them to fill.
\n\nOur dress rehearsal took place immediately before we opened. It took about five runs through to start to feel confident in our rhythm.
\n\nEarly on, we decided that all of the money raised would go to support those facing charges stemming from forest defense. We explicitly agreed not to reimburse anyone for costs or materials from building the haunted house. This was a good decision. It forced us to be more creative with our designs than we would have been if we could have essentially just bought the haunted house piece by piece from Amazon or Walmart. Some of us did spend a little money on this or that, but the vast majority of the materials were acquired through anarchist economics—they were gifted, stolen, dumpstered, returned after use, or borrowed. We even attracted two professional makeup artists from the fancy ($60 admission!) studio haunted house in town. They originally asked to be paid but quickly decided that we were cool enough for them to happily donate their time and makeup!
\n\nWe developed the story through big group brainstorming, then we tasked one of our participants—a person who had professional haunted house experience—with synthesizing the ideas into a script. One of the bigger debates in our group was whether an absurdist work of horror was an appropriate way to represent a struggle that has already cost some people their life or liberty. It wasn’t exactly a formal decision, but those who participated most in the preparation and were actually in touch with defendants all seemed determined to make the haunt a direct reference to the ongoing struggle to defend the forest, with our sights set on building towards the Block Cop City week of action just a couple of weeks after Halloween.
\n\nWe had three long build days ahead of opening. Miraculously, no one lost any of their tools in the furious clanging and banging. Often, a small team would embark on a stated task only to be pulled in by a sudden, spontaneous, fun idea that would then take hours to accomplish, morphing again and again in the course of its genesis. Almost every room saw new details added right up to the very last minute. This is a benefit of haunted houses for anarchist expression: they are spaces of maximalist chaos. The more detail, the more it confuses, the more it creates chaos, the better.
\n\nIn addition to the actors in the haunt, we had a Stop Cop City protester to work the crowd as they waited in line and a stage manager to check in on the actors and make sure we took a ten-minute break every hour. Those roles were indispensable. We had a line the entire night and only got all the way through it at the very end: we somehow managed to plan perfectly for the audience that showed up for us. Actors kept showing up until the end, and we managed to improvise to fill in gaps as other actors left early.
\n\nOne of the highlights of the night came when a mostly Spanish-speaking group arrived to tour the haunted house. The “project manager” character started them off in Spanish, figuring that the people in the other rooms would end up using English but that it would be all right, since those rooms weren’t as dependent on narrative. Instead, from one room to the next, the people running each room heard Spanish being used in the previous room and adapted their script accordingly, resulting in a complete tour in Spanish for the group. It was beautiful to discover that we could improvise and collaborate on the basis of our affinities without making formal decisions or even being in the same room together, not to mention the analogous benefits of exercising that kind of collaborative social muscle within an anarchist community.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/01/19/1.jpg\")
\nAs in many anarchist efforts, our chief error was that we didn’t plan for success. Early on in the planning process, we decided to forego a second night on Saturday because the social center was booked for a show. As it turned out, that show lasted two hours, took place early in the evening, and did not use any of the haunted house rooms. Cast and audience alike had a blast on the night we ran the haunted house. We could easily have hosted it a second night—we would have made more money and had more fun. Part of the reason that we rushed to commit to only hosting it for one night was that we were asking a lot of the projects who lent us their space, but we should have had more faith that we would succeed in pulling off something great. Whether you’re planning a risky direct action or just a fun piece of theater with your friends, the most important question in any anarchist activity is “What if everything goes so well that we want to take it further? What will we do then?”
\n\nWe reached our fundraising goal, but we easily could have made double it by raising the price of admission. Admission was basically set at $5 by making a two-for-one ticket price: $10 admission to the party, $10 for the Haunted House, or $15 for both. In reality, the Haunted House was just another activity for the party-goers, and I think they would have paid $10 or more to check it out. Everybody in our collective seemed most comfortable making the admission price as adjustable and low as possible so that no one would be turned away for lack of funds, but—in my non-expert opinion—most of the crowd could and would have gladly donated more to forest defender legal defense if prompted. With dozens of comrades facing RICO and domestic terrorism charges, we shouldn’t take any opportunity to raise funds for granted.
\n\nWe had planned to publish video from the haunted house to hype up the Block Cop City week of action that was scheduled to take place just a couple weeks later. In the end, unfortunately, we just didn’t have the capacity, partly because we had done so little planning around media. Likewise, early on, we had jokingly discussed adding a hell-house-style recruitment effort at the end of the haunt. Obviously, we weren’t actually going to sit people down in the final room and ask them if they would accept militant sabotage as their one and only salvation, but we did miss an opportunity to promote the week of action or channel the interest that we generated and the bonds forged that night into some kind of action treating our local Cop City profiteers to trickery.
\n\nWe also failed to make a plan for cleaning up, which ended up demanding just as much effort as preparing for the haunt had. Fortunately, the success of the haunted house won us plenty of willing volunteers the next day… but still, we should have planned better. You need people to take out the trash, but you also need places to put the trash. Many thanks to the local queer Shakespeare collective for taking the psychedelic trees off our hands. We should have reserved time to communicate with the people responsible for the spaces on the backside of the haunt. Some of them were upset with how we left those spaces, while others expressed gratitude, having enjoyed the haunted house and saying that their spaces were cleaner after the event than they had been before it. The differential between the happy people and the unhappy people was one drawback to the decentralized, point-person model of organization, in that different point people had different standards regarding what it meant to clean up.
\n\nYou should host an anarchist haunted house in your social center! Apart from May Day, is there a more anarchist holiday than Halloween? Dark, mischievous, occult, fun!
\n\nOur haunted house brought in plenty of people who don’t usually participate in other projects at our social center, and the crowd that attended was full of people I hadn’t seen at previous event. And a whole lot of them screamed.
\n\nYou can consult an interview about the haunted house and Halloween party here courtesy of our local radical journal, Living and Fighting.
\n\n" }, { "id": "https://crimethinc.com/2023/05/24/recipes-for-disaster-asphalt-mosaics-a-hot-weather-activity-for-lonely-asphalt-near-you", "url": "https://crimethinc.com/2023/05/24/recipes-for-disaster-asphalt-mosaics-a-hot-weather-activity-for-lonely-asphalt-near-you", "title": "Recipes for Disaster: Asphalt Mosaics : A Hot Weather Activity for Lonely Asphalt Near You", "summary": "A guide to installing unsanctioned mosaics in asphalt streets and parking lots.", "image": "https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2023/05/24/header.jpg", "banner_image": "https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2023/05/24/header.jpg", "date_published": "2023-05-24T20:00:14Z", "date_modified": "2024-09-10T03:55:57Z", "tags": [ "asphalt mosaics", "recipes for disaster" ], "content_html": "We’ve just reprinted our classic manual for direct action, Recipes for Disaster. You can order a copy here. To celebrate, here’s one of the first chapters, a guide to installing unsanctioned mosaics in asphalt streets and parking lots.
\n\nIn the course of the years of research that went into the book, our contributors experimented with a wide array of tactics—some drawn from protest movements, others from outsider art. Some of the most inspired participants in Recipes for Disaster reverse-engineered the process by which a mysterious street artist in their region had installed cryptic tiles in the streets. At the time, almost no one had heard of these “Toynbee tiles.” In the years since, they have become legendary, inspiring an entire mythology.
\n\nAfter we publicized the method in 2004, other tiles began to appear around the country. Others eventually made their own pop-culture guides to the art form; in 2011, a film appeared about the original artist. Yet we have yet to see asphalt mosaics themselves become widespread.
\n\nSo just in time for summer—which softens up the asphalt, the better to receive your mosaics—we offer the following how-to guide. We’ve also added an account that postdates the book. Carry out these instructions and send us photographs of your work!
\n\nThis is a method for making colorful, permanent mosaic installations in asphalt roads and lots. Like glass, asphalt is amorphous, somewhere between a liquid and a solid; this means that a design affixed to it with more asphalt will eventually settle in and become a part of it. We owe our awareness of this technique to a nameless mystic we have never encountered in person.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2023/05/24/12.jpg\")
“You must make and glue tiles!! You!!!! As media!”
\nWe saw the first one in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We were walking along a downtown street when we spotted a colorful patch of text embedded in the asphalt of a crosswalk. It was clearly made of vinyl floor tile—but how was it attached? We found the pictured on the left at the corner of Smithfield Street and Oliver Avenue.\nAs we walked we saw more versions of the same design. While befuddled by the message, we were amazed by the technique, and avidly discussed how it might be reproduced. But a few blocks later, miraculously, we came upon the Rosetta Stone, a similar piece of the same material and text… except that this one featured an additional block of smaller text: instructions! The words were old and badly damaged, but we could just make out the crucial sentence: “…I USE ASPHALT CRACK FILLER…” We got right to work.
\n\nThe next time we came through Pittsburgh we were on tour. Part of our program was a skill share on asphalt décor, and we had already left a respectable trail of color across the country. After our workshop, we ventured downtown to visit the original pieces. When we got there, we found most of them—but the crucial piece, the one with the instructions, were gone. It had been buried under a fresh slab of asphalt. We had discovered it in the nick of time.
\n\nIn a subsequent internet search, we found that the same text has been spotted all over the world, though mostly in North and South America. There even seems to be a fan club. According to one posting, a piece in New York starts with the same Toynbee text, then adds, “Murder every journalist, I beg you.” Well, we would never be so impolite, but between that and the kindly instructions provided in Pittsburgh, it’s clear where the artist stands on do-it-yourself media.
\n\nSo, in the spirit of the inventor who was thoughtful enough to declassify his or her technique, we present the findings of our attempts to reverse-engineer it. Now, go make and glue tiles!! You!!! As media!!!
\n\nThe so-called “Toynbee Tiles” are made out of two kinds of floor covering material: Vinyl Composition Tile and true Linoleum.
\n\nVCT is cheap, even brand new. It sells for less than sixty cents a square foot at hardware marts. The problem is that color selection is generally limited to a few bland options when you’re only buying single tiles. They do come in exciting colors, though, and if you want to order a case you can get almost any color you want; however, a case is expensive, and it’s unlikely that you will ever need forty-five square feet of any one color, so we have some other recommendations.
\n\nA lot of cites these days have salvage building-supply warehouses. They are often non-profit and community-run. These are a good place to start, as they usually have partial cases in a variety of colors. We have also had luck calling and stopping by floor covering stores and/or installation contractors. We ask if they have any partial cases in their storage area that we could have for an art project. Sometimes they are generous, sometimes they ask for a little money. Another method that has worked well with other materials is a classified “want ad” in the local paper. If someone has redone their own kitchen floor, they may have a partial box that they couldn’t bring themselves to toss but don’t really need. People love to donate these kinds of materials to starving artists.
\n\nYou have two options for creating your design. You can make mosaics, or you can make what we’ll call Toynbee-style pieces, in which your text or image is set into a solid background.
\n\nThe advantage of the mosaic approach is that they can be made with VCT alone. You may find VCT to be easier to obtain than linoleum. Because of its brittleness, VCT is hard to cut into precise shapes such as small letters, and large pieces of it can crack apart as the road shifts with temperature and pressure. Mosaics circumvent these problems, by piecing together small, randomly cut pieces of tiles to form a design.
\n\nFirst, you have to make whole tiles into pieces. We’ve developed a method for producing durable pieces of irregular shapes. Using a utility knife and straightedge, score a line 1/2 to 3/4 inch from the edge of a tile (figure 1.1). Now Gently work from one end of the line to another, bending the strip away from the score line. The crack will become deeper and deeper, until it finally breaks. Once you have removed the strip, score it cross-ways to make smaller bits (figure 1.2). It is best to make a wide variety of shapes: squares, rectangles, rhombi, triangles. The more variety you have, the easier it will be to put your image together.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2023/05/24/1.1.jpg\")
Figure 1.1.
\nNext, you need a flat surface. It is best to work on a flat piece of plywood or thick cardboard, so you can move your piece as necessary. Cut out a piece of tarpaper that is larger than your design, and tape or staple it to your work surface. The tarpaper needs to be flat and smooth; tears or wrinkles will mess things up.
\n\nSmear the surface of the tarpaper with an even coat of waterproof wood glue. The glue-cover area should extend one or two inches beyond the edge of your design on all sides. Let the glue dry thoroughly.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2023/05/24/1.2.jpg\")
Figure 1.2.
\nPrepare the surface for layout. With a cloth, spread a thin layer of glue on the dry glue. This will cause the\nletters to stick to the glue surface.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2023/05/24/1.3.jpg\")
Figure 1.3.
\nLay out your design on the glue-coated tarpaper (figure 1.3). If the glue dries before you get all the tile down, add a thin layer of fresh glue. Laying out the tile pieces will appeal to your compulsive side. Put them down like a puzzle, custom-shaping pieces if need be. Aim to maintain consistent 1/8-inch gaps between tiles; as the tile itself is 1/8-inch thick, you can use a piece of tile as a guide (figure 1.4). If the tiles are too close to one another, the tar will have trouble flowing between pieces; if they are too far apart, the tar will span the gap, but it will be a weak spot. A consistent layout will also make your design more readable.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2023/05/24/1.4.jpg\")
Figure 1.4.
\nKeep your design at least one inch away from the edge of your plastic, staples, or tape.
\n\nIf you are using text, lay it out backwards. This is easy to forget! What you see when you are laying out\nyour image will actually be the underside when it is installed.
\n\nAllow the second layer of glue to dry thoroughly. Before you move on to adding tar make sure no tile bits are loose. If one is loose, glue it back down.
\n\nShake the jug of asphalt crack filler thoroughly and pour it over your design (figure 1.5). The ideal consistency of the crack filler is like honey. If the brand you are using is too thick, place the jug in the sun so it will flow better; you can also try adding a little water. The important part of this step is to get the tar between the tiles. The surfaces of the tiles need not be tar-free, but you should be able to see the shapes and some of the colors of the tiles. When the entire design is covered, add a 1/2-inch border of tar beyond the edge of the tiles.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2023/05/24/1.5.jpg\")
Figure 1.5.
\nCut a piece of tarpaper in the shape of your design and, while the tar is still wet, press the tarpaper into the tar. If the paper starts to curl at the edges do something to hold it down. Once the tarpaper is stuck flat, spread another layer of tar on the back of the tarpaper, so it is completely coated with tar. This second layer of tar should be no more than 1/16-inch thick.
\n\nRefer to “Finishing and Installing” below to complete your project.
\n\nThe Toynbee method is laborious, but it looks fantastic, and produces installations that are, by some indications, more durable than mosaics. For our example, we will assume you are using text, although you can use an image instead.
\n\nFirst, cut your text out of either VCT or linoleum (figure 1.6). It is worth your while to use a very sharp utility blade for this. Both linoleum and VCT become soft and easier to cut if left in the sun; if you are doing anything intricate, a heat gun makes the stuff cut like butter. If need be, you can make difficult letters on more than one piece.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2023/05/24/1.6.jpg\")
Figure 1.6.
\nNext, trace the text (figure 1.7). Lay out a piece of linoleum (not VCT) and arrange your text on it. Using\na fine-point permanent marker or dark pencil, make a close tracing of each letter, or place the entire text\non the linoleum at once and use a light dusting of spray paint to transfer the letters precisely onto the\nbackground. If you use the spray paint method, lay out the text backwards, so the paint will be on the\nback side of your tiles.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2023/05/24/1.7.jpg\")
Figure 1.7.
\nNow, cut out the negative space. Use a sharp blade, and make sure your linoleum is warm. Cut out the traced letters as precisely as possible (figure 1.8). Save the spaces in the letters, such as “O” and “B” to put back in. Save the letters you cut out; you can use them with a background of a different color for your next design. Toynbee-style pieces do not require an 1/8-inch gap between pieces—in fact, the tighter the fit, the better.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2023/05/24/1.8.jpg\")
Figure 1.8.
\nStaple or tape a piece of tarpaper on a flat portable surface—cardboard and plywood both work well.\nCover the tarpaper with a thin, even layer of waterproof wood glue. Spread the glue so it covers an area\nlarger than your design by at least two inches on all sides.\nNext, place the design. Lay the linoleum background onto the wet glue so that the readable side is stuck to the tarpaper. Fit each letter into place (figure 1.9). Thoroughly remove any glue that has made its way into the side of the tiles not facing the tarpaper. When everything is in place, weigh the piece down with a board, and allow twelve or more hours for the glue to dry completely; it takes much longer than usual because there is hardly any airflow.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2023/05/24/1.9.jpg\")
Figure 1.9.
\nAfter the glue is dry, apply the tar. Squeeze some tar onto the center of the design, and use a piece of card\nto spread it to a 1/16-inch thickness. Add a 1/2-inch perimeter of tar around the edge of the entire design.
\n\nCut a piece of tarpaper in the shape of your design, and press the tarpaper into the wet tar, just as you would in preparing a mosaic design. Once the tarpaper is stuck flat, spread another layer of tar on the back of the tarpaper so it is completely coated with tar. The second layer of tar should be no more than 1/16-inch thick.
\n\nLet your piece dry. In warm sunlight, most crack fillers will dry sufficiently in eight hours; in the shade of indoors, it could take up to twenty-four hours. When you think it is safe to handle your piece, detach it from the board. The side that has been facing the board is the top of your mosaic. Trim the tarpaper on the top side so that it is a half-inch bigger than the tar-coated tarpaper on the bottom side. The layer of tarpaper on top of your piece will remain until it is washed or worn away.
\n\nPrepare the bottom surface of your piece. Different tar products dry to different consistencies. If your tar has dried like a tire rubber—flexible, yet dry to touch—use a paper towel to spread a very thin layer of fresh tar to the bottom side. The goal here is to create a sticky surface, not to make a layer of wet tar! If your tar has dried to be flexible and sticky, it is not necessary to add fresh tar.
\n\nFind a spot. Asphalt crack filler sticks only to asphalt such as is used to make roads, sidewalks, and paths. It does not work on concrete, brick, or cobblestone. Find a high visibility location. We recommend crosswalks, as your piece is probably scaled for pedestrian viewing: pedestrians will be able to enjoy your work as they cross the road, and the passing cars, will help mash the piece into the asphalt. Also, in their capacity as dumb and dangerous moving objects, cars will faithfully deter someone from kneeling down to pick at your piece. Yes, just this once, cars are working for you!
\n\nDon’t let your masterpiece be covered up in the prime of its life just because the road needed repair. Your tile can last for ten year, possibly longer than its asphalt host. Apply your piece on the freshest asphalt you can find that is also a good location. Also, new asphalt is softer and stickier, and thus more receptive to your decorations.
\n\nInstall your artwork. You should install your design during warm weather, when the asphalt is warm, soft, and dry. If the forecast calls for significant rains in the next few days, wait until they have passed. Bring a small brush to remove sand or debris from the road. Place your piece by simply setting it down, tar side to the road. Now walk, skip, jump, and run all over it to make sure it is firmly planted. The top layer of the tarpaper will serve to camouflage and stabilize your piece for the first few weeks, when it is most vulnerable, while it begins to join with the road. Eventually, the top layer will wear through or wash away, unveiling your masterpiece.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2023/05/24/11.jpg\")
\nYou can give your tile more time to set into the asphalt by adding extra layers of tarpaper on top of the design. Before you go out, cut two pieces of tarpaper a few inches bigger than your tile all around. Smear the pieces of tarpaper with a generous amount of glue, and stick them together glue side to glue side. This will keep them from drying out or sticking to things on the way to the installation site. Once you have laid the tile down and walked on it a bit, peel the two pieces of tarpaper apart and paste them—one on top of another—over the tile.
\n\nBrightly colored tiles look the best on asphalt; colors like dark green tend to be invisible unless they are used effectively with other colors. Make sure there is plenty of color or tone contrast between your figure and its background, especially if your design includes text.
\n\nExperiment with other materials! You have probably seen pennies, fasteners, and bits of brake light embedded in asphalt at intersections; thin bits of metal, mirror, or plastic will work too.
\n\nTo make cutting easier, heat your VCT or linoleum with a heat gun or in an over set on warm; make sure the area in which you do this is well ventilated.
\n\nAs with stickers and stencils, pizza boxes are great for transporting pieces to their designated sites (figure 1.10).
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2023/05/24/1.10.jpg\")
Figure 1.10.
\nThis technique has a lot to recommend it over standard graffiti and wheat pasting: it can be more permanent, it makes use of a medium not yet often utilized creatively, it is still virtually unknown to the authorities and so can be remarkably easy to get away with.
\n\nHere’s a dare: make asphalt mosaics as popular—and unpopular—tomorrow as spray paint murals are today!
\n\nThe following is excerpted from the report on the 2007 CrimethInc. convergence.
\n\n\n\n\nIn August 2003, after participating in the CrimethInc. convergence described in “Under the Helicopters,” my barnstorming group made one more tour stop—in Athens, Ohio. By that time, following an unplanned parade-turned-riot and subsequent media feeding frenzy, there was an APB out and police officers were waiting for us everywhere we went.
\n\nOur final evening of performances and workshops went smoothly enough until the conclusion. We’d been ending each event by teaching people how to make the asphalt tile mosaics described in Recipes for Disaster, then affixing one in a street as a token of our passing. We debated briefly as to whether we should attempt this act of unorthodox vandalism under the watchful eyes of the police, and finally concluded—as we always do—that we had to go for it and let the consequences sort themselves out. A slapstick scene ensued such as one might see in a European comedy: imagine us running around the campus pursued by police and audience members, attempting to elude the former and put down our tile mosaic in front of the latter. In the end, we succeeded in deploying the mosaic, but were followed by police to the house we’d intended to stay at and had to escape through the back alley to sleep somewhere else.
\n\nMonths later, unbeknownst to us and against all odds, the mosaic remained in the parking lot—somehow the police never bothered to have it removed. Long before we ever met, the person who is now my lover and partner walked past a colorful heart set into the asphalt on her way to class every day, wondering how it came to be there.
\n\nFast-forward nearly four years, to the end of July 2007. The tile mosaics our barnstorming tour put down have been paved over and the passionate friendships that bound our group together have cooled. All of us are now involved in new projects and friendships—for example, I’m back in Athens, in an unpermitted parade at the conclusion of the sixth CrimethInc. convergence, surrounded by hundreds of costumed maniacs. Some of them are spinning fire; others are beating improvised percussion instruments, including one enormous drum pushed on a shopping cart; still others have just dislodged an enormous road blockade reading “ROAD CLOSED” from a construction site and are carrying it to the front. Among the whirling dancers and masked faces, through the haze of enthusiasm and good cheer, I can make out a couple people who were with me here four years earlier. We’ve covered a lot of ground in that time.
\n\nMy partner calls me over to a spot in the road. There, set in the asphalt, as fresh and bright as the day we put it there, is a colorful tile heart.
\n\nWhen experiments like these work, they connect us to spaces and to each other in a magical way, giving our lives back the narrative meaning that capitalism drains from everything. They may not immediately overthrow the government or abolish private ownership of capital, but they give us the networks, experience, and sense of our own power necessary for tilting at such monstrous windmills. Separated from our ongoing struggle for liberation they are senseless, but they aren’t only useful as incremental steps towards liberation—they also are that liberation, as we recapture our lives, moment by moment, from routine and obedience.
\n
“Resurrect Dead - The mystery of the Toynbee Tiles (2011).” You can also learn more at Steve Weinik’s website.
\nThis guide describes how a small collective produced and distributed transdermal estrogen using reproducible do-it-yourself methods.
\n\nWhat follows here is not medical advice; it is a report on an experiment in process, providing proof of concept. Generally speaking, if you want to take estrogen and you have the option to acquire it through the prevailing medical institutions, we encourage you to consider taking that route. At the same time, it is already difficult for some people who need estrogen to access it that way, and those difficulties may only increase in the future—so we believe that information like this should be distributed widely. Taking a hands-on approach to healthcare can give you a more direct relationship to your agency, which can give you more control over your safety in the long run, provided you learn about the risks and reflect properly on them.
\n\nAbove all, we believe in gender self-determination: the idea that everyone should be free to position themselves as they see fit within the matrix of gender. Neither governments, religions, patriarchal authorities, nor anyone else should be able to confine us within their narrow visions of who we should be or who we can become.
\n\nThis guide was adapted from a zine by the Fairy Wings Collective, available here along with related resources.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2022/12/15/8.jpg\")
\nWe made our own transdermal estrogen and started giving it out to people. Transdermal means you just rub it on your skin and that’s it: no needles, no adhesives, no eating it. When we tell other anarchists about this, they’re usually like, “Oh yeah, I talked to some friends about that once, but we didn’t know how to do it.” We got together with about four people and scrounged up a few thousand bucks and decided to figure it out. This article describes what we did, some of the risks involved, and how you can do it yourself.
\n\nWith access to transgender health care becoming increasingly politicized and restricted, especially in certain parts of the country, being able to make our own hormones is a necessary step towards ensuring that people in our communities have access to the care they need. Doing this project ourselves instead of relying on doctors, prescriptions, and the established medical supply chain offers more privacy, autonomy, and ease of access for individuals who might find it difficult to access hormones through traditional methods. Our primary audience includes young people, people who are transient or without an established address, people who are uninsured or underinsured, and those living in rural or politically conservative areas. We don’t think we can reach all of those people via our little distribution network—that’s why we are proposing that anarchists in other areas start making DIY estrogen in a decentralized way. We encourage anyone who wants to participate in this project to read this guide and start producing their own supply.
\n\nFirst, some good news: it works! Several individuals started using the transdermal estrogen we made without taking any other exogenous hormones. After several weeks, they had successfully raised their estrogen levels. They were able to adjust the dose by taking more or changing the administration site, as different places on your body offer a higher or lower efficacy of absorption. Below, we’ll offer a more detailed report on their experiences.
\n\nEstradiol suppresses your body’s production of other sex hormones through a negative feedback loop; an estradiol level of 150 pg/ml is usually enough to suppress your body’s production of testosterone into the female range. However, current standards of care and some individuals’ body chemistry may require an anti-androgen to achieve these levels. Since the dose is flexible and site of administration can be changed to suit your needs, some of this depends on your body and the results you want.
\n\nFor more information, check out TransFemScience.org—specifically this article.
\n\nThe process of producing a usable form of estradiol is pretty straightforward: buy ingredients, mix them together in set ratios, apply. Based on our experiences, the hardest parts were researching how exactly to turn estradiol powder into something usable and attempting to find a lab to analyze the estradiol we bought. Now that we’ve done those things, you can copy our steps and end up with about the same result.
\n\nWe encourage you to do your own research and learn as much as you can on this topic. None of us are experts and we would all benefit from learning from each other. The way we chose to approach this is not the only way. We could have bought a pill press and a binding agent and cranked out estradiol pills. We could have produced injectable estradiol. However, based on our limited knowledge of chemistry and medicine and our cleanliness standards (reasonable, but not a clean room and not sterile), we felt that producing transdermal estrogen was the safest and easiest approach. Contamination risk is very real and injectable products must meet a much higher standard to be safe for use.
\n\nYou will need:
\n\nRather than setting up a formal organization, we favor a more decentralized approach. This is why we called our project Boobs not Bombs—an homage to Food not Bombs, a call to action for people in any community to feed their neighbors. Anyone with a small set of supplies can make enough do-it-yourself estrogen to serve hundreds of people. We intentionally chose reproducible methods. Our goal is to equip others to make do-it-yourself hormones as well. You know your community and its needs better than we do. Via direct action, we can secure the autonomy of queer and trans folks, even in the face of an increasingly oppressive and surveilled future.
\n\nIf you are starting a Boobs Not Bombs, email us!
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2022/12/15/13.jpg\")
\nDisclaimer: Neither the vials we produced nor this text are intended to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any medical illness. None of these statements has been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. They are NOT medical advice.
\n\nBoobs Not Bombs is a reference to Food Not Bombs, an anarchist food distribution project dating back decades. Boobs Not Bombs is our name for the idea of distributing estrogen cheaply or for free; Fairy Wings Mutual Aid is the name of our specific chapter. This chapter was created as an explicitly anarchist project and we have sought to organize it around anarchist principles. If anything in here is unclear or confusing don’t hesitate to send us an email at fairywingsma@protonmail.com. We’d love to hear from you!
\n\nA standard dose is 0.57 ml—about a quarter of a dropper—applied to the scrotum or neolabia once per day. Based on the bloodwork we have done so far, this should be enough to fully suppress testosterone into the female range and induce feminization.
\n\nFor lower levels, switch to a less efficient application site or reduce the dosage. You can choose from the following application sites, listed from least absorbent to most absorbent: the soles of the feet or palms, abdomen, forearm, armpit, scrotum/neolabia.
\n\nIf your levels aren’t high enough, you could increase the dosage or apply a dose twice per day. It’s worth noting that once testosterone has been suppressed, higher levels of estradiol have not been shown to produce any benefit and carry additional risk.
\n\nApplying lotion afterwards at the site of application will slightly increase absorption. Using sunscreen will decrease absorption. For one hour afterwards, make sure not to make skin-to-skin contact between the site of application and anyone who doesn’t want additional estrogen in their body.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2022/12/15/6.jpg\")
\nAs in many do-it-yourself projects (and most activities), there are risks to making or using this product.
\n\nSome risks have to do with the supply chain. For example, we tested the estradiol we bought as raw powder and found it to be 97.2% estradiol. The test also showed that it contained no heavy metals. That being said, we weren’t able to figure out what the remaining 3% was. Is there something dangerous in that 3%? We don’t know.
\n\nThe same is probably true for grocery store supplements as well. If a company is accused of putting dangerous chemicals in its supplements, it might be investigated, but otherwise, supplements are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. In our opinion, this estrogen is probably about as dangerous as a standard over-the-counter supplement. If you are able to get estradiol prescribed by a doctor and you can afford it, it will undoubtedly be higher quality, and we recommend you do so.
\n\nNevertheless, that isn’t possible for many people. That’s where this guide comes in.
\n\nThere are inherent risks to taking estradiol, as well. The following is written for AMAB (Assigned Male at Birth) people. For AFAB people, the risks are greater and the rewards are very different.
\n\nFor all people, estradiol is associated with blood coagulation. This can lead to a number of adverse events including heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots, also known as thrombosis. Of particular concern are venous thromboembolisms, or VTE events—blood clots in veins moving blood towards the heart. For AMAB people that take estradiol, the increased risk depends on the dose and the means of administration. The risks are greater with higher levels; some ways of taking estradiol are more associated with VTE events than others. The exact risks are not precisely known, as research on trans people is poorly funded. However, based on the available data, it seems that transdermal estradiol levels within 100-200 pg/ml (and perhaps as high as 300 pg/ml) produce little or no additional risk of clotting events. For a fuller overview of the research, read this.
\n\nAnother risk to consider is breast cancer. Like blood clots, there seems to be a causal link between exposure to estrogens and breast cancer. This also seems to be dose dependent, so higher doses of estradiol will result in an increased risk of breast cancer. As with blood clots, the exact degree of risk isn’t precisely known; for AMAB people taking estradiol, the risk level is likely to be somewhere between the risk levels for cis men and cis women.
\n\nLastly, the primary effects of estradiol itself—feminization and suppression of your body’s reproductive processes—could be considered risks, depending on your perspective. For better or worse, the vast majority of effects from estradiol, like smoother skin and fat distribution, are reversible. However, some effects are permanent, including breast development and, possibly, infertility. Anyone who might use this product should be made aware of the risks so they can make an informed decision.
\n\nEstrogen is not a scheduled substance. It is legal to import it. The other ingredients you need are all legal to purchase. As long as an item is not labelled for medicinal use, it is legal to sell or give away even if it contains potentially bioactive ingredients—think of herbal medicines sold in stores. In many places, you can buy estrogen over the counter to alleviate symptoms of menopause. All in all, we think that the present legal risk is very low.
\n\nHowever, this could change at any time: several states have passed laws against mailing or importing misoprostol and some have introduced new laws restricting access to gender-affirming medical care for youth or even adults. It’s probably better to stay a bit below the radar in case this becomes illegal later. Currently, our chief security concern is publicity from hostile far-right groups: we’re more concerned about showing up on Fox News than FBI raids.
\n\nUnlike estrogen, testosterone is a scheduled drug—it is generally illegal to access it without a prescription. Producing and distributing testosterone would involve a different set of legal risks.
\n\nAs there is insufficient research on trans health, the long-term health consequences of starting and stopping hormone treatment are unknown. Hormones affect many body systems in ways Western medicine still doesn’t understand, and there is little data available on the long-term effects of intermittent hormone use.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2022/12/15/2.jpg\")
\nSo far, the Fairy Wings chapter of Boobs not Bombs has distributed approximately 200 bottles of transdermal estrogen. Early on, we invited several volunteers to switch to Boobs not Bombs estrogen and to test their estrogen and testosterone levels. As more bottles were distributed, people who were starting hormones for the first time also provided lab results. We asked volunteers to wait until they had been taking Boobs not Bombs estrogen for three to four weeks before they tested, in order to avoid lingering effects from other preparations of estradiol they may have been on previously. The results we collected do not meet the rigorous standards of a scientific study, especially considering the wide variety of possible administration sites, dosing, and individual variables including other medical conditions, concurrent medications (hormone-related and otherwise), lifestyle, and the like. However, we can provide the information we received from volunteers.
\n\nSince the beginning of the project, five people have taken or switched to Boobs not Bombs estrogen and provided numerical lab results. While we asked a standard set of questions of each person, some people were unable to have their testosterone levels checked and some provided incomplete information. At least one individual never took any lab tests, but did experience breast development and sensory changes.
\n\nOne person reported applying a quarter of a dropper daily to the scrotum/neolabia, which resulted in estrogen levels of 250 pg/ml and testosterone 200 ng/dl. Two people applied the estrogen to their forearms: one used a half dropper per day and measured estrogen 94 pg/ml, while the other used one full dropper daily for estrogen levels of 125 pg/ml. The two people who administered this estrogen to their armpits were also both taking anti-androgens. Both applied a half dropper per day; one had estrogen levels of 200 pg/ml and the other 842 pg/ml (and testosterone of 33.3 ng/dl).
\n\nAccording to transfemscience,
\n\n\n\n\nCommonly recommended ranges for transfeminine people in the literature are 100 to 200 pg/mL (367–734 pmol/L) for estradiol levels and less than 50 ng/dL (1.7 nmol/L) for testosterone levels (Table). However, higher estradiol levels of more than 200 pg/mL (734 pmol/L) can be useful in transfeminine hormone therapy to help suppress testosterone levels. Lower estradiol levels (≤50–60 pg/mL [≤180–220 pmol/L]) are recommended and more appropriate for pubertal and adolescent transfeminine individuals.
\n
If you want to share your own results, email us and tell us how long you’ve been taking this estrogen, any other hormone-related medications, your dose, administration site, and lab results (estrogen and testosterone levels).
\n\nFor some people, there can be risks associated with not taking hormones, as well, and these can also be life-threatening. Those who want to restrict access to hormones often speak about the “irreversible changes” that are associated with taking hormones. In fact, our bodies are always changing in irreversible ways. Taking exogenous hormones can be a way of intentionally participating in that change in order to move it in a direction that feels more aligned with how you want to be.
\n\nWhile there are numerous barriers that prevent people (especially trans people) from accessing hormones like estradiol, there are comparatively few mechanisms to ensure that everyone who wants hormones has access to them. Furthermore, even when the medical establishment is able to meet our needs, this only occurs on the terms of insurance corporations, medical review boards, the state, the family, and other institutions that have historically served to oppress, exploit, and exclude people. These institutions restrict access to hormones and other resources in order to reinforce cis-heteronormativity (the idea that being cis and straight is the only “correct” or “natural” way to be). They aim to reinforce these ideas and gate-keeping structures in order to diminish our bodily autonomy because that helps them to maintain control of all the other aspects of our lives. Rather than trying to work within and validate the existence of those institutions, we can deliberately choose to work outside of them. We believe everyone should be free of the coercive power of the state and should have access to the tools they need to shape their bodies however they want.
\n\nSome people believe that only massive institutions can meet people’s needs and that those institutions have to adopt repressive practices in order to do so. By making estradiol widely and easily available at little or no cost, we can help people access a greater degree of bodily autonomy and give people cause to question the necessity of centralization and control.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2022/12/15/1.jpg\")
\nThe following instructions have been calculated for a batch that starts with 100 grams of estradiol. This number was chosen because it’s relatively affordable and makes the math a little bit easier.
\n\nThe formula that we used is based on a patent (technically two patents) we found for a transdermal birth control product. The patent describes a product that is 0.24% active ingredient, which is split between a progestin (0.18%) and estradiol (0.06%). We modified this recipe to include only estradiol at 0.24%. We recommend that you look over these patents to get an idea of what we’re doing and to make sure we’re not missing anything. Copies of these patents, the spreadsheets we used to calculate the amounts of each ingredient, and other helpful information are available here.
\n\nBefore embarking on your own Boobs Not Bombs adventure, think carefully about the risks involved and whether you’re willing to take them. Because Estradiol is not a controlled substance, what we are doing is legal—as far as we can tell—given that what we are offering is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any medical illness. Nevertheless, the fact that something is legal has never stopped the state from harassing people. This is especially true because trans people have unfortunately become a target for many conservative politicians. The prospect of people handing out estrogen on the street is ripe to get blown out of proportion by the right-wing media and politicians looking to score points by attacking trans people. If you aren’t comfortable with these risks, consider helping existing BnB efforts by donating to or contacting the authors of this text.
\n\nIf you decide you are willing to take these risks, watch this video discussing why you should never speak to the police. You can also read this text about security culture.
\n\nAs a rule, don’t discuss your involvement in this project with people that you don’t trust. Only tell people what they need to know. If you need to discuss the project with others via electronic means, always use open-source encrypted software like Signal, ProtonMail, and Cryptpad. Of course, every approach has limitations and there is nothing you can do to guarantee that you haven’t left a trace. The guidelines we have set out here should be regarded as a solid baseline to add to, rather than a security guarantee. For more information about digital security, read this.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2022/12/15/3.jpg\")
\nThe first step in this project is to get together with your friends and comrades and see who would like to help make it a reality. If you don’t have a network of trusted friends who are interested in helping, try going to the closest anarchist community center or mutual aid project and see what you can help out with. Hopefully, you will develop friendships with people in the course of working together. If all goes well, eventually Boobs Not Bombs can be one of the projects you can add to your shared repertoire!
\n\nIf you are going to work on this project on your computer, we recommend that you get a Tails stick. This is a USB flash drive with the Tails operating system installed on it. Tails is a secure operating system that only connects to the internet via the Tor network and saves absolutely nothing to your hard disk. To obtain a copy of Tails, have a friend that already has a Tails stick clone it. If you don’t know anyone with Tails, you can download it and read a full set of instructions here. If this process seems overwhelming, find a computer-savvy friend to help you.
\n\nNext, start your computer running Tails and create an email account with which to contact vendors. It is strongly recommended that you only sign in to this email from within Tails. Remember, Tails and Tor are not magic. If you sign in to your personal email account at the same time as you sign in to the email you are using for this project, you will have associated the two. Only work on one project at a time when using Tails.
\n\nTo prepare for ordering and receiving shipments, get together with your friends and figure out how to receive the packages anonymously. The easiest way is to get a friend who isn’t directly involved in the project to receive the package for you. Ship it to them under their own name and then pick it up from them. Receiving packages is a good way people can aid the project while limiting their involvement. Other possibilities include getting packages shipped to a friendly community center or an abandoned house, or dividing up the ingredients and shipping them sporadically to your own houses. For example, one person could order and receive the propylene glycol, another the diethylene glycol monoethyl ether, a third person the alcohol. Doing it in this way reduces the chances that an investigation could determine the pattern of purchases and deliveries.
\n\nIf someone is receiving a package, it’s usually best that they pay for the package themselves using their own payment methods and then you reimburse them in cash. You can probably send multiple packages to some people if the things they’re receiving are not sketchy, such as scales and glass jars. At the same time, you should seek to minimize your online purchases. Wherever possible, buy things in person with cash. Do you need to buy glass overflow jars online, or can you get them from a thrift store?
\n\nYou will need a certain amount of resources to get started. If need be, raise funds discreetly among your friends. You should be able to fund the entire project with about $2000. If you can, set aside more than this to allow for unexpected problems. Store these funds as cash in a secure location. Keep track of how much money comes in and how much has been spent on each item so you can see how much money you have left and identify ways to reduce expenses.
\n\nYour operation will need a physical location. An empty bedroom is big enough, though we don’t recommend a bedroom that anyone lives in, as it would be difficult to store everything you need in a room along with someone’s personal possessions. You should also think about security here. You could find a friendly community space that is willing to rent a room to a member of the project, come up with a persuasive cover story, and rent it as a personal room. Draft a lease that stipulates that the room is not to be entered without your permission and put a lock on the door. This both protects you and those you are renting from: in the event of trouble, they will have a lease to provide legal cover, confirming that as landlords, they are not responsible for what their tenants do.
\n\nYou could use cryptpad to create a spreadsheet to keep track of your finances. This includes managing your money and keeping track of prepaid cards—where they are, how much is on them, what they’ve been used for so far, and the billing information attached to them. For example, if a website requires you to put in a billing address for the card, make sure you note which billing address has been used for which cards. This way, you won’t have the card get rejected due to using contradictory information.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2022/12/15/4.jpg\")
\n1. Purchase and Test Estradiol
\n\nCost: $800 ($300 for estradiol, $500 for the test)
\n\nRaw estradiol can be purchased directly from manufacturers listed on the Estradiol PubChem page. The prices they quote are prohibitively expensive, and many manufacturers will only ship to businesses or research institutions. That may not be an insurmountable hurdle—it might suffice to find a friend with a .edu email address and an address to receive packages.
\n\nAlternatively, you can message gray market vendors from China, such as Hanzhong Han Traceability Biological Technology Co. Ltd. To find more vendors, try searching “estradiol suppliers china” on duckduckgo. They usually sell bulk amounts of estradiol; however, the quality may be lower as a result. When communicating with a vendor, only email them from your secure email account. See if you can pay via money order. If you can, purchase a money order with cash and mail it to them. If that is not an option, use cash to purchase a pre-paid debit card from Walmart or another big box store. You might be able to pay with bitcoin, but make sure that the bitcoin itself was purchased in a manner that can’t be traced (e.g., with cash).
\n\nPurchase 100 grams of pure estradiol, CAS number 50-28-2. Have it shipped to you using one of the methods outlined above. If you used a prepaid debit card, make note of it in your spreadsheet.
\n\nIf you bought your estradiol from a gray market supplier, you will need to test it when it arrives. Go to toxassociates.com. Order a comprehensive drug analysis: tell them you want a quantitative analysis of estradiol and a test for heavy metals. Pay for the test with a money order purchased with cash and await your results. If the test doesn’t come back clean (e.g., they sold you a bunch of baking soda), go back and start over.
\n\nIf you can go in on this step with other groups like yours, you could save a lot of money. Assuming multiple chapters place an order of estradiol together, you’ll only need a single test for everyone.
\n\nYou’re looking for the results to say >99% estradiol and no heavy metals or anything else detected. Ours was 97%. We would love to know what the other 3% is—but after extensive research, it appeared that we’d need thousands of dollars and corporate or academic credentials to find out. If you know of another way to identify impurities in a sample, please contact us!
\n\n1. Purchase 6 gallons of 95% alcohol.
\n\nCost: $650
\n\nYou can buy alcohol in bulk online from Laballey.com and organicalcohol.com. Laballey often offers good sales. Depending on the vendor, alcohol may be referred to as ethanol. Ethanol is the name for the kind of alcohol that you can drink. You could also use isopropyl alcohol, which is much cheaper—but not for internal consumption, as it causes organ damage and blindness. We went with ethanol because we wanted to stick as close to the patent as possible. The patent mentions that you can use isopropyl alcohol, but they imply that ethanol is preferred.
\n\nIf you order from Laballey, bear in mind that they will automatically cancel any order that has a different shipping and billing address. To get around this, have a friend buy alcohol from them legitimately, paying with their own card and shipping it to their legal name. You will need to have alcohol shipped to someone older than 21 and they must sign for the package when it arrives.
\n\nYou could also get around this step by buying Everclear from liquor stores. This has the advantage of being faster and available in return for cash, but it is also much more expensive—we calculated that it would be roughly three times more expensive to use Everclear.
\n\nAlcohol is extremely flammable. Six gallons of it should be considered a major hazard. Do not open the container it comes in until you’re ready to make a batch. Store the alcohol far away from any fire hazards. Never smoke while working with alcohol; make sure there are no open flames anywhere nearby.
\n\n2. Purchase two gallons of propylene glycol USP.
\n\nCost: $150
\n\nPropylene glycol is a very common chemical. You can obtain it via a number of websites, including the aforementioned Laballey. Wherever you get it, make sure that it’s pure propylene glycol, not propylene glycol mixed with something else.
\n\nUSP (United States Pharmacopoeia) refers to a standard of purity for chemicals. All chemicals should be sold to you as USP. If you can afford it, you should send all of your reagents off for testing in addition to the estradiol.
\n\n3. Purchase two liters of diethylene glycol monoethyl ether USP.
\n\nCost: $200
\n\nFollow the same steps as for propylene glycol to obtain diethylene glycol monoethyl ether. We could not find other vendors for diethylene glycol monoethyl ether besides Laballey.com.
\n\n4. Purchase a large wide mouth glass container for mixing.
\n\nCost: $30
\n\nThroughout the manufacturing process, we use glass because it’s nonreactive.
\n\nRealistically, it’s hard to find wide-mouth glass containers larger than two or two and a half gallons. You can find five-gallon glass carboys (the kind of bottles used in water coolers), but it is difficult to mix liquids in them owing to their narrow mouths. You might be able to find a workaround involving a long, narrow stirring stick, a magnetic stirrer, or something else.
\n\nWe used a wide-mouth glass container of approximately two-gallon capacity. Generally bigger is better, provided that you can find a way to stir it.
\n\nYou might be able to find a large enough glass container at a store. If you can, use cash to buy it. If you can’t find one in a store, there are plenty of options on Amazon.com.
\n\n5. Purchase an even larger glass container for storing the finished product.
\n\nCost: $60
\n\nThe size of this container doesn’t matter so long as it is bigger than the mixing container and it is made of glass. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to purchase this item in person at a store. You can get a five-gallon glass carboy for $60 on Amazon.com.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2022/12/15/12.jpg\")
\n6. Purchase seven wide-mouth glass containers of medium size.
\n\nCost: $100
\n\nThe size of these containers doesn’t matter as much. Perhaps half a gallon. These should absolutely be purchased with cash at a store. Walmart and ACE Hardware offer six-packs of half gallon mason jars for something like $20. You can likely spend far less than $100 for all of these if you go to a thrift shop.
\n\n7. Purchase scales.
\n\nCost: $75
\n\nOne scale will need to be a higher capacity kitchen scale accurate to within .1 g. The other must be accurate down to 0.01 g. Make sure that the higher capacity scale can handle the weight of the mixing jar and water or alcohol. For the batch size we’re talking about here, the scale should have a capacity of at least 15 pounds, preferably 20.
\n\n8. Purchase bottles and tincture droppers.
\n\nCost: $600
\n\nThere are several websites where you can buy bottles and droppers in bulk, including thebottlestore.com and containerandpackaging.com.
\n\nBuy at least 350 four-ounce amber Boston round bottles and an equal number of 1 ml tincture droppers. Make sure that the bottles and droppers have matching neck sizes. In our case, we used the neck finish 24-400.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2022/12/15/11.jpg\")
\n9. Purchase miscellaneous lab equipment.
\n\nCost: $100
\n\nFor this step, we’re mostly thinking about gloves, goggles, a table if you need one, and any other small items.
\n\n10. Buy water.
\n\nCost: $20
\n\nBuy four gallons of distilled water from any grocery store. It must be distilled water, not spring water, “purified” water, or anything else.
\n\nOverview
\n\nThe basics of making transdermal estrogen are as follows: measure out all of the raw materials by mass, add them to a mixing container, mix vigorously, pour into a larger container, and bottle it from there. To bottle it, just pour the mixture out of the large carboy into a smaller wide-mouth container, then scoop it out and pour it into bottles. The point of using the carboy is to enable one team to continue to make two-gallon batches while another team bottles. Based on our experience, the bottleneck in this process, ironically, is bottling. Because we bottled by hand, that part took much longer than preparing the batch itself. Using the carboy is a way to speed up the process. Otherwise, the team making each batch will have to stop and wait until all of the transdermal estrogen has been bottled before they can start making the next batch.
\n\nYou’ll be making about five batches of two gallons each. The process is actually pretty straightforward—it just takes a while to bottle. You should set aside about four hours for the whole process. Keep in mind that this will likely be messy, involving alcohol spilling over your work environment. You should pick a place where that won’t be an issue and clean up as you go. Don’t work by open windows where passersby can see what you’re doing—they might think you’re making drugs.
\n\n1. Label all of your containers.
\n\nOnce you’re ready to get started, clean your work surface, lay out all of the materials, and label your containers. You should have a weighing container and an overflow container for every ingredient except estradiol. You should also have a two-gallon mixing container, a five-gallon (or more) glass carboy, and a bottling jar.
\n\nIf you ordered more than one bottle of something, keep only one out on your work surface. This will help keep the space less cluttered. You can also have the bottling station set up separately to keep things organized.
\n\n2. Put on PPE
\n\nThis means long sleeves, gloves, and goggles. If you have long hair, put it up before beginning.
\n\n3. Add 16.4 grams of estradiol in the two-gallon mixing container.
\n\nPlace your estradiol weighing container on the scale and tare it. Then add 16.4 grams of estradiol using a spoon. If you add too much, scoop some back into the container that the estradiol came in. Then pour the estradiol into the two-gallon glass jar. Some estradiol will likely remain in the cup. We will deal with that in a second.
\n\n4. Measure out 2872.9 grams of alcohol to the mixing container and mix vigorously.
\n\nPlace the alcohol weighing container on the larger scale and tare it. Then add 2872.9 grams of alcohol. If you add too much, pour some out into the alcohol overflow jar until you’ve got the number right. When you are weighing out alcohol for the next batch, add this overflow into the alcohol weighing container first. As you pour alcohol into the mixing container, have someone hold the estradiol weighing container in the mixing jar and pour in the alcohol such that it washes it out. Once the alcohol has been poured in, mix vigorously it for one minute using a glass stirring rod. If you don’t have one, use a large metal serving spoon.
\n\n5. Add 2585.7 grams of distilled water to the mixing container and stir.
\n\nUse the large scale to measure out 2585.7 grams of distilled water. Use the water overflow jar to pour out any overflow. When you’ve got the amount right, add it to the mixing container and mix it vigorously for one minute.
\n\n6. Add 1026.6 grams of propylene glycol and stir.
\n\nFollow these steps for propylene glycol (PG). PG overflow goes into the PG overflow jar; add it to the next batch. If you want to be especially precise, make sure to weigh the weighing container after you’ve poured the propylene glycol into the mixing container, so you can tell exactly how much remains in the container. Write this amount down and add slightly more than that amount to the PG weighing container. Add this to the mixing jar, then check the weight to see how much actually ended up in the mixing jar. Repeat until you’re satisfied that you’re close enough. Once you are done adding PG, mix vigorously for one minute.
\n\n7. Add 342.2 grams of diethylene glycol monoethyl ether and stir.
\n\nFollow this same procedure for diethylene glycol monoethyl ether and mix vigorously for one minute.
\n\n8. Pour the mixing container into the carboy; begin bottling; start the next batch.
\n\nWhen you have finished steps 1-7, you have completed a two-gallon batch. Using a large clean funnel, pour all of the contents of the mixing container into the glass carboy. The bottling team can then pour the transdermal estrogen out of the carboy and into another wide-mouth container. From there, they can scoop out the transdermal estrogen using a ½ or ¾ measuring cup and a funnel to pour it into bottles. Leave a little room at the top when you fill the bottles—otherwise, when you add the dropper lid, it will overflow. After filling a bottle, dry it with a towel and then add a label. Store the bottle in whatever box or container you’re keeping the transdermal estrogen in before distributing it.
\n\nWhile one group of people is bottling, another group should repeat steps 1-7. Continue to do so until you no longer have enough raw materials to make another batch. At that point, you can either stop and help with bottling or measure out the last of whatever ingredient you don’t have enough of, and then calculate new amounts for all the other ingredients using the ratios provided. For example, if you only have 1500 grams of alcohol, you can’t make a full batch. But since you know that alcohol is 42% of the batch by weight, you can work out what the total weight of the last (smaller) batch should be and make one more batch before you reorder supplies.
\n\n9. Clean up your workspace.
\n\nWhen you’re done, clean up your work area. Tear off all of the labels of the packages you received and burn them (somewhere far away from the alcohol). This is to prevent you from putting a bunch of incriminating evidence into the same dumpster. Once all of the labels are disposed of, you can discard the boxes as regular recycling. If you peel the labels off the chemicals you bought (the propylene glycol and diethylene glycol monoethyl ether), you can also dispose of them as normal recycling. If not, dispose of each one in a separate dumpster that cannot be connected to you.
\n\nEmpty any remaining overflow containers back into their original bottles. Wash all non-disposable lab equipment thoroughly. Return all of your supplies to storage. You should have about 300 bottles filled, though you might have less, depending on whether you worked until you ran out of an ingredient or just stopped when you didn’t have enough for a full batch.
\n\n10. Print zines
\n\nWe made a zine explaining our process and goals to distribute along with the transdermal estrogen. We designed it from scratch because we didn’t have a model to work from. You’re welcome to take the one we made, change out the contact information and any other details, and print your own edition. Make sure to change the title of the zine to “Boobs Not Bombs—[Your chapter’s name]” or something other than the title of our zine, so as to not confuse people. If you’d like an electronic copy of our zine for editing, email us.
\n\nGiving the length of this zine, printing will be expensive. We recommend finding someone with a printing hook up.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2022/12/15/5.jpg\")
\n1. Create a distribution network.
\n\nFor a clandestine arrangement, keep the bottles yourself and distribute them through word of mouth only. If you’re comfortable with a more public arrangement, you could advertise online and mail the bottles out. If you want to go this route, you could contact hrt.cafe and see if your small operation can be listed on the website. You could also set up a BnB station somewhere presenting the bottles and zines alongside a donation jar. Periodically check the sites to keep them stocked.
\n\nYou could also offer your wares at Really Really Free Markets, Food Not Bombs servings, drag shows, art spaces, and any other location frequented by people who might like to have access to estrogen. Of particular interest are places (such as Republican-controlled states) that are making it increasingly difficult to access hormones.
\n\nThe more decentralized the network that is producing estrogen, the more difficult it will be to suppress it.
\n\n2. Distribute bottles.
\n\nOnce you know where to take the bottles/zines, physically transport them to all of the various locations. You could mail them, but that would be expensive, as the bottles are heavy. If you ship bottles, package them so they don’t shatter in transit.
\n\nIf you’re distributing at physical locations, you could set up a station with bottles, zines, and a donation jar. This might necessitate a folding table or rack for each location. For a donation jar, you could cut an opening in the lid of an old coffee container and write “donations” in large visible letters on it.
\n\nOnce you have run out of bottles and zines, collect a final round of donations, conduct any additional fundraising necessary, and then repeat the process from the beginning.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2022/12/15/7.jpg\")
\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2022/12/15/9.jpg\")
\nA note about email security. The only way to ensure the security of an email server is to run it yourself, and running email servers is not easy. The way that email functions involves a lot of information being transferred in the clear in order to allow for the routing of messages. In this sort of structure, the best we can do is encrypt the message content. Protonmail provides encryption without the users having to do any work, as long as they are messaging other users of the service or have someone’s keys loaded into their account’s keychain. Protonmail does have access to your registration details and the times that certain IPs accessed accounts, and they have provided that information to governments before. If you sign up with information that does not lead back to you and always use a VPN or Tor to check your inbox, this information should not be compromising. ↩
\nIf there’s one thing that police officers prefer to hitting people with sticks, it’s shooting blunt objects and chemical weapons at people. Arms manufacturers are constantly developing new ways to assault people from a distance—and taxpayers keep buying new toys for their oppressors.
\n\nThis article offers an overview of less-lethal projectiles—both chemical weapons and impact munitions. The police themselves don’t bother distinguishing the two. We’ll cover chemical weapons like tear gas and pepper spray. We’ll cover impact weapons like baton rounds, rubber bullets, and pepper-balls. We’ll cover the systems police use to apply these weapons, including air guns, sprays, grenades, grenade launchers, and shotguns. We’ll cover the ways that police mark people for arrest—and the ways they probably don’t. Other articles in this series discuss batons and other police weaponry. One of the most useful articles to read in conjunction to this one is our “Protocols for Common Injuries from Police Weapons.”
\n\nThis can be a scary subject. But remember—their goal isn’t to strike us with plastic bullets or spray us with chemicals. Their goal is to make us live in fear. They want us to stay home, disconnected, leaving their authority absolute and unchallenged. They fail to achieve goal every time we take the streets together. They fail every time we refuse to let that fear dictate what we do.
\n\nIn this article, we’ll touch briefly on how to protect ourselves via gas masks, armor, shields, and the like. Other articles explore those options in detail. But the chief thing that can protect us against the police is solidarity. We are the ones who must keep each other safe. One shield on the front line of a demonstration can protect many people. One medic willing to treat those in the line of fire can protect many people. A few people who risk jail time to push the police back can protect many people. Our best protection against riot munitions is each other.
\n\nCourage is not the absence of fear. It is acting despite fear. Together, we can overcome fear.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1344916089436655618\n\n\n
We have found no evidence that there is any federal or state oversight of what weapons police are permitted to use to quell civil disturbances. According to an anarchist lawyer who specializes in this field, each of roughly 18,000 agencies in the US maintains its own use of force guidelines detailing internal standards regarding what its officers can do to people. We’ve found no body that certifies the chemistry employed in chemical weapons. Any given chemical weapons manufacturer chooses their own binding agents and chemical additives; it appears there is no easy way to know what chemicals we are being exposed to when police target us with these weapons. While this shouldn’t cause us to back down and accede to authoritarianism, it’s important to remember that these weapons are only “less lethal” in comparison to live ammunition.
\n\nThere are only two factors contributing to standardizing these weapons. The first is that weapons that use existing projectile systems (such as 37mm launchers) are more likely to be widely adopted than oddball systems that require entirely new training and weaponry. The second is that manufacturers tend to copy each other’s innovations.
\n\nWhile the federal government apparently does not provide oversight, it does occasionally offer advice and suggestions—for example, in this somewhat-outdated 2004 manual of less-lethal weaponry.
\n\nPolice fire a wide range of blunt force projectiles from a variety of weapons. Manufacturers and police departments sometimes call these “Blunt Impact Projectiles” (BIPs) or “Kinetic Impact Projectiles (KIPs). “Rubber bullets” are only one of many variants. They vary in size, force, composition, delivery methods, and lethality.
\n\nThe sales pitches that manufacturers make to law enforcement agencies emphasize the ability to obtain compliance from subjects via projected force with minimal risk of injury or death. All of the academic studies—not to mention our lived experience—show that neither of these claims is correct: impact munitions regularly maim and kill protestors and they rarely succeed at breaking up demonstrations. They’re even less effective at stopping social movements. Often, when one of us loses an eye or suffers a fractured skull, more people come out to the streets.
\n\nSome of the more common impact munitions include baton rounds, large plastic, foam, gel, or even wooden projectiles that are fired from a multi-launcher or occasionally a shotgun; rubber bullets, metal projectiles coated in rubber or PVC; bean bag rounds, woven bags filled with either silica or lead, usually fired from shotguns; pepper-balls, which are essentially paintballs filled with pepper spray; FN303 rounds, a combination of pepper-balls and regular impact munitions; rubber balls, which are rubber or plastic or foam pellets packed into grenades to explode like shrapnel or shotgun shot; and, of course, the venerable gas canister (bearing chemical agents or smoke), which is not designed to be fired directly at protestors—but regularly is.
\n\nContrary to popular supposition, most modern impact munitions are designed for “direct fire” rather than “skip fire.” Direct fire munitions are for shooting directly at individuals, while skip fire projectiles are designed to be skipped off the ground into the crowd. Tear gas canisters are generally intended for skip firing at close range or firing at a 25-30 degree arc into the air for maximum range; they are not rated for direct fire. Some styles of baton rounds that split into multiple projectiles are designed for skip fire to distribute the projectiles more widely, while others are designed to be fired over the heads of protesters in order to rain chemicals down. Full-size wooden baton rounds and some rubber bullets seem to be designed for skip fire as well, but in general, skip fire is less accurate and less common.
\n\nBaton rounds, stinger grenades, and beanbags hurt. They injure people. Occasionally, they maim or—even more rarely—kill people. Yet of all the tools used by the police, they are some of the least effective at stopping demonstrations. Unlike a cop within mêlée range, a baton round cannot arrest you. Unlike a cloud of gas, it can’t force you to disperse. Ranged impact weapons rely primarily on pain compliance. While this may work on individuals, pain alone usually cannot force a resolute crowd to comply. Standing around getting shot at isn’t always the right move. But the effects of impact munitions can be mitigated by protective equipment including shields, armor, helmets, goggles, barricades, and even umbrellas. Impact weapons rely on fear above all—and through mental preparation and mutual support, we can defend ourselves from fear. We can choose not to comply with fear.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/19.jpg\")
All around the world, intimidation is the chief weapon of the mercenaries who serve the ruling class.
\nImpact munitions are ostensibly designed to hurt people and cause compliance without causing significant injury. But there’s nothing safe about them.
\n\nIt’s been difficult for us to parse the available data to work out which parts are applicable specifically in the United States. The largest study, from 2017, includes information from many other studies around the world. But a good portion of its data—about 41%—describes the use of rubber bullets. Rubber bullets account for a vastly disproportionate number of the serious injuries in the study, and a slightly disproportionate number of deaths. The study found that 3% of people injured with impact munitions die as a result, but that is not a useful number to understand in the context of a demonstration of the US. People do die as a consequence of impact munitions—but it will not be anywhere near 3% of those who are injured by them. We have not been able to confirm whether rubber bullets are currently in use in the US (as they are easily confused with rubber ball ammunition), but if they are, they are not the predominant impact munition in use.
\n\nThe 2017 study found that the majority of serious injuries and deaths were the result of impacts to the head or neck. A smaller study from 2000 found that the majority of deaths were the result of impacts to the chest (causing ribs to break and puncture the heart or lungs).
\n\nAfter the type of munition fired, the most significant factors determining the severity of injuries are the distance from which it is fired and the speed with which the victim can access medical care. Attacks from within ten feet caused the greatest number of broken bones, for example. Also, street medics save lives.
\n\nThe most common injury from impact weapons is intense bruising. And despite police lacking competence and acting with impunity, it does seem like most impact munitions are aimed where they are supposed to be aimed, at the abdomen or lower, where serious injuries are less likely to occur.
\n\nOccasionally, injuries and deaths occur when an officer fires breaching rounds (projectiles designed to break through barriers such as doors) directly at people, presumably by accident.
\n\nThree weeks into the George Floyd uprising, the American Academy of Ophthalmology reported at least 20 serious eye injuries at protests caused by impact weapons (including baton rounds, bean bag rounds, and pepper-balls), tear gas canisters, and, in one case, the probe of a Taser. These included seven instances in which people lost an eye as a result of such an incident, with many more people awaiting surgery, unsure if they would keep their eyes. In one case this year, a journalist suffered a serious eye injury after a projectile broke the protective lenses of his gas mask.
\n\nAcross the world, medical specialists continue to call for the abolition of impact munitions in policing.
\n\nBased on street experience and the analysis of studies, the most vital areas to protect are the head, eyes, neck, and chest. Helmets, gorgets, sports armor breastplates, and impact-resistant goggles, face masks, or gas masks can protect against this, potentially combined with shields. The neck is the most complicated of these areas to protect; most people have never heard the word “gorget,” let alone imagined wearing one while protesting against the police. Basically, a gorget is an item of neck armor worn by fencers. None of us have ever seen anyone wear one at a demonstration.
\n\nWe will discuss shields in a later article. Here, suffice it to say that, to protect against impact munitions, a shield must be strong enough to resist penetration of the round, rigid enough to distribute the force of impact across a large surface area, and be backed by foam wherever the wielder’s body is in contact with it. Plywood 3/8” thick serves well enough, though 1/2” can hold up to more weaponry. Traffic barrel plastic resists penetration well but distributes the force poorly, though it is substantially lighter than wood. No shield makes you invulnerable.
\n\nMost injuries occur below the waist. It appears that the most effectively trained police prefer to shoot demonstrators in the kneecaps. In view of this, it may be worth considering wearing kneepads or more complete sports armor, not so much to avoid permanent injury or death as to remain mobile, effective, and uninjured.
\n\nShields and barricades can help mitigate all of these potential injuries as well.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/gravemorgan/status/1295116634583994369\n\n\n
To understand impact, we have to understand kinetic energy.
\n\nKinetic energy, often called muzzle energy in ballistics, is measured in joules (or in foot-pounds, if you’re not feeling metric). It’s derived from the velocity of an object and its weight, with velocity being exponentially more important. The formula to determine the kinetic energy of a projectile is Ek = (1/2)mv2 with Ek representing energy (kinetic), m representing mass, and v representing velocity.
\n\nNone of us are engineers, but we consulted a couple in the course of writing this article. Basically, we can understand joules measuring the answer to the question “How much did I get hit with?” A baseball thrown at 90 mph might have 120 joules. A baton round might have 240 joules, hitting you twice as hard as that baseball. A .22 rifle might also deliver projectiles with 240 joules, but the baton round is a blunt impact whereas a bullet is designed to penetrate. A 9mm pistol might deliver bullets with 470 joules, an AR-15 with 1850, while a slug from a 12-gauge shotgun could approach 4500. If a 180-pound person fell from a height of 15 feet, they’d have around 4000 joules when they hit the ground. A speeding car? Easily 200,000 joules.
\n\nYet most of us would rather get shot with a baton round than a .22. As one contributor to this text put it, “I’d rather be hit with 200 joules of marshmallows than 200 joules of baton.” Joules are far from the whole story about the damage a given projectile can inflict. The surface area it hits you with (the joules per square meter), the angle it hits you, where it hits you, and the object’s composition (a wooden baton round will absorb less of its own impact than a gel baton round, for example) all matter more. In one study, it took only 375 joules to break bones when pressure was applied at certain angles, while it took 9920 joules to break the same bones when pressure was applied at other angles.
\n\nBecause velocity is more important to energy than the weight of the projectile, the energy with which a projectile strikes a target drops off quickly at distance. A faster object will often carry more kinetic energy than a slower, heavier object.
\n\nIt is useful to start with the energy various weapons can deliver and the impact testing to which various pieces of protective gear are subjected. We’ve found one military document that refers to a “internationally recognized lethality limit” of 75 joules. But these factors do not give us enough information to know how a given projectile will affect a given target. While we are testing various impact munitions against various items of protective gear, we’d like to hear any anecdotes or research you can share about the effectiveness of different forms of protection against projectiles.
\n\nBaton rounds come in multiple shapes, sizes, and materials, but they’re basically big chunks of painful object. They tend to be large-caliber (37mm and 40mm), so that they impart as much force as possible while remaining too blunt to penetrate skin. Many baton rounds also include some kind of payload, such as chemical agents or marking dye.
\n\nMost projectiles that get called “rubber bullets” are probably baton rounds. It’s not necessary to correct people pedantically, but for the purpose of this article, we’re going to make the distinction and call them baton rounds instead.
\n\nThe most common materials for baton rounds are plastic, foam, gel, and wood. While there are far too many varieties list at length, and different manufacturers use different materials for different purposes, the general idea seems to be that foam rounds tend to be intended for short-range fire while plastic and wood are intended for longer range applications. Gel rounds are advertised as being useful at short or long range, as are “collapsible head” plastic rounds. Of course, it’s hard to imagine the police really thinking through exactly which round they want to use for which tactical purpose, especially in chaotic situations, and it’s safe to assume that they are firing all of these at any range they want.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/9.jpg\")
40mm foam baton round.
\nBaton rounds often contain multiple projectiles within each shell that are designed to split apart.
\n\nSome baton rounds have rifling built into the shell or into the barrel of the launcher to spin-stabilize the projectile for accuracy. Most appear not to. While every baton round is rated to a different range, most seem to be designed for use between 2 and 40 meters; only a few varieties are designed for up to 80 meters.
\n\nDirect fire baton rounds are supposed to be aimed at the navel, thighs, buttocks, or knees—though as previously mentioned, it is a mistake to expect police to limit themselves thus.
\n\nMost people struck with baton rounds just come away with a nasty welt. However, baton rounds have maimed and killed people, especially when they strike people’s faces. In July, Portland police shot a 26-year-old protestor in the face with a baton round while he had his hands up. We believe that round to have been a Sage International 37mm KO1 round. The blow fractured his skull, nearly killing him and necessitating surgery.
\n\nThere are also 12-gauge shotgun baton rounds. Most of these are various rubber projectiles that have fins and look like tiny missiles or rocket ships. One, for example, the stabili-shock, weighs 6 grams and is meant to fire at 426 fps for a total of 51 joules of force. We found one video of someone loading the round wrong and shooting it at three times that velocity. We have seen some evidence of police using these at protests in the US.
\n\nAnother make is the Lightfield Superstar, a colorful sea urchin of pain. It is a close-quarters weapon, considered safe for direct fire at as close as two meters. We have found no evidence of law enforcement using these in the US.
\n\nBaton rounds seem to have been invented by the British for use in their colonial project in Ireland, because the rubber bullets they were using at the time were killing too many people. Plastic baton rounds still killed colonial subjects, but at a slower rate.
\n\nModern baton rounds often contain one or more chemical weapons, including OC (Oleoresin capsicum) and CS (common tear gas) most commonly, though CN (which is more dangerous) is used as well. Some baton rounds also contain marking compounds.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/11.jpg\")
37mm wooden baton round.
\nRubber balls are fired individually or, more often, packed into shotgun shells, multi-launcher shells, or hand-thrown grenades. They shoot out wildly and injure people unpredictably. Brand names include Stinger, Sting-ball, and Hornet’s Nest; they are sometimes generically described as rubber buckshot. We’ve found a few common calibers of balls: .32 caliber and .60 caliber (which is to say .32” and .6”), are common in grenades and larger canisters, while “rubber buckshot” seems to come in 00 buckshot size: .33”. Some shotgun rounds are packed with one to three .68” rubber balls.
\n\nAccording to one manufacturer, rubber ball weapons are considered a weapon of last resort when other less lethal options have failed. This is probably because rubber balls are unpredictable in who they strike and where.
\n\nIt’s possible, though we have not been able to confirm it, that most of what people describe as rubber bullets in the United States are the larger caliber of rubber ball. Combined Tactical Systems Sting-balls are in common use in Portland—they are presumed to be the means by which police broke someone’s finger in August. Anecdotally, a lot of them seem to misfire, as demonstrators have found a large number of improperly-deployed canisters.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/17.jpg\")
A sting-ball grenade.
\nThere is speculation that expired rubber balls lose some elasticity over time and become more hazardous.
\n\nRubber balls are also packed into grenades that for all other purposes function as flash-bang grenades: disorientation devices that use sound and light to distract people. One hand grenade we looked at, the ALS Hornets Nest Sting Grenade, holds 180 .32 caliber balls and produces a flash of 1-2 million candela and a bang of 130 db at five feet.
\n\nRubber balls move very chaotically; grenades detonated on the ground can easily send projectiles towards our faces and eyes.
\n\nThese grenades are absolutely not safe to handle and should not be caught or thrown back.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/12.jpg\")
12-gauge stinger balls.
\nBeanbag rounds are bags full of metal (such as #9 shotgun shot) or silica (sand). On average, they are for closer-range use than baton rounds; they more often used inside buildings—specifically, in jails. Every manufacturer and every round will be different, but most seem to be intended for use between 20-35 feet. Some beanbag rounds are “drag stabilized” with a bit of cloth that hangs off the back to keep it accurate its entire effective distance. They are fired from 37mm and 40mm launchers and 12-gauge shotguns.
\n\nManufacturer’s guidelines suggest that it would take 2-3 shots with a beanbag round to incapacitate a target. When they are used in riot situations, they are not usually employed to incapacitate people so much as to inflict a psychological impact on the crowd.
\n\nWe saw one police officer on a forum telling the story of a man on PCP surviving 34 shots with beanbag rounds (though one round shattered the bones in his hand). Police on internet forums often boast about how they shoot rookies with beanbag rounds to haze them.
\n\nWe found Safariland beanbag rounds for retail at $30 or available on eBay for $10. Other manufacturers charge around $6-7 per round.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/10.jpg\")
40mm beanbag round.
\nThus far, our research into rubber bullets has been less conclusive than our research into the other rounds. Historically, rubber bullets for crowd control come in two forms: metal projectiles coated in rubber, as British occupiers used extensively in Northern Ireland, and hard pellets made of a homogenous mixture of roughly 20% rubber and 80% silica, as commonly deployed by the Israeli colonial occupation in Palestine.
\n\nWe know that the police in the US are shooting people with rubber balls, and there has been some speculation that in 2020, DC police have used the steel-cored variety that have killed so many people over the years.
\n\nAs metal-cored projectiles were disproportionately responsible for death and maiming in the 2017 study of less-lethal weapons, this warrants further investigation. If you see police fire rubber balls at people, try to grab some. Measure them, cut them open, and send us pictures.
\n\nThere are also bullet-shaped rubber bullets designed to be fired from 9mm handguns and, presumably, every other common firearm caliber. But as these are fired from regular firearms, they do not seem to have found their way into the police riot control weapon arsenal. So far, the only manufacturer we’ve tracked down that makes this style of bullet is in Canada: Lamperd Less Lethal. It’s safest to assume that the rifles and handgun you see police carrying hold live ammunition.
\n\nMore and more commonly, less lethal munitions are fired from .68” caliber airguns—which is to say, paintball guns. A few styles that we have not confirmed to be in use in the USA are covered above under “rubber bullets.” The more common styles are pepper-balls and FN303 rounds.
\n\nWhile both are used as impact munitions, they are unique to their individual platforms, so we’ll cover them under “launchers” below. However, fascists have lately adopted the paintball gun as a favored tool for street conflict. Rumors abound that they are using frozen paintballs, but we suspect that they may be using rubber balls.
\n\nFrozen paintballs are nearly mythical in the paintball world because local media outlets falsely claim they are favored tool of Halloween vandals. Paintballs frozen in a home freezer for 48 hours do not freeze solid; they only become slightly more brittle and tacky, and they thaw quickly. Paintballs frozen in dry ice are much more solid and potentially dangerous, but unwieldy to shoot. Liquid nitrogen frozen paintballs are as hard as ice, but so brittle they are nearly impossible to load and fire. All cold paintballs become less accurate—as the shell becomes tackier—but sting more.
\n\nIn parts of the world where access to firearms for self-defense is less ubiquitous, airguns are sometimes used to deliver near-lethal force, firing pellets including solid rubber and rubber- or PVC-coated steel balls such as those covered under rubber bullets above, sometimes referred to as “glass breaker” balls. These projectiles are certainly available to US law enforcement as well as civilians; they can be fired from any paintball launcher.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/28.jpg\")
“Glass breaker” balls.
\nAnti-fascists leaking far-right communication logs in Portland in 2020 revealed that at least one far-right militia member discussed using frozen paintballs but noted their lack of accuracy. He suggested instead using glass breaker balls, as detailed above.
\n\nThere are also self-defense rounds for airguns that use a D-shaped round like First Strike. First Strike is a style of paintball round fired from a magazine instead of a hopper, designed for greater accuracy. The same system has been adapted to shoot rubber projectiles with enough force to be deadly. We’ve seen no evidence of their use by police, besides the Pepperball VXR rounds covered under pepper-balls, below, and the FN303 rounds.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/3.jpg\")
FN303 rounds.
\nBarricade rounds are projectiles that are designed to penetrate barriers as tough as glass windows (12-gauge), hollow-core doors (37mm), or thin wallboard or plywood (40mm) and release chemical agents from their nosecone upon impact with said barrier. They are not as effective at breaking through double-pane windows or getting past heavy drapes. The rounds are not meant to be fired at people; they have killed multiple people who were struck directly by them.1
\n\nThey carry OC, CS, CN, or inert liquid or powder. The liquid-carried ones are heavier and penetrate barricades more effectively, while powder carriers are more effective at dispersing gas. Liquid rounds come with red dye that mark where they hit.
\n\nPolice have access to a wide variety of tools they use to project force at a distance. The most common of these include .68 caliber airguns (essentially, paintball guns), 12-gauge shotguns (referred to and usually marked as less-lethal shotguns, but effectively interchangeable with any other 12-guage shotgun), grenades, and 37 or 40mm “multi-launchers,” which are functionally grenade launchers. They also disperse chemicals with sprays, hoses, and smoke candles.
\n\nThese weapons are not particularly inaccurate, manufacturers’ promises notwithstanding. Studies show that when the operators of less-lethal weapons are under stress, their vertical accuracy past 30 meters is significantly compromised. Other factors include fatigue, the weight of the launcher itself, which is significant when loaded, and the recoil of the rounds, which tend to “pull” the round up when fired. These minor differences multiply in effect over distance. What would be a one-inch variance at close range can become a difference of several feet at a longer range. This means that even if an officer chooses to aim a crowd control weapon at someone’s lower body, he could easily hit his target in the head—or hit someone else entirely. There is not a surefire way to shoot any weapon into a crowd of people and be certain to hit your intended target.
\n\nPolice use what amount to paintball guns to launch chemical agents, impact munitions, and marking rounds at people. These are .68 caliber air-powered rifles and handguns. At one time, these were used almost exclusively to shoot pepper-balls and paintballs at protestors, but it wasn’t long before one manufacturer added impact munitions to the projectiles by forgoing a round ball and making fin-stabilized projectiles that contain both chemical agents and enough metal to hurt.
\n\nThere seem to be two primary manufacturers of .68 caliber “less lethal” weapons and ammunition: Pepperball and FN Herstal. We will focus on each one’s flagship rifle as an example, but police might be armed with older models of these weapons, the pistol versions of these weapons, or systems from other companies entirely. The pistol version of the Pepperball system seems to be even less accurate than other options.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/20.jpg\")
Pepperball pistol.
\nThere are also a large number of “riot ball”-style munitions designed to be fired from air rifles/paintball guns (including .68 caliber and .50 caliber), though we have not collected evidence of their use in the United States. These might be anything from solid rubber balls to PVC- or nylon-coated steel pellets to D-shaped projectiles that use “First Strike” paintball guns for increased accuracy.
\n\nThere is a lot of anecdotal information about paintball players suffering eye damage from ordinary paintballs. These smaller projectiles may be especially dangerous in demonstrations. That’s a good reason to wear goggles.
\n\nOf the two weapon systems known to be employed by US law enforcement, the FN303 seems to be substantially more dangerous in terms of pain, injury, and death, while the Pepperball system is more tactically versatile.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/2.jpg\")
The FN303.
\nThe FN303 is a gun that uses compressed air to fire rounds at targets. While the actual barrel is small, firing a .68” projectile like other paintball and pepper-ball guns, the FN303 looks a bit like a grenade launcher from some angles because the compressed air tank sits above the barrel and can be mistaken for a larger barrel itself. It fires polystyrene projectiles that are fin-stabilized for accuracy. Each projectile has a front section containing tiny pellets of bismuth and a rear section containing the payload. Bismuth is essentially a non-toxic alternative to lead. The front section is designed to deliver trauma without skin penetration; but tests on ballistic gel imply that it often penetrates skin regardless, and protestors in Portland have found that the rounds can penetrate bicycle helmets. Bismuth pellets can penetrate skin and stay embedded for weeks until manually removed.
\n\nThe FN303 has a 10” barrel (shorter than a rifle) and a 15-round drum magazine. The air tank can fire up to 110 shots before it needs refilling. The safety is inside the trigger guard. The entire device can be removed from its stock and mounted underbarrel on a rifle, although fortunately, we have not seen any evidence of civilian police doing so. It is also available in a pistol format, with a six-round magazine that contains a disposable carbon dioxide cartridge that powers the gun.
\n\nEach FN303 projectile weighs 8.5 grams. There are five versions on the market, each color-coded. White projectiles contain inert powder and are used for training; clear projectiles have no rear payload and are only used to hurt people; orange projectiles contain PAVA powder (synthetic pepper spray—see below); pink projectiles contain a pink, water-soluble, washable paint for marking targets; yellow projectiles contain a yellow, latex-based, indelible paint for marking targets that cannot as easily be washed off. The projectiles have a shelf life of three years when kept in their original, foil-lined packaging.
\n\nIn 2004, a Boston police officer used an FN303 to shoot and kill Victoria Snelgrove. The officer was allegedly aiming at someone else in the crowd. The pellet entered her eye, breaking through bone and injuring her brain. She died of her injuries a few hours later. Studies indicate that an individual FN303 loses accuracy after a few hundred rounds have been fired through it; the FN303 was the weapon used in the aforementioned study showing how inaccurate less lethal weapons are in the hands of an operator in a stressful situation. The city of Boston discontinued the use of the FN303 as a result, as did several other cities. Boston apparently melted theirs down to make manhole covers. As of this writing, Portland police continue to employ the FN303, as many other departments around the country presumably do.
\n\nIn Luxembourg, in 2009, police using FN303s for the first time shot and broke a journalist’s finger.
\n\nIn 2020, Portland police shot a National Geographic filmmaker with an FN303 round; it broke the plastic lens on his Czech M10 gas mask, lacerating his eye and necessitating surgery. Weeks later, the bismuth pellets were still embedded in the skin of his face, looking like small blackheads that he has been removing himself with a needle.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/1.jpg\")
In July 2020, federal agents shot Trip Jennings, a videographer who has worked with PBS and National Geographic, in the eye with a less-lethal round in Portland, Oregon.
\nThe Pepperball VKS (Variable Kinetic System) is essentially a paintball gun designed to look and function like an AR-15 and to fire paintballs full of pepper spray or other rounds. The user can switch between feeding them via a rifle-style magazine (which can hold pepper-balls or shaped rounds) or a paintball-style hopper (that holds only pepper-balls) by rotating the barrel. They can also use two different compressed air sources: the stock itself is a compressed 13ci HPA air canister or a remote air line can connect to any compressed air tank. Online forums suggest a wide range of how many shots one can get from a 13ci tank, estimating between 80-250. The AR-style safety switch has three modes: (S) Safety, (F) Fire, and (D) Disassemble. A velocity adjustment screw sits above the trigger on the right side. The VKS comes in black-and-yellow, black-and-orange, and all black.
\n\nThe manufacturer’s guidelines say that the weapon is not to be fired at the head, face, eyes, ears, throat, or spine.
\n\nPolice departments use pepper-balls for direct impact as well as area saturation. A Denver PD trainer says that the police use pepper-balls to saturate an area that would otherwise be dangerous to approach, to draw suspects out from hiding or cover.
\n\nThe rifle fires two types of ammunition: round pepper-balls, loaded from the hopper or magazine, which are accurate up to 20 meters, and the newer form of ammunition, VXR-shaped projectiles, which are only loaded from the magazine. The VXR projectiles are accurate up to 50 meters, as they are fin-stabilized.
\n\nThis rifle can fire projectiles at speeds of up to 425 fps. For comparison, most paintball fields limit guns to 280fps for safety.
\n\nEach round is color-coded. The shelf life of ammunition is 3 years.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/21.jpg\")
A pepper-ball launcher with a hopper.
\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/24.jpg\")
A “less lethal” shotgun.
\nA large number of less-lethal projectiles are fired from 12-gauge shotguns. Beanbag rounds are the most common, but rubber ball rounds exist, as do baton rounds, as do muzzle blasts—a means of dispersing chemical agents directly from the barrel of the gun, shooting a cloud of dust 10-15 feet or so.
\n\nNote that the title “riot shotgun” does not apply to dedicated less-lethal shotguns but instead describes shotguns that are designed for defensive fighting, in contrast to a hunting shotgun for hunting or a tactical shotgun for offensive combat.
\n\nWe have not found evidence that there is any oversight in the US that requires police departments to use dedicated less-lethal shotguns, though most departments do. Dedicated less-lethal shotguns are generally designated by the use of bright orange, red, or other color furniture (i.e., the outer parts of a firearm) on the stock and/or the fore end (the part you pump on a pump-action shotgun). While some models of shotgun are sold specifically for less-lethal use, many departments retrofit existing models to color-code them instead. This makes it hard to offer specifics about what shotguns are in use.
\n\nMost police shotguns are pump-action shotguns, as these enable them to fire a wider variety of ammunition. A semi-automatic shotgun usually uses the blowback from the shell to chamber the next shell, and that amount of force is irregular if different types of ammunition are used, causing feeding problems and jamming.
\n\nMost police shotguns appear to have either 14” or 18” barrels. It is illegal for a civilian to own a 14” barrel shotgun without filing federal paperwork for a short-barreled shotgun. Most pump-action shotguns hold between 4 and 8 shells. One less-lethal 18” shotgun we found held 6+1: that is, six shells in the magazine tube and one chambered.
\n\nHowever, we have received reports on the ground of police using full-length hunting shotguns, presumably with barrel lengths of 26 or 28 inches. One comrade in Cleveland reports that these were being carried primarily for intimidation purposes, while the same department fired actual less-lethal rounds out of 18” barrel shotguns instead. The longer the barrel of a firearm, the more accurate it will be, but also the faster the projectile will go and more powerful the impact will likely be.2
\n\nBarricade rounds can be launched from a 12-gauge shotgun. They are not designed for firing directly at people. Despite this, since they are loaded into less-lethal shotguns, officers have killed multiple people with direct shots, presumably unintentionally. Relatedly, “breaching rounds” are designed to destroy locks and doors. These are shotgun rounds generally comprised of small metal shot, or metal powder, often lead, suspended in a medium like wax. The idea is that the round maintains rigidity until impact, expels energy into a hinge, lock, or doorframe, then fragments into a powder after impact.
\n\nWith both barricade rounds and breaching rounds, the injuries result from the initial impact, which can transfer a lethal amount of energy into a target.
\n\nSeveral manufacturers of police munitions sell “grenade launching cups” that attach to the muzzle of 12-gauge shotguns, enabling police to launch grenades that are ordinarily thrown by hand. These are used by attaching the cup to the end of the barrel and loading special launching cartridges into the gun.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/13.jpg\")
12-gauge beanbag round.
\nThe majority of riot munitions—including tear gas canisters, muzzle blasts, baton rounds, flash-bangs, and marking rounds—are fired from devices designed as grenade launchers. For the purpose of disambiguation, we’re going to refer to them as “multi-launchers,” as some sites call them, because they fire a wide range of devices, not just grenades. These are also sometimes called “riot guns” or “less-lethal launchers,” but “riot gun” is often used in the US to describe lethal “riot shotguns.”
\n\nThere are two common calibers of multi-launchers, 37mm and 40mm. Traditionally, 40mm launchers are seen as “military” and 37mm launchers as “civilian,” but the police employ both and the differences between the two seem to be minor. It can be legal for a civilian in the United States to own a 37mm launcher so long as the munitions they use with it are not anti-personnel; flares and fireworks are legal, while baton rounds are not. There are also 38mm munitions, and most 37mm less-lethal launchers we’ve seen are advertised as firing 38mm munitions as well. 38mm munitions might be more common outside the United States.
\n\nAll 40mm grenades used in protest situations seem to fit the “40x46mm” NATO standard for low-velocity grenades, which is the standard used for handheld launchers, unlike the 40x53mm high-velocity grenades that are generally fired from mounted and crew-served weapons (i.e., guns that are designed to be operated by two or more people at a time). The ammunition is not interchangeable between these systems.
\n\nMany multi-launcher projectiles are fired with black powder, rather than more modern gunpowder, which causes sparks and smoke. This is done because these projectiles are more fragile than most modern ammunition. Some are available in “smokeless” models that, presumably, use EC smokeless powder, a slightly more modern variant of black powder that produces less smoke.
\n\nWhen people report with shock that police who work at public schools have “grenade launchers,” this likely means multi-launchers. The police probably don’t plan to fire live grenades at students; rather, they plan to poison them with chemical weapons that are explicitly banned for use in war by the Geneva Convention.
\n\nPistol-style launchers exist, but are generally designed only for muzzle blasts.
\n\nFull-size launchers are usually either breech-loaded single-shot guns (in which the barrel hinges away from the handle and a single round is inserted) or drum-fed versions that look like gigantic revolvers. These revolvers are usually advanced by a pump action, rather than a trigger as in a conventional revolver. These tend to hold between 4 to 6 rounds, depending on the model. Some are rifled to spin projectiles for better accuracy. Internationally, many have wooden stocks and look more like traditional rifles, while most of what we’ve seen in the US are “tactical” style guns with pistol grips in addition to stocks as well as vertical fore grips—a style that is not legal for civilians without special permission.
\n\nLaunchers can also be mounted under the barrel of a rifle, rather than operating as standalone devices. This style is in common use in military situations but does not seem to be common among law enforcement.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/25.jpg\")
A multi-launcher.
\nFor the purpose of this article, we are distinguishing “canisters,” designed to be fired from launchers, from “grenades” that are designed to be thrown by hand. In reality, there is no such clear distinction. Some weapons are designed to be thrown or rolled by hand, while others are designed to be loaded into multi-launchers—but some are designed for both.
\n\nGrenades are often used to disperse chemical agents and/or impact munitions, particularly rubber balls. Other grenades are “distraction devices,” generally referred to as flash-bangs. Many combine these functions.
\n\nWe’ve found at least three body styles for police grenades. There is the ball grenade, which looks like a classic baseball-style military grenade, designed to be thrown or rolled. These often contain rubber ball impact munitions, possibly paired with chemical weapons, while others are traditional pyrotechnic tear gas grenades. There are the “low roll” body grenades, which are cylinders with large hex-shaped ends that minimize the distance the grenade will roll. Then there are the regular canister grenades, which appear to be the most common style. These can be of any diameter, but 37/38m, 40mm, 45mm, and 60mm seem to be the most common.
\n\nGas grenades and canisters can disperse chemical agents through a number of methods. The most common is the classic pyrotechnic dispersal, which works by creating a fire inside the canister that releases the chemical agent as smoke. These canisters are very hot and can spark and start other fires.
\n\nAnother dispersal method, used more often by OC canisters than CS canisters, is aerosol dispersal (sometimes called “flameless expulsion”). Releasing something more akin to a mist than a smoke, these are more commonly used indoors, where pyrotechnic canisters would be less convenient. As best as we are able to determine, these are generally not used as much outside because they produce less dense concentrations of chemical agents.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/26.jpg\")
An instantaneous blast grenade.
\nFinally, there are instantaneous blast canisters, which explode all at once and release their payload as a powder. These are designed for inside or outside use, but as the dust is easily dispersed by wind, they are intended primarily for use against dense crowds of people, when pyrotechnic grenades are less effective, either owing to throwback potential or the risk of starting unintentional fires. These canisters are easily identified after the fact because they are split open along the sides.
\n\nGas dispersal canisters are often designed to separate into a number of sub-munitions, like the “triple chaser” from Defense Technology that splits into three smaller tear gas canisters. This is done to make it more work for us to throw them back or douse them with water.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/14.jpg\")
The “triple chaser” from Defense Technology that splits into three smaller tear gas canisters.
\n\nhttps://twitter.com/comradecamera/status/1352152555933978627\n\n\n
Less-lethal grenades are generally equipped with fuses like any military grenade: the user pulls a pin, which makes it possible to release a lever that is gripped in the hand. Once the lever is released, the fuse is ignited. While fuses could be of varying length, we have found two second delays to be common: a 1.5-second delay before the fuse is ignited, then .5 seconds for the fuse itself. On at least some models, the fuse assembly ejects itself before the payload is ignited so that it does not become a projectile.
\n\nSome grenades come with additional safety clips that prevent the fuse from being pulled while the grenade is being carried. Some come with water-resistant bodies for high-humidity environments. Some, particularly flash-bangs, are reloadable. People have reported seeing police combing the area after protests and picking up certain spent munitions. It’s possible they are doing this to conceal the use of some particularly egregious weapons (such as DM gas), but it’s also possible they are recovering reloadable grenades.
\n\nGrenades can also be “command initiated” instead of lit by a fuse. This system seems to be more common in tactical situations, such as house raids, rather than at demonstrations that are more dynamic. This system involves attaching a tube to the grenade to allow for instantaneous, remote detonation.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/7.jpg\")
A federal officer using a fogger to assault a legal observer from the American Civil Liberties Union in Portland, summer 2020.
\nIn addition to firing canisters that release chemicals as smoke, police also spray people directly with chemicals with handheld devices. The two chemicals we’ve found in our research are OC (pepper spray) and CS (a tear gas), but almost any chemical agent can be aerosolized and sprayed. Depending on the manufacturer, the chemical irritant, and the spray pattern, these can employ any number of propellants, such as compressed air, nitrogen, or the refrigeration chemical ominously named 134a. There are numerous spray patterns, from the simple “stream” pattern to cones, fog (or “vapor”), and even foam.
\n\nChemical sprays, unlike pyrotechnic dispersal methods that disperse a powdered irritant, generally aerosolize a liquid form of the chemical. This can be water-based or oil-based; consequently, chemical weapon protection should be rated against oil-borne particulates (P100 filters instead of N100 filters). Foggers use a liquid formulation as well, but aerosolize this liquid pyrotechnically (the way a fog machine does) rather than by using an aerosol gas.
\n\nChemical sprays come in a range of different concentrations and it would be difficult to anticipate which is ones law enforcement are utilizing without research. To make matters more complicated, the strength of OC (the most common sprayed irritant) is notoriously difficult to identify. Manufacturers’ claims are not regulated, and there are many different types of capsaicinoids that might be present in a given variant of OC gas. There is probably internal consistency within each manufacturer’s line of weapons, but that’s about it. One manufacturer’s 2% spray might be more powerful than another’s 4% spray. Those numbers are almost meaningless on their own.
\n\nSmall handheld canisters with a button on top seem to be accurate from 10-12 feet, while larger canisters with a trigger assembly seem to be accurate up to 15-20 feet, although this differs from manufacturer to manufacturer.\nMany spray systems also contain visible or UV reactive dyes to mark targets. UV dye is particularly common in civilian self-defense spray, while police in Seattle and other cities are known to use visible dye to mark demonstrators for arrest.
\n\nThere are larger canisters that operate on the same principles as the smaller ones. These often look more like full-size fire extinguishers. Then there are backpack devices with separate spray nozzles and tanks—the “Ghostbusters” variety, as some have called them. These can operate with either powder or liquid chemicals; at least one model has an effective range of 45 feet. Portland police have been seen to conceal backpack chemical foggers inside an unmarked black backpack with a spray nozzle attached to a hose protruding from the bottom.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/PredatorFiles/status/1287725556453187590\n\n\n
There are also devices that look like a cross between a fog machine and a leaf blower that are gas-powered and are designed to fill large areas with poison. Like the backpack foggers, these are generally designed for use in prisons, not at demonstrations. As we’ve seen recently, however, riot police will often use any weapon available to them.
\n\nFinally, chemical weapons are sometimes mixed with water and dispersed through fire hoses or water cannons. None of us had seen this method in use in the United States until the 2020 protests in Portland. Chemical burns on a nearby tree were consistent with chlorine poisoning, which could be the result of expired chemistry. This means of chemical weapon dispersal has been used in Hong Kong, Thailand, and Turkey; it is presumably possible in any country that uses water cannons against demonstrators.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/6.jpg\")
Federal troops poisoning downtown Portland with a fogger, summer 2020.
\nA hundred years ago, when chemical warfare was first emerging, some poisonous gasses were dispersed by “candles,” which would burn and release gas. Functionally, this is the same thing as a modern tear gas grenade, which uses pyrotechnics to disperse chemical powder; the phrase “tear gas candle” could be used to describe any pyrotechnic tear gas canister.
\n\nYet in the summer of 2020, we saw either police or federal agents walking through the streets of Portland holding a burning object at the end of a stick. This looked, for all the world, like a censor at a Catholic mass with smoke pouring out of it.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/15.jpg\")
Officers distributing tear gas in Portland, summer 2020.
\nWe don’t know for certain whether this was a chemical agent (probably) or inert smoke, but it feels noteworthy that the only tear gas we’ve come across that was designed for dispersal in “candles” like this is DM gas, the vomit gas that protestors believe is in use in Portland. This would mark a major escalation in the form of chemical warfare employed against protestors.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/23.jpg\")
A civilian pepper spray.
\nAs with all many other less-lethal weapons, the distinctions between categories of chemicals are actually quite blurry.
\n\nConventional parlance divides chemical weapons in two categories: tear gas and pepper spray. While these distinctions exist, they’re not clear-cut. If we imagine “tear gas” as clouds of smoke or dust and “pepper spray” as chemical sprays, this is really a question of methods of dispersal, not the actual chemicals being used.
\n\nWe will discuss seven different chemicals herein. Although something like fifteen varieties have been developed, we will focus on the most common ones that are either known to be used against demonstrators or at least widely suspected of being used thus. Of those seven, five of them are usually dispersed as gas, while two usually appear as a chemical spray. But it’s possible for almost any chemical to be dispersed by almost any means, and we have seen quite a bit of crossover.
\n\nThe five tear gasses, in brief, are:
\n\nThe two pepper spray chemicals are:
\n\nWe will largely conflate these two throughout this article, as we’ve had a hard time identifying any significant distinction between them.
\n\nThe first self-defense sprays were actually filled with CN gas, but OC is generally more effective at disabling a target. There are sprays filled with CS, CN, and OC. There are also tear gas munitions filled with OC and PAVA.
\n\nFor the ostensible purposes of crowd control, OC (or PAVA) is the most effective tear gas agent. It is the fastest acting, the most debilitating, and the least toxic, and its victims recover faster. CS gas is in second place; it is more traditionally used, and the most widely available.
\n\nBy any measure, no other tear gas agent besides OC or CS has any use even from a statist point of view except to punish and poison people. They are outdated and cruel technologies. We don’t say that in order to ask for sympathy or to appeal to the moral judgment of the state, but simply to point out that the cruelty is the point.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/22.jpg\")
Common pepper spray.
\nChemical weapons are used for a number of tactical purposes. As we’ve found with impact munitions, police employ them in many ways that they were never designed to be used. In general, tear gas is designed to control the movement of crowds, or to disperse crowds. Tear gas clouds are meant to discourage people from occupying particular areas. Police can use tear gas to direct a crowd much the same way that lines of riot police can: most people will avoid the gas and will move in the direction of clear air. The same crowd control effect can be done, on a smaller scale, with pepper-balls and the focused remote deployment of chemical weapons.
\n\nSprays tend to be used closer up. Outside of demonstrations, they are used to subdue individuals. Inside of demonstrations, they are often used indiscriminately, to disperse, intimidate, or incapacitate a crowd.
\n\nTear gas and other chemical weapons are specifically not designed for punishment: they are not designed to be deployed against a trapped crowd or a restrained individual. Police use them this way regularly, of course.
\n\nTo prevent the police from accomplishing their crowd control goals, we simply refuse to be crowd-controlled. This can necessitate a certain amount of advance preparation.
\n\nTo mitigate the effects of chemical weapons, personal protective equipment is in order. Our guide to gas masks and goggles gets into this in detail, but the short version is:
\n\nUmbrellas can block chemical sprays. On the day Trump was inaugurated president, in the fabled “umbrella charge,” a single umbrella protected dozens of anarchists as they escaped from a police kettle, eight felonies, and a years-long court case.
\n\nJanuary 20, 2017: the umbrella charge.
\nIn light or moderate chemical weapon attacks, it’s usually sufficient for a few people to deactivate or throw back the canisters while medics and others treat those affected by sprays. It’s also possible to keep moving, so long as this doesn’t interfere the goals of the demonstrators.
\n\nUnfortunately, the heavy use of chemical weapons will tend to thin out a protest of people who are less prepared. Having wet bandannas (stored in individual ziplock bags) or other PPE available for distribution can be useful to enable the crowd to stay around longer.
\n\n\n\n\n“It is never polite to throw back the tear gas…\nBut sometimes love\nSometimes real love\nIs fucking rude.”
\n\nAndrea Gibson, “Etiquette Leash”
\n
Protestors regularly return tear gas canisters to those who have deployed them. Since tear gas is pyrotechnically deployed, most canisters are quite hot—hot enough to start fires or burn your skin. Anyone hoping to handle gas canisters should wear insulated work gloves made from fire-resistant material. Cheap hardware store gloves are not adequate; canisters have burned protestors through them. Synthetic materials, if not specifically designed to be fire-resistant, can melt into a person’s skin. Leather work gloves are often the simplest and best choice, though those who choose not to wear leather should be able to find heat-resistant synthetics.
\n\nPeople have also employed lacrosse sticks and hockey sticks to return tear gas canisters without touching them.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/plsnotmike/status/1286951807168598018\n\n\n
\nhttps://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1285110589606334465\n\n\n
Police may employ pepper spray without putting on gas masks, but if they are going to gas an entire area, they will almost always put on masks or rotate in a new line of officers wearing protective gear. This is important: it means that if you keep an eye on the police, you should be able to tell in advance when they are preparing to gas you. It follows that, if anyone must be subjected to tear gas, it should be the people who are best equipped for it—the ones who deployed it in the first place. Of course, we’re not lawyers, and laws about which burning objects one is allowed to throw at the police likely vary by locality.
\n\nYou should only throw canisters when you are aware of your surroundings and have an open space behind you. Before you throw a canister, take note of which direction the wind is blowing and where people are likely to need to go shortly, as well as where they currently are.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/Gian_Neon/status/1268060951846281216\n\n\n
In recent years, protestors around the world have been learning to neutralize gas canisters rather than simply tossing them back. These methods have the advantage of being a bit less confrontational.
\n\nSince most canisters are pyrotechnically deployed, it’s enough to simply put out the fire inside the canister. One rudimentary method, which does not require touching the canister at all, is to put a road cone over the canister and then pour water in through the hole at the top of the cone until it is doused.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/hkfp/status/1158399008261464064\n\n\n
A more refined method involves picking up the canister with gloved hands and putting it in a large water bottle or a bucket of water. In Chile and some other parts of the world where communities in revolt have honed their practices, extinguishing canisters has become a distinct role in street protests. People playing this role bring a water jug with a wide mouth, containing a little baking soda, dish soap, and/or vegetable oil—3 tablespoons of each to 1 liter of water. When a canister arrives, they drop it in the jug, and shake the jug while covering the top with one hand just enough to keep the gas from getting out. If you try this, don’t seal the bottle—you don’t want it to explode.
\n\nHow to extinguish tear gas canisters.
\nFailing all else, if you aren’t prepared to neutralize the canister, it could be enough to simply cover it with something like a cooking pot or an orange road barrel. Some gas will leak out, but this will diminish its ability to hurt people.
\n\nIn theory, riot control agents are designed to be as uncomfortable and debilitating as possible without causing permanent damage. They irritate the lungs, eyes, and skin. They are lachrymatory agents, causing your eyes to water. Your nose might run. You might have trouble breathing. You might be unable to open your eyes. Some chemical weapons take effect almost immediately; others can affect you minutes after exposure. Some continue to irritate you long after you move to fresh air; others dissipate faster. Some are more toxic than others; some can cause permanent damage. We’ll discuss the specific effects of each chemical separately. But in short: sometimes exposure to riot control agents can be painful and debilitating, especially when you’re directly exposed to them without protection. In other cases, they may be simply irritating.
\n\nShortness of breath is a specific and common problem resulting from exposure to chemical weapons. When this is combined with the shock of getting gassed, the overall stress of the situation, and irritated lungs, some people may feel as though they are going to pass out.
\n\nIf you are experiencing this, try to get out of the area where the gas is deployed, sit up or stand with good posture to open your lungs, and try to breathe deeply. Even if your breathing is still restricted, the additional oxygen will lower your ambient stress level, enabling you to address some of the effects of anxiety and decreasing your heart rate. If you see other people who appear to be on the verge of passing out, try to get them to somewhere safe outside of the area of deployment and encourage them to breathe as deeply as possible.
\n\nThe other thing that chemical weapons are intended to do is intimidate us. They are used to keep us out of the streets, to keep us from accomplishing our goals. If you are still building your experience in the streets, we recommend that you speak with coolheaded people who have considerable experience in public order situations about what to expect and how to handle the stress of chemical weapons attacks. If you are experiencing large-scale police violence for the first time, and you have the option, it can be a good idea to pace yourself, leaving a stressful situation when it becomes overwhelming, in order to slowly, steadily build a skillset for dealing with it levelheadedly. If you are aiming for longevity as a participant in social movements, it’s better to err on the side of caution at first than to ask too much of yourself, have a bad experience, and withdraw from the struggle.
\n\nSome of us have been hit by everything under the sun over the years and survived. The fact that we have and the experience of being among comrades who have persisted in spite of intense police violence have both done a lot to demystify the weaponry of the police.
\n\nAsthmatics and others with breathing difficulties should be particularly careful about exposure to chemical weapons. This could mean bringing a gas mask or being prepared to leave the area as soon as you see police preparing to deploy gas. It appears that asthmatics account for most of the deaths caused by these chemical agents. To be clear, while these agents do occasionally kill people, being gassed as an asthmatic is rarely fatal.
\n\nAccording to Sven-Eric Jordt, Ph.D., a tear gas researcher, children are particularly vulnerable to tear gas because of their smaller lungs, which have a very different surface-to-volume ratio than adults. This has not stopped federal officers from employing tear gas against migrant children at the US border.
\n\nRumors abound about immunity to CS or OC, particularly in military circles.
\n\nSome people do appear to be naturally immune to CS gas, or at least more tolerant of it. It is indeed possible to build up the mental capacity to continue to function despite the pain and other effects. But there is no evidence that it is possible to develop a physiological immunity to CS or OC. In fact, on the contrary, repeat exposure to CS gas is known to cause sensitization—the opposite of tolerance.
\n\nUS soldiers are exposed to CS gas during basic training as part of “mask confidence training,” aimed at demonstrating the effectiveness of their gas masks. During these trainings, it appears that some small portion of the population (perhaps 2-5%, according to speculation we’ve seen) is naturally resistant to the effects of CS. On one forum, we read that a soldier who was highly tolerant of CS gas let someone pepper spray him, erroneously believing that pepper spray (OC) is the same thing. It turned out that he was not immune to pepper spray.
\n\nThe other common rumor within the ranks is that drill sergeants develop immunity to the gas as a consequence of repeated exposure. What is likely happening, instead, is either that the officers who display some naturally occurring tolerance of CS are put in charge of the CS exposure chamber, or that these instructors have developed a mental, rather than physiological, tolerance for the pain and discomfort that the gas causes.
\n\nIn any case, it is ill-advised to routinely expose yourself to CS gas in hopes of building up a mental tolerance to it. Exposure to CS gas can cause a number of long-term health problems. Nor is there any evidence that eating hot peppers or the like can increase your tolerance of it.
\n\nSome police academies apparently teach racist myths about pepper spray, suggesting without evidence that Latin American and East Asian people are more tolerant of pepper spray—and therefore, it is implied, need to be sprayed longer—because of exposure to spicy food. This is just the latest in centuries of white supremacist pseudoscience justifying cruelty.
\n\nDepending on the agent, most of the effects of chemical agents will clear up after about 30 minutes of fresh air. Avoid rubbing your eyes. If you have contacts in, remove them as soon as possible.
\n\nRinse your eyes with water—or, ideally, have someone else rinse your eyes. The best way to rinse someone’s eyes is to take a sports-style squirt water bottle and spray water into their open eyes. Bring a bottle for this purpose and use it only for flushes; do not drink from it, lest you contaminate it with saliva. You can open someone’s eyes with your thumb and forefinger; wear clean gloves, if you have them. It is enough to open their eyes just a little bit. Start rinsing from the inside of the eye, near the nose, and work your way to the outside. Do one eye at a time. Ask them to blink; remind them to not touch their face. Repeat as many times as necessary.
\n\nSpray the water from the sports bottle with some force: the goal is to flush the chemicals off the eye. Rinsing your eyes will not immediately alleviate the burning, but it will enable you to begin to recover.
\n\nTo get tear gas and other contaminates off your skin, wash with soap and water. If the gas has dried as a powder on you (which is especially possible with expired tear gas), brush the powder off your skin and clothes before rinsing. While it’s been suggested that water “activates” the powder form of chemical irritants, experience has shown that removing it with water, or soap and water, is effective.
\n\nWhen you meet people after being gassed, if you are still wearing the same clothes or have remnants of the gas in your hair, warn them. You may not be affected by traces of gas that could still provoke a significant reaction in them, especially if they have asthma or similar conditions. This can also be a concern if you are entering enclosed spaces with others. Treat the risk of exposing others to tear gas secondhand as a consent issue.
\n\nWhen you have exited the conflict area after exposure, take off your outer clothes and double bag them until you have a chance to wash them. Shower, scrubbing your skin vigorously with soap. Be careful when you wash the chemicals out of your hair: if any get into your eyes, your genitals, or open wounds, it will hurt.
\n\nTo deal with your clothes, wash them thoroughly, possibly through multiple cycles. Run the washing machine without anything in it afterwards to wash the inside of the washing machine itself. Drying your clothes outside on a line is preferable, so that any lingering effects can dissipate.
\n\nTear gas makes your nose run, and bodily fluids are effective vectors for COVID-19 infection. Concerned with minimizing the spread of a deadly disease, some medics who would otherwise be administering assistance to those exposed to chemical weapons have begun advocating that people treat themselves for chemical weapons exposure if they are able to. Failing this, you should wear gloves, eye protection, and a mask of your own when you are treating a person for chemical weapons exposure. Take care to clean and decontaminate as soon as you can.
\n\nLaw enforcement use Sudecon wipes for decontaminating people from pepper spray and tear gas. Medics we’ve spoken to report that they haven’t seen a side-by-side comparison, but believe that Sudecon wipes might work at least as well as soap and water on skin.
\n\nRosehip Medic Collective in Portland, Oregon has published a recipe for DIY decontamination wipes that were in wide use in the chemical-soaked streets there during summer 2020.
\n\nBegin with:
\n\nMix this well, then combine it with 21 fluid ounces of baby shampoo and mix it gently. Soak high quality paper towels in the mixture, and pack them into ziplock bags a few of them at a time. These should keep for a few days, or a few months in a refrigerator.
\n\nMedics in Portland have been manufacturing these with the help of a small rolling machine to distribute the moisture more evenly; they hope it will enable the wipes to keep longer. It also helps the medics to manufacture them more quickly.
\n\nPeople use many different remedies and treatments for chemical weapons—everything from milk to antacids and herbal concoctions. Based on our conversations with street medics and doctors, we recommend just using water for flushing out eyes and soap and water for washing skin. Why? After all, the doctor we spoke to pointed out that it doesn’t usually hurt, medically speaking, to use milk to flush out someone’s eyes.
\n\nWe advocate for water because it’s readily available and it’s less likely to cause allergic reactions. We recommend it because it isn’t gross—getting arrested soaked in milk isn’t a pleasant experience—and because it doesn’t leave telltale white residue like antacid does, which appears more visibly on darker skin and has been used (for example, by police in the Ferguson uprising) to mark suspects for arrest. Perhaps most importantly, we recommend it because it demystifies chemical weapons.
\n\nThe idea that we need some sort of special remedy to treat exposure to chemical weapons adds to their mystique and the fear they can inspire. But there’s nothing arcane about these irritants. Wash them off and get to fresh air. Even if you disagree with us that water is best, please do not interrupt experienced street medics who are applying water eye flushes. That is not helpful behavior.
\n\nThere is an outdated protest technique (referred to as MOFIBA) that uses mineral oil to cleanse the skin of contaminants, but it has largely gone out of use because, if administered wrong (whether as a consequence of inexperience or of being applied in a tumultuous situation), it can do more harm than good. We won’t detail it here. Soap and water are effective for cleaning the skin. Decontamination wipes are good—possibly better—if you have them available, but they are not necessary.
\n\nAdditional care can sometimes be useful, both medically and emotionally. As one street medic put it, they rub arnica lotion onto handcuff bruises because when someone shows you the bruising caused by police handcuffs, they’re showing you the physical evidence that they were assaulted and kidnapped. When you examine those bruises and apply a lotion, you’re showing that what happened to them matters and that the consequences are worth treating with care. The arnica lotion likely helps with the bruising, but the act of showing care matters too.
\n\nSome protestors in Chile have taken to spraying a room-temperature tea (made by boiling laurel leaves) into the eyes of those who are suffering from pepper-spray, and it seems to be effective. This is not a mechanical flushing of the eyes, but rather applied with a squirt bottle as an aftercare treatment to alleviate burning and to calm the person.
\n\nSome protestors in Hong Kong have carried spray bottles containing three teaspoons of baking soda for every 8.5 ounces of water. While the efficacy of this has not been directly studied, it lines up with the findings of a 2003 study to the effect that CS molecules are unstable and basic fluids like baking soda might accelerate that process of molecular breakdown.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/nicole_froelich/status/1231084763412357121\n\n\n
Perhaps you’ve heard that the use of tear gas in war is a war crime, banned by the Geneva Protocol (which is distinct from and predates the Geneva Conventions). This is true. It’s not just that tear gas was accidentally swept up in a broad agreement not to employ chemical weapons, either. It’s in there explicitly by name.
\n\nIn 1925, after the chemical horrors of the First World War, 38 countries signed the Geneva Protocol banning the use of chemical weapons. Most of the signatory countries assumed that this included tear gas and chemical herbicides dropped indiscriminately in remarkable quantities. The United States government decided not to share this interpretation. Throughout the 1960s, the US made extensive use of tear gas and herbicide (Agent Orange) in Vietnam.
\n\nToday, the Geneva Protocol makes it clear that tear gas is specifically prohibited.
\n\nHeads of state don’t want anyone else dropping chemicals on their civilians—but if that’s what it takes to maintain order internally, they’re all for it. So yes, international law explicitly forbids the use of tear gas in war, describing it as a war crime. But governments agree that it is fine to use it on us.
\n\nWe’ll review the properties and effects of the more common chemical agents here.
\n\nCS gas (2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile, C10H5ClN2) is the most common tear gas agent. Two US scientists, Corson and Stoughton, were the first to synthesize it; they named it after themselves. It was not weaponized into tear gas until the 1950s.
\n\nCS gas is found primarily in tear gas canisters, but it also appears in sprays, or laced throughout impact weapons.
\n\nCS gas is perceived to be substantially less toxic than CN gas, while being more effective at disabling people. It’s probably more toxic, and less disabling, than OC.
\n\nWe know that CS can cause heart and liver issues. We know that intense exposure can cause chemical burns and scarring. But there is more.
\n\nIn terms of immediate lethality, it is speculated that CS could kill in an enclosed space; protesters blamed several deaths in Tahrir Square during the uprising on CS. But this has not been confirmed. CS gas does seem to be less immediately capable of killing than other chemical agents. Its long-term effects, however, are troubling.
\n\nMost toxicity reports on CS are over fifty years old; new studies are somewhat rare. The US military is increasingly finding links between CS gas and persistent lung problems by studying the incidence of lung problems before and after soldiers are exposed to the CS gas chamber.
\n\nCS gas is clastogenic—that is, it can change your chromosomes. This primarily affects people who are capable of menstruation. Science has been slow to study these effects, but a large number of stories describe miscarriages, excessive bleeding, cramps, blood clots, and seizures after exposure to CS gas.
\n\nCS gas (unlike OC and the Russian tear gas MPK) is not generally considered as effective against dogs, bears, and some other mammals owing to different tear duct structure and some resistance from fur. It certainly causes discomfort, and studies have shown it is capable of killing dogs. Anecdotal reports from Turkey describe it killing birds by the thousands and blinding street cats.
\n\nAs with all chemical weapons, the police do not use CS in a “pure” form—and the other chemicals it is adulterated with can also be toxic. We believe that the liquid/spray version, at least the one that the UK police use, employs methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) as a solvent. MIBK is itself toxic and can cause liver and kidney problems.
\n\nAt least at the siege in Waco, the US government used CS aerosolized along with the solvent Dichloromethane, which has a sweet odor. It is carcinogenic.
\n\nSome comrades reported that at least some of the gas used during the G20 protests in Pittsburgh in 2009 smelled vaguely like banana candy.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/16.jpg\")
A CS tear gas canister.
\nPhenacyl chloride is a common chemical used in organic chemistry. When it is weaponized as a tear gas, it is called CN gas (2-Chloroacetophenone). It was first developed as a tear gas during the First and Second World Wars, though it is not known to have been used during them.
\n\nCN gas is commercially available through any number of police weapon manufacturers, although there is no reason why it should be, considering that it is substantially more toxic and substantially less effective than CS gas. It is less common than CS or OC, but can be found in tear gas canisters, sprays, and laced throughout impact weapons.
\n\nCN gas was the active ingredient of “Mace,” the first brand of self-defense spray, before OC was developed.
\n\nCN gas has killed at least five people via heart damage or asphyxia. It has also caused contact dermatitis—sometimes permanently—in an unknowable number of police officers whose chemical weapons have accidentally leaked onto them. If it can injure police in that manner, it can injure us as well.
\n\nCR gas (dibenzoxazepine) is a tear gas agent that is suspected but not confirmed to be in use in the United States. It was developed in the UK in the 1960s and earns its nickname “fire gas” for its capacity to not just hurt your lungs and eyes, but to make your whole body feel like you’ve been thrown into a patch of nettles. It is said to smell sweet.
\n\nCR gas is allegedly 6-10 times more potent than CS gas, and while all the documentation we’ve found says that it is “less toxic” than CS, it is known to be capable of killing people by asphyxiation or pulmonary edema (liquid filling the lungs).
\n\nOne of the worst things about CR gas is that it is substantially harder to decontaminate than other riot control agents. It can persist on surfaces for up to 60 days.
\n\nWe have not found any manufacturers who advertise any products that contain CR gas.
\n\nSome protestors in Portland conjecture they might have been exposed to CR gas because some gas they were exposed to reacted particularly strongly to their sweat. The theory is that federal agents, tired of gas-masked protestors, utilized a weapon that causes suffering even to those who are masked. These federal agents might have access to old stores of CR gas, or perhaps do not need to go through public-facing commercial channels the way local police generally do.
\n\nHowever, CS gas (and perhaps especially expired CS gas, which might cause larger flakes that persist longer on the skin) also reacts to sweat to cause burning, and can be dispersed through sweet-smelling solvents. Chemists and others are currently trying to work out whether CR or DM have been in use in Portland.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/27.jpg\")
One mysterious green gas officers utilized to assault protesters in Portland has been identified as HC gas.
\nDM gas (Adamsite, Diphenylaminechlorarsine) is another largely outdated and particularly vicious tear gas agent. Chemists in both Germany and the US developed it independently in the 1910s. It was originally burned in “candles” to disperse the gas.
\n\nDM gas is particularly ineffective as a riot control agent, as its effects take 5-10 minutes to set in. It would only be useful for inflicting punishment—for which purpose it would likely be effective, as its effects can easily last 12 hours. It starts like other tear gasses, with irritation to the eyes and lungs, but this develops into nausea, headache, and persistent vomiting.
\n\nDM gas was most notoriously used in the United States against the “Bonus Army,” a demonstration of 45,000 veterans of the First World War and their allies in DC in 1932. Eyewitnesses say that the gas suffocated two young children, though historians have been unable to confirm this.
\n\nSome people conjecture that DM gas was in use by federal agents in Portland in the summer of 2020, but it remains unproven. There were rumors describing green smoke that might have been DM gas, and reports that some tear gas had made people vomit. So far, no one has been able to prove or disprove this, though some green gas utilized in Portland has been identified as HC gas.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/8.jpg\")
Toxic DM gas was used to target World War I veterans who participated in the “bonus march.”
\nOC (oleoresin capsicum) is the only organically derived riot control agent we are aware of. It’s derived from capsaicin, the active component of chili peppers.
\n\nAs far as the ostensible purpose of riot control agents go, OC seems to be the most effective: it is substantially more irritating and incapacitating than CS or CN gas, with a faster onset time than either, while apparently inflicting substantially fewer long-term adverse health effects on those exposed to it.
\n\nOC was first introduced as pepper spray, but has increasingly found its way into tear gas variants as well, appearing in tear gas grenades (both slow-burning and instant clouds of dust) and laced throughout impact weapons.
\n\nLest we paint too rosy a picture of OC, it, too, can kill people—specifically, those who are exposed to a great deal of it, such as when police torture restrained arrestees with it, which is a common enough procedure. In particular, it can kill asthmatics by blocking off their lungs to air by “severe acute bronchospasm.”
\n\nOC in spray form is often suspended in propylene glycol, which is comparatively harmless by itself.
\n\nPAVA (Nonivamide, pelargonic acid vanillylamide) is a (usually) synthetic form of OC that is more common in Britain, where it is the most common form of pepper spray, than in the United States. The only use of it we’ve identified in the US so far is in pepper-balls and FN303 rounds.
\n\nPAVA does appear naturally, but manufacturers generally synthesize it. It is more heat-stable than OC. It is edible in the same way that OC is. We have yet to find any particular differentiation between the toxicity of PAVA and OC.
\n\nMost PAVA spray is suspended in aqueous ethanol. This is sometimes called PAVA 1. In other cases, it is suspended in a mixture of mono propylene glycol, ethanol, and water referred to as PAVA 2. PAVA 1 is flammable, while PAVA 2 is not. Neither are made of chemicals we know to be particularly toxic.
\n\nWestern readers are unlikely to ever be exposed to MPK (N-nonanoylmorpholine), a tear gas used in Russia that is reported to be effective against dogs and people who are too intoxicated to be easily incapacitated by other chemical weapons. It is not as strong as other chemicals, so it is generally mixed with CS or CN gas. It is presumably less toxic than the chemicals it is mixed with, as it is reportedly sometimes used as a food additive as well.
\n\nMany canisters the police employ are just smoke grenades. Police use smoke grenades to mark areas with colored smoke, to hide their own positions and actions, to cause panic in the crowd, and, possibly, to refract lasers pointed their way (we are unsure of the efficacy of this, as there is a great deal of mixed information about lasers). Most chemical weapons manufacturers also offer smoke grenade versions of their various canisters and grenades.
\n\nMany military-style smoke grenades, called HC or HCE grenades, contain Hexachloroethane. Hexachloroethane is toxic through skin absorption, depressing the central nervous system; it is presumed to be a carcinogen. In mid-2020, federal agents in Portland, Oregon used outdated grenades containing HC. According to one researcher, HC is no longer manufactured in the USA, but is harvested as a byproduct of other chemical processes. While it is toxic, it seems considerably safer than the other chemical weapons police employ.
\n\n“Saf-smoke” grenades, the style manufactured by Defense Technologies, are advertised as less dangerous. The actual contents of Saf-smoke and other competing brands of smoke grenade are proprietary and not immediately available for review.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/18.jpg\")
A “Saf-smoke” grenade.
\nThese devices, which manufacturers call “distraction devices” or “disorientation devices,” are more commonly known as flash-bangs or stun grenades. They produce an intense flash of light and a loud bang as well as some concussive force. The light (upwards of 8 million candelas—as bright as eight million candles) blinds viewers for approximately five seconds and causes severe afterimages. The volume is around 160-180 decibels, substantially louder than any gunshot you are likely to ever hear; this deafens those in the vicinity, disrupting the fluid in the inner ear and sometimes causing dizziness.
\n\nPolice occasionally use these in conjunction with baton charges or other impact weapons when they wish to knock demonstrators off guard. But at the end of the day, like so many police tactics, these are methods to intimidate people into complying, not methods that directly force people to comply.
\n\nFlash-bang grenades are generally made of solid steel or aluminum, designed not to fragment as a result of their detonation. Many of them are reloadable or refillable.
\n\nSome flash-bang grenades are “aerial warning/signaling” munitions designed to be fired into the air to explode over a crowd. These can come with or without chemical payloads; each round has a different range, ranging from 50 to 300 meters. There are versions for 12-gauge shotguns as well.
\n\nAt least one manufacturer says that there should be a clear area of 5-6 feet around the site where a flash-bang will detonate; still, police regularly throw, fire, and roll these into crowds. While some are packed with rubber ball munitions, most are designed not to cause harm via impact. Yet they can maim or kill people, usually through burning. They’ve also been known to start fires, particularly when deployed indoors.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/4.jpg\")
Flash-bang grenades.
\nSince there is so little oversight and so little information available about the weapons that taxpayers pay for police to shoot us with, protestors have taken to documenting spent shell casings to see what is being fired at them. Collecting spent munitions can contribute to useful pattern analysis. Some cities have people who are willing to come pick up munitions for this purpose. If your city doesn’t have anyone pursuing this, consider taking it on yourself.
\n\nThe National Lawyers Guild is interested in knowing what people are being shot with; they are collecting information. So are we. Please contact us with photos and information.
\n\nPolice in Portland seem to be convinced—or are trying to convince people—that picking up spent munitions is a crime and they have threatened to fire more munitions at anyone caught doing it. They have not managed to figure out exactly what crime it is, and we are not currently aware of anyone facing charges for doing so.
\n\nPolice munitions are often found unexploded or unfired. It’s unclear to us if this is because these cartridges are firing without deploying properly, if they’re jamming the gun and being ejected unspent, or if police are simply dropping munitions on the ground by accident.
\n\nWhen opening a bag of spent munitions, it is possible to experience secondary effects from gas residue. Consider storing them double bagged in ziplock bags. Only handle them in open-air environments while wearing gloves and protective clothing.
\n\nThe police sometimes attempt to mark those participating in demonstrations or suspected of crimes in hopes of arresting them later. In some cases, they may simply use marking to frighten us by making us believe that they will come looking for us, in hopes of limiting what we choose to do in the streets. We know of far more times that the police have used marking than times that this marking was later used to identify people for arrest or was presented as evidence in court. We would love to hear from anyone with more information about marking, whether through experience or research.
\n\nThere are reports of police using pepper-ball rounds for marking at least as far back as the 2003 protests in Miami against the Free Trade Area of the Americas ministerial and the Iraq War protests of the same era.
\n\nWe’ve been able to identify at least seven means by which police mark people:
\n\nIt is probable that colored, visible dye is used as well. These are often paired with other effects, such as 12-gauge beanbag rounds loaded with florescent green powder or FN303 rounds that add paint or dye to impact weaponry. We have also received reports that police in Portland have shined green laser pointers from the rooftops to mark protestors as targets for impact weapons or arrest.
\n\nThere appears to be only one malodorant round on the market, the 40mm BIP Malodorant from Security Devices International, Inc. It is intended to mark people by smell and also to serve as a crowd deterrent. The smell was described by Fox News as “egg salad meets trash” and is said to disperse fairly quickly. None of us have heard of it being used at demonstrations.
\n\nMarking powder, paint, or dye can be applied via any means that chemicals are administered. Paintball guns, shotguns, and multi-launchers all have marking rounds available, and we’ve heard reports of police adding paint or dye to their water cannons.
\n\nWe have yet to find information on the exact makeup of the paint or dye commonly included in marking rounds. Some manufacturers divide their products into “washable,” “indelible,” and “UV” or into “powder” and “liquid.” Security Devices International, Inc., for example, claims that their liquid marking round leaves a “semi-permanent stain” that “remains on the target and clothing up to 24 hours.” The data sheet for that particular round refers to its contents as a proprietary blend of inert materials. Other companies are no more forthcoming.
\n\nThe easiest way to deal with a mark on your clothes that identifies you as a suspect is to get rid of the clothes. You should make this decision according to how important they are to you and what you fear you might be arrested for. A court case is usually more expensive than a windbreaker. You may also be able to leave an item of clothing somewhere—for example, in a bush or trash can—and come back later to see if you can recover it.
\n\nWashable paint and chalk should be the easiest to remove. It should wash off of skin with water, or soap and water and scrubbing. One way to remove water-based paint from clothes is to let the paint dry, then scrape off as much as you can with a butter knife or the back of a spoon; then hand-wash the item, passing warm water through the fabric from behind the stain, blotting it with a rag or paper towel; then mix half-detergent and half-water and rub that into the stain. Then rinse, and repeat the last step until the stain is gone or you are no longer drawing paint out of the clothes. In a worst-case scenario, try using small amounts of acetone (nail polish remover) or rubbing alcohol—but be advised, this might damage the item.
\n\nOil-based paint, which might be used in the “indelible” paint, can be removed from skin by mixing olive oil and dish soap, lathering up your skin, and rinsing it off, repeating as necessary. You can remove oil-based paint from clothes by putting your clothes inside out on a stack of rags or paper towels and then pouring turpentine or another paint thinner onto the fabric from behind the stain, blotting it with rags. Once no more paint comes out that way, rub dishwater detergent into the stain and then leave the clothing in hot, soapy water overnight. Rinse it thoroughly in the morning, then throw your clothes into a washing machine.
\n\nUV ink can also be removed from both skin and clothes. In some ways, it may be easier to clean than other inks because it doesn’t really dry except under UV light (we are unsure if the UV light in sunlight will cause it to dry). Most UV ink appears to be alcohol-soluble, so using rubbing alcohol or even hairspray should help remove it from skin. Other recommendations we have seen include washing with diluted bleach water or scrubbing your skin with an abrasive mixture of sugar and dishwashing liquid. Still other people maintain that hot soapy water and plenty of abrasion will do. You could try washing your clothes repeatedly in hot water, checking with a UV flashlight as you go.
\n\nThere are cheap, small flashlights available that come with both regular and UV LEDs. Usually, they are used by employees working door security to look for hand stamps—or by people who are checking their bedding for bedbugs.
\n\nThere’s paint, there’s invisible ink, and then there’s… DNA marking. Actually, there are two different things that are called DNA marking. The first is a chemical weapon, usually a spray, that contains a unique blend of different metals and other materials, acting as a sort of chemical fingerprint that can be identified later. This type of tagging uses the word DNA only as advertising jargon. Each can, or shipment of cans, might contain its own unique fingerprint, though we have not been able to confirm this.
\n\nThe other style of DNA marking uses DNA, literally. This DNA marking is a system that marks a target with synthetic DNA that can live on clothes or skin for several weeks. Both systems of DNA tagging work the same way: if someone is identified later by way of these tags, this can provide concrete evidence in court connecting them to potential criminal behavior.
\n\nThere is every reason to believe that police are using one or both of these methods, though it is hard to know which one and precisely when they are using it. The 40mm DNA Forensic Marking round, for example, made by Security Devices International, Inc, uses a “botanical encrypted taggant in water” which we believe refers to actual synthetic DNA.
\n\nAll the DNA marking materials that we’ve been able to find seem to be suspended in UV ink for dispersal, although we know of no reason that they would have to be.
\n\nAs of this writing, we have not heard of any arrests or court cases related to the 2020 uprising that involved DNA marking. Most after-the-fact felony arrests of protestors seem to hinge instead of livestream footage and social media posts. This does not mean that it is not in use or that it will not be used in the future.
\n\nOn Twitter, Minneapolis police have openly discussed using DNA marking spray, although they have not specifically claimed to have used it on protestors. It’s possible that they were conflating “UV marking” with “DNA tagging.”
\n\nSince all available evidence suggests that DNA marking is carried in a UV dye, it seems probable that it can be removed in a similar way as one goes about removing UV dye. Most manufacturers claim that the marking lasts for “days,” or “several washes,” although at least one claims it lasts for “weeks.”
\n\nOne manufacturer, Security Devices International (SDI), claims that it lasts 3-5 days on a person but 2-5 years on clothing.
\n\nRumors from Portland suggest that the synthetic DNA is degraded by UV light. Some people have suggested that any clothes that one might not want to destroy or throw away—for example, body armor—should be left in the sun for several hours, with someone turning them regularly to make sure all parts of the items are exposed. Sunlight is bad for the plastic polymers of armor, especially soft bulletproof vests, so this might not be recommended for some materials. People also suggest using alcohol or hydrogen peroxide to break the DNA tag down, but this might degrade the material as well, especially in the case of hydrogen peroxide.
\n\nIt all depends on how important it is to destroy the evidence that you were in a particular crowd at a particular time. Depending on the severity of the risk, you might replace all of your affected clothes and spend considerable time washing and exfoliating—or you could simply wash everything a couple times, take a few showers, and check yourself with a UV light.
\n\nPerhaps the first company to develop synthetic DNA marking for police use was SelectaDNA in the UK. SelectaDNA sells DNA spray, gel, and other devices directly to consumers for the purpose of home security. They also sell less-lethal .68 caliber air-powered weapons, a rifle and a pistol, to shoot DNA marking rounds at rioters. Both of these guns have an effective range of 30-40 meters and use 8-round magazines and a 20-round disposable CO2 cartridge. They are semi-automatic and can fire six rounds in a second. Each comes equipped with a camera. It’s unclear if the SelectaDNA pellets can be fired by other .68 caliber air guns.
\n\nEach pack of 16 pellets is uniquely coded. In theory, this means that police can do more than argue “this person was at the demonstration where we shot everyone with green paint, you can tell by the green paint”—they can claim “this is someone I shot with one of these 16 pellets, as registered on the timestamp of my rifle camera.”
\n\nThe synthetic strands of DNA are carried by a UV ink substrate. It can be detected on a suspect with a UV light or smelled by specially-trained dogs. Presumably, the dogs are smelling the UV ink, not the DNA itself.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2021/01/04/5.jpg\")
SelectaDNA has already caused controversy in the UK.
\nDefense Technology’s barricade rounds, called “Ferret” rounds, come in 12-gauge (with 2.5” shells), 37mm, and 40mm. The 12-gauge rounds have a velocity of 1000 fps and an effective range of 50-100 meters. The 37mm reputedly has a velocity of 450 fps an effective range of 50-200 yards (though we question this 200 yard claim—it seems like a typographical error). The 40mm variety has a velocity of 325 fps (liquid) or 375 fps (powder) and an effective range of 54 yards. ↩
\nOne chart we found compares a 22-inch barrel with a 28-inch barrel, noting that a round will fire at 1304 fps from the 22-inch and 1331 fps from the 28-inch, but this may not map to the difference in velocity of a beanbag round. ↩
\nThis guide details the kinds of batons that police use, how they employ them, what kind of damage they can do with them, and some of the ways that demonstrators have historically protected themselves against baton attacks.
\n\nThis is the fourth article in a series, following our guides to helmets, gas masks and goggles, and body armor. The contributors have spent countless hours gathering experience, data, and anecdotes and speaking to professionals in these fields. We will be updating this document on an ongoing basis as more information comes in. If you can offer suggestions or corrections, please contact us.
\n\nCops often hit people with batons. Looking at footage, you’d think that the prospect of doing so is what gets them out of bed in the morning. Historically, batons are the bread and butter of policing to such an extent that the baton is often referred to as the officer’s “badge of office”—though lately, Tasers have supplanted batons as their go-to weapon.
\n\nInstructional videos and pamphlets give the false impression that police are martial arts masters who carefully study all the ways to injure people with big wooden sticks. If you go to demonstrations, though, you generally see the same few moves over and over. They swing wildly at people they already have on the ground. They jab people with the end of the baton, often without provocation. They hit people with wild overhand swings, often in the head—although in theory, they’re not supposed to do that unless they’ve been authorized to employ lethal force. They put one hand on each end of the stick, hold it horizontally at chest level, and shove people back while grunting “move”—often regardless of whether the people they are shoving are able to move and regardless of whether they were already moving.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/justrinidad/status/1335660826363977728\n\n\n
Fundamentally, batons are compliance tools. They’re not specifically designed to kill or injure people, though they are capable of doing so. They are designed to hurt people in order to force them to comply with an officer’s command. Of course, police often continue to use them after a subject has complied, just to emphasize the power relation between the subject of the state and the mercenaries it employs.
\n\nNot everyone loves batons. Some officers don’t carry batons unless ordered to do so by their department. One ex-cop on YouTube points out that the overlap of the Venn diagram of “effectiveness” and “legality” is very small indeed. However, police are rarely held to any standard of legality. Batons are often the primary means by which police seek to control space in close quarters, especially against demonstrators.
\n\nDuring protests, police use batons to accomplish a wide range of tasks. There are baton charges in which large numbers of police charge, swinging and shoving, to disperse a crowd and incite fear. Officers use batons to clear a path for a snatch squad to enter a crowd to carry out arrests. Officers use batons to advance a police line, shoving people to keep them moving, often while pepper-spraying them for good measure. Officers use batons to injure people once they have them immobilized on the ground, out of pure vengefulness or cruelty.
\n\nThere is a misconception that batons are only used against individuals who are not complying with police orders. In fact, police employ them against anyone they suspect might hinder them from accomplishing whatever their goal is, regardless of whether the target is breaking any laws or failing to comply with their orders.
\n\nPolice use-of-force guidelines generally dictate that using a baton to strike major nerve centers on extremities is “intermediate force,” while striking someone on the head, neck, or clavicle is “deadly force.”
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/15/1.jpg\")
This is the cover illustration from a 1967 law enforcement training manual published by the FBI and the United States Department of Justice. This is how the authorities want police to see themselves.
\nWe’ll look at three types of batons: the fixed-length baton (or “straight stick,” including the riot baton), the collapsible baton, and the side-handled baton.
\n\nA riot baton is a style of “straight stick” baton. The most common example is 36” long and 1.25” in diameter, made of polycarbonate or hardwood—usually hickory, but sometimes cherry, ash, or another wood. Some police are adopting thicker sticks, such as a 1.5” diameter baton, to apply more force. If you hold a 1.25” baton and a 1.5” baton in your hands, the difference in weight and girth is greater than you might have anticipated.
\n\nThe thicker sticks are not inherently better weapons, but they are sturdier. We put sticks of both thicknesses into the hands of an experienced stick fighter, who was able to break the 1.25” baton against plywood shields but not the 1.5” batons. This person applied substantially more force than the average officer would be able to bring to bear.
\n\nWooden batons are either clear-coated or painted black. Polycarbonate sticks are black. Riot sticks come with a variety of grips, such as rings or grooves carved into one or both ends, or a crisscrossed “knurling” grip. Some of these grips are designed to offer better retention if the baton is pulled, while others are intended to offer better retention in the case of twisting motions. Most come with a simple leather thong for retention. A well-trained officer is supposed to hold the thong in such a way that he can let go if the stick is grabbed and pulled into a crowd, but many cops hold them incorrectly, in such a way that if the baton is pulled, the officer will come with it whether he wants to or not. Polycarbonate sticks deliver more impact than wooden sticks but are substantially more expensive. Some police complain that polycarbonate sticks can warp in the summer or shatter in the winter.
\n\nThe riot baton is used to strike people, jab people, and shove people. Broadly speaking, police use batons to strike people who are resistant or combative, while they use batons to shove people who are in their way, approach too closely, embarrass them, or look like they can be intimidated into leaving an area. They jab people for both of these purposes. In crowded environments, police are trained to fight with one hand on each end of the stick, for weapon retention.
\n\nOfficers think about weapon retention in crowd situations quite a bit. Their training focuses on this. They are afraid that someone might grab the baton and use it to control the officer.
\n\nIt would be hard to overstate the role of riot batons in intimidation. Police wield large sticks when they want to look scary; in some cases, they employ wooden batons to contrast with their uniforms, with the intention of inspiring fear. They hold them in two hands in police lines to look unapproachable. They use them unpredictably in order to keep people on edge.
\n\nThe chief difference between the riot baton and the traditional fixed-length baton is that the latter is 26” or shorter. Many departments employ tapered sticks for everyday use, with a wider striking surface at one end and a smaller, more controllable handle. These provide greater leverage for striking blows. Learning to distinguish between these types of batons can help demonstrators figure out what tactics police are considering: if they are wielding the longer riot batons, they expect to employ more violence.
\n\nMore and more police departments are using extendable batons as the everyday carry baton on their service belt. These batons are also called collapsible batons, or ASPs after the brand ASP. Extendable batons usually measure between 16”-31” with 16”, 21”, and 26” being the most common lengths. Most of them are made of steel, while some lighter-weight models use an aluminum alloy. The grip can be foam or plastic, or use some other texturing. Closed, they’re roughly the size and shape of a small lightsaber and they look a bit like one on a belt. Cops open them by flicking them and letting centrifugal force slide the segments into place. Most are held open by the friction of each steel segment against the next and can only be closed by slamming the tip onto concrete or some other hard surface. Some newer models have a push button lock that makes them easier to close and more effective for jabbing as well as swinging. One of the other reasons that police are moving to the push button lock is that a baton that is closed on concrete will quickly end up with a roughed up tip, which will occasionally cut those who are struck by the baton.
\n\nPolice complain about extendable batons breaking when they are used to beat people all day—at unruly demonstrations, for example—and many cops who make heavy use of their batons treat them as disposable. Police literature explicitly mentions the intimidation factor involved in opening an extendable baton as an advantage of the weapon.
\n\nExtendable batons are somewhat common for civilians interested in self-defense. We’ve seen them most commonly among those who are in violence-prone situations and prefer not to defend themselves with bladed weapons or firearms. Their legality varies from state to state.
\n\nThese are straight batons with a short handle protruding from the side about six inches up from the base. This is the Western adaptation of the tonfa, a Japanese weapon—though the tonfa wielder usually employs two of them. Side-handled batons are considered a more “defensive” weapon; they became common after the bad media exposure resulting from all the police violence against civil rights protestors in the 1960s.
\n\nCops can hold these batons by the side handle, so the length of the baton runs down the forearm to the elbow. This position is used for blocking blows and executing pain compliance holds. They can also hold them at the base, so the side handle serves as a sort of a hilt that could stop counter-strikes. Most famously, these batons were carried by the Los Angeles Police Department and employed in the widely viewed assault on Rodney King in 1991. That episode shows that this “defensive” baton is just another stick, used the way police have always used blunt impact weapons, and its reputation as “defensive” is just a matter of branding.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/15/4.jpg\")
A police officer employing a side-handled baton to attack demonstrators during the protests against the beating of Rodney King.
\nWhile side-handled batons are not designed to use the side handle as the point of impact, many of us have seen police hold them by the end opposite the handle and swing them like hammers. This concentrates more of the weapon’s force at a single point, inflicting worse injuries.
\n\nOver the past two decades, side-handled batons have fallen out of favor as the everyday carry batons for police in the United States, replaced by extendable batons. Many cops disagree with this transition; some still choose to carry their beloved “PR24”—a generic name for a side-handled baton named after the standard Monadnock PR-24 baton, which is 24 inches long and made of polycarbonate.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/15/2.jpg\")
Twenty-five years after the Rodney King uprising of 1992, a former Los Angeles Police Department officer fondles his side-handled baton as he recalls how police behavior contributed to the unrest.
\nWe have not found many studies on the lethality of police batons, but it’s no secret that hitting people in the head with sticks can often kill them. Most of the information we were able to find was published in the UK. This is not surprising: their police often do not carry firearms, instead injuring or killing people the old-fashioned way, by bludgeoning them.
\n\nAccording to one doctor, a large number of baton injuries are fractures of the forearm resulting when a person raises an arm to protect their face. Blows to the head and, to a lesser degree, the chest are far more dangerous than blows to limbs, however, as these can cause internal brain bleeding, concussions, and fractures.
\n\nBroken ribs are common in situations in which police are swinging from the side into the target’s torso. Some of us have seen people end up with fractured hands and wrists from trying to catch baton blows. Two-handed stabbing strikes targeting the diaphragm can cause loss of breath; combined with shock and stress, these can make people lose consciousness or vomit.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/15/3.jpg\")
\nTo avoid sustaining bludgeoning damage in melee range, you have three basic options.
\n\nPolice use violence for at least two purposes: to control space—dispersing us, herding us, preventing us from reaching our destination—and to subdue individuals. Sometimes, the simplest solution is to run away from a cop with a stick: to stay out of melee range by retreating. In other cases, the consequences of this approach are not worth it. You may not wish to abandon other demonstrators. You may not wish to abandon the objective that brought you out into the street in the first place. You may not wish to positively reinforce the assumption that all it takes to keep people in a condition of fearful servility is to brandish sticks at them every once in a while.
\n\nSo another way to stay out of melee range is to compel the police to retreat, or at least keep them from closing the ground between you. Historically, protestors have accomplished this by using projectiles of their own—bottles, rocks, paint bombs, and the like. This can be effective, but its efficacy and advisability is situational—it depends on the objectives of the police and the factors limiting what they can do. Police in the United States are better equipped and less likely to back down than police in many other countries, which is one of the reasons demonstrators rarely employ this strategy here unless the stakes are high. When everything is on the line, however, people sometimes summon up the courage to do unbelievable things.
\n\nAnother solution to this problem is to build barricades. To serve their purpose, barricades have to be suited to blocking the particular threat that they are intended to address; obstructing vehicles and hindering officers on foot are two very different objectives. Historically, some demonstrators have made barricades more difficult to pass or dismantle by setting fire to them; but once a barricade is burning, it will eventually consume itself, unless there is an unlimited supply of fuel. Common-sense fire safety measures apply; so may local laws. Even if it doesn’t impede foot traffic, the right kind of barricade might give officers something else to focus on, which is another way to keep them at a distance. As long as the situation is unpredictable and they have to keep an eye out in all directions for new developments, they may choose not to engage in a way that would leave their backs open.
\n\nThe second strategy is to prevent police from being able to see you clearly enough to hit you accurately. Protesters have employed shields, umbrellas, smoke bombs, and sometimes even fire extinguishers to this end. We’ve seen protestors carry banners that are so tall that they block the view of officers on the other side—though even if you add eyeholes, these will also prevent most protestors from seeing what the police are doing, too. Police hate not being able to see what’s going on; this can cause them to step back and regroup, but it can also provoke them to escalate senselessly. If they can’t see clearly, officers may simply strike at random—which may not be an improvement.
\n\nDecember 2020: Demonstrators in Portland employ a fire extinguisher and projectiles to compel the withdrawal of police who had arrived to carry out a violent eviction.
\nFinally, if nothing else serves, there is the possibility of protecting directly against baton blows. This usually involves armor, shields, mobile barricades, reinforced banners, or other barriers. Armor designed to protect against bludgeoning impact is generally designed with a “shell/soft” framework: a hard shell disperses the impact of the blow across a greater surface area, while soft padding absorbs that impact. Nowadays the shell is usually some kind of plastic, though steel was used traditionally and wood may serve in some cases; likewise, the soft layer is usually comprised of foam, though in the past, padded clothing might have served. If you are considering wearing any sort of armor, start by thinking about a helmet. The more normalized wearing helmets becomes, the harder it will be for police to target individuals for choosing to protect themselves.
\n\nHead injuries are serious business, and repeated concussions can be exponentially dangerous. Even if you feel all right after experiencing a head injury, the risk of sustaining subsequent blows to the head increases significantly. People in the streets who suffer a blow to the head should consider themselves at heightened risk for up to a week afterward; a second concussion following an unhealed first concussion can lead to death. Consider avoiding danger for a week.
\n\nSports armor is readily available from secondhand stores. By and large, it is designed for protecting against the same kind of impact police batons can inflict. Hockey and lacrosse pads are available used; they’re light, low-profile, and are designed to maximize mobility while protecting vital areas. Soccer shin guards can also serve as forearm guards. Being struck by a baton is never a good experience, but armor can mean the difference between a broken arm and a hairline fracture. Choose where to focus on protecting according to your threat model: knees are common targets for less-lethal munitions, groins are vulnerable areas, forearms are often used to block baton blows, the chest and abdomen are often vulnerable to jabs from batons or blows from impact munitions. The more you want to be able to stay on the front lines regardless of what happens, the more you should consider what kinds of armor will protect you.
\n\nHistorically, some movements have employed “padded bloc” techniques to defend crowds against police violence—building incredible costumes out of foam, inner tubes and other inflatable swim devices, and whatever other large soft things they can access. This severely limits individuals’ mobility, but it may hinder police from breaking up a crowd. It can also create striking optics. The most famous example of this approach is the Tute Bianche in Italy.
\n\nShields can be somewhat more flexible, tactically speaking. A person with a shield can often protect the people on either side of them as well. A group of people with shields can form a shield wall, which is much more effective than a lone shield.
\n\nMobile barricades are effectively multi-user shields carried by several people. These can be especially useful at the front, sides, or rear of a crowd to provide cover and prevent police from easily attacking or dispersing the participants. A simple example would be a large piece of plywood with multiple handles or a single long handle bar along the back. In a pinch, demonstrators have improvised mobile barricades out of ladders and other freely available objects—for example, at the 2010 protests against the Olympics in Vancouver. We’ve seen other mobile barricades constructed from see-through steel grating or roofing stretched across wooden frames. We’ve seen them with stands on the back so that they can stand freely on their own when set down.
\n\nTo make a reinforced banner, take a vinyl or fabric banner and line it with wood, plastic, or another hard material. Reinforcement is useful simply to make banners easier to carry, but they can also be used tactically to defend the edge of a crowd.
\n\nPVC pipe is easy to purchase, but breaks easily upon impact. As a means of reinforcing banners, it has repeatedly failed, perhaps most famously in Washington DC in 2005 during protests against the second inauguration of the second President George Bush. If you’re in a hurry, green bamboo may serve—it’s surprisingly light and flexible enough to be somewhat resilient against blows.
\n\nMind you, armor, helmets, shields, mobile barricades, reinforced banners, and other protective gear can make you stand out—and it’s rarely a good thing to stand out at a demonstration. There is no airtight protest scheme, no tactic that is guaranteed to work, no gear that solves every problem or is ideal for every situation. Think about what you want to accomplish and how the police might try to prevent you from accomplishing it. Be pragmatic. Mobility, speed, initiative, the element of surprise, and the sense to quit while you’re ahead will usually serve you better in the streets than any item of equipment could—so make sure your gear doesn’t impede or distract you from making the most of any of those.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/15/5.jpg\")
\nTo understand police tactics and mindsets, it can be helpful to peruse their training manuals:
\n\nOver the past four years, police and fascist violence against demonstrators has escalated around the United States, with well over a dozen demonstrators murdered in 2020 alone. This is not the consequence of Trump’s presidency, but the result of intensifying social pressures that will not be relieved by another politician taking office. Unfortunately, ceding the streets to fascists and police will ultimately only increase the dangers to all of us. By taking the proper precautions, we can mitigate the risks while continuing to take action to build a better world. This guide reviews a wide range of protective gear, exploring the advantages and disadvantages of each so you can pick out what’s best for you. The life you save could be your own.
\n\nThis is the third article in a series, following our guides to helmets and to gas masks and goggles. The contributors have spent countless hours gathering experience, data, and anecdotes and speaking to professionals in these fields. We will be updating this document on an ongoing basis as more information comes in. If you can offer suggestions or corrections, please contact us.
\n\nWe’re going to focus on three styles of armor: sports armor, for mitigating impact weapons like bean bag rounds and batons; soft ballistic armor, or “bulletproof vests,” which defend against handguns; and plate carriers, which are designed to protect your vital organs from rifle fire.
\n\nOur threat models—the risks we are seeking to protect against—are changing constantly. A few years ago, protest armor was intended to protect against Nazis with knives and sticks. At the beginning of the George Floyd uprising in the US, the chief threat model involved police using various impact weapons. By the end of summer 2020, police were still shooting baton rounds and pepper-balls, but fascists shooting live ammunition had become a more pressing issue.
\n\nAll armor involves pros and cons. Most armor reduces mobility, which is one of our primary advantages against police who are weighed down by both bureaucratic command structures and heavy gear. Most armor makes us stand out, rendering arrival and departure more difficult. Some armor incurs the risk of legal penalties. Being the only person wearing armor is often a bad idea unless it can be concealed. Still, normalizing wearing armor can make it easier for others to do so, and the more people do, the safer we all will be—both from direct attacks and from police efforts to target us for protecting our bodies.
\n\nWhich kind of armor is appropriate will vary from one situation to the next. In many situations—for example, when speed or optics is paramount—it may still be best not to wear armor.
\n\nArmor can easily give the wearer a false sense of security. Shortly before we published this, there was yet another incident in which a fascist shot a counter-protester; the survivor was wearing body armor, but the bullet entered their body at a point that was unprotected. No one is invincible, no matter what they wear.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/mollyjsmith1/status/1287568008173371397\n\n\n
If you want to protect yourself primarily against batons and other police impact weapons, get a skateboard helmet, some hard-shelled knee pads, some children’s shin guards to wear on your forearms, and possibly motocross chest armor or a plastic fencing breastplate. If you want to add more protection, consider a shield, full leg armor, and a HEMA gorget—plastic or padded neck armor for people who fight with swords for sport. A guide to shields will appear later in this series.
\n\nIf you want to wear something that protects you against handguns, get a wraparound IIIA vest, either from the leftist armorer Red Star Defense or from eBay. If you are buying from eBay, consider purchasing a surplus vest to save money. If you’re worried about knives, pay a bit more for a vest with stab resistance.
\n\nIf you want to protect yourself from rifle rounds, get a plate carrier and a pair of III+ ceramic plates from Red Star Defense or elsewhere. This is heavy and harder to conceal.
\n\nNot all that long ago, the chief threat that many demonstrators faced in the United States and Europe was the blunt impact of police batons. In response, some demonstrators—notably the Tute Bianche in Italy—took to wearing helmets and padding and reinforcing massive inflatable inner tubes and other flotation devices to protect their bodies from the fists and clubs of the police. Some demonstrators in the United States embraced these tactics, which came to be known as “padded bloc.” A widely distributed zine, Bodyhammer, explored helmets, body armor, shields and shield walls, and an array of defensive tactics and formations in this vein.
\n\nToday’s demonstrators still stand to learn a lot from the tactics developed at that time, especially where they can be deployed in contexts where there is little threat of lethal violence or fascist attacks. Essentially, padded bloc tactics are most effective as a sort of militant civil disobedience aimed at slowing or inconveniencing an adversary who is not prepared to escalate to potentially lethal force. They are more useful for distracting and delaying than for winning offensive victories, but they can play a valuable part in a larger ecosystem of interlocking tactics and strategies.
\n\nIn this guide, we will focus chiefly on forms of armor that can protect against knives and guns, in order to expand the range of options at the disposal of the modern protester.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/26.jpg\")
Anti-capitalist demonstrators opposing the G8 summit in Genoa, Italy in 2001.
\nDemonstrators from around Europe opposing the summit of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Prague in the year 2000—including some employing the tactics of the Tute Bianche.
\nWe’re not lawyers. You should do your own research.
\n\nIn the USA, it is federally prohibited for violent felons to own or wear armor designed to protect against bullets (referred to herein as “body armor”), except by special dispensation from an employer.
\n\nIn addition to the federal law, each US state has its own laws regulating armor. In most states, it is illegal to wear body armor while committing a crime; being caught doing so could occasion additional charges. In Kansas, wearing body armor is prohibited at demonstrations, too. In Connecticut, you cannot have it shipped to your home. We have yet to obtain a solid answer regarding whether minors can own or wear body armor.
\n\nThe legality of body armor varies widely from country to country. In some provinces in Canada and some territories in Australia, you need authorization or a license to wear it. The UK seems to have no laws restricting civilian use of body armor. The European Union bans body armor that is for “main military usage,” but this implies that certain forms of body armor are legal. It appears that body armor is legal in Japan and Hong Kong but prohibited in Argentina, Brazil, and Thailand. If you can share information about the laws in your country, please contact us.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/16.jpg\")
Motocross armor.
\nAs of this writing, ballistic armor is hard to come by. The deepening political crisis has all sides scrambling to protect themselves; most retailers of both soft armor and hard armor are reporting delays on orders of at least two months. This makes it difficult to recommend specific products or retailers. We suggest learning about what you need and keeping an eye out for deals—or even just for notifications that a product is in stock.
\n\nAt the same time, as the crisis appears to be deepening, it’s probably worth ordering now rather than waiting.
\n\nWe know of one left-wing armorer, Red Star Defense. They manufacture their own ceramic III+ plates for a good price—currently $300 a pair—and retail IIIA soft vests for a very good price ($225), as well as selling plate carriers and tactical gloves cheaper than you can find elsewhere. They currently have a 4 to 8 week lag on armor orders. We recommend Red Star Defense because their goal is not profit but to protect the bodies of working-class revolutionaries.
\n\nMost body armor retailers aim at some combination of three markets: police and military personnel, right-wing paramilitaries, and private security (and, by extension, those involved in illegal capitalism). A few retailers also focus on protecting civilians and schoolchildren, promoting “bulletproof backpacks” and similar products that cash in on rampant gun violence in the United States.
\n\nThe best market we’ve found so far for fast-turnaround body armor orders is eBay. New IIIA vests can be sourced from the UK and Canada ready to be shipped; surplus vests from the US should ship quickly as well, though the stock of those varies. Most surplus vests are surplus Kevlar inserts placed within new vests.
\n\nOpinions vary about surplus vests, but for the most part, they are considered acceptable. Because Kevlar degrades from UV exposure, it comes with an expiration date—usually five years from manufacture. Police departments replace their gear after five years. But the armor remains effective long after—in every test we’ve seen, expired Kevlar vests continue to defend against all the threats they were rated to protect against. It’s impossible to recommend using expired vests, because there’s no way to guarantee their safety—but used vests perform favorably and are substantially cheaper than new vests. In addition, ironically, retailers of police surplus vests tend to be the retailers who least aim their sales at right-wing and police markets.
\n\nYou can purchase vests, especially surplus vests, in person at army surplus stores. We have heard from people who negotiated good deals for bulk vest orders by sending one person—whoever is likely to be most agreeable to the owners—into a store with cash in hand, ready to purchase.
\n\nThere is also a market for body armor on Armslist, which is like Craigslist but for guns. It appears that some enterprising folks, anticipating the current crisis, have stockpiled a lot of gear and are selling it directly. There are reportedly a lot of scammers on the site; if you’re purchasing anything online, it’s best to pay with a service that offers buyer protection, like PayPal, rather than through Venmo, which does not. If the seller doesn’t want to pay for buyer protection, that itself is a red flag.
\n\nThere are rumors that people using ArmsList have been set up for robberies. Consider meeting in a well-lit, public place during the day and bringing someone with you, especially someone who can legally conceal a firearm. You may wish to make sure that your clothing and vehicle do not give away your politics or other details about you. If you are purchasing with cash, pay only after you have obtained the item. When possible, buy from verified commercial sellers vetted by ArmsList.
\n\nSports armor remains readily available. You can often acquire it secondhand for very cheap, although COVID-19 has made it more difficult to obtain it cheaply at yard sales and secondhand stores. You may be able to find quality knee and elbow pads at gun shows, as decommissioned military gear from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is flooding the market and driving down prices.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/1.jpg\")
A level IIIa vest.
\nSports armor offers a cheap and reasonably effective way to protect yourself from impact weapons, police batons, and, to some degree, knives. It offers no protection from gunfire. You can usually source it secondhand; much of it can be concealed under clothing. It will probably look better in court than ballistic armor. It’s legal for more people to wear it—it is less likely to occasion additional charges if you are arrested the way ballistic armor can. In the few instances we’re aware of in which people received “possession of criminal tools” charges for wearing padding, the charges were ultimately dropped.
\n\nThe fundamental principle of sports armor is the “shell/soft” model of protection. A hard external shell (usually plastic) takes the impact of a weapon, preventing penetration and dispersing the force of that impact over a broad surface area. Beneath the shell, soft padding absorbs the impact. Effective armor requires both of these parts. Steel medieval armor, for example, relied on a thick layer of quilted cloth to reduce the impact of the blows. Some modern sports armor lacks a hard shell, including padded shirts and pants and boxing helmets; these are less appropriate for our purposes.
\n\nWhile ballistic armor is designed to protect your vital organs from gunfire, sports armor is designed to protect more of your body—for example, your shoulders, forearms, or joints, depending on the armor. Against police impact weapons, this can be crucial. Police are trained to aim most impact weapons at the navel or below; they often specifically target knees or limbs. Yet they also regularly shoot people directly in the chest, back, or head with impact weapons, and jab batons into the chest or abdomen or else swing at people’s backs or heads.
\n\nThe top priority is to protect your head. After that, you can consider kneepads, as impacts to the knee are more disabling than strikes to much of the rest of your body. When impact munitions kill people, it is usually because they strike a person in the head or chest; chest injuries can break a rib, which can puncture a lung or heart. This is very rare, but protecting your chest isn’t a bad idea. Some people who anticipate close encounters with club-wielding attackers—such as far right demonstrators or police—also wear forearm guards, often repurposing youth shin guards. These can be used to block blows from a stick or a baton, although such guards hardly guarantee safety.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/10.jpg\")
Fencing chest protection.
\nIt is possible to make your own effective armor, although secondhand sports equipment is often available so cheaply as to render this unnecessary. When making do-it-yourself gear, make sure it follows the shell/soft model. For the shell, plastic is the lightest and generally best, but sheet metal can also work—as can rubber, wood, or even thick magazines. We know one protestor who wears forearm guards made out of old license plates. While not particularly rigid, orange road cone material is better than nothing and often readily available. You can repurpose the plastic of barrels or buckets in a number of ways. We’ve come across one particularly promising method of creating simple breastplates from 5-gallon buckets that we’re excited to try, though for our purposes it would require foam padding on the back.
\n\nFor the “soft” in your shell/soft armor, closed-cell foam is usually the best thing. Yoga mat material is often cheap and effective. The blue foam from the $5 camping mats from WalMart is considered cheap and good by people who make their own sports gear. Even packing foam can work. Try attaching it with spray adhesive or, better, contact cement.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/6.jpg\")
Blue foam mat.
\nSome people have used the following method to make custom armor for free. Recover mattresses and 5-gallon buckets from the trash; cut the buckets into strips roughly matching the part of the body to be covered (thighs, shins, arms, and so on) and put the strips into an oven at low temperature. Don’t melt the plastic—just soften it a bit. Some people prefer to use scavenged ovens for this purpose rather than an oven they use to cook food. Meanwhile, rip foam out of the mattresses and tape that temporarily over the part of your body part to be covered. Take the plastic out of the oven and mold it over the foam; once it has cooled, use spray glue or contact cement to attach the foam to the inside of the plastic.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/8.jpg\")
Contact cement.
\nIn our experiments with making DIY plastic knife-resistant armor, we discovered that any hard plastic plate will be substantially slash-resistant, but that armor requires fairly thick plastic to be stab-proof. One of our testers was not able to get a knife through most sheet plastic, but another tester was able to get a knife through almost every piece of plastic we put in front of them. Still, most stabs in a tumultuous brawl will not be full force and a hard plastic layer will provide substantial resistance even if it is not knife-proof. This degree of protection might still be the difference between a painful cut and a punctured organ. We have yet to test sports armor specifically against knives and impact weapons.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/9.jpg\")
Cut-resistant sleeves.
\nMedieval armor was generally designed according to the same principle as modern sports armor: a hard shell backed by padding. Those who wear medieval armor for sport today have done a lot of work updating medieval armor for modern purposes. Most of this can be adapted to protest use.
\n\nSteel armor tends to weigh more than plastic armor; its primary advantage over plastic armor is cut and slash resistance. This is less important to demonstrators who are looking to protect themselves from blunt impact.
\n\nTwo modern groups that wear and understand medieval armor are the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) and those who study Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA). Both tend to wear a combination of steel and plastic armor, but the SCA in particular has developed DIY plastic armor designed to protect all parts of the human body. Their designs are likely to be effective for demonstrators.
\n\nWe cannot recommend steel for helmets, as the impact munitions police use deliver far more force than hand weapons do and deformation (denting) of steel helmets could endanger the wearer. We have researched this hypothesis, but have yet to test it.
\n\nMedieval armor makes for interesting optics. If you wear it overtly, it is bound to attract attention. Of course, both historically and in the modern era, armor has often been designed to look like clothing or be worn beneath it. The idea that people used to run around in shiny tin cans is largely ahistorical.
\n\nMedieval armor is not bulletproof—nor even particularly bullet resistant. To withstand bullets effectively, steel must be at least 1/4” thick and composed of an almost unworkably hard alloy.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/27.jpg\")
A demonstrator expressing opposition to the courts extending de facto impunity to murderer and former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley on September 17, 2017, in St. Louis.
\nSoft armor vests are lightweight, concealable, effective against handgun rounds, and variably effective against knives. Ideally, you want a vest rated IIIA, although level II vests are often more available in surplus and are better than nothing. Level II protects against the average 9mm round—the most common handgun round in the US—but not against the “self-defense” 9mm rounds that gun enthusiasts commonly use. Vests can easily be very expensive (some can be had new for $250 or so, but most are $400+). Used or surplus vests (which are still usually $200+) might offer less protection than new ones, although this is both debatable and difficult to test with any given vest. Soft armor probably offers the best balance of protection, weight, and concealability for most demonstrators who are concerned about handgun fire.
\n\nSoft armor employs many layers of strong plastic fabric. Each layer absorbs more and more of the ballistic energy of the bullet until eventually it becomes caught in the fabric itself.
\n\nMost soft vests use Kevlar (a brand name for aramid fibers, a type of plastic fiber), but Dyneema and Spectra (brand names for UHMWPE, another type of plastic fiber) are a newer and stronger material that is becoming more common in various types of armor.
\n\nThis principle has been used in armor for millennia. The medieval gambeson was a quilted fabric made of many layers of linen; while those who could afford to do so wore it under other armor, some combatants—such as peasants in revolt—wore it alone. It was particularly effective against arrows, as layered fabric is specifically good at stopping penetration.
\n\nWhen you choose a soft vest, you must choose between a “wraparound” vest, which has large protective inserts that protect your sides as well as your front and back, and a vest that only protects you from the front or back—functioning almost identically to a plate carrier, except with soft fabric armor in place of the plates. Wraparound vests are preferable in almost every way except price—most of the cheapest IIIA armor only protects your front and back.
\n\nLike plate carriers, soft vests often come in both “covert” and “overt” styles [see below]. But since one of the primary advantages soft vests have over plate carriers is that they can be concealed, there seems to be little reason to consider an overt soft vest.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/14.jpg\")
A IIIa wraparound vest liner.
\nSoft vests come in two different types of plastic fibers: aramid and UHMWPE. You can’t go wrong with either one. Aramid fibers (like Kevlar) are a slightly older technology; they are heavier for the same level of protection. UHMWPE fibers (like Dyneema) are fancier, newer, lighter, more UV resistant, and less resistant to temperature changes—this means they are less capable of stopping a “contact” shot, when a gun is held directly against the vest, as the fibers can melt. There is some debate about whether this is a significant problem.
\n\nAramid fibers are the most common type of plastic used in bulletproof vests. The most popular brand is Kevlar, made by Dupont. Aramid fibers were the first plastics strong enough to make into ballistic armor. One other brand of aramid fiber used in armor is Teijin Aramid (previously known as Twaron).
\n\nAramid fibers break down from UV exposure. The outer shell of a bulletproof vest generally protects them from this.
\n\nUltra-High-Molecular-Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE, sometimes simply called PE) is a plastic fiber that is increasingly common for armor of all types. Soft vests are made of layered fabric; hard plates are often backed with it or made entirely from it; modern military helmets are made from it instead of aramid fibers. It is stronger by weight than aramid fibers, so that armor can be made slightly thinner and lighter.
\n\nThe two most common brand names of UHMWPE fiber used in armor are Dyneema (made by DSM) and Spectra (made by Honeywell).
\n\nWhile UHMWPE is not inherently UV resistant, it can be made so reasonably easily and Dyneema is considered substantially more UV stable than Kevlar. We have not been able to find comparable information about Spectra besides the fact that it is advertised as more UV resistant than many other fibers, presumably including aramid).
\n\nUHMWPE has a much lower melting point than aramid; some speculate that it degrades from heat as a result. We found footage of one manufacturer lighting their vests on fire for a full minute, then testing them and finding that they continued to stop bullets. The same manufacturer also tests contact shots against their vests, although we don’t know whether all UHMWPE vests would produce the same results.
\n\nIn any case, it is generally unadvised to leave any soft vest containing UHMWPE in any environment that might exceed 180 degrees Fahrenheit, and they are still considered more vulnerable to contact shots than aramid fiber vests.
\n\nPlate carriers are practically the only game in town if you are looking to protect yourself from rifles. For a plate carrier, you need two things: the carrier—a fabric vest with sleeves to hold hard plates—and the plates. Generally, you want plates rated III+, ideally ceramic or a combination of ceramic and PE (polyethylene, usually the UHMWPE mentioned above). Side plates are likely overkill and needless weight and expense, as are level IV plates, the most protective armor. Hard plates are ostensibly more knife-proof than other forms of armor, but an overt plate carrier is so obvious that a determined attacker would simply aim where you aren’t protected.
\n\nPlate carriers are only designed to protect the most vital areas of your chest, an area sometimes referred to as the “kill box.” Most shooters are trained to aim for “center body mass” because it presents the largest target and offers the most vulnerabilities. With the exception of head wounds, wounds elsewhere on the body are less likely to kill you, so most armor systems do not prioritize preventing them.
\n\nPlate carriers come in “covert” and “overt” models just as soft vests do, with covert ones designed to be worn beneath clothing and overt ones designed to be worn over it.
\n\nIt’s considered good form to pick your plates first and then match your carrier to them, though you can do it in the opposite order as well.
\n\nThere are several things to consider regarding plates, including composition, size, cut, and curves.
\n\nPlates comprise a range of things that stop bullets. We’ll cover soft plates, steel plates, ceramic plates, and PE plates.
\n\nSoft plates are made of layers of the ballistic fabric discussed above in the section on bulletproof vests. If you’re looking for modularity, you could keep a pair of soft plates that you can insert into your plate carrier instead of hard plates when you want a lighter armor. Advantages: light, flexible. Disadvantages: poor protection.
\n\nSteel plates are the most common, but are going out of style. Steel plates are slabs of steel, about .25” thick. The most common alloy of steel is AR500, a particularly hard steel. It’s used primarily for armor, plow blades, construction and mining gear, and the like. Steel plates are easily 8 or 9 pounds apiece. (There is also an armor manufacturer called AR500; they make armor of all types, confusing matters.)
\n\nSteel plates are less popular now that ceramic plates are becoming more affordable. Steel plates are substantially heavier. When struck at an angle, they can cause bullets to ricochet, and they’re capable of causing “spalling,” in which tiny shreds of steel go flying. Vertical spalling is the chief concern, as that can go up toward your face.
\n\nThe only steel plates worth considering come with a buildup of “spall coating,” which is usually the same stuff that truck bed liners are made of (such as the spray-on Rhino Liner), though we believe that some manufacturers use fiberglass sleeves instead. Many manufacturers come with options regarding how thick you want your spall coating to be. A thick (“build up”) coating is more important for the front plate than the back plate. Spall coatings will usually protect the wearer from two or three hits before there is more vertical spalling.
\n\nNow that ceramic plates are affordable, the main advantage of steel plates is that they are thinner than ceramic ones and more capable of handling more rounds at the same point of impact.
\n\nCeramic plates are sometimes called composite plates because they are not usually made entirely of ceramic. They work by breaking down upon impact, absorbing most of the force of the bullet, which is then stopped by a second layer. Once, this second layer was usually composed of steel, but nowadays polyethylene is most common. Ceramic plates are generally between five and six pounds and .75” to 1” thick; the cheaper plates tend to be thicker and heavier.
\n\nIn order of increasing cost and efficacy, the three most common types of ceramic are Alumina, Silicon Carbide, and Boron Carbide. Alumina has to be thicker and heavier to offer the same amount of protection as Boron Carbide, but is substantially cheaper. It might be better to buy multiple sets of Alumina plates to distribute to friends than a single fancy lightweight set of plates that only you can wear, although thinner plates are more concealable.
\n\nThere are fears that ceramic plates might degrade from rough handling, but current opinion is that this concern is overblown.
\n\nOne danger with ceramic plates is that to save cost and weight, most manufacturers use foam rather than ceramic along the edge of the plate. This is usually mentioned in the item description. One plate we handled had a full inch of foam around the edge—reducing an ostensibly 10x12” plate to dimensions of 8x10” in full effectiveness—although the PE runs edge to edge beneath the ceramic and it’s generally considered to be IIIA rated (enough to stop handgun rounds) on its own. Red Star Defense advertises “edge to edge” ballistic ceramic.
\n\nWe recommend ceramic plates because they are substantially lighter and don’t have issues with spalling. However, they will not survive as many shots as steel armor, and because they are less rigid, they are more prone to backface deformation (denting), which transfers more of the force of impact to the wearer. You can mitigate this danger by using trauma pads, which are essentially just extra padding.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/7.jpg\")
A ceramic plate after multiple impacts.
\nPE (polyethylene) plates are plates made entirely of UHMWPE. As with soft armor, it relies on multiple thin layers. Unlike soft armor, the layers are heat-laminated together. When a bullet strikes the plate, it breaks apart each layer one at a time, and this delamination absorbs force each time. Because this process can cause a fair amount of back deformation, most PE plates are backed by a layer of foam.
\n\nPE plates are substantially lighter than other hard plates—often less than three pounds. They’re also buoyant in water. But they are much thicker (1-1.25”) and therefore less concealable. Most importantly, we have not been able to source any plate rated higher than level III—it seems that armor-penetrating rounds cut right through the plastic layers. Because the AR-15 is the most common rifle threat in the United States and some available AR-15 ammunition options can penetrate level III plates, we cannot recommend them for safety.
\n\nAny hard armor containing PE, such as ceramic or standalone PE, should not be exposed to temperatures above 180 degrees Fahrenheit.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/23.jpg\")
UHMWPE plates.
\nRoughly speaking, a plate should protect you from your collarbone down to a few inches above your navel and from nipple to nipple.
\n\nTo make everything as confusing as possible, there are two different sizing standards in use in the USA. We’ll call them civilian and SAPI.
\n\nCivilian plates, which are what we are most likely to encounter, are available in 8x10”, 10x12”, and 11x14” dimensions. The 10x12” size is the most common.
\n\nSAPI (Small Arms Protective Insert) is the military acronym for protective plates. SAPI plates come in a very specific cut (the SAPI cut), but in five different sizes: extra-small (7.25x11.5”), small (8.75x11.75”), medium (9.5x12”), large (10.25x13.25”), and extra-large (11x14”).
\n\nThe best way to size a plate is to measure your body, then choose the plate size that closest fits you. Of course, you may not have access to all the possible sizes.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/11.jpg\")
A full cut plate.
\nPlates come in a number of different shapes: full cut, SAPI, shooter’s, and swimmer’s. The differences between these are minor, and each cut (besides SAPI, a military standard) differs from manufacturer to manufacturer. While most plates are sold in pairs, many people mix and match, with a regular SAPI cut back plate and a deeper shooter’s or swimmer’s cut front plate.
\n\nFull cut plates are essentially rectangles with the corners rounded off. They are not common but can be used for side plates or back plates. They may not fit in many carriers.
\n\nSAPI plates are the standard military hard plates. They have a nearly-45 degree angle cut from each part of the top. SAPI plates work well and offer a good deal of coverage. Actual military SAPI plates are not sold directly to the public, but manufacturers sell plates in “SAPI cut.”
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/20.jpg\")
Sapi plates, shooter’s cut.
\nShooter’s cut plates are similar to SAPI plates but have slightly more of a cut away at the corners. Some manufacturers sell right-handed or left-handed plates and further accentuate the cut on the dominant arm for better mobility.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/21.jpg\")
Shooter’s cut steel plate.
\nSwimmer’s cut plates have substantially deeper cuts away from the top corners, forming a vaguely teardrop shape. This sacrifices protection for mobility. Some people with breasts or other curves find a swimmer’s cut most comfortable.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/22.jpg\")
Swimmer’s cut steel plate.
\nPlates can come in three different curve styles: flat, single curve, and multi-curve. Once again, each brand has its own interpretation of each of these.
\n\nFlat plates are just that—flat. Most people don’t like flat plates, though some people wear them, especially on the back. Sometimes flat plates are cheaper.
\n\nSingle curve plates are the most common. These are curved on the vertical axis to better wrap around your torso.
\n\nMulti-curve plates curve in multiple ways to better fit what the manufacturer believes to be their average customer’s body. These are generally preferable, especially for people with breasts or other curves. They’re often more expensive. Not all manufacturers offer this option.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/17.jpg\")
A multi-curve plate.
\nMost plates we’ve discussed are Stand Alone (SA or STA) plates. These plates are designed to perform at their rated level by themselves.
\n\nIt’s also possible to get In Conjunction With (ICW) plates. These are generally thinner and lighter but only perform at their rated level when worn in conjunction with a IIIA soft vest.
\n\nThe modularity of the latter system has a lot to recommend it, but you will have to source a bulletproof soft vest with plate inserts (which are often more expensive) or else wear a plate carrier over your vest. ICW plates are harder to come across. The whole system is likely to be more expensive.
\n\nThis style used to be the more popular military style, as it offers more protection, but current trends favor mobility over protection, and military forces seem to be shifting towards standalone plates.
\n\nWhen you buy armor, you might encounter “trauma pads.” This phrase actually has two different meanings. Before standalone plate carriers, In Conjunction With plates were called “trauma plates” and were inserted into sleeves on bulletproof vests to increase their ballistic rating. Now, however, “trauma pads” are usually non-ballistic foam inserts you put behind your hard plates in order to soften the blunt force trauma of an impact.
\n\nThe value of trauma pads is hotly debated. They seem to be more important for ceramic plates than steel plates. It’s also increasingly popular for people to make do-it-yourself trauma pads out of yoga mat foam.
\n\nWe don’t have enough information to come down hard on either side of this debate, but it might be worth getting or making trauma pads, especially if you have ceramic plates. It can’t hurt, and some people wear them just because they make the armor more comfortable, although they do add expense and thickness.
\n\nIt is possible to make DIY armor plates. It’s probably only worth doing as a last resort. YouTube is a magical wonderland full of people testing various DIY forms of body armor. Some are easy to make; others are labor intensive. Some are affordable; others are expensive. We have not personally tested DIY ballistic armor and cannot recommend it, but there are situations in which armor is needed and not commercially available.
\n\nWe’ve seen two common methods. The first involves laminating lots and lots of layers of Kevlar (better) or fiberglass (cheaper) with resin. This is labor intensive and not necessarily cheap, but it makes it possible to form the plates into various shapes. There are arguments about what kinds of resin work best; some people argue convincingly that using less resin enables the layers to delaminate upon impact and absorb more force.
\n\nThe second method, which is substantially simpler and often cheaper, involves layering ceramic floor tiles—using the hardest ones available—with various thicknesses of steel and rubber. This method seems to make stronger armor that is less subject to back deformation. Some people argue that ceramic mosaic tiles offer better multi-hit capability, while others say that single larger tiles absorb impact better. It’s possible that aluminum oxide ceramic panels can be sourced from commercial manufacturers, possibly from China.
\n\nSome people combine these various methods in various ways.
\n\nOne person made a thick, light plate out of DIY recycled HDPE from milk jugs that seemed to be roughly level 2 or 3A.
\n\nAnother person proved that thick slabs of non-laminated UHMWPE don’t do any good as armor.
\n\nThe cheapest and strangest DIY plate we’ve seen is a $12 plate made from items from the dollar store: baking pans full of rocks and glue with a hardcover book as spall protection. This stopped some rifle rounds but not many.
\n\nOne person we spoke to has had some success cutting steel plates from suitably strong and thick steel found in scrapyards. Steel that is too hard will shatter upon impact; steel that is too soft will allow penetration—and if bullets do pass through, they might leave additional jagged bits of metal. If you’re going to take this approach, it is absolutely crucial to get enough extra material to test these plates. You can cut the plates to the desired shape with an angle grinder. DIY steel plates should absolutely be backed with trauma pads.
\n\nIf you possibly can, you should get well-engineered, properly tested gear. Failing that, you had better carry out your own thorough tests on the gear you make yourself. One person who does so described the process thus:
\n\n1) Extensively research core concepts involved in the project, to understand considerations, potential points of failure, and potential reasons for failure.\n2) Develop a minimal viable product standard that you hope to accomplish.\n3) Determine the most basic test conditions possible, with as many variables eliminated as possible.\n4) Develop initial prototype.\n5) Test initial prototype.\n6) Disassemble prototype to determine what worked and what failed, and to determine cause of failure.\n7) Build next prototype with knowledge gained from testing.\n8) Repeat.\n9) Once you achieve a minimal viable product standard, start testing under increasingly harsh conditions—different temperatures, using different rounds, and so on—to determine resiliency and point of failure.
\n\nFor a project like this, make sure you have access to a workshop and someone who knows how to use the necessary tools safely and effectively. The proper tools will make production and testing faster; they can also help ensure standardized outcomes.
\n\nMany vendors will sell you the carrier and plates as a set, in which case you’re ready to go. Otherwise, you’ll have to pick a carrier for your plates. Be careful to pick a plate carrier that accepts the specific size and cut of the plates you plan to wear.
\n\nPlate carriers generally consist of two parts: the vest itself, which goes on over your head, and a cummerbund—a velcro belt that connects the front and back panels at your side.
\n\nPlate carriers come in two primary styles, covert and overt.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/19.jpg\")
The Slickster, a popular plate carrier.
\nCovert carriers are designed to offer the option of wearing them under other clothing. They don’t tend to come with as many pouches and loops and other tactical loadout options. For protestors, covert carriers are likely the best option. A black covert carrier under loose-fitting black clothing is unlikely to be noticed as body armor, especially in the dark or in a crowd.
\n\nThis has several advantages. First and perhaps foremost, police are less likely to tag you as a troublemaker and target you for arrest or other violence. Just as importantly, armed attackers may be less likely to target you. With firearms, one of the primary arguments for concealed carry is that a trained attacker will target known threats first. Basically, if someone walks into a store and starts shooting, they are likely to target anyone they see carrying a gun first. The same principle applies to armor: a shooter is substantially more likely to consider someone wearing armor to be a threat, and therefore to aim at them first. Furthermore, if a shooter knows you are wearing armor, they might intentionally shoot you somewhere other than where you are protected. Overt plate carriers are designed with soldiers in mind, whereas “operators” (spec-ops) are more likely to wear covert vests for the aforementioned reasons.
\n\nYou can wear covert vests modularly, with the option to swap in additional pouches and cummerbunds to switch the carrier to overt.
\n\nUnfortunately, the cheaper ceramic plates tend to be so thick that it is substantially harder to wear them covertly. If covertness is your top priority, consider saving up for more expensive, thinner ceramic plates. Although we cannot currently recommend steel plates, those are thinner as well.
\n\nBy comparison, overt carriers are designed to be worn as the outermost layer and to function as a platform from which to hang gear. Traditionally, this means guns, magazines, communications equipment, first aid supplies, and whatever else a soldier needs for their purposes. We’re not soldiers, we’re protestors.
\n\nOvert vests still have a place, of course, for some people and some purposes. They convey militancy and preparedness and they normalize the use of armor. Overt vests in bright colors are often worn by first responders and others who need to protect themselves but are trying to identify themselves as noncombatants.
\n\nPlus, the ability to hang gear off a carrier is convenient for many purposes, such as radio communications and serving as a street medic.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/18.jpg\")
An overt plate carrier.
\nMilitary and tactical gear is often easily identified by the loops of webbing sewn all over it. This is called MOLLE (Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment): a military system designed to allow the attachment of additional pouches, packs, sheathes, and the like.
\n\nSome MOLLE is laser cut, particularly on covert carriers: instead of webbing loops, slots are cut into the outermost layer of fabric.
\n\nHook-and-loop (i.e., velcro) attachment points are also common on tactical gear, which are used to attach morale patches or even small pouches. Morale patches include the various emblems and signs that the military use to designate units and that tactically-minded civilians use to express political and subcultural affiliation. What 1” buttons are for punks, morale patches are for tactical gearheads.
\n\nSome specific manufacturers use other styles of attachment points as well.
\n\nFor most covert plate carrier purposes, attachment points are not necessary.
\n\nFor anyone experienced in sewing, making a plate carrier is a reasonably simple affair, as it is not itself a ballistic product. We would recommend that any aspiring plate carrier maker get a simple plate carrier to copy.
\n\nYou can make straps from webbing; 500D Cordura seems to be the most commonly used fabric for the vest itself. Most guides suggest double or triple stitching every seam.
\n\nPlates load into the bottom of the front and back sleeves and are generally secured by a generous flap of hook-and-loop.
\n\nIf your plate carrier is well-fitted, the armor should sit at your clavicle. With your armor on, lift your arms and twist around to make sure the carrier moves with your body. Breathe in deep to make sure it’s not too tight; at the most, it should feel snug when your lungs are fully expanded. Then test the fit by doing a Burpee or some other athletic activity to make sure that it nothing on the carrier moves around or falls out.\n### Fitting Armor to Different Body Types
\n\nMost armor is designed to fit able-bodied, athletic cis men. The further from that category you are, the more trouble you may have fitting body armor. It can be particularly challenging to obtain armor in smaller sizes and armor for people with breasts.
\n\nSoft body armor vests are substantially more forgiving than plate carriers, but can still be less comfortable for those with more curves. Some armor manufacturers design soft armor vests specifically to fit curvier bodies. These are less likely to be found at lower price points, although we’ve seen some surplus “female” vests on eBay.
\n\nSmall vests in general seem to be hard to find on the surplus market, as surplus vests tend to come from police departments.
\n\nPlate carriers offer even fewer options for people with breasts. The best option we’ve been able to find is to get a multi-curve swimmer’s cut front plate and wear either a tight-fitting sports bra or a chest binder.
\n\nLikewise, plates simply aren’t made in sizes large enough for all people. It seems that most larger people wear the largest plate they can (usually 11x14”), even if it covers less of their torso.
\n\nThere is a lot of contradictory information available about what happens to the human body when you’re shot while wearing body armor.
\n\nWhen you’re shot while wearing soft armor, the impact of the blow still hits you and can damage you, although the injuries are generally minor as the impact is spread out over a somewhat larger area. According to one study, 85% of those who are shot while wearing a vest rated for the right kind of impact suffer no injuries or minor injuries such as slight bruising. Yet one EMT says that the police they have treated who have survived shots to their vests describe it as being hit with a baseball bat full force.
\n\nPlate armor is something else entirely. It’s hotly contested whether injuries and fatalities are common when someone is shot while wearing plate armor. We’ve personally talked to experts and seen tests and studies that contradict each other.
\n\nIn general, if you are wearing armor that is rated for the impact you experience, you are unlikely to suffer a major injury. Unless you’re caught off balance, you’re unlikely to be knocked back or over. Steel, in particular, is effective at transferring the force of the bullet across its large surface, minimizing the force that is passed on to the wearer. Ceramic armor defaces more dramatically, but this effect can be minimized with trauma pads; it should not cause grievous injury to the wearer.
\n\nThis is not universally the case, however. People do suffer cracked ribs and other blunt force injuries when bullets strike them while they are wearing armor.
\n\nPeople are likely to experience the same impact differently according to body mass. Larger plates disperse impact over a larger area.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/4.jpg\")
Chest anatomy as it relates to plate coverage.
\nBallistics is a remarkably complex subject. We’ve spoken to a number of engineers and tactical enthusiasts about how to understand the risk of penetration.
\n\nBroadly speaking, rifle shots penetrate substantially more effectively than handguns or shotguns. They’re also considered substantially more deadly—though gun violence is a highly politicized subject and data is often skewed to support one position or another, and we’ve found contradictory reports about lethality claims according to caliber. The only exception to this rule is that .22 caliber rifles, which are common for small game hunting and for beginning shooters, are closer to handguns in terms of their penetration capacity than they are to other rifles.
\n\nArmor penetration is very different from overall power (the kinetic force transferred to the target by the bullet), which is different from “stopping power” (the ability of the bullet to neutralize a threat). Penetration is greater for faster bullets with a greater “sectional density”—that is, bullets that are heavier in relationship to their width. Thinner bullets are sharper and penetrate more effectively than larger bullets of the same mass. Armor penetration and stopping power actually work against each other: bullets that mushroom or fragment upon impact cause far more severe wounds, whereas bullets that maintain their shape more effectively are more capable of penetrating armor.
\n\nMost armor piercing ammunition works by using a steel or other hardened core that survives impact more effectively than lead. This ammunition is not generally available to civilians in the United States, although it is available to the military and police. This makes it less likely that militia groups and other non-state actors will be using it against demonstrators. It is not in common use by the police for a number of reasons: first, it involves greater risk of going all the way through the target and hitting someone else unintentionally, in what is called overpenetration; second, hollow point bullets (which mushroom upon impact) are more effective at killing unarmored targets, like the people that the police are usually trying to murder. The most common exception is 7.62x54r steel core surplus ammo, which has significant armor piercing capability, and anything in the 50 caliber range, which we are unlikely to see in domestic civilian conflict.
\n\nThere are two types of bullets worth knowing about that are available to civilians and are likely to be carried by non-state actors who seek to harm demonstrators. First are steel-tipped (not steel-cored) bullets, generally referred to as “green tip” bullets. These were designed for the military to offer greater accuracy and penetration at long distance, but they are in common civilian use, especially in AR-15s. The second are the “+P” style of bullets, generally 9mm—the most common handgun round—though not all 9mm are +P. These are not designed for armor penetration, but pack a “hotter” load of more gunpowder that provides greater power and therefore more effective penetration.
\n\nBoth of these threats can be stopped by appropriate and available body armor, such as what that we recommend herein. It’s worth being aware of these threats in order to understand why you might need an appropriate level of armor. Older and cheaper soft vests might stop most 9mm rounds, but not the +P rounds that are commonly carried by self-defense and gun enthusiasts.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/12.jpg\")
Green-tipped .556 ammunition.
\nArmor can be tested against several different standards to determine its efficacy. For products available in the United States, the most common by far are the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) standards, which we use throughout this article. These were designed with US law enforcement in mind. Many other countries use the NIJ standards for armor that is available to civilians. There are other standards in use throughout the world, as well.
\n\nThe US army does not use level ratings, instead offering specific armor items that must meet a certain threshold. These tests are not as simple as “this armor protects against handguns” or even “this armor protects against 9mm handguns.” The ratings designate the specific cartridge, down to its composition and how much gunpowder it is loaded with.
\n\nAgain, in short, if you are looking for soft armor, you want it to be rated to IIIA. If you are looking for hard armor, you want it to be rated at least III+, or “III special threat,” if it is to protect you against the common steel-tipped AR-15 rounds. Neither of these are officially part of the NIJ standards.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/3.jpg\")
9mm Luger+p ammunition.
\nThe NIJ standards are revised from time to time.
\n\nLevel I: This level is no longer part of the standards. It protected against some .22lr (small game hunting rifle) rounds and .380acp (handgun rounds).
\n\nLevel IIa: This protects against some handgun rounds, including some 9mm, .40, and .45 rounds.
\n\nLevel II: This protects against more handgun rounds, including 9mm as well as some .357 rounds.
\n\nLevel IIIa: This protects against nearly all handguns, including more .357 rounds and .44 magnum rounds as well.
\n\nLevel III: This level is rated to stop most 7.62x51mm NATO rounds, a common military round. It is not rated against the AR-15, but will stop many AR-15 rounds (5.56 or .223, which are roughly the same).
\n\nLevel IV: This level is rated to stop 30.06 (thirty-aught-six) armor-piercing rounds—the rounds fired by WWII-era battle rifles, which remain common for hunting.
\n\nThe new NIJ 0101.07 standards will likely be released at some point soon. This revision will address the major holes in the current system, such as the gap filled by III+. It will replace the numeral system with two separate categories: HG (handgun) and RF (rifle). HG will have two levels HG1, which will map to the existing level II, and HG2, which will map to the existing IIIA. RF will have three levels: RF1 which will map to the existing level III, RF2 which will fill the hole currently met by III+, and RF3 which will map to the existing level IV.
\n\nPlease read our full article about helmets here.
\n\nMost ballistic helmets are rated to the IIIa level and are designed to stop handgun rounds. A few newer military helmets can stop some rifle rounds, sometimes, from long distances. There are also rifle inserts available for some helmets to increase the protection level of the helmet, although these are not in common use, as most soldiers seem to prefer weight reduction to an extra level of protection.
\n\nIIIA glass visors are also available, which attach to helmets and protect the eyes. These are made of thick polycarbonate, the same plastic used in the manufacture of bulletproof glass.
\n\nWhile we will cover protest shields at greater length in a future article, it’s worth touching on ballistic shields: shields designed to protect the user from gunfire.
\n\nMost ballistic shields are rated IIIA for handgun protection or IV for rifle protection. They can weigh anywhere from 15 to 40 pounds. It’s very difficult to wield them in the ways that an ordinary shield is wielded.
\n\nWhile they’re somewhat common equipment for police, they are not generally used by the military or militias, nor are they generally applicable to self-defense or community-defense situations. They seem to be chiefly useful for raiding buildings.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/5.jpg\")
A ballistic shield.
\nCut-resistant gloves and sleeves are available and affordable, but they are generally designed for the kind of incidental contact with sharp knives one might experience in a commercial kitchen. These are generally made of aramid (Kevlar) or UHMWPE (Dyneema) fabric, though some also contain woven wire. Cut resistance does not translate to stab resistance. A truly cut-resistant sleeve would be useful for defending against knife attacks, but the testing we’ve seen has not led us to believe the current products would be much help against determined attackers rather than workplace accidents.
\n\nCut resistance is measured in the USA by the ANSI standards rating scale, running from A1 to A9, and in the European Union with the CE/EN standards rating scale, running from A-F (previously, 1-5). The ANSI standard rates to a higher level of cut resistance than the CE/EN standard.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/14/25.jpg\")
May we live to see a better future.
\nWhether Trump tries to steal the election or Biden wins and tries to continue the same policies, we can come together to stop them. Here, we offer a selection of resources to prepare for post-electoral unrest, including posters, primers on protest and security skills, and information about what different groups are organizing around the country. Everybody out!
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/10/27/3.jpg\")
\nIf Donald Trump leaves power in January, the credit will not be due to Joe Biden, nor simply to those who voted in the election, but to the social movements that have demonstrated that the United States will be ungovernable under four more years of Trump. Whether or not Trump leaves power, we cannot count on any government or political party to look out for us—we have to do that ourselves.
\n\nIf protesters had not filled the streets, if anti-fascists had not shut down the white supremacists who were trying to build a movement to silence Trump’s opposition, if angry and heartbroken people had not forced the issues of police killings and detentions and deportations to the forefront of public discourse, the ruling class would probably have thrown all its weight behind supporting Trump’s presidency, giving him the money and support he needed to hold on to power regardless of how unpopular he is. Only our resistance has set a limit to what he can do; the rulings from judges and pushback from local politicians came after our mobilizations—and we can’t count on them, anyway, especially not as Trump continues to stack the judiciary. Trump is still trying to figure out how to hold on to power, but he is in a much weaker position than he would have been if people had stayed at home and waited for voting to take care of everything.
\n\nIf Trump tries to hold on to power, it will be up to us to stop him—regardless of what disinformation appears in the media, regardless of Democrats’ intentions to cede power to him once again. That could mean mass protests like the ones that took place in Portland over the summer when Trump sent in federal forces in an unsuccessful attempt to suppress dissent. It could mean coordinated disruptions. Rather than focusing on symbolic marches and displays, go where your actions will be most effective in exerting economic pressure. Be careful not to present a vulnerable target to far-right attackers.
\n\nSome people have been speaking about the possibility of a general strike. In 2020, when the market already treats most of us as expendable, a general strike has to look very different than the strikes of a hundred years ago. If the idea is to carry out a general strike, refusing to show up to work is not enough—we have to intervene to interrupt the functioning of the economy itself. Identify infrastructure and activities that are essential to the circulation of commodities, the accumulation of profit, and the maintenance of control. Study previous efforts to interrupt them, such as the November 2, 2011 general strike in Oakland at the height of the Occupy Movement and the port blockades that accompanied it.
\n\nIf there is going to be a movement powerful enough to change the outcome, it will not be the property of any particular organizing group, nor will it be limited to any particular strategy or code of conduct. It will have to draw together all the different participants in all the existing movements—against police violence, against prisons and deportation, against colonialism and ecological destruction and capitalism and war—along with all the tactics and perceptions they have developed throughout years of experience. It will have to be diverse and inclusive—a movement in which many movements fit.
\n\nEverybody out means this is not just about Trump or “preserving democracy.” If Biden wins the election, we must not permit his administration to continue Trump’s policies, we must continue to fight against every imposition on anyone’s liberty or well-being. If Biden wins, there will still be police, prisons, deportations, ecological destruction, capitalism—a Biden victory is not the end of this struggle, it is just the beginning of a new chapter. If Biden becomes president, on January 20, we should mobilize at ICE detention facilities and police stations and prisons to show that our opposition to all of these racist and oppressive institutions will continue until they are abolished.
\n\nEverybody out means we don’t trust any politician to control our future. It means we won’t legitimize institutions that have never looked out for us or kept us safe. It means coming together to determine what our lives should be, ourselves, directly.
\n\nWe have prepared a poster promoting this effort. Please print these out and distribute them widely this week, to let people know what’s coming!
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/10/27/everybody-out_front_color.jpg\")
Click the image to download the PDF.
\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/10/27/everybody-out_front_black_and_white.jpg\")
Click the image to download the PDF.
\nLearn about how to make wheatpaste to put up posters here.
\n\nWe will update this list shortly as more events and organizing efforts are announced.
\n\nIn New York City, people have planned three months of events between the election and January 20.
\n\nIn Portland, people have planned a week of events between November 4 and 11.
\n\nDenver, Chicago, Washington, DC, and Raleigh are also organizing to prepare for electoral unrest.
\n\nLabor unions have also called for a general strike in the event that Trump attempts to steal the election. The 70,000 member AFL-CIO Rochester Labor Council became the first regional AFL-CIO body in the US to call for a general strike. The Western Mass Area Labor Federation AFL-CIO had passed a resolution calling on labor movement to launch general strike to ensure a “peaceful transition” of power. The 100,000-member MLK Labor Council, an AFL-CIO regional body of labor groups representing more than 150 unions in the Seattle area, is also calling for general strike. While our own values and political objectives may differ from the leadership of these unions, their interest in this indicates the scale of disruption that could occur.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/GrimKim/status/1323479807687036930\n\n\n
A centrist coalition under the banner “Protect the Results,” claiming to represent millions people, aims to mobilize if Trump “interferes” with the results, though it is not clear exactly how they define “interference.” It’s likely that any institutional reaction will follow a grassroots response, chasing behind popular momentum rather than galvanizing it. Of course, electoral politics generally functions to keep people in a state of paralyzed spectatorship, waiting to see an outcome rather than taking the initiative; if the news about the election results is confusing, it is possible that unless unaffiliated rebels immediately take action, nothing will happen at all.
\n\nYou can read an overview of what the government is planning in the way of repressive violence around the election here courtesy of It’s Going Down.
\n\nTrump’s term is ending as it began, with a likelihood of street conflict.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/10/27/2.jpg\")
\nThe following guides offer a great deal of information about how to participate in effective protests while protecting yourself and your community.
\n\nYou can find a lot of important information about general security in protest situations here.
\n\nThis thread spells out how to protect your privacy via proper phone safety at demonstrations—before, during, and after the protest.
\n\nYou can read some more tips about protest gear from protesters in Hong Kong here.
\n\nThis thread covers how to extinguish tear gas canisters.
\n\nYou can obtain more graphics on this subject here.
\n\nThese zines from the Rosehip Medic Collective include a range of useful information.
\n\nThis collection of resources that appeared shortly before Trump took office includes more topical material, addressing non-violence, solidarity, white supremacy, colonialism, patriarchy, capitalism, and more.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/10/27/1.jpg\")
\nGunshot wounds are becoming more common at demonstrations. This is not to say you should panic—millions of people have participated in demonstrations over the past four months, while only dozens have been shot. Still, as political conflict escalates in the United States, it is important to think about how we can care for and protect each other. The good news is that even if you have no medical training, there are things you can do to maximize the likelihood that a person who is shot in your vicinity will survive—simple things like learning the location of the nearest trauma center. Though this subject can be stressful to contemplate, the following guide may equip you to help save lives.
\n\nWhile many demonstrators have learned how to prepare for tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, LRADs, baton blows, and arrests, few are currently prepared to respond to gunshot wounds. This guide is drawn from the experiences of several people who have witnessed or treated gunshot wounds in the course of political and social conflict. In order to demystify the subject and help readers imagine how they might employ this information, we’ve included two personal narratives describing experiences with gunshot wounds at demonstrations.
\n\nAlthough this text draws on the practical knowledge of a number of people with both institutional training and street experience, it does not represent professional medical advice. It includes some information that will chiefly be useful to experienced street medics, but most of it is relevant to any reader. It is not intended to stand in for actual training in gunshot wound response or other medical interventions. We encourage readers to seek out additional training, skills, and life-saving critical response tools.
\n\nGunshot wounds involve traumatic injuries and serious puncture wounds. Their impact on the body varies according to the type of weapon, the distance of the shooter, and the location of the entry wound. Depending on the size and speed of the bullet, gunshots can inflict different types of harm—including severe bleeding, muscle and bone damage, and destruction of organs. They can damage bodies in unpredictable ways.
\n\nWhile some calibers of ammunition may pass directly through a person leaving easily identifiable entry and exit wounds, other calibers are more prone to “tumbling,” or ricocheting, inside the body. This can cause more internal damage and less predictable exits. Worse still, some types of “self-defense” ammunition for handguns are designed to “mushroom” out on impact, causing severe harm.
\n\nTreat any gunshot wound as a potentially life-threatening injury, regardless of the details. If an artery is compromised, a person can bleed out in as few as three minutes. Once a person loses half their blood, their chances of survival decrease dramatically. It is up to you to act quickly.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/24/8.jpg\")
\nFirst and foremost, pay attention to what is going on around you. Street demonstrations can be chaotic and loud. Police may employ tear gas, flash-bang grenades, LRADs, and other noisy weaponry, while protestors sometimes set off fireworks—which can sound an awful lot like gunfire. When you are surprised by loud bangs in the streets, try to identify the source and what kind of risk it represents.
\n\nStay aware of the location of anyone who is openly carrying a firearm, as well as anyone you have reason to believe may be carrying a concealed weapon. People have been hit by friendly fire at demonstrations as well as hostile fire. If you are working with an affinity group, you could designate one person to keep an eye out for potential threats. Take turns occupying this role, so one person doesn’t become exhausted from being constantly vigilant. In any case, all parties should stay aware, as things can shift rapidly.
\n\nCommunicate clearly and concisely, especially when you are describing individuals with firearms. This can help others to make wise decisions rapidly in an emergency, without contributing to undue panic. Here are two communication models you can employ to convey what you see.
\n\nUse the mnemonic device “S.A.L.U.T.E.” (Size, Activity, Location, Unit, Time, Equipment) to identify potential threats. For example, rather than shouting “They’ve got a gun!” you might report, “I saw three men (S) guarding the convenience store (A) at the intersection of Main Street and City Avenue (L). Possibly militia (U). This was at 11:15 pm (T). Two had long guns, I don’t know about the third (E).”
\n\nIn emergencies, or when time is of the essence, you can use another tool called the “three Ds”: Direction, Distance, Disposition. For example, “Four unknown white men with rifles at my 1 o’clock, one block up, scanning the crowd with binoculars.”
\n\nMuch of what you can do to treat a gunshot wound takes place long before the shot is fired.
\n\nDepending on the type of event and where it is taking place, there may be medics around. You could investigate in advance whether there are street medics in your area, whether they will be attending, and where they will be positioned. During demonstrations, one often sees medics milling around in the crowd or stationed at the margins, carrying gear and wearing a red cross or a similar insignia identifying them as medics. If you believe it could become relevant, you can ask them whether they are prepared to deal with gunshot wounds and other severe injuries. Many medics have experience responding to tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets, as well as exhaustion, dehydration, and panic. Currently, it is less likely that a medic who responds to a gunshot wound will possess the relevant skills and experience.
\n\nIf you are assessing the extent to which local medics are trained to deal with gunshot wounds and you learn that they are prepared to offer “first response” care, you can also inquire as to whether they have the capacity to offer prolonged care in the event that EMS services cannot reach an area. This can give you vital information about the potential risks you may be taking on if you remain in an escalating situation.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/24/2.jpg\")
Street medics in the Bush era.
\nBefore going to a demonstration, assess the security and health needs of your comrades—including ability and willingness to call for emergency services, which are usually accompanied by police. Are there any needs that should be addressed before someone reaches the emergency room? Who would you like your friends to contact first in the event of an emergency or injury?
\n\nIn addition to learning whether trained medics will be around, make sure you know the location of the nearest emergency room—preferably one with a trauma center. Not all hospitals are equipped to deal with life-threatening wounds. If you will not be near a hospital with a trauma center, at least learn the location of the nearest hospital. With any luck, they should be able to stabilize a victim before transferring them to a hospital that is prepared to deal with mass physical trauma.
\n\nThere are several items you can carry with you that can be useful in the event of a shooting. Consider procuring or building an Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK) to carry with you. An IFAK is a trauma kit containing essential life-saving materials to help you control bleeding and treat major wounds. It is usually a small pouch containing items such as a gauze (regular or hemostatic), pressure dressing, personal protective equipment (gloves, face shield), and a tourniquet. An experienced medic has compiled a thorough list of what to put in an IFAK and where to obtain it, which is included in an appendix below. With the exception of PPE, which protects you and the person you are assisting from blood-borne pathogens or other communicable diseases, all of these intervention tools share the same purpose: to stop bleeding as quickly as possible.
\n\nGauze is a basic part of an IFAK, but a crucial one. It is used to absorb blood as you apply direct pressure to a wound. It can also be used to “pack” inside of a larger wound.1 Hemostatic gauze (often known by brand names such as QuickClot, Celox, and Hemcon) is gauze impregnated with a mineral agent that helps blood clot more quickly, which is critical in the case of a major bleed.
\n\nA pressure dressing (also referred to as an Israeli bandage, emergency bandage, or emergency trauma dressing) is an elastic wrap, similar to an ace bandage, with an attached non-adherent absorption pad and a Velcro or clip closure system. When holding pressure on the wound with your hands is not enough stop the bleed, a pressure bandage is used to apply stronger, constant pressure to a wound. There are many different models of pressure dressings; if you carry one, make sure you know exactly how it works. Online training or gear review videos are great for this.
\n\nA tourniquet is the cornerstone of an IFAK. If you carry only one intervention tool, invest in a quality tourniquet. When purchasing a tourniquet, it is ideal to acquire one approved by the Committee of Tactical Combat Casualty Care. These tourniquets have undergone rigorous pre-manufacturing testing and have been thoroughly vetted through field use. We recommend a CAT-7 Tourniquet. One can cost around $35; you and your comrades may be able to buy them in bulk to save money. Beware of fakes! Many cheaper versions are in circulation; these can fail under pressure. You can usually recognize a fake by the absence of a factory stamp by the red pull tab; a skinny windlass (i.e., the rotating rod) can also be a giveaway, instead of a beefier one with extrusions. Finally, and most obviously, no black CATs produced before 2009 have white “time” straps. Fakes notoriously have these white straps.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/24/6.jpg\")
The one on the top is a cheap knockoff that could fail under pressure.
\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/24/9.jpg\")
The one on the right is a cheap knockoff that could fail under pressure.
\nIt is good practice to keep your tourniquet with the band already threaded through the buckle, creating a large loop you will then pass over the foot or hand, rather than attempting to thread the buckle in the heat of the moment if you need to use it.
\n\nFinally, carry sharpies to mark the time that a tourniquet was applied or any additional information that first responders—street medics or otherwise—may need to know. Black sharpies work for white people or lighter-skinned people of color, while silver sharpies work better for Black comrades.
\n\nEven if there is a trained and experienced medic collective local to you, carrying an IFAK, or even just a tourniquet, is a great idea. In the scope of emergency casualty care, many properly trained medics will seek to use the injured comrade’s equipment on them first, in order to save their specialized equipment for those who did not carry anything. Because of this, be sure to mark your IFAK or blowout kit clearly and carry it somewhere that is easily accessible. Failing this, make sure to have your tourniquet easily accessible, in a marked, visible location that is known to everyone in your affinity group. Normalize the practice of letting your trusted comrades know where your medical equipment is located.
\n\nSeveral things can happen in the immediate aftermath of a shooting. If police are nearby and intervene, it is possible that you will rapidly lose control of the situation. Despite their general lack of medical training, they will typically form a cordon around the victim and prevent a medic or anyone else from treating them. This does not necessarily mean they will act quickly in response to the injury. Put pressure on the police if they aren’t doing enough, or doing it fast enough. Demand they seek proper medical care for the injured.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/crimethinc/status/1300285181530640391\n\n\n
The flip side of the scenario is just as possible—you and your comrades may have to make do without state intervention. If the situation is chaotic or deemed dangerous, even if you are willing to call emergency services, an ambulance may not enter an area. Police may spend an inordinate amount of time trying to clear the area with tear gas or other means before they bring in an ambulance—they might even simply prevent an ambulance from reaching you. In such a situation, depending on the severity of the wound, survival may depend on quick thinking and action. In that case, you will have no one to depend on except yourselves to care for the wounded and organize your evacuation.
\n\nContinually assess what’s going on around you. Are there still gunshots being fired? Is there traffic in the area? Are people running past you fleeing from a shooter, police, or fascists? Don’t let panic, haste, or inattentiveness cause additional misfortunes.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/24/5.jpg\")
A small Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK) containing a tourniquet and trauma dressings.
\nNothing you could read here can substitute for proper medical training. However, if you own an IFAK or tourniquet and possess a basic understanding of how to stop a bleed on an arm or leg, some action may be better than nothing.
\n\nIf gunshots ring out, try not to panic. First, get to a safer place. In the system of Tactical Emergency Casualty Care, the first step is to maintain scene safety, so you do not become a casualty as well. Find cover from which to assess the situation. “Cover” designates anything that can stop the rounds you are facing, which depends on the situation and the caliber of weapon. Consider a brick wall or the engine block of a car.
\n\nIf you determine that someone has been shot and you are equipped to provide aid, make sure the scene is relatively secure. If you can determine this, communicate to your friends that you intend to move to the person who has been hit. While moving, ask the person questions to determine how to care for them: “Where were you shot?” or simply, “What is your name?” If they answer these questions before you reach them, this will indicate that their airway is open and they are conscious, and you may obtain enough information to start preparing your equipment and mindset.
\n\nYour first thought will likely be, “That’s a lot of blood!” Initially, you may have a difficult time identifying exactly where the wound is, especially if the individual is wearing long-sleeved dark clothing. Quickly expose the injury, using trauma shears (special scissors designed to cut quickly through clothing) if you have them. In general, it is important to expose an injury at skin layer to understand the exact scope and extent of the wound.
\n\nImmediately apply direct pressure to the wound. Ideally, you would use a gloved hand and a gauze pad (preferably hemostatic gauze), but in an emergency, you can use a t-shirt, scarf, or extra mask. If blood soaks through the gauze, add more gauze or another cloth layer and apply more pressure. If holding direct pressure with your hands does not stop the bleeding, apply a pressure dressing. Place the sterile absorption pad over the wound, and over any gauze that has already been applied (never remove gauze—this could disrupt any clotting that may have started). Wrap the elastic bandage firmly around the injured part of the body. It should apply a lot of pressure, but not enough to cut off circulation.
\n\nWith a life-threatening bleed, time is of the essence. If the wound is clearly on an arm or a leg and you can see a lot of blood, you may choose to apply a tourniquet immediately. Unlike holding direct pressure with gauze or using a pressure dressing, which stops bleeding from a specific wound, a tourniquet cuts off all distal circulation to the limb, meaning that it should stop all bleeding that is further away from center body than where the tourniquet has been applied. If applying a tourniquet over clothes, quickly check to ensure that you are not fitting it over items in a pocket or anything else that could obstruct the pressure.
\n\nMany people have been taught that using a tourniquet is likely to result in the loss of the patient’s limb, due to complications from cutting off circulation; in fact, this is still commonly taught within many wilderness/remote medicine and street medic frameworks. Data garnered from combat zones across the globe, however, has shifted the understanding of tourniquet safety. Certified tourniquets such as the CAT-7 are now understood to be highly effective and safe live-saving devices, rarely resulting in long-term damage or side effects. Used correctly, they are considered an appropriate first line of intervention, rather than solely as a “last resort.” As the everyday demonstrator’s threat model changes—especially if the streets increasingly take on the contours of a combat zone—models of intervention based on armed conflict scenarios, such as the Tactical Combat Casualty Care framework, will gain increasing relevance.
\n\nFor a succinct step-by-step guide to using a tourniquet, see Appendix III.
\n\nTo apply a tourniquet, open your CAT-7 and make sure that the band is passed through the single routing buckle and the red tip is pointed towards the heart. Then slide the tourniquet up the extremity as high as you can possibly go, while taking the individual’s genitals into consideration if applicable. If the wound is clearly below the knee or elbow, and you can easily see there are no wounds higher on that limb, you can place the tourniquet just above those joints. Once you have it in position, make sure the strap is as tight as you can make it—think “ratchet strap.” If you can stick even one of your fingers beneath the strap, it is not tight enough. Turn the windlass until the flow of blood stops. Pull the “strap” closed through the windlass clip and mark the time applied on the time strap. This process will hurt your comrade immensely, though likely less than the initial wound, depending on its location. Talk to them while you are applying the tourniquet and afterwards as you are able.
\n\nPrior to ever using a tourniquet, you should get a sense of how tight it has to be to be effective. Try placing it on yourself briefly just above the elbow before the demonstration and tightening it until you no longer feel the pulse at your wrist. This is a good exercise in empathy, to know what kind of experience a person you treat will endure. Never leave a tourniquet in place for more than a few seconds except when treating an actual wound.
\n\nAs soon as you have stopped the bleeding—by using direct pressure, a pressure dressing, or a tourniquet—immediately being to look for other wounds. Sweep underneath all parts of the body with gloved hands. Check your hands for blood regularly during the sweep so you can immediately identify which part of the body is injured. If the injured person is wearing waterproof clothing, make sure to remove or sweep inside of those layers, as a rain jacket or rain pants can keep blood next to the body, concealing a major bleed. Do not wait to apply a tourniquet if you find a major bleed on an arm or leg. Pause the sweep, apply direct pressure, a pressure dressing, or a tourniquet, and resume sweeping once that bleed is controlled.
\n\nBleeds that are in junctional areas (i.e., the groin proximal to the inguinal ligament, the buttocks, the gluteal and pelvic areas, the area under where the arm connects to the shoulder, the shoulder girdle, and the base of the neck) can be controlled by “packing” the wound, which applies direct pressure to the severed artery or vein. If you are in an unsafe area, or if you are not equipped with wound packing material, direct pressure on the wound, ideally with a gauze pad, can do for the time being.
\n\nIf you are not equipped with an IFAK or tourniquet, call loudly for a medic. Call out landmarks to guide them quickly to you, as well as crucial information such as whether the casualty is bleeding considerably: for example, “I need a medic! I’m behind the red sedan—someone has been shot in the leg!”
\n\nWhile you wait for them to arrive, use direct pressure to slow the bleeding. If the bleed is capillary (slow and even flow, bright red in color) or venous (steady flow, dark red in color), you may be able to control the bleed with direct pressure. If the bleed is arterial (spurting or pulsing flow, bright red in color), direct pressure won’t be enough—you will have to apply pressure at an arterial pressure point. If the wound is in the leg, consider applying pressure in the upper thigh, near the pelvic region—but be careful. If there is a wound in this area, try applying pressure in the lower right abdomen. If the wound is in the arm, try applying pressure underneath the armpit. If the bleeding is on the neck, try applying pressure on the side of the neck generally underneath the point of the jawline, keeping in mind to apply pressure only on one side. Only do this in an extreme emergency, as it is of limited value for bleed control.
\n\nRegardless of where the wound is, once you apply pressure, do not remove pressure to check if the wound is still bleeding. Continue to apply pressure until a medic can place a pressure dressing or other hemostatic intervention.
\n\nIf the wound is in the chest, it is acceptable to cover the wound with your gloved hand, but applying too much pressure can potentially inhibit their respiratory system. Chest wounds generally present with less bleeding, but run a high risk of air entering the chest cavity, leading to a buildup of pressure that can cause a lung to collapse. Some medics carry vented chest seals in their kits, which serve the same general purpose as a gloved hand over the wound: preventing air from entering the chest cavity. If the wound is in the trunk—i.e., between the chest and the navel—there is probably little you can do to help besides notifying a medic or other higher care immediately.
\n\nIf you can control the bleed, you or a friend should prepare the victim for a possible ER visit or another situation in which they may have their possessions confiscated. Remove any potentially incriminating items from their backpack, pockets, and person. Dispose of these or give them to a trusted friend who can remove them from the scene.
\n\nWhen higher care arrives, whether that is EMS or street medics, give them a report to the best of your ability, using the MIST acronym: the Mechanism of injury (M), the Injuries sustained (I), the Symptoms (S), and any Treatments (T) given. For example, “They were shot with a rifle from about two blocks away, they received two bullet wounds in their left leg. Their skin is cool to the touch, and their breathing seems slower than normal. I applied a tourniquet high and tight and the bleeding seems to have stopped.”
\n\nIf it takes a while for medical care to arrive, consider writing symptoms or other things you notice on the patient’s arm with your marker.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/24/4.jpg\")
A small IFAK that can be worn on a belt, marked with a cross for easy identification.
\nKnow your options for evacuation. Are you behind a police line that an ambulance cannot pass through? Does the local medic collective offer transport to hospitals? You can try calling for an ambulance if you think you are in an area they can enter. When you place a 911 call for an ambulance, you can request that they do not send police in tandem, but they may well ignore your request. If you do decide to call EMS while you are in a group actively trying to assist someone who has been wounded, designate one person to make the 911 call and report the wound and location while the rest of you stay focused on assisting the victim. It is possible—but not guaranteed—that a 911 dispatcher can walk you through basic trauma response until you receive help or can transport the wounded.
\n\nIf you or your comrades have driven to the demonstration, it can help if a car is parked nearby with immediate access to the road. Make sure the location of the keys is known and accessible to more than one person. Other people will likely wish to assist in the event of a shooting. If you cannot transport the patient yourself, seek aid from those around you.
\n\nIn some cities, hospitals place shooting victims in protective custody to eliminate the threat of violence against them.2 If that occurs, you will not be able to locate your friend inside the hospital system. If the person is unconscious and unable to tell healthcare workers who to contact, the workers will try to contact a family member. If you are entering a situation in which it is possible that you will be severely injured, you could write an emergency number in sharpie on your skin with the instruction “call in case of emergency.”
\n\nWhile this may not be uppermost in your thoughts in the event of a shooting, it is important to know that most large hospital systems offer programs via which you can apply for aid to reduce or forgive your bills. If someone’s life is on the line, you can work out the financial details later.
\n\nWhen bringing someone home from the hospital, evaluate their home situation. Do they live alone? With friends or family? Is their bedroom up a flight of stairs? Depending on the severity of the injury and the forecasted length of their recovery, they may need to change their living situation.
\n\nBecause there is very little semblance of a public health system in this country, people are often released from the hospital very rapidly—sometimes before they are ready to go home. This can be intimidating, but the good news is that home is usually a better recovery environment than an institution. You can rent a hospital bed from a hospital or home-care equipment rental company—they are surprisingly inexpensive and can be enormously helpful in the case of a long-term recovery.
\n\nIf necessary, organize community care so people are present or available around the clock. Even if that is not necessary, try to organize a caregiver schedule involving a rotating cast of friends and loved ones to ensure that care does not fall solely or mostly on a partner. In addition, you can create a meal schedule for people to drop off food and groceries or cook for the wounded and the caregivers.
\n\nWhile it should go without being said, being shot—or responding to someone getting shot, or witnessing someone getting shot, or having someone you love get shot even if you weren’t there—is a traumatic event. You may experience a range of responses including nightmares, anxiety, flight/freeze/fight responses, self doubt, jumpiness, fear, and depression. Seek help! Form a community care circle and meet weekly to process the pain, confusion, and trauma.
\n\nIf many people in your community were affected by the event, you can seek out a friend or loved one from outside your circle to help you process what happened. Find a therapist in your town to help you work through your feelings. While therapy can often seem cost prohibitive, there may be a non-profit, a clinic system, or a university where counselors in training can offer services for free or a reduced price. If there are ongoing protests in your city, local non-profits may offer counseling specifically for those affected. This guide written in response to the COVID-19 pandemic offers some tools you can apply to coping with trauma.
\n\nThere has been a longstanding tendency in anarchist milieus to emulate tough attitudes and bravado. Analyzing and overcoming these cultural norms and eschewing a dichotomy between “passivity” and “militancy” can help us to build sustainable long-term movements. Remember, we want a thoroughgoing social revolution, not just periodic street violence.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/24/3.jpg\")
\nThere is a long history of state-sanctioned violence in the United States, against both ordinary people and movements for social change. Alongside this extends an equally long history of extra-state violence, from the lynchings of the not-so-distant past to contemporary equivalents like the murders of Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery. Since before the American Revolution, extra-state forces have worked in tandem with the state to uphold patriarchal white supremacy. It is well documented that police continue to cooperate with white supremacists. They are two sides of the same coin.
\n\nThe current clashes between white supremacists and anti-fascists are reminiscent of the rise of Nazism in Germany. In the early 1930s, when the Reichstag election campaigns were in full swing, fascists repeatedly baited their adversaries into street fights, injuring many while framing themselves as “victims in a lawless country.” They used this violence to bolster their campaign for “law and order,” a pretext to impose a dictatorship. Sound familiar?
\n\nThere have now been many instances of lethal violence during demonstrations, including the murders of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, David McAtee in Louisville, Garrett Foster in Austin, and Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum in Kenosha. It is vital that we learn how to navigate these increasingly violent and contested spaces. If we are to sustain a culture of resistance, we’ll have to be prepared to respond to a wide array of scenarios. We can learn to deal with violence and mitigate its effects while refusing to glorify or romanticize it.
\n\nAs social conflict deepens, more and more people are becoming familiar with the violence that the state has long meted out overseas and against Black and Indigenous communities inside the United States. This must not deter us from action—it is better for us to confront these threats together, head on, than to try to hide from them until they reach each of us in isolation. Generalizing care and aid is an essential part of staying safer in the streets, which, in turn, is part of creating safer communities and, ultimately, a safer world for all of us.
\n\nAs frightening as this situation is, you are not alone. The same dynamics that are destabilizing our lives and our society offer us the opportunity to connect with each other and reinvent our lives on a new basis. Thank you for everything you have done to become part of the momentum towards a better world.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/24/1.jpg\")
On May 15, 1970, policemen in riot gear fired more than a hundred and fifty rounds in twenty-eight seconds, murdering two young Black men at Jackson State campus in Mississippi and injuring a dozen more. While the murders at Kent State a few days earlier remain widely known, the subsequent murders of young Black demonstrators in Jackson and Augusta, Georgia are often forgotten.
\nThe following accounts may help you to visualize how you would conduct yourself in similar circumstances.
\n\nIt is a dark and stormy night, the first night it has rained all week. People are milling around under the awning of a barbecue joint, hanging back from the police line, waiting to see what will happen. More than a few folks have guns tucked in their waistbands. Some people scuffle with the police, some break up chunks of concrete to throw at the tanks; others listen to heated arguments about whether we should go home, stop violating the curfew, and leave the fight for another day. Then, out of the blue, a lone cop car comes squealing in from behind, sirens blaring.
\n\nThe crowd scatters, people panic, running in all directions, as tear gas canisters skitter across the street and flash-bang grenades explode from the police lines. Choking smoke and chaos and fear everywhere. Gunshots ring out as people fire through the crowd at the lone cruiser, which has turned around to retreat. I dive to the ground by a blue mailbox, confused and separated from my friends. A tide of people flows down the street away from the police lines, as the cops start to push the crowd forward, hoping to clear it. Swept up in the sea of people, I take perhaps twenty steps down the sidewalk before I come upon a knot of people gathered around a figure on the ground.
\n\nTime slows down. Two of my close friends are clustered around a body on the sidewalk. That body is one of my oldest and dearest friends. Someone is screaming, “He’s been shot, he’s been shot!” One of my friends is shouting for people to back up, pushing people back, when he looks up and sees me. I look from him to my friend on the ground, who has been shot in the leg. But the light is fading in his eyes as he clutches his torso and moans. Getting shot in the leg isn’t enough of an explanation as to why my friend is crashing. We’re so confused—there’s no blood, there’s no blood. What the fuck happened? Where else is he hurt? There’s no blood, just a stumbling, haunting groan from his mouth. I am a mother, I have birthed a small person into this world. I know what it sounds like at the line between life and death, and all I know in this moment of despair and confusion is that this person I love so much is straddling that line before my eyes.
\n\nI still don’t know what the fuck is happening, but I do know that we have to get him out of there ASAP. No one is coming to help us and no one is coming to save him. I run to my car—thank goodness I parked only a few blocks away. I speed around screeching cars that are doing donuts in the street. When I get back, I find people lifting my friend’s body into an already packed car. I scream and scream that he is coming with me as my friends wrest his body away from the well-intentioned strangers. We race down the street into a rabbit warren of loopy suburban streets. I know what hospital I want to go to, but it’s dark and I’m confused. Riot angels pull up next to us and ask if we need to be led to the hospital.
\n\nWhen we arrive at the hospital and pull my friend from the car, his shirt slides up and there it is: an entry wound with no exit wound. He is immediately transferred to a trauma hospital. Over the following days, we hear over and over the words “should have died.”
\n\nBefore this, I didn’t know that I didn’t know what it meant to get shot. What getting shot means is that a bullet rips through muscle, maybe through bone, maybe destroys some organs—quite possibly some that are essential. It could destroy the left kidney or the spleen; it could collapse both lungs, clip the esophagus, fill up the inner cavities with blood as the body bleeds out internally. A bullet could end up in the heart. You could find yourself in a hospital in the middle of the night, being coaxed through a series of legal documents by a very patient and very kind cardiologist who is preparing to do a second open heart surgery on someone you love to fish out the bullet that is lodged in his heart.
\n\nLuck was on our side that night, absolutely. But we responded to the situation quickly. I found out later that many different friends had passed by, that I wasn’t the only one running for a car—I just got there first. And well-intentioned strangers were trying to evacuate my friend on their own—so many people get shot in this city that people recognized what they were looking at and how important it was to respond.
\n\nWhat happened to my friend hasn’t stopped me from returning to the streets, and it hasn’t stopped him or other people in my community. Because the hospital placed my friend in protective custody, only one other friend and I could be there with him. Many of my friends sought comfort in the street battles that continued to rage, glad to have an opportunity to turn their grief, fear, despair, and anger into action.
\n\nI’m thankful that I happened to be parked close that night. I’m thankful that so many people around us wanted to help. I’m so thankful that people realized we needed them to lead us to the hospital. I’m thankful that the transfer to the trauma center happened quickly enough and I’m thankful for adept and willing surgeons. I’m thankful that my friend’s inner will was strong enough that he survived. I’m so thankful he lived. I’m thankful that there are things you can all do, too, to make it likely that things will turn out as well as possible if you ever find yourself in a similar situation.
\n\nAnd I am thankful for riot angels. May they be by your side if you ever need them.
\n\nWe all heard it. A single pop. It rang through the night, oddly out of place after hours and hours of hushed scuffles and the rustling of an agitated crowd. Hundreds of people were in the square—many lined up to get inside the event, and possibly an equal number trying to stop them. Red hats sailed above the crowd like short-range fireworks as people snatched and threw them. It was a mess, the conflicts impossible to follow; eggs, paint bombs, pepper spray, and punches coming at odd angles and from all directions. The few police that were on hand didn’t intervene. Stepping back from the square into the dark campus streets, the entire situation looked like a poorly directed fight scene in a low budget play.
\n\nBut we all heard the pop. Just the one. Instinctively, the black-clad crowd dispersed throughout, the red hats all looked up. Given our knowledge up to that point of what happens at demonstrations, we assumed it was a flash-bang grenade. That was the only thing we thought could make that noise. But there was no second bang. Everyone’s eyes refocused on the stalemate around them. Pushing and shoving, some reinforced banners and phones being snatched, but a relative calm.
\n\nLooking up across the square, I caught a glimpse of something out of place. It was someone I recognized, someone I knew was in trouble. He had been trying to ensure that no one would get hurt, mixing distraction and de-escalation. Now something was wrong, but it was impossible to tell what it was.
\n\nA comrade and I pushed our way through the crowd to where he was. To get there, I walked through something hanging in the air—my brain wouldn’t put it all together for a while. It wasn’t a smell, it was more of a taste, a cloud in the air that had a tang of metal. Once we reached him, the look on his face told me that I was in over my head. That, and the sound. He was making a sound that you just don’t make. A scream and a gurgle mixed into one. I don’t know how he was still standing. I got to him first and he leaned into me, all dead weight. The smell of his leather jacket and the press of him onto my smaller frame in that moment of desperation is one of the things that would enter my dreams and wake me for years after. It was as if I was carrying a dead but still living body.
\n\nHe stared right at me, but looking past me. I realized he was dying. But I had no idea why. Reasons flashed through my head; there was almost no blood and I couldn’t find anything. We didn’t walk that far—twenty feet at very most—and the best I could come up with was that he must have hit his head, only a head injury would make him incoherent like that.
\n\nAnd then as quickly as I had taken his weight, the medics took him. His weight left mine and we were uncoupled from that moment. I stared at the medic, who I thankfully trusted, and all I could get out was “He’s hurt, I don’t know,” or something like that. Besides walking him out of the danger of the immediate moment, I felt totally useless. The medics began doing their part, on the ground where there was a fair amount of blood now, trying to run through what their training had taught them. I heard the crowd as a low din—that thing that happens when you’re about to pass out and the audio goes to the end of a tunnel. But that was when I finally put it together: pop, metal, gurgle.
\n\nSomeone had shot him.
\n\nThe police swooped in and took him, pulling the trained trauma medics away by force as we all screamed from the other side of a police line. Now everyone knew he was dying, that something had gone wrong. I wanted to scream that he had been shot; I started to, but then I realized that it might cause people to panic. I was just barely aware that I was already panicking. I found one of the medics; they confirmed that someone had shot him.
\n\nThe police loaded him into the back of some kind of open-air vehicle—campus cops with a golf cart. And the demonstration continued. I panicked openly at that point, finding my crew and demanding that we leave, that “they” were shooting at us and we had to go. But at that point, I didn’t even know where the threat was coming from or if leaving was safer. So we pushed back along the line of people trying to see Milo talk, well after the event had been closed off. The police never moved in, the “active shooter on campus” alert was never activated, and we stayed in that crime scene—for hours.
\n\nLive Like the World is Dying podcast recently aired an interview with an experienced street medic who gives detailed instructions about responding to gunshot wounds at demonstrations.
\nIn this podcast, Hex, who survived a shooting attack by a fascist at a demonstration on January 20, 2017, discusses justice, violence, patriarchy, and compassion, the critical importance of healing, and how to redefine resistance.
\nProtocols for Common Injuries from Police Weapons—A guide for street medics responding to non-lethal police munitions and chemical weapons
\nKeep talking to the person you are treating.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/24/7.jpg\")
\n IFAK Build—Current lowest price per kit: $95.25, not including tax, shipping, or a bag or pouch for the kit. Here are the recommended contents, with links to sources:
\n\n“Packing” means applying internal direct pressure to a severed vessel by creating pressure on that vessel with gauze, filling the wound with more gauze, holding direct pressure when the wound is filled, and finishing it with a pressure dressing. ↩
\nIn this case, if someone has been shot, the hospital assumes that they may still be a target and aims to reduce the possibility of continued harm. ↩
\nOne of the basic ways that police maintain violent control of our society is by interfering with our ability to breathe—and sometimes with our ability to see. Nowadays, regardless of whether you employ confrontational tactics, you could be exposed to tear gas or hit by a rubber bullet just by being is in the vicinity of a protest. By taking the proper precautions, we can mitigate the risks while continuing to show up for each other. This guide explores a wide range of options for protecting your eyes and lungs from chemical agents and projectiles, detailing the advantages and disadvantages of each, so you can pick out what’s best for you.
\n\nThis is the second in a series of guides exploring how demonstrators can protect themselves. The contributors have spent countless hours gathering experience, data, and anecdotes to prepare this series—including carrying out impact testing on various masks and goggles. We will be updating this document on an ongoing basis as more information comes in. If you can offer suggestions or corrections, please contact us.
\n\nThe previous installment in this series details how to choose a proper helmet.
\n\nThe best respirator is the one you have access to. Respirators are good at what they do—filtering air—and most of them will serve you well enough in a pinch. If you don’t have time to read the entire text and you need to get some gear in a hurry, here are some options:
\n\nIf you want a new high-quality full-face mask that will work in the apocalypse, the MIRA CM-6M costs $220-240. The 7M is similar, but has a more “tactical” look. You can purchase this mask with two MIRA-brand CBRN cartridges for $50 each; otherwise, filters will cost $70 apiece.
\n\nThis is all you need. If you don’t want to use $100 worth of filters at a single demonstration, however, leave the CBRNs in their packaging at home (or skip buying them entirely) and get two expired-but-unopened CBRN filters for roughly $20 each via ebay.com. These should work for tear gas and pepper spray, but not for apocalypse-level threats. Each filter should work for approximately eight solid hours of full chemical exposure, which could mean 30-40 hours in the street during demonstrations that involve a lot of tear gas. You should change the filter as soon as you begin to smell gas leaking through.
\n\nIf you wear glasses, this mask is compatible with the 3M Safety 6878 Spectacle Kit designed for their 6800 mask. You will need to get prescription lenses for that.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/02/7.jpg\")
MIRA CM-6M gas mask.
\nCivilian style full-face respirators such as the 3M brand 6800 ($150 with filters, using the same ones from the modular option below) offer protection for a much cheaper price. In our impact testing, we’ve also found that the JJKK and HAOX brand Chinese imports ($40, with filters) serve just as well to protect your eyes and offer an adequate seal against gas.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/02/17.jpg\")
An example of a cheap mask.
\nIf you want an affordable option that offers the best combination of ballistic resistance and chemical weapons protection, get a 3M half-mask respirator from the 6000 series for $25. The 6100 is the small, the 6200 is the medium, and the 6300 is the large. Attach a pair of 60926 cartridges ($35 for the pair). If the mask comes with 60921 or 60923 cartridges, you don’t need the 60926 cartridges. In addition, get a pair of Pyramex V2G Plus goggles for $15 and seal the vents on them with hot glue. If you wear glasses, get the RX insert and prescription lenses.
\n\nThe biggest downside of pairing a half-mask with goggles, however, is that it’s hard to maintain a good seal between the two, as the goggles and the mask compete for the same real estate on your nose.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/02/8.jpg\")
\nA surplus Russian PMK-3 will be less than 20 years old. If you can find a version that comes with the full kit, it has ballistic outsert1 lenses and an adaptor for attaching it to the more common NATO-threaded filter system. Surplus masks are always hit-or-miss; we have not found specific documentation on the ballistic rating of the outsert lenses yet.
\n\nIf you want to double down on your gambling, a Russian PMK-2 can be as cheap as $25, though it could be 30 years old. The PMK-2 can come with ballistic outserts and an expired filter that ought to work for a while—but it will be difficult to replace the filter and who knows what condition the mask itself will be in. The cheapest of these masks ship directly from Russia with a fairly lengthy transit time.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/02/9.jpg\")
A Russian PMK3 mask.
\nMost of the time, you don’t get shot in the face with a rubber bullet or a tear gas canister. None of the people who contributed to this guide have been shot in the face yet. Tear gas drives everyone back who isn’t protected, whereas impact munitions only kill or blind people every once in a while. Lots of people are getting shot in the face, though. It isn’t safe to be on the receiving end of police violence.
\n\nWe can only recommend eyewear that has impact-rated plastic. But if you don’t have access to it and you have to go out anyway, you need either a full-face gas mask (army surplus or otherwise) or a half-mask and goggles. Make sure your filters are either military-style (expired or not) or rated to handle both organic vapors and P100 particulate filtration. Make sure your goggles are sealed as best as you can. Make sure it all stays tight to your face.
\n\nGood luck. Don’t blame us if anything bad happens—we told you not to.
\n\nIf you want to improve on something you already have access to, or if you have different tactical needs than we’ve outlined above, read on.
\n\nWe are addressing two distinct goals here: protecting your lungs and protecting your eyes. You protect your lungs with respirators that filter chemicals out of the air. You protect your eyes with goggles, glasses, or visors—whether they are independent of your respirator or combined with it in one full-face system.
\n\nA respirator—technically, an APR (air-providing respirator)—is a device that filters the air you breathe before you breathe it.2 There are several classes of respirators or gas masks, including two that we’re going to pass over completely: SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus), which come with oxygen supplies and are used by divers and some emergency personnel, and PAPRs (powered air-providing respirators) that force air through filters via electrical power. We’re going to focus on full-face respirators, half-mask respirators, and, to a lesser degree, disposable respirators. We’ll also discuss impromptu air filtration and the current speculation about DIY respirators.
\n\nWe’ll look at two general, non-technical categories of respirators: military/tactical respirators and civilian/workplace respirators.
\n\nMilitary and tactical respirators are chiefly used by the military and militarized police forces around the world. These are all full-face respirators—what you picture when you hear the term “gas mask.” Almost all of them use the same kind of filter: a threaded 40mm filter that is NATO-standard, sometimes referred to as a STANAG filter. Current-issue US military (and presumably law enforcement) masks use a proprietary bayonet mount3 instead that is self-sealing, making it easier to change filters in the field.
\n\nThese gas masks are often rated for a full range of threats from chemical weapons to nuclear fallout. Newer military models often include features such as speech diaphragms that make it easier to talk, multiple ports for filters that allow maximum airflow and enable you to swap out filters without removing the mask, and water systems that can be hooked up to a canteen or water bladder. Most models in use (currently or previously) by armed forces can accept ballistic lens or visor outserts that clip onto the outside of the lens or visor. You’re going to want these if they are available for your mask. Military gas masks can be purchased for quite a lot of money new, or outrageously cheap on the surplus market. New military or tactical masks start at $200+ and most are in the $500 range. Some worthwhile surplus ones can be found for $30-100.
\n\nThe surplus market for gas masks is notoriously hit or miss, and things are often mislabeled. Some, such as some of the old Russian gas masks, can be dangerous: some use glass eyepieces instead of impact resistant plastic, while others might come with expired cartridges that contain asbestos.4 Below, we will list some common surplus models and discuss whether they meet the needs of modern demonstrators. Yellowed lenses can be fixed, but decayed rubber seals cannot. Older plastic lenses are substantially less impact resistant—in our impact testing, we shattered the lenses of an Israeli gas mask with nothing more than a BB. Surplus masks can range from $30-500 depending on the rarity or usefulness of the mask. Good-enough masks (minus ballistic rating) seem to be consistently available for $80-120.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/02/10.jpg\")
40mm filters.
\nCivilian/workplace respirators come in both half-mask and full-face styles. They are manufactured by a number of companies, many of which use their own proprietary filter attachment systems. We will be focusing on the masks made by 3M because they are the most plentiful and because some other companies employ their “bayonet”-style mounting system for filters (which they call “cartridges”). If you already have a mask with a proprietary filter system, such as the ones made by Honeywell or MSA, make sure your filters are rated to OV and P100 protection. Some of the low-priced Chinese models flooding the US market in response to COVID-19 seem to have their own filter systems, while the ones we’ve tested use 3M’s bayonet system. These cheaper masks could enable you to save money, especially if you are buying them in bulk.
\n\nIf you are using a mask with a proprietary system, read on to the filter section to identify which filters will work for you.
\n\nThe half-face COVID-19 masks that are made of cloth but include exhale valves and replaceable carbon filters are unlikely to be much use against chemical weapons. They likely don’t protect people around you from viruses, either, since they don’t filter on the exhale.
\n\nWe have not been able to find any civilian-style full-face respirators with visors that meet ballistic impact standards (discussed below in the “Protect Your Eyes” section), but the 3M models and some others are rated for general impact resistance and seem to use the same plastic as ballistic-rated masks do, based on our initial impact weapons testing. One street medic we spoke with prefers to wear a 3M 6800 full-face respirator on the grounds that its civilian styling puts patients at ease more readily than a military look would. Full-face civilian respirators range around $60-70 for generic imports and up to $150-200 for name-brand items. Half-masks are substantially cheaper—as little as $8 for generics and $30 for a name brand.
\n\n3M manufactures three different models of both half-mask and full-face respirators. Any of them are adequate to our purposes, though some people we’ve talked to find a better seal with the slightly more advanced silicone facemasks. It’s probable that the 7500 series are the best half-mask respirators for our purposes and the FF-400 series is the best civilian full-face respirator for our purposes. The FF-400 series comes equipped with a speaking diaphragm, so your voice will be less muffled.
\n\nEach of the 3M models comes in three sizes, but “medium” will fit 80-90% of people and the sizes overlap with each other. To some degree, sizing is more important for comfort than efficacy.
\n\nFor $15, you can buy an adaptor to shift from 40mm threaded filters to bayonet filters or vice versa—so don’t limit your choice of masks based on what filters are available alone.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/02/11.jpg\")
The 3M Ultimate FX Full Facepiece Reusable Respirator FF-402.
\nHalf-mask models
\n\n—6000 series [basic]:
\n\n—6500 series [silicone rubber]:
\n\n—7500 series [silicone rubber and better breathability]:
\n\nFull-face models
\n\n—6000 series [basic]:
\n\n—FF-400 series [more advanced]:
\n\n—7000 series [substantially more expensive]:
\n\nWhether you are wearing a half-mask or full-face respirator, it is important to check the fit every time you put it on. To do this, start by blocking the cartridges with your hands and breathing in. You should create negative pressure in the mask, with no air seeping in. Then put your hand over the exit valve and breath out. It should create positive pressure in the mask, with no air escaping. When it comes to performing this test, some masks are easier than others; with civilian masks, it can be difficult to use your hand to block the filters effectively.
\n\nSome workplaces test fit by putting something that smells strongly—like ground coffee—or some kind of mild irritant under the wearer’s nose to see how they react.
\n\nRespirators are not designed to fit over beards, though people with beards have learned that if you coat your beard and the rubber seal with an awful lot of Vaseline, it will form a seal. This seal is hardly permanent, and it appears that CS powder is fat-soluble, so it might mix painfully with Vaseline the way it does with skin moisturizers and makeup. A doctor we consulted argued that a chemical burn at your beard is probably better than getting chemicals in your eyes. Regardless, shaving your beard is the safest option. Even a few days of stubble might be a problem, necessitating Vaseline or shaving.
\n\nWe spoke with one person who does not want to shave their beard; they simply accept that the air will be a little bit “spicy” and still find their mask to be very useful even without a proper seal. We cannot recommend this, but it may be relevant to your own cost-benefit analysis.
\n\nIt is difficult to source gas masks for children. They exist, but they are not produced in the same quantity. MIRA, the only supplier we were able to find that stocks them was sold out at the time of writing. Sometimes you can find Israeli surplus masks for children, as well. MIRA also makes a gas mask carrying bag that enables the user to safely transport infants or pets.
\n\nThe biggest disadvantage to pairing a half-mask respirator with goggles is that it becomes hard to get a proper seal on both at the same time. This is especially true with larger masks and larger goggles. The second biggest disadvantage is that it doesn’t protect all the skin of your face from chemicals, and chemical weapons burn on your skin as well as in your eyes or lungs.
\n\nYou need to make sure your filter is rated for both oil-based particulate matter (P100 filtration) and organic vapor.
\n\nIf you have a NATO-threaded military mask: For a 40mm threaded NATO cartridge, you need either a CS/CN/P100 filter, which can be difficult to come by as a civilian but seems to be what is commonly issued to police, or a CBRN filter, which is more commonly available but also more expensive. A CBRN filter is overkill for demonstrations, as it is designed to protect against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats. Fortunately, expired-but-unopened CBRN filters should do the job and are much cheaper.
\n\nIf you have a 3M mask, you need either 60921, 60923, or 60926 filters.
\n\nIf you have something else, read on.
\n\nIf it is likely that you are going to be exposed to riot control agents, you want your mask to filter two things: airborne particulates and organic vapors.
\n\nParticulate filters in the USA are rated by how oil-resistant they are—N are (N)ot, R are somewhat oil (R)esistant, and P are oil (P)roof—and what percent of airborne particulates they filter out—95%, 99%, or 99.97% (called 100). This explains the name of the N95, the mask commonly worn to protect against COVID-19. You’re looking for P100, the highest level of protection. These aren’t substantially more expensive and there seems to be little reason to use any other particulate filter, unless your particular mask setup only allows access to N95, which is still substantially better than nothing. The European standard does not rate for oil resistance, only particulate filtration: P1 masks filter at least 80% of particles; P2 masks filter at least 94% of particles; P3 masks filter at least 99.95% of particles.
\n\nWhile all of the common tear gasses and pepper sprays are comprised of particulate matter rather than gasses or vapors, the airborne particulates themselves can release organic vapors. You need the particulate filter (generally made of fiberglass paper) to stop the particulates, followed by an organic vapor barrier (generally a bed of activated charcoal). The NIOSH certification for organic vapor protection is “OV”—look for this on your filter or its documentation. Some other OV irritants include pesticides, solvents, and paint fumes, all of which masks often reference in their sales information.
\n\nWe’ve seen guides for protestors based on front-line experience that claim only OV filtration is necessary. We’ve seen other guides that claim only P100 is necessary. Most seem to agree it is the combination that is necessary, but we suspect that one alone would do in a pinch.
\n\nParticulate filters do not become less effective at filtering out particulates over time. Rather, it is necessary to replace them when they become so clogged that they cause difficulty breathing.
\n\nOrganic vapor barriers do become less effective over time with use, as the charcoal becomes saturated. Both heat and humidity reduce the effective lifespan of charcoal filters. Heat causes the charcoal to separate, while water vapor can saturate the charcoal and prevent it from absorbing active agents. You should replace your organic vapor filter as soon as you can smell chemicals leaking through the filters into the mask from outside. Unopened-but-expired filters are generally considered usable—for organic vapors and particulates only—if they were vacuum-sealed, but if humidity was able to reach the charcoal, they are probably ruined. Multiple comrades who are military veterans told us that the military uses expired filters all the time for the tear gas chamber without any problems. In any case, use expired filters at your own risk.
\n\nWith 40mm threaded filters, you need “CS/CN/P100” filters at the minimum. AVON, Honeywell, and MSA make versions of these, but they can be hard to source as a civilian—especially amid a pandemic. If you’re going for overkill, get a CBRN filter—basically, a single filter that protects against almost any potential threat. MIRA Safety makes a high-quality filter of this kind; 3M also makes them. Be careful buying CBRN filters off of ebay or the surplus market: many are “new” in that they have not been used or opened, but were manufactured decades ago. Look for the manufacturing date, or roll the dice and buy cheap expired ones. Don’t trust these for anything but riot control agents.
\n\nFor all masks, you need at least one filter. Some masks can optionally take two or even three at a time in order to increase airflow, an advantage for situations that might involve running or other strenuous exercise.
\n\n3M masks and their clones use a three-prong bayonet style filter attachment. Some other proprietary attachment systems are similar but not interchangeable with 3M, but 3M are the most common. If you use these, you’ll likely end up with 3M-brand filters/cartridges, though clones of both the masks and cartridges exist. Note that 3M distinguishes between cartridges (the part that absorbs gasses and is usually made of activated charcoal treated with various chemicals) and filters (the part that blocks particulate matter). Make sure you get both. You can do this by buying separate cartridges and filters as well as the adaptors that connect them together, or by buying combination cartridges that come with filters pre-installed. Obviously, the latter is simpler.
\n\nHats off to comrades in Hong Kong who have done the work to figure out what cartridges and filters you need, as they lack easy access to the combination cartridges. We’ve heard that they are not available in the UK either.
\n\nIf you want a combination cartridge, your options include the 60921 (organic vapor + P100), 60923 (organic vapor and acid gas + P100), or 60926 (multi-gas + P100). As this goes to press, these are all about $15-20 each on ebay. You need two, and they usually come in pairs.
\n\nIf you want to build your own, whether because you already have stock available or because you live somewhere without access to the 6092x filters described above, start by buying a set of cartridges—the 6001 (organic vapor), 6003 (organic vapor and acid gas), or 6006 (multi-gas). Next, purchase one of the various P100 filters, which come in two styles. Some, like the 2091, have their own bayonet connectors, as they are intended for mounting directly onto respirators. Other filters are simple pads, such as the 5p71—which is only a P95 filter and therefore not advised (though we have not tested a P95 ourselves). If you choose a bayonet-connecting filter, you need a 502, which is an adaptor that snaps onto the cartridge and provides a bayonet mount. If you choose a pad filter, you need a 501, which is an adaptor that snaps onto the cartridge and holds the filter directly.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/02/4.jpg\")
Two 3M half-mask respirators showing several filter setups. Left to right: a p100 filter attached to an OV cartridge with a 502 adaptor; an N95 filter attached to an OV cartridge with a 501 adaptor; a blank bayonet attachment point; a p100 filter attached directly to the mask. Missing: an all-in-one cartridge, often identifiable by a bright pink outside shell.
\n3M marks their P100 cartridges by making them neon pink. Some people have expressed concern about this making the user identifiable, as it violates the all-black black bloc aesthetic—although if enough people are using pink filters, it will be somewhat less of a problem.
\n\nStudies have shown that under stress, even trained soldiers struggle to replace filters while holding their breath. The current US military model mask, the Avon M50, has self-sealing bayonet-mounted filters that enable the operator to change one filter at a time while continuing to breathe through the other.
\n\nMost masks you have access to will not have this feature. To change filters, you’ll probably have to hold your breath or exit the impacted area.
\n\nA comrade in Portland reported that they prefer the 3M cartridges with separate particulate filters (6001 cartridges with attachable P100 filters) because the P100 filters can be swapped out without taking the mask off, relying briefly on the cartridge alone for filtration.
\n\nAnother comrade says that they have been using the same gas mask cartridge (a military-style 40mm one) since 2011 and have never tasted spicy air through it. This supports the theory that most of the important filtration is being done by the particulate filter, which is never used up, only clogged.
\n\nOthers, in Portland, report that they their filters are lasting about 30-40 hours each.
\n\nSome surplus masks employ “cheek” filters located inside the mask. Changing these filters is a laborious process, and some YouTubers have found it’s easy to rip the rubber of the mask while doing so if the mask is old. Still, one person we spoke with prefers these masks, having seen police grab people by the external filters of other masks, since cheek filters do not present an easy handle for grabbing.
\n\nYou should clean your respirator after each time it is exposed to chemical weapons. 3M sells a product for this: “504 Respirator Cleaning Wipes.” These are affordable, but likely unnecessary. What they contain is a trade secret. Most people just use soap and water, to good effect. Don’t soak your filters in water, just wipe down the outside with soap and water. Then remove the filters and store them in a ziploc bag or other airproof container so they do not absorb moisture from the air.
\n\nUnlike cloth and surgical masks, respirators do not protect the people around you from your germs. However, much more so than cloth or surgical masks, they do protect you from the germs around you. One protestor reported wearing a cloth mask over the exhalation valve in order to block droplets for the sake of other demonstrators.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/02/14.jpg\")
A cheek-filtered gas mask in use in Baltimore in 2015 during the uprising in response to the police murder of Freddie Gray.
\nFull-face masks either use full-face visors or individual lenses over the eyes. Lenses are more common in military models, while visors are more common in civilian models. A full visor offers much better visibility. It’s possible that it is harder to make a full visor more impact resistant, although we’ve found both ballistic and non-ballistic examples of both types.
\n\nA mask with lenses can be more convenient for those who are going to be using the optics of a long weapon (like a scope, red dot, or iron sights on a rifle or grenade launcher), as it permits one to shoulder the weapon better to get what is called a cheek weld and view down the barrel more clearly. Of course, this is not generally useful to demonstrators. All in all, a full-face visor seems preferable.
\n\nWe will continue researching off-brand masks, most of which are from China. Some are rated as impact resistant; some use commonly available filter styles. So far, we have tried the JJKK and HAOX models. Both form an adequate seal against our faces in fit testing, though we have not taken them out into tear gas yet. Both have impact-resistant visors that performed identically to the American brand 3M when we shot them with various impact munitions—which is to say, they performed well. It’s been suggested that purchasers should buy from BangGood or Amazon rather than Ali Express, Baidu, or eBay for these types of masks because the quality control is slightly better. A few comrades dealt with a nightmare with a mask order early on in the pandemic as a result of poor quality control.
\n\nIt might conceivably be possible to work directly with manufacturers to produce masks to your specifications, or at least to purchase them in bulk. Ambitious groups could consider trying to do this for their city or region.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/02/12.jpg\")
\nSurplus military masks are another cheap option for full-face gas masks. They can be hard to source reliably, as many retailers (or else distributors serving retailers) lie about dates and potentially about features. This is also true for filters, and especially true on ebay. Both the rubber used for the seal and the plastic used for lenses and visors degrade over time, particularly when exposed to sunlight; both in our experience with testing and in anecdotes gathered from the street, they seem to be notoriously prone to breaking. Most surplus masks come in three sizes—small, medium, and large (generally numbered 1, 2, and 3, respectively, with the number displayed in the rubber of the mask)—but often, you cannot choose the size of mask when you purchase it online. Whatever mask you get, make sure it seals tightly to your face. Even a low-quality or wrong-sized mask will protect you as long as it seals to your face and is supplied with an adequate filter.
\n\nIf you can get a model number and a country of origin, you can cross-reference seller claims with online military gear sites.
\n\nTracking down the ballistic rating of the lenses and visors has been challenging. It would be very useful to identify a surplus mask that accepts 40mm NATO-threaded filters and includes ballistic lenses or visors (usually as a separate outsert). For those willing to forgo ballistic-rated lenses or visors, surplus masks are often the best option.
\n\nThe primary current US military model is the Avon M50; it can be found for $250. While we generally don’t recommend masks that use proprietary filters, the M50 filters are reasonably cheap (currently $50 for a pair) and, as previously mentioned, you can swap them out in the field without exposing yourself to gas. Ballistic outserts are available cheaply for this mask as well; we found one for $20. The C50 model is the civilian model of the same mask, though it is used extensively by law enforcement.. The main difference is that it accepts 40mm NATO filters. For better or worse—usually worse—wearing this mask will make you look quite a bit like a soldier or a cop.
\n\nThe Avon M40, which the US military used from 1986 to 2009, accommodates ballistic outsert lenses but does not come with ballistic lenses otherwise. 3M produces a civilian clone called the FR-M40 that is identical in every way. 3M also produces protective outserts for the lenses, but we have not been able to determine their impact rating.
\n\nThe US Air Force and Navy has used the MCU-2P since the 1970s; any surplus option might be from any year in that range. They range from $150 to $300 on ebay. You can learn how to identify models and years here. While some documentation claims the MCU-2P visor is ballistic, a specific ballistic outsert is available for around $75. This implies that the visor alone is not ballistic.
\n\nThe Russian PMK-3 (used from 2000 until recently, available for $70) and PMK-4 (in use since 2017, much more expensive) can make use of ballistic outserts as well, which often come with the full kit. Also included in the full kit is an adaptor to connect their proprietary filter system to the NATO-threaded system. The PMK-2 is even cheaper—around $30—and often comes with ballistic lenses, but can only use the 40mm-GOST filter system (used by Warsaw Pact countries).
\n\nA National Geographic filmmaker was wearing a Czech M10 (a clone of the US M17) iin Portland, Oregon in July 2020 when federal agents shot him in the face with a .68” round from an FN303 air gun, shattering the plastic lens of his mask and severely damaging his eye. Both of these masks can optionally be used with ballistic outserts, which the filmmaker did not have. These are the two models of mask we’ve found that use cheek filters, discussed above.
\n\nThe Israeli M15 is used by the Israeli Defense Forces and its civilian model, the 4A1, is distributed to Israeli citizens. Both are affordable on the surplus market. Most are simply labeled for sale as M15 masks, but you can tell the difference because the 4A1 has round eye-holes instead of the odd-shaped ones used on the M15. The manufacturer, Shalon Chemical Industries, claims that the plastic lenses are impact resistant, and they don’t appear to be sold with ballistic outserts yet are used by a modern military force. We have not been able to determine if they are rated at a ballistic level, and all plastic lenses degrade with time and UV exposure. These two masks appear to be the most affordable, readily-available, fully-featured surplus gas masks. The 4A1 is the only mask we have impact tested so far—and the lenses shattered easily upon light impact—but we are not sure the age of the mask, as we bought it surplus.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/02/3.jpg\")
We carried out impact testing on this Israeli 4A1—with dismaying results.
\nPolice use a mix-and-match array of gear because they source it from military surplus and various funding agencies. As far as we can tell, the two most common masks are the Avon C50 (though it’s possible that the federal police are using the M50 military version instead) and the MSA Advantage 1000 (or its military-grade equivalent, the MSA Millennium). The C50s are often seen equipped with the Avon mask comms unit, which gives them their distinctive mouthpiece. Witnesses have reported seeing police in Portland wearing Honeywell North full-face respirators, presumably the 7600 series.
\n\nA bandanna, ideally wet, will filter out enough tear gear to get you out of a situation. This is better than nothing. Some sources say that because CS adheres to water, a wet bandanna will only make it worse, but others, including people who have actually been exposed to the stuff, say that the wet bandanna diminishes the number of particulates that can reach your airways. It’s possible that a wet bandanna will become saturated sooner—but it will be saturated with all the stuff that would otherwise have been in your lungs, and that’s a good thing.
\n\nFor decades, protestors have argued about whether the wet bandanna should be soaked in vinegar, lemon juice, or some other acidic solution. This has not been studied in a laboratory, and the mechanism by which it would work is not clear. However, people have been doing this for a long time, and those who practice it report noticing a difference. A 2009 Pentagon-funded report did mention that a bandanna soaked in lemon juice could mitigate the effects of tear gas.
\n\nComrades in Portland report that some people are using the larger sneeze-guard-style facemasks common in COVID-19 protection and pulling their hoods up, probably with the drawstrings brought in tight around the face. Of course, this is not a perfect seal. One user reported that it delayed the effects of tear gas until after many unmasked people had been compelled to leave the area, that it made it difficult to talk with people, and that the facemask was too large to easily conceal on the way to and from the demonstration.
\n\nIt’s possible to make DIY gas masks. While we have not tested them ourselves, YouTubers have, and report some success. The idea is to fashion DIY filters out of activated charcoal (to filter organic vapors) and cotton (to filter particulates). These can be attached to anything from repurposed two-liter bottles to SCBA masks. If anyone has experience testing these, please let us know.
\n\nOf course, a poorly-made mask might be worse than useless.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/02/13.jpg\")
An improvised mask.
\nIn most situations, you don’t need a perfect gas mask to participate in a protest. Even if you are gassed, often all you need is something that can protect you long enough for you to get to the gas canister and deactivate it or throw it back. You don’t need to have all the right gear to go out and try to change the world.
\n\nTo put it differently: changing the world is never going to be completely safe. No mask will make it safe.
\n\nWearing a respirator can be uncomfortable, particularly in the heat, as sweat rolls down your face and the mask digs into your nose. Tight straps can give you a headache. Some masks limit your vision or your ability to communicate. Respirators make you more identifiable: even if everyone is wearing a mask, they might not be wearing the same kind of mask you are.
\n\nBut the long-term effects of tear gas can be significant, so it’s important to be protected. We don’t need more martyrs—we need more people who can continue to live and fight.
\n\nIn some places and times, the police use a lot of tear gas and other chemical weapons. In other places and times, they use kettling tactics or impact munitions. As with all decisions about what you need to be safe and effective, consider the specifics of your terrain.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/02/15.jpg\")
It may be necessary to protect your eyes against projectiles as well as gas.
\nIt’s also important to protect our eyes— both from chemical weapons and from impact munitions. This generally involves an impact-rated full-face respirator or a pair of goggles paired with a half-mask respirator. The goggles should be rated for ballistic impact (or at least impact resistant), fully sealed (without open-cell foam), and anti-fog. Unfortunately, all three of these aspects work against each other; it is rare to find goggles that meet all of these requirements at once. In some cases, you might have to seal up the vents on your goggles yourself.
\n\nWe’ve heard a few other suggestions worth considering, such as wearing a ballistic-rated visor attached to a tactical helmet over regular, non-ballistic sealed goggles. Demonstrators have sometimes worn masks from baseball and other sports, but many of the projectiles police use can fit through the wide grating such masks employ.
\n\nIf you wear corrective lenses, do not wear contacts into a situation in which you might be exposed to chemical weapons. Wear glasses. Some who prefer to wear corrective lenses but don’t absolutely need them have found it simplest to take their glasses off when it’s time to put on their ballistic and/or chemical-proof goggles. Others don’t have that choice. There are options available for those who wear glasses, though this consideration does limit your choices and increase the cost of eye protection.
\n\nThere are OTG (over-the-glasses) goggles, but we have yet to find a pair that seals adequately. Most use foam sealing, which is not airtight. Some comrades we’ve heard from just accept that their goggles will not be perfectly tight.
\n\nMost prescription goggles, including those made by sportsRX, are not ballistic-rated. We’ve found only one model of ballistic prescription goggle—the Wiley X SG-1. It’s unclear how much of a seal they establish around the eyes, however, and they are nearly $300 a pair. There are probably better options.
\n\nMany cheaper ballistic glasses, including the Pyramex V2G, can be outfitted with prescription inserts. The V2G, like almost every pair of ballistic goggles we’ve found, are not sealed against chemical weapons, but that can likely be addressed with tape or glue, as we discuss below. Most full-face respirators can be outfitted with prescription inserts as well. Protestors have been creating their own glasses inserts in gas masks, often using tape or suction cups.
\n\nOne veteran told us that when he was in the army, when he distributed gas masks to civilians in the countries that the army was occupying, his unit told those who wore glasses to cut the stems of the glasses off just long enough to fit inside the rubber gasket of the mask (or goggles) and then glue them into place. Hot glue might work. We’ll experiment and edit this text with our findings.
\n\nAnother style of “universal” prescription insert is a glasses frame with the stems bent down to fit inside the seal of the gas mask.
\n\nPrescription inserts can be filled by taking them to an optometrist or by mailing them to some places online.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/02/16.jpg\")
Pyramex V2G Plus goggles
\nGoggles come in three major classes: fully-vented, indirectly vented, and non-vented (sometimes called “sealed”). Fully-vented goggles offer the best protection from fog; they are used for a lot of sports. For most purposes, indirectly-vented goggles offer the best of both worlds: the vents allow enough air in to keep the goggles from fogging, yet the vents are inaccessible enough that they are reasonably safe from chemical splashes and things like sawdust. Unfortunately, they let in tear gas, so they’re not ideal for protests. You want fully sealed goggles. Sealed goggles rely solely on chemical treatments and the thermo-conductive properties of the lenses to fight fog, which are not always sufficient.
\n\nBe careful: sometimes goggles are listed as “sealed” yet use an open-cell foam for their seal, with the idea that the foam itself vents air to the inside. Open-celled foam is a bad idea for situations involving police repression because it absorbs chemicals. The other two means by which goggles form a seal against your face are rubber and close-celled foam. We have not tested the practical difference between those two methods. Our speculation is that rubber seals, like the seals on gas masks, offer better protection against chemical weapons and would get less contaminated, while closed cell foam might protect against the problem of suction.
\n\nWhat problem of suction? The idea is that, if goggles are attached to your face in a sealed manner (especially through suction, like swim goggles), if something hits those goggles, first, positive pressure might damage your eye, then, if air escapes, negative pressure could also damage your eye. Worst-case scenario, this could permanently blind you. We’ve looked into this a little bit, and talked to an anarchist doctor, and the general consensus regarding whether this is a real risk is… “maybe.” Some studies have shown swim goggles causing bruising and some eye damage, and it seems likely—though we have not confirmed this—that this explains why swim goggles are not permitted in full-contact water sports like water polo. It’s also possible this is why we’ve had such a hard time finding fully-sealed ballistic goggles available for sale. Of course, as the aforementioned doctor pointed out, if you get shot in the eye with a projectile, it’s better to have the problem of suction than the problem of the projectile hitting your eye. Also, we have yet to find any evidence of ballistic impact causing problems with suction.
\n\nWe speculate that some do-it-yourself methods of sealing vented goggles could mitigate the dangers of suction, as the DIY sealing would likely fail upon impact, normalizing the air pressure. If this is true, DIY sealed goggles could be safer than fully-sealed goggles.
\n\nProtestors have been employing at least two strategies to seal the vents on vented goggles—hot glue and duct tape (ideally applied to both the inside and outside of the vents). Hot glue is far preferable, as most tape loses adhesiveness as it gets wet. Fabric-based tapes do not seem to provide enough of a seal, while plastic-backed tapes trap moisture, which loosens the glue, causing it to fall off. Use tape only in an emergency. Even hot glue can sometimes work itself loose.
\n\nWe haven’t tested other glues or epoxies. There are likely additional methods besides hot glue and tape.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/02/1.jpg\")
Goggles sealed with hot glue.
\nUnfortunately, in addition to spraying us with chemicals, the police also shoot impact munitions at us. While every impact munition in production is specifically designated not to be shot at anyone’s face, police officers routinely shoot them at our faces. Police have inflicted severe eye injuries on dozens of people in the US in 2020 alone, and many of the victims have permanently lost their vision. Some of them were wearing safety glasses when they were hit, too.
\n\nIt’s probably safest to find eye protection that is rated to offer “ballistic” protection, rather than simply the “impact resistance” designed to mitigate workplace hazards. While this limits your selection of available glasses, goggles, and gas masks, ballistic-lensed eyewear can still be found cheap if you know where to look. Admittedly, in our experience testing different styles of goggles against various impacts, we have yet to find any noticeable difference between the performance of those that are rated only to the civilian impact resistance rating (ANSI Z87.1+) and those that are rated against the higher standard mil-spec (PRF-31013). We also obtained the same results testing one pair that was unrated but was advertised as “shatterproof.” While our experiments are ongoing, our current hypothesis that most shatterproof, impact resistant, and ballistic plastic lenses are constructed in the same way. Still, the higher testing standard also tests whether the entire goggle stays together during impact, even if it breaks.
\n\nIn any case, some level of impact resistance is vital. Anecdotally, we spoke with a protestor in Puerto Rico whose eye was saved when a large splinter of wood embedded itself in their ballistic goggles after police munitions shattered a nearby tree. While ballistic goggles are not rated to take direct fire from firearms—and we cannot promise that they will protect you from every possible impact munition—their rating exceeds the force projected by pepper balls or even baton rounds. On YouTube, you can see people shoot ballistic goggles with birdshot from a shotgun without breaking the goggles.
\n\nWe tested unrated lab safety goggles for comparison. They shattered dangerously at impacts that didn’t even dent shatterproof lenses.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/02/2.jpg\")
Regular lab goggles shattered when shot with a BB.
\nSome people have been using clear tape to reinforce their goggles and gas masks, hoping that if a munition breaks the plastic, the tape might keep the pieces from splintering dangerously, a premise based on the way automobile glass breaks. To test this theory, we taped just one lens on several pairs of goggles and one respirator with Gorilla tape—the strongest clear tape we could find—and shot them with pellets. The areas that were taped had worse penetration, presumably because the tape trapped the pellet and prevented it from bouncing away. Yet pellets are not a particularly realistic threat at demonstrations. So we shot a few with rubber pellets from a 12-gauge shotgun. One shattered, but more safely than those that were untaped, while one did not shatter at all when we fully expected that it would. This is not conclusive research, but it’s possible that tape might help.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/02/5.jpg\")
Ballistic rated goggles. The side on the wearer’s left was laminated in Gorilla tape.
\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/02/6.jpg\")
ANSI-rated goggles after impact testing. The side on the wearer’s left was laminated in Gorilla tape.
\nThe plastic (usually polycarbonate) lenses of respirators, goggles, and glasses are rated to various standards of impact resistance. In the US, civilian goggles can be rated to the ANSI Z87.1+ standard, while military and tactical gear is rated to MIL-PRF-31013 or another MIL ballistic standard; in Europe, EN168A (or, slightly less great, EN168B). Presumably, there are comparable standards in other parts of the world.
\n\nImpact standards are generally established by shooting a small steel BB at the glasses, goggles, protective visor, or gas mask at various rates of speed. To qualify for the standard, the lenses must not break or detach from the frame. Most “ballistic” ratings require the lens to survive projectiles striking at a velocity of at least 500 feet per second (fps). The main “impact resistant” standard, ANSI Z87.1+, is only 150 fps. We shot goggles at 630 and 840 fps and found no difference between the two standards.
\n\nSome manufacturers brag about the standards they meet on their sales pages, but failing that, it can be a lot of work to work out what gear is rated for ballistic impact, especially regarding older equipment like surplus masks. Fortunately, ANSI rated gear has Z87.1+ stamped somewhere onto the frame.
\n\nWe cannot say for certain which standards are necessary to protect against which particular threats, because these standards were designed with workplace hazards (in civilian models) and shrapnel (in military models) in mind, not impact munitions. We spoke with engineers who suggested that testing is more important than the application of abstract math, since the angle of impact, distance, wear and tear on the plastic, and shape of the visor are all significant factors in determining what will and won’t break a specific piece of plastic. Regardless, wearing impact-resistant eye protection will greatly reduce potential damage to your eye, face, or skull, even if it does break on impact.
\n\nGlasses and goggles fog up, particular in humid environments. Foggy goggles are annoying—and in a protest situation, potentially dangerous. Manufacturers (and protesters) employ three basic anti-fog measures.
\n\nFirst, and most effective, is airflow. Full-face respirators that are designed to fight fog direct fresh air across the visor before you breath it in, while ensuring that exhaled air escapes the valve immediately. Vented goggles—which we don’t use—also rely on fresh air to fight fog. Sealed goggles present a disadvantage.
\n\nThe second most effective anti-fog measure is to use “thermal lenses” or “dual lenses.” These goggles employ a dual pane system of lenses with an air gap in between, creating a thermal break (insulation, essentially) that reduces condensation on the lenses.
\n\nFinally, the most common anti-fog measure is a hydrophobic surface on the inside of the goggles. Most goggles that say they are “anti-fog” use this method, which consists of a thin layer of oil over the inside of the lens. Oil is hydrophobic, so moisture beads up and falls. The chief weakness of most of these anti-fog coatings is that they eventually wear out, especially if the lenses are washed with soap. Some manufacturers claim that their anti-fog coatings are chemically bonded to the plastic and do not degrade, but we have yet to test their claims ourselves.
\n\nOne researcher for this article lives in a region where humidity hovers around 80-90% all summer. In these conditions, relying on a regular hydrophobic anti-fog coating is far from adequate, even when using vented goggles; the goggles fog up very quickly. By contrast, indirectly vented thermal goggles can be worn for hours without fogging up. The difference between the two methods is significant.
\n\nAnti-fog sprays are available and reasonably cheap, though DIY solutions are just as common. Many swimmers swear by using saliva as a thin coating on the inside of their goggles to prevent fog, while others use baby shampoo (not adult shampoo, which would irritate the wearer’s eyes). We consulted an anarchist long-distance swimmer who reports that baby shampoo has been effective for hours at a time in the ocean, while saliva seems to last from 10 to 45 minutes at the very most.
\n\nComrades in Portland have submitted the following anti-fog recipe, which we have not personally tested.
\n\n\n\n\nMaterials: Toothpaste/baking soda, water, Dawn anti-grease dish soap, Johnson & Johnson baby shamboo, spray bottle (other brands of similar quality can be used).
\n\nIf your lenses have an anti-fog coating, wash them with water and a soft rag and let dry. If your goggles do not come with an anti-fog coating:
\n\n\n
\n\n- Wash your hands well.
\n- Use a non-whitening and non-gel toothpaste, or baking soda and water. Spread it over the entire lens and the skirt inside the goggles/mask.
\n- Use your fingers or a soft-bristled brush to scrub the lens, then rinse it thoroughly with water.
\n- Repeat this step again if your goggles get dirty, oily, or greasy.
\nNext, mix your anti-fog solution:
\n\n\n
\n\n- Use a clean spray bottle
\n- Fill with 40% dawn, 50% baby shampoo, and 10% warm water.
\n- Mix thoroughly.
\nFinally, treat your goggles/mask:
\n\n\n
\n- Wash your hands well
\n- Spray solution on the inside of the mask/goggles
\n- Scrub lenses and frame with clean fingers
\n- Let sit for 30 seconds
\n- Rinse briefly with warm water, making sure to leave a light layer of solution on the lenses, and let it dry.
\n- If it stings your eyes when you put the goggles on, use less Dawn and more water in your next batch.
\n- Repeat before every action.
\n
It is also possible to gain impact protection from a visor mounted to a tactical helmet. This is covered in greater detail in our guide to helmets.
\n\nMany people of Asian descent find that goggles do not contour well to their faces. Manufacturers make goggles that sit higher on the nose, labeled Asian-Fit goggles. We are currently looking for Asian-Fit goggles that meet the standards we’ve outlined, but the ballistic pairs we’ve found so far use foam as the seal. If anyone has suggestions, please let us know.
\n\nWork glasses: Some work glasses with ballistic lenses also come with straps to turn them into goggles. All three of the models of this style that we’ve researched do not really form a seal around the eyes.
\n\nFire goggles: Fire goggles are designed for wilderness firefighters, but tend to make use of thick open cell foam for ventilation. This is intended to filter smoke, but not tear gas.
\n\nSwim goggles: Swim goggles offer the advantage of being small and providing a good seal, so they pair well with half-mask respirators. However, it is hard to find impact-resistant swim goggles and it’s worth considering the potential problem of suction.
\n\nSki goggles: Most ski goggles use open cell foam, rather than rubber, to form a seal. As mentioned above, open cell foam can absorb chemicals
\n\nNone of the authors have tested the following goggles against tear gas or police munitions, though at least one of us has handled and worn each type. These recommendations are based on a mixture of research and conversation.
\n\nOur number one recommendation so far is the Pyramex V2G Plus. These are less than $20, ballistic rated, and use dual-lens thermal anti-fogging—one of the more reliable anti-fogging measures. There is a prescription insert available for those who wear glasses. These goggles are indirectly vented, however, so you’ll have to seal them with hot glue or tape. The only potential problem is that the two-lens thermal system makes it harder to adequately seal. There is a thin layer of foam between the lenses, allowing moisture to pass through, and if you live in a humid environment, you might trap moisture between the lenses permanently.
\n\nAnother option is the Pyramex Capstone. These goggles are less than $20 and ballistic-rated. They use regular hydrophobic anti-fogging. Like the V2G Plus, they are indirectly vented, so you need to seal them.
\n\nSolidWork Safety Goggles are slightly more expensive, $30 or so. They use a large rubber seal and seem more capable of sealing securely to your face. These are also indirectly vented, so you will need to seal them.
\n\nThere are many, many more goggles that can work, and something is almost always better than nothing.
\n\nOne person we spoke with wears swim goggles under vented ballistic goggles. The swim goggles provide a good seal despite being paired with a half-mask respirator. This approach could also work for those who own prescription swim goggles or are willing to buy a pair. It’s more to carry, it’s presumably uncomfortable, and we have not yet received word from this person as to how it has served in the thick of chemical weapons. If anyone else has experience with this method, please let us know.
\n\nMost military gas masks can be equipped with ballistic “outserts” that attach to the outside of the lenses—without these outserts, the lenses are not rated for ballistic impact. ↩
\nIf you look at the hazardous chemical specifications of various chemicals, you’ll notice that they list certain “protection factors” that are necessary to interact with them. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) rates various types of respirators according to protection factor. SCBA masks are rated at 10,000, PAPRs are rated at 50-100, full-face APRs are rated at 50, half-mask APRs are rated at 10, and disposable APRs are rated at 5. ↩
\nThe bayonet mount is the same model by which lenses attach to cameras: three tabs fit into three slots, then you twist it into place to lock it down. ↩
\nRealistically, this is only a danger if you manage to find an 80-year-old filter from an Eastern bloc country. ↩
\nAs violence intensifies from police, federal officers, and fascist groups around the country, it’s important to think about how to protect ourselves. No one should have to choose between preserving bodily safety and organizing in our communities—yet batons, impact munitions, and street attacks are designed to force us to decide between the two. It’s not a question of whether you employ confrontational tactics—nowadays, anyone who is in a protest situation could become a target. By taking the proper precautions, we can mitigate the risks while continuing to show up for each other. This guide explores a wide range of protective headgear, detailing the advantages and disadvantages of each, so you can pick out what’s best for you. The life you save could be your own.
\n\nThis is the first in a series of protest safety guides that we will be publishing over the coming days. Contributors have spent countless hours gathering experience, data, and anecdotes to prepare this series. We will be updating this document on an ongoing basis as more information comes in. If you can offer suggestions or corrections, please contact us. For more information about how to choose personal protective equipment such as ear protection for protests, you can start with this article published by the Indigenous Anarchist Federation.*
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/01/7.jpg\")
Aaron Cantu’s helmet after a police officer in Portland, Oregon intentionally fired an aerial flash-bang grenade directly at his head. If he had not been wearing a helmet, he would probably have been killed.
\nIf you don’t have time to read the entire text, here’s what you need to know:
\n\nIf you anticipate that no one else will be wearing a helmet, wear something concealable or inconspicuous—a bump cap baseball cap, a low-profile skate helmet under a hood, or a bicycle helmet—so as not to make yourself a target. If you anticipate that many people will be wearing helmets, wear the best helmet you can get your hands on, such as a tactical bump helmet or ballistic helmet.
\n\nHigh-end: Level IIIA ballistic helmet, such as the $500 Hard-Headed Veterans ATE, or a discount Chinese-made model that is still tested to a high standard, such as the $200 LongFri model.
\n\nCheaper tactical: Either a name brand “bump helmet” for $100-200, or an airsoft helmet that looks like one for $40. If you go with the latter, swap out the pads for real pads, which cost another $40, and do not expect it to provide nearly as much protection.
\n\nDirt-cheap option: Find the cheapest skate helmet you can that still advertises meeting various certifications. It should be about $20.
\n\nLow-key option: $20. Buy a “bump cap” (not a “bump helmet”)—a bit of a hardhat built into a baseball cap.
\n\nIn an emergency: A half or three-quarters motorcycle helmet, a half-mask hockey helmet. A lacrosse helmet with the facemask removed. Any other helmet you can find.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/01/2.jpg\")
Hard-Headed Veterans ATE helmet.
\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/01/1.jpg\")
A bump cap.
\nOur heads are fragile. Police know this—so they aim for them. Fascists do the same. It is smart to wear a helmet in a lot of protest situations.
\n\nAs with all gear, it’s always important to think in terms of tradeoffs. If you’re the only person with a helmet, you might attract more attention to yourself than you want. If no one else will be wearing a helmet, consider wearing a concealable helmet. If you anticipate that everyone will be wearing helmets, make sure you’re wearing a good one.
\n\nMobility, visibility, and flexibility are important—whether we’re talking about a particular item of gear or our movements as a whole. The police will almost always have more access to resources than we do; it’s usually a mistake to get drawn into head-to-head confrontations under static conditions. Their weaknesses are that they tend to react slowly to new information and that they often lack motivation and creativity. When choosing equipment and tactics, we should always aim to stay fluid and mobile, being careful not to weigh ourselves down attempting to hold a fixed position.
\n\nAll that said—you can’t really go wrong wearing a helmet to a protest. Cheap bicycle helmets have saved people’s lives this year. If you don’t want to spend any money, then wear whatever you have available. A skate helmet is great. A bicycle helmet is better than nothing. A full-face motorcycle or motocross helmet is expensive, limits your vision and hearing, and presents a variety of other downsides—but if you catch a tear gas canister to the brow, you’ll be glad you wore it.
\n\nThere is no helmet that will protect you entirely from blows or shots to the head. There is no “concussion-proof” helmet available to football players: it would require a tremendous amount of foam. Like all protective gear, all a helmet can do is mitigate certain risks.
\n\nPeople tend to fixate on the shell of a helmet—assuming, for example, that since a ballistic shell that can withstand gunfire, it will protect your head better than a hockey helmet. But a ballistic shell is only intended to protect your head from gunfire—it might not be as effective at protecting your head from a hockey puck. And a hockey helmet might not protect your head in a road accident the way a bike helmet could.
\n\nWith helmets, both the shell and the padding matter in roughly equal proportions. If a projectile penetrates the shell, the padding won’t do much. Yet the padding is what protects against blunt impact, presuming the shell itself is not penetrated.
\n\nBallistics is a complicated field. We spoke at length with an engineer in the process of preparing this series. The long and short of it is: it is very hard for a layperson to predict which objects will penetrate which surfaces and how much force will be transferred. We can learn the kinetic energy (in joules) of various less lethal munitions and we can learn the standards that various helmets are certified according to—but it is difficult to draw reliable conclusions on the basis of this information. In short, non-ballistic helmets are certified to resist substantially less kinetic energy than might be imparted by a less-lethal weapon.
\n\nHelmets mitigate risk. They don’t nullify it.
\n\nHelmets come in a variety of sizes and each manufacturer employs different sizing patterns. It’s worth getting a tape measure to measure the circumference of your head before shopping for a helmet, especially if you’re buying it online. If you don’t have a tape measure, use a piece of string, then measure the length of the string.
\n\nA lot of helmets are adjustable—you can fit them either by adding or removing padding or by tightening or loosening a headband. Hard hats in particular are eminently adjustable, though we don’t particularly recommend them. Regardless, it’s best to buy a helmet that fits you well. If you’re between two sizes, you should probably go with the larger size; but a helmet that is too loose can fall into the wrong position at inconvenient moments, even blocking your vision. A helmet that is too loose will likely absorb less impact, because the force of a blow can push the side of the helmet into your head, essentially making the helmet itself impact you.
\n\nWith padded helmets, you want it tight enough that it takes a bit of effort to get it on, but not so tight that it feels confining. To test the fit of a tactical helmet, shake your head from side to side with some force without the chinstrap on: the helmet should not move.
\n\nFor the purposes of this article, we’ll divide helmets into three basic categories based on how they’re designed. There are suspension helmets, which use a hard layer on the outside and a suspension system inside to absorb impact. This category includes most construction hard hats, older military helmets, and some climbing helmets. There are crash helmets, which rely on crushable foam, usually paired with a hard layer. These are generally designed with the assumption that they will be destroyed on impact. Bicycle, skate, ski, motocross, and motorcycle helmets are all crash helmets. And finally, there are padded helmets, which use a hard outer shell and non-crushable padding inside to mitigate impact. This includes modern military and tactical helmets as well as some sports helmets, including football, lacrosse, and hockey helmets.
\n\nCrash helmets generally provide the most protection from a single impact, but they lose their protective capacity after one blow. Suspension helmets are light, cheap, and durable, but are often not rated for side impact and generally less protective overall. We recommend padded helmets, which are often designed for repeated blows. There’s a reason soldiers wear them.
\n\nSuspension helmets have the advantage of being cheap and of allowing air to flow over the head, but are generally less effective against blunt impacts. We don’t recommend them.
\n\nFirst, and most common, is the hard hat. Most hard hats are good for protecting your head from falling objects, but not as useful for mitigating other threats. Many lack even a chinstrap, which makes them unreliable in situations that could involve running, falling, or grappling. Worksites are increasingly replacing hard hats with “safety helmets,” some of which use suspension systems, some of which use crushable foam or padding for the sides, some of which use a combination. If you’re going to use a hard hat, look for a “Type II” helmet, which includes non-crushable padding on the sides and is rated for side impact as well as top impact. These are much less common.
\n\nHard hats have a very “civilian” look, which can be useful for optics.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/01/3.jpg\")
The classic hard hat.
\nClimbing helmets are similar to “Type II” hard hats in that they are rated for side impact as well as top impact. They also sit closer to the head than a hard hat. Generally, they are more comfortable and offer better mobility.
\n\nAnecdotally, we hear that climbing helmets that are tested to the European ASTM F1492 standard offer effective protection against baton blows.
\n\nSome climbing helmets rely on suspension alone, while others use a hybrid system that incorporates crushable foam. As far as suspension helmets go, climbing helmets seem like a good choice.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/01/12.jpg\")
A typical climbing helmet.
\nAntique Military Helmets
\n\nUnfortunately, we cannot recommend the medieval helmet or a steel 20th century war helmet for protests, though some of us might wear ours anyway. Most medieval helmets and early modern military helmets use a leather suspension system, called a helmet liner, to hold the hard shell away from the head.
\n\nThe Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), who fight with steel swords and armor for sport, requires steel helmets to be at least 16 gauge or thicker steel; many SCA fighters prefer 14 gauge steel. Anything thinner might be considered “decorative” only. We have not tested steel with impact munitions, and the deformation of a helmet could be very dangerous to the wearer if, you know, the helmet crushes your head. Many re-enactment fighters, rather than using traditional suspension systems, build foam liners from ½” or thicker closed-cell foam (yoga mat foam is thought of highly for this). Others use modern military helmet padding. To the best of our knowledge, a human arm with a steel bar (like a sword) delivers substantially less force than the more powerful impact munitions used by police, so we cannot recommend medieval helmets in good conscience until we’ve tested them properly.
\n\n A demonstrator expressing opposition to the courts extending de facto impunity to murderer and former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley on September 17, 2017, in St. Louis.
\nSome people wear surplus early modern helmets, which are plentiful. Most of these are not rated against bullets, but were designed to protect soldiers from accidents and shrapnel. A few have a Kevlar liner and approach a ballistic-rated degree of protection. We’re curious what would happen if one were to replace the suspension liner with modern military padding and a chinstrap harness, but we have not spoken with anyone who has tried this yet.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/01/5.jpg\")
An M1 helmet—the helmet of the US military from the Second World War until 1985.
\nThere are more types of crash helmets than we can easily cover here. Crash helmets tend to be the most readily available helmets and they usually look “civilian” and unthreatening. Someone in a bicycle helmet can look like they were on their way home from work when they were swept up into a crowd. Also, some crash helmets can be concealed under a hood. For these reasons, as well as their relatively cheap prices, we recommend them—especially skateboard and snowboarding helmets.
\n\nCrash helmets, unlike suspension helmets or padded helmets, are less likely to be effective when purchased used. Fortunately, they tend to be very cheap new.
\n\nBicycle helmets are probably the most inconspicuous helmets you can wear apart from something completely concealed like a bump cap. They’re also dirt cheap. Those are their main two advantages. The disadvantage is that bicycle helmets are substantially less penetration-resistant than many other crash helmets, as the plastic shell is basically an afterthought. The plastic shell is so thin, in fact, that some of us have seen police batons shatter them entirely, sending shards flying that have cut people.
\n\nIn the United States, bicycle helmets—unlike skate helmets and other sport helmets —are required to meet certifications using the CPSC standard. However, they are only required to survive a single impact. In short, they’re designed to be disposable.
\n\nOne study we read indicated that $10-20 bicycle helmets meet the certification standards (on the basis of various impact tests) roughly as well as $100-200 helmets.
\n\nWe’ve seen an FN303 pellet (an impact .68” airgun pellet) embedded deep in the foam of a bike helmet, implying that it sufficed to stop the pellet.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/01/6.jpg\")
A bike helmet.
\nSkate helmets cover more of the head than bike helmets, since they aren’t designed to be aerodynamic. Snowboard helmets are functionally the same as skate helmets; the chief difference is simply that they lack ventilation holes entirely, as they are designed to retain heat.
\n\nSkate helmets, unlike bicycle helmets, require no certification to be sold as such. Some companies apparently certify only certain sizes of the helmet, because they use different amounts of padding in different sizes. If they are certified, these helmets are certified to ASTM F1492 standards, meeting a higher standard than bicycle helmets in that they are rated to survive multiple impacts.
\n\nSome snowboarding helmets come in with a built-in comms systems, which could be useful to a protestor.
\n\nSkate helmets are one of the best cheap options for helmets. Be careful when buying skateboard helmets online, as the listings are sometimes for children’s helmets in children’s sizes.
\n\nAaron Cantu was wearing a helmet of this kind when a police officer in Portland, Oregon intentionally fired an aerial flash-bang grenade directly at his head in 2018. Police are supposed to fire that kind of flash-bang into the air, to explode above the crowd—though in practice, they routinely aim them at our heads. The grenade penetrated Aaron’s helmet and became lodged in it, shattering his skull. He survived—and credits the helmet with saving his life.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/01/8.jpg\")
Skateboard and snowboard helmets.
\nMotorcycle helmets are designed to survive much higher levels of impact than other crash helmets. They’re also more expensive. If you’re buying something specifically for protests, they aren’t necessarily the best choice. If you have one around, however, it’s a helmet—a very good helmet. And if you ride a motorcycle or scooter to the demonstration, then you already have a helmet with you.
\n\nFull-face motorcycle and motocross helmets offer much better protection for a motorcycle accident, but this does not translate well to protest situations. They’re cumbersome, they limit visibility, and they make it much more difficult to wear respirators or ballistic goggles.
\n\nThree-quarter (open-faced) helmets and half helmets are much more useful for protest situations, as they are more compatible with masks and goggles. Half helmets are substantially cheaper than other styles.
\n\nWhen purchasing motorcycle helmets, our friends at Indigenous Anarchist Federation-Federación Anarquista Indígena (IAC-FAI) remind us in their own article about protest gear that
\n\n\n\n\n“DOT certification is not worth the ink its printed with since it is a ‘self-certified’ safety standard. For real safety, especially ballistic protection from the visor, be sure to get a helmet that meets ECE or Snell safety standards.”
\n
![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/01/9.jpg\")
A variety of motorcycle helmets.
\nEquestrian helmets are similar to skate helmets, but those that are certified to the ASTM standard F1163 are also tested against the sharp impact of a horse hoof. This is good for protestors.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/01/10.jpg\")
An equestrian helmet.
\nSuspension and crash helmets are just-in-case helmets, but padded helmets are worn by people who expect to be hit in the head: athletes, soldiers, cops, and, increasingly, well-dressed demonstrators. Let’s separate this category into two sub-categories: sports helmets and tactical helmets.
\n\nMore than any other category of helmet, sports helmets are designed specifically to protect against blunt impact; an incredible amount of engineering has been invested in this lately. Sports helmets are also the most readily available helmets on the secondhand market. In some cases, you’ll have to remove the facemask so it doesn’t interfere with your ability to wear masks and goggles—and so it won’t offer an opponent an easy opportunity to grab hold of your face and control your head. Other sports helmets are designed in such a way that they are not compatible with gas masks and goggles at all.
\n\nMake sure the padding of your sports helmet is in good shape.
\n\nHockey helmets are designed to protect against fast moving hockey pucks—which are a lot like the impact weapons used by police. Half-helmets are preferable, without a chin bar or face mask. Hockey and lacrosse helmets are two common and effective protest helmets.
\n\nLacrosse helmets are a lot like hockey helmets, but they are lighter and offer good ventilation as well as good peripheral vision. Although you’ll probably have to remove the facemask and chin bar, lacrosse helmets are a solid choice.
\n\nAccording to whitewater rafters we’ve spoken to, whitewater helmets are similar to other padded sports helmets, rather than to crash helmets. Although we lack direct experience with them, it appears they would serve well for protests.
\n\nFootball helmets are specifically designed to protect the head from repeated blunt impact. Some football helmets employ a two-shell system, utilizing what one company calls a “shock bonnet” in which plastic shock absorbers between the inner and outer shell absorb the impact. Apparently, this dramatically improves the protection these helmets offer against concussions. However, it doesn’t appear that this technology has been widely adopted yet.
\n\nWorn in baseball, batting helmets are cheap and strong. Traditional models are designed to survive baseball impacts of 70 mph, while newer models are rated up to 90 or 100 mph. The official helmet of Major League Baseball—the Rawlings S100 Pro Comp—uses this newer design, though some players complain it offers less mobility than the older models. We’ve yet to test how batting helmets fit with respirators—and many don’t use any kind of chinstrap, so they can easily fall off or be removed in a scuffle.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/01/11.jpg\")
A variety of sports helmets.
\nTactical helmets are designed for combat. That’s why cops use them: police constitute an occupying military force. Tactical helmets are intended to protect soldiers and other professional fighters from the hazards of their job, such as bullets and shrapnel. Many of them are also designed to stick gadgets onto. Gadgets are useful: in particular, activists might be interested in being able to mount ear protection or visors. Journalists might be interested in the ability to attach cameras, though we cannot in good conscience recommend that anyone film protests in such a way as might incriminate fellow protestors.
\n\nA note on buying tactical helmets securely—a lot of tactical gear manufacturers are explicitly politically opposed to various social movements, and many donate money to police organizations. While sometimes it’s necessary to let capitalists sell us the rope to hang them, it’s worth considering where your money is going—and what information you are giving to a manufacturer when you purchase from them. Consider shipping your purchase to a post office box at the very least.
\n\nAlso, it is illegal in the US for those convicted of violent felonies to own body armor designed to protect against bullets. Some exceptions can be found through workplace requirements. This law likely only applies to ballistic helmets.
\n\nTactical helmets can be distinguished by their ballistic rating, their style, and whether or not they are designed to carry gear. They are available in a wide range of prices and combinations of features. For that reason, we’ll discuss the different categories of features that can be mixed and matched, rather than mutually exclusive types of tactical helmets.
\n\nThere are four ratings of tactical helmets available. At the lowest end are airsoft helmets, which are often less than $50. These are generally not certified at all; functionally, they are just plastic replicas of higher-quality helmets. The next step up is bump helmets (which are distinct from bump caps). Bump helmets are tactical helmets that are not rated to protect against gunfire, though they are often well-made and certified to decent safety helmet standards. They are half the weight of ballistic helmets and substantially cheaper. In the military, they are usually only used by people who want the ability to hold gear like night vision goggles without the weight of a ballistic helmet. First responder helmets are often bump helmets in bright colors.
\n\nThen there are ballistic helmets. Nearly all military ballistic helmets are rated to NIJ IIIA—which is to say, they are rated to protect against handguns but not rifles. Finally, there are some helmets that claim to protect from rifle rounds. Most of these helmets only protect from certain rifle rounds at long distance. Others, however, can use a special insert to increase the level of protection they offer against rifles. This also increases a helmet’s weight. Ballistic helmets are generally made of aramid fibers like Kevlar.
\n\nThe best kind of helmet available to a demonstrator for confronting almost any impact threat model is a ballistic tactical helmet. However, the cheapest ones start new at $200, and most well-reviewed models are $500 or more. If bump helmets, or even airsoft helmets, are able to withstand less lethal munitions without penetration, then with impact padding, they are the next best thing for a fraction of the price. However, we have not tested this ourselves.
\n\nWe will focus on US models of ballistic helmet, because these are what are most readily available here and most manufacturers copy them. There are numerous styles for numerous purposes, but the most common include:
\n\nPAGST helmets are a style of ballistic helmet that has been largely phased out since 2001. Soldiers complained that the suspension system and pads were inadequate and that the strap worked poorly. The brow also limited visibility, and the nape protection extends low enough to interfere with shooting from a prone position. It would absolutely be worth wearing a PAGST helmet if you find one cheap, but if you’re shelling out real money to buy a ballistic helmet, don’t settle for a PAGST helmet.
\n\nMICH/ACH helmets replaced the PAGST model. The ACH is a more modern version of the MICH, but the helmets are very similar. Compared with the PAGST, it has a better chinstrap and relies on padding rather than suspension. It’s considered to offer superior protection against blunt impact. Now ECH helmets are replacing the ACH; they have a very similar design, but they are made of a lighter-weight material that some people consider slightly weaker, ballistically. This style of helmet has “ear bumps” that permit the user to wear headphones inside it, although the fit is not always perfect.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/01/13.jpg\")
MICH helmet with side rails and a shroud.
\nFAST/ATE/High Cut helmets are built similarly to MICH/ACH helmets but are cut above the ear (ATE) instead of having ear bumps. These weigh less, protect less, and allow the user to wear rail-mounted ear protection. Given the choice, this might be the style best suited to protest situations, particularly if you might need to wear ear protection. A “bump” model, rather than a ballistic model, weighs half as much and provides as much impact resistance, though less protection from bullets. Older models of this style of helmet, such as you might find on the surplus market, are sometimes called CVC helmets.
\n\nSome ballistic helmets (sometimes described as “shell only”) are plain helmets without mounting systems, but most tactical helmets are distinguished by the various mounting options built into them—usually, side rails and a shroud. Surplus helmets, particularly older helmets, are much cheaper when they don’t come with rails and a shroud. These can be attached aftermarket, but it’s a bit of an undertaking.
\n\nThe “shroud” is a rectangle on the forehead of the helmet that is designed to mount night vision goggles. In the civilian market, most people use this spot to mount GoPro cameras. The shroud is a fairly universal mounting system, although some cheaper helmets are poorly made and may not lock as tightly with accessories. The side rails usually run above and sometimes behind the ear and are used to mount other devices. They can hold visors, ear protection/comms devices, flashlights, cameras, or anything else you desire. Just as with the rails on rifles, not all helmets use the same standards for the side rails; there’s an entire industry of people selling adaptors to translate between all the different rail standards. If you go for rails, make sure your accessories fit your rails.
\n\nThe primary reason you might want side rails for a protest situation would be to mount noise-gated earmuffs. These headphones muffle loud sounds (such as gunshots, flash-bangs, LRADs, fireworks, and liberals with megaphones) but amplify quiet sounds.
\n\nStill, most helmets (not just ATE helmets) are designed to accommodate earmuffs like those underneath the helmet—which is less comfortable, but can be substantially cheaper.
\n\nIf you wear anything heavy on the front of a tactical helmet, such as night vision goggles, you might need to wear something as a counterweight on the back. Soldiers sometimes store extra batteries there for this purpose.
\n\nThe strongest shell in the world won’t protect your head from blunt impact without good padding. Many helmets, including some military-issue helmets, come with inadequate padding. Padding serves two purposes: impact resistance and establishing a tight yet comfortable fit. Both are important. To our knowledge, there is no single foam that provides both. Good pads are multilayered.
\n\nPads are generally foam encased in fabric. Sometimes there is plastic between the fabric and the foam to keep sweat from soaking the pads—this is likely an important feature for chemical weapon exposure as well. Some pads incorporate both types of foam (impact and comfort) in multiple layers within a single pad, while other padding systems use separate pads, which makes the helmet more customizable but also demands more work. In a multiple-layer pad system, it’s important to use both layers everywhere there is foam.
\n\nPads are largely interchangeable between all types of tactical helmets, as all use hook-and-loop attachments and are designed to be customized by the wearer to fit their unique head shape.
\n\nGood pads can be found reasonably cheap (approximately $40). Any reputable manufacturer should be proud to announce their impact resistance certifications.
\n\nYou can purchase surplus helmets on ebay.com or via a variety of surplus sites. A used helmet is better than no helmet, but the ballistic fibers of helmets break down from wear and tear as well as exposure to sunlight, and you have no way to ascertain where the helmet has been. Still, surplus helmets are substantially cheaper. Some models in some sizes can be found for as little as $50, although prices closer to $200 are the norm.
\n\nUnfortunately, forums that discuss the efficacy of various ballistic helmets tend to be dominated by US nationalists and gear snobs, which makes it hard to identify honest reviews of cheap equipment, especially foreign-made options. Yet the cheapest source for new, ballistic-rated helmets (especially helmets with all the bells and whistles) is China. Many manufacturers claim that they offer US quality at China prices, and we’ve found that “cheap” Chinese “knockoffs” often perform similarly to American models. We don’t currently have the resources to test these claims about Chinese ballistic helmets.
\n\nIt’s likely that helmets that are ballistically rated will stop handgun rounds, as they claim. The primary argument we’ve seen online is about whether the shell will deform upon impact enough to injure or kill the person wearing the helmet. We haven’t been able to reliably source that information yet. In any case, it’s never a good idea to get shot in the head with live ammunition. Even if the bullet does not penetrate and the shell doesn’t deform, the blunt force alone can be enough to injure or kill.
\n\nAt least one predominant ballistic helmet manufacturer, Hard-Headed Veterans, has their helmets manufactured in China.
\n\n\n\n\n" }, { "id": "https://crimethinc.com/2020/08/26/doxcare-prevention-and-aftercare-for-those-targeted-by-doxxing-and-political-harassment", "url": "https://crimethinc.com/2020/08/26/doxcare-prevention-and-aftercare-for-those-targeted-by-doxxing-and-political-harassment", "title": "Doxcare : Prevention and Aftercare for Those Targeted by Doxxing and Political Harassment ", "summary": "A step-by-step guide explaining how to protect yourself from online stalkers, why it's important, and what to do if you are targeted for doxxing.", "image": "https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/26/header.jpg", "banner_image": "https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/26/header.jpg", "date_published": "2020-08-26T18:02:08Z", "date_modified": "2024-09-10T03:55:46Z", "tags": [ "anti-fascism", "fascism", "doxxing", "security culture" ], "content_html": "“My friend lost an eye when he was in high school. A cop shot him with a rubber bullet. A couple years later, we were participating in a new round of protests against police violence, and people were getting seriously injured at every demonstration. We discussed it and concluded that, sure, maybe the police would target us more if we protected ourselves as individuals, but if we all protect ourselves, we would all be better off. My friend brought a shopping cart full of helmets to the next demonstration and made a speech about how important it was for everyone to wear one.”
\n\n“Since then, every couple demonstrations, someone brings a bunch of helmets to give out—all different sizes, to provide for everyone, since, for instance, I have to wear a child’s helmet for it to fit right. That helped to normalize wearing them.”
\n
This step-by-step guide explains how to protect yourself from online stalkers, why it is important, and what to do if you are targeted for “doxxing”—the publishing of your private information. In a era of universal surveillance, when livestreamers broadcast every major demonstration while fascists, FBI agents, and police officers comb through social media posts to gather intelligence with which to harass activists, there has never been a better time to take steps to secure your privacy. Here’s how.
\n\nI have been active in my community for years. Not long ago, far-right trolls found social media accounts of my friends, family, and workplace. They stalked me and used the photos they found of me and my family members to assemble timelines of my life and to map my social networks. Because of my anti-racist beliefs, they used the information they gathered to threaten me, my family, and my friends. In every harassing email and social media comment, they characterize the projects I participate in as “terrorist groups,” describing me as a “leader” and member of an imaginary “shadowy mob of violent leftists” that they want to “do something serious about.” Whether these conclusions are just shoddy investigative work or intentionally dishonest misrepresentations, their behavior should be concerning to anyone who believes in standing up against oppression.
\n\nI deactivated my social media when I learned that this was underway—not because I am ashamed of being associated with the struggle for a freer world, but because I want to protect my friends and social networks. Anyone who knows me knows it is no secret that I oppose all forms of bigotry and oppression. They did not target me specifically for anything in particular I have done, but because they are opposed to all anti-racist, feminist, and queer activism and they think that they can isolate and intimidate us one by one. This is why we need to stand by each other.
\n\nI want you to know about this in case you ever find yourself in the same situation. You are not alone. I hope this encourages you to think seriously about your personal online security and the security of your family members and friends.
\n\nRobert Bowers, the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter, publicly chatted with alt-right trolls who doxxed anti-racists. The stalking campaign against me shows that they are willing to manufacture falsehoods to put people in those crosshairs. The only way to protect ourselves is to keep showing up for each other. We must not let them intimidate us.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/26/2.jpg\")
Stay safe.
\nDoxxing means publishing a person’s private information with the intention of exposing and intimidating them. This can result in physical, emotional, and economic harm to the target. It is intended to dissuade the target from action and to shame them for their ideas and values. It is important to take security seriously before you are doxxed—before you even have reason to fear that you could be doxxed. Often a doxxer will wait until they have gathered a lot of information before releasing it. It is possible that you are already being stalked and will not find out until it is too late.
\n\nWhether you are a well-known public activist or hardly involved at all, you should protect your social networks and other spheres of your life—even if you don’t think you are doing anything that would warrant attention. Maintaining good practices protects your friends, family, and community. It is common for people to be included in right-wing conspiracy theories about “Antifa members” solely because they are queer or trans, “look like a leftist,” play in bands, attend an event, or hang out in radical spaces. The information does not have to be correct or justified for someone to target you. All a harasser needs is one piece of information to begin to seek more details online.
\n\nBeing aware of what information trails you leave online can protect you from law enforcement as well as stalkers. Now that state-imposed surveillance is increasingly sophisticated and livestreaming has become normal at protests, just wearing a mask is often not enough. In June 2020 in Philadelphia, investigators identified a woman starting with nothing more than a blurry photo of her. They followed a trail of breadcrumbs including an Etsy purchase, twitter accounts, and her professional work page. Customs and Border Protection have started to trawl public social media. Securing your online presence can make you feel more secure taking action offline.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/26/6.jpg\")
These days, there are cameras everywhere.
\nThere’s no better time to start than now. After you have been doxxed, you may not be able to eliminate the information that is out there even if you try to get it taken down.
\n\nThere are many different ways to approach this. Obviously, the best way to ensure that no one can find any information about you is to have nothing available—but some people can’t eliminate their online presence, whether because of work, family, or other responsibilities. In some cases, there are strategic reasons to maintain some sort of online persona; for example, having a longstanding, believable but innocuous social media account may be helpful for non-citizens crossing the US border. Thankfully, there are ways to firewall distinct spheres of your life, curate a public profile if you need one, and adopt practices that can help you and your friends to feel empowered to continue taking action in your community. This process can be tedious. It will take time and energy. I recommend doing it together with friends, roommates, or family members to help through some of the difficult or boring aspects.
\n\nIf you cannot completely delete yourself from the internet, you can still preserve relative privacy by maintaining distinct spheres1 of online activity and cleaning up forgotten or infrequently used accounts.
\n\nYou likely have more than one online presence. This could include social networks, message boards, job sites, email accounts—anything you need to log into. Often in doxxing, information is triangulated from many different sources. One way to reduce the amount of information available to doxxers is to partition these spheres so they are not connected to each other. This is a highly individualized process; take some time to consider the following questions and map out your own online spheres.
\n\nDo you spend your time on r/politics or the wall of a Facebook acquaintance debating? Do you frequently like or repost statuses from radical Instagram or Twitter accounts? Do you have images or personal information on job boards? Do you buy things on Etsy or eBay? Do any of your friends post pictures of you on their Instagram accounts? Do you have to promote yourself online for the line of work you are in? Do you connect with your co-workers, family members, and activist friends using the same account? Do you use parts of your real name or birthday for usernames or emails?
\n\nEach of these may not be a problem in and of itself, but together they can create links between different spheres of your life.
\n\nAsk yourself:
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/26/10.jpg\")
Don’t forget metadata! In this case, Gustave Courbet’s face is erased, but his signature is clearly visible on the canvas.
\nHere are a few examples of how your online presence can overlap across different sites:
\n\nRelatives
\n\nPolitics
\n\nFriends and Community
\n\nHobbies
\n\nLegal
\n\nCareer
\n\nTake time to consider where you overlap, what your online goals are, and where you can separate these spheres.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/26/4.jpg\")
\nLet’s talk about how to discover what information is available about you, how to identify and eliminate trails, and what online resources exist to remove them.
\n\nBegin with what is publicly available. Google yourself and make a list of all of your social media accounts. Delete old accounts for things you no longer use. This is also a good time to download a password manager like 1Password or LastPass to assist you in managing unique usernames, emails, and passwords.
\n\nFind out what information people can find out about you simply using a search engine. Search for yourself on DuckDuckGo and Google. Try doing this search in incognito mode. Try different versions of your name, with and with out your middle name and in quotation marks. You could set Google Alerts to send you emails when your name is published on the internet. This will give you a sense of how much data about you is available online to people who are not in your network.
\n\nAfter this initial search, have a look at all of the data broker sites that profit on trading in personal data. I also encourage you to remove your closest family members at the same time. This process can be arduous; these sites try to make it as difficult as possible to delete information about yourself. There are some things you can’t remove yourself from—for example, if you recently registered to vote and still live at that address. (This is another reason some people choose not to vote.)
\n\nThe most trafficked host sites include: Been-verified, CheckPeople, Instant Checkmate, Intelius, PeekYou, PeopleFinders, PeopleSmart, Pipl, PrivateEye, PublicRecords360, Radaris, Spokeo, USA People Search, TruthFinder.com, Nuwber, and FamilyTreeNow. I recommend starting by searching yourself on OneRep using the free version of their service—it will show you what sites have your information. Then use that information on this website, which has a guide for opting out of virtually every data broker. If you have more money than time, you can pay OneRep or Just Delete Me to have your information removed, but I usually only recommend this service if you have already been doxxed.
\n\nI recommend starting with these by searching each one on this website,\nwhich has a guide for opting out of virtually every data broker. If you have more money than time, you can pay for a service called Just Delete Me to have your information removed, but I usually only recommend this service if you have already been doxxed.
\n\nWhen you search yourself in a online search engine, you may also find old accounts. It can be good to do a reverse search using all of the old user names and screen names you can remember. Accounts you have not used in a long time can make you vulnerable because if they are using an older password, they can try that account’s technical support to get more data about you that they can try to use for other accounts. Download any material of sentimental value to you and permanently close all the accounts you no longer use. These can be full of clues about your life.
\n\nFirst, go to this website, which searches over hundreds of platforms for specific usernames, and search all the possible usernames and emails you have used. This will tell you what platforms have accounts using that handle.
\n\nSecond, go here and type in the website domain. This website archives a huge array of existing websites, categorizes how easy or difficult they make it to delete an account, and provides the link to the “delete profile” page for each respective site.
\n\nHaveibeenpwned.com will help you find out if there are any data breaches involving any accounts you hold. If there are, take immediate action to change passwords.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/26/7.jpg\")
\nThe easiest way for someone to find more information about you is to search your name, aliases, and usernames. To keep your spheres of internet activity separate, always use a new username when you create an account. If you have a professional website for work and must use you legal name, make sure the email you use for that account is used solely for that purpose. You may have to have a handful of email accounts and usernames. I have one for all of my medical and governmental accounts, one for my online shopping, one for my political life, and one for my social media, another for dating sites, and so on. I use aliases and false information for all the websites that represent me or display photos of me.
\n\nA password manager is a great help for this, as it will store logins for all of your accounts. I recommend LastPass, which you can download for your phone and web browser. It might be tempting to leave yourself permanently signed in, but always make sure to sign out when you are done using it. First, so you don’t forget the master password—and also to ensure that even if someone manages to gain access to your phone or computer, they can’t access all your personal data. Take this time to create new emails and change usernames for all of the accounts you aren’t going to delete. You can easily create new emails using Protonmail. Both 1Password and LastPass can help generate random string passwords, which are the most secure.
\n\nOnce you have eliminated all your loose ends, take a look at what you chose to retain and what can be found there. If you keep any social media accounts, go through your profile and note what people can find out about you. You can choose from a range of strategies regarding how to approach this, depending on how cautious you want to be and how certain are that it is possible to keep your different spheres of internet activity distinct.
\n\nSome of your options include:
\n\nThe Coach from Crash Override Network is a helpful step-by-step guide that links you directly to the privacy settings page for many commonly used social networks. Click “Let’s Get Started” and “Strengthen the security of my online accounts so people can’t break into them as easily,” and follow their guides for all the top social media companies. This guide can also help with other aspects of online security, so after you’ve done that, I recommend finishing the Coach helper and checking out what other resources they offer.
\n\nWhen you think you are done, have a friend try to create a profile based on what information they can find about you while pretending to be a “doxxer” to see if anything you didn’t think of slipped through the cracks. It may be important to periodically check in on what can be found by searching your name every few months.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/26/9.jpg\")
Conduct a “pre-mortem”: if something goes wrong, how will it happen? What are your vulnerabilities?
\nWe do not recommend approaching the police when you are doxxed (or ever). The police may use the information you give them about the harassers, but they will also use the information they get about you and other individuals and groups you may have been publicly associated with. Once that is on file, it’s permanently in their hands, and there’s no guarantee they won’t use it to target you or others with state repression.
\n\nIf you chose to involve the police, please be transparent and do not ask any radical groups to support you. Be sure to inform any groups that you are connected with of your decision. Usually, the police will do nothing or make the situation much worse. The idea of thiis guide is to provide you with alternatives based in community support and empowerment.
\n\nShort answer: Do not immediately react publicly. Take time to secure yourself and alert your networks privately before reacting publicly.
\n\nYour first impulse may be to alert as many people as you can immediately with a public announcement or to shut everything down. Going public in this way can provide you with immediate support if you have a sympathetic audience, but it carries the risk of increased aggression from harassers. There are good arguments for being cautious with information at the beginning. The most important thing to do first is to take steps to protect yourself and your networks against further harm.
\n\nImmediate announcements can complicate your security efforts. Whether or not the information posted about you is accurate, no one is likely to use it to cause you any serious harm without first confirming at least some of it. Posting on a social media account confirming your doxx immediately confirms that the information about you is accurate; it also indicates that you have seen where it was posted and suggests that you are terrified. This furthers the goals of your harassers. They want to intimidate and isolate you. Do not confirm or deny any of the information they have dug up about you, regardless of whether it is false or embarrassing. They are seeking a reaction. If you let them know that what they have posted is incorrect, they may conclude that they are on the right track and they just need to keep digging. Sometimes, one of the most effective initial public responses is no response at all—don’t make any major changes to your posting habits or show any fear. This can send the message that your doxxer missed the mark, and that the attack was a failure.
\n\nAfter you have had time to process your feelings and secure your position, it may be strategic to go public and perhaps to band together with other people who are in a similar situation. You may be able to leverage the public outrage over white supremacists to create a campaign to dissuade further doxxing—for example, make a funding drive with pledges to give money for every harassing email you or others in your community receive! Since your harassers want to isolate you, public support like this may dissuade further intimidation. Try to be creative, resilient, and strategic. Be careful not to endanger anyone else in this process.
\n\nWhen making public statements, if you posture or brag about your abilities, your ability to employ violence, weapons with which you can defend yourself, or overstate your ferociousness, you may bite off more than you can chew. It is generally not a good idea to misrepresent yourself. Talking directly or indirectly to the harassers does not usually improve matters. I recommend making a positive statement asserting your ethics and beliefs, describing how your identity or your ideals have made you a target but maintaining that while these campaigns of harassment are intended to make you cower, you will not do so, because you have no reason to hide your politics. Avoid talking about specific actions or groups, whether or not you are involved with them.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/26/1.jpg\")
\nDon’t panic. Call a close friend to come over and help.
\nCreate an incident log and keep records for both online and offline provocations. This is crucial to identifying the patterns of the attacks. It can be useful to compare these with other organizers in order to identify larger patterns so as to identify your opponents and their organizations.
\nAlert your friends, family, and sensitive political networks privately. Task a few friends that you trust with your personal information to help report social media and blog posts that doxx you, identifying them as harassment. Do so repeatedly. Some platforms lack policies that will protect you, even if these posts include accurate personal information, even if they put you in danger. Sometimes, doxxers will use your photos and information to make imposter accounts. It is usually easier to report these as fakes; try to do so quickly in order to prevent them from obtaining more information from your networks by posing as you. You, your family, and your employer may begin to receive threatening or harassing phone calls. Let them know what is happening as quickly as you can and instruct them not to engage with the harassers.
\nShut down the flow of information. If you are reading this section and have not done the preventative care section, begin that process. Download a password manager like 1Password or LastPass and change all of your passwords immediately. You can also pay for a service called Delete Me that will take much of your online footprint off of snoop sites that harvest and display personal information. This service will take care of the information aggregated by the data brokers but not any social media, web accounts, news articles, or arrest records you may have, those will have to be handled on your own. It is important to balance the hemorrhage of information, while also not alerting your harassers that the dox was effective or on target. Try to shore up your social media accounts by making friends lists and information private in order to protect your networks until you are sure that they don’t offer vulnerable personal information to those willing to dig for it. How you react publicly is a very delicate situation and should be handled carefully throughout this process.
\nSet up a safety plan. Recruit friends and family to support you. Let them know what is going on; doxxing can be traumatic and you need to prioritize your mental and physical health so that you can work through these attacks. These conversations can be difficult—especially if they do not understand the nuances of this political moment, if it’s the first time they are hearing about a particular flavor of hate group, or if your relationships are strained due to political or personal differences. If you don’t feel up to it, you could ask a friend who has a good understanding of the situation to have the more difficult conversations for you.
\nIf your home address is included in the doxx, find somewhere new you can stay if you are able. If you can’t leave your home, invite friends or a local security group to stay with you. Make a “go bag” with everything you will need if you have to pack up and go with little notice.
\n\nIf you don’t feel you are at any great risk, especially if your doxx is comprised of freely-available information or is just sent directly to you in an effort to unnerve you, you may feel fine dismissing it as a cheap intimidation tactic, blocking and reporting the harasser, and moving on. It may just be a matter of someone trying to get a rise out of you. However, if your doxx includes sensitive personal information, especially details that are not easy to obtain with simple detective work, or it appears in a public forum where people distribute information in hopes that others will act on it, you may want to take further precautions. This is especially true if you are already part of a targeted group or demographic.
\n\nWhen you learn that you have been doxxed, it’s important to establish which information could translate into credible threats. Often, doxxing is a precursor to more intrusive offline harassment, or is connected with threats to act on the information. This could be anything from threatening phone calls to family or workplaces to pointed death threats or a SWAT call.
\n\nIt is sometimes difficult to determine what makes a threat “credible.” The most common tactic of ordinary doxxers is to send creepy or intimidating messages wherever they think they can reach you—social media, email, and to family members, and the like. They will often imply that they have more information than they really do; it’s common for them to say that they have provided this information to local law enforcement. Their goal is to intimidate you out of acting; often, whatever information they post publically is all that they have.
\n\nYour employer may receive calls demanding that they fire you. Thus far, it is rare that the targets of doxxing have been physically attacked, but it has happened, and it is possible that those who doxx you may make efforts to get your information into the hands of people who are not acting rationally or ethically. It is important to be cautious, but don’t panic or immerse yourself in anxiety.
\n\nAsk yourself:
\n\nIs there information tying you to criminal activity that could get you arrested?
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/26/8.jpg\")
\n Here are some things you can do in response to the dangers that can arise from being doxxed:
\n\nThis conversation can be very difficult, especially if your relationship with your family is strained. Have a cool-headed friend on call to help mediate or support you afterwards if necessary.
\n\nThink about how often you are willing to be vulnerable with your family and how much opportunity you will have in the future to follow up on the conversation. If it’s necessary to speak to family members but you feel like you will only get one chance, you can rehearse with a friend and prepare for their reactions. If you have an ongoing, conversational, trusting relationship, you can explain the situation to them in a series of smaller conversations, instead of one long sit-down. Evaluate how much time and how much attention you will have.
\n\nIt has always helped me to frame this as “having a stalker” to people who I do not want to have a political conversation with—that may suffice to explain the severity of the situation and why you need privacy. But it can be worth the effort to be honest about what’s going on. This can help build stronger relationships and demystify this common occurrence, while encouraging others who may not have considered that it could happen to them or someone they know to take online privacy seriously. Most people will respond with fear and sympathy, though sometimes they will suggest or even insist that you call the police.
\n\nThere is no one-size-fits-all approach. In my case, I had to compel my conservative mother to promise that she would not involve the police. I did so by appealing to my right to personal safety and my autonomy as the victim in the situation, asking her to respect my wishes and reminding her that the police can do very little to respond to targeted harassment like this—and all that calling them would do would be to open me up to their scrutiny, since I was being accused of criminal activity. Such conversations can be very difficult, but they are often necessary. Remind your friends and family not to react or respond to any phone calls, emails, or social media requests.
\n\nYou can read a guide for how to discuss this with your employer here.
\n\nThings to remember when talking to your friends and family:
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/26/5.jpg\")
If you are targeted for doxxing, communicate clearly with others about the potential consequences of appearing in photographs together.
\nTake a deep breath. Do not blame yourself. Emotionally this can be deeply disturbing and disruptive, adding a layer of acute stress to your life. There may be people out there who know what you look like and you will have no idea who they are. Sometimes information from doxxes becomes a permanent part of the internet if you name is googled; this can affect your job prospects. Sometimes nothing comes from the attention—but there is always the possibility that someone will try to pick up where the last doxxer left off.
\n\nUntil you are sure that your time in the spotlight is over, you may have to alter some aspects of your life. Ask yourself, “What kind of life do I want to live? How can I manage my anxiety? Are there ways I can embrace being a more public figure? How can I feel secure in taking risks and being active again?” Especially as political tensions intensify, it may be important to take more extreme safety measures.
\n\nHere are some of the measures you might choose to employ:
\n\nNo matter how hard the people targeting you try make you feel isolated, you are not in this alone. As a community, we must protect each other and our online networks from harassment, imprisonment, political violence, and intimidation. Together, we can do this.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/26/3.jpg\")
\nFor people with more serious needs to erase and hide:
\n\nExtreme Privacy—What It Takes to Disappear: Data Removal Workbook & Credit Freeze Guide
\n\n\n\n\n\nGet a Password Manager like 1Password or LastPass: You can download it on your phone, computer, and as a browser extension.
\n\nGet a VPN: Riseup offers a free VPN, but the one from Nord is more user-friendly.
\n\nThis podcast presents ideas to help you become digitally invisible, stay secure from cyber threats, and make you a better online investigator.
\n\nThe concept of spheres was developed by the Smiling Faces Collective. ↩
\n![blockades](\"https://itsgoingdown.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/map-blockades-barricades-repression-oaxaca-2016-1024x663.png\"){kind=link}
![floats](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/05/07/17.jpg\"){kind=link}
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