Uncategorized

Tecumseh Calls for Pan-Indian Resistance (1810)

1700-1830s, Date, Defining the Enemy, Disruptive Spaces, Indigenous, Self Institution, Subjectives of Refusal, Subjects Redefined, Tactics of Disruption, The 'Natural World', Uncategorized, White Supremacy

In this document, Tecumseh, a Shawnee chief and warrior, details a message of both resistance and spirituality. He writes to a community larger than just the Shawnee, calling on all the “red men” to unite and to reclaim the land that has been stolen from them by the “white people.”

Tecumseh-Calls-for-Pan-Indian-Resistance-1810Download

“The way, and the only way, to check and to stop this evil, is for all the red men to unite in claiming a common and equal right in the land, as it was at first, and should be yet; for it never was divided, but belongs to all for the use of each.”

Breaking the Illusion of Scarcity: A Squatter’s Primer (2003)

1990-2010, Date, Defining the Enemy, Disruptive Spaces, Occupation, Privatization, Tactics of Disruption, The Home, Uncategorized, We're Not Paying That

This piece is a detailed guide on how to squat an unoccupied property. Information on how to find a place, claim squatters’ rights, gain adverse possession, and fix utilities within the space are described and illustrated in the document. Additional squatting resources are provided at the end of the piece as well.

Breaking-the-Illusion-of-Scarcity-A-Squatters-PrimerDownload

 “If we are to avoid urban sprawl, we must see through the illusion of scarcity and utilize what already exists. So dig a pry bar under the boards covering the window, crack it open and squat it.”

A Civilian’s Guide to Direct Action – CrimethInc. (2017)

2011-Present, Date, Disruptive Spaces, Uncategorized

This piece is a step-by-step guide published by CrimethInc. on organizing direct action. Common objectives of direct action, how to navigate the initial planning stages, what to do during and after the action, as well as other information is described and illustrated in the document.

Crimethinc-Direct-Action-GuideDownload

President of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians Letter to the Chairman of the Town of Lac du Flambeau – John Johnson Sr. (2023)

2011-Present, Date, Disruptive Spaces, Indigenous, Subjectives of Refusal, The 'Natural World', Uncategorized

This letter, written in December of 2023 by the President of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, John Johnson Sr., to the Chairman of the Town of Lac du Flambeau, Matt Gaulke, communicated that the tribe would be enacting a Road Access Permitting Ordinance applying to all roads that cross tribal land. This would allow legal access to the roads in exchange for a fee, and came after months of contentious dispute over road access on the reservation. In January of 2023, the northern Wisconsin tribe barricaded four reservation roadways they argued were being illegally used. In this letter, the tribe president demanded nearly $10 million to resolve past trespass violations, and required payment of these damages before issuance of any road permits under this new ordinance.

Lac-du-Flambeau-LetterDownload

The Construction of Lay Expertise (1995)

1946-1989, 1990-2010, Consciousness Raising, Date, Disruptive Spaces, History, History/Theory, Institutions, Occupation, Tactics of Disruption, The Workplace, Theory, Uncategorized

In the 1980s, the AIDs epidemic began to wreak havoc across the country, specifically amongst gay men. These affected communities felt that the government and other facets of society were not addressing the epidemic properly and so, they were dying in massive proportions. A group of committed activists formed an organization called ACTUP and used disruptive tactics to create more awareness about their issue. One of the most provocative techniques they used was to gather in large amounts and play dead with signs that suggested who was responsible for their death, like the CDC. This paper by Steven Epstein details other such tactics that disrupted people’s every-day movements and oftentimes, forced them to reckon with the AIDs epidemic and its victims. 

epstein-1995-the-construction-of-lay-expertise-aids-activism-and-the-forging-of-credibility-in-the-reform-of-clinicalDownload

Treesitter’s Journal Entry (2000)

1990-2010, Date, Defining the Enemy, Disruptive Spaces, Occupation, Patriarchy, Tactics of Disruption, The 'Natural World', Uncategorized

A journal entry written by an anonymous treesitter discusses issues of privilege and oppression, and how these issues relate to direct action campaigns to protect the forests.

“I see clearly that the forest will never be truly protected until this entire system of oppression is brought to a grinding halt.”

“Ultimately we will never save the forest until the bigger picture of oppression is addressed. As long as the rape and oppression of women continues so will the rape and oppression of the earth. It is one and the same.”

Treesitters-Journal-Entry-4Download

Introduction to Anarchy Comics by Jay Kinney (2012)

1990-2010, Consciousness Raising, Date, Tactics of Disruption, Uncategorized

Anarchy Comics is a series of underground comic books that were anarchist and satirical, criticising mainstream society. The first three issues were edited by Jay Kinney and the fourth by Paul Mavrides, and the contributers included anarchist artists of the times, such as Spain Rodriguez and Gilbert Shelton. The first issue of Anarchy Comics can be found here.

Anarchy-Comics-IntroductionDownload

Anarchy Comics: Issue 1 by Jay Kinney (1978)

1946-1989, Consciousness Raising, Date, Tactics of Disruption, Uncategorized

Anarchy Comics is a series of underground comic books that were anarchist and satirical, criticising mainstream society. The first three issues were edited by Jay Kinney and the fourth by Paul Mavrides, and the contributers included anarchist artists of the times, such as Spain Rodriguez and Gilbert Shelton. An introduction to Anarchy Comics, written by Jay Kinney, can be found here.

Anarchy_Comics_The_Complete_Collection_-_Anarchy_Comics_1Download

Temporary Autonomous Zone – Hakim Bey (1985)

1946-1989, Alternative Spaces, Authority, Date, Defining the Enemy, Disruptive Spaces, Evasion, History/Theory, Occupation, Patriarchy, Sabotage/Ecotage, Self Institution, Tactics of Disruption, Theory, Uncategorized, Urban Spaces

Classic anarchist text by Hakim Bey about creating temporary spaces that elude formal structures of control. From Pirate Utopias to Nomadic Bands, Poetic Terrorism to Ontological Anarchy, Hakim Bey draws on history and philosophy to think through spatial and mental liberation. 

"The TAZ springs from the historical development I call “the closure of the map.” 
The last bit of Earth unclaimed by any nation-state was eaten up in 1899. 
Ours is the first century without terra incognita, without a frontier."
Hakim-Bey-The-Temporary-Autonomous-ZoneDownload

Indiana University Students for a Democratic Society: Collection of Newsletters (1965)

1946-1989, Date, Disruptive Spaces, Institutions, Students, Subjectives of Refusal, Uncategorized

During the 1960s, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) as a national organization had chapters at over 300 universities. The organization lasted unitl 1969, until it ultimately split due to disagreements within regarding revolutionary actions. Here is a collection of newsletters distributed by the Indiana University chapter of SDS in 1965.

Description for this block. Use this space for describing your block. Any text will do. Description for this block. You can use this space for describing your block. Description for this block. Use this space for describing your block. Any text will do. Description for this block. You can use this space for describing your block.

OVERVIEWDownload

The Kinetics of Our Discontent – Mehmet Dosemeci (2020)

History, History/Theory, Theory, Time Interrupted, Uncategorized

Mehmet Dosemeci questions why we have come to understand the history of social struggle through the category of movement and discusses the complicity of movements with the social order they are struggling against. Offers an alternate history of social struggle as the arrest or interruption of the existing order.

Why do we think of social struggles as movements? What is in motion and where is it going? Has struggle been thought and practiced otherwise? Not as movement but as disruption, arrest, stasis? If so, what are struggles trying to stop? Asking these questions pushes us to think about struggle kinetically: to analyze social struggle through the register of motion and its interruption.
The-Kinetics-of-Our-Discontent-Past-and-PresentDownload