Disrupt (v) : to interrupt (an event, activity, or process) by causing a disturbance or problem; to drastically alter or destroy the structure of (something)
This is a step-by-step anonymous guide published on CrimethInc.’s website detailing how to throw a squatted dance party. Information on gear, location, how to promote the event, handling the authorities, among other important instructions are included in the document.
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the US during the 1960s that sought to establish a New Left focused on civil rights, peace, and universal economic security. In 1965, SDS held a mass sit-in at the White House to protest the Vietnam War. This document is a flyer for the event, detailing the various demands, plans, and sponsors of the group.
Over the past weeks at various universities across the United States, students have erected encampments to demand action to end Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip. These protests have arisen on the campuses of some of the US’ highest academic institutions, including Harvard and Columbia. This document is a press release from The New School Students for Justice in Palestine, a student-organization at The New School in New York City. In the press release, they expressed their solidarity with other student protesters across the country, described why they established the encampment, detailed the rich history of student protest at the school, and set forth a list of demands for the university. Some of these demands included a complete divestment from all corporations that benefit from and are complicit in the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people, greater protection for pro-Palestinian protesters, a full academic boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions, among others.
In a direct statement from CAM, they held a general meeting to discuss their organization’s updated goals and even there, they faced resistance from the Chilean government. They resisted against them successfully enough to finish their meeting in totality. In this statement, they address the allegations that they are terrorists without a motivation and other propaganda that the Chilean government has raised against them.
In Chile, the Machupe people are an indigenous group that have been fighting off outsider invaders to their land and livelihood for years. The Lafchenke Machupe groups are a resistance group that use tactics like sabotage, arson, and violent resistance to push out the Chilean government, who they now see as invaders to their ancestral land, and protect their forests/land from destructive practices. Below, there is a statement the group released in which they take responsibility for sabotage and arson against corporations and government efforts.
In 2010, anti-Afghanistan War activists turned Parliament Square in London into a protest camp, renaming the square “Democracy Village.” Over the course of the occupation, between May 1st and July 20th, other groups joined, including climate change activists, pro-democracy campaigners, anarchists, the homeless, and more. This piece came from the anti-war activists. They described what they were fighting for as well as the importance of taking direct action to resist injustice and tackle the problems that plague society.
During the aftermath of the Great Recession, between September 17 and November 15, 2011, the Occupy Wall Street movement occurred in opposition to economic inequality, corporate greed, money in politics, and big finance. This document was drafted by the Call to Action Working Group and ratified by the New York City General Assembly on September 29, 2011. The piece explained who the occupiers were and why they were taking up public space. A list of grievances are included in the document as well as a call to action for all communities to take action to assert their power.
Jeunesse Communiste Révolutionnaire, a French Trotskyist organization, wrote this piece, describing the transition from a student revolt into a general strike of workers contesting capitalist society during the May 1968 events. The organization included a list of demands and called on other workers and students to join them in the future actions they will take in their fight against the current system.
This document is a firsthand account of the events that occurred in Paris, France during the May 1968 time of unrest. The anonymous author describes the various strikes, occupations, and other actions taken by workers and students between the period of May 3rd to May 18th.
Paris, France, beginning in May of 1968, was a city filled with general strikes, demonstrations, and occupations of universities and factories by students and workers. In this piece, the Enragé-Situationist International Committee Council for Maintaining the Occupations calls for the creation of workers councils as the solution to gain working-class autonomy in the proletariat revolutionary project. They reflect on the way in which their occupation of factories and public buildings has brought the economy to a halt and led to a widespread questioning of society, calling on the international proletariat to join in the fight for this transformation.
“This is the beginning of a revolutionary movement, a movement which lacks nothing but the consciousness of what it has already done in order to triumph.”
On July 20, 2009, workers of the Vestas Wind Systems factory in Newport, Isle of Wight, occupied the factory after finding out that more than 525 jobs from both the Isle of Wight and the Southampton factories were moving abroad. In their statement, the occupiers called on the government to nationalize the factory, arguing that keeping it open is necessary for the livelihoods of the workers as well as for the health of the planet.
This document is a written account by Jorge Martin, the International Secretary of Hands Off Venezuela, of his November 2008 visit to PT Istana, an occupied and now worker-run factory in North Jakarta, Indonesia. The story of how employees of CV Melody occupied the factory in an effort to fight off attacks by the company for their decision to unionize as well as how they began worker-controlled production are detailed in the piece.
This is a communique from the occupation of a business administration building at San Francisco State University in the fall of 2009. Occupiers were protesting budget cuts and fee increases. In this communique, students connect their movement to anti-racist and labor movements, to the protests against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to the occupation of Alcatraz Island by the Indians of All Nations, as well as to the wider struggle against capital.
“Although occupation, or reclaiming space, is not a historically new idea, it is a new form of struggle for many of those disillusioned with the promises of lobbying, those too tired of petitioning “our” elected leaders, those who have lost all faith in politics as they know it. As direct actions like these redefine socially-acceptable modes of protest, occupations themselves redefine the power-relations at the site of struggle.”
This document contains excerpts from the zine created after the occupation of Wheeler Hall at the University of California, Berkeley on November 20, 2009. The occupation was the apex of three days of demonstration after the University of California’s Board of Regents had voted to raise student fees by 32%. Rather than issue a communique, the occupiers chose to have their individual statements gathered into a zine composition.
“We will take buildings, streets, and all that is necessary until we are free and rid of this bureaucratic, authoritarian, and unjust structure…We will occupy, we will appropriate, and in turn, we will liberate.”
This is a declaration by the activist group Occupy Museums, stating the direct actions they have taken to expose a cultural system of inequality and exploitation within the American and International art world. Inspired by the 2011 Occupy Wall Street Movement, Occupy Museums seeks to bring the critique of wealth and inequality to the cultural sphere where finance and aesthetics currently intersect.
“WE OCCUPY MUSEUMS TO RECLAIM SPACE FOR MEANINGFUL CULTURE BY AND FOR THE 99%. WE BELIEVE THAT ART AND CULTURE ARE THE SOUL OF THE COMMONS. ART IS NOT A LUXURY!”
This is a news article by Extinction Rebellion (XR) detailing the occupation of the offices of five major insurers within the City of London by various XR protesters. Activists occupied the lobbies of the firms and called on the insurance company CEOs to speak with them about how their companies can play a part in stopping climate-destroying fossil fuel projects. The group had previously made demands in a letter sent to over 40 insurers throughout the City of London. Some of these demands included a complete and immediate ban on insuring new as well as expanding oil, gas and coal projects. These direct actions were taken in solidarity with the Insure Our Future Global Week of Action.
“I have joined the Insurance Week of Action to tell insurance companies that insuring fossil fuel extraction in 2024 is unacceptable. These companies are enabling destruction, displacement and death from the comfort of their headquarters.” – Dr. Lucy Hogarth, a member of Scientists for Extinction Rebellion
Movimiento Sin Tierra (MST), also known as the Landless Workers Movement, began in Brazil and has since spread across the Americans to places like Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia. MST fights for access to land for poor workers. Due to unresponsive governments, high levels of poverty, and the elite’s monopolization on land ownership, MST forms groups to occupy land and create settlements. This document provides an inside look into Bolivia’s Landless Workers Movement based upon interviews conducted with those involved in MST Bolivia.
“We no longer ask the authorities to give us the land, because when we do that, they cut us off. We go directly to lands…We enter, we work, we occupy the lands.” – Wilfor Colque Caceres, secretary of the MST Bolivia National Coordinating Committee
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.
“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.”
This piece was written by an activist at the 2003 ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization in Cancún. Over 10,000 protesters from around the world took action throughout the summit, occupying a building, conducting marches, disrupting the opening ceremony, using bolt cutters to break down barriers, and employing other direct action tactics. Activists faced the challenge of integrating different cultures, who each had their own organizing methods, social relations, and disruptive tactics. Many of the activists were farmers, who were protesting the globalist free trade policies that they argued had privileged multinational businesses at the detriment of their livelihoods. This was shown by one farmer, Lee Kyung Hae, who stabbed himself as an act of sacrifice, expressing, “WTO kills farmers. I am taking my life so that others can live.”
“Building alliances and solidarity between struggles is vital to counter the ways in which the current power structure is connecting our global community. The world is being globalized whether we like it or not. They choose to globalize capital. We choose to globalize resistance.”
These excerpts come from a Native Women’s Liberation Front newsletter published in 1970. Four different cases of direct action land struggles waged by various Native American groups are described, including the occupation of Fort Lawson military base, Stanley Island, Alcatraz Island, and the southern tip of land previously belonging to the Pit River Indians. In each of these cases, Native American activists are seeking to reclaim the land that belongs to them and are calling on readers to join them in their fight.
In 1972, AIM activists and members of the Rosebud Sioux organized the Trail of Broken Treaties and Pan American Native Quest for Justice. This demonstration brought caravans of Native Americans from across the country to Washington D.C. where they occupied the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for six days. The group drafted a 20-point position paper that outlined major issues that needed to be addressed. All of their points centered around recognizing Native American sovereignty and restoring Indigenous rights, as set forth in previous treaties. Additionally, the paper called for the abolishment of the BIA and the creation of an Office of Federal Indian Relations and Community Reconstruction instead.
This piece describes the conflict between sundancers of the Shuswap First Nation and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) during August and September of 1995. Members of the Shuswap Nation were engaging in their annual sundance ceremonies when individuals from the RCMP SWAT team began encircling the camp. More Shuswap sundancers as well as other nations soon arrived to defend those already there from violence. Throughout the coming weeks, the RCMP began painting these individuals as “terrorists,” blaming them for recent shootings in the area, and cutting off all communication to and from the camp, including that of the media. Those in the camp demand that an impartial third party tribunal be set up to decide on the question of jurisdiction over unceded Native American territories. They have refused to leave their defensive position until their petition has been forwarded from the Governor General of Canada to the British Privy Council and the Queen, as stipulated in the Royal Proclamation of 1763. The piece includes information on how to contact the various governments, lawyers, and other groups involved in the situation to apply pressure in support of the Shuswap, Mohawk, and all other indigenous nations.
This is a transcript of an interview with Earl Livermore, a leader of the American Indian Movement. He describes the thought behind occupying Alcatraz, the organization of various committees, schools, medical centers, and transportation methods on the island, as well as the outside support the activists have been receiving in support of their occupation. Additionally, he reads a part of the Alcatraz Proclamation (1969) to give listeners a clearer sense of what specifically the Indian activists desire of Alcatraz.
This is a poster created by Earl Livermore. In addition to serving as a leader of the American Indian Movement, Livermore was also an artist. The proceeds from this poster went directly into the Alcatraz fund.
This was a proclamation issued by the group of indigenous peoples who occupied Alcatraz Island beginning on November 20, 1969 and lasting until June 11, 1971. In the proclamation, Natives demanded the reclamation of the land based on historical precedents and called attention to the poor conditions of Indian Reservations across the country. The proclamation was addressed to the “Great White Father and All His People” with the intended audience being both the US government and the American people.
“We, the native Americans, re-claim the land known as Alcatraz Island in the name of all American Indians by right of discovery.”
This piece describes the direct actions taken by NYC Earth First! and Wetlands Rainforest Action Group activists at the Mitsubishi International office building. The activists entered the building with multiple 600-pound concrete-filled barrels, lockboxes, and megaphones. They used these tools to lock themselves to the doors and barrels, barricade the entrances, and effectively shut down the building until police forces arrived to break it up. The blockaders demanded to meet with Mitsubishi’s president and stood their ground until the blockade was deconstructed by the police. The activists sought to raise public awareness for the destructive environmental practices of Mitsubishi and repeatedly chanted the phrase “Earth First! Profits Last! Boycott Mitsubishi!” This piece by NYC Earth First! concluded with a call for all readers to boycott products with the Mitsubishi logo and with information on how to contact the president of the Mitsubishi International Corporation.
“We made Mitsubishi’s life hell for a day and got our message out with great newspaper, TV, international newswire and internet website coverage, bringing home the message: “Earth First! Profits Last! Boycott Mitsubishi!”
This article, published by Maine Earth First! details the occupation of the Land Use Regulatory Commission’s meeting in Bangor, Maine in opposition to the agency’s approval of Plum Creek’s proposal to develop in the Moosehead Lake region. Activists argued that approval of this plan will allow Plum Creek to conduct harmful extraction projects, dump sewage sludge, clear cut forests, among other detrimental acts on the environment. Maine Earth First!ers burst into the room prior to the vote, demanded a chance to have votes of their own, and continued to occupy the meeting room by sitting down and linking arms.
This piece describes the direct action tactics used by the Ava Guaraní indigenous peoples of Argentina and their allies against Tabacal Sugar, a subsidiary of the Seaboard Corporation. Tabacal Sugar owns the ancestral land of the Ava Guaraní, which is found in Salta, a northern province of Argentina. Despite being displaced from their land over five decades ago, members of the Ava Guaraní community have occupied the land in their ancestral homeland to harvest native fruits, vegetables, and medicinal herbs. In addition to the actions taken by the indigenous community themselves, activists from the Worcester Global Action Network, on behalf of the Ava Guaraní, disrupted Seaboard Corporation’s annual shareholders meeting to demand the corporation address the displacement of the indigenous peoples in Salta.
This piece consists of personal accounts of three Earth First!ers during their various blockades over the course of a two week period. The blockades occurred in order to stop the continued destruction of the Bald Mountain road in the Kalmiopsis region. In each instance, activists locked arms, forming a barrier between the bulldozer and the rest of the road, temporarily halting destruction. Additionally, the second account describes how in addition to forming a blockade, Earth First!ers chained themselves to the bulldozers, halting the destruction for even longer.
“We feel in our hearts that we have contributed to a great cause, and helped with the advent of a new tactic in the protection of wilderness in America: Direct Action.”
A story from Vol. VII, No. IV of the Earth First! Journal that describes the direct actions taken by Oregon Earth First!ers in response to the Siskiyou National Forest’s reneging on an agreement to postpone logging within the North Kalmiopsis Roadless Area. While much of the wilderness in the Kalmiopsis region is protected, this action occurred to defend the hundreds of thousands of unprotected roadless areas. Activists engaged in a precedent-setting seven direct actions in addition to providing non-violent direct action training sessions to others. The piece concludes with a call to action to all Earth First!ers as well as anyone interested in participating in the direct actions the group has planned in the coming weeks to protect the North Kalmiopsis.
This is an in-depth guide provided by Earth First! on safe methods to climb and rig rope structures needed in direct action situations. Knots to learn, equipment checklists, the psychological aspects of climbing, safe climbing steps, and more are described and illustrated in detail throughout the packet.
This article provides dated updates of the tactics of resistance used by activists against the construction of a gas plant and port at James Price Point in the Kimberley region of West Australia. The planned project would destroy endangered species like the sea turtle and their habitats, ruin the pristine natural ecosystems of the region, and have major social and economic impacts, as the Kimberley region relies heavily on tourism. The piece captures some of the disruptive actions taken by activists over the summer of 2011. These include locking themselves to bulldozers, establishing blockades of construction entry points, occupying space at the site, among others. This campaign was ultimately successful, as by 2014, the development of the plant was officially stopped.
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.”
An excerpt from a Canopy Action Network newsletter provided a strategic analysis of the disruptive tactic of tree sitting. The history of this action was discussed in detail, including a description of the development of tree sitting techniques over time.
“As seen with the cancellations of timber sales like Watch Mountain, Harry Thomas, Kaisen Gulch, Freshwater and portions of Snog, a well timed, thoughtful strategic treesit with strong community support can change the fate of a forest. However, tree sitting is just one of many tactics. Let’s not limit ourselves. We should never forget the beauty of imagination, the wisdom of strategy and the bite of surprise. The sky’s the limit!”
A member of the Mattole Forest Defenders described the group’s actions against logging plans to cut down the remaining Northern California coastal old-growth Douglas fir trees. Blockade structures were built, trees were occupied, and reinforcements from the Mattole Forest Defenders were convoked. The piece concluded with a call to action to help defend what remains of the forest.
This article, written by an American journalist under a pseudonym, details the actions taken by indigenous intertribal women of Nigeria against US oil companies ChevronTexaco and Shell. These oil companies, among others, have exploited the oil supply in Nigeria for decades, causing massive environmental degradation and destroying the lands needed for indigenous groups to maintain their livelihoods. Indigenous women of the Urhobo, Itsekiri, Ijaw, Ogoni, and Ilaje tribes united during the summer of 2002 by occupying operational headquarters, barricading the gates, threatening to commit acts of public nudity, as well as seizing control of four oil flow stations. Work was temporarily halted, and the actions taken at the oil flow stations resulted in a ChevronTexaco revenue loss of three million dollars.
“All will not be well for the oil companies in our areas until they start treating us as human beings that deserve a good life.” – IIaje leader B.I. Ugbasanin
This article describes the tactics used by activists of Katuah Earth First! And EarthCulture to stop the continued chipping of native forests in the Southeast. Activists targeted the Willamette Industries’ Broad River chip mill in Union Mills, North Carolina by blockading the front gate and scaling the facility’s 70-foot log crane to deploy a banner stating, “Willamette Destroys Our Jobs, Forests, and Rivers.”
“Katuah EF! and EarthCulture will hold these corporate carpetbaggers accountable for their Earth-raping business. We will draw strength and inspiration from the mountains, rivers and forests to carry the struggle for the Earth forward!”
The article, written by an unnamed farmer participating in the occupation, describes the “tree-village” that has formed in a Humboldt County, California forest. The logging company Green Diamond has permits to destroy both the rare grove of residual Old-Growth Redwoods and the population of endangered Northern Spotted Owls in the forest. Those within the tree-village have tied over 40 trees together with rope, forming a defense network, and have called others to join the “tree-village,” and tackle imminent threats.
“…they have not backed off logging the grove we occupy, and we will continue to stand with this forest and it’s inhabitants until the threat is lifted.”
An interview with the California Valley Miwok Tribe in response to their occupation of their foreclosed home in Stockton, California. The group had planned to stand their ground and barricade themselves in the house until their problems were addressed by the Department of the Interior.
“We had to make our point clear that we were no longer going to be pushed out and forgotten like yesterday’s trash! We are human beings. We are not just names and/or numbers on a piece of paper.”
A statement by the Sunrise Movement describing the 500 individuals of the organization who occupied every entrance of the White House and the homes of two important senators in 2021, staging a sit-in to demand the Biden Administration pass an American Jobs Plan that addresses bold solutions to the rising climate crisis.
“So we will sit here until you commit to the side of climate justice, commit to an American Jobs Plan written with bold ambition against the climate crisis including a Civilian Climate Corps, and pass it through reconciliation immediately–or you will not pass a bill at all.”
An article, found in the January-February 2007 issue of the Earth First! Journal, details the diversity of tactics French and German farmers, students, environmental activists, and anarchists, among others took in November of 2006 in an attempt to shut down a nuclear waste shipment traveling between the two countries. Sit-ins, erections of burning barricades, parked tractors in the path of the train were some of the tactics employed, in addition to actions taken to derail the police guarding the route, ultimately delaying the shipment and increasing nuclear waste transportation costs.
This document, written during the events in Paris during May 1968, calls for students and workers to continue the resistance, continue the occupations, and keep their power.
“We must continue to the very end!
We occupy the faculties, the offices, the factories!
This leaflet from Occupy Melbourne describes the ways in which the Occupy movement has freed its participants from the reigns of capitalism.
All sorts of people from all sorts of different backgrounds are coming together and becoming open to new perspectives, questioning old assumptions, putting time and energy into things they find useful, actively communicating with each other and relating to each other as humans, without the filter of money. We’re getting a taste of a new kind of life, of how life could be if we weren’t stuck with such an absurd and obscene social system.
Mehmet Döşemeci analyzes global uprisings of 2011 and the occupation of public space in order to outline a theory of social arrest.
“A logic of collection and dispersal has more and more come to define how we practice social movements… What happened in the locations of the Arab spring was not movement but arrest, not dispersal but permanent occupation.”
This document declares the occupation of student, university spaces during Occupy Wall Street.
“We join a long tradition of student activism and struggle. We the indebted and the future unemployed and underemployed stand committed to this movement for our collective lives.”
This statement, written by Devrimci Anarşist Faaliyet (DAF – Revolutionary Anarchist Action), discusses the ongoing occupations in Gezi Park and Taksim Square, particularly the police violence against them.
“Despite the harsh attack, the people on Taksim Square and in Gezi Park are resisting. The fascist state, oppression and police terror can not discourage us, our struggle is going on, our rage is growing so does our struggle.”
This statement, issued by Devrimci Anarşist Faaliyet (DAF – Revolutionary Anarchist Action), describes the uprisings that spread across Turkey in 2013. It includes details of violence that protestors and occupations have faced and emphasizes the need for solidarity and support nationally and internationally.
“Join your voice to the revolt of the people whom the state had been ignoring, oppressing and exploiting for years. Let the fire of revolt against the Turkish State that we started with a spark and that is increasingly growing, grow further… Everywhere is Istanbul and everywhere is resistance against state terrorism, police violence and capitalist exploitation.”
This statement, made by the Devrimci Anarşist Faaliyet (DAF – Revolutionary Anarchist Action) describes occupations and uprisings in Turkey, including Gezi Park. It is an account of actions, motivations, and violence faced, and future hopes.
“It is time to raise the curtain before the eyes. This is a revolt. It is the reaction of people against state terrorism, police violence, and capitalist exploitation. This is the end of legitimacy of the new state power that had gained the love of other states, international institutions and global corporations…
Forty hours became forty years, the square became the world for us. This was the freedom of revolt.”
Between November 20, 1969 and June 11, 1971, a group of Indigenous people – led by the group Indians of All Tribes (IAT) – occupied Alcatraz Island. The last of the occupiers were removed by the United States government. This proclamation announced the reclamation of the land and included a “treaty” to deal with “the Caucasian inhabitants of this land.”
We, the native Americans, re-claim the land known as Alcatraz Island in the name of all American Indians by right of discovery… We feel that this so-called Alcatraz Island is more than suitable for an Indian Reservation, as determined by the white man’s own standards.
