The CrimethInc. Convergence is right around the corner. On July 16, hundreds of wild-eyed ex-regular people will meet in Milwaukee at Gordon Park (Locust St. & Humboldt Blvd) to begin five days of plotting, scheming, debating, learning, chicanery, and what have you.

Attendees—expect a lot from yourselves. It’s up to you to challenge yourselves and everyone else to break out of routines and into restricted spaces. Arrive with the understanding that you are responsible for yourselves—and for a lot more than that. Bring plans, bring surprises, bring infernal machines.

A shadowy international network of crazies has spent months preparing for the crowd of fugitive office workers and other assorted loons who will descend on Milwaukee. They will need as much help as they can get. Plan on helping out.

Rumors abound regarding the content planned for the week. Reports from the anarchist struggle in South Africa. Discussion of the gender dynamics of bringing down electoral politics. Some wackos want to start an anarchist university, others want to train you to be a convention-disrupting wrecking ball. Some maniacs think they can put an end to attrition in the anarchist community in a single afternoon, with one workshop. There are shouts and murmurs of dozens of other topics as well, but you’ll need to show up to find out what they are. And of course there will be the ones you bring.

Speaking of bringing things . . . You can expect to be provided with food, water, a place to set up a tent, and oodles of interesting people. Aside from that, you should pack in anything you will need for five days in the woods. Some good things to bring are:

-tent
-sleeping bag
-mattress pad
-flashlights
-canteens
-things to give away!!
-medical supplies
-INFERNAL MACHINES

. . . And if you have extra space in your pack:

-Propane tanks
-Single burner stoves
-rope!
-Lots of free literature
-Lots of cardboard
-tools (hatchets, saws, shovels, ratchets, screw drivers, wrenches, etc.)
-two-way radios (walkie-talkies)
-tables and chairs
-cooking gear
-equipment for dishwashing
-plates and cups and silverware
-sponges
-water jugs
-fire-making and -controlling supplies (matches, fire starters, fire extinguishers, etc.)
-oil lamps, tiki torches, torch-making materials (e.g., coffee cans, dowels, shirt fabric, lamp oil)
-first aid gear
-condoms
-toilet paper
-soap and hand sanitizer
-bug repellent
-sunscreen
-herbal tea
-tinctures
-rescue remedy
-snacks/comfort foods
-paper, pens, envelopes and stamps (for the prisoner-writing station)
-duct tape and packing tape
-box cutters
-batteries
-acetate
-x-acto knives
-sewing needles
-dental floss
-bandanas
-bike tubes
-five gallon buckets
-mason jars
-sidewalk chalk
-sheets and other banner material
-paint and brushes
-spraypaint
-butcher paper
-big markers
-floatational devices
-musical instruments (bucket drums, drumsticks, Boviphonic Ohm Cannons, etc.)
-toys (for the childcare area)
-outlandish costumes

Rideshare board: make comments here.

POLICIES

The organizers of this year’s convergence have some requests for everyone who participates; for the most part, these are modified from previous convergences. Please respect the wishes of those who have worked to make this event happen. If you don’t like these policies, use this event as a chance to find others with whom to organize your own convergence according to your own desires.

Respect — We ask for your respect for the campsite and the local area. We aim to leave as minimal a trace as possible on the land we have selected for this year’s convergence. Please dispose of your trash in a manageable fashion and shit only in the designated areas. Exercise discretion while interacting with the local community. Please, no aimless graffiti or similar activity.

Consent — Any interaction you have with others here, whether sexual or otherwise, should be consensual. Silence and passivity do not count as consent. If someone says no to something or is unsure and you badger them until they say yes, that’s not consent; if someone is intoxicated they may not be in a position to give you consent. If someone says you violated their wishes, that counts as breach of consent, whatever a court of law would say. By the same token, don’t define others’ experiences for them: the person who has an experience gets to decide whether or not their wishes were respected in it, and also what, if anything, the community should do about it.

Security — Security is a consent issue just as much as sex is. Don’t say or do anything that puts others at risk unless you have their express permission; don’t speak about their involvement in illegal activity or endanger them by your own actions. Be aware that you may be under observation by your enemies at all times. Don’t alienate others by speculating about whether they are informants or ostracizing them based on suspicion; at the same time, don’t put yourself at risk by trusting people just because they’re here. Also, please don’t needlessly break the law, as that will cause trouble for all of us; there will plenty of time after this week to hone your criminal skills. Food, shelter, and everything else you might want are already provided here.

Drinking and Drugs — There is a strict policy of no alcohol or drug use on the campsite. This is for several reasons, but the most important are to comply with the express wishes of our hosts and to avoid giving the authorities a pretext for harassing us. If you do wish to drink or use intoxicants, please do so elsewhere, perhaps in a home to which you’ve been invited, but do not return to campsite until you are sober. There is no judgment or morality attached to this policy; the last thing we want is an obvious division between people who drink and people who don’t. If you smoke cigarettes, please do not scatter them on the campsite. If you pack it in, you should pack it out.

Photographs — Don’t photograph anyone or anything without permission. This is also an issue of consent and respect.

Money — Nothing is bought or sold at the Convergence. Occasionally people have asked for donations for items as benefits for political prisoners or projects. This is fine in small doses, but generally the Convergence shouldn’t be a place where a lot of money changes hands.

Non-humans — Organizers at previous convergences have expressed frustration with people bringing dogs and not keeping up with them. If you bring an animal companion to this convergence, please understand you are responsible for keeping up with him or her 24 hours a day.

Exclusion — Because this convergence should be a safe space for everyone, people who violate these policies may be asked to leave. In cases of breach of consent, both sexual and security, we will 1) trust the survivor and 2) abide by the survivor’s wishes. For example, if you gave information to the police about someone without their permission and they don’t want you in this space, we will ask you to leave; likewise, if you have sexually assaulted someone and they are comfortable with you being here as long as you participate in a mediated discussion about their boundaries during this event, we will ask you to do so, or else to leave.

This is not a matter of permanently excluding “undesirables” from the anarchist movement, but simply of making things work in a limited space for a limited time. People can be asked to leave the campsite without being exiled from our communities. If anything, this simply provides an incentive for individuals and communities to work out their conflicts in advance of events like this, so we won’t all have to deal with unresolved conflicts here.

–And one more policy:

Pronouns — Part of respecting each other means respecting our varied and infinite gender identities. In the pursuit of making this convergence a safer space for people of all genders, its vitally important to respect one another’s pronouns. The world of gender is a huge and complicated terrain, but it can be more easily navigable with some simple guidelines: Don’t assume someone’s gender simply based on your perception. ASK! People will be glad you did. Make sure to refer to people by their chosen gender (or non-gendered) pronouns. If you mess up, apologize and work on that in the future. If in doubt, ‘they’ works wonders.