Anyone with questions about what they need to bring or what items could be useful to our organizing can consult the list here, and those who want to share ideas beforehand or are looking for rides can coordinate on the Convergence forums. Any queries, concerns about the accessibility of the space, or offers of help can be sent to info@crimethincconvergence.com. Our website will be updated frequently in the next three weeks.

What follows is a initial list of some of the workshops that will be offered this year. Don’t think this gets you off the hook. We ask that everyone who plans to attend, in fact we demand, that each and every beautiful and unique individual coming to Pittsburgh doesn’t sit passively listening to others talk or perform; we couldn’t bear not being graced with your exceptional talents or insights as well.The convergence is like a giant potluck of epic proportions, and it requires that every single person bring something to share. If you are used to talking a lot in front of crowds and being in charge, challenge yourself further by supporting the efforts of others, or even presenting or performing something that goes beyond the limits of what you’ve done in the past. If you have a workshop to present please post on the forums or e-mail cwc.booking@gmail.com.

Pittsburgh Organizing Group’s Tactical Trainings
A locally based anarchist group will offer a series of workshops from their “tactical training initiative,” including Participating in a Mass Action 101, Lockboxes and Lockdown Devices, Beyond the Boardroom: A Workshop on Strategic Corporate Research, Working With The Media (for Anarchists), and An Introduction to the Global Political and Economic Frameworks. More info here.

The Organization and Benefits of Freeschools to Small Communities
An open discussion on Free Schools compared to other methods of organizing with a focus on small communities.

The GnuRadicals will offer a series of workshops on computer security, including: An “Introduction To Free Software,” which details the theory and history of Free Software and what that means for anarchists; a “Digital Security” workshop that outlines the state of the art in digital security, evading electronic surveillance, and communicating anonymously; an “Install-Fest” that walks participants through installing the necessary software on their computers; and a “Wireless Games” workshop that instructs participants on how to crack encrypted wireless networks, followed by a city-wide effort to crack and map as many as possible.  All convergence attendees should bring their laptops if they have one and would like to participate.

Squat 2 Own
A workshop about political squatting, experiences organizing around housing issues in the South and how these topics relate to homeless solidarity, foreclosures, big banks, human rights, etc. A documentary may be shown if facilities are available, and more info can be found here.

Urban Permaculture/Guerrilla Gardening
Examining the concepts and principles of permaculture and its application to an urban setting. Hands on projects will be part of the workshop, as well as an exploration of the theme of blending anarchist direct action with permaculture. Depending on supplies and proximity to appropriate spaces, guerrilla planting, mushroom log placing and rainwater barrels can happen after the workshop takes place.

Story-Games: Collaborative Creativity, Entertaining Each Other & Abandoning the Media Machine.
What are Story-Games? They look like a handful of people sitting around talking. Some have you inventing the next part of the story, some have you speaking for one of the characters in the fiction. First we’ll have a guided discussion about story in our lives, then a very accessable lecture on Story-Jamming, learning to say Yes, and How To Make It Up As You Go Along. Then we’ll play a few story-games. It will be easy and fun.

Carnival of Solidarity: Tapping into the Radical Potential of New Orleans Mardi Gras
Next Year’s Olympic protests in Vancouver (Feb 10-15) will be happening at the same time as the culmination of Carnival in New Orleans. We are considering the possibilities of organizing solidarity actions in New Orleans during that timeframe. Also, there is discussion of staging radical actions/ outreach amidst the backdrop of Carnival/Mardi Gras every year from now on. This idea is still in the beginning stages; so, the workshop will be partially a brainstorm/thinktank session.

Intro to Botany and Plant Morphology
We will examine evolutionary development of vascular plants, plant nutrient uptake/nutrient deficiencies, some plant propagation, and maybe if time allows looking into flowers/seeds and a quick tutorial on plant breeding and germination. A plant walk in a nearby forested area will follow, if time allows, or be a separate additional workshop.

Trans 101
A workshop on gender as a social construction, transgender issues with healthcare, trans involvement in the LGBT community as a whole, and looking at ways to generally promote the visibility of the trans community.

Urban Hunting and Gathering
How to acquire and encourage wild and feral foods in an urban setting. We will cover animal processing (field dressing, using all parts of an animal, hide tanning, meat preservation), basic hunting and trapping strategies, medicinal and edible plants commonly found in urban areas, and whatever else folks want to discuss.

Herbalist Q & A
Come ask questions and I’ll do my best to answer them! Anything from abortions to headaches to medicine making.

Basic Medical Training
A workshop on basic emergency medicine, covering chemical burns, infection prevention, reduction of dislocations, blunt trauma and broken bones. Perspectives from alternative/holistic approaches will be given as well as from an experienced EMT.

Anti-Semitism in the Anarchist Millieu
Exploring and exposing the unfortunate propensity for anti-semitism in the anarchist milieu – presenting a few tenuous proposals for attacking this with more than just good intentions.

Convergence Reading Group
A contemporary yet classic anarchist text will be distributed to anyone interested at the beginning of the Convergence and near the end we will facilitate a discussion based on our reading. Feeling limited by the workshop format, this will be an attempt to give participants a common thread that extends beyond the alloted time. A discussion about people’s successes and failures in starting and continuing anarchist reading groups in their local communities will follow, or be a separate workshop altogether.

Community Autonomy: Building Networks and Infrastructure
A collective brainstorm on how we can build a network of communities that identify with the movement toward radical sustainability, and how we can build new infrastructure, both physical and social, that can move us toward greater autonomy from oppressive institutions. More info about the presenters here.

Musical Instrument Skillshare and Construction
A positive and encouraging space will be facilitated for folks to learn how to play instruments the want to learn about and teach about ones they know about. This workshop will also aim to create a marching band out of interested attendees to perform later on during the week.

Radical History Bike Tour
Local Pittsburghers will lead a bike tour through the city, visiting the many points of intense radical history that touched these streets. From the site of the Homestead strikes, to the tunnel that Emma Goldman and her comrades tried digging into the prison, to the armory that William Weisiss tried to raid, to the place where the knife that Alexander Berkman tried to stab Frick with is kept. We will have some bikes on hand, but please bring a bike with you if possible.

We’ve also got folks planning discussions on disability issues bringing their personals experiences, a Graffiti Walk, morning yoga, rewilding skills like sling-making, a workshop on basic vehicle mechanics, and a facilitated discussion on writing and editing.

In addition to the workshops there will be evening fun playing urban capture the flag, a radio powered treasure hunt adventure, an epic dance party, a puppet show, spontaneous games of all stripes and an inventive Hat Band that can hopefully expand upon this longstanding international tradition. Since we’ve chosen an urban location this year we’re planning a short swimming retreat out of town, and on Saturday July 25th the Convergence will help boost Pittsburgh’s new monthly Really Really Free Market (bring anything you can to give away!). Ambitious plotting is in the works for other activities, but remember that these can only succeed with the self-motivation and self-direction of the attendees. And so that is what we ask you to bring to Pittsburgh in three weeks time; we can hardly wait to see what you have in store.

Remember, meet at the Northside Commons (W. North Ave. and Brighton) by the pond, on Monday, July 20, anytime between 12 pm and sundown.

Next time, we’ll be able to announce more workshops!

Appendix: Another Tour to the Convergence

Froseph is going on yet another tour revolving around this summer’s convergence. The Wild Nettle Bookmobile, Winona, Minnesota’s anarchist literature distributer will also be along for the ride. Check out their new website! Along with the usual goods, The Wild Nettle Bookmobile hopes to raise some much needed legal funds for the RNC 8, the MKE 3 and Bash Back!. The dates are listed below. The ones marked “(help!)” are not confirmed. If you live in or around those places and would like to host this tour, please email froseph@crimethinc.com.

June:
23-Madison, WI at the Lothlorien Coop w/Thistle
25-Kalamazoo, MI
26-Detroit, MI at the Trumbellplex w/Ghost Mice and Heathers
27-Ann Arbor, MI (help!)
28-Toledo, OH
29-Cleveland, OH
30-Columbus, OH

July:
1-Dayton, OH (help!)
2-Athens, OH at Brown Town
3-Frederick, MD
4-Baltimore (help!)
5-9-Philadelphia July 5-9 (help!)
9-13-Punxsutawney, PA July 9-13
13-27-Pittsburgh, PA CrimethInc. Convergence
29-Lexington, KY benefit for Hugh
30-Louisville, KY (help!)
31-Bloomington, IN (help!)

August:
1-Evansville, IN
2-St. Louis, MO (help!)
3-Kansas City, MO (help!)
4-Lawrence, KS (help!)
5-Omaha, NE (help!)
6-Des Moines, IA

We hadn’t planned on this—perhaps we’d forgotten that we are in a war that is constantly unfolding, that doesn’t permit truce or respite. It’s hard to bear in mind at all times how much depends on us, to remember that we are responsible for making the kind of resistance we want to participate in come about in our lifetime. At the same time, we can’t only react to our enemies, even when they are constantly provoking us—we must also take the time to develop long-term relationships and projects, or else we’ll never be able to take the initiative.

So what will the convergence in Pittsburgh look like?

From Barnstorming to Barn-Raising . . .

Originally, our plans for this summer’s convergence were simple enough. Having perfected our previous format, the wilderness retreat, we were going to experiment with a new model. Staging our eighth convergence in an urban setting, we hoped to pioneer a way for a transitory nationwide event to contribute permanent infrastructure to ongoing local organizing.

Accordingly, we looked around for a building to purchase in Pittsburgh, with the intention of converting it into a working social center in the course of the gathering. As capitalism continues to decimate entire regions, it is up to us to collectivize the abandoned resources and demonstrate that our alternative can succeed where the so-called free market has failed. We’ve spent enough time talking about how things could be different—we have to find ways to make them different.

. . . and Back into the Teeth of the Storm

But the context looks a little different now that the G20 is slated for Pittsburgh. We can expect more pressure from our enemies, so some of our original plans may be more difficult to carry out. At the same time, we are still committed to organizing a convergence dedicated as much to building and questioning as to conflict with the state. This convergence will provide a wide range of points of departure—from a free health care clinic that will function for the course of the event to direct action trainings that will remain useful long after the G20 meetings, and everything else you can imagine as well.

The G20 does not make Pittsburgh any more or less an epicenter of capitalism than it already was. Even before Obama picked it as a shining model of economic recovery, Pittsburgh suffered from gentrification, structurally imposed white supremacy, and all the other scourges of a hierarchical society. These forces must be fought constantly and on a wide range of levels, not simply at global trade summits—though summits, too, offer a chance to fight, and this might be a historic opportunity.

All who are interested in the G20 protests should think critically about what they want out of them and begin talking about how to make those dreams come true. Pittsburgh is about to host a local meeting to discuss the infrastructure and format for the protests; we urge other interested communities to hold their own consultas, so by the time we see each other in July we will be able to compare notes.

Anarchists—whether or not you are invested in the G20 mobilization, we beseech you to bring your talents and projects to Pittsburgh this July. It has never been more important for us to find one another, to make something happen, to demonstrate all the different ways we can resist this world and create another. Help us write the next chapter in the struggle for our lives.

Call for Workshops, Skillshares, and Presentations!

If you would like to present a workshop, organize a discussion, show a film, or otherwise usefully engage the attention of other participants, please send us a description of your plans, and stipulate any limitations or requests.

email cwc.booking@gmail.com

Call for Workshop and Discussion REQUESTS!

This year, we will set aside time for people to present workshops on things they know about, and set aside a separate time for people who have questions they wish answered to share those. Formulate a question you’ve always wanted help with, and bring it to share with others.

For example: Were there women involved in the anarchist resistance in the Ukraine? (The answer is yes.) Are prisoners better off under Obama? (Unfortunately, the answer is no.) How do I get the alarm tags off the shoes at Exploitation Incorporated? (Come to Pittsburgh and find out!)

Alternately, it could be a question that has no easy answer, but that you are excited to discuss with others: Is polyamory inescapably wedded to drama? What agency, if any, can we have in bringing about a worldwide revolutionary struggle?

For best results, email your question to us now, so people can be thinking about it in advance: cwc.booking@gmail.com

Call for Nighttime Entertainment!

Calling all performers: all musicians, all poets, drag troupes and puppeteers, all storytellers, all choreographed dance teams, comedians and surrealists, to participate in the Convergence Cabaret—a nightlong variety show, a spectacular spectacle showcasing all of your weird and wild talent.

AND . . . with no nighttime fire to gather around, we’re looking to put together some participatory, performative, exciting social spaces EVERY evening. Do you have a play to perform or one to cast during the convergence? Are you coming with your genderfucking square dance band? Contact us with your entertainment ideas, small and large.

Email cwc.booking@gmail.com to sign-up.

Call for Help! We Need the Following Resources . . .

If you can share any of these resources in advance, or any others that might be useful, please email info@crimethincconvergence.com:

Store credit for Home Depot and Lowes
Bike repair tools and bike parts
A generator

Food stamps
Condiments
Shipments or deliveries of specialized goods (e.g., boxes of Odwalla bars, cliff bars, etc.)
Spices
Tremendous quantities of food

Kitchen equipment
Rocket stoves
Propane blasters
Water coolers
Carafes

A massage table
Herbal tinctures
First aid supplies
Rubbing alcohol
Large bandages
Tape
Cotton balls
Emergen-C packets

Costume materials
Art supplies
Fabric

Bookshelves
Racks (as in ’zine racks!)
Milk crates
Cinder blocks
Wooden boards

Gardening equipment
Seeds and starts, fruit trees, etc.

Children’s toys

Free literature

What Should I Bring?

Urban camping gear (sleeping bag, sleeping pad), musical instruments, a laptop if you have one and wish to use it in the computer-based workshops, a bicycle (really useful!), mix tapes and seeds to swap, picture frames, gifts for other convergence attendees, ideas, games, workshops, much more . . .

Tours to the Convergence

We’ve been notified of a couple tours heading to the convergence. If you wish us to announce yours, email us about it. Here is a description of one such tour:

The cutthroat revolutionary puppeteers of The Mysterious Rabbit puppet Army are going on a one month tour to help do their part to overthrow the ruling social order. They will be performing several shows, including:

Donny Don’t—A puppet show about security culture
Jack and the Beanstalk—A dramatic anti-capitalist retelling of the old fairy tale
Little Red Riding Hood—An animal-centric look at a familiar story
The Mysterious Rabbit Puppet Army’s Guide To Landing Your Dream Job—Practical tips for weathering the storm

They’ll be distributing an absurd quantity of ’zines, posters, stickers, and books. If you live in a small town anywhere along the tour route and would like them to perform there, that can be arranged. To reach them for further information about any of these shows, or to invite them to your town, email rabbitarmy@live.com.

MYSTERIOUS RABBIT PUPPET ARMY TOUR

Tuesday July 14th Richmond, VA
Wednesday July 15th Washington, D.C.
Thursday July 16th Baltimore, MD
Friday July 17th Philadelphia, PA
Saturday July 18th New Haven, CT
Sunday July 19th Allentown, PA
July 20th through 26th CrimethInc. Convergence
Monday July 27th Athens, OH
Tuesday July 28th Off
Wednesday July 29th Columbus, OH
Thursday July 30th Off
Friday July 31st Bloomington, IN
Saturday August 1st Off
Sunday August 2nd Louisville, KY
Monday August 3rd Off
Tuesday August 4th Nashville, TN
Wednesday August 5th Off
Thursday August 6th Asheville, NC
Friday August 7th Charlotte, NC
Saturday August 8th Greensboro, NC
Sunday August 9th Chapel Hill, NC

Next Time . . .

. . . We’ll announce some of the events scheduled for the convergence, offer a rudimentary schedule, and drop some hints as to our other plans. To contribute or make suggestions, please email cwc.booking@gmail.com and info@crimethincconvergence.com.

Remember, meet at the Northside Commons (W. North Ave. and Brighton) by the pond, on Monday, July 20. The convergence runs July 20-26.

As a humble gesture of solidarity, the next issue of our biannual journal Rolling Thunder will include a report on Chilean resistance movements over the past decade; we hope this will provide more context for and awareness of the Chilean situation for readers around the world. As we did for our coverage of the Ungdomshuset and G8 protests, we are soliciting anonymous accounts from participants in the past decade of social struggles in Chile to fill out our coverage.

If you have experiences you are willing to share or can direct us to publicly available narratives, please contact us at rollingthunder@crimethinc.com. Those who have privacy concerns should consider starting a new email account on a public-access computer.

Please circulate this statement anywhere it may be relevant. Thank you.

Rolling Thunder Busca Relatos De Chile

Después de la muerte de un anarquista alegado por los medios capitalistas transportar un artefacto explosivo, una oleada de represión estatal está llegando a Chile. Mandamos nuestras condolencias a lxs que han perdido un amigo, y nuestro apoyo a lxs que todavía sufren bajo un aparato represivo que no ha cambiado a fondo desde el mando de Pinochet. Nos preocupa el peor todavía viene, como el estado chileno probablemente utilizará el hecho como un pretexto para más allanamientos, detenciones, y hostigamiento.

Como un gesto humilde de solidaridad, la próxima edición de nuestra revista bianual Rolling Thunder incluirá un reportaje sobre los movimientos de resistencia en Chile durante la ultima década; esperamos que dé más contexto y conocimiento a la actualidad en Chile para los lectores por todo el mundo. Como hicimos para nuestro reportaje sobre las protestas de Ungdomshuset y G8 buscamos los relatos anónimos de participantes durante la ultima década de las luchas sociales en Chile para llenar nuestro reportaje.

Si tienes algunas experiencias que estás dispuestx compartir o sino puedes indicar unos relatos ya publicados y disponibles, por favor contáctanos a rollingthunder@crimethinc.com. Para la gente con preocupaciones de seguridad debe abrir una cuenta nueva de correo electrónico en un computador publico (como un cibercafé).

Por favor que difundan esta declaración donde puede ser relevante. Salud.

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since the first CrimethInc. convergence in August 2002. We’ve witnessed a protracted war and occupation, an economic crisis, and most recently a change—however superficial—of rulers. We have come full circle from being isolated dissidents in a time of patriotic consensus to seeing our radical critique co-opted by politicians at the very moment our neighbors are becoming aware of the injustices of capitalism and empire.

Seven convergences later, we have reduced the limitless possibilities of the format we first tested to a precise science. We’re in a different social context now, and it’s time to debut a new experiment.

As the economic downturn affects the geography of urban centers, tremendous spaces are opening up that could become new sites of autonomy and struggle. This year, rather than gathering in a wilderness setting to nurture our subversive desires in seclusion, we will stage our convergence in the decaying metropolis of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We hope that this event can contribute to building long-term infrastructure for our culture of resistance.

This will be nothing like the urban anarchist conferences of the past decade–no antiseptic university setting, no dispersing to isolation in individual meals and housing at the end of the scheduled programming. We will actively contest the city environment in an effort leave a permanent mark upon it, just as we hope to contest the rituals and informal hierarchies of the anarchist milieu.

All spring, rumors have circulated about the secret plans of the contingent in Pittsburgh organizing this event. What’s this about squatting a castle? Is it true that they’re buying a giant warehouse in the city center? Will we be building a hammock village spread across empty lots? There aren’t actually catacombs in Pittsburgh, are there?

We’ll have more news here shortly. In the meantime, here are fliers announcing the event {2-up Handbill [2.6MB] & Full-page Flyer [2.4MB]}–please disseminate them everywhere you can. There also a rudimentary website at www.crimethincconvergence.com, which will be expanded soon.

Finally, here are the policies for this summer’s convergence, which have been thoughtfully revised by the locals bottomlining the event. If you are frustrated about any of them, please organize your own event!

Policies

Respect: We ask for your respect for the building and the local area. We aim for the convergence to be a positive, constructive force in Pittsburgh. Exercise discretion, friendliness, and respect while interacting with the local community. Please, no aimless graffiti, public urination, late night loudness, or similar activity likely to attract negative attention. Whatever you’re doing, please keep in mind that the convergence needs to fly somewhat under the radar to come off successfully. Do not put the convergence or its attendees at risk through careless or insensitive behavior, and do not give the cops reasons to interact with the convergence. There are plenty of times to sow mayhem; this convergence is a time to create a safe community space that will hopefully exist long into the future.

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.

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.

Drinking and Drugs: There is a strict policy of no alcohol or drug use during the convergence. 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. An urban convergence is particularly challenging in this regard. With the possibility that convergence attendees will scatter throughout the city at various points during the week, the ’site’ of the convergence is not as clearly defined as in past years. It is for this reason that we ask that convergence attendees remain sober for as long as they intend on taking part in convergence activities. 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 do so inside the building and do not congregate in front it; our concern is with the safety of the building, not personal habits. Also, please do not scatter cigarette butts on the street.

Building Safety: Please be hyper-vigilante about fire hazards: no flames, incense, candles, lanterns, flammable liquids, fire dancing tools, stoves, or anything similar may be brought inside the building. Be aware that the building’s unfinished condition can create safety hazards for attendees as well.

Photographs: Don’t photograph anyone or anything without permission—this is also an issue of consent and respect. Bear in mind that the density of an urban convergence makes this challenging.

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: Attendees may not bring dogs or other pets to the convergence space or to convergence events. Given the space constraints and safety considerations of an urban convergence, no exceptions can be made.

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 convergence 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.

Some of us, however, felt limited by this flight. We dreamed of building an anarchist castle out of the derelict abandonment right under our enemies’ noses. Hundreds would arrive to help us paint a masterpiece upon our canvas of rubble: workshops, meeting halls, libraries, performance spaces, gardens, and orchards would be constructed out of ruins and wreckage. We’d supply food, shelter, and so much more; like before, we would exchange stories, ideas, laughter, and dance moves with the maniac nomads, eloquent criminals, and dedicated rebels who descended upon our city for a week of chaos and feverish activity. The beauty of this dream was that at the end of it all, some of us could stay; for another week, a season, a year, or maybe even the rest of our lives. It never had to end.

We held onto this plan in secret, believing it to be impossible. Our dream was fraught with complications and seemed doomed to fail. It remained a fantastical plot we lacked the daring to attempt. Until now.

Save the date, July 20-26, Pittsburgh, PA, and stay tuned for more details.

“Jeff Luers has at last entered his final year in prison thanks to a sentence reduction from his appeal. He is thinking ahead and making plans for an education and is excited to start his life again. Your help and donations are needed to help Jeff now as well as to start an education and release fund for him.

“In addition to other items, a new Free Jeff Luers benefit cd compilation is available from freefreenow.org for only $10. This CD contains tracks from some of Jeff’s favorite musicians. All the songs were donated by independent folk artists and punk rockers who are also Jeff’s supporters: Casey Neill, Tch Kung!, Dana Lyons, Spring, Desert Rat, Francine Allen, Happy Bastards, Lonesome Shack, Grand Prix, David Rovics, Mill a h-Uille Rud, and Thunder Craig.”

As our final belated contribution to this effort, we present these two posters. Please print these out and put them up fast!

Obama: “One and One Million” [684k]
McCain: “McCain for Prisoner of War” [76k]

In addition to these posters and our new pamphlet on the shortcomings of and alternatives to democracy, it appears that at least one other group is working on an election-specific publication.

Also, allow us to direct readers to the latest from the Center for Strategic Anarchy, a speculative discussion of the ramifications of the upcoming election insofar as they will affect radicals in the US.

Finally, let’s end with a look back on the actions anarchists carried out around the elections four years ago:

Blast from the Past: Rejecting the Election of 2004
(excerpted from “Demonstrating Resistance”)

Many anarchists seized the 2004 election as an opportunity for nationwide autonomous actions emphasizing opposition to the farce of representative democracy. Unlike any summit or local issue, the election happened everywhere at once, focusing public attention on a wide range of issues that could be addressed on a variety of fronts. A nationwide campaign on the theme “Don’t (Just) Vote, Get Active” urged people to take action on election day to demonstrate all the possibilities for political engagement beyond the voting booth.

The diversity and scope of the actions anarchists carried out around the election make several of them worth recounting. In Washington, DC, fifteen polling stations were decorated the night before election day with a stencil design fifteen feet long and four feet high reading “Our dreams will never fit in their ballot boxes.” In Baltimore, the following afternoon, a Reclaim the Streets action on the same theme attracted sixty people.

In Portland, Oregon, one thousand people struggled with police to march through the streets. A “Don’t Just Vote, Take Action” march of two hundred people in Tucson, Arizona was attacked by police employing pepper bullets. A spontaneous march of almost two hundred people in downtown Philadelphia blocked a major bridge to New Jersey; everyone escaped arrest except a reporter from a local television news station who was inexplicably attacked by police while marchers chanted “We don’t need no water, let the motherfucker burn!” In New Orleans, a radical Day of the Dead march featuring a marching band, seventy-five skeletons, and an alter screamed and moaned its way through the French Quarter to the riverfront, at which the alter was filled with remembrances of deceased loved ones and then set afire as a naked attendant swam it out to sea; on the return route, participants dragged newspaper boxes and garbage cans into the streets and smashed the window of a stretch-SUV deemed too revolting to ignore.

During Chicago’s “Don’t Just Vote Week of Resistance,” which included several demonstrations and other events, police tried and failed to prevent over one thousand people from taking the streets in a massive unpermitted march. At another incident in Chicago, a rock was thrown through the window of a GOP office in which Republicans were gathered to watch election results, sending glass flying all over the room. Large rocks were also thrown through the windows of the Republican headquarters in downtown Buffalo, New York and a nearby army recruiting center, and the local news station received a letter claiming responsibility.

In Red Hook, New York, 250 Bard college students shut down an intersection in the center of town for almost an hour until police forcibly dispersed them. In northern Los Angeles county, a group carried out what they suggested might be the first banner drop in their area, with a banner on the “Don’t (Just) Vote” theme reading “Workers: Which Millionaire Will You Vote For?” In Vermillion, South Dakota, a town of only 10,000 residents, fifty people maintained a presence outside a voting booth, stretching a volleyball net to bear a variety of signs, sharing food, and inviting all with grudges of their own against the system to join them. The same town was to host another such demonstration two and a half months later on the day of the Inauguration, attracting media coverage from as far away as San Diego, CA.

The day after the election, a march in downtown Washington, DC on the theme “No Matter, Who Won, The System Is Rotten” attracted one hundred people. Equipped with a powerful sound system, it snaked through the streets, disruptive and rowdy, evading police repression. In San Francisco, five thousand people marched against Bush; afterwards, a breakaway group built a bonfire out of US flags and an effigy of Bush, then marched through the city pulling urban debris and newspaper boxes into the street and smashing the windows of two banks. In San Diego, fliers posted the preceding night on UCSD campus reading “Where’s the Riot?” attracted one hundred people to an impromptu forum as to what forms resistance could take next. When the question “Who’s willing to get arrested today?” was broached, many raised their hands.

Two days later, in perhaps the most militant participatory action of the week, a surprise march of over one hundred people bearing torches, drums, anarchist banners, and a two-headed effigy of Bush and Kerry took over downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, decorating the streets with graffiti and destroying bank machines until it reached the state headquarters of the Republican Party. The windows of the building were smashed, its walls were covered in spraypaint, fireworks were set off inside, and the effigy was set afire in the front yard. The following day, over fifty-eight major media outlets ran a story covering the event, in which the state GOP chief of staff was quoted as saying that campaign offices and party headquarters were being vandalized throughout the nation. “They have a right to disagree,” he pleaded, “but to do it agreeably.”

The following night, yet another spontaneous march occurred in Washington, DC, leaving spraypaint in its wake and meeting with enthusiasm from locals. From one side of the country to the other, by day and by night, militants carried out actions that demonstrated the seriousness of their discontent and invited others to express their own.

Download Poster PDF [335 KB]

SUPPORT THE RNC ARRESTEES

At the conclusion of the 2008 Republican National Convention, police and federal agents had arrested 159 people for supposed felonies; within two weeks, they dropped 140 of those charges, a frank acknowledgment that they had fabricated the charges for sake of intimidation. At events like the RNC, we can see that the authorities take the law even less seriously than anarchists: for them, it is not a means of effecting justice, but only of exerting control.

19 people still have felony trials pending from the RNC, not to mention the hundreds who may be tried for misdemeanors. The majority of these 19 cases are based on the testimony of paid police informants who will say anything to help the government get a conviction. Eight local organizers face felony conspiracy trials, the first of this kind since the notorious show trial following the 1968 Democratic National Convention in which the defendants were all declared innocent after four years.

These cases affect all of us. They are intended to set new precedents for legal repression, to make it easier for the government to suppress dissent. The outcome of the trials will not be determined solely by the evidence but by how much power we can bring to bear by means of fundraising and political pressure. As state-sponsored efforts to silence us escalate, supporting these defendants is simply self-defense.

For more information:
coldsnaplegal.org
rnc8.org

Feel free to print this out and distribute it outside of movie theatres, or compose your own flier. Especially if this movie gets picked up for wider distribution, it will be crucial that we are there to present our side of the story, and to fan the flames of inspiration for anyone who may be excited to learn about what happened 9 years ago in Seattle.

Download the printable PDF here [1.5MB]

Complete list of screenings at http://www.battleinseattlemovie.com/tickets/

Please make an effort to help us get good material on these events, so we can pass on an accurate picture to others around the world (and to posterity). It’s especially important that we get a broad sense of what occurred at the DNC and RNC protests so our community can learn from these experiences in order to act strategically in the future.

PHOTOS: Please send the original full-size camera files, so they will look good in high-resolution printing.

ACCOUNTS: We’re interested in practically everything—anecdotes from jail, narratives from lockdowns and black bloc actions, first timers’ first impressions, perspectives from within infrastructural organizing groups (medics, convergence center, etc.), descriptions of police raids, everything.

If you are concerned for your privacy, just go to an internet cafe and open a new email address from which to write us. Rolling Thunder is a no-profit project, but we can at least provide free copies of the issue to contributors. Thanks so much everyone!

– A brand new Unconventional Action paper!
– National day of action against electoral politics August 10!
– Calls to action in Denver for the DNC!

Unconventional Strategies version 2.0 Paper Now Available

A joint effort between multiple Unconventional Action teams has produced the third unconventional action newspaper, following Unconventional Strategies and False Hope vs. Real Change. The new paper, Unconventional Strategies 2.0, is available for downloading at www.unconventionalaction.org:

read-only .:. printer friendly

Unconventional Strategies 2.0 is a how-to guide for the disruption and subversion of this year’s electoral spectacle. It contains the most up-to-date strategy information, maps, schedules of events, contact information, and advice on plugging into the counter-convention infrastructure. We are especially proud of the new 7-sector map of downtown St. Paul, assembled by a professional radical cartographer, which makes use of likely RNC delegate bus routes.

On a related note, several new beautiful posters have been added to www.unconventionalaction.org, and an 11×17 version of the new St. Paul sector map should be up shortly. There are also still many bundles of the False Hope vs. Real Change paper available for free, which can be ordered from falsehopeorrealchange08@riseup.net. With less of a focus on the conventions and more attention paid to the anarchist case against capitalism and electoral politics, this paper is be an excellent outreach tool for those unable to attend the conventions.

National Day of Action against Electoral Politics: August 10

In order to build momentum towards the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, Unconventional Denver, the RNC Welcoming Committee, and various Unconventional Action groups nationwide are calling for actions against the spectacle of electoral politics on August 10:

“We will use August 10 to build momentum and make it clear that we are not against one party or the other, but the totality of capitalism and its protector, the state.

A few ideas include: actions targeting party headquarters, blockading recruitment centers, dropping banners, holding teach-ins, wheatpasting anti-DNC/RNC posters, showing radical films, holding benefits for local organizers in Denver and the Twin Cities, protesting corporate donors to the conventions, etc.”

Reportbacks from actions can be posted at www.unconventionalaction.org

Update from Denver

Since the writing of our analysis, What to Expect from the Conventions, concrete plans have emerged for actions during the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Have a look over at http://dncdisruption08.org/.

Lyrics, downloadable artwork, and tour updates are all available at www.fromthedepths.info.

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.