If we believe in the concepts of harm reduction and restorative and transformative justice, then we need to get involved in 12 step advocacy. 12 step programs began with the birth of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) when it was founded in 1935 out of a conversation between Bill Wilson aka Bill W. and Bob Smith. They both found spirituality to be a useful tool for recovery, with Bill W. diving into spiritualism and communication with spirits via seances and Ouija boards. Both also agreed that support networks helped as well, with Bill W. taking inspiration from anarchist Peter Kropotkin’s theories on mutual aid. Bill W. believed that these two aspects, the spiritual and mental, were balanced by a third, the physical, in the form of the vitamin supplement niacin. He later became a huge proponent of LSD and psychedelic therapy as a potential means to cure addiction.
Together they built a recovery model based on the principles of transformative justice, where one admits to their wrongdoings, genuinely works to change their behavior, and attempts to make amends where possible; autonomy, where no individual AA group or participant holds power over another; mutual aid, where the group is one’s support network and vice versa; and of course, anonymity.
This has since proven to be such a popular method for recovery that not only has AA spawned a number of similar groups based on the model, but even the court system in many areas has taken to promoting it as a transformative justice alternative to prison time.
Since the days of Bob Smith and Bill W. there have been many other recovery groups which have adopted AA’s 12 step program as their guide, including Narcotics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, Sexaholics Anonymous, Neurotics Anonymous, Racists Anonymous, and Survivors of Incest Anonymous, among many others. Anyone can take the 12 step model with its original anarchistic intentions and apply it as a model for anarchist support groups dealing with any form of addiction.
Of course some people will be turned off by the religious element of the group, but it’s worth noting that the second of the Twelve Traditions states, “For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority – a loving God as He may express Himself in our Group conscience.” That last part is key. The “Group conscience” or the whole of the support group itself, can be the higher power that one relies on. It is a recognition that sometimes we can accomplish more collectively than individually.
Now I’m not saying that 12 step programs help everyone. No model can promise that. There are alternative models for addiction recovery that are far more effective for some people. But the 12 step model is one that we can easily replicate alongside our other harm reduction and transformative justice organizing efforts. It’s a model that can be every bit as decentralized and easy to replicate as Food Not Bombs and we should normalize it in anarchist circles so radical 12 step programs become as abundant as Food Not Bombs. We should host AA and NA groups at every infoshop, community center, library, and church that’ll let us and rejuvenate the anarchist spirit it was founded upon so that we may spread our politics via example while providing an invaluable resource for those in need.
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During an ongoing pandemic, the last thing we should be arguing over is the use of PPE. When a majority of medical experts are recommending mask use to slow down infection rates, the last thing we should be doing is protesting the use of said masks. But during a period when we are also seeing mass protests against police brutality and increasingly militant calls to defund and even abolish the police, we have to ask a very important question: do we want those very same police to be the ones enforcing mask laws? Is the state really the best solution to the problem at hand?
As usual, the answer is no. We have already seen the disproportionate enforcement and use of violence against people of color play out in terms of mask laws. Due to unjust racial profiling, black and brown individuals have been targeted for wearing masks, especially homemade masks, bandanas, scarves, and other makeshift alternatives utilized by those who do not own proper medical masks. Two black men at a WalMart in Illinois were followed into the store by a police officer and forced to leave while the officer escorted them out, with his hand on his pistol, all for wearing masks. And not even makeshift masks, but actual proper medical masks. This has led many black and brown individuals to question the safety of even wearing masks due to the potential violence faced due to racial profiling, and having to weigh that against the very real health risk posed by not masking up. This raises additional concerns, seeing as how black and brown people face a higher risk of illness and even death from coronavirus due to such things as the disproportionate rates of poverty, more densely populated living situations, higher rates of incarceration, and a lack of adequate resources and/or healthcare.
But even choosing to not wear a mask to avoid police harassment and violence doesn’t seem to work as we have seen time and time again videos of cops using excessive force against black and brown people for failing to wear masks as mandated, many times by officers also failing to engage in proper mask use themselves. It’s truly a damned if you do, damned if you don’t kind of situation, which at the end of the day is just further proof that police should not be the ones in charge of enforcing mask usage. This has become such an issue that even vice presidential candidate and fellow cop, Kamala Harris, took notice and co-wrote a letter with Senator Cory Booker addressing the issue, while obviously doing nothing of substance to actually fix the problem.
Police have even gone as far as seizing masks that black activists had ordered to distribute to their communities in various areas, thus making it more difficult for those communities to comply and compounding their legal and medical risks.
The situation has even gained such attention that Ohio attempted to respond by allowing exemptions to mask laws specifically for non-white individuals, prompting immediate backlash from those who viewed the idea of a legal exemption based on race to be its own form of racism. This has led to the exemption being overturned.
But what is the alternative? If we want mask use to be mandatory in public spaces then we need state laws in place, correct? Well, no. The fact is, a majority of the places we frequent on a regular basis are on private property. Work, the grocer, the gym, many of your favorite restaurants and hang out spots…all private property. This means that they can set their own rules without the need for the state.
Many businesses are responding to this pandemic by enacting safety measures, including plastic barriers at checkout counters to separate customers from employees, providing hand sanitizer and handwashing stations, switching to disposable and single-use items to avoid contamination, installing temperature check stations, switching aisles to be one-way, enforcing social distancing measures as best as possible, and yes, mandating mask usage. While some of this is purely safety theater, some of these measures do make things safer, even if only marginally. Employees must follow these measures or risk losing their jobs. Customers must follow these measures or risk being refused service and escorted off the property. But what about businesses that refuse to implement such measures?
This is where some fall back on the idea of resorting to state law. If businesses won’t do so voluntarily then we must compel them to by threat of legal recourse, right? Well, again, no. Market pressure does exist and can be weaponized in favor of medical science. If customers complain, boycott, write letters to the editor, bring the story to the news, start social media pressure campaigns, protest, and make it into a public relations situation, then many businesses will, in fact, respond to pressure.
Employees who are put in harm’s way have the power to organize on the job. In fact, union efforts have already drastically increased in response to workers being forced into risky work situations with improper precautions in place. We should encourage those workers and stand in solidarity with them. We must back them up by following their leads, showing management that their customers support the safety demands of employees, and organizing info campaigns, pickets, and boycotts of those who still refuse.
And as for those places we may frequent that are under state control such as courthouses or public schools? Well yes, requiring masks still does make sense for those areas and the state is in charge of making and enforcing those rules, but we cannot trust them to always enforce those rules adequately or justly or even at all, as witnessed recently in the case of a Georgia student who was suspended for posting a photo of her high school hallway crowded with unmasked students to her Instagram account.
Between the support for the student and the backlash against the school, the student was unsuspended and the school is likely to institute better safety measures. But the fact that public schools are open at all during a pandemic when online schooling is an option is just one more reason to distrust the state. You’re much better off ditching public schools altogether and avoiding state properties whenever possible. Thankfully we are seeing an increase in people exercising school choice and opting for other, safer, alternatives.
So while market forces are far from perfect, and some businesses have even rolled back their mask requirements due to customer backlash, it is much easier to make it a PR nightmare for private businesses and force their hand than it is to get the police to shape up their act and enforce such mandates in any form that resembles actual justice. So stay home and/or socially distanced as much as possible, wear a mask when out in public, wash your hands, support union efforts, and shop at businesses that require masks, while also fighting against state-enforced mask laws and working to defund the police.
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People are taking to the streets with arms to protest government overreach…in a most spectacular display of ignorance.
While I am extremely sympathetic to those out of work and struggling, who expected relief money that never came, and are now worried about not being able to feed their family or even losing their house and I am extremely sympathetic to those protesting police state measures while continuing to practice proper social distancing and masking standards, I am not at all sympathetic to those who wish to blatantly ignore modern medical science and professional medical advice based on half-baked conspiracy theories. Nor do I sympathize with those who believe we should sacrifice the weak to keep the economy going. I am also not at all sympathetic to those who think that being asked to wear a mask in public for the safety of others is a form of oppression.
Yeah, because the state was totally looking for a reason to force everyone to wear masks that make it harder for their facial recognition technology to track us. It’s almost like these people don’t think through their own theories. And how odd that so many of the “all lives matter” crowd are the same ones suddenly willing to sacrifice lives to keep the economy going. It’s almost as if they didn’t actually believe what they were saying.
Yes, we absolutely should be protesting police state measures. They should not be arresting people for hanging out on empty beaches far away from others, or for boating well past 6 feet from land, let alone another person, or for watching the sunset from the safety of their vehicle. Nor should people be arrested for attending church services that keep health and safety standards in mind, such as by holding drive-in services or requiring attendees to sit at least 6+ feet apart and wear masks. Especially when those arrested are thrown into a cell with others making social distancing impossible. That defeats the entire point of calling for these measures in the first place and helps absolutely no one. And now we’re discovering that over 70% of tested inmates have COVID-19.
It’s not like there haven’t been other protests since the start of this pandemic, most of them were just smarter about it. Tenant unions and rent strikers have been staging protests calling for a moratorium on rent, mortgages, evictions, and utility shut-offs, have been engaging in eviction blockaides, and have even been reopening empty houses for residents. Prison abolitionists have been protesting outside of prisons, immigrant detention centers, and government buildings, calling for a halt in ICE arrests, detentions, and deportations, and calling for the release of all non-violent inmates from all jails and prisons to reduce overcrowding. Striking workers and labor unions have been taking to the streets to protest for PPE, adequate workplace safety standards to protect people from the virus, and employee leave for those who are sick or most vulnerable, or, in the case of workers who view their jobs as non-essential during a pandemic but are forced to continue working anyway under threat of being fired, for their boss to close up shop until things are safe. The difference is, those protesters understand the risks involved and do their best to minimize those risks by wearing masks and gloves and maintaining distance from others where possible. They are protesting to help save lives and decrease risk, not to sacrifice lives for the sake of temporary and fleeting comforts.
Don’t sacrifice lives for the sake of capitalism. Yes, people are worried and struggling, but instead of fighting to re-open the economy, more of us need to be focusing on mutual aid and syndicalism. Let’s distribute food and supplies to those in need to keep people from going hungry. Let’s support rent strikers and encourage others to join to keep people from losing their houses. There’s no need to risk your life to work a job to afford these things when we can claim them for ourselves.
Let’s fight to push more politicians to join The Squad (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib) and others in calling for a “progressive bailout” that includes a moratorium on rent, mortgages, evictions, and utility shut offs, student loan forgiveness (because why should we have to pay back into a system our stolen tax dollars funds in the first place?), and the release of non-violent prisoners. If the state is going to push through more relief bills, let us push them to aid individuals instead of corporate interests by pushing more to join The Squad, Justin Amash, and others in calling for a UBI.
Let’s use this time to attempt our own startup businesses, either as sole proprietorships or teaming up with others to form cooperatives and collectives. Let’s push to work from home as much as possible. Let’s increase union organizing among workers to fight for safer and more fair conditions. Let’s join the rent strike and strategically ally with landlords and corporations actually willing to fight to halt rent and mortgage payments in response to this crisis. Let’s strive for greater control over our homes and workplaces. Let’s strive for more just communities based on mutual aid, free trade, and cooperative economics.
Financial anxiety is real and a large portion of the country is feeling it, but let’s be smart about our demands and take this pandemic seriously. It is not worth dying at the altar of capitalism just to keep the economy going when we have other options to care for ourselves and our communities. Let’s use this opportunity to build up our own dual power structures. We’re all in this together, so let’s fucking act like it.
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Riot medicine is the practice of medicine in an adversarial environment. It exists outside of formal and State sanctioned medical services. Practitioners of riot medicine go by many names (riot medics, street medics, demonstration medics, action medical), but at the end of the day, their goals are the same. They take to the streets as part of the diverse system of mutual aid that allows individuals to engage in protest. The duties of a riot medic may include handing out water during a peaceful demonstration, providing late-night jail support for arrested comrades, caring for injured protesters and bystanders during a riot, or extracting and providing lifesaving interventions for combatants during an armed uprising.
The lens of riot medicine rather than street medicine was chose to help you focus more on how to provide medical care during demonstrations and physical engagements rather than to inform you on how to run a volunteer clinic or provide care for injuries sustained outside of short lived confrontations. The aim is to provide enough medical and tactical knowledge to enable riot medics to support short mobilizations on the scale of several hours to several days.
If you are an experienced medical professional, this book will guide you on how to safely operate during a protest. However, this book assumes that medicine may not be your primary occupation or field of study. Both the common and more formal medical terms are included as well as a glossary for reference. Foundational medical theory has been provided to give context for various treatments, and as such, not all information in this book needs to be memorized. Some information may seem obvious, but what is obvious to you is not obvious to others. In depth information is provided to help demystify seemingly esoteric practices and address common misconceptions.
Because of the exceptionally diverse conditions under which riot medicine is practiced, this book generally avoids making absolute statements about how an individual or group must act. Riot medics may be part of the Black Bloc or may act as seemingly neutral third parties. They may be uncertified or may be practicing physicians. How they choose to act depends on may factors including the nature of the action, the legality of protest, the legality of practicing medicine, and the overall political climate of the region where an action is taking place. This book will provide you with a toolbox that will help you make operational decisions using your own experiences and context specific information.
Riot medicine incorporates elements of wilderness medicine and combat medicine, but it is still a distinct practice. Often the riot medic is only equipped with what they can carry in a backpack. What they choose to pack is limited by multiple factors, the major one being that their gear can be confiscated or destroyed during the course of their work. They need to carry provisions to survive the day and personal protective equipment to keep themselves safe enough to do their job. The riot medic needs to take a highly practical approach to medicine knowing that they will not be able to operate under ideal conditions. Hospital-quality diagnostic equipment will not be available, materials may be limited, and care rendered often will only be “good enough” to get a restless comrade back into the fray.
Riot medics comfort traumatized comrades as much as they heal their bodies. Protests and confrontations with fascists and the State can be stressful and even traumatizing. Even in the non-ideal environments you will be working in, it is your responsibility to keep calm and help calm those around you. Nervous and stressed out comrades can be liable to make mistakes that lead to more injuries. Reading this book will help enable you to act confidently and therefore help others act confidently, contributing toward successful demonstrations and insurrections.
This book is written from an autonomous, anarchist perspective. However, the information and tactics described within will be useful to all participants in the struggle for liberation. State imposed laws and regulations are a reality, and where it is relevant, it is noted where your work may intersect with the legal system to highlight what legal risks there may be. This book was written in 2019–20, so as you are reading this, be wary that medical best practices, legal considerations, and all other information may have become out of date.
The act of challenging the State is dangerous, but with some basic knowledge, medics can drastically reduce the repercussions protesters face. The goal is that by reading this book, you will be able to provide care for and support to comrades known and unknown, all in the pursuit of a world free of domination.
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Statement From Earth First! Organizers Regarding The Upcoming Earth First! Summer Gathering.
We hope this letter finds you all safe and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. For 39 years we have gathered under the Earth First! banner in honor of and to celebrate the planet and biocentrism. We come from across made-up borders and from hundreds of ecosystems and watersheds to share our struggles, our failures, our successes, and our stories.
This year was slated to be the 40th anniversary of the Round River Convergence. This year was supposed to be the biggest anti-extravaganza yet, amiright?! This year we had a lot of fun ideas lined up, with tons of old school favorites, along with some meaningful changes to how we might think of our annual summer gathering. However, this year with the uncertainty around COVID-19, the impacts it has already had on many of our communities, and the ongoing health risks associated with large gatherings we are saddened to announce that Lake Effect Earth First! will no longer be hosting the Convergence this summer.
We have been discussing the best way to move forward amongst ourselves and other organizers. We feel deeply that it would be irresponsible to put all of our loved ones, friends, and newcomers at risk.
A lot of us plan our summers around the Convergence; it’s a social center for many of us to connect, love (and fight), network, share ideas, listen to our favorite singer songwriters, eat some bomb-ass food, and get a lil rowdy.
We understand that for some people this isn’t surprising news, but to others it’s probably a major bummer. We truly believe given the knowledge we have, this keeps us all safer and is the best decision we can make at the moment. Looking ahead, every year there is always some stress around who will be hosting and where the Convergence will take place. As LEEF! we took on the task of hosting the ‘next’ Convergence around the spring equinox. We understand that canceling now can be worrisome moving forward so we also want to take this opportunity to offer to host next summer’s Convergence.
As the next batch of Journals get put together, we also encourage folks to get together and write up bioregional roundups. With the inability for many people to travel this year, we anticipate this to be a way to spread meaningful news amongst our regional friends, and bring awareness to various mutual aid projects and needs. We understand a lot of people are tied into various mutual aid projects nationally and locally already, for those still looking we encourage folks to check out this list for different projects. If your area is doing something or needs to reach out don’t hesitate to include it in your bioregional roundup. This is a pivotal point for Earth defense, and many people are beginning to see the shortcomings of the system, and the intersections of our various struggles.
To summarize:
EF! Summer Gathering 2020 is canceled; but folks from so-called Michigan are willing to take on hosting Gathering 2021.
Staying connected and sharing our stories is still important! Get with your folks and write a bioregional roundup for the Journal.
We want you all to know we love you (except that one person who is totally a narc, fuck you, you still suck) and hope you’re all able to stay safe and healthy during this pandemic.
With Love and Rage,
LEEF! & the 40th anti-verseray Convergence Planning Crew.
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