Fire and Flames

Im very very upset. *Very* upset. Why is this?

Im upset, because on September 27th of 2002 I was intelligent enough to NOT get arrested in Washington DC. Usually, I am proud of my ability to not get in trouble (trouble, me!?), but in this case….foresight and the ability to properly analyze how a situation will develop have cost me 18,000 dollars!!!!!

On the date in question, several anarchist and anti-authoritarian groups had called for a „day of action“ in Washington DC as part of anti-World Bank protests. In theory fine and good, but in the context of what anarchists had pulled off in Washington over the last few years, relatively clearly a bad idea, of which I intended to have no part in.

You see, in 2001, together with several hundred close friends and many thousands of relatively annoying liberals, I made two visits to Washington DC. And because a story is best told in nostalgic anecdotes, here we go…

The first, on the invitation of the great and glorious Barricada Collective, was to the „Revolutionary Anti-Authoritarian Bloc“ at the presidential inauguration. The bloc ended up numbering somewhere between 700 and 1000 people. It got off to a rather disappointing start which entailed being beaten and chased by cops, then having hundreds of people from the bloc surrounded (no, not me!) and then finally being freed by the coincidence that the „Not My President“ march of reformists happened to come down the same street, creating enough confusion to allow for escape. After that mishap though, the day included glorious moments such as the plundering of a construction zone, overrunning a secret-service security checkpoint, direct confrontation with members of the secret service (who are not as tough as you might expect), and coming to within 10 meters and one final police line of spilling onto the parade route. More anecdotal, but certainly more spectacular, the day also provided two great photo opportunities. The first being the „conquest“ of the Navy memorial, replacing the military flags with red and black ones (sadly, I cant find any good pictures of it). The second, „Super Anarchist“ flying off of the Navy memorial to escape imminent arrest.

Flying anarchist glides over the cops, lands in the loving arms of „the masses“ and escapes arrest

After having their security checkpoint overrun by the black bloc, a heroic secret service agent attempts an arrest. The picture tells the rest.
(next to the car is the „battering ram“ used against the security checkpoint)

About ten months later, we paid a second visit to the city, albeit in a very different context due to the events of September 11th. What was originally to be a „North American Genoa,“ with the participation of all sorts of reformist and liberal organizations, as well as trade unions, and of course a black bloc of several thousand people ended up being a kind of suicide march of the thousand or so anarchists who refused to join the „we are all patriots now“ and „the time is not right for dissent“ chorus. After years of success after success on the streets (Seattle, Washington A16, Quebec City, and lets be honest….not few North American anarchists paid timely visits to places like Gothenburg and Genoa), we just couldnt understand that „the tide was turning.“

I have scattered memories of that last visit to Washington DC. Things like seeing a black bloc numbering less than the cops, yet armed with helmets, hammers, and in some cases even police batons. I remember that, despite being outnumbered *and surrounded* (German demonstration style) people still attacked cops just because, you know…they were there.
Most of all I remember the assistance police chief of Washington DC attempting to assert his authority be entering the demonstration with a police car, promptly getting clobbered on the head, and cops then pepper spraying each other. A moment both glorious and comedic…

And while shockingly nobody got arrested that day, post visit discussion quickly led to the surprisingly reasonable conclusion that we were probably pushing our luck. Somebody quoted something or other from I believe „The Art of War“ about swimming as a fish in the sea to attack your enemy…instead of as a really out of place and indiscreet lunatics in the city with the most cameras and law enforcement agencies probably in the world, but really some basic common sense was enough, no need for theoretical reference.

With that in mind, when not much later other crazed anarchists called for something to the effect of an „illegal“ demonstration, possibly blockades, some actions, and so forth in Washington DC, with clearly no „cover“ from any other spectrums, we quickly came to the conclusion that this was a rather bad idea. I believe my exact, typically diplomatic, words were: „These kids are fucking crazy, they will all get arrested, where not going anywhere near this thing.“

For this, my friends and I are now poorer than 400 or so other people. Why? On the technicality that the police failed to warn people to disperse before proceeding to arrest them. Nice for them, frustrating for us.

There is a good and funny poster/text on the subject on the Crimethinc page.

PS: Here is a video of the Inauguration 2001 protests, which shows the wide diversity of people who were on the streets that day.

PPS Top prize for „thats really gotta suck“ goes to the comrades who indeed went to the demonstration, and then proceeded to escape arrest (and thus 18,000 dollars) by crawling *through the sewer system.* Theres just no justice…