Insurrection Survival

Identity

@defendpdx for distro

Continuing my series of unpopular advice columns that will keep you alive because you are a beautiful comrade and we love you.

Today we have to talk about identity.

The streamers arent going away.

They serve a vital and important function in documenting the brutality deployed against us.

However, that very tool has been and will continue to be weaponized against us.

Did we learn nothing from the woman who was traced for arson from her etsy print shirt?

The Bloc exists for a reason.

I know there are a lot of folks brand new to this whole direct action idea, so lets cover a few basics.

Your face.

Cover that shit. You should be masked up or wearing a respirator anyway, so this shouldnt be hard.

Go a step further. Get a lightweight balaclava that has enough stretch to accomodate your respirator.

This serves a number of functions. Face covering, hair covering and an extra layer against OC spray. Layers will be important.

Digital analysis has gotten incredibly sophisticated. There are reports out of HK that facial rec technology has been adapted to work while you are wearing a surgical mask.

Give the fascist regime forces as little to work with as possible.

If you have long hair, tie it up. If you have dyed hair, cover it. A unique, thick curly texture? Wrap it up. All of those details can and will be used

The snatch vans are real.

Feds are already showing up at activists homes.

Dress to fit the Bloc. Blend. Be a droplet of water so you can flow and batter down the cliffs of oppression with the ocean of your comrades.

I know that rainbow skirt is a massive and important signifier of your queerness and fuck being ashamed in the closet anymore.

However, it will get you knocked and put in prison.

We love you to much for you to be black vanned or incarcerated.

The riot line has different rules.

The Bloc exists for a reason.

Protect yourself and let the Bloc protect you.

Remember that cheap, disposable backpack you got for your kit?

Keep a spare shirt or light coat in there. When leaving the action, get a safe distance away and swap out of your black hoodie into that shirt. Don't come and go from your home in bloc.

Your neighbors are snitches

Be mindful if all the things that can ID you.

Get some black boots or black chuck taylor allstars.

Please stop wearing those beautiful shoes that cost you a paycheck. They are gonna get wrecked and they are an ID fingerprint.

I am pleading with you here.
I know blending in and being a faceless member of the crowd is HARD.
Not being able to be you and the special individual you are hurts. Especially in the communities who have been ground down by this system for their very appearance, BIPOC, LGBTQ+.

Away from the riot line and the protest action, I encourage you to be the bright shining star that you are. Love it, celebrate it, revel in it.

When you come to the line, be a droplet of water in the ocean of your comrades.

We need you. We love you. We want you safe.

This concludes Insurrection Survival: Identity.

Insurrection Survival: Identity, now with tags because I am bad at twitter and life in general.

#seattleprotest #seattleprotests #DefendPDX #PDXprotest #PDXprotests #USAprotests #opensourceinsurrection

Relevant to Identity.

I told y'all the government has a manual for EVERYTHING.

I may do a whole post on State Department advice on: What to Do When Snatched. https://www.osac.gov/Content/Report/ec9e4092-cbf6-4fb7-b301-15f4ae161d01