Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, June 23 2003 @ 09:50 AM CDT

See the pictures of EU disobedienti here:
http://free.freespeech.org/yabasta/

and here: http://de.indymedia.org/2003/06/55390.shtml

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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, June 23 2003 @ 07:42 PM CDT

Anyone interested in forming a potato cannon bloc?

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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, June 23 2003 @ 09:26 PM CDT

if the delegates are staying in the same place that they are meeting, it will be really hard to shut down this meeting. but props to pittsburgh for being on the ball, get all those NEsteners down for some fun in the sun in november!

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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, June 23 2003 @ 09:28 PM CDT

maybe you all could have phone- or video-conferencing or some kind of aol instant messaging type system set up for that consulta to make it easier for people who cant get to pittsburgh to participate.??

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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, June 23 2003 @ 09:40 PM CDT

\"The state would like nothing more then for this movement to fall into the predictable roles being played lately. \"

Wouldn\'t doing the Ya Basta!/White Overalls thing also be doing the same, predictable thing? I\'m not saying it\'s worthless, but the idea of padding oneself up along with others and forming a bloc is not new and such tactics have not shown to be particularly more useful than anything else. It tends to be the padded bloc gets stuck in place as soon as it hits the first line of riot cops. The lack of mobility seems to be a major problem in actually crossing police lines.

I do think we need to try some interesting side projects to break out of our increasing predictability, I just don\'t think the Padded Bloc is something that is breaking out of that.

Besides breaking windows, throwing things at riot police, blocking an intersection, blocking a road, marching in a crowd, holding a sign, riding a bike, wearing lots of padding, etc. what can we do? What have we not tried yet that may be effective in some way? It\'s not that there isn\'t anything left, the possibilities are endless, it\'s just easier to fall back on what we know in our memories and see on TV.

The first thing that comes off the top of my head...a Bike/Mobile Bloc that isn\'t just a Critical Mass. It\'s easier to outrun the police if you got a bike than it is on foot. Just make sure you use a cheap crappy bike that you won\'t mind losing.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, June 23 2003 @ 10:30 PM CDT

I\'ll be in the Black Bloc wearing all white and carrying a circle-B flag, you can\'t miss me.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, June 23 2003 @ 10:56 PM CDT

Every tactic has its proper time and place. That\'s what they are, tactics, and the padded bloc is one of them. What we need to do is find better ways to switch between tactics and to get the right teams to the right places at the right time.

As for special blocs ... what we need now are engineering blocs, ones trained and equipped to build or remove barricades. Among other types, but certainly these.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, June 23 2003 @ 11:14 PM CDT

so nobody likes my idea of potato cannons?

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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, June 23 2003 @ 11:16 PM CDT

I think the reference to old routines was valid in that context.

What you\'re saying could also have been said of Black Bloc\'s in the US pre J18/Seattle. They\'d been used for awhile in Europe. The point isn\'t whether a tactic has ever been used. The key test is does the tactic make sense for the tactical situation and is the other side so accustumed to tactic X that they will have means ready to neutralize it.

I\'m not convinved the padded bloc will work, but I do think it has more of a chance then anything else I\'ve seen thrown around for Miami. There seem to be a lot of groups in the Pittsburgh area willing to go out on a limb to get shit down. Given POG\'s record and the credibility they have I wouldn\'t count them out to pull this off.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, June 23 2003 @ 11:26 PM CDT

There is some info on what Pittsburgh is doing FTAA wise on www.thomasmertoncenter.org/ftaa

The TMC FTAA group seems to be doing education and logistics while POG focuses on the protests.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, June 23 2003 @ 11:40 PM CDT

it\'s funny cities so far away seem more prepared and into this than those just miles away from where this is happening. what\'s going on in tampa, gainesville, tallahassee, orlando?

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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, June 23 2003 @ 11:41 PM CDT

a deconstruction/construction bloc.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, June 24 2003 @ 02:17 AM CDT

Would blockading the day before the summit starts be an option then, when the delegates are turning up to get settled into their rooms?

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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, June 24 2003 @ 02:47 AM CDT

i think 100,000 is an over estimate. we shouldnt throw around large numbers like that.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, June 24 2003 @ 05:00 AM CDT

how many were in Seattle 99?

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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, June 24 2003 @ 08:37 AM CDT

I think in this case we should throw around big numbers. The Gov\'t says there will be 20,000-100,000. The reality is that this summit is going to be massive. The unions haven\'t thrown muscle behind anything in the US since A16 and they\'re going to be turning members out for this. No, anti-capitalists are definetly not going to muster 100k, but everyone together will probably approach that. The Steelworkers are busing a 1,000 people in from out of town and cities are getting thier shit together.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, June 24 2003 @ 08:41 AM CDT

a blockade is not going to work. it would be purely symbolic and ineffectual. the protests are already during the week on Thursday and Friday. In order to get everyone there on Wen for a blockade we\'d need to be pretty open about it. The cops could very easily bring everyone to the hotels a couple hrs early or wait us out till the night. We might be able to stop some lower rung people from attending, but who cares. we need to stop the meetings. couple shutdown and stop to negotiations should be our goal.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, June 24 2003 @ 12:18 PM CDT

The question is not only how many people will be there, but how many we can count on in our plans.
Will these 50 or 100 thousand people collect into a single mass or disperse along multiple routes? Who knows, but the better-organized groups have to pick up the slack.

Now given the way the police rely on barricades to expand their perimeter, just about any strategy will require some pressure on the barricades, and that requires engineering (or construction/deconstrustion, I like that!) teams. Even if we plan to swarm through the city, the more pressure we can put on the barricades, the less they can do about the swarming.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, June 24 2003 @ 12:51 PM CDT

I saw a good website one time featuring a variety of defensive DIY weaponry. Sorry i don\'t remember but there was 1.5 in. thick plexiglass to plow cops off of streets, garbage cans cut in half, whatever it takes to keep our streets!

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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, June 24 2003 @ 01:56 PM CDT

Why worry about \"keeping our streets\" for a day or two? what does this mean? Some wishy washy symbolic thing. I like whay the person said about new tactics. We need to think really different.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, June 24 2003 @ 03:51 PM CDT

there will likely be a lot. the unions have been kind of out of the media spotlight for quite a while and this is definitely something they should be interested in.

unfortunately the south and florida are not particularly well known for large or militant unions. unions seem pretty weak in these parts, but hopefully people from all over will come.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, June 24 2003 @ 05:11 PM CDT

May I note one obvious exception, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers

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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, June 24 2003 @ 05:13 PM CDT

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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, June 25 2003 @ 07:21 PM CDT

i think maybe you\'re talking about this? http://www.devo.com/sarin/shieldbook.pdf

it\'s all about shields and put together really well

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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, July 23 2003 @ 11:00 AM CDT

How about attacking the building/utilities themselves, making it unusable?

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Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, August 09 2003 @ 07:04 PM CDT

this is a stupid idea. its totally symbolic- no padded block will ever be able to get through a perimeter- especially when pre-announced and so public. its just part of the spectacle. and even if a few people DO get past (resulting in many getting hurt and arrested for assault), what will they do THEN? they\'ll just get tackled and arrested, which basically amounts to civil disobedience.

pointless...feelgood tactic.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, August 09 2003 @ 07:07 PM CDT

this isnt the place to talk about specific tactical details...like the questions about \"what else can we do?\" we should save those discussions for pitts and miami, in person, in vouched-for groups..

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