Snapshot

Direct action is inherently risky. The point is to minimize the risk, not needlessly (or unilaterally) endanger your safety or that of the people around you by trying to prove that you are “hardcore.”

Martyrdom is a fascist tendency.

— Gopal Dayanenni

Direct action is a tool that oppressed people have used to build their power throughout history. When communities don’t have billions of dollars to spend, they leverage risk. They put their bodies, freedom, and safety on the line.

Direct action carries some inherent risk. That’s the whole idea. Designing an action is therefore about minimizing that risk in a way that is accountable to participants, the community, yourself, and the movement. When activists let the romance of confrontation overshadow meticulous care in action planning, they may put others in harm’s way, or may leave the movement to deal with the consequences of their risky behaviour.

When communities don’t have billions of dollars to spend, they leverage risk. They put their bodies, freedom, and safety on the line.

A good action planner distinguishes between the risks she can (and should) control and the ones she cannot, and clarifies to all participants what the potential consequences may be. Thorough action planning is a responsibility you have to the people around you. Even if you plan well, if action-day comes and the situation is not what you expected, don’t be afraid to call it off. Better to hold off and execute the action well another day than get into something your group is unprepared for.

The Ruckus Society pamphlet, A Tiny Blockades Book, outlines a number of key considerations you should keep in mind in planning your action:

Not everyone is taking the same risks. Race, class, gender identity (real and perceived), age, appearance, immigration status, physical ability, being perceived as a “leader,” all change your relationship to the action; i.e. the risks of violence and arrest by the police and the potential legal and economic consequences of the action. Also remember that there are power dynamics within your action group. Pretending that they do not exist or ignoring them “for the good of the action,” can compromise your ability to execute well, which increases risk.
Some devices increase the risk of injury simply by design: U-locking your neck to a fifty-five gallon drum filled with concrete means that any attempt to move the drum could snap your neck. That is the point — you create this situation on purpose, or not at all.
This kind of gear increases the “staying power” of your action by creating a deep decision dilemma for the opposition. But if you are lying down in front of a truck and the driver is not aware that you are there, then there is no decision dilemma, and no action logic. That is not direct action, it is an accident waiting to happen.
The best actions are the ones where we get to stay as long as we want and the action ends on our terms — not in arrest or injury.
Practice. Practice. Practice. The more you practice, the safer you will be and the more effective your action will be.

Some tactics should never be attempted without a thorough safety plan and skill-level assessment, such as a technical (climbing) banner hang where a fall can often prove fatal. Direct action is not a game.

Be humble. Understand that Beautiful Trouble is intended to be a broad toolkit, not a direct action training manual. If you want to design a direct action, get the proper training.

Originally published in Beautiful Trouble.