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ANARCHY IN THE ‘BURBS 2020 WRITINGS COMPILATION how-to’s, practice, critiques, original pieces on building autonomy in the Inland Empire, & more In Memory of Santos Anthony Villegas Vengeance for all those taken too soon by the murderous police and state violence. ANARCHY IN THE BURBS ANARCHY IN THE BURBS ANARCHY IN THE BURBS ANARCHYINTHEBURBS.NOBLOGS.ORG PART II. 4 Preface Practice 8 23 The Spirit of Rebellion Takes Four Frameworks for the Streets of the California Organizing in the Inland Inland Empire: A Summer Empire: Multiplicity, 2020 Reportback from Initiative, Affinity, Anarchy in the Burbs Conflictuality 28 Postscript 1— The Politics of PART I. the Streets: A Clarification Info-Hub on the Four Frameworks 31 18 Postscript 2— Beyond Anarchy in the Burbs Info. the Protest: Cultivating Movement Infrastructure 20 IE Initiatives & Local 37 Projects Info. Affinity Groups 101 21 42 Autonomous, Abolitionist Moving at the Speed of Trust: Resources & Readings Autonomous Community Agreements CONTENTS PART III. Critique PART IV. 48 Towards Autonomous Know-How Solidarity: Beyond Leftism, Ideology, & Rigid Political 94 Labels Security Culture 53 95 For Material Disruption Digital Self-Defense & Subversion, Against Performance & Symbolism 96 Know Your Rights! 63 Enabling Community 97 Self-Liberation, Refusing Street Etiquette Representation 98 78 DIY: Building a Short-Term Burn Your Ballot! Political Emergency Bag Theatre Does Not Represent Us 99 Further Resources on 85 Learning Essential Skills In Question of the “Peaceful Protest” (& in Defense of “Violence”) Preface DEAR READERS, from our hometowns taking the streets in opposition to the We are excited to present to the police and white supremacy. world our very first zine! But The fire and fervor also revealed before we tell you about how that there are many people in this zine came about and its the IE who all envision a world contents, we want to share a bit beyond exploitation, prisons, about ourselves and our aspira- borders, or oppression. In recent tions for resistance in the region years, our communities in the IE known as the Inland Empire. are starting to confront anoth- er huge problem. Poverty has Anarchy in the Burbs began as plagued this region for decades a project aiming to become a and has become a direct gateway source of collaborative informa- to the logistics beast that’s taken tion and resources, by and for IE root in our community. Me- locals. We initially got the ball ga-companies such as Amazon rolling with i.e.uprising as an and other logistics companies informal news source providing feed off of our people by tak- information on - you guessed it - ing advantage of our economic the IE uprisings. We also wanted desperation and precarity. The to provide some political educa- lack of opportunity in the IE is tion from a radical, autonomous no accident; we are only want- angle and encourage our com- ed as cheap, disposable labor munity to cultivate agency over for the wealthy’s profits. We all our living conditions. We seek to know that the warehouses and share knowledge and resources logistics sector have forcibly im- for people interested in building posed themselves onto the lives a strong base for future liberato- of every resident of the Inland ry movements in the occupied Empire, but it is much more Inland Empire region. than that: we are confronting a system that is organized in such A Call To Action: a way that it literally deprives us The Inland Empire Will Breathe of our ability to breathe clean By Any Means Necessary! air. We all live within this system that is designed to suffocate life, Summer 2020 saw hella people not nourish it. 4 Preface environmental racism and mass Racial capitalism in the Inland exploitation that we are experi- Empire is suffocating us all. encing in the IE. The encroachment of logistics development is transforming In the face of systemic suffoca- these indigenous lands into tion, we now have to collectively large warehouses, changing our re-assess the meaning of life communities into diesel death and move away from the violent zones where residents struggle system that continues to cause between life and death. San rampant death and the suffo- Bernardino County residents cation of our communities. We suffer from a range of illnesses, cannot wait for the good will of all of which have been linked to our leaders: why would we wait poor air quality caused by the for their good will when we are warehouses and the logistics running out of air to breathe? sector (for sources on specif- The time has come for us to be- ic stats related to this claim, come self-determining commu- check out this article by Grist). nities. We all deserve better and Breathlessness is a fundamental we must believe in our ability to feature of this white suprema- reorganize our society in ways cist, settler-colonial system that that nurture life, not suffocate it. constantly imposes harm and vi- We do not need to have all the olence upon Black, indigenous, answers right now in order to Latinx, and non-white commu- recognize the urgent importance nities. The Black struggle against of abolishing the existence of the police brutality and institutional warehouses and logistics sector racism has been teaching every- that poison our communities. one about this system’s violent As we can clearly see, life cannot mechanisms, and it is summed continue this way, and breathing up by the Black Lives Matter will become impossible unless movement with one phrase: “I capitalism and its warehouses can’t breathe.” Racial capitalism’s are abolished as a whole. Let’s link to the state continues to navigate the unknown together primarily oppress Black peo- and put our minds together to ple, and the anti-Blackness that create a better reality than the these systems are built on have one that has been imposed on constructed the blueprint for all us. As the Zapatista Army of other experiences of systemic National Liberation (Ejército suffocation, which includes the Zapatista de Liberación Nacion- Preface 5 al, EZLN) movement once said, who were beginning to take the we learn by walking, and by streets and organize for the first walking we will learn. time in their lives. We central- ized information for actions Ultimately, we cannot be hesi- until street demos died down, at tant any longer: we must begin a which point we decided to focus collective departure away from on providing an informal and this present civilization of death introductory political education. and its mechanisms of suffoca- We broke down what we felt tion. Let the IE show the world were useful organizing concepts that we can throw down hard. and theory as well as addressed Let’s combat breathlessness with common questions and con- the fresh air produced by revolt. cerns in an effort to welcome In the closeness of our bodies folks new to this scene, analyz- and minds in struggle, let us ing with an IE lens so that any- find ways to pass the air that we body could use these findings in have left to more of our commu- a local (or similar) setting when nities and to other generations. the time comes. Simply: there We must attack the foundations isn’t enough writing on subur- and institutions that deprive ban-based and small city auton- us of the sacred air we breathe omous organizing (especially for and construct a new reality that new folks coming into it), so we does not commodify and exploit tried to remedy that. the planet and our people. We just want to breathe: this is not Of course, for COVID and a demand but a threat. We will non-COVID reasons, there were not ask for permission anymore. limits to organizing (especially We will breathe by any means social media organizing), but the necessary. webpages have been a starting point for many faceless readers Let’s Hit The Streets Now: as well as for the working rela- How this zine came about tionships we’ve made since then. Although organizing in the In the wake of the George Floyd IE has obviously existed prior uprisings as well as move- to summer 2020, there was a ment organizing in the time of palpable invigoration of interest COVID-19, we tried to con- and mutual aid following the solidate useful, consumable uprisings in memory of George information for the IE locals Floyd, and we’re grateful for the 6 Preface projects and communities borne zine and discuss it together in of or multiplied by it. Our con- community, only by collectively tribution is small but hopefully discussing and seeing each other significant to somebody, and will we figure out the ways to set so we’ve compiled this zine in our communities free at last. memory of the wildfire George Floyd produced and the ensuing Part I. Info Hub history made in the Inland Em- An informal directory of Inland pire. We hope that the lessons Empire projects and groups that and advice offered in this zine readers can plug into. This sec- can help push movement orga- tion also contains further read- nizing in the IE to new, unseen ings and resources on abolition levels in the future. and autonomy. Get Up To Speed: Part II. Practice What you will find in this zine Introductory (but crucial) con- cepts and practical information A lot of our thought processes for folks interested in autono- and writing interventions center mous organizing. around addressing common obstacles that get in the way Part III. Critique of increasing our autonomous Various critiques of common capabilities. Our writings ad- obstacles seen in left organizing dress these issues by attempting spaces, including criticisms of to unpack - and thus, remove 1.