Dave Oswald (eds.) Boyd Andrew - Beautiful Trouble A Toolbox for Revolution

Andrew Boyd (editor) and Dave Oswald Mitchell (editor)

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A TOOLBOX

FROM THE PEOPLE Vf HO BROUGHT YOU THE YES m, BILLHIHAIRES FOR BUSH, ETC.

rsimmioivi;

BEAUTIFUL

TROUHLE

A TOOLBOX FOB REVOLUTION

lio Y

WITH DAVE OSWALD MITCHELL

OR Books New York London

All essays 2012 Beautiful Trouble by various authors is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://beautifultrouble.org.

Published by OR Books, New York and London Visit our website at www.orbooks.com

First printing 2012.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except brief passages for review purposes.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data: A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

British Library Cataloging in Publication Data: A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.

Art direction and cover design by Cristian Fleming

Cover illustration by Andy Menconi

Book design by The Public Society www.thepublicsociety.com

Printed by BookMobile, USA, and CPI, UK.

The printed edition of this book comes on Forest Stewardship Council-certified, 30% recycled paper. The printer, BookMobile, is 100% wind-powered.

paperback ISBN: 978-1-935928-57-7

ebook ISBN: 978-1-935928-58-4

BEAUTIFUL TROUBLE TEAM

Co-editor & wrangler-in-chief / Andrew Boyd Co-editor / Dave Oswald Mitchell Master of logistics / Zack Malitz Photo editor / Margaret Campbell Web maker & project agitator / Phillip Smith Art Director / Cristian Fleming Designer / Stephanie Lukito Consultant-in-chief / Nadine Bloch Wordhorse / Joshua Kahn Russell Fellow traveler / Maxine Schoefer-Wulf

PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS

Agit-Pop/The Other 98%, The Yes Men/Yes Labs, CODEPINK, SmartMeme,

The Ruckus Society, Beyond the Choir, The Center for Artistic Activism,

Waging Nonviolence, Alliance of Community Trainers and Nonviolence International.

CONTRIBUTORS

Rae Abileah, Ryan Acuff, Celia Alario, Phil Aroneanu, Peter Barnes,

Jesse Barron, Andy Bichlbaum, Nadine Bloch, Kathryn Blume, L.M. Bogad,

Josh Bolotsky, Mike Bonanno, Andrew Boyd, Kevin Buckland,

Margaret Campbell, Doyle Canning, Samantha Corbin, Yutaka Dirks,

Stephen Duncombe, Mark Engler, Simon Enoch, Jodie Evans, John Ewing,

Brian Fairbanks, Bryan Farrell, Janice Fine, Lisa Fithian, Cristian Fleming,

Elisabeth Ginsberg, Stan Goff, Arun Gupta, Silas Harrebye, Judith Helfand, Daniel Hunter, Sarah Jaffe, John Jordan, Dinytri Kleiner, Sally Kohn,

Steve Lambert, Anna Lee, Stephen Lerner, Zack Malitz, Nancy Mancias,

Duncan Meisel, Matt Meyer, Dave Oswald Mitchell, Tracey Mitchell, George Monbiot, Brad Newsham, Gaby Pacheco, Mark Read, Patrick Reinsborough, Simon Roel,

Joshua Kahn Russell, Leonidas Martin Saura, Levana Saxon, Maxine Schoefer-Wulf, Nathan Schneider, Kristen Ess Schurr, John Sellers, Rajni Shah, Brooke Singer, Matt Skomarovsky, Andrew Slack, Phillip Smith, Jonathan Matthew Smucker, Starhawk, Eric Stoner, Jeremy Varon, Virginia Vitzthum, Harsha Walia,

Jeffery Webber and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.

The role of the artist in the social structure follows the need of the changing times:

In time of social stasis: to activate

In time of germination: to invent fertile new forms

In time of revolution: to extend the possibilities of peace and liberty

In time of violence: to make peace

In time of despair: to give hope

In time of silence: to sing out

-Judith Malina, The Work of an Anarchist Theater

VI

A.B.

To my mentors in the struggle, both far away George Orwell, Abbie Hoffman, Subcomandante Marcos and close at hand Bob Rivera, Dennis Livingston, Janice Fine, Mike Prokosch, Chuck Collins, John Sellers & the RTS/B4B crew.

D.O.M.

For the silent leaders behind every victory who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward, who do what has to be done, again and again (Marge Piercy).

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION / Boyd & Mitchell

(g) TACTICS

Advanced leafleting / Lambert & Boyd 10 Artistic vigil / Boyd

12 Banner hang / Bloch

14 Blockade / Russell

18 Creative disruption / Moncias

Creative petition delivery / Meisel 24 Debt strike / Jaffe ScSkomarovsky

Detournement/Culture jamming / Malitz 32 Direct action / Russell

26 Distributed action / Aroneonu

40 Electoral guerrilla theater / Bogad

44 Eviction blockade / Acuff

46 Flash mob / D. Mitchell & Boyd 48 Forum theater / Saxon

50 General strike / Lerner

52 Guerrilla projection / Corbin & Read 54 Hoax / Bonanno

56 Human banner / Newsham

Identity correction / Bichlboum 62 Image theater / Soxon

64 Infiltration / Bichlboum

Invisible theater / T. Mitchell Mass street action / Sellers & Boyd Media-jacking / Reinsborough, Canning & Russell Nonviolent search and seizure / Hunter 78 Occupation / Russell & Gupto

82 Prefigurative intervention / Boyd

86 Public filibuster / Hunter

88 Strategic nonviolence / Starhawk & ACT Trek / Bloch

Write your own TACTIC / You

PRINCIPLES

Anger works best when you have the moral high ground / Russell Anyone can act / Bichlbaum Balance art and message / Buckland, Boyd & Bloch Beware the tyranny of structurelessness / Bolotsky 104 Brand or be branded / Fleming 106 Bring the issue home / Abileah & Evans

Challenge patriarchy as you organize / Walia Choose tactics that support your strategy / Fine 114 Choose your target wisely / Dirks