Basic action organization, concept 2
Since ‘what do I actually need to organize an activist thing?’ is a question that new groups seem to ask over and over, I’m thinking of writing a little overview of what you might need. Which teams you have and what tasks they have will obviously vary from place to place, but maybe we can put together some kind of basic starting guide, ya know? Advice welcome.
So I’d say you have a general meeting and then a number of teams concerned with organizing and a number of basic safety teams and for long term organizing you have internal communication teams:
Decides on gathering point, route, finishing point and whether there is a place for people to hang out afterwards. Often arranges warm drinks at the action and plenty of good food afterwards.
This team might have a trained and experienced Police Spokesperson. The most hostile the police is towards your action, the more useful it is to have someone that can keep them busy with prepared answers, can manipulate or delay them and can inform the logistics team of a chance in attitude that might mean arrests are coming soon.
A logistics team may have a subgroup that forms a Self-defense team that plans the immediate response to danger. This may consist of physical self-defense but it can also involve planning ways to get vulnerable people to a safer place inside the group, planning escape routes, filming the aggressors, and more. Physical self defense often depends on safety in numbers. For that the self-defense team prepares and initiates, but once the self-defense is needed they do not go in alone: doing the self-defense part is everyone’s job.
The self-defense team or the logistics team will probably have spotters that keep an eye on the area and report things like the amount of police, riot police, arrest vans, or fascists to the logistics team.
Message and decorations team
Arranges banners, posters and other things that express the message of the action. Arranges speakers and materials such as megaphones, microphones, amplification. (If it is a public action. Obviously not relevant if you’re doing a direct action that doesn’t want any attention.)
This team might have a trained and experienced Media Spokesperson. The most hostile the media is towards your action, the more useful it is to have someone that can keep them busy with prepared answers and away from people not prepared for how shit the media can be.
Promotes the action. Often works closely with message and decorations team. Depending on the type of action, this team may write a press release, may make a social media event, may distribute flyers, or could just quietly spread the word from mouth to mouth that there is going to be a surprise action soon.
Raises and manages the funds for the action.
The safety teams are important if an action is likely to be risky. For example if it involves large numbers of people, if it involves a blockade or other lawbreaking, if arrests are expected, if a confrontation with fascists is expected, if the action involves a lot of people of color (= increased likely hood of police brutality) or if the topic of the action is focused against police brutality.
The safety teams are composed of trained and experienced people. Reach out to other groups for this if you need help. Do not hand people without experience a few zines and expect them to handle it!
Offers activists the opportunity to sign in and sign out. Keeps track of arrests and tries to get everyone out of the police station as fast as possible. Has a lawyer on standby. Organizes a welcome party outside the police station to make sure people don’t walk home alone. Does the immediate things the arrested mentioned on their sign in sheet, like ‘tell my boss i am sick if i am still under arrest by monday morning’.
Observe and report, carefully document arrests and police brutality for later use. Communicate arrests to legal team.
For immediate physical first aid.
Out of Action / Support and Recovery team
For immediate psychological first aid, trauma prevention and aftercare.
Internal communication teams
Depending on the size of your group, how much you organize and how long you work together you may have:
Facilitates general meetings focuses on learning from our successes and our mistakes and getting better at what we do over time.
Sustainable activism team
Focuses on burnout prevention, makes sure the community prioritizes healing and collective care instead of running from action to action.
Watches for oppressive behavior and power imbalances forming within the group and addresses them. Can be contacted by people that witness oppressive behavior and don’t feel ready to step in and address is themselves.
Transformative justice team
For long term transformative processes that address interpersonal harm.
Organizes parties, movies, dinners, picknicks and other things that focus on having fun together and maintaining the sense of community that is vital to our organizing.
janainaart
theartofmadeline
baratheonpilled
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