There’s a lot of tension and anxiety about what could happen in the coming days, including the possibility of serious civil unrest of a type we’ve never really seen in the U.S. in our lifetimes.
Vice recently quoted Robert Evans, one of the writers and podcasters I admire most, about the possibility of civil war in America. It’s an important read, but not a comfortable one. The one upside to all of this is that so many people are alert to the danger, and hopefully willing to take steps to protect themselves, each other, and our communities.
Like my last post of zines for surviving under rising fascism, I thought I’d offer a few more quick resources.
Making a simple disaster plan
In a 15-minute podcast episode, Kelly Hayes offers a simple exercise in writing a disaster plan. If you’re feeling a little bit panicked, starting to write a plan, alone or in collaboration with your trusted allies, can be empowering in these dark times.
When we are strategizing around safety, at the community level, there are questions we ask. I have done some of that strategy work around personal safety with people who were in danger for various reasons as individuals. So I am going to walk you through some questions, and I want you to formulate answers, and to write them down. Because while I don’t know your lives or priorities well enough to write your safety preparedness plan for you, you do, so let’s start building that right now.
Like all of her podcasts, the episode is also available as a written transcript, so you can follow along any way you want. Start thinking about what you’ll do to plan and prepare for different scenarios. Even if it seems like it’s too late to begin, taking some steps now is better than none.
Prepping for Beginners
The Prepared, a very thorough and (apparently) apolitical website about preparing for disaster, is full of useful articles. For starters though, I’ll highlight their Emergency Preparedness for Beginners checklist.
Do you want to be better prepared for emergencies but aren’t sure where to start or if you’re doing it right? This “prepping for beginners” emergency preparedness checklist walks you through the basic steps with sane, expert-verified advice for modern people. When you’re done, you’ll be ready to handle the majority of what may come your way.
Study police tools and tactics
Buzzfeed recently received a detailed manual showing how Chicago Police are preparing for unrest in the wake of the election. It’s helpful for getting into the highly militarized mindset of the pigs during these times.
Military-style tactics are not unusual within US police departments, and the document covers several different formations that police may use to control crowds. The documents refer to a group of police officers as a platoon, which is led by a sergeant or captain. The formations include column, skirmish, wedge, and encirclement.
However, if you really want to understand what we’re up against, you should browse the complete leaked crowd control manual. Even if you don’t live in Chicago, the tatics we can expect to see will be similar. Another good resource is the zine “Excited Delirium,” a very detailed guide to police weaponry both modern and futuristic. Thanks to the Sherwood Forest Zine Library for helping me find this one.
Bringing us back to Kelly Hayes, another recent episode, “Mass Protest Is Coming and the Cops Are On Trump’s Side,” covers similar territory with the help of “Fascism Today” author Shane Burley.
Stay safe and stay strong out there. Brave, collective resistance can win us a better world.
Disaster Plans For Surviving 2020: A Few More Resources by Kit O’Connell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Based on a work at https://kitoconnell.com/2020/10/31/disaster-plans-for-surviving-2020-a-few-more-resources/.
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