Recipes for Disaster: An Anarchist Cookbook

626 Pages·2007·14.47 MB·English

Disaster?
Yes, disaster.
W hen you think of disasters, perhaps some secret part ofyou thrills at the idea
of something happening, something interrupting the tedious routines that
comprise existence for so many of us. YOU might not be ready to own up to actu-
ally desiring one, but a disaster would at least offer a chance to escape your cage
and explore the unknown for a little while. What anguish, to live in longing for a
reprieve from your own life, never knowing when or if it might come!
Or perhaps you cringe at the word, thinking of all the senseless tragedy and
loss of life that real disasters entail. In that case, it may have already occurred to
you that we are in the midst of the most terrible slow-motion disaster in history,
as the natural environment is utterly laid to waste and the diversity of human ex-
perience is steamrolled into the monoculture of capitalism. In such a disaster, you
can't cook out of the books your ancestors developed for more peacehl times.
Whether disaster is something you privately pine for or desperately hope to
escape, one thing is for certain-the old recipes won't suffce anymore. We need
reapes for disaster. Here they are.

Recipesf or Disaster
,I
an anarchist cmkbook
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"...describes in lurid
detail how sensible, Additional copies ofthis treatise can be obtainedfor $12 postpaidfrom
law-abiding citizens can CrimethInc. Far East / P.O. Box 1963 I Olympia, WA 98507.
be transformed into A vast array ofrelated material is also availablefrom that address, most ofitfor
mayhem-making mobs."
the cost ofpostuge alone. Forfirrther information, consult mw.crim.tbinc.com.
-Tom Ridge, Department
of Homeland Security
N0!2004
The publishers, the notorious CrirnethInc. ex-Workers' Collective, humbly
put this book and all its contents at the disposal of those who, in good
faith, might read, circulate, plagiarize, revise, and otherwise mate use
of them in the course of making the world a better place. Possession,
reproduction, transmission, excerpting, introduction as evidence in court,
and all other applications by any corporation, government body, security
organization, or similar party of evil intent are strictly prohibited and
punishable under natural law.
7hc CnmethInc. ex-Worken' Colledive is a memberless underground pledged to
the total transformation ofwestem civilization and liJi itselJ
Printed on recycledpaper with soy ink in Canada by the workers at Hignell Book Printing.
Disclaimer ibr
Our Enemies
Authorities take note: No members of the CrimethInc. ex-Workers' Collective endorse or
engage in any of the dumb and dangerous activities described herein. As middle-class
beneficiaries of capitalist iniquity, we have no incentive to contest the structures that
guarantee our speaal privileges, nor do we ever do so-just ask our colleagues.
The "we" utilized in these pages is the anarchist we: it refers to all those whose ac-
tions proceed from the social continuum of antiauthoritarian resistance, and does not
necessarily denote any of the editors of, contributors to, or hangers-on associated with
this work. We're so busy cashing in on others' insurgency that we wouldn't have time to
participate even if we wanted to--honest, officer!
Your potential inconvenience,
the Crimethlnc. Action Faction
Disclaimer fir
"Plans are worthless, but planning is eveqthing-keep yourselfsteeped in
Our Friends the character of the problem you are called on to solve."
-President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1957
These are indeed recipes for disaster. Anyone with the shghtest experience in the field knows
that nothing ever goes as planned, especially not the first time. Inevitably, at that tense,
trembling moment you call in the bomb threat, the receptionist will hang up on you before
your recording device plays it-and you'll realize you only brought one dean quarter.
This book can serve as a source of information, but it is meant at least as much as a
source ofinspiration-it is an attempt to broaden the public toolbox, to encourage others
to try out wild ideas of their own. It is indeed important that beginners around the world
be armed with specific skills that are ubiquitous in some contexts but have never been ap-
plied in others, but the process of discove~yan d experimentation is always more valuable
than the products thereof. Don't abide by any formula in here-improvise, improvise.
Many of the reapes we composed for this volume were test-driven in small towns.
We selected such locations for our rigorous process of experimentation and analysis on
the grounds that they were utterly unremarkable. Perhaps the importance of San Fran-
"Withw rk a fnu
cisco and Barcelona in the struggle for freedom and adventure for all has been overesti- r w dan d dundint ritual*
mated; not everyone can or should live in such places, and besides, many revolutionary dircsrded, the substanceof life shall
strategies which are now impossible in these cities are still tremendously dangerous be glwn overto the planning of gab
cdebntlara and the lntL,pntbn of
everywhere else. Why risk arrest in the financial district to put up graffiti that will only perfea mab.-
remain for a few hours, when there are a thousand unguarded stop signs in the suburbs -f.x m*iQrrni. hb* Cx+h~k
waiting to sing your song? Quite a few of these reapes are designed especially for the
Middles-of-Nowhere of our world, the nondescript margins of history where Nothing
Ever Happens. As they say, the quickest way to the top is to tun the world upside down.
Revolution is, among other things, a reversal: the first becomes the last, the margin be-
comes the mainstream, the nameless convict becomes Nestor Makhno, commander of
the anarchist armies of the Ukraine. The anonymous, inexperienced teenagers who get
their hands on this book in Missoula, Montana could be the ones to make hip New York,
and this book itself, totally obsolete. If you're one of them-wherever you live, however
old you are--for everyone's sake, don't underestimate your own strength.
One more subject bears comment-the countless reapes left out of this book, espe-
cially the ones you think we should have included. Those, my friend, are the first recipes
in your book, which you had better start writing as soon as possible.
Yours for total destruction and recreation,
and wishing you many a sweet repast,
Crimethlnc. International Federation
ofFood Service Industry Escapees
Setting the Table
12 . Preface: Direct Action- 219 . Dumpster Diving
what it is, and what it's good for 229 . Effigies
.
23.4 Evasion
28 .Affinity Groups 241 . Festivals
35 .Antifascist Action 248- Food Not Bombs
66 .Asphalt Mosaics 258. Graffiti
75 . Banner Drops and Banner Hoists 269. Guerrilla Performances
85 . Behavioral Cut-ups 275 . Health Care
92 . Bicycle Collectives Ze7 . Hijacking Events
.
100. Bicyde Parades 296 Hitchhiking
.
107 . Painting by Bicycle 306 Infiltration
111 . How to Make a %cycle into a Record Player 322 - Inflatables
.
114 . Billboard Improvement 329 Legal Support
127 . Blocs, Black and Otherwise 336 .Marches and Parades
.
. ~6 Independent Media
162 Blokdes and Lockdowns
178 . Classroom Takeover 358 .. Mainstream Media
183 . Coalition Building 366 Mental Health
383 . Musical Instnunents
191 .Collectives
.
205 . Corporate Downsizing 392 Newspaper Wraps
210 . Distribution, Tabling, and Infoshops 397 . Nonmonogamous Relationships