WEBVTT 00:00:04.660 --> 00:00:07.160 Direct Action is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot 00:00:07.160 --> 00:00:09.560 when describing anarchist tactics…. 00:00:09.680 --> 00:00:11.340 and rightly so, since it’s one of the main 00:00:11.340 --> 00:00:14.080 ways anarchists put our values of autonomy, 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:17.230 self-organization and mutual aid into practice. 00:00:17.230 --> 00:00:19.580 So… what is it exactly? 00:00:19.580 --> 00:00:21.980 Well, a simple definition would be to say that 00:00:21.980 --> 00:00:24.120 a direct action is a political action 00:00:24.120 --> 00:00:27.020 aimed at achieving a specific goal or objective, 00:00:27.020 --> 00:00:30.420 and which is carried out directly by an individual 00:00:30.420 --> 00:00:32.540 or group of people, without appealing 00:00:32.540 --> 00:00:34.740 to a higher authority for legitimacy. 00:00:34.740 --> 00:00:37.800 Now, this broad definition covers a huge range of activities… 00:00:37.800 --> 00:00:40.400 everything from banner drops, to prison breaks. 00:00:40.400 --> 00:00:42.640 And it doesn’t necessarily tell us much 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:45.700 about the politics of those carrying out the action itself 00:00:45.700 --> 00:00:47.560 Direct actions are tactics– 00:00:47.560 --> 00:00:49.960 meaning that they are a specific type of action that 00:00:49.960 --> 00:00:53.340 can be used to implement a wide variety of strategies. 00:00:53.340 --> 00:00:56.180 While you don’t have to be an anarchist in order to 00:00:56.180 --> 00:00:58.320 carry out, or to participate in a direct action, 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:00.820 the concept itself holds a special importance 00:01:00.820 --> 00:01:03.940 for anarchists and other anti-authoritarian radicals. 00:01:03.940 --> 00:01:06.220 And that’s because well-timed and well-executed 00:01:06.220 --> 00:01:09.580 direct actions can offer an escape from the endless 00:01:09.580 --> 00:01:11.800 cycle of representational politics, which 00:01:11.800 --> 00:01:14.300 assumes its highest form in the state. 00:01:14.300 --> 00:01:17.680 The German philosopher Max Weber famously defined 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:19.480 the state as a monopoly on the legitimate 00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:21.160 use of physical force. 00:01:21.160 --> 00:01:24.000 In other words, state violence, whether dispensed 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:28.260 by a politician’s pen, a judge’s gavel, or a cop’s baton, 00:01:28.260 --> 00:01:30.980 is a manifestation of legitimate force, and 00:01:30.980 --> 00:01:32.820 a harsh reminder of the state’s role 00:01:32.820 --> 00:01:35.360 as the ultimate mediator of social conflict. 00:01:35.360 --> 00:01:37.440 This mandate includes everything from 00:01:37.440 --> 00:01:39.600 interpersonal disputes that end up settled in the courts, 00:01:39.600 --> 00:01:41.080 or by someone calling the cops… 00:01:41.080 --> 00:01:43.220 all the way up to the broader conflicts that spring 00:01:43.220 --> 00:01:45.440 from systemic inequality and the structural 00:01:45.440 --> 00:01:48.360 imbalances inherent to capitalism, colonialism, 00:01:48.360 --> 00:01:51.780 white supremacy, ableism and hetero-patriarchy. 00:01:51.780 --> 00:01:53.980 In its purest form, direct action does not 00:01:53.980 --> 00:01:57.460 aim to persuade those in power, but seeks to foster 00:01:57.460 --> 00:01:59.640 and assert the power of those 00:01:59.640 --> 00:02:01.060 carrying out the action themselves. 00:02:01.060 --> 00:02:03.080 When people carry out a direct action, 00:02:03.080 --> 00:02:04.560 they are rejecting the state’s monopoly 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:07.340 on decision-making, and asserting their own autonomy 00:02:07.340 --> 00:02:09.880 while providing an example for others to follow. 00:02:09.880 --> 00:02:12.000 To take just one example, rather than petitioning 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:15.900 a politician to vote against the construction of a pipeline 00:02:15.900 --> 00:02:18.700 or appealing to state-controlled regulatory bodies, 00:02:18.700 --> 00:02:20.860 those who favour a direct action approach 00:02:20.860 --> 00:02:23.960 often find it more effective and empowering 00:02:23.960 --> 00:02:27.000 to go out and block the pipeline themselves… directly. 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:28.860 Direct action can also be used to set up 00:02:28.860 --> 00:02:30.340 networks of mutual aid. 00:02:30.340 --> 00:02:32.680 Fifty years ago, the Black Panthers were faced 00:02:32.680 --> 00:02:35.020 with the reality of widespread poverty and lack of 00:02:35.020 --> 00:02:37.220 service provision in their communities. 00:02:37.220 --> 00:02:39.440 Rather than appealing to the government, or 00:02:39.440 --> 00:02:41.020 to the conscience of White America, 00:02:41.020 --> 00:02:43.100 the Panthers set to work organizing 00:02:43.100 --> 00:02:45.180 their own health clinics and breakfast programs 00:02:45.180 --> 00:02:46.640 for hungry school children. 00:02:46.640 --> 00:02:49.300 These programs were part of a broader strategy 00:02:49.300 --> 00:02:51.260 of building community power, and were identified by 00:02:51.260 --> 00:02:54.360 FBI Director J Edgar Hoover as a primary 00:02:54.360 --> 00:02:56.720 threat to national security – by which he meant 00:02:56.720 --> 00:02:59.040 a threat to the legitimacy of the state, and 00:02:59.040 --> 00:03:02.300 the white supremacist power structure that upholds it. 00:03:02.300 --> 00:03:04.220 Because they transgress the official channels of 00:03:04.220 --> 00:03:06.100 politics, and often the law itself, 00:03:06.100 --> 00:03:08.280 direct action campaigns are inevitably met 00:03:08.280 --> 00:03:10.520 with a whole toolbox of tactics aimed at bringing 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:12.720 conflicts back under state control. 00:03:12.720 --> 00:03:14.920 These can range from state and corporate-funded 00:03:14.920 --> 00:03:17.380 non-profits infiltrating and co-opting grassroots 00:03:17.380 --> 00:03:19.660 movements in order to force a change in tactics 00:03:19.660 --> 00:03:21.700 or leadership, all the way up to extreme repression, 00:03:21.700 --> 00:03:25.640 such as mass incarceration and targeted assasinations 00:03:25.640 --> 00:03:28.520 carried out by state and paramilitary forces. 00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:31.320 Although as a concept, direct action has probably 00:03:31.320 --> 00:03:33.400 existed for as long as there have been hierarchies 00:03:33.400 --> 00:03:35.460 to rebel against, the term itself dates back 00:03:35.460 --> 00:03:37.600 to the early workers movement, where it was 00:03:37.600 --> 00:03:39.820 used to describe militant practices such as 00:03:39.820 --> 00:03:43.060 industrial sabotage and wildcat strikes. 00:03:43.060 --> 00:03:45.420 By physically blocking production, and collectively 00:03:45.420 --> 00:03:47.740 defending themselves from repression, 00:03:47.740 --> 00:03:49.660 workers were able to force concessions 00:03:49.660 --> 00:03:50.980 from their capitalist masters. 00:03:50.980 --> 00:03:53.660 The widespread use of these tactics eventually led to 00:03:53.660 --> 00:03:56.520 the legalization of trade unions and a whole host of 00:03:56.520 --> 00:04:00.280 concessions aimed at bringing the more radical 00:04:00.280 --> 00:04:01.280 sections of the workers movement 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:02.290 back under state control. 00:04:02.290 --> 00:04:04.760 One of the most significant heydays of direct action 00:04:04.760 --> 00:04:08.240 in modern history took place in 1970s Italy. 00:04:08.250 --> 00:04:10.280 Faced with a housing crisis provoked 00:04:10.280 --> 00:04:12.260 by capitalist restructuring of the economy, 00:04:12.260 --> 00:04:14.480 thousands of migrants from the country’s south 00:04:14.480 --> 00:04:16.820 squatted apartment blocks, and physically defended 00:04:16.820 --> 00:04:18.100 families from eviction. 00:04:18.100 --> 00:04:20.140 When the government attempted to hike transit fares 00:04:20.140 --> 00:04:22.820 and energy costs, tens of thousands of people refused 00:04:22.820 --> 00:04:25.640 to pay the increased rates, in collective actions 00:04:25.640 --> 00:04:27.220 known as auto-reductions. 00:04:27.220 --> 00:04:30.380 Italy was, at that time, a deeply religious, conservative 00:04:30.380 --> 00:04:33.420 and rigidly patriarchal country, in which both abortion 00:04:33.420 --> 00:04:34.740 and divorce were illegal. 00:04:34.740 --> 00:04:37.820 Within this context, a fearless women's liberation 00:04:37.820 --> 00:04:40.140 movement organized an underground network of clinics, 00:04:40.140 --> 00:04:42.880 with doctors and nurses providing hundreds of 00:04:42.880 --> 00:04:45.820 volunteers, with necessary skills 00:04:45.820 --> 00:04:46.800 to perform clean and safe abortions. 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:49.860 This direct action approach to reproductive health was 00:04:49.860 --> 00:04:52.220 complimented by massive and regular demonstrations 00:04:52.220 --> 00:04:54.340 calling for the legalization of abortion, 00:04:54.340 --> 00:04:55.800 which were ultimately successful. 00:04:55.800 --> 00:04:57.860 In our current age of increasing polarization, 00:04:57.860 --> 00:05:01.020 uncertainty and insecurity, direct action offers a way for 00:05:01.020 --> 00:05:03.520 our movements to build and assert our collective power, 00:05:03.520 --> 00:05:05.400 both to defend our communities, 00:05:05.400 --> 00:05:07.600 and to fight for the world we want to live in.