In our previous post I mentioned having a separate guide for protection against teargas. There are a lot of misconceptions going around and I wanted to post this information in its entirety. Everything below is pulled directly from the International News Safety Institute, they provide a lot of other resources that seem interesting to check out.
Protecting yourself from tear gas
Security forces are legally allowed to use tear gas for crowd control, but there are strict international guidelines around its use and the way it can be deployed against civilians for crowd control.
Journalists covering demonstrations should be aware of the effects of tear gas and how to respond when affected.
How does tear gas work?
Typical RCAs (Riot Control Agents) such as tear gas are delivered by either a spray or a grenade canister fired from a baton gun. The canisters themselves can be hazardous as they usually generate a lot of heat and will cause nasty burns if handled. If they are fired at close range, they can cause serious damage to a person’s body and have resulted in death.
When chemicals used in tear gas react with moisture they cause a burning sensation, meaning that the eyes, skin and lungs are extremely susceptible. Oil-based creams, sunscreens and make-up will also absorb tear gas, so avoid wearing these when covering protests where it might be used.
Tear gas attacks the lungs, so if you suffer from any respiratory diseases, including asthma, you should seriously consider the potentially dangerous effects this may have on your condition.
Streaming and burning of eyelids and throat as well as excessive coughing are all reactions to tear gas. An excess of mucus coming from the nose, eyelids and throat is also common. People often report that they feel disorientated and dizzy just after breathing it in.
The effects usually wear off within an hour, although the feeling of burning and highly irritated skin may persist for hours.
How to protect yourself
A gas mask (often called a respirator) is the best tool to protect yourself. They are not cheap, but they'll allow you to cover the story safely. They are subject to export licences in some countries, so ensure you have the correct paperwork to travel with them.
A gas mask consists of a rubber mask with a canister and filter fitted to the side. It is fitted to the size and shape of your face, and you should not assume that yours will fit someone else. Ensure you have a spare canister, as they do need changing after several hours (this depends on the make and model of the gas mask as well as how long it has been used).
If you already have a gas mask, make sure it is working properly and is correctly fitted. Any masks purchased online or in military surplus stores should be checked by an expert to ensure they work correctly.
The next best thing after a gas mask is an escape hood, which is cheaper and is not subject to the same export rules.
You can also use a builder's respirator that covers your nose and mouth – but make sure that you use appropriate filters. Failing that, adust mask for DIY and building and airtight goggles will provide some degree of protection.
Myths and misconceptions
Sometimes, it's hard to see through the myths surrounding tear gas protection. Reports, photographs and videos show protesters using improvised methods to counter the crippling effects, including tying plastic bottle and even bras to their faces. While they make for an amusing photo, these are not effective ways of countering this non-lethal chemical weapon.
INSI spoke to chemical weapons experts SecureBio about other homemade methods, which should be avoided.
1. Soaking a bandana or cloth in apple cider vinegar and tightly covering your mouth with it
The acid contained in the vinegar does not provide enough, if any, protection to counter the effects of tear gas.
2. Smearing lime or lemon juice on the inside of a cloth and tightly covering your mouth with it
This supposedly works on the same principal as the apple cider vinegar, but again should be avoided.
3. Soaking a bandana in water and tightly covering your mouth with it
Many RCAs come in the form of crystals, which react with water. Using small amounts of water (such as a wet handkerchief) immediately after exposure to CS gas is likely to reactivate these crystals and may prolong the effects.
3. Smashing up charcoal, lining a wet bandana with the dust, and tightly covering your nose and mouth with it
The charcoal supposedly filters out CS gas, but there is no evidence to support this.
4. Smearing toothpaste under your eyes
As RCAs and toothpastes are made up from a wide range of chemicals, using various manufacturing methods, it is nearly impossible to accurately predict the reactions that would take place.
5. Sniffing a freshly cut onion
Breaking an onion in half, sniffing it and getting it close to your eyes does not reduce the irritation, and it is likely to make you cry just as it does when you are peeling it.
What to do if you get tear gassed
If you have a gas mask, or a mask and goggles, put them on. You may then be able to continue working in the gas. Be aware that you will still need to wash yourself and all clothes as the gas will remain on you, your clothes and your equipment.
If you have no protection, cover your mouth and nose with a handkerchief or cloth or use the inside of your coat to protect your airway (the outside of your jacket is likely to be contaminated).
Stand in the fresh air and allow the breeze to carry away the CS gas.
Keeping your arms outstretched which will help CS gas to come off your clothing.
Try to get to high ground – most RCAs are heavier than air, so the highest concentrations tend to sit nearer to the ground.
Remember that the gas will impregnate clothing for many months, so any clothing that may have been contaminated should be immediately washed several times or discarded.
Any exposed skin should be washed with soap and water. Shower first in cold water, then warm water. Do not bathe.
Don't rub your eyes or face, or this will reactivate any crystals.
Given the recent events in Charlottesville, VA and the international solidarity rallys that are already underway, now is a good time to take a step away from the Conquest of Bread project and talk about protesting. There are steps both before and during that can improve both the success and therefore the safety of the protest for those who are showing up to demonstrate. The best way to do this is to be prepared for anything.
When you're attending a mass demonstration, you cannot control who shows up. Some people may use more aggressive tactics than you would for productive means, and others may show up with more chaotic destruction in mind. Many world power governments have a documented history of intentionally causing disruption and even violence (which in this blog is defined as harm against living beings) but going into the history of agent provocateurs is for another post. However, even with the calmest of demonstrationsthe police may use excessive force in many different forms, and it's important to be prepared.
Most demonstrations I've personally been to, I haven't needed most of these supplies. The aim is to be prepared for anything.
Knowledge of Your Rights: If the police detain you and ask you for your ID do you have to show them? If you're stopped for a Stop and Frisk do you have to comply? These answers vary not only country to country, but state by state. Unfortunately I cannot write a step by step guide for this because of variations in laws by country and state, but be thorough in researching the law and what your rights are where you plan on protesting. Take extra caution if you are an immigrant there, regardless of your legal status.
Two Sets of Nondescript Clothes: Or some way to change your visual appearance in a crowd. If there's a chance of the police radioing your description, they're going to rely heavily on general characteristics and your clothing. Cover your hair during the protest for even further obscurity. If you plan on showing up in black bloc, bring something to wear that's helpful to blend in a crowd. If you're not in black bloc try to wear dark colors anyway to help you hide in the dark, if you need to run away. No matter what, don't stand out. The idea is to be as unidentifiable as possible.
Earplugs: The LRAD, or sound cannon, a device known for being used against Somali pirates, is now one of the police's "nonlethal" responses to dealing with protestors. The Long Range Acoustic Device is a high decibel weapon can emit sounds up to 137 decibels, with decibels over 85 being capable of causing hearing loss. To adequately fully protect your hearing from these weapons, you need shooting range ear protection but if you don't have access to those, bring the best earplugs you can get your hands on. If you're on the peripheral of an LRAD attack it can make a difference at the very least.
Tear Gas Protection: is going to get its own post as soon as I'm finished writing this one but it will be a repost of this article so in the meantime you can read it here.
Digital Security: Smart phones can be our greatest ally and also our worst enemy when it comes to protesting. Pictures you take on it, conversations you've had on it, could get another protester arrested, or if they're undocumented, deported. But at the same time they can help you find the march, document police brutality, and stay in contact with your group. There are a lot of different ways you can protect the data on your phone from being used against you (link coming soon) but some very basics are to keep a passcode lock on your phone and disable fingerprint entry before you leave. That way the police can't force you to open it (a questionably legal act). I recommend backing up your data and doing a factory reset on your phone before you leave if you have a smartphone. Communicating through something like Wire or Signal is good but won´t do you any good if the police can gain access to the app.
Rations: Depending on conditions and the length of the march/rally you may be walking a long time in the heat. Bring water for yourself and if possible water to share with the people around you. Same goes with snacks, particularly salty ones for electrolytes. I can tell you there's nothing like seeing a comrade with a box of pretzel rods after marching for 4 hours in all black in the middle of summer.
Basic Medical Supplies: Often organized protests have designated medics, but even if yours does there may not be one around in the time of an accident or attack. If you have the supplies to quickly wrap an ankle or bandage up a gash when either is needed you could potentially be a life saver, even if the injury is minor.
A Buddy: It's always better to go to protests with someone else. You can watch each other's 6, provide as a witness for interactions with the police, and generally keep an eye on each other.
Important Phone Numbers: In ink, on your body. Many people in the United States keep the National Lawyer's Guild number on them. In case you're arrested and need numbers to call, don't rely on having access to them in your phone.
Not every item on this list is essential for every single person at a protest, but the more people who come proactive the better. Of course the more gear you have the harder it is to be inconspicuous and slip into a crowd so you have to weigh the risks/benefits to bringing or leaving each item.
We have to do what all at the same time - make all housing property common, take away ownership of tools and machines, eliminate money, give all healthcare, food and education, get rid of the courts - what else?
Are we over exerting ourselves and accomplishing very little in the end because we’re not focusing on the whole picture?
Does having no private property make you uncomfortable?
Doesn’t it seem like for revolution to be a success that the most marginalized have to be prioritized?
In european history revolution leads to advancements in arts and sciences. What could decolonization lead to? How does decolonization differ to you from anarchistic communism - is there a difference? Can one happen without the other?
What is the main difference between anarchists and other people who want no government/interference?
Could you meet the needs of your neighborhood by getting with your neighbors and going out and fixing it? What is the benefit of having to go through channels like government?
Do you agree that the state is the personification of injustice oppression and monopoly?
Did you ever consider a life without government?
What would it look like to have been taught accurate history?
Where have you learned history not from the perspective of the state?
Are we all conditioned - for what? Are we learning anything or just being given crumbs of information about the happenings of the government?
Why are we expected to pay money to a state that won’t tell us the whole story?
Would people treat each other even better one on one if we weren’t taught to screw others to gain funds?
Is the fact that some retain their moral code even under capitalism proof that people are good?
What do the words anarchy and communism mean to you?
Do you think that one can’t happen without the other, why/why not?
Compared to 500 years ago how dependent are we all on each other?
Do you think we’re more or less interconnected now than in the past?
Do our coping skills for capitalism like hobbies mostly end up requiring more production and exploitation for goods?
Does that harm people nameless to us?
How much labor went into you reading this - can you trace all the steps that exploited labor to produce the circumstances that led to both us using devices to connect right this second?
Since everyone has a part in the world tracking hours worked is flawed, right?
Because if your love inspires someone to create art that inspires someone to be kind that may have only taken a glance but you could improve conditions for millions realistically if the art is spread. How could that glance be weighed less than company time spent building goods you would be fired for using?
Does abolishing wages and time clocks seem reasonable? Who does working benefit now?
Are there potential benefits to reforming aspects of our current situation?
Can communal resource sharing and filling in a time card work together?
What are the benefits to using money and tracking how much work people do in comparison to each other?
Are we all just hoping for communism in absolutely twisted ways by bonding in bigotry?
Aren’t cliques taking the concept of community but requiring the opposite of “to each according to their needs”? A specific example would be a grouping of people who bond over their profession and the tools needed to work in a brand specific group. Isn’t the camaraderie in those spaces us clinging to the concept of being more than individuals? But is it also problematic considering that the bond is materialism? Couldn’t that be prevented if there were no brands but people just connecting over being alive?
How would your life change if you could take what you needed? Are any other fields as welcome as the sciences in regards to sharing goods with the public?
How would your life change if you were allowed access to tools and knowledge of the skills that need those tools just because you’re human?
Why is the easiest example of communism in our current lives disaster relief efforts and how communities look right after one of them? Is it instinctual to be part of a community?
Does it seem necessary from following history to assume that going to full stateless communism is the best option?
Why would we destroy a state just to replace it with one with the same potential for human corruption?
The first solution is sharing resources and proclaiming it. Tell the people directly that their well being is important. That we realize the goods and foods and services exist to make us all healthier and that the issue of the society that crumbled around them is not sharing and that we can share with each other.
Is there a need for paperwork for that?
Could we help each other easier than that by going into all the stores and giving those things to people who need them?
What is the difference to you between the right to work and the right to well being? Which would you prefer and why?
Do you have examples of legislators doing right by us as people?
Do you think poor people are more aware of the potential for communism to be great than richer people? Why or why not?
If in the late 1800s people were almost ready why aren’t we done with money and states by now?
What does revolution mean to you? What’s it look like?
Does Kropotkin's reasoning that revolution really begins during the rebuilding stage resonate with you?
So the monarchs or whatever government is controlling the masses are first ousted, following them are the most wealthy residents of a city, then the heads of the military. After them the police and soldiers choose individually to go or stay. At that point the people literally fill the streets and start to address their needs amongst each other. Then those who considered themselves revolutionaries at the time of upheaval begin to enact their plans by taking over offices and courts, making statements to the people and writing up new decrees, fighting each other along the way since their ultimate goal is to bring their sect to power.
All that leads to nothing more than a new state replacing the old one, right? What about the people?
The ones who were the working poor at the time of upheaval, the wards of the state, the ones dependent on social services - what do they do in the transitional periods to survive?
What do those sitting in the offices do? Are they just the same state run by different people?
What do people need for revolution, isn’t security top of the list?
What do you need to acquire to have time to fight full time?
If well being isn’t a dream, what does it look like?
How much work do the middlemen and bosses need to do in order for the workers to be able to thrive?
Wouldn’t it amount to everyone working part time or less considering all the technology and knowledge that exists already?
If we’re working and producing more and more and there was already enough, where does it go?
How many hands touch the money that one piece of machinery made in a factory produces?
How much do the workers who built it get from their labor? How much do the middlemen and bosses?
Why is that backwards in order of most labor exerted?
Are capitalists so greedy and middlemen so desperate to struggle less that they will make and enforce rules requiring workers to fill trashcans full of good food just to keep it from feeding the homeless?
If there is so much excess why are the rates of poverty, homelessness and preventable illnesses always increasing?
Why would a weaver be wearing rags?
How could any worker go hungry?
Why can’t everyone who wants a job work if there are so many jobs?
Why are people forced to beg for the right to have their labor exploited?
What if all those without were given work and a place to stay from some of the land unused that others claim to own?
Could we work the land and cure starvation in each country within a year?
How is our exploitation tied to colonization?
We know we are not being paid well but what about those paid less to do what we won’t or can’t because our land is stripped?
Are our taxes another form of theft since we’re paying the people that approve laws that harm us?
How deep does it go - the police, judges, everyone to do with a prison, the press, exploiters of industry - how many people are stealing from us?
How much physical energy do we exert for the wealthy?
Cleaning their houses, stables, offices, how much time do we spend focusing on doing for them what we could be for ourselves?
Are we working for the humor of the wealthy?
Why won’t they stop the excess and take time to figure out how to end things like hunger among their employees?
In the old days our people couldn’t do as much with the same amount of space because there were restraints on technology - couldn’t we all have extra now considering how much is wasted and how many are un/underemployed?
The well being of all - the end; expropriation - the means.
What does this really mean?
To take what is considered private and give it back to the public is the best plan for the well being of others? How is that done?
How does anyone own anything if they don’t own it forever?
If your family invented a product how could someone make and sell an improved version, isn’t it your family’s forever since it was at a point?
On the other side of that, if the blood of our families is inside the machines aren’t they more ours?
How do the capitalists justify retaining ownership over our own flesh?
Are you an heir to nothing?
How much do you sell your labor for each day, how does that compare to your ancestors?
Are you in the same physical location as them under the rule of the same family of capitalists?
Have you had time to ever even figure that out?
Since the capitalists are concerned with profit not well being we workers are at their whims. Can you think of examples of that local to you?
If the factories left what did they make when open?
Did the product that labor was sold to build help sustain the area once the doors of the factory were shut?
Where do the products in our houses come from and who are the laborers that made them?
Aren’t the laborers the collateral damage in a fight between capitalists over who can have the most excess wealth?
What does the concept of education as a right do to the children of laborers?
Capitalists won’t allow the price our labor is sold for to be high enough to allow us energy for education so how could we take that time?
Is workplace education the beginnings of workplace organizing and is that an answer to capitalism?
The police, courts, jails and whole legal system are another way for capitalists to control us? Why would non wealthy people sell out laborers for capitalists?
Does the ruling class send out lies as truth in places like schools and workplaces in order to keep the workers from organizing or communicating across social groups?
Are we all living within the bubble of a lie that’s bound to burst?
Will we go extinct if we cannot learn to work together not just as humans but as a whole with the earth?
What would need to change for you to feel like you had the right to well being?
Today is it reasonable to assume that a few still hold ⅔ wealth?
The few allow the many to work but only if the many allow the few to retain most of the wealth. So our labor agreement is to accept being exploited?
To go make things that we don’t personally need instead of making for our own households?
Since people have advanced technologically have we also emotionally?
Is that possible when many are working for the profits of a few, how to remedy the problem of working for the short term with no long term security?
What happens when all advances in tech are dependent on the blood of the many?
If there are cities under cities and blood from each generation and the current buildings are still filled with laborers unable to thrive as a whole, is civilization all that advanced really?
“Each of the atoms composing what we call the Wealth of Nations owes its value to the fact that it is part of the great whole.”
What effect does your personal consumption and your exploitation through laboring play into the great whole?
Inventors and artists are part of the great whole also so despite their contributions they also have consumed the flesh of exploitation through existing in this world. Is that something to feel guilt over?
What about the capitalists, are the few that control the wealth of the great whole aware of how us many live?
Why do they think they own anything when everything in the world is the product of many?
Does anything really truly belong to anyone else?
How so when even the food is the product of many from animals to the sun to the people who planted then those who picked then the one who transported then the one who bought then the ones who ate it in the end?
Section 2 of this blog's introduction will be released in a few days, but in the meantime here is the beginning of our first audiobook project. The audiobooks are a first step to providing greater accessibility to anarchist theory. Below is the audio file for section one of chapter one, as well as some related study questions contributed to the project.
Chapter 1: Our Riches
Section 1:
How far have we come?
How many of us leave more for our heirs than shelter, utensils and the earth itself?
Were you left with and will you leave things (at the rate it’s going now)?
Birth into a world with capital means what to those without it, are their dreams all actually nightmares?
We have more tech and higher yields than our elders, are we thriving emotionally compared to them also?
Since there’s enough tech to make tools that control the soil, sun and can dig into even the caves and build whole cities up in a matter of months and we do not all have what we need, is it greed that makes some suffer?
Where’s the money, are there really just a few controlling all the currency worldwide?
Is money/credit really the reason that people are dying worldwide?
How would life change if food and knowledge and health and shelter and technology were used for good and well being of all?
The concept behind the Anarchist Education Society is incredibly simplistic, but in that simplicity lies endless possibilities for development and growth. The central concept is that of a community building, learning, and growing together. What does this mean in regards to anarchism, and in regards to revolution?
The very basis of an anarchist society is a stateless, classless, moneyless society. The idea of a society functioning, let alone thriving, without these things is an incredibly foreign one to most people. The system at hand- capitalism- depends on the working class believing that we need it. We sustain the social hierarchies that oppress us and most of us are unaware that real, possible alternatives exist. Anarchy is slandered by being equated to chaos. Socialism is either dismissed as a pipe dream or given the definition of fascism.
So the first step must be theory. It must be learning core concepts. What is anarchism? How does a gift economy function? What is human nature? Is it static or is it fluid? What is property? These answers to these questions along with many others can be discovered in many different ways, one such way being a project that has already begun. By reading or listening to theory and discussing what we are reading with others, we can begin to dissect what these concepts mean. After that we can figure out where the texts written during the turn of the 20th century and so on are relatable to our modern society and also where they are lacking. We can look at them through an intersectional lens, integrating the needs of both class war and social war.
Perhaps more importantly than the theory itself, we can develop a community-based system when it comes to knowledge, not just of theory but of skills as well (which we will explore more thoroughly in part 2). In much of our current society, the opportunities for knowledge are heavily impacted by our class. But also we are fed one style of learning, one protocol, that many people just can't follow for one reason or another. Through this project, we will develop a variety of tools on *how* to learn. We will develop the confidence in self-learning, that it is possible. And we will develop the skills to teach each other.
