in my experience, there've always been people on board who are more experienced and who, respecting practices of radical democracy, have made sure everyone knows what they're getting into.
It terrified me, with a kid riding around on my back, when a 60s movement veteran explained that we might get arrested for protesting in front of the recruiting station during GW1. but from then on, I've always been insistent that the group make sure people know the consequences and how to protect themselves from arrest if they want to avoid it -- rather than leading n00bz blindly into the action.
> FWIW, I stopped by the General Assembly tonight (Sunday, 10/2, the
> night
> after Brooklyn Bridge event) for a couple hours, and they had about 40
> minutes of discussion of the Brooklyn Bridge action, almost entirely
> made
> up of reports of people who had marched either on the pedestrian
> walkway
> or the road. My impression from this discussion was that, at least
> among
> this group of speakers:
>
> 1) Everyone decided beforehand whether they wanted to march on the
> road or
> the pedestrian walkway;
>
> 2) They made this decision based on whether or not they wanted to get
> arrested;
>
> 3) People who walked on the road got arrested and expected it and
> weren't
> surprised or put out by it; in fact
>
> 4) They were kind of exultant about it because it seems like everyone
> was
> let out with the lowest form of summons, a disturbance;
>
> 5) People who walked on the pedestrian walkway were safe from arrest,
> as
> expected;
>
> 6) People on the walkway said that there were amazing shows of support
> from people in cars, honking and waving and cheering -- despite what
> we
> presume must have been a traffic tie-up.
>
> Nobody there mentioned anything about having felt trapped by the
> police.
> If anything their feeling that the police had been "very cool," and
> their
> relating of various conversations with them (including that "we're
> just
> cogs in the wheel" and one saying he was going to join the
> demonstrators
> on this day off this coming Friday) kind of beggared belief. It
> sounded
> at times like the cops were their best friends.
>
> I missed the very beginning, so I might have missed something to the
> contrary. But this was the impression I got.
>
> Michael
>
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