occupyallstreets:

singing-moose:

Occupy Portland Outsmarts Police, Creating Blueprint for Other Occupations

“The police have no response to this tactic, other than resorting to brutality. And if they do that, we win whether they clear the park or not.”

Read more…

The Portland Occupation stumbled upon a tactical innovation regarding occupying public spaces. This evolution in tactics was spontaneous, and went unreported in the media. On December 3rd, we took a park and were driven out of it by riot police; that much made the news. What the media didn’t report is that we re-took the park later that same evening, and the police realized that it would be senseless to attempt to clear it again, so they packed up their military weaponry and left. Occupy Portland has developed a tactic to keep a park when the police decide to enforce an eviction.

Protesters function fluidly as either light or heavy infantry. Their mass, because it is lacking in organization, functions as a phalanx, having no flanks or rear. Lack of organization gives that mass the option of moving in whichever direction it feels like, at any given time. If protesters all move to the right, the entire group and supporting officers has to shift to that flank. While the protesters can retreat quickly, the police can only advance as fast as their light infantry, supporting staff can follow and maintain a secure rear (if the mass of protesters were to run to the next block over and quickly loop around to the rear of the riot cops, the organization of the cops would be reduced to chaos). If that police cannot assemble with a front to oppose protesters, they are useless. The integrity of that tactic is compromised, and unable to maintain internal organization, the cops revert to individuals engaging in acts of brutality, which eventually winds up on the evening news and they lose the battle regardless of whether they clear the park or not.

Because of the lack of organization in a crowd of protesters, light infantry cops firing tear gas, etc. has little effect because it just serves to disorganize a group that relies upon disorganization in the first place. All it really does is disorganize the riot cops, who then resort to brutality.

Great article, worth the read.

While I’m not a hundred percent behind this movement (because as a person living paying rent in brooklyn i’m jealous of their conveniently located tent city in delightful urban areas) I could get behind them more with more intelligent strategies like highlighted here. 

(via bryanboova)

5 months ago

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   This is SPARTA! (Well, it’s actually Portland, using what I believe are classical Spartan military tactics. But close...

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   While I’m not a hundred percent behind this movement (because as a person living paying rent in brooklyn i’m jealous of...

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    singing-moose: Occupy Portland Outsmarts Police, Creating Blueprint for Other Occupations “The police have no response...

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