A-Infos (en) US, The First Communique from Unconventional Action in the Bay*

As the spectre of the electoral farce looms on the American horizon, we who 
would imagine democracy to look otherwise, harbor not the audacity of blind 
hope, but of negation. We who watch, from within dying cities and hollowed-out 
towns the economic decline of the American Imperialist beast know the charades 
of Denver and St. Paul to be so much deck chair rearranging on this sinking 
ship. We know the militarism, imperial forays and consumer extremism to be the 
last gasps of a self-imploding world order. We watch with sardonic smiles maybe, 
knowing the world will be better for it! The time has never been more ripe nor 
more urgent for organized mass resistance, so we converge on Denver and St. Paul 
this summer to be the no to their affirmations of capitalist exploitation, 
imperialism, and the systemic violence of racism, sexism and homophobia therein.

To manifest our alternative visions and actualize, if only for a transitory 
moment, prefigurations of mutual aid and autonomy. Our strength lies foremost in 
our asymmetry, in our ability to be not like them. Our resistance refuses the 
roles the police state would enjoy us to assume. In challenging the spectacles 
of both conventions, as well as the protests that counter them, we must 
constantly remake ourselves, push our conceptual limits and be what is least 
expected. We, with Unconventional Action in the San Francisco Bay Area (UA in 
the Bay), seek to remake and re-imagine street actions while drawing upon the 
rich legacy of the global anti-capitalist movement. In the spirit of the RNC 
Welcoming Committee's efforts to playfully detourne the discourse of mass 
protest, we claim sector 4 and propose to add a little friendly competition 
(however un-anarchist that may sound) to the mix of mayhem in the streets of St. 
Paul. The name of the game: Barricade Building Contest! We will swarm, we will 
seize and our presence will stay. Special categories include Biggest, Baddest 
Barricade, Best use of found materials, Best use of vehicle(s), Best strategic 
Location, Greenest Barricade, Most difficult to remove. Contest open to all 
comers of all locations. No limit on number of entries submitted. Winners to be 
determined by GOP delegates based on their inability to attend the convention. 
The Prize: Total Freedom (naturally).

The time is nigh to re-establish the barricade in the popular American 
imaginary--to call upon this particular tactic of resistance that has the unique 
capacity not only to disrupt the convention, but also to remake the urban space, 
to reorient psycho-geography along lines incongruous to capitalist production 
modes and notions of private property. To reclaim the urban commons with a 
collective agenda, through autonomous self-determination. And to experience the 
ways our bodies react to moving outside of dead time and economic constraints. 
Barricades have comprised the front lines of resistance from Oaxaca to 
Argentina. From Spain 1936 to France 1968. From the communards to the 
piqueteros. The barricade flashes up at a moment of danger, connecting us to a 
historical narrative that is still being written. A las barricadas! No pasaran! 
Sous les paves la plage! Que se vayan a todos! We build up the barricades to 
bring down the capitalist war machine. Join Sector 4 on September 1st, where the 
streets are ours, the sky is the limit and the medium the message. Up against 
the barricades motherfucker! See you in St. Paul! See you at the Barricades!

UA in the Bay, Sector 4 meeting in St. Paul:
Saturday, August 30th at 2pm, @ the convergence center 627 Smith Ave S

www.indybay.org/conventions2008
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* An antiauthoritarian anticapitalist initiative
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A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
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