Appendix B - Resources

1 Organising

1.1 Direct Democracy

Direct Democracy on Campus Powerpoint (Organise 2013) – http://organise2013.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/direct-democracy-on-campus11.pptx
Why We All Need Safer Spaces (Floaker) – http://floaker.net/2013/03/31/organised-safer-space-2/
Consensus decision making & facilitation handbook (Seeds For Change) – http://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/handbook
Direct Democracy, Grassroots Mobilization and the Quebec Student Movement – http://thisisclasswar.info/mehreen.html
The Occupation Cookbook – http://www.minorcompositions.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/occupationcookbook-web.pdf
(also available from AK Press)

1.2 Meetings

Idiots Guide to Meetings (Schnews) – http://www.schnews.org.uk/diyguide/idiotsguidetomeetings.htm
Organising Successful Meetings (Seeds for Change) – http://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/meeting
Making Meetings Accessible (Seeds for Change) – http://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/accessiblemtg
The “Master Suppression Techniques” is a useful tool for understanding how people get excluded from meetings – https://theviolentminority.wordpress.com/2013/06/02/how-to-oppress-people-in-meetings/
Guide to online meetings – http://ismuk.wordpress.com/resources-2/organising/guide-to-ism-uk-online-meetings/

1.3 Events and Campaigns

Guide to public speaking (Rising Tide) – http://risingtide.org.uk/resources/factsheets/speaking
Guide to organising events (Student Action for Refugees) – http://www.star-network.org.uk/images/uploads/documents/7._Events_guide_full_version_2012-13_.pdf
Access Issues at Events (Seeds for Change) – http://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/access
Planning a Campaign (Seeds for Change) – http://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/strategy
Road Protest Camp Tips (contains some good advice on basic campaigning) – http://www.eco-action.org/rr/
Ideas for encouraging people to join and stay in your group (Seeds for Change) – http://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/checklist.pdf
Good publicity and outreach (Seeds for Change) – http://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/publicity

1.4 Legal Support

How to set up a legal support team (NetPol) – http://netpol.org/monitoring/legal-observers/how-to-set-up-a-legal-support-team/
How to be a legal observer (NetPol) – http://netpol.org/monitoring/legal-observers/how-to-be-a-legal-observer/
Guide to Police Station Support (GBC) – https://greenandblackcross.org/guides/police-station-support/
Guide to Court Support (GBC) – https://greenandblackcross.org/guides/supporting-people-when-going-to-court/
If your friend is arrested… (GBC) – https://greenandblackcross.org/guides/friend-arrested/
Supporting someone through the legal system (Bristol Defendant Solidarity) – https://bristolabc.wordpress.com/defendant-solidarity/resources-and-advice/supporting-someone-through-the-legal-system/

1.5 Media

Dealing with the Mainstream Media (Seeds for Change) – http://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/media
Urban75 guide to exploiting the media – http://www.urban75.com/Action/media.html
10-step guide to a hard-hitting action media team – http://www.mediafire.com/download/z4t8tz70dskdkev/ActionMediaTeam.pdf
Guide to dealing with the corporate media (LibCom) – http://www.libcom.org/organise/guide-to-dealing-with-the-corporate-media
Independent Media Guide – newsletters, flyposting, stalls, etc (LibCom) – http://www.libcom.org/organise/independent-media-guide
How to set up a local newsletter – http://www.eco-action.org/porkbolter/howto.html

1.6 Mental Health and Sustainable Activism

Sustainable activism and avoiding burnout (Activist Trauma Support) – http://www.activist-trauma.net/assets/files/burnout_flyer_rightway.pdf
Emotional First-Aid card for activists (No Borders Stockholm) – https://web.archive.org/web/20130509213131/http://www.noborderstockholm.org/uploads/EMO-card-pdf.pdf
Mindful Occupation – Rising up without burning out – http://mindfuloccupation.org/
Class struggle and mental health: Live to fight another day (libcom) – http://libcom.org/library/class-struggle-mental-health-live-fight-another-day

1.7 Security

Activist Security Handbook – https://web.archive.org/web/20151006155614/http://www.activistsecurity.org/
EFF Guide to Surveillance Self-Defence – http://ssd.eff.org/
Riseup guide to computer security – http://help.riseup.net/en/security
Security and Counter-Surveillance (advanced guide to security) – http://325.nostate.net/library/security-countersurveillance.pdf

2 Action

How students can support striking higher education staff (SolFed Education Workers Network) – http://www.solfed.org.uk/ewn/how-students-can-support-striking-higher-education-staff
Fighting Back – A Guide to Protests, Police, and the Law for Student Activists (Bristol AFed) – http://bristolaf.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/booka4_booklet2.pdf
Blockade, Occupy, Strike Back – a how-to guide from Montreal about occupations, security awareness, street demonstrations, and more (Montreal Counter-Info) – http://mtlcounter-info.org/blocage-occupation-greve-sauvage/?lang=en
The Occupation Cookbook – http://www.minorcompositions.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/occupationcookbook-web.pdf
(also available from AK Press)
The Squatter’s Handbook (Advisory Service for Squatters) – http://www.squatter.org.uk/squatters-handbook/ | http://www.scribd.com/doc/31078102/Squatter-s-Handbook-England-13th-Edition
Guide to “public order” situations (Manchester Earth First!) – http://www.earthfirst.org.uk/publicorderguide.htm
Bodyhammer: Tactics and Self-Defense for the Modern Protester – http://www.sproutdistro.com/catalog/zines/direct-action/bodyhammer/
Guide to blockading and other direct action tactics (Network for Climate Action) – http://networkforclimateaction.org.uk/toolkit/action_resources/da2010.pdf
“Delia Smith’s Guide to Basic Blockading” – http://www.schnews.org.uk/diyguide/blockadingforbegineers.pdf
“Banner drops, stencils and wheat-paste” – https://tucsonabc.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/banner_drops-stencils-wheatpaste.pdf
The Art and Science of Billboard Improvement – http://www.billboardliberation.com/ArtAndScience-BLF.pdf
Subvertising: Smashing the Image Factory – http://www.eco-action.org/dt/smashing.html
Street Theatre guide (Street Acts) – http://www.streetacts.org/
Affinity Groups (Seeds for Change) – http://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/affinitygroups
Stay Safe: Stay Anonymous (FitWatch)
- part1 http://v.gd/EKlWZM
- part2 http://v.gd/GKfuAg
- part3 http://v.gd/ngonnO
- part4 http://v.gd/JQwflY
- part5 http://v.gd/rLjKUp
Dealing with the Police (Bristol Defendant Solidarity) – https://bristolabc.wordpress.com/defendant-solidarity/resources-and-advice/dealing-with-the-police/

Implementing Safer Spaces (Coal Action Scotland) – http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Safer-Spaces-Ideas-for-Implementation.pdf
“No Comment!” A defendants guide to arrest (LDMG) – http://ldmg.org.uk/files/No_Comment_5th_Edition.pdf
An activists guide to basic first aid (LibCom) – http://www.libcom.org/organise/an-activists-guide-to-basic-first-aid
UK Action Medics (dead group, good advice) – http://actionmedics.org.uk/
How to cope with being attacked by the cops ¹ (Activist Trauma Support) – http://www.activist-trauma.net/assets/files/coping_with_police_brutality.pdf
Beating police repression: what to do if they publish your photograph (FitWatch) – http://www.libcom.org/library/beating-police-repression-after-student-occupation

Direct action animation (Brighton Uncut) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SMQd3vm2qc
Public order animation (Brighton Uncut) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYT2GQqpQ-Y

3 Legal

See appendix A links to a number of groups that can help with legal issues, arrest support, etc. NOTE that the law is not the same across the UK - for example Scottish protest law has important differences with protest law in England and Wales.

Stopped and Searched? (Bristol Defendant Solidarity) – https://bristolabc.wordpress.com/defendant-solidarity/stop-search/
Talking to Police poster (Bristol Defendant Solidarity) – https://bristolabc.wordpress.com/defendant-solidarity/resources-and-advice/poster-talking-to-the-police/
Student Protest on Campus (Activists Legal Project) – http://www.activistslegalproject.org.uk/Campus%20law%20briefing.pdf
Occupations: Legal Considerations (Goldsmith’s Student Union) – http://ismuk.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/occupations-handout.doc
GBC Protest Law Guides – https://greenandblackcross.org/guides/
Scotland Legal Guide (Scottish Activist Legal Project) – https://scalp.noflag.org.uk/legal-guide/index.html
The Squatter’s Handbook (Advisory Service for Squatters) – http://www.squatter.org.uk/squatters-handbook | http://www.scribd.com/doc/31078102/Squatter-s-Handbook-England-13th-Edition
Short “Bust Card” in multiple languages (LDMG) – http://ldmg.org.uk/bustcards.html
GBC Legal “Bust Card” – https://greenandblackcross.org/bustcard/
“No Comment!” A defendants guide to arrest (LDMG) –http://ldmg.org.uk/files/No_Comment_5th_Edition.pdf
List of recommended solicitors (Netpol) – http://netpol.org/solicitors/
Getting the best defence you can from a solicitor (LDMG) – http://ldmg.org.uk/files/about_solicitors.pdf
UK Legislation (government website) – http://www.legislation.gov.uk/
Chambers and Partners (website that ranks law firms) – http://www.chambersandpartners.com/
The Impact of Arrest and Criminal Convictions (Activists Legal Project) – http://www.activistslegalproject.org.uk/Impact%20of%20Arrest%20and%20Conv.pdf
How to set up a legal support team (NetPol) – http://netpol.org/monitoring/legal-observers/how-to-set-up-a-legal-support-team/
How to be a legal observer (NetPol) – http://netpol.org/monitoring/legal-observers/how-to-be-a-legal-observer/
The Protest Handbook (Garden Court Chambers) – http://www.theprotesthandbook.com/book/
(book on protest law)
Supporting someone through the legal system – https://bristolabc.wordpress.com/defendant-solidarity/resources-and-advice/supporting-someone-through-the-legal-system/

4 Software and Online Tools

First off, check out the Tech Tools for Activism booklet! – https://en.flossmanuals.net/tech-tools-for-activism/

Riseup email (free, secure, email) – http://mail.riseup.net/
NoFlag email/hosting – http://noflag.org.uk/
Riseup mailing lists – http://lists.riseup.net/
Crabgrass (platform for organising online – like a secure version of facebook) – http://we.riseup.net/
Loomio (platform for discussion and decision-making) – https://www.loomio.org/
Trello (platform for managing projects, so people can see which tasks need to done, are in progress, or are completed) – https://trello.com/
Network23 (“free anonymous wordpress blogs for activists and agitators”) – http://network23.org/
Tachanka (offer secure privacy-concious website hosting to radical and grassroots groups internationally) – http://tachanka.org/

4.2 Software:

Gimp (free image-editing tool, good for designing posters and photo editing) – http://www.gimp.org/
- tutorials on the official website: http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/
- some tutorials on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC5B3750CE8219376
Inkscape (free image-editing tool, good for designing diagrams, logos, and illustrations) – https://inkscape.org/en/
Scribus (free “desktop publishing” software, perfect for making flyers, posters, newsletters, etc) – http://www.scribus.net/
- getting started: http://wiki.scribus.net/canvas/Get_Started_with_Scribus
- video tutorials: http://wiki.scribus.net/canvas/Scribus_Video_Tutorials
TorBrowser (tool for anonymous web browsing) – http://www.torproject.org/
VeraCrypt (encrypt and hide data on your computer) – https://veracrypt.codeplex.com/
Eraser (delete files on windows so they cannot be recovered) – http://eraser.heidi.ie/
Meta-data Anonymisation Toolkit (removes data from files so they cannot be traced back to you) – http://mat.boum.org/

4.3 Online Tools:

cyptocat (private, encrypted chat software) – http://crypto.cat/
Riseup etherpad (tool for collaborating on documents online) – http://pad.riseup.net/
Titanpad (like etherpad) – http://titanpad.com/
privnote (sends ‘notes’ that ‘self-destruct’ when read – useful for sending passwords, etc) – http://privnote.com/
Econvenor (automatically organises meetings for you!) – https://econvenor.org/

4.4 Computer Security Advice:

EFF Guide to Surveillance Self-Defence – http://ssd.eff.org/
Riseup guide to computer security – http://help.riseup.net/en/security
Activist Security Handbook – https://web.archive.org/web/20151006155614/http://www.activistsecurity.org/

while it’s important to be aware that police brutality does happen, and how to deal with it, it is also very important not to be intimidated by it. It does not happen to everyone and what gets left out of news reports is that more often than not, in the midst of it, protesters looked after and defended each other. Often people get scared away from protests when they hear about police actions – and this is exactly what they want↩