mobius1ski

While dropping in on the #OccupyWallStreet protests a couple of times in the last week, it became clear to me that this movement could benefit strongly from a greater awareness of direct action in theory and practice. What follows is a short collection of texts that will give the reader a thorough grounding in the use of direct action as a means for affecting radical social transformation. This is merely what I could remember off the top of my head. I will add more as more titles occur to me.

Theory

• From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation – The manual employed by the Tahrir Square protest organizers in toppling the Mubarak regime
• Direct Action: An Ethnography – A complete study of the history of direct action
• Anarchy Alive: Anti-Authoritarian Politics from Practice to Theory – A study of contemporary anarchist organizing theory
• Anarchist Direct Actions: A Challenge for Law Enforcement – A look at how the police understand direct action
• The Advent of Netwar – A Rand Corporation (military contractor) handbook on the tactics of decentralized activist networks 
• Anarchy in the Age of Dinosaurs – A treatise on horizontal, decentralized, affinity structures as an alternative to mass movement mobilizations

Practice

• Act Up Civil Disobedience Training – A guide to direct action from the notorious AIDS awareness org
• Ruckus Society Action Planning Manual –ָ A primer from the Ruckus Society in planning direct actions
• Recipes for Disaster: An Anarchist Cookbook – A handbook for direct action and DIY living from Crimethinc
• Bodyhammer: Tactics & Self-Defense for the Modern Protester – A guide to the creation of shields, body armor and other apparatus for defending protesters from police violence
• Locking Down With Lock Boxes – Instructions for creating lock boxes excerpted from “Recipes for Disaster”
• Creative Direct Action Visuals – A guide to creating posters, puppets, t-shirts and other communications assets