Urban Boot Camp:
an
alternative idea on training
Into.
Working for liberation does not always happen in the woods and mountains.
In
fact, the some of the best targets are situated in the major urban areas (such
as corporate headquarters). Also, urban centers are the best palaces for
marches, barricades, and other direct actions. For these reasons, knowing how to
move quickly and stealthily through an urban environment is essential. We know
that our enemies (police and military) train in urban combat tactics. To not
train ourselves is to give our enemy an unneeded advantage.
There are two ways to organize an urban boot camp: One is on an affinity group
level. The other is on a cluster level. You should participate in both.
Affinity Group Level Training.
You should meet at least once a week with other members of your affinity group to
work out. This should include running or cycling, push-ups, pull-ups, crunches,
contact sparring (remember you want to hurt those raping the planet, not each
other, so play safely) and free weight training (if available).
As an affinity group, you should attend martial arts classes. Pick one
that all members of your group are comfortable with. Some styles that do not
rely on size
and brute strength are Jujitsu, Wing Chun and Aikido; also Jeet Kun Do (Bruce
Lee's style) is a effective fighting style. Avoid styles that teach you to fight
fair in a ring-type setting.
In addition, you should do exercises that fall more into the urban boot camp.
Urban Boot Camp
You should meet up as a group to share skills and practice moving in an urban
environment. This teaching should be totally non-hierarchical. For
cluster-size meetings, we have found it better for people to arrive with their identities
obscured (hats and bandanas). We suggest wearing Black Bloc gear because, if
you ever find your self fleeing the forces of the state, you better have you
identity covered, and it's good to practice in the situation that you would be
put in if this were real.
We have found that it works best to begin each boot camp with a small meeting to
ask people what they want to practice. Encourage people to share and to be
honest with themselves and each other.
Then we move on to exercises. A short list is presented below, but this is just a
starting point. After each exercise, it's good to meet again and share what was
learned and tips on how to improve.
Exercises
Fence climbs: pick a few 6-12 foot high fences and practice climbing up them and
jumping off the other side. Climb the fence using nearby ledges and such to
your advantage. Repeat this a few times and share experiences.
Barbed wire: practice different methods of dealing with barbed wire topped fences.
Throwing a heavy jacket or small rug over the wire, squeezing through
gaps, and wearing heavy gloves are some options. Cutting the fences should be avoided during this boot
camp for reasons of safety and potential police interference. If you wish, practice that on your property with your barbed wire.
Running: run across and up and down roads with traffic. Try to lose a chase
person. Remember to play safely. Car crashes are no fun: car on activist crashes are
even less fun.
Wall Climbs: find walls and help each other climb them.
Building climbs: climb to the rooftops of various buildings.
Barrier jumping: find various barriers around waist height (get some higher and
some lower) and practice getting over them quickly.
We have a longer meeting after the exercises to talk about them and share
experiences and tips. Then we play games.
Games
Line tag: this game we split into two teams of roughly equal number. Those who are
"it" stand
behind those who are not. The "not it" group must run in as straight a line as possible
(i.e. over any climbable obstacles) with the "it" group giving chase.
Hide and seek: we
all remember this game, but in this version you are allowed to change hiding places
and attempt to sneak away. If found you are caught.
Kick the Can: you
probably played this one in camp, but here's a quick review: place a can out with a few guards
around it while everyone else hides in the nearby area. If the guards see you approaching they can
tag you, and you have to go to jail. Someone not in jail can rescue the kids in
jail, and if the can is kicked the game starts over.
Scatter tag: in
this game, the idea is to divide the group into two equal teams. The teams must
move through the area, and the idea is to surround a group of opponents with a
larger group of friendly. If you are surrounded, then you must change teams
unless the surrounding group has fewer people than your own. In this case,
the surrounding group loses and must
change to the surrounded (larger) group's team. Glowing necklaces are a good team marker and make
hiding more difficult. Give each team member a few of each color and hope they are
honest.
Urban capture the
flag: This should be a separate event from the rest of the boot
camp. Divide downtown into equal halves with a two-block wide neutral zone down
the middle, and divide the players into two equal teams. Each team gets a bandana as a flag, which
they can loosely tie anywhere on their half of downtown, so long as it is in
plain sight from the street. Players can use any means of transit (bikes,
public transit, cabs, limos, rickshaws, feet, skate borders) except for private
vehicles to arrive at the flag. The flag must be captured and taken on foot
to the home team's area. If you are in the opponents' area and get
tagged, you must return to your side before you can go back to play. The tagger
must escort you to the neutral zone. Members of each team should be marked.
Again,
different color glowing necklaces work well.
-Faithless
