DIRECT ACTION 101
A video series I created to break down the politics, power, and risks of collective resistance. Whether you’re new to organizing, teaching radical history, or just trying to figure out how we fight back, these videos are made for you.
🎥 Watch the series → Click here
✊ What is Direct Action?
Direct action is collective resistance that doesn’t rely on politicians, corporations, or institutions to grant us change. People use it when the systems meant to protect us fail, or actively harm us.
"Direct action" is a category of activism in which participants act directly, ignoring established (or institutionalized) political and social procedures. Operating within the boundaries of laws and demonstrating peacefulness are not elements of direct action. Examples of direct action are strikes, boycotts, sabotage, blockades, tree-sits, Black Bloc, obtaining secret footage, lock-on’s and riots or a combination of methods like a planned march + lock-on etc.” (The Direct Action Network)
From sit-ins and blockades to mutual aid and community defense, direct action interrupts business as usual to demand justice, redistribute resources, or defend lives. It’s been central to movements like:
The Civil Rights Movement’s lunch counter sit-ins
ACT UP’s die-ins to force action on the AIDS crisis
Water protectors’ blockades at Standing Rock
Mutual aid networks in response to COVID-19 and police violence
WATCH AND LEARN
EP 1: How To Become An Organizer (my story)
EP 2: How To Get Started With Organizing, Mutual Aid, and more (Q&A)
EP 3: Why We Need DIRECT ACTION
EP 4: ANARCHIST CALISTHENICS: The Radical Theory That Will Change Your Life
EP 5: MUTUAL AID: How To Survive When The State Fails Us
EP 6: SECURITY CULTURE 101: How Activists Resist State Repression
EPISODE 1: How To Become An Organizer (My Story)
Exploring my experiences as a decade-long organizer across various movements.
EPISODE 2: How to Get Started With Organizing
A Q&A between three media-makers and Black anarchists on the organizing life, mutual aid, and more.
EPISODE 3: Why We Need DIRECT ACTION
How is DIRECT ACTION different than other forms of dissent?
EPISODE 5: How To Survive When The State Fails Us
A breakdown of the tactics, histories, and movements behind mutual aid.
EPISODE 6: SECURITY CULTURE 101
How do activists combat repression? This episode will help you find out how.
📌 Protest Safety + Direct Action Guides
“Protest Safety” — Digital Defense Fund
https://digitaldefensefund.org/ddf-guides/protest-safety-tips
Solid beginner guide on physical, digital, and legal protest safety.
“Know Your Rights: Protesters’ Rights” — ACLU
https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/protesters-rights
Overview of legal rights in protest contexts (US-specific).