[_ACAB INCLUDES |
THE PEACE POLICE

THREE REPORT BACKS FROM
PALESTINIAN SOLIDARITY ACTIONS

Note: As with every mobilization, there are
conflicting accounts of what happened from
various personal and political vantage
points. Yet the three excerpts below from
recent report backs offer a much-needed
critique of tendencies— “nonprofit-ally
complex politics” and “peace police” —that
repeatedly appear in moments of anarchic
resistance so as to contain and limit
transformative possibilities, and thus
ultimately uphold the status quo.

Cover artwork by zola
Layout by Black Flag Library & Distro
Typeset in Univers and PAALALABAS WIDE using Canva
BAY AREA: A CRITIQUE OF OBEDIENT PROTEST
ANARCHIST ACTIONS FOR INTIFADA

At the November 5, 2023, protest against the “Friends
of the IDF Gala” in San Carlos, California, hundreds
of people mobilized to shut down this fundraiser for a
fascist, zionist, genocidal army, but the key player
preventing the actual disruption of this event was the
nonprofit that “organized” the protest, Jewish Voices
for Peace (JVP) Bay Area.

JVP Bay Area did the dirty work of the police and the
“israeli” occupation forces (IOF) through its
aggressive peace policing, relentless harassment of
anyone who wanted to do something more than
stand and shout, and protest marshaling that helped
the donors of settler-colonialist genocide drive safely
into the gala. It not only allowed but actually
facilitated this fundraiser.

Not only did JVP Bay Area aggressively prevent the
crowd from doing anything other than standing and
shouting, its yellow-vested protest marshals moved
the crowd down the road, allowing the gala attendees
to reach the event, and prevented the crowd from
knowing where a blockade could be most effective
for actually stopping the fundraiser. Whether directly
or indirectly, JVP Bay Area collaborated with the
kkkops and zionists to help raise money for the IOF
by ensuring the protest did not shut down the
fundraiser.

The protest marshals were stationed behind police
lines next to where gala attendees were driving in

1
with giant “israeli” flags on their cars. Skyway Road
is a dead-end; a blockade several hundred feet up the
street in the direction of the Holly Street viaduct
would have actually prevented gala attendees from
being able to enter, shutting the entire event down.
Alternatively or additionally, a blockade earlier in the
day before the gala was being set up would have
caused significant material disruption to the event.
There were multiple strategies and tactics available
for disrupting this gala.

When asked why the crowd wasn't being invited or
encouraged to block the entrance IOF donors were
using, one of the white protest marshals stationed at
the Fairfield Inn driveway literally said, “I'm just
following orders.” Whose orders were they
following? Why was following orders more important
to them than spreading the word to stop the zionist
cars that they could see driving right past them? It
seems the “organizers” of this protest were
instructing their security team to prevent protesters
from stopping the gala.

JVP Bay Area corralled the crowd into the area
directly in front of the Hiller Aviation Museum (the
gala venue), stationed security at the alternate
attendee entrance at the Fairfield Inn, and actively
worked with the police to ensure that genocide
funders were able to attend the gala safely. This
nonprofit cannot say it was unaware of what was
happening when its protest marshals watched gala
attendees drive into the event.
It is clear that JVP Bay Area had no interest in
actually stopping the gala from happening. Why not?
JVP on the East Coast has done civil disobedience
and direct action. This event was a fundraiser for the
10F by an organization that raised almost $30 million
last year. If this was not a time and place where
disruption was needed, when and where is?

The actions of the protest marshals, although
disobeyed by some, were unfortunately generally
effective in decreasing conflictuality within the crowd
and setting a tone of obedient and compliant protest.
The most liberal elements of the crowd took this as a
signal to deputize themselves as peace police and
harass those trying to actually shut down the
fundraiser.

When participants of the demonstration attempted to
take down barricades separating the crowd from the
gala’s venue, the peace police filmed and took
photos, physically interjected, put the police
barricades back together, and yelled at those
attempting to push forward for “stirring shit up.”
Why show up to a fundraiser for an army committing
genocide if not to stir things up? The organizers
leading chants of “there is only one solution: intifada,
revolution” showed themselves to be no more than
counterrevolutionaries with zero desire to actually
confront the kkkops and zionists right in front of
them. The co-optation of this revolutionary language
is disrespectful to every Palestinian martyr who has
fought for their life, land, and freedom.
Where were the lessons of the antipolice rebellions of
the past fourteen years in the Bay Area, from Oscar
Grant to George Floyd? Why were the “organizers”
so quick to encourage obedience to the police? Have
they forgotten the role of the police within white
supremacist capitalism, or are they just eager to
capitalize on respectability politics by distancing
themselves from the struggle for Black liberation and
revolutionary abolition?

A JVP national board member named Lisa Rofel told
the news, “The nicest thing we could say is that it's in
bad taste.” When fascist zionists are actively raising
money to fund genocide, you want to say “the nicest
thing”? You think it's “in bad taste” to give tens of
millions of dollars to the IOF death machine?

To those of you who showed up and wanted to
actually shut down this fundraiser for genocide, we
have heard many of you express feelings of grief that
protesting this gala “did nothing.” We agree: nothing
was done to stop the Palestinian genocide on
Sunday. Our hearts are with you in this grief. We ask
you to remember the rage you felt as you were
forced to stand peacefully while funders of genocide
drove by you in Teslas and the yellow vests blocked
you from reaching them. Do not let this demoralize
you. We ask you also to remember that no one and
no organization has the right to tell you how to
respond in the face of unspeakable evil. Just because
they slapped their logo on an announcement does
not mean they are entitled to control you or any other
protester.

4
PORT OF TACOMA: WHO EVEN NEEDS COPS

WHEN ...?
BLACK POWDER PRESS

The Tacoma, Washington, port blockade on
November 6, 2023, was a beautiful show of solidarity,
but a complete failure. Who even needs cops when
the peace police will do their job for them for free?

At 5 am. in the cold and dark, hundreds of people
wanting to blockade a shipment of weapons to Israel
descended on the port of Tacoma. The way the port
works is if the union declares the area is unsafe, it
calls off operations for the whole shift. A big enough
crowd blocking the entrances is usually enough, and
yesterday it worked basically immediately. Success,
right?

The crowd grew and split into several pickets,
marching in circles in different parts of the port, with
organizers in yellow-green vests keeping people from
stepping out of line. A group of riot cops was
stationed inside the warehouse on the pier where the
boat sat, waiting to try to stop protesters who might
breach the fence and enter where boats are loaded.
On the outside, the protest managers in yellow vests
were constantly making sure nobody was planning to
enter the pier.

The atmosphere was generally festive and powerful,
and people’s anger at the ongoing genocide was
apparent. People came to block the port and keep the.
boat from reaching it's destination. Side goals were
also making it cost them more and to create an easily
reproducible action. g
It felt to most like it was working great, but in the
middle of the afternoon, the self-declared leaders of
the action made a confusing announcement. They
told everyone the action was a success and everyone
should go home. People were confused and deflated.
Was the boat not still sitting there? Were they not
trying to block the boat from being loaded?

It turns out that the military had sent in its own
workers to load the boat, and the protest organizers
had known about it for hours. Had people blocking
the march known this, and that marching in circles
was for the publicity of the organizers and nothing
more than photo op and symbolic “show of
resistance,” things could have transpired quite
differently.

Organizers spread misinformation throughout the
protest, and most people were convinced that
marching in a circle and chanting was actively
stopping the ship from being loaded or having
shipments delivered. In reality, the military already
had the shipment in the dock and successfully loaded
all twenty-eight containers. Out of fear of police
dispersal, people were greatly discouraged and
directed to not breech the chain-link fence that
separated them from the ship. At the end of the day,
organizers called the action “over” and sent everyone
home despite the ship still being in the dock.

People came to the action to block the boat. People
were there to prevent the flow of arms to Israel.
People were there to stand up for Gaza and put their
own bodies on the line to take action to attack the
war machine.

But the peace police took away people’s agency.
They did whatever they could to take away autonomy
from anyone other than the big O organizers. They
sabotaged the action to present a false narrative of
success when in fact, they had actively prevented it.

How the fuck was that a “victory”? The people of
Gaza need the bombs to stop dropping. For the arms
destined for Israel to be stopped. In trying to seem
respectable, we are shooting ourselves in the foot
and nothing more. ACAB indisputably includes the
peace police.

Do what you can to stop the genocide now. If you're
not willing to take action yourself, step out of the
fucking way.
AUSTRALIA: THE BOAT THAT

WASN'T BLOCKED
BACKLASH BLOGS

There is a genocide in Palestine. We need to block the
boats—to stop and disrupt ZIM ships, as a means to
attack and undermine the lIsraeli killing machine.
Right now, our efforts are being misdirected—by
organizations that adopt the rhetoric of direct action,
smear it over events that are not that, and undermine
movements that truly have the will to act against
Zionism.,

A November 11, 2023, rally in Melbourne, Australia,
titled Block the Boat, was organized in a way that did
not reflect any intention of actually blocking boats but
instead actively frustrated attempts to do so. Some
disruption of a road took place in spite of the
organizers through attendees defying and ignoring
their instructions. Despite working to inhibit both the
road blockade and direct action in general, organizers
basked in credit on social media for the action that
happened in Melbourne, also significantly
exaggerating its size and impact.

People have a courage and capacity to act that
overflows the bounds of symbolic demonstrations
outside the empty halls of power. The words “Block
the Boat” imply, well, blocking boats, and that was
how many people interpreted it. Yet less prominent
lettering on promotional materials indicated that the
purpose was actually to say “Block the Boats” and
“call for” a boycott—a message addressed to ZIM. It
wasn't clear why we had to go to the port to do this.

8
The call to gather at an event to “boycott ZIM” is
bizarre. How can the general public boycott a
company that doesn't sell final goods? The only
meaningful “boycott” in this case is not a boycott, it's
a strike—the withholding of labor.

I attended a meeting for Trade Unionists for Palestine
where some people tried to call for exactly that. The
cognitive dissonance was off the charts. There was
much talk of wharfies refusing to load ships for South
African apartheid. What a glorious past. But when
people suggested that the same resistance should
happen now—that workers and unions should refuse
to build or transport weapons destined for Israel—
organizers responded aggressively and dismissively.
The conversation was derailed into discussion of
bringing more flags to rallies, issuing statements, and
general BDS [boycott, divestment, sanctions]—things
like Sodastream or McDonald's.

While BDS is good, giving up McDonald’s is not the
same as blocking the flow of weapons to Israel. And
while statements are nice, it’s not words or lack
thereof that kill people; it's bombs.

In this context, the hypocrisy of the “Block the Boat”
rallies [in both Melbourne, and soon after, Sydney] is
jaw-dropping—to hold an event calling for someone
else to boycott ZIM and the Israeli arms trade, while
you and your organizations are continuing to load
and unload ZIM ships, build and handle arms, and
otherwise enable the supply chain of weapons for
Israel.
The timing of the rallies also seemed suspiciously
rigid and convenient. If the goal was to intercept a
ZIM ship as it arrived in port, it seemed strange this
could be scheduled several days in advance for the
Melbourne event and a week for Sydney. That's not
how the sea works. It seemed odd as well that the
mighty ocean would conspire via time and tide to
bring a boat to port at ideal rally hours, 12 p.m. on a
Saturday and 530 pm. on a working day,
respectively.

The locations weren't conducive to disruption. The
Sydney rally was planned for a recreational boat
ramp some distance away from any container ship or
cargo. The Melbourne event took place at a point
which is seven to eight kilometers away from where
ZIM ships are typically scheduled to dock.

It was hard to verify claims made by organizers that
we were there to meet a ZIM ship because no one
specified which ship we were supposed to be
meeting. This would have been understandable if we
were conducting a clandestine action relying on the
element of surprise, but we were not—the time and
place were splashed all over social media and flyers.

In Melbourne, few trucks came through bearing ZIM-
branded containers, evoking what a comrade who
was present describes as “jeers from the crowd and
the collective middle finger.” At some point, these
jeers escalated into action and people blocked the
road to stop one such truck from coming through.
Some lay down in front of it, others sat down.
Eventually the truck was redirected to another

10
entrance, facilitated by a police escort. People still
wouldn’t leave, and within hours there was a whole
line of trucks backed up. Estimates I've heard range
from fifty to sixty to “hundreds.”

It was not the organizers who made this happen.
People on Twitter posted in real time to say they
“tried to get us to leave” and “the crowd are having
none of it.” One comrade who was present describes
organizers yelling at people to move, actually
attempting to grab one or two people, and being
“quite physically intimidating”—though by their
account, it was more words and shouting than
physical force.

In the days that followed, there was a huge inflation
on social media and then actual media of what had
just happened. To be clear, we did not block the port.
We blocked one road leading to the port, causing
diversion of traffic. That is not nothing, but it is very
different from blocking the boats.

This did not stop the same organizations that had
tried to prevent the blockade from happening, and
failed to support it when it did, from accepting the
exaggerated credit. While some information can be
found to clarify, none of this has come from the
organizers themselves (Trade Unionists for
Palestine). Judging by the online presence of
affiliated individuals, you would think this group and
its orbiters had always applauded direct action in
general, the Melbourne action in particular, and even
that they were the progenitors of the blockade that
they tried to shut down.

n
| don’t need to draw any conclusions about people’s
motivations and | won’t. What is clear is that people
are telling the public stuff that isn’t true, harvesting
their contact details, and getting them to turn out to
events—on the basis that they can “block the boats”
to stop weapons from going to Israel—when these
organizers are actually making sure it is impossible to
block any ZIM boat at these rallies.

There are ideological differences, differences in
analysis, around the value of direct action. If you
don't like or believe in it, don't do it. But get out of
the way. Stop misleading people; stop—frankly—
lying. | don’t know what else to call it when people
appropriate direct action rhetoric, bask in the credit
for actions they didn’t undertake and tried to stop,
and tell untruths that demobilize or even render
future actions impossible.

12
“THERE ARE IDEOLOGICAL
DIFFERENCES, DIFFERENCES IN
ANALYSIS, AROUND THE VALUE OF
DIRECT ACTION. IF YOU DON’T LIKE OR
BELIEVE IN IT, DON'T DO IT. BUT GET
OUT OF THE WAY. STOP MISLEADING
PEOPLE; STOP—FRANKLY—LYING. |
DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO CALL IT
WHEN PEOPLE APPROPRIATE DIRECT
ACTION RHETORIC, BASK IN THE CREDIT
FOR ACTIONS THEY DIDN'T UNDERTAKE
AND TRIED TO STOP, AND TELL
UNTRUTHS THAT DEMOBILIZE OR EVEN
RENDER FUTURE ACTIONS
IMPOSSIBLE.”