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i don't bash back

i shoot first
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Typeset in o lowvo, kamerk.
snd Garamond

Designed by Post Chicanx

Escay from Queer aleavilence:
Bash Back! Anshalogy

P available on haters.lif
I Don’t Bash Back
1 Shoot First

by anonymous
The following essay was
anonymously circulated amidst
queer/anarchist circles in
the Pacific Northuwest. It is
reproduced here in its entirety. Its
initial circulation sparked much
controversy among its readers.
Here's hoping for more!
iest, leds clear a few things up: Bash Back! s dead—old history. We'e all sl
fucking its corpse, toully disinterested while the filthy body falls apart, surting
o smell. Whatever. Here's the real point: if at the moment of BBYs disappearance
this queer virus fais o spread, if we arent prolierating terribly, chen we're kidding
ourselves, calling what we experienced a. death (despie our nihilise woo-woo-
insurrecto fantasy’s)—if dhis is our case, then what we chose was to survive things
as they are, making our peace- even with our noted bad awitude. Doing-Being
Assimilation, by other means. And that' cool, right? Jay/ kay-<3lulz<3-Fuck You,
Fuck Thar Shit. If you'e making your peace, we were enemies from the start—Get
ficked. For whoever is scll insatiable: your gle, hatred and frends are waiting; so
get your shit ogether and begin again. Crazy insurtecta-bitches had it right— but
once or awice “affnity groups” are cheap shit—lets get it constant. Some of s were.
stepping to that shic before the fist convergence, and some of us have been roling
hard since, lcking our lips at that “War” in Social War. Here are a few of our notes

INSTEAD OF A THEORY:

D EACH OTHER

‘We hink that survival, fighting back and fucking shit up should be step one; geting
food, fending shelcr to lve in, sarting fights, staying fy, making people hurriedly
cros the sreet, keeping hec’s mouths shut, scamming hormones, nevworks to get the
benefits of your crime where it should go, names of who needs to get smacked down,
looking out for cach other when we'e out escorting, taking from anyone in our w:
Actively not giving a fuck means stareing right in the thick of conflict, daily lfe,
ather than going through the tred tradition of looking to meet people with a bunch
of activists, keeping calm, teaching the poor unknowing queers and good citizens
what they really need. This is sbout doing what we want right from the stari—
buiding the means to our autonomy for ourselves. Here’s the last argument anyone
nceds: Wouldsit you have rather srted your intro to anarchism-in-action off with a
fly ass gang of qucer criminals who've got your back, instead of chariy acevises? Yeah,
we fucking thought so

Forming a crew i a spliting off—its giving up the entire feel becer, join the milicu,
lk to hearts and minds, radical offsecting bullshit that the rest of anarchism is
obsessed with. Learning o act means a coming together—fucking shit up, endlessly:
But our splivting off ahways seems to begin our contact with other people who seem
vt more ke us, outside the anarchist circuie.

So. First things first, find some wild ass queers who just wanna run amok—
alernarively, queers who are sick of everything and full of eynicism. Simple enough—
youre almost cerainly friends with a few of these, but assuming you don't just look
up and say “oh, righ, there’s my crew” don't fiet, ics not like its hard to find queers
who can't wait for way to get back at the world. Plenty of us are geting fucked over
constantly, and the only things people come to ook Forward to s their group-therapy

doicbash back shoo e 5
mecting. Unuuugh. Something as simple as being those loud queer kids brings people
from unexpected places.

Learn each other’s suengrhs and interests by hanging out together. Go everywhere
with cach other. Dancelsex partieslike every week. Share your shit. Free time spent
and carved out with each other might be the most important element in starting
0 speak o each other. Egg cach other on, and support your friends—slowly, you
will grow comfortable acting with each other, and responding o cach other's needs
quickly—speaking means a few minutes tll acting. Our coming togecher looks fly
and builds a common fecling along our sense of moving through this world. I's
this endearment to each other that builds trust, that teaches us how to say what we
need, and get angry enough to go get it. Our bonds put us out of the grasp of people
wanting to dircct us away from each other, away from our needs and wans, rying to
manage, regulate and make uscful our hatred for everything, Inscead, this bond puts
us in 2 position to build our own power and autonomy.

Crew logic is different from everyday logic. You stat stepping with an eye to how
everything around you can be pu to use for you and yours. Building your pover
is its own end, self jusifying—all the other political shit offered just get annoy
engaging with it, boring. Fostering in common the abiliy to meet our needs and
bring the conflict on our terms will aways remain obscured to our enemies and their
confusion only fels us on. Laughing hyena queers. If you hate everything, fuck
everything up. Hit back, make them hurt. Poincing out that people are auracted to.
you when you bring force and win is anarchist heresy, apparently, but that's so000
useless. Cause enough waves and they'll come to you, or bettr by fa, imitate you
“Afinity groups” only wish they could be as hot as us.

2. TAKE SPACE (& EVERYTHING)

Open hostility is the name of the game. When s you, and your friends, it only takes
one person to make things hectic. Those firs nights out will be difficult, painful, and
uncertain. Then things get interesing. Push come to shove, justsart walking around
in groups - you'e bound o find trouble. No snub should go unanswered, pushing
your bonds harder and harder, geting into conflictthat offes you no way out—No
the least of it virtues. You mighe be nervous, you might get furious and wild out;
cither way, your crew will grow, your togetherness change, and you'l be (more) ready.
for whatever.

A pare of chis will be che many ways you begin taking up space—with the outide
world and with each other. We donie pretend to know your situation or the best way
for you 1o attacks so what we offer is a look at some key things distlled from our
experience we think might be of use to you. So before going anywhere else with this
wiiting, know that we respond to our situations primarily out of sense and intitio
there were plots, plans, and some ideas, but we didsit know where any of them would
g0, how they would play out: neither do you. Everything happens differently in
different contexts,be ready to shif

“l
“That said, here is what we think is useful in any contexe: Liberals exist, have money;
and frequently want our hot social capital to legitimize their enterprises, socially or
business wise — in most cases, both. So feel free to tuen, exploit, corrupt, use and
dispose of them to the ends of attacking domination and building your power

‘Squats are incredibly uscfsl—as sheler, safe houses, o simply free space. Becoming a
Known spor for queerans people to stay safly can fll up a space quick—one of the
houses we were holding had up 1o 40 people at one point. We just spread mats out,
and covered the foor. And we often find ourselves houseless or almost so, or barely
able to cover rent, or know other queer/tzans people in abusve situations—it’s good
0 be able to give someone (o oursclves) a way our, Creating a strategic network of
spaces around your city opens up crazy possibilities, and if one spor gets raided, shut
down, evicted or whatever, you will alteady know another few places to go. Even if
youite ot going 1o use a spot, someone else might. Getting into a place is pretty
‘asy with a el practice (one memorable ight we got nto 12 empry houses before
sunsise without any prior planning,) and afier youve opened a space you can spread
the word out about where and how t get in o who needs i

Also, Bump Keys. Important enough to get their own line. I youre not familiar with
them, look them up. They give you very quick access o a lot of places.

“The way your crew atacks togecher il likely have a distnet character t it one re-
ectng different straegies put into play - there are many different ways t practice!
spread/live war. Here are some examples: they are reflections of our practice and
lives, ot a program. Simplifing, different approaches could be said to be between
open and visible forms, and closed and obscure forms. Again the best way to know
what works for your context is to go by conversation, experience through experi-
mentasion, intition, and your sense of what would work.

Open ties are visible. Take group strolls, pick fights, write up on walls, vandalize
everything—especially people. Jump people, Stat parties, talk about how cops suck.
scams you know, and how boring staigh cis people ar: jump people n to the conflct.
berween sex in squats and wild dance partes. Be loud, obnoxious and annoying.
Being scen from a block or two away—a simillr syle of dress may be adopred, o not.
A way of agging what your down for might come into play—one group ted a pink
bandanna over a black one to single that they were down to ride on someone. Walk
into stores in groups of 10, il your bags, make mess and leave, dominate clubs
and bars. Take over stret corners, or wherever people can seill congregate near you;
enforce your spot as you please. Act wild, because you can—whateveris a rush. Live.
a presence buil over time. When others see you, encourage them to set up their own
group and support other ses

Closed forms are much more abruse and opaque. This doesn't mean any les conflict,
crime, cortuption or any of that good shit, nor cuttng off your abiliy to act with
other people against a common enemy, simply quieter forms, and very distinct in-
grouplout group divides. Of cours, this entals talking about your criminal shit
in private only, learning to signal ever so subtly, and having a lot more planned

doicbash back shoos e | 7
out actacks and goalssextng. Generally,this looked two diffrent ways—on the one.
hand, you could just be that group of queerftrans people hanging out all the time, no
one having any clue about what you'te up to when they don see you. On the other
hand, no one has to be aware that they are surrounded by a hateful queer squad with
plans for them. Our enemies always know how to lay out just the suategies to undo
them, if you lsten just the right way:

We've got one of the best tactis around, the sccret potential of the closets. Some.
thing we used. You could appear to all the world s just isolated, normative cis-hetero
people, and they will never sce it coming—looking like a fucking queer laer can
throw off any description cops have when they come looking.

Mising up open and closed formulations created a powerful dynamic for conflict.
Being open ended allowed us o slip beaveen different sicuations and approaches
and take whatever form exploited our enenies and allowed us to keep on the artack
For inflration, blackmail, targeted attacks against rapists and pimps, and working
together to rip off our jobs, the closed form was indispensable. For open conflict,
indimidaion, creating space, inspiring other angry queerfurans kids o link up and
grab a weapon, the open form was key. Walking between forms can (and should) be
a5 quick as a sroll from one block to the next.

On the question of leadershipy lots of gangs have leadership roles. Obyiously, we've
found dhis useless: chains of command are the quickest way for one person to try
and alm down' or rally up everyone ele for their personal benefi. So yeah, not
interested. How ever, this doesnt mean that there cant be different levels of “in” in
your crew—bue his is formed on the basis of who's shown themselves comforeable
‘with what This is mostly an issue for more open formulations: some people are down,
but only by degees. You might collectively trust some people more or some less than
others. Some people you might rust, ut you've yet o act ogether-especially o risky.
shit. Its important that everyone know that not everyone needs to know everything.
Also, some people are liberals, and they really don' need to know shit—unless that
tranzqueer swagger you got gets them hot, then shrug maybe they have potenial

3. SHARE THE GIFT OF YOUR VIOLENCE

“Friendship, Vengeance and Contempt—these are
she only guides worth follwing”

“The lived reality of the parcicipants in a riou/black bloc/siwuacion where you and
everyone around you s just out to fuck shit up, then youve fel that maniacal pull
towards smashing anything your sck of. You've felt how the only act worth anything
in those moments is multiplying that sense of power. This sensatio s the sensation
of the gang—the embedded relation between you and your friends, making it your
daily context, the medium you talk and live through. There is no progeam for
friends bonded becween cach other; goals become apparent reative to the force and

sl
comuprion y it wage. Wit xchahe, i aythin i yousway—chas he
giftof your violence.

Our “theory” is really simple: self protection and exploding social war by
communalizing violence—to multiply. not exhaust our teror. Build a material social
force by living together with relationships becween us that build our autonomy and
destroys theirs. Stare he fight, bring the bashing first atcack and hit back and find
others already fighting and build bonds becween you—the anarchist scene, outside.
of the bonds we already share, is mostly a husk to be shrugged off. I6s not like our
enemies are hard to come by: neither then are accomplices. Of course, generalized
social war is our goal in writing you these sweet things, sooo...nothing resembles our
desire so much as an endless irftation.

W knew this was his howse. We knew he was inside, and afier a week of watching,
srolling by every couple hours looking dirty and forgtsable, we knew he was alone. This
rapist fuck was a konown scm bag, but afier raping one of our own a feu years back, this
Ll sit went and bragged abou it and other times hed fucked peaple afic they sai stop
1o his by a bit 100 oudly—and one of us overheard, becanse you never know who your
Jiends are. Honestly, we dicd' even know hed made it back into town, but whateuer,
s los. Weid been sitting on this aley block apening to the sres, waiting around for our
Jiend 1 bis us up on whether the coast was clea, ot that yes and we juse rolled—hoods
. pinde masks on walked right up 1o th fromt door while 0o of us went o bis back
yard with the back door (ya know he kep it unlocked) an like that we busted ous the
lock, kicked in the door,ran wp on bissreaming ass from both sdes and dazed i with
a picce of plywood. We dragged him 0 the back o the house, taped bis mouth shus,tied
s hands and fet 0 chair, handed a bat 1o she survivor and laughed while they knce-
capped him—it ook a coupl of wings, but 1 don'sin'e hospials can fx thas. Afier that
we put a few cuts on bis face and someone sprayed bright pink spray paint into his fuce

and ye

Some people like to make themselves into a message to show the dumb queer proles
the way. Wed rather skip the years of anarcho-activism and get to open conflict—
invite only orgies might help speed things along. Some people like 1o say all of what
they are going to do, sprayed up on the walls. Broken bones sends a beteer message.
“Safe space” is a practice of war,or else the concept s worthless. Something that looks
like going on the offensive wherever; not pacified, brief back room group therapy.
With each other, acting togecher—against anything that makes themselves a arget.

Nothing burns like geting icked by a srick and afier one 100 many times I was ready 1o
quit s work but how the fuck was 1 going o get money? Rich chase fuckers all married
with kids and cars and shisgesing ppivy and treating a gir like shiv—I o hey hate
loud trannys except when they wanna fuck me so afer talking with a fw peopl we got
an idea—so you konows afie couple daysof scheming up enaigslis had more work lined
up for the weekend, but things went a lile differnt this times—Id alveady le everyone.
lows where 1 was going, 30 when he brought me into bis big nice hose in his nice
neighborhood, 1 e the door apen, snappe his picture, and pus « small gun 10 his head.

doicbash back shoot e | 9
Then all my grorls rushed in and took what shit was ours—the trick just looking helpless
and he e we had blackmail 0 kept bis trap shut. Onee everyone was done we thanked
i for heling a girl s ancl lf him pistol whipped n bleeding. The next ime, knocking
the rick out was just how it suarted. THEY HAVE A LOT MORE MONEY WHEN
YOU TAKE WHAT YOU DECIDE YOU'RE WORTH LOL!

These “actions” will become casual, normal—and writing a communiqué about al
your eriminal ultra-queer-violence and destruction might fecl out of place. Who else
do you know who could eally do with hit squad with analysis? Playing fair means
just playing. Sell shit to your enemies—Later, someone ele from your crew robs
them of what they were just sold. Repeat on and on and on. Throw the driver out
of fancy cars, sell the pares. When things are awry— cops concentrated in one area,
power outages, storms, house fites, whatever—is an opportunity to run wild- maybe
you can provoke them. Break into a con do, party; and burn it down. Knock some
‘sshole out when their alone and leave them on their fiends doorstep.

Three of s were just walking around for abous 2 hows on some busines afier a party just
venting to each other when this fushy white SUV puls up alongside 1. Now we ahways
ook good, and be wans 1o know how much we was, we asked “alltogrher?” and be was
like e o we got into bis car and it was just someshing abos how his motherfucker
alked that 1 don’t eally know how but we new what just what we wanted 10 do with
this guy s0 we put he knife 10 bis throat and robbed his as clean then slapped his head on
theseering wheeltill he pasd ous. Then it was just a fe car so what el would e do
bt ride 1l the ke was empry?

Anarchists have this bad tendency to shy away from power—mostly because they.
really want 1o keep themselves useless- something about vested clas interests and
trace liberalism. Rebel for play. For us, as we get worse, our hunger only grows. |
WANT allthe dumbass queer haters o start shit. Sometimes, you get tired of waiting
around, and just stae throwing chings irst because fuck em’” You ge allurgent and
relenless, and just want to explode tensions and push things beyond thei breaking
point s0 you can laugh together afierwards and do it again. And that’s when things

getgood.
Fight everywhere, stay in the thick of i, get tight with your crew:

NO CONCLUSIONS

‘We were serious when we said BB! should dic and be reborn as a hella vicious sreet
gang. Really weve been veering toards this from day one.

165 what all the anarcho-managers have been wringing their hands trying to stav off.
A couple of us already went there, we juse didsit write the communiqués because this

shit got normal. OF course, none of this means you suddenly isolate yourself into.
erews and crew only, never speaking with anyone else, we hang out with whoever

1)
allthe time. But you might find that the more your crew makes the war visible, the
more it will resonate with other people you might not have expected; excitement is
the medium of social war generalized

Also, donitact like a preacher. Go ahead and sart rasing money now for when you or
someone you know gets artested. Not everyone knows the anarcho-lingo, and while
some words are worch going to war over, most language politics are middle-class
preoccupations.

A final clarification: When we say “anarchist” we mean living in conflict with capital,
and all the social relations created therein. Unil class society is ended, we want
nothing but eternal war.

1 youre sill doing that anarcho-activist manager thing, whether in s liberal or the
recent reactionary insureectionist version: go die.

FURTHER READING:
“Towards the Queerext insurection

“Vengeance 1-3 *Interview with the Clas Warriors
“The Coming insurrection

“Cabal, Argor

“Catechiom of a Revolutionist

“Nos Vr Ciser press

“Enemies We Kinow

Read less, fight more

o bash bk shoos e 11
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