IT’s:SAEER IN
,/|T‘1‘{E FRONT

This text was published 1.28.2025
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Faced with intensifying repression and state violence, there is an
understandable inclination to seck safety by avoiding confronta-
tion. But this is not always the most effective strategy.

“Counterintuitive though it i, in a confusing situation, often the
best, if not safest, place to be s the front lines, so you can get a
clear visual grasp of what is going on around you”

—*What I Do for a Living. an account from the demonsrations
against the 2003 European Union summit in Thessaloniki,
‘published in Rolling Thunder ¢1.

My friend's grandfather grew up in Germany in the 1920s. Being
Jewish, he got involved in radical organizations and sometimes
engaged in physical altercations with Nazis. In a memoir that he
recorded for his family decades later, he describes the situation
when the Nazis took power:

“In January 1933, Hitler became chancellor: I thought we would
now start a revolution, but actually nothing happened. The com-
munists defected—often en masse—to the Nazis and the social
democrats held out altle longer but ulimately dissolved their
organizations”

In May 1933, when he was twenty years old, he learned that he
was about to be prosecuted for having broken a Nazi's nose in a
street brawl. Rather than face trial in a judicial system controlled
by Nazis, he immediately obtained a passport and boarded a train
for Holland that same night at 8 pm.

3
Some years later, the rest of his family died in the concentra-
tion camp in Auschwitz

‘This story succinetly illustrates a surprisingly common phe-
‘nomenon. Had my friend's grandfather not participated in open
confrontations with Nazis from the very beginning, had he kept
his head down and avoided trouble, he probably would have re-
‘mained in Berlin and met the same fate as his relatives. By taking
the offensive, he put himself in harm's way—but paradoxically, in
the long run, that worked out better than playing it safe.

Likewise, participants in the guerrilla underground of the
Jewish resistance were among the only ones to survive the Nazis’
annihilation of the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw. In organizing to meet
the Nazi threat head on, they developed a robust relationship to
their agency, and this served them well when the only way out
was to organize a daring escape from the besieged and burning
ghetto through the sewer system.

For members of targeted groups, the initial impulse is often to
withdraw, to go into hiding. Yet when it comes to both individual
and collective self-preservation, it can be wiser to act assertively
at the beginning, while it s still possible to influence the course of
events. Even if this goes badly, it can be better to bring the con-
flict to a head immediately, before one's adversary becomes more
powerful. If nothing else, this strategy has the virtue of making it
impossible to lull oneself into a false sense of security while the
threat increases.

It doesn’t always work out this way, but sometimes, it's safer
in the front.

In January 1933 Mitier
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F—m i it
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na they oraered me. to appesr
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Cortainty could have been,

1t was noon on April 20, 2001. My comrades and I had assem-
bled alongside hundreds of other anarchists and anti-capitalists at
Laval University in Québec City to march on a transcontinental
summit intended to establish a ‘Free Trade Area of the Americas”
In the center of town, behind miles of protective fencing and thou-
sands of riot police, George W. Bush and his fellow heads of state
were plotting to override labor laws and environmental protec-

tions to enrich their patrons at our expense.

‘The sun was shining. More and more people were arriving
at the departure point. One group even rolled up a catapult. The
police were nowhere to be seen.

Still, T was anxious. Most of my experience of violence was
subcultural—fighting skinheads, hardcore shows. I'd never taken
on an army of police before. At a meeting the preceding evening, a
local organizer had told us that it would be impossible to reach the
fence around the summit—there were just too many cops with too
much armor and weaponry.

As the crowd began to make its way out of the university
towards the street, I consulted with a more experienced comrade.
“Should we hang back and see what happens?” I asked.

“If we want to be able to see what's happening, we'll have to
be in the front” he answered, matter-of-factly.

We marched directly to the fence surrounding the summit and
tore it down. The police could not stop us. The “Free Trade Area of
the Americas” was never ratified

“Anarchists marching on the so-called “Summit of
the Americas” in Québec City, April 2001

My friend's advice served me well four years later, on the day
that George W. Bush began his second term. That night, follow-
ing the daytime march against the inaugural ceremonies, a se
ond march surged through the neighborhood of Adams Morgan
smashing banks and corporate businesses and attacking a police
substation. Some participants dropped an enormous banner across
abuilding facade reading “From DC to Iraq—with occupation
comes resistance” We were attempting to compel the Bush regime
to end the occupation of Iraq, which inflicted countless civilian ca-
sualties and later contributed to the catastrophic rise of the Islamic
State.

As the march dispersed, a comrade and I found ourselves
among a number of people walking through an alley. Ahead of us
police officers appeared at the exit

‘We could have turned around and run the other direction. But
then we would have been at the back of the crowd, unable to see
what we were running towards. “Run, run forward." I said to my
companion. We were already running.

We dashed past the cops just as they closed their line across
the mouth of the alley. “Don’t let any more of them out” I heard
one bark to another

We were the last ones to escape. The police had blocked the
alley from the other side, as well. They forced the people behind
us to kneel in the snow for hours. Years later, the detainees won a
settlement from the city, but it was better to get away.

T

Washington. DC, January 20, 2005

On August 25, 2008, in Denver, during the demonstrations
against the Democratic National Convention, a couple hundred
people gathered for a march that had been announced but never
organized. We were still protesting against the ongoing occupa-
tion of Iraq and against capitalism in general

Armored police were positioned in groups of a dozen each all
around the park and the surrounding streets, outnumbering the
young people sitting around with black sweatshirts in their laps. A
Vehicle was supposed to deliver banners, but a rumor reached us
that police had detained the driver. Yet just when it seemed certain
that nothing was going to happen, a few young folks pulled up
their hoods and began chanting

Who are these people? 1 recall wondering. What are they
thinking, masking up and linking arms with hundreds of riot police
surrounding them and undercovers at their elbows? What can they
hope to accomplish?

Nonetheless, the other people who had gathered for the march
regrouped with them and they began marching out of the park.
‘They only made it as far as the road, where the nearest squadron
of police formed a line blocking their path and showered them
with pepper spray. No protest had occurred yet, I had heard no
dispersal order, and already the police were using chemical weap-
ons.

A comrade and I watched all this with dismay. There were still
about two hundred of us, but the police were closing in from all
sides and the crowd was disoriented and uncoordinated. It was a
recipe for disaster.

We were at the back of the crowd. But the back can become
the front—it's just a question of initiative. My comrade began
shouting out a countdown. Others joined in, instinctively. Count-
ing together concentrated our attention, our expectations, our
sense of ourselves as a collective force capable of concerted action.
And then thirty of us were sprinting over the grass away from the
police line.

Seeing this, the rest of the crowd fell in behind. In a few
seconds, hundreds of people were running across the park to the
intersection at the far side of the lawn, where police had not gath-
ered yet.

Now the energy in the air was electric, in contrast to the
malaise and uncertainty of a moment earlier. We passed through
the intersection, into which some enterprising young people
pulled a municipal sign reading “Road Closed"—and suddenly, we
were approaching the business district

‘The same principle served us well later in the evening when
we saw a line of riot police fanning out across an intersection a
block ahead. Without pausing to confer, my comrade and I bolted
towards them. We reached the line of police and dodged between
them before they could block our path. They had orders to create a
barrier, not to chase us. We were safe.

Denver, August 25, 2005

: P A

On the morning of January 20, 2017, another comrade and I
Joined the march in downtown Washington, DC opposing the in-
auguration of Donald Trump. In the decades that had passed since
Bush’s second inauguration, police all around the country had
militarized, receiving bigger and bigger budgets even as politicians
claimed there was no money available for anything else. This time,
the streets were crowded with 28,000 law enforcement personnel

‘There was open conflict with the police as soon as the march
got underway. The wail of police sirens, the deafening explosions
of flash-bang grenades at close quarters, the acrid scent of pepper
spray, the roar of police motorcycles, the sizzle of adrenaline~—it
was a terrifying situation, but the demonstrators around us were
giving as good as they were getting. The idea was to set a template
for resistance on the first day of the Trump administration, send-
in the message to everyone that no one should passively accept
the intensification of tyranny

‘The longer we were in the streets, the more dangerous it got.
When we passed Franklin Square again, doubling back on our
tracks, it was clear that it was only a matter of time before we
were surrounded.

In downtown DC, between the intersections, the streets are
like long stretches of canyon between the cliff faces of the build-
ings. Tknew the police wanted to box us in and kettle us. Every
time we passed through an intersection, I glanced at the intersec-
tions a block away on either side to see if police were shadowing
us on the parallel streets, preparing to cut off our exit routes.
Every time we moved out of an intersection into another stretch
of canyon, I watched the intersections ahead and behind for po-
lice. Whenever we were moving between intersections, we were
vulnerable.

As we approached 13th Street, police on motoreycles passed
us on the sidewalk on our left, attempting to overtake us and seize
the intersection ahead. We were still hundreds of feet from it T
urged my companion to run ahead with me, and we sprinted past
front of the march, past the bike cops and motorcycle cops, who
began ramming their vehicles into the people immediately be-
hind us. When the cops saw that a few of us were already at their
backs, they gave up trying to form a line and once again focused
on racing ahead of us. Police hate to be outflanked—they can't risk
being surrounded themselves

9
‘The clash at the intersection showed that the march was no
longer in control of the territory around it. It was time to make
our exit. We ran down an alley on our right shortly before the
next intersection. A hundred others did the same. Those who
continued forward were blocked by a line of police at the next
intersection, and turned around only to discover a much stronger
police line blocking them from behind

For two long minutes, the crowd paused in confusion and
dismay. Some people towards the back of the march had already
taken off their gear and were hoping to pass as civilians in order
to make their way out of the area, not realizing that they were
already trapped from all sides

‘The participants at the front of the march kept their gear on
and linked arms. Someone called out “We're going to do a count-
down!” They counted down quickly from ten to one and charged
directly at the police line ahead of them. The person at the very
front of the charge held open a flimsy umbrella as they all ran
blindly forward. Somehow, the umbrella protected them from the
answering stream of pepper spray.

Fifty of them broke through the police line and escaped. The
ones who lingered, waiting to see whether the charge would break
through before joining it, remained trapped in the ettle.

Someone later posted a humorous comment on social media
to the effect that the cheat code for the J20 Protest Simulator was
to be always running at the cops holding a hammer. But there was
something to it. Afterwards, watching police footage released to
defendants in the subsequent court case, we saw that even after
the police and National Guardsmen had tightened up their line,
one enterprising individual had escaped simply by sprinting as
fast as possible directly at them and ducking between two of them.

Everyone who was detained was charged with eight felo-
nies apiece—up to eighty years in prison—for the crime of being
mass-arrested in the vicinity of a rowdy march. A few took plea
deals, but everyone else stuck together, establishing a collective
defense plan and confronting the legal system head on. In the
end, after two trials at which all the defendants were declared not
guilty, all of the remaining defendants saw their charges dropped.
Years later, all of them received payouts from the state to settle the
resulting lawsuits

10
1t sounds like a metaphor, but I mean it literally as well as
figuratively. Whether it’s a march or a court case, sometimes it's
safer in the front.

1
Several years later, 1 was in Atlanta for the Block Cop City
mobilization. Protesters had been trying to stop the construction
of a multi-million-dollar facility to further militarize the police
In retaliation, the police had murdered one person and arrested
alarge number of people at random, charging them with terror-
ism and indicting sixty-one of them on trumped-up racketeering
charges.

Before the action proper, there were two days of deliberations
atalocal Quaker community center. Everyone was on edge. The
goal was to try to march into the forest and occupy the construc-
tion site. Would we all be arrested? Would we, too, be charged
with terrorism and racketeering? The discussions went in circles
as people fruitlessly attempted to predict what would happen and
negotiated their own risk tolerance.

It was decided that there would be three self-organized blocs
within the march: essentially, the front, the middle, and the back.
Officially, this distinction was not based on anticipated risk, be-
cause the organizers could make no promises about what the po-
lice would do. But no one was able to consider which bloc to join
without panning back to larger questions. How much do 1 fear the
violence of the police and the judicial system? What am I prepared to
sacrifice for this movement?

Only the bold few who had made peace with their fears and
committed to taking the front of the march seemed at ease. Even
within the “middle” bloc, there was a lot of agonizing and bar-
gaining going on. “I'll be in the middle, but not at the front of the
middle..”

‘That night, T explained to my family what to do if I didn't
come home from the demonstration. Both of my romantic part-
ners, independently of each other, asked me whether it was really
that important for me to participate in this particular march.
Couldn't Ijust leave it to the younger activists?

Its safer in the front. 1 remembered this saying from earlier
mobilizations—but thinking it over, I wasn't so sure. How could
it be safer to charge directly into police lines? The slogan distilled
lessons drawn on my own experience, but heading into yet anoth-
er dangerous situation, I was dubious

On the morning of the mobilization, we assembled at the park
Despite a few festive flourishes, the atmosphere was somber: a

2
few hundred people risking injury, arrest, and prison time for the
honor of an embattled movement. Many people had decided to
stay home at the last minute. We marched out of the park in a col-
umn, everyone assiduously sticking to their particular position in
the risk tolerance spectrum. As long as we were marching down
the narrow pedestrian walkway, this made sense, but it made less
sense when we emerged onto the main road and advanced to-
wards the construction site. We should have fanned out to present
abroad front as we approached the lines of police and armored ve-
hicles blocking the road, but no, the crowd stretched out into what
was almost single-file line, like lambs lining up for slaughter.

Nonetheless, the ones at the front picked up speed, forming a
V-shaped wedge with their reinforced banners and pointing their
umbrellas forward to block the cops’ view as they charged directly
into the shields of the skirmish line. The rest of us dragged along
behind, holding the positions we had committed to holding—no
less, and no more.

‘The people with the reinforced banners pushed the frst line of
cops back until it was reinforced by a second line. Even then, they
didn't relent; they kept on pushing forward against the police. The
cops lashed out with their batons, but went on losing ground. The
bloc at the front of the march stuck together, protecting each oth-
ex, acting deliberately. Maybe they were afraid, but it wasn't fear
that was determining their actions.

Looking on from behind them, I was terrified. I was grateful
Twasn't in the front, having to make decisions. Police batons are
scary, jail time is scary, felony charges are scary, but the truly
frightening thing is responsibility. People will accept a lot of neg-
ative consequences in their lives just to avoid responsibility. And
unfortunately, it's impossible: try as we might, there is no avoid-
ing the fact that as long as we are able to make decisions and take
action, we are responsible for ourselves. That is true whether you
position yourself at the front o at the back, or even if you don’t
show up at all,

Twatched the front-liners ahead of me push both lines of police
back until they reached a third line comprised of futuristic storm-
troopers. No sign of the stormtroopers’ humanity was discernible
beneath their military gear; not even their eyes were visible. They
had withdrawn themselves from the human community completely.

3
‘The stormtroopers pulled out tear gas canisters. I watched in
disbelief as they tossed the canisters one after another over the
heads of the ones at the front into the middle of the march—into
the midst of those of us who had hoped that others would run
risks on our behalf, who had intended simply to be an appendage
of others" agency. Perhaps it would have been safer in the front,
after all?

‘Then everything vanished in a poisonous white haze.

‘We staggered blindly back in disarray, choking and coughing
But the stormtroopers had gassed the rest of the cops, as well, and
the other cops were not wearing gas masks. They, too, had retreat-
ed. Against all odds, the battle concluded in a draw.

In the end, the only person who was arrested that entire day
was someone who had opted to play a support role far from the
site of the action. They were detained in a vehicle near the park
from which we had set out. No one was charged with terrorism or
racketeering

In all our anxiety, we had forgotten the greatest risk of all:
that we might do nothing, that we would let ourselves be cowed
into abandoning the streets. With so many people already facing
outlandish charges, marching on the construction site was a risky
proposition—but permitting the state to crush the movement
would have set a precedent that would threaten other movements,
‘emboldening the authorities to use the same tactics elsewhere
against many others like us.

Sometimes you can only find out what the risks are by taking
a chance. This time, we had gotten lucky. But in a way, we had
also passed a test.

1
e

1t's not really safer in the front. Staying home is safer—at least,
it's safer until the long-term consequences of abandoning the
streets set in. Then nowhere is safe, and it turns out it would have
been better to take some smaller risks earlier on.

‘The anti-fascists who went to Charlottesville in August 2017
to confront the “Unite the Right" rally were putting themselves in
harm'’s way. One of them was killed; several of them were severely
injured. But if they had stayed home, if they had permitted fascists
t0 establish control of the streets, the whole world would have
become more dangerous. The likelihood that we may be forced to
fight that same battle all over again today does not diminish the
fact that they won us eight precious years of relative safety.

Even when all really is hopelessly lost, it is generally better
to act boldly, sending a signal flare of hope across the genera-
tions, the way the Communards and the Kronstad rebels did. In
s doing, you at least preserve the possibility that others will be
inspired to continue attempting to build the world you desire, so
that one day, your dream might be realized—even if without you,
atleast due in part to your efforts

But that's not where we are today. We face powerful adversar-
ies, but the majority of people, including many of their supporters,
have good reason to oppose them alongside us. If we bring people
together, if we demonstrate effective ways to fight back, putting
our own risk tolerance at the disposal of larger struggles, many
more people will eventually join us. There's no reason to hasten
into glorifying martyrdom or accepting defeat when the future is
unwritten

Not everyone can be in the front all the time, of course. It
can be exhausting. But the front isn't a spatial location. Under-
stood properly, it doesn't necessarily require a particular kind of
physical ability or skillset. I's a way of engaging with events, of
remaining focused on our agency, taking the initiative wherever
we can rather than just reacting to our opponents’ initiatives
Everyone can open up a new front of struggle by identifying a
vulnerability in the ruling order and going on the offensive. The
more fronts there are, the safer we all wil be.

Facing the second administration of Donald Trump, many
anarchists and anti-fascists don't know where to begin. During
the previous Trump administration, we fought hard against an

ig
adversary that was much more powerful than us, and won—
only to find victory snatched from our hands by cowardly
Democrats, who eagerly took over where the Republicans left off,
disappointing so many people that Trump was able to return to
power. But that is no reason to give up, this time around—it just
shows that all along, we were right about the nature of power, and
we owe it to the world to demonstrate a real alternative.

In countries ruled by fascism or other forms of despotism, the
majority of people do not necessarily support the authorities; they
have simply become dispirited, accustomed to passivity. Much
more so than liberals, anarchists are used to being outnumbered
and outgunn incredible odds. While Demo-

ts or even embrace their agenda,
possible to take ambitious, princi-

we should demonstrate that it
pled action to resist.

I you feel despair, if you feel defeated, if you catch yourself
dissociating or focusing on what our oppressors are doing rather
than on what you can do yourself—that is territory that the enemy
has claimed within you.

Give them nothing without a fight. Stay focused on your
agency. Every hour, every day, wherever you are positioned, there
is always something you can do. Take care of yourself and those
around you. Keep your eyes out for opportunities and m.
We are in a fight—but it is a fight that we can win. It’s safer in the
front.

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