Revolutionary action can, quite frankly be quite boring. Hours stood on the picket line or drowning yourself in tea in a occupied cafe, tent, or treehouse with little to do but natter away and try and ensure you're objectives are met. This however is not always the way and when the cops turn violent, the terrier boys ambush you or you manage to head off the fash, things get hairy quick. These moments in the storm, whether intended or forced upon us can be a frenzied blur, for most people an utterly shock to the system that can be overwhelming both physically and mentally. The only way we can ensure success and any degree of safety is in relying on the comrades, whether formally or loosely organised, who, through the providence of experiance and training are able to keep their heads and provide active support roles. Here in the UK for example, we have a very well organised network of Legal Observers from several networks such as the Green and Black Cross and more often than not you'll find the beautiful souls that come to provide on the ground medical support. Battle medics, street medics, riot medics, or whatever you call them are a blessing to be sure. Their particular sets of skills thankfully are not always put to use however should you find yourself in a spot of bother they are are the first line of support, looking after people who have taken a baton to the head, come down with heat stroke or (as was my first introduction to battle medics) taken a tumble from a horse. From Berlin to Melbourne Action medics are a vital part of any protest or direct action.
However unlike our Legal Observer comrades, there is an unfortunate drought of material to help prepare the riot medic for the role. Paper Revolution has decent intro text and a handbook and these texts are about as good as they come, Sure I've seen a fair few other guides and found many of them useful, however there is a tendancy to focus either on the politics or the medicine, and at that usually only a narrow window with a specific set of situations in mind. Which is why I'm especially stoked to have bumped into a new publication on my twitter feed.
“Riot Medicine” is a new 466 page work by Håkan Geijer that gives an well researched, in depth 101 for battle medics of all descriptions. Shared freely from it's website the manual gives a robust guide for practicing insurrectionary medicine. Taking the reader from the methods of organising and situational risk assessments right through to the nitty gritty of first aid, managing shock and dealing with spinal cord injuries. This absolute belter of a book goes way beyond being a mear refined St John's First Aid guide mind. It's specific focus on the issues, thinking and praxis of providing on the ground medical support during riots and revolutionary action is in depth and without florid prose and laconic word smithing, it wastes no time making the point in clear, understandable language that while taking ontechnical points remains accessable and useable. Frankly it's the opinion of the Editor that this is the must have guidebook for riot medics and it a vital download for every activist and organiser regardless other whether they intent to fill the role of medic.
Keep your eyes peeled for a printed edition after lockdown ends however in the meantime here is the introduction text and at the bottom you'll find a link to download a copy - for free and without registration.
Peter Ó Máille
Introduction:-
Riot medicine is the practice of medicine in an adversarial environment. It exists outside of formal and State sanctioned medical services. Practitioners of riot medicine go by many names (riot medics, street medics, demonstration medics, action medical), but at the end of the day, their goals are the same. They take to the streets as part of the diverse system of mutual aid that allows individuals to engage in protest. The duties of a riot medic may include handing out water during a peaceful demonstration, providing late-night jail support for arrested comrades, caring for injured protesters and bystanders during a riot, or extracting and providing lifesaving interventions for combatants during an armed uprising.
The lens of riot medicine rather than street medicine was chose to help you focus more on how to provide medical care during demonstrations and physical engagements rather than to inform you on how to run a volunteer clinic or provide care for injuries sustained outside of short lived confrontations. The aim is to provide enough medical and tactical knowledge to enable riot medics to support short mobilizations on the scale of several hours to several days.
If you are an experienced medical professional, this book will guide you on how to safely operate during a protest. However, this book assumes that medicine may not be your primary occupation or field of study. Both the common and more formal medical terms are included as well as a glossary for reference. Foundational medical theory has been provided to give context for various treatments, and as such, not all information in this book needs to be memorized. Some information may seem obvious, but what is obvious to you is not obvious to others. In depth information is provided to help demystify seemingly esoteric practices and address common misconceptions.
Because of the exceptionally diverse conditions under which riot medicine is practiced, this book generally avoids making absolute statements about how an individual or group must act. Riot medics may be part of the Black Bloc or may act as seemingly neutral third parties. They may be uncertified or may be practicing physicians. How they choose to act depends on may factors including the nature of the action, the legality of protest, the legality of practicing medicine, and the overall political climate of the region where an action is taking place. This book will provide you with a toolbox that will help you make operational decisions using your own experiences and context specific information. Riot medicine incorporates elements of wilderness medicine and combat medicine, but it is still a distinct practice. Often the riot medic is only equipped with what they can carry in a backpack. What they choose to pack is limited by multiple factors, the major one being that their gear can be confiscated or destroyed during the course of their work. They need to carry provisions to survive the day and personal protective equipment to keep themselves safe enough to do their job. The riot medic needs to take a highly practical approach to medicine knowing that they will not be able to operate under ideal conditions. Hospital-quality diagnostic equipment will not be available, materials may be limited, and care rendered often will only be \good enough" to get a restless comrade back into the fray.
Riot medics comfort traumatized comrades as much as they heal their bodies. Protests and confrontations with fascists and the State can be stressful and even traumatizing. Even in the non ideal environments you will be working in, it is your responsibility to keep calm and help calm those around you. Nervous and stressed out comrades can be liable to make mistakes that lead to more injuries. Reading this book will help enable you to act confidently and therefore help others act confidently, contributing toward successful demonstrations and insurrections.
This book is written from an autonomous, anarchist perspective. However, the information and tactics described within will be useful to all participants in the struggle for liberation. State imposed laws and regulations are a reality, and where it is relevant, it is noted where your
work may intersect with the legal system to highlight what legal risks there may be. This book was written in 2019{20, so as you are reading this, be wary that medical best practices, legal considerations, and all other information may have become out of date.
The act of challenging the State is dangerous, but with some basic knowledge, medics can drastically reduce the repercussions protesters face. The goal is that by reading this book, you will be able to provide care for and support to comrades known and unknown, all in the pursuit of a world free of domination. ■
Directly download Riot Medicine by clicking here or for addition options including using a PGP Key and other media check out the Riot Medicine website : riotmedicine.net
The debate on the political nature of content in board games is one which has come to the forefront due the increase in gaming in general. Among the main titles on which it debated there is The Landlord's Game of 1903, the original title of Monopoly. Monopoly was born as political criticism and intends to address an important issue: that of the monopolisation of the landowning market.
However, in Monopoly landlord accumulation is not accompanied by texts, mechanics or critical images. Nothing is aimed at an organic critique of the accumulation and the identification of the player is not supported by emotions against the game or the role that it plays within it, rather against the other players. In Monopoly there’s a critical intent towards market monopolization but it is too softened by mechanics to succeed and certainly cannot be considered a radical leftist critique to the society of that time.
With the arrival of Professor Bertell Ollman things change. In 1978 Class Struggle was born “To prepare for life in capitalist America”. It’s “an educational game for kids from 8 to 80” and with it opened the way for serious game philosophy towards a radical leftist social critique in the world of board games.
It was not a matter of taking a politically active topic too far. In Class Struggle the critique of some aspects of social and political life during the cold war years are evident, transparent and even full of propaganda intentions (such as the card "If it is the opium of older workers, than opium (pot) is the religion of the younger set"). The content isn’t sweetened to increase the mass appeal of the game, it just goes to the point: avoid the nuclear catastrophe fuelled by the capitalists and to steer the workers towards the construction of committees, unions and parties for the creation of a socialist society in the USA.
The board games up to this point had emancipated themselves only from ancient religious function to arrive at an alleged neutrality of their own content, all in favour of the mechanics: strategy, mechanics for entertainment, challenge, gambling, bluff, frustration and observation, and attention skills. Actually the themes aren’t neutral, they are often full of sacred, militarist, bourgeois contents etc. and at best they try to show sincere criticism through fantastic metaphors.
Only one year after the creation of Class Struggle, in 1980, in Italy the C.UnS.A. - Collettivo un Sacco Alternativo - carries on Ollman's experiment with the publication of Corteo (‘Demonstration’): A simulation of street clashes in Italy, between the police and various movements of the '77 such as Autonomia Operaia, Marxist-Leninists, Lotta Continua, Democrazia Proletaria, Anarchists, Feminists, radicals etc.
The rules book is descriptive, it maintains the textual prolixity typical of those years and describes ironically the performance of critical operations.
This begins in the manual, when for example it describes how;
“The reactionary right has organized a rally in a town square to demand the anti-strike law, the deportation of gays, the closure of the underground press and the death penalty. Authoritative members of the Government and the Dominant Party send certificates of understanding and solidarity. “
(Storia di un CORTEO, scenario antifascista, Mondadori, 1980, p. 27)
The game mechanics are quite exciting, and they complete the alternative theme well: you can play like a human tide (the Demonstration) that although slow and divided into many ideological currents, when compacted, is invincible (the union is strength!) ; on the other hand it can be fast but fragile if scattered in small groups. Even the representation of opponents is interesting. The fascists, for example, just get hit, a sign of the times in which social movements shined. In fact there is no Fascist player, the Fascist pawns are directly controlled by the police player as points to be taken away from the opponent.
Riot - Cast the First Stone (made by No Board Games) can be considered a tribute to both games even if the mechanics are certainly different (it is in fact a strategic one with the addition of card driven mechanics and area control). However, the setting is undoubtedly different. In Riot we certify the dark times we live, it is linked to the reality that surrounds us and not a simple historical reconstruction, the game itself can be an element of education in the here and now.
For example, the question that has prompted the insertion of Nationalists within Riot is the demand for the development of an Anti-Fascist culture accessible to those who are not reached by essays, flyers and revolutionary media but are more reachable through use of pop culture, gaming and nerd culture. For those who have tried Class Struggle, they will have had a smattering of Marxist culture and will know well what values to attribute to “Capitalists” and “Workers”, the merits of the ‘chance cards’ and the highly captioned board. For those who have played the game Corteo, they will know well which neighbourhoods the activists come from and how the police protect the various Fascist rallies. At the same time Riot, in giving control of the Fascists to a player, shows how the political affinity of the Nationalists lies with power and not with the other demonstrators and how their action must be, in terms of game mechanics, rather slimy.
It is also important to remember that at the gaming table one socialises: that is, one can understand more about their peers, learn to be together, orient oneself within a theme with mechanics designed to educate as well as let us learn a new vocabulary. The words we choose to describe the theme, the game mechanics and the names of the components create a text practised and discussed continuously. The game is shared par excellence: it is not a book, a video game, it is not an island. You can learn, you can debate.
Engaging with new forms of media is essential for political organising, we cannot exclude any form of communication and we should seek to understand how today, unlike yesterday, there are more effective and often unexpected means to reach a wider audience than a magazine, a flyer, a song or a book.
Finally we consider the tinkering and hacking methods of gamers is certainly a positive. We want to develop this kind of community, one which goes from modification of cultural objects to self-production and DIY games creating more independent and radical production. ■
Anteo is part of the No Board Games collective, an independent board game publisher but, above all, a project of reappropriation and radicalization of board game culture.
Their game Riot - Cast the First Stone will be included in the next edition printed of Organise!
You can download a free Print and Play version of RIOT below:
Click here for their website for more information and some print and play games.
Click here for their Facebook.
Related Content:
A few years back before Bloc By Bloc a small group of Italian Squatters wanted to bring the world of civil disobedience to the table top with “Riot – Cast The First stone”, a might little game where you could field one of three factions of the police and fight for the streets- there is a review in the archive, we'll pull it up soon!
In the mean time they are cooking up some trouble again and are looking to start with a fresh new look so are having a logo competition! They are asking radical board gamers and creatives to have a draft of a logo for them ie for “No Board Games”
The logo must keep in mind their philosophy:
1 To spread the culture of radical board gaming.
2 Keep the pricing fair and accessible.
3 Create sustainable board games.
4 Make racist board gamers afraid again!
All the enrants will be shared on Facebook, so everyone can vote their favourite favourite tho they'll retain final decision to save any Boaty McBoatface style gaffs and trolls.
Take part at the contest is easy*:
1 Check our their website by clicking here.
2 Draw a logo.
3 Send the logo to: [email protected] no later than 31/05/2019 or share it directly to the event's Facebook Page.
The prizes up for grabs:
1 - €99,99
2 - A copy of “Riot – the board game”.
3 - A copy of their next board game.
4 - Free gadgets!!!!!!
Furthermore, they'll be using entries to scout for artists who they'll be looking to work on their next board game (for payment obvs) so it's showing off your portfolio with a few steps and the chance of loot.
What you waiting for?
Make racist board gamers afraid again 😉
*If you are fascist, gangsta, a cop or a priest: sorry! You can’t join the contest. 🙁
RIot's Facebook page:-
facebook.com/riotboardgame
The Competitions Facebook Event:-
http://facebook.com/events/2207730102851001/
No Board Games's Website:-
noboardgames.com