Direct Action can be a powerful act. It can provoke though, shift dynamics, empower and incite. It can also erode alliances, damage communities and bring harsh consequences. Direct Action is a powerful tool and it's use will always have a powerful response, be it positive or negative.

It is my opinion that there are two useful "yard sticks" with which to measure the effectiveness of any direct action, that is to say, there are two primary questions to ask yourself as you plan and engage in any action. Those would be "Is this action confronting an issue at its source, thereby making it 'direct'?" and "Does this action empower others to themselves take action?"

Using these questions as guides we can compare two recent actions from here in Olympia. First, the port actions of last November. For specificities sake, I'm talking about the road blockades, both human and physical. Held up to the first question, "Is this action confronting an issue at its source, thereby making it 'direct'?" I think the answer would be a pretty clear Yes. Blockading the path of military equipment is about as direct as you can get when it comes to confronting the war effort.

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If we ask the second question, "Does this action empower others to themselves take action?" We see again that the answer is Yes. PMR groups have sprung up in Oakland, San Francisco, Long Beach and San Diego. Other people paid attention to what happened and were inspired to take action in their own cities.

Now, objectively observing the success of a direct action by these standards of course doesn't mean that everyone will agree that it was a good idea. Even these disagreements have a positive outcome in that a community dialogue takes place about important issues as evidenced by this blog, for one example. Good or bad, however you look at it, by these standards the action was a success.

Now lets look at the recent Mayday window smashings and capitol graffiti-ings. When we ask question 1, I'm afraid we see the answer is No. Banks are certainly worthy of an anarchists opposition, but the banks windows are merely appendages, not the source. In the right context, property destruction of that kind can send a strong message. I think many people got the point when certain business outlets were targeted during the 1999 WTO protests. Unfortunately, a worker/immigrant rights rally does not provide the context to support that kind of action.

When we ask question number 2, we also come up empty. These window smashings don't empower others who were not already of a mindset to break a window. They don't encourage individual action. They stifle participation on the part of workers and immigrants and they convolute the message of solidarity between anarchists and those groups.

I think an objective analysis shows what many already new, that these were not effective direct actions.

I acknowledge the ineffectiveness of breaking banks windows at a Mayday rally. That said, I also empathize with the sentiment. Many of us live with the fear of foreclosure, either for ourselves or our families, our parents. We see our neighbors doors kicked down in the middle of the night and husbands split from wives, thrown into prisons with no rights. We see our jobs cut, our paychecks bouncing, our rents rising. We see futurelessness, the fear that nothing will ever get better. Global Wars, resource shortages, police violence. We read about food riots, starvation, bombings and killings. There, in the middle of our town, is this bank, an arbiter of wealth and power, a holder of money, a dealer of debt and suffering. People lash out. They are angry and frustrated and feel optionless.

I will not agree that breaking those windows was the right thing to do. I believe it was categorically wrong and as an anarchist, I am as upset and disturbed by it as many of the people commenting on this blog. At the same time, I know why it happened. I've felt that same anger, that same hopelessness. I stand in solidarity with those arrested, even if I don't stand in solidarity with their actions. I sincerely hope that we, as an activist community, as a town, can recover from this. I think we can. Our problems won't just disappear. There is a strong and present need for overt, radical organizing. At the same time there is an equally strong need for that organizing to be thought out, well executed and most of all truly direct.

I believe a different world is possible. I know direct action builds the framework for that world, but we must act effectively if we want to see that change.

I hope things will get better soon. I hope everyone gets out of jail and we can learn from this and resume our lives. Thanks for reading this. i really needed to write it. I'm feeling a lot of emotions right now. Please comment, but do me a favor and try to avoid a crazy argument. Olyblog is so incredible when we just share the way we think and feel instead of sling mud.

Thanks again.