On Kettling and Tactical Evolution
8 January, 2012 – Applied NonExistence

Fuck kettling. There’s something to be said about the fact that kettling, as a counter-tactic of control and policing within crowd dynamics, has not yet forced greater innovation and experimentation in the tactical realms of communication and insurrectionary strategy. The Paris Commune of 1871 functioned according to a defensive strategy which viewed the metropolis as a series of blocked out buildings and structures which could only be entered and exited via the streets, alleyways, and boulevards which effectively acted as the only arteries in and out of the metropolis – the only way to traverse the city. Thus, the logic followed, that if you barricaded enough positions within these metropolitan arteries you could effectively hold the spaces you were in. What famously brought about such logic to an end was the innovative practice by government/Army of Versailles troops to quite literally “move through walls.” Blasting through buildings and creating holes in walls to allow for anti-communard troop movement behind communard barricades, proved to be a major innovation in urban warfare.

Obviously, with much different sociopolitical contexts (less militancy + increased surveillance) here in the States, it would be foolish to advocate such 19th century throwbacks – but the point I wish to articulate here is that moving-through-buildings-as-strategy was a development explicitly related to the efficacy of the Paris Commune’s ability to barricade strategically. Kettling has been becoming more and more refined as a policing counter-tactic, yet nothing has really presented itself as a viable option to evade such enclosure and entrapment. We’ve articulated the inherent tactical problems with meeting the police on their own terms (See “Beyond the Black Bloc) before, yet it is nonetheless a drama which actors still willingly participate in. That being said, as this almost suicidal (and often-times mostly symbolic) confrontation is to exist within radical anticapitalist milieus in the States, its continual failure contextualized entirely against the strategy of kettling, necessitates a much needed evolution of tactics.

One of the things which is often underutilized is the simplicity of diversions. In small-to-mid-ranged sized cities, counter-insurgency forces are often limited and sparse. Any coalescing of these forces into spaces where their presence becomes sheer density, requires that other spaces within the metropolis are not as policed. This goes back to our notion in “Beyond the Black Bloc” that sites of peripheral attack as zones of offensive opacity are less policed during direct/confrontations with counter-insurgency forces. For this reason and this reason alone, we still feel the black bloc serves a purpose, in that such actions which play on the proverbial “field” of policing apparatuses – sites on the periphery are essentially less-controlled. Thus, while this is not a direct counter-counter-tactic to that of kettling, it does explore the possibilities of what may happen on the offensive at sites far away from the kettle itself, where control has been temporarily decreased, lessened, and in some cases, entirely absent. Towards invisibility!

From Oakland with love,

Mary Celeste
…source

Kettling would work well in Bahrain, says former Met police chief
The Guardian – 12 February, 2012 – Ben Quinn

John Yates, hired to reform Bahrain force, says police are ready to deal with the anniversary of the uprising in the Gulf kingdom

Kettling would work well in Bahrain, says former Met police chief
John Yates resigned from his post at Scotland Yard last year in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal. Photograph: Lewis Whyld/PA

A former Metropolitan police assistant commissioner who has been hired to oversee the reform of Bahrain’s police force has spoken of introducing the British crowd-control tactic of “kettling” to the Gulf island kingdom, where he said police had faced “extraordinary provocation” during last year’s turmoil.

John Yates, who resigned last year from his post at Scotland Yard in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal, was asked to overhaul Bahrain’s police service to ensure it meets international human rights standards after a report found evidence that excessive force and torture were used during the 2011 Pearl revolution.

Ahead of the first anniversary tomorrow of the uprising by Bahrainis eager to bring home the Arab spring, Yates told the Daily Telegraph that the police had a well-rehearsed plan to deal with what he described as “a huge date”, adding: “The concept of reasonable reaction to provocation has been reinforced.

“Unless they face extraordinary provocation like last year, it will be about allowing people to gather and containment,” he said.

“It’s about learning techniques from other places like kettling – that would work really well around here.”

The allegation that led to Yates quitting Scotland Yard over the phone-hacking scandal was, in November, ruled to be baseless. The Independent Police Complaints Commission had been called in by his employer, the Metropolitan Police Authority, to investigate claims he helped the daughter of a former top News of the World executive get a job with the Met. His resignation came one day after Sir Paul Stephenson resigned as Met commissioner. Yates, who was then the UK’s top counter-terrorism officer, would have been a serious contender to have been deputy commissioner of the Met had he stayed. …more

Zainab al Khawaja Arrested Near Pearl Roundabout
12 February, 2012 – Witness Bahrain

Prominent activist Zainab al-Khawaja was arrested today during an attempt to walk to Pearl (Lulu) Roundabout initiated by human rights leader Nabeel Rajab. A few meters from the blocked entrance to the site of last year’s encampment, police fired tear gas directly at the group of ten people, including two children. A ten-year-old girl, Malak Rajab, was overwhelmed by tear gas.

Zainab al-Kahawjah continued running toward the entrance and was surrounded by police. When she did not tweet for forty minutes, word went around that she had been disappeared. She is being held at Nuaim Police Station.

Zainab is the daughter of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who is serving a life sentence for his human rights activism. Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who began an open-ended hunger strike on Wednesday in the lead-up to the February 14 anniversary of the ongoing revolution, was taken to the hospital last night.

Zainab Courageously Stopping Security Forces in Previous Protest

Zainab came to prominence last April after staging a 10-day hunger strike to demand the release of her father, uncle, husband and brother-in-law, who were all being held for their political activities. She tweets as @angryarabiya, and has over 33,000 followers.

A brief interview with Zainab al Khawaja is included in the video clip [above] shot by a Witness Bahrain team member two nights ago in Sitra.