Recipes for Disaster

Not to be confused with the Tearfund book of the same name.
Recipes for Disaster
Author Anonymous
Cover artist PFMAG
Country United States
Language English
Subject Direct action
Genre How-to, cookbooks, handbooks
Publisher CrimethInc.
Publication date
 December 2004
Pages 624
ISBN 0-9709101-4-2
OCLC 173082607
Preceded by Days of War, Nights of Love
Followed by Expect Resistance

Recipes for Disaster: An Anarchist Cookbook is an anarchist book released by the CrimethInc. collective in December 2004. It provides information on and strategies for direct action useful to activists and dissenters. There are sections on forming affinity groups, organizing demonstrations, stenciling, black blocs, sabotage, squatting, and more personal topics like mental health and "Supporting Survivors of Domestic Violence". It was written over a span of three years by dozens of radical collectives from all over the world working together.

The title alludes to The Anarchist Cookbook, a controversial book from 1971. CrimethInc. denounces the earlier book, saying it was "not composed or released by anarchists, not derived from anarchist practice, not intended to promote freedom and autonomy or challenge repressive power--and was barely a cookbook, as the recipes in it are notoriously unreliable. At best, it was a fraud, a spoof; at worst, an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of anarchist practice, and cause readers to injure themselves. The recent movie by the same name is equally embarrassing, not so much to anarchists as to the industry that produced it."[1]

The work was positively reviewed in Fifth Estate (spring/summer 2005) and Clamor (spring 2006, #36), as well as by Kirsten Anderberg.[2]

Contents

The book contains chapters with the following headings:

  • Affinity Groups
  • Antifascist Action
  • Asphalt Mosaic
  • Banner Drops and Banner Hoists
  • Behavioral Cut-ups
  • Bicycle Collectives
  • Bicycle Parades
  • Painting by Bicycle
  • How to Make a Bicycle into a Record Player
  • Billboard Improvement (see also: Billboard Liberation Front)
  • Blocs, Black and Otherwise (see also: Black Bloc)
  • Blockades and Lockdowns
  • Classroom Takeover
  • Coalition Building
  • Collectives
  • Corporate Downsizing
  • Distribution, Tabling, and Infoshops
  • Dumpster Diving
  • Effigies
  • Evasion
  • Festivals
  • Food Not Bombs
  • Graffiti
  • Guerrilla Performances
  • Health Care
  • Hijacking Events
  • Hitchhiking
  • Infiltration
  • Inflatables
  • Legal Support

See also

References

  1. ↑ Taylor, Craig (September 27, 2004). "Interview with The Guardian, September 2004". The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 11, 2009. Retrieved February 11, 2009.
  2. ↑ "Reviews of Recipes for Disaster". CrimethInc.com. CrimethInc. Archived from the original on February 11, 2009. Retrieved February 11, 2009.

External links