5/30/2002: Earth First tactics

[Undertoad]

The dude is Redge Peterson. Along with the rest of his friends in Earth First!, he is blocking the entrance to a Forst Service building in Montana. Why: they want to stop the practice of logging of burned trees in a particular national forest.

Their point, I think, is that burned logs are supposed to be heathy for a natural forest. A forest, it turns out, enjoys having some of its bunch burned up every once in a while. Something about the natural decay providing a lush decaying material for future growth -- you know, nature's way and all that.

When they have sit-ins, I'm sure the cops just come and cart their limp bodies off for processing or whatever; so Redge has decided to stick his forearms into drums filled with wet cement.

What do they do with him now?

First, you fudged the date in the topic.

Second... what a dumbass. Is that shit gonna dry? Are his forearms going to be cemented in there? Seems kinda like a lame sacrifice. He should Thich Quang Duc it.

[Undertoad]

Yikes - I'll fix that date, thanx.

[juju]

What if he gets hungry or has to go to the bathroom? I guess he's just screwed.

Also, what's to stop people from just going around him?

Heh. That was kinda my point, but it got lost in my realization of the absurdity of his method.

I hope, for his sake, that his arms don't end up cemented in there. 'Cause that would <b>really</b> suck.

[Nic Name]

[Nic Name]

He looks pretty stupid, but the trick is to set the concrete with arm holes and a metal bar inside for him to grab onto, making it appear that he is set in concrete, until he releases his grip.

How to get him out of it?

Let's play ... Fear Factor.

[Joe]

I saw a show once called "Fire in the Eyes" where the police would approach these protesters who were doing the very same thing, hold the protesters eyelids open and swab pepper spray directly onto their eyeballs with a Q-tip.

It still didn't work.

How do you recommend getting concrete to set with arm holes? What do you recommend putting in there such that it could be removed and still have that area for bar grippage?

[Joe]

I think they just use something simple like 4" PVC, with a bar inside to grab. A better design would be to have a way you could jam your hand into some kind of constriction so you don't have to rely on muscle strength to hold on, but you could let go if you wished.

These devices are effective. There is no way to make the person let go without harming them. You can't get inside the tubes to pry their fingers loose. The reality of TV coverage makes is such that no police agency will go so far as to break the nonviolent protesters arm or beat them unconcious, though they will use other nonlethal means until the cows come home.

The demonstrators train for this, learning from every protest what works and what does not.

If I were the one that had to move that guy, I'd get a couple dollies or some such device, and cart the drums away together. The guy would come along free of charge.

[Tobiasly]

Tie a 100-foot coiled chain to one of the barrels. Tie the other end to the back of a pickup truck.

Neutral-drop the pickup, and peel out doing about 4000 RPM. In the time it takes to pick up the slack in the chain, I bet the guy lets go of the bar. :-)

[Joe]

Everyone thinks like that at first! It's the media coverage that blocks the maneuver. I recall an incident where a guy had used a tube and a car in much the same way, he was under the vehicle and there was no way to get him out. The cops tried everything and he held fast. Finally one became so frustrated he ordered the car towed, with the man still attached. Cooler heads fortunatly prevailed and they got him out some other way.

The idea of these protests is to get on the 6:00 o'clock news, so their story can be told. Once that is accomplished, the mission is accomplished. The people that do this know in advance they will be tortured to some degree and then jailed, they volunteer anyway because they feel so strongly for their cause.

[Hubris Boy]

I'm thinkin' a Stryker autopsy saw would be just the thing for a situation like this:



Stupid hippie.

[Nic Name]

How do you recommend getting concrete to set with arm holes? What do you recommend putting in there such that it could be removed and still have that area for bar grippage?

Cardboard or fibre sonotube keeps the concrete from setting in the arm holes. Balled up newspaper around a metal rebar can be wire lashed to the end of the sonotube and then picked out after the concrete sets, to create a void around the rebar grip ... or the rebar can just be pegged through the tubing at arm's length, which is the better idea.

or ... you could just try sticking your arms into wet concrete as originally suggested. Whatever works for you.

[Joe]

You could also just leave the rebar in the mix, the ridges would make a perfect roughened surface to grab onto as your corneas are gently annointed with various nonlethal salves and balms.

Attached to the rebar grip handles you could also have momentary switches wired to a couple hundred pounds of TNT cast into the concrete in each barrel, but you'd seriously be pushing the "nutbar" limit then.