Preparing for repression is the process of taking precautionary measures to minimize the impact of repression. Repression often hits hardest when we're least prepared. Such preparation may seem emotionally draining, but we find that it actually allows us to act more freely. Preparing for repression can have practical or psychological dimensions.
Examples of practical preparation include:
- Ensuring that your comrades know what to do in the event of your arrest, for example by sharing a work email login or a house key in advance, arranging for people to care for children or pay your rent or bail, etc.
- Ensuring that your projects can continue if you are incarcerated, which can sometimes be as simple as sharing a password in advance.
- Training in martial arts to be better equipped to deal with the prisoner-on-prisoner violence that is prevalent in many prisons.
- If drug possession is highly criminalized in your context, you can stay away from illegal drugs. A State adversary can use drug charges to put pressure on you for the crimes they are really interested in.
Examples of psychological preparation include:
- Talking with comrades who have been the target of repression about their experiences, including their experiences of imprisonment.
- An experience described in Claudio Lavazza's autobiography[1] where he secluded himself in a house in the mountains for a month to prepare for the possibility of his imprisonment.
Techniques addressed by this mitigation
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Extra-legal violence | If you think you are at risk of being tortured if you are arrested, you can prepare for that risk. For example:
|
| House raid | You can prepare for repression to minimize the impact of house raids. |