Part of Muntjac Issue 2: Insurgency & Counter Insurgency
What motivated us to theme this second issue of the magazine around Insurgency & Counterinsurgency is our desire to crystialize our dispersed experiences of betrayal, repression and defeat into not only a critique of the left and some sections of the anarchist scene but to present an alternative with teeth.
We also want to draw more attention to the lessons we could be learning from the moments of refusal that do happen here and of course lessons from movements in Palestine, Kanaky, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Kenya, Greece, Indonesia, West Papua, Mexico, Argentina, Chile or elsewhere.
Before we go any further, it’s important to define terms;
Insurgency – an insurgency is a formation of lightly armed people waging asymmetrical warfare against a larger, centralized enemy. Typically, this enemy (to the insurgents) is the state which dominates the given territory or an occupying force that has moved into an area.
The police here and elsewhere frame their study of the anarchist movement that separates itself from the theatre that is the left wing of capital through this lens, no matter what they call us, the state is the only terrorist. Further to this, we should point out that we’re not insurgency fetishists as we’re not inspired by the insurgencies of fascists but instead insurgencies against colonialism, capital and the state.
Counterinsurgency – counterinsurgency is a term to define a range of tactics utilized by an occupying force to repress insurgences that have formed against them.
There are a myriad of tactics used by occupiers to maintain their control, most of which are “direct” in nature: Blockades or Checkpoints to funnel insurgent traffic through regions the occupation has better control of. Surveillance Infrastructure, Patrols, or Quick Reaction Forces (highly mobile units equipped with “force multiplier” equipment, trained to respond to any attack on the occupations infrastructure)
These are always complemented by tactics of a more “indirect” nature. The use of torture or bribes to gain information, the spreading of disease, the use of chemical weapons, psychological warfare, propaganda, byzantine regulation to mentally exhaust the people trying to etch out a way of life under occupation, the use of paramilitaries for plausible denability is often complemented with the creation of counter-gangs [1] (lightly armed groups trained by the occupation to both delegitimize the initial insurgency and to actively hunt them down and kill them)
In the past few years, we’ve been witnesses to insurgent elements in uprisings against the state in Belarus, Hong Kong, the Black anti-police uprising across the so-called US in 2020, Indonesia, Kanaky, Martinique, Guadeloupe and elsewhere. A new stage of anti-colonial struggle in Palestine began with the Al-Aqsa Flood and despite heightened genocidal tactics by the occupation and its allies, the resistance has continued. In Myanmar, anti-junta insurgent groups still fight the Tatmadaw. In West Papua, Insurgent groups persist against the Indonesian armed forces. There are others, but I only have so many pages to spare.
At the same time, we’ve seen a burgeoning arms race in counter-insurgent tactics to crush uprisings in their infancy or to wear them out at their heights. Here, the horizon looks bleak for those of us who rise in anger at the British state:
In the prisons, more weapons are being introduced after an attack on prison guards, the punitive raid at HMP Garth still rings in the ears of prisoners once under the illusion that the wave of early releases has signaled a coming ease in the quality of life on the inside [2].
Stepping outside, you’ll likely come face to lens with the British pathological urge to film fucking everything, this will deepen as the police introduce permanent facial recognition technology installations to complement the preexisting checkpoint-style facial recognition vans. This combined with the prevalence of apps like PimEyes [3] is enough to make anyone anxious.
It’s (still) a police carnival, if you’ve had the displeasure of participating in Babylon’s various protest movements, you’ve seen it. The counterinsurgency has many faces but what it tends to look like is the perpetual appeal for calm, for peace, the prevention of de-arrests,calls for “non-violence”. Specifically,
It looks like the PSC’s (Palestine Solidarity Campaign) leadership taking down an article by Scotland PSC talking about how the police sent armed response and made several arrests during a static demo outside of a fucking Home Bargains supermarket. It looks like Representasians pushing for Hate Crime legislation deceptively wrapped in the language of anti-racism [4]. It looks like Black ‘Security’ organisations like Forever Family serving as a de facto police force at demonstrations in Black neighbourhoods.
Fuck them, they know what side they’re on.
Austerity for everyone but the police, 13,000 new cops, new drone tech, a glimpse of which was seen last summer a drone hovered above a prearranged antifascist counter-demonstration meeting point with its speaker blaring “REMOVE YOUR MASKS OR YOU WILL BE ARRESTED”. In a video posted to TikTok the Metropolitan Police illustrated their ongoing campaign of installing plainclothes police officers inside shops frequently targeted by shoplifters.
New power granted to the police has criminalized masks, tactics that work and spoof their tech are threats to the techno dystopian hellscape we live in. The police are already using predictive policing algorithmic software to aid in their campaigns of predation, speaking of which, the British Transport Police jumped with joy as a new transphobic supreme court decision has given them the chance to further their frequent abuses against women and children. On top of all of this, a new FBI style police agency is on the cards and ongoing repressive projects like Operation Adream are on our minds once again [5].
Elsewhere, the feeling seems mutual:
In Indonesia, anarchists and students who rose against new laws that would return the country to military rule have faced off against counter-gangs of plainclothes cops dressed like demonstrators, the police have re-routed ambulances full of wounded protestors to police stations, police have destroyed supplies of water and food prepared to sustain the fight and have utilized hardware that intercepts mobile phone data, notably, using it to try to access people’s Whatsapp accounts (these protests have largely been organised via social media). The police use powdered dye to mark the clothes of people gathering at pre-arranged protest sites, this is paired with the installation of new cameras [6].
In Greece, the New Democracy government has tried and failed to distract people from its shortcomings through repression [7]. On top of this the communist KKE again join the forces of the counter-insurgency calling the Koukoulofori (“hooded ones” in Greek) cops as they pack their banners into their bags and head home the second the molotov cocktails and tear gas start flying. This again reminds us of their collaboration with the police in defense of the parliament and the Golden Dawn fascist organisation in the past [8].
In Nigeria, politicians can easily dip into the large numbers of unemployed young people to form counter-gangs to repress protests on their behalf.
In Turkey, police use irritant chemical sprays to force protestors to remove their masks so they can be photographed for follow-up arrest.
In Turtle Island, during a daytime direct action against parked police vehicles in “NYC”, police use drones to track the anarchists as they disperse. Automatic license plate readers, Instagram captions, and fingerprints were used to aid in the prosecution of 3 alleged Arsonists at Tesla car dealerships [9]. The RICO charges levelled against the Stop Cop City movement show a clear attempt at the criminalization of solidarity itself [10].
Are we fucked then?
On the contrary, despite the billions of pounds poured into the apparatus of the counter-insurgency, opportunities for disruption, refusal and freedom through negation exist everywhere. If you’ve been paying attention, people are taking these opportunities, the misery of everyday life is vulnerable, you just need to be determined.
More sophisticated knowledge of the technological tools of repression can help us stay on the outside, anarchists recognizing the fact that anti-repression is everyone’s responsibility could help those on the inside survive the regime of isolation and deprivation too.
I’m drawn back to the Creole proverb Sé ti bwa ka fè gwo difé
Smouldering little branches, when grouped together, can fuel a great fire.
Mutt.
01/05/2025
Recommended Further Reading
An Open Letter To The International Anti-Prison / Anti-Repression Gathering (2024)
returnfire.noblogs.org/post/2024/03/25
To the International Anarchist Movement: Three Security Proposals
notrace.how/blog/three-proposals/three-proposals
Encrypted Messaging for Anarchists
anarsec.guide/posts/e2ee
We (MUST) Keep Us Safe: An interview with a Long-Term, Anonymous Anarchist Comrade on Repression, Trauma, Security Culture, and Revolutionary Solidarity
thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2025/01/12
Bristol Anarchist Black Cross
bristolabc.org
In The Belly: a journal by and for people who are held captive by the Prison-Industrial Complex.
bellyzine.net
Mongoose Distro: material solely for the purpose of achieving breakdown of prison through disruption.
mongoosedistro.com
International Day of Solidarity with Marius Mason & All Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners
june11.noblogs.org
International Week of Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners (23 – 30 August)
https://solidarity.international
NOTES
[1] kalasnyikov.hu/dokumentumok/frank-kitson-gangs-countergangs.pdf
[2] iwoc.iww.org.uk/2024/11/03
[3] actforfree.noblogs.org/2025/01/29
[4] pearnuallak.com/against-hate-crime
[5] returnfire.noblogs.org/post/2024/03/25 Page 49.
[6] For more like this: www.notrace.how/threat-library
[7] thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2025/01/26
[8] ananarchistcalledmutt.noblogs.org/post/2025/03/08/the-kkke
[9] archive.ph/65VH6
[10] thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2025/03/30