#114: Safeguarding Our Movements against Repression—How to Respond to the Criminalization of "Antifa"

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Sep 23, 2025

A guide to preparing movements for politicized repression and federal raids. Practical steps on backups, redundancy, and mutual support networks. Clear legal pointers for refusing entry, invoking silence, and handling warrants. Strategies for keeping groups united, discrediting hostile institutions, and taking strategic initiative in the face of state pressure.

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ADVICE

Prepare For Visits, Raids, And Evidence Seizure

Back up electronics and store backups somewhere secure and unlinkable to you.
Line up legal counsel ahead of time and plan support actions for raids or arrests.

ADVICE

Be Transparent If You're Targeted

If targeted, be transparent about repression and publicize encounters to mobilize support.
Refuse to cooperate with investigators, document interactions, and share them publicly.

ADVICE

Build Redundancy In People And Projects

Share skills and responsibilities so others can replace you if targeted.
Teach security culture and distribute counter-repression knowledge widely.

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This episode offers an audio version of "Make Ready: Safeguarding Our Movements against Repression," exploring the implications of Donald Trump's executive order designating "Antifa" as "a major terrorist organization" and how we can prepare our communities to endure whatever comes next. It also includes an audio version of "When the Police Knock on Your Door: Your Rights and Options."

-------SHOW NOTES------ Table of Contents

Introduction {0:40}
Don't be intimidated {5:53}
Make the most of your strengths {7:42}
Prepare for federal visits and raids {9:12}
Be transparent about repression {10:33}
Redundancy means resilience {11:18}
Coordinate to support each other {12:26}
Discredit the police and courts {13:28}
Fracture the political class {15:05}
Take the offensive{17:02}
Refuse to divide {17:47}
When the police knock on your door {18:40}

This episode offers an audio version of "Make Ready: Safeguarding Our Movements against Repression," published by CrimethInc. on September 18, 2025, and "When the Police Knock on Your Door: Your Rights and Options," published by CrimethInc. on August 24, 2017. The online versions include a variety of footnotes and hyperlinks offering more information.
Thanks to Margaret Killjoy of Strangers in a Tangled Wildnernessfor reading this episode.
To learn more about why avoiding confrontation is rarely the best way to deal with rising authoritarianism, read "It's Safer in the Front: Taking the Offensive against Tyranny." You could also listen to it here.
To learn more about security culture, consult our classic guide on the subject. You can download and print out an introductory poster about security culture here.
To learn more about your rights in interactions with law enforcement officials, read "If an Agent Knocks" by the Center for Constitutional Rights, "You Have the Right to Remain Silent" by the National Lawyers Guild, and "If the FBI Approaches You to Become an Informant" by CrimethInc. You can read narratives from activists who endured grand jury subpoenas in a variety of ways here.
For more background on the use of racketeering charges against defendants in the Stop Cop City RICO case, you could read this introduction and this update. You can learn about how the J20 defendants beat their charges here.
To learn about how to strategize for and carry out direct action, begin with this step-by-step guide. You can also read "A Demonstrator's Guide to Operational Security."