All of these things are needed in a culture of resistance. All of these things are needed to build movements that win. But there is more than that. A successful movement must engage as many people as possible, using a wide variety of effective tactics. It must use—as I’ll argue in the next chapter—the full spectrum of resistance.

- Excerpts from "Full Spectrum Resistance" by Aric McBay

Subsistence and community sufficiency.

For city-dwellers in an industrial age, it is easy to forget that successful resistance movements throughout history have been materially self-sufficient. Free communities grew, gathered, hunted, and fished their own foods. They relied on “the Commons.” They made their own houses and (as discussed in the chapter on logistics) they often equipped themselves with their own weapons, communications equipment, medical services, and so on. Indeed, the freedom to be self-sufficient on their people’s land was often the primary reason for struggle. Occupiers always try to separate resistance movements from the land and herd the people into controlled settlements, whether Indian reservations in the occupied Americas, the Jewish ghettos in occupied Europe, or the “strategic hamlets” in Vietnam.

***Community sufficiency is especially important in a time of economic and industrial decline. No resistance movement will be able to succeed in the coming decades without rebuilding or strengthening both its ties to the land and its capacity for self-reliance.*** [My emphasis]

Parallel institutions.

As they become better organized, cultures of resistance provide for their own people. Labor historian David Thompson says: “Unions began as self-help initiatives—providing their own pensions, sickness and health benefits—before they were ever able to extract those concessions from employers.”

Once a culture of resistance becomes a revolutionary movement, it builds institutions that can facilitate a more just and equitable society. The United States and the Irish and many others had revolutionary courts. The Black Panther Party had its survival programs for food, education, and health care. Revolutionary movements around the world have had fully developed logistical networks and parallel institutions. Sometimes a culture of resistance can revive or strengthen institutions that already exist, as is still the case for some Indigenous cultures. Sometimes, a culture’s institutions have been so destroyed, forgotten, or hopelessly corrupted that they must be created anew.

Conscious movement-building.

Movements need a culture of resistance, but effective movements do not simply appear without effort once a community of resistance is established. Communities must organize. Cultures of resistance must think critically and strategically about how to build effective and vibrant movements. And there is a reciprocal relationship between resistance movements and cultures of resistance. Each builds and strengthens the other.

Communities and community building.

Healthy, just, sustainable communities are one ultimate goal of successful resistance. They are also a basic human need. Without community, resistance is lonely, difficult, and unlikely to succeed. Communities are the basis of a living culture, of solidarity, and of nearly everything a culture of resistance needs. And the strong ties that develop in a strong community are what enable people to take real risks for the greater good (see chapter 4: Recruitment & Training).

Moral and material support for front line activists.

Not everyone is able or willing to take the greatest personal risks; not everyone will blockade a pipeline or take over a city council meeting. That direct action is the job of only a small percentage of people at any given time. The job of the majority of people in a culture of resistance is to support those few. They need support morally, through vocal support for militancy and advocacy for resistance. They also need material support through food, fundraising, child care, prisoner support, and all the rest. A wide base of material support is needed to win any conflict.

Risk and self-sacrifice.

Resistance requires personal sacrifice from those involved. Sometimes this is easy and immediately rewarding—I enjoy making food for an event or spending time planning an action with my comrades. But sometimes sacrifice is difficult and frightening. Sometimes we risk our freedom, our bodies, our lives. This need not be a reckless risk. We will not be effective if we seek martyrdom for the sake of martyrdom. But to be effective requires that we set aside our short-term personal needs, and throw our energies and our lives into greater projects of freedom and survival.

Solidarity.

Solidarity is the bedrock of a culture of resistance. People understand that they have a common enemy and a common struggle, and that the success of that struggle depends on mutual support. They understand that no action is perfect, and that the best way to move forward with allies is not through ideological quibbling but through mutual support, feedback, and constructive criticism.

When people absolutely can’t support each other for whatever reason, they at least avoid fighting each other, especially in public. They also understand that acrimonious internal battles can be even more destructive than external repression. Solidarity is the only way to keep a movement from being divided and conquered.

Action and material gains.

Although a culture of resistance can be expressed in art, music, writing, and so on, its ultimate purpose is to give rise to political action. Progress and learning happen only through action. That doesn’t mean every action is perfect. People make mistakes and learn from them. But only through action can resistance movements be forged, trained, and strengthened.

Action keeps people together and helps to ward off horizontal hostility. As Sara Falconer explained to me, practical work makes it easier to get past moments of disagreement. “If people are counting on you, it grounds you. It’s hard to get upset about little things.”

Oppositional culture.

Cultures of resistance are more than just alternative cultures. Cultures of resistance understand that the dominant culture is not only corrupt, but unjust, expansionist, and relentless. They do not abandon struggle to retreat into lonely isolation. They engage with the dominant culture, and with those captured or enthralled by it.

That doesn’t mean that resisters don’t need retreats, havens, or areas of redoubt—we do. Those places may be community centers, farms, or longhouses. But in an oppositional culture, those sanctuaries and autonomous zones are not places to hopelessly await an inevitable defeat. They are bases for resisters to rest and recuperate, to strategize and to organize. And they are bases from which to launch offensives.

Living culture.

The memory of a culture of resistance is not a dusty archive or a stodgy museum exhibit behind glass. It is a living memory, a living culture. Resistance is celebrated and reenacted through a whole spectrum of cultural undertakings like plays, films, zines, books, newspapers, murals, photography, songs, and revival gatherings. Resistance becomes intertwined with the activities of daily life, from sports to food to clothing. (Consider, for example, the resurgence of the sport of hurling in Ireland, the shift from tea to coffee in revolutionary America, and the role of homespun textiles and salt-making in Indian Independence.)

Memory.

In cultures of resistance, people know their history and remember their struggles. The most effective way for an occupier to quash resistance is to eliminate its memory. Once cultural amnesia sets in, an occupation feels like it has lasted forever. Resistance feels both pointless and unprecedented. But that amnesia can be reversed, even after a very long time.

In a culture of resistance, struggles are treasured even if they fall short of victory. If a culture of resistance is the soil, even unsuccessful campaigns can enrich that soil—like compost—once they have been integrated into it. (And, like building soil, establishing a culture of resistance can be a long and slow process.)