More from Sharon Astyk .
Ok, I'm going to run through a range of security options, covering both personal and community, and talk a little about the pros and cons of each. I've divided them into four categories – personal, preventative (ie, avoiding security issues in the first place); community, preventative, personal, responsive (ie, when something bad is/has already happened) and community responsive.
Es ist fast immer billiger, einfacher und effizienter auf die meisten Ihrer Ressourcen, um persönliche und gemeinschaftliche präventive Maßnahmen zu widmen, als sie zu reagieren diejenigen zu widmen. Das ist nicht zu sagen, man sollte nicht über einen Weg, um zu Gewalt oder Bedrohung zu reagieren - keine vorbeugende arbeitet die ganze Zeit. Aber wenn Sie nur über begrenzte Ressourcen verfügen, sind präventive Maßnahmen in der Regel der einfachste Weg, um zu starten, und die effektivste insgesamt. Die wichtigste Sache zu erinnern ist, dass die meisten bedroht ist auf einer ziemlich vernünftigen Risiko-Bewertung durch die Person, es basiert - sie denken, sie werden besser stehlen von Ihnen oder dich zu verletzen, als nicht - jetzt gibt es viele Ausnahmen - einige Kriminelle sind Idioten und kann nicht sagen, was ihre Risiken, und einige Menschen sind Soziopathen, von Zwängen jenseits rationaler Kontrolle ormotivated - aber die Chancen stehen gut, dass die Person, die, von Ihnen zu stehlen oder angreifen und nehmen Sie Ihr Geld suchen, es zu tun mit minimalem Risiko für sich und gute Chancen auf Erfolg. Wenn sie diese als reguläres Hobby oder Beruf zu machen, sind sie wahrscheinlich ziemlich auf diese Erfahrung gemacht. Wenn sie das nicht tun es sehr oft, stehen die Chancen sind ziemlich nervös, erwischt. Also alles, was sie verlangsamt (und erhöht damit ihre Chance, erwischt zu werden), machen Sie sich und Ihre Familie scheint eine weniger attraktive Opfer zu sein, wirft ihr Risiko, erwischt zu werden, oder dass ihnen Gefahr, verletzt zu reduzieren Ihr Risiko.
Jetzt im Moment, ich rede meist um kriminelle Übergriffe hier. Und ich denke, die Chancen stehen, dass die zunehmende Armut wird die Kriminalitätsrate gestiegen, wenngleich unterschiedlich in den verschiedenen Bereichen. Es sei daran erinnert, dass, während einzelne oder kleine Gruppe krimineller Übergriff ist ein ziemlich häufiges Szenario, es ist nicht das einzig mögliche Szenario. Für die meisten Frauen und Kinder, würde ich uns alle wieder daran erinnern, dass häusliche Gewalt weit häufiger als externe Gewalt und Nachbarn, Freunde, etc ... oft aber auch Täter ist. In einer niedrigeren Energie-Welt, die meisten unserer Probleme wahrscheinlich von Menschen, die wir kennen lernen, oder sich nicht sehr weit weg wohnen, anstatt den Bands von Roaming-Plünderer einige Leute Sorgen. Ich denke, dies ist besonders wichtig, wenn wir über Waffen reden (und es ist so schwer, über Sicherheit, ohne all den Fokus der Landung auf Waffen sprechen, auch wenn wir nicht wollen, weil unsere Gedanken so stark gewichtet und polarisiert sind zu diesem Thema ).
Einer der Gründe, warum ich nicht empfehlen Waffen an jeden Haushalt ist, dass für Frauen, die Opfer von Ehemännern, Liebhabern und Freunden (oder gelegentlich Freundinnen und Ehefrauen) sind, mit einem Gewehr ist wahrscheinlich gefährlicher als es ohne eine. Jemand in einer missbräuchlichen Partnerschaft hat bereits gescheitert zu benutzen (und ich verstehe das ist eine schwierige Sache, in vielen Situationen zu tun) die stärkste Waffe, die sie haben - raus (dies gilt nicht unbedingt für diejenigen, die missbräuchliche Situationen verlassen haben anzuwenden und zu Angst vor einem Partner kommen nach ihnen). Und wenn Sie nicht verlassen kann, eine missbräuchliche Partner, Chancen sind, werden Sie nicht schießen sie auch nicht. Auf der anderen Seite, beleidigende Partner oft töten die Frauen, die sie missbrauchen, manchmal mit ihren eigenen Waffen. So wie wir durchmachen, ist es erwähnenswert, dass alle Menschen, insbesondere Frauen (und einige Männer sind auch missbraucht, aber die Situation ist weniger chronisch), über nicht nur "der Fremde versucht, meinen Wagenheber", sondern auch andere, intimere denken müssen Realitäten.
It is unfortunately true, that you are far more likely to be abused, assaulted or murdered by a member of your own family than by a stranger.
It is a sad sid effect of heirarchies. A person who spends his or her day being oppressed by their boss, or someone else who is perceived as higher up the heirarchy ladder, very often then takes that out on loved ones who are perceived as being below them on the heirarchy.
No one knows how desperate things could get, or how much extra stress the trials and tribulations of transition will bring. If you cannot trust those near and dear to you now, you can pretty much guarantee that this will get worse. Our advice to anyone in an abusive relationship is to do your utmost to get away now if you can. It will not get better.
The other scenario worth talking about is state supported violence. If you are black in the US, you are already probably pretty clear on this one, at least one scale. A lot of us tend to leap immediate to the idea of ”camps” or something as the logical face of state authorized or created violence, but simply the idea that you have to be as or more afraid of the police than criminals is one form of state violence. This can occur at any level – town, state, federal. There are people and places where police will never be your allies, and it is definitely worth being aware that the US military, the police and the state can be used against you, and has been. The last charge of the US Cavalry, for example, occurred not against a foreign enemy but during the Great Depression when impoverished veterans of World War I marched peacefully upon Washington and set up shantytowns demanding that they be paid a promised subsidy. The fear of the state is perfectly reasonable. This does not mean that agents of the state are bad – or that they can't also be a really good thing. It merely means that even the most humane and best agent of the state always risks being misused by an evil state.
That said, what you should do about the fear of the state is a tough question – personal solutions will probably only work in very rural areas where the state has few representatives, and while an armed populace represents something of a deterrant, it honestly isn't clear to me how much. In the case of widespread federally supported state violence (and I should note by this I mean “more than now” and not to imply it doesn't exist now), probably the best solution is a revolution, and probably a non-violent one. But this involves a level of community organization I'm not quite prepared to cover in this one post 
.
The role of the police is to maintain the staus quo, so as the staus quo becomes more untenable, it is likely that the activities of the police and other guardians of 'law and order' will become increasingly desperate. But, the state may collapse, leaving well armed and trained individuals without a purpose. Presumably how this pans out will be different in each area, and ex-police may become valuable members of your community, or may set themselves up as the biggest baddest gang on the block. Wer weiß? It may be worthwhile forging some links with the police in your region now, involve community police in transition meetings, and let them know that your actions are planned to help local people survive would will undoubtedly become desperate times. As with anyone in your locale, it will be better to have them with you than against you. Even if a feudal system arises in your locality, if the police or other local powers know that you are very useful to them it may save your life or at least put you in a better position than if you are perceived as some kind of hippie drop out, or competition for scarce resources.
Personal Preventative Measures:
1. Self-confidence, or at least the appearance thereof. It isn't true that all victims look like victims, but it is the case that if someone is calculating whether to attack or steal or do something illegal, they are probably calculating their risk too. The stronger and harder to intimidate you appear, the less likely you will be to look like an easy target. For some people this is easy – for example, I'm 6′ tall and not thin. I'ma big woman and I walk and act like I take up space – this is to my advantage. But I've known very small and very elderly women who also have this quality. It may not truly be the case that all bullies are cowards, but some are, and you can put off some assaults with a certain measure of self confidence, and the ability not to respond fearfully. It isn't magic, and it has to be carefully balanced with the instinct for self preservation, but it can help.
For women facing domestic violence, I realize this is much easier said than done, but part of this has to include the ability to say that it is never permissable for anyone to touch you violently, even if they love you, and that you will leave immediately, not the second or third time, but the first time it happens.
2. Der gesunde Menschenverstand. Don't make yourself unnecessarily vulnerable. Walk with another person when possible. Stay close to other people if you are out alone. Don't flash cash where no one else has it. Don't punch your atm card in clear view of everyone. Don't leave your bags unattended. Don't start bar fights you can't finish. Don't let your kids roam around alone if there are lots of human or animal predators around. Be aware of your surroundings, pay attention to other people, avoid people looking for fights or trouble. Use your brain – that's what it is for.
3. The ability to shift the ground and understand the person you are dealing with. This may be about slowing things down, increasing the perception of risk by the criminal, making you seem a poor choice of victim or about making them fear being hurt (use that latter one carefully). If the threat to your security is a person, sometimes you can change the threat by talking to them, or dealing with them. I've already mentioned the woman I know who got out of a carjacking by talking about her kids and their need for her. But I've also met a woman who got out of being raped by claiming she had her period, and Derrick Jensen talks about his sister getting out of it by saying she had VD. That doesn't mean things like this always work, but they are tools you have. I've also met an elderly nun who rather famously disarmed multiple soldiers on several seperate occasions – she lived in a nunnery near Serajevo, and soldiers would come to the nunnery – sometimes to steal, sometimes to intimidate, at least one time, she said, bent on rape, and she would talk to them, joke with them sometimes, guilt trip them others, remind them of their own mothers, and every single time, she ended up with the soldiers leaving, and a couple of times, she was holding their guns at the end. This is a gift, obviously, that not all of us have, and that some people are not susceptible to. But some are, and language, persuasion, emotional manipulation, identification even humor – these things are tools people have to use and should be aware of as such.
4. Basic home security measures that slow someone down and make it more likely they will be caught. Good locks. Actually lock them if things get risky (I live in an area where locks are not presently used much). Stout doors. Bars for the doors. Heavy metal screens or window bars for particularly dangerous areas. Fences to keep things out of sight. Padlocks on sheds. Locks on your gas caps. A safe place to move animals to.
5. A dog, geese or guinea hens. These work both to raise the risk of being caught, and to raise the risk of a criminal being hurt. I don't generally suggest that most people get trained attack dogs, but some kind of animal deterrant that can alert you to unusual situations is a good idea. A dog is the most common choice, but geese have some real advantages – they are also excellent watchdogs, and in some ways, your average criminal may be more afraid of an aggressive gander than a dog, simply because it is more unfamiliar, and they eat grass. Basically, you want something that hears and smells better than you do, and will give you some warning time, while also discouraging the large number of people who want an easy target.
I don't recommend this one if you don't like animals, can't take care of them, or don't have a plan for supplying them with food in the longer term. The world does not need more abandoned or euthanized animals. If you have kids, the dog must be gentle and good with kids, ideally raised from a puppy, and you must not leave young children along with dogs ever. But if you are prepared to do this wisely and carefully, watch animals can reduce your risk and provide you with some warning of trouble.
6. Electronic security systems depend on electricity, money, monitors, police infrastructure and cars to get there quickly – they are an option while things are good, but I wouldn't bet on them unless you are quite wealthy and you and your neighborhood can afford to maintain the infrastructure behind them. Even then, the “gated community” model is not something that particularly takes my interest, so I'm going to skip over it.
And now Sharon's suggestions for community security:
1. A community. This is one of those “duh” things, but it is useful to have those relationships built *before* you need them – that way if things change quickly, you've got this in place. And honestly, a non-car community – a place where people walk and bike and talk to each other and sit on porches or interact regularly at meals and occasions – ie, where there are people around and connected to each other, is itself a measure of deterrence. That is, a neighborhood where there are people isn't as easy pickings to a burglar as a place where people aren't.
2. Neighborhood watch – this is related to the above. Getting together, keeping an eye on things, having people out in the streets, showing presence – these things help make you look less vulnerable. Obvious neighborhood unity is protective against state violence as well, because if the police have to deal with a large community en masse they will be less powerful than if they can deal with isolated citizens. A neighborhood watch that looks within may also be a preventative against domestic abuse as well, discretely enabling victims to get away, or making it clear to perpetrator that they pay a public price as well.
3. Bells, code words and other alert methods . Jews in urban New York city use a yiddish codeword. Carnival operators yell “Hey Rube!” In some places “Help” or “Socorro!” or some other equivalent gets the response. Other places may use whistles or loud bells. But the idea is that when an alarm is sounded, everyone drops what they are doing and comes running, ideally armed with what ever is at hand – a stick, a rock, a loud voice. This works on any kind of violence or criminal activity (and is especially effective if neighbors can bring themselves to do it in the case of domestic violence, which relies heavily on the tacit silence of neighbors and their fear of intervention). Numbers have power! Two criminals with knives are scary if they are facing a few people – against 30 or so angry neighbors, they aren't quite as scary.
4. Public and private security, and a good relationship with them. There are places where police have little relationship to the people they serve and protect – and many times this can be remedied. Getting to know the police, and talking to them, having them have a relationship with your neighborhood or community group can be really helpful. Their presence can provide a deterrant, slow crime down and increase the chance of a criminal paying a price. In some situations, post-collapse, many societies rely on private security – in some cases, you may have no choice but to rely on private security, as in some places the choice is “hire” protection or need protection from those you might otherwise have hired. Having people whose job it is to see to security is a good thing, assuming they are good people with the public (whole public) interest in mind.
5. Walls, gates, lights, speed bumps, etc… barriers to entry. While I'm not much interested in the wealthy gated community, in some neighborhoods reducing car or pedestrian access to certain areas, providing motion sensor lighting, etc… make a lot of sense. Do an evaluation of your area and its needs.
6. Organized non-violence. This can be an extension of much of the above, but also can include passive resistance strategies and a host of other things. I strongly recommend Mark Kurlansky's excellent history of non-violence. This is actually potentially the most effective strategy ever against state violence, and can be used quite effectively. It does require, however that you have a strongly organized and consistent community that pretty much agrees to this policy – that is, it can't work without strong community ties.
And then there are situations that might require personal presponsive actions, but as Sharon says, don't try using these unless you know how to, and definitely not if you are not 100% sure that you need to, and that the 'threat' is real. Not everyone who looks like a burglar or a threat actually is. There will probably be plenty of people seeking shelter and help wandering the countryside, and they will often act as though they are burglars. Obviously anyone entering a new area will be as wary of what they may find there as the people there will be wary of the newcomers. In most situations, an attempt to communicate is vitally important. That 'burglar' may well turn out to be the composting expert that your community needs, and it could help to find this out before you chase them off! History is full of accounts of travellers being run out of town for simply 'not being from round these here parts'. Obviously no where can take in every waif and stray, but can you really do without some extra pairs of hands?
Personal Responsive: Everything in this category is totally pointless if you don't know what you are doing with it. Seriously, if you can't take the time and energy to deal with learning how to use this properly, when to use it, when not to use it and a host of other things, don't bother – concentrate on the above. Because having a weapon that can be taken from you and used on you is a bad idea.
It is just as important to know when *NOT* to use these as when to use them. For example, self-defense trainers teach people not to hang onto their purses during most purse snatchings – the first thing most of them teach is how to let your purse go. The reason is that most purses don't have anything worth risking your life for. If you respond to a low level threat with a strong response, maybe you'll end the situation – but if it goes wrong, or you make a mistake (and mistakes happen, and will no matter what), you may find yourself facing a much greater threat. One of the classic peak oil worries is the question of the marauding band. My feeling is that if there's someone after my food, and I have young children, it doesn't matter if my band is bigger and meaner than the food hunting band – the minute the shooting starts, I risk the loss of someone to crossfire, which kills as many people as intended violence when bullets are flying. There are situations where each of these tools can be useful – but plenty of situations where they are not, and telling one from the other is a bigger problem than can be handled in this post. So if you are going to pick up one of these methods, think hard about when you might want to use them and when not.
All of these options act as deterrents, as well as actual responses. But the problem is that if you aren't prepared to use them, they can be easily used against you. But it is never a bad idea to gently let people know that you are familiar with self-defensive methods (the only exception to this is that some kinds of martial arts, in some kinds of crowds, I'm told create a guy kind of “I have to try and take him” crap, so keep that in mind), or perhaps to not make your non-violent proclivities the subject of public discussion. If you are resolutely non-violent, you might consider an unloaded shotgun which can still be “pumped' because the sound of a shotgun is such a visceral and powerful one.
1. Self defense or martial arts training. This ranges hugely from purely defensive techniques to aggressive ones, to basic police sponsored self defense training to serious martial arts. Almost anything you will get is better than nothing, assuming it comes with a competent trainer that can help you with evaluating your situation. In the broadest possible terms, even very basic self defense training will help you make yourself a lot harder to hurt or attack. It won't fix everything, but again, assuming that people who want to hurt you in part rely on the fact that you will be frightened, panicky and not know how to hurt them, this helps a lot. It is also a huge confidence booster – I was friends with a woman who used to teach self defense to elderly women who lived in urban areas, a terribly vulnerable population, many quite frail and disabled, and she said their tracking showed that assaults halved, mostly not because the women could do terribly much harm, but because they acted like they could, and made it difficult for their attackers.
2. Blunt objects. I really like these. A good, heavy blunt object has a lot of uses in icky times. Baseball bats, one of my students like Maglite flashlights, axe or hatchet handles, even a good cane for them that use them. Now knowing some commonsense use is really helpful – it is easy for a strong attacker with a long reach to take this away and use it on you (this is true to varying degrees of all weapons). Still, if you can figure out how to use them productively, they are cheap, widely available and useful at close range. Various blunt objects traditionally used in stick fighting of various sorts can be trained upon, and this is not a bad idea. But often in a non-weaponed conflict, simply the sight of a stick or other weapon makes you look like a bad target.
3. Pepper spray – I've heard very mixed things about this stuff, and must admit to no personal experience with it. It has the advantage of being usually (but not always) non-lethal, of being painful as hell to the attacker, and cheap and widely available. I've known several people, however, who didn't realize just how close together you have to be to use it successfully. Two of those people used it at a far enough range that it wasn't very effective, and one of the attackers was *REALLY* pissed off. So like everything KNOW HOW TO USE IT. It is also worth noting that it can cause death by asthma and is incredibly painful – so you might not want to use it in uncertain situations.
4. Tasers cannot be classified as a non-lethal, as they do cause death sometimes. They are legal, including for concealed carry in many states, and they do work rather well – but shouldn't be used casually or treated as a non-lethal weapon. They do tend to end a confrontation quite rapidly, but they depend on fairly close proximity and decent aim. They are not legal in my state for civilian use. It would be wise to treat a taser as less likely to kill than a gun, but as potentially as dangerous.
5. SCA weapons. I'm unfairly putting bows of all sorts, swords, fighting knives and a host of things in this category. I am not doing so because I dismiss them, but because they are not things to fuck with unless you know what you are doing, and generally speaking, the SCA isn'ta bad place to master them. The problem with the SCA as I see it is that there are a certain number of gamer geeks who think that once a week waving a sword about makes them quite something, and who are totally wrong. Don't get me wrong – I don't think that the SCA is made up only of these people. But I think it would be easy, with the wrong people, to get the sense that your weaponry is more useful than it is, or that you are more skillful than you are. If you are going to rely on SCA weapons, train extensively with multiple people, and know their limitations and abilities.
6. Knives. An emergency backup, if you are using your knife in a conflict, you are already pretty screwed. Knives, like everything else, can be taken away from you, and most people know this. If you are already in close quarters, getting out a knife and using it will be awkward, but if you can do it, might be as effective as all hell. But stabbing someone is not physically easy (bodies do not penetrate as easily as on tv). Not the worst reserve item ever, but not easy to use.
7. Guns. We've already talked so much about guns that I feel like we've covered a lot of the ground. Who shouldn't have a gun? Kids who still think they are immortal and those with mental or psychological disabilities, anyone likely to seriously consider suicide, anyone who hates and fears guns, anyone who doesn't think they'd use a gun, morons who think guns make the invincible (although though these people probably already have them), and anyone who is vulnerable to violence from someone they love. Who might want to consider them? Anyone with animal predators around (and packs of feral dogs are a likely consequence of a poorer society), hunters, women, especially single women, and older women and couples. Anyone who is good with guns and will take the time to use them carefully. Anyone who needs a long range weapon, and who can effectively use a gun, never pointing it unless they are prepared to use it. Anyone who can disconnect themselves from TV and the popular culture relationship to guns and treat it as a tool of limited usefulness.
We really need to point out again, that not all travellers are threats. Just because someone appears to be a threat doesn't mean that they necessarily are. An attempt at communication could change a deadly situation into a harmless conversation, and most situations can be calmed with a few words. Even aggressors can sometimes be turned away simply by being told about your defences.
Community Responses:
1. Organized Collective Non-Violence with Media Attention. I mentioned this above, but I think it works both actively and passively. It is worth noting that non-violence is not the same as “non-resistance” – it does not mean accepting outcomes, but thwarting violence before it happens. The reason I mention “media attention” is that perhaps the most important things non-violent resister's can do in a violent situation is draw the attention to the realities, make people see what they do not see. One of the points of Kurlansky's book on non-violence is that the inevitability of violence is almost always clear – at the point that we have lost every chance to resolve a conflict without violence, usually simply discarding those moments of possibility, in which public sentiment and other practices might have been used. That is, it is very easy to say “Oh, non-violence wouldn't have saved the Jews under the Nazis” – and that is almost certainly true. On the other hand, non-violent forms of resistance did save the Danish Jews, who virtually all survived. There is no question that allied nations could have opened their borders to the Jews and most of the loss of life would have been prevented. That is, violence became inevitable once we closed down every other choice – and that may well happen to many of us. But that doesn't mean that non-violence pointless, or has no role in the lives of people who are not pacifists – sometimes, often, especially when states are involved, nonviolence is extremely effective and powerful. It is not, as some argue (including Kurlansky, and I think he's wrong) the only tool – but it is a tool and important one.
2. Militias/Community self-Policing. This works best if you are trained by someone who actually knows what they are doing – I don't recommend it otherwise. Getting a bunch of people together to practice using weapons is kind of pointless, if no one has ever thought critically about strategy, or when not to use weapons or fight. Half of such work is knowing how to disperse a crowd, distract a drunk and send him home, or recognize trouble waiting to happen and intervene. If the police are unavailable, corrupt or absent and private security untrustworthy or too expensive to manage, get someone with serious training to teach you. While I think the risks of guns are often overstated by the mainstream media, I think the risks of weekend warriors with weapons waving them around without a lot of training couldn't possibly be overstated
And there is always the danger that a militia will take control of your community and use the rest of you as slaves. It can't be stated enough, the need to trust those around us. Strong community ties, more than anything else give us both the sense of and reality of security on many levels. If we feel secure within our community of family, friends and neighbours we are more likely to act secure and give potential threats the impression that we just aren't worth the risk.
Hopefully most people will not need any of the above, but, particularly in america, the state is bankrupt and corrupt, and times are changing. The transition to a peaceful secure sustainable future will bring with it plenty of problems, and plenty of people who didn't think to prepare, who have clung onto the staus quo, and think they are deserving of more than a local shared economy can provide.
It feels odd, to be writing this at a time when society for most of us has not unravelled much, and plenty of people feel that it will not, that 'they' will come up with something. But, better to have thought about the worst-case situations, and have some level of preparation, than to have blindly carried on at our unsustainable realities and get caught totally unawares.
