George Floyd Uprising Reader Volume 1: Insurgency and Beyond

A group of anarchists and autonomists in the Bay Area/occupied Ohlone land have collected these writings animated by the 2020 uprisings which ignited the so-called United States after the police murder of George Floyd. Our intention is that this reader inspires people everywhere to engage in deeper conversations about all aspects of the uprising, including its significance and context to the US Black Liberation struggle. We believe these discussions are vital to shaping ongoing and future struggles, improving tactics, and rendering ineffective the insidious narratives that aim to crush our collective power. We have organized these selected writings into two volumes: Volume 1: Insurgency and Beyond shares on-the-ground accounts from various sites of struggle: the challenges faced, victories won, analysis sharpened, and lessons learned. Each writing, specific to its physical and cultural landscape, affirms the necessity of insurrection while grappling with its impermanent nature and the questions of how we move forward together from such eruptions. Volume 2: Belligerent Identities in the Face of Counter-Insurgency examines identity politics, Black anarchists’ role in the uprisings, the racialized nature of “looting”, among other dynamics. The concept of Belligerent Identities is taken from the Latin Bellum Gerere which translates as “to wage war”, a term for guerrilla soldiers used by the state. If a belligerent identity is that of the enemy combatant, then we seek to reclaim and weaponize this term. The writings in this volume speak to how the far-right, police, state, media, and liberals use everything from live ammunition to tired rhetoric to douse the flames of rebellion and diffuse the potentials of solidarity. As non-Black anarchists and autonomists gathering and framing writings about an uprising that is centered around Black liberation, our positionality lends itself to a possibility of missing important elements and perspectives. However, we hope that you find this reader thought-provoking. Through critical analysis and fierce practice, may the fire in our hearts burn brighter as we love stronger and fight smarter in our collective struggle for liberation.