Every year, there are constant calls for solidarity actions both nationally and internationally. In recent years, the go to action of choice for many has been banner drops along highly trafficked streets and freeways. We in no way shape or form want to take away from these actions. Banner drops can be seen by potentially thousands of people, photos of the banners can be shared online, and write ups of the action give those behind it a chance to issue a statement of solidarity. Moreover, banner drops are also often easy to carry out and help build trust and confidence between those doing the action.

The point of this column is simply to get people to think about different actions, the logic behind them, and how they can help in accomplishing the goal of letting people know about a struggle or repression that comrades face, expanding that struggle, and aiding materially to that struggle. Beyond that, we hope to create a list of easy, reproducible, and low risk actions that you and your friends can use on top of banner drops – thus expanding the tools in your tool box. Above all, remember that these are just ideas, and we encourage everyone to engage in experimentation to better fit them into your own local context.

In carrying out actions, even small ones, we want to communicate with the wider world that something important is happening and they need to know about it. Also, when comrades face repression, we want to shine a light on that abuse and let people know that it is happening and that we have their backs, just like we hope that they would have ours. Lastly, we also want to experiment with tactics which allow us to meet new people that we could potentially form affinity with.

Towards that end, here are some ideas.