The second day of the consulta went just as well as the first. We had a slightly smaller crowd, but it still worked. We couldn’t get into the Frederick Cultural Arts Center right off the bat on Sunday due to the fact that a church had services in there at 11:00, so we started out at the Frederick Coffee Company for the first hour and some. There, we discussed affinity groups, protest tactics, and even “protest fashion”, which was kind of like What Not To Wear: Black Bloc Edition.
Then we went over to an area about a block away from the Arts Center, and had lunch, courtesy of the local Food Not Bombs. There, they had a selection of vegan food, as well as what’s called freegan, meaning it’s stuff that was obtained for free after being cast off by the primary purchaser.
From there, we got into the Arts Center, and prepared for a workshop on police tactics. However, before that got going, while everyone was setting up, Jeff and Maddy had a chance to be wacky with a cart that was in there.
First Jeff pushed Maddy…
Then Maddy pushed Jeff.
Then after everyone got settled, we got into a workshop on police tactics, which included a number of simulations, which together was quite informative. Then we did a workshop on street medic training, which, while it was by no means a full training course for becoming a street medic, it at least exposed us to some of what street medics do. I, in fact, put it best when I said, “It ought to provide you at least an overview of what street medics do, which is important even if you have no intention of ever becoming a street medic.”
That was the last workshop, and then we got into a strategizing session – a discussion about what kinds of plans people have for the Democratic convention this summer in Denver. The session for the Republican convention was the night before, which I did not attend.
And that was it! From there, I went back to Silver Spring, but not before first taking Jeff, Maddy, and Ahmed (whom Jeff and Maddy already knew, and who I got to know this weekend) home.
All in all, it was a great weekend. I learned a lot, had a great time networking with other anarchists from the region, and I took pages upon pages upon pages of notes.