The NYC Ya Basta Collective was a group of

anti-globalization The anti-globalization movement or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist m ...

activists, based primarily in NYC, active from roughly October, 2000 through October, 2001, inspired by the

Ya Basta Association The Ya Basta Association is a network of Italian anti-capitalist and pro-immigrants rights organizations and groups, fueled by the Italian social center movement, formed in 1994, and known for the "authorship" of the Tute Bianche, and later disobbed ...

. Initiated in October, 2000 by L Fantoni and TFG Casper on the heels of the anti-IMF / World Bank protests in Prague, a collective soon formed and developed its own variation of the

Tute Bianche Tute Bianche was a militant Italian social movement, active from 1994 to 2001. Activists covered their bodies with padding so as to resist the blows of police, to push through police lines, and to march together in large blocks for mutual protectio ...

tactic of the

padded bloc A padded bloc is a form of protest in which people march in a block formation and wear padding to protect against the police, following the Tute Bianche Tute Bianche was a militant Italian social movement, active from 1994 to 2001. Activists cove ...

. Their tactics relied on

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...

, where the protesters acted "silly" as possible, using kazoos, water balloons, and water pistols against the police. The members wore white chemical jumpsuits over improvised padding to protect themselves from rubber bullets and batons. These tactics was meant to highlight the disproportionate responses and power disparity between the police and the protesters. The collective organized several actions and events highlighting the inadequacy of borders, in support of immigrant rights, and against racism and racialist hate groups.

David Graeber David Rolfe Graeber (; February 12, 1961September 2, 2020) was an American anthropologist and anarchist activist. His influential work in economic anthropology, particularly his books '' Debt: The First 5,000 Years'' (2011) and ''Bullshit Jobs ...

was a member involved in the early organizing, and detailed its growth in Direct Action: An Ethnography. In April, 2001, this collective, along with the

Direct Action Network Direct Action Network (DAN) was a North American confederation of anti-corporate, anti-authoritarian and anarchist affinity groups, collectives, and organizations. It grew out of the Seattle chapter which had been formed to coordinate the nonviol ...

, was active in organizing, after invitation, a

Canada–United States border The border between Canada and the United States is the longest international border in the world. The terrestrial boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Can ...

crossing over the Seaway International Bridge, in cooperation with the Akwesasne Mohawk Warrior Society, at the St Regis Mohawk reservation, leading up to the anti-FTAA protests in Quebec City, Quebec. An estimated 500 anti-globalists, along with a few Mohawk warriors, challenged the legitimacy of the border. The collective never made it to Quebec. The American and Canadian police identified them as potential "violent elements" and those suspected of involvement where interrogated and detained for days when attempting to cross the border. The NYC Ya Basta Collective is now defunct.

References

External links

NYC YaBasta Collective archive websiteTute Bianche
American activists Anarchism in New York (state) Defunct anarchist organizations in North America {{Anarchism-stub

See also

References

External links