On The Road (1995, North America)

Though it may now seem impossible, there was a time in our recent history when armed revolutionary groups operated inside North America with the intention of ending US imperialism. While many people may be aware of the Weather Underground and their symbolic bombings, fewer know of The George Jackson Brigade, the New World Liberation Front, the Armed Action Unit, Direct Action, the Black Liberation Army, or the United Freedom Front. These groups all occupied that chimerical realm known as “the underground.” On The Road described how these groups could somehow exist in plain sight while maintaining anonymity. While many of the tactics described herein are now obsolete, this short pamphlet provides us with a valuable peek at the creativity and discipline used to provide cover for hundreds of people at war with the United States and Canada.

It is also telling that there was a time when this pamphlet was widely distributed to animal rights and environmental militants. Starting at the end of the 1980s and continuing well into the present day, FBI surveillance and harassment of above ground activists reached levels intense enough to make many people consider whether or not they would be safer resisting omnicide from a more shadowy place.