1. Mass distribution of our message: The most direct form of unmediated expression available—cheap—to underfolks like us. “Get the Shiznit to the Public”, as the Chocolate Sunflower would put it.


2. Counter-infotainment: A surprise for people on their way to work in the morning. Critical ideas where people least expect them. To tickle the general public into thinking along with us about issues we think are important to the health of American democracy, the Constitution, our First Amendment rights, and the future of Hip-Hop Nation.


3. Empowerment: To take direct cooperative action on an issue that concerns us. For the general public who feel they have no avenues of resistance to the dominant power structure, no community support system, no ability to change their situation. To change apathy and cynicism to optimism.

1. Don’t Get Arrested (for no good reason). The non-violence in Non-violent Civil Disobedience—even our minor form of mischief— is NOT something you don’t do: It’s a principle.
   
   PLEASE BE POLITE TO EVERYONE on the streets at night. Especially the police! Going to jail could ruin your evening. If you’re hassling with the cops, you’re not distributing our message. The Po-Po are just doing their job out there. The Guerrilla etiquette definition of conversation with the police is: They talk, we listen. Do what they tell you. Get off their beat. Go to another neighborhood. They’ll ask you what you’re doing. Tell them it’s an ART PROJECT. Nothing else. If they want you to stop, take the posters down, whatever—just say OK, do it and leave quietly. Then go to another part of town (easy in LA, it’s a big town) and continue your good work!
   
   PS- This goes for “Rent a Cops” as well. They’ll lose their jobs if posters are found on property they’re guarding—jobs are scarce; postering sites are plentiful.


2. Don’t alienate our Audience. This includes merchants, private property owners and people on the streets. Don’t poster on store windows, walls, surfaces. Don’t poster on city property (though the posters were originally scaled to the size of LA traffic light switching boxes—hint hint), church property or federal property (mailboxes). Discuss the poster and the issues with pedestrians if they ask, but don’t talk too long and don’t argue. If people want a poster give them one. If they want ten—give them one. If cars roll up and drivers or passengers want a poster, give them one. They’re our audience—our people. Treat ‘em right! [anecdotal evidence; “Lenny Lambchop” was getting up on telephone boxes in NYC lower east side around 2 am; the bars were letting out. Two beautiful working girls wobbled over to him and asked if they could have posters. “What are you gonna do with ’em?,” he asked. One of the ladies, wearing a too short spandex something, replied, “I’m gonna put “MEN WITH NO LIPS” up in my room.” Concerned, L.L. said, “But we want lots of people to see them.” The other woman winked, “Oh they will, honey, at least twenty people a night!” Good enough.]

Some of your more daring guerrillas will want to do more damage—there’s really no way to stop them (you know what happens when you give your favorite neo-punkettes, grunge-puppies and club-slime a list of what NOT to do). The danger isn’t so great, if they keep their heads when approached byda Po-Po. Rookie Po-Po—Po-Po Pups—are difficult ‘cause they’re zealously protecting PRIVATE property. "Rent-a Cops even moreso, but we don't want these folks ta lose their precious jobs over a lil twist-up wid us, so be compassionate—there's plenty 'o' places for us to perpetrate. Move on or time their rounds, so's they don't see you doin da deed. They won’t like the fact that there’s no name & address of the responsible organization on the poster (and they won’t like it if there is, either). So, the most important rule is to be

1. Calm
2. Quick
3. and....(most of all)….3. POLITE!

THE SPIRIT OF THE ENTERPRISE:

Be generous with the posters. Offer them to your teams as souvenirs and let them give ‘em away on the streets—sometimes sympathetic merchants will put them up in their shops—like your favorite bookstore, coffee house or local watering hole—good for morale! Good luck with all of this. Enjoy yourselves. Your whole time on the streets should take you no more than an hour and a half. You’re doing good work. We’ll surprise a lot of people into thinking about something very important!

POSTERING TECHNIQUES:

1. Construction site walls are safest targets. Especially if they already have posters on them. But clean construction walls are OK. Don’t worry about POST NO BILLS signs (just post over them—then POOF!—they don’t exist.) Abandoned or empty buildings are cool. Just put up 2 or 3 posters at each site and move on. (On some occasions a "collage" or mural effect can be cool too. Especially on those new faux-billboard areas like on Melrose. *Be careful only to cover up lame-ass ads, like for Celine Dion CD’s or posters for Disney movies)… DO NOT HIT: other graffiti artists' work! Bad-Bad-Bad Guerrilla Etiquette! Our street culture is all about R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Respect other "piecers" original projects (whether or not you agree with their 'tude, it's Freedom of Expression, Dude!)—and respect the risks they take in getting up. Say you see one and it's in a hot spot. Your surface lust kicks in and you just gotta get up on it. Carefully place our piece NEXT TO our comrade's artistic endeavor. Sharing the street and the cred (they's all we got, yo!)—that's what I'm tawkin about . . . you know I ain't lyin'. THAT”LL DO, PIG! (ahhh, but there’s more…) REMEMBER: Your production time for a designer masterpiece is limited in these areas. Work efficiently. Calm an cool is the way to go, yo!


2. If you have a team of 2—one carries the bucket & brush, glues the wall or traffic light switching box, whatever. The other rolls a poster in the car so we good to go, places and smoothes the poster on the glued area. "Gluer" then doubles back to secure the edges of each poster with glue brush. If you have a team of 3—driver stays in the car with the motor running as lookout and keeps the beats flowing so the gluer and posterer can get their groove on—not too loud, yo!


3. Don’t stay at one site more than 5 minutes.


4. Don’t poster in a straight line. Zigzag through your turf. Yu might discover a nook or cranny of Lalaland or wherever you never seen. There's a smooth surface to service every lust in the city of night, ya dig! Even ours.


5. ACHTUNG, BABY! Never run anywhere. NO RUNNING! Chill…do your job, SMILE like you know something and leave.


6. DRIVE CAREFULLY. You do not want to be interrupted for a traffic violation.


7. If a particular situation makes you nervous, don’t hit it. Come back later, if you must. There are so many places to poster; you’ll find another tasty space just a few blocks away.