Welcome to Guerilla Codes: outfitting activists, artists and rebels with open source resources for censored and coded protest.
What are Guerilla Codes?
The concept for Guerilla Codes surfaced in response to the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA) 2005. This is a piece of British legislation that prohibits protest within a 1km exclusion zone around the Houses of Parliament (HoP) in Westminster, London. Guerilla Codes were created to challenge the implications of SOCPA; they are a method of quiet protest but still a symbol of rebellion. But why is this needed?
In October 2005, Maya Evans was arrested and charged under SOCPA after standing by the Cenotaph in Whitehall and reading out the names of the 97 British war dead in Iraq in a 'remembrance ceremony.' Another woman was also threatened with arrest for eating a cake that had the word 'peace' iced onto it. Wearing red poppy badges or red noses within the exclusion area is also prohibited. In effect, this absurdity is a ban on our right to freedom of speech.
Guerilla Codes are a way for people to take power back, a way of sharing a political ideology, a way of reclaiming freedom of expression from SOCPA. By presenting your protest as a code, you can exercise your voice where and when you want to. They are new tools for protest, unexpected and unfamiliar. Your codes can be anything you want them to be - a concept, a movement, a way of sharing thought, a way of connecting, a form of creative expression, a revolution, an act of rebellion...a way to say no.
