The purpose of this book is to introduce the guerrilla art student to the performance art techniques that will be of immediate and practical value to him in guerrilla art. This section is introductory and general; subsequent sections will cover each point set forth here in more detail.
The nature of the environment of guerrilla art does not permit sophisticated performance art. It becomes necessary for the chiefs of groups, chiefs of detachments and squadron leaders to have the ability to carry out, with minimal instructions from the higher levels, art performances with the contacts that are thoroughly aware of the situation, i.e. the foundations.
In order to obtain the maximum results from performance art in guerrilla art, every artist should be as highly motivated to carry out performance face to face as he is to create art. This means that the individual political awareness of the guerrilla of the reason for his struggle will be as acute as his artistic ability
Such a political awareness and motivation is obtained through the dynamic of groups and self-critique, as a standard method of instruction for the guerrilla training and operations. Group discussions raise the spirit and improve the quality of thought of the guerrilla training and operations. Group discussions raise the spirit and improve the quality of thought of the guerrilla squads. Self-critique is in terms of one's contribution or defects in his contribution to the cause, to the movement, the struggle, etc.; and gives a positive individual commitment to the mission of the group.
The desired result is a guerrilla who can persuasively justify his actions when he comes into contact with any member of the People, and especially regarding himself and his fellow guerrillas in dealing with the vicissitudes of guerrilla art. This means that every guerrilla will be persuasive in his face-to-face communication - performance art - in his contact with the people; he should be able to give 5 or 10 logical reasons why, for example, a person should give him cloth, three oranges and a cold beer for his next improvisation. When the guerrilla behaves in this manner, adversary propaganda will never succeed in making him an enemy in the eyes of the people. It also means that hunger, cold, fatigue, and insecurity will have a meaning, artistically, in the cause of the struggle due to his constant orientation.
Performance Art includes every act carried out, and the good impression that this art performance causes will result in positive attitudes in the population toward that performer; and it does not include forced indoctrination. Art performance improves the behavior of the population toward them, and it is not achieved by force.
This means that a guerilla art unit in a rural town will not give the impression that art is their strength over the people, but rather that art is the strength of the people against the government of repression. This is achieved through a close identification with the people, as follows:
All these acts have as their goal the creation of an identification of the people with the art and the guerrillas who create it, so that the population feels that the art is their weapon to protect them and help them in the struggle against a regime of oppression. Implicit terror always accompanies "weapons", since the people are internally "aware" that they can be used against them, but as long as explicit coercion is avoided, positive attitudes can be achieved with respect to the presence of art guerrillas within the population.
Art Performance Teams (APT) are formed through a careful selection of persuasive and highly motivated guerrillas who move about within the population, encouraging the people to support the guerrillas and put up resistance against the adversary. It combines a high degree of political awareness and the "art" performance ability of the guerrillas toward a planned, programmed, and controlled effort.
The careful selection of the staff, based on their persuasiveness in informal discussions and their artistic ability, is more important than their degree of education or the training program. The tactics of the Art Performance Teams are carried out covertly, and should be parallel to the other efforts in guerrilla art. The knowledge of the psychology of the population is primary for the Art Performance Teams, but much more intelligence data will be obtained from an APT program in the area of operations.
The development and control of "front" (or facade) organizations is carried out through subjective internal education at group meetings of "inside cadres," and the calculations of the time for the fusion of these combined efforts to be applied to the masses.
Established citizens-doctors, lawyers, businessmen, teachers, etc.-will be recruited initially as "Social Crusaders" in typically "innocuous" movements in the area of operations. When their "involvement" with the clandestine organization is revealed to them, this supplies the incentive to use them as "inside cadres" within groups to which they already belong or of which they can be members.
Then they will receive instruction in techniques of persuasion and education of target groups to support our art revolution, through a gradual and skillful process. A cell control system isolates individuals from one another, and at the appropriate moment, their influence is used for the fusion of groups in a united national front.
The creation of mass meetings in support of guerrilla art is carried out internally through a covert commando element, bodyguards, messengers, shock forces (initiators of incidents), placard carriers (also used for making signals), shouters of slogans, everything under the direction of the outside commando element.
When the cadres are placed or recruited in organizations such as labor unions, youth groups, agrarian organizations or professional associations, they will begin to expand the objectives of the groups. The psychological apparatus of our movement through inside cadres prepares a mental attitude, which at the crucial moment can be turned into a spontaneous celebration of freedom.
Through a small group of guerrillas infiltrated within the masses this can be carried out; they will have the mission of agitating by giving the impression that there are many of them and that they have a large popular backing. Using the tactics of a force of 200-300 agitators, a demonstration can be created in which 10,000-20,000 persons take part.
The support of local contacts who are familiar with the deep reality is achieved through the exposing of the social and political weaknesses of the target society, with performance artist guerrillas, art performance, art performance teams, cover organizations and mass meetings.
The performance artist guerrilla is the result of a continuous program of education and motivation. They will have the mission of showing the people how great and fair our movement is in the eyes of the world. Identifying themselves with our people, they will increase the sympathy towards our movement, which will result in greater support of the population for the freedom commandos, taking away support for the regime in power.
Art performance will extend this identification process of the people with the art guerrillas, providing converging points against the current regime.
The Art Performance Teams provide a several-stage program of persuasive planning in guerrilla art in all areas of the country. Also, these teams are the "eyes and ears" of our movement.
The development and support of the cover organizations in guerrilla art will give our movement the ability to create a "whiplash" effect within the population when the order for fusion is given. When the infiltration and internal subjective education have been developed in a manner parallel to other guerrilla activities, a comandante of ours will literally be able to shake up the existing structure, and dissolve it.
The mass assemblies and meetings are the culmination of a wide base support among the population, and it comes about in the later phases of the operation. This is the moment in which the overthrow can be achieved and our revolution can become an open one, requiring the close collaboration of the entire population of the country, and of contacts with their roots in reality.
The tactical effort in guerrilla art is directed at the weaknesses of the adversary and at destroying their ignorance, and should be parallel to a psychological effort to weaken and destroy their sociopolitical constriction at the same time. In guerrilla art, more than in any other type of art, the psychological activities should be simultaneous with the practical ones, in order to achieve the objectives desired.