Survive- The Economic Collapse

by Piero San Giorgio

  Level 4 corresponds to generalized chaos. Your country is in a state of civil war, there is ethnic cleansing, brutal repression, an invasion, etc. If you have prepared, you would already be in your SAB, and this level of alert would be what you consider normal after the economy collapses. You must be on guard all the time and practice systematic surveillance of your surroundings. It would be important to rotate your guard in shifts in order to limit stress and tension on its members, which, after a time, can have an impact on health.

  Level 5 corresponds to a large and sudden state of panic. This level may be unleashed by a substantial natural disaster, a nuclear attack, or a rapidly spreading virus. You may be surprised and thus unprepared and vulnerable. You must immediately leave for your SAB if you are not already there. If this is not possible, you must hide the best you can and wait for somewhat better conditions in order to get moving again. This is where your 72-hour survival kit will be indispensable to you.

  The big question, of course, is how you are going to get to your SAB safely, especially when many other people are leaving the city for the countryside. This is one of the reasons you must either live in your SAB or leave for it as soon as possible. Plan on having in your garage at least twice the gasoline needed for the journey (rotate it every six months) and always keep your tank full. Since you will not be able to carry everything you need on your single, final trip, you should have already accumulated large stocks and as many useful tools as possible in your SAB. If you are counting on making the trip with all your supplies, you will need either a truck or a trailer. This is also where a Bug out Bag (BOB) will be needed. We’ll cover this later. This is possible but complicated, because apart from a false alarm, you may only get one chance to head to your SAB. In general, accept that you must abandon your goods and your wealth. Your SAB can protect a good deal but, generally, choose the vital (your life, your family) over the ephemeral (stuff).

  To conclude, you must consider the defense of your person, your family, your comrades, and your SAB as a right, a duty, and a general attitude that induces you to master your behavior, know-how, techniques, and materials. Anticipate as much as you can in order to become more vigilant and efficient in your everyday life. Practice regularly, both physically and psychologically, a discipline of self-defense; taking regular trips to a gun range is one good idea. Maintain good hygiene. Learn to be attentive to the details of your surroundings. Maintain a security budget, take a first-aid course, do not resemble a victim, and be discreet.

  Finally, you cannot survive for long by yourself. You must establish a network, bind yourself to, and integrate into a community through personal, interdependent relationships. Do this in such a way that the people and groups around you have the least possible number of reasons for aggressing against you and will associate themselves with you for common defense.

  You must create and reinforce a social bond.

  *

  James Edwards got to his Argentine estate alright...

  despite a long trip involving being rerouted, then a chaotic arrival in an Argentina full of social unrest—it seems there has been a revolution, with a *coup d’état* and confrontations between various political groups.

  The roads were full of refugees, especially coming out of the capital, Buenos Aires. But once he got beyond the main highways, they thinned out. The arrival went well; his staff were helpful and nice.

  After a few weeks, things started getting a little tense. Servants stopped speaking in his presence, avoided his glance or even gave him defiant looks. “Damn, I am the boss, after all,” James Edwards said to himself one day. “I’ll go talk to Alfonso, the overseer!”

  The next day, the estate was reorganized on a cooperative basis—a very rich cooperative! No one knows whatever became of James Edwards. Officially, he never arrived at the estate.

  *

  Nicholas has organized and equipped all the members of his SAB well.

  Each member made preparations, after a period of unrest, according to a precise list. Each one has two sets of camouflage, clothes for the summer and winter, several pairs of good hiking shoes, a Kevlar helmet, a bullet-proof vest (level IIIA), and the team even has a badge for their uniform: the serpent from one of the first American revolutionary flags from the 18th century, with the motto “Don’t Tread On Me.” Everyone has a .223-caliber Romanian Kalashnikov and a 9mm pistol. Several hunting rifles and a pump-action shotgun complete the arsenal. The best shooter, Anna, the wife of one of the members, is equipped with a precision Remington 700 with a high-quality Leupold Mark 4 scope. After the riots and social collapse, all the families got to the SAB in good time, except for one member whose car broke down, and who had to finish the journey on foot. Over the last few months, several refugees have even been added to the group after a rigorous selection process. So the SAB has a mechanic and a doctor, along with their families. Fortunately, the farm was planned from the beginning to take in twice the number of persons as those who participated in the original project.

  One night, one of the observation posts gives the alarm. By radio, and quietly, the code for hostile intrusion is given. In fact, a group of cars and trucks is approaching with their headlights out. The SAB team follows procedure: it rises and arms itself silently while the guard starts moving into combat position according to the defense plan and standard operating procedures they have often practiced. In less than five minutes, the 30 adults of the SAB are armed and at their stations, some on defense, some protecting the children in the most secure part of the SAB, and some ready for interception.

  The group of intruders is, indeed, hostile. It’s a band of 50 or so men and a few women, all armed, some—heavily—with rifles and stolen military supplies. Some are wearing helmets and bullet-proof vests. They force the roadside gate with a large crowbar and advance quietly over the access road to the property. It is precisely 0400 (4 AM). Suddenly one of the aggressors cries out: he saw something moving in the bushes. Too late! The SAB team opens fire in a coordinated manner. In a few seconds, six of the aggressors are on the ground. Others flee but are cut down by bullets. Their leader can be seen issuing orders from the roof of a 4x4. Car motors start. Suddenly the leader’s head explodes: Anna, stationed 300 meters away, immediately located him and, in spite of the darkness, was able to take aim without difficulty. One group of aggressors hesitates, and the latter is fatal to them: they fall rapidly. Some cry out in pain. Several cars accelerate along the path and direct themselves toward the main building house of the SAB. The first car is quickly riddled with bullets coming directly from the SAB and ends up crashing into a tree. Another advances at full speed and hits a heavy chain strung between two cement pins, which stops it. The car’s occupants, stunned, get out trembling, but that does not last for long: they collapse, torn by salvos from the defenders’ pump-action shotguns. Within a few minutes, nothing is left of the aggressors but the wounded and the dead.

  Nicholas’s team secures the area. The wounded are disarmed and placed under surveillance awaiting interrogation. Arms and ammunition are put out of the way. Recon patrols are organized to evaluate the danger in the area around the SAB. There are 25 dead and 10 wounded among the attackers and one wounded by a bullet among the defenders. They are going to have to operate, and that will be difficult. Fortunately, Henrique, the doctor, has already practiced this sort of operation. His prognosis is positive.

  In the abandoned automobiles, they find several traces of the band’s recent robberies. According to the interrogation, they call themselves the “Savage Flayers” and have brutally attacked several farms in the region over the last several weeks. It seems that certain members have even practiced cannibalism. What is to be done with the wounded? None of them have particularly useful abilities and, in spite of their age (between 16 and 24), they are already too old to be reconditioned. Two days later a tribunal is set up, and the surviving wounded are judged and sentenced to death. It falls to Nicholas as the elected leader, to carry out the sentence.
Preparing to pull the trigger, he says to himself that it is a shame to waste precious bullets, but that he doesn’t have the stomach to cut their throats one by one with a knife. Anyway, a bullet to the head, Chinese style, is clean and painless: a rather merciful end for these characters. He quickly carries out the job.

  Point 7: The Social Bond

  <
  charles péguy

  _notre patrie

  /1905/

  <
  milan kundera

  the book of laughter and forgetting

  /1979/

  <
  theodore roosevelt

  //1858-1919//

  Behold: your SAB is ready! You have thought of everything: you have the means of living autonomously and sustainably. And whoever approaches you better have peaceful intentions if he does not want to be blown to bits!

  But this is not enough. You cannot survive alone.

  Imagine the most hardened survivalist hidden in the underbrush deep within a forest. He can hunt, cultivate a garden, create hiding places for food, and be armed and trained like Rambo. He will survive . . . for a time. Then he will get old and sick, dying alone. It is true that he will have defied the system and sheltered himself from the violence of a collapsing world, but to what end?

  Although we all die in the long run, what is the point of living if not to have the hope of something that is greater than ourselves, whether in the form of healthy and intelligent children leading a worthwhile life, or in the form of a strong, well-balanced civilization to which we have contributed, and which will carry a part of us into the future?

  I admit that this is a personal and, some might say, masculine vision of life’s purpose. Yet you will surely concede that man is a social animal, and that he prefers to think that he will leave something of himself to his posterity rather than mere food for worms.

  More specifically and beyond philosophy, the question of the social bond occurs in two simple ways:

  What will happen if a group stronger than you comes to exact violence against you? There will always be someone more powerful and determined than you. In this case, how will you survive alone or isolated?

  Can you imagine a life forever cut off from the world for yourself or your family? This life will be quite sterile inasmuch as the rest of the world (even if reduced to a primitive state)contains resources you will need, people with knowledge useful to you who are kind, generous, and honorable. It is desirable and positive to build communication and relationships with such people in order to reconstruct, little by little, a balanced and just civilization.

  I am convinced that everything you have done up to now—the first six fundamental principles of an SAB—amounts to nothing if you are not able to foster a community. The social bond is the seventh and final fundamental element of a successful SAB.

  Who Should Be Your SAB Companions?

  There seem to be two schools of survivalist and prepping thought: those who opt for solitude, and those who love communities. The solitary individuals prefer to disappear into the wilderness, live in their log cabins, and reconnect with nature. This is a conceivable solution, but you will have to go very far—to Canada, the Rocky Mountains, South America, the Sahara, or Siberia—because elsewhere the population density and urbanism will make this option difficult if not impossible.

  As for the communal approach: we have seen it. We are no longer in the dream of ‘60s or ‘70s utopias. We are now quite far removed from being all about “peace and love”; nor are we a rich society capable of financing a group of idealists going off to California, Kathmandu, or the Larzac to raise goats and smoke hashish anymore. There is also strength in numbers: to be able to survive alone is fine, but a good system of defense and a variety of skills are more easily acquired by a group of people.

  First, the question of the family arises. Whom will you take with you? A priori, you will bring your spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend, and your children. This part of your family surely knows about your project and will be prepared.

  What about the rest of your family? Your parents: are they up to making the journey or even understanding your approach? Your brothers and sisters and their families? Your uncles and aunts? Your cousins? And if each additional person wants to bring his family along—his parents, his other cousins, uncles and aunts—what will you do? Then come your friends, colleagues and acquaintances, all imploring you to take them in! It’s going to get crowded in your SAB —especially if you multiply this process by the number of friends with whom you have built your SAB project!

  The only solution is to be cold and calculating. Beyond the persons emotionally indispensable to you, you must choose rationally on the basis of the usefulness and morality of the person. What useful abilities does this person have? How much work capacity? What mental power? Will he cry like a baby because nothing is as it was? Is he a good person? You must know how to take account of the advantages and disadvantages of each extra person. This will be a difficult decision, but you must be firm. It is better to make the choice during the process of setting up your SAB in order not to have to make it after chaos breaks out, when you find yourself faced with your great lout of a cousin—useless, stupid, and lazy—begging you to save him along with his whole unbearable family! All the more reason to be discreet about your preparations.

  Once you have resolved the matter of your family, you must reflect on which of your friends you would like to convince to join your SAB. This is difficult to do in advance, since most people do not have the slightest idea how severe the problems that we have described in the first part of this book are. Going to them to propose their participation in an SAB may, in the best case, make you look paranoid; in the worst, it may look like a recruitment attempt on the part of a cult!

  In any case, draw up a list of the qualities you would like to find in the people you would feel comfortable having in your SAB: self-discipline, useful trades, sense of humor, work capacity, honesty, sincerity, a good heart, etc. It’s up to you; there is no minimal list. I advise you also to draw up a list of unacceptable behavior and attitudes, whose presence in anyone will cause problems: extreme individualism, dishonesty, egotism, hypocrisy, uncontrollable addictions or compulsions, sadism, etc. Once these lists are complete, look to see who would be suitable both among your family and among your friends. Discreetly approach persons with innocent questions concerning what they think about this or that political or social event, and if their answers show a good understanding of the problems in today’s world, probe further. Begin describing your project, and if they share your interest, propose that they take part in it.

  If your SAB project is already underway, or you have already put it in place with established rules, it will be much easier to convince someone to join you.

  If your SAB is still at the planning stage, you will get a lot of theoretical agreement and politeness but little action (whether financial contribution or labor). This is normal: there are so many everyday chores, and many people will likely find an eccentric project like an SAB to be strange and off-putting. The collective SAB approach is even more difficult. A good number of half-built SABs have been aborted or suffered great delays due to a lack of collective involvement. The majority of the population today is too individualistic and under day-to-day pressures to associate with such a project. They would prefer to join an existing project and subordinate themselves to it.

  For this reason, you will need to develop leadership skills. Good leaders are those who take the initiative and have natural authority. They don’t simply say what needs to be done, but do it: they set an example!

  A good leader must understand human nature, whose fundamentals have not changed for thousands of years. We have looked at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs; to this we may add that human beings always try to avoid pain, see
k pleasure, protect those they love and follow those who promise to realize their dreams. “A leader is a merchant of hope,” remarked Napoleon judiciously. It’s up to you to become the kind of a leader who sets an example and naturally inspires respect and esteem. It is an act of love for others.

  The Internal Workings of Your SAB

  One question that often comes up is: how will an SAB function once there is a significant number of persons in it?

  A society is necessarily a differentiated system. Besides the informal hierarchy of abilities and task specialization, there is also a formal hierarchy as a reference structure, without which a group falls apart. An SAB needs concrete, not abstract equality: it will be brought about by the rotation of tasks, and by all members participating in the common good and collective security.

  In any case, rules are necessary, and the simplest way to adhere to them is to create statutes (as in a constitution), then legal codes and regulations, which all members of the SAB promise to obey scrupulously. It’s not a matter of regimenting everything! I have come across written rules everywhere on certain sites that might be described as SABs, even in the bathrooms, where men are required to sit when they pee! This level of detail is unnecessary, but I think that two sets of rules are required: one for regular circumstances and another for crises. In this way, you have rules adapted to the level of risk, and which leave a large margin of personal responsibilities to the individual. If possible, apply the following principle, “Each person’s freedom ends where another’s begins.”