This weekend I spent some time with Two Cheers for Anarchism by James C. Scott (whose Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed, which I read as a student in Chicago, was a seismic event for my young brain).

This passage is in a chapter about how rules can be exercises in futility—improvisation, experimentation, stumbling, and mistakes are how people actually behave, from the time they learn to walk and talk to the time they're in the bloom of their lives. We get stuff done, he argues, precisely because we break the rules on a regular basis.

"Workers have seized on the inadequacy of the rules to explain how things actually run and have exploited it to their advantage. Thus, the taxi drivers of Paris have, when they were frustrated with the municipal authorities over fees or new regulations, resorted to what is known as a greve de zele. They would all, by agreement and on cue, suddenly begin to follow all the regulations in the code routier, and, as intended, this would bring traffic in Paris to a grinding halt. Knowing that traffic circulated in Paris only by a practiced and judicious disregard of many regulations, they could, merely by following the rules meticulously, bring it to a standstill."

I love the idea of a protest based on the principle of scrupulously following rules to show how unnecessary and counterproductive they can be. Since May Day, I've also been talking with people about the idea of "Black Bloc community service."

For example: a pack of masked demonstrators amassing at Westlake, attracting a thicket of police in SWAT gear and nervous TV anchors, then calmly and efficiently conducting a free medical clinic. (Perhaps they could pull some support from the folks at Country Doctor.) Or leading a march that splits—one to a smashup downtown, the other to an underserved neighborhood, where the demonstrators do the heavy lifting to help built a community garden. Balaclavas, bandanas, furious weeding and tilling, wheelbarrows full of manure. (It would be hot as hell, but it would look good on the evening news.) Or a Black Bloc protest in which the windows of malfeasant banks were smashed while residential windows are lovingly washed.

Those might be impractical ideas. But something along those lines could be attractive to people who equate anarchism with nothing more than petulance and the kicking over of trash cans, and would merrily upend the usual public narrative about what anarchist demonstrators—particularly those in Black Bloc clothes—really stand for.

A vandalism spree in the South Sound targeting two Bank of America branches and a warehouse in Fife could be the work of anarchists, police said.

A downtown Tacoma branch was struck Monday night. Police found an ATM spray-painted with the words, "Bank of corruption." The screen was covered in spray paint and the card reader slot was glued shut.

Officers also found windows at the branch near South 9th and A streets painted with anarchist symbols.

An ATM at the Bank of America branch at 2nd and Meeker streets in downtown Puyallup suffered identical damage.

Customers who were showing up at the ATM around noon on Tuesday found it to still be out of commission.

"I don't like it," said customer Bill Chasteen. "I don't like them targeting anybody."

A customer who would only identify herself as Janet said with a laugh, "I'll go to another bank."

Police in Fife found similar graffiti along with tens of thousands of dollars in damage inside a warehouse under construction in the 4600 block of 70th Street.

That happened sometime late Sunday or early Monday. The vandals spray-painted slogans on windows and heavy equipment at the site as well as dumping large cans of paint and breaking equipment.

"We don't know the connection or why they picked that warehouse or the city of Fife," said Fife Police Lt. Tom Thompson, "but we're working on some leads."

Bank of America is expected to be targeted by demonstrations nationwide tomorrow to coincide with the company's annual shareholder meeting, which is scheduled to take place in Charlotte, N.C.

Several organizations, including those claiming ties to anarchist movements, are encouraging followers online to protest outside bank branches tomorrow afternoon. Those plans include a branch in Tacoma mentioned in at least one online post.

"Because of that, we'll take some precautions," said Officer Loretta Cool, a Tacoma police spokeswoman. "But at this point, we haven't had a directed threat against any in Tacoma."

Cool added that no group or individual had claimed responsibility for the vandalism.

On May Day, as police broke up a downtown demonstration and pushed activists (including anarchists) up Capitol Hill, some windows were broken at local bar Bill's Off Broadway, local bar/distillery Sun Liquor, and a Walgreens drug store.

This prompted some immediate debate about who broke them and why. I heard activist types saying variations on: I'd gladly smash a Bank of America window, but I'd never—and I don't know anyone who would ever—want to break the window of a neighborhood bar or pizzeria. What the hell happened there? There were theories: agents provocateur? That sounds nutty at first, but there were some sloppily disguised undercover types in the crowd. (And it turns out that fellow in the photo on the left, who I'd speculated about on May Day, was in fact briefly undercover—last night, someone sent me photos and descriptions of him working as a police officer. I recognized the guy by his shoes.)

Or was it random folks who just got excited at the prospect of smashing anything? Or some demonstrators who forgot the "targeted" part of "targeted property damage"?

Regardless, the next day some group who wanted to be credited as "the Anarchists of the Puget Sound" sent me an email saying:

We support everything that happened last night but feel that it is our responsibility to support our neighborhood small businesses as well... We would like to throw a benefit for Bill's Off Broadway and other small businesses to help them with the cost of replacing their windows. This does not include Walgreens, for obvious reasons.

Both Bill's and Sun Liquor soon responded to that gesture. From Sun Liquor:

If anything was immediately apparent last night it was that we have an amazingly supportive and loving community on Capitol Hill. So many people reached out to us in person and via social media to express their outrage as well as their love that we can't help but feel strengthened by the incident. Having you reach out to us only emphasizes that feeling... We have a temporary repair in place and our insurance will handle the rest. If any funds are raised we would ask that they be redirected to an organization or organizations whose work represents what May Day is really about.

So the "Anarchists of the Puget Sound" set up an Indiegogo campaign to raise money to offset the bars' costs, with extra proceeds going to "organizations supporting fair labor."

Then Bill's Off Broadway talked to activists and allegedly said they aren't that concerned about the window, but want people to come support the staff. So this is happening on May 8:

Come show solidarity with the staff of Bill's Off Broadway impacted by the May Day Anti Capitalist March.

Mr. Bill is not interested in money for the window. He is more concerned about the staff working that evening, the dishwasher, waitstaff, and bartender. He said the best thing we can do is come in, order pizza, drink some beer, and show solidarity.

Mr. Bill said: "The window was only a physical thing."

Our argument is with the corporations and government not small businesses or workers.

Come, order some food, order some drinks, tip well, and have fun! This is a party and celebration!

The "Anarchists of the Puget Sound" added, in a press release, that no matter who broke the windows, for whatever reason, "our battle is directed, not towards local businesses, but towards the symbols and harbingers of both government and corporate excess."

If you want to give those neighborhood businesses a hand, you can donate here or go eat and drink at Bill's next Wednesday—and expect undercover police