MIAMI -- Tucked inside a large warehouse two miles from downtown Miami, an eclectic group of anarchists, environmentalists and other activists are busy plotting ways to disrupt free trade talks here this week.
Brightly colored signs with anti-corporate messages cover the bare concrete walls; people are sprawled across the floor painting banners; a pagan witch is teaching some students about "magical activism," a political action movement that employs ecology, spirituality and non-violent protests.
A message board announces chores that need to be divided up: "This is your revolution, get involved."
Behind a tall barbed wire fence and past a security guard, this community of activists from all over the country is multiplying fast, increasing in numbers as demonstrators gear up to protest against "corporate greed" during the Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting this week.
"What we're about here is building a community based on cooperation," said Jody Hassel, a middle school teacher from Alaska who took some time off to come to Miami for the demonstrations. "It's the collective voice of folks who have had enough with corporate rule and see this as a way to take action."
Their shared goal: to shut down the free trade talks any way they can.
Many of these demonstrators insist they will create only peaceful disruptions and acts of civil disobedience -- not the property destruction that has marred other cities that have hosted trade talks. Police, however, are not convinced, and have been keeping a close watch on the warehouse in recent days.
More than 40 local, state and federal agencies have been planning and training for months to avoid chaos on the streets, much like the looting and burning that caused more than $2 million in destruction throughout Seattle during the World Trade Organization meeting four years ago.
Though under heavy police surveillance, demonstrators vow to gather nightly to devise strategies that will get the public's attention this week.
They won't reveal their plans, but have been studying maps of the city to evaluate potential protest sites.
Many of the activists don't like to identify themselves as anarchists, for fear that they will be associated with the "Battle in Seattle," which both put the movement in the national spotlight and gave it a bad name.
But all protesters are welcome at the center, where visitors can study maps of the city, read up on the schedule of events and get free legal advice.
Logan Perkins, who drove down from Maine in an environmentally friendly 1985 Jetta powered on vegetable oil, said the 27,000 square-foot warehouse provides a space where demonstrators can organize and "get prepared both physically and on an emotional level" for what's to come.
Diana Marrero can be reached at dmarrero@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5005.
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