Aaron Whallon Wolkind, Vice President of Philly Proud Boys, despite living in Delaware.
“The FBI raided the home of the vice president of the Proud Boys’ Philadelphia chapter on Friday, seizing his computer, phone, and other electronics to gather information on the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol, his lawyer said Monday.
Aaron Whallon Wolkind, 37, woke up around 4 a.m. Friday to more than a dozen federal agents, dressed in riot gear and accompanied by an armored vehicle and battering ram, swarming his Newark, Del., home, and ordering through a loudspeaker that he exit with his hands in the air, his lawyer Jonathon Moseley wrote in a court filing…
Wolkind was not in D.C. during the Jan. 6 riot, Moseley said. He believes the search and seizure was to gather information in the case against Zach Rehl, the self-described president of the Philadelphia Proud Boys, whom Moseley also represents. Rehl was arrested in March on charges he conspired with other leading members of the organization to attack the Capitol and has been in custody in Philadelphia pending trial since.”
Wolkind is a longtime Proud Boy who participated with Rehl, Richard Schwetz and other PB’s/assorted racists who attacked Anti-Racists at the Columbus Statue in Marconi Plaza in the summer of 2020. Wolkind has been at nearly every Proud Boys demo in Pennsylvania since the group’s founding.
Zach Rehl continues to be held at FDC Philadelphia awaiting trial.
In case you’re looking for an opportunity to peacefully protest Jamie Dimon and the establishment’s celebration of finance, there will be a partially outdoor reception hosted for him (by a taxpayer-endowed organization) next Monday October 11 at the Independence Visitor Center.
In lieu of our usual monthly letter-writing event, we will be mailing printed copies of our 2021 Running Down the Walls reportback to over 30 political prisoners. This is one way to share and celebrate the energy garnered at the event as over 200 people gathered in Philly alone to move our bodies in solidarity with those on the other side of prison walls.
Join us this Monday at 6:30pm, at the northwest side of the dog bowl in Clark Park as we package and mail the reportbacks. Snacks and supplies are provided. We encourage people who want to discuss ideas on how to support political prisoners and prisoners of war to come hang out, and sign cards for political prisoners with birthdays in October: Jamil Al-Amin (October 4th), David Gilbert (October 6th), and Malik Bey (October 8th).
Everyone should support the defendants facing charges related to their alleged participation in the George Floyd uprising – this list of our imprisoned comrades needs to be getting shorter, not longer. The status of pre-trial defendants changes frequently, but to the best of our knowledge they currently include:
David Elmakayes 77782-066
FDC Philadelphia
PO BOX 562
Philadelphia, PA 19105
Lore-Elisabeth Blumenthal is a community care worker from Philadelphia and pre-trial political prisoner facing charges connected to her alleged participation in the George Floyd Uprising.
Birthday: October 27
Address:
Lore-Elisabeth Blumenthal 70002-066
FDC Philadelphia
PO BOX 562
Philadelphia, PA 19105
We’re pleased to share the following reportback of our fourth annual Philadelphia Running Down The Walls in support of political prisoners and prisoners of war.
On sunny September 12, 2021, a light breeze persisted from off the lake in FDR park as participants gathered to check-in for their t-shirts, make donations, set up tables, and hang banners. For the fourth year in a row, the day kicked off an amazing yoga warm up lead by Sheena Sood to uplift the energy for the rest of the day. Our comrade Spiritchild from the maroon party for liberation emceed the event getting participants amped and queued up. Walkers left the start line around 11:10 am, followed by folks moving at a medium pace, and finally the runners around 11:30 am.
After the 5K, the crowd gathered as Spiritchild performed a song for the spirits of political prisoners, fallen comrades and ancestors, followed by pouring libations. Then we acknowledged the prisoners who were sponsored for and participated as part of the Philadelphia event: John Bramble and Paul Kali Hickman (Vaughn Correctional Center), Hector “Pica” Huertas and Jerome Coffey (SCI Pine Grove), Jacob Busic (Halifax Correctional Unit), Alejandro “Capo” Rodriguez-Ortiz and the 9 others participating with him (SCI Phoenix).
The first speaker was Mumia’s grandson, Jamal Jr. He started with the chant he’s heard his whole life – “Free Mumia!” – to remind everyone what the goal is, and then continued to share his raw emotions with us. Jamal spoke on how hard it was to see Mumia’s incision wounds from the recent open heart surgery, but his words come from more than just that. They come from a lifetime of fighting to free his grandfather. His call to action is for all of us to do one revolutionary act a day. See Jamal’s full speech from Unicorn Riot’s live stream here.
I wish my grandfather was here to address you today. We have a puppet in his stead. I wish he was here, lending his voice for the liberation of others like he always does. I wish he was here laughing and telling stories, flanked by his wife, children, grandchildren, and other family. … He’s been abducted longer than most of us have been alive. Just think of that. … They intended to kill him, but the people had something to say about that. … They took him from me, and they still intend to hold him. I’m pretty sure we got something to say about that. They took him from my children, and they intend for him to die in there– to die behind enemy lines. … Freeing political prisoners is personal to me, because my grandfather has been a political prisoner all my life. He’s been a political prisoner most of my dad’s life. Bringing him home is the goal. You guys hear that? We got to bring him home. We have to.
We all got work to do, so I am going to require one revolutionary act a day. One revolutionary act could be sharing a revolutionary story. One revolutionary act could be joining in on a conversation of political prisoners and injustices that we need to challenge. There’s many ways we can do one revolutionary act a day… . When I’m asking you guys to voluntarily do one revolutionary act a day– don’t just do it because it makes you feel okay, you know it makes you feel right, makes you feel whole, makes you feel good, you know supporting political prisoners– do it because, you know, a lot of us, we don’t have a choice… In supporting political prisoners, and supporting revolutionaries, in a lot of ways you’re supporting the family members, you know, of revolutionaries … the ones who didn’t sign up for this.
The next speaker was former political prisoner, Kazi Toure, who was imprisoned for over ten years for his role in bombings carried out by the United Freedom Front (UFF) to combat Apartheid in South Africa and US Imperialism in Central America. Kazi traveled down from Boston to participate and share his wisdom, solidarity for Mumia and all political prisoners, as well as his experiences with Running Down The Walls both inside and outside prison. See Kazi’s full speech here.
Each year I see this [Running Down The Walls] growing and growing, more and more. And you know it’s something we really need to do because of the double standards that they have on this land. Where Mumia would already be out, and a lot of other political prisoners would be out. So we have to double our efforts.
As brother [Jamal] spoke before … [where] he was talking about doing one revolutionary act a day, I think the self-discipline plays into that. Just like where we start the day off with yoga, and then went on our walk and our run… we have to incorporate all that and study revolutionary movements, and who the political prisoners are. People should know them. They are in there because they made a choice. People made a conscious choice to fight against this government, and it’s racist, sexist, homophobic policies.
Following came a legal update from Nia Holston of the Abolitionist Law Center, on the current status of medical parole for political prisoner Russell Maroon Shoatz. Maroon has been imprisoned for 48 years and suffers from stage 4 cancer, to the point at which he is eligible for compassionate release into to hospice. However that didn’t stop a Judge last month from asserting this 78 year old man is an “undue risk of escape or danger to the community,” and denying his release. Nia and others from ALC are still fighting for his release, and they believe he will come home. See Nia’s full legal update here.
I definitely want to acknowledge the family of Russell Maroon Shoatz that’s here today, and that we stand in solidarity with them. In August we filed a petition for compassionate release in his case, because of the illness, because of what he’s been going through, because he spent so long incarcerated. We’ve been working to file that petition to get him released. Now I have to say that unfortunately, Judge Scott of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas did deny that petition in August of this past month, but we are still working. We are still preparing the litigation to continue that fight, and we believe that we will win.
But I will say, as you all know here, we know that we can’t rely on the legal system to do what’s right. We know that we can’t. And so, all of the work that you are doing, all the good work you’re doing to organize this event, and all of the work that the Free Maroon Now coalition is doing to support the litigation is so, so important.
Next up, we were again joined by Robert Saleem Holbrook. Saleem is a former juvenile lifer who was released in 2018 after spending over two decades in prison. He spoke at last year’s event about the political education and mentorship he received from Maroon and Joseph “Joe-Joe” Bowen while incarcerated with them. This year he spoke on the history of Jericho and their new Philly chapter that formed a few months ago. He also echoed the strength and victories of our movements to free political prisoners. See Saleem’s full speech here.
Jericho was founded in 1998 after a call was made by Jalil Muntaqim … for all national organizations that support the Black liberation movement and support radical things in this country, to come together and march on Washington demanding the release of political prisoners who were casualties of this country’s war against the Black liberation movement, and this country’s war against the social protest movement of the 60s and 70s. … Since 1998, I’m proud to say that we have brought home a lot of political prisoners. Something that at one time seemed impossible. Jalil Muntaqim, the political prisoner who made that call, is now home. However not only is Jalil home, his comrades are also home. … A lot of times when you’re in the trenches fighting, you sometimes forget our victories … but we have victories that we need to uplift, and I think as a movement we need to uplift these victories a lot more… . There are so many who are released that gave inspiration to us that we need to acknowledge when we’re in their presence.
We have a lot more work to do. We got bring home Mumia Abu-Jamal … Russell Maroon Shoatz … Fred “Muhammad” Burton … Joseph “Joe-Joe” Bowen … Sundiata Acoli … Mutulu Shakur … Leonard Peltier … You know today is his birthday, so we need to uplift Leonard Peltier’s presence [and] his fighting spirit today. Philly Jericho is part of this movement, this mass movement to liberate our political prisoners.
The final speaker was longtime ABCF member, Tim Fasnacht. Since 2005, Tim has been the person dispersing the monthly Warchest stipends to political prisoners and prisoners of war. He gave a brief update and history of the program. See Tim’s full speech here.
Right now we’re up to 18 political prisoners [that] we send $50 a month. We also provide occasional legal money if someone needs help with legal fees. And [what] we also started over the past couple years as the Warchest has really grown, is a release fund. So we’re giving political prisoners who have been released over that last couple years anywhere from maybe $500 to maybe $3000 to help them get on their feet when they get out.
The Warchest started in 1994. It came about from comrades up in Patterson, New Jersey. They started writing and visiting different political prisoners. The first one they wrote to was Ojorie Lutalo … he’s been a huge inspiration to the formation of the ABCF in all different aspects, and he’s the one who coined the term “Warchest.” So you can thank him for it, you can thank Sekou Odinga and Sundiata Acoli – they’re the ones that kind of put together the list of people that we should get in touch with who were in need of financial assistance. We’ll just keep on doing this every year until they are all free.
Between speeches, we read aloud Running Down The Walls solidarity statements from political prisoners Oso Blanco and Bill Dunne, former political prisoner Jaan Laaman, and Capo on behalf of the Vaughn 17 prisoners who participated with us. Many people also signed up to join the Free Mumia listserv, which can also be subscribed to here. All the while, were accompanied by powerfully symbolic 18 ft. Mumia puppet in the background. If you appreciated the puppet, please donate to sustain that project. The speeches wrapped up with some short announcements of upcoming events and another reminder of the many political prisoners we’ve brought home, followed by a group photo on the pavilion steps.
We’d like to thank Food Not Bombs Solidarity for the snacks and refreshments, to Unicorn Riot for the full livestream of speakers, statements and announcements, and photographer Joe Piette for yet another collection of amazing photos. We were honored to be joined by former political prisoner Albert Woodfox of the Angola 3, who traveled all the way from New Orleans to be a part of the event. In that same vein, we were honored to be joined by and Kazi Toure and former Anarchist prisoner of war, Ojorie Lutalo, as well as recently released Pennsylvania prisoners Arthur ‘Cetawayo’ Johnson (August 11, 2021) and Eric Riddick (May 28th, 2021).
We thank the 200+ people who attended in person or remotely from Pennsylvania, North Carolina, California, Vermont, Illinois, New York, Virginia, Washington, Texas, Minnesota, Ohio, Arizona, Massachusetts, D.C., Malmo (Sweden), and Tokyo (Japan). Together we raised a total of $10,505 to be split between Mumia Abu-Jamal and the ABCF Warchest that sends monthly stipends to 18 political prisoners with little or no financial support. A full breakdown of Warchest funds in and out since 1994 is available here. Funds available beyond the reserved amount needed for the monthly stipends will be disbursed as one-time donations to other political prisoners who demonstrate financial need, or to the release funds of the next comrades to come home.
We look forward to more successes in the next year as we further the struggle to free Mumia and abolish the carceral system! We encourage folks to donate what they can to the Ant Smith Defense Committee. An outspoken supporter of Mumia Abu-Jamal and all political prisoners, Ant is a beloved educator, community member, and organizer who participates in Running Down The Walls. Since October of 2020, he has been the target of trumped up, politically motivated charges related to protest during the George Floyd uprising. Follow the #FreeAntLinktree,Twitter, and Instagram. Make donations to freeantphl on Cashapp or PayPal.
We want to close this out by commemorating former political prisoner and long-time friend and comrade of Philly ABC, Chuck Africa. After nearly 42 years in prison, on February 7th, 2020, Chuck was the last of the surviving Move 9 to be paroled. His cancer had already reached stage 4 by this time, but Chuck remained strong and optimistic.
Chuck spoke at last year’s Running Down The Walls, to which he called on the movement to take immediate action in supporting his imprisoned comrades Joseph Bowen and Steven Northington, and a list of women serving life without parole (or sentenced to death by incarceration).
It was Chuck’s first and only public speaking engagement since his release. He was excited to attend the event again this year, and possibly speak again, but his health declined too rapidly in the month prior.
Around 3:00am on Monday September 20th, Chuck joined the ancestors after his four year battle with cancer that clearly worsened through incarceration. His family and close friends know him as a bold and selfless warrior, always standing up and fighting for everyone else before himself. He will forever be remembered as someone who loved with all his might, and we will keep fighting in his honor. #RestInPower comrade.
Leave it to the alt-right to besmirch something as classic as the The Mamas and the Papas. In contrast to the acclaimed American folk band, “The Mamas and the Pepes” has been making racist music distributed by the “White Art Collective” since 2017, with titles such as “Anchor Baby,” “Pride and Privilege” and “Fake American.”
Thanks to the recent breach of Nazi-friendly domain registrar Epik.com by the hacktivist collective Anonymous, we were able to track down the identity of the front person and lead singer of “The Mamas and the Pepes” who calls herself “Mama P.” Since the hack by Anonymous was in response to Epik.com hosting an anti-choice website, what we discovered in our investigation was surprisingly topical.
“The Mamas and the Pepes”
Logo for the alt-right folk duo “The Mamas and the Pepes.”
“The Mamas and the Pepes,” named as a spoof mash-up of the American band “The Mamas and the Papas” and the alt-right mascot “Pepe the Frog,” has been creating music with racist, homophobic, transphobic, antisemitic, Islamophobic and fascist themes since 2017 . Fronted by “Mama P” with “The Handsome Horse” on guitar, the duo has produced such songs as “Hate Crime Hoax”:
HATE CRIME HOAX
They pay Blacks & Jews & Muslims the most
So if you need your race hate sub-sid-ized
Have yourself a HATE CRIME HOAX [archive]
Accompanying artwork for The Mamas and the Pepes’ song “Hate Crime Hoax.”
and “You Gotta Go Back”:
You gotta go back where you came from
You don’t like us
You just like our stuff
We gave some to you, but it’s never enough.
So let’s coexist
With you OVER THERE
Over the wall, out of our hair [archive]
The Mamas and the Pepe’s encouraged snitching on undocumented immigrants to ICE on the web page for their song “You Gotta Go Back.”
In “Bad Optics” the lyrics reference the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory:
I took a trip back to my old hometown
and lo and behold – the children are brown!
I’m wonderin’ where all the white people went
This is the goal of the GREAT REPLACEMENT [archive]
Accompanying artwork for the song “Bad Optics.”
Neither members of the duo show their real faces publicly, with “Mama P” using a literal sock puppet for her online appearances on neo-Nazi podcasts.
A “Mama and the Pepes” album cover. “Mama P” is represented by the sock puppet on the left.
“The Mamas and the Pepes” are closely affiliated with the White Art Collective (WAC), a group of musicians and visual artists who promote white supremacist themes and other right-wing beliefs. “Mama P” conducts many interviews with other alt-right personalities (and even one of themselves) for their website and also hosts a music show on the WAC’s DLive channel.
One of the interviews “Mama P” conducted was with the Global Minority Initiative (GMI), a group that seeks to provide legal, financial and moral support for whom they call “political prisoners” (ie. neo-Nazis and other white supremacists who are incarcerated). She ends the interview with:
So please, whatever your belief system, taking care of our guys matters. It matters to me, and it should matter to you, too.
While there is much to criticize about the prison industry, by “our guys” “Mama P” means the white supremacists who are incarcerated for committing violence upon non-white persons and other minorities. “The Mamas and the Pepes” even did a promotional piece for the GMI in which you can hear their speaking voices:
“The Mamas and the Pepes” also have a Gab account operated by “Mama P” on which they promote their material and post racist and LGBT-phobic messages, as well as anti-vaccination messages.
[archive]Racist post on Gab by “Mama P.”Transphobic post on Gab by “Mama P.”Anti-vaccination post on Gab by “Mama P.”
They may not have known at the time but “The Mamas and the Pepes” was quickly attracting some unwanted attention by some nosy antifascists (us).
An Epik Fail
On September 13, 2021 the hacktivist collective Anonymous announced that they had breached the systems of Epik.com, a domain name registrar known for catering to extreme right-wing customers, in response to their hosting of an anti-choice website and would allow access to this information. The info dump proved to be a treasure trove for researchers and provided what we needed to track down “Mama P.”
An “Epik Fail” for Epik.com; An epic win for antifascists [archive].
The official website for “The Mamas and the Pepes” was registered through Epik.com and the registrant’s information was present in this info dump, as shown below. (We have redacted some details, although this information is now publicly available):
“Julie Green”,”+1.215694****”,”in****@gmail.com”,”59 S ********** Rd, Wallingford, PA 19086″
Information for the registrant of “mamaspepes.com” was found in the Epik.com breach.
A password used by “mamaspepes.com” and stored in plain text by Epik.com was an appreciative nod to violent right-wing extremist “Based Stickman” Kyle Chapman.
While this was a tremendous lead, by itself it was not enough, especially considering that some of the customer data in the Epik breach was deliberately falsified by customers who wished to avoid identification, so further scrutiny was necessary. A quick search of public records indicated that a “Julie S Green” was indeed a real person residing at the registered address, but we needed more proof to ensure that this was the person behind the account. A search of popular social media sites was not fruitful with such a common name. What we did have, however, was an email address: in****@gmail.com.
Upon researching this email we learned that it was also present in another information breach, that of the blogging website Livejournal. While this particular blog had been deleted, the username found in this data set was an important clue: “jewelsgreen.”
We located another now-deleted blog on an archive site belonging to a person calling herself “Jewels Green.” One of the images displayed on a blog post was also an image used on the Google profile for the in****@gmail.com email address, though its orientation had been rotated by 90 degrees.
Public Google reviews made by the email address “in****@gmail.com.” Note the profile image above.An image found on an archived blog by “Jewels Green” is also used on the Google account associated with the email address “in****@gmail.com” found in the Epik breach (orientation rotated) [archive].
While this was simply a stock photo, we found no other instances of this particular cropping elsewhere on the internet. We also found a website, The Burgenland Bunch, in which she is listed with a surname “Sem” and the in****@gmail.com email address is linked. In this case, that email was publicly attached to “Julie Shana Sem” of New York, New York, born in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Altogether, these were very strong indicators that we had found the person we were looking for. Further research made this indisputable.
Photo of “Jewels Green” found on an archived blog [archive].
“Jewels Green” was very active in anti-choice circles regarding abortion for a period of time between 2011 and 2017. She claimed to have had an abortion as a teen and to have worked at an abortion clinic, but came to regret her past. As such, there are numerous videos on the internet of her speaking appearances. We were able to compare her voice on these videos of her speaking appearances with the voice of “Mama P” found on the many examples of her speaking and singing. One of them may be found here, on her own YouTube channel.
Julie “Jewels” Green, aka “Mama P” in a video on her YouTube channel.
If that video happens to disappear, other examples exist:
We have these videos archived locally in case they are removed.
We compared Jewels Green’s speaking voice with the speaking voice of “Mama P” on her various white-supremacist podcast appearances such as one called “The After Party,” a short clip of which may be viewed and listened to below.
We concluded that the voices were undeniably the same; Julie Shana Green, of Wallingford, Pennsylvania, aka “Jewels Green” was the person behind the voice and (literal) sock puppet of “Mama P” of “The Mamas and the Pepes.”
From Anti-Choice to White Supremacy
With the knowledge that “Mama P” was in fact anti-choice activist “Jewels Green,” much of the Twitter activity of “The Mamas and the Pepes” Twitter account (@MamasPepes) made clear sense, showing very specific knowledge of anti-choice talking points.
At some point Julie “Jewels” Green went from conservative anti-choice activist to full on fascist, as demonstrated by this awful parody of a Partridge Family song:
Julie Shana Green was born on August 26, 1971 and claimed to have been “a 17-year-old drug-using high school drop-out” who was forced into an abortion by her then-boyfriend. She then claimed to have “worked at an abortion clinic for five years (from age 18 to 23)” and claimed to have been a pro-choice activist during this time. She graduated from Kutztown University in 1995 (under her surname previous to her marriage to Green, “Sem”) and then claimed that she quit working at the abortion clinic and became an anti-choice (so-called “pro-life)” activist.
Julie Shana Green, aka “Jewels Green,” in an anti-choice promo.
Julie “Jewels” Green at a speaking appearance in 2013 [archive].[archive]
Her anti-choice activism continued through around 2017, and during this time she made many public appearances at anti-choice demonstrations. After around 2017 “Jewels Green” seemed to disappear from the anti-choice activism scene.
We can only speculate why such a notable anti-choice speaker who claimed to have converted from a pro-choice stance and who claimed to have had an abortion herself in the past left the scene so suddenly and thoroughly, but the slide from anti-choice into full-blown white nationalism is unsurprising. The crossover of racism and xenophobia into anti-choice circles is a well documented one. As Alex DiBranco, writing for The Nation, notes:
In recent decades, the movement mainstream has been careful to protect its public image by distancing itself from overt white nationalists in its ranks. Last year, anti-abortion leader Kristen Hatten was ousted from her position as vice president of the anti-choice group New Wave Feminists after identifying as an “ethnonationalist” and sharing white supremacist alt-right content. In 2018, when neo-Nazis from the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP) sought to join the local March for Life rally organized by Tennessee Right to Life, the anti-abortion organization rejected TWP’s involvement.
The mention of Kristen Hatten is interesting since we found that Green (perhaps unsurprisingly) seemed to be a close associate of Hatten, as evident by their appearances together at anti-choice events.
Julie “Jewels” Green (center) with Kristen Hatten (right) [archive].Tweet from Kristen Hatten “liked” by Jewels green as it appears on archive.org.
Green also associated with several other extreme right-wing Twitter accounts, such as Ashley Rae Goldenberg (aka “@Communism_Kills) who is known to associate with white supremacists and Robert Spencer, operator of the Islamophobic website “Jihad Watch,” as evident by archived Twitterposts.
Twitter post by Julie Green operating the “@MamasPepes” Twitter account [archive].
In 2017 the white-nationalist folk musicians “The Mamas and the Pepes” appeared, with presences on Gab and other right-wing-centric internet platforms. While having strong opinions about abortion is one thing, Green obviously feels that her racist, white nationalist views are more dangerous to her social standing since she has only appeared from behind a cheaply made sock puppet. She has expressed on various racist podcasts that she cannot show her face. Apparently, she would much rather express her racist views with poorly written jingles and cheap cotton socks.
Julie “Jewels” Green
While we don’t know what made Julie “Jewels” Green disappear from the anti-choice activism scene to become a white nationalist folk singer who hides behind a sock puppet, we do know that she can put those socks back on her feet because she can’t hide behind them anymore.
Julie Shana Green of Wallingford, Pennsylvania.Julie “Jewels” Green, aka “Mama P” of “The Mamas and the Pepes.”Julie “Jewels” Green, aka “Mama P” of “The Mamas and the Pepes.”Julie “Jewels” Green at a Star Wars event. Interesting that she chose to side with intergalactic fascists, no?(Photo by Lawrence Lucier/Getty Images) [archive]
A big shout-out goes to Anonymous, whom we are not affiliated with in any way, despite our name. Thank you for your service!
oin us Sunday, September 26th from 1-3 pm for a discussion about anarchist responses to COVID! This is a subject we’ve talked about a lot, but with vaccines, new restrictions, and the limited economic support from the state being rolled back things look a lot different now – well, except for the growing number of infections!
We’ll be reading two recent pieces, one from some French anarchists who attacked a vaccination site and one less spicy (but still good!) piece from Canada!
A few anarchists residing on stolen Lenape land in so called Amerikka were alerted to the presence of a banner drop hanging from an electric tower along route 76 just outside the city celebrating the late far-right extremist, Ashli Babbitt, may she rest in piss.
Immediately upon getting notice of this we went to investigate and lo and behold there it was, hanging up defiantly exposing all the passing traffic to it’s utter filth. We just couldn’t allow that shit to fester in our town and following the proud anti-fascist tradition decided to take matters into our own hands. We got down to the tracks and to the electric tower and cut that shit down on sight!
We then took some arguably incriminating celebratory photos and decided to burn that shit in an old rusty barrel giving it the closure it deserved.
Photos attached along with the reddit thread that alerted us to it’s presence, within one day of the thread being posted we properly disposed of that banner. Can’t ever allow that shit to fester in our city!
On the evening of Thursday, September 9, several dozen anarchists gathered in West Philly for a noise demonstration to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1971 Attica prison uprising. After marching in the street for several blocks, the unannounced protest arrived at the Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Services Center, a youth detention center on North 48th St that opened amidst protests in 2012.
Protesters lit road flares, set off fireworks, pointed lasers and banged pots and pans to create a ruckus that served as a form of primitive communication with the youth prisoners locked inside the child jail.
A firework is launched towards the Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Services Center
Several of the youth could be seen waving and/or banging on the frosted windows of their cells, in an apparent gesture of appreciation for the noise and bright lights visiting them from the parking lot.
Youth locked up in the Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Services Center bang on their windows as the noise demonstration takes place outside.
After about 20 minutes, two Philadelphia Police cruisers arrived and the protesters quickly dispersed without incident.
Graffiti left in the Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Services Center parking lot
Before the protest ended, a member of the crowd read a statement reflecting on the anniversary of the Attica prison rebellion, written by Alejandro ‘Capo’ Rodriguez-Ortiz, one of the ‘Vaughn 17’ prisoner defendants prosecuted after the historic ‘Vaughn Uprising’ at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna, Delaware in February 2017:
“50 years ago today, the death of dozens of warriors highlighted an issue that was previously kept in the shadows: The oppression faced by modern day slavery. It also gave us, the prisoners, the knowledge that our power wasn’t relinquished with our freedom. Behind every V17 stands the radiance of those sacrificed in the struggle to be free.
Those comrades showed what’s necessary to bring REAL change. That comes from physically fighting this machine of oppression. Not just simply ASKING for your dignity, BUT TO TAKE IT, by any means necessary.
The issues voiced 50 years ago are the same that we face today. All that proves is that there is only one cure for the malady of this affliction: a total amputation.
In a world where the people can be controlled by the threat of slavery, we’ll never be free. We have to abolish this whole system. No more concessions, they don’t get us any closer to freedom. Just talking will just bring us 50 more years of oppression & slavery.
They can make policy reforms & less oppressive & targeted laws all day. That doesn’t change the fact that there are more people enslaved in this country than the combination of the next three largest countries COMBINED! Our freedom doesn’t come retroactively with these meaningless reforms that are normally either impossible to get applied to our case or only affect a small, selected group.
Every step towards the abolishment of prisons should be attributed to the Brothers of Attica. Without them, a lot of warriors wouldn’t of thought that standing up to such an oppressive force was possible. Their blood helped loosen the foundation of the prison industrial complex. It’s our duty to finish the job, so that their sacrifice wasn’t without purpose.
We live in a different age. One where the people in our communities are now aware of the true purpose of prisons, as plantations. Now is the time to strike. Both the prisoners & our comrades in the world. We have the chance to live without the threat of slavery.
When will we take it?”
– Statement from Alejandro Rodriguez-Ortiz (Capo) on behalf of the Vaughn 17, on the anniversary of the Attica Rebellion
A flyer distributed along the march to the youth jail
An annual 5K run/walk/roll benefit called “Running Down the Walls” aims to amplify “the voices of our comrades behind bars, lifting them up in their struggles,” and provide material support, according to Philadelphia Anarchist Black Cross, the host of today’s event in South Philly’s FDR Park. After the participants finish their 5Ks, speakers will address the issues facing incarcerated people and the prison industrial complex.
This year’s run is in honor of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a high-profile prisoner for 40 years who suffers from multiple health issues.
Last night in Philadelphia, anarchists commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Attica prisoner uprising by marching to a youth detention facility where they banged pots and pans, lit road flares and set off fireworks to raise the spirits of the young people held inside:
Vaughn 17 member and politicized prisoner Kevin Berry is finally coming home after being locked down for 14 years. Kev was caught up in the system at an early age and has been in state prison since he was 18 years old. For the past four years, he’s been locked away in solitary in retaliation for standing up against the prison system in Delaware.
Kev is about to officially start his work-release program in Delaware, and we’re asking for help getting him on his feet. When he gets out of prison and starts his work-release job, he’s gonna have nothing — he needs clothes, food, and money as soon as possible. Your donations will literally go towards putting clothes on his back!
Kev has not only survived the so-called “justice system,” he’s also someone who has made significant sacrifices for our collective liberation. You can read his writings as part of the Vaughn 17 movement here and here .
If you would prefer to donate gift certificates or hotel vouchers (so he can save on rent while he’s trying to save up money), please do! You can email them to our riseup account (see below).
This comrade really needs and deserves our support right now. Thank you for showing up and showing your solidarity!
On today’s episode, first we speak with Daryle Lamont Jenkins about his recent travels to New York for an antifascist film festival and Portland for a mass convergence against the Proud Boys. We talk about fighting the far-Right in a post-J6 world, the need to build alternatives to the State, and the growing threat of the anti-vaxx/mask movement. We then talk with someone from Philadelphia Anarchist Black Cross about the history of the group and the importance of upcoming ‘Running Down the Walls’ events.
We then switch to our discussion, where we talk about the need for people to re-hone their organizing skills as posts on social media are often leading to diminishing returns.
September 11th – 12th: Running Down the Walls. Events to raise money and awareness for political prisoners. See list here.
Black August began in the 1970s to mark the assassination of the imprisoned Black Panther, author, and revolutionary George Jackson during a prison rebellion in California. Each year in August we take time to honor captured freedom fighters of the Black Liberation struggle as we study, train and recommit to the struggle for freedom year-round.
In lieu of our normal Monday night letter-writing, we will be co-hosting a Black August event with Philly Jericho. We will be focusing on sending meaningful letters of solidarity to long-term political prisoner Sundiata Acoli. Sundiata was a prominent member of the Harlem chapter of the Black Panther Party. After targeting by the FBI’s illegal COINTELPRO, Sundiata continued the struggle underground with the Black Liberation Army. In 1973 he, Zayd and Assata Shakur were stopped by New Jersey state troopers. Zayd Shakur was killed, while Assata was wounded and taken into custody. One state trooper was killed during the incident and another injured. Sundiata was later captured and sentenced to life plus 30 years in a politically charged and biased trial. We will also send birthday cards to political prisoners with birthdays in September: Leonard Peltier (the 12th) and Maumin Khabir (the 15th).
Never written a letter to a prisoner before? No Problem! Join us at Clark Park (stone platform near 45th and Chester) and we will go over some of the basics and have all the letter-writing supplies and snacks available.
If you are unable to make the event, please send your solidarity to Sundiata at:
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