“From Networks to Parties? The Question of Organization in Contemporary Struggles”: A Conversation with Rodrigo Nunes

  • March 26, 2015 8:01 pm

Viewpoint Magazine Presents:

“From Networks to Parties? The Question of Organization in Contemporary Struggles”: A Conversation with Rodrigo Nunes.

The election of Syriza in Greece and the rise of Podemos in Spain has been described by some as marking a sharp turn in the cycle that began with the Arab Spring in 2011: giddy enthusiasm with social media and horizontal forms of organisation were out, parties and representative politics were back in. Are things that simple, however? A theory of organisation capable of understanding contemporary movements in their own terms, Rodrigo Nunes suggests, would see much more continuity, but also more tension, between the two moments.

[April 1 at 7pm at Wooden Shoe Books 704 South St]

LAVA Spring time $hustle and $grind renovation event

  • March 25, 2015 3:25 pm

from facebook

lava space has 2000 dollars to fix up the place!!!! the only catch is we need to fix stuff now or we will lose the money!!! We gotta make it happen or risk being known as the mark ass busters of the black bottom forever. Let’s Go!!!

Masonry restoration
New bathroom drywall
ADA accessibility updates
Paint
Organization
Mural on side of building
Pest control?

Food money is in the budget and we gotta spend it!

[March 26 to 29 at LAVA Space 4134 Lancaster Ave]

Here’s a little basic overview of the weekends’ activities that we came up with at the meeting – Thursday (26th) volunteers can help do demolition in the bathroom and help sorting/organizing the basement, Friday (27th) volunteers can help mend our exterior wall, go on trips to buy supplies, & clean up before the show that night, Saturday (28th) volunteers can help us fix up our bathrooms (installing new drywall) and make them wheelchair accessible (installing grab bars/ramps), and finally Sunday (29th) volunteers can help tie up loose ends of th many projects and help paint a mural that will face Lancaster Ave! Spread out over all these days we’ll also be working on painting some interior walls and cleaning shit up in general.

Man Wounded in Police-Involved Shooting in Philadelphia

  • March 25, 2015 3:19 pm

from mainstream media

A Philadelphia police officer has shot and wounded a man who allegedly pointed a gun at the officer, a day after the Justice Department issued a report on police shootings in the city.

Police say the officer shot the 24-year-old man during a foot pursuit Tuesday night in the city’s Nicetown section.

Officers had been called to the area on the report of a shooting and found a 23-year-old man with gunshot wounds, lying next to a bullet-ridden minivan.

Police say the 24-year-old man tried to flee the scene and during a pursuit pointed a gun at police and an officer opened fire.

The shooting comes a day after the Justice Department issued a report on police shootings in Philadelphia, citing poor training for officers’ justification for deadly force.

For the Long Haul: Care, Intention, and Steadiness in Radical Organizing with Chris Dixon

  • March 23, 2015 3:05 pm

from facebook

Chris Dixon, author of Another Politics, will be leading the workshop For the Long Haul: Care, Intention, and Steadiness in Radical OrganizingRadical activists and organizers across North America face many similar challenges as we work to build movements capable of transforming the world: How can we most productively manifest our values through our organizing? How can we move beyond self-selected activist circles? How can we avoid getting stuck in dead-end ways of doing things? How can we build structures that foster, rather than fracture, movements? And how can we link our day-to-day fights with longer-term visions? Drawing on interviews with experienced organizers across North America, this workshop will distill lessons for developing effective, visionary movements. It will also open a space to discuss the challenges we face and what we are learning together as we grapple with them.

[March 30 at 7pm to 10pm at A-Space 4722 Baltimore Ave]

Another Politics: Talking Across Today’s Transformative Movements

  • March 22, 2015 4:37 am

from facebook

With author Chris Dixon

Recent decades have seen the exciting convergence of anti-authoritarian radicalism and broader-based movements in the U.S. and Canada. From this convergence, a growing set of activists – from anti-poverty organizers in Toronto to prison abolitionists in Oakland, from occupy activists in New York to migrant justice organizers in Vancouver – are developing shared politics and practices. They are building “another politics,” to use a Zapatista expression. These efforts combine anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist, anti-oppression politics with grassroots organizing among ordinary, non-activist people. Drawing on interviews with organizers across North America, this presentation will explore another politics and distill lessons for building effective, visionary movements.

More info about the book: http://writingwithmovements.com/another-politics.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chris Dixon, originally from Alaska, is a longtime anarchist organizer, writer, and educator with a PhD from the University of California at Santa Cruz. His writing has appeared in numerous book collections as well as periodicals such as Anarchist Studies, Clamor, Left Turn, and Social Movement Studies. He serves on the board of the Institute for Anarchist Studies and the advisory board for the activist journal Upping the Anti. Dixon lives in Ottawa, Canada, on unceded Algonquin Territory, where he is involved in anti-poverty organizing. Find him at: http://writingwithmovements.com/

[March 29 from 7-9pm at Wooden Shoe Books 704 South St]

Antifa Philadelphia Presents: Sophie Scholl

  • March 22, 2015 3:40 am

from facebook

“It is impossible to engage in intellectual discourse with National Socialism because it is not an intellectually defensible program. It is false to speak of a National Socialist philosophy, for if there were such an entity, one would have to try by means of analysis and discussion either to prove its validity or to combat it. In actuality, however, we face a totally different situation.”

That is an excerpt from the 2nd pamphlet of the White Rose, published and distributed among German Universities in 1943. Those words were considered treason by the Reich.

This film is a dramatization of the final days of Sophie Scholl, one of the most famous members of the German World War II anti-Nazi resistance movement.

[March 29 at 6:30pm at A-Space 4722 Baltimore Ave]

Anarchism, Decolonization, and Radical Democracy

  • March 20, 2015 2:02 pm

from Haverford

2015 Mellon Symposium
Organized by Andrew Cornell
Friday, March 27, 2015

Anarchism has inspired global social movements for more than two decades, yet remains peripheral to academic debate. Scholars have developed sophisticated conceptions of radical democracy, but these have been slow to inform on-the-ground organizing. Both frameworks critique the imperial foundations and racial exclusions of liberal theory and institutions, as do a growing contingent of scholars and activists who demand a thoroughgoing decolonization of our social, political, and intellectual lives.

This symposium explores what common ground and what tensions exist between these critical perspectives by providing a unique forum for conversation amongst an international ensemble of respected organizers and scholars.

Becoming Rebels

  • March 19, 2015 9:47 pm

From FTW/WTF

On February 28th, we participated in a “Day of Outrage” march in Bridgeton, New Jersey in response to the execution of Jerame Reid by Bridgeton police on December 30th, 2014 at a traffic stop. Police claimed he had a gun despite both his hands being visible to officers in the video (more details can be found here). This march gave us a snapshot of our movement’s strengths and weaknesses, as well a lesson in our enemies’ strategy. In the interest of advancing the struggle for a free society we offer this assessment of our actions, and some points on how to move forward.

D.A.: No charges against police in shooting of Brandon Tate-Brown

  • March 19, 2015 9:07 pm

from Mainstream Media

Two Philadelphia police officers have been cleared in the shooting death of Brandon Tate-Brown during a car stop in Mayfair on Dec. 15, District Attorney Seth Williams said Friday.

“In this case the facts show a tragedy, a terrible tragedy, but not a crime,” Williams said.

Infest 3 – A Nazi Fest? Useless Christ Records, The Atlantic City Skins and Martin Jason Schacteer

  • March 19, 2015 6:05 pm

from Philly Antifa

A few weeks from now, April 10-12, Philly will host Infest 3 at the Voltage Lounge. The stage won’t be populated by Nazi boneheads preaching racism or xenophobia. In fact, none of the bands on the bill (that we know of) have any shady political affiliations.

However, once again the involvement of Martin Jason Schacteer aka “Shlak,” has people considering whether attending this fest will be throwing tacit support behind repeated attempts to push metal, punk, goth and electronic music towards a right wing and anti-equality position by first pushing it towards an apathetic position regarding the presence of Neo-Nazis and their supporters in those scenes.

Philadelphia Officer Shot Dead In The Head Trying to Stop A Robbery

  • March 11, 2015 4:23 am

from mainstream media

A Philadelphia police officer was shot in the head and killed after he and his partner exchanged gunfire with two suspects trying to rob a video game store, city officials said Thursday.

The slain officer, Robert Wilson III, fired back even as he was being shot by suspects on either side of him. One was struck and taken to a hospital while the other was in custody, police said.

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, red-eyed as he spoke at an evening news conference, said he had met the 30-year-old Wilson and his partner when they took part in a recent pilot program in which officers wore body cameras.

“I knew him, had met him. He was one of the best police officers this city has to offer, period,” Ramsey said, standing beside the mayor, the district attorney and other city officials.

Some of the Prisoner Resistance from across the State last year

  • March 7, 2015 9:55 pm

from anarchadelphia

“A cage is an unnatural environment…You can’t put a man or animal in one and expect him to act natural. And it’s only instinct to want out.” – Edward R. Jones, a man who escaped from prison 14 times and authored Hacksaw about his experiences.

28 June 2014 – Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, United States – a prisoner escaped the Luzerne County Correctional Facility.

1 August 2014 – Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, United States – a prisoner hopped the fence of the Luzerne County Correctional Facility.

8 August 2014 – Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, United States – The unit manager of SCI-Greene was repeatedly struck in the head with a sock tied to a lock by a prisoner yelling “I fucking told you I was going to get you.”

29 September 2014 –  Tyrone,  Pennsylvania, United States – A Loysville Youth Development Center staff member was “rendered unconscious” by a punch from a prisoner.

22 October 2014 – Indiana, Pennsylvania, United States – A person in custody at the Indiana  County  Jail  “became  angry  and destroyed a fire suppression/sprinkler system” and waved the sprinkler head around “in an attempt to taunt and injure the correctional officers.”

18 November 2014 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States – Three corrections officers were stabbed at the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center

Philly Premiere of Wrenched

  • March 7, 2015 6:20 pm

from facebook

Sea Shepherd Philadelphia presents a free screening of the new award winning documentary “Wrenched: How Edward Abbey Lit the Flame of Environmental Activism and Gave the Movement its Soul”, on the 26th anniversary of Abbey’s death.

[March 14th 7pm at Wooden Shoe Books 704 South St]

Compañeras: Zapatista Women’s Stories

  • March 5, 2015 3:49 am

from facebook

with author Hilary Klein

Compañeras is the untold story of women’s involvement in the Zapatista movement, the indigenous rebellion that has inspired grassroots activists around the world for over two decades. Gathered here are the stories of grandmothers, mothers, and daughters who became guerrilla insurgents and political leaders, educators and healers—who worked collectively to construct a new society of dignity and justice. Compañeras shows us how, after centuries of oppression, a few voices of dissent became a force of thousands, how a woman once confined to her kitchen rose to conduct peace negotiations with the Mexican government, and how hundreds of women overcame engrained hardships to strengthen their communities from within.

[March 12 at 7-9pm at Wooden Shoe Books 704 South St]

film schedule for screenings at wooden shoe books for march

  • March 4, 2015 1:06 am

from anarchadelphia

all in honour of international womyn’s day on march 8th…please come out and show your support.
all films are free and begin at 7pm.

international womyn’s day sunday march 8th- free tiller
2013 documentary that follows the only 4 remaining doctors in the united states who openly perform late term abortions.this film was an official selection for the 2013 sundance film festival.

wednesday march 11th- no woman,no cry
pregnancy is a death sentence for more than half a million womyn every year,but their deaths would be preventable if they could obtain the healthcare they needed.this documentary focuses on the personal stories behind those statistics

wednesday march 18th- the punk singer
Filmmaker Sini Anderson explores the life and career of punk rocker Kathleen Hanna, the Bikini Kill frontwomyn who became a pioneer of the “riot grrrl” movement of the 1990s.

wednesday march 25th- 2 short films-

the semiotics of the kitchen-a feminist parody video and performance piece released in 1975 by Martha Rosler. The video, which runs six minutes, is considered a critique of the commodified versions of traditional womyn’s roles in modern society.

free white and 21 by howardena pindell-in this deeply personal and political video, Howardena Pindell recounts the racism she encountered both as a child and an adult in educational institutions, …

please spread this info widely…
love and rage.