Stand Against the Proud Boys on November 17th

  • November 9, 2018 3:35 pm

from Philly IWW

The Philadelphia General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World voted unanimously at our October meeting to endorse Operation Pushback’s protest against the “We The People” rally hosted and endorsed by regional members of the Proud Boys and their paramilitary wing, the Alt Knights.

The Proud Boys seek to reinforce gendered, racial, and national divides among the working class, terminate financial aid for the poor, eliminate workers’ right to move to other countries, and deprive working-class women of employment and income so as to force them to become housewives. They openly glorify bosses and the rich (“entrepreneurs”) while misleading male workers into thinking they have common interests with wealthy men. They encourage chauvinist attitudes towards workers in other countries, inhibiting our ability to unify against multi-national corporations across borders by pitting workers in different countries against each other. For too long reactionaries have hidden behind “Free Speech” and “preserving the constitution,” but they do not sincerely want these freedoms and protections for the entirety of the population; they simply want to return to the days of white male supremacy and to maintain the rule of the wealthy.

The IWW, a pioneer of free speech advocacy, has long stood firmly against far-right hate groups, from the second Klu Klux Klan and the American Legion in the early twentieth-century to Vanguard America and the Proud Boys today. We call on all of our fellow union workers to join us on November 17th to let the Proud Boys know their semi-fascist rhetoric of hatred and militant sexism is not welcome in Philadelphia. If allowed to rampage around Philadelphia unchallenged the Proud Boys will commit hate crimes again. Please read the call from Operation Pushback, inform yourselves about the open hatred that the Proud Boys / Alt Knights espouse, and join us in the streets to celebrate a free and united Philadelphia.

Gab Woes Continue: Subpoena from Pennsylvania Attorney General

  • November 9, 2018 3:33 pm

from Unicorn Riot

Harrisburg, PA – The controversial social network Gab, closely linked with white supremacist and fascist organizers since its launch, has drawn public scrutiny and had hosting difficulties since Robert Bowers, a prolific Gab user, shot and killed 11 people worshipping at a Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA on October 27. Before the shooting, Bowers also used his account to interact with many prominent figures in the neo-Nazi and “alt-right” hate movements that gravitate to Gab.

Since then, Gab shifted to the domain registrar Epik, LLC, based in Bellevue, Washington, after its previous registrar cancelled services. Gab and its CEO, Andrew Torba, seem to still be dealing with legal troubles regarding the hate speech social media site, which could have implications for the company’s crowdfunding efforts.

Early in the afternoon of Wednesday November 7, Gab’s flagship account inside the service, and @getongab on Twitter, posted a subpoena from Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s office. The subpoena, dated Wednesday, was signed by Timothy R. Murphy, Deputy Attorney General at the Bureau of Consumer Protection. It was sent to Epik, which recently announced its relationship with Gab in a November 3 blog post claiming to “Let Freedom Ring,” while claiming “there is a duty to monitor and lightly curate, keeping content within the bounds of the law.” (Internet domain registrars publish records linking IP addresses with domain names. Epik’s CEO, Rob Monster, confirmed in comments below the post his company is only the registrar, and not hosting the site itself, contrary to some media reports.)

The Gab accounts, thought to be managed by proprietor Andrew Torba, boasted that they would defeat the subpoena, an order to collect and preserve all documents and material Epik might have about their Gab account. Torba previously claimed that he was cooperating with federal and state authorities in the aftermath of the Pittsburgh shooting, but a vow to beat the state authorities in court does not portend close cooperation.

Within a few hours both social media accounts quietly deleted the posts, after tagging various right-leaning media like Fox News and the Drudge Report to try to get their attention.

Observers such as Jay McKenzie and Michael E. Hayden archived the social media postings and pointed out that the subpoena directed to Epik, LLC had a “NON-DISCLOSURE STATEMENT“. Epik was “requested to refrain from notifying any person or entity, other than said Respondent, that a subpoena has been issued.”

While this isn’t legally binding, Torba’s choice to post the subpoena likely won’t endear him to the new domain registrar company, which now will have to incur legal expenses to either fight the subpoena or comply with it. Notably, the subpoena also specifies that Pennsylvania should get copies of “all productions already made to other state or federal government bodies concerning Gab.”

Before he deleted his comments, Torba falsely tried to frame the subpoena as a matter pertaining to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which create a “safe harbor” of immunity for Internet publishers. Already well-tested in US courts, Section 230 would likely help Torba defend against possible lawsuits for some types of content posted by Gab users, but this is totally irrelevant to the subpoena itself. The subpoena does not claim any facts about civil liability relevant to Section 230.

By flippantly rejecting the subpoena, Torba may also have damaged his situation with crowdfunding investors, to whom he recently promised he would cooperate with authorities in solicitation materials noted below.

Full text of the Gab subpoena:

Conspiracy To Riot film screening

  • November 5, 2018 12:59 pm

from Facebook

On January 20th, 2017, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States of America. Following his inaugural address, as the upper echelons of the American political establishment mingled on the National Mall, several blocks away, a riot was breaking out. A black bloc several hundred strong was wreaking havoc on the streets. The bloc was part of the anti-capitalist and anti-fascist march, one component of a broader day of protests organized under the umbrella #DisruptJ20. Armed with spray paint, crowbars and rocks, this mob smashed windows, clashed with police and redecorated a limo that would eventually be put to the torch. The police repression was swift. Amidst the haze of pepper spray and flashbangs, over two hundred protesters were kettled, and arrested by DC’s Metro Police.

So began one of the most important political trials in recent history. In an effort to set a chilling precedent for anti-Trump resistance, the US Department of Justice charged over 200 people with eight separate felony charges, threatening them with upwards of 80 years in prison. In her crusade to paint the J20 black bloc as one giant conspiracy to riot, federal Prosecutor Jennifer Kerkhoff filed warrants to seize people’s digital data, and entered into an alliance with discredited far-right media outfits peddling doctored evidence. Faced with this repressive array of state power, J20 defendants responded with unflinching solidarity, setting a new standard for political defense in the age of Trump. This is their story.

More info at: https://sub.media/c/trouble/

[November 8 from 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM at Wooden Shoe Books and Records 704 South St]

Anarchism and its Aspirations

  • November 3, 2018 12:58 pm
from Incite Seminars

Anarchism and its Aspirations.pngIn the best spirit of anarchism, this seminar will strive to create a space of learning together, drawing from our shared understandings and experiences. It will explore anarchism as an ethical compass, which points simultaneously to an overarching critique of all forms of hierarchy and an expansive social vision of what it could mean to be free people in a free society. It will look at how anarchism can offer a way of thinking —a critical or dialectical theory—to find “cracks in the wall.” And from there, crucially, it will dig into anarchism as a living, breathing, prefigurative politics, utilizing illustrations from messy-beautiful experiments in the here and now that at once gesture toward a liberatory, loving world. At its heart, this seminar will revolve around what it means to aspire toward and practice an “everyday anarchism,” where notions such as self-organization and self-governance, mutual aid and solidarity, autonomy and collectivity, dignity and care, to name a few, become commonsensical second nature as well as the basis for new social relations and social organization.

Facilitator: Cindy Milstein. Cindy has long engaged in anarchistic organizing, contemporary social movements, and collective spaces, and is author of Anarchism and Its Aspirations, coauthor of Paths toward Utopia: Graphic Explorations of Everyday Anarchism, and editor of the anthology Taking Sides: Revolutionary Solidarity and the Poverty of Liberalism. Over the past couple years, they have focused on doing support for the J20 defendants and others facing state repression, co-organizing the Institute for Advanced Troublemaking’s Anarchist Summer School in Worcester, MA, and getting up to all sorts of “friendly anarchist” mischief as a collective member of Solidarity & Defense, Huron Valley in so-called Michigan. Cindy has also toured extensively this past year with their latest edited anthology, Rebellious Mourning: The Collective Work of Grief, speaking about the intimate connection between structural losses, grief, and resistance while holding space for similar stories, and is honored, called on, to do death doula and grief care. Cindy blogs at Outside the Circle.

Date: Saturday, November 10, 9am-1pm

Cost: Sliding scale: $80/$60/$40 (please scroll down to “Registration”). Please pay what you can afford. (We have expenses to cover.) If you would like to attend but cannot afford it right now, you may request to do so at no cost. Please email us at inciteseminars@mail.com with your request and a brief explanation of your need.

Reading: We will use the first two essays in Cindy’s Anarchism and its Aspirations as the basis for our discussion. Please purchase the book at Wooden Shoe Books, 704 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147, 215-413-0999.

(Click image below for podcast discussion with Cindy)

Cindy+Milstein+Rebellious+Mourning+Interview

Wilmington, DE: Banner Drop for the Vaughn 17

  • November 2, 2018 1:07 am

from It’s Going Down

A banner was dropped in Wilmington, DE in solidarity with the Vaughn 17 that read “Prisons don’t keep anyone safe (A) #Vaughn17.” The message was directed to the people of Wilmington, the family and friends of the defendants on trial, the elders of Smyrna 5, supporters, and the staff of the DOJ and DOC who may happen to have looked out the window by the elevators on the 8th floor of the courthouse at 500 N King St during lunch break on the sixth day of trial.

To the defendants, we see you, we love you, and we fight in solidarity with your struggle to overthrow the oppression of the modern day slave plantation that comes in the form of the prison industrial complex.

For more information about the case and ways to support, check out: https://vaughn17support.org

All power to the people!!! Fuck the pigs!!!

-some anarchists

ANTI BLUELIVESMATTER ARRESTEE FUND

  • November 1, 2018 2:50 pm

from Go Fund Me

A few months back, a group of people were arrested for allegedly protesting a “blue lives matter” demonstration in Philadelphia.

The same night as the arrests, the alleged protesters were told their charges had been dropped and were released.

In October, one of them was re-arrested, for no reason other than to receive charges for the same prior incident.

At the protest, the police were physically abusive and used their fists on people they were arresting. People were injured and traumatized and are now being vindictively harassed, hunted down and re-arrested because of the nature of the protest.

Other people who were detained or alleged to be involved with that demonstration may also find themselves facing retroactive arrests or charges.

Please chip in what you can and share with your networks to help the person who was re-arrested make their bail back, which was $1200.

Again, other people who were alleged to be involved with that demonstration may find themselves facing retroactive arrests soon, so we will need to raise funds for them as well.

Thank you so much for your support!

[Donate Here]

The upcoming “We the People” Rally is organized by anti-semites

  • November 1, 2018 2:22 pm

from Friendly Fire Collective

web_extremist-profile_proud-boys-2

cw: anti-Semitic imagery, violence, fascism

The far-right Proud Boys have proven time after time that they are a violent organization. Their front group in PA, Sports Beer & Politics II, is no different. Despite denying being racists, their page is a cesspool of fascism. Only a month ago, they shamelessly posted an anti-Semitic meme.

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Again, we need to take the upcoming rally seriously and make it known that all forms of fascism will be opposed in Philly. The Right is escalating in their tactics, feeling bolder and more passionate about their genocidal cause. This rally cannot and will not go smoothly, especially after the recent string of terrorist attacks in the so-called U.S. from white nationalists, including a blatantly anti-Semitic attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue this past week.

For more information, check out the counter-protest facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/171281213803986/

“Out of the Way!” – The movie

  • November 1, 2018 2:19 pm

from Combative Communication

Ruby Sanders moved to Philadelphia in the 1960s after escaping loansharks in the plantations of South Carolina with her husband and their first 7 kids. In 2016, after living in her home for 50 years, she was evicted from the house because of gentrification in her neighborhood.

Her, her grandson Speedy, another young man from the neighborhood, Yusuf, and several other neighbors tell us more about how rich white people moving to the neighborhood is transforming their community. They also explain how gentrification is part of all the racist violence their community has been suffering throughout history. From the so called “war on drugs” to police brutality and from mass incarceration to public schools being shut down, this community is being pushed “Out of the Way”.

We have uploaded this video directly to youtube because we want it to be screened and presented anywhere and everywhere people deem appropriate. We want this video to be used as a talking point, but more importantly as an organizational tool.

There are many different factors involved in the gentrification of communities around the world that are all too often not included in discussions around why. This is not an academic or an intellectual perspective on the issue. This is a community based perspective on how communities of color in particular are being criminalized and displaced from their neighborhoods for profit.

Combative Communication along with the community members from Francisville interviewed in the film agreed to put “Out of the Way” online so that people could screen it and use it as a tool to share this experience, motivate communities to organize, and contribute to the fight against gentrification. Please let us know about screenings or organizing efforts in your community. We would love to support how ever we can.

[Watch Here]