NJ Hate Watch: Neo-Nazi Richard Rygaard of Vineland, NJ

  • February 28, 2023 1:32 am

from Jersey Counter-Info

 

Richard Rygaard, former drummer and collaborator of the neo-nazi metal band Bound for Glory (BFG), has been having a difficult last few months in South Jersey. In July 2022, Rygaard managed to get himself arrested for possession of a controlled dangerous substance being caught with cocaine on his person in Vineland, NJ. For the past several months Rygaard has been going through the local court system with no resolve in sight.

Rygaard was first arrested July 15, where he resides in Vineland, NJ.
As of December 2022 Rygaard is still dealing with his possession charge stemming from his July 2022 arrest.

Prior to his arrest, Rygaard enjoyed relative anonymity and has kept a low profile even considering his prime BFG days. Thus far Rygaard has been lucky to enjoy a peaceful existence while also being an unrepentant neo-nazi. As a consequence of his arrest and ongoing municipal court proceedings, the state has released his information to the public.

Rygaard during his bonehead BFG days as a drummer.
Rygaard pictured more recently in 2017 at the IHOP in Williamstown, NJ.

The following release of information is not an endorsement of the state or how it operates, but evidence that anti-fascists can utilize a variety of information regardless of the source for our own purposes to protect the community at large.

Richard D. Rygaard currently resides at 37 Columbia Ave. in apartment in Vineland, NJ, 08360. He also has a P.O. Box , registered under his name at 736 E Landis Ave in Vineland NJ, 08362.

Rygaard lives here at 37 Columbia Ave. in Vineland NJ, in apartment .

Rygaard also has several identifiable tattoos including some that are decades old, some which are neo-nazi in nature, and others that are seemingly unrelated to fascism and white supremacy.

Rygaard with some of the sleeve on his left arm visible.
Rygaard’s right arm with a newer piece he received in 2017.

Send tips and information: njhatewatch@protonmail.com

Supporters of ‘Cop City’ Opponents Rally in Philly

  • February 25, 2023 1:04 am

from Unicorn Riot

Philadelphia, PA – Protests around the U.S. have increased recently against the proposed Public Safety Training Center near Atlanta. At the Philadelphia City Hall on around noon on Friday, Feb. 24, opponents held a rally.

[Video Link]

The movement aims to have funders and contractors withdraw from the project in order to prevent the proposed site from demolishing the largest urban forest in the USA. Pending court cases claim that the Atlanta Police Foundation has ignored local laws and environmental regulations in order to rush construction of the complex against the concerns of nearby residents.

Groups calling for the rally included Extinction Rebellion Philly, and Fridays for Future Philadelphia. According to a flyer the call is to “support land defenders in Atlanta, resist police brutality & militarization, protect the right to protest.”

After rallying at City Hall, the protest coalition stopped outside the offices of AXA, an insurance corporation targeted for providing liability coverage to Brasfield Gorrie, a general contractor hired by the Atlanta Police Foundation to help demolish the Atlanta Forest to build the contested urban warfare training complex.

[Twitter Link]

Protesters attempted to deliver a letter to AXA but were reportedly denied the opportunity to hand-deliver it to executives inside the office suite. AXA has not responded to Unicorn Riot’s request for comment regarding today’s protest as of the time of this writing.

Stop Cop City! Fuck Cellicon Valley Graffiti!

  • February 24, 2023 1:37 am

Submission


Random rad graffiti!

  • February 24, 2023 1:31 am

Submission


Philly demo at Greenberg Traurig in Solidarity with the Weelaunee forest!

  • February 24, 2023 1:03 am

Submission

On Tuesday February 21st, there was a demonstration in Solidarity with the Weelaunee Forest Defense / campaign to Stop Cop City at Greenberg Traurig who is on the board and a funder of the Atlanta Police Foundation. We demanded they cut ties to APF, handed out hundreds of flyers, people spoke to to how we must Stop Cop City everywhere, and chalked all over their sidewalks and building. ” RIP Tortuguita! ” “Stop Cop City! “- “FTP-ACAB!” – “Save Chinatown, the UC Townhomes, Cobbs Creek, The Meadows!” – “Defend Chingsessing Meadows! Fuck Cellicon Valley!” – referring to the efforts to stop Ecocidal development at the so called “FDR” Meadows and “Bartram’s” Garden that that are part of the Meadows that the Lenape referred to as Chingsessing.

Here is a zine for more info about that https://phlanticap.noblogs.org/fuck-a-cellicon-valley-zine/

The struggle continues on so keep organizing and take Direct Action, and escalate against colonial developers, their funders, and the police everywhere to dismantle the industrial capitalist state death machine and defend the community and land.

THOSE WHO DESTROY THE EARTH HAVE NAMES AND ADDRESSES!

RIP Tortuguita! Stop Cop City!

February discussion – The Right to be Greedy

  • February 19, 2023 1:50 am

from Viscera

Join us Sunday, February 26th from 1-3 to discuss The Right to be Greedy: Theses on the Practical Necessity of Demanding Everything.

“Greed in its fullest sense is the only possible basis of communist society. The present forms of greed lose out, in the end, because they turn out to be not greedy enough.”

This one’s a bit long, but we encourage you to read the whole thing! Footnotes are optional but encouraged!

You can find it online here

As usual, barring exceptionally poor weather we’ll be meeting in Clark Park near the chess tables.

Temple University Grad Student Union Strikes; Rally on Campus

  • February 16, 2023 1:27 am

from Unicorn Riot

By Unicorn Riot February 15, 2023

PHILADELPHIA, PA – The Temple University Graduate Students Association (TUGSA) has gone on strike, and undergraduates who support them have organized a walk-out from class and campus work on February 15. The graduate students are demanding base pay of $32,800, dependent healthcare, longer parental and bereavement leave and improved working conditions. The university administration has already revoked the striking grad students’ tuition remission and health insurance coverage in retaliation for striking.

An undergrads’ press release said in response to organizing, “university administration responded with an intimidating email directed to all students, even threatening students’ academic progress for participation.”

Live coverage here:

[Video Here]

The undergrads tell Unicorn Riot that while tuition was raised 3.9% this year, only 62 cents of every dollar are spent on instruction. A notice from the undergrad organizers reads:

“Forcing administration to give into TUGSA’s demands will take escalation involving students and workers across campus. In walking out from classes, undergraduate students show the way forward towards more and more workers in the Temple community taking escalating collective action.”

— Press release from undergrad students at Temple supporting striking graduate students

Posters Seen In West Philadelphia

  • February 15, 2023 1:00 am

from Scenes From The Atlanta Forest

Solidarity from PDX!

  • February 12, 2023 1:35 am

Submission

Solidarity from Portland to Philadelphia in preparation for the big game and the big night after. Fly Eagles, Fly.

“Fuck a Cellicon Valley” Zine Launch and Social

  • February 12, 2023 1:07 am

from Iffy Books

February 19 @ 3:30 pm – 5:30 pm

Flyer with a drawing of various cartoon animals sitting around a campfire under the stars. The text reads as follows: "Fuck a Cellicon Valley" Zine Launch and Social February 19 3:30 PM Iffy Books, N. 11th St. #2I Zines, snacks, socializing, & info on the development at Bartram's Garden

Join us Sunday, February 19th at 3:30 p.m. to celebrate the launch of “Fuck a Cellicon Valley,” a zine about a development plan that would displace residents and destroy wild space in the area around Bartam’s North and Bartam’s South. We’ll have snacks and free zines!

Read the zine
Print the zine

Here’s an excerpt:

After we heard rumors about UPenn developing the land around Bartram’s North we did some research and discovered an evil plot. In 2013 a group of economists, developers, city planners, and other villians came up with the Lower Schuylkill Master Plan, a 143 page document envisioning a “21st century industrial district” in Southwest Philly along the Schuykill river corridor. The report details massive development projects to be carried out over 20-25 years. Reading the report in 2023 provided us with some answers and many many questions.

The Master Plan is worth looking over carefully if you are someone who cares about environmental destruction and gentrification. You can find it online at https://www.design.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/LSMP_Small.pdf

The plan breaks up the development projects into three sections. The first is a Logistics Hub, connected to the Philadelphia Airport, whose recent expansion destroyed wetlands to build a cargo facility. We’ve already seen how this has gone down for the FDR meadows. The second is the Energy Corridor in South Philly, where they are currently focused on remediating decades of industrial pollution from oil infrastructure. The remediation is predicted to take years, then they’re going build factories.

The third zone, the Innovation District, is the focus of this zine. Because it is closest to us, because it threatens the places we live in and love. In writing this zine, we hope that other people will look into the master plan and oppose gentrification as they see it manifest in their contexts.

The Innovation District consists of the Pennovation Center and the areas near Bartram’s North and Bartram’s South including some wild lands and spaces. We spend a lot of time in those spaces and despite what developers think, there is already vibrant activity, innovation, and life, we don’t want to see the area get paved over and built up.

…

The Lower Schuylkill Biotech Campus is part of what people at the University of Pennsylvania are calling “Cellicon Valley”. It’s an attempt to brand Philly as the next hi-tech hotspot for pharmaceutical companies and research institutions. Like Silicon Valley, Cellicon Valley is a bad and annoying idea that should never come to fruition. It’s literally a scheme to capture, commodify, and sell us ways to live, by destroying and locking us out of the ways we live.

Vigil For Tyre Nichols And Community Skate Against State Violence

  • February 11, 2023 1:19 am

Submission

Vigil for Tyre Nichols and community skate demo against police State brutality! Sunday – February 19th – 2PM – Paine’s Skatepark – Philly! Come together to speak out and skate in memory of Tyre Nichols and everyone who was murdered and harmed by police state violence! Snacks and Water Provided by Food Not Bombs Solidarity! Please mask up and wear warm layers!

ISO Fence4Fence

  • February 8, 2023 1:52 am

Submission

with valentine’s approaching, i need a date – will you show your interest? i always make the first move – so take the broken fences at bartrams north as your cue. half is done – now do your part and we can kiss under the FUCK CELLICON VALLEY graffitti down the road. NO BORDERS. NO FENCES.

our desire fuels an end to all development.

your secret admirer-

Monday February 6th: Letter-writing for Alex Stokes

  • February 3, 2023 1:24 am

from Philly ABC

alex-stokes-letter-writing.jpg

Philly ABC is back with our regular letter-writing events this month featuring Alex Stokes, an antifascist prisoner sentenced to 20 years for defending himself and others from armed Proud Boys at the New York State Capitol on January 6th.

Alex is a journalist and artist from Albany, NY. He began documenting social unrest in 2014, and was arrested with over 200 protestors and independent journalists during #DisruptJ20 in Washington DC. He was injured during the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA, and has routinely attended Black Lives Matter protests in Albany throughout 2020. He also regularly exposed local white supremacist groups and members.

On January 6, 2021, multiple members of the Proud Boys—a nationwide far-right gang—gathered outside the New York State Capitol in Albany, NY in support of the larger “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington DC. A fight broke out with counter-protestors as one Proud Boy tased a Black man who had his hands in his pockets, and another beating a woman over the head with a flag pole. Alex was watching from the sidelines and ran to help those being attacked, at which point he was also assaulted and managed to fend off multiple attackers, injuring two of them, and helped get other victims away from the fray. The Proud Boys involved did not receive any charges. Alex was charged with first-degree assault, among other charges.

In November 2022, despite video evidence from multiple angles showing this very clear cut case of self defense, and despite the fact that no one died or received life-altering injuries, Alex was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison. His previous work and experience with exposing dangerous hate groups was inadmissible for his defense. The prosecution picked apart his social media accounts and portrayed his actions as premeditated. Alex is currently appealing the sentence. A fundraiser has been launched by the International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund to ensure that his appeal case does not lack financial resources.

Join us this Monday at 6:30pm, at Iffy Books (319 N. 11th St. ). Snacks and letter-writing supplies will be provided. If you cannot make the event, please send Alex some love at:

Alex Contompasis
Elmira Correctional Facility
PO Box 500
Elmira, New York 14901

We’ll also be signing birthday cards for political prisoners with birthdays in February: Veronza Bowers (February 4th), Kamau Sadiki (February 19th), and Oso Blanco (February 25th).

In Contempt #25: Texas Hunger Strike Enters Third Week; Repression in Atlanta; Eric King Prepares for Release

  • February 2, 2023 1:38 am

from It’s Going Down

[This post only contains information relevant to Philadelphia and the surrounding area, to read the entire article follow the above link.]

Ongoing Cases

George Floyd Uprising defendant Urooj Rahman has now begun a 15-month sentence at Philadelphia Federal Detention Center, but is not listed on the BOP’s public list of inmates. There are reports that anyone wanting to contact her must pass a background check. Muslims for Just Futures and Urooj’s solidarity committee have put out an important statement discussing her case and the importance of collectively supporting defendants throughout the legal process. You can sign up to get involved in supporting Urooj here, send financial support through Venmo to @Shagufta-Rahman, and Philly-area abolitionists are encouraged to contact community@muslimsforjustfutures.org.

Abolitionist Media Projects and General Prison News

Dwayne “BIM” Staats of the Vaughn 17 has released a new book, Rebellious Hearts, giving a first-hand account of the Vaughn rebellion.

Mongoose Distro continues to publish new prisoner writings regularly, including anarchist prisoner Dan Baker on the killing of Tyre Nichols, a new issue of the Pennsylvania prisoner zine IB64, poetry by Texas prisoner Jesse Mocha Scroggins and reports from David Annarelli in the Virginia prison system.

Uprising Defendants

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. See Uprising Support for more info, and check out the Antirepression PDX site for updates from Portland cases. The status of pre-trial defendants changes frequently, but to the best of our knowledge they currently include:

David Elmakayes 77782-066
FCI McKean
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 8000
Bradford, PA 16701

Upcoming Birthdays

Luis Sierra (Abdul-Haqq El-Qadeer)

A former Vaughn 17 defendant. While the state has now dropped its attempts to criminalize Luis in relation to the uprising, Vaughn defendants continue to face retaliation. Luis is also a contributor to “Live from the Trenches,” the Vaughn 17 zine.

Delaware appears not to have an inmate email system.

Birthday: February 19

Address:

Luis Sierra
James T. Vaughn Correctional Center
1181 Paddock Rd
Smyrna, DE 19977

 

If A Tree Falls: Screening and Discussion

  • February 2, 2023 1:07 am

from Making Worlds Books

IF A TREE FALLS is a documentary looking at the Earth Liberation Front, the radical environmental group that the FBI calls America’s ‘number one domestic terrorist threat.’ The documentary tells the story of Daniel McGowan, an ELF member who faced life in prison for two multi-million dollar arsons against Oregon timber companies. The film examines larger questions about environmentalism, activism, and terrorism.

The police killing of Manuel Teranat / Tortuguita and repression of forest defenders in Atlanta / Cop City this month adds dire weight to our ability to understand ecological defense struggles on their own terms, to understand the elements of repression and state power that seek to discredit, disrupt, and disempower ecodefense movements and separate them from wider bases of popular support. In the process, state violence intensifies and the need for unified support and solidarity is crucial.

This event is fundraising effort in support of ATL Solidarity Fund to help support frontliners in this moment.

Advance registration suggested (free and by donation) to help us host public events safely in a time of ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and other public health stresses on our communities. Click here to register.

  • Thursday, February 9, 2023
  • 5:00 PM 7:00 PM
  • Making Worlds Bookstore & Social Center 210 South 45th Street Philadelphia, PA, 19104 United States (map)