from Twitter
Banner drop over I-95 this morning. The M4L hate summit begins tonight with a opening reception at @AmRevMuseum. Show up at 5pm to, uh, “welcome” them. “Philly Protects Trans Kids” “Bad Things Happen to Fascists in Philadelphia”
Philadelphia: The Anti-Parent Turn: A report back from the art march
Submission
Tonight a group of around 20 people took to the streets to spread propaganda against the joyless losers and haters known as Moms for Liberty*. The march moved through Olde City toward the Museum of the American Revolution, which was hosting the opening reception for the Moms (booo!). They were being bused in from the bedbug ridden Marriott two blocks away because they’re too scared to walk through the city of brotherly love. Accompanied by a sound system and walking behind a banner reading “Revolt Against Misery + Moms (A)” the march put up posters and stickers, gave out fliers, and wrote graffiti. People joined the march as it went toward Center City. After passing the museum the march picked up a tail of two of Philadelphia’s swinest. The anarchists showed great professionalism and restraint to this affront to our freedom to be lawless vandals. After a couple more blocks the march dispersed without incident.
We appreciate everyone who came out to the march, especially the person who carried the sound system and the vandal with the cool handstyle. It’s been a while since anarchists were in the street like this, it felt like we were getting our bearings and relearning to move together despite a heavy police presence. We thought it was great that people talked to passersby, blocked traffic, and were looking out for each other during the march. The intent behind the march was to mobilize against Moms for Liberty, and create space for a smidge of crime while remaining relatively accessible, and to end America. We accomplished two of these three goals. Anarchist mobilizations in Philly can often feel intimidating and stressful, we’d like to get better at opening space for people to feel good, dance, chant, and grow confident in what we’re able to do together. Anarchy can be an expression of cathartic rage through which we feel fleeting moments of joy. We know this can be harder to do when we’re on federal property, surrounded by cops, in Olde City. We would love to hear about how other people felt about the march.
Death to birth! 😏
No future for hateful moms!
Long live mob vandalism!
xo
Moms for Anarchy — An informal organization of Baedan subscribers
*Moms for Liberty is a far-right organization that wields exceptional cultural and financial power over American politics. Their mask off brand of white supremacist, queerphobic, and transphobic genocidal beliefs and policy proposals increasingly shape the realities of daily life in the US. Pennsylvania has the second most chapters after Florida. Fuck em frfr!
Moms For Liberty Philly Welcome
Submission
The Museum of the American Revolution has decided that they are collaborators in the coming trans genocide. They are willingly hosting the welcoming reception for the anti LGBTQIA hate group “Moms for Liberty”, who are dedicated to banning books and raiding school boards and passing anti-trans legislation acorss the contry. They are a major force in the current wave of anti LGBTQIA hate, that they hope will escalate to the extermination of all queer people. They want us dead.
I decided to give them a warm Philly welcome by redecorating the museum where they will have their opening reception. The area was scouted and then messages were left on their walls and several windows were smashed. Their welcome to Philly will be boarded windows and the rage of everyone they wish to destroy. Collaborators will be held accountable.
It was incredibly easy to just go out alone and do this! But you should find your people, and do what has to be done for our survival.
Nerd Alert
Submission
No safe space for fascists in Philly.
We got word of this graffiti in Germantown last week and took care of it the next day.
Done in constant honor of Tortuguita and everyone still fighting against cop city, extra special shout-out to Leo Cullinan for setting a good example for the rest of his buddies and dying, Rot In Piss you Nazi fuck!
Museum Hosting Moms For Liberty Attacked
Submission
In the context of the Moms for Liberty conference the Museum of the American Revolution was vandalized. It hosted a reception event for the conference, despite complaints from staff. I wanted to make sure that people knew the museum was attacked. Hats off to the anonymous vandals! I’d love to read your communique; I can’t read the graffiti from the pictures.
No Dinner For Fascists
Submission
Eastern US Fur Farm Survey Reveals Numerous Closures
from North American Animal Liberation Press Office
Recently, anonymous aboveground activists conducted research of east coast fur farms, with the purpose of determining operational status and the number of active fur farms in the eastern United States, primarily Pennsylvania and New York.
Of the 18 farms visited, only one farm was confirmed as an active mink farm, the Stahl mink farm in Sunbury PA (4130 SR 890). One fox farm was inconclusive, the Pacuchinski fox farm in upstate NY (2730 Lenox Road). All 16 others have shuttered. We found dilapidated and decayed sheds, and sheds that once confined mink were full of derelict machinery and various tools.
The number of operational U.S. mink farms is now under 100, down from over 400 in the 1990s and 274 just ten years ago. Estimates of active U.S. fox farms put the number between 25 and 50.
Last year, the Animal Liberation Front liberated over 15,000 mink from U.S. fur farms. In recent years, global pressure campaigns have seen nine designers go fur free. This is the grim state of the fur trade.
As the fur industry teeters on the brink of collapse, it’s up to all of us to do what it takes to ensure this industry ne
ver recuperates. Activist efforts and a diversity of tactics can destroy this industry that preys on native wildlife.
Look for the latest updates of closures and active fur farms at finalnail.com.
Gayer Together
from Instagram
Please join us at Vox Populi on 6/30 for a double feature of MAGGOTS AND MEN (Cary Cronenwett, 2009, 53min) and LOOKING FOR LANGSTON (Isaac Julien, 1989, 42min). The first movie with more than 100 trans actors, retelling the story of a famed anarchist uprising, and a fantastical non-biopic about the queer life and times of Langston Hughes. Magical queer revisionist films on their own, but they’re Gayer Together. Friday June 30, 7:30pm, open captions, $5-10 sliding scale, no one turned away. 💜
June 11 reportback
Submission
Announcing Unravel.noblogs.org
from Act For Freedom Now!
Unravel is a counter-information project with an insurrectional perspective that aims to connect acts of negation and attack in the so-called USA. Those in power want our acts to remain disparate and disconnected, the spark that drives each of us shielded from the other’s view. By weaving together the threads of action, this project hopes to draw throughlines in the struggles that anarchists engage in, in order to broaden and amplify shared projectualities.
Domination and authority cross us in a tangled and knotted web of ever more interconnected systems; unraveling this network at one point has the potential to create a cascade that throws everything into disarray, opening spaces for freedom. This website is explicitly anarchist, and accepts/reposts communiques, reportbacks, analysis, calls to action, events, and mass media articles about unclaimed acts of vandalism, sabotage, arson, or destruction.
How do we Build Liberatory Capacity?: Solidarity Economy Assembly #2
from Making Worlds Books
As we work to build a solidarity economy, where we truly take care of each other and have our collective well-being at the heart of our everyday, the summit can sometimes be a steep climb in a world currently created to keep us separate and in competition with one another. A question organizers must ask themselves, and each other, again and again is: how do we build capacity for this work while also knowing and respecting our own individual and communal capacities?In collaboration with PACA member co-ops: Obvious Agency and Making Worlds, PACA continues its solidarity economy assemblies on Thursday, June 29th, 2023, from 6:30-8pm.
This second assembly will be facilitated by Obvious Agency and it will be a communal discussion of how we can build, investigate, honor, and take care of our collective capacities.Together we will investigate what drains and robs our capacities (bullshit jobs and isolated realities, for starters), as well as how we take our time and energy back. We will discuss how we’ve been conditioned to show up to “work”, how we decondition from that which does not serve us and only moves us towards the problems of burnout or accumulating social capital instead of dollars, as well as how we reframe showing up to efforts which matter to us. We will discuss how do we actually create capacity for this work (*cough* – more people – *cough*). Also, what is the world we’re actually trying to forge so that our practices of self- and collective-care aren’t just maintenance to shove us back into the grind, but instead we have spaciousness and possibility to allow us to have elements of being with those we love, being in regenerative solitude, showing up to the work which matters to us, immersing ourselves in other activities which gives us joy and meaning, and so much more.
We hope you’ll join us for this critical conversation around our collective capacity.
The good folks of Obvious Agency are, “Makers of games and interactive performances.” They are a “Worker-owned cooperative.” And they are, “Developing Space Opera – a game engine for building community”. https://www.instagram.com/obviousagencycoop
Chester Avenue Dog Park Reopened
Submission
Park on 48th and Chester has been “reopened” for everyone to use and enjoy. Entrance can be found around 48th and Regent. Find the sign on the fence that says, “Reclaim the park!”
Neo-Luddite Reading Group
from Victor Gomes
“Enoch” made them, Enoch shall break them.”
Contact:
neoluddite@victorgom.es
@notnaughtknot
Discord: Email neoluddite@victorgom.es for an invite!
Beggining Tuesday, June 27th
You may have played around with chatGPT, or perhaps even used DALL-e to generate images from text. Though Large Language Models have been around since 2018, they’re currently dominanting the news thanks to the public release of these newer, even larger models. While impressive, like many technologies, they come at a cost and introduce new risks. However, there are specific issues related to the sheer scale of these models and they highlight the dangers of machines which allow for the consolidation of labor.
These issues are especially concerning given the lack of regulation in the tech industry generally, and the tendency of productivity-increasing technology to further concentrate power in the hands of the few. This reading group will explore these risks and engage with how they work in the hopes of better organizing to protect the rights of workers and individuals. The goal is to have a better understanding of the costs (data, carbon, human labor) and risks (misinformation, unpredictability, bias) of making these machines, as well as limitations in what they can learn about the world primarily through text. We will begin with “Resisting AI: An Anti-fascist Approach to Artificial Intelligence” by Dan McQuillan, with additional optional readings. If you’d like to learn more about me, you can visit victorgom.es for a bio.
Schedule
The only expectation is that you read the chapter(s) of the book that’s listed for that meeting. I tried keeping it around 30 pages on average. Even if you don’t read the assigned chapters, you’re still welcome to participate as long as you are mindful.
For each chapter, I’ve also noted some optional readings for context, so I’d suggest checking those out rather than reading ahead in the book! Optional readings are by no means required, but they may add to and deepen our conversation. They’re a mix of news articles, essays, and journal articles, so you can pick from type of text is most engaging to you. They pull from a range of disciplines and schools of thought, which I hope serves to highlight and survey how many different people conceptualize issues with AI, though it is by no means exhaustive. If you ever find yourself struggling, reach out! Either directly or over discord to the group.
I’d suggest you read this before anything else for some historical context: What the Luddites Really Fought Against by Richard Conniff. The Luddites will also comes up in Chapter 6.
- Meeting 1 (June 27th): Resisting AI
- Introduction
- 1. Operations of AI
- Deep Learning: A Critical Appraisal by Gary Marcus
- On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots, Can Language Models Be Too Big? by Emily Bender, Timnit Gebru, Angelina McMillan-Major, & Shmargaret Shmitchell
- Stop feeding the hype and start resisting by Iris van Rooij
- Meeting 2 (July 11th): Resisting AI
- 2. Collateral Damage
- Ethical and social risks of harm from Language Models by Laura Weidinger et al.
- OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 Per Hour by Billy Perigo
- Weizenbaum examines computers and society by Diana ben-Aaron
- 3. AI Violence
- Physiognomy’s New Clothes by Blaise Agüera y Arcas, Margaret Mitchell, & Alexander Todorov
- Will A.I. Become the New McKinsey? by Ted Chiang
- Large Datasets, A Pyrrhic Win for Computer Vision? by Vinay Uday Prabhu & Abeba Birhane
- Autism and the making of emotion AI: Disability as resource for surveillance capitalism by Jeff Nagy
- 2. Collateral Damage
- Meeting 3 (July 25th): Resisting AI
- 4. Necropolitics
- The Values Encoded in Machine Learning Research by Abeba Birhane et al.
- Machine Bias: Risk Assessments in Criminal Sentencing by Julia Angwin, Jeff Larson, Surya Mattu, & Lauren Kirchner
- How We Analyzed the COMPAS Recidivism Algorithm by Julia Angwin, Jeff Larson, Surya Mattu, & Lauren Kirchner
- Homeland Security Uses AI Tool to Analyze Social Media of U.S. Citizens and Refugees by Joseph Cox
- Algorithmic Colonization of Africa by Abeba Birhane
- 4. Necropolitics
- Meeting 4 (August 8th): Resisting AI
- 5. Post-Machine Learning
- Pygmalion Displacement, When Humanising AI Dehumanises Women by Lelia Erscoi, Annelies Kleinherenbrink, & Olivia Guest
- Everyone should decide how their digital data are used – not just tech companies by Jathan Sadowski, Salomé Viljoen, & Meredith Whittaker
- What is the point of fairness? Disability, AI, and the Complexity of Justice by Cynthia L. Bennet & Os Keyes
- Automating autism: Disability, discourse, and Artificial Intelligence by Os Keyes
- 6. People’s Council
- Robot Rights? Let’s Talk about Human Welfare Instead by Abeba Birhane & Jelle van Dijk
- Effective Altruism Is Pushing a Dangerous Brand of ‘AI Safety’ by Timnit Gebru
- Notes toward a Neo-Luddite Manifesto by Chellis Glendinning
- 5. Post-Machine Learning
- Meeting 5 (August 22nd): Resisting AI
- 7. Anti-Fascist AI
- Towards decolonising computational sciences by Abeba Birhane & Olivia Guest
- Algorithmic Injustices, Towards a Relational Ethics by Abeba Birhane & Fred Cummins
- On Logical Inference over Brains, Behaviour, and Artificial Neural Networks by Olivia Guest & Andrea Martin
- 7. Anti-Fascist AI
June discussion: Industrial society and its future
from Viscera
Join us on Sunday, June 25th from 1-3 for our next anarchist reading discussion! In light of Ted K’s passing, we’ll be reading “Industrial society and its future.”
Never forget that the human race with technology is just like an alcoholic with a barrel of wine.
The entire piece can be found here.
As usual, we’ll be meeting in Clark Park near the chess tables. This piece is a bit long, so you might want to get started early!
Love In The Time Of Fentanyl
from Instagram
As deaths in Vancouver, Canada, reach an all-time high, the Overdose Prevention Society—a renegade supervised drug consumption site that employs active and former drug users—opens its doors. This intimate documentary looks beyond the stigma of drug use to show how the organization’s staff and volunteers do whatever it takes to save lives while giving hope to a marginalized community.”Join us for our next screening on Sunday, June 18th, where we’ll be watching Love in the Time of Fentanyl. We’ll be at @makingworldsbooks on 210 S 45th St.Naloxone training at 6, movie at 7, followed by a discussion. Suggested donation $10-20, proceeds go to @the_sol_stories and @south.philly.punkswithlunch
