from Instagram
from Unicorn Riot
Philadelphia, PA — After a brutal stock market correction and new anti-trade tariff policies, more than 120,000 layoffs of federal workers, dozens of executive orders, and hundreds of immigrant arrests led by ICE, many Americans are reeling from political and financial upheaval caused by the Trump administration. Around 150 liberal groups, including unions, climate and advocacy groups like MoveOn, called for a wide set of #HandsOff rallies around the country on Saturday, April 5. The Philadelphia rally, one of several in the region, gathered at City Hall in Center City and marched down Market Street to the lawn near the National Constitution Center and Independence Hall for a series of speeches from politicians and people who’ve worked at institutions under threat like the Environmental Protection Agency and US Postal Service.
Supporters tallied turnout from at least 1200 rallies and estimated attendance at more than 3 million, or nearly 1% of the entire US population. (An interactive map with media from 1150 locations is available.) Many protests were in out-of-the-way, conservative-leaning locales like Bolivia, North Carolina, Nanuet, New York, and Tehachapi, California (all in counties that went 55% to 60% for Trump in November 2024).
While the crowds in many locations leaned towards an older demographic, it was a strikingly large mobilization and the largest one since Donald Trump was inaugurated in January; it’s the clearest indicator yet that the Baby Boomer generation hasn’t checked out of political activity in retirement, especially as the systems of the Social Security Administration threaten to unravel. The turnout at the Philly event was both older and more white than the city’s demographics.
Submission
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[PDF for printing]
Making this zine started for me as a vague desire to know how Assata Shakur escaped from prison. I had enjoyed reading her autobiography “Assata” and I was left wanting to know more. One chapter ends with her declaring that she was done with being locked up, and the next begins with her living in Cuba if I remember correctly. I mostly moved on, focusing on other things. More recently a friend mentioned that they had heard of a book about the Shakur family that went into the details of the liberation. The book in question was An Amerikan Family: The Shakurs And The Nation They Created by Santi Elijah Holley. I sought out the book and found a text that not only went into the details of Assata’s liberation but provided context about who all took part, the social movements and underground networks they were a part of and a whole set of histories that intrigued me.
I decided to only reprint the parts that explicitly deal with the liberation of Assata Shakur from prison and her transit to Havana, Cuba. The rest is worth reading in my opinion, as well as Assata’s own autobiography which gives context to Assata’s life path and freedom struggle, and Russel Maroon Shoatz’s I Am Maroon which also documents prison escapes, life on the run, and life underground from a Black liberation perspective. The idea that prisons are impenetrable, inescapable is demonstrably false and these histories are proof of that (as are the escapes that continue to take place today)! This bootleg reprint is only a snippet of a larger history of experimentation in collective and individual liberation that I feel Black anarchists and other revolutionaries could benefit from familiarizing ourselves with and learning from.
In the wake of the genocide taking place in Palestine at the hands of the zionist entity numerous calls have gone out for escalation and also — though less well circulated — for (re)building the underground in today’s movements for decolonization and liberation. Today’s undergrounds will look different from those of the 1970s and 1980s, yet there is still much we can learn from them. We are already seeing waves of political repression attempting to capture, pacify, eject, and domesticate rebels from the George Floyd revolts, the struggles to stop the construction of cop city in Atlanta, and the struggles in solidarity with Palestinians fighting for liberation. Unfortunately we are already seeing a new generation of political prisoners and exiles. Of course it is inevitable that some will be locked up as long as liberation struggles haven’t destroyed the cages. By learning from the struggles that came before us we can be better equipped to make the state’s work as hard as possible. Some of my goals for reprinting and circulating this account of Assata Shakur’s liberation from prison are to exercise our collective imagination of what is possible and contribute to dialogues about escalation, building undergrounds, and facing state repression.
Another goal of spreading this story is a fear that many stories of this kind, especially the illegal ones, will be lost. Either buried with the aging revolutionaries who made them happen, locked behind tight lips to ensure the safety and anonymity of the guilty, or neatly entombed in academic or historical literature that few will have the patience and position to read. To me these histories are not meant to be left in the dirt or hidden away in sleepy archives accessible with a student ID, they are part of our struggles today, weapons to be used to free ourselves, and by freeing ourselves free the dead who wrote these histories with their own sweat and blood. We can remember and tell these stories as part of our own race toward liberation and freedom now.
More selfishly, I am exciting to be adding a little something to a growing tendency of Black anarchist struggles. Anecdotally it seems there are more Black anarchists than before and that more approaches to Black liberation are imagining freedom through an anti-authoritarian lens. The former Black Panthers and Black Liberation Army soldiers who advocated anarchic visions of freedom and struggle, during and after the decline of the Black Panther Party have paved the way for Black radicals to understand anarchy as a vision of freedom we can hold as our own. Russel ‘Maroon’ Shoatz, Kuwasi Balagoon, Ashanti Alston, Lorenzo Komboa Ervin, and Martin Sostre are coming up more in the anarchist space, as well as the dialogues of Black revolutionaries. The last decade has seen a number of anarchically oriented Black liberation groups and projects that explore the synchronicity between Black freedom and anarchy. Salish Sea Black Autonomists, Afro-Futurist Abolitionists of the Americas, various zines, a handful of small gatherings, dialogues across geographies, increased interest in anarchists in Africa generally.
The text below is part of a longer book that goes into the history of the Shakur family. While I do not agree with the author’s position that the Shakurs aimed to improve amerika I have found the information useful nonetheless. I have added a few of my own notes to the text and added complete names in brackets to give context to readers who may not be familiar with the history of the Black Liberation Army, Assata Shakur, or other aspects of the struggles taking place at the time of Assata’s escape from prison. Again I encourage readers to dig deeper, to learn about the Black liberation struggles, guerrilla groups, and social movements that the people involved in Assata’s liberation were part of.
from O.R.C.A.
If you were bummed to miss a talk on police tactics, there’s another chance! Join us again for a brief lecture and a collective discussion about how police relate to and suppress protest movements. By looking at police tactics to street action and civil disorder, how can we better develop our own priorities and anticipate police response to movements for liberation?
Our aim will be to understand the logics behind how cops roll up on protests. Using authorities’ own playbooks as a starting point, we will build a top level picture of how states operate, and we will look at how that manifests to police tactics on the ground. Expect some discussion of state violence and police brutality.
from Philly ABC
While the demonstration at the University of Pittsburgh forms the context in which Peppy and his wife Krystal were charged, it is crucial to note that the FBI began stalking the couple well before April 18th, and that their charges intersect with national trends in state repression . In their affidavit for a search warrant, the FBI describe following the DiPippas a week before the demonstration. While searching the couple’s trash, federal agents found a pamphlet from the movement to Stop Copy City , which they described as a “zine… discussing anarchist ideology.” During their trial, the prosecution focused on Peppy’s “strongly held belief system that embraces anarchism” and “sense of community among anarchists.” The judge cited Peppy’s “sentiments supporting anarchism” in his decision to hold Peppy in pre-trial detention with no possibility of bail. This attempt to criminalize the ideas and beliefs of what the state calls “AGAAVE” (anti-government and anti-authority violent extremists) aligns closely with repression of the Stop Cop City movement, in which defendants were charged with racketeering simply for sympathizing with anarchism .
At their sentencing, Peppy and Krystal issued this joint statement :
We hold in our gravity a deep reverence for love beyond the limited words we have. We know the devoted embrace of solidarity – people leaning in to one another against involuntary servitude and for a world of mutual aid. If we are convicted, it is of love for each other, and for our community, to which all brave hearts beat devotion to the impossible task of liberation. We are grateful for those who care take, for without you, freedom would be even more distant.
If you are unable to join us at Wooden Shoe for this event, you can still write to Peppy:
Brian DiPippa #66590-510
FCI Elkton
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O Box 10
Lisbon, OH 44432
When I read your letters, my soul escapes this place to walk alongside you, to commune; and with a big inhale I share our smiles with others experiencing incarceration. Thank you for reaching through these windowless walls. Respect and solidarity to all the bravehearts!
– Peppy
from O.R.C.A.
from It’s Going Down
There’s a lot happening, so let’s dive right in!
Mumia Abu-Jamal was recently interviewed by Turkish outlet Evrensel.
Cara and Celeste, who are facing charges connected to an alleged mink liberation action, have a court date scheduled for April 21st in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, where the defense will present a motion arguing for their charges to be dismissed. Donations to their legal funds can be made via Philly ABC here.
The Final Straw Radio also recently broadcast an interview with one of the RICO defendants alongside one of the organizers of the upcoming Stop Cop City: Imaginary Crimes tour, which will be visiting over 60 cities.
Pennsylvania uprising defendant Khalif Miller has now completed his federal sentence and been moved to a state prison to serve a state sentence for violating parole. His new address is:
Khalif Miller
#QQ9287
Camp Hill
PO Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL 33733
See Uprising Support for more info, and check out the Antirepression PDX site for updates from Portland cases. You can also check With Whatever Weapons for regularly-updated zines listing current prisoners. 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
Khalif Miller #QQ9287
Camp Hill
PO Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL 33733
Mumia Abu-Jamal
Mumia is an award winning journalist and was one of the founders of the Black Panther Party chapter in Philadelphia, PA. He has struggled for justice and human rights for people of color since he was at least 14 years old; the age when he joined the Party. In December of 1982, Mumia, who moonlighted by driving a taxi, happened upon police who were beating his brother. During the melee, a police officer was shot and killed. Despite the fact that many people saw someone else shoot and then run away from the scene, Mumia, in what could only be called a kangaroo court, was convicted and sentenced to death. During the summer of 1995, a death warrant was signed by Governor Tom Ridge, which sparked one of the most effective organizing efforts in defense of a political prisoner ever. Since that time, Mumia has had his death sentence overturned, but still has a life sentence with no opportunity for parole.
Pennsylvania uses Connect Network/GTL, so you can contact him online by going to connectnetwork.com, selecting “Add a facility”, choosing “State: Pennsylvania, Facility: Pennsylvania Department of Corrections”, going into the “messaging” service, and then adding Mumia as a contact by searching his name or “AM8335.”
Birthday: April 24
Address:
Smart Communications/PA DOC
Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM8335
SCI Mahanoy
Post Office Box 33028
St Petersburg, Florida 33733
Janiis Mathis
Delaware uses Pigeonly for digital mail services.
Birthday: April 24
Address:
Janiis Mathis
SBI# 00492275
Delaware DOC – 1101
PO Box 96777
Las Vegas, NV 89193
Submission
Download PDF to print (front/back), cut in half, hand out: https://tinyurl.com/recuerdan
For distribution at protests, festivals, sporting events, waiting rooms, cookouts, libraries, dining halls, courtrooms, traffic jams, emergency rooms, corner stores, public transportation, sideshows, recreation yards, or anywhere else you may encounter others who’ve had enough.
(Blackened/improved from a previous document shared early 2025.)
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ FRONT & BACK TEXT BELOW \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
REMEMBER 2020, 1968, 1878, 1791 — WE CAN WIN
Thousands of years of kings, queens, emperors, presidents, & ministers demanding obedience. 500 years of crackers enslaving & colonizing this planet. 250 years of anglo/yankee domination.
Trump this, Musk that. Democrats, Republicans, Zionists, Confederates, Fascists, Conservatives, Liberals, Progressives. So many flavors of the same expired bullshit.
2020: Cops executed George Floyd. A police station was burnt down. For a brief moment, the world opened up.
1968: White power executed MLK. Black communities erupted into rebellion. For a brief moment, the world opened up.
1878: Indigenous peoples in the South Pacific rose up in arms against european colonizers attempting to exterminate their communities & hijack their homelands. For a moment, the world opened up.
1791: Enslaved Africans & their descendants began an uprising in the Caribbean, destroying property, profit, & slavery. For a long moment, the world opened up.
Whether a handful of friends or a massive crowd, we know that the footsoldiers of every regime can be defeated. The secret is to begin.
« In Memory Of Our Fallen; Let us turn their cities into funeral pyres.
In Memory Of Our Fighters; Let us honor your names with fire and gunpowder.
Peace By Piece
(A) »
NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!
¡QUEREMOS UN MUNDO DONDE QUEPAN MUCHOS MUNDOS!
Look for those pushing and help them push harder.
Move together. Be water.
They can control a march of 10,000 — they can’t control 10 marches of 1000.
De-arrest. Don’t let people get grabbed.
If they do, don’t let their cars or busses leave.
They only care about money, so causing monetary losses is your only vote.
On the inside, the demonstration is an organism of care and support.
On the outside, it is ferocious and uncontrollable.
Without their toys they are powerless.
No one is coming to save us.
Everything is at stake.
www.notrace.how
[PDF Here]
from Idavox
Augusta Mae DiRosato
All they told her was that she could not be in a certain part of the building at the concert. It became a call for race war. The videos that come with this article might be too sensitive for social media, but we have them here.
PHILADELPHIA, PA – It was to be the final performance for the Wanamaker Organ, a 110-year staple of the former flagship store of Wanamaker’s Department Stores in Center City, which closed in 1996 after 133 years and was taken over by Macy’s. On March 22, a free concert was held as that Macy’s was now closing after 19 years.
Unbeknownst to most attendees however, there was an incident that saw store workers berated with racial slurs by a woman with a history of associations with white supremacist circles and groups, along with a criminal record which includes threatening a game warden. She stated in a video that she was a white supremacist, said she had a gun, and threatened violence if those who aren’t white do not leave the country.
“So, as of today, I am free. I am a white nationalist. I am a white nationalist. I do not like anyone who isn’t white,” 31 year-old Augusta Mae DiRosato from Marcus Hook posted in a video to Twitter on Saturday, the day of the concert. “And that is the fault of people who do not know how to treat me with respect for the past four fucking years of my life. Calling me a Nazi, calling me all these fucking mean names because I wear an American flag, the flag of my country.”
She began a tirade about the store employees, referring to them with the N-Word and saying they had had her thrown out of the store during the concert. “And these n—— start shit with me purposely to get me kicked out and it worked,” she said. “So you know what I did? I walked up to each of their faces and I said, ‘N—–!’ You think they did anything? Of course not, because n—– never do anything when we call them a n—– their face and if they do, they lose the fight if their thirty fucking friends aren’t there to jump us. So I have a gun, so I can shoot you fucking n—— if you try that shit.”
DiRosato later posted a video of the incident on her YouTube channel and it shows her being approached by the store who told her she is not allowed in the part of the store she was in to watch the concert. She is heard saying, “This doesn’t belong to you. This doesn’t belong to you so go the freemasons and leave me alone,” possibly referring to the connections Wanamaker’s had to the freemasons, as founder John Wanamaker (who installed the organ in 1909), was a member of Friendship Lodge No. 400. She then said that she is being harassed because she is white and a patriot, threatened to call the police on the workers and then the video devolved into her calling them the N-Word before she walked down an escalator with the workers following her as she walked out the store. That prompted her to continue berating them with racial slurs. It isn’t clear if she was asked to leave or if she left of her own accord.
DiRosato has regularly retweeted Proud Boys and other fascist accounts on her page and prominent Proud Boys such as Enrique Tarrio and Zach Rehl follow her as she has supported those who were arrested for their roles in storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Ironicaly, she currently is in a war of words with neo-fascist Patriot Front because they will not accept women among their ranks.
Over the summer she created two videos; in one she does a Nazi salute, while in another she berates two Black men in a car, hurling racial slurs as she walks away. She supported the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., but after he ended that run she then began to support Trump. “I really want him to talk about how he is going to protect people’s pets from being eaten by Haitian illegal immigrants,” she said during a rally at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, before the debate there between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, repeating a debunked right-wing talking point that at the time.
In 2017 she was arrested for terroristic threats to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. The threats consisted of five calls placed to the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s northeast regional office located in Dallas, PA. In one of them she said, “Ignorant, egotistical humans think it’s OK to hunt animals,” before threatening to, “blow it [the building] the (expletive) up with everyone inside.” Court records indicate she pled guilty to one count of disorderly conduct, obscene language and two counts of harassment. Because of this conviction, she is not allowed to own a firearm in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
DiRosato has blocked antifascist accounts on Twitter, but a recent change allows anyone to view content even if they are blocked. Due to that change, those monitoring her account were aware of the March 22 videos. She has since deleted the videos from her accounts.
Macy’s corporate offices did not respond to requests for comment.
