This banner was put up today after the Women’s march!
The order of police protection was a threat to trans folk and women of color.
Paying the state for your resistance march is not RESISTANCE in any shape or form, just mindless liberals pretending that they’re actually making a difference. The use of direct action is absolutely necessary for resistance.
Your kitty ears and signs are useless.
Go smash a bank window and kick a nazi in the nuts, ladies.
We’ve all heard the story before. People still tell it from the moldering dankness of their mom’s basement. It goes like this: George Soros contacts The Anarchist Antifa Supersoldiers and hands over bulging bags thick with gold in exchange for doing his bidding. Interesting story, right? Well, turns out plenty of shitholes on the internet tell it nearly every week. Since we can’t seem to convince anyone that we’re broke a a joke, and since everyone is calling everyone else a Russian spy, we thought it appropriate to celebrate our current predicament by weaving it all together in a simple and clear narrative. Contrary to popular reports, the international anarchist movement is beholden to neither George Soros or Vladimir Putin. All flags look the same to us. Every country is our homeland.
While the techno-overlords continued to blast the San Francisco Bay Area with their continuously stoked housing crisis, several individuals found it wise to begin burning down luxury housing developments in the city of Oakland. These fires began in 2016 and continued into 2017, each of them completely destroying their targets and costing ten of millions of dollars. The latest was in July when a luxury apartment block caught fire in the heart of Downtown Oakland. These arsons have been wisely left unclaimed by their authors. With the housing and homeless crisis plainly visible for all to see, the sight of burning luxury apartments is a simple message difficult to misinterpret.
Across the continent in Philadelphia, the local anarchist movement has grown quite strong in the past years and become popular for organizing and marching against Trump. Since the fall of 2012, local anarchists have printed their paper Anathema and chronicled events in their city and beyond. With housing costs rising and homelessness increasing, some individuals found it wise to sneak into some luxury developments and torch them to the ground. This arson took place in the Point Breeze neighborhood in 2017 and garnered wide attention in the local media. In another act of rebellion, a group of fifty people rampaged through a series of new developments and trashed everything that reeked of luxury. These two events happened within weeks of each other and sent a clear message against this new luxury development most liberals view as normal. Because of the fluid and toxic news cycle of our current era, few people remember these important activities outside of Philadelphia.
from Mainstream Media
CAMDEN – Two Christopher Columbus statues in Camden County were among several targeted in a statewide vandalism spree, officials say.
Vandals daubed paint on monuments to the Italian explorer in Cooper River Park, Pennsauken, and Farnham Park in Camden, said Dan Keashen, spokesman for the Camden County Police Department.
“My understanding is that this was a statewide event,” he said.
The vandalism was discovered Monday, and crews cleaned the Camden County statues Tuesday morning.
Statues also were struck in Atlantic and Bergen counties, said Dominick Burzichelli, president of New Jersey Order Sons of Italy in America.In Bergen County, red paint was smeared on a pair of Christopher Columbus statues in two parks in the city of Garfield on Sunday, authorities said. from Mainstream Media
A Christopher Columbus statue in Trenton’s Chambersburg neighborhood has become at least the fourth of the explorer’s likeness to be vandalized in New Jersey this week.
Lawmakers, officials and residents discussed the colonizer’s place in American history on Columbus Day in October.
Many lumped Columbus and his statues in with other historical figures that were being defaced across the country because of their ties to slavery and marginalization of certain racial groups.
A letter left at the statue in Trenton’s Columbus Park titled “F–k your new world” explains that the writers feel communities can be hurt by “progress that is quickly swallowing neighborhoods across the country.”
The note also says the group will be acting on Columbus statues throughout the state. It was signed, “Lovingly, NJ Anti-Facists.”
On January 15, 2018, prisoners across the state of Florida will cease working and participating in the prison economy. The prisoners pledged to make this a non-violent lay-down strike. The demands of the inmates are simple:
1. Payment for their labor
2. A stop to canteen price gouging
3. The reinstatement of parole
The Philadelphia IWW supports the efforts of the prisoners and asks for all fellow workers to stand in solidarity with the strikers. The prison system is predatory and racist; we commend our fellow workers behind bars for their courageous actions in the face of injustice.
Because of the new year and frigid weather this event is being held on Monday, Jan 22nd. Events will resume on first Mondays in February.
Our January event will highlight trans political prisoners in honor of J22: Trans Prisoner Day of Action and Solidarity. This annual event was initiated by Marius Mason, a trans prisoner in Texas, and is now being led by trans prisoners and their supporters from around the world. It is a chance for those on the outside to remember those behind bars, give real solidarity and support, and raise awareness about issues facing trans prisoners. It is a chance for those on the inside to have a voice and organize together.
Join us for dinner at LAVA on January 22nd at 6:30pm as we write to Marius Mason and Jay Chase! A representative from Marius’ support crew will be there to provide the most updated info on him and his case. We will also send birthday cards to prisoners with January birthdays: Fran Thompson (4th), Abdul Azeez (9th), Sundiata Acoli & Herman Bell (14th), Joe-Joe Bowen (15th) and Marius Mason (26th).
Philadelphia Black Rose will be holding a Street Medic Training event on the anniversary of last year’s inaugural protests. Come learn the essentials of stateless emergency medical attention!
Due to some logistical limitations this time around, this will be a shortened version of the street medic training we originally planned. Half of the event will focus on theory and current practice of street medicine. The other half will involve a discussion of what we view as the most essential care one is able to provide in an uncertain situation, assuming a minimal medical capacity.
[January 20 from 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM at Wooden Shoe Books and Records 704 South St]
That’s right, it’s time! Us North Philly Food Not Bombadiers wish to honor the one year anniversary of a day that shook this planet: January 20th of 2017, the day trump seized the mantle of control of this (lol) ‘democracy’. To oppose trump and his zombies, there were some brave and marvelous souls that took to the streets, galvanized into fierce action, and kicked off a wave of rebellion that has not ceased yet (we hope it never does!). Essentially they put their lives on the line, as hundreds are facing what amounts life sentences for their public defiance.
We want to offer up another all vegan brunch fundraiser as a means for people to get together, forge bonds and to hold space for this important day. Everything will be completely vegan and delicious. We will invite some other wonderful radical groups into the mix too, there will surely be some fantastic books and art.
Please make it out! Each brunch we’ve done has been better then the last. We will update menu and location as soon as confirmed!
[10AM to 3PM January 20 Location Cindergarden-Ask a skunk!]
On November 2nd, Philadelphia Councilwoman Cindy Bass introduced legislation to further regulate corner stores and restaurants — specifically to introduce new restrictions and reinforce existing restrictions on these stores. The bill has passed through City Council and has now been signed by Mayor Jim Kenney as of December 20th. The contents of the bill can be viewed on the city’s website, here.
News about this bill has been circulating around the internet. The articles are generally condemning the Councilwoman’s bill as an unfair imposition on business owner’s rights to operate as they please. The Conservative Tribune claims, in an article called “Big City Dem Wants Bulletproof Glass Banned for Being Racist“, that the bill is evidence that: “We now live in a world where almost anyone and everything can and will be labelled ‘racist.’ Some store owners in Philadelphia are the latest victims of the PC police.” But the liberal majority in the city government agrees that the bill would improve quality of life in the city and passed it unanimously. We would like to criticize both of these positions and provide our own view from the perspective of poor Philadelphia, and use this example to draw attention to larger problems in American politics, particularly how the interests of the poor and working class are never represented. A better source for this story is Philadelphia’s The Inquirer, who published a more balanced article called “Barrier windows in Philly beer delis: Symbols of safety or distrust?” that tries to present both arguments and provides good testimony from some stores owners, but as a piece of reporting it does not look at the wider situation.
Councilwoman Bass is a liberal and a Democratic Party politician, and a black woman from North Philadelphia. She told Fox29 News: “We want to make sure that there isn’t this sort of indignity, in my opinion, to serving food through a Plexiglas only in certain neighborhoods.” This is in reference to the statements of Yale sociology professor, Dr. Elijah Anderson, who describes the presence of bulletproof plexiglass as a “symbol of distrust”, a suggestion that the customers are not “…civil, honest people.”
Bass’s statement is strange. Why would the plexiglass barrier make us indignant? Is it because it shows that we live “…only in certain neighborhoods”? Well, those “certain neighborhoods” are poor neighborhoods. If you live in a poor neighborhood you know it, and your problems definitely have a lot more to do with affording your groceries than whether or not the cashier selling you them is behind glass and wire. What Dr. Anderson of Yale fails to recognize, or does not say clearly enough, is that if the glass and wire is ugly it’s ugly because it reminds us of our own desperation and the desperation we are surrounded by. If it were not a symbol of the reality of poverty and violence it would not be troublesome. The trendy coffee shops and restaurants of University City and the recently deceased neighborhood of Fishtown are often decorated like warehouses and factories, with exposed piping, steel, and gritty lighting to create an urban atmosphere — the people eating there are not reminded of the reality of hard labor and poverty because it is not a reality to them, it is an aesthetic choice. Dr. Anderson and Councilwoman Bass equate the presence of bulletproof plexiglass with an aesthetic choice meant only to impart a message and ignore the circumstances that created it. The most important factor, regardless of whether the plexiglass is necessary or not, is finding out why it is there in the first place.
Poverty is violent. Most of the danger comes from the lack of jobs, healthcare, and education, but those threats sometimes spill over into robberies and shootings. Bulletproof glass is a sad reality in poor neighborhoods, a reminder of the interaction between one person robbing a store because they’re struggling and another person trying to run a little store. And these people running the stores are treated as the primary opposition to Councilwoman Bass’s bill. Bass claims that “…the bill has been mischaracterized by the people who run those stores – people who are exploiting a loophole in state law and hurting the neediest neighborhoods in Philadelphia.” The stores she is referring to are corner stores in poor neighborhoods in Philadelphia. These are redlined neighborhoods (Philadelphia is such a good example of redlining that a map of our extensive racial segregation is used for the Wikipedia picture describing redlining). In short, these are neighborhoods where there are none or fewer of the Wawas and Acmes and stores of similar reputation as are available in places like the Far Northeast, Chestnut Hill, or Center City. That’s because opening them in Strawberry Mansion, East Germantown, Kensington, and similar neighborhoods is considered a bad investment due to the high poverty and the crime that comes with that poverty. The owners of Acme and Wawa can afford higher rent in wealthier neighborhoods, or can place their stores strategically on the edges of poor areas.
Right wing militias have been part of the US political landscape since at least the 1980s. The ideology that guides them, a combination of patriotism, capitalism, religious fervor, and white supremacy, has also been attributed to “lone wolf” attacks like the Oklahoma City bombing and the massacre in Waco, Texas (Kimmel and Ferber, 2000). There are more recent examples as well: In 2013, the town of Gilbertson, Pennsylvania was effectively seized by the police chief Mark Kessler, who also headed the Constitution Security Force[1]. In 2014, the armed standoff at the Bureau of Land Management by Cliven Bundy and his family put militias on the national stage again, as he was connected to the sovereign citizen movement and, by extension, the Oath Keepers Militia. Most recently, a standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge from January 2nd-February 11th, 2016 returned the Bundy family to the public eye (Ammon Bundy was present at the Oregon Standoff). These movements are based on a particular narrative about control of land, which contributes to associated beliefs about the intrusiveness of the federal government and movements toward state sovereignty. While only one of the above incidents was directly carried out by a militia, the sentiments that inform right-wing militia activity undergird all of the conflicts: white settlers using any means necessary to control territory. At the same time, organizations on the political left have renewed their efforts to engage with right wing militias and find a common cause against the state. This paper will examine these efforts, as well as theoretical analyses of the position of white settlers, in order to assess these organizing efforts.
Understanding these narratives is useful at this moment in U.S. politics. In the months leading up to and following the election of Donald Trump, numerous articles[2] were written attempting to understand the mentality of the so-called “white working class”-rural, low income white people in areas that are economically depressed and have been neglected by politicians and institutions. Writers attributed Trump’s success to several factors, but racism and economic depression consistently topped the list[3]. In many cases, “economic anxiety” arguments were used to refute or complicate the notion that white rural voters were motivated by Trump’s racist, xenophobic and misogynistic platform. While responses to Trump’s election ranged from sympathetic to vindictive, they all pointed to the failure of existing institutions to redress economic exploitation and vulnerability. Neither major political party has the will nor the capacity to provide basic economic support for these people.
The framing of Trump voters as uniquely racist shifts the responsibility for white supremacy from white progressives, who prefer to see themselves as “good” or “antiracist” white people, to people comfortable with the most vulgar display of a set of values that is for the most part shared by white people across the political spectrum. This is further complicated by even more deeply assured white communists, socialists, and anarchists, who frequently deride white liberals for evading their role in white supremacy while insisting that the violent racial resentment of a prototypical Trump supporter would be best addressed by a combination of radical economic redistribution and stringent social conditioning (by which I refer to the militant “no platform”, direct physical confrontation approach favored by antifascist organizations).
A program of radical wealth redistribution is a significant improvement over liberals’ approach to racism as an individual attitude problem to be repaired through endless discussion and recognition, without any effort to address systematic racism or violent capitalist exploitation. However, anarchist and communist responses often fall short of directly confronting the white relationship to land and wealth in the United States. These tendencies argue that working class white people have been conditioned by wealthy white people to fight with working class people of color to fight for the scraps of unequally distributed wealth. In its less sophisticated forms, this argument states that poor white people have been manipulated by their wealthy counterparts to “work against their own class interests”-wealth redistribution that would benefit working people of all races equally.
Communists and anarchists have identified this political moment as an opportunity to radicalize poor white people and engage them in anti-capitalist and anti-racist activism. One such group is Redneck Revolt, a nationwide group formed specifically to bring poor white people to the radical left. Some chapters also form armed self-defense groups under the banner of the “John Brown Gun Club”. The objectives of Redneck Revolt are multifaceted[4], but a key component is the effort to converse with and educate poor white people and to offer an alternative to white nationalist groups, who have also consciously incorporated anti-capitalist rhetoric in their platform[5]. While they are one of the most notable examples, Redneck Revolt is part of a broader radical fascination with the aesthetics and popular culture of poor white people.
This type of organizing leads to strange bedfellows, or at least attempted alliances that other groups on the left might not consider. Recently, Redneck Revolt has been encouraged by the testimony of Peter, a former member of the III% militia who wrote a powerful reflective essay about a car ride that forced him to rethink some of his deeply held racist and Islamophobic prejudices. While Peter stated on no uncertain terms that he would not compromise his former militia members, his essay signaled that it is possible to encourage anti-racist and anti-capitalist consciousness in people who have been considered longtime enemies of the radical left[6].
Harrisburg, PA – On January 3, Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued an Administrative Order halting all construction of the Mariner East 2 Pipeline. The natural gas liquids pipeline is being constructed by Sunoco Logistics, who in 2017 completed their corporate merger with Energy Transfer Partners. The pipeline begins at fracking fields in Scio, Ohio and crosses southern Pennsylvania to reach its terminus at refineries in Marcus Hook near Philadelphia, where the natural gas liquids will be exported by ship for use in the European plastics industry.
The decision by the DEP, which has historically sided overwhelmingly with oil and gas interests, comes after over 100 spills of drilling slurry have plagued construction along the pipeline route. Bentonite clay leaked from Mariner East 2 drill sites has damaged numerous streams and natural areas and tainted drinking water in private homes and public schools.
Horizontal directional drilling by Sunoco has also led to the “development of an expanding sinkhole that currently threatens at least two private homes and is within 100 feet of Amtrak’s Keystone Line”, according to PA State Senator Andy Dinniman.
State regulators cited a long series of “egregious and willful violations” committed by the pipeline operator while constructing Mariner East 2. The DEP website’s Compliance and Enforcement section for Mariner East 2 shows 33 Notices of Violation sent between May 9, 2017 and January 8, 2018 regarding drilling incidents in over 12 counties.
The order from the Pennsylvania DEP essentially freezes all construction along the pipeline route, with specific exceptions allowing anti-erosion measures at pipeline dig sites as well as maintenance of horizontal directional drill (HDD) equipment.
Last summer, Unicorn Riot visited Camp White Pine, a direct action encampment using tree-sits and other tactics to obstruct the pipeline route. After they were served with notice, Sunoco had seized a portion of their forest land under eminent domain, Ellen Gerhart and her daughter Elise decided to invite supporters to live on the easement and have erected several complex aerial blockades.
In summer 2017, we also traveled to Chester County, outside Philadelphia, where drilling by Sunoco contractors for Mariner East 2 had damaged local water tables, destroying and polluting local aquifers and private wells. We heard from affected residents, as well as members of neighborhood-based Safety Coalitions working to address safety concerns posed by Mariner East 2.
While driving through Chester County, we also discovered Sunoco was conducting horizontal directional drilling within feet of dozens of homes in an apartment complex, exposing residents to extreme drilling noise and toxic fumes from an open waste pit.
Open pit for storing Mariner East 2 drilling waste at Whiteland Apartments
While the legal shutdown of virtually all construction along the pipeline route has been hailed as a victory by many activists, others have also pointed out that the order does not stop the pipeline entirely, and merely points out issues Sunoco must address in order to proceed.
[In a court case that could eventually lead to Mumia’s freedom, Judge Leon Tucker has ordered the District Attorney’s office to present new testimony in reference to Ronald Castille. The hearing will take place Jan. 17.
Castille was a Philadelphia DA. Later as a PA Supreme Court judge, he refused to disqualify himself when Mumia’s case came before the court despite having been the DA during Mumia’s prior appeals. The US Supreme Court has ruled such conduct unconstitutional.
The people’s movement forced the courts to take Abu-Jamal off death row in 2011 but his freedom was not won. Despite his innocence he was re-sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
The people fought for and won hep C treatment for Mumia but he now suffers from pain and severe itching from a skin ailment. Life without parole is still a death sentence for thousands of prisoners, especially when decent health care is routinely denied for people behind bars.
Mum has been unjustly imprisoned for 36 years. He should be released now.
CONTACT THE DA’S OFFICE: TELL THEM TO RELEASE ALL MUMIA’S FILES TO THE PUBLIC: (215) 686-8000; justice@phila.gov]
Next on the White Power Chopping Block: Thomas “Q-Ball” Turner
The Atlantic City “Skinheads” associate was busted just mulling about the neighborhood in New Jersey with guns and drugs. Lots of drugs. And the cops found more in his storage space. Much more.
GALLOWAY, TWP., NJ – An associate of the Atlantic City ”Skinheads” (ACS) who was friends with another associate currently in prison for carjacking and killing a Black woman over a decade ago has been arrested on weapons and drug charges after police responded to calls about a suspicious man carrying a firearm.
According to a Dec. 30 statement on the Galloway Police Department Facebook page, when they found Thomas J. Turner, Jr., 42, on East White Horse Pike, he was wearing a black tactical vest and carrying a backpack, along with a .45 caliber Encom MP-45 assault pistol along with a 30-round magazine with 17 bullets. The statement also notes Turner also had 15 grams of methamphetamine, which is considered a quantity consistent with distribution, drug paraphernalia and other suspicious items. Upon obtaining a search warrant for a storage space leased to Turner, police found police located additional drugs, reportedly heroin, as well as a more weapons, ammunition and two additional extended magazines. Turner was charged with Possession of an Assault Firearm, Possession of an Assault Firearm While in the Course of Committing a CDS Offense, Unlawful Possession of an Extended Ammunition Magazine, Possession of Schedule I Drugs and Possession with Intent to Distribute CDS. He is currently being held at the Atlantic County Jail.
Turner, also known as “Q-Ball” is known as a member of the Atlantic City “Skinheads” one of the first neo-Nazi bonehead crews in the state, and at one time the largest and most violent. Court records indicate that Turner was interviewed in regards to the carjacking and murder of a Black woman, Cindy Cade as she went to buy tickets at a May’s Landing, NJ movie theater by Turner’s friend and fellow ACS associate Walter Dille, who is currently serving life for the crime.
No further information regarding Turner’s case is available.
Turns out Dec 30th was a bad day for the Atlantic City Boneheads all around. That evening, at least 4 Nazi Boneheads, including several ACS members, were confronted by Anti-Racists at a Murphy’s Law show in Philly.
ACS members have (unfortunately) been sporadically spotted at shows in Philly for years. Sometimes they are confrontational and other times they fly under the radar. Depending on the venue, bands and crowd that night, they will get bounced/confronted or ignored. One associate of ACS, Martin “Shlak” Schacteer (of Rape-Rock band Call the Paramedics and Eat the Turnbuckle) books shows around town as “Uselessdrunk Productions” and, predictably, welcomes ACS to attend.
Shlak (r) with Vincent De Felice of Atlantic City SkinheadsShlak with Ryan “Cody” Hoebel of ACS. People don’t forget, Martin.
Every so often, though, ACS will overstep and attend the wrong show.
While we would love to be able to claim some credit for what happened on the night of the 30th, none of us were involved so descriptions of what exactly happened should be taken with a grain of salt but word around town is that several boneheads including Vincent De Felice of Atlantic City Boneheads, KSS founding member Joseph Hoesch, ACS member “Whitey Sick” and at least one other Nazi were given the proper greeting by Anti-Racist punx and real skinheads. The confrontation escalated to violence. Allegedly 3 of the bones were put in the hospital, one with a broken arm, and “Whitey” was last seen fleeing, leaving his “brothers” behind.
“Whitey ‘Braveheart’ Sick”Pic from Whitey’s FB. That’s true… it COULD happen to you, Whitey
What we do know to be true, is that several of aforementioned Nazis were talking about attending the show on social media and had RSVP’d on Facebook as going.
One post in particular, which was later deleted from De Felice’s facebook, supports the story we heard.
In solidarity with our comrades in Philadelphia and in solidarity with all our comrades battling the State, we have started off 2018 with the same guerrilla tactics perfected throughout 2017.
We are no longer willing to wait for the some great spark to cause the Revolution, nor can we afford to wait as our mental health depreciates with each new bit of bad news about our dying planet and all these warring nations fighting over blood and oil. Instead, we will turn every little act into an act of rebellion and refuse to submit to the State any longer.
Tonight we borrowed from our comrades in Philly and went out to jam up some bank ATMs. One could not find a better representative of the capitalist machine we seek to dismantle than the very cog which keeps the whole thing afloat, for without banks the State would have no way of determining “value” and stacking debt onto the backs of the impoverished while enriching the lucky few ad nauseam.
We attempted first to lodge rectangles of non-corrugated cardboard into the slots on the ATMs, but found that the machines wouldn’t accept our counterfeits. In a split second decision, we ransacked the closest big box grocery store for all the Visa gift cards we could stuff into our pockets. We cut off about a third of these, so as to make them that much harder to fish out of the machines, and processed to gallivant across Portland jamming every machine we came across. In total we managed to wreck almost 20 ATMs, although we shall have to see how long it takes the banks to repair them. This tactic could and should be implemented all winter long, and could even likely be performed in broad daylight without catching so much as a second look. In truth, humans are so programmed not to notice things anymore that even the cops that passed us by periodically didn’t so much as slow down or look over while passing.
In summary, cardboard works if you really work it but gift cards are easy to steal (since they must be loaded by the clerk before using, anybody who noticed probably thought we were the dumbest shoplifter ever), they easily slip into the machine, and nobody questions a person walking up to an ATM with a card in hand. We felt like the action was a huge success and we will definitely be adding it to our playbook. While our actions will not make the State crumble tomorrow, they allow us a bit of sanity and self-confidence which has been stolen from us. They remind us that the State is not as all knowing or all powerful as it would like you to believe. Most importantly, these low risk actions help us form stronger bonds with each other for when the actions we must take are no longer low risk and the consequences may be dire.
