Submission
Early morning yesterday, a small group of intersectional anarchists repurposed surplus materials from the now-defunct university encampment. Set up in the park was smooth and several tents were pitched to establish a presence. As an autonomous action, all of the gear onsite was explictly available for anyone who would care to put them to use. Talking with street-based neighbors it was quick to come to consensus that people wanted to share food, water, cigarettes, commiserate, and rise above the horrors of living under settler-colonialism.
As the sunrise welcomed in the day, more neighbors would greet each other and invite one another to share, some would leave and come back with coffee, bring chairs, and supply coolers with the trust that these items would help sustain an accessible communtiy hub in the park. The banners spoke for themselves: Land Back, Free Palestine, Free the Congo, Resistance is Justified. Signage addressed the elephant in the room while folks on the ground could speak/act freely and not be caught up in chanting or marshaling to cultivate a protest environment, which allowed for community engagement to take center stage.
This proved most interesting when one neighbor passing by pointed out a banner and stated “I’m not down with that”, then was promptly welcomed to engage conflictually. One anarchist invited him over for coffee and a smoke, and It wasn’t long before it became apparent this person wasn’t critiquing the international support, but rather the “trending-political-issue” phenomena that this country subjects its people to every election cycle. He spoke to the horrors – the devastation of the meadows, the chronic displacement in Kensington, and murdered children here in so-called Philadelphia.
The solidarity lines between the overt genocide abroad and the covert genocide at home became clearer amongst the group. With gratitude and a better understanding of each other, the passer-by left to a different section of the park and the autonomous zone carried on with distributing free goods. When anarchists were inevitably confronted by a pig who drove onto the lawn, this same conflictual neighbor came back to this intersectional group to stand against the intimidation and together, as a community, they turned the pig away. By engaging with each other through conflicts, we are ALL empowered and live WE KEEP US SAFE in real time.
In the afternoon, more people would come and go, some anonymously and others more plainly to be recognized by longtime neighbors & loved ones. Building familiarity proved valuable in practicing trust, with housed neighbors eager to know what resources were needed, offering use of their bathrooms to ANYONE who needed relief, and many were quick to make note of hostile zionists in the neighborhood known to harass.
The make-up of the pop-up distro in the park would change depending on who was able to stick around. Some folks more used to hierarchal organization found it difficult to self-start tasks or ask for direction from people they considered unaffiliated, whereas more horizontal-based practitioners would collaborate on supply runs and sign making, all while outreach with neighbors continued through lunchtime.
Houseless folks who wanted them got tents, hungry people got food, and even some student encampment folks found it reinvigorating to be in an occupation-style protest that materially benefited the community it was taking place in.
By the early evening, the cops escalated as the park’s belligerently gentrified beer garden installation began to open – a blight in the neighborhood that has been spoken on as a true disruption each season it has been erected. The juxtaposition of an autonomous and free exchange of resources next to a gated off colonizer project was noted as a bitter irony amongst the group throughout the night.
No laws were broken by this impromptu, picnic-style meet up apart from a technical park code violation that forbids the use of tents without a permit, which is to be handled by the department of parks and rec and NOT the PPD. Folks participating in the distro stayed together while friendly faces filmed the police from other sections of the park. A park ranger with several dozen pigs as enforcers confront folks willing to talk to them about the scene, and after back and forth dispute tents were deconstructed so that the resource exchange could continue without escalating interference from the state.
People continued coming and going, some held it down all day while others came in waves & shifts. Folks on the ground discussed how warped AmeriKKKa’s priorities are when nearly a trillion dollars (yes actually) are funneled towards proxy wars and people are literally in the park sharing what they could to sustain one another. Using each other’s experiences with oppression to identify their chains, this intersectional group of neighbors asked themselves what could be achieved in the park with the supplies and knowledge available to them.
An older neighbor and communist remarked that the people in the neighborhood are sick and tired, some nearly so much they can’t fight like they used to, some too scared to talk to their neighbors because fascism looms heavy. Another person noted how that feeling is what keeps them curious, reminds them to be sensitive whenever possible, and that we’re kept humble in our efforts by reminding each other of the stakes.
But that night in the park, those gathered spoke to a future where a person could feel empowered by the presence of another, where one could feel safe to walk home alone at night, and when one person is threatened for sleeping outside ALL their neighbors can stand with them and PROTECT them. Everyone who came to the park that day showed courage by taking the chance to know each other better despite the horrors of the world.
Even though the folks who stayed overnight were forced to clear out by the morning, a final act of solidarity with some recently-decamped university protestors & neighbors ensured that no essential distro materials were seized by the pigs and can be distro’d again! And again! And again! Nothing the state can do will ever undo the steps taken towards liberation over the past day or ever. We are, each one of us, immensely powerful.
What was learned? People need things, people are eager to give things, and people need people. Approaching resources from an abundance mentality keeps us nourished in all ways. 24+ hours of using the park to share with each other came from fostering conversations about what we needed in light of what we saw before us: the death of empire in its final throes to try and keep us too afraid of one another to realize the struggle is intersectional. Approaching public spaces with intention, making genocide un-ignorable in the most mundane parts of everyday life is essential.
People in the park out against genocide offering resources and engaging in conversation with their neighbors can be regular. Horizontal decision making is a daily practice, and neighbors understood there was no “org” because they know anarchists live here. What demands could have been made? Distro-ing will continue so long as there is a need. When will there no longer be a need? When we are all free. We are all ungovernable. May we all move a few steps closer today. Let’s hope to cross paths in the park again!
Be it with a crowbar, a tent, or a challenge + and open heart…we must liberate each other.
FTP, Palestine is almost free
Sincerely, your neighbor says
