Report from New Year’s Eve Noise Demo

  • January 1, 2019 8:41 pm

Submission

A call was made for an anti-prison solidarity noise demo on NYE. When we arrived to the meetup there were scattered crews huddled in the rain, around 20 or 30 people in all. A short announcement was made explaining the route and dispersal for the march, supplies to share, and the legal number.
The march began by taking the street. There was a banner that read “Total Freedom Against All Authority”, drums, black flags, fireworks, leaflets, shakers, graffiti, and rowdy voices showing disdain for prison and police.
Once at the prison more fireworks were shot and we made a bunch of noise. Cops showed up surprisingly fast compared to other years. But the march left the prison as the plan was to leave once police presence was significant. We marched against traffic until we turned into an alley, where a dumpster was thrown to block the way. Everyone dispersed.

What we liked
We liked keeping this New Year’s Eve anti-prison tradition alive. We were happy with the turnout despite the weather. People came prepared with their own objectives and the tools to carry them out. We liked that the bloc stayed together and kept it tight once the cops arrived. We liked that we didn’t wait around to get fucked up by the police. We’re glad that the planning and promotion were kept offline. We thought overall that the demo went smooth. This demo opened our eyes to the potential of short flash mob type actions and left us wondering what something like this would look like with a different intensity.

What we didn’t like
Because of its shortness we regret not seeing the prisoners. That was our biggest disappointment because the intention behind the demo was to have an interaction with the prisoners. It’s difficult to navigate how long to stick around while maintaining an intensity that feels honest and defiant without making it easier for the cops to arrest us. Two more take aways were: we could have done more to make our banner less flimsy, and that we wonder if this particular demo is becoming predictable to the police. Lastly the unfortunate timing of a park ranger meant we couldn’t have more time for discussion before the march began.

We hope that other people at the march share their reports, thoughts, criticisms, and feelings and we can create an open dialogue around actions.

For the blackest December
No prisons
No borders
Fuck law and order
Happy New Year!

Ten Lessons from the Yellow Vests

  • December 26, 2018 5:49 pm

from It’s Going Down

The Radical Education Department presents 10 lessons from the Yellow Vest movement which has exploded out of France in the last month.

by Étienne Dolet

As has happened so often in the history of social movements and revolutions, actually existing history has once again outstripped the ready-made concepts and theories that we have for understanding it. The “yellow vests movement,” which was sparked earlier this fall but clearly has much deeper roots, has left many bewildered by the lack of party or union alignments on the part of the participants, the combination of extreme left and extreme right elements, its remarkable resilience and growth since November, and its ongoing creativity and dynamism in the face of massive state repression. The anonymous collective of political activists who are involved in the movement have struck out to conquer new territory, beyond the well-trodden paths of recent social movements, while also taking inspiration from or reawakening the deep history of revolutionary struggles. This has included the use of blockades and days of action instead of major public occupations, the development of the practices of “savage” protests and active strikes, the mobilization of bait-and-switch techniques to confuse the repressive state apparatus, the targeted use of anti-state and anti-property violence, and the call for lasting structural changes in modes of governance rather than a set of circumscribed demands.

The lessons that follow are the result of the collective work undertaken by RED – Radical Education Department to learn from the movement, try and contribute to its growth as an anti-capitalist insurgency, and ideally help it develop as a global movement against the pseudo-democracies that serve as increasingly thin cover for top-down class warfare.

I. Learn and Participate—Don’t Admonish and Preach

All too often, when a “new” social movement emerges, activists and intellectuals on the sidelines watch it with a suspicious eye as they compare it to their operative theory of social transformation or their personal checklist for what a movement is supposed to be. Once they have categorized and judged it according to their pre-established principles, they then begin to preach to those around them about how the movement “isn’t X enough,” “should do Y,” and, in general, would be better served to follow the blueprint established by the person judging from the sidelines.

There is an entire media industry developed around this blueprint model of peremptory assessment, which stretches from prominent pundits and intellectuals weighing in on current events based on their rote theories to activist groups deciding once and for all that they are simply for or against a particular movement based on how it does or does not conform to their theories or checklists. In most cases, neither of these groups takes the all-important leap from a politics in the third person to a politics in the first person by getting directly involved in order to make the movement into what they think it ought to be.

What if we began the other way around? What if our reaction to social movements was to study and learn from them, to the point of having our mechanical reflexes and tried-and-true ideas called into question? What if our first question was: How can I contribute to the parts of these movements that connect to my own politics, while also learning from them and engaging with them? What are the multiple tendencies at play, and where might they develop beyond the present moment? What if we began, in short, from a radically materialist point of view instead of the rampant idealism of the mightier-than-thou bourgeois intelligentsia and the self-importance of activists who “know how it’s done”?

II. Social Movements Are Not Singular

Social movements are, by their very nature, plural phenomena. There are numerous agents and forces at work, which far surpass any simple calculations, or reductions to blanket statements such as “this movement is X.” In short, there is never simply “a movement.” Instead, there are competing contingents, a struggle of forces and multiple fronts. While it can be useful, as a form of pragmatic shorthand, to refer for instance to “the yellow vests movement,” we need to begin by recognizing that this expression is a placeholder for an extremely complex series of movements.

In the case of the yellow vests, this is particularly important because they do not share a single political agenda or come from a common political party or union. This has been used to vilify the movement because there are right-wing, including extreme right-wing, elements involved. Purists denigrate anyone who would dare to participate when there is such a mishmash of political positions. However, this is one of the complicated aspects of popular working-class movements like this one. While there is clearly a common enemy—the neoliberal state and its persistent decimation of the lives of working-class people—there is not a shared agenda regarding the precise model for a new political order.

Instead of being used as a facile moral justification for withdrawing in horror before the remarkable stupidity of the masses or the vile presence of fascists who are presented as moral monsters rather than subjects of the system in place, this should instead be seen as a real challenge and opportunity to mobilize the radical educational tools of the extreme Left to help teach people about the real material sources of their oppression. The anti-populism of the intellectual and political purists will lead nowhere but to the moral grandstanding of those intent on ostentatiously parading their theoretical and ethical superiority to the ignorant masses, while actually demonstrating, above all, their own profound ignorance regarding how collective education works under capitalism’s ideological state apparatuses. Given the nature of the propagandist system within which we live, it should come as absolutely no surprise that there are so many people who correctly identify the source of their problems in the elite ruling class but have been duped into embracing faulty solutions.

III. Some Advantages to Days of Action, “Savage” Protests and Blockades over Occupations

Parting ways with the now well-established model of occupying public spaces, the yellow vests have conserved their energy and momentum over time by instead focusing on regularly programmed days of actions. Every Saturday since November 17th, they have organized national protests that have flooded the streets, often giving birth to “savage” marches (manifestations sauvages) that do not follow programmed itineraries but overwhelm the state through multiple and disparate direct actions. Simultaneously, there have been ongoing flash blockades at undisclosed times that choke or liberate particular sites of passage within the transportation industry. These have included blocking major highways and round-points, but the movement has also taken over or burned down tollbooths to allow drivers through without paying, thereby cutting off funds to the state.

While occupations can be important for building sites of solidarity, creating coalitional networks, developing collective education, and fostering public visibility for a particular cause, they can also drain resources, allow for easy targeting and manipulation, and stagnate over time. Programmed days of action mixed with intermittent blockades and flash mobs can both confuse the state and conserve resources for a long-term battle. Unlike the Nuit debout movement in spring 2016, which established and maintained public occupations like so many recent social movements, the yellow vests have undertaken an important shift in tactics, and it is arguable that this has already paid off in certain ways.

IV. Active Strikes Multiply Political Agency

Some of the workers on strike have not simply refused to go to their job, but they have used their time off to actively coordinate direct actions against the state. Instead of a traditional strike, which is often coordinated in France with a large public march, an active strike is one in which workers participate in blockades, flash mobs, and other direct actions in order to multiply their political agency and maximize their impact.

In a certain sense, active strikes bring together two forms of radical struggle into a powerful concoction that surpasses the power of each of them independently. The traditional workplace action of a strike is fused with the standard tactics of social movements, such as protests and direct actions, thereby connecting two types of struggle and maximizing the power of both.

V. Media Has Power

Since the media is largely controlled by the corporatocracy and—at least in France—the state, the “history” of the yellow vests movement is largely being written by its enemies. In one of the more flagrant cases, the TV channel France 3 doctored a photograph of one of the protests to erase “dégage” from a sign reading “Macron dégage! (Macron Get Out!).” This is, of course, only the tip of the iceberg, but it clearly demonstrates the media apparatus’ profound complicity with the state and their corporate backers.

This points, moreover, to the dire need to continue to develop networks of alternative media that provide a bottom-up account of radical social movements. Sites like Révolution Permanente, Wikipedia, and Mediapart are providing some of the more reliable coverage in French, along with Enough Is Enough, CrimethInc., and IGD in English. But these platforms could have greater visibility and support, and be part of a larger network of resources to help educate and agitate for revolutionary social transformation. They are an essential part of the anti-capitalist toolkit, and we need to continue to build autonomous but federated activist media platforms that can inform the public by developing the counter-narratives necessary for the coordination of mass revolutionary movements.

VI. Demand Restructuring, Not Single Issues

There has recently been an increasing consensus around a central issue on the part of the yellow vests, which has been described as the demand including all other demands: the RIC (référendum d’initiative citoyenne) or the Citizen Initiated Referendum. Aimed at giving real political power to the people, it would inscribe within the constitution the possibility of public referenda that could establish or abolish laws, and remove elected officials from office. Instead of simply relying on piecemeal concessions from the government, such as the dismal increase in the minimum wage promised by Macron, the RIC would allow the movement to restructure the governmental power dynamic and—at least in principle—accomplish all of its popular demands over time.

There is the concern, of course, that such a demand, if the government were to concede—which seems extremely unlikely unless it secures ample protections against the voice of the people—would help shore up a reformist agenda within the confines of capitalist pseudo-democracy. While this threat is an important one, the RIC could also potentially help build confidence in people power, begin to shift the structural power dynamic, and eventually be a step toward a more revolutionary transformation.

VII. Build Power between Movements

The mass media narrative regarding social movements is rooted in the logic of “divide and conquer.” It separates them from their deep historical roots and cuts them off from their expansive geographic connections. The yellow vests movement is, however, only the latest act in an ongoing civil war between the elite ruling classes and the oppressed masses. It is a continuation of the movement referred to as Nuit debout and the massive uprisings and occupations on the 50th anniversary of May 68. While there are, of course, certain differences between each of these moments and their precise conjunctures, they are all largely responding to capitalism’s unrelenting war on workers.

This points to the crucial importance of building power between “movements” and developing organizations and cross-political alliances that are ready and able to step up and fill the void when things go down. Although the mass media tends to focus on the immediate “success” or “failure” of a circumscribed social movement, which it describes in the singular, we would be better served to recognize that whatever happens at a precise moment in time is rooted in a deep history of organizing. Everything that is done “between movements,” including the development of political organizations, movement infrastructure, revolutionary coalitions, and media platforms, is essential to what will happen when things kick off. It is this behind-the-scenes, long-term work that has the potential to have the most significant consequences in the long run.

VIII. Escalation through Political Imagination

Political imagination can play an important role in moving movements forward, and we should never be held back by what has been done or what seems possible. This has obviously been one of the key lessons from the yellow vests.

At this point in the conflict, we should ask: How could we imagine increasing the pressure put on the neoliberal state? What about seizing important sites of power, ranging from the Sorbonne to the National Assembly, and transforming them into popular assemblies for public displays of power, and then relinquishing them in the middle of the night to seize others and outstrip the resources of the riot police? Why not re-enact key moments of the French Revolution, for instance, by taking over the Jeu de Paume museum and re-performing the Tennis Court Oath (Serment du Jeu de Paume) and declaring the end of the neoliberal state? Why not take control of one or several of the major TV channels and announce the death of the Macron regime? Isn’t it time to organize councils and declare autonomous communes across France? Given that the state has recently decided on new “emergency measures,” it clearly feels that the people are closing in and that things like this could happen.

The internationalization of the movement is another key form of potential escalation, and it has already begun. What acts of solidarity and intensification might we be able to participate in that could help the movement grow and expand its attack on the foundations of capitalism?

IX. The State Will Stop at Nothing

As we know from history, the state will stop at absolutely nothing to maintain its power and secure the interests of the ruling class. It has unleashed an inordinate amount of violence on the citizenry, which it portrays in the media as justified, of course, and this will likely only intensify over time. This has included forming a black bloc of undercover cops to commit acts of violence that could then be blamed on the protestors. We can learn from these types of tactics—if we didn’t know it already—that our enemies have no moral compass and will indiscriminately harm or kill anyone in their way. We should never underestimate their ruthlessness.

X. The State Will Work the Calendar, but So Can We!

The state is very well versed in delay tactics and knows how to work the calendar. In the case of Nuit debout and the May 68 anniversary protests, it mixed together a powerful cocktail of brutal repression, stalling techniques, and cat-and-mouse games with an eye to the approaching summer vacations, when many of the protestors would be free from work or studies and—it was presumed—the occupations would dwindle. In the case of the Occupy movement in the United States, the approaching winter was fundamental to the timing of state repression and illegal evictions. In France right now, impeding vacations are combined with an approaching winter.

Will this, along with a few minor concessions, be sufficient to quell the most recent uprisings and usher in a peaceful new year for the corporate ruling class? Or will the common concerns of working-class people find new tactics and rejuvenate old ones in order to shift what some now consider to be the common course of history, according to which uprisings lead to peak moments and then dissipate? Could the tactic of targeted days of struggle by generalized to time flare ups in the coming weeks or months that will take the government to its knees, perhaps by reworking the calendar to the advantage of the activists, thereby surprising the state once again? Can movements abroad take up these tactics in a meaningful way and connect to the yellow vests movement in a global network of intermittent active strikes, blockades, and savage protests, thereby internationalizing them like the Occupy movement but with a new and evolving set of tactics? For those of us living outside of France, how can we connect to the movement and develop its momentum into an international force to be reckoned with?

No one can tell for sure, of course, where things are headed, and this is one more reason to learn from what is going on and struggle to find ways of contributing to the intensification of a global war against capitalism. Nothing is at stake but a world full of workers and a planet teetering on the edge.

Report from End of the Year Critical Mass Ride on December 14.

  • December 16, 2018 5:38 pm

Submission

I want to go over how the ride went and open a dialogue on the possibilities of bike demonstrations. Even though the demonstration was publicly called for, the location was not immediately posted online, police did not come to the starting location. The starting time of ride at 5PM was an excellent choice because the bikes could easily move through rush hour traffic and avoided a police tail for the entire ride. Police arrived at the end when people were gathered in the street blocking traffic for around 45 minutes. Some of the riders carried black and red flags, flares, or music. The colorful, loud, crowd drew attention in a way that wasn’t seen as threatening by most people on the street, which allowed for paint and flare throwing to take place in a setting without a hostile crowd. The ride went through multiple neighborhoods, disrupting traffic without sacrificing mobility. Chants against capital, and in memory of Pablo, an anarchist killed by a car while making food deliveries were shouted during the ride. During the ride I attempted to thrown paint balls at two symbols of capital. One against a Bank of America failed, the other was against a new luxury housing building. The former failed because I tried to thrown the paint ball from a moving bicycle, while the latter succeeded, that time I stopped and then threw. Throwing accurately from a moving bicycle is a lot harder than stopping for a moment and throwing. I don’t want to make the ride seem more confrontational than it was, most people in attendance were focused on making noise, slowing traffic, and bringing the memory of people killed by cars to the street.

Demonstrations on bikes seem underused among Philly anarchists and have potential for festive and offensive uses. An advantage of the bicycle demonstration is speed, it’s likely that police will not catch up with a demonstration moving through congested traffic faster than a car can. This can allow for offensive actions to be carried out across a large area without as much risk as a demonstration that marches. Using bikes brings up questions that aren’t addressing when marching on foot. The practice of anonymity is complicated when bicycles enter the picture, not everyone has extra anonymous bikes ready to use and potentially abandon. How can a bike be made nondescript?

Carrying the memory of the dead as a weapon
Furthering anarchist dialogue and action

Anathema Volume 4 Issue 11

  • December 11, 2018 10:34 pm

from Anathema

Volume 4 Issue 11 (PDF for reading 8.5 x 11)

Volume 4 Issue 11 (PDF for printing 11 x 17)

In this issue:

  • Cash Bail
  • Yellow Vests From Afar
  • Brosnan Security In Chico
  • Welcome To The Future
  • Revolutionary Letter #18
  • On Splitting
  • N17 Report
  • Black December
  • Phones & Security Culture

Philly Police Harass Jewish Cops: Lawsuit

  • December 6, 2018 8:19 pm

from Unicorn Riot

By Chris Schiano, Unicorn Riot December 6, 2018

Philadelphia, PA – A new federal lawsuit alleges that a culture of anti-Semitic and racist harassment has been allowed to thrive at the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD).

Court filings submitted on behalf of two Jewish officers claim that the police department and the City of Philadelphia tolerate supervisors who have “created a racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-Jewish environment at their employment at the PPD.” Unknown PPD officers are also believed to be behind graffiti of Nazi symbols and slogans found on a Jewish cop’s locker and inscribed on his patrol car, incidents the lawsuit asserts were never looked into properly.

The primary complaint in the lawsuit was filed on November 19, 2018 on behalf of Stacey Gonzalez and Pavel Reznik, both Philadelphia Police officers and practicing Jews. The lawsuit primarily focuses on conduct by Corporal Karen Church of Philadelphia’s 9th district, who is “known for making racist remarks toward non-white and non-Christian officers” according to a sworn Internal Affairs statement by Officer Gonzalez.

The lawsuit also names the City of Philadelphia and the PPD as defendants, claiming that city administrators essentially signed off on anti-Semitic conduct inside PPD by failing to address the issue when officers brought it to their attention. 10 unknown officers, or John Does, are also named as defendants in the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, Corporal Karen Church commented to Officer Gonzales, “Why doesn’t the United States just take a missile and blow up Israel?” Another officer, Sergeant Oneeka Noble, is accused of making anti-Semitic remarks towards Gonzalez during preparations for a Memorial Day barbecue, reportedly telling her “Stacey, don’t bring in no motherfucking Kosher shit“.

Other incidents mentioned in the complaint were events reported by Pavel Reznik, a Russian Jewish police officer who is also party to the lawsuit.  Included along with the complaint are photographs being used as evidence exhibits in the case. The photos show Reznik’s police locker with ‘SS’ bolts scratched into it along with the German word ‘Totenkopf’.

Nazi graffiti on the locker of Jewish Philadelphia Police Officer Pavel Reznik

The locker graffiti, which seems to clearly target Reznik as a Jew, is a clear reference to Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. ‘SS’ stands for ‘Schutzstaffel’, the name of an elite Nazi German paramilitary unit created by Adolf Hitler. ‘Totenkopf’ is a German word for “skull” or the “death’s head” symbol which was used by SS units assigned to concentration camps. The ‘Totenkopf’ symbol is still popular today among neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

Another photo included as evidence in the lawsuit shows Reznik’s PPD patrol vehicle with a Star of David and the phrase ‘Hebrew Hammer’ inscribed in the grime that had built up on the side of the car.

A Star of David and the words “Hebrew Hammer” drawn in dust on Philadelphia Police Officer Pavel Reznik’s patrol car

According to the lawsuit, neither of the incidents of clearly anti-Semitic vandalism targeting Officer Reznik were properly investigated by the department.

Reznik wrote in his sworn statement that since he first joined the police academy in 2006, he had become aware that PPD “discriminates heavily against Jews” and claims that officers often made anti-Semitic comments around him such as “We’re just getting ‘Jewed out’.” One exchange is alleged to have taken place in which an officer made a comment about Jewish food and another officer responded, in a joking tone, “Don’t be racist,” to which Officer Marcus O’Shannesy reportedly replied “It’s not racism, it is anti-Semitism.” According to the lawsuit, another police officer named Dougherty also chimed in, saying “Jews can’t cook for shit, their Chanukah food sucks“.

The lawsuit alleges that Reznik faced further retaliation related to his religion. He was reportedly told “That’s some bullshit, no need for you to go home early… what are you, special?” when he asked to be able to attend a Jewish police officer’s honor guard event. He was also denied time-off requests while his wife was pregnant, and made to work shifts while other other officers lower in rank than himself were getting their time-off requests granted.

According to the suit, Reznik has stopped requesting time off to celebrate Jewish holidays because he assumes his requests will be denied and he will face retaliation.

Reznik said he was also subject to harassment based on his Russian nationality and other officers seeing him as an immigrant. He claims that while enrolled at the police academy, a superior told him “I must break you; we must destroy your country” in a mock Russian accent. Reznik also maintains that another officer frequently made derogatory comments about “all the benefits immigrants get, without doing any work“.

In addition to specific anti-Semitic remarks and acts of harassment, Corporal Karen Church and other PPD officials are accused of retaliating against Jewish officers by subjecting them to “unwarranted and disproportionate warnings and punishments … wherein discrimination was exhibited“. Punishments against Jewish cops complaining about anti-Semitism reportedly included being made to stay late while non-Jews were allowed to leave, and being prevented from taking time off for Jewish holidays. “There are always courtesies given to Christians to worship their holidays and leave early, but the rest of us are nailed to the directive when it comes to our holidays,” Gonzalez said in a sworn statement.

After Gonzalez complained about Corporal Church’s “bomb Israel” comment, Church retaliated by making her stay late while other officers were allowed to go home, the suit claims. Church is further alleged to have taken disciplinary action against Gonzalez for leaving work to prepare for Yom Kippur, while non-Jewish officers were said to be running similar holiday errands around the same time and were not disciplined. Church is also said to have refused to let Gonzalez work any half-days during the Jewish holiday, despite allowing Christian cops to take half-days during Christmas and Thanksgiving.

“…PPD supervisors … directed discriminatory and prejudicial acts towards Jewish police officers and would intimidate these police officers by insulting them, requiring them to perform additional work not asked of other officers, (mainly white Christian officers) and precluded them from taking adequate time off for religions holidays, gatherings, and other Jewish religions expressions.” – Gonzalez & Reznik’s complaint

According to Officer Stacey Gonzalez’s sworn statement to PPD internal affairs, she believes the racist and anti-Semitic conduct by Corporal Church was knowingly tolerated by police higher-ups, including former Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey:

“If you know this person has a history of making derogatory comments, you are protecting her if you don’t take any action against [her] … She even stated out of her mouth she was protected by someone on the second or third floor …” – Officer Stacey Gonzalez Internal Affairs interview

In her statement to PPD Internal Affairs, Officer Gonzalez also claimed that the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), which often negotiates on behalf of officers with grievances, discouraged her from speaking out about her allegations of anti-Jewish discrimination:

“…the FOP (Mike Trask and Roosevelt Poplar) said they weren’t going to have anything to do with it. They said to take it to your people … They stated they didn’t want anything to do with my complaints regarding the Christian holidays.” – Officer Stacey Gonzalez Internal Affairs interview

John McNesby of the Philly FOP, speaking to the Philadelphia Inquirer, claimed that the police union was not involved in, or aware of, the lawsuit about anti-Semitism in the department:

“This is the first I’m being made aware of this … To my knowledge they’ve never contacted [the union] or requested any assistance, which would be their first line of defense … but they took the path that they did, and it’s under litigation and I guess they’ll figure it out on that level.” – John McNesby, President, Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police

Corporal Karen Church, as well as several other PPD officers named in the new anti-Semitism lawsuit, have all been named in previous litigation over discrimination and workplace harassment in Philly’s police department.

Karen Church and Sergeant Robert Deblasis were both sued in 2011 by Robin Middleton, an African-American Philadelphia Police Officer and Christian Baptist, who said that she was harassed by Church and Deblasis on the basis of both her race and religion. Middleton’s lawsuit claimed that Church, with Deblasis’ knowledge and approval, prevented her from being able to attend religious services. Middleton also claimed that Deblasis routinely called her “the Blessed One” and would make the “sign of the cross” gestures towards her at work. Middleton also alleged that Deblasis and Church retaliated against her for her complaints about this harassment; when she became injured on the job, they refused to provide her with either an injury report or a hospital referral.

Deblasis had also been named in a previous lawsuit that claimed he harassed PPD officers for their involvement in interracial relationships. The new lawsuit contains a statement from Officer Gonzalez to PPD Internal Affairs in which Gonzales claims another officer overheard Deblasis using the phrase “the ‘N’ word” to refer to a black person.

This fresh scandal tying Philadelphia’s police to anti-Semitism and Nazi imagery comes just two years after an uproar involving an officer sporting a Nazi tattoo while on the job. During the 2016 Democratic National Convention, which was hosted in Philadelphia, pictures emerged of Officer Ian Hans Lichterman sporting a forearm tattoo with a Nazi German eagle design under the word “fatherland“.

McNesby & the Philly FOP defended the Nazi tattoo as “not a big deal” at the time, while the police department declined to discipline Lichterman, saying no policies had been violated. The department has since instituted a new tattoo policy and Lichterman was never fired, but ended up leaving PPD to take a new job as a federal police officer guarding the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

Former Ian Hans Lichterman sports a Nazi tattoo while assigned to protests outside the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Photo Source: Evan Parish Matthews/Facebook

Read the full text of the complaint in Officers Gonzalez & Reznik’s lawsuit (with Internal Affairs interview transcripts) below or click here to download the PDF.

Freindly Fire November Newsletter

  • December 1, 2018 12:21 pm

from Friendly Fire Collective

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You may have missed it, but we put out a newsletter a week ago! You can check it out here.

Topics included: Repentance for missions, God’s wrath, Comrade Alyssa, early Quakers – and more!

Anti-Gentrification Direct Actions Zine

  • November 16, 2018 6:54 pm

Submission

Anti-Gentrification Direct Actions
Philadelphia 2013-2018

Gentrification has been completely changing the city to cater to yuppies, while at the same time erasing the memory and culture of the poor and black and brown people that make up the majority of Philadelphia.

Some might say gentrification is an unstoppable force, a monster that is too far gone and is irreversible in its devastation. Although some of that may be true we don’t want people to forget the struggles of resistance to it or for those struggles to become invisible.

[web zine] [print zine]

On the Importance of the Smyrna 17 Case

  • November 13, 2018 4:24 pm

from It’s Going Down

Ma’Salaam Fariha reports from the trial of the continuing Vaughn (Smyrna) 17 case.

Welcome to James T. Vaughn State Prison, its physical address is on Paddock Road, for those unfamiliar with the word Paddock here is an introduction: as noun its used as a small field or enclosure where horses are kept or exercised, and as a verb it is used to keep or enclose a horse in paddock.

I been part of a small support group for the inmates from Washington D.C., we try to drive up there at least twice a week, we usually take notes, and think of creative ways to bring attention to the case. I am going to refrain from reporting too much about what was said and focus on the most important facts.

“For nearly 18 hours on Feb. 1, 2017, inmates seized the building, taking hostages and demanding better programming, education, and treatment from prison staff,” a Delaware news outlet recently reported, they continued by stating that Forty-five years ago, in what is now Building C at Vaughn, a group of young, black men was part of a similar occurrence with the acceptation that this time one CO was killed.

What every article, or report about this case failed to report is that there is no evidence tying the defendants to the murder of this CO, as a matter of fact, the governments star witness is a former co-defendant by the name of Royal Diamond Downs aka Master Splinter (former BGF member and Baltimore native. About 14 years ago he was transferred from Maryland to Delaware in a state agreement for snitching on people in Baltimore in another riot case, as a matter of fact one time throughout trial one radio communication piece that was played, as the negotiator was a witness called in by the government. Identified Downs’s voice clearly saying, “this is not a game, if you do not bring me the media and the governor your staff is going down.”

I had the honor to meet two of the former Smyrna 5, and had a conversation with another elder black Muslim brother, the topic was Delaware, specifically Wilmington, I mean why was this little city hauling around with a nickname such as “murder town USA.” According to the census bureau Wilmington Delaware Wilmington, DE has a population of 71,502 people, the is 56.6% Black, 27.6% White, and 12.2% Hispanic. 12.3% of the people in Wilmington, DE speak a non-English language. It is also the corporation capital, which means most corporations have either an address there or their headquarters, but they do NOT hire, and I quote “any of the young folks here, and people got to eat” (as stated by the elder). I am not sure where the so-called white population lives, because I have not seen them driving or walking through Wilmington, as communicated to me, they live in the outskirts, and most of them seem to have been relocated from somewhere by these corporations.

I want to take the attention back to the case of the Vaughn 17 aka Smyrna 17, being regularly present throughout the trial days, left me multiple times, shocked and confused, for example finding out that one lead investigator being present testifying for the government, being able to answer all questions without hesitation but not presenting answers to questions asked by defendants lawyer or by the defendants who go per SE.

At one point I remember very well, the investigator was asked if he was aware that the governments star witnesses Al Salafi and R. Diamond Dawns were indeed named as lead suspects by another detective and he responded that he was not even aware that this report existed.

Speaking of confusions, one of the inmates kite’s was brought up as so-called evidence, this kite as stated by the investigator was given to R.Diamond’s sister by Dawns himself, at one visit ( so far so good ), but how was this inmate able to transfer this kite to his sister as he claimed? Royal Diamond was at the time of alleged visit located in the SHU [Special Housing Unite – a ‘prison within a prison], inmates who are placed in the SHU, are not allowed to have visitation, and as asked about this visit and how this was possible, the investigator had no response.

So far the Government has not presented any DNA evidence, as claimed the scene was too tainted, and sending in for DNA would have corrupted the Investigation, so the government decided to start interviewing the inmates.

And “coincidentally” all of the governments star witnesses have the exact stories, now this might not be too much of a surprise for anyone who has never been in a chaotic and tense situation, but trust me, it is very unlikely that stories have such exact much.

The human body does not operated like that, for example if you would ask a group of people living under war, each one most likely would tell you a different scenario of their realities, and usually our minds go into protection mode rather than ” let me hang out here and watch someone allegedly getting murdered”.

Mass incarnation has been a problem in the US for a very long time, no only does it the highest incarceration rate in the world, the laws made by corporations aka lobby groups have made it easy for white supremacist lawmakers to put people of color behind bars. The vast majority of incarcerated people are held in facilities controlled by state and local governments, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. The war on drugs, drug laws and extreme sentencing requirements have produced profoundly unequal outcomes for people of color. Although rates of drug use and sales are similar across racial and ethnic lines, black and Latino people are far more likely to be criminalized than white people. Research by the U.S. Census Bureau; Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that prosecutors are twice as likely to pursue a mandatory minimum sentence for black people as for white people charged with the same offense.

Reading through Annual Report of the DOC in Delaware, you will come across their in-depth praise of how well they take care of their inmates, and the importance of mental health, but that does not seem to reflect the reality. Talking to various previous Inmates and reading through the letters that the Inmates put together after the alleged Smyrna uprising in James T. Vaughn the understaffed facility has been known to have abusive Correctional Officers, programs for mental health is limited to certain offenders only. In 2015, the prison became a subject of an ACLU lawsuit, due to the use of solitary confinement for mentally ill inmates. “Further lawsuits have been filed due to the Delaware State Correction’s decision to feed some inmates “baked slop,” while other states have discontinued the use of such meals”.

Take Action! One former inmate of James T. Vaughn, an inmate who was part of the uprising in 1974 stated to me, “We had so much more support back in the day.” If you are reading I need you to understand that this was not a situation of a “bunch of offenders just trying to start violent useless acts of interruptions,” this goes much deeper.

Something that was a sore eye for me immediately after entering the court room, on day one of the trial, was the Swedish flag along side other colonizer flags, placed behind the judge.

If you call yourself an activist, if you do prison/ inmate work I need you to get connected with the case, even if you just start writing letters to the inmates, do it! Importantly show up to court, we are a small group, granted we kick ass and have the power of a million, we need you to show up, because this case and the political statements made by the inmates is for you and me. Show up to court, especially if you are of privilege, take notes, and join us in small actions if you need ideas and you have questions please feel free to email me.

Let the state of Delaware know that we will not allow them to falsely charge these brothers ! Most importantly let the Inmates know that we are supporting them!

Fuck the Police, Fuck Mass Incarnation, Decolonize!

The Local Kids – Issue 2

  • November 13, 2018 4:23 pm

Submission

The Local Kids – Issue 2 – Autumn 2018

A compilation of texts, a contribution to a correspondence between those who desire anarchy and subversion.

It occurs, sometimes, this feeling of being in the right spot. Then someone says or does something that upsets the perceived balance of things, and the moment evaporates. For only a moment it was. And it begs the question; can belonging in a place be part of an anarchist life? Resisting to go with the flow of this society, contradicting hierarchical relationships, refusing to take part in cliches. Not exactly characteristics that go well with the seemingly effortless fitting in that this age of selfies advertises. Feeling estranged, sensing a distance with your surroundings is recurrent. And at times so chronic that leaving becomes a first, necessary step to being present again somewhere (else). But mostly one holds on to a place because besides all that repulses there is still more that attracts. Then the art is to not smother its contradictions in indifference or to smooth them out in illusions of unity, but to turn them in open confrontation based on the proposal for a different, liberated life. And maybe it is in these subversive relationships, that one can find a place.

PDFs on thelocalkids.noblogs.org

The Philadelphia Fash Rally – a Primer

  • November 11, 2018 6:47 pm

from Idavox

About two weeks ago a Philly.com article gave a little #pushback to the so-called “We the People” rally happening Nov. 17 in Philadelphia being organized by representatives of the milita movement and Proud Boys, but the treatment didn’t go far enough in uncovering the ugly realities of their organizers.  Here are some important parts of the organizers’ actual backgrounds, the rally supporters and extreme statements.
PHILADELPHIA, PA – When the so-called “We the People” rally takes place next Saturday, opposition will be coming from well beyond the city limits because many are concerned about the element that is coming to Independence Hall is one that has been connected to the string of right wing violence seen in the country over the past few weeks and months.

Zach Rehl, left wearing Marines shirt poses with Ellsworth George Lewis III of the Pennsylvania Alt-Knights.

Zach Rehl, an insurance agent for Winchester Financial Services in Philadelphia, is noted in the article as the person who runs the Sports Beer and Politics blog and Facebook page, which he is using to organize the rally. While he tells the Philadelphia Inquirer, one of the publications covered by Philly.com, that his rally is about supporting conservative causes, the issue has been what kind of conservative causes might he mean. The Southern Poverty Law Center has noted his work as that of a “local right-wing organizer” known for organizing rallies that has attracted alt-right figures who sport imagery such as Kekistan flags which while is supposed to be part of a running joke among neo-Fascists today used to promote not-so-funny political positions, perfectly mimics Nazi World War II battle flags. Rehl like others, have been observed and photographed in a “seemingly…cozy relationship” with the Philadelphia chapter of the Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights (FOAK), the self-styled “tactical defense arm” of the Proud Boys, according to the article.

The organizers’ networking demonstrate more problems. They recently worked with the Anti-Muslim ACT for America (ACT) which had nationwide “March Against Sharia” events in 2017, many of them attracting representatives of not only the Proud Boys but the White supremacist Identity Evropa. One person who spoke at a recent ACT event was Sonny Sullivan, a former Marine employed as a real estate agent for Keller-Williams in neighboring Bensalem, PA.

The organizers are seeking to connect with the “Three Percenters” paramilitary organization, along with others, for “security” and more. Planned participant and announced speaker statements are also unsurprising. Social media comments call for a “strong showing”; bringing knives, guns, and “whip[ping] some ass”; “NO MORE STANDING DOWN” (a military inactivity reference); and, that attendees “come… to crush.”

This mindset must not be dismissed since Holly Delcampo, another lead rally organizer has indicated that she is not above the irrational thinkings of this element. She is one who has attempted to absolve James Fields, the alleged driver of the car that drove into Heather Heyer at 2017’s “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA of her death by furthering the long dismissed idea that she died of a heart attack and similarly dismisses the political inclinations of Robert Gregory Bowers, the accused shooter at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on Oct. 27, because he was an “anti-Trumper.”

Ironically, the Pennsylvania-based militia groups that were actually in Charlottesville that day are warning others to stay away from this rally, saying on a Three Percenter-friendly podcast that having such a rally “in a leftist part of the state” is problematic. “I was one of the first people contacted by the event organizer when the rally was starting to be planned, and I told her at that time this is a bad idea,” Christian Yingling of the Latrobe, PA-based Pennsylvania Light Foot Militia Laurel Highlands Ghost Company, said on the Big Sarge program last week. “I said, ‘You guys have tried to do this before,’ I said, ‘You got run out of there.’ I said…’When you’re in a war, you don’t attack your enemy when he’s the strongest, you attack him where he is the weakest.’”

While some militia groups might be keeping their distance, neo-Nazis have been promoting the rally on their social networks. A post on the Neo-Nazi website Stormfront announces the event, with at least two persons expressing interest. In a post on the Facebook page for the rally, Delcampo posted that any violence, racism, or display of hate by any group or individual is prohibited and any group or party violating those conditions will be removed. The involvement of the Proud Boys alone had been enough for those opposing the rally to be cynical at such a declaration, but Bob Gaus of the neo-Nazi Keystone United, which itself has militia ties in the state, posted on the page asking for information. It is not known if Delcampo addressed him and his intentions specifically.

The “We the People” rally will be held Saturday at the Independence Mall Visitor’s Center.

Anathema Volume 4 Issue 10

  • November 11, 2018 12:41 am

from Anathema

Volume 4 Issue 10 (PDF for reading 8.5 x 11)

Volume 4 Issue 10 (PDF for printing 11 x 17)

In this issue:

  • Plague Of Western Chauvinism
  • Vaughn 17 Trials
  • Anti-Colonial October
  • What Forest Remains
  • What Is Attack?
  • What Went Down
  • Notice On Police Cars
  • Poem Coup Des Lumières
  • An Invitation To Desertion
  • World News
  • What Did You Do Instead Of Voting

Anarchism and its Aspirations

  • November 3, 2018 12:58 pm
from Incite Seminars

Anarchism and its Aspirations.pngIn the best spirit of anarchism, this seminar will strive to create a space of learning together, drawing from our shared understandings and experiences. It will explore anarchism as an ethical compass, which points simultaneously to an overarching critique of all forms of hierarchy and an expansive social vision of what it could mean to be free people in a free society. It will look at how anarchism can offer a way of thinking —a critical or dialectical theory—to find “cracks in the wall.” And from there, crucially, it will dig into anarchism as a living, breathing, prefigurative politics, utilizing illustrations from messy-beautiful experiments in the here and now that at once gesture toward a liberatory, loving world. At its heart, this seminar will revolve around what it means to aspire toward and practice an “everyday anarchism,” where notions such as self-organization and self-governance, mutual aid and solidarity, autonomy and collectivity, dignity and care, to name a few, become commonsensical second nature as well as the basis for new social relations and social organization.

Facilitator: Cindy Milstein. Cindy has long engaged in anarchistic organizing, contemporary social movements, and collective spaces, and is author of Anarchism and Its Aspirations, coauthor of Paths toward Utopia: Graphic Explorations of Everyday Anarchism, and editor of the anthology Taking Sides: Revolutionary Solidarity and the Poverty of Liberalism. Over the past couple years, they have focused on doing support for the J20 defendants and others facing state repression, co-organizing the Institute for Advanced Troublemaking’s Anarchist Summer School in Worcester, MA, and getting up to all sorts of “friendly anarchist” mischief as a collective member of Solidarity & Defense, Huron Valley in so-called Michigan. Cindy has also toured extensively this past year with their latest edited anthology, Rebellious Mourning: The Collective Work of Grief, speaking about the intimate connection between structural losses, grief, and resistance while holding space for similar stories, and is honored, called on, to do death doula and grief care. Cindy blogs at Outside the Circle.

Date: Saturday, November 10, 9am-1pm

Cost: Sliding scale: $80/$60/$40 (please scroll down to “Registration”). Please pay what you can afford. (We have expenses to cover.) If you would like to attend but cannot afford it right now, you may request to do so at no cost. Please email us at inciteseminars@mail.com with your request and a brief explanation of your need.

Reading: We will use the first two essays in Cindy’s Anarchism and its Aspirations as the basis for our discussion. Please purchase the book at Wooden Shoe Books, 704 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147, 215-413-0999.

(Click image below for podcast discussion with Cindy)

Cindy+Milstein+Rebellious+Mourning+Interview

October’s issue of Friendly Fire

  • October 11, 2018 1:32 pm

from Friendly Fire

friendly fire.png

Our October issue is out. We’re on time-ish.

O C T O B E R   F R I E N D L Y   F I R E 

SEVERAL INCORRECT THINGS IN THE NEWSLETTER, INCLUDING:
-we’ll continue to meeting at 7 PM (not 7 AM) on Tuesdays
-wrong link for the ordination’s event page! here ya go

Keystone United Exposed: Closing Thoughts

  • October 11, 2018 1:30 pm

from Philly Antifa

We hope that the info we’ve collected is helpful to comrades around Pennsylvania and elsewhere. We will be copying all the Keystone United Exposed articles to a stand-alone blog so, as time passes and new content is published here, that info remains easy to find.

Keystone United Exposed effectively identified the major players within KSS, as well as many of its foot soldiers and supporters. It provided a start in mapping out the distribution of KU/KSS around the state and region, so we can know where they are really strong and when they are swelling numbers with out-of-town support.

From l to r: Unknown, Joe Phy, Scott Costa, Jason Cunningham, Ian McCorts, Unknown, Bob Gaus, Bryan Vanagaitis, AJ Olsen and Nunzio Pellegrino of Keystone State Skinheads. All except unknowns were profiled as part of KU Exposed.
Keystone United members. From l to r: Steve Smith, Unknown, Bob Gaus, Joe Garvey, Bryan Vanagaitis, Cody Haulman, Ryan Wojtowicz, Scott Costa, Ian McCorts, Travis Cornell (rip lol), Chris Croumbley, Josh Martin and Shane Dilling. All but the one unknown were exposed during our series.

Having identified this many members and associates of KU/KSS will also lead to us identifying future associates more easily. We exposed many bones at their jobs and to people who live in their communities. However, one drawback of a project like this is such a flood of information can make it inevitable that people will begin to slip through the cracks. It’s possible that by focusing on a smaller number and really campaigning around, for example, getting Steve Smith fired from Gertrude Hawk’s Chocolates warehouse in Dunmore, we could have had a larger impact. The good news is there’s no reason why we can’t still do that.

While preparing these articles, we learned several things that had to be considered and reconciled with our subjects’ associations with a violent white supremacist gang; filled with men who glorify Hitler and Colonialism, who promise “Freedom Through Nationalism” but practice racial terror. Including the frequency that Keystone United members and associates had successfully either totally hidden or sanitized the group’s image for many people in their lives. This sort of “low-intensity,” year round outreach work (aka being fake friendly) is insidiously effective in minimizing the eventual impact once they are eventually exposed. “Oh no! Not Bob… He’s never said anything offensive to me! Well, a few jokes…” is what some will say. Nazis collect these “friends” as an insurance policy against future exposure.

KSS rallying along with their friends in the PA State Militia for anti-refugee “Overpasses Across America” protests From l to r: AJ Olsen, Joe Phy, Ryan Wojtowicz, Steve Smith, and Pat Rogers. All were profiled in KU exposed.
Keystone United members attending Trump rally in Harrisburg. Jimmy Thorson is turning back towards camera. Melissa and Bob Gaus are in center. All 3 were profiled in KU exposed.

Keystone United has largely maintained their course during the Trump era. Unlike Heimbach and the TWP or the NSM, KU/KSS did not overreach early or open up the gates to any potential murderer they could slap a white polo on. Keystone United abandoned publicly using language about “Racial Holy War” (RaHoWa) or overthrowing the “Zionist Occupied Government” of the U.S. long before Trump. What has changed, though, is that now KU/KSS has a new PR tactic at their disposal, the label of “Trump Supporter.” KU/KSS uses that aforementioned outreach work to reinforce the notions being pushed by right wing media that a) anti-fascists are indiscriminately describing as nazis and attacking all trump supporters or anyone who disagrees with far left politics and b) all actions against trump supporters are being done by Antifa crews or organizations. Both of these claims are patently false. But now, with many major media outlets pushing similar narratives, they have a more receptive audience.

We know that we convey to everyone as to the level of threat KU/KSS represents. This is disheartening, both as Anti-Fascists and as people who, largely, have experienced direct violence from this group or groups allied to them. And ultimately, the conclusion is that white conservatives generally, (and some POC conservatives) don’t really dislike Nazis very much at all. It would seem, that for many of them, the biggest concern is being lumped in with them, and a frustration with nazis not being able to keep their racist rhetoric in the coded language that is popular among “white america.” That said, we hope that this series has made it clear that KSS has not gone away, and their influence and support network extends far beyond their membership.

Keystone United rallying in Harrisburg. A: Scot Costa B: Travis Cornell (rip lol) C: Shane Dilling D: Ian McCorts G: Ryan Wojtowicz H: Steve Smith I: Bob Gaus J: Bryan Vanagaitis K: Chris Croumbley L: Cody Haulman. All were profiled in KU exposed.

When members of the Golden State Skinheads (a crew allied with KSS), wearing TWP shirts, attacked and stabbed anti-fascists in Sacramento in 2016 before being driven off the streets, TWP spokesman Matt Parott attempted to frame it to the media as a fight between “pro and anti-trump groups.” Because of the spiteful mentality of Trump supporters in the face of ever-increasing evidence of his incompetence, narcissism, and corruption, they will defend anyone willing to still publicly identify as a pro Trump. Anti-Fascists need to be aware of this dynamic and begin formulating new strategies to wedge groups like KSS and Blood and Honour from the GOP base. The evidence of what happens if we fail is in the increasingly Fascist rhetoric and tactics being used by pro-trump sectors of government and law enforcement, not to mention all the recent dog whistles to nazism coming out of those sectors.

Pat Rogers of KU/KSS repping support for Golden State Skinheads after word of possible charges for their members stabbing several Anti-Fascists in Sacramento in 2016.

Exposing a nazi is crucial. It can largely neutralize their crossover political organizing, add a tremendous social cost, and makes them think twice about attacking someone, knowing that they will be identified immediately by Anti-Fascists. For KU/KSS, public exposure also undermines the generous amount of effort they put in to distancing their group from its more openly neo-nazi past. However, it is the follow-up that gets the goods. The people who contacted workplaces, passed out flyers around the homes of KSS members, pushed for their expulsion from social clubs and sports teams, and took other actions have done just as much as us to make this a success.

One area we did not touch on during this series as much as we’d like is KU/KSS’ involvement in the “Anti-Antifa movement.” Anti-Antifa Pennsylvania shirts are printed and sold by KSS members, and they are involved in running an Anti-Antifa blog and website that publishes information on Anti-Racists and Anti-Fascists. KU nazis are very encouraging of the Anti-Antifa label as a stand in for more openly nazi imagery and as a unifying point between white nationalists and other far right nationalists who conflict with antifa because of our left and anarchist politics. Pushing Anti-Antifa as a brand within the larger pro-trump right is likely to be a strategy for KU/KSS over the next few years, and the groundwork has already been laid by media outlets, Trump, and 4chan.

Several members of KU/KSS can be seen wearing Anti-Antifa t-shirts in this pic from LED 2017.

 

We have successfully identified almost all of the attendees of last year’s Leif Erikson Day event in Philly. Only those who hid their faces or stayed away from Fairmount Park have escaped detection so far. So while ultimately our goal is to stop KU from holding Leif Erikson Day at all, the information we gather from it’s continuation is a nice consolation prize. Thanks to last year’s LED, we were able to identify Joe Garvey, Chris Croumbley, Anthony Marcink, and Travis Cornell (rip lol), all previously unknown to us, as Keystone United associates. We were also able to confirm the continued involvement of several individuals who had not been sighted at public KU events for several years, including Shane Dilling and Liam Schaff.

Some of those KSS nazis wore masks because they have something to lose from being exposed by us. Help us identify the “unknowns.”  If anyone has information about the any of the unidentified nazis picture in this series, please send it our way.

It is common to end on a note acknowledging that white supremacy and racism are much larger than neo-nazi bonehead crews or their more media-friendly iterations.  While this is true, attempts to compartmentalize groups like Keystone United from the larger “mainstream” right seem rooted more in wishful thinking and denial than reality. KU has synthesized American libertarian conservatism with national socialist “race science” to make both more palatable to the other. Two Keystone United leaders are Luzerne County GOP officials. In the process of this article, we exposed KU members/associates as working for city governments, in large unions, and for international software firms. Keystone United associates are/were active in biker clubs, veterans groups, roller derby leagues, music scenes and local government. Tired tropes and finger pointing about “living in mom’s basement” on both sides of this conflict are generally inaccurate, Daniel “Jack Corbin” McMahon excepted. Anti-Fascists in this state should not discount how embedded Keystone United are in their communities.

Steve Smith and Ryan Wojtowicz of Keystone United. Both are Luzerne County GOP committeemen.

When Bob Gaus and several other KU members attended Trump’s rally in Harrisburg, they did not sit in some special section. When they (likely) went out to get a drink afterwards, they did not go to a nazis-only bar. When they talk politics at the bar with people belonging to “the mainstream right,” those people are most likely left with the impression that they have more in common than difference with the KU members. If we learn nothing else from Trump’s ascension, it should be that the distance between a “non racist” republican (or democrat/independent for that matter) and a neo-nazi is much smaller than we like to believe, and the unifying of those forces is a very real threat.

Nazis have embedded themselves in groups like The Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer or started multi-racial pan-right groups like Vinlanders Social Club founder Brien James’ American Guard.

Republicans have utilized dog whistle and crypto-fascist talking points to retain supporters among the racist right, while not alienating POC and non-racist conservatives. Anti-Fascists have relied too heavily on accusations of racism as a panacea solution to the far right, and the far right has adapted. They have dozens of strategies in place to undermine those accusations before they are even made. We have to take the more difficult path of dissecting the full contents of the ideologies of the far right and conveying why they should be opposed on a plethora of grounds, including cis hetero-sexist positions, militarism and colonialism, and supporting capitalist exploitation of the working class, in addition to white supremacy and racism. Otherwise we will continue to hand groups like Proud Boys, Patriot Prayer and American Guard an easy way to insulate themselves from association with orthodox fascist groups, and an easy way to portray us as hysterical or dishonest.

We would like to thank all those who took action this month based on the articles we’ve released. As we mentioned, actions have already begun and are likely to continue for some time. As this is being written, it is unclear when or if Keystone United will hold their Leif Erikson Day event in Philly. It is possible they’ve even held it already in secret. Should they do so, we have the tools to hold them accountable long after they scurry out of Fairmount, back to their homes in Philly or elsewhere in the state. It is a point of pride for us to put a stop to this demonstration, but not only have we effectively neutralized it as a source of recruitment or propaganda for KU, we have purposed it as an intelligence trove for ourselves. So stay home or come on out, boys. Either way, we’ll use it to our advantage and to further our ultimate goal of destroying Keystone United for good.

Finally, predictably, there has been some blow back from KU/KSS/BNH regarding this series. Threats and harassment has been sent from KU members and supporters in all directions, including to non-involved persons and former members. Sometimes for something as simple as sharing an article. We send our respect and solidarity to the folks facing any sort of harassment as a result of the series. Threats against ourselves have also been levied, both of legal action and assault. For our part, we refuse to be intimidated by a group of coward liars. Two-faced scumbags who have the nerve to call others “degenerates.” Who attack brutally in swarms and talk tough behind police but who cower in our city, coming unannounced and bitterly unwelcome, staying briefly and leaving quickly. Every flash demo and rally, every threat and assault, every rape and murder, creates more of us. It reinforces our resolve. This is the city of gritty, fuckers, and we’re just getting started.

Rebellion and Possibility: Voices in the Anti-ICE Struggle Vol. II

  • October 10, 2018 12:07 pm

from It’s Going Down

 

The Radical Education Department (RED) returns with another collection of texts from the Abolish ICE movement.

As ICE’s brutality continues to shatter lives, we continue to document the struggle to abolish the institution.

We’ve compiled more stories of radical struggle against ICE, the border patrol, and the police; documenting the different tactics, successes, and philosophies from around the country.

We would like to thank the all of the contributors for each article that we’ve compiled, and the websites that originally published those writings and from which they were borrowed.

Again, this volume, like the first, is only one very limited snapshot of the vast anti-ICE uprising, which developed powerful expressions in many more than the few cities represented here.

Volume 2 can be found here: https://radicaleducationdepartment.com/zines/