Demand the Impossible! : A Radical Manifesto

  • October 17, 2016 6:09 pm

from Facebook

Join us for a book signing and discussion with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and Bill Ayers to celebrate the release of Bill’s latest book, Demand the Impossible!: A Radical Manifesto.

In an era defined by mass incarceration, endless war, economic crisis, catastrophic environmental destruction, and a political system offering more of the same, radical social transformation has never been more urgent. We must imagine a world beyond what this rotten system would have us believe is possible.

In critiquing the world around us, insurgent educator and activist Bill Ayers uncovers cracks in the system, raising our sights for radical change, and envisioning strategies for building a movement to create a more humane, balanced, and peaceful world.

[October 24 from 7pm to 9pm at Wooden Shoe Books 704 South St]

Four Futures: Life After Capitalism

  • October 12, 2016 6:00 pm

from Facebook

An exploration of the utopias and dystopias that could develop from present society…

Book signing and discussion with Peter Frase, author of Four Futures: Life After Capitalism.

Peter Frase argues that increasing automation and a growing scarcity of resources, thanks to climate change, will bring it all tumbling down. In Four Futures, Frase imagines how this post-capitalist world might look, deploying the tools of both social science and speculative fiction to explore what communism, rentism and extermininsm might actually entail.

Could the current rise of the real-life robocops usher in a world that resembles Ender’s Game? And sure, communism will bring an end to material scarcities and inequalities of wealth—but there’s no guarantee that social hierarchies, governed by an economy of “likes,” wouldn’t rise to take their place. A whirlwind tour through science fiction, social theory and the new technologies are already shaping our lives, Four Futures is a balance sheet of the socialisms we may reach if a resurgent Left is successful, and the barbarisms we may be consigned to if those movements fail.

[October 19 from 7pm to 9pm at Wooden Shoe Books 704 South St]

Something’s Missing Here… A Leif Erikson Day Reportback

  • October 11, 2016 10:04 pm

From Philly Antifa

led-2016

The stage was set. A rainy morning broke through to a sunny brisk afternoon, but Boathouse Row along Kelly Drive was still nearly deserted. A few die-hard joggers and bikers raced by. Philly PD was there; they even brought two swat vans and a paddy wagon. You know we were there. Around 30 Anti-Fascists from Philly and the immediate surrounding area braved the weather and cops to let Keystone United, also known as the Keystone State “Skinheads,” know that they are not welcome in Philadelphia. We ate soup provided by Food Not Bombs – Affinity (thanks again), chatted, and waited.

For most of the nearly 10 years, it was a similar scene. But this time, there was something missing. Everyone there was attractive. No one was yelling. There was no idiotic collection of flags from European Countries waving in the wind. Slowly, it dawned on us: they weren’t coming.

IGDCAST: Building an Anti-Fascist Fighting Force in PA and Shutting Down the NSM

  • October 11, 2016 2:35 pm

from It’s Going Down

Download and Listen to the Podcast Here

On this episode of the IGDCAST, we talk with Central PA Antifa, a network of friends and crews across Pennsylvania that has begun to organize against a variety of fascist groups which have been operating in the area for several decades. This episode is also the second podcast on the subject of the white working-class and building up organizations, campaigns, and associations which not only create an anti-fascist and anti-racist pole within the white working-class, but also build bridges out to poor and working communities of color.

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Central PA Antifa in this episode talks about their formation, which was pushed by decades of fascist and Neo-Nazi activity which have gained a foothold in the area and even lead to one member (Steve Smith) of the local group, Keystone State Skinheads, now known as Keystone United, or simply KSS, to become an elected member of the local Republican establishment. We also spend a lot of time talking about guns, gun culture, ISIS, police killings, and various ways that people could build within both the within poor and working white communities and in communities of color.

nsm

Neo-Nazi members of the Nationalist Socialist Movement (NSM) attempt to flee from a barrage of rocks.

We then discuss the upcoming mobilization against the National Socialist Movement (NSM), which is going to take place at the state capitol of Pennsylvania on November 5th in Harrisburg. Anti-fascists from across the East Coast and beyond are coming out to thrown down against the NSM and local organizers are mobilizing to have legal, medical, and tactical support ready and on the ground. In short, November 5th is shaping up to be an important mobilization for anarchists and anti-fascists, and the topics discussed in this podcast will hopefully inspire wide discussion and dialog leading up to the event.

Music: Ceschi and Cistem Failure
More info on November 5th mobilization here and here.

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Zero Thrill Show

  • October 9, 2016 2:10 pm

from Anarchadelphia

Have you heard of this fundraiser for children of deceased cops and firefighters called the “Hero Thrill Show?” It’s beautiful! A bunch of leather-daddy’s get dressed up in cop uniforms to do antiquated, homoerotic motorcycle tricks, mocking the outwardly hetero-normative, patriarchal, and (at times) down right homophobic police force. And calling these violent, sometimes murderous thugs “heroes” while claiming the community can trust them? It’s a nice touch. The group of men holding hands while straddling one or more bikes being called thrilling is so hilarious that I can’t believe any one would be so mistaken as to take it seriously.

Have they seen the neighborhood kids doing wheelies on dirt bikes? Sure, the kids have the advantage of illegality to make things more exciting, but their tricks are still be more fun to watch, otherwise.

And bringing the firefighters in on the mockery seems worthwhile enough, though I’m fairly neutral on the subject of “fire pigs,” as some call them, since they haven’t been putting out our fires (mostly because we haven’t really been setting any, unfortunately).

As the laughing grows tiresome, though, I’m reminded of the good cause of raising college money for these kids who may have had a 40% chance of witnessing, or even suffering, abuse in their household perpetrated by the parent who’s death we’re celebrating. Certainly they didn’t choose to be born to a cop, and the promoters don’t even inquire as to whether the child suffered at the hands of the officer, opposing the commonly accusatory retaliations against abuse survivors by the law.

So as to conclude this review, I must say it was well worth my time to watch these pigs (no offense to actual pigs) maneuver their cruisers across empty asphalt.

Wait, wait wait…you don’t mean to tell me this event is actually serious?

Sam Dolgoff and the U.S Anarchist Movement: 1920s-1980s

  • October 8, 2016 5:57 pm

from Facebook

A joint book talk by:
Anatole Dolgoff, author of Left of the Left: My Memories of Sam Dolgoff (AK Press, 2016)
and
Andrew Cornell, author of Unruly Equality: U.S. Anarchism in the 20th Century (University of California Press, 2016)

Sam Dolgoff, a house painter by trade, was at the center of American anarchism for seventy years. His political voyage began in the 1920s when he joined the Industrial Workers of the World. He rode the rails as an itinerant laborer, bedding down in hobo camps and mounting soapboxes in cities across the United States. Self-educated, he translated, edited, and wrote some of the most important books and journals of twentieth-century anti-authoritarian politics, including the most widely read collection of Mikhail Bakunin’s writings in English.

Yet the movement changed in important ways during Sam’s long tenure, as anarchists engaged with events and social forces such as the rise of the welfare state, atomic warfare, the black freedom struggle, and a succession of youth countercultures. Unruly Equality explains how anarchism evolved from the creed of poor immigrants militantly opposed to capitalism early in the twentieth century to one that today sees resurgent appeal among middle-class youth and foregrounds activism around ecology, feminism, and opposition to cultural alienation.

Bringing together first-hand recollections and archival research, Antaole Dolgoff and Andrew Cornell illuminate a crucial, but little known, chapter in the history of radical politics.

[October 15 from 7PM to 9PM at Wooden Shoe Books 704 South St]

Abolish Work! A Philosophical Exposition of Ergophobia

  • October 5, 2016 2:01 pm

from Facebook

“Abolish Work! A Philosophical Exposition of Ergophobia” is a collection of pieces that centers around the modern workplace and conceptions of “work” and how we can best understand and ultimately resist them.”

Slackers, sloths and idlers are all welcome to this event that will host a discussion with editor Nick Ford. We’ll discuss the anti-work movement, some of its prominent writings and moments as well as contemporary anti-work struggles. The discussion will also center around AbolishWork.com and the lead up to this book. Finally, the book itself and its contents will be discussed in some detail with a Q&A at the end.
[October 12 from 7PM to 10PM at Wooden Shoe 704 South St]

Call For Renewed Actions In Solidarity With The Prison Strike, October 15-22

  • October 1, 2016 4:10 am

Submission

It hardly seems necessary to summarize what has gone down inside U.S. prisons since September 9th. Hunger strikes, work stoppages, and riots have spread throughout the country on a scale that we likely aren’t even fully aware of yet. Some uprisings appeared took us by surprise, such as in several Florida prisons, while others presumably grew from recent organizing endeavors on the inside, such as at Kinross in Michigan or Holman in Alabama. By rough estimates, over 20,000 prisoners were involved in some way. That’s huge.

On the outside, solidarity burned so brightly all over the world. Banner drops, graffiti slogans, noise demonstrations and more showed that we had the backs of all who would partake in the strike. It is worth noting however that the vast majority of this took place the first weekend of the strike. But this prison strike—and the struggle against prisons more broadly—is about more than a day or a week. It didn’t start on September 9th and it isn’t ending any time soon. Some prisoners may return to work while others decide to stop working for the first time. It’s easier when there is a definitive date to take action on, to build momentum towards, but that’s not going to be enough.

Therefore, we would like to offer a call for renewed actions in solidarity with the prison strike and the struggle against prison society. Right now many are organizing anti-repression campaigns for striking prisoners and that is of course very necessary and not nearly as exciting work. But it would be a mistake to conceive of this struggle in a linear fashion—that is to say, a single wave where we demonstrate as it crests and write letters as it crashes. How many prisoners hadn’t heard about the strike until after it had started? How many knew but didn’t think people would actually be there to support them? Three weeks after the start of the strike, inmates in Turbeville, South Carolina rebelled against a guard and took over their dorm. How can we stop while inmates are still risking their lives for freedom?

We propose the week of October 15th – 22nd for a concentration of actions to remind everyone locked up by the State that we will always have their back. Once again, it is important to take these dates with a grain of salt. No one’s going to judge you if you take action on October 23rd, or in November, or even in 2017. Neither should anyone sit on their hands waiting for the 15th to get going. New Year’s Eve should also be kept in mind, which has traditionally seen noise demonstrations outside of prisons every year, despite being an equally arbitrary date.

“When times seem slow and uneventful we let ourselves stagnate, but imagination and revolt are like muscles: the less we use them the weaker they become. We can push back the boredom of less eventful times and point towards insurrection. Solidarity actions and struggling on our own timelines is a way we can create momentum and tension when there isn’t much.”

– “Our Own Timelines” Anathema, Vol 2 Issue 6

It is undeniable that many comrades exist outside of realities where organizing a protest or noise demonstration is tenable. Many of us are still searching for a few like-minded comrades, let alone attempting to bring out a crowd. There are still opportunities to act, whether it is a one or two person team dropping a banner or putting up posters, or hosting a letter writing or informational event that can help connect future accomplices. It certainly can never be overstated how important writing letters of support and calling in to prisons is in and of itself, but why pass on an opportunity to build our capacity?

If nothing else, we should all feel ashamed that the most active city in terms of U.S. prison strike solidarity actions is Athens, Greece. They already have such a head start but we can at least give them a bit of challenge, can’t we?

– Some Restless Uncontrollables

Poster (11×17) https://itsgoingdown.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/o1522-tabloid-2.pdf

Poster (8.5×11) https://itsgoingdown.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/o1522-letter-1.pdf

Image https://itsgoingdown.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/o1522-sq.jpg

___

from https://itsgoingdown.org/call-renewed-actions-solidarity-prison-strike-october-15-22/

Anathema Volume 2 Issue 9

  • September 28, 2016 1:22 am

from Anathema

Volume 2 Issue 9

In this issue:

  • Prisons are Lit
  • Police Story
  • A Politics of Care
  • Sept 9th POP!Back
  • Speaking Truth to Power
  • What Went Down

Philly Police Officer Outed as White Supremacist with Ties to Blood and Honor

  • September 1, 2016 3:35 pm

from Philly Antifa

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Those of our readers who have been Anti-Fascists for a few years may remember that during a period from 2010-2012 there were several successful hacks of Neo-Nazi websites that led to the identification of dozens of Neo-Nazis and White Nationalists.

One of the more interesting cases was that of Ian Hans Lichterman. Lichterman was listed as a member of Blood and Honour, an international network of Neo-Nazi organizations started by Ian Stuart Donaldson, the lead singer of Skrewdriver. Upon some investigating, it was discovered that Lichterman was also a Philly PD officer who had even recently been commended at a crime stoppers awards ceremony.

Shortly after the hack, Lichterman left the Philly PD and was working as a private security contractor (mercenary) in the middle east for some time, presumably using his connections from his time as a Marine. Recently, at the Philly Coalition for REAL Justice’s march during the DNC, someone noticed that one of the bike cops working the event had some shady tattoos. That cop has been identified as Ian Lichterman, back on duty in Philly.

Iron Cross Tat on Left Elbow is just the beginning

Iron Cross Tat on Left Elbow is just the beginning

One was a rather generic Nationalist tattoo of an AR-15 over an american flag with “For God and Country” written above it. That is the motto of the American Legion, a veterans organization that was very sympathetic to Fascism in Europe before WWII.

“The president of the American Legion in 1923 was quoted as saying, ‘If ever needed, the American Legion stands ready to protect our country’s institutions and ideals as the Fascisti dealt with the destructionists who menaced Italy.’ In reply to whether this meant taking over the government, he said ‘Exactly that. The American Legion is fighting every element that threatens our democratic government-soviets, anarchists, I.W.W., revolutionary socialists and every other Red ..Do not forget that the Fascisti are to Italy what the American Legion is to the United States.’”

If that wasn’t bad enough, the other tattoo was this:

real subtle, Ian

real subtle, Ian

That eagle design is called a partieadler. With wings outstretched and a simplistic design, the partieadler is distinct from the national emblem in every other era of German history, a history that stretches from the reichsadler’s first appearance in the 12th century, to its present design. It is the eagle of Nazi Germany specifically. And the word “fatherland” is also a reference to Nazi rhetoric oft-used to describe Germany during the Third Reich.

Anathema Volume 2 Issue 8

  • August 18, 2016 4:20 am

from Anathema

Volume 2 Issue 8

In this issue

  • Two Evils
  • Feel the Burn – a DNC Reportback
  • Keeping It Cop-Free
  • Ready, Set, Strike!
  • Rise Against Authenticity
  • What Went Down & What’s Coming Up

PHLA Discussion: Community in the Carceral State

  • August 17, 2016 10:39 pm

from Facebook

Black August is a period of reflection and action on prisons and resistance to it, in the spirit of people like Jonathan and George Jackson. In this discussion, we’ll focus on what prison means for community and what community means for prisoners.

[August 24 from 7PM to 8:30PM at 704 n5th St #311]

Feel the BURN: A DNC Reportback

  • August 16, 2016 8:47 pm

from It’s Going Down

The protests of the Democratic National Convention came and went leaving many behind, such as myself, confused and bewildered. Most of the confrontations occurred between various sects of the dying left and liberal Bernie supporters seeking to contain or co-opt rage. There were some attempts at direct action and militancy but the entire terrain was uncertain and at times hostile toward any action outside of very controlling notions of “non-violent protest.”

A few instances were somewhat interesting in terms of what is/not possible in the streets during these events given the social forces participating and directing political struggle towards their ends.

Anarchists-at-DNC-Protest-640x480On Tuesday the Black Resistance March, organized by the Philly Coalition for REAL Justice, went down Broad St starting at Diamond. Early on a couple (very obvious) undercovers were kicked out of the rally along with a camera operator. One thing in the past that REAL has shouted about, besides pigs, are reporters. The march was led by a few trucks filled with water and members of REAL Justice and Worker’s World Party (WWP) on megaphones. Early on in the march, things got tense with the largely white Bernie supporters who showed up, when they were asked to fall back behind the banners and in general not march in front of the contingent of black protesters holding those banners. Some cute banners, one reading FUCK 12 END POLICE FOREVER! and another Stop Killing Black People, were scattered through the march. Overall, it was a confused mix of fuck cop signs and pro-Bernie signs.

The march reached City Hall and merged with an even larger contingent of Bernie supporters and pot-smoking hippies. There people milled about for what must have been an hour around City Hall. There seemed to be some disagreement yet again about who would lead. A split group marched ahead and reached the Wells Fargo center, where four people were arrested around 8:30. After some time the WWP march started again from city hall with the trucks in front. This began the plodding “March Against the DNC” with so many stops along the way, to keep the march together both for the purposes of leadership and for the cops to maintain a defined perimeter.

As the march moved south it thinned out and the mood got more tense as it got dark. Still the cops did nothing as an Israeli and American flag were burned near Broad and Oregon on Tuesday for the Black resistance march. But even then self-appointed “peacekeepers,” some of whom wore placards that read “#BeLikeBernie I DO NOT support violence of any kind,” stepped in to try and kill the fun. I heard one person shout that this is not what we’re here for. Who is we?

Another flag was burned in front of the fence to the Wells Fargo center with more complaints from pacifists. The march dispersed from there, many going into the encampment in FDR Park. Two major groups were there occupying space, the Rainbow Family of Light folks and a middle-class Bernie encampment-suburb. There was a stage and a set of screens, which were playing some cartoon. A friend told me it felt like a Jimmy Buffet concert, and it was basically that.

On Wednesday another flag was burned (noticing a theme?) but this time a pacifist got burned trying to stomp out a puddle of lighter fluid! (Fire don’t give a fuck bout you.)  The energy was more intense that night with two actions against the fence, one where Democracy Spring activists tried to pull down the fence. Some were arrested. After that an unaffiliated group of masked demonstrators came at the fence again, this time with bolt cutters. Seven people were arrested in total as far as we know.

Thursday was the last day of the convention and energy felt low. That night, there was a rally again in front of the fence and there was talk of Democracy Spring activists disrupting HRC’s speech on the inside. Another group outside the fence, the DNC Action Committee, held a sign that read “we are pissed and we are peaceful.” I agreed with half of that. The banner holders seemed confused when some voiced disagreement with that statement. Later the same group held a “mock trial” of HRC that was so painful to watch.

Demonstrators burn a flag during a protest in Philadelphia, Tuesday, July 26, 2016, during the second day of the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Socialist Alternative was also there on megaphones declaring themselves to be the official chant leaders and trying to get people to literally repeat after them. The reason for this co-optation became clear when later a rumor spread throughout the crowd that there were delegates leaving away from where everyone was standing; the action turned out to be a Socialist Alternative rally with some sad Bernie delegates. Food Not Bombs handed out food and masks. This resulted in the image of a 20-something college bro in a tie-dye Bernie t-shirt wearing a black mask and eating a hummus sandwich listening to the live-streamed speeches.

That final image is stuck in my brain as what the entire week felt like: a horrifying simulacrum of modern protest culture, weed and apparently, an Alpaca.

Anathema Volume 2 Issue 7

  • July 23, 2016 6:05 pm

from Anathema

Volume 2 Issue 7

In this Issue:

  • Thoughts on the DNC
  • Letter to the Editor
  • Respectability Maintains Police
  • Recent Actions

The UnConventional Times

  • July 20, 2016 12:04 am

from DNC Action Committee

Click here to read The UnConventional Times

Click here for PDF The UnConventional Times