received via email
An open letter to Philly Anti-Authoritarians and other Friends,
It’s no surprise that the current nature of most Philly street demos have failed to open up space in the streets that allowed for effective forms of autonomous participation. There were a few larger demonstrations that felt more uncontrollable than the tight-knit activist gatherings that led up to them. At these larger demonstrations there were usually a few attempts to take and hold major roads and interstates. All of these attempts failed. The fact that these attempts occurred shows an energy that hasn’t been seen at street demos here in a long time. Yet the failures can represent the shortcomings of activism, and it’s inability to understand and thwart the counter-insurgency methods deployed by the state. On the contrary these failures also represent the traps many Philly anti-authoritarians have found themselves in. The trap of total absence of building relationships and maintaining a relevant presence in the streets. Many think, “protests in Philly are liberal, small and usually don’t lead to anything more” which may arguably be the case in most instances. The problem stems from the failure to realize our own potential in shaping
things through participation, through actually making things happen. If things are going to be done they must be done with a sense of tact. Success in action builds trust, and appeals to those who have the same desires. Know that even if an action holds the spirit of insurrection, if not executed properly it will fail to resonate beyond the participants themselves and even then participants could be discouraged by easily avoidable failures. Maybe this is part of what has happened here. A few failures to connect, and a few more shady call-outs with no direction in mind could have meant a few steps back. A lesson learned is more effective when moving forward as opposed to when remaining stagnant after the fact. Since then we have seen people attempting to break this silence, which shows a few positive steps, but it isn’t enough.
Here are a few points on opening up space in the streets in the future –
1. The activist groups,NGOs and other Leftist organizations in Philly actually do not hold the means to draw the numbers people would assume they have. Many liberal-leaning organizations call for demos and see a few hundred at their peak. Anything extending beyond the smaller parades isn’t exactly representative of the numbers an activist group holds or has direct influence over. More so it always represents that particular demo being the only thing occurring combined with a timing when mad people feeling uncontrollably heated over pigs murdering black folks.
With this in mind it shouldn’t be considered strategic to wait around or to latch onto the organizing efforts of those structures. The nature of liberalism, and certain aspects of activism have worked to actively kill energy rather than amp it up – many times over the past year we have seen people rip megaphones from black women antagonizing police, people discourage youth from masking up and marching on their own path, we have seen people fight each other physically over decisions to begin pushing police lines. Rather than constantly finding ourselves within structures that have allowed these things to reproduce themselves in the streets over and over again, we should create and build alternatives, which leads us to the second and the final point.
2. Street actions that commemorate and/or capture the spirit and history of gentrifying/gentrified neighborhoods while maintaining a sense of hostility and opposition to policing are an obtainable goal. You do not have to expect or prepare for instant escalation of conflict. This would be unrealistic. Especially in a city with not much recent history of militancy. Instead… for starters don’t be the presence that discourages kids from masking up when they take interest, but instead be the presence that shares with everyone the importance of it. Be the presence that cheers on the angry black women, while denouncing anyone who would take the mic from them. In terms of street politics capacity can increase with small successes like this. In many places monthly marches have occurred at some point in time. Not all of them involved a direct heightened conflict, but their occurrence definitely opened up space for stronger relationships to form in the streets – it helped to create a space where media wasn’t welcomed, and staying anonymous was encouraged as the new norm. It helped encourage everyone to see themselves as a participant. It opened up the potential for more people to act with autonomy in the immediate future. Events that encourage art, banner making, and flag-making amongst close friends, or in a public space/event. Gathering to do smaller things, to promo a certain event works to maintain hype & trust around a future occurrence in general, whether it be passing out flyers, giving antagonistic speeches, banner making, or more. These are all things to keep in mind when making sure past mistakes aren’t repeated.
Philly Anti-Authoritarians should definitely consider the question of “What is Next?”. If leftist, reformist, and liberal elements are out there, what are we doing? Why aren’t we “out there”? There is no excuse of “we don’t have the numbers” because it is clear that even the most reformist elements in this city barely have the numbers, and they still manage to do their thing. Capacity comes from steady efforts and successful action. Instead of dreaming of the perfect moment it is time to begin shaping each moment we are already given. It is time to act with what we have and to see where that can potentially lead. Otherwise it is likely any future ruptures will dwindle down, and channel themselves within Philly’s liberal structures until they are no longer a threat. If those “perfect moments” so many people seem to dream of are to extend beyond a a single day or night then every single one of us must spring out of inaction towards more action. Or we could return to each of our own comfortable circles, and social cliques. We could remain in our bubble of irrelevancy. We could continue to observe the constant function of policing and capital dominating the city uncontested. Then… on the other hand, we could begin to develop a force worth mentioning in the struggle. The choice is up to every single last one of us. Let’s start moving forward. Let’s start doing things, and doing them in a legit way.
