Night Owls #2: Summer of Sabotage

  • October 13, 2022 1:52 am

from It’s Going Down

[This post only contains information relevant to Philadelphia and the surrounding area, to read the entire article follow the above link.]

Download pamphlet: Print – Tabloid [For a Risograph]
Download action poster:  Print – Tabloid [For a Risograph]

This summer also saw attacks proliferate in solidarity with the ongoing campaign to defend the Atlanta Forest. The defense of forests and other places that have so far evaded the reach of urban sprawl is starting to slowly spread elsewhere, with the “Save the Meadows” campaign in Philadelphia and the struggle to defend People’s Park in Berkeley, California. Will this strategy — of finding local ways to defend the forest, which those fighting in Atlanta remind us is everywhere — continue to spread? While it can definitely be simpler to take action in solidarity with a relatively high-profile campaign that has an easily defined objective, what could it look like to spread a combative defense of land, and the relationships we form through meeting there, across a multitude of different places?

Such campaigns often speak to a need to stop environmental destruction as we look ahead to a future of accelerating climate collapse, forgetting that we are already living in the aftermath of an ecological and social apocalypse. Over the past 450 years, colonization has decimated the ecological landscape of this entire continent, robbing and removing people across the globe from their land through a multitude of forced migrations, and the new wave of climate disasters is its logical consequence. This is not to suggest that we should give up the fight against the coming changes, but to put the current climate crisis in a historical context of survivance, specifically that of violently uprooted and colonized peoples as well as of non-human species. [4] Positioning our struggles as either part of or in solidarity with that tradition of survival, rather than thinking of it as a brand-new situation, might further shake the legitimacy of the State and its hold on us all. And maybe one day the struggle to defend the forest will once again be everywhere.

[4] The term “survivance” describes a type of resistance to the United States that is specific to indigenous and other colonized people, one that combines practices of survival and resurgence.

Action Briefs

6/12: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

All of the windows of the Hope pro-life center are smashed out by the Anti Hope Brigade.

6/17: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Anti-Gentrification Action/Another Gay Anarchists attack two construction sites. Paint and glass etch were used against the windows of a luxury apartment construction, and the windows of another were smashed out. “We did this to fight gentrification and to contribute to the new wave of anarchist attack in the US. We also did this to have fun!”

7/6: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Janes Revenge smashes the front windows of a pro-life union that runs two centers and an anti-abortion hotline. “Solidarity with all those attack the state, capital, civilization, and patriarchy.”

8/24: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

A stand of pine trees in the meadows of FDR park, which is in the process of getting developed, are marked with signs warning some of them have been “spiked.” The spiked stand of trees is discovered a week later amid a larger clearcut swath.

8/27: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Six pieces of construction equipment are ruined overnight in the meadows of South Philadelphia’s FDR Park, which is slated to be clearcut as part of a “revitalization project.”

9/6: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Four pieces of heavy machinery being used to cut down forest and develop the Cobbs Creek Golf Course are sabotaged. “There doesn’t need to be a bigger campaign going on for us to take matters into our own hands and try to stop some of the destruction that surrounds us.”

 

Toleration Statue Defaced on Columbus Day

  • October 12, 2022 1:15 am

Submission

On Columbus day, in the early morning we vandalized a colonizer statue on the Wissahickon trail. Phrases included: Decolonize, Land and Freedom, No Borders, No Nations, No More USA, (A)
We also covered the colonizer’s face, hands, and scroll in red paint.

Fighting colonization is a way to nurture a less hierarchical relation with the land and those that live on it.

Graffiti on Fairmount Park Conservancy Signs

  • September 10, 2022 1:21 am

Submission

A few months ago Fairmount Park Conservancy put up 3 4-sided plastic strucures along the trail parallel to MLK BLVD. The signs advertise the park with a  website, twitter, QR and IG, and feature a list of shows/activities people can get involved with. Prior to this there were no obvious signs along the trail specifying what the space “was”, who it was being maintained by or what it was for.

Early Friday morning we wrote anti-development, anti-colonization and FDR meadows solidarity graffiti on the structures. We also covered up the QR codes and some of the social media handles. Beyond the message in the graffiti we hope the paint ruins the signs.

These signs, the cutting of trees in Cobbs Creek, the development in FDR Park are all forms of domesticating the land and those who move across it. Domestication runs counter to how we want to relate to spaces, ourselves and each other. We want to live wild lives beyond the control of any authority and for that we need wild spaces.

The development and domestication of wild spaces makes them less hospitable to wildlife, plant life, people wandering and living outside and anyone who wants to enjoy a space in autonomous, unorganized and illegal ways.

We dislike the Fairmount Park Conservancy because we’re not interested in conserving spaces, freezing in time spaces that would otherwise grow and change. Despite their name, the conservancy has a clear objective of designating spaces for certain kinds of activities, for certain kinds of people, in a topdown manner. The clearest example of this is their contribution to the destruction of the FDR meadows.

Development and domestication are inseparable from issues of race, colonization, gentrification and class. Check out https://edgeeffects.net/green-gentrification/ for a way these things interact in spaces outside of residential neighborhoods.

Solidarity with the saboteurs at FDR, Cobbs Creek, the Atlanta Forest and everyone trying to widen the cracks!

Cobbs Creek Golf Course machines sabotaged

  • September 6, 2022 1:30 am

Submission

Early last week we sabotaged four pieces of heavy machinery that are being used to develop the Cobbs Creek golf course. The machines were right next to a main road, so we used some quieter methods, using epoxy to glue their locks and putting sand in their fuel tanks. The Cobbs Creek Foundation and A.M. Logging have already destroyed over 100 acres of forest in the area.

We wanted to contribute to the recent wave of attacks against ecological destruction, gentrification, and colonization across the country, and encourage people to help defend green spaces wherever they live. Shoutout to whoever sabotaged the machines that were about to destroy the meadows at FDR to build whatever it is they’re building there. There doesn’t need to be a bigger campaign going on for us to take matters into our own hands and try to stop some of the destruction that surrounds us.

This Is America #173: Sacramento IWOC; Report on Rent Strike in Oakland; Land Struggles Heat Up

  • September 4, 2022 1:11 am

from It’s Going Down

[This post only contains information relevant to Philadelphia and the surrounding area, to read the entire article follow the above link.]

Living and Fighting

Housing

In Philadelphia, the struggle to stop the eviction of the UC Townhomes continues. On Monday:

Over 100 protestors interrupted Penn President minutes into her first-ever Convocation speech, bringing the ceremony to an abrupt end. [During a speech on] incoming class’ diversity, a group of protestors — including members of the Class of 2026 — stood up and began chanting “Save UC Townhomes!” and “Stop Penn-trification!” The Coalition to Save the UC Townhomes, a group of residents protesting the sale of 70 units of affordable housing, organized the demonstration in an effort to bring awareness to the local residents who are scheduled to be evicted on Oct. 8.

Land Struggles

In Philadelphia, anger is growing at a new development project that threatens the South Philly Meadows, a former golf course that has been reclaimed by nature. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Philadelphia Police are investigating the vandalism of construction equipment at FDR Park, where crews broke ground this week on a controversial project to create a 33-acre wetland. Police responded to the incident, which involved damage to a Bobcat and digging excavator, Thursday morning. In addition to graffiti and broken wires, police said sugar was poured into a tank. No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing. The incident comes as some park users are mobilizing to oppose the project…The Philadelphia International Airport is funding the project to offset any wetlands and waterways affected by its air cargo facilities expansion.

Banners went up in solidarity with the fight against Cop City in the Atlanta forest. From Scenes from the Atlanta Forest:

Banners went up in the trees in South Philly’s FDR Meadows, where nearly 200 acres of wetlands and meadows, which serve as habitat for endangered migrating monarch butterflies and many other species of wildlife, are threatened by the city’s plans to bury the earth in astroturf for more sports fields and other capitalist ventures. Public outcry in Philadelphia has already forced the city to compromise on their original plans, but we will accept no compromise in defense of the meadows and monarchs. Solidarity from Philadelphia to Atlanta. We live here.

For more information, check out Save the Meadows.

Upcoming Events

  • September 11th: Running Down the Walls, Philadelphia, PA. More info here.

Construction equipment vandalized in part of FDR Park

  • August 27, 2022 1:17 am

from Mainstream Media

It was an act of vandalism and destruction in South Philadelphia’s FDR Park, where a revitalization project is underway.

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — It was an act of vandalism and destruction in South Philadelphia’s FDR Park, where a revitalization project is underway.

Police say this happened near the golf course.

A total of six pieces of equipment were ruined sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

Crews say wires were also cut and sugar was put in the diesel tanks.

New equipment is now on site so construction crews can resume operations.

Jane’s Revenge vandalized Pro-Life Union of Greater Philadelphia

  • July 7, 2022 1:55 am

Submission

In the wee hours of July 6th, the office of the Pro-Life Union of Greater Philadelphia (88 Pennsylvania Ave Oreland, PA) had their front window smashed and their wall vandalized with “JANE’S REVENGE”. The Pro-Life Union runs two crisis pregnancy centers (Guiding Star Mother’s Home: 1940 E Chelten Ave, Philadelphia, PA, and The Cenacle: 1509 Church St, Philadelphia, PA) and an anti-abortion pregnancy hotline (610-626-4006). They also organize anti-abortion rallies outside of abortion clinics where clients are harassed and shamed, and have numerous member organizations involved in a variety of anti-abortion programs in the greater Philadelphia area (list can be accessed at prolifeunion.org/member-organizations).

We hope that all queers, anarchists, anti-fascists, and just plain-old pissed-off feminists in the area will use this information wisely. Plan with a group of friends, wear a mask, and take action. Project your rage on your enemies. Dissapear into the night.

Solidarity with all those attack the state, capital, civilization, and patriarchy.

-Janes Revenge (A)

Two Construction Sites Attacked By AGA

  • June 19, 2022 1:34 am

Submission

On the morning of June 17th we used paint and glass etch to fuck with windows on luxury apartment construction at 48th and Spruce and gentry construction at 51st and Baltimore. We also smashed out the front doors and windows at 51st and Baltimore. We did this to fight gentrification and to contribute to the new wave of anarchist attack in the US. We also did this to have fun!

Happy Pride!
-AGA (Anti-Gentrification Action)
(Another Gay Anarchists)

Fake Clinic’s Windows Smashed in Philly

  • June 12, 2022 1:46 am

Submission

We smashed out all of the windows of the “Hope” pregnancy center on Broad st. We are tired of your “family values” and you forcing families, and your values onto our bodies. This fake clinic spread lies and is part of a broader attempt to strip away body autonomy from hundreds of women and people. We are inspired by the actions of comrades in Wisconsin, Colorado, New York, and a growing list of places. If the attack on abortion does not stop our attacks will broaden. This is also intended as a small gesture of complicity with all those imprisoned by the state, in honor of June 11th.
-Anti Hope Brigade

Proud Boy Banner Taken Down and Burned

  • May 22, 2022 1:34 am

from Instagram

No image description available.

FUCK THE PROUD BOYS!
YOUR FLAGS WILL NEVER FLY IN PHILLY!

We came across this banner on gameday and decided to spruce it up a little, then dispose of it properly. Looks like Zach Rehl’s cry baby friends are sad his cop family members dont have any influence to let him get away with shit once the feds are involved.
#FuckedAroundAndFoundOut

[Video]
[Video]

Banks Attacked in Solidarity with Atlanta Forest Defenders

  • March 28, 2022 1:23 am

from Scenes from the Atlanta Forest

This month we sabotaged card slots of Wells Fargo and Bank Of America in Center City, Philadelphia. This attack was done in solidarity and complicity with those disrupting the construction of a police training grounds in Atlanta. Cops in Atlanta want to cut down a forest to build a mock city to practice squashing uprisings. In response, individuals are occupying, protesting, and sabotaging. People have started staying in the forest and fucking with the construction. The Atlanta Police Foundation is being funded by Wells Fargo and Bank Of America. We are excited to hear about construction workers being chased out and construction vehicles being messed up.

As proponents of self-directed revolt we decided to target the banks contributing to building the cop city. We hope that by communicating our action others feel encouraged or inspired to attack and disrupt the social order in their own context. While it would be preferable if the police project in Atlanta collapsed, for us destruction is an end in itself. We take pleasure in disrupting capital.

Our sabotage involved collecting plastic cards, which we cut into thirds. The purpose of this was to prevent the cards from easily being removed. Before going out we wiped down the pieces with gloves on and dressed anonymously. We inserted the pieces into atm and door card readers after putting a strip of super glue onto them. One benefit of this action is that it fucks up the machine without making a lot of noise or seeming out of place. We feel this is relevant to point out because the cop city is an example of the police preparing for mass unrest and we feel it is strategic to be able to act discreetly in light of increasing policing and surveillance.

Fuck cops
Fuck banks and money
Solidarity and complicity with the feral anarchists in Atlanta
Death to civilization
Long live anarchy
Chaos forever

Piss-Boy Propoganda Destroyers wish you a Happy V-Day

  • February 16, 2022 1:40 am

Submission

❤️‍🔥✨❤️‍🔥 Happy Valentine’s Day! ❤️‍🔥✨❤️‍🔥

We’ve been holding onto these for just the perfect moment in time. We spotted these over 95 in the cursed land of NE Philly where many white racists and fascists reside. These banners beautifully met their fate in a flaming toilet. After all 3 banners turned to ash in a sweltering toilet fire where they were born to end up… just like the Piss Boys, the toilet self imploded. It seems the toilet couldn’t handle the amount of literal shit it was tasked to withstand. Let this be a precursor to whatever the universe has in store for the fascist idiot who put those banners there in the first place. We hope your fate looks something like this too 😉

Fuck Zach Rehl and all Piss Boys forever! Long live anti-fascist vengeance, chaos & anarchy!




Burning Ashli Babbitt Banner

  • September 16, 2021 1:35 am

Submission

A few anarchists residing on stolen Lenape land in so called Amerikka were alerted to the presence of a banner drop hanging from an electric tower along route 76 just outside the city celebrating the late far-right extremist, Ashli Babbitt, may she rest in piss.
Immediately upon getting notice of this we went to investigate and lo and behold there it was, hanging up defiantly exposing all the passing traffic to it’s utter filth. We just couldn’t allow that shit to fester in our town and following the proud anti-fascist tradition decided to take matters into our own hands. We got down to the tracks and to the electric tower and cut that shit down on sight!
We then took some arguably incriminating celebratory photos and decided to burn that shit in an old rusty barrel giving it the closure it deserved.
Photos attached along with the reddit thread that alerted us to it’s presence, within one day of the thread being posted we properly disposed of that banner. Can’t ever allow that shit to fester in our city!
https://www.reddit.com/r/philadelphia/comments/po54ld/how_long_has_this_ashli_babbitt_thirst_sign_been/

Retaliation for Patriot Front

  • July 17, 2021 1:19 am

Submission

In the early hours of July 9th we paid a visit to the home of neo-nazi Jackson Bradley, spray painting “nazi scum” on the front door and damaging one of the windows. We did this in direct retaliation for Patriot Front’s recent defacing of the George Floyd mural in North Philly and their march through Center City.
Fuck Patriot Front and fuck you, Jackson.
[Philly Anti-Cap note: We received the following message on July 9th. We have not verified the validity of the message but we share it in the interest of any interested anti-fascists. The message is included below:
We were targeted last night at 127 Elfreths Alley and I believe this is in connection with Jackson Bradley who has not lived here since 2009. He should be with patriot front, which we are NOT associated with. This house is occupied by renters and we have no association with any nazi/hate groups. Please do not advertise this address as we would really like to not have to keep painting our door and repairing the window panes.

This house is currently occupied by Jewish people and minority tenants, me being one of them (jewish). Please please please take us off any sort of target list that you may have. Again, the Bradley’s moved in 2009 and no longer live here. I have no idea where Jackson is.]

Vandal’s damage at Reading Terminal Market estimated at least in ‘the five figures’

  • June 2, 2021 1:38 am

from Mainstream Media

Paint is seen on the Filbert Street side of Reading Terminal Market, outside the Down Home Diner, in Philadelphia on Saturday, the remains of a vandal's work Wednesday night. The market has offered a reward for information leading to the person who sprayed the paint, captured by surveillance cameras.
Paint is seen on the Filbert Street side of Reading Terminal Market, outside the Down Home Diner, in Philadelphia on Saturday, the remains of a vandal’s work Wednesday night. The market has offered a reward for information leading to the person who sprayed the paint, captured by surveillance cameras.

With the pandemic waning and the city about to lift many of its restrictions, Philadelphia’s iconic Reading Terminal Market had just refreshed its exterior and doors and put new window dressings around the entire building.

“We had cleaned everything, and we were really looking forward to welcoming people as they come back into the city,” said Annie Allman, CEO and general manager of the Reading Terminal Market Corp.

Then a vandal struck Wednesday night. Using what appeared to be a jet-spray device, the person sprayed the Filbert Street side of the 128-year-old building. The paint, which Allman described as battleship gray, hit from as high as the gun could apparently reach to sidewalk level, along the entire block, between 11th and 12th Streets. A surveillance video shows a person dressed in black with a face mask carrying a red bag with white letters while spraying.

With help from the Center City District, the market was able to clear much of the paint. But some of it hit the wood and stone trim and that will be more difficult to repair, Allman said.

Like many businesses, the market’s 70 merchants have had a tough time during the pandemic. Now, a vandal has caused more harm.

In anticipation of the city easing COVID-19 restrictions June 2, Reading Terminal Market had just refreshed its exterior and doors and put new window dressings around the entire building before a paint-spraying vandal struck Wednesday night.
In anticipation of the city easing COVID-19 restrictions June 2, Reading Terminal Market had just refreshed its exterior and doors and put new window dressings around the entire building before a paint-spraying vandal struck Wednesday night.

Allman estimates the damage is at least in “the five figures.” The market coincidentally is about to kick off a fund-raising campaign, and now some of that money will have to be put toward the repairs, she said.

Since the market went public about the vandalism, it has received an outpouring of warm and caring comments, Allman said.

“People who love the market, love it deeply and passionately, and we appreciate that,” she said.

Police are investigating, she said. No other buildings apparently were hit. The market is offering a $500 gift card for information leading to identification of the culprit.