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.
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!
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.
Submission
Graffiti in Solidarity with Welaunee Forest Defenders from the Meadows of Lenapehoking ( South Philly ) for the Week of Action that reads “From Welaunee Forest to the Meadows Defend Mother Earth Without Compromise!”
As our Friends and Comrades are fighting against the “Cop City” that is proposed to destroy the Welaunee Forest in Atlanta, We are connected in struggle here in the Lenni-Lenape meadows of so called “FDR” Park in South Philly. Over 100+ Acres of Meadows that that has rewilded is under threat of development by “astro-turf” sports fields and yuppie tourist shops. A large coalition of over 20+ groups and many autonomous people are resisting and will fight to defend the Meadows without compromise. The whole planet is under attack by colonial capitalist developers and the state and we are on the verge of runaway climate change! We need a global eco-revolution for our collective survival before it’s too late! So Destroy capitalism and the state! WHEREVER YOU ARE REVOLT FOR MOTHER EARTH!
from Abolition Media
Russell Maroon Shoatz, activist and writer, was a founding member of the revolutionary group Black Unity Council in 1969, as well as a member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. In 1972, he would be convicted for a 1970 killing of a Philadelphia police officer. He would spend 49 years in prison (22 of which in solitary confinement), being released in October of 2021 on grounds of compassion, only to die in December of the same year.
While not describing himself as an anarchist, Shoatz’s history of decentralised slave and indigenous rebellions in the americas looks “a whole lot like anarchism”. For Shoatz, it was in the diffused, archipelago like resistance of autonomous maroon communities, that colonialism and plantation slavery would find its greatest opposition, to which the colonial would be forced to respond.
Against the “Dragon” of colonial authority, Shoatz celebrates the “Hydra” tradition of a black-indigenous “anarchism” that did not bear this name, but from which anarchists, and others, must learn.
Below are two essays by Russell Maroon Shoatz, to celebrate his legacy.
from Making World Books
Faint traces of Indigenous people and their histories abound in American media, memory, and myths. Indigeneity often remains absent or invisible, however, especially in contemporary political and intellectual discourse about white supremacy, anti-Blackness, and racism in general. In this ambitious new book, Kevin Bruyneel confronts the chronic displacement of Indigeneity in the politics and discourse around race in American political theory and culture, arguing that the ongoing influence of settler-colonialism has undermined efforts to understand Indigenous politics while also hindering conversation around race itself.
By reexamining major episodes, texts, writers, and memories of the political past from the seventeenth century to the present, Bruyneel reveals the power of settler memory at work in the persistent disavowal of Indigeneity. He also shows how Indigenous and Black intellectuals have understood ties between racism and white settler memory, even as the settler dimensions of whiteness are frequently erased in our discourse about race, whether in conflicts over Indian mascotry or the white nationalist underpinnings of Trumpism.
Envisioning a new political future, Bruyneel challenges readers to refuse settler memory and consider a third reconstruction that can meaningfully link antiracism and anticolonialism.
After a short lecture, Kevin Bruyneel will be in conversation with Chenjerai Kumanyika and Jaskiran Dhillon.
Advance registration is requested.
[May 7 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM ]
from Philly ABC
The National Native Day of Mourning (so-called Thanksgiving) marks the invasion, theft of land, and genocide committed against the Indigenous Native People by European colonialists and later by their Amerikan descendants. UFF Ohio 7 comrades, Kazi Toure and Jaan Laaman, will be conducting a 24 hour fast on Nov. 25th and ask you to join:
This fast is to recognize and highlight the genocide of Native People and the theft of Native land. This is NOT just a historical horror – it continues today with all the injustices, abuses and ongoing land and resources theft committed against Native People all across this imperialist – colonialist USA state. In particular we focus on and demand the immediate release of Leonard Peltier – Native Elder, AIM activist, teacher, mentor, sun dancer and our dear friend and brother. Leonard is a political prisoner, in captivity over 44 years! Leonard must be freed – all U.S.-held political prisoners must be freed! Many Native Councils and governments have long called for Leonard’s release. Very recently, 10 US Senators and Representatives have called for President Joe Biden to release Leonard Peltier. We welcome everyone, each one of you, to join Kazi and Jaan in fasting, however long and in whatever way is meaningful for you, on Nov. 25th. Also do all you can, to get Leonard out of captivity NOW– see Leonard’s website for how you can help! FREE LEONARD PELTIER! FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!
– Jaan Laaman
Philly ABC is hosting an anti-colonialist letter-writing in solidarity with imprisoned indigenous freedom fighter Oso Blanco. Join us Monday, November 29th, 6:30pm online! We’ll be sharing some information on Oso Blanco’s case, as well as updates on several political prisoners. As we write letters, the film ‘Zapatista’ will be streaming since Oso Blanco is being held captive for expropriating funds to support the Zapatistas. We also encourage folks to send birthday greetings to political prisoners with birthdays in December: Fred “Muhammad” Burton (the 15th) and Casey Brezik (the 30th).
from Philly ABC
Fidencio Aldama Perez is an indigenous Yaqui land defender and political prisoner from the northern Mexican state of Sonora. He was arrested on October 27, 2016, and later sentenced to fifteen years and six months in prison on trumped-up charges related to a death in the community of Loma de Bácum, Sonora. It is believed that he was targeted due to his support for the indigenous community’s opposition to a gas pipeline that was to pass through Yaqui territory.
Before his imprisonment, Fidencio loved playing soccer with his children and the community. His favorite team is C.F. Pachuca. He is a talented singer and musician, playing the guitar, bass, accordion, and flute. He has long been involved in practicing, teaching, and strengthening the culture and traditions of the Yaqui people, including playing guitar in traditional Yaqui ceremonies and participating in communal dances. For Fidencio, his identity as indigenous and Yaqui is extremely important, something he has passed on to his children. His vision is for a Yaqui territory that fully belongs to the Yaqui people and from which no one can be displaced.
Please join us this coming Monday in Clark Park (stone platform near 45th and Chester) for letter-writing and art-making in participation of the international week of letter-writing and artwork in solidarity with Fidencio Aldama Perez!
We will also send birthday cards to a political prisoner with a birthday in July: Gage Halupowski (the 1st).
from Philly ABC
Joining the #PalestineStrike and day of action today, Philly ABC extends solidarity to the people of Palestine in their struggle for liberation. Israel’s ongoing policies of apartheid and ethnic cleansing demonstrate to the world that settler colonialism is alive and well and needs to be condemned and confronted in every way possible. We vehemently support the rights to self-determination and self-defense for Palestinian people, and denounce Israel’s militarized police and egregious imprisonment practices including ‘administrative detention.’ We urge people to support organizations on the front lines of defending people from imprisonment for their actions and beliefs in freedom for Palestinian people – Addameer (IG:@addameer_pal T:@Addameer) and Samidoun (IG:@samidounnetwork T:@SamidounPP), as well as the people behind bars including Ahmad Sa’adat, Layan Kayed, Khalida Jarrar, Khitam Saafin, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, and Dr. Issam Hijjawi Bassalat.
#FreeThemAll
#PalestineWillBeFree
Submission
We halted freight train traffic on two different sets of tracks in Philly using the copper wire method to send a false signal. Solidarity with first nations people continuing to oppose colonial destruction of this continent and the rest of the earth. Solidarity with those facing prosecution for similar actions.
Submission
Join Incite Seminars for a two-part workshop to explore counter-mapping as a tool for what Anishinaabe scholar Jean-Paul Restoule calls the twin goals of “decolonization” and “reinhabitation.” In Part I (October 10), we will introduce the practice of counter-mapping and explore an example of a decolonial map of Lower Manhattan in a manner that engages the past as present. In Part II (October 17), we will dig into histories of resistance in our own local communities in an embodied way. This portion of the workshop will invite you to unearth your lived experiences of displacement and rooting and to incorporate them into the mapping process. We will co-create a map that traces the ways some of our predecessors not only managed to inhabit uninhabitable times and places, but actually transformed them into spaces of liberation.
Facilitator: Rebecca Manski is an independent educator, curriculum designer and researcher. She writes and teaches about the fortresses, walls and detention centers in one of this country’s first borderzones, New York’s financial district. You can find her at Unsettling Wall Street/Borderless Walks and Social Justice Tours.
from Twitter
On Saturday, September 19, 2020, the Philadelphia Proud Boys are holding a rally at 1:00 in Clark Park, in West Philadelphia. They timed it to disrupt the Uhuru Flea Market, a 20-year institution in West Philly. If you can, come out to counter it. tockify.com/idavox/detail/97…
Quick history lesson so we know what to expect– the last time the Philadelphia Proud Boys had a rally, in November 2018, their “Security” featured a collection of violent hate group members. See this screenshot from their leaked security chats featuring Alan Swinney.
Swinney’s in Portland at the moment, where he’s been rolling with Haley Adams’ crew of Proud Boy rejects. On August 22, after spraying protesters with mace and shooting them with a paintball gun, Swinney pulled a gun on the crowd. [Video Here]
Their head of security in November 2018 was Jerry Smith, an antisemite with militia ties. See this thread for more information. [Thread Here]
Zach Rehl, the President of the Philadelphia Proud Boys, told the papers at the time that no hate groups would be present. Zach was the President of the Philly Proud Boys at the time, and the papers credulously swallowed his lie.
The 2018 rally also brought out NYC Proud Boy David Kuriakose, who was fresh off of attacking protesters in Manhattan on 10/6/18. manhattanda.org/d-a-vance-an…
The rally was a failure, but Philadelphia Proud Boys President Zach Rehl continued to organized with Alan Swinney, attempting to plan string of violent rallies across the northeast for the summer of 2019. huffpost.com/entry/proud-boy…
Their planning chats were leaked to the @HuffPost, showing them trading pictures of the weapons they wanted to bring, and photos of the leftist activists they planned to assault, dubbing them “HVTs”– “High Value Targets.”
After the chats were leaked and the members were exposed, the rallies were cancelled, so the Philly Proud Boys decided to just start showing up at the homes of leftist activists, threatening @gwensnyderPHL in June 2019. [Thread Here]
You can read more about that incident here. thedailybeast.com/far-right-…
Since the outbreak of anti-police protests across the country, the Philadelphia Proud Boys have attempted to insert themselves into white reactionary vigilante patrols. [Thread Here]
The Philadelphia Proud Boys also have deep ties with the Philly police, as revealed by @KELLYWEILL in July. thedailybeast.com/the-distur…
The Proud Boys revel in misogyny and police violence. After I posted about police using sexual violence as a weapon against protesters, noting that I’d been punched by a cop after interrupting him, Zach Rehl posted “Couldn’t have happened to a bigger scumbag. #FuckAntifa”
In June, a mob of armed reactionaries showed up to attack protesters and journalists at the Columbus statue in Marconi Plaza, in South Philadelphia. Instead of intervening, a police captain threatened a journalist with arrest. [Thread Here]
The Philadelphia Proud Boys immediately rallied to support the police, and forge ties with the new Italian-American vigilante gang, who dubbed themselves the “Gravy Seals.” [Thread Here]
Those same vigilantes are holding an event at 11:00 a.m. in Marconi Plaza, home of the Columbus statue, on September 19th. My sources expect that the Proud Boys will be there to recruit, and try to bring them to Clark Park at 1:00.
So if you can, come out to help us say no to hate in West Philadelphia at Clark Park on Saturday, September 19th. There will be families present, so we’re going to keep things as peaceful as we can, but the Proud Boys are a known violent hate group. tockify.com/idavox/detail/97…
If you can’t come join us on the ground, there’s still ways you can help! @raveneyes77 will be there live-streaming the event, so be sure to follow and share that stream and tell the world who the Proud Boys are– a violent, bootlicking hate group.
Who protects us? We protect us. And on Saturday, September 19th, we’ll be protecting our community in West Philadelphia from a violent hate group. Come join us. ❤️????✊ tockify.com/idavox/detail/97…
Quick Correction: The Uhuru Flea Market has been postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions. However, the Proud Boys event has interrupted the Farmers Market normally held on Saturdays in Clark Park. Statement from the organizers here. facebook.com/thefoodtrust/po…
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.]
When: Saturday, September 19th, 2020 @ 1:00pm – 4:00pm
Where: Clark Park, 4300-4398 Baltimore Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
When a hate rally is pending, people like to tell folks to stay home and ignore it. But what if a violent hate group whose rallies are pretty much geared to be violent comes directly to you?
That’s what it looks like the Proud Boys are planning for the 19th. Originally they announced that they were going to hold a rally on the 26th in South Philadelphia in conjunction with the one Proud Boys are holding in Portland, Oregon, but now comes word that because of conflicts with the Portland rally (they want to be there) they are doing a rally the Saturday before in Clark Park in West Philadelphia. The timing and location of this rally is telling as hell – not to mention that they are calling it “Belly of the Beast 2020” and they “and other patriots” are going there “to demand an end to antifa terrorism.”
Normally this is the date and location of the Uhuru Flea Market, a regular thing that has been taking place for 20+ years in the park every third Saturday from April to October. The pandemic shutdown has caused such events to be canceled until at least Feb. 2021, but this is where a lot of West Philly locals who made it clear that they do not care for Proud Boys, in particular recently by causing a neighborhood bar and venue a lot of grief for supporting them, like to come regardless and take in the day, so Proud Boys want to have a go at them. The group is basically trying to pick fights all over the country, and the police chief that was giving them leeway in Portland for three years is now the Philadelphia Police Commissioner. That doesn’t mean that people will not be able to keep them from using their neighborhood as a playground for far-Right, pro-Trump violence. They are working to oppose them now.
Photo from the originally Uhuru Flea Market SOURCE: Twitter
And here’s where it gets interesting: Philadelphia Proud Boys have a rough go of it, pretty much being regulated to trash talk online, sneaking around IRL and latching onto other people’s events so they can do something worth a damn. But they think they have a little juice via the knuckleheads that were trying – in vain – to save the Columbus statue by physically attacking anyone that comes near it – which is actually the catalyst which has resulted in plans to take it down. So we expect them to show up two hours before this rally at another one in Marconi Park in South Philly. That’s a rally organized by an outfit calling itself “Italian American Patriots” that is still trying to save the now-boarded up Columbus statue. The 26th rally was touted as protecting Italian Heritage, but now that this event was announced, they might have decided to use this as cover – which means Philly has a full day.
This is just one of a few rallies the Proud Boys have planned over the next few months. In addition to the one in Portland, there will be one in Columbus, Ohio as well.
from Fundrazr
Nicknamed the gravy seals, this group of white reactionaries have repeatedly threatened and assaulted innocent people, causing those assaulted to be sent to the hospital.
In mid-June, our friend was tasked to be present for a multi-cultural story time in the park, so the participants would be safe. As attendees left when the event ended, a group of people attacked our friend and others, causing multiple injuries. When our friend was taken to the hospital, they received X-rays and CT scans in addition to immediate care for a broken nose. Additionally, they have multiple cracked and broken teeth.
Here is a note from them: “On June 15th, while attempting to pull another person away from getting attacked by a mob of right-wing reactionaries, I was assaulted. I had 4 people gang up on me, hitting me in the face and kicking me in the legs. While I am lucky to have insurance, it will not cover the necessary dental work; I have at least three cracked teeth. I want to get fixed up and back to trying to help others as quick as I can, and would appreciate any help in handling this necessary medical expense.”
Our friend is an active member of the Industrial Workers of the World and larger local organizing community. In return for frequently showing up for others in need, we’d like to show up for them like they have historically shown up for all of us.
If you’re not able to financially contribute, please spread the world and share with your network! Thank you in advance for your support.
