Submission
No Dinner For Fascists
Philly’s Downtown Marriott Protested for Hosting “Moms for Liberty” Conference
from Idavox
The soon to be regular protest actions seek the hotel to follow the company’s anti-hate policies, cancel the conference, and raise awareness of “Moms for Liberty” adverse efforts on anti-masking, LGBTQ+ issues, book-banning, and racial education policy efforts.
Innocent Bystander
PHILADELPHIA, PA — Various groups and political actors kicked-off protests and call-in action on Friday, May 12, to have the city’s downtown Marriott reverse its decision to host the neo-fascist group, Moms for Liberty June 29 – July 2.
The groups, such as ACT UP Philadelphia and UDTJ (Understanding. Devotion. Take Action. Justice.), along with others, protested the Marriott on the 1300 block of Filbert Street where the main entrance is located.
Several state legislators also wrote Marriott management, led by state senator Nikkil Saval, whose district includes this hotel. The exchange of letters and more is located here.
“Moms for Liberty” has come under increasing scrutiny not only for the national conference, but also for its right-wing astroturf funding, complained-of threats by its members and its leadership.
And yet while the national leadership has not responded to questions and complaints, that didn’t stop the newly installed Philadelphia chapter leader — 46 year-old Sheila E. Armstrong — from complaining about not being interviewed by the Philadelphia Inquirer although the conference is a national matter.
Moreover, if Armstrong’s name rings a bell, it should. Armstrong has run for local public office in recent years as a Democrat and Independent, and has been defeated in these efforts by a nearly 99 percent voting margin and by being knocked off the ballot. Not to be outdone by this, she was a paid staff member for the Mehmet Oz campaign for U.S. Senate where she and Oz were outed for deceptively manipulating supporter testimony as the campaign closed.
Armstrong is also a Philadelphia public school parent of two children, one of whom has been diagnosed with autism. This has served as a vehicle for for her serving on the the state’s Student Parent Advisory Council. Obviously, this is one of many oppositional tensions Armstrong faces while trying to intertwine as a local face for “Moms for Liberty.”
The next protest at the Downtown Marriott is scheduled for Friday, May 26th. The late afternoon time is to be determined.
Clinic Defense Counter-Demonstration
from Twitter
#Philadelphia: This morning a clinic in #Chinatown that provides #abortions drew a handful of pro-life demonstrators and a counter demo of about 20 pro-choice people. Clinic defense call was from @PhillyDSA
Cities Across the US Take Part in ‘Week of Action’ Against Cop City
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.]
Over the past week, dozens of cities across the so-called US took part in the recent week of action in solidarity with Tortuguita and the ongoing struggle to stop Cop City and defend the Weelaunee Forest. This out-pouring of solidarity has been amazing to see, both from the wider autonomous movement and even mainstream environmental and Left groups.
Many towns organized small events, including nights of writing letters to those facing charges, benefit shows, and informational teach-ins and film showings on the struggle itself. Other cities organized mass marches and protests, bringing attention to the various corporations and banks that are currently funding the Cop City project and demanding that they drop their contracts.
If you’re looking for more background on the Cop City project, check out the recent deep dive from CrimethInc. here and here. There is also currently a call for a week of action in Atlanta, that kicks off on March 4th. Check out a full week of events planned here.
Now, let’s dive into our roundup of actions against Cop City!
Northeast
In Pennsylvania, people in Philadelphia put up graffiti messages and held a mass march through the city center. Protests were also organized outside of the offices of Cop City’s major funders and a law firm supporting the project. A communique posted to Scenes from the Atlanta Forest also took credit for causing train delays on a mainline owned by Norfolk Southern, a Cop City investor and the company responsible for the recent chemical disaster in East Palestine.
Supporters of ‘Cop City’ Opponents Rally in Philly
from Unicorn Riot
Philadelphia, PA – Protests around the U.S. have increased recently against the proposed Public Safety Training Center near Atlanta. At the Philadelphia City Hall on around noon on Friday, Feb. 24, opponents held a rally.
The #StopCopCity movement aims to have funders and contractors withdraw from the project in order to prevent the proposed site from demolishing the largest urban forest in the USA. Pending court cases claim that the Atlanta Police Foundation has ignored local laws and environmental regulations in order to rush construction of the complex against the concerns of nearby residents.
Groups calling for the rally included Extinction Rebellion Philly, and Fridays for Future Philadelphia. According to a flyer the call is to “support land defenders in Atlanta, resist police brutality & militarization, protect the right to protest.”
After rallying at City Hall, the protest coalition stopped outside the offices of AXA, an insurance corporation targeted for providing liability coverage to Brasfield Gorrie, a general contractor hired by the Atlanta Police Foundation to help demolish the Atlanta Forest to build the contested urban warfare training complex.
Protesters attempted to deliver a letter to AXA but were reportedly denied the opportunity to hand-deliver it to executives inside the office suite. AXA has not responded to Unicorn Riot’s request for comment regarding today’s protest as of the time of this writing.
Philly demo at Greenberg Traurig in Solidarity with the Weelaunee forest!
Submission
On Tuesday February 21st, there was a demonstration in Solidarity with the Weelaunee Forest Defense / campaign to Stop Cop City at Greenberg Traurig who is on the board and a funder of the Atlanta Police Foundation. We demanded they cut ties to APF, handed out hundreds of flyers, people spoke to to how we must Stop Cop City everywhere, and chalked all over their sidewalks and building. ” RIP Tortuguita! ” “Stop Cop City! “- “FTP-ACAB!” – “Save Chinatown, the UC Townhomes, Cobbs Creek, The Meadows!” – “Defend Chingsessing Meadows! Fuck Cellicon Valley!” – referring to the efforts to stop Ecocidal development at the so called “FDR” Meadows and “Bartram’s” Garden that that are part of the Meadows that the Lenape referred to as Chingsessing.
Here is a zine for more info about that https://phlanticap.noblogs.org/fuck-a-cellicon-valley-zine/
The struggle continues on so keep organizing and take Direct Action, and escalate against colonial developers, their funders, and the police everywhere to dismantle the industrial capitalist state death machine and defend the community and land.
THOSE WHO DESTROY THE EARTH HAVE NAMES AND ADDRESSES!
RIP Tortuguita! Stop Cop City!
Temple University Grad Student Union Strikes; Rally on Campus
from Unicorn Riot
February 15, 2023
PHILADELPHIA, PA – The Temple University Graduate Students Association (TUGSA) has gone on strike, and undergraduates who support them have organized a walk-out from class and campus work on February 15. The graduate students are demanding base pay of $32,800, dependent healthcare, longer parental and bereavement leave and improved working conditions. The university administration has already revoked the striking grad students’ tuition remission and health insurance coverage in retaliation for striking.
An undergrads’ press release said in response to organizing, “university administration responded with an intimidating email directed to all students, even threatening students’ academic progress for participation.”
Live coverage here:
The undergrads tell Unicorn Riot that while tuition was raised 3.9% this year, only 62 cents of every dollar are spent on instruction. A notice from the undergrad organizers reads:
“Forcing administration to give into TUGSA’s demands will take escalation involving students and workers across campus. In walking out from classes, undergraduate students show the way forward towards more and more workers in the Temple community taking escalating collective action.”
— Press release from undergrad students at Temple supporting striking graduate students
Opponents of Philly FDR Park Development Speak Out
from Unicorn Riot
January 26, 2023
Philadelphia, PA – The FDR Park in South Philly is in the midst of a new redevelopment plan supported by the city and private groups like Fairmount Park Conservancy. Opponents of the plan have dubbed their cause “Save the Meadows,” referencing a wild area that was partly bulldozed late in 2022. The plan’s authors are finally hosting a community event on January 26, 2023, although opponents believe that they will not be allowed to speak inside.
A demonstration outside the Grand Yesha Ballroom in South Philly is highlighting reasons they oppose the plan. An ad-hoc coalition of several groups, under the flag “The People’s Plan for FDR Park,” has pushed local officials to reconsider the plan and preserve more meadows while unlocking often-shuttered sports fields around the city.
Among the main concerns opponents have is that the expansion of the Philadelphia International Airport will remove wetlands near the town of Eastwick, which can thus expect more flooding as climate change intensifies. (The airport’s expansion is a key part of the financing of the FDR Park project.)
Live coverage below:
See our video report from last fall below:
Opposition to the development plan was also an element in a large demonstration and march in November 2022 that highlighted several different, yet related causes in the city.
Vigil and Stroll for Tortuguita
Submission
On Saturday 1/21 there was a vigil for Tortuguita Manuel Teran. A group of about 40 adults and children placed candles and homemade signs by the turtle in Clark Park.
People spontaneously made speeches about Tortuguita’s death. The speeches touched on people’s experience of them, grief, martyrdom, and continuing to struggle. People called on each other to target cop city’s sponsors and the contractors responsible for building.
After people had been speaking for a while a small group broke off from the vigil. They took the street with banners. Barricades from a nearby construction site were pulled into the street to block cops and traffic. As the march moved graffiti memorializing Tortuguita and against police was tagged. A realty office had its windows smashed.
The rowdy vigil is the first time things have popped off from Clark Park in a while. A few years ago Cark Park was a regular spot for mid sized black bloc demos to start from. We think that this is worthwhile to revisit because it’s a traditionally anarchist neighborhood and there are lots of alleys nearby to easily change in. It’s exciting to see this kind of energy re-emerge in Philly.
Even though Philly is far from Atlanta, Tortuguita’s death has been deeply felt here. We are angry. We are watching. We are acting. Cop city will never be built.
RIP Tortuguita
Neither innocent nor guilty
Neither terrorists nor protesters
Simply anarchists!
A warm embrace to those arrested in Atlanta, Seattle and everywhere else
Death to civilization
West Philadelphia Vigil Remembers Tortuguita
from Twitter
West #Philadelphia earlier tonight: A vigil at a turtle sculpture in Clark Park to remember #Tortuguita, the forest defender killed near #Atlanta. About 70 people joined a vigil and talked about local struggles. One shared a memory of meeting Tort in the forest last year.
In West #Philly tonight, a small breakaway march from the vigil at Clark Park looped thru the streets and someone tagged “RIP TORT” on a Jersey barrier. #CopCity #Tortuguita
Solidarity Vigil For Tortuguita
from It’s Going Down
Philadelphia, PA
New Years Eve Noise Demo Reportback
Submission
On the evening of the new year about 10 people held a banner, made noise, shone lazer pointers and set off fireworks in front of the Federal Department of Corrections at 7th and Arch.
People met at a nearby park and walked over together carrying a banner, banging on pots and pans and chanting as they went. Everyone was in bloc and people stayed tight and alert during the demo which lasted about 20-30 minutes. At the prison we were greeted by a heavy police presence of at least three cars. More cops came within 10 minutes of us being there including a few bike cops who followed us for a block or two after we left. Everyone got home safe and no arrests were made.
It seemed like the cops were anxious since there hasn’t been a noise demo at that spot since a particuarly rowdy one two years ago. That demo in 2020 ended with multiple arrests and some people facing heavy charges (all of which have since been cleared I think).
Considering the history, this demo felt like a success. People inside the prison were able to see and hear us and responded by flickering their lights. The police intimidation only reaffirmed how important it is to show up for people on the inside and let them know we’re thinking of them and that they are not alone.
Hopefully more demos happen this year and people are inspired to keep acting in defiance of the police state hellscape we live in. I hope we keep finding each other and keep being creative with new tactics and old ones too.
See you next year!
1312
FREE THEM ALL
FIRE TO THE PRISONS
ONCE THERE WERE NO PRISONS AND THAT DAY WILL COME AGAIN
HAPPY 2023!
XOXO
Noisy Philly Counter-Demo Challenges ‘TERFs’ at Independence Hall
from Unicorn Riot
November 21, 2022
PHILADELPHIA, PA — On Sunday, November 13, 100+ counter-demonstrators tried to drown out about 30 protesters who were demonstrating against transgender people’s access to medical transitions, recognition of chosen gender and other rights near Independence Hall. The counter-demo side characterized them as “TERFs” or ‘Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists.’ Philadelphia Police and U.S. National Park Service Park Rangers separated the crowds using bicycle police and portable barricades. Inside the barricades, several men, mostly masked up concealing their identities, paced around and eyed the crowd; they were widely suspected to be Proud Boys providing security according to a counter-protester. However, their identities are unknown.
Over almost three hours, Unicorn Riot interviewed nearly a dozen hoarse but spirited attendees. In this 29-minute video, we hear about why they consider noisy counter-demonstrations strategically significant, as well as reactions to how the recent U.S. elections largely — but not entirely — refuted anti-transgender politicians and messages.
Some interviewees believed that John Fetterman, the current lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, who will soon be seated as a U.S. senator, would protect their rights. Another interviewee said that democracy and electoralism create situations where groups are enabled to spread messages about taking away rights from transgender people.
While there was at least one round of counter-demonstrators splashing the anti-transgender demonstration with water, no arrests transpired during our time observing the event.
Marquee speaker linked to white supremacists
The marquee anti-trans speaker was British activist Kellie-Jay Keen Minshull, who has also been known by the name “Posie Parker.” Keen Minshull appeared on a podcast with white nationalist French Canadian Jean-Francois Gariepy. An ardent ‘white ethnostate’ supporter, Gariepy has made videos with key Neo-Nazis including Richard Spencer, David Duke and Mark Collett. Several Philadelphia counter-demonstrators highlighted this shared media connection between Keen Minshull and Duke, although they have not appeared side-by-side.
Connections between “gender-critical feminists” like Keen and far-right white supremacists have been turning up for years, and the far-right has tried to leverage opposition to transgender rights to expand its movement. More about Gariepy’s long history with far-right circles and accusations of abusing a minor has previously been documented.
In 2019 Keen Minshull praised high-profile English racist ‘Tommy Robinson’ of the English Defense League who has been supported by the Philadelphia-based think tank Middle East Forum, The Guardian reported in 2018. Robinson’s real name is Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon; he is banned from entering the United States and has been convicted of fraud, in addition to drug and public disorder offenses.
After the anti-trans protesters left the area, they were forced to leave the nearby Khyber Pass Pub by employees who became aware of their bigoted views. The pub “is a punk and metal institution … they aren’t to be fucked with by bigots and fascist[s],” one observer noted.
Protesters Call Attention to Development and Gentrification in Philadelphia
from Unicorn Riot
Philadelphia, PA – A number of groups are rallying and marching on Saturday afternoon around concerns regarding how space and development in the city are controlled, the day’s call is about “democratizing development.” The group is gathering at FDR Park in South Philly.
Follow our livestream here:
[Video]
Organizer flyers included some of the key concerns. According to an event page the attendee groups include “Philly Thrive, Sunrise Movement, VietLead, Save UCTownhomes, Save the Meadows, RECLAIM, PSL, Cobbs Creek EJ”.
One major concern is the redevelopment of a massive Southwest Philly refinery site which was the site of a massive, dangerous fire in 2019. Highly toxic hydrofluoric acid was released, and an explosion launched a section of a tank all the way across the Schulykill River. On October 11 the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) released its final report on the disaster including a gripping video animating the sequence of events. Despite the many decades of chemical exposure on nearby neighborhoods, the public has been largely shut out of the redevelopment process (including a recently shelved, long sought community meeting with the development company).
[Video]
Another issue raised by organizers is the rapid redevelopment of FDR Park itself, which they argue put people at risk by felling trees without warning. Unicorn Riot released a closer look at the park site in September.
Another topic raised by organizers is the impending eviction of 70 families on Market Street. UC Townhomes residents have been struggling to reprieves from eviction this year — the Save the Townhomes campaign has pushed for more time and demanded ‘just compensation’ for the sale deal, part of a long history of displacement including eminent domain in the 1960s.
Organizers are also calling attention to Chinatown residents who are “having another stadium forced on them” after “fighting off a casino and a stadium.”
Anti-Trans Bigots With Nazi Ties Coming To Philly Nov. 13th – Protest Party Planned
from Philly Antifa
British Anti-Trans hate monger Posie Parker, aka Kellie-Jay Keen, is currently on a U.S. “Speakers Corner” tour to spread her bigoted bullshit.
Check out this thread by @B_for_backup about Parker’s record of violent transphobia and racism:
A dance party and noise demo has been called to counter the tour’s stop in Philadelphia, which is scheduled to occur at 1PM on Sunday, 11/13/22 near The Liberty Bell. While we are not organizing this event, we encourage everyone to come out and be loud and proud.
Transphobes Fuck Off,
