fare strike update/plan/announcment

  • December 5, 2019 6:22 pm

Submission

SEPTA, along with all of this country’s sorely lacking public transit, is paid for with the tax dollars of the American people. then, after taking our money, they have the balls to charge us for the “privilege” of getting to work, visiting out friends and whatever the hell else people want to do that isn’t in walking distance.
The goal of this action, along with being a strike against the injustice faced in daily life under capitalism and showing support for similar actions taking place across the world, is to demonstrate what we are capable of when acting collectively. A life free from coercion is possible. The first step is acting like we’re already there, even if only for a day. Public transit should be free, so we’re taking it upon ourselves to make that true.
hop, swipe your homies, hold the emergency door, do whatever whenever where ever as long as no one pays
City hall, 3 PM 12/24/19

Philadelphia, PA: Anti-ICE Protesters Disrupt Devereux Gala Against Detention of Migrant Children

  • November 20, 2019 8:54 pm

from It’s Going Down

Report from recent action in Philadelphia against Devereux which has accepted a contract  to open several migrant youth detention facilities.

On Saturday night, over 100 Jews, immigrants, and allies marched in the streets as others from the group infiltrated the annual fundraising gala of Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health. The demonstration was part of a larger campaign highlighting the $14 million contract Devereux accepted from the federal government to open several migrant youth detention centers. This action is the latest escalation from the national Jewish movement Never Again working in collaboration with local immigrant justice organization Juntos to demand that Devereux stop detaining migrant children.

On the streets outside of the event, protesters marched from 8th and Cherry to the National Constitution Center where the gala was held. Protestors chanted slogans like “It’s Not a Shelter, It’s a Jail” and blocked the Constitution Center parking garage where Devereux was offering free parking to its guests.

On October 17th, several dozen protestors from this campaign blocked the main exit to Devereux National Headquarters while protesting the nonprofit’s plans to hold migrant children in a detention center in Devon, PA. Devereux plans to use its $14 million contract from the Office of Refugee Resettlement to operate multiple youth detention centers nationwide, including one in Devon, PA, where they plan to house 42 migrant children who crossed the border without an adult.

Although Devereux calls them “shelters,” their facilities for migrant children are in fact detention centers since the children held there will be forbidden from leaving. “These young people need to be immediately reunited with their families or sponsors, not detained,” said Juntos Executive Director Erika Almirón, adding that agencies like Devereux “aren’t trying to help these children, they’re trying to make money.”

Devereux claims to be “apolitical” and “neutral” on immigration policy, but its participation in the terrifying status quo is cowardly. The number of kids in cages is higher than it’s ever been, and only growing under this administration. In 2019 alone, 70,000 migrant children were detained, including infants and toddlers — more than ever before in the US and more than any other country in the world.

The detention center in Devon recently had its zoning permit revoked and organizers demand that Devereux accept this decision. They further demand an end to corporations profiting off of immigrant detention, the complete defunding of ICE and CBP as overall agencies, and permanent protection for all undocumented immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.

Campaign Targeting Devereux’s Youth Detention Centers Escalates as Protestors Plan to March

  • November 15, 2019 5:38 pm

from It’s Going Down

Call for mass march on November 16th in Philadelphia against an immigrant youth detention center.

Philadelphia – On Saturday night, Jews, immigrants, and allies will march through downtown Philadelphia to protest the creation of privately-held immigrant youth detention centers by Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health. Devereux recently received a $14 million contract from the federal government to detain migrant children in facilities across the country, including in Devon, PA.

This action is the latest escalation from the national Jewish movement Never Again working in collaboration with local immigrant justice organization Juntos to demand that Devereux stop detaining migrant children. On October 17th, several dozen protestors from this campaign blocked the main exit to Devereux National Headquarters.

We demand that Devereux cancel its plans to hold 42 migrant children in a detention center in Devon, PA. We further demand an end to corporations profiting off of immigrant detention, the complete defunding of ICE and CBP as overall agencies, and permanent protection for all undocumented immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.

Devereux claims to be apolitical while it is catering to the political ends of the U.S. government. This was made clear when Devereux’s Leah Yaw told the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), “Should ORR needs dictate, Devereux is ready to grow capacity well beyond the 182 beds [initially opened] during this project’s three-year award cycle.” Devereux cannot remain apolitical when it makes covert promises to the Trump government that it will supply more and more child detention centers should the white nationalists in charge of our immigration policy deem it necessary.

There is no reason that unaccompanied children should be detained. In applying for asylum, they have committed no crime, and for decades, the US did not incarcerate them. Yet in 2019, nearly 70,000 migrant children have been detained so far, including infants and toddlers. While Devereux claims to be offering vital services to traumatized children with “specialized needs,” they are merely perpetuating trauma through a system of violence that has taken these children from their families and holds them indefinitely.

While the guests at Devereux’s 20th-anniversary gala enjoy appetizers and wine, the money they donate enriches an organization that seeks not only to prop up, but expand the current detention-and-deportation regime.  As Jews, we know that people are isolated in secure facilities so the rest of the population can look the other way. Never Again stands with Juntos against private detention and the entire immigration deportation machine. We know that when a government targets one group of people, it is only a matter of time before everyone’s freedom is under attack.

Join us, 6 PM, Saturday 11/16/19, N 8th and Cherry St Philadelphia, PA.

Call to Support Dwayne & Jarreau of the Vaughn 17 in Court!

  • August 29, 2019 12:02 am

from It’s Going Down

Call to support Dwayne and Jarreau of the Vaughn 17 as they go to court on September 13th in Wilmington, DE.

Facebook Event HERE

In February of 2017, 18 prisoners in James T. Vaughn Prison were initially charged with multiple counts of murder, rioting, conspiracy and kidnapping. 1 of the initial suspect turned to a state star witness and Kelly Gibbs took his own life leaving a letter of declaration. Jarreau Ayers and Dwayne Staats already incarcerated with life without parole recieved charges, however the rest of the group received not guilty charges or had their the charges dropped. As their sentencing day is coming up we are asking you on behalf of their families to show up to court and hold signs in front of the court building.

Jarreau “Ruk” Ayers writes:

On September 13, 2019 myself along with our Comrade Dwayne Staats, the only two to be found guilty for the Riot that occurred on Feb 1 of 2017 at James T. Vaughn Prison that left one CO dead, will be called before the “Courts”, a conduit for this white supremacist totalitarian government in the occupied territory of Wilmington, DE. For purposes no other than what Ms. Assata Shakur correctly identified as a public lynching. We ask that you support us with your presence to make it abundantly clear to the authoritarian tyrants that they are being watched. That myself along with our comrade Dwayne Staats will NEVER be left alone, for this system to be psychological torture and isolate to the point of mental deterioration, I ask that you stand with us in solidarity as a clear acknowledgement that we the people determine what’s right and just. That we the people find that the actions of those who stood for the people of oppression on Feb 1, 2017 were righteous and just and deserve to be commended, not condemned.

We ultimately ask that you support us with your presence as a clear signal to those comrades not born yet or who are just consciously coming of age, that when you take action for your beliefs, our collective beliefs and are no longer just an orator of beautiful ideals, you won’t be abandoned! That regardless of the hardships, time/distance or enormity of the enemy, we will stand unflinchingly in solidarity!
Jarreau “Ruk” Ayers

Fore more information on how to support Dwayne and Jarreau on September 13th, go here.

Antifascist Alert! Far-Right March Saturday

  • August 2, 2019 10:27 pm

from It’s Going Down

Community alert that a far-Right march will take place on Saturday in Philadelphia.

WHITE NATIONALISTS, ISLAMOPHOBES and other assorted FASCISTS are planning to show themselves in Philly on 8/3, for a late-announced march under the guise of “Patriot Pride.”

Organized by Houston resident Chris White with local the event doubles as a publicity campaign for White’s “Freedom Hard” lifestyle brand. As part of an attempted national campaign White marched in Chicago on July 27th to a paltry turnout, had planned to hold similar events in DC and Philly, but seems to have canceled his DC event for lack of interest.

But what White and friends either don’t know or care about, is that this march’s registered attendees include members of hate groups such as the Proud Boys, Three Percenter Militia, Chester County KKK, white supremacist Asatru practitioners and other assorted far right CHUDs.

As seen nationally post-Charlottesville, many far right groups have retreated from attempts to organize in the open, and recruit covertly inside more milquetoast right wing groups. This was widely exposed leading up to last year’s “We The People” rally, similarly organized under the guise of innocuous patriotism but actually planned and attended by Three Percenter Militia and Proud Boys members.

Take this information as you will; vulnerable folks seeking to avoid Center City tomorrow is totally understandable. But if you’re willing and able to help keep Nazi’s and their ilk off our streets, any resistance is encouraged!

Tomorrow’s unpermitted “Patriot Pride” march includes plans gather at 11AM the Liberty Bell, and then march at noon to an unspecified location.

Noise Demo Against Borders & to Remember Willem van Spronsen

  • July 14, 2019 10:05 pm
Submission

Friday – July 19th – 8PM
Washington Square Park, 6th & Walnut
March & Noise Demo Against Borders & to Remember Willem van Spronsen
——–
Spread widely! Three fliers attached. Half-reluctant Facebook event here.
——–
“On July 13, Willem Van Spronsen was killed by police while apparently taking action to disable the fleet of buses that serve the Northwest Detention Center, a private immigration detainment facility.”
We hope to act to honor Will’s memory in solidarity with all those affected by the border regime – from the detention centers to the desert.
No Borders. No Prisons. No Cops.
Escalate.
Statement from Will’s friends:
https://pugetsoundanarchists.org/we-are-the-fire-that-will-melt-ice-rest-in-power-will-van-spronsen-olympia-wa/
https://crimethinc.com/2019/07/14/on-willem-van-spronsens-action-against-the-northwest-detention-center-in-tacoma-including-the-full-text-of-his-final-statement


NJ Boneheads Tried to Cause Trouble at Philly I.C.E. Protests

  • July 6, 2019 12:47 am

from Idavox

L-R, Dan D’Ambly of the NJEHA and Ron Sheehy

Ron Sheehy and Dan D’Ambly led a crew of four people to harass members of the Jewish community and their supporters protesting Trump’s concentration camps. Gee, whatever got their dander up?

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Neo-Nazis, two who were readily identified as participants in the 2017 “Unite the Right” Rally in Charlottesville, were seen at an anti-ICE protest at Independence Hall today.

Jewish-American organizations across the country organized this week to be a national “Never Again Week of Action,” and are holding similar marches across the U.S., linking the current immigration enforcement tactics employed by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to the Holocaust. “As Jews, we’ve been taught to never let anything like the Holocaust happen again,” the Facebook event page reads. “Now, with children detained in unacceptable conditions, ICE raids targeting our communities, and people dying at the border while seeking safety in the US, we are seeing the signs of a mass atrocity. We refuse to wait and see what happens next.”

During the march, four White men identified as neo-Nazis were heckling the passing protesters with anti-Semitic language. Of the four, two were identified because of their notoriety. Dan D’Ambly of the New Jersey European Heritage Association (NJEHA), raised the Betsy Ross American flag while shouting at passers-by, while Ron Sheehy, once of the Advanced White Society joined him while videotaping those he was heckling on his cell phone. According to a since deleted post from his “Tremley” account on Stormfront, the other two were members of NJEHA.

Sheehy also said the four of them later attempted to lay a wreath emblazoned with NJEHA decals on the grave of Ben Franklin but was met with opposition. “We all paid $3 each to get into the Cemetery, and we asked if we can lay a Reef (sic) on Ben Franklin’s Grave Site so we can take a Picture,” he wrote. “(T)hey said ok, but once we did, 2 queer guys who worked there flipped out and tried taking the Reef (sic) away from us. A lot yelling back and forth with them calling us White Supremacist and stuff, so we left after that.” Sheehy also went to an anti-I.C.E. protest earlier this week at the offices of Rep. Tom Malinowski where he heckled the protesters while videotaping them. It is not known at this time if anyone joined him there.

D’Ambly is best known for attempting to hold a rally in Princeton, NJ but failed to show once the residents learned of his plans. The NJEHA seldom, if ever, hold public rallies, opting instead to post flyers on telephone poles in various cities around the state. Sheehy has been seen often at anti-immigration events over the past decade in the New York City area, and just like D’Ambly was photographed at the rally in Charlottesville which cost this life of 32-year-old Heather Heyer, who was killed when White Supremacist James Fields plowed his car into a crowd of protester. D’Ambly was also identified as one of the participants of the “Unite the Right 2” rally the following year in Washington, DC, with his NJEHA organization.

Dozens of protesters were arrested during the Fourth of July Parade while marching through demanding those being held in what has been referred to as concentration camps be removed from such establishments, one of them being in Berks County, PA.

End ICE Contracts! Mayday Solidarity March

  • April 24, 2019 12:26 am

from Facebook


The ‘End ICE Contracts! Mayday Solidarity Rally’ is a show of solidarity with workers all around the world with a specific emphasis on solidarity with the local immigrant community. The march will highlight corporate sponsorships of ICE.

Meet at the Octavius Catto Statue

[May 1st from 2:30 PM – 5:30 PM at South Penn Square]

Unicorn Riot Coverage of Candace Owen Protest

  • April 15, 2019 11:28 pm

from Twitter

Far-right campus group Turning Point USA’s director Candace Owens just showed up at UPenn campus in Philadelphia. She ignored our questions about whether TPUSA plans to address ongoing neo-Nazi infiltration and recruitment among their membership.
[Video Here]

A group of Proud Boys and others have shown up and started a heckling match with antifascists opposing Candace Owens and Turning Point USA at UPenn in Philadelphia
[Video Here]
We were able to briefly interview Candace Owens when she appeared at UPenn in Philly today. Owens didn’t respond to a Q about her recent dubious Congressional testimony & called it “a weird question” when we asked about being cited in the New Zealand mosque shooter’s manifesto.
[Video Here]

Turning Point GTFO

  • April 14, 2019 9:44 pm

from Facebook

Candace Owens, Hitler apologist, the racist alt-Right’s best black friend (https://www.theroot.com/candace-owens-is-racist-white-americas-black-friend-and-1833921887), and communications director for Turning Point USA, sure has been making the rounds recently. After testifying at the House Judiciary Committee with the clear intention of derailing a hearing on white nationalism, and gracing Storrs, CT with her authoritarian rhetoric at the University of Connecticut on April 9, Owens is making her way back to Philadelphia. She will give a talk at the University of Pennsylvania on Monday August 15, in an event sponsored by the UPenn College Republicans and ultra conservative paper The Statesmen.

While Owens tries to deny the white supremacist politics behind TPUSA and the broader right movement in the so-called U.S., she fully embraces and espouses positions that are explicitly anti-trans, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim. Examples include statements that trans identities are “a mental disorder” and that “Europe will fall and become a Muslim majority continent by 2050. There has never been a muslim majority country where sharia law was not implemented.” After Owens was mentioned in the manifesto of the Christchurch, New Zealand, shooter, her response was literally “LOL.”

Suffice it to say that Owens, along with her buddy Charlie Kirk and TPUSA, run in the same racist dog-piling circles as Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson, Lucian Wintrich, and other white nationalist, white supremacist groups such as the Proud Boys. All of these individuals and groups have several important things in common: they deny that racism is a problem while simultaneously spewing white supremacist, homophobic, misogynistic rhetoric that has been directly linked to violence and mass killings. They claim Hitler’s only mistake was “globalism” rather than focusing on “nationalism.” They spout hateful rhetoric about immigrants and workers alike, not to mention women, Muslims, the trans community, and people of color. They simultaneously call for a weaker government while chumming up with grand fascist and white supremacist himself, Trump.

More in-depth analysis of Owens’ politics can be found here: https://itsgoingdown.org/how-white-nationalist-jared-taylor-wrote-candace-owens-playbook/
here: https://itsgoingdown.org/call-to-action-shut-down-charlie-kirk-and-candace-owens-at-uconn/
and here: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/438072-ted-lieu-plays-candace-owenss-comments-on-hitler-out-loud-to-her-at-white

As noxious as Owens and TPUSA are, and as crucial as it is to drive them out of town when they do show up, it is equally important to recognize that they are invited by people who actually live in Philadelphia. UPenn College Republicans are actively attempting to advance anti-trans, islamophobic, xenophobic, misogynist and anti-immigrant politics in Philly. That they are doing so from a university that is and has been aggressively advancing gentrification in west philly is especially noxious.

We call on all students, staff, employees, and Philly residents to denounce and disrupt both her appearance and the sniveling rich kids who invited her. We cannot stand by and watch as her positions are cast as “free speech,” “dialogue,” and “conversation” when we know what it really is – an authoritarian project to carry out violence against ourselves and our friends and neighbors.

There can be NO platform for fascists and racist hatespeech! Come out Monday April 15 to SHUT DOWN fascist speech in Philadelphia, remind Candace of the last time she tried to step foot in our city https://twitter.com/PhillyANTIFA/status/1026468028383457282 https://twitter.com/PhillyANTIFA/status/1026508608836722689, and let our community and neighbors know we have their backs! Bring drums, whistles, trumpets, other noisemakers, and your dance shoes for a party in the street. 6:15PM, College Hall, UPenn, off 34th & Spruce.

We also call on all those who can to crew up and engage in autonomous actions. Diversity of tactics should and must be respected.

Gritty says Get the Fuck Out
No Borders.
Trans Day of Revenge 24/7/365.
Queer as in Fuck Nationalism.
FTP // 1312 // (A)

Flash Protest at ICE Office

  • February 23, 2019 12:22 am

from Twitter

Earlier today in Philadelphia, PA, around 9 AM, protesters created a noisy disruption outside the ICE office during morning traffic. They said they were joining in a national response to President Trump declaring a state of emergency to fund his border wall.

Philly Turns Up the Heat for Mumia Abu-Jamal

  • January 8, 2019 5:52 pm

from It’s Going Down

The following press release about continued action in support of Black Liberation prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal was sent to It’s Going Down, which we reprint below.

A community delegation delivered thousands of petitions to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner on January 7th, asking him to not stand in the way of justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal and to not appeal a December 27, 2018 court decision by Common Pleas Judge Leon Tucker.

Wayne Alexander Cook (nephew of Mumia Abu-Jamal) handed the 4,227 signed petitions to Krasner’s assistant as they entered the DA’s lobby. The thick manila envelope also contained letters from Tadashi Seto (Doro-Chiba, Japanese rail workers’ union), Edwin R Ferris (International Secretary-Treasurer of International Longshore & Warehouse Union) and other labor statements in support of Abu-Jamal’s quest for freedom after 37 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

The DA refused to talk with the group that included Michael Africa, Jr (MOVE Organization), Sandy Joy (Rowen University professor) and other members of the umbrella group Mobilization4Mumia. The DA’s Director of Communications Ben Waxman did meet soon after, but revealed no new information when asked whether or not Krasner will appeal. “That’s above my paygrade,” he said.

The online petitions were gathered in ten days from thousands of people in the US and from around the world by Roots Action and Mobilization4Mumia.

The petitions are part of an effort to persuade Philadelphia DA Krasner to refuse an appeal of Tucker’s ruling. Such an appeal would lead to years of court proceedings and further postpone Abu-Jamal’s chance to prove his innocence. After almost four decades in prison and suffering from cirrhosis of the liver and related ailments, years of court delays will be nothing less than a death sentence and a denial of justice.

On January 5th, 2019 almost 200 people marched in the rain with signs and banners in front of the DA’s office with demands of: “Justice Now! Krasner: Don’t Appeal! Free Mumia! ”

Mumia Abu-Jamal won the significant victory before Judge Leon Tucker in a decision granting Abu-Jamal new rights to re-open appeals. The ruling could impact other prisoners whose appeals were similarly denied by biased judges.

Tucker ruled that former PA Supreme Court Justice Ronald Castille denied Abu-Jamal fair and impartial hearings by not recusing himself from the defendant’s appeals between 1998 and 2012.  The ruling referenced Castille’s public statements of being a “law and order” prosecutor, responsible for 45 men on death row, the support of the Fraternal Order of Police, and new evidence supporting the claim that Castille singled out men convicted as “police killers.” Tucker cited all the above because they created the appearance of bias and impropriety in the appeal process.

Abu-Jamal has always maintained his innocence in the fatal shooting of police officer Daniel Faulkner. Judge Tucker’s ruling means that Abu-Jamal’s appeals of his 1982 convictions are restored. Abu-Jamal has argued through his past appeals that he was framed by police and that the prosecution manufactured evidence of guilt and suppressed the proof of his innocence, in addition to other violations of his due process rights.

After decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, Abu-Jamal’s supporters are demanding that the charges should be dismissed and he should be freed.

On Flexing and Cyberspace: Brief Thoughts on the NYE Noise Demo

  • January 2, 2019 11:38 pm

Submission

Happy Twenty-Nine Guillotine! As many huddle around the television, all dressed up in their most glitzy and glamorous attire in anticipation of the clock tick tocking to midnight, those rowdy neighborhood anarchists have taken to their own NYE ritual. Instead of popping bottles of champagne, we pop bottle rockets at prisons. This year was no different. A rowdy noise demonstration took place in center city on NYE, full of noisemakers, fireworks and spraypaint. It was quick, well executed, and everyone got away ok! I sincerely hope that those inside were able to hear/see a bit of the show before Philly’s Swinest had to show up and ruin our fun :(. It was a well executed demonstration from rushed start to the final dumpster dive. Some cute tags went up, the demo at the FDC started with a very large fireworks display, followed by many bottle rockets, and once too many cops showed up we made a timely exit. I would like to touch on two observations though and pose some questions pertaining to them.

Firstly, I’m not one to try and tell people what to chant. In my personal opinion, however, the amount of flexing that goes on in Philly’s chant game is pretty corny. There were many “aggressive” chants pertaining to cops. They reminded me of middle school and listening to Leftover Crack. Love the sentiment and if people feel empowered by these chants that’s fantastic, but the degree of flexing in these statements is so extreme. Out in the streets we are most certainly not in a place to be performing these actions, nor are we even armed. Empty threats and talking too much potentially puts you and others around you in danger. Security culture is important, even in our chants. Essentially don’t talk about shit you are gunna do in public and don’t talk about shit you’re not gunna do in public. Sure these chant’s are cute and fun, but are they entirely realistic both in expressing ones desires and current possibilities? Furthermore, are they smart chants to be saying, or could these messages be conveyed in a more secure fashion?

Secondly, I would like to touch on the ever present monster in our modern lives that is the smartphone. Scouring the interwebs I saw photos that were taken at the demonstration last night. None of them were of people doing anything, however, does insta really have to know about this tonight? One can’t come back tomorrow or another time to catch a shot of the tags? Taking your smart phone to the demo and taking photographs at the thing poses a risk for yourself and other individuals. It can definitively place you at the demo via location data and track the march route. If police were to get a hold of someones phone, they could find cameras on the march route and the footage on those may potentially catch people a case. Furthermore, your microphone is always on, recording everything that you say and that is said around you…see the previous paragraph. Another thing with taking photographs, the image files have data encoded into them when you take them. This data includes the time, date, and location the photograph was taken and data pertaining to what phone took the image. These images can then potentially be synced with icloud or google photos where these companies now presumably have some sort of record of the photographs. I guess what I am trying to say is that a lot can go wrong with bringing your phone to the demo and using it. It’s typically a better idea to leave it at home, or if you must bring it, password protect everything, encrypt your SD card, uninstall any apps that have a profile linked to you, turn off location data, and turn it off. Your friends don’t need to know what you’re up to for social media clout, it’s actually better if they don’t.

None of these ideas are meant to be proposed in a fashion asserting that anyone did anything “wrong”. These are just a few points that I think could be beneficial for people to think about and talk with their respective affinity groups about. Stay safe and stay smart so we can continue to be dangerous in the streets together.

Love and Solidarity to those locked up for daring to take on law and order!
Till all prisoners are free and all prisons are ash!
Go Birds!
Be Crime Do Gay (Come up with a fresh catch phrase 2k19)

Report from New Year’s Eve Noise Demo

  • January 1, 2019 8:41 pm

Submission

A call was made for an anti-prison solidarity noise demo on NYE. When we arrived to the meetup there were scattered crews huddled in the rain, around 20 or 30 people in all. A short announcement was made explaining the route and dispersal for the march, supplies to share, and the legal number.
The march began by taking the street. There was a banner that read “Total Freedom Against All Authority”, drums, black flags, fireworks, leaflets, shakers, graffiti, and rowdy voices showing disdain for prison and police.
Once at the prison more fireworks were shot and we made a bunch of noise. Cops showed up surprisingly fast compared to other years. But the march left the prison as the plan was to leave once police presence was significant. We marched against traffic until we turned into an alley, where a dumpster was thrown to block the way. Everyone dispersed.

What we liked
We liked keeping this New Year’s Eve anti-prison tradition alive. We were happy with the turnout despite the weather. People came prepared with their own objectives and the tools to carry them out. We liked that the bloc stayed together and kept it tight once the cops arrived. We liked that we didn’t wait around to get fucked up by the police. We’re glad that the planning and promotion were kept offline. We thought overall that the demo went smooth. This demo opened our eyes to the potential of short flash mob type actions and left us wondering what something like this would look like with a different intensity.

What we didn’t like
Because of its shortness we regret not seeing the prisoners. That was our biggest disappointment because the intention behind the demo was to have an interaction with the prisoners. It’s difficult to navigate how long to stick around while maintaining an intensity that feels honest and defiant without making it easier for the cops to arrest us. Two more take aways were: we could have done more to make our banner less flimsy, and that we wonder if this particular demo is becoming predictable to the police. Lastly the unfortunate timing of a park ranger meant we couldn’t have more time for discussion before the march began.

We hope that other people at the march share their reports, thoughts, criticisms, and feelings and we can create an open dialogue around actions.

For the blackest December
No prisons
No borders
Fuck law and order
Happy New Year!

Report from End of the Year Critical Mass Ride on December 14.

  • December 16, 2018 5:38 pm

Submission

I want to go over how the ride went and open a dialogue on the possibilities of bike demonstrations. Even though the demonstration was publicly called for, the location was not immediately posted online, police did not come to the starting location. The starting time of ride at 5PM was an excellent choice because the bikes could easily move through rush hour traffic and avoided a police tail for the entire ride. Police arrived at the end when people were gathered in the street blocking traffic for around 45 minutes. Some of the riders carried black and red flags, flares, or music. The colorful, loud, crowd drew attention in a way that wasn’t seen as threatening by most people on the street, which allowed for paint and flare throwing to take place in a setting without a hostile crowd. The ride went through multiple neighborhoods, disrupting traffic without sacrificing mobility. Chants against capital, and in memory of Pablo, an anarchist killed by a car while making food deliveries were shouted during the ride. During the ride I attempted to thrown paint balls at two symbols of capital. One against a Bank of America failed, the other was against a new luxury housing building. The former failed because I tried to thrown the paint ball from a moving bicycle, while the latter succeeded, that time I stopped and then threw. Throwing accurately from a moving bicycle is a lot harder than stopping for a moment and throwing. I don’t want to make the ride seem more confrontational than it was, most people in attendance were focused on making noise, slowing traffic, and bringing the memory of people killed by cars to the street.

Demonstrations on bikes seem underused among Philly anarchists and have potential for festive and offensive uses. An advantage of the bicycle demonstration is speed, it’s likely that police will not catch up with a demonstration moving through congested traffic faster than a car can. This can allow for offensive actions to be carried out across a large area without as much risk as a demonstration that marches. Using bikes brings up questions that aren’t addressing when marching on foot. The practice of anonymity is complicated when bicycles enter the picture, not everyone has extra anonymous bikes ready to use and potentially abandon. How can a bike be made nondescript?

Carrying the memory of the dead as a weapon
Furthering anarchist dialogue and action