Keystone State Skinheads Plan to Attend “We The People” Rally

  • November 9, 2018 3:48 pm

from Facebook

ALERT: Keystone State Skinheads co-founder and de-facto leader Bob Gaus plans to bring a crew of KSS boneheads to the “We The People” rally being organized in Philly on Nov 17th by the Proud Boys and Three Percenter militia members. Fellow KSS member Bryan Vanagaitis has also been on the event page “liking” various comments.

The rally organizers have refused to bar them from attending, instead making vague statements about “displays of hate” not being allowed. What does that mean? It means nazis welcome, as long as you act in a media-friendly way.

Several KSS members are currently under indictment for a bias attack in Avalon, PA in which they attacked a black man at a bar. The last time an organized group of KSS came to Philly, they brutally attacked 2 Anti-Racists who were on the way to protest them.

We need EVERYONE in the streets to #pushback against this alliance of Nazis, Proud Boys and Threepers on the 17th! The rally organizers have their plausible deniability and that’s all that matters to them. KSS has a group of nazi-sympathizing rubes to use as cover and to swell their numbers. Stay safe, bring lots of friends, and don’t be intimidated by these bigots!

https://www.facebook.com/events/171281213803986/

UPDATE: A few of the organizers of “We The People” are claiming that they’ve told KSS they “are not wanted.” We are skeptical considering it took them hours to acknowledge that KSS intended to attend (while posting other updates on the event page) despite it being brought to their attention almost immediately by some of their own supporters. They then made the statement we refer to above about “displays of hate” not being allowed but made no comment about nazis THEMSELVES attending until, again, people called them on it. It seems at least possible, if not likely, that WTP organizers are being dishonest. Sports Beer and Politics, in particular, has a history of denying nazis will attend their rallies, rallying and marching with nazis, and then denying it after the fact or claiming ignorance. It is also very possible that KSS will show up regardless knowing that WTP organizers won’t do anything and that the cops will protect them, and then try and target Anti-Racists out to protest. For the sake of safety, we are assuming KSS will be out and about in Philly on November 17th and others should plan accordingly.

Stand Against the Proud Boys on November 17th

  • November 9, 2018 3:35 pm

from Philly IWW

The Philadelphia General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World voted unanimously at our October meeting to endorse Operation Pushback’s protest against the “We The People” rally hosted and endorsed by regional members of the Proud Boys and their paramilitary wing, the Alt Knights.

The Proud Boys seek to reinforce gendered, racial, and national divides among the working class, terminate financial aid for the poor, eliminate workers’ right to move to other countries, and deprive working-class women of employment and income so as to force them to become housewives. They openly glorify bosses and the rich (“entrepreneurs”) while misleading male workers into thinking they have common interests with wealthy men. They encourage chauvinist attitudes towards workers in other countries, inhibiting our ability to unify against multi-national corporations across borders by pitting workers in different countries against each other. For too long reactionaries have hidden behind “Free Speech” and “preserving the constitution,” but they do not sincerely want these freedoms and protections for the entirety of the population; they simply want to return to the days of white male supremacy and to maintain the rule of the wealthy.

The IWW, a pioneer of free speech advocacy, has long stood firmly against far-right hate groups, from the second Klu Klux Klan and the American Legion in the early twentieth-century to Vanguard America and the Proud Boys today. We call on all of our fellow union workers to join us on November 17th to let the Proud Boys know their semi-fascist rhetoric of hatred and militant sexism is not welcome in Philadelphia. If allowed to rampage around Philadelphia unchallenged the Proud Boys will commit hate crimes again. Please read the call from Operation Pushback, inform yourselves about the open hatred that the Proud Boys / Alt Knights espouse, and join us in the streets to celebrate a free and united Philadelphia.

ANTI BLUELIVESMATTER ARRESTEE FUND

  • November 1, 2018 2:50 pm

from Go Fund Me

A few months back, a group of people were arrested for allegedly protesting a “blue lives matter” demonstration in Philadelphia.

The same night as the arrests, the alleged protesters were told their charges had been dropped and were released.

In October, one of them was re-arrested, for no reason other than to receive charges for the same prior incident.

At the protest, the police were physically abusive and used their fists on people they were arresting. People were injured and traumatized and are now being vindictively harassed, hunted down and re-arrested because of the nature of the protest.

Other people who were detained or alleged to be involved with that demonstration may also find themselves facing retroactive arrests or charges.

Please chip in what you can and share with your networks to help the person who was re-arrested make their bail back, which was $1200.

Again, other people who were alleged to be involved with that demonstration may find themselves facing retroactive arrests soon, so we will need to raise funds for them as well.

Thank you so much for your support!

[Donate Here]

The upcoming “We the People” Rally is organized by anti-semites

  • November 1, 2018 2:22 pm

from Friendly Fire Collective

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cw: anti-Semitic imagery, violence, fascism

The far-right Proud Boys have proven time after time that they are a violent organization. Their front group in PA, Sports Beer & Politics II, is no different. Despite denying being racists, their page is a cesspool of fascism. Only a month ago, they shamelessly posted an anti-Semitic meme.

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Again, we need to take the upcoming rally seriously and make it known that all forms of fascism will be opposed in Philly. The Right is escalating in their tactics, feeling bolder and more passionate about their genocidal cause. This rally cannot and will not go smoothly, especially after the recent string of terrorist attacks in the so-called U.S. from white nationalists, including a blatantly anti-Semitic attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue this past week.

For more information, check out the counter-protest facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/171281213803986/

Proud Boy-Affiliated III%er Group to Rally in Philly

  • October 21, 2018 1:25 pm

from Ida Vox

When:
November 17, 2018 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Where:
Washington Square Park
210 W Washington Square
Philadelphia, PA 19106
USA
Contact:
Email

Proud Boy-Affiliated III%er Group to Rally in Philly @ Washington Square Park | Philadelphia | Pennsylvania | United States

In today’s political climate one cannot predict much, but we are still going to say not to expect the neo-fascist Proud Boys running around trying to play their games over the next year or so as much as they are now. After the fight at the Republican Club recently, they became the crew that everyone wants a piece of, and everyone will have their piece, you can bank on that. Even the right-wing New York Post – which is owned by News Corp, which also owns Fox News, who once employed Proud Boy founder Gavin McInnes – called them out as a “far-right hate group” in an article about right wing activists harassing Nancy Pelosi during a visit to Florida because someone in the crowd of activists beating on the windows repped the group.

Well, Philly is going to get their shot at them. A Facebook event page is up for something called the “We the People Rally” which is being organized by two groups, Patriot Events and Sports Beer and Politics, whose own Facebook page has two Proud Boys as administrators. As of now, the page is particularly benign with a disclamer saying the following:

We at Patriot Events and Sports Beer and Politics do not condone the use of violence by any party at this event. This event is to allow the people to make their voices heard. Any violence, racism, or display of hate by any group or individual is extremely prohibited. Any group or party violating these conditions will be removed from this event immediately.

The hosts, planners, security, speakers or their affiliates, members or family will not be held liable for bodily injury or personal damages to anyone in attendance. All civil claims, attorneys costs for the aforementioned will be paid by the claimant.

There is a reason for that. Just before the Proud Boys made asses of themselves in NYC, they were boasting on this page that they were going to come to this event with the purpose of fighting people:

After NYC, these postings were scrubbed from the event page, but too late. Somebody already saw them. This is what people will be mobilizing against, despite the usual tapdancing from the organizers that they don’t condone violence and be vigilant against it. Folks are used to that tapdancing and are not buying into it. The Proud Boys also are good for the “I’m not racist” routine and their supporters point to their members of color. Well, they repped at both Unite the Right rallies in Charlottesville last year and Washington, DC this year, the DC outing featuring a Hispanic Proud Boy. So folks stopped giving them quarter, and are going to do something about them before they really cause innocents to be hurt.

Call for Actions: Defend the Vaughn 17

  • October 19, 2018 4:33 pm

from It’s Going Down

A call for solidarity with the Vaughn 17, currently on trial and to mobilize for a rally on the outside of the New Castle County Courthouse. Both called for on Monday, October, 22nd.

Call for Solidarity With the Vaughn 17 on October 22nd

On February 1st of 2017 inmates at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in rural Delaware took over their unit in C-building; they held staff, released demands to the media, and made it clear that their motivation was not just a result of confinement but also the election of Trump. At the end of their 18+ hour occupation, one guard, Steven Floyd (known by all to be exceptionally abusive) was dead.

On October 17th of the same year, the Delaware Department of Justice charged 16 prisoners with Floyd’s murder and two others with riot, kidnapping, and conspiracy. Except for one snitch, all the defendants have plead not guilty and their jury trials will begin on October 22nd, 2018.

On this date, as the state opens its trial against these comrades, we are calling for solidarity actions and to show the Vaughn 17 that they are not alone or forgotten about, and to show the state that the message of the Vaughn 17 resonates loudly throughout plantation society and across its borders.

Join us for a Rally at the New Castle County Courthouse from 8 – 9 AM on October 22nd

In many ways the demands of the Vaughn 17 anticipated the 2018 National Prison Strike, calling for increased wages for their mandatory labor, and the introduction of rehabilitation and education programs. These comrades positioned their struggle inside against the threat posed by Trump’s election, which has now been realized in the increasing detention of immigrants and the rise of fascism on the outside. Since the occupation’s end, they have been subjected to extreme repression and violence, including beatings and the denial of basic necessities, including having their water shut off. Yet in the face of these hardships and the betrayal, 17 of the defendants are standing together, unwavering in their solidarity.

Solidarity is the most effective weapon we have against the State. When we come together we can keep each other, and the movement, alive and propel the fight to the next stage. If we all push together, their walls will topple!

Against the carceral state and the American plantation! 

Freedom and victory to the Vaughn 17!

#Pushback Stand Against the “Proud Boys” on November 17th 2018

  • October 18, 2018 1:15 pm

from Facebook

Far-right groups with ties to Neo-Nazis known as the “Proud Boys” and the “Three Percenters” are planning to attend a rally in Philadelphia on November 17th called “We the People”. They provoke and attack people on the streets who they deem to be unworthy of their far-right, fascist vision of the country. The Proud Boys were present in Charlottesville, terrorize residents in the cities of Portland, New York, and Providence, and have been listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The residents and allies of Philadelphia must stand in opposition to this escalation of the far-right’s push into the city’s culture and politics.

We are urging people recognize the seriousness and danger of this situation, and come out to oppose them on November 17th at Washington Square in Center City Philadelphia. There is safety in numbers, so to ensure the protection of vulnerable individuals and communities, it is imperative that as many people as possible show up in opposition.

What to bring: Noise makers, signs, water, warm clothing and comfortable shoes, your friends and neighbors.

10/2 Anti-Trump Protest (and Gritty)

  • October 4, 2018 11:39 am

from Friendly Fire Collective

Point Blur_Oct022018_171023

Yesterday’s anti-Trump protest was organized and put together as soon as news came out that Trump was coming to Philly to speak. It was short notice, but several small protests were organized and eventually converged in a rally in front of the conference center that Trump was speaking in. Though a number of the protesters were centrists and liberals, the rhetoric of the rally was radical, tying together the many issues of this current administration with broader systems of policing, capitalism, imperialism, sexism, and white supremacy/anti-blackness.

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Many had reservations about this protest – about the messaging and the potential of violence and arrest – but we couldn’t not just not show up when Trump was in town.  Thankfully, nobody was arrested, and this was one of the few actions in quite awhile where police didn’t escalate the situation with violence. This action, with its moments of militant language, was quite positive, even joyful. As we chanted, “out of the sidewalks, into the streets,” some folks passing by excitedly joined. Flyers with upcoming actions and agit-prop were handed out.

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Of course, the new Flyers mascot Gritty was very present – on our banners, signs, and hearts. Somehow, in the past week, the leftists and anti-fascists of Philly have claimed Gritty as their own. And as hilarious and absurd as that is, it actually makes some sense. As George Ciccariello-Maher put it, “Philadelphia is an underdog city. That really impacts and runs through a lot of the politics, particularly the sports spirit throughout the city. So when you see the launch of this mascot Gritty, who is by all accounts a sort of hideous monster, the response from an underdog city is to say, ‘yeah, but he’s our hideous monster and if you don’t love him then fuck you.’”

All that to say, Gritty is basically a queer anti-fascist communist icon. Gritty’s revolution is the People’s revolution. Long live Gritty.

Labor Day Noise Demonstration Report

  • September 4, 2018 10:45 pm

Submission

Last night’s noise demonstration was fun and exciting! It went pretty well for most of its duration, though there were some moments of confusion and miscommunication that I think could be avoided in the future. I want to go over how things went and then address some successes, and problems I’d like to see us overcome as we continue to take to the streets together.

I met with some companions at a nearby location and around 8PM we marched together to the Federal Detention Center at 6th and Arch. Most of us were dressed in black with our faces covered. As we walked over, graffiti was painted and fliers about the strike were thrown into the air, the quiet streets were ours. Once we arrived at the prison people began shouting, shooting fireworks, throwing firecrackers, and making a bunch of noise together. Over the next fifteen minutes more people arrived and joined in, sharing water, whistles, and adding chants to the ruckus with a megaphone. Some people stood in the street blocking all traffic going past the prison, others gave fliers to this captive audience. People locked inside the prison shone lights and waved at us through the windows.

The police arrived after some time, but initially could do very little. There were only a couple cops and they protested that people were lighting fireworks and blocking the street but couldn’t so much about it. They were able to open one lane of traffic as more police arrived to back them up. By this time it was clear that the prisoners had seen us and that the police presense was growing, some police on bikes appeared. A decent time to make a dignified exit; we had broken the isolation of the prison walls, made clear our solidarity, and expressed a disgust for the police and their prisons.

We took to the street and went south to Market street with police moving alongside and behind us. We went around the block, against traffic, and circled back past the prison going west on Arch street. Here some of the march slowed down to make some more noise, while many of the masked comrades began to leave. It seemed to me that the feeling of the march then was a general leaning toward dispersal, though I cannot be sure. The cowardly police took advantage of the fact that many of the masked marchers were further away to attack those who had not yet left. They used their bikes and metal clubs to beat demonstrators and made two arrests, including a thirteen year old. After this it seemed like the demonstration was pretty much over. People went home or kept track of the arrested (both of whom are out – one with a citation, one with charges – at the time of this writing).

In many ways this demonstration was a success. The isolation of the prison was broken temporarily, news of the strike was communicated, the police were not able to control the rowdy energy of the crowd, and rebellion and freedom were celebrated with a festive enthusiasm. We were able to gather and move together under the police’s radar, it’s clear they were not prepared for a demonstration. A practice of sharing was present within the demonstration to a degree. In the longer term; tactics and ideas that during the 2016 strike seemed unusual and limited to a small amount of people have spread! The use of masks, fireworks, moving against the direction of traffic, and the creation of temporary barricades to slow police advances have become more common. Though these never spread as fast or wide as we would like, we can take a moment to appreciate the contrast between this strike and the 2016 one.

The arrests from last night might not have been preventable, we can’t know such things. What we do know is we can always strive to learn and to improve. We can open channels of communication before an action, especially one that hasn’t caught the police’s attention yet. Imagine if we had all met up in a quiet place to have a quick discussion on dispersal, legal support, and sharing supplies, before walking to the prison together. We could have some idea of what to expect of each other and the security of all masking off camera and arriving together. It might not have prevented the police from doing their job, some people would have shown up late and missed it, but it certainly wouldn’t have set us back by much. The same can be said to a lesser degree for communication once a demonstration has started moving, more easily within the bloc and probably with more difficulty beyond the bloc. To me these kinds of communications feel like they can increase our capacity, make more things possible, and keep us safer from the police. I know there are reasons we’re shy and secretive, that there is a lot of distrust, and that speaking to each other can be difficult, but let’s challenge ourselves!
How can we better communicate and look out for each other without compromising our security? How can we intensify our struggle? How can we spread it? What do we imagine is im/possible and how can we make it our reality?

Solidarity with the comrades beaten and arrested!
Fuck the police!
Strength and solidarity to the striking prisoners!
Fire to the prisons!

Noise Demonstration in Solidarity with Prison Strike

  • September 3, 2018 10:58 pm

from Twitter

Tonight in , a noise demonstration was held outside the Federal Detention Center at 8th & Arch in solidarity with the national . As protesters marched away from the facility, made two arrests & hit protesters & journalists with metal batons

Roundhouse Prayer Meeting Reportback

  • August 30, 2018 4:17 pm

from Friendly Fire Collective

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The Friendly Fire Collective, a community of radical and abolitionist Christians in Philadelphia, meet weekly for prayer and fellowship. This past Tuesday (8/28) we had our meeting right in front of the Philadelphia Police Department Headquarters, also known as the Roundhouse.

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With our small group of 10 or so people, we prayed for those striking in prison, the abolition of the police and all prisons, as well as our own incarcerated friends and family. As we wrapped up our time of prayer, we held up our banners (“All cops are apostates” and “It is our duty to fight for our freedom”) and got on the megaphone. While on the megaphone, we stared right at the police and those employed at the Roundhouse through the windows. We read out the demands of the prison strike and then two comrades led us through a prayer of rebuke and exorcism, and plead with the officers to repent of their sins – namely being fascist tools – and quit their jobs. We wrapped up by chanting “Quit your jobs!” and “God hates cops!”

As things concluded, some bike cops came around asking questions and then followed some comrades on their way back home. As much as we do not enjoy the presence of cops, it felt good to know that this small prayer meeting was able to annoy these officers. It was also awesome that other abolitionists who aren’t affiliated with Friendly Fire or don’t identify as Christian came out in solidarity. We very much appreciated the support.

The Roundhouse has been a place of trauma for many of those present at this last prayer meeting and, of course, it is a place of trauma for many, every day. We are thankful that we had the opportunity to call down God’s judgment on this building and the Philadelphia Police Department, as well as reclaim this space for healing, prayer, and camaraderie.

All favor, honor, and blessings to those currently striking in prison!
May God’s most severe judgment rain down on all cops!
The kin-dom of God is near!

IMMEDIATE CALL TO ACTION: Support #OccupyICEPHL Activists on 8/30

  • August 30, 2018 4:07 pm

from Friendly Fire Collective

You are invited to a snow party.png

Call to Action for tomorrow morning: A PHA (Philadelphia Housing Authority) property that people have been squatting is going to be evicted tomorrow morning, likely around 9am. The people living in there are homeless activists from the former Occupy ICE encampment. All the neighbors are in full support of their residency at this building and appreciate the work they’ve done there to make it habitable. We need all hands on deck tomorrow morning to protest this unjust eviction. The building is located on the 2300 block of Sharswood, a side street. The earlier you can get there the better. Please share.

Prison Strike Solidarity Noise Demo Reportback

  • August 28, 2018 6:06 pm

In solidarity with the national prison strike beginning on August 21st, a noise demo took place in West Philly outside the Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Service Center (a youth detention center, to be clear.) The demo was called by the Philly IWW, with substantial support from the Friendly Fire Collective, Liberation Project, and several other groups and autonomous rebels.

Earlier on the day of the demo, door-to-door outreach took place in the neighborhood to inform people of the demo and the strike more broadly. This was generally well-received!

Roughly 75 people convened outside the main entrance of the complex with banners, IWW, RAM and black flags, as well as signs reading the demands put forward by the national strike. While still on the sidewalk at the entrance, participants made lots of noise before reading off the ten central demands of the strike. Very few police had responded at this point, but they began to take up positions surrounding the demo. In response, and with the sound system starting up an FTP playlist, we moved just south of the entrance and took the street in a spot past the police and where we could be more visible from the dorms of the detention center. At this point, a small amount of nearby debris was brought into the street to form a small barricade and fireworks began to be lit.

This went on for more or less 90 minutes, and as numbers began to dwindle those remaining set off on a short march through West Philly. The march threw traffic cones, pallets, and other available obstacles in the way of pursuing police before taking an intersection, again reading the ten core demands of the strike, and dispersing with no arrests.

From this individual’s perspective, a lot went right and there are some things to build on and learn from! It was unclear if those held inside could consistently hear and/or see the demo. In the future, larger numbers of larger fireworks should probably be used, as in past noise demos in the city. That said, the use of light barricading continues a recent trend of normalizing that sort of thing in Philly. Let’s keep putting objects between us and the police! Maybe we can get really good at it!

Earlier in the day banners for the strike were dropped at multiple locations in the city. More strike solidarity actions are forthcoming, so keep an eye out.

Towards a world without borders, police or prisons,

may a sweeping assault on reality persist,

– some people on occupied lenape land

Reflections from March Against Blue Lives Matter

  • August 28, 2018 2:08 am

Submission

On August 25th, actions took place to counter a Blue Lives Matter march on occupied Lenape land, Philadelphia, PA. A robust description of the organizers for the Blue Lives March and their connections to and affinity with white supremacy, transphobia and anti-immigrant politics can be found here: http://archive.is/8CIpg. A pretty decent description of how the events unfolded can be found here: https://itsgoingdown.org/antifascist-rally-in-philadelphia-met-with-police-violence/.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qgi6bekxjTc

Below are some (very incomplete and rushed) thoughts that feel relevant from one participant:

After the police violence we dealt with, several reportbacks and press releases framed the events as a situation where police needlessly escalated an otherwise non-violent and non-confrontational situation. While it is accurate that our team was unable to effectively attack either the fascist march or the police, and didn’t really have the opportunity to try at any point, it is decidedly inaccurate to assert that we did not have confrontational intentions. We should not play into narratives of innocence set up by our enemies when faced with state violence that we know is coming. We are in a violent political conflict with both the state and proto-paramilitary formations nationally and ought to recognize this and talk about it as it is.

In this vein, when we *do* successfully mobilize a confrontational action, we should hype that whether it goes well or not. That is the capacity we want to be building, and the 25th was another step in the right direction. Further, narratives about us being pure victims of unprovoked police violence erase the courage of those who took risks, arrests and blows in order to defend others from the cops. We had each others’ backs that day, and while it didn’t work out, that still means something. Let’s lift that up to encourage and normalize practices of immediate defense, de-arrests, and risk-taking.

Keep moving! We really need to work on both mobility and blockading. At one point, the bloc came out of an alley filled with dumpsters, saw a contingent of bike cops moving toward us, and allowed them to come up and form a line. Rather than use nearby obstacles to create space between us and the cops, we ended up in a futile standoff, dragged on longer than necessary largely by indecision.

Use what is around! At the spot where the initial arrests took place, a very large number of police barricades (left over from the most recent Occupy ICE/Homeless Against Stop and Frisk eviction) were ten feet from us. Using those to create space (as west Arch was undefended) rather than try an uncoordinated dart through bike cop lines could have been fruitful. And again, there are rolling dumpsters literally everywhere in center city.

Be ready to take advantage of opportunity! Early on, before a significant police presence had formed, we darted past the Criminal Justice Center. Aside from a couple bottles being tossed at the windows, nothing happened to the building. This would have been an especially good target considering the nature of the fascist march that day, and done well to emphasize solidarity with the prison strike. The same could be said for at least a couple empty and undefended police vehicles that we passed before the initial confrontation.

A lesson to really internalize here is that the police may escalate at any time. If, say, the above opportunities *were* seized, or our team escalated in any other ways, it’s likely that repression faced afterwards would be blamed on those actions. It’s important to keep in mind in the future, when we do go harder and actually crime it up better, that such actions are not to blame for repression. We’ve seen repeatedly that toning down our actions does not keep us safe.

And finally, the composition of the march appeared to me to be informed to some extent by its framing as primarily an “anti-fascist” event. Without going too much into the potential pitfalls of prioritizing a sort of narrow antifascism over emphasis on broader structures of domination (here is a very good starting point for that: https://itsgoingdown.org/beyond-bash-fash-critical-discussion), it seems plausible that placing more focus on the anti-police nature of our mobilization *may have* drawn more people and projects in the city into this action.

To be clear, these thoughts are all offered in extreme good faith, and I’d like to repeat that my main takeaway from the 25th is that we really had each other’s backs and did our best. Let’s do that more!

Let’s continue to care for one another in dealing with our physical and emotional wounds.
Let’s come back harder soon.

fire to the prisons & the cops,
death to fascism & white supremacy, and let’s be real, fuck democracy too,
– some anarchist living on occupied Lenape land

Antifascist Rally in Philadelphia Met with Police Violence

  • August 28, 2018 1:56 am

from It’s Going Down

The Peace Report gives us a blow by blow of a police attack on an antifascist rally in Philadelphia.

On Aug 25th in the city of Brotherly Nazi-Love (Philadelphia), two rallies occurred at the same time. One rally was organized by various alt-right groups (rumored by Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights) and individuals local to Philly. The other rally was organized by various far-left groups made up of socialists, communists, and anarchists. The police ended up protecting one rally while using violence towards the other rally. Can you guess which one was met with violence?

The far-left rally was attacked viciously by the police while the Alt-Right group was given the red carpet treatment by Philadelphia Police Department. The Alt-Right rally was organized by a group on Facebook called “Sports Beer & Politics II” (SPB), who marched under the cover of a #BlueLivesMatter rally. This is a clever move as it shows their support for the scumbag police forces in Philly while covering their true political aspirations: Nazism, white supremacy, and fascism.

As a way to counter-protest, various far-left groups in Philly organized a march called, “Fascists Go Away: March Against Police Brutality.” This march was in solidarity with several issues: solidarity with prisoner strikes, march against fascism and police brutality, and to expose the SBP group.

“I’d say the anti-fascist group was about 60-75 people deep and from what I’ve gathered on the SBP side, they had less than 20.”

The #BlueLivesMatter march began at the Liberty Bell in center city Philly while the anti-fascist march began near city hall. The plan was to meet halfway but, of course, the police intervened blocking the anti-fascists from getting anywhere near the alt-right march.

The anti-fascists attempted to find alternative routes, rushing down alley ways and marching down alternative routes but none that were successful. The police pigs had cops on bikes, cars, vans, and on foot to block every path towards the SBP group. The Philly police department even had a helicopter flying over the city coordinating their plan of action. It was pretty appalling to witness how much equipment and police forces were utilized to prevent two somewhat small groups from interacting.

I’d say the anti-fascist group was about 60-75 people deep and from what I’ve gathered on the SBP side, they had less than 20. Instead of posting photos of the great number of 20 or less alt-right group, they only posted a photo of a Trump-supporting grandma in a wheelchair with a title saying, “Philly ANTIFA showed up to BASH THE FASH. I wonder if they gave grams the pounding she so richly deserves.” We all know they love to hide behind the sheets when it comes to propaganda.

Also, nearly every single piece written in media outlets only show photos and videos of the anti-fascist march. The photos that do show the #BlueLivesMatter march only show a few people marching. The only videos of the march I found literally show a dozen or so people marching, posted by @darrylcmurphy, a reporter from WHYY:

After several blockades set up by the police, violence finally occurred. I’m really not sure what set it off and nobody seems to have any video of the beginning. The rally came to a halt in the middle of an intersection for a longer than usual period. There was much going on and many cameras were facing different directions trying to film several different confrontations. But as soon as the violence began, all cameras, including mine, started pointing towards the straight-up street brawl between anti-fascists and police.

I saw, and filmed, police tackling people off of their bikes, swinging their batons on the heads of masked citizens, and a huge group of police forces cordoning off the area with force. It all happened very quickly. But even after the initial brawl that was going on, I saw police 5 feet in front of me unnecessarily tackling American citizens, using elbow-swings on heads, and throwing people down on the ground. Then they walked away. The police just wanted to get some of their aggression out I guess. Or the police are doing what they have always been trained to do: use unnecessary force illegitimately without any accountability whatsoever.

Police officer hits person in the head with baton.

In the end, a total of 16 people were arrested. Nine of them were charged with citations for failure to disperse while 7 were charged with a misdemeanor of disorderly conduct.

I want to state that I have no affiliation to any groups of either march. I’m new to Philly and have no connections. I am a filmmaker and founder of The Peace Report. I focus mainly on anti-imperialist work but it’s been so difficult in that arena because fascists are literally marching down the streets of America. As an anarchist, which much of the world doesn’t know about me, I am turning my attention more towards domestic issues. I only hope my fellow comrades expand their work towards anti-imperialism. We need each other to bring down the system.

If you want to help me fight the imperialist powers and the destruction they are causing outside of our borders, come swing my website http://thepeacereport.com/

Solidarity!