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!

Nine comrades detained, including a FF member

  • August 27, 2018 2:11 pm

from Friendly Fire

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Today fascists marched in Philly for a pro-cop rally. Antifascists resisted their attempts at normalizing fascism and the police state. Many were badly beaten by the cops, 16 were arrested in total. Currently, nine are still being detained, including a Friendly Fire comrade arrested while praying and shouting “it is our duty to fight for our freedom.”
Please help the folks holding it down in Philly by donating to the bail fund @liberationproject.

Noise Demo Reportback

  • August 23, 2018 4:23 pm

from Friendly Fire Collective

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As the local Friendly Fire group, we decided that we would cancel our prayer meeting in order to attend an action instead. As endorsers of the National Prison Strike, and as followers of Jesus, a revolutionary abolitionist, we felt that participating in this noise demo in solidarity with striking prisoners was important.

The action as a whole turned out great. Dozens of folks showed up in front of the Juvenile Justice Services Center in West Philly with drums, pots, pans, whistles, even a saxophone – anything to make noise with.

This energy of this action was bright and joyful and yet felt a bit more militant than other recent actions, with a spontaneous blockade erected and chants such as “Burn the banks, burn the prisons, just make sure the cops are in ’em” and – a Friendly Fire favorite – “God Hates Cops.”

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There seemed to be a lot of support from those in the surrounding community, who raised their fists, honked in support, and for the most part, happily learned about the Prison Strike. A number of folks, even families, joined the protest.

We concluded by reading the demands publicly and then marched down Market Street.

We are thankful for everybody who came out and the IWW comrades who organized this action. May God be with those striking prisoners, may their demands be heard and met, and may all those opposing their work and livelihood face God’s most severe judgment.

For more information on the Prison Strike: https://incarceratedworkers.org/campaigns/prison-strike-2018

Call for an Anti-Authoritarian Bloc in Mobilization Against ‘Blue Lives Matter’ March

  • August 22, 2018 9:28 am

from It’s Going Down

A call for an anti-authoritarian bloc at an upcoming mass mobilization against a ‘Blue Live Matter’ march in Philadelphia, PA.

This Saturday, August 25th, fascists and authoritarians are hosting a Blue Lives Matter March in Philadelphia featuring local and state Republican candidates, including Scott Wagner, and various former law enforcement agents. The organizers are not only pro-police, but anti-immigrant, anti-trans, anti-Muslim, and connected with other more explicitly racist elements in the broader authoritarian Right. In response, a broad coalition is assembling at City Hall at 11AM to make a firm rejection of their authoritarian politics and the police altogether.

This is a call for an anti-authoritarian bloc within that action. Meet at City Hall at 11AM and look for the black flags. Wear all black and cover your face if that feels enticing. Below are some resources on safely using this sort of tactic. Be ready to be mobile! Fuck the police!

In Solidarity with the (inter)national prison strike,
against all police, prisons and borders,
– Anarchists with Conflictual Aspirations Bloc

Some Helpful Resources:

How to Form an Affinity Group
Blocs, Black and Otherwise
Fashion Tips for the Brave
Resistance, Rebellion & Repression: Questions to Consider When You’re In the Streets

Noise Demo in Solidarity with the Nationwide Prisoner Strike

  • August 14, 2018 7:07 pm

from Philly IWW

Join us to send solidarity and support to striking workers behind bars.  Bring noisemakers, drums, banners, and your friends!

Tuesday, August 21st 7:00 PM
Juvenille Justice Services Center
91 N 48th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19139

#August21 #Prisonstrike

Flyer

IWW Pickets in Solidarity with Union in Seattle

  • August 10, 2018 10:27 am

from Instagram

Fellow workers holding it down outside of the Philly GCI office this morning in Solidarity with workers in Seattle facing a branch closure in response to Union activity.
Call GCI today at (617) 338-7800 and let them know what you think of their union busting!

Philadelphia, PA: #OccupyICE Gives Trust-Fund Troll Charlie Kirk First Bath Without Maid Present

  • August 8, 2018 3:45 am
from It’s Going Down

This morning, August 6th 2018 at 7:20 am, members of met at the corner of 8th and Cherry in front of the regional ICE office and Governor Wolf’s Philadelphia office in order to shut shit down and distribute information about the Berk’s Detention Center to people on their way to work. Berk’s County Residential Center is one of 3 family detention centers in America. They are a prison that has a history of assault from their “caretakers” towards the imprisoned children, medical neglect of infants and verbal abuse, not to mention they are operating without a license! Governor Wolf has the ability to order an emergency closure, and has proven to us and many other organizers, his bark is worse than his bite, considering he hasn’t done a damn thing. You’d think in an election year he’d at least try, right?

Once we shut down the road in front of the offices and distributed literature to everyone there, we moved further up the road to a busy intersection at 8th and Vine and blocked traffic for roughly 45 minutes. We reminded people in their cars that if they felt inconvenienced being stopping in traffic, imagine what life is like as a detained child in the Berks detention center for years? One guy left his car and joined in the protest, chiding people cursing us out that Black Lives Matter and we need to ! We are planning on seeing him again at an action tomorrow.

We received word from a comrade in center city that Charlie Kirk was having a pleasant meal with Candace Owens at a local brunch spot in the gayborhood and decided we were going to give them our best Philly welcome we could muster so early! We took the streets and marched there chanting “ABOLISH ICE” “SHUT DOWN BERKS” “WHOSE STREETS, OUR STREETS” and more. Once we got to where Charlie and Candace of Turning Point USA fame, also known as Coded Rascists USA, were eating we gave em a lil wave and immediately started chanting “1,2,3, Fuck the Bourgeois 4,5,6 Fuck the Bourgeois” until they came outside. We let them know just how much we appreciated their visit to Philly with a nice cold drink of water down Charlie’s head and an over easy egg to boot. Hope y’all had a great brunch! Police escorted Charlie and Candace away while we chanted, “NO GOOD COPS IN A RACIST SYSTEM” until they were gone.

We then took to the streets again and marched up Broad Street back to our camp, reminding everyone we passed Berks must be shut down and we must put an end to stop and frisk!

Protesters Occupy Philadelphia ICE Office

  • July 3, 2018 11:33 pm

from Unicorn Riot

Philadelphia, PA – In the latest development in the “Occupy ICE” protest encampments spreading across America, protesters have set up a new encampment outside an ICE building at 8th & Cherry Street in Philadelphia (a “sanctuary city“). Unicorn Riot has been providing live coverage into the night.

7/5/18 – 10:57 PM EDT UPDATE: The encampment outside the ICE office at 8th and Cherry has mostly disbanded at this point; a new occupation is being set up at Philadelphia City Hall to demand Philadelphia’s Mayor end the information sharing relationship with the Philadelphia Police and ICE via the PARS system.

[See updates below live feed]

Watch streams from 8th and Cherry below.

7/5/18 – 12:15 PM EDT UPDATE: Philadelphia police have just swept through the #OccupyICEPHL camp outside the Philadelphia ICE office, making seven arrests for “failure to disperse”. Counter-Terrorism Unit, SWAT, DHS federal police, and Philly bike police have formed a crowd control line on the street facing #AbolishICE protesters.

7/3/18 – 2:15 PM EDT UPDATE: Philadelphia Police say 29 #AbolishICE protesters were “issued citations for Failure to Disperse” outside the ICE offices. Two protesters were injured, one person was transported to an area hospital for treatment.

7/3/18 – 12:30 PM EDT UPDATE: Philadelphia Counter-Terrorism Unit & DHS federal police have cleared #AbolishICE protesters from two garage entrances used to move ICE detainees. Activist legal support estimates ~20+ arrests & likely injuries – officers seen punching & pulling people from crowd, throwing them to the ground as police clear the street.

7/3/18 – 12:00 PM EDT UPDATE: Philadelphia Counter-Terrorism Unit and DHS are using pain compliance to break up protesters and make arrests that are blocking the ICE garage entrances. Counter-terrorism unit is making arrests.

CTU & DHS officers stand guard at ICE office after clearing street

7/2/18 – 11:00 PM EDT UPDATE: Philadelphia police have issued a “final warning”. Tents are blocking the ICE building garage entrances while protesters and vehicles are blocking the roads. Department of Homeland Security federal police and Counter Terrorism units are on scene with gas masks, along with Philadelphia police. Philadelphia police have requested a “mass arrest” team. Militarized police aka Mobile Field Force units (MFF)* are on the scene with zip ties and “less-lethal” weapons ready to make arrests. Police A/V units are gathering intelligence. Unicorn Riot will provide more live updates as the situation unfolds throughout the night.

* National Mobile Field Force doctrine training is provided via the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a 135-page guide found by Unicorn Riot in a data request revealed in November 2016.

The occupation was set up during a ‘STOP ICE’ rally held Monday afternoon at City Hall. The rally, endorsed by over 10 local Philly activist groups, presented three key demands: an end to deportations, the closure of the Berks County Family Detention Center outside of Philadelphia, and an end to Philly Police’s information-sharing relationship with ICE.

ICE’s Philadelphia office made headlines earlier this year when a ProPublica investigation found that the Philly branch of ICE, which covers a 3-state area, makes more arrests of immigrants without no criminal history than any other branch.

Other ‘#OccupyICE’ encampments have sprung up recently in several cities including Portland, New York City, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Detroit.

To help our volunteer operated, horizontally organized, non-profit media collective please consider a tax-deductible donation:

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All Out for Pablo

  • May 24, 2018 11:22 am

Submission

There was a call put out for a bike bloc to go” All Out for Pablo” and go all out we did. In response to our comrade Pablo Avendano being murdered by the gig economy relegating millenials to a precariat class, we set out on this bike bloc armed with bricks and ceramics. A car that was in a bike lane will need a new paint job after it met the force of our anger through a projectile brick. Pablo was murdered even though he was riding in a bike lane, it seems like drivers need to be reminded to stay the fuck out of our way. Pieces of brick were thrown at the windows of yuppie luxury condos, however the windows did not shatter :(. After the ghost bike memorial to Pablo, a fuck the police chant was started and a bank was attacked with bricks, unfortunately again the windows did not shatter. A mercedes benz was attacked with a piece of ceramic. Those scratches are probably costly $$$$, sorry not sorry ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. A lock was thrown at the windows of the Law Enforcement Benefits office because fuck every LEO who has ever breathed (except Chris Dorner), unfortunately we missed the tiny windows. Some light barricades were built of tires and wooden police barricades, to stop traffic in commemoration of Pablo. This is a fun and interesting tactic to play with, a bunch of angry cyclists attacking capital and anything that gets in their way, moving swiftly in all black attire. It can also be said that many people who did not participate in the attacks did participate in the barricade building, showing that a few folx demonstrating the possibility of conflictuality can spread to others who may want to express their emotions in a more confrontational manner. Some set backs were our aim and force, it is difficult to throw things effectively and hit targets at a distance from the back of a bike, but this situation was more a test of the waters for this kind of action in broad daylight in Philly. Hopefully more rowdy black clad bike rides happen in Philly for less somber occasions.

We claim these actions with hate in our hearts for the bourgiosie and the cops who protect their dying world, and in commemoration of Pablo. May you rest in power comrade. We also act in solidarity with All prisoners in commemoration of June 11th. Until all prisons are ash we will never stop fighting.

May this dying society tremble at our anger, in it’s destruction may we find joy. Every time their society kills one of us, we will attack them with furious revenge in our hearts and a wild fire in our eyes. Our future is already dead, but in the rubble of modernity may we be able to live in the now.

-N0 0N3

RED May Day 2018

  • May 2, 2018 11:44 am

from Radical Education Department

This is RED speaking at the 2018 May Day protest at City Hall in Philadelphia, thanks to the generous invitation by a coalition effort of Liberation Projects. It was a pleasure to collaborate with them, as well as with other like-minded groups, such as Philly for REAL Justice and the Industrial Workers of the World.

[Video Here]

Philadelphia Vigil For Stephon Clark

  • April 1, 2018 1:07 pm

from Facebook


Please join us as we hold a vigil to pay our respects and mourn the murder of Stephon Clark. Feel free to bring signs, cards, poems, stories, or anything else you need to show support. Let’s try to heal together. Philadelphia stands with the family of Stephon Clark.

This event is organized by:

Black Lives Matter Movement PA
Black Lives Matter Philly
The Future Belongs To Us

[April 8 at 9PM at Thomas Paine Plaza]

Rally to Support Rojava, Stop Turkey’s Attacks!

  • March 26, 2018 12:43 pm

from Facebook

The Turkish state and their allied jihadist gangs have invaded the democratic autonomous region of Northern Syria, known as Rojava. Founded on the principles of the Kurdish liberation struggle, Rojava has been a bastion of freedom, feminism, and multi ethnic democracy. Their defense forces have been the best in Syria in fighting ISIS.

War crimes have been committed by the Turkish military and their allies in Rojava’s Afrin region, including summary executions of civilians, the mutilation of female bodies, torture, and indiscriminate shelling and bombing of civilians. Their war against Rojava’s people is a war against all of us. We must not allow Turkey to bring more war and suffering to Syria. #standwithafrin #noflyzoneforRojava

1) We call for an immediate withdraw of Turkish forces from Syria
2) We call for a no fly zone to be set up for Rojava
3) We call for an immediate ban on all arms sales to Turkey

[April 2 5PM to 6PM at Philadelphia City Hall]