May discussion: The Great Caliban: the struggle against the rebel body

  • May 3, 2022 1:34 am

from Viscera

This month we’ll be reading “The Great Caliban: The Struggle Against the Rebel Body,” a chapter from Silvia Federici’s classic work, Caliban and the Witch.

We can see, in other words, that the human body and not the steam engine, and not even the clock, was the first machine developed by capitalism.

History, gender, Foucault, surgeons stealing the bodies of executed prisoners from the gallows – it’s got something for everyone.

We’ll be meeting in Clark Park by the chess tables on Sunday, May 22nd, from 1-3. Bring a blanket or something else to sit on in case the chairs are full with other people enjoying the warm weather!

Find the reading online here or in pdf form here:

The Great CalibanDownload

How many light bulbs does it take?

  • March 8, 2021 1:39 am

Submission

Exterior Decoration Tutorial and Communique

Supplies Needed:
gloves
glass light bulbs
paint
water
funnel
alcohol
screwdriver
pliers
duct tape
soft surface or container

Step 1:
Wearing gloves, use pliers to remove the top of the light bulb (to make a hole in the top). Be sure to break off any extra pieces. (Remove the small plate and dark glass, NOT the threaded metal sleeve.)

Step 2:
Use screw driver to pierce a hole through the top into the main section of the light bulb.

Step 3:
Mix paint with water.

Step 4:
Use funnel to transfer paint mix into light bulb.

Step 5:
Wipe everything (tape, bulbs etc) clean with alcohol.

Step 6:
Duct tape hole shut. You can use a soft surface (like an egg carton) to secure bulbs and keep them from falling over.

Step 7:
Pack your bulbs with cushioning in a container you don’t care about getting messy.

Step 8:
Find your target.

Step 9:
Aim high and throw hard!

In response to the March 6th Call for Action we paint-bombed a pro-life billboard because fuck pro-life propaganda. No one should have to have a baby who doesn’t want to.

Sabotage is fun!
Paint on patriarchy and gender!

-Insurrectionary Feminist Exterior Decoration Committee

Against the Party for “Socialism” and Liberation: Proletarian Feminism is the Weapon to Smash Revisionism!

  • January 6, 2021 1:21 am

from People’s Voice

[This post only contains information relevant to Philadelphia and the surrounding area, to read the entire article follow the above link.]

Character Assassination and Denial: Steven Powers and PSL Philly

In July of 2020, Dakota of PSL Philly reported fellow member Steven Powers for sexual misconduct at the behest of Powers’ then-girlfriend, who used the name Griselda online. In the weeks following his report, Dakota was charged with violating PSL’s constitution, removed from organizational chats, slandered by his so-called comrades and generally isolated by party leadership. Dakota highlighted this process in detail1 after attempting to struggle over the issue through the proper channels. PSL claims that Powers was throroughly investigated, but thus far the only people to see any consequences for his predatory and abusive actions are the people he harmed.

Griselda, who brought his behavior to the attention of other party cadre, has been systematically harassed and stalked by party leadership. In a formal party statement, PSL even disclosed Griselda’s legal name and location, and declared that their investigation committee concluded that Griselda had falsely accused Powers. It’s worth noting that PSL has taken down the statement down due to Griselda threatening suicide; some members now insist that she was not doxxed, repeating the lie that that the original statement had only her first name in it.

What is perhaps most concerning about PSL’s treatment of Griselda is the fact that the party’s investigation into the matter was entirely internal, though she was never a party member. An internal committee of PSL members reading through text messages is not only unqualified to rule out abuse, it is obviously a ploy to avoid transparancy and protect the org’s reputation at any cost. Let us be crystal clear:This is not an internal issue of party discipline. This is an issue of a party member abusing someone outside of the PSL.

The process was further compromised by Powers’ close friendship with members of the Steering Committee, which headed the investigation. Steering Committee member Timour K. was seen hanging out with Steven Powers with other PSL members during the investigation, despite contact with Powers being restricted by the Party.

A recently released statement by former PSL Philly members2, originally intended for internal struggle, details how PSL manipulated Griselda’s accounts to make her out to be a “hysterical woman” and distorted the context for Griselda’s “consent” in order to find Steven Powers innocent of abuse. The Steering Committee also concealed the fact that Powers had another accuser.

If revolutionary parties truly wish to earn the position of vanguard, they must be accountable to the masses, both inside and outside party membership. PSL’s attempts to resolve contradictions between themselves and the unorganized masses through secretive internal meetings reveals not only a disconnect from the broader masses, but a deep fear and distrust of them as well. This is far from the first time that PSL has sprung to the defense of over-degreed white chauvunists in its ranks.

1. archive.is/yT5vp

2. docs.google.com/document/d/1ntjUqtB-k4wuBuN4bc8r9ABxfNsIDVU2YOHW9E92TzM/edit

#RDTW2020 Video and Chuck Africa’s Recommended Resources

  • September 9, 2020 1:04 am

from Philly ABC

[Video Here]

The 2020 Running Down The Walls official reportback is coming shortly. In the meantime, check out this amazing montage by hate5six.

If you missed the full version of Chuck Africa’s speech on Sunday, he is calling on the movement to support women in prison.

chuck-africa-rdtw-2020.jpg

A list of women serving life without parole (or sentenced to death by incarceration) is available through the Women Lifer’s Resume Project. He encourages everyone to pick one to reach out to and see how you can support them. He also recommends donating to the Avis Lee Decarceration Fund. While Avis was granted commutation on September 4th, this fund will lie on to provide support for other women who are released in the dcoming years. Finally, check out the work of the Dignity Act Now Collective that is struggling on behalf of women and trans people in prison.

RAM Study Group Brief Reportback

  • January 26, 2020 10:41 pm

from Twitter

(Thread on study group, full reportback coming soon) The first RAM study group was very well attended. We plan to do monthly reading groups with a variety of different texts. We discussed the Combahee River Collective statement. Many different topics came up in the conversation including the importance of showing up in organizing spaces with intentionality to center the most oppressed, the need for the abolition of gender and the necessity to build a revolutionary movement in the United States to disrupt imperialism abroad. We also found that the CRC’s collective non-hierarchical practice and emphasis on criticism and self criticism should be something we aspire to in our own collective work. We are excited about our next study session next month. We hope to encourage a culture of learning with an emphasis on strategy towards building a liberated world.

Con-Life

  • April 30, 2019 8:57 pm

Submission

We paint bombed a pro-life billboard at a busy intersection in the middle of the day during rush hour.
For more feminist attacks!

Silvia Federici book launch & discussion

  • December 5, 2018 1:47 pm

from Facebook

Join us for a book launch and discussion on Silvia Federici’s two new books Witches, Witch-Hunting, and Women & Re-enchanting the World

Witches, Witch-Hunting, and Women is feminist call to arms providing new ways of understanding the methods in which women resist victimization and offers a reminder that reconstructing the memory of the past is crucial for the struggles of the present.

Re-enchanting the World: Feminism and the Politics of the Commons centers on women and reproductive work as crucial to both economic survival and the construction of a world free from the hierarchies and divisions of capital.

Silvia Federici is a feminist writer, teacher, and militant. In 1972 she was cofounder of the International Feminist Collective that launched the Wages for Housework campaign internationally. Her previous books include Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation and Revolution at Point Zero. She is a professor emerita at Hofstra University, where she was a social science professor. She worked as a teacher in Nigeria for many years and was also the cofounder of the Committee for Academic Freedom for Africa. Her newest books are Witches, Witch-Hunting, and Women and Re-enchanting the World: Feminism and the Politics of the Commons, both published by PM Press in 2018.

[December 12 from 7PM to 9PM at Wooden Shoe Books and Records 704 South St]

Philadelphia, PA: Feminist Vandals Make A Mess

  • June 30, 2018 6:06 pm

Submission

We spruced up a pro-life billboard by throwing a bunch of paintbombs at it. The world hates women, and we’re sick of all the misogyny and patriarchy infused in every aspect of our lives.

We want body autonomy, more than the “rights” of healthcare and reproductive “freedom”, we mean freedom of movement. The freedom to come and go as we please, and as we want to be. The freedom to leave any four walls we happen to have around us. The freedom to live our lives as we choose. To be clear we don’t just mean freedom for women but freedom for anyone constrained by a social role or jailer.

May Day started the season off right, let’s keep it going. Remember when you see something you don’t like don’t wait to trash it. Later this summer is a huge nationwide prison strike, let’s be ready for it. As anarchists we want the destruction of all prisons, let’s put it into motion.

A thought goes out to Eric King, and to everyone fighting against ICE and borders.

Despite borders, gender, and prisons, chaos can always manage to spill through!

-Feminist Anarchist Vandals >:)

*How to fill a glass christmas ornament with paint*

1. Wearing gloves, remove the cap
2. Fill with a mixture of paint and water (using a funnel or squeeze bottle)
3. Replace cap and seal with tape
4. Wipe away any fingerprints and any mess you made
5. Transport carefully (maybe in a double bag)
6. Throw at something ugly

Multi cyber identities: self defense 4 warrior womyn

  • June 17, 2018 9:31 am

from Facebook

[Continua en Español]

Do you feel surveilled by the oppressive systems as a womyn and gender non-conforming POC? Do you feel harassed in the public {{{and private}}} digital space called THE internet? Do you want to use the tools and not be used by corporations? Do you want to ENJOY a transfeminist Internet?! Come and join us in this laboratory to stretch your hackfeminist muscles!

Register here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/multi-cyberfeminist-identities-a-self-defense-strategy-for-warrior-womyn-tickets-46915156496

Our body is our first technology as a womyn warriors. How can we defend us and care for collectively?

A lab session to explore how to fight with joy the different threats and counter-attack war technologies: espionage, facial recognition, and mass surveillance when we inhabit the internet. How internet affects our communications, our privacy, and our public opinions? We invite you to define this digital territory as our ground battle where we are in defense of our digital bodies, pleasures, struggles, and politics! We will experiment how can we transmute into multiple cyber identities, and how the use of our right to be anonymous can be a powerful kick-ass tool of hackeminist self-defense. (; We welcome all LBTQ and womyn! No previous experience need it, so come and just bring yourself!

This session is co-facilitated by Lil_Anaz, Mexican hackfeminist artist based in México City, and Ana Martina, Mexican hackfeminist cooperator based in Philly, who join forces to share strategies towards the liberation of the multiple territories that we inhabit: our bodies, our neighborhoods, our data and our Internet! Join us for this unique event!

We ask a $5 -$25 sliding scale donation to support the presenter Lil_Anaz who is coming from México to present this content in Philly! Nobody will be turned away!

Co-facilitated by @Lil_Anaz https://lab-interconectividades.net/lili_anaz/, https://twitter.com/lili_anaz
& @radiosonidera https://radicante.media/about

[Español]

Registrate aqui
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/multi-cyberfeminist-identities-a-self-defense-strategy-for-warrior-womyn-tickets-46915156496

¿Te sientes vigiladx por este sistema opresivo por ser mujer o de género no binario y persona de color? ¿Te sientes acosadx en el espacio público y {{{privado}}} de Internet? ¿Quieres aprender a usar herramientas tecnológicas y no ser utilizadx por las corporaciones? ¿Quieres GOZAR una Internet transfeminista? ¡Pues ven y acompáñanos en este laboratorio para calentar esos músculos hackfeministas! No necesitas tener ninguna experiencia previa.

Nuestro cuerpo es nuestra primera tecnología como mujeres guerreras. ¿Cómo podemos defendernos y cuidarnos colectivamente?

En esta sesión exploraremos cómo combatir los diferentes peligros cuando habitamos Internet, y cómo contra-atacar a las tecnologías de guerra (espionaje, reconocimiento facial y vigilancia masiva) con tecnologías de gozo cyberfeminista. ¿Cómo afecta Internet anuestras comunicaciones, nuestra privacidad y nuestras opiniones públicas? Lxs invitamos a reimaginar este territorio también como nuestro campo de batalla en el que defendemos nuestros cuerpos, nuestros placeres y nuestras luchas! Vamos a transmutar en multi cyber-identidades y experimentar cómo el derecho al anonimato puede ser una poderosa y chingona herramienta para la auto defensa hackfeminista. Todxs lxs mujeres LBTQ son bienvenidxs a este laboratorio. ¡No necesitas tener ninguna experiencia previa! (;

Esta sesión sera co-facilitada por Lil_Anaz, artista mexicana hackfeminista que reside en la Ciudad de México, y Ana Martina cooperativista hackfeminista que reside en Philly. Estamos uniendo fuerzas para compartir estrategias para la liberación de los múltiples territorios que habitamos: nuestros cuerpos, nuestros barrios, nuestros datos y nuestro Internet. Acompañanos en este evento único!

Pedimos una cooperación de $5 a $25 para apoyar con gastos y viaticos a la presentadora Lil_Anaz, a quién esta viniendo desde México para presentar estos contenidos en Philly. Si no puedes cooperar no te preocupes, a nadie se le negara la entrada.

Co-facilitado por @Lil_Anaz https://lab-interconectividades.net/lili_anaz/, https://twitter.com/lili_anaz
& @radiosonidera https://radicante.media/about

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]

Anti-Police Intervention at Women’s March

  • January 20, 2018 9:56 pm

from Facebook


This banner was put up today after the Women’s march!

The order of police protection was a threat to trans folk and women of color.
Paying the state for your resistance march is not RESISTANCE in any shape or form, just mindless liberals pretending that they’re actually making a difference. The use of direct action is absolutely necessary for resistance.

Your kitty ears and signs are useless.
Go smash a bank window and kick a nazi in the nuts, ladies.

Shout-out to Philly Rebellion for a sick demo today.

Femmes to the Front: A radical march and action

  • March 1, 2017 1:27 pm

from Facebook

We have seen a predominantly white, liberal front in the past few months. Specifically, the Women’s March had failed to include women & femmes of color everywhere by ignoring intersectionality, racial equality, and the struggle against white supremacy. We are calling for a united and militant approach. We are tired of white-led protests. We are tired of white people taking up space. We are tired of the liberal agenda that the Democratic Party will somehow save us.

NO MORE “Love Trumps Hate”, “We Are The Majority Vote”, “Pussy Grabs Back”, “Her Body Her Choice”, etc. The revolution will start here in Philadelphia and it will be of color.

It is crucial for us, as women & femmes of color, to gather in a collective space to mourn, express anger, and display solidarity towards each other. Past protests have failed to show the people how to stay involved in community organizing. We know that marching isn’t enough. We know protesting is only the first step. That is why we have organized a *mostly* all day event where we will start out rallying and listening to women & femmes speak about their experiences, then taking the streets, and finally asking organization representatives to follow through and introduce protesters to organizational work.

We are asking you to dress in black and mask up if you can. The purpose of this is to challenge how society perceives women & femmes of color. Nothing intimidates White Amerikkka more than masked Black & Brown women/femmes. The purpose of masking up is not only to prove a point but also to provide all of you safety.

We will come together the weekend leading up to President’s Day. This event is open to everyone regardless of your race, sexuality, sexual preferences, class, disability, religion, etc. HOWEVER, we are asking that if you are white and are planning to come to this event, that you understand your role in providing safety to women/femmes of color.

[March 8 from 4 to 8PM Location tba]

Born in Flames Screening

  • November 9, 2016 11:29 pm

from Facebook

The Reading Group “Dear Sisters” will be hosting a viewing of Lizzie Borden’s 1983 Documentary-style film “Born in Flames” followed by a discussion. Join us for an evening of pirate radio, radical feminism and a not so fictional dystopian future.
[November 16 from 7:30PM to 10:30PM at A-Space 4722 Baltimore Ave]