Submission
I glued the locks to the gates of a construction site in my neighborhood.
Simple sabotage is fun and easy. Even small attacks, especially if consistent and continual, are great ways to cause hiccups in the flow of progress.
Resist gentrification at whatever the stage!
Submission
I went to the site of a development project that intends to turn a half a block of vacant land into condos. Still in their early stages, I noticed they had recently begun the process of sectioning off the site for what I assumed to be marking the layout/foundation for building . They had installed a series of rebarb posts in the ground connected by strings, so I cut all the strings and removed all of the posts from the ground (minus 2 stubborn ones). The beams were pretty heavy so I threw them in a nearby dumpster burried under trash.
Hope they’re mad when they realize all the work they did was for nothing.
Submission
We don’t know if there was a noise demo this year, if there was we didn’t roll up. But we took our fireworks and had a great little new year’s party to pregame our own action. Nearly every window at Millcreek Tavern has been gloriously smashed out, costing that scumbag ex cop owner ballpark 7 to 10 grand in replacements, if the figure he dropped in a radio show after the last time one was broken, of $1,500 a window is accurate. There’s something beautiful to be said about crewing up with yr friends and lovers, and just goddamn going harder than you already have. Also 2 nights ago, we found where the Drexel buses sleep at night, and swiftly disabled one entirely, slashing tires with an awl, finding out it was goddamn left open, and spraypainting all the windows and windshields from the inside. Rapid gentrification by universities can be combatted; all it takes is creativity, small crews, and some easily fucking procured tools. Double paned quarter inch reinforced windows take about 2 to 3 solid smacks with a hammer to bring down entirely, in a beautiful cascade of glass. Happy new year y’all, here’s to a lawless 2020.
Submission
Submission
Prison abolitionist queers who will never stop disrupting. Stay sexy, Stay violent, Stay unpredictable
from Mainstream Media
The Point Breeze home of Philadelphia developer Ori Feibush was vandalized in an early morning incident that saw the first-floor windows of his home smashed by bricks and paint-splattered across the property.
It’s the latest in a string of vandalism incidents that have targeted properties associated with the developer and his company, OCF Realty. In a phone interview, he blamed “anarchists” who he said had left an incriminating note attached to a brick used to smash the windows of his home.
The developer has been at the center of controversies surrounding the gentrification of the South Philadelphia neighborhood where his company has developed hundreds of properties.
“It’s disappointing,” Feibush said. “There’s always an opportunity for public discourse and I appreciate a healthy debate. But this is not a productive or healthy way to approach these issues.”
The developer said he was awoken Thursday morning around 2:30 a.m. to the sound of shattering glass. Along with bricks and a note, the perpetrators threw bottles of white paint that splattered on the facade, the interior of the home and a car parked nearby. Police arrived on the scene shortly afterward.
In an image sent to WHYY by the developer, a note reads “enjoy your luncheon, ori” with a “circle-A” symbol historically associated with anarchist movements written in permanent marker.
Feibush appeared at an Inquirer panel Philadelphia real estate “influencers” today — an event which itself attracted criticism for its high ticket prices and failure to include voices critical of city’s development industry.
Three individuals were captured on video by several surveillance cameras on the block, although the developer declined to release video of the incident.
Several other properties associated with OCF have been vandalized in past attacks. In one instance, four homes were destroyed by a fire that investigators said had been intentionally set.
Feibush said there have been “42 major incidents” of vandalism at his properties over the past year, some of which had not made headlines.
“This was the same M.O. as every other bit of vandalism we’ve had over the past year,” he said of the Thursday window smashing.
Submission
Yuppie hair salon on Baltimore ave was greeted this week with a shattered window and red paint, with “Welcome! to Philly” painted on the door. We’re not interested in local business models or co-ops. We’re not interested in ‘conscious’ capitalism. It’s still capitalism, it’s still gentrification.
We’re not done.
Happy May!
Submission
For May Day we claim responsibility for the following actions:
-Deflating the tires and painting the windshield of a yuppie housing shuttle bus.
-Throwing paint at the facade of two OCF properties.
-Smashing glass and cutting all non-hydraulic cables of at least four construction machines at the site of a development project intending to manicure a once wild place.
All of our targets are part of the ongoing gentrification of the city.
Solidarity with the comrades in Italy facing repression.
On May Day anarchists aren’t sleeping!
Submission
we saw these in west philly and thought we’d share. one of the photos shows graffiti getting buffed on a new yuppie building.
from It’s Going Down
It’s well known that West Philly is rapidly gentrifying. Developers and more moneyed renters and buyers continue to successfully take more space from poor and working-class Black people. In this process, one of the few negative consequences these newcomers might experience is getting robbed in the neighborhood. In January, the number of robberies in the heart of gentrifying West Philly shot up, in the area between 41st and 49th streets (from east to west) and between Ludlow and Cedar avenues (from north to south). At least eight robberies were reported during that month, according to a University City District (UCD) report. Four homes on Hazel and Larchwood avenues between 49th and 51st streets were also burglarized during this time.
In response, a few of the more unapologetic gentrifiers not only reported the incidents to the police, but also attended a “community meeting” hosted by the police. Following the meeting, the Philly police announced that they would have an increased police presence in the area, including foot patrols specifically in the area between 48th-52nd streets. Sure enough, residents have noticed a lot more cop cars as well as cops on foot in the area since.
On Wednesday, March 6, this increased cop presence and paranoia culminated in the cops shooting a young Black man who live near 49th and Hazel — exactly where gentrifiers had been complaining about burglaries and robberies taking place. Claiming that they had been called to the scene in response to a “stabbing incident” (no stabbing victim was found at the scene) and that he was holding a knife outside a house on the street, the cops shot 25 year old graduate student Kaleb Belay six times (three in the chest). As of this writing he is stable condition at Penn Presbyterian Hospital.
It’s never worth it to call the police over some lost property — and we personally won’t call them to deal with any of our problems. The high 40 and low 50 streets are undergoing intense gentrification. Know that the police’s role is to attract more gentrifiers and push people originally from the neighborhood out. That’s what happened when University of Pennsylvania cleared out an entire neighborhood (what was once called the Black Bottom) of West Philly in order to move the school there decades ago — that’s why UCD security roam the neighborhood.
The police are just looking for an excuse to roll in and further the dispossession and extermination of Black people from the neighborhood.
The night after the police shooting, a group of 20-30 people marched down Baltimore Ave with a banner reading “Fuck the Police.” At least two new buildings on the ave between 50th and 48th streets, all with gentrifying new architecture, had windows broken, and one had “Fuck Cops” written on it. The Mariposa Co-Op, which has been a beacon of gentrification in the neighborhood for a long time (known for calling the police on panhandlers), had red paint thrown at one of its surveillance cameras. Anti-police tags and stickers were put up. After the police arrived, things calmed and the march went to the hospital where Kaleb is recovering before dispersing. Throughout the march many passersby and drivers shouted “Yeah, fuck the police!” and other words of encouragement. There were no arrests.
On March 8th, opportunists Refuse Fascism/Revolutionary Communist Party held a candle-lit vigil for Kaleb near the site of the shooting. This event was poorly attended and seen by many as an attempt to use the grief and anger around the shooting to recruit for their organization.
On March 10th, the Philadelphia Ethiopian Community held a debrief and discussion at the Ethiopian Community Center in West Philly. Kaleb’s lawyer and his boss/family friend gave updates on his situation. Next steps to assist Kaleb and his family were planned. Over the weekends of March 16-17th and 23-24th there were fundraiser events for Kaleb at the Ethiopian Community Center.
A march demanding justice for Kaleb went to the district attorney’s office on April 6th. Simon Haileab, Kaleb’s attorney, reports that Kaleb is recovering slowly; he is out of the intensive care unit but remains at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. Police are charging him with aggravated assault, simple assault, and possessing an instrument of crime. Anyone interested in donating money to Kaleb can do so by visiting his gofundme here or dropping off money at Bookers Restaurant at Baltimore Ave and 50th St.
When some discontents spray-painted and smashed windows after the police shot an immigrant graduate student in Cedar Park, many were quick to condemn the attacks. These criticisms did not target the anti-police and anti-gentrification sentiment behind the attacks, but rather their choice of targets. The thing about anger and revolt is that it strikes out at what is perceived as oppressive.
No uprising has ever surgically delivered anger to the doorstep of only the most oppressive and powerful, while excluding the lesser contributors of a stifling society. Not everyone is going to track down the head honcho of this or that realty company when they see an example of gentrification around the corner.
In relative terms, what happened to the businesses on Baltimore Ave is calm; police violence has sparked much more devastating responses in other contexts – like the burning of entire neighborhoods.
It also bears mentioning that at the time of this writing, despite many critics suggesting better targets for vandalism (the police, University of Pennsylvania, money lenders, banks, etc), none of these targets seem to have been vandalized. These critics seem content to suggest how others express their anger and direct their rebellion without doing so themselves. If these people are waiting for the ideal targeting of the proper institutions and yet they do not plan on going after them themselves, they are simply waiting. When people start to condemn all but the most pure and correct actions, they climb the stairs of an ivory tower.
Will arrogance about how others struggle move someone closer to freedom? It seems more likely to lead to further separation from those who are struggling and making concrete their rebellion, to create a roadblock for feelings of solidarity. Throwing paint at the expensive Mariposa Co-Op grocery store and breaking the glass door of a fancy-looking new apartment building along Baltimore Ave, some of the actions during the demo that were later criticized by others, targeted small businesses whose gentrifying impact is felt in this particular neighborhood where police shooting took place.
It is gentrification that led to the increased police presence in this neighborhood, which inevitably led to a black man getting shot. In addition to wanting to push back against gentrification in this area, those who criticize colonialism, or ecological destruction, those who hold nihilist perspectives, and even the less discriminating among the anti-capitalists may see the destructive actions on Baltimore Ave as a step in the right direction. We don’t all imagine liberation in the same way, but it should be understood that a dramatic transformation of society is necessary, so when we see that taking place on a small scale as destruction we can understand it to be part of that liberatory transformation even if you would go about it that way yourself.
“There are many who await the hour of liberation impatiently, but how many work to bring it closer?”
Submission
Windows smashed and front exteriors painted up on two apartment buildings owned by OCF Realty in West Philly.
Submission
It’s well known that West Philly is rapidly gentrifying. Developers and more moneyed renters and buyers continue to successfully take more space from poor and working-class Black people. In this process, one of the few negative consequences these newcomers might experience is getting robbed in the neighborhood. In January, the number of robberies in the heart of gentrifying West Philly shot up, in the area between 41st and 49th streets (from east to west) and between Ludlow and Cedar avenues (from north to south). At least eight robberies were reported during that month, according to a University City District (UCD) report. Four homes on Hazel and Larchwood avenues between 49th and 51st streets were also burglarized during this time.
In response, a few of the more unapologetic gentrifiers not only reported the incidents to the police, but also attended a “community meeting” hosted by the police. Following the meeting, the Philly police announced that they would have an increased police presence in the area, including foot patrols specifically in the area between 48th-52nd streets. Sure enough, residents have noticed a lot more cop cars as well as cops on foot in the area since.
On Wednesday, March 6, this increased cop presence and paranoia culminated in the cops shooting a young Black man who live near 49th and Hazel — exactly where gentrifiers had been complaining about burglaries and robberies taking place. Claiming that they had been called to the scene in response to a “stabbing incident” (no stabbing victim was found at the scene) and that he was holding a knife outside a house on the street, the cops shot 25 year old graduate student Kaleb Belay six times (three in the chest). As of this writing he is stable condition at Penn Presbyterian Hospital.
It’s never worth it to call the police over some lost property — and we personally won’t call them to deal with any of our problems. The high 40 and low 50 streets are undergoing intense gentrification. Know that the police’s role is to attract more gentrifiers and push people originally from the neighborhood out. That’s what happened when University of Pennsylvania cleared out an entire neighborhood (what was once called the Black Bottom) of West Philly in order to move the school there decades ago — that’s why UCD security roam the neighborhood.
The police are just looking for an excuse to roll in and further the dispossession and extermination of Black people from the neighborhood. Don’t give them one!
The night after the police shooting, a group of 20-30 people marched down Baltimore Ave with a banner reading “Fuck the Police.” At least two new buildings on the ave between 50th and 48th streets, all with gentrifying new architecture, had windows broken, and one had “Fuck Cops” written on it. The Mariposa Co-Op, which has been a beacon of gentrification in the neighborhood for a long time (known for calling the police on panhandlers), had red paint thrown at one of its surveillance cameras. Anti-police tags and stickers were put up. After the police arrived, things calmed and the march went to the hospital where Kaleb is recovering before dispersing. Throughout the march many passersby and drivers shouted “Yeah, fuck the police!” and other words of encouragement. There were no arrests.
As is usual, the police and media are trying to confuse and bury the story. Initially police reported responding to a call of a man with a weapon, then they said it was a stabbing, although no stabbing victim was found. News media have not been prioritizing the story, instead continuing to publish other stories that justify the further policing of West Philly.
The Eritrean and Ethiopian networks in Philadelphia have come together to support Kaleb. Fundraising efforts have begun to help with costs associated with surviving being shot by the police. A vigil has been organized, and other support meetings have already taken place.
The police and gentrification work together to displace, imprison, and eliminate black and brown people. Each reinforces the other. Gentrifiers encourage the police to do their job, and the police create a welcoming environment for gentrifiers. It’s not surprising that gentrifiers are inviting the police into the neighborhood through the rhetoric of crime and safety (being racist is passe). Despite what either group says, their goals align. It should come as no surprise that Kaleb was shot by the police after neighbors reached out to the police to be more present in the area.
It makes sense to us that people are attacking construction and new buildings in the wake of a gentrification-enabled shooting. Fuck the police! Fuck gentrification!
Submission
They had their tires slashed.
These vile blue beasts are a fine ride around town for the wealthy (unsurprisingly the most inept bike riders on the road), are consuming space and welcoming the rich into gentrifying neighborhoods; reminding us that leisure, technology and convenience are crafted for the elite, and always at our expense.
For a Black December and a rowdy new year!
Submission
Anti-Gentrification Direct Actions
Philadelphia 2013-2018
Gentrification has been completely changing the city to cater to yuppies, while at the same time erasing the memory and culture of the poor and black and brown people that make up the majority of Philadelphia.
Some might say gentrification is an unstoppable force, a monster that is too far gone and is irreversible in its devastation. Although some of that may be true we don’t want people to forget the struggles of resistance to it or for those struggles to become invisible.
[web zine] [print zine]
Ruby Sanders moved to Philadelphia in the 1960s after escaping loansharks in the plantations of South Carolina with her husband and their first 7 kids. In 2016, after living in her home for 50 years, she was evicted from the house because of gentrification in her neighborhood.
Her, her grandson Speedy, another young man from the neighborhood, Yusuf, and several other neighbors tell us more about how rich white people moving to the neighborhood is transforming their community. They also explain how gentrification is part of all the racist violence their community has been suffering throughout history. From the so called “war on drugs” to police brutality and from mass incarceration to public schools being shut down, this community is being pushed “Out of the Way”.
We have uploaded this video directly to youtube because we want it to be screened and presented anywhere and everywhere people deem appropriate. We want this video to be used as a talking point, but more importantly as an organizational tool.
There are many different factors involved in the gentrification of communities around the world that are all too often not included in discussions around why. This is not an academic or an intellectual perspective on the issue. This is a community based perspective on how communities of color in particular are being criminalized and displaced from their neighborhoods for profit.
Combative Communication along with the community members from Francisville interviewed in the film agreed to put “Out of the Way” online so that people could screen it and use it as a tool to share this experience, motivate communities to organize, and contribute to the fight against gentrification. Please let us know about screenings or organizing efforts in your community. We would love to support how ever we can.
