from Anathema
Volume 7 Issue 3 (PDF for reading 8.5 x 11)
Volume 7 Issue 3 (PDF for printing 11 x 17)
In this issue:
Submission
To our comrades in Philadelphia, Rockford and across the so-called United States,
In the wake of the election and the subsequent putsch on the Capitol, the establishment and media apparatus have set out to douse memory of the multi-racial insurgency that spread across the country last summer and dampen the social contradictions that lead to it with slogans of calm and unity. Harrisburg was not been exempt from this revisionist trend in the slightest. During the summer, grifters and Black counter insurgents tried to funnel the long growing discontent into dead end electoralism and the bureaucratic machinations that grind the ember of revolutionary change in their gears at any given opportunity. In spite of this, the community rose up in defiance of both law enforcement and their neoliberal lapdogs in ways that have not been seen here in recent memory – cop cars smashed, streets shut down and police forced into retreat by a hail of bricks and debris.
As the heat of the summer lowered (relatively) to a tempered simmer and the electoral distraction served its role as sociological vacuum, the city’s leadership set its agenda on almost completely ignoring the events of the past year in order to return to some prelapsarian concept of normal – (a state which if it existed would be an amoral hellpit by any honest summation)- the exception of course, being their ongoing plan of repression against the true revolutionaries who participated in the uprising. At writing, there remains many ongoing struggles in the courts for the freedom of participants charged for their participation in the protests, both in Harrisburg and elsewhere. This is particularly disheartening as the loss of momentum of the movement from the summer means individual cases are harder to rally around, making intercommunal support from committed radicals that much more important.
Congruently, the local prison system has been revealed as the cauldrons of deathrot we have always known them to be. As Covid cases spike, the prison refuses to provide hand sanitizer, soap, masks and other lifesaving supplies to its inmates, resulting in the languishing of dozens of incarcerated people. What’s worse, there have been recent reports of widespread sexual abuse of inmates by guards, as well as many other violations of dignity, aided by an M.O. cultivated by deposed Warden Brian Clark, a well documented sex pest in his own right.
We are not liberals. We are appalled but not shocked by the injustice system acting as it always has no matter what century, context or administration – forever a punitive apparatus to repress the colonized and exploited for the benefit of a racist carceral state. Whether a red or blue chain, the shackle remains the same. Recognition of this basic fact informs our work building a culture of resistance to the inevitable crackdown on abolitionists and revolutionaries by the neoliberal state operating in the name of “fighting extremism”.
We believe that times like this, the seeming lulls between mass protests, uprisings and other sparks of civil unrest are as ,and possibly even more important than those moments of social fissure and are probably not even be so neatly disconnected as they may be initially perceived. It is of the upmost importance that we are expanding our networks, supporting our comrades , and deepening our roots in the communities we live in order to create a movement capable of not only sustaining itself in the calm, but also protecting itself when the pigs come knocking. This means building community defense councils and war chests to support our accomplices kidnapped and harassed by the State through every stage of their struggle. It is equally important to deny space and momentum to obvious opportunists and collaborators who attempt to swallow the flame of radical change through cooptation and subterfuge with the intent to isolate radicals and those members of the community willing to take justice into their own hands. This commitment lives and dies on solidarity with those most affected, and this communique is an representation of that commitment.
We unfurled this banner calling for the end to abuse of prisoners in Dauphin County Prison and mass release of all incarcerated in the death camps of Pennsylvania and across the United Snakes. We also want to uplift the connected struggle of the #FreeAnt movement, in order to echo the many voices calling for dropped charges for all and add to the cacophony of dissent against the police state. Finally, we uplift the demands of the Black Philly Radical Collective to for the immediate release of Mumia Abu Jamal, Major Tillery, Arthur Cetawayo Johnson, Russell “Maroon” Shoatz, Omar Askia, Joseph “Jo-Jo” Bowen, and all Black Political Prisoners.
We demand that all protestors across the country be granted amnesty. All charges must be dropped. We have unconditional solidarity to all rebels, radicals and revolutionaries facing State repression.
Free Them All.
Fuck DCP, Fuck Warden Clark and Fuck 12 Forever
Say no to the new Cointelpro!
Black Liberation Now.
Fire to the Prisons, Set the Captives Free.
From Anathema
Volume 7 Issue 2 (PDF for reading 8.5 x 11)
Volume 7 Issue 2 (PDF for printing 11 x 17)
In this issue:
from Anathema
Volume 7 Issue 1 (PDF for reading 8.5 x 11)
Volume 7 Issue 1 (PDF for printing 11 x 17)
In this issue:
from AMW English
“The job is never over; it simply changes from one task to the next. What I’m looking for, I suppose, is balance, and that is a moving target. Balance is not a passive resting place – it takes work, balancing the giving and the taking, the raking out and the putting in.”
-Robin Wall Kimmer
Peace & greetings!
The administration at S.C.I. Albion has empowered corrections officers and the psychologist who works in the RHU (Restricted Housing Unit) to deny our meals, showers, recreation and mail as a means of punishment, retaliation, and psychological torture.
Back in April/May 2020, my neighbor Rufus Davis committed suicide, and in July, another one of my neighbors Phillip Root attempted suicide, but was saved by a C/O named Nolan. Sadly, Nolan was chastised in front of the whole pod by Captain Campbell who said, “Don’t go in there saving nobody. If they want to hang, let them hang!” That statement underscores the total disregard for the lives of RHU inmates at S.C.I. Albion. The same tactics used on Rufus, Phillip and countless others who’d rather kill themselves instead of facing the mental torment, are still in place. It’s upsetting to see how desensitized guards have become towards denying prisoners meals, showers, recreation and mail. The RHU psychologist condones their behavior, the grievance system is useless, and once again, it’s looking like we’ll have to take matters into our own hands (which comes as no surprise).
The reality is we “the incarcerated” are unable to capture footage of excessive force, abuse of discretion, physical, psychological and emotional abuses, cruel and unusual punishment and any other acts of immorality committed by civilian staff, officers, and administrators inside these facilities. Therefore, the dissemination of our truths must be conveyed through word of mouth, writing, communiqués, articles, protesting and uprising.
Power is the people,
BIM
#Vaughn17
from Anathema
Volume 6 Issue 7 (PDF for reading 8.5 x 11)
Volume 6 Issue 7 (PDF for printing 11 x 17)
In this issue:
from Instagram
banner drop! #everybodyout #election2020 #electionrebellion
from Anathema
Volume 6 Issue 6 (PDF for reading 8.5 x 11)
Volume 6 Issue 6 (PDF for printing 11 x 17)
In this issue:
from Anathema
Volume 6 Issue 5 (PDF for reading 8.5×11)
Volume 6 Issue 5 (PDF for printing 11×17)
In this issue:
from Twitter
from It’s Going Down
[This post only contains information relevant to Philadelphia and the surrounding area, to read the entire article follow the above link.]
Unicorn Riot reporter Chris Schiano was attacked by a vigilante gang of white men armed with baseball bats and guns while reporting on the group defending the Christopher Columbus statue in Philadelphia’s Marconi Plaza.
“You’re so scared. Aren’t you embarrassed?” asked the man who initiated the attack on Schiano, later identified by antifascist researchers as John P. Alice, 36, of Philadelphia, owner of JA Painting and Remodeling. Alice began the attack by hitting Schiano’s bicycle with a metal bat. “So what do you think about how Christopher Columbus cut off the hands of people who didn’t bring him enough gold?,” Schiano asked, continuing to report. “They were fucking savages back then,” answered one of group. In total, the group numbered around 100 people, almost exclusively white.
At that point, a man hit Schiano in the head while his bicycle was grabbed. Though police were watching, they did not intervene. “If you’re gonna talk shit, get the fuck out of here,” said the man with Schiano’s bike as he dumped it on the sidewalk. At that point, another man grabbed Schiano and shoved him while a third man, wearing a Frank Rizzo t-shirt, pulled a knife and slashed both tires on Schiano’s bike. (Rizzo was a former Philadelphia Police Commissioner and Mayor with a long history of brutality, corruption, and racialized policing).
Schiano continued to film the vigilantes from the sidewalk for a few more minutes before he rushed by another man, identified by antifascist researchers as Michael Renzulli, Block Captain for 12th and Ritner, and the owner of Philly’s Finest Construction. A police officer then threatened Schiano with arrest for inciting a riot. Antifascist researchers quickly identified the officer as Captain Louis Campione. Antifascists also identified Anthony Fusco as one of the men present. Police did not arrest anyone in connection with the incident.
“We are aware of the groups of armed individuals ‘protecting’ the Columbus statue in Marconi Plaza. All vigilantism is inappropriate, and these individuals only bring more danger to themselves and the city,” Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney tweeted the following morning. “We are also aware of an apparent assault caught on video tape, as well as possible restrictions placed on journalists filming the event. These incidents are under investigation at this time.”
According to some reports, Michael Renzulli has been removed from his current post following the incident. Currently, there is a call from pro-police residents to rally in support of Renzulli, who they say has been reassigned to another part of the city.
from Mainstream Media
Ori Feibush remembers everything about the night an arsonist destroyed 11 townhouses he’d been developing in Philadelphia’s Point Breeze neighborhood. He was awakened by a neighbor banging on his door. He sprinted about two blocks from his home to the site, but firefighters wouldn’t let him near the blaze. “I was unfortunately standing as a bystander,” he said, “with all of my neighbors watching a project that I had worked on for half a decade burn to the ground.”
Mr. Feibush, 36, says he personally lost more than $1 million in the May 2017 fire, and his investors also took a substantial loss. Later that year, he says, someone unsuccessfully tried to set fire to another of his construction projects, in Fishtown. No one has been arrested or charged for either crime, but Mr. Feibush is convinced that local anarchists who consider themselves antifascist, or “antifa,” are to blame.
Point Breeze is predominantly black, and the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that between 2005 and 2009 roughly 1 in 3 residents lived in poverty. Mr. Feibush said the district had “seen 60 years of disinvestment, 60 years of drugs and crime,” but 12 years ago he decided to “take a chance on a neighborhood that a lot of developers didn’t want to take a chance on.” Mr. Feibush’s critics say he took advantage of the area’s cheap property and bad reputation, and that his market-rate developments drive up prices and displace longtime residents.
In the month before the first arson attack, posters went up in the neighborhood, including one urging locals to “smash back” against developers who are “displacing the black and brown people.” The posters singled out OCF Realty, Mr. Feibush’s company, and called for “direct action.” Anathema, which calls itself a “Philadelphia anarchist periodical,” noted the fire in its May 2017 issue under the heading “What Went Down.”
No one responded to my inquiry sent to the contact email for Anathema. The newsletter has no byline or masthead, so it’s unclear for whom it speaks. The Philadelphia Police Department declined a request for an interview, but a Federal Bureau of Investigation official answered affirmatively when asked if, over the past five years, Philadelphia had seen an increase in property crimes the agency interprets as protests against gentrification and capitalism.
“I don’t have an official tally,” Mr. Feibush said, but since 2015 “we experienced what I call ‘nuisance vandalism’ more frequently than monthly but less frequently than weekly.” That includes the fires as well as “slashed tires, paint on cars, graffiti on buildings.” Masked activists have fired paintballs at his employees, and someone shattered a window of Mr. Feibush’s home in July 2019.
“Philadelphia has long had a strong anarchist and antifascist scene,” says George Ciccariello-Maher, a local academic and the author of the forthcoming book “A World Without Police.” He notes that “a lot of the movements here recently” have targeted developers that activists deem “main drivers” of gentrification, including Mr. Feibush.
Not all of Philadelphia’s antifascists and anarchists engage in violence or vandalism, though many support a “diversity of tactics” and won’t denounce attacks on property. Some run food banks and organizations offering legal support and mutual aid. Others research and expose alt-right activists or agitate for the disinvitation of public speakers they consider fascist. Many shun electoral politics, but their ideas—including that capitalism is destructive and that police, prisons and immigration enforcement should be done away with—have become increasingly mainstream on the left.
Witness the 2017 election of Larry Krasner as Philadelphia’s district attorney. As a candidate, he claimed that “policing and prosecution are both systematically racist.” Since taking office, he has embarked on “an effort to end mass incarceration” by reducing sentences. His website trumpets dramatic declines in the number of charges brought by his office and a steep drop in the overall number of years the city’s convicted criminals will spend behind bars.
In Philadelphia, radical politics seem to have allowed radical leftists to destroy property with impunity. Mr. Feibush says Philadelphia police have dutifully investigated the property crimes against him and his business, but to his knowledge no one has been charged or prosecuted: “The feedback I receive is they can send over [the evidence] they have, but they don’t believe the DA’s office will prosecute.” Mr. Krasner’s office, he says, harbors an “unwillingness to do anything to these groups.” As a result, “they’ve clearly become more and more emboldened over the years.”
I asked Mr. Krasner’s office to respond. In an email, spokeswoman Jane Roh described Mr. Feibush as a “highly controversial/politically motivated developer.” (Mr. Feibush unsuccessfully ran for City Council in 2015.) She also noted that the August 2017 arson attempt predated Mr. Krasner’s tenure.
When I pointed out that a property crime against him occurred this month, Ms. Roh responded: “Did Mr. Feibush say that he deserves special treatment compared to the numerous other property owners who have been victimized over the past week or so? . . . It is unlikely that a crime involving any one individual, no matter how important or prominent they believe themselves to be, would require review by the District Attorney himself.”
Ms. Roh added that “the District Attorney has opened approximately 1,000 criminal cases since the period of unrest began, the majority of which are related to commercial burglaries and property destruction.” She said that “for there to be prosecution the police have to make arrests.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Feibush’s woes continue. On June 5, a security camera captured footage of three people bashing away at his office windows, he says, and this past weekend, someone slashed three tires of an OCF Realty truck.
Ms. Melchior is an editorial page writer for the Journal.
