Anarchy Afternoons: Unistʼotʼen Camp

  • February 18, 2020 6:13 pm

from Facebook

During this week’s open hours, we are going to be watching short films about the Unistʼotʼen Camp.

To our north, this month has witnessed an explosion of actions intended to “shut down Canada” with blockades of rail lines cancelling passenger service trains across the country and paralyzing freight shipment. In the cities, protests have blocked streets, highways, and bridges. The present wave of resistance can be traced to the Unistʼotʼen camp’s decade-long battle against proposed pipelines in unceded Wetʼsuwetʼen territory. We will watch films and discuss this history to get a clearer picture of what has been happening.

For more information on recent events: https://itsgoingdown.org/from-sea-to-sea-train-blockades-colonialism-and-canadian-rail-history/

3:00 open hours
4:00 films

[February 21 3-6pm at A-Space 4722 Baltimore Ave]

Anarchy Afternoons: La Haine

  • January 30, 2020 7:13 am

from Facebook

Anarchy Afternoons is the name for the regular open hours at A-space. Lately, we have been watching movies in addition to the open hours/Kaffeeklatsch. This week we are watching the classic (1995) French film called La Haine (“Hate”).

Released 10 years before the famous 3-week long riots in Paris in 2005, this film depicts a group of friends in the Parisian suburbs in the aftermath of a riot. The plot revolves around the discovery of a cop’s missing gun and the possibility of revenge for the police brutality that sparked the previous day’s riot. It’s a fictional depiction of 20 hours in the life of the Parisian suburbs inspired by actual events and common experiences.

While La Haine is a very different kind of “Suburb Film” (and very different understanding of suburb) than Over the Edge, it seemed like a good follow-up film.

Open Hours 3:00pm
Film 3:45

[January 31 at A-Space 4722 Baltimore Ave]

Anarchy Afternoons: Over the Edge

  • January 23, 2020 1:56 pm

from Facebook

Based on late-70s sensational journalism intended to vilify suburban youth, this movie explores what young people can do in a world designed for the interests and profits of bougie adults. The suburbs in Over the Edge are alienating, inhibiting, and completely unlike the spaces of childhood innocence found in other teen films of the era. The movie imagines a group of suburban teens that discover the means to resist, to fight their parents, the school, the police. It’s as if the filmmakers asked themselves what it would be like if the Italian/German Autonomist movement spontaneously emerged in American suburbs. Over the Edge is a fantasy of teenage rebellion that shatters the image of suburban civility and complacency. We are going to watch it this week because why not?

For more (spoiler-filled) info on the movie: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wdz5bb/over-the-edge-134-v16n9

Open Hours begins at 3:00pm
Film at 3:30
Note: Open Hours will end early this week at 5:30 instead of 6

[January 24 at A-Space 4722 Baltimore Ave]

Touch the Sky: Stories, Subversions, & Complexities of Ferguson

  • January 4, 2020 1:13 am

from Facebook

A new video collage reflecting on the raw moments of the 2014 Ferguson riots. A film for the wild ones, the anarchists, and the dreamers…

More info: https://touchthesky.noblogs.org/

110 minutes followed by a short discussion

[January 11th 7-9PM at Wooden Shoe Books 704 South St]

Anarchy Afternoons presents Bee Movie

  • December 18, 2019 1:13 am

from Facebook

Someone said Bee Movie had anarchist themes. We are going to screen this movie for no other reason than to find out. And maybe it’s funny?

It’s the last Anarchy Afternoon of the year!

Open hours begins at 3:00
Movie at 3:30

[December 20th at A-Space 4722 Baltimore Ave]

Anarchy Afternoons: Greece 2008 films

  • December 10, 2019 8:50 pm

from Facebook

On December 6, 2008, Greek police shot and killed Alexandros Grigoropoulos, sparking widespread riots. These riots unfolded in the wake of the financial crash that year and were fueled by a large anarchist milieu centered around the Exarcheia neighborhood in Athens.

This Friday we will watch films about these events and learn more about the anarchists in Greece. We will also discuss the present situation in Greece, which has seen a slew of police raids of squats in recent months.

Films include “Potentiality for Storming Heaven,” Sub.media clips, and others.

Open Hours 3pm
Films 3:30

[December 13 at A-Space 4722 Baltimore Ave]

Anarchy Afternoons: Breaking the Spell (1999 Seattle WTO doc)

  • December 1, 2019 12:18 pm

from Facebook

It’s been 20 years so, this week, we are going to look back at the Battle of Seattle aka the 1999 Seattle WTO protests. We will be watching the classic documentary Breaking the Spell and a few shorter videos.

For many anarchists in North America, the events in Seattle signaled a new phase of street action. The actions in Seattle informed and inspired anarchist engagement with the anti-globalization movement and other demonstrations in North America for years after. Not to mention that the tactics developed in this period still shape anarchist activity 20 years later.

We will watch this documentary and discuss the events in 1999 to consider what is still relevant now. What can we get from taking another look at this stage of anarchist organizing? Is there any remaining untapped potential or lessons still to be learned?

Anarchy Afternoons begins at Friday 3:00pm
Documentary 3:30
Shorter film clips 5-6pm

[December 6 at A-Space 4722 Baltimore Ave]

Anarchy Afternoons: The First Umbrella

  • September 8, 2019 8:03 pm

from Facebook

This week we will be hanging out at A-space open hours as usual with coffee and snacks. Also we will be watching Umbrella Diaries: the First Umbrella, a documentary on the origins of the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong of 2014.

Protests in Hong Kong continue even after the withdrawal of the extradition bill as american anarchists continue to follow the events, debate their relationship to it, and learn from the innovative tactics. We will be watching this documentary to understand a bit more about the context and history behind the current protests.

Open Hours begin at 1pm
Film begins at 3:00
Intermission at 4:00
Second half at 4:30

[September 13 from 1PM to 6PM at A-Space Anarchist Community Center]

Anarchy Afternoons: back from hiatus w/ 2 films

  • September 3, 2019 7:15 pm

from Facebook

This week we will be watching 2 short videos from Sub.Media. One concerns the age old question “What is Violence?” The other is the timely back-to-school episode “Learning to Resist,” looking at student movements.

The main aim of Anarchy Afternoons is to function as regular open hours at A-space, an anarchist social center. There is usually coffee, snacks, zines to read, and people to talk to.

After a summer hiatus, we are returning to our regular open hours this Friday with more emphasis on programming and intentional discussion. Each week, we will be either watching videos, discussing a reading, or (occasionally) having short presentations. Beyond this week, there is no fixed schedule so if you have ideas for content, please share.

Open Hours begin at 1pm//Videos begin around 3pm

[September 6 from 1PM-6PM at A-Space Anarchist Community Center]

Trouble screening: Land and Freedom

  • August 26, 2019 9:53 pm

from Facebook

Trouble 21 looks at anti-colonial struggles in Turtle Island and Palestine

From the genocidal aftermath of Columbus’ accidental “discovery” of the New World, to the ever-deeper encroachments of Israeli settlements into the West Bank — five hundred years of European colonialism has cast a long shadow over this world. Colonization, in its supreme arrogance, carved up the globe according to the imperial logic of accumulation, imposing artificial borders on foreign lands and seeking to subjugate restive native populations through religious indoctrination and force of arms. But despite their military superiority, ideological warfare and constant recourse to savage brutality, colonial regimes have consistently failed to crush the will of colonized people to fight back. And the reason for this is simple. Occupation breeds resistance.

Anarchists, especially those of us who have never experienced the sharp edge of colonization, have much to learn from those waging this resistance. We also have a principled imperative to align ourselves with those facing acute forms of state violence and dispossession. To this end, this episode of Trouble draws on two examples of contemporary anti-colonial struggle – those waged by the Palestinians and the Mohawks of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy against their respective oppressors, the Israeli and Canadian settler-colonial states, in hopes of drawing out lessons and increasing our capacity for producing meaningful solidarity.

[August 28 from 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM at Wooden Shoe Books and Records 704 South St]

Screening of Quiet Storm: Technology & Social Control

  • March 28, 2019 12:49 am

from Instagram

We’ll be screening the latest Trouble episode from @sub.media Tuesday April 2nd at 8pm. It’s titled, “Quiet Storm: Technology & Social Control”

[Wooden Shoe Books 704 South St]

Street Politics 101 at Anarchy Afternoons

  • March 15, 2019 11:20 pm

from Facebook

This week we will watch films about the 2012 Quebec student strike on the anniversary of one of its largest (if not most successful) demonstrations.

Seven years ago, on March 22nd 2012, students in Quebec held one of the largest demonstrations in Canadian history. At the time, the organizers were hoping that sheer numbers in the street would give them leverage in the ongoing student strike. Many anarchists and other groups had already been taking a different tack, focusing on developing street tactics through continuous direct actions. After the massive demonstration failed to bring the student organizers to the negotiating table, the strikers seemed to en masse turn their attention to “economic disruptions.” Coming on the heels of a particularly volatile annual anti-police demonstration (held yearly in Montreal on March 15th), these economic disruptions took an explicitly confrontational form. The films chronicle the events that followed.

The main film we will be watching is Submedia’s Street Politics 101 (30 minutes). We will begin this film at 3pm

Clips from the film Insurgence will also be shown throughout the afternoon. This is a rare and powerful document of the period.

For more info on the Quebec student strike: https://crimethinc.com/2012/08/14/while-the-iron-is-hot-student-strike-social-revolt-in-quebec-spring-2012

[March 22nd from 3PM to 6PM at A-Space 4722 Baltimore Ave]

Trouble at Anarchy Afternoons

  • February 27, 2019 10:53 pm

from Facebook

We will be screening the new episode of Trouble during Anarchy Afternoons. Anarchy Afternoons have been happening for several weeks offering coffee, tea, snacks, and discussion. It basically serves as open hours for A-space.

This week we will watch this short video put out by Submedia to help direct our discussion. The video is 30 minutes and is also available freely on the internet if you are interested.

Anarchy Afternoons runs from 1-6. The video will be shown around 3pm.

Here is description of this episode:

Cops are the front-line of the state, tasked with defending and reinforcing all illegitimate hierarchies of power. They are the armed enforcers of white supremacy who catch paid vacations for murdering Black children in the streets. They are the knock on the door to evict you from your home. They are the no-knock SWAT Team raid that shoots your dog. They are the corrupt overseers of the ghetto, the barrio, the favela. They are the unmarked cruiser that slows down to harass a sex worker. They are the vicious interrogators of rape survivors. They are the protectors of bulldozers and pipelines. They are the batons, flash bangs and rubber bullets used to break up our demonstrations, and put down our riots. They are the guardians of capital. They are the oppressor. And without exception… they’re all bastards.
As the overlapping and reinforcing internal crises of capitalism continue to pose an existential threat to the very foundations of state power, governments around the world are doubling-down on their internal security. In many cases, this has come in the form of intense militarization and counterinsurgency training… a process that blurs the traditional between domestic policing and military forces. But further equipping the police does nothing to address the root causes of oppression, exploitation and ecological destruction fuelling social revolt… if anything, it just ups the stakes.

trailer: https://sub.media/video/trouble-18-acab-trailer/

[March 1 A-Space Anarchist Community Center 4722 Baltimore Ave]

Conspiracy To Riot film screening

  • November 5, 2018 12:59 pm

from Facebook

On January 20th, 2017, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States of America. Following his inaugural address, as the upper echelons of the American political establishment mingled on the National Mall, several blocks away, a riot was breaking out. A black bloc several hundred strong was wreaking havoc on the streets. The bloc was part of the anti-capitalist and anti-fascist march, one component of a broader day of protests organized under the umbrella #DisruptJ20. Armed with spray paint, crowbars and rocks, this mob smashed windows, clashed with police and redecorated a limo that would eventually be put to the torch. The police repression was swift. Amidst the haze of pepper spray and flashbangs, over two hundred protesters were kettled, and arrested by DC’s Metro Police.

So began one of the most important political trials in recent history. In an effort to set a chilling precedent for anti-Trump resistance, the US Department of Justice charged over 200 people with eight separate felony charges, threatening them with upwards of 80 years in prison. In her crusade to paint the J20 black bloc as one giant conspiracy to riot, federal Prosecutor Jennifer Kerkhoff filed warrants to seize people’s digital data, and entered into an alliance with discredited far-right media outfits peddling doctored evidence. Faced with this repressive array of state power, J20 defendants responded with unflinching solidarity, setting a new standard for political defense in the age of Trump. This is their story.

More info at: https://sub.media/c/trouble/

[November 8 from 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM at Wooden Shoe Books and Records 704 South St]

Philly ABC Film Screening:The Skyjacker’s Tale

  • April 12, 2018 3:53 pm

from Facebook

Philly ABC will be hosting a film screening of “The Skyjacker’s Tale” by Jamie Kastner. The film is a documentary and the description of it from the website can be found below. We look forward to seeing y’alls beautiful faces there.

“Ishmael Muslim Ali is the American convicted of murdering eight people on a Rockefeller-owned golf course in the US Virgin Islands. After years of trying to get his conviction overturned, he took matters into his own hands and hijacked an American Airlines plane full of passengers to Cuba on New Years Eve 1984, and got away with it. Until now.” – skyjackerstale.com

Ishmael, as well as Warren (Aziz) Ballantine, Meral (Malik) Smith, Raphael (Kwesi) Joseph, and Hanif Shabazz Bey are known as the Virgin Island 5. On September 6th, 1972, eight American tourists were gunned down at the Rockefeller-owned golf course on the island of St.Croix. Quickly the colonial authorities picked up over one hundred blacks for interrogations, and the U.S. colonial troops carried out a series of repressive acts of violence against the black community. The F.B.I. and the United States Army troops led a 300-man invasion force into the islands and used strong armed tactics to conduct house to house searches of the low income areas.

The five were charged after being subjected to vicious torture, in order to extract confessions. They were beaten, hung from their feet and necks from trees, subject to electric shocks with “cattle prods”, had plastic bags tied over their heads and had water forced up their noses by the “defenders of the law.” The judge (Warren Young) overlooking the case prior to being placed on the federal bench worked as Rockefeller’s private attorney and and even handled legal matters for the Fountain Valley Golf Course.

Their trial was an obvious Kangaroo Court and a mockery of any sense of a fair trial. On August 13, 1973, each of the five men convicted and sentenced to eight(8) consecutive life terms.

Today, Warren (Aziz) Ballantine, Meral (Malik) Smith, and Hanif Shabazz Bey are all confined in federal prisons. Ismail Ali was liberated to Cuba via an airplane hijacking in 1984. Raphael (Kwesi) Joseph was granted a pardon by the V.I. governor in 1992. Six years later Kwesi was mysteriously found dead of poison-laced drug overdose, after it was said that he was about to reveal evidence that would have exonerated at least one or more defendant.

More information on the case can be found here http://www.abcf.net/prisoners/vi5.htm