Free Stuff? IN OUR PUBLIC PARK?? More Radical Than You’d Think…

Submission

Early morning yesterday, a small group of intersectional anarchists repurposed surplus materials from the now-defunct university encampment. Set up in the park was smooth and several tents were pitched to establish a presence. As an autonomous action, all of the gear onsite was explictly available for anyone who would care to put them to use. Talking with street-based neighbors it was quick to come to consensus that people wanted to share food, water, cigarettes, commiserate, and rise above the horrors of living under settler-colonialism.

As the sunrise welcomed in the day, more neighbors would greet each other and invite one another to share, some would leave and come back with coffee, bring chairs, and supply coolers with the trust that these items would help sustain an accessible communtiy hub in the park. The banners spoke for themselves: Land Back, Free Palestine, Free the Congo, Resistance is Justified. Signage addressed the elephant in the room while folks on the ground could speak/act freely and not be caught up in chanting or marshaling to cultivate a protest environment, which allowed for community engagement to take center stage.

This proved most interesting when one neighbor passing by pointed out a banner and stated “I’m not down with that”, then was promptly welcomed to engage conflictually. One anarchist invited him over for coffee and a smoke, and It wasn’t long before it became apparent this person wasn’t critiquing the international support, but rather the “trending-political-issue” phenomena that this country subjects its people to every election cycle. He spoke to the horrors – the devastation of the meadows, the chronic displacement in Kensington, and murdered children here in so-called Philadelphia.

The solidarity lines between the overt genocide abroad and the covert genocide at home became clearer amongst the group. With gratitude and a better understanding of each other, the passer-by left to a different section of the park and the autonomous zone carried on with distributing free goods. When anarchists were inevitably confronted by a pig who drove onto the lawn, this same conflictual neighbor came back to this intersectional group to stand against the intimidation and together, as a community, they turned the pig away. By engaging with each other through conflicts, we are ALL empowered and live WE KEEP US SAFE in real time.

In the afternoon, more people would come and go, some anonymously and others more plainly to be recognized by longtime neighbors & loved ones. Building familiarity proved valuable in practicing trust, with housed neighbors eager to know what resources were needed, offering use of their bathrooms to ANYONE who needed relief, and many were quick to make note of hostile zionists in the neighborhood known to harass.

The make-up of the pop-up distro in the park would change depending on who was able to stick around. Some folks more used to hierarchal organization found it difficult to self-start tasks or ask for direction from people they considered unaffiliated, whereas more horizontal-based practitioners would collaborate on supply runs and sign making, all while outreach with neighbors continued through lunchtime.

Houseless folks who wanted them got tents, hungry people got food, and even some student encampment folks found it reinvigorating to be in an occupation-style protest that materially benefited the community it was taking place in.

By the early evening, the cops escalated as the park’s belligerently gentrified beer garden installation began to open – a blight in the neighborhood that has been spoken on as a true disruption each season it has been erected. The juxtaposition of an autonomous and free exchange of resources next to a gated off colonizer project was noted as a bitter irony amongst the group throughout the night.

No laws were broken by this impromptu, picnic-style meet up apart from a technical park code violation that forbids the use of tents without a permit, which is to be handled by the department of parks and rec and NOT the PPD. Folks participating in the distro stayed together while friendly faces filmed the police from other sections of the park. A park ranger with several dozen pigs as enforcers confront folks willing to talk to them about the scene, and after back and forth dispute tents were deconstructed so that the resource exchange could continue without escalating interference from the state.

People continued coming and going, some held it down all day while others came in waves & shifts. Folks on the ground discussed how warped AmeriKKKa’s priorities are when nearly a trillion dollars (yes actually) are funneled towards proxy wars and people are literally in the park sharing what they could to sustain one another. Using each other’s experiences with oppression to identify their chains, this intersectional group of neighbors asked themselves what could be achieved in the park with the supplies and knowledge available to them.

An older neighbor and communist remarked that the people in the neighborhood are sick and tired, some nearly so much they can’t fight like they used to, some too scared to talk to their neighbors because fascism looms heavy. Another person noted how that feeling is what keeps them curious, reminds them to be sensitive whenever possible, and that we’re kept humble in our efforts by reminding each other of the stakes.

But that night in the park, those gathered spoke to a future where a person could feel empowered by the presence of another, where one could feel safe to walk home alone at night, and when one person is threatened for sleeping outside ALL their neighbors can stand with them and PROTECT them. Everyone who came to the park that day showed courage by taking the chance to know each other better despite the horrors of the world.

Even though the folks who stayed overnight were forced to clear out by the morning, a final act of solidarity with some recently-decamped university protestors & neighbors ensured that no essential distro materials were seized by the pigs and can be distro’d again! And again! And again! Nothing the state can do will ever undo the steps taken towards liberation over the past day or ever. We are, each one of us, immensely powerful.

What was learned? People need things, people are eager to give things, and people need people. Approaching resources from an abundance mentality keeps us nourished in all ways. 24+ hours of using the park to share with each other came from fostering conversations about what we needed in light of what we saw before us: the death of empire in its final throes to try and keep us too afraid of one another to realize the struggle is intersectional. Approaching public spaces with intention, making genocide un-ignorable in the most mundane parts of everyday life is essential.

People in the park out against genocide offering resources and engaging in conversation with their neighbors can be regular. Horizontal decision making is a daily practice, and neighbors understood there was no “org” because they know anarchists live here. What demands could have been made? Distro-ing will continue so long as there is a need. When will there no longer be a need? When we are all free. We are all ungovernable. May we all move a few steps closer today. Let’s hope to cross paths in the park again!

Be it with a crowbar, a tent, or a challenge + and open heart…we must liberate each other.

FTP, Palestine is almost free

Sincerely, your neighbor says

Bread & Puppet 60th Anniversary Spring Tour!

from Bread and Puppet Theater

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

Bread & Puppet Theater celebrates its 60th year with a tour to cities and towns across the US Northeast, presenting the company’s latest show: Inflammatory Earthling Rant (with help from Kropotkin).
https://breadandpuppet.org/tour-schedule

Earthlings are now aflame and consequently need inflammatory rants, directed against the arsonist: Western Civilization and its incompetent government. The habitual pragmatic communication jargon won’t do, so the ranters have to resort to the original language which was tasked to employ the spells, charms, and incantations needed to confront the disaster in order to instigate change – with help from Kropotkin’s Mutual Aid ideology.

After the show Bread & Puppet will serve its famous sourdough rye bread with aioli, and Bread & Puppet’s “Cheap Art” – books, posters, postcards, pamphlets and banners from the Bread & Puppet Press – will be for sale.

Show Length: Approximately 1 hour.

Tour Schedule

Saturday, April 1 – Glover, VT
Sunday, April 2 – Barre, VT
Tuesday, April 4 – Albany, NY
Wednesday, April 5 – Ithaca, NY
Thursday, April 6 & Friday, April 7 – Milton, PA
Saturday, April 8 – Kensington, MD
Monday, April 10 – Baltimore, MD
Tuesday, April 11 – Vernon, NJ
Wednesday, April 12 – New York, NY
Thursday, April 13 & Friday, April 14 – Hudson, NY
Saturday, April 15 & Sunday, April 16 – Philadelphia, PA
Tuesday, April 18 – Keane, NH
Wednesday, April 19 – Northampton, MA
Thursday, April 20 – Wakefield, RI
Friday, April 21 – Somerville, MA
Saturday, April 22 – Amherst, MA
Sunday, April 23 – Portland, ME

Philadelphia, PA
Saturday, April 15, 5pm & Sunday, April 16, 5pm
First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia
2125 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19103
$10-$25 suggested donation, no one turned away for lack of funds
No tickets necessary. Just bring cash for the hat.
https://philauu.org/

Book Bread and Puppet
If you are interested in booking Bread and Puppet at your venue or school, please email Paul at breadandpuppettour@gmail.com. We are eager to present shows and workshops with your community!

Building Power While The Lights Are Out

from Instagram

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Join us for a conversation with Jimmy Dunson, editor of the new anthology on disaster relief mutual aid, at 7pm 7/23 in person and live-dreamed on our Instagram. “Disaster capitalism, although still currently dominant, is no longer the only powerful force when disasters occur. There is a growing movement of movements engaged in decentralized, liberatory disaster relief, rooted in the values of mutual aid and solidarity. These efforts, grounded in radical social movement organizing, offer a direct action alternative: meeting the survival needs of the people and building power from below, while challenging the forces of Money and Power. This mutual aid disaster relief movement is a broad ecosystem, with diverse organizations, positions, and practices. As hurricanes, fires, pandemics, and other disasters increase in intensity and frequency, the insights, visions, and experiences the authors in this book share offer a valuable road map to meet the climate crisis head on, struggle for a just recovery when disasters do hit, reimagine our relationships to each other and the planet, and as the Zapatistas taught civil society, “Don’t seize power, exercise it.””

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Practicing Cooperation: Mutual Aid Beyond Capitalism

from Making Worlds Books

Providing a new conceptual framework for cooperation as a form of social practice, Practicing Cooperation describes and critiques three U.S.-based cooperatives: a pair of co-op grocers in Philadelphia, each adjusting to recent growth and renewal; a federation of two hundred low-cost community acupuncture clinics throughout the United States, banded together as a cooperative of practitioners and patients; and a collectively managed Philadelphia experimental dance company, founded in the early 1990s and still going strong.

Andrew Zitcer will be in conversation with Esteban Kelly to illuminate the range of activities that make contemporary cooperatives successful: dedicated practitioners, a commitment to inclusion, and ongoing critical reflection. The conversation will highlight how economic and social cooperation can be examined, critiqued, and implemented on multiple scales in order to combat the pervasiveness of competitive individualism.

“From the crises of racial inequity and capitalism that inspired the Black Lives Matter movement and the Green New Deal to the coronavirus pandemic, stories of mutual aid have shown that, though cooperation is variegated and ever changing, it is also a form of economic solidarity that can help weather contemporary social and economic crises. Addressing this theme, Practicing Cooperation delivers a trenchant and timely argument that the way to a more just and equitable society lies in the widespread adoption of cooperative practices. But what renders cooperation ethical, effective, and sustainable?

Providing a new conceptual framework for cooperation as a form of social practice, Practicing Cooperation describes and critiques three U.S.-based cooperatives: a pair of co-op grocers in Philadelphia, each adjusting to recent growth and renewal; a federation of two hundred low-cost community acupuncture clinics throughout the United States, banded together as a cooperative of practitioners and patients; and a collectively managed Philadelphia experimental dance company, founded in the early 1990s and still going strong. Through these case studies, Andrew Zitcer illuminates the range of activities that make contemporary cooperatives successful: dedicated practitioners, a commitment to inclusion, and ongoing critical reflection. He asserts that economic and social cooperation must be examined, critiqued, and implemented on multiple scales if it is to combat the pervasiveness of competitive individualism.

Practicing Cooperation is grounded in the voices of practitioners, and the result is a clear-eyed look at the lived experience of cooperators from different parts of the economy and a guidebook for people on the potential of this way of life for the pursuit of justice and fairness.”

[April 23 5pm – 6:30pm at Making Worlds Books 410 South 45th Street]