from Instagram
RIP David Jones shot in the back by police
Ugly-Ass Frank Rizzo Mural In South Philly Gets Tagged, Again
from Tattle Tot
In case you missed it, Philadelphia Police Officer Ryan Pownall, a white man, shot David Jones, a black man, in the back earlier this month.
Jones died.
In the coming weeks I’ll be doing more reporting on the case. But for now, let us just enjoy and praise the brave soul who tagged the ugly-ass Frank Rizzo mural in south Philly.
F**k You, Free Spit feat. QQQ/OHM/Duece Dagod/3Xile
From Facebook
A benefit for our unfairly imprisoned comrade, featuring some dope hip-hop and electronic artists.
A radical trans activist was beaten and arrested by police this weekend, defending all of our rights. With guns at their back and violent fascists looming, they bravely countered the bigoted march against Sharia Law. They are charged with assaulting a police officer, but that could not be further from the truth. Multiple eye witnesses watched as they were trampled by horses, pulled to the ground, and attacked by a group of officers. All this for defending the Muslim community. Bail is 100,000 dollars, they need at least 10,000 to be released. We know how much more dangerous prison can be for transgender people, and if bail can’t be posted they could be trapped in there for months before a court hearing. All proceeds go to the bail fund and getting them out. Every day they spend inside is an incredible threat to their safety. Help our friend see the sky again.
Artists:
QQQ – https://qqq-music.bandcamp.com/ (this shit just dropped yesterday and it’s DOPE AF go check it out)
O.H.M – https://soundcloud.com/rapperohm
Duece Dagod – https://soundcloud.com/duece_dagod23
3xiLe – https://soundcloud.com/3xiLe
TBASA [WA] – https://tbasa.bandcamp.com/album/brevity-is-its-hallmark
$5 Cover
$1 beers
[June 15 7:30 to 11:30PM at Black Magic]
RIP David Thomas Jones
Submission
Saw this on Chester at 49th street. David Thomas Jones was killed by police on Thursday.
Bring an activist home
from Fundrazr
A dear friend and activist was in Harrisburg protesting against the Islamophobic “March Against Sharia Law.” After being illegally forced out of the street, a police horse was used to trample them. They were then tackled by 5 police officers and charged with harrassing a police animal. Bail has been set at the obscene amout of $100k, of which we need 10% to make a bail bond. Any money raised will go toward this cause, or towards paying back any guardian angel who can pay $10k as a loan, $4k of which has already been raised via a different campaign. Anything in excess of $10k will be used for their legal defense. Please help us bring our friend home to safety as soon as possible.
NOTE: This campaign was started because the original YouCaring campaign was taken down. The approximately $4k that was raised through that campaign will be kept an used toward bail and legal fees.
[Donate]
A Philly Cop Shot A Black Man In The Back, Here’s How Philly Media Responded
From Tattle Tot
Yesterday afternoon an officer with the Philadelphia Police Department shot and killed someone, who according to Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross, was running away from the officer. But local media is doing a terrible job of telling the city that.
According to police, the officer was transporting two witnesses to a precinct for something unrelated when he saw the yet-to-be-identified victim driving erratically on a dirt bike. The cop pulled up next to the guy, whose bike was having a malfunction.
According to police when the officer went to confront the individual he started to back away. When the victim did this, for whatever reason the officer got out of his car and conducted a frisk, (surprise!), at which point the officer allegedly felt a gun and the victim ran.
While running away, the cop shot the victim in the back, according to video footage. Ross said the video caused “pause.”
“The one video vantage point is actually showing or depicting the officer firing as the guy is running away,” Ross also told reporters. “He is running ahead of the officer when he discharges from behind, so that’s a piece we want to look at very closely.”
Police seem to like killing black people, that’s not news, per se. There’s are also some weird things about what the police are saying surrounding this particular case, but this isn’t the post for that.
The issue I’m having with this current killing is how my local media is covering it and how they are fucking up said coverage.
A police officer killing someone while running away from someone is a huge story. That is the story–the fact that an armed government official shot someone who from initial reports wasn’t an immediate threat?
Frank Rizzo Mural Vandalized Again
From Facebook
Sometime in the morning hours before the 9th ST. Italian festival was to take place, vandals attacked the rizzo wall in South Philadelphia.
The towering wall that faces 9th ST dripped with black paint as people arrived to celebrate their Italian heritage.
Rizzo, Mayor of Philadelphia in 1977 and also police commissioner, was known for terrorizing and brutally attacking members of the black, brown, and queer communities. The monuments and celebrations of this Fascist will not be tolerated.
LONG LIVE THE MOVE 9.
LONG LIVE JOHN AFRICA.
FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
Philadelphia, PA: Posters for the Week of Solidarity Against Repression
from It’s Going Down
As a small contribution to the week of solidarity against repression, we put up posters against police and authority.
Down with all authority!
Long live anarchy!
“Avenge Korryn Gaines”
from Instagram
Fight for the dead. RIP Korryn Gaines, stolen from this world by police.
Solidarity w Anaheim Rebels
from Instagram
Solidarity w Anaheim Rebels spotted downtown. #ftp #anaheimrebels #philly
Resistance, Repression, and Media Lies in Philadelphia: Reportback from the Black Resistance March, 2/17/17
from Crimethinc
Donald Trump has taken to his soapbox to carp about “fake news,” as if the corporate news media were a subversive force. On the contrary, while biased or outright dishonest reporting is the rule rather than the exception, it almost always serves those in power. The interests of the corporate news media cannot be disentangled from the advertisers who fund them and the authorities they count on for scoops. In this eyewitness report from a demonstration in Philadelphia last Friday, participants relate how police attacked them with batons and pepper spray, then persuaded local media to report that it was the demonstrators who pepper-sprayed them.
Last night in North Philadelphia, four people were arrested and many were injured by batons and mace during a march organized by a local militant Black Lives Matter group, Philly Coalition for REAL Justice. The flier described it as a “Black Resistance March.” The online description expanded on this:
“All are welcome as long as they make space for black people at the front of the march. The issues contained in the assaults on LGBT folks, on Muslims and refugees, occupation and militarization abroad are intersectional. Today we center our black women, our black immigrants, black LGBTQ family, and our black Muslims. Dress warm and be vigilant.”
The march kicked off with a line of Bodyhammer-style shields made from large city traffic cones. Each one had a letter painted on it so that together they read “U-N-G-O-V-E-R-N-A-B-L-E.” Even the protest chants had an air of militancy. “Bullets Trump Hate” resonated throughout the streets as the march headed north on Broad Street. One person with a megaphone paid homage to the words that became a rallying cry after police officers murdered Eric Garner. “They say ‘hands up, don’t shoot,’ but we have another one for you… ‘guns up, shoot back.’”
The march made its way north towards the Temple campus. We stopped at the bustling intersection of Broad and Girard, a main artery for traffic and public transit. The crowd blocked the streets and burned American flags while people of color talked about police repression and terrorism through a megaphone. “This is not my flag. It has never been my flag. We’re burning this flag for Emmit Till. Trayvon Martin. Michael Brown. Freddie Gray. This is for Brandon Tate Brown.” There was more talk about the current racist stop-and-frisk policy, and, of course, the MOVE bombing of May 13, 1985. The list went on while the fire grew.
After it began to burn out, the march started to move again. The group wasn’t half as large as some anti-Trump demonstrations that brought out thousands only a few weeks ago. In a fashion typical of Philadelphia Police, the march was followed by dozens of squad cars and at least two police helicopters, and surrounded on either side by bike cops who seemed to outnumber participants by at least two to one. The strategy for policing mass mobilizations in Philadelphia is heavily influenced by former Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey; usually, the police avoid making arrests, while oversaturating the area with officers. This approach is informed by the “Vancouver Model” as outlined in the police manual Managing Major Events: Best Practices from the Field by the Police Executive Research Forum.
As soon as we neared Temple University, the march became confrontational. Those with megaphones tried to rush into the campus dining hall. Uniformed officers tripped over each other as they hurried to block the entrance and exits, using their bikes to shove people who stood in their way. They formed a line in front of the doors with their bikes as blockades.
Someone noticed a Bank of America across the street and everyone rushed in that direction. Only one officer stood guard before all the shielded protestors formed their own line at the entrance. Bike cops rushed over, clumsily tripping over each other again as they scrambled to catch up with the crowd. A scuffle broke out. Someone threw black paint over the bank window and perhaps an officer or two. Cops extended their batons. Shielded protesters stood their ground and moved forward, chanting “Kill the Rich.” Police pepper-sprayed a large portion of the crowd, then began swinging their batons and hitting many people. Four arrests took place. There was an unsuccessful attempt to de-arrest someone. I saw at least one person bleeding from the head after being hit by police. Street medics took care to help flush the pepper spray out of the eyes of those struck.
All the local news media outlets that covered this event reported that protestors pepper-sprayed the police and that police were hospitalized with injuries. No one I spoke with has witnessed anything other than the police pepper-spraying protestors. One person’s account is as follows: “Here’s what happened. We wanted to get inside Bank of America. A bunch of cops started beating people up with bikes and batons because they care more about capitalist institutions than people. One of them started spraying us with pepper spray. I got it in my eyes. The cops started shouting to their own guy, “Who’s spraying? Stop spraying!” Now, in order to cover up their incompetence, the press is implying that we were the ones who injured them.”
Six more people were arrested outside the precinct the next day while doing jail support. It took over 24 hours before everyone was released. The Up Against the Law Legal Collective worked nonstop to find out where everyone was being held and when they would be eligible for bail, while the local Food Not Bombs chapter fed the gathering crowd of people expressing support outside the jail. The charges being filed against the arrestees are outlandish, but we plan to fight the system with solidarity.
The courts and the police want us to feel scared and isolated. As long as we have each other’s backs in the mounting resistance to come, we can win. And we will win.
Statement: Philly Police Harass Philly Antifa and Wooden Shoe Books
from Up Against The Law
Bundle Up With Solidarity and Resist The Chill
A Statement From Up Against The Law Legal Collective
On Saturday January 28th Philly Antifa held an event at Wooden Shoe Books featuring anti-fascist researcher Matt Lyons of the blog threewayfight. Some people arriving at the event noticed an unusually large police presence outside and across the street, others noticed a car parked out front that contained plain clothes officers from Civil Affairs, Philly’s protest police. Text messages bounced around to different people expressing concern. Were the cops going to try and come in and mess with people? Were they targeting Philly Antifa? What exactly was happening? Why were the Philadelphia Police staked out in front of public speaking event at a bookstore?
After the event some disturbing details were relayed by Wooden Shoe staffers to Philly Antifa organizers. Plain clothes officers from Civil Affairs had visited the Wooden Shoe the day before to voice concern about the Philly Antifa event. They alleged that Philly Anitfa may have been involved in a protest at which vandalism occurred, misidentified Philly Antifa as a fascist group themselves and speculated that right wing violence might occur at the event. They asked the staffers at the Wooden Shoe if they would consider canceling the event.
That the PPD thinks its acceptable to try to get anti-fascist public speaking event cancelled should be of concern to everybody in this city.
That the PPD thinks its acceptable to try to get anti-fascist public speaking event cancelled should be of concern to everybody in this city. For their officers to think they can enter a bookstore and suggest, imply or request that a speaking event should be cancelled is reprehensible.
What should be equally concerning is the ‘divide and conquer’ technique at play. We saw this tactic at play at Occupy Philadelphia in 2011 when the Civil Affairs warned Occupiers new to political movements to ‘watch out of the anarchists and black hate groups like Uhuru’. We saw it at play back in 2000 when civil affairs warned anti-stadium organizers in Chinatown that they had to watch out for the anarchists without knowing that the organizers trusted those same West Philly anarchists and that they were involved in providing security and marshaling for their march the next day. We’ve seen Civil Affairs deploy this tactic time and time again. The PPD has a history of trying to wedge movements and to cultivate suspicion among organizers and groups who may not know each other well or who they suspect may have some initial distrust toward each other.
We can resist by dragging this tactic into the light and letting other people know about it especially those new to organizing. When we let people know in advance that the PPD might spread misinformation about other groups it prepares them psychologically to resist this tactic and to dialogue with each other when the PPD attempts to play the divide and conquer game. It should go without saying that you should exercise your right to remain silent and refuse to answer the cops questions about others in the movements. However, If the cops approach you to speak about an organizer or organization you should absolutely contact that organizer or organization right away to talk about what happened and let them know the cops were asking about them and/or making claims about them. Exercise your right to dialogue with others in the movements and build with them.
That this is a seemingly clumsy use of this tactic should be no less concerning. It’s probable that the Civil Affairs knew their intervention would be rebuffed but knew that through speaking to Wooden Shoe staffers their primary message would be relayed to rebellious movements: we are watching you. This was especially clear the next day with the large police presence outside and around South Street. Cultivating paranoia is an important weapon in the cops arsenal.
While the Matt Lyons event was standing room only the police harassment and presence outside had a chilling effect. Some people received texts from friends warning people to stay away from the Wooden Shoe. In the future we would recommend the opposite. If you hear that a group is being harassed by police go down to stand by them and support them if it as at all possible for you to do so.
In 2014 we wrote this in response about police surveillance and harassment of Black Lives Matter activists at their homes and on their campuses:
“We would argue that surveillance’s primary function is for its targets to know they are being watched. It is used to instill fear; to get people feeling as if they are always being watched, monitored and scrutinized and that, implicitly, the police, like any other predator, might pounce on those they are watching. It is a powerful psychological weapon and one reason is that it’s viral. Once one person gets visited or gets a phone call or is followed home, other organizers are looking over their shoulder. Its goal is to make people feel isolated and targeted….
…Our response should be to resist this psychological war with our solidarity. The movement in Philadelphia will never let individuals be targeted and face the authorities alone. To borrow a phrase: our solidarity is our weapon. We should talk openly more about how we will support each other than how the cops may or may not be watching us or ways to evade their gaze.
They will be watching. But so will we. We, as a movement, will be watching to see if they try to start any shit with anybody and we will have each others’ backs. We, in the big picture are a powerful network that can mobilize people on the streets, support people in the courts and move ‘unlikely allies’ to our side. We, as a movement, will never let people face the authorities alone.
Our best defense is to build meaningful relationships with each other across organizations and sectors of the movement. Trust, clear lines of communication and relationship building are the inoculation to the viral fear and intimidation that surveillance tries to instill.”
This statement is more important than ever. Now is the time to have each others backs, build meaningful relationships across the movements and resist paranoia with public solidarity. Now is the time to draw a hard line and let the authorities know exactly what we will not tolerate and what we will not allow them to do to others in the movements. As the old anti-fascist slogan goes ‘No Pasaran’. They shall not pass. We will not let them harass or menace anybody in the movement unchallenged. We will be there for each other.
See Also:
Philly Antifa’s Statement: https://phillyantifa.org/repression-on-south/
Repression on South
From Philly Antifa
Something was not quite right Saturday afternoon when Philly Antifa arrived at local anarchist bookstore, The Wooden Shoe, to set up for a free community event. Cops had been waiting outside the store as early as 9:00 a.m. But later on, it looked like they were everywhere; blocks deep in either direction, out in large numbers, standing on corners, hanging around in all shapes and sizes of police vehicles, walking up and down the block, circling in packs of bicycle units. Counter terrorism trucks were parked at 7th and Bainbridge and were positioned with more police cars on the same corner.
An attendee left the bookstore and was followed by two police officers into a coffee shop, who monitored their activity and tailed them for blocks. More and more cops showed up, lining the street while filming and photographing everyone who entered or left the shop.
Concerned at the large and hostile police presence, some people who wished to come to the talk, thought it better to leave. The police seemed to be about to do something. In fact, they already had. The day before, two police officers entered the Shoe and asked that they cancel the event. The police made nonsense claims that they feared the presence of antifascists would result in street conflict, and made accusations about Antifa’s involvement with recent protest actions.
We want to reiterate: Philadelphia Police tried to stop this event.
They were trying to shut down a free, open-to-the-public speaking engagement about antifascism with author and political scholar Matthew Lyons. Lyons went on anyway and spoke to a standing room only crowd regarding his most recent work, “Ctrl-Alt-Delete: Antifascist Report on the Alternative Right.” So many people turned up for the talk we ran out of room, and those who could fit inside got to learn about the rising tide of alt-right ideology and fascist activity. We hope that the cops watching and filming us through the windows enjoyed the talk as well; they obviously have an intense interest in fascism.
This behavior should sound the alarm. The state is poised to crack down on communities simply based on political ideology. Radical spaces, groups and associations are being targeted. Philly Antifa and antifascists everywhere are being threatened. We will not accept a world in which it is possible to silence a public talk at a bookstore. We must work together now to resist this blatant repression. We are hosting a fundraiser this coming Saturday at LAVA to support the PHL Autonomous Anti-Repression Fund. This Fund and show are the exact things we need to bring us together and sustain our spirits and resistance. Coming out to shows and fundraisers is not only really fun, but essential if you value radical spaces and groups fighting on the frontlines. We hope to see old friends and make new ones on Saturday.
As Philly Antifa, we exist to combat fascism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and all forms of oppression. We must reject the repression and intimidation tactics the police are trying to use to impose on us. We will not stop fighting, we will not be subdued and we will not be silenced.
