Bury Me Not in A Land of Slaves: A Short History of Immediatist Abolitionism in Philadelphia, 1830s-1860s

  • July 15, 2017 12:44 am

from The Tubman-Brown Organization 

[The above image is a depiction of the 1851 Christiana Riot, near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where a slave-owner was shot and killed when attempting to retrieve an alleged “fugitive slave.” The subsequent trial took place in Philadelphia.]

 

By Arturo Castillon

Edited by Madeleine Salvatore

 

I ask no monuments, proud and high,

To arrest the gaze of the passers-by;

All that my yearning spirit craves,

Is bury me not in a land of slaves.

“Bury Me in a Free Land,” Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

 

In the 1850s, the author of the above poem, Frances Harper, was part of a network of revolutionaries who made it their mission to abolish slavery in the United States. Known as Abolitionists, these partisans of freedom fought for the immediate emancipation of slaves, and developed a specific approach to Abolitionism known at as “immediatism.”[1] In the 1820s, the most radical Abolitionists in England and the United States began using this term, “immediatism,” to distinguish their strategy for abolition from the predominant, gradualist one.[2]

The Abolitionists that we are most familiar with today—Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and John Brown—all fought for the immediate emancipation of slaves, a prospect that most people at the time, even most abolitionists, considered extreme and impractical. Yet, in the long term, the immediatist tendency proved to be the most practical and strategic. Instead of miring themselves in legislative strategies or insular sects, the immediatists built organizations to secretly assist thousands of people fleeing from slavery, who in taking the risk of freedom, deprived the southern planters of their primary source of labor—slave labor.

In Philadelphia, black abolitionists like Frances Harper, William Still, and Robert Purvis would rise to the forefront of the immediatist struggle against slavery. Because of the city’s proximity to the South, it was a crucial junction point on the Underground Railroad, a secret network of routes and safe houses that people followed northward when fleeing from slavery. Undeterred by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which legally guaranteed a slaveholder’s right to recover an escaped slave, hundreds of escapees made their way to Philadelphia every year, most coming from nearby Virginia and Maryland. With the Compromise of 1850, the Southern slaveholders strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act, which now required the governments and citizens of free states, like Pennsylvania, to enforce the capture and return of “fugitive slaves.” This compromise between the Southern slaveholders and the Northern free states defused a four-year political crisis over the status of territories colonized during the Mexican-American war (1846-1848). For the immediatist wing of the Abolitionist movement in Philadelphia, the implications of the new Fugitive Slave Law were clear: it had to be disobeyed and disrupted, even if that meant engaging in illegal activities to assist fugitives.[3]

By the early 1830s, the Abolitionist movement in Pennsylvania was starting to radicalize, reflecting developments on the national scene, such as David Walker’s 1829 Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World, and the 1831 Nat Turner slave insurrection. The older, mostly white Quakers, who had led the movement for decades, favored legal, non-violent measures for gradually abolishing slavery, while a growing tendency of mostly black abolitionists demanded the immediate abolition of slavery.[4] This growing dichotomy, between the gradualists and the immediatists, reflected the essential difference between reformist and revolutionary politics in the Abolitionist movement.

As the abolitionist movement became more immediatist in the 1830s, the Vigilance Committee, as it came to be known, emerged as the principal organizational form for assisting fugitives as well as victims of kidnapping. After black Abolitionist David Ruggles founded the first Vigilance Committee in New York City in 1835, Robert Purvis and James Forten formed the “Vigilant Association of Philadelphia” in 1837. Abolitionists in the rural counties surrounding these cities soon followed suit, becoming part of a regional network between Philadelphia, New York City, and other nearby cities, like Boston. The Vigilance Committees raised money, and provided transportation, food, housing, clothing, medical care, legal counsel, and tactical support for people escaping from slavery.[5]

The committee in Philadelphia was a racially integrated group that also included a (predominantly black) women’s auxiliary unit, the “Female Vigilant Association.” This degree of inter-racial and inter-gender organization was unheard of at the time, even in the Abolitionist movement.[6] The committee also included ex-slaves. Amy Hester Reckless, for example, was a fugitive who went on to become a leading member of the committee in the 1840s.[7]

While providing strategic resources to fugitives, the committee also carried out bold interventions. Members of the committee orchestrated two of the most notorious slave escapes of the 1840s: 1) that of William and Ellen Craft from Georgia, who used improbable disguises to make their way to Philadelphia in 1848, and 2) that of Henry “Box” Brown from Virginia, who arranged to have himself mailed in a wooden crate to Philadelphia in 1849. These daring escapes were widely publicized in the antislavery movement, and these fugitives appeared in public lectures in order to rally support to the Abolitionist cause. [8]

However, by the early 1850s, several waves of repression had left the committee disorganized. These included a string of crippling lawsuits against those who defied the Fugitive Slave Law, including participants in the Christiana Riot of 1851, wherein a slave-owner was shot and killed after attempting to capture a “fugitive.” A new organization was needed, so in 1852 William Still and other abolitionists established a new Vigilance Committee to fill the void left by the older, scattered one.[9]

Led by William Still, who had escaped from slavery as a child with his mother, the new Vigilance Committee was even more effective than its predecessor, assisting hundreds of fugitives every year in their quests for freedom. By the mid-1850s, Abolitionists had transformed Philadelphia into a crucial nerve center of the Underground Railroad, by then a massive network that spanned the U.S. and extended into Canada. The most prominent “conductors” of the Underground Railroad, people like Harriet Tubman and Thomas Garrett, directed hundreds of fugitives to the Vigilance Committee every year.[10]

Although the original Vigilance Committee was a clandestine organization, its reincarnation operated both publicly and in secret. Some of the members of the committee were lawyers who defended fugitives in the Pennsylvania courts, while others assisted fugitives using methods that were unequivocally prohibited by those same courts. Some even published their names and addresses in the Pennsylvania Freeman newspaper and in flyers so that fugitives could easily find them. In order to generate public support for their cause, they used the antislavery press and public lecture circuit to broadcast the success of their illegal activities—without revealing specific incriminating details and only after the fugitives were safe. Carefully documenting the daily operations of the committee, William Still wrote extensively about the hidden stories of slave resistance and the inner workings of their secret network. When he finally published The Underground Railroad Records in 1872, it would be the first historical account of the Underground Railroad. [11]

This delicate balance between secret operations and public activity was dramatically demonstrated in the summer of 1855, when William Still and others organized the escape of Jane Johnson and her children from their owner, John Wheeler, as they were en route to New York, docked in Philadelphia. During the escape, Passmore Williamson, one of the only white members of the Vigilance Committee, physically held back Wheeler, a well-known southern Congressman, while Still led Johnson and her children away to a nearby safe house. [12]

In the legal proceedings that ensued, a federal judge charged Williamson with riot, forcible abduction, and assault. The judge in the case rejected an affidavit from Johnson affirming that she had left on her own free will and that there had been no abduction, and Williamson spent 100 days in Moyamensing prison. The case became a national news story, as Abolitionists used the media to trumpet the success of the Johnson rescue, and to expose the southern slaveholders’ domination of the federal court system, which the Abolitionists called a “Slave Power Conspiracy.” Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and other abolitionist leaders visited Williamson during his confinement, and wrote admirably of his actions in the antislavery press.[13]

The Philadelphia immediatists were fully aware of their strategic role in the national struggle against slavery. At a mass meeting in Philadelphia in August 1860, leader of the immediatist wing, William Still, explained that because they were “in such close proximity to slavery” and their “movements and actions” were “daily watched” by pro-slavery forces, they could do, “by wise and determined effort, what the freed colored people of no other State could possibly do to weaken slavery.”[14] By openly defying the Fugitive Slave Law in a border city, the immediatists in Philadelphia exacerbated the growing conflict between the free states of the North and the slave states of the South to a degree that few other Abolitionists could.

Through ups and downs, for nearly three decades, the Vigilance Committee acted as the organizational nucleus of the Underground Railroad in Philadelphia, a city that was publicly very hostile to Abolitionism. Most white workers opposed Abolitionism on racist ideological grounds, while the merchant elites and early industrialists of the city had close economic ties to slaveholders in the South and throughout the Atlantic. There where numerous anti-black and anti-abolitionists riots throughout the 1830s and 1840s in Philadelphia.[15] Even though they were persecuted for their cause, by subverting the Fugitive Slave Law in this border city, the immediatists—a radical minority within a minority—antagonized the slaveholders and their allies—a much larger and well-established enemy.

As the overall antislavery movement continued to grow throughout the North, the southern slaveholders went on the defensive. With the John Brown insurrection in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859, and the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln, who campaigned against the expansion of slavery, the slaveholders in the South became more entrenched and alienated from the rest of the United States. In February 1861 the Lower South region of the U.S seceded, creating a separate country called the Confederate States of America, also known as the Confederacy. The U.S. national government, known as the Union, refused to recognize the Confederacy as a legal government. The Civil War officially began in April 1861, when Confederate soldiers attacked Fort Sumter, a Union fort in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. As the war took its course, Philadelphia Abolitionists, like Octavius Catto, shifted their strategy to radicalizing the Unionist cause from within. Catto and others organized the enlistment of black troops and advocating for a coordinated military assault on slavery in the South, for which they were strongly condemned by white Philadelphians.[16]

Before the war, and during its initial years, much of white Philadelphia was sympathetic to the Southern slaveholder’s grievances. But with the deepening of the conflict between North and South, most Philadelphians came to support the Union and the war against the Confederacy. A turning point came in 1863, when the city was threatened with Confederate occupation. Entrenchments were built and people fought to defend the city, defeating the Confederate Army at the Battle of Gettysburg.[17]

However, even with the shifting of opinion against the South, most white Philadelphians still believed that the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery. Many white Americans continued to believe that the Civil War was a “white man’s war” to preserve the Union and nothing more. Abolitionists and black Philadelphians continued to be the targets of mob violence, and some white Philadelphians even blamed the Abolitionists for the war.[18]

Having proclaimed the need to end slavery from the very beginning, Abolitionists identified the structural contradictions that tore the nation apart. But rather than wait for the gradual disintegration of slavery, the immediatists worked to hasten its destruction. In a society that was for the most part hostile to their cause, the immediatist wing of the abolitionist movement performed the historic duty of following through, with long-term consistency, those revolutionary tactics that alone could save the Union and drive the Civil War to a decisive conclusion. More and more slaves escaping from plantations, the enlistment of black troops into the Union army, the immediate emancipation of slaves throughout the South—these tactics were indeed the only ways out of the difficulties into which the Civil War had descended.

The Civil War had stemmed from a breakdown of a structural compromise that developed between two distinct modes of production—one based on northern industrial wage labor, and the other southern slave labor. The development of the antislavery movement over time made this “unholy alliance” impossible to maintain in the long run. In this, the Civil War confirmed the basic lesson of every revolution: either the revolutionary movement acts to accelerate strategic contradictions over time, breaking down all barriers to the attainment of its objectives, or it soon stagnates and is suppressed by repression and counter-revolution. This lesson stands the logic of gradualism on its head: revolution doesn’t advance with small increments, with legislative preconditions, but with prompt, uncompromising actions that destabilize the structural limits of the existing system.

The will for revolution can only be satisfied in this way—with strategic, revolutionary action. Yet the masses of people can only acquire and strengthen the will for revolution in the course of the day-to-day struggle against the existing class order—in other words, within the limits of the existing system. Thus, we run into a contradiction. On the one hand, we have the masses of people in their everyday struggles within a social system; on the other, we have the goal of immediate social revolution, located outside of the existing system. Such are the paradoxical terms of the historical dialectic through which any revolutionary movement makes its way. The immediatists overcame this contradiction by adapting themselves to the mass self-activity of the slaves, who in their day-to-day resistance to the slave system offered the abolitionists a means to realize their revolutionary objectives.

For over three decades, through ebbs and flows, victories and defeats, the immediatists consistently engaged with the everyday struggles of the slave class. They constructed multi-racial, multi-gender organizations that operated both legally and illegally, in order to help people emancipate themselves from slavery, to help them stay free, and to help them gain basic democratic rights. In doing so, they fostered the development of a revolutionary movement that precipitated the U.S. Civil War and culminated in one of the greatest social revolutions of world history—the emancipation and enfranchisement of million of slaves and workers in the South during the Reconstruction Era.

By the end of the Civil War, a once persecuted minority of fanatical Abolitionists were now national leaders. Today we see them as good-hearted activists, or even as moderates. But there should be no mistake about it—all Abolitionists were considered extremists. Few people believed that the slave system would fall. The Abolitionists certainly did not believe their revolutionary goal would one day become official government policy. In the end, the Abolitionists recognized the social and historical crisis in front of them, and the immediatists adapted to it better than any other Abolitionist tendency of their time.

 

“Lines,” Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Though her cheek was pale and anxious, 

    Yet, with look and brow sublime, 

By the pale and trembling Future 

    Stood the Crisis of our time. 

 

And from many a throbbing bosom 

    Came the words in fear and gloom, 

Tell us, Oh! thou coming Crisis, 

    What shall be our country’s doom? 

 

Shall the wings of dark destruction 

    Brood and hover o’er our land, 

Till we trace the steps of ruin 

    By their blight, from strand to strand?

G20 Solidarity Call

  • July 15, 2017 12:17 am

Submission

[After G20 in Hamburg] Solidarity call

In a time of open hunt against anti-G20 protesters by the cops, the media and “the public” (including demands for a lynch law circulating on the internet), it is essential to remember those who were injured during protests against the G20 summit in Hamburg and the dozens who are still under investigation and caged by the German State.

No consideration however for a large part of society that, together with public authorities and their media, not only accepts the police state we witnessed in Hamburg, but also wants to see it reinforced.

It is now time for groups and individuals to organize solidarity events, raise donations, and express all kinds of support with those imprisoned, e.g. letter writing as soon as contact addresses are known.

Let’s act in solidarity with all those affected by repression during the G20, and update about their situation through counter-information networks. Let’s make sure that they don’t remain alone.

The more actions, the more pressure on the authorities, the media and their world. For anarchy!

https://en-contrainfo.espiv.net/2017/07/11/after-g20-in-hamburg-solidarity-call/

More Wheatpasted Posters

  • July 15, 2017 12:12 am

from Instagram

from Instagram

Remember Demhat: Love and Rage, From Philly to Rojava

  • July 13, 2017 6:37 pm

from It’s Going Down

As the talons of fascism are digging in deeper, we must remember to fight for autonomy and freedom on as small and large a scale as we can.

Here’s to the “slackers” at their jobs, and window smashers down the block; these greetings from Philly urge all to punch a nazi and a cop, remind yr local gentrifiers that they’re not welcome, lie to yr boss and keep yr comrades close.

Here’s to all the J20 folks for getting this year started off right, vowing “No peaceful transition!” to Trump and emboldened white supremacy.

Here’s to the angry queers resisting assimilation and a corporate pride this past June, and navigating this transmisogynistic world every fucking day.

But most pressing, here’s to the YPG and our beloved fallen comrade Heval Demhat for taking up arms in Rojava, fighting ISIS, and a fascist state that was built by American imperialism.

Leaving his home and family in New York, Demhat traveled to so-called-Syria to support the YPG in their struggle for self determination; recognizing the importance of this undertaking, not only for the Kurdish people, but for the ways that anarchist resistance is interconnected. Heval acknowledged that being a part of this revolution would pave the way for autonomous struggle in the Middle East, and bold defiance worldwide. Heval Demhat was killed fighting to liberate Raqqa from ISIS control. Demhat lived and died for his convictions, and fought to support the brave Kurdish people. Long Live Demhat! Long live the YPG! Long live the IRPGF! Martyrs never die!

Here’s to being quiet and dangerous, loud and unstoppable. Let’s keep building trust, doing damage and remaining a threat.

“Our solidarity is our weapon” but hey, we’ve got fists, bats, and guns, too!

Free all prisoners and fire to the state, from Philly with burning love, rage and resistance.

Drilling for Mariner East 2 Pipeline Contaminates Drinking Water

  • July 13, 2017 6:30 pm

from Unicorn Riot

West Whiteland Township, PA – Residents along the construction route of Sunoco/Energy Transfer Partners’ Mariner East 2 pipeline are reporting contamination in their water after pipeline drilling accidents led to a chemical slurry compromising a well, which then tainted another well and several aquifers.

Over the last few weeks, neighborhoods in Chester County west of Philadelphia began experiencing stomach aches, and noticed their water was sometimes brown in color, contained sediment and bacteria, and smelled of chlorine.

When people started to notice problems with their water, neighbors connected through the Uwchlan Safety Coalition, a local community organization addressing ongoing health and safety issues posed by Mariner East 2. Sunoco offered many affected residents hotel vouchers and compensation for meals, and provided pallets of bottled water, while avoiding taking direct responsibility for the contamination. (Sunoco recently merged with Energy Transfer Partners, known for building the Dakota Access Pipeline.)

Contaminated water from a tainted well in West Whiteland Township

Continued drilling operations threaten to entirely destroy the safety of area wells, which would force those relying on well water to hook up to the public water system. While Sunoco has offered various forms of compensation for issues with private wells, those on the local public water system have also been reporting stomachaches after drinking water that smelled like chlorine.

Correspondence between Sunoco Logistics and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) shows that both Sunoco and DEP officials knew that drilling in certain geological formations in the Exton area could damage the local water table.

Before DEP eventually approved the permit under political pressure, permitting paperwork noted,

“Karst area near Exton and the East Whiteland compressor branch present additional risks of IRs [inadvertent returns] during HDD…There are carbonate rocks, karst surface depressions; and identification of other public water supplies (groundwater or surface water) within one mile… Groundwater impacts from an inadvertent return cannot be directly visually observed from the surface. Any loss of circulation is the only indicator of drilling fluid migrating out of the borehole into the groundwater.“

Sunoco representatives downplayed the risks from the drilling slurry (a mixture of chemicals and mud) in conversations with affected residents, comparing the bentonite clay to cat litter or the foundation used in makeup. Earlier this year, Energy Transfer Partners spilled two million gallons of drilling liquids into Ohio wetlands while constructing the Rover Pipeline, leading to a $430,000 fine and the temporary suspension of their horizontal directional drilling operations.

In West Whiteland, horizontal direction drill (HDD) operations were paused for a few days but resumed again on Saturday, July 8, despite objections by local lawmakers. Drilling is taking place on the grounds of the Whiteland West Apartments, a development with 377 housing units.

Contractors employed by Sunoco/Energy Transfer Partners are currently operating an HDD hidden from public view using poles on sheets and wooden boards.

An open air waste pit for drilling waste is set up adjacent to the drill at the Whiteland West Apartments, a stone’s throw from some resident’s balconies.

Open air pit for storing Mariner East 2 drilling waste at Whiteland West Apartments

On July 3, a Uwchlan Township resident posted a picture showing how a new pipeline work site had taken up much of the playground area at her child’s daycare.

Photo challenge day #3 I don’t use Instagram but I downloaded it just to post this picture for our officials to see what is happening. I don’t have an easement on my house BUT this is the daycare my child goes to. Their beautiful green outdoor play space that once had tall trees to shade them is now about 3 feet away from a fence/wall where the pipeline is being built right on the other side!!! The trees are taken down and the dust and debris that are flying around can’t be good for them. Then when it’s all done if there should be a leak, I can’t even imagine that outcome! This is what people are living with. How can those in power allow corporations to do this? #pipeline #pipelinesafety #uwchlantwppa #uwchlanpa #chestercounty #chesco #pennsylvania #makeadifference #photooftheday #marinereast2 #change #trending #natgas #photoofthedaychallenge #frommypointofview #lionville #community #communityaction #6abcaction #cbsphilly Governor Tom Wolf, Senator Pat Toomey, U.S. Senator Bob Casey, Congressman Ryan Costello, PA State Rep. Becky Corbin, Commissioner Kathi Cozzone, John C. Rafferty, Jr. 6abc Action News, NBC10 Philadelphia, The Daily Local News, Philadelphia Inquirer, CBS Philly

A post shared by Tay Thieu (@tthieu33) on Jul 3, 2017 at 4:33pm PDT

Starting at frack fields in Scio, eastern Ohio, Mariner East 2 will carry highly explosive natural gas liquids such as propane, butane, and ethane across Pennsylvania to export terminals at Marcus Hook near Philadelphia.

These gases could be easily ignited by everyday appliances in the event of a leak. Many local schools, homes, and an assisted living facility are all well within the blast radius should leaked gases explode.

Mariner East 2 construction outside an elderly assisted living facility in Exton, PA

Glenwood Elementary in Media, PA has been conducting emergency evacuation drills with students to prepare for a potential pipeline leak explosion.

Quest Consultants, an independent firm hired by Middletown Township to evaluate the risks from a potential pipeline explosion, ran several detailed statistical simulations of potential leak scenarios. An analysis of data from previous spills estimates “that a leak will occur along the shared route once every 2.5 months.”

On April 1, the Mariner East 1 pipeline, which Mariner East 2 will run parallel to, leaked 20 barrels of propane, ethane and butane in Berks County, PA.  An explosion from a leaking natural gas pipeline in Pennsylvania last year set fire to forty acres of land, and left a 26-year old father covered in severe burns. Sunoco has one of the worst pipeline safety records of any company in the business.

The fracking and pipeline industries in Pennsylvania, assisted by Governor Tom Wolfe’s task force to accelerate pipeline construction, have been aggressively expanding new infrastructure throughout Chester County and many other areas of Pennsylvania.

Affected residents living in and along the path of Mariner East 2 across the state have been raising objections and resisting in various ways. Sunoco claims the natural gas liquids pipeline will be in operation this year; hundreds of miles of the route are still incomplete as of this writing.

Military intelligence contractor Tigerswan, which worked for Energy Transfer Partners behind the scenes to disrupt and discredit the movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline, is monitoring opposition to Mariner East 2 in Pennsylvania. A consulting firm called Bravo Group boasts on its website about its contract for Sunoco Logistics to “neutralize opposition” to Mariner East 2 – a vague mission which presumably includes keeping tabs on everyone from blockaders at Camp White Pine to the various neighborhood-based Safety Coalitions formed in townships along the pipeline route.

J20 to G20 We Are Ungovernable

  • July 11, 2017 6:15 pm

from Facebook

As we put our bodies in the way of the Mariner East 2 Pipeline, we look to the inspiration of those resisting the capitalist order in the face of brutal state violence.

211 people are each facing up to 75 years in prison for disrupting the inauguration of our fascist president and July 20th marks the beginning of a week of solidarity for the J20 defendants. Tens of thousands took to the streets of #Hamburg, #Germany this past week to block the #G20 and the smooth functioning of the global ruling class.

We did a banner drop from our tree sit in the path of the ME2 Pipeline in solidarity with our comrades. From the streets of Hamburg to the streets of DC, the rallying cry of the people is screaming “Shut It Down!”

Sign On to Statement of #Solidarity of #J20 Defendants & Follow: Defend J20 Resistance is a platform to support and amplify the voices of those who are working together to fight this case. http://defendj20resistance.org/

Camp White Pine Blockades Mariner East 2 Pipeline in Central Pennsylvania

  • July 4, 2017 9:47 pm

from Unicorn Riot

Huntingdon, PA – After receiving all necessary permits from state regulatory agencies in February, Sunoco Logistics has been pushing ahead with construction of the Mariner 2 East Pipeline. Sunoco Logistics Partners and Energy Transfer Partners, announced the completion of their corporate merger on April 28.  President Donald Trump is an investor in the company.

Mariner 2 follows the route of Mariner 1, a repurposed oil pipeline which carries natural gas liquids (NGLs) to the east coast for export.  Mariner 2 would follow roughly the same route, stretching over three hundred miles across the state of Pennsylvania from frack fields in Scio, Ohio to bring propane, ethane and other fracking byproducts to Marcus Hook, a refinery and export hub just south of Philadelphia. While Sunoco/Energy Transfer Partners promotes the pipeline with rhetoric about American energy independence, the natural gas liquids transported by Mariner East 2 are primarily for export to the European plastics industry.

Map of the Mariner East 2 construction route

Many counties and municipalities have contested the pipeline’s route through their communities, only to be overruled by state officials, who claim that their decision to classify the pipeline as a “public utility” means it is in the state’s interest to make sure the pipeline is completed, and that townships and municipalities may not act against the interests of the Commonwealth. The highly explosive nature of the natural gas liquids carried by the pipeline means that the various homes, businesses, and schools could be incinerated in a natural gas fireball in the event a leak occurs and then is ignited by a motor, cell phone, or many other everyday appliances.

Despite being an interstate pipeline, Mariner East 2 is not regulated by any federal agency. It is primarily regulated by Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection, an industry-friendly agency known for issuing permits despite not having enough staff or funding to properly oversee permitted projects.

The primary obstacle to the completion of the Mariner East 2 pipeline has been the Gerhart family in rural Huntingdon, whose property has been condemned for eminent domain. In March 2016 landowner Ellen Gerhart and several supporters of the Gerhart family were arrested by Pennsylvania State Police after people climbed trees to prevent them from being cut, in violation of a court order telling the Gerharts to not interfere with any pipeline work being done under her property.  (See video from that day here.)

All charges against those arrested on the Gerhart’s land in 2016 were eventually dismissed after 8 months of court proceedings.  The 80-year-old forest, now mostly clearcut by pipeline workers, was a treasured part of the Gerhart family’s home, as they had placed the land into forest stewardship with the hopes of preserving it for generations to come.

The combination of tree-sits, defensive measures, and supporters gathered on the Gerhart’s land has come to be known as ‘Camp White Pine’ – an homage to the numerous white pine trees which still populate the area.

 

A rare “Writ of Possession” was granted to Sunoco Logistics by a local judge, allowing them greater authority to enforce their eminent domain rights on the Gerhart’s property- including using law enforcement to remove landowners from their own property.  Ignoring orders from County Judge George Zanic made on behalf of the pipeline company, the Gerharts and their supporters have created what is said to be the most complex tree-sit operation on the east coast.

 

While construction crews have not yet encroached this year on the fortified tree-sits where Camp White Pine still stands, despite having been granted eminent domain for the area, construction on Mariner East 2 continues in surrounding areas.

On Monday May 22, pipeline work crews arrived without notice on Ralph Blume’s farm near Newville, PA and began cutting trees.  The Cumberland County Sheriff was there to intercept Mr. Blume when he came to confront workers who he said promised him they would give advance notice before working on his property, which they did not.  The sheriff told Mr. Blume he would not arrest him, which Resist Sunoco PA speculated was “because Sunoco didn’t want the bad publicity that would come with arresting a 77 year-old man.”

 

Energy Transfer Partners has already had accidents and spills while constructing the Mariner East 2 Pipeline in Pennsylvania.  On May 3, a large slurry of drilling fluid spilled into Chester Creek as drilling for Mariner East 2 was being done in Delaware County, PA. Work crews placed sandbags around the slurry, which was an ineffective means of containing the spill as the water simply rose above the sandbags and spread the slurry downstream.  The drilling fluid contains bentonite clay, which is known to be deadly to aquatic wildlife.  The original Mariner East 1 pipeline also leaked 20 barrels of ethane and and propane on in Berks County on April 1.

On June 29, Huntingdon County George Zanic issued a new injunction requested by Sunoco/Energy Transfer Partners authorizing the arrest of anyone on the Gerhart property who impedes pipeline construction.  Neither Judge Zanic or any employee of his court informed the Gerharts of the injunction made against them on behalf of the company, they only heard about it after being questioned by news reporters.

The new injunction means pipeline workers, accompanied by police who may target and arrest landowners on their own property, could arrive on the Gerhart’s land any day now. When we asked Elise Gerhart what she expected, she told us,

I expect them to come with brute force. That’s how they’ve done it in the past, that’s what we saw at Standing Rock… that’s the way that they do it. If they can’t trick you, they bully you. If they can’t bully you, then they attack you. So, that is what I expect…they want to build this pipeline and we’ve seen, when Energy Transfer Partners wants to build a pipeline, they’re willing to physically hurt people to get them out of the way. And we’ve seen how the police are complicit with that. At this point I am expecting to go to jail, potentially for an extended period of time, I’ve been trying to prepare for that. All I can say is that sometimes you just have to do what’s right. You have to try and protect yourself from harm, and we’re just trying to do everything we can to do that.         -Elise Gerhart

An investigation by The Intercept into the private security firm Tigerswan, now known for their illegal operations in North Dakota to protect the Dakota Access Pipeline, shows the mercenary contractor is also monitoring opposition to Mariner East 2. Tigerswan advisory board member James Marks was also found to have written an editorial for PennLive.com attacking opponents of Mariner East 2, without disclosing his personal connections to a firm employed to harass pipeline opponents.

A lawsuit by Clean Air Council, set for trial this December in Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court, could possibly stop the pipeline based on issues with its permitting and use of eminent domain.  In the meantime, construction continues, and local authorities (the Huntingdon County Sheriff and Pennsylvania State Police) have historically been quick to respond to the pipeline company’s requests to repress their opposition. The Huntingdon County Sheriff has not yet responded to our request for comment.

We spoke at length earlier this year with Elise Gerhart about her family’s fight against Mariner East 2 on their property, the direct action tree sits at Camp White Pine, and how the pipeline fight in Huntingdon connects to broader struggles across the state and the country.  Read or listen to the interview here.

“We’ve Got No Choice”: Interview with Elise Gerhart of Camp White Pine

  • July 4, 2017 9:42 pm

from Unicorn Riot

Huntingdon County, PA – In May, Unicorn Riot visited Camp White Pine, a direct action encampment on the Gerhart family’s property in the hills of Huntingdon County, PA. Several tree-sits currently sit on the easement for the Mariner East 2 pipeline, where Sunoco has claimed eminent domain to build the pipeline against the property owner’s consent. Read our report here.

We spoke with Elise Gerhart for almost two hours about the history of her family’s property, their struggle against encroachment by Sunoco, and what she expects in the fight ahead. We also discussed regulatory corruption in Pennsylvania, law enforcement responses to pipeline resistance, and the implications for climate activism in the post-Standing Rock era.

Listen to the interview below (1 hr 38 mins) or click here to download

[Interview transcript below the cut]

Posters in South Philly

  • July 3, 2017 10:31 pm

From Instagram

???? some wheatpasted posters spotted in South Philly

Support Philly Anti-Fascist Arrestees!

  • July 3, 2017 10:26 pm

From Fundrazr

Five people were arrested by the Philadelphia Police Department today while acting against MAGA white supremacists in center city. It is still unclear what charges they will face, but they will need financial support both to get out and afterward.

All funds will go directly to bail and legal fees for arrestees. Any additional funds will go to the PHL Anti-Repression fund to support future arrests. Please help our friends taking action against white supremacy and fascism!

[Donate here]

Anti- and Pro-Trump Rallies in Philly End With Fights, Blood, Arrests

  • July 3, 2017 10:24 pm

from Unicorn Riot

Philadelphia, PA – A rally calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump took place Sunday morning at Liberty Bell Plaza. A variety of liberal and progressive organizations generally denounced the Trump administration, calling for Medicaid for all, and drawing attention to the ongoing Trump-Russia investigation.

Area antifascists were also in attendance. An announcement was published days before the event calling on people to come oppose various white supremacist, so-called ‘alt-right’ elements who threatened to disrupt the impeachment rally.

The permitted march got underway shortly before noon, as planned.

The heavily policed march eventually ended without incident at a plaza downtown. However, a group of neo-nazis, white nationalists, and Trump supporters was also holding an event nearby.

The white nationalist pro-Trump march eventually ended at Logan Square, where the small crowd of a few dozen listened to speakers. One of the speakers presented his own version of Richard Spencer’s call for a “white ethnostate”, which was met with applause.

Several individuals at the white nationalist event were carrying ‘Kekistan’ flags, a visual reference to online harassment culture based on 4chan and other image boards. The ‘Kekistan’ flag is a variation on the original German Nazi flag.

The ‘Kekistan’ flag is based on the German Nazi flag

The pro-Trump rally then ended, but many of the group walked directly from their rally point to Tir na nOg, a nearby Irish pub where many of the white nationalists had planned to meet. In the alley outside the pub, several fights broke out between anti-fascists and white supremacists.

Philadelphia police officers arrested four antifascist demonstrators, while not arresting any of the several Trump supporters who were also involved in the fights. (The Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police endorsed Donald Trump during his presidential campaign.)

When asked about white supremacists using their pub as a venue to meet, the manager at Tir na nOg declined to comment. The pub’s twitter account later tweeted a statement in response to comments made on social media.

In a separate incident from the fights outside the pub, a man who had been carrying a ‘Trump 2020’ sign at the white nationalist event appeared to have been involved in a fight by Suburban Station in downtown Philadelphia. He was visibly covered in blood as he was removed by paramedics on a stretcher. SEPTA transit police arrested three individuals.

We will provide updates as more information becomes available.

Urgent Bail and Legal Funds Need for Camp White Pine

  • July 3, 2017 10:20 pm

From It’s Going Down

Donate Here

For over a year now, the Gerhart family and a huge number of dedicated volunteers have been working to stop the Mariner East 2 pipeline from being built, putting too many miles of beautiful Pennsylvania forests, streams, and wetlands at risk.

As a last resort, volunteers have taken to the trees and used direct action to stop this pipeline from being built. Arrests while non-violently defending this land are probable, and the right of the Gerharts to maintain their property have already been violated.

Pennsylvania judges have a nasty habit of imposing harsh and unreasonable bail and legal costs on people arrest for environmental direct action. Please support these brave volunteers by donating to their bail and legal fund. We already have a lawyer in place who is ready to defend any arrested individuals, but there are many costs associated with legal defense. Ever dollar helps!

Fake Event Mobilizes far-Right at Gettysburg; Militia Member Shoots Himself in Leg

  • July 3, 2017 10:18 pm

From It’s Going Down

In the last two weeks, Alt-Right trolls have attempted to replay the events in Houston, Texas in June, where using over the top threats from fake antifa groups on social media, they galvanized a ‘counter-protest’ from the militia movement.

Moreover, it turned out that the people behind the trolling where also raking in thousands of dollars off of crowdfunding for the ‘counter-demonstration’ which drew several hundred and led to infighting between militia members and neo-Nazis. Seems like the Right has a business plan! Make a fake antifa group, make over the top threats, and then crowd fund money off of people that want to protest it.

This time around, trolls using the page ‘Harrisburg Antifa’ alleged that antifascists would burn flags and urinate on the graves of Confederate soldiers. These outright lies were then picked up by the ‘journalists’ at Fox News and distributed as actual truth. This connection between Alt-Right trolls and Fox News is not new; just last week Fox reprinted an article written by a member of the Alt-Right who wrote a hit piece about IGD at HeatSt.com.

Interestingly enough however, in the lead up to the protest, Navy Jack, a mover and shaker within the far-Right Oath Keeper militia, called out the event as total make-believe in a tweet (see image on the top-right), which has since been deleted. Navy Jack also included the photos of the two people he believed were behind the fake event and called it #FakeNews.

Other members of the far-Right, such as Joe Biggs, who recently left InfoWars because of the #Pizzagate conspiracy, have stated publicly that the rise of such fake antifa accounts have hurt the far-Right who continues to take them seriously.

In an interview with USA Today, Central PA Antifa, who IGD interviewed last year, also rightfully called out the event as a complete and total fabrication:

Central PA Antifa, based in the greater Harrisburg area, is planning to participate in an anti-Trump demonstration in Philadelphia on Saturday, according to the email.

The email claimed the rumors about the Gettysburg protest stemmed from a fake Facebook page called “Harrisburg Antifa.”

“This page is not run by antifascists but by alt-right trolls attempting to discredit antifa, create confusion, and attempt to stir violence,” the email stated.

Furthermore, Antifa took exception to the allegation that they would be desecrating graves, especially in Gettysburg, “a site of great historical importance in the struggle of oppression,” the email said.

“That battle was a turning point in the war that eventually lead to the freeing of millions of slaves,” Central PA Antifa said. “The Confederacy and their ideology were dealt a resounding defeat at that battle, as fascism itself will one day be defeated by the will of all people to be free from oppression.”

The BBC also ironically pointed out:

There’s a problem: although there is a cemetery at Gettysburg, no Confederate graves at the site are marked by stones.

Alt-Lite trolls, general adult failures at life, and conspiracy theorists like Cassandra Fairbanks and Jack Posobiec did flip flops with the story. First, they promoted it as fact and then when it became clear it was a fake, they took to laughing at the mainstream media for picking up the story after they helped to get it off the ground. Hilariously though, it was Fox News that picked it up and ran with it after hearing about it from the grassroots far-Right, even as some local Fox affiliates backpedaled on the story.

But regardless of the lies, militia members and the far-Right still showed up to Gettysburg to protest the hoax created by Alt-Right trolls. During their ‘counter-rally’ however, a young militia member apparently shot themselves in the leg. 

According to One People’s Project:

The rumor that antifa were coming to Gettysburg National Military Park to desecrate Confederate monuments there turned out to be false, but that did not stop a group of militia members from coming out, standing guard and shooting themselves in the foot – or literally in their left thigh.

According to Pennlive, a 20-year-old “patriot” accidentally triggered the revolver he brought to the park, which was inside a leg holster, when he temporarily rested the bottom of his flag pole against the holster. Park police who were nearby when the shooting took place quickly applied a tourniquet, possibly saving his life.

The accidental discharge happened near four designated fenced areas for demonstrators. Many of the ‘patriots’, did not go into those areas immediately reportedly because their permit was suspended because of a brief rain, but instead marched around the perimeter. After the rain cleared, they were allowed in.

Later, as police were trying to unload the revolver, it went off a second time while visitors were nearby. Police say the gun was “bad” and they had a hard time getting the rounds out of the chamber. After they forced all of the rounds out of the revolver, they secured the gun.

As Alt-Right trolls peddle lies, mainstream and corporate media like Fox News feeds off of the manufactured frenzy, which in turn leads to far-Right militia groups mobilizing to ‘fight’ these fake threats. This cycle has become increasingly clear. People like Cassandra Fairbanks and Jack Posobiec lose credibility when independent investigative journalism expose the facade. It is important that our movements continue to support, fund and defend such liberatory efforts.

Moreover, it was the far-Right, not anarchists and antifascists, which called for violence in the lead up to the demonstration and in the end, shot themselves with a gun and put people in the general area of Gettysburg in danger. This is the kind of reckless behavior they accuse our movement of engaging in all of the time, yet it is the far-Right which is creating a climate of violence, fear, and threats of bodily harm.

The far-Right has a symbiotic relationship with the State, the mass media, and is built on a foundation of dis-information and relationships of violence. In an attempt to get ratings they sow rotten seeds amongst the public, crowdfund off each other and peddle their rhetoric to anyone simple enough to be played. The joke is on them this time. Reap what you sow and maybe you’ll just end up shooting yourself in the leg.

 

RIP David

  • July 1, 2017 10:45 am

from Instagram

#copspigsmurderers

No Pasarán in Philadelphia: They Shall Not Pass!

  • June 30, 2017 12:41 am

From It’s Going Down

Social Media Event Here

On July 19, 1936, Spanish anti-fascist organizer Dolores Ibárruri gave a speech calling her people to stand in solidarity against fascism during the Spanish Civil War. The speech concluded on a passionate call to arms: “Long live the Popular Front! Long live the union of all anti-fascists! Long live the Republic of the people! The Fascists shall not pass! THEY SHALL NOT PASS!”

On Sunday, July 2, 2017, members of fascist “alt-right” groups will attempt to disrupt a Philadelphia liberal-organized march calling for Trump’s impeachment. We are calling for groups and individuals to mask up, crew up, and show up to send a strong message to the far-right that they are not welcome in our city. We will smash the growth of fascism by any and all means necessary.

First, let’s be clear. We aren’t there to support the liberal strategy of impeachment. The focus on impeachment is strategically ineffective from a Left standpoint, as the media frenzy will mask discussion of fundamental policy changes desperately needed by working people.

It is also tactically idiotic. If the impeachment succeeds at removing Trump from office, there will be one more imperialist, bigoted, misogynist prick to pick up where he left off.

Philadelphia anti-fascists do not endorse wasting time while neo-Nazi, white nationalist groups grow in strength and number. Liberals twiddle their thumbs while the country fractures and its most detestable ideological elements bubble to the surface. We are the future that we need to see, and no one’s fighting but us.

This is our city, and we have home turf advantage. But they know we’re coming this time, so we need to up our game even further beyond our victory at the Disrupt MAGA march. Alt-right groups including the Alt-Knights are looking to make their first splash in the streets of an east-coast Left stronghold. We need the numbers to humiliate them and send them scrambling back to their pathetic holes. Let’s show them how organized we can be.

There come times in history when we have to decide where we stand. The future of America is in flux, being fought on battlegrounds across the country. The growth of the neo-fascist Right must be countered by a united, active front from the Left. Make no mistake, July 2 will be another battleground moment.

We are calling on everyone to come together and fight against white supremacy and all the unconscionable ideologies held by the far right. We must deny them a platform to promote hate and let them know they are not welcome in our communities. Come masked, come with comrades, come ready to fight, come ready to win.

We meet at 10am at the Liberty Bell on Sunday, July 2.

NOTE: The purpose of the mask is to protect your identity and your freedom of expression. It’s hard to be as courageous as we need to be on the streets if we’re worried about alt-right doxxers uncovering our identities and harassing our families. It also allows us to identify at a glance who’s militantly anti-fascist and willing to put their bodies on the line for their values and beliefs.

From Philly Antifa

We fully support this call to defend our city. The ranks of those coming to Philly to try and disrupt the liberal Impeachment march will be filled with avowed Neo-Nazis, racist Libertarian Capitalists and Anarcho-Capitalists, and other assorted Far-Right wannabe storm troopers. Philadelphia is an Anti-Fascist city now and forever.

They shall not pass!