[This post only contains information relevant to Philadelphia and the surrounding area, to read the entire article follow the above link.]
In this column, we present our monthly roundup of political prisoner, prison rebel, and repression news, happenings, announcements, action and analysis. Packed in as always are updates, fundraisers, and birthdays.
David Elmakayes 77782-066
FCI McKean
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 8000
Bradford, PA 16701
Anthony Smith
14813-509
FCI Fort Dix
Federal Correctional Institution
Satellite Camp
P.O. Box 2000
Joint Base MDL, NJ 08640
Upcoming Birthdays
Abednego Baynes
A former Vaughn 17 defendant. Baynes was found innocent of all charges in relation to the uprising, but he has still been punished with a move out of state, and deserves respect and support for staying in solidarity with his co-defendants throughout the process and refusing to cooperate with the prosecution. You can read more about Baynes in his own words here.
Pennsylvania uses Connect Network/GTL, so you can contact him online by going toconnectnetwork.com, selecting “Add a facility”, choosing “State: Pennsylvania, Facility: Pennsylvania Department of Corrections”, going into the “messaging” service, and then adding him as a contact by searching his name or “NT0594”.
Birthday: May 20
Address:
Smart Communications/PADOC
Abednego Baynes, NT0594
SCI Mahanoy
PO Box 33028
St Petersburg, FL 33733
A study of Cold War-era Latin American anarchism in action.
Araiza Kokinis’s investigation of the Uruguayan Anarchist Federation (FAU) broadens our understanding of the Cold War-era political landscape beyond the capitalism-communism and Old Left-New Left binaries that dominate historiographies of the epoch.
Arguably the most impactful anarchist organization globally in the Cold War era, the FAU viewed everyday people as revolutionary protagonists and sought to develop a popular counter-subjectivity through accumulating experiences directly challenging the market and the state. The FAU argued that everyday people transformed into revolutionary subjects through the regular practice of collective direct action in labor unions, student organizations, and neighborhood councils. Their slogan: create popular power. FAU’s strategy and tactics, ones in which everyday people took on roles as historical protagonists, offered the largest threat to maintaining social order in Uruguay and thus spawned a military takeover of the state to repress what became a popular worker revolt.
With less than 80 militants, FAU played a key role both sparking and networking popular protagonism in workplaces, neighborhoods, and on campuses. This book tells the story and offers insights useful for militants and organizers today.
Troy Araiza Kokinis is a professor of Latin American Studies at UC San Diego and works on a hot line at a pizza joint on the weekends. He hand paints signs in the Argentine fileteado porteño style and loves Dodger baseball.
Friday, May 10, 2024
6:00 PM 7:15 PM
Making Worlds Bookstore & Social Center210 South 45th StreetPhiladelphia, PA, 19104United States(map)
This May Day, Philly anarchists went back to doing what we do best….anti-gentrification and anti-prison actions. The evening started out with a demo at the juvenile detention center in West Philly. Around 20 of us walked from the meet-up spot to the parking lot behind the facility, where demonstrators can be heard from the kids’ dorms. There were a bunch of loud fireworks, flares, and anti-cop chants, as locked-up kids pounded on their windows in response. This unfortunately only lasted about two minutes, as apparently the cops’ response times to these kinds of demos has dramatically improved. Cop cruisers immediately pulled up and blocked both exits we’d been planning to use, and one cop car attempted to run over a couple of our friends on their way out. Luckily as far as we know there were no arrests and everyone got out fine in the end, if a little shaken.
Around twelve of us met back up a couple hours later to attack a very ugly new apartment building on Spruce St and 49th St. This is another classic of Philly anarchy – terrorizing gentrifiers by mobbing up to attack a new building while its residents are already living in it. At least ten of its huge windows were taken out and a paint bomb or two got thrown.
Attacking isn’t always easy; most of the time it takes a lot of courage just to show up and a lot of planning to make sure everyone gets out safely. We appreciate how carefully these two actions were organized and everyone who showed up. Let’s keep being brave and supporting each other and maybe one day we can take down Amerikkka 😉
Solidarity to the comrades struggling in and around SCI Rockview, you are not alone! Long live anarchy! <3
[A brief piece offering an alternative strategy to traditional campaign-building. One where diversity in viewpoints and autonomy of action can flourish.
Thxx so much for the great time this weekend! While we were visiting we saw those cameras on the power lines by Bartram North and decided to take a few down with some girth tails and a 4lb hammer. A big ladder would also have worked. Sorry we didn’t get them all, but we’ll get the rest next time!
Calling all neighbors, organizers, radicals, militants, anarchists, outside agitators, and people of conscience to converge upon the UPenn Gaza Solidarity Encampment.
The students, faculty, and neighbors who initiated the occupation on Penn’s campus took a definitive step toward liberation for the people of Palestine, and all victims of colonization and imperialism the world over. This cannot be debated, and their actions should be applauded. However, over the course of the past three days, it has become clear that the student organizers who have placed themselves in control of the encampment are ill-equipped to seize the moment. Whether guided by fear, inexperience, or liberal politics, the most outspoken among us have shown themselves to be hostile toward action and escalation. Respectability politics, “optics”, and fear have stifled any attempts to force UPenn to take the action seriously.
When a single meager spraycan expressed its discontent, organizers used umbrellas to block the slogan until campus staff could send a cleaning crew. ZIOS FUCK OFF. Later that day, Penn’s president declared a hate speech investigation, and set the stage for the encampment’s looming eviction.
History has taught us that this WILL end in conflict and violence, “peaceful protest” claims be damned. The same pigs who played soccer with children in the quad yesterday will be back with pepperballs and batons tomorrow. The students who are more interested in cosplaying as revolutionaries before finals start, than actually exerting pressure to approach meaningful change, are not prepared for this reality.
Materially speaking, the camp is full of tents, food, resources, and bodies. There is still an opportunity to escalate, but the window is closing quickly. Come join us before it’s too late.
Free Palestine
No Arena In Chinatown
Stop Cop City
Chinga La Migra
Abolish The Police
ZIOS FUCK OFF
So, there was an encampment that was sprung up on the Penn campus on Thursday, April 25th. Guess I love the enthusiasm? It’s being put on by a couple different orgs I’m thinking. One thing I know for sure is it’s definitely a young crowd. Which, is cool, love to see younger folx doing cool shit. N this is probably a lot of their first time doing a protest encampment. Unfortunately, there’s obviously some dumb shit. Like, they got fucking rules and demands and shit. Obviously as an anarchist, I don’t really vibe. But hey, fuck ton of food and other supplies. Hopefully people can come take what they need. And it was nice to see more than a few other anarchists in the initial taking of the space. But I did notice people already getting peace policed. Idk man, people should just keep that in mind. Other than that, maybe we can try and get it to be more direct in action or something. The fact these people only have a plan to GET arrested and none to de-arrest is beyond my understanding. Asking us all to be “nice to the cops” while being arrested… *Sigh* Honestly, we’re hoping that there’s room to get people here to be more confrontational. I won’t hold my breath.
Slash and his friends in True Biz present an image of anarchism rarely seen in the news. For those who want to learn more, Anarcho-Curious at the Free Library expands the Anarcho-Curious program periodically hosted by Wooden Shoe Books. The event includes three speakers, all based in Philadelphia: Kim Kelly, author of Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor; Andrew Lee, author of Defying Displacement: Urban Recomposition and Social War; and the abolitionist educator and organizer Felicia Teter. Kelly, Lee, and Teter will share their stories and an outline of what anarchism means to them in a panel conversation moderated by Wooden Shoe volunteers. Then, attendees will break into conversation groups to ask questions and discuss. Curious about anarchism? Join us!
This event will take place in the Skyline Room, on the 4th floor of Parkway Central Library. ASL interpretation will be provided. Masks required.
Join us on Monday April 29th, 6:30pm at Wooden Shoe Books as we complement the 2024 NE Bash Back Convergence in Philly with a letter writing for incarcerated transgender anarchist, environmentalist, and animal rights activist Marius Mason. Marius is currently serving an almost 22-year sentence for property damage conducted in defense of the planet.
After years of aboveground organizing for social movements in Indiana and Michigan, Marius embarked on a Earth Liberation Front sabotage campaign in the late 90s. In 1999, he set fire to a lab at the University of Michigan that researched genetically modified organisms (GMO) for Monsanto. Threatened with a life sentence, lacking financial stability, and wary of dragging his family into a costly legal battle, Marius pled guilty in 2009. At sentencing, the judge applied a terrorism enhancement, makng Marius’s sentence the harshest punishment levied on anyone convicted of environmental sabotage in the US to date. No one was ever harmed in any of his actions.
Marius lived and worked in the Detroit area for most of his life. Like the late Earth First! (EF!) organizer Judi Bari, he was part of a generation of radicals who worked to link the environmental and labor movements, and was jointly active in both EF! and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). This alliance contributed vastly to the initial successes of the anti-globalization movement, including the 1999 anti-WTO demonstration in Seattle. Mason was an editor of the the Industrial Worker, and is also a musician. In 1999, he recorded “Not For Profit,” a neo-folk album with EF! comrade Darryl Cherney.
If you can’t join us in person this month, you can still write to Marius at the address below. Please review his current mail restrictions before drafting your letter.
Marius Mason #04672-061
FMC Fort Worth
P.O. Box 15330
Fort Worth, TX 76119
We’ll also sign and send birthday cards to U.S.-held political prisoners with birthdays in May: Xinachtli (May 11th) and Kojo Bomani Sababu (May 27th).
from Instagram
Join us for an open conversation about anarchism where you can ask all your questions and talk to other people about how we can build a freer, more just society. To attend the @freelibrary event please register! https://libwww.freelibrary.org/calendar/event/134416
A schedule obtained by Unicorn Riot shows an imminent government plan to “cleanup” specific locations in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood — but who benefits from altering a “billion dollar” drug shadow economy?
The Parker administration declared aState of Emergency just after swearing in (PDF of Executive Order 1-24 here). The previous mayor, Jim Kenney, refused to declare a State of Emergency. Now, a “Kensington Community Revival” “five-phase initiative” has been launched as well, but we hear that information on important plan features like specific treatment centers for people facing addiction in the area is hard to come by. (The police department also released a 100-day report (53 page PDF) last week as directed by the emergency order.)
We have learned imminent clearings are scheduled at the following locations under “Scheduled Kensington Cleanup Days” on Wednesday April 17th, 2024, and Friday April 19th, 2024, “at or after 8 AM.”
1800 East Somerset Street (both sides)
2700 Emerald
2000 Silver
1800 Cambria
100 W. Gurney
2900 Ruth Street
3100 Kensington Avenue (both sides)
3108-3114 Kensington Ave
3142 Kensington Avenue (Rainbow storefront)
Ruth & Hart Lane
2800 Kensington Avenue
Kensington Avenue and Somerset Street, underneath the Somerset Market-Frankford Line SEPTA stop, faces an imminent “Kensington Cleanup Day” on April 17 and 19, according to documents seen by Unicorn Riot.
“Kensington Community Revival” (KCR) plan area, via City of Philadelphia / Kensington Voice.
“All efforts have run through the city’s Managing Director’s Office or the often centralized efforts of the Philadelphia Police Department, which lack the expertise and resources to implement strategies to address poverty, addiction, violence, and helping the unsheltered.
No authentic, participatory, community engagement processes that lead to sharing of power and co-creation of solutions with the community.
Each effort has treated Kensington and its residents as the problem, thereby ignoring the actual causes of the core issues, vilifying residents, and encouraging additional exploitation of the community.
After 20 years of interventions, racial disparities in areas ranging from housing to health outcomes have increased, and while every effort has claimed success at some point, none have had any form of measurable sustainable accomplishment for residents, only for those leading the efforts.”
“History is repeating in Kensington. It doesn’t have to be this way.” Bill McKinney, WHYY, May 2021
McKinney acknowledged the giant scale of the area’s shadow economy, which was a result of decades of disinvestment: “We’re trying to turn off a billion-dollar industry […] There was intentional disinvestment in this community — and so that economy was replaced with another economy. That other economy needs to be addressed. It’s not addressed just by picking up a few people and locking them up.”
Apart from the Kensington Caucus at Philadelphia City Council, which has been openly hostile to well-known harm reduction programs like needle exchanges, there are other players to consider. (Council member Quetcy Lozada “asked the real estate developer who owns the building where Savage Sisters is located to terminate the organization’s lease,” CBS Philadelphia reported in February. Harm reduction nonprofit Savage Sisters provides services like wound care, caused by ‘tranq’ (xylazine) – a tranquilizer commonly found in the area drug supply.)
With Mayor Parker’s new pressure to remove people, any plan to force people into “treatment or jail” decisions hinges on District Attorney Larry Krasner’s discretion. The de facto policy right now doesn’t push jail time for simple drug possession. Therefore, the DA office would need a policy shift to impose this choice on detained people. (Paraphernalia or public intoxication charges could also be leveled.)
A source with close knowledge told Unicorn Riot that they heard the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is also taking an interest in the situation. Federal agents have been photographed in the area in recent months. The source relayed that the DEA was concerned about violence around the clearing operations so they may want to reshape the marketplace by coercing dealers into leaving, hoping that would disperse open-air drug consumers to other areas of Philadelphia. (The DEA Philadelphia Field Division office conducts “Operation Engage Philadelphia” in the city.)
Unicorn Riot was also told that the Philadelphia Police Department has intentionally been dropping off intoxicated people at dispersed locations around the city.
This police operations pattern reminded us of multiple instances during the 2011-2012 Occupy Movement where police would drop off intoxicated people at the protest camps, as well as the 2012 Drug Recognition Evaluator (DRE) scandal in Minneapolis, where the Minnesota State Patrol was running a program to give unhoused people drugs at a shed by the MSP International Airport before dropping them off at the protest encampment at Peavey Plaza.
Locations identified for “Scheduled Kensington Cleanup Days” based on documents seen by Unicorn Riot.
[This post only contains information relevant to Philadelphia and the surrounding area, to read the entire article follow the above link.]Thousands took part in mass direct actions and blockades on Monday, in protest of the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing within the occupied Palestinian territories by the state of Israel and supported directly by the United States. The demonstrations take place against a backdrop of rising public support for a ceasefire and also represented a dramatic turn toward direct action and more autonomous, horizontal organizing efforts and away from simply symbolic mass marches and demonstrations.
Over 65 cities, 19 countries and six continents took collective risk for a liberated Palestine. This is just the beginning. Activists across the globe carried out large-scale actions Monday as part of A15, a coordinated economic blockade in solidarity with Palestine.
U.S. organizers blockaded factories and corporate offices of weapons manufacturers, including the Boeing plant in St. Charles, Missouri; Pratt & Whitney in Middletown, Connecticut; and the Lockheed Martin building in Arlington, Virginia.
Protesters took over major roads in Philadelphia and Oakland, while others rallied in front of government buildings and cultural sites. In San Francisco, activists shut down both sides of the Golden Gate Bridge in a major disruption to traffic in the Bay Area.
Activists in New York marched across the Brooklyn Bridge and rallied on both the Brooklyn and Manhattan sides of the iconic bridge. Dozens of people were arrested in the peaceful action, including reporters covering the protest.
Across multiple cities, police made hundreds of arrests and in Fremont, shot off projectile weapons in an attempt to stop demonstrators from blockading a Telsa factory. Just as they did under Trump, Republican bureaucrats like Tom Cotton called for far-Right vigilante violence against demonstrators stating, “I would encourage most people anywhere that gets stuck behind criminals like this who are trying to block traffic to take matters into their own hands [and] put an end to this nonsense.” In the face of the success of the A15 actions, many pundits on the Right and neo-liberal Center have also started a fear mongering campaign about the movement using “escalated tactics,” while student organizers continue to face expulsions, evictions, and repression.
Northeast
Philadelphia, PA: Demonstrators in Philadelphia organized blockades and marches across the city. According to Unicorn Riot, “The crowd marched to the offices of arms manufacturers Day & Zimmerman, who provides components for weapons being used by Israel against Gaza.” A report on social media wrote:
The demonstrations began at 8:15 a.m., when dozens of protesters disrupted rush hour traffic as they waved Palestinian flags during a teach-in. Simultaneously, another group led a funeral procession of cars up I-95, while a third marched near City Hall, stopping at various locations to call attention to connections between Philadelphia’s economy and Israel’s occupation in Gaza.
The Philadelphia Police Department confirmed that 67 people were arrested for obstruction of highway during the morning protests. Officers issued civil citations to 41 demonstrators, who were then released from custody, said Sgt. Eric Gripp, a department spokesperson.” Philly Inquierer: https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/protests-gaza-palestine-irs-building-university-city-20240415.html
“In Philadelphia, people across the city took part in #PhillyA15 coordinated actions aimed at disrupting the local economy and blockading major traffic routes on the East Coast to demand an end to the genocide and occupation in Palestine being carried out by the apartheid government of Israel. Key weapons manufacturer, Day & Zimmerman, and Philadelphia City Hall both went on lockdown as a result of these actions.
Over 50 people blockaded the major intersection at 30th Street and Schuylkill Avenue, effectively stopping traffic on 76 in both directions. Across town a coordinated funeral procession mourning the slaughter of more than 38,000 Palestinians—including over 14,000 children—slowed traffic on both 95 north and south bound to a near stop, while Philly Palestine Coalition took to the streets in center city with 200 people who walked out of work in solidarity with the worldwide, coordinated economic blockade #A15. Sixty-nine people were arrested.
The Philadelphia economy is complicit in this ongoing genocide. In 2023, $23,657,015 of Philadelphia’s tax dollars were sent to Israel. Philadelphia is also home to weapons manufacturers Day & Zimmerman, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, L3Harris, and Ghost Robotics who manufacture weapons of war that have been used by Israel.
It is within our collective power to stop this genocide. More importantly, it is our collective responsibility to do so. Find your humanity in the struggle! #PhillyA15 is everywhere, every day, until Palestine is Free! #a15forpalestine
Dear philly faggots,
