This is a very lazy response to the recent piece “Some Questions To Be Addressed Before Milwaukee and the Bay”. I agree with most of the critiques about scene-iness and the resurgence of Bash Back! etc. What is disappointing about this piece is the criticism of the muay thai smoker,as it is clear that wither the report back from the smoker was not read or disregarded. In the report back from the smoker (https://anon.to/shxgbn), it is stated that the warehouse space that it was held in was squatted (i.e. not reserved). It also explains that the smoker was organized explicitly as not part of Bash Back!, in part due to similiar criticisms addressed in “Some Questions…”. I’m curious if/how this criticism changes with some of the points of critique also being critiques in the same vein. With the additional information presented by the report back in mind, these points fall flat. Of course the critique that the proles did not stroll in some orgy of riotous destruction where we fucked each other in the stench of gasoline atop the ashes of UPenn, falling like snow in the light breeze, as we caught the flickering of flames in the darkness of our comrades eyes… or whatever holds true. The smoker was a different girl tho, those weren’t her desires for that night, she doesn’t even go to UPenn. If one desires Bash Back!(TM), the secret is to really begin đ
Some Questions To Be Addressed Before Milwaukee and the Bay
from Bash Back News
If we name a tendency, how do we make that tendency spread like fire? How can we make that tendency escape the dead-ends of liberal identity politics and/or academia and/or activism? How will we find commonality with forms-of-life that bash back? How can we make this world explode?
Is our violence of substance or of image? Are we joking when we write about violence?
What is meant by that picture of beautiful people holding baseball bats and sledge hammers? Is this symbolism? Is it real? Does it mean anything to bash back?
-Some Questions to be Addressed Before the 2010 Bash Back! Convergence in Denver
The return of Bash Back! in the fall of 2023 with its international convergence in Chicago (the first of its kind in roughly fifteen years) excited and drew in many queer anarchists and anti-authoritarians with promises of âorgies and riotsâ; not a mere reunion, but seemingly a return to form for the networktendencyganghoweveryouwanttoconceiveofit. And while, in many cases, Chicago set a good tone for the nature of what Bash Back! was to mean in the new context in which we find ourselves, it is important that we continue to be very clear and intentional about what exactly we mean when we say âBash Back!â and when we talk about being violent faggots. We must not let ourselves be so overcome with the glamour and excitement of âdoing a bash backâ that we lose sight of what this means, or rather, what it could (or should?) mean: sheer, unrelenting, anti-social conflictuality. It would be both counterproductive, misleading, and to some, demoralizing, to take on the image of âorgies and riotsâ and bring forth only parties, dances, and otherwise chill hangs.
We are not inherently subversive simply through our identities as queers, trannies, faggots, anarchists, punks, dykes, or any combination therein. To accept this, even tacitly, is to accept the liberal identity politics of those we supposedly seek to destroy, to simply want our own aesthetically cool and edgy subcultural niche within this industrial death march called civilization and its society. Do our desires begin and end with an endless trawl of âanarchistâ dance parties, galas, fashion shows, raves, or private warehouse sex parties (even if they are fun!). If they are indeed present, what of our desires to see this society destroyed and this civilization reduced to ashes under our feet? When will we trade mere subculture for an anti-culture, one foaming at the mouth for war; one that seeks to ravage the social order, one with a wild fuse, seeking to blow itself up at any moment? For how long will we settle merely for campfires on the rave pier while deferring to set them in the streets, the banks, the factories, the prisons? Are we to simply throw parties until the next wave of social unrest comes, or will we be that social unrest?
Before going on, it must be stated clearly: this critique is written with the utmost love, respect, and appreciation to those who organized the Northeastern Bash Back! Regional convergence in Philadelphia this past spring. Taking on organizing a regional Bash Back! convergence is a massive organizational undertaking to say the least, and there is a ton of work that must go into planning and putting on something like that! And for that, many thanks and kudos go out those who made it happen, especially in the short order that it occurred after the Chicago convergence and the proceeding call for regional convergences. However, in the rush, excitement, and stress of putting on something like this and asking the logistical questions of âhow, when, who, and what,â it is easy to forget to ask âWhy?â Once again, what does it mean for us to âBash Back!â?
âIs our violence of substance or of image?â When the queer anarchist Muay Thai smoker is happening and at least one hundred of us collectively chant âA-, Anti, Anticapitalistaâ, â1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Fuck 12!â, and âDeath to America, Death to Israel!â between rounds in the safety of the reserved warehouse space, the painfully liberal UPenn encampment sleeps quietly on the university lawn two miles away. What if this clear sense of rage, conviction, and unity of purpose in our chants was channeled into an opportunity for a surprise attack against the university, its presumably vulnerable and unsuspecting police forces, or the upscale businesses surrounding the university? What could it have meant to turn the joy of the fight club into the jouissance of a rampage? This is not to imply that the Philly organizers simply did not care about the conflictual and insurrectionary nature of Bash Back!, and in fact, they probably wanted people to bring said energy. Unfortunately though, this energy is not always as spontaneous as we would like. Moreover, it didnât help that any nods to these insurrectional desires were literally tacked-on at the back end of the daily schedule. In the information zines handed out at the convergence, listed after every dayâs events was the following: â11PMâLate: Autonomously Organized Late Night Fun.â Although the implication and intentionality was somewhat clear, the actualization was far from so. This led many interested parties to confusedly wander around the convergence, asking any Philly BB!ers they could find if there was anything that was actually planned for that night, or even if anyone knew of any particularly relevant or vulnerable targets (which were also notably absent from the distributed zine). Such inqueries were usually met with, âOh, I think they are just expecting people to go do stuff on their own.â Of course, by this point, it was much too late for anyone from out of town to plan and carry out anything substantial. Regardless of the organizersâ intentions, it seemed that any real conflictuality had taken a backseat to hangouts, parties, dances, and movie screenings. To be clear: to realistically expect out-of-towners, many of whom may have never lived in Philadelphia for any period of time, with comparatively little (or completely nonexistent) knowledge of the political, social, or literal terrain to autonomously organize âlate night fun,â is at very best a severe miscalculation and at worst, utter laziness.
Others have guessed that this omission of conflictuality may have been actually been intentional, with some organizers prioritizing a need to ârest and recuperate.â Considering the current political climate, this desire, and others like it that focus on ~building connections~ and networking for bigger, more confrontational (and more importantly, presently imaginary) encounters in the ~future~, seems both confusing and out of touch. There are so many others who continue to courageously and tirelessly fight in the here and now. And far be it from this critique to lay out a measured response to the increasing prevalence of the care-pilled âpolitics of rest and compassionâ that seems to be further creeping into anarchist spaces, it is important to remind ourselves that this moment of re-emergence, especially in the context of all that surrounds us, is a critical one. A moment where it is up to us to decide if this thing will merely be consumed by the narcissistic myopia of subculture, and consequently cynically recuperated liberal identity politicians and grifters parroting lines about âQueers Bashing Backâ until they or their audiences tire of the fashion. Or, does it instead take the anti-social turn of a destructive, unnameable, nihilistic queerness that truly destabilizes the nature of identity and the social order, refusing the repackaging of its violence into mere aesthetics, its lust for incendiary jouissance into a social nightlife, its negativity into âmutual aid projectsâ?
âIf we name a tendency, what does it mean to make that tendency spread like fire?â
đ„Anarchist Muay Thai Exhibition Fights
from Instagram
đ„Anarchist Muay Thai Exhibition Fights
đ
Sept. 22nd
â5pm to 7pm
đScan QR or ask a boxer for location
(This isn’t our event, we’re just sharing it)
UPenn Benjamin Franklin Statue Vandalized
from Instagram
đ”đž UPENN IS COMPLICIT IN THE PALESTINIAN GENOCIDE
At the heart of campus, the Benjamin Franklin Statue stands proudly as a symbol of imperial violence and colonialism.
This morning, an autonomous group poured red paint over the statue: a visual reminder of the over 186,000 martyrs and the universityâs complicity in genocide.
The University has tried to supress the student intifada, supressing Palestinian voices, all in the name of âcampus safety.â There are NO Universities left in Gaza. There are NO first days. The education system of Gaza has been systematically destroyed, and the genocide has only expanded.
DISCLOSE. DIVEST. THE STUDENTS WILL NOT STOP, THE STUDENT MOVEMENT WILL NOT BE STOPPED. UNTIL PALESTINE IS FREE.
Three Way Fight: Revolutionary Politics and Antifascism
from Making Worlds Books
ADVANCED REGISTRATION RECOMMENDED (CLICK HERE)
Three way fight politics argues that the far right grows out of an oppressive capitalist order but is also in conflict with it in real ways, and that radicals need to combat both. Weâll discuss the history of this perspective and how it can help us navigate todayâs struggles, from anti-police riots to confronting the MAGA movement, drawing on the new collection of essays and interviews from PM Press and Kersplebedeb Publishing.
Matthew N. Lyons is the author of Insurgent Supremacists: The U.S. Far Right’s Challenge to State and Empire and coauthor with Chip Berlet of Right-Wing Populism in America. He has been a contributor to Three Way Fight since 2005, and his writings have also appeared in several other leftist and mainstream publications. Matthew is co-trustee of the Lorraine Hansberry Literary Trust, which stewards the literary legacy of the late playwright and activist Lorraine Hansberry.
Arturo Castillon is a writer and substitute teacher living in Philadelphia. With Shemon Salam, he is the coauthor of The Revolutionary Meaning of the George Floyd Uprising (Daraja Press, 2021) and has published work in The George Floyd Uprising (PM Press, 2023) as well as in Black Quantum Futurism: Space-Time Collapse II (The AfroFuturist Affair/House of Future Sciences Books, 2020).
Coverage of Protest Against Presidential Debate
from Mastodon
Several arrests were just made during a violent escalation by the Philadelphia Police after a flare was lit at tonight’s protest against the presidential candidates, the debate and Israel’s ongoing genocide on Palestinians.
Watch LIVE: https://unicornriot.ninja/2024/protest
Pro-Palestine/anti-occupation graffiti seen on & around the US Post Office/Passport Office after tonightâs demonstration outside the presidential debate was forcefully dispersed by riot police
Graffiti at US Post Office/Passport Office in Philly, contâd:
Protest Near Harris-Trump Presidential Debate Opposes Bipartisan Support for Israeli Genocide in Palestine
from Unicorn Riot
Philadelphia, PA â Protesters opposing the ongoing Israeli genocide in occupied Palestine are gathering near the security perimeter erected outside the National Constitution Center â the site of the first debate between 2024 presidential candidates Kamala Harris (D) and Donald Trump (R). A call to âshut down the presidential debate for Gazaâ was announced by the Philly Palestine Coalition to rally at City Hall, which is east of the debate site.
Pennsylvania is considered the largest swing state in the presidential election. The statewide winner will take all 19 electoral votes. Street closures entered effect Tuesday morning on Arch and Market streets between 4th and 7th streets in Philadelphiaâs historic Old City east of Center City. Eastbound lanes of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge are also closed. Watch our live coverage.
While Trump has promised he would help Israel âfinish the problemâ in Gaza, the Biden administration, which includes Kamala Harris as Vice President, has repeatedly gone out of its way to continue arming, funding and politically supporting Israel throughout its deliberate mass killings of displaced civilian children, women and men alongside the targeting of life-supporting infrastructure in Gaza, including the destruction of hospitals and water treatment plants and the torture of healthcare workers.
As of September 10, at least 41,020 Palestinian residents of Gaza have been reported killed and 94,925 injured, while 692 Palestinians in the West Bank were killed and more than 5,700 injured. At least 1,139 Israelis have been killed and 8,730 injured, according to Al Jazeera, based on regional agenciesâ data.
Protests outside the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July criticized Trump and the Republican Partyâs alignment with Israelâs racist and far-right government; demonstrations during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago late last month highlighted the fact that no Palestinians were allowed to speak onstage at the partyâs national gathering.
Clips below from Milwaukee and Chicago highlight the scope of Palestine protests that have been the most visible element of dissension around the presidential race.
While paying lip service to talk of a ceasefire, the Biden-Harris administration has continued directly enabling Israel despite the International Court of Justiceâs findings that allegations of genocide are âplausibleâ in regards to the invasion of Gaza and that Israelâs occupation of Palestine is illegal under international human rights law and should be ended.
Recent reporting has also shown that Israeli authorities are subjecting Palestinians held in crowded administrative detention camps such as Sde Teiman to rape and torture at a mass scale â a revelation that has apparently not impacted Harrisâ public, unconditional support for Israel in recent media appearances.
For more from Palestine click on image below.
Labor Day Greetings 2024!
Coworkers, comrades, and fellow labor activistsâwishing you a restful Labor Day weekend!
In keeping with our radical political traditions, we put our activist energies into May Day, not Labor Day. This doesnât mean that we havenât been craving a rest from the bone-aching grind of our labor. In our WSA branch, we are furniture movers, home workers, pink collar assistants, and healthcare workers. We all need a rest from exhaustion. This three day weekend is needed to recover.
Labor Day was fought for and won by workers. But we also know that this is far from enough. Itâs a drop in the bucket.
Labor Day, with its parades and picnics, took the shape of a more capitalism-friendly alternative to the more radical May Day that was characterized by street protests and strikes.
While we focus our eyes on May Day, you will still see us with friends at local Labor Day events, re-affirming the community aspects of our work lives. We need to recuperate in preparation for amplifying workplace voices and building relationships. As we know, building relationships is the heart of organizing. So, strike up the grill. But tomorrow, we build the General Strike !Â
From Philly Metro WSAÂ
âWe are committed to building a future rooted in a classless and stateless society, where we, as working people, create workplace and community democracies that prioritize human needs over profits for the few. Our vision is a world free from the social oppressions of racism, sexism, and queerphobia. Through our revolutionary unions, we will transform the nature of work, paving the way to our collective liberation.â
From Greater Chicago WSA
In Contempt #44: Prison Rebellion in Idaho, Running Down the Walls, Antifascist Targeted in Indiana
from It’s Going Down
Running Down the Walls, Curbfest, and other Upcoming Events
Thereâs a number of important prisoner support events coming up. September 15th sees the 25th anniversary of the annual Running Down the Walls ABC fundraiser event, with events currently planned for Portland and Eugene, OR, Los Angeles and Huntington Park, CA, Chicago, IL, Philadelphia, PA, Bloomington, IN, Lowell, MA, and Brooklyn, NY.
Curbfest events in support of political prisoners are planned for New York on September 7th, Philly on October 5th and Houston on October 26th
Running Down the Walls, Curbfest, and other Upcoming Events
Thereâs a number of important prisoner support events coming up. September 15th sees the 25th anniversary of the annual Running Down the Walls ABC fundraiser event, with events currently planned for Portland and Eugene, OR, Los Angeles and Huntington Park, CA, Chicago, IL, Philadelphia, PA, Bloomington, IN, Lowell, MA, and Brooklyn, NY. The Huntington Park event will be on September 28th.
Curbfest events in support of political prisoners are planned for New York on September 7th, Philly on October 5th and Houston on October 26th.
Political Prisoner News
Philly ABC have shared an update about the upcoming release of the book, I Am Maroon: The True Story of an American Political Prisoner. Book launch events will be held in NYC on September 6th and Philadelphia on September 22nd, and you can find more links related to the book here.
Uprising Defendants and Other Ongoing Cases
Pennsylvania uprising defendant Khalif Miller has been added to the Uprising Support site, while Arkansas defendant Rene Goddard is due to be released soon. South Carolina uprising defendant Brittany Martin has just had an appeal against her four-year sentence denied, while Philadelphia uprising prisoner Ant Smith has just been freed.
Phone Zaps, Hunger Strikes, and Prisoner Rebellion in Idaho
Incarcerated workers at SCI Fayette in Pennsylvania launched a hunger strike at the start of August, in protest at the prison continuing to impose lockdown-era isolation policies. The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee have been encouraging people to call the SCI Fayette Superintendent on 724-364-2200 and the PADOC central office on 717-728-2573 in support of the strikersâ demands.
General Prison News and Abolitionist Media Updates
Supporters of the Vaughn 17 have shared a new recording of a call with Dwayne âBIMâ Staats, discussing his current legal situation.
Uprising Defendants
See Uprising Support for more info, and check out the Antirepression PDX site for updates from Portland cases. To the best of our knowledge they currently include:
David Elmakayes 77782-066
FCI McKean
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 8000
Bradford, PA 16701
Khalif Miller #70042-066
USP Big Sandy
U.S. Penitentiary
P.O. Box 2068
Inez, KY 41224
Upcoming Birthdays
John Bramble
A former Vaughn 17 defendant and contributor to the Vaughn uprising zines Live from the Trenches and United We Stood and other publications. Johnny has continued to organize and agitate against the prison system from within. As a result, he is still being held in solitary confinement.
Johnny is looking for anarchists, autonomists, and other radicals to regularly correspond with. Delaware uses Getting Out for email messaging, so you can also send him a message by going to gettingout.com, setting up an account, and then adding him as a contact using his inmate number #405202.
Birthday: September 1
Address:
John Bramble #405202
Delaware DOC â 1101
PO Box 96777
Las Vegas, NV 89193
Monday August 26th: Black August Letter-writing
from Philly ABC
Black August now takes place all month as an invitation to reflect on the history of the Black freedom struggle, to celebrate those who have come before, and to commit to continuing this fight for justice and liberation. We invite you to remember, reflect, learn, and unlearn, by connecting with Black freedom fighters still behind bars.
Join us on Monday, August 28th at 6:30pm at Wooden Shoe Books as we share a compilation of audio commemorations and inspiration from Black August and take time to send out letters and cards to political prisoners from Black liberation movements.
Download a PDF of the Black August illustration by Kevin Rashid Johnson laid out as a card to print. Check prisonersolidarity.com for Black Liberation prisoners to send cards to.
Weâll also be sending a birthday card to Leonard Peltier (September 11th).
Communique: Heavy Machinery Sabotaged at Haddington Golf Course and A Response
from Abolition Media
Heavy Machinery Sabotaged at Hadddington Golf Course â Philadelphia, PA
August 19, 2024
The perennial struggle against development in Haddington and throughout Philadelphia continues. Weeks ago we sabotaged heavy machinery used for construction at the Haddington golf course construction site by introducing bleach into the filtration and fuel systems. We send solidarity to the saboteurs carrying out attacks at Kingsessing, Bartrams, FDR, and other sites of development and gentrification.
Free the land!
Free the city!
From: Unravel.noblogs.org
A Response to âHeavy Machinery Sabotaged at Haddington Golf Courseâ
A note on sabotage of heavy machinery: please donât waste your time messing with fuel or filtration systems. The idea of adding something to a fuel tank is (unfortunately) a widely known sabotage technique that the average person might think of, but it is most likely ineffective on modern vehicles or heavy equipment. Filtration systems are designed to filter out contaminants.
Bleach is typically added to engine oil. The rule of thumb is to add 10 fluid ounces of bleach per gallon of engine oil. This equals one gallon of bleach per 12.8 gallons of engine oil, which should be enough for an average-sized piece of heavy machinery. Larger machines will need more, smaller machines will need less. You may want to look up the specifications of the particular models of equipment on site to be sure of their fluid capacities.
The fuel is probably the least sensitive fluid in the machine; in addition to engine oil, try messing with the transmission fluid, hydraulic fluid, or exhaust fluid. For starter ideas on what to add to these fluids, check out this old Dear Ned Ludd column. [https://efmechanicsguild.wordpress.com/2016/09/06/a-nice-dear-ned-ludd-from-an-ef-journal-last-year/]
Have fun out there!
From:Â Phlanticap.noblogs.org
Excerpt from the mentioned column:
etâs talk about the engines of tractor trailers used for hauling innocents to slaughter and the lab, pulling the wild from the wilderness, and delivering the ingredients of every destructive endeavor sick, corporate, profit-driven minds can concoct. These trailers move the dozers that level the land and the ships that strip life from the ocean. If anything keeps me awake it is the incessant drone from giant poison-containing, toxin-spewing engines; the heart of the machine.
Engine oil can be contaminated by many things, and the other fluids they contain or run on do not mix well with others⊠kind of like old-guard EF!ers at a dub step show. Hell, I donât even need to haul around bleach most nights. (Bleach destroys the viscosity of oil and does some fun, expensive shit, too).
Engine Oil:
Engine oil hates water, especially when mixed with antifreeze. Water, because it will not compress, breaks gears. Antifreeze may taste like candy, but it does horrible shit to your bodyâ do not ingest! Engine oil also hates fuel, which thins it out and makes the engine wear out and break. If either water or fuel are found in oil then there must be a problem with the engine and it needs to be opened to check.
Cost to repair: Up to $15,000 for a semi; MUCH more for heavy equipment.
Transmission Fluid:
Hates antifreeze; it destroys the main components in the transmission and the glue that holds connections together.
Cost to repair: $5,000+ for trucks; HOLY SHIT for heavy equipment.
Hydraulic Fluid:
HATES water, antifreeze, and diesel exhaust fluid (DEF; more on that stuff later). Adding water will break shit internally; DEF clogs small control passages over time.
Cost to repair: $3,000 and up.
Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF):
Made of pig urine from the slaughterhouse, this stuff is supposed to help clean the exhaust on trucks. Itâs on the tank near the fuel cap, and has a blue lid. It is nasty, and antifreeze thinks so too. This stuff will kill a radiator and clog up the tiny spaces inside an engine fast. Looks like water, and gallon jugs of the stuff can be found in open trucks on construction sites so use your imagination. Causes a lot more damage than rice or dry flake mashed potatoes in the radiator. Do not ingest or get DEF on youâŠ. beyond the fact that it is very refined pig urine, it is poisonous.
Cost to repair: $2,000 to $6,000 for trucks; heavy equipment easily $5,000 to $?!!!!
Diesel:
As above, bad for oil, but also BAD in the diesel exhaust fluid tank. Modern exhaust systems are delicate, so contaminating the DEF tank with fuel will cause extensive damage to the system. Because of this, the newest exhaust sensors are designed to shut down the truck when diesel is found. To extract diesel from a machine, all one would need is a small suction hose, a siphon, and maybe a bottle to catch the fuel in.
SAFETY NOTE!!!! Donât use your mouth for this!!! Besides leaving evidence, a lot of the chemicals and fluids in an engine will kill your ass.
Cost to repair: $1,000â$10,000 if internal component are damaged.
A Response to “Heavy Machinery Sabotaged at Haddington Golf Course”
Submission
A note on sabotage of heavy machinery: please don’t waste your time messing with fuel or filtration systems. The idea of adding something to a fuel tank is (unfortunately) a widely known sabotage technique that the average person might think of, but it is most likely ineffective on modern vehicles or heavy equipment. Filtration systems are designed to filter out contaminants.
Bleach is typically added to engine oil. The rule of thumb is to add 10 fluid ounces of bleach per gallon of engine oil. This equals one gallon of bleach per 12.8 gallons of engine oil, which should be enough for an average-sized piece of heavy machinery. Larger machines will need more, smaller machines will need less. You may want to look up the specifications of the particular models of equipment on site to be sure of their fluid capacities.
The fuel is probably the least sensitive fluid in the machine; in addition to engine oil, try messing with the transmission fluid, hydraulic fluid, or exhaust fluid. For starter ideas on what to add to these fluids, check out this old Dear Ned Ludd column. [https://efmechanicsguild.wordpress.com/2016/09/06/a-nice-dear-ned-ludd-from-an-ef-journal-last-year/]
Have fun out there!
Heavy Machinery Sabotaged at Hadddington Golf Course
Submission
The perennial struggle against development in Haddington and throughout Philadelphia continues. Weeks ago we sabotaged heavy machinery used for construction at the Haddington golf course construction site by introducing bleach into the filtration and fuel systems. We send solidarity to the saboteurs carrying out attacks at Kingsessing, Bartrams, FDR, and other sites of development and gentrification.
Free the land!
Free the city!
Black August Letter Writing
Submission
In celebration of Black August, weâre going to write to two fighters in the black liberation struggle who are currently incarcerated. We will be writing to Malik Muhammad and Casey Goonan. Bring food and homies! Weâll provide stamps, pens, envelopes, and paper. Please wear a mask!Malikâs writings: https://malikspeaks.noblogs.org/
Update on Caseyâs legal case: https://chicagoantireport.noblogs.org/post/2024/08/12/update-3-on-casey-goonan/
https://orcaphilly.noblogs.org/
Confronting Climate Change with Direct Action: Hundreds Converge for 44th Annual Earth First! Gathering
from Unicorn Riot
Walking up the path to the Kirkridge Retreat Center outside Bangor, Pennsylvania in early July, you may have sensed something was afoot. Cars with license plates from far-flung states lined the driveway and wild-haired twenty-somethings mingled with kids, tweens and adults in their 30s, 40s and beyond.
A hand painted cardboard sign reading simply âEF!â would have directed you, with an arrow pointing to the activity. A blend of laughter, music, and fragments of conversations about climate catastrophe quickly sets the tone before you reach a folding table strewn with literature, hand sanitizer, masks and snacks.
âWelcome,â a smiling volunteer would greet you. âAre you here for Earth First?â
This summer, around 400 people found their way to a rural plot of land in eastern Pennsylvania to participate in the national Earth First! Gathering. Over the course of seven days, anarchists, abolitionists, environmentalists and more converged on Lenapehoking, the original name for the traditional homelands of the Lenape, the regionâs Indigenous people.
For over 40 years, people have gathered under the banner of Earth First!, a no-compromise, direct action movement launched to confront ecologically catastrophic industries and policies. In opposition to âbig greenâ nonprofits, Earth First! takes a more hands-on approach to climate activism. For decades, the movement has centered direct action â the tactic of physically blocking destructive projects.
Through protests, occupations, work stoppages, locking on to equipment, and sometimes property destruction and sabotage, Earth First! seeks to do what many other organizations donât â directly intervene and confront the companies and policies that harm ecosystems.
While the movement is focused on environmental protection as its main cause, participants see intersecting struggles as equally important. Todayâs Earth First! shares heavy overlap with antifascism, Indigenous sovereignty, queer struggles and autonomous movements.
Earth First!ers donât claim to be members of a formal structure, but rather a network of people who share, and act on, a set of principles.
âIt is not an organization, but a movement,â a website representing Earth First! reads. âThere are no âmembersâ of EF!, only Earth First!ers. We believe in using all of the tools in the toolbox, from grassroots and legal organizing to civil disobedience and monkeywrenching.â
Though not a formal organization, Earth First! is organized. Each year for more than four decades, Earth First!ers have hosted a national gathering where movement participants, alongside people across a wide range of social movements, meet up to share info about the struggles theyâre engaged in, host workshops and trainings, and build relationships. This year was the 44th time the meetup had happened since 1979.
Throughout the week, people hosted dozens of workshops and skill shares ranging from foraging wild foods to self-defense classes. Between teaching hard skills, organizers and participants hosted conversations about fostering solidarity with Indigenous communities, movement history, mentoring future activists, and more.
To kick off a week of workshops and education, Keshia Talking Waters and her mother Maria Lawrence shared the Lenape creation story and introduced attendees to the concept of Sovereign Science.
Talking Waters, founder of Sovereign Science, and Lawrence, a professor of science education at Rhode Island College, broke down to Unicorn Riot what Sovereign Science is, how it can help in our current context, and why they thought it was important to share Indigenous perspectives at the 2024 Earth First! gathering.
More than accruing skills and learning about theory, participants who spoke with Unicorn Riot were drawn to the event for the sense of community it offers. For some, this yearâs event was their introduction to Earth First! as a movement, but others had been coming to gatherings for decades.
Regardless of how many times they had been to events or organized with Earth First!, though, community was a common theme that drew participants to the woods this year.
Organizing a national gathering for a decades-old movement is no small feat. Each year a different, autonomously organized group of volunteers find a location, set up logistics, arrange programming, and promote the event that draws hundreds of people for about a week in early July.
This year, organizers from New York took on the task and hosted the event. Unicorn Riot spoke to organizers to hear about the challenges and motivations behind putting in the effort to create the gathering this year.
Though the gathering acts as a focal point for the movement, Earth First! is active all year, organizing across the continent. Part of that activity includes the Earth First! Journal.
For as long as Earth First! has existed as a movement, the Earth First! Journal has served as its voice. An independent, collectively run print magazine and website, the Earth First! Journal acts as the public face of the movement, representing Earth First!ers through movement updates, discourse, debates, poetry, art, tactical discussions and more. Unicorn Riot spoke with two people involved with the Earth First! Journal collective â one whoâs currently a member, the other a former editor â to learn about what the journal is and why they think itâs important to the movement as a whole.
After seven days of education, shared meals, and community building, participants broke down camp and headed home or, in some cases, continued traveling. Next yearâs event will pop up somewhere else, continuing the long running tradition of the Earth First! Gathering.
