Bloc The Police State! Philly, 12/11 – 5pm @ LOVE Park

  • December 7, 2014 5:23 pm

from Anarchistnews

It seems almost surreal, yet it is all so depressingly familiar. Another black man is assassinated by the police state. Months pass, more bodies pile up, and prisons continue to fill. This happens as political figureheads, and police feed us their carefully worded press-releases. They are trying to lull us back to sleep. Trying to put us back under their spell of passivity. It was a “great tragedy” and “We are investigating it to the fullest extent” are sentences we are hearing often. Yet their words are not relevant to us. Their pleas for peace, their fake understanding of who we be, their double-standards, and their terms of justice mean nothing when a war is being waged. They are intent on ensuring that this war remains one-sided for as long as possible. They want us to remain calm after bodies drop. They want compliance when prisons are to be filled. They want total legitimacy in their occupations of black & brown communities, and in their violent repression of any movements opposed to their law.

In spite of everything that has been happening, it’s inspiring as fuck to see all yous out there building connections and finding your place in this struggle against policing. No matter how you tie into things, how you get down with it, we love you. We believe this is a crucial time for anti-authoritarian perspectives and methods to actively engage in a struggle against this racist pig state. We, as a medium sized affinity of individuals from Philly decided to push for a space for this to happen. There have been ongoing assemblies and smaller events happening. These are great, but we feel the best way to build connections and learn is on the streets. So, this is the official call to action to bloc against the police state!

“Every time you see me, you want to mess with me. I’m tired of it. It stops today.” – Eric Garner

THERE IS NO JUSTICE, ONLY WAR, THEY DO NOT WISH TO VALUE BLACK LIVES AND WE HAVE NO WISHES TO PLEA WITH A SYSTEM THAT WILL LEAVE US FOR DEAD THE MOMENT OUR BACKS ARE TURNED! FTP! FTL!

Thursday, December 11th, LOVE PARK, 5pm.

(This is intended to reach a wide audience, and be inclusive to all except those who wish to control others. While Anews may not be the best place, most of us are disconnected from the internet most of the time and it is our only source for communication outside of our circle. We have little to no ties into the activist scenes. We ask all of you to use the resources you have to spread this information, create event pages, fliers of your liking, and promote this shit like crazy.)

[Legal number: (484) 758-0388 this number should be written somewhere discreet but accessible on your body, call in case of arrest.]
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To All Those Who Cant Breathe

  • December 6, 2014 5:51 pm

A call by comrades in New York City

 

Locked Down, Locked Out with author Maya Schenwar

  • December 1, 2014 12:01 pm

From Decarcerate PA

Decarcerate PA and Wooden Shoe Books presents…

Locked Down, Locked Out: Why Prison Doesn’t Work and How We Can Do Better looks at how prison tears families and communities apart, creating a rippling effect that touches every corner of our society. Through the stories of prisoners and their families, as well as her own family’s experience of her sister’s incarceration, Schenwar shows how the institution that locks up 2.3 million Americans—and decimates poor communities of color—is shredding the ties that, if nurtured, could foster real collective safety.

The destruction does not end upon exiting the prison walls: the 95 percent of prisoners who are released emerge with even fewer economic opportunities and fewer human connections on the outside than before. Locked Down, Locked Out shows how incarceration takes away the very things that might enable people to build better lives.

Looking toward a future beyond imprisonment, Schenwar profiles community-based initiatives that foster antiracist, anticlassist, prohumanity approaches to justice. These programs successfully deal with problems—both individual harm and larger social wrongs—through connection rather than isolation, moving toward a safer, freer future for all of us.

“This book has the power to transform hearts and minds, opening us to new ways of imagining what justice can mean for individuals, families, communities and our nation as a whole.” -Michelle Alexander, Author of The New Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

—

Maya Schenwar is Editor-in-Chief of Truthout, an independent social justice news website. She has written about the prison-industrial complex for Truthout, The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Jersey Star-Ledger, Ms. Magazine, Prison Legal News, and others. She is the recipient of a Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Chi Award and a Lannan Residency Fellowship, both for her writing on prisons. Previous to her work at Truthout, Maya was Contributing Editor at Punk Planet magazine and served as media coordinator for Voices for Creative Nonviolence.

Sunday December 7th
7pm
Wooden Shoe Books
704 South St

Poster

Open letter to masked comrades

  • November 29, 2014 7:31 pm

submitted to Philly Anticap

As solidarity with Ferguson demonstrations have taken place in Philly we’ve noticed more and more people attending demonstrations wearing masks (some in all black, some not). This always makes us smile; the more of us wear masks the stronger our anonymity, and the more normalized anonymous attendance to demonstrations in Philly becomes. As we already know, there’s no point in having a face at these events. Maybe we’re wrong, but, part of why seeing more masks in the street is exciting to us is because we see it as building a more combative street presence.

Even though it seems that more people are wearing masks at demonstrations, we’re scattered throughout the demo. As we continue to attend demonstrations masked it can be useful to congregate and march together as a masked bloc. There are a lot of potential benefits to this. A bloc allows for people to more safely change into their disguises in a complicit and non-hostile crowd, away from cameras. A bloc acts as an opaque place where we can coordinate action, share relevant information, generally communicate quickly, and act together. By coming together we can collectively push demonstrations we take part in in more radical directions; chanting revolutionary slogans, antagonize the police, and creating space for people to take other action from within a sympathetic crowd. Within a bloc we can create a culture of autonomy, resistance and direct communication within larger demonstrations and during our own events.

See you in the streets,
masked comrades

Keystone United Exposed – Anthony James Olsen

  • November 28, 2014 8:36 pm

from Philly Antifa

Note: This will be a regular feature. Check back for more updates about scum operating in our area.

AJ Olsen at Leif Erikson Day 2013

Anthony James (AJ) Olsen is a longtime Neo-Nazi who co-founded a short lived bonehead crew called the South Jersey Skinheads. SJS was essentially a Keystone State Skinheads (KSS) satellite crew with only 2 members. Since relocating to Philadelphia from Sicklerville, NJ, Olsen has risen through the ranks of KSS and become their main organizer in Philadelphia.  Olsen also organized an counter-protest the The March Against Racists and Rapists, bringing a dozen Neo-Nazis into the city to help him harass and threaten people for being against Racism and Rape.

Undercover Police at Ferguson Verdict Demo

  • November 27, 2014 3:25 am

Submitted to Philly Anticap, attached photos are below the cut
Last night [November 25th] during the Ferguson protests in Philly there were at least two
dozen people in full bloc mixed throughout the march. In addition there
were dozens of people with bandannas, or scarves covering their faces. A
friend pointed out two undercover cops early on. I hadn’t even noticed them
yet, but I am positive that I would have known they were cops immediately.

From Occupy to Ferguson

  • November 21, 2014 2:53 am

from Crimethinc.

 

In early 2011, in response to austerity measures, protesters occupied the capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin. It was a localized struggle, but it gained traction on the popular imagination out of all proportion to its size. This clearly indicated that something big was coming, and some of us even brainstormed about how to prepare for it—but all the same, the nationwide wave of Occupy a few months later caught us flat-footed.

Beehive Design Collective presentation: Mesoamerica Resiste

  • November 18, 2014 1:03 pm

from Beehive Design Collective presentation: Mesoamerica Resiste

Please join us Saturday, November 22nd at 7pm for a special arts and storytelling performance. Free and open to all ages. [At Wooden Shoe Books 704 South St]

Members of the Beehive Collective (based in Maine) will present their latest graphic work, entitled Mesoamérica Resiste. It is the third and final image in the Beehive’s trilogy about globalization in the Americas, focusing on resistance to mega-infrastructure projects that are literally paving the way for free trade agreements that devastate local economies and communities. After nine years in the making, the Bees are now touring and distributing posters of the graphic as tools for storytelling, popular education and movement building.

The Beehive Design Collective is an arts and activism organization. This dizzyingly detailed, hand-drawn, 300-square foot mural comes alive through storytelling, illuminating how single issues are interconnected and part of bigger systems. With a cast of characters that includes over 400 species of insects, animals, and plants, the Bees share stories of collective action and inspiration.

For more information, visit http://www.beehivecollective.org/

Holiday Cards to Prisoners!! People’s Paper Co-op and Decarcerate PA

  • November 17, 2014 3:32 pm

from Holiday Cards to Prisoners!! People’s Paper Co-op and Decarcerate PA

[November 18th 6pm-8pm

Temple Contemporary 2001 N 13th St, Philly]

Please join the People’s Paper Co-op and Expungement Project Decarcerate PA and Temple Contemporary for a rare night of paper making, letter writing, and reflections from former prisoners and criminal justice reform activists.

Hear amazing speakers, make paper, and send holiday cards for prisoners to mail to their families and friends!

The People’s Paper Co-op has been working with Temple students and community members to create hundreds of handmade blank paper cards. During the event we will be packaging these cards and sending them to prisoners across Pennsylvania. These cards can be used by prisoners to send something special, something that took many hands and a transformative process to make, to their friends or family members. This will create points of exchange across the state while acting as a vehicle for bringing students, former prisoners, and community activists together to discuss these issues.

Poster

Taking Insurrection too far?

  • November 17, 2014 3:15 pm

from Taking Insurrection too far?

The manhunt for Eric Frein lasted nearly two months, draining the resources of both local and federal policing agencies as he quickly climbed to the FBI’s number one spot on their most wanted list. This came after his alleged September 12th ambush on Police Barracks in Pike County, PA. In Eric Frein’s own account from journals police recovered – “I Got a shot around 11 p.m. and took it. He dropped. I was surprised at how quickly he dropped. I took a follow-up shot on his head and neck area. He was still and quiet after that. Another cop approached the one I just shot. As he went to kneel, I took a shot at him and (he) jumped in the door. His legs were visible and still”.

Beyond Passions & Survival: 2 presentations by Matt Dineen

  • November 12, 2014 1:00 pm

from Beyond Passions & Survival

2 presentations!

Wednesday Nov. 12th at 7:00 pm
Wooden Shoe Books and Records

Thursday Nov. 13th at 7:00 pm
A-Space Anarchist Community Center

A presentation on the dilemma of artists and activists in (and beyond) capitalist society by Wooden Shoe staffer Matt Dineen. It will be based on his recent masters thesis through Goddard College on the prospects for meaningful work, livelihood, and radical social transformation in the cracks of capitalism.

Philly to Ferguson, Rebels to the streets!

  • November 9, 2014 8:39 pm

As the Ferguson grand jury’s decision draws ever closer, many are already making plans. we hope to help publicize and facilitate coordination between responses to the end of the grand jury, regardless of an indictment of Darren Wilson.

Day of the grand jury decision

Day after the grand jury decision

We Stand with Ferguson: the day after the grand jury decision

  • November 7, 2014 10:37 am

from We Stand with Ferguson: the day after the grand jury decision

PURP DEMO POSTER

4pm the day after the grand jury decision at Broad st and Cecil B. Moore ave.

After Mike Brown was murdered in cold blood by racist cop Darren Wilson, the people of Ferguson rose up to demand justice. Their struggle inspired people all across the country and even the world.

Now, a decision from the grand jury is expected any day. Recent leaks suggest that it may make the outrageous decision not to indict. Regardless of the result, PURP is calling for a demonstration the day after a decision is announced.

We will rally at Broad and Cecil B. Moore Ave. We also hope to work with groups around the city to coordinate an even larger response. From Ferguson to Philadelphia, we will resist the war on Black people.

Poster
Quarter-sheet flyer

Keystone United Exposed – Bob Gaus

  • November 7, 2014 10:30 am

from Philly Antifa

Note: This will be a regular feature. Check back for more updates about scum operating in our area.

Bob Gaus, KSS co-founder. Lives in Harrisburg.

Robert Gaus has been a Neo-Nazi bonehead since the late 80’s. He co-founded the Keystone State Skinheads (KSS), also known as Keystone United (KU) or the Be Active Front (BAF). We have written extensively on here about KSS and their members’ history of assault, rape and murder all while publically representing themselves as a non-violent organization.

Help Andy Raise Legal Funds!

  • October 30, 2014 4:37 pm

Donate here

Andy is a queer-identified 20 year old West Philly resident, environmental activist, and volunteer at LAVA community center.

On August 23rd Andy was arrested while attending a demonstration in solidarity with those protesting in Ferguson, MO following the murder of Michael Brown. While walking on the sidewalk during the protest, he was tackled to the ground and kicked by multiple officers, arrested, and non-consensually brought to the hospital for injuries that the police had inflicted. Because the police took away the bandages he had been given in the ER, he had to take care of his injuries on his own, while in jail. He has since been slapped with a large emergency room bill. He was held for around 28 hours with little food or water, and was subject to intimidation and threats of multiple felony charges and federal involvement. Instances like this are not unusual.  In fact, these circumstances – violent arrests, legal threats, withholding medical treatment and intimidation – are common in suppression of dissent against police brutality.

Andy now faces six misdemeanor charges, for which the DA’s office has already demanded at least $1,500 in damage.

In addition, the publication of Andy’s legal name and residence by local media outed him as transgender to the community, violating his privacy and potentially putting his safety at risk.

We have been making every effort to fundraise for Andy and have already raised some money.  However, we still have a large amount left to raise.  Please help us out to whatever extent you are able!  If you would prefer to mail a check, please contact us for a mailing address.  Thank you!

Donate here.