How do we Build Liberatory Capacity?: Solidarity Economy Assembly #2

  • June 22, 2023 1:29 am

from Making Worlds Books

As we work to build a solidarity economy, where we truly take care of each other and have our collective well-being at the heart of our everyday, the summit can sometimes be a steep climb in a world currently created to keep us separate and in competition with one another. A question organizers must ask themselves, and each other, again and again is: how do we build capacity for this work while also knowing and respecting our own individual and communal capacities?In collaboration with PACA member co-ops: Obvious Agency and Making Worlds, PACA continues its solidarity economy assemblies on Thursday, June 29th, 2023, from 6:30-8pm.

This second assembly will be facilitated by Obvious Agency and it will be a communal discussion of how we can build, investigate, honor, and take care of our collective capacities.Together we will investigate what drains and robs our capacities (bullshit jobs and isolated realities, for starters), as well as how we take our time and energy back. We will discuss how we’ve been conditioned to show up to “work”, how we decondition from that which does not serve us and only moves us towards the problems of burnout or accumulating social capital instead of dollars, as well as how we reframe showing up to efforts which matter to us. We will discuss how do we actually create capacity for this work (*cough* – more people – *cough*). Also, what is the world we’re actually trying to forge so that our practices of self- and collective-care aren’t just maintenance to shove us back into the grind, but instead we have spaciousness and possibility to allow us to have elements of being with those we love, being in regenerative solitude, showing up to the work which matters to us, immersing ourselves in other activities which gives us joy and meaning, and so much more.

We hope you’ll join us for this critical conversation around our collective capacity.

The good folks of Obvious Agency are, “Makers of games and interactive performances.” They are a “Worker-owned cooperative.” And they are, “Developing Space Opera – a game engine for building community”. https://www.instagram.com/obviousagencycoop

  • Thursday, June 29, 2023
  • 6:30 PM 8:00 PM
  • Making Worlds Bookstore & Social Center 210 South 45th Street Philadelphia, PA, 19104 United States (map)

Chester Avenue Dog Park Reopened

  • June 20, 2023 1:07 am

Submission

Park on 48th and Chester has been “reopened” for everyone to use and enjoy. Entrance can be found around 48th and Regent. Find the sign on the fence that says, “Reclaim the park!”


Neo-Luddite Reading Group

  • June 20, 2023 1:03 am

from Victor Gomes

Time and Place:

“Enoch” made them, Enoch shall break them.”

Contact:
neoluddite@victorgom.es
@notnaughtknot 2nd & 4th Tuesday each month 6:30-8:30 @ Iffy Books

Discord: Email neoluddite@victorgom.es for an invite!

Beggining Tuesday, June 27th

You may have played around with chatGPT, or perhaps even used DALL-e to generate images from text. Though Large Language Models have been around since 2018, they’re currently dominanting the news thanks to the public release of these newer, even larger models. While impressive, like many technologies, they come at a cost and introduce new risks. However, there are specific issues related to the sheer scale of these models and they highlight the dangers of machines which allow for the consolidation of labor.

These issues are especially concerning given the lack of regulation in the tech industry generally, and the tendency of productivity-increasing technology to further concentrate power in the hands of the few. This reading group will explore these risks and engage with how they work in the hopes of better organizing to protect the rights of workers and individuals. The goal is to have a better understanding of the costs (data, carbon, human labor) and risks (misinformation, unpredictability, bias) of making these machines, as well as limitations in what they can learn about the world primarily through text. We will begin with “Resisting AI: An Anti-fascist Approach to Artificial Intelligence” by Dan McQuillan, with additional optional readings. If you’d like to learn more about me, you can visit victorgom.es for a bio.

Schedule

The only expectation is that you read the chapter(s) of the book that’s listed for that meeting. I tried keeping it around 30 pages on average. Even if you don’t read the assigned chapters, you’re still welcome to participate as long as you are mindful.

For each chapter, I’ve also noted some optional readings for context, so I’d suggest checking those out rather than reading ahead in the book! Optional readings are by no means required, but they may add to and deepen our conversation. They’re a mix of news articles, essays, and journal articles, so you can pick from type of text is most engaging to you. They pull from a range of disciplines and schools of thought, which I hope serves to highlight and survey how many different people conceptualize issues with AI, though it is by no means exhaustive. If you ever find yourself struggling, reach out! Either directly or over discord to the group.

I’d suggest you read this before anything else for some historical context: What the Luddites Really Fought Against by Richard Conniff. The Luddites will also comes up in Chapter 6.

June discussion: Industrial society and its future

  • June 18, 2023 1:54 am

from Viscera

Join us on Sunday, June 25th from 1-3 for our next anarchist reading discussion! In light of Ted K’s passing, we’ll be reading “Industrial society and its future.”

Never forget that the human race with technology is just like an alcoholic with a barrel of wine.

The entire piece can be found here.

As usual, we’ll be meeting in Clark Park near the chess tables. This piece is a bit long, so you might want to get started early!

Love In The Time Of Fentanyl

  • June 13, 2023 1:38 am

from Instagram

As deaths in Vancouver, Canada, reach an all-time high, the Overdose Prevention Society—a renegade supervised drug consumption site that employs active and former drug users—opens its doors. This intimate documentary looks beyond the stigma of drug use to show how the organization’s staff and volunteers do whatever it takes to save lives while giving hope to a marginalized community.”Join us for our next screening on Sunday, June 18th, where we’ll be watching Love in the Time of Fentanyl. We’ll be at @makingworldsbooks on 210 S 45th St.Naloxone training at 6, movie at 7, followed by a discussion. Suggested donation $10-20, proceeds go to @the_sol_stories and @south.philly.punkswithlunch

Report from Anti-Gentrification Action At Bartram’s Garden

  • June 10, 2023 1:17 am

Submission

A couple weeks ago, a friend sent me a flyer for a “work” party at Bartram’s Garden. Anarchists have been agitating around stopping gentrification of that area for a while after that zine came out…I forgot the name. Generally, one of the cooler things about anarchists in Philly is that we have a pretty long history of actually fighting gentrification through sabotage as opposed to just complaining about it on a megaphone. The flyer advised us to mask up, bring tools, that phones were bad and to bring trusted friends. It also advised for folks to keep off the internet and big threads. I was excited to have been sent a flyer for an action that seemed a bit more devious especially since all the leftist stuff going on in the city is very uninteresting to me. Yelling at buildings is very boring and doesn’t seem like a good way to adequately address gentrification in my view. As a Black radical, it is pretty disappointing that most of the Black organizations in the city are uninterested in attacking in ways that actually combat gentrification, materially.

Anyway, I sent the flyer to a few homies. Some were able to make it. Some weren’t. Anyway, myself and a comrade rolled down there a lil after the time it was supposed to start. We scoped it out. We weren’t sure exactly where everyone was meeting but after hearing cutting sounds, we went over. The action was pretty cool. People were just cutting this big ass fence that the developers had set up in Bartrams. Everyone was kinda just doing their own thing. My homie and I didn’t bring adequate tools to cut so we ended up just carring the fencing and throwing some of it into the river along with other attendees. The action was very chill and it was good to see a few familiar faces. We both had some shit to do early the next day so we peaced out a bit early after leaving a few tags. There wasn’t really much else to do though other than cut the fence…and I wish the action maybe had another goal or something. Despite this, it was pretty cool.

Either way, actions like this are cool because they are pretty low level and a good entry point for people that are interested in learning how to be more confident in doing attack with their own hands as opposed to asking some politician for help. I hope that this energy can continue into the summer. I’d love to get invited to more night demos or work parties. And I’d definitely bring my friends.

I guess I’m sorta a movement oriented person (which puts me at odds with a lot of insurrectos in the city) so I just wonder how a more aboveground anti-gentrification movement could interface with these more underground attacks in Philly. Is that something worth pursuing? What would it materially look like? I’d like to see attacks grow and I wonder how much of that means trying to interface and impose our will on the more leftist anti-gentrification forces in the city. Despite this, most of them are pretty liberal and against violence but maybe there are some openings. Who knows? It was refreshing though to take part in something that wasn’t liberal. I’ve love to get more invitations in the future.

More anarchy
More destruction
Fuck the Gentry

-a new afrikan anarchist in Philly

Call For Action Against The Moms For Liberty Conference

  • June 10, 2023 1:14 am

Submission

This is an autonomous call for action against the Moms for Liberty conference that is happening from June 29th to July in Philadelphia at the Marriott Hotel.

To all anarchists, anti-authoritarians, revolutionaries, outlaws, militant queers, Black autonomists, and anyone who opposes the transphobic and racist agenda of the Moms for Liberty …let’s fight back! All out against fascism. All out against Moms for Liberty. They are one of the main organized groups using the public schools to attack queer and Black youth by banning educational materials related to our histories and taking over school boards in order to impose their racist and transphobic agenda.

There’s a long history of militant queer resistance. We need to draw from the legacy of STAR, Bash Back, Stonewall Rebellion and all queer militant history. We must draw a hard line in the sand against these trans-phobes and anyone who supports them. They are not welcome in Philly.

Two of the fascist demagogues, Trump and DeSantis will also be in attendance. Let’s mobilize in full force against them. As we gear up for another election year, it is deeply important to start building up our militant culture of resistance. No act is too small.

Moms for Liberty are our enemies. Instead of following leftist organizers with over-inflated egos, we encourage folks in Philly to take autonomous action. Gather some friends over dinner or in a park, talk amongst yourselves, and make some plans. We have so many tactics at our disposal. Get creative.
Consider this an invitation.

Let’s end Pride Month right!

Solidarity Graffiti

  • June 9, 2023 1:34 am

Submission

Some graffiti in Solidarity with Weelaunee forest defenders in Atlanta was spotted in Philly. It reads “Avenge Atl Forest!” – Love to all the anti-capitalist vandals out there! Keep it up! Defend the forest everywhere!

Earth Destroying Machine Sabotaged At Bartrams

  • June 7, 2023 1:58 am

Submission

On June 1, under the moonlight, some feral gnomes poured grit into the lubrication system of an earth destroying machine – paralyzing it before it kills more of the post-industrial wild habitat in Bartram’s. The goal of this earth destroyer, and the developers in power of it, is to raze the land, killing and displacing all of the wild and free life from the area in order to make way for a Biotec Campus who markets a sanitized version of life. That life includes the torture of nonhumans and displacement of humans and nonhumans alike for it’s concrete pathways and steel buildings.

 

We will oppose every destroyer, every tool of power and development that seeks to capture, kill, torture, and displace all our lives. The feral land, trees, nonhuman and human animals will not be bulldozed with ease.

June 11th Bike Ride & Movie Screening

  • June 6, 2023 1:53 am

from Mastodon

June 11th is coming up! It’s the international day to support long-term anarchist prisoners. Some people in Philly are putting together a bike ride and film screening. It’s not our event, but we wanted to help spread the word.

June 11th: International Day of Solidarity with Marius Mason & All Long-Term Anarchist Prisoner Bike Ride & Movie Screening Fundraiser for Local Anarchist Facing Repression & Anarchist Prisoner War Fund Bike Ride (6:30 PM) SW Corner Rittenhouse Square To Movie Screening Movie Screening (8.PM) Screening Woman At War (Subbed) Snacks n Drinks, BYO W/E Some Seating and Mats, Bring Blankets Location: Ask Somebunny Cash Funds Collected @ Events Digital Funds to @phillyantirepression (venmo), phlbailfund@riseup.net (paypal) Put J11 (and maybe a lizard emoji) in note

Direct Actions At Philly Pride

  • June 6, 2023 1:31 am

Submission

Amidst the huge crowds at Pride our affinity group had a lot of fun dancing and spitting on cops yelling at them to get the fuck out of pride. Several of their cop cars were spray painted “FTP” and “ACAB” and “Pride is a Riot!” There was some anti-gay hecklers that were attacked by various queer people throwing drinks and heavy objects at them. We also burned American some flags in the street. Goods were redistributed from various stores.
Some homophobic bigots were chased out of the Gayborhood and we are sure that many more Queer Revolutionary actions and general mischief happened as the night continued. Let’s keep the fight against the corporations, cops, bigots, and capitalism strong all year. Fuck Assimilation! Liberation Now! Bash Back!

Neo-Nazi Predator Ben Ryder Exposed

  • June 6, 2023 1:29 am

from Philly Antifa

Benjamin F. Ryder, a neo-nazi and sex offender who harassed Wooden Shoe Books last week.

Last week, a neo-nazi entered the Wooden Shoe Books co-operative bookstore on South Street. He took a photo of a flyer hanging up there related to Paul Minton, the nazi groomer currently running “White Lives Matter PA” and “Embrace Struggle Active Club,” stole some Antifa stickers, and threatened a staff member. Another of Minton’s telegram pages,
“Pa Antifa Watch” posted pictures from the incident, claiming they received them from “someone unknown to us.”

“For absolutely no reason in particular, I’m just gonna mention we don’t know this guy.”

The nazi was driven from the area, but posted a short video of the incident on a closed chat of neo-nazis. In the video, the nazi’s face is visible and easily identifiable as Ben Ryder.

Still from the video of the incident at The Shoe. Ryder’s face is clearly visible.

Ryder is a neo-nazi with a history of exposing himself and masturbating in front of women and young girls in public. Ryder was sentenced to 4-12 months in 2015 for approaching several women completely nude in a McDonalds parking lot. He was sentenced to 1-2 years in prison in 2019 for another a similar crime.

As discussed in the twitter thread above, Ryder was one of the neo-nazis who picked a fight at a Trans Day of Vengeance demo at the Supreme Court. Ryder attempted to take out a knife during the fight, but was dropped and disarmed by protestors while DC police meandered over and eventually detained him.

Ryder is a registered sex offender, so he likely feels common cause with Minton and his crew, judging by their enthusiastic cross-promotion. Ryder was last known to be living in Glenside, PA on E. Pleasant Avenue. He may be working for Kevin Ryder, Inc., a trucking company (we presume to be run by a relative) in Ivyland, PA. Ben Ryder drives a black Jeep Grand Cherokee (PA KDK5085).

Ryder is clearly an unstable and dangerous person and those who encounter him should be mindful of that. Despite their attempts to market themselves as an elite vanguard of the “pro-white movement,” Active Club and their supporters continue to tend more towards disgusting and embarrassing cautionary tales.

Eternal war on the Hitler Youth Mickey D’s flasher division,

In Contempt #29: Pushing Back Against Repression in Atlanta; Upcoming June 11th Events

  • June 4, 2023 1:20 am

from It’s Going Down

[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.

There’s a lot happening, so let’s dive right in!

Political Prisoner News

Mike Africa Jr, a child of two of the MOVE 9, is raising funds to buy back the MOVE house, which was turned into a Philadelphia police substation after the cops firebombed it.

Uprising Defendants

Everyone should support the defendants facing charges related to their alleged participation in the George Floyd uprising – this list of our imprisoned comrades needs to be getting shorter, not longer. See Uprising Support for more info, and check out the Antirepression PDX site for updates from Portland cases. The status of pre-trial defendants changes frequently, but 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

Upcoming Birthdays

Jarreau Ayers

Vaughn Uprising prisoner, one of the only two prisoners from the Vaughn 17 to be convicted. As one write-up put it, “Jarreau Ayers and Dwayne Staats, already incarcerated under the hopeless sentence of life without parole, took it upon themselves to admit to involvement to prevent the rest of their comrades being found unjustifiably guilty, which led to success – not guilty verdicts or their charges being dropped.” You can learn more about Jarreau in his own words here and here.

Pennsylvania uses Connect Network/GTL, so you can contact him online by going to connectnetwork.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 “NS9994”.

Birthday: June 15

Address:

Smart Communications / PA DOC
Jarreau Ayers – NS9994
SCI Greene
PO Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL, 33733

Neo-Nazi Mathew David Bair of “First Capitol Proud Boys” Exposed

  • May 24, 2023 1:22 am

from Philly Antifa

Mathew David Bair, neo-nazi associated with The First Capitol Proud Boys and Southern Sons Active Club. Resident of Spring Grove, PA.

Atlanta Antifascists recently released an extensive report-back from a months-long infiltration of the “Southern Sons Active Club,” a cell “of the larger ‘Active Club’ network founded by fascist organizer Robert Rundo and his close associates.” As usual, it is S-tier research and reporting by ATL and we recommend reading it, even if you do not live nearby or feel you have a full understanding of the groups involved.

Most members and posters on the SSAC telegram reside in Georgia and the Carolinas, but one user, who posts on telegram as “Kermit (Sapper Actual)” reps Southern Sons while being from and living in Pennsylvania.

In addition to involvement in the openly fascist “Active Club,” Kermit runs the “First Capitol (York, PA) Proud Boys” telegram channel and appears to be running the chapter. Neo-nazi infiltration is well-documented in the proud boys, and many chapters function as essentially front-groups for neo-nazi orgs, while the “civic nationalist” chapters provide deniability and protect them.Kermit is feuding with the Ohio proud boys for being insufficiently openly racist for him.

Your Opsec is not good, Mathew.

Thanks to information provided to us by Antifa researchers, and then verified, we are prepared to expose “Kermit (Sapper Actual)” as Mathew David Bair of 138 N. Water St, Spring Grove, PA.

Antifa became aware of Kermit’s real name due to a doxx by his “white brothers” at Runic Storm, who make it a habit of doxxing anyone who doesn’t pay for an order or has issues with payment processing.

Though Bair had ordered under the name “Matthew Howse”, he used an email of MathewBairHxC@gmail.com. Sure enough, some light research confirmed that the address Kermit ordered to belongs to a Mathew Bair, who has been in the news several times for his far-right activities, as well as a run-in with York cops that generated a few moments of local notoriety for him. Interestingly, one of Bair’s friends present that day was named “Matthew Howse,” so we presume Bair used his friend’s name as a “cover,” while using his real-named gmail address.

Bair is 33 years old. He was in the marines but court martialed and discharged for stealing night-vision goggles. “Kermit” actually bragged about his court martial and it’s availability online. He was involved in an altercation with York PD for alleged brutality caught on video. The lawsuit was quickly dropped.

Bair was present at the Capitol building on January 6, 2021 and charged with curfew violation. He has prior guilty pleas for selling weed and harassment.

Mathew Bair of FCPB present at the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Bair and his crew have been working along with the NJEHA and WLM nazis we’ve previously profiled on this site, participating in shared days of action and joint demonstrations together. Presumably, the groups are also training together as that is a large part of the “Active Club” model. Recently, Bair posted public support Embrace Struggle Active Club, which is associated with disgraced sexual predator Paul Minton, whom Bair has worked with for some time.

Mathew Bair promoting Embrace Struggle Active Club, affiliated with Paul Minton.
Mathew Bair (holding megaphone) rallying in Easton, PA alongside fellow neo-nazis, including Paul Minton.

Anyone with more info on Bair or FCPB is welcome to contact us. Bair may be identified by his FCPB’s tattoo on one of his legs.

Mathew Bair’s First Capitol Proud Boys Leg Tattoo

Eternal War on the Hitler Youth,

🎥 Machines in Flames (2022)

  • May 23, 2023 1:51 am

from Iffy Books

May 27 @ 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Promo image for the film "Machines in Flames," a film by Thomas Dekeyser & Andrew Culp, with a photo of an office building at night and the tagline "following the footsteps of a clandestine group of French computer workers from the 1980s...." Text at the top left reads, "Sat, May 27th at 8 p.m. / Iffy Books / 319 N. 11th St. #2I, PHL"

On Saturday, 5/27 we’re screening the film Machines in Flames at 8 p.m., followed by a virtual Q&A with the filmmakers.

Machines in Flames (2022, 50min) finds a secret history of destruction by following the footsteps of a clandestine group of French computer workers from the 1980s.

In 1980s Toulouse, an elusive group began bombing computer companies. ‘CLODO’ disappeared after three years, without ever being caught or ever to be heard of again. Two film makers launch an investigation into CLODO, looking for answers, motivations and identities, but are soon frustrated by a collective that struck in the dead of night, leaving in their tracks only ashes and the sporadic line of cryptic graffiti. The film combines archival traces, a viral desktop choreography, and late-night video recordings of CLODO’s targets into a meditation on computation, destruction, and the lure of archives.

Presented by the South Philly Autonomous Cinema Association.