In celebration of Black August, we’re 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! We’ll provide stamps, pens, envelopes, and paper. Please wear a mask!Malik’s writings: https://malikspeaks.noblogs.org/
Unicorn Riot heard from organizers and participants this year to offer a deep dive into the event and the movement behind it
By Sean Summers, Unicorn Riot August 15, 2024
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 “EF!” 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.
“Welcome,” a smiling volunteer would greet you. “Are you here for Earth First?”
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 region’s 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 “big green” nonprofits, Earth First! takes a more hands-on approach to climate activism. For decades, the movement has centered direct action – 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 don’t – 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. Today’s Earth First! shares heavy overlap with antifascism, Indigenous sovereignty, queer struggles and autonomous movements.
Earth First!ers don’t claim to be members of a formal structure, but rather a network of people who share, and act on, a set of principles.
“It is not an organization, but a movement,” a website representing Earth First! reads. “There are no ‘members’ 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.”
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 they’re 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 year’s 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 – one who’s currently a member, the other a former editor – to learn about what the journal is and why they think it’s 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 year’s event will pop up somewhere else, continuing the long running tradition of the Earth First! Gathering.
The purpose of this text is to provide anti-fascists with the necessary background to understand the beliefs, organizing model and radiant influence of The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), as well as the particular threat it poses as an emerging center of gravity for the developing American Fascist movement.
There are many denominations and movements cultivating authoritarian political beliefs amongst Christian Americans, but the New Apostolic Reformation is unique in terms of its inherently authoritarian politics, theological flexibility, networked organizational structure and ability to influence Christians from different traditions. Furthermore, the NAR was the first Christian group to promote Trump, and have taken on the role of his spiritual advisors and links to the Evangelical community. This was originally a controversial move, but was justified by comparing the obviously godless Trump to King Cyrus of Persia, the virtuous pagan who ended the Babylonian Captivity and allowed the Jews to return to Palestine. This rather impressive theological bullshit has paid back in dividends as more and more Christians have accepted the idea that modern Prophets are guiding the Christians of America.
Christian Dominionism is defined as the belief that Christians should take control of the State. While the term has entered the mainstream of many parts of the American Left, many antifascists tend to see it as just another incarnation of evangelical politics, if a more totalitarian one, and not particularly worthy of much attention when compared to the deluge of white supremacist shooters and would be terrorists currently threatening our communities. While neo-nazis represent the most advanced terrorist threat within the far right, the New Apostolic Reformation is the most advanced Social threat. By this we mean that they have an extraordinary power to shape the very experience of reality of massive communities of American Christians. Most neo nazis are skeptical of Mass Politics, due to the long history of federal infiltration of their movements. The New Apostolic Reformation is devoted to mass politics; their faith revolves around the concept of revival, or mass conversion to their cause. Currently, the NAR is dedicated to winning power via the legitimization of the American political process. THey have already had a good deal of success on this front. Representatives Lauren Bobert and Marjorie Taylor Green are deeply affiliated with the movement, as is the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito are also connected, in addition to scores of state and local level office holders. When Donald Trump, contrary to the prophecies of the movement, lost reelection, networks of “Prophets” and “Apostles” were some of the main forces in galvanizing the January 6th Capitol riot. This act demonstrated the movement’s willingness to seize power by non-democratic means and should be understood as a sign of things to come. The New Apostolic Reformation is changing America, and if we want to prevent them from achieving the power they desire, we have to understand them on their own terms.
There is no such thing as the New Apostolic Reformation
To call the NAR a denomination would be inaccurate, as it specifically emerged from the world of non-denominational charismatic Christianity. It would also ignore the vectors by which they are able to push their political theology into other Christian groups, Charismatic and otherwise.
Charismatic Christianity is an outgrowth of Evangelicism, particularly the Pentecostal Tradition, best known for its spectacular practices of snake handling and speaking in Tongues. To be a Charismatic Christian is to seek a kind of constant mystical experience of reality, to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to see God’s divine plan manifest in everyday life. It is a rather extraordinary tradition, because organized religion tends to put careful guardrails around mystic practices, and carefully guide mystics to incorporate their work into the pre established orthodoxy of their religion. When this doesn’t happen, mystics and their followers have a tendency of being destabilizing forces in society.
The roots of the NAR traces back to the work of a C Peter Wagner at Fuller seminary in southern California. Wagner was the student of John Wimber, of Grapevine ministries. Wimber brought the practices of independent non-denominational Charismatics to the more mainstream audience of Fuller, and Wagner was his student and successor. These were literal courses in miracles, and helped spread the Charismatic idea that belief in Jesus and the presence of the holy spirit gave Christians supernatural powers.
Around the same time Wagner did graduate work in sociology studying Church growth. The Study of Church growth is a very involved discipline, and Wagner was focusing on Church Governance as a factor. In his later writings he proposed a new structure. He rejected denominational rules and bylaws, democratic structures and individual autocracy in favor of a networked ecosystem of Churches ruled by Charismatic leaders. Now many of these leaders who came into Wagner’s emerging network had already begun to call themselves Apostles and Prophets. These extraordinary titles are literal. These people genuinely believe they are receiving messages from the divine and being told to enact divine will. Their claims are justified using a concept called fivefold ministry which is extrapolated from Ephesians 4:11-13 “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” While for the vast majority of more Orthodox Christians the Prophets are a thing of the past and the Apostles passed on their authority to the Church (or the Bible, if you are Protestant) Prophesy and Apostleship are alive and well for the Charismatics of the NAR.
This is the most extreme development away from Christian Orthodoxy since Martin Luther split from the Catholic Church, it is also the fastest growing form of Christianity in America as well as world wide. Furthermore, there is evidence that ideas from the NAR are finding influence in more traditional Churches. A (unreplicated, so inconclusive) study by Paul Djupe from Dennison University suggests that the Core of NAR theology (beleif in modern Apostles and Prophets) is extremely contagious, influencing the theology of much more mainline Churches. In fact he suggests that as many as 25% of the American Christians he polled believe it.
While the NAR was a highly organized project, the nature of the networked structure and its spiritual Oligarchy has tended towards a denial of its unified nature. The influence of a Church growth scholar doesn’t give the group legitimacy and the nature of Charismatic Spirituality has a preference for the organic and spontaneous. Camouflaging themselves also allows for members of the NAR to recruit more traditional christians slowly, rather than presenting their non-traditional nature for all to see. The American evangelical world is changing rapidly, and the NAR has set itself up to catch those who are looking for something new. This piece from writer Holly Pivec gives tips on how to find if Churches are concealing their NAR affiliations.
Many Progressives and leftists have told themselves that secularization is an inevitable process that will destroy the influence of the Christian right. The reality appears to be that the number of Christians will shrink, but grow in fanaticism and thirst for political dominance. The fact that the NAR puts so much stock in elections is due to their desire to be act in accordance with what they believe to be the divinely inspired principles of America. When the NAR takes extra-legal steps, it will be with the excuse that their enemies have contaminated The failed insurrection at the capital demonstrated that if they cannot win at the ballot box, they will try by other means. Their ultimate belief is that a precondition of the rapture is the triumph of the church over the earthly governments of the world.
NAR leaders like Sean Fuecht (a harmless looking, guitar playing youth minister) have used Proud Boys as their personal security. They have deep connections to “Christian” and “Patriotic” militias around the country. Furthermore, they urge their congratulations to arm themselves and train for war against secular Americans who they beleive are out to get them. The most famous of these is probably Matt Shea, the former Washington State Representative for Spokane. Shea was removed from office for distributing a text he wrote called “The Biblical Basis for War” which contains the memorable line “Kill all males who do not submit”. Shea maintains extensive networks of extremist Churches across Idaho and Eastern Washington. These networks exist across the country.The most important thing to remember about these networks is that many participants in them have been preparing for an American civil war for nearly 50 years. These are people who read the Turner Diaries but are more concerned with oppressing people for not being Christian rather than not being white, though racism is often a hidden part of Christian Supremacism.
As capitalist crisis and the general dysfunction of the American political system accelerates, new powers will emerge to fill in the cracks. The NAR will be amongst them, and the rest of us need a plan to counter them. They have been able to grow to the point of having millions of members with powerful representation in government. While effectively being a fascist organization, a church is not something that can be treated like a clique of boneheads. I would urge all antifascists to meet this threat with the utmost urgency and caution. No matter where you live in the US these people are making moves. The first course of action is to find out who locally is already mapping the apostolic networks. This will likely mean working with liberals and even other Christians. We need these people as allies. There are theologians who’s work consists of preventing churches from being taken over by NAR theology. The old slogan of the Anti-Racist action network was expose, oppose and confront. We need to have local exposes of apostolic networks, their relationships in government and business and the threat to our communities that they constitute. When they try to take over school boards we need that to be publicized. When groups like Moms for Liberty pull their stunts we need people to understand exactly what they are confronting. We are well past the point that small group action can have an effect on a group of this scale. As this piece is being written it looks like the Trump campaign is sinking before our eyes. This could mean that the NAR will attempt another extra-legal attempt at seizing power like January 6th. Even if they accept defeat, they will not do so forever. They are building durable institutions to take power, and we need a long term plan to stop them.
Free the Land! It’s that time of the year again – Black August means Kupigana Ngumi! Join Black martial artists and revolutionaries in Malcolm X Park for self-defense, striking, and grappling training, along with discussion of ideas from Black Liberation Army veterans Sekou Odinga and Kuwasi Balagoon. See you there!
[Malcolm X Park
4PM to 6PM
August 17th – Session 1
August 31st – Session 2
Hosted by NMAP and MXGM]
Introduction to Post-Anarchism – Sunday – September 1st – 2:00PM
How has anarchism changed in the last 30 years? How was anarchism influenced by post-structuralism? This lecture/workshop will cover the contemporary theory and praxis of “Post-Anarchism”. We will explore the term, its current expressions and internal tensions.
*Guest speaker experience in Latin America and has studied anarchism academically for the last 10 years. —
History of Latin American Anarchism – Saturday – August 31st – 4:00PM
What does anarchism look like in Latin America? How has it influenced politics and organizing? What can we learn from it? This lecture/workshop will overview the history, theory and praxis of Latin American Anarchism. It will cover historical trends, differences with “western anarchism” and current examples.
*Guest speaker experience in Latin America and has studied anarchism academically for the last 10 years. —
While this can be considered a victory for antifascists, it cannot be ignored that there are still active and unidentified Nazis in the Tristate area. One such Nazi that recently came to the attention of antifascists was “JJ” or “@reject_sin” on Telegram, because of his close connection with Takhistov and the now defunct project “White Legion”. Antifascists have identified JJ as 18 year-old Jonathan Misura of Milltown, NJ.
Misura circa 2023 and 2024. Misura shaved his head in early 2024.Misura’s Telegram profile along with a recent picture of him from social media. A side-by-side comparison of both pictures confirms Misura’s identity as “JJ/@reject_sin”.
Misura was radicalized online when he was a minor in 2023. At this time, Misura was a junior at St. Thomas Aquinas, a private Christian High School in CNJ, and a star athlete on the baseball team.
From his junior through senior year of high school Misura maintained polished and compartmentalized social media accounts, that were devoid of anything having to do with far-right politics. Unlike many young Nazis, Misura has a forward facing online presence which focuses on typical teen life events, like going to prom and down the shore for holidays.
As his social media content highlights, Misura is a dedicated lifelong baseball player. In 2023 Misura accepted a scholarship offer to play at East Stroudsburg University in East Stroudsburg, PA upon graduation from high school. More information is listed at the end of this article about how to contact East Stroudsburg University about Misura.
Misura became active on Telegram in 2023 and 2024 with the goal of connecting with other white nationalists. He joined several different Nazi Telegram channels, with one channel exclusively focused on exposing Paul Miller aka “G*psy Crusader” as a fake white nationalist and pedophile.
The following evidence has been minimally edited to not take away the impact of the Neo-Nazi views that Misura and others are expressing. There is misogynistic, racist, homophobic, and other dehumanizing phrasing used. Misura’s profile picture within the different chat threads on the channel also verifies his identity as “JJ”.
The channel that Misura joined exposing Paul Miller as fake white nationalist and all around creep.
The first post that Misura commented on, in “G*psyCrusader Exposed”.
Misura’s first comment upon joining the channel, where he is laughing over a racist comment about one of Miller’s ex-girlfriends.
On this channel, Misura would get involved in verbal spats with other white nationalists for seemingly no reason. For example, in one incident Misura claimed he had connections to violent Neo-Nazis and flew off-the-handle when people doubted him. In other comment threads Misura would randomly accuse others of being Jewish.
In this exchange Misura said he had connections to the notorious Neo-Nazi prison gang, the Aryan Brotherhood.
Misura going off on other Nazis for questioning his supposed connection to the Aryan Brotherhood. Misura’s Nazism is very much on display.
A thread in which Misura accuses a Nazi of being Jewish.
As time went on, Misura’s frustration in online Neo-Nazi spaces swelled, and he decided to broaden his connections offline by linking up with Nazis in NJ. Misura first connected with Takhistov aka Cossack, and became close friends with him, bonding over fascism, their shared age and Ukrainian heritage, and living in Central New Jersey (CNJ). The White Legion page has since been wiped, but at its height, it had almost 100 members, including Misura. Misura regularly engaged on White Legion posts with Takhistov.
The White Legion page at the height of its activity.
Takhistov quickly brought Misura into the fold of the different Neo-Nazi crews he was in, like NJEHA and S14, and partnered with him on future White Legion endeavors. Soon Misura began popping up at S14 and NJEHA actions with Takhistov. The two were joined at the hip and did not attend any Nazi actions without each other.
With Misura initiated into the groups, he was essentially living a double life. On any given day Misura appeared to be an average NJ teen, heavily involved in academics (3.75 grade point average), sports, hanging out with his friends, and preparing for college. Unbeknownst to most people in his life he was also a Neo-Nazi, forging connections with violent white nationalists.
One Nazi outing they participated in together was a hiking day-trip up to Mt. Tammany that was organized by NJEHA and S14 in the Fall of 2023.
A hiking trip that NJEHA and S14 members took in the fall of 2023. Misura and Takhistov were present, as was Dan D’ambly and Mark Kauffman.
Misura also participated in a memorial service/hang out for a dead Nazi and a other pop-up style rallies with Takhistov and other NJEHA and S14 members.
Misura circled in red at the memorial event and a rally in December 2023
Misura also tried to help Takhistov launch his White Legion project offline and they did a few propaganda activities in CNJ. It was discovered that Misura is the formerly unidentified Nazi pictured with Takhistov in a propaganda photo series that was taken at a baseball diamond. Takhistov and Misura posed with road flares and Ukrainian fascist flags, a reference to their identity as Ukrainian nazis.
Takhistov boosting his and Misura’s White Legion project in an S14 chat.
Misura circled in red on the left, and Takhistov on the right.
Takhistov and Misura remained close and continued to work with each other under the banners of NJEHA and S14 and in unofficial capacities through the Summer of 2024, as revealed by the recent federal criminal complaint filed against Takhistov. The details within the federal complaint reveals that another Nazi, in addition to Takhistov, was a participant in the plan to attack the electrical substation. While Misura’s identity was concealed by the federal government, as “Individual-1”, simple context clues about Takhistov and Misura’s close friendship, their shared Ukrainian heritage and fascist identity, and tendency towards accelerationism leaves little room to doubt it could be anyone but him.
An excerpt from the federal complaint against Takhistov which references Individual-1 aka Misura.
Misura intended on joining Takhistov on his scheduled July 2024 trip to the Ukraine where he planned to join Russian fascists fighting against the Russian invasion. This was verified by the undercover federal agent when Takhistov and Misura met with him.
Another excerpt from the federal complaint against Takhistov. Misura is referenced again as (Individual-1) the person joining Takhistov in Ukraine.
This section of the federal complaint shows Misura was aware and supportive of the plot to blow up the electrical substation.
Misura was roped into the plot by the federal government, which became clear when Takhistov discussed a plan for the federal agent to blow up an electrical substation in New Brunswick. On July 10, Misura and Takhistov made their way to the Newark airport for their flight. Takhistov was arrested en route and his arrest was covered by local and national media. It’s unclear if Misura was detained or questioned, but based on the media coverage and Misura’s actions on social media after the fact, it’s probable that the government did not arrest/charge him at that time. Whatever happened on July 10 was enough to spook Misura and he made all his social media accounts private and became inactive on Telegram.
Misura’s Instagram account before and after Takhistov’s arrest by the federal government in July 2024.
Misura’s heavy involvement in NJEHA, S14, and the plot to blow up the electrical substation brings up many questions. How was Misura able to participate in these different groups and activities without his parents, friends, or mentors noticing? Why wasn’t Misura arrested by the federal government for his role in the plotted electrical substation attack? Has Misura been brought in by the feds and compelled to snitch against his close friend Takhistov in exchange for immunity/not revealing his identity? Are his parents aware that he knew about a plan to attack NJ public infrastructure and not only did nothing to stop it, but supported it fervently?
Misura’s past and current behavior proves he poses a danger to those around him. Misura is scheduled to begin college as freshman on a baseball scholarship at East Stroudsburg University in East Stroudsburg, PA in just a few weeks.
Misura must be held responsible for his actions and those around him deserve to know who he really is. Concerned community members are encouraged to reach out to his school administration directly in addition to the athletics department with the following script. (This article can be linked as evidence of Misura’s actions): “Hello I am reaching out to contact you about an enrolled student named Jonathan Misura. He is an incoming freshman who is on a baseball scholarship. Misura is a self professed Neo-Nazi and racist. I have provided the following evidence which displays Misura’s disconcerting behavior and actions. Misura’s behavior violates both East Stroudsburg University’s Student Code of Conduct (the Harassment policy) and the Student Athlete Handbook (its Sportsmanship Policy and Social Networking Website Policy). His behavior also violates current the NCAA Division II Handbook and, the 3.3.1.3 Standards and 3.3.4.5 Standards. As a student athlete Misura is supposed to embody the values and codes governing East Stroudburg University and its athletic department. I would like to request a review of Jonathan Misura’s enrollment as an incoming freshman and a review of baseball scholarship and placement on the team. Thank you.”
To contact the athletic department directly about Misura’s behavior, his baseball scholarship, and membership on the team, contact Athletic Director Dr. Allen G. Snook at (570) 422-3689 and asnook@esu.edu or Associate Athletic Director for Student Success/SWA Sarah Ross at (570) 422-3795 and sross14@esu.edu.
To contact the school administration and request a review about Misura’s behavior via the University Conduct Board, call (570) 422-3461 or email SCCS@esu.edu.
A Note From NJ Hate Watch: S14 members, with addition of Jonathan Misura, 10 of your people have been identified and doxxed including Andrew Takhistov, Alex Chubbuck, Benjamin Ryder, Jackson Bradley, Paul Minton, Daisy McGowan, Mathew Bair, Mark Kauffman, and Sara Sheaffer. If you continue to operate, more of your members will be exposed.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Activist and Educator, Ant Smith, Released from Federal Prison (Wednesday, August 7, 2024) Ant Free! After 198 days of being imprisoned at FCI Fort Dix, our brother, friend and comrade, Ant Smith, is free! Ant was released on Thursday morning, August 1, 2024, back home to Philly, where he will spend some time in a halfway house as the completion of his sentence. Ant and the Defense Committee thank all of you for your outpouring of support, including monetary donations, letters and spreading awareness about his case. Please understand that Ant is acclimating to life post-prison, so he will be taking care of himself, his family and loved ones, and his wellness first (and in the foreseeable future), before making a formal statement or being more visibly present. Additionally, a Welcome Home Celebration will be planned soon – Stay Tuned! In the meantime, wish him well, and he will be sure to see you all shortly!
Free Ant Defense Committee #FreeAnt#AntFree
Join us on August 14th at 6 PM for a compelling conversation between Philip V. McHarris and Hiram Rivera, Executive Director of Community Resource Hub for Safety and Accountability. They will discuss McHarris’s new book “Beyond Policing,” which reimagines a world without police and explores innovative community-based safety models. This event offers a transformative vision of safety, moving beyond policing towards a society where people have the resources to thrive.
Philip V. McHarris is an assistant professor in the Frederick Douglass Institute and Department of Black Studies at the University of Rochester. McHarris was a presidential postdoctoral research fellow at Princeton University in the Department of African American Studies and the Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab. He earned his PhD in sociology and African American studies at Yale University. He was named one of the Root 100s Most Influential African Americans in 2020. McHarris has appeared on MSNBC, CNN, and PBS and in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, and more.
Hiram Rivera is a longtime organizer and organizing trainer with 20 years experience professional experience. His work has been rooted in social justice movements, the struggle for Puerto Rican and New African independence, and campaigns to free political prisoners. He’s the former director of the Philadelphia Student Union and is the founding director of the Community Resource Hub, a national organization providing training, research and technical assistance to abolitionist organizations across the country. He is a co-founder of the organization Black Men Build and the Hub’s George Jackson School.
from Instagram
SCI Fayette is one of the few prisons left in Pennsylvania still running on isolation policies implemented during the COVID-19 Prison Shutdowns. Incarcerated people there are severely limited in movement and yard time, despite all other COVID mitigation policies being canceled, or non-existent. These isolation policies have disrupted many of the established community organizations developed in prison prior to COVID.
We know that prison enforces isolation and tries to disconnect us from our loved ones inside. Stand in solidarity with incarcerated people putting their freedom on the line for community.
Hunger Striker Demands:
Full Day Room Recreation (No Cohorts) on every housing unit: 7:45-10:30 am, 1:15-3:35 pm, 5:00-8:30pm
More seats on the housing unit to accommodate seating arrangements.
Community Yard for all blocks.
Collective religious congregation for the whole prison.
On June 20th, the Human Rights Council and the UN issued a statement identifying the major weapons manufacturers and investors in the US who are complicit in sustaining Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people. “These companies, by sending weapons, parts, components, and ammunitions to Israeli forces, risk being complicit in serious violations of international human rights and international humanitarian laws.” [Full article on ohchr.org “States and companies must end arms transfers to Israel immediately or risk responsibility for human rights violations: UN experts”]
Investors supporting the weapons manufacturers: Alfred Krupp von Bohlen & Halbach Stiftung, INVESCO Ltd, JP Morgan Chase, Amundi Asset Management, Bank of America, Citigroup, Fidelity Mgmt and Research, Black Rock, Capital Group, Causeway Capital Management, Harris Associates, Morgan Stanley, Norges Bank Investment Mgmt, Newport Group, Raven’swing Asset Mgmt, State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance, State Street Corporation, Union Investment Privatfonds, The Vanguard Group, Wellington & Wells Fargo
These megalithic corporations have tendrils reaching across the globe, the country, the cities, our neighborhoods, right into our backyards. Time to take “not my backyard” to the next level. It’s worth doing your own research if you have the time, but we thought we’d lighten the load and roll out interesting details as we find them.
This week’s spotlight : JLG Equipment Services Inc. – a tendril of the massive weapons manufacturer Oshkosh Corporation (no seeming relation to the children’s clothing brand, confusingly).
JLG has their headquarters in McConnellsburg, PA and manufacturers some heavy machinery – one of their staples being the big lifts that are used at airports, but you can find their equipment and lifts making guest appearances at construction sites all over the city. Recently, at least 2 of these massive lifts were spotted in the Penn Campus zone of Spruce street between 38th and 34th streets. You’ll know them by their particularly fluorescent vomitous orange color and the JLG initials printed on the side.
We’ve also heard there are a few equipment rental / retail spots that stock them in Philadelphia —
Herc Rentals Inc
6951 Norwitch Drive
Philadelphia, PA 19153
Sunbelt Rentals
7700 Holstein Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19153
United Rentals Inc
3880 E Thompson St
Philadelphia, PA 19137
[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!
Black August, Week of Solidarity, and Running Down the Walls
Many years ago, while imprisoned at SCI-Smithfield, and struggling to keep our study groups afloat, I received an e-mesage from Casey Goonan. I had no clue whom he was. He said he reached out because he heard about the work I was doing inside and wanted to offer any assistance he could. He did, and he continued to do so. Casey has been one of the most consistent and ready allies/accomplices of imprisoned people. Whether producing zines that center imprisoned voices, mailing zines to imprisoned people at no cost, coordinating phone zaps to combat repression by prison officials, raising funds for mutual aid, building social media presence for imprisoned folx or just lending an attentive ear to the concerns of imprisoned people, Casey has been unstinting in his support of anyone, anywhere, who is being oppressed.
My friend, my comrade, my brother, is currently being held in a county jail in CA. I wish I were out there to do more for him, to manifest by love and solidarity for him. What I want everyone to know is that Casey Goonan is an amazing ally/accomplice of oppressed people everyone. In this, his time of need, he should be supported and cared for. I ask people to keep close tabs on the situation, show up for Casey and make sure that while he is inside, jail officials do not harm him or exacerbate his condition. I don’t ever claim to speak for all imprisoned people, but I feel confident in saying that thousands of imprisoned people across this land have benefited from Casey’s efforts. We ask you support our comrade and care for him.
Join us on Monday July 29th, 6:30pm at Wooden Shoe Books as we send letters to comrades incarcerated for their support of the movement to Stop Cop City. In 2017, the Atlanta Police Foundation proposed the destruction hundreds of acres of Weelaunee forest to build a massive compound that would train cops from around the world in militarized tactics, urban warfare, and putting down social movements. The full Cop City proposal came in 2020 after national uprisings around the police murder of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks.
In 2021, forest defenders and community members established a long-term encampment in the Weelaunee forest. Shortly thereafter, a multi-agency task force began arresting and charging them with domestic terrorism. January 18th, 2023 brought more raids, arrests, and the murder of Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán. This was the first police killing of an environmental activist during a protest in modern U.S. history. Autopsy results indicated that the police shot Tortuguita 57 times while their hands were up. On April 19th, the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s office ruled Tortuguita’s death a homicide. On October 6th, a Georgia prosecutor announced that there would be no charges for any of the troopers involved in the murder.
Even before its completion, Atlanta Cop City’s militarized approach to social movements has already become a model for how to train police across the U.S.; between the George Floyd Uprisings and today, planning or construction has begun on 66 new Cop Cities around the United States. Similarly, the unprecedently fierce legal and extralegal measures taken against those resisting Cop City in Atlanta—domestic terrorism charges for civil disobedience, RICO charges for bail fund organizers, generalized harassment, and murder—can be understood as a localized experiment for broader application. These tactics of repression are being auditioned in Atlanta; if successful, you can bet they’ll be generalized across the U.S. For these reasons, it’s incumbent on all of us support those on the front lines of stopping Cop City, and especially those who’ve already paid the price of their freedom for this struggle.
We’ll also be sending birthday cards to U.S.-held political prisoners with birthdays in August: Bill Dunne (August 2nd), Hanif Shabazz Bey (August 15th), Ronald Reed (August 31st).
from Against Beltway Fascism[This post only contains information relevant to Philadelphia and the surrounding area, to read the entire article follow the above link.]
The Fascists of the Heritage Foundation
Shine a light on the fascists who wrote Project 2025 . Full list of authors and staff members of the heritage foundation. #Doxxed
AUTHORS OF PROJECT 2025
Robert P. George
371 Prospect Ave, Princeton, NJ 08540
LEADERSHIP
Victoria Coates
132 Bethlehem Pk
Philadelphia PA 19118
