Several weeks ago, the uprisings in the Movement for Black Lives in response to the police murder of George Floyd began. Here in Philadelphia, we saw police crack down on protests in a way that many have never experienced before. Medics around the city attempted to provide care for the many injuries sustained in the streets, and protesters who were targeted by police needed confidential care that would not make them legally vulnerable.
But many need more than the first aid that action medics can provide
Medics provided care to a protester who sustained serious injuries during action. This protester requires a high level of privacy, and initally delayed care in the hope they would recover with time. The protester does not have health insurance, so even an ER visit is a major hardship. Medics did all they could, but ultimately the protester will need surgery and months of therapy to regain mobility, which we estimate will cost about $10,000.
Can you contribute anything?
Like many in America, this protester has been forced to choose between crushing debt or permanent disability. Join the medics who cared for them in solidarity with the movement to chip in whatever you can.
Philadelphia, PA – Housing advocates plan to reveal today that they’ve facilitated moving previously-unhoused city residents into “vacant, viable” homes in North Philly owned by the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA). According to those who are helping families move in, a large number of usable residences are being intentionally left vacant by the PHA so that they can be sold to developers.
The process of finding empty PHA-owned homes, fixing them up, and helping to move people in is a collaboration between ‘Occupy PHA’ and the Revolutionary Workers Collective.
The ‘move-in’ process began during the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year, but now has a sense of added urgency against the backdrop of nationwide unrest and struggles for justice during uprisings after the police murder of George Floyd in May.
Jennifer Bennetch, who is making today’s announcement revealing the multiple occupations of city-owned homes, previously undertook an extended protest vigil outside PHA’s headquarters under the banner of ‘Occupy PHA’ in 2019.
Unicorn Riot also recently streamed a press conference from a homeless encampment on the Ben Franklin parkway near Center City, Philadelphia. Bennetch and others are working to support Philadelphia residents who self-organized the parkway camp via the Revolutionary Workers Collective.
We are the family, friends, and loving community of Lore Elisabeth (Lore-Elisabeth Blumenthal), a community care worker in Philadelphia. Our beloved Lore has dedicated her entire life to serving people and making them feel better. She provides essential, life-sustaining services to the most vulnerable Philadelphians as a care worker. She supports community members who live with HIV and chronic illnesses to access medical and critical care, often at her own expense. She has maintained multiple studios in massage therapy and provides regular outcalls to elders and clients who cannot leave their homes. She is the irreplaceable rock of support for her family through health crises. We all love and depend upon her incredibly generous spirit every day. If you’re seeing this fundraiser, then you may be among the countless Philadelphians (and beyond!) whose lives have been improved or even saved by this selfless volunteer.
Federal authorities raided Lore’s home in the early morning hours of June 15, 2020, in a manner that was meant to intimidate her housemates and neighbors. It has now been publicly revealed that their surveillance and raid tactics are an attempt to discourage public demonstration. She is currently being held in custody pending a trial for charges with enhanced federal penalties despite hundreds of other protestors being charged with property crimes in state court.
All proceeds to this fundraiser will support Lore in this matter. We are all united in our ongoing support for her and for an end to police brutality. We look forward to welcoming her home to the family, friends, and community who love and depend upon her so much.
Even though there’s been active protests going on everyday here since May 30th, it feels like things for the most part are becoming more and more tame. There’s still a lot of momentum but with it is a strong fear it’ll be overtaken by the popular liberal agenda or suppressed by state repression. Nonetheless with a curiosity of what direction things will take, and with rather low expectations I showed up to the call for the ftp noise demo..
Most folks show up to the meet-up mad late. There were conversations around not having enough numbers, if the time was called for too early and if we should wait longer, make moves, or go home. Lots of hesitations and indecisiveness. Fortunately despite the demo being publicized on the internet, there was no cop presence at the start, and the 25 of us decided to proceed.
Even while moving, things started off a bit awkward and quiet. We rushed through the streets towards the federal detention center. Graffiti went up on the walls and some cop vans, and when we got to the FDC things got LOUD. There were tons of fireworks and smoke bombs, fuck prisons graffiti was written on the ground for the prisoners to see, there was yelling and banging on street signs. There were a few chants but for the most part they were pretty minimal. The folks inside were hype to see us, they were flashing their lights and banging on windows. Their reactions reassured a lot of the trepidations some of us had had about coming out after all.
Once we finished with the louder toys, we didn’t try to stick around since a small squad of cops had showed up outnumbering us. We had a hasty, sloppy dispersal but everyone made it out alright and in good spirits.
After the demo I was left with a few things on my mind:
Noise demos are really cool opportunities for people with less street experience to get their feet wet with a little more risk. Because they’re a slightly more escalatory than the common protest marches, but aren’t as scary as heavier attacks, they give folks a greater sense of power and practicality to navigate moving through the streets together in riskier situations.
Regardless of what type of action we show up to it’s important to come with our own personal goals and a readiness to adapt to the goals of others around us.
One way to stay ready is to always use best practices to conceal our identities. Whether that’s making sure we’re covered up before we’re near any cameras or cops, or wearing gloves whenever we use illegal objects that might get left behind. It’s important we stay off the radar, unrecognizable and untraceable.
When moving together we really gotta get better at keeping it tight and not panicking! When were too spread out at vulnerable moments it puts us more at risk. Cops trailing us doesn’t always turn to cops chasing us. When we run away unnecessarily we open ourselves up to being more vulnerable. It’s important to assess when it makes or doesn’t make sense for us to run.
Lastly, it’s exciting to imagine all the possibilities of what we could get away with in a group that big when there’s no cops around!
In times like this, where repression is coming down extra hard it’s especially important to show solidarity and counter isolation.
Shout out to all the angry ones turning their anger into action, directing it to revolt. Solidarity to all those recently captured by the state, you’re in our hearts and your actions were courageous.
I hope that we can spread and keep the momentum of the recent uprisings directed towards the police state and it’s prisons, because without their total destruction we will never be free.
Towards the destruction of the state, it’s cages and it’s reinforcers.
Towards the creation of something better than anything they could ever offer us.
Armand Osgood is one of the newer recruits to join the ranks of the Philadelphia Proud Boys, first seen publicly with them in 2020 though he may have joined earlier. His first public appearance was with persistent nuisance Scott Presler, during a cleanup of the city under the guise of community service, though it goes without saying these guys don’t give a shit about communities that aren’t their immediate circle of white friends.
Armand at Scott Presler’s Event, May 2020Picking up TrashTurns out anyone can pick up trash though
He seems to have really weaseled his way in among the ranks of Sonny Sullivan and Zach Rehl, the two chumps who still remain largely at the helm of the Philly Proud Boys. He can be seen hanging out with them in April.
Armand (left) with two notorious and active Philly Proud Boys, Sonny Sullivan (center) and Aaron Wolkind (right)
He has most notably made a prominent appearance at the ongoing conflict around the Christopher Columbus Statue in South Philly. He appeared alongside the large unruly mob of entirely white South Philly residents who had spent days hurling slurs and hate at minorities who dared to come near them and physically assaulting many people as police stood by. He was personally seen spitting on people, which carries extra weight as a heinous act during the coronavirus pandemic.
Armand (left) with Aaron Wolkind (Center), guarding the legacy of Christopher Columbus
He is also decidedly pro-coronavirus, taking an active role in the Reopen protests in Pennsylvania, trying to rally people to the diminutive Philly protest. If he showed up no one knows or cares because it was such an impotent event.
Despite seeming to love cops, Armand cannot seem to be able to follow the law himself, with a dense history of 14 charges and arrests over just 4 years, for everything from drug possession, harassment, weapons violations, and public drunkenness (While Gritty doesn’t think someone’s criminal history should be a judge of their character, they find it a bit hypocritical that someone who is constantly getting in trouble with the law comes out and stands up for the cops. Can you say subservient bootlicker? Why would you support the cops if you can’t even follow the law? Is it because they harm the demographics you don’t like with impunity?)
Armand seems to be cut from the cloth of right wing violence role players, though he is doing what he can to make those fantasies seem real. In one facebook posts he dreams of a day where he can go out and shoot Muslims. He also has their archetypal fixation on Benghazi.
My man can’t WAIT to shoot muslimsGet over it already
And it’s no surprise that he has turned out this way, as other members of his family are involved in militant right wing movements, like his brother Alain Osgood, who attended a “March Against Sharia Law” in Harrisburg in 2017 alongside Militia members. This Rally notably attracted a number of outright neo-nazis including members of Vanguard America (The group responsible for murdering Heather Heyer in Charlottesville in 2017).
His brother, Alain Osgood, at the “March Against Sharia Law” in Harrisburg, June 10, 2017.
His last known place of work was Charles Gratz Fire Protection Co Inc., though it is unknown if his employment has been affected by the Coronavirus Pandemic. It may be worth checking in with them just in case, at (215) 235-5800, to let them know a violent and active member of a hate group works for them. However, it is most likely that he works as an independent contractor currently. Any tips are appreciated!
Also Armand, not sure why you think joining a hate group would help with your custody battle. Happy Fathers’ Day, dickbag.
from Facebook
This city was already in the midst of a care crisis before the pandemic hit. Hospitals closing, shelters and schools underfunded and overcrowded, many Philadelphians unable to access basic healthcare, healthful food and medicine, and suicide, addiction and mental illness massive social problems. All of these disproportionately effect Black and immigrant communities in Philadelphia, and instead of responding with care, compassion and resources, the city criminalizes homelessness, mental illness, drug use, poverty, survival!
With coronavirus all these systems have revealed themselves to be utterly insufficient to our needs. Covid spreads rampant in prisons and jails, but police keep throwing more of our siblings in cages for just trying to survive.
Enough is enough! We’re sick and tired of being sick and tired, and we, nurses, doctors, teachers, mental health professionals, unhoused folks, and many more, are marching for immediate abolition of the police and prisons, and the redirection of their resources, infrastructure and funding to us, so that we can take care of each other. And if the city won’t give it to us, we’ll take it for ourselves!!
[Saturday, June 27, 2020 at 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM at City Hall]
At a #Juneteenth noise demo for incarcerated people at the Federal Detention Center in Center City, #Philly, prisoners inside were banging on their windows to indicate they could hear the demo.
[Video Here]
Graffiti tags spotted in Center City Philadelphia this evening
Some prisoners shine lights out their window, showing support in turn for the love people on the outside are demonstrating for them. Those outside shout in unison, “You are not alone.”
“I told the guys how the students were successful in their demands and how that win positively impacts us. They thought what the students did was great and were surprised that young college folk in New York even cared. I told them how there is a whole movement out there that is fighting against the PIC and that all of us need to be involved”
Earlier today, I took a shower. The showers are four adjacent stalls. Three other prisoners were taking showers too. As usual, we struck up a conversation. This one was about how much prison has changed and is getting worse. One prisoner, who has been incarcerated twenty years, commented on the psychological and mental harm prison enacts upon us. He mentioned how it may not be as physically dangerous as it used to be, due to prisoners not harming each other as much as before, but it has become much more of a mind battle today.
He talked about the food and how the quality and quantity have gotten worse. He mentioned Aramark and how it has exploited the prison food service industry. Aramark gets the food service contract and reduces the meal portions. Then, it bids for the commissary contract. They feed us less and force us to buy commissary from them. Talk about creating a demand!
At this point, I saw a way to open a conversation about abolition. I told the guys about how last year I was contacted by a group of students at New York University who had taken over the main library and were protesting NYU’s dining services contract with Aramark. The students wanted NYU to cancel business with Aramark which profits off prisons. The students were able to connect what was happening to us, prisoners, to what was happening out there. I used this example to show how often the companies and interests groups that profit off the PIC and who exploit our schools and neighborhoods are one and the same. Only through joint efforts to confront these forces can we win.
I told the guys how the students were successful in their demands and how that win positively impacts us. They thought what the students did was great and were surprised that young college folk in New York even cared. I told them how there is a whole movement out there that is fighting against the PIC and that all of us need to be involved. This conversation became an opening to introduce abolition to people who had never heard of penal abolition. I look for times like this to introduce this work to people whom I feel should be not only concerned with it, but providing direction to it. Sometimes, all it takes is being aware of what is happening around us. These moments happen daily. We just have to be open to them.
from Twitter
Phone blitz for Hoagie! Call Lee Estock at 724.465.9630 Jerome Coffey (AS1558) was put in the hole at SCI Pine Grove on Tuesday 6/18. The demands are 1. his release and 2. the video footage be given to his lawyer #FreeHoagie#SCIPineGrove#FreeThemAll
Join us for our monthly letter-writing to political prisoners that we hold on the 4th Monday each month. To observe social distancing, we will hold this event online once again on the secure video platform, Jitsi. We will post the link on social media the day of, or message us beforehand for the link.
When: Monday, June 22nd, 6:30-8:30pm
Where: Online, join from anywhere!
In the midst of this uprising, we recognize our comrades behind bars who would be out here on the streets with us struggling for freedom and self-determination. As a soldier in the Black Liberation struggle, Joe-Joe Bowen is one of those people.
Hailing from Philadelphia, Joe-Joe was a young member of the “30th and Norris Street” gang, before his incarceration politicized him. Released in 1971, his outside activism was cut short a week following his release when Joe-Joe was confronted by an officer of the notoriously brutal Philadelphia police department. The police officer was killed in the confrontation, and Bowen fled. After his capture and incarceration, Bowen became a Black Liberation Army combatant. He is now serving two life sentences for the assassination of a prison warden and deputy warden, as well as an attempted prison break which resulted in a five-day standoff in response to racist and oppressive prison conditions. During his time in prison, he has raised the consciousness of thousands of Pennsylvania prisoners through his powerful history and political/military education classes.
If you are unable to join us online, drop Joe-Joe a line at:
Smart Communications/PADOC – Joseph Bowen #AM-4272
SCI Fayette
P.O. Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL 33733
FBI agents can lie to you, but it is illegal to lie to them. So it’s best to just DONT TALK. Ask for their business card, or name/phone number. Say nothing else. Do not consent to any searches. Then email up against the law for FREE legal support.
Speakers at Camp Maroon calling for more access to housing – authorities to permit the camp – disarming, disempowering, disbanding Philly PD. #Live now (alternate YouTube link) invidio.us/watch?v=EOjRonsv…
a closer look at the demands posted at the press conference for #CampMaroon in Philadelphia – our live feed is ongoing now
The camp is being renamed away from “Camp Maroon” and information will be released later about this
We are hearing a rundown on the Philadelphia camp demands now – live at press conference. Call to repeal ‘camping’ ordinances aimed at unhoused people, and must support tiny houses, without eating into existing public housing stock & resources pscp.tv/UR_Ninja/1BdGYnaoeeE…
pscp.tv/UR_Ninja/1BdGYnaoeeE… Hearing about how people without housing are pushed into a system that does not care about them – that homelessness could be ended tomorrow by institutions in Philadelphia
The Wooden Shoe is open again!!! Our doors are unlocked and open to customers, starting 12-10 today and tomorrow. We’ll just need you to wear a mask while you’re in the shop and also have to limit it to 5 customers at a time. There will be plenty of hand sanitizer on hand to make sure we all stay safe during this pandemic. And we are aiming to return to our regular hours, 7 days a week, but please call ahead if you are making a special trip just to make sure: 215-413-0999
