Wooden Shoe Events Update

from Facebook


Dear friends of the Wooden Shoe,In the past week, we have had a number of event cancellations due to coronavirus-related concerns. We will keep you posted when these are rescheduled. In the meantime, we do a have a few events coming up in the next week at the Shoe. See below for more info.

Also, please check out this local mutual aid resource: Neighbors Helping Neighbors: Philly Mutual Aid for folks Affected by COVID-19: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLScfKlHLhLMEyXyLFN…/viewform

Love and rage,
The Wooden Shoe collective

* * *
Sunday March 15th, 7 pm
Live show & reading with That Bastard, Lexi Spino, OK Mistakes, & Jane-Rebecca Cannarella

A gathering of emotional misfits and anarchists just wanting to have some fun while sharing some words and music

That Bastard aka Tony Strouse aka degenerate from York, Pa. Musician, punk, rambler, ready to scream and scrap. Don’t feed him after midnight

Lexi Spino is a poet from York, PA currently on tour for her newest book release The Electra Complex. She writes on mental illness and suicidal tendencies to bring awareness and help connect to others who may be struggling with the same.

OK Mistakes is an Acoustic folk pop duo originally from York PA and now one half lives in Philly. They sing about love, death, and not much else.

Jane-Rebecca Cannarella is a writer living in Philadelphia. She is the author of the flash fiction collection Better Bones and the poetry chapbook Marrow (both Thirty West Publishing House). She is also the editor for HOOT Review and Meow Meow Pow Pow Lit. She enjoys cats and playing the piano and cats who play the piano.

Thursday March 19th, 7 pm
The Story Hole: Planting Seeds

Take a break from all the hand-washing and get ‘em dirty with us at The Story Hole: Planting Seeds starring Vernon Payne and Katherine Williams! Join us to hear and share stories of new ideas, perspectives, journeys, and plans taking root…or rotting in the pot. Open mic spots will be available.

Vernon Payne is a comedian and storyteller from Brooklyn, NY. He got his start in Albany, NY in 2009 and has gone on to perform at the Emerging Artist Festival “Teenage Love” and “Hilariously Mediocre,” Union Hall, Under St Marks Theater, The Duplex, New York Comedy Club, The Duplex, and other Venues along the east coast. He has also written comic strips for “Spaz Comics.” Vernon’s brand of comedy is set to make you think about the word we live in while laughing at the same time. You can find him on social media as cool_ass_ vern.

Katherine Williams is a Philly-based storyteller, stand-up comic, and writer. She is a two-time winner of the Moth’s StorySlam. She has performed in festivals all over the country, including the Boston Comedy Festival, Bridgetown Comedy Festival, Laughing Skull Comedy Festival and Philly’s Phunniest. She was a finalist in the 2014 Ladies of Laughter competition and She-Devil Comedy Festival. Notable NYC productions include Williams’ full-length play My Dead Mother is Funnier Than You, which got a shout-out on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen and two solo shows: Call Me (selected for Midtown International Theatre Festival and Plus One Solo Show Festival) and sold-out hit of the New York International Fringe Festival, SHIKSAPPEAL: Getting the Chosen to Choose Me, which garnered a mention in the New York Times and New York Post. Her work has been reviewed by Show Business Weekly, The Jewish Daily Forward, and nytheatre.com. TV appearances include AXS TV’s Gotham Comedy Live and online credits include Morgan Spurlock’s series Failure Club and BADMomLife, in which Williams discusses life as a new mom.

The Story Hole is Philly’s shameless monthly storytelling event blending curated and open mic spots. It’s a free show: free to get in, free to say what you want (except bigotry). Come, dump your stuff, and let shit go.

Send questions and pitches to thestoryhole215@gmail.com. Now accepting pitches for April 22 “Oops” and May 21 TBD.

Hosted by Moth-champion and Risk! podcast alum, Vara Cooper. For more about Vara, visit varacooper.com

Friday March 20th, 7 pm
Reading w/ Kirwyn Sutherland & Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey

Kirwyn Sutherland is the author of Jump Ship, published by Thread Makes Blanket Press in 2019. He is a Clinical Research Professional and poet who makes poems centering the black experience in America. He is a Watering Hole fellow and has attended workshops/residencies at Cave Canem, Winter Tangerine, Poets House, Philadelphia Sculpture Gym, and Pearlstein Art Gallery at Drexel University. Kirwyn’s work has been published in American Poetry Review, Blueshift Journal, APIARY Magazine, The Wanderer and elsewhere. Kirwyn has served as Editor of Lists/Book Reviewer for WusGood magazine and poetry editor for APIARY Magazine. Kirwyn is currently teaching Spoken Word/Poetry Performance at the University of the Arts.

Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey is an Iowa based spoken word poet that has performed in multiple cities in over half a dozen states, including Chicago and New York City. He is a winner of the Des Moines Poetry Slam, the Iowa City Poetry Slam, and finalist for the UNESCO City of Literature Global Slam – Iowa City. Caleb is the author of two books, Look, Black Boy, and Heart Notes along with publications in Best Emerging Writers in Iowa 2019, the Little Village, and Black Art; Real Stories.

* * *
For updates and more info: http://woodenshoebooks.com/calendar.html

Neighbors Helping Neighbors: Philly Mutual Aid for folks Affected by COVID-19

from Google Docs

This for members of the Philly community to offer skills, resources,supplies, space and time to community members who are affected by COVID – 19 and those most vulnerable among us.

Though COVID-19 is only just beginning to impact our city many of our neighbors have already been affected. This means we need to show up for each other. Especially for those who are at great risk (the elderly, the immunocompromised, those with chronic illnesses, those with little to no access to health care)

How can you care for your neighbor?
Can you pick up groceries or medication for people who it’d be a great risk for them to do so themselves?
Can you help provide transportation for folks. Via your own care or maybe hooking someone up with septa passes (new or unused)?
Are you an herbalist who can make immune system boosting drinks? Can you share recipes?
Could you provide temporary housing to someone in need? (Many colleges are closing their campuses for the semesters and some students do not have homes to go to or meal plans to rely on)
Maybe you have board games or toys that can be loaned to families with children who are affected by COVID-19?
Could you connect with local food banks to provide meals for those in need?

To request aid please fill out the Neighbors helping Neighbors: Request For Aid – Philly Mutual Aid for Folks affected by COVID-19
http://bit.ly/phillymutualaidcovid19request

*This form is managed by Tamara Baldwin and was created on March 11th, 2020*

Any questions or concerns, email : tblj1234@gmail.com

[Fill out the mutual aid form by following this link]

COVID19 AND THE PA DOC

from Dreaming Freedom | Practicing Abolition

From: Wilson, Stephen

Date Received: 03/12/2020 06:22 PM

Subject: COVID19 AND THE PA DOC

For the past two days, the PA DOC has finally thinking about the coronavirus and how to protect prisoners from it. Only over the past two days! Announcements have been played over the prison television station reminding prisoners to wash our hands frequently and cover our coughs. The usual mandatory co-payment for medical services has been suspended for those with flu-like symptoms. A post up relating what COVID19 is and how it is contracted is circulating too. Lastly, the monthly van and bus visits have been cancelled. We are anticipating a possible lockdown too.

But here’s the thing. We, prisoners, are already quarantined. The only way we will contract the virus is if one of the employees of the PA DOC brings it inside. We have repeatedly stated this to staff. All these precautions they put in place are to keep prisoners from spreading the virus to one another. What are they doing about the only avenue for the virus to get inside? What are they doing to insure their staff don’t infect us? Because if the virus gets inside, we are done. When anyone on the block gets a cold, almost half the block ends up with it. We are crammed together in cells, on blocks and in rooms. Our ventilation system is the worst.

What is more ironic is how here, at SCI-Fayette, prisoners are not given adequate time to clean their living space. Once a week, 32 cells are given 15 minutes to clean their entire cell. The prisoners must share 1 mop, 2 brooms, 2 spray bottles and one toilet brush. 15 minutes! How are we expected to keep clean living spaces with with less that 30 seconds a piece to clean up? It makes me wonder how concerned is the DOC about our health. Moreover, we are prohibited from possessing any cleaning materials or supplies. And now there’s COVID19.

The PA DOC has to put on a show of concern for prisoners’ health. If there were truly concerned, they would allow us to clean ourselves and our living spaces thoroughly. If they were truly concern, they wouldn’t make prisoners choose between hygiene products and a co payment for medical services. A prisoner must work 40 hours to cover the cost of a sick call visit and a prescription for ibuprofen. If they were truly concerned about our health, we wouldn’t be housed next to over 400 acres of coal ash dust. But as usual, when disaster strikes, prisoners are an afterthought.

I hope that people understand how vulnerable prisoners are in situations like this one. We need people to advocate for responsible health services for all prisoners, even when there is no pandemic. .

In Struggle,

Stevie

A-Space Events Suspended

from Twitter

open hours and all other events at the A-space are suspended for the next 3 weeks (at least) #coronavirus

Twitter and Instagram Links Updated

From here on out we will be linking to Nitter and Bibliogram instead of Twitter and Instagram. Both Nitter and Bibliogram are privacy oriented websites that allow a user to see a Twitter or Instagram page without being tracked by those companies, seeing ads, or having scripts run. Nitter and Bibliogram will also make browsing easier for anyone using TOR Browser or trying to access Instagram without logging in. If you prefer to see a post on the original social media site it was posted to both services provide links to the original post or user.

If anyone knows of a similar service for Facebook let us know.

-Philly Anti-Cap

Rail Sabotage in Solidarity with Wet’suwet’en and Land Defenders

Submission

This week we used copper wire to disrupt rail traffic on two different tracks here in occupied Lenapehoking. Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en nation, and all those blockading and sabotaging the economy and the state.

They are trying to extinguish our spirits. Keep a strong heart. Keep your heart burning bright. Reconciliation is dead, insurgency is alive!

Reflections on Black Bloc, White Riot Today

from Facebook

Author AK Thompson in conversation with Kim Kelly

This year marks the tenth anniversary of AK Thompson’s classic book Black Bloc, White Riot. Join AK Thompson and Kim Kelly for a lively discussion to consider what has changed—and what hasn’t—since the book was first released. How have street-level political confrontations evolved in the Trump era, and what can we learn from our past? Come find out on March 1st!

AK Thompson got kicked out of high school for publishing an underground newspaper called The Agitator and has been an activist and social theorist ever since. Currently a Professor of Social Movements and Social Change at Ithaca College, his publications include Sociology for Changing the World: Social Movements/Social Research (2006),Black Bloc, White Riot: Anti-Globalization and the Genealogy of Dissent (2010), Keywords for Radicals: The Contested Vocabulary of Late-Capitalist Struggle (2016), Spontaneous Combustion: The Eros Effect and Global Revolution (2017), and, most recently, Premonitions: Selected Essays on the Culture of Revolt (2018). Between 2005 and 2012, he served on the Editorial Committee of Upping the Anti: A Journal of Theory and Action.

Kim Kelly is a freelance writer and organizer based in Philadelphia. She is currently the labor columnist for Teen Vogue, and her writings on labor, politics, and culture have appeared in the New Republic, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, Pacific Standard, and many others. She is a proud member of and councilperson for the Writers Guild of America, East, and has been active in multiple organizing and contract campaigns (including serving as a worker-organizer for the VICE Union) since 2015.

[March 1 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM at Wooden Shoe Books and Records 704 South St]

LAVA SPACE Benefit: Moor Mother, Pinkwash, Soul Glo, FOD !

from Facebook

They’re back! More details soon! But here are the lineups:

FEB. 29/6pm
*****************
F.O.D.
Soul Glo
Manikineter
OOLOI
Disappearances

MARCH 1/6pm
*******************
Moor Mother
Pinkwash
Camp Candle
Rainbow Crimes
Kahlil Ali

We ask for $10 each day. If you have to give less, or what to give more, we feel ya! All proceeds go to LAVA Space so they can pay fees and taxes after battling to get the space back.

No homophobes, transphobes, racists, misogynists. Seriously, not just “no jerks”; we are tired of your abuse, so stay away because it won’t be cute for ya.

[LAVA Space 4134 Lancaster Ave]

Anarchy Afternoons: Unistʼotʼen Camp

from Facebook

During this week’s open hours, we are going to be watching short films about the Unistʼotʼen Camp.

To our north, this month has witnessed an explosion of actions intended to “shut down Canada” with blockades of rail lines cancelling passenger service trains across the country and paralyzing freight shipment. In the cities, protests have blocked streets, highways, and bridges. The present wave of resistance can be traced to the Unistʼotʼen camp’s decade-long battle against proposed pipelines in unceded Wetʼsuwetʼen territory. We will watch films and discuss this history to get a clearer picture of what has been happening.

For more information on recent events: https://itsgoingdown.org/from-sea-to-sea-train-blockades-colonialism-and-canadian-rail-history/

3:00 open hours
4:00 films

[February 21 3-6pm at A-Space 4722 Baltimore Ave]

Fred Arena, Vanguard American Member and Unite the Right 2 Planner, Sentenced to Six Months

from It’s Going Down

[This post only contains information relevant to Philadelphia and the surrounding area, to read the entire articles follow the above links.]

Fred Arena, a member of Vanguard America and a co-planner of Unite the Right 2, was sentenced to six months for lying to the FBI about his membership in the group in order to obtain a security clearance.

In January 2019, Arena applied for a security clearance as part of his job as a security contractor at the Philadelphia Naval Yard. According to a Department of Justice press release, Arena was “required to disclose whether he had ever been a member of an organization that used (or advocated the use of) force or violence to prevent others from exercising their constitutional rights. He falsely answered that he had not.”

In June 2018, Arena was doxxed as a member of the neo-Nazi organization when antifascist infiltrators leaked the event’s planning chats to Unicorn Riot. In the chats, Arena repeatedly discussed his capacity for violence, his links to and in a public Facebook post, endorsed a statement from Andrew Anglin associate “Ludovici Alibi,” saying that “The only answer to Antifa is Atomwaffen,” (a neo-Nazi group linked to five murders in the US) adding “Absolutely agreed! And a few other crazy fucks like myself!! HAIL VICTORY!”

In private chats with an antifascist infiltrator posing as a neo-Nazi, Arena claimed that he and other Vanguard America members were planning on hiding weapons in the Charlottesville park, should the permits be granted, and said he was organizing a group of Vanguard American, Hammerskins, and Atomwaffen members to attend.

“At a minimum I would have a shield, a really good stun gun. A medium-sized padlock tight on the end of a handkerchief makes it a very good weapon,” Arena told an antifascist infiltrator whom he believed to be a fellow member of the Unite the Right 2 security team via Facebook, where he used the pseudonym “McCormick Foley.” After Arena’s bail hearing in October 2019, journalist Nick Martin posted prosecution exhibits to Twitter.

A motion for pretrial detention notes that Arena had a history of threatening witnesses, including one Charlottesville resident whom he believed to be a federal informant. “During their investigation, agents also learned that Arena made online and verbal threats against two women with whom he had failed relationships…. In both cases he threatened to sever intimate parts of the women’s bodies and store the parts in a jar,” prosecutors argued in a motion for pretrial detention.

Though Arena faced up to 20 years in prison, he was sentenced to only six months, with two years supervised release.

Though This Week in Fascism does not endorse imprisonment (or the criminal justice system as a whole), as a collaborator of this author noted, this is disappointing because the length of prison sentences is often a shorthand for the importance with which society views a given issue.

Though some will celebrate Arena’s sentence as a victory of the state, it is anything but. It was antifascists, not federal investigators, who exposed Arena’s affiliations.

Even though Arena was interviewed by the FBI in August 2018 after he was doxxed by antifascist activists as a member of Vanguard America, he was allowed to keep his job at the Philadelphia Naval Yard for fourteen more months, and for 10 months after applying for a security clearance.

This is the failure of the State, and the degree to which it does not treat seriously the threat of fascism and white nationalism. The need for antifascists is greater than ever. We keep us safe!

Anti gentrification

Submission

When I couldn’t find my intended target late one evening, I found a new one (and many more all around). I splattered red paint across 4 new (inhabited) condos in south philly. The owners will have cleaned it away in no time, but I hope they felt a least 1/10th of the rage I feel encountering such ‘progress’ all around. I used a squirt bottle to keep things quiet, and a little extra time to scan the area, as I was on my own. Happy february! Live it up!!

Anathema Volume 5 Issue 2

from Anathema

Volume 6 Issue 2 (PDF for reading 8.5 x 11)

Volume 6 Issue 2 (PDF for printing 11 x 17)

In this issue:

  • Military And Industry
  • What Went Down
  • End Of Economic Growth
  • Interview With Gay Chaos
  • Civilization and Its Epidemics
  • Solidarity With The Wet’suwet’en
  • Anarchism Means Flying Forever
  • Greek Anarchists Arrested
  • Turkeys Against Cops
  • Limits Of Resistance Promise Of Revolt
  • Classifieds
  • Song Of The Worms

Second RAM-Philly Reading Group

from Twitter

RAM-Philly will be hosting our second reading group on Sday, March 1st at 6pm! We will be reading chapter 7 “Liberation” of “Our History is Our Future” by Nick Estes. Please email us for information!
[email: ramphilly@protonmail.com]un

Friendly Fire Collective’s Dissolution Reflections

from Friendly Fire

Screen Shot 2018-07-21 at 9.35.12 AM

Collective Statement

Friendly Fire Collective was always an experiment – always changing, re-forming. As a national collective, we formed around a potential zine for anarchist Quakers, and after that fell through, a potential retreat for Quaker anarchists. Over time, that retreat vision changed, hoping to connect revolutionary leftist Christians or, more generally, “mystics”. 30 or so of us gathered in May 2018 in Philadelphia. As a local group in Philadelphia, we formed after the Friendly Fire retreat among friends and comrades as a prayer group. We met weekly to eat, pray, and sing. It was a way to support and encourage one another. We endeavored to be in solidarity (both materially and spiritually) with the revolutionary left, leading us to participate in and support Occupy ICE and the National Prison Strike, as well as create propaganda to push people of faith to realize the need for revolution.

Over time, though, our expectations and visions came into conflict, as we continually failed to have a clear understanding of our mission, or a sense of our structure. In the space of indecision, unspoken disagreements and interpersonal conflict led to the end of our affinity group. A way forward together as a community feels not only impossible, but unnecessary. Instead of spiritual community, it is more important in these times to orient our lives around the work of liberation. For some of us, what we sought in Friendly Fire was what we wanted in a political formation, or a party. But that was not what we were, or were intended to be.

There are several things to be owned and learned. The church abolitionist rhetoric, grounded in “Quaker” apocalyptic idealism, was ultimately ultra-leftist. Though we did not officially take this stance, the majority of us supported it to some degree, despite knowing that this was a stance that the masses would not be able to adopt any time soon. Church abolitionism combats an institution that can often play an antagonistic role on these stolen lands, but also plays a vital, unharmful role, especially in the lives of many colonized people, even at times serving the people and inspiring class consciousness. Christians have played roles in revolutions throughout the world, even communities of Christians, such as with the community of peasants in Solentiname led by Father Ernesto Cardenal in revolutionary Nicaragua. There is value to finding the revolutionary potentiality in the Christian narrative, as it is a fair analysis that Jesus was a revolutionary leader.

We also found our orientation becoming church-like, despite our church abolitionism. Our stressing of discipleship and fellowship led us away from the work of building revolution. Within a few months of forming, we fell out of coalition work around Abolish ICE and ceased to plan and collaborate with other orgs on actions. At our best, as an affinity group, we were a presence of care and faith in the revolutionary left. At our worst, we were an insular intentional community.

We must own the role whiteness played in our collective. As we had articulated a number of times in our analysis of liberal unprogrammed Quakerism – whiteness has a tendency of becoming the authority in horizontal, white-majority organizations – the same could be said about our organization, even as we sought to be accomplices and race traitors. What started out as a POC-majority organization became a majority white within months, and the difference was felt. Several attendees noted that our meetings began to feel uncomfortable for a number of reasons, including our conversations becoming inaccessible and our members unfriendly. These issues were discussed between members, but never addressed or properly dealt with. We consistently catered and accommodated to the needs and comfort of our petit-bourgeois white members over the needs of colonized and working class people attending, making our space uninhabitable to many and our vision incoherent. We heed to the wisdom of Loreno Kom’boa Ervin:

“Even so, it is important for anti-racist/anti-colonial activists to continue trying to dismantle racism inside these movements or organizations, and failing that, to dismantle the groups themselves entirely. If allowed to continue, they do more harm than good. Activists must recognize the damage of internal racism, the politics which support it, and how to deal with it, and then act swiftly and forcefully, sometimes even ruthlessly.”

As we formally dissolve our collective, we all encourage those seeking to be faithful to God’s liberatory Spirit to join a revolutionary organization. The u.$.a. cannot be reformed into justice, but rather must be abolished. We will not wage revolution through Marxist happy hours or electing a “socialist” war criminal. Do not give into electoralism and reformism. Revolution is the only solution!

Guard yourselves against liberalism, which Comrade Mao defines as stemming from petty-bourgeois selfishness, placing “personal interests first and the interests of the revolution second, [giving rise to] ideological, political and organizational liberalism.” Orient your life around the work of liberation.

Guard yourselves against white chauvinism. Make your organization accountable to colonized communities. If your organization refuses, seek its destruction. Support colonized revolutionaries and their organizations. There are many good reasons why there are formations of colonized people that refuse to work with white communists. Humbly reflect on that, continually. Read Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin’s The Progressive Plantation and J. Sakai’s Settlers.

Be disciplined. Read and discuss revolutionary texts with comrades. Study revolution to build revolution. Learn to self-crit. Exercise. Get comfortable with a gun. We only have each other, so we must be prepared to care for and defend our communities.

Serve the people. Live with the people. Learn from the people. Remember Comrade Mao’s words: “The masses are the real heroes, while we ourselves are often childish and ignorant, and without this understanding, it is impossible to acquire even the most rudimentary knowledge.”

Listen to the people’s concerns and needs. Organize around them. See what works. Own your mistakes, and do better. Love the people, and care for their well being. Be humble and kind. With the people, communists seek to build new power, and build towards completely overthrowing imperial power. This is an overwhelming but necessary task – and we must love and support one another to do it. Take care of your comrades.

As we look back on the last couple years we feel a mix of deep sadness, but at the same time we feel an excitement and creative energy burning within us. This spirit, we know, is the spirit of Liberation which burns down in order to build up and breaks in order to bind. Friendly Fire may be coming to its end, but we know that this same Holy Spirit is working within the masses to make a way in the desert for the true kindom of G-d which will tear down every wall, burn down every prison, and break every chain. The work of revolution is only beginning. Amen.

Prison Rebel Birthdays for February, 2020

from It’s Going Down

[This post only contains information relevant to Philadelphia and the surrounding area, to read the entire articles follow the above links.]

Inspired by the spirit of the Political Prisoners Birthday crew, (and recycling some of their artwork because why not) here’s a short listing of some rebel prisoners who have upcoming birthdays in February. For an an introduction on how to write to prisoners and some things to do and not to do, go here. If you have the time, please also check IWOC’s listing of prisoners facing retaliation for prison strike-related organizing.

February also sees the International Day of Solidarity with Leonard Peltier on the 6th. And sending big congratulations to Delbert Africa, the last-but-one MOVE 9 prisoner, who was released in January after serving over 40 years inside! You can donate to his release fund here.

Deric Forney

A former Vaughn 17 defendant. While Deric was acquitted in court of all charges in relation to the uprising, he is facing continued retaliation, as he has been moved out of state to Pennsylvania, where many Vaughn defendants are being held on lockdown indefinitely (via placement on PA’s Restricted Release List) on vague and questionable grounds. More than two years later, these prisoners are still being abused for staying in solidarity with one another against the state.

Birthday: February 6

Address:

Smart Communications / PA DOC
Deric Forney – NS2698
SCI Coal Township
PO Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL, 33733

Luis Sierra (Abdul-Haqq El-Qadeer)

A former Vaughn 17 defendant. While the state has now dropped its attempts to criminalize Luis in relation to the uprising, Vaughn defendants continue to face retaliation. Luis is also a contributor to “Live from the Trenches,” the Vaughn 17 zine.

Birthday: February 19

Address:

Luis Sierra
James T. Vaughn Correctional Center
1181 Paddock Rd
Smyrna, DE 19977