D1. Anarchism

Anger is boiling over in the streets, as demonstrations, protests, and school walkouts are spreading against ICE raids and attacks on undocumented workers, schools and communities. While the Trump administration has attempted to paint the raids as a way to target violent criminals, according to NBC, of the recent arrests in Chicago, “nearly half of those detained don’t have criminal records, according to a senior Trump administration official…[They] appear to be nonviolent offenders or people who have not committed any criminal offense other than crossing the border illegally.” Tom Homan has also doubled-down on calls for ICE to raid schools, claiming that “many MS-13 members” are currently enrolled. These sweeping attacks on working-class communities are designed to instill fear, make people afraid of organizing for better conditions, and increase the repressive power of the State.

Since entering office, Trump has sent more than 1,500 troops to the US/Mexico border, closed already limited pathways to asylum and citizenship, and blocked refugees from entering the country. The day after taking office, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “issued a statement announcing that the administration has rescinded guidelines that previously deterred immigration police from conducting raids in locations considered “sensitive” or “protected.” Trump has also invoked the Alien Enemies Act and attempted (and so far failed) to end birthright citizenship, a blatant violation of the 14th amendment. Both Democrats and Republicans have also recently worked to pass the Laken Riley Act, which allows the state to potentially deport, regardless of conviction, undocumented people “accused of crimes, including several misdemeanor offenses.” The Trump administration has also pushed for the construction of a 30,000 person migrant prison at Guantánamo Bay.

In response, people across the country have been organizing, forming rapid response networks, holding demonstrations and school walkouts, and conducting Know Your Rights trainings. A recent article from The Guardian reported on the situation in Chicago:

[T]he city has been buzzing with action. Know Your Rights workshops taking place at community centers, local parks and union meetings across the city have been packed with participants. A network of local advocates has been coordinating to track operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents, and connect the families of those detained with legal aid.

Tom Homan, Trump so-called ‘Border Czar’ recently decried such organizing on CNN, claiming that people in Chicago were too educated on their rights, making ICE operations difficult.

What follows is a roundup of anti-ICE actions and protests from across the US. For more updates, follow us on BlueSky and Mastodon.

Anti-ICE Actions Across the Country

Noise demonstration at the ICE building in Portland last night. Smaller group of people showed up and judging by the response and fear the feds were pretty caught off guard. The entire night there was about 4 of them actively responding while a few of their buddies kept watch inside.

— Alissa Azar (@alissaazar.bsky.social) 2025-01-21T21:26:56.457Z

Portland, OR: Anti-ICE protest and noise demonstration outside of ICE building. Riot police shoot projectile weapons at crowd; anti-ICE slogans written in graffiti.

Berkeley, CA: Rally and protest at UC Berkeley.

In 2006 – wildcat strikes + enormous protests flooded major cities with millions across the US against legislation that criminalized solidarity with migrant workers.These mass protests started with student led walkouts. These walkouts are starting again. sanjosespotlight.com/east-san-jos…

— It's Going Down (@igd.bsky.social) 2025-01-29T21:26:24.091Z

San Jose, CA: Hundreds of high school students organized a walkout, joining other anti-ICE protesters in the streets:

Hundreds of community members stopped traffic in East San Jose Tuesday afternoon while protesting against President Donald Trump’s threats of mass deportations.

With lowrider trucks parked along the intersection of Story and King roads playing music, protestors marched through traffic and brought the intersection to a standstill, waving flags and with posters reading “No human is illegal on stolen land” and “Stop deportation.”

At the rally’s peak, protestors young and old stood on the intersection corners while others marched up and down the surrounding streets. While cars could still pass, drivers honked in support. People chanted, “Si se puede,” which translates to “yes you can,” and “ICE out of San Jose” as they stood on the street corners and walked up and down the roads.

“We just need to let [Trump] know he’s wrong,” said Teresa Alcaraz, a resident of San Jose. “We’re getting our voices across because that’s what we do.”

The protest came two days after the first reported activity of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Jose since the inauguration of Trump, who came into office threatening mass deportations across the country.

A student walkout that began Tuesday afternoon at William C. Overfelt High School walked about a mile to join the protest, with students starting by sharing speeches at the school before being escorted by the lowriders on the walk. Shortly after 2:30 p.m., the two protests combined.

Riverside, CA: Protest and march against ICE.

Los Angeles, CA: Rally and Know Your Rights training.

Escondido, CA: Rally and protest against ICE.

San Diego, CA: Rally against attempt by police to work with ICE:

At times chanting “MAGA politics out of El Cajon” and holding signs that read “No police in our schools,” “A nation built by immigrants” and other slogans, several people spoke outside City Council chambers and vowed to return the next day when the council takes up the resolution for a second time.

Las Vegas, NV: Rally and protest against ICE outside of Trump hotel.

Phoenix, AZ: Protest and rally against ICE.

Denver, CO: Rally and march against ICE.

A video from today’s protest in Dallas. I got choked up watching it. 🤷🏼‍♀️

— Hey Jo 🤍 (@jos-blue.bsky.social) 2025-01-27T06:13:10.684Z

DFW, TX: Massive protest against mass deportations:

More than 1,000 people came out to the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in a show of solidarity among immigrants and advocates opposed to the president’s mass deportations. Chants of “Sí se puede” or “Yes we can,” the battle cry for immigrants fighting for rights in the U.S., were heard widely and loudly.

Austin, TX: Rally and protest against ICE.

Temple, TX: Rally and protest against ICE.

San Antonio, TX: Rally and protest against ICE.

Waco, TX: Rally and protest of ICE.

Harlingen, TX: Rally and protest against ICE.

Lubbock, TX: Rally and protest against ICE.

Laredo, TX: Rally and protest against ICE.

San Marcos, TX: Rally and protest on the Texas State campus.

Lincoln, NB: Rally and march against ICE.

Omaha, NB: “Hundreds of people were seen at the protest that lasted for more than five hours.”

Community members + students are rallying in #OklahomaCity against far-Right Trump loyalist Ryan Walters plans to deport students. Walters said he would work with Trump to target "schools + even children" + start by "collect[ing] the citizenship status of students." #ICE www.koco.com/article/ryan…

— It's Going Down (@igd.bsky.social) 2025-01-29T21:40:04.601Z

Oklahoma City, OK: Community members and students held a rally outside of a recent Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting, to protest plans by far-Right Trump loyalist Ryan Walters to deport students. Students also organized a walkout on January 17th. Walters said he would work with Trump to target “schools and even children” and would start by “collect[ing] the citizenship status of students.” From a local report:

The Oklahoma State Board of Education approved proposed rule changes, including one on gathering data about student’s immigration status, at a regular meeting on Jan. 28.

This came after around 100 Oklahomans gathered at the OSDE building before the meeting to protest the rule change and Walters’ statement on letting immigration officers into schools.

The new rules would require legal guardians to provide proof of their citizenship, as well as their child’s, when enrolling their students. They would also require schools to document how many students could not provide proof of citizenship.

Walters said that the OSDE would keep that information private, but they would cooperate with law enforcement in the event of an investigation.

Lexington, KY: Protest and march against ICE.

Rogers, AK: Rally and protest against ICE.

St. Louis, MO: Rally and march against ICE.

Springfield, MO: Rally and protest against ICE.

Overland, MO: Rally and march against ICE.

NOW: Hundreds of people in the park across from Water Tower Place in Chicago to rally and march against the Trump agenda.

— Aaron Cynic (@aaroncynic.bsky.social) 2025-01-25T18:37:09.600Z

Chicago, IL: Mass protests and marches hit the streets against a backdrop of repression and ongoing ICE raids. As one report wrote:

A coalition of immigration activist, pro-Palestinian and other groups gathered Saturday afternoon downtown Chicago to push back against President Donald Trump’s administration.

Outrage turned to action as a coalition of communities took to the streets to express their anger over the policies of the second Trump administration.

“I just think its really important to have solidarity, especially at times like these, regardless of what’s happened,” one demonstrator said. “What’s done is done.”

Hundreds gathered Saturday afternoon at Chicago’s Water Tower Park. The march trekked down Michigan Avenue and swelled to about a thousand people before another rally was staged across the river from Trump Tower.

“We are really showing that working people are united to oppose fascism, to oppose racism, to oppose his co-president Elon Musk making Nazi salutes at the inauguration,” demonstrator Elena Gormley said.

Columbus, OH: Rally and protest against ICE.

Indianapolis, IN: Rally and protest against ICE.

Des Moines, IA: March and rally against ICE.

Grand Rapids, MI: Rally and march against ICE.

Albertville, AL: Rally and protest against ICE.

Gainesville, FL: Rally and protest against ICE.

Tallahassee, FL: Rally and protest against ICE.

Gainesville, GA: Rally and protest against ICE.

Charleston, SC: Rally and protest against ICE. Police make several arrests as the large demonstration did not have a “permit.”

North Philadelphia, PA: People rallied against ICE following people being targeted in a recent raid.

Hackensack, NJ: Rally and protest against ICE.

Invitation to international anti-prison gathering in Argentina July 18-20, 2025.

The importance of these types of gatherings, which lead to international and reproducible agitation, are essential for sharing experiences in the war against domination. To continue the initiative of the International Gathering of Anarchist and Antiauthoritarian Practices against Borders which was organized by compañerxs in Tijuana, Mexico, on this occasion the invitation is to reflect on our practices around the subject of prisons, taking into account the intensity and varied forms in which prisons inhabit us. Necessary to the antiauthoritarian struggle, it is essential to amplify our reflection on prisons and how they not only manifest in a determined time and space, but also how they are embodied in our everyday lives, even in nature and non-human animals.

Extractivism, speciesism, patriarchy, urbanization, punished bodies, coercion, technology, militarism, colonialism, authoritarianism, etc. are just some of the practices that are reproduced inside prisons. We invite individuals, collectives, and other initiatives to share their continued antagonistic reflection and practice against prisons with conversations, contracultural projects, or audio-visual materials, graphics, or performances that relate to a thinking/acting against prisons. The intention is to map the role that prisons currently play in our imaginations, from the collective to the individual. We believe in the necessity to sharpen our ideas and practices, from an ethics of horizontalism, mutual care, self-organization, and autonomy, to confront the hegemony of power, from anarchist anti-authoritarian multiformity and anti-prison internationalism.

Information and a closing date for proposals will be updated as things develop.

Link to register for the event: http://bit.ly/encuentroar

Contact: encuentroanarquico@riseup.net

Encuentro Internacional de Prácticas Anárquicas y Antiautoritarias Contra las Prisiones

18-20 de julio de 2025 en Argentina.

Convocatoria

La importancia de este tipo de encuentros que lleven a la agitación internacional y reproducible son esenciales para compartir nuestras experiencias en la guerra contra el dominio. Es por eso que como continuación a la iniciativa del Encuentro Internacional de Prácticas Anárquicas y Antiautoritarias Contra las Fronteras realizada por compañerxs en Tijuana, México. Se retoma dicha iniciativa en esta ocasión invitando a reflexionar nuestras prácticas en torno a las Prisiones, tomando en cuenta la intensidad y las variadas formas en que las prisiones nos habitan. Pues como necesidad antiautoritaria es esencial ampliar la reflexión en cuanto las prisiones y como estas no sólo se concentran en un espacio o tiempo determinado, sino también estas como encarnan en nuestra cotidianidad hasta en la naturaleza y animales no humanos.

Extractivismo, especismo, patriarcado, urbanismo, cuerpos en castigo, coacción, cárceles, tecnología, militarismo, colonialismo, autoritarismo, etc. Son algunas de las practicas que se originan dentro de las prisiones. Por ello, convocamos a toda individualidad, colectivx o iniciativa a compartir el continuo reflexionar/prácticas antagónicas contra las prisiones, conversatorios, proyectos kontrakulturales, presentaciones de material audiovisual-gráfico-escénico que gire en torno a un pensar/que hacer contra las prisiones. Con el propósito de mapear el papel en que actualmente se encuentran las prisiones en nuestro imaginario, desde lo colectivo a individual. Creemos en la necesidad de afilar nuestras ideas/prácticas, a partir de la horizontalidad, cuidado mutuo, autogestión y autonomía, para enfrentar la hegemonía del poder, desde la multiformidad anárquica antiautoritaria y el internacionalismo anti-carcelario.

Información y cierre de convocatoria se irá actualizando

Enlace de inscripción: http://bit.ly/encuentroar

Contacto: encuentroanarquico@riseup.net

Call for Global Days of Action and Solidarity: Justice for Samir Flores! Six years of Impunity!

To the Adherents of the Declaration for Life,

Brothers and Sisters,

Six years have passed since the life of our brother Samir Flores Soberanes was taken from him. Six years that the government who had Samir killed has governed. Six years of continued deceit, imposition, and contempt for our people. Six years of resistance, rebellion, and struggle for life. Six years of Samir being an inspiration and seed in the construction of autonomy, of another possible world.

“Justice for Samir” shouts every single community, place, and heart of those who knew Samir before and after his death. “Justice” we shout from the struggle for life in Gaza, in Chiapas, in Ostula, in the struggle against the trash dump in Cholula, in the shout of the families of our disappeared brothers and sisters, in the struggle against the Military Maya Train, against the Interoceanic Corridor, against xenophobia, forced displacement, mining, dams, trains, industrial corridors, gas pipelines, thermoelectric plants, fracking, real estate cartels, the trash business. “Justice” shouts the resistance in defense of rivers, oceans, and bodies of water, of the forests and autonomous spaces on the earth and in the air. Samir constructed justice during his life.

Six years since the cruel assassination on February 20, 2019 in Amilcingo, Morelos, three days before the consultation imposed by Andrés Manuel López Obrador to legitimize his change of mind and to impose the Morelos Integral Project, the killers of Samir Flores continue free and governing. Six years of impunity, six years of the impossibility of those responsible being punished because those responsible are the government and they can easily escape the justice of the state, because they are the state…

But justice can be found in the struggle for life, and yes, in our demand, perhaps absurd, of the killers being punished, of undressing the capitalist king and the Mexican narco-government who ordered the killing of Samir.

Six years since the assassination of Samir, we invite the adherents of the Declaration for Life to dedicate a moment, an instant, a sowing of memory, life, and rebellion of our compañero Samir Flores Soberanes on February 20, 21, 22, or 23, constructing in a decentralized manner the “Global Days of Action and Solidarity: Justice for Samir Flores Soberanes! Six years of impunity!”

During these days in Mexico, United States, Euskal Herria, France, and Italy, folks will install six statues of Samir, sowing his memory in the dignified territories of our brothers and sisters in countries whose companies are or were involved in the Morelos Integral Project: Elecnor (Euskal Herria), Saint Gobain (France), Bonatti (Italy), Macquaire (United States), Narco-government (Mexico), so that the responsibility of the global capitalist government for the death of Samir and the struggle for life isn’t forgotten.

But not only with statues is the memory of our compañero being sown, but also with the struggle for dignified housing of the Otomi community in Mexico City who have founded the House of the Peoples “Samir Flores Soberanes,” which was before the offices of the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples. In a tree in the resistance camp in Lutzerath, Germany, in a song, poem, drawing, discussion, video, photo, painting, recording, flower or fruit. In all of those our brother Samir Flores Soberanes is present.

We call on the adherents of the Declaration for Life to heed the call with an action or a discussion for the “Global Days of Solidarity and Action: Justice for Samir Flores Soberanes! Six years of impunity!” on February 20, 21, 22, or 23 or when your realities allow it.

Justice will come from below and to the left, in common.

For the integral reconstruction of our communities.

Peoples Front in Defense of Land and Water Morelos, Puebla, Tlaxcala

National Indigenous Congress

Zapatista Army of National Liberation

For information or to register your activity: cnicomunicacion@gmail.com

Report on end of trials of protesters in Eugene, WA arrested for protesting against the ongoing genocide in Palestine.

On April 15th, 2024 thousands of people around the world participated in an autonomously organized and coordinated economic blockade to free Palestine. “There is a sense in the streets,” the proposal for the action stated, “in this recent and unprecedented movement for Palestine that escalation has become necessary: there is a need to shift from symbolic actions to those that cause pain to the economy.” In 82 cities, 19 countries, actions blockaded ports, airports, highways, city squares, and weapons manufacturers, seeing potentially millions of dollars in unrealized profits and over 400 arrests.

62 of those arrests were in Eugene, Oregon, where Interstate 5 was blockaded by cars and protestors for about an hour before over 100 police from state, county, and city departments cleared the highway. Those arrested were charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct in the second degree. The majority of the defendants were offered diversion “plea deals,” while the state singled out three protestors to whom they refused to offer deals, including a Palestinian student organizer. The defendants organized over the following months intentionally to engage in collective defense, hoping that threatening to take 62 cases to trial would be leverage enough to force the state to offer everyone equal treatment or even to drop the charges.

The state refused every attempt at negotiation after rallies, letters, phone zaps, and meetings between the DA and public defenders and movement lawyers. As time went on, and defendants felt the mounting impact of the arrests and pending charges on their housing, jobs, health, and broader lives, more and more defendants accepted the plea deals. Many still intended to take their cases to trial in solidarity with their comrades facing more serious repression. 11 trials occurred between October 2024 and January 2025, with 11 guilty verdicts returned. Defendants attempted to put the US government’s unwavering support of genocide on trial, using pre-trial ‘choice of evils’ hearings to bring in experts to testify about Palestine and direct action, such as a UN special rapporteur, and taking the stand themselves to explain their actions.

The state attempted at every avenue to de-politicize the action, framing it as a case about “selfishness,” and judges frequently denied defendants’ ability to even talk about Palestine on the stand, while also rejecting expert testimony or defense strategies that could bring the US funding of genocide into view. When it came time for the Palestinian student activist to go to trial along with their Lebanese co-defendant, it seemed like all strategies of collective defense had failed. The “choice of evils” pre-trial hearing ended with the judge refusing multiple expert witnesses the ability to testify in front of the jury about US complicity in the genocide in Palestine.

Yet, at the end of the trial, the jury returned a “not guilty” verdict, acquitting both defendants. Was it jury nullification? Was it simply that the state’s clear political repression of Palestine solidarity was more evident than “evidence” of crime? Was it the defendant’s powerful testimony on their personal relationship to the land, people, and resistance in Palestine and Lebanon? All we know is that the state failed in all regards –especially in its attempt to repress Palestine solidarity actions, collective solidarity, and the individual Palestinian activist they singled out, and we know that together we are stronger than the state’s best efforts to repress us.

Our hearts are bursting with love and rage for those behind the closed doors of the jury deliberation room who remained steadfast in their determination not to participate in the state’s repression of Palestine solidarity!

The following is a statement from the A15 Eugene for a Free Palestine Instagram:

Our two dear Palestinian & Lebanese A15 co-defendants were unanimously acquitted today! Despite state repression that sought to divide us in its attempt to criminalize Palestinian solidarity, we stood strong in collective defense, demanding the state to treat us all equally & to drop the charges against our Palestinian comrade. Of course the state refused to negotiate and 12 of our courageous comrades went to trial in solidarity with those not offered plea deals, all so far receiving guilty verdicts. Today, however, we demonstrated the power of collective solidarity. We did not back down despite the threats of jail time, punitive fines, & probation.

We stood strong for our comrades who told the jury exactly why direct action against the US facilitation of genocide is not only necessary but right—& the jury did the right thing. They found our comrades not guilty. We fight for the liberation of Palestine, we fight against american imperialism, & we fight the arbitrary & punitive power of state repression!

Solidarity is the only fucking thing we have.

From the defendants:

Today, we witnessed something none of us thought could happen. In a place where justice and humanity is actively repressed and punished, we collectively triumphed over it. We showed the state and the imperial core that we are stronger than their attempts to repress us. Solidarity and truth won in a place, and against a system, that actively preys on it. With love and rage. Free Palestine.

– Our Palestinian comrade, Salem

This victory wasn’t won through the court system, it was won through uncompromising solidarity and love. I don’t believe this would have happened if it weren’t for the support of our co-defendants and comrades.

Throughout my whole life, I have struggled to find a place in this world that seems so hell bent on destruction—but I have found community in others who realize that if there is no place for us in this world, we’ll have to build a new one, a world that recognises that to be alive on this earth is a sacred and beautiful thing. This new world lives in the action in solidarity with Gaza on April 15, in the solidarity we’ve shown each other throughout the legal process, in the streets, in resistance everywhere.

My co-defendants who were convicted for their actions on April 15th were found guilty of ‘inconvenience.’ Tens of thousands of lives have been cut short in Gaza in the last year alone. Resistance against genocide is a matter of life and death, not convenience. We owe it to the people of Gaza to stop this genocide—we also owe it to ourselves. The land we stand on today is shaped by ongoing colonial violence. We are tasked with remaking the world, and this will not be convenient.

Thank you to all my co-defendants and co-conspirators. FREE PALESTINE.

– Our Lebanese comrade, K

Thank you to the CLDC and public defenders for having our backs—& for refusing to leave Palestine out of the courtroom.

Thank you to the jury who didn’t waver.

Thank you to all the comrades in Eugene for showing us what solidarity looks like.

Free Palestine! From the River to the Sea!

On January 20th, at a ceremony attended by both far-Right and neo-fascist leaders from around the globe and some of the richest tech billionaires in the world, including the heads of Apple, Google, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, and Amazon, Donald Trump took power for the second time. In exchange for tech elites financially backing his campaign and inauguration, Trump has already announced massive new investments in tech infrastructure, focused primarily around Artificial Intelligence (AI) and has pushed to expand into cryptocurrenies.

The start of Trump’s second term has been marked by a flurry of executive orders, designed to test the existing legal institutions and the loyalty of the Republican party, as he sends active-duty troops to the southern border, calls to end birthright citizenship which is enshrined in the 14th amendment, and demands that his far-Right loyalists be approved by the Senate.

Trump wants extreme executive power, but more broadly, his larger agenda is directly tied to the interests of the tech billionaires who forked out millions to put him in the White House. Since riding down his golden escalator, Trump has built a political machine off of weaponizing anger by those de-classed and immiserated by neoliberal policies, painting the Democrats as both radical leftists and corporate elites. Yet it is these billionaires, who became rich through these very policies, who Trump now works to carry out an agenda for.

Rise of the Tech-Right

This emerging “broligarchy” has been marked by a continuing shift by many tech elites towards authoritarian and neo-reactionary ideas, represented most strongly by people like Peter Thiel and Curtis Yarvin, who reject “democracy in all its forms” and call “some form of state-as-corporation.” Yarvin, also known by the pen-name Mencius Moldbug, is a software engineer who called for turning houseless people into “biodiesel,” pushes racist pseudo-science, and advocates for transforming the US into a monarchy, run of course, by a CEO. Yarvin has been cited as an influence by JD Vance, himself a protege of Thiel. Elon Musk, who worked with Thiel at PayPal, and who during a celebration following Trump’s recent inauguration, repeatedly gave several Nazi salutes to a crowd of adoring MAGA fans, also has a long history of promoting authoritarian, white nationalist, and neo-fascist ideals and movements. After buying Twitter in 2022, Musk welcomed neo-Nazis and far-Right influencers back onto Twitter, purged it of antifascist accounts, embraced neo-fascist parities like the AfD in Germany (Musk just recently spoke at an AfD campaign event), attacked unions and labor organizing, and has rallied in support of anti-Semitic and white nationalist conspiracy theories. Tech billionaires like Zuckerberg have also recently begun to move towards far-Right ideas, while Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, has cozied up to Trump while suppressing journalists critical of him at The Washington Post, which he owns.

Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash

But supporting Trump in the 2024 election is not the first push into right-wing politics by tech elites. In the bay area of California, right-wing tech capitalists have also recently helped engineer and spearhead campaigns alongside “traditional business and real estate elites in an effort to oust some of its most progressive leaders and undo its most progressive policies.” Utilizing a network of AstroTurf organizations, as Mission Local reported:

[B]illionaire-backed pressure groups that have mushroomed in San Francisco, excoriating progressives for urban ills from drug-infested streets to sclerotic housing production, one stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Neighbors for a Better San Francisco Advocacy, the group launched in 2020 and backed largely by real estate and technology money, has in short order become the most well-funded, top-spending organization active in San Francisco politics.

It supplied the majority of the spending to recall then-District Attorney Chesa Boudin in 2022, and was the No. 1 spender in the school-board recalls that same year. Neighbors alone accounted for more than one of every $10 spent in San Francisco political campaigns between 2020 and 2024 — at least $8.7 million of $80.3 million total, according to an analysis of campaign finance data.

The group, a “social welfare” nonprofit founded by two Realtor lobbyists and backed by Republican mega-donors, almost exclusively spends on law-and-order causes, backing tough-on-crime policies and candidates far more than housing, transit or other policy issues.

While the group was initially focused on supervisorial races, it quickly expanded and successfully funneled millions to recall the district attorney, reverse criminal justice reforms, fight alternatives to incarceration and bolster the police department.

In San Francisco, tech elites weaponized and manufactured hatred of the houseless to push through attacks on progressive policies and elected officials, rolling back criminal justice reforms and promoting a return to drug-war era “law and order,” which has helped to accelerate gentrification and displacement in the bay area. This embrace of reactionary policies in a progressive bastion of California mirrors the growing support by many tech billionaires for Trump, which is driven in part by ideology but centered around shared class interests. As the Green European Journal wrote:

There are a few reasons why the tech right is more politically active and visible now than in previous US elections. For one, the group has found political leadership that has been eager to adopt its priorities on issues like AI and crypto (the 2024 Republican Party Platform includes plans to deregulate both industries)…The US technology sector is facing more direct competition from Chinese companies, which has helped create a different investment environment with higher interest rates. This has also caused priorities to change, and venture capitalists are now putting more money into defence companies such as Anduril, the weapons maker backed by the billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel. Government contracts, especially in the areas of defence and border security, provide a stable flow of income. As Silicon Valley’s relationship with the US government changes, so too do the priorities of the investor class.

The emerging bloc of tech oligarchs, who saw the Biden administration as too committed to regulation and competition within the capitalist marketplace, see Trump as an instrument who will cut regulations and taxes, rewarding tech corporations with lucrative government contracts, especially as Musk moves to slash state spending and move towards privatization. Trump’s push to “drill, baby, drill,” is also central to their project of boosting AI infrastructure, as AI requires massive amounts of energy and water.

In short, the technocrats bought and paid for Trump’s presidency, and they plan to cash in on everything: from expanded AI production, laws that favor their companies and shield them from regulations, to profiting off mass detention, surveillance, and war. And baby, business is good.

Trump and the Tech-Right

Such a process has already begun, as Trump has announced a $500 billion deal (mainly for data centers and power plants) with OpenAI, a move that has also led to tensions within the tech elite, as Musk has taken to trashing OpenAI, which he helped co-found, and its CEO, Sam Altman, the creator of ChatGPT. At the border, corporations like Palantir, which was “co-founded by the billionaire Peter Thiel, [have] received more than $1 billion over the past four years,” and are playing a central role in providing ICE with tech. Meanwhile at the Pentagon, “Palantir and Anduril, two major players in defense technology, are in talks with SpaceX, OpenAI, Scale AI, and Saronic to form a powerful consortium aimed at reshaping how the U.S. government procures military technology,” by pushing AI driven “defense technologies.” For the billionaire elite, the future looks bright, “as venture capitalists bet on increased federal spending on national security, immigration, and space exploration.”

And while the war pigs eat their fill, social media companies are hard at work providing the public with bread and circuses. Twitter (despite struggling to bring in money) remains a platform for mass right-wing disinformation, as Facebook and Instagram, owned by Zuckerberg, have rolled back fact-checking while censoring posts about abortion pills following the inauguration of Donald Trump, building on years of deplatforming anarchists and antifascists, silencing pro-Palestinian content, and pushing far-Right conspiracy theories.

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

It should be stated that another section of the Trump coalition, represented by white nationalists like Laura Loomer and neo-fascists like Steve Bannon, have publicly feuded with Elon Musk, meekly criticizing the tech elite for wanting to create “techno-feudalism.” Despite these attacks, its clear that such bark doesn’t have much juice, as Musk has moved to silence far-Right detractors like Loomer on Twitter and has already set up shop at the White House (although Susie Wiles seems to have frozen him out for now). Bannon’s words also ring hollow, as he has stated he hopes to weaponize Musk’s vast wealth to win electoral campaigns for neo-fascist parties across Europe and “flood the zone” with disinformation. Some on the far-Right might whine about some of their racialist ideological concerns (such as Musk’s support for H-1B visas – which allow tech companies to hyper-exploit immigrant workers) not aligning with the authoritarian class interests of the technocrats, but in the end, they know who signs their checks.

The ideological forces at play within the tech elite are numerous, but it is important to form a coherent critique of them and understand what animates them, and more importantly, the story they are attempting to sell to others in elite circles. Like Libertarians, they see the central contradiction in society as being the supposed restraints placed on capital; be they in the form of state regulations, taxes, or demands from workers in labor unions, on strike, or in social movements. Unlike Libertarians however, they want to use the state to secure access to capital through contracts and actively expand the repressive power of the security state. Like the Alt-Right, they see this overall as an elite project, but while the Alt-Right sought to reach out to upper-middle class college students bound for a career as a GOP staffer or writing for Tucker Carlson, the Tech-Right desires to ‘liberate’ themselves as a class from the supposed shackles of modern multicultural, democratic society. And while they may embrace a totalitarian worldview, they reject fascism as a mass movement for not being explicitly pro-capitalist. Like the white nationalists, they see their project as an ill-liberal, anti-democratic, and anti-egalitarian movement, but while neo-reactionary thinkers like Yarvin and Nick Land may embrace racist pseudo-science, ultimately they want their dictatorship to mimic the authoritarian structures already found within capitalist society itself, not take capital out of the hands of elites and make it work for the nation, much less, the people – even the white ones. The future is here, you just weren’t invited.

Understanding the Changing Terrain

It’s important that we understand that Trump has come back to power during a massive shift in the existing economic and political terrain. As Jamie Merchant has mapped out at The Brooklyn Rail, the neoliberal order is coming to a close. Following the upheavals of 2020, the global pandemic, and the attempted coup on January 6th, Biden rushed to pump money into Republican states in the hopes of securing social peace, and pushed back on the growing power and influence of China through various trade war initiatives. This reality has been coupled with a new rush by countries to ramp up energy production to fuel AI (despite the growing threat of climate change) and increasing hostiles between the US and BRICS aligned nations. Against this backdrop, tech elites are throwing the old neoliberal order out the window and hitching their wagon to the global far-Right. Lucky us.

But as we have seen here in the US, the Trump coalition is a hodgepodge of various factions: from Christian Nationalists who want a red white and blue theocracy, to post-Libertarians who dream of a techno-dystopia. White Nationalists like Steven Miller fantasize of mass deportations while working next to oligarchs like Elon Musk, who calls for more immigrants to work in the US through H-1B visas, while simultaneously boosting neo-Nazis. Despite this ideological swamp, what remains clear is that the central push of the Trump administration is to enrich elites through slashing taxes on the wealthy, gutting regulations, and securing massively lucrative corporate contracts. Someone’s getting rich, but it sure as shit ain’t us.

Photo by Taylor Vick on Unsplash

But this reality comes with the glaring contradiction that Trump has long branded himself as a populist that would bring down the cost of everyday items like food, energy, and rent. As the late anarchist David Graeber pointed out, Trump positioned himself as a classic corporatist, who reached out to angry workers with the bedtime story that he would unite with them against financial elites. In reality, Trump has already begun to walk back his claims that he would be able to bring down prices, but he’s also attempted to cement the idea in people’s heads that increased energy production will lead to lower prices for working-class people, despite all data to the contrary. In reality, this push for increased fossil fuel production – by Trump’s own admission – is simply to power new AI data centers, and it is already causing some to see a rise in their electricity bills. According to some studies, consumers could soon see “their electricity bills increase 70% [due to] surging energy demand from AI data centers.” Not to mention, many economists have also warned that Trump’s proposed tariffs could also lead to a further spike in prices, as egg costs have skyrocketed due to an outbreak of bird flu amidst fears of future pandemics, all under the watch of RFK.

There is also the very real possibility that the AI bubble could just simply, burst. As Forbes recently noted:

Andrei, AI/ML expert and cofounder of Technosophics, was even much bolder in his prediction, noting that the Gen AI bubble is right on the verge of bursting. “The influx of money pumped into Gen AI without clear ROI has inflated expectations to unsustainable levels,” Andrei explained.

He cited American billionaire Tom Siebel, the founder and CEO of C3.ai, who has been quoted saying “the market is overvaluing AI” and that “there’s absolutely a bubble,” as an example of the sentiment by many CEOs and experts across Silicon Valley. Andrei also noted the growing resistance to gen AI among professionals and the public alike, which could further deflate the hype.

“There is a rising movement of ordinary people from diverse professions, such as writers, artists, computer scientists, engineers, and philosophers, who found common ground against the gen AI paradigm. This has raised awareness within the general population of the irreconcilable issues posed by technology and the fact that it is being forced onto people by billionaires and their organizations,” he concluded.

Beyond the increasing financial and environmental costs, accelerated AI production also means creating technologies that by the admission of their own creators, will automate out of existence many jobs – and not just white-collar ones. Many fast-food chains are already working to automate out their workforce through AI, from drive through windows to inside the restaurants themselves. This reality creates a paradox: Trump barely squeaked out a win in 2024 through weaponizing growing resentment against neoliberalism; an economic system defined by corporate globalization and a declining standard of living. But as Forbes wrote, “[A]utomation technology has been the primary driver of U.S. income inequality over the past 40 years…50% to 70% of changes in U.S. wages since 1980 can be attributed to wage declines among blue-collar workers replaced or degraded by automation.” The push by Trump to fuel the growth of AI will of course only accelerate this reality. In short, the Bannonite fantasy of “America First” is simply snake-oil: let’s call it for what it is, neoliberalism coming home to roost.

Pulling the Plug

Poor and working people face a multitude of crises: growing wealth and social inequality, the increasing threat of climate change, and the rising power of the authoritarian far-Right. Instead of working to better humanity and attack systemic inequalities, the billionaires have instead run in horror at rising anger against them, pushing to centralize and control even more wealth and power; weaponizing disinformation, elections, and existing political systems in the process. This is why people like Elon Musk need you to fear immigrants and trans people – because the billionaires want you distracted while they rob you.

We need to realize the moment that we are in. We should be clear about the contradictions and the opportunities that this creates for potential organizing and intervention. We should also be resolute in our understanding that Trump will not make the lives of poor and working people better in the US; he is not a solution to the problems caused by decades of neoliberalism, but the acceleration of the capitalist forces that pushed it forward. Moreover, we should work to understand and explain to people the overall project that Trump and the Tech-Right are working to accomplish: that building up the capacity of AI will not benefit us in the slightest. Instead, we should point out the dramatic costs to the continuation of industrial capitalism and the threats that AI in particular represents.

Protest against tech buses in bay area in early 2010s. SOURCE: https://fuckoffgoogle.de/

Past struggles and social movements offer us many lessons. We would be wise to study the interventions against tech in the 2010’s by groups like Counterforce in the bay area as well as mass ecological struggles in places like Germany against Telsa’s push for expansion. We can learn from Indigenous water protectors, movements like Stop Cop City in Atlanta, and from Appalachians fighting to stop pipeline projects, as we work to stop the expansion of AI data centers – struggles which are already breaking out all over. Strikes by workers at Amazon and fast-food companies can be used to build bridges and unite campaigns. Antifascists can help to map the connections between white supremacists, the State, and the Tech-Right. The Abolish ICE struggle and the BDS movement can give us tools to push back against tech companies profiting off of war, surveillance, and the militarization of the border and mass detention. There is lots of work to do, but we need to weave these struggles together and explain to the broader population how they all connect.

And as previously stated, fights by local communities against AI data centers are already popping up across the social landscape and will only increase in number. If people are looking for a way to push back against the oligarchs and their techno-authoritarian future, here is your chance. 2025 may be marked less by clashes with Proud Boys marching through the streets, and more by local communities banding together to stop AI infrastructure projects.

Screenshot: DW.com

The Tech-Right is united, but less by their scattered reactionary ideologies, and more by their shared class interests. They want us divided, thinking we’ll fight each other over the scraps they offer us, or by generating the latest outrage on social media platforms they control. We need to organize and build around our shared class interests, reaching across divisions, around common goals and struggles. We want homes for everyone. We want a livable planet for our children. We want control over our labor. We want to abolish the systems that are destroying us.

In the 1990s, anarchists, labor unions, anti-sweatshop activists, and environmental groups helped mobilize thousands in militant protests against corporate globalization, all under a Democratic president. Using decentralized networks, independent media, and affinity groups, they helped to create a growing movement, rooted in anti-capitalist analysis and direct action. We did it before, we can do it again.

The oligarchs want a king. Let’s give them a peasants’ revolt instead.

photo via BlueSky, artist unknown

Update and call for solidarity from Miguel Peralta’s support group following a recent ruling from the Supreme Court.

On November 6, 2024, the Supreme Court of Mexico made public in very general terms their ruling on the writ of amparo (an extraordinary legal resource in the Mexican legal system) filed in the case of Miguel Peralta Betanzos, Indigenous Mazatec anarchist and community organizer from Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón, Oaxaca. Following that, on November 28, the Supreme Court published their final ruling, which included all the fine details.

Although it could have been worse, we’re disgusted with the resolution. The Supreme Court should have granted Miguel his absolute freedom, ending the political persecution against him. They didn’t. Instead, using a discourse of multiculturalism and respect for Indigenous rights, they returned the case to the Collegiate Court in Oaxaca—the same court that ruled on the writ of amparo in 2023—ordering that court to take into consideration certain things when making their new ruling on the case.

In the Supreme Court’s resolution, they critique the Collegiate Court in Oaxaca for having not considered Miguel’s Indigenous Mazatec identity, for not guaranteeing his right to an interpreter (an easy out for the Supreme Court and an unnecessary step), and for not taking into account the customs and cultural specificities of his community. The ruling also orders the Collegiate Court to study whether the rights of self-determination, autonomy, and equal access to justice were respected. The latter points provide opportunities for legal defense.

With the annulment of the previous resolution from the Collegiate Court, that same Collegiate Court will now study and rule on Miguel’s case again. This time, supposedly, taking into consideration the merits of the case: Miguel’s innocence; the threat to the self-determination and autonomy of the community; the context of political persecution against Miguel for organizing in defense of land and against local caciques; the imbalance in political power between the accused and the accusers in the case.

It is absurd that the Supreme Court didn’t take into account statements from the family and community, letters from national and international social organizations, even an Amicus Curiae presented by anthropologists and social organizations. The court did not resolve the writ of amparo from an intercultural perspective as was required, but merely repeated rights that are stated in the constitution.

We’re also frustrated by the media—both independent and not—who following the court hearing on November 6 in different ways were giving off the idea that Miguel Peralta had won his absolute freedom, or that with this resolution his absolute freedom was at the doorstep. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Let’s be clear. The political persecution against Miguel Peralta continues. The court system in Oaxaca, which has slow walked his case for ten years, again has his case in their jurisdiction. The judicial system throughout the country is going through a process of transformation, including the election of federal judges this year, which will only delay the resolution in Miguel Peralta’s case even longer.

Meanwhile, Miguel Peralta continues displaced from his community, living under the constant threat of being captured by the state. His family continues without a father, a son, a brother, a nephew, a cousin. His community remains divided, persecuted, criminalized. The wounds brought by ten years of cacique and state repression remain open and unable to heal.

In addition to all this, Elisa Zepeda Lagunas, pivotal figure in the Zepeda Cortes cacique family in Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón—responsible for the criminalization of Miguel and other members of the community—was gifted the political position of state congresswoman in the current LXVI congress of Oaxaca. She didn’t even have the capacity to be “popularly elected”—which we know are just elections bought and sold by political party apparatuses anyway—but was given the three-year position directly by the political party, MORENA, the party currently in federal and state power. We know she’s rubbing shoulders with local power holders, judges, prosecutors, police, politicians, university administrators, even the president of the country.

In this context, we continue calling for agitation and solidarity demanding the absolute freedom of Miguel Peralta. We encourage everyone to download, print, and distribute the different materials we have related to his case which can be found at the archive.org page here: https://archive.org/details/@miguelperaltalibre. We also call on folks to organize actions, events, raise funds, hang banners, paint graffiti, write letters, make trouble, show active and permanent solidarity with Miguel Peralta and the community of Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón. Let’s not let the “owners of justice” sleep well at night. Let’s be creative and spontaneous in the light of day or beneath the shadow of the moon.

Absolute freedom for Miguel Peralta!

Absolute freedom for all those persecuted and processed from Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón!

Comunicado Ante Publicación de la Sentencia de la Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación

El pasado 6 de noviembre de 2024 se llevó a cabo la sesión donde la Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación dio a conocer, en términos muy generales, la resolución sobre el amparo directo en revisión (un recurso extraordinario en la justicia mexicana) promovido en el caso de Miguel Peralta Betanzos, indígena mazateco, anarquista y defensor comunitario de Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón, Oaxaca. Posteriormente, el 28 de noviembre la Corte hizo pública dicha resolución donde pudimos conocer de manera detallada su decisión.

Como ya lo habíamos mencionado, aunque pudo haber sido peor, estamos bastante inconformes con esta determinación. La Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación pudo haber otorgado a Miguel su libertad plena y haber detenido la persecución política en su contra. No lo hizo. En lugar de ello, bajo un discurso de multiculturalismo y respeto a los derechos indígenas, devolvió el caso al Tribunal Colegiado de Oaxaca que resolvió el amparo directo en 2023, ordenándole vagamente que tomaran ciertas consideraciones al emitir una nueva sentencia.

En su resolución, la Corte hizo una especie de regaño al Tribunal por no haber considerado la identidad indígena de Miguel, pues no garantizó su derecho a una persona intérprete (una salida fácil de la Corte e innecesaria en este caso) y no tomó en cuenta las costumbres y especificidades culturales de la comunidad. También le dijo que debía estudiar si se respetaron los derechos a la libre determinación, a la autonomía y al acceso a la jurisdicción del Estado. Esto último da oportunidades de defensa.

La revocación de la sentencia de amparo directo que había dictado el Tribunal de Oaxaca significa que éste deberá estudiar nuevamente el asunto de Miguel, evitando reenviar el caso a Huautla y resolviendo de fondo: que es inocencia, que la comunidad se vio amenazada en su ejercicio a la libre determinación y autonomía, que el contexto es de persecución política por su labor de defensa del territorio y por enfrentar el cacicazgo local y que, hay un desbalance de poder entre quien acusa y quienes son acusados.

Es lamentable que la Suprema Corte no haya considerado nada de lo aportado por la familia, la comunidad, las cartas de organizaciones civiles nacionales e internacionales, ni los Amicus Curiae que presentaron organizaciones y personas antropólogas. No resolvió con perspectiva intercultural, sólo repitió derechos que están en la Constitución.

Nos sentimos preocupadxs también por algunos medios de comunicación -cercanos y no- que, después de la audiencia del 6 de noviembre en la Suprema Corte dieron a entender de diferentes maneras que Miguel había ganado su libertad plena, o que con esta resolución su libertad plena estaba a las puertas. Lamentablemente no es el caso.

Seamos claros. La persecución política contra Miguel Peralta continúa. El sistema judicial de Oaxaca, que ha caminado lento su caso durante diez años, vuelve a tener este expediente en su jurisdicción. El sistema judicial en todo el país está pasando por una seria transformación, incluyendo la elección de jueces federales este año, lo que sólo podría retrasar aún más la resolución en el caso de Miguel.

Mientras tanto, Miguel continúa desplazado de su comunidad, viviendo bajo la constante amenaza de ser capturado por el Estado. Su familia sigue sin padre, sin hijo, sin hermano, sin sobrino, sin primo. Su comunidad sigue dividida, perseguida, criminalizada. Las heridas provocadas por diez años de represión caciquil y estatal siguen abiertas y sin cicatrizar.

Además de todo esto, Elisa Zepeda Lagunas, figura central de la familia caciquil Zepeda Cortes en Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón -responsables de la criminalización de Miguel y otros miembros de la comunidad- recibió el cargo político de diputada local en el actual congreso LXVI del Estado de Oaxaca. Ni siquiera tuvo la capacidad de ser «electa popularmente» -que de todos modos sabemos que son sólo elecciones compradas y vendidas por los aparatos de los partidos políticos- sino que, el cargo de tres años le fue otorgado directamente por el partido político MORENA, partido que actualmente está en el poder federal y estatal. Sabemos que se codea con la gente del poder, jueces, fiscales, policías, políticxs, administradores universitarixs, incluso con la presidenta del país.

En este contexto, seguimos llamando a la agitación y solidaridad exigiendo la libertad absoluta de Miguel Peralta. Animamos a todxs a descargar, imprimir y distribuir los diferentes materiales que tenemos relacionados con su caso, que se puede encontrar en la página de archive: https://archive.org/details/@miguelperaltalibre. También llamamos a organizar acciones, eventos, recaudar fondos, colgar mantas, pintar grafitis, escribir cartas, mostrar una solidaridad activa y permanente con Miguel Peralta y la comunidad de Eloxochitlán. Quitémosles el sueño a los dueños de la “justicia”, seamos creativxs y espontánexs a la luz del sol y bajo la sombra de la luna.

¡Libertad plena para Miguel Peralta!

¡Libertad plena para todos lxs perseguidoxs y procesadxs de Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón!

Report from the Lake Effect Collective on a recent anti-deportation mobilization in the Midwest. Originally published here.

As a collective, our involvement in social struggles has not been indiscriminate. We recognize that in a deeply and consistently evil world, there are many, many opportunities to act—and that there aren’t enough of us to respond to every one of them. We direct our limited resources strategically, understanding that the task of a revolutionary minority in the movement is to analyze and target this society’s fault lines, paying attention to objective crises that might spur the subjective recomposition of a revolutionary movement. The two texts below—and an anonymous press release from January 18th’s rally against deportations at the Gary Airport, sent to us last night—are attempts to reflect theoretically on our involvement in Chicago’s incipient struggle against deportations. We’re hopeful that they clarify the conditions and stakes of this political moment for fellow radicals.

It is difficult to imagine the kind of violence necessary to depopulate an entire labor market of its dispossessed—but soon, it won’t be. In Gaza, this depopulation is carried out by brute genocidal force; we’re promised by the incoming administration that the National Guard will help ICE expel twenty million undocumented migrants by the end of Trump’s second term. Different methods of ethnic cleansing are applied at various points in the world-system, to different ends: Gaza, surplus to Israeli labor markets, is marked for annihilation for the crime of continuing to exist; migrants in the United States, responsible for the most precarious, physically dangerous and low-paying labor in the country, will be made surplus to the same American labor markets that currently rely on them to keep wages depressed in key agricultural and industrial sectors of the domestic economy. There, in the difference between the two situations, we can find room to act. Palestinian labor was only severed from Israeli labor markets once other sources were found for artificially lowered wages: in the Israeli case, migrant laborers from Southeast Asia. No similar solutions present themselves for the United States. In the Israeli case, the integration of the state’s military and the organs of civil society—the media, schools, religious institutions and so on, not to mention universal conscription—guaranteed the warehousing of Gaza and the continued occupation of the West Bank met with no resistance; in the American case, the disunity of the military, federal government, and local jurisdictions will create spectacular blunders, inefficiencies and failures that we may be able to exploit.

Our commitment to class struggle is not a fetishistic attachment to the 20th-century coal unions or the leadership of the UAW, and we’ve learned in practice that the old organizations, with their outmoded, paternalistic thinking and one-size-fits-all activist campaigning, have given up on the goal they claim to be marching towards with every new recruitment drive. The ‘working class’ is a composite category, with various strata that form blocs aligned against each other as often as they’re pitted against other classes. In the United States, what divides the middle and upper rungs of the working class from the proletariat and lumpenproletariat is that the latter are more often than not racialized: it’s not as clear-cut as in Fanon’s portrait of the colony, where you’re rich because you’re white and white because you’re rich, but that’s closer to true than the fiction that middle-class and petty bourgeois whites will someday recognize their natural class solidarity with their poor Black and brown neighbors.

We take a cue from W.E.B. DuBois’s description of the wages of whiteness: both the real wage and the civic-psychological wage. In our “Reflections” on the encampments, we briefly outlined a global crisis in which, as profit rates dwindle, scores of proletarians have been ejected from regular access to work, and capital has moved to less-competitive labor markets in the global periphery. With the neo-colonial misrule, climate shocks, and domestic instability this moment brings comes a drastic increase in migration flows, with migrants deported and selectively incorporated—whether documented or not—to maintain middle class consumption standards while holding the (white) middle class apart from the ‘dirty’ work carried out by immigrants. The populations held at the border, warehoused in redlined neighborhoods and in many cases constantly under threat of deportation serve as “floating labor reserves for increasingly predatory individual capitals” in these ‘dirty’ sectors of production that are nonetheless crucial to the daily operation of the North American economy.

In this political context, the divisions internal to the working class are decisive. Class war is war on the bourgeois class—but also on its junior partners: the homeowners, landlords, middle-class professional-managerial workers, and all of the other people who end up shoulder to shoulder with the police. Not all of these citizens are white, but they are all allowed to make use of the privileges and powers historically granted to white people—by calling the cops, snitching on an undocumented coworker, or otherwise leveraging their class position or legality against their systematically dispossessed neighbors. The Latinos who voted for Trump and against ‘illegals’ were not betraying some pre-existing revolutionary essence inherent to their community or culture, they were voting on class lines—against proletarianized, undocumented, poor immigrants. One segment of the class lines up with national capitals against their competitors on the labor market, whose undocumented status and poverty make them employable at lower wages and on more precarious terms—which becomes an easy wedge to drive between poor Latinos and their poorer co-workers.

Per DuBois, the “public and psychological wage” of whiteness was (and is) foundational to American civil society:

[Whites] were admitted freely with all classes of white people to public functions, public parks, and the best schools. The police were drawn from their ranks, and the courts, dependent upon their votes, treated them with such leniency as to encourage lawlessness. Their vote selected public officials, and while this had small effect upon the economic situation, it had great effect upon their personal treatment and the deference shown them. White schoolhouses were the best in the community, and conspicuously placed, and they cost anywhere from twice to ten times as much per capita as the colored schools. The newspapers specialized on news that flattered the poor whites and almost utterly ignored the Negro except in crime and ridicule.

Meanwhile, as the real economic standing and security of middle-class whites continues to decline and the global crisis drags on, the ‘psychological wage’ of whiteness is activated. It does not serve an equilibrium-restoring function, but instead expresses the contradiction at the heart of American society: that the class relation here was and continues to be hashed out in racial terms, and that as a result, falls in the bourgeois consumption standards of the white middle class will immediately provoke calls for a return to older and more direct forms of that racial class rule. ‘Economic anxiety’ is racial paranoia; bourgeois class rule is white-supremacist dictatorship. The mass deportations that the Trump administration has promised may not be economically rational, but their economic irrationality matches that of the American economy and white civil society for its entire history.

Chicago will be ‘ground zero’ for the new administration’s mass deportations. Tom Homan wants to bus thousands of people to the Gary airport—to tear families apart and destroy peoples’ lives for the preservation of the white race—and he wants to do so not just with ICE or CBP but with the help of the local police, the national guard, and whichever deputized whites choose to pitch in. Class struggle is attacking this plan with everything at our disposal.

L. S.

BRAVE HEARTS TO THE FRONT!

Throughout the week preceding Trump’s inauguration, people across the United States gathered for “Festivals of Resistance” to set the tone and the pace of our fight against the new administration’s white terror for the years to come. The week concluded on the 18th of January, the second anniversary of the execution of Tortuguita by Georgia State Patrol officers in a raid on the Weelaunee forest. The struggle against Atlanta’s proposed ‘cop city’—a gigantic police training facility in the Atlanta forest, complete with a mock city designed to simulate the city’s poor, Black neighborhoods—was an extension of 2020’s nationwide uprising against the police, which orients our politics and leaves us with an afterimage of what a revolutionary event might someday look like here, in the belly of the beast. Its martyrs—chief among them Tort—are our martyrs, and we chose to honor them practically, by continuing their struggle against the racist, imperialist American state.

This took us to the Gary/Chicago International Airport, a private airfield where five states’ worth of deportation flights take off, bound for the southern border. The airport has been a site of intense, prolonged, and brave struggle, reaching its peak between 2017 and 2018, with demonstrators and militants directly, materially impeding deportation flights and the daily operation of the airport. Our aim was less ambitious on the morning of the 18th: the crowd, composed of seasoned militants and first-time protesters in equal parts, set off from a nearby South Shore Line stop to make a thirty-minute trek—in the bitter cold—to the gates of the airport, in the first of what one participant hoped would be “many actions against this region’s deportation infrastructure, with the goal of shutting this shit down.” But no deportations were stopped, and no airfields were invaded, during the march or the brief moment of rest at the Gary Airport’s gates. The demonstration was intended to signal popular discontent with the new administration’s plans, if with a radical bent: common chants were “no borders / no nations / stop deportations” and “fuck the border, fuck the wall / we won’t stop until they fall.” A banner was dropped, decorated with the latter chant, on a fence surrounding the airport’s hangars.

Passing traffic slowed down to honk in support of the slogans on display, or just to gawk at the demonstration—this was possibly the most exciting thing that’d happened in Gary in some time—but we eventually attracted the ire of airport security, who sent an employee out to remove the banner. He stepped out of his pickup truck ready for a fight and hurried to rip down the banner (though we convinced him to give it back). When told he was protecting deportation infrastructure he paused and replied—incredulous—“I’m just protecting my job, man.” (Not for the last time in this story, the executor and representative of all-American, white supremacist politics was not, in fact, white.)

As we began to march back to the train stop where we’d started, a couple police cars trailed along, honking and reprimanding us, in a uniquely Midwestern fashion, for marching in the street. One pig, apparently not used to making demands, got on the loudspeaker attached to his car and told us: “We’re trying to be nice and asking you to get out of the street. If you don’t listen to us, we’ll be forced to…”—he trailed off before completing the sentence. No one was too worried—there were fifty of us and just a couple squad cars’ worth of them. In hindsight, the security guard who removed the banner likely tipped them off, and they picked up harassing us where he left off. Another car came down the road and joined the two behind us… then another, and another, and soon upwards of twelve or fifteen squad cars had descended upon us, physically forcing us off the road. (A police cruiser drove into protestors as they walked off the street.) This was, we think, the entirety of the Gary Police Department, along with at least one Gary conservation officer and some other stragglers from the County Sheriff who came to get in on the chance to attack protestors.

At this point, we had all left the road without much protest. But several of Gary PD’s best and brightest weren’t about to let us leave without, as one pig put it, “teaching us a lesson.” One protestor was thrown five feet down a hill and into the fence; another who had just left the street was tackled and arrested for ‘obstructing traffic’ as GPD cruisers clogged the four-lane road. Others were threatened with serious injury. One old, white cop was quick to open up his scoped baton and wade into the crowd, eager to crack skulls. Another cop (younger than Officer Baton, and, like most of the Gary police present, not white) took out a taser and swung it around at eye level, holding the crowd at bay while his coworkers dragged the second arrestee towards the cars on the street. At this point, we clustered around the two arrestees and demanded their release. Instead, GPD pinned a member of the press to the ground and arrested them as well. Observers with the National Lawyers’ Guild collected the names of arrestees and followed the squad cars to the station.

The three arrests could have demoralized us, and it was hard to adapt to an unprecedented level of violence doled out in response to a tame action, but morale remained high as we plodded back to the train station. Gary police followed us there, but no one else was arrested. New and old protestors remembered what we’d all learned in 2020: we all hate the police.

This action was part of a more expansive regional campaign against deportations between Chicago and Northwest Indiana. Different moments in this regional deportation machine require different tactics be applied to slow and shut it down—in Chicago, present emphasis is on preventative and ameliorative measures to interrupt, delay, and crowd out ICE and DHS raids. Gary’s airport—like detention centers and processing hubs elsewhere—offers us a different opportunity, to sever the process at one of its vulnerable chokepoints. It will take bold and concerted action against every segment of the process to bring mass deportations to a halt and stop the new administration’s plans in the first place they’ll be tested.

Over the next few years, we will be challenged to “outmaneuver, exhaust, demoralize, confuse, and overpower the repressive might of the state.” GPD’s gleeful recourse to fascist violence brought us face to face with the first instance of the incoming Trump administration’s political repression—two days before he entered office. But as always, we learn by doing, and the protestors who gathered after the 18th began to build the relationships and trust necessary to fight the fights to come. Brave hearts to the front!

S. W. & L. S.

Welcome back to The Beautiful Idea, a new project from a collective of several anarchist and autonomous media producers scattered around the world. We’re bringing you interviews and stories from the front-lines of autonomous social movements and struggles, as well as original commentary and analysis.

On today’s show we have a conversation with Xander Dunlap, author of the recent book The System Is Killing Us: Land Grabbing, the Green Economy, and Ecological Conflict, out with Pluto Press. In this conversation we discuss the current state of ecological resistance movements, the problems introduced by eco-Leninism, the concept of permanent ecological conflict, and the notion of home and connection to place in land struggles.

You can find Xander on Twitter and Bluesky.

Xander is also involved in a new and exciting publishing project called Rupture Press, check it out here.

photo via Pixabay

 

The Movement of Articulation of the Forgotten Peoples of the Cañada (MAPOC) denounce the clientelism and false discourses of the municipal president of Huautla de Jiménez, Oaxaca, David García Martínez.

To the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN)

To the National Indigenous Congress (CNI)

To the Public Opinion

To the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico and the World

To the Media

To our Mazatec Brothers and Sisters

The Sierra Mazateca of Oaxaca has historically been subjected to the interests of political parties who since the last century have done extensive damage to the fabric of our communities. This situation has favored the exploitation of our resources and the weakening of our traditional forms of organization.

In this context, in recent years, David García Martínez has implemented a politics of clientelism seeking to convert Huautla de Jiménez into a node of tourism and extractivism, benefiting external interests using a discourse of modernity. However, his administration has been characterized by an increase in violence, femicides, the fragmentation of communities, and the enrichment of the few, while our communities face the deterioration of our collective life.

Recently, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the State of Oaxaca announced that David García Martínez will face charges for the crime of attempted homicide. He was charged after being arrested on January 8 on Lazaro Cardenas Street in the municipality of Santa Lucia del Camino, in front of the Centro Cultural y de Convenciones de Oaxaca. It is important to remember that García Martínez, who won the municipal elections on June 2 of last year on a coalition ticket of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), has already been municipal president twice. This is his third term in office.

During his rule, David García Martínez has obstructed autonomous processes and the self-determination of the different communities of Huautla de Jiménez that haven’t aligned with his logic, including communities who he considers his opponents, imposing his close associates as authorities. This practice has generated a climate of political violence fracturing even more the community dynamics.

Today, alluding to Zapatista and Magonista discourses, he is trying to position himself as a political prisoner. From our perspective, this is a maneuver to instrumentalize the social struggle for personal ends, distorting the values that guide genuine resistance of Indigenous peoples. In his current situation David García Martínez likes to mention the principals of freedom, however during his administration he has forgotten about justice for the communities of our municipality, denying them their free self-determination.

As Mazatecs organized in different collectivities and communities without political party affiliation, and as participants in the National Indigenous Congress, we strongly pronounce that David García Martínez is not part of our movement.

We distance ourselves completely from his narrative which does not represent the principles, objectives, nor the autonomy of those of us who defend our territory, our culture, and our forms of community life.

Furthermore, we make clear that whatever repression against our communities or community organizers that might take place is the responsibility of David García Martínez, his political allies, and the municipal government that he leads.

We call on society in general to not be fooled by these manipulative discourses and to show solidarity with the true struggles of Indigenous peoples. These struggles do not seek individual economic interests, but to preserve life, justice, and dignity in our communities.

Sincerely,

Movement of Articulation of the Forgotten Peoples of the Cañada (MAPOC)

Report back on recent anti-deportation demonstration in Gary, Illinois.

More than 75 people gathered outside the Gary/Chicago International Airport on January 18th to protest deportations regularly carried out at the airport by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Demonstrators said they also gathered to protest ahead of Trump’s inauguration on the 20th as part of a nationwide call for “festivals of resistance.

The Gary/Chicago International Airport has been used since at least 2013 to fly deportees out of the region. GlobalX, an airline company based in Miami, FL, subcontracts with ICE to deport people every Friday from Gary/Chicago airport to Kansas City, MO before taking them out of the country. More than 19,000 people were deported out of Gary between 2013 and 2017 according to public records obtained through a Freedom of Information request by a local organizer.

Demonstrators were leaving the airport on foot Saturday morning when around two dozen Gary police officers descended on them. Officers grabbed and arrested two protestors who were in the process of complying with police instructions. A photojournalist was also seized and arrested by the officers while documenting the other arrests, in what amounts to a violent attack on the freedom of the press.

The march, held two days before Donald Trump takes power for a second time, represents the Gary community’s commitment to their immigrant neighbors in the face of state violence, but builds on the diligent work of community organizers over the years. Since 2017, interfaith groups, immigrant rights activists, and rank-and-file union workers from East Chicago and elsewhere in northwest Indiana regularly held prayer circles and other peaceful protests, but had not been met with significant repression.

“This is an unprecedented escalation in police violence against immigrant solidarity protests in Northwest Indiana. This makes sense, though, in the context of rising Trumpism, as well as the pattern of violence in the Region against our Black neighbors and striking workers,” said an organizer of the demonstration.

“In order to protect ICE operations separating Chicagoland families, Gary police carried out the first arrests of the second Trump administration, even before the inauguration. This is a crucial reminder that the police do not keep our communities safe, we do” said a local resident in attendance.”

On Friday, Beatriz Ponce de Leon, deputy mayor for immigrant, migrant and refugee rights, publicly announced that ICE is planning to conduct street sweeps for undocumented people in the coming weeks. ICE contractors use the Gary airport to evade sanctuary regulations and widespread opposition in Chicago.

From Embers podcast reports on the recent noise demo on New Year’s Eve in Laval.

A discussion with two organizers of this year’s New Year’s Eve noise demo in Laval. We discuss how things went, prisoner solidarity organizing in Montreal, the value of noise demos as an anarchist tactic and tradition, and where we might go from here.

Thanks to CKUT Prison Radio for the live footage.

Links:

Video from Clash MTL

Report from 2025 Hamilton Noise Demo

Seven Years Against Prison: On the practice of noise demos outside of prisons in Southern Ontario (pdf link)

It’s Going Down Roundup of 2025 NYE Noise Demos

Rafales: An Anarchist Learning Camp

Constellation Anarchist Festival

December 2018 From Embers episode about noise demos

What Happened to Prisoners Justice Day?

Franklin Lopez looks back on grassroots movement media and the creation of the documentary film, Yintah.

In the summer of 2011, I was exhausted—physically, mentally, creatively. I’d just finished hauling my feature film, END:CIV, across North America, and when I got back to Vancouver, I didn’t even have a place to sleep. So, I did what many DIY filmmakers do: I moved into my van.

That’s when I got an invitation that would change everything: the Unist’ot’en Clan asked me to bring my film to their territory. I piled a crew of anarchist friends into my old camper van, and we headed north to the Wet’suwet’en yintah (land). At the time, I had no clue I was stepping onto ground zero for a legendary fight against pipelines.

Turns out, the Wet’suwet’en were gearing up to resist thirteen proposed oil and gas pipelines crossing their unceded lands—projects like the Pacific Trails fracked-gas pipeline and Enbridge’s Northern Gateway tar sands line. “The Wet’suwet’en” in those days basically meant three people: Freda Huson, Toghestiy (now known as Chief Dini Ze Smogelgem), and Mel Bazil, all determined to protect the Wedzin Kwa River from potential pipeline ruptures. Once I tasted that ice-cold water straight from the river, I understood exactly why they were putting everything on the line.

We started off screening END:CIV in Witset (then Moricetown) and Smithers, the nearby settler town. At the time, a major focus of my film work was decolonization and climate change—so the timing couldn’t have been better. Like many informed people, I believed that if we didn’t halt oil and gas production, our planet would face catastrophic climate chaos. Coming from a family of Boricua anti-colonial fighters, I also found it easy to connect with my new friends on the territory. Then my crew and I headed deeper into the bush to attend an action camp at Unist’ot’en Camp. Back then, it was just one cabin built squarely on the proposed Pacific Trails pipeline route—a bold statement that no pipeline would pass without resistance. Little did we know the strategy sessions in that tiny cabin would spark a movement that would eventually shake Canada to its core.

Documenting Resistance: Oil Gateway and the Early Days

During that first visit, I started filming. I talked with Freda, Toghestiy, and Mel, capturing some of the earliest footage from Unist’ot’en Camp. Those interviews would form part of my short doc, Oil Gateway, which laid out the bigger picture: the tangle of pipelines threatening so-called British Columbia. At the time, subMedia, my anarchist media project, was basically just me, operating on the principle of “rapid release and share.” In other words, frontline struggles need their story told right now, not stashed away for some festival circuit months or years down the road.

After another grueling year of grassroots touring (read: sleeping on couches and eating from dumpsters) END:CIV around Australia, Aotearoa (New Zealand), and Europe, I promised to return to the yintah. By 2012, the Unist’ot’en Camp had grown from that one cabin into a bustling center for resistance. I was humbled to see around 150 people attend the action camp, with many mentioning they first learned about Unist’ot’en through Oil Gateway. It was clear that pipelines were choke points in the fossil fuel machine, and documenting the fight to stop them became my obsession. So I released a second short doc, The Action Camp, showing how Unist’ot’en was evolving into a force to be reckoned with.

Planting the Seeds of Yintah the Film

In 2012, I met filmmaker Sam Vinal of Mutual Aid Media, who was already passionate about the Unist’ot’en struggle. He wanted to make a full-length doc, but my style—rapid release and share —didn’t mesh with the slower festival and grant world. Sam, along with his then-partner, Alexandra Kotcheff, decided to immerse themselves in the yintah, filming extensively at Unist’ot’en. That laid the groundwork for what would become Yintah the film —and kicked off a decade-long collaboration between me and Sam.

Meanwhile, I moved to Montreal and started documenting the movement against oil and gas pipelines in eastern Canada. I teamed up with Amanda Lickers of Reclaim Turtle Island to produce a film exposing the pipeline threats in the region. While covering a Mi’kmaq anti-fracking blockade in Elsipigtog, New Brunswick, I witnessed the lengths the Canadian state would go to shield private extractive projects and trample Indigenous sovereignty. The violent RCMP raid gave me a glimpse of things to come on the yintah but also gave me hope, as hundreds of supporters descended on Elsipigtog to support the anti-fracking fight, and eventually the fracking company pulled out. During that time, I crossed paths with producer Andrea Schmidt from Al Jazeera—a coincidence that turned out to be huge later on.

In 2014, I was back at Unist’ot’en with Amanda Lickers, interviewing Freda and Toghestiy. During that trip, I also met Michael Toledano, a Vice News stringer reporting on the unfolding resistance. In the footage we captured, Freda made a statement that turned out to be prophetic: if the Canadian government attacked, allies would rise up to shut down Canada.

AJ+ and Going Viral

Soon afterward, Andrea Schmidt, now at AJ+, asked me to produce a short documentary on the Wet’suwet’en fight. I got approval from the camp and went back to film. That short documentary reached over a million viewers on Facebook, further helping thrust the Unist’ot’en Camp into the international spotlight. It included a powerful moment where Freda confronted an Enbridge executive, telling her they did not have consent to build their pipeline. Soon after, Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline quietly died.

In 2015, I got a frantic message from Michael Toledano, The RCMP had rolled up on the Unist’ot’en bridge. One of my best friends was getting married that weekend, but he understood when I told him, “Dude, I have to go.” I scrambled to get a plane ticket and headed north. After seeing Michael’s footage, I urged the Unist’ot’en women to post it immediately. Rapid release and share! They agreed, and I edited the video on the spot—it blew up online. Overnight, the RCMP faced widespread backlash and backed off—for a while.

Later that year, I produced Holding Their Ground, a follow-up AJ+ documentary that netted nine million views on Facebook alone. This documentary featured a previously published viral clip of Chevron execs being turned away at the Unist’ot’en bridge, proving that front-line footage can be released in real time and still have a major impact later. This footage is also featured in our film INVASION as well as in Yintah.

Naval resistance in the west, shutting down pipelines in the east.

While on that trip out west, I got a call from an anarchist comrade, telling me that Tsimshians on the coast needed some visibility for their fight to stop a liquefied natural gas (LNG) port from being built on their waters. I jumped at the opportunity, and while visiting their camp, I captured powerful images of Tsimshian fishermen blocking Petronas workers from conducting survey work. The Tsimshians continued their fight, and by 2017 the LNG project was dead.

This was a very special time, and it felt like we were riding a wave. My partner was several months pregnant, and she and I organized a series of events in Montreal featuring Freda, Toghestiy, and Felipe Uncacia, an Indigenous leader from Colombia. We also took advantage of this trip to connect them to Kanienkeha’ka (Mohawk) communities in the region, including stops in Kanehsatà:ke, Kahnawake, and Akwesasne.

Then that December I filmed an action in Quebec: activists physically shut down an Enbridge pipeline by turning its valve and locking themselves to it. That video went viral, inspiring similar coordinated valve-turning actions in the U.S. that halted a huge chunk of oil flowing south from Canada.

The following year, my child was born. Watching this tiny, noisy being taking his first breaths made me reflect on the kind of world I was bringing him into. Stepping away from the struggle wasn’t an option—I had to stay in the ring and keep fighting against colonialism and capitalism for his future and ours.

2019: The RCMP Raids and a Movement Under Siege

By late 2018, the Gidim’ten Clan asserted their right to control access to their territory, meaning no Coastal GasLink (CGL) workers could pass. I teamed up with Sam Vinal and Michael Toledano to find more filmmakers to document this pivotal moment. At subMedia, now a collective of four, we churned out videos and agitation clips and video updates in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en.

Led by Molly Wickham, Gidim’ten land defenders and anarchists set up a checkpoint to stop CGL vehicles. The RCMP responded with paramilitary-style force, armed with semi-automatic rifles, arresting Molly and several others. Fearing a similar outcome, the Unist’ot’en leadership took down their blockade. It was heartbreaking to watch, and Sam and Michael filmed every moment.

That spring, after 25 years of subMedia, I needed a break. I was burned out, broke, and bummed out. I took my family west, and we visited Gidimt’en and Unist’ot’en, where the sight of cops and pipeline workers on once-autonomous land really sank my spirits. That’s when I got the idea to launch Amplifier Films, a new project dedicated to uplifting anti-colonial and anti-capitalist movements across Turtle Island. Around then, Sam and Michael decided to merge their footage to finish the film that had been percolating for years. Freda asked me to edit, and the timing was perfect. That fall, we produced INVASION, a short doc about the daily reality at Unist’ot’en under growing RCMP and CGL pressure. I edited INVASION at Amplifier Films in Montreal, reusing some of the best bits from my AJ+ docs and subMedia clips, including a tense confrontation between Tilly (a St’át’imc woman) and Prime Minister Trudeau.

We released INVASION online right as Freda declared that CGL workers had to vacate the territory or risk being blocked. The doc became a key tool for organizers prepping for another big clash with the police. It also premiered in Hot Docs and other prestigious festivals, despite being freely available online for months. Which just goes to show: rapid release and sharing is what movements need most.

Sure enough, raids began once again, culminating in a full-on assault on Unist’ot’en in early 2020. The footage of the RCMP tearing down the gate and arresting Freda and other defenders was intense. But it sparked a massive wave of solidarity actions across Canada. Soon after, Mohawks in Tyendinaga blocked CN Rail lines, kicking off “Shutdown Canada” as railways, highways, and ports were barricaded by anarchists and allies in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en. It was a watershed moment for Indigenous-led resistance.

Making Yintah and Reaching the Breaking Point

Riding that wave of momentum, Sam and I took Yintah to the Big Sky Film Festival in Missoula, Montana. We pitched it to a live audience and secured our first round of funding—enough to produce materials for bigger grants. Then COVID hit, but we pressed on, cutting a trailer and rough scenes for potential funders. Despite having a decade’s worth of incredible footage, we struggled to find backing.

That’s when Montreal’s Eyesteelfilm came on board. Known for their award-winning docs, they loved our trailer and partnered with us to help secure funding and a CBC broadcast deal. We also asked two Wet’suwet’en women—Jen Wickham and Brenda Michel—to join the team, following the principle of “Narrative Sovereignty,” so that Wet’suwet’en voices could help shape every stage of the film.

By fall 2021, we’d raised over our budget goals for Yintah, and I was in the thick of editing. We had more than 1,000 hours of footage spanning a decade. Meanwhile, new images kept rolling in—Coyote Camp rose up with the help of anarchists. CGL equipment was commandeered and roads were destroyed and blocked. Haudenauseane allies from out east travelled to the yintah to join the fight. Then the RCMP launched another brutal raid, and Molly Wickham, Michael Toledano, and others were arrested. I spent a weekend trying to bail Michael out and make sure the footage didn’t vanish into the RCMP’s hands.

Around this time, following hit pieces in far-right media outlets, the Alberta government launched a petition asking Canadians to complain to the CBC about my involvement in Yintah because I identify as an anarchist. Despite it all, we hit our production milestones. In spring 2022, we returned to Wet’suwet’en territory for a consultation where members of Gidimt’en and Unist’ot’en reviewed the scenes. By June, I had a four-hour assembly edit and a story document. A ten-minute sequence I edited even won an award at Cannes, and we got invited to True/False’s rough-cut weekend to get feedback from industry pros.

But the unrelenting pressure eventually took its toll and our dedicated team was submerged in conflictual tensions. Panic attacks, brutal insomnia, and not being there for my family forced me to make one of the toughest calls of my career: after three years on Yintah, I quit.

Reflections, Redemption, and Moving Forward

I spent the next couple of years in a dark place, hit by slanderous rumors about my departure and uncertain about ever picking up a camera again. Then, in spring 2024 right as Yintah was premiering at True/False—I found myself freezing my 52 years old ass off at another blockade, camera rolling, helping an Indigenous community in so-called Quebec document their fight against destructive logging. And once again, the rapid share & release footage proved useful in defending the land.

That fall, I finally got to watch Yintah. I was thrilled to see so much of the editing I’d done remain in place, including the Shutdown Canada sequence (what my friends call “Yintah’s subMedia moment”) set to The Halluci Nation’s “Landback.” A lot of the overall structure still followed the story outline I’d left behind. Its reach blew my mind: Netflix picked it up for North America, Canadians can watch it free on YouTube (VPNs work too), and it even got pirated on YTS! For a movement doc, that’s about as mainstream as it gets.

The scope of this whole saga is still jaw-dropping. A small cabin at Unist’ot’en grew into a global symbol of Indigenous sovereignty, standing against a massive corporate onslaught. But the fight isn’t over—with Coastal GasLink completed, Land defenders continue to face state repression and Canada has approved more pipelines to cross Wet’suwet’en yintah, and other neighboring Indigenous territories.

As for me, I’m pouring my energy into Amplifier Films. One of our first projects is “A Red Road to the West Bank,” which tells the story of Oka Crisis vet Clifton Ariwakehte Nicholas during his trip to Palestine. Our goal is to explore the similarities between the plight of the Palestinians and that of Indigenous people in Turtle Island. Stay tuned for that.

Ultimately, this story is bigger than pipelines. It’s about land, future generations, and what it means to be free. The Wet’suwet’en have shown the world what unwavering resistance looks like—anarchists have demonstrated the power of solidarity, and it’s on all of us to keep that flame alive.

Postscript: Yintah Missing Credits

There are a number of people who helped with Yintah who were not listed in the credits, but whose free labor, particularly at the beginning when we had no cash, was priceless.

Cybergeek Antoine Beaupré for his creation of the custom software video-proxy-magic, which allowed me to crunch 80TB of video into a 5TB drive while keeping the folder structure intact. This helped us share all the footage with the other producers and assistant editors without having to spend thousands on large hard drive arrays.

Many thanks to the post-production interns from the University of the West of England Bristol who helped us organize footage during the early days: Charlotte Butler Blondel, Robert Henman, and George Willmott. Also, much gratitude to Stephen Presence of the Radical Film Network for connecting them with me. A shout-out as well to Marius Fernandes, who did a short stint as an assistant editor.

Ryan Hurst was the first editor for Yintah a few years before this incarnation. A few of his sequences made it in the final film and I rebuilt a lot of his edit projects when doing the footage review.

Big ups to Macdonald Stainsby—he is thanked in the credits, but it should be known that his work in connecting Freda, Toghestiy, and Mel to other troublemakers like me was invaluable. His anti–tar sands organizing and his critiques of environmental NGOs had a huge influence on my work.

Finally, I want to extend my deepest thanks to all the anarchists and anti-authoritarians who poured so much of themselves into this struggle. Your tireless solidarity—often at great personal risk—helped propel the fight farther than anyone imagined. We couldn’t have come this far without you.

Thank you for reading and for standing with the Wet’suwet’en and Indigenous communities everywhere defending their homelands.

A call to remember and celebrate the legacy of anarchist Omar Aziz in the wake of the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. Originally posted to Remember Omar Aziz.

The regime has fallen. Assad is gone. This is an important victory for all revolutionaries, but especially for Syrian revolutionaries.

More than 13 years have past since those protests that shook Syria in 2011, when the first cracks of the regime started to show. The regime tried to cover those cracks with bullets and barrel bombs. It didn’t know that ideas are bulletproof. Today those cracks are wide open. Today those cracks brought down the walls of the regime prisons. Today we witness a new Syria.

This should be a time of joy, of celebration. But it is also a time of action. We can’t stop now. We need to go further. Authoritarian forces are already climbing the ladders of power, aiming to crown themselves as the new rulers. The revolution is not over. This is just the beginning. A new beginning.

A new beginning also needs a new road map, a new direction to continue moving forward. We want to move forward together. For that, we first need to find each other, to recognize each other, to orient each other in these new coordinates. Brother, sister, friend, comrade! Let’s march together!

Difficult is the path ahead of us, but today let’s celebrate our victories. And let’s do it in the memory of those who can not celebrate with us, because it is also thanks to their sacrifice, thanks to their struggle, that we are here today.

This is a call, a call to remember, a call to struggle. Omar Aziz has been an inspiration for many of us, and his legacy is alive.

This February 16th, on the 12 anniversary of his death from the brutal prisons of the regime, let’s celebrate life and let’s celebrate revolution. And let’s fight. Because nothing less than a fight like hell for Syria will suffice!

Omar Aziz told his friends: “If the revolution fails, my life and that of my whole generation would be devoid of meaning…all that we have dreamt of and believed in would have been mere illusion.”

He passed away before seeing the triumph of the revolution and reaping the fruits of his majestic work. Syrians who are still alive owe Omar Aziz and the tens of thousands of Syrian martyrs a massive debt. It is a debt that cannot be paid with tears and moving tributes. Nothing less than fighting like hell for a free Syria would suffice.

If you want to organize and event for February 16th you can contact us to coordinate and work together! Promotional and graphic materials can be found here.

If you want to learn more about the life and work of Omar Aziz, here there is a good article from Leila al Shami, here an excellent summary from Javier Sethness with more links and references.

Welcome back to The Beautiful Idea, a new project from a collective of several anarchist and autonomous media producers scattered around the world. We’re bringing you interviews and stories from the front-lines of autonomous social movements and struggles, as well as original commentary and analysis.

On today’s show we feature our Behind the Barricades roundup of movement news, events, and updates. We then speak with Autumn from Nor Cal Resist, about the looming threat of mass deportations and then look at the attempt by the incoming Trump administration to consolidate executive power. We then sit down with a member of the Black Rose Anarchist Federation in Los Angeles, to talk about the unfolding ecological disaster in Southern California and how mutual aid groups are mobilizing.

Music: Seaside Tryst, Breakaway, Evolve “Reality Guerilla” and “Nightmares/Dreams,” and David Sandström “1968.”

Transcript Behind the Barricades News Roundup

In Smyrna, GA, “A small but dedicated group of protestors rallied [outside] the headquarters of Brasfield & Gorrie, the general contractor responsible for [building] #CopCity,” demanding that they drop the contract.

The Seattle Solidarity Network continues to hold demonstrations outside of a local restaurant in protest of wage theft and to demand back wages.

The Montreal Autonomous Tenants Union reported on a recent action outside a landlord’s home, reporting “On Friday December 6th, the Montreal Autonomous Tenants’ Union (SLAM) came together in the north of Montreal to pay a collective visit to a landlord’s extravagant water front property. We gathered in support of a fellow tenant who [became] unhoused after the city condemned her apartment.

The wealth of landlords is built with the wages we are forced to give up to remain housed. This wealth was on full display as SLAM members set up our banners in front of the landlord’s home, and took to singing and chanting.

Picket lines like these are a demonstration of power, tidings to the landlord’s neighbourhood, and a message that this tenant isn’t in this fight alone anymore. Power needs to change hands. Protests at our landlords’ homes – especially if they become common and second nature – go a long way in cementing the beginning of a shift in power.”

In Tacoma, WA, members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) joined La Resistencia as part of a “Car brigade action at the Northwest Detention Center…in support of the Abolish Prison Slavery week of Solidarity called on… by Jailhouse Lawyers Speak.” Hunger strike actions remain ongoing inside the facility.

In Montreal, The Anti-Eviction Brigade…carried out a leaflet display in front of [a real estate speculator’s] office…[who is]…famous for his eviction practices…he has made a specialty of targeting homes inhabited by vulnerable people, pushing them to leave through harrassment and threats, then renovating and drastically increasing prices. “The homelessness, the broken lives, the suicides. All these slices of life that are just stories for some. For us, communists, anarchists, inhabitants of the working class neighborhoods, we experience the sufferering of our class, brothers and sisters in our flesh. Anyone capable of the minumum of empathy should do the same. Owners, even the worst of you are covered by the political system that absolves itself of all responsibility. You are protected by the bourgeois justice of the TAL and the cops are your armed wing. We will not beg anymore, we will do everything possible to prevent you from harming ours at 4750 Ontario or elsewhere. War on landlords!”

Also in Montreal, the IWW mobilized to support postal workers on strike. Local Wobblies reported, “IWW members [gathered to] help our striking comrades from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) to blockade [a] sorting plant… The line of stalled trucks was impressive!…inter-union solidarity is one of the best weapons of the workers’ movement.”

Pro-choice activists in Florida are dealing with repression after facing charges for writing graffiti on an anti-choice center.

As the Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC) wrote:

Florida politicians, federal prosecutors, and anti-choice religious extremists… sought to use the FACE Act for the first time against pro-choice activists for very minor criminal mischief (graffiti).

The FACE Act (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) was enacted in 1994 to protect doctors and patients from the upwelling of murder, fire-bombings, and violent assaults perpetrated by the violent anti-choice/religious extremist movement during the 80’s and 90’s. The four reproductive rights activists in the Florida case were federally prosecuted for spray-painting the outside of three “crisis pregnancy centers” (fake “clinics”) in Florida in June 2022, following the Dobbs decision and the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The Florida Attorney General and one of the fake clinics also filed separate federal civil lawsuits against the four, alleging civil RICO and FACE Act violations; fortunately, we were able to get those two civil lawsuits dismissed.

Amber Smith-Stewart and Annarella Rivera were both sentenced to 30 days in federal custody and 60 days of house arrest; Caleb Freestone was sentenced to a year and a day in prison; and Gabriela Oropesa was just convicted after going to trial and will be sentenced in March 2025. The four remained steadfast to their political ideologies, non-cooperation, and solidarity with each other and their communities, despite the fact that their extreme prosecutions were unexpected in severity.

Follow South Florida Anarchist Black Cross and Ft. Lauderdale Food not Bombs for more updates and ways to support prisoners.

In New York, on December 12th, “NYU students and professors were arrested after they bound themselves together and blocked the school’s library in Lower Manhattan during a pro-Palestine protest,” demanding divestment from Israel.

In New Jersey, on December 14th, “Protestors [marched] on…City Hall following revelations that the logistics giant Maersk has been shipping thousands of tons of military cargo to the Israeli regime from the Port of Elizabeth, NJ.

Pro-Palestinian protesters wrote, “The people will forever stand against war profiteering, we have the power to take action and enforce a people’s arms embargo against war mongers and weapons companies. Join us in the streets of Jersey City to send a clear message to Maersk that the mask is off, they have been exposed, and we will not stand for it!”

In Emeryville, CA in the bay area of California, a communique claimed responsibility for vandalizing an office belonging to Maersk over it’s role in helping to carry out the ongoing genocide in Palestine.

An anonymous report posted to Indybay stated:

The night of December 8th, we attacked Maersk’s Emeryville office because they are merchants of death…They ship military cargo for the Zionist entity to use in their genocide of Palestinians. This includes parts for the F-35 jets bombing Gaza right now. We did this autonomously, in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance…Workers like us have no military to defend our interests or stop this genocide. This is because the merchants of death, like Maersk and United Healthcare, control the state. They grow rich on our taxes and suffering, while we fight to pay for basic needs. Every bomb dropped makes them richer, and us poorer.

If the government will not stop arming Israel, then regular working people will…We call on you to join us. The veins of imperial capitalism are open, fragile, and poorly guarded. Their supply lines of death can be choked.

As Unicorn Riot reported:

The parents of slain forest defender Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Paez Terán [have] filed a civil rights lawsuit against three Georgia law enforcement officers they say are most responsible for the death of their child in January 2023.

Nearly two years after police killed Terán, and a year after the state refused to bring charges against any of the state troopers responsible, Tortuguita’s parents are still seeking answers and accountability for the death of their 26-year-old child.

Tortuguita’s mother and father, are suing Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Ryan Long as well as Georgia State Patrol troopers Mark Lamb and Bryland Myers in federal court claiming that the raid that led to their child’s killing violated Tortuguita’s civil rights.

Tortuguita’s family still hasn’t gotten clarity on the circumstances surrounding their child’s death nearly two years after the fatal shooting.

Lawyers…representing the family, hope that the civil suit will uncover some of the yet unknown details of the raid that ended in police killing the forest defender. Calls for an independent investigation into the shooting rose in the immediate aftermath of the killing. While the family was able to secure an independent autopsy, to date there hasn’t been an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding Tort’s killing.

In Pittsburgh, “protesters gathered in front of Mayor Ed Gainey’s home…demonstrating against an increased crackdown on homeless encampments…Over the course of about an hour, protesters chanted “No housing, no peace!” and banged on drums and noisemakers in the street in front of the home. They bore signs that read “Sweeps Solve Nothing” while denouncing Gainey’s “war on the poor.”

Workers at Starbucks and Amazon carried out strikes during the holiday season, facing arrests from police outside of Amazon facilities in New York.

In Chicago, “Organizers outraged by the recent decision to drop charges brought against a…police officer accused of beating…a 17-year-old in 2022 picketed the Cook County state attorney’s office in downtown Chicago…”

On New Year’s Eve, noise demos outside of jails and prisons were held across the US and beyond in several dozen cities. For a full roundup, check out It’s Going Down.

In Knoxville, TN, high school students protested the police killing of their 18 year-old classmate by three sheriff deputies. Protesters demanded the “release of any police videos of the encounter… and demonstrated outside a Knoxville City Council meeting. Councilmembers voted to approve an expansion of police surveillance cameras and monitoring in the city, part of a $27.5 million dollar contract with Axon Enterprises.”

In San Francisco, CA, BDS and queer activists held a demonstration which shut down part of Market Street and held a picket outside of a Chevron gas station. According to Indybay.org, “The rally for Palestine and BDS began at the intersection of Market and Castro Streets. After some speeches and slogans the crowd crossed the street to the Chevron Station. Chevron Oil maintains an oil platform off the Gaza cost and supplies oil to Israel’s military as it perpetrates the Gaza genocide.”

Pittsburgh activists Peppy and Krystal, who faced charges stemming from a protest against a far-Right anti queer speaker on a college campus, have been sentenced, with Peppy receiving 5 years in prison and Krystal three years probation.
As the Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC) wrote:

When a married couple, Krystal and Brian “Peppy” DiPippa, amongst an estimated 250 community members, protested the transphobes on the Pitt campus, the State alleged that one of them had lit two homemade smoke devices and a commercially available firework…what would normally have been a State misdemeanor charge became a major federal investigation, under the pretense that a “civil disorder” had occurred. The investigation included a raid of the defendants’ home by the ATF, FBI, and state and local police, resulting in a large seizure of computer equipment.

Peppy…has remained incarcerated without bail to this day, and faced a sentence of over a decade in federal custody. Krystal, although not charged with the explosives felony, could have received an equal sentence to Peppy based on the conspiracy…The police had previously executed a warrantless search of the couple’s garbage, where they found printed information discussing the Atlanta “Stop Cop City” campaign, as well as other “anarchist” zines. The seizure of these items as “evidence” points to an overtly politically motivated use of the “civil disorder” statute, in an attempt to not only scare rank and file activists into submission by fear of spending decades in prison, but also to send a clear message that prosecutors and judges are willing to highlight political beliefs to keep activists confined pre-trial without options for bail. The judge in this case cited “sentiments supporting anarchism” as his justification for keeping Mr. DiPippa locked up.

Check out show notes for more info on how to support Peppy and Krystal.

As this episode was being recorded, horrific fires, fueled by climate change, broke-out in Southern California, with tens of thousands of people being forced to evacuate. Please listen to our interview later in the show for more info and check out Mutual Aid Disaster Relief and local groups like the Mutual Aid Los Angeles Network and the LA Tenants Union for ways to plug into local mutual aid responses.

Upcoming Events

• January 18th: ‘Festivals of Resistance’ events across the US. More info here.
• February 1st: Austin Anarchist Bookfair. Austin, TX. More info here.
• February 28th – March 2nd: Florida Abolitionist Gathering. Gainesville, FL. More info here.
• April 5th: Houston Anarchist Bookfair. Houston, TX. More info here.
• May 15th – 21st: Constellation Anarchist Festival. Montreal, QC. More info here.
• June 7th: Inland Empire Anarchist Bookfair. San Bernardino, CA. More info here.

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks for listening to today’s episode of The Beautiful Idea, news and analysis from the front-lines of anarchist and autonomous struggles everywhere. Catch you next time.

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Photo by Brian Wangenheim on Unsplash

Grassroots journalist Alissa Azar reports on the unfolding ecological disaster in Los Angeles and how mutual aid groups are mobilizing in response.

On Tuesday, January 7th, people in Los Angeles County, California began receiving a high wind advisory and risk of fire notice. Come nightfall, heavy winds were underway and several fires had broken out, engulfing the city of LA in the worst disaster the city’s history. The fires became so intense that the freeways were lined up with abandoned cars stretched out for miles after people left their vehicles to flee. The city ordered mass evacuations, and thousands of Californians were displaced from their homes within hours.

Almost immediately, hundreds of individuals began to coordinate a massive city-wide mutual aid effort. People began circulating evacuation information, gathering food, water, toiletries, personal protection equipment, medications, bedding, and other essentials. The mutual aid networks stepping forward during this crisis include medics and therapists offering medical assistance and mental health care to people displaced by the fires. Individual community members have also been taking similar initiatives to support their communities. On Friday January 10th, a local man from Altadena set up an impromptu supply distribution center at a closed gas station, which he kept open despite implementation of a curfew and the deployment of the National Guard.

Final upload of the night, some incredible mutual aid from across the Pasadena / Altadena evac zone, just before curfew.

— Mel Buer (@melbuer.bsky.social) 2025-01-12T04:28:37.048Z

“We are also building free clothing stores, so those displaced can go in and choose their clothing in an environment that is more like shopping as opposed to an emergency,” someone organizing with LA Fire Mutual Aid said, adding that it also makes it easier to find people’s sizes and exact needs. Others have been making rounds to resource free community fridges in the area and ensuring people have access to evacuation and emergency supplies.

Negligent City Response and Failures of Capitalism

While individuals from the city and local counties began opening up evacuation shelters, it quickly became clear that they were woefully unprepared for a disaster of this scale. On Tuesday, Los Angeles Fire Department put all firefighters on standby as all hands were needed on deck. For the first time in two decades, a request like this was made as gusty Santa Ana winds carried the flames throughout a dry landscape. While this unfolding catastrophe was fueled directly by climate change, it was also certainly exasperated by capitalism and greed from the ruling class.

In June of 2024, LA Mayor Karen Bass signed and adopted a $12.8 billion budget that cut the fire department’s funding by more than $17.5 million, while also increasing the police budget by $126 million. On December 4th, the LAFD Fire Chief submitted a memo to the Board of Fire Commissioners stating, “Los Angeles City Fire Department (LAFD) is facing unprecedented operational challenges due to the elimination of critical civilian positions and a $7 million reduction in Overtime Variable Staffing Hours (V-Hours). […] The reduction has severely limited the Department’s capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires, earthquakes, hazardous material incidents, and large public events.”

The LA fires are yet another example of how the disproportionate amount of funding the city uses for their nauseatingly bloated and ineffective police force, works against meeting the immediate needs of the people. Much of the police budget doesn’t even go towards services for Angelenos, but rather towards legal proceedings and millions of dollars in lawsuits, further costing the city and its residents money that would invaluably be spent on other departments people could actually benefit from. Jose Herrera with CALÓ News reported that “Los Angeles has committed more than $183 million for liability claims just four months into the 2024-25 fiscal year, with two of the biggest sources of liability settlements resulting from the LAPD and failing infrastructure, according to City Controller Kenneth Mejia.”

Faced with the erratic and negligent response of the city and county’s various institutions, the communities of LA were left to take matters into their own hands, and that is exactly what they have been doing through pop-up mutual aid networks and collaborative care. While Angelenos have responded to the current crisis with mutual aid and support, the county and state agencies have responded with violence. Since the fires broke out, there have been several reports of sweeps of houseless encampments, ongoing ICE raids, increased police surveillance and profiling, prioritization of aid for the rich, detainment of people attempting to retrieve things from their homes, and the ticketing people for distributing food and supplies.

On Tuesday, Border Patrol began unannounced raids in Bakersfield, CA, as the fires intensified and evacuations accelerated in LA. CalMatters reported that this “appears to be the first large-scale Border Patrol raid in California since the election of Donald Trump, coming just a day after Congress certified the election on January 6, in the final days of Joe Biden’s presidency. The panic and confusion, for both immigrants and local businesses that rely on their labor, foreshadow what awaits communities across California if Trump follows through on his promise to conduct mass deportations.” Kern county resident Antonio De Loera-Brust expressed that these raids are “provoking intense anxiety and a lot of fear in the community.” On social media, Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol chief in El Centro, called the sweeps “Operation Return to Sender.” He went on to say they are planning other similar operations around the state, including Fresno and Sacramento.

By Thursday, Governor Gavin Newsom deployed the California National Guard to support efforts by law enforcement to prevent “looting.” The National Guard and local police forces have been stationed in evacuated neighborhoods and at various “safety check points.” Several evacuees have been detained for attempting to return to their homes. An individual working with mutual aid groups in LA shared that when they went to check on their home, themselves and their Black neighbors were harassed by the police as affluent white people were able to pass through with no issues.

The Sidewalk Project reported that one of their team members witnessed a Santa Monica police officer arrest a queer, autistic houseless man who was trying to retrieve his personal belongings before fleeing to safety. “They told people passing by that he was being arrested for starting fires.” Despite reports that the City would be winding down deadly sweeps of houseless community members during this devastating catastrophe, there have been several reports of camps in LA continuing to be swept regardless – leaving people who already have so little with nowhere to go and their belongings taken and destroyed.

While some of the wealthy Californians who have been displaced are paying over $1,000 a night for hotel rooms, thousands of others are being displaced. Before the fires, there were over 75,000 people in LA County alone experiencing houselessness. Come Wednesday, the City said that it had offered a mere 60 hotel vouchers for unhoused folks to use for shelter in order to escape the smoke and all its hazards. In addition to the more than 75,000 houseless people in LA, over 100,000 Los Angeles County residents are currently under evacuation orders, and more than 87,000 residents under evacuation warnings.

As headlines are dominated by mansions worth tens of millions of dollars burned to the ground and a plead for sympathy toward the rich and famous, some of the oldest Black neighborhoods in the region have been reduced to nothing but ash. The Eaton Fire destroyed neighborhoods in Altadena and Pasadena, burning more than 10,600 acres. These fires are dis-proportionally impacting working class families and marginalized communities, including many Black residents who have deep roots in Altadena. Hundreds of Black families have created GoFundMes after people lost homes that have been in their families for generations. The first victim identified from the fires was Victor Shaw, a 66-year-old Black man who died with a garden hose still in his hand as he attempted to preserve his home that had been in his family for 55 years. Yesha Callahan released a report on Altadena, expressing how the area “has long served as a refuge for Black families seeking asylum from systemic racism, a sanctuary where they can thrive. The Great Migration, a movement in the early 20th century, where many African Americans moved west to escape the Jim Crow South. Altadena’s open-spaces and relative affordability compared with neighboring Pasadena, made it an attractive destination. By the 1920s and 1930s, a thriving Black community had taken root and flourished, overcoming redlining and restrictive housing covenants, to create a rich cultural and social network.”

These fires across LA could impact some of the most marginalized communities for years to come. Thousands of working class people have lost not only their homes, but their jobs as well, all in a matter of days. In the wake of the slain UnitedHealth Group CEO that has made insurance companies a non-stop topic of discussion as of late, we are shown once again the predatory nature of the insurance industry. Under capitalism, the insurance industry is an inherently predatory racket. It directly incentivizes profit over the well-being of those seeking, often, life saving coverage.

Between 2020-2022, several insurance companies have canceled 2.8 million customers insurance policies across the state of California, including 531,000 policies in LA County. People were already turning to state run insurance before the fires as they struggle to keep up with rising property tax rates. Capital B reported that “over the past four years, most major property insurance companies have stopped offering coverage in the city, and older homeowners have faced difficulties affording rising property taxes. The situation has left residents turning to California’s basic state-run insurance plan with funding challenges. The agency said last year that a major disaster like this would threaten to run the agency dry.”

Mutual Aid and Community Response

Time and time again, we see how our society is structured around and prioritizes capital. How it values conquest over conservation, and expansion over existence. The hyper-individualistic nature of our society is rooted in capitalism. Instead of seeking to mend our wounds, the ruling class exploits our pain and uses our blood to turn a profit. Take the Resnicks for example, a California family who owns almost all the water in California after they quietly seized control of the public water supply in 1994. Now, their company uses 150 billion gallons of water a year, while the working class suffers drought conditions and their company supports the territorial expansion that has turned the landscape in Palestine into an environmental catastrophe. This affluent family is just one of many contributing to the climate crisis caused by decades of unchecked corporate greed.

As Ahmad Ibsais wrote on Mondoweiss, “The fire consuming the Palisades isn’t just a California wildfire – it’s a mirror reflecting a global crisis of connected catastrophes.” Whether it be snow storms, hurricanes, wildfires, or any other large scale disaster, it’s no wonder that people turn to their neighbors for support when their government, that values money and power over human lives, inevitably fails them. Individualism conditions us to believe that we have to go through these situations all on our own. Between climate change, the pandemic, the economic crisis that is increasingly exasperated by all of these things, we see more and more people turning to mutual aid networks. Take Hurricane Helene for example, where mutual aid efforts kept thousands of people safe and alive. In a report published by It’s Going Down, Firestorm, an anarchist community center and cooperative in North Carolina assisting in mutual aid efforts during the hurricane, stated “our community is experiencing an ongoing crisis created by infrastructural collapse and the profound failure of capitalism to value and sustain life. No state or federal aid has yet reached Asheville, but all around us we’re seeing regular people acting autonomously to address immediate needs and meet one another with care.”

These crises expose systemic inequalities that are deeply rooted in our infrastructures. And while mutual aid is often an exchange of goods and/or services, it is symbiotic. In the wake of the COVID pandemic, “mutual aid” has been used more frequently by the mainstream. Co-optation was inevitable. Even law enforcement uses the term “mutual aid” to refer to police assistance and exchange of resources from neighboring counties. But mutual aid is not just another word for “charity.” In fact, these two things couldn’t be more different. Mutual aid does indeed provide to those in need, but importantly, it also seeks to tackle and destroy the structures of inequality that created these disparities in the first place. Mutual aid is the community taking care of the community. It seeks to destroy the power dynamics that exist in institutionalized aid distribution and general support. Sometimes it’s physical items, sometimes it’s emotional labor; it comes in all forms and shapes. But to put it simply, you give what you can, and you take what you need.

Many people who organize these initiatives are well versed from various efforts of disaster response, as well as violence perpetrated by the city on its own most marginalized inhabitants. The affinity groups and networks of people who have emerged consistently to advocate for various things, such as sweeps of houseless encampments, support for protestors wrongly arrested for advocating an end to the genocide in Gaza, showing up in solidarity to disrupt ICE raids along with a multitude of other causes – once again prove their mettle and commitment to community care during the worst large scale disaster in Los Angeles. And if this level of community care can be achieved during a catastrophe and fighting through the repression of grief, imagine what we can achieve in our communities on a regular day.

Similar to the pandemic initiatives that operated very much as a charity, with all the official legislation and bureaucracy that entails, such as background checks and food-hygiene certificates, we are seeing the same thing happening in LA. For example, the largest Red Cross-run shelter has been turning away all donations, and will not take food that is not food-safe verified. Food trucks in Pasadena were turned away from serving their community because they only had permits for other cities. Law enforcement has also been spotted at distribution centers harassing community members and policing how many items people could take, despite an abundance of supplies.

No One is Coming to Safe Us But Ourselves

The term “mutual aid” was coined by anarchist philosopher Peter Kropotkin. In his writing he explains that survival and evolution of the human race depends on us working together. His writing considers the importance of mutual aid for prosperity and survival and explores its functions in the animal kingdom, Indigenous communities, the labor movement, impoverished communities, and more. As Moya K. Mason wrote, “Kropotkin’s most famous book, Mutual Aid, maintains that cooperation within a species has been an historical factor in the development of social institutions, and in fact, that the avoidance of competition greatly increases the chances of survival and raises the quality of life. He contended that mutual aid is a factor that is both biological and voluntary in nature, and is an enabler of progressive evolution. Without it, life as we know it could not exist. This can be also seen in the animal kingdom. Horses and deer unite to protect each from their foe, wolves and lions gather to hunt, while bees and ants work together in many different ways. Kropotkin said that mutual support is an established fact within the feathered world, with eagles, pelicans, vultures, sparrows, and other fowl, collectively searching for and sharing food. Some species of birds even gather together at the end of the day to sleep.”

If you are looking for ways to support those impacted by the ongoing fires in the #LosAngeles area, please check out and support the Mutual Aid Los Angeles Network (MALAN). Check out their site here for updates and more info: mutualaidla.org

— It's Going Down (@igd.bsky.social) 2025-01-08T22:22:55.450Z

Therefore, mutual aid is necessary for transformative change. Refusal to accept the hyper-individualistic society that our oppressors have insisted is what is natural helps us return to our roots and resist all forms of capitalist and state violence. If community and working together is what is needed for us to survive, then working together and community is inherently an act of rebellion against the ruling class. An attempt to quell the literal and metaphoric fires raging around us by means of the very institutions that wounded our planet is a fools errand. As Margaret Killjoy said, “nothing seems possible until people make it possible by means of direct action – then it seems inevitable.”

As we hit more and more record breaking temperatures across the globe and climate catastrophe becomes more common, it is imperative that we heed Mother Earth’s calls and return to our roots. To each other. It is far past time that we begin responding. As Earth bleeds, nature screams against the capitalist institutions that seek to destroy it. Against the supremely individualistic society that is the United States, holding us back from collective care and liberation. As our blood seeps through the cracks of the current system we’re forced to participate in, our exploitation is clearer than ever. The burden of truth has always been our responsibility, and as painful as it is, we have to keep going. We can’t allow ourselves to continue to be exploited as they continue to profit off the destruction of our lives, our homes, and our planet. Whether climate catastrophe or state violence and repression, it is up to us to assess how we move forward and equip ourselves to take care of each other and our communities. And that is exactly what Angelenos are doing.

Mutual Aid Resources:

• Mutual Aid Los Angeles Network
• The Sidewalk Project
• Ktown for All
• LA Community Fridges
• Mutual Aid Disaster Relief
• Los Angeles Tenants Union
• Frontline Medics
• LA Fire Aid Resources

Hundreds of people are mobilizing in protest of raids by ICE in an operation termed, “Return to Sender,” which targeted several working-class communities across the Central Valley of California. ABC News reported that at least “78 undocumented migrants were detained by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents across Kern and Fresno Counties last week” although other reports put the number of arrests at around 200.

Border Patrol has stated they have targeted individuals involved in drug and human trafficking and “are not targeting local farms or fieldworkers,” writing on social media they were going after “bad people and bad things in Bakersfield,” while promising future operations in Fresno and Sacramento, the capitol of California. Locals on the ground, labor unions, and activist groups have rejected these claims however, stating that authorities have specifically targeted hard-working community members through racial profiling, “targeting anyone that’s Brown.”

Sign at protest in Bakersfield, CA.

The United Farm Workers (UFW) labor union stated that ICE had “randomly detained [farm-workers] while traveling home from work.” They went on to state that, “UFW union members are among those detained while traveling home from work yesterday in Kern County, CA. We are providing them and their families with support. Random actions like this are not meant to keep anyone safe; they are intended to terrorize hardworking people.”

A report from Cal-Matters wrote:

The Border Patrol conducted unannounced raids throughout Bakersfield on Tuesday, descending on businesses where day laborers and field workers gather. Agents in unmarked SUVs rounded up people in vans outside a Home Depot and gas station that serves a breakfast popular with field workers.

“It was profiling, it was purely field workers,” said Sara Fuentes, store manager of the local gas station. Fuentes said that at 9 a.m., when the store typically gets a rush of workers on their way to pick oranges, two men in civilian clothes and unmarked Suburbans started detaining people outside the store. “They didn’t stop people with FedEx uniforms, they were stopping people who looked like they worked in the fields.” Fuentes says one customer pulled in just to pump gas and agents approached him and detained him.

Fuentes has lived in Bakersfield all her life and says she’s never seen anything like it. In one instance, she said a man and woman drove up to the store together, and the man went inside. Border Patrol detained the man as he walked out, Fuentes said, and then demanded the woman get out of the vehicle. When she refused, another agency parked his vehicle behind the woman, blocking her car. Fuentes said it wasn’t until the local Univision station showed up that Border Patrol agents backed up their car and allowed the woman to leave.

Fuentes says none of the regular farm workers showed up to buy breakfast on Wednesday morning. “No field workers at all,” she said.

“They were stopping cars at random, asking people for papers. They were going to gas stations and Home Depot where day laborers gather,” said Antonio De Loera-Brust. “It’s provoking intense anxiety and a lot of fear in the community.”

The Fresno Bee reported that, “Immigration advocates [stated that] they’re hearing from families that their loved ones are located at the Golden State Annex Detention Center in Kern County as well as a detention in Imperial County near the U.S.-Mexico border.” The Golden State Annex has been the site of ongoing hunger and work strikes by detainees, in protest of unpaid labor and horrific conditions.

Large protests have quickly spread in response to the raids last week. In Bakersfield, “[s]everal hundred Kern County residents gathered at the corner of Ming Ave. and Wible Road to protest Border Patrol’s three-day operation.” The Rapid Response Network, a coalition of groups in the Bakersfield area, state that they will also continue to hold Know Your Rights trainings. One protester stated, “We’ve always been here, and we’re going to stand up for our students, our families, our workers. We stand by them and we’re not afraid. We’re not scared.”

The protests then spread to Fresno, one of the state’s largest cities, with hundreds rallying against the raids. One protester was quoted as stating, “We are not going to sit back anymore. All the youth, all these people that are here today and all these people across the country are going to fight back against deportation, against family separations, because enough has been enough.”

In 2006, massive student walkouts and wildcat strikes by immigrant workers beat back draconian anti-immigrant legislation. With the threat of mass deportations under Trump, the possibility of a new strike wave and growing protests is escalating.

photo: CVAction on Instagram

Long-running anarchist radio show and podcast The Final Straw speaks with a guest on state repression, trauma, and beyond.

This week, we’re featuring an anonymized chat with a longtime anarchist on lessons learned trying to stay sane while facing state repression. We talk about experiencing trauma, the need for strong relationships and movements offering shelter and strong alternatives to the alienated society of state and capital, while also speaking on the challenges of mental health and inviting in new participants in anarchist movement.

• Transcript
• PDF (Unimposed)
• Zine (Imposed PDF)

Chapters:

1. Introduction and Disclaimer [00:00:23]
2. Post-911/Patriot Act State of Heightened Repression and build up to today [00:02:29]
3. Navigating security amidst a post-social media and post-smart phone era [00:23:33]
4. Creating safer and more secure revolutionary communities that can better withstand the heat [00:31:02]
5. Recognizing and overcoming repression-based trauma on an individual and community level [00:40:02]
6. Supporting comrades overcoming mental health episodes (spiralling) amidst repression and burnout [01:09:13]
7. On infiltrators and the depths the state will go to inflict trauma, fish, and divide [01:15:57]
8. Recognizing the ‘severity’ of our position, and taking ourselves seriously [01:26:22]
9. Some tips on facing trauma or intimidation, or supporting others experiencing repression-related trauma [01:34:18]

Descending References and Resources List According to Interview: Green Scare Background

• Green Scare Intro and Article References https://cldc.org/green-scare/
• Mainstream Media Story (MSM Story): The Green Scare: How a Movement That Never Killed Anyone Became the FBI’s No. 1 Domestic Terrorism Threat https://theintercept.com/2019/03/23/ecoterrorism-fbi-animal-rights/
• TFSR Interviews:
  • Green Is The New Red with Will Potter: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2011/05/29/green-is-the-new-red-an-interview-with-will-potter-may-29-2011/
  • Eric McDavid after his release: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2015/04/13/a-chat-with-eric-mcdavid-on-prison-post-incarceration-hope-ice-cream-more/

Grand Juries

• CLDC: Grand Juries https://cldc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CLDC-GJ-PPT-2012.ppt_-2.pdf
• Surviving a Grand Jury: Three Narratives from Grand Jury Resisters https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/crimethinc-surviving-a-grand-jury
• People’s Law Office: The Improper Use of the Federal Grand Jury: An Instrument for the Internment of Political Activists https://peopleslawoffice.com/improper-use-of-federal-grand-jury-michael-deutsch-political-repression/
• Surviving a Grand Jury What it means to resist a grand jury; stories from those who have; how to support North Carolina grand jury resistance (PodCast) https://crimethinc.com/podcasts/the-ex-worker/episodes/59

Border Detention

• Crossing the United States Border A Security Guide for Citizens and Non-Citizens https://crimethinc.com/2020/01/28/crossing-the-united-states-border-a-security-guide-for-citizens-and-non-citizens

Police Visitation

• Center for Constitutional Rights: If An Agent Knocks Resource https://ccrjustice.org/if-agent-knocks-resource
• When the Police Knock on Your Door Your Rights and Options: A Legal Guide and Poster https://www.sproutdistro.com/2017/08/29/when-the-police-knock/
• If the FBI Approaches You to Become an Informant An FAQ: What You Need to Know https://crimethinc.com/2017/05/17/if-the-fbi-approaches-you-to-become-an-informant-an-faq-what-you-need-to-know
• National Lawyers Guild: If An Agent Knocks https://nlgsf.org/if-an-agent-knocks/

On Phone and Digital Security Culture

• Taking Ourselves Seriously: Digital Harm Reduction (PDF Format) https://www.notrace.how/resources//download/pairnontas-tis-eautous-mas-sobara-meiose-psephiakon-kindunon/taking-ourselves-seriously-digital-harm-reduction-booklet-A4.pdf
• Electronic Frontier Foundation: Mainstream Resource and Non-Profit Advocate for Digital Privacy https://www.eff.org/

Infiltration Cases:

• MSM Story on Mark Kennedy: How a Married Undercover Cop Having Sex With Activists Killed a Climate Movement https://anarchistnews.org/content/how-married-undercover-cop-having-sex-activists-killed-climate-movement
• TFSR interview on Spy Cops: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2020/11/29/uncovering-spy-cops-in-the-uk/
• MSM Story on Eric McDavid case: Manufacturing Terror: An FBI Informant Seduced Eric McDavid Into a Bomb Plot. Then the Government Lied About It. https://theintercept.com/2015/11/19/an-fbi-informant-seduced-eric-mcdavid-into-a-bomb-plot-then-the-government-lied-about-it/
• Earth First!: Informants List https://earthfirstjournal.news/informants/

Anti-Repression Resources:

• NYC Anarchist Black Cross https://nycabc.wordpress.com/
• Support Defendants & Prisoners From the George Floyd Uprisings https://uprisingsupport.org/further-resources/
• Anti-Repression, Supporting Uprising and Anarchist Prisoners https://thefinalstrawradio.libsyn.com/anti-repression-supporting-uprising-and-anarchist-prisoners
• A Tilted Guide to Being a Defendant (PDF Zine) https://files.libcom.org/files/atiltedguide-web-1.pdf

J20 Case

• Lessons from #DefendJ20 on Building Movement Defense Against Repression https://itsgoingdown.org/lessons-from-defendj20-on-building-movement-defense-against-repression/

Sobriety Discussion

• Sobriety and Anarchist Struggle (PDF Version) https://files.sproutdistro.com/towards_a_less_fucked_up_world-SCREEN.pdf

Mental Health/Trauma/Burn Out

• Survivors Manual: Surviving In Solitary (PDF) https://afsc.org/sites/default/files/documents/Survivors%20Manual_0.pdf
• Sub.Media: Redefining Sanity Through Struggle https://sub.media/trouble-17-mad-worlds/
• Conflictual Wisdom: On Burning Out and Anarchist Self-Preservation https://itsgoingdown.org/announcing-publication-conflictual-wisdom/
• Against the Struggle of the Coward: A Note of Strength for the Underdogs https://itsgoingdown.org/against-the-struggle-of-the-coward-a-note-of-strength-for-the-underdogs/
• Repression, Resiliency, & Movement Support: An Interview https://itsgoingdown.org/bloc-party-interview-repression-resiliency/
• Solidarity Apothecary (PodCast) https://solidarityapothecary.org/
• Broader Wellness Resources by Mutual Aid Disaster Relief https://mutualaiddisasterrelief.org/health-wellness/
• Trauma & Recovery Brochure (PDF) https://www.sproutdistro.com/catalog/zines/direct-action/actvist-trauma-recovery/
• Solidarity Is Greater Than Fear: Lessons from G20 to Stop Cop City (Youtube Link) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMObMCCgWjI
• A Life Worth Living: Care, Survival, Suicide, and Grief (Zine Resource on the Subjects) https://lizzieanderson.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/a-life-worth-living-print-final.pdf

Featured Track:

• Hold Onto Each Other by Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band from Horses In The Sky

Transcription

TFSR: Frequently, the show speaks about political repression, incarceration, and coping with these realities. In this chat, I was thinking we could talk about the apparatuses of repression, but also about the ways that they’re felt and how we might better be able to socially handle the blows. With that in mind, how would you like to introduce yourself for the audience to give context for this conversation, either by naming your generation or political tendency, country of origin, or movement that you’ve been involved in?

Guest: Well, I’ve been considering myself an anarchist for most of my life, and that’s influenced the projects I’ve worked on and the positions I’ve taken in my everyday life. And I suppose we’re going to be focusing on multiple subjects. I’m certainly not a trauma specialist in the institutional sense, but I consider myself a trauma specialist based on years of experience, unfortunately, with it.

I suppose beyond describing myself as an anarchist, I would say that I’ve experienced various intimidation, harassment, and captivity on certain levels as a result of my political position. I’m going to say that many have had it harder, some have had it easier. I’m only speaking about my experiences with repression that I’ve experienced personally, and how it’s affected me in the sense of both having to overcome and live with long-term trauma, as well as my broader understanding of the state repression apparatus when it comes to dealing with political dissent.

TFSR: So the period after September 11th, 2001 is often cited as the beginning of the war on terrorism, an international escalation of undeclared wars, coordination and policing actions by U.S. intelligence and military around the globe. Domestically, the counterintelligence and counter-terrorism ramped up to use this kind of framing in order to infiltrate, assault, and repress groups ranging from anti-war demonstrator to protesters of the decades-old Israeli genocide in Palestine, from eco-defenders to animal liberationists in what became known as the green scare of the early to mid-aughts, and of course Black people, people of Asian descent, Muslims and immigrants.

Could you talk a bit about chilling and the threats and harassment and persecution of this period, what changes you think that it marked from the decades before and some of the personal and social scars it was designed to leave?

Guest: Well, obviously, 9-11 was an opportunity for the state. I am not interested in conspiracy theories about it. What happened, happened, and as a result, the state used the day as an opportunity to further and advance its repressive apparatus.

Many have compared it to the Reichstag in Germany that the Nazis were able to use. I would say that’s a reasonable comparison in how the state used it to play out its long-term repression and further infiltrate revolutionary communities without having to do it in a more classic COINTELPRO sense, or to put it more simply, normalizing draconian and extreme oppression in a broader public light when people are unified as a result of fear. So I would say that 9-11, despite federal repression having been something that’s always been the case with the existence of the state and any forces opposing it, and specifically a continuation of post-war McCarthyism of the very institutional and prioritized approaches of dealing with left or anarchist-oriented subversion and opposition to the state. But, in continuation of that American tradition of draconian repression under such a facade, 9-11 really allowed for a sudden rush to normalize things. Obviously, people reference the Patriot Act. Obviously, people reference the global War On Terror allowing, essentially, genocide without question, war without question. And domestic repression and surveillance of anyone who did not jump on board of the institutional right-wing response to 9-11.

But in regards to some of the instances that you described, obviously, I’m not 100% sure because I don’t have the facts in front of me, but I remember shortly after 9-11, at least in the next few years, leading up to the Green Scare that you referenced, that the FBI actually referenced the Animal on Earth Liberation Front of the Number One Domestic Terrorist Organization. This was probably due to extreme funding that they had as a result of 9-11 going into militarizing domestic police forces,

But also needing a target that was visible and accessible to them as a result of that funding and the priority of what they would consider domestic extremism.

And obviously, prioritizing or considering a group that has never committed physical violence towards a human under the banner of Animal on Earth Liberation is a bit absurd, especially considering the various right-wing extremism that are far more violent consistently. But I would say that when that happened, it allowed for an escalation of repression and funding focused on making an example out of a group. I feel like there’s many things that could be said about it, but I feel that the Green Scare was an opportunity for this state to make an example of what they would consider people that are willing to take things to another level in terms of direct action or resistance and making it clear that such behavior will be dealt with the full extent of state resources and repression and consequences, regardless of there actually being anything beyond property violence.

It also basically normalized the sort of resource and funding and focus that 9-11 allowed American federal and military agencies to compare and normalize the comparison of Animal or Earth Liberation, people who are not hurting human beings and such groups abroad, such as Al-Qaeda or the Taliban. Essentially, generalizing the term terrorism and allowing repression to happen on a level that doesn’t take into consideration the specific motivations or the potential damage and violence of specific groups. All that who oppose the status quo of the state are considered essentially terrorists. But more specifically, there’s a couple other points that I’d want to make. One, it clearly allowed for the rushing of various laws that are having extreme impacts on people today. That made it clear that legal rights do not matter, that freedom of speech does not matter. These things are choices that can be taken away at any moment by the state. Obviously, that’s always been the case, but using the rationalizations that 9-11 offered the state made it very clear that the liberal notion of freedom of speech or rights is not something that applies to radical groups or people who are people who are actually looking to challenge the entirety of the current system.

In addition, I would also say that the state found Animal Liberation groups to be an extension of more radical ideas that they would compare to some anarchist groups at the time. And I feel like as a result of that extreme repression and making an example of multiple people and demonstrating the will that the state has to go after people for even objectively nonviolent crimes terrified the “radical environmental organizations” at the time who may have been on the periphery of the anarchist movement. So I would say that regardless of speculations or individuals’ will, there was a precedent and an example set with the Green Scare. And a level of repression of dealing with anarchists the same way that they would groups I referenced, such as al-Qaeda, which was obviously the most commonly referenced one at the time during 2001. Following this, the movement really had to reevaluate itself and understand risk ratio and the types of demonstrations of resistance and opposition and discontent that we should prioritize as anarchists.

And you saw this kind of dialogue and narrative turning from an appreciation of certain actions to more focus on the streets and kind of contributing to demonstrations and organizing that maybe would be seen as less extreme sorts of “dialogue” from a movement. And from this, though, the state clearly also saw that it actually did set an example and what you saw some years after you had, you know, prisoners such as Eric McDavid, Jeff Luers, Daniel McGowan, people who had their lives ostensibly turned upside down and were imprisoned in some cases with extreme right-wing terrorists as a result of nonviolent crimes. You had these examples set.

And then some years later, say, for example, in 2012, you had this transition from actually looking to punish to the full extent of the law alleged nonviolent crimes, but still perceivably extreme crimes based on the standards of the state or speaking about it from a justice system point of view, I suppose. And you had what may have been riots that were happening with an anarchist presence or an alleged anarchist contribution to escalation and looking to create a more significant voice that is heard, I suppose, to put it that way. And then regardless of this period and transition towards a more streets-focused organizing, you had a flurry of grand jury subpoenas in around 2012. They continue to this day, which essentially give the state the opportunity to force someone to present themselves without a lawyer, without the “rights” they’re given when they’re actually accused of a crime, because these grand jury subpoenas simply look to divide and break communities rather than actually punish people. This is because they’re also responding to people who are accused of associating or accused of being aware of non-extreme crimes.

In the specific case of 2012, where a lot of response was made by the state to May Day protests that happened in the Northwest, and there are many other examples since then. But in that case, you have essentially a low-level riot resulting in people facing long-term prison time for simply not cooperating. One, clearly the right to remain silent is another example of how anyone who is discussing or appreciating the notion of their rights is delusional and need to re-evaluate their faith in the current system or re-evaluate themselves in terms of their rejection of the current system. But two, you have an example of the state realizing that it cannot make the same examples that it did during the Green Scare due to the clearly drastic difference of intensity in action. So, considering all the loopholes it has of subpoenaing people to where the choice in that situation is either snitch or face nine months or face nine months in prison with a potential permanent repeat of nine months without any definitive conclusion, legally speaking. (However, in most cases, if someone is capable of demonstrating their complete refusal to cooperate, that should set a legal precedent for eventually being released because you are incarcerated in that position as an open and verbal tactic of the state saying, “we are punishing someone for not cooperating with us, for not snitching.”). But the legal specifics aside, it was a simple example of the state saying, “okay, we need to transition our approach and we need to figure out ways that we can divide people, terrify people, traumatize people, and also punish people without actually having the ability to charge them with a specific crime,” which is a very, very scary position for a movement to find itself in. It’s also very specific to the United States being one of the few countries in the world that still has grand juries.

Essentially, not only a matter of division, but shows how the state is able to engage in fixing expeditions to divide and conquer and also to test the will of people’s commitment because you do not have a lawyer, you’re not able to videotape what happens if you do go into the grand jury. So you’re in a position where you have to prove that you haven’t cooperated, that you haven’t betrayed the movement that you may associate yourself with. And you had multiple people that fell off or ended up going to jail for many months and were probably traumatized in the long term without actually committing a crime.

And this is something that’s continuing to happen to stay. That is one specific example of kind of a transition from the extreme oppression towards alleged more intense acts of resistance post 9-11 when it comes to the Animal and Earth Liberation movements. But you also highlight some of the ways that the state is able to traumatize and punish without actually having a charge against an individual or group.

TFSR: Yeah, thank you for that.

There’s also other examples that one could point to in that kind of interesting vein of approach that you’re describing, such as like: visibly tailing somebody or parking a cop car across the street

from someone’s house or a collective house or a project; making house visits, like messing with people’s mail; no-fly lists… And no-fly lists aren’t actually a court-ordered thing, it seems. Sometimes it’s just the government saying that we have the authority to say that this person is a danger without having to explain they’ve been convicted of this crime or whatever, right?

Guest: Well, once again, this is what I assume generally is an anarchist sympathetic podcast here, and I’ve described myself as an anarchist. Obviously, we don’t have a specific embassy to run to when it comes to our position in the world. So expecting any consideration for our quote-unquote rights with the legal system or the kind of classic expectation of cops respecting the rule of law, it’s very circumstantial and conditional. And they’re very aware that when people are knocking on your door, they are communicating that they know where you live, they’re communicating that they are thinking of you, they’re aware of how that will affect the rest of your day, potentially the rest of your week, potentially your relationship with your neighbors, potentially the relationship with your landlord, and so on and so on. And it’s a way for the state to use very simple loopholes against a movement that is also clearly not going to have the expectation that it will be protected by the same people who are coming to visit them, such as the Right might have, or more liberal activist scenes and so on. But it really shines a light how you can really face severe consequences and repression simply as a result of taking a position as an anarchist, simply a result of communicating your voice in terms of rejecting the current system and all the heinous things that play out as a result of it.

There are so many other examples beyond simply home visits, work visits. Work visits is obviously an even more immediately terrible one when it comes to affecting people’s lives and survival. No-fly lists: There’s no ability to actually find out why and no actual channel to challenge it. There is some precedent set by some challenges made towards the no-fly list, but in all reality, it simply is without explanation, without clarification, without a proper direct channel to challenge it. It simply happens without a crime committed and so on. Border checks would be another example. [You have] no rights at all when you’re at the border. Search-and-seizure rights, and so on, do not apply at the border. In terms of messing with mail, there’s so many instances of people… There are so many instances of that, without getting into a specific thing that I may have been aware of or have been terrified by. But it just simply shows how we have to take ourselves seriously simply as a result of having an anarchist position. It doesn’t matter at this point. What we need to understand is that we need to reject the liberal notion of rights and we need to recognize that our lives can be turned upside down and we can experience levels of oppression and consequences and ripple effects as a result of that without actually committing a crime, going through the legal process and ending up in jail. And there are so many examples of this.

I think one more example that is really relevant today, going back to the J-20 and looking at what’s going on in Atlanta right now with these RICO charges, those are two very famous instances. But there’s plenty of others, obviously. I’m citing those two simply because they’re so famous and when it’s currently happening. But many times the case, the state is able to fabricate cases and charges and even absurd blanket conspiracy charges towards large groups of people without any specific evidence or concrete reasonable evidence, even based on the state’s own standards of law, they’re capable of simply charging the group, forcing them to fear that their lives will be taken away forever. In many instances, at least in both cases of J-20 and Atlanta, for no actual real crimes being committed. And in addition to that, they can divide people, which unfortunately has happened in multiple cases such as this, and able to drag people through the courts for years on end, draining people’s resources, draining people’s mental health through the process, exhausting people, forcing people to be terrified of attending demonstrations, engaging in political projects of any kind, supporting prisoners, things that technically should not be an issue because of “rights.” But when you’re in that situation, obviously it’s going to have detrimental effects on your mental health and your strength and courage to engage in anything.

And also in many of these instances, the state also sets grounds of not being able to “associate” with people who maybe share your position or have shared a space with you prior to the charges or your politics. It’s just another concrete example of something that’s happening and really affecting people’s lives and has affected people’s lives. The state just strategically draining our resources, draining our health, with full awareness that they will not even, probably in some cases, hopefully in the case of Atlanta, to not result in people going to jail for years, not even being prosecuted with the expectation that they will get a conviction, solely prosecuting with the intention of traumatizing people and draining the resources of a movement, if that makes any sense.

TFSR: Yeah. It absolutely does.

For folks that maybe aren’t making the connection with the reference to 2012, after the beginning of the wars, the war in Iraq specifically, a lot of the militant street actions had fallen away around a lot of the United States. And I think that there was a renewed sense of interest in more radical expressions of opposition to the state after the uprising in Greece. And also you saw some of the sort of militant street actions manifested in 2009 with the popular response in the Bay Area to the killing of Oscar Grant. And so through participation in what would become known as the Black Lives Matter movement or an opposition to police murders, racist police murders in a lot of cases and through the Occupy period too. People became emboldened around this period of time in cities across the country to be more militant in street actions. It’s a really amazing period in history to have lived through.

I like to think that society’s technological and social developments are not always working at the same pace and that a healthful adoption of tool requires some degree of consensus, understanding of use, costs and benefits. In the U.S. context, the internet and mobile smartphones are major advances with which our social adoption is not keeping pace. This is clear through the ennui-producing apps and the too-much screen time, but also the ways that people underestimate the social and security concerns or misunderstand the security concerns of online communications and tracking.

As people engaged in opposition movements, I wonder if you could speak a bit about this, about the learning curves necessary for using these tools successfully and the problem of onboarding new, inexperienced people.

Guest: Well, I’ve probably said this ten times already and I don’t mind saying it more, but we should never have faith that our rights will be respected as anarchists. In addition to that, anarchists should reject the notion of rights because they can be taken away as we clearly saw with the period after 9-11 and in just so many instances. But in regards to specifically smartphones, I am not personally a tech person or very into phones on any level. I do very, very much appreciate the creation of Red Phone, which eventually became Signal as one example. Not because anyone should ever discuss anything that could be considered illegal on the phone or through a text message ever. I want to say that very specifically.

But simply as a result of having a controversial position such as being an anarchist, any information the state can gather on you, whether it’s fishing through juries or taking someone’s smartphone away during a random opportunistic stop or detention and seizing it. Authorites’re interested in anything they can get, whether it actually results in a crime conviction or simply allowing them more awareness of someone and their associations. But with that said, obviously, beyond Signal, we are also in a position where there is a coercion of smartphone technology. We don’t really have a choice if we, in many cases, want to be able to function and survive capitalism on a daily basis. And I’m meaning simply finding work, maintaining your job. it’s a requirement in many jobs across the board. And I would say, though, that the associations, the context, the conversations, you know, have made it so our movement has benefited circumstantially being in this world and being one more example of having to use the master’s tool to dismantle the master’s house, to be cliché for a moment. But the post-smart phone world has really, really created things to a scary level. For example, say you are just staying at a friend’s house and you are not accused or concerned of any crime, but you are just sleeping there. And the house is raided because of someone else in the house who’s allegedly accused of a crime or become the target of police. During that raid, everything in that house can be taken as search, whether you’ve had a relationship with the person who’s accused of a crime before that moment or not. Your phone will be brought in and seen as an opportunity for a fishing expedition. When you cross the border as a citizen or not, if you refuse to open your phone, they can seize it until they open it for you, regardless of being accused of a crime or not.

What we really need to be aware of is not only that we don’t have rights, but that we need to take everything seriously. Not only if it’s actually, not only things that could be seen as dangerous or controversial or allegedly related to a potential crime, but simply how we refer and how we talk about each other, the conversations that we have, the jokes that we make sometimes. Obviously, I’m not saying to completely limit ourselves, but we should be really embracing consistently options such as the disappearing messages, blocking our number on signal, and always making sure that we are really self-aware of hyperbole, really self-aware when we’re talking about others, using people’s names. Even if it’s simply talking shit about other people or praising other people or comparing, it’s really important that we understand that smartphones and the era we’re in now and the ability for the state to not only take them without legal precedent, such as being actually charged with a crime, but the state’s abilities to actually go into the depths of our phones when it comes to technology that we’re not even completely aware of is something that we should really take into consideration every time we use our smartphones, especially when communicating with other comrades or political individuals or in group chats. That’s another example. Group chats have, there have been instances where people who had their phone taken from them during an arrest or a raid, the group chats and everyone’s contacts in there was made public to the state.

But my bigger point is we essentially have a new snitch in our lives that we have to keep around and that is the smartphone, unfortunately. And we need to not only take ourselves seriously of everything we communicate, but we need to be aware that when we are crossing borders, when we are going to demonstrations, when we are staying in controversial houses, et cetera, et cetera, it’s really important that we consider that if our phone is taken right now, how much are we exposing other people? How much hyperbole or references have we made that could result in the state being excited about us or excited about looking further into something or so on and so on. So I’m saying that obviously you should have this standard all the time of never discussing anything that could be allegedly considered illegal ever. But also being aware that you essentially have a dry snitch situation all the time where if you’re not taking yourself seriously and you’re not conducting yourself with consideration to your own security and your comrade security when it comes to using your phone and when you have it out and when it’s open and where you bring it to, then you are essentially engaging on a certain level of dry snitching. I don’t suggest bringing a smartphone to a demonstration.

You know, it’s a new era. It’s one that fortunately I’m old enough to not have always had to subject myself to, but it is terrifying at times, but it’s just very important that we understand that we need to carry ourselves in a serious way and a consistent way and take ourselves seriously when it comes to our conversations and how we prioritize security, even if it seems like it’s comfortable, even if it’s legal behavior because legal behavior at this point should not constitute a lack of concern for not experiencing repression on some level.

TFSR: And so that answer sort of addresses a part of the social concern that I was trying to ask about in terms of how we maybe coordinate and organize or, you know, how we socialize through chat apps and I think that approaching the smartphones as an attack surface (to use like a hacker-y term) is helpful for thinking about what are the components of this device that we know of: what are the ways that it can track our movements, our associations, et cetera?

One thing, though, that I was hoping to hear your thoughts on is social media. At one point when I was becoming political in the early 2000s the Indymedia Network was around. And so there were websites where you could post an event, you could post an article and these websites networked with each other. Maybe there was some moderation concerning the nature of the posts and the contents but it was a place where you could learn about upcoming events, you could get critique of events, you could comment, you could add pictures from a protest if you wanted to. It was a spot that people could go and be sociable and exchange information and new people could get information on upcoming events. That I think is like a that sort of message board is a predecessor of social media as it stands now and it served a purpose because people have a need to not only like share information but also to, you know, express themselves socially and within movement.

Social media as it stands now realized this need was there and that there were ways to monetize it and also ways to get people addicted to it and feed off of the loneliness of our society and there’s back doors to all of these social media platforms that law enforcement take advantage of often without having to get any sort of, you know, document from a judge or whatever subpoena. And so we have this issue now where people join movements and they’ve been posting pretty carelessly throughout their life because they weren’t taking seriously the idea that they’re giving information to an attack surface.

And so I wonder if you have any thoughts about alienation, social media, and how we facilitate more safety in our movements around this. If this isn’t a helpful question then we can move on.

Guest: There’s a lot there.

I mean, first of all, I’ll just note it for the older listeners of the podcast, clearly social media is like a celebration of alienation. It has severe psychological consequences across the board, resulting in loneliness, isolation, lack of a learned ability of relating with people, insecurity, et cetera, et cetera. I find it to be a heinous thing when it comes to humanity. So that’s, you know, my perspective on it. I don’t see it as an inherently liberatory thing. I also don’t see the phone as a liberatory thing, obviously. But we are forced to use them in some ways. And there are approaches to it that make it potentially more safe, such as, you know, referencing Signal earlier and being very, very specific with how we communicate and consistent more than anything with how we communicate.

But in the situation of social media, obviously, it has elevated the voice of anarchists and anti-colonialists and, you know, abolitionist radical movements across the board in terms of getting their voice out without needing the sort of funding that usually goes to counter-revolutionary voices or, you know, liberal voices parading as radical ones that typically, you know, exist in the academic bubble, for example. Social media has given anarchists an opportunity to reach new heights of having their voice heard by other people that are discontent without consciously realizing what conditions and institutions and so on are potentially responsible for them.

On a level of what I would see specifically problematic in the anarchist movement when it comes to social media is a couple of things. One, of course, political projects that are putting themselves out on whichever platform, well, for one, clearly get banned and knocked off repeatedly if you look at Twitter, for example, or Instagram. Various projects get kicked off all the time while there’s extreme right-wing groups doing far more terrifying dialogue, but, you know, these projects are strategic. In all these cases, people need to make sure that they obviously,that their security is intact, that they’re not exposing themselves, that they’re not personalizing the account too much, that they are using the technology and means that allow them the privacy they need to communicate with less risk of doxing or even worse danger when it comes to state consequence. But those are political social media projects and obviously a useful tool for anarchists being able to reach new heights, having our ideas seen by discontent and people in this world. But on another level, personal accounts, maybe people need them. Maybe people need them because it’s hard to stay in touch with people.

Maybe people need them for whatever other personal reasons. But if you are living a life as an anarchist in this world, and once again, I’m saying a political position that does not have an embassy to go to, I would say that you need to take the same approach as I was describing earlier with the smartphone with your social media. I suppose it might be awkward if you are making an account and you’re adding your family members who maybe don’t share your politics or prior friends and students. Well, in that case, it’s very important that you potentially keep your opinions on some level to yourself. I hate to say that, but if you’re espousing for things that could be seen as extreme in the violence and publicly using your personal account, that is, I don’t think I even need to say to the person listening right now that that is simply stupid. And in addition to that, I also think that social media accounts being used for personal grievances towards other people, political differences, that is actually not only exposing our identities and potentially exposing the identity of someone else you maybe don’t agree with or have an issue with, maybe in some cases that person needs to be exposed, but I’m talking more specifically about arguments, shit talking, etc., based on a purely political level. You’re not only self-doxing your position, potentially doxing someone else’s position that you maybe don’t want something horrible to happen to you, simply disagree with. But they’re also exposing personal vulnerabilities in the movement that the state yearns to discover, hence all the fishing expeditions, all the calculated divisive judicial loopholes they find to traumatize and drag people through the mud with the intention of draining them of energy and resources so they cannot continue engaging in projects. Or they’re simply burnt out on their position and try to resort to apathy if it’s even possible.

But another thing that I would suggest, which I really, I am actually sad that I have to, but it should be kind of assumed that if you’re using a social media to stay with family and friends, it’s very important you keep that completely separate from your political life, you know, or at least be very subtle about your opinions. Or if you want to make it even more difficult for potential enemies, whether on the grassroots or institutional level, to not be able to expose you, to not be able to potentially use things against you if the time to use things against you is ever brought into your life by the state: you do not need to put your pictures out there, you do not need to open a social media account with a normal legal name. If you need to use a phone number or an email address, you can get a temporary phone number and it is worth it. If you need to use an email address, you can make one in minutes on multiple websites such as ProtonMail. There is really no reason unless it’s a matter of personal pride or desire to be seen that I think that people need to put their images out there, put their legal name out there, and release such personal information. And obviously there’s also other levels of, making sure you’re private, being very aware of who you add, and so on and so on.

But I think the biggest issue that I want to focus on beyond someone’s personal decisions is that airing grievances on social media platforms, communicating radical ideas when your face is there, when your IP address is there, when all of your friends are easily visible by simply clicking followers or whatever other thing is on whatever other social media app, I think that you are putting yourself in danger and you are putting others in danger. So you can make multiple accounts, you know, maybe it seems annoying, maybe it seems inconvenient, but there’s too many instances of people having their lives ruined in multiple ways by the state or by fascists or by, you know, unstable people who’ve been canceled or kicked out for the safety of the movement. Too many instances for people not to take the extra time to anonymize their accounts, to be more self-aware of their accounts, and to always approach social media with the same notion that you would with your phone, that “Am I communicating and saying something that could potentially be used against me?” And I suppose, I don’t know if that answered your question about social media.

TFSR: Oh yeah, no, that was really good. I was recently reading back through some of Ward Churchill and Vandermeer’s research on COINTELPRO from the, that was published in the 1980s, looking back on the Black Panther Party and AIM and other organizations that were organizing in the late 60s, early 70s, and the counterintelligence program of the FBI, like, so much of the action that they did was just to, to infiltrate, to watch for bad faith, fights between people, or possible leverage points of, like, romantic interest or jealousy or whatever, competing groups. I mean, getting Karanga’s group the United Slaves in Los Angeles to gun down Panthers on a consistent, regular basis is, like, pretty effective showing of how to do this. It’s pretty incredible and pretty sad, and that’s, people really are the weakest link in a lot of cases in these sorts of situations.

Guest: Absolutely. And COINTELPRO. I hate to even say it, because it’s like I said earlier at the start of this when I brought up 9-11. It’s another example of when you say this word and then people maybe start to dive into conspiracy theories or, you know, “Oh, the state, you know, acted so horribly.” No, COINTELPRO is a proven historical thing that the FBI did, and the things that you described show how fishing expeditions, how opportunism, how legal loopholes can result in detrimental consequences for political movements without actually putting people in prison. And the things that you’re referencing required an additional level of surveillance that was probably a little bit more complicated than simply people airing their grievances on their personal social media accounts or in group chats, et cetera, et cetera. You know, these that program, whether officially happening or not, is something that I’m certain has never stopped in terms of the FBI’s approach to dealing with subversive groups, specifically when it comes to anarchists. It has, I am certain, never changed. I don’t care if there is a specific end-all name for it, it is the normalized practice of the state. Especially now when they are constantly looking for the terror boogeyman as that, since they did post-2001, having this unprecedented terror attack by an alleged right-wing Islamic organizations such as Al-Qaeda, for example, and then immediately placing Animal and Earth Liberation Front group as the number one terror threat. This is, again, a group that has never caused physical violence to a human being and has made it a banner of their informal, decentralized, non-existent organization of whatever it was, to never do that, you know? So it’s like, I think that the thing that you referenced is something that has never stopped, but now when it comes to the state’s ability to find those vulnerabilities, those weaknesses, those divisions, and try to push them, it’s probably easier for them now than it ever has in history, you know?

TFSR: Yeah. They could just sit at their desk and just scrape social media for a lot of the beef that’s going on that’s unencrypted and just out there in the world, or they’re given a backdoor. Maybe the companies themselves give the same info that they’re giving to the advertisers to law enforcement agencies…

Guest: I mean, listen. It’s hard to say, obviously. But we can’t live in constant fear. However, I think that we just need to create a culture of security, not only for ourselves, but for our communities, and hold each other accountable for this. And I think that tolerating people airing grievances, people with loose lips, and I don’t only mean in the switching sense, I mean in the hyperbole sense, in the feeling like it’s reasonable to say drastically radical things in a public sphere with your face. We need to challenge that, not only because, for me, that is a liberal faith in the notion of your rights being respected by the state, which should be negated and rejected by every anarchist. Not only because that to me is a logical, political decision of an anarchist perspective, but also to help refine our strength and our security as a movement because we need to reevaluate our expectations of being safe once we’ve taken such a position.

But with that said, I absolutely think that people need to prioritize their battles and also, you know what, there are things that we can say in private to each other. There are things that maybe I disagree with, I have an issue with. Maybe it’s another political group that doesn’t share my exact aesthetics or narrative as an anarchist. Maybe it’s an analysis of a broader political event. We have such a small voice as anarchists. We have such a small voice because we don’t benefit any of the things that give funding to the big voices that we hear in this world. We are operating against all of the odds, minimal resources, and amidst the most insane repression that doesn’t necessarily get a lot of sympathy or even attention in the world due to mainstream media not being concerned with it, unless it’s serving a broader political point. But with that said, with such a small voice, we should be prioritizing recognizing our enemies, the institutions that cause the suffering that we are against, the institutions that repress us rather than our disagreement with so-and-so different political group or our disagreement with so-and-so person. I just think it’s a very immature and very honestly kind of petite-bourgeois approach to using your voice because it’s very insular. It’s not something that people outside of the so-called bubble of anarchist or radical politics are even going to understand. And from what I consider to be important with my position is that we want to be using our voices to communicate news, information, ideas, and revolutionary desires that are accessible to discontented people to help people to consciously recognize the conditions as possible for their discontent and to essentially also theoretically generalize tension and revolt. I think however that looks, I’m not saying specifically, but I’m saying that it’s not only humiliating of our movement, exposing vulnerabilities to the state, but it’s really kind of disrespecting the little voice that we have, you know?

TFSR: Yeah, for sure. So one purpose of repression, as noted before, is to intimidate and stress community members and our social bonds. At the same time, disagreements and dissonance is a part of any living movement and shouldn’t be avoided. I guess I’m kind of asking about what we’re talking about, but the ideal would be to channel it into helpful practice. Can you talk about what shortcomings you’ve seen in our community practices of support? What sorts of social practices do you see as adoptable to counter the state’s attempts to pit us against each other and ourselves? And how do we engage in principled conflict and disagreements with comrades without giving ammo to our enemies?

Guest: So I guess I can repeat that in a different way if you want. I mean, it’s a hard question that I’m certain I will not give a definitive answer to, and I don’t think that there is one answer to that. And I will also say, you know, I’ll repeat that I’m simply speaking from the experience that I’ve had. And also, I don’t want to give more ammo to the state that’s likely listening to this podcast.

But with that said, I think that I can speak a bit more in a broader sense so that people can interpret for themselves and maybe challenge themselves. One thing that I want to focus on is creating movements of support, infrastructure of support, to make it that we are worth the inconvenience, that movement is worth the time, if that makes sense. We are, instead of having a toxic, divisive community that’s prioritizing, bickering and political difference. And in some cases, maybe it’s important for growth and to challenge issues that present themselves. I’m not denying that whatsoever, but it’s also, you have so many cases, especially with younger people who join a movement and find themselves in a great deal of trouble. The state, once again, and in all of its cowardice, preys on people like this because they haven’t had the years and years of relationships and bonds and affinity that would make cooperation with them something that would not be worth continuing life after. You know? I believe that people who just join a movement, you know… One, there should be a constant reminder of the importance of creating a security culture, to use a term that I’m sure most people have heard before, but a priority of that culture. And two, evaluating ourselves and our dynamics with each other in terms of having a community and a movement that people are there, that you know have your back when you are facing the worst odds. I think that having that be the precedent for all of our decisions and how we approach both conflict and project and the positive and the negative… I think that having that as the standard of our approach, we will be a movement that is worth the time and as fucked up and as hard as that is to say because, you know, the circumstances can be terrifying. People face years the most threats traumatizing interrogation, opportunistic detention in the worst facilities, etc. There are so many scary things that a person faces in that moment, but I truly believe that we don’t really have very many, we don’t really have that many victories, you know. I mean, we’re engaged in a struggle that is not necessarily something that I see winning in our lifetime, but it’s a struggle that I personally, for myself, feel committed to because forfeiting my position would be essentially betraying not only myself, but all the people that I’ve created bonds with and affinity with, both political and not, who respect me for me taking an inconvenient route when it comes to not allowing myself to give in to accepting this horrible, horrible system of the state and capitalism, to put it simply. But this broader global catastrophe that we’re experiencing in the world today. If I was to be in a position where my commitments were tested, I feel that those people would go through my mind, the community that supports me would go through my mind. We have to have that consistent example set, especially when we are organizing with younger people, are supporting younger people. There needs to be the infrastructure that people know that people have their back. And people have their back not only when they’re already in jail, not only when they’re facing a charge, but when they get knocks on their door, when they get, you know, pulled aside at the airport, when they get their house is raided… When all these examples happen where people are affected and they’re overwhelmed, people need to know that their struggles are taken seriously by other people that share a deep level of solidarity with them because all we fucking have is solidarity. That’s it! I’m sorry, but that is for me one of our crucial victories. It is critical. And I, you know, when someone is in that situation, they need to know that cooperation with the state is not in their interest… And also in many cases, the state usually only is interrogating someone or putting something on someone because they don’t actually have what they need to resolve for crime. These are things that I’ve heard from lawyers, that it never benefits someone to talk or not talk. But in terms of cooperating plea deals, other snitcher rankings that people have, we need to set a precedent with our communities that make it so it’s not worth betraying it because it’s not worth continuing life because you are a shame and a coward to yourself.

And I think that we, it’s easier said than done. And I’m not coming from this “like, live, love, love” situation. Because when, when someone’s in that situation if they choose, especially a younger person or being one example, if they choose the “easy route” of cooperation and betrayal in that situation, facing the draconian face of the state (to the cynical viewer), obviously, no matter what: fuck them, fuck them! Wipe your hands clean, that’s another precedent that we should always have no consideration for, obviously. But, with that said, we also need to re-evaluate ourselves. We need to ask ourselves “Why aren’t we a movement that is worth the harder route? Why? Why is this person feeling that their betrayal is not worth the time, that’s not worth the inconvenience, that’s not worth overcoming the fear?” And I think that this is the sort of precedent that we need to set in all of our approaches, all of our arrangements. And I know, when I’m speaking really broadly and it’s easier said than done. Especially in the United States, a lot of people come to the political, you know, you or realization because they are maybe a strange person or just we’re maybe just a little crazy because, you know? You’ve got to be a little crazy to challenge the everyday life that’s imposed on us by the state and capitalism, the broader system of things. But, with that said, I believe that if we have this approach and we truly are constantly reminding ourselves of this, when times get hard and things get to that point, we can trust each other because we also have an infrastructure and community and way of organizing and relating to each other that is healthier and more supportive. And people know whether they’re in a cage or on trial or lost their job because someone knocked on their boss’s door, lost their home because the feds knocked on their door, can’t fly, you know, et cetera, et cetera, that people are going to be there, to take them seriously and support them any way they can, you know? And I really, really think that me just saying that I feel like this is one of the most critical things in terms of preserving our movement in the long term, keeping each other safe and keeping each other healthier is important. This is one of the biggest tactics that we have to counter the state’s divisive and opportunistic approaches to repression, especially when they’re not actually even trying to charge anyone or even expect to charge anyone with a crime. I think that if we take that precedent and prioritize that approach and evaluate ourselves, that in the longer term maybe our priorities of what we use our voices for, of how we relate with each other, and of how much we invest our passion and our little resources and our projects to setting infrastructure so people know that we have their back.

I’m not saying, you know, “worth the time”, but I’m saying that it’s not worth living to betray a movement that has had your back. And if someone does do that, that not only fuck them for the cynical reader, they should live in shame for the rest of their cowardly little life because they literally are abandoning a movement that had their back amidst, you know, the scariest of odds. And I just think that this is something we should constantly be reminding each other and ourselves, to challenge pride, to challenge competition, get rid of this garbage “emotional labor” nonsense, alienating terminology, get rid of that shit. No, it is labor in terms of supporting each other. There is no point, unless we have our solidarity, there’s no point to expect for our movement to be strong and resilient unless we are constantly making sure that we are there for each other. And challenging ourselves and challenging our conditioning when it comes to toxic behavior or lack of support or this, I don’t want to say selfishness, but being more concerned with someone’s pen name or reputation or so-and-so. These are not the things that are going to prevent people from having their lives ruined or choosing to abandon a movement, you know? And these are also the things that are going to not only prevent dangerous cooperation, it is also the sort of thing that is going to prevent burnout, people dropping off, transience, you know?

So I don’t know. Maybe I’m speaking too broadly. Maybe it’s also with age, but I just feel like I am doing my best to make sure that people I share affinity with know that I have their back any way I can within the means I have. So that when, if things ever get hard, they will make the appropriate and revolutionary choice to not only live a more courageous and worthy life without cowardice and shame and betrayal, but also that they know and they are comforted by the fact that people have their back.

TFSR: Yeah. With what you’re saying, it really resonates with me. So this is a long fight, obviously, that we’re engaged in and it extends historically before our births and will continue after our deaths. And I think that there’s a thing that’s worth noting and it’s not all that deep of a thought or whatever. Anarchists have had this before, other people have had it before. As anarchists, we believe in a correspondence between means and ends. We want people to stay in community with us and to be the best versions of themselves. We want to be the best versions of ourselves as well. How do we do that but by modeling the kind of relationships that we think we want in the world. And doing that allows us to fight, because we are comrades, with each other because we take each other seriously. Because we’re hevals, whatever terminology you want to use. I think that the idea of being the community that is worth fighting for, is worth going through the annoying conversations for, having the uncomfortable conversations of checking in with people about things that they’re doing, things that they’re saying from a perspective of mutual respect and concern.

Guest: And we love conflict. We love conflict. Conflict is the fighting element of the anarchist. But there, there’s, there’s toxic conflict where people are screaming without the intention of wanting to be heard that they’re simply screaming with the intention of demeaning or silencing someone, you know, but there’s conflict that leads to growth. And I think that not only to use the metaphor about someone facing, you know, the terrifying consequences if they don’t betray their community and cooperate with the worst people in the world. Also it’s just in regards to the self-preservation of each other as a revolutionary movement and making sure that people can turn to each other when it comes to mental health, when it comes to the trauma that might result in repression. And also in terms of the fact that, as you put it, it’s a long-term, we’re, we’re essentially calling for true freedom. And I honestly think that there is no other political tendency that, that does that. So we are going to face the most extreme odds.

And also beyond the most extreme oppression, it’s also can be exhausting, the disappointment. Look at the direction the world is going in or has been going in and continues to go in relentlessly. That solidarity is like I said earlier, it’s like our one victory. And it’s something across political movements throughout history. And it’s a victory that we should be constantly celebrating and, um, enhancing between our relationships and our approach. And we should also remind ourselves not only in terms of like the battles that we prioritize, but that our enemy is the state and capitalism. And that’s where our passion should be, in my opinion.

TFSR: Can you talk a bit about the pressures of direct and indirect repression on people, how you’ve seen people like individuals exhibit signs of trauma from this and approaches, tools and skills that have been helpful to support the person experiencing this and moving through it as a community? So sort of like less about, we’ve sort of talked about the importance of this at a macro level, but I’m wondering more on an individual and like micro level.

Guest: I think that’s a great question because one that’s getting more, I think, into specifics of ways that we can preserve ourselves and create that movement that’s worth never betraying, no matter what the odds. But I think that like we were describing earlier, first of all, the priority is always people in prison, you know, in terms of resources and support for people facing specific charges. And also, you know, grand jury resisters because even though people aren’t facing crime, they are facing jail time. But in terms of police visits, in terms of long-term harassment, intimidation, doxing, trials, there’s another element of repression where there’s things that are beyond your control. You are actually facing potential consequences and repression of not actually committing crimes, legally speaking and that’s a terrifying position to be in. Where simply your position alone has the potential of experiencing all those trauma-inducing experiences with the state that happen. And I think that one, we need to always, I’m saying this from the beginning, we need to always be prioritizing our comrades in jail and our comrades facing serious time for specific crimes. But we also need to consistently recognize not only the trauma that’s inflicted on those individuals, but people who are experiencing other types of repression, some of the references that we made in terms of state opportunism.

But to speak about more trauma generally, I think that it manifests in many ways. And, you know, one person told me something really interesting once and it’s that “trauma is not something that you just get over. It’s not something that you can get over.” And, I actually kind of agreed with them. It’s a long-term, potentially permanent experience that you’re not necessarily going to get rid of, but you’re going to learn how to better cope with. And I think that there’s many instances where people maybe get tired of the “emotional labor” of dealing with someone who’s either getting harassed endlessly by the feds at their work or are all over neo-Nazi and right-wing forums, or people who are facing a grand jury or people who can’t fly or people who get harassed all the time whenever the opportunity is given to the state to do so. This can result in substance abuse, this can result in alcoholism, this can result in insomnia that results in the prior to latter consequences. You’re dealing with a situation where in many cases you don’t really have control, even based on your own behavior of experiencing potential repression and consequences by the state. And I think that in terms of recognizing that trauma is going to be a long-term experience and there’s variations of it when it comes to repression, but people who have gotten years in prison, people who have been harassed over and over again, people that get audited every fucking year, people who’ve had their houses raided without any charge ever happening… You know, these things affect people’s, how they sleep in their homes, where they decide to live, you know, there’s so many cases of trauma beyond just someone freaking out or this or that. We need to just be constantly there for each other in the sense of also checking in with one another and making the time to listen to one another and try to help each other navigate that long-term trauma.

Once again, I feel kind of shitty because I feel like I’m speaking about something that’s incredibly complicated, you know. I mean, I’m sure that a conventional psychologist and psychiatrist would love to jump in right now with their own opinion of trauma and how it manifests, but I think that trauma is a tool of the state to divide and suppress anarchist movements. And I think that us being more aware. You know, there’s variations of, there’s different types of people. There’s a spectrum of courage. There’s people who are willing to do certain things. There’s people who are not willing to do certain things. There’s people who can maybe handle getting a knock on their door more easily than someone else. Maybe because that other person has experienced other traumatizing experience that have affected that, how they’re going to respond to that situation. It’s individual case-by-case basis, I guess. But my bigger point is constantly trying to help each other navigate and work through that long-term trauma and not giving up on people, not getting annoyed at people and understanding that solidarity amidst repression and supporting one another is a revolutionary act in itself. And it’s a critical part of our self-preservation as an anarchist movement. If we’re going to take ourselves seriously and if we’re going to be worth it for people to stick around, for people to make the hard decisions and for people to take us seriously when it comes to listening to our voice when we actually get it out there.

So, you know, I think that for myself, I had a lot of trauma when it comes to various experiences that I would classify as some sort of depression, and I’m still dealing with it. It’s a long-term struggle, just like being an anarchist is, you know. One example is years ago, there was someone I really, really like and respect, and they did a lot of time in jail. When they got out, they were kind of an asshole. They weren’t saying toxic things, they weren’t saying things that were like truly bad. They weren’t, you know, doing truly problematic behavior, but they were just rude, cynical to a point that was hard to deal with. But you know what? They did years in jail, you know. And they came out and their heart was still in the right place. They were still coming to spaces. They were still committed to any projects that they could work on amidst all their conditions so that they stayed to it. They still never, ever forfeited their integrity. And my priority and my approach to that was, “all right, this person’s obnoxious. This person is a negative nancy, but you know what? They’ve earned that.” You know, this is me, this is me setting a precedent for myself, but I’d like that from the broader community. But this person did this much time for this, they had all those experiences and they’re still around and they’re still not broken. That’s worth me giving them a little extra space to air out their grievances on a private level. I’m not trying to counter everything we said about social media, but I think that they earn a little bit of extra space and consideration and patience to be supported. And that’s one very specific and kind of funny example. I hope maybe the listeners will continue listening to me rant right now, but I think that we need to be approaching each situation where we have to take things seriously. Where it’s like, “okay, if that person did that much time and that person’s still around, that person’s a committed person and worthy of our consideration and patience.” And once again, because this is just a simple podcast, you know, we can’t get into every question you ask into the full depths of answers. But I think that metaphor speaks for itself. That happened in three cases, actually, of people who got out and were not the most pleasant individuals. But you know what? I didn’t go through what they went through. I did respect them for their courage and their strength of getting through that experience. They’re worth the extra patience. And if someone is getting a knock on their door and for weeks they keep drinking and they’re they’re having suicidal fantasies, they’re isolating… Respect boundaries, but you know, we need to keep coming back, keep checking up on them, keep making sure they know that people care. Because it’s not a fucking hobby.

This isn’t a hobby. The position isn’t a hobby. Potentially the association with other people sharing the position is not a hobby. It is a struggle, you know? And obviously there’s variations of struggle in terms of extremity, you know, there’s these crazy images coming from other places in the world such as Chile being one example. There’s variations on intensity of struggle and resistance. But I’m saying though that we cannot give up on each other and we need to also assess ourselves because for example, if that person did all that time and I was annoyed by them and just cut them off, I would feel so ashamed of myself. Because not only does that person deserve respect for the strength that they demonstrated, but that person demonstrated that strength because they felt that the community and movement and tendency and position that I shared with them was worth it when it came to responding to this heinous world imposed on us. That it was worth them preserving their integrity and preserving their commitment to the ethics that define our movement. So if my little bit of extra patience or me, even if they doesn’t like it, checking up on someone, you know, not just not letting someone who’s clearly overwhelmed with a very scary situation be pushing people away…

Now they get to set boundaries, like I said, but being there, these are things that we need to prioritize. I’m not saying that we all need to just be in a collective therapy session all the time, but I’m saying that we need to take seriously the notion of understanding levels of trauma and support people need on an individual basis and in our interpersonal relations in pursuit of having a broader revolutionary community that can sustain repression.

TFSR: Yeah, that makes sense. And I don’t know if this is an appropriate time to ask this question, but there are, as you say, like various levels of trauma and experiences of trauma that people persist through. And it’s important for us to sustain our relationships and support each other through this, like a just hard world, let alone our political stance and our like ethical stance. And then when repression comes against us, you know, that increases, obviously. But what do you think, what do you think we should do when we have a comrade who is spiraling and maybe, you know, like maybe actually experiencing paranoia, things that aren’t going on, maybe like having experiences of like jump, jumping to negative experiences of when someone disagrees with you, actually believing that they’re a police agent or something like that? Like how, how have you approached that sort of, because obviously like that’s still trauma in the body and trauma in the mind. And if they’re comrades and we care about them and we want them to be well, but yeah, how do you think about that?

Guest: Well, I absolutely do agree because paranoia is the “cop in our head” that the state tries to plant as a result of all these fishing expeditions and opportunism and loopholes and harassment and intimidation and in some cases, prosecution, even over absurd charges. But, okay, I know that people might sometimes just always be looking for someone to say something wrong, so I’m just going to set this precedent early, like I did because I want people that always know where I’m coming from. You know, obviously there are some people that maybe their trauma leads them to engage in problematic behavior, whether it’s violent on an interpersonal level or what have you. These are, these are rare specific instances and this behavior regardless is inexcusable. I say that, but I think that spiraling is a really important thing that you reference because it’s something that unfortunately (and not to give the police listeners of your podcast too much ammo) it’s something that has happened to me and happens to me and it’s results in me pushing people away. It resulted in me just losing it, you know, especially in instances where there’s things that are just purely beyond your control and don’t even matter regarding whether or not you’ve actually committed a crime or not. Just existing in this heinous repressive system as an anarchist. I think that it’s a matter of patience and consistency. I think that when you’re dealing with someone with trauma, there’s a certain element of them expecting patience because of the suffering that they’re going through as a result of the police’s behavior.

I also think that we should always remember that it’s always the cops’ fault. It’s always the police’s fault. I don’t care. I’m just going to go on a sidetrack for one second. People at arrested demonstrations, maybe one person allegedly did something and many others were arrested. That’s unfortunate. It’s always the police’s fault. I’m going to say that. So, but when someone is overwhelmed and the police are letting them, are intimidating them with the intention of causing this trauma, that leads to paranoia. You know, it’s really difficult to demand that someone understand and distinguish between what is paranoia and what is reasonable concern. But, like I was saying earlier, it’s a matter of consistency and patience. Okay. I remember a lawyer I had years ago, I was so freaked out about some things that happened and I just kept texting them all the time. And they were like, “I’m sorry, I’m a lawyer. I’m not a therapist,” you know? And it’s like, I absolutely totally understand them. They’re so used to seeing people struggling all the time and so stressed that if your case is not comparable to a more extreme one, they might be frustrated or tired. But you know, we can be compensating for that.

The questions that someone spiraling will not be able to be calmed down by from a lawyer, by just having support and someone listening and being there. Because I think in many people spiraling, especially in revolutionary communities, they kind of expect people to give them more consideration because their struggle is a result of police oppression, you know? And I think that demonstrating that they are not alone and that people are there for them is very important. And obviously, if someone’s isolating and demanding to be alone, you know, you got to respect people with boundaries on some level. But I also think that if you are close to someone or is there’s a common someone or they’re clearly overwhelmed or spiraling, as you put it, that there’s ways to respectfully just remind them that you’re there. And repeating yourself can be really annoying. But someone in that situation, honestly, if you just tell them over and over again, “listen, this is what the lawyer said, this is what you can do. This is the reality. And this is how you’re acting. Is that comparison reasonable to you?” If you are feeling overwhelmed, that is another thing. Maybe we can go exercise. Maybe we can go to a park together. Maybe there’s an experience that we can share that will help improve this. But I think that having consideration and patience with someone who’s spiraling and helping them get out of that position is something that can be done through consistency and commitment to preserving our revolutionary solidarity.

TFSR: The one remaining question that I had in here is the like kind of where I talk about the Spy Cops thing. So there’s been an inquest in the UK for the last like five or six years that have been uncovering bits and pieces of police infiltration of movements since the ‘50s there. So animal liberation, ecological movements, anarchist movements, anti-militarist movements, anti-colonial movements…

Guest: Yeah, Mark Kennedy. That’s the type of thing that’s quite extreme. You have a police officer who infiltrated environmental anarchist leaning movements in the UK, had a baby with someone, but had a relationship with someone, slept with multiple people. I mean, that case, that’s just one other example of the heinousness of someone that’s willing to take on a position as a police officer. But beyond that, I mean, just imagine the trust issues that arouses. Imagine the conversations that someone has to have with their child or the violation someone feels. I mean, that’s another example of trauma that’s inflicted beyond just simply being in the courtroom, you know. And I also think that that case and, you know, there’s also that cowardly little whatever, Anna, who was sent by the FBI to infiltrate American anarchists and resulted in the imprisonment of Eric McDavid and his original defendants becoming snitches who are no longer worth mentioning. But Eric actually, fortunately got out. But that is another example of someone the state infiltrating. I mean, I think it shines a light to the level of which the state’s willing to go to infiltrate our movement. The FBI was essentially created to in terms of post-war, post-McCarthyism, to target anarchists and leftists in particular. It’s their organizational priority and probably their personal priority for most of the officers who take that Boy Scout decision to join such a terrorizing organization.

TFSR: Oh, I mean, from from birth, it was around it was a creation of of Hoover, like during and after the Palmer Raids period, like it was literally there to and this is again, a point that the two authors of COINTELPRO Papers bring up. And I think they make it quite succinctly that the FBI is there literally to repress dissident ideologies.

Guest: I guess we’re going a podcast style back and forth…

I hope speaks volumes to anyone who gives consideration to what I would call “liberal American”, or, you know, anywhere else in the world, they would be called “center right citizens.” But when they’re getting all excited about the FBI going into Trump’s place, it’s almost as funny as the right referring to the FBI as leftists or something for such behavior. But yeah, obviously, they have endless resources, endless funding, they have no comprehension of the anarchist movement, they don’t understand how anyone could actually have any sort of personal will, or anything could operate solely based on affinity, solidarity, and in a decentralized way. Because… I don’t know, because they lack humanity? So they’re always trying to, you know, establish anarchists having a leader that doesn’t exist, or, you know, fish endlessly until they can criminalize some sort of association, or exercise some loophole to inflict trauma or division. Or even potential incarceration, likely for not even significant crimes. But I would say… what to say about it, other than that is another example of the depths of cowardice, just sheer enormous, monstrous will of repression that we all face. You know, and I think that I feel so bad for all these people that were violated, but I don’t know what’s going on in their life. But I do know that if someone came to me and was a mess and struggling and told me that this happened to them as a result of infiltration, I would have a lot of patience and consideration, like we were saying. And I would hope that I could humbly be there. And humbly being there as part of my broader revolutionary commitment to being part of the anarchist movement and having a desire to preserve our movement. But humbly be there to do what they need and respect their boundaries, but make it clear that they’re not alone. And I just don’t feel like, especially in this kind of post group-chat, internet forum, smart phone world… I feel like most of the people in my experience who are there and who understand the stress, the anxiety, the unpredictability… And I’m not even speaking for myself when I say these things but in some cases their entire life being taken away for years on end, those are typically the people that I see who are really understanding when you’re spiraling or breaking down.

And the people, and I don’t want them to have those experiences, but the people who usually dismiss someone who’s trying to take extra efforts to preserve their anonymity, to have simple things, everything from having disappearing messages in a group chat to somebody who doesn’t like telling people where they are all the time or are trying not to drop people’s names in conversation… The people who usually are annoyed by that or speak so liberally or for myself, people who are demanding that I reference someone by name or get confused when I speak broadly about certain things. Those’re usually people who have never really faced any intimidation, you know? And I’m not shaming people that haven’t unfortunately faced some variation of the state’s wrath in a more serious context than simply hating it because it’s so horrible, on theoretical basis.

But I think that also people not taking other people’s trauma seriously and people not living up to the standard that we should set, that I hope I am advocating for setting between our communities, those people should be challenged. I think those people need to recognize that they’re coming from a position of a privileged perspective where they seem to think that their rights will be respected for saying whatever they want or they’re not taking themselves seriously in the sense of assuming that at all times there’s a good possibility that there’s a way for the state to access information. And I think that we should be countering that with our dynamics of communication. But I also think that if people are not respecting someone’s trauma, and I don’t really mean to like sitting there and holding their hand and walking them through it, but also like literally asking people questions, texting people uncomfortable things, giving people’s phone number away without their consent, adding people to group chats. I hate that it sounds so petty, but like, these are just a few small, common examples that most people maybe can see. And I think that if that continues happening and those people aren’t being confronted. That is really also making it that we have all these priorities all the time of confronting this behavior or that behavior, or disagreeing with someone and writing a zine about it and putting it online. But that to me comes way before airing grievances or arguing about it. If people aren’t respecting someone’s desire to have a better security so that they can navigate their long-term trauma better in the face of oppression and preserve their safety… It’s part of this kind of broad call I’m making for a culture of self-preservation, taking ourselves seriously and a phrase that everyone knows, a real security culture. I think that people need to be held accountable for this behavior because this is violating what I would consider my broad call to having a revolutionary movement that has a serious approach to self-preservation and security.

And I also think that it is in some cases, maybe someone is paranoid, maybe someone is spiraling, but there’s no reason that you need to violate a higher standard of security. There, there is no reason for that. Security is always called for, as far as I’m concerned, in the political context. And I think it’s always a critical thing and always a great thing to do to lead by example, you know? So I don’t think it’s ever really bad to, to demonstrate security. I think that in some cases, people who might be pushing people away, isolating and struggling with irrational fears that don’t reflect the actual reflection of their experiencing, we need to look into practicing ways of supporting each other’s mental health and making sure people know and reminding people of what’s actually happening, like I said earlier. But also I think it’s demonstrating a lack of solidarity, a lack of respect, lack of consideration and also it’s kind of liberal, the people who are usually kind of scoffing or not taking seriously someone else’s needs when it comes to feeling safe and dismissing that as purely paranoia.

TFSR: Someone who’s creating an unsafe circumstance in other ways. And maybe not in unsafe in a way that we find interesting or useful.

Guest: That person is creating an unsafe space in the revolutionary context. I think that you had a really good response to my little tangent there because actually I was looking for the word to say that, but also not to like offend anyone. I actually was really just looking for a way to say that person’s creating an unsafe space. That person is violating someone’s security and a broader movement security. And maybe they can dismiss it as someone being paranoid, but I never think that there can be too much security. And I think that there’s too many instances of people having their lives ruined and projects falling apart and the state having small little victories because of things that people didn’t think that they needed to take seriously until it was too late.

TFSR: I wonder if you have thoughts, I know I’ve kept you on for a long time, but do you have thoughts about being a movement that is attempting to welcome in new people into our communities and into our movement, into our organizations, if we have those, and balancing that with a desire or a need for security? How you consider that equation?

Guest: It’s sometimes hard. You know, you don’t want to say recruit, it’s hard to know what terms are right or wrong, but I mean, obviously myself, I mean, I was very young, I’m really happy about it. Um, but I think that there needs to be a couple of balances. I think that for one, I think people need to understand like the circumstances. Like for example, if you riot in the United States, you potentially face years and years and years until say if you riot in another country such as Germany or, um, the UK or, um, just, just being two examples in, uh, in Europe, um, you’re, you’re not going to face the same potential depression. So I think it’s really important that we are very, um, strategic about what type of things that we are advocating for or, um, appreciating amidst the circumstances that we face and recognizing the specific ones to our context. And risk ratio is something that we really need to always be disgusting, especially with new people. Um, and that doesn’t necessarily need to be done with our, our big voice that I was talking about earlier with social media. We don’t need to be just putting propaganda out there with the hope of, um, scaring people, you know, or telling people that there’s limits because obviously in the case of, you know, um, the George Floyd uprising, you know, there was precedent sent that I never thought would have been unimaginable in my lifetime. Um, just being one example, um, you know, uh, but I think that in the, there needs to be beyond that, the one other thing that always needs to be done is that the conversations about security, about, um, uh, oppression, about risk, about taking ourselves seriously, this needs, this should be a priority across the board always. I, I think that in some ways it actually, um, reinforces the, the, the facts that we are seen as a threat by the state. We are dealt with that in such a way we’re in a very, very controversial political position amidst the world. Um, and if we’re going to discuss that and recognize those things, we should have a parallel dialogue with new people that maybe don’t know this or that, or haven’t heard about this or that about how critical it is to, um, engage in an approach to everyday life and surviving it that secures ourselves, secures our communities and allows us to have communities of solidarity and mutual support that can overcome repression. And you know what, I think that there are certain people, probably the same fucking jackasses that don’t respect people’s security, you know, um, who allow for this, but, um, more broadly speaking, I think that if, I think in all instances that having an immediate, whether it’s pure information, whether it’s discussion, whether it’s a zine, whatever form it makes, it takes place in, I think that it should be a priority alongside, immediately alongside information where anything is discussed, people should understand the potential consequences of things, the potential reality of repression that they face and the importance of protecting themselves.

And honestly, I don’t, I’m not speaking across the board, but, um, I would say that we are not at that point, we are not prioritizing, communicating to younger people, the risks that are faced potentially, if someone allegedly engages in something more controversial, or just by association, embracing a position, putting your voice out there, writing across the board, people are not aware of the spectrum of repression that can make interface. People are not aware of the loopholes and opportunism that the state can engage in, especially when they first come to them. People probably think that warrants matter. They do in some contexts, obviously, you know, but, but I’m saying like, that’s not it. It’s not just about that, you know? And I think that because there’s so many people that have been around that, you know, don’t, don’t, don’t see someone disrespecting someone’s security as creating an unsafe space that, that don’t even know about this spectrum of oppression, um, and, uh, or don’t understand or take seriously the depths of how trauma can affect people or, and so on. I think that this needs to be part of us reinforcing, growing, and creating a proper revolutionary community that has more self-preservation is, um, more resilient. And I think that’s just simply a matter of prioritizing, um, risk ratio communication, and being aware of, um, of each other and how each other are doing and demonstrating solidarity, like all that positive stuff I said, but also just putting the information out there consistently, repeatedly for people to see, for people to have access to, to remind them so that people take things seriously. I think that there is plenty of cultural, um, dynamics in place to deal with other issues that we face as a movement. And unfortunately, those, you know, other problems that happen, interpersonal disputes, um, unsafe behavior, those things need to be dealt with. Those things are an unfortunate reality of just, you know, interacting with other humans in this very problematic world, but security and mutual respect for each other’s security and recognizing the rate, the vast apparatus that we face constantly.

I mean, even just talking on the phone with you right now, it’s giving me anxiety, you know, it’s like recognizing that should always be something that we communicate to people coming around. Like new people need to understand it and they need to take it seriously. And there needs to be the same standard, if not more, um, of people recognizing that and challenging each other and holding each other accountable when people are not embracing that standard for security, because it once again, is not only putting each other in danger in an extreme way and, and costing us our, our resources, our will, our energy, our, the, the vastness of our movement. It also to make people feel shitty enough to hopefully listen to me. It’s a liberal practice. You are literally acting as if your rights are going to be respected. And that is a liberal privileged approach that should not be something that people who are serious about committing to an anarchist position in the world in all the ways that manifest, that should have even in their thought process, because that does not equate to negation. That does not equate to rejection of the entirety of the system that we oppose. That is a hobbyist, liberal idea that your rights will be respected. And obviously in the case of certain more severe cases, there are legal precedents for people, you know, to potentially get out. Maybe they did something wrong and you could, how Eric and David got out of jail and look how, um, you know, certain charges were dropped in certain cases. Like, you know, the state sometimes has to follow its own rules, but there’s just too many examples of damage and, and danger and, uh, that could have been prevented, um, or self-doxing or, um, airing grievances for the state to, uh, prey on, like, or, you know, giving people’s information out. Like, there’s just, we need to have, um, a standard of accountability for setting a precedent that anyone who wants to claim such a radical position, such as being an anarchist, needs to follow and respect for themselves and for the people around them. It’s essential. And, and if, if we don’t do that, we’re just simply not taking ourselves seriously.

TFSR: In closing, we’ve talked about, how do you support someone or how, how do we exist in community and in movement with people that are facing repression and different ways that repression could look? I wonder if you have any resources that you could share about how you’ve been aware of either yourself or other people who’ve experienced repression how people can better take care of their own needs or any tools or skills that you’ve heard of, or that seem useful for the listener experiencing that?

Guest: A couple of things I would say, one little piece of therapy style advice is that when you’re experiencing that type of paranoia, that spiraling (and this might be good advice in life in general): just because an emotion comes into your head, just because of fear comes to your head, whether you’re washing dishes or watching TV, you don’t need to take it seriously. Anxiety is not always reflecting what’s happening in the moment. And that’s something that I hope people can remember. Don’t always take it seriously. Try to balance it with reality. A second thing I want to say to kind of piggyback from much earlier: even when someone’s facing those odds, they should always remember that they’re facing those odds because their enemy doesn’t have everything that they need. If you even look at the guy who just got arrested, the Luigi guy, it was a McDonald’s employee [who turned him in]. They sent the most militarized police force in the world, the New York police, after this guy, because they’re obviously racist, classist bastards. And they just wanted to make it clear that, you know, people’s will against the heinous, sociopathic CEO is not going to be tolerated. They only found dude because of a snitch. And I think that that should also shine a light on the fact that despite what they flaunt and the depths of technology and so on, and it’s, it’s going to get worse as it always has. But people’s will has in many cases overcome, no matter what they’ve thrown at us.

In addition to that, and to be more specific to your question, I just hope those two little bits of commentary help comfort whatever trauma person’s listening, because a lot of times people talk about trauma and they talk about it in a way that it’s just defining it. You know, I remember I was reaching out to someone and they sent me this podcast and it was really nice and it was well done, but it was just like, “okay, yeah, now what? I get it. Yeah, I got that. I got that. What do I, what do I take? What do I do?” It’s all on an individual basis. It’s a long-term struggle. It’s not going away. You know, that defines trauma, whether you’re talking about in the political context or not, but there’s a lot of ways of coping with it. I think that there’s just a lot of healthier ways of dealing with it, whether it’s depression or various mental illness, through exercise, through staying active, through not allowing the state to have victories over you beyond the ways that they do in the legal context. Things like trying to challenge yourself to not isolate. I think when people extend their hands to you, it’s, it’s really helpful to take them.

And to kind of also piggyback from what I was saying earlier about patience and consistency and being there for each other and demonstrating how we are worth it more than cooperating with the state or betrayal it’s also on the individual to remind themselves that like, “Okay, I’m getting support. These are the people who are here for me during this really difficult time, so it’s actually a two-way situation.” There’s so many responses and rants that I can go on in response to the question, but I think the best thing to do is that when this is published, we’re going to try to list a flurry of links and references to everything that we discussed plus ways and resources that maybe help not only set a higher precedent for security, but also some resources on trauma, on solidarity, on anti-repression work and on cases of oppression and things that we’ve referenced that maybe some of the listeners didn’t even know were possible to face when it comes to state repression. So I think that that would be included with this and potentially help any listeners who are interested in further research or understanding any of the topics that we’ve been discussing.

Photo by Daniel Jensen on Unsplash

Update from support crew of Peppy and Krystal, two Pittsburgh activists facing repression following a protest of a far-Right anti-LGBTQ+ influencer. For more info, go here.

On Monday, January 6th, with roughly 40 supporters of Pep and Krystal packing the room, Judge Nicholas Ranjan heard arguments from the prosecution and the defense, and a Victim Impact Statement read by a University of Pittsburgh police officer. Ranjan then agreed to the non-cooperating stipulated plea and sentenced the two.

SENTENCING DETAILS

Pep was sentenced to serve 60 months in BOP. As he’s served 18 months already, he anticipates being eligible to transition to a halfway house around March 2026 (between 15 and 22 months). After that, he will be on supervised release for 3 years. Krystal was sentenced to 3 years of supervised release and 80 hours of community service.

Pep and Krystal were jointly sentenced to pay $50,225.03, mostly to University Of Pittsburgh Officer TH, with a smaller sum to the University of Pittsburgh. They also were given special assessments of $200 and $100, respectively, and sentenced to repayment of some costs of prosecution and their own punishment. Critically, however, there was no further fine.

Pep and Krystal issued a joint statement:

We hold in our gravity a deep reverence for love beyond the limited words we have. We know the devoted embrace of solidarity – people leaning in to one another against involuntary servitude and for a world of mutual aid.

If we are convicted, it is of love for each other, and for our community, to which all brave hearts beat devotion to the impossible task of liberation. We are grateful for those who care take, for without you, freedom would be even more distant.

NEXT STEPS

Pep has been transferred out of Butler County Prison and is now at Northeast Ohio Correctional Center where he will be temporarily held while he awaits BOP classification. He may be moved around a bit before ending up at his designated facility within the BOP. We’ll update the Write To Peppy page on our website as soon as he gets there.

In the meantime, you can also email us messages of solidarity to Peppy or Krystal. We’ll hold on to them and be sure they reach him in the prison where he’ll be doing his time.

You can find more information about the federal BOP initial intake and orientation process here. We will be sure to update everyone with the necessary information on how best to support Peppy once he actually gets to the BOP.

DONATIONS

Peppy and Krystal need your support! In their sentencing, they’re jointly tasked with paying more than $50k dollars in restitution. This is in addition to commissary and the costs of prison support for the remainder of Peppy’s sentence. Please donate today and spread the word!

We remain so grateful to all of you. These punitive structures that we’ve been navigating together exist to separate and isolate, and our solidarity stands as a rebuke and inspiration.

Amplifier Films presents a short documentary on the fight of an Indigenous Innu land defender to protect her ancestral territory.

From Amplifier Films:

Earlier this year, Amplifier Films was invited by Shanipiap, a courageous Innu land defender, to help share her story and amplify the call for action from the heart of her ancestral territory near Lac St-Jean, Quebec.

This video captures the poignant moment Shanipiap stopped a massive logging truck to make a powerful statement: her people are still here, still protecting the land that has always been theirs. With a sacred fire burning in the background, a symbol of hope and resistance, Shanipiap and her community are standing firm against relentless industrial encroachment by forestry, mining, and oil companies, which have devastated vast parts of their homeland.

For generations, the Innu have honored their duty as protectors of the forest, water, and wildlife, fostering a deep connection to Mother Earth. But with the exploitation of Quebec’s natural resources accelerating since the James Bay Agreement, the stakes have never been higher. The sacred fire in Dolbeau/Mistassini is not just a call for help—it’s a declaration of survival and resilience.

Through this film, we hope to amplify the voices of those on the frontlines of this struggle and inspire action. Learn more about the Petapan Treaty, the Innu’s ongoing fight, and how you can stand in solidarity to protect the future of these lands and their people.

Interview with Shanipiap on the Launch of the Campaign “Move Aside, It’s My Right to Live on My Land”:

We wish to share our story, we, the guardians of the land. We are Innu, allies of nature, the first inhabitants of the forests of North America. Today, we are the Indigenous communities who have always occupied the territories of Kupek (Quebec), as our mothers called it.

Our ancestors have passed down the responsibility, generation after generation, to uphold the belief that Mother Earth is a living spirit who takes care of all humanity. Throughout time, we have been people who know how to share among ourselves. We are not perfect, but we are curious beings.

Nearly 500 years ago, our ancestor woke up next to a new neighbor and wondered, “Who is he?” This marked the beginning of an unspoken welcome in our land. From treaty to treaty, we were pushed further and further into the forest, trying to survive in the face of waves of new arrivals. Until the 1970s, northern Quebec was still well-protected for our hunters by governments. But since the signing of the James Bay Agreement, the province of Quebec has been exploited by forestry, mining, and oil companies all the way to the Far North.

Because we are who we are—bound to our natural values as protectors of the land—we want to continue safeguarding what little remains. Currently, we are on Territory 59 in Dolbeau/Mistassini in Saguenay. We have lit a sacred fire as a symbol of hope. We want our voices to be heard for the survival of this forest.

Learn about the Petapan Treaty; there is information available online.

As for us, it is certain that we will continue this ancestral struggle. “It is our vital duty,” as the firekeeper says in the film.

We need help to continue working faithfully as guardians of life on this territory. Right now, the urgency of defending this forest, its water, its animals, its vegetation, and the well-being of future generations is alarming. So, if you wish to help us, you can support us with donations so this struggle is not in vain.

We thank you! Tshinashkumitinan!

Listen to audio here. To donate to the fundraising campaign, go here.

In early December, a call was published, which called for community mobilizations and festivals of resistance in the wake of Trump’s recent electoral victory. From the call:

When Donald Trump enters office on January 20, he will order mass deportations, escalate the repression of protesters, dismantle the few judicial and legislative provisions that still protect ordinary people, and consolidate a propaganda ecosystem intended to stupefy us all into obedience. The Democratic Party is willingly handing power to an autocrat they say will bring democracy to an end; the Democrats show every intention of continuing to ratchet their own politics to the right. Authoritarian leftist groups are simply treating this as a recruitment opportunity.

But from Texas to the West Bank, millions of people’s lives are about to get even harder. We owe it to each other to meet the second Trump era side by side in solidarity.

The chaos that will accompany the return of the Trump administration represents an opportunity as well as a challenge. This is a chance to assert an autonomous pole of organizing, carrying forward the lessons of 2020 and the movement against Cop City while continuing the fight against patriarchal violence, white supremacy, and colonialism.

By organizing ahead of Trump’s inauguration, we can seize the initiative and set our own timeline rather than being caught flat-footed and forced to react. We need to welcome new participants into these struggles and foster a revolutionary perspective that can orient us through the challenges ahead. No amount of internet activity could substitute for gathering face to face. The most important battles ahead will not be fought online, but in the streets of our communities.

January 18 is observed as the Day of the Forest Defender. It will be the two-year anniversary of the murder of Tortuguita in Weelaunee Forest. It is an important date to gather, honor the memory of the fallen, and pledge ourselves to resistance and to one another.

Check out events that have been announced across the US listed below. This list will be updated as more gatherings and festivals are made public. Want your event listed here? Hit us up at info [at] itsgoingdown [dot] org.

Check out posters and promotional materials at CrimethInc. here. Check out a video from subMedia here.

January 11th

• Sacramento, California: “Call to Action” conference and gathering, featuring a “day of skillshares and trainings” along with workshops, panels, and a keynote presentation from anarchist author Dean Spade. You can find more information and a full schedule here.

• Chicago, Illinois: A training about fighting deportations, as part of the week-long “Regroup and Strategize” series. More info here.

January 18th

• Olympia, Washington: Community march and festival of resistance. More info here and here.

 

• Portland, Oregon: A gathering in a COVID-safer, sober space. Families with and without children are welcome to attend. Food will be provided. You can also find updates about event organizing in Portland here.

• Medford, Oregon: Festival of Resistance. Community gathering with workshops and skillshares from January 18th – 19th. More info here.

• Corvallis, Oregon: Liberation Assembly. More info here.

• Humboldt, CA: Festival of Resistance workshops and skillshares. More info here.

• Oakland, California: Festival of resistance. Call to “Regroup & Strategize: Community Assembly for the Day of the Forest Defender.” More info here.
• Vallejo, California: Day of the Forest Defender celebration. More info here.

• Phoenix, Arizona: Festival of Resistance featuring potluck, workshops, Really Really Free Market and more. More info here.

• Tucson, Arizona: ‘Parade of Resistance.’ More info here.

• Austin, Texas: Day of the Forest Defender celebration. More info here.

• Dayton, Ohio: Community gathering and festival of resistance. More info here.

• Cleveland, Ohio: Community gathering and festival of resistance. More info here.

• Gary, Indiana: Anti-Deportation Rally. More info here.

• Minneapolis, Minnesota: A screening of Fell in Love with Fire with letter writing to prisoners and a discussion about the next phase of struggle at the Seward Cafê at 6:30 pm.

• Milwaukee, WI: Festival of resistance featuring workshops and discussions. More info here.

• Carbondale, Illinois: A community event, currently in the planning stages. More info here.

• Urbana, IL: Festival of Resistance. Free food and workshops. More info here.

• Durham, North Carolina: The Triangle Festival of Resistance, a weekend-long festival focused on community defense, resilience, and liberation. For updates and information about how to contribute, consult Triangle Radical Events. Schedule of events here.

• Richmond, Virginia: A community assembly involving panel discussions, workshops, and food, followed by a benefit concert. Check schedule of events here.

• Atlanta, Georgia: A mass mobilization and day of resistance on the two-year anniversary of the murder of Tortuguita.
• Throop, Pennsylvania: Festival of Resistance. Community organizing fair with food and music. More info here.

• Brooklyn, New York: A community gathering including workshops. More info here.

• Providence, Rhode Island: Festival of resistance featuring skillshares and workshops. More info here.
• Montpelier, Vermont: Festival of resistance. Community discussions and workshops. More info here.

January 19th

• Chapel Hill, NC: The second day of the Triangle Festival of Resistance. Schedule of events here.

• Asheville, NC: Asheville Anarchist Rad Fair (AARF). Workshops and presentations. More info here.

January 20th

• Indianapolis, Indiana: A Mutual Aid Convergence at Ujamaa Community Bookstore. More info here.
• Kingston, NY: Community gathering and discussion. More info here.

January 21st

• Arcata, California: A march departing from Arcata Plaza at noon—against Donald Trump, in solidarity with Palestine, and in memory of Tortuguita.

January 25th

• Rio Grande Valley, Texas: Community organizing fair with local groups. More info here.

• Wichita, Kansas: A community organizing assembly at Safe Streets Wichita, 3-5 pm

• Tampa Bay, Florida: A community gathering and organizing fair for “politics beyond the ballot box. Organize with your community to fight for transformative change! Connect with a local project from anti-capitalist orgs, labor and tenant unions, mutual aid orgs, and more!”