D1. Anarchism

Mutual Aid Katarokwi-Kingston reports on community blockade and defense of encampment from eviction. Originally posted to social media and North Shore Counter-Info.

In a powerful act of solidarity and compassion, encampment residents, neighbours, and concerned community members rallied on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, to block the City of Kingston’s callous attempt to evict and displace people sheltering in Belle Park. Side-by-side in the pouring rain, we resisted the City’s opportunistic plan to exploit legal loopholes to enforce a day-time eviction. For today, we were successful. We refuse to accept their narrative that these evictions would do anything but further harm those who are already marginalized.

Earlier this year, the City of Kingston stooped to a new low when they shamelessly misinterpreted Justice Carter’s decision regarding the eviction of the encampment. Contrary to Mayor Bryan Paterson’s claims, the ruling did not grant the city a “green light” to evict during the daytime (quotation marks to emphasize the ridiculousness of the traffic light used to dictate when encampment residents can be present in the park). During the case, disappointingly, the day-time circumstances of encampment residents were not considered. There was no evidence brought forward to address the availability of resources during day-time, or how a day-time eviction of the encampment could exacerbate the effects of other Bylaws that target the same population (e.g., the Community Standards Bylaw, which prohibits loitering).

Yet, the City persists in its opportunistic pursuit, showing up at Belle Park ready to evict residents this morning, and releasing a statement today that attempts to spin the evictions as simply following court orders and threatening legal ‘remedies’ for those who do not comply. It is not in the spirit of the judge’s decision to carry out evictions based on their opportunistic misinterpretation. If the City truly wishes to take such measures, it must return to court and substantiate the constitutionality of its bylaws.

Source: Katarokwi Union of Tenants

In their statement, the City claims that additional day-time spaces have opened at the Adelaide Shelter, but this claim was exposed as fabrication In a Whig Standard article published today by the shelter’s operator. The reality is that there are not enough daytime services available to accommodate the unhoused population, and expecting individuals to dismantle their shelters daily is a blatant disregard for their dignity and well-being. It is also entirely impractical for most residents in the encampment who have disabilities, illnesses, injuries or addictions. This approach does not make any sense unless it is understood as an effort on the part of the City of Kingston to make conditions in the encampment so inconvenient and so unbearable for people living there that they choose to leave the encampment altogether, which is what they went to court for in the first place.

The lack of political will to address homelessness is undeniable. Recent investments in infrastructure and tourism projects show that the City has ample resources that it fails to prioritize affordable housing and support services. It is not only possible but morally imperative that City funds be redirected to support every person’s fundamental rights to shelter and care. We cannot afford to continue investing in infrastructure, tourism, and eviction enforcement, and expecting vulnerable community members to pay the ultimate costs.

We reject the City of Kingston’s cruel eviction strategy and call for a humane and equitable approach to addressing homelessness. No evictions in Belle Park should ever occur, but especially not when there are insufficient accessible housing options for the very people they are evicting. Harm-reduction housing must be prioritized. Another world is possible, and it requires courage, compassion, and a commitment to upholding the dignity of all individuals.

Source: Katarokwi Union of Tenants

After many years of fighting for accessible housing for all and against these inhumane and shortsighted evictions, we are still here and we’re not going anywhere. We know the City will be back, committed to wasting its resources on this inhumane effort to make homelessness less visible. We will be back too.

photo: Katarokwi Union of Tenants

Announcing call for tablers at the upcoming Constellation bookfair in so-called Montreal on May 25th. For more information, see the Constellation website.

CONSTELLATION will feature a bookfair on Saturday, May 25th, at the CÉDA and CCGV buildings in Parc Vinet (métro Lionel-Groulx). We invite booksellers, zine distros, artists, and makers of other material of interest to anarchists and the anarcho-curious to table at the event. Tabling will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., but you can show up as early as 8:30 a.m. for setup. ​​​​​​​

As organizers of CONSTELLATION, we would like to clarify that we see our role as helping facilitate an anarchist bookfair space, not as content arbiters.

If you would like to reserve a table, please complete the form that can be accessed here: https://constellation.noblogs.org/tables

We will make announcements when tables are running low and again when none are left. The reservation form will close when all tables are reserved or at the end of the day on May 10th. You can also always B.Y.O.T. (bring your own table) and set up somewhere.

Both buildings are wheelchair-accessible. We will be setting aside table locations nearest to the entryways for people with limited mobility. More complete accessibility information, including info on childcare, will be published on our website soon. Specific requests related to access can be sent to us via the reservation form, and we will do our best to accommodate them.

We call on the wider anarchist community to help pull this off! Anyone can organize an event; simply add it to the festival calendar. If you’re interested in distributing books, zines, art, or other materials, you can reserve a bookfair table.

Report from the Atlanta Community Press Collective on surveillance plan advanced by the Atlanta Police Foundation (APF) in 2023.

In 2023, the Atlanta Police Foundation (APF) quietly advanced what one critic called an “unprecedented” plan to test an invasive individual electronic surveillance program and secure a $1 million city contract for Talitrix, an APF donor company.

Founded in 2020 and with ownership stakes held by several current and former Georgia Republican lawmakers, Talitrix aims to capture a share of the rapidly growing electronic monitoring market. The company uses geofencing and proprietary algorithms to produce a “Talitrix score” that agencies can use to determine whether someone’s behavior on pretrial release or probation should subject them to re-arrest and incarceration.

Talitrix provided a demonstration of the company’s product for APF and Atlanta Police Department (APD) officials in January 2023. During that demonstration, Talitrix CEO Justin Hawkins expressed an interest in integrating his company’s technology with Fusus, the surveillance company that underpins Atlanta’s massive camera network.

The day after the demonstration, APF’s vice president of programs, Gregory McNiff, emailed Anthony Baldoni, senior vice president of strategic initiatives at Fusus, to make introductions and express an interest in the integration on behalf of the city. “The Mayor’s office is ready to fund the purchase of Talitrix monitoring bracelets for the purpose of tracking repeat offenders,” McNiff wrote.

The Fusus-Talitrix integration would combine GPS-enabled digital shackles featuring biometric monitoring capabilities with the growing canopy of Fusus-linked video cameras in Atlanta. By integrating Talitrix equipment with AI-powered real-time video surveillance that can trigger multiple public and privately owned “pan-tilt-zoom” (PTZ) cameras at a person’s precise location, APF planned to put up to 900 people under constant video, audio, biometric, and GPS surveillance as a condition of pre-trial release.

“This [proposal] turns the City of Atlanta into an open-air prison for everyone on electronic monitoring,” said Cooper Quinton, security researcher and senior staff technologist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Threat Lab.

Several technology and legal experts who reviewed the integration proposal concluded it would be the most sweeping state-run electronic surveillance program in the United States and raised serious legal and ethical concerns.

“We’re seeking huge upticks in the rate of electronic monitoring. It’s gone up tenfold since 2005, and it doubled between 2021 and 2022. It’s already very invasive,” Quinton said, referring to a report released by the criminal justice research and policy nonprofit Vera Institute. “This is an unprecedented expansion of that surveillance. Even if you have not yet been convicted of a crime under this system, you and your family and your friends could be subject to constant, targeted video surveillance.”

Fallon McClure, deputy director of policy and advocacy with the ACLU of Georgia, noted that Georgia’s courts have disapproved of blanket electronic monitoring. “We are gravely concerned about what will be a panopticon for those on pre-trial release,” she said.

Kendra Albert, a public interest technology researcher at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, had a more emphatic perspective.

“Grave concerns would be putting it mildly. My level of concern would be best expressed in expletives,” said Albert.

Albert said that no other electronic surveillance program to their knowledge has subjected people to the level of constant monitoring APF’s proposed Fusus-Talitrix merge would entail. The proposal could subject people on pre-trial release and everyone around them to warrantless wiretapping without notice or consent, they said, a prospect that “functionally upends the relationship under the Constitution that the police are supposed to have when they want to surveil people.”

“This is fucked,” Albert added.

Black Communities as “unwitting research subjects”

Records show the APF planned to test the Talitrix technology on a cohort of so-called “repeat offenders.” The group consists of 1,000 people convicted of three or more felonies who are arrested again in Fulton County. Over 93 percent of APF-designated “repeat offenders” are Black, according to a 2022 annual report.

Drug offenses are the most common charge, representing 34 to 40 percent of the arrests in the dataset, according to APF’s 2022 report.

Mayor Dickens and APD officials have worked with APF’s Repeat Offender Commission on a multi-year public relations campaign to paint repeat offenders as a scourge whose “life of crime” makes up “40 percent” of the offenses in Atlanta. However, APF’s data characterized 83 percent of repeat offender cases as non-violent.

Notes from an APF Repeat Offender Commission meeting reflect racial concerns amongst stakeholders. President and CEO of the Buckhead Coalition, Jim Durrett, is quoted in the notes questioning the presentation of the commission’s marketing materials. “How important is it to put their picture up on the flyer? Five black males. What is being received? What message are we sending?” Durrett asked.

Those notes reflect an unnamed party responding, “Most of the jail is primarily African-American so the stats support it.”

Testing of “unvetted Talitrix technology appears to align with this country’s history of using Black people and communities as unwitting research subjects,” said Tiffany Roberts, public policy director at the Southern Center for Human Rights.

Laura Rivera, an attorney with Just Futures Law, agreed, saying, “Make no mistake: these draconian measures are meant not to ensure safety, but to control the bodies of Black and Brown people, including immigrants.”

Concerns surrounding the use of Talitrix devices spurred APF to form a temporary task force in June 2023 aimed at responding to objections and allowing the project to proceed.

The APF pushed forward with the plan and paid student volunteers at Georgia State University and Georgia Tech a $50 stipend to install and wear Talitrix devices in October and November 2023 as a “proof of concept” plan for the integration. A month before the pilot program, Talitrix donated at least $25,000 to the APF as a sponsor of the foundation’s “Crime is Toast” breakfast.

Repeat Offenders?

Both the price tag and the process of the Fusus-Talitrix proposal appear to fall outside Atlanta’s procurement rules. Those rules require any solicitation for a city contract over $1 million that would be presented to the city council for approval to run through the city’s procurement department and undergo a review by the city’s Inspector General’s (IG) Independent Procurement Review Division.

The APF planned to fund a 6-month Talitrix pilot for $234,000 and then have the city assume the contract while adding 700 devices for a total cost exceeding $1 million. APF funding would have allowed the initial phase of the plan to avoid any pre-award independent procurement review.

The IG found in March 2023 that the $109 million single-source contract the Atlanta Police Department inked with Axon failed to follow procurement guidelines. APD agreed to revise its procedures and retrain its staff.

As of March 22, the City of Atlanta’s Procurement Office confirmed Talitrix is not listed as a vendor. Despite an email from the APF stating otherwise, APD’s public affairs office told the Atlanta Community Press Collective “the Mayor’s Office did not approve funding for Talitrix” and “there was never a commitment to purchase” the Talitrix technology.

The Atlanta Community Press Collective also inquired about the status of the plan to twelve members of the Repeat Offender Commission. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert C. McBurney said the program is not active “at least not as a Court-authorized initiative.”

“Does it pass the smell test?”

Talitrix is no stranger to controversy. In October 2023, the Fulton County Commission voted to terminate a $2.1 million contract Talitrix inked with Sheriff Pat Labat for 1,000 devices. By October, the sheriff had deployed only 15 devices inside Fulton’s Rice Street jail. The decision to pull out of the deal followed revelations that Talitrix donated tens of thousands of dollars to the Sheriff’s campaign committee.

“Some $70,000 from a group of people all associated with this same enterprise and I think quite frankly, it raises questions, it could be perfectly legal, but does it pass the smell test?” Fulton County Commission Chair Rob Pitts said at the time. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) published an investigation in March alleging heavy-handed legal tactics Talitrix used against critics, including legal notices Talitrix’s lawyer served on Forsyth County Commissioners who raised questions about the company. Forsyth Commissioner Todd Levent told the AJC that attorney Robert Ashe—who is also representing the city of Atlanta in its fight against the Cop City referendum—represented Talitrix in public records requests to the Forsyth County Commission following critical statements about the company by some of the commissioners.

The Atlanta Police Foundation did not respond to ACPC inquiries in the weeks before publication.

Local, independent journalism takes time and resources. If you have the capacity, please consider becoming a subscriber or making a one-time contribution to keep ACPC running. Donate to ACPC here.

Photo by Maxim Hopman on Unsplash

Resistance to the US backed Israeli war and genocide against Palestinians living in the occupied territories remains ongoing, with a chorus of mass protests, sabotage, occupations at US universities, and blockades of weapons suppliers continuing into the spring, as a call grows “to disrupt and blockade economic logistical hubs and the flow of capital” on April 15th.

Despite attempts by the Democratic Party brass to rally behind Biden’s rabid support for the war, as the US war machine pushes to green-light even more billions in military aid and equipment, anger continues to mount against the bloodshed and deepening social crisis as the threat of mass starvation in Gaza grows, Israeli forces slaughter aid workers and attack humanitarian efforts, and the military directly targets hospitals, such as the Al-Shifa Medical complex.

As the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor reported:

The Israeli army carried out a massive, shockingly horrific military operation in Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City over the course of the past two weeks, indiscriminately targeting and attacking Palestinians regardless of their civilian status, professional standing, gender, age, or health condition.

Though the exact number of casualties from the atrocity is still unknown, preliminary reports suggest that over 1,500 Palestinians have been killed, injured, or are reported missing as a result of the massacre at Al-Shifa, with women and children making up half of the casualties. Euro-Med Monitor is able to confirm from its initial investigation and testimonies that hundreds of dead bodies, including some burned, and others with their heads and limbs severed, have been discovered both inside Al-Shifa Medical Complex and in the hospital’s surrounding area.

The attack on Al-Shifa Medical Complex is the most visible aspect yet of Israel’s systematic and carefully-crafted plan to destroy and besiege the Gaza Strip’s health sector, bring it to the brink of collapse, and deny the Palestinian population any chance at survival or medical care, or shelter.

Mass opposition against the war in the US has grown, with the majority of Americans now opposing the conflict, as Israel rallies to attack the Palestinian city of Rafah, where many refugees have been pushed since the war broke out in October of 2023. Meanwhile in Israel, “tens of thousands of Israelis have flooded the streets…calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s resignation and urging the government to secure a ceasefire…”

Despite this growing rejection of the war effort, the Democratic Party leadership has remained steadfast in its backing of the Israeli state with billions of dollars in aid and weapons, while billionaire fascist Donald Trump has called Israel to “finish up” its war and third party candidate and conspiracy-peddler Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has backed Israel, calling it a “moral nation.” Meanwhile, US politicians have also been pushing for the criminalization of protest in support of Palestine under the banner of stopping ‘anti-Semitism,’ while actual anti-Semitism explodes as the Republican party embraces white nationalist conspiracy theories such as the “Great Replacement.”

Despite attempts by elites and the corporate media to derail and suppress the movement, protests, sabotage, and mass actions continue. Currently, there is a growing call for mass protests and blockades on April 15th. According to the A15 Action website:

The proposal states that in each city, we will identify and blockade major choke points in the economy, focusing on points of production and circulation with the aim of causing the most economic impact, as did the port shutdowns in recent months in Oakland, California and Melbourne, Australia, as just a few examples.

There is a sense in the streets 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.

As Yemen is bombed to secure global trade, and billions of dollars are sent to the Zionist war machine, we must recognize that the global economy is complicit in genocide and together we will coordinate to disrupt and blockade economic logistical hubs and the flow of capital.

See the A15 Action website for more information and check out our roundup of recent actions across the so-called US here.

Mass Actions and Blockades Target Military and Weapons Manufactures

In Sacramento, CA, hundreds marched on the Sacramento bridge, shutting it down in solidarity with Palestine.

In Seattle, WA, hundreds gathered to protest the Aerospace and Defense Supplier Summit, which was ultimately shut down due to fear of demonstrators. According to local independent journalist Alissa Azar, “Boeing got intimidated by the threat of confrontation and moved the event online.” Graffiti slogans and posters were also placed up around the shuttered event during the demonstration.

SOURCE: Indybay.org

In Fairfield, CA, protesters were attacked by violent riot police after converging on Travis Air-force base, blocking intersections. This action followed other blockades the week before:

Organized outside of the view of the imperialist apparatus, we organized a simultaneous shut across two separate gates at Beale AFB. At 6:30am 3 activists blockaded the entrance to the Schneider Gate at Beale AFB, and another 3 blocked the entrance to the Wheatland Gate, the two busiest gates at imperialist installation.

At the Schneider gate the blockade was held for over an hour before the activists were arrested by military police. The blockade at the Wheatland gate on the other hand was held for over two hours, before arrests were made. After around an hour all arrestee’s were released.

Demonstrators rallied outside of Radio City Music Hall in New York, as President Biden spoke alongside former Presidents Clinton and Obama at an elite presidential fundraiser. Protesters managed to repeatedly interrupt the event.

In San Francisco, hundreds clashed with police while attempting to stop a Navy ship from departing the bay area. As MSN reported, some protesters “reportedly chain[ed] themselves to the ship’s gangway in an attempt to disrupt a media event held by local and national politicians, and to block the vessel from reportedly transporting supplies to the Middle East.”

https://mbtadistro.noblogs.org/files/2024/04/Fellow.MP4.mp4

In Boston, MA:

At the same time as a mass demonstration held the Mass Ave Bridge, an autonomous group of activists blocked all Cambridge-bound traffic on the Longfellow Bridge using a length of chain and bike locks.

CAMBRIDGE IS CLOSED UNTIL ELBIT IS OUT

Elbit weapons are used every day to carry out genocide in Palestine. Elbit has an office – an “innovation center” – in Cambridge. What will you do to get them out?

Lastly in Texas, hundreds rallied in Austin against the “Israel Block Party…the largest pro-Israel event on a college campus in North America…”

Walkouts, Demonstrations, and University Occupations Spread

Despite organized attempts to label students organizing in solidarity with Palestine as “anti-Semitic,” students across the US have continued to take action, organizing walkouts, sit-ins, and the occupation of campus buildings – often facing arrests from police.

Students in Durham, NC walked out in support of a teacher who had been fired after a photo circulated of her classroom that featured a Palestinian flag. Students held signs reading, “Free Palestine,” and “Intifada, intifada.” Students in the Boston area at Emerson university also held a mass walkout in solidarity with Palestine, and in protest of recent arrests of demonstrators. College students in Massachusetts walked out of class, demanding that the university cut ties to Raytheon. Hundreds of students in Portland, Vermont, Minnesota, Staten Island, and Berkeley, CA also took to the streets in walkouts against the ongoing war in Gaza.

Students at Cornell University in Ithica, New York “…began an indefinite sit-in at Day Hall, the university’s primary administrative building, on March 21st. The sit-in was organized by the Coalition for Mutual Liberation (CML) and demanded that Cornell University call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and divest from weapons manufacturers complicit in…genocide.”

A group of students “occupied a Vanderbilt University building in Nashville, Tennessee, to protest the university administration’s suppression of pro-Palestinian voices [and were] forcibly removed by campus police.”

In Northampton, MA:

Hundreds of students occupied Smith College’s administration building on Wednesday, demanding that the college divest from military contractors and weapons manufacturers they say are aiding in the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. The students plan to occupy College Hall until their demands are met or until they are arrested and removed.

At the time of this writing, the occupation has lasted one week.

Sabotage and Targeted Vandalism

Sabotage and targeted vandalism also continued to take place across the US in solidarity with Palestine. In Portland, OR “[a] massive 60x30ft banner was dropped at the Morrison bridge over the river today in Portland, Oregon by an autonomous group. The banner reads “Don’t look away” and “stop the genocide” accompanied by two large Palestinian flags.”

At the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, “someone wrote “Free Palestine” on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Golda Meir Library, named after Israel’s former prime minister, and broke a library window, according to UWM police.”

In Anchorage, Alaska, “Multiple mayoral campaign signs in Anchorage have been stricken with vandalism…The mayor says some of this signs have had the words “genocide” and “Free Palestine” scribbled on them.”

In Bozeman, MT,”U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s downtown Bozeman office was vandalized during the weekend with expletives and red and black spray paint reading, “Tester funds genocide.”

A communique posted to Unoffensive Animal took credit for gluing the locks of a Starbucks in San Diego, CA. The claim of responsibility wrote:

This was done because Starbucks is complicit in genocide in Gaza. It’s former CEO, and current top shareholder is a zionist. Howard Shultz is just as guilty in the mass murder of innocent lives in Palestine as the iof terrorists.

The gluing of the locks did shut down store for hours, and resulted in a loss of profit. Which is the only language the capitalist death cult understands.

In solidarity. Free Gaza. Free Palestine.

Follow It’s Going Down on Mastodon for ongoing updates.

Cover photo from Indybay.org and Alissa Azar.

In this column, we present our monthly roundup of political prisoner, prison rebel, and repression news, happenings, announcements, action and analysis. Packed in as always are updates, fundraisers, and birthdays.

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

Political Prisoner News

The call for support to get adequate healthcare for longterm Black Liberation prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal continues, with a request to keep the pressure up on the Pennsylvania prison system. You can read a report from a recent visit with Mumia here. A new fundraiser has been set up to help the fight for Mumia’s medical treatment.

It’s been confirmed that long-term anarchist prisoner Bill Dunne has been moved to FMC Butner to begin cancer treatment, having had to demand this treatment for over a year. Write to Bill at his new address:

Bill Dunne # 10916-086
FMC Butler
PO Box 1600
Butner, NC
27509

The National Lawyers’ Guild held a ‘Week of Abolition’ in early March, with contributions from former political prisoners Red Fawn Fallis, Michael “Rattler” Marcus, and Eric King. You can watch the talk on Rattling the Cages here. Eric also recently appeared on the Antifada, Rattling the Bars, and the Uncivilized podcast. Firestorm Books will be hosting an event on April 27th, bringing together former political prisoners Eric King, Herman Bell, David Gilbert and Susan Rosenberg.

Chicano anarchist political prisoner Xinachtli is preparing for an upcoming parole bid, and has broadcast a new interview about his case and parole campaign on the Final Straw Radio. Anyone interested in getting involved can contact the parole campaign at 2024xinachtlifreedomcampaign (at) gmail.com.

A gofundme has been set up for longterm indigenous political prisoner Leonard Peltier, to help him fight for his freedom and adequate medical care to stop him losing his eyesight.

It’s Going Down has published a new letter from Mexican anarchist prisoner Jorge “Yorch” Esquivel. A current update on his situation wrote:

Jorge is currently incarcerated in the Reclusorio Oriente prison in Mexico City. The legal process is still in the evidence stage. Several hearings have been postponed and Jorge’s process is being delayed and prolonged to keep him in what is called “preventative imprisonment” with no sentence, which is common for cases of political prisoners in Mexico. Despite the fact that there is no evidence to keep him in prison, the strategy of the State is clearly to drag it out as long as possible, which is a tortuous level of uncertainty for all of us close to Jorge.

Thanks to the solidarity of individuals, collectives and networks, it has been possible to cover Jorge’s expenses inside the prison, which have been very high due to the corruption that reigns in Mexican prisons. We are raising funds to support his legal costs and basic needs to be able to survive in this unjust incarceration, and to re-join the community on the outside as soon as possible. We call upon the solidarity of our friends and compañerxs around the world to help us in supporting our compañero Yorch.

To Donate: https://gofund.me/ebca5f6d

Updates on Instagram: @yorchlibre

Blog: https://yorch-libre.espivblogs.net/

Uprising Defendants, Stop Cop City and other Ongoing Cases

Building on their work defending groups such as Rising Tide North America from legal harassment, the Civil Liberties Defense Center is holding an upcoming training on defending yourself from SLAPP (SLAPP—Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation—meant to silence critics and dissent) suits. The session will be held as a webinar on April 17th at 3:30 PST, with registration information to be available soon. In the meantime, you can view previous CLDC webinars here.

The ATF have been conducting a full-scale investigation around Charleston, South Carolina, with a number of subpoenas being issued and houses visited, apparently in connection with the Stop Cop City movement. New York-based prisoner support project Mongoose Distro also report that one of their volunteers was recently visited by the FBI at their home.

Jack Mazurek

Stop Cop City defendant Jack Mazurek has been bonded and released from prison. From Jack’s support site:

In a significant development in Jack’s legal battle, on March 29, a judge in Fulton County Court granted him bond! With this decision, Jack will be released from jail in the coming days, reuniting him with his loved ones and community. Fulton County often delays releasing people who have been granted bond, but we will advocate rigorously to ensure his quick release.

The cash bond amount was set for $75,000 and Jack was ordered 24-hour house arrest. There were a number of other conditions set by the judge that restrict Jack’s ability to work, engage in community, or even to meet with his lawyer at his office.

As Jack prepares to transition back to freedom, continued support remains crucial. Letters of encouragement and books sent to him during his time in incarceration have provided a lifeline, and we encourage supporters to maintain this solidarity.

Additionally, sustained advocacy and legal efforts will continue, with funds raised being allocated towards covering legal fees and the high costs associated with home detention and the inability to work while under house arrest.

Together, we are committed to ensuring Jack stays free!”

To donate to Jack’s fundraiser, please head to the link below:

https://givebutter.com/tLAvDE

Stay updated on Jack’s case by following his support website. In early March, supporters of the movement held a rally and punk show outside of the Atlanta courthouse in solidarity with one of Jack’s court dates.

A legal fundraiser has been set up for “Protest Mom” Aeshna, who is facing charges related to a drag defense action in Fort Worth, Texas. You can find shareable graphics with information on the case here. Supporters of her co-defendant Chris “Big Tex” G have shared a recent update on his case. As part of the SmashbySmashwest counter-festival in Austin, a benefit show was held for the two defendants, where a message from Chris G was read out.

The It’s Going Down podcast recently interviewed Jeremy White, a defendant in the ongoing San Diego “Antifa” case dating back to January 2021.

Support is also needed for Southern California based antifascist prisoner Tall Can. Head over to Pushing Down the Walls for more info. From their Instagram:

Most times when Tall Can’s name is is mentioned the response is, “he’s a real one.” For two years TC has made the trip up to perform for PDTW attendees. He has been about the support for political prisoners even before being locked up because he already knew how important this work is.

Let’s do what we can to make sure our comrade knows he’s got folks on the outside who love him as we fight to get him back with his family!

Peatmoss Ellis has recently been sentenced to a month in jail for spray-painting a Custer statue. You can donate to them via CashApp or Venmo at Peatmossss.

There’s a call for people to donate to Chío, a Mexican prisoner prosecuted for defending herself against a homophobic attack who is now facing a heavy fine. Funds can be sent via PayPal to @CatherineCVS.

René Goddard, one of the Arkansas George Floyd Uprising defendants who recently began her sentence, has an upcoming birthday on April 16th. Her address is:

Renea Goddard #22810-509
FCI Aliceville
P.O. BOX 4000
Aliceville, AL 35442

A new anarchist podcast, No Spiritual Surrender, just broadcast an interview with Epona Rose, a trans defendant who’s been facing charges for defending herself from an attack. You can learn more about Epona’s case at her support site.

Three people facing charges connected to Palestine solidarity protests in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, have a court date on April 3rd, and are asking people to show up in support.

Hassan

Hassan, AKA Vibez, is a George Floyd uprising defendant from Portland who is due for release shortly, and you can donate to his post-release funds here.

Kevin “Rashid” Johnson

The most recent update on imprisoned organizer Kevin “Rashid” Johnson is that he has come off his hunger strike after winning a transfer:

Rashid has been transferred to the Eastern part of Virginia, closer to medical facilities as we all have been demanding!

Here is the new address for letters:

Kevin “Rashid” Johnson #1007485
Greensville Correctional Center
901 Corrections Way
Jarratt, VA 23870-9614

He reports much better health. He had lost a lot of weight during the hunger strike, but he has already gained back much of it. He has had his tablet restored, so he is somewhat able to communicate via email. Phone communications seem to be in the process of being restored.

He is not in solitary confinement as he was at Red Onion State Prison.

This report is incomplete, as communications remain somewhat spotty.

Rashid has recently published two new articles, “How Prison Officials Manufactured Gangs And Gang Wars In Virginia’s Prisons” and “Spotlight on Virginia Prisons.”

Northwest Detention Center Hunger Strike

Via @laresistencianw

Another hunger strike has begun at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, after Charles Leo Daniel died while in solitary confinement there. Over 200 detainees are reported to be taking part in the strike, while organizers from La Resistencia and Tsuru for Solidarity have begun a solidarity hunger strike outside the facility. There’s also a call for mass direct action against the detention center on April 27-28. Check out La Resistencia and Tsuru for Solidarity for more updates.

General Prison News and Abolitionist Media

The Certain Days collective is calling for submissions for their 2025 calendar. From their website:

The Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar collective will be releasing our 24th calendar this coming autumn. We are doing an open call for abolition-related art and article submissions to feature in the calendar, which hangs in more than 6,000 homes, workplaces, prison cells, and community spaces around the world. We encourage contributors to submit both new and existing work. We especially seek submissions from people in prison or jail, so please forward this call to any prison-based artists and writers.

Left Coast Right Watch have published a report on the Free Alabama Movement’s current strategy and recent prison strikes.

Former political prisoner Eric King is appealing for people to get involved in supporting his friend Randy “Smiles” Platt, a prisoner at USP Florence Admax who fights to defend antifascist and queer prisoners. Smiles is currently in solitary confinement after being set up and attacked by another prisoner with a hammer. You can write to Smiles at:

Randy Platt
#20764-081
USP Florence ADMAX
PO Box 8500
Florence, CO 80501

Prisoners at Maine State Prison have recently begun a hunger strike over conditions in solitary confinement.

Prisoners in Sioux Falls, SD engaged in several nights of unrest “at South Dakota’s largest penal institution.” According to one report:

Tea Storm Chasers, a nonprofit media outlet based in Tea, started a livestream video of the incident shortly before midnight Thursday. As on Wednesday, the disruption centered on East Hall, one of two large cell blocks at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls.

At points in the 27-minute video, inmates can be heard yelling “we have rights,” and “water.” The noise had quieted by the end of the livestream, but the interior lights inside the cell block remained on until at least 3 a.m. The lights typically go out overnight, and were out in West Hall, located on the other side of the penitentiary.

A correctional officer was injured during a similar disruption on Wednesday, according to Gov. Kristi Noem. That incident was sparked by an attempt to confiscate inmate tablets, the governor said in a recorded interview, on which calling and messaging have been restricted since March 8 as a result of an investigation into what Noem called “nefarious” uses by some inmates.

Inmates could be heard chanting “we want phones” during the first incident, which began late in the afternoon. DOC Secretary Kellie Wasko sent a statement to media organizations at 8:30 p.m. that night to announce that order had been restored.

It’s unclear if any injuries to staff or inmates occurred in the second bout of unrest, which took place Thursday evening into early Friday morning.

Ferguson uprising prisoner Josh Williams had a parole hearing on March 14th, and may be due to be released soon. At time of writing, it is not clear what the outcome of his hearing was.

Anarchist prisoner Michael Kimble is preparing to file case for a sentence reduction, and is raising funds to secure proper legal representation.

The Michigan General Defense Committee have organized a phone-zap for Hunter Poppenger, an anarchist prisoner who has been assaulted after being threatened and set up by staff. The Ombudsman has now confirmed that they are looking into the incident, and Hunter’s family say that there has been some improvements, but further action may be needed if Hunter is not transferred, so keep an eye on Michigan GDC’s social media to see how the situation develops.

Michigan GDC have also been supporting the campaign to get medical clemency for Krystal Clark, a prisoner suffering severe health effects from mold. You can learn more about her situation at the Free Krystal website.

Source: Free Krystal Clark

The Pennsylvania network of abolition study groups have organized a campaign in solidarity with prisoners at SCI Rockview, a prison where guards hung nooses up and prisoners who complained were sent to solidarity. You can read the original call for a phone zap here, along with an update for the second week of the campaign here. They also have documentation of the mass grievance letter-writing campaign that was launched by comrades inside the prison, and a set of broader reflections on abolitionist strategy.

In the Indiana prison system, IDOC Watch have organized phone/email zaps to support Aaron Isby, who’s been denied access to the law library, and Khalfani Malik Khaldun, who’s been moved out of general population and into a semi-segregation unit. They’ve also published an article by Landis Reynolds, a prisoner reporting on a new IDOC policy that would potentially allow rape victims to be punished for “nonconsensual sexual activity.”

Virginia prisoner Uhuru Rowe is due to be released soon, and you can donate to his release fund here. Uhuru will be releasing a new zine, Conscious Prisoner, in the near future.

Unicorn Riot has a report from a rally in St Paul, Minnesota, where families and friends of prisoners demanded an end to retribution against prisoners who were involved in protests last year.

A new book, “Books Through Bars: Stories from the Prison Books Movement” has been published, collecting accounts from participants in books-to-prisoner programs. The Final Straw interviewed Mac Marquis, one of the editors and contributors.

The Final Straw Radio also recently broadcast a new interview with James “Jay” Ward, an Ohio prisoner involved in several struggles on the inside, including the national 2018 prison strike.

Michigan Abolition and Prisoner Solidarity have published a new issue of their zine, The Opening Statement.

Baltimore is building a new jail, estimated to cost $1 billion, and described as “the most expensive state-run project in Maryland’s history.”

The Prison Policy Initiative have published a major report, The Whole Pie, examining the current state of mass incarceration.

People involved in working with Kentucky prisoners have reported that the prison system has begun censoring outside mail if it contains messages from other prisoners. Anyone with experience of working around this kind of issue is invited to reach out to the column to share ideas.

Finally, It’s Going Down now has a zine creator that turns a daily version of the website into an easy to print several page zine. Perfect for distros and sending into prisons. Check it out here!

International

The Final Straw Radio recently broadcast an interview with UK anarchist prisoner Toby Shone. Bristol ABC also have a report from a probation office demo for Toby. You can read a recent article from Toby, The Subversive Written Word, here.

Long-term Slovakian animal liberation prisoner Ladislav Kuc has now been released. You can read an interview with Ladislav here, and contribute to his release funds here.

The Final Straw Radio recently broadcast an interview covering the Tymen case in Russia. Three of the defendants are musicians, and a compilation has been released bringing their music together as a fundraiser for their legal defense.

Antifascists across Europe are organizing in solidarity with the defendants who are threatened with extradition to Hungary in the Budapest antifa case. You can find information on how to donate to the defense campaign here. A day of solidarity with the defendants was held on March 18th, and you can see a collection of graffiti from the day here. A court has just rejected an application for house arrest from one of the defendants, meaning Ilaria will continue to be kept in prison pre-trial.

Source: Antifa International

In Chile, Mapuche political prisoner Claudia Nahuelan has just been transferred to a prison closer to her family, which the state is attempting to appeal against, while anarchist Tomás González has just been sentenced to 16 years. You can read a statement from Tomás here, and fellow Chilean anarchist prisoners Mónica Caballero Sepúlveda and Marcelo Villarroel Sepúlveda have also recently published new writings. Mónica’s co-defendant Francisco Solar has just had a new appeal heard, although the court appears to have upheld his entire 86-year sentence.

In Italy, anarchist prisoners Alfredo Cospito and Anna Beniamino are due to have a new hearing on April 24th, which may lead to a change in their sentences.

Greek anarchist prisoner Dimitris Chatzivasiliadis has been transferred to solitary confinement.

Uprising Defendants

See Uprising Support for more info, and check out the Antirepression PDX site for updates from Portland cases. To the best of our knowledge they currently include:

Tyre Means 49981-086
USP Atwater
P.O. Box 019001
Atwater, CA 95301

Margaret Channon 49955-086
FCI Tallahassee
P.O. Box 5000
Tallahassee, FL 32314

Hassan Muhammad #19203494
Oregon State Penitentiary (OSP)
2605 State Street
Salem, OR 97310

You can donate to Hassan’s post-release fundraiser here.

Malik Muhammad #23935744
Oregon State Penitentiary
2605 State Street
Salem, OR 97310

Cyan Waters Bass #23905849
Oregon State Correctional Institution
3405 Deer Park Drive SE
Salem, Oregon 97310

Montez Lee 22429-041
FCI Ray Brook
Federal Correctional Institution
PO Box 900
Ray Brook, NY 12977

Matthew White #21434-041
FCI Terre Haute
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. BOX 33
Terre Haute, IN 47808

Matthew Rupert #55013-424
USP McCreary
P.O. Box 3000
Pine Knot, KY 42635

José Felan #54146-380
FCI Terre Haute
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 33
Terre Haute, IN  47808

David Elmakayes 77782-066
FCI McKean
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 8000
Bradford, PA 16701

Andrew Duncan-Augustyniak
Smart Communications/PA DOC
Andrew Duncan-Augustyniak / QN9211
SCI Rockview
PO Box 33028
St Petersburg, Florida 33733

Anthony Smith
14813-509
FCI Fort Dix
Federal Correctional Institution
Satellite Camp
P.O. Box 2000
Joint Base MDL, NJ 08640

Ellie Brett 14822-509
FCI Petersburg Medium
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 1000
Petersburg, VA 23804

John Wade 14762509
FCI Beckley
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 350
General & Legal Mail
Beaver, WV 25813

Alvin Joseph 1002016959
Hays State Prison
PO Box 668
Trion, GA 30753

Richard Hunsinger 16066-509
FCI Forrest City Low
P.O. Box 9000
Forrest City, AR 72335

Diego Vargas 55070-424
FCI Allenwood Medium
PO Box 2000
White Deer, PA 17887

Howard Eugene Nall #586907*
Newberry Correctional Facility
13747 E. County Road 428
Newberry, MI 49868

T’Andre Buchanan 67637-060
Milan FCI
PO Box 1000
Milan, MI 48160

Renea Goddard #22810-509
FCI Aliceville
P.O. BOX 4000
Aliceville, AL 35442

Aline Espinosa-Villegas #22814-509
FMC Carswell
P.O. Box 27137
Fort Worth, Texas 76127

Upcoming Birthdays

Georges Ibrahim Abdallah

Lebanese revolutionary political prisoner held in French prisons since 1984 for actions targeting U.S. and Israeli officials. You can find a statement calling for an international day of solidarity with Georges on April 2nd here, and April 17th is traditionally observed as Palestinian Prisoners’ Day.

Birthday: April 2

Address:

Mr. Georges Ibrahim ABDALLAH
2388/A221
CP de Lannemezan
204 rue des Saligues
BP 70166
65307 LANNEMEZAN
France

Hanna/Anna Pyshnik

Hanna Pyshnik (Chympajesh) was detained on 22 March 2022 in Mozyr and shares anti-fascist views. According to the prosecution, she “shot a video of helicopters and sent it to a destructive media resource.”

Belarusian prisons will usually only accept letters in Belarusian or Russian, so if you don’t speak one of those languages your best bet is to email your message to belarus_abc(AT)riseup.net or use this online form and they should be able to translate your greetings and pass them on.

Birthday: April 2

Address:

(Belarusian or Russian letters only – use this form for English messages)

Pyshnik (Chimpoyesh) Anna Gennadyevna
IK № 4, ul. Antoshkina 3, Gomel, 246035

René Goddard

René Goddard is a George Floyd Uprising defendant from Arkansas, serving an 18-month sentence for setting a number of police cars on fire.

The Federal system uses Corrlinks, a system where a prisoner must send a request to connect to someone on the outside before they can exchange emails, so if you’re not already connected to René then you’re best off just sending her a card or a letter.

Birthday: April 16

Address:

Renea Goddard #22810-509
FCI Aliceville
P.O. BOX 4000
Aliceville, AL 35442

Roy Brown

Ferguson rebel convicted of looting during the Ferguson uprising, along with other unrelated robbery charges. Missouri uses Jpay, so you can send him a message by going to jpay.com, clicking “inmate search”, then selecting “State: Missouri, Inmate ID: 1310047”.

Birthday: April 20

Address:

Roy Brown #1310047
Potosi Correctional Center
11593 State Highway O
Mineral Point, MO 63660

Pavel Shpteny

Pavel Shpetny was detained on March 2nd, 2021 under a criminal case against the anarchist movement from Brest region. ABC Belarus add, “We are unaware of his political views, but since he is detained under the anarchists’ case, we consider it important to support him in every possible way.”

Belarusian prisons will usually only accept letters in Belarusian or Russian, so if you don’t speak one of those languages your best bet is to email your message to belarus_abc(AT)riseup.net or use this online form and they should be able to translate your greetings and pass them on.

Birthday: April 22

Address:

(Belarusian or Russian letters only – use this form for English messages)

IK № 2, ul. Sikorskogo, 1 g. Bobruysk, 213800, Belarus
Pavel Aleksandrovich Shpetny

Mumia Abu-Jamal

Mumia is an award winning journalist and was one of the founders of the Black Panther Party chapter in Philadelphia, PA. He has struggled for justice and human rights for people of color since he was at least 14 years old; the age when he joined the Party. In December of 1982, Mumia, who moonlighted by driving a taxi, happened upon police who were beating his brother. During the melee, a police officer was shot and killed. Despite the fact that many people saw someone else shoot and then runaway from the scene, Mumia, in what could only be called a kangaroo court, was convicted and sentenced to death. During the summer of 1995, a death warrant was signed by Governor Tom Ridge, which sparked one of the most effective organizing efforts in defense of a political prisoner ever. Since that time, Mumia has had his death sentence overturned, but still has a life sentence with no opportunity for parole.

Pennsylvania uses Connect Network/GTL, so you can contact him online by going to connectnetwork.com, selecting “Add a facility,” choosing “State: Pennsylvania, Facility: Pennsylvania Department of Corrections,” going into the “messaging” service, and then adding Mumia as a contact by searching his name or “AM8335.”

Birthday: April 24

Address:

Smart Communications/PA DOC
Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM8335
SCI Mahanoy
Post Office Box 33028
St Petersburg, Florida 33733

Janiis Mathis

A former Vaughn 17 defendant.

Pennsylvania uses Connect Network/GTL, so you can contact him online by going to connectnetwork.com, selecting “Add a facility,” choosing “State: Pennsylvania, Facility: Pennsylvania Department of Corrections,” going into the “messaging” service, and then adding him as a contact by searching his name or “NU0423.”

Birthday: April 24

Address:

Janiis Mathis
SBI# 00492275
Sussex Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 500
Georgetown DE 19947

Report on launch of a tree-sit in Southern Oregon in defense of old growth. For more updates, check out Treesitters Union Media.

Forest defenders have launched a tree sit to stop old growth logging on federal Bureau of Land Management land in Southern Oregon. Community members are opposing the Poor Windy timber sale, which targets thousands of acres of mature and old growth forest.

The timber sale is just one of countless projects the BLM has proposed across the region that will clearcut mature and old growth forests, flying directly in the face of commitments made by the federal administration.

We are calling for the immediate cancellation of this sale and an end to all logging on public lands.

On today’s episode of the It’s Going Down podcast, we sit down with labor historian Peter Cole, who speaks on how the state in the midst of World War I, used a variety of tactics, which came to be known as the ‘Red Scare,’ to attack and smash the ascendant Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), an anti-capitalist labor union organized around syndicalist lines.

Cole maps out the variety of forces which attacked the union, ranging from coordinated government raids on IWW union halls, attacks from far-Right vigilantes in the the Ku-Klux-Klan and the American Legion, and the assassination of organizers by local police. We look at how the American state utilized the courts against the IWW through things like the the Espionage Act, the Sedition Act and the Criminal Syndicalism laws, which criminalized membership within the union. Finally, we unpack the role of early nationalist disinformation, which attempted to paint the IWW as agents of the German state in the midst of the the war, especially at a time when the IWW was organizing heavily in industries which were crucial to the war effort.

In closing, we compare this history of the Red Scare with the ongoing wave of repression happening in Atlanta today, as the state attempts to break the movement against Cop City. We also look at recent attempts by the US government to demonize membership in the IWW, such as in the J20 trials and the assassination of forest defender Tortuguita in Atlanta.

The history of the Red Scare is a dire warning about the ability of the democratic State to smash by any means necessary radical working-class organizing from below, utilizing a wide range of repressive tactics. Just as today, the state is ready to criminalize ideology and participation in social movements in an effort to safeguard its interests.

More Info: Peter Cole interview on IWW.org. Check out Peter Cole on the IGD podcast here, here, and here.

Report from Dreaming Freedom, Practicing Abolition on growing campaign against repression of prisoners in Pennsylvania who are speaking out against the hanging of nooses by guards. Information about phone-zap here.

Benner Township, PA – On November 24th, 2023, imprisoned people at SCI Rockview found two nooses hanging in the CO’s office, displayed visibly for many prisoners to see. When the prisoners asked the staff why the nooses were hung, they were told it was a joke. By December 4th, prisoners filed a grievance to document what they saw, noting that the hanging of the nooses was “unethical, racially motivated, hateful, [a] deliberate debasement of black inmates” and “unsafe for inmates, staff, [and] the whole prison in general.” In the grievance, they demanded that Sgt. Mosser and CO Richard be fired and investigated for a hate crime, and for CO Kirchner to get therapy. Captain Andrews, the head of security, denied the grievance over two months later by February 5, 2024 under the guise that it was “being investigated.” However, the sergeant and COs are still working in the prison to this day, with no repercussions for this racist act.

As of March 10th, prisoners have reached out to Pennsylvania officials at the Dept. of Corrections in a letter campaign, sending 100 copies of the grievance. Copies of the letter also were mailed to Governor Shapiro, Senator Fetterman, Senator Street, and various advocacy groups. The demands for relief in the original grievance have now become the platform of demands for this campaign. About 20 of the 100 letters were withheld by the prison. Activists on the outside are joining forces with prisoners to elevate their demands, flooding the phone lines of DOC offices, assisting with outreach to media, and circulating the stories of prisoners who have found unity in opposition to the facility’s virulent institutional racism.

In any other workplace, hanging a noose would be grounds for immediate termination. However, Nicki Paul, the superintendent’s assistant and “grievance coordinator” informed the public that they self-investigated their staff and found they did nothing wrong. When family and friends of prisoners in the facility called en mass between March 18th and 25th to voice their concern, Paul was flippant, dishonest, and dismissive to nearly every caller. Several family members of prisoners felt incredibly disrespected by the behavior of Paul and other staff who answered their calls. In the process of calling in, it also became known that Paul holds several other titles within the prison, including “staff officer,” “lieutenant’s assistant,” and “community liaison.” Samuel Condo, a PA-DOC official responsible for overseeing SCI Rockview, was called over a dozen of times to no avail. When contact was finally made with Condo, he simply would redirect calls back to Nicki Paul whose multiple roles on the prison staff create severe conflicts of interest.

Paul admits that SCI Rockview does indeed have video footage, yet the reasons why they refuse to make this footage public has not been given any reasonable justification. As of the week of March 18th, SCI Rockview has closed the internal investigation, choosing to protect the guards who did this hateful and racist act over the safety and well-being of the prisoners. In the meantime, the administration removed two prisoners from general population who brought the situation to public light. One was transferred out of the prison, and the other one is still in administrative custody, aka “the hole” under  accusations of “encouraging group activity.”

This incident is coming after a year that saw 11 prisoners die in custody. Seven people died amidst an outbreak of legionnaires disease, and four people died while in administrative custody (punitive solitary units with very little public oversight and severely limited communication access). Unfortunately, there is a well-known pattern of premature death and racist discriminatory practices (including beatings and verbal harassment) at SCI Rockview.

There is a resistance campaign that has emerged from the persistent actions of prisoners and outside supporters, who together are demanding an external investigation of the facility and its staff for the cover-up of hanging the nooses. The severity of retaliation for speaking out must also be considered a central object of investigation. We believe the inaction of officials at this facility is symptomatic of a deeper condition of anti-Blackness, white supremacy, and class warfare that PA-DOC legally sanctions and politically condones. On both sides of the wall, people most impacted by the racism of SCI Rockview continue to uplift the demands of prisoners to investigate the noose incident as a hate crime, to terminate Sgt. Mosser and CO Richard, and to require mandatory therapy for CO Kirchner. While a grassroots campaign is indeed growing, and as PA-DOC slides further into dissonant inaction, the call for popular resistance to SCI Rockview’s lethal conditions rings louder by the day.

Phone Zap

This is the second week of a phone zap that has not yet resulted in any further action taken by PA-DOC to reprimand three guards who hung nooses in the office (bubble) at SCI Rockview. We believe the facility’s inaction is symptomatic of the deeper condition of normalized antiBlack genocide and white supremacist class warfare in this facility (and across PA-DOC facilities). At SCI Rockview alone there was eleven preventable deaths in 2023, as well as several instances of beatings of prisoners by guards.

Following a letter campaign from the inside and a multi-day phone zap by outside supporters last week, our imprisoned comrade who filed the initial grievance about this issue was thrown in the hole (solitary) and may potentially be transferred as retaliation for speaking out. Since then we have also learned that there were other grievances submitted since the noose incident first happened, to no filing by SCI Rockview staff.

So, now the goals of our ongoing phone zap this week will be to demand the release of this comrade from the hole, as well as continuing to pressure the DOC and other officials to take action against the guards. As of now: the officers have faced no consequences; the grievances were denied by the superintendent’s assistant (who doubles as the grievance coordinator); and the internal investigation into the “noose incident” has been closed. This is unacceptable, and prisoners in the facility have not relented in their work to expose this situation for the world to see. We owe it to the comrades in the belly of SCI Rockview, and especially to our comrade who was put in the hole for speaking up and letting the world know about this situation. This is the second prisoner at SCI Rockview to face severe consequences for speaking out, all the while the guards have enjoyed incredible degrees of insulation and impunity. The first imprisoned comrade to agitate around this issue was thrown in the hole and transferred to an entirely different state.

We have little reason to believe an internal investigation will achieve what the prisoners have been demanding, which includes the following:

• Release Charles Gilyard (# AY3679) from the hole and do not transfer him to a different facility.
• Investigate superintendent’ secretary Nicki Paul – who is also the grievance coordinator enabling much of this nonsense.
• Investigate the hanging of nooses as a “hate crime” and take their impact seriously
• Terminate Sgt. Mosser and c/o Richards
• Mandatory therapy for c/o Kirchner

We need an external investigation of SCI Rockview & its staff. This facility has seen 11 deaths (that we know of) in 2023 and a severe pattern of racist discriminatory practices. Please join us in calling PA-DOC offices and officials, to further expose this incident and amplify the demands of our captive comrades.

Go here for more info on the phone-zap and who to call.

SCI Rockview is attempting to disrupt the cohesion of inside resistance to these racist guards by targeting and removing people who they think are its catalyst. While resistance inside remains steadfast, the regime is simultaneously attempting to thwart the energy of outside support into individually supporting comrades, while comrades inside are isolated and targeted for reprisal. The struggle from here therefore takes two lines: On the one hand we have defensive work: making sure the comrades who are singled out and face accelerated repression are materially supported and the prison knows we have all eyes on the unfolding situation. And on the other hand we continue our offensive work: adjusting strategy to force PADOC to not only recognize the prisoner demands but to fulfill the requested terms of relief from which such demands emerge.

Photo by Matthew Ansley on Unsplash

You may have already seen one of these floating around in the wild over the past several months, but today we are excited to announce a new way to share IGD content and articles outside of the confines of the internet. Each day, an updated version of the website is turned into a printable PDF zine, ready for distro tables, autonomous community spaces, and to be sent through the bars to prisoners everywhere.

Simply go to https://zine.itsgoingdown.org/ and click “download here,” and a PDF version of the website will be created. Each zine runs several pages and includes the most current articles posted on the website along with social media posts from It’s Going Down, CrimethInc., and other outlets and projects.

As new articles and content are added to the site, each day a new version of the zine will be produced. This means that those tabling with the zine and sending it to friends and comrades behind the prison walls can keep people up to date with the latest news, commentary, and action roundups.

As social media platforms continue to become nothing but playgrounds for elite driven disinformation, data-mining, and the far-Right – while censoring grassroots reporting on autonomous social movements and struggles – it’s more important than ever to build our capacity to spread anarchist, anti-capitalist, and anti-colonial ideas from below.

Hopefully this new feature gives people printing out materials to share with those in their area a new tool in starting conversations and forging meaningful connections. Remember, you can submit written reports and commentary about what is going down in your area here.

Announcing a new podcast, No Spiritual Surrender, featuring an interview with Epona Rose. For more info on how to support Epona, go here.

Announcing a new anarchist and abolitionist podcast, No Spiritual Surrender, which features an interview with Epona Rose. An update on Epona Rose’s case from her support site reads:

Epona Rose, After months of a campaign for her own liberation, has finally been granted transfer from Arizona. She was attacked and bravely defended herself from a group of men. The Flagstaff authorities pinned her with a original bail of a impossible, $500,000. A nonprofit for Indigenous and marginalized communities posted bail this past September. Epona has continued to fight for the charges to be dropped, as survival should Never be a crime. During the months of her fight, Epona has been doxed, stalked and risked general safety. Seeing as the risk was greater fighting the charges, she took legal advice to accept a deal. Epona may have to pay the potential $150,000, and has accepted a deal for transfer to another state where she can finally stand on her own two feet. She has poured her all into her own freedom and the awareness of the violence inflicted on queer, two spirit, and transgender existence. Any money raised goes to her immediate relocation and basic needs. She’s almost to refuge let’s help our sister out in the spirit of mutual aid.

Epona needs $400 to get to the next waypoint where she will be able to get new id – which was stolen from her in Flagstaff. The money will pay for the gas to drive her nearly 600 miles and for the driver to return home.

Please send aid to: barefoottravelers on Venmo cash app or PayPal!

For more information on how to support Epona Rose, go here.

Report on the sentencing of an anti-colonial activist in Monroe, Michigan. For more info on how to write political prisoners, go here.

On Wednesday, March 20th, in front of a packed county courtroom in Monroe, Michigan, local anti-colonial activist Peatmoss Ellis was sentenced to a 30-day jail term for spray-painting a message of resistance on a statue of civil-war era genocide-perpetrator General Custer on Indigenous Peoples’ Day in 2022.

First District Court Judge Amanda L. Eicher explicitly stated that she was assigning Ellis the maximum possible sentence in order to deter others from engaging in dissent.

“This heavy-handed sentence is a politically-motivated decision and the worst-case scenario for a misdemeanor,” said local climate activist John R. Sullivan. “The purpose of this decision is to uphold the legacy of genocide and white supremacy. The county wants to deter us from fighting back against the state’s past and ongoing crimes against indigenous and other racialized and oppressed people. The people’s response should therefore be the opposite of deterrence.”

Ellis is the co-director of a homeless shelter based in Ann Arbor, MI, and a regular volunteer at an animal sanctuary. Prior to sentencing Ellis, Judge Eicher sentenced multiple other people struggling with poverty and substance use issues to pay thousands of dollars in court fees and submit to extensive surveillance and probationary conditions.

“This is not only an attack on dissent against colonial legacy, it is also an attack on the poor,” said Sullivan. “Peatmoss serves an essential function in housing the local homeless population. By locking them up during this period of harsh weather, Judge Eicher is putting the most vulnerable members of our community in grave danger.”

Custer, who was originally from Monroe, Michigan, is responsible for the forced displacement and murder of thousands of Indigenous people. He led multiple attacks and treaty violations against the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho. In 2021, the United Tribes of Michigan unanimously passed a resolution calling for the removal of his statue in Monroe as a symbol that is “widely perceived as offensive and a painful public reminder of the legacy of Indigenous people’s genocide and present realities of systemic racism in our country.” In 2020, an activist coalition led by people of color petitioned for the statue to be moved from downtown into a museum. In response to this petition and at least one other totalling nearly 25,000 signatures, Monroe city council stated they had no plans to discuss relocation of the statue.

“Despite the harsh sentence, Peatmoss was in good spirits throughout the day and was supported by so many of their friends and comrades in court,” said Ellis’s friend Chris Pierce. “The repressive sentence handed down by Judge Eicher hasn’t damaged Peatmoss’s spirit of resistance. They’re already working to advocate for fellow inmates at the Monroe County jail by organizing a protest to an initiative by the jail manager to collect and destroy inmates’ books and magazines.”

To write to Peatmoss, please address letters to Lillian Ellis (Inmate #000204306), 100 E 2nd St, Monroe, MI, 48161.

Photo by Saad Chaudhry on Unsplash

A call for solidarity and mutual aid for Chío in the State of Mexico.

Chío has spent the last 11 months in prison for defending herself against a lesbophobic attack.

From Tlalnepantla, State of Mexico, Chío is a young woman who enjoys playing soccer and spending afternoons with her family, friends and loved ones.

On the afternoon of April 2, 2023, Chío was out with her then-girlfriend for a walk like any other day in Nicolás Romero, State of Mexico, when a group of men approached her to insult her and start beating her and her partner for no reason. It was an obvious lesbophobic attack.

While defending herself from what was already a lynching attempt involving more than 20 people, she tried to escape in a car but was physically held back by blows and insulted for being a lesbian.

When the police intervened to “rescue” her from the possible lynching, Chío ended up being the one who was accused. She was presented before the Public Prosecutor’s Office to be prosecuted for attempted homicide against her aggressors. Of course, the lesbophobic attack, the attempted femicide and lynching to which she was subjected were omitted from the prosecutor’s case against her.

After her legal defense managed to reclassify the crime for which she was imprisoned from attempted homicide – against 7 minors and 1 adult – to bodily harm, she has been ordered to pay damages in the amount of 450,000 pesos.

That is why we call for solidarity with Chío’s cause so that she can return to the streets and enjoy what she loves. Her family is now bankrupt but has already raised two thirds of the amount. However, we still need to raise the funds necessary to achieve her freedom. Funds can be sent via PayPal to @CatherineCVS.

Atacada por lesbiana, presa por defenderse

Chío lleva 11 meses en la cárcel por defenderse de un ataque lesbófobo.

Originaria de Tlalnepantla, Estado de México, Chío es una joven que goza de jugar fútbol y pasar tardes con su familia, amistades y seres amados en México, lugar donde vive.

La tarde del 2 de abril de 2023, Chío salió con su entonces novia a pasear como cualquier otro día en Nicolás Romero, Estado de México, cuando un grupo de hombres se le acercó para insultarla y comenzar a golpearla a ella y su pareja bajo ningún motivo. Se trataba de un evidente ataque lesbófobo.

Tratando de defenderse de lo que era ya un intento de linchamiento que involucraba a más de 20 personas, procuró escapar en un auto sin lograrlo, siendo retenida a base de golpes e insultos por ser lesbiana.

Cuando interfiere la policía para “rescatarla” del posible linchamiento, Chío termina en el lugar de las acusadas y es presentada ante el Ministerio Público para ser procesada por intento de homicidio contra sus agresores. Omitiendo, por supuesto, el ataque lesbófobo, el intento de feminicidio y linchamiento al que fue sometida.

Después de que su defensa legal lograra reclasificar el delito por el que llegó a prisión de intento de homicidio -contra 7 menores y 1 adulto- a lesiones, se le pide reparar el daño con el monto de 450 mil pesos.

Es por eso que llamamos a solidarizarnos con la causa de Chío para que pise las calles y vuelva a disfrutar de lo que a ella le gusta. Su familia en quiebra ha juntado ya dos terceras partes del monto, pero sigue siendo necesario sumar más para lograr su libertad. Puedes enviar un donativo a través de PayPal a @CatherineCVS.

Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash

Welcome, to This Is America, March 21st, 2024.

In this episode, first we speak with several anarchists and mutual aid organizers in so-called San Antonio, Texas about their late friend, Aaron Bushnell. On February 25th of this year, Bushnell, an anarchist originally from the Cape Cod area of Massachusetts. engaged in what he described as an “extreme act of protest,” when he set him self on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington DC, in protest of the US government’s ongoing support of the state of Israel and its campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians in the occupied territories. We speak about their friend and how they came to know Bushnell as he lived and worked in the area alongside them. We talk about Aaron’s upbringing in a Christian sect and how it influenced him later in life and how he came to embrace anarchism. We also speak about how his friends have dealt with the aftermath of his death and attacks on Aaron from neoliberal and far-Right media.

We then speak with an anarchist currently living in Montreal on the situation in Haiti and about the recent wave of resistance in the region. We also unpack the long history of rebellion, colonialism, and US intervention on the island, and how these realities continue to influence political and social life in the territory in the 21st century.

Upcoming Events

• April 19th – 21st: Chicago Anarchist Skillshare. More info here.
• April 26th – 29th: Northeast Bash Back Convergence. More info here.
• May 4th: First Ever Kitsap Anarchist Bookfair. Bremerton, WA. More info here.
• May 4th, 2024: First Annual Upstate Anarchist Bookfair, Binghamton, NY. More info here.
• June 28th – 30th: Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair. Asheville, NC. More info here.
• July 2nd – 9th: Hudson Valley, Earth First! Gathering. More info here.

It’s Going Down

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photo cover: @franklinlopez@kolektiva.social via Mastodon

In this month’s column, we’ve got updates on a wide range of struggles. First, some headlines. Mining Injustice Solidarity Network held an demonstration to disrupt the annual Prospectors & Developers Association Conference (PDAC) in Toronto. The conference brings together mining industry actors from around the world. The protestors hoped to disrupt the event, sharing analysis that Canadian mining destroys, kills and colonizes across Turtle Island and around the world.

In legal updates from the last month, Tiny House Warriors continue to face down charges sustained during their ongoing fight against the Trans Mountain Pipeline.

In Montreal, hundreds marched as part of militant demonstrations against police brutality held annually.

Finally, rallies occurred outside the Smithers courthouse, where the BC crown asked for up to 3 months jail time for Likhts’amisyu Chief Dsta’hyl, for his actions against CGL pipeline, which crosses his territory.

And now, on to this month’s full stories!

Direct Action Continues Against Northvolt Battery

In the past month, multiple sabotage actions have taken place on the site planned to be developed for the Northvolt battery plant in Saint-Basile-le-Grand, Quebec.

A translation of one reportback reads:

Anarchists again attacked the capitalist machine of destruction at the Northvolt site. Steel spikes were placed on the various paths used by the machinery. In addition, new nails were put into trees, this time without identifying them, to maximize the potential for destruction on the ecocidal machinery. The people who did the action are not afraid of getting caught. Even if they did, they would ask to be judged by their peers. By the spiny softshell turtles, little bitterns and copper redhorses. By all the species that die because the destruction of the planet is profitable as hell. … It was a sad time to take action. At the Northvolt site, barely a few trees remain, including those that were identified as having been the target of spiking last time. This shows that direct action works. Indeed, these nails have probably done more for the protection of biodiversity than COP15, and the whole string of other COPs.

Another reportback reads:

To stop the destruction of natural habitats, activists have targeted the Michaudville group’s Mont-St-Hilaire quarry, which to date has been responsible for filling in over ten hectares of marshland essential to the survival of vulnerable species such as the least bittern, the spiny softshell turtle and the eastern red bat…At the beginning of the week, around a hundred studded devices were spread along the road leading to the quarry to target the trucks transporting the earth and gravel used for backfilling. Over the past few weeks, more than a hundred return trips have been made daily, with a truck passing every 3 minutes. Any action that disrupts traffic and obstructs the only access road to the quarry will cause financial losses and affect the profitability of the project. Every hour of work lost is a victory for Northvolt’s opponents.

Palestine Solidarity Blockades and Actions Continue

As of the beginning of March, the death toll in Gaza since October 7th has reached over 30,000 people. On February 23rd, a UN press release called for an immediate stop to any transfers of weapons or ammunition to Israel, stating that they would likely be used to violate international humanitarian law in Gaza. It explicitly named Canada as one of the countries participating in the support of Israel’s military, including through export licenses.

From February 26th-28th, actions in seven cities blockaded access to offices and manufacturers supplying and profiting off Israel’s military operations. The blockades called for an arms embargo on Israel, with organizers stating that until the government blocked the export of arms to Israel, community members would do it themselves. Over 100 protesters in Scarborough, ON, shut down the morning shift of TMM Technologies, a manufacturer that supplies circuit boards for fighter jets and targetted bomb systems. In Calgary, weapons manufacturer Raytheon had their plant blockaded. Protesters in Victoria shut down the offices of Lockheed Martin for the day.

Photo: @EmmaJackson57

The same day, in Kitchener-Waterloo, the entrance to machine gun manufacturer Colt Canada was blockaded. Other blockades included Safran Electronics in Peterborough, Thales in Quebec City, and Hikvision in Vancouver. Another round of blockades came on March 7th, when actions in St. John’s, Halifax, and Toronto shut down all three Kraken Robotics facilities in Canada, including headquarters, offices, and a manufacturing plant.

Other Actions

In Rimouski, a Starbucks was vandalized. An anonymous reportback stated, “Rimouski stands with Palestine and its people! Starbucks has blood on their hands! No to a multinational that supports genocide. No to a multinational that kills in our community. No to a multinational that ruins everything it touches. We don’t want a starbucks that finances Israel, here or there!”

On March 4th, around 400 pro-Palestine protesters shut down an event at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto that was meant to host Justin Trudeau and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni. Rallies, marches, student walkouts, and other demonstrations have also continued at a regular rhythm across many Canadian cities.

Reactionary events and pushback

On March 4th in Montreal, protesters disrupted an event featuring three IDF soliders. The event was originally planned to be hosted at Concordia University, before it was cancelled and relocated due to student complaints. Protesters blocked off the entry to the venue, preventing many ticket-holders from attending, and blocked others inside, forcing police to escort attendees out of the building.

On March 3rd, Israeli real estate corporation Keller Williams held an event at a synagogue in Vaughan, ON, selling homes suspected of being located in the occupied West Bank. The event drew a pro-Palestine protest, as well as a counter-protest. One individual wielding a nail gun attacked pro-Palestinian protesters and was arrested on charges of assault, possession of a dangerous weapon, and mischief. Several similar events and protests have happened since in Toronto and Montreal.

Person who threatened pro-Palestinian demonstrators with a nail-gun.

Atikamekw Logging Blockade Resumes Near Wemotaci

The fight against logging in Nitaskinan re-escalated this past week. Since last year, various blockades have been held against loggers in Atikamekw territory, about four hours north of Montreal. This week, what has been described as a very tense situation occurred near Wemotaci.

Reports on social media indicate that around fifty loggers confronted Indigenous land defenders who were blocking access to the territory as the spring thaw begins. Members of the Atikamekw community had newly resumed a total blockade of forestry operations on Thursday morning in Haute-Mauricie. The blockade once again stops traffic at the level of kilometer 104 on route 25, as was the case several times in the past year.

A news report shared the following explanation for the renewed blockade from a press release shared by the Association of Guardians of the Nehirowisiw Aski territory: “Hereditary leaders raise their voices to stop the decline in biodiversity, to fight against climate disturbances and denounce the abuse of resources. A moratorium on the destruction of natural environments is necessary.”

A GoFundMe has been set up to support the land defenders facing down an injunction for their ongoing blockade.

Action report from recent anti-war blockade in so-called Heath, Ohio against Boeing.

On March 11th in Heath, Ohio, local residents blockaded a Boeing facility with clear connections to the Israeli states genocide against Palestinians since October 7th and decades before. This direct action was done to target the facility for its development of technologies, that aid in the aircraft used by the Israeli government.

As a company, Boeing has had deep ties to Israel, since 1948, resulting in their operations adding $3.5 billion to Israeli economy over the last 7 decades. [1] From August 5th to 7th, 2022, Israel’s offensive in Gaza utilized Boeing attack helicopters and fighter jets, resulting in the deaths of 44 Palestinians, among whom were 15 children and 4 women. [2]

“Boeing is uniquely positioned to disarm the harrowing acts of violence being committed by the Israeli state against Palestinian people. Boeing reminds us all that where we stand on Palestine is a choice between valuing wealth or humanity. We demand that Boeing act with humanity for once: divest from genocide, ” stated Ash, an Ohio resident of Palestinian descent

Ohio has a long history of colluding with the state of Israel, from Governor John Kasich’s long history of Zionism to the pushing for Israeli aid to the Columbus Division of Police training with Israeli organizations. [3] [4] Ohio residents and organizers, who are part of this blockade, are deeply aware of the interconnectedness between the militarization of police in the United States and the ongoing war crimes committed by the IOF through shared training practices and genocidal reasoning. Ohio state officials have Palestinian blood on their hands, as noted in a 2021 Columbus Free Press article that states that Ohio has $220 million in Israel Bonds (“…the highest amount for any state in the US.”). [5] Additionally, Ohio taxpayers contribute $108,326,244 a year to the Israeli military. [6]

Ohio residents against this ongoing genocide encourage other community members to diverse modes of resistance to be in solidarity with Palestinians, whether it be pushing politicians to call for a ceasefire, holding suppliers of weaponry and technology accountable, or supporting Palestinians in their community. They demand an end to Israeli occupation of Palestine.

NOTES:

[1] https://www.boeing.com/content/dam/boeing/boeingdotcom/company/key_orgs/boeing-global/pdf/israelbackgrounder.pdf

[2] https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/company/7372?boeing-company

[3] https://www.timesofisrael.com/kasich-signs-ohio-state-law-banning-boycotts-of-israel/

[4] https://www.facebook.com/ColumbusPoliceTraining/posts/1536942153136939/

[5] https://columbusfreepress.com/article/ohio-taxpayers-invest-most-israel%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Capartheid-regime%E2%80%9D

[6] https://uscpr.org/activist-resource/us-military-funding-to-israel-map/

Announcing the the first annual Kitsap Anarchist Bookfair in so-called Bremerton, WA.

Join us on May 4th for the first ever Annual Kitsap Anarchist Bookfair! Anarchists have been active in Kitsap County for over a hundred years, recently there’s been an uptick in anarchist projects in the area, and since annual springtime traditions are generally on the wain, it seems like a great time to inaugurate this thing. Bookfairs have conventionally been a unique space for committed anarchists, the anarcho-curious, and sympathizers from a variety of backgrounds to come together to discuss and encounter anarchist ideas and practices.

Tabling, performances, and talks will be split between a few of the venues along Callow Ave in so-called Bremerton, Washington, on occupied Suquamish, Twana, and S’Klallam territory. Callow has historically been an area where vice has been sequestered, but in the more recent couple of decades the torch of anarchy has been kept alive in the punk scene surrounding the Charleston on Callow Ave. The Charleston will incidentally be hosting the punk show after party.

With atomization ever-deepening under capitalism and with numerous unfolding crisis it seems important to make intentional space for us to link up and critically engage in the areas we share affinity for. Capitalism, racism, and ecocide still persist, and state repression of those who would dare challenge this ruling order continues, so let’s make the effort to find each other and expand our anarchic capacities. We encourage those who live in Kitsap to come out and beat that stultification to meet up with rad people and projects in our area. We encourage those outside of Kitsap to transgress borders and come see what’s up, we have a lot in store so it’ll be worth the trip.

Tablers include: 1312 Press, Bellingham Alt Library, Bigfoots House Of Vinyl, Black Flag Library, Black Flower Collective, Bum Lung, Certain Days, Civ Fucks Distro, CrimethInc., Contagion Press, Counterflow Distro, Detritus Books, Emergent Goods, Entangled Roots Press, Free Lunch Collective, Fugitive Distro, Historical Seditions, Kitsap Food Not Bombs, Kitsap IWW, Left Bank Books, N.O. Bonzo, Philomena the Plant, Pipsqueak, PM Press, Puget Sound Prisoner Support, Rebel Cat Distro, Rowan Grove Distro, Roxy Fae, Shin Deathcap ft. Bitter Bitch, Sugar Bombing World, That Local Deaf Zinester, Ungrateful Hyenas, and more! Other events include a drag show, a showing of Kitsap Ferry Riot, a showing of Videos from the Trash Dimension, a medic workshop, mutual aid workshop, and more!

Also featuring book talks from Josh Davidson on Rattling The Cages, Rimona Eskayo, I’m Having Top Surgery: An Illustrated Guide for Me and You, and special video appearance of former political prisoner Eric King!

For info and updates please visit kitsapbookfair.noblogs.org.

MASKING STATEMENT: We’re asking participants to mask up for the bookfair both as a means of making the event more accessible by preventing the spread of RSV and COVID which are still going around, but also to normalize masking for personal security. We will be providing masks and posting signage. We feel the community will respect these desires. The only caveat being the afterparty at the Charleston potentially being a difficult event to keep at optimal levels of mask use. Knowing this may make some attendees uncomfortable we encourage everyone to lead by example and use harm reduction best practices.

Long-running anarchist radio show and podcast The Final Straw speaks with Xinachtli, an anarchist Chicano political prisoner.

This week, we’re sharing an interview with Xinachtli, an anarcho-communist Chicano political prisoner held in the McConnell Unit of the Texas prison system. Xinachtli, whose name is Nahuatl for “seed” is also known by his state name of Alvaro Luna Hernandez. Xinachtli spoke to us recently about his views on the white supremacist, colonial system of the so-called USA, the legacy of genocide of indigenous peoples in the southwest of Turtle Island, his jailhouse lawyering and his upcoming parole bid.

From our Prior Interview Intro:

Xinachtli is serving a 50 year sentence since 1996 in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for aggravated assault on a Sheriff in Alpine, Texas. The Sheriff was serving a warrant for Xinachtli’s re-arreast at Xinachtli’s home. When questioned on the nature of the warrant, the Sheriff pulled a gun and Xinachtli was able to disarm him and make an escape without harming the Sheriff significantly.

After a few days of man-hunt, his mothers house was surrounded by numerous local, state and federal law enforcement agencies and the house was beseiged. It was only a 9-1-1 call from Xinacthli made stating that he was not being allowed to surrender that caused the troops to stand down and he allowed himself to be taken into state custody.

The grounds for the arrest warrant have since been overturned, but based on the post-facto word of the Sheriff that Xinachtli had pointed the gun at him, Xinachtli was sentenced to 50 years. He’s been determined to be a political prisoner based on his participation in multiple cases against abuse by prison officials and police, his jailhouse lawyering, advocacy for Latinx and other marginalized people in Texas and his political stance that the US and state governments occupying the Southwest of Turtle Island is a racist and illegitimate regime.

Xinachtli Links:

• Website: FreeAlvaro.Net
• Xinachtli speaking about his life and case up to roughly 2010

A few notes from Xinacthli’s Support Team:

Xinachtli’s support team is undergoing a transition and expansion, atm, which is why the ways to donate aren’t more formal.

Per Xinachtli’s request, donations would go to: fundraising materials, commissary, potential podcast (if the institution approves), movement building, some core team needs, jailhouse lawyer work, and for post-release support if he gets out.

If you want to donate a larger amount or have any questions prior to donating, please contact:-2024xinachtlifreedomcampaign ( at) gmail.com (preferred) or via +1  (773) 688-4329

When donating PLEASE write as a message: “X”, “Xinachtli” or an emoji that has some type of “X” in it.

• Venmo: https://www.venmo.com/u/martiresmcneil
• Paypal: preciado.christopher@gmail.com (paypal.me/merziado)
• CashApp: https://cash.app/$varlam
• Zelle: x363823@gmail.com ; 210.780.9996

Announcing the annual Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair (ACAB) from June 28th to 30th in so-called Asheville, NC.

From June 28th to 30th, 2024, Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair (ACAB) will once again converge on so-called Asheville, NC, opening a space for all of us committed to liberation and world-building in the here and now to plot and play, mourn and love, co-educate and collaborate. The ACAB collective invites you to join us!

The bookfair, an anarchist ritual of spiritual recovery, carves out time and space to gather and rethink our strategies for destroying this world in order to open the door for many others.

Amid all the horror, we cannot neglect our capacity for joy. To struggle against the state and for liberation, there must be a life worth fighting for. Our anarchism taps into our pleasures along with our disgust, our wholeness along with our brokenness. The bookfair offers us a space to feel and reflect on these oppositions together. During these gatherings, we witness the breadth of our interdependences and solidarities as we contemplate the crumbling of infrastructure and social well-being, devastation of ecosystems, and growing hot spots of fascist action. We see how much we already make possible through the spirit and substance of our practices.

There’s perhaps never been a better time and greater need for us to gather as anarchists. Over the last five months, we’ve witnessed the Israeli state’s genocide of Palestinians as the IOF, along with allies such as the United States, massacres people in Gaza and beyond. Every day it seems, there is news of some state legislation targeting bodily autonomy and queer people, libraries and critical thinking, or the basic necessities of life, or some transphobes or cops taking murder into their own hands, and a ballot-box choice between fascism and fascism ahead. And acts of resistance to these and so many other assaults are increasingly met with intense repression, demanding our resources and time to fight the state and its courts on their own terrain.

This list could go on and on. We know all too well what’s making our hearts hurt; we know all too well the sense of despair that permeates the present. But even more than that, everything is changing, and largely not at all in the ways we anarchists envision.

ACAB offers a counterspace for us to catch our breaths, reflect on the immense shifts, and plot as well as dream forward together. Indeed, as our participants over the past five iterations can attest, it’s a special bookfair, and likely this year, more so than ever. Asheville is a small town with a notoriously close-knit and extremely queer anarchist community, and many folks live in villages or the woods in the surrounding mountains, making for a deep connection to rural life and social struggles as well. Despite our smallness, we host the biggest regional bookfair, which has become a destination for people all over the Appalachia and the Southeast—and beyond. Yet at the same time, because of our smallness, there’s a sweet familiarity and friendliness at ACAB, like an annual anarchic family reunion.

Over the years, our bookfair has cultivated a reputation for offering an eclectic, “not-your-usual-suspects” array of talks and workshops, ranging from practical skills, to inspiring histories and report backs from imaginative present-day resistance, to theory and analysis, and much more. Amid all the wonderful options for collective learning and sharing, we’re known for the intimate social space the emerges among the people who travel to be with us. We emphasize social relations, and make plenty of room for parties and shows, formal and informal meetups, participatory conversations, and dedicated moments for ritual and grief. And this year’s bookfair falls on the anniversary of Stonewall, so the gayness will be dialed up extra big.

Help us make “Another Carolina” in the here and now, showing the world that Appalachia and its rural regions are hotbeds for radical activity and love.

The hope is that everyone will come away refreshed, feeling more whole and interconnected, better prepared for needed community self-defense and mutual aid ahead.

We invite you to propose a workshop, conversation, or talk that showcases what you have been up to in the last year. ACAB is a place to share your projects and get input from a community of dedicated anarchists. It’s a place for us to talk through dilemmas and draw out possibilities. To make a proposal, due by or before May 1st, go to: acabookfair.noblogs.org/acab2024/propose

If you have a distro or publishing project, come table with us and disseminate radical ideas to an eager readership! To request a tabling spot, due by or before May 1st, go to: acabookfair.noblogs.org/acab2024/apply

Or simply join us over three days of workshops, tabling, music, gathering, and so much more. These moments are the cracks of freedom against a backdrop of brutality —and we want you here with us to pry those wide open!

A report on community defense of a local event from the Proud Boys in so-called Rocklin, California.

On March 2nd, 2023, community members answered the call to help support a fashion show in Rocklin, CA from potential far-Right agitators. The opposition ended up including a group of approximately 12 Proud Boys.

The owner of a local boutique shop in Rocklin, California decided to put on an inclusive fashion show celebrating their 3rd Anniversary of being in business. As part of the event, there was scheduled to be a fundraiser and a drag show. The event was labeled “All Ages,” after multiple families expressed interest in the event and inquired if they could bring their children. The event itself was never targeted towards kids specifically and was always marketed as a fashion show with vendors, model walks, a drag show and raffles. While there would be adult beverages sold at the event, no part of the scheduled activities were sexually explicit or involved things that young kids could not be around or are not around already in other spaces in society. Recently, a big point of contention in the public discourse of drag shows and LGBTQ+ events has centered around the term “all ages” and what that means versus an event specifically labeled as a “kids or children” event. Typically in the entertainment industry or identical event spaces, “all ages” means the content of said event is appropriate for any age versus an event “for kids” where the primary focus of event materials or festivities are specifically FOR a younger child audience.

For example, children are allowed at restaurants that serve alcohol but that doesn’t mean they get served drinks or are told they have to wait for their parents outside while they eat their meal. There are numerous spaces in society where “adult” specific activities are happening but it’s still perfectly safe for kids to be around. There is little to no push back in cis heterosexual spaces but now tremendous pressure is being focused on the LGBTQIA+ community and events featuring a drag performer. The fashion show in Rocklin would be next to receive biased criticism from the conservatives in the area.

The event would end up catching the attention of Rocklin right-wing pastor, politician, bar owner and leader of anti-LGBTQIA+ campaigns, Matthew Oliver. Some might remember him as he played a key role in the campaign against Pastor Casey, a queer community member and religious leader who faced online and even in person harassment at his house by Proud Boys and neo-Nazis for manufactured allegations of pedophilia and grooming. (Casey was later exonerated by the school district after an investigation which found no wrong doing on his part. In addition he faced no criminal charges and was supported by an overwhelming number of students and parents who testified to the importance of Pastor Casey to queer students and the community).

Oliver immediately took to Facebook to alert his followers that “sexually explicit” entertainment was coming to Rocklin Event Center and that kids were in danger. He also highlighted his distaste for the Sacramento organization that helps immigrant families, NorCal Resist. During a Facebook live rant, Oliver claimed that the organization was an “Antifa” group and that the funds from the event were going to support “antifa” and, “Things that are trying to actively destroy what makes Rocklin and Placer County so great.”

If there is two things that far-Right groups love to hyper fixate on and cause panic over, it’s false information about child safety and boogeyman allegations about “Antifa.” Oliver began a campaign to get the event shut down and organized his followers to call and email city council. In addition he rallied them to show up in person to city council in what would lead to a failed attempt at getting the event cancelled, but would grab the attention of local news and put many eyes on the situation. As part of his larger campaign against the LGBTQIA+ community he also encouraged his followers to sign his petition to try and get a city ordinance to ban drag shows in Rocklin.

Oliver and many others showed up at Rocklin City Council holding signs saying, ” Say No to Kids at Drag Shows.” During this time, online harassment of the boutique business took place on Facebook and Instagram, speaking about child grooming and other far-Right fear mongering. Oliver’s Facebook rants included a part about the how the drag performer supported the Palestinian movement and how the city of Rocklin was allowing quote “this group to use a tax funded public building to host an All ages drag show supporting Antifa.”

Oliver, like many other far right agitators, worded all his comments in misinformation and misleading statements. In reality the event center was rented out by the shop owner and is not open to the public without prior reservations, the drag show was 1 small part of the entire event and was no in way inappropriate for kids, and neither NorCal Resist or the drag show we’re the sole and only focus of the event.

While Oliver never posted a public call to protest the event itself, it is known from past similar harassment campaigns that he has the ear of local far-Right groups like the Proud Boys. Oliver would not end up showing up to the event with a group of protesters himself but the groundwork was laid by him through media interviews and social media fear mongering for the potential of more militant groups taking it upon themselves to pick up the torch where he left off.

Due to the wide spread notoriety of the event and concerns over safety, the organizer and owner of the Botique shop posted a call-out for support of the local community. A request was made for folks to show up and provide a “buffer” between any potential bad actors trying to hurt or harass the attendees and their families while entering the event. Folks were asked to show up and welcome people to cultivate a positive, supportive and inclusive environment. The event was scheduled to began at 6pm and community support was requested at 5pm via an Instagram post by the owner and organizer.

Defenders and community supporters began assembling around 5 PM on the day of the event and were quickly confronted by a group of around 8 Proud Boys, which eventually swelled to around 12 total. This group appears to have been made up of members of the “Sactown Proud Boys” chapter, a group last seen publicly when they were *extremely literally* chased out of Davis, sprinting for nearly a mile to escape antifascist protesters.

The group of Proud Boys seemed lackadaisical and low-energy, able to muster the energy for only sporadic comments about grooming. They seemed disorganized, with some in camo fatigues while others came in poorly-executed drag costumes of their own. At one point, one of the Proud Boys seemed to be embarrassed that his wife was mixing it up too much with the defenders. He pulled her aside to have a conversation about it.

Despite the overall disorganization and lack of vigor from the Proud Boys, tensions were high early on. Robert Sunday Jr–a Proud Boy who had previously been caught on film punching a Trans teenager in Sacramento – stole a defender’s sign and threw it on the ground. The defenders held their ground while others guarded each of the front doorways, ensuring only genuine attendees could enter. After a while of stand-off outside the front doors, The Proud Boys eventually seemed to realize that they would not be able to disrupt or shut down the event from happening, and they gathered up and left. Defenders continued to guard the doorways, watching the parking lots and escorting folks to their vehicles until the event ended and the last attendees had left.

Despite the attempts of the Proud Boys, the event itself was a success and received great feedback of not only the event itself but the folks who helped keep it safe. Community supporters made up of anti-fascists, helpful volunteers, and local residents held a united front in the face of fascist violence showing once again the power of an organized community.

Via Social Media

It is important to note that while Matthew Oliver did not show up himself or publicly call for a protest, his constant fear mongering and anti-LGBTQIA+ campaigns have grabbed the attention of far-Right militant groups who will gladly get their hands dirty in service of him. His role in the current rise of far-Right fascist violence is one that cannot be overlooked, as this is now twice in the last year that dangerous white supremacists have taken action based on his targeted campaigns.

Decades of brutal US imperial intervention and corporate globalization have created the conditions that are forcing thousands to migrant and seek refuge within the increasingly militarized borders of the United States. At the same time, for those living within the imperial core, conditions have only gotten worse, with wealth inequality and the cost of living skyrocketing in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fearful of another rebellion, both parties are pushing a politics of “law and order” – from calling for attacks on houseless people to bringing in the military to deal with petty crime on the subway in New York. Meanwhile, the Republican party has also shifted to embracing full on white supremacist conspiracy theories, attacking migrants and asylum seekers while painting the structural realities pushing people to migrate as an “invasion” carried out to “replace” the “real Americans.”

These forces have had a real impact. From mass shootings carried out by far-Right murderers obsessed with conspiracy theories, to the fact that a growing number of Americans now list “immigrants” as the country’s biggest threat. Autonomous anti-capitalist and anti-colonial movements must work to push back against both elite politicians, corporate media, and State institutions – along with their allies from inside the far-Right, all working to preserve State power and corporate domination. We must fight to build real bonds and projects of mutual aid based in solidarity with those attacked and displaced by the systems of exploitation, while mobilizing against our common enemies.

Elites and Politicians Embrace Far-Right Conspiracy Theories

In 2018, then President Trump falsely claimed that “George Soros” was behind a caravan of refugees which was heading from Honduras to the United States. In reality, Hondurans were fleeing a country which was left in chaos by a US backed military coup in 2009, made possible by graduates from the notorious counter-insurgency training facility, the School of the Americas (now referred to as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation), and supported by officials within the Obama Administration, such as then Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. But instead of looking at the structural realities which pushed people to flee their homes, Trump of course doubled-down on anti-immigrant hysteria in what became an unsuccessful attempt at securing a second term in the White House. Against the backdrop of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Soros and “ANTIFA” plans to launch an uprising with the aid of drug cartels, Trump called in the army, which shot off tear gas and projectiles at members of the caravan, whose only crime was attempting to cross the border and apply for asylum in a country which had drastically destabilized their own in a wave of repression.

Six years later – as Republicans openly call for cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and abolishing the Department of Education – and Trump is back to his old playbook. Outlets like Fox News have also been hard at work, pivoting from concocted tales of “retail crime,” to fever dreams of a “migrant crime crisis” which has no basis in reality. What is different, is that before what were largely fringe anti-Semitic and white supremacist theories floating around the far corners of the Alt-Right, have now become the backbone of the Republican party. “The Great Replacement,” once a conspiracy pushed by only hardline neo-Nazis and white supremacists, is now being touted by everyone from pharma billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, Swason frozen foods heir and Twitter troll Tucker Carlson, to the billionaire backed Turning Point USA. It’s followers claim that a “cabal” of (often Jewish) elites or simply just “the Democrats,” are purposely orchestrating the mass migration of non-white people into the US for the purpose of replacing the “real Americans.”

Towards this end, Trump has even gone so far as to invoked Hitler, claiming that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of the nation, while Republicans and MAGA activists have described those seeking asylum as carrying out an “invasion” of “military aged men.” The fact that a large section of the Republican party has embraced white supremacist conspiracy theories, attacks on migrants and refugees, and calls for mass deportations, made evident by groups such as Turning Point USA, itself funded by vast networks of dark money and wealthy donors, shows the degree of institutional backing within elite circles for these fascist policies.

Displacement Caused by Corporate Globalization and US Imperialist Intervention

Despite what neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and Republican bureaucrats would have us believe, those being pushed to seek refuge in the United States are not animated by a shadowy conspiracy, but instead, by real economic policies and decades of imperial US military intervention. These are policies which have enriched corporate elites, the military industrial complex, and allowed politicians to rise to power – all while leading to the deaths of countless thousands and only further entrenching workers on both sides of the border in poverty and precarity.

Those demonized by the fascist Right – workers coming from Honduras, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Venezuela – are all countries where the US has has a deep history of military intervention and violent regime change. In the case of Venezuela, US imposed sanctions are also pushing many to seek asylum from a country rocked by economic crisis and rising inflation. Other countries such as Haiti and Afghanistan, have also seen a rise in attempted migration to the US, in response to decades of US imposed instability and crisis.

Since the cold war, the United States has armed, trained, and supported a variety of far-Right regimes, in an ongoing effort to crush indigenous, anti-capitalist, and anti-colonial movements. Through counter-insurgency training centers like the School of the Americas, paramilitary groups are trained in destroying grassroots movements and spreading brutal tactics of state repression across Central and South America.

As SOA Watch noted:

The training at the School of the Americas (again, now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) is among the root causes of migration that force people to flee their countries in Latin America. SOA/WHINSEC-trained soldiers are the military muscle that keeps in place a system guaranteeing profits for the elites—and exploitation for the poor. Many immigrants to the United States are victims of U.S.-sponsored military training and atrocities in Latin America.

Corporate globalization is also another key factor that is pushing many people across the Global South to migrate and in turn, has also been linked to the increased militarization of the US border. In 1993, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was passed, which liberalized rules governing corporate capital. While workers were locked inside borders, big business was free move to greener pastures in order to avoid unions, environmental regulations, and paying workers higher wages. With the passing of NAFTA, many campesinos were forced to find work in the United States, which responded by militarizing the border under Operation Gatekeeper.

As Southern Border wrote:

Gatekeeper adopted a strategy of ‘prevention through deterrence,’ which was part of a comprehensive national southwest border strategic plan meant to bring migrant apprehensions under “control.” The strategy included militarizing the Southern Border region by increasing the number of Border Patrol agents deployed on the ground, opening up interior Border Patrol checkpoints, increasing detention bed space, building walls and other infrastructure where there had been none, and by purposefully pushing migrant crossings to dangerous crossing areas, resulting in the death and disappearance of thousands of migrants. Operation Gatekeeper was part of the initial phase of the strategy that began in Imperial Beach, CA, just south of San Diego, and gradually extended its way to the east, separating communities and devastating wildlife across the Southern Border from San Diego, CA to Brownsville, TX.

Since the passing of NAFTA and Operation Gatekeeper in 1993, both corporate globalization and border militarization has only accelerated. These policies have led to both mass inequality and record high deaths of migrants along the US border. These policies have also been a disaster for US workers, as “high-wage positions in manufacturing industries” were moved across the border and “contributed to rising income inequality, suppressed real wages for production workers, weakened workers’ collective bargaining powers and ability to organize unions, and reduced fringe benefits.”

These realities are not lost on billionaires such as Trump and the fascists they amplify, yet these forces do not which to challenge or oppose the capitalist class attacking workers; instead – they want to re-direct our rage, largely of US born white workers, not against those at the top, but instead, against those at the bottom.

As we wrote in 2022:

Like the Mercers before him and now Kanye West, [Trump, Musk, etc] represents a segment of the billionaire class that is willing to align itself with the fascist-Right. This reflects the outright nihilism that this camp sells to its followers. [Trump] isn’t here to shake things up, but to preserve his position at the top.

Building An Anti-Capitalist Politics of Solidarity Across Borders

The increase in migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers into the US is directly caused by US imperialism, political intervention, and corporate globalization. These policies have done nothing to help workers on both sides of the US border and instead, have contributed to a never ending cycle of war, state repression, and increasing inequality. Workers in the Global South are increasingly forced to choose between the deadly journey into the US, imprisonment in detention centers, and staying locked within cycles of increasing poverty and State violence.

Banner from Anti-ICE Rally in Sacramento

Elites know that US workers are also aware that their lives are increasingly impoverished while inequality has only deepened. In the face of increasing strikes, the George Floyd Uprising, and growing social movements, those in power are hoping to instead direct class anger at those on the bottom – against the LGBTQ+ community, the houseless, and asylum seekers. Networks like Fox News are quick to push contrived fictions of a “migrant crime wave,” and politicians are happy to use it as a pretext to deny services and increase repression at home. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has only continued Trump’s policies of attacking immigrants, expanding Trump’s border wall, and calling for an increase of border militarization.

O’odham Solidarity Across Borders Collective

In the face of this, social movements must push back against both political parties, corporate media narratives, and their far-Right defenders collectively attacking migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. This can look like developing links and helping to grow mutual aid projects along the border, pushing for the abolition of ICE and detention centers, standing with communities pushing back against the state’s military build up, and also organizing in solidarity with asylum seekers already in the US.

Person stands on top of shipping container wall along Arizona border at resistance encampment.

It also means pointing out our real enemies: the systems of exploitation, repression, and control which benefit from violent domination. It means recognizing that the far-Right cottage industries turning out propaganda attacking other working and poor people are ultimately defending a system of mass inequality and State power. That both political parties have created the conditions which are pushing thousands to migrate and now they want to manufacture fear of these people in order to secure votes and their own power.

“Block the Wall” march in Olympia, WA

Let us work to build an autonomous politic of solidarity and mutual aid – outside and against these borders – all the while calling out our real enemies: the corporate, political, and military elites, their media institutions, and their defenders on the far-Right.

Photo by Robert Hickerson on Unsplash