Mastodon Twitter Instagram Youtube
Mar 6, 16

All the News You Didn’t Even Know Was Going Down

Originally posted to It’s Going Down

Lots of things going on this week, so let’s not waste any time and get right to the news!

Anti-Patriarchy

Members of the Pittsburgh Autonomous Student Network disrupted a Men’s Rights Activist on campus. A report stated:

That being said, the reality of campus rape culture is not an opinion, it is daily violence experienced by 1 in 5 of our female classmates. When Milo told a crowd of Trump-bros that rape culture isn’t real, they cheered. When he told them that applause would trigger survivors of assault, they clapped, pointed and laughed at women that were crying in the audience.

We are not trying to change their minds, we know they will never admit to their roles in oppression. There is no “debate” to be had over and over again in some imaginary vacuum, racism and sexism must be confronted.

If we do not confront bigots, we have no hope of stopping their violence. You cannot ignore hate-mongers because the violence they inspire will only spread. You cannot ignore large gatherings of racists and sexists because they will only continue to normalize their discourse and build their capacity to act. Trump’s new right-wing is part of a national movement that is growing in popularity regardless of the attention we give them.

The varying types of disruptions taken on by autonomous students, Pitt Against Debt members, USASers and PSSC were not intended to silence an “opinion” but rather to let the bros in the audience know that the culture of violence they perpetuate will no longer be tolerated.

Milo doesn’t just piss us off or upset us, he is threatening people. We went there to show the racists, transphobes, rapists and sexists in attendance that they are not welcome on this campus. We will fight back, because some of our lives depend on it.

Indigenous Resistance

SubMedia.Tv brought us a video report:

[S]everal masked up Warriors visited the office of Canadian Minister of Justice, Jody Wilson-Raybould. They demanded that she open an inquiry into the Gustanfsen Lake stand off while spreading earth on the office. This is taking place within the context of climate talks happening in so called “Vancouver” this week.

In Canada, a hunger strike has started at Regina Correctional Center among Native prisoners:

On Wednesday, 16 members of the high security unit 2D1 served notice, and as of late Thursday afternoon had refused both their breakfast and lunch trays.

One of the inmates refusing to eat, Forrest Pelletier, said they want to be let out of their cells for longer than the three hours per day they are currently allowed.

“We’re tired of being locked up 21 hours a day,” Pelletier said. “You know it’s like we’re in a super-max correctional facility, and it’s like we’re guilty until proven innocent. You know a lot of us never had our day in court.”

This is not Pelletier’s first time on the unit. A year ago he led a hunger strike, which led to inmates being allowed to smudge, an aboriginal spiritual ritual. They are now pressing to be allowed to take part in sweat ceremonies as well.

site-c-women-hunger-strike-1

Resistance to the Site C Dam project in Coast Salish Territories continues. According to one report:

On Friday March 4th, 2016, the women will hold a second day of hunger strike action outside the BC Hydro building in downtown Vancouver (333 Dunsmuir), in support of the Site C/Treaty 8 Stewards of the Land encampment that was forcibly removed by a court injunction applied for by BC Hydro, granted by the BC Supreme Courts and enforced by the RCMP. This will be the second day of hunger strikes.

Class War

In Minneapolis, actions continued to support striking janitors and other workers at the Bancorp Building. Of course, no liberation will come from demanding concessions from our bosses, and certainly not through theatrics, but instead through self-organizing for the disruption of the economy.

Workers in Tennessee are facing attacks on their pensions. According to one report:

The announcement this week of cuts to the pensions of the employees of the federally-owned Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) marks a new stage in the drive by the ruling class, overseen by the Obama administration, to take back all of the social gains won by the working class over the course of a century of struggle.

The TVA, the largest public utility company in the US, employs 10,000 people and provides electricity and other services to 9 million residents in an 80,000 square mile area covering significant portions of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.

As was noted in Friday’s New York Times, the TVA cuts will breach the “firewall” that up to now has protected federal employee pensions, marking the first time that the federal government makes significant moves against defined benefit obligations. The underfunding of the pension plan by an estimated $6 billion is being used to justify the cuts.

While Obama continues to paint a picture of a “recovered” economy that “is the envy of the world,” the reality is much different:

Another figure highlights the hollow and socially regressive character of Obama’s so-called “recovery.” The financial cable network CNBC pointed out that according to the Labor Department’s household survey, which is the basis for the unemployment rate figure (the figure on payroll growth is derived from a separate survey of business establishments), full-time jobs increased in February by only 65,000, while part-time positions increased by 489,000. This means that a mere 11.7 percent of new jobs in February were full-time!

These statistics point to the fact that the American ruling class, through its instrument, the Obama administration, has utilized the financial crash of 2008, for which it was responsible, to fundamentally reorganize the US economy, transforming it into a low-wage system. The millions of decent-paying jobs that were destroyed have been largely replaced by poverty-wage, part-time and temporary jobs.

Mexico on Fire

This week at It’s Going Down we premiered a new column entitled, Insumisión, from Scott Campbell, which chronicles revolt and social struggles happening in Mexico. While this doesn’t mean that we aren’t going to stop talking about things happening in Mexico in All the News…we definitely encourage readers to keep an eye on our newest edition at IGD for more in depth reporting on the situation in Mexico.

While you wait for their next installment, be sure to check out Dorset Chiapas Solidarity’s roundup of Zapatista news for the month of February.

Anti-Fascism

In Tucson, a banner was dropped in solidarity with the fighters who took on the Klan in Anaheim last week. Upcoming solidarity demonstrations are planned in Minneapolis and Oakland.

12799358_225430177806219_2205503021256893876_n

In Los Angeles, punk-rockers, street youth, and anarchists marched across the city against racism, the KKK, and a racist attack by Neo-Nazis against youth in a local park. Multiracial youth came together in the streets and marched, denouncing the racist attacks and promoting racial unity. If the fascists were hoping to further divide people along racial lines, they obviously failed. As one participant wrote on the facebook page:

This day was one of the greatest experiences of my life, one I’ll always treasure. Seeing the youth come together and organize, the way each of you celebrated your own individuality while truly understanding at the same time how each of us are interconnected as a whole was absolutely beautiful and inspiring. The unity, the not just mere acceptance of diversity but the complete appreciation of it, gave me not just hope but complete confidence in the future of humanity. You Are the Resistance. You Are the Revolution.

Seriously though, these pictures will make you dust off those old Aus-Rotten cds and stick and poke a Crass logo on your hand. Check these pics out:

12801478_949538215138235_672354117102865723_n 12814224_949537421804981_6482122274881659184_n 12821573_949538125138244_8341084073104083600_n

In Kansas City, antifa took to the streets against a rally organized by the 3%ers and other militia groups that were protesting outside of local FBI offices to bring attention to the death of rancher, LaVoy Finicum, who was killed by federal agents during the end of the Malheur wildlife refuge occupation.

In Salt Lake City, some anti-Trump posters were wheatpasted around the Sugar House neighborhood, although many were “offended” at it’s prominent use of a swastika.

In Washington, DC, suit and tie fascists at the National Policy Institute (NPI), took a break from their hectic schedule of making podcasts to once against come together and talk about the intersections of the Alternative Right, scientific racism, Donald Trump, and to fart into wine glasses and talk about how white they smell. Apperently, an angry crowd outside of the conference had plans if their own. Check out a video here. According to DC Direct Action News:

On the 5th of March, the racist “National Policy Institute” met in the government-owned Ronald Reagan Building in Washington DC. To get there many of the white supremacists had to run a gauntlet of angry anti-racist protesters.

Each time spotters identified a possible NPI attendee, a horn was sounded and anti-racist protesters swarmed in. This was greatly complicated by the presence elsewhere in the building of a convention of dermatologists entering by a different door, but which was behind the protest area. The doctors had to be identified and permitted to pass. On top of all else the “Capitol Steps” band was also performing inside. Fortunately one entrance was used only by the Nazis, this one protesters covered closely. At least one of the Nazis was driven off by highly motivated antiracist activists. Others relied on help from police to push through protesters.

Tenant Struggles

Members of the Seattle Solidarity Network are working with residents of Camp Dearborn, a eco-village of formerly homeless people who voted to kick out the non-profits running it. After their funding went away, they reached out for help defending their camp against police intrusion. According to a report:

In response to the deadline given to them, the residents of Camp Dearborn decided to host an “Open House/Move-In Day” event just hours before the camp was officially closed. This event served a couple of purposes; it was an opportunity to invite the community into the camp to see that they had been working hard to keep it in good shape and within compliance of City regulations, a chance for community members to meet some of the residents and personalize the issue of houselessness, and provided a chance for people to move in to the camp to help hold the space in the event of an attempted eviction.

camp-dearborn2

With the help of Seattle Solidarity Network, SAFE, and other organizers, about 100 community members turned out for the event throughout the evening. It was a festive environment with music, stories being shared, and a load of much-needed donations coming into the camp. When the midnight deadline for camp closure rolled around, things got tense for a bit as police activity in the area increased but they came and went and the camp remained. While the anxiety lingered, one could not help but feel as if maybe the City had finally gotten the message that the community would not allow these people to swept back out onto the streets.

Fuck the Police, Fire to the Prisons

In Salt Lake City, a small riot broke out after police shot Abdi Mohamed and people gathered and then began to throw rocks at the police. Unfortunately, this seems to have only been covered by corporate media. One report wrote:

The shooting prompted an angry reaction from witnesses who said they felt police did not give the teen a chance to surrender. There is a homeless shelter and other services nearby, contributing to the high number of people on the streets in the vicinity.

“The police said, ‘Drop it’, once, then they shot him four times,” Selam Mohammed, who witnessed the shooting, recalled. “We were trying to break it up before the police even came, but the police ran in on foot and pulled their guns out already. They already had them, like, as soon as he was running he was already grabbing for his gun, not even trying to Tase him or anything.”

Protests continued outside of the Durham jail against horrific conditions and continued deaths. People held a noise demonstration outside of the facility and blocked streets for hours with large numbers of people.

Elsewhere in North Carolina, a large vigil-turned-march took place after a police shooting in Raleigh.

https://twitter.com/diasporadical_z/status/704459488980561922

The trial for the Alex Nieto case, the young Mission-based off-duty security guard who was killed before going to work under a barrage of police bullets, is now starting. Protests and marched accompanied the start of the trial, including a walk out of students.

Other protests continued across the US in the wake of police killings and shootings, which have been counted by The Guardian. 

Shout Outs

People at the Black Rose Anarchist Federation have produced a reader of black anarchist texts and works. You can check it out here.

Our friend Sole, the anarchist hip-hop artist who we interviewed last year, has released a new video looking back on his last tour (which included squats and anarchist spaces) and is also doing a crowd-funding campaign to get ready for his next album. Check it out!

Also, the Big Idea in Pittsburgh, a long running radical bookstore is doing a fundraiser. Help them out!

It’s Going Down!

We’ve already gotten some feedback from people who received packages of the magazine. Keep them coming in! Send us some pics of where you put the magazine if you can and let us know what you like and what you don’t about it. Hopefully by the end of the next week we’ll have everything shipped off.

Share This:

In search of new forms of life. It's Going Down is a digital community center and media platform featuring news, opinion, podcasts, and reporting on autonomous social movements and revolt across so-called North America from an anarchist perspective.

More Like This