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Sep 14, 16
Filed under: Roundup
In the last several weeks, so much has happened with both the #PrisonStrike and #NoDAPL resistance, that it seems like a lot of time has passed in a very short window. This week, we’re going to keep our news roundup pretty short and to the point, because there are a couple of big things we want to highlight with this roundup. With big struggles in the news, it can be easy for others to fall through the cracks and be forgotten. Let’s remember that all of these battles are connected and reinforce each other and that by seeing our comrades across the world and in our own regions taking action, we grow more confident and powerful as well.
In the coming week, we will have more to say on the #PrisonStrike mobilizations, but right off the bat we want to say that we are fucking floored by the outpouring of support and solidarity. Everything from mass marches and street occupations, to banner drops and graffiti has all been inspiring. IGD will return to this moment soon to think about how we can expand and push within this period, but for now, continue to send in your photos, reports, and updates to us here or at: info [at] itsgoingdown [dot] org.
Let’s get to the news.
Class War
In Portland, people took to the streets to put pressure on a local landlord that is attempting to carry out a mass eviction and raise rents by 45%. Check out Portland Tenants United for more info.
PSA to slumlords: A&G @MgmtG can't protect you from the consequences of evicting working families in Portland. pic.twitter.com/N9NKvnmva6
— Portland Tenants United (@PDXTenantsUnite) September 14, 2016
Members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) have launched a “singing strike” in New York after management began to fire organizers after Ellen’s Stardust Diner (which is known for it’s singing waiters) went union. From their page:
Yesterday six long time employees and active union organizers were falsely accused of misconduct by our employer as a pretext for retaliatory termination. Today the singing stopped inside, but have no fear! We’ll be singing songs outside all day! JOIN US!
After 4 years of hard work, I got fired from Ellen's Stardust Diner for union activity !… https://t.co/ublgRIXmPy
— Eric Jetner (@EricJetner) September 14, 2016
That place made me a better performer and introduced me to some of the most amazing performers and people I am lucky enough to call #family. In the past 24 hours, 10 amazing, long time employees were fired for trying to improve working conditions and forming a union.
For more info and background, go here. Workers are calling for a boycott of the restaurant (follow the link to leave a message on yelp) and angry proletarians should direct their rage at the owners facebook and by calling the restaurant here: (347) 504-6517
Indigenous Resistance
A resistance camp has been erected in the south west in the path of the proposed South Mountain Freeway. From their page:
Moadag Thadiwa is a peaceful resistance camp set up near the proposed “South Mountain Freeway” on the Gila River Indian Community.
The Gila River Indian Community has been opposed to the proposed South Mountain extension of the 202 freeway since at least 1986. Over 21 other tribes hold the entire South Mountain range to be culturally significant. Community members are gathering to be with Moadag to pray for the protection of the mountain and for our communities.
Contact them here: [email protected].
Supplies and donations are also needed:
Ice, in the mornings and evenings
Duct tape
Bug repellent
Sunblock
Batteries of all sizes
Flashlights
Head lamps
Chevron gas cards
Serving utensils
Cutting board
In Mi’kmaq territory in so-called Canada, a camp has also been set up on an island against AltaGas Ltd.’s proposal for underground natural gas storage facility. More info here.
Support and resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline continues to heat up as well, as a bank connected to the construction of the project was occupied in so-called Canada. Protests also shut down banks in DC. In Detroit, marchers blocked streets in solidarity.
Meanwhile, the CEO of the $3.8 billion dollar project said that the company is committed to finishing it, despite a growing force of resistance. This determination flies in the face of half-ass calls by the Obama administration for construction to halt while various legal aspects of the project are worked out. Just yesterday, riot pigs armed with automatic weapons arrested several brave folks who locked down to construction equipment as well as our homies at Unicorn Riot, who documented the repression.
Despite the large police and military presence, the numbers at the resistance camps are growing. We can only hope that these numbers are able to spill across the landscape and disrupt and stop the pipeline construction.
Again, if you are out there in North Dakota and what to send us an update, do an interview, or just let us know what is going on, hit us up!
Smash Patriarchy
Rich kid rapist Brock Turner is set to give a speaking tour of college campuses on drinking and promiscuity – we shit you not! Hopefully we can give him a royal welcome.
ACAB
@FOX13News @FoxNews #Clairmel #TampaProtest #Caleb pic.twitter.com/XdiL5qRPiE
— Michael ? (@ShadowYbor) September 5, 2016
Something must be in the water in Florida. The prisoners go off the chain as do folks on the outside. Recently in Tampa Bay, in the wake of the police shooting death of Levonia “Daddyman” Riggins, who was killed when police attempted to serve a search warrant, people took to the streets and started fires. Rowdy protests have continued.
In St. Louis, armed demonstrators took to the streets after the killing of long time Ferguson militant Darren Seals, with many demonstrators stating they believe he was murdered by law enforcement:
Also, A World Without Police has released a new essay about protests in the wake of Alton Sterling’s death that is worth reading. Check it out here.
Fire to the Prisons
With everything going on with the #PrisonStrike, we also don’t want people to forget about or loose sight of support Siddique Hasan, one of the key organizers of the current prisoner led resistance to prison slavery. Hasan has already been singled out for repression before the strike and currently is on hunger strike.
Please, send him letters of support and keep him in your thoughts.
Members of the Free Alabama Movement had this to say recently:
Without a doubt the [September 9th] Call is still in effect. We chose the 9th as a means to connect the struggle to the historical stand that produced real change in this System and we will continue INDEFINITELY until Prison Slavery and all its manifestations are dead. We’re not in it for the fame, but for real change.
Also, Support Prisoner Resistance recently released this roundup and update on the strike and ways to support. They’ve also made some PDF readers of recent actions to send into prisons, check that out here. Keep those action reports coming to IGD too!
Eco-Wars
The BLA is about to slaughter 44,000 wild horses in order to provide land for cattle to graze. According to one report:
After wild horses were removed from their natural habitat by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM ), to allow for privately owned cattle to graze on the land for profit, the BLM has now made the decision to euthanize 44,000 wild horses it has been keeping in numerous holding facilities across the United States.
Also, pipelines are breaking down left and fucking right. A recent spill in Texas was the third of its kind in a week.
Anti-Fascist
First, some fast updates, Jimmy Marr, a Neo-Nazi, has been driving a truck up and down the West Coast with messaging that says “Blue Lives Matter” and “Jew Lies Matter,” with pictures of swastikas and encouraging white people to vote for Donald Trump. If you see him, say hello. In Antioch, CA, a pair of racists have been caught after throwing firebombs at a home and spray painting swastikas. Alt-Right spoiled brats Richard Spence and Jared Taylor held a press conference only a few blocks from the white house last week. Oh, also Donald Trump, Jr. retweeted Kevin MacDonald, an “academic” Neo-Nazi.
Now let’s get down to some big stuff that is coming down the pipe soon.
September 17th
The National Socialist Movement (NSM), you know those boneheads that love to dress up likes Nazis and have really dumb rallies behind 5,000 police? They are planning an Aryan Nationalist Alliance (ANA) event in Rome, Georgia, at the Georgia Peace Oyster Bar, which is “pro-Klan” bar that has been the site of various white power events in the past. The NSM is pushing the ANA as a confederation of white nationalists and Neo-Nazi groups. From Atlanta antifa:
The ANA meeting will take place exactly two weeks before Hammerfest, which is the national gathering for another white supremacist organization, the Hammerskin Nation. Hammerfest is also expected to take place at the Georgia Peach Oyster Bar. (The Georgia Peach is less than an hour’s drive west of Atlanta; since publishing our initial story on Hammerfest, we have received further corroboration that Patrick Lanzo’s Georgia Peach will be the venue on Oct. 1st.)
The September 17 Aryan Nationalist Alliance event is announced on the front page of the National Socialist Movement’s website. The gathering was initially planned as a regional meeting for the National Socialist Movement, but was subsequently broadened to be an Aryan Nationalist Alliance event involving several organizations. Matthew Heimbach [since now dropped out] of the Traditionalist Worker Party – also scheduled to appear at Hammerfest on Oct 1st – will speak, as will the head of the NSM, Jeff Schoep. The announcement promises a “Swastika & Cross Lighting” for the evening.
The National Socialist Movement in Georgia has been formally reorganized over recent months with new leadership. The NSM head organizer in GA is now Floyd Eric Meadows, who has a past with the League of the South and the Southern Cross Militant Knights of the KKK. Prior to his new role as state leader for the NSM, Meadows had been listed as an NSM member in 2011.
October 1st
Neo-Nazi skinheads in the “Hammerskins” are planning their yearly get together in Georgia that will feature Neo-Nazi skinhead bands as well as speakers such as Matthew Heimbach and Chester Doles. From Atlanta antifa:
Doles is a former Klansman who went on to lead the Georgia unit of the National Alliance, an organization that at one point was the most important neo-Nazi group in the US. (The National Alliance is nowadays in shambles.) In 2003, Doles was arrested for being a felon in possession of firearms — Doles had previously served prison time for assaulting a Black man. Many on the far-Right saw the prosecution of Doles as politically-motivated; Doles eventually pled guilty. He was released in 2008, eventually returning to white power activism.
Patrick Lanzo, owner of Georgia Peach Bar, openly pro-KKK and Neo-Nazi establishment.
As for the venue:
The Hammerskins have not publicly announced the Georgia Peach as the venue for Hammerfest this year, but it seems likely that the space will play some role in this year’s events.
The Georgia Peach is not only a venue for Hammerskin events, but also for many other white supremacist events regionally. On April 23, the venue was used for an evening after-event for two white power rallies that took place earlier in the day: the National Socialist Movement rally in Rome, GA as well as a second white power event at Stone Mountain Park outside Atlanta which met determined anti-racist resistance. (At the Georgia Peach the evening before, the ragtag “Aryan Nationalist Alliance” was formally established.) The Georgia Peach, which openly advertises itself as a Klan space, has also hosted many other Klan, neo-Nazi and Aryan Nations events over the years.
Currently, Georgia Anonymous has called for resistance at the event. Their event is here.
October 1st
On the same day as the Hammerskin event, the International Keystone Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (IKKKKK) have announced a gathering at Seaborn Jones Park in downtown Rockmart, Georgia. From Atlanta antifa:
Rockmart is approximately an hour northwest of Atlanta by car. It is approximately 25 minutes north of Draketown GA where the “Hammerfest” gathering is expected to take place. (The Georgia Peach Oyster Bar in Draketown is also where the “Aryan Nationalist Alliance” will gather on September 17th.)
The October 1st IKKKKK gathering is promoted as a “White Christian Community Event” running from 10AM to 6PM and featuring vendors, music and food. Seaborn Jones Park is a public space operated by the City of Rockmart.
Regionally, October 1st is an unusually busy day for white supremacist organizers. As well as the Hammerskins-sponsored “Hammerfest” in Georgia plus the IKKKKK “White Christian Community Event” in downtown Rockmart, the annual “Stormfront Summit” will be held in East Tennessee on the same weekend, featuring speakers such as David Duke, Paul Fromm, and Atlanta white nationalist/real estate lawyer Sam Dickson.
November 5th
Run the NSM out of Harrisburg! They are attempting to rally at the State capitol and people are organizing to oppose them. More info, flyers, and a video here.
November 18th
National Policy Institute will be holding an event at the Ronald Reagan Building. More info can be here on IdaVox:
The next National Policy Institute (NPI) conference will be held at the same place as the last NPI event – the Ronald Wilson Reagan Building in Washington, DC. It will be the same old thing as before, hating Blacks, Hispanics, Muslims and Jews (that is guaranteed with Kevin MacDonald among the speakers) and every racist internet troll coming out to meet and network with one another. But this time, there’s a treat in store: A-List talent! Well, A-List talent as far as they are concerned, but the rest of us might put this one in maybe the x or y area to be honest.
Folks, National Policy Institute managed to score former reality show star and occasional rapper Tila Tequila for a pre-conference party the night before! We are not kidding!
It’s Going Down
Thanks to everyone that has been making donations to us over the past couple of weeks. The response has been really great. We also appreciate that people have been thanking us for the large amount of work that we have put into the #PrisonStrike coverage and we ask that if you enjoy IGD as a resource for news, please, make a donation and keep us afloat. We really need people to donate and become monthly sustainers. At a time like now, the need for a project like IGD is greater than ever.
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