This Is America #112: Choosing Sides, Getting Organized

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Welcome, to This Is America, April 3rd, 2020.

In this episode we present interviews with someone involved in Reclaiming Our Homes, a group of formerly homeless families who have occupying vacant housing owned by CalTrans in Southern California. For more information on their struggle, see our report here.

No one should be homeless when homes are empty. Today, we are taking matters into our own hands & moving into vacant houses owned by @CalTrans! Shame on the state for sitting on these properties during a housing & public health crisis. #COVID19 #ReclaimLA #HousingIsAHumanRight pic.twitter.com/d5AMGdOXrC

— Reclaiming Our Homes (@ReclaimingHomes) March 14, 2020

We then speak to a member of the Tacoma Mutual Aid Collective in the Pacific Northwest, about how they are mobilizing to provide support and free groceries to working-class school children and families in the midst of the pandemic and economic meltdown.

 

Lastly, we speak with a worker from Whole Foods involved in Whole Worker, a self-organized group of employees who are fighting for better pay and conditions on the job and in the wake of the outbreak, launched a strike last week.

All this and more, but first, let’s get to the news!

Living and Fighting

Photos from today’s food-share with @ccmutualaid and Tallahassee Food Not Bombs. Solidarity, not charity! pic.twitter.com/hdOonTieGZ

— capital city mutual aid (@ccmutualaid) March 29, 2020

Comrades in #Gainesville feeding over 150 people a week through their mutual aid, free grocery program. #MutualAid #RockinLikeKropotkin pic.twitter.com/fZVtH0W4Ky

— It's Going Down (@IGD_News) April 3, 2020

• Mutual aid initiatives continue full steam ahead. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, members of the Socialist Rifle Association and Industrial Workers of the World have opened up a physical space where they are distributing groceries and medical supplies. In Gainesville, Florida and Tucson, Arizona, comrades are feeding hundreds of  people through various free grocery programs. Be sure to check out our ever growing list of mutual aid projects, located here, which is updated daily.

Members of @RifleTulsa and the @iww have opened up a physical space in #Tulsa #Oklahoma where they are distributing free groceries and medical supplies in the community which has been hit hard by job loss in the wake of the #COVID19Pandemic. #BuildTheCommune #MutualAid pic.twitter.com/lrQgvTopQE

— It's Going Down (@IGD_News) April 3, 2020

A group made and distributed packs today. Each one contains nitrile gloves, alcohol wipes, tampons, band-aids and a sunflower butter and jam sandwich. ?? pic.twitter.com/Hko7GhkNg0

— PNW Youth Liberation Front (@PNWYLF) April 3, 2020

• It’s Going Down has also been covering the growing wave of labor unrest, and in the last week, more strikes and job actions have kicked off, such as the recent wildcat strike  by Memphis warehouse workers, gig workers with Instacart, more workers at Amazon, over 1,000 meatpackers in Colorado, and poultry workers in Chicago.

What the Amazon, Instacart, Wholefoods, GE, and other workers are doing is so important. How can we bring the struggle to our own workplaces? How can we support strikes from the outside?
It's time to up our theory and practice. Share your favorite histories and texts. pic.twitter.com/bvF1FZZJqT

— PeterGelderloos (@PeterGelderloos) April 2, 2020

• And, if you haven’t check it out yet, we have a roundup of rent strike activity across the US and Canada. In short, thousands of people came out publicly on April 1st as part of the strike. Homes, apartment complexes, and whole buildings are pushing back against landlords, and tens of thousands who are not only not paying rent, but also are linking up with autonomous tenant organizations.

Baltimore, MD #RENTRELIEF or we #RentStrike pic.twitter.com/XSYtggu5UF

— Oly Rent Strike ?️ (@OlyRentStrike) April 4, 2020

• Lastly, be sure to check out our report on the growing prisoner-led push back inside US prisons and migrant detention centers in response to the coronavirus. Across the US, groups on the outside are also organizing ‘car bloc’ noise demos to demand that detainees and inmates be released. Be sure to stay up with groups like Oakland IWOC, La Resistencia in Tacoma, who is support the hunger strike at the North West Detention Center, as well as Never Again Action, which is leading noise demos around the country against ICE. Please continue to make calls and participate in phone zaps!

Governments tell us “stay home,save lives” we tell them “get people out of cages, save lives” https://t.co/5NNtv7Dsdc

— LaResistencia_NW (@ResistenciaNW) April 4, 2020

? BREAKING ?

We're outside the CO State Capitol with Abolish ICE Denver and 50+ cars.

Gov @jaredpolis: There’s no way to social distance in a cage. Use your power and influence to release people in ICE detention before it's too late.

Watch live: https://t.co/H9qLn4k6uc pic.twitter.com/Y5sZf6ejx7

— ✡️ Never Again Action ✡️ (@NeverAgainActn) March 31, 2020

It’s Going Down

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