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Dec 18, 20

This Is America #132: Eviction Defense in Portland, Certain Days Collective, Eleanor Goldfield on ‘Hard Road of Hope’

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Welcome, to This Is America, December 18th, 2020.

On today’s episode, we bring you a series of interviews. First, up, we speak with someone at the Red House in North Portland, which recently was at the center of a mass eviction blockade. While the interview took place before the barricades around the house came down, our interview discusses how the blockade can hopefully provide important lessons for future eviction defense campaigns.

We then speak to two participants in the Certain Days collective, which puts together both the Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners yearly calendar as well as IGD’s Prison Break column. We talk about political prisoners, repression in a post-rebellion world, what a print project like Certain Days means in 2021, and much more.

Finally we speak with activist, filmmaker, and journalist Eleanor Goldfield, the host of Act Out on Fress Speech TV. We talk about Goldfield’s career in grassroots journalism as well as their new award-winning documentary film, Hard Road of Hope, which covers the current situation in Appalachia and coal country. During our discussion we talk about Mountain Top Removal, the opioid crisis, Trump, and the importance of the memory of working-class resistance.

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

Living and Fighting

Struggle for Abolition

 

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A post shared by Florida Prisoner Solidarity (@fl_abolition)

  • In New Jersey and New York, the fight against ICE has continued. At the Bergen County Jail, ICE detainees have launched a hunger strike and on the streets people have rallied and marched in solidarity, only to be attacked by police.

  • In Chicago, abolitionists placed signs outside of a local jail “for every person trapped inside this COVID hotspot. 8 prisoners have died this year due to the jails willful negligence.”

  • In Vancouver, WA, people continued to take streets for Kevin Peterson, who was recently shot and killed by the police.

Week in Remembrance of Michael Reinoehl

  • Responding to a call from the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement (RAM) for a week of remembrance with slain Portland area antifascist Michael Reinoehl, people in various cities across the so-called US held vigils, put up posters, and dropped banners.

#BlockGarcetti

  • In Los Angeles, BLM-LA has continued to lead demonstrations attempting to block the appointment of Mayor Garcetti to Joe Biden’s incoming cabinet, which has led to fights with the police in the streets.

Death to the Black Snake

  • Appalachians Against Pipelines reports that despite an injunction, the Yellow Finch tree sit continues full steam ahead, with tree sitters having defended the space for over 835 days and have been fighting the injunction for over a month.

  • In Brooklyn, the Brownsville community continues to fight against the North Brooklyn Pipeline with blockades and protests.

  • Actions against Line 3 are heating up. On December 14th, 22 water protectors were arrested blockading construction of the Line 3 drill pad under the Mississippi River while a tree sitter blocked construction for 10 days straight. Various blockades and lock-downs have also taken place against pipeline construction. Meanwhile in Minneapolis, people have protested outside of banks which are financing the project.

Housing Struggle

  • In Bloomington, IN, over 100 people gathered against police harassment and attacks on the poor.

  • Actions by tenants unions took place in DC and Oakland, CA.
  • In Brooklyn, New York, a rally demanding the extension of the existing eviction moratorium was attacked by police.
  • In Toronto, tenant actions against evictions in the midst of the pandemic have continued non-stop. Tenants have continued to hold demonstrations against evictions at corporate offices and landlords homes.

Solidarity

It’s Going Down

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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.

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