Mastodon Twitter Instagram Youtube
Mar 6, 21

This Is America #136: Struggle Against Line 3 Grows; Rent Strikes Spread; Elites Obsess Over ‘Culture War’

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Welcome, to This Is America, February 6th, 2021.

On today’s episode, we launch into resistance news, from updates on the fight against the Line 3 pipeline in the midwest, to continuing rent strikes in major cities, and ongoing fierce abolitionist struggle from Portland to New York.

We then switch to our discussion, where we offer an analysis of Trumpism and CPAC 2021, along with a critique of the elites existing obsession with the “culture war.”

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

Living and Fighting

Stop Line 3

Resistance to the Line 3 pipeline continues, both in so-called Minnesota and across the US. A week of action is also being planned from March 8th – 15th, check the Giniw collective for more information. Here’s a roundup of some recent actions:

  • In New York City on March 3rd, there was a street blockade in solidarity with the struggle against Line 3. In Grand Rapids, Michigan, people also rallied against the pipeline and to “commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of a massive Enbridge oil spill of 1.7 million gallons.”

  • On March 1st, protesters at the University of Minnesota rallied outside of a Chase Bank to demand divestment from the Line 3 pipeline project.
  • On February 24th, Unicorn Riot reports that, “Two different blockades [took place] – including people locking themselves inside a flipped-over car”

  • On February 17th, a banner was dropped in solidarity with Water Protectors fighting Line 3 by the Cascadia Forest Defenders.

  • On February 16th, Unicorn Riot reports that “30 water protectors and Line 3 resisters walked onto a work site halting construction of a section of the pipeline in Anishinaabe territory.”

  • On February 12th, people protested outside of Wells Fargo bank in San Francisco to demand divestment from the Line 3 pipeline.
  • On February 6th, an anonymous communique posted to Puget Sound Anarchists claimed responsibility for busting out windows belonging to banks funding the Line 3 pipeline. It reads:

In the early hours of Saturday, February 6th on occupied Chinook land known as “portland,” Chase banks throughout the city were attacked in solidarity with the fight against the Line 3 Pipeline expansion, a project being funded by Chase. Line 3 would further the poisoning of the land, water, and atmosphere and violates the sovereignty of the Anishinaabe people. We say no to genocidal and ecocidal colonial capitalist projects!

No Pipelines, No Walls, Land Back, Fuck 12

  • On February 5th, water protectors march onto an Enbridge construction site and shut it down.

  • Unicorn Riot reports that on February 4th, water protectors engaged in a lockdown and blockade that shut down construction at an “Enbridge fueling station and Line 3 pipeline worksite” as supporters rallied.

Housing Resistance

  • People continue to occupy People’s Park in so-called Berkeley, California. People’s Park, located outside of UC Berkeley, was the site of ongoing riots and land occupations from the late 1960s onward. Since it was first occupied, the park has been utilized as a hub for communal life, gardening, free food, and political organizing. In the last few weeks, the university has attempted set up fences and begin construction of housing units, only to have groups of people break the fences apart and remove them from the park. Since then, an occupation of the park has remained ongoing.

  • Tacoma Housing Now organized a blockade of an intersection in response to five people dying on the streets due to exposure.

  • Rent strikes that kicked off during the pandemic continue full steam ahead in cities like DC and LA.

Land Back Lane Struggle

  • The 1492 Land Back Lane reclamation continues, but barricades starting in mid-February on the roads started to come down. See the latest video dispatch from subMedia.Tv and the 1492 Land Back Lane Facebook page for more info.

Indigenous Resistance to Pipelines in so-called Vancouver

  • People blockaded the Port of Vancouver for over a day in solidarity with an “Indigenous man, Stacy Gallagher, [who] was sentenced to 90 days in jail [for] protest[ing] at Trans Mountain pipeline sites in Burnaby.”

  • Indigenous youth occupied an insurance office to demand divestment from the TransMountain Pipeline.

Black Lives Matter, Abolish ICE and Abolitionist Struggle

  • In Modesto, California, groups continue to demonstration against recent police murders and acts of police brutality.

  • In late February, over 100 people gathered for a militant march and rally against ICE in so-called Portland, Oregon. Daniel V Media reports that anti-ICE graffiti slogans were written across the downtown and on government buildings.

  • On February 12th, people took to the streets of New York against police brutality, burning Blue Lives Matter flags outside of the NYPD’s Times Square station.

  • In Tigard, Oregon, anarchists conducted an outreach campaign; handing out and posting up flyers with mental health resources and alternatives to calling police after law enforcement shot someone having a mental health crisis. Police responded to the outreach campaign by closely following the group.

  • On February 5th, the American Indian Movement (AIM) lead over 100 people for a protest against ICE in Portland.

  • Also on February 5th in Brooklyn, people marched against a police officer who pulled his weapon on protesters several weeks ago and in memory of Treyvon Martin.

Class War

An open letter written by a “sizeable minority” of mine employees currently stranded by [the] protest…says they recognize [the] Inuit as [the] “rightful custodians of the land.”

About 700 staff from southern provinces have been stranded at the Nunavut mine site since a group of protesters staged a blockade last week, blocking roads and the airstrip. The protesters object to [a] proposed expansion of the mine and fear the impacts it could have on the water and surrounding areas.

[Miners write:]

We are writing to express our full support for the efforts, means and goals of your protest. We do not pretend to represent the views of the majority of Baffinland’s workers, but we do represent a sizeable minority.

We recognize the Inuit as the rightful custodians of this land, and as the people who should make the decisions about how it is used.

Your protest has generated a lot of conversation among the workers here. Many of us are disappointed that our flights to return home were postponed, but some also consider it a small thing compared to the hundreds of years of colonization and cultural erasure that Indigenous people have experienced — and continue to experience — at the hands of the Canadian government and the private sector.

Upcoming Events

  • March 8 – 14th: Week of Action against Line 3 Pipeline. Check the Giniw Collective for more info.
  • Saturday, March 20th: 1pm, Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn, NY. Anti-racist, antifascist block party!
  • Sunday, March 28th: 12pm, Salem Capitol, Oregon. Rally against far-Right.
  • August 21st – September 9th: Call for abolitionist actions in support of prisoner struggles. More info here.

It’s Going Down

If you value IGD as a revolutionary autonomous media resource in times of crisis and have the means, please sign up to support us monthly! Help autonomous revolutionary media grow into 2021!

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