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Apr 30, 22
Filed under: Anarchist Movement, Canada, Featured, Interviews, Radio/Podcast, This is America, US
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Welcome, to This Is America, April 30th, 2022.
On this episode, first we present an interview with someone on the ground in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who speaks about the recent round of street protests that kicked off following the brutal police execution of Patrick Lyoya.
We then are joined with Marcela from Feel the News as we discuss Eric Adams, the eviction crisis in New York, and attacks on the houseless.
All this and more, but first, let’s get to the news!
Living and Fighting
More from rally @GRPress pic.twitter.com/FbO6jO3vMv
— John Tunison (@johntunison) April 16, 2022
Over the past week, thousands continued to take to the streets in Grand Rapids, Michigan following the police murder of Patrick Lyoya, a “refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo—who was killed by a Grand Rapids, Michigan police officer on April 4th. Lyoya was fatally shot in the head while laying face down on the ground” following a police traffic stop. Following Lyoya’s murder, protesters held the streets for hours each night essentially laying siege to the embattled police station.
— James Croxton (He/Him) (@jwcroxton) April 17, 2022
There was also a rowdy night-time solidarity demonstration in Portland, Oregon. As Double Sided Media wrote:
On the evening of April 16, nearly 50 people in black bloc gathered under the pavilion at Portland’s Peninsula Park for a vigil and march in honor of Patrick Lyoya…A local Starbucks Coffee Shop was the scene of both window smashing and firework-launching. The nearby bus stop—one of several throughout the night—was also smashed. Banks, too, had their windows smashed and received spray-paint.
The crowd arrived at its apparent destination—the Portland Police Bureau’s North Precinct—after about 45-minutes and confronted a rooftop police officer with a firework launch. Three PPB cruisers full of officers in riot gear appeared shortly after a dumpster inside the precinct’s parking garage was lit on fire…The crowd dispersed in various directions as soon as the police arrived. According to a PPB press release, no arrests were made…
As Canadian Tire Fire has been reporting, actions in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en and against Coastal Gaslink remain ongoing. In so-called Olympia, according to a communique posted to Puget Sound Anarchists:
On April 20th some anarchists…armed with a bottle of brake fluid and a can of expanding spray foam to carry out an act of solidarity with the ongoing resistance of Wet’su’weten land defenders and their supporters. The fight against CGL and its funders has been long and inspiring, and one that we feel needs to be more supported, especially through direct anarchist tactics. The colonial project is ever expanding, and its allies and funders are in every neighborhood and on every street. These are our enemies, and the makers of artificial deserts. They must be attacked– by any means and at any given opportunity, no matter how big or small the enemy or the action may seem. We do not expect this small action to stop the Leviathan and bring about healing to this near destroyed planet, but we hope to channel the spirits of this land, the lifeblood of all water, and the goblins of anarchy. We want to inspire destruction to all manifestations of colonial powers and institutions. We need it. The struggle on Wet’suwet’en territory is one that has explicitly called for and employed anarchist tactics, and we encourage you all to heed that call and support their actions through your own.
Meanwhile in a communique posted to Montreal Counter-Info, another group wrote:
Over the past 2 months, the RCMP has ramped up their continued harassment and intimidation of the people living at and defending the Yintah from CGL, at km 44 camp, on Gidimt’en territory. A few days ago, cops decided to arrest someone, using the pathetic excuse of “mis-identification”.
We believe that active solidarity is always important, even more so when our comrades are facing repression. This solidarity can be expressed through easy attacks, which break the isolation and fear that the state tries to trap us within. Those involved in funding the pipeline have names and addresses. They might not always be esay to find, but usually, they are the ones trying to protect their peace and tranquility tucked safely away in big houses, far from the social war they are a part of.
With this in mind, and rage in our hearts, this past wednesday we decided to spend the evening in the streets of Westmount. Using a fire extinguisher filled with paint, we had a good time vandalizing the facade of the house where the…RBC Quebec president lives.
Back in Portland, a claim of responsibility took credit for a sabotage action in solidarity with the expanding struggle to defend the Atlanta forest. A communique posted to Rose City Counter-Info wrote:
Not to be left out, another communique posted to Indybay.org stated:
In other Defend the Atlanta Forest news, Reeves Young, an Atlanta based construction contractor, has officially backed out of the so-called “Cop City” project. Forest defenders and abolitionists are still calling for May Day actions to pressure other firms to drop the project as well. Go here to find an office near you. There is also a call for a week of action to Defend the Atlanta Forest from May 8th – 15th, with marches and rallies already being called on May 11th and 14th!
Looking towards the midwest, in Minneapolis, following more ongoing encampment evictions, several public works trucks were targeted. A communique posted to Abolition Media Worldwide stated:
According to a corporate news report from so-called Seattle, several people took action against ongoing attacks on the houseless. One article reported:
Also in Seattle, Washington, around 1,000 people gathered for a mutual aid fair put on by a variety of autonomous groups across the Pacific Northwest.
In Hartford, Connecticut, a Black Lives Matter group organized an antifascist demonstration and march following a flash-demonstration by a neo-Nazi group the week before.
In the bay area, rebel youth and community members on the Berkeley/Oakland border, reigned down a righteous barrage of eggs against a far-Right convoy, pushing them out of the area.
In New York, police continue to make arrests of houseless people on ‘Anarchy Row’ demanding housing and in so-called Bloomington, the strike by graduate workers continues at Indiana University, with workers and students organizing sit-ins, walkouts, and holding pickets which have stopped deliveries.
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