This Is America #200: Trump Pushes Racist Attack on Haitians in Ohio, Resistance Roundup

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Welcome, to This Is America, September 17th, 2024.

On this episode, first we present an interview with a community member and participant in the local Really Really Free Market in Carrboro, North Carolina. We speak about the event’s history, and how people have pushed back against attempts by the city to shut it down.

Next, we present a brief discussion with someone on the recent violent arrests following a “die-in” for Palestine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, with one of the people arrested at the scene. We talk about the significance of these arrests in the broader context of the student movement for Palestine in Michigan, and the myth of the “outside agitator.” For a full report back on the event, go here.

We then speak with long-time anarchist organizer Matt Hart, a member of the Anarchist Black Cross Federation in Los Angeles, about Running Down the Walls events happening across so-called North America and beyond, and the importance of the ABC’s warchest program, which you can donate to here.

Finally, during our discussion we talk about the recent white supremacist attacks on the Haitian community and beyond in Springfield, OH, which have been spurred by a collection of neo-Nazi groups and viral misinformation campaigns, leading to a wave of bomb threats a month after a similar operation kicked off far-Right pogroms in the UK.

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

Living and Fighting

Vigils and protests took place across the world after the murder of International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activist Ayşenur Eygi (Eye-sha-nore Ey-gi) by Israeli forces in the West Bank of occupied Palestine. Ayşenur was reportedly involved in the wave of student protests this summer in solidarity with Palestine and also took part in resistance to DAPL at Standing Rock.

From a press release from the ISM:

During the weekly demonstration in Beita, Palestine, on the morning of September 6th, 2024, the Israeli army intentionally shot and killed an International Solidarity Movement (ISM) human rights activist named Ayşenur Eygi.

The demonstration, which primarily involved men and children praying, was met with force from the Israeli army stationed on a hill. Initially, the army fired a large amount of tear gas and then began using live ammunition. Ayşenur, who we consider a martyr in the struggle, was the 18th demonstrator to be killed in Beita since 2020. She was an American citizen of Turkish descent.

The Israeli forces fired two rounds. One hit a Palestinian man in the leg, injuring him. The other round was fired at international human rights activists who were observing the demonstration, striking a human rights activist in the head. Eygi died shortly after being transported to a local hospital in Nablus.

In recent months, international activists have experienced a sharp increase in violence from Israeli forces and the occupation must be held accountable for this. The woman martyred today was an activist with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a Palestinian-led organization that provides protective presence and solidarity in the West Bank. The ISM was founded in 2002, and has maintained a steady presence in Palestine ever since, supporting the Palestinian popular struggle against the occupation.

Read the full statement here.

In Richmond, Virginia, according to a press release published by the Escalate Network, over 100 demonstrators clashed with police as protesters attempted to march on the Virginia Israel Advisory Board. As a post on social media reported, “Police cruiser windows [were] broken, fireworks thrown, [and] barricades burned, as over 100 Palestine solidarity protesters defend one another from police attacks…”

In Manhattan, NY, a communique posted online read, “An autonomous group…hit six Manhattan [Citibank locations] on Sunday night to remind corporate ONCE AGAIN that there is NO BUSINESS AS USUAL DURING A GENOCIDE. We epoxied card readers and door locks and covered them with cement-glued stickers.”

Also in New York, the Escalate Network reported that, “Dozens of black-clad protesters erect[ed] barricades, vandalize[d] israeli-linked targets while chanting slogans against the US-Israel war in Palestine and the “Cop City” campus NYC Mayor Eric Adams wants to build in Queens.” Independent movement journalist Ash J reported, “Protesters redecorated corporate property at places like T-Mobile & Google with anti-colonial artwork. NYPD later showed up & brutally arrested people regardless of whether they actually did anything.”

A communique from the action read:

Aysenur Eygi did not deserve to die, while not the first, we know she won’t be the last. Even though her death was at the hands of the IOF, the rifle and bullet they fired were made and supplied under the orders of Biden And YOU.

Meanwhile, corrupt mayor Eric Adams and his allies cut community funding, line their pockets, and starve New Yorkers. We, this NYC black bloc, made up of revolutionary New Yorkers, will feed them.

In this city corporate greed reigns, and the interests of landlords, hedge funds, and the rich elites fuels every crisis. They’ve spent decades militarizing the NYPD, building cop cities, sending them abroad to train with the IOF, investing and donating mass surveillance tech, pushing budget cuts, and funding every other piece of their police state. All on the dime of poor working class New Yorkers, and all of it to keep your fellow New Yorkers brutalized, isolated, starved, and exploitable. Manipulating us to blame migrants, and to bring back the militarized ICE into our neighborhoods, all while turning our precious city into a personal playground for the rich and powerful, inevitably ending with the destruction of our communities, the dispossession of its people, and their displacement. Leaving cheap pockets of labor to exploit and cater to their every need.

But no more! We call on all New Yorkers to join us in the streets, to take action like we have, and put an end to this police state, this corrupt administration, the corporate greed, and the suffering so many of us have endured by their hands. To Eric Adams, his admin, the NYPD, and their financial and political allies, the Feds are encircling, they smell the rats nest, and so do we. Even if they don’t stop you, the people are waking up, we’re rising, and we’ll be prepared to drive the final nail.

In San Francisco, CA, NBC reported that:

San Francisco State University has pulled investments from three companies the university claims do not meet its human rights standards following demonstrations from pro-Palestinian activists and groups.

In the agreement reached with students, the university will sell its corporate bond position in aerospace and defense company Lockheed Martin, stock positions in Italian defense company Leonardo, and U.S.-based data analysis enterprise Palantir Technologies.

In Boston, MA, a third person, Matt Nelson, died after engaging in an act of self-immolation, in an effort to bring attention to the ongoing genocide and war in Gaza.

In Newton, MA, a pro-Israel demonstrator shot and seriously injured a supporter of Palestine after the man ran across the street and engaged in an altercation with the armed individual. The Twitter account of the shooter, Scott Hayes, shows that he self-identified as a non-Jewish Zionist and called for “hot lead” to be used against pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

In Indiana, resistance continues at the university in Bloomington, as students, faculty, and Palestinian solidarity activists continue to push back against draconian attempts to stifle action and speech on campus.

In so-called Canada, a demonstration took place in Montreal outside of the home of the McGill university president to demand they cut ties with Israel and in Toronto, students clashed with authorities during a raucous divestment protest.

Clashes with police also broke out in Philadelphia, outside of the recent Presidential debate, as protesters pushed back against police attempts to repress demonstrators as graffiti slogans in solidarity with Palestine hit the walls. For a full report, see Unicorn Riot.

In several neighborhoods in Washington DC, angry residents took to the streets following the release of video of the police murder of Justin Robinson, who was shot and killed by police while passed out in his vehicle following a crash. According to the Washington Post:

Incidents of looting and vandalism broke out in the District late Monday and early Tuesday, according to the D.C. police, in what appeared to be a possible response to the release of video of a recent fatal shooting by officers.

The [rebellion] occurred in Georgetown, City Center and other parts of the city, according to a statement issued by the police. Incidents occurred in at least three other neighborhoods, the statement indicated.

Police brutality and killings in the US have remained constant, and in 2023, “Police in the US killed at least 1,232 people last year, making 2023 the deadliest year for homicides committed by law enforcement in more than a decade,” as the State rushes to build ‘Cop City’ facilities across the country, in an effort to beef up the ability of police to better suppress future uprisings, in the wake of the George Floyd rebellion.

As this podcast was being finished, protests have been called for later this week in New York, after the NYPD opened fire on a subway car after attempting to arrest a rider for non-payment of a $2.90 fare. In the process, police shot two other people, one police officer, and killed the person accused of fare evasion. This mass shooting takes place against the backdrop of a growing corruption scandal which has already led to the police commissioner stepping down.

In Queens, New York, massive banners were dropped against a proposed “Cop City” project. According to a communique posted online:

As of July 31 2024, there are 80 cop city projects in the works in 49 of 50 states, all of this against the backdrop of a for-profit penal system….In New York City, the concept of a cop city extends far beyond official training grounds, bleeding into all aspects of civilian life. Even before the greenlighting of Queens’ $225 million dollar pigsty, New Yorkers have been facing unprecedented levels of state repression, and relentless surveillance by a police force large and powerful enough to be considered a standing army.

The purported goal of Queens’ cop city—set to break ground in 2026, in College Point—is to consolidate training for 18 city agencies, including the department of sanitation, homeless services, the administration for children’s services, parks enforcement, and the department of corrections, among others; essentially, it aims to militarize city government workers. Meanwhile, eric adams is slashing hundreds of millions of dollars from homeless services, children’s services and other programs that New Yorkers depend on—SNAP, medicaid, libraries, and rental vouchers, for example—in order to pad the nypd’s already-bloated budget to a record-breaking $12 billion in 2025. We’ve all seen the increase of pigs in our communities, the national guard at subway stations, private security firms such as Allied partnering with the MTA. We’ve seen the blueprints for a 300-ft. high jail in Chinatown. We’ve seen an increase in violent sweeps of both street vendors and our homeless neighbors.

New Yorkers are already subject to unrelenting surveillance via private and state-sponsored security cameras, the use of police drones, the implementation of OMNY technology, which has the ability to track one’s movements through public transit, AI-powered surveillance and facial recognition software in our subway systems. Similar surveillance technology, known as “Red Wolf,” is used in the apartheid zionist state at military checkpoints to keep Palestinians under constant observation, and to restrict their freedom of movement. Every day, Palestinians are subjected to algorithmic tracking, often barred from entering their own neighborhoods based on information stored in discriminatory surveillance databases.

Read the full communique here.

In antifascist news, the second annual “Fash Free” festival was recently held in Portland, OR, celebrating the mass antifascist mobilization against the last large showing of the Proud Boys in August of 2021 – and the fact that the far-Right has not rallied in large numbers in the city since.

In Montreal, an attempt by neo-Nazi to put up fascist posters in a working-class neighborhood didn’t quite go according to plan. According to a post by Montreal Antifascists:

Last night, the young ethnic nationalists of Nouvelle Alliance tried another nightly [propaganda] outing, this time in the multicultural and working-class neighbourhoods of Centre-Sud and Hochelaga. They have gone so far as to display on the window of the People’s Organization for Social Rights and the SITT – IWW Montreal.

To their great dismay, the popular response was swift. Indeed, the community mobilized, passers-by began to shout at them and the budding fascists felt threatened enough to call the police. The latter, always strangely prompt when it came to protecting Nouvelle Alliance, escorted the little soldiers of the French-Canadian race to their car and then out of the neighbourhood.

Let’s remind this backward-looking group that the street is not Instagram, and that they cannot walk in working-class neighborhoods with impunity. We encourage our supporters to keep an eye out and report and tear down their propaganda. Organize locally to make Montreal anti-fascist.

Antifascists in Montreal have also issued a call to oppose far-Right, anti-LGBTQ+ rallies on September 20th. See the call here.

Meanwhile in Millvale, PA, antifascists organized an outreach campaign and march against the home of neo-Nazi Brandon Cahall. PGH Fash Watch reported:

This evening, everyday antifascists distributed hundreds of flyers and stickers in Millvale to educate neighbors about Brandon Cahall, a neo-Nazi who lives in their neighborhood. A march moved through the borough and to Brandon’s house before dispersing.

The march was loud, in good spirits, and had many good conversations with neighbors and borough residents. We will continue to take action against WLM members and neo-Nazis in the city. Nazis out of Pittsburgh!

Community members are posting photos of flyers outing Brandon around the region, check out the campaign here.

In prisoner resistance news, a hunger-strike has kicked off at a federal facility in Montgomery, AL. Rallies also continue in solidarity with ongoing hunger-strikes and other actions at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA. In Brooklyn, as Ash J reported, “Protesters…[held a noise demo] outside of Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) to celebrate the birthday of #JamelFloyd, who was killed by the guards at MDC in November 2020…”

Finally, Running Down the Walls events took place in a dozen cities across North America. Check IGD for a roundup soon, and support the Anarchist Black Cross warchest here. In Portland, former anarchist political prisoner Eric King spoke and read several messages of solidarity from prisoners facing repression, including local journalist Alissa Azar, who is currently imprisoned for defending herself while covering a Proud Boys rally. You can support Alissa by getting a shirt here.

Upcoming Events

• September 20th – 22nd: NYC Anarchist Bookfair. More info here.
• September 21st: Breaking the Borders Fest. Chicago, IL. More info here.
• September 21st – 22nd: Victoria Anarchist Bookfair. More info here.
• September 28th: Pushing Down the Walls. Huntington Park, CA. More info here.
• September 28th: Hamilton Anarchist Bookfair. More info here.
• September 28th – 29th: Seattle Anarchist Bookfair. More info here.
• October 5th: 20th Anniversary of Really Really Free Market. Carrboro, NC. More info here.
• October 6th: Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair. More info here.
• October 12th: Kansas City Anarchist Bookfair. Kansas City, MO. More info here.
• October 18th – 20th: Northeast Health Autonomy Convergence. More info here.
• October 19th – 20th: Boston Anarchist Bookfair. More info here.
• November 9th: Benefit for Kitsap Food Not Bombs. Bremerton, WA. More info here.
• November 26th – 28th: Indigenous anarchist convergence. Occupied so-called Phoenix, AZ. More info here.

cover photo: Off the 99