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Oct 24, 18

TIA #37: Carbondale, Caravan, & Building Dual Power in BC

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Welcome, to This Is America, October 24th, 2018.

In this episode, we speak with Scott Campbell on the caravan from Honduras which has now crossed into Mexico and is headed for the United States. We speak about the history of such caravans and moreover, how economic neoliberal policies and US imperialism has created the conditions which push many people to migrant across entire countries in search of work and to escape political repression.

We then talk to someone involved in the group, Alliance Against Displacement, from so-called British Columbia, who discusses struggles around homelessness, the creation of tent cities, building take overs, and organizing efforts against local far-Right groups, such as the Soldiers of Odin.

But first, let’s get to some headlines.

Trump That Regime

Several days ago, around the same time that Trump was calling himself a “nationalist” during one of his many rallies, news broke that a bomb had been sent to the home of billionaire hedge fund manager, DNC backer, and liberal philanthropist George Soros, long the boogey-man puppet master of many an anti-Semetic meme.

Then today, news broke that more packages, similar to the one sent to George Soros, had also been sent to the home of the Clintons, the Obamas, and a CNN office. Other possible packages are also being investigated currently. Pro-Trump and Alt-Right message boards have already been put into high gear since the George Soros bombing, and began to push the line that all of the bombings were “false flags,” seemingly carried out by a desperate DNC to scare voters into punishing Trump. This talking point of “false flag” attacks, was then picked up by the far-Right pundit class, as Ann Coulter wrote today that “From the Haymarket riot to the Unibomber, bombs are a liberal tactic,” and on the radio, Rush Limbaugh was telling his audiences that Democrats were behind the bombings in order to win in the midterms, and now even Fox News has begun to back the conspiracy.

In reality, in the last several years, bombs have been a favorite for the far-Right, militia movement, and Alt-Right. In 2016, a group of III%er militia members were arrested for plotting to blow up an apartment complex and a mosque used by Somali immigrants. In 2017, members of Atomwaffen were caught with materials for a “dirty bomb,” framed photos of Timothy McVeigh, and plans to attack a nuclear power plant, a III%er was arrested after attempting to blow up a bank in Oklahoma City, and Unicorn Riot revealed that members of the group AntiCom were trading information on bomb making materials and openly planning to attack federal buildings. This is to say nothing of the bomb attacks that have taken place against Mosques over the last several years.

These bombings have also taken place against a backdrop of an escalated push by the Trump administration to attack a wide range of communities that the regime sees as enemies, from attempting to legislate trans people out of existence, to claiming that George Soros and the Democrats are behind the migrant caravan that is currently headed to the United States.

And now, resistance and repression news.

Living and Fighting

  • On October 16th, anarchists and abolitionists demonstrated in Rochester, New York against the police.

  • A talk by Henry Kissinger was disrupted.

  • On October 17th, a “Portland activist has [their] house attacked for a second time.” The attacked is suspected to be lead Proud Boy, Tiny “Toese.”
  • October 19th, supporters organized a call in campaign for Kevin “Rashid” Johnson after he is again moved by prison officials. More info here.
  • Posters go up in New Orleans against the Proud Boys, who are reported to be in town having a meet up

Inmates in Orange County’s jails say they’ve launched their second hunger strike this year to protest the alleged misuse of solitary confinement.

Some inmates at the Theo Lacy Facility and the county’s Intake Release Center started to refuse food at breakfast on Wednesday, Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Carrie Braun said.

She insisted it is not their policy to keep inmates in prolonged isolation.

Inmates planned to refuse meal trays and refrain from buying commissary snacks for three to four days “to get the message across,” said Philip Sloan, who’s awaiting trial in the Theo Lacy Facility on charges of felony assault, among other charges.

“We are protesting the overall treatment — or mistreatment — of inmates of all ethnic backgrounds,” Sloan told LAist in a phone interview. “We are still human beings … We’ve got constitutional rights.”

  • On October 21st, RAM-NYC paid tribute to an anarchist revolutionary who recently fell in Rojava. They wrote, “Şehîd Şahîn Qereçox, also known as Waka[, h]e fell fighting Daesh in Hajin. Anarchists and revolutionaries internationally must lift his name and memory in our push for revolution everywhere! Long Live Waka!”

  • The Marriot strike continues across 7 time zones. In many cases, people are needed to support the picket lines and keep scabs from coming in the buildings.
  • In Portland, Rose City Antifa celebrated 11 years with musical guests and raised over $800 for antifascist legal and medical fees.

  • In St. Louis, demonstrations and protests continued against the Workhouse jail, which last year lead to clashes with the police and protests from inside the facility over lack of air conditioning.

  • October 23rd, Mike Africa, one of the MOVE 9 was finally freed, and was released into the loving arms of his wife and son.

  • The campaign against Casey Cooper, a white nationalist law student in Atlanta continues, which antifascists now putting up stickers around the campus.

  • In Carbondale, Illinois, over 150 people gathered against Trump, threats by the far-Right, and also the City Council shutting down in the face of such threats. Folks held a community assembly, and there were reports of scattered fascists who quickly left the area. Trump is scheduled to give a speech in the next town over on Saturday at an air port. Here’s a closing statement read by someone from the Flyover Social Center at the end of last night’s assembly:

“Tonight we did not make an official city resolution. An official city resolution has to be voted on by the city council and go through the proper channels. We didn’t do that. Tonight we did something more important: we made a pact. A pact to stand together against those who would oppress us. A pact to stand up to those who would target the most vulnerable among us. A pact to build our lives together, here in this town, on our own terms.

A pact is a promise. It doesn’t exist on paper. It exists between us. And it exists only as long as we keep it alive between us.

Fascism in America didn’t start with Trump. The groundwork for this moment has been a bipartisan effort laid for 50 years. And even that was just a repetition of the same things that have been with us since the founding of this country in genocide and slavery, a racial and patriarchal caste system that has survived by transforming itself in every generation. This is nothing new.

What is new is that we no longer have any time to wait. The fascist strategy is clear: in the face of ecological catastrophe, of massive inequality, of global turmoil, they aim to lock the human species into their hierarchies forever. They aim to destroy any possibility of the free and beautiful world that we want. And they are on course to succeed, unless people like us, towns like ours, stop them.

We are not just whiny liberals. Some of us, myself included, aren’t even liberals. We are not crazy terrorists. The terror that we experience comes from these fascists, from the police, from the corporations they defend. We’re not even Americans. We’re deeper than that. We’re earthlings. We are beings whose world is threatened.

And we are beings who make new worlds, as we have over and over again for a hundred thousand years. That is what we are. And we are people who find ourselves in a place marked by an extraordinary astronomical coincidence. We are here in the time between two eclipses. And we have a lot of work to do to build a free, equal, and dignified world, before our time to do so runs out.

Thank you all for being here. This pact is just the beginning.”

  • In Long Beach California, a large and rowdy crowd protested outside of Turning Point USA’s “campus clash” speaking event.
  • On October 24th, Appalachians Against Pipelines celebrated the 50th day of the latest tree-sit in the Hellbender Autonomous Zone.

We want to remind people that we are fundraising in order to continue this project. If you value IGD, then please make a donation or sign up to donate monthly to ensure that we will be around for the long haul. Thanks for joining us, and we will see you soon!

Upcoming Events:

 

  • Ongoing: Support for the Vaughn 17 at trial. More info here.
  • Ongoing: Mutual Aid Disaster Relief tour. More info here.
  • Thursday, October 25, 2: 30 PM: Silent Sam Court Support and Memorial Rally. UNC Pit. More info here.
  • October 31st to November 4th: National Lawyers Guild (NLG) conference in Portland, Oregon. More info here.
  • Tuesday, November 6th, 6 PM, Portland, OR: March Against ICE. Gathering at City Hall. Call for antifascist presence. More info here.
  • Saturday, November 17th, 11 AM, Washington Square Park. Come out to oppose the Proud Boys and other far-Right groups. More info here.

 

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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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