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Oct 2, 19

This Is America #90: Youth Liberation Front & Inside Liberals’ Favorite New DHS Report

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Welcome, to This Is America, October 2nd, 2019.

In this episode we speak with members of the Youth Liberation Front (YLF) out of the Pacific Northwest. We talk about the recent #ClimateStrike, how Portland and the surrounding areas have been changed by years of anarchist and antifascist mass mobilization, and what the YLF is doing to mobilize young people towards antifascist, anarchist, and anti-capitalist ideas.

We then feature a discussion on the recent Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report on domestic terrorism that liberals and Centrists have been going ga-ga over because it mentions white supremacists several times. We pick the report apart and offer some analysis on its contents.

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

Living and Fighting:

In Haiti, action continues on the streets as people continue take to clash with authorities and riot against austerity, the rising price of basic commodities, widespread corruption, and call for the ouster of the US and UN backed President. As Unicorn Riot wrote in a recent report:

At least four people have been killed by government forces in the past two weeks with many more injured. The total number of dead and wounded have yet to be fully established. In response to the heavy-handed tactics of the police, anti-government insurgents have disarmed multiple police officers, burned police vehicles and several police stations. The homes of government officials have also been burned. Wealthy suburbs [have seen] looting and demonstrations, as well as reports of gunfire. Flaming road barricades have been established throughout the capital as well as other areas in the country. Reportedly, following the liberation of prisoners who had been arrested in the last round of protests, the jail and central court in the southern port city of Jacmel were set ablaze. Residents of Cité Soleil, the most impoverished district in the capital of Port-au-Prince, ransacked a historically violent police station this past weekend.

In repression news, a judge has ruled that cases against police brutality and illegal arrests during J20 actions can move forward in DC. In New York, the #NoNewJails campaign continues, with recent actions being directed against the Ford Foundation and their support for continued jail construction.

Meanwhile, two environmental activists who went public about sabotaging parts of the Dakota Access Pipeline have now been indicted by a grand jury and could face upwards of 100 years in prison. According to Unicorn Riot:

Leaked documents show that Reznicek and Montoya had been targeted for surveillance by the mercenary pipeline security firm Tigerswan. In August 2017, FBI agents raided the Catholic Worker house in Des Moines, where the two women had been staying, confiscating personal possessions and files. The charges announced today in the indictment come over a year and two months after the acts of sabotage were publicly claimed.

In other eco-news, in Olympia, Washington, Protectors of the Salish Sea, led a demonstration demanding that the City take action on climate change and camped out for several nights before being cleared by riot police. In San Francisco on August 25th, people shut down a Chase bank, an institution heavily invested in the fossil fuel industry. In Minneapolis, actions and marches took place against the Line 3 pipeline and finally, Extinction Rebellion actions also took place on August 27th; in Atlanta, people held an intersection and were attacked by police, leading to several arrests.

Resistance continues to man-camps and the trans mountain pipeline, as the Tiny House Warriors continue to blockade and fight the project. In so-called British Columbia, Native people pushed their way into a meeting by Coastal Gaslink and told them that their proposed pipeline project would not be allowed to pas through their lands.

In labor news, members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) declared that they were forming a union inside a local pizza shop in Portland and Burgerville workers have stated that if their demands are not met during contract negotiations they will soon launch a strike. Members of the IWW in Everette, Washington also marked the anniversary of the 1916 Everett Massacre, where 5 members of the IWW were killed in an armed clash by an anti-anarchist mob of police and deputized goons hired by local bosses. Wobblies were also armed and shot back.

Already on the picket lines are almost 50,000 UAW General Motors workers, who have just rejected a recent contract proposal by corporate. GM has already cut workers off of health benefits and recently fired 600 workers in Mexico as the strike continues into its third week, which has already cost GM almost a billion. GM bosses are hoping to starve the workers out and reap the rewards of lower wages and slashed benefits.

As one report wrote:

For the financial aristocracy the defeat of the strike is a strategic, not a short-term, question. In the face of growing signs of a global economic downturn and vast technological changes, Wall Street is seeking a broader restructuring of the global auto industry and a shift of capital towards electric and autonomous vehicles. Though not profitable yet, these technologies promise immense returns to investors from whatever global automaker dominates the market.

This will require, however, the destruction of whatever is left of the social rights of autoworkers. The auto industry must impose the conditions that prevail at tech giants like Tesla, Amazon and Google. Rather than having any expectation of long-term employment, annual raises, medical coverage and a pension after retirement, autoworkers will face the same hyper-exploitation as workers in the so-called Gig Economy.

In antifascist news, people across the country responded to a flyering and sticker campaign by the neo-Nazi group Patriot Front by taking down their materials and putting up anarchist and antifascist ones. In Seattle, a pro-Trump rally that drew out Proud Boys was heavily outnumbered, and in Colorado Springs, antifascists squared off against neo-Nazis and Proud Boys, who showed up to protest a Drag Show. Lastly in Minneapolis, people handed out flyers following the end of the ban on antifascist symbols on banners and flags, seeking to expand the dialog created by the ban.

Lastly, members of the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement (RAM) dropped a banner in solidarity with the growing insurrection in West Papua and in Oaxaca, the newly formed “National Guard,” has now been used to invade an indigenous community one day after it had declared autonomy from the Mexican State – a clear sign of where this new police force is heading, and at the direction of the Trump administration.

 

Upcoming Events:

  • September 23rd – October 4th: L’eau Est La Vie Camp West Coast Tour. More info.
  • October 4th: Benefit event for Miguel Peralta. San Francisco, CA. More info.
  • October 6th: IWW Organizer Training. Olympia, WA. More info.
  • October 6th: #AntifascistDaysofUnity Picnic in Austin. More info.
  • October 12: Close Heartland Concentration Camps. Chicago, IL. More info.
  • October 12 – 14th: Tiny House Warriors Indigenous Resistance Gathering. More Info.
  • October 18th: FANG Collective Presentation on anti-ICE organizing. New Bedford, MA. More info.
  • October 19th – October 27th: Mutual Aid Disaster Relief East Coast Tour. More info.
  • November 9th: Boston Anarchist Bookfair. More info.

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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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