Saturday, July 2, 2022

This Is America #169: Discussion on SCOTUS Ruling on Abortion as the Streets Explode

Welcome, to This Is America, June 30th, 2022.

On this episode, we speak with anarchist youtuber and podcaster, Andrew, about anarchist media, climate change, and much more. Support them on Patreon here!

We then switch to our discussion, were we are joined by Lee, an anarchist writer and theorist at Butch Anarchy, as we discuss the recent Supreme Court decision, ongoing protests, and their meaning. Support Lee on Patreon here!

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

Living and Fighting

Oakland School Remains Occupied Against Closure

Last Friday, East Oakland community members marked the one month anniversary of an occupation of the Parker Elementary school in the Bay Area of California. Parker is one of several schools that the Oakland Unified School district has recently targeted for closure. Parents and students have been protesting the wave of attacks on public education, angry that school closures will hit working-class communities of color the hardest, forcing student to travel farther, often through unsafe environments, just to go to school. Over the past month, a collection of students, staff, and community members have occupied the campus, creating a radical summer school program complete with food, classes and a wide range of activities. Despite ongoing angry protests at budget meetings, the Oakland Unified School district has remained firm in its commitment to close the school, but community members remain committed to continuing the resistance.

Defend the Atlanta Forest

The fight to defend the Atlanta forest continues. Currently, there is a speaking tour happening across the West Coast and the East Coast, with more speaking events being organized all the time. Meanwhile in Atlanta, a wide variety of actions continue in defense of the forest – from weekly community gatherings were local residents drop off supplies to tree-sitters, to the canvassing of local neighborhoods, direct physical disruption of construction in the forest, and a continuing chorus of direct action against the project.

On June 2nd in Columbus, Ohio, an office belong to Atlas, one of the construction firms involved in the Cop City project was smashed up. On June 5th, a new road blockade went up, complete with old cars, blocking a path for police to enter the forest. The day after, Defend the Forest activists visited the church of Michael Keller, leaving flyers on cars during a service, demanding that Brasfield & Gorrie (where Keller works), the project’s general contractor, drop out of the Cop City project. Then on June 7th, a communique was posted that stated: “The Earth destroying machine that entered the forest yesterday, along with a few others, has been torched.’

On June 8th, a noise demo and protest was organized outside of the New York City office of Atlas, calling on them to drop the Cop City project. On June 10th, windows at an Atlas office in Tallahassee, Florida were busted out. Then on June 12th, “every window and door of the Atlas construction office in Kansas City area [was smashed] in solidarity with the Atlanta forest defense.” Also, more tree-sits have been erected in the forest, which are actively blocking construction, and there has been a new wave of tree spikings. Lastly on June 30th, protesters took to the streets of Charlotte, NC and protested outside of the offices of Brasfield & Gorrie.

With a call for a week of action from July 23rd to the 30th, resistance, and support for it, shows no signs of slowing down.

The Fight for Reproductive Freedom

Hundreds of thousands have hit the streets in the last few days, following the overturning of Roe v Wade, a decision which has triggered many states to ban and criminalize abortion for millions of people. For a look at protest action directly following the ruling, check out our roundup here. Since last week, thousands more have continued to protest and face police repression. In so-called Sioux Falls, South Dakota, riot police arrested several protesters for shutting down a street as over a thousand marched against abortion becoming illegal in the state without exception and doctors now facing felonies for performing the operation. In Boise, Idaho and Dallas, Texas, clashes broke out between protesters and in New York City, people disrupted a Federalist Society event for funneling dark money into anti-choice, reactionary causes and politicians.

Direct actions in the struggle for bodily autonomy continued. On June 9th, according to a post on Puget Sound Anarchists:

Anonymous vandals in Vancouver, Washington defaced Options 360, an anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center, late June 8th or early June 9th. They splashed red paint on the building and wrote “Jane’s Revenge” in spraypaint. This follows on the heels of similar attacks in Lynnwood, Washington, and Olympia, Washington in the last month.

On June 12th, a communique posted to Philly Anti-Capitalist read:

We smashed out all of the windows of the “Hope” pregnancy center on Broad st. We are tired of your “family values” and you forcing families, and your values onto our bodies. This fake clinic spread lies and is part of a broader attempt to strip away body autonomy from hundreds of women and people. We are inspired by the actions of comrades in Wisconsin, Colorado, New York, and a growing list of places.

On June 16th:

“Minnesota Citizens Concerned For Life” (sic) or MCCL is the largest anti-abortion organization in so-called Minnesota and responsible for untold amounts of suffering as a result of their anti-science propaganda campaigns, ghoulish legislative attempts at social control and support for hateful bigoted politicians. So, in a small gesture of defiance and joy, we decided to smash all their windows and leave them a message from our friend Jane.

Their offices and infrastructure deserve the same fate if not worse than that of the dozens of fake pregnancy clinics in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area that carry out the vision of MCCL toward a hellscape in which pumping out the “domestic supply of infants” is the only thing people with a uterus are good for. Fuck them – the time of us reluctantly permitting their hatred for actual living people is over. We should’ve done more.

Just because the task at hand is an urgent one, does not mean it cannot be met with glee. If we are continuously repressed, murdered, left to starve or to the hands of right-wing militias, there’s no reason why we can’t dance while we destroy. Turn our scream into a song and laugh in the face of an empire as it burns.

And then on the 21st, a post on Abolition Media took responsibility for an action in Detroit. According to the post:

…[A] gang of criminal queers smashed the windows of two fake abortion clinics in the greater Detroit area leaving the messages “if abortion isn’t safe, neither are you” and “fake clinic.”

On June 24th in Glendale, California – night of the Supreme Court decision:

We decided to attack a crisis pregnancy center in Glendale, California with spray paint. The phrases written were “Jane was here”, “abort the court” , and “If abortions aren’t safe neither are you”.  All across the country people protested and revolted against this attack on bodily autonomy.

As we predicted almost a month ago, the United States Supreme Court stripped millions of people of bodily autonomy and access to abortion. This is only the beginning of the attacks on autonomy in store from the courts and fascists. Up next on the chopping block is access to contraception, the legality of everyday queer life, and gay marriage. But this is part of a broader pattern of fascism within the United States.

The same night, an anti-abortion center was set on fire and covered in graffiti messages in Colorado, windows were busted out at a similar center in Vermont, while other acts of targeted vandalism took place in Everett, Washington, Portland, Oregon, Winter Haven, Florida, and in Lynchburg, Virginia. From the Lynchburg communique:

Lynchburg is a hotbed of Christian fascism, home to the Neo-Nazi Wolves of Vinland group and Jerry Falwell’s “Liberty” university. We smashed out their windows, and vandalized their building with slogans and imagery ranging from coat hangers to “vote blue lol.” The ground in front of their now smashed front door reads “if abortion ain’t safe you ain’t safe.”

A new communique from Jane’s Revenge, an underground group which has claimed responsibility for direct actions across the US in the struggle for reproductive freedom and autonomy, has also been released. Here’s a snip-it:

The infrastructure of the enslavers will not survive. We will never stop, back down, slow down, or retreat. We did not want this; but it is upon us, and so we must deal with it proportionally. We exist in confluence and solidarity with all others in the struggle for complete liberation. Our recourse now is to defend ourselves and to build robust, caring communities of mutual aid, so that we may heal ourselves without the need of the medical industry or any other intermediary. Through attacking, we find joy, courage, and strip the veneer of impenetrability held by these violent institutions.

And for the allies of ours who doubt the authenticity of the communiqués and actions: there is a way you can get irrefutable proof that these actions are real. Go do one of your own. You are already one of us. Everyone with the urge to paint, to burn, to cut, to jam: now is the time. Go forth and manifest the things you wish to see. Stay safe, and practice your cursive.

—Jane’s Revenge

Day of Solidarity With Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners

On June 11th, people came together to hold events, write letters, and show solidarity with long-term anarchist prisoners. In Philadelphia, people held a BBQ and wrote letters, in Portland, people held an event in a park and wrote letters, in Minneapolis, people held an event outside, and in Cincinnati, people help a fundraiser in solidarity with Marius Mason.

Upcoming Events

  • June 20th – July 6th: Stop Cop City West Coast Tour! More info updated here.
  • June 30th – July 3rd: Stop Cop City East Coast Tour. NYC, Philadelphia, Richmond and Durham, NC.
  • July 23rd – 30th: Week of Action to Defend the Atlanta Forest. More info here.
  • July 29th – 30th: At Dual Power 2022 we want to foster an atmosphere of generative co-learning and co-creativity. We want to connect people and bring them together around shared work. We want to create a space where ideas are exchanged, stories are told, and futures are imagined, in the context of building and maintaining dual power. More info here.
  • August 4th-9th: Earth First! Summer Gathering. North Coast California. More info here.
  • August 6th-7th: Montreal Anarchist Bookfair. More info here.
  • August 13–21st: This August will mark the fourth Institute for Advanced Troublemaking’s (IAT) Anarchist Summer School — eight days of popular education, blending theory and practice, for adults of all ages. Apply by April 22: tinyurl.com/IATapplication
  • August 20th: Rock Against Racism Mutual Aid Benefit Show, Reno, NV. More info here.
  • September 10th and 11th: New York City Anarchist Bookfair. La Plaza Community Garden (10th) and virtually (11th). More info here.
  • September 18th: Pushing Down the Walls, Southern California. Benefit for political prisoners. More info here.
  • October 15th: Radical Atlanta Bookfair. More info here.

It’s Going Down

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