There’s a nationwide call for disruption at Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20 in Washington, DC. Let’s organize to travel to DC and answer the call!
Information Security for Radicals
In the age of mass surveillance, how can radicals and dissidents organize effectively? How can we keep ourselves and each other safe from spying, and prevent our efforts from being weakened by electronic disruption?
Street Tactics & Know Your Rights Trainings
We are hosting two Resistance School trainings back-to-back. Come for either or both! Trainings are free and open to everyone except law enforcement. Click for more information
#DisruptJ20: Call for a bold mobilization against the inauguration of Donald Trump
via crimethinc:
On Friday, January 20, 2017, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as President of the United States. We call on all people of good conscience to join in disrupting the ceremonies. If Trump is to be inaugurated at all, let it happen behind closed doors, showing the true face of the security state Trump will preside over. It must be made clear to the whole world that the vast majority of people in the United States do not support his presidency or consent to his rule.
Trump stands for tyranny, greed, and misogyny. He is the champion of neo-nazis and white Nationalists, of the police who kill the Black, Brown and poor on a daily basis, of racist border agents and sadistic prison guards, of the FBI and NSA who tap your phone and read your email. He is the harbinger of even more climate catastrophe, deportation, discrimination, and endless war. He continues to deny the existence of climate change, in spite of all the evidence, putting the future of the whole human race at stake. The KKK, Vladimir Putin, Golden Dawn, and the Islamic State all cheered his victory. If we let his inauguration go unchallenged, we are opening the door to the future they envision.
Trump’s success confirms the bankruptcy of representative democracy. Rather than using the democratic process as an alibi for inaction, we must show that no election could legitimize his agenda. Neither the Democrats nor any other political party or politician will save us—they just offer a weaker version of the same thing. If there is going to be positive change in this society, we have to make it ourselves, together, through direct action.
From day one, the Trump presidency will be a disaster. #DisruptJ20 will be the start of the resistance. We must take to the streets and protest, blockade, disrupt, intervene, sit in, walk out, rise up, and make more noise and good trouble than the establishment can bear. The parade must be stopped. We must delegitimize Trump and all he represents. It’s time to defend ourselves, our loved ones, and the world that sustains us as if our lives depend on it—because they do.
In Washington, DC
DC will not be hospitable to the Trump administration. Every corporation must openly declare whether they side with him or with the people who will suffer at his hands. Thousands will converge and demonstrate resistance to the Trump regime. Save the date. A website will appear shortly with more details. #DisruptJ20
Around the US
If you can’t make it to Washington, DC on January 20, take to the streets wherever you are. We call on our comrades to organize demonstrations and other actions for the night of January 20. There is also a call for a general strike to take place. Organize a walkout at your school now. Workers: call out sick and take the day off. No work, no school, no shopping, no housework. #DisruptJ20
Around the World
If you are living outside the US, you can take action at US embassies, borders, or other symbols of neocolonial power. Our allegiance is not to “making America great again,” but to all of humanity and the planet. #DisruptJ20
Spread the word. Join the fight. #DisruptJ20
Signed,
Agency
CrimethInc. Workers’ Collective
It’s Going Down
subMedia
New York Anarchist Action
The Base
NYC Anarchist Black Cross
Pittsburgh Autonomous Student Network
Pittsburgh Student Solidarity Coalition
NightShade Pittsburgh
Pitt Against Debt
Pitt Students for a Democratic Society
Steel City (A) Team
UNControllables
Antifa Seven Hills
WNC Antifa
Asheville Anti-Racism
Black Rose Book Distro St. Louis
Resonance: An anarchist audio distro
If you endorse this call, sign your name at the bottom of this list and circulate it. Email disruptj20@riseup.net to be included in the above list.
The free store needs a new fridge
The fridge on our porch is slowly dying, and it’s getting to the point where it can’t keep produce fresh for very long. Especially in the summer, the community depends on that fridge to circulate fresh stuff like veggies, milk, yogurt, and prepared food. Without it, otherwise good food rots in the heat.
Do you know where we could get a working fridge, or want to help us get one? Please get in touch. We can pick up!
The free store is looking good
For those who don’t know, our screened-in porch serves as a free store for the community. It’s a great way for us to share food and clothes with people who need them. But it’s more than a charity project, it’s an anti-capitalist model for circulating resources. Anyone can take things from the free store, and anyone can contribute too.
So often, I step out into the porch and I’m surprised to find it filled with cool new stuff. Or I’ll find it cleaned and organized by someone who stopped by to pick up some vegetables.
It’s great to see folks sharing resources this way. Beyond helping people survive day-to-day, participating in the free store reminds us that we can survive without capitalism.
If you want to check out the free store or have anything to contribute, feel free to come by any time – the store is always open!
City backs down on their criminal case against political artwork
Earlier this year, APD tried to make us remove the political slogans we had painted all over our house. No law exists which prohibits us from painting what we want on our house, but because our messages include things like “Power to the People”, “#justice4jamar” and “No Cops”, the police wanted to make an example of us.
But after multiple court appearances and considerable legal expenses, the city has finally admitted that they have no case. All charges have been dropped.
The city’s failed effort to bully us is not just an attack on our freedom of expression. It’s also part of a coordinated effort to “clean up” Edgewood and continue the process of moving poor black people out to make room for luxury homes and condos. So while this case represents a victory, there is a larger fight against gentrification and development in the neighborhood that isn’t over.
We plan to bring a lawsuit against APD. More updates to come!
CL longread on gentrification in Edgewood
We got a quote in this deeply researched investigation of gentrification in our neighborhood – particularly the Edgewood Court Apartment complex, which is hated by developers and yuppies for being some of the only affordable housing in the area.
Other neighbors of Edgewood Court such as Marlon Kautz — one of the more divisive figures in Edgewood due to his affiliation with Copwatch of East Atlanta, an organization that monitors local police activity to prevent mistreatment within the community — are appalled by the thinking of some Arizona Lofts residents.
“The character of this neighborhood is very much defined by the people who have been here for a long time, and I think Edgewood Court is part of that,” Kautz says. “I think the perception of a lot of people moving into this neighborhood is that Edgewood Court is out of place. It’s this weird little enclave of poor black people in a neighborhood that is otherwise kind of ‘upscale and friendly.’ And that’s not my experience at all. My experience is that that is the neighborhood. That’s the neighborhood that I moved into, a mostly working-class black neighborhood.”
Video: homophobic, aggressive behavior by Wendy’s employee goes unaddressed by management and Corporate
A Wendy’s employee harassed, shoved, and sprayed Windex on a customer while making homophobic comments–and the manager backed him up. Cai, the customer who filmed this, complained to the management of the store and was rebuffed, and later to the Wendy’s corporate office and was ignored. The employee has not faced any consequences for his inappropriate behavior and comments.
Racist, homophobic harassment of Wendy’s customer goes unaddressed
A Wendy’s employee verbally harassed, shoved, and sprayed Windex on a customer because he’s Black and the employee thought he was homeless and gay–and the manager backed him up.
Cai, a longtime Atlanta resident says:
Around 11:25AM on 2-28-16, while visiting a Wendy’s franchise, I was discriminated against and threatened with physical assault by one of your employees. I was not able to receive a name from this employee because he was not wearing a name tag and refused to tell me when asked. For the purposes of documentation I will continue to refer to this employee as Bully. The experience is documented as follows.
I entered the Wendys (#1496) located on 1025 Ralph David Abernathy SW Atlanta, GA 30310 and sat near the back of the store to read a book and finish a manuscript I had been writing before ordering food. During this time I was targeted by Bully. Bully began his verbal assault by comparing me with another employee named Willie. Claiming that we were twins based on the color of our skin and style of our hair. I ignored his remarks and continued reading.
The employee then became increasingly aggressive with his verbal assault moving closer to me and spraying me with window cleaning solution while washing the windows. At this point I decided to defend myself and asked him if I was in his way and to please refrain from spraying me with cleaning solution. Bully stopped spraying me with solution but continued to verbally abuse me. I once again tried to defend myself by requesting he stop but he continued, saying that I was gay and homeless.
After this barrage I took out my phone to record him. The situation became tense when I asked him his name (so I could file a complaint) but he refused. When I asked the manager on duty for information she also refused, denied me service when i tried ordering food, and told me to leave the store because i recorded Bully for bullying me. At this time Bully put his hands on me without my consent and pushed me against a wall trying to guide me to the exit without my belongings.
I protested but proceeded to gather my things (forgot my white cell phone charger). Bully claimed I wasnt moving fast enough and called in my aforementioned twin Willie to back him up in his intimidation process. To Willie’s credit he seemed unwilling to be a part of the whole ordeal. I left the store but stayed to look around the property for information that the manager was unwilling to give me (store #, address, phone number) to properly document my case to which police officer K. Smith (#6262) arrived on duty.
After hearing my situation, officer K. Smith guided me back into the store and helped me receive the information I needed but he was unable to make the employees identify themselves. At this point I thanked officer Smith for his service and left the store.