I found out about the site like last week, bookmarked it to return to because I'm interested in getting my own printing going and now no matter what I can't connect to the site. Anyone have some insight into what's up?

https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/bushnell-gaza-immolation-protest-trans-identity

Are there any places in the world today similar to the former Spanish International Brigades, where anarchists from other countries join as volunteers? I tried looking into Rojava but couldn't find any contact information. Comrades, do you know anything? If possible, please DM me. I am an anarchist from mainland China

As refreshing as it’s been to witness a conscientious surge, be mindful of how you let one another define class war. There’s been an abundance of those who are newly radicalized, ready to become revolutionaries. Rightfully so, outrage has the masses standing on business. Those who’ve been rooted should feel a responsibility to guide. Yes, there will be waves of people on the frontlines, but does it prove efficient that be your “station”?

I don’t mean for the above to sound condescending. Instead, a genuine plea that if you feel involved, please consider your stance. We’ve long fought the rise of this becoming; many groups formed in unison. Yet, they still inflate themselves with non-existing power, desecrating all voices unaligned, whether it be as a whisper or a gaggle. The organizing took place when your core values either aligned with or urged against this chauvinistic bullshit. Throughout the era’s, the fight has taken place. Strategizing is the only way we’ll overcome this.

It’s as though we’ve become so desensitized to headlines bold with “unprecedented” that we’re now ready to die for change. Don’t allow “martyr” to become hot press. Regardless of what radicalized you, do not effortlessly let radicalization become the end of you. That fight you felt is survival for all. How quickly we’ll be eradicated, charging forward prepared to die if needed. No, prepare to stand your ground at all costs. Those costs being any means to protect and persevere. Ironically, we are the heritage foundation. We are in need of protecting history, arts, architecture, science, theologies, and literature. Enforcing the removal of false narratives and the rhetoric whitewashing of it all. Return culture and protect those indigenous to the practices. Understand economics and political science but refuse contributions of that knowledge to the undeserving. Make an example of how infrastructure does not equate to industrialism nor capitalism. Prove that this is all possible while prioritizing humanity.

The ideal objective is to dismantle and discard crony capitalism, kleptocracy, patriarchs, oligarchs, fascism, elitism, misogyny, racism, police state - I mean fuck, for a crew to complain that LGTBQ was too long, they’ve sure pulled their fair share of the alphabet. To go against such will be tedious. An argument could be made from my “abolish all government” babes. Ashes too can be viewed as tiny little fragments remaining of a system now applied to the future as nothing more than a goddamn example. Just remember to go after the throats of the oppressors, not the oppressed, and be wise enough to know the difference. Still a complete cog in the system seeking fair justice and liberty for all with perhaps a sprinkle of order? You’ll need to be careful with the disassembling as you’re looking to reconstruct. All sides should remain open to the idea of direct democracy on some scale.

This thought became urgent to share when topics regarding 2/5 protests became large-scale. Some of the more linear thought processes I’ve witnessed debate whether it is a trap or not. The argument being that it doesn’t matter; solidarity is key. I completely agree that solidarity is key and should be the fundamental. You can protest in solidarity many ways. Before you stand in front of your capital, Buildings ask who is defenseless and vulnerable in the neighborhood over. Did we take advice on protecting ourselves from a surveillance state while accidentally whistleblowing an ally? Did we become irrational from fear? Yes, the masses need to be in the streets standing up for what’s right, but how many of us need to be in front of a building full of government officials that have done absolutely nothing aside from proving they can’t read your signs nor hear your words? To most of them, you’re fanatical. Take your march to the border, to neighborhoods of culture and diversity, to domestic violence shelters where they are already being attacked. Stay true to your pacifist nature if needed by supporting local communities. Read books to the children scared, bring groceries to the families hiding, be ready to stand for them while strengthening them. Embrace spatial awareness and you’d be shocked at the many ways you fight. I fear while we are so focused on what will come of Wednesday, they will be going after our most vulnerable. What a waste it would be, to finally have opened your eyes to the reality, only to succumb to its wrath.

What you are reading, watching, or listening to? Or how far have you gotten in your chosen selection since last week?

Even though I truly believe in this cause there is something that deeply disturbs me when showing up to an organisation or event and people are just there nodding their heads in agreement. I feel like I am missing something and even if I agree with what they are saying I feel myself being repulsed by the whole system.

I feel like there needs to be some room for open discussions and thoughts and ideas to come through rather than one spewing their beliefs.

Is there anyone else that has gotten these vibes and worked through them? Should I be trying to quiet this voice? I'm just so confused by it all.

With the tension rising in... pretty much anywhere, and having seen some threads in here about protests, I thought we could do a little thread about safety tips for protests. I'll start by contributing what I know and what I lived, and everyone can add stuff from their own experiences. Maybe we'll disagree on some points, but it's all for giving advices to people to make sure they stay safe. (Note: Also any advices here not encouraging anyone to talk about illegal stuff online, because those advices are about *safety* and talking about illegal stuff online definitely isn't safe.)

I'm not the guy with the most experience doing radical stuff during protest. But I'll still share what I have. It's mostly about "What to do if you don't want to get arrested", and mostly rely on being able to avoid getting stuck in complicated situations in the first place.

1:
In 2012 (student strike in Québec), I was arrested not following a protest, but 3 months after it, because our local police had nothing else to do (Small rural city), and they wanted to file who were among the students of that specific protest in which we had blocked an exit from a public park after the prime minister came there. I wasn't even among the most radical people there at the time. I was just standing next to them, and cops happened to take my picture. It's part of what radicalized me, really. I had only stopped a guy from falling because he had been shoved by the police, and I myself tried to avoid contact with police as much as possible.

>So yeah, avoid getting close to the police because even if they don't touch you, even if you're not doing anything specifically illegal, they can find ways to arrest you if they want. Be aware of any officer further back who might be filming or taking pictures. If you spot them, (and don't want to be arrested), move away from the hot spots

2:

In 2015, I went to a protest in Montreal. It was taking place just after the anarchist bookfair, and was part of the wave of student protest against austerity measures. I was at the anarchist bookstore, and saw around 50 people marching so I just joined them. I had shirts in my bag, and ski goggles, just in case.
They went to up to a street, I don't remember which, I don't know Montreal enough. It was a pedestrian street for the summer, but the cops suddenly drove in with minivans, just a bit faster than the retreating protesters were running. When the protesters where moving to the sides, the minivan stopped. Cops in riot gear got out of the minivans and grabbed the students that just got out of the vans' path. I had already moved to the sides as soon as the vans had showed up. There were not enough people to go and take them back.

> Don't stay in the streets if the protest can't hold it anymore (When you don't have the critical mass anymore). Move to the sides and keep your distance. You can only hold a spot against the police if there are many, many more of you than there are of them, and you still need good protective equipment to do so, and it won't last forever.

3:

A bit later, during the same protest, I followed a group of Cégep students to the front of their college. Someone came and said that many of their friends were stuck in a kettle and they wanted to do something about it. I didn't want my picture taken again, so I used the shirts and ski google to become part of the black-bloc.

But while I was following the group, we came to an intersection. The street to the left was flanked by cops. So I stayed on the right side of the group. Seeing that all the people I was with were turning left between two rows of cops, I tried to say something, but quickly just left the protest and hid behind some brick pillar in front of a commerce entrance. When looking at the street, the cops had wheeled behind the small group I was with. They were now being kettled. I turned around the city block a while, found another protester that had been separated. We left the spot, and I had them check out while I was finding an isolated spot to remove my black shirts and goggles.

Under my t-shirt, I had a white, XVIIIth century style shirt and coat whose sleeves I had rolled up under the t-shirt. The person I was with told be: "You don't look like a protester". That was the point.

>Learn to recognize the signs of a kettle. Have disposable clothes if you want to conceal your identity. Avoid profiling by not looking like someone who would go to protests (I know that last one is entirely dependant on privilege, but do your best)

4:

A few months earlier, we had taken part in a protest in winter in my rural homecity. I had a big red and black flag. I was masked, but my clothes were very noticeable. Me and my friend of the time did the protest, nothing illegal, but we still slowed traffic which is such a crime in the eyes of rural people... Coming back from the protest, we waited at our University. After a little while, we left, passed through a little wood to my appartment, but in the street of my appartment, we got stopped by police who questionned us, illegally asked us for our names and adress saying that IF we didn't comply we would be arrested. Of course they wanted our names so they would have files on the local protestors because we're a small city and there are not a lot of us out there.

>This is the counter-example to the last trick. A mask won't save you if your clothes are still recognizable and if you don't throw away your disguise in a spot that won't be seen. Also, scout ahead, even - or should I say - ESPECIALLY after the protest. Protests ends, but there are cops working around the clock and if they want to harass protestors, they can just wait for the protest to end and target people when they go back home, isolated and vulnerable.

5:
In 2017, there were protests organized by racist group "La Meute" (wolf-pack) in Québec city. A bunch of reactionnary protesting against immigration. It was around the end of november, IIRC. There was a counter-protest organized by different leftwing organizations at the same time.
I went there with a few friends from my small city, a 2 hour car ride away.

I was dressed with a good looking coat, something someone "professional" would wear. I walked here and there to try and scout things a bit. I went all the way up to the rightwing protest, and then came back down to our counter-protest. When I arrived, there was already a police line pushing on counter-protestors, many of which had white traces of maalox in their face to treat the pepper spray. I was behind the police line, they were on my right. I walked up to the foot of the Québec wall near the parliament.

I turned right in the little park that was empty and went back toward the parliament and the counter-protestors. A bit further back, a new police line was forming, flanking the more peaceful parts of the protest.
I feigned innocence and asked the police to pass. They allowed me to do so.
I went back into the protest and warned people that a kettle was forming up. Many more liberal counter-protestors told me that it wouldn't happen there.
I found the people I came to Québec with, and told them it was time to leave.

The kettle was forming up. Near the parliament, there is a medieval-like wall in Québec, with a big door for the cars to pass through, and smaller doors on the sidewalks. A policeman with a dog was standing there. We were far enough from the rest of the protest that we didn't look like part of it.
A policeman on the wall told another one that we could go through. The one with the dog said we couldn't. So I told him: "Sorry sir, but your colleague on the wall told us to go. Can we know which one we must listen to first?" He told us "Okay you can go".
We went and reunited with other people of our region in a small cafe, waited an hour and then left Québec city.

We learned later that a few of our friends from Montreal, and one of our guy from our city, were arrested a bit further away, they were still forming a black bloc.

>Once again, if you don't have the critical mass, leave. If you see cops forming new lines on the sides of a protest, leave. Be able to become unnoticeable. Blend yourself in the crowd of ordinary people just walking by. People will say to stay in group.
This is only good when standing your ground, and this can only be done if you're in numerical superiority.
Sooner or later, the protest will scatter and cops will start targeting those smaller groups going home. Or the protest will just be kettled.

You need to know when it's starting to happen to be able to scatter and leave just before that. I'd even recommend people who decide to organize protests to adopt a "guerilla" style of protests: Do the protests with ordinary-looking people scouting ahead. At the first sign of cops, signal, scatter, and reconvene at another point.

All I’ve seen are statements about how this is a trap, but if people are showing up, shouldn’t we be as well? If we refuse, who fills the gap? What happens when the auth-comms show up instead? You can say it doesn’t matter, but history says otherwise. Occupy started as an anarchist movement and still got stolen. Why? Because anarchists were there first but didn’t hold the ground.

If anarchists aren’t showing up, who are we leaving this to? The same tankie organizers who will happily co-opt any movement that lacks a strong anti-state presence? The reformists who will pacify it into a series of symbolic gestures before declaring victory and going home? The state itself, which will push its own narrative in the absence of strong resistance?

I don’t buy the argument that this is some perfect “trap” that can only result in failure. Of course the state responds to uprisings with repression—that’s how it works. But if people are out in the streets, being radicalized by the violence of the system, that’s precisely where anarchists should be. If we’re not, then others will shape the narrative. We’ve seen it happen before.

So where is the strategy? Why aren’t we salting this?

Salting – when union organizers get jobs at non-union workplaces to organize from within. It works for labor, so why aren’t we doing it for protest movements? Instead of armchair commentary, why aren’t anarchists embedding themselves in these spaces to help push things further, keep them from getting co-opted, and actually make use of the energy that’s already there?

If I’m wrong, let’s talk about it. I don’t mind being challenged—I’m on edge, maybe not thinking clearly, but I don’t feel hazy. Just frustrated.

Thanks for your time.

—Kelby

Edit: the protests have been defined as “rejecting project 2025” which includes a host of shitty things, I suggest you read up on it if you don’t already know what it is.

ICE recently showed up at my workplace asking about one of my coworkers. The floor manager said "I'm not sure if he's here today, I'll go check" to buy time then went and warned the coworker ICE was here for him, told him to hide and said he'd go tell the agents he wasn't there. But the coworker insisted on going to talk to them. I don't know why he thought talking to them was a good idea, likely thought it was a simple misunderstanding since he's here on a work visa, but our manager couldn't talk him out of it.

They dragged him out in handcuffs.

This happened 8 days ago. His lawyer has been in contact with our general manager since then but we really have no information on his situation beyond which detention center they're holding him in.

This never should've fucking happened. I'm pretty sure they didn't even have a warrant so while I understand my floor manager was well-intentioned and was trying to cover for my coworker, he really should've just immediately told them to fuck off.

I figured it'd be a good idea to put up some know your rights posters, specifically that are aimed at knowing your rights in the workplace and how to protect your coworkers when ICE shows up. Most of the KYR posters I've found online are focused on knowing your rights at home / on the street. Any links to good KYR posters are appreciated! I'm looking for English and Spanish versions. Also I might just make my own so recommendations on what info to include also helps! For context, I work at a restaurant in Massachusetts.

TL;DR ICE arrested my coworker last week with no warrant after he agreed to talk with them. I'm looking for KYR in the workplace posters that I can put up to help prevent this from happening again.

I was wondering what ways could really get back at the top 1%, whithout causing much harm to those involved. I think its easy to call for mass General strikes, but that takes a lot of planning and people would experience real harm by being out of work for what would likely need to be a multiple week strike.

My proposal is this. Any left leaning person who has a mortgage should simply stop paying it.

That's the elevator pitch, but more realistically the sudden loss of thousands of mortgage payments would cripple these banks. And its something that can be sustained for multiple months by the witholder. Month 1, you save $X amount of dollars. By month 2, they'll start making calls etc... Now you have $2x cash in your savings. MAYBE by month 3 they'll start making motions like they'll go to court. Maybe send a demand letter, it will be different in each state. But All in all, across each of the states, you'll likely have 3-6 months of being able to save up your mortgage payment, before they even get the courts involved.

Now here we are at month 6, this has become a movement (1000 people per state could be enough, but obviously more is better), banks are really feeling the pain of not having the cash, and now you all are sitting on 6 months of mortgage that you can keep as cash, (or likely will use it to help with any varrying emergencies that will spring up in the next few months of the Regime). They start moving to foreclose on these homes. Depending on your state, you could be looking at an additional 6 months to upto and beyone 24 months. Especially since we'll now be clogging the already strained court system with all of these foreclosure cases. (Most firms handling foreclosure have lowered staffing levels since the 2008-2012 US mortgage crisis, it would likely take them 1-2 years to fire back up to 2010 levels to now match the demand to even file the cases).

So, they blink. Then hey, no harm no foul, you've got the 6 months in the bank you can just bring everything current and we've had our demands met. If they don't, then as you can see, likely anyone who is fortunate to be in this situation would likely have 1-2 years to be able to weather this storm so it would likely be the Banks that crumble first. Only took about 2 weeks of witheld labor during the pandemic to realize that could make them cow.

Willing to workshop, but I think this could be an avenue to put pressure on the top from the middle.

This is something I've been mulling over since the 2024 US Election. For years, the far-right has been backed by massive think-tanks like Prager University and the Daily Wire, spewing propaganda and fear that has shaped the narratives of the political right, often putting trans people square in the crosshairs alongside "Illegals" as an easy outgroup to represent the "degeneration" of society.

The Right has formed a cult of personality around Trump, swallowing wholesale the red scare propaganda over the "Communist" Democrats, all while the Democrats gleefully skip behind them, trying to imitate them and pleasing absolutely no one. I only advocate for participating in Capitalist Democracy to keep the worst reactionaries out of power, as it's foolish to think the Democrats will stand up for anyone but the Capitalist class.

But as we've seen, when the Democrats fail to commit to standing up for human rights, giving wishy-washy none-answers like "I'll follow the law", people stay home. And when people stay home, the MAGA cult flocks out in droves to make their idolatrine the law of the land, further erasing human rights and enforcing Christian Nationalist brand Fascism.

This brings me to my point about Anarchism. The simple truth of the matter is that we need more propaganda, more art, more literature, to drag this world kicking and screaming toward a better future. Already, mega entertainment corps like Disney are erasing overt trans representation in media to please their bigoted shareholders, walking back on the bare minimum token representation they already had.

We cannot let the far-right control the conversation any more than they already have. We've seen what happens when our so-called leaders refuse to offer any sufficient counter to these narratives, stuck in an endless loop of we go low, you go high. We are watching in real time as the right uses culture war narratives to justify human rights atrocities, and since the Democrats are too preocupied with "Playing by the rules" (no matter how much the other side stacks the deck), we need to cut through the bullshit with our own propaganda, in conjunction with direct community-based action, to protect the lives of LGBTQ+ people and other targeted minorities.

Every piece of art we make helps to further cement our place in culture, even when the state tries to censor us. Society is nothing without the individual actions of people collectively working to protect the persecuted. So even if all you can do is pick up a pencil or type in a word document, we need you to do it, and we need to bolster those who do just as much as those directly acting to protect the most vulnerable amongst us.

Ticking a box once every four years won't save us. It's not useless, but it's just one small part of a much grander effort to fight back against the far-right's culture war. Make your voice loud and clear to rise above the loud bigots: If you are threatened by Fasicsts, you are safe with us!

Hey comrades,

I'm excited to share Running Against the Wind (風に抗う!), a documentary that dives into Ishigaki Island's fight against state exploitation and control.

-- What's the Story? --

Ishigaki might look like a tourist paradise, but it's been through a lot—from Japan's annexation in 1879 to new military bases popping up today. The locals have been pushing back against these intrusions for years. The film follows Setsuko Yamazato, who's been at the forefront, defending her community's culture and environment.

For context, here is a video showing her protest and fight against the imposed opening of a military base in Ishigaki.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqx-OU51bj8

Our work will focus on archiving her knowledge, both empirical and spiritual, and her deep link with the island, dating from her time running around the jungle in the refugee camp where she was displaced as a child.

Here is the work-in-progress trailer. (for the crowdfunding)

https://youtu.be/SZpcKNBQr44

If you ever considered supporting the project, or spreading the word, here is the crowdfunding link. All help means so much to us -- empowering her message to be spread.

https://motion-gallery.net/projects/runagainstthewind

(It's both in Japanese and English).
Cheers !

did any of you find anarchism later in life? i’m working on getting some friends on board and man is it harder than the last 20 years haha! the biggest hurdles seem to be about sacrifice and work, practicality and growth.

anyways i’m curious if you came to anarchism in your 40s or older, and what led you there.

Hello everyone let me know any upcoming protests in Los Angeles I would like to attend im just not sure where to find the dates thanks.

in any case resistance is ALWAYS necessary. get out there and… protest :)

To the effect of going into a restaurant, ordering a bunch of expensive food and bailing before it gets to the table to hurt their bottom line (dont do that to the cooks, at least half of them are probably ours), what are some similar ways to make orgs and supporting companies bleed cash from the outside? I'd love to hear specific examples too! Stuff like faxing black pages and overloading their mail with junk, that kind of thing.

We called off work for the big Day Without Immigrants protest tmrw, but I can't go to another fucking march (AFM). So I started thinking about what else I can do.

And what I'm really wishing would happen, instead of AFM, is a neighborhood assembly where we can meet each other and talk about what to do if we see ICE.

The thing is... I just moved to this neighborhood a month ago. I don't know many people. I haven't even hung out with the other three people in my building yet (though I have their numbers). That's why I'm not just like "I'm gonna go talk to X Y and Z and we'll start organizing the assembly!"

I'm just gonna start talking to people about the idea. Cuz.. so far no one else is doing it, and it clearly needs to get done. You don't have to be an anarchist to realize that.

My plan is to try to find nexus points in the neighborhood -- people who are connected to a lot of other people. Like bartenders is my first thought. Cafe and restaurant workers. Salon workers. I'm White, so I should probably prioritize anywhere with PoC workers.

I think it'll be a pretty easy sell. People are really scared, and the best way to deal with fear, I think, is to prepare (and get people to know each other!!). People want something like this, even if they don't know it yet.

Once I get a few key people on board, I think it could pick up steam really quickly.

Feel free to share feedback, constructive criticism or what you're doing instead of AFM!

Not sure what everyone else thinks, but Donald Trump and that other rich clown are going to end the fucking world. What can only come from that duo is complete chaos. We are moving backwards by supporting these two fascist wannabe Adolf Hitlers.

It’s saddening to watch the world be conned into thinking these are good people, and I personally pray for the downfall of these two, but I don’t see how it will be a good ending.

Donald trump is going to cause another civil war, and this one will be 10x more deadly than the first.

Tax season is upon us. If the government is removing all of our services, grants, federal aid, raising our taxes and tariffs, closing all government departments that actually protect our health and safety, ending the department of education and using our money to fund a military to threaten other peaceful countries, then what am I getting out of paying my taxes? What if we just collectively…..didn’t? If you’re owed money back, then by all means, get your refund, but if you owe? Or alternately, do with the billionaires do, and claim so many ridiculous exemptions that you owe $0. What would happen if this were the next protest movement?