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TOPPLE THE COLONIZERS- SOLIDARITY FOREVER

Posted on 05/07/2024 - 05/07/2024 by chicagoantireport

In celebration of May Day—International Worker’s Day—actionists defaced the McKinley monument in McKinley Park, Chicago.

William McKinley, the 25th president of the so called “United States”, was a violent colonizer who orchestrated the colonization & annexation of Hawaii in 1898, and oversaw the US takeover of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Phillippines & Cuba. McKinley, whose reign focused on expansionism, protectionism & US imperialism, was assassinated by anarchist Leon Czolgosz in 1901. Czolgosz’s final words prior to his execution by electric chair were “I killed the President because he was the enemy of the good people– the good working people. I am not sorry for my crime. I am sorry I could not see my father.”

The monument to US imperialism was covered with messages of “Topple Colonizer,” “Land Back,” “Fuck you from Hawaii, Ceasefire Now,” “Free Palestine,” “End Every Empire,” “Solidarity Forever,” “End US Imperialism” & “Leon Czolgosz we love you.” The statue from 1904 is made from the melted down bronze sculpture of Christopher Columbus—fuck McKinley, fuck Columbus, and fuck every president and settler colonial entity. We must topple and attack US occupation & violence and the monuments and institutions that glorify it. Decolonization Now, from Turtle Island to Palestine. SOLIDARITY FOREVER!

Submitted Anonymously

Taking Deals and Selling Out: NU Organizers Betray The Movement

Posted on 05/07/2024 - 05/07/2024 by chicagoantireport

In a fantastic act of cowardice, a small handful of organizers from the Northwestern Occupation/Liberated Zone negotiated an agreement with the university’s administration to take down tents and scale down the protest. Here’s what happened, why it sucks ass, and what to do now:

On April 26, a team of self-appointed leaders met with NU administration. Less than fifty hours after the protest began, this group accepted the following concessions:

– Protests becoming authorized/normalized, i.e. agreeing not to send police

– Considering establishing a MENA/Muslim center on campus

– Looking into ending contracts with Starbucks and Sabra

– Starting a Gaza exchange student program

– Holding more meetings with the board of trustees and promising student representation in overseeing the endowment

All these empty gestures and backhanded bribes for the high price of the campus movement itself. The administration’s demands were the following:

– De-escalating and visibly reducing the encampment, which at its peak drew about 2,000 people and had more than 80 tents.

– Non-students can no longer sleep over or camp.

– Establishing “quiet hours” so that the encampment is not disruptive to the university.

The strategic flaws in these proposals are obvious to anyone who cares to look. Organizers of this defanged occupation have compromised the agency and autonomy of those they invited as supporters – while happily taking credit for their labor. Students acquired and coordinated supplies thinking they would be occupying the space for as long as it took to divest from apartheid. Protesters self-organized resources like a medic tent, zine table, art station, and more. While hundreds of people worked tirelessly to support the encampment, this tiny group of organizers conspired to fight for crumbs. Obsessed with a pre-existing narrative of how the occupation should unfold, they repeatedly took down parts of the camp going so far as to physically dismantle other people’s tents without their consent. It’s clear that they weren’t basing their actions on what it would take for the university to divest. Instead, these organizers made plans to negotiate the end of the encampment before it even began. They never intended to win.

What is more unnerving still is the lack of transparency around these agreements. Organizers have repeatedly withheld critical information about their negotiations from the rest of the occupation.

While there have been many students involved in planning efforts, it seems like only a small adhoc committee ever wanted and consented to these new terms. On the other hand, voices of dissent inside and outside meetings encouraged organizers not to yield. In fact, it is hard to tell who even wants this deal at the moment since decisions have been kept mostly under wraps. The broader community often only hears requests for support. How might people have reconsidered their involvement if they knew the truth about these backroom deals? How is any of this different from the way the administration treats its students, as dollar signs, bodies to be herded with no decision-making power?

The irony of these extractive requests is twofold. First, the occupation would not have survived it’s first morning without the brave students, faculty, and community members who ignored orders to stand down in front of cops. Meanwhile, the negotiators and marshals routinely overemphasized the risk of arrest and spread unnecessary fear. For example, when police threatened citations for trespassing and unlawful assembly, marshals communicated that arrests were imminent. While it is true that bigger charges are always a risk, a citation is as serious as a parking ticket, and in mass arrest situations charges are frequently dropped.

Nevertheless, people stood their ground and formed defensive lines to resist the cops. The university police were totally unprepared for this response. They were outnumbered, surrounded and pushed back and forth. These weak-ass cop maneuvers show us that protesters could have done so much more. Instead, whenever individuals acted autonomously, the yellow-vests came in and policed their actions.

The second, most obscene, irony is that the supplies and money that have poured into the occupation could have been better spent helping families get out of Gaza or supporting efforts to give direct aid to Palestinians. It’s simply embarrassing how much attention this protest has gotten for how limited its ambitions have become.

So what can be done?

Northwestern doesn’t need new leaders or a different negotiation team. What this fight needs is action. If you’re reading this and you’re feeling disappointed, pissed-off, confused – you’re not alone. It doesn’t have to be over. There’s still time to turn this around. You came to this protest because you wanted to do something to stop the genocide in Gaza, for a free Palestine. Think about what it will take. What will make the administration recognize our collective power and tremble? How can you jeopardize their money, time, reputation or anything else they actually care about? If you’ve got an idea for something you want to do, get a crew together and do it! You can carry out any number of actions like barricading buildings, scaling roofs, interrupting meetings, chasing off cops, re-decorating campus, or showing up at the homes of administration members. Not only do you already have the numbers, when people see what you’re up to more of them will join. Just remember: keep yourself and your friends safe, cover your face and identifiable features, don’t bring your phone, don’t brag or talk about what you do. You’ve got this!

Submitted Anonymously

REPORTBACK: RAMADAN FLOOD ON THE MISSISSIPPI

Posted on 05/07/2024 - 05/07/2024 by chicagoantireport

Chicago has amplified calls from the Palestinian resistance factions for mobilization against the Zionist entity and its enablers in the month of Ramadan and to mark six months since the beginning of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. Israel cannot prosecute this war of extermination without the financial support of the United States. Nor can it maintain the pace of destruction without massive American arms transfers. In light of this we level our attack on the reserves and industrial capacity of the military-industrial complex.

A short drive west from Chicago sits the Rock Island Arsenal, headquarters of the US Army’s Joint Munitions Command. The JMC produces, tests, stores, repairs, and distributes conventional weapons, chemical weapons, vehicles, and other materiel to supply the US armed forces – and for arms sales and transfers. A militarily designated strategic rail network (STRACNET) rail line crosses the west end of the island on which the arsenal sits, connecting it to other JMC facilities and the wider strategic rail network at large. This rail bridge crosses a section of the Mississippi River that frequently floods – as such, its steel supports on the industrial southern bank have seen better days.

On the night of 4/6 we attacked this vulnerable section of track. Inspired by actions of anti-war anarchocommunist factions in Russia, we loosened and removed bolts from the tracks, installed a shunt to halt rail traffic, and applied an oxidizing compound of iron oxide, salt, and paint stripper to portions of the already pitted and rusting steel. And while they can power wash the supports and replace the bolts, the corrosion has already taken hold. It will fester even beneath new paint. Perhaps a similar seed of corrosion will take root in the minds of those who sit assured of the US empire’s invulnerability.

Although we do not know the effects of our actions, we are choosing to publish them to demonstrate how easily accessible these targets are and how relatively few and simple materials can be employed in the fight against Zionism and its imperial master. Our research on the national network of JMC facilities, strategic rail infrastructure, and replicable methods of disruption can be found here.

Much focus has been on the visible symbols of American complicity: the driveways of plants and headquarters with names on them, individual politicians, the registering of dissent through crowds in the streets. But the machine grinds away on slowly failing rail, road, and port infrastructure. We offer this to comrades within Chicago and beyond: The tanks do not drive themselves to the transport ships. The white phosphorus does not pack itself into shells. STRACNET rail junctions and routes crisscross the country, easily accessible by millions. How far do you live from a JMC facility? Attack at the death machine’s weak points. Create uncertainty about the things these murderers take for granted.

Ever vigilant,

Eleventh Hour

Submitted anonymously

Chicago Anarchist Black Cross

Posted on 04/19/2024 - 04/19/2024 by chicagoantireport

Breaking Through Borders and Prison Walls Building Bridges of Solidarity

A new Chicago Anarchist Black Cross is forming to strengthen networks of resistance and defend those facing state repression.

Having each other’s backs grows our collective capacity for revolutionary action so that we may break free from prison society. We are down with all those who fight for the abolition of all police and prisons, who refuse the logic of compromise and reform, who take bold action breaking the spell of law and order to defend the Earth and each other against all forms of oppression, domination, and exploitation.

We fight for the liberation of all imprisoned freedom fighters with the same urgency as we fight for the liberation of
everyone languishing in occupied lands and the colonizer’s cages throughout the world.

Free Them All!

May Day Anarchist Parade 2024

Posted on 04/19/2024 by chicagoantireport

Spring Anarchist Skillshare

Posted on 04/11/2024 by chicagoantireport

The Spring Anarchist Skillshare is happening April 19-21!

To see the workshop descriptions and information regarding accessibility, child care, interpretation, etc., go to the welcome packet tab!

Have any questions/comments? Reach out to us at chicago_anarchist_skillshare@riseup.net

Via the Chicago Anarchist Skillshare.

Support for Jack (updated)

Posted on 03/25/2024 by chicagoantireport

FREE PALESTINE MEANS ATTACK: Call for Autonomous Actions April 7 in Chicago, 6 Months since start of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood

Posted on 03/14/2024 by chicagoantireport

Submitted anonymously

Palestinian factions have called for worldwide action for Gaza during the month of Ramadan, dubbed Ramadan Flood. From the call: “We declare our full support for the global Ramadan Flood campaign and call on the living consciences around the world for the largest official and popular global mobilization on the national, regional, and international levels during the blessed month of Ramadan under the title “Ramadan Flood” in support of the justice of our cause and to pressure to stop and end the genocide war and to thwart the “israeli” occupation’s schemes.”

In solidarity with this call and to honor exactly 6 months since the beginning of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, this is a call for crews in Chicago to attack zionist entities and infrastructure around Chicago on April 7, 2024.

Get together with a crew — it doesn’t take many people to attack. Consider coordinating with other crews. Go somewhere unexpected, spread out city resources, hit them where it hurts, disrupt neighborhoods where people benefit from US imperial violence while insisting on the privilege not to think about it.

Together, let’s strike from a center of capital in the heart of US empire. As israel continues its genocide campaign against Palestinians and further escalates during the holy month of Ramadan, what are we waiting for?

Need ideas? Check out past actions on chicagoantireport.noblogs.org, scenes.noblogs.org, Bay Area Newsreel, monkeywrenching guide, etc (view these on Tor).

Submit a report back to Chicago Anti Report.

STAY SAFE, STAY DANGEROUS. SOLIDARITY MEANS ATTACK. FREE PALESTINE.

————-

A statement issued by the Palestinian factions regarding the Ramadan Flood campaign and the global movement to confront the zionist occupation’s plans and the genocidal war targeting our people and the Palestinian cause:

The Palestinian cause and the Gaza Strip are facing an unprecedented genocidal war and aggression that targets all meanings of humanity, exceeds the terrorism of fascism and Nazism, disregards all norms, laws, and divine and earthly ethics in the Gaza Strip and across all Palestinian land, destroying all aspects of life through killing, destruction, starvation, dehydration, and demolishing infrastructure.

Through this, it aims to liquidate the Palestinian cause and execute its plans against our people through displacement, settlement, Judaization of the land and the Islamic and Christian sanctities, ethnic cleansing, and racial discrimination.

In the face of this zionist aggression and genocidal war, the Palestinian factions affirm the following:

1- We declare our full support for the global Ramadan Flood campaign and call on the living consciences around the world for the largest official and popular global mobilization on the national, regional, and international levels during the blessed month of Ramadan under the title “Ramadan Flood” in support of the justice of our cause and to pressure to stop and end the genocide war and to thwart the “israeli” occupation’s schemes.

2- We call for this mobilization and global flood to include activating boycotts in all their forms and cutting off all supplies to the occupation, declaring strikes and sit-ins in public squares, and organizing marches in all capitals and cities.

3- We affirm the right of our people to freedom self-determination, the return to their land and homes, and the establishment of their independent state with Al-Quds as its capital.

4- We reaffirm our absolute support for the resistance in facing the “israeli” occupation and driving it out of our land, as we call for the necessity of activating resistance in all its forms in all arenas and fronts, considering the blessed month of Ramadan as the month of the “Global Flood for the Victory for Palestine and Our Just Cause.”

In conclusion: To our Palestinian people, to our Arab and Islamic nations, to the free people of the world everywhere, the Palestinian blood shed on this land, which today in the shadow of the genocidal war exceeds 130,000 between martyrs, missing, and injured in Gaza, the targeting of the West Bank with settlement and ongoing aggression, Al-Quds with Judaization, Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Islamic and Christian holy sites with desecration and raids and preventing prayer, and the racial discrimination and ethnic cleansing against our people in the occupied Palestinian interior, and the spread of the zionist entity like cancer in the body of our Arab and Islamic nation and the entire world, make us today stand united in a global popular and official movement to face this zionist danger and its terrorist liquidation projects that have exceeded fascism and Nazism in their ugliest forms and manifestations.

The Palestinian Factions
Sunday: 3-3-2024

Newroz Chicago 21 March 5 PM Pratt Beach Park

Posted on 03/14/2024 - 03/14/2024 by chicagoantireport

Repost from @exiled.anarchists

We invite you to join us in celebrating the coming of spring, and in commemorationg the people who have been killed by occupying states, in solidarity with all struggles against colonialism across the globe. There will be music, screenings, food, & drinks, and halay! 21st of March Pratt Beach Park at 5pm