My name is Hybachi LeMar and I’m a member of the Black Autonomy Federation Chicago Local Organizing Committee. I’m sending this message to support the release of scholar activist dedicated community organizer and friend Casey Goonan.
When I was houseless, he let me eat and sleep in his home. Each morning we asked each other, “What’s your positive affirmation for the day?” We take a meaningful moment before sharing a positive truth, both of us knowing it’s significance in our lives when we internalize it as an instrument of our liberation. More often than not, for the years I’ve known Casey, he’s neglecting his own needs to prioritize those of others, has led me to ask him instinctively, if he’s taken his meds yet. And I’ve lost count how many times he thanked me for reminding him before asking if I remembered to take mine too.
With barely anything in his pocket, I watched him fill a perfect stranger’s diabetic medication prescription. He’s loved, and I don’t mean by me, but by street walkers and other commoners throughout Chicago.
He’s organized fundraisers in one particular area of the city on several occasions. We’d pass out $20 bills he prefilled in envelopes, for every single houseless person on the street, or asking for change. From one corner to the next, up one gentrified block and up another, not letting him know the contents, or lingering around for thanks; often with the clenched fist of unity and a solidarity smile. It was heartwarming to hand out gloves, masks, hygiene supplies like cases of hand sanitizer, chips, and other community needs for free, under the el train one blistering winter amidst the pandemic from a makeshift warming center he’d open each weekend. A smile on people’s faces glow from appreciation, from those of us who know him, to the newcomers asking ‘And this is for free?’ when glancing at the fold-out tables, not far from the turnstile. “Mm-hmm! Yep! Help yourself,” Casey responds, wishing them a good day and to take care, which is substantial to folks rendered socio-economically invisible in the city. Free, the root word in freedom, has been top priority as an agenda item for Casey from dusk til dawn every day of every year that I’ve known him. He likes to remind everyone how special we are in this world, by showing how easy and necessary it is to care for each other, and to help a world that could certainly use it, offering a space and a table of togetherness, and free education. As a publisher, he provides an invaluable resource for writers. With freedom inspired by billions of us, it speaks not only to our conscious, but to our collective benefit to know we’re substantially freer in this world with him inside it. We, particularly poor folk throughout the city, appreciate him.
The socio-economically engineered gentrification spiraling genocide by poverty in Chicago’s northside has been as politically protracted as an alienated southside housing he helped me leaflet. His spirit of spending his last to buy insulin for the diabetic outside the electric doors at Walgreens is the same one alive in the Holy Land 5 that sends medicine and food supplies to orphans in Palestine.
Casey Goonan is a walking model of our aspired-after ideals as Human Beings. A genuine listener, whose aura is evident in the integrity of compassion. His ideals against genocide are shared by me and each of us around the globe who envision a world released from it’s grip.
Free Casey Goonan! Free Jack Mazurek! Free the Cop City 61! Drop the charges against the Merrimack 4 and the Mountain Valley pipeline defenders! Free the Holy Land Foundation 5! Free Leonard Peltier! Free Mumia Abu-Jamal! Free Cletus C Rivera! Free them all!
In solidarity with the Columbia University Hinds Hall demonstrators and the CUNY 22.
Many years ago, while imprisoned at SCI-Smithfield, and struggling to keep our study groups afloat, I received an e-mesage from Casey Goonan. I had no clue whom he was. He said he reached out because he heard about the work I was doing inside and wanted to offer any assistance he could. He did, and he continued to do so. Casey has been one of the most consistent and ready allies/accomplices of imprisoned people. Whether producing zines that center imprisoned voices, mailing zines to imprisoned people at no cost, coordinating phone zaps to combat repression by prison officials, raising funds for mutual aid, building social media presence for imprisoned folx or just lending an attentive ear to the concerns of imprisoned people, Casey has been unstinting in his support of anyone, anywhere, who is being oppressed.
My friend, my comrade, my brother, is currently being held in a county jail in CA. I wish I were out there to do more for him, to manifest by love and solidarity for him. What I want everyone to know is that Casey Goonan is an amazing ally/accomplice of oppressed people everyone. In this, his time of need, he should be supported and cared for. I ask people to keep close tabs on the situation, show up for Casey and make sure that while he is inside, jail officials do not harm him or exacerbate his condition. I don’t ever claim to speak for all imprisoned people, but I feel confident in saying that thousands of imprisoned people across this land have benefited from Casey’s efforts. We ask you support our comrade and care for him.
Casey’s arrest and incarceration have obviously caused immense distress and disruption to Casey’s life. They have entered the belly of the beast! Yet their dedication to abolition, commitment to study, perseverance, humor and spirit continue to shine through despite their conditions.
LEGAL UPDATE Casey’s state charges were dismissed and the case has been moved under federal jurisdiction.
One federal charge has been unsealed, a single count of arson, 18 U.S.C. 844(f)(1). If convicted, this charge alone could mean 5-20 years plus a quarter million dollar fine. We are anticipating that additional charges could follow.
Last week, Casey was moved to SF County Jail to appear in court on outstanding warrants. The transfer forced Casey to spend over 24 hours in a holding cell without access to insulin, to endure several hours long bus rides while shackled, harassment from correction officers, sleep deprivation, and inadequate access to food needed to regulate their blood sugar. These experiences were very disregulating and their mental and physical health have been fluctuating as a result.
They have just arrived back at Santa Rita/Alameda County Jail under federal custody. We anticipate that Casey will stay at Santa Rita for the foreseeable future as they await trial. We are hopeful that things will stabilize now that the recent rounds of transfers and unpredictable court appearances have settled down for the moment.
In the move to SF and back to Santa Rita, Casey lost access to the books and mail that they had been sent while previously at Santa Rita. We are intending to look into getting their belongings returned, but in the meantime they would appreciate more books, zines and printed out news articles. Any excess or duplicate literature can be shared inside.
Freeing Casey will likely be a long fight. Just as Casey has persistently for years cared for, supported, and struggled alongside incarcerated comrades, we aim to replicate these actions in solidarity with Casey as they continue their struggle from the other side of the wall.
WAYS TO SUPPORT
Write Casey With the case now being federal, Casey has a new PFN. Their mailing address is now:
Casey Goonan #UMF227 Santa Rita Jail 5325 Broder Blvd Dublin, CA 94568
Casey is excited to receive mail including updates on news and current affairs as they have been feeling cut off from the world.
What not to write about:
Do not discuss the case. Casey is still pre-trial and receiving mail concerning their case can seriously endanger them.
Do not valorize Casey. They are a person and a member of our community, not a symbol or martyr. Casey isn’t looking for praise, but rather to maintain correspondence.
Do not write anything you wouldn’t want Fox News, a cop, or a judge to see. Assume that intelligence and law enforcement agencies are reading your letter.
As you correspond with Casey, they may send requests aside from books or commissary. Please coordinate directly with Casey’s Support Committee regarding additional asks.
For those who have written Casey and have not heard back yet, Casey mentioned that they hadn’t received any of the mail that was sent to them at Santa Rita after June 22nd. With Casey going in and out of different jurisdictional systems, it is likely that much of their mail has been lost, ‘lost’, or returned to sender. Casey also wants people to know that the mail system is very slow so it may take a while for people to hear back from them.
Send Casey some commissary funds Casey’s support team has made sure that they have some funds on their commissary account upon arrival back at Santa Rita.
If you wish to help keep money on Casey’s books, there are several ways to do this:
At the jail via the TouchPay kiosk in the lobby.
Sending a money order in the mail. The money order must be made payable to “Casey Goonan #UMF227” and there must be no other material in the envelope. No cash or personal checks will be accepted.
Online with a credit card via one of the vendor platforms run by GlobalTel such as accesscorrections.com or connectnetwork.com. You will have to create an account. If the platform offers different fund options, the fund you want to get Casey money for commissary is called the “Trust Fund”.
Fundraising In addition to making sure Casey has commissary funds, we are preparing to fundraise for Casey’s legal representation. Stay tuned and on call for more info on fundraising.
Casey knows they have the support of their community and appreciates everyone who has shown up in court, written letters, sent literature, and expressed care and solidarity. This will be a long struggle, and we commit ourselves to it until Casey is free. Please join us!
To receive these updates by email, message cscommittee@proton.me
Over issues of poor basic conditions in their housing unit, Casey went on hunger strike, refusing trays and only taking liquids from June 22 to June 27. At one point, Casey went hypoglycemic and ate some gummy worms (C is diabetic.)
The strike had 4 main demands:
A pencil sharpener so that people can consistently write letters, grievances, etc.
An increase in water pressure so that people don’t have to put their lips to the faucet in order to drink.
An end to weekend lockdowns, the jail predictably claiming that this is due to “staffing issues”
Increased yard time and use of recreational equipment. (Currently the unit only receives 1 hour of yard time a week on a bare yard with no equipment, balls, etc.)
In parallel with the hunger strike, Casey filed grievances on each of these issues and circulated a petition around the unit regarding the issue of weekend lockdowns.
On the morning of June 27th a deputy met with Casey and committed to meeting the first two demands. (A working pencil sharpener and increased water pressure.)
With the meeting of these two demands, Casey agreed to end their hunger strike and ate lunch on June 27th. Casey said they intend to eat, get rest, and to study further on the policies and case law surrounding such lockdowns which already seem to violate policy and federal law. Deputies have also agreed to take up the remaining two demands with their superiors.
Casey wants everyone to know they are doing well despite their conditions. Casey appreciates all the letters and books and wants everyone to know that all mail is processed really slowly but they do intend to respond in due time.
Casey signed off with “Love and Struggle.”
♥️♥️♥️
___________
All inquiries, asks, offers, or requests to subscribe to these updates can be sent to cscommittee@proton.me
We are a decentralized collective of animal rights activists using disruptive tactics to further the goal of Total Animal Liberation. Target number one is the fur industry.
This recent weekend, we along with dozens of other cities strong-armed the most influential American designer, Marc Jacobs, to go FUR-FREE.
MJ lied to activists in 2013 by mislabeling faux fur when it turned out to be dog fur, he lied in 2018 to activists that confronted him about his use of fur when he claimed he would never use fur again – only to resume in 2023 when he collaborated with Fendi on an ugly hat (made out of fox). Fendi’s motto in the past was “Fur is Fendi, Fendi is fur”. Both corporations are owned by LVMH, owned by the richest man in the world: Bernard Aurnault (who also funds the current genocide in Palestine).
After 2 years of store protests and asking nicely, home demos erupted in the US (particularly NYC), resulting in his full commitment to never use fur again. The Chicago contingent remained steadfast in our local efforts until victory was secured.
100 million animals are tortured on these fur farms with no quality of life – all for the vanity and greed. We are happy to declare that Marc Jacobs will no longer sell fur today nor in the future. Strategic pressure campaigns work, join us.
Uchi’s encampment has been very disappointing. For starters, the community agreements are not community agreements. They are rules. One silly thing that they have decided for the quad is that no one can smoke or vape when it’s the norm. They have also decided to declare that people will not engage with any form of authority while they behave as such. Organizers and marshals have formed an internal divide within the encampment. On day one of the encampment, members decided to take down the israeli multi-flag display, and marshals chased them down and took pictures of them. It says on the community “agreements” that people are not supposed to take pictures of others without consent. Does that only apply to people who do what they say? Zionists eventually put them back up with UCPD guards. If marshals are supposed to “keep the camp safe,” wouldn’t it have been a great time to block them from taking the flags down?
It was stated that the unnecessary dichotomy between students and non-students is irrelevant and would not be applied here. However, undergraduate organizers have been silencing grad students, community members, and other radical individuals who came to support the cause. They say that they want people to escalate for Gaza. They don’t.
It was decided on day two that people could build certain kinds of barricades. When individuals decided to autonomously move the art installation a little to the left and stop people from walking within the encampment as if it ceases to exist, FJP came over. They policed and asserted respectability politics. They expressed worry about people walking through the flowers. As if they are not making that choice! As if people do not have free will! As if it is not a decision of the self! To blame community members for the actions of one is a pattern that has happened within this encampment. They expressed that they (they said “we” but there is no we here) want to lessen escalation, and we don’t want the university to retaliate against the camp.” This is not how the majority of the camp feels. The organizers agree with the faculty, as they have cemented the same points towards encampment members. The word autonomy has been abused tremendously within the last couple of days. Marshals have told people they can do things and they support autonomous action, but “we should all have a meeting about something before acting.” Organizers have said that autonomous actions need to be a group decision, autonomous actions are okay, and people want to escalate. But, individuals have to “assess the risk it causes the group.” People should “think about the safety of the group.” This is one example of how infantilizing yellow vests and organizers have been. This presumption that people taking autonomous action have no regard for the rest of the group is fatuous. The people escalating and taking autonomous action are thinking about the group. They are thinking about how to support the group with a diversity of tactics.
Autonomous actions do not happen after a “group meeting.” It seems like people do not understand what autonomy means. Autonomous actions do not need a damn coordinating meeting and a schedule. They happen whenever and wherever someone feels comfortable. Mind your business, and you’ll be fine. It feels like the organizers want this encampment for clout-chasing purposes instead of standing with people who deserve liberation. They do not want individuals who know what they are doing to spread their knowledge base throughout the camp. This could be a learning experience for all, but they are halting this educational process.
Another form of infantilization is the infantilization of Black people. Certain individuals within the camp have been advising people not to escalate because “there are Black people here.” They have expressed that people should not escalate because what if Black people get hurt?” “What if brown people get hurt?” They are not thinking about how historically Black people have escalated as a community. This is the same bullshit that happened in 2020. When Black people did what they autonomously wanted, white marshals and non-black organizers would try to shut shit down under the guise of protection. An organizer at the camp called a Black person antagonistic just for speaking to her about her actions. Community members should be able to converse with organizers without anti-black language thrown in their faces.
Back to autonomous actions being shut down, there are zine tables distributing different kinds of materials. People are passing out flyers, zines, and stickers all around the camp. One table was approached by marshals and was asked to leave because someone painted “Escalate for Gaza” in a breezeway and circled one of the As in an anarchist fashion. The autonomous table was told that they should leave because, obviously, this table did it because they’ve been distributing anarchist media. This particular table is not a collective or an organization. It has been random people holding the table down and putting out tactile information that has frustrated certain marshals. They want to act as if this is a decentralized community while forcing hierarchy upon others. Not all of the marshals wanted people to leave, but the sheer fact that people felt like it was okay to accuse others of illicit acts outside the camp is not cool. People around them did not want them to leave, and this is another instance of the internal divide, with marshals saying that they’re protecting the camp but choosing peace police instead. They say that they want to protect the camp, but they want everyone to focus on the respectability politics that they have encouraged. “We don’t want to look bad. We don’t want to give the university justification to shut us down.” The encampment already looks bad. The encampment is already antagonistic. These respectability politics help no one. It may give organizers and marshals peace of mind for everyone to contain their anger against the state by exhibiting passive behavior, but that’s not what everyone’s okay with.
This is the south side of Chicago. You can tell who has left the UChi bubble and who hasn’t. People are going to do what they want. Shit is going to go down here this summer. When students leave, UCPD does not. They continue to police and harass the south side. On day two, the police were attending to something outside of the camp. Someone on the megaphone decided to alert people to not worry after individuals went to check it out and exclaimed, “It has nothing to do with us.” This is NOT true. It has everything to do with UChicago. UChicago is the reason why UCPD exists. This is a gentrified neighborhood because of this filthy campus. These rich kids and out-of-state attendees are part of the reason the south side is so policed. Anytime UCPD harasses somebody within the boundaries of Hyde Park and the surrounding neighborhoods, it is a student’s problem. UChi students need to hold themselves accountable for their sheer presence and understand the privilege that they have. The amount of displacement that the university has assisted with is disgusting. This encampment should be for everyone. This encampment should challenge the university to hold itself accountable for not only helping out with genocide but also the destruction and displacement of racialized people everywhere. They have helped displace people in Gaza and on the south side of Chicago.
Indigenous liberation includes Black people. Indigenous liberation is about embracing autonomy. Indigenous liberation cannot happen with white supremacist values. Indigenous liberation when others are trying to force respectability politics down the throats of radicals. This is bigger than the atrocious deaths of Hind and Refaat. The true radicals in this camp will not be silenced. We will continue to dissent. Escalate for Gaza. Give Palestine back to the Palestinian people. End the invasion now. Fuck a ceasefire! End the IDF and for the love of everything on this planet, BLOC UP!
1 May 2024 Dear Plebs and other actual radicals,
We heard that organizers have been on a manhunt to find who wrote the first reportback.
Well, we’re back.
This reportback/letter isn’t just about organizers. It is about the gentrifying entitled atmosphere of that quad. Before we start, we want to say if you feel called out: this reportback is about you. If it doesn’t apply, let it fly by. We also want to state that any mental decison to denounce this in the name of the moral crimes committed at Columbia and UCLA;you know for a fact that doesn’t apply here because they are actually escalating for Gaza, UChi is not.
Reportback: On the first day of this occupation performance, the vibes were okay until someone tried to actually show up for Palestine. By the 3rd day, the energy of that quad was weak and suffocating. It makes sense, though. Anti-Black spaces are always like that. A homeless community member was camping out with us (which is what an encampment is supposed to be about: building fucking space for everyone). Unfortunately, this man was arrested after harassment from a white custodian. Marshals were nowhere to be found during this incident. We thought that marshals were supposed to protect the camp from oppressive bodies and repressive forces, but obviously that only applies to Uchicago kids. Organizers-without bloc as usual-ran around trying to find out the name of this man so people could provide jail support. What a beautiful gesture. Maybe it would have been easier for you to give him jail support if you all had given him the time of day and spoke to him. But wait! That would mean leaving your little trust fund bubble for even a second, right?
Throughout the day, zionists came in and out of the camp with ease. There was no protection around the camp. The amount of marshals that are stationed around that camp policing people for taking action and reading anarchist literature (which for the last damn time, we are not a monolith. That’s kind of our whole thing). You see, there are organizers of anti-carcerality all over the city who want to organize, because they hated the cops, not these new organizers. The original SJPs of this fake nation state (not all) wanted to organize, because they wanted justice for Palestine. These newer ones do care about these issues, but some of the energy that came with planning this performance seems like a claim to fame.
For example, there is soooooo much concern over not graduating and the “repression from the University”, while there are actual, raw af activists who have been in prison since they were 18 and never got the chance to go to school. There are activists and members of the south side who have never met their parents, because of the prison system. There are members of the community who cannot come to protests because of conditional release and probation. But, we’re supposed to care about a degree that your dad paid for? we’re supposed to care about a degree that you might have gotten on scholarship, but made you a gentrifier in the process?
Several community members have tried to tell organizers and marshals alike how encampments work. We tried to give them knowledge outside of academia and into the streets. South siders and lifelong Chicagoans who have spent their entire adult lives have passed through this camp to support, but felt excluded and unwanted. If we did feel welcome, we could have helped educate others and facilitated conversations about encampments and occupations that we have lived in/supported/loved. The organizers of this display were spoken to about their lack of transparency around finances. They spoke to them about their logistical strategy. Apparently, the organizers did not expect the encampment to change with the involvement of community members. This camp was never supposed to be hierarchical. Same thing as Northwestern. These meetings that happen every morning are performative. They planned out escalations with the assumption that everyone would center them, their expensive degrees, and their stuffy scared attitudes.
Another Black person, on May Day of all days, was assaulted by police while attempting to dearrest someone while a radical act was happening outside of the camp. They grabbed him by the throat and restrained him. A singular fucking person helped him dearrest himself. The rest attempted to tell him KYR training in the moment, which was somewhat helpful. The marshals again were nowhere to be fucking found. No one cared except for afterwards when the individual made an announcement.
Later, a Black organizer saw three Zionists circling the camp and heading towards the children’s tent and rushed to the the scene to force the Zionists out of camp. They did not use force but were told by marshals to leave the man alone and walk away. The organizer broke down in tears and begged the marshals to fence off the camp to protect protestors. They left the quad because they felt unprotected. They were tired of trying to warn organizers about the possibility of sexual assault in the encampment.
We do not need peace police. We need community and autonomy. Do not trust the organizers and again, do not trust a yellow vest. If you want to be trusted, take off the vest and do what is fucking right.
On the 3rd of May, the university emailed students about a possible meeting and told them it would not be recorded by either side. The university is attempting to intimidate and cause even more controversy/conflict within the group. Do not let them scare you. Form your AGs (affinity groups), read up on autonomous tactics: paint the walls, throw what you want, and barricade a damn building if you need to. You know your body and its capabilities. Listen to yourself and your trusted comrades!
Do not listen to anyone you do not trust and stay safe.
Tips: put an alphanumeric password on it NOW, put disappearing messages on for everything, delete all apps off your phone, better yet: put your phone in your house and leave it there.
Stop using safari and only search through duckduckgo.
Bloc up, wear gloves, and cover your forehead.
After encampment reflections: The Casbah Basel al-Araj encampment seemed to be the high point and only southside encampment focused on liberation. It was led by radical alumni, southsiders, and comrades who care about the south side outside UChi’s oppressive bubble. The division between student and non-student was non-existent. It doesn’t matter when it comes to Indigenous solidarity. Barricading the “IOP building” was more than just shutting down a building;it was an example of what southside actions are capable of. It was an example of what determination can look like. SJP’s encampment harmed people? Well, we’re going to have fun and fuck with the university. Even though no one got to stay the night, we still messed with the university and their delusion about on-campus resistance ending.
We are extremely proud of our comrades for fucking with the “alpha” squad of UCPD and state-sanctioned pigs. It is amazing that no one got arrested. Protesters escaped safely from the second floor of Casbah Basel al-Araj after pigs entered the building. Individuals fought back against the cops. People broke bread and shared comradeship. We marched and beat up a spitting image of President Paul. Hopefully, this summer, we hope to keep this energy of fucking with pigs and keeping the southside halal/kosher. No pork on the streets unless it’s dead and jerked in the back of a truck!
We are forever grateful to everyone who pushed back against UChi and state oppression. We keep each other safe! We defend our comrades because no one else will!
It wasn’t disappointing to see or technically not see many of UChi’s SJP organizers say anything about the IOP. It was expected. It wasn’t their event. It didn’t support the hivemind they so desperately want. It made sense considering some of SJP’s main organizers barely wanted non-students there. It wasn’t disappointing, because alumni and year-round southsiders were already disappointed. As community members, we think it is comical that so many of these third-year and fourth-year organizers wanted to impress their radical predecessors with… what? a performative encampment? lack of community? anti-Blackness? We don’t know. We do know this though: we’ve been laughing and rolling our eyes for weeks about that shitshow of a camp.
@ (most, not all) UChicago SJP: You failed. That encampment was embarrassing. Your predecessors think you were misguided and shady. Your neighbors want nothing to do with you.
We heard some of you were open to conversations and growth from older/more experienced/outside organizers. Great. However, most of you who wanted to have conversations wanted to silence those darker than you and those who have to deal with your drunken blabbering on our streets during the school year. The word “autonomous” was constantly whispered as if autonomy should be hidden and not embraced. The term “community” was either followed with the word agreement or prefaced with “outside”. You guys were not too keen when it came to non-undergrads making decisions or voicing their opinions. The respectability politics in that camp were disgusting; they started with the disrespect of street medics and ended with state violence towards Black people with no support from the yellow yests. Weren’t marshals supposed to protect the camp? Most organizers seemed to be focused on badjacketing and silencing anyone with the ability to understand why you should wear a mask and cover your face (newsflash: state repression sucks).
There was a lot of fear-mongering about “anarchists”. Individuals were told not to check in on the Black southsider who was attacked on the quad, because “they’re one of the anarchists”. Two whites attempted to shut down the autonomous zine table, because “you’re distributing anarchist media” and accused them of tagging one of the enclaves with an anarchist A & the words “Escalate for Gaza”. Accusing someone of “criminal” activity and then trying to remove them from a camp is kinda wild. What does this behavior remind you of? Accusing people with insufficient evidence…basing the findings around profiling…telling people to leave because they don’t want to do things exactly they want you to? Sounds like cop behavior to us.
But what do you expect from anti-Black racist fools? Anything outside of white supremacist standards has to be eliminated, right?
Several Black organizers, internal and external, were shut down during the encampment. They were silenced during meetings and only given the time of day when they had full-on breakdowns. Faculty walked around gripping their colorist bias harder than their purses when a Black man walks past.f Did SJP do anything about that? No. Did non-Black SJP organizers step in when their friends were racist? No. Black people who wanted to focus on mutual aid and community care this summer left the SJP encampment with anxiety and doubt. Black people left a lot of these encampments with anger, grief, and despair. Non-Black SJP organizers left that encampment with a lot of misguided twitter followers and a chip on their shoulders.
The last question we’ll ask is: what’s SJP going to do with the money they raised and can we see the receipts? 🙂
“The flea has fascinating fighting strategies and techniques…It does not kill its host…what it does is exhaust its host and consume its blood, causing constant disturbance, eventually preventing the host from being able to rest. It makes the host nervous and demoralized. […]
[T]he guerilla fights its wars like fleas…If the battle lasts long enough to exhaust the host then it will fail in the battle due to its weakness while unable to locate the flea(s)…[F]ight like a flea.” Live Like A Porcupine, Fight Like A Flea
“The beginning of every revolution is an exit, an exit from the social order that power has enshrined in the name of law, stability, public interest, and the greater good.” Exiting Law & Entering Revolution
CONTEXT
Since October 7th, Chicago has seen countless marches and actions that have been successful in bringing out hundreds and thousands of people. However, many of these numbers consist of suburbanites driving or being bussed into the city to show support, rather than a mass of Chicagoans coming together from across the deeply race- and class-segregated city. In addition, these marches have usually been put on by a small number of nonprofit organizations. They have been heavily marshaled and largely symbolic, leaving many people demoralized and looking for more.
As every day sees more Gazans murdered by the zionist entity, symbolic parades that play into respectability politics at every turn and ask the state for permission to protest are clearly a toothless and insufficient response. Small, isolated acts of sabotage aren’t enough either—it is crucial to seek more militant forms of collective action. These actions should demonstrate an understanding of the throughline between the colonial states of the US and Israel, and the need to abolish both entirely—prisons, police, military, and state bureaucracies alike—to stop both the genocide in Gaza and the daily forms of state violence here in Chicago. From within the imperial core, there’s an obligation to interrupt the material support that the “U.S.” provides “israel.”
In order to encourage more militant collective action, there is a need for a change in protest culture that is rife with peace policing liberal concerns about “outside agitators.” Contrary to what peace police, protest managers, and the heads of liberal social justice organizations would have us believe, many people are looking to take more escalated action and learn the skills to do so together. This desire clearly expressed itself in flashes at the campus encampments here in Chicago, including in the brief but impactful establishment of the Casbah of Basel Al Araj on the University of Chicago campus.
SUMMARY OF EVENTS
Around 4:40 pm on Friday, May 17th, as the University of Chicago’s Alumni Weekend kicked off, a group of protestors marched to the Institute of Politics on the University of Chicago campus. Soon after they arrived, a group entered the building and barricaded its entrances from the inside. Banners were dropped from the upstairs windows. Staff working in the building were told that the building was being occupied and it was time for them to leave. Most of the building’s occupants complied, but the director of the institute, who happened to be a former senator, refused to leave. Cops were able to breach a first-floor door on the side of the building that led to the basement, but protestors prevented them from accessing the inside of the building for the time being.
Meanwhile, the crowd outside was trying to prevent cops from entering the building but did not succeed in blocking pigs from going up the porch stairs to the front door. Once the pigs got to the front door, it only took them a few hard yanks to break the barricade’s pull on the front door. From there, the protestors regrouped to the second floor and tried to barricade that floor. As pigs started to enter the second floor, the protestors retreated to a small conference room, and held off the pigs for long enough to leave the building through windows and onto a porch roof. Just as the cops were able to enter the room, everyone escaped onto the roof and climbed down into the crowd. From there, people were able to escape using the cover of the crowd. No arrests were made.
As police worked to enter the building, protestors outside had set up barricades in the gangway between the IOP and a neighboring building, making it harder for cops to move between the front and back yards. After protestors made their escape and active clashes with cops slowed down, people began to set up tents and chairs on the front lawn of the building, and continued to occupy space in the back yard as well. Food and snacks arrived, attempts were made to set up a speaker system (though cops threw a wrench in this plan by cutting an extension cord), and kids played on the lawn. The demands of the action and the principles guiding it were read aloud.
Struggles with police occurred in the building’s backyard, as cops attempted to control the space and warned that arrests would be made if any more tents were set up. A nearby frat blasted shitty music (the national anthem and mediocre dad rock with a quick reprieve in the form of Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5), trying to drown out protestors’ chants. Protestors continued to surround the building and hang out until around 9:30 PM, at which point protestors assessed that there was not enough energy, support, or numbers to spend the night amid cops’ threats to start making arrests. The group marched to the University president’s house nearby with chants of “we’ll be back.”
TAKEAWAYS
We share these takeaways in an effort to contribute to tactical and strategic knowledge developing across campuses, as solidarity encampments have been set up, attacked, repressed, voluntarily disbanded, and in some cases escalated. We hope this can be useful to others pursuing escalated tactics in solidarity with Gaza and in resistance to colonial violence at home and far away.
(1) On escapes and exits—hope for the best & prep for the worst. Protestors who entered to barricade the IOP were able to make a full escape—footage shows them climbing safely from the roof into the waiting arms of friends. It wasn’t clear in advance that this would be possible, but folks inside were quick on their feet and had the foresight to leave to fight another day.
The University of Chicago’s campus is highly policed by the private University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) and the municipal Chicago Police Department (CPD), so drawing enough protestors to fend off an initial police response was going to be difficult, especially during Alumni Weekend when police presence was already heightened. UCPD responded most actively to the protest, quickly moving past protestors attempting to block the front steps; removing furniture blocking the front door; shoving protestors and throwing chairs at them; and then entering and sweeping the building. CPD officers set up lines on all sides of the building, but mostly sat back and watched events unfold, after initially chasing some protestors who attempted to barricade the alley behind the building back into the crowd.
Leaving the building so quickly was not the only way things could have unfolded. Had the front door barricade held, or had protestors blockaded more successfully from outside, UCPD cops would not have entered the building so quickly, and protestors could have remained inside longer. This would have necessitated longer-term organizing from supporters outside the building, and perhaps a different police response. By the time police entered the building, it might not have been possible for protestors to exit into a friendly crowd; leaving in handcuffs was thus a possibility protestors likely anticipated.
However, the protestors at Casbah of Basel Al Araj had no apparent interest in symbolic arrests, and seized the opportunity to leave when pigs breached the building and an escape route presented itself. This flexibility, and mental preparation to leave if possible rather than submit to forms of “surrender” and planned arrests, was a strategic strength.
(2) On scouting, preparation & logistics – practice more.
At the Casbah, cops were able to move relatively quickly through barricades protestors attempted on the building’s doors.Had there been more materials on site for back-up barricades—or more knowledge on site about methods of barricading doors—protestors might have been able to improvise stronger barricades and hold the space for longer. Practicing skills routinely, to be more ready to act in escalated action situations and to pivot on the fly when plans change, is an evergreen takeaway that’s especially relevant at actions where success hinges on specialized techniques and tactics.
Further, having more supplies on site for the full range of possible scenarios would’ve served the action well. Tents, chairs, food, and more defensive materials didn’t arrive on site as soon as they could have, which delayed the crowd’s ability to jump in and support holding the space.
(3) On Identifying Cop Tactics—Repression goes beyond arrests. The fact that no arrests were made is always something to celebrate. However, it’s important not to reduce state repression to a single tactic. Cops may not have taken anyone away on the day of the protest, but they did stand by with body cameras recording footage throughout, and at several moments pointed out specific individuals within the crowd, seeming to single them out for increased attention. We can’t be sure why specific people were pointed out. The cops could be noticing people arrested in previous protests, they could be trying to identify potential organizers of an action, or mapping networks to see who might know each other. Observing these practices underscores the importance of disguising identities when in action spaces, and having a robust threat model. For all we know, arrests could be attempted weeks after an action using footage of people involved, as we saw in 2020 in Chicago after a protest in Grant Park where a statue of Col*mbus used to stand.
(4) On liberal co-optation — strong principles set the tone.
This action aimed to disrupt the pattern of liberals deescalating confrontational tactics through peace policing. So, we created principles of unity that included escalation, self-defense, non-cooperation with the state, and diversity of tactics. We shared those principles through fliers handed out to the crowd before the march, and through announcing them over the megaphone at the rally outside the Casbah.
Setting these expectations, and very visibly sharing and practicing the principles and demands that don’t fit into liberal organizations’ platforms, made it harder for liberals to co-opt our action. As we thought might happen, liberal organizations emerged after a few hours and tried to tell people what to do. When they did, they were shut down and ignored by the protestors, with some responding to people claiming to be “police liaisons” with “this action doesn’t have police liaisons.” These same liberal organizations also took issue with some of the demands because “fuck the police and gentrification” don’t fit neatly into their single issue platforms, making the action harder to co-opt. Messaging should focus on reaching folks who share values and ideological leanings, like being critical of cooptation, reform, and negotiation.
The demands issued also helped prevent co-optation. They were:
1. Free Palestine
2. Abolish the University
3. Land Back
4. Fuck gentrification
5. Fuck 12
Following the logic that making demands pushes movements and insurrections toward negotiation and moderation, and leaning into the observation that there is no centralized authority capable of granting us the world we insist on building (without abolishing itself…) the demands are maximalist, general, uncompromising, and reject incremental logic. They challenge respectability and the demands-based framework itself, making it harder for liberal organizations to claim credit for the energy or power built by the action.
(5) On student radicalization — learning by doing.
Student organizations limit imagination of possible actions and control protests into being governable, peaceful, and nonviolent. Often, the heads of these organizations are obsessed with the idea that they are responsible for keeping a crowd safe and are willing to police the actions of others in the name of preventing arrest. When not intentionally challenged, the campus bubble of student organizing can isolate students from non-student genocide resisters, which means isolation from collective knowledge of resistance techniques.
While the encampments did allow for some new networks to be formed and more militant tactics to be shared, some organizers were more interested in control than in escalation. This desire for control played out along racial lines, as students in the encampements policed Black protestors and failed to understand the reality of police violence.
In addition to more methods to occupy, defend, and evade, this action also led students to think about the question of demands. Traditional organizing encourages creating “achievable” divestment demands and other institutional reforms. But students are seeing that demands and appeasement reforms don’t go far enough. The full disruption of the University’s ties to occupation, genocide and imperialism requires the abolition of the University institution.
The Casbah of Basel al-Araj showed students that they can take actions which threaten power and that they can do so without the permission of a central organization. Students saw that actions do not have to end in performative arrest. We lose our ability to attack if we all go to jail. Risking capture can be done with strategy and material impact, but being captured is not the goal.
At the Casbah, the possibility of autonomous action and militant escalation was not just theoretical. Students and non-students joined in by building barricades, covering for people exiting IOP, kettling the cops, joining other actions throughout the day, and opposing co-optation.
CONCLUSION
From the Casbah of Basel al-Araj, protestors demonstrated the possibility for forms of escalation that allows for an escape from marshals, peace-policing, student and nonstudent divides, and negotiation, and can allow for a variety of tactics. It also showed students disaffected from the encampment and failures to escalate that it is possible to attack and escape—both from the clutches of police and from the hierarchical peace policing of liberal student groups attempting to suppress more militant actions. The university is accidentally giving its students an education in autonomy and direct action. What we learn from disrupting the university, prepares us to intensify and deepen our actions to free Palestine. School may be out for summer, but the fight goes on.
