Both up on zines page.
#FreeCaseyNow: On Casey Goonan and the Abandonment of Political Prisoners in the Pro-Palestine Movement Version 1 print
FreeCaseyNow: On Casey Goonan and the Abandonment of Political Prisoners in the Pro-Palestine Movement Version 2 print
submitted anonymously
Casey Goonan is the only US political prisoner from the 2024 pro-Palestine student encampments. They are an abolitionist and anarchist who has dedicated themselves to multiple forms of prisoner support work and directly engaging with incarcerated comrades. The impact they’ve made inside is prevalent, as indicated by statements from their comrades Stevie Wilson and Hybachi Lemar. They’ve always pushed to ensure an understanding of Black struggle and revolt as central to their abolitionist work, and through understanding the totality of anti-Blackness the importance of an anti-police and anti-prison perspective was brought into any and all of their efforts towards liberation.
In June of 2024, they were arrested by a task force comprised of the FBI and other law enforcement agencies in connection with an alleged direct action which took place in solidarity with the UC Berkeley encampments which had been brutalized by police and zionists earlier in the year* . If convicted, they could face up to 20 years in prison with a minimum sentence of 5. The investigation and court proceedings are currently ongoing but a non cooperative plea deal is pending in which Casey will plea guilty to one charge to allow additional charges to be dropped. This plea deal does not include information or testimony against anyone else.
While Casey has received a great amount of support from decentralized community in New York, Chicago, California, and elsewhere, the pro-Palestine movement needs to be publicly and actively supporting them. Right now, their primary accomplices are those who personally know them, those who prioritize prisoner support, and fellow anarchists. Despite vague assertions of the interconnectedness of repression and struggles between the American policing and prison apparatuses to that of Israel, there has been little material manifestation from that understanding within the US pro-Palestine movement. Meanwhile, coordinated struggle between prisoners and outside militants has been a key point of success for Palestinian liberation.
We must recognize the necessity of attacking the infrastructure of occupation domestically. Amidst calls for escalation, it is of vital importance to defend those experiencing repression from the legal system. To not do so is to allow one of the state’s most well-funded and structured counterinsurgency tactics to take complete hold of movements. If people are abandoned to incarceration, the fear of repression will throw everyone towards inactivity. This need for defense is especially true for those facing charges beyond the more palatable ways of dissent, like marches and encampments.
State repression must be met with expanding our community resources to reach those inside. Bravery must be met with support.
It’s not surprising that, despite the large presence of the Palestinian diaspora in the American pro-Palestine movement, tactics focus primarily on vocalizing dissent through marches and making demands of the state, which are a far cry from the struggle within Palestine itself. This is partially attributed to the class character of the diaspora — a petty bourgeois group would have no investment in attacking infrastructure they partially benefit from even if that same infrastructure perpetuates the genocide of indigenous groups including Black people and Palestinians both domestically and globally. Equally, the motivations and interests of the community organizations and student groups that are largely in control of the movement not only harbor that class character but also rely on funding from the infrastructure they refuse to attack. Despite the student movement being referred to as an intifada, it’s activity is incomparable to what has occurred during the numerous intifadas leading up to the Al-Aqsa Flood.
Considering pro-Palestinian community groups and political organizations like USPCN, CJP/SJP, Dissenters, NAARPR, JVP and PSL are supplied with enough funds to bus people in for marches, plan conferences, and campaign for local policy, certainly donating money towards legal fees for those facing repression would be no issue.
Even with all the attention and credibility being given to the pro-Palestinian student movement and despite the numerous pro-Palestine student groups on university campuses, there have been no publicly circulated student-led support efforts for Casey. Outside of participants of the Columbia University encampment, there has been no mention of them from any other university space, most likely attributed to groups aligning themselves with certain tactics, a hesitancy towards anarchists, and the fear of repression.
Beyond the bare minimum of ensuring people are supported in obtaining adequate legal counsel, any revolutionary horizons with teeth require long term prisoner support. This practice is key to the current struggle that led to the Al-Aqsa Flood as exhibited by the rich history of organizing within prisons and the ongoing liberation of those being held hostage by Israel. In Khalida Jarrar’s words, “[t]he ongoing conquest to liberate prisoners is in tandem with the Palestinians’ constant and multifaceted struggle against colonialism. Hence, the slogan “emptying the prisons” is derived from and a core component in the Palestinian struggle through various stages in its history.”.
Those of us living under a plantation economy already have our own reasons to ensure incarceration is a central site of struggle. But if one does insist upon taking guidance from elsewhere and if one intends to “bring the Intifada home” or “escalate for Gaza”, Palestinians have provided plenty of methods for how carcerality can be attacked.
Casey understood this prior to their incarceration and there’s no doubt this knowledge influenced their own political horizons. If the pro-Palestine movement wants to also tote itself as an intifada they should take note of the militant organizing and support infrastructure within and between prison walls that occurrs in Palestine. Abandonment of prisoners is where revolutionary ideals die.
Empty The Prisons Free Casey Goonan
For More Info and Updates on Casey
cscommittee@proton.me
freecaseynow.noblogs.org
IG: @freecaseynow
Ways to Support Casey
– Organize a fundraiser for legal fees, commissary, or a nutritional package
– Host a letter writing night
– Form a defense committee
– Make + put up some propaganda
Readings Recs
A Practical Guide to Prisoner Support
Practical Abolition From The Inside Out
More Effective Prisoner Support
The Soledad Brothers Defense Committee: A Brief Consideration
San Quentin Six Defense Committee
A Spirit, Unbroken (Discusses the Martin Sostre Defense Committee)
Submitted Anonymously
There are moments, like today in Syria, when we can only rejoice. See the statues of Bashar and his relatives looted, the crowds in the streets, the open prison doors. These moments that remind us that all regimes, including the most authoritarian ones, can fall.
If there is a constant in the revolutions, it is that of freeing prisoners. Symbol of power, of who can decide the freedom of its subjects, prison is one of the nodes on which rests submission to the State and acceptance of social norms.
One of the worst prisons in the world, Sednaya, has apparently been completely emptied of its prisoners, allowing people to see their relatives whom they had not heard from for many years or even meet them for the first time. But let’s not be mistaken, while the «rebels» are emptying the prisons of the fallen regime, those under their control are already filled with opponents.
Revolutionaries have already fallen in the trap of supporting pro-State organisations, by third-worldism, against imperialism, seduced by kurdish communalism or the romanticism of the guerrilla. Unfortunately it is more a religious alliance, wishing to give direction to “the will of the people” than the insurgents in Syria who managed to overthrow the regime. Such structures using military practices will never be desirable. We want to carry an anti-authoritarian and without borders solidarity with the revolted in Syria, because our hopes in the Syrian revolution go beyond the perpetuation of a society held by arms, subjected to a celestial power as earthly, which requires prisons to exist.
While we welcome the liberation of syrians from the shackles of Assad’s clan, we can only hope that what was in seed during the 2011 insurrections can go even further, towards a self-organisation of all spheres of daily life, attack and the total questioning of power and property.
Here as there, so much remains to be destroyed. Prisons, Religions, States.
Happiness to the reunion of the freed, force to the ones locked up all over the world!
Anarchists, confident as wary,
France, December 9th 2024
Submitted Anonymously
[I am writing as an insurrectionary anarchist in the u$a and speaking to that context]
Unity Of Fields is a counter-info project that emerged in August of 2024. They describe their project as “a militant propaganda front against the US-NATO-zionist axis of imperialism.” It used to be Palestine Action US and has since changed its orientation. It has a website and some social media accounts, some of which have are banned at the time of this writing, they seem to be most popular on Telegram. Although it links to mostly anarchist sources for technical knowledge, Unity Of Fields does not seem to be an anarchist project and their political reading and media suggestions are all over the map. They suggest classic decolonial texts by Fanon and Cesaire, Black liberation writings from the BLA and BPP, texts from various Palestinian resistance factions, as well as authoritarian communists like Lenin and Mao among others.
Mostly their website is a clearing house for news, action analysis, and communiques. Many of the communiques posted are original submissions though they also repost from other counter-info projects and from social media. They also post some of their own original writings to their website. The fact that they post sketchy criminal stuff and link to technical advice on how to better carry out insurrectionary forms of struggle is probably a large part of why they are discussed in anarchist circles at allWhat does the emergence of a project like Unity Of Fields mean for us as anarchists? For one thing Unity Of Fields expands some spaces we occupy as anarchists — the combative struggle space and the digital counter-info space. We are clearly not the only ones re-coloring walls, opening windows, and carrying out our little sabotages and then writing about it, though at least for now others seem to look to our collective knowledge and experience for technical guidance. We are sharing a struggle space, one which is not limited to riotous moments and combative demonstrations, with other rebels who have made themselves visible to us. We are being included (at least some of the time) in a dialogue with other rebels through the sharing of our words and news of our actions, and anarchists have shared writings from Unity Of Fields on our own websites.
Local struggles against zionism, imperialism, and colonialism are visibly taking on more destructive, decentralized, anonymous, and autonomous approaches, a long-term dream of insurrectionary anarchists, yet new questions arise for us. How do we want to contend with other rebels with whom we have ideological differences and tactical similarities? How do we avoid getting lost in the vanguardist, unifying, nationalist tendencies that often accompany revolutionary leftist approaches to combative struggle? Are we interested in conspiring with these others outside the spontaneity of spiky demonstrations, occupations (and potentially riots), and if so how?
As anarchists we both seek to expand and connect anarchic forms of struggle yet also hold a healthy skepticism of unity with people who don’t hold anti-authoritarian views of freedom. Our history includes many betrayals by the left and progressives, from peace policing at demonstrations to executions and imprisonment from newly established revolutionary governments. The question of who to coalesce with and why is not an easy one, and one that is best addressed on a case by case basis. The appearance of Unity Of Fields potentially facilitates the dialogues and understanding that can help us better decide if and how we want to team up. As anarchists can often find ourselves isolated from others who we may have some political parallels with, the opening up of a “militant propaganda front” is a bridge to dialogue and learn across. This is not a call to join forces with anyone on the basis of being anti-zionist or anti-amerikkkan, it’s simply a reminder to always be analyzing the changing terrain around us and to think critically as we carry forward our struggles.
“Towards The Last Intifada” and “Towards Another Uprising” seem to be the beginnings of a dialogue among anarchists that address some of these questions. I look forward to more.
Relevant Readings:
Unity Of Fields: Opening Up A New Front
Archipelago – affinity, informal organization, and insurrectional projects
Voices from the Front Line Against the Occupation: Interview with Palestinian Anarchists
PS: Some Thoughts On Spectacle
Many if not most of the actions posted to Unity Of Fields are accompanied by some visual media, usually photos, sometimes videos. I want rebels to consider some pitfalls of spectacularizing our struggles. Every photo or video is another crumb for the state to eat up as part of their investigations. Digital media can offer up metadata about where and when and what kind of device it was recorded on if not properly removed. Footage that shows rebels gives the state valuable information, such as number of participants, approximate time of day, whether any passersby were present, as well as biometric data even when a person is masked. Height, skin tone, gait, approximate weight, and other information can be determined from even grainy footage.
Additionally there are the downsides of understanding our struggles in a quantitative way. This approach may blunt the qualitative changes that participating in struggle can bring us individually and collectively. Of course propaganda is useful, the seductive appeal of revolt is made easier with imagery, and these things must be weighted out, no struggle will be pure. I want to remind us that though this is the path that is being worn into the ground, it is not the only one, and should we choose it let us choose it intentionally.
This communique describes an attempt by a crew of fiends in Chicago to coordinate a disruption for a fundraising event benefitting the Illnois Friends of the IDF in March. This attempt ultimately failed to achieve its goals. The organizers hope to share what they learned during this attempt, as well as some information on the FIDF & its connection to the genocide of the Palestinian people, in hopes of inspiring & aiding the continued effort to disrupt this group.
As enemies of the IOF and the zionist state of israel, an autonomous crew began organizing against the “Friends of the IDF” Illinois Chapter. The Chapter planned to host its annual Young Leadership Bar Night & Fundraiser in the River North neighborhood of Chicago on Saturday night. They were disgusted at the thought of zionists safely gathering in bar in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Chicago to celebrate the genocide of Palestinians and raise funds to futher the genocide.
In deciding to disrupt a party to raise funds for the IOF’s bloodsoaked 35th Paratroopers Brigade, the crew identified 2 primary goals:
No money to the IOF. Materially prevent and/or disrupt the ability of zionists to make donations to the IOF (eg. ideally by shutting it down and/or ensuring the event does not take place as planned.)
Make zionists afraid. Instilling fear in zionists particularly to be public with their support, feel any comfort in gathering together, etc.This crew thought about their experience with past actions to disrupt similar fascist events, and concluded that a passive sidewalk protest was unlikely to acheive either of these goals. The FIDF is very aware that it has enemies in Chicago, so having to walk past some people holding signs was unlikely to dissuade the type of people who will attend this fundraiser. In fact, it would probably contribute to their persecution complex. A public-facing call to action would also probably result in a large NGO call for a counter-protest, and the resulting peace-policing would prevent truly disruptive action from being taken.
Based on this assessment, they decided to try and coordinate a disruption only within the group, and to keep the project off social media & out of big chats unless mass support became necessary. It seemed likely that something could be done in the building where the fundraiser was going to be held, with a small number of people, that would close down the location or otherwise force them to cancel the fundraiser.
The initial advertisement said the fundraiser would be at “a River North nightclub,” and the actual address was only available to those who purchased a nearly $100 ticket. The group made a list of River North nightclubs with party spaces and did some internet sleuthing. Certain locations were ruled out due to size and other factors. The group then emailed these spaces, posing as a group inquiring on booking the space on the same day during an overlapping time. Spaces that responded and said they were available were ruled out. A different fake persona reached out to all the spaces on the list, posing as a clueless zionist mother wanting to buy her son a ticket to the gala. “I heard you’re hosting the event. Can I buy a ticket directly from you?” One of the spaces, Bodega Imports, responded, “How did you know we were hosting the gala?” And from there the crew got to work.
The process of deciding on, researching, & preparing for a disruptive plan ended up being riddled with dead ends. Supplies were unavailable, difficult to acquire in non-traceable ways, or tactics proved ineffective in test experiments. The biggest hurdle was when the event seemingly changed venues 4 days before — something that would not have been discovered if a group member hadn’t been following the social media of some FIDF admin. A story post boasted the number of tickets sold (over 650), which vastly outpaced the capacity of Bodega Imports. The apparent location change, and lack of scouted information on the new location, sent the group back to the drawing board impossibly close to the event date.
Someone floated the possibility of coordinating a group to be on stand-by for an above-ground disruption if the other routes of action failed, and the group agreed. They still wanted to cancel the fundraiser, but didn’t want it to go completely un-disrupted if that plan failed. They reached out via DM to some friends, and formed a chat with people who agreed to go to River North on the night of the event.
Despite continued ambitious investigation attempts, right up until the start time of the event, the location was discovered way too late. One group member found out through social media sleuthing that the event was at a bistro and nightclub called Tao. Unfortunately, this information was revealed only after the fundraiser ended.
Of course, the crew was devastated that this celebration of genocide went off without disruption. They met to discuss what could be done differently in the future, and came up with the following points:
The investigation of possible locations could have been kept open longer, alongside the process of preparing tactics.
A group could have been formed to focus on preparing above-ground disruption tactics such as bird-dogging, protesting, or blockading the club. The group could be separate from, but in communication with, the original crew.
The examination of the social media of FIDF admin & associates could have started earlier, as this was a very useful source of information.
Some method of accessing FIDF's internal comms, such as by infiltration or purchasing a ticket to the event, could have been done early in the process.
The above plans would have required additional people to be brought in, as the group was at capacity with investigating the first location and preparing tactics. More people would involve having a nimbler vouching process. Of course, it was only in hindsight that the need for these plans was indentified -- but, bringing in more people may have helped generate these ideas & more.While the crew doesn’t generally regret their underground approach, they agreed that if they knew how tight the FIDF’s infosec was going to be, they would have moved differently from the beginning. Namely, they would not have counted so much on being able to identify & access the location, and in their ability to get the event canceled. They believe that having a larger group pursuing a wider array of investigative & disruptive tactics would have increased the likelihood that the event could be disrupted, and also, may have catalyzed a bigger movement to counter the FIDF’s operations. There was not general knowledge amongst Chicago anti-zionists, whether above- or below-ground, that the event was even happening, and having a media strategy to address this would have benefitted the organizing by adding more capacity. In the end, an over-reliance on below-ground organizing was a weakness of this particular project.
The rest of this document provides information about the FIDF, and about the particular brigade of the IOF that it financially supports. The crew hopes that this communique will be disseminated to anyone interested in continuing to organize against the FIDF and any similar groups funding of the genocide of the Palestinian people.
Where does the IL “Friends of the IDF” Chapter’s Blood Money Go?
The IL Chapter of the Friends of the IDF (ILFIDF) sponsors the 35th Paratroopers Brigade – an “elite airborne infantry” brigade. This level of sponsorship goes beyond what is typical for most chapters of FIDF which is to “adopt a battalion”. The 35th consists of three battalions, and like their benefactors at ILFIDF, they too are overachievers — when it comes to war crimes. Service is voluntary, and admission is highly competitive with 4 out of 5 applicants rejected in an average year.
As a result the Brigade has played a critical and leading role in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Formed in 1955, the 35th’s first commander was Ariel Sharon, and they were responsible for the theft of the Western Wall and Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1967. They have been involved in every major military operation since their formation including suppression of the Second Intifada, both invasions of Lebanon, and the invasion of Khan Younis in 2014.
Today the 35th Brigade is once again invading Khan Younis. Self-reported troop movements by the IOF have placed them in the vicinity of the Al Amal and Al Nasser Hospitals during the siege and subsequent invasions of each hospital. Whether directly responsibly or not, they are at the very least implicated in the shellings, assassinations, kidnappings, torture, disappearances, and forced displacement of patients, refugees, and medical/humanitarian workers, and destruction of aid, medical equipment, and public health infrastructure at these locations and throughout western Khan Younis.
The Brigade, along with the larger 98th Division with whom they are embedded, has also called in airstrikes to the Israeli Air Force on multiple occasions. While we cannot definitively link any one bombing to them, we can establish that the 98th is “the unit that is leading the offensive in Khan Younis” according to Brig. General Dan Goldfuss. The overwhelming majority of the targets and deaths have been civilian including strikes on the Khalil Al-Rahman and Khalid bin Al-Waleed Mosques, the Ahmed Abdelaziz school, as well as countless homes and dwellings. In addition to the unmitigated slaughter, this coordinated campaign of terror has forced hundreds of thousands to flee to Rafah, many of them people who had already fled to Khan Younis from the north.
We hold ILFIDF responsible for their enthusiastic and vicarious participation in the 35th Brigade’s atrocious conduct, and as such call on all people of conscience in the greater Chicagoland area to disrupt their operations by whatever means appropriate to the task at hand.
Submitted Anonymously
Anonymous submission to Unsalted Counter Info. Reposted
here’s a zine reportback of various encampments on University of Chicago’s campus.
Printable version here
Full text below:
29-30 April 2024
Northwestern University 2.0???
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? 🙂
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!
Submitted Anonymously
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?
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.
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
