https://scenes.noblogs.org/post/2023/10/26/how-to-have-a-fun-night-to-forget-zine/
Originally published on https://scenes.noblogs.org/post/2023/10/26/how-to-have-a-fun-night-to-forget-zine/
White Flag: Giving consent only when it feels freely given; Black Flag: Acting so that others do not feel coerced.
mhtac just had a skillshare—and we have to say, this was pretty cool for our first offical event, because we created trans community in downtown middleton for the first time. we taught each other how to make zines, compared notes on the heteronormativity of the suburbs, distroed resources, and generally were queer in a place that attempts to stamp out everything other than nuclear families with 2.5 children, small dogs, and houseplants they will inevitably kill. we know that we dream of more than suburban assimilation, and we’ve finally found others in middleton who share our anarchy. and we need reliable community, a network, a scene, a family. we need to queer public space while reveling in the collective realization that, even in the suburbs, we can still find the queerest of insurrections. (and yes, we are shamelessly imitating queer ultraviolence in this communiqué. sorry not sorry.)
So we are hosting a reading group, at the Prairie Cafe on November 18 from 10 AM to noon CT. To send the shivers of releasing power–the White Flag, surrender–through the profoundly closeted onlookers who will inevitably be horrified, and to awaken the warmth of autonomy–the Black Flag, transgression–in those who would dominate us and erase themselves. Our text is “White Flag / Black Flag: A Spiritual Anarchism Workbook,” a work that explores the individualist anarchist values of self-liberation without the domination of others fused with classical Chinese literary structures of chance and choice. The text is not easily Googleable, so here is a link: https://shakespearefordogs.files.wordpress.com/2018/0https://shakespearefordogs.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/wfbf-zine.pdf5/wfbf-zine.pdf. We invite you to explore the inherent unresolved tensions within its values, and to discover what repressed gyrations they awaken within you.
check out this event: https://isthmus.com/events/mhtac-reading-group-white-flag/?occ_dtstart=2023-11-18T10:00
look at our big gay website: https://linktr.ee/tranarchymiddletonhills
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In response to a comrade requesting information about potential targets
“This section includes companies involved in state violence and human rights violations as a part of occupations through:
· The Settlement Industry – companies that support and maintain illegal settlements in occupied lands.
· Exploitation of Natural Resources – companies involved in the exploitation and plundering of natural resources in occupied lands.
· Wall and Checkpoints – companies that support the system of severe travel restrictions Israel imposes on Palestinians.
· Weapons and Military Equipment – companies that provide militant groups in Palestine/Israel with weapons and militarized equipment specifically designed for and consistently used in war crimes or attacks on civilians.
· Discrimination – companies that discriminate against Palestinians in their services or goods, in the workplace, or by exploiting the unequal and discriminatory legal situation for their commercial benefit.”
https://investigate.afsc.org/occupations
Solidarity Means Attack!
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Solidarity with Gaza, Palestinian Anarchists
I have no idea what the fuck to do or how to organize right now, but some of us need to push past these performative liberal rallies. Please, if anyone has info to share on potential targets for action ranging from NVDA to spicier stuff, please share them here. I have found a number of names, companies, and state orgs who partook in a horrendous trade ‘mission’ with ‘Israeli’ military occupation entities in 2018.
Beth S. Gotthelf, 100 Bloomfield Hills Pkwy
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304 (unconfirmed), is the scum who organized the conference under her firm, Butzel Long, which has offices all over Michigan. Cignys in Saginaw, Challenger Communications in Albion, and RAMI in Grand Haven are some of the criminal corporations who went to network with settler military occupation companies. There’s more names in this article: https://www.butzel.com/news-Butzel-Long-attorney-Beth-Gotthelfs-passion-for-Defense-Industry-trade-missions-with-Israel. And anyone who knows how to dig could probably find more info to help blow these shitfucks and the Macomb County Economic Development pigs up with propaganda and uhhh… just propaganda, yeah.
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Middleton Hills Trans Anarchist Collective Forms, Distros Zines, Announces Trans Skillshare
“many blame queers for the decline of this society— we take pride in this. some believe that we intend to shred-to-bits this civilization and its moral fabric—they couldn’t be more accurate. we’re often described as depraved, decadent, and revolting—but oh, they ain’t seen nothing yet.” – be gay do crime
about ten minutes from middleton—a suburb of the vaguely neoliberal madison, wi– there is an even more heterosexual suburb of middleton called middleton hills. and two suburbs deep, surrounded by old white people and their dogs, these small-town queers, tranarchists, butches, femmes, riot grrls, edgy middle-schoolers, gender dreamers, theory nerds, outside agitators, and even a few accomplices have had enough. in middleton hills, there are absolutely no queer spaces, and indeed no spaces at all besides suburban homes, largely unused public parks, and a few hierarchically managed local businesses. instead of building queered networks of care, we read emma goldman in the darkness of our suburban homes, wondering if we’re the only soul in this suburb who’s ever dreamed of anything more than hoa violations and manicured lawns. but for all its isolating, perfect, orderly normalcy, middleton hills didn’t feel actively hostile until the terf propaganda showed up. a bigot had been putting up stickers for the hateful and transphobic women’s liberation radio network outside local businesses outside apartment buildings—and that was when we all decided to fight back.
it started with a distro targeting the terf; one otherwise unremarkable night, moonlight blanketing the endless sidewalks and alleyways of the suburbs, five or six of us anarchist queers covered the wlrn propaganda and put up messages of insurgent transness. spaces that had once looked unused, abandoned, and utterly sterile were, at least in our queer souls, no longer property but canvasses for trans and (actually) feminist art—because what is a suburb until you beautify it together, rendering it less idyllic and more riotously queer? and two weeks later, we distroed trans zines in a public park, blasting Against Me! and reveling in each other’s anarchy. the cis men who crossed the street to avoid us must have been at least a little envious, wishing they too could give themselves to beautiful, anarchic queerness.
after these moments of queer joy admidst the pain of suburban life, as annoying as the terf may be, this is not about the terf. this is not simply negation of a bigot but creation of a tranarchist subculture in middleton hills and the broader middleton/westside area. to that end, the newly formed middleton hills trans anarchist collective (https://linktr.ee/tranarchymiddletonhills) is hosting a trans skillshare at middleton library from 2:30 to 5 pm on saturday, october 28th! any tranarchist or accomplice is welcome to come teach about your skills and learn something new. some ideals: calling legislators about trans rights, how to get into community organizing, trans history 101, mutual aid + peer support, security culture, queer art, how to get involved with mhtac—and, you know, anything else your queer heart desires. feel free to bring resources, zines/stickers, and any trans-related or anarchist-organizing-related skill you’d like to teach others about. and above all, remember that suburbs are only heteronormative if we let them be. and that, even if you live in middleton hills, you’re not alone
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Chicago, IL: Military Recruiters’ Office Attacked in Memory of Jennifer Laude
Originally published on https://bbnews.noblogs.org/post/2023/10/14/chicago-il-military-recruiters-office-attacked-in-memory-of-jennifer-laude/
We smashed out windows and knocked over furniture at a military recruiters’ office in a suburb of Chicago last night.
In solidarity with Filipino/a/x anarchists’ calls to commemorate Ganda, we swarmed on a miserable little strip mall where black and brown youth are targeted for induction into the imperial machine. Our intention was to slow down this violent routine, even if just for a couple of hours.
We swung our hammers invoking Jennifer Laude’s life, remembering the deeds of Michele Angiolillo and Leon Czolgosz, and channeling our rage against the transmisogyny and white impunity of neo-colonial occupation (A).
Submitted Anonymously
Beyond the Razor Wire, the Streets
October 9, 2023
“Gaza just broke out of prison.” – مريم البرغوثي (Mariam Barghouti)
“A massive jailbreak this morning” – Radical Haifa
Many people are unaware that the u.s. government holds hundreds of political prisoners & prisoners of war captive for their participation in liberation struggles. Even fewer realize that among them are people caged for supporting Palestinians: the “Holy Land 5” are a group of people who the u.s. imprisoned for running a Palestinian charity after they were targeted by the zionist anti-defamation league & surveilled by the FBI.
In addition, many current u.s.-held political prisoners have made their support for the Palestinian cause clear. They include Mumia Abu-Jamal, Oso Blanco, Marius Mason, Malik Muhammad, Victor Puertas, Jessica Reznicek, & others.
Rather than get caught up in arguments about legitimate violence (or anything, really) with radlibs & zionists, we propose that opponents of colonial captivity worldwide seize this opportunity to support the antagonists of prison regimes, concentration camps, & police states. We can draw attention to their struggles through militant education, vocal public support, & attacks on the systems & structures that keep them prisoner.
If you’d like to share information or coordinate around anti-oppression prisoners held by nation-states other than the u.s., consider reaching out:
email username – dowwnas
email domain – proton.me
Posted On https://paper.wf/downas/
Shared from https://unravel.noblogs.org/beyond-the-razor-wire-the-streets/
Re-Highlighting Zines on Grand Rapids Police Department
These resources may not be new, but are still relevant and worth distributing.
“The Monsters We Know” pamphlet on the GRPD https://wmaf.noblogs.org/post/2020/06/04/the-monsters-we-know-grpd-pamphlet/
Miscellaneous graphics on the GRPD https://wmaf.noblogs.org/post/2020/06/04/anti-grpd-resources/
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List of Captive Bird Facilities in Minnesota Compiled and Leaked
Full list of Minnesota captive bird facilities, imprisoning native and naturalized birds. All of these animals can survive and rewild.
Oakwood Game Farm 30703 US-169, Princeton, MN 55371
100 acres. Large breeding stock of game birds including pheasants and chukar partridges.
100 acres. Large breeding stock of game birds including pheasants and chukar partridges.
Forsgren’s Pheasant Farm, INC.
Darrel Forsgren & Michael Forsgren
45242 U.S. Hwy 59 N
Pelican Rapids, MN 56572
Darrel Forsgren & Michael Forsgren
45242 U.S. Hwy 59 N
Pelican Rapids, MN 56572
Pheasants held captive.
Don & Sue Ellwanger
3604 625th Ave. Eagle Bend, MN 56446
3604 625th Ave. Eagle Bend, MN 56446
Pheasants, Mallard Ducks, and Chukars
Doug & Scott Starry, Silver Creek Game Birds
10237 Dillon Ave. NW
Maple Lake, MN 55358
10237 Dillon Ave. NW
Maple Lake, MN 55358
Pheasants, Chukar, and Quail
Rod & Lorie Tepley, Tepley’s Autumn Gold
28986 Oak Ridge Rd.
Browerville, MN 56438
28986 Oak Ridge Rd.
Browerville, MN 56438
Game birds held captive.
Joe, Gregg & Elden LeBlanc, Rice Creek Hunting
16543 Game Farm Rd.
Little Falls, MN 56345
16543 Game Farm Rd.
Little Falls, MN 56345
Game bird and canned hunting operation.
Antlers & Feathers, Quail Farm
14876 Game Farm Rd.
Little Falls, MN 56345
14876 Game Farm Rd.
Little Falls, MN 56345
Quail farm.
Midwest Gamebirds Shooting Preserve
6686 Partridge Rd.
Peirz, MN 56364
6686 Partridge Rd.
Peirz, MN 56364
Pheasant Farm with clubhouse.
R&M GAME FARM, INC.
Roger Wittmer
21935 CR. 85
Osakis, MN 56360
Roger Wittmer
21935 CR. 85
Osakis, MN 56360
Chukars imprisoned
RED OAK ROOSTERS, Luke Peterson
34078 Country Rd 12
Swanville, MN 56382
34078 Country Rd 12
Swanville, MN 56382
Captive pheasants.
RICE CREEK HUNTING & REC, INC
Joe & Gregg LeBlanc
16543 Game Farm Rd.
Little Falls, MN 56345
Joe & Gregg LeBlanc
16543 Game Farm Rd.
Little Falls, MN 56345
Gamebirds, quails, and pheasants
RUM RIVER PHEASANT FARM
Shawn Nichols
30925 County Rd 5 NW
Princeton, MN 55371
Shawn Nichols
30925 County Rd 5 NW
Princeton, MN 55371
Pheasants held captive.
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Calling on USians to Memorialize Jennifer Laude and call for American withdrawal from the Philippines
An Urgent Plea from the Philippines
To the brave comrades of Turtle Island:
Last year, we asked antifascists in the U.S. to act for us in commemorating our slain sister Jennifer Laude, killed by an American soldier. While there was some commemoration and remembrance of Jennifer Laude, this was done after her death anniversary on October 11 because the initial open letter calling for the commemoration initially fell on deaf ears. Earlier, Filipino/a/x autonomists, anarchists, and abolitionists in the so-called Philippines and its diasporas wrote an open letter asking US anti-fascists to resist the return of the murderer of Jennifer Laude to the United States, but his return was not resisted, and we received no report of any action protesting his return.
Let us review the facts for our comrades in Turtle Island:
Joseph Scott Pemberton committed a heinous hate crime by brutally murdering Jennifer Laude on October 11, 2014. Jennifer was murdered precisely because she was transgender, with Pemberton’s legal team even trying the so-called “trans panic” defense as a justification for her murder. The Philippine state appears to have sided with Pemberton’s excuse that Jennifer’s identity was a provocation in itself, inducing Pemberton to kill her. This defense frames Pemberton as the victim and sets a dangerous precedent for trans women in the archipelago and beyond.
Jennifer Laude is fondly remembered as a beautiful person who was confident in her identity and sexuality. She was well-loved by her family and friends and her nickname was “Ganda” meaning “beautiful.” However, Pemberton did not care for Jennifer Laude as a human being. He was unrepentant at his trial, even going so far as to dehumanize Jennifer Laude by referring to her as “it.”
Pemberton’s case was discussed again when the Philippine government considered him for an early release due to “good conduct” in early September, a charge that the Laude family questioned on the grounds that Pemberton could not have proved good behavior. Indeed, how could Pemberton have proven his “good conduct” if he had not interacted with any prisoner in his specially-designed cell?
The point is now moot, as Pemberton has received an absolute pardon from then-president Rodrigo Duterte. He can now walk free, absolved of any criminal liability. We have no doubt that the government of the United States has had a hand in Duterte’s granting of absolute pardon unto Pemberton.
As anti-fascists, we know all too well how the state employs a double standard in its policing between the privileged and the dispossessed. Pemberton’s whiteness protected him from facing any meaningful consequences, just as whiteness protected countless murderers in the so-called United States. His case has been rife with special treatment from the beginning, and his pardon from Duterte only confirms that. This murderer has known nothing but lenience and special treatment in his trial and during his imprisonment. He was detained separately during his trial and was the only occupant of a Camp Aguinaldo detainment facility that was specially constructed for him after his conviction. As the pandemic ripped through overcrowded prisons, the state in the Philippines dragged its feet on releasing non-violent offenders and condemned countless prisoners to a slow death by COVID-19. Yet the white man, the U.S. national, the violent offender, and a prisoner at no risk of contracting COVID-19 was the one prioritized for release. Upon his return to the so-called United States, the U.S. government went on record stating that the murderer would not face court-martial in the country.
The reason Pemberton’s whiteness protected him was due to the imperialized position of the Philippines in the U.S. empire. Since the U.S. invasion of the so-called Philippines in 1898, U.S. troops have enjoyed free rein in the archipelago. Pemberton was in the Philippines due to Balikatan, annual military exercises between U.S. and Philippine armed forces — a recurring program established following the ratification of the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).
The VFA is a reminder of the neocolonial presence of the United States in the Philippines. It allows for the presence of U.S. military personnel, aircraft, and vessels in the Philippines. It also complicates the custodial process for U.S. troops accused of committing crimes while in the archipelago. Though the Duterte administration moved to suspend the agreement earlier this year, Duterte reneged 3 months before pardoning Pemberton. Now, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. revived the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) and its VFA, promising to use the Philippines as a base for American imperialist interests in Asia.
Militarization of the archipelago by U.S. troops has been correlated time and again with violence and sexual assault against women and sex workers. The violence that occurs at the intersections of racism, sexism, fetishization, and dehumanization is compounded for trans women who experience violence simply for being trans.
We anti-fascists already know that there is no justice to be had from the state, whether Philippine or American. This transphobic murderer continues to walk free as far as the states in the Philippines and the United States are concerned, so we reiterate our call to anti-fascists in the so-called United States to act.
While U.S. anti-fascists acted valiantly in response to the killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and stepped up and defended communities where the state willfully failed, we have heard very little to suggest that Filipino/a/x trans lives matter in response to the return of the murderer to his country.
It has been nine years since the murderer took Ganda away from her family. There is still time to make up for this injustice.
We are writing this letter to ask antifascists and radicals of all strips on Turtle Island to act where we Filipinos could not. When the Spanish colonial government suppressed our people and murdered José Rizal, the anarchist Michele Angiolillo assassinated the Spanish Prime Minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo. When US President William McKinley conquered the Philippines and murdered our people by the thousands, he was assassinated in turn by anarchist Leon Czolgosz. We mention these examples of direct action not because we are asking you to kill the murderer of Laude, but rather to show you that the anarchist movement has historically acted where Filipinos cannot.
To be clear, we are not asking you to kill Joseph Scott Pemberton. As anarchists and abolitionists, we abhor such cycles of violence. Killing Pemberton will not bring Ganda back, nor will it be justice for the Trans and Queer comrades among us. What we want is this to never happen again. Do not allow Pemberton to forget the vile crime he committed. You must prevent Pemberton from committing harm again. You must petition Pemberton’s prospective universities and employers not to accept him because of his violent past. You must picket his home, workplaces, and schools with memorials to Jennifer Laude. You must reveal to the world what a hateful and spiteful little man he is. You must make his life hell.
In terms of social justice, you must organize for the United States to withdraw its military assets from our islands, the Philippines. Their hateful and imperialist military can never bring good to our country. The biggest reduction of sexual and intimate violence from American servicemen would be in terms of their total withdrawal from the Philippines.
Above all, we ask you to remember Jennifer Laude as a victim of white supremacy and include her in your commemorations of the victims of white supremacy. She must be spoken in the same sentences as George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and all other victims of U.S. imperialism and police violence. Remember her as Ganda, kind, and generous. Remember her family as brave and steadfast in their demands for justice. While Jennifer’s story is not well known in the so-called United States, the injustice surrounding her case deserves your anger and solidarity.
Filipinos/as/xs have thundered that trans lives matter and for justice for Jennifer Laude, but we regret that our voices were not joined by U.S. anti-fascists. Ganda’s death anniversary is on October 11. We expect you to remember. We expect you to act.
In anger and solidarity,
Filipino/a/x autonomists, anarchists, and abolitionists in the so-called Philippines and its diasporas
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