Distro – Page 2 – Unsalted Counter Info

Find Each Other, Build Your Communities: Full Moon Anarchist Gatherings

Posted on 2023/11/19 - 2024/06/05 by unsalted

Monthly gatherings centering anti-authoritarian politics and values, rather than ditching them in favor of ‘left unity’. A place for anti-authoritarians to meet each other, build relationship beyond their immediate circles, and cross-pollinate.

If you know how to throw a party, you know how to host a full moon anarchist gathering!

A few of us have been doing this over the summer, and we think people in other areas might like to try it for themselves. We wanted to socialize with all our anarchist friends, we lack a space in our area that explicitly centers anti-authoritarian values rather than an impulsive “left unity”, and we wanted to encourage more anarchist connection and activity. Lots of anarchists here work on their own projects or in affinity groups and don’t often meet each other or know what others are up to. A full moon gathering is social and enjoyable, rather than a meeting or narrowly-focused project, and it helps us meet and share ideas outside our immediate circles. It’s even a chance for friends from nearby towns to visit and connect!

How?

It’s just a regular potluck! Everyone brings food so that cooking labor is shared and doesn’t fall on only a few people. Labeling food for allergies & dietary needs is a MUST for this. We’ve been hosting in backyards and encourage people to bring chairs and firewood, help with setup and cleanup, and generally help the event happen and make it what they want it to be. We individually invite people with a forwardable invite with all the event info, saying they can feel free to share with their anti-authoritarian friends. This spreads along existing relationships rather than being fully open, which is helpful for hosting these at our homes. Being on the full moon makes it a memorable regular date that naturally moves so people aren’t always shut out by their work schedule. Continue reading “Find Each Other, Build Your Communities: Full Moon Anarchist Gatherings” →

Middleton Hills Trans Anarchist Collective Forms, Distros Zines, Announces Trans Skillshare

Posted on 2023/10/20 - 2023/10/25 by unsalted

“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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Re-Highlighting Zines on Grand Rapids Police Department

Posted on 2023/10/06 - 2023/10/25 by unsalted

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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Regional Tree Distros Give Away Thousands of Trees

Posted on 2023/05/16 - 2023/05/28 by unsalted

Bins of very young Persimmon, Elderberry and Chokecherry trees sit on a tarp as people grab them from out of frame.

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This spring saw a number of radical free tree distribution events across the great lakes region. Here are quick report-backs from just two of the many events that happened.

Chicago Tree Distro

This will be a brief reportback highlighting some of the methods, successes, and complications of Chicago’s tree distribution project, in hopes that we can share a bit of useful experience with others who want to do the same.

On distributing trees:

We distributed nearly 2000 trees with a combination of two “first-come, first-served” distribution events and a limited number of reserved tree orders for public or communal plantings.
The reservation system got us connected with schools, churches, guerrilla gardeners, urban farms, ecological restoration projects, community gardens, and at least one land project out in the distant suburbs.
The first-come, first-served format reduces some administrative overhead (no need to keep track of hundreds of specific tree orders), but does introduce a few complicating factors:
- You will either run out of trees, or you will have leftover trees. The latter is probably preferable; running out of trees can be discouraging to people who traveled to attend the distribution event. If at all possible, try to find somewhere that can accept your leftovers, whether that’s a farm or orchard or some large institution.
- There will probably be a huge rush at the beginning of your distribution event. However long you think it will take you to set up the event, give yourself double that time instead.
Consider combining your tree distribution with some other event. Our first distro was just before a fundraiser dance party for Atlanta forest defenders; our second distro was at an outdoor rave in a public park. The second distro especially wound up with a lot of participation from people who hadn’t heard about it beforehand.
Rather than labeling every tree with writing, consider a color-coding system. You can wrap a small strip of colored masking tape around each tree and have the color key listed on a handout and/or posted online.

On tabling:

People were very enthusiastic about picking up zines at both events; don’t waste the opportunity to have a curated literature table!

On costs:

We didn’t solicit donations; we had a donation jar and a Venmo account visible at the events and wound up making back roughly the amount we spent on the trees. Overall we spent more than we made, but I’d consider it worthwhile for the sake of trees planted and connections built.
If we want to cover costs more thoroughly in the future, we might consider suggested donations and/or a system where individuals can pay a small fee to reserve trees in advance.

We’re still pretty exhausted from the effort of putting these events together and would like to write a more structured and comprehensive reportback soon, but hopefully this summary offers some useful insight.

Free Tree Saplings Distributed in Ypsilanti

We distributed approximately 500 very young saplings in Ypsilanti, entirely for free. The species distributed either produced something edible such as American Chestnut, or were primarily pollinators such as Redbud. People enjoyed food, music from a bluetooth speaker, and a free table of zines and Earthbound Farmer’s Almanacs. The trees were free to anyone who wanted them, but in an effort to prioritize typically marginalized people a BIPOC-only reservation form was used to set some trees aside.

Free tree giveaways are popular. The local county and cities have learned this and have done their own giveaways, though typically with lower tree limits and no species that produce food. Our tree giveaway has a more ambitious vision than distributing glorified lawn furniture, or greenwashing business as usual.

Distributing trees that produce food is a long-term investment in food autonomy, and an excellent opportunity to build community and connect other people thinking about these issues. Most trees won’t produce fruit for 5 years at least, but planting hundreds of them each year helps create conditions for abundance in the future. The tree giveaway is a hopeful step towards a future where more of our food is produced where we live and freely shared. A future where people repair, heal and tend to the ecosystems they’re in, rather than destroy them for profit. A future with more resilient communities better able to survive and push back against a future of domination from all sides and ecological destruction.

We got to meet new people, give away trees, have good conversations and enjoy pizza together. Overall the distro went well, and we hope to do it again next spring even better!