Some time recently in the early hours, autonomous individuals improved a billboard in the Hazelwood neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The billboard promotes a pro-forced-birth (“pro-life”) message and an organization that gives false medical information to pregnant people seeking abortions. It also moralizes this normal, beneficial, and simple medical procedure at a time when people in the United States are losing legal access to their bodily autonomy. The billboard said Cherish Life, Heart Beat 18 Days from Conception and had a picture of a baby on it.
The individuals climbed the billboard and used spray paint to counter the harmful messaging. NO FORCED BIRTH was painted twice, once in white underneath the lettering and once in blue on the baby’s head.
Abortion is only one prong of reproductive justice (See https://www.sistersong.net/reproductive-justice for more information), but it is a prong that is quickly being taken away from us. Pro-forced-birth organizations have been and continued to be allowed to operate with minimal, if any, consequences. If we are to defend and expand abortion access, and ultimately achieve full reproductive justice, those of us who value bodily autonomy must oppose these bigots through direct confrontation and sabotage. Think of them like you would white nationalists, and you’ll know what to do.
If you have some extra money, one way to help local people seeking abortions is to donate to Western PA Fund for Choice, https://www.wpafundforchoice.org/ . All money directly funds someone’s abortion!
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Autonomous individuals used bicycle locks to shut down a Shell gas station in Pittsburgh. Four pump stations, each with two unleaded fuel dispensers, were disabled by pulling the fuel nozzle handles toward metal bars surrounding the pump stations, then locking the nozzle handles to the metal bars. Each lock had the words “Shell Kills” attached to it along with Shell’s logo in the form of a skull.
This direct action temporarily disabled a part of the fossil fuel system, imposing costs on Shell. Others are encouraged to replicate this action, as well as use other direct action tactics to destroy fossil fuel companies like Shell. The individuals also wished to express solidarity with protestors across the world who recently took part in the Global Coastline Rebellion against Shell and other fossil fuel companies.
The time to wait for these companies to stop their assault is over. Politicians will not and cannot take the necessary action. Direct action is needed to impose costs on these companies, so they will no longer stand in the way of a liveable future for the world.
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The Filler collective endorses this open letter of solidarity, originally published by Kontra Media on 02.17.22
As is well known, and the news is already in the mainstream media that combatant Jon Sondang Pakpahan was arrested by police in connection with the molotov throwing to Polantas Post in Kolong Tol Jatiwarna, Bekasi City on Wednesday, February 16, 2022 in the early hours of Wednesday, February 16, 2022.
The action is an effort of solidarity with the citizens of Wadas in Central Java who were affected by the Bener Dam project by the Government of Indonesia. The action was also a form of protest against the Indonesian state that committed violence against Wadas citizens through its police officers.
However, since we got the news of Jon’s arrest until now, we have difficulty getting access to advocacy, especially from the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI). That’s because Jon isn’t from any organization. Although Jon is currently accompanied by his own brother, YLBHI should not refuse to accompany Jon on the basis that he is not a member of any collective or organization considering it is his right as an individual to get legal assistance.
We need to understand together, what Jon did, by throwing molotov at the post that belongs to the state is not comparable to what the state has damaged the Wadas area and it also makes its citizens suffer. Whether collective solidarity or individual solidarity, both are equal in our eyes. What other imagery needs to be maintained in the Wadas area? Wadas is broken, and it is the state that is destroying it. Direct your anger to the country.
Therefore, we are in solidarity with Jon, from local to international, to urge YLBHI and its derivatives to accompany each collective or individual who has difficulty gaining access to the advocate. We urge YLBHI to assist Jon and similar cases that may occur in the future.
Collectives and individuals who are in solidarity with the combatant, Jon.
Lokal: Luzzel (Bandung) M.A.F ISBI & Teater Akar Rumput (Bandung) Masrumxx (Bandung) OPS (Bandung) BOKSI (Bogor Depok Bekasi) Himapot (Ciamis) Konga (Gorontalo) LPM Merah Maron UNG (Gorontalo) LPM Humanika IAIN Sultan Amai (Gorontalo) Dengansegalaproblema (Lampung) Diogenes (Nusantara) Individu Merdeka (Nusantara) Kontra-Media (Nusantara) Okupasi Ruang (Nusantara) Palang Hitam (Nusantara) Ramu (Nusantara) Suicide Circle (Nusantara) Unknown People (Nusantara) East Priangan Student Union (Priangan Timur) Lepas Arah Zine (Tasikmalaya) Afiflo (Yogyakarta)
Surat Terbuka Seperti yang telah diketahui bersama, dan pemberitaannya pun sudah ada dalam media mainstream bahwa kombatan Jon Sondang Pakpahan ditangkap polisi terkait aksi berupa pelemparan molotov ke Pos Polantas di Kolong Tol Jatiwarna, Kota Bekasi pada Rabu, 16 Februari 2022 dini hari. Aksi tersebut adalah upaya solidaritas terhadap warga Wadas di Jawa Tengah yang terkena proyek Bendungan Bener oleh Pemerintah Indonesia. Aksi itu juga merupakan bentuk protes terhadap Negara Indonesia yang melakukan kekerasan terhadap warga Wadas melalui aparat kepolisiannya. Namun, sejak kami mendapat kabar tertangkapnya Jon hingga saat ini, kami kesulitan mendapatkan akses advokasi terutama dari Yayasan Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Indonesia (YLBHI). Hal itu dikatakan karena Jon bukan dari organisasi mana pun. Meski saat ini Jon sudah didampingi oleh kakaknya sendiri, tapi tak seharusnya YLBHI menolak mendampingi Jon atas dasar dia bukan anggota dari kolektif atau organisasi mana pun mengingat itu haknya sebagai individu untuk mendapat bantuan hukum. Perlu untuk kita pahami bersama, apa yang dilakukan Jon, dengan melempar molotov ke pos polantas yang merupakan milik negara itu tak sebanding dengan apa yang sudah dirusak negara terhadap daerah Wadas dan hal itu pun membuat warganya menderita. Baik solidaritas kolektif atau solidaritas individu, keduanya sama saja di mata kami. Citra apa lagi yang perlu dijaga di daerah Wadas? Wadas sudah rusak, dan negara lah yang merusaknya. Arahkan amarah kalian kepada negara. Sebab itu, kami bersolidaritas terhadap Jon, dari lokal hingga internasional, untuk mendesak YLBHI dan turunannya untuk mendampingi tiap kolektif atau individu yang sulit mendapatkan akses pengadvokasian. Kami mendesak YLBHI untuk mendampingi Jon dan kasus serupa yang mungkin terjadi ke depannya. * Kolektif dan individu yang bersolidaritas kepada kombatan Jon.
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While millionaires in the fossil fuel industry will self-describe as pioneers of clean energy, there are environmental activists who will paint more accurate labels at their residences. This week “Climate Criminal” was spray painted with an arrow pointed to the entrance of Murry Gerber’s mansion: 75 Woodland Rd. Pittsburgh, Pa.
Murry Gerber’s estimated net worth is at least 470 million dollars as of Dec 2021. He is an active board member of BlackRock and has been since 2000. He is also a director at Halliburton: top profiteer of the war in Afghanistan. BlackRock fails to acknowledge the conflict of interests of their climate change commitments with having Gerber as their Lead Independent Director(LID). Gerber is still heavily invested in the fossil fuels industry; he overlaps three active directorships with BlackRock, Halliburton, and U.S. Steel.
Murry Gerber was a former CEO of Coral Energy (an affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell) for three years (1995-98); and he was also the former chairman, CEO, and president of EQT for over 20 years. The Shell cracker plant, located on the Ohio river in Monaca, Pa, is projected to produce 1.6 million metric tons of plastic pellets annually starting this year. EQT is responsible for the 303 miles of the Mountain Valley Pipeline and is the largest natural gas producer in the Appalachian Basin. The fracking boom that poisons Appalachia and its inhabitants added millions to Murry Gerber’s pockets.
The consequences of climate change continues to incur at the expense of those who do not inhabit gated mansions. It is up to environmental activists to call out these climate criminals at their own residences. This man is a criminal, and those who work to protect the environment will continue to label these big oil profiteers as the crooks they are.
You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…
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Our crew spent the other night painting and covering up Patriot Front stickers around East Liberty. Some uppity jag in a brand new Audi pulled up and threatened to call the cops. One of us walked up to try and de-escalate.
With the jag’s attention focused on our homie approaching the driver side window, the other two of us casually circled around the vehicle. The jag didn’t realize we were giving him an out, not the other way around.
He pulled out his phone, probably expecting us to scatter as he dialed. But three slashed tires later he quickly agreed to just call a tow truck instead, and we agreed to go home. We changed clothes and got home safe.
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[This submission from Greek comrades was received on 01.12.22]
Dear Comrades,
Revolutionary greetings from Greece. We are contacting you with two initiatives with which we are trying to start a dialogue with the wider subversive movement on an international level. We, an initiative of anarchists based in Athens, Greece, call upon international solidarity with imprisoned revolutionary anarchist Dimitris Chatzivasileiadis, who is currently serving a 16-year prison sentence for his armed revolutionary struggle in Greece and his involvement in the urban guerilla organization, Revolutionary Self-Defense.
The organization of Revolutionary Self-Defense carried out 5 armed attacks against different international mechanisms of power in the years from 2014-2017 (Read more in the attached links).
Dimitris Hatzivasileiadis was captured in August 2020 after 18-months of clandestinity. He has taken the political responsibility for his involvement with the organization and it’s actions. The Court of Appeal is scheduled to start on the 9th of February 2022.
What is on trial is nothing less than the guerilla struggle itself – both its history and its future.
As such, we have launched two separate initiatives:
International Campaign for Revolutionary Anarchism and Solidarity with Revolutionary Prisoners
Campaign for Financial Support: International Solidarity with Revolutionary Anarchist Prisoner Dimitris Hatzivasileiadis
The comrade is serving a 16-year prison sentence for his revolutionary struggle. As such, there is a continuous need for financial support for the comrade and the organization of solidarity on the ground. The financial support of incarcerated revolutionaries is not only an act of solidarity with the fighters who gave everything for our collective liberation and thus a part of our collective self-defense; it is also a crucial tool in the strengthening of the international revolutionary struggle towards the reconstruction of our world based on the principles of freedom: horizontalism, self-organization and equal solidarity. Link for the financial campaign: https://www.firefund.net/dimitris
These are separate initiatives which of course can be combined in solidarity events. However, please note that financial support is not a prerequisite for participation in the political discussion proposed in the campaign for revolutionary anarchism.
In solidarity, – some anarchists in greece
Graffiti in Athens: “Let us reinforce the guerilla struggle. Bullets to the servants of authority. – Organization of Revolutionary Self-Defense.”
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Submission from Ohio Valley Environmental Resistance (OVER) received on 10.29.21
EATING PLASTIC TRASH TO CONNECT WITH LIFE Resisting the Settler Habit of Running Away through Ritual
The Ohio Valley Environmental Resistance (OVER), made up of climate justice activists from around southwestern Pennsylvania / occupied Haudenosaunee lands, held a public spiritual ceremony at the City-County Building, Pittsburgh, PA, 15219 on Saturday, October 23rd, to call attention to the pain and suffering that plastic pollution is currently causing, and to bring attention to how the Shell Ethane Cracker Plant, which will create 1 million metric tons of new plastic every year in the southwestern Pennsylvania region. The ritual began at noon and was called “Plastic for Lunch.”
About 12 people entered a sacred circle, sang songs about our connectedness to the Earth, gave testimony about how plastic pollution affects them, and at the height of the ritual, we ate small pieces of plastic called “nurdles,” a similar product to what the Shell Ethane Cracker Plant will produce.
We ate pieces of trash made with chemicals that are likely carcinogenic, pieces of corrupted molecules that are suspected of causing the gradual sterilization of people with y chormozomes without their consent, pieces of plastic that sicken and kill living beings throughout the world, and we did it with reverence. Plastic was our profane sacrament, our eucharist befouled.
A refrain sounded through the domes of the public hall: “What happens to the land happens to me.
“We are part of the ecosystem. We cannot escape it.” — Officiant during the Concluding Rites
People who look like me and the other participants in this ritual were the children of settlers from the continent of Europe. While there are exceptions, for the most part our ancestors fled their homelands of their own volition. The dominant/white/settler culture’s myth goes that they fled out of religious or political persecution.
Resources were running low. Nobility and royals hoarded material goods. The poor roiled with deep hunger, exhaustion, and boiling rage. Those who could afford to buy a ticket on a boat to cross the Atlantic did so.
Leave it to burn. Break your ties. Forego your obligations. Let other fix all the problems you leave behind. ~~~
I have heard people talk about “getting out of this place” for my entire life. They want to get away from the country. They want to get away from the city. They want to get away from their blood families. They want to get away from poor employment or educational opportunities. They want to get away from this or that region, from this or that climate, from blighted neighborhoods.
Sometimes they talk of starting up communes or eco-villages, living in harmony with the natural world, somewhere far, far away from the toxic dump they currently deign to inhabit.
Someone else can deal with this.You are not rooted in place.You can leave.You can start again. And again and again and again.Just pick up and leave it all.You have no obligation to this place. ~~~
I have a foot in the new age world. Within that subculture, there is much talk about raising one’s vibration, about ascending into the 5th dimension, about communicating with the higher self and higher astral/extraterrestrial/dimensional beings and heavenly realms, and higher this and higher that…
High above the Earth and its problems.
Away from the physical, away from the soil, the flesh, the filth, the baseborn mess of this world. Away from the confusion and terrors that the lowly beings of this world offer.
Away from limits.
Why worry about this place when you can transcend it all?You can’t possibly be this place. You can’t possibly share this place’s fate. You have better things ahead than a place like this.
“If the elements that give us life are poisoned, if our kin, the non-human animals and plants are poisoned, then we are also poisoned.” — Officiant during the Statement of Intention
Settler culture is a culture of running away. If the land is too desecrated to grow food, if the forests have all been cut down, if the water is too fouled to drink, settler culture tells us that it is acceptable to just run away from those problems and then recreate them somewhere else. Settler culture teaches us to dissociate from what is happening to the physical world. It teaches us the we are somehow “above” the very elements that make up our bodies and nourish us. The settler culture is expressing itself in new ways through the hype to colonize Mars and to become further enmeshed with high technology. Instead of accepting that our fates are tied to a living planet and accepting the responsibility that such a fact entails, we can just blast off into space. We can just upload our minds into the Cloud. We can just run away again.
As I took part in OVER’s ritual and ate plastic, these thoughts came to me.
I didn’t want to ascend. I didn’t want to go to heaven. I didn’t want to commune with otherworldly beings, or detox myself from dangerous chemicals, or hole myself up in an eco-village that shunned all but the purest of everything. I didn’t want to rise above anything or find a place that matched my fucking personal brand.
I wanted to sink down. I wanted the dark. I wanted to cover myself in the same industrial waste that my plant and non-human animal relatives were subjected to. I wanted to feel what they felt. I wanted more than to be a caretaker or a steward. I wanted to be among them as they are among each other.
Suddenly, my obligations became clear. Within the numb haze of isolation that so many people who look like me experience, a rickety bridge appeared. The plastic filth, the fracking waste, the heavy metals, and the smog are part of my ecosystem. And I am part of the ecosystem. I cannot escape it, no matter how much I run away. All of those things that we claim to revile, those things come from the settler culture. Those things areus.
I wish to break an ancestral curse. When the infernal nightmare of settler culture, the culture I was indoctrinated in, widens its gape into the Abyss, I will not run away. Not this time. Let me eat plastic with the deer. Let me breathe poisoned air with the walnut trees. Let me drink water clouded with fracking waste with the ducks. Let me face myself and the culture that shaped me, head on.
The ritual that OVER designed certainly was to call attention to Shell’s plastic death factory in Monaca, PA, and to emphasize the suffering that plastic pollution causes. There was also a covert message we wanted to convey to the world and to our own selves:
No more running away.
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The following report-backs were sent in to Filler throughout September, 2021.
Each report is autonomous, meaning that it only represents the ideas and actions of the author(s). This rundown is comprised entirely of submissions and is not meant to be a definitive list of recent autonomous action. All reports were sent in anonymously. Dates represent the day that the report was received, and not necessarily the day the action took place.
09.02.21
“On Saturday August 28th, Pittsburgh protesters occupied the area outside the home of Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald in Squirrel Hill for most of the day to call for his resignation.”
“We wanted to test out a few methods for slashing tires, and so we went on a walk. We dressed in grey bloc, avoided main streets, left our phones behind, and enjoyed a meandering route. We targeted a CMU vehicle, a gentrifying developer’s vehicle, a corporate vehicle, and a good number of those stupid scooter things cause theyre not funny and it pisses us off that their cutting public transit in favor of “green” individualized data mining operations (btw the alarms went off on all of the scooters)
Theres two methods we liked best. First, the quick intuitive method which is just taking a knife and quickly slashing- grip so your thumb is over the hilt, thrust into the side of the tire not the top, then quickly drag in the direction of the sharp end of the blade. Keep your head away cause that burst of air is loud af. Second, the quiet and discreet method which is to puncture with an awl. Takes a while to deflate if you do it right, which means the release of air is much quieter. Punctured tires can be patched though so keep that in mind.
We know this shit isn’t going to make much of a difference politically or whatever. But we learned a lot about how we operate together, practiced a bit of sabotage, had some fun and got a workout in. Maybe someday we’ll do this again as part of a long term strategy or whatever but for now it sure as hell beats netflix.
– some dumb kids”
09.13.21
“An autonomous delivery robot got got. It was one of those stupid looking ones that makes faces and has some dude with an ipad following it from a block away, he was too far away to do shit about it lol.”
09.20.21
“Your chairman sucks and so does your wheatpasting. Fuck authoritarians.”
[An editorial note for context: Flyers promoting a demonstration commemorating the life of Shining Path’s leader, Chairman Gonzalo, were torn down around Pittsburgh. The legacy of Shining Path is homophobia, indiscriminate violence, punitive “justice,” simultaneous prohibition & drug trafficking. Filler agrees with the author of this brief report: the legacy of Shining Path has no home in Pittsburgh. We can still empathize, because no one should die in prison. That being said, anarchists should translate this sentiment into abolitionist action, and not into a fencewalker’s “Left unity” that would have us ignore the real political differences that we have with authoritarian communists.]
09.23.21
“Early in the morning of September 23rd, an autonomous activist dropped a banner off of the overpass along Tripoli Street. The banner was made to express solidarity with the climate strike happening on Friday, September 24th. Kill the cop/boss/principal in your head and stop participating in capitalist endevours for a day. Stop being complicit in the destruction of our only home; join the strike!“
09.30.21
“Some time early one morning, an autonomous person or group of persons dropped a banner on the fence of the ball field along Liberty Avenue. The banner reads “Fitzgerald Must Resign.” To the sides of the text are two red circles with a line that crosses out the words “Petro” and “Jail.”
The banner was hung as a sign of solidarity and encouragement for the recent collaborative efforts between local prison abolitionists and anti-petro activists to hold Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald accountable. Fitzgerald has been negligent in his responsibilites to the Allegheny County Jail (ACJ), where three people recently died and torture continues to take place. Fitzgerald has not been attending Jail Oversight Board meetings, as his position requires of him. He has the power to stop many of the heinous acts happening at ACJ. Yet, he does not.
Fitzgerald has also actively encouraged environmental violence to be inflicted upon the residents of the Southwestern PA region by championing fracking and petrochemical facilities. Both industrial practices infringe upon our basic human rights to clean water and living spaces that are free from toxic substances. Fitzgerald’s greed-fueled deeds can also be extrapolated to the entire human population as fracking and petrochemical facilities substaintially contribute to the climate crisis.
For these reasons, Pittsburgh activists are calling for the resignation of Rich Fitzgerald. His harmful (in)actions have proven him to be unfit for the position of power he holds and unfit to hold any future positions of power.“
Editorial side note / Filler Distro updates: Lately the distro crew has been busy with tabling and printing, so we haven’t been as active with Filler‘s web presence. As a result we haven’t been publishing all of the reports that we’ve received, but this rundown should catch us up. If you sent in a submission and are still waiting for us to publish it or reply, don’t hesitate to reach out and be like “yo what the hell is taking you posers so long” because chances are we either missed it or forgot. Thanks for your patience.
We’ve been distributing regional autonomous/anarchist news, ideas, music, zines and counter-information since 2012, but Filler Distro still isn’t an “organization.” So please keep in mind that we’re just an informal affinity group / network that does Filler (printing/formating zines, tabling, filling mail-orders, reading and study groups, publishing reports on the website, tweeting dumb shit, etc.) whenever we get around to it. Fuck work, fuck professionalism.
Also, we are aware of thesituation with protonmail. For the time being, we will be continuing to use protonmail as our primary public email address. Filler does not retain any records or metadata of the original submissions that we receive via protonmail, except in cases of correspondence with zine authors. That being said, we encourage all potential contributors to consider their individual threat models before submitting their content to us.
You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…
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Send reports in email form, as an attachment, or better yet, on an easy to use (and free) Riseup Pad or CryptPad.
