Statement from “some anti-fascists based in the East End.” Submission received on 06.14.20
Timeline of Events
(Confirmed) Around 6pm on Saturday, June 13th, approximately 15 fascists (some affiliated with the Nazi skinhead gang, Keystone United) attempted to picketThe Big IdeaCooperative Bookstore & Café in Bloomfield. Within minutes, dozens of East Enders turned out to oppose the Neo-Nazis.
(Confirmed) Around 6:30, the fascists split into smaller groups and put up propaganda flyers around the neighborhood. Local anti-fascists monitored the situation, following the fascists from a distance and filming their activities.
(Unconfirmed) Around 6:45, one fascist assaulted someone who was documenting his activities outside of Silky’s Bar on Liberty Ave.
(Confirmed) Around 6:45, police arrived at the scene outside of Silky’s Bar. The police and several others separated the fascists from the locals, and two officers briefly spoke to two of the Neo-Nazis. A few minutes later the police and the Nazis shook hands and went their separate ways.
(Confirmed) A few blocks up the street, anothersplinter group of four Nazis began taunting ~10 local anti-fascists and other residents outside of Lou’s Corner Bar. As the video shows, the Nazis went to their parked vehicle. One of them pulled a handgun out of the backseat, chambered a round, and threatened the people filming him. The Neo-Nazis drove off shortly after.
(Unconfirmed) The gunman may be Keystone United member Josh Martin.
Pittsburgh is no stranger to the fascist movement’s violence. The tragic attack on theTree of Life Synagoguein October 2018 is still fresh in our memories. In 2009, a white supremacist named Richard Poplawski made the front page for murdering three Pittsburgh police officers (it is worth noting that the police killings of Paul Palmer and Lamar W. Smithearlier that same year went largely ignored by the media).
In July 2018, the last time Keystone United gathered in Pittsburgh, six members of the gang were arrested for their racially-motivated attackon Paul Morris in Avalon.
Keystone United is not welcome in Pittsburgh; East Enders proved that on Saturday.Fascist groups like KU have become emboldened by growing national unrest. Pittsburgh antifa has returned that boldness in kind.Even though many local anti-racists were attending Black Lives Matter protests in other parts of the city, Pittsburghers stayed vigilant and communicative. Many different anti-racist organizations and individuals came together and helped mobilize the neighborhood to successfully disrupt the Neo-Nazi picket.
We will continue to confront them by any means necessary, and our neighborhoods will continue to turn the fuck out. Hate has no home here.
Keystone United may have retreated for now, but it is likely that they are staying with their local contacts and will remain in town for the weekend. So please, please be safe yinz. Roll with a crew if you plan on hitting the bars.
If you think you’ve spotted a group of Nazis and want to alert the community, remember the acronym SALUTE.
Make sure you come prepared if you intend to document their activities or to intervene in racist / sexist / homophobic / transphobic attacks. Always protect your identity: bring a mask, cover your tattoos, bring a change of clothes. When leaving an encounter, remember to take three turns to check for tail; you don’t want them to know where you live or what kind of car you drive. If you cannot risk a confrontation, then perhaps you can assist with coordinating communications, transportation, provide safe houses, child/pet care, alert your neighbors… anti-fascism is a community effort!
Remember: Antifa is not an organization you can join. Anti-fascism is a position of community self-defense; it is something that you do. Let’s take action to protect ourselves, our friends, and our neighbors.
On the night of March 5th, 2020, the Pittsburgh police murdered Elijah Brewer, a 25 year-old black man from Mt. Oliver. There were no protests, no hashtags… most of Pittsburgh didn’t even seem to notice. But why?
Both the corporate media and the white liberal-left are guilty of perpetuating the silence around Elijah’s murder. The corporate media focused on sensationalizing unverified police speculations, painting Elijah as nothing more than a criminal before abruptly discontinuing coverage of the story. Likely turned off by the media’s portrayal of Elijah, Pittsburgh’s liberal-left largely dismissed or ignored his murder.
In seizing this historical moment, let us end this silence.
1) The Corporate Media
Allegheny County police Superintendent Coleman McDonough held one press conference. Despite having attended the exact same press conference, nearly every corporate media outlet presents a strikingly different narrative of events.
At 6:55pm, 3 detectives and 1 intelligence officer in an unmarked GMC Yukon pulled over Elijah Brewer (the passenger) and his friend (the driver remains unnamed) around the 200 block of East Ohio Street. The officers asked both men to step out of the vehicle…
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, WESA, WPXI, andKDKA (CBS Pittsburgh) all report that Elijah fired first, possibly twice, and that an unknown number of detectives then “returned fire” with an unknown number of bullets, killing Elijah.
Meanwhile, WTAE, PATCH, andTribLive report that it is unclear who shot first.
During the alleged firefight, one officer was reportedly wounded by gunfire originating from…
Naturally, none of what has been reported has been verified given that not one of the four officers wore a body-camera, the undercover vehicle had no dashboard camera, and the police say there are no known security cameras in the area and that they’d like help finding one. Allegheny County police Superintendent Coleman McDonough explained this in hispress conference by stating that all four of the detectives were simultaneously wearing official police vests and unmarked plainclothes, which makes perfect sense if you don’t think about it.
More could be said, but this is nothing new. The police and the capitalist media are just tools of a white supremacist settler state; the “facts” that get reported are either the stories that sell to racist suburbanites, or they are the stories spoon-fed to journalists by state officials. For all we know, the gun could’ve been planted.
2) The Liberal-Left
The liberal-left is equally responsible for the silence around Elijah’s murder. It is possible that some leftists in Pittsburgh may have ignored this instance of police violence because they believed one of the various corporate media narratives. Others maybe remained quiet because felt that it would be too difficult to exploit this tragedy to recruit for their organization, as that would require publicly supporting a black man who might have been “guilty.” Perhaps some on the left even believed that this extra-judicial execution was justified, because Elijah was a convicted felon and was alleged to have fired upon officers of the law.
Elijah Brewer, “EZ” as he was affectionately known, 25 of Mt. Oliver departed this life 3/5/20, born to Clinton and Jarmayne Brewer 10/29/1994 in Sheridan Pennsylvania.
He obtained his GED from Pittsburgh Job Corps September of 2011 soon after getting his GED he attended CCAC to study Music and Business Management. He became a certified Fitness Trainer 3/2019. He was employed at Roots in Oakland as a Food Service Worker until his death. He enjoyed music, bodybuilding, and nutrition as well as playing basketball, reading, writing, and poetry.
EZ loved family and was family oriented, he was a well-known Rap Artist (started rapping at the age of 12) and loved his Rap brothers to no end, Nathan Freeman Jr. ( Nizzy ), DaShauntae Jones-Peeples, Davon Nichols. He believed in opportunities, welcomed challenges and inspired all who came to know him.
The authors of this article believe that the question of Elijah’s innocence or guilt is entirely irrelevant.
He shouldn’t have been pulled over in the first place. Racism and wealth-disparity shouldn’t exist in the first place. The institutional successor to slave patrols commonly known as “the police” shouldn’t exist in the first place.
We are firmly on Elijah’s side in every version of events that’s been presented, including the one where he shoots first.
We speak on behalf of no one but ourselves. We write this for those who feel similarly—to let you know that you are not alone, and that we will see you in the streets over the coming weeks.
Only the system is guilty. Fuck the police.
Rest in Power, Elijah Jamaal Brewer.
Rest in Power, George Floyd. Rest in Power, Antwon Rose Jr. Rest in Power, Mark Daniels.
On May Day, an autonomous group of individuals carried out a series of banner drops in Pittsburgh in support of the 5 global demands.
In this time of crisis, it is more important than ever that we prioritize the safety and well-being of our neighbors and communities over the profits of the owning class or a quick return to “normal”. Too many of us in Pittsburgh believe that the course of the response to this pandemic is out of our control, that we can only make the best of plans and actions handed down from on high by politicians, landlords, and business owners. It does not have to be that way. With these banners, we are spreading awareness of the possibilities of collective action, hoping to foster the knowledge that we as people can make the decisions that will keep us and our people safe, housed, and secure despite the changes that the virus has made necessary. These problems are systemic, and our demands are inextricable from one another. We cannot have homes for all if we do not cancel rent, debt, and mortgage, or if prisoners are released without healthcare and homes to go to. Our power lies in our autonomy and our solidarity—together, we can all protect one another.
Demand 1: Free Healthcare
Free testing, treatment, and medical care for all. We must be able to seek access to preventative and emergency care without fear of debt or incarceration. With health insurance tied to employment, millions of newly unemployed people have lost access to medical care in the midst of a pandemic.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, over 2 million Pennsylvania residentshad unpaid medical debt. As the health crisis continues, we must expect this number to increase dramatically. We need to radically expand access to COVID-19 testing and make healthcare available for all people, regardless of class, employment status, and ability to pay. In response to the crisis, the government has funded a $2 trillion dollar stimulus package that functions primarily to bail out billionaires. This is proof that we have the capability to take drastic measures to protect vulnerable populations during this crisis; what we lack is the political will. For this reason, the masses of unemployed and working people must come together to demand a radical new approach to health care access in this country. We need to stop protecting corporations and the exploiting classes. We need testing, treatment, and healthcare for all, and we need it now!
Demand 2: Workers Decide
Work can only continue on our terms. Guaranteed benefits and expanded insurance for the unemployed. Paid sick leave, hazard pay and worker protections for essential sectors. Any essential service must adopt strict protective measures for workers and their families.
We call on Governor Wolf and the state legislature to defend workers’ right to decide how and when they go back to work, once widespread testing, tracing and necessary protective measures have been made free, accessible, and available. Workers across the globe are communicating and organizing together to resist premature reopening of businesses and worksites. Workers in “essential” industries such as healthcare, sanitation, food production, and retail are coming together to demand appropriate protections and compensation. If workers aren’t given paid sick leave, hazard pay, worker protection, and personal and medical protection, there will be hell to pay when we strike. We demand that employers stop asking workers to risk their lives for their employer’s accumulation of wealth!
Demand 3: No Paying, No Debt
Cancel rent and mortgage payments, utility and bill collections and all debt payments for the duration of the pandemic. No work means no pay. The unemployed cannot be forced to choose between survival and settling their debts.
Prior to COVID-19, two in fiveAmericans and three in fiverenters across the United States would have been unable to afford a $400 dollar emergency expense. According to reports, about 59% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, with 44% struggling to make payments on their bills and credit card debts. In Pittsburgh, 22% of residentslive at or below the poverty line, significantly higher than that of the state average of 13.3%. Comparisons of today’s economy to the 2008 financial crisis indicate that we are heading for a collapse that could eclipse the recession of twelve years ago. We cannot repeat our past mistakes. The $2 trillion stimulus package that was passed in late March must work for the people, not Wall Street.
Even with the $1200 stimulus check, many who are out of work will not be able to make their payments. If we are unable to work, we are unable to pay. The unemployed cannot be expected to bear the burden of debt during the pandemic.
We call upon the Pennsylvania state legislature to sign on to bill HR 6515introduced by Representatives Sara Innamorato and Summer Lee of Allegheny County, Representative Elizabeth Fiedler of Philadelphia and Representative Danielle Friel Otten of Chester County, to suspend rent and mortgage payments during the COVID crisis. Moreover, we challenge landlords and banks to open their ‘rainy day funds’ to their lenders, and tenants and individuals to organize with their neighbors through the Pittsburgh Union of Regional Renters.
Demand 4: Free Prisoners
Release high-risk inmates and those held on bail from jails and prisons immediately. Release all immigrants and asylum seekers held in detention centers. Provide care for those infected and adequate minimum distance requirements for remaining inmates. Prison cannot mean a guaranteed death sentence.
Formerly incarcerated folks have reported to Jailbreak (a jail after-care support group) the poor conditions of those currently inside Allegheny County Jail. N95 masks given with the seals broken, 1 roll of toilet paper per week to be shared with a cell-mate, limited access to soap, medical care and testing, just to name a few. If the state is going to keep people in the jail, it is paramount that they treat all those behind their walls in a safe and humane manner.
Dr. Debra L. Brogen, the newly appointed Director of the ACHD, must do more. Those inside must have proper access to basic hygiene and medical needs, including testing anyone that has even 1 symptom.If Dr. Brogen does not act, the jail will inevitably become a death camp. With how easily the virus transmits we know cases are rising daily. As of May Day 2020, there are 27 positive tests for those incarcerated—out of only 48 total tests. There are over 1,600 people currently locked up. We believe in the end of the industrial prison complex. Free Them All!
Demand 5: Homes For All
Shelter the houseless. Halt eviction proceedings. Sheltering in place is the most effective way to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Open unoccupied homes and hotels to anyone who needs shelter. End the criminalization and sweeps of houseless encampments.
Housing is a human right, and collectively we have the capability to house everyone. Renters across the region are still facing the prospect of houslessness, eviction, and increases in their rent, while landlords sit idly by waiting for our rent checks. Moments of crisis such as this pandemic force us to make a choice: safety and security for the people, or profits for those who own the buildings we live in?
Seventy percent of Americans are under lockdown orders. Although banks and homeowners have been offered forgiveness for late-payments and adjustments to mortgages, many of our most vulnerable are left without a safety net yet again. In a small sample of houseless individuals in Boston, 36%tested positive for COVID-19. Other cities have created housing programs that open empty hotels to houseless individuals. Pittsburgh must follow suit. We understand that these are temporary solutions in a long, systematic struggle against the powers of privilege, property, systemic racism, and capitalism, but even temporary solutions are worth our while during a crisis such as this.
If we cannot rely on those in power to protect us, we have to take matters into our own hands by organizing with our neighbors, negotiating with our landlords, and if necessary, taking part in a rent strike. We stand collectively in agreement with the Pittsburgh Union of Regional Renters’ (PURR) call to:
Cancel rent
Cancel mortgages
Extend the eviction moratorium (currently expiring May 8)
Provide protective equipment for all workers
Guarantee shelter to the unhomed
Guarantee paid sick leave
Decarcerate the Allegheny County jail. It remains inhumane and a deadly health risk.
We know that these 5 demands are not relevant only in the time of the Covid-19 coronavirus. Regardless of the course of the pandemic and the government’s response to it, these demands will continue to guide us towards a better world in which we can all thrive. These are difficult and scary times; there is no going back to the patterns of living and working we were familiar with before this global pandemic. Even scarier is the fact that this was inevitable—this moment of realization that the system we had before was not created for the welfare of all.
The needs that the 5 Demands address existed before the crisis, but have made unmistakably clear by the pandemic’s effect on a system with no extra space for those at the margins. Although COVID-19 is the immediate cause of much suffering and our response to it is our priority, the underlying problem is not the virus, but the stranglehold that capitalism holds on our lives and our ways of thinking. Until it is destroyed, we will continue to fight.
***
You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…
FillerCollective@RiseUp.net
or
Filler_PGH@protonmail.com
We’ll try to get back to you in a reasonable amount of punk time.
Send reports in email form, as an attachment, or better yet, on an easy to use (and free) Riseup Pad or CryptPad.
Filler just recorded a single for our homies in DECIVILIZE, all proceeds from this track will support Pittsburgh’s friendly neighborhood anarchist bookstore The Big Idea Bookstore, Inc as they close their doors during the Covid-19 pandemic.
THE BIG IDEA’s STATEMENT (originally posted to their facebook)
The Big Idea is temporarily closing due to growing public health concerns in the midst of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
As anarchists, we assert that in times of crisis people have the capability of taking voluntary action, both collectively and individually, to mitigate the risks posed by an outbreak such as this. We understand it is imperative to slow the spread of contagion to lessen the chance of our catastrophically unprepared healthcare system becoming overwhelmed. It is in the spirit of these concerns that we make this decision.
However, we are also aware that state and government forces are more than willing to exploit crises by abusing tools like quarantines and other states of exception. This often comes at the expense of the most vulnerable, especially those detained and imprisoned in overcrowded jails, prisons, and concentration camps. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and critically and encourage all to do the same.
We apologize to all of those in the community who rely on our space. Hopefully we will be able to open our doors again soon.
(statement copied from our comrades at Wooden Shoe Books and Records since it was so well written!)
Originally published by Torchlight— Anarchist News From Pittsburgh
A coalition of organizations and individuals has released an open letter demanding that Allegheny County Jail release most prisoners, among other measures designed to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the facility.
The letter is reposted below. To sign on to it contact acjcovidresponse AT gmail.com.
The rapid spread of COVID-19 has created an international public health crisis. It has now been classified as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization and declared a national emergency by the United States. In Pennsylvania, Governor Tom Wolf ordered all K-12 schools to close and prohibited all public gatherings of over 250 people, and most major universities have switched to online learning for the remainder of the school year. Both City of Pittsburgh Mayor Peduto and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald have declared a state of emergency in their respective regions. The nationwide attempt to “flatten the curve”—to slow the infection rate so as not to overwhelm our healthcare system—has led to the implementation of many measures that prevent large groups of people from congregating in close quarters.
However, these measures do not take into account one of the most vulnerable, highly concentrated populations: the county’s jail population, composed of over 2300 individuals packed into tight quarters and often lacking basic hygiene items. Additionally, prevalence of health conditions that increase vulnerability to COVID-19—including tuberculosis, asthma, HIV, hypertension, diabetes, heart conditions—are all significantly higher among the jail and prison populations. To make matters worse, the jail’s medical capacity isn’t nearly high enough to deal with a potential outbreak within the jail; it is woefully understaffed to deal with the medical needs of incarcerated individuals as is. Many individuals will likely need to be transported to and from the hospital, further increasing the likelihood of exposure and transmission.
Because 81% of individuals at the Allegheny County Jail have not been convicted of a crime, and the rest are serving relatively short sentences, there is a high turnover rate at the jail. Over 100 individuals pass through intake on a daily basis. The result is that many individuals will enter an environment where the risk of contracting COVID-19 is relatively high, and simultaneously many individuals will also be leaving and potentially spreading the illness to others. This high turnover also increases the likelihood that staff at the jail will contract and spread the disease. All of these factors converge to create the perfect storm for a potential COVID-19 outbreak to spread quickly amongst the incarcerated population. Emergency efforts to decarcerate the jail are more crucial now than ever. Doing so will decrease the likelihood of COVID-19 spreading amongst the ACJ population and staff and subsequently throughout the region. It will also make it more manageable for the jail to provide adequate medical care to those affected.
Other counties have already taken steps towards emergency decarceration, and Allegheny County ought to follow their lead to slow the spread of the disease in the region. San Francisco County’s Public Defender has announced that his office’s attorneys will be seeking the immediate release of pre-trial clients who have a high susceptibility to the virus, and the County’s District Attorney has instructed his office’s prosecutors to not oppose these motions for individuals not deemed a threat to public safety and to strongly consider sentences of time served in plea deals. Additionally, the judges, the Public Defender, the District Attorney, and the Sheriff of Cuyahoga County in Ohio, where Cleveland is located, have agreed to hold mass plea and bond reduction hearings in an effort to release as many people as possible from the jail and reduce the impact of potential outbreak of coronavirus among this population. Many other regions are calling for or implementing similar measures. Other countries are taking strong preventive action as well. Iran plans to release 70,000 people from its prisons. Counties in the United States, the country with the highest rate of incarceration in the world, ought to be taking similarly urgent measures. The potential of COVID-19 to spread among the incarcerated population was seen in China, where the incarceration rate is six times lower than in the United States. Over 500 cases of coronavirus were reported from just four prisons in China, two of which were in the region at the epicenter of the outbreak. It is imperative that public officials act now to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the region to prevent a similar outcome.
We are calling on the county executive, county council, and all of county government and administration; judges, prosecutors, and public defenders; police, parole and probation officers to all unite on emergency decarceration initiatives to halt the rapid spread of COVID-19 in Allegheny County.
The Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania should:
• Immediately lift/postpone imposition of detainers of every individual held on alleged probation violations based on new charges or for technical violations; • Immediately modify bond of those held pretrial to nonmonetary and/or “release on their own recognizance” (‘ROR’); • Cease parole and probation revocation proceedings and terminate long tails; • Release all individuals with less than 6 months left in their sentence; • Release all individuals incarcerated for misdemeanors, whether pretrial or serving a sentence; • Release all individuals incarcerated for drug possession, sex work, and other nonviolent offenses; • Release all elderly individuals (over 50) and those at high risk of vulnerability, including but not limited those with respiratory conditions, heart conditions, diabetes, cancer, or other autoimmune diseases; • Release all pregnant individuals; • Transfer all non-releasable individuals to less restrictive forms of custody, including electronic monitoring and house arrest, where individuals can self-quarantine as needed. • Review individuals on probation or otherwise confined to halfway houses and release those individuals to home confinement automatically; • Terminate in-person reporting for those on pre- or post-trial supervision indefinitely.
The District Attorney of Allegheny County should:
• Postpone the convening of grand juries; • Affirmatively support and not oppose the above-mentioned motions and petitions for relief; • Withdraw and drop all pending charges for drug possession, sex work, and other nonviolent offenses.
Law enforcement agencies throughout Allegheny County should:
• Recall all pending warrants (that have not been served/executed); • Delay dates of voluntary surrender for incarceration sentences as requested by defense; • Immediately cease arresting individuals for all offenses not directly implicating public safety or an individual’s physical well-being; • Immediately cease arrests on warrants for probation violations – technical and otherwise; • Avoid new bookings into the jail at all costs, limiting incarceration for only the most immediate and severe instances of harm reduction. • Given the similarly dangerous conditions in immigrant detention centers and those jails and prisons that contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), we demand that Allegheny County Jail and county criminal justice officials NOT facilitate the detention of undocumented immigrants or the transfer of them to ICE custody.
County government and the jail administration should immediately:
• Issue an emergency order making phone calls free for individuals detained at ACJ; • Ensure all incarcerated people have unlimited and free access to: soap, hand sanitizer, hygiene products, showers and laundry service, NOT monetized through commissary; • Provide free access to books and other reading and writing materials to all individuals incarcerated at the jail; • Provide additional commissary items at-, below-, or no-cost to all individuals, to boost morale during the trying times ahead; • Facilitate the use of video visitation, including confidential video visitations for attorney visits.
We call on our colleagues both in the Office of the Public Defender and in the private criminal defense bar to begin to file motions and petitions, in a pro bono capacity, for all individuals held in Allegheny County Jail under a probation detainer, unaffordable or unjustifiably restrictive bond, and serving long probation or parole terms.
We are demanding that all governmental agencies collaborate on this initiative in order to protect public health. Limiting the spread of COVID-19 – and its mortality rate – requires that we free as many of our neighbors as possible, as they are part of our families and communities. Protecting them and our greater community from avoidable harm go hand in hand, and this must be our shared imperative.
We are calling on other organizations in Allegheny County to endorse and circulate this statement and help shape the course of the response to COVID-19 in our community.
To sign on to this statement, please provide your organization’s name and email address below or email acjcovidresponse@gmail.com – thank you.
Endorsing Organizations:
Abolitionist Law Center
Coalition to Abolish Death By Incarceration – West
Take Action Mon Valley
Human Rights Coalition-Fed Up!
Bukit Bail Fund
Casa San Jose
Radical Youth Collective
Allegheny County Elders Council
Liberation/Ukombozi
New Evangelistic Ministries
Book ’em
West End P.O.W.E.R.
Olivia Bennett, Allegheny County Council
Bethany Hallam, Allegheny County Council
Jews Organizing for Liberation and Transformation (JOLT)
Ratzon : Center for Healing and Resistance
Rep. Sara Innamorato, 21st Legislative District, Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Black Unicorn Library and Archive Project
Green Party of Allegheny County
ACLU-PA
1Hood Media
Chelsa Wagner, Allegheny County Controller, Member of Jail Oversight Board
Community Forge
Three Rivers Free Clinic for the People
Pennsylvania Prison Society - Allegheny County
Jerry Dickinson for Congress
Fossil Free Pitt Organizing Committee
Let’s Get Free: Women & Trans Prisoner Defense Committee
Community Gone Rogue
The Big Idea Bookstore & Cooperative
Pittsburghers for Public Transit
Thomas Merton Center
Words Without Walls
Richard S. Matesic, Attorney at Law
Pitt Prison Outreach
Put People First! PA
The following communiqué was submitted anonymously to Filler on 03.05.20.
Last night, we sabotaged 7 ATMs in Pittsburgh, PA by jamming adhesive-soaked plastic rectangles into their card slots. It was quick, easy, fun, and no one even gave us a second glance—you should try it sometime.
Whether it’s because of the cold, a health precaution, or for criminal direct action… one day we’ll all wear gloves and masks.
We’d like to dedicate a special fuck-you to PNC Bank for collaborating with EQT and the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. No, this petty vandalism won’t put all that much of a hole in your pockets. But if you want to get rich by destroying our Earth, then we’ll get our kicks by destroying your property.
Yo Philly, we’re coming for your high-score! – guerilla biscuits
You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…
FillerCollective@RiseUp.net
We’ll try to get back to you in a reasonable amount of punk time. Send reports in email form, as an attachment, or better yet, on an easy to use (and free)Riseup Pador CryptPad.
This manifesto originated as a final project for a Queer Theory course at the University of Pittsburgh. As a student in their Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program I’ve been fortunate and privileged to work towards an education that aligns with my identity and politics. Rather than writing a more “traditional” analytic paper for the course, I decided to stay true to my roots as a punk and a leftist by writing a manifesto which I’ve replicated in zine form, and you are now holding in your hands, with the hopes that in distribution I might be able to say shit that I think needs said.
When I tell people that I’m a Gender Studies major, I’m typically met with shock, confusion, or a mixture of the two. One thing that I’ve been told by some of my fellow queers is that they don’t see the use in taking any courses like queer theory due either their own personal knowledge or the inaccessibility of the literature. Which is why I decided to go with this manifesto as an idea.
I pulled a lot of ideas in my formatting and methods in writing from the anonymously written “Queers Read This” which was initially distributed by queers at a New York pride march in 1990. In echoing that zine, I’m hoping to provoke some thoughts about what it means to be queer. To echo one of the most well known slogans of second-wave feminism, “The personal is political,” I think of my queerness of being both of these things. So if you decide to give this a read I hope I gave you something to think about, whether you agree or disagree with what I’ve written.
Stay Queer, Stay Punk,
– Thomas
Introduction
What is queer? For most of my life I just thought it was another identity that people identified with. In a world where there seemed to be a word for everything in the ever-expansive LGBTQIA+ acronym, I just assumed it was another way to say you’re not straight or cisgender. I knew a lot of punks liked to call themselves queer, so I thought it was just something that became trendy and didn’t think of anything of it. For all I knew, queer was just the new name for the LGBT rights movement. A lot of other people seemed to think so at least. But then I started to notice a trend in the people I saw using queer. It wasn’t just an identity, but rather a way of thinking. There was a whole politics to the world of queerness that I’ve slowly been exposed to. As I’ve immersed myself in this kind of political queerness, I’ve been able to come to new conclusions on what it means to be queer.
The anonymous writers of Queers Read This state “Being queer is not about a right to privacy; it is about the freedom to be public, to just be who we are” (2). We live in a heteronormative society. No matter who you are, the default in the eyes of society is heterosexual. We “come out” to tell everyone that we weren’t born the default. To be queer is to fight this. To be queer is to lay a claim to the rights and privleges that we aren’t granted because we aren’t the “normal.”
What’s Queer’s goal?
The goal of queer isn’t to just conform to a society where your existence is allowed. With government policies like “Don’t ask, don’t tell” you can see how society hates queers. It’s ok to be gay as long as you don’t let people know! You can fuck in private! And even then, queers were only given the right to fuck fairly recently. In the United States, by the time the Supreme Court ruled on gay sex in 2003 there were fourteen states where it was illegal! To be queer is to acknowledge this struggle. “Every time we fuck, we win” (2). Fucking is a radical action becauste it shows we are not constrained by a heteronormative society. Every time we fuck, we win because we’re fighting for the rights that straight people have. We’re fighting for the rights that straight people take for granted.
Queerness is a fight not just for the ability to fuck in private. Straight people can flaunt their sexuality all they want. They’ll do whatever they want and they don’t even know they’re doing it. The only time that we can feel safe is when we make our own spaces for it. Free from the eyes of straight people. But queerness is our way to say “Fuck that!” When queers make out in public we’re carving our own place in society. Why is it that straight people are allowed to do so but if we so much as kiss our partners we can face violence? But that’s not to say that queerness only fights for the right to fuck.
Queer is more than just rights about where you can fuck and who you can tell about it. It’s a movement that is open and sympathetic to more than just the gays. Queerness benefits all marginalized people. Queers fight against all oppressive institutions. Queerness is for those shunned and stigmatized by society.
Why Queer?
The question on the minds of many people is “Why do we use queer?” Queer can unify everyone who is marginalized by society. We can unite in our sameness, our queerness. While it may not be a word that fits everyone’s taste, it allows us to subvert the expectations of a straight society. In this society, we are queer and we need to remind everyone of it. But that doesn’t mean we’re only queer for the sake of the straights. It allows us to look beyond the differences we have from our queer siblings. When you walk down the street or sit down on the bus and see someone who’s wearing a jacket that says “queer” you’ll know that they’re your ally.
Fuck Your Binaries
In Teresa de Lauretis’ introduction to Queer Theory: Lesbian & Gay Studies, she states “The term “queer,” juxtaposed to the “lesbian and gay” of the subtitle, is intended to mark a certain critical distance from the latter, by now established and convenient formula” (iv). The term “lesbian and gay” implies an intrinsic difference between the two categories. And while both identities are unique, it is hard to ignore the focus that’s been happening on the Gay. Gay as a term implies masculinity, and is not adequate to define all the experiences that women and non-binary individuals may face.
Queerness isn’t supposed to recreate binaries that we need to live in. I can understand the desire for terms like “Lesbian” or “Gay.” Queerness doesn’t need these words in order to unite us. If you’re gay, then you can unite with lesbians through your shared queerness. And if you’re a lesbian, you can unite with the gays through your shared queerness. And it will unite everyone who feels as though those terms don’t fit their experiences. Queerness also has room for the bisexuals, pansexuals, or anyone else who may feel like their sexuality needs to be defined in those terms.
Queer, but not Gay
The enemy of queerness is not just heteronormativity, but also homonormativity. To define what this means, I’d like to look towards Lisa Dugan who compares it to neoliberalism in her piece “The New Homonormativity: The Sexual Politics of Neoliberalism” stating that it’s “…a politics that does not contest dominant heteronormative assumptions and institutions but upholds and sustains them while promising the possibility of a demobilized gay constituency and a privatized, depoliticized gay culture anchored in domesticity and consumption” (179). Neoliberalism aims to not just accept individuals for their gender or sexuality, but to homogenize these experiences in a way that will not challenge the values and views of a heteronormative society. A gay politics does not necessarily means a queer politics.
Queerness needs to fight against homonormative institutions. We should not have to depoliticize our identities just to exist in a culture. We should not just exist in a state of being tolerated. As long as there is a dominant heterosexual culture we are engaged in a day to day battle for our own autonomy. We need to center our queerness on what we want for ourselves and not what others want for us.
If to be queer is to be political then we must fight against the nonpolitics of neoliberalism and homonormativity. Doing so is to give into a movement that still wishes to suppress identity in the name of tolerance. “Don’t ask, don’t tell” is the epitome of this kind of rhetoric. Ignoring the politics of even participating in the military service, policies like this serve to remove the queerness from the gays. Actions such as these are proof that straights have no interest in legitimate queer rights. They claim that it’s an act of tolerance to allow gay individuals to serve in the military, but if you let them know you’re gay then you’re out. “We get the marriage and the military then we go home to cook for dinner” (Duggan 189).
Should we Hate Straights?
In case the tone so far has been unclear, a queer politics is inherently critical of a heteronormative society. But that does mean we need to say “Fuck all the Straights?” Some of us have friends and family who are unfortunately straight, but that does not mean they are our inherent enemy. As stated earlier, one of the benefits of queerness and why queer is helpful is because of how it is able to unite groups based on their sameness.
Cathy J. Cohen in “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens” states “…a queer politics which demonizes all heterosexuals discounts the relationships-especially those based on shared experiences of marginalization-between gays and straights” (450). While queers are marginalized, that does not mean all straights are our oppressors. That isn’t to say that anybody who is for our causes can just call themselves “queer” because they’re with us. We should not force ourselves to hate all straights.
To form a monolithic understanding of heterosexuality is to fall into the same trappings that straights use to oppress us. So queers need to be there for those who heteronormativity has left behind. While the straights may hate queers, they also hate single mothers or teen mothers. They hate “lower-class individuals” many of which are people of color. Even if these groups have members who are “heterosexual” that does not mean that they are oppressing us in the way that the straights are.
What’s in our Future?
So far it may just seem like I’m documenting my own anger and frustrations. And it’s true to an extent. I am angry at the culture which leads to queers like myself getting murdered for existing. I am choosing to hold onto and acknowledge this anger in a way that I feel is rational. It’s an anger that comes from looking back on history and the sadness that comes from knowing that we live in a society that continually harms us. I hope that others feel the same emotions I do. I don’t wish to push a fatalistic view of a queer future that ends in our inevitable deaths. I want this sadness and anger, that both I and other queers hold, to let us look into a future where we can exist. Not just so we can be tolerated, but so we can exist as individuals who are allowed to express our queerness without fear of repercussions, whether that be from individuals or society at large.
What do Queers Want?
This is the question which Michael Warner asks in his introduction to Fear of a Queer Planet. He argues “The preference for “queer” represents, among other things, an aggressive impulse of generalization; it rejects a minoritizing logic of toleration or simple political interest-representation in favor of a more thorough resistance to regimes of the normal” (vi). In this sense, queerness is not just a just a challenge to heterosexuality. It is a challenge to the “normal.”
Queerness is radical not because it is a way for us to say how much we hate straight people. Queerness is radical because it allows us to look at the systems in place and critique those systems. To be queer is to state one’s dissatisfaction with the now. When asking the question “What do queers want?” the answer is not to prove how being gay is superior to being straight. It’s not an issue of who you fuck, it’s an issue of how you are treated because of it.
Cohen states “The radical potential of those of those on the outside of heteronormativity rests in our understanding that we need not base our politics in the dissolution of all categories and communities, but we need instead to work toward the destabilization of and the remaking of our identities” (481). The issue with the categories we create like straight, gay, lesbian, cisgender, transgender, is now the differences that exist between them. The issue is the power relations that form between them. Queers hate straights not because they’re heterosexual, but because of the power that they have over us queers. Queerness holds a radical potential that can allow us to eliminate these power relations.
In Conclusion… Queer is not a word that is easily definable. Depending on the context in which it is used, and who is using it, queer can be seen as a revolutionary ideology, or an insult that is thrown around in day to day life. Despite this vagueness, I still firmly hold onto my queerness and hope others will do the same. I hope that queers are able to not only unify under this identity, but also that we are able to use it for the radical potential that it holds.
The queerness that I choose to claim is one that aims to destroy power relationships by fighting against the normal. It is the ideology which I believe has the power to destabilize and destroy concepts of heteronormativity. I do not hate straights because of who they choose to fuck. I hate straights because they impose these thoughts onto every individual. I choose queerness not because straights don’t like who I fuck. I choose queerness because of straights who insist that my choice should lead to my marginalization and oppression.
I am queer because I choose to recognize the history of oppression against my queer siblings. As long as there are forces who are inflicting harm on me and my queer siblings, whether it be through physical violence, suppression of my identity, or restrictions on my rights, I will fight as a queer. I will fight alongside the other queers who refuse to be subjugated by these forces. My queerness is an opposition to the normal so that as we look towards the future, we can see a world where we won’t need to exist in opposition.
Works Cited
Anonymous. “Queers Read This.” June 1990.
Cohen, Cathy J. “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?” GLQ, v ol. 3, 1997 pp. 437-465
de Lauretis, Teresa. “Queer Theory: Lesbian and Gay Studies, An Introduction.” differences, vol 3.2, 1991 pp. iii-xviii
Duggan, Lisa. “The New Homonormativity: The Sexual Politics of Neoliberalism.” Materializing Democracy, edited by Russ Castronovo, Dana D. Nelson, Duke University Press, May 2002, pp. 175-194
Werner, Michael. “Introduction.” Fear of a Queer Planet: Queer Politics and Social Theory, Univ Of Minnesota Press, 2003, pp. vii-xxxi
***
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Anonymous report-back originally published byIt’s Going Downon 12.30.19
On Sunday, December 27th, 2019 a group of queer anarchist Jews and loving co-conspirators dropped a banner in so-called Pittsburgh in solidarity with those facing anti-Semitic violence in Monsey, Brooklyn, Jersey City and across the country.
Below is a reportback:
“We Will Outlive Them,” the banner announced to the cars heading down Bigelow Blvd. We watched as the spray painted words billowed throughout the night and into the next day. Together we declared; we will claim our space, our anger, our voice even amidst the fear.
“Mir Velen Zay Iberlebn!”
“We will out live them!” The banner echoes the words sung in protest by Jews captured in their town square in Nazi-Occupied Eastern Europe. “Sing us a song,” the Nazis commanded the corralled Jews in an attempt to humiliate them in their final moments. But they sang in triumph, in grief, in love for one another. “We will outlive them,” while death stared them down. Their words became blessed flames, strong enough to light fires of rebellion today.
But our hearts are breaking.
Across the US our Jewish community is bracing for a new wave of anti-Semitic violence that feels so familiar. Our hands are beginning to move like the hands of our great-grandparents. Those sweating palms that slammed shutters closed as Pogroms tore through their villages. The jumpy fingers that locked doors, wondering if it would soon be time to leave again.
We look out to our non-Jewish comrades and ask: will you have our backs?
We ask you to listen to us and hear our fear. Will you stand against anti-Semitism that happens to any Jewish person? Will you learn about anti-Semitism and understand its unique ways of working? We ask you to honor our own ability to fight back while joining us in our song and protest, our joy and grief.
We ask you to not look away.
As we walked up Pittsburgh’s winding hills, the banner to our backs, a comrade reminded us, “We are so powerful and beautiful together.”
We returned home to light Chanukah candles and sing and pray. It is in practicing persecuted rituals and small acts of resistance like this that we will continue to survive. We burned eight candles and watched as they turned to smoke on this final night of Chanukah.
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A R.O.T. Crew Manifesto is a submission from Evelyn Kronfeld, an independent journalist and It’s Going Down columnist. Her IGD column, Tranarchy!, stands at the intersection of trans identity and revolutionary Leftist politics and consists of radical news and analysis.
A R.O.T. Crew Manifesto
RAVAGE ORDER THOROUGHLY // CREATE RADICALLY, EXIST WICKEDLY
This zine is an array of brief, notebook-style essays deconstructing some ideas and issues relating to mental health, social relations, love, destruction, and upheaval.
A SCAM FOR THE BIG IDEA is a Pittsburgh anarcho-punk compilation album benefiting The Big Idea Cooperative Bookstore & Cafe.
You can buy or stream the album on bandcamp. It’s also available for streaming on spotify, youtube, and a bunch of other sites. All proceeds go directly to The Big Idea.
Over the last 18 years, The Big Idea has become a second home for many Pittsburgh anarchists. The space’s rent got jacked up recently, and it’s likely to get raised again in the coming months. With that in mind, some Filler kids figured it was time we pay The Big Idea back for all the coffee, books, zines, pins, patches and vegan goodies that we’ve nabbed over the years.
We found some cheap recording equipment and decided to hit up our friends to see if anyone wanted to record a track or two for a benefit compilation album. Now that the album’s done, we’re offering free recording to anarchist bands/musicians living near the three rivers, so hit us up for free recording!
The accompanying zine will be released in the coming weeks, be sure to check it out! It’s gonna have art/lyrics for every track, as well as some perspectives on anarchy in the East End.
An excerpt from one of the introductions to the compilation zine.
Bloomfield remained relatively affordable throughout the last decade of gentrification in the East End, and it’s made us complacent. This supposed hub of radicalism has failed to meaningfully contribute to the ongoing struggles against cultural erasure and displacement in other East End neighborhoods. And now, as developers rapidly encircle Pittsburgh’s so-called “Little Italy,” the rent hikes are accelerating again. How many friends have already been priced out?
Anarchists cannot continue to passively rely on Bloomfield’s proximity to whiteness as a shield. The fact that fucking “Little Italy” is experiencing another wave of development is proof that the capitalist class has already outmaneuvered community resistance elsewhere. “We” have failed to materially disrupt revitalization, even now as everyone seems to be scoffing at Peduto’s “Most Livable City” propaganda.
Gentrification functions differently in every neighborhood. Here in the East End, the rent hikes threaten a budding inter-generational anarchist community(ies). We don’t all hang out in the same spaces or roll with the same crew, and this benefit album is not an attempt to cohere around a single space (sorry infoshop vanguardists) — but if we lose our infoshop, it’s safe to say we lose our neighborhood.
The Big Idea is a project that spans nearly two decades of Pittsburgh anarchy. In other words, it’s one of the few remaining places capable of retaining collective memory.
If it weren’t for the things I’ve read, the people I’ve met, and the boxes of old junk I’ve dug through at the Big Idea, I would have never heard of the Pittsburgh Organizing Group, East End Mutual Aid, the Greater Pittsburgh Area Anarchist Collective, Indymedia, Anti-Racist Action, Occupy Pittsburgh, TheYinsurrectionary Times, Landslide Community Farm, Fight Back Pittsburgh… on and on.
If it weren’t for The Big Idea, I would not know the names of our dead. I never met Mike Vesch, but The Yinsurrectionary Times is what inspired me and some other Filler kids to expand our fanzine into a local counterinfo website; I never met Daniel Montano, but I’ve read his writings about art and resistance nearly every day since I moved here in 2012—MF1 is still all-city, even after years of buffing and gentrification.
As the years went by and I began to lose some of my own friends and comrades, The Big Idea also became a place to remember them, to share stories about the life they breathed into Pittsburgh anarchy.
Stephie was a Big Idea collective member. If you drop by Big Idea and look at the wall above the comfy chair in the corner, you’ll see a black and red flag with an angry cat in the center. That’s Badcastki, that’s Stephie. Her art was subversive; her ideas as dangerous as she was kind. She organized at the intersections of anarchism and mental health during a time when few people in the scene seemed to recognize just how militant you have to be to fight on that front. Badcatski chose to commit suicide on May 5, 2016 at the age of 34. Knowing Stephie, her decision was patient, deliberate, conscious, intentional, necessary. Like all anarchists who have died in the social war, her act can also be remembered as martyrdom. Sometimes during quiet shifts at Big Idea I sit in the comfy chair in the corner, drink coffee from her favorite mug, and understand that she is here. That realization reminds me to take a minute to be honest with myself, to confront my feelings. She reminds me to take care of myself and my friends as if the fate of the movement depends on it—and she’s right, it does.
In acting and learning to act, we find that we can share stories, skills, lessons, memories, tactics, and ideas. We should never be content to just survive, to go through life as a passive spectator in the spaces you inhabit. There’s a difference between life and survival. We are at war. Every decision we make—from where we live and who we live with to what we do for fun and how we do it—might be better understood strategically, and taken with intent.
I often hear stories about the glory days of Pittsburgh anarcho-punk scene and wonder what the fuck happened. Of course, there are still some really good bands and cool spaces, but the reality of the situation is that anarchists and punx don’t really organize much together. It seems that when someone burns out from one scene, they turn to the other.
But if we think our scene(s) are lacking something, that shouldn’t mean we just drop out of them. Instead we might ask ourselves how we could contribute materially, artistically, and sincerely to all the shit that we can’t help but care about.
Why do so many of us find ourselves living in the East End? What would a new anarcho-punk movement look/feel like in Pittsburgh? What are the first steps? Here’s a collection of preliminary answers/thoughts/desires/filler from a few of the kids featured on this comp:
I want to know that my broke ass won’t be turned away by a $10 cover charge at the door, so I guess I could reach out to the promoter and put up a few flyers around town earlier that week.
I want to hit the bagel dumpster before my shift at the Big Idea so the staffers during the rest of that week can eat for free.
I want to know who the harm reduction distro kids are so I can cop more narcan without having to go out of my way.
I want to know what my friends’ basic boundaries are with strangers so I can understand when I’m expected to step up to a jag, when I just let the homie handle it, and when I should just chill out and stop being such a PC cop.
I want to write hyphy reviews on my friends’ bandcamp releases.
I want to learn to make tapes and record music and help my talented friends finally put that album out.
I want to be the designated driver and get my friends to the gig because I know the homies will buy me some merch from the touring band as a thank you.
I want to know that my skill set can help my friends save money (or at least keep it in the solidarity economy) because they won’t be overpaying some capitalist to repair their bike/car/phone/drywall.
I want to film my friends’ protests, shows, music videos, skateboarding—fucking whatever, honestly—cos I know I’m pretty good at making that shit look wayyy harder than it felt at the time, and I like to hype my friends up.
I want to know that my friends won’t judge me when I tell them that I’m in active addiction, again.
I want to start writing again because all my friends love sharing their zines with each other, and because I know they will actually read what I give them and invite me out to talk more about it over a coffee or a few beers.
I want to start going to shows again because I realized most of the people I run into are passionate about the music, the spaces, the ideas, the projects, the food…
I want to know every word to my friend’s band’s songs, and when that drop comes I want to rush to the front of the pit and shout I THINK THERE’S SOMETHING IN THE WATER!
I want to stop buying dumb shit online because I’d rather buy the clothing and furniture and jewelry and patches and art that my friends make, not just because I can save money though! I know that those earrings they made will turn heads.
I want to start tabling again because sometimes there’s honestly nothing hotter than a crew of six dekt queer punx rolling up to an event, nodding to the person running the door, and walking in for free with 3 boxes of zines, a foldout table, a bag of narcan, and a stack of flyers for next week’s show.
I don’t want this shit to feel like a job or duty. I can’t do everything I would like to. And I especially don’t want to have to prove my worth just to feel like I’m allowed show up to an event. I don’t have to do jack shit if I’m not feeling up to it. And I don’t find myself wanting to do this shit for the woke internet posturing, or to climb some scene’s social ladder. Sometimes I just want to throw a beer can across the room, or tag some toy shit on a condo, or toss a U-Lock through a windshield. And I sure as hell don’t feel like justifying that to anyone.
I’m a punk because I’m a fucking nerd. I’ve only ever had like 3 or 4 close friends at a time. I’m constantly cycling through tides of depression, anger, and mania. Most of the time, I feel like I can’t really hang, and so I don’t really go out much, unless it’s to a show or something. Socializing is a lot easier for me if there’s something creative or fun or useful I can bring that might make it easier to talk and connect with people. The lyric sheets I that grew up on told me that punk’s not a fashion show— it’s a fucking way of life. I feel like that punk should mean something more than whatever bullshit it is I find myself doing these days.
Find each other, because the Something we’re waiting for is never going to happen unless we become Something. If each of us acts on our own ideas and desires, a shared perception of our situation is temporarily understood every time we act collectively—every time we create spaces, projects, and experiences together. Which is really just a roundabout way of saying, whatyou do or don’t do makes all the difference.
It’s time we see ourselves for what we are and have always been: a movement. We’re an international web of relationships, held together by a few DIY spaces, bars, art collectives, bands, distros, niche skillsets, and the mutual aid that arises from common needs and interests, from the experience of building something together: from living communism and spreading anarchy.
Punx and anarchists cannot face down these monied developers alone, but together we can face these faceless profiteers and build something resembling a community in the process. With all the struggles in our own personal lives, the raging fires across the planet and our neighborhoods can seem like someone else’s problem. It feels like we don’t have the strength, the time, or the resources to face these problems, but your own resilience, endurance, and passion can surpass even your most arrogant self-confidence. Now is the time to come together in solidarity. Keep moving, keep fighting.
punx is weapons // punx is small town
– Filler Distro
“East End, the fashionable residence quarter of Pittsburgh, lies basking in the afternoon sun. The broad avenue looks cool and inviting: the stately trees touch their shadows across the carriage road, gently nodding their heads in mutual approval. A steady procession of equipages fills the avenue, the richly caparisoned horses and uniformed flunkies lending color and life to the scene. A cavalcade is passing me. The laughter of the ladies sounds joyous and care-free.
Their happiness irritates me. I am thinking of Homestead. In mind I see the somber fence the fortifications and cannon; the piteous figure of the widow rises before me, the little children weeping, and again I hear the anguished cry of a broken heart, a shattered brain….”
– Alexander Berkman, Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist
