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.

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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.”

Read the full report HERE.

09.11.21

“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.“

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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 the situation 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.

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You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…

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.

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Filler, July 2021

Click here for a PDF imposed for zine printing.

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You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…

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.

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Anonymous submission received on 06.21.21

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OVER Returns to County Executive’s House, Welcomed by Aggressive Cop Presence

The Ohio Valley Environmental Resistance (OVER), a land defense group based in southwestern Pennsylvania, returned to the house of Rich Fitzgerald, the Allegheny County Executive, to confront him about his response to a letter that OVER recently sent to him, demanding that he rescind his support of fracking and the petrochemical industry. OVER held a press conference with other signatories about their letter to get Fitzgerald’s attention, and his response to the letter was lacking (to say the least). 

OVER organized a house demo much like their first one earlier this year with the goal of speaking directly to Fitzgerald about his support of the deadly petro industry and calling public attention to the cause of banning fracking. The demand specifically was to get Fitzgerald to publicly rescind his support and to sign on to the letter that OVER had composed. OVER and its allies showed up with signs, banners (one saying “Sign the Letter”), a drum, sidewalk chalk, talking points, and their voices. About 20 people attended the demo. They took the street in front of Fitzgerald’s house and chanted for him to appear. 

OVER had announced publicly that they were organizing the demo, so police were expected. However, there was a surprising amount of cops surrounding the small, nonviolent crowd.

When Fitzgerald did not show despite chanting, about 6 attendees decided to approach his door and ring the bell, much like anyone would who wanted to speak with a neighbor. As soon as they reached the door, cop sirens wailed. An unmarked police car that was parked in front of Fitzgerald’s house flashed its lights. One police vehicle quickly came close to the crowd. Two security guards charged forward and yelled at the visitors on Fitzgerald’s porch that they had to leave the property or be arrested. The visitors complied, and the two security guards stood at the steps of the house for the remainder of the demo.

It was quite the spectacle for a small crowd of nonviolent protesters, and showed just what Rich Fitzgerald thinks of people who want to meaningfully address climate change and ecological devastation. While a neighbor proclaimed that Fitzgerald was not home, OVER made sure that Fitzgerald was aware of the time, day, and place of the demo. Fitzgerald could have chosen to be present, to send one of his staff members to be present on his behalf, or to acknowledge the demo publicly in some way. Even a sticky note on the steps saying “hey, sorry I can’t be here. Let’s talk another time,” would have shown more consideration and grace than sicking cops on his deeply concerned, nonviolent constituents.

The writer of this report believes that it is unethical for cops to be in unmarked cars, so they would like to make the community aware of the make, model, and license plate number of the unmarked car that they saw at the demo:

Black Chevrolet Impala
License plate: JHA 0704

Please keep a lookout for this vehicle at actions in the Pittsburgh area. The cop inside of it was very pissy about anyone touching the car. Be safe!

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You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…

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.

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[Submission from the Pittsburgh National Lawyers Guild received on 05.28.21]

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Over 60 people have been charged with felonies in Pittsburgh for last summer’s protests.

Most of them aren’t famous. Most of them don’t have hundreds of Instagram followers, or on-line fundraising campaigns, or the backing of large activist organizations. Many of them are facing years in prison for the first and only protest they ever attended. Six of them are confined in Allegheny County Jail. An unknown number are also facing federal charges.

Some of them have private lawyers, but most are dependent on public defenders or the office of conflict counsel. A few have reached plea deals, some more favorable than others. Every one of them took the streets to express their anger and outrage at the police murder of George Floyd, and the vast majority are facing life-shattering consequences as a result.

Elsewhere the things are little different. A year after the George Floyd uprising, prosecutors across the country are still throwing the book at every protester they could get their hands on, aided by a virtual media blackout and the silence of liberal nonprofits.

To raise awareness of this situation, the National Lawyers Guild is circulating a petition (https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/drop-the-charges-blm) to drop all federal charges against Black Lives Matter demonstrators. We ask for organizations and individuals to sign it, and encourage their networks to do the same. In addition the Pittsburgh NLG chapter is raising money for legal support of all local protesters facing felony charges. Please donate at https://www.gofundme.com/f/pittsburgh-nlg-felony-defense-fund

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You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…

Filler_PGH@protonmail.com

We’ll try to publish your report // promote your content // reply 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.

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Anonymous submission received on 04.18.21

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Take Enthusiastic Walks With Your Friends

Building Capacity Steadily

On a brisk but lovely Saturday afternoon, some friends gathered in a park. We stood chatting and waited for more friends to arrive. Some rode bikes. Many carried backpacks. Of course, we all wore black.

First we gathered and shared among each other stickers, zines, and other printed material. Conversations about topics large and small, the news, the weather, etc. Eventually our group moved east down the park and did a grounding exercise. Immediately following we commenced an enthusiastic walk.

The ways that enthusiasm entered the world are familiar. The state continues to kill at will. At this point, we are literally chanting “I don’t want to say another motherfucking name” because of how many people have been murdered by police.

We walked in the street, even on more trafficked roads like Penn. Our route generally followed a meandering loop that ended back in the park where had started. At that point, people scattered like seeds.

Some takeaways:

We engaged with pedestrians and some of the drivers of the cars we passed. Police abolition remains a topic that people have Strong Opinions about. Bring zines! Literature passed to an onlooker might stay with them longer than your conversation.

Stay mobile! We put the juke shoes on to try to elude a small detachment of motorcycle cops. Getting down alleys, turning off of main streets only to pop out ahead of the cop trying to get in front of us, all frustrated them and disrupted more traffic. We made decisions as a group and more importantly executed on them decisively. There was even a small amount of barricade work followed by a turn to lose motorcycles.

Practice doesn’t make perfect but it will make permanent. Actions like this create camaraderie between the people who show up. These actions slowly sharpen the tactics and practices of people in the streets. There are things that happened today that didn’t happen the last time we were out. We’ll keep honing, testing, tinkering. Opportunities will present themselves to use these lessons.

Do the same. Get out there. Find each other.

In solidarity,
– anonymous

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You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…

Filler_PGH@protonmail.com

We’ll try to publish your report // promote your content // reply 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.

Anonymous submission received on 04.15.21

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Why Break Away

The Joy Of Doing Something Else

On Tuesday 04.13, Pittsburghers took to the street in solidarity with those protesting the killing of Daunte Wright by police in Brooklyn Center, MN. The details of his case follow an all-too familiar cadence. And regardless of the particulars, it is clear that the police continue to kill at will. Abolition remains the only viable solution.

The action started similarly to many, many actions from last year. After speeches and a move down Penn, the crowd ended up in Mellon Park. While most people gathered to sit around one of the pavilions, a smaller group of people held space at the intersection of 5th and Beechwood. Eventually, they were joined by a few others, mostly black bloc.

Critique has already been written regarding march leadership, and broadly the authors of this piece agree with what has already been written and do not feel the need to elaborate further. We would like to focus on what happened next.

We did something uncommon in Pittsburgh when the march moved on towards Peduto’s house. We didn’t follow. We stayed behind in the intersection. We asked each other what we wanted to do. We were a crowd of 30. We wanted to go somewhere else. We wanted to make sure that people knew why we were marching. We made it known.

And moving through those darkened streets, encouraging residents to join us, raising the name of the latest victim of the state’s bullets, we also found each other more deeply. We navigated as a collective. We took a water break as a group. The voices leading chants changed as those who had the breath to give them voice spoke out in turn.
It was exhilarating. Our little group was in the streets but also in community.

When it came time to scatter ourselves back to our homes, we concocted a plan. We made for a bridge but slid off the sides to the street below and from there into the night.

There was something special about our little breakaway. There was a joy, a purpose different from what many of us had felt for some time. It was simple. It was beautiful.

Find each other. Get out there.

In solidarity,
anonymous

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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.

Cracks in the Steel City is a filler column that recaps local news that anarchists in Pittsburgh may find interesting, with a particular focus on autonomous, illegalist, and insurrectionist activity. We also include information about fascist activity, state repression, and capitalist maneuvering.

All news content is sourced from anonymous submissions & communiques, social media, police reports, or capitalist media outlets. Because of this, all dates are approximates and may vary in accuracy.

Let us know what we missed.

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What Went Down

January

• According to police reports, 69 (nice) vehicles were stolen over the month of January. Capitalist media coverage indicates that the bulk of the vehicles belonged to UberEats drivers operating around the gentrified blocks of East Liberty, with a particular concentration between South Highland Avenue and the Google campus in Bakery Square. Many have been forced into the gig-economy, and while one can empathize with their struggles it is important to acknowledge that resistance to gentrification in East Liberty takes many forms.

January 4

• Filler receives a report-back titled “Lessons in Expropriations” signed by DJ Cunnilingus, who writes,

I’m writing today from occupied Cherokee territory to describe a failed action undertaken by myself, inspired by media seen on the Filler Distro social channels.

I received a misdemeanor citation for shoplifting a few hundred dollars worth of merchandise at a big box corporate store, one whose profits have soared since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and whose workers have risked their lives for the same meager hourly wage. I was there for supplies for houseless survival kits: items such as backpacks, gloves, a sleeping bag, warm hats, several pairs of pants in various sizes, packages of socks and shirts, deodorant, tampons, toothbrushes and other toiletries in travel sized containers, first aid kits, covid masks, etc. I intended to assemble the supplies into kits and distribute them amongst the local houseless population, which has of course seen a boom recently.

The report goes on to describe exactly what went wrong, what lessons were learned, and then goes on to offer an outline for future strategic thinking.

January 6

Capitalist media reports “Dozens of tires slashed in Butler Co. mall lot after group went to Washington, D.C. [to attend the attempted pro-Trump putsch]. The cars were parked in the Clearview Mall parking lot after the group boarded buses.” The attack disabled dozens of Trumper’s vehicles.

January 13

• A Sunoco in Bloomfield is robbed at gunpoint.

January 20

• Filler receives two anonymous submissions regarding two banner-drops.

Banner-drop on the Bigelow pedestrian bridge: NO BORDERS NO WALLS NO PRESIDENTS AT ALL

Banner dropped from the 33rd Street train bridge: WE KEEP US SAFE 412-FUCK-12

January 24

• A private vehicle with a “we support our Pittsburgh police” sign had its rear windshield smashed out in Lawrenceville.

January 29

• Filler received an anonymous report-back, ‘BEAVER COUNTY: Autonomous Blockade Against Fracking Infrastructure‘ – the report begins,

On Thursday morning, a collection of autonomous activists blockaded the sole access road to the Shell Polymer’s office in Beaver, PA to protest the transformation of the Ohio Valley into a manufacturing hub for the petrochemical industry. Shell Polymers is a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, and they are constructing an ethane cracking facility in Beaver that will be used to turn fracked gas into plastic.   

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February

February 2

• A WPXI headline reads “Teenagers terrorizing Pittsburgh neighborhood with bizarre crimes, police say.” The reality appears to be that a group of teens are having fun during quarantine by fucking with their white Karen neighbors; stealing their security cameras, setting dumpsters on fire, and pulling fire alarms.

• Capitalist media reports that a man is arrested for making bomb threats against the federal building in downtown Pittsburgh. The suspect reportedly stated “the government owes me money.” The suspect will be charged with terroristic threats and threat to use weapons of mass destruction.

February 5

• Local abolitionists launch a campaign to help community members incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail regain access to commissary funds, recreation, showers, and video visits.

February 6

• Pittsburgh Fash Watch released a community alert, “Crypto-fascists Discovered in Pittsburgh.” The dossier linked is an extensive and well-researched investigation into this local crypto-fascist network.

February 7

• Capitalist media reports that an off-duty officer plowed his car into a home, injuring two.

February 12

• Pittsburgh Fash Watch alerts community to continued collaboration between right-wing restaurant The Crack’d Egg and fascist group Iron City CRU.

• Capitalist media reports that at 7am, a man crashed his pickup into a Sunoco in the Hill District and attempted to steal an ATM. After a few seconds of struggling to load the machine into his truck, surveillance footage shows a bystander try to help. The man drove off without the ATM, but was arrested a short time later on Fifth Avenue in Oakland.

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February 14

• Capitalist media reports that a man was tased and arrested early Sunday morning after assaulting a Pittsburgh Police officer. At some point during the altercation, the accused allegedly managed to pocket the officer’s keys.

• Capitalist media reports “A Pittsburgh Police officer was taken to the hospital following his cruiser crashing into a home on Pittsburgh’s North Side.”

• Capitalist media reports that a new phone scam is enjoying moderate success.

• A Valentine’s Day noise demo takes place outside of Allegheny County Jail. The following report-back circulates social media:

Neither ice nor snow nor forecasted bitterly cold temps kept a big-hearted, masked- and bundled-up crew of some 50 of us from showing up outside Allegheny County Jail tonight to offer lotsa love to those still trapped behind bars. Our #Love4Abolition noise demo included a live band, a capella singing, and sound system tunes, all accompanied by lotsa banging on pots and pans and lotsa dancing, along with two illuminated banners (both with lite-up hearts), mutual aid from legal, medic, and food collectives, and the message pictured here—and best of all, reciprocal dancing, waving, and lights flashing on and off from those inside ACJ. To support ongoing solidarity efforts on the stolen lands of Pittsburgh to lend care to currently and formerly incarcerated folks in numerous ways, check out, get involved with, and/or donate to @jailbreakpgh and @bukitbailfund.

February 15

• Capitalist media reports that two people were arrested in their vehicle outside of Home Depot with $1,300 in stolen goods.

February 16

• The Graffiti Task Force releases photos of BATMAN BEYOND suspect.

• Capitalist media reports that,

A suspect is in custody after shots were fired at a Braddock police officer. As soon as he saw the Braddock police car, he started shooting at him,” Daniele said.

The chief said those bullets only hit the cop car. The suspect then took off, prompting an all-out search from nearly a dozen neighboring departments.

“A dog tracked some snow prints to an abandoned home up here on Lobinger. County officers tracked the rest of it and realized there was a man barricaded in one of the houses up on the hill,” Daniele said.

After SWAT and negotiators took over, that suspect was taken into custody and will be charged.

Daniele told KDKA the man did have a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but it is not life-threatening. Medics did check him out on scene.

During the course of the investigation, the car from the original call was reported stolen.

February 17

• Capitalist media reported that police are looking for three suspects who stole two vehicles from a car dealership in Washington County. As of this writing, no suspects have been publicly identified.

February 21

• Filler received the following photo-submission from MUTINY:

February 25

• Filler receives anonymous report of alt-right graffiti in lawrencville. Shortly after, @pghfashwatch reports that anti-fascists have covered the graffiti.

• Filler receives the following announcement:

412 Defense Funds is a list of active Pittsburgh felony defense funds related to the 2020 uprising. This site is an autonomous project, unaffiliated with any of the individual campaigns. In solidarity with all defendants. Only the State is guilty. 412defense.noblogs.org

February 26

• Filler receives the following submission:
  
  Corinne Rust Belt Tension Duval passed away at the age of 32. In every attack, every trespass, every reading group, every adventure, Corinne is present. She will never be forgotten. The State will feel the weight of our grief.

February 27

• Filler receives a report that BLEACH has covered transphobic stickers that were spotted earlier in the East End.

• Capitalist media reports “WESTMORELAND, Pa. — A Pennsylvania man searched for ‘how to set your car on fire and make it look like an accident’ on his cellphone before setting his vehicle aflame, investigators said.”

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March

March 1

• Three gas stations were robbed in under an hour. The first robbery was reported at the Marathon gas station along Penn Avenue in Lawrenceville around 1:25 Monday morning. Investigators say the second robbery was reported at the Shell gas station along Baum Boulevard in East Liberty about 20 minutes later, around 1:45 a.m.
  
  In two of the robberies, two men, at least one of whom was armed, entered the businesses and demanded money, making off with cash and cigarettes.
  
  “People are really hurting out here financially. It’s bringing a lot of problems on the workplace and the environment,” an employee told KDKA.
  
  Pittsburgh Police have not said if it is the same two alleged suspects at each robbery. At this point, there is no description on any suspects.

March 2

• Capitalist media reports that the Pittsburgh Police are cracking down on people illegally driving off-road vehicles on city streets.
  
  Public Safety says in 2020, the city started seeing large numbers of off-road vehicles like ATVs and dirt bikes driving recklessly — taking over roadways and intersections, driving on sidewalks and in many cases, going in the wrong direction.
  
  According to Public Safety, “flash mobs” or “ride-outs” have as many as 50 to 200 riders roaming Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods at any given time.
  
  Public Safety says just in the past week, police issued eight citations and towed two vehicles from a ride-out event. One citation came from a traffic stop where a dirt bike rider was driving the wrong way toward police on N. Beatty Street.
  
  Triblive quoted Pittsburgh police Commander Eric Holmes as saying, “We cannot address this problem alone and we are asking for the public’s help to put an end to these dangerous and disruptive ride-outs in the city.” Haha good luck with that, ya jag.

March 4

• Pittsburgh City Council has decided to table its discussion of a “no-knock bill” for two weeks.

March 6

• Filler received the following anonymous communique:
  
  “Last night I attacked several corporate store fronts as a modest contribution to the March 6 Day of Action, and as a means of grieving a lost loved one. I miss you, Duval.”

• Filler received the following anonymous communique:
  
  “some friends went on a prole strole and smashed a few cameras, but one of them had an alarm attached to it that went off so be aware of that”

March 8

• “Drop the charges” and pro-rioter graffiti photos begin circulating social media.

• “RIP TENSION” & “RIP Duval” graffiti photos begin circulating social media.

• Filler received the following anonymous report:
  
  “mounted police on butler st and reported in troy hill, today is the first day of chauvins trial.”

March 10

• After Chase Bank announced that they would be giving $200 gift cards to anyone who opens a new account, hundreds of Pittsburgh-area residents had their identities stolen and used to open fake Chase Bank accounts in their name. The bank expropriation scam does not appear to have used the stolen identities for any other purpose. Despite federal assistance, a multi-department police task force has yet to announce any leads on the case.

March 11

• Filler received a communique from “team fuck shit” claiming responsibility for stealing 17 Peduto campaign signs.

• Pittsburgh Fash Watch reports on the removal of transphobic stickers between 40th and 44th on Davison St.

• Capitalist media reports that Pittsburgh Public Schools will be taking high school students to court for truancy, despite repeated attempts on behalf of the students and their families to demonstrate that they were unable to use Zoom or their home internet connection to attend online classes.

March 12

• Filler received the following anonymous communique:
  
  “Anarchists in Pittsburgh dropped a banner at a pedestrian bridge in solidarity with those fighting back against Line 3 and pipelines everywhere. Living in Pittsburgh makes us acutely aware of the risks of industrial pollution.”

March 13

• Capitalist media reports that the Pennsylvania State Police will be canceling their Spring and Summer Youth Cadet Training Camps due to concerns over the COVID pandemic. At “Camp Cadet,” kids aged 12-15 are forced to dress in uniform, march in formation, and attend police seminars on build a positive relationship with law enforcement personnel in exchange for free food.

March 15

• A noise demonstration is held in solidarity with community members incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail.

• Filler received a communique from Ohio Valley Environmental Resistance:
  
  “OVER & several affinity groups held a noise demo outside the home of Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald to protest his support of the petrochemical industry.”

March 16

• New issue of Occupy Pittsburgh News dropped. It continues the paper’s coverage of how the Pittsburgh city government, local universities, private developers, and big tech are trying to bulldoze through two neighborhoods and Schenley Park to build a road used exclusively by “autonomous” vehicle shuttles for students & techies. The project also appears to deliberately worsen flood patterns in the hoods.

March 17

• Pitt, CMU & tech giants launch ‘collaboratory’ that will “study how extremism is generated, how it shapes polarizing views, how it provokes illegal acts” & “develop tools that provide effective intervention for law enforcement” & “combating radicalism.” They also intend to develop methods of tracking radical networks that use encrypted networks. You know, to stop hate. Yeah. Thats why.

March 19

• Two plainclothes, unidentified police followed, jumped and arrested two comrades after the climate strike. They did not identify themselves, and at least one comrade will be facing felony charges.

• Filler received a report indicating that fascist graffiti in Oakland had been covered.

• Capitalist media reports “Pennsylvania state House passes bill upping penalty for spitting on police officers.”

Under existing law, spitting on a police officer is treated the same as spitting on any other person. The perpetrator could be charged with disorderly conduct.

That currently could be charged as either a summary offense or a third degree misdemeanor, with penalties ranging from a fine of $25 to $1,000, and up to a year in prison.

Schmitt’s bill would bump up spitting, or knowingly throwing any other bodily substances, such as blood, urine, or feces, on a police officer to a first degree misdemeanor. That’s punishable with two-and-a-half to five years in prison, and a fine of up to $10,000. As written, the bill elevated the misdemeanor to a felony if the spitter had a communicable disease. The bill also specifically notes Hepatitis-B and HIV-AIDS.

This matches the existing law for “bodily fluid assault,” Schmitt said.

Right now, the only specific statute covering spitting applies if the offender is a prisoner. In that case, spitting on anyone else, including a police officer or corrections officer, is automatically a felony if the prisoner is “infected by a communicable disease, including, but not limited to, [HIV] or hepatitis B.”

March 20

• Despite the COVID shutdown, federal investigation, and brief autonomous blockades like the one in January, Shell announced that the cracker plant in Beaver County will be fully operational in 2022. Unless more delays occur, of course.

• Google announces plans to expand its little company-town in Walnut Capital’s Bakery Square.

• The snitch-seeker squad & surveillance task force are re-mobilized. Civil Affairs and DAAT can eat shit.

• Filler received the following anonymous submission:
  
  “Looks like someone capped the duo lingo mural. Maybe they’ll leave better art work up or pay someone in the community to paint it next time. Fuck tech giants.”

March 22

• Pennsylvania State Police and the bomb squad were called to a Walmart in Westmoreland County for a suspicious package.

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Find each other.

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You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…

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Occupy Pittsburgh Now just dropped a new issue.

You can view / download a high-quality PDF of it on their website.

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FUCK IDENTITY,
WE NEED SOLIDARITY
by William Peduto
Pittsburgh Radical Perspectives
October 2020

Pittsburgh Radical Perspectives is a collective of students who have been participating in the movement for black lives and in the struggle of latinx people against state-sanctioned violence. We are anarchists, afropessimists, maoists, and socialists that are united in our desire for an autonomous revolutionary movement.

Contents
Synopsis – Page 2
I. We Need Autonomous Organizing! – Page 4
II. The Situation Today! – Page 5
III. Anti-Oppression Theory & Practice in Pittsburgh has Failed! – Page 9
IV. Pittsburgh as an Example – Page 11

Fuck Identity, We Need Solidarity was written collaboratively by a group of people of color, women, and queers – most of whom are students at Point Park University and University of Pittsburgh – in deep solidarity and in the spirit of conversation with anyone, be they anarchist, Marxist, progressive, socialist, or what have you, who is committed to ending oppression and exploitation materially. We’d also like to extend our unconditional solidarity with all Pittsburgh protestors who are facing charges.

This is a critique of how privilege theory and cultural essentialism has been a boom in our city and how it has incapacitated antiracist, feminist, and queer organizing in this country by taking identity categories and equating them with culture, and culture with solidarity. This conflation minimizes and misrepresents the severity and structural character of the violence and material deprivation faced by oppressed people, and plays up the division among the people who are out rebelling to a point of making liberation impossible in the long-term.

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You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…

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Originally published on 07.24.20 by TORCHLIGHT – Anarchist News from Pittsburgh

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A local anarchist who has recently been involved in legal support sent us [Torchlight] this compendium of repressive activities by law enforcement. It has been edited for spelling and grammar, and supporting links added, but is otherwise unchanged.

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