Occupy Pittsburgh Now just dropped a new issue.
You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…
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.
Submission from a participant in the Ohio Valley Environmental Resistance (PA) received on 09.02.21
Reportback on Fitz Fest 2021:
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. To enjoy the gorgeous weather, the activists set up a zine and food distro in the street while playing tunes to celebrate the inability of the Pittsburgh and Allegheny County police to do anything about the occupation. Although it rained several times throughout the action, the activists where undeterred and occupied the road for seven hours until calling it a day. No arrests took place although the police did attempt to debate several protesters on why police are important. They failed miserably, and were also given a cold shoulder by the neighborhood anarchist cat, Ruby.
This action was organized in response to a recent proposal in Allegheny County to militarize guards at Allegheny County Jail, but was rooted in Fitzgerald’s indifference to public concerns over numerous issues such as air pollution, gentrification, labor rights, climate change, and mass incarceration. While county executive, Rich Fitzgerald has used his power over county departments to create a county that is favorable for multinational corporations but not the people who he is supposed to represent.
Some examples of this indifference are:
Because Fitzgerald was re-elected without any Democratic Party opposition in 2019, he will be the county executive until 2023. After he leaves his role as County Executive, he may decide to run for higher offices with authority over more people. We cannot let that happen.
It is for these reasons that Rich Fitzgerald must resign his role as Allegheny county executive. This author also recommends that Fitzgerald’s position be abolished and replaced with three county commissioners, two of whom must not be cis-white men.
You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…
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.
Anonymous submission received on 06.29.21
PITTSBURGH: Plastic trash left at Rich Fitzgerald’s home to protest petrochemical buildout, communique encourages everyone to do the same.
In the middle of the night on Tuesday, June 29th, four trash bags filled with plastic waste were left on the steps of Rich Fitzgerald’s house. The trash bags bore the message “STOP SUPPORTING THE PETRO INDUSTRY.” One can assume that the purpose of the display was to showcase what the Shell Ethane Cracker Plant and any other subsequent petrochemical infrastructure will likely produce: single-use plastic junk.
There was a communique attached to the display. It read:
“Residents of SWPA, you are hereby encouraged to drop off any plastic trash you find at 1314 Denniston St, to send the trash to Fitzgerald’s office in downtown Pittsburgh, or to greet him with gifts of plastic trash in person. Instead of letting the plastic end up in our food, water, and bodies, please give it to someone who loves it so much that he wants to see 1.6 billion tons more of it on our planet!”
The writer of this report can only agree with the unknown creator of this display: politicians should take responsibility for the things they advocate for.
You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…
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.
Anonymous submission received on 06.21.21
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!
You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…
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.
[Submission from the Pittsburgh National Lawyers Guild received on 05.28.21]
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
You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…
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 04.18.21
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
You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…
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 04.14.21
A group of about 15-20 comrades in bloc gathered in solidarity with Minneapolis & the family of Daunte Wright as well as expressing support of police /prison abolition in general. There was a brief chat consenting to the goal of the action & assessing the temp of the evening before taking the streets.
The group marched in Shadyside in a randomly chaotic way down busy streets like Ellsworth, Walnut, Fifth ave & eventually back to the original meeting point for a safe dispersal. Cops followed and blocked streets, often blocking 3 out of 4 routes seemingly forcing the group in one direction but at one point they marched towards the police literally forcing the SUV to back up onto fifth ave. Both hilarious & amazing.
Comrades passed out pamphlets/mini zines about abolition to those encountered during the march . Most if not all bystanders were very supportive// no negative “outside agitators” to report. Cops mostly kept their distance and corked streets unnecessarily.
Action felt super fun, not very stressful, autonomous & no set form of leadership or noticeable hierarchy. A++
You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.”
Find each other.
You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…
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.
You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…
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.
[anonymous submission received on 01.28.21]
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.
Marketed to the region as a job creator, the cracking facility will release 2 million tons of C02 every year along with 522 tons of volatile organic compounds that are linked to respiratory disease. The plastic the plant creates will add to the existing waste in oceans and landfills that are poisoning habitats for earthlings everywhere.
In an effort to avoid the dangers of climate change, the industry has set its sights on the Ohio Valley as its next sacrifice zone. Other cracking facilities and related infrastructure have been proposed in parts of Ohio and West Virginia despite the glut of plastics on the world market. If constructed, these facilities will help create a new Cancer Alley like what already exists in Louisiana.
While people in the affected regions surrounding the plant participated public hearings to voice opposition to the plant, they were ignored by both Shell and local government, so now those people are trying something else. Stay tuned for more action from these people standing up to the corporations at the root of the Sixth Mass Extinction.
You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…
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.