Don't miss this important revolutionary event!One of Woody Allen's most enduring and popular comedies. A consumer products tester named Fielding Mellish becomes infatuated with a political activist (Louise Lasser). He attends demonstrations and tries in other ways to convince her that he is worthy of her love, but Nancy wants someone with greater leadership potential. Fielding runs off to San Marcos where he joins the rebels and eventually becomes President of the country.   Thursday December 27th 8pm at Firehouse Bikes 50th and Baltimore bring a donation!! download a flyer here read more

• A decennary of defenestration
• Milton McGriff’s 2236
• Documenting Social Transformation: A Proposal
• Sue the Bastards: Late Spanish Fascist Franco’s Castle is Finally Under Siege.
• Sue the Pigs Fund the Rev
• Call for day of action & mobilization January 26th
• Philly Jobs with Justice POWR (Philadelphia Officers and Workers Rising)
• Minneapolis Cops Attack Pre-RNC Critical Mass
• A Call for Solidarity with NYC Antifa
• tax abatement, "the letter" and inspiration from Harlem
• Reflections Back To A long Hot Summer
• Green Scare Defendant Eric McDavid Found Guilty
• Inmate Grievances and Retaliation at SCI Houtzdale
• Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta Declares War
• recruiter in dc invaded by antiwar march
• Before and Beyond Jena
• the jena 6: a timeline
• “Bring On The Stones” or Is There A Republican In Your Bathroom Stall?
• Bil’in celebrates the court verdict: victory for the joint non-violent struggle!

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reviewed by Colin C.“Every ripple in the ocean is an African who refused to be a slave.”-the Last PoetsAnd so begins Milton McGriff’s novel 2236, a tale of resistance. Set in the not so distant future in a city not so different from Philadelphia where cops, with the blessing of a corrupt Neo-Con president have declared an open season on Black folks, the book centers around Andy Blackman who works for a liberatory Black religious group (not unlike the Nation of Islam) called the Covenant of the New Commandment and whose own brother falls victim to a cop drunk on liquor and power. A clandestine militant cell calling themselves Unit 2236 has begun to fight back against the system, executing police who kill African Americans and are acquitted by courts.read more

by dave onion It’s now been ten years since we first started publishing this paper. The defenestrator as a project initially grew from an informal conversation riding back to Philly from a Homes Not Jails conference in Boston. The conversation in the back of that van in retrospect bore a strange resemblance to more recent conversations I’ve been in on the way home from other inspiring conferences, essentially: “Why don’t we do that in Philly?” A few weeks later we had our first meeting to shape what was to become the paper you now hold. The first issue, number zero, was photocopied, laid out by hand and contained Philly news about the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, Philly Squatters Aid, an enthusiastic bit on Philly Freedom Summer for Mumia, the Atlantic Anarchist Circle, Wooden Shoe Books recovering from a fire, as well as updates from political prisoners and various international news bits. We printed issue zero on stolen paper using commandeered photocopiers at undisclosed locations. read more

by Bronwyn “How do we create a context that is ‘good and right’?”  Walter Mosley, Life out of Context “For obvious reasons, what we are against tends to take precedence over what we are for, which is always a more complicated and ambiguous matter…even if we could gather together our dreams of a new world, how do we figure them out in a culture dominated by the marketplace? How can social movements actually reshape the desires and dreams of the participants?”Robin D. G. Kelley, Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination“What is revolutionary action? Revolutionary action is any collective action which rejects, and therefore confronts, some form of power or domination and in doing so, reconstitutes social relations – even within the collectivity – in that light.” read more

by ploSo here we are, all struggling, trying to build radical movements, communities, relationships, battling to create a healthier world- one rooted more in respect, autonomy, mutual aid, and accountability. However, in this effort sometimes we immerse ourselves in the larger pictures, and as a result, lose sight of each other and our own personal struggles. Like many around me, bipolar and manic depression have deeply affected my life on many levels, and though there is definitely some inspiring work happening in terms of building structures to support people with mental health problems and to destigmatize these illnesses, I thought it might be helpful to offer some tools to people in order to better support their loved ones and friends. What follows is by no means complete or definitive (everyone’s needs and responses to things are unique), merely some basic suggestions to better support people living with these illnesses. I hope this article will spark discussion among groups, collectives, friends, families and partners to further our efforts in building flexible alternative structures in order to support each other. read more

By Sean West (NEFAC-Philly)Some 30 years after the death of fascist dictator General Francisco Franco, his daughter Carmen Franco Polo continues to hold a commemoration ceremony to honor the death of her dear old dad, ‘El Caudillo’ (The Leader) every November.  Accompanied by an entourage of wealthy right wingers and fascist extremists they lament, teary eyed, for a day when they could gun down anybody who got in the way of rich business owners’ plans for the country.    Where is such a ceremony held…in the decadence of a castle of course.Now finally after decades Spanish Government authorities want to open the property up to the public as a cultural landmark.  Carmen Franco Polo and her ilk are resisting and the Spanish government is suing the bastards.They Shall Not Pass: Memory Against Forgettingread more

Starting during the 1999 anti-WTO protests in Seattle up until mass roundups in DC in 2003, thousands of folks were pulled off the street and locked up for taking a political stand against war and global capitalism. For the most part, these roundups didn’t even conform to accepted legal or spectacular norms of those in power. In many cases police made preemptive arrests based on sketchy information from infiltrators (as in Philly during the 2000 RNC). In some circumstances cops beat and brutalized people who were arrested during protests or actions, especially during the FTAA protests in Miami, while many others were simply arrested for participating in legal protests such as September 2002’s mostly lackadaisical protest against the war and the IMF in Washington DC. read more

We are millions of people, organizations, networks, movements, trade unions from all parts of the world; we come from villages, regions, rural zones, urban centers; we are of all ages, peoples, cultures, beliefs, but we are united by the strong conviction that ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE With all the richness of our plurality and diversity and our alternatives and proposals, we struggle against neo-liberalism, war, colonialism, racism and patriarchy which produce violence, exploitation, exclusion, poverty, hunger and ecological disaster and deprive people of human rights. read more

by Kevin Paris of Temple SLAP and Philly Jobs With Justice Brand new security headquarters and a new paid sick day package are just some of the tangible victories that the Allied Barton security officers at the University of Pennsylvania have won over the last year in their ongoing fight to form a non-majority union. Known as POWR (Philadelphia Officers and Workers Rising) the Allied Barton security officers are an example of the effectiveness of this nontraditional collective bargaining model.Along with a strong support base including Philadelphia Jobs with Justice, Student Labor Action Project, local members of the community and faith leaders the officers hope to repeat these victories at Temple University with the ultimate goal of full union recognition by Allied Barton.read more

On Friday, August 31, Minneapolis cops arrested nineteen people after brutally attacking cyclists with tasers, pepper spray and excessive physical force. The cyclists were part of the monthly Critical Mass bike ride. This particular Critical Mass was a kick-off for the pReNC, a weekend of organizing against the Republican National Convention to be held in St. Paul in 2008. According to a statement issued by the Welcoming Committee, the group hosting the pReNC:The bikers did not provoke this incident, as they committed no violent or destructive acts. Unmarked cars filmed and targeted specific people. A State Patrol helicopter accompanied the entire event. Three police cars followed throughout the ride, attempting to intimidate the riders by sounding their sirens regularly and driving into the crowd, but issued no official dispersal orders.read more

***PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY***Quick Update from the Love Park 4It's been awhile since we updated everyone on our case. First of all, we want to really thank all of our friends and comrades for their outpouring of support since our arrests in July. To date, we have raised about $2400 for our legal defense and have received hundreds of supportive messages from around the world. Our first date court is fast approaching - just 3 weeks away on October 3rd. It's just a status hearing - where our lawyers will enter their appearances, we will enter our not guilty pleas, and the discovery process will begin. Not much usually comes out of these initial appearances, and in our case our lawyers expect nothing different. They have explained that in all probability, discovery will go on for some time as they expect the prosecution to not be completely forthcoming with all the discovery our legal team needs (surprise, surprise) so a series of discovery motions will have to be filed to secure all of those documents and other evidence necessary for our defense.To that end, we have hired our legal counsel and will have a legal team consisting of 3 lawyers - one for Tom Keenan and Jared Schultz, another for Jason Robbins and a third for the member of Progressive Labor Party who was also arrested with us. The members of Anti-Racist Action will be represented by Paul Hetznecker and Larry Krasner, respectively. Both lawyers are well-known to the Philadelphia activist community, having spent time defending other activists arrested in thecity, and are sympathetic to our anti-fascist politics. Both Hetznecker and Krasner were a big part of the post-RNC legal team in 2000, as well as counsel to several people arrested during the Bio-Devastation protests in Philadelphia in 2005, among many other politically charged cases over both of their long careers. Our lawyers are currently preparing for our October court date and we will bemeeting with them again during the next few weeks to ready ourselves for court and continue to formulate our defense strategy.We are confident in our lawyers ability to help us beat these trumped up charges, and are proceeding with cautious optimism. While our supporters have done an excellent job helping us fund raise, we are still in need of help in this area. We are currently $600 short in meeting our fundraising goal of $3000, the amount our lawyers have asked to defend us. At this point, any amount of money you can donate to help us reach that goal will be greatly appreciated.You can donate money online via PayPal. Send your donation to cyndipitt@gmail.com. If you wish to send funds through the mail, senda check or well-concealed cash to:Heartsville Community SpacePO Box 5917Philadelphia, PA 19137.Make sure to note that it is for The Love Park 4 and make out all checks or money orders to Jared Schultz.Write to philly_ara@yahoo.com to receive updates on our case and find out how else you can lend a hand. You can also visit the Support the Love Park 4 Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/supportlovepark4 - or the Love Park 4 blog - http://lovepark4.blogspot.com/ - for more information and background on the case.GIVE THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING: SOLIDARITY!

By A Concerned Relation I got a email invite last week for the offices of the State representative network. I stopped by and slide down to Clark park as well, here is some thoughts. So, now that the brew pub is open at 50th and baltimore it had occured to me that maybe now was the right time to write this letter. When you go and sit around all day outside the satellite coffee shop, do you ever think about your role in gentrification? I cannot help but ask this question because sometimes I pass by and I see what to my eye looks like a white settler occupation beachhead down there across from cedar park, with an increasing number of white homeowners within a one block radius and perhaps more disturbingly, Penn students/employees buying houses up to 52nd street with school subsidies. read more

from phillyimc.org BREAKING NEWS: Board of Pardons and Parole Rules 6 to 1 for Clemency for Kenneth Foster, and Governor upholds the decision, giving Foster a sentence of life in prison! Radio interview from Huntsville Prison with Philadelphia journalist Walidah Imarisha In this radio interview directly from Huntsville Prison, where Foster / KiNassor is being held, Philadelphia journalist Walidah Imarisha describes her visit with him this morning, and this unprecedented decision from the Board of Pardons and Parole. The interview was conducted (less than an hour ago) just before hearing that the governor has ruled in favor of the Board of Parole and Pardons' decision. Just five minutes ago, I received the call from Imarisha telling me about the Governor's exciting decision. The interview was conducted just before hearing from the governor. Listen to the interview with Imarisha: http://www.abu-jamal-news.com/audio/walidahharamia.mp3