Author: Conflict MN

Noise Report: Fireworks and Rage Light Up the Youth Jail in Minneapolis

Anonymous submission to Conflict Minnesota

A noise demo was called to take place in Minneapolis on the 21st of August at the start of the nationwide prison strike coordinated across at least seventeen different states. We joined hundreds of others, clanking and screaming down the walls of various jails and prisons across the country, building upon a tradition of militant solidarity with those on the inside. Beyond simply holding people captive and forcing them to work, reducing them to a body that labors, the function of prison is also fundamentally to separate, isolate and reduce life to cells of confinement. If we are yet too weak to tear down the walls that separate us we will let the thud and murmur of our noise break down this isolation. We have heard their call and we will amplify it.

A little after eight o’clock, as the sun was going down, people started trickling into Elliot park. A cop car drove across the lawn and parked in the direction of the soccer field, seemingly not paying us any attention. As groups of more and more people arrived, someone got up with a megaphone and told everyone that the plan was to march to the youth jail a small number of blocks away. They talked about why people would want to wear masks and that we were not there to police each other’s behavior. Another few quick speeches gave people context for the strike and connected it to the struggles taking place in Minnesota prisons and jails. Some not already masked up donned masks and people with banners moved to face in the direction of the street. As the brass marching band played we moved into the street and started marching. Flares were lit and anti prison and anti police chants reverberated off the buildings through nearly empty downtown streets.

This march, however, was not for the downtown pedestrian going to and from work or bar. It’s a weird almost foolish feeling of yelling for ourselves in that emptiness. But when we got to the jail and we saw all the faces and fists held up, some banging on the glass it dispelled any feelings of foolishness. What felt like moments after we arrived to the side of the jail a mortar of fireworks shot a burst of color and a loud boom right above the jail. Someone sprayed “fire to the prisons” onto the ground facing the windows of the cells. Roman candles were passed out to the crowd and shot at the jail as we alternated between chants, the band playing and anti police songs on a mobile boom box. The demands that have circulated along with the call for the strike were read through a megaphone, communicating them to those in the jail as well as everyone else there.

Here again we felt the strange lack of interest in us by the police. Only one squad car and a few cops walking around during our time at the jail. They came and they left. Only a passing interaction—disinterest or disengagement. Who knows really. We did not press our luck. We remind ourselves that we are not validated by our repression. However, next time may we also be more prepared to take advantage of such an opportunity.

Even without the police presence the chants on the return from the jail focused almost exclusively on the police. This is no surprise as they are slavers of the modern day plantation that is prison and violent enforcers of the racial order that is the USA. As we marched back the noise we made was for ourselves, to really feel powerful enough to fight—against a world which produces and fills prisons. We ended with everyone safe in the park. A few short statements were made about the strike and relevant upcoming events, materially supporting repressed comrades in prison who participate in the strike as it progresses. Then we went our separate ways.

During this demo, a little less than half of the people participating wore all black and covered their faces. Some merely covered distinguishing marks and their faces. Masks were handed out. Some took them and some didn’t. Previous noise demos here had increasingly tended toward all black everything as well as dwindling numbers corresponding with the isolation of the group. Given this, the militant composition of the crowd has an important strategic value that we must take seriously. When we ask the question of how to ensure that we as a crowd are both unruly and safe, both combative and joinable, it must be answered situation by situation but in such a way that opens us toward others and others toward the crowd. This noise demo itself comes closer to answering this problem posed by the previous three noise demos here, providing multiple layers of activity, involving multiple social groupings and subjectivities. How we give the multiple space to flourish in common is how we give strength to our movements.

The Strike has just started.

Let’s make sure it stays lit af.

Because fuck a prison and its world.

– a group of friends

Statement in support of Cameron Crowley, alleged to be hacktivist “Vigilance”

From Support Cameron

Philando Castile was murdered by police officer Jeronimo Yanez on July 6, 2016. On June 16, 2017, Yanez was acquitted on all charges. Those mourning the loss of Philando Castile, those outraged by the acquittal of Yanez, and those wishing to change or abolish the racist and destructive law enforcement apparatus, stood up, spoke out, and struck back. The most visible examples were the freeway occupations where community members came together to be side by side in their grief and to disrupt business as usual.

Others also rose up – across the state, the country, and the world – fighting where they stood and adding their voices to the outcry. One such voice was that of the hacktivist, “Vigilance.” Vigilance disrupted a different highway, the “information super highway,” by accessing State-run websites. On May 22, 2018, Cameron Crowley was indicted by the US Federal Government, accused of being the hacktivist Vigilance, and charged with Intentional Access to a Protected Computer, Intentional Damage to a Protected Computer, and Aggravated Identity Theft.

While, at this time, we do not if or how Crowley was involved in Vigilance’s actions, we know the following to be true:

  • Vigilance’s bold actions were taken in solidarity with the movement to end police violence. Any time the case is discussed, this struggle should be centered. Damage to a computer or disruption of someone’s day both pale in comparison to the legacy of police murder.
  • In early news reports, computer security expert Mark Lanterman confirmed that if Vigilance had “malicious intent,” the hacks could have been much worse. This suggests that Vigilance was not acting to cause harm, but rather to draw attention to the injustice of Castile’s murder and Yanez’s acquittal.
  • US Code, Section 1030, under which Crowley is charged, is over-broad. The statute equates principled hacktivism with harm-causing ransomeware and cyber-warfare.
  • In our increasingly computerized world, principled hacktivism – including cyber-civil disobedience – is an important tool for change whose use will only grow. The consequences for cyber-civil disobedience should be no more severe than those for traditional civil disobedience, and hacktivists should have the support of broader movements for social justice.

We, the undersigned, stand in solidarity with Vigilance. As such, we also stand in support of Cameron Crowley who, whether involved or not, is the one facing repercussions for actions taken in the struggle to end police violence. We know that power concedes nothing without a fight. We know that we are fighting one fight with many fronts. We know we are all stronger when we stand together.

Cameron Crowley Support Committee

Banner Drop In Support Of Stillwater Prison Rebels

Anonymous submission to Conflict Minnesota

After a year filled with attacks on guards at Stillwater and other Minnesota prisons, Officer Gomm was killed by an inmate at Stillwater. Since then, all Minnesota prisons were placed on lockdown for weeks and subjected to additional harrassment on top of the indignity of being imprisoned in the first place. Several guards have quit and many more are reluctant to come in to work. All the while, the union says they need more money for guards and further repression.

To the guards who quit: congratulations, we hope your former colleagues join you.

The only good prison guard is a dead one.

Til the last prison is ashes under our feet,

– some anarchists

MASS Appeal & Antifa 161 Banner Drop for Heather Heyer

Anonymous submission to Conflict Minnesota

As we unfurled the banner in South Minneapolis today to honor Heather Heyer, we took a minute to remember the many comrades that we’ve lost to the violence that is white supremacy and terror. As people gathered at the park to enjoy a beautiful Sunday, we wanted to share our message that our hearts and bodies are in the struggle for the abolition of the State & the fascists that protect it, and the fascists that are protected by it. We distributed zines and flyers about our anti fascist organizing, and had powerful conversations about our collective efforts to keep our cities fash free. Our talks with Minnesotans at the park today solidifed that they will also join us in our commitment to confront fascists, and stop them in their tracks.

To our comrades in the streets of DC & Cville today confronting the far right and fascists, we want you to know you are not alone. Our fight against capitalism, the State, the cops, and white supremacy is a fight for our freedom from a system that imprisons our desire for total liberation.

We know that a banner drop is a symbolic show of solidarity, and symbolism will not crush the fash scum. That is why Antifa 161 has joined with MASS Appeal to continue our physical presence in the streets, distro of agit prop, and full commitment to stopping the fascist platform.

With Love & Rage,

Antifa 161 MPLS & MASS Appeal

Antifa 161 MPLS is a militant anti-capitalist & anti fascist federation of anarchists in the twin cities, and beyond.

MASS Appeal is a group of Minneapolis Antifa South Siders that are part of the new turf claiming team and street cleaning crew of Antifa 161.

PS: We are unstoppable & insatiable when it comes to making our wildest dreams of mass liberation come true.

Banner Drop For Heather Heyer

Anonymous submission to Conflict Minnesota

With heavy hearts today, on this first anniversary of Heather Heyer’s death (and the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville), we wish to avenge the deaths of all those who have senselessly died at the hands of fascist and state violence. We dropped a banner in hopes of it being a local catalyst—a reminder to ourselves that our dedication to fighting white supremacy and the state (in it’s many forms) cannot falter. It is a fight that our very lives depend on.

RIP Heather Heyer and all of those killed at the hands of nazis, cops, incarceration, and the neoliberal state.

Prison Strike Noise Demo

From #PrisonStrikeMpls

A national prison strike has been called for August 21 to September 9, 2018. Jailhouse Lawyer’s Speak (JLS), a collective of jailhouse lawyers offering their services to others incarcerated, has put forth a call for this strike as an immediate response to the brutal uprisings at Lee Correctional Facility in South Carolina earlier this year. The uprising led to 7 prisoners dead and 17 critically injured as a direct result of guard negligence, prison overcrowding, and general poor conditions. We must be clear — any death that transpires within the walls of a prison is murder at the hands of the state.

The dates of the proposed strike are no coincidence. August 21 is the day that George Jackson was murdered by San Quentin prison officials in 1971. That same year, on September 9, is when prisoners at Attica in New York took over their prison in direct response to Jackson’s assassination – over 1,000 of the prison’s 2,200 prisoners took part in the uprising which held 42 staff hostage as the prisoners fought for their demands and left 43 people dead including guards and those incarcerated.

One month after the horrendous incident at Lee Correctional, two prisons in Missouri and Louisiana took action against their facilities, the former leading to the destruction of prison equipment and the latter to massive strikes. It isn’t only the task of other prisoners to stand in solidarity with those incarcerated. Our freedom, our agency is inherently bound to those behind bars, locked in ICE detention centers, to those who are routinely harassed by police. We have a duty to carry these voices beyond the prison walls. We need to set fire to the church of self-righteous “law and order.” Those held captive by the state are deserving of vocality, and we have the opportunity to amplify their words and actions by acting with them from the outside, by sharing their stories, by reminding prison officials that they are not forgotten. It is compulsory for us to thwart attempts by guards and prisons to further isolate those they keep locked up. They are risking their lives to participate in this strike, and we have a responsibility to support it.

We are calling for a noise demonstration outside of the youth jail in downtown Minneapolis on August 21, the first day of the strike, in order to show prisoners that we stand with them, that we will be here, and that we are not backing down. Join us at Elliot Park at 8pm. Crew up. Bring the noise. Be there.

Stop Line 3: Benefit For The Makwa Initiative

From Moon Palace Books

Sunday, August 5th

Moon Palace Books

3032 Minnehaha Ave

8:00 PM

Line 3. It’s no good for you, it’s no good for me, and most importantly it’s no good to the Native population that will be directly affected by the Public Utility Commissions decision to allow Enbridge to build it right across their land. Water and food are being destroyed, wildlife is being displaced and humans are being forced to fight a hard battle just to retain what is rightfully theirs to begin with. Please join us for a night of unity and music as we try to raise funds and awareness for this travesty and ongoing struggle.

With musical performances by:

Thomas X

The Pretendians

Hellish View

Aaaaaaaand DJing by the amazing MixieD

This is sure to be a great night. Come catch some killer music, make new friends and support a worthy cause!

This show WILL START AT 8! MUST END BY 11!
Admission will be $6-10 (or more if you can spare it for the cause!!!)

Prison Strike Info Night & Banner Making

From #PrisonStrikeMpls

Thursday, August 9th

Boneshaker Books

2002 23rd Ave S

6:00 PM – Info Night

Come learn about the upcoming strike against prison slavery. Beginning August 21st, prisoners across the country will come together to resist their confinement.

7:30 PM – Banner Making

Paint banners with solidarity messages for the prison strike. Afterwards, people are encouraged to drop the banners around town.

July 4th Report Back from I.A.A.A. and Duluth MN Twin Ports Anonymous

From Indigenous Anarchist Anti-Colonial Action

In the wake of the Trump rally and general opposition to the new rise of colonial fascism…

Yesterday on July 4th, the kkkolony of Superior Wisconsin and Duluth Minnesota/Occupied Ojibwe and Dakota territory wished to celebrate the genocide of indigenous nations openly with a parade, concert and public display of debauchery, inebriation and systematic racism while perpetuating the erasure of indigenous nations local to the territory, while the imprisonment and deportation of our indigenous allies north and south of their imaginary borders continues, in conjunction with an open display of ignorance that they are on Stolen Land.

The opposition to this day was kicked off with the insertion of an anti-colonial bloc in the “Remember Why it’s the Fourth of July,” parade, consisting of a banner that read, “Make Colonizers Afraid Again, No I.C.E. on Stolen Land,” upside down amerikkkan flags, and verbal discourse that reiterated that there would be, “No celebration while there’s deportation!”

Midday an impromptu anti-colonial occupation of the Minnesota Power Plaza ensued, complete with a hot meal to be shared with community members, in the spirit of creating a public autonomous anti-colonial themed space on this wretched day in history.

Immediately following the occupation our crew grew as we mobbed up to the capitalist and kkkolonial festivities in the form of carnival rides and music. A banner was dropped from the parking garage overlooking it all reading, “NO BORDERS, NO PIPELINES, NO MAN CAMPS, NO I.C.E., YOU’RE ON STOLEN LAND”. The local crowd cheered as police and private security scrambled to dismantle the rhetoric hanging before the eyes of their consumer populous.

As evening descended, the crew dispersed in various directions to play, “capture the flag,” and de-clothe the city of their symbol of patriotism, colonialism, racism and patriarchy, the “amerikkkan flag,” that will never and has never represented the indigenous territories on Turtle Island; several flags were captured and destroyed or saved for strategic demolition.

As indigenous and non-indigenous anarchists alike we support yesterdays actions of a POC individual who chose to literally Rise and Resist this fascist regime by climbing the statue of liberty; furthermore, we do not support the initial public denunciation of this individual and their actions by their supposed “comrades” in the “Rise and Resist” organization. Dissent should be kept internal to the struggle, as our collective enemies feed the flames of conflict in our various crews that should be struggling alongside each other, not against each other.

All colonies are burning; set the fire in your local community today, as the only way to cure the new-rise-to-fascism problem in “Trump’s America,” is to burn his concepts to the ground and continue to create the communities in which we want to see and live. All Fires Are Sacred.

In solidarity with all comrades struggling against a white supremacist fascist regime!

All Colonies Are Burning – All Fires Are Sacred

Beyond Psychiatry and Self Care: Approaching New Pathways In Mental Health

Anonymous submission to Conflict Minnesota

Thursday, July 19th

Boneshaker Books

2002 23rd Ave S

6:00 PM

Many of us are familiar with some ideas, images, or theories of madness, “mental illness”, and perhaps also psychiatry, but feel a lingering skepticism and doubt about what they mean.

Sasha Durakov (of the Belli Research Institute) will be doing a reading, a discussion, and debuting an annotated bibliography of free texts on madness, mental health, psychiatry, and mental illness. He will attempt to challenge common beliefs about mental health; present the problem of
madness in an open, nuanced way informed by the voices and stories of people with lived experience; and to introduce the audience to alternative ways of responding to and approaching madness and to provide the materials and direction to help foster new discussions and practices in mental health (and hopefully some reading groups!).

Anti-Colonial Anti-State Graffiti in Minneapolis on 4th of July

Anonymous submission to Conflict Minnesota

This Anti-colonial and Anti-State graffiti was spotted in Minneapolis, Minnesota on the Fourth of July! The defaced statue is Colonel John H. Stevens who was the first Colonial Settler to occupy the Dakota land now called Minneapolis. This colonizer also fought to expand slavery into Mexico on the US side of the Mexican-American War. The graffiti reads “colonizer” as he represents the historic genocide and Patriotic nationalism that continues today.

These oppressive statues, monuments, and sites such as Fort Snelling must be dismantled. Fort Snelling is a historical and continued site of genocide, colonialism, and imperialism as it occupies the sacred Bdote where Dakota were created. During the Dakota war of 1862 warriors resisted the colonial occupation of white settlers and the US Army massacred 38+2 Dakota Leaders in Mankato and captured over 300 Dakota Women, Children, and Elders forcing them to march around 142 Miles to be held in “interment” at Fort Snelling. Many Dakota people were died of starvation, cold weather, disease, and murder at this concentration camp. Fort Snelling also enslaved anywhere from 15-30+ Africans at a time.

We join the call to dismantle Fort Snelling as it continues as a base of Imperialism, Colonialism, and Hyper-Nationalism especially considering it has expanded the occupation to host Minnesota Headquarters of ICE. People of this land are coming together to Abolish ICE, the State, capitalism, fascism, and colonialism. We will continue to dismantle these institutions as well as their monuments that desecrate the land and someday once and for all bring about a world free of these oppressions.

Water Protector Suspends Himself from 25-Foot Structure at PUC to Demonstrate Resistance to Line 3 Pipeline

From Earth First! Newswire

A water protector ascended a 25-foot steel tripod structure erected in the street in front of the Public Utility Commission (PUC) office to demonstrate ongoing resistance against Enbridge’s proposed Line 3 tar sands pipeline. Today marks one of the final public hearings held by the PUC on its decision to grant a certificate of need to the controversial pipeline.

All five of the directly affected Objibwe Tribal Nations in Minnesota oppose the dangerous project because of the threat it poses to their fresh water, culturally significant wild rice lakes, and tribal sovereignty. Line 3 will accelerate climate change by bringing carbon-intensive tar sands bitumen from Alberta to refineries in the Midwest. Climate change disproportionately impacts Indigenous and frontline communities across the world. This deadly infrastructure project is another example of the genocidal legacy of colonialism faced by Native peoples and the ecological destruction caused by corporate greed. Water protectors, climate justice advocates, landowners, and faith leaders stand united alongside Native communities against this dangerous pipeline.

At around 7AM CST water protectors blockaded traffic by erecting 25-foot steel poles in a tripod structure on 7th Pl. in front of the PUC offices in downtown Saint Paul, MN. Ben, a 30-year-old Minneapolis resident, ascended the structure and unfurled a banner that reads, “Expect Resistance,” a clear message to Enbridge and the PUC that fierce opposition to this pipeline will continue to grow at every stage.

“If the PUC doesn’t stop Line 3, then we will,” said Ben, suspended from the 25-foot structure in the street in front the PUC. “Today’s action isn’t about me but is a demonstration of the growing resistance to Line 3. ” Ben continued, “We’re taking action in solidarity with Native people, who continue to fight for their existence on occupied land and with people all over the world who resist the desecration of nature by extractive industries.”

Banner Drop Against Line 3 Pipeline

From It’s Going Down

A group of indigenous comrades and allies against racist resource colonialism are building and gaining momentum against Enbridge and all their affiliates & investors.

Message to Enbridge and the Public Utilities Commission from Duluth Minnesota/Superior WI; NO MORE MAN CAMPS THAT COME WITH PIPELINE INFRASTRUCTURE; THEY MURDER & STEAL WOMXN; NO LINE 3! EXPECT RESISTANCE!