This is America #199: Antifascist Report from the UK, Vicky Osterweil on Election Cycle Amidst Ongoing Genocide

Welcome, to This Is America, August 21st, 2024.

In today’s episode, first we speak with the host of 12 Rules for What?, an antifascist podcast on the Channel Zero Network, about the wave of antifascist mobilizations against the far-Right following a series of anti-immigrant riots in the so-called United Kingdom, after the spread of viral misinformation on social media.

We then present the audio version of a new text, The Election Cycle as Counter-Insurgency, and speak with Vicky, author of In Defense of Looting, about their thoughts on the recent election spectacle as the US continues to send billions in weapons and military aid to Israel.

All this and more, but first, let’s get to the news!

Living and Fighting

Source: Triangle Mutual Aid

The Mutual Aid Disaster Relief network has been busy organizing in the face of flooding and wildfires across the US. Triangle Mutual Aid is also reporting live from South Carolina as the group is organizing on the ground with locals following massive flooding. From a recent update:

…[T]he network of people associated with Mutual Aid Disaster Relief (MADR) has been activated. The network of mutual aid groups has a Carolinas group chat populated with people from Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Asheville as well as a couple people in eastern NC closer to the impact zone, several supportive network members from Virginia and others from as far away as Florida. MADR people do an amazing job of coming together and coordinating activities in response to disasters. People collect supplies and organize transport to impacted areas. The national MADR organization has the ability to reimburse expenses and has teams of people knowledgeable in areas like radio communications, 3D printing medical supplies, solar power, and such. Supply drop-off locations have been identified in Greensboro and Raleigh and more are being worked on.

In the bay area, members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) held a picket at a bookstore where members of the union are fighting for a raise. In Lansing, several demonstrations were held outside of the homes of executives demanding that they cut ties with the Cop City project. Unicorn Riot also has a new report up about the recent Earth First! gathering in Pennsylvania which brought out around 400 people.

Targeted direct actions continue against the US supported war and genocide in Gaza. In the DC area, the office of AIPAC, one of the largest pro-Israel lobbies, was hit was extensive vandalism and graffiti. More actions took place in Los Angeles, CA, Romulus and Ann Arbor in Michigan, and New York City.

Source: Never Sleep

According to a communique posted to Never Sleep:

More than 15 CitiBankkk locations were sabotaged…across so-called New York City. We jammed the locks and card access readers, sprayed the windows and buildings, and issued warnings in red paint underscoring the company’s investments in genocide: “ABOLISH ISRAEL, FREE PALESTINE” and “THIS IS A WARNING: DEFUND NOW.”

CitiBank facilitates billions in bonds sales for Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, which manufacture missiles and fighter jets used by the IOF to kill hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza. CitiBank is also the largest U.S. bank operating in the zionist entity and heavily invests in the technology sector there, contributing to the “tech-washing” of apartheid, occupation, and ongoing genocide. From its shameful history in Haiti and apartheid South Africa to financing IOF arms and settlements, CitiBank has long profited from settler colonialism.

According to a report in Cambridge Day, pro-Palestine protests seem to have shut down an office of KMC Systems, “a subsidiary of [the] Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems” which has been made “virtually empty…and there are other signs that the company is leaving the city. The building…that houses KMC has been targeted by pro-Palestinian demonstrations for months.”

As this podcast was being finished, thousands mobilized to march on the DNC and call for a ceasefire and an arms embargo against Israel, as the city was flooded with thousands of riot police. On the first day of the DNC, protesters were able to push through one fence, but were quickly shut down by protest marshals and law enforcement, according to a report from Unicorn Riot. Demonstrators also attempted to set up an encampment at a local park, but were ultimately shut down by police. The next night, police clashed with demonstrators outside of the Israeli embassy, as journalists and protesters were arrested. For more coverage, check out It Could Happen Here and live coverage from Unicorn Riot.

Natasha Lennard at the Intercept noted that several “progressive” politicians such as AOC helped to white-wash the Biden administration’s ongoing support for the continued genocide in Gaza, as the Democrats have pushed a platform which calls for greater police and border militarization and Harris has signaled that her administration will not deviate from supporting Israeli apartheid. The Intercept also reported that demonstrators arrested at the DNC “reported injuries from police violence that required hospitalization and a lack of access to attorneys or medication while in custody.”

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photo: Unicorn Riot on Mastodon