Welcome back to The Beautiful Idea, a new project from a collective of several anarchist and autonomous media producers scattered around the world. We’re bringing you interviews and stories from the front-lines of autonomous social movements and struggles, as well as original commentary and analysis.

On today’s show we feature our Behind the Barricades roundup of movement news, events, and updates. We then speak with Autumn from Nor Cal Resist, about the looming threat of mass deportations and then look at the attempt by the incoming Trump administration to consolidate executive power. We then sit down with a member of the Black Rose Anarchist Federation in Los Angeles, to talk about the unfolding ecological disaster in Southern California and how mutual aid groups are mobilizing.

Music: Seaside Tryst, Breakaway, Evolve "Reality Guerilla" and "Nightmares/Dreams," and David Sandström "1968."

The Beautiful Idea Episode 3

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Transcript

Behind the Barricades News Roundup

In Smyrna, GA, "A small but dedicated group of protestors rallied [outside] the headquarters of Brasfield & Gorrie, the general contractor responsible for [building] #CopCity," demanding that they drop the contract.

The Seattle Solidarity Network continues to hold demonstrations outside of a local restaurant in protest of wage theft and to demand back wages.

The Montreal Autonomous Tenants Union reported on a recent action outside a landlord's home, reporting "On Friday December 6th, the Montreal Autonomous Tenants’ Union (SLAM) came together in the north of Montreal to pay a collective visit to a landlord’s extravagant water front property. We gathered in support of a fellow tenant who [became] unhoused after the city condemned her apartment.

The wealth of landlords is built with the wages we are forced to give up to remain housed. This wealth was on full display as SLAM members set up our banners in front of the landlord’s home, and took to singing and chanting.

Picket lines like these are a demonstration of power, tidings to the landlord’s neighbourhood, and a message that this tenant isn’t in this fight alone anymore. Power needs to change hands. Protests at our landlords’ homes – especially if they become common and second nature – go a long way in cementing the beginning of a shift in power."

In Tacoma, WA, members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) joined La Resistencia as part of a "Car brigade action at the Northwest Detention Center...in support of the Abolish Prison Slavery week of Solidarity called on... by Jailhouse Lawyers Speak." Hunger strike actions remain ongoing inside the facility.

In Montreal, The Anti-Eviction Brigade...carried out a leaflet display in front of [a real estate speculator's] office...[who is]...famous for his eviction practices...he has made a specialty of targeting homes inhabited by vulnerable people, pushing them to leave through harrassment and threats, then renovating and drastically increasing prices. "The homelessness, the broken lives, the suicides. All these slices of life that are just stories for some. For us, communists, anarchists, inhabitants of the working class neighborhoods, we experience the sufferering of our class, brothers and sisters in our flesh. Anyone capable of the minumum of empathy should do the same. Owners, even the worst of you are covered by the political system that absolves itself of all responsibility. You are protected by the bourgeois justice of the TAL and the cops are your armed wing. We will not beg anymore, we will do everything possible to prevent you from harming ours at 4750 Ontario or elsewhere.

War on landlords!"

Also in Montreal, the IWW mobilized to support postal workers on strike. Local Wobblies reported, "IWW members [gathered to] help our striking comrades from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) to blockade [a] sorting plant... The line of stalled trucks was impressive!...inter-union solidarity is one of the best weapons of the workers' movement."

Pro-choice activists in Florida are dealing with repression after facing charges for writing graffiti on an anti-choice center.

As the Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC) wrote:

Florida politicians, federal prosecutors, and anti-choice religious extremists... sought to use the FACE Act for the first time against pro-choice activists for very minor criminal mischief (graffiti).

The FACE Act (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) was enacted in 1994 to protect doctors and patients from the upwelling of murder, fire-bombings, and violent assaults perpetrated by the violent anti-choice/religious extremist movement during the 80’s and 90’s. The four reproductive rights activists in the Florida case were federally prosecuted for spray-painting the outside of three “crisis pregnancy centers” (fake “clinics”) in Florida in June 2022, following the Dobbs decision and the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The Florida Attorney General and one of the fake clinics also filed separate federal civil lawsuits against the four, alleging civil RICO and FACE Act violations; fortunately, we were able to get those two civil lawsuits dismissed.

Amber Smith-Stewart and Annarella Rivera were both sentenced to 30 days in federal custody and 60 days of house arrest; Caleb Freestone was sentenced to a year and a day in prison; and Gabriela Oropesa was just convicted after going to trial and will be sentenced in March 2025. The four remained steadfast to their political ideologies, non-cooperation, and solidarity with each other and their communities, despite the fact that their extreme prosecutions were unexpected in severity.

Follow South Florida Anarchist Black Cross and Ft. Lauderdale Food not Bombs for more updates and ways to support prisoners.

In New York, on December 12th, "NYU students and professors were arrested after they bound themselves together and blocked the school’s library in Lower Manhattan during a pro-Palestine protest," demanding divestment from Israel.

In New Jersey, on December 14th, "Protestors [marched] on...City Hall following revelations that the logistics giant Maersk has been shipping thousands of tons of military cargo to the Israeli regime from the Port of Elizabeth, NJ.

Pro-Palestinian protesters wrote, "The people will forever stand against war profiteering, we have the power to take action and enforce a people’s arms embargo against war mongers and weapons companies. Join us in the streets of Jersey City to send a clear message to Maersk that the mask is off, they have been exposed, and we will not stand for it!"

In Emeryville, CA in the bay area of California, a communique claimed responsibility for vandalizing an office belonging to Maersk over it's role in helping to carry out the ongoing genocide in Palestine.

An anonymous report posted to Indybay stated:

The night of December 8th, we attacked Maersk's Emeryville office because they are merchants of death...They ship military cargo for the Zionist entity to use in their genocide of Palestinians. This includes parts for the F-35 jets bombing Gaza right now. We did this autonomously, in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance...Workers like us have no military to defend our interests or stop this genocide. This is because the merchants of death, like Maersk and United Healthcare, control the state. They grow rich on our taxes and suffering, while we fight to pay for basic needs. Every bomb dropped makes them richer, and us poorer.

If the government will not stop arming Israel, then regular working people will...We call on you to join us. The veins of imperial capitalism are open, fragile, and poorly guarded. Their supply lines of death can be choked.

As Unicorn Riot reported:

The parents of slain forest defender Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Paez Terán [have] filed a civil rights lawsuit against three Georgia law enforcement officers they say are most responsible for the death of their child in January 2023.

Nearly two years after police killed Terán, and a year after the state refused to bring charges against any of the state troopers responsible, Tortuguita’s parents are still seeking answers and accountability for the death of their 26-year-old child.

Tortuguita’s mother and father, are suing Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Ryan Long as well as Georgia State Patrol troopers Mark Lamb and Bryland Myers in federal court claiming that the raid that led to their child’s killing violated Tortuguita’s civil rights.

Tortuguita’s family still hasn’t gotten clarity on the circumstances surrounding their child’s death nearly two years after the fatal shooting.

Lawyers...representing the family, hope that the civil suit will uncover some of the yet unknown details of the raid that ended in police killing the forest defender. Calls for an independent investigation into the shooting rose in the immediate aftermath of the killing. While the family was able to secure an independent autopsy, to date there hasn’t been an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding Tort's killing.

In Pittsburgh, "protesters gathered in front of Mayor Ed Gainey’s home...demonstrating against an increased crackdown on homeless encampments...Over the course of about an hour, protesters chanted “No housing, no peace!” and banged on drums and noisemakers in the street in front of the home. They bore signs that read “Sweeps Solve Nothing” while denouncing Gainey’s “war on the poor.”

Workers at Starbucks and Amazon carried out strikes during the holiday season, facing arrests from police outside of Amazon facilities in New York.

In Chicago, "Organizers outraged by the recent decision to drop charges brought against a...police officer accused of beating...a 17-year-old in 2022 picketed the Cook County state attorney’s office in downtown Chicago..."

On New Year's Eve, noise demos outside of jails and prisons were held across the US and beyond in several dozen cities. For a full roundup, check out It's Going Down.

In Knoxville, TN, high school students protested the police killing of their 18 year-old classmate by three sheriff deputies. Protesters demanded the "release of any police videos of the encounter... and demonstrated outside a Knoxville City Council meeting. Councilmembers voted to approve an expansion of police surveillance cameras and monitoring in the city, part of a $27.5 million dollar contract with Axon Enterprises."

In San Francisco, CA, BDS and queer activists held a demonstration which shut down part of Market Street and held a picket outside of a Chevron gas station. According to Indybay.org, "The rally for Palestine and BDS began at the intersection of Market and Castro Streets. After some speeches and slogans the crowd crossed the street to the Chevron Station. Chevron Oil maintains an oil platform off the Gaza cost and supplies oil to Israel's military as it perpetrates the Gaza genocide."

Pittsburgh activists Peppy and Krystal, who faced charges stemming from a protest against a far-Right anti queer speaker on a college campus, have been sentenced, with Peppy receiving 5 years in prison and Krystal three years probation.
As the Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC) wrote:

When a married couple, Krystal and Brian “Peppy” DiPippa, amongst an estimated 250 community members, protested the transphobes on the Pitt campus, the State alleged that one of them had lit two homemade smoke devices and a commercially available firework...what would normally have been a State misdemeanor charge became a major federal investigation, under the pretense that a “civil disorder” had occurred. The investigation included a raid of the defendants’ home by the ATF, FBI, and state and local police, resulting in a large seizure of computer equipment.

Peppy...has remained incarcerated without bail to this day, and faced a sentence of over a decade in federal custody. Krystal, although not charged with the explosives felony, could have received an equal sentence to Peppy based on the conspiracy...The police had previously executed a warrantless search of the couple’s garbage, where they found printed information discussing the Atlanta “Stop Cop City” campaign, as well as other “anarchist” zines. The seizure of these items as “evidence” points to an overtly politically motivated use of the “civil disorder” statute, in an attempt to not only scare rank and file activists into submission by fear of spending decades in prison, but also to send a clear message that prosecutors and judges are willing to highlight political beliefs to keep activists confined pre-trial without options for bail. The judge in this case cited “sentiments supporting anarchism” as his justification for keeping Mr. DiPippa locked up.

Check out show notes for more info on how to support Peppy and Krystal.

As this episode was being recorded, horrific fires, fueled by climate change, broke-out in Southern California, with tens of thousands of people being forced to evacuate. Please listen to our interview later in the show for more info and check out Mutual Aid Disaster Relief and local groups like the Mutual Aid Los Angeles Network and the LA Tenants Union for ways to plug into local mutual aid responses.

Upcoming Events

• January 18th: 'Festivals of Resistance' events across the US. More info here.
• February 1st: Austin Anarchist Bookfair. Austin, TX. More info here.
• February 28th – March 2nd: Florida Abolitionist Gathering. Gainesville, FL. More info here.
• April 5th: Houston Anarchist Bookfair. Houston, TX. More info here.
• May 15th – 21st: Constellation Anarchist Festival. Montreal, QC. More info here.
• June 7th: Inland Empire Anarchist Bookfair. San Bernardino, CA. More info here.

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks for listening to today’s episode of The Beautiful Idea, news and analysis from the front-lines of anarchist and autonomous struggles everywhere. Catch you next time.

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