On January 16, 2010, thousands of people took to the streets to show support for immigrants and to oppose Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. From the onset of the march, a group of marchers were targeted by the Phoenix PD, marching under the banner of an indigenous, anti-authoritarian, and allies contingent. As the march proceeded, the police became increasingly violent, leading to a final planned attack executed against the contingent and other protesters in the vicinity, as the march neared its end. Officers on horseback rode into the crowd, injuring some; then deploying large amounts of pepper spray throughout the area. This resulted in five of our comrades being kidnapped out of the group, brutalized and arrested. Although we are happy to announce that the charges against two of the arrestees have been scratched, the remaining three are now facing felony charges for “assaulting an officer”.
The Arpaio 5 Support Committee is a group of friends and supporters of the arrestees who have come together to help raise much needed awareness and legal funds.
What occurred on the January 16, demonstrates the violence that becomes inevitable when armed thugs are invited or allowed to be present at our protests or in our community. While our first priority is to ensure that our comrades do not face any further jail time, we hope that this also serves as a general call for further actions challenging any and all police presence; which we know only serves to protect an inherently racist and oppressive system.
This attack is not in isolation, but rather is part of a systematic attempt to repress any ideas which are vocalized or acted upon that encourage or manifest actualized resistance within our communities. We must be ready to support those who are targeted for continuing to fight despite these threats during the current and upcoming struggle. By forming community solidarity in response to this instance of repression, we create a framework that provides a base for further organizing against the police state, while also making the statement that we will not allow state sanctioned intimidation to silence and divide our movement.
Please explore our site and check back for current information and articles, and ways you can lend support.
Portland, Oregon – Anti-racist activists compromised the nation’s largest neo-Nazi organization today, when they revealed the secret pornographic work of one of the most active leaders in the National Socialist Movement (NSM). In a statement released on the activist website Portland Indymedia, the anti-fascist group Portland Anti-Racist Action detailed the appearances of Oregon NSM organizer Corinna Luray Burt on several hardcore pornographic DVDs and websites.
Greetings from California, Comrades!
As many have heard, a relentless anti-police movement has grown from the tragedy of Oscar Grant’s murder on January 1, 2009 by former officer Johannes Mehserle.
*Recently, Mehserle was convicted of the deplorable charge of involuntary manslaughter, a weak charge which carries a sentence of probation to four years in prison.
When the news of Mehserle’s verdict reached the people of the bay area on July 8, the streets heated up in a style reminiscent of the anti-police riots a year and a half ago. Downtown Oakland swelled immediately after the release of the verdict. For hours after the verdict was released, people milled about, yelling at police, and listening to angry speeches. As the sun went down, the police moved in to end the spontaneous demonstration, threatening arrest of anyone who stayed on the streets. The sky was littered with helicopters and planes. Every police force in the region had gathered in downtown. Despite these threats, in the hours that followed, blocks and blocks of Oakland were wrecked, bank windows smashed, stores looted, and trash cans set on fire by people outraged by the state and society’s sickening disregard for Oscar Grant’s life, and by extension, those who are always the victims of police violence in the state’s constant war against people of color, women, and the poor.
The night of July 8th, and long after the riots had ended, the Oakland Police Department as well as other Bay Area police departments, snatched at least 78 people from the streets.
Twelve of those comrades are still in jail. Seven of them are being held without bail for parole violations. The five others face various felonies including burglary, rioting, and arson. They have bails ranging between $60,000 and $70,000, with one man being held for $525,000. With a bail bondsman we can free them by posting around 10% of the bail. We are hopeful that some of these people will get their bail reduced in the coming weeks after their pre-trial. Regardless, raising funds now is imperative. Defendants will be held in jail until the conclusion of their trial if we do not bail them out. (During the last Oscar Grant riots in January 2009 one man was charged with arson. His trial dragged on a whole year before the city dropped the charges due to lack of evidence. This scenario is destined to repeat itself at the expense of those arrested on the 8th.)
We, the anarchists and autonomists of the Bay Area of California, lovers of rebellions, and haters of cops for their ceaseless violence against us, do humbly request for solidarity to help free these brave rebels. If your collective, scene, squat, movement has the capacity to throw a benefit, or otherwise come into money, for this legal defense fund. we couldn’t need it more in order to keep our movement against the murderous police fierce and alive!
Thank you.
In Solidarity,
The Oakland 100 Support Committee
To make an online contribution please click the PayPal button: 
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For more information on the status of the cases see SupporTtheOakland100.wordpress.com or email us at: oakland100 at gmail dot com
For ongoing coverage of the Justice for Oscar Grant Movement see Bay Area Independent Media
Please feel free to repost and forward this widely and translate into other languages!
*For those unfamiliar with the case: Oscar Grant, a Black man, was pulled off a train in Oakland New Years Eve by a gang of police. He was laying face down on the ground when shot point blank in the back by Mehserle, a white cop. The murder was filmed by many train passengers and viewed by hundreds of thousands of people on youtube. A week after the murder herds of people from Oakland, California erupted in riots.
A schedule for the Anti-Racist Action Conference in Portland (July 22-25) is now available on the conference site.
Visit the link above for venue information for the conference's panels and workshops, plus full biographies of speakers and workshop presenters. We welcome ARA Network members as well as anti-racist allies to these events.
ARA Chapters and prospective chapters, please check in with Rose City Antifa for more information about the conference. Our email is: fight_them_back [at] riseup [dot] net
Rose City Antifa is pleased to announce that we will be hosting the 16th annual Anti-Racist Action (ARA) Network Conference in Portland, Oregon from July 22 to the 25, 2010. The conference will include ARA's annual plenary, caucuses, and discussion on current issues facing antifascists. We are also organizing several workshops and social events that will be open to non-members. We hope all ARA members as well as anti-fascists who agree with our four Points of Unity will join us in July!
- Workshops will be on a wide range of subjects including:
- The Far Right and the Ecology Movement
- Anti-Semitism and Holocaust-Denial
- White Supremacy and the Police
- Anti-Racist Organizing in Rural Communities
- Left-wing Anti-Semitism and Left/Right Overlap
- Anti-Fascist History
- And several more…
Check out our website-- Rose City Antifa--over the next month for updated information regarding location, schedule, and public events.
Please note that only Network-affiliated chapters will be allowed to attend the plenary. If you are a part of a non-affiliated chapter or collective that wants to become affiliated with the ARA Network, please contact the organizers to receive registration materials. All friends of ARA are welcome and encouraged to participate during the rest of the weekend. We hope that you will come and add your voice to the movement!
If you are new to anti-fascism, please come and learn from our experience and help us open our eyes to new possibilities.
If you are a former member of the Anti-Racist Action Network, please come and get back in touch with us.
If you are an unaffiliated chapter, come to the conference, meet other antifascists and take the opportunity to learn more about ARA and the benefits of joining the Network.
Please mark the date on your calendar and plan to join us in Portland for our annual conference!
In solidarity,
Rose City Antifa, the Portland chapter of the ARA Network
contact: fight_them_back at riseup dot net
Anti-Racist Action Network website: Anti-RacistAction.org
Rose City Antifa website: RoseCityAntifa.org
During the early morning hours of March 27th, a Portland, Oregon anti-racist activist was shot in what appears to be a well orchestrated attack. It is suspected that the attackers were members of the neo- Nazi movement. The victim is a member of the anti-racist skinhead movement, a son, a friend and has dedicated the past ten years of his life to fighting white supremacist organizing.
This Friday, May 28th, Doug Sonier, a white power fascist, is coming to New England. Join Anti-Racist Action SE MA and send a clear message to Sonier and all white supremacists and their allies; NOT WELCOME!
Doug Sonier is scheduled to appear at a mixed martial arts event, Cage Fighting Extreme (CFX) 9 in Plymouth, MA at Memorial Hall this Friday the 28th!
--George Hunter, Doug Guthrie and Valerie Olander / The Detroit News
Mertilla Jones recounted the horrific death of her granddaughter this evening outside the home where the 7-year-old was killed by a police bullet.
"They blew my granddaughter's brains out. They killed her right before my eyes," Jones said. "I watched the light go out of her eyes. I seen it."
Aiyana Jones was fatally shot early Sunday by a Detroit Police officer hunting for a murder suspect, police said. She had been asleep on a living room sofa when officers raided her east-side home.
Police arrested a 34-year-old suspect, but declined to say if he was found in the downstairs apartment where the girl was shot or in an upstairs flat they also raided.
The shooting happened at 12:40 a.m., when the Special Response Team executed a no-knock search warrant on the duplex in the 4000 block of Lillibridge. Officers rushed in after throwing a stun grenade through the glass of a front window.
Family members said they were told by police the gun discharged when Mertilla Jones, 46, attempted to wrestle away the officer's weapon. Later Sunday, police spokesman John Roach said the weapon may have fired simply because Jones and the officer collided.
Mertilla Jones was held until Sunday afternoon, and it remained unclear if she will face charges. Police said she spent several hours hospitalized with what police described as medical issues.
Ron Scott, leader of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, said tonight that his group will seek an investigation of the shooting by the U.S. Department of Justice and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.
"They came into my house with a flash grenade and a bullet," said Charles Jones, father of the slain girl. "They say my mother (Mertilla Jones) resisted them, that she tried to take an officer's gun. My mother had never been in handcuffs in her life. They killed my baby and I want someone to tell the truth."
Police had been seeking the 34-year-old suspect from Friday's slaying of 17-year-old Southeastern High School student Jerean Blake at a liquor store near the corner of Mack Avenue and St. Jean, said Detroit Police Assistant Chief Ralph Godbee.
Speaking on behalf of Police Chief Warren Evans, who is on vacation, Godbee said, "This is every parent's worst nightmare. It's also every police officer's nightmare."
Godbee stressed that information he released was preliminary, and that the police department planned to launch a full investigation. He also said police are not categorizing the shooting as accidental yet, "although we don't believe the gun was discharged intentionally."
Deputy Chief James Tolbert said investigators will submit a warrant for the 34-year-old man "as soon as possible." The officer involved in the shooting has been placed on leave with pay during the investigation.
On Mayday two Anti-Fascists were arrested in San Francisco, after a confrontation with a group of Nazis after an anti immigration protest.The bourgeoisie media, the police, and the nazis have once again shown they have no problems working together to criminalize those who struggle. At this point, the movement here in the states has been stretched thin due to the bulk of arrests that resulted from an unprecedented and exciting year of May Day actions and thus comrades in the Bay Area need everyone's help to secure the release of the two imprisoned anti-fascists. Immediate solidarity and support is needed and should be demonstrated incessantly because it affirms and expands who we are, what we do, and if we struggle together, what we can become!
No Pasaran!
Our Solidarity is a weapon!
People on the ground in San Francisco are asking anyone that can to please send money so we can bail our comrades out of jail. The best way to send donations is via Paypal to support [at] antiracistaction.org. You can also send well-concealed cash or checks or money orders (please leave the "pay to" section blank) to:
Kelsey & Dee Support
3030b 16th street
San Francisco, CA 94103
