#carenotcops — Public Fediverse posts

After spending some 4 days in a big “liberated zone” that was managed by self-appointed leaders who announced “direct democracy” loudly on a microphone but didn’t actually let people autonomously self-govern, much less truly self-organize, it was tender indeed to be at the smallish, intentional, and highly participatory start of an outdoor solidarity space on the grassy quad at UNC-Asheville today.

What struck me was the way it lead with care—not pushing people past where they were ready to go, but engaging in lots of conversation, sharing, listening, and hearing. Knowing when to ask for support from others. Collectively wrestling with questions and co-education.

That care was especially evident, though, in the first two actions: setting up a free food and first-aid area; and spending hours reverently and beautifully chalking out the names of too many Palestinians murdered in Gaza, honoring the dead.

Who knows what will come of this relatively tiny solidarity space being opened up in a relatively tiny town. Yet as one student noted, they’re skilling up for the long haul.

#EducatingOurselvesForFreedom
#FoodNotFascism
#CareNotCops
#MourningOurDead
#MendingTheWorld

If May Day, among other things, is about sharing the “wealth” (aka abolishing capitalism), there’s nothing quite like going to a small but sweet Really Really Free Market on this May 1 and being gifted a sheet of freshly printed stickers that feel just right for these suddenly rebellious times. (After all, #AllComradesAreBeautiful!)

Then, soon after, redistributing that “wealth” to others at a nearby May Day rally, made merry because of the danceable tunes of @brassyourheart (which may now have some tiny water jugs on a drum or two because this marching band can #AlwaysCarryABeat!).

There are so many others reasons, of course, to wear one’s #ACAB on their sleeve (or water bottle) this May Day, when so many universities and colleges are liberating spaces of solidarity for Gaza, and in the process, powerfully demonstrating that #AutonomousCommunitiesAreBeautiful.

And likewise, so many police are painfully demonstrating that #AllCopsAreBrutal—underscoring that cop cities (aka policing) everywhere must be abolished, from every river to every sea, just as the Haymarket martyrs also fought and alas died for, in part.

Next May Day, in liberation!

#CareNotCops
#CommonsNotCapitalism
#SolidarityNotStates
#TryAnarchismForLife
#UntilAllAreFree

(Ongoing love+solidarity to the brave+bold folks at @occupycalpolyhumboldt for gifting the world the joy of a humble water jug vs. cop during their occupation)

There is so much I want to say—ranging from the refreshed inspiration I feel, to the joyous bonds of connection and solidarity that collective encampments make possible, to all the ways that “radical” reformers limit the horizons of social transformation within such moments of palpable potentiality.

But all the hours over the past few days have been overfull with being fully present in the face-to-face real life of the UPitt encampment.

So for now, a quick note of friendly anarchist encouragement:

If you’re “liberated zone” includes a rule saying “don’t talk to the police” and messages like #FTP on tents (pictured here) …

actually, truly DO NOT talk to the police (including behind the scenes chats by self-appointed “leaders” to negotiate with the cops) and don’t create your own “peace police” force within your camp. Neither point toward liberation, much less abolition. And both do not keep us safe.

Only we keep us safe(r).

Be like water (bottles). Think and act for yourselves, together, in collective self-defense and collective prefiguration of the liberatory self-governed and autonomous spaces we all deserve.

#AutonomousCommunitiesAreBeautiful
#ACAB
#CareNotCops (including yellow-vested ones)
#UntilAllAreFree

Holding in my heart: each and every person (except the police) who was at a music festival in the Weelaunee Forest one year ago today. Those performing. Those dancing and reveling. Those resisting. Those doing logistics and care. Those mourning Tortuguita. Those savoring moments of reinspiration and respite, joy and connection. Those looking out for others.

Especially those brutalized, arrested, and detained that day, and now facing heavy yet absurd charges.

Cops ruin everything, from March 5, 2023, in Atlanta, to yesterday among Appalachians Against Pipelines, to March 5, 2024, in Gaza, to all the days in between.

Courts aren't any better, even when they purport justice or rule something "a genocide." Prisons and militaries, states and borders, continue apace, churning out death.

We know this.

(At this point in human history, everyone should.)

What we too often overlook amid the despair, intensity, and trauma of these times is: we are the ones who make music. Even when it feels a whisper. Or when we feel as if we're humming alone or singing aloud with only a few friends. Our tunes float from forests and rivers to mountains and seas, in melodic forms that no cop, court, or country can see, hear, or comprehend. They take the shape of everything from rituals of resistance to jail solidarity and collective defense, to our many imaginative direct actions, dreamy do-it-ourselves spaces, mutual aid through asundry disasters, and communal care, to our ability to find cracks of possibility even when their walls seem impenetrable.

Still, anniversaries can feel hard. Our bodies remember, even if our minds try to block them out.

Let's all hold all of those (except the cops) who were at a music festival a year ago in our hearts, and others grappling with the state's crackdown on @stopcopcity as a movement, until all the charges are dropped, #UntilAllAreFree—everywhere.

#AllCopsAreBad
#AllCourtsAreBad
#ACABincludesIOF
#CareNotCops
#AllComradesAreBeautiful
#SolidarityIsOurBestWeapon

(photo: #ACAB Palestinian solidarity sticker seen recently on Stone Mountain in so-called Georgia; while they last, these stickers are free at @community_books_ga)

Moved to be able to share this art and the words below by @porknap, and do a humble amount of support to help make time-space for all who were touched by Tort’s life to engage in rituals of remembrance on January 18.

#StopCopCity #DefendTheWeelauneeForest
#ForestsNotFascism #CareNotCops
#MourningOurDead #MendingTheWorld

###

One year has passed since our beloved friend and comrade Manuel Esteban Paez Terán was murdered by Georgia State Police in the Weelaunee forest in Atlanta, GA.

We will gather in ritual resistance on January 18, 2024 @ 6 pm to share stories, songs, prayers, and feelings in remembrance of our dear sibling Tortuguita.

Bring words or non-words to share and altar items.

Mask up! Bundle Up!

We will convene at the grassy area off the French Broad River Greenway near the intersection of Craven/Riverside (in the River Arts District), Asheville, NC.

It should not be lost that the anniversary (or yahrzeit in jewish tradition) is happening the same month that 1 of the 61 defendants indicted with RICO charges will attend their trial, where they face bogus accusations of conspiring, racketeering, and inflicting domestic terr0r.

A bitter reminder to fight for our friends while they are still here (and that fighting for our friends who are not physically still here is tied up together, as prosecutors seek to use Tort’s diary as evidence in the trial)!

May their memory be a blessing.

From the forest to Atlanta to the United States to Palestine, hoping for an eternal shmita (sabbath year) for all occupied land.

@stopcopcity @defendatlantaforest @atlsolfund

🩷🌿🖤🐢🩷🌿🖤🐢🩷🌿🖤🐢

All comrades are beautiful, yes?

I could use some comradely help, knowing that at least some of you beautiful people will come to my aid.

I’m looking for print media contacts who, in turn, I can reach out to with a press release for a warm-and-fuzzy antifascist project. (Yes, sometimes we have wins here and there, including adorable ones!)

I’ll be sharing the actual project soon—stay tuned to my IG and you’ll hear way too much about it in the coming weeks. For now, though, I’m trying to get all the anarchic ducks in a row, so to speak, and that includes a solid list of radical, progressive, and friendly mainstream print media folks.

After all, who doesn’t need some good news these days, particularly when it involves kids, possums and a unicorn, and metaphorically in this project, beating fascists at their own game? (How’s that for provoking your interest, even just a little bit?)

Email me (cbmilstein [@] yahoo) with any and all media contacts—the more specific, like solid writer and/or editor names, the better.

#AlwaysCarryABook (another teaser for this project)
#AllCopsAreBad
#AllChristofascistsAreBad
#ACABincludesIOF

(photo: #ACAB hand-lettered in Sharpie, as seen on a #CareNotCops stroll a few weeks ago on stolen Cherokee lands)

Here’s a little glimpse of the Bash Back gathering in Chicago this past weekend, or at least some of its fierce, fabulous, and fiery sentiments as transformed into a red+orange stencil on a wall. The notion of #AbolishPolice felt extra crucial given that 61 people—and by association, anarchism—had just been indicted on RICO conspiracy charges a few days earlier, as the state tries hard to serve and protect its power (and cops) by unleashing more repression against @stopcopcity and @defendatlantaforest.

Happily, there was lots of love and solidarity in evidence at Bash Back for the codefendants, and I hope they all feel it in spirit, given that they’re spread far and wide across this continent. And I know that love and solidarity will not only continue but grow stronger over the coming months, too, as word of this statist backlash spreads.

Because many, many, many people love trees, not cops.

Right now, a big way that you—and your collectives, spaces, distros, bands, art, and so on—can tangibly demonstrate that love and solidarity for these 61 codefendants is by helping to raise oodles and oodles of money for the @atlsolfund, and/or donate some yourself, even if you already have previously. It’s greatly needed to pay the bonds (aka ransom) for those brave and bighearted codefendants stuck in the state’s claws.

Of course, shouting #DropAllCharges and #FreeThemAll from the rooftops wouldn’t hurt either.

But yeah, get busy with those creative fundraisers for the Atlanta Solidarity Fund—fundraisers that can do double-duty as gathering spaces for, say, a game night, community picnic, singalong evening, dance party, etc., nourishing us with joy even as we continue to defend this imperiled earth and each other.

https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/contribute-to-the-atlanta-solidarity-fund

#CareNotCops

Clearly someone has many big feelings about and against cops, which is as it should be. Or else they simply wanted to drive the point home to each and every passerby on these stolen, surveilled, policed lands of Tio’tia:ke/Montreal. Or maybe they want to extra annoy any cop who drives by. Or perhaps they believe that “three’s the charm” to cast the spell of abolition.

No matter the reasoning, including that maybe they were using up the last bits of various cans of different-colored spray paint or were practicing different lettering styles, it’s always a good day to publicly declare #AllCopsAreBad. That is, until this acronym only means, plainly and daily, #AutonomousCommunitiesAreBeautiful because policing is obsolete.

For now, don’t be on the fence about police (unless you’re tagging it with #ACAB).

#WhichSideAreYouOn
#CareNotCops
#TowardAWorldWithoutPolice

It never ceases to amaze that despite all that the state and its thuggish bedfellows throw at us, we’ve got each other covered. We blanket each other with solidarity. Even from afar, across borders, we supply comfort.

That’s not a simple task, even under the best of conditions—and fascism is making for the worst. Moreover, given the weight of the collective and individual as well as historical and present-day trauma that’s layered on top of us because of the violence of states and their allies, sticking unflinchingly and lovingly (even when we don’t know and/or don’t always like each other) by each other’s side can sometimes be a challenge. Our pain, our grief, can spill out onto each other in messy ways.

Yet time and again, what the state and its cronies can’t reckon with are the deeply worn threads of our solidarity, notwithstanding our frayed edges.

Overall, we show up. Whether in front of a jail to make tender noise for those inside or at court to offer support, whether by raising tens of thousands for bail or organizing an in-person care clinic, whether by helping keep our movements going strong or holding space for rituals of resistance and communal mourning. Indeed, there’s no way to contain the innumerable acts of solidarity on any sort of laundry list.

Solidarity is being there for each other as if our social relations really matter. Meaning solidarity is acting as if the social relations we desire are already embodied in each and every one of us. Meaning solidarity is our best weapon against the state and its coconspirators.

So on a snowy day on the stolen lands of Tio’tia:ke/Montreal, it shouldn’t surprise—but it should amaze—to see a big sheet-turned-into-banner voicing solidarity and empathy beyond borders for @stopcopcity and the dynamic struggle many hundreds of miles away to @defendatlantaforest.

#ForestsNotFascism
#CareNotCops
#SolidarityNotStates
#DefendWeelauneeForest
#MayTortuguitasMemoryBeABlessing

(photo: banner hanging off a railway overpass with graffiti in the background; the banner reads, “Cop city is a threat to everyone / Solidarity w/Weelaunee forest defenders / Revenge 4 Tort”)

Donations are greatly need for the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, particularly as the detainers, facing the full wrath of the state, go to their second bond hearing on March 23:

https://atlsolidarity.org

We don’t need videos.

As the Ayotzinapa 43 families have been saying since 2014, after 43 beloveds in Iguala, Guerrero, were disappeared and likely murdered, including by police, “We want them back alive.”

Meaning: they never should have been killed.

We shouldn’t need videos to somehow prove that we want every single person murdered-by-cop to be alive. That their names should still be spoken to them, here in this world. That each and every person assassinated by police was loved and lovable, and never deserved that kind of death.

We shouldn’t need videos as evidence that there are no good cops.

The proof is in the grieving people left behind, the uprisings fueled by rage and sorrow, the abolitionist and stop cop cities/academies organizing and direct action, the myriad forms of solidarity, the murals and tags on urban walls, the DIY altars.

“We want them back alive.”

For that to have full meaning, we want and need and fight for a world without police.

#AllCopsAreBad #ACAB
#NoMoreStolenLives
#CareNotCops
#AllComradesAreBeautiful
#TowardAWorldWithoutPolice
#SolidarityIsOurBestWeapon

(photo: downtown storefront boarded up with plywood and then tagged with graffiti asserting #NoGoodCops and #Fuck12 as seen on stolen Ho-Chunk lands in so-called Madison, WI, after the windows were smashed during the George Floyd uprising in 2020)

Documenting the #movement safely: an infographic from @frontlinemedics on Instagram
#photojournalism #directaction #protest #communitycare #safety #organizing #activism #journalism #news #rally #BlackLivesMatter #Fuck12 #CareNotCops #AbolishThePolice #AbolishICE #StopLine3