Skip to content

Kit O'Connell: Approximately 8,000 Words Posts

Anyone Can Adopt Any Activist Tactics: A Spencer Sunshine InterviewA photo of a banner drop on an overpass, but the banner has been pixellated to make it illegible. Three small figures are visible behind the banner, attaching it to the bridge.
Banner drops and other tactics don't "belong" to the Left. (From a 350 dot org image on Flickr, CC NC SA license)
March 17, 2021
Kit
Leave a Comment

Anyone Can Adopt Any Activist Tactics: A Spencer Sunshine Interview

Posted in Creative Commons, and Journalism

Activists sometimes forget that anyone can use tactics like banner drops, including the fascist far right.

Late in 2020 and in the first days of 2021, I spoke twice to Spencer Sunshine, a researcher of the far right and ways to oppose them. I included “40 Ways To Fight Fascists,” the zine he co-wrote with PopMob, in my Virtual Gonzo Zine Library.

Since Trump’s election, I’ve noticed more American fascists using tactics traditionally associated with leftist activism, like banner drops or wheatpasting. Patriot Front is one of several groups that frequently drops banners, with messages in support of white supremacy, from buildings and overpasses.

Read moreAnyone Can Adopt Any Activist Tactics: A Spencer Sunshine Interview
Mutual Aid After The Texas Freeze (Podcast Appearance)Two wheel ruts trace a path down an extremely snowy highway outside San Angelo, Texas.
Texans depended on mutual aid from their neighbors after the freeze of February 2021. (Flickr / Jonathan Cutrer, CC NC license)
March 13, 2021
Kit
Leave a Comment

Mutual Aid After The Texas Freeze (Podcast Appearance)

Posted in Audio, Austin, and Journalism

I appeared on the It’s Going Down podcast to discuss the climate crisis, mutual aid, and lessons learned from the deadly freeze in Texas during mid-February 2021.

Read moreMutual Aid After The Texas Freeze (Podcast Appearance)
After The Coup Attempt, We’re All ANTIFA NowWe're all antifa after the coup attempt. Photo: Graffiti along a railway line reads ANTiFA with the familiar black and red flags of the antifascist movement.
We're all ANTIFA after the coup attempt. (Flickr / strassenstriche.net, Creative Commons NonCommercial license)
January 20, 2021
Kit
Leave a Comment

After The Coup Attempt, We’re All ANTIFA Now

Posted in Creative Commons, and Journalism

I keep thinking about the guy at the coup attempt who tried to murder a cop in uniform, because he thought the cop was ANTIFA.

When I think about the fury that the crowd unleashed on that cop, and the ready justification this guy had at hand, it makes me realize that we are all ANTIFA now. When Peter Stager beat Metro cop Michael Fanone with an American flag pole (symbolism, y’all), he wasn’t imagining the cop was “antifa.”

That is, he didn’t consider the police officer to be part of a political tendency loosely organized around opposition to white supremacy, genocide, and dictatorial power. No, he thought the cop was all caps ANTIFA, a much more nebulous, and dangerous category. And every one of us that’s even a little left-of-center can end up in that category, at any time, in 2021.

Read moreAfter The Coup Attempt, We’re All ANTIFA Now
‘We Must Act & Care For Each Other’: An Interview With Mutual Aid Disaster ReliefPart of the cover illustration to the zine Mutual Aid Disaster Relief: Lessons Learned, ith the name of the organization on the right. To the left is an illustration of people climbing a dandelion, which drops seeds across thecover. Other symbols present include an eye, a hand and a watering can.
Part of the cover to Mutual Aid Disaster Relief's zine "Lessons Learned," illustration by Kelly Seacrest.
January 14, 2021
Kit
Leave a Comment

‘We Must Act & Care For Each Other’: An Interview With Mutual Aid Disaster Relief

Posted in Creative Commons, Journalism, and Occupy Wall Street

Inspired by Common Ground in New Orleans and Occupy Sandy and numerous other community-led relief efforts, Mutual Aid Disaster Relief cultivate “autonomous, decentralized, and liberatory disaster relief.”

I’ve featured multiple Mutual Aid Disaster Relief publications in my Virtual Gonzo Zine Library. Most recently, I put “Lessons Learned” in the “Winter 2020” edition of the VGZL. I reached out to MADR by email, and they answered collectively. I found their answers so eloquent, I wanted to present them here in Q&A format rather than editing them into a formal interview-style article. I’ve only lightly edited the responses for clarity and brevity.

Kit O’Connell: Any advice for handling armed fascists or right wingers that show up in disaster areas trying to “patrol” “prevent looting” guard against “antifa” etc?

Read more‘We Must Act & Care For Each Other’: An Interview With Mutual Aid Disaster Relief
Taking Space Feels Like A Drug: Reflections On A Coup AttemptSoftgel capsules full of glitter and sparkly confetti.
Will the buzz of participating in a coup attempt be worth the hangover after? (Flickr / Rawpixel Ltd, CC license)
January 11, 2021
Kit
Leave a Comment

Taking Space Feels Like A Drug: Reflections On A Coup Attempt

Posted in Creative Commons, Journalism, and Occupy Wall Street

After watching the coup, I keep imagining the feeling of breaking through. The rush. The giddy high of taking space.

Like so many antifascists, I saw something like this coming. I wasn’t surprised, but I was still shocked at the sight of a war-helmeted christofascist raising his fist in the air as he stood atop the heart of American political power.

And I keep coming back to how good they must feel. These nasty fucking fascists, white supremacists, and Qsuckers are riding one of the biggest highs of their lives. And that makes them even more dangerous.

Read moreTaking Space Feels Like A Drug: Reflections On A Coup Attempt
Virtual Gonzo Zine Library, Winter 2020: Surviving Dark TimesA set of protective goggles and a cloth mask with roses and skulls sit on a yellow surface near 4 zines, the main selections from this edition of the virtual zine library, which are fanned out in an arc.
Zine life in 2020 ... (Mask by JaneMichael.com. Photo by Kit O'Connell.)
December 1, 2020
Kit
Leave a Comment

Virtual Gonzo Zine Library, Winter 2020: Surviving Dark Times

Posted in Creative Commons, and Zines

This is the Winter 2020 edition of the Virtual Gonzo Zine Library.

The VGZL is a zine reading list and miniature zine distro. From time to time, I curate some of my favorite zines — zines that I think everyone should be reading, including myself.

These are the main selections from this edition of my reading list. I’ve selected a few bonus zines as well as some other resources to consider, too.

Read moreVirtual Gonzo Zine Library, Winter 2020: Surviving Dark Times