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Tag: Activism

OccupyICE San Antonio Standing Strong After Patriot Front Nazi’s Temper TantrumA banner at OccupyICE San Antonio reads, "FUCK ICE / ICE is not welcome in San Antonio."
A banner at OccupyICE San Antonio reads, "FUCK ICE / ICE is not welcome in San Antonio." (Courtesy: OccupyICE SATX)
July 29, 2018
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OccupyICE San Antonio Standing Strong After Patriot Front Nazi’s Temper Tantrum

Posted in Creative Commons, and Journalism

OccupyICE San Antonio continues despite a failed attempt at intimidation by Patriot Front, a notorious group of Texas nazis.

For almost two weeks, activists have occupied the Immigrations & Customs Enforcement offices at 3523 Crosspoint Drive in San Antonio with tents and shade structures. Using noise demonstrations and  direct actions, they’ve been disrupting business at the facility. Busloads of detained immigrant prisoners are a near daily sight. This ongoing protest is part of the national OccupyICE movement, which seeks to abolish ICE and put an end to the detention of immigrants and their families.

About 20 nazis from the Texas-based Patriot Front targeted OccupyICE San Antonio on the morning on Saturday, July 28. They arrived at about 8 am while most of the campers were asleep. After lighting a road flare, the nazis shouted racist slogans while committing petty attacks on the encampment.

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Livestreaming Ethics With Reb Z: Citizen Journalists Must Take SidesA person in a yellow jacket films an event. Livestreaming ethics means always being aware of what is and isn't in your frame. It means showing what the mainstream media ignores.
A person in a yellow jacket films an event. Livestreaming ethics means always being aware of what is and isn't in your frame. It means showing what the mainstream media ignores. (Morguefile, public domain)
July 27, 2018
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Livestreaming Ethics With Reb Z: Citizen Journalists Must Take Sides

Posted in Creative Commons, Journalism, and Occupy Wall Street

“I started as a journalist to show, during the Occupy protests, what wasn’t being shown.”

In the first part of my interview with Jon Ziegler, also known as Rebelutionary Z, we shared some tips for livestreaming. This time, I wanted to go a bit deeper and urge citizen journalists and streamers of all kinds to consider their personal livestreaming ethics.

There’s a misconception that livestreaming is always about simply showing what’s happening in an unedited, raw form. While most streamers aren’t altering their footage as it goes online in any way, they’re still making choices about what to film, who to interview, and how to frame the footage with their commentary.

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Livestreaming Tips With Reb Z: Be A Better Journalist On Facebook Live & BeyondJon Ziegler's top livestreaming tips include holding your phone in landscape mode and holding your hand steady when moving or turning.
"Kettled" activists film and livestream on their smartphones as they await arrest. St. Louis, October 3, 2017. Jon Ziegler's top livestreaming tips include holding your phone in landscape mode and holding your hand steady when moving or turning. (RebZ.tv, used with permission)
June 14, 2018
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Livestreaming Tips With Reb Z: Be A Better Journalist On Facebook Live & Beyond

Posted in Creative Commons, Journalism, and Occupy Wall Street

Want to be a better livestreamer? I asked indie journalist Jon Ziegler, for his top livestreaming tips when we recently spoke.

Jon, better known to his fans as Rebelutionary Z is one of the most experienced streamers today. He began covering footage of protests and activist events during Occupy Wall Street. Unlike most of the people who started then, he’s continued to report from liberal and radical left events. He credits the Black Lives Matter protests in Ferguson and St. Louis for bringing him back to the field after Occupy ended. Since then he’s traveled around the continent, including reporting on the Standing Rock protests where he sustained a serious injury from a rubber bullet. He also streamed the nazi attack in Charlottesville that killed Heather Heyer.

I asked Jon for his top livestreaming tips. I’ve divided them into two sections, one for newcomers and people who only stream occasionally. He calls these “Johnny On The Spot reporters,” people who were in the right place at the right time to catch a breaking event. In the second section, I’ve included some further tips for more experienced citizen journalists.

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Building Power: scott crow On Asking The Right Questions After Antifa
A bearded activist in a winter coat with a fuzzy hood holds a feminist antifa flag showing black and purple flags. At the Stand Up To Racism March in London on March 17, 2018. (Flickr / Tim Dennell, CC-BY-NC license)
April 25, 2018
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Building Power: scott crow On Asking The Right Questions After Antifa

Posted in Creative Commons, and Journalism

This is the third and final part of my interview with scott crow.

We discuss what comes after antifa finish driving neo-nazis and white supremacists from our streets. In the second part of my interview, crow commented that the left is great at building “fire brigades” but less effective at building power.

I asked crow what building power looks like to him.

“I think that it starts with asking the question, ‘What does it take to build power?'”

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Seeking Justice In The Face Of Apocalypse & Tyranny (Gonzo Notes)LGBTQIA rights still matter when resisting tyranny
Marchers carry a massive parachute-style rainbow Pride Flag overhead at a LGBTQIA rights event in Syracuse, New York. June 19, 2010. (Flickr / Kate, CC-BY-NC license)
March 17, 2018
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Seeking Justice In The Face Of Apocalypse & Tyranny (Gonzo Notes)

Posted in Gonzo Notes, and Journalism

In the face of tyranny and environmental apocalypse, does our activism still matter?

I felt my heart sink recently when I saw an old comrade, largely retired from activism, questioning the value of his work. As a passionate advocate for LGBTQIA rights, he was one of the most radical and outspoken, never willing to settle down and wait for the human rights he deserved. I don’t in any way judge my friend for stepping back from activism, which is often a valid and eminently sensible decision. I’ve done it myself, lately, for various reasons including a legal battle I just won.

The stakes are higher now, to be sure. While Trump’s administration constantly seems on the verge of collapse, his election seems to signify a new era in which old standards of political behavior are abandoned in favor of accelerated, unchecked avarice and unmasked bigotry. Simultaneously, even the most pessimistic of climate scientists seems shocked at the rate at which things are getting worse for our planet.

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Black Rose Book Distro, St. Louis Radical Pop Up Bookstore, Attacked By White SupremacistsThe Black Rose Book Distro zine collection at one of their three locations
A shelf of free zines available for visitors to one of the Black Rose Book Distro's three locations in the St. Louis area. One or more white supremacists attacked this location, defacing & destroying books, but many books and zines were donated to replace lost stock. (Black Rose Book Distro)
February 26, 2018
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Black Rose Book Distro, St. Louis Radical Pop Up Bookstore, Attacked By White Supremacists

Posted in Creative Commons, Journalism, and Radical Media

Black Rose Book Distro, a network of radical “pop up” bookstores in St. Louis, was attacked by white supremacists in January.

I first heard about the incident via Twitter as the distro’s volunteers spread the word about the damage to their books, zines, and safer sex supplies.

Authors, publishers, and activists of all kinds quickly stepped up to replace almost everything, and all of the Black Rose Book Distro locations are open again. But I still think it’s important to spread word about what happened, because American nazis pose a growing risk to not just the physical safety of marginalized groups in the U.S., from LGBTQIA folks to immigrants and people of color, but also our culture and knowledge too. The members of Black Rose agreed when I approached them for an interview.

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