Antifa Archives - Page 2 of 9 - Kit O'Connell: Approximately 8,000 Words

(Image: A faded out photo of a pile of rusted soup cans, their labels long gone. Added text in a curvy retro font, in red & black words layered on top of one another, reads "Soup For My Family". In the lower right in black are the words "Coming soon...")

"Soup For Our Families" will be a collection of recipes submitted by antifascists of all kinds.

July 30, 2021

Coming Soon: Soup For Our Families zine

Posted in Creative Commons, Food, Other Writing, and Zines

Let me start by saying thank you for supporting me. The last couple of months have been challenging, and the next few probably won’t be a whole lot easier. I’m looking for work, dealing with the slow collapse of the hemp industry, and coping with some significant health problems in my family.

So that’s why I’m assembling a cookbook zine. It’s called Soup For Our Families: An Antifascist Cookbook, and I’ll be collecting recipes over the next month. That’s right, actual food recipes — and not just soup, I’m collecting food and drink from every category from apps to desserts. I want to showcase the wide range of who we are, using food as a window. The only rule is the recipes should come from antifascist/antiracist people or groups.

‘It Came From Something Awful’ Suffers From Factual Errors

A Guy Fawkes 'Anonymous' mask looms out of a dark space. "It Came From Something Awful" detals 4chan, Anonymous, the rise of QAnon and what the author sees as a grand culture war.

(Tarik Haiga / Unsplash, public domain)

May 6, 2021

Kit

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‘It Came From Something Awful’ Suffers From Factual Errors

Posted in Creative Commons, Journalism, and Occupy Wall Street

I don’t write about books often, and usually I stick to good ones, but I feel this needs to be said: “It Came From Something Awful” is a book that, at minimum, needed more fact-checking before publication.

Though the book came out in 2019, author Dale Beran is back in the spotlight because of the January 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol. Beran is seen as one of the experts on 4chan, and 4chan is seen as a key origin point of What Just Happened ™.

When I dug into the book, I found out this argument represents the first third of it at most, and my problems with the latter chapters make me call the whole thing into question.

Anyone Can Adopt Any Activist Tactics: A Spencer Sunshine Interview

A 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

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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.

After The Coup Attempt, We’re All ANTIFA Now

We'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

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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.

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

Part 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

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‘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?

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

Softgel 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

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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.