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Against Innocence
Race, Gender, & the Politics of Safety

In this article (originally published in LIES: A Journal of Materialist Feminism), Jackie Wang explores the ways in which the politics of innocence serves to limit social struggle. Particularly as it relates to police murders of black people, that one have the identity of an “innocent victim” is often assumed as pre-condition for resistance. People who are killed by police but who don’t fit this role, are often ignored by liberal organizations and the public at large. But such appeals – which are often aimed at white populations or that embody whiteness – serve to reinforce a framework in which revolutionary and insurgent politics are unimaginable.

Don’t Film, Act
A Call for Confrontation

Your footage will not save anyone, you are not exposing some unknown side of the American cop. We know what the police are, and we know what they do. It’s what they’ve always done. The footage of the murder of Eric Garner didn’t prevent the murder of George Floyd. The footage of the murder of George Floyd didn’t prevent the murder of Tyre Nichols. And the footage of the murder of Tyre Nichols won’t prevent the next cop from killing the next person whose name will be added to a list that has grown so long that its growth is assumed to be inevitable.

In the most unambiguous terms I can muster, whether captured on a body cam or a cell phone, whether amassing retweets on Twitter or opening the hour on the nightly news,
footage will never be able to prevent the violence captured within its frame. Once it has been filmed, you are too late. We are all too late. The moment of potential intervention is gone.

But we don’t have to film.
We don’t have to be passive observers when the violence of
policing breaks out in our proximity.
We can act.

Why Misogynists Make Great Informants
How Gender Violence on the Left Enables State Violence in Radical Movements

The state has already understood a fact that the Left has struggled to accept: misogynists make great informants.

This zine looks at how unchecked misogyny in political movements/groups/whatever you want to call it creates an environment that is ripe for the recruitment and deployment of informants. Misogynist behavior is disruptive and pushes women and queer folks out of spaces, while constantly dominating the agenda.

Confidence. Courage. Connection. Trust.
A proposal for security culture

I want to have the kinds of security practices that allow me to be open while knowing that Ive assessed the risk I face and am taking smart steps to minimize it. Security culture should make openness more possible, not less.

This proposal for security culture is based on reframing: on shifting our focus from fear to confidence, from risk aversion to courage, from isolation to connection, and from suspicion to trust.

A Critique of Ally Politics
Excerpt from Taking Sides: Revolutionary Solidarity and the Poverty of Liberalism (AK Press, 2015)

This zine is a reprint of an article that originally appeared in the anarchist magazine “Rolling Thunder” and that was subsequently republished in the anthology “Taking Sides: Revolutionary Solidarity and the Poverty of Liberalism.” It offers a solid and devastating critique of ally politics, relating both personal experiences and examples of the limits of ally politics alongside larger political arguments. It is a very important piece and one that should be read and discussed widely.

Betrayal
A Critical Analysis of Rape Culture in Anarchist Subcultures

Betrayal: A Critical Analysis of Rape Culture in Anarchist Subcultures analyzes the ways in which rape takes place, is talked about, and is dealt with in anarchist subcultures. It looks at how anarchists often seek to “silence” discussion of rape by limiting it and/or preventing it and how those who do take the risk to talk about rape are often attacked and ostracized. There is also a critique of “accountability processes” and how they are often applied. Betrayal is a very critical zine to be sure, but it offers a lot for those who wish to move in new directions.

This proposal for security culture is based on reframing: on shifting our focus from fear to confidence, from risk aversion to courage, from isolation to connection, and from suspicion to trust.

Defend the Territory
Tactics and Techniques for Countering Police Assaults on Indigenous Communities

This zine from Warrior Publications provides a thorough overview of the types of repression that are frequently used against indigenous blockades. The context is largely anti-colonial blockades in the occupied Canada, but the information could be useful elsewhere and in different contexts. The guide includes an introduction to how police operate, chemical agents, less-lethal weaponry, etc. There is also an extensive guide to armored vehicles (including how to counter them with anti-tank ditches!). In addition to the exploration of police equipment, the guide also looks at various tactics for undertaking blockades and implementing them.

Madness, Disability, and Abolition
A Call for Movement Solidarity + Healing in Autonomous Communities

In 2020, police abolition erupted into popular discourse following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and others. With one out of four U.S. prison inmates testing positive for COVID-19 in some facilities, calls for prison abolition have also attained a new prominence. We want to abolish these systems of violence – but what does that mean for the psych ward?

This essay explores responses to that question in two parts. Part one focuses on the intersections between abolition, madness and disability. Part two focuses on ways we can continue the fight for mad and disabled communities while creating an abolitionist future.

Settlers on the Red Road
A Conversation on Indigeneity, Belonging, and Responsibility

We need to talk about what is happening. We need to develop our own critique against this Native homeopathy bullshit or risk losing the very real bonds of solidarity forged between anarchists and Indigenous resistors across Turtle Island over the last decades. This is not to say that anarchists have not fucked things up and lost relationships in other ways: by swooping in and ditching early, by not repping their own politics, by breathing way too much air, or simply not knowing much about the history of this land. They definitely have. But having to add “letting their friends play Indian” to that list feels like a real shame. Of all the settlers here on Turtle Island, anarchists have the most to offer Indigenous struggle and the closest shared vision of a decolonial future. I say this as both a Michif halfbreed and an anarchist.