Re: APOC Philly Slap a White Boy Action Against Crimethinc

I feel that folks here in L.A. have been trying to focus on organizing our own communities for a coupe of years now, learning from our own experiences in the movement in general.

We understand that the white left isn't where it should be, but we shouldn't make it about them. That is never our responsibility, we're wasting time, energy, and resources on them instead of building in our own communities: building autonomous people's councils, "people's institutions," and revolutionary base areas.

Really, sometimes we do have to slap a white boy, that's real. That's if they're attacking our communities or disrespecting, sometimes you have to do that. From what I hear though, those Crimethinc folks were having dialogue on gentrification (challenging it) and how they could be better allies, even though I disagree with their politics and their approach.

We should be conscious that there is a "left-wing white supremacy" (as Lorenzo Komboa Ervin pointed out) in the forms of white left vanguard parties and also within the anarchist "scene" but how do we challenge that? Do we go to their gatherings and disrupt their events? What for? To me it shows that maybe that is where the folks that did this action are at, and what they see more important, self-gratification vs. the needs of the people. We should challenge the ideas that come from Crimethinc and the left-wing white supremacists, more so in the realm of theory, practice, and praxis. Let's not make it about what they're doing, that is for them to figure out.

I applaud the work of folks in Philly in the sense that they're creating a space for queer, trans, and non-men-identifying folks of color. I support that just like I support people of color creating their own vision, strategy, space etc. I was never opposed to that. My concerns were the approach of some of the folks that identify as APOC as a whole. In general, again, my people are my responsibility, and we have to work with each other where we're at.

I feel that the Crimethinc actions were reactionary, in all meanings of the word reactionary.

We don't have any real political, theoretical, and/or tactical unity at this point within APOC, and I feel this is where all these disagreements stem from. However, I hope if someone does an an action in the name of APOC that can jeopardize the group, that we hold them accountable.

I do think we should all put out a statement or at least different APOC collectives put out different statements publicly. Since the majority of people think that the Crimethinc "Slap a White Boy" action was endorsed by all of APOC.

Jordan spoke about Philly folks building autonomy, we should all get into what that really means. Having my own understanding of autonomy, learning from the indigenous communities down south in Mexico, it does not mean we go into communities that are not our own and tell people how they should organize, or imposing our vision on others. It does not mean building a click or a scene, it means building dual power and confronting the state, the settler-colonial institutions and creating the councils of the people that are the foundation for the new world we are trying to build.