In January 2017, when Donald Trump announced the Muslim Ban—a complete ban on travel to the United States from seven predominantly Muslim countries—protesters converged at airports around the country, shutting down travel.

Now he is banning travel from twice as many countries.

Don’t See What Happens, Be What Happens

Continuous updates from demonstrators blockading airports and interrupting business as usual in response to Trump’s fascist ban on Muslims from seven countries.

CrimethInc. (crimethinc.com)

It's worth revisiting the events of 2017 to understand the scale of resistance. 5000 protesters shut down all international flights at SFO in San Francisco. 30,000 shut down a large section of the financial district of Manhattan while thousands protested at JFK. Protests like this took place at dozens of airports and business districts around the country.

In the wake of those protests—and not a moment before—a judge declared the Muslim Ban unconstitutional. When we take action together, we can change the course of history.

Don't let Trump and his cronies bury their oppressive acts in a news cycle filled with noise. Let's show up for each other in solidarity. Resist.

Mutual Aid, the Commons, and the Revolutionary Abolition of Capitalism

Revisiting the Difference Between Mutual Aid and Charity

Mutual Aid, the Commons, and the Revolutionary Abolition of Capitalism

To get the most out of mutual aid, we ought to create participatory commons in which everyone can contribute and there is no fundamental division between organizers and beneficiaries.

CrimethInc. (crimethinc.com)

Much has been made of the distinction between charity and mutual aid. Charity is top-down and unidirectional, while mutual aid is supposed to be horizontal, reciprocal, and participatory. In practice, however, the majority of today’s self-described mutual aid projects remain more or less unidirectional efforts to provide goods and services to those in need.

This has contributed to a situation in which conventional non-profit organizations are rebranding themselves with the language of “mutual aid,” while some anarchists have given up on the concept entirely, fed up with a rhetoric that some say amounts to “mutual aid being good and radical, and charity being bad and conservative.”

Is there more to the distinction than this? How can we unlock the revolutionary potential of mutual aid?

Five years ago today, after Minneapolis police murdered George Floyd, demonstrators forced them to abandon the Third Precinct and set it on fire—a profound act of solidarity and faith in the possibility of social change.

This account describes how they did it:

The Siege of the Third Precinct in Minneapolis

Anonymous participants in the uprising in Minneapolis explore how a combination of tactics compelled the police to abandon the Third Precinct.

CrimethInc. (crimethinc.com)

Not long after, a Newsweek poll found that fully 54% of those questioned believed the burning of the Minneapolis Police Precinct was justified after George Floyd’s killing.

At that time, Joe Biden was polling around 46% and Donald Trump at 38%.

Never let them tell you resistance can't be popular.