submitted anonymously –
On this most recent May Day a group of 20-something individuals set out from Yauger Park in St’cas (so-called Olympia, WA) to disrupt the businesses Verizon and At&t in the Capitol Mall. Verizon and At&t were the targets (along with disrupting the normalcy and capitalistic distraction machine that is the mall) because of their ties to and collaboration with I.C.E.
How We Did It
This was really easy to pull together – an initial group came together to form a plan and do research on targets and the area. Flyers and personal invites were disseminated before anything went up online, though you could easily do this all by word of mouth and personal invite to keep the element of surprise. You only need about 20 people to pull it off. Then a few days before we had a more open meeting to share info and logistics and to get the thoughts of others on the specifics of the route.
And just like that, we had it put together!
At the agreed upon meet up spot things felt uncertain as one by one people trickled in. We handed out t-shirt masks and fliers with a map of the surrounding area, basic legal/know your rights information, and suggested dispersal route recommendations. 45 minutes late we started to march while chanting anti-ICE sentiments with 9 bike cops following closely behind us. The amount of time between gathering and beginning to march definitely gave the cops more time to organize and prepare than we would’ve liked. We continued into and through the mall parking lot. As we entered through the double doors and put some distance between us and the now confused as hell pigs; confidence in the crowd was almost instantly lifted.
As we marched through the hellish corporate landscape known as Capital Mall, our chants loudly reverberated off the walls. We moved at a swift pace, eager to reach our targets, fearless even with the Olympia PD pigs trailing us closely, riding their bikes inside the mall. Countless storefronts shuttered their doors whenever we got within striking distance but luckily for them, they were not our focus on this particular day. We were here for Verizon and AT&T.
After building up momentum and energy we neared Verizon. As they began to shutter their door a comrade whimsically skipped up to the gate before it could fully close and threw a stack of leaflets upwards into the store, making it rain anti-ice literature in the process. Next we moved onto the nearby AT&T store where they shuttered their doors as well. We stuffed more literature specific to AT&T’s complicity through the cracks of their security gate.
There was a surprising amount of support and friendly observers that would push back on other people’s rude ass comments about the demonstration taking place. Unfortunately one of the workers at AT&T professed his loyalty to AT&T by berating us with bullshit and slurs and presenting some false logic about AT&T actually being innocent simply because they hire Mexican workers. We didn’t pay him much mind and by this time the pigs were now closing in on us; on one side the 9 bike pigs forming a line right on us inside the mall, and then 4 patrol cars with pigs half in riot gear – wearing helmets and wielding sticks – began streaming into the nearest parking lot on the other side.
We made the call that it was time to go and everyone quickly agreed and made our move to the nearest exit. As a group we were followed until the collective decision to disperse and scatter in all directions was at an opportune street. There were no arrests.
Conclusion
Fascism often merges state authoritarianism with the private business apparatus. Similarly, ICE cannot presently function without collaboration from corporate profiteers. Geo Group operates the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA on behalf of ICE. Deportation flights are operated by airlines: Global Crossing (GlobalX), Eastern Air Express, World Atlantic and Avelo. Signature Aviation provides flight crews and runway support for ICE flights. Palantir provides critical tech support to ICE, developing software to assist ICE in its mission of ethnic cleansing and family destruction.
AT&T and Verizon are just one of many corporations that profit from the human suffering that ICE inflicts onto people on the daily.
In 2019 and 2020 people in Olympia and Seattle did similar actions, targeting ICE collaborators, disrupting financial institutions like US Bank, Blackrock, Bank of America, Bank of the West, and other collaborators involved in the detention and deportation machine like UPS and AT&T.
We are fully aware that a one-off action will not bring down ICE or its profiteers and collaborators. It is the continuous and creative action of many individuals and crews dispersed across a wide territory that will bring it down.
DOWN WITH ICE
FREEDOM FOR MAHMOUD KHALIL, ‘LELO’ ALFREDO JUAREZ ZEFERINO, ÁNGEL, AND ALL THOSE HELD CAPTIVE BY ICE
submitted anonymously –
On this most recent May Day a group of 20-something individuals set out from Yauger Park in St’cas (so-called Olympia, WA) to disrupt the businesses Verizon and At&t in the Capitol Mall. Verizon and At&t were the targets (along with disrupting the normalcy and capitalistic distraction machine that is the mall) because of their ties to and collaboration with I.C.E.
How We Did It
This was really easy to pull together – an initial group came together to form a plan and do research on targets and the area. Flyers and personal invites were disseminated before anything went up online, though you could easily do this all by word of mouth and personal invite to keep the element of surprise. You only need about 20 people to pull it off. Then a few days before we had a more open meeting to share info and logistics and to get the thoughts of others on the specifics of the route.
And just like that, we had it put together!
At the agreed upon meet up spot things felt uncertain as one by one people trickled in. We handed out t-shirt masks and fliers with a map of the surrounding area, basic legal/know your rights information, and suggested dispersal route recommendations. 45 minutes late we started to march while chanting anti-ICE sentiments with 9 bike cops following closely behind us. The amount of time between gathering and beginning to march definitely gave the cops more time to organize and prepare than we would’ve liked. We continued into and through the mall parking lot. As we entered through the double doors and put some distance between us and the now confused as hell pigs; confidence in the crowd was almost instantly lifted.
As we marched through the hellish corporate landscape known as Capital Mall, our chants loudly reverberated off the walls. We moved at a swift pace, eager to reach our targets, fearless even with the Olympia PD pigs trailing us closely, riding their bikes inside the mall. Countless storefronts shuttered their doors whenever we got within striking distance but luckily for them, they were not our focus on this particular day. We were here for Verizon and AT&T.
After building up momentum and energy we neared Verizon. As they began to shutter their door a comrade whimsically skipped up to the gate before it could fully close and threw a stack of leaflets upwards into the store, making it rain anti-ice literature in the process. Next we moved onto the nearby AT&T store where they shuttered their doors as well. We stuffed more literature specific to AT&T’s complicity through the cracks of their security gate.
There was a surprising amount of support and friendly observers that would push back on other people’s rude ass comments about the demonstration taking place. Unfortunately one of the workers at AT&T professed his loyalty to AT&T by berating us with bullshit and slurs and presenting some false logic about AT&T actually being innocent simply because they hire Mexican workers. We didn’t pay him much mind and by this time the pigs were now closing in on us; on one side the 9 bike pigs forming a line right on us inside the mall, and then 4 patrol cars with pigs half in riot gear – wearing helmets and wielding sticks – began streaming into the nearest parking lot on the other side.
We made the call that it was time to go and everyone quickly agreed and made our move to the nearest exit. As a group we were followed until the collective decision to disperse and scatter in all directions was at an opportune street. There were no arrests.
Conclusion
Fascism often merges state authoritarianism with the private business apparatus. Similarly, ICE cannot presently function without collaboration from corporate profiteers. Geo Group operates the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA on behalf of ICE. Deportation flights are operated by airlines: Global Crossing (GlobalX), Eastern Air Express, World Atlantic and Avelo. Signature Aviation provides flight crews and runway support for ICE flights. Palantir provides critical tech support to ICE, developing software to assist ICE in its mission of ethnic cleansing and family destruction.
AT&T and Verizon are just one of many corporations that profit from the human suffering that ICE inflicts onto people on the daily.
In 2019 and 2020 people in Olympia and Seattle did similar actions, targeting ICE collaborators, disrupting financial institutions like US Bank, Blackrock, Bank of America, Bank of the West, and other collaborators involved in the detention and deportation machine like UPS and AT&T.
We are fully aware that a one-off action will not bring down ICE or its profiteers and collaborators. It is the continuous and creative action of many individuals and crews dispersed across a wide territory that will bring it down.
DOWN WITH ICE
FREEDOM FOR MAHMOUD KHALIL, ‘LELO’ ALFREDO JUAREZ ZEFERINO, ÁNGEL, AND ALL THOSE HELD CAPTIVE BY ICE