Trump’s win of the electoral college (despite losing the popular vote by 2 million votes) thrust many into the streets for the first time against the billionaire real estate mogul and the wider system and crisis of capitalist civilization he seeks to manage. Suddenly, tens of thousands were blocking freeways, clashing with riot cops, and throwing down in the streets. At the same time, the far-Right and white supremacists are continuing to actively mobilize to support the regime and scores of racist and sexist attacks have been carried out throughout the US. Clearly, the far-Right continues to feel embolden and already many Neo-Nazi, KKK, Alt-Right, and white nationalist events and demonstrations are being organized. In response, anti-fascists are mobilizing to shut them down and actions against Trump continue to build towards #J20. With so many people new to radical action in the streets, many are coming up against for the first time attempts by liberals and protest managers to contain and direct revolt. These dynamics of course are not new, and played out in the Occupy movement, the Ferguson Insurrection, and in struggles throughout so-called North America.
In order to attack liberal delusions of struggle, we are putting together this collection of resources for those new to militant action. To be clear: those that would seek to contain and direct the demonstrations and disruptions are our enemies, and these attempts at remaining relevant must be stopped by any means necessary. At the same time, we must prepare for the very real threat of far-Right auxiliary violence that seeks to support the new Trump regime and push forward it’s policies. Thus, this collection of texts and resources should be seen as a starting point for understanding our current situation and how to begin to organize ourselves to act within in.
Lastly, we are publishing a compiled list of actions that have taken place since the election, as well as maintaining a collection of anti-Trump and anti-fascist mobilizations that will be updated as new ones are announced. To get yours listed, submit here or email us at: info [at] itsgoingdown [dot] org.
Understanding White Supremacy, Colonialism, Class Society, Patriarchy, and Capitalism
In order to attack Trumpism, we first have to attack the world that it represents and defends. That begins with understanding the history of colonization and genocide in the Americas, the creation of capitalism and it’s racial order that gave birth to slavery and divided the working-class, the growth of resistance movements to this new system of domination, the tendency of institutionalized forms of social change to derail and suffocate struggles, and the birth of counter-insurgency as a means to contain and manage rebellion. These texts are a good starting point for those looking to understand the foundations of exploitation and domination in the US.
Gender is a Weapon
Welcome to the Future
When Race Burns Class
Undoing Border Imperialism
From Freedom to Democracy
The Mythology of Work (PDF)
500 Years of Indigenous Resistance
Work, Community, Politics, War (PDF)
Colonization and Decolonization (PDF)
Communization and the Abolition of Gender
What Could Possibly Be Beyond Democracy?
Class Struggle and the Origins of Racial Slavery
Dynamite: The Story of Class Violence in America
Delusions of Progress: Tracing the Origins of the Police
Poor People’s Movements: Why the Succeed, How They Fail
The Climate is Changing: False Solutions to the Climate Crisis (PDF)
The Other Side of COIN: Counter-Insurgency and Community Policing (PDF)
Context and Analysis
Trumpism didn’t fall out of the sky, but is a direct result of the failure of neo-liberalism, reactionary backlash to black insurgency, and growing anger at the continued degradation of the working-class after the re-organization of the economy following the financial crisis of 2008. These texts examine both the failure of the electoral Left to offer any real alternative or ability to confront capital in any meaningful way, while also looking at the growth of both the autonomous far-Right and the right-wing populist and proto-fascist Trump regime.
The Thin Blue Line is a Burning Fuse: Every Struggle is Now a Struggle Against the Police
Next Time It Explodes: Revolt, Repression, and Backlash Since the Ferguson Uprising
Bern Notice: Building A Material Force In An Age of Trumpism (PDF)
After Bern: An Open Letter to the Newly Disheartened (PDF)
Nightmares of Capitalism, Pipedreams of Democracy
Morbid Symptoms: The Rise of Trump
Trumpism (PDF)
Why Riot?
Critiques of Non-Violence, Peace Police, ‘Allies,’ and Protest Managers in Social Struggles
Just as bureaucrats suffocated social struggles in past periods in order to keep them from becoming revolutionary movements, in modern struggles people, groups, and organizations often try and insert themselves into leadership positions while acting as a wet blanket on the fires of discontent. This is done as a means to keep bureaucratic organizations firmly in positions of leadership while also stopping people from physically confronting the police, the state, and capital itself. In the modern age, police agencies and movement bureaucrats often present social struggles as being divided by “good” and “bad” actors as a means of stopping people from organizing themselves and taking militant action. These connotations often always have a racial undertone, as a means of dividing people in social movements against each other along lines of race.
You Can’t Shoot Us All (PDF)
How Non-Violence Protects the State
God Only Knows What Devils We Are
The Making of ‘Outside Agitators’ (PDF)
What They Mean When They Say Peace (PDF)
Another Word for White Ally is Coward (PDF)
Smash Pacifism: A Critical Analysis of Gandhi and King (PDF)
Accomplices Not Allies: Abolishing the Ally Industrial Complex (PDF)
In Defense of the Revolutionary Politics and Actions of Occupy Oakland
Taking Sides: Revolutionary Solidarity and the Poverty of Liberalism (Free E-Book)
Who Is Oakland: Anti-Oppression Activism, Politics of Safety, and State Co-optation (PDF)
Combative Resistance Movements and Tactics
Non-violent modes of social change have focused on simply getting media attention or registering dissent with an elected official. While there is much to learn from these movements, over all they have proven themselves to be unable at building the kind of revolutionary movement that can engage in self-defense and also provide an offensive capacity. This selection of writings looks at street tactics and ways to organize that propose just that.
Blocs, Black and Other Wise: A How To Guide
The Black Bloc Papers (PDF)
What is a Black Bloc? (PDF)
Fashion Tips for the Brave
Anarchy Works (PDF)
Anti-Fascism
In the wake of growing black resistance and mobilization from the poorest and more oppressed segments of society, there has been a growing reactionary force on the far-Right. This can been seen in both the “Alternative Right,” which seeks to influence and grow within the established right-wing and the Republican Party, and the various Neo-Nazi, KKK, and white nationalist formations which seek to build power in the streets towards fascism. The following collection looks at this present reality and discusses its dangers and the need for anti-fascists to confront it.
Three Way Fight
Militant Anti-Fascism (Free E-Book)
How to Set Up an Anti-Fascist Group
“Death to the Klan” and Armed Anti-Fascist Self-Defense in the US
Confronting Fascism: Discussion Documents for a Militant Movement
Thinking Strategy and Defense in the Face of Fascism and the New Regime
Big Nazi on Campus: How Well Dressed Racists Are Coming to a College Near You
The New Neo-Nazis: How Matthew Heimbach Is Building a Racist Network Across the US
Online and Offline Security Culture
If you have a smart phone, get the Signal app (it’s free!) for texting and for making encrypted phone calls with other people that are using it. It also works well at setting up secure text groups so you can better coordinate. The app can be made to delete text messages after a certain amount of time or volume – and be sure to put a password on your messages in case you are arrested as well as on your phone when you turn it on. Get a free Protonmail and a PGP encryption code if possible. On your computer, start using Tor and other programs that help stop surveillance. These are basic things you can do and below are some other ideas.
An Activist’s Guide to Information Security
Security and Counter-Surveillance
Surveillance Self-Defense
What is Security Culture?
Anti-Trump and Anti-Fascist Outreach Materials
“Anti-Fascist Zone! Many Colors, One Working-Class, United to Kick, Nazi Ass” Poster (PDF)
Anti-Racist Neighborhood Watch Sticker (PDF)
Anti-Trump, #J20, and Antifa Posters
Antifa Zone, Keep the City Nazi Free, No Nazi Posters (PDFs – See Bottom of Post)
Deport the Politicians (PDF)
Against Trump’s Dreams of Race War (PDF)
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