We need your help to replenish our print fund so that we can keep producing and distributing all our radical reading materials throughout the Sacramento area. We are a clandestine organization which operates solely on the donations of our comrades and volunteers, so every dollar is greatly appreciated.

Our volunteers, associates, and sibling organizations have been doing outstanding work so far this year, distributing our printed materials in support of different events and campaigns. Through your donations we will be able to continue to provide these resources to our communities free of charge.

Venmo: @Sac_rad_edu
Cashapp: $SacRadicalEducation

During the 2020 rebellion there came a point where the PSL and similar Yellow Vests were broadly made unwelcome in many cities. The peace police were replaced by the black bloc and people learned how effective horizontally organized radical & direct action can be.

A similar tipping point is on the horizon. As campus after campus are brutalized by police and the Yellow Vests continue to demand nonviolence and passiveness in the name of "optics", we must return to the tactics & strategies which birthed the phrase "we keep us safe".

Escalation is not only the justified call of the Palestinian people. Escalation is the only way we may attempt to keep our siblings & comrades safe in the face of State & fascist violence.

Befriending The Boss's Kid

On the dangers of the left-liberal professional political class

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In Sacramento there is a professional political class which profits from the status quo, earning sumptuous salaries and living comfortable lives off of the social conditions as they are today. City Manager Howard Chan quickly comes to mind - and rightly so - however our current target is an apparatus secondary to the State itself. Some call it the Nonprofit Industrial Complex, others refer to it as controlled opposition, but for this piece we will refer to it as the left-liberal professional political class (LLPPC).

The LLPPC consists of nonprofit organizations, businesses, and moneyed individuals which work independently and in collaboration with each other and the State to affect (or recuperate) progressive social change. The LLPPC is for the most part primarily concerned with acquiring and sustaining revenue streams, even to the seeming detriment of their individual mission statements. This often manifests as a prioritization of data gathering, redundant meetings, and fundraising. In the extreme we see things like inflated government contracts coupled with gross negligence, such as the $3.2 million annual cost of the Miller Park Safe Ground campsite in Sacramento; or the widespread allegations of fiscal impropriety of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation.

Squandered opportunities and resources are not the only harmful functions of the LLPPC - counter-organizing against movements, groups, and individuals that may threaten real social change is also endemic. That is why there is never a short supply of nonprofit organizations or milquetoast community leaders on hand to denounce or co-opt mass action to the benefit of the State. The outside agitator myth, condemnation of property damage as violence, and yellow-vest peace-police are some of the most well known tools of the LLPPC in this regard. More extreme tactics may mirror state repression more specifically, such as disinformation whisper campaigns, coordinated harassment, and the weaponization of monetary or material resources.

So what does all of this mean for nascent grassroots movements and those of us already years deep in community work? We must remain cognizant that organization from below will not be nurtured from above, and that philanthropy is merely a tool of the rich to garner themselves tax write-offs and social capital rather than a viable means to liberation. We must also remain wary of paid organizers, lobbyists, and businesspeople in general. When someone is earning a salary or otherwise profiting by ostensibly doing the same work that you are facing State repression for doing yourself - your interests cannot align in a meaningful way and they are likely in opposition.

In short we must seek to foster authentic grassroots movements among the most vulnerable, accepting that our resource limitations are indicative of our very position and cause. In a settler-colonial capitalist society there is no privilege that exists without strings, no matter the smiling face.

If They Really Cared:
On People Who Weren't There

Every time there is a mass protest movement in the US, a narrative eventually surfaces that those in the street "weren't there" for some previous campaign and thus the movement in question is somehow fraudulent or undeserving of solidarity and support. "They weren't there for '02 - why do they care now?" "If they really cared they would have been there in 2014..." Et cetera.

This narrative has its roots in a transactional way of being with an entitlement to the labor of others. It perpetuates a lack of grace and good faith toward those in the streets and contributes to an overall culture of distrust and division. Taken to the extreme it creates a framing of the liberation of any one class of oppressed people as inherently oppositional to the liberation of all other oppressed classes.

Not only is this "weren't there " narrative dangerous to all liberation movements, it is also fundamentally incorrect. Every subsequent liberation campaign or rebellion benefits from the gains and experiences of previous struggles, not only from the flow of history and information but also from the flow of the very individuals which constitute liberation movements. People do not become politically activated for only a single season; what may have begun at a simple candlelight vigil often leads to decades of organized struggle.

How then do we combat such narratives as we encounter them? Most often the easiest way is to simply investigate the basis of the claims being made - how do they know the personal history of all 200 or 20,000 people at any given protest? What of the youth? Are they undeserving of our support simply by virtue of having been born too late? Upon examination, most "weren't there" narratives will default to a singular anecdote or a fixation on specific failures of the past.

This points to the way in which this is a weaponized narrative, often being perpetuated by the very individuals that are its victims. We cannot let our perception of self-sacrifice or dues-paid cause us to become bitter and condescending to the youth or to new comrades we may encounter. What matters is not having "been there", but where are you headed?

Transgender Day of Remembrance 2023

May our lost siblings always live on in our hearts as we fight for the liberation of the living.

No more dead Trans women!

Before Another Boat Isn't Blocked:

Musings on inoculation against recuperative counter-insurgency

It is a testament to the successful proliferation of radical politics that we are faced with such persistent forces of recuperation. Everywhere we can see efforts to commodify decolonization & abolitionist rhetoric, or to turn protests into money-making opportunities.

We must study these recuperative forces, as they are a valid part of counter-insurgency whether unintentional or otherwise. How can we better inoculate ourselves so that we do not fall prey to these forces? The following three concepts are what we have returned to time & again.

Information literacy; we must develop our ability to analyze the source, logic, & implication of any information that we are presented. How does the information fit into existing frameworks & narratives; who may benefit or suffer from its implications or spread?

Historical literacy; “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” What information is available about relevant situations & actors? How have previous, exposed counter-insurgency operations functioned in relation to our geography, ideology, & identity?

Holistic thinking or interdependence or dialectical materialism; we cannot approach information or situations as if they occur in a vacuum. We must be able to extrapolate transferable principles. What are the various ways that any multiple points may be connected?

We hope this has been useful in priming you & your comrades to some productive conversation or study. With a foundation of information literacy, historical literacy, & holistic thinking we are better equipped to subvert the machinations of recuperation whether they be manifest as political party, nonprofit, or otherwise.

This past Sunday was the annual Oaxaca en Sacramento fiesta at the Latino Center of Art & Culture. It was a joyous occasion of baile folklórico, comida tradicional, & myriad other examples of Indigenous Oaxaceño culture & history.

Sac Rad Edu had a team of volunteers on-site with a distro table of educational & informational material in both Spanish & English. As is often the case at these larger community events, the youth & the elders were very drawn to the material, providing many memorable engagements.

One young comrade even initiated a mini-workshop on zine construction where they learned how to fold mini-zines to completion.

Events like Oaxaca en Sacramento, & the programs of the Center more generally, are an integral component of the Indigenous liberation struggle. They provide us with the context of our lineage through the ancient vehicle of art; giving us the cultural building blocks of re-indigenization.

We are incredibly thankful to the Center,, the local Oaxacan diaspora community, & all of the other people who made this years fiesta what it was. Sharing space with so many smiling, thriving Indigenous people is always a pleasure & inspiration to us.