In the face of rising government surveillance and the suppression of left organizing, independent libraries are part of growing efforts to expand non-state alternatives including mutual aid networks, free stores, and free universities.

Even when local police have no formal contracts with ICE, some departments still provide critical help to ICE agents. But in many jurisdictions, 911 call records are subject to public records law—providing watchdogs a tool for tracking ICE activity.

i've been covering mutual aid groups for quite a while, and was especially impressed with this crew decentralized medical device manufacturing ftw👇 ellafassler.substack.com/p/a-grassroo...

Repost the Leather Dachshund from Seattle Pride 1991 to be blessed this Pride Month!

“We need to take control of the ability to create the things that we need, especially the most important things — things that save our lives, things that we need in crises” my latest for @truthout.org truthout.org/articles/a-g...

“‘My political camp is that I don’t want people bleeding out because they don’t have access to equipment that we have the luxury of having access to,’ Barton told Truthout.”

Second night of Jersey cops attacking protesters who are there supporting hunger strikers inside a sadistic immigrant jail

Don't miss the latest from @ella-writes.bsky.social. "The effort is notable, though, as grassroots groups are attempting to move toward decentralized medical manufacturing that is less dependent on traditional corporate production chains."

“We need to take control of the ability to create the things that we need, especially the most important things — things that save our lives, things that we need in crises” my latest for @truthout.org truthout.org/articles/a-g...

now on the blog, how I learned about Mexmûr, a refugee camp of more than 10,000+ kurds in Iraqi-occupied Kurdistan building a new society from the ground up ellafassler.substack.com/p/learning-a...

Author Daniel Gross argues that challenges to the ruling class will emerge when workers themselves—not union officials—design and refine unions that actually work for them. We'll be hosting @dgorganize.bsky.social alongside local organizers on Monday, June 2nd!

My first ever (speculative) fiction piece is set in a solarpunky democratic confederalist Providence and explores themes of wanderlust, communal obligation, and rootnedness 🌱 ellafassler.substack.com/p/scenes-fro...

This is so kind from @ella-writes.bsky.social on how we first met It's really important to learn from those early on the scene—like they were on literally the first day of the first Trump admin. And the same is true in labor organizing. ellafassler.substack.com/p/the-unions...

"[S]olidarity unionism was taken down partially from outright murder, kidnapping, imprisonment, deportation, and destruction of materials, records, and literature. ... [W]e need to try to preempt these forms of repression."

Wonderful interview of @dgorganize.bsky.social on his new book, Unions of Our Own. I especially love the distinction b/t union organizing and union *building.* I'm buying a copy for myself and requesting that my local public library, @qplnyc.bsky.social, get one too. share.google/ucb2DHr48bKP...

STRIKE: Ahead of May Day, Popeyes workers in Los Angeles are on strike due to life-threatening workplace violence, extreme heat, cockroaches in the kitchen, wage theft, and broken restroom, to the point we’ve been forced to urinate in a closet drain because it is the only place without cameras. 🧵

"it’s actually that co-workers are best positioned to figure out their own successful union models, and they actually have a really unique power to be able to do that well by virtue of being workers." 🙂‍↕️

Unions of Our Own in @truthout.org on International Workers Day by @ella-writes.bsky.social We're honored to be a partner on the free resources available at unionsofourown.org truthout.org/articles/the...

“The decline of the labor movement is no doubt one of the factors that have enabled Trumpism to capture the nation.”

A new book distills decades of labor organizing experience into a step-by-step guide that supports workers in building and sustaining unions that actually work for them! I interviewed the author @dgorganize.bsky.social about it for @truthout.org truthout.org/articles/the...

Unions of Our Own is out today and arriving in the hands of courageous workers 🥹 My goal for the book is growing the community of working people who build unions that meet their needs as they define them and that advance their vision of the world. Get yours: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2724-u...

In news that absolutely everyone predicted…

Let's get more dangerous to oligarchy and grow the community of workers building unions of their own. It starts on Tuesday at 6pm in NYC in conversation with the brilliant Michelle Chen. Pre-order Unions of Our Own today and join the movement: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2724-u...

Feed: "The Providence Eye" By: Ella Fassler on Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Oh yeah that's the good stuff

New today in @thepvdeye.bsky.social: an interesting piece from @ella-writes.bsky.social.

PVD Mayor Brett Smiley is set to veto a rent stabalization bill despite its popularity among voters. In an op-ed for the Providence Eye I argued this is a reminder we live in a highly centralized governing system & proposed democratic confederalism as an alternative pvdeye.org/decentralize...

The Worker's Assembly "shines a light on the political possibilities of an anti-ICE, anti-war movement organized democratically by rank-and-file workers, and provides an alternative to a movement dictated by the labor and social movement bureaucracies." www.leftvoice.org/no-ice-no-wa...

“The department's new Drone as a First Responder (DFR) program led to the arrest of a 14-year-old who was speeding on an e-bike…”

I think it's vitally important that everyone know that when baby bear cubs are orphaned and taken to our local wildlife center, they get fed and rehabbed by people masking their scent and wearing costumes like this so they don't get habituated to humans

Behind the Hunger Strike: Swift Justice Continues Fight for ‘Prisoners’ Rights’ Kenneth ‘Swift Justice’ Traywick started starving himself November 20, 2025, striking in solidarity with ‘prisoners’ across Alabama and the United States. unicornriot.ninja/2026/behind-...

Experts warn the verdict could set a precedent for prosecuting protest activity as terrorism.

We have a verdict and we are heartbroken at the results. This is only the beginning. We will continue to fight the remaining charges until every defendant is home.

“Kurds know themselves. They come from the depths of history. They have struggled for freedom for a century,” he said. “They are not in a position to be anyone’s soldiers or instruments of anyone’s interests.” bianet.org/haber/pkk-re...

these lies are told by: Israel-based broadcaster i24News, Axios relied on confirmation from a senior US official that post later deleted & of course a Fox News reporter on X citing a US official of course didn’t deny the lie of “thousands of Iraqi Kurds” launching a ground offensive in Iran

“Indigenous campaigners in the Brazilian Amazon this week after they staved off a threat to the Tapajós River by occupying a grain terminal operated by Cargill, the biggest privately owned company in the United States.”

Our top story: Protesting, wearing black clothing, owning zines, guns, or first aid kits. Using the encrypted messaging app Signal. The federal government is using all these activities to build a so-called "antifa" conspiracy case.

Beautiful piece from @ella-writes.bsky.social on how projects like @pmpress.bsky.social are building organized power and resistance culture.

"Unlike most outlets, The Defender pairs its editorial work with a robust community programs wing aimed at building material and political power through mutual aid, political education, and arts and culture events. These efforts include a free clothing program, a free grocery program ... and more."

“Good old-fashioned human interaction is the way that you actually build [movements]. Not through a virtual world that is owned and manipulated by corporations and the right.”

Left media workers & publishers are opening physical spaces aimed at building collective power. my latest for @truthout.org truthout.org/articles/the...

Corporations control the internet, so grassroots media workers are creating in-person spaces to build collective power.

“If Rojava were to be forcibly brought under the control of a re-centralized Syrian state, it could spell the end of the libertarian communalist project that has inspired the world.” great piece by @shaneburley.bsky.social @truthout.org truthout.org/articles/roj...

📢Syrian Kurds are Under Attack❗ 📃Read and share our joint-statement and call-to-action in collaboration with other US-based Kurdish organizations. www.defendrojava.org/news/syrian-...

"The intellectual confidence among the women I met struck me hard–and I don’t mean just the writers or teachers. I mean all the women: from soldiers to judges, from women working in a textile factory to those on an agricultural committee." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

This is an Underground Railroad style operation. This is what I mean that we should study UR history, tactics, and strategy.

📣Call Congress Today! 📞Demand immediate action to stop the Syrian state's ethnic cleansing of Kurds in Aleppo! 🚨 www.defendrojava.org/news/call-in...

📢 ECR Statement on the situation in Aleppo: 🕊️ Hands Off Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh! ✌️ Solidarity with the Kurds of Aleppo! 🌿 Syria is for ALL Syrians! www.defendrojava.org/news/ecr-sta...

Anti-ICE protesters are having a rolling noise demo and protest in downtown Minneapolis targeting hotels where federal agents are reportedly staying -- starting at the Canopy by Hilton and going to the Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel. Police have just arrived as we are posting this.