CrimethInc.@crimethinc·1hThe real issue is not the suppression a few hundred Facebook pages. Facebook has always been complicit in state surveillance. The real issue is that this is a step in a larger strategy. They are shutting down our communications so the state can attack us. #NoAnarchistBan
note:
The Facebook account, linked to https://thefreeonline.wordpress.com which promotes a free anarchist novel and shares relevant stories, was DISABLED by Facebook in May 2020. No explanations.
Now finally they invited it back, but WITHOUT THE 3500 FRIENDS. You can still tell the truth on Facebook.. So long as nobody hears you.
Now they have banned It’s Going Down and CrimethInc. (@crimethinc) · Twitter which are two of the very few brilliant sources of solidarity, imagination and hope for humanity.
Unless they are reinstated, WITH their followers we at TheFreeOnline and surely thousands more, will leave Farcebook forever
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On Facebook Banning Anarchist And Antifascist Pages
by It’s Going Down and CrimethInc
On August 19, 2020 Facebook deleted a variety of far-Right militia and Qanon accounts along with anarchist and antifascist pages, including It’s Going Down and CrimethInc. The following is a joint statement in response.
Facebook has taken down multiple Facebook pages they believe to be connected with crimethinc.com and itsgoingdown.org, among other anarchist and anti-fascist publishing projects, officially on the pretext that they “support violence.” This has nothing to do with stopping violence and everything to do with cracking down on social movements and everyday people getting organized in their communities.
Facebook has always promoted itself as seeking to assist people in creating networks to meet their needs. Facebook representatives proudly touted their role in the Egyptian uprising. Their decision to ban social movement organizations shows that they are eager to play a role in ensuring that the only forms of activism that can emerge are the ones that are beneficial to the current authorities.
For months, Donald Trump has demanded this crackdown in a series of social media posts explicitly blaming anarchists and anti-fascists for the countrywide wave of protests precipitated by persistent police violence in the United States.
The definition of violence is not neutral. The way Facebook defines violence, it is legitimate for police to kill a thousand people per year while evicting, kidnapping, and imprisoning millions—it is legitimate to drop bombs on civilians, so long as the aggressor represents an official government—but it is “violence” to prevent a white supremacist from assaulting a crowd or return a tear gas canister to the police who shot it.
Suppressing the voices of those who seek to protect their communities from institutional and white supremacist violence is an intentional decision to normalize violence as long as the ones employing it hold institutional power.
Lumping anarchists and anti-fascists together with far-right militias who explicitly support the state and especially the current administration is a strategic move to muddy the issue. This is the same operation that William Barr performed in creating a Department of Justice task force focused on “anti-government extremists” of all stripes.
It’s Going Down@IGD_News·It is not a coincidence that it occurs after Trump mobilized federal forces to Portland, precipitating weeks of street conflict. While far-right groups continue to organize on Facebook and millions spread dangerous misinformation about COVID-19.
In the case of the Department of Justice, it enables them to point to far-right and militia attacks in order to demand resources with which to crack down on those who are on the front lines of defending communities against such attacks. They are attempting to do the same thing to Black Lives Matter activists, associating them together with neo-Nazis and white nationalists as “racially motivated extremists.”
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After a fascist murdered Heather Heyer during the “Unite the Right” mobilization in Charlottesville, tremendous grassroots pressure arose to remove fascists and white supremacists from social media platforms.
This time, the push is coming from the very top of the hierarchy, at a time when protest movements have been essential to creating a nationwide dialogue about state violence and oppression. This is a counterattack from those in power against websites that published perspectives from those who mobilized against the fascists in Charlottesville.
It’s Going Down@IGD_News·While we ultimately aren’t surprised by this move and personally all hate Facebook (majority of feedback we got was ironically death threats) we recognize it was a vehicle to connect with people. If you want to help us continue our media work, donate:
It is not a coincidence that it occurs after Trump mobilized federal forces to Portland, Oregon, precipitating weeks of street conflict. While far-right groups continue to organize on Facebook and millions spread dangerous misinformation about COVID-19, Facebook is actively cooperating with the Trump administration to suppress dissent.
Make no mistake, if this goes unchallenged, it will not stop here. The more it becomes normalized for governments to be able to determine which voices social media platforms permit to be heard, the further such censorship will penetrate into every sector of society, and the more it will shape what it is possible to think, what it is possible to imagine.
If you are concerned about this, please use all the means at your disposal to get this message out far and wide. Facebook should not get to determine for you what constitutes responsible speech. Together, in solidarity, we can create a better world, in which no one of good conscience need fear that fascists, governments, or billion-dollar corporations can suppress their freedom of expression.
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PeterGelderloos@PeterGelderloos·Gotta love our racist, Centrist overlords. F-book shut down pages of a few right-wing militias who have shot multiple people, and anarchist news sites like @IGD_News and @crimethinc, which share news articles, promote organizing against fascists or evictions, don’t murder ppl…
The Free 