A-Infos (en) US, Media, A West Philly-based anarchist newspaper turns 10

The conversation on that van ride 10 years ago this month spawned The 
Defenestrator, a collectively run anarchist newspaper based in West Philadelphia 
that first published a few weeks later. In August the newspaper will celebrate 
its 10th anniversary—a major accomplishment for a community that’s constantly in 
flux and doesn’t believe in hierarchy. ---- Against Type ---- A West 
Philly-based anarchist newspaper turns 10. ---- It was the halcyon days of the 
mid-’90s. The economy was fast approaching the dot-com boom, welfare reform was 
putting people to work, the country wasn’t at war and Monica Lewinsky wasn’t yet 
a household name. ---- With the exception of an escalating homicide rate, things 
were pretty quiet in Philadelphia in 1997.----  A little too quiet. ----  On a 
long van ride back to Philadelphia from a Boston conference for activists 
fighting poverty and homelessness, a group of Philly anarchists decided, “We 
don’t fuck shit up nearly as much as we really ought to.”

 The rhythm of everyday life had beaten the once-thriving Philly activist scene 
into submission. Demonstrations had been too tame, they said. Protests had been 
ill attended. They needed a spark to bring everyone together, to inspire action, 
to mobilize.

 The conversation on that van ride 10 years ago this month spawned The 
Defenestrator, a collectively run anarchist newspaper based in West Philadelphia 
that first published a few weeks later. In August the newspaper will celebrate 
its 10th anniversary—a major accomplishment for a community that’s constantly in 
flux and doesn’t believe in hierarchy.

 “We wanted to have something that projects what people in Philly are doing 
outward,” says Dave Onion, who was among those in the van. “And to connect the 
different groups of people in Philly. A lot of people didn’t know each other 
existed.”

 A handful of activists met at the A-Space—the antiprofit anarchist cafe on 
Baltimore Avenue—and kicked around ideas. Stories were written and pages were 
laid out. A friend who worked at Kinko’s surreptitiously printed hundreds of 
copies for free. When that batch ran out, the Kinko’s insider printed more.

 “Everything was funded through stolen supplies,” says Onion, 36.

 The first issue was a 16-page rallying cry, a challenge to the radical 
community to incite change.

 “Cement those toilets … get out those slingshots, hack those ATMs, glue those 
locks,” the unsigned front-page editorial beckons.

 There are stories about squatting in Philadelphia and the evils of McDonald’s. 
Mumia Abu-Jamal contributed an essay. There’s even a “radical calendar” of events.

 They named the paper after a 15th-century revolt in Prague where the peasants 
“defenestrated” the ruling monarchs and church officials—they threw them out the 
window.

 “Throwing power out the window” has been the paper’s unofficial motto ever since.

 The volunteer staff now operates out of the Lancaster Avenue Autonomous Zone 
(LAVA) in the Belmont section of West Philadelphia. They share space in the 
converted row home with fellow unconventional media organizations like 
Geoclan.com, Radio Volta and the Independent Media Center of Philadelphia.

 The Defenestrator’s small crimson-colored third-floor office is decorated with 
protest signs from various causes—workers’ rights, antipolice brutality, 
anti-Penntrification. A few signs are in Spanish. One is in German.

 Donated computer parts are everywhere, and the largest piece of furniture in 
the room is a bench seat from a minivan.

 “I’m almost opposed to saying there are guidelines to what we’ll print,” says 
Defenestrator contributor Colin Cascia, 23. “It’s good to allow some openness. 
We’ll allow anyone who is doing things as a community or autonomously and not 
relying upon the police or government.”

 Staffer Eian Weissman, 24, says, “We expect there to be a diversity of 
opinions in a healthy society.”

 About 15 or 20 people—including a few incarcerated writers—regularly 
contribute stories. A core of five or six people piece together the sporadically 
produced newspaper. They average about four or five issues a year.

 Workers’ rights, the squatting movement, antiglobalization, 
anti-gentrification, Mumia, prisoners’ issues and direct action are championed 
in nearly every issue.

 “The stuff we print is the stuff people are passionate about,” says Onion, who 
was raised by Christian missionary parents in the former Yugoslavia and Austria. 
He squatted in Berlin before coming to Philadelphia.

 In the May issue, for example, Onion explains the goals of the political 
autonomy movement—the rejection of capitalism and hierarchical institutions.

 “Autonomy has been often expressed as a healthy mix of anarchism and Marxism, 
drawing the best of each, ditching authoritarian or dogmatic strains,” he writes.

 It costs about $600 to print the 3,000 copies of each issue. Funds are raised 
by holding concerts, brunches or other events. The staff delivers free copies to 
coffee shops, laundromats, bike shops and college campuses. During the 
Republican National Convention they circulated more than 8,000 copies to 
activists from around the world who descended upon Philadelphia.

 They used to mail 600 copies to prison inmates across the country, but that 
became too expensive. Now they send copies only to prisoners in Pennsylvania and 
nearby states.

 “There have been times when we’ve pretty much shriveled up,” says Onion. “But 
there’s always someone who says, ‘No, no, no. We can do it.’ And we pick 
ourselves up and we do it.”

 But Onion is the last of the original staffers.

 “Some people moved away,” he says. “Others went on to other things.”

 Fortunately, Philadelphia has a long tradition of radical thinking, and the 
city draws numerous activists like Cascia and Weissman, who are both from 
Connecticut.

 “Compared to other places in the States, this community is pretty active,” 
Onion says. “There’s a lot of infrastructure for it here.”

 He cites the A-Space, LAVA and the Wooden Shoe anarchist bookstore on Fifth 
Street near South as places where like-minded people congregate.

 “But people should be doing stuff wherever they’re from,” he says. “If they 
did, then we wouldn’t have such a Nazi in the White House.”

 G.W. Miller III (gwmiller@philadelphia weekly.com) last wrote about a Rita’s 
water ice franchise coming to Northern Liberties.

 http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/articles/14926
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