Tag: gentrification

Posted on

Goodbye Southby: The 1st Annual SmashXSmashWest in Review

Austin Autonomedia: Keeping Austin Criminal

Strolling down the thumping, plastered downtown streets that SXSW treat as its campus, you are likely to have a free can of “C4” shoved in your face. This energy drink named after an explosive is the perfect symbol of what the festival-conference has to offer: a cloying and too seamless blend of brand consciousness, work cultism, consumerist reverie, and militarism. The can is a bomb lobbed at you– but one you are meant to gleefully let blow you up to improve your status and efficacy within the capitalist-imperialist project.

Watching Southby’s lanyard wearing throng drink down these noxious narratives left us with a seething desire to knock the can out of their hands, to shout the truth to the heavens, to shake some sense into the world around us. And so we did.

Whether answering SmashXSmashWest’s call for Divestment and Disruption or following their own paths, autonomous crews of protesters, revolutionaries, and hooligans made their presence known downtown last week, ripping through layers of self-congratulatory spectacle to reveal the conference’s deep cynicism, moral bankruptcy, and harmful consequences within Austin and far beyond. Here are the interventions we know about.

Continue reading “Goodbye Southby: The 1st Annual SmashXSmashWest in Review”

Posted on

You’re My Butt Hole: The Vandal-Artiste Speaks & A Brief History of Mural Defacement

 

Austin Autonomedia: Keeping Austin Criminal

In the early days of January, Austin’s “You’re My Butter Half” mural was modified to read “You’re My Butt Hole.” A picture of the vandalism was posted to reddit, where the original artist responded positively. Under his post, a user with the name “YouAreMyButthole” responded, claiming to be the vandal-artiste, and offering some commentary on their work. We’ve republished both statements here, and follow up with some commentary on the recent history & implications of mural defacement in Austin.

Continue reading “You’re My Butt Hole: The Vandal-Artiste Speaks & A Brief History of Mural Defacement”

Posted on

The Rundberg Rebellion: A Retrospective

Austin Autonomedia: Keeping Austin Criminal

Revolt, of the sort that exceeds the form of permitted street marches and sign-waving rallies, has rarely manifested in Austin’s streets. As such, its occurrences–such as the wave of activity that came with the George Floyd rebellion–deserves attention and uplifting in our historical memory. Four years ago, at the beginning of the Trump’s term, one such revolt manifested in the Rundberg area in North Austin.

Continue reading “The Rundberg Rebellion: A Retrospective”

Posted on

Stop the Sweeps Zine

Originally published by Stop the Sweeps Austin

For public access and distribution, we are republishing a zine produced by Stop the Sweeps Austin–a local network combating the sweeps and displacement of homeless people in Austin. This zine was produced for distribution at the 2020 Austin Anarchist Bookfair, and features a timeline of events presented through facebook highlights, as well as a statement of principles and vision for the organization. We hope it inspires those locally seeking to join or conspire with these folks, or those near and far looking for inspiring examples of ways to organize themselves. Click the hyperlinks below to access digital and print-imposed PDFs of the zine. 

PRINT PDF 

READ PDF 

Got a something you need to publish? Send it to us! We take all kinds of radical/revolutionary content, with a special affinity for anarchist/autonomous movements and crews. We specialize in research and strategic intelligence that can inform direct action, but we’ll take art, opinion pieces, and other stuff too! Submit content to austinautonomedia [@] autistici [dot] org.

Posted on

Histories of Displacement & Colonization: “Capitol” & “Finding Loston”

 

Austin Autonomedia: Keeping Austin Criminal

Austin is experiencing waves of displacement, organized under the banners of gentrification, anti-homeless sweeps, the suburbanization of poverty, and policing (community or otherwise). Many in this city find themselves fighting where they stand against this onslaught, attempting to construct some form of counterweight or defense against the violence of Austin’s growth. 

Continue reading “Histories of Displacement & Colonization: “Capitol” & “Finding Loston””

Posted on

WorkQuest’s Cruel “Solution” Sweeps Poorest Under The Rug

Austin Autonomedia: Keeping Austin Criminal

Over the past 6 months, the long standing war on the homeless in Austin has seen some massive escalations. After a coalition of progressive groups got Austin City Council to decriminalize acts like sitting, lying, and camping, a counter-coalition of business interests–associated with groups like Take Back Austin, the Republican Party, and the Downtown Austin Alliance–whipped up a fervor and fought back. This set the stage for our present moment, in which regular sweeps carried out by TXDoT alongside daily harassment from APD further marginalize those who have already been dispossessed and displaced by a city . While we could open this piece with a deeper explanation of the events that led us here, that work has already been done by organizations like Homes Not Handcuffs and Stop the Sweeps Austin. Our interest is not in just recounting this history, but in offering an intervention to inform and motivate action to impede these forces. There are a whole litany of forces at play here, all of which have different vested interests and weak points. While we hope to dive into some of these forces in the future, right now we offer this investigation on one of the primary forces enabling the sweeps of homeless camps: a company named WorkQuest.

Continue reading “WorkQuest’s Cruel “Solution” Sweeps Poorest Under The Rug”

Posted on

Steve Adler’s Land Empire: Property Interests of Mayor Adler & Wife Diane Land

Originally published by IndyAustin. While somewhat liberal in content, we republish this for the utility of the information and maps of properties connected to Adler and his wife. We hope it will inspire strategizing and research beyond IndyAustin’s political goals. 

Click image to see full, interactive map

Austin’s First Family made its fortune from Mayor Adler’s real-estate law firm (to which he retains major financial ties) and his wife’s commercial property-management firm: DT Land Group, Inc. Mayor Adler’s personal financial disclosures covering 2017 and early 2018 reveal that he and his wife, Diane Land, had financial interests in at least 71 properties in Travis, Williamson and Hays Counties. Those properties are currently assessed at $319 million. These extensive property interests pose ethical challenges to conducting such city business as deciding where to increase zoning densities or where to spend transportation bonds, to name just a few issues.
Continue reading “Steve Adler’s Land Empire: Property Interests of Mayor Adler & Wife Diane Land”