Abolition Media’s Authoritarian Entryism

325 loves Abolition Media

From Colorado Liberation & Autonomy

Abolition Media, a popular counter-info site in the American anarchist space has had an interesting editorial presence since its founding. The site has focused almost solely on armed struggle and militant direct action while ignoring less risky anarchist praxis often covered by established anarchist media operations like It’s Going Down and Crimethinc. Because of Abolition Media’s emphasis on violent struggle, statements and analysis from allied authoritarian communists, such as incarcerated Black Maoists and Maoist guerillas fighting ISIS & the fascist Turkish state in Rojava were published alongside anarchist content without much criticism. However, as the years have gone on, Abolition Media is publishing less-and-less anarchist content, and increasingly more authoritarian propaganda.

In 2022, Abolition Media sympathetically interviewed a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines and uncritically published dozens of official National Democratic Front communiques while completely ignoring Filipino anarchists who rightly reject the NDF vanguardists for their collaboration with the State, murdering of their own cadre and a union leader, and nationalism.

If you have checked Abolition Media in the past six months, you will have noticed much of the site’s content is either official communiques from Palestinian resistance groups or analysis from Al-Mayadeen, a capitalist-owned, pro-Assad, pan-Arab news outlet.

Most of Abolition Media’s coverage of Palestine are republished Al Mayadeen articles

To highlight Al-Mayadeen’s distance from anything resembling an abolitionist politic, let’s look how they defended the Iranian regime with rote campist talking points that 2022’s popular feminist uprising against the state:

One of many reactionary Statist pieces published by Al-Mayadeen

As radicals, we often have to rely on reactionary media to understand the world and build our arguments (as I have done in this piece), but doing so is not the same thing as uncritically republishing their content within radical spaces.

The other chunk of Abolition Media’s Palestine coverage are direct statements by various Palestinian resistance groups. A recent from the Islamist group Tulkarm Brigade, based in the West Bank, and published by Abolition Media calls for Palestinian “traitors” to be “handed over to the police security apparatus” or face execution. Carceral statements like these highlight the contradiction between Abolition Media’s stated goal of being “a tool for movements dedicated to anarchist, abolitionist, and revolutionary perspectives” and a vulgar anti-imperialism that seems to drop any critical inquiry of any groups macho enough to hold a gun. Why is an anarchist/abolitionist counter-info site publishing a police statement? The slippery slope of valorizing armed struggle over all else has led Abolition Media to ignore that many of the groups they promote are trying to take over the nation-states they are struggling against, and if successful, will be in charge of new police forces required to maintain these new states. These new police forces will require abolishing, just as the current ones do. This is a very basic anarchist position that should not need repeating, but as Abolition Media’s own About page acknowledges, there are no good nation states. The seeds of nation states, even in the form of anti-imperialist tankie and Islamist groups that combat monsters like Benjamin Netanyahu and Bongbong Marcos, are still not our allies and don’t need a platform in anarchist spaces.

Abolition Media’s About Us statement.

In March 2024, Abolition Media republished a RedStream Media article about Maoist guerrillas in Colombia. RedStream Media is a rebrand of RedFish, an English language subsidiary of the Russian-state controlled propaganda outlet RT. RedStream regularly praises Stalin and recently published a fawning revisionist history of the Communist Party of Peru – Shining Path that papers over the Maoist cult’s massacres of Indigenous peasants, queer people, and women in an attempt to “[rescue] the history that many have tried to censor.”

Similarly, Abolition Media recently republished a bootlicking puff piece about the authoritarian Cuban state, originally from Al-Mayadeen. Abolition Media’s republishing of this statist propaganda does not include any editorial note about the Cuban state’s repression of Anarchists(1,2,3), Afro-Cubans (14), and queers(15).

In my brief search, I even found a recent article that Abolition Media republished from the right-wing Libertarian magazine Reason. Reason is infamous for publishing Milton Friedman and Murray Rothbard, some of the worst authoritarian monsters in modern history who hold played a large role in building the current imperial landscape.

Reason stands in stark alignment to corporate and capitalist media, which push the disastrous agendas of nation states.

Despite their claim that they “stand in stark contrast to corporate and capitalist media, which push the disastrous agendas of nation states,” Abolition Media publishes more statements from authoritarian groups that are fighting to govern nation states, and news outlets that are either controlled by nation-states such as RedStream, or capitalist funded with strong alignment to specific nation-states, than they do statements from or about anarchists.

We should all study perspectives from different ideologies and milieus than our own, but to uncritically publish statements from authoritarians and state-aligned capitalist media under the banner of an “anti-state” and “anti-capitalist” counter-info site is at best deeply unprincipled, but is more than likely a more sinister form of tankie entryism to get anarchists to waiver from our anti-authoritarian principles. Whatever their intentions, Abolition Media’s clear editorial position on supporting armed struggle regardless of politics suggests a reactionary belief that ‘might makes right.’

I encourage all principled anarchists to cease contributions to Abolition Media and be careful to investigate what you’re actually reading when you’re on Abolition Media. More than likely it was written by individuals or groups that are or will be hostile to us. Abolition Media is flooding anarchist aggregator sites like Anarchist Federation with content written by people who seek to govern us and would throw us in prisons if given the chance.

Unravel is an american anarchist counter-info site that also hosts an up-to-date list of other counter-info sites that can be contributed to. It’s Going Down also hosts user submitted content, but no longer publishes spicy report backs.

As further reading, I recommend Always Against The Tanks for a deeper dive into the dangers of authoritarian communism.

There are 26 Comments

I'm not into everything that Abolition Media publishes or reposts, but this piece is sloppy and decontextualized. Calling a Palestinian resistance faction statement against snitches "a police statement" is ridiculous, as is criticizing the source of an article about Niger kicking out the US military when it was clearly reposted for the content and not for the source. Recommending It's Going Down as an alternative is laughable, especially given that IGD has published calls for a US-enforced no-fly zone in Syria (https://itsgoingdown.org/washington-dc-all-out-against-erdogan-november-...).

Agreed. The revolutionary police are simply executing Palestinian's with the people's stick. It's not carceral.

Totally! There's nothing more anarchist than defending snitches and state collaborators.

The main issue here is not whether the authors got a couple of things wrong. It is okay to point that out, but the main question is their expose of Abolition Media and like-minded sources for their capitulation to Russian imperialism, nationalist and Stalinist and pro-capitalist forces. There are plenty of other such tendencies on the U.S. Left (such as Grayzone, for example).

Wayne do you live in Latvia or something? Why is Russia your #1 concern for the world?

Wondering if I live in Latvia, you ask "Why is Russia your #1 concern for the world?"

My number one concern for the world is statist-capitalist-imperialism. Russia is one example of this, as is the USA.

abolition media, like many other anarchists, are on a long slow march toward antisemitism and a form of syncretic anarcho-authoritarianism, all while it haranagues and cries about the alleged authoritarianism of others. i say this as someone who regularly reads the site and likes a lot of the content. others who want to avoid this should proceed immediately to the forms of action that abolition would want to publish, and to accompany those actions with analysis appropriate for an anarchic resistance to power

you dont like thining too much huh? reading closely and developing ideas contradicts your prefereence for "intuitive" (i.e. liberal) reflections on spontaneous (i.e. ephemeral) outbursts and acts of "lived anarchy" (i.e. momentary temper tantrums)

I love anarcho-authoritarianism. For what it's worth, you will be the first one whose throat I will shove freedom down into, since you seem to lack it in such a fundamental manner.

Yes! We'll be sending them normie civcucks to anarcho-gulags working 12 hours a day in FREE gyms that produce electric power 'til they realize the value of freedom.

sadly abolition are embracing the weird tankie obsession about ukraine in like the weirdest way. what if they applied the same metrics to gaza? like obviously the resistance to the genocide is being spearheaded by a red-brown alliance, far right extremists alongside marxists and underpoliticized palestinian nationalists. that doesnt mean it isnt worth supporting, but the lack of critical engagement is kind of surprising. especially from people who readily denounce others as advocates of red-brownism, such as the ukrainian anarchist movement.

The only people more obsessed with the Ukrainian state than the relatively powerless and resourceless tankies are the NATO states funneling it tons of weapons and making 10-year *security* pacts with it. Not sure what "metric" is supposed to be applied the same to Gaza, since unlike Ukraine, Gaza isn't a state, and is being attacked by the same states that militarily, financially and politically support the Ukrainian state. Maybe anarchists should apply the same metric to the NATO states that they live under as they do to Russia: the metric of opposing the State, instead of making excuses for it and celebrating proud state collaborators.

Ukraine is a country which (unfortunately) has a state. This won't last if the Russian empire wins however. It will become a stateless and oppressed people.

The Palestinian people do not have a state. But all tendencies (except a very few anarchists) want a Palestinian state (authoritarian or democratic, theocratic or secular, depending). Unfortunately they are nationalists. Yet almost all anarchists support the Palestinians against the Israeli state.

The Ukraine regime supports Israel. But Israel will not sell arms to Ukraine! It does not want to offend the Russians (with their forces in Syria).

The Western imperialist states have their imperialist-statist motives for aiding Ukraine. The Russian imperialist state has its motive. The capitalist (non-imperialist) state of Ukraine has its motives. But the people of Ukraine, the working class and others, have their own motives of not be conquered by the Russian. Anarchists should be in solidarity with the Ukrainians as with the Palestinians.

As I've said before, I personally believe anarchists should support self-determination for all peoples, including Ukrainians and Palestinians. We should oppose all state invasions, since we oppose all states and all forms of oppression. I don't deny that most Palestinians want a state, I just don't think anarchists should pretend Palestinians already have a state just because people want one. Anarchists don't only oppose states anyway. We can and should oppose sexism and racism, which aren't states (tho states reinforce them). We should distinguish between the Ukrainian people (or peoples) and their state and the interests of NATO states using Ukrainians as cannon fodder. Israel supports the Ukrainian state in other ways than sending arms. Anarchists living in America shouldn't ignore that their state is supporting both Ukraine and Israel, and even used an Israeli weapons depot to arm Ukraine. Opposition to the Russian state and its invasions doesn't entail the American colonizer state becoming tolerable, becoming a necessary evil. All states are a threat to all life on earth, some more than others. We should see reality for what it is, and not just what we wish it to be, if we really want anarchy and not just the destruction of the biosphere for the short-term geostrategic interests of politicians.

Who are the "Ukrainian people"? What is the "Ukrainian state"?

All of it appears as a by-product of the Soviet collapse, when the mob in charge just changed flags and remained in charge. There's zero evidence of (1) Ukraine being a different mafia-run oligarchy than Russia and (2) the historical existence of Ukrainians as distinct from Rus people, and from Polish and German-Hungarian settlers. Thesw all appear to be pretty bad constructs set up by bureaucratic mobsters.

“stateless and oppressed”

I want you to clarify this since you talk about “national liberation” a lot. Is a nation state a form of liberation? Is that an anarchist position? By comparing the current situation of Palestine to the hypothetical future of Ukraine, you seem to be trying to equate fighting against a state with fighting for one. You are pretty close actually except that you always miss the key point, as westerners (most users of this site are), our states back Israel. Therefore not only is Israel the disproportionately powerful side but it’s the only side that our resistance can really affect.

You also say somewhat vaguely that “the people of Ukraine, the working class and others, have their own motives of not be conquered by the Russian.”(sic) I want to know what counts as a good motive? It kind of seems like what you’re getting at is that nation-states are a good means of getting at any grievance, whether class-based or ethnic. That being the case it kind of seems like you should have supported the Donbass states as supported by the local working class in a country that was banning the public use of their daily language.

gaza resistance forces are proxies for fascist theocrats and counterrevolutionaries in iran. which is fine, once again, i support the resistance who obviously have an existential stake that makes alliances necessary. i just think that is obscene that anarcho-stalinists like yourself dont have the courage to admit that like...the nazi invasion of ukraine, the turkic-fascist invasion of artsakh, the colonial invasion of gaza and the fascist resistance to said invasion are all complicated phenomena and it is reasonable that people have a range of sympathies within the flux given that none of the forces are revolutionary in the least and all involve fascist, liberal, anarchist, and religious forces.

Sorry but what is the metric that makes someone an anarcho-stalinist? I did not get the memo. A people (Palestinians) not having a state doesn't mean all their organizations automatically become the greatest and most anarchic thing since Petrov saying we should form even closer links with state officials than him and his comrades already had. Everything is complicated. All state invasions are bad. Lots of things that aren't states are still really bad. Petrov wasn't a state himself, but he caused harm to anarchists and anarchism, as have Crimethinc, who also are far from being a state, but somehow still manage to say bad things. A random person on the street who randomly attacks another person is doing bad shit without being a state. I don't know how relevant people having a range of sympathies is. It's a reality, a banality if you will. We shouldn't dismiss it any more than we should the harm of global militarism and the role of NATO states within that (along with that of all states and bad actors). We can recognize complicated realities without lying about shit and calling it anarchist just to feel warm and fuzzy about the bad shit we've decided should be excused.

"gaza resistance forces are proxies for fascist theocrats and counterrevolutionaries in iran. which is fine"

Okay, anon 18:54! Thanks for revealing your pro-islamic fascist position. Just too bad this ain't exactly revealing, as you're enjoying the safe cover of anonymity... :-(

“nazi invasion of ukraine” If I’m an anarcho-Stalinist then I think you’re an anarcho-Bidenist

nazis all around

nazi nato
nazi kremlin
nazi right-sector

and yet, children and unarmed civilians are the chief victims of all wars, which increasingly are conducted under circumstances of universal inconclusivity, with nothing but smoldering remains left to divide between the various multi-lateral economic blocs

Calling ant despicable authoritarian "nazis* doesn't make them such, and neither helping antifascism. This reminds me of Reddit drones brigading about "Putler" and "RuSSia" in between celebrating Neonazi battallions as bringers of hope.

There's many shitty regimes run by gangsters all over the planet... Phillipines, Thailand, Venezuela, current India, the UK (lol yea)... Despite some of them using nationalism in excess, even this doesn't make them Neonazis.

Fuck the Anews passive aggressive cowards. All they can do is alt tag images and nothing else for anarchy.

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