happy Easter // may day is coming // long live the Rojava revolution

the kin-dom is at hand! Brought to you by Friendly Fire Collective A glimpse into the Friendly Fire Collective Who are we? The Friendly Fire Collective is a loose network of anti-fascist, anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist Christians. Drawing from Marxist and anarchist political traditions, and grounded in the biblical vision of God’s Kin-dom, we believe we are called to create a new world in the ashes of the old. Is Friendly Fire an anarchist collective? No. We are a collective of revolutionary leftist Quakers, Christians, and mystics from a variety of political tendencies. Though not every member of the collective is anarchist, there is definitely a strong libertarian socialist contingent in the collective, and we are excited for a revolutionary conception of Christian anarchism to be articulated within our community. As a whole, we believe in a kin-dom theology that both supports and creates dual power. We believe in working to create systems of mutual aid that will render the state irrelevant. We hope to assist this world into newness as doulas in these last days. Essential to this work is centering and lifting up those on the margins. We will always take the side of the oppressed in movements of liberation, justice, and self-determination.



We are devoted to the work of revolution.



We were recently on the Magnificast recently and we spoke about some important differences we have with anarcho-primitivists. That said, they are our sisters in Christ. We're also down with eating roadkill, dumpster-diving, but we also recognize the work done among anarcho-primitivist Christians is greater than that. We know a number of anarcho-primitivist Christians that are involved in the Carnival de Resistance, Christian Peacemaker Teams, and other organizations and communities devoted to healing and reconciliation. We are also passionate about creating pockets of God's kin-dom in the midst of empire. Wherever and whenever we can work and worship together, we would love to. News on the May Day retreat? Well, it's coming. Very soon. May 1-3. And we are excited to pray together, eat together, worship together, march together, and taste a little of the Book of Acts together.



The application due date has officially passed, but if you still want to apply - we can make exceptions. In fact, we will.



But if you can't make it, we have raised $940 out of our goal of $2,500, and we need help. We want to make it so that everybody who wants to be there, can be there. If we have to pay out of our own pockets, we will. And we already have. But it'd be helpful if we - a bunch of poor folx - wouldn't have to do that. You can donate on our GoFundMe page.

Hold in the Light Teenage activists outraged over gun violence

For their energy, insight, and rage to be connected to the wider movement against gun violence and police brutality.

For the public to be led by the Spirit into deeper conversations, critical thought, and action on issues of gun violence.

For the so-called United States to be confronted and convicted of the violence that stems from its rotten systems.

May God pour out peace, love, and joy, on the young activists, and may they take hold of a revolutionary hope.

May we all be led to work together to build a world free of violence.



Liberation in Brazil

For radical politicians and activists to be protected from the military police, and all guardians of murderous capitalism.

For the revolutionary Spirit to be poured out on the poor so that they may inherit God's kin-dom.

For justice to be done in honor of the martyr Marielle Franco.

May cops repent by quitting and combating the police force, and surrender to the Spirit of God!

May justice to flood the favelas of Brazil! The coming May Day retreat in Philadelphia

For all those traveling.

For the members of the planning committee.

For the Spirit to be close and abundant in our work and worship.

Holy Spirit, ground us in empathy and stretch our theological and political imagination.

May we hear God's voice and know her kin-dom more fully. Hye Sung and Katherine, members of the Friendly Fire Collective , were interviewed by Matt and Dean for their podcast on Christianity and leftist politics - The Magnificast . This episode also went up on Katherine's podcast, Friendly Anarchism . We talked about Quakerism, Friendly Fire, Christian anarchism, and the upcoming May Day retreat . Take a listen! Can an anarchist be pro-gun control?

Katherine, host of Friendly Anarchism

I do a lot of contemplation on the interconnectedness between power and violence. I work towards a world with neither, and to me guns are a physical embodiment of both. I don't like guns. Power is corrupting, and there is nothing more powerful than being able to kill or control another soul with such ease. I think the power felt in holding a firearm is a poor substitute for the sense of control that comes from a practiced strength of spirit. The article mentions that for the men studied "faith seems to reduce their attachment to guns." This isn’t to say that religion is the answer, but we can use a spiritual framework to help us consider deeper truths about why we are violent and how that shapes our interactions with the tools therein.



I say I work towards a world with no power, but it may be more accurate to say “all power”. The ideal world is one where we are released from the bondage of the chains of capital and hierarchy and no person can be kept from accessing their Source of love and light. It is from this inner state of deep peace and empowerment that we can create an outward state of anarchic political equality. This is the ideal, but this is unfortunately not the current reality. We do not all have equal access to power, and every individual or community has the right to reclaim that power how they see fit. I have read many inspiring stories of how guns have helped disempowered women, trans folk, POC, and others reclaim some of the strength of spirit that had been taken from them.



I also believe very much in harm reduction and the willingness to use any means necessary to achieve peace. There is a direct causal link between gun control and the reduction of gun violence. I also worry that revolutionaries fall prey to the narrative in which we need guns because a good guy with a gun could have stopped massacres/start the revolution, when we see that the large majority of incidents deterred by gun control are domestic violence and suicide. We are, and/or work with, marginalized people in very stressful situations, and while some of us worry about the need for weaponry during a still largely hypothetical revolutionary scenario, people are dying right now.



I don’t think electoral solutions will ever be able to truly solve our problems, but I don’t believe that the right to bear arms is more important in this moment than the right for kids to feel safe at school, for women to feel safe at home, and for us to be more safe from ourselves when we’re alone in a dark moment. I am an anarchist, and I support gun control. This puts me in direct conflict with some people I really enjoy and have a lot of respect for, but I know that as a movement there is the paradigm of respecting a diversity of tactics and I think we can and should coexist while also having these conversations. Fascist activity in April

Turning Point USA Midwest Regional Conference: Chicago, IL, April 14-15

Nationalist Socialist Meeting meeting: Temple, GA, April 20-21

American Renaissance: Burns, TN, April 27- 28 We believe in the Resurrection

















This Easter, we choose to believe that in the love of God, the love of humanity, there is a way forward. There is another world that is so close and so possible. Even as things look doomed, even after we have sacrificed everything, even as we approach martyrdom herself, we will continue to choose a faith that says resurrection will win.



This Easter, we will not lose sight of Good Friday. God was executed by the state 2000 years ago and is still regularly executed in the so-called US by the same culprits. We will honor those Image-bearers murdered by cops by joining the fight to abolish the police. This needs to end.



And it will. Resurrection is coming.



This Easter, we stare in the eyes of death, and find life everlasting. More articles/resources on gun violence and gun control:

Crimethinc: Gun Control? No, Youth Liberation! (2018)

Salon: Gun control’s racist reality: The liberal argument against giving police more power (2015)

Scientific American: Why Are White Men Stockpiling Guns? (2018) We need a new Quakerism "We shall celebrate with such fierce dancing the Death of your Institutions" (Cover of the Revolutionary Christian Monthly, originally published in 1969) “We do not want you to copy or imitate us. We want to be like a ship that has crossed the ocean, leaving a wake of foam which soon fades away. We want you to follow the Spirit, which we have sought to follow, but which must be sought anew in every generation.”

—Extracts from the Writings of Friends, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

Faith & Practice A phrase that keeps coming to mind is “a new Quakerism,” and oddly enough, I’ve been hearing other Friends unknowingly echo this phrase back to me. It seems to me that many Friends, even those who consider themselves “convinced,” are hungry for more than what the Society has to offer. We keep coming back to the same point: we desperately need to re-imagine Quakerism. We need a new Quakerism. I’m not talking about re-imagining structures or techniques. We need a complete change of course. We need a revival. A brief breeze of enthusiasm is not enough. In order to survive, we need to do what I’ve heard C. Wess Daniels refer to as committing “faithful betrayal.” We must betray what-we-know in order to discover what is true – what is at the heart of the Quakerism we need. In order to get to the heart of that Quakerism, the radical vision of early Friends might be a good place to start. From the basics of our movement, from the simplicity of the Gospel, that’s where we can find the power that George Fox lived in and that lived in George Fox. In stillness, in Light, centered on the imperishable Seed within, the living “One, Jesus Christ who can speak to thy condition.” The Society of Friends was not built; it was born – a community of prophets. In the shared worship, where egos were hushed and Love was magnified, there was an abundant life and conviction that led Friends to corporately reject the abusive and unfair ways of the world and seek (and demonstrate) a better Way. A transformative and subversive faith was discovered. Thousands of Friends were imprisoned for their faithful subversion, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to

suffer shame for his name. At the heart of Christ’s good news and the faith of the early Friends is a vision of the Kingdom – transformative apocalypse. Daniel Seeger wrote a brilliant article in Friends Journal, “Revelation and Revolution: The Apocalypse of John in the Quaker and African American Spiritual Traditions,” that eloquently expounds on the radical implications of Quaker eschatology: “What the Apocalypse of John revealed to George Fox was not the end of the world but its rebirth, a rebirth instituted by Jesus and continued by his disciples as the disciples act concretely to advance the cause of justice and truth in human society. Using imagery from the Book of Revelation, George Fox describes this struggle for truth and justice as the Lamb’s War, a war carried out by the meek through gentleness, nonviolence, self-sacrifice, and peace. While there is a lot of mayhem and violence in the Book of Revelation, this is violence and mayhem perpetrated by oppressors against each other and against the weak and innocent. The single weapon in the Lamb’s War as described in the book of Revelation is a ‘terrible swift sword’ which proceeds from the mouth of Jesus. In other words, it is not a humanly devised killing machine, but only his truth which goes marching on into battle with the forces of evil.” Early Friends were bound together by faith in God’s Kingdom, one where God reigns as Lamb and the Spirit of God was upon and within all. This was both present reality and future hope. It is true. It must also be sought. Does that conviction still, in some way, fuel the work that we do together? I hope so. Because it is that conviction that pushed Friends to prophetic work that shook the social order. It’s what made them Friends. Without that conviction that God reigns and that God will reign, only the empty forms of Quakerism persist. That is the way of death. We need a revival of that apocalyptic faith. Without it, we may provide folks with open-minded communities and strong, progressive values. Without it, we may provide kind spaces and opportunities to grow in intimacy with God. But without that apocalyptic faith, without that conviction, we lack the full gospel that shocked the world, liberated the oppressed, and empowered the saints. We do not have to be fundamentalists to have an eschatological conviction, nor do we have to be spineless in order to be inclusive. Early Friends knew of God’s wide, generous activity throughout creation, of the innate value and dignity of every child of God, and the need to fight against the oppression of Empire.



Those who fight the Lamb’s War will discover James Nayler’s words to be true: “Their paths are prepared with the gospel of peace and good will towards all the creation of God.” We fight, we wage war, with peace and good will towards all the creation of God, and through this we crush the spirit of the age’s power and extend God’s reign. We usher in a new heaven and a new earth. Like Martin Luther King, Jr., we are confident that the “arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice,” and we are called to live out this hope. If we do not or cannot, then we have failed as Friends. I wonder, is institutional Quakerism a contradiction to our apocalyptic faith? If we have unknowingly abandoned our core beliefs, what’s next for us? How do we come into Gospel Order? Can we re-center our vision and our hope? What does that even mean? I’m not sure. But I know many who are hungry for a new expression of faith, and I know that the world could use us. We must follow the Spirit. Activist falsely accused, targeted for anti-police violence and repression work



During the summer of 2017 Linette was wrongfully accused and arrested for vandalism in South Jersey. Linette is being wrongfully targeted by police due to their leadership as an activist against police violence and repression. Linette's ongoing legal battle is becoming increasingly difficult and they need your help. Linette has been denied for Pre Trial Intervention four times and is now facing five misdemeanors of criminal mischief and the possibility of a minimum of 5 or more years of jail time. In order to be accepted into the Pre Trial Intervention program, which would in turn drop all of Linette's charges, Linette needs to pay $30,000 of restitution. Friends of Linette are trying to raise $15,000 to help mitigate the cost for Linette's family. If Linette cannot raise this money by April 20th 2018 the case will unfortunately go to trial. Because Linette is already a target for police the likelihood of the court system making and example of them is extremely high. If you oppose police repression, support activism, or believe in freedom of speech and expression please give to Linette's fund. Keeping activists out of prison and in the communities where they are doing the work is critical to upholding justice, we can't do it without you!



Linette not only deserves our support, but desperately needs it. Hold them in prayer, but please, materially support them. The South Jersey Revolutionary Collective is currently raising money on YouCaring. Let's ensure the freedom of a devoted and committed comrade! Anti-fascists arrested in Lansing

For those who may have missed it, several Quakers, including members of Friendly Fire Collective, were arrested during the protests against Richard Spencer’s event at Michigan State University. Our last issue had an update on these comrades - you can read that article here.



Blair Ellis, the arrested Friendly Fire member, had two charges dropped and is now facing a single felony charge. That said, this obstruction charge carries a 3-year sentence. Pray for these charges to be dropped, and if you are in the Michigan area, consider providing court support.



$30,759 has been raised in the past 22 days for all those arrested during the Richard Spencer protest. About $10,000 still needs to be raised. Consider donating on their fundedjustice page.



The People's Devotional to create is to destroy friends, when the crushing weight of this world comes upon me, i look to the act of creating art to break free, and to divine with the L-rd intimately. in exodus, bara, creative activity, is a word that isn’t strictly limited to the creation of the world, but of any action that contains something of the miraculous and the mystical. if an action can be explained away by natural means, then it is no longer bara. there also is a necessity for action if it is truly bara. imagination, though important, is not an action, and thus is not creation. bara urges transformation.



it is easy for me to turn to that creation of art, an imitation of bara, G-d’s creative force, as a means to distract myself from the pain of the world around me, but it is also a necessary practice toward revolution. while the act of creating art and observing it can be an essential form of escapism for one’s mental health, it is just as equally important for it to be a commentary on the world, agitprop for the prole, and liberation of oneself in order to liberate others. art is a mirror to the world around us, just as we are the mirror to G-d. we are all created tzelem Elohim, in the image of G-d, quite literally the idol that G-d inhabits. within each of us is a creative energy as in each of us is G-d. however, i must keep in mind the passion for creation, which is in all of us, is also a passion for destruction.



the creation of something new and different, something that has not yet been, demands the destruction of the old, what was once existing in its place. there is a beautiful Kabbalistic story that says in order to make room for the new creation that G-d was about to create, G-d inhaled (as does a newborn at the moment of birth) the undifferentiated chaos that filled the universe, and that the exhalation (as at the moment of death) thereof was the wind/breath/spirit that G-d breathed across the waters in order for the world to be set in motion.



existing under a capitalist regime is hard, friends. we are constantly faced with its effects: poverty, racism, sexism, heterosexism, cissexism, and the like. the weight of its burdens seem to fall on our feet regularly, dragging us down, suffocating us. thus, we must thank G-d for giving us this creative nature - for putting their breath within us. it is this breath that inspires within us a passion for other people. It leads us to build a better world, one where those on the margins are centered, lifted up, glorified. G-d’s spirit enables in each one of us the desire to destroy the chains of capitalism and to replace it with mutual aid. let us find ways to dissolve the violence of this world and ease and attend to the sufferings of people of color, of women, of widows and orphans, of queers and indigenous peoples. let us remember to breathe.