ItsGoingDown.org (IGD)

ItsGoingDown.org (IGD)

Overview


Established in 2015 and closely affiliated with the Marxist/anarchist Antifa movement, ItsGoingDown.org (IGD) describes itself as “a digital community center” for “anarchist, anti-fascist, autonomous anti-capitalist, and anti-colonial movements.” Composed of “anarchists [who] act in the spirit of autonomy, mutual-aid and solidarity,” IGD’s mission is to “provide a resilient platform to publicize and promote revolutionary theory and action.” IGD claims that it does “not plan or organize protests” of any kind, and that it focuses instead on providing a “signal boost” for “what people are already organizing in their locality.” In short, IGD seeks to provide “space for various groups to report, build, and create capacity for various actions as they relate to social manifestations, struggles, and movements.” With regard to the use of violence as a tactic of social and political activism, IGD takes no moral position either in favor of it, or against it. “We do not advocate or promote violence or non-violence,” says the organization. “Movements for liberation decide for themselves on [what] the best strategy to get and stay free is.”

On its website, IGD publishes a mix of original content, anonymous submissions, and articles that are reposted from sources whose political perspectives are compatible with those of the Marxist/anarchist left. To further promote and disseminate those perspectives, IGD publishes a yearly magazine and also maintains active social media accounts via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Moreover, the organization broadcasts a weekly podcast titled IGDCAST, which airs interviews with participants and organizers affiliated with “social movements, struggles, rebellions, [and] projects.”

IGD’s website features a Reading Library that includes materials on such topics as:

  • Anarchism, with an emphasis on the “abolitionist struggle” of “revolutionary anarchists” to defeat “fascist movements” and overthrow “the state-capitalist system”;
  • Anti-Colonialism and Indigenous Resistance, rooted in the premise that Europe’s historical encounter with the Americas ultimately resulted in a “holocaust” where native peoples were subjected to “genocidal colonization”;
  • Anti-Fascism, where “militant resistance” against “modern-day fascism” — as embodied in “the state and capitalism” — stands opposed to IGD’s “egalitarian, anti-authoritarian values”;
  • Anti-Politics, founded on the notion that formal political processes amount to nothing more than a “spectacle” that is not sufficiently radical to be of any real value;
  • Anti-Prison and Anti-Police, a perspective which holds that police officers are typically racists who “represent the most direct means by which the state imposes its will on the citizenry”;
  • Anti-Repression, rooted in a spirit of kinship with the anti-capitalist Occupy Wall Street movement;
  • Autonomous Anti-Capitalism, the notion that society’s proverbial “have-nots” are morally entitled to “take property away from landlords” and to “use militant tactics against [their] bosses”;
  • Gender and Patriarchy: According to IGD, “the white male Protestant culture” that “has been at the heart of America’s foundation” and of “the heterosexual capitalist world,” encourages a “hatred of women.”
  • Graffiti, which IGD portrays as a symbol of “potential resistance” whose anonymous nature can cause “a landlord or a cop to be afraid”;
  • Guns, which according to IGD, provide many important “benefits” for “oppressed groups, the radical left, and anarchists”;
  • Health: By IGD’s telling, the same “market forces and norms of competition that have invaded every facet of social life” tend to have a deleterious effect on medical care in the United States.
  • Race: IGD believes that America is a nation awash in “anti-blackness.”
  • Trumpism: IGD claims that the presidency of Donald Trump portends “the rise of a potentially fascist force in North America.”
  • U.S. History, White Supremacy, and Class War: IGD asserts that people have a right and a duty to “defend themselves from the armed violence of the State” and from the “thugs” who protect the interests of capitalists.

Notwithstanding its candid and uncompromising rejection of capitalism, IGD openly solicits “monetary donation[s]” via the anonymous digital currency bitcoin and through regular credit or debit card contributions. “Sadly,” IGD explains, “we have not freed ourselves from capitalism. We too need to eat and pay the bills.”

To raise additional revenue, IGD sells (via its online “shop”) a wide variety of items such as the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement book Burn Down the American Plantation, as well as t-shirts, buttons, and stickers bearing slogans like “Fu** Donald Trump”; “Fight for the Earth: Sabotage Progress”; “Love Antifa, Hate Cops”; “Hospitalize Your Local Fascist”; “No Nations, No Borders, Fu** law and Order”; and “Not gay as in happy: Queer Us in, Fu** you.”

The money raised by donations and sales, says IGD, “monetarily support [the] work” of the IGD “volunteers” who serve as editors, podcasters, and technical engineers, as well as the artists who design and print t-shirts, booklets, magazines, and other items.

IGD pledges that “we have never and will never accept grants, advertisement revenue, payments, or donations from any organization or wealthy billionaire.”

IGD has grown dramatically since its inception. In 2015, for example, the ItsGoingDown.org website was receiving only about 300 hits per day. By the early summer of 2017, this figure had reached 15,000, and by mid-August it exceeded 23,000. Some days, the number was as high as 40,000. As of June of 2020, IGD had 85,000 Twitter followers and 30,000 Facebook followers.

Additional Resources:


Further Reading:
*  “About [IGD]” (ItsGoingDown.org)
*  IGD’s TwitterInstagram, Facebook, and Podcast pages
*  IGD’s Reading Library and Shop pages

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