Before there was Andy Ngo, I was Andy Ngo.
For 20 years I was a co-producer of the Labor Beat cable access CAN-TV/Chicago bi-weekly program. Thirty minutes repeated the next day or four showings every two weeks in the metropolitan borders of the City of Chicago. Four or five stalwarts held the fort and did the only labor reporting, it seems, in the nation. We covered picket lines, speeches, protests and whatever our creative news nose took us, but working-class, man on the street, cinema verite style mostly. I'm very proud of anti-war work concerning Iraq, or anywhere. It just so happened our office was in the headquarters of the Communist Party.
I started in 1992 when democratic union elections (think of that) struggles like the Mineworkers and Steelworkers were stolen, or strikes like Hormel in Austin, MN or Caterpillar in Peoria, IL or the Detroit newspaper strike were happening. I was first teargassed in the Decatur/Scab City, IL WarZone. We widened our area and we often took footage from of citizen journalists on the scene. Video cameras were new and footage jumpy as it always was, it was exciting to get the on-the-ground action (by US Mail), not filtered by mainstream media. We became fairly good cameramen because we became adequate video editors. I did 10 years editing analog and 10 years digital. Digital is a snap; our quality of production grew. We were easily beyond the 500th show when I left Labor Beat. I was responsible for a lot of content, but Labor Beat is a body of work that is historically impressive - wherever it is.
I entered as a labor journalist and always considered myself a labor journalist. I left when the Corporate Counsel of the City of Chicago considered me a 'propagandist' and a 'hobbyist'. You see, I wasn't an official 'journalist' because I didn't collect a paycheck from a news organization. Make sense? They subpoenaed all my anti-war raw footage for a framed up civil case I was led into, compromising many people not on any final edit. My personal tapes, the boys at Labor Beat threw me under the bus. The "activist community" wasn't going to help me. I have rewound plenty in my mind during this time frame in my life. I wasn't going to jail over this, I handed them over to the attorneys recommended to me. I was through as Johnny-on-the-spot news reporter. 2011, I took it as far as I could. I went to California, for better or worse.
I've been following the Andy Ngo/Antifa direct action street story peripherally as I do anything that comes off the Web. If I haven't implied enough, I don't trust anyone from the digital world. But, as I also felt deeply for Brad Will getting shot dead in Oaxaca, Mexico or the fellows
I met from South Korea that smuggled VHS tapes to us from the Korean General Strike of 1997, a certain comraderie I feel. The Koreans were facing time in prison if caught. Freedoms we take for granted, I learned that then. I assumed Ngo was a plant, controlled opposition, but he got his head cracked open on the front lines and that counts a lot for me. His book was on the library shelf and I grabbed it.
He got in a little over his head, but it's a fascinating tale and he will have an angry mob chasing him for the rest of his life. I can furnish a sort of prequal to his experience.
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Further south on Ashland Avenue is Teamster City, known for its high-rise tower but they had a string of offices/retail spaces on the corner. This is 1996, The Democratic National Convention is coming to town at the brand spanking new United Center 1800 Madison St. Labor Beat rented a space and planned on full four day coverage, doing interviews with Labor people (they existed then) in the space. One of the co-producers (who shall remain nameless) brought forward a plan that we host CounterMedia, at the time, the geeky computer anarchist kids to join us in our office space. We had planned on coming and going anyway, it was agreed on.
First day, it was time to meet the cameraman and head over to the Stadium, oops United Center, I was met by Security - in my own office - by someone I never saw before. She acted like she had never had anyone tell her, "Blow it out your ass". I wasn't impressed by many of these punks that were there for the four days. Trust Fund Babies Against Capitalism, as I saw them. They were arrogant and smelled. Real bad house guests. Later, I befriended one and we were both in agreement CounterMedia was the cutting edge in on-the-ground news reporting.
I remember crowded around a computer monitor as line-by-line the picture was downloaded of a cop beating down an agitator. It was one exciting moment in Vox Publica.
I also remember one big fat bossy chick that ran their show. The Anarchist movement is full of big, fat bossy chicks and simps. I was a member of the IWW at the time, so I had some credibility, but they were a new breed to me. Do rich families send their misfit children for a tour in the IWW to cause havoc and the family shorts the stock of the target?
CounterMedia morphed into IndyMedia, speaking of Vox, Harry is an NYC IndyMedia alumni. It was so exciting to have ad hoc news agencies in every city in the nation. To upload video or just for a bathroom break and water, esp. recharge camera batteries. Now I realize it was compromised from the start, later purchased by Soros. I was young, foolish and headstrong, a lot like Mr. Ngo. Running the streets was fun. Labor Beat produced great television.
I was reading about how the AFL-CIO was going to have a great presence at the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle in 1999. A fellow on job and I got to talking, "You wanna go?" We quit the job and were heading West that night in his green Jeep, soon to be dubbed "the gangbox". I called on two veteran reporters from Hard Hat Magazine, one from San Francisco and one from Tacoma, and there we were to decamp, 70 miles from Seattle. I was reading a magazine somewhere in Montana that the City of Seattle police force had purchased all the available tear gas from the surrounding municipalities encompassing several states. "What have I got myself into? I thought I was going to a labor rally."
I was not unfamiliar with Black Bloc and direct action, but this demonstration was the most well managed action of disruption I could imagine. To see a circle of people with arms encased in concrete tubes laying in a major intersection really stunned me. As the first day went on I videotaped at least the majority of the 13 actions planned. I never saw anything like it. I honestly didn't think their were that many 'crusties', as we called them. But they were all well coached and there for a purpose, chained to doors, harassing attendees. They closed down the summit. Nothing like a labor crowd.
When I returned from Seattle, I was given an Alex Jones' VHS from his cable access show in Austin, Tejas, stating that agent provocateurs broke a Starbucks window for the news media to show ad infinitum on major network TV, example of 'The Riot." I came upon that scene not too soon after and I can vouch for Mr. Hicks-Jones' assertion. Protestors were telling the police to arrest those Black Bloc people (military boots, military builds in pull over masks, of course). The Black Bloc was a small percentage of the people at the protest. Not everyone was all down with senseless damage. 80 Seattle cops in a semi-circle didn't move. Fox News had a satellite truck at sight. Totally staged.
We witnessed and recorded many Black Bloc street actions. We dubbed them the 'Salamanders', they were a drum team of a dozen or so wearing high fuzzy marching band hats with green stripes up the side. We instinctively knew they were giving signals of action to the crowds we weren't privy to and we'd follow. We weren't privy to anything beyond the Seattle IndyMedia Center and a few enlightened labor friends. I was awed. We slept in the IBEW local union hall on the floor. This type of protest, these types of people, an action that actually worked. I was there. Again, nothing like a labor crowd, but Labor was there, as it always is. We got a nice interview with a union carpenter on overtime boarding up the shop windows. Hilarious.
Politics 101
I have hours of footage from those 4 days. I have hours of footage from the IMF/DC protest, RNC/NY, School of Americas with IndyMedia/Atlanta. I remember Fr. Bourgeois calling the anarchists 'globalists' when they arrived at Ft. Benning 2001. One of the most edgy protests ever so soon after 911. Kathy Kelly sang "We Shall Overcome' in Arabic. I have all this stuff, somewhere.
I called them 'anarchists' or 'punks'. I was waist deep with these folks, and as in any group one can find a common interest like creating news content and they were doing AltMedia on the cusp of the introductory internet wave/hand held camera post-Rodney King days. I worked with Indymedia Chicago, also. It was a trap. Paranoia abounds in these societies. You know who the informer is? The person that calls you the informer.
I wouldn't be surprised to be shot soon. -Wes
I learned a lot from the Antifa wannabes, but I didn't call them that at the time. Giuseppe Al**** was in town for some time. He left to work for the Democratic Party in DC, I recall. He had a great line, "The Revolution will be led by firemen." Jeremy Hammond was in the mix. His chubby Mexican friend snitched him out. I sure smelled a rat on the Occupy Movement. I seemed to think the street threat would come from the Revolutionary Communist Party RCP/ Bob Avakian Maoist cult members. I always assumed there was a cross-over, but I don't hear them mentioned. The 2005 100th Anniversary of the Wobblies opened my eyes. I didn't belong anymore. The organization was taken over by people that never had a job and had no intention of creating anything. I was still a labor journalist, and the story wasn't there. Somehow, I thought we could stop a war and my talents went in that direction. No war was stopped.
Malachi Richter - immolated himself in protest of the
Iraq war July 2005
My point, Mr. Ngo, is these were the sprouts of Antifa from my personal POV. If I heard 'Antifa' the word didn't specifically stick in my mind, it wasn't exactly my crowd and surrounded in agitprop, another word to me. They always assumed I was a cop. The depth the book goes into the movement was enlightening to me, esp. the connection to East Germany.. But, you know, I was impressed when ARA broke up the Tinley Park neo-Nazi meeting with baseball bats. I admire people that get things done. I still consider dear friends in ABC Anarchist Black Cross. The biggest hearts are the most foolish.
Andy, you are a brave man. As brave as the man who saves a baby in a house fire. Was it necessary to go back to CHAZ undercover? Curiosity? They already beat your ass. What may have been different from 1999 to 2020 is the increased use of street drugs and more lumpen. I would assume as a group; they have gotten crazier and meaner. Watch your back.
Your parent's story in the Afterward is worth the read alone. Thank you for writing this book. I stand by every word.
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I could be diagnosed as having PTSD, also. When the uprisings of Antifa/BLM/COVID hysteria occurred in 2020, I was agitated. I was out of my skin. I was raving, screaming into the void. I know these people. I was scared for the future, and general people weren't getting the seriousness of these actions. I wasn't someone to have around and I wasn't going to be dismissed. Plenty buried rose to the surface. I had to find a safe space. I left my loving wife because I knew she would never understand. I found cabin in the Nortwoods. Far away from any population. I intend to stay far away from any Antifa crazy. I have seen firsthand what they are about and it is not good for anyone. It's a long winter, Mr. Ngo, but I'd be glad to have a neighbor.
Chop wood, carry water.
Best wishes to a full recovery and good health in the future.
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People I've Been Thinking About:
JOFFRE STEWART - best example of an anarchist I came across. Humble, gentle, honest. And despised.
KATHY KELLEY - an inspiration. We do give our assent to our oppressors.
FRANKLIN ROSEMONT - The man never filled out a W-2 form. He never was a wage slave. He left a lasting legacy in Charles Kerr Publishing. PENELOPE, a most lovely woman.
REILLY - currently resting awaiting the next call to battle.
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Chris Geo died recently.
A living example of
matriarchal power. She had Medusa tattoo-ed on her shoulder, turning men to
stone.
Very grounded, I
found that Truth was fleeting around her, amorphous, to be manipulated. Every aspect of life was 'spin’. Another morsel of storyline needed an
addendum. The score was never
settled. There was not to be peace
around her. She got things done. A front-line warrior for social justice,
meaning, whatever the hell she wanted it to mean. The word 'sweet' is a
stretch.
She may have not
liked The Patriarchy, but often it is based in kindness, that is, taking care
of the pointy-headed little bastards.
Christine represented Matriarchy or the eternal seeking of power, maybe
for power's sake. It has been proven to
me, time after time, women don't know what to do with power. Being bossy is their first go-to and when
that stops working, they're lost, no spontaneity or Plan B, just resentment. Chris pulled it off better than most. She attracted a group of self-righteous
assertive childless junior Mama Bears around her. She was admirable.
On the barricades,
she was great to work alongside. The
disruption and mayhem we chronicled was historically important and her legacy
remains from her camera lens and media work.
We were committed to "La Lucha", the struggle. Now I ask, why? Why does life have to be a struggle? It doesn't, and I only wish she found peace
in this lifetime. The struggle will
continue, without her, and without me, for quite different reasons. In my time slice of life with her, she had
Bravery, a quality in very limited scope these days, and the older I get, in
any day.
I wish her transition was seamless. RIP
obit and service
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30+ arrested at downtown protest calling for Gaza ceasefire - CWB Chicago
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unmasked - inside antifa's radical plan to destroy democracy
Audio Book
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