Antifa to host covert training conference in Philadelphia
The article reports that Antifa activists are organizing a secretive three-day training conference called the Philly Skillshare Convergence in Philadelphia. Despite claims from some Democrats that Antifa is not a formal organization, this annual event, held since 2020, serves as a covert gathering where activists participate in militant-style workshops. The sessions include tactics such as evading law enforcement, using radio technology, enhancing anonymity online, and expanding activist networks. Promotional materials feature imagery like balaclavas and walkie-talkies, symbolizing tactics used during protests and confrontations with police. Details about the event location are kept confidential and shared only through secure, encrypted communication methods like Proton Mail. The conference is coordinated by groups such as Philly Anti-Capitalist, which also distributes resources, announcements, and calls for political action within anarchist circles. Similar skillshare events have recently taken place in other U.S. cities like Chicago and Indianapolis,underlining an organized effort to strengthen and expand Antifa’s militant activism despite public political denial of their structured existence.
Antifa to host covert training conference in Philadelphia
Antifa activists are hosting a three-day training conference for fellow antifascists in Philadelphia this week, despite Democrats insisting that antifa is not an organization.
The annual Philly Skillshare Convergence will occur over the coming Friday through Sunday, according to an advertisement circulating in antifa circles.
So-called “skillshares” are educational sessions where activists gather to learn street-level strategies, often militant in nature.
This year’s skillshare in Philadelphia is slated to offer a series of hourlong workshops, including a lesson on evading law enforcement and eluding capture.
“Don’t turn yourself in,” the plenary’s description says. “Be fugitive.” That particular course will teach preparedness practices and tactics for “resist[ing] state coercion.”
Promotional graphics advertising the skillshare show a hammer, a balaclava, and walkie-talkies. Full-face masks, such as balaclavas, are strategically worn by black-clad militants to conceal their identities while rioting. Antifa agitators typically use hand-held radios to coordinate large-scale standoffs with law enforcement and launch attacks on police property.
Other instructional panels range from a tutorial on “Applying Radio Technology” to “Federated Social Media for Anarchists 101,” a crash course in connecting with far-left forums. Kolektiva.social, for example, is a server allowing anarchist cohorts, such as Antifa International, to convene online.
One of the breakout sessions centers on “cyberpunk invisibility,” while another focuses on building activist networks and expanding operations.
Held annually since 2020, the covert conference is intended to “strengthen collective capacities” for “organizing [and] attacking.”
Only a trusted few are privy to planning details. The venue is at an undisclosed location. To see the event’s address, attendees must contact organizers through Proton Mail, an end-to-end encrypted email service.
The Washington Examiner contacted the conference’s organizers for further logistical information.
A flyer for the secretive seminar was initially posted by the Philly Anti-Capitalist, an antifascist blog promoting extreme Left-wing gatherings and facilitating communications among anarchists in Philadelphia, which the collective calls “occupied Lenapehoking,” or land of the Lenape people, a Native American tribe indigenous to eastern Pennsylvania.
Antifa organizers submit content to the Philly Anti-Capitalist, and the website will accordingly issue communiqués, announcements about upcoming Philadelphia-based meetups, and “reportbacks.” For instance, in mid-September, the Philly Anti-Capitalist published a reportback of “comrades coming from Los Angeles” to relay “tactical observations” about the uprisings against Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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The distribution site recommends making submissions anonymously using the built-in entry form, which encrypts messages, and specialized software for private browsing, such as Tor, to prevent authorities from tracing the content’s origins.
“Do not share unnecessary details about sensitive actions (ones that…would assist an investigation into it),” the uploading instructions say.
If posts contain pictures, uploaders are told to purge metadata from those file attachments.
Philly Anti-Capitalist also disseminates “Philly-specific resources,” such as a citywide map of all Philadelphia Police Department stations created by the Antifascist Supersoldiers counter-intelligence team. Printable posters on the same page call for political violence: “The time to attack is always now.”
Philadelphia’s skillshare occurs against a backdrop of Democrats denying that antifa exists beyond an idea. Antifa’s forces are, in fact, highly organized, operating on “federated” social media channels and distributing calls-to-action via pass-through sites anonymized by design. As evidenced, efforts can culminate in formal events for strategizing and bolstering membership.
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Other major U.S. cities have hosted similarly styled skillshares in recent months. Chicago was the setting for a fall 2024 skillshare intentionally held on the eve of the presidential election. “Let’s take care of each other so we can be dangerous together,” anarchist organizers said in the marketing material. Indianapolis saw one too at a black-owned bookstore ahead of Inauguration Day.
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