{"id":7145,"date":"2026-07-09T16:32:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T16:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/?p=7145"},"modified":"2026-07-09T16:32:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T16:32:01","slug":"zines-that-could-get-you-arrested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/2026\/07\/zines-that-could-get-you-arrested\/","title":{"rendered":"Zines That Could Get You Arrested"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Thoughts on the Prairieland case<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/microcosm.pub\/Prairieland\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"341\" src=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/antifa-zines-banner-for-prairieland-1024x341.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7146\" srcset=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/antifa-zines-banner-for-prairieland-1024x341.png 1024w, https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/antifa-zines-banner-for-prairieland-300x100.png 300w, https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/antifa-zines-banner-for-prairieland-768x256.png 768w, https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/antifa-zines-banner-for-prairieland-1536x512.png 1536w, https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/antifa-zines-banner-for-prairieland-2048x683.png 2048w, https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/antifa-zines-banner-for-prairieland-1320x440.png 1320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe you\u2019ve been hearing for the last year about Daniel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/ng-interactive\/2026\/jun\/24\/prairieland-texas-ice-protests-zines\">\u201cDes\u201d Sanchez Estrada, the fellow who was arrested after transporting two boxes of zines in his trunk in Texas<\/a>. But hadn\u2019t committed a crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s true. And it gets worse. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jun\/26\/texas-protesters-anti-ice-convictions\">Estrada was just sentenced to 30 years in prison.<\/a> The judge said that he wanted to \u201cmake an example\u201d of him and the other defendants, despite Estrada not doing anything illegal. The judge targeted Estrada because his wife participated in an anti-ICE demonstration in Prairieland, TX. Then she called him from prison, asking him to move her car, which he had seemingly already done. In that car were two boxes of zines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How zines were used to sentence anti-ICE protesters to decades in prison\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ak0Kz_4JIBc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>On July 4, 2025, participants in an anti-ICE protest shot off fireworks and vandalized parked ICE vehicles. ICE called local cops. When a cop showed up, he pointed his gun at one protestor, but was shot in the neck by another before he could shoot. The remaining protesters ran. Eleven were eventually arrested, including the shooter. Five more protesters were later also arrested.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The protesters were part of a signal chat where the event was organized. The shooter continually said inadvisable things about \u201csuppressive fire\u201d and seemingly went out of their way to provide firearms at the protest, as well as body armor, radios, and other items that made the event seem quasi-military. However, the ideas of creating a violent confrontation were repeatedly declined and unpopular in the signal chat.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The defense fumbled a few things and the prosecution ran wild with a story that the protesters were actually organizing a \u201ccoordinated attack\u201d by \u201cAntifa\u201d to take over the ICE facility and release the prisoners. The fireworks were termed \u201cexplosives.\u201d The protesters were termed \u201cterrorists.\u201d The protest was termed a \u201criot.\u201d Since the arrestees had participated in a signal chat with the shooter, they were charged as being \u201cCriminally liable for offenses of another conspirator that are reasonably foreseeable.\u201d This is a classic tactic and is similar to how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.currentaffairs.org\/news\/the-long-green-scare\">Green Scare<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/articles\/racketeering-rico-notable-trials\">mafia prosecutions<\/a> have been charged by the state.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The attorney general claimed that the whole thing was part of Antifa\u2019s plans and justified the widespread targeting of other protesters and arrests as part of a \u201cterrorist organization.\u201d This is the first time that \u201cmembers\u201d of \u201cAntifa\u201d have been arrested in connection with charges of terrorism.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those arrested were sentenced to 30-100 years in prison. Including the guy with the zines who was not present. Four participants testified for the state against the rest of the protesters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You might ask \u201cHow long were the January 6 protesters sentenced for in their actual attempt to take over the government?\u201d And the disproportionate difference may or may not surprise you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We do want to clear up one point of concern that\u2019s going around: zines are not a crime. Des Estrada wasn\u2019t on trial for possessing the zines or the printing press\u2014those things aren\u2019t crimes, at least not yet. He was arrested because he was accused of concealing evidence to protect his wife, who was argued to be a \u201cterrorist.\u201d If his groceries were in that box, they would also have been photographed into evidence.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But at the same time, the zines (as well as the transness of many of the defendants) were heavily used to make the case against them. The prosecution\u2019s arguments did these things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Painted people who protest fascism as members of a nonexistent \u201cAntifa\u201d terrorist organization&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Profiled people for wearing black<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Escalated fear tactics against legal forms of action and expression, like zines, gender, and gardening<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The founders of the United States and architects of our laws explicitly went to great lengths to say that literature\u2014even radical literature\u2014is protected speech. You might say that our right to do this is sort of the point of our country.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So while a guy wasn\u2019t sentenced to 30 years for running a press and distro\u2014as many inflammatory reports claim\u2014there\u2019s lots to be concerned about. The state is suppressing protest in familiar, new, and scary ways. Two transgender protesters were placed in dangerous, non-corresponding gender prisons. And yes, the zines were used as evidence to attempt to demonstrate \u201cmaterial support\u201d for the \u201cterrorist\u201d point of view of the protesters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And yes, our very own <a href=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/catalog\/books\/2879?srsltid=AfmBOoonqvbbUtX5YvhP6m1yuCP0p2OR7jYpNPDxOv4kwcXInsyIuEPJ\"><em>Learning Good Consent<\/em><\/a><em> <\/em>was among the \u201cinsurrectionary materials.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/06\/23\/prairieland-texas-ice-protest-prison-sentences\/\">As were zines about gardening from seed, many required reading texts in schools<\/a>, treatises on state repression, \u201ca journal of materialist feminism,\u201d poetry about cancer, \u201ca call for the eradication of artificial intelligence from the face of the earth,\u201d among others. The government argued that the distro and book club was further evidence of the defendants support for \u201cterrorism.\u201d So much of the evidence in this case feels like the state\u2019s fundamental misunderstanding of the artistic expression and pleas of the work. Metaphor is read as literal and it\u2019s unclear whether the state thinks they crushed a terror cell or just wants to mislead you to that impression.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to print the above banner for any purpose, <a href=\"https:\/\/share.microcosm.pub\/production\/banner9.pdf\">here\u2019s a printable version<\/a>. If you have a store, let us know if you want a printed version for your zine section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What can you do? <a href=\"https:\/\/prairielanddefendants.com\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/prairielanddefendants.com\">Support the defendants and their cases<\/a>! Start your own <a href=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/catalog\/?search=emma+goldman&amp;sort=relevance\">Emma Goldman<\/a> book club. <a href=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/catalog\/books\/1202\">Make a zine<\/a> of your own and share it. Keep creating. Keep organizing. And keep living into the future you want to be part of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thoughts on the Prairieland case Maybe you\u2019ve been hearing for the last year about Daniel \u201cDes\u201d Sanchez Estrada, the fellow who was arrested after transporting two boxes of zines in his trunk in Texas. But hadn\u2019t committed a crime. It\u2019s true. And it gets worse. Estrada was just sentenced to 30 years in prison. The&#8230;  <a class=\"excerpt-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/2026\/07\/zines-that-could-get-you-arrested\/\" title=\"Read Zines That Could Get You Arrested\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[51,394,60],"class_list":["post-7145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogifesto","tag-diy","tag-prairieland","tag-zines"],"my_excerpt":"<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Thoughts on the Prairieland case<\/h2>\n<!-- \/wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"lightbox\":{\"enabled\":false},\"id\":7146,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"custom\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/microcosm.pub\/Prairieland\"><img src=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/antifa-zines-banner-for-prairieland-1024x341.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7146\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Maybe you\u2019ve been hearing for the last year about Daniel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/ng-interactive\/2026\/jun\/24\/prairieland-texas-ice-protests-zines\">\u201cDes\u201d Sanchez Estrada, the fellow who was arrested after transporting two boxes of zines in his trunk in Texas<\/a>. But hadn\u2019t committed a crime.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>It\u2019s true. And it gets worse. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jun\/26\/texas-protesters-anti-ice-convictions\">Estrada was just sentenced to 30 years in prison.<\/a> The judge said that he wanted to \u201cmake an example\u201d of him and the other defendants, despite Estrada not doing anything illegal. The judge targeted Estrada because his wife participated in an anti-ICE demonstration in Prairieland, TX. Then she called him from prison, asking him to move her car, which he had seemingly already done. In that car were two boxes of zines.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:embed {\"url\":\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Ak0Kz_4JIBc?si=Q5a8dFlyZx9eJkB2\",\"type\":\"video\",\"providerNameSlug\":\"youtube\",\"responsive\":true,\"className\":\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/Ak0Kz_4JIBc?si=Q5a8dFlyZx9eJkB2\n<\/div><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:embed -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>On July 4, 2025, participants in an anti-ICE protest shot off fireworks and vandalized parked ICE vehicles. ICE called local cops. When a cop showed up, he pointed his gun at one protestor, but was shot in the neck by another before he could shoot. The remaining protesters ran. Eleven were eventually arrested, including the shooter. Five more protesters were later also arrested.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The protesters were part of a signal chat where the event was organized. The shooter continually said inadvisable things about \u201csuppressive fire\u201d and seemingly went out of their way to provide firearms at the protest, as well as body armor, radios, and other items that made the event seem quasi-military. However, the ideas of creating a violent confrontation were repeatedly declined and unpopular in the signal chat.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The defense fumbled a few things and the prosecution ran wild with a story that the protesters were actually organizing a \u201ccoordinated attack\u201d by \u201cAntifa\u201d to take over the ICE facility and release the prisoners. The fireworks were termed \u201cexplosives.\u201d The protesters were termed \u201cterrorists.\u201d The protest was termed a \u201criot.\u201d Since the arrestees had participated in a signal chat with the shooter, they were charged as being \u201cCriminally liable for offenses of another conspirator that are reasonably foreseeable.\u201d This is a classic tactic and is similar to how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.currentaffairs.org\/news\/the-long-green-scare\">Green Scare<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/articles\/racketeering-rico-notable-trials\">mafia prosecutions<\/a> have been charged by the state.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The attorney general claimed that the whole thing was part of Antifa\u2019s plans and justified the widespread targeting of other protesters and arrests as part of a \u201cterrorist organization.\u201d This is the first time that \u201cmembers\u201d of \u201cAntifa\u201d have been arrested in connection with charges of terrorism.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Those arrested were sentenced to 30-100 years in prison. Including the guy with the zines who was not present. Four participants testified for the state against the rest of the protesters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>You might ask \u201cHow long were the January 6 protesters sentenced for in their actual attempt to take over the government?\u201d And the disproportionate difference may or may not surprise you.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>We do want to clear up one point of concern that\u2019s going around: zines are not a crime. Des Estrada wasn\u2019t on trial for possessing the zines or the printing press\u2014those things aren\u2019t crimes, at least not yet. He was arrested because he was accused of concealing evidence to protect his wife, who was argued to be a \u201cterrorist.\u201d If his groceries were in that box, they would also have been photographed into evidence.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>But at the same time, the zines (as well as the transness of many of the defendants) were heavily used to make the case against them. The prosecution\u2019s arguments did these things:<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:list -->\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>Painted people who protest fascism as members of a nonexistent \u201cAntifa\u201d terrorist organization&nbsp;<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>Profiled people for wearing black<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>Escalated fear tactics against legal forms of action and expression, like zines, gender, and gardening<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item --><\/ul>\n<!-- \/wp:list -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The founders of the United States and architects of our laws explicitly went to great lengths to say that literature\u2014even radical literature\u2014is protected speech. You might say that our right to do this is sort of the point of our country.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>So while a guy wasn\u2019t sentenced to 30 years for running a press and distro\u2014as many inflammatory reports claim\u2014there\u2019s lots to be concerned about. The state is suppressing protest in familiar, new, and scary ways. Two transgender protesters were placed in dangerous, non-corresponding gender prisons. And yes, the zines were used as evidence to attempt to demonstrate \u201cmaterial support\u201d for the \u201cterrorist\u201d point of view of the protesters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>And yes, our very own <a href=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/catalog\/books\/2879?srsltid=AfmBOoonqvbbUtX5YvhP6m1yuCP0p2OR7jYpNPDxOv4kwcXInsyIuEPJ\"><em>Learning Good Consent<\/em><\/a><em> <\/em>was among the \u201cinsurrectionary materials.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/06\/23\/prairieland-texas-ice-protest-prison-sentences\/\">As were zines about gardening from seed, many required reading texts in schools<\/a>, treatises on state repression, \u201ca journal of materialist feminism,\u201d poetry about cancer, \u201ca call for the eradication of artificial intelligence from the face of the earth,\u201d among others. The government argued that the distro and book club was further evidence of the defendants support for \u201cterrorism.\u201d So much of the evidence in this case feels like the state\u2019s fundamental misunderstanding of the artistic expression and pleas of the work. Metaphor is read as literal and it\u2019s unclear whether the state thinks they crushed a terror cell or just wants to mislead you to that impression.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>If you want to print the above banner for any purpose, <a href=\"https:\/\/share.microcosm.pub\/production\/banner9.pdf\">here\u2019s a printable version<\/a>. If you have a store, let us know if you want a printed version for your zine section.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>What can you do? <a href=\"https:\/\/prairielanddefendants.com\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/prairielanddefendants.com\">Support the defendants and their cases<\/a>! Start your own <a href=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/catalog\/?search=emma+goldman&amp;sort=relevance\">Emma Goldman<\/a> book club. <a href=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/catalog\/books\/1202\">Make a zine<\/a> of your own and share it. Keep creating. Keep organizing. And keep living into the future you want to be part of.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->","my_excerpt_rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Thoughts on the Prairieland case<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/microcosm.pub\/Prairieland\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"341\" src=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/antifa-zines-banner-for-prairieland-1024x341.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7146\" srcset=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/antifa-zines-banner-for-prairieland-1024x341.png 1024w, https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/antifa-zines-banner-for-prairieland-300x100.png 300w, https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/antifa-zines-banner-for-prairieland-768x256.png 768w, https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/antifa-zines-banner-for-prairieland-1536x512.png 1536w, https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/antifa-zines-banner-for-prairieland-2048x683.png 2048w, https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/antifa-zines-banner-for-prairieland-1320x440.png 1320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe you\u2019ve been hearing for the last year about Daniel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/ng-interactive\/2026\/jun\/24\/prairieland-texas-ice-protests-zines\">\u201cDes\u201d Sanchez Estrada, the fellow who was arrested after transporting two boxes of zines in his trunk in Texas<\/a>. But hadn\u2019t committed a crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s true. And it gets worse. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jun\/26\/texas-protesters-anti-ice-convictions\">Estrada was just sentenced to 30 years in prison.<\/a> The judge said that he wanted to \u201cmake an example\u201d of him and the other defendants, despite Estrada not doing anything illegal. The judge targeted Estrada because his wife participated in an anti-ICE demonstration in Prairieland, TX. Then she called him from prison, asking him to move her car, which he had seemingly already done. In that car were two boxes of zines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How zines were used to sentence anti-ICE protesters to decades in prison\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ak0Kz_4JIBc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>On July 4, 2025, participants in an anti-ICE protest shot off fireworks and vandalized parked ICE vehicles. ICE called local cops. When a cop showed up, he pointed his gun at one protestor, but was shot in the neck by another before he could shoot. The remaining protesters ran. Eleven were eventually arrested, including the shooter. Five more protesters were later also arrested.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The protesters were part of a signal chat where the event was organized. The shooter continually said inadvisable things about \u201csuppressive fire\u201d and seemingly went out of their way to provide firearms at the protest, as well as body armor, radios, and other items that made the event seem quasi-military. However, the ideas of creating a violent confrontation were repeatedly declined and unpopular in the signal chat.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The defense fumbled a few things and the prosecution ran wild with a story that the protesters were actually organizing a \u201ccoordinated attack\u201d by \u201cAntifa\u201d to take over the ICE facility and release the prisoners. The fireworks were termed \u201cexplosives.\u201d The protesters were termed \u201cterrorists.\u201d The protest was termed a \u201criot.\u201d Since the arrestees had participated in a signal chat with the shooter, they were charged as being \u201cCriminally liable for offenses of another conspirator that are reasonably foreseeable.\u201d This is a classic tactic and is similar to how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.currentaffairs.org\/news\/the-long-green-scare\">Green Scare<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/articles\/racketeering-rico-notable-trials\">mafia prosecutions<\/a> have been charged by the state.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The attorney general claimed that the whole thing was part of Antifa\u2019s plans and justified the widespread targeting of other protesters and arrests as part of a \u201cterrorist organization.\u201d This is the first time that \u201cmembers\u201d of \u201cAntifa\u201d have been arrested in connection with charges of terrorism.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those arrested were sentenced to 30-100 years in prison. Including the guy with the zines who was not present. Four participants testified for the state against the rest of the protesters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You might ask \u201cHow long were the January 6 protesters sentenced for in their actual attempt to take over the government?\u201d And the disproportionate difference may or may not surprise you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We do want to clear up one point of concern that\u2019s going around: zines are not a crime. Des Estrada wasn\u2019t on trial for possessing the zines or the printing press\u2014those things aren\u2019t crimes, at least not yet. He was arrested because he was accused of concealing evidence to protect his wife, who was argued to be a \u201cterrorist.\u201d If his groceries were in that box, they would also have been photographed into evidence.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But at the same time, the zines (as well as the transness of many of the defendants) were heavily used to make the case against them. The prosecution\u2019s arguments did these things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Painted people who protest fascism as members of a nonexistent \u201cAntifa\u201d terrorist organization&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Profiled people for wearing black<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Escalated fear tactics against legal forms of action and expression, like zines, gender, and gardening<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The founders of the United States and architects of our laws explicitly went to great lengths to say that literature\u2014even radical literature\u2014is protected speech. You might say that our right to do this is sort of the point of our country.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So while a guy wasn\u2019t sentenced to 30 years for running a press and distro\u2014as many inflammatory reports claim\u2014there\u2019s lots to be concerned about. The state is suppressing protest in familiar, new, and scary ways. Two transgender protesters were placed in dangerous, non-corresponding gender prisons. And yes, the zines were used as evidence to attempt to demonstrate \u201cmaterial support\u201d for the \u201cterrorist\u201d point of view of the protesters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And yes, our very own <a href=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/catalog\/books\/2879?srsltid=AfmBOoonqvbbUtX5YvhP6m1yuCP0p2OR7jYpNPDxOv4kwcXInsyIuEPJ\"><em>Learning Good Consent<\/em><\/a><em> <\/em>was among the \u201cinsurrectionary materials.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/06\/23\/prairieland-texas-ice-protest-prison-sentences\/\">As were zines about gardening from seed, many required reading texts in schools<\/a>, treatises on state repression, \u201ca journal of materialist feminism,\u201d poetry about cancer, \u201ca call for the eradication of artificial intelligence from the face of the earth,\u201d among others. The government argued that the distro and book club was further evidence of the defendants support for \u201cterrorism.\u201d So much of the evidence in this case feels like the state\u2019s fundamental misunderstanding of the artistic expression and pleas of the work. Metaphor is read as literal and it\u2019s unclear whether the state thinks they crushed a terror cell or just wants to mislead you to that impression.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to print the above banner for any purpose, <a href=\"https:\/\/share.microcosm.pub\/production\/banner9.pdf\">here\u2019s a printable version<\/a>. If you have a store, let us know if you want a printed version for your zine section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What can you do? <a href=\"https:\/\/prairielanddefendants.com\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/prairielanddefendants.com\">Support the defendants and their cases<\/a>! Start your own <a href=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/catalog\/?search=emma+goldman&amp;sort=relevance\">Emma Goldman<\/a> book club. <a href=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/catalog\/books\/1202\">Make a zine<\/a> of your own and share it. Keep creating. Keep organizing. And keep living into the future you want to be part of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7145"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7150,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7145\/revisions\/7150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}