Welcome to DIRECT ACTION COMMITTEE

Since 2019, Applied Mechanics has been designing, organizing and participating in political actions in Lenapehoking, Philadelphia. 

What we do as individuals in our neighborhoods matters. For Applied Mechanics, Direct Action Committee is the organizational version of being a good neighbor – learning about our responsibility to the city and trying to uphold it.

WHAT WE DO

Applied Mechanics is a steering-committee member of the Philadelphia Coalition For Affordable Communities. You can see their website here!

We take the fight for affordable housing to City Hall – campaigning for legislation that puts control of vacant land into the hands of the community. In addition the the fight for affordable housing and land control, Applied Mechanics supports other activist and art organizations on related priorities such as:

Defunding the police

Increasing the arts budget

Increasing the education budget

Protecting Black life

Increasing taxes on developers and opposing unethical development

Advocating for green space in the city

Increased accessibility and disability justice

Direct Action is existing. It’s alive, it’s fast paced. It’s not a one-off project, but rather a continual process. For me, being an art-ivist means finding ways to put my art where my mouth is.  As a transplant I am faced with the question of whether or not I belong here. I understand that as an artist, as a human I must strive to be in thoughtful, intentional, and respectful conversation with the land and its inhabitants, past +present+ future. I belong here. I belong to the land. We as a collective believe housing is a human right. We reach out to care for each other and we do that through our art.

Art is many things, it is birthright, it is a portal into a new reality, it is the vehicle to the future.

–Severin Blake, company member

HOW YOU CAN HELP

When we are working on an action, we often send out a call to artists and activists who are interested in this fight, to see if they will come and participate. Participation can be as simple as painting a sign or as elaborate as doing choreography in costume. Wallflowers and performers, all bodies, ages and abilities are welcome! If you are a Philly artist looking for a way to put your energy and skills back into the community, or a citizen excited about affecting change in fun and creative ways, please do sign up for our outreach list, and you will be invited to participate next time we have an action.

READY FOR ACTION

We also sometimes need resources like cardboard, fabric, rehearsal space, sound equipment, etc. If you want to share a resource with us, or are willing to get an email when we are in need of resources, sign up here!

RESOURCE SHARE

If you want to support this work with your pocketbook, you can donate to Applied Mechanics or join our Patreon

DONATE

If you are curious and would like to learn more about what sort of actions we do, you can look at our blog here or see below some images and descriptions of past actions!

PAST ACTIONS

Many of these actions are created with our collaborating partners – like-minded organizations who we love to play with! Here is an ever-lengthening list of our collaborating organizations: 

Spiral Q, ACT UP Philly, Disabled in Action, Women’s Community Revitalization Project, Circle of Hope, Liberty Resources, Protect Squirrel Hill, and many others. 

FUND HOUSING SAVE LIVES

Photo credit: Jeanne Lyons

In reaction to Mayor Kenny’s draconian first draft of the 2020 budget, which drastically cut funding to the Housing Trust, the Philadelphia Coalition for Affordable Communities asked Applied Mechanics to design an action to stand up and demand that in pandemic, affordable housing must be a priority. The budget was later amended in favor of the Housing Trust Fund. The action was joined by Councilmembers Kendra Brooks, Derek Green, and Jaime Gauthier.

BODY BAG ACTION

As the COVID-19 pandemic progressed in 2020, Philadelphians were dying preventable deaths – in cramped, temporary housing facilities where the virus spread like wildfire, and at the hands of the Philadelphia police. Nevertheless, Mayor Kenny diverted funding away from housing and towards police. Collaborating with PCAC, ACT UP and Spiral Q, Applied Mechanics helped design and execute an action at the Octavius Cato statue that brought the death toll to City Council’s door – body bags labeled with the names of those who had died of COVID on the waiting list for affordable housing, as well as Black lives lost to police brutality. The tags on these body bags were later hung on trees outside the mayor’s residence.

VACANT LAND IN COMMUNITY HANDS (ongoing campaign) 

In collaboration with our coalition, Councilmember Jaime Gauthier drafted legislation that would allow communities first priority on ALL CITY-HELD VACANT LAND. This means that neighborhoods could decide what gets built in a neighborhood – affordable housing, community centers, green space, gardens, whatever the neighborhood needs. The joyous announcement of this legislation at City Hall was accompanied by dancing vegetables (courtesy of the Bearded Ladies Cabaret) and human houses (courtesy of Spiral Q), and community members demanded that city council pass this needed legislation swiftly. 

ALAN DOMB: SUPERSPREADER

In November 2020, Councilmember and real estate developer Alan Domb walked out of a vote to extend the eviction moratorium during the pandemic. Thousands of Philadelphians were at risk for homelessness, and consequently, the COVID-19 virus. Applied Mechanics and ACT UP Philadelphia collaborated on an action that held him accountable. Passing out flyers in Rittenhouse Square at Alan Domb’s offices and his residence, participants chanted in hazmat suits: “Alan Domb is a superspreader!” and educated community members about his actions, demanding that he vote to extend the moratorium. The vote was eventually taken and the moratorium did (briefly) extend.   

CAUCUSING AT CITY HALL 

Before the pandemic, Applied Mechanics would go to the Caucus Room where City Council meets right before they go into session, to gently cajole and harass our council members to support Affordable Housing Legislation.

PROTECT SQUIRREL HILL

Photo Credit: Joe Piette

In the residential Squirrel Hill neighborhood of West Philadelphia, a developer proposed an enormous 76-unit luxury apartment complex that would drastically affect affordability of the surrounding blocks. Applied Mechanics joined the community protest in full-on squirrel costumes and distributed reports about how development had priced families – especially Black and brown folks – out of West Philadelphia over the past decade. The fight continues but on May 3, 2022, the Court of Common Pleas reversed the Zoning Board’s decision and the Philadelphia City Charter has since been changed to require community members to sit on Zoning Boards.

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