Sprout Distro is a radical-left anarchist distributing center that produces “zines,” or volumes of self-published work, on anarchist political theory and social criticism. Sprout Distro claims that the United States is an “occupied territory” and advocates for an end to the current political system in America in favor of anarchism. ¹ Sprout Distro is a pro-Palestinian group that asserts that all global liberation movements will help bring an end to the American regime. ²

The group also refused to recognize the presidency of Donald Trump after his election in 2016. ³

Initiatives

The zines, or volumes, published by Sprout Distro fall into several categories including accountability and consent, anti-oppression, direct action, DIY (do it yourself), history, legal, organizing, prisons, security, and theory. ⁴

The anti-oppression publications advance radical left-wing positions on “gender, race, identity, privilege, patriarchy, masculinity, and related topics.” Sprout Distro argues against conventional left-of-center messaging and “ally” movements for oppressed groups, but rather challenges its readers to be “accomplices” in dismantling the society that produces alleged oppression. ^{5 6}

The prisons subsection includes articles and manifestos relating left-wing accounts of the injustices of the American legal system and how to help support what it calls “anarchist comrades behind bars.” ⁷ Sprout Distro opposes law enforcement and the penal system. ⁸

Pro-Palestine Publications

Following the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack against Israeli civilians, Sprout Distro published a piece entitled “10 Anarchist Theses on Palestine Solidarity in the United States.” The report bears an insignia of a Palestinian state on a map with the surrounding words: “glory to the martyrs, victory to the resistance, what is coming is greater.” The publication argues for the continued unraveling of the “Black liberation struggle” and the “Palestinian resistance to Israel.” It calls for real action and “material solidarity” between liberation movements, rather than just social media support. ⁹

Sprout Distro advances Marxist, left-wing theories of materialism and liberation efforts as the eventual guarantors of an anarchist future. Sprout Distro supports the Palestinian cause and says that “Freedom for Palestine means Death to America.” In this effort to destroy America, Sprout Distro celebrates the role of nonviolent, anti-Zionist Jewish groups such as IfNotNow, a far-left organization that protests Israel’s control of the West Bank and its policies in the Gaza Strip, and Jewish Voice for Peace, a left-wing, Jewish group that opposes U.S. assistance to the state of Israel and supports allowing Palestinians to live on land within Israel vacated by Arabs during the Israeli War of Independence. The group supports the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement to delegitimize and isolate the Jewish state. ^{10 11 12}

Trump Transition Disruption

In 2016, following the election of President Donald Trump, Sprout Distro organized a protest in Washington, D.C. called “No Peaceful Transition,” which sought to disrupt the transition of power from then-President Barack Obama to the Trump administration. In its announcement for the event, Sprout Distro claimed that then-President-elect Trump “stands for tyranny, greed, and misogyny. He is the champion of neo-nazis [sic] and white Nationalists, of the police who kill the Black, Brown and poor on a daily basis, of racist border agents and sadistic prison guards, of the FBI and NSA who tap your phone and read your email.” Over 100 other anarchist and left-wing groups signed the announcement, including several Antifa organizations. ¹³

1. Anarchist Zines. Sprout Distro. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.sproutdistro.com/
2. “10 Anarchist Theses on Palestine Solidarity in the United States.” Sprout Distro. October 2023. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://ia802703.us.archive.org/4/items/zines-war/10_Anarchist_Theses_on_Palestine_Solidarity_in_the_United_States.pdf
3. “NO PEACEFUL TRANSITION.” Sprout Distro. November 11, 2016. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://crimethinc.com/2016/11/11/no-peaceful-transition
4. Anarchist Zines. Sprout Distro. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.sproutdistro.com/
5. Anti-Oppression Zines. Sprout Distro. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.sproutdistro.com/catalog/zines/anti-oppression/
6. “Accomplices Not Allies: Abolishing the Ally Industrial Complex.” Sprout Distro. 2014. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.sproutdistro.com/catalog/zines/anti-oppression/accomplices-allies-abolishing-ally-industrial-complex/
7. Prisons Zines. Sprout Distro. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.sproutdistro.com/catalog/zines/prisons/
8. “3 Positions Against Prison.” Sprout Distro. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.sproutdistro.com/catalog/zines/prisons/3-positions-prison/
9.  “10 Anarchist Theses on Palestine Solidarity in the United States.” Sprout Distro. October 2023. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://ia802703.us.archive.org/4/items/zines-war/10_Anarchist_Theses_on_Palestine_Solidarity_in_the_United_States.pdf
10. “10 Anarchist Theses on Palestine Solidarity in the United States.” Sprout Distro. October 2023. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://ia802703.us.archive.org/4/items/zines-war/10_Anarchist_Theses_on_Palestine_Solidarity_in_the_United_States.pdf
11. IfNotNow. NGO Monitor. December 14, 2023. Accessed August 12, 2024. https://www.ngo-monitor.org/ngos/if-not-now/
12. “JVP’s Approach to Zionism.” Jewish Voice for Peace. Accessed August 12, 2024. https://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/zionism/.
13. “NO PEACEFUL TRANSITION.” Sprout Distro. November 11, 2016. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://crimethinc.com/2016/11/11/no-peaceful-transition