Response to Allegations (UPDATED 11/16)
Our response to a publicly circulated statement suggesting that Workshops4Gaza contains a federal informant and encouraging people to "cut ties" with us.
Background: Who is Workshops4Gaza?
Who: A small group of friends and comrades who have known each other and organized together for many years. We are not one individual. We are a collective. We are anonymous on purpose. We do not want our names out there on purpose.
What: A mutual aid project that has been active for over a year and a half and has raised (as of October 30, 2025) $300,961.16. These funds have been sent directly from workshop attendees and supporters to the fundraising campaigns we are uplifting; no one in our collective has handled any of these funds. We are not a business, charity, or non-profit. We set up all the infrastructure that we use ourselves.
When: Since May of 2024, we have organized 113 workshops. We are leading with our accomplishments because we are proud of what we’ve done.
Where: Our members work together remotely and many of us are based in different cities.
How: We organize classes and workshops, mostly online, as a way to raise funds for Palestinians in Gaza, and more recently, for political prisoners. Each workshop raises funds for a particular mutual aid fund or fundraiser, again, either in Palestine or for prisoners or prisoner support. Workshop leaders get to choose what fundraiser their workshop raises money for. 100% of funds raised from our workshops are donated. We do not make any money off of this project. We pay out of our own pockets for the operating costs associated with running our platform - this includes the database we use for registrations (Airtable), the website (Squarespace), and the newsletter (Mailchimp). These fees total about $100/month.
Consent practices
As a rule, we do not post anything online on behalf of our workshop instructors without their express consent. That means we take painstaking care to make sure that all the public content we post about a workshop and its instructor have been signed off on via direct communication prior to posting.
As a rule, within our workshops themselves, we make sure to clarify our practice for recording workshops BEFORE hitting the “Record” button. We make sure, to the absolute best of our ability, that everyone knows how the recordings are shared (privately to those who registered, never publicly), but that their “display name” may be visible, and they are given the option to change or hide their display names.
As a rule, we always defer to our workshop instructors about how where money should go and how participants will donate.
Money practices
Because transparency and accountability in mutual aid projects are always a point of contention, we devised a system early on to ensure that we do not touch a single cent that is donated. Instead, people send us receipts of their own donations to the fundraiser each workshop is uplifting. All we do is check the donation receipt to confirm that the person donated, and then send them a confirmation email that includes the Zoom link to the workshop. All we require from registrants is an email address so that we can send them a Zoom link to attend the workshop. We are not compiling this information for “intelligence gathering,” as is suggested in the statement.
The only exception to this process was a workshop that we hosted with Eric King on May 14, 2025, called “Writing to Political Prisoners 101,” in which Eric requested that funds raised from his workshop go to political prisoner Kojo Sababu.
Since no mechanism existed for donating to Kojo, we set up a Chuffed account to raise funds for him.
The public statement made by Casey on October 30, 2025 and circulated by Eric King, claims that the funds raised for Kojo were never donated to him, and that we “stole” them. Details refuting these claims are outlined in a timeline below, along with screenshots of evidence.
Timeline on “Stolen” Funds
March 29, 2025
-W4G reaches out to Eric King, inviting him to give a workshop on writing to political prisoners
-W4G suggests that funds from the workshop could go to Casey Goonan’s fundraiser, which has already been set up and is publicly accessible, but Eric refuses, stating that “Casey has more support than anyone could handle.” Eric suggests that the funds go instead to Kojo Bomani Sababu, an elderly BLA veteran and long-time political prisoner.
-Although Kojo’s profile is listed on the Jericho Movement website (a platform that uplifts political prisoners), there appeared to be no mechanism for donating to Kojo directly. Eric suggests Venmo or Paypal as options for gathering donations for Kojo. W4G offers to set up a Chuffed fundraiser for Kojo to avoid sharing a personal Venmo or Paypal.
-W4G suggests trying to get in touch with someone who has been in direct contact with Kojo, so that we can confirm how best to send funds to him. Eric suggests reaching out to someone at Jericho Movement, who has been a longtime supporter of Kojo and lists him on their website.
April 12-24, 2025
-W4G member reaches out to Jericho NYC asking if there is a way to get in touch with Kojo. Jericho NYC responds thanking W4G member for reaching out, and invites them to attend their next meeting, which they join. However, nothing about Kojo is mentioned in the meeting and W4G member is still unsure how to get in touch with Kojo to send funds. W4G member follows up with Jericho again over email asking if there is anyone there who has been in contact with Kojo who can help.
May 2, 2025
-W4G reaches out to Eric saying they’d like to start transferring some funds to Kojo, and do they know the best way to do that? Eric says the best way is through Western Union. W4G sends Eric a receipt of initial payment sent to Kojo through Western Union for $100.
May 5, 2025
-W4G calls Western Union to confirm whether funds went through to Kojo. Western Union account still shows payment pending. W4G writes Kojo a letter asking if he can confirm the funds have gone through.
May 14, 2025
-Eric gives workshop on How to Write to Political Prisoners 101
May 15, 2025
-W4G relays to Jericho that some initial funds have been sent to Kojo, and that they wrote to him hoping for confirmation he had received funds but did not hear back. Jericho replies that they have also written to Kojo but haven’t heard back for the past few weeks as the prison has been on lockdown.
May 23, 2025
-Eric asks W4G if any further payments have been sent to Kojo. W4G responds with receipts showing another $200 payment sent to Kojo. Eric notes that staggering payments rather than sending all at once is a good idea. W4G notes concern about payments being listed as “in progress” and wonders if there is anyone we can reach out to who has been in touch with Kojo who can help us confirm he has received these initial payments before sending more. No further response from Eric regarding this matter was received by us.
Until November 15 (see update below), we received no communication from Eric King, Kojo, or Kojo’s supporters at Jericho confirming whether funds sent to Kojo were received, and whether or how we should send the rest of the funds. From our perspective, we were doing our due diligence to ensure that funds were not lost and actually reached the person being fundraised for. Again, our collective does not typically handle actual money, so collaboration and support were what was needed here -- not blanket hostility, fedjacketing, or public accusations. Until November 16th, the funds collected for Kojo remained in his Chuffed fundraiser. They were not cashed out or “stolen.”
Update 11/16:
On November 15, 2025, we received written confirmation (screenshot shared with permission) from political prisoner Kojo Sababu’s supporters at Jericho Movement that he did receive the initial three payments totaling $500 that we sent him through Western Union earlier this summer.
This is the first time we have been able to confirm these funds were received by Kojo since the workshop we hosted for him in May of this year, despite writing to him and his supporters multiple times over the past several months. We are sharing this correspondence publicly in order to correct the record, since we were publicly accused of stealing these funds. Kojo’s latest message confirms what we suspected — that due to a number of structural factors, including the brutal conditions of lockdown in the prison, which limited his ability to communicate with the outside world; his ongoing struggles with his health; and his abrupt transfers between different prison facilities, that sending him this money and confirming its receipt was not as simple a task as others have made it out to be.
On November 16, after conferring with Kojo’s supporters at Jericho, we sent the remaining $2000 in this Chuffed account to the Jericho treasurer, who has earmarked these funds for Kojo’s legal expenses. Screenshot of this transfer is attached below.
Kojo’s fundraiser has now been closed to further donations.
Digital Security Practices
We store contact information for those who have attended our workshops in order to send them confirmation emails and follow-up emails (for example, containing recordings or newsletters). Nothing else.
We store the following data for each workshop registration: Name (can be a pseudonym and often is), Email, Accessibility Needs, Donation receipt.
One W4G member is a tech professional who is experienced in digital security and personally set up all of our infrastructure, a process which took weeks of unpaid labor. All of our data is stored in a private database that uses 2-factor authentication and a strong password. We absolutely do not and will never use people’s contact information for any purpose other than to contact them about workshops.
It is extremely disappointing and harmful, and a bad-faith attack on our work, to suggest without evidence that we are collecting data or “intelligence” for some unspecified nefarious purpose.
Claims about W4G Member Being an Informant
One of our members had been in touch with political prisoner Casey Goonan from December 2024 until the time of their sentencing, which was September 23, 2025.
Any words of Casey’s shared publicly on the W4G platform were not only done with Casey’s explicit consent, but with their explicit request as well. This pertains most importantly to the solidarity hunger strike that Casey undertook with Pal Action prisoner T. Hoxha from August 26, 2025 until September 6, 2025. Notably Casey’s solidarity hunger strike had the full support of their support team, who were also regularly sharing updates about the strike. Casey’s decision to enter into the solidarity hunger strike was not W4G’s idea, nor this particular member’s. The idea itself came from Casey and any and all public statements of theirs regarding the strike were requested by them to be publicly shared. All other claims about the W4G member are unsubstantiated and we do not know the details behind these claims or to what end they are being made. The W4G member and the W4G collective more broadly is more than happy to receive feedback directly from Casey if they engaged in any behavior they felt was harmful to them or against their wishes. However, the W4G member has not heard from Casey since their sentencing on September 23rd despite reaching out multiple times through letters.
Timeline of Escalated Fedjacketing Campaign against W4G Member
September 24, 2025: Eric King goes on a podcast episode the day after Casey Goonan’s sentencing suggesting that one of Casey’s supporters is a federal agent.
September 25, 2025: Eric King goes on a follow-up podcast episode further suggesting that one of Casey’s supporters has nefarious intentions.
October 18, 2025: Eric King and Josh Davidson give a public workshop at the Seattle Anarchist Bookfair blaming Casey’s supporters for their sentencing outcome and giving advice on how to spot “dangerous supporters” and “how to deal with them.”
October 23, 2025: Josh Davidson writes to a political prisoner support organization (screenshot shared with permission from recipient) saying that there are “strong indications” that “the Workshops4Gaza person is a cop, or an informant.”
October 24, 2025: A political prisoner receives a letter in prison from Josh Davidson informing him that the W4G member is an undercover cop or informant. A member of the prisoner’s support committee receives a similar message from Josh Davidson informing them that the same W4G member is an undercover cop or informant.
October 30, 2025 (morning)
-A statement suggesting that a W4G member is “collecting information” about people through the W4G platform and is on a campaign to destroy the prisoner support movement is circulated widely in Signal chats.October 30, 2025 (evening)
-The same statement is shared publicly on Instagram by Eric King and Anarchist Black Cross NYC, with dozens of US-based prisoner support groups and formations tagged in the comments.November 12, 2025: Another political prisoner receives a letter in prison from Josh Davidson suggesting that the same W4G member is an undercover cop, and asking the prisoner if he can send Josh copies of any letters received from this member so that Josh can “analyze the letters for patterns.”
Concluding thoughts
We respect the feedback we’ve received, and so we will not post anything about Casey from now on — unless and until we hear otherwise. Also, if we receive a request to retroactively delete any previous posts from our socials, we’re happy to do so. Finally, as mentioned, we are eager to send what we owe to Kojo’s campaign, and hope that we receive information on whether our previous transactions were successful.
Update 11/16: The Jericho Movement supported us in confirming the receipt of our transfers totaling $500 to Kojo this past summer, and were willing to receive the remaining $2000 from us for his legal defense fund (receipts above).
We have received no human, 1-1 communication or good-faith conversation with the individual(s) circulating the accusations against our group. Whether these actors believe they are doing something “good” for the movement or not, their practices have revealed them to have little regard for us as human beings or comrades. Having a disagreement about strategies and tactics, or independently pursuing alternate courses of action, does not entail “fed behavior.”
We regret that this practice is so common amongst the “left.” We will continue to support political prisoners and organize workshops on topics we feel are important and meaningful, all the funds from which will go to causes we care about both in Palestine and here in the imperial core. We will continue to share our own political analyses and perspectives, as well as uplift the work of our brilliant workshop instructors. We value the connections we’ve made doing this work so far and we will not stop doing it, so long as we are able to continue doing so.
In solidarity,
Workshops4Gaza