MOVE, formerly the Christian Movement for Life, is a Black green-anarchist communal organization which was founded in Philadelphia in 1972 by John Africa. MOVE's ideology synthesized the Black Panther Party's revolutionary black nationalist ideology with anarcho-primitivist themes such as animal rights, communal living, environmentalism, and direct democracy. Africa and his followers wore dreadlocks in the style of the Rastafari movement, and all of the members changed their last names to "Africa" to show reverence for their "mother continent". The group caught the attention of the Philadelphia Police Department through staging bullhorn-amplified, profane demonstrations against zoos and rival speakers, and, in 1978, three MOVE members were arrested for inciting a riot. In 1978, after the group refused to leave Powelton Village after several complaints from their neighbors, the PPD confronted MOVE, leading to the death of a policeman, the injury of 16 police officers and firefighters, and the charging of nine MOVE members with murder for Officer James J. Ramp's death. In 1981, the group moved to Osage Avenue in the Cobbs Creek neighborhood of West Philadelphia, and their neighbors frequently complained about the trash around their building, confrontations with neighbors, and continued obscene bullhorn announcements. In 1985, Mayor Wilson Goode and the police classified MOVE as a terrorist organization for parole violations, contempt of court, illegal possession of firearms, and making terrorist threats. On 13 May 1985, 500 police arrived in force to execute arrest warrants after having the neighborhood's residents clear the area. The 13 MOVE members in the house, 7 adults and 6 children, entered into an armed standoff with the police, and a 90-minute gunfight ensued. Ultimately, the police used FBI-supplied dynamite substitutes to bomb the compound, which created a fire that spread and destroyed 65 adjacent houses on Osage Avenue and Pine Street. The police allegedly fired at the MOVE members trying to escape, and firefighters were prevented from nearing the compound, lest they be shot by MOVE. The MOVE survivors filed a civil suit against the city and the PPD and were awarded $1.5 million in a 1996 settlement, and, in 2005, other displaced residents were paid $12.83 million in damages.
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