Solidarity House Cooperative

Our guest is Shane DeLeon of the Billings, Montana-based pop band Miss Massive Snowflake. He's the founder of Kirk's Grocery Music venue and recording studio. Then, comrades discuss the commune's transition to car-sharing and electric vehicle inclusion--and how you can help. Shane and the band's music is at https://missmassivesnowflake.com/ Our Facebook motor pool fundraiser is here: https://www.facebook.com/donate/627176805362132/ The GoFundMe link is https://www.gofundme.com/f/solidarity-collective-car-sharing-transition

Content Warning: discussions of abortion, unsafe abortion, discrimination, and death. Felix discusses herbalism and the tough subject of herbal abortifacients--their dangers, and safer alternatives. Support us at patreon.com/solidarityhouse to keep this content coming!

More interviews with the heroes who build and sustain our Northern Front & Wyoming music scene! From the Andromeda Galaxy, by way of Colorado, we bring you White Cat Pink. Visit him at whitecatpink.com. He brings a Genesis- and Bowie-inspired repertoire and is a great supporter of the local DIY scene in Wyoming and Colorado. You can find White Cat Pink's music at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClbI0b0P2SKeBHxaIZ73S5g  Support us at patreon.com/solidarityhouse

We kick off our new Solidarity Music & Art series by speaking with Alex Soveroski, owner of Laramie underground venue The Greenhouse, a key venue for the local music scene. We hope you enjoy the new series! 

There are big decisions coming up at Solidarity Collective--we need to re-finance, sell, or otherwise modify arrangements about the commune property this year. Angel, Damian, Aunty Fa and Matt have a discussion about the big and small questions involved in keeping the commune going. The opening music includes words written by Laura Marx about French harassment of leftists in the immediate wake of the Paris Commune. You can find her entire account at https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/bio/family/jenny/1871-fr.htm

Before he left Solidarity Collective, Derek did some animal imitations. Also, Damian and Sara have a lot to say about our ongoing rabbit project. Join us on social media: facebook.com/solidarityhousecooperative, @solidarityWY on Twitter, @solidarityhousecooperative and animalsofsolidarityhouse on Instagram, and now @solidaritycollectivewyo on TikTok 

Mara, AuntyFa and Matt discuss current and past science fiction movies including remakes of Dune and the Stand, Space Sweepers and the Arrival; Netflix series the 3 Percent and Altered Carbon, and sci fi musicals Future Folk and 1000 Airplanes on the Roof. Support us at patreon.com/solidarityhouse 

Angel & AuntyFa discuss the ongoing fight for Medicaid Expansion in Wyoming. 

Derek is heading back home to help out his family. Here he reflects on what made him want to join Solidarity Collective, his political values, how the commune is working and not working, and what he'll miss (spoiler alert: it's tending the chickens). A poignant and bittersweet discussion with an extremely tall comrade.

We discuss the ethos, safety considerations, and etiquette of dumpster diving, and what it was like for some members to be quarantined at the commune with a case of Covid-19. 

Three comrades discuss the ongoing difficulties establishing labor equity at Solidarity Collective. 

What is fascism? What fascist and fascist-leaning groups exist in Wyoming? Why is it significant that a handful of Wyoming political leaders and several cops belong to extremist nationalist groups? How can we fight against their influence? What organizations in Wyoming can we join to strengthen the fight? Works cited in this presentation include: Report: White Supremacist Links to Law Enforcement Are an Urgent Concern; Report: The Militia Movement (2020); Whistleblower list names Wyo GOP chair, others as Oath Keepers; New Wyoming Libertarian lawmaker's tattoo has ties to far-right anti-government movement; Michael Curtis: Three Against the Third Republic; Zeev Sternhell: The Birth of Fascist Ideology; Zeev Sternhell: Neither Right nor Left: Fascist Ideology in France; H.R. Morgan: Fascism Codex Collection; Ishay Landa: The Apprentice's Sorceror: Liberal Tradition and Fascism; Caroll Kakel: The American West and the Nazi East; Aime Cesare: Discourse on Colonialism; and writings by Giovanni Gentilly, Gabriele d'Annuzio, and F.T. Marinetti.

Solidarity House Cooperative is honored to share the premiere episode of Law Ain't Order, an important new podcast by our friend and collaborator Emma Jane. 16-year-old Selena Not Afraid started the night of New Years Eve 2019 at home with her mom. When plans changed spontaneously, she decided to go out and see a friend. Selena's mom had no reason to think that her daughter wouldn't make it home safely. But like far too many other Native American women and girls, Selena went out for the night and the next day was reported missing. For more on MMIW on the Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations visit this article. You can hear the Law Ain't Order podcast here.

We talk to Chesie Lee of the Riverton Peace Mission, an anti-colonialist community action center in central Wyoming, about efforts in 2021 and 2022 to demand accountability in the still unresolved 2019 police killing of Andy Antelope. Then a bunch of us get together to talk 2021 Wyoming politics--failing fascism, corrupt cops, attacks on librarians and more. PLEASE support the Riverton Peace Mission at this link. Lots of good Wyofile reporting discussed on this episode, check them out here. You can hear Matt and Jason discuss the "special" legislative session in November right here.

We got bunnies!!! Members of the commune discuss getting the rabbits, their role in the farm businesses, building a hutch, and other things about the land, life, and plans of Solidarity Collective. We've posted pictures of all the bunnies on our Facebook and Twitter pages! https://www.facebook.com/SolidarityHouseCooperative and @solidarityWY

Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant talks to Matt Stannard about beating the right-wing recall effort, the importance of Marxism and the role of electoral politics. Support the independent media work of Solidarity House at patreon.com/solidarityhouse. Kshama Sawant photo courtesy of Seattle City Council

The commune holds its fourth annual retreat (lol sorry haters we've made it four years), discusses the knapweed problem on the land, delivers the annual State of the Commune Report, and plays a game of politically conscious (if occasionally dirty) D&D. 

Activist blogger Emma Jane talks about missing and murdered indigenous women and the upcoming debut of the Law Ain't Order Podcast. Aunty Fa and Matt discuss both the overwhelm and the empowerment of the commune. The commies play Cthulhu: Death May Die. 

We discuss the failed "Special Legislative Session" pushed by the far right legislators in Wyoming's GOP, and what that failure means for the power of the party's rightmost wing. Support us at patreon.com/solidarityhouse 

Warning: Explicit language and graphic descriptions! It's our second annual Halloween special! Nightmare Theater writer and actor Chip Chism visits our haunted mansion to give his list of the weirdest horror movies. The corpsical comrades share their favorite North American folklore-based spectres and monsters. Angel talks about queerness in the movie Hellraiser.  The skunk-ape picture is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skunk_ape#/media/File:Myakka_ape_photograph.jpg -- Chip Chism's Nightmare Theater is here: https://www.wsre.org/productions/nightmare-theatre/ -- The trailer for Frankenstein's Bloody Nightmare can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D71Vlmj_M4o

How is Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan like the movie Trading Places? Shawn, Alexis and Matt discuss the play, Bertolt Brecht's treatment of "crossdressing," and the impossibility of ethics under capitalism. Alexis also reads Brecht's short story "The Job."  PLEASE support us at patreon.com/solidarityhouse. 

Nina, Derek and Matt talk about the introduction of work committees as a response to Solidarity Collective's massive growth in membership. Derek and Jordy skin a fox, examine an electrical outlet with Jon, and unload a truckload of manure. 

Trevor Roberts's Mystery Flesh Pit worldbuilding project is, among other things, a dystopian cosmic horror commentary on commodification and resource extraction. Sara and Damian talk with Trevor about what inspired it and how fans have taken it even further. See Mystery Flesh Pit National Park at https://mysteryfleshpit.tumblr.com/ and the other sites discussed on the episode! 

Warning: explicit language. Gillette's News & Record published a letter to the editor claiming same-sex attraction is like alcoholism and is curable, and we have some goddamn questions for their editorial staff. Also, what would a fully automated luxury communist solution to Wyoming's winter driving look like? Support us at patreon.com/solidarityhouse 

Laramie reporter Jeff Victor joins the House to talk mask mandates and anti-maskers in Albany County, and brings a recording of audience members shouting down comments from the public, and public officials, at a school board meeting. Support Jeff's reporting, and read his article about the meeting, at laramiereporter.substack.com

Alexis and Matt talk about types of art that are cooperative and collaborative in both form and ideology, including the NYC performative collective Improv Everywhere (famous for their No Pants Subway performances) to the 1954 independent socialist-feminist film Salt of the Earth. No Pants Subway photo credit is Weekly Dig, via Creative Commons. We looked at Come Together: The Rise of Cooperative Art and Design by Francesco Spampinato (Princeton Architectural Press, 2014) in researching this episode. 

New members Nina & Jon describe dystopian L.A. and pass along some advice. Derek talks with Jordy, Madison & baby Lilia about the bus-to-home project. The comrades discuss their viewing of the 1954 independent film classic Salt of the Earth. 

From a year ago, Aunty Fa remembers raging forest fires and the prior president. The comrades discuss contrasting theories of violence and nonviolence, as well as trauma and revolution, with Marco. Matt leads a song circle in "We Have Fed You All A Thousand Years."

We are very pleased to feature the Wyoming Red Star Coalition's Pedagogy of the Oppressed reading group: Adam and Mel from WRSC are joined by Matt from Tampa to summarize and reflect on Paulo Freire's classic text and what it means for their organizing efforts after the conclusion of the reading group. You can read the study guide at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yRcNdDVOG8xqupatM-CzQCHt59vXAIrR1hLqAtxd-I0/edit You can learn more about WRSC's work at https://www.facebook.com/wyoredcoalition/ ... and the Laramie Tenants' Association at https://www.facebook.com/LaramieTenantsAssociation/  

Members of the Collective are helping Jordy and Madison turn a bus into a home. We take you inside the gritty details of the project, from planning to deconstruction to parts and painstaking labor. Photos are available at: https://www.patreon.com/posts/53154782 Keep listening for more segments about the bus project! 

Sudip Bhattacharya (@ResistRun on Twitter) and Matt Stannard talk about Sudip's article "The Limits of Descriptive Representation" and the need for a new way to think about political diversity. Read that article at: https://www.currentaffairs.org/2021/02/the-limits-of-descriptive-representation Also, Solidarity Collective hosts a discussion on replacing "A Fair Day's Wage for a Fair Day's Work" with "Abolition of the Wage System." 

Hannah Rooth visits Solidarity House, performs three songs including her recent technoproletarian song "Give Me that Gold," and talks with Matt about music, politics, and abolishing the prison-industrial complex. She is at wildhummusic.com and all over social media. Support her work at https://www.patreon.com/hannahroothmusic

The commies fix the window wells. As more members move in, there's discussion of greenhouse ventilation, junk removal, and planting. Nina Crosby talks to Matt about alt-right social media influencers. And there's original music. 

A special conversation with Twin Cities activist Briana Rose Lee on the aftermath of the Chauvin trial, continued police repression, and a LONG LIST of good people organizing and creating new political realities in Minneapolis. Follow Briana on Twitter at @BrianaRoseLee 

Donatellia Austin and Yana Ludwig discuss Yana's 2020 Senate campaign, running as an open socialist in Wyoming, how to market and graphically design a radical campaign, and what Wyoming identity is all about. Rihanna Kelver joins the Solidarity House crew to chat about current events in the state and read recent conservative Op-eds from local news sites. Support us at patreon.com/solidarityhouse

As communications and digital organizing manager for PICO California Project, Calvin Abbasi combines his imperatives for social and economic justice with practical legislative advocacy. We discuss current bills in California to decertify police officers. fund emergency non-police services, forgive rental debt, increase post-incarceration housing access, and guarantee legal aid for evictees. Support PICO at http://www.picocalifornia.org/.

Part 2 of our interview with Laramie reporter Jeff Victor covers the relationship between a City Council member and Laramie's worst landlord. Members of the Solidarity House team discuss the highlights and follies of the 2021 Wyoming legislative season, including, among many other things, Rep. Jeremy Haroldson's comments on slavery and the Holocaust.   Jeff's key articles on a landlord and entangled city leader are here: https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/maximus-bossarei-the-artful-dodger/article_bf0304e2-3f7d-5058-b844-e7a506172e0a.html ...and here: https://laramienews.blogspot.com/2021/02/stalder-downplays-connection-to-maximus.html?spref=fb Subscribe to his work at laramiereporter.substack.com

We talk with Russell Arben Fox of Wichita DSA and the Religion and Socialism Working Group about religious socialism in the past (including 19th Century Mormon communalism) and present, as well as the upcoming conference "Building the Religious Left" which takes place THIS Saturday April 24 and Sunday April 25. You can learn more and register here: https://www.dsausa.org/calendar/building-the-religious-left-dsa-religion-socialism-conference/

Derek and Matt discuss the Laramie City Council's police oversight working group. Then we hear part one of our interview with Jeff Victor, the Laramie-based independent journalist who broke the story on the unbelievably evil landlord Maximus Bossarei and the failure of the Albany County Sheriff's office to serve Bossarei the numerous times he's been sued.  Matt's post on the working group is here: https://cowboysonthecommons.org/2021/04/09/laramies-cautious-police-reform-moves-forward/ Jeff Victor's explosive story is here: https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/maximus-bossarei-the-artful-dodger/article_bf0304e2-3f7d-5058-b844-e7a506172e0a.html Jeff's Substack is here: https://laramiereporter.substack.com/

Shawn and Derek of Solidarity House Cooperative discuss the second half of J. Sakai's important book Settlers: The Mythology of the White Proletariat, covering such issues as the tendency of white left groups to ignore indigenous land seizures, the weakness of colonial powers' communist and labor movements, and the need for socialists to embrace anti-colonialism. Part 1 of our discussion on this important book is at https://solidarityhouse.podbean.com/e/issues-in-socialism-trans-identity-and-socialist-history-an-introduction-to-j-sakais-settlers/  Settlers: The Mythology of the White Proletariat and many other resources are available at https://readsettlers.org/ 

Kat Houghton of Community Roots discusses rights of nature laws, ordinances, and political strategies, and previews a Friday, March 19 workshop, which you can RSVP for at https://fb.me/e/467Bm4mMH

Briana Rose Lee joins Matt from Minneapolis to discuss the fight against approval of the Line 3 Pipeline extension. Yana Ludwig and members of her 2020 Senate campaign team reminisce about the challenges of campaigning from the left in Wyoming. Plus we have fragments of brand new, original music! More about the fight against Line 3 at https://mn350.org/ and https://www.stopline3.org/. 

Wyoming's Republican-dominated legislature killed HB 206 without a hearing. The bill would have increased minimum wage to $15/hr and removed exceptions for tipped workers and youth.   Next year, we'll be ready, and this forum on March 11 covered the fight for $15 matters in Wyoming, and across the country. Speakers include HB 206 sponsors Rep. Karlee Provenza and Andi Clifford, Seattle #fightfor15 organizer Jason Call, and Southeast Wyo DSA members Amanda Barnes and Barry McCann.   Co-sponsored by Southeast Wyoming Democratic Socialists of America and Solidarity House Cooperative. Moderated by Matt Stannard with introductions by Yana Ludwig.

Matt and Derek discuss Wyoming's Republicans' fossil fuel persecution complex including Rep. Chuck Gray's embarrassing comments blaming wind turbines for Texas's power outages, and the sweetheart deal between the Department of Interior and Eagle Specialty Minerals in the Blackjewel bankruptcy. 

Adam from Wyoming Red Star Coalition joins us to talk about the group's new reading series (which you should join--it starts today!). Yana talks about job-hunting under capitalism, from the dehumanization of the labor market to creating good practices in a terrible system. And, we announce our upcoming Solidarity Collective Winter Survival Auction.  Wyoming Red Star Coalition (with info on the reading group) is here: https://www.facebook.com/wyoredcoalition More info on our Winter Survival Auction coming soon! 

Activist, writer and communication professor Nina Marie Lozano talks to Matt about her book Not One More! Feminicidio on the Border, the politics of the border, and the effects of neoliberal capitalism on working class women in Juarez.

Dominique talks with Matt about trans identity and the mixed history of communist and socialist movements on gender and sexual liberation--and the role of indigenist and anti-colonialist thought in trans liberation. Shawn and Derek discuss J. Sakai's Settlers: The Mythology of the White Proletariat. Support us at patreon.com/solidarityhouse

Matt Stannard talks with Kelli Potter about how Marxism and dialectical materialism cohere with nonbinary realities of sex and gender, and the importance of socialist transgender activism. Kelli Potter is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Utah Valley University and an organizer with The Party for Socialism and Liberation. Her academic work focuses on the philosophy of religion and gender. Her most recent published article was "Trans and Mutable Bodies" in the Routledge Handbook on Mormonism and Gender.

Wyoming blogger Lindsey Hanlon joins Matt to discuss the January 4 pro-covid (anti-health measure) demonstration in Cheyenne. Please support Lindsey's patreon at https://www.patreon.com/TheFeministLipstique and check out her other fantastic work @thefeministlipstique on Tik Tok and https://thefeministlipstique.com/.

The coal industry is kaput in Wyoming. When Lynne Huskinson got laid off after 39 years as a coal miner, she decided to run for state House of Representatives on one of the most progressive, honest-about-energy platforms in the Wyoming election of 2020. Here's her story. 

We talk to U.S. House candidate and Northern Arapahoe activist Lynnette Grey Bull about political authenticity, discrimination against indigenous people during the pandemic, the transition from fossil fuels, and how the Wyoming Democratic Party can better fight for its federal candidates.