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This week, we're sharing an interview with Garret Felber, author of the book A Continuous Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Martin Sostre, out May 5 from AK Press. Garret speaks about the life of Martin Soster, famed jailhouse lawyer who successfully won cases related to the constitutional rights of prisoners, was politicized in prison by the Nation of Islam in the 1950's, ran radical Afro-centric bookstores in Buffalo NY to radicalize the youth, embracing anarchism during his time imprisoned on a frame up during which he was a celebrated political prisoner resisting cavity searches through the courts, went on to organize after his release for tenants rights and rehabilitating disused buildings for community centers and helping run a childcare. Sostre was a mentor to Lorenzo Komb'oa-Ervin and Ashanti Alston and laid important foundations for modern Black Anarchism in the US. Transcript PDF (Unimposed) Zine (Imposed PDF) There's a lot in here and we hope you enjoy the book and that the story inspires complex, creative and combative resistance to all forms of domination. MSI: https://www.martinsostre.com/ Study and Struggle: https://www.studyandstruggle.com/ Those Who Know Don't Say: The Nation Of Islam, the Black Freedom Movement, and the Carceral State Free the Mississippi Five: https://www.studyandstruggle.com/ms5 Free Society People's Library: https://www.instagram.com/freesocietylibrary/ Justice for Geraldine and Martin: https://www.instagram.com/justiceforgeraldineandmartin/ In the Belly: https://www.bellyzine.net/ In the Mix: https://inthemixprisonerpodcast.libsyn.com/ video of JEEP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwmELJwEsk8 Some past episodes touching on Black anarchism: Black Autonomy Reader: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2024/09/29/mutt-on-the-incomplete-black-autonomy-reader/ Ashanti Alston at ACAB2024: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2024/09/01/solidarity-spirituality-and-liberatory-promise-on-a-turtles-back-with-ashanti-omowali-alston/ Matt Meyer on Kuwasi Balagoon: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2019/06/04/free-them-all-matt-meyer-on-kuwasi-balagoon/ Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2013/04/03/memphis-organizes-against-police-and-the-kkk-a-conversation-with-lorenzo-komboa-ervin/ William C Anderson (first & second) Announcement Kevin Rashid Johnson From the SFBayView Newspaper: Rashid was “compacted” on May 1 to the Perry Correctional Institution in South Carolina, 430 Oaklawn Rd., Pelzer, SC 29669. His ID number in South Carolina is 397279. In the transit van, he was severely injured – probably a broken bone – in his left leg. He has not been given any treatment for it. He is in solitary confinement, with only a concrete slab to sleep on. He can make only one phone call per week. A comrade is helping him get onto the “GTL Getting Out” app so that he can communicate with everyone. Meanwhile, he has been on hunger strike since he got there. He lost 17 pounds during the first week. He appeals for maximum publicity and pressure. The phone numbers listed for the prison are: 864-243-4700 and 803-737-1752. Make calls and spread the word. Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, ID number 397279, must be treated humanely, given good medical care and a decent place to sleep and allowed full access to communicate with his lawyers and supporters. Tell the authorities to meet his demands so he can end his hunger strike. . ... . .. Featured Track Standing At The Crossroad by Eddie and Ernie from Lost Friends
Why do some processes—like aging, birth, and car crashes—occur in only one direction in time, when by the fundamental symmetry of the universe, we should experience time both forward and backward? Our dominant perception of time owes more to Western history and social order than to a fact of nature, argues writer Rasheedah Phillips, delving into Black and Afrodiasporic conceptions of time, where the past, present, and future interact in more numerous constellations. Phillips unfolds the history of time and its legacy of racial oppression, from colonial exploration and the plantation system to the establishment of Daylight Savings. Yet Black communities have long subverted space-time through such tools of resistance as Juneteenth, tenant organizing, ritual, and time travel. What could Black liberation look like if the past were as changeable as the future? Drawing on philosophy, archival research, quantum physics, and Phillips's own art practice and work on housing policy, Dismantling the Master's Clock: On Race, Space, and Time (AK Press, 2025) expands the horizons of what can be imagined and, ultimately, achieved. Rasheedah Phillips is a queer housing advocate, lawyer, parent, and interdisciplinary artist working through a Black futurist lens. Phillips is the founder of the AfroFuturist Affair, founding member of the Metropolarity Queer Speculative Fiction Collective, and co-creator of the art duo Black Quantum Futurism. Phillips' work has been featured in the New York Times, The Wire, New York Magazine, Boston Review, Hyperallergic, and e-flux. You can find the host, Sullivan Summer, online, on Instagram, and at Substack, where she and Rasheedah continue their conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies
Why do some processes—like aging, birth, and car crashes—occur in only one direction in time, when by the fundamental symmetry of the universe, we should experience time both forward and backward? Our dominant perception of time owes more to Western history and social order than to a fact of nature, argues writer Rasheedah Phillips, delving into Black and Afrodiasporic conceptions of time, where the past, present, and future interact in more numerous constellations. Phillips unfolds the history of time and its legacy of racial oppression, from colonial exploration and the plantation system to the establishment of Daylight Savings. Yet Black communities have long subverted space-time through such tools of resistance as Juneteenth, tenant organizing, ritual, and time travel. What could Black liberation look like if the past were as changeable as the future? Drawing on philosophy, archival research, quantum physics, and Phillips's own art practice and work on housing policy, Dismantling the Master's Clock: On Race, Space, and Time (AK Press, 2025) expands the horizons of what can be imagined and, ultimately, achieved. Rasheedah Phillips is a queer housing advocate, lawyer, parent, and interdisciplinary artist working through a Black futurist lens. Phillips is the founder of the AfroFuturist Affair, founding member of the Metropolarity Queer Speculative Fiction Collective, and co-creator of the art duo Black Quantum Futurism. Phillips' work has been featured in the New York Times, The Wire, New York Magazine, Boston Review, Hyperallergic, and e-flux. You can find the host, Sullivan Summer, online, on Instagram, and at Substack, where she and Rasheedah continue their conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
À l'occasion du Black History Month ou mois de l'histoires des Noir.e.s, on repart dans la métropole cosmopolite et vibrante du Québec, à la rencontre de l'auteur et artiste afro-québécois Webster, un homme en quête d'histoire(s) et de vérité... Quand on parle d'histoire noire et d'esclavage, le récit national canadien a longtemps fait la part belle au réseau abolitionniste du chemin de fer clandestin et à tous ces esclaves américains en fuite qui, au XIXè siècle, ont trouvé refuge au Canada. On les appelait les « freedom seekers », ceux qui cherchent la liberté. Dans le premier épisode de cette série, on est parti dans les rues de Montréal, à la rencontre de leurs dignes héritiers, « history seekers » cette fois : des hommes et des femmes, afro-canadiens pour la plupart, chercheurs d'histoire qui ont décidé de remettre à sa juste place l'histoire des Noir.e.s au Québec, longtemps reléguée, comme oubliée des mémoires. Le passé esclavagiste a longtemps occupé une place particulière dans l'historiographie québécoise, entre omissions et arrangements avec un passé complexe et une vérité inconfortable. Mais les faits, comme nos chercheurs d'histoire, sont têtus. Pour ce second épisode, on vous propose de creuser le sillon que l'on a suivi en voyage à Montréal dans le premier épisode, avec l'un de ces chercheurs d'histoire, en la personne de Webster, activiste et artiste afroquébécois, qui a initié, dès 2016, des visites guidées dans sa ville Québec, sur les traces de l'histoire noire là-bas. Depuis, il a multiplié les projets, le dernier en date étant la traduction en français qu'il a lui-même mené du livre phare du philosophe américain Charles W. Mills « Le contrat racial ».Webster, de son vrai nom Aly NDiaye, est né d'un père sénégalais et d'une mère québécoise ; et aujourd'hui, il est devenu une voix qui compte, qu'il faut savoir écouter…Et c'est ce que l'on va faire aujourd'hui.Un reportage en deux épisodes de Céline Develay-Mazurelle et Laure Allary, initialement diffusé en février 2024.À vivre, à voir :- Découvrir la programmation éclectique du Mois de l'histoire des Noir.e.s sur le site de Tourisme Montréal- Suivre une visite guidée sur les traces de la présence et l'histoire noire à Montréal : Black Montreal Experience- Aller au Musée Mc Cord Stewart, musée d'histoire sociale de Montréal- Faire un tour à Québec et suivre les visites Qc History X mises en place par l'artiste et conférencier Webster- Découvrir l'ABC's of Canadian Black History imaginé par l'historienne Dorothy Williams. En anglais.- En savoir plus sur la table ronde du Mois de l'histoire des Noir.e.s. Édition 2024- Découvrir le projet en ligne « Je suis Montréal », qui met en avant les communautés invisibilisées dans la société montréalaise.- Quelques statistiques publiques sur les communautés noires au Canada. À lire : - «L'esclavage et les Noirs à Montréal : 1760-1840» de Franck Mackey. 2013. Éditions Hurtubise - «Black in Montreal 1628-1986: An Urban Demography» de Dorothy W. Williams. En anglais- «Le contrat racial» de Charles W Mills. Traduction française par Webster. 2022. Éditions Mémoire d'encrier- «La pendaison d'Angelique. L'histoire de l'esclavage au Canada et de l'incendie de Montréal» de Afua Cooper. 2007. Éditions De l'Homme - «North of the Color Line. Migration and Black resistance in Canada. 1870-1955» de Sarah-Jane Mathieu. 2010. Éditions University of North Carolina Press. En anglais- «Le grain de Sable. Olivier le Jeune premier esclave au Canada » de Webster et illustré par ValMo!. 2019. Éditions Septentrion- «Fear of a Black Nation Race, Sex, and Security in Sixties Montreal», de David Austin. 2e Édition. 2023. Éditions AK Press. En anglais- «L'esclavage au Canada». Une synthèse en PDF accessible et pédagogique écrite par Webster - Un entretien avec Marcel Trudel, pionnier de l'histoire de l'esclavage au Québec». Un article de Cap aux Diamants, la revue d'histoire du Québec. 2004- Toutes les ressources sur l'histoire noire dans l'Encyclopédie Canadienne. À écouter :- Résistance : le balado sur les traces de Shadrach Minkins, par Webster. Produit par Radio Canada et disponible sur rfi.fr- Les 3 épisodes de notre voyage sur le chemin de fer clandestin au Canada, en Ontario. Une série Si loin si proche- La série audio « Portraits de Noirs au Canada» par Radio Canada Internationale.
À l'occasion du Black History Month ou mois de l'histoires des Noir.e.s, on repart dans la métropole cosmopolite et vibrante du Québec, à la rencontre de l'auteur et artiste afro-québécois Webster, un homme en quête d'histoire(s) et de vérité... Quand on parle d'histoire noire et d'esclavage, le récit national canadien a longtemps fait la part belle au réseau abolitionniste du chemin de fer clandestin et à tous ces esclaves américains en fuite qui, au XIXè siècle, ont trouvé refuge au Canada. On les appelait les « freedom seekers », ceux qui cherchent la liberté. Dans le premier épisode de cette série, on est parti dans les rues de Montréal, à la rencontre de leurs dignes héritiers, « history seekers » cette fois : des hommes et des femmes, afro-canadiens pour la plupart, chercheurs d'histoire qui ont décidé de remettre à sa juste place l'histoire des Noir.e.s au Québec, longtemps reléguée, comme oubliée des mémoires. Le passé esclavagiste a longtemps occupé une place particulière dans l'historiographie québécoise, entre omissions et arrangements avec un passé complexe et une vérité inconfortable. Mais les faits, comme nos chercheurs d'histoire, sont têtus. Pour ce second épisode, on vous propose de creuser le sillon que l'on a suivi en voyage à Montréal dans le premier épisode, avec l'un de ces chercheurs d'histoire, en la personne de Webster, activiste et artiste afroquébécois, qui a initié, dès 2016, des visites guidées dans sa ville Québec, sur les traces de l'histoire noire là-bas. Depuis, il a multiplié les projets, le dernier en date étant la traduction en français qu'il a lui-même mené du livre phare du philosophe américain Charles W. Mills « Le contrat racial ».Webster, de son vrai nom Aly NDiaye, est né d'un père sénégalais et d'une mère québécoise ; et aujourd'hui, il est devenu une voix qui compte, qu'il faut savoir écouter…Et c'est ce que l'on va faire aujourd'hui.Un reportage en deux épisodes de Céline Develay-Mazurelle et Laure Allary, initialement diffusé en février 2024.À vivre, à voir :- Découvrir la programmation éclectique du Mois de l'histoire des Noir.e.s sur le site de Tourisme Montréal- Suivre une visite guidée sur les traces de la présence et l'histoire noire à Montréal : Black Montreal Experience- Aller au Musée Mc Cord Stewart, musée d'histoire sociale de Montréal- Faire un tour à Québec et suivre les visites Qc History X mises en place par l'artiste et conférencier Webster- Découvrir l'ABC's of Canadian Black History imaginé par l'historienne Dorothy Williams. En anglais.- En savoir plus sur la table ronde du Mois de l'histoire des Noir.e.s. Édition 2024- Découvrir le projet en ligne « Je suis Montréal », qui met en avant les communautés invisibilisées dans la société montréalaise.- Quelques statistiques publiques sur les communautés noires au Canada. À lire : - «L'esclavage et les Noirs à Montréal : 1760-1840» de Franck Mackey. 2013. Éditions Hurtubise - «Black in Montreal 1628-1986: An Urban Demography» de Dorothy W. Williams. En anglais- «Le contrat racial» de Charles W Mills. Traduction française par Webster. 2022. Éditions Mémoire d'encrier- «La pendaison d'Angelique. L'histoire de l'esclavage au Canada et de l'incendie de Montréal» de Afua Cooper. 2007. Éditions De l'Homme - «North of the Color Line. Migration and Black resistance in Canada. 1870-1955» de Sarah-Jane Mathieu. 2010. Éditions University of North Carolina Press. En anglais- «Le grain de Sable. Olivier le Jeune premier esclave au Canada » de Webster et illustré par ValMo!. 2019. Éditions Septentrion- «Fear of a Black Nation Race, Sex, and Security in Sixties Montreal», de David Austin. 2e Édition. 2023. Éditions AK Press. En anglais- «L'esclavage au Canada». Une synthèse en PDF accessible et pédagogique écrite par Webster - Un entretien avec Marcel Trudel, pionnier de l'histoire de l'esclavage au Québec». Un article de Cap aux Diamants, la revue d'histoire du Québec. 2004- Toutes les ressources sur l'histoire noire dans l'Encyclopédie Canadienne. À écouter :- Résistance : le balado sur les traces de Shadrach Minkins, par Webster. Produit par Radio Canada et disponible sur rfi.fr- Les 3 épisodes de notre voyage sur le chemin de fer clandestin au Canada, en Ontario. Une série Si loin si proche- La série audio « Portraits de Noirs au Canada» par Radio Canada Internationale.
À l'occasion du Black History Month ou mois de l'histoire des Noir.e.s, on repart dans la métropole cosmopolite et vibrante du Québec ; là où des hommes et des femmes se sont mis en marche pour révéler et partager l'histoire noire de la ville et de la province. Quand on parle d'histoire noire et d'esclavage, le récit national canadien a longtemps fait la part belle au réseau abolitionniste du chemin de fer clandestin et à tous ces esclaves américains en fuite qui, au XIXe siècle, ont trouvé refuge au Canada. On les appelait les « freedom seekers », ceux qui cherchent la liberté. Dans ce premier épisode, on vous propose d'aller à Montréal, à la rencontre de leurs dignes héritiers, « history seekers » cette fois : des hommes et des femmes, Afro-Canadiens pour la plupart, chercheurs d'histoire qui ont décidé de remettre à sa juste place l'histoire des Noirs au Québec.Le passé esclavagiste a longtemps occupé une place particulière dans l'historiographie québécoise, entre omissions et arrangements avec un passé complexe et une vérité inconfortable. Mais les faits, comme nos chercheurs d'histoire, sont têtus. Et désormais, dans les rues du vieux Montréal ou de la Petite Bourgogne, fief historique de la communauté noire surnommé la « Harlem du Nord », on croise des visiteurs emmenés par un guide, tous en quête d'histoire noire. Dans la ville, des institutions culturelles s'interrogent aussi sur leurs pratiques ; cherchant à décoloniser leurs approches et à faire plus de place aux communautés historiquement marginalisées, en tête les Autochtones et les Noirs. Révéler la présence noire dans une ville où plus de la moitié des Afro-Québécois a décidé de vivre, c'est une façon de faire le lien entre passé et présent de la ville, d'interroger le sort réservé, hier comme aujourd'hui, aux communautés noires, de faire la lumière sur les angles morts d'un récit national qui a longtemps occulté son passé d'esclavage et de ségrégation comme ses continuités. C'est enfin l'occasion de croiser des figures de la résistance noire particulièrement inspirantes. Un reportage en deux épisodes de Céline Develay-Mazurelle et Laure Allary, initialement diffusé en février 2024.Avec :- Rito Joseph, guide conférencier à l'initiative des visites « Black Montreal Experience »- Aly Ndiaye alias Webster, auteur, rappeur, conférencier et activiste afro-québécois - Dorothy Williams, historienne de référence sur la présence noire à Montréal, en particulier dans le quartier dit de la Petite Bourgogne - Les équipes en visite du Musée McCord Stewart, musée d'histoire sociale de Montréal- Franck Mackey, historien spécialiste de l'esclavage des Noirs à Montréal. À vivre, à voir : - Découvrir la programmation éclectique du Mois de l'histoire des Noir.e.s sur le site de Tourisme Montréal- Suivre une visite guidée sur les traces de la présence et l'histoire noire à Montréal : Black Montreal Experience- Aller au Musée Mc Cord Stewart, musée d'histoire sociale de Montréal- Faire un tour à Québec et suivre les visites Qc History X mises en place par l'artiste et conférencier Webster- Découvrir l'ABC's of Canadian Black History imaginé par l'historienne Dorothy Williams. En anglais et en français. - En savoir plus sur la table ronde du Mois de l'histoire des Noir.e.s. Édition 2024- Découvrir le projet en ligne « Je suis Montréal », qui met en avant les communautés invisibilisées dans la société montréalaise. - Quelques statistiques publiques sur les communautés noires au Canada. À lire : - « L'esclavage et les noirs à Montréal : 1760-1840 » de Franck Mackey. 2013. Éditions Hurtubise. - « Black in Montreal 1628-1986: An Urban Demography » de Dorothy W. Williams. En anglais.- « Le contrat racial » de Charles W Mills. Traduction française par Webster. 2022. Éditions Mémoire d'encrier.- « La pendaison d'Angelique. L'histoire de l'esclavage au Canada et de l'incendie de Montréal » de Afua Cooper. 2007. Éditions De l'Homme. - « North of the Color Line. Migration and Black resistance in Canada. 1870-1955 » de Sarah-Jane Mathieu. 2010. Editions University of North Carolina Press. En anglais- « Le grain de Sable. Olivier le Jeune premier esclave au Canada » de Webster et illustré par ValMo!. 2019. Éditions Septentrion.- « Fear of a Black Nation Race, Sex, and Security in Sixties Montreal, de David Austin. 2e Édition. 2023. Éditions AK Press. En anglais- « L'esclavage au Canada ». Une synthèse en PDF accessible et pédagogique écrite par Webster - Un entretien avec Marcel Trudel, pionnier de l'histoire de l'esclavage au Québec. Un article de Cap aux Diamants, la revue d'histoire du Québec. 2004- Toutes les ressources sur l'histoire noire dans l'Encyclopédie Canadienne. À écouter :- Résistance : le balado sur les traces de Shadrach Minkins, par Webster. Produit par Radio Canada et disponible sur rfi.fr- Les 3 épisodes de notre voyage sur le chemin de fer clandestin au Canada, en Ontario. Une série Si loin si proche- La série audio « Portraits de Noirs au Canada » par Radio Canada Internationale.
À l'occasion du Black History Month ou mois de l'histoire des Noir.e.s, on repart dans la métropole cosmopolite et vibrante du Québec ; là où des hommes et des femmes se sont mis en marche pour révéler et partager l'histoire noire de la ville et de la province. Quand on parle d'histoire noire et d'esclavage, le récit national canadien a longtemps fait la part belle au réseau abolitionniste du chemin de fer clandestin et à tous ces esclaves américains en fuite qui, au XIXe siècle, ont trouvé refuge au Canada. On les appelait les « freedom seekers », ceux qui cherchent la liberté. Dans ce premier épisode, on vous propose d'aller à Montréal, à la rencontre de leurs dignes héritiers, « history seekers » cette fois : des hommes et des femmes, Afro-Canadiens pour la plupart, chercheurs d'histoire qui ont décidé de remettre à sa juste place l'histoire des Noirs au Québec.Le passé esclavagiste a longtemps occupé une place particulière dans l'historiographie québécoise, entre omissions et arrangements avec un passé complexe et une vérité inconfortable. Mais les faits, comme nos chercheurs d'histoire, sont têtus. Et désormais, dans les rues du vieux Montréal ou de la Petite Bourgogne, fief historique de la communauté noire surnommé la « Harlem du Nord », on croise des visiteurs emmenés par un guide, tous en quête d'histoire noire. Dans la ville, des institutions culturelles s'interrogent aussi sur leurs pratiques ; cherchant à décoloniser leurs approches et à faire plus de place aux communautés historiquement marginalisées, en tête les Autochtones et les Noirs. Révéler la présence noire dans une ville où plus de la moitié des Afro-Québécois a décidé de vivre, c'est une façon de faire le lien entre passé et présent de la ville, d'interroger le sort réservé, hier comme aujourd'hui, aux communautés noires, de faire la lumière sur les angles morts d'un récit national qui a longtemps occulté son passé d'esclavage et de ségrégation comme ses continuités. C'est enfin l'occasion de croiser des figures de la résistance noire particulièrement inspirantes. Un reportage en deux épisodes de Céline Develay-Mazurelle et Laure Allary, initialement diffusé en février 2024.Avec :- Rito Joseph, guide conférencier à l'initiative des visites « Black Montreal Experience »- Aly Ndiaye alias Webster, auteur, rappeur, conférencier et activiste afro-québécois - Dorothy Williams, historienne de référence sur la présence noire à Montréal, en particulier dans le quartier dit de la Petite Bourgogne - Les équipes en visite du Musée McCord Stewart, musée d'histoire sociale de Montréal- Franck Mackey, historien spécialiste de l'esclavage des Noirs à Montréal. À vivre, à voir : - Découvrir la programmation éclectique du Mois de l'histoire des Noir.e.s sur le site de Tourisme Montréal- Suivre une visite guidée sur les traces de la présence et l'histoire noire à Montréal : Black Montreal Experience- Aller au Musée Mc Cord Stewart, musée d'histoire sociale de Montréal- Faire un tour à Québec et suivre les visites Qc History X mises en place par l'artiste et conférencier Webster- Découvrir l'ABC's of Canadian Black History imaginé par l'historienne Dorothy Williams. En anglais et en français. - En savoir plus sur la table ronde du Mois de l'histoire des Noir.e.s. Édition 2024- Découvrir le projet en ligne « Je suis Montréal », qui met en avant les communautés invisibilisées dans la société montréalaise. - Quelques statistiques publiques sur les communautés noires au Canada. À lire : - « L'esclavage et les noirs à Montréal : 1760-1840 » de Franck Mackey. 2013. Éditions Hurtubise. - « Black in Montreal 1628-1986: An Urban Demography » de Dorothy W. Williams. En anglais.- « Le contrat racial » de Charles W Mills. Traduction française par Webster. 2022. Éditions Mémoire d'encrier.- « La pendaison d'Angelique. L'histoire de l'esclavage au Canada et de l'incendie de Montréal » de Afua Cooper. 2007. Éditions De l'Homme. - « North of the Color Line. Migration and Black resistance in Canada. 1870-1955 » de Sarah-Jane Mathieu. 2010. Editions University of North Carolina Press. En anglais- « Le grain de Sable. Olivier le Jeune premier esclave au Canada » de Webster et illustré par ValMo!. 2019. Éditions Septentrion.- « Fear of a Black Nation Race, Sex, and Security in Sixties Montreal, de David Austin. 2e Édition. 2023. Éditions AK Press. En anglais- « L'esclavage au Canada ». Une synthèse en PDF accessible et pédagogique écrite par Webster - Un entretien avec Marcel Trudel, pionnier de l'histoire de l'esclavage au Québec. Un article de Cap aux Diamants, la revue d'histoire du Québec. 2004- Toutes les ressources sur l'histoire noire dans l'Encyclopédie Canadienne. À écouter :- Résistance : le balado sur les traces de Shadrach Minkins, par Webster. Produit par Radio Canada et disponible sur rfi.fr- Les 3 épisodes de notre voyage sur le chemin de fer clandestin au Canada, en Ontario. Une série Si loin si proche- La série audio « Portraits de Noirs au Canada » par Radio Canada Internationale.
Amy is joined by adrienne maree brown to discuss her latest book, Loving Corrections, and learn about improving our accountability practices, plus what it takes to live in right relationship with the friends and family with whom we most disagree.Donate to Breaking Down Patriarchyadrienne maree brown (she/they) is growing a garden of healing ideas. Informed by decades of movement facilitation, somatics, science fiction scholarship and doula work, adrienne has nurtured Emergent Strategy, Pleasure Activism, Radical Imagination and Loving Correction as ideas and practices for transformation. adrienne is the NYT-bestselling author/editor of several published texts, a ritual singer-songwriter, co-generator of the Lineages of Change Tarot Deck, and co-creator/host of How to Survive the End of the World podcast with Autumn Brown. adrienne's latest book Loving Corrections is now available from AK Press.
We are excited to announce the first season of our Earthly Reads series featuring conversations with some of our favorite authors including adrienne maree brown, Marcia Bjornerud, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Prentis Hemphill Tricia Hersey, and Céline Semaan. This collection of books is meant to encourage grounded conversation that roots justice, imagination, and transformation within the soil and substance of the Earth. The series will focus on themes of resistance, embodiment, and connection to self and others in an era of alienation and isolation. Together, we will explore what it means to create compassionate community that is deeply attuned to our positions as human members of ecosystems.For more details about the series and to purchase access to the full study, visit forthewild.world/bookstudy. We're kicking off this series with our beloved returning guest, adrienne maree brown. In this heartfelt episode, adrienne shares more about her new book Loving Corrections and reminds us of what it means to value relationships and reflection across humanity. Access the full episode (65min.) by joining us on Patreon or the Earthly Reads Book Study.adrienne maree brown (she/they) is growing a garden of healing ideas. Informed by decades of movement facilitation, somatics, science fiction scholarship and doula work, adrienne has nurtured Emergent Strategy, Pleasure Activism, Radical Imagination and Loving Correction as ideas and practices for transformation. adrienne is the NYT-bestselling author/editor of several published texts, a ritual singer-songwriter, co-generator of the Lineages of Change Tarot Deck, and co-creator/host of How to Survive the End of the World podcast with Autumn Brown. adrienne's latest book Loving Corrections is now available from AK Press.♫ The music featured in this series is from the compilation Staying: Leaving Records Aid to Artists Impacted by the Los Angeles Wildfires courtesy of our partner Leaving Records. Compilation proceeds are directed back into the community of artists and families impacted by the fires. Learn more at staying.bandcamp.com. The artists featured in this episode are M.A. Tiesenga, Hundred Waters, Alia Mohamed, and Arushi Jain. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show
All of this week's episodes of It Could Happen Here put together in one large file. Government Small Enough to Fit in Your Bedroom feat. Steven Monacelli & Dr. Michael Phillips CZM Rewind: Police Drones and You CZM Rewind: You Already Know How to Organize Anarchism in Gran Columbia feat. Andrew Anarchism in Central America feat. Andrew You can now listen to all Cool Zone Media shows, 100% ad-free through the Cooler Zone Media subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. So, open your Apple Podcasts app, search for “Cooler Zone Media” and subscribe today! http://apple.co/coolerzone Sources: Government Small Enough to Fit in Your Bedroom feat. Steven Monacelli & Dr. Michael Phillips Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer, The Fall of Roe: The Rise of a New America https://www.amazon.com/Fall-Roe-Rise-New-America-ebook/dp/B0CK72ZGL1/ref=sr_1_1?crid=LT8GCBOTWABV&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.JQimtOEGy3PsNcHVXC_RzHb4-nla_0uFg_mcpTX1ogL7AlrpV8uIf5LJfxCuazgOHruVfjQvhOd-B27Yyr-vsv6Jz5Rw2iecYpzZ8X1fODwGfubBl94YbczW4lNK_68iuBj2ipBDR9JsmUFKduu54NOSAjT_zA0v4iBiASNqit03Aix2od9liGMi5jliDW7hqtT59N7-A-bQTtkL38pZeRP_lNIji1bosnq7UeWXmNM.NrfQX0Mt4qMsvR3L2hDj0RFB_7GXrOGbbHNFxP_dxm0&dib_tag=se&keywords=Fall+of+Roe&qid=1732370376&s=books&sprefix=fall+of+roe%2Cstripbooks%2C124&sr=1-1 James Mohr, Abortion in America: The Origins and Evolution of National Policy https://www.amazon.com/Abortion-America-Origins-Evolution-National/dp/0195026160/ref=sr_1_1?crid=TR1W25IRTLDR&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ZBOxRJsGiXDvGWbf9K1MRx7h7sn4m4_IDKwbohsbDD0.w_NHhzr7kEEWE8yR4B1rh1cuOGR8of66ZlXAvTHzxgM&dib_tag=se&keywords=James+Mohr+Abortion&qid=1732370158&s=books&sprefix=james+mohr+abortion%2Cstripbooks%2C116&sr=1-1 Leslie J. Reagan, When Abortion was a Crime: Women, Medicine, and Law in the United States, 1867- 1973 https://www.amazon.com/When-Abortion-Was-Crime-1867-1973-ebook/dp/B0B8TNX2MW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2S9JMDTGAJQRN&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.GVgbRixhq1FpPKRp5yMnMOkGBck7LhL6KpbcZwznkVsd7LzGl_DPfKYBmem066YyaLnnRv1PlQP8Ysr75l695zDs8EZVD-oM42iCfuISV0g.1k8qK_S9Vp5KaliYGNYObwpmoQUvVOmVmxULkBK2JtM&dib_tag=se&keywords=When+Abortion+Was+Illegal&qid=1732370269&s=books&sprefix=when+abortion+was+illegal%2Cstripbooks%2C102&sr=1-1-catcorr James Risen, Wrath of Angels: The American Abortion War https://www.amazon.com/Wrath-Angels-American-Abortion-War/dp/046509273X Anarchism in Gran Columbia feat. Andrew Cappelletti, Angel (2018). Anarchism in Latin America. AK Press. https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/anselme-bellegarrigue-the-world-s-first-anarchist-manifesto Anarchism in Central America feat. Andrew Cappelletti, Angel. (2018). Anarchism in Latin America. AK Press. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Green Dreamer: Sustainability and Regeneration From Ideas to Life
How do we navigate friendships in the context of social change and increasing political divides? What does it mean to ground ourselves in concepts that are much older than us — collectively nurturing our “garden of ideas”? And how do we move away from cancel culture to lovingly call one another in — to return, re-root, and remember our shared values?In this episode, Kaméa is joined in conversation by adrienne maree brown, whose most recent book, Loving Corrections, is now available from AK Press and wherever books are sold.Join us in this nourishing discussion to learn how to move through these troubled times with deeper grounding and impact — without letting possible senses of overwhelm translate into desensitization or disengagement.We invite you to…tune in and subscribe to Green Dreamer via any podcast app;subscribe to Kaméa's newsletters here;and support our show through a one-time donation or through joining our paid subscriptions on Patreon or Substack.
We are back for the holidays! Raising Rebels will be dropping 2 new episodes this December. But first we have some great news. After a 4 year wait, Moxie has finally been approved for top surgery. We are overjoyed! We are raising funds for surgery, recovery, a new wardrobe and seed money for Moxie's dreams.Give whatever you can, including words of encouragement. Moxie needs the support and love of the collective.I want to share an essay I wrote about parenting Moxie and Moxie parenting me titled Out & Open"Out & Open" from Trust Kids published by AK Pressby Noleca Anderson Radway Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Summary This month on Strangers we have Refuting the Legend: On the Words and Life of Louis Mercier-Vega. Jame Stout gives us an introduction to the life and words of Louis Mercier Vega, an anarchist writer who fought with the International Group of the Durruti Column in the Spanish Civil War, along with an English translation of Louis' piece Refuting the Legend from the original in French. The word of the month is about revolutionary foods. Follow along at tangledwilderness.org Guest Info James Stout (he/him), PhD, is a Adjunct Professor of World History, journalist, writer, and podcaster. He is the author of The Popular Front and the Barcelona 1936 Popular Olympics and an upcoming book on anarchists at war for AK Press as well as the co-host of It Could Happen Here. He participates in mutual aid work with migrants whenever he can. Where you can find more from James: https://www.patreon.com/Jamesstout jamesstout.net https://x.com/jamesstout Publisher This podcast is published by Strangers In A Tangled Wilderness. We can be found at www.tangledwilderness.org or on Twitter @tangledwild. You can support this show by subscribing to our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness Host The host is Inmn Neruin. You can find them on instagram @shadowtail.artificery Reader The Reader is Bea Flowers. If you would like to hear Bea narrate other things, or would like to get them to read things for you check them out at https://voicebea.wixsite.com/website Theme music The theme song was written and performed by Margaret Killjoy. You can find her at http://birdsbeforethestorm.net or on twitter @magpiekilljoy
This week, we are joined by beloved movement creatrix adrienne maree brown in a conversation about talking with trees, finding your murmuration, and holding complexity (and each other). With wisdom from Gratitude Blooming's rose card representing choice, the celebrated author of Emergent Strategy joins co-hosts Belinda Liu and Omar Brownson for an insightful conversation on building right relationships, the power of proximity and her new book Loving Corrections. We unravel the threads of how capitalism and colonization pull us away from our local communities and the urgent need for spiritual technologies to navigate global crises. Listen in as adrienne shares her wisdom on staying present and connected with our surroundings and the people closest to us, drawing from personal experiences and collective actions like passing a ceasefire resolution with her community in Durham, NC.How does a budding spring rosebud symbolize the myriad of decisions we face in life? In an illustration rich with metaphor, we explore the intricate paths of personal growth and choices, inspired by the branching paths of a rose drawing. From enchanting writing retreats in Ireland to the meditative act of planting rose bushes, we reflect on the lessons nature teaches us about balance, protection, and growth. Each choice, whether familiar or uncharted, blossoms with its own potential and beauty, mirroring our life's journey.Art and activism intertwine beautifully as we celebrate the power of creativity in times of political and emotional upheaval. Drawing from a spring equinox excerpt from her new book, adrienne maree brown shares how poetry, song, and spells can transform overwhelming emotions into life-affirming art. By turning chaos into creative expressions, we find ways to embrace joy, authenticity, and a positive outlook. We hope the heartfelt stories and actionable insights shared in this episode inspire you to turn tough emotions into meaningful actions and cultivate beauty and resilience even in the most challenging times.Deepen your exploration of Gratitude Blooming's Card #3 CHOICE / SPRING ROSE by tuning into our song and other episodes on choice here:https://www.gratitudeblooming.com/choiceExplore adrienne's work here:adrienne maree brown is growing a garden of healing ideas through her multi-genre writing, her collaborations and her podcasts. Informed by 25 years of movement facilitation, somatics, Octavia E Butler scholarship and her work as a doula, adrienne has nurtured Emergent Strategy, Pleasure Activism, Radical Imagination and Transformative Justice as ideas and practices for transformation. She is the author/editor of several published texts, cogenerator of a tarot deck and a developing musical ritual. adrienne's most recent book Loving Corrections is now available from AK Press and wherever books are sold. https://adriennemareebrown.net/Get your own Gratitude Blooming card deck, candle and much much more at our shop at www.gratitudeblooming.com. Your purchase helps us sustain this podcast, or you can also sponsor us here. If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave us a 5-star rating and review. Your feedback is valuable to us and helps us grow. Share your thoughts and comments by emailing us at hello@gratitudeblooming.com. We love hearing from our listeners!
Welcome to our 6th iteration of the Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause podcast: the Season of Orisii. Building on our international diasporic tour from last year, this season's theme is Orisii, or 'pairs' in the Afric language of Yoruba. We've invited different types of pairs to explore the through-line between menarche and menopause. You will hear parent/child, partner/lovers and siblings to offer their reflections and observations about this journey as individual and as Orisii. We, as people capable of menstruation, understand that each experience is unique and impacts both ourselves and the connections we have with our loved ones. For this third episode of our Season of Orisii, we have sisters adrienne maree brown and Autumn Brown. Opening portals, multiverse traveling companions, and life beyond the end of the world: How can we stay grounded in the present moment, in this reality of constant change, decay, death, and rebirth, without feeling completely overwhelmed? And then what? Surviving the various challenges within ourselves and in the world while navigating the transition between our changing identities of past, present, and future selves, all while supporting each other and remembering our individual needs. What if we redefined "self-centered" to mean the preservation of all aspects of ourselves, young, older, fragile, strong for iterative healing? These are some of the themes and questions we explored with the Sisters Brown, adrienne, and Autumn on this episode and we can't think of a better way to kick off Black August during our Season of Orisii. Black August is a time of year to honor our Black freedom fighters, political prisoners, and resistance against oppression via study, fasting, training and fighting. It is the antithesis of “celebration” and empty “homage.” Black August commemoration and practice place our collective struggle and sacrifice on center stage. More on the why of Black August here, detailed by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. Meet adrienne and Autumn: adrienne maree brown grows healing ideas in public through her multi-genre writing, her collaborations and her podcasts. Informed by 25 years of movement facilitation, somatics, Octavia E. Butler scholarship and her work as a doula, adrienne has nurtured Emergent Strategy, Pleasure Activism, Radical Imagination and Transformative Justice as ideas and practices for transformation. She is the author/editor of several published texts, co-generator of a tarot deck and a developing musical ritual. adrienne's forthcoming book Loving Corrections will be released on August 20 from AK Press. Autumn Brown is a musician, facilitator, and author of speculative fiction and creative non-fiction. As the front woman of the eponymous band, AUTUMN, she has created two EPs, The Animal in You and The Way Your Blood Beats. Her writing has been featured in Revolutionary Mothering, Parenting 4 Social Justice, Octavia's Brood, and Lightspeed Magazine. She co-hosts the podcast How to Survive the End of the World, and facilitates political education and movement strategy through the Anti-Oppression Resource and Training Alliance. To learn more about the Sisters Brown, check out the following links: adrienne maree brown Autumn Brown How to Survive the End of the World There she is—- neither Super hero nor villain Something in between Inside the between A life lived so many times Familiar echoes Between truth and dare Lies all of the answers still… YOU are your best thing Black August Haiku, Omisade Burney-Scott Show Notes: Produced by Mariah M., Creative Director at BGG2SM Hosted by Omisade Burney-Scott, Founder & Chief Curatorial Officer at BGG2SM Edited by Kim Blocker of TDS Radio Theme music by Taj Scott Season 6 Artwork by Assata Goff, artist & in-house Iconographer of BGG2SM Season 6 of is sponsored by The Honey Pot Company Learn more about Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause at www.blackgirlsguidetosurvivingmenopause.com
Astra Taylor on her new book from AK Press, "The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart." "Rotten History" follows the interview. Check out Astra's book here: https://www.akpress.org/the-age-of-insecurity.html Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell
Writer and organizer Andrew Lee joins me to discuss their new book Defying Displacement: Urban Recomposition and Social War, published through AK Press and the Institute for Anarchist Studies. Defying Displacement grounds itself in one of the main sites of contemporary class struggle: communities facing the multi-headed hydra of gentrification. Andrew Lee directs our attention to the on-the-ground realities of urban displacement, and in turn, provides a new theory of the state and capitalism in the 21st century. “And all of a sudden, to maintain what we have—not improve, not get benefits. This isn't the ‘60s. We aren't talking about, give us ethnic studies and a health clinic. It's much worse than that. It's: don't displace me. Let me keep paying rent to my landlord; let me keep paying property taxes on the family home; let me keep working a bad job; just don't make my rent so high that my community is obliterated. “And the people that brings us into conflict with aren't just a local regional rich dude. More and more, they are global financial institutions and the entirety of the political system and civil society. In the places where we live, they're bringing us into open conflict with the foundation of capitalist society, and that is what we need to navigate through. And if we can, we can win everything.” Andrew Lee is a writer and organizer exploring the intersection between land, home, resistance, and popular power. Their work has been published in outlets including Teen Vogue, The New Inquiry, and YES! Magazine. Episode Notes: - Learn more about Andrew's work: https://www.xandrewleex.com - Purchase a copy of Defying Displacement from AK Press or Bookshop: https://bit.ly/3X2tO33 / https://www.akpress.org/defying-displacement.html - Music produced by Epik The Dawn: https://epikbeats.net WEBSITE: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness DONATE: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast SUBSTACK: https://lastborninthewilderness.substack.com BOOK LIST: https://bookshop.org/shop/lastbornpodcast DROP ME A LINE: Call (208) 918-2837 or http://bit.ly/LBWfiledrop EVERYTHING ELSE: https://linktr.ee/patterns.of.behavior
On this episode of the It’s Going Down podcast, we speak with Andrew Lee, an organizer and author of the new book out from AK Press, Defying Displacement: Urban Recomposition and Social War. During our discussion, we speak with Lee about how elites, capitalists, and city bureaucrats are banking on gentrification and how people are... Read Full Article
Desire Wandan and Dan Friedman co-host this episode with guest Ramsey Kanaan, publisher of PM Press, the most impactful publisher and distributor of anarchist, Marxist, and radical literature in the United States. The conversation touches on the history of anarchism (“reviled, mocked, ignored”) Kanaan's own embrace of radical politics at the age of 13, his years touring Europe with the punk band, Political Asylum, his founding of AK Press in the UK and PM Press in the USA, the general crisis in publishing, and how PM has been able to survive and thrive in a hostile political and economic environment. “It is important,” Kanaan emphasizes, “to build structures and institutions to control the means of production and distribution of our ideas.” www.pmpress.org https://www.tiktok.com/@pmpress https://twitter.com/PMPressOrg https://www.instagram.com/pmpress https://www.facebook.com/pm.press/ https://www.youtube.com/user/PMPress ----more---- Welcome to All Power to the Developing, a podcast of the East Side Institute. The Institute is a center for social change efforts that reinitiate human and community development. We support, connect, and partner with committed and creative activists, scholars, artists, helpers, and healers all over the world. In 2003, Institute co-founders Lois Holzman and the late Fred Newman had a paper published with the title “All Power to the Developing.” This phrase captures how vital it is for all people—no matter their age, circumstance, status, race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation—to grow, develop and transform emotionally, socially and intellectually if we are to have a shot at creating something positive out of the intense crises we're all experiencing. We hope that this podcast series will show you that, far more than a slogan, “all power to the developing” is a loving activity, a pulsing heart in an all too cruel world. ----more---- The East Side Institute is a hub for a diverse and emergent community of social activists, thought leaders, and practitioners who are reigniting our human abilities to imagine, create and perform beyond ourselves—to develop. Each episode will introduce you to another performance activist or play revolutionary from around the world. To learn more about the East Side Institute you can go to https://eastsideinstitute.org/ Made possible in part by Growing Social Therapeutics: The Baylah Wolfe Fund.
Writer and organizer Andrew Lee joins me to discuss their new book Defying Displacement: Urban Recomposition and Social War, published through AK Press and the Institute for Anarchist Studies. Defying Displacement grounds itself in one of the main sites of contemporary class struggle: communities facing the multi-headed hydra of gentrification. Andrew Lee directs our attention to the on-the-ground realities of urban displacement, and in turn, provides a new theory of the state and capitalism in the 21st century. Support the work and listen to the full interview: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness
Donovan is staying, the front office is staying Changes need to be made, explicitly in the big 3 DeMar and Pat are coming back We need to be top 4 to pay the tax We aren't going to look to take a step back to take two steps forward All of this is going to happen because AK is creative despite the fact the math doesn't work
In this episode, we're joined by Berivan & Anna from Defend Rojava. Berivan Omar is a Kurdish feminist activist and social ecologist who lives in Northeast Syria, and Anna Rebrii is an activist and author who is involved with the Emergency Committee for Rojava. They will be authoring a chapter in a book next year with AK Press titled “Rojava in Focus: Critical Dialogues” highlighting the successes and struggles the region has face since its autonomy. We chat about the role agroecology has played so far in Rojava and the role it will continue to play as the region continues to grapple with the unique challenges it faces in the region. To learn more about the history and role of ecology in the region, check out the following links: Upcoming book chapter co-authored by Berivan and Anna: https://greenbeanbookspdx.indielite.org/book/9781849355728 Useful article on the movement's philosophy and challenges on the ecological front: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2021.815338 A recent article with the general overview of developments in Rojava: https://www.truthdig.com/articles/rojavas-improvised-revolution/ Book Make Rojava Green Again: https://files.libcom.org/files/make-rojava-green-again.pdf Brochure Commitment to an ecological society in Rojava: https://7f2d1cef-1300-4fc6-ac1a-9615070f599d.filesusr.com/ugd/7b1b38_b2a83cdecd4740ceaaabbc753d592e34.pdf Emergency Committee for Rojava's website: https://www.defendrojava.org/ Social media: @defendrojava Contact: info@defendrojava.org To support this podcast, join our patreon for early episode access at https://www.patreon.com/poorprolesalmanac For PPA Writing Content, visit: www.agroecologies.org For PPA Restoration Content, visit: www.restorationagroecology.com For PPA Merch, visit: www.poorproles.com For PPA Native Plants, visit: www.nativenurseries.org To hear Tomorrow, Today, our sister podcast, visit: www.tomorrowtodaypodcast.org/
Prison and police abolitionists, rebels and radicals, peace activists and environmental warriors, freedom fighters and dissidents, political prisoners of every type—the voices of dissent and defiance—are gathered together in a dazzling collection from AK Press called Rattling the Cages: Oral Histories of North American Political Prisoners. Join us as we discuss the meaning of “political prisoners” with Eric King and Josh Davidson, and explore the challenges ahead for those of us fighting for a world without prisons.
From Assata Shakur to Leonard Peltier, social movements have lifted up political prisoners as revolutionary examples and fought protracted, often decades-long campaigns to secure their release. Now, a new collection from AK Press, Rattling the Cages: Oral Histories of North American Political Prisoners, gathers the experience and wisdom of some 30 political prisoners in one place for the first time. Eric King and Josh Davidson, the editors of the project, join Rattling the Bars to discuss their new book and the urgency of the fight to free political prisoners.Josh Davidson is an abolitionist who is involved in numerous projects, including the Certain Days Collective, which publishes the annual Freedom for Political Prisoners calendar, and the Children's Art Project with political prisoner Oso Blanco. Josh also works in communications with the Zinn Education Project.Eric King is a father, poet, author, and activist. He is a political prisoner serving a 10-year federal sentence for an act of protest over the police murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014. He is scheduled to be released in 2024. He has been held in solitary confinement for years on end and has been assaulted by both guards and white supremacists. King has published three zines: Battle Tested, Antifa in Prison, and Pacing in My Cell.Studio / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast
Andrea J. Ritchie, a self-described “Black lesbian immigrant survivor” who has been engaged since the 1980s in anti-violence, labor, and LGBTQ organizing, and in movements against state violence and for racial, reproductive, economic, environmental, and gender justice, offers a toolkit for organizers. If you've been wondering how to create a world that is collectively based, safer and more just — and curious as to what is actually required to make the changes that we want to see in society — Ritchie's newest book, Practicing New Worlds: Abolition and Emergent Strategies, published by AK Press, is a visionary and practical workbook and toolkit. Some of her other books include Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color and No More Police, co-authored with Mariame Kaba. She also co-founded Interrupting Criminalization and the In Our Names Network, a network of over 20 organizations working to end police violence against Black women, girls, trans and gender nonconforming people.“Change happens by acting as though the future that you are dreaming of is present now. And then practicing that with people who share your vision and values and then bringing more and more people into the conversation.” - Andrea J. Ritchie“[Emergent strategies are] a way of approaching a world that interrupts violence in all its forms and creates new possibilities that we can't imagine yet.” - Andrea J. RitchieGuest:Andrea J. Ritchie: Author, Practicing New Worlds: Abolition and Emergent Strategies; Co-Founder, Interrupting Criminalization Full Episode Notes are located HERE. They include related episodes, articles, and more.Music In the Middle: “I Keeps It Moving” David Anthony and Dani Vassar courtesy of Planet Hum Records and Pitch Control. And additional music included- "Steppin" by Podington Bear. April 2024 The Laura Flanders Show is rebranding as ‘Laura Flanders & Friends': This change marks a new era for the award-winning host, Laura Flanders. The upcoming season will introduce a collaborative hosting format, featuring a diverse array of co-hosts from different backgrounds and different regions of the country. Expect new faces, unique perspectives, and impactful conversations that will leave viewers feeling inspired.This podcast is made possible thanks to our member supporters. Join our members by making a one time donation, or make it monthly => LauraFlanders.org/donate Thank you! The Laura Flanders Show Crew: Laura Flanders, Sabrina Artel, David Neuman, Nat Needham, Rory O'Conner, Janet Hernandez, Sarah Miller and Jeannie Hopper FOLLOW The Laura Flanders ShowTwitter: twitter.com/thelfshowTikTok: tiktok.com/@thelfshowFacebook: facebook.com/theLFshowInstagram: instagram.com/thelfshowYouTube: youtube.com/@thelfshow ACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel
From Assata Shakur to Leonard Peltier, social movements have lifted up political prisoners as revolutionary examples and fought protracted, often decades-long campaigns to secure their release. Now, a new collection from AK Press, Rattling the Cages: Oral Histories of North American Political Prisoners, gathers the experience and wisdom of some 30 political prisoners in one place for the first time. Eric King and Josh Davidson, the editors of the project, join Rattling the Bars to discuss their new book and the urgency of the fight to free political prisoners.Josh Davidson is an abolitionist who is involved in numerous projects, including the Certain Days Collective, which publishes the annual Freedom for Political Prisoners calendar, and the Children's Art Project with political prisoner Oso Blanco. Josh also works in communications with the Zinn Education Project.Eric King is a father, poet, author, and activist. He is a political prisoner serving a 10-year federal sentence for an act of protest over the police murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014. He is scheduled to be released in 2024. He has been held in solitary confinement for years on end and has been assaulted by both guards and white supremacists. King has published three zines: Battle Tested, Antifa in Prison, and Pacing in My Cell.Studio / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast
Dans la métropole cosmopolite et vibrante du Québec, des hommes et des femmes se sont mis en marche pour révéler et partager l'histoire noire de la ville et de la province. L'auteur et artiste afro-québécois Webster est de ceux-là. Rencontre avec un homme en quête d'histoire(s) et de vérité... Quand on parle d'histoire noire et d'esclavage, le récit national canadien a longtemps fait la part belle au réseau abolitionniste du chemin de fer clandestin et à tous ces esclaves américains en fuite qui, au XIXè siècle, ont trouvé refuge au Canada. On les appelait les « freedom seekers », ceux qui cherchent la liberté. Dans le premier épisode de cette série, on est parti dans les rues de Montréal, à la rencontre de leurs dignes héritiers, « history seekers » cette fois : des hommes et des femmes, afro-canadiens pour la plupart, chercheurs d'histoire qui ont décidé de remettre à sa juste place l'histoire des Noir.e.s au Québec, longtemps reléguée, comme oubliée des mémoires. Le passé esclavagiste a longtemps occupé une place particulière dans l'historiographie québécoise, entre omissions et arrangements avec un passé complexe et une vérité inconfortable. Mais les faits, comme nos chercheurs d'histoire, sont têtus. Pour ce second épisode, on vous propose de creuser le sillon que l'on a suivi en voyage à Montréal dans le premier épisode, avec l'un de ces chercheurs d'histoire, en la personne de Webster, activiste et artiste afroquébécois, qui a initié, dès 2016, des visites guidées dans sa ville Québec, sur les traces de l'histoire noire là-bas. Depuis, il a multiplié les projets, le dernier en date étant la traduction en français qu'il a lui-même mené du livre phare du philosophe américain Charles W. Mills « Le contrat racial ».Webster, de son vrai nom Aly NDiaye, est né d'un père sénégalais et d'une mère québécoise ; et aujourd'hui, il est devenu une voix qui compte, qu'il faut savoir écouter…Et c'est ce que l'on va faire aujourd'hui.Un reportage en deux épisodes de Céline Develay-Mazurelle et Laure AllaryÀ vivre, à voir :- Découvrir la programmation éclectique du Mois de l'histoire des Noir.e.s sur le site de Tourisme Montréal- Suivre une visite guidée sur les traces de la présence et l'histoire noire à Montréal : Black Montreal Experience- Aller au Musée Mc Cord Stewart, musée d'histoire sociale de Montréal- Faire un tour à Québec et suivre les visites Qc History X mises en place par l'artiste et conférencier Webster- Découvrir l'ABC's of Canadian Black History imaginé par l'historienne Dorothy Williams. En anglais.- En savoir plus sur la table ronde du Mois de l'histoire des Noir.e.s. Édition 2024- Découvrir le projet en ligne « Je suis Montréal », qui met en avant les communautés invisibilisées dans la société montréalaise.- Quelques statistiques publiques sur les communautés noires au Canada. À lire : - «L'esclavage et les Noirs à Montréal : 1760-1840» de Franck Mackey. 2013. Éditions Hurtubise - «Black in Montreal 1628-1986: An Urban Demography» de Dorothy W. Williams. En anglais- «Le contrat racial» de Charles W Mills. Traduction française par Webster. 2022. Éditions Mémoire d'encrier- «La pendaison d'Angelique. L'histoire de l'esclavage au Canada et de l'incendie de Montréal» de Afua Cooper. 2007. Éditions De l'Homme - «North of the Color Line. Migration and Black resistance in Canada. 1870-1955» de Sarah-Jane Mathieu. 2010. Éditions University of North Carolina Press. En anglais- «Le grain de Sable. Olivier le Jeune premier esclave au Canada » de Webster et illustré par ValMo!. 2019. Éditions Septentrion- «Fear of a Black Nation Race, Sex, and Security in Sixties Montreal», de David Austin. 2e Édition. 2023. Éditions AK Press. En anglais- «L'esclavage au Canada». Une synthèse en PDF accessible et pédagogique écrite par Webster - Un entretien avec Marcel Trudel, pionnier de l'histoire de l'esclavage au Québec». Un article de Cap aux Diamants, la revue d'histoire du Québec. 2004- Toutes les ressources sur l'histoire noire dans l'Encyclopédie Canadienne. À écouter :- Résistance : le balado sur les traces de Shadrach Minkins, par Webster. Produit par Radio Canada et disponible sur rfi.fr- Les 3 épisodes de notre voyage sur le chemin de fer clandestin au Canada, en Ontario. Une série Si loin si proche- La série audio « Portraits de Noirs au Canada» par Radio Canada Internationale.
Dans la métropole cosmopolite et vibrante du Québec, des hommes et des femmes se sont mis en marche pour révéler et partager l'histoire noire de la ville et de la province. Suivons-les ! Quand on parle d'histoire noire et d'esclavage, le récit national canadien a longtemps fait la part belle au réseau abolitionniste du chemin de fer clandestin et à tous ces esclaves américains en fuite qui, au XIXè siècle, ont trouvé refuge au Canada. On les appelait les « freedom seekers », ceux qui cherchent la liberté. Dans ce premier épisode, on vous propose d'aller à Montréal, à la rencontre de leurs dignes héritiers, « history seekers » cette fois : des hommes et des femmes, Afro-Canadiens pour la plupart, chercheurs d'histoire qui ont décidé de remettre à sa juste place l'histoire des Noirs au Québec.Le passé esclavagiste a longtemps occupé une place particulière dans l'historiographie québécoise, entre omissions et arrangements avec un passé complexe et une vérité inconfortable. Mais les faits, comme nos chercheurs d'histoire, sont têtus. Et désormais, dans les rues du vieux Montréal ou de la Petite Bourgogne, fief historique de la communauté noire surnommé la « Harlem du Nord », on croise des visiteurs emmenés par un guide, tous en quête d'histoire noire. Dans la ville, des institutions culturelles s'interrogent aussi sur leurs pratiques ; cherchant à décoloniser leurs approches et à faire plus de place aux communautés historiquement marginalisées, en tête les Autochtones et les Noirs. Révéler la présence noire dans une ville où plus de la moitié des Afro-Québécois a décidé de vivre, c'est une façon de faire le lien entre passé et présent de la ville, d'interroger le sort réservé, hier comme aujourd'hui, aux communautés noires, de faire la lumière sur les angles morts d'un récit national qui a longtemps occulté son passé d'esclavage et de ségrégation comme ses continuités. C'est enfin l'occasion de croiser des figures de la résistance noire particulièrement inspirantes. Un reportage en deux épisodes de Céline Develay-Mazurelle et Laure Allary.Avec:- Rito Joseph, guide conférencier à l'initiative des visites « Black Montreal Experience »- Aly Ndiaye alias Webster, auteur, rappeur, conférencier et activiste afro-québécois - Dorothy Williams, historienne de référence sur la présence noire à Montréal, en particulier dans le quartier dit de la Petite Bourgogne - Les équipes en visite du Musée McCord Stewart, musée d'histoire sociale de Montréal- Franck Mackey, historien spécialiste de l'esclavage des Noirs à Montréal. À vivre, à voir : - Découvrir la programmation éclectique du Mois de l'histoire des Noir.e.s sur le site de Tourisme Montréal- Suivre une visite guidée sur les traces de la présence et l'histoire noire à Montréal : Black Montreal Experience- Aller au Musée Mc Cord Stewart, musée d'histoire sociale de Montréal- Faire un tour à Québec et suivre les visites Qc History X mises en place par l'artiste et conférencier Webster- Découvrir l'ABC's of Canadian Black History imaginé par l'historienne Dorothy Williams. En anglais et en français. - En savoir plus sur la table ronde du Mois de l'histoire des Noir.e.s. Édition 2024- Découvrir le projet en ligne « Je suis Montréal », qui met en avant les communautés invisibilisées dans la société montréalaise. - Quelques statistiques publiques sur les communautés noires au Canada. À lire : - « L'esclavage et les noirs à Montréal : 1760-1840 » de Franck Mackey. 2013. Éditions Hurtubise. - « Black in Montreal 1628-1986: An Urban Demography » de Dorothy W. Williams. En anglais.- « Le contrat racial » de Charles W Mills. Traduction française par Webster. 2022. Éditions Mémoire d'encrier.- « La pendaison d'Angelique. L'histoire de l'esclavage au Canada et de l'incendie de Montréal » de Afua Cooper. 2007. Éditions De l'Homme. - « North of the Color Line. Migration and Black resistance in Canada. 1870-1955 » de Sarah-Jane Mathieu. 2010. Editions University of North Carolina Press. En anglais- « Le grain de Sable. Olivier le Jeune premier esclave au Canada » de Webster et illustré par ValMo!. 2019. Éditions Septentrion.- « Fear of a Black Nation Race, Sex, and Security in Sixties Montreal, de David Austin. 2e Édition. 2023. Éditions AK Press. En anglais- « L'esclavage au Canada ». Une synthèse en PDF accessible et pédagogique écrite par Webster - Un entretien avec Marcel Trudel, pionnier de l'histoire de l'esclavage au Québec. Un article de Cap aux Diamants, la revue d'histoire du Québec. 2004- Toutes les ressources sur l'histoire noire dans l'Encyclopédie Canadienne. À écouter :- Résistance : le balado sur les traces de Shadrach Minkins, par Webster. Produit par Radio Canada et disponible sur rfi.fr- Les 3 épisodes de notre voyage sur le chemin de fer clandestin au Canada, en Ontario. Une série Si loin si proche- La série audio « Portraits de Noirs au Canada » par Radio Canada Internationale.
We're sharing a recent chat with Andrew Lee (instagram / tiktok), author of the book Defying Displacement: Urban Recomposition and Social War, released by AK Press on February 6th 2024. Andrew and I talk about gentrification, speculation and financialization of houses, the destruction of communities by racial capitalism and the state, and some methods used to fight back and stay put. Andrew shouts out Decolonize Philly as a project to pay attention to. Housecleaning Weekly, we work to bring you and our wider audience, including over the radio waves, conversations that you won't hear many other places. And we operate at a minimal cost, paying for transcription, printing, mailing, web hosting to make sure that information is easier translatable and accessible, including to our comrades behind bars. The most regular way that we fund that is from the patreon. Our patreon is currently below supporting our monthly operating costs of around $500, so we're asking folks on the fence of supporting this project who have a patreon account to kick in and help at $3 or more a month. If you don't have a patreon, we do have a liberapay you can psuedonymously kick us money from or set up a recurring payment from paypal and we also can take money via venmo or stripe. If you haven't supported us before or haven't for a while now and can afford to, we'd really appreciate the help. And if you're already supporting us or have in the past in various ways, thank you. . ... . .. Featured Track: Doin It (instrumental) by LL Cool J
Summary This month we have Death of a Murder, a short story set in a not-too-distant bio-tech, sci-fi future about radicals waging a revolution against the Unifers who control the world we know now and how fighting in a revolution is never simple. The word of a month is also about the future...and birds. Guest Info Vicky Osterweil is a writer, worker and agitator living in Philadelphia. Her book In Defense of Looting came out in 2020 with Bold Type Books. You can find her at https://vickyosterweil.substack.com/ and her book In Defense of Looting is out with AK Press here. Publisher This podcast is published by Strangers In A Tangled Wilderness. We can be found at www.tangledwilderness.org or on Twitter @tangledwild. You can support this show by subscribing to our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness Host The host is Inmn Neruin. You can find them on instagram @shadowtail.artificery Reader The Reader is Bea Flowers. If you would like to hear Bea narrate other things, or would like to get them to read things for you check them out at https://voicebea.wixsite.com/website Theme music The theme song was written and performed by Margaret Killjoy. You can find her at http://birdsbeforethestorm.net or on twitter @magpiekilljoy
Starting in the 1970s, small groups of feminist activists met regularly to study anatomy, practice pelvic exams on each other, and learn how to safely perform a procedure known as menstrual extraction, which can end a pregnancy, using equipment easily bought and assembled at home. This “self-help” movement grew into a robust national and international collaboration of activists determined to ensure access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion, at all costs—to the point of learning how to do the necessary steps themselves. Our guest today is Angela Hume, a feminist historian, author, literary critic, and poet, discussing her latest book that tells the history of the Bay Area's leadership in the “self-help” abortion access movement. The book is called Deep Care: The Radical Activists Who Provided Abortions, Defied the Law, and Fought to Keep Clinics Open. Learn more about the book at AK Press: https://www.akpress.org/deep-care.html —- Subscribe to this podcast: https://plinkhq.com/i/1637968343?to=page Get in touch: lawanddisorder@kpfa.org Follow us on socials @LawAndDis: https://twitter.com/LawAndDis; https://www.instagram.com/lawanddis/ The post Deep Care: Radical Abortion Access History w/ Angela Hume appeared first on KPFA.
https://ia801201.us.archive.org/18/items/black-rose-pres/BlackRosePres.mp3 Listen and Download HERE On this special episode of the It’s Going Down podcast, we feature an audio recording from a presentation in the bay area this summer on July 18th by the Black Rose Anarchist Federation / Rosa Negra Anarchist Federation’s Bay Area local and AK Press hosted historian Troy Araiza Kokinis to... Read Full Article
In this episode of High Theory, Angela Hume tells us about Self Help, not the neoliberal strategy of self-actualization through consumer choices, but the radical political movement of gynecological self-help, that flourished in the late twentieth century and created a set of portable political tactics based in anarchist feminist philosophy. In the episode, she references Alondra Nelson's book Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight against Medical Discrimination (Minnesota UP, 2013); Michelle Murphy's Seizing the Means of Reproduction: Entanglements of Feminism, Health, and Technoscience (Duke UP, 2012); and several health activist organizations, including the Women's Choice Clinic in Oakland, CA; AidAccess which provides mail order medication assisted abortion; and MYA Network, a group of clinicians seeking to expand abortion access in primary care settings. Angela suggested we include three links that everyone should have at their fingertips, PlanC (plancpills.org) which helps people access abortion pills, AidAccess (aidaccess.org) the pill fulfillment service described above, and I Need an A (ineedana.com), a clinic locator. In our longer conversation, she also named the Keep Our Clinics campaign, a fundraising effort to support independent abortion clinics, to which pre-sales of her book contributed. We're sorry we didn't get this up early enough for you to participate in the pre-sale! But now the book is out in the world, you can even read a review of it in The Guardian. Our conversation is based Angela's new book, Deep Care: The Radical Activists Who Provided Abortions, Defied the Law, and Fought to Keep Clinics Open(link is external) (AK Press, 2023). A work of public scholarship and a history of medicine, the book tells a story of Bay Area abortion defense—from feminist clinical practice, to underground abortion provision, to street politics and clinic defense—from the 1970s to 2000s. You can read an excerpt from the book in the Post45 contemporaries collection “Abortion Now, Abortion Forever,” which was the starting point for our conversation on High Theory. Angela Hume is a feminist historian, critic, and poet, who teaches at UC Berkeley. Her creative and expository writing classes address environmental and health justice, working-class and multiethnic American literatures, feminist and queer storytelling, and more. Beyond Deep Care, Angela is co-editor of Ecopoetics: Essays in the Field(link is external) (U of Iowa P, 2018). Her full-length books of poetry include Middle Time(link is external) (Omnidawn, 2016) and Interventions for Women (Omnidawn, 2021). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In this episode of High Theory, Angela Hume tells us about Self Help, not the neoliberal strategy of self-actualization through consumer choices, but the radical political movement of gynecological self-help, that flourished in the late twentieth century and created a set of portable political tactics based in anarchist feminist philosophy. In the episode, she references Alondra Nelson's book Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight against Medical Discrimination (Minnesota UP, 2013); Michelle Murphy's Seizing the Means of Reproduction: Entanglements of Feminism, Health, and Technoscience (Duke UP, 2012); and several health activist organizations, including the Women's Choice Clinic in Oakland, CA; AidAccess which provides mail order medication assisted abortion; and MYA Network, a group of clinicians seeking to expand abortion access in primary care settings. Angela suggested we include three links that everyone should have at their fingertips, PlanC (plancpills.org) which helps people access abortion pills, AidAccess (aidaccess.org) the pill fulfillment service described above, and I Need an A (ineedana.com), a clinic locator. In our longer conversation, she also named the Keep Our Clinics campaign, a fundraising effort to support independent abortion clinics, to which pre-sales of her book contributed. We're sorry we didn't get this up early enough for you to participate in the pre-sale! But now the book is out in the world, you can even read a review of it in The Guardian. Our conversation is based Angela's new book, Deep Care: The Radical Activists Who Provided Abortions, Defied the Law, and Fought to Keep Clinics Open(link is external) (AK Press, 2023). A work of public scholarship and a history of medicine, the book tells a story of Bay Area abortion defense—from feminist clinical practice, to underground abortion provision, to street politics and clinic defense—from the 1970s to 2000s. You can read an excerpt from the book in the Post45 contemporaries collection “Abortion Now, Abortion Forever,” which was the starting point for our conversation on High Theory. Angela Hume is a feminist historian, critic, and poet, who teaches at UC Berkeley. Her creative and expository writing classes address environmental and health justice, working-class and multiethnic American literatures, feminist and queer storytelling, and more. Beyond Deep Care, Angela is co-editor of Ecopoetics: Essays in the Field(link is external) (U of Iowa P, 2018). Her full-length books of poetry include Middle Time(link is external) (Omnidawn, 2016) and Interventions for Women (Omnidawn, 2021). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history
In this episode of High Theory, Angela Hume tells us about Self Help, not the neoliberal strategy of self-actualization through consumer choices, but the radical political movement of gynecological self-help, that flourished in the late twentieth century and created a set of portable political tactics based in anarchist feminist philosophy. In the episode, she references Alondra Nelson's book Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight against Medical Discrimination (Minnesota UP, 2013); Michelle Murphy's Seizing the Means of Reproduction: Entanglements of Feminism, Health, and Technoscience (Duke UP, 2012); and several health activist organizations, including the Women's Choice Clinic in Oakland, CA; AidAccess which provides mail order medication assisted abortion; and MYA Network, a group of clinicians seeking to expand abortion access in primary care settings. Angela suggested we include three links that everyone should have at their fingertips, PlanC (plancpills.org) which helps people access abortion pills, AidAccess (aidaccess.org) the pill fulfillment service described above, and I Need an A (ineedana.com), a clinic locator. In our longer conversation, she also named the Keep Our Clinics campaign, a fundraising effort to support independent abortion clinics, to which pre-sales of her book contributed. We're sorry we didn't get this up early enough for you to participate in the pre-sale! But now the book is out in the world, you can even read a review of it in The Guardian. Our conversation is based Angela's new book, Deep Care: The Radical Activists Who Provided Abortions, Defied the Law, and Fought to Keep Clinics Open(link is external) (AK Press, 2023). A work of public scholarship and a history of medicine, the book tells a story of Bay Area abortion defense—from feminist clinical practice, to underground abortion provision, to street politics and clinic defense—from the 1970s to 2000s. You can read an excerpt from the book in the Post45 contemporaries collection “Abortion Now, Abortion Forever,” which was the starting point for our conversation on High Theory. Angela Hume is a feminist historian, critic, and poet, who teaches at UC Berkeley. Her creative and expository writing classes address environmental and health justice, working-class and multiethnic American literatures, feminist and queer storytelling, and more. Beyond Deep Care, Angela is co-editor of Ecopoetics: Essays in the Field(link is external) (U of Iowa P, 2018). Her full-length books of poetry include Middle Time(link is external) (Omnidawn, 2016) and Interventions for Women (Omnidawn, 2021). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode of High Theory, Angela Hume tells us about Self Help, not the neoliberal strategy of self-actualization through consumer choices, but the radical political movement of gynecological self-help, that flourished in the late twentieth century and created a set of portable political tactics based in anarchist feminist philosophy. In the episode, she references Alondra Nelson's book Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight against Medical Discrimination (Minnesota UP, 2013); Michelle Murphy's Seizing the Means of Reproduction: Entanglements of Feminism, Health, and Technoscience (Duke UP, 2012); and several health activist organizations, including the Women's Choice Clinic in Oakland, CA; AidAccess which provides mail order medication assisted abortion; and MYA Network, a group of clinicians seeking to expand abortion access in primary care settings. Angela suggested we include three links that everyone should have at their fingertips, PlanC (plancpills.org) which helps people access abortion pills, AidAccess (aidaccess.org) the pill fulfillment service described above, and I Need an A (ineedana.com), a clinic locator. In our longer conversation, she also named the Keep Our Clinics campaign, a fundraising effort to support independent abortion clinics, to which pre-sales of her book contributed. We're sorry we didn't get this up early enough for you to participate in the pre-sale! But now the book is out in the world, you can even read a review of it in The Guardian. Our conversation is based Angela's new book, Deep Care: The Radical Activists Who Provided Abortions, Defied the Law, and Fought to Keep Clinics Open(link is external) (AK Press, 2023). A work of public scholarship and a history of medicine, the book tells a story of Bay Area abortion defense—from feminist clinical practice, to underground abortion provision, to street politics and clinic defense—from the 1970s to 2000s. You can read an excerpt from the book in the Post45 contemporaries collection “Abortion Now, Abortion Forever,” which was the starting point for our conversation on High Theory. Angela Hume is a feminist historian, critic, and poet, who teaches at UC Berkeley. Her creative and expository writing classes address environmental and health justice, working-class and multiethnic American literatures, feminist and queer storytelling, and more. Beyond Deep Care, Angela is co-editor of Ecopoetics: Essays in the Field(link is external) (U of Iowa P, 2018). Her full-length books of poetry include Middle Time(link is external) (Omnidawn, 2016) and Interventions for Women (Omnidawn, 2021). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory
In this episode of High Theory, Angela Hume tells us about Self Help, not the neoliberal strategy of self-actualization through consumer choices, but the radical political movement of gynecological self-help, that flourished in the late twentieth century and created a set of portable political tactics based in anarchist feminist philosophy. In the episode, she references Alondra Nelson's book Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight against Medical Discrimination (Minnesota UP, 2013); Michelle Murphy's Seizing the Means of Reproduction: Entanglements of Feminism, Health, and Technoscience (Duke UP, 2012); and several health activist organizations, including the Women's Choice Clinic in Oakland, CA; AidAccess which provides mail order medication assisted abortion; and MYA Network, a group of clinicians seeking to expand abortion access in primary care settings. Angela suggested we include three links that everyone should have at their fingertips, PlanC (plancpills.org) which helps people access abortion pills, AidAccess (aidaccess.org) the pill fulfillment service described above, and I Need an A (ineedana.com), a clinic locator. In our longer conversation, she also named the Keep Our Clinics campaign, a fundraising effort to support independent abortion clinics, to which pre-sales of her book contributed. We're sorry we didn't get this up early enough for you to participate in the pre-sale! But now the book is out in the world, you can even read a review of it in The Guardian. Our conversation is based Angela's new book, Deep Care: The Radical Activists Who Provided Abortions, Defied the Law, and Fought to Keep Clinics Open(link is external) (AK Press, 2023). A work of public scholarship and a history of medicine, the book tells a story of Bay Area abortion defense—from feminist clinical practice, to underground abortion provision, to street politics and clinic defense—from the 1970s to 2000s. You can read an excerpt from the book in the Post45 contemporaries collection “Abortion Now, Abortion Forever,” which was the starting point for our conversation on High Theory. Angela Hume is a feminist historian, critic, and poet, who teaches at UC Berkeley. Her creative and expository writing classes address environmental and health justice, working-class and multiethnic American literatures, feminist and queer storytelling, and more. Beyond Deep Care, Angela is co-editor of Ecopoetics: Essays in the Field(link is external) (U of Iowa P, 2018). Her full-length books of poetry include Middle Time(link is external) (Omnidawn, 2016) and Interventions for Women (Omnidawn, 2021). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/medicine
In this episode of High Theory, Angela Hume tells us about Self Help, not the neoliberal strategy of self-actualization through consumer choices, but the radical political movement of gynecological self-help, that flourished in the late twentieth century and created a set of portable political tactics based in anarchist feminist philosophy. In the episode, she references Alondra Nelson's book Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight against Medical Discrimination (Minnesota UP, 2013); Michelle Murphy's Seizing the Means of Reproduction: Entanglements of Feminism, Health, and Technoscience (Duke UP, 2012); and several health activist organizations, including the Women's Choice Clinic in Oakland, CA; AidAccess which provides mail order medication assisted abortion; and MYA Network, a group of clinicians seeking to expand abortion access in primary care settings. Angela suggested we include three links that everyone should have at their fingertips, PlanC (plancpills.org) which helps people access abortion pills, AidAccess (aidaccess.org) the pill fulfillment service described above, and I Need an A (ineedana.com), a clinic locator. In our longer conversation, she also named the Keep Our Clinics campaign, a fundraising effort to support independent abortion clinics, to which pre-sales of her book contributed. We're sorry we didn't get this up early enough for you to participate in the pre-sale! But now the book is out in the world, you can even read a review of it in The Guardian. Our conversation is based Angela's new book, Deep Care: The Radical Activists Who Provided Abortions, Defied the Law, and Fought to Keep Clinics Open(link is external) (AK Press, 2023). A work of public scholarship and a history of medicine, the book tells a story of Bay Area abortion defense—from feminist clinical practice, to underground abortion provision, to street politics and clinic defense—from the 1970s to 2000s. You can read an excerpt from the book in the Post45 contemporaries collection “Abortion Now, Abortion Forever,” which was the starting point for our conversation on High Theory. Angela Hume is a feminist historian, critic, and poet, who teaches at UC Berkeley. Her creative and expository writing classes address environmental and health justice, working-class and multiethnic American literatures, feminist and queer storytelling, and more. Beyond Deep Care, Angela is co-editor of Ecopoetics: Essays in the Field(link is external) (U of Iowa P, 2018). Her full-length books of poetry include Middle Time(link is external) (Omnidawn, 2016) and Interventions for Women (Omnidawn, 2021). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies
In this episode of High Theory, Angela Hume tells us about Self Help, not the neoliberal strategy of self-actualization through consumer choices, but the radical political movement of gynecological self-help, that flourished in the late twentieth century and created a set of portable political tactics based in anarchist feminist philosophy. In the episode, she references Alondra Nelson's book Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight against Medical Discrimination (Minnesota UP, 2013); Michelle Murphy's Seizing the Means of Reproduction: Entanglements of Feminism, Health, and Technoscience (Duke UP, 2012); and several health activist organizations, including the Women's Choice Clinic in Oakland, CA; AidAccess which provides mail order medication assisted abortion; and MYA Network, a group of clinicians seeking to expand abortion access in primary care settings. Angela suggested we include three links that everyone should have at their fingertips, PlanC (plancpills.org) which helps people access abortion pills, AidAccess (aidaccess.org) the pill fulfillment service described above, and I Need an A (ineedana.com), a clinic locator. In our longer conversation, she also named the Keep Our Clinics campaign, a fundraising effort to support independent abortion clinics, to which pre-sales of her book contributed. We're sorry we didn't get this up early enough for you to participate in the pre-sale! But now the book is out in the world, you can even read a review of it in The Guardian. Our conversation is based Angela's new book, Deep Care: The Radical Activists Who Provided Abortions, Defied the Law, and Fought to Keep Clinics Open(link is external) (AK Press, 2023). A work of public scholarship and a history of medicine, the book tells a story of Bay Area abortion defense—from feminist clinical practice, to underground abortion provision, to street politics and clinic defense—from the 1970s to 2000s. You can read an excerpt from the book in the Post45 contemporaries collection “Abortion Now, Abortion Forever,” which was the starting point for our conversation on High Theory. Angela Hume is a feminist historian, critic, and poet, who teaches at UC Berkeley. Her creative and expository writing classes address environmental and health justice, working-class and multiethnic American literatures, feminist and queer storytelling, and more. Beyond Deep Care, Angela is co-editor of Ecopoetics: Essays in the Field(link is external) (U of Iowa P, 2018). Her full-length books of poetry include Middle Time(link is external) (Omnidawn, 2016) and Interventions for Women (Omnidawn, 2021). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Today we'll dive right into the Weekly Top 3 with Brad Keithley from Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets. Today's topics: The AKLEG House coalition is lying; the PF Corp Board should be replaced and how the AK Press is getting close to the real issue, but are not quite there yet. Then in hour two we'll recap with my thoughts and discussion and then finish up with our betterment segment from Chris Story from Homer.
After a few months off, ABC returns with a brilliant guest, Zoe Baker (@anarchopac) author of Means and Ends published with AK Press in 2023: https://www.akpress.org/means-and-ends.html. Zoe's book provides an engaging and accessible overview of the revolutionary strategy of anarchism in Europe and the United States between 1868 and 1939. Zoe is host of one of the most popular and respected YouTube channels on the left, which you can find here: tinyurl.com/anarcho-pac ---------------------------------------------------------------- You can keep in touch with the podcast via email: abcwithdannyandjim@gmail.com, and Facebook, Twitter and Instragram, all @abcdannyandjim. You can subscribe to our newsletter here: https://abcwithdannyandjim.substack.com/ The podcast music is Stealing Orchestra & Rafael Dionísio, 'Gente da minha terra (que me mete um nojo do caralho).' Reproduced from the Free Music Archive under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License, available here: https://bit.ly/35ToW4W The podcast logo is an adapted version of the Left Book Club logo (1936-48), reproduced, edited and shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence. Original available here: https://bit.ly/35Nd6cv. The image in this episode is the cover art of Zoe's book.
Alixa García is a Colombian born, globally-raised, multi-disciplinary artist, activist, and cultural activator whose work is imbued in ritual, spirit, and deep reverence for our Great Mother, Great Lover, our Earth. She is an award-winning activist, poet, and filmmaker. She is also a professional writer, visual artist, musician, and facilitator. Her work has been published by Whit Press, AK Press, Hatchett, & Daraja Press.Instagram and Linktree Alixa's upcoming course on A Course on the Imaginal: Cultivating the Visionary Self Mentioned in the Episode the late artist and performer Tigre Bailando Topics: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:05:45 – Alixa's Work 00:12:08 – Indigenous Resilience 00:27:36 – Enchantment 00:43:10 – Burning Man 2023 00:59:52 – Surrender 01:18:24 – A Course on the Imaginal 01:22:36 – “A Message from the Future”
On this episode of the It’s Going Down podcast, we again speak with anarchist historian, YouTuber, and libertarian socialist philosopher Zoe Baker about her new book, Means and Ends: The Revolutionary Practice of Anarchism in Europe and the United States, published by AK Press. In many ways, the book takes off from our previous discussion... Read Full Article
This show is made possible by you! To become a sustaining member go to LauraFlanders.org/donateMovement lawyer and organizer Andrea J. Ritchie's forthcoming book is unlike anything she's written before. In “Practicing New Worlds: Abolition and Emergent Strategies”, published by AK Press and out at the end of October 2023 as part of their Emergent Strategies Series, Ritchie has written a toolkit for organizers. Both visionary and practical, Ritchie believes we can live the “future” world we want, and offers actionable steps we can take to get there. A self-described “Black lesbian immigrant survivor,” Ritchie has been engaged since the 1980s in anti-violence, labor, and LGBTQ organizing, and in movements against state violence and for racial, reproductive, economic, environmental, and gender justice. In this wide-ranging conversation, Andrea J. Ritchie and Laura Flanders discuss what's changed and what hasn't after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, and the emergent strategies for abolition that we should all pay attention to. The Right has strategies too — and so far, they're working. How do we create the necessary conditions that foster collectivity and liberation leading to increased public safety and well-being? All that, plus a commentary from Laura on the power we recognize, and the other sort too.“Change happens by acting as though the future that you are dreaming of is present now. And then practicing that with people who share your vision and values and then bringing more and more people into the conversation.” - Andrea J. Ritchie“[Emergent strategies are] a way of approaching a world that interrupts violence in all its forms and creates new possibilities that we can't imagine yet.” - Andrea J. RitchieGuest: Andrea J. Ritchie: Author, Practicing New Worlds: Abolition and Emergent Strategies; Co-Founder, Interrupting Criminalization Full Episode Notes are located HERE. They include related episodes, articles, and more.Music In the Middle: “I Keeps It Moving” by David Anthony and Dani Vassar courtesy of Planet Hum Records and Pitch Control. And additional music included- "In and Out" and "Steppin" by Podington Bear
This week, we're sharing 3 segments. First up, Josh Davidson from the Certain Days: Freedom For Political Prisoners Calendar talks about the upcoming book that he co-edited with political prisoner Eric King from AK Press entitled RATTLING THE CAGES: Oral Histories of North American Political Prisoners, containing over 450 pages of first hand experiences of resisting from within the belly of the beast across generations and movements in Turtle Island. And you can find out more about the Running Down The Walls events at ABCF.Net/WarChest [00:01:22 - 00:28:15] Then, we're sharing Sean Swain's segment on Goyaałé, aka Geronimo. [00:29:14 - 00:38:27] Finally, we'll be sharing a panel discussion by members of the A-Radio Network recorded on Saturday, July 22nd 2023 at the International Anarchist Gathering at St-Imier, Jura, Switzerland on the history and role of radio in anarchist and anti-authoritarian resistance, mostly in Europe. If you're listening to the live radio edition, you'll hear about 1/3 of that segment, but can hear the whole thing at our website, TheFinalStrawRadio.NoBlogs.Org or at A-Radio-Network.Org [00:38:27 - 01:36:45] . ... . .. Featured Tracks: Let The Music Play by Arpeggio from Disco Boogie Funk Italo Rare 1970 - 1980
Episode Summary This week on Live Like the World is Dying, Riley talks to Margaret about building DIY spaces, how to plan events, and how to build a culture around your events of inclusivity and solidarity. Guest Info The Pansy Collective can be found on Instagram @PansyColletive. Host Info Margaret can be found on twitter @magpiekilljoy or instagram at @margaretkilljoy. Publisher Info This show is published by Strangers in A Tangled Wilderness. We can be found at www.tangledwilderness.org, or on Twitter @TangledWild and Instagram @Tangled_Wilderness. You can support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. Transcript Live Like the World is Dying: Riley on DIY Spaces **Margaret ** 00:15 Hello and welcome to Live Like the World is Dying, your podcast for what feels like the end times. I'm your host, Margaret Killjoy. I have just found out that my co-host, Inmn, has a voice that's similar enough to mine that people don't know which one of us is hosting. So, you can tell it's me because I am charming and perfect...Shit, so is Inmn...Okay, so that's not really what matters here. What matters here is that today, we are going to be talking about--a lot of people have written in and been like, "But I don't have community. You talk about community preparedness all the time." And obviously, subculture isn't the only type of community, but it's one of them. And we're going to talk about subculture. And we're gonna talk about DIY subculture. And we're gonna talk about fucking doing shit yourself. And we're gonna talk to someone who has a lot of experience of doing that at the intersection of marginalizations and not just reproducing cis white hetero stuff. So, this podcast is a proud member of the Channel Zero Network of anarchist podcasts and here's a jingle from another show on the network. Doo doo doo doo doo. Doo. [Singing a simple melody with words] **Margaret ** 01:34 And we're back. Okay, so if you could introduce yourself with your name, your pronouns, and then why you think I've brought you on this podcast. **Riley ** 02:06 Hey Y'all. Yeah, my name is Riley. He/him pronouns. You brought me on this podcast because we're friends. And also because we've played some shows together and done some things together. And I'd like to think that we have some shared affinity and maybe even that we are in community together. So yeah, yeah. I think that's kind of why I'm here. **Margaret ** 02:36 Okay. Well, you have experience...When I was like, trying to think I was like, "Who do I know who has experience building DIY scenes and like punk scenes and musical "subgenric" scenes. That's definitely a word. Don't look it up. Do you have experience doing that? What's your experience doing that? **Riley ** 03:00 Yeah, you know, I do have some experience doing it. You said "a lot." I would say "limited." But, I organize with a collective here in Asheville, North Carolina called Pansy Collective. We call ourselves the "benefit booking collective" because a lot of what we do is book DIY shows to raise money for either trans people's surgical, or medical, or just living expenses, and also for grassroots projects that don't get funding any other way. Yeah, so we book shows, we throw parties, we also organize popular education and workshops and kind of use the concept of DIY community in a punk way to push people further to the left. **Margaret ** 03:56 I, I really liked that. I think...I don't know if it was the first time I met you, or just the first time I saw you play, was coming on 10 years ago now. And you were playing this playing this show. And the thing that just like really immediately struck me was how much it felt like...When I first got into when I was like a teenager, I didn't give a shit about punk because...I don't know, the punk on the radio was fine, but it just...Like I liked Sisters of Mercy instead. Well, at the time I probably like Marilyn Manson instead, but we'll pretend like I only ever listened to Sisters of Mercy. And then when I like fell into anarchism and I started going to these like basement shows in Baltimore and there was this shared sense of like urgency to change the world, and that this is a thing that we are doing collectively and a thing we're doing from direct action, even if it just meant that the five foot tall singer was screaming, "I'm going to break a 40 on the motherfucking Nazis face!" or whatever, right? You know, it's like, you like believed her, right? Cuz she was telling the truth. Like, she probably got arrested for that. Well, yeah. And like, a 17 year old from that scene caught 27 felonies for beating up Nazis like two months later...and beat all the charges. She beat all the charges. And so this is what struck me, is that when I went and saw you play, it was like one of the times I really felt that again. And it felt like there was like something there. And I'm wondering if you want to talk about like...well, I guess like punk and about what draws you to it, what keeps you there, and what you're excited about DIY scenes for? Or any of that shit. **Riley ** 05:43 Yeah, I mean, I can't pretend like punk music wasn't a facet of what radicalized me, right? And, I think exposure to--I mean, I wasn't a punk when I was in high school. And I was into riot girl feminism, specifically, was like a really point--and I feel like almost embarrassed to talk about it now, but let's own that for a second, right? **Margaret ** 06:10 Yeah, whatever. **Riley ** 06:11 Or, what brought me into that was also another facet of radicalization, which was seeking resources for being sexually assaulted at a young age, right? So I'm like, getting politicized through finding feminism and having these kinds of first moments of...You know, I grew up in real rural North Carolina. There's not scenes where I'm from, right? There's not even punks where I'm from. And kind of ideas of resistance, even ideas of bodily autonomy, and that what may be happening to you isn't your fault, and that maybe it's okay to be queer, you know, like, these were like, really groundbreaking ideas as a teenager. And so I'm finding these bands that are kind of espousing these ideologies, and carrying energy that I had no outlet for--or maybe just had really unhealthy outlets for--before I started listening to punk heavily. And then, really moving to Asheville as soon as I turned 18 because in this area, the queer and trans people from rural spots are told, "If you want to go somewhere to find where the other gay people are, go to Asheville." And so I just listened to that and went where I could. And I mean, I had some really pivotal moments, both good and bad, you know, and I'm in really this kind of naive idea that like, "Oh, you know, I'm coming into this from a feminist lens, so punks must be not misogynists, right?" [Margaret laughs] And then I learned that that wasn't true really quickly because I started having shitty experiences in mosh pits and, you know, getting groped, and my friends getting groped, and, you know, just having, I mean, just unsafe experiences that also really, you know, pissed me off because it felt so not...like this is inherently against the ethos of what this genre is in my mind because, you know, I know this is what this is, like not even knowing that there's just a whole slew of apolitical [punks]--or people who, you know, who're here for different reasons--you know, but it really...I saw a space that was missing. And it wasn't just me, it was, you know, an entire group of young-really-fucking-pissed-off-with-a-lot-of-trauma-and-something-to-prove-about-it queers who enacted a little bit of a takeover in, I don't know, like the early 2010s. And so, the punk scene in Asheville shifted from really...I mean, dude centric, to suddenly there's like, it's just like, these young mad queers who are wearing pink pink studs. And this is like, a few years before G.L.O.S.S came out but I feel like that era just really, yeah, there was a takeover that we both participated in. **Margaret ** 09:24 I kind of...I kind of watched it, but I really appreciated it and I...Yeah, okay. So I guess one of the things that people mention to me a lot when I, you know, when I talk about individual and community preparedness, right, all the time, and usually people are alienated by one of those two words. And either people are like individual community preparedness is just preppers doing nonsense. And then, or, community preparedness doesn't resonate with people literally because a lot of people don't have community. We live in this very isolated and isolating culture, right? And so one of the things that people say, you know, the reason that I...I was driving and I was like thinking about this problem, I was thinking about how people write this to me and I'm always just like, "I don't know, just fix it." And I'm like, that's not a useful answer to provide to people. And I was like, who do I know who perpetuates a subcultural space--that's funny. Usually, when we say "perpetuate," you mean something bad. But like, in this case, you know, "makes continue" is actually sometimes a very good word, if it's a good thing being perpetuated. [And I was like, who do I know who perpetuates a subcultural space and] Makes the subcultural space happen and happen on a DIY level. And so I was really excited to talk to you about it. But, so, the core of my question is like, you talked about how there's not really scenes where you're from? So what do you do? I mean, I guess in this case, the answer is you move to Asheville and then take over the scene, but that's not a bad... **Riley ** 10:53 Yeah. If in places where there's not...I mean, there's a particular context here because it's a small town, but it has a long standing history of punk activity, right? But thinking about the community I'm from, which I'm going to be moving back to pretty soon because I can't afford to stay in the town that I'm in. So, you know, I think about starting small and finding who is around and building with them because deep...Yeah, the way that artists, like rural artists, and the kind of freaky performers that live out in the woods, the way that they move in this area is by finding finding the, you know, the few people around them that they can build with and going from there, even if it's just one, even if it's just one person, or connecting to the internet. But, yeah, I mean, the way that we kind of worked to hit that mark and strive to support everyone is, one, by just casting a wide net. And that's, you know, thinking about how a lot of times, to find, whether it's just connecting with other queer people in a rural area, I mean, you gotta travel far. And so casting a wide net to people who maybe are outside of the friend groups, or maybe are outside of the social networks, and really specifying what your actual affinity is. Like, I see you at shows all the time, but what do we actually have in common? And build from there. **Margaret ** 12:33 I like that because, actually, one of the next questions I wanted to ask you is about how I know other people who are not interested in punk because they feel like punk is like cool kids, right? And they're not cool. So, they clearly don't belong. And, that's...I'd love to be like, "Oh, it's just not true. Punks are all totally welcoming." And like, you know, you just described a bunch of experiences of punks not being welcoming. My first...The one punk in my high school got really mad. He decided I was becoming a leftist, which actually wasn't true at the time. I was a nothingist. Not in a cool way. I was just a kid. But, he like pulled me aside and he was like, "You have to listen to this." And he put like punk music on my headphones. But it was right-wing punk. And the only thing I remember is--I haven't actually bothered to look up a band that says this--but it's "Down on your..." I remember this very clearly. I was like 16 at the time and it's, "Down on your knees with a gun to your head. You're better off dead than fucking red." And so it's like Nazi punk shit, right? He wasn't a skinhead. He had a big mohawk and like...And I was like, "Man, this was not interested in me at all. Like, what the fuck?" But okay, so punk isn't always welcoming to people. But how do we make it more welcoming to people? Two questions: One, if you're already in the scene, how do you make it more welcoming to people, and two, if you're listening to this, and you're like, a 16 year old or a 35 year old or a 73 year old, and you're like, "This has interested me, but I don't feel...I don't know whether this is the kind of space I can get into." Like, how do you get into it? Or how do you help people get into it? Kind of a tangential question, sorry. **Riley ** 14:07 I think about...I don't want to say, "Just be fucking nice to people," but maybe maybe part of it is like be fucking nice to people. And don't reenact the high school lunch table drama-trauma of whatever everyone is holding. Yeah, I think about getting kind of like cornered by these kind of like gatekeepy dudes when I first moved here like, you know, it's kind of this typical like, "Oh, do you know this band, do you know that band? Do you even know what you know..." I remember this guy. **Margaret ** 14:48 [Laughing] People really did that to you? **Riley ** 14:50 At a show that I booked! Being like, "Do you even know what a mosh pit is?" **Margaret ** 14:55 [Incredulously] No, what's that? **Riley ** 14:58 No, no, I don't. Sorry. [dry] I actually said, "Is it like this?" and then punched him...Right in the Pensacola. But yeah, I mean, if you're in a position of power, in a position of, you know, some sort of...Like, maybe you know the people around you and you're seeing people that don't, or...Yeah, just engaging people and, you know, making a point to make people feel welcome is a really easy start. And if you're feeling unsure, I...Yeah, I don't know what to say. Because I don't...I think that attending shows and going out to social things, especially in this day and age, is such a small, small sliver of what DIY community feels like now. And so I'm also pushing back on the bounds of what even counts as a DIY event anymore? I'm like, how about that? How about that workshop? Or how about the trans woman's picnic? Or how about... yeah, the firestorm book club, I'm thinking about so many other spaces that count in my mind under this DIY punk ethos umbrella. **Margaret ** 16:23 That makes a lot of sense to me, especially as someone who doesn't...My write up about the anarchist bookfair I just attended and played was, "This is great. Why do shows start so late? Some of us are old. Why are there kids on my lawn? Why did I have to walk uphill both ways to get here?" But, what you're saying about like just like being nice to people, it's funny how that sounds like an easy answer, but it's like actually the easy answer. And it's actually not that hard. Like, I think about...I've spent a lot of time in like nerd spaces subculturally. Like, I've spent a lot of time at like nerd conventions of various types, right? And like, one of the things that is a cultural norm that people are trying to normalize at science fiction conventions and shit is that if you're like standing in a circle of people and you see someone standing at the periphery of the circle, to open up the circle, and so that that person is now standing in the circle. And even if they don't say anything, they're now standing in the circle the same as everyone else, right? And, you know, and you don't have like necessarily as literal of a thing, because like science fiction conventions, there's literally people standing around in circles all weekend. Like, yes, it's kind of... **Riley ** 17:40 Like, I mean, people have a lot of drama on the other side of it about taking people, taking strangers in, you know. Who is this stranger in the wilderness? You know, I'm thinking about how people have been like, you know, "Who is that new person standing over there looking like they're trying to account for something," you know? "That person's a cop, probably!" you know? Or like people start doing all of this in your head speculation and I feel like, you know what's a really good way to try to figure out if someone is a cop or not? Go up and say, "Hi." Go up and have a little conversation. It's really easy to tell really quickly versus just mean mugging the shit out of somebody, you know? You'll never find out anything that way. But yeah, I think people have a lot of trauma on both sides. Like, I don't know that person. It's like, put yourself out there. Or don't. You also don't have to talk to anybody at the show. [Laughing] **Margaret ** 18:41 Yeah, that's true, too. Okay, so you're talking about like what DIY feels like now and how it's different, right? And, I really appreciate that as, you know, as someone who like...I'll go to shows forever. And I'll ideally, play shows forever, but it's not as much what I'm interested in engaging in. And so with Pansy Collective, do you put on a lot of different types of stuff? Or do you just feel like the larger community that you're part of like you put on lots of stuff? Like, what are some of the things that people could be doing? **Riley ** 19:11 Yeah, I mean, we...I will say that My only interest these days is booking benefits. And my only interest is, you know...Back in pre lockdown times, we would set up shows for bands that are rolling through town, we would organize a fest specifically for rural queer and trans independent artists of all different, you know, way different genres. And nowadays, most of what we do is just trying to fund our struggling community anarchist projects by booking parties. And it's all over the place. I mean, we recently did a cake sitting benefit where we had someone bake 20 cakes and people sat on them and it raised a bunch of money for the book fair. You know, just like it varies from random, gay, pervy dance parties to punk shows to workshop series. We give the people what they want. But, it's kind of like it's either a gay dance party or a punk show, is kind of what it boils down to. **Margaret ** 20:25 I think I've been to a like--I don't know if it was you all that put it on, seems like it would have been--like a wrestling competition? **Riley ** 20:34 Yes, the lube wrestling competition. That was a fun one. That was definitely a pre-lockdown party for sure. But yeah. I mean, something I think about too with booking benefits is you want to hit a good like...So I think about what it takes to book a benefit that is both accessible to our community, who is broke as fuck, and also will raise money for whatever projects. And I mean, the projects that we've been funding lately have been the queer powered prison books project here in Asheville that sends free books to incarcerated queer and trans people. **Margaret ** 21:18 Is that Tranzmission? **Riley ** 21:19 Yeah, Tranzmission Prison Project, **Margaret ** 21:21 Which people can look up and support if they would like. It's been around for decades at this point and often has been one of the only projects doing this work at a time when it's incredibly essential. Anyway... **Riley ** 21:35 Yeah, they get so many letters in and really just rely on community support to get the books out to people. So yeah, we've been supporting projects like that. And I think about what it takes to, you know, kind of hit this mark of like, okay, we want this event to be accessible to everyone and we also want to make sure that we raise enough money to support the project and pay artists well, right? Because at a certain point, we realized that if we want to book the artists that we want to book, they need support getting...You know, like, booking especially--and we kind of learned this lesson through co-organizing with some Black trans performers and promoters from Richmond in 2019--like, if you want to book Black and brown artists, you need to pay people well because at the end of the day, if you're just asking artists to donate their time and labor to perform a benefit then only the people who have the privilege and access to be able to donate that time and labor end up being able to perform, and those people are, by and large, white people. So yeah, we really shifted our values to like, just because we're booking a benefit doesn't mean that artists aren't going to get paid well. Everyone. And on top of that, hitting the mark to make sure that, you know, the community project gets a little something too, it's a hard mark to hit. But, you know, I think about going back to that lube wrestling event, which was truly iconic, and you know, charging five bucks at the door and five bucks to enter and making everything always, "If you don't have the money to donate it, don't worry about it." **Margaret ** 23:29 I think...This is really interesting to me. One thing that's changed a lot from like early aughts anarchism, which is as far back as I can speak to personally, was, you know, this culture of, like now we pay people. Like now it's like not bad to get paid for the work that you do. And in retrospect, it almost seems odd, like the whole thing is we come out of this like working class movement, you know? But, I also understand why we had this like, volunteerism thing, right, you know? But, I also...I'm glad we moved out of it. But one of the things that's so interesting to me about like benefits, right, is that it really points out, it highlights to me that there's two points to benefit. One is to raise money. But the other is--well, there's three points. You're raising money. You're raising awareness about the issue. And you're also building community and you're tying the community to activism directly. And when I think about how to fund a project, like the Empire Records model has never been accurate. Like you're never just like, "Oh, we got to save the struggling, small business run by a white guy. But, we are gonna do it, and we're gonna throw a party, and now it's saved because we raised so much money." And that is not the right attitude about benefits. But instead, because I think if I'm like, man, if I really want to fund a project...Well, historically--and I would never recommend this. Anarchists usually do crime in order to fund projects--but, usually people just go out and like are either like get yucky tech jobs, and then just like one person is going to throw down as much money as like the next 50 people who come to the benefit. And that's great. And that's good. And that is a good thing to do and people who have access to work to get a bunch of money should put those resources into the movement, but it doesn't build community the way that a benefit does. And to me these seem like they go really well together. **Riley ** 25:28 I think so too. Yeah, I think it's...you know, it serves the purpose of, yes, us getting together. And I'm really thinking in this kind of specific queer and trans lens. Like us just getting together is a radical act. And also, to push that a little bit further, we're getting together to support people that are behind bars, that we're trying to break down this barrier and break down these walls, and part of how we can do that and kind of, you know, disintegrate the myth that there's any difference between our queer and trans siblings on the inside versus us is by just naming it every chance we get, and normalizing that conversation and really bringing it to the table because there probably are people in the room present who maybe haven't decarceralized their ideologies, or maybe just haven't had a chance to think about it. And I don't think that, I don't know, college classrooms or, you know, on the internet are the only places that we can kind of have these conversations or draw this awareness, you know? **Margaret ** 26:37 Because there's also podcasts. **Riley ** 26:38 There's also podcasts. Or, just listening to me drunk ramble at you at a party. I don't know. I'm sure that I've single handedly turned at least two people onto our side that way. **Margaret ** 26:56 That rules. And if they all turned two people on by drunk ramblin to them at a bar then... **Riley ** 27:00 Keep going! **Margaret ** 27:01 Fuck yeah. **Riley ** 27:06 I mean, and also I think about, you know, as a promoter, I feel like I need to qualify after saying that I'm drunk rambling at people, that setting up a fucking table with a bunch of harm reduction supplies and just leaving it, setting up a bunch of free shit at a show and just leaving it. If you're thinking about like I want to way to radicalized the party spaces in my town without having to lean in too far, or don't want to be there the whole time, show up with a bunch of zines, and Narcan, and condoms, and leave them on a table and scoot. **Margaret ** 27:45 No, see, this makes sense to me. And it also is like, as someone who's like fairly...I don't think I'm anti-social, especially since anti-social implies, like, against people hanging out having fun. Although at various points I have been against people having fun. That's how I got the name Killjoy. Right. But, you know, as someone who doesn't go to parties as my like, hobby, right, tabeling is perfect. Tabling is...like going to the space and being like, "I have a purpose. There's a reason I'm here." And, you know, if you're someone who's listening, and you're like worried about how to be...yeah, how to be contributing, like especially if...A lot of people I think struggle to be just an attendee, right? And so yeah, if you set up a little harm reduction distro, or a zine distro, or a combination of the two, or whatever else, you can set up and leave, or you can set it up and hang out and be like, "No, it's cool. I'm supposed to be here. I'm sitting behind a table. That's why I'm not dancing. Everyone thinks I'm not dancing, because I don't like dancing, but it's actually because I'm stuck. behind a table." **Riley ** 28:49 I have an important job to do. **Margaret ** 28:50 Yeah, totally. I would definitely be dancing and enjoying dancing, but I'm stuck behind this table. If anyone identifies with that. **Riley ** 29:00 Exactly. I just I want to push like, one no-fun-insurrecto listening to this to go to like one dance party and have a couple conversations with people. And I want to have...I want to challenge one listener who's constantly at the dance parties to like, I don't know, go to a gun range or listen to this podcast or something. Yeah. **Margaret ** 29:20 And actually, because you talked about how like punk rock radicalized you, right? And sometimes when I talk to people and people are a little bit dismissive of that, you know, or usually about their own stories. I've never heard anyone be dismissive of other people getting radicalized that way. But you know, it's like people are like, "Oh, like Green Day got me in," or whatever, you know? And I'm like, well, one, Green Day--I don't know if they still do, but they throw...like when the AK Press ware house burned down, they threw a benefit and this is well after they were famous as fuck--but, I think that actually there's like something to the fact that subculture carries the flame when larger social movements have gone away. I actually think that this happened in the 1940s. Sorry, everything I do now has to tie into history because it's what I do, is read history books all day. But, like, there's like this dead period in anarchism and actually most leftist stuff that isn't like purely Bolshevism or whatever, right? After World War II, a lot of us died. And the people carrying the flame were like art movements, and anarcho pacifists in New York City, and Jewish anarchists, who were primarily focusing on the cultural things that they were reproducing in their own culture. And, I think that the same is also true of the like 80s and 90s, that punk and other subcultures carried the flame, not just of anarchism but a whole lot of radical ideas through this very dead period. Obviously, a ton of shit was happening. But overall, there wasn't as much radicalism in the United States as there is more recently. So, I think subculture's a brilliant way to get people in. Yeah, I don't know. **Riley ** 31:05 Yeah, and the internet, I think, has really played a big role in this too because we think about aesthetics, and social media, and how...Yeah, I think about how Covid and the internet usage in the cultures that kind of arose when everyone was, you know, really not able to get together. Punk aesthetics has maybe been like a unifying point. And that that can be a point of radicalization too. It's like, okay, we're getting together for this. And like, if it's the right people engaging, right, it's like, we're coming together for this need to belong, and kind of unifying around a common interest, a common hobby, a common sound, whatever it may be, right? And it's bringing that, you know, the ethics, and the core values, and the core tenets back up and kind of, you know, passing along, if we're carrying the torch, we're also passing it along, right? **Margaret ** 32:00 Setting people on fire, you mean? [Joking] Okay, so, what does it look like to throw a benefit? Just like, run me through it. I want to throw a benefit. What do I do? **Riley ** 32:15 Yeah, first thing you need to do is identify when and what the goal is. So if you, you know, you say, we have this action going down. We want to do this thing. It's going to take this much money. It's going to be on this date, so we need to have a thing say that's gonna happen a month away. We're gonna book thing. I mean, I would encourage people to not start planning an event within one month of when they plan on executing whatever event it may be. Find a location. Things that I encourage people to consider are just general access of that location. If it's a bar? Or is it going to be an all ages type thing? If it is a DIY space, what does the accessibility of that space look like? Think about physical accessibility, whether or not there will be like an open outdoor space or if it will be enclosed. Whether or not you're going to ask people to wear masks at the space, just kind of general accessibility concerns. Once you have your location locked down. And, you know, there's other things that maybe you'd consider. Maybe you have a connection with somebody who has a space. Maybe it's someone's basement. There's a...Maybe it's under a bridge somewhere. I mean, you can do anything anywhere. Whatever it takes. And the more DIY you want to go, and by that, I mean, like, if you want to say throw a party under a bridge, identify your people that are going to help you because you cannot do that on your own, right? And so if you...say you and I are now just throwing a party under a bridge, that's what we decided on. Identify what you need and that's going to look like... **Margaret ** 34:13 So we need a generator... **Riley ** 34:15 Find your people who are going to perform. What is this going to look like? Is it going to be...Are we throwing a goth rave and Nomadic Warmachine's is going to play? Great. Okay, so now we communicate with our artists in the totally professional and respectful way. **Margaret ** 34:32 Promised him that it starts at 7pm and is over by 1am. **Riley ** 34:36 Yes, yes. Or you don't and you don't hold to that at all. [Joking] Yeah, communicate well with your artists. Figure out what their rate may be. And then, once that is secured, then you have your artists, you have your location, you have your date. You need to make your promotional materials and you need to secure your speakers, PA, fog machine...I don't know, whatever you decide that you need. And I mean, I really encourage people to do whatever they want. So, get your lube and giant pools for your lube wrestling party. Whatever it is. But, I don't know, Asheville loves a gimmick. So, we're always throwing a gimmick in there. You know, I also like...Encourage people to figure out what the people around them like. But yeah, so we're at the point now where we have our artists, and our location, and our venue, and we have a flyer, and we have a PA secured. And then, you just put the word out there. I love to hit the streets with a staple gun. And I think that that is a perfectly fine thing to do. And social media is great as well. We promote online, and we promote in the streets, and we pass out handbills at other events. And that's my three main modes of promoting. Maybe you have a listserv in your community that you can let people know. Maybe you can ask the performers to promote it on their networks as well. Maybe your friends with one of the performers with a podcast who can mention it on her podcast. It's about reaching out. I mean, always, always communal over individual when it comes to doing anything, I guess, but doing this as well. You know, reach out to all of your networks and make it less about who it is and more about what it is and what brings us together. And then you do it. And, I mean, unfortunately, we have to take safe...pretty serious safety considerations into the parties that we throw because of threats of violence in the past. Yeah, Margaret and I have both been doxxed after various things that have happened in Asheville that were just fun little events. And so yeah, maybe there's...and again, this is like where I go to collectives and the people you know and the people you trust because we aren't cop callers. And if something were to go down at one of our shows, we put pretty intentional consideration into safety planning, having a medic there in case someone, you know, breaks their leg at lube wrestling, or if, you know, if something really hits the fan, just having having safety plans in place feels important too. What is the evacuation plan if the cops bust up your under the bridge rave? And how can you make sure that everyone is accounted for and that, you know, the marginalized people present are not just left to, you know...that people have each other's backs. And building that culture does start, I think, with the people who are hosting the event. **Margaret ** 38:07 No, that makes a lot of sense to me. Every part of that. And one of the...to the not leaving people behind thing, one of the things that I think actually really behooves experienced...People have experience in the streets and have experience with conflict with police. I have a pretty strong sense of self preservation. And I tend to know the best exit at any given point. And I'm pretty good at getting out of situations. What actually behooves me in crises is to use the fact that I have that experience to not be the first one out. But instead, to help the people who don't have that experience to get out. The more experienced people should be the people who are taking a higher level of risk. The organizers should be the people taking a higher level of risk. The organizers will be more in the know. They'll be more aware of when police are coming, you know, blah, blah, blah. And it's a time to be brave. Most, you know, obviously most DIY shows and stuff have nothing of the sort, you know, like but no, I really like.... **Riley ** 39:16 Yeah, I'm just thinking about a time, I'm thinking about a time that some gay college kids here in Asheville threw a house party and some random dude that was a neighbor wandered up on the party and he was being weird. So, he got asked to leave. So he came back with a gun and he fired off a round into the ground, but he was obliterated wasted. And, I mean people people handled it...They responded quickly and handled it as well as they could. But, you know, after that happened, some anarchist homies came through and did porch sitting on their porch for a couple of weeks, but also sat down with them like, "Hey, let's let's make some safety planning for if this happens in the future," and that actually brought like probably 15 or 20 people that I would have never thought they would show any interest in community safety work, you know? And this goes back to just discounting people or not being maybe kind of people like, consider the Yes.... **Margaret ** 40:24 These like apolitical party kids... **Riley ** 40:27 These a political party kids could be on our team with one...It takes not...you know, it's maybe they already are, you know? And that was a really powerful experience because I think...We felt very grateful on both sides. And there was no, there wasn't really a both sides, which we all really kind of knew each other. But, you know, there was a divide. Oh, those kids aren't really with our shit. Oh, those people aren't really, you know? And it was a really unifying moment. Like, yeah, now these party college kids are really down with the struggle and will show up to do porch sitting for others if they need it, you know? And it sucks that it takes a near tragedy for that to happen. But, what came out of it was we safety plan for everything now. You know what I'm saying? Like, we're running scenarios like it's...you know? I mean, because that's what makes me feel like at the actual event, I can relax, because I know, "Well, if something goes down, we have a plan for it." And actually, I mean, the queer and trans events are not getting any safer, not because of anything we're doing but because of increased violence. So, I don't know what...I'm not gonna stop being with my people. So, at the very least, I can increase safety for them. And for myself. And you can do it for me, like, it's not just... Yeah, we work together for that. **Margaret ** 41:59 No, I love it. And the ethos of, "We keep us safe," we just have to like actually mean it and we have to actually think about what it involves. No, this ties in so well to one of the things that I talk about a lot on the show where I'm like, one of the reasons I have a go bag is because I live in the woods and wildfire is a thing that exists. And so I prepare for that. And now I don't worry about it all the time. And what you're talking about, like yeah, I was recently at the Asheville Anarchist Book Fair--I don't think this is a surprise to anyone. I'm not doxxing myself by saying this, I did a talk, played a show. It was very fun. You all did a great job. Yeah. And, I didn't worry incredibly about my safety because of that, because I knew that there were people there doing security. I knew that they were not power hungry type people. If anyone listening is like thinking about doing community defense, that's amazing and beautiful and essential, and takes a certain mindset, and it takes a certain calmness, and it takes a certain...the kind of person who is not looking to exert power over other people. You know? Anyone who thinks in their heart is a petty tyrant, you should be the person to distribute condoms for free and instead, which is also essential. And now don't go up to everyone who's distributing condoms and decide that they're a petty tyrant. Unless they're not letting you have condoms. Unless they're like, "You don't need a condom, you're not getting laid," then you should be opposed to them. **Riley ** 43:32 Flip the table. **Margaret ** 43:34 That's right. Fuck your safer sex. We live danger...[Joking tone] I don't...No, that's like...I really like how much this immediately ties into all the preparedness stuff, because this is what community preparedness is, is building culture, building community. Because the other thing, the way you're talking about this, this is community organizing. [Riley makes an affirmative sound] And like people, I think sometimes think of subcultural spaces, whether it's queer dance parties or punk shows or raves or whatever, as being outside of...people think subculture is distinct from culture, but there is no culture. There's no mainstream culture. You ever talk to a normal person. They're not normal. Like, they may dress as normal as they want, but everyone's got something. You're like, you're talking to someone and then they're like, "And the aliens..." and you're like, "Huh." **Riley ** 44:29 I thought you were into a thing by the way you dress, but you're into a thing. **Margaret ** 44:34 Exactly. And like, we just have a myriad of intersecting subcultures and we shouldn't be...I don't know. I think that building subculture and especially intersecting subcultures, and like...Like I love that at the book fair, there was a lot of different genres and there was a lot of different things happening. It wasn't just punk, right? And I love punk, but not as much as I love goth, and you, you know, like, I don't know, those weren't the only two genres. I'm just...Yeah. **Riley ** 45:07 Yeah, we had a really great time. And I am thinking more about this safety and what the role of, you know, I think about what my asks are as a promoter of people who are willing to show up to do some role of safety at our events. And I'm back at it again, be nice to people. Like that is one of my main asks over and over again, like, the main energy, I mean...it's a really...And I can usually from talking to someone for a few minutes, gauge to some level, what their ability to do deescalate a situation is. And just like you said, if someone is coming in hot with something to prove, it's like, "No, you're going to be serving beans and rice because that is not the energy we need," you know? And that is...I just have to honor the de-escalation training and the safety trainings that I've received that taught me that, you know, we don't need to reproduce militancy, or ugly masculinity, or yeah...There is no aspect of that, that keeps us safe. And I have been able to do more with my gay voice, and my demeanor, and my just looking someone in the eyes and smiling at them and asking them and like, you know, trying to build points of affinity to de-escalate a situation have been able to accomplish more that way than I've ever been able to accomplish by like, trying to get buck with somebody and trying to like...I'm doing something on a camera that people can't see... **Margaret ** 46:55 Just imagine, just imagine. Riley. Fist up. Head side-to-side. Shoulders also side-to-side... **Riley ** 47:03 It looks like I'm doing a bird mating dance. **Margaret ** 47:09 Well, no, and I, I like that too. Because it's like, it's also like, because most of it is that and then sometimes a bunch of people sit on your porch all week with guns. And while doing that, are not not macho, are communicating, are friendly, are friendly with neighbors, aren't walking around with long guns. I mean, obviously, there are situations in this world where that is necessary. But that's not usually what we're talking about. You know, usually we're talking about people who have specific training that is, especially in medical and like keeping people safe, but also includes like, concealed carry and all of these things. You know, that is a...Whenever non Americans listen to some of the stuff that I talk about, people are like, "Well, fuck, y'all are in trouble." And I'm like "Yeah, we're in trouble!" **Riley ** 47:58 We really are. **Margaret ** 48:02 It's the "I'm in danger," meme, but it's like, but it's okay. Like, that's the other thing that you're talking about being like...you know, you don't go to a movie and you're like, "Why are they showing us the fire movie, the fire exit movie." I guess they don't do this anymore. When I was a kid, you would go to the movie and it would show you like, "Please note the nearest exits." You know, it doesn't mean that the fucking movie theaters gonna burn down. It means that it might and you should know what to do. You know? And, so like bad things happen. Still, probably driving to and from things is more dangerous than doing things like that is...I remember I was reading about like wolf attacks, and like bear attacks, and shit, well camping, and everything was like, "Yeah, you know what the most dangerous part of camping is? Driving to the camping spot." And I say that not because it's like, everything's safe, but rather we clearly do accept danger. That is part of living. **Riley ** 49:13 Yeah, I just want the danger to be like getting consensually kicked in the face during one of your friends sets in a pit and not like someone throwing punches and calling you slurs outside. **Margaret ** 49:26 Totally. And if I want...if that happens, everyone to know that the plan is to beat that person into the ground and no one talked to the police about what happened. **Riley ** 49:37 We saw nothing. **Margaret ** 49:37 We all talked to lawyers instead. **Riley ** 49:40 Exactly. **Margaret ** 49:42 No, no. Okay. I like this. This has me excited. Every now and then I'm like...most of the time, I'm happy that I live in the woods and don't do anything. And sometimes. I'm like, wait, sometimes I miss the fact that I did all of these things and I will do these things again. Okay, so you hinted at it a bunch of different times and you talked about different ways to be inclusive, including accessibility of the space for people of different mobility needs, accessibility of letting people know what the Covid risk is, and even like letting people know what the accessibility is, right? Like, own up to it if your space is not wheelchair accessible. And actually, hopefully, by owning up to it, you're kind of like slowly pressuring yourself...Tell me if I'm going about this wrong, but in my mind that you like then kind of slowly pressure yourself to be like, "Oh, I really hate saying that it's not wheelchair accessible, maybe we should..." **Riley ** 50:30 Right, like, maybe I should find a wheelchair accessible place. Even, because that's something I've really processed. I have to give it to a local group DIYabled to really push for accessible spaces within the DIY community here in Asheville. Because I really assessed it with this person, her name is Priya, who kind of runs that group. Like, I want to find these spaces that are accessible, but it's, you know, it's...We live in the mountains. There are...a lot of them just aren't. And, you know, I feel, you know, all this guilt about that. And she's like, "No, like, disabled people greatly appreciate you just saying it. Like, no shame, no shade, like, just let people know so they're not haulin ass all the way out there to find out when they get there, or having to ask first." Like, yes, it does put that pressure on. And even if you aren't like, I really want to find them accessible space, and the space just simply isn't accessible, naming it is increasing access because it's not forcing someone to travel to a place that they can't actually get into, you know? So, no shade at all, if you can't find that kind of space, but... **Margaret ** 51:47 And that makes sense. And then like one of the things that I think about...I'm someone who, you know, I'm very Covid careful, let's say. And, like, I really appreciate when places are like honest about like, you know, "Hey, masking is going to be encouraged," or, "Hey, masking..." Like, like, the thing that would make me sad is if you go to a space that's like, "Masking required," and then like the organizers aren't wearing masks and no one's wearing masks. I'd rather you just didn't put that on the flyer at that point, right? Because then you can make...I can make my own decisions around that. And, you know, I'll...And so like putting on the flyer, like, "Outside space is available," you know, or whatever, right? Like, no, that's interesting. And so, okay, so I'm wondering what other inclusivity, not just accessibility, but like inclusivity things are. Like you mentioned, for example, about paying people. Like that helps remove barriers of access, you know, for Black and brown folks and for people who suffer from class oppression as well. What are some of the other hot tips for inclusivity with Riley? [Said like it's the name of a talk show segment] **Riley ** 53:04 Let me think about that for a second, because I think that at the end of the day, it just boils down to like who is...Maybe it doesn't boil down to who is organizing, but um...Yeah, I wonder like, who is the event actually for and what is the goal? What is the goal? You know, because I think about, you know, how different Pansy Collective might look if the intention was to book queer artists but we weren't in ourselves queer. Or, if I was just like a punk promoter who was like, "I want to make my shows better," but wasn't actually gay. I don't know if it would feel differently. So I'm just like, actually, maybe part of it is...us? We got to be the ones doing it. **Margaret ** 54:05 You mean, like, doing it ourselves like it is in the name? **Riley ** 54:09 It's almost as if we're doing it ourselves. They should call that something do **Margaret ** 54:15 DO. We'll call it DO. [Both are laughing at the dry joke] **Riley ** 54:18 I actually do remember at some point writing something about Pansy Collective and I like closed it off on this line that I was so proud of that was like, "We call it DIY, but really it's DIT, doing it together." And that rings fucking true. I mean, it's a little doing it together... **Margaret ** 54:41 That's a little ditty [Makes "Eh, eh" noises to affirm it's a joke] **Riley ** 54:43 Yeah, exactly. I think about taking the ego out of it. Or I'm like...Yeah, revisiting the...From a promoter aspect, the thing that I really hate to see from promoters, and the thing that we were able to kind of try our best to circumvent as a collective, was this, you know, we don't want it to be about like who it is that's doing the thing, you know? And for a long time, we try really hard to make the face behind who Pansy Collective was anonymous, for safety reasons, because I don't know, I've named this a little bit already, but at the time in 2016 and 17 when we started organizing together, the block was really hot. And white supremacists were told to start keeping an eye on Asheville. And so there was a lot of attention on what we were doing. So, we tried to stay anonymous, partially for safety reasons, but partially because it felt less like...yeah, like a cool kid club, ego stroked. You know, this is me doing this. And instead it's like, "No, this is, this is a collective and this is this collective is you, and it's me, and it's everyone, and it doesn't matter who it is, because it's about the thing. It's not about who's booking it. I think about that approach from a promoter standpoint as a way to circumvent the "cool kid shit" that makes spaces feel really unwelcoming. Because if you're not in it then you're not welcome. And it's like, well, yeah, if it's nothing to be in then we're all here together. And we're all on the same level. **Margaret ** 56:34 No, that's interesting. So what brought you to move away from that? **Riley ** 56:36 Um, I don't think that...Well, I got less scared of...I got less..After getting doxxed, I got less scared, I guess, because it's...You know, it's just like, "Oh, y'all aren't gonna fucking bust a grape. Like what?" You know, and like this the...our biggest fear happened. And then we... **Margaret ** 57:04 And then nothing happened. **Riley ** 57:05 And then we took a concealed carry class together. I mean, I don't know. Can I say that? Can I name that we did that? **Margaret ** 57:11 I'm out about…I've talked about how after getting doxxed, I got my concealed carry. Yeah. **Riley ** 57:15 Yeah. And so like, I mean, I was with Margaret on that. I mean, it was probably like 20 or 30 of us, and big props to the person that helped organize getting us all together for that. But yeah, I mean, we really responded like, alright, like, if y'all wanna fuck with us, we're gonna up our defense and keep rolling, and we did and it's fine. And so I got less scared because I'm like, "They don't want any smoke with us." Like, what, you know, blast our dead names. Do whatever. I don't give a shit. We're really not...We've really been putting up with this shit for our whole lives. So it's not that big of a deal. **Margaret ** 57:59 Like when they're like, "Oh, we're gonna tell your parents that you're a queer anarchists." And I'm like, "Oh, they know." **Riley ** 58:05 They know. They already hate me for it. Don't worry. **Margaret ** 58:10 That's either happened in a good way or bad way already for everyone. **Riley ** 58:16 Yeah, no, exactly. It's like I'm sorry that you lost your job for being a Nazi--No, I'm not--but it doesn't really work, like what you're gonna tell my leftist coffee shop job that I'm part of antifa? That got me a raise actually. **Margaret ** 58:30 Yeah, and even like, you know, one of the people who was doxxed who worked at a coffee shop didn't even have a good relationship with the owners of the coffee shop, and the coffee shop was like, "What? That sucks fuck them." You know? Like no one's like mad. Yeah, it's not samie-samie. They think it samie-samie, but they live in a weird bubble where antifa is bad and everyone is aware that Nazis are bad. **Riley ** 58:55 Everyone knows that Nazis are bad. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that is very well said. So I mean, I still feel..like you know, I still feel like it's important that at whatever event I'm really impressed by organizers, not even just at an event in the streets too, you know. I mean, it's very off putting, and you can tell very quickly if somebody is--my partner calls it "All up in the videos dancin." **Margaret ** 59:27 Like people who are clout chasing? **Riley ** 59:29 Yeah. Are you here to, you know, are you here to make a difference? Or are you here to be seen as a good person? You know, and that doesn't run as deep at a party because it's like we're all here to do something. It doesn't matter. But yeah, playing a role, whether it's running sound, doing security, handing some artists some money, working behind the table, whatever. Taking the ego out of it makes the event more accessible for everyone, including you. **Margaret ** 1:00:03 Yeah. No, that makes sense to me. **Riley ** 1:00:06 I mean that for artists too. Like, I don't want to book people who are more about themselves than about the community they're playing with. **Margaret ** 1:00:16 Yeah, totally. Because then it's like, I want to celebrate people within my community doing something amazing. But not in this way that makes me think that they're amazing and I'm not, right? When we put people on stages--I mean, obviously, sometimes stages are useful for literal accessibility, actually, so that everyone can see and things like that--but when we elevate people metaphorically, like, this is what I like about punk, the thing that really got me about punk and why I started liking the music more was the sense of like, someone from our crowd has emerged and shown and been, you know, and it could be about their name, it can be about the thing that they've done, and then they come back into the crowd, and then they are of us, and they're coming from us. And I really like that because then we can celebrate what makes us each individual and exceptional, but not in a way that says that these people are better than us, you know? **Riley ** 1:01:16 Yeah, definitely. And I mean, that's why I also never want it to get any bigger than it is, right, right? You know, I love when punk projects keep it to a certain size, you know, I don't want to be working with large venues, I don't want to be working with tens of thousands of dollars. I don't want to be working with green rooms. And yeah, there's just...I am of a particular...I don't even know what it is. I just want to do all that, you know? I feel more comfortable in somebody's hot basement or in a shitty dive bar or under a bridge, I guess? **Margaret ** 1:02:00 No, it makes sense. I think of like...I think of it as like, are there ways where if we get...because I think Chumbawamba rules, right? They did their sell out thing, they got a ton of money, they financed all of these projects, and it was always a compromise. And it like, wasn't an easy thing, right? And then they like blew their, you know, celebrity and like went back to doing DIY shit. And like, that's fucking great. And like, so I think that like...I think we sort of need both. I actually do think we need the stadium stuff. Because if the stadium stuff is also like, financing us? But it's not building the DIY culture. It's kind of like the tech bro who gives tons of money, rules and is great and is amazing, and it is a sacrifice that someone is making to spend all their time working if they are capable of producing...like someone who's capable of getting a lot of money by working I actually think it's like a really good idea for them to do that so they get a bunch of money and give it to things you know? **Riley ** 1:02:00 Yeah. I'm not mad at that at all. **Margaret ** 1:02:02 Yeah. I think it's funny. I think Chumbawamba would have...like I think people would have been so much less mad at them if it had happened now instead of...or maybe I just say this because now I get paid to podcast? [laughing] I don't know, maybe I have a bias here... **Riley ** 1:03:21 Maybe you get knocked down, but then you get back up again. Maybe it's that. **Margaret ** 1:03:24 I know. Never gonna keep me down. Well, okay, so is there any like standout question that I didn't ask you that I probably should have or do you have any like final words or? **Riley ** 1:03:40 No, I...Let me think about that for a second. I don't know. I think I just want people to get out there and do it. Yeah, start that project. Put yourself out there. Share it with us. Come through Asheville. We'll book you. **Margaret ** 1:04:05 Hell yeah. Yeah, the secret is to really begin. Do the thing that you want to do. That's what's so great about DIY is that it actually doesn't matter if it sucks. Like, just do it. And then if you don't like it, do it better next time. And if you do like it, and no one else likes it, just keep doing it. Fuck it. Whatever. Eventually the people who think what you're doing is cool will show up. I never thought there would be a goth night at an anarchist bookfair but I've been in a lot of goth bands and finally I got to play an anarchist bookfair so it all works out. Okay, well how can people either find you or your projects? **Riley ** 1:04:44 Y'all can check out Pansy Collective on Instagram. It's Pansy.Collective. Um, that's kind of it. Thank you, Margaret. **Margaret ** 1:04:52 Yeah, thank you so much. **Margaret ** 1:05:00 Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, you should go out and start a band or start booking benefits or go to an event and make friends with people or don't make friends with people or don't be a cool kid at the thing if you're already in the in-crowd. Or, you can financially support us because we don't pay--at the moment we don't pay the hosts which is fine--but we do pay the transcriptionist and the audio editor because they're doing the like completely thankless work. And so, thanks, by the way, both the transcriptionist and audio editor who have to hear me say this. You can support us by supporting us on Patreon. It's patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. We send out a zine every month to our backers at $10 or more. We have another podcast called Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness where we do a free audio version and an interview with the person who has recorded the zine or who wrote the zine...Put the verbs in the right order on your own time. And in particular, we would like to thank Carson, Lord Harken, Trixter, Princess Miranda, BenBen, anonymous--that's a good choice--Funder, Jans, Oxalice, Janice & O'dell, Paige, Aly, Paparouna, Milicia, Boise Mutual Aid, theo, Hunter, Shawn, S.J., Paige, Mikki, Nicole, David, Dana, Chelsea, Cat J., Staro, Jenipher, Eleanor, Kirk, Sam, Chris, Michaiah, and Hoss the dog. Thank you Hoss the dog and everyone be as well as you can and we'll talk to you soon. 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Episode Summary This week on Live Like the World is Dying, Inmn is joined by author and activist, Michael Novick. They talk about just how horrible fascism really is. Thankfully, there's a simple solution, antifascism. Michael talks about their work with Anti-Racist Action Network, the Turning The Tide newspaper, and his newest book with Oso Blanco, The Blue Agave Revolution. Host Info Inmn can be found on Instagram @shadowtail.artificery. Guest Info Michael (he/they) and The Blue Agave Revolution can be found at www.antiracist.org If you want to take over the Turning The Tide newspaper, find Michael at antiracistaction_ la@yahoo.com Publisher Info This show is published by Strangers in A Tangled Wilderness. We can be found at www.tangledwilderness.org, or on Twitter @TangledWild and Instagram @Tangled_Wilderness. You can support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. Transcript Live Like the World is Dying: Michael Novick on Antifascism Inmn 00:15 Hello, and welcome to Live Like the World is Dying, your podcast for what feels like the end times. I'm your host Inmn Neruin and I use they/them pronouns. This week we are talking about something that is very scary and, in terms of things we think about being prepared for, something that is far more likely to impact our lives than say, a zombie apocalypse. Or I mean, we're already being impacted by this. It is actively killing us. But, if I had to choose between preparing for this and preparing for living in a bunker for 10 years, I would choose this. Oh, golly, I really hope preparing for this doesn't involve living in a bunker for 10 years, though. But the monster of this week is fascism. However, there's a really great solution to fascism...antifascism. And we have a guest today who has spent a lot of their life thinking about and participating in antifascism. But first, we are a proud member of the Channel Zero Network of anarchist podcasts. And so here's a jingle from another show on that network. Doo doo doo doo doo. [Singing the words like a cheesy melody] Inmn 02:00 And we're back. And I have with me today writer and organizer Michael Novick, co founder of the John Brown Anti Klan Committee, People Against Racist Terror, Anti-racist Action Network, the TORCH Antifa network and White People For Black Lives. Michael, would you like to introduce yourself with your name, pronouns and kind of...I guess like your history in anti-racist, antifascist struggles and a little bit about what you want to tell us about today? Michael 02:34 Sure. Thanks, Inmn. So yeah, Michael Novick. Pronouns he or they. I've been doing anti-racist and antifascist organizing and educating and work for many many decades at this point. I'm in my 70s. I got involved in political activism in kind of anti-war, civil rights, student rights work in the 60s. I was an SDS at Brooklyn College. And I've been doing that work from an anti white supremacist, anticapitalist, anti-imperialist perspective. And I think that particularly trying to understand fascism in the US context, you have to look at questions of settler colonialism. And, you know, people sometimes use the term racial capitalism. I think that land theft, genocide, enslavement of people of African descent, especially is central to understanding the social formation of this country. I was struck by the name of the podcast in terms of "live like the world is ending," because for a long time, I had an analysis that said that the fear of the end of the world had to do with the projection of the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie feels that its rule is coming to an end and therefore thinks the world is coming to an end, but the world will get on fire without the bourgeoisie and the rulers and the imperialists. Except that because of the lease on life that this empire has gotten repeatedly by the setbacks caused by white and male supremacy and the way it undermines people's movements, the bourgeoisie is actually in a position to bring the world to an end. I think that's what we're facing is a global crisis of the Earth's system based on imperialism, based on settler colonialism, and exploitation of the Earth itself. And so I think it's not just preparing for individual survival in those circumstances. We have to think about really how we can put an end to a system that's destroying the basis for life on the planet. And so I think that those are critical understandings. And the turn towards fascism that we're seeing across the...you know, Anti-Racist Action's analysis has always been that fascism is built from above and below and that there are forces within society. I think particularly because settler colonialism is a mass base for fascism in this country, as well as an elite preference for it under the kind of circumstances that we're looking at, in which, you know, as I said the basis for life itself has been damaged by imperialism, capitalism, and its manifestations. And so the need for extreme repressive measures, and for genocidal approaches, and exterminationist approaches are at hand. So, I think that, again, I think that the question of preparation is preparation for those kinds of circumstances. I think we're living in a kind of low intensity civil war situation already, in which you see the use of violence by the State, obviously, but also by non state forces that people have to deal with. So I think that that's the overall approach that I think we need to think about. And that comes out of, as I said, decades of doing work. I think that there are a few key things that we have to understand about this system, which is that it's not just issues that we face, but there is an enemy, there is a system that is trying to propagate and sustain itself that is inimical to life and inimical to freedom. And that if we want to protect our lives and the lives of other species and if we want to protect people's freedom going forward, we have to recognize that there's an irreconcilable contradiction between those things and between the system that we live in. So that's kind of a sobering perspective. But, I think it's an important one. Inmn 06:20 Yeah, yeah, no, it is. And it's funny, something that you said, kind of made a gear turn in my head. So, you know, normally, yeah, we do talk about in preparing to live like the world is dying, we do usually come at it from this context of that being a bad thing that we need to prepare for bad things to happen. But, the way you were talking about like fascism and empire and stuff, I suddenly thought, "Wait, maybe we should live like that world is dying and like there is something better ahead." Because, you know, we do like to approach the show from...I feel like we like to talk about the bad things that are happening and could happen but also the hopefulness and like the brighter futures that we can imagine. Michael 07:15 I think that's right. And I think it's really important to have both of those understandings. I think that, you know, people do not actually get well organized out of despair. I think they do, you know, you want to have...You know, there used to be a group called Love and Rage. And you have to have both those aspects. You have to have the rage against the machine and the rage against the system that's destroying people, but you have to have the love, you have to have that sense of solidarity and the idea of a culture of not just resistance but a culture of liberation and a culture of solidarity. And I think that, you know, there's a dialectic between the power of the State and the power of these oppressive forces and the power of the people and to the extent that the people can exert their power and to the extent that we can free ourselves from the, you know, the chains of mental slavery is...[Sings a sort of tune] you hear in reggae, you know, that actually weakens the power of the State and the power of the corporations. And they [the State] understand that sometimes better than we do. So there is, you know, there's some lessons I feel like I've learned and one of them is that every time there is a liberatory movement based out of people's experiences and the contradictions that are experienced in their lives, whether it's the gay liberation movement, women's liberation movement, or Black liberation and freedom struggle, there's always an attempt by the rulers to take that over and to reintegrate it into, you know, bourgeois ways of thinking. And, you know, people talk about hegemony and the idea that ruling ideas are the ideas of the ruling class, and I think that, you know, I've seen it happen over and over again with different movements. And so, you know, I was involved with the Bay Area gay liberation in the 80s and, you know, one of the things that happened there is that you saw very quickly a different language coming up and different issues coming up. And so suddenly the question of gays in the military was put forward, or we have to be concerned about the fact that gay people have to hide when they're in the military, and the question of normalizing gay relationships in the contract form of marriage came forward. And those were basically efforts to circumscribe and contain the struggle for gay liberation and to break down gender binaries and stuff within the confines of bourgeois conceptions of rights and bourgeois integration into militarism and contractual economic relationships. And you saw that over and over again in terms of the Women's Liberation Movement, and then all of a sudden you've got bourgeois feminism and white white feminism. And I think that that's really important to understand because it means that there's a struggle inside every movement to grasp the contradiction that...and to maintain a kind of self determined analysis and strategy for how that movement is going to carry itself forward in opposition to what the rulers of this society--who rely heavily on, as I say, white supremacy, male supremacy, settler colonialism, and its manifestations--to try to contain and suppress insurrectionary...And you see the same thing within the preparedness movement. There's the dominant politics of the preparedness movement I think that I've seen over many years are actually white supremacist. They're maintaining the homestead of settler colonial land theft. So you have to understand that that's a contradiction in that movement that has to be faced and overcome and struggled with. I think having an understanding is critical to really trying to chart a path forward that will kind of break...create wedge issues on our side of the of the ledger, so to speak, and begin to break people away from identification with the Empire, identification with whiteness, identification with privilege. And, you know, one of the issues I've had over a long time, for example, what I struggle for is people's understanding about the question of privilege. You know, I come out of the...as I said, there were struggles in the 60s and early 70s about what we called white skin privilege. And I think that it's critical to understand that privilege functions throughout the system all the time. It's not a burden of guilt, it's a mechanism of social control. And anything you have as privilege can be taken away. Privilege is a mechanism of actually obtaining consent and adherence to...You know, parents use privileges with their kids to try to get their kids to do what they want. Teachers use privilege with students to get the students to do what they want, Prison guards use privileges with prisoners to get the prisoners to follow the rules and stay incarcerated. And so, you know, that's a mechanism of Imperial domination, of settler colonialism, and certainly within that context. So, it's not an illness or a...It's not something to be guilty about. It's something to contend with and deal with and understand that if there are things you have as privileges that you think are used by right or by merit, you're deluding yourself and you can't actually function facing reality. So when you understand that they are privileges, you understand that they're there to obtain your consent and your adherence, and your compliance, your complicity, your complacency, and then you have to actually resist those privileges or turn those privileges into weapons that you can use to actually weaken the powers that be. And I think that that approach is important to understand that, you know...I used to do a lot of work with people in the Philippines struggle, and they talked about the fact that, you know, on some of the...outside the US Army bases that were imposed in the Philippines, there was a rank order of privilege, like where people could dig in the garbage dumps of the US military to get better quality stuff that was being thrown out by the military. And so that kind of hierarchy and sense of organizing people by by hierarchy, by privilege, is how the system functions at every level. In the workplace they find different privileges that people have to try to divide workers from each other and get people to struggle for privilege as opposed to actually struggle for solidarity and resistance and a different world. And I think that having that understanding begins to free people. Steven Biko was the leader of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa that really helped propel it moving forward. One of the things he said is that, "The greatest weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the minds of the oppressed." And, you know, I think to the extent that we can start to free our minds of these structures, we can actually begin to weaken the oppressor and strengthen the struggling and creative powers and energies of people to really build a different world. Inmn 14:00 Yeah, yeah. Sorry, this is gonna seem like a silly question because it feels very basic. But, I love to kind of break things down into their base levels. But, what is fascism? Michael 14:11 Yeah, good question. I think that an important analysis of fascism that I came across is from Cesare Amè. And what he said is that, "Fascism is the application in the metropole (of the colonizing power) of the methods of rule that have been used in the colonies." I think that that has a critical understanding because, as I said, the US is a separate colonial system, so elements of fascism have always been present within the political, economic, and social structure of the United States because they're internally colonized people and stolen land. So, if you're looking at elements of fascism, there's hyper masculinity, there's hyper nationalism, there's obviously slave labor, there's incorporation of a mass base into kind of a visceral identification with a leader. And all of those things really have manifest themselves in US history before we used the term, "fascism." And so, the US is based on land theft, on genocide, on exterminationist policies towards the indigenous people, the enslavement of African people, and also on the incorporation of a mass base based on settler colonialism and the offering of privileges to a sector of the population to say, "Okay, you know, we're going to participate along with the rulers in this system." And so I think that it's important to get that understanding because people often think that fascism is an aberration or it's a particularly extreme form of dictatorial rule or something like that. But I think that it's really a way of trying to reorganize people's personalities around their role within an empire and within, you know, it's trying to control the way people think, and control the way people see themselves in relation to other people. And so, you know, that's why I think that idea that fascism is built from above and below is important because we do see fascist elements that have some contradictions with the state. And we've seen, for example, in January 6th. You know, the government has gone after certain of these elements because they have moved too quickly. Or, the same way that there were premature antifascists during the World War II period and they went after the people in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Sometimes there are sort of premature proto-fascist in this society that have contradictions with the State, and they're operating somewhat independently. So, you know, I think that it's important to understand that and that there are elements in the State and within the different sections of the State that have their own operative plan. So, you know, when you look at the question of police abuse and police brutality, there's one approach to it that certain elements in the State take, which is about command and control. They want to make sure that they control the police forces and that individual officers are not acting independently but are carrying out cohesive state strategies. At the same time, there are elements within law enforcement that are trying to organize individual cops for organized white supremacy. And, it's the same thing in the military. And so there are contradictions there that we have to be aware of, but at the same time, they're operating within a framework of settler colonialism, of organized white supremacy, So, one of the things that's come up recently, for example, is this idea that there...how can there be non-white white supremacists? And, you know, I think it has to do with the fact that it's not just your identity, or your racial identity that's there but who do you...What's your identification? Are you identifying with the Empire? Are you identifying with the bourgeois? Are you identifying with the settler colonial project that has shaped, really, the whole globe over the course of half a millennium? Or, are you identifying with the indigenous? Are you identifying with the struggling people? And it's less a...It's not a question of your particular skin color but which side of the line are you on? Inmn 18:12 How does attempts by the State or by society to kind of like assimilate various oppressed people into the Empire? Like, how does that kind of factor factor into this? Michael 18:24 Well, if you look at the history of, let's say, Central America is one case in point, that there were fascist forces in Central America and their base was not really within their own society. Their base was within the Empire. And so, you had death squads operating, you had mercenaries operating, you had contras [counter revolutionaries] operating in Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, carrying out genocidal policies, in many cases, against indigenous people and people of African descent within their own societies. And so, you know, that's not exactly fascism in the same way, but it certainly is aspects of police state and death squad activity that has to be resisted. So I think that, you know, when you see Enrique Tarrio and some of these people that are, quote unquote, "Hispanic," operating as proto-fascists with the Proud Boys or these other formations in the United States that's a manifestation of the same thing, that there are people who have identified themselves with a system of white supremacy and a system of domination, a system of exploitation, and they're trying to make their own individual piece with it and they have collective mechanisms that reinforce that. And they see...So, you know, I think that the fascism has presented itself at times as a decolonizing element in Latin America and Asia and other places where...For example, when the Japanese Empire was trying to strengthen itself and formed an alliance with Italian fascism and German Nazism, they also presented themselves in Asia as liberators of Asia from European colonialism. And, you know, then they carried out atrocities of their own in China, Indochina, and Korea. So, I think that nobody is exempt from this. It's not a genetic factor. It is what ideology...What's the organizing principle that people are operating under to form their society and generate their power? If that's militaristic, if it's hierarchical, if it's exploitative, then regardless of what the skin tone of somebody carrying that out is, it can be fascistic in its nature. Inmn 20:44 Yeah, I like something that you said earlier, which I think is an interesting frame. So, I feel like people in the United States, you might hear people like, talk about the rise of fascism, or the like, emergence of fascism, as if it's this new thing, you know? And I like how you read it, in the formation of the United States as a nationalistic identity with this idea that fascism has always been here, fascism has always been a part of the settler colonial project of the United States. Michael 21:27 Well, I was gonna follow up that is if you look at the countries in which fascism came to power in Europe, they were mainly countries where they felt they were not adequate empires in their own right. In other words, Spain, even Portugal, France, England, you know, had empires. Germany came late to imperialism. And even to the formation of a German state, the German bourgeoisie was not able to really unify all the Germans into a single nation. Same thing with Italy. Italy was, you know, a bunch of kind of mini states and city states and came late to the formation of a national sense of Italy. And so I think that fascism presented itself as a overarching ideology that could galvanize a nation and launch it into an imperial mode where it could compete with other empires. So the US context is a little different because, as I say, from the very beginning it had that element of settler colonialism and cross-class alliance in which not only the bourgeoisie but even working people could be induced to participate in that project of land theft and genocide. There's a famous book called "How the Irish Became White" by Noel Ignatiev who talked about, you know, how white supremacy affected Irish workers. And what he didn't really look at was that there was some Irish involved right from the very beginning and trying to overturn the land relationships between settlers. They wanted, you know, there was a land theft and a land hunger that they had, and so, for example, even before the question of relation between Irish workers and Black workers came up, there were Irish in the United States that wanted to overturn the agreements that had been reached in Pennsylvania between the Quakers and the indigenous people in Pennsylvania. The Irish wanted land and they wanted to participate in taking that land from the native people. And then that had repercussions back in Ireland itself because that the US Empire and those land thefts then affected the consciousness of the Irish within Ireland itself and weaken the Irish struggle for independence from British colonialism because there was a safety valve of the US Empire. And so I think that it's critical to look at these things because it gives us a sense of what is at stake at different times and what's at issue. And I think that looking at the question of decolonization, looking at the question of solidarity and unity, is the flip sides to this. If we only look at the power of the bourgeois, if we look at the power of the fascists, it can be intimidating or overwhelming or depressing. And I think that that's the...You know, when you talk about preparedness and some of these things, you're talking about what are the generative powers of the people themselves because Imperialism and Capitalism are based on a kind of parasitical relationship. They're extracting wealth from the Earth itself and from the labor of people and turning it into a power over the Earth and over the people. And I think that understanding that actually all that wealth that the system has, all the power that the system has is actually coming out of the people who are oppressed and exploited in the land gives us a sense of what our own powers are and what our own capacity to be creative and generative are. To the extent we exercise those, it weakens them. And I think that that's a critical understanding. Inmn 25:16 Yeah. Are there ways that fascism is currently manifesting that feel different from say, I don't know, like 40 years ago? Michael 25:29 Well, I think the whole phenomenon of social media and the way in which they very effectively organized these Neofascist forces through the gaming...hypermasculine gaming stuff and, you know, I think...We talked a little bit about the..I think the reason that people approached me to do this podcast had to do with my essay in "¡No Pasarán!: Antifascist Dispatches from a World in Crisis." And so that's a piece where I talked about, you know, some of this history of different struggles and how they...what lessons to extract from them. But the other book I've been working on and put out recently, is called "The Blue Agave Revolution: Poetry of the Blind Rebel." This was a book...I was approached by Oso Blanco, an indigenous political prisoner here in the United States who was involved with actually robbing banks to support the Zapatistas in Mexico, and he was getting "Turning the Tide," the newspaper I've been working on for many years that we send free to prisoners, and he approached me. He wanted to work on a book and he said he wanted me to work on the book with him. And he had..."The Poetry of the Blind Rebel" is a story arc and poetry arc of his work that is a story about the Mexican Revolution of the early 20th century, the 1910s-1920. It's kind of magical realism. But, he asked me to write some fiction. And so I wrote kind of a short story cycle of a three way fight between vampires, zombies, and humans. And the vampires are basically--I mean, it's Dracula--but, you know, there's one point where there's a woman who has been trying to grapple with this and she forms a cross with two wooden tent stakes and he kind of laughs and says, "Oh, you bought that old wive's tale. We totally integrated into the church and into the State," you know. Basically, the vampires represent the bourgeoisie because they [the bourgeoisie] are vampiric and parasitic and they have powers. The zombies in this story are a group of incels that have captured a vampire and they think that they can create a potion from vampire blood that will give them power over women and make them...you know...And instead, they turn themselves into zombies. And so then there's a sort of three way fight between the bourgeoisie on the one hand, these vampires, the fascists from below, these sort of incel zombies that have to eat brains, and then the humans who are trying to deal with both of them. And I think that that's an important understanding that, you know, there are contradictions between the vampires and zombies but they're both our enemy. And so, I think that that's an approach that we have to understand that they're....You know, it's not a simple linear equation that's going on. There's a lot of things happening. I think that the fascists from below have contradictions with the fascists above, and we can take advantage of that. And then...but, we have to understand that their, you know, it's not...I think there are weaknesses...[Trails off] Let me go back to this. You know, historically, people have talked about antifascism and anti-imperialism, and there's been an element in both of those of class collaboration. A lot of people in the anti-imperialist movement think, "Oh, well, there's a sort of a national bourgeoisie that also doesn't like the Empire and wants to exert itself. And we have to ally with them. And a lot of people in antifascist movements have thought, "Oh, well, there's, you know, bourgeois Democrats who also hate fascism," and I think that those have been weaknesses historically. And also the contradiction between people who concentrate mostly antifascism, the people who concentrate mostly on anti-imperialism has weakened people's movements. I think having a kind of overarching understanding that fascism is rooted in Empire, particularly in settler colonialism, and that there isn't a contradiction. We have to find the forces of popular resistance that will overturn both fascism and imperialism...and capitalism. And, that we have to, you know, have a self determined struggle for decolonization and recognize people's self determination in their own struggles and their own capacity to live in a different way and to begin to create, you know, the solidarity forever, we say, you know, "Build a new world from the ashes of the old." And, I think that in terms of my own work, I've tried to--although, you might think I'm aging out at this point, but I've been involved at every point that there's an upsurge in struggle. I've tried to participate in that as part of Occupy LA. And more recently, I've been involved with some of the dual power organizing that's going on. And I don't know how much your people are familiar with that, but it is a conception related to, let's say, Cooperation Jackson, in Mississippi, where they're trying to figure out ways of organizing themselves economically and also resisting the power of the State. And so I was at the Dual Power Gathering that took place in Indiana last summer and there's one on the West Coast that's coming up in the Portland area. Inmn 31:06 Yeah, could you explain what--for our listeners--what is dual power? Michael 31:11 Yeah, so dual power is the concept that we have a power and we can exercise that power, and within the framework of this contemporary society, which is so destructive, we can begin to generate and exercise that power, and that there's, as I said, a kind of dialectic between the power of the people and the power of the State, and the corporations, and the power of the fascist, and that the different prefigurative elements of the kind of society we want to live in in the future can be created now. And, that as we exercise that power, it weakens the power of the State. It weakens the power of the bourgeoisie and the power of the imperialists. I went to that Dual Power Gathering in Indiana--I mean, it's not my bio region, but I did used to live in Chicago--and I felt some affinities with it. You know, they were...To talk about the idea of, you know, what's the relationship between dual power and our three-way fight, with a different conception with what the three-way fight is, that we are having to contend with two different enemies, you know, these fascists from below and the fascist from above, the State, and corporate power, and then also right-wing elements. And I think that in terms of both of those, we have to understand what are the powers that we have to organize ourselves to, as they say, to apply the generative and regenerative powers to...So that people have a sense of what they're fighting for. It's not just anti-this and anti-that. So for example, the newspaper I've worked in for many years, "Turning the Tide," originally, we called it the "Journal of Anti-Racist Action," or "Anti-Racist Action Edcuation & Research," and then we changed the subtitle a few years ago to, "The Journal of Intercommunal Solidarity," in the sense that you have to say what you're fighting for? What are we trying to build? What are we trying to create? What are we creating? And how does that give us the capacity to continue to resist and continue to shape the future, not just react always to what they're doing but actually have a proactive, generative stance. And so, you know, people's creative cultural expressions, people's capacity to do permaculture in urban environments or many other things like that, that say, that we want to restore the biological diversity, you know. We want to restore the capacity of the soil. We want to restore the clarity of the water and the air in the process of struggling for our own liberation. And that, you know, those are things that can happen and must happen now. We can't wait for some revolution that will happen in the future in which you know, we'll create a better world. We have to start in the context and the interstices of the system in the place that people are being pulverized. And so, you know, in Los Angeles, people are involved in various kinds of mutual aid work and working with the homeless, working with people being evicted to take over homes and restore them. And I think all those manifestations, that's the question of dual power there. We're looking at the incapacity of the people ruling this society to actually meet basic human needs and we're trying to figure out how to meet them. So, I think that's where it coincides with this question of preparedness is that I think that is a sense that people have to rely on their own resources, their own energies, and understanding that there's a contradiction between the system, the way it functions, and its implications and impact on us. And it's incapacity, its powerlessness, to really protect people from the kinds of calamities it's creating, whether it's flooding, or firestorms, or, you know, all the other manifestations of this global crisis of the Earth's system that is growing out of Capitalism. We have to deal with that now. We can't wait, you know, till sometime in the future when we have, you know, "power," quote unquote, you know? We have the power to start to deal with it. Inmn 35:17 Yeah, and, I feel like there have been different ways that people have tried to do exactly that in the past. And I don't know, like, I'm thinking of a lot of the stuff that the Black Panthers were doing, like creating communities that they...like, declaring that they had power and that they had the power to build the communities that they wanted and to preserve those communities. And then they faced an incredible amount of repression, like, as much for arming themselves as for giving kids lunch and breakfast. And I'm wondering, in what ways does the State try to like...or in what ways has the State tried to destabilize dual power movements in the past? And what can we kind of expect them to do now? Or what are they doing now? Does that make sense? Michael 36:35 Yeah, I think there's always a two-pronged approach by the state. And, sometimes it's referred to as, "The carrot and the stick." You know, it's co-optation ad coercion. And so they always attempt both to control as they modify people's thinking and try to create bourgeois alternatives to liberatory thinking and liberatory organizing. And then simultaneously, they have the repressive aspects, the criminalization of those efforts. And so in relation to the Black Panther Party, for example, they were simultaneously pushing what they called Black Capitalism, and saying, "Oh, yes, you know, we'll give you, you know, we'll find the sector of Black community that can integrate into the system." And then, along with that, they were carrying out COINTELPRO, which was a war strategy of creating contradictions inside Black Liberation organizations, setting one against the other, trying to execute and/or incarcerate people who were not willing to compromise their principles. So I think we have to be aware that you're seeing the same thing go on around policing issues. You know, they constantly want to put forward different reforms and accountability measures and ways that people can participate in civilian oversight mechanisms that really don't do anything. And at the same time, they're, you know, attacking people who are doing Copwatch or groups like the Stop LAPD Spying Network, which has exposed a lot of stuff about this constantly being targeted. So, I think that those, that the two-pronged approach by the State is something we have to be very aware of. It's not only coercion and criminalization and repression, but it's also co-optation and, you know, giving people individual solutions and mechanisms that are...they call it the nonprofit industrial complex, you know, this whole mechanism of structures that are set up to get people involved in grant writing and looking to philanthropists to somehow support them in their work. And I think that trying..You know, one of the things the Black Panther Party did was it had its own self generated funding by going to the base community they were trying to organize in, talking to small shopkeepers, and talking to churches, and trying to integrate that into these Liberatory efforts. So, I think that, you know, looking at that model, when I started doing, for example, People Against Racist Terror, there were a lot of small anti-racist groups around the country and a lot of them ended up going the route of looking for grants and looking for nonprofit organizations that they could fold themselves into, and I think that that kind of denatured them. They became, you know...As opposed to being grassroots, they became board and staff organizations, and individuals would create careers out of it. And I think that that mechanism of transforming popular movements into nonprofit organizations or nongovernmental organizations that accommodate themselves to existing power structures, existing economic realities, is one of the things that we need to try to avoid happening in this current period. Inmn 40:18 That makes that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, it's, it's funny, because I feel like I'm seeing a lot of groups involved in mutual aid, who are, I think, taking that lesson of the nonprofit industrial complex but are also trying to access larger swaths of money than the communities that they're part of can provide, like this model of, it's important to involve your community base in those things and to generate those things ourselves, but there is this problem sometimes of like, you're passing the hat and the same 20 people are kicking into the bail fund. And I don't know, I think maybe this is just me being hopeful, but I'm seeing a lot of mutual aid groups kind of dip into grant writing or dip into utilizing nonprofit statuses more so than structures in order to access funding and things like that. But what I'm seeing is people coming at it from like, hopefully, what is a different perspective of taking these lessons of the past and being like, "Well, we don't want to become some horrifying, large nonprofit, but we do want the State to give us 10 grand so that we can build infrastructure. Like I guess my question is, are there ways to responsibly interact with that? Or is this a trap? Michael 41:57 I guess I'd have hear more details. I think it's imperative that it has to come from below and from the grassroots. I think that, you know, I've been involved with the opposite, for example, Pacifica Radio, and Pacifica is listener sponsored radio and is a constant struggle about how much can we accept cooperation of broadcasting funding. They cut us off some years ago and we're trying to get it back Or, there's struggles about trying to get some underwriting. It depends who you're accountable to for the money that you're getting. Are you accountable primarily to the funder? Are you accountable primarily to the people who are using that money and the people who are self organizing for community power and community sustainability, and, you know, some of the things we're talking about of self determined strategies. And, you know, I do think that what happened to a lot of the 60s movements is that there was an ebb in the mass movement. And then people made their separate peace. People were like flotsam and jetsam as the tide of people's power movements were negatively impacted because of white supremacy, male supremacy, COINTELPRO, and an inadequate response to deal with it. Then, you know, people ended up in labor unions where they were doing some good work, but basically they became part of a labor bureaucracy where they ended up in government social services/ They were doing some good work, but they became part of that mechanism. So, I think the critical thing is trying to keep control of what's going on in the hands of the people who are actually organizing themselves and their communities. Inmn 43:55 Yeah. No, that makes sense. What are strategies that we should be embracing for countering this current current escalation in fascist tendencies? Michael 44:10 Well, you know, I've done a lot of work over the years, and as I say, "Turning the Tide" is a newspaper, we send a couple of thousand copies almost every issue into the prisons and we're in touch with a lot of stuff that's going on in the prisons. And I think that that's a critical place to look for some understanding about how to deal with this because we do see under what are essentially very naked fascist conditions of domination inside the prisons, which are very hierarchical. There's a lot of negative activity within the prisons themselves. There's the power of the guards and the wardens in the system and yet you find struggles going on against racism, against sexism, for solidarity against the solitary confinement of people who have been victims of torture are organizing themselves. And I think that understanding of that capacity and looking at that, those are some of the leading struggles in the United States. There have been hunger strikes, there have been labor strikes, the Alabama Prisoners Movement [Free Alabama Movement] here in California and elsewhere. And I think that sense that people under the most severe repression are actually capable of making human connections among themselves and beginning to actually, in a self critical way, look at how they incorporated toxic masculinity and racism into their own approach to reality, and by beginning to purge themselves of those things, they can begin to create multiracial solidarity among all prisoners to actually resist the conditions of incarceration and resist enslavement. So I think that that's very important to look at. I think that here in Los Angeles, there are, as they say, organizations like LACAN, that are working among homeless people and with homeless people to organize themselves to have street watches. They have a community garden on the roof of a building. They have cultural expression. They have theatrical groups...coral...You know, it's like all those things connect people's love and rage, as I say, people's ability to generate creative cultural expression and to use that to strengthen their solidarity and their unity and their ability to resist the coercive power of the State or the police sweeps or to expose what's going on and begin to put out a challenge to the way that society is organized. So I think that those are some critical things. I think that having the capacity to defend ourselves, both physically and also legally is very very important. I think that if you look at stuff like the Stop Cop City struggle that the escalation of repression and the use of charges of terrorism on people that are obviously not terrorists is indicates that the State sees this as a very, very serious threat and is trying to eradicate it and is trying to intimidate people. And I think to the extent that we can turn that around and use it to say to people, you know, "Is this the kind of State you want to live in? Is this the kind of society you want to have?" is a way to begin to change minds and hearts of people who have been going along with the system. I lived through a whole period where we freed many many political prisoners. We freed Bobby. We freed Huey. We freed Angela. And, you know, even the Panther 21 in New York, you know, it's like the jury met for about 30 minutes and acquitted them all because the power of those organized forces affected the consciousness of the jurors. And I think that understanding that we actually have the power to begin to shape not just own consciousness, to ways that struggle with people, to, "Which side are you on?" and to give people a sense that there is a side that they can identify with and become part of, and transform their own lives, and transform society in the process of doing that. So, I think, you know, for example, the stuff around preparedness is vital that, you know, we're living in a world in which there are incredibly destructive wildfires, floods, tornadoes, and it's very clear that the state is incapable of even dealing with it after the fact, let alone preventing it. And so I think that gives us an opening to talk to very wide sectors of the population in cities and in rural areas as well. I think that, you know, for example, Anti-Racist Action Network in its heyday had hundreds of chapters around the country in small towns because young people were, in their own high schools and music scenes, were suddenly faced with this threat of fascism and said, "Hey, we have to get organized." And so I think that, you know, we need to see these things as opportunities to really very massively begin to engage with people and begin to offer an alternative way of thinking about the world that gives some hope and some prospect of dealing not just with the crises and the repression but a way forward for people. Inmn 49:48 Yeah, yeah. And that kind of ties into--I love that you use this phrase. We've had this phrase come up lot with Cindy Milstein, who we've interviewed on the podcast before and who we've published their newest book last year, "Try Anarchism For Life," and they talk a lot about prefigurative organizing and prefigurative spaces. And I think this kind of ties into what you're talking about, but I was wondering if you could kind of give us your take on the importance of building prefigurative spaces? Michael 50:31 Yeah, I think that we have to find ways to bring people together and to give people a sense, as I say, of our own power and our own creative and generative capacity. So I think that that says that whether it's free schools, or it's breakfast for children, or any of the things that the Black Panther Party did and that many other people of color movements did in a certain period are here at our disposal. I know that, for example, there's a crisis in childcare and child rearing that's going on and so organizing people into childcare collectives and people jointly taking responsibility for each other's children and creating trust relationships that make people feel comfortable with that would be one example of that. In food deserts, organizing people to break up some sidewalks and grow some food and I think they're...One of the things that I've come to understand from doing this work for a long time is we live in a kind of fractal or holographic world in which the same contradictions are shot all the way through the system. It's at any level of magnification in fractals. If you look at the coast of Norway, something in the fjords, you know, it's the same pattern is reproduced at every level. And, you know, in a holographic image, any piece of the hologram has the whole hologram in it. So, I think that any area that people want to choose to struggle in, I think as long as they understand that they're struggling against the entirety of the system in that area and that there's an enmity built into that relationship between the system and we see what they're trying to do, I think that's the critical understanding. So if people are engaged in, you know, community gardens, as long as they understand that that's a piece of a larger struggle to create a world in which nature has, has space to reassert itself, and that people can eat different food and better food. And any area that you know, whether it's the struggle over transgender, nonbinary, or anything else, once people see that it's the same system throughout that they're struggling with, it lays a basis for solidarity, for unity, and for a struggle on many fronts simultaneously that says, you know, sort of the "War of the Flea," [A book on guerrilla warfare] the system is vulnerable in a million places because the system is in all those places simultaneously and, you know, they have a lot of money, a lot of power to deal with that, and they're organized in these systems of command and control and artificial intelligence and all the rest of it to keep track of everything, but we're in all those places simultaneously as well because we're everywhere. And trying to coordinate those things, I think, is very important. Inmn 53:51 This is a little bit of a backup that I remembered that I wanted to ask you about it. So, like, we're currently seeing like a pretty horrific and intense wave of legislation against against trans people and against queer people, and nonbinary people. And, yeah, I'm wondering what your take on that is as a kind of indicator, if we have to imagine like fascism as a spectrum of where we could be going, like what is that kind of legislation and repression an indicator of? Michael 54:38 Yeah, you know, I think that obviously fascism always tries to target the people they think are the most vulnerable. And also, as I say, I think they want to create what they see as wedge issues that they can use to divide people and segment people off. And so I think, to the extent that we can reverse that and we can try to unite people around a different conception. You know, one of the things that struck me is that you saw that they sort of had this victory with controlling the courts and overturning Roe v. Wade, for example. And, what that revealed was actually how narrow that really was, the forces that were pushing for that. Because then, you know, Nebraska and Kansas and these various states suddenly had electoral reinforcement of abortion rights happening. And I think the same thing can happen here. I think that there's so many families that they're concerned about their own kids or...and the parental rights. It reveals that these fault lines go through the whole system. That's what I'm trying to say is all of their power is based on repression and exploitation, and to the extent that people begin to see that and how it impacts on them, it opens up the vistas of possibility to say, you know, if you're concerned about your child's right to get the medical assistance they need, why is the State coming in to prevent you from doing that? And what are the interests that are trying to pick this as a threat to the stability of society? Inmn 56:46 And, yeah. Michael 56:48 So, you know, I think that since every crisis is an opportunity, I think the other thing I did want to talk about a little bit was the whole Covid pandemic, you know, going back to the prepper thing. I think you saw, again, you know, a lot of right-wing exploitation of that issue. And I think that the extent that we can get out ahead of that and look at...Okay, for example, in a society like Cuba, which had a completely different relationship to this because they're organized in a different way and, you know, they actually have a public health system and they actually created their own vaccines, not the ones from big pharma here in this country, and begin to get people to think about that and why Cuba is stigmatized by this society? Why are they embargoing Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, all these countries? You know, the connection to a global sense of what are the possibilities in the world? What are the prefigurative formations that are happening inside imperialism by countries that are actually resisting it? And so, if you look at, you know, the medical care system in Cuba, for example, you know, they have...Every neighborhood has a doctor that lives in the neighborhood--and nursing staff and other people--and [the doctor] works door to door with the people in that neighborhood to be concerned about their health and their well being not just, you know, responding to a particular medical crisis, and they have that systematized and they...So in that context, they were able to vaccinate people, not through coercive measures but through trusted people that were part of their community that could reassure them about the fact that they developed the vaccines themselves and that the Cuban pharmaceutical industry came out of their effort to deal with chemical and biological warfare by the United States. The US was like putting in swine fever as a way to destroy pigs that every family in Cuba had their own little pig to raise and, you know, supplement their food. And so they developed animal vaccines first to protect those animals and then they work their way up from there. So I think that that sense of, you know...I had a good friend recently who passed away from complications of diabetes and the Cubans have developed treatments for diabetes and to prevent amputation of limbs and other stuff. And all of that is unavailable to us because of the US imperialist embargo on Cuba and blockade. And giving people a sense that, you know, there actually are people living in the world in much better conditions. The United States is number one in incarceration, number one in many social ills, number one in overdose deaths, and, you know, on and on and on...number one in evictions. And we can begin to, you know, really give a sense to people that this system has nothing to offer them but destruction and that we have the capacity to create something different. Inmn 1:00:13 Yeah. Thanks. I have only to say that...yes. Yes to all of that. We are nearing the end...of the recording, not of the world. [Said as a dry joke] And, yeah, is there any any kind of last things that you want to say before--I'll ask you to plug anything that you want to plug at the end--I mean, that was such a beautiful wrap up, I feel like. But, if there's anything else you want to talk about, that we haven't talked about? Michael 1:00:45 Well, you know, years ago, I was part of a group in Berkeley that took over the California College of Arts and Crafts to create an anti-war poster making facility during the Vietnam War. And out of that group, there was a singing group called the Red Star Singers, and they had a song called "The Power of the People's the Force of Life." And I think we really have to have that sense. It's, you know, it is a dialectic. That's what I think the main thing I want to try to convey is that, you know, to the extent that we can build the people's power, it actually weakens that system. And, you know, just that sense that all the power that they have is actually derived from their exploitation and oppression of people. And that's our power, you know, manifest that against us. And if we take our power back, it actually does weaken them and increases our possibilities of struggling to for a different world. So, I will do the plugs. I, for 35 years, I've been working and I actually wanted to sort of break the story here. I'm looking for a collective that will take over "Turning the Tide." I've been putting it out for a long, long time. Volume 35 # 2 is just about to come out. It's up on antiracist.org. You can reach me at antiracistaction_ la@yahoo.com. But, you know, like I say, I'm 76. I'm currently the interim general manager of KPFK radio in Los Angeles and it's a huge time commitment. And I want I want to see the paper, you know, become, in some way or shape, institutionalized, to continue to meet, you know, send out the 1700-1800 copies to prisoners. And so, if anybody's interested in taking over that project and fulfilling that commitment, I'd love to hear from them. And then, as I say, I have a chapter in "¡No Pasarán!: Antifascist Dispatches from a World in Crisis" edited by Shane Burley from AK Press. And I contributed a lot of material archival stuff and was interviewed extensively for "We Go Where They Go: The Story of Anti-Racist Action" from PM press. Two really, really important books and well worth reading. And then I did, self published and co-authored "The Blue Agave Revolution: The Poetry of the Blind Rebel" with Oso Blanco, Byron Shane Chubbuck. And you can get that again from Anti-Racist Action. So it's PO Box 1055, Culver City, California 90232. And online, just Antiracist.org. Inmn 1:03:27 Wonderful, in "The Blue Agave Revolution," is that Is that where we can find your short story about the three-way fight between vampires, zombies and humans? Michael 1:03:37 It's a kind of a novella. There's about seven chapters of a longer thing. And there's also a shorter one about a group of teenage mutants called Black Bloc, that they have these kind of minor powers. One of them can, you know, it's Jackpot and Crackpot. Crackpot can kind of break out of anything and Jackpot can just affect the odds slightly in their favor and a bunch of other young people, nonbinary and so on. But they're also some different essays of mine in there and a lot of poetry and, yeah...Just the mathematics of the enormity of social economic inequality. People don't understand exactly what it is, but essentially, about 45% of the US population has the equivalent of 50 cents in assets. You know, people don't understand exactly what the class divide and the contradictions inside the society are, you know. We're we're duped into thinking that this is the richest country on the face of the Earth and the most powerful, you know. There's an enormous, hidden social cost and pain behind that and we have to figure out how to galvanize that into the power that actually those people possess and the creativity that they have. Inmn 1:05:03 Yeah. Great. Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Yeah, of course. And I'll we'll drop links to all the things that you mentioned in the show notes for people to find. And yeah, thank you. Michael 1:05:23 Okay. Take care. Have a great day. Inmn 1:05:25 You too. Inmn 1:05:26 Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, then go out and live like the Empire is dying. And then tell us about it. And if you'd like to support this podcast, you can do so by telling people about it. 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This August, the Asian American Literary Festival was to take place in Washington, DC.. The event had already garnered substantial investments and expectations from both national and international groups and states. Thus there was considerable shock and outrage when Acting Director Yao-Fen You abruptly cancelled the entire festival, without a word of explanation.The Washington Post and other sources have hinted that it might be because of potentially controversial content. The Post wrote: "According to emails shared with The Post, You notified Lawrence-Minh Bui Davis, the festival's director since its founding in 2017 and a curator at the Smithsonian that “due to the current political climate,” Smithsonian leadership had requested that all upcoming exhibitions and multiday programs be reviewed under a policy known as Smithsonian Directive 603, which is meant to help identify any potentially sensitive or controversial content and prepare for potential responses from the public."On today's show we speak with Ching-In Chen, a poet who was curating a festival event featuring books by trans and nonbinary writers, and Kate Hao, a program coordinator on contract with the Smithsonian for the festival, about the controversy, and about the issues it raises about art for the community vs. art that must conform to state institutional preferences and politics. We discuss why this festival is absolutely essential for the present day, where we have Asian Americans being used to help dismantle affirmative action, and where we see persistent and deadly acts of anti-Asian violence.We also hear about possible plans to go forward without the Smithsonian, and ways we can help support the artists and organizers.Acting Director You declined to comment for this show.Descended from ocean dwellers, Ching-In Chen is a genderqueer Chinese American writer, community organizer and teacher. They are author of The Heart's Traffic: a novel in poems (Arktoi Books/Red Hen Press, 2009) and recombinant (Kelsey Street Press, 2018 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Poetry) as well as chapbooks to make black paper sing (speCt! Books) and Kundiman for Kin :: Information Retrieval for Monsters (Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs, Leslie Scalapino Finalist). Chen is co-editor of The Revolution Starts at Home: Confronting Intimate Violence Within Activist Communities (South End Press, 1st edition; AK Press, 2nd edition) and currently a core member of the Massage Parlor Outreach Project as well as a Kelsey Street Press collective member. They have received fellowships from Kundiman, Lambda, Watering Hole, Can Serrat, Imagining America, Jack Straw Cultural Center and the Intercultural Leadership Institute as well as the Judith A. Markowitz Award for Exceptional New LGBTQ Writers. They are currently collaborating with Cassie Mira and others on Breathing in a Time of Disaster, a performance, installation and speculative writing project exploring breath through meditation, health and environmental justice. They teach in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences and the MFA program in Creative Writing and Poetics at University of Washington Bothell and serve as Writer in Residence at Hugo House. www.chinginchen.comKate Hao is a poet and fiction writer, a cultural worker, a shy Leo, an ex-pianist, a soup enthusiast, an aspiring morning person. She grew up in the suburbs of northern Virginia and currently calls Providence, Rhode Island home.
This week, we're sharing part of our April 26th, 2020 interview with Barry Pateman. Barry, born in the early 1950's, grew up in a working class coal mining town of Doncaster in the UK and became an anarchist in the 1960's in London. He is a longstanding member of the Kate Sharpley Library which covers histories of little-known anarchists and events in history. Barry has also contributed to and edited numerous books including “Chomsky on Anarchism”, a two book document collection with Candace Falk and many more titles, many on AK Press. We talk about anarchist history, community, repression, defeat, insularity, popular front with authoritarian Marxists, class analysis and how to beat back capitalism. Find Kate Sharpley Library at KateSharpleyLibrary.Net . ... . .. Featured Track: Traditions by Los Hooligans from Traditions I Never Gave Up (Rondo Remix) by Chumbawamba from the I Never Gave Up single
Tuck speaks with author and podcast host Margaret Killjoy (she/they). Topics include: What to consider before moving to a queer off-grid land project Suing RENT (2005) to get credit for playing melodica!? The secret rules of writing heterosexual romance novels Easy, actionable ways that we can all prepare for disasters Plus: Feminazgûl, high school GSAs, anarchism, and exploding the czar This Week in Gender: It's our fifth anniversary, baby! Find Margaret on Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff and Live Like the World Is Dying, and at birdsbeforethestorm.net. Her books are available from AK Press. Tickets for our Feb. 1 Brooklyn live show are on sale now! Do you have an advice question that you'd like answered on the show? Submit questions anonymously via this Google form. Join our Patreon (patreon.com/gender) to get access to our monthly bonus podcast, weekly newsletter, and other fun perks. Find episode transcripts and a full list of grant winners at genderpodcast.com. We're also on Twitter and Instagram @gendereveal. Senior Producer: Ozzy Llinas Goodman Logo: Ira M. LeighMusic: Breakmaster CylinderAdditional Music: “Hope and the Forester” by Blue Dot Sessions Sponsors: Bluestockings and DeleteMe (promo code: TUCK20)