Podcasts about final straw radio

This week you'll hear our chat with the author of Countering Dispossession: Reclaiming Land: A Social Movement Ethnography, the political ecologist David E Gilbert (not to be confused with the former Weather Underground prisoner in the US). For this episode, David and I speak about the book, the small community in south Sumatra, Indonesia known as Casiavera, the legacy of colonial land grabs, the people who live there and the agro-ecology of the rainforest at the base of the Arin volcano. You can find more of David's work at https://DavidEGilbert.Com Links: The Black Snake: Standing Rock, the Dakota Access Pipeline, and Environmental Justice by Katherine Wiltenburg Todrys Via Campesina: https://viacampesina.org/ Landless Workers Movement (MST): https://mst.org.br/ Sarakhat Patani Indonesia (SPI): https://spi.or.id/ Mentions of Tan Malaka in the Southeast Asian Anarchist Library (https://sea.theanarchistlibrary.org/search?query=tan+malaka ) or writings on Marxists.Org (https://www.marxists.org/archive/malaka/ ) Feed'em Freedom Foundation (Detroit): https://feedemfreedom.org/ Our interviews on the ZAD: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/?s=zad Grassroots Indonesian Eco-movement Wahli: https://www.walhi.or.id/ Announcement May Day Happy upcoming May Day, comrades known and unknown! I hope that wherever you are and whatever you do, you're surrounded by siblings in love and struggle, you can take pleasure in the beauty of the world around you, take strength from our predecessors who share our vision of a life unencumbered by state / capital & the other anchors foisted upon our shoulders, and with the energy to create a path towards our desires Ángel Espinosa Villegas We had an interview scheduled with Ángel Espinosa Villegas, a trans masc butch dyke, formerly a 2020 uprising prisoner who was transferred to ICE detention for deportation, however the screws seem to have decided to escalate the deportation to Chile rather than let hir continue to speak to the media. Keep an eye out for upcoming interviews with Ángel, and consider checking out hir GoFundMe. At the end of this post there are some statements from Angel... Supporting The Show Hey listeners… we've had a string of early releases with more on the way coming out through our patreon for supporters at $3 or more a month, alongside other thank-you gifts. If you can kick in and help, the funds go to our online hosting, and creation of promotional materials like shirts and stickers, but MOSTLY to funding our transcription efforts. We hate to ask for money, but if you have the capacity to kick us a few bucks a month, either through the patreon or via venmo, paypal or librepay or by buying some merch from us (we have a few 3x, 4x & 5x sized tshirts in kelly green coming soon), we'd very much appreciate the support. We're hoping to make a big sticker order in the near future. If you need another motivator, the 15th anniversary of The Final Straw Radio is coming up on May 9th, 2025 and we are not above accepting birthday presents. That's 15 years of weekly audio (albeit at the beginning it was more music than talk), including 8 of which 7 of which aren't in our podcast stream (you can find some early show examples in this link _by skipping to the last page of posts on our blog). Other ways to support us include rating and reviewing us on google, apple, amazon and the other podcasting platforms, printing out and mailing our interviews into prisoners, using our audio or text as the basis for a discussion of an ongoing movement, contacting your local radio station to get us on the airwaves, and talking about us to others in person or on social media. Alright, capping this shameless plug! Angel statements: These are press statements and direct quotes that Ángel Espinosa-Villegas has provided from inside Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, TX, where she was held from April 1 to April 25, 2025. Ángel is currently in transfer to an undisclosed location, but has not been able to contact loved ones yet. These messages were received by loved ones on the outside throughout the past 3 weeks and she has given explicit permission to publicize these statements. “We dance a lot, draw our hopes and homes on the walls of this place any way we can. We tell stories of home, hold each other past language barriers because we all know all too well what it's like to be torn away from our families, hold onto hope, only for it to be crushed cruelly by these heartless fascist traitors. To remain utterly powerless at the mercy of the abusers of gluttonous power. People are quite literally dragged out, hogtied, by these pirates that speak of protecting democracy yet dehumanize and humiliate us without so much as a look in our eyes before ripping us apart from our newfound friends, and, more distantly, our families we have here. They rob us of the little money we have and have no paths of recovery. They tell us clean water is a privilege and not a right. That speaking to our families is a privilege. That seeing the sun is a privilege. That if we get too loud of this constant mistreatment, then we should get ready to eat mace.” “Most people here don't have the means to speak out against these human rights' violations we face every day. But I will take any and every chance to fight, to expose the way they treat us that these human traitors have normalized.” “This was supposed to never happen again. But here it is again. We need everyone demanding our freedom, to expose all the vultures robbing these vulnerable people of everything from money to merely see our families and small children. We're not even allowed to say goodbye, to hug our children goodbye. What madness is this? How is this STILL happening to us, I ask myself when I wake up. Is this country for the free? For those yearning for a safe, happy life? If this country and its people care about freedom and safety, then people should refuse to let this government and administration work a second longer until they free us ALL.” “A lot of women here are fighting their cases because they've been following protocol to obtain legal papers or asylum or were just rounded up randomly from racial profiling. One woman here lost her purse with all her money on a train and went to church to seek help. The church called ICE on her because she couldn't speak English! Another woman here was late to her job and her boss called ICE on her. Few of us have criminal records. Most were just following advice from their lawyers and continuing their appointments with ICE and USCIS to get their visa or temporary protected status or whatever it was they were doing. But because of Trump's administration they're all rounded up by ICE and deported.” “I'm feeling alright, mostly numb since being locked up is so abusive and heart wrenching. Here... It's a rollercoaster. I witness, every single day, cries of agony and anger and despair. I see people hogtied and dragged out. People being yelled at to gather their things and go into the unknown, being threatened with PREA for hugging as we say our goodbyes and well wishes. This place is much worse than prison in many ways. I hear guttural wails and sobs so many times a day. It's like being at a perpetual funeral; laying to rest this person's life, that one's dreams, the other's hope. Knowing they'll be inevitably harmed, kidnapped, sometimes disappeared or even killed when they go and we can do absolutely nothing.” “We're just hostages. Being one for so long now... I'm so hollow on the inside. I haven't dropped any tears the last year and a half. I just can't. Not even when I was sentenced. I don't know how I'll even begin to heal, but I sure as fuck ain't ever gonna stop fighting. My hope and ambition to fight... I've just been refueling his entire time being down.” “Fighting brings me solace. Helping others brings me solace, some meaningfulness, a melting of stone in my petrified heart. I spend most of my time going around and helping people as much as I can; working the tablets, giving phone calls, cooking food, doing little chores and tasks for the older, sick, or disabled ladies.“ With love & solidarity, Free All Dykes . ... . .. Featured Track: Judas Goat by Filastine from Burn It (a benefit for Green Scare defendants)

This week on The Final Straw Radio, you'll hear three interviews interviews relating to community needs and recovering concerning Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina. If you're a non-Pacifica radio station airing the show, here's a link for the 58 minute radio edition while Archive.Org continues to be down due to hacker attacks. First up, you'll hear Jen Hampton of the WNC Tenants Network about the re-opening of eviction courts in Buncombe County and conditions of housing in an already difficulty place to live. Then, Bruce and G talk from the Asheville Community Bail Fund speak about conditions in the local jail during and after this unnatural disaster. Finally, Yousef of the Palestinian and Arab-led Sumud Collective speaks about his experience of the storm and recovery work in the region in an interview recorded a couple of weeks ago. Other links from Jen: Short term rental rules for Asheville: https://www.ashevillenc.gov/news/asheville-homestay-and-short-term-rental-update-regulation-changes-and-active-enforcement/ Just Economics https://www.justeconomicswnc.org/ FEMA: https://DisasterAssistance.Gov 1-800-631-3362 Eblin Charities: https://www.eblencharities.org/ Pisgah Legal Services: https://www.pisgahlegal.org/ NC Legal Aid: https://legalaidnc.org/ WNC Tenants Network: https://bit.ly/WNCTenantsNetwork NC Tenants Union: https://nctenantsunion.org/ . ... . .. Featured Track: Reflections by The Supremes from Gold

On today's episode, I got a chance to talk with Solomon Brager, the artist and author of the recently published graphic memoir,  Heavyweight. Solomon Brager is a cartoonist and writer living in Brooklyn, New York. They are a 2023-2025 Jerome Hill Artists Fellow, a member of the Pinko magazine editorial collective and the director of community engagement at Jewish Currents magazine. Heavyweight deals with Solomon's own search through the archives to learn the story of their German Jewish family fleeing the Nazis and escaping the Holocaust, specifically through Solomon's elective affinity for a great grandfather, Erich, who was a boxer (and punched Nazis). The book is careful to tell the story of the Holocaust within a larger context of European colonial genocide, so that we see the eventual targeting of Jews, Roma, Sinti, and others as a continuation of German policies in Africa, for example. In this light, as Sol and I discuss, we can also view the eventual statehood of Israel as a culmination of this history of colonialism and violence. Though the book's focus isn't on Israel, we do spend time in this conversation analyzing the dynamics of Zionism in relation to the stories and teaching of the Holocaust to American Jews, and the idea of Jewish exceptionalism. One of the things I loved, and that we discuss also, is the way Sol represents in the book their own ambivalence about the this history, both in terms of family relations and scholarly practice, an ambivalence that Sol discusses as an ethical relationship to the past, an openness to being wrong. In this light, I also love the way this book depicts a kind of trans choosing of history and ancestors, as Sol finds a link to a Jewish masculinity in their great-grandfather: this is another ethical ambivalence, one that I think shows us we can tell stories of the past that don't determine our future as inevitable, while still honoring the complexities of the dead.  I highly recommend this book, it is honest, vulnerable, and thoughtful. You can find Solomon Brager at https://solomonbrager.com, or on Instagram @jbbrager. I also am linking a comic that Sol did for Jewish Currents debunking claims to Jewish indigeneity, “When Settlers Become Native”—they mention it in our talk, and it's a text I have also called on in my own writing. I also recommend checking out Pinko and Jewish Currents. As always, We have an online submission form at https://form.jotform.com/thebreakuptheory/stories and a phone line at ‪(917) 426-6548. Please write and call us, to share your break up stories, your questions about ending things, and your hopes for liberation! If you like this show, please share with your friends and rate and follow us wherever you get podcasts. You can also support the project and my writing by subscribing to my patreon patreon.com/thebreakuptheory. If you have any extra cash, you can sign up for $5/month, though nothing there is paywalled. On my patreon, I regularly post both short and long written pieces, along with episodes, and other conversations I'm having. I am so grateful for all of you supporting me and this project! The Breakup Theory is a member of the Channel Zero Network of anarchist podcasts. Check out this link to find many other important and fun projects, like my buddies, The Final Straw Radio.

'Whether one is an anarchist or not, the contemporary turn of geopolitical events—from the global phenomena of pandemics, fascistic regimes, and collapsing infrastructure for any sort of social well-being, to capitalist-fueled climate catastrophes and displacement, to occupations spiraling into genocides—has compelled a shift toward prioritizing do-it-ourselves forms of taking good care of each other. Suddenly, the many anarcha-feministic practices that previously felt like “nothing” when people didn't take the time or care to notice them—or worse, didn't take the time or care to engage in those practices themselves—now feel like, and indeed are, everything.'—Cindy Barukh Milstein, Constellations of Care: Anarcha-Feminism in Practice We are joined on the show this month by Cindy Barukh Milstein, editor of Constellations of Care, and Shuli Branson, a contributor to the anthology, and author of Practical Anarchism: A Guide for Daily Life. Cindy and Shuli explore the ways in which anarcha-feminist practices and care (in all of its guises) are vital to our efforts to resist militarism, fascism, ecocide, patriarchy and misogyny. They talk about the current wave of Palestinian solidarity encampments on university campuses, the importance of ritual and grief work, and the work being done by groups around bodily autonomy and trans-affirming care in the face of state attacks and abandonment. Constellations of Care: Anarcha-Feminism in Practice is 40% off for podcast listeners on plutobooks.com. Use the coupon PODCAST at the checkout. --- Cindy Barukh Milstein is a diasporic queer Jewish anarchist and longtime organizer. They've been writing on anarchism for over two decades, and are the author of Anarchism and Its Aspirations and Try Anarchism for Life: The Beauty of Our Circle. They edited the anthologies Rebellious Mourning: The Collective Work of Grief and Deciding for Ourselves: The Promise of Direct Democracy, among others. Shuli/Scott Branson is a queer/transfemme Jewish anarchist writer, translator, community organizer, and teacher. They translated Jacques Lesage de la Haye's The Abolition of Prison and Guy Hocquenghem's Gay Liberation after May '68, for which they also wrote a critical introduction on his queer anarchism. She coedited Surviving the Future: Abolitionist Queer Strategies with Raven Hudson and Bry Reed for PM Press. They are also a frequent co-host on the anarchist podcast The Final Straw Radio.

Content warning: we talk about sexual assault and rape, though not in detail. On today's show, I talk with my dear friend Girl Cock about the breaking up of Femboys Against Fascism. We had previously spoken about the group on an episode of The Final Straw Radio in May of 2023. The group was formed to counter anti-migrant rallies taking place in Liverpool. However, the group decided that it was better to end itself than to continue just for the sake of it, allowing the former members to pursue new actions. We use this breakup to get into deeper conversation, including the continuity of fascism into transphobia and assault and groups protecting themselves over listening to victims or holding anyone accountable. We talk about failures of the left, trans separatism and self defense, the use of violence, and the respectability politics marginalized or oppressed people are asked to do. At the end we discuss adult supremacy as well. I think this conversation is provocative and generative. Girl Cock is eloquent and speaks of her own experiences organizing, and she has a keen sense of autonomy and contributes a great deal to our understanding of breaking up. I hope you like it! At the end of the episode, I've included two Femboys Against Fascism songs as a treat! Remember we have set up an online submission form at https://form.jotform.com/thebreakuptheory/stories and a phone line at ‪(917) 426-6548, for you to share your break up stories. We will record regular episodes discussing your situation and sharing our political and personal perspectives. Our first episode got a lot of great feedback, so I'm excited to keep growing this project. You can support this podcast and my writing at https://www.patreon.com/thebreakuptheory I really appreciate the support! Also feel free to share and rate and follow us on any podcast platform. 

You may not realise it, but you are probably already practicing anarchism in your daily life. From relationships to school, work, art, even the way you organise your time, anarchism can help you find fulfilment, empathy and liberation in the everyday. From the small questions such as 'Why should I steal?' to the big ones like 'How do I love?', Scott Branson shows that anarchism isn't only something we do when we react to the news, protest or even riot. With practical examples enriched by history and theory, these tips will empower you to break free from the consumerist trappings of our world. Anarchism is not just for white men, but for everyone. In reading Practical Anarchism: A Guide for Daily Life (Pluto Press, 2022), you can detach from patriarchal masculinity, norms of family, gender, sexuality, racialisation, individual responsibility and the destruction of our planet, and replace them with ideas of sustainable living, with ties of mutual aid, and the horizon of collective liberation. Scott Branson is a queer and trans writer, translator, teacher, artist, and anarchist organiser, living in Western North Carolina. They translated Guy Hocquenghem's second book, Gay Liberation After May 68, as well as Jacques Lesage De La Haye's The Abolition of Prison, and co-edited Surviving the Future: Abolitionist Queer Strategies. They are also a frequent co-host on the anarchist podcast The Final Straw Radio. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. 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

You may not realise it, but you are probably already practicing anarchism in your daily life. From relationships to school, work, art, even the way you organise your time, anarchism can help you find fulfilment, empathy and liberation in the everyday. From the small questions such as 'Why should I steal?' to the big ones like 'How do I love?', Scott Branson shows that anarchism isn't only something we do when we react to the news, protest or even riot. With practical examples enriched by history and theory, these tips will empower you to break free from the consumerist trappings of our world. Anarchism is not just for white men, but for everyone. In reading Practical Anarchism: A Guide for Daily Life (Pluto Press, 2022), you can detach from patriarchal masculinity, norms of family, gender, sexuality, racialisation, individual responsibility and the destruction of our planet, and replace them with ideas of sustainable living, with ties of mutual aid, and the horizon of collective liberation. Scott Branson is a queer and trans writer, translator, teacher, artist, and anarchist organiser, living in Western North Carolina. They translated Guy Hocquenghem's second book, Gay Liberation After May 68, as well as Jacques Lesage De La Haye's The Abolition of Prison, and co-edited Surviving the Future: Abolitionist Queer Strategies. They are also a frequent co-host on the anarchist podcast The Final Straw Radio. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

You may not realise it, but you are probably already practicing anarchism in your daily life. From relationships to school, work, art, even the way you organise your time, anarchism can help you find fulfilment, empathy and liberation in the everyday. From the small questions such as 'Why should I steal?' to the big ones like 'How do I love?', Scott Branson shows that anarchism isn't only something we do when we react to the news, protest or even riot. With practical examples enriched by history and theory, these tips will empower you to break free from the consumerist trappings of our world. Anarchism is not just for white men, but for everyone. In reading Practical Anarchism: A Guide for Daily Life (Pluto Press, 2022), you can detach from patriarchal masculinity, norms of family, gender, sexuality, racialisation, individual responsibility and the destruction of our planet, and replace them with ideas of sustainable living, with ties of mutual aid, and the horizon of collective liberation. Scott Branson is a queer and trans writer, translator, teacher, artist, and anarchist organiser, living in Western North Carolina. They translated Guy Hocquenghem's second book, Gay Liberation After May 68, as well as Jacques Lesage De La Haye's The Abolition of Prison, and co-edited Surviving the Future: Abolitionist Queer Strategies. They are also a frequent co-host on the anarchist podcast The Final Straw Radio. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/politics-and-polemics

Today I'm joined by the author Scott Branson to discuss their book Practical Anarchism. Scott and I discuss the similarities between our approaches, as well as some key differences related to terminology. For more from Scott, you can check out The Final Straw Radio, a podcast and radio show that they co-host.

The Grounded Futures Show, Ep 21: Sparks In-Between, with Scott Branson  “thinking alone is not as exciting as thinking together” Scott Branson, a Jewish transfemme anarchist writer, and artist, joined carla and Uli for an inspiring virtual walk to think (and feel) together. They go deep into Trans worlding and talk pathways to gender abolition, discovering voice, embracing not knowing, sampling ideas, learning through play and making mistakes, practical anarchism, and more! This joyful conversation covers a lot of ground, including a poetry reading! TRANSCRIPTS Show Notes: Scott's webpage Scott on IG: Scott on Twitter  Practical Anarchism: A Daily Guide  Gay Liberation after May 68 The Abolition of Prison How I Became a Genre Bender and Found a Voice Women on the Edge of Time The Dispossessed   The Earthsea Trilogy  Witch Hat Atelier  “We study with any person who can teach us.” -- Marge Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time Favourite quote by Ursula K, Le Guin:  “But he had not brought anything. His hands were empty, as they had always been.” -- the Dispossessed  Recommendations: I, Tituba Black Witch of Salem, by Maryse Condé Akata Witch Love, Anger, Madness: A Haitian Trilogy Scott's Poem: where had we left you? a long necked white creature bobbing in the distance on the lake it was clear we had overlooked the mysteries of the world so white i wondered how it kept clean in polluted waters i can't wear white pants without staining the sun doesn't cause waves but lets us see them and the lake ripples into this white protuberance a child's drawing of a sea dinosaur smiling so happy to be here where had we left you? but that's the best we could have done on the pier no one sees she swims unnoticed except by me, in my quick glance, and i decide to avert my eyes and let her be * ​​Scott Branson is a Jewish transfemme anarchist writer, teacher, organizer, musician and artist. Scott is also a co-host on the anarchist radio show/podcast The Final Straw Radio. Their book, Practical Anarchism: A Daily Guide, just published by Pluto Press, offers ways to infuse everyday life with ideas of mutual responsibility and collective liberation, combining anarchist and queer/feminist approaches to relationships, work, and living. Their translation of the queer theorist and gay liberation militant Guy Hocquenghem's second book, Gay Liberation after May 68, was published in April 2022 through Duke University Press's Theory Q Series. Scott wrote a critical introduction that situates Hocquenghem's queer anarchism in relation to current liberation movements. Scott translated longtime prison abolitionist, anarchist, ex-prisoner, and psychologist, Jacques Lesage De La Haye's The Abolition of Prison (AK Press, 2021). Their edited volume, Surviving the Future: Abolitionist Queer Strategies will be published by PM Press in January 2023.  Music for our show by: Sour Gout The GF Show art by Robin Carrico Thanks for listening!

Vic Youth Parliament e-waste bill & eco-anarchist Greek updateGuest Producer Jacob Gamble in conversation with high school students who developed a bill on effective e-waste management as part of the YMCA Youth Parliament program this year. As well as Rachel Ridley from Planet Ark and Professor Usha Iyer-Raniga from RMIT university also on the topic of e-waste.Also, Bursts at Final Straw Radio with an update from Athens-based anarchist squatter Alex on wind turbines greenwashing, wildfire impacts & privatisation of public spaces in rural Greece Earth Matters #1362 was produced by Jacob Gamble & Final Straw Radio

Episode Notes Strangers In A Tangled WIlderness can be found at here or on twitter @tangledwild. You can support this show by subscribing to our Patreon. A more reader friendly copy of the story can be found at https://www.tangledwilderness.org/featured/the-great-armored-train Along with amazing art by Robin Savage. This story appeared in Nick Mamatas's collection The People's Republic of Everything, published in 2018 by Tachyon Publications. About the author: Nick Mamatas is the author of seven novels, including Love is the Law, I Am Providence, and the forthcoming Hexen Sabbath. His short fiction has appeared in Best American Mystery Stories, Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, and many other venues. Nick is also an anthologist; his books include the Bram Stoker Award winner Haunted Legends (co-edited with Ellen Datlow), the Locus Award nominees The Future is Japanese and Hanzai Japan (both co-edited with Masumi Washington), and Mixed Up (co-edited with Molly Tanzer). His fiction and editorial work has been nominated for the Hugo, Locus, World Fantasy, Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, and International Horror Guild Awards. Mamatas lives in Oakland, California. About the interviewer: Margaret Killjoy is a transfeminine author and editor currently based in the Appalachian mountains. Her most recent book is an anarchist demon hunters novella called The Barrow Will Send What it May, published by Tor.com. She spends her time crafting and complaining about authoritarian power structures and she blogs at birdsbeforethestorm.net. The theme music is also by Margaret Killjoy. Show art is by Robin Savage The Host is Inmn Neruin. You can find them on instagram @shadowtail.artificery **Strangers In A Tangled Wilderness 2: The Great Armored Train by Nick Mamatas** Inmn Neruin: Hello and welcome to Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness...the podcast. I'm your host Inmn Neruin and I use They/them pronouns . Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness is a collectively run publisher dedicated to producing and curating inclusive and intersectional culture informed by anarchistic ideals. This can include stories, fiction, poetry, memoir, non-fiction, theater pieces, comics, books, pop culture analysis, recipes, music, history, podcasts...and occasionally essays and theory. We are looking for content that doesn't know where it fits in, for people that don't know where they fit in. On this podcast we have audio versions of our monthly featured zine read by a brilliant voice actor along with interviews with the author. If you would like to hold in your hands a hard copy of our monthly feature, please consider subscribing to our Patreon where you will be mailed a lovely zine once a month along with other occasional trinkets to add to your horde. Our Patreon helps make things like this podcast possible as well as supporting other podcasts we put out like Live Like The World Is Dying. It also helps us pay authors of the monthly features, transcribers, artists, editors and translators. So if you like what you hear, please consider subscribing at Patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. If you would like to submit a piece that you think would shine nicely in our little dragon horde, please visit Tangledwilderness.org for our submission guidelines! This month, we are kind of cheating…We bring to you a previously recorded episode of the now on-hold podcast We Will Remember Freedom. In this re-print episode, one of our collaborators, Margaret Killjoy talks with Nick Mamatas about his short story The Great Armored Train. We feel this story is more relevant than usual considering Russia's current invasion of Ukraine. This story pits Trotsky's giant armored train against polish folk magic. I really loved this story mostly because it's simple and I love learning about magic within resistance movements, but I also appreciate a good critique of State Communism. Much like State Communism  paraded this idea of liberating the people, while building a power base for a new oppressive state, Putin claims to be trying to save Ukraine from itself, going so far as to parade that idea that he hopes to de-nazify it. A facist claiming to free people from other fascists. Seems sketchy.  And much like during the  reign of the Bolsheviks or the quarrels of any nation states, the common people are usually who suffer most and are used as pawns. But as in this story, resistance can be…phantasmal and there have always been echos of stateless worlds, tremors of a bell rung long ago, now ever ringing, “Land to the Peasants” as the  Black Army emblazoned on their battle standards as they fought for a free-territory in Ukraine almost exactly one century ago in conflicts with Bolsheviks and Monarchists. Our hearts go out to the Anarchists and anti-authoritarians organizing in  Ukraine and Russia right now, and those of you fighting on the frontlines, organizing evacuations, refugees and medical support, for those who stayed and for those who fled and of course for those who fell. We hope the fantasy and comedy of this story can offer some levity and hope within this ongoing conflict, and those exactly like it happening all over the world, and hope if people can empathize with Ukrainian people right now they can see the similarities between this conflict and those in places like Palestine, Syria, and Rojava to name a few. So remember, sharpen your talons, listen for the echos, and keep fighting.  *For a print version of the story please visit http://tangledwild.org * Inmn Neruin: That was Margaret talking to Nick Mamatas about “The Great Armored Train.” Please check out the online version for this story as well as other content at [http://tangledwild.org](http://tangledwild.org). You can even see some amazing artwork done for the story by our artist Robin Savage. I've heard many stories of Ukrainian women offering sunflower seeds to Russian soldiers, so that when they die at least something beautiful and useful will grow. I hope so much to hear stories in the future of seeds that spontaneously burst to life inside tanks, consuming them and rendering them useless except as homes to wayward critters.  If you would like to learn more about this conflict in Ukraine and those like it, check out our friends at the Final Straw Radio at [https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/](https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/) for interviews with Ukrainian Anarchists, as well as our friends at [http://Crimethinc.com/](http://crimethinc.com/) for histories and interviews with Russian and Ukrainian Leftists, Anarchists and anti-authoritarians. If you would like to support anarchists and anti-authoritarians in Ukraine right now check out a link tree for Ukranian mutual aid group Operation Solidarity at [https://linktr.ee/operation.solidarity](https://linktr.ee/operation.solidarity) and an Anarchist armed detachment The Black Headquarter at [https://linktr.ee/Theblackheadquarter](https://linktr.ee/Theblackheadquarter) Thanks so much for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast please go tell someone about it. Whisper it in their ear, put it on at work, write a review and feed it to the ocean, cry its name to the gloaming daring an owl to answer. If you would like to support us as well as the authors, translators, editors and artists that we work with please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Subscribers receive at different levels: access to digital copies of our archived zines and features, digital copies of new work, Patreon-only content, discounts of printed work and monthly printed copies of our featured zine mailed to you along with whatever else we feel like that month. You can find us at Patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness or check out our website for more free content, including blogposts, zines, books, games, comics, how-to guides and other works we have to distribute. We can be found at TangledWilderness.org or check us out on twitter @Tangledwild. And as always, if you don't want to or can't contribute financially please rate and review us, and tell a friend. We like having friends. You do incredible things that we are endlessly marveled by. We would especially like to thank these friends: Mikki, Nicole, David, Dana, Chelsea, Micaiah, Staro, Jenipher, Eleanor, Natalie, Kirk, Hugh, Nora, Sam, Chris, and Hoss the dog for making this podcast and so many other projects possible. If you feel like a stranger that would like to find their story a home in this tangled wilderness consider submitting it; the pages are thirsty.  Next month, we bring to you something a little bit different. I will be talking with Celeste Inez Mathilda of Liminal Spaces about their zine “Taraxacum Officinale: Dandelion. Break the Binary. Migration is Beautiful” as well their views on the ethics of wildcrafting. Stay Well. We hope you come back. Find out more at https://strangers-in-a-tangled-wildern.pinecast.co

Even as Russian forces continue their brutal assault on Ukraine, a growing domestic uprising is challenging the empire from within. This episode of the Ex-Worker focuses on the anti-war movement in Russia, analyzing it from an anarchist perspective and assessing the regime's power and vulnerability. The episode opens with a call to action from the March 6th day of protest across Russia and a summary of militant direct actions against the war machine. An anarchist in the provinces shares a first-person reflection on the evolution of the anti-authoritarian movement and its prospects in today's crisis, while an analysis from Autonomous Action considers Putin's miscalculations, the information war, international dynamics, and possibilities for resistance. An independent journalist discusses the nature of the protests, police responses, migration and diaspora, censorship, the role of NATO, and lessons to learn from the invasion and the protest movement. We close out with a Syrian refugee collective's reflections on how their experiences in the Syrian revolution and civil war can inform how international observers relate to the conflict. And just for fun, we throw in some hair-raising Russian songs related to protest and war. We'll continue our coverage of the crises in Ukraine and Russia—and much more—in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. {March 11, 2022}   -------SHOW NOTES------   Table of Contents: Introduction {0:01} [Protester's Song From a Russian Police Van] {5:29} Spring is Coming: March 6th Call to Action {6:38} Anarchist Fighter on Radical Anti-War Actions {12:57} My Days in Russia {20:31} The Kremlin's Fatal Miscalculation {32:36} Interview with Dmitrii {47:05} War in Ukraine: Ten Lessons From Syria {1:18:09} Conclusion {1:42:23} This episode includes Spring is Coming: March 6th Call to Action, and the piece “My Days in Russia,” originally published as part of the article “The View From Ukraine, The View From Russia”. The piece “The Kremlin's Fatal Miscalculation” is a translation of the transcript of the March 6 episode of Trends in Order and Chaos, the podcast from the anarchist media platform Autonomous Action. The roundup of radical actions by Anarchist Fighter included references to an auto attack on a police cordon in Pushkinskaya Square, a molotov cocktail attack on a military registration/enlistment office in Voronezh, an anti-war attack on the Kremlin wall, and the teenage anarchist Mikhail Zhlobitsky, who died in a 2018 attack on the FSB headquarters in Arkhangelsk. During our interview, Dmitrii recommended a few English-language news sources on Russian politics, including Open Democracy, Meduza, and The Russian Reader. By the way: if you have any trouble with the accent or wording in the live interview, you can always read along with the transcription in our full transcript, which is lightly edited for easier understanding. The episode concludes with the piece War in Ukraine: Ten Lessons From Syria, written by participants in La Cantine Syrienne, a transnational collective of Syrian refugees based in the suburbs outside of Paris, France. For further background on the Syrian Revolution, civil war, the refugee crisis it spawned, and “anti-imperialism,” see our coverage on The Syrian Underground Railroad and Understanding the Kurdish Resistance, and other pieces such as “Safe,” by the Edge of Syria, “The Anti-Imperialism of Idiots” by Leila Al Shami, etc. The music we included in this episode includes the spine-tingling singing of a group of young Russian protestors detained in a police van on their way to jail and an old Soviet song sung during the USSR's doomed Afghan war, “Just don't tell mom I'm in Afghanistan” – also see a follow-up to the same song from the next Russian regime's bloody imperial folly, “Just don't tell mom I'm in Chechnya”. The Ex-Worker is a proud member of the Channel Zero Network, an English-language anarchist radio and podcast network run by radical media makers. Several other CZN participants, including The Final Straw Radio, Elephant in the Room, and This is America by It's Going Down, have done their own coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, so definitely check out those projects through the links above if you want to hear more.

Prison Abolition Mixtape ft. Bursts from The Final Straw Radio In this episode Bursts and I made a mixtape of songs that speak on the horrors of the prison industrial complex and songs that are inspired by prison abolition. The Final Straw Radio: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/ The Final Straw Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tfsr Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4ji1SmC0Tpx7SxsrczNJ1V?si=40a9791407864113 Music by AwareNess: Bandcamp Please support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/timetalks Channel Zero Network: https://channelzeronetwork.com/ Show Playlist: 1. Dead Prez - Behind Enemy Lines 2. Archie Shepp - Attica Blues  3. Vic Mensa - Shelter feat. Wyclef Jean & Chance the Rapper  4. Zack de la Rocha - Digging For Windows 5. Ric Wilson - Fight Like Ida B & Marsha P  6. Invincible - The Door 7. Apani B. Fly feat. L.I.F.E. Long - Outasite 8. JP Robinson - George Jackson 9. Rocky Rivera - Headhunter feat. Bambu 10. Blackbird Raum - Lucasville 11. Sole & DJ Pain 1 - FTL 12. Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak  

For this episode we offered our platform to some organizers inside and out, who put together a series of discussions on the state and needs of prisoner movements today. This is the third segment of a series of political discussions focused on building support for Jailhouse Lawyers Speak's 2021 National Call To Action “Shut ‘Em Down” and looking forward to next summer's 2022 National Prisoner Strike and Boycott. The first two panels were hosted by George Jackson University and Final Straw Radio, we'll link to both in the show notes and people should really listen to all these conversations in dialogue with one another. From various New Afrikan perspectives, panelists discuss cadre development and political education as a crucial strategies toward building sustainable formations and community infrastructure. They discuss how these formations and related infrastructure can propel the prisoners' resistance movement towards the abolition of prisons. The moderator of this panel is coco. coco is a conscious New Afrikan engaging in prisoner solidarity work along with political education & New Afrikan resistance. The panelists for this discussion are: Kwame “Beans” Shakur. Kwame is Chairman and Co-Founder of the New Afrikan Liberation Collective (NALC) and National Director for the Prison Lives Matter Movement. Kwame is a political prisoner currently being held in Indiana DOC solitary confinement (SHU) in an attempt to silence his work inside & out. Nomi Isaac, pronouns they/them/theirs, is an afro-futurist cultural organizer, and earth liberation advocate engaged in class struggle taking place on Pamunkey Land, or what is commonly known as Richmond Virginia. They co-produce the Black Feminist podcast Race Capitol and are a proud member and support the work of prisoner solidarity efforts within VA Prison Abolition Collecitive (VPAC), NALC, and the Richmond Community Bail Fund. Abbas Muntaqim is a New Afrikan Muslim educator and organizer who co-chairs People's Programs, an Oakland based New Afrikan/Pan Afrikan organization. He also co-hosts Hella Black Podcast. One note on audio, apologies but there were some technical difficulties with the audio coming from Kwame Shakur who was calling us from inside. Those clear up after the first couple of responses, but I encourage folks to stick with the conversation despite the distortion in the audio in his first couple of segments. A reminder that as we publish on September 8th, tomorrow is the 50th Anniversary of the Attica Rebellion and a second set of “Shut ‘Em Down” demonstrations are scheduled around the country in response to Jailhouse Lawyers Speak's Call to Action.  

Content Warning: This will contain language, beliefs, references and information that may offend listeners. Channel Zero Network shoutout to Final Straw Radio podcast samples: Hella Black - EP 99: Message To The People Pt 2: Don't Be Fooled tracks: Intro: Still - Geto Boys (1996) FTP - Chef Da Bomb x YaBoy K.O. (2020) Equality or Revenge - B.Lo the Gawd (prod. Em Dolla) (2020) Pigs - Guilty Simpson (prod. Madlib) (2008) Thinkin out Loud - Rah Digga (prod. !llmind) (2014) PIG FEET - Denzel Curry + Terrace Martin(feat. Daylyt, Kamasi Washington, & G Perico) (2020) 8:46 - Vellione (2020) The Men In Blue - Prince Paul, Everlast (1999) Crooked Officer - Geto Boys (1993) Sorry Not Sorry - BIG $ILKY (2021) I Can't Breathe - Reid Ali (prod. Jaezoe) (2020) Black Lives Matter - Dax (prod. Barbasauce) (2020) 16 Shots - VIC MENSA (prod. Papi Beatz) (2016) Riot Gear - Scotty Frys (2020) Feds - Ghostface Killah, Harl3y, Hue Hef (prod. Keyz Buchanan & Wiz Buchanan for The Buchanans / GITM) (2020)

Interview with Aric McBay about Full Spectrum Resistance (part 2)Part two of a two part interview with farmer, anarchist, organiser and author Aric McBay, on his book Full Spectrum Resistance—an historical overview on building movements, actions and strategies for change.In a fascinating and in depth interview with Bursts from The Final Straw Radio, McBay covers the climate justice movement and it's unique potential for facilitating widespread interconnectivity and synthesis between other social movements.In this concluding episode McBay & Bursts examine why single issue movements are not conducive to full spectrum resistance in the struggle for climate justice, and discuss how intersectional movements have been more successful in this regard.They also critique vanguard valorisation and consensus decision making; and McBay reflects on his time with the Deep Green Resistance movement and the transphobia issue.LISTEN TO PART ONE HERE*Audio sourced, with thanks, from The Final Straw Radio  This week's show is #1290 and was produced by Nicky Stott

Interview with Aric McBay about Full Spectrum Resistance (part 1)Part one of a two part interview with farmer, anarchist, organiser and author Aric McBay, on his book Full Spectrum Resistance—an historical overview on building movements, actions and strategies for change.In a fascinating and in depth interview with Bursts from The Final Straw Radio, McBay covers the climate justice movement and it's unique potential for facilitating widespread interconnectivity and synthesis between other social movements.Based on the concept of common ground—and using successful examples from the South African anti-apartheid movement, the women's suffrage movement, the US civil rights movement, and Wet'suwet'en land rights and anti-pipeline solidarity campaigns—McBay outlines aspects of full spectrum resistance in building social movements; including diversity of tactics, cooperation between people using different tactics, solidarity between movements and intersectional approaches.LISTEN TO PART TWO HERE*Audio sourced, with thanks, from The Final Straw Radio  This week's show is #1289 and was produced by Nicky Stott

Closing out a hellish year with the final episode of the “ solecast” before I change the name (and focus) to The Institute For Post-American Studies in 2021.  Couldn't think of a better way to end it, then with two of my favorite co-travellers and co-conspirators in the world of anarchist podcasting: Final Straw Radio.   In this episode we reflect on 2020, our hopes and fears for the future and how this year surprised us in many ways.  We also talk about our projects and things we've learned along the way, going in depth on on issues of race and anarchy, internationalism, abolition, ecology and much more.  Bursts also shares his Kim chi recipe at the end.   Check em out at final straw https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/   Music “Gasoline” By Erda    

This week, you'll hear a full show, including a segment by Sean Swain [00:01:38 - 00:07:54] Defend DC, 12/11-12/12 [00:07:52 - 00:51:28] Our main content is a conversation with antifascist organizer Daryle Lamont Jenkins of the One People's Project and IdaVox to talk about his views of the state of the far right at this time in the US, their Stop The Steal rallies and the November 14th Million for MAGA March in DC at which three BLM and anti-racists activists were stabbed, what the shift in regimes will mean for anti-racists and the importance of our participation in December 11th and 12th to counter a rally called for by the Proud Boys. You can find Daryle's work up at OnePeoplesProject.com and at IdaVox.com and more about the December 12th counter demo at DefendDC.Org B(A)DNews November 2020 [00:51:28 - 01:07:01] Then, you'll hear some audios from the latest episode of BAD News, the montly, English-language podcast from the A-Radio Network, of which The Final Straw Radio is a member. In that block, the first audio is an update from Greece by Radio Fragmata, a longstanding pirate station based in Athens. Then, Črna Luknja shares updates from Slovenia, including notes on the repression of the autonomous squatted factory, Rog, in the center of Ljubljana. You can hear the whole episode, plus any past ones, up at A-Radio-Network.Org and finding the BAD News link. A few links to subjects mentioned: Antifascist Unity Coalition's Days of Unity site where they talk about their January 2nd mobilization to bring in donations to foodbanks nationwide POPMOB, a Portland-based group building a mass movement against Fascism The documentary “Alt-Right: Age of Rage” which features Daryle Lamont Jenkins can be watched on Netflix or Amazon and likely elsewhere. The feature film “Skin” in which Jenkins is depicted while attempting to help a former white supremacist move out of that milieu is available on youtube for rental. There is also a short film by the name of “Skin” by the same director from the same year that features Daryle which can be viewed on YouTube for free. . ... . .. Tracks featured during this episode: "Kick Push (instrumental)" by Lupe Fiasco "It's Gonna Be Me (instrumental)" by N'Sync    

This week on The Final Straw Radio, we spoke with Dylan and Enzo of Unity & Struggle. Unity & Struggle, or U&S, is an anti-state communist collective spread across the so-called US. Their members publish essays and engage in local organizing activities. Enzo recently authored a short essay entitled “How Do We Stop A Coup” which had editorial contribution by the wider U&S collective. For the hour, we talk about the threat of a “Constitutional Coup”, the importance of street action and organizing among the working classes to resist authoritarianism and ideas about fighting recuperation by Liberal power structures like the Democrat party. More by U&S, including this essay, can be found at UnityAndStruggle.Org. You can find a mini series of podcasts with Unity & Struggle talking about their study group on Race over 5 parts starting in November of 2019 on RevLeft Radio. You can also find a recent interview with members of U&S entitled “Organizing In The Face of Crisis and Far-Right Terror” on the same topic as our discussion on ItsGoingDown's IGDcast. . … . .. This Monday, October 26th there will be a march in Lincoln, Nebraska at the State Capitol at 14th & K from 11:30 am– 3:30 pm in support of the review of the wrongful conviction, and eventual release of, Ed Poindexter. Mr. Poindexter is the surviving member of the Omaha 2 who, along with Wopashitwe Mondo Eyen we Langa (whose state name was David Rice), were convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the 1971 murder of Omaha Police Officer Larry Minard on August 17th, 1971. The two were suspects before there was any evidence in the case because they were leaders of the National Committee to Combat Fascism, a splinter from the Black Panther Party. Despite shoddy investigation and signs of evidence tampering by authorities, an appeal to the conviction based on new evidence that surfaced in the case of the Omaha 2 was denied in 2010 by the Nebraska Supreme Court due to limitations imposed by Clinton's 1996 Effective Death Penalty and Anti-Terrorism Act, a law mentioned by Cinque Magee in our last episode. The Nebraska Board of Pardons will be meeting Monday afternoon and supporters are invited to participate in a public comment period at the end from 4-5pm (depending on the length of the hearings). Mondo died in prison of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease on March 11, 2016, after being incarcerated from age 23 to 69. Ed has diabetes and had triple bipass heart surgery in 2016. He is confined to a wheelchair and cataracts that limit his ability to read. He did not deserve this treatment and needs to be released after 49 years on a wrongful conviction. If Ed Poindexter is not pardoned, we hope to speak soon with supporters of him about his case. Meanwhile you can get involved and support him by visiting the fedbook page entitled Freedom4Ed (with the number 4). You can also contact them at freedom4ed@gmail.com You can write to Ed, whose 76th birthday is coming up on November 1st, at: Edward Poindexter #27767 Nebraska State Penitentiary P.O. Box 22500 Lincoln, NE 68542 United States Please be aware that because of his cataracts, text on letters should be no smaller than 18 point. More information can also be found at PrisonerSolidarity.Com . … . .. featured tracks: “Don't Make Us Ask” by Lee Reed from Murder Hornet Landlord “Fiyah to the Fascists” by Multiply (Tef Poe x Rebel Diaz) from Vol. 2

Non-violence verses direct action: We need both!Leslie James Pickering, Burning Books co-owner & former ELF spokesperson, and radical treatise 'Eco-Warriors' author Rik Scarce, debate non-violent civil disobedience versus direct action tactics like property destruction. The audio in this week's episode was sourced from The Final Straw Radio, and was recorded at November 2017 Burning Books community conversation between Scarce and Pickering about property destruction & definitions of violence; terrorism labels & repercussions of militancy; concerns around alienating the wider community and the radical ecological movement.  Music: ¡TchKunG! New Earth Rising; Dan Kemp, 'In Defence of Direct Action'  Earth Matters #1253 was produced by Nicky Stott 

Anarchist Resistance In Prison: Jennifer A. Rose and Comrade Z On this podcast minisode, we feature the voices of two incarcerated comrades: Jennifer Amelie Rose and Comrade Z. Both chats were conducted through the mail and are voiced by comrades in the Channel Zero Network. Jennifer Rose [04:07-12:12] First you'll hear Jennifer Rose. Jennifer, formerly known as Jennifer Gann, is a member of the Fire Ant Collective which just released it's 6th issue and is due to put out another very soon. She is a trans woman who came up in the southern California punk scene, became politicized and began organizing inside of prison since the late 1990's. Jennifer Rose has a parole hearing that she could use support letters for coming up on July 28th, 2020 and also more letters in support of her commutation application. Read the transcription below. You can learn more about Jennifer Rose's case by visiting BabyGirlGann.noblogs.org where you can find out how to donate to her legal fund. You can read issues #1-5 of Fire Ant Journal up at Bloomington ABC's website & #6 at Blue Ridge ABC's website. And you can write to Jennifer at: Jennifer Rose E – 23852 Salinas Valley State Prison D3-1250 P.O. Box 1050 Soledad, CA 93960 You can find out how to format support letters, you can email her lawyer, Richard Rutledge at RLaw@RutledgeAttorneys.com or write to Mr Rutledge at: Richard Rutledge, Attorney At Law 7960 B Soquel Drive #354 Aptos, CA 95003 You can write letters of support to the Board of Parole Hearings on behalf of Jennifer by addressing them to the following address: Board of Parole Hearings Post Office Box 4036 Sacramento, CA 95812-4036 And you can write to the CA governor, Gavin Newsom on Jennifer's behalf by addressing them to: Governor Gavin Newsom1303 10th Street, Suite 1173 Sacramento, CA 95814 Comrade Z [13:17-33:49] Since this was conducted in writing, Jennifer's words are being voiced by Margaret Killjoy, the host of the podcasts ‘Live Like The World is Dying' and ‘We Will Remember Freedom', both members of the Channel Zero Network. Then, we'll hear from Comrade Z, aka Julio Alex Zuniga, an anarchist prisoner in Texas, about the situation at the Darrington Unit. Comrade Z was mentioned by Jason Renard Walker at the end of our interview that we aired on April 19, 2020. Although all three conversations cover some hard to listen to subject matter, we want to give a special warning to Comrade Z's portion, which talks in detail about terrible conditions at Darrington and discusses suicide and death of prisoners. You can read another interview with Comrade Z that appeared recently on ItsGoingDown.org and you can check out and/or purchase his artwork on instagram by viewing @julioazunigaart. Thanks to Matt Brodnax for helping us set this interview up and his support for Comrade Z. Transcription: Comrade Z PDF (unimposed) Zine (imposed PDF) You can write to Comrade Z at: Julio A. Zuniga #1961551 Darrington Unit 59 Darrington Rd. Rosharon, TX 77583 Jason Goudlock As a closing note, I had hoped to share recent words from Jason Goudlock, currently incarcerated at Toledo CI in Ohio, give a brief update on his situation and how the ODRC is not handling covid-19 however technical difficulties got in the way. Suffice to say, prisoners were still being transferred into Toledo CI shortly before April 15th, prisoners were not given any significant protective gear nor cleaning supplies and folks were starting to get sick. Learn about Jason's case, watch the documentary about him and find out how to support him at FreeJasonGoudlock.org. You can reach Jason via jpay email or write him at Jason William Goudlock, #284-561 PO Box 80033 Toledo, OH 43608 . ... . .. Transcription of Jennifer Rose interview TFSR: Could you please introduce yourself for the audience? Who are you and where are you? Jennifer Rose: I'm glad to hear from you and happy to have this opportunity to participate in The Final Straw Radio. So, to introduce myself, my name is Jennifer Rose. I'm a a trans woman incarcerated in California and currently held at Salinas Valley State Prison, a men's facility. TFSR: Can you tell us a bit about where you came from and how you came to be incarcerated? Jennifer Rose:I'm from Southern California, born and raised in Riverside, and spent my teenage years living in Huntington Beach (Orange County). I was in the 1980's punk rock scene around the L.A. area doing a lot of drinking and drugs which led to my involvement in an attempted robbery and another armed robbery for which I was jailed, convicted and sent to prison for seven years. TFSR: How did you become politicized? Jennifer Rose: While I was serving my time at Folsom Prison, I became involved in prison protests and abolitionist struggle, for which I was targeted, placed in solitary confinement and beaten by guards. This is how I became politicized as a prison rebel, resisting brutality and torture, sabotaging and breaking a dozen prison cell windows in the inhumane ‘Ad-Seg' unit. I was involved in the gladiator fights where guards encouraged racial violence and then shot at us with 9mm assault rifles using live ammo. There were additional charges brought against me for attacking a pig officer, for weapon possession, and for two assaults on a state prosecutor and associate warden. For these I was given a 25 years-to-life sentence under the ‘three strikes' law. This was around 1995 and 1996. TFSR: Can you talk about the struggle of being a woman in a male-assigned prison? What sort of support have you received and what sorts of hurdles? Jennifer Rose: To answer your question about being a transwoman in a men's facility, we have faced the most adverse circumstances imaginable. From the discriminatory harassment and brutality of the pigs, to the hatred and violence of other prisoners, and even rapes and murder! This has began to change more recently, at last in California with many legal reforms and court victories. I have been able to find widespread support from outside groupls like Black & Pink and TGI Justice project, among others. Also, lots of support among abolitionist and anarchist collectives, and the extended family of LGBTQ prisoners. The main hurdles we face continue to be our unsafe housing conditions, exposure to homophobic and transmisogynist violence from gangs, domestic and sexual violence. We are in a very disadvantageous situation facing the various types of gender violence on a daily! TFSR: Is there anything else you'd like to say about how you discovered anarchism and what inspires you about anarchy? Jennifer Rose: I became politicized during the 1991 Folsom Prison Food Strike, which was a protest against proposed visiting restrictions that cut our visiting days from four times a week to twice (weekends and holidays). Just prior to this, I was given a copy of the anarchist zine Love & Rage by another prisoner and had also been influenced by Jailhouse Lawyers to educate myself about so-called legal rights and remedies for which I became a strong advocate. Eventually I would learn the hard way that the pigs don't give a fuck about the law, or peoples rights. It's only used at their convenience as a tool of social control and criminalization of marginalized people and communities. The people thing that inspires me about Anarchy is the simplicity of the idea, of abolishing the State and it's illegitimate Power. They claim their Authority from God and Natural Law… and originally as white male property owners under colonial government. That's crap! I love the basic concept of Anarchy, which is Freedom! It's basic principles of voluntary cooperation and mutual aid, non-hierarchy and autonomous collectives, internationalism and solidarity, etc. TFSR: Have you been able to do much organizing within prison? If so, around what sorts of issues and how did it go? Jennifer Rose: I've done a lot of organizing within prisons, including legal advocacy and ‘jailhouse lawyer' work, as former leadership in Black & Pink and working with TGI Justice Project to change discriminatory policies and improve living conditions for trans women in the men's prisons. We've had a lot of success and made progress over the past 12 years or so, including betteer access to basic trans health care (e.g. hormones, surgery, etc), access to and inclusion in prison programs and job assignments, accommodation of women's clothing and cosmetics and more awareness of and prevention of sexual abuse among other things. I am currently awaiting an approved gender affirming surgery and transfer to a women's facility sometime this year! TFSR: You mentioned in a letter with me that you organized briefly with Maoists. Are you now or have you ever been a Maoist (that's a Senator McCarthy joke)? But, really, how did that happen? What was that like? Jennifer Rose: As for Maoists, yes, I did work with MIM-Prisons for a while which offered study group sand worked directly with prisoners on many projects. I carried on a dialogue with them via correspondence, often debating with them over my anarchist sympathies and their political line on gender and State power (their ‘Dictatorship of the Proletariat'). I did think I could work within that Maoist framework at one point, but eventually had to reject the ideological bickering sectarianism of Maoists. I've always been an anarchist at heart, even when I went through this stage in my personal development. Eventually I came in contact with insurrectionary anarchist writings from Greek comrades in the FAI-IRF and CCF, which I was strongly influenced by, and developed friendships with like-minded comrades. TFSR: You're a collective member of Fire Ant. Can you talk about the project and what part you play in it? Jennifer Rose: I'm extremely proud of my involvement as a member of the Fire Ant collective. The project started as a concept I was discussing with several different comrades via regular correspondence, including Robcat, Michael Kimble, Sean Swain and Bloomington ABC. We all had similar ideas of trying to organize and faciliate a national or international anarchist prisoner conference where we could bring together the collective voice of imprisoned anarchist rebels, perhaps publish a paper, start a support fund to raise funds and material aid, and generally build anarchist prisoner solidarity in a way we haven't yet seen! We've always had ABC and National Jericho Movement mainly focus on leftist ‘political prisoners.' Many imprisoned anarchists are not recognized as ‘political.' In point of fact, we are anti-political! However, we believe that ALL prisons are political. Anyways, the part I played is pulling all these comrades' ideas together, and putting them in direct contact about this exciting project. Once Robcat offered to facilitate a zine, Bloomington ABC offered to provide printing and distribution free! And they also halready had a support fund set up. So we all pulled together and formed the Fire Ant collective. Robcat came up with the name and we all contributed to the zine connecting our individual and collective struggles from prisons across the U.S. and internationally! I'm proud to be an accomplice in this seditious conspiracy toward worldwide anarchist insurgency. TFSR: There have been some victories of recent in your sentence. Can you talk about what happened? Jennifer Rose: As far as my recent sentence reduction on October 28, 2019, this only affected one of my sentences for assault and battery on the prosecutor, a ‘non-serious' felony, which was knocked down from 25-years-to-life to 8 years. Yay! TFSR: Similarly, you were telling me of improvements in the conditions of your confinement as relates to gender, right? And what are next steps for you and what can listeners do to support you and try to hasten your release? Jennifer Rose: My next steps are getting my surgery, transferring to a women's facility, and a parole suitability hearing on July 28, 2020 with the Board of Parole Hearings (BPH). The greatest support comes in the form of letters to the Board and/or the Governor advocating for my release, and any amount of commissary funds which I can receive via jpay.com. TFSR: I'm not sure if you're much of a reader, but do you have any book suggestions for the audience? Jennifer Rose: As for recommended reading, I would strongly suggest the Emma Goldman autobiography and Assata Shakur autobiography, Michelle Alexander's ‘The New Jim Crow', and anything by Butch Lee, Sean Swain or Greek insurrectionary anarchists of CCF! TFSR: Any comrades you want to shout out on the show? Jennifer Rose: Shoutouts to Robcat, Breezy, Michael Kibmle, Sean Swain, Eric King, Marius Mason, Jeremy Hammond, Sacramento Prisoner Support, Nashville ABC, Nadja in Bloomington and Chelsea Manning! And in case I missed someone, solidarity to all anarchists and antifascists! Thank you for your efforts in the struggle. To The streets!!! Thank you! . ... . .. Transcription of Comrade Z interview TFSR: Would you please introduce yourself for the audience? Who you are, where you are, how you got there? Comrade Z: Hello Everyone, Thank you for having me on The Final Straw. It's an honor. My name is Julio A. Zuniga. Alex is what everyone calls me, or Comrade Z for those who are standing with me 10 toes down in solidarity. I am a survivor of B-Line solitary confinement at Dirty Darrington Unit and currently trying to reach out to activists and anarchists in the area who can help me organize a statewide work stoppage. Enemy of the State and of the Dirty Darrington administration, my whole heart and soul is hellbent on bringing the attention of the entire nation to the administration and it's human rights violations, cruel and unusual punishment, physical assaults by staff, mailroom policy changes, inadequate law library, commissary price gouging, infestation of roaches, mice and spiders, sewage leaks in the cells, constant power outages, the list goes on and on. The torture tactics are of primary concern because it's driving people to die by suicide. So far it's been 1 suicide per year since I've been here. How I got here was because abolitionists in East Texas rose up against Telford Unit, for Housing Administrative Segregation inmates at that facility without telling the surrounding community about it. They were against it. People of New Boston, TX and Texarkana found out about TDCJ housing G4 and G5 offenders because an Officer Davison was murdered by a solitary confinement offender who was being tortured by Telford Unit by withholding his mail and refusing him basics he needed, like food. This caused the entire town to begin the takedown of wardens and the torture of all inmates by using lockdowns for 90 days or more, then by stopping all hot meals for an entire year in 2017. So, since that officer died in 2015, it was the people who brought forth change to that unit. It is now a pre-release unit, no administrative segregation offenders and no solitary confinement. I was not blessed with any kind of support, so I intentionally got into trouble just so they could ship me off. Best move I ever made, so I thought. However, that is how I ended up here. TFSR: What can you tell the listeners about Darrington Unit and your experience being held by the TDCJ? CZ: The Dirty Darrington Unit is a hub unit. Thousands of inmates pass through here weekly, transferring to other units, coming off of UTMB Medical Branch at Galveston, or Psyche Unit Jester 4. Some of them are bleeding, soiled in feces and urine. All mentally ill persons coming off Jester 4 have had no kind of hygiene for over 3 days. All these lay over cells are so unsanitary it takes a healthy person 24 hours to get sick by sleeping in one of these cells. There is nothing humane about that. They usually house people with wrong custody levels, endangering lives at will, resulting in physical and sexual assaults. It's Dirty Darrington's specialty. I encourage you to ask administration how many lives Dirty Darrington has claimed because they refused to help suicidal inmates. Also, how administration uses offenders to snitch on others with a false hope of beating a disciplinary case, then throw them back into population, leaving them to kill themselves behind the dishonor. On the 2nd week of November 2019, a guy killed himself after spilling the beans on others. When he asked them to help him because he felt suicidal, they ignored him. This is the suicide I witnessed that really proved verbatim the words Sean Swain voices in Last Act of the Circus Animals. When Rico killed himself, the show was like Cirque de Soleil. You had every basic need availed to you – blankets, mattresses, toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste, cleaning materials, officers serving trays like they do in population with full portions. They even gave us light bulbs. It was disgusting to see it. You saw paint crews, utility crews, the works. For a week the unit experienced humanity, but once the coast was clear and the administration got away with murder, it was back to torture tactics, a pattern I have seen one too many times on Dirty Darrington. Overall my experience has been depressing, lonely, stressful, painful. I've seen this administration use psychological torture for 23 months straight, for this is how long I've been held in solitary confinement. Only recently was I magically released and placed in E-Line (G5) administrative segregation - the filthy administrative segregation area that is notorious for roach infestations, no lighting in showers, no restrooms on the rec yard so if you have to urinate or have a bowel movement you are going to on the same area men play basketball. Fecal matter is all over the floor and people wonder how they got sick. Easy – as soon as you come in from outside rec, they serve chow. If you have been playing basketball then munch on your baked chicken, then suck the grease off your fingers. You just sucked on chicken flavored fecal matter and urine. Dirty Darrington knows exactly what it's doing. Environmental disaster, B-Line, E-Line, G-Line, A-Line, C-Line, D-Line are all torture areas. In the winter it's cold showers. In the summer they heat your water for you. No coincidence. There is so much more. There are over 200 men in administrative segregation and solitary confinement on Dirty Darrington. Some men are going through it worse because they believe this is normal prison policy. It's not. I'm here to expose this unit and it's human rights violations. I appreciate you hearing me out. TFSR: It's hard to imagine that the staff and administration aren't aware of the conditions there. Are they showing any signs of working to fix the situation? CZ: I knew something was terribly wrong with this unit when it runs through 4 wardens in less than 2 years. They are aware of every single atrocity. They personally handle all grievances and it's rare an inmate ever wins on Step 1. They have to go all the way to Huntsville with their grievance to get fair treatment. By that time it's been 60 days solid since the claim was made. It's designed this way to ensure we never win any kind of grievance claim. Another way, as it is now, that they refuse us grievances all together on Dirty Darrington because they also are aware that if they hand them out they will be reading grievances for years. They know this place is crumbling to pieces. If it rains outside it rains inside too. The guards look like underwater welders when it rains. They wear rain coats indoors to stay dry. Nothing is being done except punishment and enslavement. I am on a mission to learn from outside sources how to organize, to create a psychological warfare on this administration in the name of all the dead that could not deal with their torture chambers and for the mentally ill who cannot speak out against them who are, as we speak, living in horrible conditions on Major Pharr's solitary confinement. It's only a matter of time before another death by suicide. We can thank Dirty Darrington's Administrative Segregation ringmasters for imposing torture on the already weak men by starving them, by withholding their mail, by refusing mailroom to give them pictures of loved ones or birthday cards, or by sending their shakedown team to physically abuse them and confiscate their property. It's all designed to break you. It's happening every day. TFSR: How do the conditions you've described above affect the health of prisoners? What's the condition of physical and mental healthcare available at Darrington Unit? CZ: Personally I don't get sick easy, but since being on Dirty Darrington I've had a serious sinus infection, primarily from the mold in the showers and the dust that carries all kinds of germs. As far as psyche at Dirty Darrington goes, it's got potential. As far as physical, you've got the infamous Nazi doctor Speer, extorting everyone, but not giving adequate care to anyone. If you get sick they still allow this idiot to practice. Nothing gets done about his childish outbursts. He once tried to do a rectal exam on me, He said it was my yearly check-up. This was the first time I met him. As he stood up and slapped on a latex glove my spidey-sense told me to ask a simple question, “What's the name on the computer, sir?” He said “You're Contreras #... blah blah blah” I was like “I'm out!” I've had problems with this doctor ever since, namely because retaliation is a trend on Dirty Darrington when you file a grievance. I tried to explain to everyone what this man tried to do. No one tried to help. He's still here. All my medical treatment was taken away by this man for no reason other than I am or was chronic care hypoglycemic. If you have heat restrictions, work restrictions, anything that will make your ailment easier to handle Dr. Speer will terminate it and then send you into a Twilight Zone of sick calls, just so he can charge the co-pay. Others – he refuses to treat simply because it's not life or death. TFR: Can you talk about the suicides that you've been aware of during your time and are there any in particular you'd like to reflect on? Are there any strings that tie the circumstances together? CZ: Well, I've been on Dirty Darrington for two years, going on three. I got screwed out of my legal work, got all my medical restrictions taken away, basically because I am indigent and I have no one on the outside to call here and raise a fuss, which is the only time you see inmates get what they need. So, B-Line 3rd row, 15th cell, 2018 – A young man hung himself. The image of a nurse chest compressing this man never left me. It really caused me a lot of anger. It was senseless. It taught me just how they break men's minds. It would disgust you. I remember this older man who would wake up screaming and just slowly, losing all reality, these torturers left him in that cell with a stack of trays, full of food with dead mice and roaches that he would just stack up toward the end of his sanity. Inmates could smell death. They tried to talk to him but couldn't stand the stench of death. So, they brought Captain Lance the kitchen boss to remove the trays, stacked 20 high. But, you cannot talk to a broken man. He was a vessel, nothing more. After 2 canisters of pepper spray, still nothing until finally Captain Lance had the courage to tell administrators that he was no longer right. It was his voice that forced them to send him off that night, never to be seen again. For months they left that man in this condition. It's happening now. This is normal? I'm not trying to hear that. For these men, I ask to be armed with support, to feed the torturers a taste of their own medicine. I opened my eyes all the way at this past suicide in November 2019. I'm done talking. We need a bombardment of activism, protest, support. We need an uprising so this administration will be forced to take responsibility for all their fuckery. One thing I know is we have nothing to gain for staying in good standing. “Good time credit” is not counting toward parole. “Work time credit” is another tool they have to control prisoners. Only the prisoners that still believe in the tooth fairy are too scared to accept this fact. People have tried for years to have these laws passed. Republicans are not interested in helping us. With a statewide work stoppage we will bring all these men's dreams to fruition. We need to spread these facts to the entire state and shut it down. Stop slaving for your ringmasters. You want a real change, stop doing your slave jobs. Stop putting money in politicians pockets and ask them to put it your account to pay for the work you do. Slave days ended over 150 years ago – Why do you volunteer to work for the oppressor? Those of you who have no one, wouldn't you like to support yourself in prison instead of risking solitary confinement for stealing food to sell in your living areas for hygiene. I can go on and on. TFSR: What are working conditions like the prisoners incarcerated by the TDCJ as you've experienced? What sort of privileges come along with work, what sort of pay (if any), and sort of work is it? CZ: They work these guys to exhaustion. They do not pay. The work is back breaking. No one will receive as much as an extra portion of food. These units are still slave plantations, only the name has changed. Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Research “The Sugarland 95” – You'll see what I'm talking about. It's time to bring this slavery to a screeching halt. TFSR: How have you experienced support while you've been on the inside? What would you like from folks on the outside? CZ: I had to go to extremes again to have the support I have today. I never conformed to prison culture. I love tattoos, motorcycles, art, hunting, fishing, boats and the only way I was ever going to see or hear about that is by reaching out. As a result of picking up a contraband cell phone I met “Mongoose Matt” by calling a random tattoo shop. Haha! It was awesome. Fineline Tattoo NYC is Matt's workplace and it took all but 60 seconds to make one of the best friends I've ever had. It makes me so proud to say that. Shortly after getting pinched for contraband Matt has been there through all my solitary confinement, sending in anarchist literature, commissary bread for hygiene and art supplies, and in 7 years now on a 15 year sentence for a so called “murder” it's his solidarity and support that saved my life and sanity. Dirty Darrington had officers from the McConnell unit come hit us for shakedown and those creeps took all my property and left me with nothing. This was my breaking point. I just felt like giving up, but Mongoose comes flying in with letters and powerful words of encouragement and because of him I am fighting today. They tried to break me intentionally. I know this for a fact. Only problem is I survived. TDCJs “Cease to speak or cease to breathe” motto doesn't scare me. I have nothing to lose. Now, I'm asking for you to stand with me until we punch a hole in this darkness and make it bleed light. Sean Swain is the other reason I fight. How you doin Sean? Here's the deal – folks out there, my only weapon at the moment is this here pen. I want surrounding activists to contact me so we can get started. This is still far from over and I believe that it's only through the voice of the people that we can bring this down on a statewide level. I could use all the support available in my fight against the state. Things are slowly changing for me, so I will be allowed more visitors on Dirty Darrington Unit. Soon I will be allowed to call out. In the meantime, anyone can write me. There is so much to learn and prepare. No doubt that without your direct support places like Dirty Darrington and surrounding plantations will continue to thrive, rubbing it in the community's face. The Texecution state is also a slavery state. Shut em down. Nobody is gaining a thing. It's a slap in the face when the officials of the state come here to lie to everyone that they are doing everything they can to change these laws so that we actually become productive. The only laws passed are laws to make it harder on us to get home to our families. For the oppressed indigent offenders who cannot afford hygiene products, organizing a hygiene run to bring forth relief, peace of mind, and a sense of compassionate care. I've seen exactly how good this place could be, but as long as we have ringmasters like these hypocrite wardens, coward-ass majors and captains, vindictive supervisors who love to use cowardly acts and body slam people while in restraints such as Sergeant Akinsonu, Sergeant Williams, Sergeant Estrada, Sergeant Baker, who writes her own rules when it comes to keeping people down. All these cowards and a few more on my shit list need to be burned at the stake for their inhumane treatment of human beings. We need to give them a little perspective. We need to all come at them via phone calls, media, advocacy centers, anyone that can hit them where it hurts, to show them that we are not alone. We are not going to accept this kind of abuse and pretend it's normal. It's policy. Policy is made up as they walk to the pisser. It's a shame the population is in love with their ringmaster. As a survivor of these gulags, food is still the #1 tool used to break solitary confinement offenders. Many months I went hungry and many months I eat the unwanted veggies inmates discarded just to survive. Sometimes portions were almost a smear of meat on tray. We need to end this today. TFSR: What inspires you these days? What brings you joy? CZ: Oh that's easy – Defiance from Detritus Books is my inspiration. I've gotten very close to Comrade Mongoose and against the peace and dignity of the Texecution State I'm in constant contact with Comrade King and Comrade Swain. I wish them the best in the struggle and hope to see them soon, for I am coming up for parole soon. It's a crap shoot, but optimism is helpful in situations such as this. I get my jollies by sending Matt handcrafted portraits of all kinds of cool, weird characters. Y'all are actually owners of one of my pieces. Thank you. TFSR: Is there anything I failed to ask you about that you want to talk about? CZ: You all can check out my Instagram @julioazunigaart or contact Matt to place an order for a handmade portrait. I only have No.2 pencils to work with because this unit will not allow my supporters to send me art supplies. Anything that makes people happy like greeting cards and pictures are slowly being taken from us as well. Go figure. This is Bible seminary college too. This is the unit that pumps out “field ministers”. Unbelievable, huh? Bass-akwards, I tell ya! I gotta let ya go for now. It's been an amazing and liberating experience. You all are amazing. Please allow me to send hugs to Sean Swain, Eric King and to all the comrades who are in the trenches fighting their ringmaster. Thank you for setting the example. I hope to be in that position soon. Thanks y'all. Hope to hear from you soon. I would like to close with a quote from Benjamin Tucker: “Power feeds on its spoils and dies when its victims refuse to be despoiled. They can't persuade it to death; they can't vote it to death; they can't shoot it to death; but they can always starve it to death.” . ... . .. Tracks heard in this podast: Smokey Robinson and the Miracles - You've Really Got A Hold On Me (instrumental) RZA - The North Sea (instrumental)

Tiny House Warriors: Secwepemc struggleSecwepemc land protector Kanahus Freedom on how Secwepemc people are resisting the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion and ongoing impacts of colonialism & white supremacy by asserting their sovereignty via creative direct action campaigns, such as the Tiny House Warrior campaign.audio sourced with thanks from The Final Straw Radio on Archive.orgEarth Matters #1225 was produced by Nicky Stott

Little Village Solidarity Network This week on The Final Straw Radio, I'm happy to share a conversation with Rozalinda, Pura and Lynn from La Villita Red de Solidaridad or the Little Village Solidarity Network in so-called Chicago, IL. LVSN, in the English-language acronym, is an autonomous community organizing project based in La Villita or Little Village neighborhood and networks with other residents of the area. If you're listening to the podcast or online version of this episode, just an fyi that there is cursing, but compared to putting babies in jails which offends more? In the first hour, LVSN members talk about organizing on the ground against Heartland Alliance, a 501c3 non-profit running baby jails for federal funding (they call them shelters) around Chicago, in coalition with the Chicago Catholic Arch-Dioecese. Soon, at our website, on youtube, spotify and other sites we offer a 2 hour version of this conversation, including our Sean Swain segment and LVSN comrades' words directed at people resisting detention facilities around the country. LVSN also speaks about the case of Jose, a young father who was in these facilities and faces deportation currently from Texas where his family is. Information about Jose's case and how to support him can be found, alongside more info about the work of LVSN, on their fedbook page and twitter account or at their website, lvsolidaridad.com. In an update to Jose's situation, he has gotten a stay of deportation. You can donate to his case via the lvsn venmo (@lavillitasolidaridad) or paypal to rborcila@yahoo.com. You can see and hear Jose in his own words in testimony on vimeo talking about what kids on the inside experience noise demos outside and the sense of desperation of the youth inside. And here is another of Jose describing the experience of staff attempting to extract information about his loved ones by Heartland Staff, in particular how it's experienced by children in the jails. . ... . .. Keep an eye out in our podcast stream, website and social media for a link to the latest episode of BADNews, angry voices from around the world. BADNews is a 2 and a half year-running, collaborative, monthly anarchist news show in English with participation by anarchist radio and podcast projects from around Europe and all over the so-called Americas, North, South and Central. Find our back episodes up at a-radio-network.org. . ... . .. Playlist

As the news breaks of a Russian-Turkish alliance determined to stamp out Kurdish autonomy, what's at stake in the international fight to defend Rojava? This episode continues our exploration of the embattled revolution in northeastern Syria through interviews with a variety of anarchists who have engaged in international solidarity work there. One recounts the women's movement and the impact on gender roles of the autonomous social experiments in Rojava, while another provides an inside look at the armed forces and the struggle against ISIS. Participants in the Internationalist Commune describe their educational and ecological projects, and two anarchist combat medics serving with the SDF in the war zone describe their experiences. We hope these will deepen your understanding of this complex effort to remake society from the ground up amidst war and fascism on all sides—and strengthen your solidarity efforts, as we fight to support the resistance in Rojava. As we mentioned last time: even though we're focusing on the crisis in Kurdistan again for this episode, let's not forget that even as the Turkish bombs are falling, other important rebellions are taking place across the world—in Chile, in Catalunya, in Ecuador, in Haiti, in Lebanon, in Hong Kong, and beyond. We'll have more coverage of these and other revolts through the Ex-Worker and on the CrimethInc. blog in the days and weeks to come, so stay tuned! {October 23nd, 2019}   -------SHOW NOTES------   Table of Contents: Introduction {0:01} Interview with the Internationalist Commune {5:29} Interview with Merva {12:13} Interview with Internationalist Volunteer in the YPG {23:22} Interview with Anarchist Combat Medics in Rojava {52:04} Solidarity Song: Go on Home, Turkish Soldiers {1:02:57} Conclusion {1:04:48} This episode includes CrimethInc.'s previously published interview with the Internationalist Commune in Rojava, an excerpt from a Final Straw Radio interview with two anarchist combat medics in Rojava, and this song based on an Irish anti-colonial resistance ballad reworked for Rojava today. One of our interviewees recommends that supporters donate funds to Heyva Sor, a Kurdish medical aid organization that is helping to bring urgently needed medical supplies to the war zone. Want to learn more about the situation in Rojava? Check out podcast episodes from It's Going Down—This is America #92 includes an interview with an Assyrian anarchist in the region—and The Final Straw. We decided not to include this letter from the PKK to the American people, but we're including the link so you can read it if you'd like. Although we're not aligned with all aspects of their perspective, we do think it's important to hear how some Kurdish militants are framing their struggle to an American audience, and to offer folks here who are working to mobilize people in the US against the Turkish invasion and in solidarity with Rojava tools with which to do so. IMPORTANT: over 100 groups and individuals have signed on to the following “Call to Action: Solidarity with Rojava—Against the Turkish Invasion! An Urgent Call from a Network of Organizations”. If you or your organization agree, you can email the organizers to add your names: coordination.for.rojava at protonmail dot com. This list of demonstrations around the US in solidarity with Rojava and against the Turkish invasion will continue to be updated as we learn about more events. For further background on the radical potential of the Rojava experiment, we encourage you to listen to the two previous Ex-Worker engagements with the topic, Episode 36 and Episode 39. Want to take action? Consider organizing a boycott or direct action using this list of businesses and institutions that are complicit with the Turkish war effort.    

Preparing for Freedom Today you'll hear Bursts interview Pepe, an anarchist from so called Connecticut. As of September 4th 2019, Pepe has been sentenced to 5 years in prison on federal charges. In this interview he speaks on a range of topics related to the prison industrial complex, from detailing how prosecutors operate within the “criminal justice” system, to his personal experience in preparing with his family for his incarceration. Folks can support Pepe and his family by visiting his record label at diybandits.bandcamp.com. He will be releasing his own podcast soon at preparingforfreedom.org. We will announce when these episodes drop so stay tuned! To get in touch with The Final Straw, for feedback or suggestions, you can follow us on all social media, we are @thefinalstrawradio on Instagram, @StrawFinal on Twitter, and The Final Straw Radio on Facebook. You can also email us at thefinalstrawradio@riseup.net or @protonmail.com, and send us letters at PO Box 6004 Asheville NC 28816 . … . .. Music for this episode by: J Dilla – Y'all Ain't Ready (instrumental) Ramsey Lewis Trio – The ‘In' Crowd

Decolonising Anarchism: Indigenous Anarchist FederationIAF members Bombshell and insurgent e on the formation of the Indigenous Anarchist Federation, and their own personal and political histories as Indigenous anarchists situated within anti-capitalist, anti-colonialist, and anti-fascist frameworks. Also, the Indigenous Anarchist Convergence coming up August 16-18 in Flagstaff, Arizona.Audio excerpts have been sourced, with thanks, from The Final Straw Radio Links:Cutcha Risling Baldy Indigenous feminismOpen Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano (en Espanol Las Venas Abiertas de América Latina)Indigenous Peoples History of the United States by Roxane Dunbar-Ortiz1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. MannOur History Is The Future by Nick Estes500 Years of Indigenous Resistance by Gord Hill Earth Matters #1202 was produced by Nicky Stott 

Support NoDAPL Prisoners This week, we're excited to share the voices of Jess and Olive, who both did legal support, and do prisoner solidarity with the folks facing Federal prison time from the struggle at Standing Rock against the Dakota Access Pipeline. This episode was heavily edited for radio, so I suggest you find our audio at our website or in itunes or soundcloud or youtube or ideally our podcast stream and listen to the podcast version, cuz it is crammed full of great information and perspectives we don't have time to include in the radio version of the show this week. Jess did legal work supporting the struggle in Standing Rock against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 and into 2018 and continues to support political prisoners in the case. Olive lived in camp, engaging in nonviolent direct action and working security during the winter (late november-february), survivor of water crises in West Virginia and as a Sundancer. Olive stayed through the raid on Oceti near the end of February 2017 and became a paralegal afterward and doing legal support for their loved one, Rattler. At the end of these notes I've included a few post-scripts from Olive about the folks who caught sentences, Akicita and prophecies of the "Black Snake". We speak about L'eau Est La Vie camp in so-called Louisiana is continuing the struggle against the southern endpoint of the Dakota Access Pipeline from Enbridge.  Visit the site to learn more and how you can get involved, they need help! Support sites for the Federal Prisoners from Standing Rock www.freerattlernodapl.com www.standwithredfawn.org www.freelittlefeather.com www.facebook.com/Justiceforangrybird www.facebook.com/justice4dion www.facebook.com/freelittlefeather www.facebook.com/freeredfawn www.facebook.com/freerattler www.waterprotectorlegal.org Announcements NYE Demo in AVL & Beyond! The day after this airs is New Years Eve and cities around the U.S. and abroad will be continuing the, I believe Greek anarchist, tradition of noise demonstrations outside of jails and prisons. Check out itsgoingdown.org for a list of places holding these where you can join in and be heard behind bars. In Asheville, folks'll be meeting up on College St in front of the court house and jail at 7pm and will bring noise makers, warm clothes, banners and signs. Upcoming BRABC events in Asheville Also this week, Blue Ridge ABC will be showing the latest Frontline/PBS documentary called “Documenting Hate: America's New Nazi's” about the Atomwaffen Division at 6:30pm on Friday, January 4th at Firestorm Books. Also, on Sunday January 6th at Firestorm, BRABC will host it's monthly letter writing event from 5pm to 7pm at Firestorm. No experience necessary. Autonomy, Resilience, Freedom: #J20 Call To Action Finally, The Final Straw Radio alongside It'sGoingDown, crimethInc and Mutual Aid Disaster Relief are calling for a week of action around the weekend of January 20, 2019. With the charges from January 20, 2017 dropped, we can focus on other forms of long-term solidarity and mutual aid, creating a fertile soil for future resistance and creativity. You can find the challenge and ways to plug in at cwc.im/survival Episode Notes from Olive   As an aside, I want to share a little more information from Olive about Akicita: “...Traditionally, Akicita would go to battle as a last resort and were always the last to leave, but they acted as protectors and to hold people accountable and dispense consequences when necessry, one example being on Buffalo hunts; people were not allowed to take more than they needed or to hunt by themselves because it hurt not only other tribal members but the Buffalo population. Akicita made sure the hunts happened with integrity. They also kept Nacas, elders, and the people informed. They were mediators of conflict. They were recognized for acts of bravery and selflessness. “ Also, Olive had these notes to share about the Federal Defendants who've been sentenced: “Little Feather's mother is part of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians in California, so I forgot to mention he is also Morongo in addition to also Lakota and Chumash. Rattler is a descendant of the war chief Red Cloud, who also signed the Ft. Laramie Treaty of 1868, one of the treaties we were defending with our occupation through camp. Rattler's Lakota name is Mato Tanka (Big Bear). Angry Bird's Lakota name is Sunka Wakan Sica (Bad Horse). Not everyone with federal charges are Akicita or Ikce Wicasa. Rattler, Little Feather, and Angry Bird are Akicita and Ikce Wicasa camp security. RedFawn and Dion had other responsibilities and ties to the camps. “ Olive also had this to add about their own participation at Standing Rock: “If it's relevant, I didn't mention another responsiblity I had while being in camp. I formed with two other femme people Two Spirit and Women's security branches so gender queer folks like myself and women/femme people could deal with our own safety/decolonizing issues within camp. This is how I began to work with Akicita security directly. The role of Akicita, the several councils that made up camp for collective decision making, and the ceremonies we participated in were all ways we were actively decolonizing our daily lives and DEFYING state intervention in disputes among our community (concepts of transformative justice try to exert the same concept of "don't call cops, be accountable" but don't necessarily have the structures to do it like traditional indigenous societies have) “ Another addition to the audio that I'd like to include is a short write-up that you can find in our show notes about the concept and Lakota and Standing Rock prophecies of the “Black Snake” which has been applied to the Dakota Access Pipeline “I didn't feel we had the time, but I wanted to at least tell you about some Lakota prophecies related to the "black snake" and historical context of where camp was located. All of this information I have is from Standing Rock elders and Lakota that know their lands well, including Tim Mentz, a Lakota archaeologist from Standing Rock, as well as my own experience from living in camp. Grandfathers, some in the early 1800s, had visions of a "black ribbon on top of the Earth to separate all people...the people wouldn't gather anymore...when the black ribbon goes underneath the Earth there will be no more Lakota." This "ribbon" is seen as pavement and fossil fuels. Prairie Nights Casino was built on top of a known site where ceremonial fasts were held. Cannonball River has buttes, all with names known to the Lakota one being Tipi Butte near the Backwater Bridge. Near Backwater Bridge (where cops kept up barricades after North Camp raid), there are remnants of old Sundance ceremony arbors. October 22nd arrests happened partly because we were protesting the 27 burials that were uprooted for DAPL's access roads that were across from HW 1806. Cannonball Ranch, which was eventually bought by DAPL, had Bear effigies, burials in the four cardinal directions, with at least 82 other sacred sites and ancestral sites of the Lakota. Southwest of where Oceti camp is Horshoe Bend, along the Standing Rock border is Treaty ground where men gathered to discuss the 1851 Treaty (North Camp was actually 1851 Treaty Camp). Spotted Tail (Sicangu band) and Big Head adopted one another around the year 1851 in the same location of Oceti camp. “ . ... . .. Playlist

Cindy Milstein, Part One Cindy Milstein is an anarchist, activist and author who was a touring few months back with Rebellious Mourning: The Collective Work of Grief, published last year by AK Press. The book is compilation of essays by various authors about loss in it's myriad forms experienced under cis-hetero-patriarchy, in a capitalist settler colonialism, anti-Black and otherwise racist, ableist society. After Cindy came to speak at Firestorm Books in October 2018, we sat down for a LONG chat. In this FIRST hour, Cindy shares thoughts on the following topics and more: a prior book they put together, Taking Sides (AK Press, 2015); the process of making Rebellious Mourning and creating “brave spaces” for engaging with hard topics; pre-figuration during the anarchist summer camp they help organize called the “Institute for Advanced Troublemaking”; and multi-generational care and care-taking in anarchist communities. When I say the conversation was long, I mean that we recorded for about two and a half hours. We present the first hour here for radio audiences. We're also going to do an out of the ordinary for us thing, which is that we're going to release the second half along side it. You'll find part two linked soon in our blog post, so you can listen to the both back to back if you choose. Next week, this second half will air for radio audiences but our podcast listeners will get a special treat because in place of a new Final Straw episode, we'll be sharing a new episode of our occasional tech security from an anarchist perspective podcast, Error451. So, stay tuned for the voice of someone engaged in spreading tools of encryption for free to help you to protect your right to whisper. You can check out Cindy's writings on their blog and you can find many of their books up at AKPress.org and anarchiststudies.org Announcements New Broadcast, KFUG-LP! First, we happy to announce that we'll should be airing this Sunday at 12pm Pacific time for the first of many broadcasts on the airwaves of KFUG-LP, Crescent City in Del Norte County in California. KFUG broadcasts at 101.1fm and streams on the website kfugradio.org! Unist'ot'en Camp Needs Help The Canadian State has declared an injunction against the First Nations Unist'ot'en camp blocking Transcanada from building a pipeline through their unceded territory from the Alberta Tar Sands to the east.  They need folks to come and join the blockade, they have an updated asks list for donations and you can keep up by find them on social media or checking their website Unistoten.Camp Jeremy Ricard, Prisoner Check In Jeremy Ricard, a prisoner at David Wade Correctional in Homer, LA, has been facing repression from guards in the forms of getting maced, kept in solitary, beaten, had his personal and legal property taken and given only a paper smock for the 30 days at a time. A friend has asked folks to contact the prison and express concern about his situation and care.  Jeremy Ricard's prison number is #511078 and the Warden at David Wade is Jerry Goodwin. Warden Goodwin can be reached at (318) 927-0400 Donate / Support The Show If you care to support The Final Straw Radio, please consider a one-time donation via our paypal or a recurring donation via our Patreon or librepay. We have items on the Patreon and our BigCartel webstore to thank supporters including stickers, buttons, t-shirts and zines, great for the socially required gift-giving holiday season. We never charge for our audio work, so if you feel like you can kick back some cash our way, we really appreciate it! Find more info at our website by clicking the Donate/Support Button. . ... . .. Playlist here.

Rural Organizing And Resiliency (ROAR) This week on The Final Straw Radio, we're sharing an interview with two members of Rural Organizing And Resilience, or ROAR, an anti-racist and mutual aid organization that's based in Madison County, North Carolina. Madison County is just north of Asheville and VERY Appalachian, with a small population that's sparsely populated in remote hollers and small towns. For the hour, Matt & Janet talk about anti-racist organizing, community efforts, misconceptions about rural people and Appalachians in particular, radical history, harm reduction and material outreach efforts ongoing in Western North Carolina. You can find out more about their project and contact them via their website, https://ruralorganizing.wordpress.com Announcements Blue Ridge ABC BRABC will have it's monthly prisoner letter writing tonight, Sunday 12/2, at 5pm after the show. Come down to Firestorm to join in, materials and addresses provided. Also, BRABC's monthly showing of the Trouble mini-doc continues this Friday 12/7 with an episode on radical approaches to mental wellness. This'll also happen at Firestorm books and Coffee, 610 Haywood Rd. You can check out all of the Troubles up at https://sub.media. This is the last episode of the season and they put out a special request for support, so check out the other stuff on their site while you're there. Asheville Service Workers Assembly Night Out 9pm, Monday, December 17 at the Crow and Quill bar, the Asheville Service Workers Assembly will host a Service Worker's Night w/ The Carolina Catskins! Come on out and meet your fellow service workers! They're hoping to create a space where folks can hangout and discuss shared struggle in a service work dependent economy, in a town that exploits us. Charlotesville, VA: The Trail of James Alex Fields James Alex Fields, the neo-nazi who drove into a crowd, injuring many and killing Heather Heyer on August 12th, 2017 in Charlottesville, VA, is currently facing trial.  If you're in the area, show up and offer support to the survivors of his attack. Also, you can keep up on the trial by following @socialistdogmom on twitter or listen to their very compact podcast on the subject. Jeremy Hammond Needs Support Jeremy Hammond, anarchist hacker behind bars for the Stratfor Hack has been placed in solitary confinement and is facing transfer for a supposed altercation with a guard.  Now he's missing his college classes inside, classes that would allow him to be housed at a lower security level an, and is facing a possible punitive transfer which would further disconnect him from that college degree he's working towards. His supporters are asking folks to write him letters and cards to check in with him, not to send in magazines or books and not to write to the Warden. You can write Jeremy at Jeremy Hammond, #18729-424 FCI Milan P.O. Box 1000 Milan, MI 48160 Jason Renard Walker Beaten For His Writing Jason Renard Walker, has continued to face harassment by prison guards at the Ellis Unit in response to an article he penned about harassment he was facing from guards at the Ellis Unit for the November issue of the SF Bay View Newspaper.  He was beaten by one guard as others stood by and watched. He's been facing repression since at least 2016 when he voiced support for the Nationwide Prison Strike and has vocally resisted repressive measures by his captors in Texas. He's seeking attention and legal support from the outside.  We're linking to his writeup of his experience published on the SF Bay View website. Direct attention to authorities at Ellis Unit: Ellis Unit warden Kelly Strong: 936-295-5756 (**010) or kelly.strong@tdcj.texas.gov Regional Director Wayne Brewer: Wayne.Brewer@tdcj.texas.gov or 936-437-1770 Ombudsman: ombudsman@tdcj.texas.gov and 936-437-4927 A suggested script is posted in our notes: "Hello, I am contacting you as I have seen reports that inmate Jason Renard Walker, #1532092, has been attacked by staff at the Ellis Unit, and that he is now being threatened with a false disciplinary charge to try and distort the facts of the issue. I demand that there is a full independent review of all relevant surveillance footage, including any CCTV recordings from the cafeteria on the morning of November 23rd 2018 and the portable camera that was used to record Mr. Walker being escorted to his cell following the incident. Mr. Walker and all the members of staff involved, especially officers Pollock and Williford, should be given polygraph tests to determine whose version of events is more truthful, and all relevant witnesses should be interviewed. Mr. Walker reports that an inmate known as Fishtrap, along with another inmate who lives in B4, witnessed the entire scene. Please be aware that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice may be held legally responsible for any harm that comes to Mr. Walker while he is in TDCJ's custody.   Yours," Write to Jason at: Jason Renard Walker #1532092 Ellis Unit 1697 FM 980 Huntsville, TX, 77343 TFSR Webstore Open Finally, we just wanted to mention that The Final Straw has opened a webstore for our merch. So, if you don't feel like sustaining us on a regular via our patreon but want to grab up some of our stickers, buttons, tshirts and more from us, check out https://thefinalstrawradio.bigcartel.com We are also in the midst of an effort to pick up more radio stations that'll air us, slogging through contacts state by state and reaching out to as many community radios as we can to offer our show for free and reach more remote areas with the voices we share on these broadcasts. If you have a suggestion, reach out to us via social media or find our contact at our website. The best method is for community radio stations to hear from a community member that we are wanted on their airwaves, so consider reaching out to your local station and passing on our broadcasting link, with all of the pertinent information for how to get ahold of our weekly, anarchist radio show! Actually Finally Finally We'd like to point listeners to an awesome piece of swag.  With all of this craze around a certain NHL mascot and all of the deep critiques swirling upon their meaning and who owns them, some friends have designed a pretty sweet Gritty antifascist shirt.  We usually wouldn't shill anarcho-consumerism so hard, but it really is the season, no? . ... . .. Playlist

Mutual Aid in the Wake of Hurricane Michael This week on The Final Straw Radio, we feature a conversation with Pearson, an anarchist resident of Tallahassee, Florida, and is involved in storm relief mutual aid work in the wake of Hurricane Michael. Pearson is also the co-host of the leftist podcast “Coffee With Comrades”. For the hour we talk about Hurricane Michael, which just passed through the Florida Panhandle and up through the Carolinas, affecting Georgia and Alabama as well. Within a 36 hour period, the Hurricane ramped up from a Tropical Storm to a category 4 or 5 (depending on who you talk to) Hurricane. Michael was the strongest hurricane to hit that part of Florida ever on record, making landfall on Wednesday, October 10th in the morning and may be the third largest to hit the U.S. mainland with winds surges of up to 175 miles per hour and sustaining at 150. Because of the quick increase, localities in the storms path found themselves underprepared for such a devastating catastrophe. The state of Florida Department of Corrections refused to evacuate about 12 prisons that were in the Mandatory Evacuation areas in the path of Hurricane Michael despite a call-in campaign by Fight Toxic Prisons. For the hour, we talk about the immediate response efforts in Tallahassee, Mutual Aid Disaster Relief, anthropogenic or human-caused Climate Change and it's various impacts on the residents and environs of Florida, and a bunch of other related topics. Later, Pearson shares about his podcast, “Coffee with Comrades”, available at http://coffeewithcomrades.com/ Here are a few links for info if you're in Florida as well as ways to donate from a distance: Florida People's Advocacy Center in Tally is a safe space for people to come for disaster relief (trans inclusive and very supportive of undocumented individuals) Tallahassee DSA Fund: http://gofundme.com/dsa-tlh-hurricane-relief-fund Mutual Aid Disaster Relief: https://mutualaiddisasterrelief.org/donate/ Amazon Wishlist for the Panhandle: https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3QUS9SLT7QD3/ref=cm_wl_huc_view Announcements Anti-Racists in Greenville, SC On Saturday, October 13th in Greenville, SC, there was a racist “Build The Wall” anti-immigration rally organized in support of Trumps xenophobic policies. Naturally, there was a counter-demonstration. Two anti-racists were arrested for picketing ordinances and another for disorderly conduct. If you'd like to help them, there's a paypal where donations are being collected for legal and any medical fees attached to this at paypal.me/upstatesc Connor Stevens post-release fund First, Connor Stevens, one of the convicted Cleveland 4, is up for potential parole as soon as November, 2018! From the fundraizr for Connor: “Connor Stevens is one of the Cleveland4. He is being released soon so we're raising funds to help get him basic necessities when he is released! It's possible he'll even be released by November! Click here if you are out of the US and would like to donate via Paypal The Cleveland 4 were four Occupy Cleveland activistswho were were arrested on April 30th, 2012, accused of plotting to blow up a bridge. But it was the FBI, working with an informant, that crafted the plot, produced the “explosives,” and coerced these four into participating. Connor took non-cooperating plea deals and pled guilty to all charges. The judge applied a “terrorism enhancement” to their sentences, elongating their sentences as well as subjecting them to harsher prison conditions. Connor served 8 years 1 month—all to be followed by lifetime supervised release.” You can find his post-release fundraiser at: https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/d1PY2c or by searching “Welcome Home Connor Stevens” at fundrazr.com. To hear our past coverage of the Cleveland 4 case, including an interview with Connors mother, you can check out (our website and search Cleveland 4) Zak Kostopoulos Zak Kostopoulos, an 33 year old lgbtq+ drag performer and activist who worked against prejudice faced by folks who are HIV positive was beaten to death in a homophobic attack near Omonia Square in Athens, Greece on September 21st. Zak lept into a jewelry store in order to avoid a nearby brawl when the emergency shutters descended, trapping him inside. He was then set upon by the owner of the shop and others who were heard uttering homophobic and hate statements against those with HIV. After escaping the store, by smashing through the window with a fire extinguisher, he was followed out by the owner and another thug. Zak was beaten to the ground while surrounded by mostly male onlookers. When police showed up, they handcuffed Zak. The murder was captured on camera. The shop owner was only arrested after the video went viral and he was only charged with manslaughter, not murder, as he claims to have been protecting his property, which is absurd. Following news of the murder, an emergency anarchist assembly was called and a march of 500 took the streets of Athens with smaller marches happening in nearby cities. Marches followed that week. Apologies for the wait in announcing this sad news which a listener sent us after the murder took place. We are thankful for being informed. Mumia Abu-Jamal There is a call for supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal to fill the court room and the streets on October 29th from 8am til 11am in Philadelphia at the Criminal Justice Center, 13th and Filbert. Mumia is a former Black Panther, is a journalist and Political Prisoner who was put on death row for decades for the killing of a cop he says he did not commit. Mumia's trial has been recognized internationally, including by Amnesty International, as a political show trial. More info up at http://mobilization4mumia.com   Certain Days Calendar benefit show On October 19th at the Pine Box Rock Shop, 12 Gratton Street in Brooklyn, NY, there'll be a benefit for post-release funds by the organizers of the Certain Days: Freedom For Political Prisoners Calendar. From Certain Days: In the last year, we have been fortunate enough to welcome home a handful of political prisoners from US prisons. Our movements have not exactly been prepared for this good fortune, and so support committees, families and friends of these folks have been forced to scramble for funds for basic living expenses. In addition to that, many of these people have been targeted in the media and beyond by various law enforcement unions and organizations, making open fundraising online a difficult proposition. We need to step up our game and aid not only the handful of political prisoners that have been released this year but also, the people who may be leaving prison soon. The show will feature performances by Despairwolf, MAAFA_Hardcore, High Cost, and Trophy hunt and for a VERY reasonable price for a show in New York City as I understand. . ... . .. Playlist here.

Donald Rooum, pt1 This week, we invite you to listen in on the first part of a conversation we had with 90 year old anarchist, cartoonist and author, Donald Rooum. Donald was born 1928 in Bradford, UK. Donald is most known for his longtime illustration of the wiley, bomb-throwing, firebrand anarchist cartoon character, Wildcat. In this episode, Donald talks about his early political trajectory and development from childhood involvement during World War II in a Communist Party front group into anarchism via the speakers corner in Hyde Park. Donald talks about the Malatesta Anarchist Club, his artistic development and love of cartooning and engagement with activism to stop corporal punishment in schools in the U.K. and ideas about social change and anarchist intervention. Donald's work was recently the focus of an animated film  by film-maker Adam Luis-Jacob. Here's a brief biography with some of Donald's art (including some Wildcat comics). We'll release the second half of the conversation with Donald in the near future. Some notes from the conversation (followed by announcements): Publications featuring Donald: Peace News website and wikipedia page Freedom (newspaper) website + wikipedia + Donald's history of Freedom Freedom Press website and wikipedia page Donald's Intro to Anarchism on anarchistlibrary Donald's "The Ethics of Egoism" on anarchistlibrary Some low-quality images of Donald's at Spunk.Org People that Donald mentions: Philip Sansome (UK anarchist) wikipedia Vernon Richards (UK anarchist) wikipedia Article from 1945 reprinted on shutting of the War Commentary / Freedom Paper Abdulrahman Mohamed Babu (Zanzibari Revolutionary Nationalist) wikipedia Colin Ward (UK anarchist) wikipedia works by Colin Ward at anarchistlibrary David Hockney (artist) wikipedia Nicholas Walter (anarchist + atheist) wikipedia Benjamin Tucker (American anarchist) wikipedia Works by Benjamin Tucker at anarchistlibrary STOPP in wikipedia . ... . .. . ... . .. . ... . .. . ... . .. Announcements Sean Swain "Sean Swain, a long-term anarchist prisoner in Ohio, has come under fire by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. The ODRC has increased Sean's security level from 3 to 5b, an increase that has sent him to solitary confinement, led to him being handcuffed during visits, and further removed him from any possibility for parole. Additionally, the ODRC is threatening to put Sean on interstate compact, a system that ships subversive prisoners around the country, places heavy restrictions on communication, and interns them in the black hole of the interstate compact system. We're calling for any who feel compelled by Sean's plight to call ODRC director Gary Mohr and demand that Sean's appeal to the current disciplinary hearing be granted and that Sean's security level be lowered. (A script for the call can be found below.) Thank you all. Your solidarity means so much. some friends of Sean Swain" Call: Director Gary Mohr 614-387-0588 drc.publicinfo@odrc.state.oh.us melissa.adkins@odrc.state.oh.us (Administrative Assistant for Mohr) CALL-IN SCRIPT: “I am calling on behalf of Sean Swain, inmate #243-205. I am a friend of Sean. I am calling to request the ODRC grant Mr. Swain's appeal regarding his most recent disciplinary record, drop the charges, and lower his security level from 5b to 2. Mr. Swain is not a physical security risk, and there is no reason to keep him at such a high security rating where he will be unable to get the programming he needs to be eligible for rehabilitation and parole. Thank you for your consideration.” Good News! Nicole Kissane, indicted in 2015 for conspiracy to violate the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act via releasing thousands of animals from fur farms and destroying breeding records in Idaho, Montana, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, was released after 21 months in federal prison. She still has 3 years of supervised release, but she's out from behind the actual bars. Welcome home, Nicole! Pansy Fest II If you're in the Asheville area next weekend, August 3-5, consider Pansy Fest II, a DIY queer/trans music and art festival. The fun starts at 2pm on Friday the 3rd at the Mothlight with a full-ticket of bands and ending out with a dance party til 2am. The weekend includes workshops at Firestorm Books & Coffee with more shows & after parties. Proceeds will go to support the Trans Kindred Fund & Tranzmission Prison Project. More info on their fedbook, or by emailing pansyfestavl@gmail.com #AllOutAugust First, coming up fast in early August, fascist and proto-fascist groups are trying to build up some steam for the one year anniversary of the Unite The Right rally on August 12th. The Islamophobic and Western Chauvinist groups Patriot Prayer and Proud Boys are calling for a demonstration and plan to amass a large and likely violent mob in Portland, OR, on August 4th. Antiracists are organizing under #AllOutPDX & #StopTheHate. So a coalition called PopMob, or popular mobilization, is organizing a broad event on August 4th at 10:30 at PDX city hall and then moving at 11:30 to join the larger event at Chapman Square. You can find more information by checking itsgoingdown.org, or finding the events on fedbook called "Stop The Hate" and "Resist Patriot Prayer". The latter is being called by Eugene Antifa & other groups and will meet up at 11:30 at Tom McCall Waterfront Park. Then a week later on the east coast of the so-called U.S. on August 12th there is a call for an Antifascist/Abolitionist Bloc to join the resistance to the far right's call for the Unite The Right 2 at a time and place to be announced on the site ShutItDownDC.org and news can be found under the tag #DefendDC & #AllOutDC. Mumia Abu-Jamal On August 30th in Philadelphia, PA at 13th and Filbert there will be a rally during the hearing of imprisoned journalist, intellectual and former Black Panther, Mumia Abu-Jamal. From 8am til 11am people are asked to show up in support of this man who has spent nearly 40 years in prison, 30 of it in solitary on death row, for a political show trial for the killing of a cop many believe he didn't commit. Whether he did or didn't, Mumia was obviously railroaded for his political beliefs and his reporting critical of the Philly PD & the administration of Frank Rizzo. More on the event, including the nature of the current legal motion, can be found on fedbook. #August21 Repression Starts People are pushing back. For starters: Imam Siddique Abdullah Hasan There is a phone zap in support of Lucasville Uprising prisoner and death row inmate, Siddique Abdullah Hasan, a voice you've heard on this show before. Hasan, a member of the Free Ohio Movement and outspoken activist behind bars for peoples dignity, is believed to be suffering similar repression as he did in the run up to the 2016 National Prison Strike. He has been transfered into the hole, likely as a way to shut him up. There is a phone zap called by the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee on Monday, July 30th between 9am and 5pm central time. Details forthcoming on the fedbook event. Kevin “Rashid” Johnson Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, a leader of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party (NABPP) and member of the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC), whose organizing was discussed in DHS/FBI fusion center “terrorism threat assessment” publications as far back as 2009 (page 50) is being kept in solitary confinement after being given an “inciting a riot” charge for writing an article about the Operation PUSH strikes in Florida, and has faced punitive transfer after transfer.; Keith “Comrade Malik” Washington Keith “Malik” Washington, a Texas inmate who is also involved with the NABPP and IWOC, has spent the past two years in ad-seg (solitary confinement) on a bogus riot charge connected to his involvement in the 2016 prison strike. He was due to be released from ad-seg, but then had his clearance abruptly revoked and was sent back to solitary on the grounds that the classifications committee had “received additional information” from the Fusion Center in Texas. He has also had issues with medical information about his health issues mysteriously disappearing, leading to the administration putting him in dangerous situations, and is currently being held in an extremely hot and humid punishment cell that he describes as being like “a living hell” and causing headaches, nosebleeds and dizziness.; Jason Renard Walker Meanwhile, Jason Renard Walker, another Texas inmate involved with the NABPP and the 2016 strikes, and a contributor to the Fire Inside zine, has managed to get released from solitary, but faces constant threats and harassment from staff, including threats to send him back to solitary on bogus charges for things as simple as asking for water and medical attention, and trying to get back into his own cell so he can use a fan to cool down. Both Malik and Jason have reported having their mail tampered with, and the explicitly political nature of this censorship was made clear in a conversation with a prison official who told Jason that any writing containing the words “black panther” would be treated as gang material. Supporting the prison strike means monitoring and opposing the repressive methods that the prison system uses to try and break it, and paying attention to the treatment of 2016 strike organizers like Rashid, Malik, Jason and others can indicate the tactics that are likely to be used more widely in the weeks to come. Numbers and scripts to call in with for Malik's situation: Malik has specifically requested a call-in campaign urging Texas legislators to investigate the conditions at the McConnell Unit. Below are some details of Texas legislators and TDCJ officials, along with a suggested script you can use: John Whitmire, chair of the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee - (512) 463-0115 or (713) 864-8701 john.whitmire@senate.texas.gov (713) 864-5287 (fax) Sylvia Garcia, member of the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee - (512) 463-0106 or (713) 453-5100 sylvia.garcia@senate.texas.gov (512) 463-0346 (fax) José Menéndez, member of the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee - (512) 463-0126 or (210) 733-6604 jose.menendez@senate.texas.gov or (512) 463-2424 (fax) James White, chair of the House Committee on Corrections - (512) 463-0490 or (409) 283-3700 James.White@house.texas.gov or (512) 463-9059 (fax) Alma Allen, vice-chair of the House Committee on Corrections - (512) 463-0744 or (713) 776-0505 Alma.Allen@house.state.tx.us or (512) 463-0761 (fax) Abe Martinez, US Attorney – (713) 567-9349 or abe.martinez@usdoj.gov Ryan K Patrick, US Attorney – (713)-567-9000 Bryan Collier, TDCJ Excecutive Director – (936) 437-2101 / (936) 437-2123 or exec.director@tdcj.texas.gov Billy Hirsch, TDCJ Deputy Director – Billy.Hirsch@tdcj.texas.gov Philip Sifuentes, McConnell Unit Warden – (361) 362-2300 or philip.sifuentes@tdcj.texas.gov Miguel Martinez, Regional Director with responsibility for the McConnell Unit – (361) 362-6328 or miguel.martinez@tdcj.texas.gov Patricia Chapa, Assistant Regional Director – Patricia.Chapa@tdcj.texas.gov Emil Garza, Assistant Regional Director – Emil.Garza@tdcj.texas.gov Garth Parker, Telford Unit Warden – (903) 628-3171 garth.parker@tdcj.texas.gov Billy Howard, Assistant Regional Director with responsibility for the Telford Unit – billy.howard@tdcj.texas.gov Carl McKellar, Assistant Regional Director with responsibility for the Telford Unit – carl.mckellar@tdcj.texas.gov “Hello, my name is ----, and I am contacting you about conditions in the prisons run by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. I demand that the dangerous conditions of extreme heat and humidity that are widespread in units such as the McConnell and Telford Units are fully investigated and rectified immediately. I further request that immediate heat relief measures are put in place, as this is especially urgent for prisoners with health issues. The prison administration needs to stop the retaliation and harassment of whistleblowers such as Keith Washington (TDCJ 1487958) and Jason Walker (TDCJ 1532092). This retaliation includes, but is not limited to, unjustified use of solitary confinement as a punishment for constitutionally protected speech, denial of parole applications, and direct threats of harm. Please be aware that the State of Texas and the TDCJ may be held legally responsible for any harm suffered by these or any other inmates as a result of the administration's negligence or punitive actions. The practice of giving guards quotas of disciplinary reports to meet must also be stopped at once, as this leads to the generation of false or trivial reports as a way of meeting quotas. In closing, I also wish to state my support for the demands of the ongoing prison strike movement. Yours sincerely,” Other ways to help Malik: 1. *Finding legal representation* Malik has stated that he urgently needs professional legal help in challenging the various forms of harassment he has been subjected to, particularly the interference with his mail. If you know of any sympathetic lawyers or other legal-minded folk who might be able to help, please contact them and ask if they could take the case on. 2. *Write to the comrades!* Every letter they receive lifts their spirit and protects them, because it lets prison officials know they have people around them, watching for what happens to them. It should also be possible to contact them via jpay.com if you prefer. Keith H. Washington, #1487958 McConnell Unit 3100 South Emily Drive Beeville, TX 78103 Jason Renard Walker, #1532092 Telford Unit 3899 Hwy 98 New Boston, TX 75570 Kevin Johnson, #1007485 Sussex 1 State Prison 24414 Musselwhite Dr. Waverly, VA 23891 Shameless Plug If you've made it this far into the announcements, you are obviously a glutton for punishment. Congrats! Now, we'd like to invite you to help us out a bit. The Final Straw Radio has been bringing you interviews with anarchists, anti-capitalists, feminists, eco-defenders, anti-racists and anti-fascists, prison rebels and prison abolitionists, authors and iconoclasts every week since 2009. And we've only been getting better. If you appreciate the work that we do, here're a few things you can do to show your appreciation: If you live in an area with a community radio station, one of those that isn't run by something like ClearChannel and just bumping the top 40's hits nor one that's preaching a gospel of pie in the sky when you die, consider helping us get onto your local airwaves. Community radio is often a shoestring venture with little locally produced content and is often happy for suggestions of what may bring listeners to their airwaves and get involved in local media and activism. If you are one of the lucky ones who lives near one of these stations, you can email the station or programming director and say that you are an avid listener and that you want to hear The Final Straw Radio on your local airwaves. Tell them that our show is free to air, that we produce an FCC-acceptable show that won't get them tattled on and that we produce it consistently, each Sunday night at 59 minutes in length. You can find out more about our radio option at our website by clicking the “Radio Broadcasting” tab. Another way you can help us out might be to share our podcast with people you care about in your community. You could rate us on iTunes so more people will see us, or share us on the obnoxious social medias that we are present on which you can find links to on the kontact page of our website. While you're sharing us, why not share the monthly anarchist news show we participate in known as B(A)D News: Angry Voices From Around The World produced by the A-Radio Network or check out the shows that share the Channel Zero Network? Or, you could drop us a line, tell us how we're doing, comment on our shows or give us suggestions for future episodes. We are always welcome to dialogue and suggestions, though we don't take ‘em all. Finally, you could give us a donation, one time over paypal or recurring via Liberapay, an open source donation platform from France, or Patreon. Check out our Patreon for the thank you gifts that we offer to recurring donators. We have shirts, buttons, stickers and other swag up on there. See something you like but can't afford a monthly donation? Send us an email and we'll see what we can work out. The money goes to cover our production costs and save up for travels to conferences and events where we can get you more of that anarchist audio that you crave. Thanks so much!

Dissident “Love” Island episode 217 was a regular feast of sun sea and sedition with shrimps on the barbie including: - A chat with people involved in organising the street level antifascist response to the #FreeTommmy demos (00:01:14 – 00:09:25) - News from Legal Andy of the launch of new court support group ACAB as well as the restart of London ABC (00:12:30 – 00:21:15) - An introduction to anarchist geography theory with Canadian academic Simon Springer (00:25:50 – 00:39:25) - A catch up with folks from the Zone à Défendre de Notre Dame des Landes Radio Klaxon project courtesy of The Final Straw Radio (00:43:10 – 00:51:45) - Announcements of upcoming events and gatherings alongside a shoutout for prisoner solidarity (00:52:27 – 01:02:24) - Healthy servings of ye olde drum & bass from Delsa (01:02:25 – 02:29:15) Download the full show here, or find separate downloads for the show and DJ set at the episode's archive page.

This week we are airing a presentation that Margaret Killjoy gave at Firestorm Books on the release day of her new release The Barrow Will Send What it May. This is the second in her Danielle Cain series which highlights magic, anarchism, queerness, punk squatter subculture and a bunch more. The presentation consisted of a brief intro, a reading, and to end up a q&a session. As a warning to listeners, the reading describes the events of a car crash. This occurs between 11 and 12 minutes after the presentation starts, it is not graphic but if you aren't in a good spot to hear that please feel free to turn the volume down. Also, we have transcribed and re-recorded the questions in the final section, not because anything said was sketchy, but just to not air people's voices that may not have wanted to be broadcast. To find copies of Margaret's book you can go to tor.com and search her name or the title of the book, and to see more of her work you can visit birdsbeforethestorm.net To hear an interview that we did with her on the release of the first novella in this series, you can visit our blog and search her name. This episode is scored with Nomadic War Machine's new release, which is Margaret's solo music project, called The Fields Lay Fallow off of her new album Always//Forever. To round out the hour, we are presenting a much abridged version of the most recent Error 451, our sometimes weekly tech podcast that tackles tech as it pertains to anarchism, anarchists, and more generally, how to understand this strange, often terrible and sometimes alright world of tech! Any aspiring techsters can find the full version of this podcast here, and if you wish you can keep up to date on these releases by either subscribing to our podcast feed by using “The Final Straw Radio” as your search or by keeping an eye on our website. . … . .. Juneteenth and BRABC Event This year incarcerated human rights activist Comrade Malik Washington put out the call for an international day of actions in solidarity with the movement to #EndPrisonSlavery on Juneteenth. Juneteenth is a holiday celebrated on the 19th of June to commemorate and celebrate the end of legalized slavery in the United States. However, as prison rebels from Alabama to Texas to Florida and beyond have pointed out, the 13th amendment to the Constitution, which supposedly ended slavery, actually carves out an exception for people who have been convicted of a crime, meaning slavery was never fully abolished for incarcerated folks–a condition of exploitation and dehumanization clearly visible within the brutality of every aspect of the US prison system, and in the fact that incarcerated workers receive no meaningful compensation for their labor while in prison. In response to this call for events, Blue Ridge Anarchist Black Cross will host a Juneteenth event at 5:30pm on June 19, at Firestorm Books. We will screen Ava Duvernays award-winning documentary “13th,” discuss how people can get involved in the movement to #EndPrisonSlavery, and send some cards to prison rebels who need a little love and light right now! Hope to see you there! Malik Washington's Statement in Support of Sean Swain Revolutionary Greetings, comrades! It's me, Comrade Malik in Texas.   This June 11th I'd like to ask all of y'all to send some Love, Light, and Commissary CA$H to my brother in struggle Sean Swain in Ohio.   Sean has dedicated a lot of time and effort to supporting and sustaining the work done by the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee. Sean has edited our publications and provided much needed direction for our Abolition movement. Sean continues to make personal sacrifices for the good of all, and he never ceases to speak Truth to Power. In the following months I hope to work directly with Sean so we can tear this entire thing down!   Hopefully I will become an honorary 13th Monkey!!? In Struggle 4 Life, Malik . … . .. Playlist here.

In this week's episode of The Final Straw Radio, we have three segments on two subjects. This week there'll be no Sean Swain segment due to technical difficulties, but we hope to be hearing his clarion call towards dancing around the ashes of swivelization next week. In part one, I spoke with Friday, a former J20 defendant and a supporter of the remaining 59 facing charges. We talk about the arrests, the case so far, what we saw come out of the first trial group in November of last year and the upcoming trail date set for April 17th, 2018. On Monday and Tuesday, April 2nd and 3rd there will be a call-in campaign for the for U.S. Attorney Liu to #DropJ20 and on Tuesday, April 10th there is a call for a day of solidarity with the J20 defendants. More info on that can be found in this episodes show notes or up at defendj20resistance.org alongside printable pdf's plus ideas for solidarity actions alongside the #'s and scripts for the call-in campaign. In part two of this episode, we'll be airing a statement from episode 24 of the Hotwire. Here, you'll hear LX, an anarchist and sex worker in the Midwest, where they'll talk about their perspectives about the impacts of the laws, as well as views of recent struggles among strippers in NYC, NOLA & RVA, tools sex workers have made for themselves to share information, as well as words of encouragement for sex workers and ways that non-sex-workers can offer solidarity . You can find a full transcript of what LX has to say, alongside the rest of the Hotwire episode which we recommend giving a gander and listen, at their website. Following LX's breakdown of the law and some of the views around it, you'll hear William Budington in the inaugural episode of season 2 of the occasionally weekly tech podcast from an anarchist perspective, #error451. William (a tech expert and trainer who is employed at the Electronic Frontier Foundation) breaks down the development of SESTA (which has been folded into the now-passed FOSTA (or Fight Online Sex Trafficking)) ACT, which awaits Trumps signature. The bills posed as anti-sex or human trafficking laws, however William argues, as do many groups who fight against sex trafficking in the U.S. plus consensual sex workers and their advocates, that FOSTA will hurt adults engaging in erotic services and drive them into the shadows where they in fact face more dangers, that FOSTA will take tools from their hands in keeping safer, and that even the US Department of Justice has warned that the Act will making finding and prosecuting actual human traffickers much, much harder. Though there'll be some overlap in what is said between William and LX, we wanted to keep the two presentations intact. A few links that both folks mentioned to pay attention to include: Tits And Sass ; SWOP ; Tech Dirt #157 ; Strippers organizing in NOLA ; Desiree Alliance ; Survive The Club ; An informative IGD article we pulled some links from with MORE INFO. A quick announcement about former black panther and political prisoner, Herman Bell. Herman has been in prison for 45 years for the killing of two police officers during his time with the Black Liberation Army. He has expressed remorse for the killings and family members of one dead cops has expressed that they want Herman released. He has been granted parole to be released on April 17th but there has been a pushback by the Policeman's Benevolent Association in NY state and they've been backed by Mayor deBlasio and Governor Cuomo in attempting to block Herman's release. If you want to help press back, you can: Here are THREE THINGS YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW to keep the pressure on in support of Herman Bell:: CALL New York State Governor Cuomo's Office NOW 518-474-8390 EMAIL New York State Governor Cuomo's Office https://www.governor.ny.gov/ Script for phone calls and emails:   “Governor Cuomo, my name is __________and I am a resident of [New York State/other state/other country]. I support the Parole Board's decision to release Herman Bell and urge you and the Board to stand by the decision. I also support the recent appointment of new Parole Board Commissioners, and the direction of the new parole regulations, which base release decisions more on who a person is today than on the nature of their crime committed years ago. Returning Herman to his friends and family will help the heal the many harms caused by crime and decades of incarceration. The Board's decision was just, merciful and lawful, and it will benefit our communities and New York State as a whole.” TWEET at Governor Cuomo: use the following sample tweet: “.@NYGovCuomo: stand by the Parole Board's lawful & just decision to release Herman Bell. At 70 years old and after more than 40 years of incarceration, his release is overdue. #BringHermanHome.”  Before we start, we want to share the great news that we can now be heard Mondays at 8pm on the airwaves of KRJF-LP on 92.3FM in Santa Rosa, California! Hella hello, buddies!! We also can be heard on air Sundays on WSFM-LP in Asheville (NC), Mondays on KWRK in Fairbanks (AK) and KWTF in Bodega Bay (CA), Tuesdays on KOWA-LP in Olympia (WA) and Sundays at WCRS in Columbus (OH). If you are hearing this show and want it up on your local airwaves, please consider visiting our website and clicking the Radio Broadcasting link for details and ideas about how you can make that happen. The more stations our free radio show airs on, the more people get to hear the voices we're presenting. We'd like to remind you that if you appreciate the Final Straw, you can show that appreciation by sharing this show with your friends (we are on most of the crappy social networks out there), by rating us on iTunes, by sending us an email or a letter with suggestions and feedback, and also by making a onetime donation via paypal or a recurring donation via Patreon. Your donations help us to pay for equipment and attend events like the upcoming A-Radio Gathering in Germany from which we'll surely bring you voices you won't hear anywhere else. Thanks and have a great week!

As we reconnect to plan a new year of resistance this January 20th, what lessons can we take from the inspiring but traumatic year that was 2017? In Episode 61 of the Ex-Worker, we interview three anarchists who reflect on their role on the front lines of struggles against the state and fascism over the past year. Hex, who survived a shooting attack by a fascist at a Seattle anti-fascist demonstration last January 20th, offers perspective on questions of justice, violence, patriarchy, and compassion, the critical importance of healing, and redefining resistance. An anarchist of color from Charlottesville discusses how the events there have impacted anti-fascist resistance and updates us on court cases, grand jury proceedings, and opportunities to show solidarity. And Miel, who was recently acquitted on all charges in the first trial of J20 defendants from the DC counter-inaugural protests, traces the significance of the J20 case, state strategies of repression, and lessons we can take with us as we move forward into a new year of struggle. The episode wraps up with updates from several other anarchist media projects about their plans for the new year, prisoner birthdays, and more. {January 20, 2018}   -------SHOW NOTES------     Table of Contents: Introduction {0:01} Getting Started: Why the Right Actually Can't Shoot Us {2:35} Interview with Hex, Survivor of Fascist Shooting in Seattle {9:35} Interview with Anarchist of Color from Charlottesville {52:30} Interview with Miel, Acquitted J20 Defendant {1:10:16} 2018 Previews from Other Anarchist Media Projects {1:35:04} Prisoner Updates and Birthdays](https://nycabc.wordpress.com/pppow-birthday-calendar/) {1:43:26} Conclusion {1:46:45} On January 20th, mark the one year anniversary of counter-inaugural and anti-Trump protests by connecting with others and laying plans for the next year of resistance! Check out this listing of events around the country. The Hotwire, our weekly anarchist newscast, will return in February, so stay tuned! For some background on our conversation with Hex, check out this radio interview in which he discusses his experience of the shooting, or skim the edited transcript of it here; also see CrimethInc's piece “What Counts as Violence: Why the Right Can Shoot Us Now”, and the article An Anarchist is Shot in Seattle from Fifth Estate magazine. Hex makes reference to No New Youth Jail campaign and “Block the Bunker”, two campaigns against the prison industrial complex led by youth of color in the Seattle, which contributed to his radicalization around issues of incarceration and restorative justice. Also be sure to check out the Greater Seattle IWW General Defense Committee, a local affiliate of the Industrial Workers of the World and their General Defense Committee. We're excited to be part of the Channel Zero Network, a collective platform for anarchist audio and radio projects. Some of our sibling projects from CZN we highlighted in our 2018 anarchist media discussion include Resonance Anarchist Audio Distro, The Final Straw Radio, It's Going Down, SubMedia, and SoleCast. Check 'em all out! In our discussion about the aftermath of the August 12th demonstrations with an anarchist of color from Charlottesville, we heard about several ways to show support for anarchists and anti-fascists there. Stay updated through Solidarity Cville, also on Twitter and Medium. You can also donate to the Charlottesville Resilience Fund. Since defeating the Unite the Right rally in August, radicals in Charlottesville have been on a roll: shutting down UVA Bicentennial celebration under the slogan “”200 years of white supremacy,“ with three people arrested; shutting down an October 10th Planning Commission meeting declaring ”No More Business as Usual"; and a whole week of resistance events. On February 2nd, there will be a court date for some of the comrades against whom fascist Jason Kessler is pressing charges for shutting down his attempt to have a press conference the day after Heather Heyer's murder; turn out to show support if you can, or stay posted for updates. Miel, recently acquitted J20 defendant, referred to Defend J20 Resistance and their ongoing fundraising campaign to support the remaining 180+ defendants facing charges for protesting Trump's inauguration. Many J20 events this year will be screening the new film by our friends at Global Uprisings, titled “Antifa.” Check it out! Warm greetings of solidarity to our friends at Black Mosquito, an anarchist distribution project in Germany, who were recently targeted in a probable fascist robbery and attack. Take a moment to write to anarchist prisoner Eric King, who's grieving the loss of his brother. Eric King # 27090045 FCI FLORENCE FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION PO BOX 6000 FLORENCE, CO 81226 The New York State prison system has issued an absurd and harmful new set of restrictions on what prisoners can receive in packages from friends and family. Read info about it from NYC ABC (page 15), sign a petition to roll back the new regulations, send the scumbags in charge a postcard demanding that they stop this madness, etc. Jay Chase from the NATO 3 is currently in segregation and is in need of some books; please send a few if you can. Prisoners in Illinois can receive used books in the mail. Jay likes to read sci-fi, fantasy fiction and history; Jay also has an Amazon wish list here. Segregation is very tough on anyone as you are confined to your cell at least 23 hours a day. Please show Jay some solidarity and support at this tough time. Jared Chase M44710‬ ‪Dixon Correctional Center‬ ‪2600 North Brinton Avenue‬ ‪Dixon, IL 61021‬ There are a lot of prisoner birthdays this month! Take a moment to send a letter or card to: Jeremy Hammond #18729–424 FCI Milan Post Office Box 1000 Milan, Michigan 73189 {January 8th} Abdul Aziz (Warren Ballantine) #16–047 Central Arizona Florence Correctional Complex Post Office Box 6300 Florence, Arizona 85132 Please address envelope to Warren Ballantine, card/letter to Abdul (Aziz) {January 9th} Herman Bell #79-C–0262 Shawangunk Correctional Facility Post Office Box 700 Wallkill, New York 12589 {January 14th} Sundiata Acoli (Clark Squire) #39794–066 FCI Cumberland Post Office Box 1000 Cumberland, Maryland 21501 Please address envelope to Clark Squire, card/letter to Sundiata Acoli {January 14th} Joseph Bowen #AM 4272 SCI Coal Township 1 Kelley Drive Coal Township, Pennsylvania 17866–1020 Nickname: Joe-Joe {January 15th} Marius Mason #04672–061 FMC Carswell Post Office Box 27137 Fort Worth, Texas 76127 Please address envelope to Marie, card/letter to Marius {January 26th}    

This week on error451, the occasionally-weekly tech podcast from an anarchist perspective brought to you by The Final Straw Radio, Bursts and William Budington chat about devices crossing the U.S. border.  Now, neither of us are lawyers and situations change according to laws, precedence and actual practice with border security, so consider these better practice suggestions. We talk about full disk encryption, cloud solutions, planning a trip, if some devices are more secure than others and safer-practices if you've lost control of your device. William B suggests the Security Self-Defense series from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (which employs William) as a great, free resource for getting prepared for travel and other situations and keeping up on current developments in tech. Song heard: ii by Sole from Mansbestfriend7

Interview with RAM-NYC This week we spoke with members of The Base, which is an anarchist space in New York City, about the newly formed Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement NYC Community Bail Fund. In this episode we talk about the concept of bail and its origins, what folks have happen to them from the moment of arrest to the moment bail is set, what it means to have an explicitly abolitionist bail fund, the intricacies of the corporate bail bond system, and many many other topics! We end with a surprise follow up question to our previous interview about Burn Down the American Plantation, a text which our guests authored and put out earlier in 2017. To hear that previous interview, you can go to our blogpost about it and listen for free! To support this initiative and for more information, you can go to fundedjustice.com. To connect with our guests, you can email them at revolutionaryabolitionistmovement@protonmail.com or search that name on any of the social media platforms commonly in use (Twitter: @RevAbolitionNYC , Facebook: RevAbolitionistNYC ) Further reading on our current bail system is as follows: From the New York Times From The Nation Announcements It was announced today that members of Hudson Valley Earth First! is in the second day of a tree-sit to stop the Valley Lateral Pipeline in Wawayanda, New York.  From their press release: On December 8th, 2017, Millennium Pipeline Company started clearing trees for the Valley Lateral Pipeline, which would connect fracked natural gas from the existing Millennium Pipeline to the scandal-ridden, toxic Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) Power Plant.  Courts and government will never protect the land, but these brave beings have put their lives on the line to save endangered species and sacred wilderness. Day 2: We have a direct update from one of our treesitters: "Cut trees leading toward wetlands and eagles nest and to wetlands and farm fields and forests where I hear cutting. Pretty quiet where I am. Swaying in the breeze a bit this morning. Trying to keep snow from getting in warm bags and that's working well. This fight is only beginning and this is the first known actual treesit in the Hudson valley ever. We need more affinity groups willing to take action against these projects and their world. CPV. Millennium. Legoland and that which destroys this bioregion. Minisink Lenape indigenous land." For More Updates and Photos Hudson Valley Earth First! Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/HVEarthFirst/ If this 7.8 mile pipeline is completed, it would run through ecosystems which contain, and have the potential to contain, endangered species such as the Bald Eagle(a mating pair is known to live 30 feet from the right-of-way), the Indiana Bat, and the Bog Turtle. Additionally, if the CPV plant is fueled, the pollution from the plant release tons of chemicals known to increase cancer and asthma rates in nearby areas. This pipeline is the bottleneck to stopping this plant. Aides to Gov. Cuomo and CPV executives go to trial in January over a bribery scandal. Also, if the pipeline is stopped before August 2018, the CPV plant will likely go bankrupt and this beautiful bioregion will be spared from further ecological destruction.  After nearly 6 years of fighting this project, we are running out of options. Tree sits are a form of aerial blockade where individuals rig themselves in trees or sit on a small platforms hoisted into trees to prevent the cutting of that tree. Additionally the rigging of the treesitter's platform can be attached to other trees to protect an entire area of forest. This tactic relies upon the unwillingness of a logger/company to take human life in the pursuit of economic enterprise, like the building of an unnecessary and polluting pipeline. Tree sits can be long term endeavors, and Hudson Valley Earth First! is prepared to stay in the trees as long as it takes to protect the wild!! Asheville Area If you're in the Asheville area, stay tuned the next two weeks during Words To Live By at 1pm on 103.3 wsfm-lp, before The Final Straw, where we will air radio shows from the Channel Zero Network of anarchist podcasts and radios, of which we are a proud member. Tell your friends! Also in Asheville, at 7pm at the County Jail on New Years Eve there will be a noise demonstration against the current jail, against the proposed new women's facility and for a world without incarceration. If you bring noisemakers and signs, it's hoped that participants can get the attention of folks on the outside to the failure of the carceral state to bring justice, only the immiseration of marginalized individuals and their communities while lining the pockets of the state and capital. And to reach out to those on the inside to let them know that we're thinking of them.  Here's where you can find the flyers! Error451 tech podcast If you haven't yet, we'd like to invite you to check out our ongoing new podcast series entitled Error451. An html451 error delineates a page being unavailable due to political censorship, a reference to Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451. Well, our occasionally weekly podcast features Bursts chatting with different folks about tech security issues from an anarchist perspective. This week, rather than our usual guest, William Budington from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, we'll be joined by Pat Boyle from Unicorn Riot to talk about crypto-currencies like Bitcoin, the increased usage to enrich the far-right and how we can fight back. You can find this on Wednesday, alongside past issues of Error451 and this here Final Straw Radio show at  thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org! Playlist here.

This week, William Budington chats with Bursts about the recent exposé published by Yael Grauer at The Intercept about research by Exodus and Yale Research Group leading to the findings that hundreds of common apps available from the Android Google Play Store contain clandestine tracking apps, allowing for the scooping up of the data a phone user gives off throughout their use of the device.  Ever wonder why a free flashlight app needs permission to access your microphone?  Here's why! We also chat a bit about F-Droid, a platform for free and open-source apps outside of the Play Store, many designed at increased transparency of device usage. At one point, Bursts brings up criticisms aired about the F-Droid repository by Moxie Marlinspike, a founder of Open Whisper Systems, which makes the Signal App for free end-to-end encryption. William is kind enough to explain what the concerns come from and his views on the subject. Like this show?  Rate us on I-Tunes or dop us an email, check out other Error451 episodes or our regular feature, The Final Straw Radio. Oh, and you should know better than to be on social media, but if you are willfully ignorant, we are findable on fedbook, instagram and twitter. track heard: Ugh! Your Ugly Houses! by Chumbawamba from the album "Swingin' With Raymond"

Anarchist Voices on DACA and much more. This week we are presenting two anarchist voices regarding DACA, among many other things. DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and has been in the news recently because of a stay on this program by the current administration. I should say that these two interviews were conducted separately, and I am trying something different regarding their presentation, namely weaving the two of them together in the way that seemed to make the most sense to me so as to present all the information in the most succinct way, all in the same place, while still trying to preserve the arcs of both interviews. I'm still not really sure how I feel about this radio tactic, and I'm seeking opinions from listeners if you feel moved to shoot me an email via thefinalstrawradio@riseup.net. The two interviews were very different, and from slightly different perspectives though the two interviewees were both anarchists and both living in North Carolina. We talk about DACA and its histories, some psychological and logistical impacts of this stay on affected communities, and the mental calisthenics involved in being an anarchist while living in a world so saturated by the state and all it entails. If you enjoyed this presentation, both of the interviews in their entirety including my replies and questions are on The Final Straw Radio's archive.org collection for anyone to listen to. Just visit archive.org, search The Final Straw Radio Collection and navigate to the post entitled “DACA interviews, full versions”. The interviewers recommend getting in touch with regional organizations for solidarity and resources where possible. CIMA operates out of Asheville, and stands for Compañeros Inmigrantes de las Montañas en Acción, which is “a regional network connecting and strengthening organizations that empower Latino communities in Western North Carolina. At one point about 25 organizations actively participate in the coalition.” You can follow them on the web at http://cimawnc.org/ and email them at info@cimawnc.org. ————————————– Playlist here.

I'd like to share a Final Straw Radio mini-episode, a conversation with Emilio of the currently unofficial Sonoma County IWW, or Industrial Workers of the World. This chapter doesn't yet have an official charter but they were in the process or organizing one when the fires in Northern California started last week and have used this as a platform for fund-raising and trying to work out solidarity relief in Santa Rosa, the seat of Sonoma County. For this chat, Emilio and I talk about the weather patterns of northern coastal California, relief efforts by the Red Cross and other NGO's around shelter and care distribution, what their nascent chapter of the IWW is trying to do and related topics. To find more about their chapter, you can go onto fedbook and stay tuned in the conversation for their relief phone number, a few material needs you can provide from a distance and ways to get involved if you're in the area.

The 200th edition of Dissident Island Radio is ready for your ears! Featuring: – London Campaign Against Arms Trade giving a round up of the Stop The Arms Fair actions (00:01:20 – 00:11:40) – our friends from The Final Straw Radio chatting to Yellowhammer Alternative, an Alabama-based autonomous mutual aid group, about their relief work around Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Jose (00:18:00 – 00:29:30) – LDMG‘s Andy live from Liverpool supporting and reporting on the anti-fascists trial (00:30:00 – 00:37:50) – A member of El Libertario, Venezuela's biggest Anarchist news source, on the latest phase of Bolivarian dictatorship and the possibilities for spreading anarchist modes of organisation (00:41:30 – 01:07:00) …and DJ Dirt Bird plays us out with some hard and heavy drum n bass! (01:13:00 – 02:12:40)

Hey people! Here is bad news #4, presented by Radio Pirata of Tegucigalpa (so-called Chile) with the collaborations of: 98 fm presented a roundup of the last month of action and repression in labor, student struggles, anti-fascist anniversaries around Greece; 105fm spoke about immigration struggles, resisting fascist attacks, gender violence and other topics from Lesvos and other Aegean Islands; Radio Kurruf presented about resistance to and dangers of liquified natural gas from the U.S. imported to so-called Chile and the role LNG plays in the IIRSA (Initiative for the Integration of Infrastructure of South America); Rosas Negras speaks about violence against civil society and journalists in particular in El Salvador, violence coming from organized crime and the State; A-Radio Berlin shares a report about the recent raids against and shutting down of linksuntent indymedia in Germany by the German government with lots of context; Dissident Island presents voices of resistance from the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) to the London DSEI arms fair; The Final Straw Radio spoke with an activist from the South of the U.S. about autonomous Hurricane relief.  

This is a The Final Straw Radio mini-episode and we just had a quick conversation with Assata, an activist and member Yellow Hammer Alternative, an Alabama-based far left autonomous mutual aid group. We talked about relief work done by Assata's group around Hurricane Harvey, in Mobile with Food Not Bombs and in the run-up to Hurricanes Irma and Jose.  More about Assata's group can be found at theyellowhammeralternative.com and you can make donations to their and others efforts in the gulf at https://www.youcaring.com/hurricane-Irma-direct-action

INTERVIEW This week, we're airing the formerly only podcast conversation I had with organizers of the Haymaker Gym project in Chicago, IL.  Haymaker is an explicitly anti-fascist and feminist self-defense initiative. If you want to help out the Haymaker project, until August 14th they have a fund raising page up at launchgood.com.  If you want to encounter the folks from the gym and get involved in some of the startup events, you can run into them at the Breakaway Autonomous Social Center at 2424 S Western Ave Chicago, IL and more info on that project can be found here. ANNOUNCES NC Resists the Grand Jury, Donate to Katie Yow! In July of 2017, long-time activist Katie Yow received a subpoena to testify before a grand jury in North Carolina. The subject of this grand jury has been revealed to be what the government has described as a bombing at the GOP headquarters in Hillsborough, NC this past fall. Katie has expressed no knowledge of any relevant information to this alleged event, yet is continuing to resist the inquiries of this proceeding. Grand juries are not regular trials, but rather operate in secrecy where normal rules of evidence do not apply. The prosecutor runs the proceedings and no judge is present. This type of proceeding has been used as tools of the State to isolate, divide, and destroy social movements since the 1960's. They have been used to sow distrust and coerce information from the Chicano, Puerto Rican, and Black liberation movements, the anti-war movement, and more recently the environmental, animal rights, and anarchist movements. They are currently especially being wielded against anarchists, anti-fascists, and indigenous water protectors who struggled at Standing Rock. But we have powerful tools as well, those of resolute silence, courageous refusal, and fierce solidarity. In honor of her principles and the different world we struggle for together, Katie is refusing to cooperate with this witchhunt. In addition to legal support, navigating the possibility of an unknown amount of jail time, away from work, can be expensive. Please consider making a donation to support Katie's refusal to participate in the grand jury by going to the support page. You can learn more about this case and keep abreast of updates by going to NC Resists the Grand Jury. Getting Ready for Cville with It's Going Down Regular listeners to The Final Straw Radio, and anyone who's clued in to southern antifascism, will be aware that there is opposition planned to a Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville Virginia next Saturday, August 12th. For any folks still feeling uncertain of what is going on and who will be there, there is an excellent article on It's Going Down about the specifics of all the Neo Nazi, white nationalist, and all around bonehead alt righters who may be showing their miserable faces in Cville on the 12th, plus some context for why these fashies are dragging themselves out from behind their computer screens in the first place. You'll get to read about such charmers as the Traditionalist Worker Party, Identity Europa, plus Neo Nazi Jason Kessler, local to Cville, who is one of the brains behind this march in the first place, plus many others. PANSY FEST If you can't make Charlottesville but will be in the Asheville area, consider Pansy Fest. Pansy Fest is a new queer and trans DIY music and arts fest in Asheville, NC, August 11-12th. Proceeds will go towards two beneficiaries: Beloved House and Southerners on New Ground. If you are local and you would like to help with support functions (set-up, tear-down, stage management, local housing, etc) you can contact the organizers at pansyfestavl@gmail.com. On August 11th, at Static Age Records in downtown Asheville at 7pm there'll be a show who's lineup includes Bryan Estelle, Crooked Ghost, Sister Mantos and many more. On August 12th, from 12-3pm at Firestorm Books & Coffee in West Asheville, there'll be workshops and a band panel.  At 7pm at the Odditorium another show will ensue with bands including Brief Awakening, Laser Beams, Ghastly & Cloudgayzer.  More info at http://pansyfestavl.com/ Dearest Asheville (and surrounding area) Queers! "Glitter and Bone is a radical queer collective hosting what is, basically, a big party. We have no official status as an event or an organization, nobody makes a profit or gets paid.  We ask for donations only to cover our expenses. The dis-organizers are queer/trans folx who are concerned about emotional, psychological and physical safety of queer and trans people at skills events, and want to create a safe space for our queer/trans community to learn skills, be in the wilderness, and thrive. Registration begins at noon on Friday, August 18. Event begins Friday evening, 7pm, and ends Sunday afternoon, 6pm.  Glitter and Bone provides rustic camping, composting outhouses, and water/soap for handwashing and meal clean up. We do not have showers. Meals are not provided, but a large, rustic communal kitchen area will be maintained, with both open fire and camp stove cooking. Pack for a typical weekend of camping, bring whatever food and supplies you would bring for that. Please see the specific list of what to bring below.  For folx unfamiliar with rustic camping, we provide support in finding a good camp spot, pitching a tent, understanding the bathroom situation, learning how to cook over an open fire, etc. No judgement here, we want more queers in the wilderness! We need everyone's help to make this happen! All Glitter and Bone participants will be asked to volunteer a few hours to help out at the event.  Here is a list of jobs to help you think in advance about what you would like to do. If you feel drawn to providing some leadership in a particular area, email us at glitterrrandbones@gmail.com" You can get in touch with G&B at that email, keep in touch with them on tumblr at their tumblr, and link up w them on the Fedbook by searching their name! Asheville Solidarity Rally with Millions for Prisoners Human Rights March on Washington DC The 13th Amendment of the US Constitution still allows slavery, creating an increasing population of caged people who provide free or near-free labor to stockholders of the Prison Industrial Complex and profiteers of mass incarceration. As a result, American jobs are lost and job-seekers are victimized because private industry cannot compete with involuntary servitude. Therefore, citizens of Asheville North Carolina invite you to a Solidarity Rally with Millions for Prisoners Human Rights March on Washington DC. There, we will peacefully assemble to let Congress know, it is time to end slavery once and for all, delete the exception clause in the 13th Amendment authorizing prison slavery, and stop profiteering in its tracks - because all workers deserve living wages. All Asheville and Buncombe County residents are invited--especially our elected representatives and those running for office this election season. Voters, your constituents, want to know where you stand on this matter. When: August 19th at 11:30 AM Where: Pack Square Park (In front of City Hall) This event is organized by Asheville Black Lives Matter, Blue Ridge Anarchist Black Cross (BRABC), and Zamani Refuge African Cultural Center, with more endorsements forthcoming. For more information, please check out this Fedbook event. Playlist

Interview This week William interviewed Mark Bray, who is a professor, author, and anti authoritarian, about the G20 protests that took place in Hamburg Germany last week. We will talk about the event, how it unfolded, much in the way of cultural and historical context for resisting G20 summits, and much more! You can follow our guest on Twitter @Mark__Bray and search any search engine to find his books. B@d News #2 The July 2017 edition of the monthly English language podcast, Bad News: Angry Voices from Around The World, is just out from the International Anarchist Radio Network. As of this moment, the network's website has yet to debut at a-radio-network.org, so check out our website at thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org and our rss podcast feed for a link to this newest episode. Fuck a Grand Jury; Grand Jury Resistance We'd like to present a breaking announcement. Longtime North Carolinian, organizer and anarchist, Katie Yow has just released a statement that she's been subpoena'd to a Federal Grand Jury in Greensboro and will be refusing to cooperate. We at the Final Straw Radio wish to express our care and support to Katie as she faces down this threat with our hearts full of the knowledge that she won't be resisting this alone, but alongside all of us who know that backing down is not a choice. Many before have resisted and will. To the recalcitrant refusals of Team Grumbles! To see Katie Yow's full statement, you can visit North Carolina Resists the Grand Jury on It's Going Down. Some Upcoming Events In the Asheville area, here are a few upcoming events: On Thursday, July 20th at 7:30pm at Firestorm there'll be a showing of Trouble #4, about movement defense and resisting repression followed by episode 2 of Channel (A)!, a compilation of screen representation of anarchists from popular media. This event sits in the international week of solidarity from July 20-27th with J20 defendants from the inauguration protests in D.C. this year. “We are calling for a Week of Solidarity with the J20 defendants from July 20 to 27, 2017. July 20 marks six months from the initial actions and arrests during Donald Trump's inauguration, and on July 27, a motion to dismiss the charges will be argued in court. On January 20, 2017, tens of thousands of people converged in Washington, D.C. for the DisruptJ20 protests to oppose the inauguration of yet another president. A combination of blockades, marches, and festive demonstrations shattered the spectacle of a peaceful transition of power. Unfortunately, with resistance comes repression. Approximately 214 arrestees now face a total of eight felony charges a piece, including conspiracy and destruction of property. All of the J20 defendants are now facing up to 75 years in prison. The majority of defendants are working together, collectively responding to the charges and using solidarity to push back against the state. How effectively we support the inauguration day defendants will determine how effectively anyone can keep resisting under the Trump administration. Turning protest into a felony offense is dangerous for anyone who believes in the right to resist.We call on supporters to organize events and actions in solidarity with the J20 defendants throughout the week. Be creative and strategic! Help cultivate a spirit of resistance and mutual aid! Visit Defend J20 Resistance for more information” On July 21st at 8pm at Firestorm, a repor-tback from the protests in Hamburg, Germany, will take place at Firestorm. From the original announcement “In July 2017, the rulers of the world's 20 most powerful nations met in Hamburg, Germany to coordinate the preservation of capitalism and state power at the expense of humanity and the natural world. Over 20,000 police were brought into the city in order to brutally suppress dissent. Yet the more violently the police attacked demonstrators, the more the general population of Hamburg came together in rebellion against them. In the end, in response to escalating attempts at repression, massive riots paralyzed the city, with some areas becoming police-free zones. We will hear a full report from Hamburg, complete with photos and video.” On July 22nd, don't forget about the bbq, bake sale and benefit punk show for J20 defendants. Details should be up on IGD along with other scheduled events around North Carolina for the week. ------------- Playlist here

As a podcast special, we're sharing the first episode of the International Anarchist Radio Network's collaborative, monthly, English language radio show.  We may feature future episodes as our bandwidth allows on The Final Straw Radio libsyn account.  We hope you enjoy the content. B(A)D NEWS – Angry voices from around the world“ is a monthly news program from the international network of anarchist and antiauthoritarian radios, consisting of short news segments from different parts of the world. As an international network of radio projects, we believe in the importance of international solidarity. And we also recognize the importance and the need to create and disseminate our own media and counterinformation. We hope, with this effort, to reach out to other anarchist and antiauthoritarian projects, groups and individuals, and to strengthen our connections and our struggles in sharing our stories. Although this program is in English, we recognize that even this ‚international‘ language can be alienating to some and we want to encourage others to create and share similar content in their own languages. Below you can find an audio link which introduces the concept behind Bad News, as well as our first episode. We want to hear the Bad News first! Content: * Radio Kurruf: Occupation of CONADI, mapuche resistance and repression by the State * The Final Straw: Updates on anti-pipeline struggles around the so-called United States * A-Radio Berlin: New squats in Germany and the acute danger of eviction of Friedel54 * 98FM: Prisoners in Greece, Terrorism law in Greece, Eviction of squats in Athens * 105FM: Food poisoning and stolen food in refugee camps in Lesbos, eviction of refugee squat, feminist information, antifa festival * Dissident Island Radio: Fuck Parade & thoughts on voting in the UK * Rosas Negras: Struggles against the criminalization of abortion in El Salvador Links: The Final Straw (All links in English) * Upcoming push to defund Mountain Valley & Atlantic Coast Pipelines * Surveyors disrupted while working on Mountain Valley Pipeline * White Pine Camp against Mariner East 2 Pipeline * Resistance to Sabal Trail Pipeline * Lancaster organizing against Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline * Algonquin Pipeline & dangerous proximity to Indian Point nuclear power plant * Discussion of the upcoming Keystone XL restart Anarchist Radio Berlin * Herner131 (Bochum) (German) * Solidarity group for Herner131 (German) * Jugendzentrum HH-Ost (Hamburg) (German) * Unsere Villa (Kassel) (German) * Friedel54 (Berlin) (English) 105fm (All links in Greek) * Food poisoning incident at concentration camp at Chios * Local people stole food and clothing stuff that were meant for immigrants in Lesvos * Complaints for incidents of genital amputations of young girls for religion beliefs at hot spots all over greece * 2000 new job openings at detention centers * Refugee – immigrants deportations to Turkey * Eviction against an immigration housing squat at Lesvos * Accusations against the N.G.O. “Mercy Crops” * Sexual harrasements to girl students occurred to a local-high school in Mytilene by national-socialist headmaster * Raping incident * All anesthetists of Samos hospital refused to provide anesthesia interventions that concern pregnancy interruption: our own research * Antifa Fest May 27th

This is a continuation of our episode talking about violence, non-violence, nonviolence, property destruction, Liberalism's public secret, antifa violence, insult and way more.  In this podcast bonus is content we couldn't fit in the hour of our show for this week.  Hopefully most of it will end up in an episode in the near future.  Shon recently authored the book, "Nonviolence Ain't What It Used To Be," which is also the focus of this related podcast episode.  We hope you enjoy this.  Let us know by dropping us an email at thefinalstrawradio@riseup.net, check out our archives at https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org or write us at: The Final Straw Radio c/o AshevilleFM 864 Haywood Rd Asheville, NC 28806 At one point we talk about anarchist approaches to the Syrian Revolution & Rojava and I reference an interview with a co-author of Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War, Robin Yassin-Kassab which can be found here

This week on The Final Straw Radio, I spoke with Mars Goetia. Mars is, among other things, a musician, parent and anarchist who's been doing a lot of thinking and working around conflict engagement in and around anarchist communities. In this episode, Mars and I speak about about the difficulty of language when engaging in interpersonal conflict, about state repression, expectations and more. Announces: In June we aired 2 conversations with members of the Turkish group DAF, Revolutionary Anarchist Action. Among the three voices featured was that of Hüseyin Civan, the managing editor of Mayden Magazine. Hüseyin has been sentenced to 15 months in prison by the Turkish government for Mayden articles in support of Kurdish struggles for autonomy and against state repression in Turkey. This sentencing comes amid a very troubling time in Turkey. Following the Turkish government's reversal of seeking peace with Kurdish groups in the country's eastern regions, a failed coup earlier this year, the grab at increasing presidential control and prerogerative, non-secular regime of Tayip Erdogan has resumed military incursions into Kurdish communities and purged educational institutions and media of critical voices. They even went so far as to allow Daesh fighters across their border to fight Kurds and anti-capitalists and have launched attacks across the Syrian border into Rojava. To contact DAF to offer solidarity to Hüseyin, you can visit http://anarsistfaaliyet.org On Jan 5th, 2017, The Odditorium in Asheville will be hosting a benefit concert for the newly-formed Blue Ridge Anarchist Black Cross starting at 9pm. Come early for a Security Culture 101/201 training where folks'll talk about things you need to keep your community safe. The lineup includes: Secret Shame, Nomadic War Machine, Kangarot & Cloudgayzer Playlist: http://www.ashevillefm.org/node/18639

This week we spoke with two Asheville area anarchists, May and Julie, about THE ELECTION of all things. We talked about anarchist strategy in this day and age, the tactic of a general strike and what might prevent or incite some folks' participation, some things which are missing from anarchist and other discourse right now, the role of social media, and much much more. If you are listening to an hour long version of this conversation and want to hear more, please consider checking out the podcast version of this show, which is available via iTunes by searching The Final Straw Radio in the iTunes store or on any podcatcher device, or via our website thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org. Here is the reading list that May mentioned at the end of the interview, for people who are interested in further ideas: *Taking Sides: Revolutionary Solidarity and the Poverty of Liberalism (ed. Cindy Milstein, available as a free e-book, along with two other pertinent titles, from AK Press until 11/30 http://us7.campaign-archive1.com/…) *Pacifism as Pathology (Ward Churchill) *Nonviolence Ain't What It Used to Be (Shon Meckfessel, AK Press, 2016) *How Nonviolence Protects the State (Peter Gelderloos): https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/peter-gelderloos-how-nonviolence-protects-the-state.pdf *or, for something slightly more current from the above author, The Failure of Nonviolence: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/peter-gelderloos-how-nonviolence-protects-the-state *Three-way Fight: Revolutionary Antif-fascism and Armed Self-Defense: https://astudygroup.wordpress.com/2016/08/30/three-way-fight-revolutionary-anti-fascism-and-armed-self-defense/ *This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible (Charles E. Cobb) And for a super solid source regarding anti blackness that Julie recommends, check out Frank B Wilderson III's interview from IMixWhatILike: http://sfbay-anarchists.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/frank-b-wilderson-iii-were-trying-to-destroy-the-world-antiblackness-police-violence-after-ferguson.pdf   Portland Protest Support After the election of Trump as POTUSA, cities around the U.S. have seen huuuuge protests. Portland, OR, in particular has seen over week of intense protracted street action in which people faced off with police and reactionaries in the streets. As such there have been many arrests and some are facing felony charges. There is a request for assistance in fund raising for arrest support. Mateen Abdul Shaheed is a 20 year old youth of color who was arrested on a felony warrant and is currently being held on alleged charges of 6 accounts of criminal mischeif in the first degree, which is a class c felony in relation to ongoing events in Portland. Please consider raising some funds and donating to a PDX-ABC gofundme https://www.gofundme.com/support-fund-antitrump-activists This is a great time to start developing regular fundraising strategies to support resistance and up our game. For ideas on soli-parties you could hold to raise funds and where you can raise awareness, drop us an email at thefinalstrawradio@riseup.net or check out fund raising needs at https://itsgoingdown.org