A-Radio Berlin, activism, Anarchist, Antifa, Feminism, gender, General, Germany, History, Labor, Marxism, May Day, Nazis

Black Bloc: The legacy of the Kreuzberg Riots of 1987

2013/06/10 The Final Straw Radio

May Day in Kreutzburg, 1987
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This week’s episode of the Final Straw features a conversation on a divisive and spectacular tactic that for many outside of the movement defines what an anarchist is: the black bloc. We speak to a comrade who was present in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin on May Day of 1987 when thousands of autonomous activists (of the Autonomen movement of which our guest was and is a member) and erected burning barricades while physically resisting the state. This date is pointed to by many as the beginning of the tactic as it’s practiced in it’s modern form. We also talk about beginnings of the Autonomen, how it differed from other movements before and after, gender and class in the inflammatory May Day riots in Berlin and more.

This episode was made possible by the comrades at A-Radio Berlin who translated our questions, conducted the interview and sent us transcripts and even overdubbed the audio. Much thanks. Check out their project, as they do at times produce content in English, Spanish and French in addition to their work in German.

The playlist for this episode can be found here

activism, Anarchist, Antifa, Feminism, gender, General, Nazis, Police, Prisons, Queer, repression, Russia

The Struggle Against Fascism in Russia, pt 2

2013/06/04 The Final Straw Radio

Free Alexey Gaskarov — Download The Episode

This week’s show features the second half of the conversation with Ukrop. Ukrop is a longtime anarchist, antifascist activist and documentarian from Moscow. This show features conversations about the rise of the new “Cossacks” movement in Russia, a rural militia with anti-Semitic and xenophobic perspectives receiving support from the government. We also talk about who participates in Antifa in Russia, specifically relationships between the Antifa movement and Feminist movements, LGBTQ movements and Immigrant populations.

The first show can be found linked here

http://avtonom.org/en
http://en.gaskarov.info/

activism, Anarchist, Antifa, Environment, Feminism, gender, General, Immigration, May Day, Nazis, Prisons, Queer, Racism, repression, Russia

The Struggle Against Fascism in Russia, pt 1

2013/05/27 The Final Straw Radio

This week we speak with Ukrop, an anarchist, antifascist activist, and maker of the documentaries “Antifascist Attitude” & “Actions vs. Repressions”. This is part 1 of a two part interview, in which they talk about the history and context of Nazi influence in formerly-Soviet Russia and the rise of radical anti-fascism. Ukrop also discusses how the internet effected punk and anarchist subculture in Russia in the 1990’s and the first decade of the 21st century. In the conversation we cover overlaps between police and prisons and nazi’s as well as how the education system in that country feeds into nationalism and capitalism.

To keep updated about ongoing things in Russia, check out the following websites:

http://avtonom.org/en
http://khimkibattle.org/?lang=en

Stay tuned for part 2 next week!

The playlist for this episode can be found here

activism, Anarchist, Anti-Civ, conspiracy, Earth & Animal Liberation, Earth First!, Environment, Eric McDavid, General, June 11, repression

Eric McDavid’s Thoughtcrime

2013/05/20 The Final Straw Radio

This week’s show features a conversation with Jenny, who works with Sacramento Prisoner Support. Jenny and Bursts discuss the case of Eric McDavid, a Green Anarchist prisoner in the U.S., in terms of the green scare and the upcoming June 11 Day of Solidarity with Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners.

Briefly, Eric and two other activists were entrapped by a government informant who went by the name, Anna. Anna, over a series of months, attempted to pressure the 3 to plan and execute radical actions to save the earth, paid for all of the means, even plied Eric with romance. Despite the fact that the 3 kept walking away from actions proposed by Anna, the FBI raided them and convicted Eric of conspiracy (the younger Lauren Weiner and Zach Jensen took a plea and turned on Eric).

We discuss Eric’s health, how to support Eric and other prisoners, increased use of conspiracy and terrorism charges by the State, how to support each other when repression happens and how to resist bullies pushing bad ideas!

http://www.supporteric.org
http://june11.org

The Never Alone Tour prior to June 11 last year
http://vimeo.com/43202213

The playlist can be found here.

activism, Anti-Civ, Earth & Animal Liberation, Earth First!, Environment, General, Indigenous, Neoliberalism

Root Force: Demolishing Colonialism at it’s Foundation

2013/05/18 The Final Straw Radio

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This week we speak with Toby and Ben, two organizers with Root Force about industrial civilization and organizing in solidarity with indigenous communities against the spread of capitalist infrastructure projects in Latin America. We talk about La Parota Dam in Mexico, Anillo Periférico Highway in El Salvador and Corridors of the Future across North America.

Root force aims to stop the spreading of those infrastructure projects (bridges, dams, highways, factories…) that allow for the spread of neoliberal capitalism into comparatively less “developed” environments in hopes of helping protect environments and their stewards and force an economic retraction of imperial projects of the north.

www.rootforce.org

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activism, Anarchist, Anti-Civ, Cleveland 4, conspiracy, Earth & Animal Liberation, Earth First!, Environment, General, Grand Jury, June 11, Marius Mason, NATO 5, NATO5, Prisons, repression, Security Culture

Grand Jury in NYC; also, Marius Mason and June11

2013/05/13 The Final Straw Radio

This week, William speaks to Dave about Jerry Koch. Jerry is a New York Anarchist resisting (for the 2nd time) a GJ in NYC.

JerryResists.net

Also, Bursts speaks to Bella about Marius Mason, long term ecological, animal rights, labor and anarchist activist. Marius is also serving a 22 year sentence. Bella also talks about the upcoming day of Solidarity with Marius Mason, Eric McDavid and Other Longterm Anarchist Prisoners on June 11th. We also talk about the despicable snitch, Frank Ambrose (more info on the below sites).

supportmariusmason.org
june11.org

Playlist can be found here.

(Also, the song after the Jerry Koch portion is Arianna Staiger’s song for her parent, Marius Mason)

activism, Asheville, Earth First!, Environment, General

Stop the spread of GE Trees in the South before it starts!

2013/05/06 The Final Straw Radio

Protest in Asheville ~ GE Trees
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Anne Petermann, of the Global Justice Ecology Project, joins us this week to talk about the threats posed by Genetically Engineered Trees getting released into the U.S. as the USDA considers allowing Arborgen to found millions of acres of plantations across the southern U.S. These plantations, reaching from Texas to South Carolina, where the company is based, could destroy forest diversity, kill wildlife, exacerbate droughts, feed fire storms (not Firestorm), and spread quickly with the help of cold-resistant gene modification.

In the last week of May, Asheville will be hosting a Biotech Tree conference. Concurrently, Katuah Earth First! and GJEP (along with other projects) will be holding protests and workshops around the issues of GE Trees to educate the public and grow resistance.

http://www.treebiotech2013.org/

http://globaljusticeecology.org/stopgetrees.php

On Mapuche resistance in Chile, check out:
https://chileboliviawalmapu.wordpress.com/
http://wccctoronto.wordpress.com/

The tracklist can be found here

activism, Asheville, Feminism, gender, North Carolina, Police, Queer, repression

Survivors of Bashings Speak Out in Exclusive Interview (May 09, 2010)

2013/04/24 The Final Straw Radio

A resurfaced archive of our first show on May 09, 2010. From the blog post:
We were lucky enough to be allowed to interview two folks from the LGBTQI communities this week directly effected by the spate of bashings in Asheville. We’ll talk about their and others’ attempts to organize for more safety in the streets of our city, the March taking place on Wednesday (5/12) in the Montford neighborhood, and their experiences of being female assigned and LGBTQI/LGBTQI-perceived. We’ll also talk about concerns about going to the police and the mainstream media with reports.

For more info on the march, check out the facebook and myspace pages for Safe Streets Asheville. Also, see the newly published article in the Mountain Xpress

Anarchist, gender, History, Kristian Williams, Prisons, Queer, repression

Oscar Wilde an Anarchist?: An interview with Kristian Williams

2013/04/20 The Final Straw Radio

(This Episode Aired on January 29, 2012)

This week’s show features an interview with Kristian Williams, author of the books, “Our Enemies in Blue,” “American Methods” and numerous articles on policing, torture, anarchism, cartoons and much more. Kristian speaks about his in-progress book on the Anarchism of Oscar Wilde, Wilde’s experiences in prisons and his sexual politics.

Find articles by Williams on this and many other topics at www.kristianwilliams.com

General

“Start your own local uprising!”: an interview about the uprisings in Slovenia

2013/04/15 The Final Straw Radio

Black flags fly in Ljubljana
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Interview with Ramona, an anarchist activist in Slovenia and member of the Federation for Anarchist Organizing. She speaks about the uprisings which have been happening in that country since November, 2012 in reaction to widespread political corruption and police surveillance. Among other topics, we touch on the conditions leading up to these ongoing uprisings, a brief history of anarchist organizing in Slovenia, and the upcoming Balkan Anarchist Bookfair, which will take place in Ljubljana this May.

To keep yourself informed on this situation, go to the FAO website at
www.a-federacija.org/english for english content.

The FAO is also a member of the International of Anarchist Federations (IAF). More info on that project can be found at http://i-f-a.org/

We also bring you an anarchist black metal project Hesperian Death Horse, which hails from Croatia, and the band Aylwin from California.
Enjoy.

The full playlist for the show can be found here

The Final Straw Radio Podcast