Monthly Archives: November 2016

activism, Anarchist, Earth & Animal Liberation, NYC ABC, Political Prisoner, Prisons, repression

New York City Anarchist Black Cross

New York City Anarchist Black Cross

Run Down The Walls 2016 NYC
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This week on the Final Straw, we air a conversation Bursts, me, I… hi… had with a member of New York City Anarchist Black Cross, heretofore known as nyc-abc. For a good portion of the hour we speak about this activists views on anarchist support for prisoners and long term liberation prisoners. We also talk about the work that NYC-ABC does including: prisoner-writing nights; the Running Down The Walls event coordinated with numerous folks on the outside and incarcerated comrades; their recently unvailed Project FANG ( with help from Sac Prisoner Support)which sets aside regular visitation funds for animal and earth liberation prisoners and their loved ones; their U.S. Political Prisoner graphic guide updated monthly; and more. You can find out more about NYC-ABC on their website at http://nycabc.wordpress.com, or find them on the various and insidious social media platforms out there.

For the last 10 minutes, here is a musical track to get you into the holiday spirit, and to beckon some much-needed rains in this area to put out the fires: Klarträumer, meaning Lucid Dream. This is Deluge from their album, Aether. Deluge is from Metz, Lorraine in France. More from them and other awesome dark and heavy music with good politics can be found at http://thedarkskiesaboveus.blogspot.com

Announcements

2016 Former Political Prisoner Panel pt2 Podcast

Also of note, in a few days we’ll be releasing the second half of the Former Political Prisoner Panel from the 2016 North American Anarchist Black Cross conference in Denver. This year we heard from Sekuo Kombui, Daniel McGowan, Kazi Toure and John Tucker. To hear the first portion and check out brief bio’s of these folks visit: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2016/11/13/naabc-former-political-prisoners-panel-2016-pt-1/

IWOC call for support for James Shelby

When you have a minute (literally, one minute) please call WMCC Prison Warden Sherie Korneman in Missouri at (816) 632-1390 and say, “I am calling to do a wellness check on James Shelby, prisoner number 41244, my friend told me his life is in danger to medical negligence. If he was not sent back to the hospital after November 14th, he needs to be taken immediately.”

Again, that name and number is Warden Sherie Korneman at (816) 632-1390.

#NoDAPL: Standing Rock camp threatened with eviction

As many of you have probabaly heard, the Standing Rock camp for resisting the Dakota Access pipeline has recently been issued an eviction notice to take effect on December 5th (though they are *generously* granting people a so called “free speech zone” well away from the camp and sacred lands). Updates from the camp have been flying out fast in recent weeks, most notably having to do with the police and army’s use of force essentially being tantamount to torture and brutality. In the wake of the eviction notice, there had been a call from standing rock for a broadening of tactics for people wanting to stand in solidarity with water protectors. To that end, there is a collection of names and addresses of people directly related to the Dakota access pipeline which you can use as you see fit; the authors of the peice are very clear to state that they do not endorse so called “illegal activity, but that the list is for education and outreach purposes only”. However, I think that it is also safe to say that people should use their discretions when coming up with any actions they would like to see happen.

You can see this full article, plus the list of names and addresses, check out: https://itsgoingdown.org/nodapl-indigenous-land-defense-strategic-solidarity-pressuring-power-capital/

Portland organizing

Please help to build Portland’s movement total and collective liberation! Please donate now! Many people have been outraged by the election, Standing Rock, Prison Industrial Complex, white supremacy and capitalism in general. We are all fed up and need to take a stand. The left movement in general is grossly underfunded and inhibits our ability to control the narrative with social media and of course trumping the corporate media. Many activists are getting arrested and charged for all kinds of things. We need to keep our communities safe.
However the movement needs funds to actually move forward and fix this whole system and not because it’s broken! It’s because we need to build something new! Not fix broken things. It was never a broken system and was meant to do exactly what it was doing! Please help!
Help spread the word!

you can donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/support-fund-antitrump-activists

Playlist

activism, Anarchist, Capitalism, Colonization, Immigration, Protest, Racism

Discussion on the election with two Asheville area anarchists

Asheville Anarchists Chat About Election

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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)

*How Nonviolence Protects the State (Peter Gelderloos)

*or, for something slightly more current from the above author: The Failure of Nonviolence

*Three-way Fight: Revolutionary Antif-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

Announcements

Post-Election Unrest

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 fundraising needs at itsgoingdown.org

activism, Anarchist, crimethInc, General, J20, Music, Protest

Where To Now?: A CrimethInc. participant on significance of election and moving forward

#DisruptJ20

http://www.crimethinc.com/blog/2016/11/11/no-peaceful-transition/
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This week we spoke with an autonomous participant in CrimethInc. about the work of that collective around elections, about their views on the recent election of Donald J. Trump as president of the U.S.A., voter turnout, anarchist perspectives on elections, democracy, and about building on-the-ground resistance to not only this new administration but the autonomous far right that’s attempting to emerge more and more these days. More from CrimethInc., including their recent audio-zines and the ex-worker podcast can be found at http://crimethinc.com

The callout for protests at the 2017 Presidential Inauguration in Washington, DC can be found: http://www.crimethinc.com/blog/2016/11/11/no-peaceful-transition/

Announcements

Former Political Prisoner Panel 2016 pt1

The Final Straw recently released the first half of the Former Political Prisoners Panel discussion from the 2016 North American Anarchist Black Cross conference in Denver as a podcast. That included introductions by former Black Liberation Army and Black Panther member Sekou Kombui who served 47 years in prison, former United Freedom Front militant Kazi Toure, former Earth Liberation Front member Daniel McGowan and anti-fascist activist John Tucker who was imprisoned as one of the Tinley Park 5. Check it out by visiting: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2016/11/13/naabc-former-political-prisoners-panel-2016-pt-1/

The Presidential Election

As of today, Sunday November 13th, it seems like there has been one thing on our minds since Tuesday. People have been expressing their rage at this election in many different ways around the US, the first four days saw protests ranging from less militant rallies to night marches, burning effigies, and highway shutdowns. Here in Asheville there were four days worth of protests, one of which rallied 150 people who blocked a major intersection in downtown for a good while and held its ground by the Vance Monument, built for the slave-owning KKK member Zebulon Vance who was one of Asheville’s so called white founders.

Moving forward will look like a lot of different things, already we have seen at least three autonomously called for general strikes to occur around and on the inauguration on January 20th, and the amount of assemblies and strategy building infrastructure on the anarchist left is growing by leaps and bounds! If you are part of organizing and you do not see yourself represented elsewhere, please feel free to write to us at thefinalstrawradio( at)riseup.net with what you are doing, how it’s going, what you hope to see come out of it, all that jazz. We will be happy to broadcast it, or not if you would prefer. Also, stay tuned to this and other audio projects for more ideas on how to engage.

Crushing Intolerance music this episode

In the last portion of the episode, we’ll be hearing two tracks from the newest Crushing Intolerance compilation by The Black Metal Alliance, which is a collection of metal artists promoting equal rights for all life. This is comp #4. First off, here’s Arete with Beneath The Pond. Arête is Melancholic Mountain Black Metal from the Rocky Mountains, the Appalachian Mountains, and the Black Hills. Finally, this is Seeds In Barren Fields with The Epitaph of the Vain and the Forgotten. SIBF is a Swedish metal band. Money from the compilation Crushing Intolerance IV goes to Canadian and Swedish chapters of No One Is Illegal a migrant justice movement rooted in anti-colonial, anti-capitalist, ecological justice, Indigenous self-determination, anti-occupation & anti-oppressive communities. More on the comp at https://blackmetalalliance.bandcamp.com/

Playlist

activism, Alabama, Anarchist, Anti-Racist Action, Daniel McGowan, Earth & Animal Liberation, General, History, John Tucker, Kazi Toure, Kevin Tucker, panel discussion, Political Prisoner, Prisons, Sekuo Kombui, United Freedom Front

NAABC Former Political Prisoners Panel 2016, pt 1

Former Political Prisoners Panel

denverabc.wordpress.com
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Here we present the first half of the Former Prisoner Panel of the 2016 North American Anarchist Black Cross Conference. During the hour, you’ll hear words from Sekou Kombui, Daniel McGowan, John Tucker, Kazi Toure. These speeches will be prefaced by some brief introductions, the texts of which can be found below.

This audio will air soon as a radio episode.
For more info on political prisoners in the U.S., check out http://denverabc.wordpress.com or http://nycabc.wordpress.com

Sekuo Kombui

Sekou is a former political prisoner who survived 47 years of incarceration. Throughout the 1960’s, Sekou participated in the Civil Rights movement, organizing youth for participating in demonstrations and marches across Alabama, and providing security for meetings of the Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC), Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Sekou became affiliated with the Black Panther Party in 1967 in Chicago and New York. While in Detroit, he became a member of the Republic of New Afrika, before returning to Birmingham. Back in Alabama, Sekou coordinated community organization activity with the Alabama Black Liberation Front, the Inmates for Action (IFA) Defense Committee and the Afro-American People’s Party in the mid 1970’s. Sekou was also a soldier in the Black Liberation Army (BLA) during these years before his capture.

In 1975, Sekou was falsely arrested and charged with the murder of two white men: a KKK official from Tuscaloosa and a multimillionaire oil man from Birmingham. There was absolutely no evidence against him, only coerced testimony from individuals who subsequently recanted their statements. The judge refused to allow the recanted statements to be stricken from Sekou’s record. Sekou continued the fight throughout his time in Prison. On June 30th, 2014, Sekou was released on parole.

Daniel McGowan

Daniel is an environmental and social justice activist from New York City. He was charged in Federal court on counts of arson, property destruction and conspiracy, all relating to two actions in Oregon in 2001, claimed by the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). McGowan was facing a minimum of life in prison if convicted when he accepted a non-cooperation plea agreement. His arrest is part of what the US government dubbed Operation Backfire; a coordinated, multi-state sweep of over 15 activists by the federal government who have charged the individuals with practically every earth and animal liberation action in the Pacific Northwest left unsolved. Many have considered this round up indicative of the government’s ‘Green Scare’ focus which has activists being arrested and threatened with life in prison. Many of the charges, including Daniel’s, were for crimes whose statute of limitations were about to expire. Daniel was released from prison on December 11, 2012.

John Tucker

John was one of five anti-fascists arrested in May 2012, after an altercation between white supremacists and antifascists in the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park that left ten injured fascists, three of which needed hospitalization. The case of the Tinley Park 5 received an overwhelming amount of public support. Despite the fact that the meeting was organized by violent white supremacist organizations including the National Socialist Movement, Council of Conservative Citizens, and Ku Klux Klan, the state showed their cozy relationship with white supremacy by refusing the accused antifascist activist bail or a plea deal comparable to any other criminal defendant in Cook County. In January 2013 the Tinley Park Five accepted a non-cooperating plea deal. John Tucker was released in February 2014. As of September 2014, all of the TP5 are released.This audio will air soon as a radio episode.

Kazi Toure

As a member of the United Freedom Front (UFF), Kazi was imprisoned for his role in 20 bombings combating Apartheid in South Africa and United States Imperialism in Central America. The UFF has been called “undoubtedly the most successful of the leftist [guerrilla groups] of the 1970s and ’80s” and struck powerful blows to South African Airways, Mobil, IBM, Union Carbide, & various courthouses and US Military targets. Toure was convicted on federal charges of possession of firearms, and Seditious Conspiracy—conspiring to overthrow, put down, destroy by force and violence the US government. He is one of few, if any, New Afrikans to be charged of this act.

activism, Anarchist, Certain Days, Daniel McGowan, Earth & Animal Liberation, Earth First!

Daniel McGowan on his activism, Certain Days calendar, prisoner support + more

Daniel McGowan

http://certaindays.org
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This week (last week, actually) we spoke with Daniel McGowan. Daniel is from New York City (Queens, actually) and talks about his start in activism with Earth First!, his current views on his activities with the Earth Liberation Front, Communication Management Units in the prison systems, prison gang structures, prisoner support, the Certain Days calendar designed by political prisoners and more. You can find more about Certain Days at http://certaindays.org and more about prisoner support work in New York City at http://nycabc.wordpress.com.

If you’re in New York City, check out the 2017 Calendar release party this Saturday, November 12th the Interference Archive at 131 8th St, Brooklyn at 7pm
https://www.facebook.com/events/631708823654677/

To check out Marius Mason, Earth Liberation prisoner, education fund:
https://www.generosity.com/education-fundraising/marius-mason-s-education–2

Zolo Azania, Black political prisoner, release fund:
https://www.gofundme.com/helpzolorebuild

Barbara Curzi, formerly incarcerated United Freedom Front member, medical fund:
https://www.gofundme.com/barbaras-loving-circle-2w49vnqs

Bo Brown, formerly incarcerated George Jackson Brigade member, Medical fund:
https://www.youcaring.com/bo-brown-655777

Update on Kinetic Justice

As we reported last week, Kinetic Justice has been on hunger strike since October 21st to protest his transfer to Limestone Correctional Facility, which is a notoriously dangerous supermax facility located in Harvest, Alabama. Prison officials are currently denying him water, and his support network is fearing for his safety.

CALL WITH DEMANDS TODAY: Call the Alabama Department of Corrections and Alabama Governor Robert Bentley’s office demanding 1) that Kinetik Justice be transferred from Limestone Correctional Facility; and 2) that Pastor Kenneth Glasgow of The Ordinary People’s Society be allowed to visit him and assess his condition immediately.

Alabama Department of Corrections
Montgomery, Alabama
(334) 353-3883
webmaster@doc.alabama.gov

Governor Robert Bentley
600 Dexter Avenue
Montgomery, AL 36130
(334) 242-7100

For more information, you can visit: The Free Alabama Movement and The Ordinary People’s Society

Playlist