The Inspection House
This time we are rebroadcasting an episode which originally aired in March 2015 with the two authors of the book “The Inspection House”, Emily Horne and Tim Maly. In this interview we talk about the book, the idea of the panopticon, the concept of security theater as a psychologically repressive tool and much more. We decided that now would be a good time to rebroadcast this particular episode because, what with a bunch of comrades and heros ramping up in righteous ways on various fronts, it might be a good idea to re-introduce this idea of panoptic surveillance with an eye to helping spark conversations in yalls communities about security culture and keeping safe in the midst of a high key surveillance state. It’s believed that under Trump, the surveillance will only get more nightmarish and more fascistic, however we can and will adapt to this newer state of affairs.
To get a copy of this book and to read some more about it and the authors, you can visit https://chbooks.com/Books/T/The-Inspection-House
Announcements
Make Airports Great for the First Time Ever
If you are listening in Asheville, there is a protest called for at 4pm TODAY at the Atlanta airport – which is the busiest in the country – in response to Trump’s ban on Muslim people from countries including Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. This has led to folks with greencards getting detained and questioned in airports all over the U.S. If you can make the drive and want to be a part of the already massive resistance, please do!
Be advised that protesting at airports is a different ballgame than in the streets, the presence of homeland security makes the possibility of being detained for lengthy periods without access to legal aid more likely. Keep yourself and your crew safe by making sure no one gets lost or separated.
Sean Swain on Hunger Strike
Sean Swain continues his hunger strike against his unfair treatment at the hands of the Ohio Department of Corrections at Warren Corruptional in Lebanon, Ohio. For those who don’t know Sean, here’s some background.
Sean Swain went to prison in 1991 for defending himself during a home invasion. He was dating and living with a woman and her kids when her abusive ex-partner and father of the kids was released from prison and came to confront Sean, who he saw as a usurper. When dude kicked in the door to the apartment Sean defended himself from what he saw was an attacker with a weapon and stabbed the man. Sean had no prior record. The home invader was related to court officials and so the case was made and Sean Swain was convicted.
As time went on, Sean became politicized in prison, developed anarchist critiques and began publishing zines with the help of outside groups like Anarchist Black Cross. As time went on, Sean became a thorn in the side of the administration of his prisons by developing and implementing skills as a jailhouse lawyer, adept at filing lawsuits on behalf of himself and other prisoners against deplorable conditions.
In 2012, Sean was charged with being an organizer with the Army of the 12 Monkeys, a guerrilla sabotage movement in the Ohio Prison system that spread ideas of resistance among prisoners and organized conflagrations in institutions. Sean denied his participation with what he called a self-styled Maoist organization, though he expressed appreciation of the content. Due to this conviction, Sean was shuttered away in super duper uber mega ultramax prisons. This is when our relationship with Sean began.
Since January 19th, 2014, we’ve aired mostly weekly installments of a segment by Sean called “You Are The Resistance”, in which Sean talks about his time inside, his ideas, shares his humor at the illogical world of politics and what he calls Swivelization and more. You can find these segments linked from Sean’s support site, http://seanswain.org, alongside his writings and updates on his case.
Sean is currently being held in a suicide cell, away from general population at Warren CI in Lebanon, Ohio, as I mentioned. He has refused to speak to administrators and refused food since December 26th of 2016, only taking water. This is worrisome as he’s no spring chicken, he’s hunger struck before, and according to word that got out a few days ago he’s dropped in weight by 28 pounds and has crossed the 30 day threshold, increasing the danger of organ and bone damage due to lack of nutrients.
Sean is striking because administration keeps throwing unwarranted charges his way and isn’t providing him with functioning means of communication with his aging parents and his supporters.
Here’s what you can do, dear listeners: you could annoy the Deputy Warden of Operations at Warren CI by calling him at 513 932 3388 extension 2005 and requesting that he seee to the repair of all broken phones at the institution holding Sean and a regular schedule of maintenance be established.
You can also call Warden’s Assistant Greg Kraft (513) 932-3388 ext. 2010 and request that they retract the charge of extortion that’s been placed on Sean and that they stop messing with our boy.
Stay Dangerous, Swainiacs, and let’s get Sean outta the hole and back on the mac n cheese.
Legal Defense for J20 Protesters
Various community defense funds have sprung up around getting support moneys to folks facing charges from arrests in Washington DC while protesting the Inauguration of Donald Kampf, I mean Trump on January 20th. On that day at around 11AM, a group of over 200 folks were kettled at the intersection of 12th & L (12L!), including journalists, medics, legal observers from the NLG & ostensibly protesters. While the kettle was valiantly charged and briefly broken, the majority of these folks inside were arrested and face felony riot charges. Likely, most of these charges will be dropped AAAAND a suit against the city and USPP and other law enforcement that kept kettled folks out in the 40 degree weather over the course of 7 hours is pending. But, check out our blog post for various fundraisers to get moneys to friends across North Carolina, in PA, Virginia, and other places who could use help covering lost wages, legal fees and travel costs outside of what’s being offered by the DisruptJ20 crew.
J20 New Orleans Arrestee Support
Durham DisruptJ20 Legal Fund
Pittsburghers arrested in DC
Richmond Antifa of the Seven Hills defense fund
Keep your eyes out for more defense initiatives, this is by no means a complete list.
Richard Spencer got clocked and everyone loves it!
Philly antifa is also pre-emptively raising money to support the person who sucker punched alt-right pundit and nazi saluter Richard Spencer in the head on January 20th in the streets of DC. While conducting an interview and being heckled by folks around him, Richard Spencer was just reaching for his trusty Pepe the frog pin to explain the meme to the cameras when, irony of irony, he was about to become one himself. While the puncher has yet to be unmasked, don’t think that the state and autonomous right don’t want to make a trophy of them.
We’re including a link to this in our notes as well. Here’s to more direct action and more dance remixes. To donate or learn more, check out https://phillyantifa.org/aboutdonate/
Antifa gunshot support
During a protest against a speaking engagement by over-rated, pro-genocide & anti-semetic alt-right yackjob and Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos, a right winger shot an unarmed antifascist IWW organizer. The shooter later turned himself in, claiming self defense, and was released by Seattle police. The Wobbly who was shot is apparently not filing charges and is requesting dialogue. If you’d like to offer medical support to the shot antifascist, you can find a fundraising page at https://www.crowdrise.com/medical-fundraiser-for-iww-and-gdc-member-shot-in-seattle