Monthly Archives: July 2023

abolition, Anarchist, Art, Author, California, General, Mwalimu Shakur, PM Press, Prisons, Transcribed, zine

Revolutionary Arts with Signal Journal + Abolition with Mwalimu Shakur

Revolutionary Arts with Signal Journal + Abolition with Mwalimu Shakur

Josh MacPhee & Alec Dunn on Signal 08

"TFSR 7-30-23, Revolutionary Arts with Signal Journal + Abolition with Mwalimu Shakur" featuring the cover of Signal 08 showing 6 Black individuals in 19th century dress firing guns in a field and a picture of Mwalimu Shakur
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First up, Ian interviews Josh MacPhee and Alec Dunn, co-editors of Signal, about the recently published eighth volume of the Journal of International Political Graphics and Culture. They discuss their motivations and experiences producing Signal for over a decade, designing print media in the digital age, and their work as part of Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative, long-running, geographically dispersed artist collective dedicated to the production of radical art for grassroots movements. [ 00:05:33 – 00:44:37]

Mwalimu Shakur on Abolition, Organizing and Education

Then, you’ll hear most of a conversation with imprisoned New Afrikan revolutionary socialist, Mwalimu Shakur currently incarcerated in Corcoran Prison in CA, about abolition, political education and the hunger strikes of 2013 in which he participated. [00:45:14 – 01:12:37]

Mwalimu Shakur Links

  • Mwalimu’s Instagram
  • Past interview with Mwalimu
  • Mwalimu’s writing on KnockLA and SFBayView (1, 2)
  • Interviews about CA Hunger Strikes in 2013 with Ed Mead of CA Prison Focus (1, 2)

You can get in touch with Mwalimu:

Terrence White #AG8738
CSP Corcoran
PO Box 3461
Corcoran, CA 93212

Sean Swain

Sean‘s segment [01:12:40 – 01:20:01

Announcements

BRABC Letter Writing

Join Blue Ridge ABC on the first Sunday of each month, next up being August 6th from 3-5pm at the NEW Firestorm spot at 1022 Haywood Road, in West Asheville. And swing by our table at the ACABookfair August 12-13 at Different Wrld to get involved, get a poster for the upcoming International Week of Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners and check out the other awesome stuff.

ACABookfair

If you’re nearby, consider a visit to the 3 days of event around the Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair in Asheville from August 11-13 with tons of speakers, publishers, music and more. https://acabookfair.noblogs.org

Dr. Mutulu Shakur, ¡Presenté!

New Afrikan revolutionary elder, accupuncturist and revolutionary Dr. Mutulu Shakur joined the ancestors at the age of 72. He was released by the state after 36 years in prison, organizing, healing, educating and inspiring despite having developed a virulent bone cancer. Dr. Shakur spent the last year on this planet continuing his work, speaking and attending events, surrounded by loved ones. Rest in power.

Ruchell “Cinque” Magee Will Be free!

Politicized prisoner and jailhouse lawyer, Ruchell “Cinque” Magee, is slated to be released after 67 years in the California prison system. Cinque is 84 years old, arrested on an indeterminate sentence around a marijuana charge from 1963, he joined the attempted jailbreak during the Marin County Courthouse shootout in which Jonathan Jackson attempted to free William A. Christmas and James McClain. Ruchell was the sole survivor and was a co-defendant of Angela Davis until their cases were split. There is a fundraiser to support Cinque’s post-release needs as an elder: https://fundrazr.com/82E6S2

Rashid’s Treatment Resumes, Thanks To Support!

As an update to past announcements from Kevin “Rashid” Johnson of the Revolutionary Intercommunal Black Panther Party, the public pressure from calls & emails apparently had the desired results and as of a few days ago he was receiving the medical treatment he needs for his prostate cancer, though he hasn’t received all of his papers so he can continue to pursue his lawsuits against the Virginia DOC since they were confiscated by prisoncrats, but he’s super thankful for public engagement to defend his health. More updates on his case can be found at rashidmod.com

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Featured Tracks:

  • Don’t Play Around (Instrumental) by DJ Nu-Mark from Broken Sunlight Series 6
  • Black Hole by The Bulletproof Space Travelers from Urban Revolutions – The Future Primitive Sound Collective

Continue reading Revolutionary Arts with Signal Journal + Abolition with Mwalimu Shakur →

Author, Capitalism, FOSTA, Labor, PM Press, SESTA, Sex Work, Sexism, Transcribed, Zapatista, zine

Matilda Bickers on Sex Work + Updates from Chiapas

This week, we feature two segments

On The Work of Sex Work with Matilda Bickers

photo of the book, primarily the cover of "Working It: Sex Workers on the Work of Sex" featuring a drawing of a fem person in heels bending over, looking back between their legs and away from the viewer
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We’re happy to share our recent chat with Matilda Bickers, co-editor and contributor to the recent PM Press collection Working It: Sex Workers on the Work of Sex. For the hour we talk about labor organizing in the erotic industries, Matilda’s past experiences in publishing, hangups around sex work in radical communities and related topics. [ 00:01:00 – 00:43:02]

 

Harm Reduction and Advocacy

Strip Club Unionization

Updates from Chiapas

Then, Črna luknja shares an interview with a comrade who’s been living and active in solidarity with the Zapatista communities in Chiapas, so-called Mexico, about increasing violence and fears of civil war. This segment appeared in the June 2023, the 69th episode of BAD News from the A-Radio Network.  [ 00:43:02 – 01:01:56[

You can hear some live audio this week starting on July 19th and until July 23rd from the St-Imier anarchist and anti-authoritarian gathering in Switzerland, including audio from the A-Radio Network. More info on that at https://anarchy2023.org/en/radio

Sean Swain’s segment

Following this is Sean Swain’s segment [ 01:01:56 – 01:09:54

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Featured Track:

  • Patricia’s Moving Picture by The Go! Team from Proof of Youth

Continue reading Matilda Bickers on Sex Work + Updates from Chiapas →

Appalachia, Environment, Forest Defense, Fracking, General, Health, Mountain Valley Pipeline, North Carolina, Pipeline, Transcribed, Virginia, West Virginia, zine

Continuing Struggle Against The Mountain Valley Pipeline

Continuing Struggle Against The Mountain Valley Pipeline

Protestors on Mountain Valley Pipeline work site disrupting, near a pile of timber with signs against the pipeline + text "TFSR - 7/9/23, Continuing Struggle Against The Mountain Valley Pipeline"
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This week, we’re sharing a conversation with Rose and Crystal, two comrades involved in the struggle against the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 304 mile, 41 inch in diameter liquified so-called natural gas pipeline with a possible 75 mile extension crossing many delicate waterways, slopes and communities across Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina.

Past episodes with MVP resisters found here.

This project has been off and on under construction since 2018 and was recently forced through at a Federal level as part of the debt ceiling deal by the Biden administration and Democrats. For the hour we talk about the project, the land and water it threatens, the history of resistance and how to get involved in stopping this mess.

Just a headsup, there are some audio quality issues throughout the conversation with both guests, so if you have trouble hearing consider checking out the upcoming transcript or meanwhile watching on youtube with the subtitles on.

You can find more from the folks resisting the MVP by searching Appalachians Against Pipelines on various social media platforms or check the links in our show notes, where you can also find links to our various interviews with folks from this initiative from the last 5 years.

Links

Appalachains Agianst Pipelines (Facebook) (Twitter) (Instagram):

Announcements

Sean Swain Featured in YouTube Documentary Series

The channel called Political Prisoners on youtube, linked in our show notes, has begun a series of short documentaries about Sean, the first of which you can find entitled “Part One: A Visitation Dispute”. Check it out!

Disability Pride Art Show

The Disability Pride Art Show aims to celebrate the rights of disabled individuals through the power of art. This one-day event will take place on July 30 at the vibrant venue, Different Wrld, located in 801 Haywood Rd. The show embraces the core values of acceptance and inclusivity, emphasizing the inherent worth and talents of disabled individuals. Presented by DIYabled, a local nonprofit organization, and with This Body is Worthy.

Featuring a diverse lineup of 25 talented artists, writers, video artists, and dancers, the Disability Pride Art Show promises to captivate audiences with a rich variety of artistic expressions. Attendees will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the thought-provoking documentary “Disability on the Spectrum,” created by local artist Priya Ray. The film sheds light on the experiences and perspectives of disabled individuals, fostering greater understanding and empathy within our community.

Rashid’s Continued Denial of Cancer Treatment

Check our show notes for Rashid’s message, but as noted last week, incarcerated revolutionary of the Intercommunal Black Panther Party, Kevin Rashid Johnson, is continuing to be denied his rounds of cancert treatment for prostate cancer and has been shoved in a solitary confinement cell without working lights. In the show notes and at our website you’ll also find contacts for prison officials in Virginia who need pressure applied to get Rashid the medical treatment he needs, outside of the dungeon they’ve stuck him in.

Comrades:

This is Rashid. I need all possible SUSTAINED and immediate support.
Here is a statement of my situation.

OFFICIALS DEVISE TO STOP MY CANCER TREATMENT AND BLOCK MY COURT ACCESS
(2023)

By Kevin “Rashid” Johnson

I have been going out daily since early April 2023 for radiation
treatment at the Medical College of Virginia – a total of 40 treatments – which is ongoing. On 6-29-23 upon returning to the prison from the hospital I was thrown in solitary confinement without explanation, where I remain, without any property including all my legal property.

I was put in cells without working lights, where I remain.

After constant complaints all I’m being told is I am under
investigation, but not by prison investigators. I spoke with a prison
investigator, a Lieutenant Spencer, on July 1 when she delivered me
legal mail, asking about my status and access to my legal property. She informed me, while her body camera was recording, that I am under investigation by other state prison investigators and the prison was not withholding my legal property. She said any supervisor could get my property for me which was in the property department.

Despite this everyone refuses to deliver my belongings and I have been kept in an empty cell ever since. This despite that the VDOC is under court orders to not interfere with my access to and use of my legal property and I have numerous court deadlines and a pending federal civil trial in one of my lawsuits.

On 6-30-23 officials refused to allow me to attend my cancer treatment.
My numerous written emergency complaints about this went unanswered and unprocessed.

On 7-3-23 after days in an empty cell without my things I declined to go for my treatment that one day to try and call the courts to explain and seek intervention. Officials including the warden and assistant warden refused me a legal call and are now refusing all my future cancer treatments.

The entire claim to have me under investigation is facially invalid and illegal. As any legal authority recognizes, law enforcement officials must perform investigations consistent with the search and seizure provisions of the 4th Amendment. And any “unlawful search or seizures” renders any evidence gathered therefrom illegal. Both the seizures and searches of me and my property have been unlawful from the outset. My belongings, my legal property in particular was taken and searched outside my presence, which is illegal. Prison officials may only open our legal mail and search our legal property in our presence. That is constitutional law. Here in Virginia we may only be removed from General population and put in solitary if written notice is given within 24 hours. I received no such notice.

People to contact:

CLARKE, HAROLD W(804) 887-8080 HAROLD.CLARKE@VADOC.VIRGINIA.GOV
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION (DOC/CA, 701)

ROBINSON, DAVID N (276) 524-3685 DAVID.N.ROBINSON@VADOC.VIRGINIA.GOV
WALLENS RIDGE STATE PRISON (WRSP, 735)

CABELL, BETH E(804) 834-1327. BETH.CABELL@VADOC.VIRGINIA.GOV
CORRECTIONS – DIVISION OF INSTITUTIONS (DOC/DI, 756)

*SMITH, RUTH H(434) 767-5543. Email- RUTH.SMITH@VADOC.VIRGINIA.GOV ,
NOTTOWAY CORRECTIONAL CENTER (NCC, 745)

HERRICK, STEPHEN M
(804) 887-8118
Email~ STEVE.HERRICK@VADOC.VIRGINIA.GOV CORRECTIONS – DIVISION OF
INSTITUTIONS (DOC/DI)

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Featured Tracks:

  • Cumberland Blues by Fiddlin’ Doc Roberts from Mountain Blues: Blues, Ballads and String Bands
  • System’s Gonna Burn by Wren & Acre (based on Woody Guthrie’s “Fascists Bound To Lose”)
  • When You Think MVP by Yellow Finch residents

Continue reading Continuing Struggle Against The Mountain Valley Pipeline →