All posts by The Final Straw Radio

The Final Straw Radio is a terrestrial radio show and podcast started in 2009 featuring information by, for and about anarchists and other anti-authoritarians. The show airs weekly on Sundays from 2-3pm EST out of Asheville, NC, USA.
Colonialism, Colonization, Film, General, Israel, Palestine

“This Armed Occupation Needs to Stop Before It’s Too Late”: Yousef Natsha on his new documentary “Hebron”

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Hebron Documentary

This week we got the chance to speak with Yousef Natsha, who is a Palestinian filmmaker and activist about his new documentary called Hebron. In this interview we talk about how he got into making this documentary, some historical and present day context for this series of struggles in Hebron City, and some suggestions for action.

You can learn more about Yousef, see more of his work, and donate to the documentary by going to his website http://yousefnatsha.wixsite.com/yousef-natsha

Announcements

Local

We’ve been skipping out on announcements, so here’s a few to play catchup:

First, in local news: Next Sunday, April 1st at 5pm is the monthly political prisoner letter writing event by Blue Ridge ABC at Firestorm Books & Coffee, 610 Haywood Rd in West Asheville. All the necessary materials will be provided as well as a curated list of political prisoners in the U.S. with upcoming birthdays.

Following letter writing, at 7pm EST, we’ll be showing the latest episode of TROUBLE by sub.media. This 30 minute-long documentary about struggles against patriarchy around the world will be followed by a discussion on the film. More details up at brabc.blackblogs.org

ACAB2018 Bookfair Signups

ANNOUNCING, the second annual Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair aka ACAB 2018. Hosted in Asheville, NC over the weekend of June 22-24. Last year, hundreds of people from the southeast and beyond participated in workshops, talks, panels, community building, skill sharing, and celebrating resistance. Dozens of presses, publishers, radical and anarchist groups displayed their books, zines, artwork, and promoted their projects. This year will be even better, as we continue to build sites of resistance, structures of counter-power, and networks of solidarity across the region and the world.

Do you have skills to help build the future we want to see? We want to offer a diverse and comprehensive range of activities that could include analysis and theory, models of organizing, anti-repression, environmental resistance, physical and community self-defense, technological offensive & defensive practices, abolition & transformative justice, and more. Sign up for vending and workshops is now open! The form for workshops can be found at acab2018.noblogs.org/workshops-speakers/

Do you have a radical grassroot project, an independent press, anarchist publishing group/distro, cool anarchist and anti-racist merch, or just someone who would like a table to promote your project?! The form for those interested in tabling or vending at Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair can be found at acab2018.noblogs.org/vendors-publishers

The vendor/tabling portion will take place both Saturday 23 & Sunday 24. You can table one or both days.

The deadline for signing up is April 15 for workshops and vendors.

For more information and ways to get involved, check our website at, ACAB2018.noblogs.org or Follow us on Instagram @ACAB.2018 for instant updates!

Afrin

March 24th was an International Day of Solidarity with Afrin, the canton and epinomious city in Rojava that’s been beseiged and now over-run by Turkish and Islamist Free Syrian Army forces. People in cities around the world shared space, took to the streets, chanted, waved banners, held discussions and more to raise awareness that the world was watching the atrocities in Rojava at the hands of the FSA & the Turkish state. Info on events can be found at ItsGoingDown.Org

Rojava is the democratically administered region in what would be the West of Kurdistan, or northern Syria, where there has been a social revolution undertaken by multi-ethnic and religious councils, foregrounding struggles against patriarchy, with a vision of direct democracy, feminism, autonomy, ecology and anti-capitalism. The U.S. has been fighting alongside of the mostly Kurdish forces in the YPG & all-women YPJ militia to destroy strongholds of Daesh (aka ISIS). The YPG & YPJ have proven some of the most effective units to fight Daesh as they’re fighting for their own communities and values as opposed to professional soldiers brought in from elsewhere.

The recent incursions by Turkey and the FSA over the Syrian border are in a way the fault of the U.S. for claiming it was going to use the YPG & YPJ as a border security force, giving the Turkish government of egomaniac fundamentalist Erdogan the symbolic signal that the Rojavan forces could be attacked. Turkey has aided, armed and abetted Daesh by allowing them to cross the border between Turkey and Syria and shares the common enemy of Rojava as Rojava views the Kurdish political prisoner in Turkey, Abdullah Ocalan aka Apo, as their ideological founder. For Daesh, Rojava is an enemy because it’s hetero-cultural, empowers women and struggles against centralized state authority, as opposed to the Daesh and Turkish fascist forces.

So, in recent weeks, Afrin has been beseiged and invaded. The city has finally been taken by forces of what is the second largest army in NATO, Turkey being just behind the U.S. Hundreds if not thousands have died or fled the surrounding areas away from the bombs and mercenaries of the Turkish military and the FSA. Videos have floated around the internet of Turkish soldiers in Afrin giving the salute of the Turkish fascist “Grey Wolves” grouping and FSA and Turkish soldiers looting & pillaging the city.

The struggle in Rojava has inspired people in The West to join International Brigades, a reflection of the international struggle against Fascism during the Spanish Civil War. With the following announcements we don’t mean to undermine the self-defense struggles of people from Rojava who have been hurt or killed defending their homes and spreading their revolution, only to fulfill these listener requests and also tip our hats to brave Westerners whose solidaristic hearts brought them to fight in Rojava against the forces of reaction and for the new world in their hearts.

First is Anna Campbell. Anna was a dedicated feminist, social justice and environmental campaigner known to many for her activism around the student occupation movement, ecological and community outreach projects in Bristol and Sheffield. She was a key organiser in the IWW’s IWOC group, also being involved with the Empty Cages Collective, Smash IPP and Bristol ABC. Here is some audio sent by a friend of hers of Anna reading a statement from the Rojava Commune: https://iww.org.uk/news/anna-campbell-rest-in-power-fellow-worker/

Here is another statement, this time about an Anarchist from Turkey who died defending Afrin:

Our anarchist comrade and friend Şevger Ara Makhno arrived in Rojava on 20th January 2018 to take part in the revolution. Only the day before the army of the Turkish state and its jihadist proxies had begun the invasion of the autonomous region of Afrin, an area which had remained at peace throughout seven years of war and had become both a cradle for the Rojava revolution and a safe haven for hundred thousands of refugees from all over Syria. While the AKP and its allies ever more violently pushed Turkey towards fascism and the military brutally smashed the insurrection in North Kurdistan, Rojava and especially Afrin became a beacon of hope and resistance for all those who defied Erdogan’s regime.

Comrade Şevger was from Turkey himself, he passionately wanted to join this resistance at the frontlines. He received basic military training in the canton of Cizîre and on 19th February arrived in Afrin, where he immediately took part in the ongoing defence. As part of the Anti-Fascist Forces in Afrin (AFFA), a unit of internationalist revolutionaries within the YPG, he faced the invaders in the vicinity of Raco in the northwest of Afrin.

On the 4th March comrade Şevger had taken position on a hill outside the village of Berbêne ready to defend it against the advancing fascists. It was there that around 8AM he and two other YPG comrades were hit by an air-strike. All three of them lost their lives. In accordance with the wishes of his family his picture and legal identity will not be published, in order to protect the people close to him from repression.

We mourn the loss of our comrade and extend our condolences to all his friends, family and everyone who had the fortune to share their lives with this great and inspiring person. The people of Rojava and northern Syria and all those who are fighting for freedom and an end to oppression in the Middle East and beyond will never forget him. We know that he will live on that as long as his love and passion continue to thrive in our hearts.

Şehîd namirin! Bi hev re heta hetayî – anarşîst û apocî!

If your heart is free the ground you stand on is liberated territory. Defend it!

Show Stuff

The Final Straw is a ALSO a part of the International A-Radio Network, which produces a monthly podcast called “B(A)DNews: Angry Voices From Around The World”. The newest episode is out and free to download and we have a link on our website pointing to it. Check out anarchist perspectives from the U.S., Greece, Russia, the U.K. If you know of anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist radios or podcasts that’d be a good fit for our international and anti-nationalist network, point them to a-radio-network.org and have them contact us. We’re always looking for more angry voices from around the world.

Fundraising

This month we started a patreon subscription and donation page for the Final Straw podcast so that listeners could throw us some money for equipment, merchandise, travel and operational costs. In past years we’ve paid out of pocket (and with kind donations from other members of the A-Radio Network) to travel to the A-Radio conference and conduct interviews along the way with interesting projects. We’ve paid out of pocket to attend the North American Anarchist Black Cross conference and recorded the public proceedings there and connected with former political prisoners and organizers in IWOC and ABC chapters. We’ve recorded proceedings from the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair and other public, out of town events traveling on our own funds. Well, we want to bring y’all more audio you can’t easily hear and hope that you’ll help. Visit patreon.com/tfsr for ways to donate and thank yous we’re offering. We now have more than enough coming in to cover our web syndication for our podcast, which is a great start and a great alleviation off our pocketbooks. Want to donate but can’t make a regular donation? Visit thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/donate/ for a few other ways to send us money. Want some of the swag up at patreon.com but can’t make a regular donation? We can work something out, just get ahold of us. Thanks so much to Zuki, Olivia, scott, Jackie, Tiger & Chris for signing up!

Playlist

105fm, A-Radio Berlin, A-Radio Network, B(A)D News, Dissident Island Radio, Radio Fragmata, Radio98

March 2018 B(A)DNews: Angry Voices From Around The World

 

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This is episode number 10 of “B(A)D NEWS – Angry voices from around the world”, a news program from the international network of anarchist and anti-authoritarian radios, consisting of short news segments from different parts of the world.

(Overall duration 01:09:04)

Content:

– Words from A-Radio Berlin about repression and torture of anarchists and antifascists in Russia

– From Athens Radiozones of Subversive Expression have updates from Greece covering resistance on the streets and in prisons

– The Final Straw from Asheville in the United States bring us an interview with a participant in the recent 12 day teacher’s strike in West Virginia

– 105fm, on the island of Lesvos, come with news from around the North Aegean including resistance to repression against refugees

– Dissident Island Radio in London tell us about an ongoing hunger strike at an immigration detention centre and the opening of a squat for homeless people in central London

– Radio Fragmata from Athens have news about fascist attacks on Squats in Piraeus and Athens as well as solidarity actions with a comrade currently on hunger strike in prison

Sprinkled throughout we have musical interludes featuring tunes from underground UK artists

 

Guerrilla, History, Jaan Laaman, Ohio 7, Political Prisoner, Prisons, Ray Luc Levasseur, repression, Tom Manning, United Freedom Front

Expropriations and Internal Exile: Ray Luc Levasseur on Tom Manning, SCAR, and the Ohio 7

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For this week’s episode, Bursts spoke with Ray Luc Levasseur, longtime activist, Vietnam War vet, revolutionary and former political prisoner in the U.S. Ray was a reputed founder of the Sam Melville / Jonathan Jackson Unit, later known as the United Freedom Front which conducted sabotage, expropriations and attacks against profiteers and symbols of American Imperialism and oppression abroad. After 9 years of activity in the group and living underground, members of the group were apprehended and became known as the Ohio 7. Ray was paroled in 2004, about 20 years after his arrest.

Here we present half of our interview with Ray, which covers some of his political development. The other portion of this interview will air soon.

Now, though, we’ll hear about Ray’s organizing with prisoners after his own political incarceration for organizing and possession of small portions of marijuana for sale, the organizing of SCAR (Statewide Correctional Alliance for Reform), meeting Tom Manning, the process of going underground and why they chose this route and the formation of the underground movement later known as the SM/JJU. Then, Ray speaks about the case of his still incarcerated co-defendants, Jaan Laaman, and in more detail about co-defendant Tom Manning. Tom has been kept off and on in solitary confinement for very long periods of time, has been summarily transferred, has received inadequate medical care for the injuries of incarceration and aging inside of prisons. He was producing artwork until 2010 when he almost lost his leg due to an injury while being held in Florida. He was recently transferred from the Medical Facility at Butner, NC, to USP Hazelton in West Virginia. Tom Manning has only recently been able to start drawing again because he finally relieved some medical care relieving some of his pain & there’ s an art room at Hazelton with some supplies.
If you’d like to correspond with Tom, you can write him at:

Thomas Manning #10373-016
USP Hazelton
Post Office Box 2000
Bruceton Mills, West Virginia 26525

If you want to check out Tom’s art while monetarily supporting him, consider getting “For Love And Liberty”

We’ll have more info on the case of Jaan Laaman, the other mem

ber of the UFF still in prison soon. Jaan’s birthday is coming up on March 21st, so send him a birthday greeting if you want.
Jaan Laaman #10372-016
USP McCreary
Post Office Box 3000
Pine Knot, Kentucky 42635

To keep up on support for Tom, Jaan and other political prisoners in the U.S., check out the for The National Jericho Movement Fedbook page, or signing up for the Freedom Archives Political Prisoner News list.  Also, you can check out 4StruggleMag, which Jaan helped to found.

If you’re in NYC, the National Jericho Movement (website & fedbook) is having it’s 20th anniversary gathering on March 24th (as Ray mentions in the chat). Here’s a link to the JerichoNYC page for more details.

Playlist

Anarchist, Antifa, Russia

FSB Is The Real Terrorist: Intl Solidarity with Russian anarchists & antifa

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In this podcast special, I spoke with Antti, Antti is a member of Moscow Anarchist Black Cross, which does anti-repression work for anarchists and anti-authoritarian antifascists. Many members of Moscow ABC are now living abroad and doing their work from there due to intense repression by the government of Russia and it’s client states.

For March 11-18 there has been a call out for international solidarity with Russian anarchists and anti-fascists facing repression, and Moscow ABC has specifically called for solidarity on March 18th, which is the first round of elections for the Russian Presidency. During this hour, Antti will speak about the cases of anarchists repressed in Penza, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Crimea, Sebastopol and elsewhere as well as the situations of imprisoned Russian anarchist and anti-fascists. For more information on the work of Moscow ABC, organizing and resistance in Russia, check out the website avtonom.org

If you like what you hear on The Final Straw, please consider making a donation to us via Patreon to help us expand our reach and increase the quality of this podcast. Other donation methods will follow soon.  We won’t create a content paywall for our materials, but any dough you can share would be appreciated!

News sources mentioned in the episode include:

https://therussianreader.com/

 
 
Earth First!, IWW, Labor, West Virginia

Powderkegs and Cyber Communism: WV Teacher’s Strike Reflections + Asheville SETWAC

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Interview with Michael about the recent WV Teacher’s Strike

In this interview, Bursts spoke with an anarchist teacher and IWW labor organizer in West Virginia, Michael Mochaidean, about the work that went into the recent teacher strikes that went slightly Wild Cat and ended in a partial victory for the teachers after 12 days of walk outs by public school teachers across the state and has inspired labor organizing among communication workers in West Virginia, teachers across Oklahoma, Arizona, New Jersey and elsewhere.  They cover Right To Work regimes in the U.S. South, the organizing model of the IWW, dual union membership, #generalstrike2018, #55strong, and where Michael sees things moving forward.

Interview about the Southeast Trans and/or Women’s Action Camp
Next we have a short interview with Miel, an Asheville resident and co organizer of the Southeast Trans and/or Women’s Action Camp, or SETWAC, which will take place outside of Asheville from April 26th thru 28th. We talk about the camp and the importance of having an eco-struggle space be centered away from cis-masculine genders.

We also talk about this group’s fundraising platform and the troubles they’ve had there, plus a link for a new fundraising push and how to get involved.To learn more about this project, you can visit https://setwac.blackblogs.org, and to donate you can go to http://paypal.me/SETWAC2018

Podcast special: International Solidarity against Repression of anarchists and antifa in Russia

If you want even more audio in your ear, check out our website for the interview Bursts did with Antti, a member of Moscow Anarchist Black Cross, about repression of anarchists and anti-fascists in Russia & Crimea, including the frame-up of criminal conspiracy, torture, disappearances and criminalization of supposed statements on social media.  There has been a call for international solidarity actions with a-team and antifa in the Russian Federation from today, March 11th through the 18th, as well as a day of solidarity specifically on the 18th called for by Moscow Anarchist Black Cross in the run-up to the first round of Russian Presidential elections.

Presentation at Firestorm 

Also, if you’re in Asheville this week, at Firestorm on Thursday, March 15th at 6pm there’ll be a presentation by another Russian anarchist comrade entitled, “The Western Left and Media Politics of Russia in the Context of the War in Ukraine”.  This event is free, wheel chair accessible and will be followed by a question and answer period.
You can see the Fedbook event here!

————-

Playlist here.
Canada, Indigenous, Pipeline

Treaties, Peace and Resisting Alton Gas at Sipekne’katik River, in Mi’kma’ki: An episode of Shades of Green podcast

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The Final Straw is excited to share with our listeners an episode of the podcast, Shades of Green, which describes itself as “a podcast exploring environmental justice from unceded Mi’kmaq territory.”

(correction to our intro, we say “liquified natural gas”, when in fact the facility would just store “natural gas.”  Apologies for the confusion.)

This episode features voices of the Mi’kmaq resistance to the building of a natural gas storage facility by Alton Gas in salt caverns under and around the Sipekne’katik River in so-called Nova Scotia, potentially resulting in salt pollution and likely seepage of the gas into the river.

The episode, a cleverly produced montage, features indigenous words about their lifeways, relationship to settlers, settler society and government and what it means to live in treaty with another community and the earth. Much of the conversation sits around the Truckhouse and Treaty Camp along the banks of the Sipekne’katik River, which provides shelter, a space for organizing.

You are prompted multiple times, dear listener, to reflect on whose land you are on and what your relationship is with them. What is decolonization and what does living in treaty with the land and your neighbors mean? Thanks to the friend in Nova Scotia for passing this our way, thanks to Sadie Beaton for permission to air and to those voices we hear on the recording. We hope you enjoy.

More information on the struggle can be found at Stop Alton Gas

 

Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Mountain Valley Pipeline, Political Prisoner

Tree-Sitting to Stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline

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Main Interview: Stop the MVP and All Pipelines!

(at ~ 16min, 38sec)

This week, Bursts spoke with Birch and Judy, two folks involved in the Tree Sits on Peter Mountain along the Appalachian Trail on the border of Virginia and West Virginia.  The tree sits are operating in order to block the Mountain Valley Pipeline or MVP.  Before all of the permits have been ok’d, contractors with the help of local law enforcement have been clearing the path for the pipeline.  This preparation would include 3,800 feet blasted through the mountains or if that didn’t work the blasting of a trench that length through the mountains.  We also talk about the ACP, or Atlantic Coast Pipeline, in this conversation and the connections between the two projects and their resistance.

These constructions (or destruction) and the resultant pipelines threaten the plants, animals (human and non) and all of the water systems along the route as well as continuing to foster an energy system that feeds off of the unsustainable extraction, transport and burning of fossil fuels to the short term benefit of a few government officials and capitalists and to the detriment of the entire world via anthropogenic, or human initiated, climate change.

To get involved, you can contact: petersmountainstand@protonmail.com.

You can donate to support at their youcaring site

For more information on the the Peters Mountain tree sit, the campaign against the MVP and how to join in or support where you are, check out the fedbook page Appalachians Against Pipelines.  To keep up on resistance to the ACP, you can follow the twitter account, NoACP.  And to learn more about anti-pipeline struggles in Virginia, in particular, check out the podcast, “End Of The Line“.  We interviewed a producer of this project in an earlier episode.

Retraction of a previous Sean Swain segment

To open our announcements section, I’d like to air a brief statement in the spirit of accountability. As per the very reasonable request on the part of the folks doing support for Alvaro and Abraham, we have omitted the Sean Swain segment for the episode in which we interviewed Bruno Rennero-Hanan regarding Keep Loxicha Free, which originally aired on February 18th. The You Are the Resistance topic did not pair well with the main interview content, and the group that was being interviewed did not have any prior knowledge of the segment. We very much regret any confusion or discomfort that this caused, and all versions of the show have since been updated to remove the segment in question.

We would like to take a bit of space here to contextualize these segments for new listeners, which is to say that the Sean Swain segments are presented in the spirit of satire; Swain himself has been a political prisoner for over 25 years at this point, and his humor can get abrasive, but he is a committed believer in the dismantling of all forms of oppression. This is in no way to imply that they should be free of interrogation or troubling, and we are open to feedback on this segment and any other content we present!

Due to separate, technical difficulties, we are unable to air a Sean Swain segment this week. But fear not, Swainiacs, for next week Sean should be back. To brush up on the over 200 segments we’ve recorded of Sean over the years, please visit SeanSwain.org

Some Events in Asheville

Mutual Aid Disaster Relief Tour

At Firestorm in Asheville, NC, Mutual Aid Disaster Relief will continue it’s tour of 2 night presentations around the region with Protectors v. Profiteers: Communities in Resistance to Disaster Capitalism on March 9 @ 7:30 pm EST.  The next day at 3pm (correction, had said noon in the podcast), in the basement of Firestorm, at Kairos, MADR will also host Part 2 of their tour, Giving Our Best, Ready For The Worst: Community Organizing as Disaster Preparedness.  These events will be free.  More info on these and other tour stops is available at https://mutualaiddisasterrelief.org.

“Hebron” Documentary

Coming up: the group, Jewish Voice for Peace – Asheville presents a film screening of the 35-minute documentary Hebron, by Palestinian filmmaker and now Asheville resident Yousef Natsha, followed by a panel discussion and Q&A with the filmmaker and other community members.

The showing will take place on Sunday, March 11th, at 3:00pm at THE BLOCK off Biltmore, 39 S Market St B in downtown Asheville.  More info on the film can be found at his website here, and stay tuned for an interview with the filmmaker on this film and many other topics on this here radio platform!

Other Announcement: J20 West Coast Tour

J20 West Coast Speaking Tour will be doing a daily stops down the Pacific coast of Turtle Island.  Today, March 4th, they’ll be in Olympia, Monday the 5th they’ll be in Portland, Tuesday they’ll be in Eugene… etc, ending up (announced so far) in Tuscon on March 18th.  If you find yourself in that route and want to hear the voices of defendants and build that movement support, give a visit to http://defendj20resistance.org/blog/ and find the link and image.

Support Ruchell Cinque Magee!

(at ~ 8 min, 40 sec)

And here’s an announcement about the man who may be the longest held political prisoner in the world. Ruchell was originally from Franklinton, La., he was falsely charged with “attempted rape” for being with a White girl in KKK territory. He was 16 and sentenced to the infamous Angola State Prison. Ruchell Magee was politicized alongside George Jackson and was involved in the Marin County Courthouse Rebellion alongside Jonathan Jackson, William Christmas and James McClain in 1971. He’ll be up for parole this year after 54 years behind bars, 7 of which were for his prior conviction.

More info from PrisonerSolidarity.Net:

Ruchell is the longest held political prisoner in the U.S., having been locked up since 1963. Politicized in prison, he later participated in the Marin County Courthouse Rebellion, the attempted liberation of political prisoner George Jackson. Ruchell Magee pled guilty to the charge of aggravated kidnapping for his part in the assault. In return for his plea, the Attorney General asked the Court to dismiss the charge of murder (Magee being the shooter of Judge Haley). Magee later attempted unsuccessfully to withdraw his plea, and was sentenced in 1975 to life in prison. He has lost numerous bids for parole. He has also worked tirelessly as a jailhouse lawyer, working on his own case and helping many other prisoners win their freedom.

He had been in L.A. for 6 months when he and his cousin Leroy got in a fight over a $10 bag of marijuana. In court, the two ended up with trumped up charges of kidnapping and robbery and he was given life in prison.

While in prison Ruchell began learning the long and rich history of Black liberation history. He adopted the middle name of Cinque, after the enslaved African who led the takeover of the slave ship Amistad, which eventually lead to the freedom of all the people being held on board. He began petitioning his unjust sentence to no avail. Although critically wounded on August 7, 1970, Magee was the sole survivor among the four brave Black men who conducted the courthouse slave rebellion, leaving him to be charged with everything they could throw at him.

Here is some background on the Marin Courthouse Incident

On August 7th, 1970 Jonathan Jackson, age 17, George’s younger brother, raided the Marin Courtroom and tossed guns to prisoners William Christmas and James McClain, who in turn invited Ruchell to join them. Ru seized the hour spontaneously as they attempted to escape by taking a judge, assistant district attorney and three jurors as hostages in that audacious move to expose to the public the brutally racist prison conditions and free the Soledad Brothers (John Clutchette, Fleeta Drumgo, and George Jackson).

McClain was on trial for assaulting a guard in the wake of Black prisoner Fred Billingsley’s murder by prison officials in San Quentin in February, 1970. With only four months before a parole hearing, Magee had appeared in the courtroom to testify for McClain.

The four revolutionaries successfully commandeered the group to the waiting van and were about to pull out of the parking lot when Marin County Police and San Quentin guards opened fire. When the shooting stopped, Judge Harold Haley, Jackson, Christmas, and McClain lay dead; Magee was unconscious and seriously wounded as was the prosecutor. A juror suffered a minor injury. In a chain of events leading to August 7, on January 13, 1970, a month before the Billingsley slaughter, a tower guard at Soledad State Prison had shot and killed three Black captives on the yard, leaving them unattended to bleed to death — Cleveland Edwards, “Sweet Jugs” Miller, and the venerable revolutionary leader, W. L. Nolen, all active resisters in the Black Liberation Movement behind the walls.

After the common verdict of “justifiable homicide” was returned and the killer guard exonerated at Soledad, another white-racist guard was beaten and thrown from a tier to his death. Three prisoners, Fleeta Drumgo, John Clutchette, and Jackson were charged with his murder precipitating the case of The Soledad Brothers and a campaign to free them led by college professor and avowed Communist, Angela Davis, and Jonathan Jackson.

Magee had already spent at least seven years studying law and deluging the courts with petitions and lawsuits to contest his own illegal conviction in two fraudulent trials. As he put it, the judicial system “used fraud to hide fraud” in his second case after the first conviction was overturned on an appeal based on a falsified transcript. His strategy, therefore, centered on proving that he was a slave, denied his constitutional rights and held involuntarily.

Therefore, he had the legal right to escape slavery as established in the case of the African slave, Cinque, who had escaped the slave ship, Armistad, and won freedom in a Connecticut trial. Thus, Magee had to first prove he’d been illegally and unjustly incarcerated for over seven years. He also wanted the case moved to the Federal Courts and the right to represent himself.

Moreover, Magee wanted to conduct a trial that would bring to light the racist and brutal oppression of Black prisoners throughout the state. “My fight is to expose the entire system, judicial and prison system, a system of slavery.. This will cause benefit not just to myself but to all those who at this time are being criminally oppressed or enslaved by this system.”

On the other hand, Angela Davis, his co-defendant, charged with buying the guns used in the raid, conspiracy, etc., was innocent of any wrongdoing because the gun purchases were perfectly legal and she was not part of the original plan. Davis’ lawyers wanted an expedient trial to prove her innocence on trumped up charges. This conflict in strategy resulted in the trials being separated. Davis was acquitted of all charges and released in June of 1972.

Ruchell fought on alone, losing much of the support attending the Davis trial. After dismissing five attorneys and five judges, he won the right to defend himself. The murder charges had been dropped, and Magee faced two kidnap charges. He was ultimately convicted of PC 207, simple kidnap, but the more serious charge of PC 209, kidnap for purposes of extortion, resulted in a disputed verdict. According to one of the juror’s sworn affidavit, the jury voted for acquittal on the PC 209 and Magee continues to this day to challenge the denial and cover-up of that acquittal.

Ruchell turns 79 years old this month and eligible for parole for several reasons, including the impanelment of a federal three-judge order to release elderly prisoners to reduce the prison population.

You can write to Ruchell by addressing mail to:

Magee, Ruchell #A92051 B3-270
California Men’s Colony State Prison
PO Box 8103
San Luis Obispo,, CA 93409-8103

To read a recent article by former Black Panther Kiilu Nyasha including words by Ruchell, you can go to the SF Bay View.

Anarchist, Author, History, Kristian Williams

“Between The Bullet and The Lie”: Kristian Williams on George Orwell

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Kristian Williams on George Orwell

This week on The Final Straw, Bursts presents a conversation with Kristian Williams about his recently published book, Between The Lie & The Bullet: Essays on Orwell, published by AK Press. Kristian is maybe best known for authoring Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America.

For the hour we speak about Kristian’s reading of Orwell, the importance of intellectual honesty, weaknesses in modern Anarchist engagements with ideas and facts on the ground and other topics stemming from the book.  A slightly longer version of this conversation will be available in our podcast, which can be downloaded from our website.  More writings & interviews by
Kristian can be found at KristianWilliams.com.

Hear Bursts prior interviews with Kristian on the writings & anarchism of Oscar Wilde as well as on Kristian’s book, Our Enemies In Blue.

We’d like to apologize for the strange sound during most of Kristian’s portions.  This’ll be present in upcoming interviews, it’s a technical difficulty that hopefully we’ll have sorted quite soon.  Thanks for bearing with us!

 Playlist
Anarcho-Syndicalism, Črna Luknja, Dissident Island Radio, General, Kosovo, Move 9, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Political Prisoner, Racism

Whammo!: MOVE9 Parole; Addicted to Screens; Anarcho-Syndicalism in Kosovo

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This episode contains three segments:

Move 9 Parole
“Stare Into The Lights My Pretties”
Anarcho-Syndicalist Organizing in Kosovo

MOVE9 Parole

First, there’s the interview that Bursts held with Michael Davis Africa Jr., a member of the MOVE organization.  MOVE is a Philadelphia-based black liberation group founded by John Africa in 1972. The group lives communally. During the conversation, Michael Jr. talks about the case of the MOVE9, who were 9 members of that group who were arrested and accused of the killing of a police officer in 1978 in Philadelphia, a charge they each deny.  Officer James Ramp was killed following a year of the Philly PD blockading the house for a year under an eviction order and the police besieged the house on August 8th, 1978.  The MOVE 9 have been incarcerated for almost 40 years now, with Merle & Phil dying behind bars.  Police and white supremacist affiliated groups have successfully gotten parole denied for Eddie, Michael and Delbert Africa over the last 9 months as they do for many Political Prisoners from the 1960’s through 80’s in the U.S.  There are upcoming are parole hearings for Janet, Janine and Debbie Africa and more info on who to petition for their release can be found at http://onamove.com/move-9/. The name of the D.A. who prosecuted the MOVE9 in 1978 and who is still on the paperwork and has a say on the parole of the MOVE9 40 years later is named John Straub.

Coming up this Saturday, February 24th starting at 4pm there’ll be an event called “Framed In America: The Making of Political Prisoners”.  This will take place at The National Black Theater, 2031 5th Ave in Harlem, New York and will include presentations by Ramona Africa, Fred Hampton Jr, Pam Africa, Roger Wareham, Betty Davis, Ralph Poynter and Johanna Fernandez.  More info can be found on the Justice for the Move 9 fedbook group.

Stare Into The Light My Pretties

The second conversation you’ll hear today is an interview by Dissident Island Radio from London from their February 2nd episode. In this, a collective member interviews Filmmaker Jordan Brown, director of ‘Stare Into the Lights My Pretties’, discussing their documentary about screen culture and its implications.  The film is available for free on archive.org, youtube and at truthstreammedia.com. DI is a member of the Channel Zero Network of anarchist podcasts available at channelzeronetwork.com.

Anarcho-Syndicalist Organizing in Kosovo

Finally, we’ll be airing an interview conducted by our friends at Črna Luknja on Radio Student in Lubjlana, Slovenia, that they conducted with members of an anarcho-syndicalist collective from Pristina, the capital of Kosovo.  This segment was released as a part of the February 2018 edition of B(A)DNews: Angry Voices From Around The World, from the A-Radio Network of which The Final Straw, Črna Luknja and Dissident Island are members.

Keep PUSHing: Building on the #OperationPUSH demands

Mere days before FDC’s repression effort began scattering active prisoners into new facilities, and into solitary confinement for the weeks surrounding January 15, an Operation PUSH prisoner’s anonymous voice reached the world and called on outside supporters to “shine a light from the outside in on the system.”

In essence, this prisoner saw what was coming and passed the torch to us on the outside. With three clear demands and a simple strategy, this invisible group of prisoners gave a glimpse of what could be, if the networks of outside solidarity and inside communication could coalesce.

While we have heard from many prisoners since January 15, we know that the vast majority of FL prisoners still do not know how much support they garnered on the outside. And many who made plans to struggle together have not seen or heard from each other in weeks. In many ways, the next steps towards victory for them are in our hands.

It is with this understanding that a group of us on the outside are developing an additional list of demands, based primarily on communication from prisoners we’ve gotten in recent weeks, that aims to honor the countless who have suffered major sacrifices to develop or report on Operation PUSH as well as those who had no idea what it was, but were punished preemptively simply because they were viewed as potential organizers or participants.

We will do all we can to bring these demands to FDC, the Governor and State Legislature, in an effort to carry the prisoners’ vision for Operation PUSH forward.

In addition to the Operation PUSH demands of payment, parole and pricing, we, supporters of all Florida prisoners struggling for dignity, demand:

  • An end to censorship of publications that give voice to prisoners and/or critique prisons;
  • An end to repression of prisoners for communication with outside advocates;
  • An end to the use of Security Threat Group status as a means for political repression;
  • An end to strip cells and extreme temperatures to torture prisoners;
  • An explanation of the cause for a major spike in 2017 prisoner deaths;
  • Protection of prisoners health from nearby industrial activity, including phosphate mining and landfills;
  • An end to black mold-infested facilities, spoiled food and dilapidated buildings;
  • Removal of all KKK members, and other recognized racist hate groups, from FDC staff;
  • An end to the medical co-pay that results in financial debt and untreated illness;
  • An immediate reduction in prison population using existing guidelines for clemency; and
  • A face-to-face meeting with FDC officials to further discuss these matters.

Links to more info:

Updates on Operation PUSH in the Florida Department of Corrections

Time on Ice: Florida Officials Torture Prisoners With Freezing Strip Cells (2018) by Kevin Rashid Johnson

Playlist

105fm, A-Radio Berlin, A-Radio Network, B(A)D News, Črna Luknja, Dissident Island Radio, FrequenzA, Radio Fragmata, Radio Kurruf, Radio98

February 2018 B(A)DNews: Angry Voices From Around The World

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B(A)D NEWS 9
This is episode number 9 of “B(A)D NEWS – Angry voices from around the world”, a news program from the international network of anarchist and anti-authoritarian radios, consisting of short news segments from different parts of the world.

Content:
105 FM from Greece: refugees concentration camp conditions in Moria , the deportation of 8 refugees from Mytilene, antifascists interventions in the city and other political actions from north Aegean islands

Radio Kurruf from Chile: Pope Francis visited Chile in the middle of protests and scandals

Radiozones of Subversive Expression from Greece: Athens court of appeal accept the requested of anarchist comrade about the replacement of home arrest, anarchist comrades organized concentration against nationalist rally

Dissident Island from UK: a recent success in resisting the gentrification

Radio Fragmata from Greece: updates on struggle against new correctional code, nationalist fascist gatherings, a review of the campaign a toy for every child

A-Radio Berlin from Germany: a voice from Afrin (Rojava), under attack by the Turkish State

Črna Luknja from Slovenia: an interview with anarcho-syndicalist collective from Pristina, the capital of Kosovo

FrequenzA from Germany: broadcast about Rodrigo an anarchist and antifascist locked up in Zaragoza Spain

The Final Straw from USA: a short cut of a conversation about the cases of the Loxicha prisoners in Mexico

Please send feedback and comments at: a-radio-network/at/riseup(.)net

(episode in total 1: 15: 24)