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.
#NoDAPL, activism, Environment, Indigenous, Krow, North Dakota, Pipeline, Standing Rock

Red Warrior Society Tour and Defending Water Protectors

Red Warrior Society

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This week on the show we spoke with Ikmu, an indigenous activist who was involved in the Red Warrior Camp at Standing Rock against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Ikmu is now affiliated with the Red Warrior Society and is traveling with comrades around the country on a tour to talk about their work, decolonization and the struggle against ecocidal projects like #DAPL.

For the hour, Ikmu and Bursts talk about the Camps at #StandingRock, indigeneity, decolonization, the cases against Water Protectors Krow, Red Fawn Fallis and others, prayer, direct action and more. We had this conversation just after the eviction of the Oceti Oyati Camp by pol-igs of various stripes. To find out about the upcoming West Coast branch of the Red Warrior Society Ride For Resistance Tour, check out https://facebook.com/redwarriorcamp

Red Warrior Society’s legal fund
Red Warrior Society’s Funds Account

Contacts and support for some of the folks who are still being held in custody in connection with water protection at Standing Rock are:

Katie “Krow/Twig” Kloth
Katie Kloth
Morton County Correctional Center
205 1st Ave. NW
Mandan, ND 58554

Red Fawn Fallis
205 6th Street SE Suite 201,
Jamestown ND 58401

Charles “Scorch” Jordan
Charles Jordan
Burleigh County Jail
PO BOX 1416
Bismarck, ND 58502

and Michael “Rattler” Markus
Michael Markus
PO Box 1108
Washburn, ND 58577

Please write to and support these folks! For more information and further ways to support these brave folks, you can get up with the Water Protector Legal Collective at https://waterprotectorlegal.org/ and the Water Protector Anti Repression Crew on fedbook. Fundraising sites for these folks can be found at It’s Going Down

To check out our 2013 conversation with Krow on defending the Penokee Hills in northern Wisconsin, it starts 35 minutes, 47 seconds into the episode.

Announcements

Updates from Sabal Trail Resistance

Following our interview last week with Karrie and Niko of Sabal Trail Resistance against the Sabal Trail Pipeline in the South Eastern U.S., the the two locked down inside a section of the pipeline in Marion County, Florida to hamper the construction of the high pressure gas pipeline and demanding the release of a revised Environmental Impact Statement.. You can donate to the legal fund for these and other Water Protectors in the South East by visiting https://sabaltrailresistance.wordpress.com/donate/

Building The Commune in Durham

#BUILDINGTHECOMMUNE is a convergence organized to spread the tools and knowledge for self-defense and autonomy throughout our community in Durham, NC. We are dedicated to building a culture and space for autonomous resistance against Trump and his regime, the State, and capitalism. This convergence is happening across three different venues in Durham: Pinhook, Arcana, and the Atomic Fern.

The Welcoming Committee will be setup at Pinhook (at 117 W. Main St, Durham, NC 27701) with materials/programming distributed there. Childcare will be provided with drop-off/pick-up at the Atomic Fern (at 108 E Parrish St, Durham, NC 27701). A free lunch will be provided at Pinhook by Durham FoodNotBombs.

To close out the day, an Autonomous Assembly will be held at Pinhook from 4:00PM – 5:00PM. The assembly will collectively create the agenda to be discussed, but we’d like to suggest that folks come prepared to discuss: announcements and projects to collaborate on; skills, resources, and spaces we can share with one another; direct issues/crises facing the community or concerns we’re feeling; and mutual aid networks (cop-watches, community medical programs, rapid-response call networks, etc.) we can begin building in Durham now. We will provide materials to help folks learn how they form affinity groups, so that they may begin autonomously building these networks themselves.

You can see an entire list of workshops and events at the website http://www.buildingthecommune.com/

ACAB2017

If you are in Asheville or the surrounding area, consider participating in the first ever Asheville Anarchist Bookfair! The dates for this event are May 5-7th, and will include workshops, shows and dance parties, nature events, and a whole day of tabling revolutionary and anarchist art and literature.

Keep your eyes on http://acab2017.noblogs.org for the latest in news about the fair, and also use this webiste to submit ideas for workshops, speakers, or tabling. See you there!

Playlist

#NoDAPL, Anarchist, Colonialism, Environment, Florida, FrequenzA, Georgia, Krow, Pipeline, Political Prisoner, Prisons, Protest, Racism, Sean Swain

Sabal Trail Pipeline Resistance in Florida and Antipolitika newspaper in ex-Yugoslavia

Sabal Trail + Antipolitika

Sabal Trail Resistance

https://sabaltrailresistance.wordpress.com
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This week we’re sharing a conversation we had with Karrie and Niko, two folks involved in the initiative called Sabal Trail Resistance. The immediate goal of Sabal Trail Resistance is to block the Sabal Trail Pipeline, actually a series of 3 pipelines meant to run through Georgia, Alabama and Florida, carrying pressurized natural gas. We spend about a half an hour of this episode chatting about the route, who’ll be effected, the companies behind the pipeline, environmental racism, decolonization and other related topics.

Coming up, they plan a weekend of action February 23-27, including an action against prisons and in solidarity with longterm Indigenous political prisoner, Leonard Peltier.

More on their project can be found at https://sabaltrailresistance.wordpress.com and http://stopsabaltrail.com

antipolitika

After that, we’re spreading a 10 minute interview between comrades at FrequenzA out of Hamburg, Germany, published in English at the end of January. From https://frequenza.noblogs.org:
“The interview is about the first issue of ‘antipolitika’, released in summer 2016 with the topic antimilitarism. The anarchist newspaper consists of statements and articles from ex-yugoslavia and greece and is dedicated towards a broader public.”

Announcements

Updates on Sean Swain

Before these words from anarchist prisoner Sean Swain, we have a quick update on his dietary situation. We’ve just gotten word that Sean resumed eating on his 50th day of hunger strike. He is still not being given a halal diet in line with his practice of Islam, and neither are other Muslim prisoners in Ohio, but he’s said that the administration is considering the move. He’s achieved the other demands that he was hunger-striking for. If you’d like to see Sean and other adherents to Islam in Ohio prisons during this age of increasing Islamophobia be able to at least eat according to their faith’s dietary practices, give a call to Ohio Governor, John “JWow” Kasich. You can call JWow at 614 466 3555, that’s The Honorable Governor of Ohio, John Kasich at 614 466 3555. You can also write to him via
Governor Kasich
77 South High Street
Columbus, OH 43215-6117
And request that Sean Swain, prisoner #243-205 who’s being held at Warren Correctional, be allowed to eat according to his faith.

Reporting ICE Raids on Social Media

As many of yall are aware, there has been a lot of concern and fear regarding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (or ICE) checkpoints recently. Given the rising tide of overt xenophobia and racism in this country, these concerns are valid, and there has been a lot in the way of confirmed raids and detentions by ICE. However, the use of social media in these situations is something that can both help and hurt the situation, both being an effective way to broadly communicate an issue and a platform for a whole lot of unsubstantiated claims and rumors.

In an effort to battle this aspect of social media use, I’d like to plug a resource that DRUM put out some time ago. DRUM stands for Desis Rising Up and Moving, and they are a NYC based group which “is a multigenerational, membership led organization of low-wage South Asian immigrant workers and youth in New York City.

Founded in 2000, DRUM has mobilized and built the leadership of thousands of low-income, South Asian immigrants to lead social and policy change that impacts their own lives- from immigrant rights to education reform, civil rights, and worker’s justice. Our membership of over 2,400 adults, youth, and families is multigenerational and represents the diaspora of the South Asian community – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Guyana, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Trinidad.”

They have put out a very useful resource entitiled “A Brief Guide for Reporting Raids on Social Media”, which we will link to directly in our blog. Basically it cautions against the spreading of unsubstantiated information and provides a step by step guide for what to do if you witness something:

http://www.drumnyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/ABriefGuideforReportingRaidsonSocialMedia.docx.pdf

To see more about DRUM you can visit http://www.drumnyc.org/

Support Krow

From our comrades at supportkrow.org:

On February 4, while supporting the No DAPL struggle, Krow (Katie Kloth) was assaulted and arrested by a Bureau of Indian Affairs officer (there is video of the incident below). She was walking on a public road, away from the Sacred Stone camp, when she was chased down by the officer. It is believed that she was specifically targeted because of her ongoing involvement and visibility within the No DAPL resistance, which had resulted in two arrests on misdemeanor charges previous to this incident. Krow was also known at Standing Rock for being an advocate for creating a unified front in fighting the pipeline.

Krow has been charged with violation of felony probation and is being held at Morton County Correctional Center. The probation is from previous charges in Wisconsin stemming from an environmental protest against mining in the Penokee Hills in 2013, for which she served nine months in jail. After a recent bail reduction hearing, Krow was assigned a cash-only bail of $100,000. The stipulations of the judge require that the bail be paid in full. Even if the full bail is paid, it is likely that Morton County would refuse to release Krow. We are currently working with lawyers and legal teams in North Dakota and Wisconsin to figure this out. Donations to support Krow will go towards paying lawyers, commissary, postage, travel for supporters visiting Krow, and/or bail. Krow has stated that she wants the bail paid.

We fear for Krow’s safety and well-being, especially in light of her assault and the severe mistreatment other water protectors have received in this particular facility.

Krow is an activist, artist, forager, sustainable farmer, biologist, and amazing person loved by many within the environmental movement. We need to show her as much solidarity and support as we can at this vital time. In Krow’s own words, “We must negate state repression by protecting ourselves and land-bases therein; we must not give our people up, and recognize that to be in solidarity with one another is more akin to the idea of ‘harmony’ than ‘unity.’ Harmony implies that we can all do different things within the same song, and still find conclusion together.”

Whether you are a direct action environmental activist or simply support the No DAPL struggle and protection of the land and all of its people, join us in supporting Krow, in solidarity with all things wild and free.

Contact Krow’s support team at supportkrow[at] riseup.net
You can also donate to Krow’s legal fund at http://supportkrow.org/

Resisting Snitching in Berkeley

From the Anti Repression Committee in Oakland:

ARC is aware that UC Berkeley PD is circulating images of individuals who they claim are associated with the Berkeley anti-Milo protest on February 1. They are actively seeking information about these individuals, and are asking anyone with information to contact them.

We want to remind everyone NOT to assist UC Berkeley PD in their investigation, EVEN IF it seems like the information you give is harmless. Remember that even minor information, like identifying a “witness,” can be used to increase surveillance of activist communities. Police use this kind of information to map activist networks and harass them. In the current political climate, the state is looking for ways to clamp down on dissent and resistance. Let’s not help them do that.

Remember that you have NO LEGAL OBLIGATION to talk to police or FBI if contacted about the protest. They may try to make you feel intimidated, but you ALWAYS have the right to remain silent. If you are contacted by phone, email, letter, or in person, either ignore the correspondence, or tell the officer that you decline to speak with them.

If you are contacted, immediately call the National Lawyers Guild at 415-285-1041 so that they can give you legal advice, and also so that they can be aware of police/FBI activities.

Finally: DO NOT post or circulate the UC Berkeley PD webpage with pictures of individuals. We do not want to signal boost anything that will increase surveillance and targeting of our communities.

NC J20 Defense

As always, you can help support our comrades who got kettled in DC by donating to http://ncj20defense.com/

Playlist

Author, History, Rebroadcast

Underground Passages: Anarchist Resistance Culture 1848-2011 (rebroadcast)

Jesse Cohn rebroadcast

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This week we are re-broadcasting an episode which originally aired in early May 2015 with Jesse Cohn who is the author of the book Underground Passages: Anarchist Resistance Culture 1848-2011, published by AK Press. In the book, Jesse explores trajectories in literature, cartoons, comics, music, poetry, drama produced at times by and or for or just conspicuously consumed by anarchists in europe, north and south america and asia during that time period. More info on the book can be found at https://www.akpress.org/

Stay tuned next week for a conversation with an anarchist who has spent a bunch of time in struggle at Standing Rock about their experiences and moving forward with an explicitely anti colonialist approach to resource extraction resistance.

But first here are some announcements

“Imperial Wizard” kicks it!

To start off with some good news, yesterday February 11th the bloated corpse of KKK Imperial Wizard Frank Ancona was fished out of the Missouri River, apparently after having been there for a hot minute. This piece of human garbage white supremacist is the bonehead who was credited with saying that Ferguson protesters, showing their rage at the police murder of Mike Brown, had awakened a “sleeping giant” in the KKK and claimed unlimited violence in “retaliation”. Who’s sleepin now, Frankie? In whatever way this death occured, here’s hoping that KKK will follow their leader in this ultimate act.

Support NC #DisruptJ20 arrestees

On January 20, 2017, tens of thousands of people converged in Washington, D.C. for the #disruptJ20 protests opposing the inauguration of Donald Trump. A combination of blockades, marches, and festive demonstrations made it clear around the world that the people do not recognize Trump’s authority or support his policies.

In response, D.C. police went on a rampage, shooting pepper spray, tear gas, and concussion grenades indiscriminately at protesters, including children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. In one instance, police cordoned off an entire block and mass arrested 257 people, including dozens of North Carolinians.

This attack on political dissent is intended to create a chilling effect to keep protesters out of the streets so that Trump can move forward with his divisive agenda. We owe it to the arrestees to support them through the legal process so they can get adequate representation and as fair a hearing as possible.

A group of North Carolinian community organizers created the NC J20 Legal Defense Fund to quickly and efficiently support the arrestees from North Carolina. Please join us in donating, and spread the word to everyone who cares about civil discourse and the future of our world.

If you are a North Carolinian arrested at #disruptJ20 and are not yet in touch with us, email ncj20legalteam@gmail.com

We cannot accept donations in individual’s names, but all donations will be used to provide legal support to #disruptJ20 arrestees from North Carolina.
You can donate at http://ncj20defense.com/

Antifa Sacramento medical support

From Antifa Sacramento:

One of the six antifascists who was stabbed by Neo-Nazis at the capitol building in Sacramento on June 26th, 2016 still has thousands of dollars in medical bills to pay. An artist has made a beautiful print to support this person, and it is now being sold to continue fundraising for this brave individual’s remaining medical bills. They are 5 dollars each, and printed on 7×8 cardstock. If you would like one, please head over to the website https://antifasac.noblogs.org/donate/, make a donation, and email the crew to let them know how many cards you’d like and what address we should mail it to.

Thank you for the support!

-Antifa Sacramento

Herbal Clinic at la ZAD

From comrades at la ZAD, the autonomous occupation resisting the building of an airport in in Notre Dame des Landres outside of Paris, France:

We’re a group of people who have been working with medicinal plants on the ZAD for the past 6 years. We’ve made a collective medicinal plant garden and do wild harvesting to stock a small apothecary of dried plants that we distribute at the non-market or out of a house. Some of us do first aid in demos or everyday on the ground, and others do education like plant walks and workshops.

In an effort to have more collective autonomy in healthcare, we would like to be able to do consultations, both individual and group. The idea is to have one day a week for free price individual consultations, and another for people to come and learn together, combining different people’s knowledge while having access to plants, to figure out common acute illnesses. However, to have enough medicine for 300 people all year long, would mean full time in the garden and probably bitter burnout. Which is why we are asking for money.

Just this week a group in solidarity finished building a cabin where we can dry, process, and store plants, and do consultations and workshops. We’re able to get access to bulk tinctures that are super cheap (€2 an oz.!!!) and plan to distribute medicine at free or indicated price so that we can make some of the money back and the clinic can fund itself and time can be spend gardening instead of having to beg for money all the time. Money raised will go primarily towards tinctures and dried plants, but also to bottles, tools and machines, and menstrum for making more medicine.

Please help us out! Also if you can donate dried plants or medicine get in touch at plantesmedicinaleszad@riseup.net

You can donate to la ZAD by visiting the website https://www.generosity.com/community-fundraising/zad-herb-clinic

Playlist

General, Music

NEW(ish) ANARCHIST (and antifascist) MUSIC plus announcements

Music, Music, Music

Download the episode here

This week we thought we’d take a teeny break from politics and scream it out with some new and not so new anarchist and antifascist punk, metal, new wave, and more. We’ll be back next week with an anarchist take on updates at Standing Rock and how to keep anti extraction momentum going, plus strategies on how best for non indigenous folks to be accomplices in indigenous struggles.

For music, as we have in the past, we tip our hats generously to the good folks at Red And Anarchist Black Metal & The Dark Skies Above Us for continuing to offer space for aggressive and not-so-aggressive anti-racist, antifascist, feminist, ecological, anti-capitalist, and generally anti-authoritarian music from around the world!

Announcements

Standing Rock Arrests

These three people are being held by police in connection to water protection at Standing Rock, this information is from It’s Going Down and the Water Protector Anti-Repression Crew.

Rattler is a Water Protector who is currently being held pre-trial on federal felony charges produced through a grand jury indictment. Rattler’s home is at Pine Ridge and he comes from a long legacy of struggle that he continued at Standing Rock against the Dakota Access Pipeline and it’s world. Please support Rattler as he fights these charges brought against him by the federal government. Rattler would love to receive your letters and cards of support.

Rattler loves fantasy fiction and Dungeons and Dragons material. He’d appreciate something to read while he is inside.

Michael Markus
Box 1416
Bismarck, ND 58502-1416

Red Fawn Fallis is still being held pre-trial on federal charges as well. Red Fawn has shown her dedication to the water, the earth and all that is sacred. Her spirits remain high despite the ways in which the state hopes to squash her. Please send your support to Red Fawn through letters!

Red Fawn Fallis
Stutsman County Correctional Center
205 6th st. SE, Ste 201
Jamestown, ND 58401

Charles Jordan has been held in Morton County Jail since November 17th, 2016 on three state felony charges. He was initially ineligible for bond and his current conditions of release set by the court are unable to be met at this time. His brutal arrest is not the only time Morton County Sheriffs enacted such violence on Water Protectors. We have received reports of continued mistreatment while in custody including lack of medical services and hygiene access for weeks at a time. Please send Charles a letter letting him know that he is not alone!

Charles Jordan
Morton County Correctional Center
205 1st Ave. NW
Mandan, ND 58554

We will be posting this information on our blog, and you can check out It’s Going Down for this and similar news and info.

Petition Gov. Cuomo not to restrict visiting hours

We really need to ramp up the pressure on this horrible visiting restriction Cuomo is about to jam in there. This is an issue that affects all of our fellow Certain Days editors, David Gilbert, Seth Hayes and Herman Bell, and thousands of other people in NY state prisons.

Governor Cuomo has just proposed to limit visiting at New York State maximum security prisons to 3 days a week instead of the current 7. If passed, this measure will be awful for thousands of people and their families.

The Governor talks a bunch of crap about compassion and reducing mass incarceration, but this proposal will seriously escalate suffering and family disruption. Under the current 7-day system, weekend visitors (many are women with young children) often wait 2-3 hours to see their loved ones. With reduced days, the wait will be longer, the visitor rooms more crowded, the visiting days and hours even more limited. This will be terrible for everyone and impossible for many.

Please email and write these people below and remind them how important visiting is and how this proposal is wrong on all levels.

***** Governor Cuomo *****

Sign:
https://www.change.org/p/governor-cuomo-don-t-restrict-visits-in-nys-prisons

Call (weekdays) –> (518) 474-8390

Email: https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form

Write:
The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224

Email these people:

1) Marta Nelson, marta.nelson@exec.ny.gov
– Executive Director of the
Governor’s Council on Community Re-Entry and Reintegration

2) Acting DOCCS Commissioner Annucci, anthony.annucci@doccs.ny.gov

3) Senator Gallivan, gallivan@nysenate.gov
– Senate Chair of Corrections Committee

4) Assemblymember Weprin, WeprinD@nyassembly.gov
– Assembly Chair of Corrections
Committee

5) Senator Avella, Avella@nysenate.gov
– Senate Chair of Children & Families Committee

6) Assemblymember Jaffee, JaffeeE@nyassembly.gov
– Chair Assembly Committee on
Children & Families

Playlist

Author, History, Rebroadcast

Jeremy Bentham *loves* the Surveillance State: an interview with the authors of “The Inspection House” [rebroadcast]

The Inspection House

The Inspection House
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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

Playlist

activism, Anarchist, Antifa, Autonomy, community

The Deep State Ain’t Gonna Save Y’all

The Deep State Views of #TheResistance

https://threewayfight.blogspot.ca
Download This Episode

This week we spoke with James. James is involved in anti-fascist and anti-repression work. Over the hour we spoke about the election of Donald Trump, the need for resistance in the face of a rising autonomous ethno-nationalism in the form of the alt-right and other formations, liberal ideas of the CIA and deep-state saving us from “ourselves,” autonomous community building and self-defense and more.

Here are a number of texts that James suggests readers check out to be better informed:
http://Threewayfight.blogspot.ca

https://itsgoingdown.org/trumptheregime-resources-ongoing-resistance-trump-far-right/

http://Antifascistnews.net

https://www.academia.edu/5486857/Counterinsurgency_and_the_Occupy_Movement

The Limits and Possibilities of Anti-Fascism

https://media.wix.com/ugd/c1543a_b08ebbb3dd6e426eb8f9d356e11acb23.pdf

activism, Autonomy, Capitalism, Colonization, community, communization, Črna Luknja, DAF, Protest, Race

Kamua Franklin on #ungovernable + Repression in Turkey

Kamua Franklin + Repression in Turkey

https://www.ungovernable2017.com/
Download This Episode

This week we feature two interviews in the show

Kamua Franklin on #ungovernable

First, we spoke with Kamau Franklin, who is a radical activist, the political editor for the online publication Atlanta Blackstar, and former attourney based out of Atlanta, GA. We are speaking today about Ungovernable, which is a radical organizing platform rooted in anti state Black and POC autonomy, how it began, its directives and ideals, and how to best move forward in this political moment among many other things.

From their website:

“We pledge to create a resistance movement that makes Trump unable to govern our oppression; unable to deceive the people, to make the people accept his reign of hatred. We refuse to give hatred a chance to govern, a chance to roll back civil and human rights, a chance to deport millions of people, a chance to create camps and registries for Muslims, a chance to expand the prison industrial complex, a chance to expand its drone wars, or a chance to turn back the gains won by our struggles.”

To learn more about Ungovernable, you can visit their website at https://www.ungovernable2017.com/, also you can hit them up on fedbook by searching “Ungovernable 2017 and Beyond”, our guest has also invited people to message him on the FB too, you can do that by searching his name spelled Kamau Franklin.

Repression in Turkey

The second segment is an interview conducted by audio comrades from the Slovenian anarchist radio project called Crna Luknja with a member of the Turkish anarchist group DAF & an editor of their newspaper, Meydan.
As we announced recently on the show, the main editor of Meydan, Hüseyin Civan, has just been sentenced to 15 months in prison in relation to 3 articles in their December 2015 issue dealing with the struggles of Kurdish minorities and the resistance they offer to the Turkish state’s slow genocide.

The conversation was published on January 5th of 2017. Though most of Crna Luknja’s interviews are conducted in Slovenian, they do produce interviews in English when it’s the common language shared with their guests. More content from Crna Luknja can be found here

Announces

First, though a few quick, mostly prisoner announcements:

Sean Swain

Sean Swain, an anarchist prisoner who’s generally got a featured segment on this show and has for 3 years as of this week, has been on hunger strike at Warren Correctional Institution in Ohio since December 26th and has been placed in a suicide cell.

Although details are still murky, we know that Sean has been without food since December 26th. He was charged with extortion of a deputy warden and had begun a disciplinary process when he began his hunger strike and was placed in a suicide cell.

We know that the prison is recognizing his hunger strike and following the associated procedures, which include taking him to the medical unit every day and weighing him and taking his vital signs. It is unclear whether they are attempting to negotiate with him in any way.

Please take a moment to write a letter of encouragement to Sean and to call the following prison administrators and encourage them to negotiate with Sean and help him end this hunger strike as quickly as possible.

Deputy Director of Operations Casey Barr (513) 932-3388 ext. 2005
Warden’s Assistant Greg Kraft (513) 932-3388 ext. 2010

Updates on Sean can be found at http://seanswain.org

Clemency Pushes

There are pushes by the support crews in these last days of the Obama presidency to request clemency or commutations for the sentences of long standing political prisoners here in the U.S. The few that we’ve caught wind of specifically are the following:

Leonard Peltier

Leonard Peltier, an indigenous activist and prisoner in his 70’s is continuing to serve in federal prison as his health declines despite his denial of guilt in the shooting death of 2 fbi agents during the raid on the American Indian Movement’s encampment on the Pine Ridge Reservation in North Dakota in 1975. The case has been hotly debated since it was held, with many contesting the possibility of Peltier’s guilt. Recently, one of his prosecutors from that case said that it was time to let him go due to his age and health. More on his case can be found at http://whoisleonardpeltier.info
Reach out to US AG:
The Honorable Loretta Lynch
Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
Comment Line: +1 202 353 1555
Contact form: https://www.justice.gov/doj/webform/your-message-department-justice

Chelsea Manning

Chelsea Manning is a former intel analyst for the U.S. Military who was convicted of sharing documentation of military abuses with Wikileaks and is serving a 35 year sentence. She is also a Trans Woman who transitioned inside of military prison and because of her poor treatment on the inside has been very depressed and attempted suicide. There is hope that in his last days, Obama may commute her sentence for trying to do the right thing and to protect against the increased cruelty of the upcoming regime. Visit chelseamanning.org for details on how to support her

Resisting the Inauguration, J20

An extensive list of anti-inaugural activities are set for January 20th around the Empire. Check out a partial list by finding the post: https://itsgoingdown.org/disruptj20-actions-across-us-trump-regime/

Here in AVL: https://j20asheville.noblogs.org/

Playlist

AK Press, Anarchist, Author, History, Peter Gelderloos, Philosophy

Peter Gelderloos on his book “Worshiping Power: An Anarchist View of Early State Formation”

Worshiping Power: An Anarchist View of Early State Formation

Peter Gelderloos: Worshiping Power: An Anarchist View of Early State Formation
Download The Podcast

This week Gil O’Teen spoke with Peter Gelderloos, who is an anarchist and an author. His books include “The Failure of Nonviolence”, “Consensus”, “Anarchy Works”, and most recently “Worshiping Power: An Anarchist View of Early State Formation”, which is being released two days from now (January 10th 2017) from AK Press. Gil and Peter discuss the ideas in Worshiping Power, how states usually take root, the insidiousness of democracy, the concept of how salvation religions intertwine with the state, and much more.

Don’t forget about the presentation at Firestorm Books and Coffee entitled “Preparing for the Trump Era: An Anarchist Viewpoint” starting at 7pm on Tuesday January 10th. The presenters will explore various approaches to self-organization and self-defense, drawing on the principles of mutual aid and direct action. If you feel lost or uncertain about how to organize in these increasingly crazy times, come to this and get some ideas!

J20 in Asheville

And here in Asheville on January 20th (INAUGURATION DAY) there is a day of activities being planned starting with a meetup and march at Pritchard Park at 10am on the 20th. After that in West Asheville, there will be free food, healing space, workshops, and a dance party/benefit in the evening. To plug in and see the most recent info, you can visit http://j20asheville.noblogs.org or you can plug in on fedbook by searching “J20 Day of Resistance & General Strike”

Playlist

Anarchist, media, Rebroadcast

The Fifth Estate Magazine :A conversation with Peter Werbe (rebroadcast with new announcements)

Fifth Estate Magazine

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This week we are rebroadcasting an interview with Peter Werbe of Fifth Estate magazine, which originally aired in February 2015. Fifth Estate is an “anarchist, anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian, anti-profit project” which is published cooperatively three times a year, and this year marks its 50th year of publication. The magazine tackles current events, issues, theory, and praxis which would be of interest to an anarchist audience. To find out more about this project, and to subscribe, you can visit http://www.fifthestate.org

In this interview we talk about the magazine’s historical trajectory, from its inception in 1965 as a weekly, less political periodical, to its takeover by anarchists in 1975, to what it is today. They talk about the Eat The Rich Gang and its associations with Fifth Estate magazine, as well as directions the project could take. For more on Peter Werbe’s radio work, you can visit http://www.peterwerbe.com

Announcements

Nina Chaubal Needs Help

The founder of the crisis hotline Trans Lifeline is being detained by immigration authorities in Arizona after being stopped while driving home to Chicago.

Nina Chaubal, 25, an India-born Chicagoan and the co-founder of Trans Lifeline (a San Francisco-based non-profit), was driving to Chicago from California on Interstate-8 with her wife and two friends when the group encountered an immigration checkpoint in Arizona on Wednesday. There, officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained Chaubal and demanded she show them her passport (Chaubal was carrying her Illinois drivers license at the time, but not her passport, because she was traveling through the United States and not crossing international borders, so she provided ICE with a photo of her passport) and that she provide proof that she is married to a U.S. citizen. They then took her into custody after learning that her gender identity did not match the gender listed on her Indian passport and that she was in the country on an expired work visa.

Chaubal’s family and friends are urging ICE to release Chaubal, who has been held since Wednesday by ICE in two Arizona immigration detention facilities. She is currently being held at Eloy Detention Center in Eloy, Arizona—a privately operated prison with a disturbing reputation for violence against LGBT detainees.

Chaubal’s wife is pushing to have her released—reasoning that the well-known activist and non-profit founder should not be imprisoned and is not a flight risk—or at least transferred to another detention center with a better track record for treating LGBT people. She is also urging friends, family and supporters to help amplify her voice by contacting ICE with these requests.

To hear more about this situation, and to contact ICE in various ways about their treatment of Nina Chaubal, you can visit the website http://messica.codes/freenina/

To learn more about Trans Lifeline and to donate to this project, you can visit http://www.translifeline.org/

BRABC Benefit

On Jan 5th, 2017, The Odditorium in Asheville will be hosting a benefit concert for the newly-formed Blue Ridge Anarchist Black Cross starting at 9pm. Come early for a Security Culture 101/201 training where folks’ll talk about things you need to keep your community safe.
The lineup includes: Secret Shame, Nomadic War Machine, Kangarot & Cloudgayzer

ACAB2017 Infosession

–Before this event, don’t miss the Anarchist Bookfair Planning and Info Session at Firestorm from 8-9:30pm on the 5th for Asheville’s first ever anarchist book fair in the summer of 2017! Come share ideas for what you would like to see at this event and for ways on how to get involved.

The Trump Era: An Anarchist Viewpoint

And on Tuesday January 10th from 7-9pm at Firestorm Books and Coffee, there will be a presentation entitled Preparing for the Trump Era: An Anarchist Viewpoint. In this talk, the presenters will address various questions such as how did Trump come to power, and what does that tell us about the era we are entering? They will go on to discuss what strategies might be effective in countering repressive government policies and the rise of grassroots nationalism.

Playlist

Anarchist, community, Conflict, repression

Mars Goetia on Conflict Engagement

Mars Goetia on Conflict Engagement

Download This Episode

This week on The Final Straw Radio, I spoke with Mars Goetia. Mars is, among other things, a musician, parent and anarchist who’s been doing a lot of thinking and working around conflict engagement in and around anarchist communities. In this episode, Mars and I speak about about the difficulty of language when engaging in interpersonal conflict, about state repression, expectations and more.

Announces

Hüseyin Civan of Mayden Magazine, Istanbul

In June we aired 2 conversations with members of the Turkish group DAF, Revolutionary Anarchist Action. Among the three voices featured was that of Hüseyin Civan, the managing editor of Mayden Magazine. Hüseyin has been sentenced to 15 months in prison by the Turkish government for Mayden articles in support of Kurdish struggles for autonomy and against state repression in Turkey.

This sentencing comes amid a very troubling time in Turkey. Following the Turkish government’s reversal of seeking peace with Kurdish groups in the country’s eastern regions, a failed coup earlier this year, the grab at increasing presidential control and prerogative, non-secular regime of Tayip Erdogan has resumed military incursions into Kurdish communities and purged educational institutions and media of critical voices. They even went so far as to allow Daesh fighters across their border to fight Kurds and anti-capitalists and have launched attacks across the Syrian border into Rojava.

To contact DAF to offer solidarity to Hüseyin, you can visit http://anarsistfaaliyet.org

BRABC Benefit Show

On Jan 5th, 2017, The Odditorium in Asheville will be hosting a benefit concert for the newly-formed Blue Ridge Anarchist Black Cross starting at 9pm. Come early for a Security Culture 101/201 training where folks’ll talk about things you need to keep your community safe.
The lineup includes: Secret Shame, Nomadic War Machine, Kangarot & Cloudgayzer

Playlist