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.
Calais, Earth & Animal Liberation, Eric King, Florida, France, General, Immigration, Prisons, Sean Swain

Greta on Refugee Crisis in Europe + announcements/updates

Greta on Crisis for Refugees in EU

https://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/
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This week, instead of priorly mentioned interview with organizers of No New Animal Lab and supporters of Jessica Burlew, Bursts spoke with Greta.

Greta is an anti-border activist who works in the U.K. & Calais, France, shares about her recent visit to Calais and what she’s learned about the recent influxes of refugees coming from North Africa and West Asia. Greta talks a bit about where and why the immigrants are coming, where they’re headed and why, how governments and populations have been dealing with the immigrants and the stability of the European Union as a structure.

Hopefully we’ll be hearing from No New Animal Labs folks in the near future. More on that project can be found at http://nonewanimallab.com

More on the case of Jessica Burlew can be found at http://freejessieb.org/

But first in some recent news:

Sean Swain

Here is an update on Sean Swain’s situation, pulled right from his support page at http://seanswain.org/:

We’re not sure what’s going on, but Sean Swain has been blocked from receiving (and presumably sending) JPay emails. He also has not called his primary supporters, or us at The Final Straw for a new radio segment. We’ll probably hear from him via snail mail sooner or later, but until then, we’ve got to assume he’s cut off.

When we called the prison, they told us he was not in the hole, and did not have any restrictions on his communication. We suspect they may have transferred him back to a 3B spot, undoing the success of our recent call-in effort. They refused to tell us what security level the block he is held in is on and they got surly and authoritarian when we asked. It seems that the officers at Sean’s newest prison, Warren CI need to learn that their jobs are a whole lot easier when they don’t provoke anarchists from across the country to call and check in on the welfare of our friend who they hold captive.

WARREN CI: 513-932-3388

You can call Warren CI and ask the same questions we asked- why does Sean not have access to communication, what security level is he currently housed in, and does the JPay kiosk in his (or any Warren Unit) actually work right now? You can also leave Sean’s Case Manager a voicemail by punching extension 2281, or try and talk to deputy warden Robert Welch, who maybe got Sean moved from 3B to 3A a few weeks ago, he’s at ext 2005. Whatever lucky anarchist happens to be on the call when one of these officers breaks and spills the beans, please drop a line to AnarchistSwain@gmail.com.

Sean doesn’t like when they fuck with his communication access. Being a writer, getting his voice out is one of the things that help Sean feel connected to the outside world. So he’s probably feeling alone and frustrated. Also, his birthday was Sept 12th, so if you haven’t written for a while, or missed sending him birthday wishes, please consider dropping a line and letting him (and the mailroom monkeys who have to read all his incoming communication) know that he is loved and missed.

Please take a moment to drop a line on Sean to let him know that you’re thinking about him.

Sean Swain
243-205
Warren CI
P.O. Box 120
5787 State Route 63
Lebanon, Ohio 45036

Eric King

From the excellent anarchist news website http://itsgoingdown.org and from Eric King’s support website:

“On September 16, 2014, Eric G. King, was arrested and charged with an attempted firebombing of a government official’s office in Kansas City, MO. Eric allegedly threw a hammer through a window of the building and then two lit bottles, though both failed to ignite. Eric faces a federal life sentence if found guilty at his trial on October 28 2015.
On the eve of Eric’s first year in pre-trial state captivity, his support group got word about the prison censoring and rejecting his mail.

To mark the year since Eric was stolen by the state, the Kansas City, MO Anarchist Black Cross and the Omaha, NE Anarchist Black Cross dropped banners in solidarity.
The EK Defense Committee writes, “Recently, a book about the Black Panthers was rejected because the prison evidently considers them a “hate group.” Around that same time, right­-wing Christian literature with homophobic rhetoric made it through to another prisoner. Eric is clearly being targeted for his political beliefs and interests.
If you have been writing to Eric and have not heard back from him, it is very possible that he has not received your letters or you have not received his. The prison (and the state apparatus of which it is a part) is trying to isolate Eric from his supporters. We can’t let them do this.

Please help by:
Firstly, writing Eric letters! Please flood the prison with as much mail as you can. This can serve the dual purpose of overwhelming the prison mailroom and helping Eric remember that he has solidarity. Keep track of what you sent to Eric and when you sent it so you can check with him later or call the prison to inquire about why your mail was blocked.
You can write to him at:

Eric King
27090045
CCA Leavenworth
100 Highway Terrace
Leavenworth, KS 66048

Second, by checking the support site often. If this harassment continues, we will be taking other measures to ensure this censorship stops immediately. CCA has been sued in the past for censoring mail and violating prisoners’ constitutional rights, so they know as well as we do that what they’re doing is wrong.

Please spread the word and help put the spotlight on CCA’s draconian mail room practices. Prisons greatly prefer to function outside the public eye where they can torture, abuse, neglect and isolate prisoners without consequences. Don’t let them get away with that this time. Send Eric a letter or card today. Eric King’s support site is https://supportericking.wordpress.com/

For our recent interview on the case of Eric King, check out: http://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2015/07/27/anarchist-prisoner-eric-king-naabc-conference-trouncing-kkk-in-columbia-sc/

Mumia Abu-Jamal:

Mumia Abu-Jamal is contuing to be denied the medical care that he needs to survive his stay in prison at SCI-Mahone in Frackville, PA.

Hepatitis C is a dangerous liver disease which is growing among poor people and especially rampant in prisons. Mumia found himself diagnosed with Hep-C, as well as type-II diabetes and other medical circumstances, in August of this year. Drugs released within the last 18 months show remarkable cure-rates of 90-95%, but based on costs of $60-85K for a 12 week course, jail and prison authorities here (and in jails and prisons across the U.S.) are denied the incarcerated access to them.

The following is paraphrased from http://freemumia.com & http://wwwprisonradio.org:

Late in the day on Friday September 18th, United States Magistrate Judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania Karoline Mehalchick issued a proposed order denying Mumia Abu-Jamal’s motion for preliminary injunction and his 1st Amended complaint seeking immediate treatment for active Hepatitis C.

In a calculated attempt to deny lifesaving health care and effective arguments on Mumia’s behalf, Judge Mehalchick preemptively issued this “proposed order” before Mumia’s lawyers had the opportunity to respond (as allowed by court local rules) to the Pennsylvania Department of Correction’s (DOC) opposition.

Bret Grote (Abolitionist Law Center) and co-counsel Bob Boyle (NYC) are expected to quickly file in court with 3rd Circuit Federal District Court Judge Robert Mariani to oppose this proposed order on procedural and substantive grounds. There is a fundraising campaign to get crowd-source treatment for Mumia Abu-Jamal as well as information to petition on his behalf available at http://bit.ly/fight4mumia and updates on his case can be found at http://freemumia.com

Eddie Africa

In a hopeful note, Eddie Africa of the MOVE9 will be up for parole in October of 2015 and is looking for support to hopefully get him out of this ridiculus and horrible stint of incarceration on bogus charges that have had him inside for 37 years of a 30-100 year sentence. From http://onamove.com:

” In October 2015 our Brother Eddie Africa is set to make another appearance before the Pennsylvania State Parole Board. Your letters of support is urgently needed. All of the information is below as follows:

We are asking for your support at this critical stage to secure the freedom Eddie deserves. Feel free to use parts of the sample letter at onamove.com. You can write in your own words and with your own experiences of/with Eddie.

NOTE: Please send all letters of support to Orie Ross, P.O. Box 575, Times Square Station, New York, NY 10108-0575 so they can be reviewed and sent to the Board. The deadline for letters will be Wednesday September 30, 2015.”

To learn more about the case of the MOVE9, check out our interviews with supporters by listening to this overview with Orie Lumumba on the last parole push and this one about the health of Phil Africa the week before he died. Phil had Hepatitis C, like Mumia Abu-Jamal does.

Animal Liberation in Florida

This report was sent anonymously to Bite Back Magazine, which is a semi regular periodical out of West Palm Beach, Florida. It details things of interest to radical animal liberation and a critique of the capitalist exploitation of animals.

In the words of the communique:

“In the late night hours of September 17th, after hiking miles through the forest, we descended upon a Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) pheasant holding pen located within the EE Wilson Game Management Area. Aviation snips were used to cut a hole in the netting surrounding the pen allowing the approximately 100 ring-necked pheasants held inside to escape into the wild. The immediate area in which these pheasants were released is located in the ‘safe zone’, a section of the park in which hunting is prohibited.

These pheasants were slated to be used as part of a ODFW sponsored pheasant hunt. It was the goal of this action to spare these animals from an almost certain death at the hands of hunters and to at the very least disrupt the normal functioning of the hunt. It is sick and disturbing that non-human animals are continued to be used as commodities by hunters to be tortured and killed for sport. These pheasants were born into a life of captivity and confinement and it was a beautiful sight to see them fly free for the first time.”

To see more from Bite Back, you can go to www.directaction.info or you can write them at:

3300 South Dixie Highway
Suite 1-231
West Palm Beach, FL 33405

or email them at info@directaction.info

Lelu Island Resists Pacific NorthWest LNG

This next update is from Warrior Publications which is an excellent news source for Indigenous anti-colonial struggles and resistance, and also aims to provide radical analysis of these struggles. It is published in occupied Coast Salish territory , or so called Vancouver, Canada.

Some background on this update:
Pacific NorthWest LNG (or Liquid Natural Gas) is a proposed natural gas liquefaction and export facility on Lelu Island in northeast British Columbia. The facility would liquefy and export natural gas produced by the company Progress Energy. Lelu Island and Flora Banks have historically been home to the Lax Kw’alaams First Nation for over 10.000 years, and this group holds the title to this land. Lelu Island is also an essential habitat for migrating juvenile fish and other shellfish, the loss of which would irreperably devastate the local ecology.

Earlier this spring members of the Lax Kw’alamms First Nation rejected a 1.15 billion dollar package from the company for the rights to build on Lelu Island. However, corporations are not to be trusted, and since August 15th of this year Lax Kw’alaams members and accomplices have had an encampment on Lelu Island to make sure that no drilling or building has been taking place.

Here is an update from the camp:

“On September 12, at approximately 7am, the drilling vessel Quin Delta attempted to drill on the northwest edge of Flora Bank. Members of the Lax Eula (or Lelu Island) occupation camp approached the workers on the vessel to explain that no drilling has been permitted and that all drilling activities must cease.

The workers on the vessel then desisted from drilling. However, a barge pulled by the tugboat Cadal from Wainwright Marine Services dropped markers in the water to prepare for further unauthorized work. Throughout the day the Quin Delta then attempted to remove equipment that had been installed in the ocean floor, requiring the use of a bucket-loader on a barge and a crane barge. Both attempts were unsuccessful due to mechanical failure.

Prince Rupert Port Authority and other contractor and surveyor boats shuttled back and forth throughout the day as well. As of 9pm the vessel and equipment still appear to be immobilized on the bank due to mechanical failure.

While this was happening on the water, over 30 people came out from many different nations to show their support. We are building friendships and solidarity across the entire Skeena watershed.

We expect the drilling boat to attempt work on the bank again tomorrow. We continue to need additional boats on the water, and people on the island, as we have been told that helicopters may attempt to land for on-island drilling.”

To learn more about this situation and to keep updated, you can visit: Warrior Publications and Red Power Media

You can also see exclusive footage of the land defenders from our comrade the Stimulator

People have called for physical and financial support to keep Petronas out of their territories, to help them out you can visit here

Playlist

activism, Anarchist, Antifa, Autonomia, Capitalism, European Union, Feminism, gender, General, Hunger Strike, Immigration, Italy, Music, Prisons, Sweden

“Feminism in the Crisis” at Connecting European Struggles Conference; Julnel of Ü on anti-fascist Black Metal and social organizing

Feminism In The Crisis + Antifa Black Metal

http://connectingeuropeanstruggles.tumblr.com/
Download This Episode

This week we feature two segments concerning struggles in Europe:

Firstly, we speak with Linus. Linus is a member of an autonomous socialist group based in Malmö, Sweden, and is an organizer of the upcoming Connecting European Struggles conference in Malmö. The theme of the CES conference this year is “Gender and Crisis” and invites anti-state & anti-capitalist individuals and groups from around and beyond Europe to attend from September 18-25th to have discussions, watch films, attend presentations and engage towards a more integrated system of autonomous action and ideas. Bursts and Linus discuss the conference, the prior year’s, Crisis Politics, feminism, anti-capitalism, reaction and more. More on the conference can be found at http://connectingeuropeanstruggles.tumblr.com

Next, Bursts chats with Julnel, a member of Ü, an anarchist black metal band from Potenza, in Basilicata, southern Italy. Julnel is a founder of the The Black Metal Alliance anti-hate metal and punk collective, as well as a founder of Dark Skies Above Us Collective and Ü has contributed music to benefit compilations for both of those collectives as well as Crust or Die distro.

Recipients of the benefit funds, earned by selling albums of donated songs by similarly anti-nationalist, anti-racist, feminist, pro-LGBT (and so on) metal and punk projects and include: http://caravana43.com; Emilio (anti-fa resistor beaten by a crowd of fascists) and Dordoni Social Center in Cremona which was attacked in January of 2015 by hooligans from CasaPound; Eric McDavid; http://www.womenonwaves.org providing info, contraceptives, safe and legal abortions and more by sailing ships into intl waters around coastal countries where abortion access is prohibited; and 350.org.

These collectives (DSAU/BMA/CoD) include bands from Europe, North America, Australasia and South America. We spend about 20 minutes talking about uses of subcultures like punk and metal to engage politically by both revolutionary (for instance, RABM) and reactionary ideologies (in particular RAC & NSBM).

There is no Sean Swain segment for this week, but stay tuned for our next episode which will feature a conversation on the No New Animal Labs tour and initiative out of Washington State to stop the building of an animal testing lab at UW and fight against animal testing. We’ll also be speaking with a supporter of Jessica Burlew, an 18 year old girl diagnosed as schizoeffective and autistic, who has been held in isolation in Estrella Jail in Phoenix, Arizona, since January, 2014. She is being charged with 2nd degree murder for the accidental death of Jason Ash, a 43 year old man who was sexually exploiting her as a 16 year old. http://freejessieb.org/

Announcements

The following is an update on the Resist 450 event in St. Augustine Florida, which was written on Tuesday September 8th and posted to the EarthFirst! Newswire at http://earthfirstjournal.org/newswire. It should be stated that all who were arrested are now free, but the bail fund website is still active and accepting donations.

From EarthFirst!: Six people were arrested today for demonstrating against the celebration of the 450th anniversary of the Spanish invasion of so-called Saint Augustine, Florida. Arrestees are being held at the St Johns County Jail with misdemeanor charges. So far, three have been released. The support team does not have enough support to bond out all arrestees. Donations to the legal/bail fund can be sent to https://www.everribbon.com/ribbon/donate/22383

Tribal elders and the Council of the Original Miccosukee Simanolee Nation Aboriginal Peoples called for resistance demonstrations months ago. The Council asked Saint Augustine city officials not to glorify the rape, torture, displacement, enslavement, and genocide that accompanied European colonization but they were repeatedly ignored.

“Acts of genocide and crimes against humanity conducted on our ancestors by Spain is nothing to honor, glorify, commemorate or celebrate,” said clan and spiritual leader Bobby C. Billie. Billie led tradition prayers in defiance of a reenactment of a colonial landing this morning.

Other protesters took to the water. To the chagrin of haughty actors dressed in shiny hats and other aristocratic regalia, protesters held signs and chanted from kayaks, canoes, and pool floaties in the water surrounding the rowboat and forcing the boat back several times and finally reaching land with reenactors only under heavy police boat escort. More picketers disrupted the opening countdown ceremonies. They delivered messages like “celebrating 450 is celebrating genocide,” “heal the past,” “no honor no pride” and “conquest is not discovery.”

Police officers singled out and arrested four canoers participating in the water protest. On land, officers arrested two other people who interrupted a procession of dignitaries and escorted away others who called attention to the grotesque nature of the festivities.

Protester Libelula commented

“Today’s demonstrations seek to unmask St Augustine’s romanticized version of conquest as a vile glorification of the horrific and heinous acts committed against the original people’s of this territory by the Spanish Conquistadors. I’m from an indigenous background and celebrations like this one are not only offensive but also attempt to erase indigenous people’s suffering. This makes our demands for emancipation and dignity invisible. This is a blatant celebration the murder, rape, and torture of the original peoples of Turtle Island. It’s important to not let this go unchallenged.”

From Denver Anarchist Black Cross

Anarchists across the US have been taking part in events to raise funds for the Anarchist Black Cross in cities from Denver, New York, and LA. The events, called ‘Running Down the Walls’ raise funds for the ABC Warchest, which goes to help ABC Chapters send money and literature to political prisoners across the US. The runs are conducted in US cities and inside prison walls, building solidarity between incarcerated prisoners and those on the outside. Bill Dune, anti-authoritarian political prisoner imprisoned for an attempted 1979 prison break from the King County Jail in Seattle,Washington wrote on the occasion:

“Running Down The Walls has become a fine and honored tradition on our side of the barricade. I could run like the wind in past RDTWs even where I ran alone because the sense of solidarity took away the pain of physical exertion and of distance from my community – from you all. This year, unfortunately, I will be unable to physically run with you. I’ve been relegated to FCI Herlong’s dungeon because in the agency of repression’s mythology, an anonymous note purports that I’m planning to run from them. It was most likely written by a person of the porcine persuasion actually worried I might be planning more litigation. But so it goes in life with big brother! I will be with you this day nevertheless, if not in person, in mind, in heart, in solidarity as you – as we – run, walk, roll, move however we can down the road to revolution. See you closer to the finish line!”

To write to Bill Dunne, address letters to:

Bill Dunne #10916-086
FCI Herlong
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 800
Herlong, CA 96113

To donate to Running Down the Walls, go to http://www.youcaring.com/u-s-political-prisoners-406831

Ashker v. Governor of California

The Final Straw sees fit to mention a court decision – which we wouldn’t normally do, this being a somewhat anti-state anarchist radio show – but this little number highlights a few things which interest us and relates back to the interviews we conducted in 2011 & 2013 around the hunger strikes that spread up from California prisons to include prisoners in other states and even Canada in solidarity against solitary confinement. The case in question is called Ashker v. Governor of California, and it is a federal class action lawsuit on behalf of prisoners held in the Security Housing Unit, or SHU, at California’s Pelican Bay State Prison who have spent a decade or more in solitary confinement. The case was settled by the Governor’s office on September 1st, 2015.

From The Center For Constitutional Rights at https://ccrjustice.org:

“The case charges that prolonged solitary confinement violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, and that the absence of meaningful review for SHU placement violates the prisoners’ rights to due process. The legal action is part of a larger movement to reform conditions in SHUs in Calfornia’s prisons that was sparked by hunger strikes by thousands of SHU prisoners in 2011 and 2013; the named plaintiffs in Ashker include several leaders and participants from the hunger strikes. The case is part of the Center for Constitutional Rights broader efforts to challenge mass incarceration, discrimination, and abusive prison policies.”

From https://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com

“This settlement represents a monumental victory for prisoners and an important step toward our goal of ending solitary confinement in California, and across the country. California’s agreement to abandon indeterminate SHU confinement based on gang affiliation demonstrates the power of unity and collective action. This victory was achieved by the efforts of people in prison, their families and loved ones, lawyers, and outside supporters.”

This case represents to us a huge and interesting step in our United States, which happens to be the country with the most percentage of incarcerated citizens in the world. Prison visibility in the media is at unprecedented levels, from the prison themed TV show “Orange is the New Black” to NPR coverage of prison strikes and the deleterious effects that incarceration and solitary confinement has on people. Since this particular case could not have occurred so successfully in a more apathetic social environment – support from families and on social media have been instrumental to any steam its gained – it yet again highlights to us the importance of sticking to your guns, to having strong solidarity with your comrades, friends, family, and neighbors, wherever and whenever it makes sense. So listeners, keep on talking to each other. It could lead in some great directions.

activism, Environment, Indigenous, Music, North Carolina

G.E. Trees Action Camp, Sept 24-27 in Asheville + announcements then metal

Ruddy on GE Trees Action Camp

nogetrees.org
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This week William speaks with Ruddy Turnstone of the Global Justice Ecology Project and BJ Mcmanama of the Indigenous Environmental Network about the issue of Genetically Engineered trees, their ecological and social impacts, and of the Action Camp to take place just outside of Asheville NC on September 24th-27th. The Action Camp has a registration deadline very soon so if you wish to participate in this amazing event, go to http://nogetrees.org to register! You can email our guest, Ruddy Turnstone, at ruddy(at)globaljusticeecologyproject(dot)org for particulars and for info on how to subscribe to GJEP’s newsletter. For more on the Indigenous Environmental Network, you can visit http://ienearth.org.

But first, a few announcements:

Free Eddien

From http://FreeEddien.wordpress.com:

We have just learned from Eddien’s Public Defender that he in fact can be bailed out despite violating his probation. His bail is $50K so we need $5K to bond him out. Eddien is currently doing okay in jail, but strongly wants to be bailed out and desires that all money be used for that first and later for his legal defense.

Eddien was initially charged with 2nd degree felony assault and battery by a mob as well as 3rd misdemeanor assault and battery. He also has the additional charge of Breach of Peace of a High and Aggravated Nature for allegedly breaking the windows of a KKK member’s pick up truck.

You can donate to Eddien’s defense/bail fund at FreeEddien.wordpress.com. Benefits of any kind are welcome–if you want to get in touch with us about any details shoot us an email at free(d0t)eddien(at )gmail(dot)com.

Background:
Eddien was one of six arrested at an anti-KKK demonstration on July 18th in Columbia, SC. On that day around 2,000 people showed up to confront the Klan, whose rally was cut short out of concerns for “public safety.” In a historic show of opposition, a rowdy and diverse crowd of gangs, black nationalists, anarchists, and various anti-racists humiliated the Klan and their Nazi counterparts and literally chased them out of town. A short zine about the demonstration can be found on http://ruinsofcapital.noblogs.org/.

Robert “Skinny” Mahone

(Trigger Warning: violent genital damage below)

In other news, Robert “Skinny” Mahone is being tortured by staff at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (Home to the Lucasville Uprising). Skinny has been abused by staff before, this is a continuation of that abuse. In the past Skinny has had his genitals pepper sprayed without reason, now he is being forced to wear the same dirty clothes for weeks while he is attempting to heal from a broken jaw.

What is being asked of everyone who reads this to do is very simple.
1. Buy a .50 cent stamp
2. Trace your hand onto a piece of paper
3. Mail it to Robert ‘Skinny’ Mahone at:

Robert Mahone #255-225
SOCF
P.O. Box 45699
Lucasville, OH 45699

Supporters are choosing this course of action to let Skinny know that he is not alone, and even more importantly to let the staff at SOCF know that he is not alone and that we will know if something happens to him. Prisons are able to do what they want to prisoners largely based on the fact that they are isolated and no one pays attention. But there are lots of us, and we pay very close attention. “

More information available at:
https://www.facebook.com/events/722696497862815/

Sean Swain

We also have some words of wisdom from anarchist prisoner Sean Swain on banks: what are they anyway, really? how many of them are there? are they edible, yes or no? Stay tuned, as always, for answers.

We close out the show with some anarchist and anarchist leaning metal from the last couple of years.

Next Week

On next weeks episode of The Final Straw, Bursts’ll be speaking with organizers involved in the Connecting European Struggles Conference in Malmö, Sweden from September 18-20th, 2015. The theme for the conference is “Feminism In The Crisis” and will be bringing together autonomous, anti-capitalist struggles from around Europe to discuss austerity, gender, immigration, care work, health care and much more. More info in many languages can be found at connectingeuropeanstruggles.tumblr.com or on their facebook page.

Playlist

Music

Resistance updates + Metal/Punk

Resistance Updates

https://thedarkskiesaboveus.bandcamp.com/
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This week’s episode features some announcements, a Sean Swain segment, and about 50 minutes of metal, punk and deathrock from around the world (mostly new titles!).

 

Announcements:

Mountaintop Removal Meeting

What: The Federal Office of Surface Mining is holding a public hearing on a new rule to protect streams from mountaintop removal coal mining.

When: Tuesday, September 15, 2015 from 5:00 – 9:00. Folks will gather around 3:00 p.m. this day before the hearing begins.

Where: Mountain Empire Community College 3441 Mt. Empire Rd., Big Stone Gap 24219
We will have more info it the days to come.
https://www.facebook.com/events/534264246720862/

The No New Animal Lab Tour

Sunday, September 6th at 1:00pm
Firestorm Books & Coffee (610 Haywood Rd)

Less than eight months ago, a small but determined group of people wrote the words ‘No New Animal Lab’ in black paint across a flannel bed sheet. Although they were preparing late into the night, the full impact of their efforts would last well beyond.

The following morning, the University of Washington Board of Regents prepared to approve the construction of the Animal Research and Care Facility (ARCF). This move came after a lawsuit against the Regents for hosting private dinner meetings in violation of Washington’s Open Public Meetings Act. It was under this shroud of secrecy that the Regents developed and approved the ARCF contract with Skanska USA. As a hollow gesture towards accountability and transparency, UW decided to produce this sham re-vote to skirt public criticism. As the Regents prepared to approve project construction, the group unfurled the bed sheet banner and began a disruption.

That day marked the beginning of No New Animal Lab, a grassroots campaign to stop the University of Washington and construction giant Skanska USA from building a new underground animal lab that will expand the number of animals that the UW can torture and kill by thousands.

Since then, the campaign has transformed from that first small disruption into a high-profile campaign that spans over a dozen cities, multiple countries, and two continents and that employs a diversity of tactics, letter writing, petitions, public comment, office protests and disruptions, home protests, mass demonstrations, and direct action. The campaign’s dynamic tactics, expanding momentum, accumulating pressure, and radical foundations have awoken and inspired the animal liberation movement.

Now with the arrival of summer, No New Animal Lab campaign is launching a national tour to escalate pressure even further against the University of Washington and Skanska.

The No New Animal Lab Tour will take the campaign across the U.S. with two goals in mind to stop the lab and to build a movement. Through workshops and protests that will span the country, we will build a network, foster organizational skills and resources, and bring pressure to the University of Washington and Skanska like they’ve never seen before. The tour will end in Seattle, with a second March on University of Washington of hundreds of people. We will travel from coast to coast, we will take to the streets, we will stop this lab from being built, and we will build a grassroots movement for animal liberation.

IWOC

The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee is now a Standing Committee of the IWW, and as such, our officers will be elected this fall via referendum. We have grown to 576 members and need your support.

We are looking for FWs to run, nominate others, start local organizing groups, and otherwise get involved, especially those who have been incarcerated or with personal ties to the prison system.

See the different officer positions available here: Inreach (to prisons), Outreach (to IWWs and allies), Media/Literature, Newsletter Editor, and Fundraiser. Contact us at iwoc@riseup.net with questions.

Spread the word!

Unist’ot’en camp on high alert

From Earth First! Newswire via It’s Going Down

“The Unist’ot’en Camp has sent out a message letting their supporters know that they are on high alert and could use more help.

Unist’ot’en Camp and community currently remains on high alert. We have multiple sources of information that indicate towards police escalation and/or other forced trespass. We write this to inform our networks that we are on high alert and if you don’t hear from us within 24 hours, it means we are unable to get word out. Let others know that we continue to peacefully assert our laws and our jurisdiction on Unist’ot’en yintah.

The Unist’ot’en have maintained vigilance for a number of years against several pipeline projects slated to pass through their lands carrying tar sands oil to the coast for export. Arguably the most environmentally destructive project in the world, the Alberta Tar Sands are destroying the Boreal Forest in order to perpetuate unsustainable fossil fuels development in Canada and around the world.

The tar sands are also causing cancer and illness in First Nations’ communities, and the pipelines threaten to devastate native forests and fresh water systems, thus continuing the systematic genocide of First Nations in North America.

To learn how to join in solidarity, check out the Unist’ot’en Solidarity Brigade. “

Playlist

Alabama, Chelsae Manning, gender, Hunger Strike, Missouri, Police

Announcements on resistance and prisoners + new punk n metal!

r-a-b-m.blogspot.com
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This week we will feature punk and metal projects from all over the place, mostly pulled from the site http://r-a-b-m.blogspot.com and http://thedarkskiesaboveus.blogspot.com which are longstanding blog featuring Red and Anarchist black metal.

But first in some recent news:

As we reported last week, Chelsae Manning was facing indefinite solitary confinement on some pretty seriously trumped up charges. After over 100,000 people signed a petition on her behalf she is now no longer facing solitary, but has been found guilty of all the four things she was being investigated for, and these are: 1 having an expired tube of toothpaste, 2 asking to speak to her attourney, 3 having an issue of Vanity Fair magazine, and 4 maybe accidentally knocking a packet of mustard onto the floor.

From her support page:

“We won an important victory by keeping Chelsea out of “indefinite solitary confinement;” however, this ruling of guilty on all four absurd charges is not without significant ramifications.

“Now these convictions will follow me through to any parole and clemency hearings, forever. I was expecting to be in minimum custody in February, but now years have been added to that,” Chelsea explained (via phone) after her recent hearing.

“As Chelsea’s lawyer, I am horrified and angry about these convictions. This was a star chamber where Chelsea had to defend herself in secret. These convictions will not silence her. She will only be stronger and we will fight that much harder in her appeal to overturn her convictions and her sentence,” declared Chelsea’s lead attorney Nancy Hollander.”

At this time, it’s horrifyingly clear to us at The Final Straw that if it weren’t for all the petition signatures and media coverage of this issue that Chelsae would indeed be thrown into solitary confinement indefinitely. So, keep it up everyone! It’s extremely important for people to keep talking about this issue. Also, funds are needed to keep her legal defense going, they are only a few bux short! You can see info about this case and how to give support at http://www.chelseamanning.org

At least 9 people were arrested after St. Louis police shot and killed an African-American 18 year old man, Mansur “Man-Man” Ball Bey, who was fleeing police while they attempted to serve a search warrant in the northern party of the city. In the wake of the killing, crowds poured into the street, where they were met with military police tanks and tear-gas. People cursed the police, burned American flags, erected barricades, and chanted “Black Lives Matter”. This is just one of the protests that have occurred since the year anniversary of Michael Browns murder at police hands in Ferguson, Missouri.

More information and personal commentary on this event can be found at the excellent news website http://itsgoingdown.org

From anarchist prisoner Michael Kimble’s support page and blog at http://anarchylive.noblogs.org on the situation of the Holman 3:
“St. Clair Correctional Facility in Springville, Alabama is the subject of a class action lawsuit filed by the Alabama Justice Initiative on behalf of prisoners housed at St. Clair. The focus of the lawsuit is the extremely violent atmosphere at the prison, the violent assaults inflicted upon prisoners by high-ranking and low-ranking guards. There has been a long train of assaults on prisoners by guards.

On June 17, 2015, prisoners at St. Clair called a halt to the unchecked assaults: by retaliating against two guards who were assaulting a prisoner. A crowd of prisoners beat the two guards, who have a long history of assaulting prisoners. Seventeen prisoners were swept up in the haste to quell the rebellion. Prison officials don’t know what prisoners took part in the rebellion. All seventeen prisoners were placed in segregation. Of the seventeen, three were transferred to Donaldson Max. in Bessemer, Alabama and three were transferred to Holman Max., and eleven are still at St. Clair.

The three prisoners – Brandon Lee, Johnathan Mallory, and Jamie Montgomery – transferred to Holman’s segregation unit, have not been charged and/or received any disciplinary write up for any institutional rule violation, but are continually being refused release to general population.

We need everyone that reads this to call the Warden at Holman prison and the Commissioner of the Alabama Dept. of Corrections, and demand that Brandon Lee, Johnathan Mallory, and Jamie Montgomery be immediately released into general population due to the fact that none of them have been charged with any rule infraction at St. Clair or Holman.

Call the below listed phone numbers. Continually call them until we get results.

Warden Walter Myers
251-368-8173

Commissioner William G. Sharp, Jr
to reach him by phone, dial 334-353-3883
or to fax him stuff you can use 334-353-3967”

From the Denver ABC website https://denverabc.wordpress.com/:

In summer 2013 members of several Anarchist Black Cross (or ABC) groups discussed the necessity of introducing an International Day for Anarchist Prisoners. For listeners who are unaware, the ABC is a long standing anarchist model for political prisoner support and also serves as an educational engine on issues pertaining to the prison industrial complex. Given there are already established dates for Political Prisoners Rights Day or Prison Justice Day, we found it important to emphasise the stories of our comrades as well. Many imprisoned anarchists will never be acknowledged as ‘political prisoners’ by formal human-rights organisations, because their sense of social justice is strictly limited to the capitalist laws which are designed to defend the State and prevent any real social change. At the same time, even within our individual communities, we know so little about the repression that exists in other countries, to say nothing of the names and cases involving many of our incarcerated comrades.

This is why we have decided to introduce an annual Week for Anarchist Prisoners on August 23-30, starting on this very day! We chose August 23 as a starting point, because on that same day in 1927 the Italian-American anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed in prison. They were convicted of murdering two men during an armed robbery at a shoe factory in South Braintree, Massachusetts, United States. Their arrest was a part of a bigger anti-radical campaign led by the American government known as the Palmer Raids. The State’s evidence against the two was almost totally non-existent and many people still today believe that they were punished for their strong anarchist beliefs.

Given the nature and diversity of anarchist groups around the globe, we have proposed a week of common action rather than a single campaign on a specific day making easier for groups to be able to organise an event within a longer target period.

Therefore, we call on everyone to spread the information about the Week for Anarchist Prisoners among other groups and communities and think about organising event(s) in your city or town. The events can vary from info-evenings, screenings and benefit concerts to solidarity and direct actions.

Check out the flyers in different languages. Please send reports of your activities to tillallarefree@riseup.net

This month is also historically significant as a yearly marker of anti-prison, anti-racist and anti-capitalist struggle in the U.S., known as Black August. Black August began in commemoration of the murder of Jonathan Jackson, George Jackson, William Christmas, James McClain and Khatari Gaulden in the California Penal system between 1970 and 1971. “Yogi Bear” aka Hugo Pinell was a prisoner convicted of participating in the attempted uprising on August 21st 1971 at San Quentin in which George Jackson died. After suffering decades in the Pelican Bay SHU, he was recently released into general population and was killed by white prisoners. He served 50 years behind bars and struggling against the racist prison system. He is gone but not forgotten.

Also pulled from DenverABC.wordpress.com:
PKK and PAJK political prisoners in Turkey are now on the sixth day of their indefinite hunger strike.

On August 15, prisoners accused of being members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Kurdistan Women’s Liberation Party (PAJK) started an indefinite hunger strike with three demands. The day coincided with the anniversary of the first armed action of the PKK.

The prisoners are demanding that the Turkish state end its ongoing isolation of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been unable to meet with anyone from the outside since April. They are also calling for the bodies of YPG and YPJ fighters to be allowed entry to Turkey for burial by their families and for the “political genocide” operations against Kurds to come to an end.

The political prisoners have announced via their lawyers that they will continue their hunger strike until their demands are met. There will be a support action for the prisoners today outside the women’s prison in the Bakırköy neighborhood of Istanbul.

Playlist

A-Radio Berlin, Anarchist, Music, Political Prisoner, Prisons, Radio, repression

A-Radio on Week of Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners plus new METAL traxx!

http://tillallarefree.noblogs.org
Download This Episode

This week on The Final Straw we feature a short interview by our komrades at Anarchistisches Radio Berlin with anonymized organizers of the International Week in Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners, which is called for August 23rd-30th of 2015. More info on that can be found at http://tillallarefree.noblogs.org

After that we’ll be playing some recent metal and punk tracks from around the world. Much of this was gleaned from R-A-B-M, a site featuring global perspectives and music from across the Loud spectrum. Red & Anarchist Black Metal, as a site, hosts political commentaries and musical projects of anti-capitalist, ecological, anti-state, feminist and other common sense pursuasions… or at least projects that’re good and reject NSBM & RAC trajectories. More can be found at http://R-A-B-M.blogspot.com

But first in news:

Earlier this week Sean was unexpectedly transferred to Warren Correctional. It seems he wasn’t given enough notice to send word out to supporters, so we’re not sure what’s up with this. Warren is a primarily level 3 institution, so Sean also likely had his security level reduced.

It is located near Cincinnati, so anyone there, in Bloomington, or in Columbus are now closer than they used to be. Sean loves visitors (and is more down to earth in person than his writings would suggest) so if you’d like to hang out in a big room with uncomfortable chairs, lots of sad people who are happy to see each other and vending machines that provide the best food half the people in that room can get, fill out some visitation forms and write Sean a letter letting him know you’d like to come.

His new address is:
Sean Swain
243-205
Warren CI
P.O. Box 120
5787 State Route 63
Lebanon, Ohio 45036

Chelsae Manning, who is currently serving a 35 year sentence at the maximum security US Disciplinary Barracks in Ft Leavenworth after disclosing to WikiLeaks nearly three-quarters of a million classified or unclassified but sensitive military and diplomatic documents while she was in the military, is facing indefinite solitary confinement. The charges that have been brought up against Chelsae are very clearly the product of institutional intimidation, and they include: having literature pertaining to trans issues (Manning is a transgender woman), spilling food onto the floor, and being in the possession of an expired tube of toothpaste.

From her support page: “This is a disturbing attempt to silence Chelsea’s voice. Chelsea has been very active while in prison, speaking out through her twitter account about issues of government transparency, transgender rights, and the prison system. She’s been writing a regular column for The Guardian, and even wrote a bill to reform the Espionage Act and protect journalism.These absurd charges against Chelsea, and the outrageous threat of indefinite solitary confinement, are clearly an attempt to silence Chelsea’s important voice and cut her off from the outside world.We have to make sure this attempt to silence Chelsea not only fails, but backfires”. And we here at The Final Straw agree!!

To sign the petition created by Fight for the Future, you can go to: https://www.freechelsea.com/

And to read Chelsae’s regular column at The Guardian you can visit: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/chelsea-manning

To write to Chelsae, you can address letters to:
CHELSEA E. MANNING 89289
1300 NORTH WAREHOUSE ROAD
FORT LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS 66027-2304

And to donate funds, read updates on her case, and to see guidelines for sending her mail, you can visit the very comprehensive website http://www.chelseamanning.org

Columbia, SC native, Eddien Patterson was arrested during the July 18 anti-KKK demonstration in South Carolina (which we at The Final Straw reported here: http://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2015/08/03/they-ran-the-kkk-out-of-town-in-fact-exclamation-point/). He was initially charged with 2nd degree felony assault and battery by a mob as well as 3rd misdemeanor assault and battery. Eddien was on probation at the time of arrest and now is serving ten months for violating the probation. He is currently being held at the Richland County jail.

On July 29 Eddien was given the additional charge of Breach of Peace of a High and Aggravated Nature for allegedly breaking the windows of a KKK members pick up truck. Currently we are trying to find a lawyer for Eddien, but he has requested that money be added to his books and desires to receive letters.

To send money, either send donations to free.eddien@gmail.com on PayPal or go to https://richland.mcdanielsupply.co/deposit/index
his Department of Corrections # is 591561, which you’ll need to either send him funds or mail.

To write to Eddien, address letters to:
Eddien Andre Patterson #591561
E Dorm
Alvin S Glenn Detention Center
201 John Mark Dial Dr
Columbia, SC 29209

For updates on his case, you can visit https://freeeddien.wordpress.com/

EXTREME HEAT IN TX PRISONS by Malik Washington:
The next audio was a lengthy letter dated July 20th from Keith “Malik” Washington. Keith ‘Malik’ Washington is living in the Wallace Pack Unit in Navasota, Texas. He reports on human rights abuses in the Texas prison system. Known to his friends as Comrade Malik, his life mission is to serve the people and create conditions in the United States in which all humyn beings have access to freedom, justice and equality! More on his observations, his case and the contents of the letter on Extreme Heat conditions at Wallace Pack Unit (and the retaliation for complaint against 3 inmates there) at http://comrademalik.com

UNICORN RIOT:
And finally, we’d like to suggest another source for what’s called “alternative media” aka media for all you trouble makers out there. The website http://www.unicornriot.ninja/ boasts a bunch of awesome looking videos and articles about current events which would be of interest to anarchist leaning folx.

From the website:

“Unicorn Riot is your commercial-free not-for-profit media alternative. We operate independent of government/corporate funding and are currently accessible to anyone with an internet connection.

The purpose of Unicorn Riot is to amplify the voices and images of marginalized people and further the understanding of dynamic social struggles in communities around the world. We produce media in order to educate and expose the root causes of social conflict in today’s globalized world.

Unicorn Riot is comprised of independent journalists and multimedia artists working together from around the world who are committed to providing uncensored alternative media supported by the viewers themselves.”

MUSIC TRACKS:

This track is “a gospel of the flesh” by SEEDS IN BARREN FIELDS from Gothenburg, Sweden, which formed in 2007. They focus on themes of anarchism and environmentalism and are out on Lundr Records. This track is off their July 19th, 2015 release Let The Earth Be Silent After Ye.

AMESTIGON is from Lower Austria, and they formed in 1995 and are still going strong. They focus on Satanism and the Occult among other themes and are out on the lable World Terror Committee. Right now we’re hearing the track, 358 which is off the band’s full length album “Thier”, which was released in May of this year.

PALE CHALICE from San Francisco, formed in 2008 and out on the label Gilead Media. We’re hearing Shaking Nerves & Vacuous Spheres from their June 16th, 2015 release, Negate The Infinite & Miraculous.

A-Radio Berlin, activism, Anarchist, Colonization, conspiracy, Environment, Florida, Food Sovereignty, General, History, Indigenous, Prisons, Racism, repression, Spain, Wales

Resist450 in St. Augustine this Sept + ARadio on #ReclaimTheFields (for Food Sovereignty & Prison Abolition)

http://resist450.org
Download This Episode

This week we spoke with Bobby C. Billie and Shannon Larsen of the Resist 450 Coalition. This coalition is set up to protest the so called “450th Commemoration” Celebration to be held in St Augustine FL at the beginning of September, which will mark the 450th anniversary of the settling of that city by Juan Ponce de Leon and Pedro Menendez, colonizers from Spain. In this interview we talk about indigenous struggle in St Augustine, the Doctrine of Discovery, the Action Camp which will occur on September 5th thru 8th, and more! To get involved with the Action Camp, or to donate to this cause, you can see all the information you’ll need at http://resist450.org

Additionally this week also we have audio from our comrades at ARadio Berlin! Anarchist Radio Berlin, which can be found at http://aradio.blogsport.de, did this interview with a UK-based organizer from the Reclaim the fields initiative, and they talk about the planned international camp in North-Wales, the relationship of food sovereignty and the prison system, and the topic of prison abolition as such.

You can send these folks feedback and comments at: aradio-berlin(at)riseup(dot)net Thanks to these comrades for sharing this audio! Stay tuned for more from ARadio Berlin next week.

In a bit of news, the trial of the Tarnac 10 is set to begin soon, minus the charges of “Terrorist Association.” The Tarnac case stems back to 2009 in Tarnac, France, the site of a farm commune on which 9 folks were arrested and accused of attempting sabotage on a high speed rail line. The case allegedly also linked the arrested, including Julian Coupat and Yildune Lévy, to the publishing group, The Invisible Commitee. The Invisible Commitee, which recently published “To Our Friends” is in the lineage of Tiqqun magazine, of which Coupat was a founder. http://www.anarchistnews.org/content/tarnac-eight-sent-trial-without-designation-terrorist-organization

A Virginian Anarchist by the name of Stephen Loughman was arrested a week after attending the anti-KKK rally in Columbia, SC, on July 18th. Stephen’s cellphone was dropped and he was arrested when he attempted to pick it up from the department of Sheriff Leon Lott. Stephen Loughman’s being accused attempting to incite hatred against the KKK, yelling profanity at the white supremacists and being in traffic. He’s being smeared in local media and by the Sheriff of being a career troublemaker who was attempting to incite the crowd to riot. He sounds like a pretty stand-up guy to us. You can find out more and support Stephen by visiting http://gofundme.com/e6b3tukuc . More at https://itsgoingdown.org/virginia-anarchist-arrested-week-sc-anti-klan-rally-support-needed/

Sean Swain speaks his piece on the recent drug delivery via drone, which occurred on July 29 at the Mansfield Correctional Institution some 65 miles southwest of Cleveland, OH. It contained almost a quarter of an ounce of heroin, over 2 ounces of marijuana and more than 5 ounces of tobacco. Sean speculates as to what other uses drones might have, and leaves us with words to ponder.

Playlist

Anarchist, Asheville, Durham, General, Klan, Luke O'Donovan, Police, Prisons, Racism, repression, South Carolina

Luke O’Donovan on State Repression + pt 2 of “Running the Klan out of Columbia”

http://durhamantirepression.net
Download This Episode

This week we continue our conversation with John, an anti-racist anarchist living in the U.S. South about thoughts and memories concerning the July 18th 2015 counter-demonstration to the KKK in Columbia, South Carolina. John also talks a bit about what he knows of the 1997 KKK march in Asheville, North Carolina and their subsequent patookis whoopin by the general population of Asheville.

But before we get there, we’ll hear some announcements, an important announcement by Anarchist Prisoner Sean Swain. After those portions, we’ll hear an interview conducted by a member of the Durham Anti-Repression committee of anarchist prisoner Luke O’Donovan. Luke is in the middle of a 2 year sentence for defending himself against 5 homophobic attackers at a New Years Eve party in Atlanta at the opening of 2013. More on his case at http://letlukego.wordpress.com

For farther flung listeners, if you’d like to hear this show on a station in your area, you can simply email us for requests at thefinalstrawradio@riseup.net and we can get a conversation started about making it happen.

On a separate note, for years the Iron Rail Book Collective has been one of the most socially transformative projects in New Orleans and has been part of a vibrant and growing anarchist culture in the city. Some of you may be familiar with it from the NASSN conference in New Orleans or the New Orleans Anarchist Bookfair. When the police closed the Iron Rail down through selective enforcement of code violations and forced it out of its long-time site several years ago this seriously set back liberatory politics in the city. There is a fundraising campaign going on to get a house in the Upper 9th Ward as a new home for the Iron Rail. A mere $4000 will secure the site and help start renovations. We would appreciate any help possible to get this important anarchist project reestablished. Please go to http://crowdrise.com/ironrail for information on the Iron Rail and the fundraising campaign.

A new insturrectional anarchist audio site has been launched called Resonance Audio Distro. On it you can find links to anarchist news sources in English, as well as a growing pool of recorded essays and zines. You’ll find such titles as “3 Positions against Prison” by August O’Clairre, “On The Continuing Appeal of Nationalism” by Fredy Perlman, “Revolutionary Solidarity: A Critical Reader for Accomplices” and more. Check it out at:
https://resonanceaudiodistro.wordpress.com/

Also, the political prisoner birthday calendar for august 2015 is out! If you or someone you know would like to write political prisoners on their birthdays, you can view and download the pdf of this document at prisonbooks.info. These lovely rabble rousers would also like to announce that their comprehensive zine entitled How To Start a Prison Books Collective has been updated and is available for download and distro at that same address, http://prisonbooks.info.

If you’d like to learn more about the situation in Syria and the continuing repression by ISIS, you can give a listen to #’s 36 and 39 of the Ex Worker podcasts put out by CrimethInc. These give specific information on and interviews with participants of the Rojava Revolution. You can listen to all their podcasts at http://crimethinc.com/podcast and some more updates on the situation of PYD/PKK/International Brigade fighters can be found about repression in Turkey and Iraq.

Stay tuned next week on The Final Straw, same time same place, for an interview with organizers of the Resist 450 event to take place in St Augustine Florida in September of this year. The city of St Augustine – one of the oldest cities as we know them in the US – is slated to commemorate the 450th anniversary of colonization by Pedro Menendez and Juan Ponce de Leon. We’ll speak with Bobby C. Billie and Shannon Larsen of the Resist 450 Coalition about the history of this event and indigenous struggles in St. Augustine. More at http://resist450.wordpress.com

From SeanSwain.org
In Sean’s words…

“I signed my transfer notice yesterday. I wrote everybody and gave them the Trumbull address. I got packed up today. Then the warden notified me that Central Office Anonymous Coward cancelled my transfer. Now I missed commissary and commissary won’t let me shop. I don’t even have soap.

Please let everyone know I’m not at Trumbull…”

We already sorted out the commissary issue, what we need now, is to get at the root of this, and so many other problems with SOCF. That means we need a concerted effort to address that Central Office Anonymous Coward: Trainwreck Trevor Clark.

Wanna help ruin Trevor Clark’s career? We hope so.

Here’s the deal: ODRC Counsel Trevor Matthew Clark is a sociopath who runs the ODRC torture program with his FBI buddies on speed dial, and he recently used his sock-puppet co-workers to harass Ben Turk and Ihsan purging them from Sean’s visiting list because Trevor Clark doesn’t like online postings. He also cancelled Sean’s transfer to lower security at the last minute. He wants to pull the plug on seanswain.org and turn Sean into his personal cat toy to swat around whenever feels like it. F this Ahole. It’s time for him to get disbarred, lose his job, and spend the rest of his miserable existence sleeping in his car. We can make that happen. It’s OUR world, and this creep is just mismanaging it.

THE PLAN
We gotta swamp the right hierarchs with a million phone calls and letters. The more calls the better. Is that reformist? Well, yeah. But the direct action alternative doesn’t seem to be happening, so let’s do what’s do-able.
Trainwreck is an attorney, so if he loses his license, he loses his job and loses his power to mess with people. He ends up at a job asking you if you want fries with that.” So the right people to contact are:

Columbus Bar Association
175 South Third Street, Suite 1100
Columbus, Ohio 43215
(614) 221-0754

For suggestions on talking points, more updates as they come and more of Sean’s writings, check out http://seanswain.org

Anarchist, Antifa, Asheville

They ran the KKK out of town, in fact (exclamation point)


Download This Episode

A reminder to listeners with graphic skills. We here at The Final Straw have gotten some great submissions for sticker, poster and merch designs for the show but would love to see what else y’all could throw our way. If you have an idea or an image that could include the: show name, ashevillefm.org/the-final-straw and some kind of thematically related title (like, A Weekly Anarchist Radio Show) or imagery. You can email designs to bursts@ashevillefm.org or mailed to:
The Final Straw c/o AshevilleFM
864 Haywood Rd
Asheville, NC 28806

If you’re in the Asheville area, consider volunteering at AshevilleFM, WSFM-LP. It’s a great chance to learn skills, share skills, make friends and more. Whether you want to end up behind the mic or behind a table, drop us a line at volunteer@ashevillefm.org or, better, fill out the application at visiting http://www.ashevillefm.org/volunteer.

This week we spoke with John, an anti-racist insurrectional anarchist who grew up in the U.S. South. John discusses the anti-klan rally that happened on July 18th in Columbia, SC, what he saw, implications, who was there and why. Next week’s episode we’ll discuss media representations of the rally, such as positing it as a showdown between the KKK and the “Black Panther Party” (meaning in actuality the New Black Panther Party, an organization unconnected to the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense around during the 60’s and 70’s). We’ll also talk about violent opposition to racists and the concept of the New South. If you CAN’T wait to hear that, check out our podcast file version of this episode, which will bring you one and a half hours of the conversation plus our regular announcements, Sean Swain segment and some dirty south jams.

OR, here’s a youtube video that friends made for the audio. For those in the radio audience, the second portion of our conversation with John will be aired next week along with other material.

Please note that John wished us to inform y’all that he’s the kinda guy who doesn’t do interviews normally and was nervous, so his laughter during serious points is not a sign of levity or lack of seriousness, but more of a sign of discomfort.

In relation to today’s episode, those with internet access may choose to visit the new anarchist news site, http://itsgoingdown.org, to check out a story entitled “all the news you didn’t even know was going down.” That story describes and links to examples across Canada and the U.S. of events over the recent past of people defacing confederate monuments, protesting the cops in response to deaths in detention, the shortcomings of labor unions and the fight for $15, Recent arrests in Oakland of 2 folks accused by the FBI and charged under the Animal Enterprise and Terrorism Act for freeing Minks and so much more.

From http://anarchistnews.org we get this headline:
“Turkish-based anarchist group Anarşi İnisiyatifi (Anarchy Initiative) are calling on the global anarchist community to hold worldwide demonstrations outside Turkish consulates on July 26, 2015 at 7PM in response to the government of Turkey’s complicity in the Suruç, Massacre. 32 young people were murdered in the suicide bombing committed by the so-called Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/Daesh) including 2 anarchist comrades: Alper Sapan from Anarşi İnisiyatifi Eskişehir and Evrim Deniz Erol. The 32 comrades from various socialist, communist and anarchist youth groups were planning to cross the border from Turkey / North Kurdistan into Kobane in Rojava to deliver gifts for the war-affected children of the city and to participate in the reconstruction of war-ravaged Kobane.” Short notice, but there ya go. http://www.anarchistnews.org/content/anarchy-initiative-call-worldwide-solidarity-demonstrations-against-turkish-state-july-26

On a separate tip, the main topic of our conversation on the last episode, anarchist prisoner Eric King of Kansas city, will be having a birthday on August 2nd. Drop him a line, share some of your own poetry, make friends… whatever.
You can write Eric at:
Eric King
#27090045
CCA Leavenworth
100 Highway Terrace
Leavenworth, KS 66048

Also, he has an amazon wishlist where you can buy books online and get them shipped to this voracious reader. Details on that or direct deposits into his commissary can be found at http://supportericking.wordpress.com”

Michael Kimble is a self described black, gay anarchist who is currently serving a life sentence in a maximum security facility in Alabama for the self defense killing of a “white, homophobic, racist bigot”. Mr. Kimble is a writer and is part of the Free Alabama Movement, which is a group that organizes against prison work conditions by putting together work strikes and work stoppages around the state of Alabama. More about them at http://freealabamamovement.wordpress.com

Michael Kimble has a parole date set for December of this year, and it’s been a long time in coming! Stay tuned for any support that he needs, as well at to read his writings, at http://anarchylive.noblogs.org

Receiving mail while incarcerated has been shown to be very important, firstly to help combat the brutal isolation which prison forces people to undergo and secondly to demonstrate to prison officials that people’s cases do not go unnoticed. To write Michael Kimble, address your letters to:

Michael Kimble
#138017
3700 Holman Unit
Atmore, AL 36503

On Wednesday, July 22, Tyler Lang plead guilty (in a non-cooperating plea agreement) to a single count of conspiring to travel in interstate commerce with the purpose of damaging an animal enterprise. Specifically, Tyler’s charges stem from the mink release and vandalism of a fur farm carried out by him and Kevin Olliff (aka Kevin Johnson) in August of 2013.

Tyler, like Kevin, faces a maximum of 5 years in prison and 3 years of supervised release. He also faces the possibility of hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and restitution. Tyler is currently not in custody, though his sentencing has been set for November 9th, 2015 at the Federal Courthouse in Chicago, IL. Please stay tuned for info on court support at that time! A show of community support for Tyler in the courtroom on that day would help lift his spirits and keep him strong. You can see updates and information about his and Kevin’s case at http://supportkevinandtyler.com

August 8th 2015 marks 37 years of unjust imprisonment for the MOVE 9, who are part of the MOVE organization founded by John Africa. The MOVE organization is a multi faceted group whose tenants include: anti slavery, anti racism, anti industry, anti colonialsm, and pro-revolutionary-ism among many others. The MOVE 9 are a group of men and women who have been in prison since August 8, 1978, following a massive police attack on them at their home in the residential neighborhood of Powelton Village in Philadelphia. The government and Philadelphia police dropped a bomb on their house, killing 11 people, including 5 children. One officer died in this attack, and it’s since been proven that none of the MOVE 9 were responsible. Despite this evidence they are still held captive by the state.

On Saturday August 1st there is a call for support at a community town hall meeting to demand the Justice Dept take action to investigate the case and wrongful imprisonment of the MOVE 9. This meeting will take place in Philadelphia, PA from noon to 4PM the African American Museum located on 701 Arch Street Downtown Philadelphia. Topics to be covered will include: the destruction of the house, the beating of Delbert Africa, the trial of the MOVE 9, and the illegal practices of the Pa Parole Board.

For more information about this organization and about the MOVE 9’s case, people can go to http://www.onamove.com

To hear our past episodes on the case of the MOVE 9 click here.

As a final little heads up to folks in the listening audience, I’d suggest you check out the July 9th 2015 episode of the blogtalk Free Alabama Movement podcast. The show is produced by prisoners within the Alabama and Mississippi prison system and connects them with the folks on the outside and folks incarcerated across the U.S. This episode features a convo between members of FAMM, Imam Siddique Abdullah Hasan of the Lucasville Death Row prisoners currently held at OCF Youngstown, as well as Alex, of Prison Legal News newsletter. You can find links to this episode and tons of other interviews and resources up on the site http://supportprisonerresistance.noblogs.org.

Anarchist, Antifa, Eric King, General, Klan, Missouri, Prisons, Racism, repression, South Carolina

Anarchist prisoner Eric King; NAABC Conference; Trouncing KKK in Columbia, SC

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This week we spoke with a supporter of Eric King. Eric is a 28 year old vegan anarchist in Kansas City, Missouri, who’s facing possibly life plus 20 years in federal prison for allegedly attempting to molotov a Senator’s office. No one was inside the building or in danger of direct injury. He has been held in Solitary confinement at CCA Leavenworth in Kansas for 6 months as a July 14th due to his potential life sentence. Eric’s trial has been pushed back to October 26th,

2015. More on Eric’s case can be found at http://supportericking.wordpress.com . We also speak about the upcoming North American Anarchist Black Cross conference which is currently in it’s fundraising phase. The NAABC conference brings together advocates of political prisoners, prison abolitionists and other troublemakers once a year in order to better share skills and network. More on fundraising for this event can be found at http://www.youcaring.com/north-american-political-prisoners-366217

Click here for a firsthand account of anti-KKK actions that occurred Saturday, July 18th in Columbia, South Carolina that we received and wanted to share.

Interesting video and pictures from this event can be found at It’s Going Down, a new anarchist news site focusing mostly on North American struggles.

Now, an update from the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee about the complaints of forced medicalization and medication of concerned prisoners at SECC outside of Charleston, Missouri. Sadly, time constraints made it so we couldn’t announce this in the episode, but here it is anyway:

“Update 7-15-15 ~ FINALLY!! A month and a half after receiving the first letter of complaint about psychological and medical torture, we received a letter from one of the people involved saying that things are getting better and they are working their way off the forced medication now. Many, many thanks to everyone who has participated in this calling campaign. This would not be getting better without all of your help. Please continue to stay in touch with us by liking the IWOC fakebook page here https://www.facebook.com/incarceratedworkers “

Also from IWOC:

“You may be familiar with Ricky Kidd’s case of innocence and his request to have DNA from the crime scene tested is being considered in Jackson County Courts. To find out about his case you can go to http://freerickykidd.com

In the meantime, Ricky is fighting another battle with the MO Department of Corrections that could lead to losing a leg or even his death. Ricky is a diabetic and has a soft tissue sore that has gotten into the bone of his leg and created a condition that is potentially life threatening. He was diagnosed with Osteomyelitis about four months ago, a condition that if it had been properly treated at the time would have healed by now. The proper treatment is a 6 week course of very strong antibiotics administered via an IV. The DOC has been giving Ricky an Oral antibiotic every other week and now the infection has moved from the tissue to the bone and is putting him at risk of losing his leg. The medical personnel have told him his situation is dire and must be properly addressed immediately as there is not only the risk of amputation but a risk of death if this infection migrated to his bloodstream.

Please call the Missouri Department of Corrections at 573-751-2389 and request to speak to Adrian Hardy in the Medical Division. You must reference Ricky Kidd # 528343, he is housed at Crossroads Correctional Center. They probably will not transfer you and will tell you that Harriett Clark is the contact person for this case. Register your concern and then call again the next day. We cannot allow this innocent man to be maimed or killed by the DOC by neglect or malfeasance.

Please forward this to your friends, associates and State Representatives, as well as post to FB where you can. We need a flood of calls to help get Ricky proper treatment.

Find out more about Osteomyelitis at this link – Osteomyelitis: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment at http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/osteomyeltis-treatment-diagnosis-symptoms“

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Here is that account of the KKK getting trounced in South Carolina on July 18th:

“Yesterday in Columbia SC the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan assembled in order to protest the removal of the Confederate flag from the state house. I’m told that their permit was originally set to accomodate 100-200 people. However, this pathetic organization has dwindled in numbers since its heyday in the 1920s, and there were fewer than 75 klan present at any given time. This event happened on the same day as an anti-colonial and antiracist event was held in Tuscon to protest an islamophobic and white supremacist group, and is happening in the wake of a resurgence of white supremacist rhetoric and actions in this country. People came out in droves and showed the racists that they are not welcome in Columbia, or anywhere!

Despite the almost 100 degree weather and at least the 100 cops, paramilitary, and state troopers swarming the grounds, I’d say that there were at least 2,000 anti racists, anti-fascists, and community members present ranging from concerned clergy to the much maligned out of town anarchists of all races. I was in a group of caucasian folks and non black people of color, and it felt vibrantly good to show our faces in the midst of this crowd, which I’d say consisted primarily of black people of all ages and the remaining third were folks of other races. The solidarity in the crowd was palpable, with people starting conversations with strangers, helping others out with water, and looking out for each other in the face of police violence.

When I rolled up to the event, the anti conf flag counter rally on the other side of the state house was starting to wrap up. This seemed to be mostly made up of New Black Panther Party and Nation of Islam members. The KKK harrassed these people with racial slurs when they themselves paraded up minutes later through a funnel of their cop protectors, brandishing confederate flags and Nazi swastikas and screaming “white power”.

They were instantly met with jeers and heckling from their numerous enemies, which reached such a pitch that it made one of the racists burst into tears. At one point, one racist got separated from his group and was surrounded by the crowd, which screamed at him to go the fuck home and things like that. One man got arrested at this point and carted off to the crowd yelling “let him go”.

The KKK then stood in the baking sun on the steps of the state house for about an hour. They roasted in the heat and waved their flags behind a phalanx of their pig handlers, all the while making pitiful attempts to engage the antiracist crowd, which had them outnumbered almost 27 to one. Some of their sympathizers who were dressed in confederate flag apparel were chased off the premesis during this time, including one homophobic preacher and one Nazi peace police who was attempting to verbally shame people into leaving the racists alone. Several of the klan passed out from heatstroke during this time, including one old racist who had to be carried away by the cops wrapped up in a confederate flag.

The police cut their flag waving rally short by an hour due to the numbers of antiracists, which were growing steadily. The real fun began when the klan began to move out to the parking garage where their vehicles were being guarded by even more police. The cops attempted to hoodwink the crowd into focusing on one exit of the garage, while the klan was exiting out of another around the back. When the crowd got wind of this, we took to the streets and ran around the building to confront the klan as they drove out of town. They mostly had their windows up, staring forward and looking beaten. One klansdude however became so enraged at the verbal attacks he was recieving that he drove his SUV into a pole, crushing the front end of the car which leaked radiator fluid all over the pavement. The cops were unprepared for this, and the car was surrounded by antiracists who pounded on the windows and hurled rocks at the damaged vehicle. The cops then forceably surrounded the car and drove the antiracists back. Several people got detained briefly by the police and then violently unarrested by their comrades at this point. After about half an hour of tussling between cops and antiracists, a perimeter was established around the car and it drove away amid more heckling.

After this time the crowd marched back up to the state house, where the few remaining klan supporters were confronted and driven out of Columbia. I’m not sure how many people got arrested, but I think it was at least 5 people, for disorderly conduct and assaulting an officer. I’d urge people to keep up with that news, and help with people’s bail however they can. Since this happened on a Saurday, I think people should be out by Monday.

Throughout all of this, it seemed very clear that the crowd had pinpointed their real enemies as being the police. While people were mad about the klan they were even angrier at the cops for protecting these Nazi racist scum. The weak attemts by cop sympathizers on the AR side to focus the crowd’s anger at solely the KKK were entirely unsuccessful. I think that this event will be one in a series of many active and vibrant displays of anti racist and anti white supremacist actions in this country. I hope that people are staying safe and keeping their friends close.

Toward a world without racism, without police, without jail cells, and without the klan.
Solidarity from a comrade in Columbia, South Carolina.”