Category Archives: activism

A-Radio Berlin, activism, Anarchist, Capitalism, Environment, European Union, Fracking, France, General, Germany, Immigration, Poland, Russia, Spain, Turkey

Migrant solidarity and squatting in Calais, France

http://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/
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Calais is a port city in France that sits as the major nexus of migrants attempting to leave the French (and thus European) mainland to reach the U.K. in seek of asylum. These migrants are fleeing the effects of imperialism (sometimes war, always capital) in their home countries. They hail from Pakistan, Egypt, Syria, Afghanistan, Chad, Nigeria, Sudan and many other places and seek peace and stability in the EU. The irony is that the EU, like the U.S., is a major exporter of the troubles the migrants seek to escape. In many ways, the “immigration crisis” in the U.S. mirrors the reality of the “immigration crisis” in the EU.

This week’s episode of the Final Straw features a conversation with Greta, a No Border Activist living in the UK about struggles of immigrants in Calais, where over the last 2 months there have been raids that have netted hundreds of migrants seeking to leave the mainland and land in the UK with expectation of receiving a refugee status. Greta tells us about the immigration structure of the EU’s Shengen Zone (of which the UK is not a part), about the recent raids and squat evictions in Calais, and the new squat “Impasse de Saline” outside of the city. She also touches on the plight of immigrants in the UK.
http://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/

The second half of the episode features a segment recorded by our audio-comrades at A-Radio Berlin, entitled “Europe and beyond: the resistance against mega-projects”. From the A-Radio blog:

“We pre­sent an in­ter­view with Bog­dan, an ac­tivist from Ru­ma­nia. The main topic is the re­cent 4th Forum against un­ne­cessa­ry im­po­sed me­ga-​pro­jects, a net­work of major strugg­les against in­fra­struc­tu­re, mi­ning and fra­cking pro­jects (in Eu­ro­pe an bey­ond). The last mee­ting took place in May in Rosia Mon­t­a­na, Ru­ma­nia. The pre­pa­ra­ti­on, the sub­ject of the in­vol­ve­ment of po­li­ti­cal par­ties in such mo­ve­ments as well as the fu­ture per­spec­tive of this par­ti­cu­lar co­or­di­na­ti­on are at the heart of the in­ter­view, but it also gives a quick over­view of the de­ve­lop­ment of the local strugg­le against the pro­po­sed big­gest open-​cast gold mi­ning pro­ject in Eu­ro­pe.”
More at http://aradio.blogsport.de/

For past shows dealing with anti-dev struggles like the ones mentioned above, see the following links:
Hambach Forest Defense: Germany
Zone À Défendre (ZAD): Notre Dames de Landes, France
No-TAV: Turin, Italy

Playlist

activism, Anarchist, Antifa, Canada, Feminism, General, Nazis, Poland, Police, Queer, Squatting

Olga + Kuba on Anarchism and Squatting in Poland today

https://www.rhythms-of-resistance.org/
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This week, Olga and Kuba speak with William about anarchism in Poland and their experience of living in Canada. Olga is from Poznan, a city in Western Poland where anarchists have been able to open 2 squats in the city center, and a member of the musical network, Rhythms of Resistance. Kuba is a member of Tektura collective, Autonomous Social Center “Cicha4″ collective and Rhythms of Resistance Lublin, based out of Lublin.

The conversation, sprouting from Olga and Kuba’s presentation at the 2014 Montreal Anarchist Bookfaire, ranges from talking about squatting, resistance to the rise of nationalism, intersections of anarchism with feminism and queer existence, and homogeneity all within the context of modern Poland.

Due to the length of the conversation, it didn’t make sense to include Sean Swain’s commentary for this week, however his Bastille Day message to the world can be found here: http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/76396

activism, CounterInsurgency, Environment, European Union, France, General, Neoliberalism, repression

No-TAV resistance and metal

http://actforfree.nostate.net/?s=tav
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This week’s episode features a short interview with a member of the No-TAV struggle in the Italian Alps. For decades the residents of Val di Susa in northern Italy (near Turin) have been struggling to stop the development of a 30 mile long tunnel through the mountains, across the border to Lyon, France. The project is a European Union one that is one wing of a larger international commercial venture web of restricted transit for goods that EU is attempting to push through. The actual tunneling threatens, among other things, to release enough uranium and asbestos into the air and shallow water-table of Val di Susa and surrounding areas that even the EU estimates that the damage will be measurable and irreparable.

We speak about what shapes the resistance has taken, how anarchists and others have engaged at varying times, and the repression faced from the government. Currently, there are arrests and incarcerations and investigations concerning, among other activities, a night-time raid in 2012 of the militarized construction site of the TAV which was arsoned and effectively shut down for a period of time afterwards. Some of the vocal anarchist and activist arrestees are facing terrorism charges based on Italy’s EU-adopted laws concerning resistance to government projects. The new definition basically posits that those who effectively make it so the government can’t do something (good or bad) and the EU wants it to happen, the national government is pressed to prosecute. More on the case can be found at http://actforfree.nostate.net/?s=tav

This episode’s playlist can be found at here

A-Radio Berlin, activism, Črna Luknja, General, Rebroadcast

črna luknja interviews Hana from Bosnia; half an hour of recent metal tracks

bosnia-master675
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This week, we feature audio that made it’s way to us from the Slovenian anarchist radio show, črna luknja (Black Hole). Hosts interviewed Hana, who’s originally from Mostar but lives now in Sarajevo. Hana tells of her perspectives on the protests and public plenums that occurred in Bosnia in response to the government ignoring workers and voters demands and continued to privatize industry while further precariatizing (is that a word?) the population.

You can find more material by črna luknja (mostly NOT in english) at http://radiostudent.si/dru%C5%BEba/%C4%8Drna-luknja

This week’s segment written by Sean Swain talks about the case of Krow in Wisconsin. To find out some more on it, check out our interview with Krow from last year: http://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2013/07/15/west-coast-prisone…

https://penokeedefenders.wordpress.com/

activism, Anarchist, gender, General, Immigration, Prisons, Queer, Racism, repression, Sean Swain, Toronto G20

CeCe McDonald on release + Dane Rossman about extradition and borders (February 23, 2014)

trans14n-3-web
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This week’s episode has 3 portions:

The first is Sean Swain’s most recent challenges to Governor Kasich of Ohio.

Next up, William interviewed CeCe McDonald. CeCe was recently released after her arrest in 2011 after the death of neo-nazi who attacked CeCe and friends while hurling transphobic, homophobic and racist epithets. CeCe talks about the support she received, what time was like inside for her and how release has been. For more about her case, check out: http://supportcece.wordpress.com/

Next, Bursts spoke with Dane Rossman, who was extradited to Canada from the U.S. in relation to charges around the 2010 Toronto anti-G20 protests. Dane speaks about his experiences in detention, the other 3 known extraditees and what they face with their convictions, how to support them and anti-border and detention work going on in the Southwest of the U.S.
More on Dane’s case can be found at: http://supportdanerossman.blogspot.com/
More on the 3 extraditees at: http://notorontog20extradition.wordpress.com/
More on the anti-Operation Streamline movement in the Southwest U.S.: http://endstreamline.org/

activism, Anarchist, General, Immigration, Move 9, Police, Political Prisoner, Prisons, Racism, repression, Sean Swain, Toronto G20

Update on the G20 extraditees + the MOVE 9 parole push (02/16/2014)

MOVE members surrender to an army of Philly PD in 1978
MOVE members surrender to an army of Philly PD in 1978
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This week we’ll feature a segment by anarchist prisoner Sean Swain about education under Capitalism, a quick update about the U.S. activists threatened with extradition to Canada in relation to the 2010 Toronto anti-G20 protests and finally an interview with Orie Lumumba about the MOVE9, their 1978 conviction and their bid for parole. The last 20 minutes will feature tracks by Vallendusk from indonesia, Ah Ciliz from Los Angeles.

The playlist for this episode can be found here

A past interview relating to the G20 protests and extraditions, as well as the “Main G20 Conspiracy” can be found here: http://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2013/04/03/joel-bitar-and-dane-rossman-resist-extradition-to-canada-march-17-2013/

The first of 6 parts on youtube of a movie about the Move 9 narrated by Howard Zinn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbOPrV_NHAE

activism, Anarchist, Environment, General, Music, NATO3, NATO5, North Carolina, Prisons, repression

NATO3 Trial winds down + Coal Ash spill in North Carolina (February 9, 2014)

0206_coal_630x420
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This week, we featured a segment by Sean Swain on sovereignty and consent of the ruled. We’ve begun archiving Sean’s segments under the title “You Are The Resistance” on archive.org, and those can be found linked as they come out on http://seanswain.org

This was followed by a conversation with Emily who does support work the NATO3 about what’s happened in the trial and what the next steps appear to be as sentencing approaches. Great news is that defendants Brent Betterly, Jared Chase & Brian Jacob Church were found Not Guilty of all of the terrorism charges, however they still each have felonies that stuck. Check out more at http://freethenato3.wordpress.com

Next, we speak with Johanna of Keeper of the Mountains Foundation, a grassroots group out of West Virginia that looks to the effects of Mountain Top Removal and coal extraction and burning on the environment, economy and people in Appalachia. Johanna shares some info on the recent Duke Energy Coal Ash Pit spill on the Dan River, near the North Carolina-Virginia border and what impacts can be expected from the 82,000 tons of toxic ash getting into a water source that provides for roughly 50,000 human animals, and uncounted non-humans and other life. http://www.mountainkeeper.org/

Finally, we’ll hear An Unearthly Sacrament by the Marin-County-California-based metal project Radagast, their only release thus far. That’ll be followed (really finally) by Destroyed By Ourselves from Katahajime from Allentown, PA.

activism, Anarchist, Environment, General, Hunger Strike, Illinois, Prisons, Russia, Sean Swain, Vinci

Menard Prisoner hunger strike w/ Staughton Lynd and Yaroslav Nikitenko on Khimki, Vinci, Pussy Riot and #Euromaidan

http://khimkiforest.org/
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First, we hear Sean Swain, anarchist prisoner in Ohio’s super-duper-mega-ultra-uber max prison at Youngstown talk about accusations of Utopianism thrown at him for his anarchism.

Secondly, we speak with author, activist and advocate Staughton Lynd. Mr. Lynd speaks with us about the ongoing hunger strike at Menard Correctional Facility’s administrative segregation units in Illinois. The strikes are in response to prisoner complaints of lack of heat and hot water in the freezing facility that was built in the 1870’s, leaks around the windows, rodent infestations and the lack of transparency around how people get put into the hole or get out of it. Upon initiating the hunger strike, prisoners (in particular Armando Velasquez who was witness being beaten, thrown down stairs and stomped by correctional officers/screws) have faced threats of force, including forced feeding for which Illinois law does not require court orders. You can find out more by contacting the Alice and Staughton Lynd at salynd(aat)aol (d ot)com. Also, check out articles at The SF Bay View on the subject.

If you care to call/write officials to press for an end to the torture:
Warden Rick Harrington, (618) 826-5071, P.O. Box 711, Menard IL 62794-9277
Illinois Department of Corrections Director Salvador Godinez, (217) 558-2200, ext. 2008, P.O. Box 19277, Springfield IL 62794-9277
Gov. Pat Quinn, (217) 782-0244, http://www2.illinois.gov/gov/Pages/ContacttheGovernor.aspx, 207 State House, Springfield IL 62706

The final portion of the episode is an interview with ecological and social activist, Yaroslav Nikitenko. Yaroslav has been involved for years in the struggle to save Khimki forest, the only old growth forest in the Moscow area, from development by a public-private construction project between Russian government, companies and VINCI construction (out of France). Yaroslav argues a lack of transparency by government, profit not surprisingly overshadowing concerns for peoples lives or the environment, neo-nazi thugs hired for home invasions and street attacks on journalists and activists working to speak out about Khimki and about how people can do solidarity work with those struggling to save this forest. Yaroslav also did solidarity work for incarcerated members of Pussy Riot, some of whom were involved in social struggles including the defense of Khimki. President Putin, prior to the Sochi Winter Olympics, released a number of political prisoners including members of the feminist punk band, Pussy Riot (albeit 2 month before their release). Lastly, Yaroslav shares his perspectives on the #euromaidan protests threatening the Ukrainian government, threats from the far-right in that nation, and his own fears as a Russian of the Ukrainian civil society coming further under Russian political sway. http://khimkiforest.org

For info on the May 6th 2012 protestors imprisoned in Russia, check out:
http://avtonom.org/en/freenews/prison-united-all-us

As another ecological struggle to pay attention to, Yaroslav points to as important to support in Russia:
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2213469/mining_russia_thousands_join_the_protests.html

activism, Anarchist, Coal, Elk River, Environment, General, Music, Prisons, West Virginia

Clean water solidarity in WV + Swain’s bid for election

http://seanswain.org
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This episode features three content portions.

The first will be the 2nd in our hopefully ongoing presentation of audio essays by anarchist prisoner Sean Swain, currently held in isolation at Ohio State Prison in Youngstown Ohio for alleged involvement in the Army of the 12 Monkeys, a nascent prisoner guerilla sabotage movement in Ohio prisons which is spreading every wider. Sean Swain denies involvement in the group and a self-identified member of that movement denies his involvement yet he’s been convicted of it despite any evidence and is now serving 23 hours a day in solitary, without human contact. We’ll be featuring mostly weekly segments by Sean from inside prison until the fascist running dogs at OSP shut off our communication. Here Sean gives his bid in hopes of being elected not the next governor of Ohio in 2014, but the last. Check out some of his writings at http://seanswain.org

Our second segment is a conversation with Nat and D, two anarchists in the South East of the U.S. doing mutual aid solidarity work with communities in West Virginia effected by the leaking of chemicals by the sarcastically named Freedom Industries, a company involved in providing chemicals for coal extraction. https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/keeperofthemountains
For more info, if you have the fakebook account: https://www.facebook.com/pages/WV-Clean-Water-Hub

The third part of the show, about half of it, will be the first track by Evergreen Refuge from their album As The Fires Burn. Check more of their work out at: http://evergreenrefuge.bandcamp.com/album/as-the-fires-burn

activism, Anarchist, Feminism, France, gender, General, Health, Hunger Strike, Immigration, Indiana, Nazis, Notre Dames-de-landes, Police, Prisons, Queer, Racism, Vinci, ZAD

Hunger strike at Westville in IN, Sean Swain radio and more!

http://dignityatwestville.wordpress.com
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This week’s episode of the Final Straw starts off with a couple of announcements about recent prisoner resistance from around the U.S. and the upcoming court dates for the NATO3. (links below)

Secondly, we’ll present a short audio essay by Sean Swain, a regularly occurring segment we hope to become a regular portion of our show. Find out more about Sean Swain at http://seanswain.org

http://freethenato3.wordpress.com/

http://prisonbooks.info/2014/01/10/inmates-strike-to-protest-alabama-prison-conditions/

http://www.illinoisprisontalk.org/index.php?topic=31966.0

This’ll be followed by an interview with Deedee, a member of Saving Our Families, a network of those with loved-ones in the Prison Industrial Complex, based out of Indiana. Deedee is also a supporter of Control Unit Prisoners on hunger strike at Westville Correction Facility in Indiana about the strike and the atrocious food distribution, run by Aramark Corrections Services based out of Philly PA. More info can be found at http://dignityatwestville.wordpress.com

And, finally, we’ll present the last portion of the ZAD interview we started with last week. http://zad.nadir.org

Also, we announce that we’re now available at 106.5LPFM in Olympia Washington on KOWA. Tune in on Saturday nights at 9pm to hear us!