Category Archives: AK Press

AK Press, Anarchist, Author, Conflict, harm reduction, Prisons, Rebroadcast

Walidah Imarisha on Angels With Dirty Faces (rebroadcast)

Walidah Imarisha on Angels With Dirty Faces (rebroadcast)

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This week we are rebroadcasting an interview that William and Disembodied Voice conducted with Walidah Imarisha, who is an Oregon based writer, educator, public scholar and spoken word artist about her book Angels With Dirty Faces: Three Stories of Crime, Prison, and Redemption, her 2016 book out from AK Press and IAS, which highlights three distinct experiences that are all in different degrees tangential to the realities inherent to the prison industrial complex. This book won the Creative Non-Fiction Award in the state of Oregon earlier on in 2017.

In this interview we got to touch on a wide array of topics, mostly centered on Angels With Dirty Faces but also on accountability processes and what might have to change in order for them to feel more effective, her relationship to anarchism, and some upcoming projects and appearances.

We also get to touch on the book Octavia’s Brood, a compilation of speculative fiction that Imarisha co-edited with Adrienne Maree Brown, who also wrote the book Emergent Strategy.

More about Imarisha, her work, and upcoming events can be found at http://www.walidah.com/

New York Anarchist Mental Health Conference 2019

First tho, for all of you who enjoyed our interview with Mango and Marin about anarchist approaches to psychiatry and mental health, there is going to be an Anarchist Mental Health Conference in New York City on Saturday February 23rd 2019 at Judson Memorial Church at 55 Washington Square South, New York NY 10012

The call for proposals reads as follows:

“1. Are you an anarchist (or other leftist anti-capitalist anti-authoritarian)?

2. Are you a mental health provider (psychotherapist, counselor, peer specialist, or psychopharm prescriber)?

3. Do you have something to share with anarchist mental health workers? (a critique of the field, a skill you have, or a resource we need to know about)?

If the answer to these questions is yes, please email an accessible language abstract of 100 or so words to nycamhc@protonmail.com describing what you want to share, why it’s important, and what conference participants will take away from the presentation. Separate from the abstract, please also specify how much time you need (45 minutes max) and what format you’ll be using (lecture, workshop, roundtable, longtable, etc)

Please submit proposals to nycamhc@protonmail.com by December 31st 2018.”

Thanks to everyone who reached out to us about the interview about anarchist mental health, your comments and feedback were truly wonderful to hear! Keep an eye out for further interviews with Mango and Marin, on this and other anarchist and anti authoritarian media platforms.

Support the Vaughn Prisoners!

We also would like to report on a very concerning and terrible event which took place recently. For the second time this month, someone connected with the James T. Vaughn prison uprising trials has died.

For a bit of context, from a support flyer at It’s Going Down, “On February 1st, 2017, inmates at the Vaughn Correctional Center in Delaware took control of their unit and held staff hostage in an uprising that lasted 18 hours. They called the media, released a list of demands, and explained their actions as motivated by their conditions of confinement as well as the election of Donald Trump as President. One prison guard, Steven Floyd, was killed by inmates during the uprising.”

The remaining prisoners are still facing charges associated with the riot.

Kelly Gibbs, the man who passed, was not a defendant in the first trial, but his name was mentioned during that time in connection with the uprising. The implications of these two deaths are all too apparent; prison workers and wardens often take matters into their own hands in retaliation for acts of prison rebellion. Now it’s important to support the Vaughn uprising! We will link to an updated flyer that includes all the names and addresses of the remaining people, as well as to articles for further reading.

From the Philly ABC, calling for court support of the Vaughn 17 back in October:

In many ways the demands of the Vaughn 17 anticipated the 2018 National Prison Strike, calling for increased wages for their mandatory labor, and the introduction of rehabilitation and education programs. These comrades positioned their struggle inside against the threat posed by Trump’s election, which has now been realized in the increasing detention of immigrants and the rise of fascism on the outside. Since the occupation’s end, they have been subjected to extreme repression and violence, including beatings and the denial of basic necessities, including having their water shut off. Yet in the face of these hardships and the betrayal, 17 of the defendants are standing together, unwavering in their solidarity.

Here is an updated resource on the Vaughn prisoners and how to support.

Here is an article on the recent passing of Kelly Gibbs.

. … . ..

Playlist here.

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

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

Worshiping Power: An Anarchist View of Early State Formation

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

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

J20 in Asheville

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

Playlist

AK Press, Anarchist, Author, Capitalism, Coal, communization, Feminism, gender, General, History, Indigenous, Labor, Marxism, Neoliberalism, North Carolina, Philosophy, Police, Prisons, Racism, Transcribed, zine

Dixie Be Damned: a regional history of the South East through an Insurrectional Anarchist lens

http://www.akpress.org/dixie-be-damned.html
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This week, we’re excited to present a conversation with Saralee Stafford and Neal Shirley, editors and authors of a new book out from AK Press entitled “Dixie Be Damned: 300 years of Insurrection in the American South”. The book is a study of Maroon, Indigenous, White, Black, worker, farmer, slave, indentured, women and men wrestling against institutions of power for autonomy and self-determination. All of this in a region stereotyped to be backwards, slow, lazy, victimized and brutal. The editors do a smash-bang job of re-framing narratives of revolt by drawing on complex and erased examples of cross-subjectivity struggles and what they can teach us today about current uprisings in which we participate.

Throughout the hour we explore some of the examples that became chapters in the book, critiques of narrative histories and academia and what new ways forward might be towards an anarchist historiography. Keep an ear out for Saralee and Neal’s book tour, coming to a bookspace near you.

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Continue reading Dixie Be Damned: a regional history of the South East through an Insurrectional Anarchist lens →
AK Press, Anarchist, Art, Author, History

Jesse Cohn on anarchist art, lit + resistance culture (1848-2011)

9781849352017
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This week, we speak with Jesse Cohn, author of the recent book, Underground Passages: Anarchist Resistance Culture 1848-2011, published by AK Press. In the book, Jesse explores trajectories in literature, cartoons, comics, music, poetry, drama produced at times by and or for or just conspicuously consumed by anarchists in europe, north and south america and asia during that time period. We talk about what Mr Cohn sees us as seeking to communicate, how we do that, and who we’re speaking to and how those questions change over time. More info on the book can be found at akpress.org

Jesse also puts out an invitation to listeners to share their stories of growing up in an anarchist household (what some might term “Black Diaper Babies”) or as the child of anarchists. The hope is to create a work that’d speak about what multi-generationality looks like or could look like. You can reach him at jcohn(aaat)pnc(d0t)edu with questions or stories.

As a quick update to last week’s episode about the hunger strike at OSP Youngstown by 6 prisoners: Hasan announced on April 15th, 2015 that he and 4 other prisoners stopped their hunger strike. Sedrick Tucker was continuing his hunger strike as of Friday, April 17th, 2015 due to private medical malpractice issues which he did not feel were being addressed by the demands that were met by the prison administrators. The support website, lucasvilleamnesty.org, stated in a recent post that the strike was a mixed victory, with some demands won and others not with the Warden conceding as little as possible. Hasan suggests that concerned people should contact that Ohio Medical Board and ask them to look into Sedrick Tucker’s treatment at the hands of Dr. James Kline. Hasan also suggests contacting ODRC Medical Service Administrator and ask to send another doctor to review Mr Tucker’s situation. It should be noted that Sean Swain also had issues with Dr. Kline during his last hunger strike.
Have a pencil read to write this down if you want to contact ODRC’s Medical Admin.

Stuart Hudson
Medical Service Administrator
770 W Broad St
Columbus OH 43222

To reach out to Sedrick Tucker, here’s an address:
Sedrick Tucker #117-137
OSP
878 Coitsville Hubbard Rd
Youngstown, OH 44505

Writing to Sedrick or in concern for him has real effects in how the guards and doctors will treat him.

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AK Press, Author, Dawn Paley, Drug War, General, Immigration, Mexico, Neoliberalism, Police, repression, Student

Ayotzinapa: Paramilitaries, Narcos, PRDistas + the Teaching Students of Geurrero

The Geurrero State Congress in flames
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This week we spoke with Dawn Marie Paley. Dawn came onto the show last year to discuss her essay, Drug War Capitalism. Dawn is now about the publish a book by that same title with AK Press.

On September 26, teaching students from the leftist Normalista College in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, Mexico, protested in the city of Iguala against public policies and in remembrance of the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre in the run-up to the Olympics. In response to the protest, their buses were fired upon by about a dozen police vehicles later that day. Following that, 57 of the normalista students were detained, with 14 later returned. That leaves 43 unnaccounted for, rabble-rousing students in southern Mexico who’ve been disappeared. Soon the story that Narco’s had taken the students from the police emerged but was withdrawn. The police chief and the Mayor are on the run. The search for the students brought news of 11 recent mass graves discovered in Iguala which an Argentine group is investigating, despite interference by the government. Protests have spread across Mexico, from the burning of the State Congress building in Guerrero to the blocking of freeways in Michoacan to demonstrations in Mexico City and abroad.

Dawn tells us about the overlaps between Narcos and the Mexican State in such state crimes as this and the involvement of U.S. policy/training/weapons & money in the formation of the Mérida Initiative (Plan Mexico) and creation of Drug War Capitalism seen in so many countries in Latin America. Also, this new moment that appears to be flowering in Mexico where people, despite the fear of the impunity of their attackers and the spinning of their webs, are talking and acting against government as a solution and seeking answers in their own hands.

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activism, AK Press, Author, California, Capitalism, Da Bay, General, Gentrification, Neoliberalism

Dispatches Against Displacement in San Francisco: a convo with James Tracy

http://dispatchesagainstdisplacement.org/
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Do you feel insecure with your living situation? Rents always on the rise while wages stagnate? Getting priced out of your neighborhood? Want some ideas on how you might strike back and who against?

This week, Bursts spoke with James Tracy about gentrification and displacement in San Francisco and elsewhere. In his recent book, Dispatches Against Displacement maps some of James’ nearly 25 year struggles around housing rights in SF, mostly in The Mission District, as well as larger histories of the struggle to grow and sustain communities on commodified lands. James is a co-founder of the San Francisco Land Trust, former member of the Mission Anti-displacement Coalition and other groups. We discuss Dot-Com, Tech 2.0, Urban Renewal, Spatial Displacement and more.

More writings by James can be found here: http://dispatchesagainstdisplacement.org/

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AK Press, Author, CounterInsurgency, Rebroadcast, Sean Swain

Life During Wartime (rebroadcast) + Zerzan reads Swain

life_during_wartime
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This episode, we replay an interview from August of 2012. An interview with Will Munger, one of the editors and contributors to the AK Press release of 2013, Life During Wartime. This book is a project of the CounterCounterInsurgency conference that’d happened prior in Portland and the articles discuss various explorations of the use of CounterInsurgency by law enforcement and the military domestically in the United States to suppress political and “a-political” movements and threats. Available from AK Press.

What is COIN (Counterinsurgency)? How is it being applied to movements and communities in the United States? How do we resist it? These are among the topics covered during the conversation.

Among other things, Will’s research has focused on the case study of the relationship and dialogue developed between law enforcement in Salinas, California and the Monterey, California-based Naval Postgraduate School. This relationship has allowed NPS to conduct the beginnings of a proxy-war on the local Latino populations with a focus on eradicating gang networks. Will’s essay, “Social War in the Salad Bowl” won a grant from the Institute for Anarchist Studies this last year.

U.S. Army Field Manual 3-24: Counterinsurgency Warfare
NPS: Gangs and Guerrillas

First, though, John Zerzan reads a script by Sean Swain, anarchist prisoner who’s being denied access to phone and email privileges due to his participation in this show and his recent success at gaining a new lawyer. April 20th marks the 23rd anniversary of Sean’s incarceration, so he reflects on the case that initially got him locked up. His new lawyer hopes to overturn that initial conviction and get Sean released. http://www.seanswain.org