Category Archives: Anarchist

Anarchist, Asheville, General, Occupy

Occupy Wall Street (in Asheville?)

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(originally posted at
http://www.ashevillefm.org/the-final-straw/09/2011/occupy-wall-street-in-asheville)

200 to 300 bodies occupy the space and sleep on the street right next to Wall Street, financial hub of the east coast. To some, the place symbolizes the living and breathing Sacre Coeur of Capitalism, the highest stage of human global awareness and economy. A system offering to break down monolithic governments and swap them for more democratic ones and to scoop the ingenious and hard working out of poverty, it’s promoters often present it as a panacea. Capitalism’s detractors range from the belief that it’s a necessary evil to an alienator of communities and a destroyer of worlds.

This Friday will mark day 13 of the Occupy Wall Street protest. Those occupying the space of Liberty Plaza were definitely influenced by the occupation movements of the “Arab Spring” and the attempted anti-electoral occupations in Spain and have set off many related, if smaller, occupations around the United States (Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles…. in fact 64 listed in total so far in North American and 12 internationally found on occupytogether.org). This Friday, we’ll discuss the movement and the upcoming (Saturday, Oct 01) protest in solidarity with the occupy movement as well as other related initiatives coming out of Asheville.

Anarchist, Anonymous, General, Hacking, repression

An interview with some Bay Area hacktivists on political hacking (August 26, 2010)

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This weeks show is an interview with Flatline from the Hackbloc collective and Bill Silverfox about internet security, hacking, hacktivism, Anonymous and other topics. In light of recent attacks by Anti-Sec against the Arizona DPS, Anonymous on multiple targets and alleged members’ subsequent arrests, the BART protests, Wikileaks, I thought it’d be good to shed some light on a misunderstood topic. We also discuss the role of hackers in the Arab Spring movement as well as international solidarity to disrupt corrupt government censorship and activity, in the hopes of facilitating a more free flow of information around the world (Malaysia, Australia, the U.S., Morocco, Libya, Egypt, China, Iran…etc). Lots of good introductory information on internet security and history of hacking during this hour-long show. Enjoy.
Streaming live on 8/26 @ 1PM EST at www.ashevillefm.org/
Available from 8/27/2011 @ 3AM EST at www.ashevillefm.org/the-final-straw

www.hackbloc.org
www.eff.org
www.anonlg.org
www.torproject.org
www.noisebridge.net
https://hackmeet.org
https://zine.riseup.net

Anarchist, Author, General, History, Police, Prisons, Racism, repression

Police Abolition: An interview with Kristian Williams

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Today’s show features an interview with the Portland-based author and activist, Kristian Williams. Williams speaks on his first book, Our Enemies in Blue (a history of policing in America), on recent articles about community policing and the counterinsurgency training shared between the U.S. military and domestic law enforcement agencies and the growing movement calling for the abolition of police in the United States, and the Pacific Northwest in particular). The show will air at 1pm EST at www.ashevillefm.org and be archived for a week at www.ashevillefm.org/the-final-straw .

Check out www.kristianwilliams.com for more information on the interviewee

Anarchist, Bash Back, General, Prisons, Queer, repression

The Mount Hope Infinity

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In November of 2008, 13 identified individuals entered a mega-church in Lansing, MI, known for it’s active anti-gay stance and organizing. These 13, deemed the Mount Hope Infinity as the number of Jane and John Does (20) kept growing in the civil law suit that followed, threw leaflets telling the congregation (particularly the youth) that it’s ok not to be straight, kissed at the pulpit and chanted slogans. A two and a half year civil suit was subsequently brought by the Alliance Defense Fund (a legal group devoted to the end of persecution to Christians) under the auspices of the “Freedom of Access to Clinical Entrances Act” (a law passed to stop people from blocking access to clinics that offer abortions). This week’s hour is a discussion with one defendant about the case, the events and the aftermath.

Bash Back! communique on Mount Hope:
http://www.myspace.com/bashbacklansing/blog/448202823

The Mount Hope Infinity website:
https://themounthopeinfinity.wordpress.com/

Anarchist, Author, General, Queer

Ryan Conrad: Against Equality in Marriage (February 27, 2011)

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A live conversation with Ryan Conrad, blogger at Against Equality blog and editor of Against Equality: Queer Critiques of Gay Marriage. During the hour we discuss inclusion, mainstreaming, marriage as an institution and the “rights” that come with it. We also discuss the lobbying groups pushing for same-sex marriage.

Against Equality: Queer Critiques of Gay Marriage

Be warned, about 2 minutes of silence on this file version

Anarchist, General, History, Marxism, Music, repression, Spain, Spanish Civil War

“Yo se que un dia te estarias con nosotros como querias, como querias.”

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This week’s show, during Dystopia, I presented my humble homage to the songs of the Spanish Civil War, and particularly to the Anarchist forces. These two hours feature many original recordings and beautiful readaptations, with little rants/snippets of history on the significance of songs.

I noted after the show ended that I left out the original of what is perhaps my favorite song ( “A Las Barricadas”, the CNT theme to the tune of Warszawianka 1905) from that period, available here for your enjoyment on youtube.

For some light reading on the subject, check out:
http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/spaindx.html
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/scw/scw.htm

Anarchist, conspiracy, panel discussion, repression

NC Rising 2: Repression + Counter-Repression

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NC Rising 2 was a weekend of shows, workshops and panel discussions that brought folks from around the United States to Warren Wilson College, outside of Asheville, North Carolina.  Below is the second half of the first panel discussion, on a Friday in 2010.

Repression and Counter-Repression brought together people from all over who had recently been coping with repression to discuss its current framework. Panelists spoke from a variety of perspectives from within “ecological,” “animal liberation,” and “anti-capitalist” struggles. The contributions of each will help broaden our understandings of how repression acts against revolutionary projects and how a practice of revolutionary solidarity can reduce some of the effects of repression and help us to construct an environment of counter-repression.

* What is the framework of repression under which we are operating?

* What is “Revolutionary Solidarity”? What is its function? What are its means?

* How, in such a paralyzing condition of surveillance and political condition of weakness, can we move towards a practice of revolutionary solidarity?

panelists included:
Hugh, who just survived a long legal battle over I-69-related charges;
Katherine, of the Friends and Family Of Daniel McGowan;
Neil, a member of Internationalist Prison Books Collective and a supporter of the Asheville 11, defendants recently accused of 112 misdemeanors and 34 felonies;
Talia, a survivor of Minnehaha Free State repression, member of the Coldsnap Legal collective, worker for the NLG, and member of the Conspiracy Tour.

This panel was moderated by an editor of Rolling Thunder magazine.

The recording of Part one was unusable.

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activism, Anarchist, Cleveland 4, May Day, Police, Prisons, repression, Security Culture

Gail Stevens, mother of Connor, Cleveland 4 defendant

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This week’s show features a conversation with Gail Stevens. Gail is the mother of imprisoned activist and anarchist, Connor Stevens, who is one of the four anarchists that the FBI is accusing of attempting to blow up a bridge outside of Cleveland, Ohio. Connor and two other defendants, Brandon Baxter and Doug Wright, have taken a non-cooperating plea deal in the case and face their sentencing hearing on November 5th & 6th of 2012. Joshua Stafford is currently undergoing psychiatric testing to see if he can stand trial. Anthony Hayne took a cooperating plea.

During the interview Gail talks about her son, Connor, and offers a different story than what the FBI and even Rolling Stone Magazine have proposed as to what happened leading up to the arrest of the 5 on April 30th of this year. Gail also rips into the poor journalism involved in “The Plot Against Occupy” and tells us what Sabrina R. Erdely got wrong.

For more info on the case, check out http://cleveland4solidarity.org

For a news excerpt with video of Connor at Occupy, check out:
http://youtu.be/DEpQwuTMALA

activism, ALKQN, Anarchist, Author, communization, conspiracy, CounterInsurgency, Earth & Animal Liberation, General, Grand Jury, History, Immigration, Occupy, PNW, Police, Prisons, repression, Security Culture

Life During Wartime: Counterinsurgency in the U.S.

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This week’s show features a conversation with William Munger, co-editor and contributor to the upcoming AK Press book, Life During Wartime (2013). We talk about the application of Counterinsurgency praxis by law enforcement domestically in the U.S. and what that looks like in it’s varying forms.

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

The playlist for this show can be found at AshevilleFM

activism, Anarchist, Cleveland 4, conspiracy, General, May Day, Occupy, Prisons, repression, Security Culture

The Case of the Cleveland 4: The FBI, Entrapment & the construction of Terrorists

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This week’s conversation features a discussion of the case of the Cleveland 4, anarchists arrested in Ohio on April 30th for allegedly attempting to blow up a bridge. But the case isn’t so simple as idealists independently taking direct and spectacular action against infrastructure. As members of Cleveland 4 Justice (the support group for the defendants) share with us information about the accused, what is known about the alleged infiltrator sent by the FBI to facilitate a terror case (Shaquille Azir), and the significance of the timing of the arrests to coincide with May Day celebrations worldwide and the reawakening of the Occupy Movement in the U.S., we see a widened scope of intrigue and entrapment that fits into a bigger picture of corrupt government and self-serving security services.

Cleveland 4 Justice. ORG
How FBI Entrapment Is Inventing Terrorists and Letting Bad Guys Off The Hook”

Crimethinc’s “Inside The FBI Entrapment Strategy”
My boys, The Cleveland 5