Femboys Against Fascism on Liverpool Anti-Immigrant Riots
Scott talked with members of Femboys Against Fascism, a group based in Liverpool countering anti-migrant protests. The local far right, along with Patriotic Alternative and other ghouls, have been trying to displace refugees being housed in hotels in and around Liverpool in the UK, using the usual fearmongering tactics about crime and danger. The Femboys have been at the forefront of making it known that migrants are welcome in Liverpool, an historically left wing city. In our discussion, we talk about different confrontations, the response of locals and the police, and the role trans people have played in facing off with the fash. Twitter: @FemAntifa
We shared this weeks ago on our patreon as an early release and in the near future we’ll be sharing this on the radio. If you want to get earlier access to chats like that or our chat with Shannon Clay, co-author of the recent history of Anti-Racist Action called We Go Where They Go, alongside many other thank-yous, check out patreon.com/TFSR and consider pledging $3 or more a month. The money goes to support our webhosting, printing and postal costs and, most of all, our monthly transcription work that helps get these interviews translated, printed as zines and sent in to prisoners.
Our interview with journalist and community organizer, Kit O’Connell (of the Texas Observer), and anarchist and activist lorén (of QTPIE or Queer and Trans People Illuminate Everything). Both folks are trans folks in Austin, Texas, and we speak for the hour about the increasing legal and social oppression of trans and gender non-conforming folks in that state as well as across the so-called USA, some of its impacts on trans children and children of trans parents, organizing, allyship and community defense.
It’s also worth nothing that Ms. Bandit is being harassed with doctored photos by conservative groups playing up the fearmongering concerning children, as you can see in this tweet here: https://twitter.com/BrigitteBandit/status/1654503599345377280
DDOS Secrets leak of American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds), an homophobic, anti-abortion and transphobic group run by Christian fundamentalists behind the lawsuit attempting to illegalize mifepristone as an abortion pill and that is confusingly named something like the American Academy of Pediatrics (a legit medical organization). The leak was the feature of a recent article in Wired.
Welcome to 67th edition of BAD NEWS, Angry Voices from Around the World, which is a monthly news program produced by international network of anarchist and anti-authoritarian radios.
This month we have contributions from three radio projects. A-Radio Berlinspoke to a comrade from the anarchist feminist anti-prison alliance, who organizes the annual protest rally in front of the women’s prison in Chemnitz, a small town in Eastern Germany. The focus of the conversation were: hardships of unionizing inside German prisons and the importance of building connections and creating empowering moments together.
The second piece is from Kilavo Seme, a show on Radio Študent Ljubljana, which spoke with an activist from Quelili collective about their interesting and a bit crazy idea to buy a ship which would connect europe and latin america to fight, among other things, for climate justice and against colonization.
Finally The Final Straw Radio is sharing a portion of a new interview with supporters of 4 people facing up to 12 years in US federal prison for alleged after-hours graffiti at a fake abortion clinic near to Miami in the state of Florida in the wake of the Supreme Court removal of the protection of legal right to choose abortion, laws limiting access for trans people to health care and public participation, and other regressive steps across the so-called USA.
This Bad News has been put together by Črna luknja in Ljubljana.
Call in for anarchist prisoner, Noah Coffin #1795167
Noah Coffin, a Texas prisoner was granted parole six months ago (November 2022), but has not been released from Texas Correctional and has not been given a reason why.
Call/Email the Texas parole board and voice concern as to why Noah has yet to be released, you can reach them at: (512) 936-6351 or bpp_pio@tdcj.texas.gov (call script and email script to follow).
Call Script:
Hello, I am calling to voice my concern about a prisoner at the Ellis Unit Detention Center, Noah Coffin 01795167. He was granted parole six months ago and has yet to be released from prison, I am just wondering why that is? I am urging you to release him.
Email Script:
Dear Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles,
I am contacting you on behalf on Noah Coffin 01795167, a prisoner who is incarcerated at Ellis Unit in Texas. Noah was granted parole six months ago, but has yet to be released from prison, I am emailing you to inqure why that is? I am urging you to release him immediately as he has been granted parole.
Upcoming
We are planning a number of other chats in coming weeks that will take a while to find their way into our main podcast stream including: an interview with one of the authors of We Go Where They Go, a history of Anti-Racist Action around the millenium; an interview with comic artist and collagist Johnny Damm; an interview with transfem anti-fascists in the UK about the recent violence in Liverpool as fascists attempted to attack refugees held up in a hotel; Devi Machete of Contra Viento y Marea Comedor mutual aid space run by refugees and anarchists in Tijuana, Mexico; and more.
We’ll be releasing those interviews listed above as we can to our patrons subscribed at a level of $3 or more per month. The patreon funds go to pay for our basic operations cost like web hosting and PO Box as well as to the transcription work that allows our material to be translated into other languages, accessed more easily by folks with hearing difficulties and search engines. The transcripts also get made into zines that can be shared with people behind bars or in person! Check out the growing list of zines at https://tfsr.wtf/zines and consider supporting us at https://patreon.com/tfsr or by other methods at https://tfsr.wtf/support
. … . ..
Featured Track:
If You Go Down (I’m Going Down, Too) by Kelsae Ballerini from Subject To Change
“It Did Happen Here” with Mic Crenshaw and Moe Bowstern
This week, we’re sharing an interview with 2 contributors an amazing history of anti-racist organizing in the late 1980’s through the mid 1990’s in Portland, Oregon, and with ripples across the so-called USA & beyond. In 2020 KBOO radio released a serialized podcast which became the basis for the book.
Mic Crenshaw was born and raised in Chicago and Minneapolis and currently resides in Portland, Oregon. Crenshaw is an independent hip hop artist, respected emcee, poet, educator, and activist. Crenshaw is the lead US organizer for the Afrikan Hiphop Caravan and uses cultural activism as a means to develop international solidarity related to human rights and justice through hip hop and popular education. Crenshaw was a founding member of the Minneapolis Baldies and Anti Racist Action. He was a coproducer and narrator of the podcast version of It Did Happen Here. Moe Bowstern is a alum of the anarchist space in Chiacgo known as the @-zone that lasted from 1993 to 2003. She’s also a writer, laborer, Fisher Poet, and DIY social practice artist. Moe is the longtime editor of many publications, including the commercial fishing zine Xtra Tuf. She contributed to the writing of the book version of It Did Happen Here and lives in Portland, OR.
For the hour, we talk about the book and podcast, the reach, the resonance to anti-racist struggle today in Portland and beyond. We also talk about the toll of the violence faced and engaged by folks pushing back the organized white supremacy of the day, police and institutional violence and other, related topics. If you would like people featured in this book to come and speak at your institution, you can reach them at ItDidHappenHerePodcast at gmail dot com, through PM Press, or via the IDHH instagram.
This book was published by PM Press as a part of the Working Class History series. Another featured title in that series that was recently released was a similar documentary history with a really good narrative on the history of Anti-Racist Action in the 1990’s and early 2000’s throughout the midwest of Turtle Island, both in so-called Canada and the USA, and bits of other areas. Hopefully we’ll feature a chat with one of the contributors to that book entitled We Go Where They Go: The Story of Anti-Racist Action soon on this show.
First up, a chat with two members of the South Florida Anti-Repression Committee doing solidarity for the 4 queer activists facing up to 12 years in Federal prison on charges related to graffiti at a Pregnancy Crisis Center, aka a building funded by church and state to dissuade people from getting abortions. The Department of Justice is charging them under the FACE Act, a criminal law passed in the 1990’s to stop threats, violence and blockades against health clinics that offered like abortions, screenings, contraception and other services under attack by religious extremists in the USA. There are also Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, known also as a SLAPP suits being brought by a Miami-based Christian anti-abortion Crisis Pregnancy Center called Heartbeat of Miami as well as the state of Florida against the accused apparently intended to have a chilling effect and minimize their ability to defend themselves against the Federal indictments.
Oso and Hunter of SFLARC talk about the arrests, about the defendants and the rising tide of gender fascism and war on bodily autonomy in DeSantis’ Florida and around the country.
Following this, we’re sharing audio from the February 2023 episode of Bad News, a monthly English-language podcast from the A-Radio Network. In this segment, you’ll hear comrades from Črna luknjashow on Radio Študent speakin with an activist inSofia, Bulgaria about theantifascist mobilization known as Anti-lukovmarsh, which will take place on 25th February under the slogan “No Nazis On Our Streets” – Thisis amanifestation against one of the biggest international neo-nazi gatherings(Lukov March). You can find moreinfo at: http://antifa-bulgaria.org.
Announcements
Support Parole for Sundiata Jawanza
Political prisoner and activist Sundiata Jawanza in South Carolina has an upcoming parole and is looking for support. You can learn more about his case at https://www.sundiatajawanza.com/
This week, we spoke with Maia Ramnath about her essay contribution to ¡No Pasarán!: Antifascist Dispatches From a World in Crisis. The essay was entitled “The Other Aryan Supremacy: Fighting Hindu Fascism in the South Asia Diaspora”.
For the hour, we talk about about Hindutva, a brand of Indian ethno-religious-nationalism some have called fascism, the organizations that carry it in India and in the sub-continental or Desi diaspora around the world, some of the ideas and actions attributed to it, Islamophobia, Hindutva’s connections with the project of Israel, also it’s overlaps with far right, Nazi-inspired ideologies and how non-Desi anti-fascists can stand in solidarity against it.
Art for Life: Conversations with the Progressive Writers Movement on Pens, Swords, and Internationalism, from Antifascism to Afro-Asian Solidarity (paperback / ebook)
¡No Pasarán!: Antifascist Dispatches From a World in Crisis (edited by Shane Burley). The essay was entitled “The Other Aryan Supremacy: Fighting Hindu Fascism in the South Asia Diaspora”. For audiophiles out there, there is an audiobook version of this book available from AK Press, though it’s a little pricey it is over 20 hours long!
Bursts also recommends Azadi by Arundhati Roy, which includes lots of thoughts on these topics. And you can hear our 2020 interview with Pranav Jeevan P. in Karela state in India which covers many of these same topics, which is also transcribed.
Phone Zap for #StopCopCity Arrestee, Emily Murphy
#StopCopCity protestor Emily Murphy has been in jail for almost a month since being arrested 1/22 following the protest against the police killing of Tortuguita. Emily has been vegan for many years, but the Atlanta City Dentention Center has not been giving them food they can eat. They describe being emaciated and having physical problems after a month of starvation. We are asking that you listen to Emily’s statement, participate in our call in campaign, and show up at Atlanta City Dentention Center at 7pm this Friday (2/24/23) to voice your discontent. We present Emily in their own words
This is a conversation with Matthew Lyons, antifascist researcher, contributor to Three Way Fight Blog and author of, among other books, Insurgent Supremacists: The U.S. Far Right’s Challenge to State and Empire and contributor to the recent AK Press compilation, No Pasarán: Antifascist Dispatches from a World in Crisis (edited by Shane Burley). For the hour, Matthew talks about Christian Nationalist and theonomic tendencies and movements like New Apostolic Reformation, Dominionism, reactionary Catholicism and Christian Reconstructionism to learn more about how they interrelate or conflict with other far right tendencies in the so-called USA and the ongoing assault on bodily autonomy, abortion access and cis-hetero-patriarchy. More of Matthews work can be found at MatthewNLyons.Net
The Post-Internet Far Right and Ecofascism with 12 Rules for WHAT
This week, our guests are Sam and Alex (not their real names). Sam was until recently the co-host of the 12 Rules for What podcast and is the co-author with Alex of their two books, The Post Internet Far Right and The Rise of Ecofascism. Sam is now focusing on writing at Collapsology Sub-Stack and the Collapse Podcast, and you can support Alex’s ongoing work with 12 Rules for WHAT podcast via their patreon or check out the podcast via Apple Podcasts or Channel Zero Network. We talk about fascism, ecological trends on the far right, Patriotic Alternative, Patriot Front, grifters, the Tories and antifascist activism. Oh, and a lot more.
First up, the struggle to Defend the Atlanta Forest and Stop Cop City has been gaining momentum over the last year, in opposition to the building of what would be the largest police urban training center in the so-called USA in the wake of the 2020 George Floyd Uprising, alongside the construction of what would be the country’s largest film sound stage for Blackhall Studios. Coming up, you’ll hear Tony Lane of Defend Atlanta Forest talk about some of the issues involved, the ongoing organizing to stop the destruction of dozens of acres in this forest in the city in the forest, the ongoing info-tours around the country and upcoming week of action from July 23-30th, 2022.
David Campbell on Supporting Antifascist Prisoners
Then, you’ll hear an interview with formerly incarcerated antifascist prisoner, David Campbell, about his experience of incarceration for participation a street melee against fascists in January 2018 in New York City and about the importance of prisoner support and the upcoming annual International Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners on July 25th.
David’s former celly who could use some love:
Bruce Williams #21R0721
Orleans Correctional Facility
3531 Gaines Basin Rd
Albion, NY 14411
David also mentions the Resistance Committee in Ukraine and Operation Solidarity which include participation of anarchists and antifascists resisting the Russian invasion.
This week, you’ll hear a chat with California-based activist Victoria from Merced Under Construction, who talks to us about the prisoner hunger strikes at Merced County Jail and John Latorraca Center. Over 40 prisoners engaged in hunger strike for 17 days, fighting for issues like protesting black mold, little food, lack of visitation and other issues. The hunger strike ended Saturday, March 28th, despite the disrespect of the jail administration. You can learn more about how to support and keep up on https://linktr.ee/mercedunderconstruction or MIRA’s facebook page
You can find coverage of the 2016 Merced Jail protests, check out ItsGoingDown.Org
Eric King Trial Ends
Then, you’ll hear from Josh from the Certain Days Calendar and Mookie from the Civil Liberties Defense Center do an update on a roundup of the recent trial of Eric King. Eric was found innocent on charges of assaulting a Federal Bureau of Prisons Lieutenant, a charge that would have added another 20 years to his time in prison, thankfully. More on his case at SupportEricKing.Org, more on Certain Days at CertainDays.Org and the CLDC at CLDC.org
Ecological Uprising, Antifascism & Anarchist Organizing in Serbia
Serbia has been rocked by recent, mass blockades in the streets to challenge changes to the Law of Expropriation which would allow the state to take farm lands and other private property to open space for constructing mega projects and extraction like the proposed Rio Tinto lithium and jadarite mine in the Jadar Valley. This is building off of earlier ecological protests in 2021 against the building of private mini hydroelectric power plants along rivers in Stara Planina (aka the Balkan mountain range) threatening access to and health of drinking water. These protest in December forced the 12-year ruling right-neoliberal SNS Party to backtrack and modify plans for the Expropriation and public Referendum laws and put an undefined pause on Rio Tinto’s mine.
For the hour, we speak with Marko about those protests, the influence of western NGOs in politics, the Linglong Tire Factory scandal, labor and solidarity organizing with the Anarcho-Syndicalist Initiative of which hes a member and which is a part of the Internatioal Workers Association IWA-AIT and challenges faced by leftist anti-authoritarian organizers in former Yugoslavia. He also speaks about his experience of the covid pandemic in Serbia, the politics of anti-lockdown protests, anti-vaxers and the far right in general around Serbia, the impact of US-born neo-nazi Rob Rundo of the Rise Above Movement and Media2Rise who has returned to Serbia despite being deported to Bosnia and has been organizing fight clubs, international ties and solidarity between various fascistic groups around Belgrade.