Category Archives: B(A)D News

Oral Histories of Political Prisoners + The Role of Anarchist Radio

Oral Histories of Political Prisoners + The Role of Anarchist Radio

book cover of "Rattling The Cages" featuring the drawing of a hand reaching from the dark to pull a string and turn on a bare, hanging light bulbThis week, we’re sharing 3 segments.

First up, Josh Davidson from the Certain Days: Freedom For Political Prisoners Calendar talks about the upcoming book that he co-edited with political prisoner Eric King from AK Press entitled  RATTLING THE CAGES: Oral Histories of North American Political Prisoners, containing over 450 pages of first hand experiences of resisting from within the belly of the beast across generations and movements in Turtle Island. And you can find out more about the Running Down The Walls events at ABCF.Net/WarChest [00:01:22 – 00:28:15]

Then, we’re sharing Sean Swain’s segment on Goyaałé, aka Geronimo. [00:29:14 – 00:38:27]

Finally, we’ll be sharing a panel discussion by members of the A-Radio Network recorded on Saturday, July 22nd 2023 at the International Anarchist Gathering at St-Imier, Jura, Switzerland on the history and role of radio in anarchist and anti-authoritarian resistance, mostly in Europe. If you’re listening to the live radio edition, you’ll hear about 1/3 of that segment, but can hear the whole thing at our website, TheFinalStrawRadio.NoBlogs.Org or at A-Radio-Network.Org [00:38:27 – 01:36:45]

. … . ..

Featured Tracks:

  • Let The Music Play by Arpeggio from Disco Boogie Funk Italo Rare 1970 – 1980

Continue reading Oral Histories of Political Prisoners + The Role of Anarchist Radio

Facing 12 Years in Florida Abortion Graffiti + Anti-Fascist March in Bulgaria

South Florida Anti-Repression Committee

This week, we’re sharing two portions.

"12 YEARS FOR GRAFFITI? These Queer Pro-Choice Activists Needs Your Support! Donate to their legal defense at https://bit.ly/freeourfighters" Pictured are cartoons of a tan masculine-appearing person with shaved head and short beard alongside a brown skinned feminine-appearing person with glasses, a face piercings, long hair and lipstick
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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.

Anti-Fascist March in Bulgaria

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 luknja show on Radio Študent speakin with an activist in Sofia, Bulgaria about the antifascist mobilization known as Anti-lukovmarsh, which will take place on 25th February under the slogan “No Nazis On Our Streets” – This is a manifestation against one of the biggest international neo-nazi gatherings (Lukov March). You can find more info at: http://antifa-bulgaria.org.

Continue reading Facing 12 Years in Florida Abortion Graffiti + Anti-Fascist March in Bulgaria

Voices In Struggle: Remembering Tortuguita + Resistance in Lützerath and Against Tren Maya

Voices In Struggle: Remembering Tortuguita + Resistance in Lützerath and Against Tren Maya

Manuel "Tortuguita" Teran pictured in the forest "TFSR 2023-01-22 | Remembering Tortuguita + Resistance in Lützerath and against Tren Maya"
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This week on The Final Straw, we feature three segments: words from a friend of Manuel “Tortuguita” Teran, the forest defender killed by law enforcement on January 18th outside of Atlanta, Georgia; A-Radio Berlin’s conversation with an activist at Lutzerath encampment in western Germany attempting to block a lignite coal extraction operation by RWE; a discussion of the Tren Maya megaproject by the AMLO administration in Mexico.

Remembering Tortuguita

First up, we caught up with Eric Champaign of Tallahassee, FL, about his friend Manny, aka Tortuguita or little turtle. Manuel Teran was shot and killed by law enforcement during an early morning raid of the forest encampment to defend the Welaunee aka Atlanta Forest and to stop CopCity on Wednesday, January 18th, 2023. Law enforcement claimed in the media that they responded to shots fired and the wounding of an officer by killing the shooter, but at the time of this release the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has not yet produced a weapon or bodycam footage of the clash. [Update, Georgia Bureau of Investigation claims they found Tort’s gun and ballistics match the bullet in the pelvis of the cop] The killing of Tortuguita has sparked outrage, calls for independent investigations, vigils and calls for renewed and dispersed activity. Word is that another 6 people were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism during the raid. Check out our chat with a member of Atlanta Anti-Repression Committee for some context and links to group fighting back in the courts. There’s a fundraiser for Tortuguita’s family at GoFundMe

Eric also speaks about his friend, Dan Baker, who is nearing his release date. You can hear our past chat with Eric about Dan’s case at our website alongside links about the case and how to support him. There’s now a paypal for donations for Dan’s post-release, which can be found at DanielBakerDonations@gmail.com

Then, we feature two segments are selections from the January, 2023 episode of B(A)D News from the A-Radio Network. You can find this ep, #64, alongside many others at A-Radio-Network.Org

Updates from Lützerath

This second segment is a recording by A-Radio Berlin of a conversation with a radio activist from Aalpunk from Lützerath giving some context of the struggle there in the west of Germany. Since this recording, the encampments have been evicted but resistance continues against the ginormous lignite mine that the corporation RWE is attempting to expand there. You can also hear or read our September 25th, 2022 episode for some background. More info at https://luetzerathlebt.info/en

Opposing Project Tren Maya

Finally, we’re sharing a segment by Frequenz-A about Proyecto Tren Maya in the Yucatán peninsula of so-called Mexico. The conversation with a member of Recherche-Ag about a report they published in Solidarity with the Zapatista movement, on the German state and corporate participation in this mega-project and the dangers posed by the Maya Train, which includes huge expansion of electric, travel and other corporate and state infrastructure through sensitive ecosystems and sovereign indigenous lands, being overseen by the Mexican military. You can find this report and more at ya-basta-netz.org.

To hear a past interview of ours talking about Tren Maya & AMLO’s infrastructure projects, you can find our February 2nd, 2020 interview.

Continue reading Voices In Struggle: Remembering Tortuguita + Resistance in Lützerath and Against Tren Maya

Defend Kevin “Rashid” Johnson + Anarchist News Segments

Defend Kevin “Rashid” Johnson + Anarchist News Segments

This week, you’ll hear four segments to the show. To hear the latest Sean Swain segment, you can find it at archive.org.

Medical Neglect at VDOC

Rashid smiling "TFSR 12-11-22 | End The Medical Neglect of Kevin 'Rashid' Johnson + Anarchist News Segments"
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First up, you’ll hear updates on the situation of Kevin “Rashid” Johnson of the Revolutionary Intercommunal Black Panther Party by Shupavu wa Kirima, General Secretary of that formation and partner of Rashid. Rashid has been showing signs of prostate cancer for over a year and his medical visits and care have been clearly delayed and avoided by Virginia Department of Corrections staff and administration. There is a call for phone zaps on the VDOC, Warden McCoy & the rest of Sussex 1 prison to demand that Rashid get the treatment that he needs to stay alive. Updates can be found on the RIBPP instagram & twitter accounts, on Shupavu’s personal social media and RashidMod alongside his writings. You can contact the RIBPP about this effort via defendrashid@protonmail.com . Check the show notes for more links. [ 00:02:26 – 00:21:56 ]

Bad News Segments

Then, we’ll be featuring a few segments from recent months episodes of Bad News from the A-Radio Network:

You’ll hear an interview from the November 2022 episode by Frequenz-A with Lölja Nordic a leftist anarchist from the Feminist Anti-War Resistance from St. Petersburg, Russia, to speak about the international, feminist, anti-war movement against the Russian war in Ukraine. You can find that telegram channel at t.me/femagainstwar in Russian. [ 00:22:42 – 00:35:44 ]

We share an interview by A-Radio Berlin from October with ABC Belarus on the infotour they were conducting at the time. [ 00:36:08 – 00:49:06 ]

Finally, back to Frequenz-A with someone about the squat opened this fall in Slovenia known as PLAC, the acronym meaning square and standing for Ljubljana Participatory Autonomous Zone [ 00:49:24 – 01:02:40 ]

Continue reading Defend Kevin “Rashid” Johnson + Anarchist News Segments

Anti-Coal Struggles in Lutzerath, Germany (+ Bad News)

Lutzerath Resists RWE Coal Extraction (+ Bad News)

Anti-Coal Struggles in Lutzerath, Germany

collage of images including a gigantic digger in a Lutzerath coal pit, an anti-coal banner in German and "TFSR 9-25-22 | Lutzerath Resists RWE + Bad News #60"
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First up, we share an interview with Fauv, a radical who recently participated in the anti-coal occupation in the village of Lützerath / Lutzerath (aka the ZAD of Rhineland) in western Germany against the company RWE. We talk about RWE’s push to break resistance at Lutzerath and the currently-calm Hambach Forest, which activists fear will be attacked by RWE and their goons. More info at https://luetzerathlebt.info/en

You can find our past interviews on:

BAD News #60

We’ll also be sharing the September 2022 episode of Bad News from the anarchist and anti-authoritarian A-Radio Network. You’ll hear a short update from the 2022 anti-racist football (aka Soccer for you ignorant yankees out there) tournament by A-Radio Berlin, an update from Free Social Radio 1431 on labor strikes by the Malamatina Winery workers in Thessaloniki and the pre-trial release of three prisoners accused of participation in Anarchist Action Organization, which ramped up arsons this year. Finally, Frequenz-A shares an interview with Feral Crust collective in Manilla, Philippines! Check out more Bad News.

Continue reading Anti-Coal Struggles in Lutzerath, Germany (+ Bad News)

Free Mutulu Shakur + St-Imier Weekend Libertaire

Free Mutulu Shakur + St-Imier Weekend Libertaire

This week on TFSR, you’ll hear two a conversation about the push to free Dr. Mutulu Shakur from prison and an interview about the 150th anniversary of the Jura Federation gathering in St-Imier, Switzerland. The first portion of this episode will be in a stand-alone zine available soon, the second will sit beside an interview with Robert Graham about his book on the history of the split in the 1st International and the beginnings of the anarchist movement, hopefully in early October.

Button featuring Mutulu Shakur reading "Compassionate Release | Free Dr. Mutulu Shakur", image of the Weekend Libertaire poster from St-Imier + "TFSR 8-28-22"
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First up, Watani Tyehimba of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and a supporter and comrade of New Afrikan political prisoner Dr Mutulu Shakur speaking about Dr. Shakur’s life, activism and the struggle for his release since he’s been diagnosed with serious bone cancer.

Then, you’ll hear portions of the latest episode of Bad News, the monthly podcast from the anarchist and anti-authoritarian radio and podcast network, A-Radio. The segments included are an interview by A-Radio Berlin with an organizer of this July’s Weekend Libertaire on the 150th anniversary of the 1872 Anti-authoritarian International of Working People that happened in July in St-Imier, Switzerland. We hope to have an in depth conversation on the split in the International and the early days of the anarchist movement to share in the near future. You’ll also hear a shoutout for the International Week of Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners, August 23-30th. You can hear more from this and other episodes of BAD News at a-radio-network.org or linked in our show notes. Finally, we’ll be finishing up this episode with Sean Swain’s weekly segment. Enjoy!

We hope to be releasing an interview with Tim (aka Sole) and Aaron from the Propaganda By The Seed podcast next week. Patreon supporters can keep an eye out for the release a few days early.

Continue reading Free Mutulu Shakur + St-Imier Weekend Libertaire

A History of Black Bloc, plus Bad News!

A History of Black Bloc, plus Bad News!

A picture of Autonomen approaching bulle van to apply damage from May Day 1987
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First up, we’re sharing a blast from the past blast from the past, an interview that we conducted in 2013 via our comrades from A-Radio Berlin with a participant in the autonomous anti-capitalist street movement in Germany in the latter half of the 20th century known as Autonomen. Specifically, the guest speaks about the context of anonymous street actions during May Day of 1987 in the district of then-West Berlin known as Kreuzberg and about the tactic that became known as Black Bloc. Apologies for the audio quality of this portion.

Then, you’ll be hearing portions of the May 2022 episode of Bad News: Angry Voices From Around The World by the A-Radio Network, of which the already-mentioned Berlin crew is also a member. You’ll hear:

  • comrades from Free Social Radio 1431AM in Thessaloniki, Greece with some updates from that country.
  • Then, friends at Črna luknja in Lubjlana, Slovenia, shares an interview with members of the autonomous social center in Trieste known as Germinal on the 10th anniversary of that space.
  • Finally, you’ll hear A-Radio Vienna sharing the call-out for the 2022 June 11th Day of Solidarity with Marius Mason and All Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners. You can find more on June 11th at June11.NoBlogs.Org

Continue reading A History of Black Bloc, plus Bad News!

BAD News #47 (July 2021)

Greetings comrades to this, the 47th mostly monthly episode of Bad News, Angry Voices from Around the World. You can find our past shows, info about the network, participating projects and how your project can get involved at our website, a-radio-network.org!

This month, you’ll hear updates from:

  • Radiozones Of Subversive Expression in Athens on issues on immigration, taking back the night against patriarchy and resistance behind bars in Korydallos prison. You can find more from them at Radiozones.Org
  • part of an interview by The Final Straw Radio from the so-called US with a member of the Federation of Anarchism Era, mostly constituted of anarchists in or from Afghanistan and Iran, speaking about the withdraw of US and other Western troops from Afghanistan after 20 years of war and occupation. The full interview is available at thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org
  • Finally, a portion of an interview with two activists about the Syrian revolution that began about 10 years ago. Apologies, but due to technical difficulties it is a little hard to understand at times. Look forward to a cleaner version alongside the longer conversation coming out soon at aradio-berlin.org
We sincerely hope that you enjoy this episode of Bad News for mid-July of 2021. Stay tuned in for the next installment around the middle of next and every month.
length: 36:06

You can directly download it from archive.org

Building Working Class History

Building Working Class History

book cover for 'Working Class History'
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This week, I spoke with John from the Working Class History collective and host of their WCH podcast. We spoke about the new book, “Working Class History: Everyday Acts of Resistance“, that WCH has published through PM Press, their archives, methodology, the project of popularizing working class, movement and human-sized history and a bunch more. [00:05:53]

More info on Working Class History at their website, WorkingClassHistory.Com, in their podcast and on twitter, instagram and facebook in a growing number of languages.

If you thirst for more conversation with John, you’re in luck as Firestorm Books will be hosting a presentation with him about the book on February 25 from 7-8:30pm eastern or UTC – 5. You can find out more at Firestorm.Coop/Calendar.

A transcription, downloadable pdf and imposed zine should be up in about a week here!

Continue reading Building Working Class History

Daryle Lamont Jenkins: Defend DC, December 11 and 12th (plus Updates from Slovenia and Greece)

Daryle Lamont Jenkins: Defend DC, December 11 and 12th

"Yes to solidarity in DC Dec 11 & 12" from DefendDC.org
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This week, you’ll hear a full show, with an update on antifascist resistance in the US by Daryle Lamont Jenkins, updates from Greece and Slovenia (more below). Plus, a segment by Sean Swain [00:01:38 – 00:07:54]

Defend DC, 12/11-12/12

[00:07:52 – 00:51:28]

Our main content is a conversation with antifascist organizer Daryle Lamont Jenkins of the One People’s Project and IdaVox to talk about his views of the state of the far right at this time in the US, their Stop The Steal rallies and the November 14th Million for MAGA March in DC at which three BLM and anti-racists activists were stabbed, what the shift in regimes will mean for anti-racists and the importance of our participation in December 11th and 12th to counter a rally called for by the Proud Boys. You can find Daryle’s work up at OnePeoplesProject.com and at IdaVox.com and more about the December 12th counter demo at DefendDC.Org

B(A)DNews November 2020

[00:51:28 – 01:07:01]

Then, you’ll hear some audios from the latest episode of BAD News, the montly, English-language podcast from the A-Radio Network, of which The Final Straw Radio is a member. In that block, the first audio is an update from Greece by Radio Fragmata, a longstanding pirate station based in Athens. Then, Črna Luknja shares updates from Slovenia, including notes on the repression of the autonomous squatted factory, Rog, in the center of Ljubljana. You can hear the whole episode, plus any past ones, up at A-Radio-Network.Org and finding the BAD News link.

A few links to subjects mentioned:

  • Antifascist Unity Coalition’s Days of Unity site where they talk about their January 2nd mobilization to bring in donations to foodbanks nationwide

  • POPMOB, a Portland-based group building a mass movement against Fascism

  • The documentary “Alt-Right: Age of Rage” which features Daryle Lamont Jenkins can be watched on Netflix or Amazon and likely elsewhere. The feature film “Skin” in which Jenkins is depicted while attempting to help a former white supremacist move out of that milieu is available on youtube for rental. There is also a short film by the name of “Skin” by the same director from the same year that features Daryle which can be viewed on YouTube for free.

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Tracks featured during this episode:

  • “Kick Push (instrumental)” by Lupe Fiasco
  • “It’s Gonna Be Me (instrumental)” by N’Sync