Category Archives: Environment

Ongoing Resistance to the Mountain Valley Pipeline

Ongoing Resistance to the Mountain Valley Pipeline

"TFSR 12-3-23 | Ongoing Resistance To The Mountain Valley Pipeline" featuring a photo of MVP resisters holding a banner with a Palestinian flag and the words "Free Palestine: No Pipelines, No Prisons, No Genocide"
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This week, we checked back in with folks involved in the struggle to block the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 303 mile so-called natural gas pipeline proposed to bring fracked gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale formations across parts of West Virginia and Virginia with an extension into North Carolina.

Since a chat with activists we had in July, there have been nearly weekly actions to block the expansion of the pipeline across waterways and carsed terraine, endangering water tables and ecosystems around central Appalachia. We talk about this proposed project, the damage that’s been done and continues to be spread, the increasing belligerence of the men employed in the destruction and the ramping up legal repression facing activists and community members.

You can learn more by checking out StopMVP.org or follow the social media accounts AppalachiansAgainstPipelines or POWHR. Support of the movement can also be offered up at Appalachian Legal Support Fund. And you can find out about companies involved in the MVP here.

Check out our past interviews about the MVP here.

Sean Swain makes a special announcement at about [ 00:50:00 ]

Announcements

Vehicle for Chico Mendes Reforestation Project

From their GoFundMe:

Proyecto de Reforestación Chico Mendes (Chico Mendes Reforestation Project) is a community-run nonprofit based in the Guatemalan highland village of Pachaj. What began as three friends planting trees on the weekends in 1998 has grown into a family of over 3600 local students and more than 1000 international volunteers who have worked with the project since. With each tree planted, soil bag filled, and weed cleared, we are proving that small steps of change today are what shape the future…

However, Chico Mendes is facing major challenges once again. The recent 30+ days of disruptions stemming from state push-back in recognizing newly-elected President Arévalo has led to the cancellation of two major international, collaborative projects with universities, resulting in 24,000 unplanted trees. With groups unable to come to us, we need to replant all by ourselves. But with less hands available and a mountainous terrain prone to landslides that poses a significant challenge to the replanting process, we are struggling to meet our goals. This is why we are seeking to fundraise for a four-wheel-drive truck to assist the Chico Mendes team in carrying more trees through mountainous terrain to get on track with our replanting mission.

This is a labor of love. People are taking lower salaries so that everyone has some to go around and sometimes, work is done out of the goodness of one’s heart rather than payment, but we need your help. This vehicle would directly help our community sow the seeds of environmental and Indigenous justice.

Check out the GFM link above and if you can throw them some dollars, they’d appreciate it much.

. …. . ..

Featured Tracks:

  • Halcyon by Filastine from Drapetomania
  • Ghost of a Chance by Danny Dolinger from Rome Wasn’t Burnt In A Day

Continue reading Ongoing Resistance to the Mountain Valley Pipeline

Continuing Struggle Against The Mountain Valley Pipeline

Continuing Struggle Against The Mountain Valley Pipeline

Protestors on Mountain Valley Pipeline work site disrupting, near a pile of timber with signs against the pipeline + text "TFSR - 7/9/23, Continuing Struggle Against The Mountain Valley Pipeline"
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This week, we’re sharing a conversation with Rose and Crystal, two comrades involved in the struggle against the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 304 mile, 41 inch in diameter liquified so-called natural gas pipeline with a possible 75 mile extension crossing many delicate waterways, slopes and communities across Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina.

Past episodes with MVP resisters found here.

This project has been off and on under construction since 2018 and was recently forced through at a Federal level as part of the debt ceiling deal by the Biden administration and Democrats. For the hour we talk about the project, the land and water it threatens, the history of resistance and how to get involved in stopping this mess.

Just a headsup, there are some audio quality issues throughout the conversation with both guests, so if you have trouble hearing consider checking out the upcoming transcript or meanwhile watching on youtube with the subtitles on.

You can find more from the folks resisting the MVP by searching Appalachians Against Pipelines on various social media platforms or check the links in our show notes, where you can also find links to our various interviews with folks from this initiative from the last 5 years.

Links

Appalachains Agianst Pipelines (Facebook) (Twitter) (Instagram):

Continue reading Continuing Struggle Against The Mountain Valley Pipeline

May Day 2016 with Peter Linebaugh (repodcast)

May Day 2016 (repodcast)

book cover of "The Incomplete, True, Authentic and Wonderful History of May Day by Peter Linebaugh" featuring a painting of European peasants farming
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We’re happy to share another past episode, this time from May Day 2016, about 4 months before the start of our rss feed for our podcast. I feel it’s notable that this show approaches it’s 13th birthday on the May 9th of this year.

In this show, you’ll hear an interview with autonomous Marxist historian, Peter Linebaugh on essay collection The Incomplete, True, Authentic and Wonderful History of May Day plus some music we curated at the time.

To friends we’ve met, and to those we have yet to meet, I’d like to wish everyone a happy May Day. As we’ll hear in the following hour, this day has a long celebrated history. From its many European pagan roots as a celebration of fertility as the fruits of the spring planting season began to… uh, spring forth. Then on to the repressive winter that fell early on May 3rd and 4th of 1886 in Illinois with, first, the killing of workers striking for an 8 hour work day at the McCormick Works and then the repression of anarchist and socialist workers and organizers following the bombing at Haymarket Square in Chicago of that same year. From there to the taking up of May 1st as International Workers Day by struggling groups around the world and the U.S. adoption of a sanctioned Labor Day in September of the year.

To divide an international working class, The U.S. government, oppressors of that May Day 1886 sanctioned a Labor Day to be celebrated in September, declared the first of May both Law Day (an obvious testament to Irony in respect to the Haymarket 8, all jailed and 4 executed) and, for some, it’s celebration as Americanism Day. Whatever that means. In 2006 & 2007, immigrants rights marches were seen on and around May Days that, for many, re-sparked the importance of this day. The protests and festivals swelled to numbers nearly unmatched in the history of protest on Turtle Island, and were accompanied by school and work walkouts and boycott days.

Whether you’re out there today taking direct action, in repose from the horrors of wage slavery, resisting the carceral state, gardening, dancing around a May Pole or otherwise celebrating the possibilities of this year to come when, hell, we might as well end this system of exclusion and extraction: We wish you a fire on your tongue, love in your heart and free land beneath you.

Continue reading May Day 2016 with Peter Linebaugh (repodcast)

Views On Recent French Protests

Views On Recent French Protests

"Views on Recent French Protests | TFSR, 4-16-23" featuring a photo of protests in France featuring a sign reading in French "No to Macron's Pension!"
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Here’s a chat we just had with 4 radicals in France. Rather than introduce them, I’ll let them do that themselves. We talk about the recent protests and riots in France concerning reforms to the pension system that would push back the age of retirement and increase the amount of years someone has to work in order to retire, the legal manipulation by Macron’s neoliberal government to get it passed, the composition of the demos, the recent ecological demonstrations violently repressed in Sainte-Soline, police violence more widely,  Darmanin’s upcoming immigration and asylum law, antifascists in Lyon, work and austerity.

The conversation is a bit informal and though we cover a lot there is so much more to talk about. For folks who want to learn more, I suggest checking out recent articles on the protests by crimethinc and a recent video from Unicorn Riot and a transcript will be available soon.

You can find our past interview with David Campbell here

Continue reading Views On Recent French Protests

A True(r) Measure of Renewable Energy with Dr. Alexander Dunlap

A True(r) Measure of Renewable Energy with Dr. Alexander Dunlap

"TFSR 3-5-23" + the cover of "Enforcing Ecocide" featuring riot cops in front of a huge digging machine
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This week, I spoke with Dr. Alexander Dunlap about a range of topics, such as Degrowth, green anarchism, the violence of extractivism, questions of the conception of renewable energy and resistance to ecocide. We covered a lot in this discussion and he’s written a lot on a range of related topics. Check out his ResearchGate where many pdfs are available or searching his name on AnarchistLibrary.Net. If there’s something at ResearchGate that isn’t available for download, you can email Alexander and request access.

Other accounts for Dr. Dunlap:

Suggested links:

Our past interviews on resisting infrastructure projects can be found by checking out posts tagged “Environment” or “Earth and Animal Liberation

Books

Articles 

Continue reading A True(r) Measure of Renewable Energy with Dr. Alexander Dunlap

Libertarian Syndicalism with Tom Wetzel

Libertarian Syndicalism with Tom Wetzel

book cover of "Overcoming Capitalism" featuring a red fish swimming away under distress from a school of smaller white fishes shaped like a large fish, "TFSR 1-29-23"
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This week, we share our chat with Tom Wetzel on his recently published book Overcoming Capitalism: Strategy for the Working Class in the 21st Century (AK Press, 2022). Tom is an organizer with Worker’s Solidarity Alliance, an anarcho-syndicalist group relaunching in the SF Bay Area, which publishes to Ideas & Action journal online and is affiliated with the International Worker’s Association IWA/AIT.

For the hour we talk about the book, questions of economics and self-management, the ecological feasibility of Tom’s Libertarian Socialist model, recent labor struggles and other subjects. We hope you enjoy and suggest giving the book a read if this conversation tickles your fancy.

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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

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)

Propaganda By The Seed (with Aaron Parker and Tim Holland)

Propaganda By The Seed (with Aaron Parker and Tim Holland)

Logo for PBTS featuring a tree, the words "Propaganda By The Seed" around te exterior with a circle-A in the roots of the tree
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This week on the show, we feature a chat with Aaron Parker of Edgewood Nursery & Tim Holland (aka MC Sole), who together form the Propaganda By The Seed podcast. You can find the podcast on the channel zero network, Libsyn, and a bunch of streaming services. We hope you enjoy this chat as much as Bursts did. We talk about their project of sharing conversations with various farmers, herbalists, propagators, scavengers, historians and cooks about plants, food autonomy, agriculture mutual aid and a host of other, related topics.

You can find a bunch of Sole’s music at his bandcamp. And, if you want to hear past convos we’ve had, you can find a chat Tim & Bursts had (when Bursts was wicked underslept) in 2017 or Amar & Bursts on the “final” Solecast in 2020.

The podcast that Bursts mentioned but never named is “The Strange Case of Starship Iris“. It’s great, you should check it out.

Continue reading Propaganda By The Seed (with Aaron Parker and Tim Holland)

Stop Cop City + Intl Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners

Stop Cop City + David Campbell on Antifascist Prisoners

This week’s episode features two interviews.

Stop Cop City / Defend the Atlanta Forest

"Support Antifa Prisoners | #J25Antifa | Defend The Atlanta Forest | TFSR 22-07-03"
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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’s links:

Antifascist Political Prisoner Support Sites:

Specific Antifa Prisoners Mentioned:

David also mentions the Resistance Committee in Ukraine and Operation Solidarity which include participation of anarchists and antifascists resisting the Russian invasion.

Continue reading Stop Cop City + Intl Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners