Category Archives: General

General, Germany, Hamburg G20, J20, repression

Defend J20 Resistance & Hamburg G20 Invite (Welcome To Hell)

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In this week’s episode we feature two interviews. In the first, we spoke with Em, a supporter of the mass arrestees from the January 20th inauguration of Donald Trump in Washington DC earlier this year. We also speak with Jay, who was one of the arrestees. The two share first and secondhand experiences of the arrests, detention, denial of medication, rough rides and arraignment that accompanied those arrested at 12th & L that day. We also talk about where the court case is now and how to support the over 230 people kettled as Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kerkhoff and other state agents attempt to give everyone 80 years in prison for alleged property destruction. More info on the effort at https://defendj20resistance.org

To hear some interesting and entertaining musical approaches to resisting the repression of the J20 arrestees, check out https://kerkhophony.bandcamp.com/releases . Some of these tracks will be featured in the podcast version of this show, up soon at https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org

In the second portion, I chatted with anarchists in Hamburg, Germany about the upcoming protest against the G20 summit that is scheduled there between July 6th and 8th. The guests speak about the history of resistance in Hamburg, the state ramping up repression, it’s impacts on marginalized folks living there and on the planned protests and how to get involved. More info on this initiative can be found at https://g20tohell.blackblogs.org/2017/02/11/english/
Our blog and podcast will also host links and audio from a few songs in German meant to bring folks out into the streets of Hamburg. Here’s a video for one.

If you’re listening still on June 11th, happy day of Solidarity with Long Term Eco & Anarchist Prisoners, Marius Mason and beyond! Whatever your solidarity looks like, don’t get caught. Local events can be found at june11.org. Don’t forget to submit your anonymized and proxied exploits to june11@riseup.net. Also, check out the awesome series of interviews with prisoners, former prisoners and their supporters done by the June 11th crew that are up at It’s Going Down by searching for june 11th.

Announcements

Kevin “Rashid” Johnson
New Afrikan Black Panther, Kevin “Rashid” Johnson is a long term prison organizer and published author. Rashid is being retaliated against for his prison organizing. According to the blog PAPS Texas, “He had a shank planted on him which was used as an excuse to take away his legal materials and typewriter.

Please call the following numbers.

William Clements Unit
(806) 381-7080 – ask to speak to the warden’s office or if unavailable to property
open 24/7

Region V Director
Phone: 806-296-4500 or FAX 806-296-4521
Ask for Captain Ramirez
Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Ombudman’s office
Phone: (936) 437-4927
Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m
Follow up by emailing: ombudsman@tdcj.texas.gov”

more info, including a script you can borrow from and more in-depth descriptions of what happened to Rashid can be found at http://rashidmod.com

Editorial

As in many locations yesterday (June 10th 2017), Raleigh NC saw immense opposition to the Anti-Sharia Law marches, for the most part called for by Act for America which is a far right islamophobic group that alleges that the US is slipping into Sharia Law via whatever wingnut influence they think is going on. Like pretty much everything in this vein, this notion belies an extremely poor understanding of what Sharia is and how it functions, basically transforming it into yet another proxy for islamophobia and “patriotic”, white supremacists zealotry in the mouths of racists. Yesterday saw (as I mentioned before) nationwide opposition to this farce, with battles from Seattle and Portland to our very own North Carolina, where the anti-racist crew outnumbered the racists by about 4 to 1, demoralizing them into an early dispersal and hopefully a lowered self esteem. Keep your eyes peeled for updates and report backs on your favorite anarchist news sites, like It’s Going Down!

To editorialize for a second, at the start of this Pride month 2017 there were seemingly a lot of LGBTQ people joining the Act for America shindig in the name of protesting the alleged homophobia and misogyny under Sharia. As a gay person myself, I would say to any LGTBTQ individual who joined Act for America yesterday that you need look no further than your own home country to see brutal and systemic attacks against women and queer folks any day of the week without resorting to otherising and racist rhetoric to express your so called rage at homophobia. And before you start crying, wringing your hands, and trying to derail this statement, it’s true that patriarchy and homophobia exist everywhere, it would be ridiculous to say otherwise. That’s not what I’m talking about tho. What you did yesterday and what you are continuing to do by joining the right is lending them another facet by which they justify their own bigotries (plus I daresay expressing your own as well), and by lending them numbers. What in any case is the point of protesting this phenomenon, which the right neither understands nor knows how to interpret, other than to oppress an already beleaguered demographic of people in the States?

In closing, I’ll say that make no mistake that the far right will throw you under the bus at the first opportune moment. They historically always have. So if you like that kind of thing, then knock yourself out. If not, check your shit and examine who is telling you what, why, and at what cost to you.

Playlist

Colonialism, Colonization, General, Indigenous, May Day, Race, Racism

Paganism, Anarchism May Day with Rhyd Wildermuth

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This week Bursts spoke with Rhyd Wildermuth. Rhyd is a co-editor and founder or the website Gods & Radicals, which also publishes periodical journal entitled “A Beautiful Resistance”. For the hour, we speak about paganism, anti-capitalism, race and whiteness in the context of ethical approaches towards earth-based religions as white people in a Settler Colonial society, May Day and more. You can find his projects at https://godsandradicals.org

We also repeat our announcement of the upcoming anarchist bookfaire in Asheville:

If you’re in the South East (or wherever), you are cordially invited to attend the 1st Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfaire, also known as ACAB2017 from May 5-May 7th in Asheville, North Carolina. The weekend of events kicks off with an a welcome table at firestorm books at 610 Haywood Rd from 3pm until 6pm with a schedule of events and ways to plug in. There are multiple musical events Friday and Saturday night. Featured speakers include Shon Meckfessel, Jude Ortiz of Tilted Scales Collective, members of the crimethInc collective as well as from the Water Protectors Anti-Repression Crew and a special appearance by author and activist Ward Churchill. Vendors over the weekend will include PM Press, AK Press, Little Black Cart, Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness, Combustion Books and many more. Consider the daytime events to be all ages. Check out http://acab2017.noblogs.org for updates and info.

More up-to-date announcements and episodes will pick up along with audio from our participation in the International Anarchist Gathering in Athens, Greece, starting up mid-May, 2017. Check out our social media feeds to see and hear elements of it, including the live broadcast on April 30th from Athens.

Antifa, General, Kentucky, Nazis, Protest, Racism

Eastern KY Antifa on resisting the TWP plus antifascist metal

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This week William spoke with a member of Eastern Kentucky Antifa about the upcoming resistance to the Traditionalist Workers Party’s event in Pikeville KY. This group, along with The Nationalist Socialist Movement, The American Freedom Party, League of the South, The Iron March Forums, and other groups which it is accurate to call neo-Nazi are converging to form The Nationalist Front.

They will gather on Friday, April 28th on private land for camping, a series of speakers, and trainings. The following day, they are planning to rally in front of the courthouse in Pikeville, KY at 2:00pm EST. They plan to retreat to the location where their camping and the conference is being hosted to hold an after party as well as a “secret event.” In this short interview, we talk about what to expect from this event, some of the history of fascist and proto fascist activity in rurual KY, and things that resisters should keep in mind.

One thing that we did not mention is that phone reception is very spotty in this area, so if you are going you should come having printed off paper maps beforehand. You can see an excellent article on this by going to It’s Going Down
After this interview we will hear some new antifascist, antiracist metal from The Dark Skies Above Us Collective out of Greece.

ANNOUNCEMENT If you’re listening in Asheville come out to a queer country show and corn dog pop up to benefit the Tranzmission Prison Project, a decade long running project which sends free books and resources to LGBTQ incarcerated folks. This event will be on Wednesday April 19th at the Double Crown at 375 Haywood Rd Asheville NC, food starts at 6 music at 8 come out! You can get in touch with Tranzmission by writing them at tranzmissionprisonproject@gmail.com or by writing PO Box 1874, Asheville NC 28806.

——–

Playlist here.

activism, Earth First!, Environment, General, Oil, Prisons, repression, Tilted Scales

A Tilted Guide to Being a Defendant

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Interview
This week Bursts spoke with Jude, a member of the Tilted Scales Collective, about the collective’s new book, A Tilted Guide to Being a Defendant out from Combustion Books.
In this interview, they speak about the Tilted Scales Collective, which is “a small collective of dedicated legal support organizers who have spent years supporting and fighting for political prisoners, prisoners of war, and politicized prisoners in the occupied lands of Turtle Island (i.e., the so-called united states).” from their website, and about the book which is a comprehensive run down for people facing legal charges and how to cope with handling them.

You can visit them at https://tiltedscalescollective.org/

Announcement

From fighttoxicprisons.org:

The Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons (FTP) is a collaboration with the Abolitionist Law Center. FTP’s mission is to conduct grassroots organizing, advocacy and direct action to challenge the prison system
which is putting prisoners at risk of dangerous environmental conditions, as well as impacting surrounding communities and ecosystems by their construction and operation. At this time, FTP is focused on opposing the construction of a new federal prison in Letcher County, Kentucky.

FTP is inspired by the abolitionist movement against mass incarceration and the environmental justice movement, which have both been led by the communities of color who are hardest hit by prisons and pollution.Both these movements also have long histories of multi-racial alliances among those on the front lines of the struggle and those who can offer support and solidarity, which we aim to build on.

FTP has been informed by the ongoing research and analysis of the Human Rights Defense Center’s Prison Ecology Project, as well as the work of the Earth First! Prisoner Support Project and http://June11.org

FTP has just announced that their 2017 convergence will be from June 2-5th in Denton/Fort Worth Texas. It will include speakers, panels, workshops, protests and cultural activities, including an art show and hip-hop performances.

Some proposed topics are:
– Mapping Toxic Prisons
– The History and Future of June 11
– Building Mult-Racial Alliances Against Incarceration
– EJ Lessons from the Pipeline struggles

Why Texas?

Environmentalists know Texas as the financial headquarters of oil and gas empire that controls the nation’s political system, where fights against pipelines like Keystone XL and Trans-Pecos have captured the attention of the nation.

Prison abolitionists know Texas as home to one of the most brutal and corrupt state prison systems in the country, where extreme heat is coupled with tainted water, and vocal participants from the September prisoner strike like Keith ‘Malik’ Washington sit in long term solitary confinement, subjected to both.

You can stay updated on this event and see more about Fight Toxic Prisons at http://fighttoxicprisons.org

Playlist here

Anarchist, ChannelZeroNetwork, General, Hasan, Lucasville Uprising, Ohio, Prisons, sub.Media

Lucasville Uprising Hunger Strikers & “Trouble”, a New Project by subMedia

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Interviews with Queen Tahiyrah and Franklin López

This episode contains two segments:

In the first, Bursts spoke with Queen Tahiyrah about the hunger strike being engaged by Imam Siddique Abdullah Hasan and Jason Robb, two death row inmates put there by their attempt to resolved the hostage taking involved in the 1993 Lucasville Prison Uprising. During the uprising, Jason Robb and Hasan acted as negotiators for the prisoners as representatives of the Aryan Nation prison gang and Muslim prisoners, respectively, at the facility. More on their case can be found at http://lucasvilleamnesty.org. Check out Queen Tahiyrah’s podcast, entitled SiGnOtHeTiMeS. We apologize that the beginning of Queen Tahiyrah’s interview sounds crappy – that was a technical fail on our part – but it clears up after
about 2 minutes.

In the second segment, Bursts chatted with Franklin López about Submedia, the importance of anarchist media production, his upcoming anarchist hip hop podcast, and the new short documentary series they’re about to start releasing entitled Trouble. Trouble is available for public showings, so find yourself a venue in town, contact Frankie and company via https://submedia.tv/get-in-touch/, pass word of the event in town via flyers and word of mouth and antisocial media and make some friends where you’re at!

The first episode will focus on diversity of tactics at Stand Rock with a focus on the Red Warrior Camp. More work by Frankie can be found at https://submedia.tv. Oh, and there’s an announcement of a podcasting network looming on the horizon (Channel Zero Network). More to come on that in future episodes.

Announces

Benefit Shows: Help our comrades arrested at J20!
If you’re in Asheville or the surrounding area, there is a benefit show TONIGHT (March 12) at the Odditorium at 1045 Haywood Rd in West Asheville. Proceeds will benefit our comrades who were arrested during the inauguration protests in DC earlier this year.
Also, next Monday the 20th there will be a dance party to benefit J20 arrestees, come dance to mod, punk, and all the classics new and old with DJ Murphy Murph! This will be at the Lazy Diamond at 98-A N Lexington Ave in downtown Asheville.

Rebel! Rebuild! Rewild! call for submissions
The Rebel! Rebuild! Rewild! Collective has put out a call for submissions of texts about strategic lessons that can be learned from the resistance at Standing Rock. As one phase of the resistance has ended and another has begun, the idea is to compile experiences and analyses and reflect on the lessons learned from this game-changing moment in movement history.

This project is mostly for the benefit of those who were not present at Standing Rock but who might participate in something similar in the future.

The plan is to publish a compilation of thoughtful strategic analyses, both online and in print. However, seeing as it might not be possible to publish everything that people submit, the plan is to put an unedited version of everything that folks submit onto a wordpress site sometime in the future.

The call is to write about anything you’d like to, but some leading questions are:

Which actions were most effective?
Which actions were least effective?
Do you have any insights on dynamics between indigenous and
non-indigenous water protectors?
What was unifying?
What was divisive?
What can we learn from the tactics of DAPL, the police, and the state?
What can we learn from the legal battle?
What message would you like to pass on to future water protectors?

Please submit writing to rebelrebuildrewild@riseup.net. Submissions can be signed with your legal name, an alias, or be anonymous. Please include whatever information about yourself that you consider relevant.

Playlist

activism, Anarchist, California, General, Move 9, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Political Prisoner, Prisons, Water

I Don’t Know About Yall, But I’m in it to Win it: a conversation with Black Rose Anarchist Federation in L.A.

Black Rose Anarchist Federation

blackrosefed.org
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This week we spoke with Romina and César, who are two members of the Black Rose Anarchist Federation in LA. We talk about what it’s like organizing in an Especifist federation model of anarchism, about anarcho-communism, and tensions and points of unity between non federation and federation organizing. We wanted to interview these folks in order to present another model of possible engagement, for folks who perhaps are looking for ways to plug in. This conversation is somewhat introductory, and we welcome any feedback you have. To see more on this project, you can visit http://www.blackrosefed.org/

 

Announces

Asheville-Area Events

Tonight, Sunday the 5th of March from 5 to 7:30pm at Firestorm in Asheville, join Blue Ridge Anarchist Black Cross for an evening of solidarity in the form of letter writing for long term political prisoners: people who are locked up for their activism and resistance to systems of domination and oppression. Supplies will be provided as well as copies of the March 2017 prisonbooks Political Prisoner birthday calendar. More info can be found at https://brabc.noblogs.org

On Thursday, March 23rd, check out the Tranzmission book packaging party, also at Firestorm. Tranzmission prison project is an all volunteer, books-and-zines-to-prisoners project that focuses on getting materials to incarcerated LGBTQI prisoners. This event starts at 6pm.
http://avlcommunityaction.com/

On Sunday March 12th at the Odditorium in Asheville, there’ll be a benefit for folks facing charges attached to the J20 Inauguration protests in DC this January. The door is at 8pm, it’s a sliding scale donation and an all-ages show. Bands include: Gullible Boys; Mother Moses; Maitland +more TBA
https://www.facebook.com/events/844030912404007/

Water Crisis in PA Prisons

Since August of 2016, Mumia Abu-Jamal and other Inmates at the State Correctional Facility in Mahanoy, Pennsylvania, have been plagued with unsafe drinking and bath water.

For several months now, inmates have complained about brown, oily water in both the showers and the faucets of their cells. This has been an on-and-off problem from August 2016 to this very day. One of the inmates at SCI Mahonoy, Lorenzo Cat Johnson, when asked of the matter, stated that one week the water seems good and another week, when run, the water seems to go from the color gray to the color brown.

As recently as last week in a conversation with MOVE Political Prisoner Edward Africa, Eddie was asked what he did for water and he stated that he obtained his water from a hot water filter that was on his cell block.

So other than the alternative to obtain a little water from a hot water filter, men are being forced to shower and wash in brown water. Eddie stated that the only time inmates can get bottled water is when they are on a visit in the visiting room. All the while, prison staff are being provided bottled water at SCI Mahanoy and are being told not to drink the water because it’s unsafe.

Mumia Abu-Jamal, who is suffering from a very serious skin condition due to Hepatitis C, is required to take specialized baths in the prison infirmary, but has not been able to take these baths due to the water hazard. Grievances have been filed on this matter, but to no avail–the water situation has not been resolved.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

On March 6, 2017 there will be a National Day of Action aimed at both Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel.

The power is in the hands of the people; the only way to make these officials respond is through massive public pressure, so we are upping the ante.

From 9 am to 12 noon, folks are being asked to call, fax, and tweet the office of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf.

(P) (717) 787-2500
(F) (717) 772-8284
(Twitter) @GovernorTomWolf

From 1 to 3 pm, folks are being asked to call, email, and tweet Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel.

(P) (717) 728-2573
(Email) Ra-crpadocsecretary@pa.gov
(Twitter) @DOCSecretary

These Are the Demands:

(1) Inmates at SCI Mahanoy are provided immediately with clean water both
for their bathing and other personal needs.

(2) An environmental Protection Agency testing of the water at both SCI
Mahonoy and SCI Frackville.

(3) Bottled water be provided immediately to inmates in all Correctional
Facilities across Pennsylvania.

Let’s keep the pressure on to get clean water for the men and women
across Pennsylvania’s state prisons.

For more info, people can go to
http://www.freemumia.com/
http://www.bringmumiahome.com

General, Music

NEW(ish) ANARCHIST (and antifascist) MUSIC plus announcements

Music, Music, Music

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This week we thought we’d take a teeny break from politics and scream it out with some new and not so new anarchist and antifascist punk, metal, new wave, and more. We’ll be back next week with an anarchist take on updates at Standing Rock and how to keep anti extraction momentum going, plus strategies on how best for non indigenous folks to be accomplices in indigenous struggles.

For music, as we have in the past, we tip our hats generously to the good folks at Red And Anarchist Black Metal & The Dark Skies Above Us for continuing to offer space for aggressive and not-so-aggressive anti-racist, antifascist, feminist, ecological, anti-capitalist, and generally anti-authoritarian music from around the world!

Announcements

Standing Rock Arrests

These three people are being held by police in connection to water protection at Standing Rock, this information is from It’s Going Down and the Water Protector Anti-Repression Crew.

Rattler is a Water Protector who is currently being held pre-trial on federal felony charges produced through a grand jury indictment. Rattler’s home is at Pine Ridge and he comes from a long legacy of struggle that he continued at Standing Rock against the Dakota Access Pipeline and it’s world. Please support Rattler as he fights these charges brought against him by the federal government. Rattler would love to receive your letters and cards of support.

Rattler loves fantasy fiction and Dungeons and Dragons material. He’d appreciate something to read while he is inside.

Michael Markus
Box 1416
Bismarck, ND 58502-1416

Red Fawn Fallis is still being held pre-trial on federal charges as well. Red Fawn has shown her dedication to the water, the earth and all that is sacred. Her spirits remain high despite the ways in which the state hopes to squash her. Please send your support to Red Fawn through letters!

Red Fawn Fallis
Stutsman County Correctional Center
205 6th st. SE, Ste 201
Jamestown, ND 58401

Charles Jordan has been held in Morton County Jail since November 17th, 2016 on three state felony charges. He was initially ineligible for bond and his current conditions of release set by the court are unable to be met at this time. His brutal arrest is not the only time Morton County Sheriffs enacted such violence on Water Protectors. We have received reports of continued mistreatment while in custody including lack of medical services and hygiene access for weeks at a time. Please send Charles a letter letting him know that he is not alone!

Charles Jordan
Morton County Correctional Center
205 1st Ave. NW
Mandan, ND 58554

We will be posting this information on our blog, and you can check out It’s Going Down for this and similar news and info.

Petition Gov. Cuomo not to restrict visiting hours

We really need to ramp up the pressure on this horrible visiting restriction Cuomo is about to jam in there. This is an issue that affects all of our fellow Certain Days editors, David Gilbert, Seth Hayes and Herman Bell, and thousands of other people in NY state prisons.

Governor Cuomo has just proposed to limit visiting at New York State maximum security prisons to 3 days a week instead of the current 7. If passed, this measure will be awful for thousands of people and their families.

The Governor talks a bunch of crap about compassion and reducing mass incarceration, but this proposal will seriously escalate suffering and family disruption. Under the current 7-day system, weekend visitors (many are women with young children) often wait 2-3 hours to see their loved ones. With reduced days, the wait will be longer, the visitor rooms more crowded, the visiting days and hours even more limited. This will be terrible for everyone and impossible for many.

Please email and write these people below and remind them how important visiting is and how this proposal is wrong on all levels.

***** Governor Cuomo *****

Sign:
https://www.change.org/p/governor-cuomo-don-t-restrict-visits-in-nys-prisons

Call (weekdays) –> (518) 474-8390

Email: https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form

Write:
The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224

Email these people:

1) Marta Nelson, marta.nelson@exec.ny.gov
– Executive Director of the
Governor’s Council on Community Re-Entry and Reintegration

2) Acting DOCCS Commissioner Annucci, anthony.annucci@doccs.ny.gov

3) Senator Gallivan, gallivan@nysenate.gov
– Senate Chair of Corrections Committee

4) Assemblymember Weprin, WeprinD@nyassembly.gov
– Assembly Chair of Corrections
Committee

5) Senator Avella, Avella@nysenate.gov
– Senate Chair of Children & Families Committee

6) Assemblymember Jaffee, JaffeeE@nyassembly.gov
– Chair Assembly Committee on
Children & Families

Playlist

activism, Anarchist, crimethInc, General, J20, Music, Protest

Where To Now?: A CrimethInc. participant on significance of election and moving forward

#DisruptJ20

http://www.crimethinc.com/blog/2016/11/11/no-peaceful-transition/
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This week we spoke with an autonomous participant in CrimethInc. about the work of that collective around elections, about their views on the recent election of Donald J. Trump as president of the U.S.A., voter turnout, anarchist perspectives on elections, democracy, and about building on-the-ground resistance to not only this new administration but the autonomous far right that’s attempting to emerge more and more these days. More from CrimethInc., including their recent audio-zines and the ex-worker podcast can be found at http://crimethinc.com

The callout for protests at the 2017 Presidential Inauguration in Washington, DC can be found: http://www.crimethinc.com/blog/2016/11/11/no-peaceful-transition/

Announcements

Former Political Prisoner Panel 2016 pt1

The Final Straw recently released the first half of the Former Political Prisoners Panel discussion from the 2016 North American Anarchist Black Cross conference in Denver as a podcast. That included introductions by former Black Liberation Army and Black Panther member Sekou Kombui who served 47 years in prison, former United Freedom Front militant Kazi Toure, former Earth Liberation Front member Daniel McGowan and anti-fascist activist John Tucker who was imprisoned as one of the Tinley Park 5. Check it out by visiting: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2016/11/13/naabc-former-political-prisoners-panel-2016-pt-1/

The Presidential Election

As of today, Sunday November 13th, it seems like there has been one thing on our minds since Tuesday. People have been expressing their rage at this election in many different ways around the US, the first four days saw protests ranging from less militant rallies to night marches, burning effigies, and highway shutdowns. Here in Asheville there were four days worth of protests, one of which rallied 150 people who blocked a major intersection in downtown for a good while and held its ground by the Vance Monument, built for the slave-owning KKK member Zebulon Vance who was one of Asheville’s so called white founders.

Moving forward will look like a lot of different things, already we have seen at least three autonomously called for general strikes to occur around and on the inauguration on January 20th, and the amount of assemblies and strategy building infrastructure on the anarchist left is growing by leaps and bounds! If you are part of organizing and you do not see yourself represented elsewhere, please feel free to write to us at thefinalstrawradio( at)riseup.net with what you are doing, how it’s going, what you hope to see come out of it, all that jazz. We will be happy to broadcast it, or not if you would prefer. Also, stay tuned to this and other audio projects for more ideas on how to engage.

Crushing Intolerance music this episode

In the last portion of the episode, we’ll be hearing two tracks from the newest Crushing Intolerance compilation by The Black Metal Alliance, which is a collection of metal artists promoting equal rights for all life. This is comp #4. First off, here’s Arete with Beneath The Pond. Arête is Melancholic Mountain Black Metal from the Rocky Mountains, the Appalachian Mountains, and the Black Hills. Finally, this is Seeds In Barren Fields with The Epitaph of the Vain and the Forgotten. SIBF is a Swedish metal band. Money from the compilation Crushing Intolerance IV goes to Canadian and Swedish chapters of No One Is Illegal a migrant justice movement rooted in anti-colonial, anti-capitalist, ecological justice, Indigenous self-determination, anti-occupation & anti-oppressive communities. More on the comp at https://blackmetalalliance.bandcamp.com/

Playlist

activism, Alabama, Anarchist, Anti-Racist Action, Daniel McGowan, Earth & Animal Liberation, General, History, John Tucker, Kazi Toure, Kevin Tucker, panel discussion, Political Prisoner, Prisons, Sekuo Kombui, United Freedom Front

NAABC Former Political Prisoners Panel 2016, pt 1

Former Political Prisoners Panel

denverabc.wordpress.com
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Here we present the first half of the Former Prisoner Panel of the 2016 North American Anarchist Black Cross Conference. During the hour, you’ll hear words from Sekou Kombui, Daniel McGowan, John Tucker, Kazi Toure. These speeches will be prefaced by some brief introductions, the texts of which can be found below.

This audio will air soon as a radio episode.
For more info on political prisoners in the U.S., check out http://denverabc.wordpress.com or http://nycabc.wordpress.com

Sekuo Kombui

Sekou is a former political prisoner who survived 47 years of incarceration. Throughout the 1960’s, Sekou participated in the Civil Rights movement, organizing youth for participating in demonstrations and marches across Alabama, and providing security for meetings of the Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC), Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Sekou became affiliated with the Black Panther Party in 1967 in Chicago and New York. While in Detroit, he became a member of the Republic of New Afrika, before returning to Birmingham. Back in Alabama, Sekou coordinated community organization activity with the Alabama Black Liberation Front, the Inmates for Action (IFA) Defense Committee and the Afro-American People’s Party in the mid 1970’s. Sekou was also a soldier in the Black Liberation Army (BLA) during these years before his capture.

In 1975, Sekou was falsely arrested and charged with the murder of two white men: a KKK official from Tuscaloosa and a multimillionaire oil man from Birmingham. There was absolutely no evidence against him, only coerced testimony from individuals who subsequently recanted their statements. The judge refused to allow the recanted statements to be stricken from Sekou’s record. Sekou continued the fight throughout his time in Prison. On June 30th, 2014, Sekou was released on parole.

Daniel McGowan

Daniel is an environmental and social justice activist from New York City. He was charged in Federal court on counts of arson, property destruction and conspiracy, all relating to two actions in Oregon in 2001, claimed by the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). McGowan was facing a minimum of life in prison if convicted when he accepted a non-cooperation plea agreement. His arrest is part of what the US government dubbed Operation Backfire; a coordinated, multi-state sweep of over 15 activists by the federal government who have charged the individuals with practically every earth and animal liberation action in the Pacific Northwest left unsolved. Many have considered this round up indicative of the government’s ‘Green Scare’ focus which has activists being arrested and threatened with life in prison. Many of the charges, including Daniel’s, were for crimes whose statute of limitations were about to expire. Daniel was released from prison on December 11, 2012.

John Tucker

John was one of five anti-fascists arrested in May 2012, after an altercation between white supremacists and antifascists in the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park that left ten injured fascists, three of which needed hospitalization. The case of the Tinley Park 5 received an overwhelming amount of public support. Despite the fact that the meeting was organized by violent white supremacist organizations including the National Socialist Movement, Council of Conservative Citizens, and Ku Klux Klan, the state showed their cozy relationship with white supremacy by refusing the accused antifascist activist bail or a plea deal comparable to any other criminal defendant in Cook County. In January 2013 the Tinley Park Five accepted a non-cooperating plea deal. John Tucker was released in February 2014. As of September 2014, all of the TP5 are released.This audio will air soon as a radio episode.

Kazi Toure

As a member of the United Freedom Front (UFF), Kazi was imprisoned for his role in 20 bombings combating Apartheid in South Africa and United States Imperialism in Central America. The UFF has been called “undoubtedly the most successful of the leftist [guerrilla groups] of the 1970s and ’80s” and struck powerful blows to South African Airways, Mobil, IBM, Union Carbide, & various courthouses and US Military targets. Toure was convicted on federal charges of possession of firearms, and Seditious Conspiracy—conspiring to overthrow, put down, destroy by force and violence the US government. He is one of few, if any, New Afrikans to be charged of this act.

activism, Antifa, General, Nazis, Racism

Central PA AntiFa on the 5th of November NSM rally in Harrisburg

Resisting Nazis in Harrisburg

Central PA AntiFa
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This week we spoke with members of Central PA Antifa about antifascist organizing in Pennsylvania, about some of the racial and socioeconomic aspects of that place, and many more topics but mainly about the National Socialist Movement counter protest that folks are calling for on November 5th in Harrisburg. We talk about the logistics of the event and what sorts of things to expect and what sorts of solidarity folks are asking for. To hear another interview with Central PA Antifa you can visit our comrades at itsgoingdown.org and follow the links to their podcast called the IGDcast. To learn more about Central PA Antifa you can get up with them on facebook, on which you can search Central PA Antifa, or follow them on Twitter @centralpaantifa. There is also a blog at: https://centralpaantifascist.wordpress.com/

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