Category Archives: Mutual Aid

activism, Anarchist, Autonomy, Education, Immigration, Mexico, Mutual Aid, repression, Transcribed, United States, zine

Mutual Aid At The Border in Tijuana with El Comedor Comunitario

Mutual Aid At The Border in Tijuana with El Comedor Comunitario

"TFSR 05-21-23, Mutual Aid At The Border in Tijuana with El Comedor" with a circular logo of a brown-skinned woman holding a child, sheltered under a flower with the words "viva la resistencia" at the bottom and "contra viento y marea" on the flower
Download This Episode

This week, we’re sharing a recent chat with Devi Machete, an anarchist involved in the Tijuana mutual aid project known as Contra Viento y Marea Comedor Comunitario which distributes clothing, medical supplies, meals and boxes of stable food throughout the week at the border with the USA. The project, known for short as El Comedor Comunitario is launching a free school and art laboratory on June 17th. For the hour, we talk about the migrant caravan in 2018 that gave rise to El Comedor Comunitario, the self-organized work around the project and resisting the dehumanization of the border through solidarity and community.

Since the US allowed the Trump-Era Title 42 Covid-based restriction on immigrants entering the country to expire and has moved back to Title 8, so in a post-script Devi talks about concerns of a surge at the border and the further difficulties this change creates for migrants and refugees seeking asylum in the north.

You can also check out our prior interview with Elements of Mutual Aid directors Leah & Payton to get some visuals of El Comedor Comunitario, which is a featured project in that docu-series.

Announcement

Phone Zap for Shine White

All power to the people,

As I’ve pointed out in my previous writings, Hepatitis C kills more Amerikans each day than HIV and sixty other infectious diseases combined, making it the deadliest infectious disease in the United States. It is a viral infection, caused by the Hepatitis C virus (“HCV”) that affects the liver and can result in serious, life-threatening complications.
On February 15 of this year blood tests revealed that I had Hepatitis C. In contrast to NCDAC’s Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) for the treatment of Hepatitis C, I was sent back to my cell, instead of having further blood testing done to determine my fibro-scores.
I was provided no further information, other than that I had Hepatitis C and that I would be seen by the facility’s healthcare provider at a later date. The following days were mentally exhausting.
Only after consulting with a prisoner who was receiving treatment for HCV at the time, did I become aware of the procedures that are in place for evaluating and treating prisoners who have the Hep-C virus. Before treatment can be started, additional blood testing is required to determine one’s level of fibrosis.

After becoming aware of the aforementioned, I immediately began to submit sick calls requesting the required blood testing be done to determine my Fib-4 index score. My sick calls went unanswered, only after those of you on the outside made calls to the prison on my behalf was I taken to medical to have the Fib-4 test done. The test results revealed that my Fib-4 score was 5.7, which indicates that I am at risk of cirrhosis, liver disease and/or liver cancer. However, the health care provider has yet to begin my treatment.
These scores were revealed to me on March 3, subsequently I’ve not been assessed by medical personnel since, despite submitting multiple sick-calls due to the complications I am experiencing caused by the hepatitis-c virus.
Since early March I have lost approximately 30 pounds, I have various pock-like scores on my lower legs, rashes cover my elbows and knees, and the sharp pains in my lower back and side make it difficult to sleep at night. When I inquire about my treatment, the response I receive is that it is out of their hands.
I am firmly convinced that they have no intentions of treating me. Combined with the recent continuation of my term on supermax, it’s evident that their intentions are to hold me incommunicado and hope that the hepatitis-c will do what they have been unable to do – silence me!
Having to openly admit that I am at the mercy of my overseers infuriates me. I feel helpless and I am scared. I’m witnessing what is being done to Komrade Rashid, I witnessed the late elder Maroon Shoatz languish with cancer for years, Mumia Abu-Jamal continues to suffer from complications caused by hepatitis-c, the names go on and on. I feel as if my twenty-year prison sentence has become a death sentence.
I entreat that calls be made and emails be sent on my behalf, demanding that I be treated immediately. Only if pressured by those of you on the outside will these miscreants act with professionalism.

I am deeply grateful for the support. I conclude this as I began,
Daring to struggle, daring to win
All power to the people,
Joseph “Shine White” Stewart

Below is the contact information for those who should be contacted:

NCDAC’s Deputy Secretary – Comprehensive Health Services
Gary Junker
919-838-4000
gary.junker@dac.nc.gov

Chief Deputy Secretary – Rehabilitative and Correctional Services
Maggie Brewer
919-733-9313
maggie.brewer@dac.nc.gov

Facility’s lead nurse
J Rowe
jacqueline.rowe@dac.nc.gov

. … . .

Featured Tracks:

  • One by J Dilla from Welcome 2 Detroit Instrumental
  • En Caravana by Chiky Rasta
  • Es Épico by Canserbero from Can Vive

. … . ..

Continue reading Mutual Aid At The Border in Tijuana with El Comedor Comunitario →

abolition, activism, Anarchist, Anarchist Media, Film, Mutual Aid, Transcribed, zine

Anarchist Filmmaking with The Elements of Mutual Aid

Anarchist Filmmaking with The Elements of Mutual Aid

"The Elements of Mutual Aid: experiments towards liberation" featuring 4 frames from the series picturing people organizing and sharing items. "TFSR 4-2-23 | Anarchist Film-making"
Download This Episode

We’re happy to share this chat with Leah and Payton, directors of the upcoming documentary series “The Elements of Mutual Aid”. You can find previews of the film on their social media and links to those and more in our shownotes at our website. The series is about to enter post-production once they’ve gotten JUST a little more footage to add to their 5 years of work. For the hour, we talk about the series, their concepts of mutual aid, the process of radically respectful film making and some of their inspirations.

Filmmakers links:

Film Projects they mentioned:

. … . ..

Featured Tracks:

. … . ..

Continue reading Anarchist Filmmaking with The Elements of Mutual Aid →

activism, Anarchist, Author, Disaster Relief, Mutual Aid, Pluto Press, Transcribed, zine

Rhiannon Firth on Disaster, Mutual Aid and Anarchism

Rhiannon Firth on Disaster, Mutual Aid and Anarchism

"TFSR 1-16-2023" and the cover of Rhiannon Firth's "Disaster Anarchy" book
Download This Episode

We’re happy to share Scott’s interview with Rhiannon Firth about her recent book, Disaster Anarchy: Mutual Aid and Radical Action. You can get the book at a discount using the code “firth30”, on the Pluto Books website or you can get a digital read for free, linked in the shownotes.

Rhiannon’s: facebook; twitter; email.

Continue reading Rhiannon Firth on Disaster, Mutual Aid and Anarchism →

abolition, activism, Anarchist, Appalachia, Asheville, Capitalism, community, General, Mutual Aid, Neoliberalism, Politics, Protest, repression, Transcribed, zine

Asheville Water Crisis and New Years Eve Bail Out

Asheville Water Crisis and New Years Eve Bail Out

This week on the show, we’re sharing two local conversations with community organizers providing mutual aid in Asheville, NC.

2022 NYE Noise Demo & Bailout

Collage of words "We See You We Love You" projected on Buncombe County Detention Center at 2021 NYE demo & cases of bottled water stacked next to U-Haul truck & sign saying "Free Water | Agua Gratis" plus "TFSR 1-8-23 | Asheville Water Crisis Mutual Aid + New Years Eve Bailout / Noise Demonstration"
Download This Episode

First up, we’re sharing a short interview with Beck of Pansy Collective, a queer DIY benefit booking collective responsible for Pansy Fest. Beck talks about the 2022 New Years Eve noise demonstration and bailout that Pansy helped to fundraise for (alongside the Asheville Community Bail Fund), as well as the Buncombe County Jail being reported by the Citizen Times newspaper as the deadliest jail in North Carolina as of January 2021.

Asheville Water Crisis

Then, we you’ll hear Elliot of Asheville Survival Program (Instagram or FB), M of Asheville for Justice and Moira talk about the water crisis that started on December 24th, the city’s response, how mutual aid stepped up to distribute water and more. To read statements by the 16th people facing felony littering and other charges for mutual work and solidarity here in Asheville, check out AVLSolidarity.NoBlogs.Org, or check out our transcripts or episodes from (10/31/21, 12-26-21, 5-15-22) for more words from the groups involved.

Continue reading Asheville Water Crisis and New Years Eve Bail Out →

abolition, activism, Appalachia, Asheville, community, COVID-19, Mutual Aid, North Carolina, Transcribed, United States, zine

Asheville Survival Program

Asheville Survival Program

"Asheville Survival Program" in a circle, around dandelions and the word "donate"
Download This Episode

Asheville Survival Program is an autonomous mutual aid network formed in early 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in so-called Asheville, NC. They are building mutual aid with oppressed communities, promoting solidarity and sharing outside the bounds of State structure through their streetside camping gear, food and solidarity distro and their “Until We’re All Free” Store, holding a distribution space open a few days a week walk-up visits and delivering groceries through a network of drivers.

For the hour, I spoke with Fern and Ducky, two members of ASP affiliated with the Free Store, about the history of the group, challenges its faced, challenging charity dynamics and working to reach outside of subculture and across racial and cultural lines. You can reach ASP on Instagram at @AvlSurvival, on fedbook via @ASPDonate, find more links, including how to donate, at https://linktr.ee/avlsurvival. You can also reach them at their email if you have further questions at ashevillesurvivalprogram@gmail.com.

And here’s the segment that Sean Swain references the FBI emailing VADOC about from April 11th, 2021

Continue reading Asheville Survival Program →

Capitalism, Colonialism, Durham, General, Gentrification, Mutual Aid

Eviction Defense, Community Resiliency, and Getting Free: an interview with Durham HEDS-Up!

Eviction Defense, Community Resiliency, and Getting Free

Download Episode Here

This week I got the chance to sit down with Olive and Yousef of the Durham NC based eviction defense group HEDS-Up! HEDS-Up! stands for Housing Eviction Defense Solidarity and is a group which formed in Durham North Carolina when COVID was first hitting the area and folks’ housing was becoming more and more unstable.

We get to talk about a lot of topics in this episode, among which are gentrification in Durham, what the NC eviction process might look like, and about the group’s handbook the Eviction Defense Handbook, vol. 1312, as well as their all points call for autonomous, abolitionist jail support, on their website https://cantpaywontpaydurm.org/.

The Eviction Defense Handbook is extensively written and researched, and was put together by HEDS-Up! for educational and empowerment purposes. It covers topics from abolition, to how one might structure an eviction defense team, pertinent information regarding COVID and evictions, how to look up information on a specific property, a step by step of what to expect in eviction court, and many more topics.

You can email HEDS Up! at hedsup@protonmail.com

Announcements

Wabanaki Community Herbal Apothecary Support

The Wabanaki Community Herbal Apothecary in so-called Maine is working to support their tribal communities during these Covid-19 outbreaks. They are asking for herbal medicines and medicine making supplies or monetary donations to support these efforts. The supplies list can be found on their fedbook page, linked in our shownotes, and monetary donations can go to their fiscal sponsor WhyHunger, via https://whyhunger.org/ewrematriation/.
You can contact livmoore16@gmail.com for coordination or more details.

Loren Reed

Loren Reed, a 26 year old Diné (Navajo) man residing in the small town of Page, AZ, is facing ten years for comments left on facebook during the nationwide protests because some dumb ass white with no scruples or sense of humor reported him to the cops. There is a breakdown of the case available at ForgiveEveryone.Com/blog . At the end of that, you can find Loren’s address and tips for writing him, as well as how to put money on his commissary, how to make donations to Tucson Anti-Repression Crew via cashapp ($TusconARC) or paypal (PayPal.Me/prisonersupport), noting “For Loren Reed” in the comments.

Santos Torres

From PhillyAntiRepression on Twitter via the website, PHLAntiCap.Noblogs.Org:

“As of last week, Santos Torres-Olan (#ML7947), a comrade of Dwayne Staats of the #Vaughn17, is on hunger strike at SCI Albion. He’s protesting the physical, psychological, and emotional abuses at Albion — the prison administration uses meals, showers, rec and mail as a form of punishment, retaliation, and psychological torture. His protest is against the prison system as a whole. Santos has also been charged with assaulting a guard, and the courts, public defender and prosecutors are trying to railroad him. He ended up having to go pro se in order to fight his case.

Help out Santos’s struggle against the prison system by calling SCI Albion at (814) 756-5778. Ask to speak to the superintendent and make sure they know people on the outside are paying attention to their torture and abuse of prisoners.

Our incarcerated comrades are struggling against prisons on a whole different level — we MUST support them from the outside when they ask us for help!”

Jay Chase

Jay Chase, the last of the defendants of the 2012 NATO3 conspiracy case, is free! Support his post-release fund to get him on his feet: https://www.gofundme.com/f/jay-chase-of-the-nato3-is-free

Jorge Cornell and Covid-19 at FCI Fort Dix

Since late October, there appears to be a spike of Covid-19 at the Federal BOP’s prison at Fort Dix, jumping from prior reported numbers of 57 infections to at least 127 cases. The BOP is exacerbating the problem by moving all of the folks with infections onto a single floor and the back to their former dormatories, increasing spread. FCI Fort Dix is also denying PPE, medical care and compassionate releases from the prison population.

Jorge Cornell, 44, has two daughters, and recently moved to Fort Dix. Jorge has high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and is obese and borderline diabetic. This, along with a previous heart attack, make him high risk. He is being held on the third floor of Building 58-51.

Jorge is a friend of many in central NC organizing communities. As an outspoken community activist, candidate for city council, and police critic, Jorge was frequently targeted by law enforcement. Despite beating dozens of bogus charges prior to his current incarceration, Jorge is currently being wrongfully held thanks to overly broad RICO laws and targeting by the FBI, leading to a trial and conviction in 2012. He maintains his innocence, but still has 15 years left on his unjust 28 year sentence. You can hear two interviews about the case from 2013 at our website by searching ALKQN.

To press FCI Dix administration to give PPE, free medical care, stop spreading the virus in the prison by shuffling people around and to give compassionate release to people like Jorge with compromised immune systems, you can contact:

  1. FCI Fort Dix, calling 609 723 1100 ext 0 between 8am and 4pm ET, asking to speak with Warden David E Ortiz or request that the operator pass on these concerns. You can email FTD-ExecAssistant@bop.gov and dortiz@bop.gov .
  2. Federal BOP Health Services Division: 202 307 3198, press 4 for “other” and then 6 for “general medical inquiries” and select any of the four available recipients, leaving a voicemail with your demands. Email BOP-IPP@bop.gov or PublicAffairs@bop.gov .
  3. BOP Northeast Regional Office can be called at 215 521 7301 where you can reach Regional Director Nicole C. English or request that the operator pass on your demands. You can email NERO-ExecAssistant@bop.gov and ncenglish@bop.gov .
  4. Senator Cory Booker in Newark (973 639 8700) ,Camden (856 338 8922) and/or DC (202 224 3224) and ask to leave a message. You can submit an email using the form at https://www.booker.senate.gov/contact/write-to-cory

Brian Caswell McCarvill

Regular listener, Jay in Aotearoa brought to our attention this week the passing of anarchist prisoner, Brian Caswell McCarvill in the so-called state of Oregon.

Brian McCarvill was a radical social prisoner who in the early 2000’s was involved in taking the Oregon Department of Corrections to court challenging their censorship and rejection of anarchist publications for prisoners with his cell mate Rob Thaxton. The ODOC was attempting to declare anarchists to be members of a Security Threat Group, sort of like a gang, based on their shared political tendency and use of language and symbols, their stances to protest unfair circumstances. By winning the court case he forced the Oregon prison system to allow anarchist materials into its prisons.

Brian had terrible problems with his health and following his victory in the court case, he was being punished by the authorities for taking a stand. He passed on his 68th birthday, September 27th 2020, causes unknown to us. Rise In Power, Brian!

. … . ..

Public domain music for this show:

90’s BOOMBAP – RAP INSTRUMENTAL / Old SChool 2017 FREE USE

 

 

Bail Funds, Gentrification, Housing, Mutual Aid, Police, Protest, Racism, repression, Richmond, Virginia

RVA In The Uprising with L and Buzz

RVA In The Uprising with L and Buzz

Robert E Lee statue graffitti'd in "Marcus David Peters Circle" in Richmond, VA
Download This Podcast
image by JosephA

This week, we’re going to hear two specials in two separate episodes, basically exploding radio edition into it’s components.

In this one you’ve clicked on, you’ll hear L, who works with the Richmond Community Bail Fund, and Buzz talk about their experiences in the streets and doing anti-repression work in Richmond, Virginia, throughout the uprising against police killings sparked by the murder of George Floyd in so-called Minneapolis. They also talk about the decades-long struggle to take down public monuments to the Confederacy, including the reclaiming of the former home of the statue of General R.E. Lee, now known as Marcus David Peters Circle. It was named for a black man murdered by the Richmond police in 2018 while having a mental health crisis.

Amazing projects the guests suggest you check out:

If you want to hear the other half of this dis-enjoined pair, you can look for the episode called ‘Omaha in the Uprising with Mel B’, where anarchist journalist Mel B talks about the city, the marches, the killing of James Scurlock on May 30th and the mass arrest of 120 people on July 25th.

CLDC, COVID-19, Mutual Aid, Surveillance, Technology

Tracking Technology and Food Distro in Pandemic

Tracking Technology and Food Distro in Pandemic

Tucson Food Share logo
Download This Episode

This week, we feature two conversations. Cora Borradaile and Michele Gretes, folks involved in the Digital Security Project of the Civil Liberties Defense Center, speak about contact tracing apps and surveillance. Then, Se speaks about Tucson Food Share’s grocery distribution program.

Contact Tracing Apps

First up, we hear Michele Gretes and Cora Borradaile. Michele is the Digital Security Coordinator of the Civil Liberties Defense Center and also does digital security for an environmental non-profit. Cora is a co-founder of the CLDC Digital Security Program and is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Oregon State University with a focus on the security state and the adoption of more-secure apps. They talk about surveillance and the use of apps for tracing folks contact with people infected with covid-19 to slow the pandemic spread. This is a segment of a larger conversation we’ll be releasing in the middle of this week as a podcast in which Cora and Michele talk about and compare tools for online organizing that engage encryption and offer alternatives to the google and other “free” products that often surveil their users. We speak about Jitsi, Wire, Zoom, RiseUp, Signal, vpns, The Onion Router, TAILS, KeyBase, Riot.IM, pgp and other mentionables. More at CLDC.org/Security/

  • Apple & Google announced this approach toward contact tracing we didn’t really cover in detail / by name in this  conversation. Here’s an article from Wired about it.
  • The White Paper referenced by Cora references from the EU with cryptographers is here.
  • GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) laws, European restrictions on the collection and longtime storage of data on private individuals has been in place since 2016.
  • An article from VOX speaking about ICE using private phone data to seek out and arrest undocumented people in the US. Another talking about current tracking by phone companies of our movements.

Tucson Food Share

After that, we’ll hear from Se of Tucson Food Share, based in Arizona. We talk about their project, how it scaled up from Tucson Food Not Bombs to deliver groceries and hand out burritos publicly, multi-lingual engagement, resisting burnout and finding joy in feeding people. More at TucsonFoodShare.Org . You should get in touch if you’re thinking of setting up a food distribution project and have any questions.

Announcements

New Station: KODX Seattle

We’d like to mention that we’re now airing on Monday mornings at 2am on KODX in Seattle. You can check out that station’s schedule up at kodxseattle.org or hear them in north eastern Seattle on 96.9 on the FM dial.

Recent Release: Bomani Shakur and Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin

Just a headsup, if you’re looking for more content for your ears, we released a small segment of Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin talking about prisoner organizing in the 1970’s and today. This was paired with a longer chat with Lucasville Uprising survivor and death row prisoner Bomani Shakur aka Keith Lamar. For a little over an hour, Bomani talks about his youth, the uprising in 1993, his case and being railroaded. He has an execution date set by the state of Ohio for November 16, 2023.

. … . ..

Naughty By Nature – Hip Hop Hooray (instrumental) – Hip Hop Hooray

Leslie Fish – Bella Ciao – Smoked Fish and Friends

Playlist

activism, Asheville, Capitalism, CopWatch, COVID-19, General, Housing, Mutual Aid, New York, Police, Prisons, repression

Release Ramsey Orta! / Housing Struggle in Asheville

Release Ramsey Orta! / Housing Struggle in Asheville

Sean Swain’s segment on Bernie Sanders withdrawal the Democrat candidacy.

[00:03:20-00:12:27]

Release Ramsey Orta!

[00:12:27-00:38:00]

UHOHavl Flyer & Ramsey Orta looking out the window of prison
Download This Episode

This week, we hear from Deja, the fiance of incarcerated cop watcher Ramsey Orta. Ramsey has been in prison since 2016 and during his short time inside has he’s been transferred around a lot and spent over a year in isolation. Ramsey’s name may be familiar as the police accountability activist who recorded the killing by police of the unarmed community member and grandfather, Eric Garner, in New York in 2014. Ramsey Orta’s video went viral and drew NYPD harassment and attention to him and his family and since his incarceration led to many threats by cop-sympathizing CO’s. Orta is currently about 90 days from his release date for his non-violent conviction and falls within the categories of prisoners that NY is considering releasing before the pandemic is in full swing. If you can help lean on the powerful in NY to get Ramsey Orta released, you can email officialramseyorta@gmail.com or wecopwatch@gmail.com. You can learn more about Ramsey’s case at RamseyOrta.com, or the SupportRamseyOrta fedbook page, as well as WeCopWatch.org or that groups fedbook page.

News just came out that Midstate Correctional, where Ramsey is currently being held, has shown its first infections of covid-19, so this issue of securing Ramsey Orta’s release is dire. He is being denied showers, soap, tissue, enough food. Ramsey is also not being giving cleaning supplies for his cell. A source of his mistreatment is Sgt Mayo at Midstate. Supporters suggest phones contact the following officials and share freedom for Ramsey. Ramsey’s prison number is 16A4200.

Office of Special Investigations (OSI) – DOCCS
OSIComplaint@doccs.ny.gov
844 674 4697

William Burns / Deputy Superintendent for Security
315-768-8581 ext 5000
William.burns@doccs.ny.gov

William D. Fennessy / Superintendent
315 768 8581 ext 2000
william.Fennessy@doccs.ny.gov

Housing Struggle in Asheville

[00:40:14-01:28:52]

Then we hear from two activists from Unemployed Humans Organzing Help, or UHOH Asheville, talking about tenant organizing for a rent freeze and pushing the government and hoteliers to open up those empty rooms to houseless folks in Asheville. More at their fedbook page, or by emailing uhohavl@riseup.net. Apologies for the sound in this second portion.

. … . ..

Featured tracks:

Pete Rock – Return Of The Mecca (instrumental)

Lee Reed – The Sixth Massive

Anarchist Media, COVID-19, Mutual Aid, Rural Organizing And Resilience

Seeing the World Elsewhere: rural Mutual Aid in Appalachia and David Forbes on Journalism, Asheville and Anarchism

Seeing the World Elsewhere: rural Mutual Aid in Appalachia and David Forbes on Journalism, Asheville and Anarchism

(image by Nicole Marie Burton, used with permission)
Download This Episode

This week you’ll hear two conversations after hearing from Sean Swain on strategies for getting through isolation. The text can be found below.

[00:02:42-00:11:05]

(image by Nicole Marie Burton, used with permission)

First, Matt from Rural Organizing And Resilience, or ROAR, in Madison County talks about efforts in the country to shift mutual aid efforts to address difficulties associated with the covid-19 pandemic. More on their project at ruralorganizing.wordpress.com.

[00:11:05-00:35:47]

And we also got to sit down with David Forbes, who is an independent journalist here in Asheville, about her work, some updates from here in the mountains, ways to think about journalism, and the online platform The Asheville Blade which she founded and helps maintain. To see more you can visit ashevilleblade.com, follow her on twitter @davidforbes, and donate to the Blade at patreon.com/avlblade!

[00:35:59-01:20:41]

Announcements

Sean Swain Is Ill

Sean is currently suffering from a bacterial lung infection and not being offered adequate healthcare (nothing new for prison). If you are concerned for his health as the novel corona virus swells, consider visiting his support site to read more. Anyone reading this should feel free to contact Buckingham at (434) 983-4400 . Either Warden John Woodson or Assistant Warden Jeffrey Snoddy are there each day during normal business hours. Ask for one, and he’s not there, ask for the other. Feel free to fax this update to them, (434) 983-4017.

Final Straw 10th Anniversary

Still coming up, plague bedamned. We’ve been running the show for coming on 10 years and would love to hear your thoughts, memories, suggestions. This is an opportunity to share with us and share your ideas directly with other audience members. You can leave us or a signal voice-memo or a voicemail at +18285710161, or email a link to mp3 audio via wetransfer.com or another service, or you can share it with the googledrive for thefinalstrawradio@riseup.net or thefinalstrawradio@protonmail.com!

. … . ..

playlist

. … . ..

also available at SeanSwain.org

Sean On Strategies in Isolation

The latest concern that folks are expressing during this zombie apocalypse is their inability to cope with isolation and quarantine. We’re just a few weeks into this thing and already folks are going a little bonkers. This is strange to me, given that I’ve spent years at a time in total and complete isolation. It’s almost hard for me to fathom that someone wouldn’t know how to cope in such an environment. So, this week is going to be something of an instructional video – only, without the video, and maybe not very instructive.
OK, first things first. You gotta stay mentally organized, and staying mentally organized means living in a way that’s organized. You need a routine. Routine is key to longterm segregation. You want to get up in the morning at the same time. Set an alarm. Get up, get out of bed, make the bed. It doesn’t matter that you have nowhere to go. It doesn’t matter that you’re not leaving that living space. You get up at the same time and you make the bed, because the sleeping period is over. Create for yourself set times for eating your meals, or a small range of times for those meals to happen in. Set a time for showering or bathing and personal grooming. It doesn’t matter that you’re not going anywhere.
Laying in bed all day in the same sweater and underwear from last Tuesday is not mental organization. It’s surrender. Yes, I’m talking to you. No, you, there. Yes, the one in the sweater and the underwear. Right.
Break up your day into chunks. Fill those chunks with activity. Maybe you like to read. Designate a period of your day for reading. Designate another part of your day for writing, another part for skyping and twitter and social interaction. Doing this gives you routine, but it also gives you benchmarks as you travel through your day. You can say to yourself “I’ve gotten this done, at such-and-such a time, it’s time to do X.” You are now doing your time,  your time is not doing you.
Your time will move faster, you’ll get more accomplished.
Which brings me to my next point: accomplishing. Each day will bring you multiple opportunities to fulfill goals. Get something written. Get something read. Go a certain time on your stationary bike. Dispose of the body of that annoying next-door neighbor… former neighbor. Just kidding. Don’t kill your neighbor. There are security cameras everywhere. I digress.
The thing is: each day you meet some small goal, then another, then another. You take in calories, you move from activity to activity. Most importantly: you survive. Each day you end still breathing is a mission accomplished. You’re not just writing emails or riding your stationary bike, you’re fighting for your very survival, albeit in a mundane kind of way.
Physical exercise. The human body is a machine made for motion. So move. My captivity workout, I do sets of push-ups, crunches and squats, one set after another. It works major muscle groups, gets my heart pumping, gets me sucking oxygen, and helps me to think more clearly. It allows me to release tension. Now more than ever, that’s important, not just for your survival, but for the survival of your annoying neighbor. So get exercise and whenever possible, in a way that’s safe, try to get an hour of direct sunlight outdoors. Go outside and breathe deeply and feel sunlight on your face. It matters.
Now, if you’re all alone, you can organize your day any way that you want. You can modify your routine at will until it works for you. But if you’re not alone, you have to synthesize your routine with the lives of those around you. Urge them to adopt a routine. Socially, it helps keep the peace. You know what other people are doing at given chunks of the day, and they know what you’re doing. You want periods of solitude and periods of social interaction, time set aside for your own projects and time for collective and communal activities.
Through the course of this, you’re going to experience heightened anxiety. It’s easy to dwell on your own situation and let the worry spiral out of control. It’s easy. We all do it. So what you do, to get out of that spiral, you focus on the struggle of someone else. Get out of your own head. Contribute to someone else’s plight. This isn’t just some Mother Theresa kumbaya crap. It’s not just some virtuous selflessness. It’s a selfish act. It’s motivated by your desire to further your own survival. If you get out of your own head and help someone, you’re exiting that spiral of anxiety.
Some other tips: While it’s good to do some planning for the future, force yourself to stay grounded in the now. Daydreaming about when this is over just makes the now suck worse. A little of that can go a long way. Also, be realistic about how long this is. Don’t wake up every day thinking that we’re all going to pour out into the streets like some flashmob dance routine. It ain’t happening, probably for months. So get yourself into a comfortable routine, for months. This is your reality. It is what it is.
Also, when that reality feels overwhelming, remind yourself that this is just temporary. It will pass. Even if it takes months, it doesn’t take forever. Nothing is forever.
Don’t forget, however bad you’ve got it, others less capable than you have gotten through longer chunks of time in far worse conditions. I did a year with virtually nothing, on starvation rations, with very little soap, locked in a space the size of a bathroom with another poor bastard. We were both idiots, and yet we both survived. You will too.
Resolve to survive this. Walk around your living space. Tell the walls: “You won’t defeat me.” Tell your couch: “You won’t defeat me.” Tell all your furnishings: “You won’t defeat me.” Then look in the mirror and tell yourself: “This won’t defeat me.” And mean it.
You have two choices, flat-out. You can survive this, or you can sit down on the curb, and sooner or later the dogs and the birds will eat you. It’s your choice. I’ve made my choice. Hope I see you on the other side of this shit.
This is anarchist prisoner Sean Swain in exile from Ohio at Buckingham Correctional in Dillwyn, Virginia. If you’re surviving, you are the resistance.