This week we’re speaking with Daryle Lamont Jenkins of One People’s Project based in Philadelphia, PA. Mr Jenkins is a writer, activist, and committed anti fascist. This hour we’ll speak about the state of fascism in the US and how to approach dealing with fascists and racists in your community. We talk about the One People’s Project, its history, and its goals. Keep an eye out for their new website at http://idavox.com/ to be up next month. You can see our previous interview with Mr. Jenkins at The Final Straw’s website
To write to the One People’s Project, address letters to:
One People’s Project
PO BOX 42817
Philadelphia, PA 19101
For information about the TORCH Antifa Conference in November 2015 you can visit their website
And for more about the 0161 Festival in England, you can visit their facebook link
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Here is an update on the hunger strike in Menard:
Some of you will remember the hunger strike in
January-February 2014 by prisoners in Administrative Detention at the Menard Correctional Center in Menard, Illinois. During and after the hunger strike, several of the hunger strikers were sent to prisons as far away as California, Virginia, West Virginia, and New Mexico. Others remain in Administrative Detention at Menard. Many of the 2014 hunger strikers wanted to know why they were there, and they wanted to know what they had to do to get out of Administrative Detention. Although the Illinois Department of Corrections now issues some notices, the notices still don’t answer those questions.
The following information is drawn from letters received in
September 2015 from prisoners in Administrative Detention at Menard, compiled by Alice Lynd.
Here in A.D., everything is still the same. No one is being released and we are still not getting meaningful hearings. We are still not getting any written reasons or any new info relied on for the basis of the Committee’s decision for our continued placement in A.D. We are still getting the same vague memos.
We now only get 1 day a week of out-of-cell exercise (yard). We are in our cells 24 hrs. a day, 6 days a week. We are being excessively confined in our cells. We are still not allowed to participate in any educational programs. Our mail is not being picked up or passed out 5 days a week, as they are supposed to.
We don’t see any end to this indefinite isolation/solitary confinement. Due to these issues and more, we are going to go on hunger strike once again. *We will be declaring a hunger strike on September 23, 2015. *We will feel very thankful for your help in spreading the word.
*Our core demands are:*
We demand an end to long term solitary confinement.
We demand minimum due process at Administrative Detention Review Hearings by providing inmates with written reasons, including new information relied upon, for Committee’s decision for our continued placement in A.D. and be allowed to grieve all adverse decisions. As it stands, the basis of the Committee’s votes are kept secret.
We demand more access to outside recreation for the sake of our physical and mental health. As it stands, we are confined indefinitely to these cages for 6 days out of the week, with the exception of one 5 hour day. This is unbearable.
We demand that meaningful educational programs be implemented to encourage our mental stability, rehabilitation, and social development for the sake of ourselves and our communities that we will one day return to.
We demand access to more visiting privileges. For most of our families traveling to Menard is like traveling to another state. Considering the distance, 2 hour visits behind plexiglass is insufficient. We should be allowed 5 or 6 hours. Moreover, our family members, including inmates, should be provided the human dignity and decency to purchase food items and refreshments from vending machines after traveling such great distances. This would benefit one’s social development, as well as benefit prison staff environment.
We ask the public’s help by calling the warden, the Director of the Illinois Department of Corrections, and the Governor on September 23, 2015, and so forth, to check on our welfare.
Warden Kimberly Butler, 618-826-5071
Menard Correctional Center
711 Kaskaskia Street
Menard, IL 62259
Director John Baldwin, 217-558-2200
Illinois Department of Corrections
1301 Concordia Court
P. O. Box 19277
Springfield, IL 52794-9277
Governor Bruce Rauner, 217-782-0244
Office of the Governor
207 State House
Springfield, IL 62706
We will stay on hunger strike as long as possible in order to hopefully bring some change to our conditions. We thank you for any kind of support you can give us.
This week, instead of priorly mentioned interview with organizers of No New Animal Lab and supporters of Jessica Burlew, Bursts spoke with Greta.
Greta is an anti-border activist who works in the U.K. & Calais, France, shares about her recent visit to Calais and what she’s learned about the recent influxes of refugees coming from North Africa and West Asia. Greta talks a bit about where and why the immigrants are coming, where they’re headed and why, how governments and populations have been dealing with the immigrants and the stability of the European Union as a structure.
Hopefully we’ll be hearing from No New Animal Labs folks in the near future. More on that project can be found at http://nonewanimallab.com
Here is an update on Sean Swain’s situation, pulled right from his support page at http://seanswain.org/:
We’re not sure what’s going on, but Sean Swain has been blocked from receiving (and presumably sending) JPay emails. He also has not called his primary supporters, or us at The Final Straw for a new radio segment. We’ll probably hear from him via snail mail sooner or later, but until then, we’ve got to assume he’s cut off.
When we called the prison, they told us he was not in the hole, and did not have any restrictions on his communication. We suspect they may have transferred him back to a 3B spot, undoing the success of our recent call-in effort. They refused to tell us what security level the block he is held in is on and they got surly and authoritarian when we asked. It seems that the officers at Sean’s newest prison, Warren CI need to learn that their jobs are a whole lot easier when they don’t provoke anarchists from across the country to call and check in on the welfare of our friend who they hold captive.
WARREN CI: 513-932-3388
You can call Warren CI and ask the same questions we asked- why does Sean not have access to communication, what security level is he currently housed in, and does the JPay kiosk in his (or any Warren Unit) actually work right now? You can also leave Sean’s Case Manager a voicemail by punching extension 2281, or try and talk to deputy warden Robert Welch, who maybe got Sean moved from 3B to 3A a few weeks ago, he’s at ext 2005. Whatever lucky anarchist happens to be on the call when one of these officers breaks and spills the beans, please drop a line to AnarchistSwain@gmail.com.
Sean doesn’t like when they fuck with his communication access. Being a writer, getting his voice out is one of the things that help Sean feel connected to the outside world. So he’s probably feeling alone and frustrated. Also, his birthday was Sept 12th, so if you haven’t written for a while, or missed sending him birthday wishes, please consider dropping a line and letting him (and the mailroom monkeys who have to read all his incoming communication) know that he is loved and missed.
Please take a moment to drop a line on Sean to let him know that you’re thinking about him.
Sean Swain
243-205
Warren CI
P.O. Box 120
5787 State Route 63
Lebanon, Ohio 45036
Eric King
From the excellent anarchist news website http://itsgoingdown.org and from Eric King’s support website:
“On September 16, 2014, Eric G. King, was arrested and charged with an attempted firebombing of a government official’s office in Kansas City, MO. Eric allegedly threw a hammer through a window of the building and then two lit bottles, though both failed to ignite. Eric faces a federal life sentence if found guilty at his trial on October 28 2015.
On the eve of Eric’s first year in pre-trial state captivity, his support group got word about the prison censoring and rejecting his mail.
To mark the year since Eric was stolen by the state, the Kansas City, MO Anarchist Black Cross and the Omaha, NE Anarchist Black Cross dropped banners in solidarity.
The EK Defense Committee writes, “Recently, a book about the Black Panthers was rejected because the prison evidently considers them a “hate group.” Around that same time, right-wing Christian literature with homophobic rhetoric made it through to another prisoner. Eric is clearly being targeted for his political beliefs and interests.
If you have been writing to Eric and have not heard back from him, it is very possible that he has not received your letters or you have not received his. The prison (and the state apparatus of which it is a part) is trying to isolate Eric from his supporters. We can’t let them do this.
Please help by:
Firstly, writing Eric letters! Please flood the prison with as much mail as you can. This can serve the dual purpose of overwhelming the prison mailroom and helping Eric remember that he has solidarity. Keep track of what you sent to Eric and when you sent it so you can check with him later or call the prison to inquire about why your mail was blocked.
You can write to him at:
Eric King
27090045
CCA Leavenworth
100 Highway Terrace
Leavenworth, KS 66048
Second, by checking the support site often. If this harassment continues, we will be taking other measures to ensure this censorship stops immediately. CCA has been sued in the past for censoring mail and violating prisoners’ constitutional rights, so they know as well as we do that what they’re doing is wrong.
Please spread the word and help put the spotlight on CCA’s draconian mail room practices. Prisons greatly prefer to function outside the public eye where they can torture, abuse, neglect and isolate prisoners without consequences. Don’t let them get away with that this time. Send Eric a letter or card today. Eric King’s support site is https://supportericking.wordpress.com/
Mumia Abu-Jamal is contuing to be denied the medical care that he needs to survive his stay in prison at SCI-Mahone in Frackville, PA.
Hepatitis C is a dangerous liver disease which is growing among poor people and especially rampant in prisons. Mumia found himself diagnosed with Hep-C, as well as type-II diabetes and other medical circumstances, in August of this year. Drugs released within the last 18 months show remarkable cure-rates of 90-95%, but based on costs of $60-85K for a 12 week course, jail and prison authorities here (and in jails and prisons across the U.S.) are denied the incarcerated access to them.
Late in the day on Friday September 18th, United States Magistrate Judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania Karoline Mehalchick issued a proposed order denying Mumia Abu-Jamal’s motion for preliminary injunction and his 1st Amended complaint seeking immediate treatment for active Hepatitis C.
In a calculated attempt to deny lifesaving health care and effective arguments on Mumia’s behalf, Judge Mehalchick preemptively issued this “proposed order” before Mumia’s lawyers had the opportunity to respond (as allowed by court local rules) to the Pennsylvania Department of Correction’s (DOC) opposition.
Bret Grote (Abolitionist Law Center) and co-counsel Bob Boyle (NYC) are expected to quickly file in court with 3rd Circuit Federal District Court Judge Robert Mariani to oppose this proposed order on procedural and substantive grounds. There is a fundraising campaign to get crowd-source treatment for Mumia Abu-Jamal as well as information to petition on his behalf available at http://bit.ly/fight4mumia and updates on his case can be found at http://freemumia.com
Eddie Africa
In a hopeful note, Eddie Africa of the MOVE9 will be up for parole in October of 2015 and is looking for support to hopefully get him out of this ridiculus and horrible stint of incarceration on bogus charges that have had him inside for 37 years of a 30-100 year sentence. From http://onamove.com:
” In October 2015 our Brother Eddie Africa is set to make another appearance before the Pennsylvania State Parole Board. Your letters of support is urgently needed. All of the information is below as follows:
We are asking for your support at this critical stage to secure the freedom Eddie deserves. Feel free to use parts of the sample letter at onamove.com. You can write in your own words and with your own experiences of/with Eddie.
NOTE: Please send all letters of support to Orie Ross, P.O. Box 575, Times Square Station, New York, NY 10108-0575 so they can be reviewed and sent to the Board. The deadline for letters will be Wednesday September 30, 2015.”
To learn more about the case of the MOVE9, check out our interviews with supporters by listening to this overview with Orie Lumumba on the last parole push and this one about the health of Phil Africa the week before he died. Phil had Hepatitis C, like Mumia Abu-Jamal does.
Animal Liberation in Florida
This report was sent anonymously to Bite Back Magazine, which is a semi regular periodical out of West Palm Beach, Florida. It details things of interest to radical animal liberation and a critique of the capitalist exploitation of animals.
In the words of the communique:
“In the late night hours of September 17th, after hiking miles through the forest, we descended upon a Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) pheasant holding pen located within the EE Wilson Game Management Area. Aviation snips were used to cut a hole in the netting surrounding the pen allowing the approximately 100 ring-necked pheasants held inside to escape into the wild. The immediate area in which these pheasants were released is located in the ‘safe zone’, a section of the park in which hunting is prohibited.
These pheasants were slated to be used as part of a ODFW sponsored pheasant hunt. It was the goal of this action to spare these animals from an almost certain death at the hands of hunters and to at the very least disrupt the normal functioning of the hunt. It is sick and disturbing that non-human animals are continued to be used as commodities by hunters to be tortured and killed for sport. These pheasants were born into a life of captivity and confinement and it was a beautiful sight to see them fly free for the first time.”
To see more from Bite Back, you can go to www.directaction.info or you can write them at:
3300 South Dixie Highway
Suite 1-231
West Palm Beach, FL 33405
This next update is from Warrior Publications which is an excellent news source for Indigenous anti-colonial struggles and resistance, and also aims to provide radical analysis of these struggles. It is published in occupied Coast Salish territory , or so called Vancouver, Canada.
Some background on this update:
Pacific NorthWest LNG (or Liquid Natural Gas) is a proposed natural gas liquefaction and export facility on Lelu Island in northeast British Columbia. The facility would liquefy and export natural gas produced by the company Progress Energy. Lelu Island and Flora Banks have historically been home to the Lax Kw’alaams First Nation for over 10.000 years, and this group holds the title to this land. Lelu Island is also an essential habitat for migrating juvenile fish and other shellfish, the loss of which would irreperably devastate the local ecology.
Earlier this spring members of the Lax Kw’alamms First Nation rejected a 1.15 billion dollar package from the company for the rights to build on Lelu Island. However, corporations are not to be trusted, and since August 15th of this year Lax Kw’alaams members and accomplices have had an encampment on Lelu Island to make sure that no drilling or building has been taking place.
Here is an update from the camp:
“On September 12, at approximately 7am, the drilling vessel Quin Delta attempted to drill on the northwest edge of Flora Bank. Members of the Lax Eula (or Lelu Island) occupation camp approached the workers on the vessel to explain that no drilling has been permitted and that all drilling activities must cease.
The workers on the vessel then desisted from drilling. However, a barge pulled by the tugboat Cadal from Wainwright Marine Services dropped markers in the water to prepare for further unauthorized work. Throughout the day the Quin Delta then attempted to remove equipment that had been installed in the ocean floor, requiring the use of a bucket-loader on a barge and a crane barge. Both attempts were unsuccessful due to mechanical failure.
Prince Rupert Port Authority and other contractor and surveyor boats shuttled back and forth throughout the day as well. As of 9pm the vessel and equipment still appear to be immobilized on the bank due to mechanical failure.
While this was happening on the water, over 30 people came out from many different nations to show their support. We are building friendships and solidarity across the entire Skeena watershed.
We expect the drilling boat to attempt work on the bank again tomorrow. We continue to need additional boats on the water, and people on the island, as we have been told that helicopters may attempt to land for on-island drilling.”
This week we feature two segments concerning struggles in Europe:
Firstly, we speak with Linus. Linus is a member of an autonomous socialist group based in Malmö, Sweden, and is an organizer of the upcoming Connecting European Struggles conference in Malmö. The theme of the CES conference this year is “Gender and Crisis” and invites anti-state & anti-capitalist individuals and groups from around and beyond Europe to attend from September 18-25th to have discussions, watch films, attend presentations and engage towards a more integrated system of autonomous action and ideas. Bursts and Linus discuss the conference, the prior year’s, Crisis Politics, feminism, anti-capitalism, reaction and more. More on the conference can be found at http://connectingeuropeanstruggles.tumblr.com
Next, Bursts chats with Julnel, a member of Ü, an anarchist black metal band from Potenza, in Basilicata, southern Italy. Julnel is a founder of the The Black Metal Alliance anti-hate metal and punk collective, as well as a founder of Dark Skies Above Us Collective and Ü has contributed music to benefit compilations for both of those collectives as well as Crust or Die distro.
Recipients of the benefit funds, earned by selling albums of donated songs by similarly anti-nationalist, anti-racist, feminist, pro-LGBT (and so on) metal and punk projects and include: http://caravana43.com; Emilio (anti-fa resistor beaten by a crowd of fascists) and Dordoni Social Center in Cremona which was attacked in January of 2015 by hooligans from CasaPound; Eric McDavid; http://www.womenonwaves.org providing info, contraceptives, safe and legal abortions and more by sailing ships into intl waters around coastal countries where abortion access is prohibited; and 350.org.
These collectives (DSAU/BMA/CoD) include bands from Europe, North America, Australasia and South America. We spend about 20 minutes talking about uses of subcultures like punk and metal to engage politically by both revolutionary (for instance, RABM) and reactionary ideologies (in particular RAC & NSBM).
There is no Sean Swain segment for this week, but stay tuned for our next episode which will feature a conversation on the No New Animal Labs tour and initiative out of Washington State to stop the building of an animal testing lab at UW and fight against animal testing. We’ll also be speaking with a supporter of Jessica Burlew, an 18 year old girl diagnosed as schizoeffective and autistic, who has been held in isolation in Estrella Jail in Phoenix, Arizona, since January, 2014. She is being charged with 2nd degree murder for the accidental death of Jason Ash, a 43 year old man who was sexually exploiting her as a 16 year old. http://freejessieb.org/
Announcements
The following is an update on the Resist 450 event in St. Augustine Florida, which was written on Tuesday September 8th and posted to the EarthFirst! Newswire at http://earthfirstjournal.org/newswire. It should be stated that all who were arrested are now free, but the bail fund website is still active and accepting donations.
From EarthFirst!: Six people were arrested today for demonstrating against the celebration of the 450th anniversary of the Spanish invasion of so-called Saint Augustine, Florida. Arrestees are being held at the St Johns County Jail with misdemeanor charges. So far, three have been released. The support team does not have enough support to bond out all arrestees. Donations to the legal/bail fund can be sent to https://www.everribbon.com/ribbon/donate/22383
Tribal elders and the Council of the Original Miccosukee Simanolee Nation Aboriginal Peoples called for resistance demonstrations months ago. The Council asked Saint Augustine city officials not to glorify the rape, torture, displacement, enslavement, and genocide that accompanied European colonization but they were repeatedly ignored.
“Acts of genocide and crimes against humanity conducted on our ancestors by Spain is nothing to honor, glorify, commemorate or celebrate,” said clan and spiritual leader Bobby C. Billie. Billie led tradition prayers in defiance of a reenactment of a colonial landing this morning.
Other protesters took to the water. To the chagrin of haughty actors dressed in shiny hats and other aristocratic regalia, protesters held signs and chanted from kayaks, canoes, and pool floaties in the water surrounding the rowboat and forcing the boat back several times and finally reaching land with reenactors only under heavy police boat escort. More picketers disrupted the opening countdown ceremonies. They delivered messages like “celebrating 450 is celebrating genocide,” “heal the past,” “no honor no pride” and “conquest is not discovery.”
Police officers singled out and arrested four canoers participating in the water protest. On land, officers arrested two other people who interrupted a procession of dignitaries and escorted away others who called attention to the grotesque nature of the festivities.
Protester Libelula commented
“Today’s demonstrations seek to unmask St Augustine’s romanticized version of conquest as a vile glorification of the horrific and heinous acts committed against the original people’s of this territory by the Spanish Conquistadors. I’m from an indigenous background and celebrations like this one are not only offensive but also attempt to erase indigenous people’s suffering. This makes our demands for emancipation and dignity invisible. This is a blatant celebration the murder, rape, and torture of the original peoples of Turtle Island. It’s important to not let this go unchallenged.”
Anarchists across the US have been taking part in events to raise funds for the Anarchist Black Cross in cities from Denver, New York, and LA. The events, called ‘Running Down the Walls’ raise funds for the ABC Warchest, which goes to help ABC Chapters send money and literature to political prisoners across the US. The runs are conducted in US cities and inside prison walls, building solidarity between incarcerated prisoners and those on the outside. Bill Dune, anti-authoritarian political prisoner imprisoned for an attempted 1979 prison break from the King County Jail in Seattle,Washington wrote on the occasion:
“Running Down The Walls has become a fine and honored tradition on our side of the barricade. I could run like the wind in past RDTWs even where I ran alone because the sense of solidarity took away the pain of physical exertion and of distance from my community – from you all. This year, unfortunately, I will be unable to physically run with you. I’ve been relegated to FCI Herlong’s dungeon because in the agency of repression’s mythology, an anonymous note purports that I’m planning to run from them. It was most likely written by a person of the porcine persuasion actually worried I might be planning more litigation. But so it goes in life with big brother! I will be with you this day nevertheless, if not in person, in mind, in heart, in solidarity as you – as we – run, walk, roll, move however we can down the road to revolution. See you closer to the finish line!”
To write to Bill Dunne, address letters to:
Bill Dunne #10916-086
FCI Herlong
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 800
Herlong, CA 96113
The Final Straw sees fit to mention a court decision – which we wouldn’t normally do, this being a somewhat anti-state anarchist radio show – but this little number highlights a few things which interest us and relates back to the interviews we conducted in 2011 & 2013 around the hunger strikes that spread up from California prisons to include prisoners in other states and even Canada in solidarity against solitary confinement. The case in question is called Ashker v. Governor of California, and it is a federal class action lawsuit on behalf of prisoners held in the Security Housing Unit, or SHU, at California’s Pelican Bay State Prison who have spent a decade or more in solitary confinement. The case was settled by the Governor’s office on September 1st, 2015.
“The case charges that prolonged solitary confinement violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, and that the absence of meaningful review for SHU placement violates the prisoners’ rights to due process. The legal action is part of a larger movement to reform conditions in SHUs in Calfornia’s prisons that was sparked by hunger strikes by thousands of SHU prisoners in 2011 and 2013; the named plaintiffs in Ashker include several leaders and participants from the hunger strikes. The case is part of the Center for Constitutional Rights broader efforts to challenge mass incarceration, discrimination, and abusive prison policies.”
“This settlement represents a monumental victory for prisoners and an important step toward our goal of ending solitary confinement in California, and across the country. California’s agreement to abandon indeterminate SHU confinement based on gang affiliation demonstrates the power of unity and collective action. This victory was achieved by the efforts of people in prison, their families and loved ones, lawyers, and outside supporters.”
This case represents to us a huge and interesting step in our United States, which happens to be the country with the most percentage of incarcerated citizens in the world. Prison visibility in the media is at unprecedented levels, from the prison themed TV show “Orange is the New Black” to NPR coverage of prison strikes and the deleterious effects that incarceration and solitary confinement has on people. Since this particular case could not have occurred so successfully in a more apathetic social environment – support from families and on social media have been instrumental to any steam its gained – it yet again highlights to us the importance of sticking to your guns, to having strong solidarity with your comrades, friends, family, and neighbors, wherever and whenever it makes sense. So listeners, keep on talking to each other. It could lead in some great directions.
This week on The Final Straw we feature a short interview by our komrades at Anarchistisches Radio Berlin with anonymized organizers of the International Week in Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners, which is called for August 23rd-30th of 2015. More info on that can be found at http://tillallarefree.noblogs.org
After that we’ll be playing some recent metal and punk tracks from around the world. Much of this was gleaned from R-A-B-M, a site featuring global perspectives and music from across the Loud spectrum. Red & Anarchist Black Metal, as a site, hosts political commentaries and musical projects of anti-capitalist, ecological, anti-state, feminist and other common sense pursuasions… or at least projects that’re good and reject NSBM & RAC trajectories. More can be found at http://R-A-B-M.blogspot.com
But first in news:
Earlier this week Sean was unexpectedly transferred to Warren Correctional. It seems he wasn’t given enough notice to send word out to supporters, so we’re not sure what’s up with this. Warren is a primarily level 3 institution, so Sean also likely had his security level reduced.
It is located near Cincinnati, so anyone there, in Bloomington, or in Columbus are now closer than they used to be. Sean loves visitors (and is more down to earth in person than his writings would suggest) so if you’d like to hang out in a big room with uncomfortable chairs, lots of sad people who are happy to see each other and vending machines that provide the best food half the people in that room can get, fill out some visitation forms and write Sean a letter letting him know you’d like to come.
His new address is:
Sean Swain
243-205
Warren CI
P.O. Box 120
5787 State Route 63
Lebanon, Ohio 45036
Chelsae Manning, who is currently serving a 35 year sentence at the maximum security US Disciplinary Barracks in Ft Leavenworth after disclosing to WikiLeaks nearly three-quarters of a million classified or unclassified but sensitive military and diplomatic documents while she was in the military, is facing indefinite solitary confinement. The charges that have been brought up against Chelsae are very clearly the product of institutional intimidation, and they include: having literature pertaining to trans issues (Manning is a transgender woman), spilling food onto the floor, and being in the possession of an expired tube of toothpaste.
From her support page: “This is a disturbing attempt to silence Chelsea’s voice. Chelsea has been very active while in prison, speaking out through her twitter account about issues of government transparency, transgender rights, and the prison system. She’s been writing a regular column for The Guardian, and even wrote a bill to reform the Espionage Act and protect journalism.These absurd charges against Chelsea, and the outrageous threat of indefinite solitary confinement, are clearly an attempt to silence Chelsea’s important voice and cut her off from the outside world.We have to make sure this attempt to silence Chelsea not only fails, but backfires”. And we here at The Final Straw agree!!
To write to Chelsae, you can address letters to:
CHELSEA E. MANNING 89289
1300 NORTH WAREHOUSE ROAD
FORT LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS 66027-2304
And to donate funds, read updates on her case, and to see guidelines for sending her mail, you can visit the very comprehensive website http://www.chelseamanning.org
Columbia, SC native, Eddien Patterson was arrested during the July 18 anti-KKK demonstration in South Carolina (which we at The Final Straw reported here: http://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2015/08/03/they-ran-the-kkk-out-of-town-in-fact-exclamation-point/). He was initially charged with 2nd degree felony assault and battery by a mob as well as 3rd misdemeanor assault and battery. Eddien was on probation at the time of arrest and now is serving ten months for violating the probation. He is currently being held at the Richland County jail.
On July 29 Eddien was given the additional charge of Breach of Peace of a High and Aggravated Nature for allegedly breaking the windows of a KKK members pick up truck. Currently we are trying to find a lawyer for Eddien, but he has requested that money be added to his books and desires to receive letters.
EXTREME HEAT IN TX PRISONS by Malik Washington:
The next audio was a lengthy letter dated July 20th from Keith “Malik” Washington. Keith ‘Malik’ Washington is living in the Wallace Pack Unit in Navasota, Texas. He reports on human rights abuses in the Texas prison system. Known to his friends as Comrade Malik, his life mission is to serve the people and create conditions in the United States in which all humyn beings have access to freedom, justice and equality! More on his observations, his case and the contents of the letter on Extreme Heat conditions at Wallace Pack Unit (and the retaliation for complaint against 3 inmates there) at http://comrademalik.com
UNICORN RIOT:
And finally, we’d like to suggest another source for what’s called “alternative media” aka media for all you trouble makers out there. The website http://www.unicornriot.ninja/ boasts a bunch of awesome looking videos and articles about current events which would be of interest to anarchist leaning folx.
From the website:
“Unicorn Riot is your commercial-free not-for-profit media alternative. We operate independent of government/corporate funding and are currently accessible to anyone with an internet connection.
The purpose of Unicorn Riot is to amplify the voices and images of marginalized people and further the understanding of dynamic social struggles in communities around the world. We produce media in order to educate and expose the root causes of social conflict in today’s globalized world.
Unicorn Riot is comprised of independent journalists and multimedia artists working together from around the world who are committed to providing uncensored alternative media supported by the viewers themselves.”
MUSIC TRACKS:
This track is “a gospel of the flesh” by SEEDS IN BARREN FIELDS from Gothenburg, Sweden, which formed in 2007. They focus on themes of anarchism and environmentalism and are out on Lundr Records. This track is off their July 19th, 2015 release Let The Earth Be Silent After Ye.
AMESTIGON is from Lower Austria, and they formed in 1995 and are still going strong. They focus on Satanism and the Occult among other themes and are out on the lable World Terror Committee. Right now we’re hearing the track, 358 which is off the band’s full length album “Thier”, which was released in May of this year.
PALE CHALICE from San Francisco, formed in 2008 and out on the label Gilead Media. We’re hearing Shaking Nerves & Vacuous Spheres from their June 16th, 2015 release, Negate The Infinite & Miraculous.
This week we spoke with Bobby C. Billie and Shannon Larsen of the Resist 450 Coalition. This coalition is set up to protest the so called “450th Commemoration” Celebration to be held in St Augustine FL at the beginning of September, which will mark the 450th anniversary of the settling of that city by Juan Ponce de Leon and Pedro Menendez, colonizers from Spain. In this interview we talk about indigenous struggle in St Augustine, the Doctrine of Discovery, the Action Camp which will occur on September 5th thru 8th, and more! To get involved with the Action Camp, or to donate to this cause, you can see all the information you’ll need at http://resist450.org
Additionally this week also we have audio from our comrades at ARadio Berlin! Anarchist Radio Berlin, which can be found at http://aradio.blogsport.de, did this interview with a UK-based organizer from the Reclaim the fields initiative, and they talk about the planned international camp in North-Wales, the relationship of food sovereignty and the prison system, and the topic of prison abolition as such.
You can send these folks feedback and comments at: aradio-berlin(at)riseup(dot)net Thanks to these comrades for sharing this audio! Stay tuned for more from ARadio Berlin next week.
In a bit of news, the trial of the Tarnac 10 is set to begin soon, minus the charges of “Terrorist Association.” The Tarnac case stems back to 2009 in Tarnac, France, the site of a farm commune on which 9 folks were arrested and accused of attempting sabotage on a high speed rail line. The case allegedly also linked the arrested, including Julian Coupat and Yildune Lévy, to the publishing group, The Invisible Commitee. The Invisible Commitee, which recently published “To Our Friends” is in the lineage of Tiqqun magazine, of which Coupat was a founder. http://www.anarchistnews.org/content/tarnac-eight-sent-trial-without-designation-terrorist-organization
A Virginian Anarchist by the name of Stephen Loughman was arrested a week after attending the anti-KKK rally in Columbia, SC, on July 18th. Stephen’s cellphone was dropped and he was arrested when he attempted to pick it up from the department of Sheriff Leon Lott. Stephen Loughman’s being accused attempting to incite hatred against the KKK, yelling profanity at the white supremacists and being in traffic. He’s being smeared in local media and by the Sheriff of being a career troublemaker who was attempting to incite the crowd to riot. He sounds like a pretty stand-up guy to us. You can find out more and support Stephen by visiting http://gofundme.com/e6b3tukuc . More at https://itsgoingdown.org/virginia-anarchist-arrested-week-sc-anti-klan-rally-support-needed/
Sean Swain speaks his piece on the recent drug delivery via drone, which occurred on July 29 at the Mansfield Correctional Institution some 65 miles southwest of Cleveland, OH. It contained almost a quarter of an ounce of heroin, over 2 ounces of marijuana and more than 5 ounces of tobacco. Sean speculates as to what other uses drones might have, and leaves us with words to ponder.
This week we continue our conversation with John, an anti-racist anarchist living in the U.S. South about thoughts and memories concerning the July 18th 2015 counter-demonstration to the KKK in Columbia, South Carolina. John also talks a bit about what he knows of the 1997 KKK march in Asheville, North Carolina and their subsequent patookis whoopin by the general population of Asheville.
But before we get there, we’ll hear some announcements, an important announcement by Anarchist Prisoner Sean Swain. After those portions, we’ll hear an interview conducted by a member of the Durham Anti-Repression committee of anarchist prisoner Luke O’Donovan. Luke is in the middle of a 2 year sentence for defending himself against 5 homophobic attackers at a New Years Eve party in Atlanta at the opening of 2013. More on his case at http://letlukego.wordpress.com
For farther flung listeners, if you’d like to hear this show on a station in your area, you can simply email us for requests at thefinalstrawradio@riseup.net and we can get a conversation started about making it happen.
On a separate note, for years the Iron Rail Book Collective has been one of the most socially transformative projects in New Orleans and has been part of a vibrant and growing anarchist culture in the city. Some of you may be familiar with it from the NASSN conference in New Orleans or the New Orleans Anarchist Bookfair. When the police closed the Iron Rail down through selective enforcement of code violations and forced it out of its long-time site several years ago this seriously set back liberatory politics in the city. There is a fundraising campaign going on to get a house in the Upper 9th Ward as a new home for the Iron Rail. A mere $4000 will secure the site and help start renovations. We would appreciate any help possible to get this important anarchist project reestablished. Please go to http://crowdrise.com/ironrail for information on the Iron Rail and the fundraising campaign.
A new insturrectional anarchist audio site has been launched called Resonance Audio Distro. On it you can find links to anarchist news sources in English, as well as a growing pool of recorded essays and zines. You’ll find such titles as “3 Positions against Prison” by August O’Clairre, “On The Continuing Appeal of Nationalism” by Fredy Perlman, “Revolutionary Solidarity: A Critical Reader for Accomplices” and more. Check it out at: https://resonanceaudiodistro.wordpress.com/
Also, the political prisoner birthday calendar for august 2015 is out! If you or someone you know would like to write political prisoners on their birthdays, you can view and download the pdf of this document at prisonbooks.info. These lovely rabble rousers would also like to announce that their comprehensive zine entitled How To Start a Prison Books Collective has been updated and is available for download and distro at that same address, http://prisonbooks.info.
If you’d like to learn more about the situation in Syria and the continuing repression by ISIS, you can give a listen to #’s 36 and 39 of the Ex Worker podcasts put out by CrimethInc. These give specific information on and interviews with participants of the Rojava Revolution. You can listen to all their podcasts at http://crimethinc.com/podcast and some more updates on the situation of PYD/PKK/International Brigade fighters can be found about repression in Turkey and Iraq.
Stay tuned next week on The Final Straw, same time same place, for an interview with organizers of the Resist 450 event to take place in St Augustine Florida in September of this year. The city of St Augustine – one of the oldest cities as we know them in the US – is slated to commemorate the 450th anniversary of colonization by Pedro Menendez and Juan Ponce de Leon. We’ll speak with Bobby C. Billie and Shannon Larsen of the Resist 450 Coalition about the history of this event and indigenous struggles in St. Augustine. More at http://resist450.wordpress.com
“I signed my transfer notice yesterday. I wrote everybody and gave them the Trumbull address. I got packed up today. Then the warden notified me that Central Office Anonymous Coward cancelled my transfer. Now I missed commissary and commissary won’t let me shop. I don’t even have soap.
Please let everyone know I’m not at Trumbull…”
We already sorted out the commissary issue, what we need now, is to get at the root of this, and so many other problems with SOCF. That means we need a concerted effort to address that Central Office Anonymous Coward: Trainwreck Trevor Clark.
Wanna help ruin Trevor Clark’s career? We hope so.
Here’s the deal: ODRC Counsel Trevor Matthew Clark is a sociopath who runs the ODRC torture program with his FBI buddies on speed dial, and he recently used his sock-puppet co-workers to harass Ben Turk and Ihsan purging them from Sean’s visiting list because Trevor Clark doesn’t like online postings. He also cancelled Sean’s transfer to lower security at the last minute. He wants to pull the plug on seanswain.org and turn Sean into his personal cat toy to swat around whenever feels like it. F this Ahole. It’s time for him to get disbarred, lose his job, and spend the rest of his miserable existence sleeping in his car. We can make that happen. It’s OUR world, and this creep is just mismanaging it.
THE PLAN
We gotta swamp the right hierarchs with a million phone calls and letters. The more calls the better. Is that reformist? Well, yeah. But the direct action alternative doesn’t seem to be happening, so let’s do what’s do-able.
Trainwreck is an attorney, so if he loses his license, he loses his job and loses his power to mess with people. He ends up at a job asking you if you want fries with that.” So the right people to contact are:
Columbus Bar Association
175 South Third Street, Suite 1100
Columbus, Ohio 43215
(614) 221-0754
For suggestions on talking points, more updates as they come and more of Sean’s writings, check out http://seanswain.org
This week we spoke with a supporter of Eric King. Eric is a 28 year old vegan anarchist in Kansas City, Missouri, who’s facing possibly life plus 20 years in federal prison for allegedly attempting to molotov a Senator’s office. No one was inside the building or in danger of direct injury. He has been held in Solitary confinement at CCA Leavenworth in Kansas for 6 months as a July 14th due to his potential life sentence. Eric’s trial has been pushed back to October 26th,
2015. More on Eric’s case can be found at http://supportericking.wordpress.com . We also speak about the upcoming North American Anarchist Black Cross conference which is currently in it’s fundraising phase. The NAABC conference brings together advocates of political prisoners, prison abolitionists and other troublemakers once a year in order to better share skills and network. More on fundraising for this event can be found at http://www.youcaring.com/north-american-political-prisoners-366217
Click here for a firsthand account of anti-KKK actions that occurred Saturday, July 18th in Columbia, South Carolina that we received and wanted to share.
Interesting video and pictures from this event can be found at It’s Going Down, a new anarchist news site focusing mostly on North American struggles.
Now, an update from the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee about the complaints of forced medicalization and medication of concerned prisoners at SECC outside of Charleston, Missouri. Sadly, time constraints made it so we couldn’t announce this in the episode, but here it is anyway:
“Update 7-15-15 ~ FINALLY!! A month and a half after receiving the first letter of complaint about psychological and medical torture, we received a letter from one of the people involved saying that things are getting better and they are working their way off the forced medication now. Many, many thanks to everyone who has participated in this calling campaign. This would not be getting better without all of your help. Please continue to stay in touch with us by liking the IWOC fakebook page here https://www.facebook.com/incarceratedworkers “
Also from IWOC:
“You may be familiar with Ricky Kidd’s case of innocence and his request to have DNA from the crime scene tested is being considered in Jackson County Courts. To find out about his case you can go to http://freerickykidd.com
In the meantime, Ricky is fighting another battle with the MO Department of Corrections that could lead to losing a leg or even his death. Ricky is a diabetic and has a soft tissue sore that has gotten into the bone of his leg and created a condition that is potentially life threatening. He was diagnosed with Osteomyelitis about four months ago, a condition that if it had been properly treated at the time would have healed by now. The proper treatment is a 6 week course of very strong antibiotics administered via an IV. The DOC has been giving Ricky an Oral antibiotic every other week and now the infection has moved from the tissue to the bone and is putting him at risk of losing his leg. The medical personnel have told him his situation is dire and must be properly addressed immediately as there is not only the risk of amputation but a risk of death if this infection migrated to his bloodstream.
Please call the Missouri Department of Corrections at 573-751-2389 and request to speak to Adrian Hardy in the Medical Division. You must reference Ricky Kidd # 528343, he is housed at Crossroads Correctional Center. They probably will not transfer you and will tell you that Harriett Clark is the contact person for this case. Register your concern and then call again the next day. We cannot allow this innocent man to be maimed or killed by the DOC by neglect or malfeasance.
Please forward this to your friends, associates and State Representatives, as well as post to FB where you can. We need a flood of calls to help get Ricky proper treatment.
Here is that account of the KKK getting trounced in South Carolina on July 18th:
“Yesterday in Columbia SC the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan assembled in order to protest the removal of the Confederate flag from the state house. I’m told that their permit was originally set to accomodate 100-200 people. However, this pathetic organization has dwindled in numbers since its heyday in the 1920s, and there were fewer than 75 klan present at any given time. This event happened on the same day as an anti-colonial and antiracist event was held in Tuscon to protest an islamophobic and white supremacist group, and is happening in the wake of a resurgence of white supremacist rhetoric and actions in this country. People came out in droves and showed the racists that they are not welcome in Columbia, or anywhere!
Despite the almost 100 degree weather and at least the 100 cops, paramilitary, and state troopers swarming the grounds, I’d say that there were at least 2,000 anti racists, anti-fascists, and community members present ranging from concerned clergy to the much maligned out of town anarchists of all races. I was in a group of caucasian folks and non black people of color, and it felt vibrantly good to show our faces in the midst of this crowd, which I’d say consisted primarily of black people of all ages and the remaining third were folks of other races. The solidarity in the crowd was palpable, with people starting conversations with strangers, helping others out with water, and looking out for each other in the face of police violence.
When I rolled up to the event, the anti conf flag counter rally on the other side of the state house was starting to wrap up. This seemed to be mostly made up of New Black Panther Party and Nation of Islam members. The KKK harrassed these people with racial slurs when they themselves paraded up minutes later through a funnel of their cop protectors, brandishing confederate flags and Nazi swastikas and screaming “white power”.
They were instantly met with jeers and heckling from their numerous enemies, which reached such a pitch that it made one of the racists burst into tears. At one point, one racist got separated from his group and was surrounded by the crowd, which screamed at him to go the fuck home and things like that. One man got arrested at this point and carted off to the crowd yelling “let him go”.
The KKK then stood in the baking sun on the steps of the state house for about an hour. They roasted in the heat and waved their flags behind a phalanx of their pig handlers, all the while making pitiful attempts to engage the antiracist crowd, which had them outnumbered almost 27 to one. Some of their sympathizers who were dressed in confederate flag apparel were chased off the premesis during this time, including one homophobic preacher and one Nazi peace police who was attempting to verbally shame people into leaving the racists alone. Several of the klan passed out from heatstroke during this time, including one old racist who had to be carried away by the cops wrapped up in a confederate flag.
The police cut their flag waving rally short by an hour due to the numbers of antiracists, which were growing steadily. The real fun began when the klan began to move out to the parking garage where their vehicles were being guarded by even more police. The cops attempted to hoodwink the crowd into focusing on one exit of the garage, while the klan was exiting out of another around the back. When the crowd got wind of this, we took to the streets and ran around the building to confront the klan as they drove out of town. They mostly had their windows up, staring forward and looking beaten. One klansdude however became so enraged at the verbal attacks he was recieving that he drove his SUV into a pole, crushing the front end of the car which leaked radiator fluid all over the pavement. The cops were unprepared for this, and the car was surrounded by antiracists who pounded on the windows and hurled rocks at the damaged vehicle. The cops then forceably surrounded the car and drove the antiracists back. Several people got detained briefly by the police and then violently unarrested by their comrades at this point. After about half an hour of tussling between cops and antiracists, a perimeter was established around the car and it drove away amid more heckling.
After this time the crowd marched back up to the state house, where the few remaining klan supporters were confronted and driven out of Columbia. I’m not sure how many people got arrested, but I think it was at least 5 people, for disorderly conduct and assaulting an officer. I’d urge people to keep up with that news, and help with people’s bail however they can. Since this happened on a Saurday, I think people should be out by Monday.
Throughout all of this, it seemed very clear that the crowd had pinpointed their real enemies as being the police. While people were mad about the klan they were even angrier at the cops for protecting these Nazi racist scum. The weak attemts by cop sympathizers on the AR side to focus the crowd’s anger at solely the KKK were entirely unsuccessful. I think that this event will be one in a series of many active and vibrant displays of anti racist and anti white supremacist actions in this country. I hope that people are staying safe and keeping their friends close.
Toward a world without racism, without police, without jail cells, and without the klan.
Solidarity from a comrade in Columbia, South Carolina.”
This week you’ll be hearing an interview with Earthworm (Dell) of Atlanta Black Cross and Sandy, who’s the mother of an inmate at Georgia State Prison, about the TIER program being implemented there. The TIER program is the means by which the certain prisons in Georgia are reducing the time outside of cell for prisoners down to mere hours a week from multiple a day based on minor accusations and infractions and sometimes with no clear process towards getting out or limit of stay. While inside, these prisoners are kept on a minimal diet with no commissary, often no access to the library for legal research along with other issues.
In response to the conditions under TIER at GSP, numerous prisoners initiated a hunger strike back in April, with one continuing to this day.
More on what’s going on with TIER at GSP, check out http://atlblackcross.org, to read the words of the prisoners themselves via their letters posted and transcribed there. You can also find addresses for the prisoners at that site. A good intro article can be found here
Also mentioned was the Free Alabama Movement, which is a multi-state network of incarcerated folks (Alabama & Mississippi, plus affiliates in CA & VA) organizing non-violent protests to the exploitation of their labor for profit, the racialized system of incarceration in the U.S. and the horrible conditions of their incarceration. More on the project, including links to their prisoner-sourced podcasts can be found at http://freealabamamovement.com/
For our interview with members of the FAMM, check out this link
Finally, referenced was the case of Kalief Browder, incarcerated at the New York prison of Rikers Island from the age of 16-19, without trial on the accusation of stealing a backpack. Browder committed suicide 2 years after his release, in June of 2015.
Following the interview we’ll be hearing songs by the Philly post-punk project King Azaz, the Oakland deathrock band Bitter Fruit and the Czech atmospheric RABM project Marnost from a recent comp which translates to “Come and See”.
This week Bursts spoke with Steve from the Inside/Outside Alliance in Durham, NC. IOA is made up of folks with incarcerated family in the Durham County Jail, friends and concerned community members and they work to amplify and organize inside and outside (hence the name) of the jail walls to challenge the punishment those on the inside are facing.
In April of this year, Lt. Col. Natalie Perkins (who serves as Detention Director for the Durham Sheriff Michael D. Andrew’s Dept) decided to cut people’s access to out-of-cell time from up to 6 hours a day to 2 hours a week and limit their time out at the same time. This means that prisoners could maybe expect to take a shower and make a 2AM call to their family/lawyer once a week. The reasons for this change have shifted over the months from costs to potential danger to prisoners and Detention Officer’s safety. The end result is an increased pressure on the mental health of the inmates, leading a greatly increased number of suicide attempts (so much so that the Sheriff’s dept just requested funds to make the cells more suicide-proof rather than decrease the pressure on those they imprison).
Alongside of this is the increased cost and decreased quality of services available to those incarcerated at DCJ due to privatization of aspects. Aramark‘s medical services have doubled the rate for medical visits from $10-$20 each. Food under another service by Aramark has down-shifted from 3 hot meals to 2 sandwiches daily. The facility is contractually obliged to provide a certain number of inmates for Aramark to feed and to extract labor from in serving and cleaning up after their food services. And if an inmate’s too hunger after their 4pm dinner of a sandwich, they are certainly free to buy junk food from the Aramark canteen if they have money in their commissary (via I-Care & FreshFavorites, both brands of Aramark). TouchPay services for putting money on an inmate’s commissary account charges a $5 and some cent fee each time you use it and the DCJ has drastically cut back the hours of the fee-free window with a teller to help you make the transaction.
On top of all of this, the jail doesn’t allow inmates to have pencils (ostensibly in case they become improvised weapons), so the only time that they can write to family, friends or their lawyers is during that 2 hour window a week. Their only way of making complaints is a receipt-free service using their TPay console, the same as they use to check their commissary.
The extractive and frighteningly Kafka-esque circumstances at this facility, one which like most in the United States disproportionately incarcerates poor people and people of color is certainly not one of a kind. To check out the work that folks at Inside/Outside and the inmates at Durham County Jail are doing, check out their website and listening page at http://amplifyvoices.com
In the last ten minutes we hear 2 aggressive musical tracks. Firstly, Ast from their recent split with Ancst (both German anarchist Black Metal projects) we hear the track Von Einem Ende.
Finally, we close out hearing Human Wreck with Liquid Savior from their album, Catch 22. Human Wreck is from Athens, Greece.
This episode of The Final Straw is served in three portions, all concerning prisons and prisoners.
Before the segments begin, a couple of announcements concerning upcoming events in Asheville, North Carolina for the days surrounding June 11th and the International Day of Solidarity with Long Term Anarchist and Eco Prisoners. These events include a Books to Prisoners open house at Downtown Books & News on Thursday the 11th at 3:30, a showing of a documentary about Mumia Abu-Jamal at 7:30pm at Firestorm that night and a dance party and pie auction on the night of the 13th at the Odditorium. Facebook pages exist for these events, with details listed.
Also in there is mention of the call-out for Monday the 8th & every Friday to protest the Durham County Jail’s refusal to allow prisoners there the chance to get out of their cells for more than 2 hours a week. For more info on this struggle against the so-called Lockback, check out http://amplifyvoices.com
First among the segments, following commentary by Sean Swain, we’ll hear an up date on his situation from his friend and supporter, Ben Turk. Sean’s outgoing communication has been blocked, so his segment has had to go underground. This is in repsonse to Sean speaking up for another prisoner and using his outside support network to press the prisons after a racist attack by guards on a fellow prisoner at Lucasville. More at http://seanswain.org
Following that, we hear from Jenny of Sacramento Prisoner Support about the call-out for the upcoming June 11th International Day of Solidarity with Eric McDavid, Marius Mason & Long Term Anarchist and Eco Prisoners. Jenny tells us about the history of June 11th, talks about differences in the circumstance of June 11th for this year, and other aspects of prisoner support. More info on June 11th can be found at http://june11.org
Finally, we talk to Brianna Peril & Tommy Powell from the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee & the Missouri Innocence Project (respectively) about prisons in Missouri and what appears to be the psychiatrization and forced drugging of inmates at the SouthEast Correctional Center (SECC) outside of Charleston, Missouri, and this week’s call-in-campaign to pressure the jailers to stop the process and bring more transparency to the situation. More about the call-in can be found on the fakebook page for the event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/405416019661232/
Linked from there is the fakebook page for IWOC.
The page for Midwest Innocence Project, affiliated with the MO Innocence Project can be found here: http://themip.org/
The episode is capped by a sludge metal track by General Grievous. More info in the playlist.
