Category Archives: Protest

Anarchist, Antifa, Bail Funds, Police, Prisons, Protest, Racism, repression, United States

Resisting State Repression Panel

Resisting State Repression Panel

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The following is a conversation between folks involved in anti-repression work in 5 parts of the so-called US. The goal was to present a zoomed out vision of scope and patterns of repression since the Floyd Uprising of this summer, particularly as the US sits in a period of heightened tensions around the elections and continued killings by police. Please consider sharing this chat around. We need to be ready to push back against repression and support the mostly BIPOC folks facing heavy charges for hitting the streets against white supremacy.

You’ll hear from:

Stolen Lives

In the conversation, we hear about a few cases of folks attacked and/or killed by police in the communities our guests come from and whose memories contributed to the Uprising where they were. These include:

  • Rodney J. Freeman (killed by Dane County Police in Wisconsin);
  • Elliot T. Johnson (killed by Monona Police in Wisconsin);
  • Jacob Blake (brazenly injured by Kenosha Police);
  • John T Williams (killed by Seattle Police);
  • Charleena Lyles (killed by Seattle Police);
  • Kevin Peterson, Jr. (killed by Clark County Sheriff deputies in Washington State);
  • Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal (killed by Salt Lake City Police);
  • Atlanta: Rayshard Brooks (killed by Atlanta Police);
History, Political Prisoner, Prisons, Protest, Racism

The Right To Rebel Against Slavery: The Case of Ruchell Cinque Magee

The Right To Rebel Against Slavery: The Case of Ruchell Cinque Magee

"Free All Political Prisoners" Black Panther poster for Ruchell Cinque Magee from the 1970s
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This week, you’ll hear Ruchell Magee speak about his struggle over 57 years to be heard in the California court system and appeals to US Federal courts. Ruchell is the lone, surviving prisoner-participant of the August 7th, 1970 Marin County Courthouse Rebellion, lead by Jonathan Jackson and including prisoner rebels William Christmas and James McClain. Ruchell took the name of Cinque (aka Sengbe Pieh), the Mende man who justified for his right to resist unjust enslavement aboard the slave ship Amistad in 1839. Over the years Ruchell has become an accomplished jailhouse lawyer, helping many other prisoners and yet still languishing in prison.

For the hour, Ruchell talks about his case and strategy, the George Floyd Uprisings, corruption of the racist US legal system. We’ll also hear from Claude Marks, former political prisoner from the Puerto Rican independence movement and co-founder / director of the Freedom Archives in San Francisco, which in August 2020 memorialized the 50th anniversary of the Marin County Courthouse Rebellion.

Ruchell’s name appears on the California Courts Vexatious Litigants LIst, which bars filing in the CA system without permission from a presiding judge.

Court Documents:

  • Here is Ruchell’s August 6, 2020 Pauperis petition to the US Supreme Court concerning the requirement of $500 to file his Habeas Petition;
  • Here is Ruchell’s August 10th, 2020 Habeas Corpus Petition to the US Supreme Court, including case law and documents such as former jurors statements on Ruchell’s behalf.
Anarchist, Asia, Autonomy, China, Colonization, Communism, Hong Kong, Police, Protest

We Need To Spread This Freely: JN On HK Under National Security Law

We Need To Spread This Freely: JN On HK Under National Security Law

A 2019 demonstration with laser pointers in Hong Kong following the arrest of activist, Keith Fong.
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This week, I speak with JN, an anarchist who works with the decolonial, leftist HongKonger platform, Lausan, talks about where the uprising against Chinese integration in Hong Kong stands, the National Security Law, tankie and rightwing narratives and international anti-authoritarian solidarity and resistance.

The interview about Belarus that I mentioned before was from a recent episode of Elephant In The Room, from Dresden, Germany, which is a member of the Channel Zero Network of Anarchist Podcasts.

A few of the media links mentioned by JN are:

Announcements

Charlotte RNC 2020

I’d like to remind folks that the 2020 Republican National Convention is going to partially be held in Charlotte from August 20-24. One group that is doing anti-repression work in the area is CharlotteUprising, which can be found on twitter at @CLTUprising, where you can find info about the protests at the event as well as their jail support, including how to make donations. You can learn more by following the hashtags #CharlotteUprising and #ResistRNC2020

JLS Call For Solidarity Aug 19 – Sept 9

You can read the whole release here:

To all in solidarity with the Prisoners Human Rights Movement:
We are reaching out to those that have been amplifying our voices in these state, federal, or immigration jails and prisons, and to allies that uplifted the national prison strike demands in 2018. We call on you again to organize the communities from August 21st – September 9th, 2020, by hosting actions, events, and demonstrations that call for prisoner human rights and the end to prison slavery…
On August 21 – September 9, we call on everyone in solidarity with the prison class struggle to organize an action, a panel discussion, a rally, an art event, a film screening, or another kind of demonstration to promote prisoners’ human rights. Whatever is within your ability, we ask that you shake the nation out of any fog they may be in about prisoners’ human rights and the criminal legal system (legalized enslavement).
During these solidarity events, we request that organizers amplify immediate issues prisoners in your state face, the demands from the National Prison Strike of 2018, and uplift Jailhouse Lawyers Speak new International Law Project…
The prison strike demands were drafted as a path to alleviate the dehumanizing process and conditions people are subjected to while going through this nation’s judicial system. Following up on these demands communicates to the world that prisoners are heard and that prisoners’ human rights are a priority.
In the spirit of Attica, will you be in the fight to dismantle the prison industrial slave complex by pushing agendas that will shut down jails and prisons like Rikers Island or Attica? Read the Attica Rebellion demands and read the National Prison Strike 2018 demands. Ask yourself what can you do to see the 2018 National Prison Strike demands through.
SHARE THIS RELEASE FAR AND WIDE WITH ALL YOUR CONTACTS!
We rage with George Jackson’s “Blood in my eyes” and move in the spirit of the Attica Rebellion!
image by StudioIncendo on Flickr
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featured track:
I Can’t Relate – Beatnuts – Hydrabeats Vol 5 (instrumentals)
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
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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.

activism, General, Omaha, Police, Protest, Racism, repression

Omaha In The Uprising with Mel B

Omaha In The Uprising with Mel

Omaha protestors pictured with stolen and modified "Back The Blue" banner during George Floyd Uprising
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Image Source

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 Mel B from Omaha, Nebraska talk about the city, the protests there including the killing of James Scurlock on May 30th, the mass arrest of 120 people on July 25th and leftist and Black organizing there.

Mel’s projects:

Some projects around Omaha worth mentioning:

If you want to hear the other half of this dis-enjoined pair, you can look for the episode called ‘RVA in the Uprising with L and Buzz,’ where you’ll hear those two talk about mutual aid and the Richmond Community Bail Fund, struggles to remove confederate monuments around that former capitol of the CSA and other topics.

Anarchist, Cascadia, IWW, LGBTQ, PNW, Protest, repression

Keep Calm and Get Prepared: A Look Into Month 3 and Beyond of the Portland Uprising with the Portland GDC

Keep Calm and Get Prepared: A Look Into Month 3 and Beyond of the Portland Uprising with the Portland GDC

IWW General Defense Committee logo
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This week we got to sit down with two members of the Portland General Defense Committee, AC (they them) and Raoul (they he), about the ongoing Uprising in Portland OR in the months since the murder of George Floyd. We get to touch on a lot of topics in this interview; the neo-liberal whitewashing of the image of the city of Portland which masks a lot of ultra racist and colonial tendencies, personal timelines of engagement in the Uprising, and a lot of tips and tricks for newer and older anarchists and radicals for dealing with and anticipating state repression and violence.

Here are some notes and links to the topics that our guests spoke on:

-One note on the group Riot Ribs that AC mentions, I think that the group has disbanded for now but have seemingly regrouped as Revolution Ribs, you can find them @RevRibs on Twitter and their Cashapp is $RevolutionRibs. This group does not have a verified Instagram presence as far as I know.

–Walidah Imarisha on Oregon’s racist, anti-Black history:

Walidah Imarisha – Why Aren’t There More Black People in Oregon? (YouTube link) approx 1.5 hours long

-You can learn more about the Portland General Defense Committee and donate to their efforts at https://pdxgdc.com/

-Rosehip Medics in Portland : All Fundraising Platforms (rosehipmedics.org)

-Indigenous Mutual Aid is a platform that started up at the start of pandemic and has a very thorough list of Indigenous led and centered projects in their directory (indigenousmutualaid.org)

-Portland Freedom Fund which is a general fund that bails out BIPOC (portlandfreedomfund.org)

–Twitter folks to follow for otg news on the PDX Uprising:

Economy Breakfast

Sergio Olmos

Robert Evans

–Anti-Repression Resources:

Sprout Distro on Instagram

National Lawyers Guild on Insta

Civil Liberties Defense Center also in Insta

-And finally, there are too many autonomous local bail funds around the country to all name here, but if you do a search for “mutual aid bail fund in [name of town/city]” then that should give you a pretty solid clue about how to support places that haven’t made it into the news as much. You can also do searches for Black Mamas Bail Out in your area to help fund efforts to bail out Black mothers and caregivers.

. … . ..

Music for this episode:

Run DMC – Peter Piper (instrumental)

RANGEEN – BeatByShaheed

Burning Books Lecture, Earth & Animal Liberation, Environment, History, panel discussion, Politics, Protest

Defending The Earth By What Means? (Burning Books Lecture Series)

Defending The Earth By What Means?

Rik Scarce and Leslie Pickering from the discussion in 2017
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Rik Scarce is the author of the 1990 exploration of earth liberation and defense and the folks involved, entitled “Eco-Warriors: Understanding The Radical Environmental Movement”, which is still considered required reading in understanding radical eco-defense. At one point, he served 159 days in the Spokane jail for refusing to testify about his sources in his research on the Animal Liberation movement. Leslie James Pickering, co-owner of Burning Books in Buffalo, NY, is an author, activist and is a former spokesperson for the North American Earth Liberation Front Press Office. The following is a recording from November of 2017 at Burning Books of a conversation between Scarce and Pickering about property destruction, terrorism labels and the radical ecological movement. Rik and Leslie speak about definitions of violence, concerns around alienating the wider community and repercussions of militancy.

This conversation feels important to air as we stand at a crossroads here in the U.S. between the pandemic, an uprising to challenge police killings (primarily of Black and Brown bodies) and what role if any police should fill in our society, the collapse of the economy, the continued rise of political fascism, the de-platforming of racist statues, further internalization of the border and it’s logic, and global climate chaos that will likely make human life at this scale impossible. This power structure is amplifying difference and applying privileges and oppressions across that constructed spectrum as it always has, but it is in death throes and thus is made visible in all of it’s ugliness. For that reason, conversations about the serious needs to challenge basic assumptions and work through hard ideas feels important to me.

As usual, we invite listeners to check out the slightly longer podcast version online for free. To hear the questions and answers from the end of the presentation, you can check out the podcast. You can find more presentations from Burning Books plus an interview we did with Leslie a few years back about how they uncovered government surveillance at our website. You can learn more about their bookstore, including books by Pickering and Scarce at BurningBooks.com.

Anarchist, Asheville, North Carolina, Police, Protest, Racism, repression, Security Culture

Justice4Jerry2020, Confederate Monuments + Repression During The Movement for Black Lives

Justice4Jerry2020, Confederate Monuments + Repression During The Movement for Black Lives

Aerial of "Defund The Police" painted on street by Asheville Police Dept in June, 2020
photo by Ben Harper
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This episode has three portions following a segment by anarchist prisoner, Sean Swain, about confederate monuments.

[00:02:31 – 00:09:32]

This episode warrants a general content warning for the mentioning of the murder by shooting of a Black man at the hands of the police.

Justice4Jerry 2020

[00:09:32 – 00:29:36]

First up we got the chance to sit down with Najiyyah Avery Williams, who is a community member, organizer, and mother of Jai Lateef Solveig Williams, also known as Lil Jerry. Jerry, who was a children’s book author, artist, musician, and a 35 year old father was brutally killed by the Asheville Police Department on July 2nd 2016 by Sgt Tyler Radford.

This interview happened outdoors in front of the courthouse and police station in downtown Asheville, where the city was powerwashing a DEFUND THE POLICE street mural which was done autonomously the previous day to honor the life of Jerry Williams, and to call attention to the culture of violence and silence that the police hide behind when they murder Black people. Visit our social media for pictures of this mural before it was taken down!

In this segment we talk about Lil Jerry’s life, his work, the circumstances surrounding his passing, racist violence and harrassment his family has received in the aftermath, and projects his mother is working on and would like to see for the future.

An article by Socialist Worker detailing the initial murder and how contradictions were evidenced at the get go.

To help support Justice for Jerry, which is trying to get his unfinished books published and will go to supporting his family, you can venmo to the handle @J4J2020, or follow them on social media platforms by searching Justice 4 Jerry 2020.

Rural Protest Against Racist Legacy

[00:29:36 – 00:39:10]

After Najiah, we’re happy to share a voice message we received from Gabriel from Tyrrell County, North Carolina, about a protest that happened on the 26th in Columbia, the county seat. Gabriel shares his experience of the protest in this tiny town, giving an insight into some rural experience of confronting confederate monuments and their legacy.

Michael Loadenthal on Repression During 2020 Uprising

[00:39:11 – 02:10:16]

In the third portion of this episode, you’ll hear Michael Loadenthal of The Prosecution Project, which maps how politics impacts the weight of criminal charges attached in the U.S. Michael talks about the scale of repression brought by local, state and federal law enforcement and ideas of resisting it during the uprising against police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others, the destruction of racist statues known variously as the rebirth of the Movement for Black Lives, or the #ACABSpring. For a great article on the subject, check out Mapping the State’s Strategy of Repression Against the Rebellion on IGD. Michael talks about the construction of federal felony charges for what would normally be smaller local charges, the use of grand juries to map social networks. He also shares thoughts about safer practices with social media, shifting dialogue around the role of police in society, the role of open source intelligence as well as surveillance technologies like drones and facial recognition.

Some points to follow up on from Michael’s chat:

 

Anarchist, Autonomy, community, communization, Police, Protest, Racism, Seattle, Transcribed, zine

“Every Day!”: A View on the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone

A View on the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone

Map of the Autonomous Zone from June 10, 2020 on wiki-commons
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In the past few weeks since the uprising in response to police killings of Black and Brown folks around Turtle Island, amazing chances have presented themselves and folks have seized opportunities. One great and unfolding circumstance is known as the CHAZ or CHOP, an autonomous zone and occupational protest surrounding a police precinct in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. The area was opened to community redesign after nights of intense battles with the police leading to the department evacuating the East Precinct to crowds of people chanting “Every Day”, meaning they would continue surrounding the police building. In many ways, the ability of the community, including anarchists and other radicals, to be able to respond to the situation was possible because of the mutual aid work that had been being developed during the covid-19 pandemic and years of building relationships.

In this podcast special, you’ll hear a fresh conversation with D. D is a Black Anarchist who grew up in and around Capitol Hill district in Seattle. He talks for this chat about that neighborhood and adjacent Central District’s rebelliousness and conflictual history with the Eastern Precinct that the Seattle Police abandoned, about his knowledge of the protests of past weeks and the retreat of cops from their pen. D talks about the foundation of what has been called the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, aka CHAZ, aka Capitol Hill Occupation Protest (or CHOP), or as D calls it the Chopped City CHAZ. You’ll also hear a tiny bit about the history of occupations during protests in the city, engagement with the zone and indigenous communities in the area, the idea of monolithic Black Leadership, self-defense against the far right, the reproduce-ability of the auonomous zone model and other topics. We’re going to try to bring you more stories from this place soon and are super thankful to D for sharing his perspectives.

note: I was informed by my cohost William that in fact the retaining wall in front of the fourth precinct in Minneapolis that I was referring to was actually constructed by the Minneapolis PD, hence why it looks janky as shit.

A few of the resources that D suggests folks pay attention to include Converge Media,

Some of the occupations that D mentions include:

The website for the Duwamish nation is DuwamishTribe.org

And for the Suquamish nation’s website can be found at Suquamish.nsn.us

Political Prisoner Oso Blanco’s statement on the CHAZ can be found at FreeOsoBlanco.Blogspot.Com.

. … . ..

Featured Track:

  • Liquid Liquid – Cavern – Discography (1981-1984)

Continue reading “Every Day!”: A View on the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone →

activism, Asia, Autonomy, Capitalism, Elia J. Ayoub, History, Immigration, Lebanon, media, Middle East, Neoliberalism, Palestine, Pluto Press, Political Prisoner, Protest, repression, Syria, Transcribed

Social Justice and Struggle in Lebanon and Syria: Elia J. Ayoub and Leila Al-Shami

Social Justice and Struggle in Lebanon and Syria: Elia J. Ayoub and Leila Al-Shami

Photo taken from Al Jumhuriya

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This week on The Final Straw we’re featuring a chat with Elia J. Ayoub and Leila Al-Shami. In this conversation, Elia J. tells us of some of the history of Lebanon, since the civil war that ended in 1990 and up to the current demonstrations against the clientelist warlords in power in that country. Intertwined with this, Leila speaks about the sparking of the resistance to Bashar Al-Assad in Syria, the tumult of the civil war, and the state of anti-authoritarian and social justice organizing and media work in that country. Then the two talk about the experience of countering disinformation, conspiracy thinking and poor solidarity in the so-called Left in the West and ways to combat ignorance.

This is another long conversation, covering a lot of the last 30 years in these two neighboring nations.  The guests proposed speaking about the interrelations across that border because of the similarities, differences, and shared experiences between the two places.  Lebanon has Syrian refugees, it was occupied by Syria until 2005. Both spaces share Palestinian refugees, experienced war with Israel, are politically influenced from Hezbollah, mostly speak Arabic and even the flames of the recent wildfires that ignited anti-regime sentiment in Lebanon last fall crossed the border between Lebanon and Syria. We hope to have future chats that play with borders in this way to explore ways we can bridge these borders in our understanding in hopes of increased solidarity.

Elia J. Ayoub is a Lebanese-Palestinian writer, editor and researcher. He publishes frequently on https://joeyayoub.com/ as well as on the blog https://hummusforthought.com/ and the related podcast by the same title.

Leila Al-Shami is a British-Syrian activist and co-author of ‘Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War‘, a founder of the international solidarity site, TahrirICN and writes on http://leilashami.wordpress.com/ .

Below are links to some resources that Joey and Leila suggest interested listeners check out to for perspectives by folks on the ground in the region:

Lebanon links:

Syria Links:

Timestamps:

  • Sean Swain [00:02:32 – 00:09:34]
  • Intro to Lebanon & Syria [00:09:34 – 00:21:35]
  • Lebanese Protests of 2015 & 2019 [00:21:35 – 00:31:40]
  • Syrian Revolution to Civil War [00:31:40 – 00:41:34]
  • Current Social Justice Struggle in Syria [00:41:46 – 00:45:56]
  • Daesh / ISIS and Syrian Civil War [00:45:56 – 00:49:56]
  • Solidarity with Syrians in Lebanese Protests [00:49:56 – 01:05:38]
  • Leila on Tahrir-ICN [01:05:50 – 01:09:18]
  • Educating Ourselves on Syria and Lebanon [01:09:18 – 01:23:07]
  • White Helmets and other Conspiracy Theories [01:23:07 – 01:32:59]
  • Syrian Diaspora and Western Left [01:32:59 – 01:37:19]
  • Rojava and the Syrian Revolution [01:37:19 – 01:41:56]
  • Better Practice in Solidarity with people in Syria and Lebanon [01:41:56 – 01:53:38]

Announcements

Michael Kimble Benefit

Last week we announced a fundraiser for Michael Kimble.  Because of issues with the platforms, the fundraiser for Michael Kimble’s legal benefit to help raise money for his fight to get him released from prison has been moved.  Now you can find it at ActionNetwork.org/Fundraising/Support-Michael-Kimble . Because the fundraiser had to be moved a couple of times, some of the initial push to get word out and initial donations may be irreplaceable. So, folks are asking for an extra push to help rasie this money to get our comrade out and organizing on the outside after 33 years behind bars.

BADNews February 2020 (#31)

This month, the A-Radio Network released it’s monthly, international English-language podcast featuring voices from anarchist and anti-authoritarian radio shows, pirate stations and podcasts from around the world. The episode is up at A-Radio-Network.org by clicking the B(A)DNews. If you’re interested in joining the network or learning more, info’s up on that site.

. … . ..

Playlist

Continue reading Social Justice and Struggle in Lebanon and Syria: Elia J. Ayoub and Leila Al-Shami →