This week we spoke with two Asheville area anarchists, May and Julie, about THE ELECTION of all things. We talked about anarchist strategy in this day and age, the tactic of a general strike and what might prevent or incite some folks’ participation, some things which are missing from anarchist and other discourse right now, the role of social media, and much much more. If you are listening to an hour long version of this conversation and want to hear more, please consider checking out the podcast version of this show, which is available via iTunes by searching The Final Straw Radio in the iTunes store or on any podcatcher device, or via our website thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org.
Here is the reading list that May mentioned at the end of the interview, for people who are interested in further ideas:
*Taking Sides: Revolutionary Solidarity and the Poverty of Liberalism (ed. Cindy Milstein, available as a free e-book, along with two other pertinent titles, from AK Press until 11/30 http://us7.campaign-archive1.com/…)
*Pacifism as Pathology (Ward Churchill)
*Nonviolence Ain’t What It Used to Be (Shon Meckfessel)
After the election of Trump as POTUSA, cities around the U.S. have seen huuuuge protests. Portland, OR, in particular has seen over week of intense protracted street action in which people faced off with police and reactionaries in the streets. As such there have been many arrests and some are facing felony charges. There is a request for assistance in fund raising for arrest support.
Mateen Abdul Shaheed is a 20 year old youth of color who was arrested on a felony warrant and is currently being held on alleged charges of 6 accounts of criminal mischeif in the first degree, which is a class c felony in relation to ongoing events in Portland.
Please consider raising some funds and donating to a PDX-ABC gofundme
This is a great time to start developing regular fundraising strategies to support resistance and up our game. For ideas on soli-parties you could hold to raise funds and where you can raise awareness, drop us an email at thefinalstrawradio@riseup.net or check out fundraising needs at itsgoingdown.org
This week we spoke with members of Central PA Antifa about antifascist organizing in Pennsylvania, about some of the racial and socioeconomic aspects of that place, and many more topics but mainly about the National Socialist Movement counter protest that folks are calling for on November 5th in Harrisburg. We talk about the logistics of the event and what sorts of things to expect and what sorts of solidarity folks are asking for. To hear another interview with Central PA Antifa you can visit our comrades at itsgoingdown.org and follow the links to their podcast called the IGDcast. To learn more about Central PA Antifa you can get up with them on facebook, on which you can search Central PA Antifa, or follow them on Twitter @centralpaantifa. There is also a blog at: https://centralpaantifascist.wordpress.com/
This week, we spoke with Bruno Y Hinojosa-Ruiz, a co-director of CIMA, Companeros Inmigrantes de las Montanas en Accion, about some immigration situations in Western NC, organizing here and the case of Elmer Reynoso-Reynoso, a Guatemalan-born resident of Weaverville who was recently released from detention after public outcry and pressure. http://www.cimawnc.org
Announcements
Bo Brown support
First, we would like to briefly announce that long time revolutionary and former political prisoner Bo Brown has just been diagnosed with a condition which is very similar to Parkinson’s Disease. She has always worked tirelessly against racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia, and has brought awareness and attention through all means to the plight of the prisoner. Since being in prison is an experience which is designed to follow everyone for their entire lives, let’s help this comrade with her current situation.
On Wednesday, October 12th Alt-Right, anti-muslim, anti-semite, anti-feminist, white nationalist Milo Yiannopoulos is speaking at Western Carolina University. He’s being sponsored by the College Republicans at WCU in Cullowhee, about an hour drive west of Asheville. To get there, one can travel West on i-40 for about 25 minutes then out US-74 South for 35 minutes. It would be a pity if this stop on the “Dangerous Faggot Tour” were to be disrupted by anti-racists. Just sayin. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/milo-yiannopoulos-western-carolina-university-tickets-27340792045
His website is here
This week’s episode features a conversation with Tyler Durden of Portland Anarchist Black Cross & the Portland Industrial Workers of the World about the upcoming September 9th National Prisoner Work Stoppage across the United States. September 9th, the 45th anniversary of the Attica Prison Uprsing in 1971 and is an effort by prisoners in local, state, federal and immigration facilities around the country to address issues around the nature of their confinement, racial and class disparities in incarceration, under-and-un-payed (in some states, forced) labor often described as legalized slavery. Over the hour, we talk about organizing efforts and how to clue in to the strikes as they start this week.
A few quick announcements for this episode…
Call for Anti-DAPL Solidarity Actions
There is a call-out for acts of solidarity with the folks resisting the Dakota Access Pipeline. As we spoke about a couple of episodes ago in Gil’s interview with LaDonna Brave Bull Allard who owns the land where the Sacred Stone Camp is held, resistance to the pipeline designed to carry crude oil from source through 3 states to Illinois and cross the Missouri River a number of times continues to grow. Indigenous peoples and their supporters are gathering for nonviolent, direct action protests to block the pipeline’s construction and the threat it poses to the soil, animals, plants and that longest river in North America, the Missouri. From https://nodaplsolidarity.org comes the calll for #NoDAPL Global Weeks of Solidarity Action from September 3-17th. That site offers suggestions of places to target for protest. nodaplsolidarity.org also offers suggestions of banks and businesses maybe in your area that are funding the pipeline and that could be a nice place to visit to express one’s distaste for the pipeline.
Plug into Sept 9 actions nationwide
If you’re in the U.S. and looking to plug into a supporting prisoner struggle in your area, check out IGD for a partial and growing list of events nationwide. If you’re planning a public event not up there, email it into info(at) itsgoingdown(dot)org for other to see.
Asheville Sept 9 action
Here in Asheville, folks will meet at Aston Park, at the corner of South French Broad and Hilliard in Downtown, at 5:30 to discuss a solidarity march. Bring banners, noisemakers, signs and so forth.
Coyote Acabo , an anti-racist activist from Olympia, WA has a rough road ahead of him and could really use some support. He is currently serving 13 days on an anti-police graffiti case, and has another 22 days to serve in the very near future on a case where he was convicted of throwing a rock at a truck belonging to a neo-nazi. That’s a neo-nazi that showed up with many others to counter an anti-police brutality protest that Coyote was a part of.
Last year, Olympia saw a lot of spirited marches and demonstrations in protest of an Olympia police officer shooting two young black men, Andre Thompson and Bryson Chaplin. In response to the very understandable anti-police brutality demonstrations that were going on at that time, neo -nazis were showing up to disrupt the protesting which at times even meant neo-nazis attacking the protesters.
Well, Coyote has a third case that he is currently dealing with, and for that case his trial starts on September 19th where he is being charged with felony assault. In this case he is being accused of pepper spraying a counter protester who grabbed someone who was a part of an anti- police brutality protest that Coyote was a part of.
Coyote is now in the city jail in Olympia, WA and money is being raised that will go towards phone calls , commissary, and to help his family out while he is locked up.
Visit the crowd funding site, here: https://rally.org/supportcoyoteacabo to learn more about how you can donate to the support fund. Also, please pass it around as well. Solidarity from near and far is so important in times like these.
Call for International Solidarity Oct 8-9, 2016, with the ZAD at NDdL in France
From Squat.net:
“the entire zone is due for evictions to start the construction of this absurd airport. Prime minister Valls has promised a “Rendez-Vous” this October to evict everyone who is living, working, building and farming on the zone.
On October 8th, tens of thousands of people will gather on the zad to demonstrate that the determination of the movement is as strong as ever. Honouring farmers struggles from the past, we will come with wooden walking batons and leave them on the zone, as a sign of the commitment to come back and pick them up again if necessary. We will also raise a barn, built by dozens of carpenters during the summer, which will be used as a base, should evictions happen.
We are calling on all international groups and movements to either come to the zone on October 8th or show their solidarity with the zad through actions directed at the French government or multinational Vinci in their own towns and cities on that day.
The airport will never be built. Life on the zad will keep on flourishing!”
This week we’ll feature a recording produced by our friends at Anarchistisches Radio Berlin of a debate that took place at the Congress of the International Of Anarchist Federations (IFA). The debate concerned the No Border camp that activists from different places had participated in in the area of Thessaloniki, Greece in July of 2016. The No Border camp was a site of active solidarity with people travelling into Europe across the Mediterranean Sea and against reacitonary and state attempts to block their freedom to move across borders. The debate about the No Border camp that took place at the IFA Congress included 2 participants from the Greek Anarchist Political Organization, Federation of Collectives, 2 participants from the Slovenian Federation of Anarchist Organizations (FAO) and one from Federation of German-speaking Anarchists. More audio from A-Radio Berlin can be found at http://aradio.blogsport.de and the site for the No Border Camp can be found at http://noborder2016.espivblogs.net/
Announcements
IFA request for solidarity with DAF in Turkey
Here’s an announcement from the International of Anarchist Federations (IFA) as regards solidarity for the DAF, an anarchist formation affiliated with IFA based in Turkey. The Final Straw featured 2 interviews with members of the DAF in past months that can be found at thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org. This can be taken in context, not only of the attempted Coup and following repression of all who might question the AKP and Erdogan government, but also in the context Turkey committing troops and armor across the border into Syria where Kurdish militia have been fighting I.S. and, more recently, the Assad regime’s troops. This stands as a concern as the Rojava Democratic Confederalist project with which many anti-authoritarian anti-capitalists have aligned themselves is considered related to forms of struggle in the Kurdish regions around Bakur in Turkey which the Erdogan government has resumed repression and tensions are escalating. Here’s the IFA announcement:
Since the coup in Turkey and the imposition of the state of emergency, we have seen increased repression of many groups and movements operating there. This is not only aimed at the organisers of the coup, but a wide repression of democratic, socialist, kurdish groups and including our anarchist comrades of the DAF (Devrimci Anarsist Faaliyet / Revolutionary Anarchist Action). —- On two occasions, in 2010 and 2012, DAF has already been investigated by the state as a terror organisation but these cases were dropped. Now, because of the state of emergency, the ability of DAF to organise is even more difficult.
Their newspaper Meydan has been closed down and three new investigations have been started. This has also had serious economic impact for DAF.
In recent years DAF has been involved in many struggles including Gezi Park and supporting the kurdish revolutionary process in Rojava and Bakur including refugee support. They are involved in workers’ and youth movement activities, ecological actions and anti-militarism, opposing patriarchy and supporting the LGBTI movement, and have been developing practices of collective living and economy and self-organisation.
IFA has already been involved in the solidarity movement with Rojava in many respects and in close cooperation with DAF. Now, due to the changed situation in Turkey, we must expand our support to DAF in more concrete ways. We also have to be vigilant of the real possibility of increased repression of DAF and the wider anarchist movement in the region and to be able to respond rapidly with strong solidarity actions. IFA is committed to this and we call on all friendly organisations to join us and also provide financial solidarity to DAF.
To support the call for solidarity & concrete support, you can contact the IFA secretariat secretariat [at] i-f-a.org
From Atlanta AntiFascist notes:
The Hammerskin Nation, a long-running white supremacist organization, has announced that their major “Hammerfest” national gathering will be held in Georgia this October 1st. Hammerskin organizers plan to bring several bonehead (racist “skinhead”) musical acts into Georgia, including one band travelling from Finland to play the event. White supremacist speakers are also scheduled — one of these speakers being a prominent up-and-coming leader in the white power movement. The early October event will draw Hammerskin Nation members and supporters from across the country, as well as militants from other parts of the white power movement.
As Hammerfest approaches, Atlanta Antifascist Notes will be one source for updates and reporting. For briefer time-sensitive updates, keep your eyes on twitter.com/afainatl
For more information on this event and the Hammerskins in general, you can look up this article on Atlanta AntiFascist notes at https://afainatl.wordpress.com/2016/08/24/neo-nazi-hammerfest-gathering-planned-for-georgia-october-1st/ or on their Twitter, mentioned above.
Please also be advised to use caution if you are planning a counter event, the Hammerskins are known for being crazy messed up violent boneheads, so stay safe out there and have each others backs.
Asheville September 9th updates
And don’t forget, if you’re in the Asheville area that on Friday, September 2nd, 2016 at 7pm there will be a discussion at Firestorm Books and Coffee of the upcoming September 9th National Prisoner Work Strike and how folks on the outside can offer solidarity. More info on the strike can be found at http://supportprisonerresistance.noblogs.org
Relatedly, there is a march scheduled to start at 5pm on Friday September 9th here in Asheville from Aston Park in downtown to the jail. Bring sign-making goods and friends.
Music In This Episode
We finish up with a track from CONTRA//HISTORIA with Ataca from their 2016 album. “Caminando sobre las ruinas de la naturaleza”. Contra Historia is from Xalapa, in the state of Veracruz in Mexico.
Here, we present both parts one and two of an interview with Merve Arkun, Hüseyin & Özgür, members of Devrimci Anarşist Faaliyet, or DAF. DAF translates to Revolutionist Anarchist Action and is a network of overlapping collectives in Turkey. They are based out of Istanbul and run an office and two cafe’s, both called 26A, which is a meeting space and employer for collective members. This conversation was conducted on March 19, 2016, a few short hours after a DAESH (ISIS) bombing occurred in the Beyoğlu neighborhood of Istanbul, on the touristy street called İstiklal Avenue, just a few blocks from one of the collective’s cafe’s and their newspaper office.
The bomb killed 5 people (4 tourists plus the bomber), and injured some 36 more. The tension in the city in the days before the bombing was palpable as trucks of riot police roved around the neighborhood, and embassies and foreign schools closed for security reasons. The approaching Newroz celebrations, or Kurdish New Years, were slated to take place a mere 2 days after this attack in the contentious Taksim Gezi Park so recently after the resumption of military and legal hostilities between Kurdish groups and aligned leftists and the Turkish government headed by the AK Party of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. This decision most certainly would promise demonstrations and conflict
between security forces and civil society around the right to the contentious park, and against the war on the Kurds both in Syria and Turkey by Erdoğan’s government.
Besides the 26A cafes, DAF includes an Anarchist Women’s collective, a publishing project in the form of the Meydan Gazette (published monthly in paper form), and a youth collective, the Lycee (or High School) Anarchist Federation called LAF. In addition it organizes arts events and projects, and participates in labor organizing and solidarity with Kurdish resistance and the Rojava Revolution. DAF also organizes in tandem though autonomously with anti-militarist and anti-conscription activists in Turkey.
Merve is an active member of the Meydan Gazette publishing crew, the Anarchist Women’s collective and also in a seperate but related anti-militarist group. Hüseyin is a main editor of the Meydan Gazette and involved in the 26A cafes. Özgür is involved in Meydan & the self-defense program and the PATIKA ecological collective.
Throughout this first hour: Merve, Hüseyin & Özgür talk about the collectivized economic and living structures of DAF and how that pans out to support collective members and build collectivized models for survival within and against capitalism.
In the second podcast episode, the interviewees discuss: PATIKA Ecological Collective and their publication, organizing with communities in the Black Sea region against a hydro-electric dam, and more; Merve’s work with the Conscientious Objector Association against militarism and conscription; Meydan Gazette and their other publication projects; the modern anarchist movement in Turkey since 1989; solidarity with Kurdish populations in Turkey; organizing material support for the Rojava Revolution and aiding in helping anarchists join the struggle there; and more. Download Pt 2
******A quick announcement: There will be a vigil tonight at 9pm at Firestorm Books and Coffee at 601 Haywood Rd in West Asheville for the victims and community affected by the shooting that occurred last night in Orlando, Florida. The shooting occurred at the Gay dance club called The Pulse and media outlets are announcing that there were 50 people killed in what appears to have been a targeted attack by someone from outside of the area wielding an assault rifle and a handgun. The hostage situation that developed was ended by a SWAT invasion at 5AM this morning (6-12-1016). Come out tonight and support this community.******
Notes From Sean’s Segment
Sean Swain speaks about a comrade of his in his facility, a trans woman who was put away for defending herself against an assaulter. Her government name is Adam Bockerstette, and while she can receive mail
under her chosen name (which is Kara), we were unsure about how to spell that. So if you do choose to write to her, your letters can be addressed to Kara Bockerstette, but note that your envelopes should be addressed to:
Adam Bockerstette
#606000
PO Box 120
Lebanon, OH 45036
Also keep an eye peeled at http://seanswain.org/ for more updates about Kara and her situation.
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Oso Blanco
Good news for our comrade on the inside, Oso Blanco, who was sentenced to 80 years in maximum security prison for a series of bank robberies and a firearms violation. Oso Blanco is someone of Cherokee descent, and has been politicized during his time in prison and before. Recently there has been a massive fundraising effort on the part of his support team to get him transferred out of his former facility, and for legal fees to get his sentenced reduced. Both of these efforts have been
successful!
Thanks to fundraising efforts and donations, they have reached their fundraising goal at this time. Of course, money will always be needed until Oso Blanco is completely free – donations are always welcome. The support in donations and spreading the word was fast and amazing! Oso Blanco has been assigned a lawyer who he feels comfortable with and he is moving quickly to make sure the motion is filed by June 25th, 2016. Communication with Oso Blanco has been iffy at best. Please write him to
show support. If you donated, write and let him know as it will help immensely to raise his spirits. If you would like to donate further, and for guidelines on what mail will and won’t get into his facility, you can visit his support website at: http://freeosoblanco.blogspot.com/
To write Oso Blanco at his new location, you can address letters to:
Byron Chubbuck
#07909051
USP Lewisburg
PO BOX 1000
Lewisburg, PA 17837
This is a special podcast release from The Final Straw Radio, airing weekly on WSFM-LP in Asheville, North Carolina and elsewhere.
On June 1st, 2016, Jennette Shannon and members of Detroit Eviction Defense held a block party in a neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan. Jennette, a resident of this neighborhood for decades, and her teenage son have been in immediate danger of eviction due to legal wrangling and financial violence done by the vulture fund sometimes known as Thor Real Estate. Jennette has paid tens of thousands of dollars in fees to cover the company’s tax debts and to lawyers, has had her backyard parcelled and mortgaged by the company multiple times over and has been offered potentially fraudulent deeds and other paperwork. The block party was well attended by neighbors and activists from a plethora of community organizations from around Detroit to kick off the defiant struggle against eviction.
Today, June 2nd marks the beginning of that occupation, in which community members and folks from Detroit Eviction Defense are holding the space in solidarity. More on this house defense and the work of Detroit Eviction Defense can be found at http://detroitevictiondefense.org.
Portions of this content will air in the episode of The Final Straw Radio for Sunday, June 5th, alongside part of an interview with Arianna Staiger, daughter of eco anarchist prisoner Marius Mason. In the interview, Arianna talks about her father, his incarceration, their relationship, about activism and shares some of her music.
**Update** On June 4th, after struggling, the Bailiff kept good on their promise and overwhelmed the resisters with Sheriff’s and movers. A few defenders were injured in the process and Jennette and her son were dislodged from the house. A fundraiser is online to get her and her teenage son into a new house here: https://www.youcaring.com/jennette-shannon-and-her-16-year-old-son-580529
This week we feature an interview with Freddy, who is a member of the autonomous youth collective in Belgrade, Serbia known as Koko Lepo. We speak about the origins of the collective as growing out of a self organized kindergarten primarily for Roma children, about solidarity between anarchists and Roma people in Belgrade, about some history of the region, and about the complex nature of solidarity itself.
It should be mentioned though, that due to a very unfortunate technical error, we lost the final 13 or so minutes of this interview, many apologies both to you – dear listeners – and to our guest. Just to give you a broad picture of what we talked about, we touched a bit more on the complex nature of actual solidarity, and made the point that sometimes so called “real” solidarity can look somewhat ordinary or boring. We also spoke more about the tour that Freddy just concluded with a stop in Asheville, and about challenges that the various audiences brought to the talks he did, in particular the question of race, racism, and ally complexes. Our guest brought up the point that there have been various conversations about this topic in the US that have not happened – or have not happened in the same way – as they have in Belgrade. He was particularly excited to engage with American audiences about this issue, and said a lot of really cool and poignant things which we are unfortunately unable to share with you. Though if you would like to write to this project you can email them at kokolepo(aat)riseup.net and get in touch with them on facebook by searching kokolepoav
However, all of this perhaps gives us the opportunity to share more in depth than we may originally have been able some of the musical projects that our guest recommended. It also bears mentioning that mutual aid in the form of money donations most often happen for this project in the form of music shows, punk, metal, hardcore, or other varieties. If you feel so moved to, please feel free to make a solidarity show in your town!
The first project we’ll share is a Roma language hip hop project called Lord Kastro with Djelem Djelem. The next is a track from a hardcore project called Katma, the singer of which is one of the co-founders of the original kindergarten. The third is another track from Gipsy Mafia (an antifa Roma hip hop group, a track from which opened up the show as well) with “Ava Kari”.
. … . ..
Announcements
Operation Fénix
Here is an update from comrades in Czech Republic:
On Friday 5-27-2016 in Pankrác remand prison anarchist Martin Ignacák accused of terrorism went on hunger strike. He did this because on 4-29-2016 the City court in Prague ruled in favour of his release from remand and the state’s attorney appealed this decision to the High court in Prague. On friday 5-27-2016 the High court in Prague extended the remand. Therefore the anarchist has decided to protest by going on hunger strike and has stopped taking in nutrition and liquids. This type of hunger strike threatens the life of the hunger striker after a week.
During the year long investigation of the preparation of a supposed terrorist attack the imprisoned anarchist has exhausted all legal options, to achieve objective procedure of the respective organs active in the criminal proceedings. None of them were taken into account. This is why he now chose this radical form of expression, to draw attention to this manipulated police case. “I consider the approach of the investigators and the police to be very problematic, it is a threat to the freedom of every human being, a threat to freedom of speech, a threat to activism that tries to lead to a better world , and this doesn’t just involve anarchists.”
Martin has been prosecuted in the so called Fénix case since April 2015, in which 5 people altogether were accused of the preparation and the failure to notify of a terrorist attack on a train. Martin is the only one who has been in remand prison this whole time and his detention has now been extended after the intervention of the state’s attorney. As a reason for the extension of remand the state’s attorney used the testimony of a police agent who infiltrated the anarchist movement in 2014. From his testimony the state’s attorney drew the conclusion that Martin might attempt to escape to Spain. Another reason, according to him, was that Martin “is connected to the so called Sít revolucních bunek/ The Network of Revolutionary Cells (SRB) and therefore also to similar organizations abroad.” The police spoke about SRB when they began Fénix and provided information to the media.” Any connections between the 5 attacks ascribed to SRB and all the detained and accused have been refuted. The investigators themselves have ruled it out” says Martin.
At the moment Martin is the second longest detained prisoner in the Pankrác remand prison. For 13 months he has been living there under conditions that negatively affect his psychological and physical state. For example he has been refused food free of animal products, which means he practically doesn’t have access to hot food. Friends, who have come to visit him have been mentioned by name in the indictment. Police from the Department for combating organized crime have started to collect information on Martin’s sister, only because she tries to support her brother in whichever way she can.
For Martin parole would mean that after 13 long months he would again see his friends, family, nature, that he wouldn’t be exposed to emotional deprivation and physical hardship.
Update Sunday, May 29th: Martin’s sister Pavla B. joined her brother in the protest and this morning she has started hunger strike herself as well.
This week Bursts spoke with Imam Siddique Abdullah Hasan, one of five defendants in the Lucasville Uprising case from 1993 facing the death penalty known collectively as the Lucasville 5. Hasan, calling from Ohio State Prison supermax in Youngstown, Ohio, took the time to talk about the newly formed Free Ohio Movement, a prison organizing movement based on the Free Alabama Movement which centers on the claim that prisons in the U.S. are the current site of a continuation of slavery supposedly abolished but really upheld by the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Hasan talks about prisoner labor & recidivism, claims of rehabilitation by the state and the organizing towards the September 9th nationwide prisoner strike on the 45th anniversary of the Attica Prison Uprising of 1971. More on Hasan’s case can be found at http://lucasvilleamnesty.org and you can hear our previous interviews with Hasan here.
After that you’ll hear a conversation with a member of Istanbul Anarchist Black Cross, in Turkey, that Bursts conducted. The conversation talks about the political prisoner situation in Turkey, the work of IABC, and the case of vegan anarchist prisoner Osman Evcan, who
recently succeeded to win rights from the state after a 45 day hunger strike. More on IABC, in Turkish, at http://abcistanbul.blogspot.fr/
Announcements
Stanley Corbett at Alexander CI, NC
At the request of prison organizers in North Carolina, we’d like to share the following information:
Politically active prisoner Stanley Corbett (0716025) has been repeatedly harassed by COs at Alexander CI, in Taylorsville, NC, and is being denied full food portions. Upon Corbett complaining, one CO said, “Y’all n-words always complaining about something.” Then later, after filing a grievance, a different CO yelled, “Suck my (BLEEP) n-word, write that up!” Please call in to the prison at (828) 632-1331 and request the administration to feed Corbett and stop this harassment.
Again, that number is 828 632 1331 and Stanley Corbett’s number is 0716025, held at Alexander CI in Taylorsville, NC.
Save Our Roots
Here is a brief announcement from Save Our Roots: An Indigenous People’s Campaign to Protect the Sacred Biodiversity of our Natural Forests:
“[Genetically Engineered] trees pose a very real and significant threat to our natural forests and all Life on … Earth. It violates Indigenous peoples’ fundamental rights to live in harmony with nature and to practice our cultural and spiritual beliefs … The propagation and use of GE trees as a natural resource and commodity for increased pulp and energy production will compromise and destroy the delicate regenerative biodiversity and life-cycles of [the] Earth . The growing of GE trees is a risk towards: the Rights of the Earth; land tenure and subsistence rights of Indigenous Peoples; depletion of precious ground water reserves; increases the use of deadly herbicides and pesticides; continues the release of greenhouse gas emissions and microscopic pollutants; and are a false solution towards mitigating climate change.”
To learn much more about this topic, for updates on current situations and campaigns, and for interview opportunities for your media project, you can visit http://saveourroots.org/
Koko Lepo Solidarity Tour
On Thursday, May 26, 7-9pm Firestorm Books & Coffee (610 Haywood Road) will host the Anarchy & Anti-Fascism in the Balkans: Koko Lepo Solidarity Tour!
Suggested Donation (no one turned away) to help presenter with travel costs. During this time, a member of Koko Lepo autonomous youth solidarity program in Belgrade, Serbia, attendees can hear from a Koko Lepo member who is visiting the U.S. on a tour to spread awareness of autonomous, anarchist and anti-fascist/anti-racist projects and organizing going on in Belgrade and beyond!
The presenter will narrate the evolution of Koko Lepo from a free kindergarten in the defunct InexFilm squat to a broader youth program. The discussion will focus on issues of anti-ziganism (a term for prejudice against Roma/gypsies), autonomous solidarity efforts in Belgrade, the difference between charity and mutual aid, and the struggle against hierarchy; the presenter welcomes challenges and suggestions for continued solidarity and new connections.
Koko Lepo youth solidarity collective is a mutual aid program working with the residents of “the Dump”, a ‘favela-type slum’ in Belgrade inhabited by people usually referred to as “Roma” or “Gypsies”. The collective is founded on the principles of equality and mutual aid. It is closely tied to the anarchist and antifascist scene in the Balkans and beyond.
Koko Lepo began in 2013 as a free kindergarten program in the InexFilm squat in the Karaburma neighborhood of Belgrade. Its students were picked up three to five days a week from their homes in the settlement and walked to the kindergarten where we had a three to four hour program with them before walking them back home. The program was focused on autonomy, respect for others, and making a safe space for the young children to explore their identities. We placed a strong emphasis on undermining ‘traditional’ gender dynamics and breaking down other divisions in the settlement. Over time, we developed very strong ties with our families in the settlement which allowed us to start a broader program for older children. This was called Školica and began as a weekend study program. This quickly expanded however and started to host film nights, excursions, and other activities.
When the squat was taken from us in October last year, we lost our ability to do the kindergarten so we redoubled our efforts with Školica. Now Koko Lepo occurs at least once a week all over the city with either our younger group (aged 7-10) or our older group (11-14) totaling around 50 kids (the kindergarten had another 20 or so). All of our funding comes from anarchist and antifascist groups in Europe as well as some odd individual donations here and there.
We are very happy to announce that, for the 8th year running, the Wild Roots Feral Futures (WRFF) eco-defense, direct action, and rewilding encampment will take place in the forests of Southwest Colorado this coming June 18-26, 2016 (exact location to be announced). WRFF is an informal, completely free and non-commercial, and loosely organized camp-out operating on (less than a) shoe-string budget, formed entirely off of donated, scavenged, or liberated supplies and sustained through 100% volunteer effort. Though we foster a collective communality and pool resources, we also encourage general self-sufficiency, which lightens the burden on communal supplies, and which we find to be the very source and foundation of true mutual sharing and abundance.
We would like to begin by acknowledging that Wild Roots Feral Futures takes place on occupied/stolen indigenous territory, primarily of the Nuutsiu (occasionally spelled Nuciu or Nuchu, aka “Ute”) people, as well as Diné [“Navajo”], Apache, and others. In recognition of this reality and as a first step in confronting it, we seek to establish proactive working relationships with those whose stolen land we gather upon, and open the space we temporarily gather in to the centering and amplification of indigenous voices and struggles. Our understanding is that any community of resistance that doesn’t center the voices of indigenous people and put their leadership in the forefront is a movement that is part of the problem. [Read more here…]
We would like to invite groups and individuals engaged in struggles against the destruction of the Earth (and indeed all interconnected forms of oppression) to join us and share your stories, lessons, skills, and whatever else you may have to offer. In this spirit we would like to reach out to frontline community members, local environmental groups, coalitions, and alliances everywhere, as well as more readily recognizable groups like Earth First!, Rising Tide North America, and others to come collaborate on the future of radical environmentalism and eco-defense in our bio-regions and beyond.
We would also like to reach out to groups like EF!, RTNA, and the Ruckus Society (as well as other groups and individuals) in search of trainers and workshop facilitators who are willing to dedicate themselves to attending Wild Roots Feral Futures and sharing their skills and knowledge (in a setting that lacks the financial infrastructure to compensate them as they may have come to expect from other, more well-funded groups and events). We are specifically seeking direct action, blockade, tri-pod, and tree climbing/sitting trainers (as well as gear/supplies).
Regarding the rewilding and ancestral earth skills component of WRFF, we would like to extend a similar invitation to folks with skills, knowledge, talent, or specialization in these areas to join us in the facilitation of workshops and skill shares such as fire making, shelter building, edible and medicinal plants, stalking awareness, tool & implement making, etc. We are also seeking folks with less “ancestral” outdoor survival skills such as orienteering and navigation, etc.
Daily camp life, along with workshops, skill shares, great food, friends, and music, will also include the volunteer labor necessary to camp maintenance. Please come prepared to pitch in and contribute to the workload, according to your abilities. We encourage folks who would like to plug in further to show up a few days before the official start of the event to begin set-up and stay a few days after the official end to help clean up.
Site scouting will continue until early June, at which point scouts and other organizers will rendezvous, report-back their scouting recon, and come to a consensus regarding a site location. We are also planning on choosing a secondary, back-up site location as a contingency plan for various potential scenarios. Email us for more info on getting involved with scouting and site selection processes.
WRFF is timed to take place before the Earth First! Round River Rendezvous, allowing eco-defenders to travel from one to the other. Thus we encourage the formation of a caravan from WRFF to the EF! RRR (caravans and ride shares can be coordinated through our message board at feralfutures.proboards.com.
We are currently accepting donations in the form of supplies and/or monetary contributions. Please email us for details.
Please forward this call widely, spread the word, and stay tuned for more updates!
And now the call-out for this year’s June 11th: International Day of Solidarity with Marius Mason and All Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners
The podcast version of this episode includes a reading of the June 11th Statement for 2016, a rather lengthy one at about 20 minutes, prior to us playing the interview with Hasan. The text from that announcement can be found here.
But first, an announcement from Georgia:
As of around 20 hours ago, the cops have arrested at least 9 anti-racist protesters who went out to resist the KKK at Stone Mountain in Georgia. By all accounts, it seems like the protests were a definite win for anti-racists and anti-fascists, but as usual we still have to contend with police repression. Hopefully we will have more of a report for you about this event in coming weeks. Support folks for those who were arrested are working hard to get them free, but they desperately need funds for bail. If you can, please contribute by following this link: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/legal-support-for-anti-kkk-protesters
Zine Fest
The Asheville Zine Fest will take place Sunday May 1st, 2016 from 11-4pm at the Grey Eagle in the River Arts District, Asheville, NC. Makers of zines, minicomics and small press from around the region will be in attendance to sell, trade & show off their works. The festival is free and open to the public. Come shop independent works of literature, politics, strangeness, art, and all kinds of unique publications. The Grey Eagle is at 185 Clingman Avenue, in Asheville.
Nationwide Prison Strike
If you, dear listeners aren’t in Seattle or some other urban center planning a stellar May Day for this year, a suggestion is going around that people plug in to the site supportprisonerresistance.noblogs.org where you can find ideas and materials for distribution where you live and work to support the prisoner hunger strikes ongoing throughout Texas and Alabama and try to build dialogue and solidarity towards the September nationwide prisoner strike on the 45th anniversary of the Attica Prisoner uprising. Alongside prisoners in AL and TX, incarcerated folks in Michigan are planning to begin a food protest and hunger strikes are slated to begin in Louisiana.
