The Final Straw Radio

Perspectives from Iranian Anarchists This week on The Final Straw we feature a chat with a translator of the Anarchist Union of Afghanistan and Iran to share perspectives from membership in Iran and abroad about resistance to the regime from within, solidarity from abroad, the impact of US Sabre-rattling. A transcription of this interview can be found here. A zine formatted version will be available soon. [00:03:58 - 00:59:39] An inspirational movement arose out of the Cold War period among anarchists who found themselves on either side of the international chess-board. In the US this was called Neither East Nor West. The movement published a journal called On Gogol Boulevard, which after 1990, lived as a column in Profane Existence (an anarcho-punk journal), Fifth Estate and other journals. This project seems to have existed for about 15 years, from 1980 to 1994. The Final Straw lost the opportunity a few years ago to interview a New Yorker deeply engaged throughout this project, Bob McGlynn, when he passed away. He was obviously not the only person involved, but sharing his experience and story is a missed opportunity on our part. A link to an article that McGlynn penned about the project will be linked in our show notes. Today, we find ourselves as anarchists in the USA, 20 years into the so-called War On Terror. This war of destabilization has targeted criminalized populations in within the U.S. borders and has had massively violent and deadly consequences across the globe. What we call a War, for lack of a better word, serves to destroy, enslave, maim and kill animals, human and non-human, around the world. And throughout the whole of this 20 year period a constant boogey-man has been that of the Iranian state, whose people have lived under the varying pressure of US-led sanctions. The US war machine hovers close to shifting from it's regional proxy wars and an active war with Iran as the Trump regime's rhetoric and economic policy close around the throats of the Iranian people. In the interest of international solidarity and understanding and the spirit of the Neither East Nor West, we are quite pleased to be having a conversation with people from the Anarchist Union of Afghanistan and Iran. In this conversation we'll be learning about Iranian struggles and what solidarity from the West might look like. We hope that in the future we can talk more about the impact of the 20 years of war on the peoples of Afghanistan perpetrated by the US government and it's allies and the work of anti-authoritarians on the ground. More information from the Union can be found at https://asranarshism.com/ (posts are mostly in Persian), they can be followed on twitter at @asranarshism, @asranarshism on instagram, on Telegram (also mostly in Persian) and fedbook. . ... . .. Sean Swain's segment is from 00:59:39 - 1:07:29 Announcements [00:00:51 - 00:3:58] Tattoo Benefits for Chilean Arrestees More than 2000 people have been arrested on charges related to the Chilean uprising. To raise funds for arrestees mounting legal fees, comrades in Santiago had the idea to organize an international tattoo party fundraiser to raise money for legal funds and increase the coordination across territories. The date will be February 15th. Currently, events in Santiago and Atlanta GA have signed on and we are waiting for confirmation from Valdivia and Punto Varas. A flyer announcing the international tattoo party is forthcoming with more details on how we can link up the different events. The idea is to cross promote the different events to build a broader network, showcase different tattoo artists, and take advantage of our our shared capacity across territories. Deadline to sign on is February 1st, email [email protected] to get involved Solidarity w Greek Antifascists Comrades abroad are doing a campaign for the persecuted antifascists that are charged for the attacks of the offices of the greek fascist party, they will have to gather 30000 until 17/1. Show solidarity support/spread it! https://www.firefund.net/persecutedantifa Freedom for Chip Fitzgerald Check out the support site for Chip Fitzgerald, Black Panther activist in the California prison system for 50 years now. Chip is an elder who has suffered a stroke inside prison and is sometimes confined to a wheelchair, often uses a cane and is the longest held Black Panther prisoner. He has served 3 times the usual sentence served for folks convicted of similar crimes and has been denied parole over a dozen times since he became eligible in 1976. More on his case and how you can help to bring this aging revolutionary home is up at https://www.freedom4chip.org/ . ... . .. playlist pending both tracks are from Salome MC

This week we have two segments. Jason Goudlock and the Old Law in OH First, we'll hear from Jason Goudlock, a prisoner under the so-called "Old Law" in Ohio serving his 26th year of a 6-25 year sentence. Jason talks about the situation in Ohio between the "Old Law" and the "New Law", for instance if he had been convicted of the same robbery and battery crimes three years later he might have served half of the time. Jason also speaks about the whims of the the Ohio Parole Board, some corroborated in public statements by former OPB member, Shirley Smith (linked in the show notes, and mentioning the situation of Marc Houc for instance). Jason is the subject of a documentary, "Invisible Chess: The Jason Goudlock Story", which can be found for free at FreeJasonGoudlock.org. Education packs for teachers can be found on the site for the film, InvisibleChess.com. The film will be shown on Wednesday, January 22nd, 2020 from 1:30-3pm alongside a discussion at Bard College led by the filmmaker, Samuel Crow, along with prison reformer Bill Nichols. It can be viewed it at the Bertelsmann Weis Cinema on the Bard College campus. You can find Jason's website and blog up at his website. There is a gofundme run to raise funds for Jason's legal defense and raising awareness of his case and those of other Old Law prisoners. Jason also suggests FairTreatmentReformAndReentry.org to learn more about the struggle and check out recent legislation put forth in Ohio to affect the Old Law/New Law sentencing disparities (and in particular, Beverley A. Seymore, author of the Parole Reform Bill). Near the end I ask Jason about recent hunger strikes by Mark Hinkston and David Easley, two other Ohio prisoners held for a bit at Toledo CI, who we've interviewed before on the show. The hunger strike was a protest against the use of solitary confinement specifically to torture prisoners suffering from mental health crises. More on that below. Jason also mentions the recent sexual abuse of prisoners at Toledo CI by mental health staff member Maggie Jedlinsky. Finally, Jason shouts out the cases of the Lucasville Uprising. Check our show notes for links to our interviews with Hasan over the years and with Bomani Shakur, aka Keith Lamar, on his book Condemned and Greg Curry from the case. We also spoke with an attorney (Niki Schwartz) and another prisoner present on the 25th anniversary of the uprising. Comrade Easley Faces Inter-State Transfer We'll be hearing briefly from David Easley about some updates in his situation, including the hunger strike that he and Mark "Mustafa" Hinkston just got off of in protest of the torture of prisoners suffering mental health distress by stuffing them in segregation at Toledo CI and the legal shenanigans by administration at Toledo CI in an attempt to get them on an out-of-state transfer. You can keep up on Mark and David's activity on their supporters twitters. There is a request that folks email and call the Ohio Interstate Compact Administrators to demand David and Mark not get transferred far from their family, loved ones and supporters and to emphasize that they are being threatened with transfer for legitimate free speech. You can contact: Suzanne Brooks (Deputy Compact Administrator): [email protected] or [email protected] or call at +1614 752 0829 or fax at +1614 752 1822 Sara Andrews (Director & Commissioner/Compact Administrator): [email protected] or [email protected] call at +16145121794 Announcements Prison Violence at Parchman, Mississippi From Oakland IWOC, comes a call for a phone Zap starting on Monday, January 6th on behalf of prisoners at Parchman. Articles on the violence are linked at the Oakland IWOC page (see above): Call and email these targets Monday Governor-elect Tate Reeves (601)359-3200 [email protected] MDOC Director Pelicia Hall (601) 359-5900 [email protected] Sample script: "Hello. I am calling as a concerned citizen about the ongoing crisis at Parchman. The Board of Directors must ensure that the superintendent find an amicable and peaceful solution, as well as, address the prisoners needs. They need to ensure that the prisoners have sanitary and safe housing conditions. We, as a community, along with the prisoners have these demands: 1. Immediate separation of all rival groups to halt the violence. 2. Restore full food service and immediate emergency medical care. 3. Removal of the corrupt guards who instigated violence. Remember, the world is watching. Thank you." Health Update on Dr. Shakur Dr Mutulu Shakur, a Black Liberation activist and Accupuncturist has been imprisoned for 33 years and this year was found to have bone marrow cancer. There is an article up on SFBayView.com linked in the show notes. Supporters are requesting letters of support and love to Dr Mutulu at: Dr. Mutulu Shakur 83205-012 USP Victorville, P.O. Box 3900, Adelanto, CA 92301 They are also asking for donations for his medical, legal, commis

This week Cypress spoke with Io Ascarium. The conversation covered their work as a member of ABO Comix Collective and their work in comics and print. Io is "a maurading pillar of salt just doing their best to make what could, in a sense, be described as 'art'" (I love them dearly but could not bring myself to write this into the actual script). ABO Comix Collective is a group of buds and comrades working to help LGBTQ and HIV + prisoners publish their art and stay connected to the outside world. They also provide direct material aid to those inside and spread the good word of prison abolition. Their 3rd volume was released for presale earlier this month. All proceeds go back to the contributors. You can visit their site at Abocomix.com. You can visit Io's online shop at thing.bigcartel.com Io (they/them) Cypress (he/him) . ... . .. playlist pending...

Israeli Dissent and Sean Talks "Last Act" This week we are happy to feature a couple of audios we did NOT record ourselves. Resisting Militarism and Occupation in Israel First, German comrades attending the Balkan Anarchist Bookfair last year interviewed two Israeli anarchists about resistance against the settler-colonial nation they live under. Dana is from Tel Aviv (a member of the Coalition of Women for Peace) and Aaron is from, among other groups, an anti-militarist, de-enlistment group called New Profile. Info about the Coalition of Women for Peace can be found at CoalitionOfWomen.org and you can learn more about New Profile at NewProfile.org/english/ . My voice will show up in the main segment instead of one of the interviewers who preferred not to have their voice aired here. This is followed by a brief statement by one of the interviewers who conducted the interview about their views on the reasons it was difficult to publish the critique of Israel from within Germany. The Last Act Of The Circus Animals After this, we'll hear Sean Swain talk about the book he co-wrote with Travis Washington, The Last Act of the Circus Animals with his friend, Adam Bomb. Last Act is available for free in 3 parts in zine format at seanswain.org, alongside Sean's many other writings. You can also purchase a book version of Last Act from Sprout Distro. We won't be airing the whole interview with Sean in the radio version of this, we simply don't have the time. But if you want to hear the last 10 minutes or so of it, check out our podcast version available for free at thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org, up on our youtube channel, spotify, etc etc. Keep an ear out in the next month for a conversation with Anthony Rayson and Mike of South Chicago ABC, the group that among many other things, first published The Last Act of the Circus Animals. Announcements Bad News TFSR is a member of the A-Radio Network. Check our show notes for a link to the latest edition of our monthly podcast, BAD News: Angry Voices from Around The World, featuring anarchist perspectives from Greece, Germany, France and Chile. Michael Kimble phone-zap From Monday, December 23rd onward, there will be a phone zap for supporters of anarchist prisoner Michael Kimble to call and press his captors in the Alabama Department of Corrections to demand a transfer for Michael from Holman Correctional. Michael was recently placed in segregation for coming to the defense of a fellow prisoner being beaten by a guard. He is urgently asking for support in attaining that transfer to a new facility so as to not face retaliation in the shadows from guards for his solidarity. Supporters suggest calling the following officials: Alabama DOC Commissioner's Office (Ask for Commissioner Jeff Dunn) 334.353.3883 Holman Correctional (Ask for Warden Cynthia Stewart) 251.368.8173 To learn more about Michael and read some of his writings, check out AnarchyLive.noblogs.org or issues of FireAnt. You can hear our interviews with Michael on TFSR. Anarchist Days, July 13-19, 2020 After various attempts to break with the endogamy of our collectives, of trying and failing to move beyond merely interpreting the works of the classical anarchists, we have decided to launch this call. Our objective is to meet others and exchange experiences, skills, ideas and dreams; to return anarchism to the streets and incorporate it into everyday life. Now, more than ever, we want to see this society go up in flames. We need to get together, to advance from the lessons we have learned, to listen to each other without arrogance or submission. In this vein, this call for a week of "Anarchist Days" seeks to turn our focus and energy to the practices and resistances of everyday life; the spaces where subversive ideas and practices germinate. We hope that wherever this call reaches, there will be a response because the fury and fire know no borders. We also want to be clear that homophobes, sexists, machos, racists, fascists, government affiliates, etc. are not welcome. Important Dates: December 20, 2019 to January 31, 2020 (Proposals for topics and themes) December 20, 2019 to April 30, 2020 (Proposals for workshops, activities, discussions, presentations, actions, etc.) June 20, 2020 (Final program to be released) July 13-19, 2020 (J)anarquistas20-20 Contact and Information: [email protected] Invitation Spanish Invitation English Schedule Spanish Intro Bilingual . ... . .. playlist pending

Israeli Dissent and Sean Talks "Last Act" This week we are happy to feature a couple of audios we did NOT record ourselves. Resisting Militarism and Occupation in Israel First, German comrades attending the Balkan Anarchist Bookfair last year interviewed two Israeli anarchists about resistance against the settler-colonial nation they live under. Dana is from Tel Aviv (a member of the Coalition of Women for Peace) and Aaron is from, among other groups, an anti-militarist, de-enlistment group called New Profile. Info about the Coalition of Women for Peace can ben found at CoalitionOfWomen.org and you can learn more about New Profile at NewProfile.org/english/ . My voice will show up in the main segment instead of one of the interviewers who preferred not to have their voice aired here. This is followed by a brief statement by one of the interviewers who conducted the interview about their views on the reasons it was difficult to publish the critique of Israel from within Germany. The Last Act Of The Circus Animals After this, we'll hear Sean Swain talk about the book he co-wrote with Travis Washington, The Last Act of the Circus Animals with his friend, Adam Bomb. Last Act is available for free in 3 parts in zine format at seanswain.org, alongside Sean's many other writings. You can also purchase a book version of Last Act from Sprout Distro. We won't be airing the whole interview with Sean in the radio version of this, we simply don't have the time. But if you want to hear the last 10 minutes or so of it, check out our podcast version available for free at thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org, up on our youtube channel, spotify, etc etc. Keep an ear out in the next month for a conversation with Anthony Rayson and Mike of South Chicago ABC, the group that among many other things, first published The Last Act of the Circus Animals. Announcements Bad News TFSR is a member of the A-Radio Network. Check our show notes for a link to the latest edition of our monthly podcast, BAD News: Angry Voices from Around The World, featuring anarchist perspectives from Greece, Germany, France and Chile. Michael Kimble phone-zap From Monday, December 23rd onward, there will be a phone zap for supporters of anarchist prisoner Michael Kimble to call and press his captors in the Alabama Department of Corrections to demand a transfer for Michael from Holman Correctional. Michael was recently placed in segregation for coming to the defense of a fellow prisoner being beaten by a guard. He is urgently asking for support in attaining that transfer to a new facility so as to not face retaliation in the shadows from guards for his solidarity. Supporters suggest calling the following officials: Alabama DOC Commissioner's Office (Ask for Commissioner Jeff Dunn) 334.353.3883 Holman Correctional (Ask for Warden Cynthia Stewart) 251.368.8173 To learn more about Michael and read some of his writings, check out AnarchyLive.noblogs.org or issues of FireAnt. You can hear our interviews with Michael on TFSR. Anarchist Days, July 13-19, 2020 After various attempts to break with the endogamy of our collectives, of trying and failing to move beyond merely interpreting the works of the classical anarchists, we have decided to launch this call. Our objective is to meet others and exchange experiences, skills, ideas and dreams; to return anarchism to the streets and incorporate it into everyday life. Now, more than ever, we want to see this society go up in flames. We need to get together, to advance from the lessons we have learned, to listen to each other without arrogance or submission. In this vein, this call for a week of "Anarchist Days" seeks to turn our focus and energy to the practices and resistances of everyday life; the spaces where subversive ideas and practices germinate. We hope that wherever this call reaches, there will be a response because the fury and fire know no borders. We also want to be clear that homophobes, sexists, machos, racists, fascists, government affiliates, etc. are not welcome. Important Dates: December 20, 2019 to January 31, 2020 (Proposals for topics and themes) December 20, 2019 to April 30, 2020 (Proposals for workshops, activities, discussions, presentations, actions, etc.) June 20, 2020 (Final program to be released) July 13-19, 2020 (J)anarquistas20-20 Contact and Information: [email protected] Invitation Spanish Invitation English Schedule Spanish Intro Bilingual . ... . .. playlist pending

Little Village Solidarity Network This week on The Final Straw Radio, I'm happy to share a conversation with Rozalinda, Pura and Lynn from La Villita Red de Solidaridad or the Little Village Solidarity Network in so-called Chicago, IL. LVSN, in the English-language acronym, is an autonomous community organizing project based in La Villita or Little Village neighborhood and networks with other residents of the area. If you're listening to the podcast or online version of this episode, just an fyi that there is cursing, but compared to putting babies in jails which offends more? In the first hour, LVSN members talk about organizing on the ground against Heartland Alliance, a 501c3 non-profit running baby jails for federal funding (they call them shelters) around Chicago, in coalition with the Chicago Catholic Arch-Dioecese. Soon, at our website, on youtube, spotify and other sites we offer a 2 hour version of this conversation, including our Sean Swain segment and LVSN comrades' words directed at people resisting detention facilities around the country. LVSN also speaks about the case of Jose, a young father who was in these facilities and faces deportation currently from Texas where his family is. Information about Jose's case and how to support him can be found, alongside more info about the work of LVSN, on their fedbook page and twitter account or at their website, lvsolidaridad.com. In an update to Jose's situation, he has gotten a stay of deportation. You can donate to his case via the lvsn venmo (@lavillitasolidaridad) or paypal to [email protected]. You can see and hear Jose in his own words in testimony on vimeo talking about what kids on the inside experience noise demos outside and the sense of desperation of the youth inside. And here is another of Jose describing the experience of staff attempting to extract information about his loved ones by Heartland Staff, in particular how it's experienced by children in the jails. . ... . .. Keep an eye out in our podcast stream, website and social media for a link to the latest episode of BADNews, angry voices from around the world. BADNews is a 2 and a half year-running, collaborative, monthly anarchist news show in English with participation by anarchist radio and podcast projects from around Europe and all over the so-called Americas, North, South and Central. Find our back episodes up at a-radio-network.org. . ... . .. Playlist

This week we are super pleased to present an interview done with Sima Lee, who is a queer Afro-Indigenous hip hop artist and community organizer of long standing, about a recent raid that occurred at Maroon House in DC this March. We speak about Maroon House, its story and what it is in the process of becoming, the ask for support in helping this movement build and heal from the brutal police repression, her newest album Trap Liberation Army, and many more topics. Transcript PDF (Unimposed) Zine (Imposed PDF) Sima Lee has given some interviews recently about her political trajectory, her life, and relationship to anarchism in detail. Rather than having a repeat of those words, we are going to link her past interviews below! Link to Bandcamp where there was an ask for monetary donation to help support the Maroon Movement and the Food, Clothing & Resistance Collective. Ways to get and stay connected: @simaleerbg on IG @simaleerbg on Twitter Sima Lee on Facebook Food, Clothing & Resistance Collective Maroon Movement Further interviews: November 2018 interview on The Solecast June 2018 spot on Academics in Cars with Jared Ball (IMixWhatILike) And You Don't Stop: Trouble documentary on anarchist hip hop by SubMedia featuring Sima Lee among many others. Independent artists and labels: Soul Trust Records The Beat Konductaz on the web and on Fedbook Guerilla Republik . ... . .. Music for this episode: Khid Ja RPK - Lataa (instrumental) Sima Lee - It's On

This week we are pleased to present a paper given at the 2019 north american anarchist studies network that took place this year in Atlanta Georgia by e ornelas who presents a thoroughly de-colonial reading of Ursula K. LeGuin's novel The Word for World is Forest. The paper is entitled "If You Wait, It Is We That Will be Burned: Exploring Violence and Resistance in Ursula LeGuins The Word for World is Forest". You can find the full text of this book up at the anarchist library. This book of LeGuin's was written in the early 1970s and was first published as part of the anthology "Again, Dangerous Visions" and subsequently published as a separate novella as part of LeGuin's Hainish Cycle, to be read in a loose trilogy with her other novels "The Dispossessed" and "Left Hand of Darkness". As e ornelas states in their paper, this novella is not among LeGuin's most popular but carries very strong anti-colonial and anti-militaristic overtones which was in part a reaction to the invasion of Vietnam by US imperialist forces, also called the Resistance War Against America, which occurred from 1955-1975 and whose traumas and repercussions can be felt and seen to this day. This book was striking to me in the sense that it presents a world view that starkly challenges that of colonial "westernized" minds through themes of an intense sensitivity to and interconnectedness with the environment and of the relationships with language, dreaming, and culture. What was great to me about this aspect to the story is that it shows very plainly the extent to which colonizers find "illegibility" on the part of Indigenous people to be deeply threatening, but can also be a pivotal place of strength with potentials all their own, and we can see this aspect in real life all around us as well. While I have my own problems with the book, and would love to hear listeners responses to it if they have them, it also gives me a sense of a thru line between past struggle and analysis all the way to now, an intergenerationality that we are sometimes lacking in as anarchists. I'd like to read a short quote from the introduction to the book by LeGuin, and this gives a little bit of a sense of why she wrote it and what was happening for her at the time: "All through the sixties, in my home city in the States, I had been helping organize and participating in nonviolent demonstrations, first against atomic bomb testing, then against the pursuance of the war in Viet Nam. I don't know how many times I walked down Alder Street in the rain, feeling useless, foolish, and obstinate, along with ten or twenty or a hundred other foolish and obstinate souls. There was always somebody taking pictures of us—not the press—odd-looking people with cheap cameras: John Birchers? FBI? CIA? Crackpots? No telling. I used to grin at them, or stick out my tongue. One of my fiercer friends brought a camera once and took pictures of the picture-takers. Anyhow, there was a peace movement, and I was in it, and so had a channel of action and expression for my ethical and political opinions totally separate from my writing. In England that year, a guest and a foreigner, I had no such outlet. And 1968 was a bitter year for those who opposed the war. The lies and hypocrisies redoubled: so did the killing. Moreover, it was becoming clear that the ethic which approved the defoliation of forests and grainlands and the murder of noncombatants in the name of 'peace' was only a corollary of the ethic which permits the despoliation of natural resources for private profit or the GNP, and the murder of the creatures of the Earth in the name of 'man.' The victory of the ethic of exploitation, in all societies, seemed as inevitable as it was disastrous. It was from such pressures, internalized, that this story resulted: forced out, in a sense, against my conscious resistance. I have said elsewhere that I never wrote a story more easily, fluently, surely— and with less pleasure." . ... . .. After this talk, we are gonna play some music commemorating the the 20th anniversary of the WTO Protests in Seattle, which occurred from November 30 – December 1st 1999. Both of these tracks were found on a 2003 compilation for attendees of the WTO protests in Cancun, Mexico. If you're interested in learning more about the protests, check out writings up at crimethInc.com, there's a video up there called "Breaking The Spell" with tons of original footage. It's way more legit than the bs, liberal, star-studded movie called "The Battle Of Seattle." The two songs are: "Eugene The Anarchist" by Desert Rat, a socialist songwriter, parodying the menacing media coverage of insurrectional anarchists from Eugene and other places in the pacific northwest in the run up to and following the 1999 WTO protests. Ooooh, property destruction... "PSA #12" by The Infernal Noise Brigade. This doomy marching band was known to show at large demonstrations and percussively stoke the fires of revolt with their horns, drums and d

This week we bring you two different segments. First, Cypress spoke with Jenny from Project Fang, a project that financially supports visits to earth and animal liberation prisoners. Since 2016, Project Fang has worked to combat the isolation of incarceration these prisoners feel by providing a fund for financial assistance for visits. The prisoners and their loved ones can apply to the fund to help pay for prison visits, which is one of the most important ways of supporting prisoners. Project Fang is currently in the middle of a fundraising push as they look to double their annual budget to continue their work. Much has been said about the vital importance that visits from friends, family, and loved ones can have for folks forced to undergo incarceration at the hands of the state. Jenny goes into detail about the work she and the project do to help turn isolation around, about how this work fits into a broader whole of creating sustainable communities of rebellion, and about how exactly the funds they raise are used. Folks can support their campaign through December 4th at fundrazr.com/project_fang. Head to the Project Fang Twitter or to the New York City Anarchist Black Cross website at nycabc.wordpress.com/fang/ to learn more. All funds go directly to supporting visits for incarcerated animal and ecological defenders who have committed to not cooperating with the state. Project Fang Twitter: https://twitter.com/project_fang . ... . .. Our second segment is a talk by Tyler on the techno politics of Crypto-Anarchy. This talk was recorded at the 2019 North American Anarchist Studies Network Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. . ... . .. Music for this episode: Written in Red - Words by Voltarine DeCleyre -- Unwoman

This week I had the opportunity to sit down with Margaret Killjoy to talk about her new EP called Every Breath Our Last out this October from her one woman project Nomadic War Machine. Margaret is a writer, musician, and anarchist based in Western North Carolina. We got to talk about a lot of things in this episode, including her new EP, what went into making it, Nomadic War Machine as a project in general, and her new anarchist fiction podcast called We Will Remember Freedom. This was a great conversation to have for me, and is a little bit of a different approach than what we usually do in that the conversation unfolded organically with little in the way of pre set prompts. I hope you will get a sense of sitting down at a kitchen table with two people who have known each other for some while, talking about stuff they would kind of normally talk about anyway, except it's being recorded. I am also clearly not a music journalist, and that comes out, especially because I neglect to ask her about the political or social themes of her new EP. Give it a listen tho on any streaming platform! Click on her Patreon to support Margaret in her endeavors and to read more of her fiction. This episode of the Solecast includes her reading a short story called The Northern Host ("nazis don't go to Valhallah"), and an interview on TFS where we talk about her then new book The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion. Support Project FANG: From their fundrazr page: "The climate crisis, and ongoing destruction of landscapes and wildlife, are provoking a deepening sense of urgency in an increasing number of people. It can be a serious struggle to care for a world that is being plundered for profit, but there are more and more people turning their grief into resistance in defense of nature and other animals. From water protectors to pipeline protestors, and wildlife and caged animal defenders – good people who care for our world are standing up for all of us. Unfortunately taking such a stand can result in arrest, court, jail, and prison time. Background: In 2016, project FANG was established by the NYC ABC as a much-needed attempt to fill a gap in the ongoing support work for the growing number of eco and animal rights prisoners in the United States. The focus of project FANG funding is to help pay for prison visitation costs for friends and family of these prisoners. Why are visits so important? Visits from friends, family, and loved ones are repeatedly identified by prisoners as one of the most important life lines that exist for them. Without visits, the crushing isolation of life inside a prison becomes unbearable. However, visits can often be prohibitively expensive. Travel costs might include not only an expensive plane ticket, but also lodging, a rental car, and meals. These quickly add up to hundreds of dollars. How you can help: Currently, project FANG has committed funding of $5,000 per year, but due to the increase in eco and animal rights prisoners, and requests for visitation funding, we need to increase our available funds. With your support we are aiming to double the fund's annual budget for 2019 and 2020 by raising $10,000. Can you help us reach our $10,000 goal?" To help support, please visit their fundrazr page! Stay tuned to TFS for a possible interview with these folks in future, or visit our archives for a past interview with a founder of this project. . … . .. Music for this episode: Perdidos – FRÍO y VACÍO (musical loop by william) We Feel No Shame – Nomadic War Machine

This week we are presenting a special guest interview, done by Scott who is an anarchist academic and regular listener, with Eli Meyerhoff about his book "Beyond Education: Radical Studying for Another World". In this book, Meyerhoff "traces how key elements of education emerged from histories of struggles in opposition to alternative modes of study bound up with different modes of world-making. Taking inspiration from Black Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street, and Indigenous resurgence projects, he charts a new course for movements within, against, and beyond the university as we know it." and this quote is from the University of Minnesota webpage, who also published his book. Transcribed PDF (Unimposed) Zine (Imposed PDF) I found this interview really thought provoking and well crafted, it brought up a lot of issues I hadn't really thought of in such terms, specifically about the historical and colonial construction of what we think of today as education. In this interview, Scott and Eli talk about his book, the vast terrain that the book covers, experiences in academia when one is operating as politically radical, and some alternatives to education that we can see and experience in the world around us. Eli Meyerhoff can be found at elimeyerhoff.com, the Abolition University at abolition.university, and the Abolition Journal at abolitionjournal.org for more info on the conference happening in may 2020. To read the intro to Beyond Education for free, head on over to this UM link. If you are a listener and want to submit an interview for broadcast, just get in touch with us by emailing [email protected] and we can walk you thru the process! . ... . .. Music for this episode by: LSD - School's For Fools Suburban Studs - I Hate School

"We are prepared, motherf**kers!": Greek anarchists on the New Democracy regime This week, we're sharing a conversation that I had with comrades from Radiozones Of Subversive Expression, an anti-authoritarian pirate radio station based in Athens, Greece. Mike, Sprout and Omar, three anarchists working with ROSE share their perspectives on the change in government in Greece, corruption in the New Democracy party that just came back into power, it's attacks on immigrants and the anarchist stronghold neighborhood of Exarchia, the status of the social movements of the left and more. You can listen to their streaming radio station with ALL sorts of programming, from live reports from street actions, to comedy shows to music, all up at radio98fm.org. Check our past interview with folks from ROSE. ROSE is, notably, another member of the A-Radio Network to which we belong, which produces the monthly English-language anarchist news show, B(A)D News: Angry Voices From Around The World. Other informative interviews conducted by fellow members of the Channel Zero Network on this topic include recent episodes by IGDcast and The Ex-Worker. Announcement Comrade Malik Phone Zap But first, Comrade Malik Washington could use some help. He's a politicized anarchist prisoner affiliated with the New Afrikan Black Panther Party who's been serving time in Texas and been vocal about the mistreatment of himself and other prisoners. Despite his activism on the inside, Malik was recently paroled into Federal custody from Texas state control, and is being held currently at USP Beaumont. It was common knowledge among prisoners that he was in danger at Beaumont because of his activism, and Malik was attacked and is now in solitary. There is a phone zap ongoing to pressure administration to release him from solitary and move him to a federal prison in California, where he can be paroled after his brief stint in the DOJ's gulags, and Comrade Malik can start working more actively with the SF Bay View National Black Newspaper where he has a spot upon his release. To learn more about his case and details on calling Warden Larry Schultz at USP Beaumont up at comrademalik.com. . … . .. Playlist

This week William had the chance to interview someone, a 20 year old anarchist from the territory of so called Chile, about the uprisings which have been occurring there. The protests began on Monday October 14th in Chile's capital, Santiago, as a coordinated fare evasion campaign by high school students which led to spontaneous takeovers of the city's main train stations and open confrontations with the Chilean Police. While the reason for these protests was a fare hike for public transportation by the government and the transit companies, this was only the tipping point in a much larger and diffuse situation of economic pracarity. We will post a great info graphic on social media about all that is tied up in this situation, but in short education and healthcare are private and so are very expensive, jobs pay very little (400 US dollars a month on average), and it is the only country in the world where water is privatized. According to Food and Water Watch, having a privatized water system increases the yearly cost of water by 59%, or over twice the amount as public water. Many of the systems that people are forced to live under, such as the current mechanisms of the State of Emergency and the pension system, were created under the Pinochet dictatorship and have not been updated to reflect the so called "democratic" rule. Our guest outlines these situations, and also speaks about the violence that protestors are facing from the police and from the state. They also speak on the relationship of this current violence to the violences that Indigenous Mapuche people have been facing from the Chilean state all along. According to the Wikipedia article on the 2019 Chilean Protests, as of yesterday October 26th "19 people have died, nearly 2,500 have been injured, and 2,840 have been arrested. Human rights organisations have received several reports of violations conducted against protesters, including torture." Our guest outlines the peaceful nature at the outset of these protests, which were quickly escalated by hyper repressive tactics on the part of the police, and says that these actions are making it clear that the "democracy" – which was fought for by the generations above them – is a fake system. To keep updated on this situation, and away from the tvs like our guest suggested, you can follow Radio Kurruf, an anarchist radio station in Chile, and read their analysis on the current wave of repression here. https://radiokurruf.org/2019/10/26/state-of-rebellion-in-chile/ You can also visit our blog at thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org for a partial list of links and accounts to follow, including some on the ground reporting by crimethInc. @RadioVillaFrancia on Instagram for up to date information by the people. Here is the transcript of a brief exchange between TFS and other comrades in Rojava (podcast only): Solidarity with Rojava Here is an announcement on behalf of the IDOC Watch: IDOC (Indiana Dept of Correction) Watch is an organization in Indiana, composed of people directly affected by the prison system and prison abolitionists, that is organizing to expose and stop the widespread abuses in the Indiana prison system, with the long-term objective of dismantling the prison system. (check out IDOC Watch at idocwatch.org) This event will be a panel discussion on the base-building IDOC Watch is doing in prisons and communities affected by incarceration, prisoner struggles and counter-insurgency in Indiana, and the effects of the prison-industrial complex on individuals, families, and communities. Featuring: Zolo Agona Azania, former Black Liberation Army activist and long-term New Afrikan political prisoner from Gary, IN, who beat two death sentences after being falsely accused and convicted of murdering a Gary police officer during a bank robbery. Zolo was released from prison in 2017, after serving over 35 years. He is currently working to establish re-entry housing for people being released from prison in Gary, through the Gary Alliance for the Empowerment of the Formerly Incarcerated. S.T. : A mother and grandmother from Gary who organizes with IDOC Watch and currently has a son incarcerated at Indiana State Prison, a maximum-security facility in Michigan City, IN. An organizer with FOCUS Initiatives LTD, an abolitionist re-entry project in Indianapolis, IN: focusreentry.com. Location 1845 Sheridan Rd, Evanston, IL 60208 217 Fisk Hall Tuesday, October 29, 2019 at 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM CDT . … . .. Music for this episode in order: Llueve – La Trova Pank Somos Peligrosos – Los Crudos

This is a show with two parts, firstly William got to sit down with two members of Blue Ridge Anarchist Black Cross about the ongoing and increasingly dire situation in South Carolina prions. We won't take up too much space here with an intro because we have a pretty packed show, but they outline some upcoming actions coordinated at the behest of people incarcerated in SC, a phone zap scheduled for tomorrow (Monday the 21st), and about organizing as anarchists doing prisoner support/solidarity. Phone Zap information: "What you can do: -On Monday (October 21): Call Head of SCDC Bryan Stirling at 803-896-8555 to tell him about this multi-city, international action. Let Stirling know that his department is now not only a national embarrassment, but an international one as well! -All week, October 21-28: Follow and spread the hashtag #SunlightIsAHumanRight -Ongoing: Document what you and your loved ones are experiencing; evidence and testimony will help us prepare a formal complaint" Get in touch with BRABC at [email protected] Blue Ridge ABC c/o Firestorm Books and Coffee 610 Haywood Road Asheville, NC 28806 Anarchist Combat Medics in Rojava Speak Secondly, Bursts got a chance to connect to a couple of anarchist comrades working as combat medics engaged with the SDF in Rojava. In this episode, they speak briefly about the work they're doing, their experiences in the recent Turkish invasion into Syria. Here are a few news sites you can keep up with on what's been going on, also check out the recent interview on fellow Channel Zero Network affiliates, ItsGoingDown.org with CJ, a Syrian anarchist in Qamishlo, as well as the recent series by crimethInc, also of Channel Zero Network, on background of the Rojava revolution and anarchist approaches to it. Teem Propaganda Workshop Teem seeks to educate students in digital design skills, image preparation, printmaking techniques, dissemination methods and visual strategy to sharpen our movements' ability to communicate, disrupt and intervene in spectacle society. For four days, students will be hands on learning screen-printing, risograph, offset lithography, publication layout, design for print as well as partaking in conversations and lectures to connect practical with theoretical knowledge. We will exercise, eat, and take care of the space together while producing material. Participants will leave the program with not just the printing and design skills to produce effective propaganda, but also a know-how about starting (and continuing) an autonomous printshop. To register email [email protected] More information on this event can be found at https://teem.noblogs.org/ . ... . .. Music for this episode found on a Solidarity with Rojava playlist, musical loop by William.

For this special podcast episode I spoke with Gönül Düzer, who is a labor activist, math teacher, and a board member of the Kurdish Cultural Center in Chicago. Gönül was willing to take the time to speak on the current Turkish invasion of Northeast Syria, some history that would be useful to keep in mind when considering current events in this region, the complex tensions of being an anti imperialist and calling for US support, and about the Global Day of Action on this Saturday October 12th against this current invasion into NE Syria which has been brought about by actions by the US and many many more topics.. She also talks about Rojava, the role that this region plays in the area, and some ideas about how to get involved against the current invasion. The audio quality for this podcast special is a bit low, so I recommend listening in a quiet place with headphones if you can manage that. We will be airing a version of this episode on Sunday, the day after the Global Day of Action, so you won't hear from us that day via this platform, but we will be back in your podcast feed next Sunday with more content. A content warning for this episode, Gönül describes some brutal actions on the part of Daesh or ISIS, including rape and sexual assault. The descriptions are not graphic but may be difficult to engage with. You can go to the Rojava Information Center at rojavainformationcenter.com, @RojavaIC on Twitter, for on the ground updates about this situation. . … . .. Music for this episode: Bella Ciao – Kurdish version by Chia Madani Kendal Maniš-Marşi - Rojava (Destane Kobane)

Secret Shame This week William had the chance to speak with 3 members of the Asheville based goth/darkwave/post punk band Secret Shame about their politics, their music, what ails and what's good about Asheville in general, the tensions of living under capitalism, the recent attention this group has been getting, and many more topics. You can learn more about them by following @secretshameband on Instagram, and hear more of their music at secretshame.bandcamp.com Before the interview tho, here is an announcement on behalf of Mutual Aid Disaster Relief: When catastrophe strikes, those most impacted and their neighbors are the real first responders. Mutual Aid Disaster Relief is a growing movement that amplifies the efforts of frontline communities and scrappy yet strategic grassroots projects. After last year's nation-wide training tour spanned over 50 communities in 25 states, Mutual Aid Disaster Relief will continue its Building the Movement for Mutual Aid series in the Northeast this October! Friends in New England, please check out events in Albany, NY, Portland, ME, Montpelier, VT, Worcester, MA, and New York City. The two-part training includes storytelling as well as a fun, fast-paced, and participatory workshop. Facilitators will describe lessons learned through diverse experiences of d.i.y. crisis response and the power of Community Organizing as Disaster Preparedness. They'll guide conversations that give participants opportunities to share their knowledge and build camaraderie with others in the community. MADRelief trainings are free to all! Sliding-scale donations for t-shirts, zines, books, and posters help the team cover food and fuel and keep their powerful message on the move! For more details, visit MutualAidDisasterRelief.org/events or follow @madr_tour on Instagram. . … . .. Music for this show by: Araabmuzik – American Greed Secret Shame – Who Died in Our Backyard? Secret Shame – Calm Nomadic War Machine – The Fields Lay Fallow

Preparing for Freedom Today you'll hear Bursts interview Pepe, an anarchist from so called Connecticut. As of September 4th 2019, Pepe has been sentenced to 5 years in prison on federal charges. In this interview he speaks on a range of topics related to the prison industrial complex, from detailing how prosecutors operate within the "criminal justice" system, to his personal experience in preparing with his family for his incarceration. Folks can support Pepe and his family by visiting his record label at diybandits.bandcamp.com. He will be releasing his own podcast soon at preparingforfreedom.org. We will announce when these episodes drop so stay tuned! To get in touch with The Final Straw, for feedback or suggestions, you can follow us on all social media, we are @thefinalstrawradio on Instagram, @StrawFinal on Twitter, and The Final Straw Radio on Facebook. You can also email us at [email protected] or @protonmail.com, and send us letters at PO Box 6004 Asheville NC 28816 . … . .. Music for this episode by: J Dilla – Y'all Ain't Ready (instrumental) Ramsey Lewis Trio – The 'In' Crowd

This week I had the chance to interview three people who organize with La Concha, which is an anarchist space in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles that does many projects such as prisoner solidarity, legal and popular education, reading groups, bike brigades, and lots else. We talk about their work, and how the three came to be doing what they are doing right now, and also about the incursions that they've been experiencing from authoritarian Communists in the area. I felt great getting to have this conversation with them and really energized to build where I'm at, but also to help build more bridges between places all over so we as anarchists can enrich and nuance each other's thinking and praxis. Big thanks to the folks at Firestorm for putting TFS in touch with La Concha! Here's to many more colabs and for a furtherance of anarchist, Indigenous, and decolonial spaces. To learn more about La Concha and the Psycos, you can follow them on all their social medias: -On Instagram for @la_conxa, @ovarian_psycos, and @psycobrigade -FedBook is at https://www.facebook.com/ovarian.psycos/ To see all their merch, which is how they raise funds for rent on their space, you can go to ovarian-psycos.zibbet.com For a website to visit to see some of their initial writings and blog posts, you can go to ovarianpsycos.com You can learn more about the Institute for Advanced Troublemaking you can go to their website at https://advancedtroublemaking.wordpress.com/ To read the zine they were mentioning called AlwaysAgainstTheTanks, follow the link! Also if you come across a documentary about the Ovas and are curious to watch it, get in touch with them for a copy! For this inquiry and all others, say if you have something to contribute to the zine they were talking about, you can email them at [email protected] . ... . .. Music for this show is by: Xela de la X – Red Star (musical break) Clapback – La Marea Vuelve (outro)

Support Jeremy Hammond! This week we are presenting two segments, first up is an interview done by Cypress - a new member of The Final Straw collective! - with Grace (they/them pronouns), who is doing support for anarchist prisoner Jeremy Hammond. From his support website, Hammond is "currently spending a decade in prison for allegedly disclosing information about the private intelligence firm (...) Stratfor, revealing that they had been spying on human rights defenders at the behest of corporations and governments. WikiLeaks published these files in partnership with 29 media organizations worldwide as the Global Intelligence Files." Grace talks about Hammond's case and repressions he has been facing in prison, and also about resisting a summons for a grand jury and what support could look like for him given the uncertainties of his case at the moment, plus many more topics! Shane McDonnell on Re-claiming Nietzsche Second up, we have a talk by Shane McDonnell who is a vegan, political activist and supporter of the Workers Solidarity Movement from the Republic of Ireland. Shane gave this presentation, entitled "Friedrich Nietzsche: Emma Goldman's Honorary Anarchist & My Desire to Reclaim Him from the Right" at the 2019 North American Anarchist Studies Network Conference in Atlanta, GA. . ... . .. >>> Regarding this week's segment from anarchist prisoner, Sean Swain: Sean's commentary today discusses his claim to the Organization of American States, filed in 2012. Sean was unaware of the OAS's response until he was moved to Virginia where the mailrooms no longer blocked this attempted correspondence. Sean's recorded testimony is up at SeanSwain.org. Content warning, Sean discusses sexual violence he suffered at the hands of Ohio officials. . ... . .. To donate to Jeremy Hammond's fund, you can do so on freejeremy.net For the most recent updates you can follow the Twitter account @FreeJeremyNet To write to him, address letters to: Jeremy Hammond A0182888 William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center 2001 Mill Road Alexandria VA, 22314

Digital Security / Tenant Organizing / #MeToo and Updates from Hong Kong This week, we feature three portions. (image used by Ar To) Lauren Regan of CLDC First up, we share a chat with Lauren Regan of the Civil Liberties Defense Center, or CLDC, to chat about safer practices around technology for activists, as well as the "reverse search" warrant used by the NYPD with Google to capture info on antifascists and the Proud Boy attackers last year. More at https://cldc.org. An article about tech security and phones that Bursts references is called "Never Turn Off The Phone" [starts at 10m 08s] Palm Beach Tenants Union Following this, Withers (a new collective member at The Final Straw) shares a chat with Adam and Amy, two organizers with the Palm Beach Tenants Union out of Florida about their work and the sorts of mutual aid disaster work they've done with Hurricane Irma and advocating for and organizing with renters in their communities for dignity in housing. More on the Union at https://pbctu.org and more on how you can get involved in mutual aid up at https://mutualaiddisasterrelief.org. There are a number of donation sites around the region to prepare for this Hurricane season, as well as distribute support to Bahamas that you can find by searching social media for DRASL (Dorian Response Autonomous Supply Line), as mentioned on itsgoingdown.org. [starts at 54m 06s] #MeToo and Updates from Hong Kong Finally, you'll hear a conversation with Enid and Rebecca, who feminist activists in Hong Kong about the current state of protests there. Content warning, that segment deals in part with organizing around sexualized assault by police and by protestors. To hear our prior interview with Ahkok on protests in HK, check our website and see the great articles up at crimethinc. Also, the guests talk about the term 自由閪, or "Freedom Cunt" as a re-appropriation of a misogynist insult by police from the protests. [starts at 1hr 15m 51s] *Correction to the HK conversation: The full name of the IPCC mentioned in regards to the establishment of an independent police inquiry is called the Independent Police Complaints Council. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam appointed two new committee members to the already existing committee, not independent investigators. However, the IPCC has hired five foreign investigators to participate in examinations, though it must be clarified that the role of the IPCC is observational rather than investigative. The IPCC has no jurisdiction to either call witness nor collect evidence for the independent inquiry called for by citizens. If you're listening to the radio version, as usual, we suggest that you check out the podcast version for longer versions of all three chats in this episode as well as Sean Swain's audio this week. You can hear that at thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org or via various streaming platforms we publish to, such as youtube, soundcloud, stitcher, pandora and so-on. . ... . .. playlist pending

Anarchist Perspectives in Puerto Rico This week we have the opportunity to share a talk by Coco (they/them pronouns), who is a queer, Black, Puerto Rican anarchist about the recent 17 days of direct action against no-longer-governor Ricardo Rosselló and organizing as an anarchist after Hurricane Maria. They talk about some of the lead up to these revolts – about the fascist campaign and term of office of Ricardo Rosselló -, the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, decolonization and fighting US imperialism as it relates to PR, queer people and femmes on the front lines of the protests about Ricardo Rosselló, the active warping of this situation by media outlets, and many many more topics! Coco originally presented this talk at the Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair 2019 on Saturday August 24th. I wanna give voice to something that came up in the Q&A after the talk, which was not recorded, in which Coco made space for an open conversation about revolt in Puerto Rico. They asked of the audience what we thought when #RickyRenuncia was trending on Twitter, and people were saying stuff like "we need to look to PR and learn from people there in order to figure out what to do where we're at". And a really good conversation wound out about disaster/riot tourism that has always been a problematic current on the far left, especially where the struggles of non-white folks are concerned. It was located in that conversation that the support of people interfacing with struggle that isn't theirs is very conditional and fragile, and it was stated by participants of the conversation that there needs to be another way of looking at struggle that doesn't involve an attitude of entertainment style consumption but rather comes from a place of real solidarity and real support. As Coco stated, the media has really been messing with the narrative of what has been going on in PR, painting it either as super pacifist or like people are "out of control hooligans" or other such nonesense. For better sources of information, you can visit our blog at thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org where we will post links to people and accounts you can follow who are on the ground or have a perspective that isn't beholden to the larger capitalist media outlets. Those links are: https://twitter.com/_DESinformate https://twitter.com/TodasPR https://twitter.com/ClaridadPR https://twitter.com/80grados . ... . .. Here is an announcement on behalf of the upcoming Queer Conference at UNC Asheville: "Communities? Will a rainbow flag on a police car protect queer folks from a culture built around (trans)misogyny / misogynoir and sexual assault? We are constantly reminded that our culture is still built on anti-black, anti-queer violence by the all too frequent murders of black transwomen, the further criminalization of queer sex workers, and the erasure of rural LGBTQ+ identities experiencing the pains of addiction, joblessness, and lack of resources. Today, we are at another fork in the road, where there is nominal acceptance of certain gay and lesbian identities (namely white, educated, middle-class families), while a wide range of experiences of people under the LGBTQ+ umbrella get forgotten. As queerness becomes hip and queer subcultural styles are being bought and sold, we must ask how the culture, lives, and sexuality behind the looks can survive and thrive. With the rise of global fascism, the impending doom of large-scale environmental collapse, and the inevitable next crash of capitalism, can we still envision a queerness that seeks liberation rather than admission to the status quo and benefits of a vastly unequal US society? How can we balance these visions with protecting the precarious lives most threatened by the current sociopolitical landscape? To submit a proposal, follow the link at https://queercon.wp.unca.edu/ For any questions you can email [email protected]" . … . .. Music for this episode by: Princess Nokia – Brujas (instrumental loop by William) Ruby Ibarra – Us off of Circa 91 Calle 13 - Afilando los Cuchillos, or Sharpening the Knives, which is all about the revolts against Ricardo Rosselló.

We Need To Keep That Spirit Alive: anarchist prisoner Eric King and partner speak ***Update: Eric King started a 5 day trial on August 26th, 2019, in Denver, CO on the charges of assaulting Lieutenant Wilcox at FCI Florence. Here's background on that here in Eric's own words. Court and legal fund support is being requested and updates are up on his support site, as of now the latest update is here.*** This week on The Final Straw, we feature two main guests, anarchist prisoner Eric King and a member of his defense committee who is also Eric's partner. This podcast is being released on the 3rd day of the International Week of Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners from August 23-30th. The dates relate to the execution date of Italian-American anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, August 23, 1927. More info on the week, including materials and ways to share your solidarity are up at Solidarity.International and you can donate to the International Anarchist Defense Fund at afund.antirep.net. While the majority of the show will be filled by anarchist political prisoner, Eric King, we'll be wrapping it in words from his partner, who also sits on his support committee. Eric was incarcerated in 2014 for an attempted night-time arson on the Kansas City office of Missouri U.S. Democratic Representative Emanuel Cleaver. Eric claimed this was in solidarity the community of Ferguson that was in revolt in response to the killing and desecration of young Mike Brown at the hands of the police, known as the Ferguson Uprising. Eric has been generally without phone access for 3 years. Eric, who just had his 33rd birthday, recently suffered a stroke. He's been at 9 facilities in the last year. He has visible anti-fascist tattoo's and because of this and his anarchism and outspoken perspectives, he has been pitted against antagonistic correctional officers and nazi gang members and force to fight for survival. Eric frequently loses his commissary funds when he is moved. He hasn't read a book in 6 months because he hasn't been allowed any. For the hour of our broadcast, Eric talks about his health, his political stance, dealing with nazi's on the inside, his views on the anti-fascist struggle on the outside, the loss of Tom Manning and supporting political prisoners, counter-recruiting nazi's and other topics. You can find his writings, art, and updates on his situation at SupportEricKing.org. The message that we are building off of can be found archived in video form here: https://archive.org/details/ericking08172019. The other main voice you'll hear is that of Eric's partner, who's a member of his support committee. What you'll hear in the radio broadcast is only a tiny, iceberg tip, of this person's words, what we could fit in an hour. If you'd like to hear more of what they have to say check out the podcast. We speak about changes in the Federal Bureau of Prisons system, specific things that BOP prisoners and their families and supporters have to deal with, the culture of shortcomings in how people engage family and loved ones of prisoners, increasing use of communication management units (also known as CMU's) and in particular Administrative US Penitentiary Thomson, in Thomson, IL, which is used as a holding facility where prisoners awaiting CMU status decisions basically sit meanwhile in CMU status while they wait. This marks a continued growing in the logic of incarceration in our civilization towards more isolation, new sweetheart prison building contracts, more contol, more beds to fill, more punishment of what might be mental health distress and trauma responses among prisoners. The guest speaks about the potential impact on ICE detainees who are speculated to be put in this facility. As Eric gets transferred from county facility to county facility of Federal overflow, his commissary doesn't move with him. So, his support committee is handling purchases of communication access, medical funds, moneys for buying vegan foods and supplements and other needs on his behalf. A new fundraiser has gone up and can be found at: . Please consider donating. Eric just got moved before this broadcast. As he moves around and things change, info on his case can be found at SupportEricKing.org. You can write him, for the time being, at: The books that Eric mentions being excited to read are: Solitary by Albert "Shaka Cinque" Woodfox of the Angola 3 Mad Bomber Melville by Leslie James Pickering Announcements BlackJewel Miners Blockade Support Hi listeners, I'm Cypress, your newest host of the Final Straw. Next week, tune in to hear my very first interview. I'll be speaking with folks from the Blackjewel Miner's Blockade in Harlan County, Kentucky. Blackjewel is the 6th largest coal operator in the United States, and on July 1st of this year, it declared bankruptcy. On July 29th, five miners set out to blockade a Blackjewel train carrying one million dollars of coal in protest of being denied their last three weeks of wages and r

On Nurturance Culture w Nora Samaran This week, Bursts spoke with Nora Samaran, author of the essay "The Opposite Of Rape Culture Is Nurturance Culture", which became the seed of her book "Turn This World Inside Out: The Emergence of Nurturance Culture." This book is recently out from AK Press. Transcript PDF (Unimposed) Zine (Imposed PDF) We talk about harm, entitlement as relates to positions of power like masculinity or whiteness in our cultures, the need for connection engrained into our biology and sociality, accountability and healing among other topics. You can find further reading up at norasamaran.com. You can find a list of suggested further reading by searching "How To Not Re-Injure Survivors." Announcements ACAB/PansyFest Reminder Next weekend is the Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair (or ACAB) happening in Asheville, NC. Events start on Friday with a welcome table at Firestorm from 1-7pm. Simultaneously, there'll be presentations on Veganism and non-violent direct action, trans-national and indigenous poetry, anti-racism in Appalacha, Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement and anarchism in Puerto Rico. That night, Pansy Fest begins with a show at Sly Grog Lounge at 7pm. This sparks a weekend of activities from 11am til 2am around the city. If you want to learn more about either event, check out acab2019.noblogs.org and pansycollective.org or give a re-listen to our August 4th episode of The Final Straw. And please come visit our table if you're in town on Saturday or Sunday and say hi. Sean Swain's 50th Bday We're lucky enough to include Sean Swain in this week's broadcast. If you've been missing him on your radio emissions, you can find a link to his audio essays up at our website, he produces one every week, find updates on him at Sean Swain.org or now follow him on twitter at @SwainRocks. Please be aware that his 50th birthday is coming up on September 12th, so send him some loving kindness. Also, if you're in town for ACAB, swing by The Final Straw table on Saturday, August 24th before noon to participate in a birthday surprise for Sean. Shhh, don't tell him. Other Notes There are some updates on the case of anarchist prisoner, Eric King up at his support site, supportericking.org. And stay tuned to our website and podcast stream for some special audios about him. Also, keep an ear out for the August 2019 episode of BADNews in the same places. . ... . .. playlist

Words from Rojava + Likhts'amisyu Re-Occupation Village Words from Rojava First, Bursts interviewed Mark and anonymous, members of the Internationalist Commune of Rojava, which coordinates civil structure engagement among internationals in North Eastern Syria in the Rojava Revolution as well as helping to spread. More on their project at InternationalistCommune.Org, or check out related projects like MakeRojavaGreeAgain.Org and #RiseUpForRojava that may be organized in your area. The US government, which has been supporting Rojava militarily in their struggle against Daesh, or ISIS, is at the conference table with the Turkish government which has given aid and weapons to Daesh and has opposed Kurdish dignity and survival within Turkey's own borders, exemplified by the conflict from 1978 til today, re-lit by Erdogan's attacks. The guests and I speak about Turkish buildup on the border of Syria, about the incarceration of Daesh prisoners by Rojava, and how folks internationally can offer support to Rojava at this tense time. If you'd like to hear an hour-long question and answer discussion with ICR hosted by Demand Utopia that goes more into depth into some of these topics from March 16, 2019 at Firestorm Books, we have archived a recording of it and it can be heard here by seeking our show notes. Sovereign Likhts'amisyu Next William had the chance to speak with Smogelgem, who is a hereditary Chief of the Likhts'amisyu clan of the Wet'suwet'en people. He is a teacher and a builder, and was one of the people who helped make the Unis'tot'en Camp, who are another clan of the Wet'suwet'en people. Unis'tot'en Camp is an Indigenous re-occupation of land stolen by the state of Canada in so called "B.C" and has done a lot of resistance against pipelines and other incursions by Canada. We talk a little bit about his experiences organizing with Unis'tot'en, but moreso were focusing on another Indigenous re-occupation project on traditional Likhts'amisyu territory, some of the history involved in this re-occupation village, about the nature of the "state" of "Canada", the climate and environmental research center that is forming a central component of the village, aid that they need, and many more topics. Keep them in your thoughts today (Sunday August 11th 2019) as they are marching out in full regalia in the name of Wet'suwet'en Unification. To learn more, to get involved, and to donate to the building efforts and legal fees, you can visit their website at https://likhtsamisyu.com/, Sovereign Likhts'amisyu Facebook Page, And email them at [email protected] for more ways to get involved and for setting up potential fundraisers! . ... . .. If you appreciate the work that we do on this show, please consider supporting us monetarily. We have a patreon with thank-you gifts of t-shirts, mixtapes, stickers and more if you care to make monthly donations of as little as $5, though we'll take a dollar if that's what you can share. Or, you can right-out purchase merch at our bigCartel shop or make donations via venmo or paypal. More info our site by clicking the donate tab or visiting https://tfsr.wtf/support . ... . .. Playlist

This week we feature three segments. As it is literally packed with jam, we suggest you check out our podcast for free online at our website or any number of streaming sites for longer, more detailed conversations on the topics plus, again, Sean Swain's segment for this week. Move call for support for Delbert Orr Africa First we have a couple of shorter segments. Respectively, you hear the voices of Janine Phillips Africa, Janet Holloway Africa and Eddie Goodman Africa of the Move 9, a political and religious group that follows the teachings of John Africa and have faced heavy repression from the state of Pennsylvania over the last 50 years, who are recently released after 40 years in prison on some bull charges. The three are requesting peoples support calling in to the prison administration in Pennsylvania and to two hospitals to get contact with their fellow Move 9 prisoner, Delbert Orr Africa. Delbert has a parole hearing in September and has suddenly been heard to be suffering from swelling and possible prostate cancer. His blood daughter, his lawyer and his family members in the Move organization are concerned that so-called authorities aren't letting Delbert communicate with them. As they say, two other members of the Move 9, Phil and Merle, died under mysterious circumstances in the dungeons of the PA prison system that has sought to bury Move and it's supporters like Mumia Abu-Jamal, with an announcement of sickness that quickly turned to the death of their family members. It's also good to note that Chuck Africa of the Move 9, while support in this moment is not being directed at him, is also still incarcerated after more than 40 years. More info at OnAMove.Org, OnAMove.com, Move9Parole.blogspot.com or the fedbook page, "Justice For The Move 9" There's a statement from Move in our show notes, near the bottom of the post for this episode with more details. Those notes don't include the number for Wilkesbury Hospital at 5708298111 Yellow Finch Tree Sit Against MVP Then, we'll hear from an anonymous tree-sitter and Dusty who are both in trees blocking the path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline cutting through Appalachia and threatening the immediate health of the forests, waterways and communities it passes by as well as the the wider future of life on earth as a project to pull fossil fuels for burning out of the soil for the profit of a few hucksters. More information on the Yellow Finch Tree Sit at AppalachiansAgainstPipelines on fedbook, InstaGram and Twitter or send them some money at bit.ly/SupportMVPResistance. As a quick update, the efforts by EQT's attempt at extending an injunction around the Eminent Domain for the Mountain Valley Pipeline to also criminalize tree-sitters, their supporters and lawyers have failed and the federal judge, Elizabeth Dillon, meaning that the construction will have to move from Cove Hollow around to the other side of Poor Mountain, ostensibly increasing the cost of building the pipeline by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Consider visiting them and congratulating the tree-sitters Pansy Fest and Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair 2019 Third up, we got to talk with members of the fast approaching Pansy Fest and Asheville Anarchist Bookfair, which is an exciting collaboration happening over the weekend of August 23-25. We got to talk here about this colab and many more things, if you are listening to the radio version and want more content that will be up at our blog thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org. To get in touch with these projects, for logistics and information, you can go to pansycollective.org and email them at [email protected]. To donate to Pansy Fest, you can Venmo @cecilia-martuscelli Instagram: @pansyfest fedbook: facebook.com/pansyfestavl/ For the bookfair, their website is acab2019.noblogs.org, email [email protected] To see those shirts and totes, go here! Instagram: @acab.2019 Facebook: facebook.com/AshevilleACAB2019 For housing inquiries for both events email [email protected] ! Announcements Sean Swain Address We want to share that the wrong address for writing to Sean was up at his support site and announced in his segments. You can actually write to him at: Sean Swain #2015638 Buckingham Correctional PO Box 430 Dillwyn, VA 23936 Tom Manning This week saw the passing of long-time political prisoner, alleged member of the Jonathan Jackson Unit and the United Freedom Front and revolutionary, Tom Manning. Tom's death came after literally years of medical mistreatment and neglect at the hands of Federal Bureau of Prisons, ending at USP-Hazelton in West Virginia. The system had it in for Tom, that he would die inside, for even though he only had about a year left in the Federal System, he was bound upon release for the NJ state prison system, a system renown for it's vendetta against prisoners accused of killing cops. We'll link in our show notes to a recent writeup by Ray Luc Levasseur on It'sGoingDown.org. If you want to hear our intervi

Resisting Tyranny in Hong Kong For the hour, we spoke with Ahkok who identifies as a humanitarian, antifascist and musician who grew up in Hong Kong and has participated in protests over the years including the Umbrella Movement and current protests today. We talk about the mindset of the Hong Kong protests, the situation in China, decolonization, racism and more. Y'all may have heard that over the last 8 weeks or so, Hong Kong has been rocked by protests to undermine efforts by the government to create an extradition treaty with China. The protests have included barricades, interesting uses of AirDrop, Telegram and whatsapp and other digital platforms to avoid censorship to spread information, street fights against police and attacks from criminal gangs they and the Chinese government hired (the so-called "White Shirts") and a raucous romp through the empty legislative chambers of governance leaving wreck and ruin behind. The street actions come on the 30th anniversary of the Tienanmen Square Protests of 1989 when student sit-ins demanding democratic political and economic reforms were killed in Beijing and around by the so-called Peoples Liberation Army. Currently, western reporting and word from dissidents inside of China has come about the Re-Education camps such as in Xinjiang where the Chinese government has been interring Uighur Muslims and other ethnic and religious minorities in order to stamp out their religion and socialize them to a more homogeneous Chinese lifestyles, definitely a reason for Hong Kongers to take the streets to keep dissenters there from easy deportation to China. A couple of interesting ways to keep up on perspectives from the region include ChuangCN, crimethInc, Hong Kong Free Press. Announcements BRABC events If you're in the Asheville area, on Friday August 2nd from 6:30-8 at Firestorm Books, Blue Ridge Anarchist Black Cross will be showing the documentary "Love And Revolution" about autonomous and anarchist responses to austerity, police violence and resistance to borders and love for the people who cross them in Greece. More on the film at the website lamouretlarevolution.net. Then, on Sunday August 4th from 5-7pm BRABC invites you to it's monthly political prisoner letter writing. Show up to scrawl a few screeds and meet some nice wingnuts. Bennu Hannibale Ra-Sun Supporters of Bennu Hannibal Ra-Sun, recently moved out of solitary confinement after years in the hole for organizing non-violent resistance behind bars, are asking folks to show up in Montgomery, AL to support a court hearing for him at 10AM Montgomery County Courthouse, Courtroom 3C, 251 S Lawrence St. Montgomery, AL 36104 held before Circuit Judge James H. Anderson Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. Support Workers Coop Efforts Finally, comrades in Carbondale, IL, have put together a gofundme to help fund a workers cooperative. You can find the site by searching "Carbondale Spring Fat Patties Cooperative", an effort to re-open a closed burger joint to feed the working class, not some fat cat CEO. More info about organizing efforts in Carbondale can be found at carbondalespring.org. BAD News: July 2019 This month for the A-Radio Network's "Angry Voices From Around The World" podcast we feature a shortened segment from our previous episode of TFSR with Perilous Chronicles, as well as A-Radio Berlin with notes on the National Socialist Underground trial in Germany and A-Radio Vienna with call-ups for the August 23-30 International Week of Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners and support for prison rebel, Andreas Krebs. . … . .. This week, we featured "Jab Cross" by Lucy Furr from their recent album, The Jungle, as well as the track "4K Punk Rock" by antifascist post-rock band Remiso's album, Pleasant With Presentiment. Playlist

This week, we feature two segments on the episode. First, a brief chat with Duncan of Perilous Chronicle, a site documenting prisoner resistance since from 2010 til today in the so-called U.S. & Canada. More on that project can be found at perilouschronicle.com and you can find them on twitter as @perilousprisons. Then, we spoke with Kanahus Freedom, from the Secwepemc and Ktunaxa nations, who is involved in the Tiny House Warriors struggle against the Trans Mountain Pipeline threatening the sovereignty and health of unceded Secwepemc land. Kanahus is also decolonization activist and a mother. We talk about birthing and parenting outside of the scope of Canadian colonial government, the role of construction "man camps" in genocide, and how to help struggle against TMX. You can learn more about her imprisoned husband Orlando Watley (Elk Bone) by visiting https://freeorlandowatley.org/, as well as a video of Elk Bone and Kanahus's wedding in prison. You can learn more about the case that her twin sister, Mayuk, and others are facing and more by visiting their nations website, https://www.secwepemculecw.org/ Kanahus also contributed the essay "Decolonization: The frontline struggle" to the book "Whose Land Is It Anyway: A Manual for Decolonization." Here is Kanahus reading the words of her father, Art Manuel, in marking 150 years of resistance to the Canadian state. The Trans Mountain Pipeline (TMX) will play a role in the wider genocide of indigenous people through the proliferation of so-called "Man Camps" as well as destroying the integrity and health of indigenous health. Some of these topics are touched on in the recently published Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). The pipeline is now being pushed through by the Canadian Government of Justin Trudeau, announced within a week of the widely publicized Final Report located above. Announcements Sean Swain Anarchist prisoner Sean Swain recently got most of his items sent to him (albeit many damaged) from the jailers in Ohio where he was held for most of the last 28 years, which is a partial success. He still hasn't gotten the items he's bought and paid for on the JPay digital account that handles his emails, and other digital media. So, if you used to email with Sean and haven't heard from him for a while, check out his website for his current number and drop him a line as he likely doesn't have your address or past messages anymore, until people pressure JPay to transfer property from his old JPay account number to his new number. This includes nearly $1,000 in digital music, purchased and held online in a way similar to purchasing online from Apple music, only from this company that profits from prisoners and their loved ones. Also, anyone writing to Sean Swain should know that the Virginia rules for snail mail say that he can only receive up to 3 pages front and back (whether letters or photocopies) in an envelope, so if you've been writing him and getting mail turned back, consider sending more envelopes full of smaller letters! Protect Mauna Kea You may have recently seen news coverage of protesters, largely Indigenous and elder, opposing the construction of a Thirty Meter Telescope, or TMT, on Mauna Kea, a mountain on the Big Island of occupied Hawaii. This mountain is over a million years old and, when measured from its underwater base, is the tallest mountain on the planet. The university of California and University of Hawaii are currently attempting to build this TMT on the land, and Indigenous people along with students of both universities have been resisting this and similar efforts. This is just one instance in the long project of settler colonialism, 14 telescopes have been built on the Mauna from the years 1968 and 2002, efforts which have threatened the stability of the ecosystem and harmed a place of great spiritual significance for the Indigenous people of Hawaii. The people were not consulted in any part of this development process and have been resisting these construction efforts at every point from the earliest days. The most recent of these, the TMT, would dig a total of 7 stories down into the mountain, contaminating a sacred water source and disturbing the burial places of countless people. The current efforts against the TMT are already being likened to the resistance at Standing Rock, and over a dozen people have already been arrested by cops protecting the interests of the state and the university. As it stands now, it was stated that construction on the TMT would begin, and the Governor of Hawaii has declared a so called "state of emergency" in response to the defense of the mountain. Extra police and National Guard have been brought to the mountain to attempt to quell this resistance. Now more than ever, solidarity with those fighting for their sacred lands is paramount! To see much more information than we were able to include here, including history, analysis, a FA

There Is No Liberation Until The Borders Are Gone: Bruno from CIMA and Members of IAF Speak This week we are super pleased to share an interview that William did a few weeks ago with two members of the Indigenous Anarchist Federation, Bombshell and insurgent e! We got to talk about a lot of topics in this episode, which was recorded on about the year anniversary of the formation of the Indigenous Anarchist Federation. Bombshell and insurgent e talked about their histories as anarchist people, about the formation of this Federation, what true decolonization of anarchism could look like, and about the upcoming Indigenous Anarchist Convergence which is happening from August 16th-18th in Kinlani, Navajo land, occupied Flagstaff AZ, plus many other topics! I really appreciated getting to connect with Bombshell and e, hearing their words on the topics at hand, and also really appreciated their patience with me as I stumbled thru my sentences with them. To learn more about them you can follow them on Twitter, where they post active updates, news, and analysis @IAF_FAI or go to their website iaf-fai.org where they post more in depth articles about Indigenous struggle all around the world. If you do the Twitter follows, just note that there is an active fake account that is attempting to badmouth and discredit the work of the IAF, and this account has the handle @fai-mujer; their interventions have been confusing to followers of the IAF in the past. To see a full account of this situation, plus of course many more topics that are like not about internet trolls but are about the work, you can visit them at iaf-fai.org! To learn more about the Convergence, to register, and for tips for outsider participation, you can visit taalahooghan.org. If in listening to this you are curious about whose land you were born on or live on, a fantastic resource for this is native-land.ca which provides a world wide map, insofar as it's possible, of indigenous lands and the names of their people spanning thousands of miles. For more great interviews with members of IAF, including words from Bad Salish Girl and Green City: Rev Left Radio Coffee With Comrades A list of recommendations from B and e: -Do some digging and research to find a bunch of recent authors who have done the work to center Indigenaity and decolonization, -read the complete works of Cutcha Risling Baldy on Decolonized and Indigenous Feminism, -Talk to and listen to Indigenous people, do the necessary research to not ask folks to perform unnecessary emotional labor. Books: Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano (en Espanol Las Venas Abiertas de América Latina) Indigenous Peoples History of the United States by Roxane Dunbar-Ortiz 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann Our History Is The Future by Nick Estes 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance by Gord Hill Some good podcasts, recommended by William of TFS, from Indigenous folks, while not being politically anarchist identified are good to listen to! All My Relations by Matika Wilbur and Adrienne Keene While Indigenous by the NDN Collective Stay tuned next week for an interview with Kanahus Manuel, a Secwepemc woman fighting a pipeline thru her lands in so called BC! CIMA Speaks about ICE Raids But first up Bursts spoke with Bruno Hinojosa Ruiz of the local immigrants advocacy group, CIMA, about the threatened raids by ICE and CPB, ways for folks to get plugged in wherever they are with defending their communities and helping those most targeted and strengthening our bonds. More about CIMA can be found online by searching C I M A W N C on facebook or at their site cimawnc.org. After the conversation, Bursts learned that there's a wiki page that's compiling ICE offices and companies profiting from Immigrations police and Border Patrol. That wiki can be found and added to at https://trackingice.com/wiki/Main_Page Rest In Power, Willem In related news to the ramping up of ICE repression of people around the so-called US, protests, sit-ins and sabotages of profiteers have been on the rise. Much of this can be tracked by visiting https://itsgoingdown.org/closethecamps/. Of note, in Asheville someone claimed responsibility for damaging an atm owned by PNC and claiming it anonymously on IGD. Also, on Saturday, July 13th, a 69 year old, northwest anarchist named Willem Van Spronsen was gunned down by authorities outside of the North West Detention Center in Tacoma, WA while attempting to destroy buses used by GEO group to transport detainees to and from the center. Willem was allegedly armed with a rifle and was attempting to arson the buses when pigs opened fire and ended his life. There's a statement by a local group focused on shutting down the facility, La Resistencia, up on fedbook and linked in our show notes. We're sorry to lose you, Willem, but proud of your motivation. . ... . .. playlist pending

This week we had the opportunity to connect with Ash Williams, who is the Volunteer Coordinator for the Carolina Abortion Fund, and is also one of the architects of the Charlotte Uprising which they've been on the show before to talk about. I felt very lucky to get to talk with them again about the work they've been doing with Carolina Abortion Fund, but also about abortion in general and about expanding the meaning of reproductive justice work to encompass de-colonial views on care and healthcare work, environmental racism such as is going on in Flint Michigan, climate catastrophe, how this topic fits into a broader scope of reproductive capabilities being stolen from people, and many other aspects. They also spoke on how we talk about abortion from their own perspective as a Black trans person, and how transmisogyny, the erasure of transfeminine experience, and transphobia can play into how this issue is thought of. They also give suggestions for folks already doing reproductive justice work moving forward to create intentional access for all who need or want that. To help support this fund, to learn more about them and to donate if you can, you can visit their website https://www.carolinaabortionfund.org/ Shout Your Abortion, this is a consciousness raising project which has a new book out which you can see at their website. We Testify which is in collaboration with the National Network of Abortion Funds is a project that seeks to normalize abortions by helping folks tell their stories, can be found at we testify dot org National Network of Abortion Funds, a list of all independent and local abortion funds. Here is an article on Marshae Jones, who is a woman in Alabama facing felonies for the termination by gunshot wound of her pregnancy. The shooter is not being charged with anything as of the writing of this post. Yellowhammer Fund is doing bail support for Marshae! . ... . .. Playlist includes: Ni Una Menos by Rebeca Lane Georgina by Chumbawamba

Were happy to bring you three segments in this weeks show. The first is Sean Swain, who hasn't been heard on the airwaves for a few weeks. [2min 56] Following this, we'll hear from an anarchist from so-called Hamilton, Ontario, to talk about repression faced by queer folks and anarchists since Hamilton Pride and assess whats next. It should be noted that at the time of this recording, Cedar Hopperton was on hunger strike from their initial detention for 5 days. Were not sure where that stands. Also, three more people have been arrested. You can keep up on how to offer solidarity and whats happening by visiting North-Shore.Info. Also, support can be lobbed at The Tower social center. [9min 52sec] Finally, well be airing Timothy Grieve-Carlson reading the paper "The Spectre and the Sovereign: The Problem of the Paranormal in Biopolitical Thought," presented on the panel Liberatory Horizons at the 2019 NAASN Conference in Atlanta, GA. [41min 31sec] . ... . .. playlist

Taking Down Racist Monuments and Growing New Worlds This week on TFSR, we're featuring two audios from affiliates of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Maya Little & Dwayne Dixon talking about resisting neo-Confederate monuments in the so-called U.S. south, in particular the statue called "Silent Sam" that was toppled August 20th, 2018. Maya Little First, we'll hear graduate student worker and anti-racist activist Maya Little speak about their research into the racist history of the constructed landscape and neo-confederate symbols in and around Chapel Hill and Carrboro, North Carolina. Maya also speaks about the recent resistance to the the specific statue called Silent Sam at UNC Chapel Hill and the far right and cop repression faced by students and anti-racist activists to push for and eventually enact it's removal. Maya can be found on twitter at @readkropotkin and contributes writing to the project @CuddlePotMag. Within a few days of the broadcast, we hope to have links to the pictures spoken about in Maya's presentation and to integrate those into the youtube post of this episode. Dwayne Dixon Then, Dwayne Dixon, an adjunct professor of cultural anthropology at UNC and an anti-racist activist talks about personal experiences of coming up in a white, military family in the U.S., experiences of struggle against white supremacists and their symbols in the so-called US south in recent years and the inspirational strength of those struggles interlacing and expanding into ecological defense work, disaster response and the building of autonomous, anti-capitalist community infrastructures. Dwayne is also involved in the community defense group, Piedmont Redstrings, as well as Take Action Chapel Hill and @DefendUNC on twitter. If you listened on the radio, you can find a longer version of the show (including Sean Swain's segment and a few announcements) as a podcast up at our website and various streaming platforms. Announcements New Broadcasters in VT & OR! We're excited to announce that The Final Straw can now be heard on Fridays from 6-7am on WGDR, 91.1fm out of Goddard College in Plainfield, VT as well as in Eugene, OR on KEPW 97.3FM on Saturdays from 9-10pm local time. Hello, new listeners, we're proud to be in your ears. Please reach out to us if you have concerns, critiques or suggestions. BADNews, June 2019 Tiny House Warriors Respond to Trudeau Gov't Passing Trans Mtn Pipeline Lorenzo Komb'oa Ervin Medical Fund . ... . .. Playlist

This week, we'll be featuring two segments, one on state repression against anti-racist organizers in rural Upstate South Carolina [10min 21sec] and on an upcoming documentary series on access/non access to mental health infrastructure for transgender people living in Appalachia [41min 39sec]. Plus, words from Sean Swain [3min 22sec]! Facing Down FBI & Nazi Pressure in SC First, Bursts shares a conversation with activists from the Scuffletown Anti-Repression Committee and the Michigan Anti-Repression Committee, left legal defense groups from vastly geographically distant areas of the so-called U.S. They are talking about the case of repression in what's called the Upstate, or northern part of the state of South Carolina in the south eastern U.S., where anti-racist and anti-fascist activists have been surveilled, intimidated, harassed, detained while naked at home and arrested by local and Federal Law Enforcement, including the FBI, apparently on behalf of the local white supremacists. The agent having made such disclosures is named FBI Special Agent Tanya Evanina. You can learn more, keep up on the situation and donate to their legal support at norepressionsc.home.blog. Resources pointed to by the guests include BARC and the EFF. Just a heads up that when the activist from STARC references A12, it's short hand for the fight against white supremacists in the streets of Charlottesville, VA, on August 12th, 2017. Trans Resiliency and Mental Healthcare Access in Appalachia For the second segment, I (William) had the chance to talk with Basil Soper, who is a writer, filmmaker, and a man of trans experience from the Appalachian region. He is the founder of the education and advocacy group Transilient (@wearetransilient on Instagram), which seeks to uplift trans voices and trans experiences, and to also connect folks with resources from a place of relative safety and understanding. This group is seeking to undertake a documentary series focusing on mental health resource access for trans people in Appalachia. They are in their very last push of fundraising currently, and if you would like to see more about this project and get in touch with them, you can go to wearetransilient.com , and you can also email them at [email protected]. You can also go right to their Kickstarter for the best way to donate! The deadline is June 23rd, so smoke em if you got em. Also stay tuned for less money oriented ways to support this project! In this interview, we got to talk about many different things, about the social construct of Appalachia and where that might have originated, the people who actually live here, mental health concerns that trans people can face, plus many other topics. This interview was a really nice experience for me because I got to talk with another trans person from a working class, rural background about things we both personally understand. So I had some technical difficulties which I was unaware of in the moment, the result of which some of my audio sounds a bit static-y. This is something I'm working on correcting for future episodes, thanks for your patience! Announcements ICE Activity in WNC If you're in the Asheville area, be aware that Immigration officers were responsible for kidnapping four individuals in Henderson County to our south last week. They are changing their tactics to blend in better, sometimes using vehicles that look like work trucks with ladders on top or mimicking the appearance of anti-ice activists at times. If you'd like to get involved and join community resistance to ICE tearing apart our families and communities, consider checking our show notes for a link to get involved or reach out to CIMA via their website and click the "get involved" tab.

In this June 11th special, we're releasing an interview with some anarchist prisoners in the so-called U.S. and some of the folks who support them. June 11th, for people who don't know, is a day of solidarity with Marius Mason and other long term anarchist prisoners. You can find bits of the history of the importance of the date up at crimethinc.com and interviews with and about anarchist prisoners up at our website and at june11.org . The framing of this special is to focus on a publishing project currently being undertaken inside and outside of the prisons that many long-term anarchist prisoners in the so-called U.S. participate in called Fire Ant. First up, Sean Swain shares his views on Fire Ant and prisoner support. [2min 20sec , followed by Surrounded by Matador from the album The Taking, Black Powder Records] Then we hear Michael Kimble sharing his views on the publication and recent experiences in the Alabama prison in which he's held, which was a part of the interview we aired with Michael a few weeks back. [10min 56sec, followed by The War On The Imagination by Sole from Let Them Eat Sand] After Michael speaks, a supporter and partner of Eric King talks about their impressions of the impact of June 11 and Fire Ant on their partner's life. We'll be sharing more from Eric's partner in coming weeks about his situation, changes coming in the BOP and about the types of support federal prisoners and their supporters need. [42min 52sec] After the Eric section, we are happy to share a musical track by the project, Realicide, called "Decide Today = Free Marius Mason" about the long-standing Earth Liberation, anarchist, Animal Liberation prisoner. There's a link to youtube for the audio in our show notes. Finally Robcatt, one of the folks on the outside shares some of the history of Fire Ant zine, some of his past support experience and a provocation on how we as anarchists need to shift how we do support work. [52min 17sec] You can find issues of Fire Ant, which are written and adorned by anarchist prisoners, at the website for Bloomington ABC and for a list of June 11 events around Turtle Island, check out https://itsgoingdown.org. Other music in this episode: Black Star Dub Collective, Dissident Dub

Today we air three segments. First, audio about Likhts'amisyu Summer Camp in so-called B.C., Canada [4min 50sec]. Then, two Palestinian activists talk about the project "Eye On Palestine" [14min 42sec]. Finally, we share audios from the A-Radio Network show, BADNews, with words from struggles in Serbia [49:42] and the UK [53:50]. Sean Swain's segment for this week is available separately. Eye On Palestine Today we're very pleased to present some audio from two Palestinian comrades, Iman Eloghonemi who is an Austrian born Palestinian living in Vienna, and S, who a prisoner rights advocate, about their work doing consciousness raising and advocacy. Because of time differences and schedules, we recorded our interview over text to voice prints about a month ago, so there will be some dated material in the interview but William believes it is relevant even now. In this interview we talk about their work and recent projects, the social media project Eye on Palestine (on Instagram and Facebook) which Iman co-runs, and issues such as how we talk about anti Zionism, anti Semitism, and apartheid as it could relate to Palestinians. When we were first talking about doing this interview, there had just been a massive hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails and prisons. It ended a couple of days before the interview took place, but the main demands of the strikers were: the institution of landline phones in prison, and releasing those held in solitary confinement (many of whom are children). Some other issues in Israeli prison also come up in S's segments, the use of electronic signal jammers is one which has been a central problem for some time. The prison puts these in place, ostensibly to prevent the use of so called contraband cell phones, even though prolonged exposure to these devices causes health problems from headaches to certain forms of cancer. It's our understanding that these jammers have not yet been removed from facilities. Another central issue that S brings up is the rationing of drinking water given to prisoners. It's our understanding that prisoners don't have access to tap water in Israeli facilities, and the land in question is characterized by its long, hot, dry summers. It's common for prisons all around the world to not have any form of indoor climate control, and if you're being held in a small room with many other people for long hours at a time, you could imagine why rationing water would turn into a huge issue. Likhts'amisyu Summer Camp Also as part of this episode, we'd like to present some words from the Likhts'amisyu Summer Camp. We hear from two people from the Likhts'amisyu clan about an autonomous camp and climate research center being constructed on Parrot Lake in Likhts'amisyu territory. To keep up with this project, you can visit https://likhtsamisyu.com , email them at [email protected] for more information. You can also visit our show notes for links, to the registration form for the summer camp, and also to the video that this audio was pulled from, with permission from the participants (links below). Registration for the Camp Promotional Video BADNews: Serbia + UK Finally, we feature 10 minutes from the latest BADNews: Angry Voices From Around The World episode. More episodes, including one due out in the next week, up at https://a-radio-network.org Announcements On Tuesday, June 11th 2019, the day in solidarity with Marius Mason and other longterm anarchist prisoners, Firestorm and Blue Ridge ABC will be showing a couple of films and a vegetarian potluck from 6pm til 8pm. We invite you to come by, eat, share, watch, chat and celebrate the fierceness of comrades the state fears so much they have to stick them in cages. Also, if you're looking for more audio, check out our episode released June 7th with an anarchist in Italy about the hunger strike of Silvia and Anna in L'Alquila prison against the torturous, solitary conditions there. Also, for June 11th, keep an ear out for a podcast special featuring Michael Kimble, Sean Swain, a song dedicated to Marius Mason, an anarchist supporter of Eric King and Robcatt, an editor of the journal Fire Ant, coming out in a few days. We interviewed all of these folks about Fire Ant, prisoner support and community. Both can be found at our website soon if not now at thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org. . … . .. Playlist pending.

Hey buds, We're not including Sean on this week's show so as not to conflict with the audio we've included in the show. But, y'all should definitely check out his segment on mass shootings and share it around if you care to! And find his other stand-alone podcast segments, cleaned up for broadcast if you have a radio show, here. xoxo -Bursts

In this minisode special, Bursts spoke with an anarchist comrade in Rome about the hunger strike initiated on May 29th by Anna and Silvia, two anarchists rounded up in police actions (Anna in Operazione Scripta Manent and Silvia in Operazione Scintilla)and still facing trial for accusations of participating in direct action against the state and its borders. The hunger strike is against the solitary nature of their incarceration and it's impacts on other prisoners. Silvia Ruggeri and Anna Beniamino are being held in a prison condition called AS2 (High Security 2) at L'Alquila prison in the center Italy, the only two women in this section of the prison. Here is a link to a translated letter from them. As if the high security level weren't harsh enough, the AS2 in L'Alquila in reality matches the application of what's known as 41bis, invented by the Italian state during the Years of Lead (Italian civil war during the mid 70's) and housing mostly accused political radicals, mafia foot-soldiers and jihadists. 41bis was implemented as an emergency measure and kept on the books, the kind of State of Emergency that Agamben writes about, staying on as a torture regime that now houses nearly 750 prisoners, tightens every year. 41bis has provoked protest from human rights groups, the European Court of Human Rights, the California legal system (which refused to extradite the mafioso Rosario Gambino to Italy for fear of subjecting him to torture under 41bis) and soliciting protest and solidarity on the outside. The twitter account of the @YPJInternational put out a statement of solidarity with Silvia and Anna and protests have occurred around Italy and in other countries, and comrades in Italy hope to hear about more solidarity. More direct info on the case can be found at https://www.inventati.org/rete_evasioni/, where you can also share your solidarity actions. Besides the links above, Round Robin is another site that will likely carry updates translated into English on the case of Silvia and Anna moving forward. The musics heard in this minisode are: Passione nera by Nerorgasmo (requested by Anna to be played at a demonstration outside of L'Alquila) Kill The Rich or Die Tryin' Parte 3 by Serpe in Seno (dedicated to Anna and Silvia)

In this minisode special, Bursts spoke with an anarchist comrade in Rome about the hunger strike initiated on May 29th by Anna and Silvia, two anarchists rounded up in police actions (Anna in Operazione Scripta Manent and Silvia in Operazione Scintilla)and still facing trial for accusations of participating in direct action against the state and its borders. The hunger strike is against the solitary nature of their incarceration and it's impacts on other prisoners. Silvia Ruggeri and Anna Beniamino are being held in a prison condition called AS2 (High Security 2) at L'Alquila prison in the center Italy, the only two women in this section of the prison. Here is a link to a translated letter from them. As if the high security level weren't harsh enough, the AS2 in L'Alquila in reality matches the application of what's known as 41bis, invented by the Italian state during the Years of Lead (Italian civil war during the mid 70's) and housing mostly accused political radicals, mafia foot-soldiers and jihadists. 41bis was implemented as an emergency measure and kept on the books, the kind of State of Emergency that Agamben writes about, staying on as a torture regime that now houses nearly 750 prisoners, tightens every year. 41bis has provoked protest from human rights groups, the European Court of Human Rights, the California legal system (which refused to extradite the mafioso Rosario Gambino to Italy for fear of subjecting him to torture under 41bis) and soliciting protest and solidarity on the outside. The twitter account of the @YPJInternational put out a statement of solidarity with Silvia and Anna and protests have occurred around Italy and in other countries, and comrades in Italy hope to hear about more solidarity. Besides the links above, Round Robin is another site that will likely carry updates translated into English on the case of Silvia and Anna moving forward. The musics heard in this minisode are: Passione nera by Nerorgasmo (requested by Anna to be played at a demonstration outside of L'Alquila) Kill The Rich or Die Tryin' Parte 3 by Serpe in Seno (dedicated to Anna and Silvia)

Kuwasi Balagoon: A Soldier's Story This week we had the chance to interview Matt Meyer, who, among many other pursuits, is a retired professor and an editor of A Soldier's Story: Revolutionary Writings by a New Afrikan Anarchist, out from PM Press, which highlights the life and writings of Kuwasi Balagoon. Balagoon was a defendant in the Panther 21 case in the late 1960s, in which 21 people were arrested and accused of planned coordinated bombing and long-range rifle attacks on two police stations and an education office in New York City. He was ultimately acquitted of this, but was caught up on charges related to a robbery some time later and passed in prison in 1986. Sean Swain at 2:48 Matt Meyer on Kuwasi Balagoon at 11:44 Support Matt Hinkston announcement at 1:06:08 In this interview, Bursts and Matt discuss Balagoon's life and writings and why this book is especially relevant right now. They'll talk about his abiding love for his comrades, a things which seems to have driven much of his politics, and his queerness, an aspect of his life which seemed very important and also complex. Stay tuned to the end of the conversation for questions submitted to The Final Straw by imprisoned anarchist Michael Kimble, who has been a guest on this show and is an admirer of Kuwasi. To see more of Michael's work and to write to him, you can visit anarchylive.noblogs.org . ... . .. Support Matt Hinkston! Police violence in Lucasville-Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. Call Monday in support of Matt Hinkston (A724969). Matt is the brother of Mustafa, who Bursts interviewed a few weeks back. Matt Hinkston (A724969) is being retaliated against for filing a PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act) grievance against a correctional officer and for having gone on hunger strikes in protest of human rights violations against himself and others in the past. One of the main officers who has been mistreating him is named Officer Lawless. They've put him in solitary confinement without a disciplinary ticket and restricted his access to communication. Although correctional officers claim that Matt has been put in solitary confinement for his protection, they're also denying him access to his property and to technology for communicating with the outside world. Incarcerated people's lives and human rights matter. Nobody should be sent to solitary for filing a PREA report against a guard. Let's call Lucasville this weekend and Monday at 740-259-5544 to: -ask for a wellness check on Matthew Hinkston, A#724969 -tell officials in the Warden's area and on Matt's block that we support Matt's demands and oppose continued retaliation against him for filing a PREA grievance. Support Matt in this continued struggle against police violence, racism, and rape culture! . ... . .. Finally, thank you to everyone who replied in response to our 9th anniversary podcast special in which me and Bursts interviewed each other about why we do what we do, some personal backstory for each of us, and opinions on media in general. We also used the opportunity to solicit listeners for another co host, to share the work load and extend the option in case there was anyone out there who was interested. We got way more responses than we ever thought we would, and are working through to answer them in as complete and responsible a way as possible. If your interest is piqued and you wanna hear this episode, it's up on our website along with all our other archived material. . ... . .. Music at the beginning of the show was an instrumental version of Hip Hop by Dead Prez off of Let's Get Free.

So for this episode, we tried something new. This show is in its 9th year of production, and we realized that we as hosts very rarely have interacted on the show. While this is a project that is one we do for reasons other than boosting our own personalities, we talked about it and felt it was time for us to interview each other and give some personal context for why we do what we do. To that end, we are actively searching for another co-host! This would obvi be an unpaid position until we all get our $oros$ checks, but the responsibilities would be gently scaled up to. If you like what you hear here, and have always wanted to do something like this, or have done something like this in the past a wanna jump back in, holler at us!

Community Self Defence Post-Charlottesville-2017 This week we share an interview I conducted a few months back with two folks, Inman and *****, about community armed self defense. They talk about their experiences of handling firearms, lessons learned from their visibly armed presence at the Charlottesville Unite The Right protest in 2017, wider ideas of community self-defense beyond open carrying firearms (like engaging in like unarmed self-defense, infrastructure for food and health autonomy). The guests also talk about skills expanded and muscles flexed in Appalachian and southern participation in autonomous disaster relief in the last few years, some resources and ideas to keep in mind or steal if your group is thinking about training in firearms or medic'ing and more. There's a lot cut from the radio version, so if you're listening live, we suggest you check out the online edition up at thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org where you can stream any of our shows or subscribe to our podcast. Sean Swain at [2min 3sec] Interview at [9min 27sec] Announcement Blue Ridge ABC events upcoming If you're in Asheville on Sunday, June 2nd, you can join Blue Ridge ABC for their monthly political prisoner letter writing night from 5-7pm at Firestorm Books. No experience is requred. And on Friday, June 7th from 6:30 to 8:30 instead of Trouble, BRABC will be showing the documentary "The Bail Trap" and having a discussion about it afterwards. . ... . .. Playlist

Prisoners in Ohio and Alabama Speak This week, we hear the voices of three prisoners: anarchist prisoner Michael Kimble and jailhouse lawyer Arthur "Akbar" Griggs at Holman CI in Atmore, Alabama, and Mark "Mustafa" Hinkston at Toledo CI in Ohio. Michael Kimble In the first portion of this episode William and Bursts spoke with black, gay, anarchist prisoner, Michael Kimble, being held at Holman Prison in Alabama serving a life sentence for the murder of a white, homophobic, racist bigot. This audio is from a longer conversation we had in the context of an upcoming episode about Fire Ant zine featuring the voices of prisoners and outside folks involved in its production. Keep an ear out for that. Meanwhile, Michael talks about the gang breakdown of the prison he's at, the queer & mostly white prisoners he's around now, pushes to reform the prison system in Alabama, . Here are a few links referencing what we talked about: William's 2015 interview with Michael Kimble; Swift Justice on Kinetic Justice and AL prison expansion; Thurgood Marshall was an FBI informant on Robert F Williams during the Civil Rights struggle. Michael can be contacted by writing: Michael Kimble #138017 3700 Holman Unit Atmore, AL 36503 Arthur "Akbar" Griggs Michael then passed the phone to Arthur Griggs, known by folks inside as Akbar. Akbar is a jailhouse lawyer who talks a bit about his work, pushing back against administration, his involvement in the Free Alabama Movement and a request of listeners outside of the prison walls. Akbar can be written at: Arthur Griggs #129969 3700 Holman Unit Atmore, AL 36503 Mark Mustafa Hinkston Finally, we hear from Mark "Mustafa" Hinkston. Mark is a member of Central Ohio IWOC (fedbook & twitter) who was just transferred to Toledo CI in Toledo, OH. He had just come off of a hunger strike to challenge his mistreatment by guards and administration of mentally ill prisoners at Youngstown (SOCF) in long term isolation. He himself came out of almost 3 years of isolation at Youngstown, despite having no violent incidents in almost 3 years. In the latter half of the show, Mustafa talks about his experience in the hole and the advocacy he does for other prisoners and his ideas about prison abolition. Mustafa can be reached via his JPay at by looking him up by his name and number (#A707808) at jpay.com to those people who have JPay accounts. He can also be written letters at: Mark Hinkston #A707808 Toledo Correctional Institution 2001 East Central Avenue Toledo, OH 43608 Announcements Sean Swain Transfered (again!) Guess who just got transferred again!!! You can write to Sean Swain at his latest address as of mid-May 2019 at: Sean Swain #2015638 Buckingham Correctional 1349 Correctional Center Road Dillwyn, VA 23936 Anniversary Episode Keep an ear out for an upcoming podcast episode of TFSR with the co-hosts, William and I, talk about the project, about our politicization and get personal. This'll be dropping quite soon. NAASN 2019: Atlanta If you are in the southeast of the so-called-U.S. for the weekend of May 31-June 2nd, consider dropping by the North American Anarchist Studies Network Conference at 1083 Austin Ave NE, Atlanta, GA in the Little Five Points neighborhood. The theme for this year is Emergent Horizons and more info, including abstracts of presenters and the schedule is updated at https://wiki.naasn.org/NAASN_2019_(en) Stop by and visit the Final Straw table if you are around! … . .. Playlist

Sean Swain on Jpay and New Documentary About Band Negro Terror This week, we feature an interview with Sean Swain about the JPay system being incorporated into the North Carolina prison system based on his experiences in Ohio, increased tension leading to a riot in mid-April at Piedmont facility and the employment of former Ohio Prison Director Gary Mohr as a consultant to the NC system. Then, documentarian John Rash shares about his latest documentary about an all-black, anti-racist oi punk band from Memphis, TN. This band is called "Negro Terror" and the movie is touring the southeastern U.S. More on that in a moment. Sean Swain on JPay starts at 6:54 In the first portion of this episode, you'll be hearing from anarchist prisoner Sean Swain, but in a slightly different manner, where Bursts gets to ask a few clarifying question in the time we had available. First off, sorry about the call quality, we're still working out our recording ability for VA. When we first started talking to Sean all those years back (November 2013 if you want to hear it) it was because of his resistance to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction's privatization of services through the company Jpay, about which this cantankerous jailhouse lawyer wrote an article about the f'd up relationship between private service providers and prison-crats. Now, North Carolina DPS is employing Gary C. Mohr, former ODRC head, as a consultant and since the move the NCDPS has instituted a more intense privatization and limitation of prisoners ability to receive money on their commissary via the 3rd party corporation Jpay. In response to the restrictions of materials people need in their day to day and the support they can receive from the outside (such as limitations to who can donate to a prisoner and what info they have to give up to Jpay to send material support) has created a powder keg of austerity and tension in the NC system leading to a riot at Piedmont Correctional in mid April. Sean sees reflection of the impacts that Mohr and JPay had in Ohio and what appears to be happening with the same techno-logic in NC. A recent protest took place in the neighborhood of NC Prison Director Kenneth Lassiter and keep an eye out for more, deepening protest and organizing around this issue in NC. Of note, the latest episode of Trouble from sub.Media, features Sean talking about mass incarceration and capitalism in the U.S., echoing some of what he says in this week's episode of our show. Jackie Wang, author of Carceral Capitalism (a really great Materialist approach to looking at racialized mass incarceration in the U.S.), along with Sean, "C" from Hamilton, Sylvie and El Jones talk about the prison industrial complexes in the so-called U.S. & Canada. Really worth a watch. Documentarian John Rash starts at 22:04 In the interests of a headsup, the next segment includes a couple of white folks using an out of date term that could be considered racist. The word is in the title of a documentary film about a band by the same name, and the name is said in the spirit of helping folks more easily access the material. The band has an all Black lineup and is called Negro Terror. John Rash is a documentarian with the Southern Documentary Project who for most of the hour shares about his recent film, entitled "Negro Terror". The film follows the punk oi band from Memphis by the same name and it's three members, Ricardo Fields, Omar Higgins and Ra'id as they play around Memphis, supporting various music scenes, speaking about their project and communities. Omar, the lead singer and bassist, came up as a SHARP (Skinhead Against Racial Prejudice) between Brooklyn, NY, and Memphis, TN, and brings the skinhead approach to the music. Omar Higgins died, tragically, at the age of 38 a few weeks ago and his funeral makes it into the film. John Rash, along with Ricardo (or Rico) and Ra'id, the remaining bandmates, are now touring with this innovative film and engaging audiences in q&a sessions. After this broadcast, you can still catch the presentation in Durham at North Star Church of the Arts on Sunday, May 12th and at Fleetwoods in Asheville on Monday, May 13th (which is tomorrow as of the first broadcast of this show) for two showings, 6:30 and 8:00pm followed by that aforementioned q&a with Rico, Ra'id and John. Proceeds from the merch sales on this short tour and from the entrance to showings is contributing to covering Omar's medical and funeral funds that currently are hanging over the family. Donations can be made at supportomar.com. While this tour is short running, John hopes to show it at various film festivals, so if you're putting on such a thing or have such influence, consider contacting John and Southern Documentary Project to make that happen. If you can't see it on this tour, at some point it'll be available in full for free at southdocs.org. Once they release their final album, Paranoia, there's a chance the film will be available for free on t

Antifa + Anarchy Down Under: Andy Fleming of SlackBastard This week, we're sharing a recent conversation with Andy Fleming. Andy is an anarchist and anti-racist organizer based out of Melbourne, Australia. For the episode, Andy tells us about his research into far right organizing in Australia and, to a lesser degree, Aotearoa (aka New Zealand), who key players are, what tendencies are present and their influence in popular and political culture. We also speak about the resistance to the far right, Australia's immigration policies, Settler-Colonial status, cultural context for far right organizing in Australia and a bit about government counterinsurgency-style repression of radical left, ecological and indigenous movements in Australasia. [Sean Swain starts at 3min 17sec, Andy Fleming at 10min 07sec + Announcements at 1hr 34min 21sec] We apologize for the audio quality on this chat, we had connection issues consistently and upping the quality of the sound is a thing we're striving for. If you are listening to the radio edition of this episode, you should REALLY check out the podcast version for extra chat and some musical suggestions from Andy. Archives of Andy's writings can be found dating back over 15 years at SlackBastard.AnarchoBase.com, and his commentaries on the far left and the far right in Australia are well worth reading. Andy also contributes to the SUWA radio show on 3CR on the 4th Fridays (good luck finding archives of the emission, you may just have to listen within a week of the broadcast). You ca also find Andy on twitter and fedbook and he just started up a patreon where you can support his research and commentary. Here's a link to the Oxford University Press book containing his essay "The Far Right in Australia". A question I'd meant to ask but because of time differences and it being 1am my time by the time we stopped talking I forgot to ask was about his ideas on Antifa as an anarchist and the need to go beyond Antifascist organizing, the internal limitations of a lack of a positive program. Turns out Andy wrote about this topic in an article called "Antifa is liberalism, feminism is cancer, and I'm a monkey's uncle." Announcements BRABC Letter Writing If you're in Asheville, Blue Ridge Anarchist Black Cross and Companeros Inmigrantes en las Montanas en Accion (or CIMA) invite you to join us for letter writing at 5pm, Sunday May 5, Cinco de Mayo. We'll be writing letters to support the parole campaign for Jalil Muntaqim and to Joseph "Shine White" Stewart who'se faced repression for speaking out. CIMA will also about HB370, a North Carolina law heading across the desk of Gov. Cooper for a final approval or veto that would re-deputize local law enforcement as ICE or immigration agents. CIMA's going to help us write letters to express our opposition to cops acting as Migra in the racist internatlization of the border that is ripping apart our families and communities in this state and across the country. This is 5-7pm today! Misremembering the Shoah The band psych-rock band Trupa Trupa from Gdansk, Poland, helped the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation produce an hour long audio documentary about the un-remembering of the first Nazi death camp of the Shoah (or Holocaust), called Stutthoff. This work is worth a listen and contemplation as lead singer Grzegorz Kwiatkowski as lead singer of the band points out many places face a mis-remembering of inconvenient history and a rise of right populism that seeks to white wash what came before. There is a link in our show notes to the CBC piece entitled "The Invisible Shoes of Stutthof Concentration Camp". Never Forget. external links: Fight Dem Back Campaign Against Racism and Fascism Raids and repression in Urewera in 2007 The Day The Raids Came (2010) Operation 8: Deep Into The Forest (2011) Musical selections (usually we'd just stick them in the playlist, but Andy sent us videos!) Lynton Kwesi Johnson – Fite Dem Back Last Quokka – Nazi Scum A.B. Original – January 26th (feat. Dan Sultan) Inner Terrestrials – No Pasaran! From an as-yet-unreleased album playlist

On the show this week, Bursts spoke with Tom Tanuki, front man of the group Yelling At Racist Dogs (Y.A.R.D.), a performance anti-fascist group that directs insulting yells at far-right, xenophobic events and speakers. For the hour we talk some about Tom's background, the landscape of far-right politics in Australia and the place of humor and public shaming in confronting racist public figures in the work that Tom and his comrades do. You can follow Tom on twitter at the handle @tom_tanuki, on instagram at the same handle minus the underscore (@tomtanuki), and on fedbook by finding Yelling At Racist Dogs. And you can find the shirts Tom talks about at their bigcartel page. We stole this picture from Subversion1312's interview with Tom. A couple of the resources that Tom references at the end of the interview are Blackfulla Revolution and Black Feminist Ranter by Celeste Liddle, both pages on fedbook, and the book on Australian history he suggests is called Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe. Stay tuned for an upcoming episode where we share my interview with Andy Fleming, the maniac behind SlackBastard, an exhaustive commentary on the far right in Australia (as well as the tankie left and Andy's thoughts about anarchism, antifa and more) up at slackbastard.anarchobase.com. Announcements May Day In Asheville If you're in Asheville this May 1st, Wednesday, there're a few events we're happy to share. At 10 am there's a rad families meetup at Vermont Ave playground at the West Asheville Park. Buncombe County schools are closed due to call ins by teachers as a part of the organizing wave known as Red4Ed and there'll be a large march and rally in Raleigh, the state capital. For those unable to make it, there's an 11am rally by teachers at the Vance monument downtown. Festivities begin at 3pm at the park on Vermont Ave with a roving bike ride, with some bikes provided. This'll be followed at 4:30pm by a game of kickball and at 6pm, a short parade will commence from 644 Haywood Rd complete with a marching band. At 7:30 there'll be a potluck with free vegan and gluten-free options and, finally, a public showing of the working class-ic, "9-5", featuring Dolly Parton. More info by visiting https://tfsr.wtf/avlmayday . ... . .. playlist

David Easley of Ohio IWOC & Jasper of FOM ****This show carries a heavy content warning for institutionalized violence against incarcerated people, suicide, and issues related to mental wellness//unwellness.****** This week I'm sharing a conversation with David Easley, an imprisoned member of the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, or IWOC, currently held at Toledo Correctional in Ohio. In response to his organizing around the Nationwide Prison Strike in 2018, he and a few other prisoners were thrown into segregation, have had their mail tampered with and stolen. David has also been transferred between numerous facilities around the state as punishment, losing personal items and his ability to communicate with the outside along the way. We were also joined by Jasper, a supporter of David's and a participant in the Free Ohio Movement. For the hour, David and Jasper talk about the prison system, the challenges they've faced opposing it and ways that folks can get involved. You can write to David at the following address: David Easley A306400 Toledo Correctional Institution 2001 East Central Avenue Toledo, OH 43608 You can also keep up with David via the twitter account @OH4prisoners and on fedbook via the account david.easley.353. He also mentions jpay emails as a preferred means to communicate and can be reached with the above information at jpay.com. The case David mentions litigating can be found as Easley v. Zimmerman pending case: https://dockets.justia.com/docket/ohio/ohndce/3:2018cv02050/246954 David mentions a few other prisoners who have struggled and faced repression for facing down injustice in the Ohio prison system. Keith Lamar, aka Bomani Shakur, is a death row prisoner and author of Condemned. He needs public support to fight his wrongful conviction in relation to the 1993 Lucasville Prison Uprising and to hold the State of Ohio accountable. More on his case can be found at https://www.facebook.com/pg/keithlamarcondemned. Check out our interview with Bomani about his book Condemned at our website. Bomani is set to be executed by the state of Ohio on Nov. 16, 2023. Imam Siddique Abdullah Hasan is another Ohio prisoner facing the death penalty for helping resolve the 1993 Lucasville Uprising. You can hear our interviews with and about Hasan up at our website. Updates on Hasan can be found at LucasvilleAmnesty.org and more about the Free Ohio Movement is up at their website, FreeOhioMovement.org and also their fedbook under the username @FreeOhioMovement. Matt Hinkston (A724969) is another prisoner that was on hunger strike with David Easley. Kristopher Chilton (A558673) is the an IWOC member that David mentions who's working on challenging adult sentencing of minors in OH. Kristopher and Matt are both at Toledo CI, same as David, so can be written there. Central Ohio IWOC has been very helpful in supporting David and other prisoners through this. IWOC is a union of Incarcerated Workers and outside supporters, and their fedbook can be found under the username @OfficialCentralOhioIWOC. Their main site for IWOC is incarceratedworkers.org, where you can find tons of resources and updates on calling campaigns and ways to get involved. https://perilouschronicle.com is a great, recently released tool for tracking prisoner resistance in the so-called U.S. Announcements Sean Swain Transferred to VA We found out a few days ago that Sean has been interstate transferred from Ohio to Virginia. While it's nice that he's closer to the radio show, it's bound to be a very tumultuous move for Sean. VA has a different legal system in it's prisons, Sean likely has none of the friends from his last 27 years inside the Ohio system present where he's at, he'll be facing a whole set of new challenges settling in. I don't know anything about the specifics of his transfer but we hope to hear from him soon. Write him a letter at his new address (and new prisoner number) if you can: Sean Swain #2015638 Nottoway Correctional Center P.O. Box 488 Burkeville, VA 23922 And keep up on his case at https://SeanSwain.org . ... . .. Playlist pending

ROAR Conference 2019 + Spencer Sunshine on Fascism This week on the show, we feature two segments. First up, an organizer with the Revolutionary Organizing Against Racism, or ROAR Conference shares perspectives on the upcoming conference, May 18 & 19, 2019 on stolen Ohlone land in the so-called Bay Area. More info on ROAR Conference at roar-conference.com Then I spoke with journalist and anti-racist activist Spencer Sunshine about various far right and racist tendencies such as traditionalism and third-positionism, in relation to the current landscape of anti-fascist struggle in Turtle Island and in particular tendencies suspected in relation to the demolition of a building at the Highlander Education and Research Center in New Market, TN at the end of March, 2019. More writings by Spencer can be found at spencersunshine.com, at his fedbook author page or on twitter by searching the username @transform6789. The essay that Spencer mentioned, 40 Ways to Fight Nazis can be found here: https://spencersunshine.com/2018/08/10/40-ways-to-fight-nazis/ Announcements Atlanta Solidarity On Friday, April 12th at 8pm there was a ruckus noise demo outside the Dekalb County Jail where prisoners had been able to get out word of physical violence out of camera-view by guards, black mold conditions and more against the mostly indigent, mostly POC prisoner population in this Atlanta Jail. You can hear an interview with the mother of two prisoners mistreated in that jail who got the word out about conditions on IGD's This Is America #68 from April 12, 2019. At the noise demo, at least two people were arrested and there's a fundraiser up to help cover legal costs. You can find that fundraiser and kick in by visiting atlsolidarity.org Immigrant Solidarity Rally, Asheville Listeners in the Asheville area, on Monday April 15th there'll be a demonstration in front of the Federal Building at 115 Patton Ave in downtown to mark the year anniversary of the 2018 ICE raids against our communities. The demo will be organized by CIMA, or Companeros Inmigrantes de las Montanas en Accion, and will focus on the continued danger faced by our undocumented loved ones, friends and families. This is also in opposition to HB370 currently in process at the state level that would force collaboration between sheriff departments and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. CIMA urges people to show up in force. Asheville Black Mama Bail Out Benefit Also, on Saturday, April 27th at show o'clock at The Bottle Shop next to Firestorm Books, Blue Ridge ABC will be hosting a benefit for Black Mama Bail Out efforts organized by Southerners On New Ground. The show will feature performances by XOR, Kangarot, Nomadic War Machine and more. Check out the flyer and more up at brabc.blackblogs.org . ... . .. Show playlist.

Chelsea Manning and Grand Jury Resistance This week on The Final Straw, we're excited to bring you perspectives on resisting Federal Grand Juries in the U.S. In particular, we focus on the situation of imprisoned, former army whistle-blower, Chelsea Manning. Ms. Manning, who was in military prison for releasing information about U.S. war crimes in the Afghanistan and Iraq theaters in 2010, had her sentence commuted by former U.S. President, Barack Obama in 2017. Having refused in 2019 to testify on principal before a grand jury in Virginia, spent 4 weeks in solitary confinement and has just been released to general population under the charge of civil contempt. In the first part of this hour, we'll hear from El & Eli, two supporters of Chelsea, about the grand jury, Chelsea's resistance to it, and her incarceration. After that, we hear from two anarchist Grand Jury resistors of the last decade who support Chelsea about their personal experiences standing up to this unjust legal practice. First formerly incarcerated Grand Jury resistor, Jerry Koch, speaks about his experiences of resisting a grand jury for which he was imprisoned and mustered a defense that won his release. Then, Katie Yow speaks of her experience resisting a grand jury beginning in 2017 and her admiration and support for Chelsea. You can hear prior interviews with and about the resistance of Jerry Koch and Katie Yow at https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org. You can find out more about Grand Jury resistance at Katie's support page, https://ncresiststhegrandjury.com. You can keep up on Chelsea's case via their twitter handle, @resistschelsea, at their fedbook page called @chelsearesists, on their less-active website https://xychelsea.is. There are beautiful "Resist Grand Juries" t-shirts up at akpress.org that support Chelsea's legal fundraiser, you can also check out the benefit album that Evan Greer helped make for Chelsea that's being used again for this fundraiser, or just check out the action network fundraiser for her legal defense. Announcements June 11th, 2019 From june11.org about the international day of solidarity with Marius Mason and long-term anarchist prisoners.: In the 15 years this tradition has been observed, June 11th has facilitated support and action inspired by imprisoned anarchists — from noise demonstrations outside of jails to letter-writing nights, from fundraisers to arson. Setting aside this day is one way of remembering anarchists who are serving long prison sentences, generating support for them, and inspiring solidarity actions. Because social struggles phase in and out, this day is a way to make sure that our imprisoned comrades are not forgotten. Our lack of memory is partially a result of the techno-alienation of the larger culture we're fighting against. But it's also a product of the dynamics of the anarchist space. People become burnt out and the cycle of forgetting continues. June 11th is a way of combating that amnesia, of trying to sustain a long-term memory in the anarchist space. Not only does this generate support for anarchists locked in the state's prisons, it forces us to look back at what came before. Considering what previous generations did can both inspire us with ideas we've forgotten, and help us understand how our current practices came to be. So, this is a call to organize ourselves actions for June 11th, 2019. Get some friends together, remember folks inside, remember our common struggles and engage in making ourselves the resistance we need to reverse this course of ecocide and tyranny. NAASN 2019 May 31-June 2nd, Atlanta, GA The North American Anarchist Studies Network is hosting it's free, yearly conference in Atlanta. The following text is from their gofundme page at https://www.gofundme.com/help-bring-naasn-2019-to-atlanta-ga: The North American Anarchist Studies Network (NAASN) is a network for the engagement of intellectual work, both within and without institutional walls. The goal of the network is to serve as a means of mutual support for North American anarchists engaged in intellectual work, both theoretical and empirical; to facilitate and promote anarchist studies by bringing together students,academics, independent scholars, and activists from across the United States, Canada, and Mexico; and to provide a space for critical dialogue and reflection on anarchism. This year's NAASN conference, "Emergent Horizons" will be hosted in Atlanta, GA. In keeping with the spirit of mutual aid and accessibility for all, we are asking for donations to help make this conference happen. Over the past years, NAASN has brought together hundreds of activists, academics, intellectuals, and artists across North America , including: Mexico City, Montreal, San Francisco, New Orleans, Portland, San Juan, and Toronto. Previous presentations have included grassroots struggles, social and peasant movements, decolonization and Indigenous resurgence, border/imperialism, racism, police violence, tortur

Indigenous Spaces + Decolonizing Prison Abolition (Sean Swain starts at 05min, 12 sec) Ni Frontieres Ni Prisons on No New Migrant Prison in Laval, Canada (starts 12min, 08sec) Today we have a two part show! In the first part we are presenting a conversation with someone from Ni Frontiers Ni Prison, which is a group in so called Canada that is resisting the proposed construction of a new migrant prison in Laval, a town just outside of Montreal. This is a transcript of the original audio, read for the show by Grier, shout out to him! In this interview we talk about the prison and what it would mean for people who'd be most affected by it, the general rise of far right sentiment in so called Canada, and many more topics. The interviewee names the place they are based as occupied Tio'tia:ke (jo-jahg'-eh), which is the original indigenous name for so called Montreal, the colonizer name. The naming of indigenous land will continue throughout the interview with various locations in the name of decolonization, though Tio'tia:ke is the one which will be the most prominent. As an audio note to all those paying attention, a fridge turns on midway through the interview then turns back off nearing the end, we've tried to minimize the background noise but it's still somewhat noticeable. Music for the intro and outro by A Tribe Called Red with Stadium Pow Wow. Contact To get in touch with this group you can email them at [email protected] and for updates and further ways to get involved you can find them at facebook.com/nifrontiersniprison, or follow the link to visit the clearing house of information and pieces about this resistance. If you would like a zine copy of the transcript to this show, you can email us at [email protected] or [email protected]. Some links to historical events mentioned by our guest relating to Canada's' treatment of immigrants and refugees: "Chinese Head Tax", a policy which "meant to discourage Chinese people from entering Canada after the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway", a government project which I conjecture used a bunch of precarious and immigrant labor in order to complete. Komagata Maru Incident, the historic entry denial of a group of Indian refugees seeking entry into Canada on the Japanese steamship Komagata Maru in 1914, resulting in the death of 20 Sikh people at the hands of the then occupying British government. "None Is Too Many" policy for Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust, an anti Semitic stance that put people who were fleeing Nazi terror in further danger and possible death. Robert Free on the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center (starts at 38min, 04sec) Next we'll hear an interview with Robert Free, a long-term Seattle, WA resident and Tewa (pronounced tay-oh-wa) Native American. We discuss the history of the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center, a cultural and resource center for urban Native Americans in Seattle and the surrounding communities. The Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center was established after a series of protests and occupations in 1970 of Fort Lawton, an army base that had previously occupied the park. Robert Free discusses the influencing factors of that time, some of the finer points of the occupations, as well as the implications of protesting and occupation on stolen native land. More info on the Daybreak center can be found at https://unitedindians.org/daybreak-star-center/ Some of the names and events mentioned in this chat you may recognize from our February 17th, 2019, episode of The Final Straw when we had the pleasure to speak with Paulette D'auteuil, about the case of long-term American Indian Movement activist Leonard Peltier. More info on Peltier's case can be found at whoisleonardpeltier.info Coming Up... Next week we hope to bring you a conversation with support crew for incarcerated former military whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who is now imprisoned for refusing to testify before a Grand Jury. More on her case can be found at https://xychelsea.is including links for donating towards her fundraising goal for legal costs aiming at 150 thousand smackeroos. Announcements Free Masonique Saunders! From her support website: On December 7, 2018, Columbus police murdered 16 year old Julius Ervin Tate Jr.. On December 13, they arrested his 16 year old girlfriend, Masonique Saunders, charging her with the murder they committed. Masonique is being charged with aggravated robbery and felony murder, and is currently being held in juvenile detention. The police have alleged that Julius attempted to rob, and pulled a gun on a police officer, and that Masonique was involved in said robbery. Felony murder means that if you commit a felony and someone dies as a result of that crime you can be charged with their murder. We believe that these charges are unjust, and demand the freedom of this 16 year old Black girl and justice for the family of Julius Tate! To help Masonique and her family, donate to her

This week we had the chance to interview Lelia, who is a community activist and a part of the group Comunidad Colectiva, an immigrant rights group based in Charlotte NC. We got to talk about a lot of things in this interview, the work that they and other groups do with immigrant and undocumented communities, about the February ICE raids that got national attention, what effective rapid response can look like, and the challenging tension associated with both being anti state and being in the position of having to negotiate with police and sheriffs for safety reasons, plus many more topics. We wanted to mention something called 287(g) and give a bit of information for listeners who may not have heard of this before. 287(g) was a contract between local officials and ICE which essentially made police forces extensions of ICE, and also instituted deportation proceedings as part of run of the mill arrests. More is explained about this contract later on in the interview, but it gets mentioned fairly heavily before that time. You can keep updated on this group's work by hitting them up on Facebook and if you have a few dollars you'd like to throw them to recoup the costs associated with their rapid response network, their Venmo is @comunidad-colectiva. Next week on The Final Straw, stay tuned for an interview with a member of the Montreal based group Ni Frontiers Ni Prison (which is No Borders, No Prison) about fighting a proposed new migrant prison, decolonization, the rise of far right sentiment in so called Canada, and many associated topics, plus a possible other interview. Update on Kinetic Justice In a brief update to last week's interview on the hunger strike by Kinetic Justice of the Free Alabama Movement, we'd like to share the following news. On March 20th, Kinetic Justice Amun (aka Robert Earl Council) resumed his hunger strike as he was transferred briefly to segregation housing at Limestone prison, but ended his hunger strike within a few days and was transferred to general population at that prison. He can be written at the following address: Robert Earl Council #181418 28779 Nick Davis Rd Harvest, AL 35749 Consequently, 8 of the prisoners transferred with Kinetic in the middle of the night, began engaging in a hunger strike in response to their own incarceration in solitary. In response to the hunger strike, administration cut off water to the cells they were held in, giving them bottled water. The 8 prisoners ended their hunger strike on March 22nd, and administration claims they'll be transferred to general population in the Alabama prison system as they're not under investigation currently. Their names are as follows: Kotoni Tellis (#223155) Marcus Lee (#175056) Mario Avila (#259514) Corey Burroughs (#207639) Earl Taylor 3rd (#168616) Tyree Cochroan (#172306) Earl Manassa (#175099) Antonio Jackson (#246560) and they can be written at: Holman "Correctional" Facitily 1240 Ross Rd. Atmore, AL 36502 . … . .. Playlist here.

End Prison Slavery: The Free Alabama Movement (Sean Swain: 4min 47sec) This week we air two interviews about the struggle of Alabama activist and prisoner Kinetic Justice. Kinetic, aka Robert Earl Council, conducted a 6 day hunger strike because he was transferred with no altercations, investigations or disciplinary actions and after just having ended an almost 54 month stint in solitary confinement as punishment for Kinetic's activism. To hear a past interview we conducted years back with Kinetic and others of the FAM, check out this link. *** Update: 8 of the other prisoners transferred with Kinetic to solitary have just begun a hunger strike, March 18th. IWOC has begun spreading a phone zap that you can partake in to help amplify the 8 voices. *** (Swift Justice: 10min 45sec) First up, Swift Justice, a prisoner currently in the Alabama system and member of the Free Alabama Movement and founder of UnheardVoicesOTCJ. Swift talks about the Free Alabama Movement's inside/outside work, the organizing work that prisoners, former prisoners and outside community members have done in raising awareness of the slavery system of American prisons. Swift also talks about the inspiration and struggle of Kinetic Justice and the attempt to expand the prison system in Alabama by Governor Kay Ivey with a $900 million project to build 3 super max facilities. Swift's writings can be found at https://unheardvoicesotcj.wordpress.com/ and on his twitter @unheardvoices16 and fedbook page. (Pastor Glasgow: 35min 14sec) Then we Pastor Kenneth Sharpton Glasgow of The Ordinary Peoples Society out of Dothan, Alabama, talks about Kinetic, about the harm reduction and community empowerment projects that he's involved in. You can learn more about the related projects at https://www.theordinarypeoplesociety.org/. And you can follow the work of the Free Alabama Movement by checking out https://freealabamamovement.org and Kinetic Justice by visiting his support blog, https://freerobertearlcouncil.wordpress.com/. . ... . .. The latest episode of BADNews can be found here: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2019/03/15/bad-news-march-2019-20/ . ... . .. Playlist