This week, Scott spoke with Rebecca Gross and Robin, Teaching Assistants at University of California Santa Cruz and members of UAW 2865 at the uni, to get informed about the ongoing strike in the UC system for, among other things, a cost of living increase demand for grad student employees and TA’s.
The strike has extended throughout the UC system and picks up where the wildcat strikes of 2019 at that campus left off before the corona virus pandemic put so many things on hold. Similar strikes occurred earlier this year at Indiana University in Bloomington, are occurring in universities like New School in New York, as well as the system across the UK where the University College Union’s 70,000 members have voted to strike. These labor actions also touch on issues of housing affordability, tuition costs, as well as non-academic staff and employees. Check our show notes for links and social media to learn more or see how you can support or get involved.
Next week, we hope to bring you an interview with someone involved in the UCU strikes planned across the so-called UK. Here’s an article sent by a comrade from before the strike votes started.
Sean Swain segment
Just a correction to Sean’s segment on Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, he split with the United Panther Movement and the New Afrikan Black Panther Party (Prison Chapter) to go on to co-found the Revolutionary Intercommunal Black Panther Party of which he’s Minister of Defense. [ 00:57:37 – 01:05:14 ]
Support TFSR
To support our show, in particular our transcription efforts, consider joining our patreon where for $2 or more a month, you can have access to early release episodes like the interview I just had with Mitchell Verter about the life and legacy of Mexican, anarchist communist revolutionary, Ricardo Flores Magón on the 100th anniversary of his murder by incarceration in the prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, as well as a number of recent author interviews conducted by Scott. We are about $70 shy of our sustainable income goal for regular transcription work at a decent wage. There are also thank you gifts there.
You can learn more about other ways to donate to us and merchandise options at tfsr.wtf/support. Find our socials to follow and boost our content or to rate and review us on podcasting platforms so others can find us at tfsr.wtf/tree, as well as easy ways to stream the show or get in touch to give show ideas or feedback. You can find our zines at tfsr.wtf/zines and also information about our free, weekly radio show and how to get it on local airwaves is up at tfsr.wtf/radio. Thanks for the support!
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Featured Tracks:
To Hell With Poverty by Gang of Four from Another Day Another Dollar EP
This is a conversation with Matthew Lyons, antifascist researcher, contributor to Three Way Fight Blog and author of, among other books, Insurgent Supremacists: The U.S. Far Right’s Challenge to State and Empire and contributor to the recent AK Press compilation, No Pasarán: Antifascist Dispatches from a World in Crisis (edited by Shane Burley). For the hour, Matthew talks about Christian Nationalist and theonomic tendencies and movements like New Apostolic Reformation, Dominionism, reactionary Catholicism and Christian Reconstructionism to learn more about how they interrelate or conflict with other far right tendencies in the so-called USA and the ongoing assault on bodily autonomy, abortion access and cis-hetero-patriarchy. More of Matthews work can be found at MatthewNLyons.Net
We’re hoping to bring you voices from graduate student workers and other workers on strike in the University of California system and possibly beyond for this coming Sunday’s show.
Announcements
Phone Zap for Shinewhite
BACKGROUND:Joseph “Shine White” Stewart is a long-time incarcerated writer and organizer who is known, among other things, for promoting interracial unity among black and white prisoners in North Carolina as a way to forward their shared resistance against the prison industrial complex and for encouraging abolitionists on the outside to center prisoners’ demands and resistance in their work. He has most recently been central to prisoners’ organizing efforts to combat racist CO brutality at Alexander Correctional Institution and the extended lockdown at Bertie Correctional Institution. As one might imagine, he is no stranger to political repression, and he has been repeatedly transferred, held in solitary confinement for years at a time, and physically brutalized as the system has attempted to silence him. On November 3, in response to his most recent organizing, Shine White was transferred to Granville Correctional Institution in Butner, NC, where he was placed in restrictive housing. When he arrived, he was placed in a filthy, unsanitary cell which staff refused to allow him to clean and denied access to his property, including legal paperwork related to pending motions in a lawsuit his is pursuing which he was therefore unable to put in the mail on time. Staff have even restricted his access to paper. As of his last contact with Solidarity Beyond the Walls, Shine White is still being housed in unsanitary conditions and still does not have his property. He has requested that SBW support him by organizing a phone zap on his behalf.
NCDPS Division of Prisons Central Region Director Loris Sutton 919-582-6125 (direct office line) OR 919-803-0713 (cell phone) OR 919-838-4053 (Central Region main office line);
Standard and Performance Director Cynthia Thornton 919-838-4000 (Division of prisons main office line)
Remember that repeat calls are welcome, as the more calls come in, the more likely it is that our demands on Shine White’s behalf will be met.
WHAT TO SAY: Here is a script you can use if you aren’t sure what to say when you call:“Hello. I am calling on behalf of Joseph Stewart, OPUS number 0802041. When he was transferred to Granville CI on November 3, Mr. Stewart was placed in restrictive housing in unsanitary conditions and denied his property, including legal paperwork that needed to be put in the mail no later than November 4. Both of these are violations of NCDPS policy and procedure. I am calling to demand that Mr. Stewart be released from restrictive housing, be placed in a clean cell with access to supplies to keep it that way, and that all of his property be returned immediately.”
Support Colombian Uprising Prisoners
There is still repression being felt by those swept up by the state during the 2021 National Strike in Cali, Colombia and there’s a fundraising effort for the Paso del Aguante 6 who are facing up to 50 years in prison for participating in the strike. The Colombia Freedom Collective is happy to announce that Christian Andres Aguilar has been released at 14 months of pre-trail detention, though he’s not out of danger yet. You can learn more about the cases of the Paso del Aguante 6 and how to support their defense efforts at: https://colombiafreedomcollective.org/christian-andres-aguilar-released-after-14-months-of-pretrial-detention/
Bad News #62
Check out the latest episode of Bad News: Angry Voices from Around The World from the International A-Radio Network. This month features two really good interviews you may not have heard from Frequenz-A: a chat with a member of Feminist Anti-War Resistance, a movement against the militarism of the Russian state and the war in Ukraine; a conversation with Berlin-based advocates for Alfredo Cospito, Juan, Anna and Ivan hunger striking in Italy against 41 bis. These are alongside shorter versions of our recent chats on heaters in Albuquerque, updates on Eric King & Oso Blanco’s situations and the struggle against Camp Grayling.
Suppport TFSR
We are entering a period of recording fury. Patreon supporters will get early access to interviews as we get them edited down, as well as behind the scenes conversations between the producers. Upcoming releases include Mitchell Verter, co-author of the 2005 AK Press book, Dreams of Freedom: A Ricardo Flores Magón Reader speaking around the 100th anniversary of the murder by incarceration by the US state of the Mexican anarchist communist revolutionary, RFM, and discussion of his legacy. Another is a conversation with Rhiannon Firth on her recently published book, Disaster Anarchy: Mutual Aid and Radical Action, out from Pluto Press. You can find our patreon at patreon.com/tfsr
Though we’re releasing some content early to patreon supporters, we won’t be paywalling it permanently. Our fundraising goes to operating costs, equipment, and paying our transcribers. We’ve been transcribing each interview we’ve conducted and making them available as zines on our website for coming up on 2 years now, and going back to transcribe past episodes to boot. This makes these important conversations available for translation, for easier access to folks who are more comfortable reading or for whom English is a second language, as well as getting the content more easily into prisoners, reading groups and passers-by’s hands so as to include more people in the discussion.
For other ways to support our project monetarily, there’s merch and donation options at tfsr.wtf/support. For non-money support, we could always use ratings on apple, google and amazon podcasts or mentions and boosts on social media (including on Mastodon and Castopod), examples can be found at tfsr.wtf. Telling others about the project is also a great way to help us expand our audience. If you have a story you’d like covered, you can find ways to contact us there we well!
Finally, if you have a community or college radio station that you’d like to hear our weekly, free, 58 minute episode air on for any weirdo with an antenna and receiver to pick up, help us out by visiting tfsr.wtf/radio to learn more. Thanks for the support!
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Featured Tracks:
Gods and Government by Snog from Dear Valued Customer
The Voice of God Is Government by Bad Religion from How Could Hell Be Any Worse?
First up, you’ll hear from Zachariah Jazz (@BlackariahJazz161 on twitter), who distributes alcohol jet heaters with ABQHeaterBloc in so-called Albuquerque, NM, to talk about their efforts to help keep folks living on the streets safer from the elements through mutual aid. [ 00:02:08 – 00:18:56 ]
After that, you’ll hear Josh of the Certain Days Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar collective to talk about this year’s edition and briefly update listeners on the situations of Oso Blanco & Eric King, two anarchist political prisoners Josh does support work for and works on projects with. [ 00:37:42 – 00:50:28 ]
Finally, Sean Swain’s weekly segment! [ 00:51:31 – 00:58:09 ]
Next week…
We’ll be sharing a recent conversation with antifascist researcher and activist, Matthew Lyons, author of the 2015 PM Press & Kersplebedeb book, Insurgent Supremacists, and contributor to the Three Way Fight blog to speak about Christian Nationalist tendencies and their relationship to distinctly racist elements of the far right in the so-called USA, approaches to understanding their approach of Christian Patriarchy as regards axes of gender, sexuality, abortion and bodily autonomy, as well as a call for antifascists to understand and more actively oppose these tendencies. More of Matthews thoughts at his blog, MatthewNLyons.net
Announcements
Mutulu Shakur Released!
It is bittersweet for us to share the news that Dr. Mutulu Shakur of the Republic of New Afrika, imprisoned since 1986, is being released from prison. Bittersweet because his case and incarceration were a travesty, and also because Dr. Shakur was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer in 2019 and has suffered in prison since. We are overjoyed that Dr. Shakur can pass on to the ancestors surrounded by loved ones on the outside of the bars. You can donate to his support via paypal to mutulushakur@hotmail.com. You can hear our conversation from a few months back about his case and health at our website. Free them all!
Mutual Aid Efforts
Lots of us are involved in social efforts of mutual aid, which can be a lot on top of just keeping afloat personally in capitalism, keeping rent paid, etc. In line with the subject matter of most of today’s show, we were hoping to highlight a couple of projects that could use money and support in the good work they’re doing during this so-called holiday season.
There is an effort in Eastern Kentucky, which was hit hard by floods and tornadoes this year that left many homeless, to raise money for cold gear and other help that can be donated to at @ekymutualaid on venmo or paypal, or $ekymutualaid on cashapp.
Chehalis River Mutual Aid Network of rural so-called Washington state’s info can be found at linktr.ee/crmutualaidnet
Kinlani Mutual Aid in so-called Flagstaff, AZ is collecting cold weather gear at Talahogan Infoshop, connecting people and building solidarity. More info at KinlaniMutualAid.Org
Asheville Survival Program is also doing a drive for cold weather clothes. You can find info on their site, linktr.ee/AVLSurvival
Finally, the Knoxville shared radical space known as MASK that was used by East TN Harm Reduction, First Aid Knoxville & Knoxville Radical Library could use some support on recovering materials destroyed in this summer’s flooding. You can learn more at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-mutual-aid-space-recover-from-flood
Support
Hey listeners. As prices rise and capitalism chugs along, crushing us in its wake, so goes our patreon. We’ve recently lost a about $50 a month in support, which leaves us below $500/mo, which puts us in danger in falling short of being able to pay for transcription services and web hosting each month. We have a regular goal of $550 to cover those months with 5 Sundays and occasional extra costs.
If you can support us via a one-time donation, a merch purchase, a recurring donation via librapay or paypal or a subscription via patreon, we’d be much obliged. At patreon.com/tfsr those who support us at $2 or more a month have access to the occasional early audio release and upcoming planned behind the scenes chats among the producers. At the $5 level and above, you’ll get the aforementioned releases plus some stickers to show our appreciation. For $10 or more per month, you’ll get all that plus a monthly zine in the mail sent to you or the prisoner of your choice. Finally, for $15 per month and above you get those thank you’s plus a TFSR tshirt. But we don’t expect these meager enticements to get you to fork over the cash, honestly it seems more likely you’d kick in a few bucks because you have a little extra and appreciate our transcription work that allows for easier translation and accessibility of our episodes as well as easier sharing with prisoners and others who can’t hear the podcast. You can learn more at tfsr.wtf/support
That said, if you don’t have cash, please consider rating the podcast on amazon, google or apple podcasts to help us beat the algorithm, follow and amplify our social media posts (tfsr.wtf), share our content with others in real life, or try to get us on your local community or college radio station (tfsr.wtf/radio). More info on this and more at our website. Thanks for the support!
This week on The Final Straw, we’re sharing a chat that Scott had with Smirk, Wink & Nudge of the Stop Camp Grayling Offensive, an anarchist effort to oppose the doubling expansion of the largest military base on Turtle Island, based in so-called Michigan. For the hour, the militants talk about the ecological, social, economic and other potential impacts of expanding the military industrial complex and this counterinsurgency training ground in particular.
You can learn more at twitter.com/GraylingCamp or instagram.com/stop_camp_grayling, soon at a blog they’ll be starting or on one of their upcoming info tours, with more information in our shownotes. There is also a zine, entitled “The Base Among The Pines: Notes on the Camp Grayling Expansion on Anishinabewaki” available at RiverValleyRevolt.NoBlogs.
This struggle consider itself in solidarity with the movement to #StopCopCity in so-called Atlanta.
11/11 Chicago, IL @ 6900 N Glenwood Ave in Rogers Park 7pm;
11/13 Cleveland, OH 11/14 @ Rhizome House 2174 Lee Road 7pm;
11/14 Pittsburgh, PA @ TBA;
11/15 Philadelphia, PA @ Grays Ferry Crescent Skatepark 7pm;
11/16 Ashville, NC @ TBD;
11/17-18 Atlanta, GA @ Weelaunee Forest;
11/19 Bloomington, IN @ TBA;
11/20 Grand Rapids, MI @ TBA;
Next Week…
Stay tuned next week for, hopefully, a segment on making inexpensive, alcohol heaters for surviving out of doors this winter & a conversation with Josh of the Certain Days: Freedom For Political Prisoners Calendars collective about the 2023 edition, now off the presses!
Announcements
Remember Ricardo Flores Magón! Free Xinachtli!
If you’re in the Austin, Texas, area, on November 21st, on the 100th anniversary of the death of Mexican anarchist communist and revolutionary Ricardo Flores Magon in Leavenworth Prison, there’ll be a remembrance vigil for RFM as well as a solidarity rally for political prisoner Xinachtli (state name Alvaro Luna Hernandez) at 12 noon at the University of Texas campus, corner stairway entry at 24th & Guadalupe Streets. This event is sponsored by Central Texas Anarchist Black Cross and “Xinachtli Defense Committee.” More info at freealvaro.net! And you can hear our past broadcast of Xinachtli talking about his case at our website.
Solidarity with Alfredo Cospito’s Hunger Strike
Solidarity actions with Alfredo Cospito’s hunger strike against confinement in 41 bis conditions in Italy continue, including the taking up of the method by anarchist prisoners Juan Sorroche Fernandez and Ivan Alocco, the arson of autos owned by subsidiaries of prison profiteers in Berlin and Leipzig, and the occupation of a crane outside the famous Opera theater in Milan, La Scala, who are today holding a rally against the 41 bis prison regime and in solidarity with hunger striking prisoners. You can learn more about Cospito and his struggle from our recent episode on the subject.
