This week, an interview with James Stout on his upcoming AK Press book: Against The State: Anarchists and Comrades at War in Spain, Myanmar, and Rojava, due out early January. You may recognize James as a contributor to the Cool Zone podcast It Could Happen Here (including the recent four parter, “Darién Gap: One Year Later” December 1-4th episodes, 2025), distributed by IheartMedia. For this episode, we talk about the idea of anarchist armies, discuss those three conflicts, left libertarian approaches to formalized armed resistance beyond a guerrilla unit, some of the novel technologies and international solidarities that have developed and a lot more.
This week, an interview we just conducted with Madeleine Wattenbarger and Axel Hernández of the Cooperativa de Periodismo in Mexico and Ambar Ruiz of Radio Zapote about the case of autonomous resistance and repression in the Mazateca community of Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón in Oaxaca, Mexico, so named for being the birthplace of the Cipriano Ricardo Flores Magón, revolutionary Mexican anarchist who was murdered by medical neglect by the US prison system in 1922 (check out our 2022 episode on the history).
We talk about the rise to economic and political power of the family of Manuel Zepeda and his daughter Elena, their weaponization of the judiciary against community defenders resisting a hijacking in 2014 of the traditional community assembly and the years of organizing by Mazateca women whose loved ones face long prison sentences. We also speak about the case of Miguel Peralta, a Mazateca anarchist challenging his 5 decade sentence related to this case, as well as the recent murder by medical neglect while in prison of militant anarcho-punk Yorch Esquivel at the hands of the Mexican state at the behest of UNAM.
Excerpts of our translation of the MANIFESTO OF THE FEMALE SELF-DEFENSE FORCES IN SUPPORT OF FREEDOM (June 2023, translated & narrated): https://ahuehuete.substack.com/p/eloxochitlan
First up, Chicano anarchist prisoner Xinachtli (state name Alvaro Luna Hernandez) was transferred on December 23rd from a hospital in Galveston back into solitary at McConnell Unit in Texas as punishment for the call-in campaign. He’s still lacking access to an ADA-accessible bathroom and shower unit and has not had his property or commissary card returned. According to his supporters, Xinachtli is still experiencing weakness in his legs and has now been forced back into a completely inaccessible space, where he faces a serious risk of another life-threatening fall or injury.
Xinachtli’s supporters demand remains: Xinachtli must be moved out of McConnell into an ADA-accessible facility that can address his medical needs. McConnell has already proven it can’t and won’t provide adequate resources to care for Xinachtli in his current state. They are putting his life in danger.
McConnell Unit Director Angela Chevalier +1 361 362 6328
TDCJ Executive Director: +1 936 437 2101
To learn more about his case, check out our interview with Xinachtli from late 2024, or the earlier recording of him telling the story of his case.
Prisoners for Palestine Hunger Strike Continues
Four members of the Prisoners for Palestine collective, which we covered in our November 30th 2025 episode, continue their hunger strike with 3 of them at around or beyond 60 days without food as of this recording. As the situation is shifting daily, we suggest you get updates for ways to provide solidarity and the current demands of the hunger strikers at PrisonersForPalestine.org
Imam Jamil Al-Amin, Presente!
Revolutionary Jamil Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown, returned to the ancestors on November 23, 2025 after 25 years in federal prison. The Imam was convicted in 2002 for the murder of a sheriff’s deputy and Al-Amin continued to be incarcerated despite the video-taped confession of another man with the means and the motivation for the killing. You can find a brief writeup and further readings, right before notes about the state murder by medical neglect of Yorch in the December 10th issue of In Contempt
Stop Cop City RICO Dismissed
Judge Farmer finally decided to dismiss the RICO charges against the 61 defendants in the Stop Cop City case on the grounds that they were filed improperly. This doesn’t remove the domestic terrorism or arson charges against some remaining defendants, and the state says it will refile the RICO charges but for now that’s a little off our comrades’ plates. To learn more, check out our latest episode on the subject from October.
Jessica Reznicek In Transitional Housing
Catholic Worker and pipeline saboteur Jessica Reznicek has entered transitional housing and left prison, proper. You can read her address to the public at the ABCF website. To hear an interview on her case, check out the one linked in our shownotes.
You can write directly to Jess at:
Fresh Start Women’s Center (Women’s Residential Correctional Facility)
1917 Hickman Rd,
Des Moines, IA 50314
Northumberland 2 Has Some Charges Dismissed
Judge Rosini dismissed 11 charges total between defendants Cara and Celeste—including one count of ecoterrorism and several misdemeanors. The two friends from Massachusetts were accused of liberating hundreds of minks from a fur farm in PA that kills thousands of minks every season.
As Phily Anarchist Black Cross says:
There is a pretrial conference in February. After that will come trial.
While this is big and exciting news, the case isn’t over yet. Cara and Celeste still have many charges to fight. Trial will come with extra costs on top of the other legal fees.
A date has been set for the start of the Prairieland Defendants’ federal jury trial: February 17th! We have been told by multiple lawyers this date is very unlikely to change. The North Texas federal court circuit in Fort Worth is well know for being fast and firm with trial dates. Also, Dario Sanchez’s state trial is set for 1/12 in Johnson County. This is not a lot of time! We’re calling on supporters everywhere to do everything you can to help the defendants get the best defense possible. That means continued fundraising for expert witnesses and other trial expenses, writing letters to keep their spirits up, and raising awareness to highlight the importance of this case. If you’re able to come to DFW for the trial please do! We will have other concrete asks soon, so please stay tuned!
Letter writing info is available at: https://dfwdefendants.noblogs.org/getinvolved/
First up, Ian talks with Philadelphia-based cartoonist Ben Passmore about his new book, Black Arms to Hold You Up: A History of Black Resistance. They discuss the research and making of the book, Passmores anarchism, the themes of inter-generational struggle, contextualizing history through lived experience, and the pitfalls of mythmaking. In addition, they spend some time discussing Ben’s martial arts practice and the legacy of Assata Shakur in light of her recent passing.
Then we’ll hear a brief interview with Mikola Dziadok, a Belarusian journalist, anarchist activist, blogger, and former political prisoner. Mikola is now about 3 months out of prison and starting a new life in exile. The interview was conducted in mid-November by comrades from Frequenz-A and appears in the December 2025 episode of B(A)D News from the A-Radio Network. Check our show notes for links on how to support Mikola’s next stage of life
This week, an interview we did with a couple of smart friends about the question: what would those of us who rely on Signal encrypted messaging do if that service were disabled in the US. First up, all participants in this discussion agree that Signal is amazing and always getting better, so this is not a take down of that app or it’s developers. But the buds do think that the weakest point for Signal is the centralization of infrastructure with US-based companies. My friends did some thinking and research and put it into a website called Signal-Contingency-Plan.Info and made a zine discussing it and what they consider the best alternative for their needs an app called Delta Chat.
So, for this discussion, they’ll talk about how encrypted apps work, what works so great about Signal, some ups and downs of other available encrypted chat apps and how folks might rebound if Signal got choked out in this manner. As a reminder, at the end of 2024 large parts of the region I’m in lost cellular and internet service and it came back in starts and staggers over a number of months, similar for running and potable water, roads and other infrastructure we rely on. Our hope in sharing this conversation is that people will consider threat modeling to develop social plans for contingency and alternatives for the infrastructures they rely on.
First up, you’ll hear from anarchist and author Peter Gelderloos speaking about his ongoing trip to Brazil as a member of Weaving Paths to Ecological Revolution to listen to and network with indigenous, anarchist, autonomous, ecological and land reclamation projects in that country, coinciding with the COP30 UN climate conference.
Then, we hear an interview with Gah Te Iracema of the Kaingang people from southern Brazil, speaking about their land reclamation, reforestation, their post-flood water distribution mutual aid in 2024 and other topics.
Finally, Črna luknja from the November 2025 episode of B(A)D News spoke with a Danish activist about the February 2025 Cut Ties With Genocide action camp in Copenhagen which included an action against Maersk, a Danish shipping and logistics company facilitating arms transfers from the US to Israel. You can hear the rest of this interview in the upcoming B(A)D News, Angry Voices from Around The World, episode 96 for November of 2025 from the A-Radio Network.
Links
Cut Ties With Genocide Action Camp: https://cuttheties.ukrudt.net/
Collective members of Prisoners for Palestine (PrisonersForPalestine.Org), a prisoner-led collective in Britain representing all those detained under charges related to Palestinian liberation, have entered their fourth week of their hunger strike as of the day of this podcast, with participation of Qesser, Amu, Heba, Jon, T, and Kamran. This week, the first of the Filton 24 trials began as well. From a press release of the collective’s website:
While suffering physically due to the effects of the hunger-strike, the six prisoners currently taking part in the protest remain strong, defiant, and committed to winning their… demands:
An end to the censorship of letters and books, and freedom of expression.
Immediate bail.
The right to a fair trial.
The deproscription of Palestine Action.
The closure of all Elbit weapons factories in Britain.
We hope to conduct an interview soon with members of the Prisoners for Palestine on the proscription of Palestine Action, Elbit Systems, the conditions of confinement case and the hunger strikes.
. … . ..
Featured Track:
Radiation Ruling The Nation (Protection) by Massive Attack v Mad Professor from No Protection off Wild Bunch Records
First up, you’ll hear a brief interview with M, an organizer of the first Pittsburgh anarchist book fair, happening October 24-26 across a few venues in the Steel City
As is anarchist book fair tradition, everything will be free.
We’re renting a few spaces, and expecting a few other costs. Sharing that info here so folks can get a sense of what that looks like. If you/others are inclined and able to support, would be grateful for that.
Attached is an image of the break down as of today, and below is a link we’ll update live time as to what costs look like. https://pad.riseup.net/p/r.ca0a70f3bd595bb58b9daab4e6d9a576
You can buy a beautiful book fair shirt (design by the illustrious N.O. Bonzo), or simply donate. Venmo: @pghbookfair. (If you’d like a shirt, indicate size in the note – S-3XL; if yr just donating, any emoji or strange note is fine!) Feel free to message for other ways to donate.
“Gen Z” Uprising In Nepal
Then, an interview that I conducted with Anarcho, a member of the Black Book Distro collective out of Kathmandu, Nepal, about the protests and aftermath of the September 2025 “Gen Z” anti-corruption protests that ousted the prime minister, released prisoners and left the parliament in smoldering ruins.
Because we don’t follow a strict chronology of events, we’re including a few articles linked in our show notes for further study. We worked heavily off the interview with members of the Black Book Distro and CrimethInc, which is among those in our show notes.
A conversation with Tariq D. Khan, author of The Republic Shall Be Kept Clean: How Settler Colonial Violence Shaped Antileft Repression, out from University of Illinois Press in 2023. In this conversation we talk about the connections between the anti-Indigenous motivations of the genocidal frontier wars in the US and the inward turn to heretical movements pushing for freedom for the laboring classes through the great upheavals of the period known as the Nadir, between the end of post-Civil War Reconstruction and the 1920’s. We talk about the roots of anti-Leftist violence of the various Red Scares and intersections with the institutions and psychology of white supremacy settler colonialism as well as the importance of resistance and education.
This week, an interview with Clifton Ariwakhete Nicholas and Franklin Lopez about about the film currently in production via Amplifier Films, A Red Road To The West Bank: An Indigenous journey of resistance and solidarity. The conversation covers some about relationships between the people of occupied Palestine and Kanehsatà:ke in so-called Canada, histories of settler colonialism and resistance of it. Clifton and Franklin are attempting to raise $10000 CAD for the film.
This week, we’re sharing an interview we just conducted with Madeleine Wattenbarger and Axel Hernández of the Cooperativa de Periodismo in Mexico and Ambar Ruiz of Radio Zapote about the case of autonomous resistance and repression in the Mazateca community of Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón in Oaxaca, Mexico, so named for being the birthplace of the Cipriano Ricardo Flores Magón, revolutionary Mexican anarchist who was murdered by medical neglect by the US prison system in 1922 (check out our 2022 episode on the history).
We talk about the rise to economic and political power of the family of Manuel Zepeda and his daughter Elena, their weaponization of the judiciary against community defenders resisting a hijacking in 2014 of the traditional community assembly and the years of organizing by Mazateca women whose loved ones face long prison sentences. We also speak about the case of Miguel Peralta, a Mazateca anarchist challenging his 5 decade sentence related to this case, as well as the recent murder by medical neglect while in prison of militant anarcho-punk Yorch Esquivel at the hands of the Mexican state at the behest of UNAM.
Excerpts of our translation of the MANIFESTO OF THE FEMALE SELF-DEFENSE FORCES IN SUPPORT OF FREEDOM (June 2023, translated & narrated): https://ahuehuete.substack.com/p/eloxochitlan
This week we’re sharing a discussion recorded some months back in the pacific northwest featuring former political prisoners Eric King, who went in for actions in solidarity with the Ferguson Uprising in 2014, and Jake Conroy, who was convicted for coordinating successful anti-vivisection divestment campaigns against Huntington Life Sciences as one of the SHAC7. They are joined by Eric’s co-author of Rattling The Cages, Josh Davidson. We hope you appreciate the wisdom and passion of the discussion.
You can find Jake’s youtube channel The Cranky Vegan for a long-running and ongoing commentary on animal liberation topics. And you can follow Eric’s panels with other former prisoners and supporters on the instagram for Rattling The Cages and past media and articles by and about Eric (including past interviews we’ve done with or about him) at SupportEricKing.org and find more from Josh at linktr.ee/JoshDavidson..