The Hotwire #45: The empire’s centrism strikes back—Anti-fascism 80 years after Kristallnacht

On the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, liberals and centrists are once more playing right into fascists’ hands. Our feature this episode is a reading of the recent CrimethInc. op-ed “Take Your Pick: Law or Freedom; How ‘Nobody Is above the Law’ Abets the Rise of Tyranny,” about the outrageously liberal demonstrations over Trump firing Jeff Sessions. We also interview an anarchist who was at the protest outside Tucker Carlson’s home in Washington D.C. about what really happened there, Twitter’s banning of anti-fascists, and why it’s important to take the offensive in the struggle against fascism. Friday, November 9 was the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, and we bring you a round up of fascist, anti-fascist, and centrist actions from the weekend. Send us news, events, or ideas on how our show can better serve anarchist activity in your town by emailing us at podcast@crimethinc.com. {November 14, 2018}

-------SHOW NOTES------

• Table of Contents:
  • Intro {0:00}
  • Headlines {0:55}
  • Kristallnacht anniversary and #OutliveThem actions roundup {5:55}
  • Interview about Tucker Carlson protest and liberal blowback {10:05}
  • Take Your Pick: Law or Freedom; How ‘Nobody Is above the Law’ Abets the Rise of Tyranny {22:10}
  • Repression roundup {32:45}
  • Next Week’s News {38:12}
• Download 29:30 minutes long version.
• Upcoming events/demos/etc:
  • November 15: in London, England, there will be a queer dance party outside the Brazilian Embassy against Brazilian president elect Bolsonaro and to save the amazon. It will last from 5:30 PM until 8:30.
  • November 16–18: School of the Americas Watch is hosting a border encuentro directly on the US/Mexico border in Nogales, Arizona and Sonora around the theme Dismantle Border Imperialism!
  • November 16: in Portland, Oregon, there’s a “We Won’t Be Erased” demonstration against transphobia. Meet at 4:30 in the afternoon at City Hall, and follow @WontBeErasedPDX on twitter for more.
  • November 17: In Philadelphia, the Pushback Campaign and anti-fascists are calling for those opposed to Nazis and Proud Boys to gather at 10 AM at the Independence Hall Visitor Center to oppose a planned white supremacist rally.
  • November 17: Anti-fascists are also planning to oppose a misogynistic Patriot Prayer rally in Portland, Oregon. Rose City Antifa are calling for those opposed to rally at 1 PM on Saturday at Terry Schrunk Plaza.
  • November 18: in Aachen, Germany at 3 PM, there is a demonstration planned against the political swing to the right and state repression.
  • November 19: a demonstration against singularity and surveillance in Athens, Greece. Meet at Parko Eleutherias at 11:30 AM.
  • November 25 - December 1: A call for a week of action against the G20 meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The 25–27 will have popular education and workshops from different groups; the 28 and 29 will feature a People’s Summit, with day one at the Faculty of Social Science of the University of Buenos Aires, and day two in Plaza de los dos Congresos. November 30 is when the big street demonstration will take place.
  • November 26 in London, England: A meeting](https://freedomnews.org.uk/london-callout-for-solidarity-with-russian-anti-fascists/) to plan solidarity events for January 19 in support of anti-fascists facing persecution in Russia. The meeting will take place at Mayday Rooms, located at 88 Fleet St.
  • December 10: There’s an international call from anarchists on four continents for a day of action against borders on December 10. The idea is to kick off the 10th of each month being an anti-border day of action.
  • December 17(ish): in Brownsville, Texas, people are planning to Meet the Migrants at the Border, in greeting them food and love! This date is currently tentative, as it is unclear when the migrant caravan will actually arrive. Organizers point out that there are five other points of entry on the Texas border the migrant caravan may try, and are encouraging people to organize more events. Here’s a link to their Facebook page.
  • Duluth, Minnesota: Anti-fascist and anti-white supremacy People’s General Assemblies will be taking place weekly, Tuesdays at 6 PM in People’s Power Plaza
  • Court support for the Vaughn Trial is welcome! Court is ongoing every weekday from 10am–5pm in Courtroom 8B at 500 N King St, Wilmington, DE. For more information, visit itsgoingdown.org.
• Upcoming anarchist book fairs and gatherings:
  • November 17–18: The Seattle Anarchist Book Fair is taking place at The Vera Project from 10–5 each day. The Vera Project is located at Seattle Center, on the corner of Warren Ave North and Republican St. Here’s a map.
  • November 17–18: The Boston Anarchist Book Fair is taking place at 775 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA from 10–8 each day. Here’s a map.
  • November 29 - December 2: Anarchists in Umea, Sweden are hosting their first ever bookfair!
• Mutual Aid Disaster Relief is on tour until late November! This week’s dates:
  • November 15: Kansas City, MO. 10:00 am @ Kansas City Public Library
  • Lucile H Bluford Branch 3050 Prospect Ave Kansas City, MO 64128
  • November 17: Columbia, MO. 6:00 pm CST @ Middlebush Hall, Room 132 University of Missouri Columbia, MO 65211
  • November 18: Columbia, MO. 12:00 pm CST @ Middlebush Hall, Room 132 University of Missouri Columbia, MO 65211
  • November 19: Carbondale, IL. 7:00 pm CST @ Flyover Social Center 214 N. Washington St. Carbondale, IL 62901
  • November 20:Carbondale, IL. 10:00 am CST @ Flyover Social Center 214 N. Washington St. Carbondale, IL 62901
  • A complete list of tour dates and locations can be found here.
• Atlanta Anti-Fascists recently had their PayPal shut down, so they’re temporarily in need of support to offset some of their costs. They’re accepting donations through their fundraising page, or to donate using Bitcoin, their Bitcoin wallet is: 1LdSVFd6Wvj8LeEfux2Xf6Rr2KGKXemiBB (If you prefer to use a single-use address for Bitcoin, you can contact them.)
• Jace Buras, a prison rebel who helped organize a peaceful protest at Hyde Correctional in North Carolina during the national prison strike, has written Atlanta Anarchist Black Cross to let supporters know that he has been transferred to Bertie Correctional and placed in 180 days of isolation. To show him support, his address is as follows:

  Jace Buras #1522417 Bertie Correctional PO Box 129 Windsor, NC 27983

• Phone zap for prison rebel Dayvon Person! Dayvon was just about to reach his minimum custody requirements in January, when he was charged with inciting a riot at the Craggy Correction Institution in North Carolina. He is asking that people please, please, please call and ask that his appeal against these false accusations is heard. To participate, you can call the Director of the prison, Kenneth Lassiter or call/write the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

  Kenneth Lassiter: (919) 838–4000

  North Carolina Department of Public Safety: 512 North Salisbury Street Raleigh, NC 27604 (919) 733–2126

• Ke Huelga Radio, an anarchist affiliated pirate radio station that has been squatting Mexico City’s airwaves for over 19 years, is under threat by both media conglomerates and the federal government. Ke Huelga is refusing to give up 102.9 and is urging folks to listen on their site, kehuelga.net, and to continue to try and pick up their signal if you’re in Mexico City. They also are calling for people to protest this interference by the IFT, including call them at 01800 2000 120 and emailing at atencion@ift.org.mx. Visit their website for other means of sending messages of protest!
• Check out some of our favorites from the Christie Books anarchist film archive:
  • The almighty Class War Federation on reality TV!
  • The incredible story of anarchist counterfeiter Lucio
  • Utah Phillips on Ammon Hennacy
  • The tragic, true story of the Rebellion in Patagonia
• There is a call out for solidarity actions with anarchists in Russia, who are currently experiencing brutal state repression. You can read more about the situation on [rupression.com.](https://rupression.com/
• Use this straightforward guide to writing prisoners from New York City Anarchist Black Cross to write a birthday message for Cameron Crowley, who is accused of being the anti-racist hacktivist Vigilance. You can write Cameron a letter, or send him a used book! (He especially likes sci-fi.) His address is:

  Cameron Crowley 855 West 7th Street Saint Paul, MN 55102 {Birthday: November 18}

• Sales are OPEN for the 2019 Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners calendar! The theme of next year’s calendar is Health/Care, and it features art and writing from current and former political prisoners like David Gilbert, Mike and Chuck Africa, and Laura Whitehorn. If you buy 10 or more, be sure to use the discount code “BULK” to get 10 or more calendars for $10 each—you can then sell the calendars to fundraise for your own organizing.
• CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS
  • In Hotwire #44 we named Kevin Garrido, prisoner of the Chilean state who was reportedly murdered by another prisoner, as an anarchist. Comrades in and out of Chile have gotten in touch with us to let us know that that is not true, and that Kevin purposefully did not identify as an anarchist, and has even identified with more eco-extremist currents. Sorry for the lazy reporting, but in our defense we even did additional research beyond where we first got the story and multiple other sources identified him as an anarchist or tagged his story under “anarchist prisoners” or something else of the sort. Kevin did extend solidarity to at least some anarchist prisoners for their struggles, anarchists were present in his funeral caravan that clashed with police, and regardless of his politics, we still uphold what we said about, “While the state may charge [another prisoner] with [his] murder, we know that the police and prisons are responsible for the conditions that led to Garrido’s death, and the only kind of justice for his death will come from redirecting any aggression between the oppressed against their oppressors instead, until neither prisons not police can function.”