The Ex-Worker

In France, a powerful protest movement has erupted against the government in response to an attempt to raise the retirement age. Millions have gone on strike and poured into the streets in the most substantial unrest in France since the Yellow Vest movement. President Emmanuel Macron and his henchmen have attempted to crush this movement by escalating police violence to lethal extremes. In this episode, we share two recently published texts on the movement against Macron’s pension reform in France. In France: The Movement Against The Pension Reform—On The Threshold Of An Uprising?, published on March 22nd, we present an introduction and a translation of a French text, which explore the roots of the movement, an overview of its first phase, and an analysis of the issues at stake—which, our correspondents argue, goes beyond the democratic process or social benefits to a rejection of work itself. In France in Flames: Macron Attempts to Crush the Movement against the Pension Reform with Lethal Violence, published on March 30th, we offer a chronology of the events of the previous week, including a translation of an account by one participant in the brutally repressed demonstration at Sainte-Soline on March 25th and a statement from the parents of another who remains in a coma. As anti-government struggles with very different characters rage across the globe, from Peru to Iran to Israel, we’re doing our best to transmit reports from anarchists on the ground about what’s happening, about the possibilities and risks they present, and about how we can think critically about the currents of liberation inside of them. (April 15, 2023) -------SHOW NOTES------   Table of Contents: Episode Introduction {0:37} France: The Movement Against The Pension Reform—On The Threshold Of An Uprising? {2:22} Bedtime for the Macron Regime? {12:04} Alone against All {13:14} The Best Retirement Is Attack {16:31} A Critique of Violence {19:34} Learning the Lessons of Repression {22:13} Power Is Logistical—Let’s Block Everything {27:40} Towards Infinity and Beyond {33:05} Ex-Worker PSA {34:40} France in Flames: Macron Attempts to Crush the Movement against the Pension Reform with Lethal Violence {35:05} The General Strike of March 23 {36:45} The Strike Continues {39:19} March 25: Bloodbath in Sainte-Soline {40:23} Reportback From Sainte-Soline {44:34} Communiqué from the Parents of Serge on March 29, 2023 {48:29} The Strike Continues {50:16} Conclusion {58:15} This episode narrates two articles: France: The Movement Against The Pension Reform—On The Threshold Of An Uprising? (March 22nd) and France in Flames: Macron Attempts to Crush the Movement against the Pension Reform with Lethal Violence (March 30th). This episode includes a translation of an anonymous report-back from the March 25 protest at Sainte-Soline, and a statement from the parents of Serge, who was critically injured by police violence at the protest. To understand the context for social upheavals in France today, you may want to check out our coverage from recent years, of the Yellow Vest movement of 2018–19—see The Yellow Vest Movement in France: Between Ecological Neoliberalism and Apolitical Movements (November 2018) and The Movement as Battleground: Fighting for the Soul of the Yellow Vest Movement—and of the movements that preceded it, as described in our 2017 article, From the Loi Travail to the French Elections: A Retrospective on Social Upheaval in France, 2015–2017. Our French correspondents argue that what’s really at stake in the protests around the retirement age is a mass rejection of work itself. Well, we’ve had some things to say about work, too, if you want to read or listen. Our friends at Ill Will Editions offer some of the most insightful English-language coverage of social upheavals in France; this episode quotes from their article The Trap of Sainte-Soline. The episode makes reference to the text “Why All Cops Are Bastards”. For more audio resources on similar themes, check out classic Ex-Worker episodes 5, “Still Not Loving Police” and 6, “Making Police Obsolete”. For additional context, check out this article of strategic reflections on the spontaneous demonstrations of March 18 in Paris. If you want to support rebels in France, check out this comprehensive list of solidarity funds from across the country and this anti-repression solidarity fund.

In this episode, the Ex-Worker presents an audio version of A Coup D’Etat In Israel? The Bitter Harvest Of Colonialism, originally published on March 27th. The article assesses the recent attempts by Israeli President Benjamin Netanhayu to strip power away from the judiciary, a power grab that has precipitated the largest protest movement in modern Israeli history. As our correspondent from the region argues, however, the crisis has emerged out of a conflict between competing elites and their respective colonial models. The article provides in-depth context behind the social rifts and political developments that led to the current showdown, and highlights the structural exclusions that make Jewish democracy in Palestine—i.e., ethnocracy—possible. While different sectors within the state of Israel clash over its future and a “reactionary international” supports the most extreme right-wing Zionist currents, determined Palestinian resistance to escalating genocidal violence on the other side of the wall shows that the struggle has many sides. Tune in for an in-depth anarchist analysis of a complex and critical struggle for the future of the Middle East and beyond. (April 12, 2023) -------SHOW NOTES------   Table of Contents: Ex-Worker Introduction {0:01} Episode Introduction {0:36} A Coup D’Etat In Israel? The Bitter Harvest Of Colonialism {2:17} The Context Behind The “Coup” {4:56} A Field Guide to Ethnic Cleansing {20:39} Meanwhile, on the Other Side of the Wall {31:37} Conclusion {36:21} This episode offers an audio version of the article A Coup D’Etat In Israel? The Bitter Harvest Of Colonialism, originally published on March 27th. Since this article was published, some important developments have taken place. In an extreme provocation denounced by Muslim leaders across the world, Israeli police invaded Al-Aqsa mosque on the first day of Passover and during the middle of Ramadan, beating up worshippers and arresting 450; in response, attacks on Israelis took place through rockets launched from Gaza, Lebanon and Syria into Israeli cities, followed by Israeli attacks on Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. Despite the threat that Netanyahu might attempt to use this escalation to silence the protests and unite Israelis around fear of a common enemy - a common tactic around elections and at times of social unrest - the protest movement remains strong, with some 100,000 demonstrators surging into the streets of Tel Aviv on the past two Saturdays. Also, the Israeli Minister of Defense who Netanyahu fired has been restored to his post. You can see documentation of the violence at the Al-Aqsa mosque here and here, as well as some context for the events. This interview with Mohammed El-Kurd at Democracy Now offers a useful summary of the situation. For more of our coverage from the region, see the May 2021 article The Revolt in Haifa: An Eyewitness Report. Further background on anarchist interventions in the region can be found in our 2013 article Contemporary Israeli Anarchism: A History. Our critical dialogues about democracy provide useful background to the discussion of Israeli democracy in this episode. For more audio content, check out the Ex-Worker’s episode introducing the anarchist critique of democracy and our audio zine of From Democracy to Freedom. There’s also a quote on democracy from To Our Friends by the Invisible Committee, which is also available as an audiobook. The episode makes references to several historical events you might want to read more about, including the Wadi Salib revolts, the Black Panthers in Israel, There are also references to Alfredo Bonanno’s text Palestine, Mon Amour and Emma Goldman’s views on Zionism. The Ex-Worker is a proud member of the Channel Zero Network, an English-language anarchist radio and podcast network run by radical media makers. You can find episodes from other anarchist podcasts exploring the situation in Israel from a radical perspectives, including the Dresden Anarchist Network, the Final Straw, and more.

In Brazil, a three-way contest is unfolding between the far right in the streets, the institutional electoral left in the halls of power, and autonomous radical movements caught between them. When authoritarian president Jair Bolsonaro was narrowly defeated at the polls in October, a popular right-wing movement emerged to contest the election results, culminating in a protest in which Bolsonaro supporters stormed government buildings in the capital of Brasilia. In this episode, we share two articles in which Brazilian anarchists analyze these developments: the first, published in October shortly after the election, assesses the limits of electoral strategies as pathways to social transformation or checks to fascist power; the second, published just after the right-wing attack on government buildings in January, analyzes the similarities and differences between the events in the US and in Brazil, and argues for the urgent necessity of autonomous direct action to counter both the limits of the left and the threat of the right. Anarchists in the United States and beyond can learn much from our Brazilian comrades as we strategize to push back against rising fascism in our own contexts. {March 3, 2023} -------SHOW NOTES------   Table of Contents: Introduction {0:36} Left Electoralism, Fascist Direct Action, and Anti-Fascist Resistance:The Brazilian Elections of 2022 {3:26} You Don’t Defeat Fascism at the Polls {5:25} Autonomous and Anti-Fascist Resistance {11:28} Shine the Light of a Dead Star {15:18} January 8, the Brazilian January 6: Tracking the Rise of Fascism from the United States to Brazil {21:59} Elections Do Not Stop Fascism {24:41} The Revolt of Those Escorted by Cops {29:59} A Local Manifestation of a Global Fascist Wave {34:35} Conclusion {41:30} This episode narrates two previously published articles: Left Electoralism, Fascist Direct Action, and Anti-Fascist Resistance:The Brazilian Elections of 2022 (November 6, 2022) and [January 8, the Brazilian January 6: Tracking the Rise of Fascism from the United States to Brazil](https://crimethinc.com/2023/01/10/january–8-the-brazilian-january–6-tracking-the-rise-of-fascism (January 10, 2023). If you or folks you know speak/read Portuguese, check out pt.crimethinc.com, where you’ll find dozens of Brazilian Portuguese translations of articles and zines. This episode makes a lot of references—here are some links to learn more about them! The articles speak of the Latin American “Pink Tide” of progressive electoral victories beginning in 2008, which itself drew on momentum from popular uprisings across the region in the preceding decades, including the 1989 Caracazo uprising in Venezuela and the reintroduction of democracy in Brazil and Chile (which didn’t make people free—see the Brazilian anarchist critique of their democracy, or our critique of democracy itself, for some insights as to why). There’s also discussion of the 2013 mass protests against the government’s effort to raise public transportation prices and the 2014 protests against the FIFA World Cup. Want to learn more about resistance in Brazil in recent years? Check out Fighting in Brazil: Three Years of Revolt, Repression, and Reaction (2017), Brazil 2016–17: The Political Crisis and Coup d’État—An Anarchist Analysis (2018), Brazil: Rivers of Blood—Peace Is War, Security Is Hazardous, and Citizens Are the Targets of the State (2018), From Punk to Indigenous Solidarity: Four Decades of Anarchism in Brazil—An Interview (2021), Brazil: Epicenter of the Virus of Populism A Year of Catastrophe and Resistance (2021), and more. You can also listen to past Ex-Worker episodes on the 2014 World Cup protests and the 2013 fare hike protests. Printable zine versions are available for many of these articles, too! To learn more about trucker strikes and blockades as a popular right-wing tactics, see our coverage of the 2022 truck blockades in Ottawa, right-wing Chilean truck blockades in opposition to indigenous Mapuche activism, and a mainstream news account about how the CIA financed trucker strikes in 1972 and 1973 to disrupt the leftist administration of Salvador Allende in Chile.

Italian anarchist prisoner Alfredo Cospito has been on hunger strike for over 100 days, demanding his release from the brutal regime of solitary confinement and severe restrictions known as “41bis.” Despite the mobilization of anarchist and radical networks across Italy in solidarity, as well as actions in support across the world, the Italian state stubbornly refuses to acknowledge his protest, and Alfredo’s life is in severe danger. In this episode, we share three short pieces that introduce you to Alfredo Cospito, explain the context behind the hunger strike and the repressive prison regime in Italy, and describe anarchist efforts to challenge the state’s attempt to bury our comrade. We open with a short solidarity statement about the case, along with a translation of a statement by Italian philosopher Donatella Di Cesare titled “Release Alfredo Now—It’s a Question of Justice.” The episode concludes with an interview with a friend from Rome who locates the hunger strike and solidarity efforts in a broader context of anarchist activity in Italy and beyond. {February 9, 2023} -------SHOW NOTES------   Table of Contents: Ex-Worker Introduction {0:01} Episode Introduction {0:37} Solidarity with Alfredo Cospito {2:27} Release Alfredo Now—It’s a Question of Justice {8:30} Interview with Alfredo Cospito Supporter in Rome {16:14} Conclusion {30:10} This episode includes an audio version of Solidarity with Alfredo Cospito, originally published February 3, 2023. The text includes a translation of an article by philosopher Donatella di Cesare. Learn more about Alfredo Cospito and his hunger strike through the following resources: Autonomies article from December; “Scripta Manent: a Political Trial against 20 Years of History of Revolutionary Anarchism” (about Alfredo’s trial and broader background); writings by Alfredo on The Anarchist Library, a June 2022 interview and dialogue with Alfredo, global solidarity statements, and Alfredo’s support page.

In this episode, we share an audio version of a recently published account from the history of anarchist struggles against fascism. On January 12, 2002, hundreds of neo-Nazis gathered in York, Pennsylvania to promote white supremacy. Anarchists and other opponents of fascism throughout the region mobilized to oppose them, making common cause with locals and sending the fascists packing in a clash that came to be known as “the Battle of York.” Twenty-one years later, a participant in the day’s events recounts the clashes and reflects on what has changed since then, comparing the events in York with those in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017. This account is adapted from a memoir forthcoming on PM Press, entitled The Anarchist International. {February 6, 2023} -------SHOW NOTES------   Table of Contents: Ex-Worker Introduction {0:01} January 2022: The Battle of York—Anti-Fascism Then and Now {0:38} The Gathering Storm {1:52} On the Prowl: Saturday, January 12, 2002 {7:29} The Battle of York {17:44} Conclusion {44:36} This episode is an audio version of January 2002: The Battle of York: Anti-Fascism, Then and Now. Want to learn more about anarchist struggles against fascism in the past and today? Start with The Ex-Worker’s two episodes on the subject, [#11, “Never Forgive and Never Forget”](https://crimethinc.com/podcasts/the-ex-worker/episodes/11) and [#12. “Remembering Means Fighting”](https://crimethinc.com/podcasts/the-ex-worker/episodes/12). We’d also recommend CrimethInc.’s previous articles, which include “How Anti-Fascists Won the Battle of Berkeley” (2018) – don’t miss the audio version here – as well as “The Long Struggle Against Fascism in DC” (2018), our poster on the two faces of fascism and flyer on Anti-Fascism as Self-Defense (2017), “Not Your Grandmother’s Anti-Fascism” (2017), “Antifa Sisters” (2017), the point-counterpoint analyses “Does Trump Represent White Supremacy or Fascism?” and “Yes, Trump Represents Fascism” (2016), and more. The author in this episode makes reference to the 2017 fascist rally in Charlottesville which resulted in the death of Heather Heyer. To learn more, check out Ex-Worker Epsiode #56: Triumph and Tragedy in the Struggle Against Fascism, as well as the articles One Dead in Charlottesville: Why the Right Can Kill Us Now, Charlottesville and the Rise of Fascism in the USA: What We Need to Do, From J20 to Charlottesville: Repressing Dissent From Above and Below, Why We Fought in Charlottesville, and The Lessons of Charlottesville a Year Later: How the Terrain Has Changed. We’d recommend the books Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook by Mark Bray and Fascism Today: What It Is and How To End It and Why We Fight by Shane Burley. There’s also a new history of Anti-Racist Action called We Go Where They Go.

We’ve survived 2022—and with it, the ebb tide following the upheavals of 2019 and 2020. Both in the United States and around the world, this has been a year of challenges and reversals. In this episode, we offer an audio version of 2022 in Review: A Year to Endure, in which we revisit how we got here, explore the events of the past twelve months, and review our own efforts to contribute to movements for liberation. The year began with our warehouse in ashes, and ended with the world’s richest man personally banning us from Twitter, yet we managed to continue our coverage of the year’s major developments, ranging from the surge in anti-work sentiment and action to resistance to attacks on reproductive autonomy and gender self-determination to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and anti-war movement, and much more. We go into 2023 ready for the next round—and we hope you’ll be right there beside us. {January 31, 2023}   -------SHOW NOTES------   Table of Contents: Ex-Worker Introduction {0:01} Episode Introduction {0:36} A Year to Endure {1:14} The United States: From 2020 to 2022 {2:37} The Threat of Fascism {12:19} Reproductive Freedom and Gender Autonomy {14:07} Around the World {16:18} History {23:59} Social Media, Print Media {25:11} Facing Forward {25:48} Conclusion {46:06} This episode is an audio version of 2022 in Review: A Year to Endure.

In November, CrimethInc. was banned from Twitter by Elon Musk, part of a concerted campaign by right wing trolls and the world’s richest man to shift global political discourse to the right. Why is this happening now, and what should we do about it? This episode collects three months of our writings and coverage of developments with social media as it enters a new phase of consolidation and cooptation. We open with an article published in October—before our ban—tracing the evolution of Twitter from a protest tool developed by anarchists for use at mass mobilizations into a corporate platform controlled by a right-wing billionaire. Next, we share the statement we issued when Twitter banned CrimethInc. from the platform, as well as a poster developed to take our response offline and into the streets. The episode concludes with Canary in the Coal Mine: Twitter and the End of Social Media, an in-depth analysis of how communications in movements for social transformation have evolved within the shifting landscape of technology, politics, and resistance in the past decades, concluding with suggestions for ways to take action beyond the nightmare of corporate social media. {January 30, 2023}   -------SHOW NOTES------   Table of Contents: Ex-Worker Introduction {0:01} Episode Introduction {0:36} The Billionaire and the Anarchists: Tracing Twitter from Its Roots as a Protest Tool to Elon Musk’s Acquisition {1:49} Elon Musk Bans CrimethInc. from Twitter at the Urging of Far-Right Troll {14:55} Whose Tweets? Our Streets: A New Poster and Zine for an Offline Media Offensive {19:08} Canary in the Coal Mine: Twitter and the End of Social Media {23:14} Conclusion {46:06} The episode opens with The Billionaire and the Anarchists: Tracing Twitter from Its Roots as a Protest Tool to Elon Musk’s Acquisition. Next, we shared our report on the ban: Elon Musk Bans CrimethInc. from Twitter at the Urging of Far-Right Troll. We went on to share a short article introducing a new poster, Whose Tweets? Our Streets: A New Poster and Zine for an Offline Media Offensive. You can find a direct link to the poster here. Want to put some up around your town? Consult our Field Guide to Wheatpasting for how-to tips. Finally, the episode wraps up with Canary in the Coal Mine: Twitter and the End of Social Media CrimethInc. wasn’t the only radical account banned from Twitter, of course. As The Intercept, Jacobin, and others have reported, other radical outlets who’ve gotten the chop include It’s Going Down and many other anarchist, anti-fascist, and critical journalist accounts. Want to stay connected without Twitter? Follow us on Mastodon and Telegram and subscribe to our RSS feed. You can even find us on YouTube, Tumblr, and Reddit. If you want to help us continue to reach people offline, order stickers and others materials to distribute here.

In this episode, we continue our coverage of the struggle to Stop Cop City and defend the Weelaunee Forest in Atlanta, Georgia. While Episode 85 offered a history and analysis of the first phases of the movement, today we present a series of anonymous first person narratives from participants who describe their inspiring and transformative experiences in the forest, originally published in August 2022 as “Beneath the Concrete, the Forest.” The episode opens with the text of a solidarity statement we’re encouraging all listeners to sign with groups or as individuals, in response to the police’s murder of forest defender Manuel “Tortuguita” Teran. Around the US and escalating repression of the movement. {January 29, 2023}   -------SHOW NOTES------   Table of Contents: Ex-Worker Introduction {0:01} Episode Introduction {0:36} Solidarity with the Movement to Stop Cop City and Defend Weelaunee Forest {1:53} Beneath the Concrete, The Forest: Accounts From the Defense of the Atlanta Forest {6:40} The Forest Within Me {11:29} The Forest is a Portal {15:24} Letter from a Treesitter {16:15} When the Barriers Come Down {18:24} A Tour of the Forest {22:15} The Truck Became an Attraction {26:48} Deep into the Future {30:08} This Time, We Were There {32:22} DJing is an Extension of My Everyday Acts of Resistance {35:12} The Sweat Lodge {37:37} To Defend the Forest, Everyone Has to Fight {39:19} Appendix: Not a Music Festival {43:18} Conclusion {46:06} We opened this episode by sharing this solidarity statement to show support for the movement. If you are part of an organization, or just an interested individual, you can sign on by emailing defendweelaunee at riseup dot net. This episode includes anonymous first-person accounts written by participants in the struggle to defend the forest, originally published as Beneath the Concrete, The Forest: Accounts From the Defense of the Atlanta Forest in August 2022. For historical background to the struggle and analysis of its emergence and development, check out The City in the Forest: Reinventing Resistance for an Age of Climate Crisis and Police Militarization – which you can also listen to as Episode 85 of the Ex-Worker. Support forest defenders facing legal charges by donating to the Atlanta Solidarity Fund. To stay updated on developments in the campaign to Stop Cop City and defend the Weelaunee Forest, follow Defend the Atlanta Forest and the Atlanta Community Press Collective on Twitter. You can also access, read, and print zines related to the movement from the Defend the Atlanta Forest library. See here to read or share remembrances of murdered forest defender Manuel “Tortuguita” Teran. You can also donate to a fundraiser for Tortuguita’s family. The Stop Reeves-Young website offers info on the campaigns against the contractors and architects involved in the Cop City project. This Defend Atlanta Forest linktree will connect you to a variety of resources on social media and beyond. The Ex-Worker is a proud member of the Channel Zero Network, an English-language anarchist radio and podcast network run by radical media makers. You can find more coverage of the struggle to Stop Cop City and defend the Weelaunee Forest on other CZN projects, including The Final Straw Radio, It’s Going Down, and Kite Line, so check out those projects through the links above if you want to hear more.

The Ex-Worker is back! Episode 85 introduces the history behind the struggle to Stop Cop City and defend the Weelaunee Forest in Atlanta, Georgia. For nearly two years, a coalition of anarchists, abolitionists, environmental activists, indigenous communities, local residents, and supporters from all over has faced off against police, entertainment and construction companies, politicians, and media intent on destroying a beloved forest to build a police training compound and a film industry sound stage. Recently, the state has arrested over a dozen activists on absurd charges of “domestic terrorism,” and on January 18th, police murdered forest defender Manuel “Tortuguita” Teran. Around the US and beyond, folks are mobilizing in outrage against the killer police and the corporate and political power structures responsible for their murderous repression. In this episode, we present a long article first published in April 2022, titled The City in the Forest: Reinventing Resistance for an Age of Climate Crisis and Police Militarization, which combines a comprehensive history of the campaign to defend the forest with a strategic analysis that locates it in reference to the broader political context and other similar campaigns. Stay tuned for more coverage in Episode 86, including accounts from the forest and a solidarity statement you can sign to show support. {January 27, 2023}   -------SHOW NOTES------   Table of Contents: Ex-Worker Introduction {0:01} Episode Introduction {0:35} The City in the Forest: Reinventing Resistance for an Age of Climate Crisis and Police Militarization {3:45} Defending the Forest in the City {4:39} Background {7:40} The George Floyd Protests {12:01} “Institute for Social Justice” {17:24} Timeline {19:57} Coming out with a bang {28:43} First, Attack their Strategy {31:10} Names and Addresses {34:08} First Week of Action {36:51} When Dissent is Not Enough {39:20} The Fight is On {41:35} Second Week of Action {42:54} Taking the Fight to Them {45:47} Stomp dance {47:17} Moves and Counter moves {49:19} The Stakes Go Up {51:22} The Best Defense is a Good Offense {53:24} Defense {53:52} Offense {57:02} Movement Diversity is an Asset {58:22} The SHAC Model {1:00:45} Limits of the SHAC Strategy {1:03:54} Learning Lessons: I–69 and NODAPL {1:06:02} The Shock of Victory {1:09:30} Appendix: The Atlanta City Prison Farm and the Legacy of Carceral Reformism {1:14:49} Do Not Let Them Re-Form {1:19:55} Conclusion {1:21:36} Here’s the original April 2022 article we narrate in this episode: The City in the Forest: Reinventing Resistance for an Age of Climate Crisis and Police Militarization If you are part of an organization, or just an interested individual, you can sign on to this solidarity statement to show your support for the movement. You’ll hear an audio version in our forthcoming Episode 86, too. Support forest defenders facing legal charges by donating to the Atlanta Solidarity Fund. To stay updated on developments in the campaign to Stop Cop City and defend the Weelaunee Forest, follow Defend the Atlanta Forest and the Atlanta Community Press Collective on Twitter. You can also access, read, and print zines related to the movement from the Defend the Atlanta Forest library. See here to read or share remembrances of murdered forest defender Manuel “Tortuguita” Teran. You can also donate to a fundraiser for Tortuguita’s family. The Stop Reeves-Young website offers info on the campaigns against the contractors and architects involved in the Cop City project. This Defend Atlanta Forest linktree will connect you to a variety of resources on social media and beyond. The Ex-Worker is a proud member of the Channel Zero Network, an English-language anarchist radio and podcast network run by radical media makers. You can find more coverage of the struggle to Stop Cop City and defend the Weelaunee Forest on other CZN projects, including The Final Straw Radio, It’s Going Down, and Kite Line, so check out those projects through the links above if you want to hear more.

April 15th is Steal Something From Work Day! For over a decade, we’ve celebrated the everyday resistance that workers undertake to challenge their exploitation when the boss isn’t watching. Whether in factories or coffee shops, under capitalism or socialism, workers have always pilfered from their workplaces—not just as a way to survive or get revenge for exploitation, but as a way to channel their creativity and humanity. In this episode, we introduce listeners to our favorite holiday, answer common questions about it, and share some fascinating accounts and analyses. A “grocery store guerrilla” shares a story of theft and resistance, while a network of workplace rebels describe how they formed “The Team” to expand their class war efforts. A factory worker in Soviet Hungary relates a fascinating story of how illicitly making personal items in factories provides a window into what free creative activity could look like beyond the world of work, whether enforced by capitalist or socialist bosses. A 2020 analysis from the early days of the pandemic explores what stealing from work at the end of the world can look like, whether you’re an “essential” or remote worker. And we wrap up with a reflection on the revolutionary horizons of struggle against capitalism through and beyond stealing from work. Enjoy, and stay tuned for more audio projects exploring work, capitalism, and resistance! {April 15, 2022}   -------SHOW NOTES------   Table of Contents: Introduction {0:01} Steal Something From Work! {8:08} Frequently Asked Questions {10:20} Out Of Stock: Confessions Of A Grocery Store Guerrilla {17:40} The Team Is Real {28:00} Yes, We Even Stole from Work under Socialism {34:44} Stealing from Work at the End of the World {56:24} Beyond Stealing From Work {1:07:00} Conclusion {1:12:35} This episode celebrates Steal Something From Work Day. It includes a range of accounts and analyses, including our Frequently Asked Questions, “Out of Stock: Confessions of a Grocery Store Guerrilla”, which is dedicated to the rebels who attacked a Whole Foods during the 2011 Oakland general strike; “The Team is Real”; “Yes, We Even Stole From Work Under Socialism”, an excerpt from Milos Haraszti’s 1972 book A Worker in a Worker’s State; “Stealing From Work at the End of the World”, written in spring 2020 in the early weeks of the pandemic; and “Beyond Stealing From Work”. But there’s more! If you want to spread the word about Steal Something From Work Day, you can check out all of our outreach materials, including stickers, posters, pamphlets, postcards, and Heist, our journal of workplace theft! Got a story to share? Send in your own account of stealing from work to contact[at]crimethinc[dot]com! Another exciting project of worker resistance is the Russian website “Anti-Job,” whose creators we interviewed last month. On the new unionization campaigns, you can check out our analysis of the graduate student worker’s strike at Columbia, and this report of one pending at the University of Indiana, as well as coverage of the recent Amazon warehouse workers victory. Stay tuned for the forthcoming audio version of our classic book Work! In the meantime, did you know that we have an audio book of No Wall They Can Build and an audio zine version of From Democracy to Freedom? The Ex-Worker is a proud member of the Channel Zero Network, an English-language anarchist radio and podcast network run by radical media makers.