The Final Straw Radio

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. Delta Chat & having a backup for Signal: Contingency website: https://signal-contingency-plan.info/ Contingency zine: https://archive.org/details/signal-contingency-zine/signal-contingency-zine/ Delta Chat forum: https://forum.delta.chat Delta Chat faq: https://faq.delta.chat Delta Chat mastodon: https://chaos.social/@delta PACE planning for communications: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PACE_(communication_methodology) Some reporting mentioned: https://www.404media.co/when-your-threat-model-is-being-a-moron-signal/ https://www.404media.co/the-signal-clone-the-trump-admin-uses-was-hacked/ "inspirational" fiction: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/crimethinc-survival . ... . .. Featured Track: Creep (Instrumental) by TLC Sad React by Emperor X from Sad React _ United Earth League of Quarantine Aerobatics

This week, we're joined by Francesca, a member of Prisoners For Palestine who is a former prisoner herself who speaks about Palestine Action, a group proscribed in the UK as a terrorist organization at the behest of the Israeli state and Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems for their successful direct actions against Elbits war profiteering and the UK's role in assisting the genocide in Gaza. Currently, 6 incarcerated members of Prisoners For Palestine are on an open-ended hunger strike against their conditions and the continued operation of Elbit which has garnered support from around the world. Transcript PDF (Unimposed) Zine (Imposed PDF) This last week, he UK government has begun it's trial against the 29 Palestine Actionists, simultaneous to the legal challenge to the proscription being brought before the courts. You can keep up on the hunger strikers at PrisonersForPalestine.org and many of the other cases at FiltonActionists.com . Check our show notes for more links. Hunger Strikers: Qesser Zuhrah, Amu Gib, Heba Muraisi, Jon Cink, T Hoxha and Kamran Ahmed solidarity strikers include: anarchist prisoner Luca "Stecco" Dolce at Sanremo prison in Italy and Dimitris Chatzivasileiadis in Domokos Prison in Greece Video of the attack on the Filton warehouse of Elbit Systems where people broke in and destroyed killer drones Quite good episode of 12 Rules For What! podcast on the proscription of Palestine Action: https://m.soundcloud.com/12rulesforwhat/106-proscription-and-the-uk-counter-terror-regime-w-iida-kayhko Article about concerns of the proscription of Palestine Action: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9vmjjxvj0eo A Muslim anti-repression group supporting the hunger strikers: https://www.cage.ngo/ A group in WNC opposing the local Raytheon subsidiary, Pratt and Whitney: https://rejectraytheonavl.com/who-we-are/ Then, you'll hear a part of our interview with members of the DFW Support Committee that didn't make the radio two weeks ago speaking about the application of terrorism charges to antifascists in the US, the wider repression of liberationist movements in the imperial core and the collaboration between far right governments paralleling this. . ... . .. Featured Track: Wein Al Malayeen by Deena Abdelwahed from Nisf Madeena

This week, we're featuring three segments. Peter Gelderloos of Weaving Paths to Ecological Revolution 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. Article about Weaving Paths to Ecological Revolution: https://organisemagazine.org.uk/2025/10/16/weaving-paths-from-colonial-apocalypse-to-ecological-revolution-fundraising/ Article about Peters time so far in Brazil: https://inthesetimes.com/article/cop30-brazil-farce-not-failure-indigenous-territory-struggles Antimidia: https://antimidia.org/ Its Revolution Or Death: https://sub.media/its-revolution-or-death-a-three-part-series-from-submedia-and-peter-gelderloos/ Gah Te Iracema of the Kaingang 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. ANMIGA: https://anmiga.org/en/home-english/ Teia Dos Povos: https://teiadospovos.org/the-web-of-the-peoples/ Anti-Maersk Action for Palestine, Copenhagen 2025 Finally, Črna luknja from the November 2025 episode of B(A)D News spoke 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. Cut Ties With Genocide Action Camp: https://cuttheties.ukrudt.net/ Mask Off Maersk: https://www.maskoffmaersk.com/ B(A)D News: https://www.a-radio-network.org/bad-news-angry-voices-from-around-the-world/ Crna Luknja: http://radiostudent.si/druzba/crna-luknja Announcement Prisoners for Palestine Hunger Strike 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

Updates on the Prairieland Case (with NLG and DFW Support Committee) This week, we're featuring two interviews. First up, you'll hear form Xavier de Janon, NLG Director of Mass Defense who's worked on the Stop Cop City case and is currently also working on the DFW case where Federal and Texas prosecutors have been seeing prosecution of 18 people (so far) related to the noise demo of July 4th, 2025 at the Prairieland Detention Center in Texas. We speak about the case and about the wider web of repression being pushed by the Trump administration in the name of battling ANTEEFAH. For more info, check out nlg.org Transcript: Xavier de Janon Transcript DFW Support Committee Transcript PDF (Unimposed) - pending Zine (Imposed PDF) - pending Then we'll speak to two members of the DFW Defendants Support Committee following the announcement last Wednesday by the committee concerning pressure on the defendants to take plea deals and some updated perspective on the case. For more info and updates, you can visit DFWDefendants.wordpress.com. Support resources for Des Revol, check out Instagram @free-des-revol on instagram NLG intimidated by passive aggressive, "jawboning" Texas Congressman: https://www.nlg.org/nlg-denounces-federal-intimidation-of-legal-advocacy/ Andrew Lee's article on the Prairieland defendants https://truthout.org/articles/these-dallas-residents-are-on-the-front-lines-of-trumps-war-against-antifa/ War On Terror Lawyer's opinion of the Antifa FTO threat by Reiss Center on Law and Security at the NYU School of Law: https://www.justsecurity.org/122643/antifa-threaten-civil-liberties/ Protest Liability: https://www.nlg.org/massdefenseprogram/responsive-guides/protesters-sued-doe-v-mckesson/ https://prisonersolidarity.com/prisoner/casey-goonan Another Texas antifascist facing repression: FreeTex.NoBlogs.org/ State Dept declaration on terror status: https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2025/11/terrorist-designations-of-antifa-ost-and-three-other-violent-antifa-groups/ Past Episodes Referenced: Mo on Antifa and Trump Antifa OST & Budapest Complex DFW Support Committee in July Announcement Malik Muhammad Fundraiser One quick announcement is that Malik Muhammad, 2020 Uprising prisoner you heard in August 17th, 2025 episode, has spent the better part of a year in solitary confinement and could use some support. There's a post with more information plus a new fundraiser up at their support website, MalikSpeaks.NoBlogs.Org: https://malikspeaks.noblogs.org/post/2025/11/15/support-malik-with-funds/ . ... . .. Featured tracks: Risingson (Instrumental) by Massive Attack from Instrumentals Inamo, Customs Enforcement by Bambu from They're Burning The Boats

This week, we're sharing two segments: a chat with Palestinian writer and assistant professor Abdaljawad Omar and a segment of the October 2025 B(A)D News with network participants discussing thinking through resisting the rise of fascism. Assessing The Israeli Ceasefire First up, an interview with Abdaljawad Omar, a writer, analyst and an Assistant Professor at Birzeit University in Bethlehem in the West Bank in Palestine. For the hour we speak about the status of the ceasefire, the continued killing by the Israeli state and the lack of significant humanitarian supplies of food and medicine in Gaza, ongoing violence in the West Bank and settlement expansion and settler impunity, representation of Palestinian resistance in Western media and meaningful solidarity from abroad. Mr Omar's writing is frequently featured on Mondoweiss and the newly launched Equator Journal and other journals listed in our show notes. He can be found on X and Bluesky and has a couple of books due out in the near future. Appearances in: Mondoweiss Communis Magazine Ebb Magazine Electronic Intifada Al-Shabaka Millennails Are Killing Capitalism Truthout Equator other texts, thanks to Analu Lopez an essay by the title of one of his upcoming books on RustedRadishes Playing Out Resistance The next segment was recorded at the annual A-Radio Network gathering that happened in Freiberg, Germany, by participants in the network in attendance. For this segment, you'll hear people discuss a workshop they participated in about thinking through preparation for rising authoritarianism, keeping safe while preparing for social revolution. Feel free to reach out to projects on the participants page for the A-Radio Network website (we suggest you first try A-Radio Berlin as they're quite good at answering their email) if you would like the materials used in the workshop to host one with your community. . ... . .. Featured Track: Mapa by Murcof from Utopia

Ed, co-founder of SASSI (Southerners Against Surveillance Systems & Infrastructure), speaks to The Final Straw Radio about the proliferation of surveillance infrastructure in the South (and more broadly in United States). We speak about topics such as the increasing cooperation between the state and corporate surveillance companies, the desire of these companies to extract ever-increasing amounts of data from the public, the way the state uses private databases to sidestep traditional warrant processes, some of the specific technologies that cities in the south have contracts with and their efficacy. We also touch on how folks at SASSI investigate these topics, and what can be done to help with this effort and ways to think about individual and community safety. Transcript PDF (Unimposed) Zine (Imposed PDF) Project Links: https://www.sassisouth.org/ https://www.muckrock.com/ Also of interest to listeners may be our prior episode, Pushing Back On Flock Cameras with Kate Bertash, which Ed references during the chat. The following links provide more information about topics we briefly touch on in the chat. https://www.404media.co/were-suing-ice-for-its-2-million-spyware-contract/ https://www.404media.co/home-depot-and-lowes-share-data-from-hundreds-of-ai-cameras-with-cops/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/ring-cameras-are-about-to-get-increasingly-chummy-with-law-enforcement/ https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/10/flocks-gunshot-detection-microphones-will-start-listening-human-voices https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/11/rise-police-advertiser . ... . .. Featured Track: Push by Liquid Liquid from Discography (1981-1984)

East End Co-Op Union + BDS This week, Ian spoke with member of UE local 667, organized workers at the East End Co-Op in Pittsburgh about the origins and goals of their organization and their divestment campaign to remove products from occupied Palestine from the shelves of their co-op. Transcript PDF (Unimposed) Zine (Imposed PDF) Links: MIT living wage calculator UE 667 FB UE 667 IG UE 667 X BDS Movement Announcement Shine White on Hunger Strike White antiracist prisoner in North Carolina, Shine White, was transferred to a new facility and brutally beaten by guards as punishment for his organizing behind bars. Supporters have released this statement: On October 7, Joseph "Shine White" Stewart was transferred from Foothills CI to Marion CI as punishment for his organizing efforts. Upon arrival, he was restrained, maced, tased on his face, and beaten by guards, sustaining injuries to his shoulder and ribs. This compounds existing injuries inflicted by guards at Foothills CI, for which he has been denied medical attention, in addition to ongoing medical neglect for preexisting chronic health conditions. In response to this ongoing repression, Shine went on a hunger strike after arriving at Marion CI. He is demanding proper medical treatment and to be transferred outside the jurisdiction of Western Regional Director, LaDonna Browning. Make calls to the following officials on their direct lines Monday-Friday between 9am - 5pm EST: Peter Richard Buchholtz – Deputy Secretary for Institutions (910) 916-0155 peter.buchholtz@dac.nc.gov Josh Painter – Director of Prison Operations (910) 578-0215 Marquette Alexandra Frierson – Clinical Support Director (919) 828-4000 Valerie Langley – Chief Nursing Officer (252) 916-5645 Sample Script: "Hello. I am calling with regard to Joseph Stewart, OPUS number 0802041, who is currently on hunger strike after being brutally beaten by guards upon transfer to Marion CI and being denied medical care in retaliation for his organizing for prisoners. We are contacting you to demand that he receive immediate medical attention and be transferred outside the jurisdiction of Western Regional Director, LaDonna Browning. Joseph has made it clear that he will not end his hunger strike until he is transferred. Each day that goes by increases existing risks to his health. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter." . ... . .. Featured Track: The Girl With The Sun In Her Brain by Orbital from In Sides

This week, the show has two segments. Pittsburgh Anarchist Book Fair 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 A list of events (still being updated): https://pizz.ation.ist/ Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1327126225660995 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. Transcript PDF (Unimposed) Zine (Imposed PDF) 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. https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2025/09/13/nepal-a-grassroots-uprising/ https://organisemagazine.org.uk/2025/09/09/nepal-communications-international/ http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2009/12/anarchism-in-nepal-2006-2009.html https://www.gofundme.com/f/black-book-distro-anarchist-library-in-nepal https://kathmandupost.com/columns/2025/09/15/welcome-to-the-eros-effect-gen-z https://open.spotify.com/episode/464iPIxwdVLT3BVLoepsKj https://crimethinc.com/2025/09/22/nepali-anarchists-on-the-toppling-of-the-government-an-interview-with-black-book-distro . ... . .. Featured Track: Go Anarchist Go! by Rai Ko Ris from Ungovernable Mountains

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. Transcript PDF (Unimposed) - pending Zine (Imposed PDF) - pending A couple of podcasts we like (that have patreons where you get extra goodies) that have with related episodes: The Empire Never Ended on the American Legion (pt 1) The State Between US on Americanism . ... . .. Featured Track: Written In Red by UNWOMAN (written by Voltairine DeCleyre)

This week, an interview with members of Signals Rising, who provide education and support around radio technologies including meshtastic networks as alternative communications or in disaster relief scenarios. Check out their website for resources and ways to get in touch Transcript PDF (Unimposed) Zine (Imposed PDF) A couple of fun Software Defined Radio (SDR) toys: https://flipperzero.one/ https://github.com/sharebrained/portapack-hackrf