The Final Straw Radio

Ian speaks with journalist Shea Hennum about their article on #comicsbrokeme, in which workers in the comics industry shared their stories of tight deadlines, unreasonable workloads, and low pay following the death of cartoonist Ian McGinty. For the article, which appeared at solrad.co, they applied an analysis that synthesized communist and anarchist traditions in order to identify a multitude of sites of political struggle, challenge systems of domination and violence, and chart possible ways forward, similar to analysis applied in the movement to abolish the Prison Industrial Complex. They discuss past efforts to organize within the comic book industry as well as current organization efforts, such as the formation of the United Workers of Seven Seas, a union of workers at Seven Seas Entertainment, Comic Book Workers United, a union of workers at Image Comics, and Cartoonist Cooperative, a cohort of cartoonists committed to mutual promotion, skill and info sharing, and efforts to make industry wages and practices more transparent. They also discuss possible ways for comic book readers to offer support. Further reading and archived documents referred to in the chat: Solrad article: https://solrad.co/comicsbrokeme-shea-hennum-on-what-is-to-be-done Comics Guild Meeting Report May 1978: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/files/2023/09/Comics-Creators-Guild.pdf United Workers of Seven Seas: https://www.uw7s.com Comic Book Workers United: https://www.cbwupdx.com Cartoonist Cooperative: https://cartoonist.coop

Stop Cop City Movement RICO Indictments (with Matt Scott of ACPC) This week, we're featuring an interview with Matt Scott of the Atlanta Community Press Collective update us on the movement to Stop Cop City in light of the recent indictment of 61 people on Racketeering charges by the state of Georgia at the end of August and the legal shenanigans of the city to block a public referendum on the police training center that would destroy the south Atlanta forest and river. We'll also hear about recent non-violent civil disobediences and the call for a mass action on November 13th, 2023 (with a multi-city info-tour in the buildup). Transcript PDF (Unimposed) – pending Zine (Imposed PDF) – pending Follow ACPC: website: https://ATLPressCollective.com XTwitterX: @Atlanta_Press Instagram: @ATLPressCollective Mastodon: @Atlanta_Press/@kolektiva.social Tax Deductible Donations: Open Collective page Other DTF / Stop Cop City Movement Media: Cop City Vote: website & XTwitterX Defend The Atlanta Forest: website , XTwitterX, Instascam, Fedbook Block Cop City website Then, you'll hear a segment by anarchist prisoner, Sean Swain on alien abductions. Belarusian and Ukrainian Anarchist Perspectives We released a recording of a panel from St-Imier, Switzerland, this July where Belarusian and Ukrainian anarchists talked about their experiences in the last few years since the uprising against Lukashenko and the escalation in the Russian invasion. You can check it out at our website or in our podcast stream: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2023/09/13/ukrainian-belarusian-perspectives-on-resisting-russian-invasion/ . ... . .. Featured Track: They Want Efx (instrumental) by Das efx

The following is a presentation by anarchists from Ukraine and Belarus, alongside a question and answer portion with the audience, conducted in part via live translation services. This panel is facilitated in part by Nina of Anarchist Black Cross Dresden, and features presentations by Masha (Belarus) an anarchist in Warsaw, Nastya is a member of Solidarity Zone (not speaking on behalf of that group), Mira from Anarchist Black Cross Kyiv and Solidarity Collectives and Boris of Belarus Anarchist Black Cross. Transcript PDF (Unimposed) Zine (Imposed PDF) The discussion, much like previous discussions by anarchists supporting anti-authoritarians joining the armed defense against the Russian invasion, was interrupted a number of times by pacifists or others who didn't want a discussion of the complexities of joining the territorial defense forces to have space. Those interruptions were mostly not recorded as they happened off-mic, but you'll hear the reactions to them. I felt like this audio was important to share here with the audience, particularly in spite of their silencing. I recorded this at the 2023 St-Imier anarchist gathering on the 151st anniversary of the first anarchist and anti-authoritarian Workers International, following the purges by Marxists and Blanquists. Like the first one in 1872 hosted by the Jura Federation, this gathering was hosted in small village of St-Imier with a population of 4,000 being nearly doubled in size over the course of 5 days of workshops, concerts, discussions, food, film showings and tablings. You can find reflections from some folks at crimethinc.com, alongside a link to recordings from the live, multi-lingual radio broadcast throughout the event and the website for the gathering where you'll see lists of happenings from the week. Hopefully in the near future you'll be able to find the recordings of the presentations that got recorded such as this one, some in video and some in audio. I'll be reflecting on some of this in an upcoming episode of the ItsGoingDown podcast while speaking with my friend and former co-host Scott Branson about how the bookfair here in Asheville went. Here's an article (in French) about an Islamophobic scandal that occurred with members of the French Anarchist Federation (Kropotkin). Past interviews on the subjects of: Belarus Ukraine Russia

This week, we're sharing 3 segments. First up, Josh Davidson from the Certain Days: Freedom For Political Prisoners Calendar talks about the upcoming book that he co-edited with political prisoner Eric King from AK Press entitled RATTLING THE CAGES: Oral Histories of North American Political Prisoners, containing over 450 pages of first hand experiences of resisting from within the belly of the beast across generations and movements in Turtle Island. And you can find out more about the Running Down The Walls events at ABCF.Net/WarChest [00:01:22 - 00:28:15] Rattling The Cages Transcript Rattling The Cages PDF (Unimposed) Rattling The Cages Zine (Imposed PDF) Then, we're sharing Sean Swain's segment on Goyaałé, aka Geronimo. [00:29:14 - 00:38:27] Finally, we'll be sharing a panel discussion by members of the A-Radio Network recorded on Saturday, July 22nd 2023 at the International Anarchist Gathering at St-Imier, Jura, Switzerland on the history and role of radio in anarchist and anti-authoritarian resistance, mostly in Europe. If you're listening to the live radio edition, you'll hear about 1/3 of that segment, but can hear the whole thing at our website, TheFinalStrawRadio.NoBlogs.Org or at A-Radio-Network.Org [00:38:27 - 01:36:45] . ... . .. Featured Tracks: Let The Music Play by Arpeggio from Disco Boogie Funk Italo Rare 1970 - 1980

This week on TFSR, we'll be airing a presentation by Diane Stevens, a member of the Jane Collective in Chicago in the 1960's. This presentation was recorded at the 2023 Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair in so-called Asheville, NC. Transcript PDF (Unimposed) Zine (Imposed PDF) From the presentation description: The Abortion Counseling Service, now better known as Jane, started out as a referral service in Chicago in the late 1960s, providing counseling and support to women before and after their procedures. Members of the group learned to do the abortions and then were able to do the procedures for whatever the women could afford to pay. Seven women were arrested and charged with the felonies of abortion and conspiracy to commit abortion. These charges were ultimately dismissed. It is estimated that about 11 thousand abortions were preformed before the group disbanded in 1973. Diane Stevens was born in Chicago. She went to school in the suburbs before moving back into the city where she joined the Abortion Counseling Service. Following the Roe v Wade decision and dismissal of all the criminal charges, Diane went on to have a career in health care and worked as a nurse practitioner in a variety of settings. Her work for reproductive justice has resumed with joining the Reproductive Rights Coalition in Charlotte and being a clinic escort. You can hear another presentation we recorded from the ACABookfair 2023 in this week's IGD Podcast, which is sharing Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin and JoNina Abron-Ervin in conversation with William C. Anderson. . ... . .. Featured Track: I Can See Clearly Now (Instrumental) by Trem One from Amateurs EP

Jessica Pishko, a researcher and journalist, discusses the history and rise of the Constitutional Sheriffs movement, its connections to extremist groups and involvement in the January 6 coup attempt. She explores the influence of CSPOA on sheriffs and federal resources, and highlights the importance of confidence and imagination in creating a better world. Check out her writings and recommended resources on constitutional sheriffs. Support the podcast and anarchist prisoner Shawn Swain's legal defense.

The following is an interview we conducted with Katka and Hazel, who both live in the UK and were recently back from Bakur, the portion of Kurdistan within the borders of Turkey. For 2 hours the guests speak about the political violence from Erdogan's ruling AKP, suppression of the Kurdish movement, electoral strategies, democratic confederalism, political prisoners and the F-Type prisons in Turkey, the earthquakes from earlier in the year, widespread corruption and other topics. We hope you enjoy this conversation,. A transcript of this interview will be available in the near future. You can reach the guests at BakurDelegationUK at riseup dot net Transcript PDF (Unimposed) Zine (Imposed PDF) A few links related to the chat: Heyva Sor a Kurdistanê - Kurdish Red Crescent : https://www.heyvasor.com/en/ The Kurdish Women's Movement by Dilar Dirik (we interviewed in 2014: p1, p2) The Purple Color of Kurdish Politics book 14th July film about resistance in Turkish prisons (requires youtube signin): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw64OUb2pkU Announcements ACABookfair Audios Available Soon f you missed the ACABookfair or any of the workshops, we've got a happy surprise for you. Give a gander in the next week to ACABookfair.noblogs.org for the media page that will soon be populated with audio recordings of some of the presentation events on various topics. More likely than not, some of those will end up in future episodes of The Final Straw, fyi. Latest BAD News Out Now! Also, the latest episode of Bad News from the A-Radio Network is also now up at their website, but also linked in our show notes. You'll hear from contributing members of the A-Radio Network sharing perspectives at the 2023 St-Imier gathering in Switzerland on the importance of the audio medium like radio and podcasts to the building of anarchist movement. You can also find links in the show notes for this episode to the live broadcast throughout the weekend by Radio RIA and some video of presentations and audios of presentations in German, Spanish, French, Italian and English. Maybe even one or two in Esperanto for you spicey types. . ... . .. Featured Tracks: Serêkaniyê û Avaşîn by Mehmûd Berazî Cerr performed by Mehmûd Berazî

This week, we're sharing an interview with Matthew N Lyons of Three Way Fight blog about the political legacy of Lyndon LaRouche, cultic leftist turned fascist US political figure from the 1970's through his death in 2019. For the hour, Matthew and I talk about the network of organizations and publications of the LaRouche movement, some of their approaches toward peeling adherents from the left, antisemitic conspiracy theories he innovated, methods his movement used to control followers and some of the ripples of LaRouche you can find today. We also speak briefly about the Three Way Fight book due out in the spring via Kersplebedeb and PM Press. Transcript PDF (Unimposed) Zine (Imposed PDF) Our past interview with Matthew on Christian Nationalism(s): https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2022/11/20/matthew-lyons-on-christian-nationalisms/ Lyons articles on LaRouche (in addition to the chapter in Insurgence Supremacists on the movement): "The LaRouche Network's Russia Connection" (July 2015) -http://threewayfight.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-larouche-networks-russia-connection.html "Meditations on a Dead Fascist" (March 2019) - http://threewayfight.blogspot.com/2019/03/meditations-on-dead-fascist.html Books critiquing LaRouche from an antifascist position: Dennis King's Lydon Larouche and the New American Fascism: https://web.archive.org/web/20160307091850/http://lyndonlarouche.org/newamericanfascism.htm Kevin Coogan's (as Hylozoic Hedgehog) Smiling Man From A Dead Planet: The Mystery of Lyndon LaRouche: https://archive.org/details/smiling-man-from-a-dead-planet-the-mystery-of-lyndon-la-rouche-by-hylozoic-hedge Some current political figures appearing to relate to the legacy of LaRouche's red-brown politics: Jackson Hinkle: https://breadtube.fandom.com/wiki/Jackson_Hinkle showing how he publishes with EIR, a LaRouchite journal: https://twitter.com/MaupinAFA/status/1537791876106952705 Caleb Maupin: https://breadtube.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Patriotic_Socialists Related: A longer study of red-brown politics on LibCom: https://libcom.org/article/investigation-red-brown-alliances-third-positionism-russia-ukraine-syria-and-western-left Sophie From Mars on "left" conspiracy theories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZyIjBxxpTY Sophie speaking on I Don't Speak German podcast about this topic: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/idontspeakgerman/IDSG_Ep120_Caleb_Maupin_and_the_Conspiracy_Left_with_Sophie_From_Mars.mp3 brief write-up about the Rage Against The War Machine rally from IGD: https://itsgoingdown.org/dungeons-dugin-red-brown-alliance-interview/ The Right Podcast talking about RATWM rally: https://audioboom.com/posts/8249669-rage-against-the-war-machine-explained Vice covering the idea of #MAGACommunism: https://www.vice.com/en/article/88qk4b/what-the-hell-is-magacommunism . … . .. Bursts O'Goodness (co-host, producer) Ian (co-host) The Final Straw Radio Archives, current Audioport and Podcast. Sampling and remixing with attribution encouraged. twitter: @StrawFinal Mastadon: @thefinalstrawradio@chaos.social fedbook: @TheFinalStrawRadio Tumblr: The Final Straw Blog IG: @TheFinalStrawRadio youtube: Final Straw Channel The Final Straw Radio P.O. Box 6004 Asheville, NC 28816, USA

This week, we feature two segments First up, former co-host on the show Scott talks about the upcoming Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair happening the weekend of August 11 – 13th, some of the content and notes on access, as well as mentioning some new projects their involved with. You can learn more about the bookfair by visiting ACABookfair.noblogs.org , the project's instagram, facebook or mastodon. Then, Fern from the International Anarchist Defense Fund (AFund.Info) talks about the upcoming International Week of Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners from August 23-30th, taking place wherever you make it happen. You can find the call-out, materials, supported prisoners, some anti-repression groups involved and info on past actions and events at https://Solidarity.International . IWOSAP Transcript PDF (Unimposed) Zine (Imposed PDF) Announcement Black Anarchist Hybachi Lamar Support Hybachi Lamar, an incarcerated Black, Kemetic anarchist being held at the Cook County Jail talks about the conditions in the jail in an audio message that is shared alongside links to his writings and info on how to help South Chicago Anarchist Black Cross support him. All of this can be found at https://southchicagoabc.org/helpcompa/ . ... . .. Featured Track: Everything In Its Right Place (by Radiohead) by The String Quartet from Strung Out On Kid A - The String Quartet Tribute To Radiohead

Josh MacPhee & Alec Dunn on Signal 08 First up, Ian interviews Josh MacPhee and Alec Dunn, co-editors of Signal, about the recently published eighth volume of the Journal of International Political Graphics and Culture. They discuss their motivations and experiences producing Signal for over a decade, designing print media in the digital age, and their work as part of Justseeds Artists' Cooperative, long-running, geographically dispersed artist collective dedicated to the production of radical art for grassroots movements. [ 00:05:33 - 00:44:37] Transcript PDF (Unimposed) – pending Zine (Imposed PDF) – pending Mwalimu Shakur on Abolition, Organizing and Education Then, you'll hear most of a conversation with imprisoned New Afrikan revolutionary socialist, Mwalimu Shakur currently incarcerated in Corcoran Prison in CA, about abolition, political education and the hunger strikes of 2013 in which he participated. [00:45:14 - 01:12:37] Mwalimu Transcript PDF (Unimposed) – pending Zine (Imposed PDF) – pending Other links Mwalimu's Instagram Past interview with Mwalimu Mwalimu's writing on KnockLA and SFBayView (1, 2) Interviews about CA Hunger Strikes in 2013 with Ed Mead of CA Prison Focus (1, 2) You can get in touch with Mwalimu: Terrence White #AG8738 CSP Corcoran PO Box 3461 Corcoran, CA 93212 Sean Swain Sean's segment [01:12:40 - 01:20:01] Announcements BRABC Letter Writing Join Blue Ridge ABC on the first Sunday of each month, next up being August 6th from 3-5pm at the NEW Firestorm spot at 1022 Haywood Road, in West Asheville. And swing by our table at the ACABookfair August 12-13 at Different Wrld to get involved, get a poster for the upcoming International Week of Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners and check out the other awesome stuff. ACABookfair If you're nearby, consider a visit to the 3 days of event around the Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair in Asheville from August 11-13 with tons of speakers, publishers, music and more. https://acabookfair.noblogs.org Dr. Mutulu Shakur, ¡Presenté! New Afrikan revolutionary elder, accupuncturist and revolutionary Dr. Mutulu Shakur joined the ancestors at the age of 72. He was released by the state after 36 years in prison, organizing, healing, educating and inspiring despite having developed a virulent bone cancer. Dr. Shakur spent the last year on this planet continuing his work, speaking and attending events, surrounded by loved ones. Rest in power. Ruchell "Cinque" Magee Will Be free! Politicized prisoner and jailhouse lawyer, Ruchell "Cinque" Magee, is slated to be released after 67 years in the California prison system. Cinque is 84 years old, arrested on an indeterminate sentence around a marijuana charge from 1963, he joined the attempted jailbreak during the Marin County Courthouse shootout in which Jonathan Jackson attempted to free William A. Christmas and James McClain. Ruchell was the sole survivor and was a co-defendant of Angela Davis until their cases were split. There is a fundraiser to support Cinque's post-release needs as an elder: https://fundrazr.com/82E6S2 Rashid's Treatment Resumes, Thanks To Support! As an update to past announcements from Kevin "Rashid" Johnson of the Revolutionary Intercommunal Black Panther Party, the public pressure from calls & emails apparently had the desired results and as of a few days ago he was receiving the medical treatment he needs for his prostate cancer, though he hasn't received all of his papers so he can continue to pursue his lawsuits against the Virginia DOC since they were confiscated by prisoncrats, but he's super thankful for public engagement to defend his health. More updates on his case can be found at rashidmod.com . ... . .. Featured Tracks: Don't Play Around (Instrumental) by DJ Nu-Mark from Broken Sunlight Series 6 Black Hole by The Bulletproof Space Travelers from Urban Revolutions - The Future Primitive Sound Collective