We’re sharing a recent interview with Michelle Pitcher of the Texas Observer about living conditions and forced labor in the TDCJ, the Texas prison system. You can reach Michelle at [email protected] or follow her at @michellepitcher.bsky.social . Thank you again so much for the continuing support of this project.

• https://www.texasobserver.org/prison-heat-lawsuit-tdcj/
• https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-prison-plantations
• https://www.texasobserver.org/solidarity-prison-labor-union/

Our prior interview with Jason Walker (more of his writings at his blog) can be found here (with a transcript available). And our prior chat with Comrade Z can be found here.

This week, we're featuring an anonymized chat with a longtime anarchist on lessons learned trying to stay sane  while facing state repression. We talk about experiencing trauma, the need for strong relationships and movements offering shelter and strong alternatives to the alienated society of state and capital, while also speaking on the challenges of mental health and inviting in new participants in anarchist movement.

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Chapters:

1. Introduction and Disclaimer [00:00:23]
2. Post-911/Patriot Act State of Heightened Repression and build up to today [00:02:29]
3. Navigating security amidst a post-social media and post-smart phone era [00:23:33]
4. Creating safer and more secure revolutionary communities that can better withstand the heat [00:31:02]
5. Recognizing and overcoming repression-based trauma on an individual and community level [00:40:02]
6. Supporting comrades overcoming mental health episodes (spiralling) amidst repression and burnout [01:09:13]
7. On infiltrators and the depths the state will go to inflict trauma, fish, and divide [01:15:57]
8. Recognizing the ‘severity’ of our position, and taking ourselves seriously [01:26:22]
9. Some tips on facing trauma or intimidation, or supporting others experiencing repression-related trauma [01:34:18]

Descending References and Resources List According to Interview:   Green Scare Background

• Green Scare Intro and Article References
• Mainstream Media Story (MSM Story): The Green Scare: How a Movement That Never Killed Anyone Became the FBI’s No. 1 Domestic Terrorism Threat
• TFSR Interviews:
  • Green Is The New Red with Will Potter
  • Eric McDavid after his release

Grand Juries

• CLDC: Grand Juries
• Surviving a Grand Jury: Three Narratives from Grand Jury Resisters
• People's Law Office: The Improper Use of the Federal Grand Jury: An Instrument for the Internment of Political Activists
• Surviving a Grand Jury What it means to resist a grand jury; stories from those who have; how to support North Carolina grand jury resistance (PodCast)

Border Detention

• Crossing the United States Border A Security Guide for Citizens and Non-Citizens

Police Visitation

• Center for Constitutional Rights: If An Agent Knocks Resource
• When the Police Knock on Your Door Your Rights and Options: A Legal Guide and Poster
• If the FBI Approaches You to Become an Informant An FAQ: What You Need to Know
• National Lawyers Guild: If An Agent Knocks

On Phone and Digital Security Culture

• Taking Ourselves Seriously: Digital Harm Reduction (PDF Format)
• Electronic Frontier Foundation: Mainstream Resource and Non-Profit Advocate for Digital Privacy

Infiltration Cases:

• MSM Story on Mark Kennedy: How a Married Undercover Cop Having Sex With Activists Killed a Climate Movement
• TFSR interview on Spy Cops
• MSM Story on Eric McDavid case: Manufacturing Terror: An FBI Informant Seduced Eric McDavid Into a Bomb Plot. Then the Government Lied About It
• Earth First!: Informants List

Anti-Repression Resources:

• NYC Anarchist Black Cross
• Support Defendants & Prisoners From the George Floyd Uprisings
• TFSR interview: Anti-Repression, Supporting Uprising and Anarchist Prisoners
• A Tilted Guide to Being a Defendant (PDF Zine)

J20 Case

• Lessons from #DefendJ20 on Building Movement Defense Against Repression

Sobriety Discussion

• Sobriety and Anarchist Struggle (PDF Version)

Mental Health/Trauma/Burn Out

• Survivors Manual: Surviving In Solitary (PDF)
• Sub.Media video: Redefining Sanity Through Struggle
• Conflictual Wisdom: On Burning Out and Anarchist Self-Preservation
• Against the Struggle of the Coward: A Note of Strength for the Underdogs
• Repression, Resiliency, & Movement Support: An Interview
• Solidarity Apothecary (Podcast)
• Broader Wellness Resources by Mutual Aid Disaster Relief
• Trauma & Recovery Brochure (PDF)
• Solidarity Is Greater Than Fear: Lessons from G20 to Stop Cop City (Youtube Link)
• A Life Worth Living: Care, Survival, Suicide, and Grief (Zine Resource on the Subjects)

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Featured Track:

• Hold Onto Each Other by Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band from Horses In The Sky

This week, we're sharing a recording of Andrew Zonneveld from the 2024 Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair talking about his book All Will Be Equalized!: Georgia's Freedom Seekers of the Swamps, Backwoods, and Sea Islands 1526-1890 alongside his friend Modibo Kadalie. To see a video with the slides from the presentation, check out our youtube page.

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In this episode, you’ll hear Cedric and Khuzama, two libertarian communists with connections to Syria and editor contributors to the blog interstices-fajawat.org , speaking about their observations of what’s been going on leading up to and through the ouster of Bashar Al-Assad, as well as complications among various factions on the ground and the view from the Syrian diaspora. The situation on the ground is changing fast, so check the show notes for this episode on our website for links to news sources that can be helpful in keeping up.

And if you care to hear a perspective from an anarchist combatant affiliated with Tekosina Anarsist, which works with the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria affiliated with the SDF and Rojava Revolution, you can find our episode from December 22nd and the transcribed zine.

This week, we’re sharing a conversation with Errico, a combatant member of Tekoşîna Anarşist, an internationalist anarchist formation in critical solidarity with the Rojava Revolution. For this episode, Errico answers some questions we had about what’s been happening in Syria and concerns from within the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. You can find ideas and updates from the TA formation on their blog, https://tekosinaanarsist.noblogs.org. Past interviews with TA can be found here.

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Errico’s voice has been re-recorded by a comrade for anonymity. The transcript is already up in the show notes and at our website for easier reading, translation and sharing and you can find past interviews we’ve done with TA linked in the show notes. And there is an announce-only signal group that anyone can join with updates and analysis by anarchists in the region or paying attention which we’ll link in our shownotes. Just a headsup, the usernames of members of this group will be visible to the all other users there and it might be a good opportunity to set up your signal username and make your phone number unfindable for better anonymity prior to joining the signal group ( https://signal.group/#CjQKIN0TDK_nsHV4uXRtLIdaUOL2R6yv7uvRs8c3RUiXLr-EEhBPEntGCDqJQOD4pzU36i6O )

We simultaneously recorded an interview with Cedric and Khuzama, two libertarian communists and editors of and contributors to the blog Interstices-Fajawat.org about their insights into Syria. This interview will be coming out soon, so keep an eye on our feed.

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Featured Track:

• Rojava Punks by Emperor X from The Lakes of Zones B and C

This week, we’re sharing another presentation from the 2024 ACABookfair in so-called Asheville. On youtube you’ll find the audio sync’d up with the slideshow presentation from the bookfair by visiting youtube.com/@thefinalstrawradio.

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The following is a recording from the 2024 Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair in so-called Asheville, NC. You can find more info and recordings from this and other years at ACABookfair.NoBlogs.Org. This is a presentation entitled Art as a Vehicle for Anarchist Ideas with N.O. Bonzo, Des Revol, and Sugarbombing World. From the description:

“Three longtime anarchist artists—N.O. Bonzo, Des Revol, and Sugarbombing World—will explore the role that art plays in resistance and movements, along with remembrance of the past and visions of the future. They’ll look at ways that art brings people together, and can serve as a great tool, whether in organizing and agitating, and/or inviting people into anarchism.”

This week, we’re featuring two segments.

First up, Phil Wilayto of the Virginia Defenders talks about conditions at Red Onion State Prison in western Virginia where a number of prisoners have been self-immolating in order to escape longterm isolation and racist guard violence. You can find Phil's article on the SF Bay View which includes a clip of Noelle Hanrahan on Al-Jazeera talking about this subject, and past interviews with and about Kevin "Rashid" Johnson at this link here. [00:01:02 - 00:41:15]

Then, you’ll hear Jo, an anarchist from Germany, speaking about the recent building of conspiracy cases against antifascists known as Antifa-Ost, or Antifa East. You can find our prior interview about NSU Watch and Day X here. [ 00:44:45 - 01:11:42 ]

More info on Antifa-Ost and the Budapest Structure:

• https://www.129a.info/en/index.html
• https://political-prisoners.net/tag/antifa-ost-verfahren/
• https://www.soli-antifa-ost.org/
• https://www.basc.news/

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Featured Track:

• The Adjuster by Adjuster

This week, we’re airing an interview with anarchist author, Peter Gelderloos about two of his recent books They Will Beat the Memory Out of Us: Forcing Nonviolence on Forgetful Movements (Pluto Books, 2024) as well as Organization, Community, Continuity (Detritus, 2024). For this episode, we speak on movement memory, community, care work, organization and struggle.

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This week, we're sharing a presentation entitled "Abortion Beyond The State" by Jex Blackmore and Hydra Mutual Aid Fund, recorded at the 2024 Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair in so-called Asheville, NC. You can find more audios, past schedules and more at ACABookfair.NoBlogs.Org. Jex's slide presentation visuals over the audio can be found at YouTube

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From the description:

"Government control of reproductive capacity has long persisted as a tool to subordinate birthing people, women, people of color, people living on lower incomes, and other marginalized groups. The Supreme Court’s harmful ruling in Dobbs made clear that both the State, its actors, and the non-profit industrial complex have failed the people, giving rise to the urgent necessity for the movement to defend itself through direct provisions to community. This workshop will provide context to the current crisis surrounding bodily autonomy and reproduction and share a roadmap for subverting state control by building networks of support to provide safe and effective abortion regardless of legality.

The Hydra Fund is an independent mutual aid fund supporting access to reproductive care in Michigan. Their mission is to eliminate financial barriers to abortion access in Michigan by providing direct financial aid for purchasing abortion pills and obtaining in-clinic abortion procedures. Additionally, Hydra Fund is engaged in a community outreach education program to support access to evidence-based abortion information."

For other abortion chats you can listen to from TFSR, check out this link Other resources mentioned include:

• Turnaway Study (tons of resources here)
• Carolina Abortion Fund
• Mountain Area Abortion Doula Collective
• PlanCPills.Org

Announcement Phone Zap for Malik Muhammad

Malik Muhammad, a prisoner from the George Floyd Uprising has been on hunger strike against extended use of solitary confinement with no property and after a beating and tasering by staff. You can learn how to participate in a phone zap at MalikSpeaks.NoBlogs.Org

This week, we’re featuring two interviews concerning prison conditions in North Carolina.

First up, you’ll hear from Elizabeth Simpson of Emancipate NC, one of the signatories to a public letter to this state’s department of corrections calling for the release of hundreds of prisoners in North Carolina. This comes in response to over-crowding and understaffing of prisons following the emergency transfer of 2,000 prisoners from prisons in the western part of the state effected by Hurricane Helene. [00:01:15 - 00:18:50]

Then, Mona Evans of Benevolence Farm, a post-release residence and re-entry program in North Carolina for people coming out of the women’s prisons talks about their programs, re-entry and some of the realities faced inside womens prisons in this state.   [00:20:04 - 01:04:40]

In this conversation I mentioned Victoria Law's latest book, Corridors of Contagion: How the Pandemic Exposed the Cruelties of Incarceration (Haymarket Books). You can find our 2013 interview with her about her 2nd edition of Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women at this link.

Other projects Mona mentioned include:

• Arise Collective re-entry program
• DownhomeNC engages in a number of progressive causes in this state, including the bail fund that Benevolence Farms is currently running. You can find our 2020 interview with them here.

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Featured Track:

• Women on the Inside by Sistas In The Pit from The We That Sets Us Free: Building A World Without Prisons

This week, we’re featuring three segments in our episode.

First up, you’ll hear Maru Mora-Villalpando talking about the immigration prison known as the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA and the organizing that her organization La Resistencia does to shut down this private prison run by Geo Group. [ 00:00:54 - 00:44:00 ]

Then, a member of Pittsburgh Fash Watch, an antifascist group, talks about their mobilization and unmasking of white supremacists in their area, such as WLM and Goyim Defense League (GDL) chud Brandon Cahall. [ 00:45:07 - 00:54:42]

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Finally, Sean Swain addresses post-election ennui. [ 00:54:45-end ]

. ... . ..

Featured Track:

• Bella Ciao by Leslie Fish