The Final Straw Radio The Final Straw Radio

This week, we’re sharing audio from the presentation “Direct action abortion services in Latin America” 2023 Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair in so-called Asheville, NC.
Thanks to the volunteers who re-recorded the presenter and audience questions where permission to share their voices was not granted and a transcription. Keep an eye out in August for our youtube video to include the slides from the actual presentation this recording was made from. Audios from the 2024 ACABookfair will be online in the near future on the bookfairs website.
Transcript PDF (Unimposed)
Zine (Imposed PDF)

Here’s an interview with Walter of the Antifa International social media project. In 2016, this took over the running of the annual July 25th Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners that was formerly a day to show affinity with Jock Palfreeman, an Australian antifascist who was incarcerated in Bulgaria for defending some Romani people from a right wing attack in which an attacker died.
Transcript PDF (Unimposed)
Zine (Imposed PDF)
For the hour we talk about the day of solidarity, the associated Antifascist Defense fund, international lines of solidarity around antifascism, recent cases of repression and continuing to support cultures of resistance while comrades are behind bars.
https://linktr.ee/antifainternational The International Anti-Defence Fund blog: https://intlantifadefence.wordpress.com/ Int'l. Antifa Defence Fund donation page: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/the-international-anti-fascist-defence-fund (shortlink: bit.ly/DefendAntifa; alternatively, fnd.us/defendantifa) July 25th: Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners blog: https://supportantifaprisoners.wordpress.com/ Donation page for #j25antifa: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/the-international-anti-fascist-defence-fund (shortlink: tinyurl.com/supportantifaprisoners) Some other antifa resources we put up: https://deathtofascism.com/ https://www.bonfire.com/support-antifa-prisoners/ Call to plan an event: https://itsgoingdown.org/july-25th-international-day-of-solidarity-with-antifascist-prisoners/ Past interviews on July25 2016 with NYC Antifa 2021 with former Antifascist prisoner David Campbell . ... . ..
Featured Track: Rude Boys Outa Jail by Neville Staple from 2 Tone - Tribute Collection  Vol. 1 (A Checkered Past)

This week we’re featuring three segments. First up, you’ll a conversation I had with Asphalt, a supporter of a recent federal grand jury resister in Charleston, South Carolina. [00:04:53 - 00:36:28]
After that Cyprus Hartford, the grand jury resister, speaks for herself and reads her statement of resistance and here's her GoFundMe. [00:36:28 - 00:40:39]
Finally, you can find an interview that Ian did with Marisa Holmes and Molly of the Metropolitan Anarchist Coordinating Committee about their recent anarchist film festival. [00:42:32 - 01:01:29]
Then you'll hear Sean Swain's review of the presidential debate [01:02:06 - 01:09:16]
Past GJ Eps Steve Martinez resists NoDAPL GJ in 2021 Jeremy Hammond resists Wikileaks-related GJ in 2019 & 2020 Chelsea Manning resists Wikileaks-related GJ in 2019 Katie Yow resists NC GJ in 2017 Standing Rock GJ resistance in 2016 Jerry Koch resists NYC GJ in 2013 Resistance to GJ in Pacific Northwest in 2013 ( 1 & 2) San Francisco GJ with Ian Coldwater in 2012 Federal Grand Juries By way of introduction to this first segment, I’d like to remind people that none of the people speaking about grand juries here are lawyers, but we are sharing information we’ve gotten from lawyers and legal experts to the best of our abilities. I’m going to read a bit from the website NCResistsTheGrandJury.Wordpress.Com:
What is a Grand Jury? In the federal legal system, the grand jury is used to decide whether someone should be charged (“indicted”) for a serious crime. The grand jury hears evidence presented by the prosecutor: the U.S. Attorney. The grand jury uses subpoenas to gather this evidence. It can subpoena documents, physical evidence, and witnesses to testify. The “special” federal grand jury, created in 1970, can be used to investigate “possible” organized criminal activity rather than a specific crime. The California legal system also has grand juries, but it is optional whether criminal prosecutions are initiated by grand jury indictment, or by a complaint by the District Attorney and preliminary hearing before a judge.
How is a Grand Jury Different Than a Trial Jury? Unlike the “petit” jury, which is used to determine guilt in a trial, a grand jury consists of 16 to 23 jurors who are not screened for bias. The purpose of the grand jury is not to determine guilt or innocence, but to decide whether there is probable cause to prosecute someone for a felony crime. The grand jury operates in secrecy and the normal rules of evidence do not apply. The prosecutor runs the proceedings and no judge is present. Defense lawyers are not allowed to be present in the grand jury room and cannot present evidence, but may be available outside the room to consult with witnesses. The prosecutor and the grand jury members may not reveal what occurred in the grand jury room and witnesses cannot obtain a transcript of their testimony.
How Has the Grand Jury Been Used by the State? Because of their broad subpoena powers and secretive nature, grand juries have been used by the government to gather information on political movements and to disrupt those movements by causing fear and mistrust. The grand jury lends itself to being used for improper political investigation due in part to the prosecutor’s ability to question witnesses without regard for rules that prohibit irrelevant, unreliable or unlawfully obtained evidence. Those called before the grand jury may be compelled to answer any question, even those relating to lawful personal and political activities. That information has been used by the government as a basis to conduct further surveillance and disruption of political dissent. When used against political movements, the grand jury causes fear and mistrust because persons who refuse to answer questions about their First Amendment political activities, friends and associates may be jailed for the life of the grand jury: up to 18 months. If a witness asserts their Fifth Amendment

This week, we’re sharing a conversation I had with Matthew Lyons and Xtn Alexander, editors and contributors to the book Three Way Fight: Revolutionary Politics and Antifascism, out this year from Kersplebedeb Books and PM Press. We talked about the development of the political tendency which troubles the read of both liberal capitalism and the autonomous far right from a revolutionary left libertarian perspective, some of it’s progenitors and a bit about the state of the far right today.
Three Way Fight Blog Chat with Matthew about Christian Nationalism and another about Lyndon LaRouche DZ Shaw’s zine (co-author J. Clark) Three Way Fight, Seven Theses on the Three Way Fight and Genealogies of Antifascism: Militancy, Critique and the Three Way Fight are among his works on the subject Antifascism Against Machismo shows up in the book, and there’s an expanded edition available from Kersplebedeb (via Burning Books in the USA) Fascism and Antifascism: A Decolonial Perspective also shows up in the book

Shut 'Em Down 2024 + Monsour Owolabi An interview with Courtney of the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee & Millions For Prisoners New Mexico and Roc, communications bridge for Jailhouse Lawyers Speak and residential manager at the JLS housing center to speak about the JLS call for Shut ‘Em Down strikes inside and outside of prisons in December of 2024. We talk about abolitionism, the organizing that JLS is doing including that transitional housing project and other topics. You can find a past interview with Courtney here. [00:01:49 - 00:47:18]
JLS Transcript JLS PDF (Unimposed) - pending JLS Zine (Imposed PDF) - pending Then, you’ll hear Monsour Owolabi, incarcerated New African political prisoner in the Ferguson Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice system sharing some perspectives on inside-outside collaboration, the role of isolation in prisons as counter-insurgency and the importance of transitional housing projects. Monsour has been involved in Prison Lives Matter, the website https://www.texasletters.org/ has published his writings, and supporters have an instagram @FreeMonsourOwolabi [00:48:35 - 01:08:13]
Monsour Owolabi Transcript Monsour Owolabi PDF (Unimposed) - pending Monsour Owolabi Zine (Imposed PDF) - pending By putting these segments together, we are not proposing any organizational overlap between Mr Owolabi and JLS.
Shout out to Marylin's Children for inspirational praxis.
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Featured Track: Remember Rockefeller at Attica by Charles Mingus from Changes One

Views from the "Rogue Gold" Tree Sit (with Cricket and D) This week you’ll hear an interview we conducted with Cricket, a tree sitter in a tree called Goldie in southern so-called Oregon as well as D of Siskiyou Rising Tide. The two talk about the experience and efficacy of tree sits, about the land threatened by the Bureau of Land Managements plan to have Boise Cascade and other timber companies log this area they’re calling Rogue Gold, recent success of a tree sit at Poor Windy, revelations of police surveillance and some of the history of forest defense in this region.
You can find more at TreeSittersUnion.org , donate via venmo to @Cascadia-Defenders or see lovely pictures on the instagram accounts @TreeSittersUnion or @Siskiyou_RisingTide
Police spying on Siskiyou Rising Tide: https://risingtidenorthamerica.org/2023/11/oregon-police-obsessively-spied-on-siskiyou-rising-tide-for-years-even-after-pipeline-fight-ended/ Recent article on both tree sits: https://leftcoastrightwatch.org/articles/tree-sit-stops-old-growth-logging-project-in-southern-oregon/ Announcement of lawsuit by conservation groups:  https://www.kswild.org/press-releases/rogue-gold-litigation