Audio Interferenc‪e‬ Interference Archive

Volunteer Coordinator Sophie Glidden-Lyon explains why handbooks are among her favorite items at Interference Archive.

Audio Interference is produced by Interference Archive. To learn more visit www.interferencearchive.org

Music in this episode:
"Arizona Moon," "Palms Down" "Calisson" "The Cornice" & “Dusting,”by Blue Dot Sessions - www.sessions.blue
Theme in G” by Poddington Bear

In New York in the early 1970s, government disinvestment coupled with widespread landlord neglect and abandonment, gave rise to squatting, urban homesteading, and other forms of self-help housing. Residents took control of city-owned land and buildings, and developed or rehabilitated their own housing. The ultimate goal for many of these tenants was to take their buildings out of the speculative housing market and own them collectively and democratically. Today, around 1,300 resident-controlled, low-income housing cooperatives exist in New York City, providing some of the most deeply affordable and stable housing in the city.

The Urban Homesteading Assistance Board, or UHAB, grew out of the self-help housing movement. UHAB was founded in 1973, and started by working with self-organized groups of tenants to convert homesteading projects into limited-equity cooperatives, affordable in perpetuity and owned by their tenants.

In this episode, we are sharing excerpts of an oral history of UHAB, conducted by researcher Conor Snow in 2020 and featuring interviews with Charles Laven, Fernando Alarcon, Ayo Harrington, and Ann Henderson. Thank you to UHAB, and to Charles, Ayo, Ann, Fernando and Conor for granting us permission to share this audio with you.

For more information about UHAB: https://uhab.org/

For more information about Interference Archive’s exhibition in collaboration with UHAB, “Building for Us: Stories of Homesteading and Cooperative Housing”: https://interferencearchive.org/building-for-us-stories-of-homesteading-and-cooperative-housing/

For previous Audio Interference episodes on similar topics, check out:
Episode 74, “We the People Won’t Go” (https://interferencearchive.org/audio-interference-74-we-the-people-wont-go/)
Episode 47 “Lower East Side Community Gardens” (https://interferencearchive.org/audio-interference-47-lower-east-side-community-gardens/)
Episode 31 “Squatting on the Lower East Side” (https://interferencearchive.org/audio-interference-31-squatting-on-the-lower-east-side/)
Episode 23 “Brooklyn Housing Struggle” (https://interferencearchive.org/audio-interference-23-brooklyn-housing-struggle/).

Music: “Bathed in Fine Dust” by Andy G. Cohen and “Tribal” by David Szesztay, both from the Free Music Archive.

Produced by Interference Archive.

Letters from Comrades on the Inside: In this episode, we hear "A Quarter of a Century," a song by Ivie, a comrade on the inside whose story is uplifted by Survived and Punished. It references her campaign to free herself from a 25 to life sentence and was recorded over the phone from Bedford Hills prison, a maximum security correctional facility in Bedford Hills, NY. In the middle of the song, you'll hear an accompanying rap by another comrade, Sassi, who is also incarcerated at Bedford Hills.

This episode of Audio Interference is part of a series in collaboration with Survived & Punished NY, a coalition of defense campaigns and grassroots groups committed to eradicating the criminalization of survivors of domestic and sexual violence, and the culture of violence that contributes to it.

Visit audiointerference.org to listen to more letters from Survived & Punished's comrades on the inside, as well as a longer interview with two Survived & Punished members. Visit www.survivedandpunishedny.org to read Survived & Punished NY’s newsletters and explore their work.

A huge thank you to Ivie and Sassi for sharing their song. We'd also like to thank Lae Sway, Yves Tong Nguyen, Heena, Zoe Vongtau, Red Schulte, Mariah Hill, and Martina Ilunga, along with everyone else at Survived & Punished, for working with us on this episode.

To learn more about Survived and Punished NY, visit survivedandpunishedny.org

Read the latest edition of Survived and Punished’s newsletter, Free : Survivors: https://www.survivedandpunishedny.org/newsletter-campaign/

Music from this episode (in order of appearance):

“Divide” by Six Time Users, from the album, Live at WFMU for Janky Ray’s Radio Riot 6/16/18

Letters from Comrades on the Inside: In this episode, we hear from Alisha Walker, a comrade on the inside whose story is uplifted by Survived and Punished. She shares her experiences as an incarcerated person and her thoughts on justice and access to information.

This episode of Audio Interference is part of a series in collaboration with Survived & Punished NY, a coalition of defense campaigns and grassroots groups committed to eradicating the criminalization of survivors of domestic and sexual violence, and the culture of violence that contributes to it.

Visit audiointerference.org to listen to more letters from Survived & Punished's comrades on the inside, as well as a longer interview with two Survived & Punished members. Visit www.survivedandpunishedny.org to read Survived & Punished NY’s newsletters and explore their work.

A huge thank you to Alisha Walker for sharing her story. We'd also like to thank Lae Sway, Yves Tong Nguyen, Heena, Zoe Vongtau, Red Schulte, Mariah Hill, and Martina Ilunga, along with everyone else at Survived & Punished, for working with us on this episode.

To learn more about Survived and Punished NY, visit survivedandpunishedny.org

Read the latest edition of Survived and Punished’s newsletter, Free : Survivors: https://www.survivedandpunishedny.org/newsletter-campaign/

Music from this episode (in order of appearance):

“Divide” by Six Time Users, from the album, Live at WFMU for Janky Ray’s Radio Riot 6/16/18

Hello, comrades,

In this episode of Audio Interference, we’re sharing reflections from Jessica Paradiso, a survivor on the inside. The episode stems from a collaboration with Survived and Punished New York, a grassroots, abolitionist group that works to eradicate the criminalization of survivors of domestic and sexual violence, and the culture of violence that contributes to it.

Prison walls create barriers to communication. Through our collaboration, we’re bridging this information gap by sharing the experiences of folks on the inside with those on the outside, as well as archiving Survived & Punished’s organizing strategies to free all who are incarcerated.

Together, we came up with questions that Survived & Punished sent to their comrades. This episode is a response from Jessica Paradiso, written in May 2020, read by Survived and Punished volunteer, Yves Tong Nguyen.

A huge thank you to Jessica Paradiso for sharing her story with us. We’d also like to thank Lae Sway, Yves Tong Nguyen, Heena, Zoe Vongtau, Red Schulte, Martina Abrahams Ilunga, and Mariah Hill, along with everyone else at Survived & Punished, for working with us on this episode. To learn more about Survived and Punished, visit their website, survivedandpunishedny.org.

If you haven’t already, we encourage you to listen to the other responses from folks inside that are part of this series. We also published an in-depth interview with folks from Survived & Punished about their work. To listen, find us on itunes, stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts: www.audiointerference.org

In solidarity,
Audio Interference
Produced by Interference Archive.

This episode of Audio Interference is about Survived and Punished, a coalition of defense campaigns and grassroots groups committed to eradicating the criminalization of survivors of domestic and sexual violence, and the culture of violence that contributes to it. We’re speaking with two members of the New York chapter of the group, Will Willis and Maureen Silverman.

To learn more about Survived and Punished NY, visit https://survivedandpunishedny.org

Read the latest edition of Survived and Punished’s newsletter, Free : Survivors: www.survivedandpunishedny.org/newsletter-campaign/newsletter-store

To learn more about Mia Mingus’ work and writings on transformative justice: www.leavingevidence.wordpress.com

T**s and Sass blog, which Will quotes from in this episode: www.titsandsass.com

Memorial for Darlene “Lulu” Benson-Seay, who Will remembers in this episode: www.mourningourlosses.org/memorials/darlene-lulu-benson-seay?fbclid=IwAR2wA8dCuIi_p_AmyYkg5Sv_4iLTTg-uAL7L4EPYGuRoWkJMv4r-6saIQrA

This episode is part of a series of episodes about Survived and Punished’s work. Visit audiointerference.org to listen to letters from their comrades on the inside. Visit www.survivedandpunishedny.org to read Survived & Punished NY’s newsletters and explore their work.

A huge thank you to Ivie, Sassii, Maureen Silverman, and Will Willis for contributing to this episode. And a huge thank you to all other Survived and Punished volunteers.

Music from this episode (in order of appearance):

“Divide” by Six Time Users, from the album, Live at WFMU for Janky Ray’s Radio Riot 6/16/18

"A quarter of a century” by Survived and Punished comrade Ivié, a song that she wrote about her campaign to free herself from a 25 to life sentence, recorded over the phone from Bedford Hills prison, a maximum security correctional facility in Bedford Hills, NY. Accompanying rap by Survived and Punished comrade, Sassii, who is also incarcerated at Bedford Hills.

Produced by Interference Archive. From all of us at Audio Interference, thanks for listening.