The Ex-Worker

This week we go on a bunch of rants. We rant about why no state is better than a new state in Catalonia. We rant about why anti-fascists should not allow the state to position itself as the principal force protecting people from Nazi violence. We rant about how mutual aid and community relief must mean opposition to capitalism and a redistribution of wealth. Rant rant rant! Rah rah rah! {October 4, 2017}   -------SHOW NOTES------   Table of Contents: Introduction {0:00} Headlines {1:42} Does Catalonian freedom mean a new state, or no state? {7:55} Is fascist violence terrorism, or just plain old fascism? {14:20} Mutual aid means abolishing capitalism {18:57} Repression Roundup {24:45} Anarchist Podcast Jingles {27:47} Prisoner Birthdays {29:42} Next Week’s News {31:05} Upcoming anarchist bookfairs: The sixth annual anarchist book and propaganda gathering in Santiago, Chile will take place on October 14 and 15. Grassroots relief efforts: Florida: Mutual Aid Disaster Relief Texas: Bayou Action Street Hea

This week we have a ton of headlines about rebellion and cooperation, resistance and mutual aid, from all over the world. Protests in St. Louis continue into their second week after the not guilty verdict for a white cop who viciously murdered Anthony Lamar Smith, a young black father. We weigh in on the chatter about whether the NFL #TakeAKnee protests are about white supremacy or the first amendment. Meanwhile, the so-called “free speech week” hosted by far-right students in Berkeley has utterly failed. The mutual aid relief efforts we’ve covered in Texas and Florida still need support, as well as in Mexico and Puerto Rico after the earthquakes and hurricanes there. {September 27, 2017}   -------SHOW NOTES------   Table of Contents: Introduction {0:00} Headlines {2:28} Repression Roundup {22:15} Anarchist Podcast Jingles {25:18} Prisoner Birthdays {26:59} Next Week’s News {28:35} Upcoming anarchist book fairs: The fourth annual Radical Book Fair in Gothenburg, Sweden from September 28 to October 1.

This week we speak with two folks who’ve been active on the street of St. Louis since white ex-cop Jason Stockley was let off for the murder of black father Anthony Lamar Smith. We also remember Scout Schultz, a 21-year-old queer student organizer killed on Saturday by Georgia Tech police. There’s lots of reports from anti-fascist actions, with a particularly woop-worthy one from the Juggalo March this past weekend in Washington, D.C. At the end we announce some anarchist book fairs and upcoming actions against the alt-right in Berkeley and neo-nazis in Sweden. {September 20, 2017}   -------SHOW NOTES------   Table of Contents: Introduction {0:00} Headlines {1:55} Feature: Report from the streets of St. Louis after the Stockley verdict {12:13} Repression Roundup {23:25} Prisoner Birthdays {27:35} Next Week’s News {29:00} Upcoming anarchist bookfairs: The Radical Book Fair pavillion at the Baltimore Book Festival September 22–24. The Houston Anarchist Book Fair on September 24 located at MECA, 1900 Kane

This week we speak with Dezeray, an anarchist involved in Mutual Aid Disaster Relief organizing in the wake of Hurricane Irma. Next, we interview Sam, an anarchist DACA recipient, about undocumented youth resistance. A number of political prisoners are in urgent need of support. Victorious striking workers show that direct action gets the goods. We remember Attica, the September 11 military coup in Chile, and Charlottesville. At the end we announce some anarchist book fairs and the Juggalo March on Washington. {September 13, 2017}   -------SHOW NOTES------   Table of Contents: Introduction {0:00} Headlines {1:25} Feature: Autonomous relief after Hurricane Harvey {7:25} Interview with an anarchist DACA recipient {15:30} Repression Roundup {22:55} Prisoner Birthdays {26:55} Next Week’s News {28:30} We interview an anarchist in Florida with Mutual Aid Disaster Relief. You can get the latest updates on autonomously organized relief in the wake of Hurricane Irma from their website and their facebook page. No

In episode #56, we covered the repercussions of the violent showdown that took place between fascists and counter-demonstrators in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12. The month since then has seen massive anti-fascist demonstrations around the US and a backlash in which liberal “centrists” have joined the far right in attempting to portray those who resist fascism as being no better than the fascists who murdered Heather Heyer in Charlottesville in the course attempting to bring about another Holocaust. In this episode, we back up a bit to offer some background on contemporary fascism and the struggle against it, refute hostile propaganda from the corporate media, and present some points of departure from which to strategize the future of the anti-fascist movement. Along the way, we hear from author Mark Bray, debunk myths about “free speech,” and break up with Noam Chomsky, who helped get some of us into this stuff but is really losing his grip in his old age. This episode includes complete audio version

Welcome back to the Ex-Worker! Our topic this time is a look at the recent G20 protests in Hamburg, Germany. This summer’s G20 saw some of the most pitched clashes to occur in Northern Europe in years. Despite bringing the full force of one of the world’s most powerful governments to bear against the population, the authorities were unable to repress the courageous revolt of the people of Hamburg and the opponents of the G20. Tune in for first-person accounts of what happened on the ground, from the comrades who were there. {September 8, 2017}   -------SHOW NOTES------   You can read our full report on the G20 protests, Don’t Try to Break Us—We’ll Explode, complete with extensive video footage, citations, hyperlinks, further reading, and additional maps and photographs. The text of the report is available as a zine you can print and distribute where you live. You can also print out our poster celebrating the G20 resistance, “Everyone dreams of a better world—our crime is making it a reality.”    

This episode we bring you an overview, and an interview, about the anarchist and autonomously organized relief efforts in response to Hurricane Harvey.     -------SHOW NOTES------     Table of Contents: Introduction {0:00} Headlines {1:14} Feature: Autonomous relief after Hurricane Harvey {14:15} Repression Roundup {23:29} Prisoner Birthdays {24:50} Next Week’s News {25:50} Hurricane Harvey grassroots relief efforts: You can donate to Bayou Action Street Health here or consult their resource wishlist. You can also contact them directly via houstonstreetmediccollective@gmail.com. Greater Houston Grassroots Relief, Austin Common Ground, the Black Women’s Defense League, Redneck Revolt Houston, West Street Response Team, and Houston Food Not Bombs are all coordinating relief efforts as well. Protests against the rollback of DACA are taking place across the country as we go to press. We have a downloadable poster against borders here. Despite the liberal blowback against antifascism in the media, some pri

Welcome to the first episode of The Hotwire! Our feature for this episode covers the upswing in antifascist action post-Charlottesville. We also bring you an interview from Hurricane Harvey, The Hotwire horoscope, and news of resistance and rebellion from around the world. Listen until the end for prisoner birthdays and announcements of upcoming anarchist events and bookfairs.     -------SHOW NOTES------     Table of Contents: Introduction {0:00} Solidarity efforts for Hurricane Harvey {1:10} Headlines {4:42} Feature: Antifascism after #Charlottesville {8:29} Repression Roundup {24:45} Prisoner Birthdays {29:45} Next Week’s News {31:14} Hurricane Harvey grassroots relief efforts: You can donate to Bayou Action Street Health here or consult their resource wishlist. You can also contact them directly via houstonstreetmediccollective@gmail.com. Austin Common Ground, the Black Women’s Defense League, Redneck Revolt Houston, and Houston Food Not Bombs are all coordinating relief efforts as well. Legal fund

On August 12th, 2017, a massive alt-right and neo-Nazi rally took place in Charlottesville, Virginia. While a large counter-demonstration successfully confronted the fascists, one drove a car into a crowd of protestors, killing at least one and injuring many more. In this special report from the Ex-Worker, we hear the story of the Charlottesville demonstrations from anarchists who put their bodies on the line to stop fascism. This episode includes context and background to understand how the organizing took place, narratives from the streets, and reflections on lessons learned and the state of our struggles moving forward. We also share essays analyzing what we need to do to fight fascism, how the right wing built their murderous momentum, and what their war on protest tells us about the threat to their agenda posed by our resistance. We dedicate this episode to the memory of Heather Heyer, who died at the hands of a fascist this weekend, and to the commitment we share to fighting by any means necessary to en

So, this isn’t quite the Ex-Worker, and I’m not Clara or Alanis. I’m here to tell you about the Ex-Worker’s new anarchist news show, the Hotwire, with me, the Rebel Girl. We’ll have new episodes coming out every Wednesday this fall. The last year has been one of the craziest years for anarchist struggle in our lifetime. Black blocs, prison uprisings, warrior camps and anti-pipeline sabotage, antifascist clashes with nationalists and the alt-right—we’ve been doxxed, shot, stabbed, raided, arrested and imprisoned, we’ve been put on blast by the president himself, but resistance is still catching on like wildfire. With so much happening, it can be difficult to get caught up with the latest important news while still surviving capitalism’s daily grind. However, being informed and up-to-date is crucial for our resistance to be effective. That’s why we’re bringing you The Hotwire, a weekly 20–30 minute anarchist news show that comes out every Wednesday this fall. We’ll have the latest resistance news, along

January 20th, 2017 saw perhaps the fiercest resistance to ever take place at an American presidential inauguration. Episode 55 of The Ex-Worker podcast surveys the day’s momentous protests in DC and beyond, mass media reactions to anarchist resistance, and lessons for the future of radical protest. We begin with an interview with an organizer from Disrupt J20, evaluating the blockades, marches, and disruptions, commenting on state and right-wing repression, reflecting on the spokescouncil model, and sharing visions for the future, as well as info on how to support the 200-plus comrades arrested in the streets that day. Our friends at Agency, an anarchist media relations project, share a detailed report on mass media coverage of the demonstrations and of anarchists and anarchism over the past weeks, including plenty of hilarious quotes and clips. From an anonymous arrestee from DC’s J20 protests, we offer an analysis of how to make the best of mass arrests. We then share reports from a few of the hundreds of

What will resistance look like in the Trump era? What role can anarchists play? In Episode 54 of The Ex-Worker podcast we grapple with these questions as they will unfold on January 20 and beyond. It’s true, we incorrectly predicted a Clinton victory—reaction has advanced faster than we’d realized, but this apocalyptic scenario has catalyzed a flurry of rebellion and defiance. We begin the episode by recounting our analysis of the risks and possibilities of this political moment produced in the immediate aftermath of the election, as well as the “No Peaceful Transition” call that dozens of anarchist and antifascist groups have endorsed. On our recent speaking tour, some Ex-Workers traveled through the Northeast and Midwest, discussing the economic and political context framing Trump’s victory and learning about the initiatives to fight back and build autonomy going on across the country. We share an audio recording of the presentation, and complement it with an excerpt from a history of anarchist counter-i

Our first walking tour! Protesters descending on Washington, D.C. to #DisruptJ20 are stepping into a long history of resistance in the belly of the beast. One of the most innovative and powerful cycles of protest in the nation’s capital was the movement against corporate globalization in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most tours of D.C. take you around the monuments and museums downtown, but we want to show you another side of the city—the neighborhoods and DIY spaces from which anarchists launched attacks on capital and where seeds were planted for a new world to take its place. Through historic sites, interviews, and a scrapbook of anti-capitalist mementos, we hope to pass on some of the lessons and inspiration that the anti-globalization movement can offer, especially as a new wave of struggle begins under Trump. {January 9, 2017}   -------SHOW NOTES------   We’ve put together a YouTube version of the walking tour with the photos included at our YouTube channel Anarchist history is not for books you can

We know you’ve been on the edge of your seat, waiting for see which candidate will receive the Ex-Worker’s endorsement for president this year. In Episode 52, we offer an Ex-Voter’s guide to the 2016 election, including an analysis of the risks we anticipate in its aftermath titled After the Election, the Reaction. There’s lots of listener feedback to discuss, including advice for a young anarchist on less illegal or risky forms of anarchist action, updates about conflict between the Turkish state and the forces of Rojava, and a nuanced discussion of what “solidarity” really means, or should mean, in concrete terms. On the Chopping Block, we undertake a work of fiction for the first time, Nanni Balestrini’s Vogliamo Tutto, or We Want Everything. There’s also an announcement about some upcoming CrimethInc. developments, along with prisoner birthdays and more. We released this episode in tandem with an audio zine exploring anarchist critiques of voting, elections, and representative democracy, which you can dow

Do anarchists vote? If not, how do we express our voice and participate in changing society? What’s the problem with elections and representative democracy? In this special Election Day audio zine,we describe why electing representatives robs us of our power, refute common arguments made to convince us of the value of voting, explain direct action as an alternative approach for making change without politicians and parties, and lay out our vision for a free world beyond electoral politics. We begin by surveying anarchist responses to elections from the 19th century to the present day, and include excerpts from CrimethInc. interventions against the last few presidential elections, including “Don’t Just Vote, Get Active: A Community Non-Partisan Voters’ Guide” (2004), “Voting vs. Direct Action” (c. 2004), “False Hope vs. Real Change” (2008), “The Party’s Over” (c. 2009), and the “Democracy is Bankrupt” website (2012). This audio zine provides background for our discussion of the 2016 presidential campaign and

As we build momentum towards the September 9th national prison strike, we want to reflect on lessons learned from past generations of prison rebels, as well as how we can maintain energy on September 10th and beyond. In Episode 50 of the Ex-Worker, solidarity organizer Ben Turk fills us in on some history of prisoner organizing in recent decades, recaps some of the solidarity actions that have taken place leading up to this year’s historic strike, and offers perspective on continuing and deepening our resistance to prison society. We commemorate the death of Jordan MacTaggart, an American anarchist killed on the front lines in battle with the YPG against the Islamic State, and discuss international solidarity and the politics of martyrdom with Rojava Solidarity NYC. The death of John Timoney, former police chief and notorious foe of anarchists, prompts both glee and a somber reflection on the misery he inflicted on us. A member of Revolutionary Anarchist Action (DAF) in Istanbul discusses the background t

The Ex-Worker is back! And just in time, because a potentially historic national prisoner strike is just around the corner. In our 49th episode, we discuss the upcoming September 9th strike to end prison slavery, with an interview with the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee. You’ll also hear a review of Dan Berger’s book Captive Nation: Black Prison Organizing in the Civil Rights Era; an interview with an anarchist from the UK about the Brexit vote; listener feedback on Spanish revolutionary militias, Comintern, and parallels with Rojava; updates on Kara Wild, a trans anarchist incarcerated in Paris; a letter from trans anarchist prisoner Jennifer Gann; plus news, prisoner birthdays, event announcements, and plenty more. {August 24, 2016} -------SHOW NOTES------ The September 9th National Prison Strike is coming up! To learn more, check out the Support Prisoner Resistance site, in particular the zines Let the Crops Rot in the Fields by the Free Alabama Movement, End Prison Slavery with several articl

Welcome back to the Ex-worker! We’re eschewing our typical format once again to bring you our second audio zine, a production of Crimethinc.’s new text From Democracy to Freedom. This release coincides with the announcement of an online platform for participating in decentralized reading groups and online discussions on this text as well as the others in the series exploring questions around democracy, and how we relate to it as anarchists. {April 26th, 2016} -------SHOW NOTES------ The full text is available here for reading online or here for printing. Original music and sounds courtesy of Counterfeit.

Is Democracy what we’re fighting for, as anarchists? In episode 47 of the Ex-Worker Podcast, a contentious debate between Clara and Alanis on this topic sets the stage for an upcoming, in-depth engagement with the topic of Democracy. In addition, we clean out our backlog of listener feedback, clarifying our trash-talking of both the Bay Area and Adbusters in past episodes, as well as hearing from a listener in Australia about various online resources for finding out what’s happening with anarchist and anti-fascists in the land down under. NYC Anarchist Black Cross provides us with thorough political prisoner updates, and we share a review of the book Huye Hombre Huye, available from Little Black Cart. As always, the episode is bookended with global news updates, plus prisoner birthdays, a whole slew of upcoming anarchist bookfairs and other events and more. {March 16, 2016} -------SHOW NOTES------ New York Anarchist Black Cross (NYC ABC) is doing a fantastic job of keeping us updated on political prisoners a

What do anarchists around the world think is in store for the new year? In Episode 45, we began our 2015 year in review, focusing on the US. In this episode, we share reflections on developments in 2015 and from anarchists in Chile, Finland, Brazil, Korea, Colombia, Czech Republic, and Rojava. There are also discussions about developments in fascism and anti-fascism, with reports from the UK and Australia, and an analysis by Gulf Coast anarchists of the environmental movement’s supposed "victory" over the Keystone XL pipeline in November. On the Chopping Block, we review the latest issue of Perspectives on Anarchist Theory, the journal of the Institute for Anarchist Studies, on the theme of "Justice." Long term black liberation political prisoner Herman Bell discusses his upcoming parole hearing, and we share plenty of news, including some reflection on a new round of revolts in Tunisia, plus prisoner birthdays, events, listener feedback, and more. {February 11, 2016} -------SHOW NOTES------ On the Chopping