#40: Struggles Against White Supremacy
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#40: Struggles Against White Supremacy and Police Since Ferguson – It’s been a year since rage over Michael Brown’s murder catalyzed an anti-racist and anti-police rebellion that spread from Ferguson around the country. How can anarchists interpret the trajectory of the struggles against white supremacy that have unfolded over the last year? In Episode 40 of The Ex-Worker, we discuss the current state of police violence and both institutional and autonomous white supremacy, alongside an analysis of how anti-racist and anti-police resistance developed from Ferguson to Baltimore to South Carolina. A listener weighs in on the risks of militarism, from the Iron Column in the Spanish Civil War to the militias in Rojava today. Comrades from Korea share updates on state repression and issue an exciting call for international solidarity, and Clara and Alanis discuss the politics of the term “terrorism” and how to undertake assertive resistance to state repression without resorting to sports metaphors.

You can download this and all of our previous episodes online. You can also subscribe in iTunes here or just add the feed URL to your podcast player of choice. Rate us on iTunes and let us know what you think, or send us an email to podcast@crimethinc.com. You can also call us 24 hours a day at 202–59-NOWRK, that is, 202–596–6975.

Report from South Korea
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We received the following report and request from our comrades in South Korea, who recently published a Korean version of To Change Everything and are active in a variety of struggles there.

Starting in spring, the anarchist appeal To Change Everything was adapted into Korean and distributed in paper and online in South Korea. Many welcomed it; the first printing ran out quickly.

It also provoked a strong reaction when the country’s major corporate news agency reported on it and on a project appearing on the appeal’s blog to gather and distribute songs against the National Security Law. The journalist even went to the prosecutor’s office, inquiring whether these activities constituted “aid to the enemy” (in other words, treason), which is what the National Security Law targets. The official’s response was that the answer “depends on an eventual analysis of whether this is part of an intention to threaten the national order.” In the corporate media, the numerous comments posted online with the article expressed a unanimous condemnation of these “pro-North Koreans” that we supposedly are (ignoring the “anarchist” reference), demanding even severer laws and repression. For example, “These pro-North Koreans should be sent to the good old ‘re-education camp’ to be reminded the fact that this country is still at war.”

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Next Time It Explodes
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A year has passed since the murder of Michael Brown, one of over 1100 people, disproportionately black and brown, killed by US law enforcement in 2014. The movement against institutionalized white supremacy and police violence has spread and escalated, gaining leverage on the authorities and the public imagination despite repeated efforts to coopt it. At the same time, we are seeing extra-governmental white supremacist violence reemerge as a force in the US, as it always does whenever state strategies for imposing white supremacy reach their limits.

The illusion of social peace is evaporating. Over the past year, the National Guard has been called out three times to quell anti-police rioting. White racists have retaliated with church burnings and murders, while raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to support murderers in uniform. The lines that are being drawn may determine the geography of racialized conflict in the US for a long time to come. How did we arrive here from the first demonstrations in Ferguson? And how should we position ourselves in these struggles?

Read the feature.

Reflections on the Ferguson Uprising
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In February 2015, after months of confrontations in response to the murder of Michael Brown, a number of anarchists from the St. Louis area gathered to reflect on their experiences in the streets, their role in predominantly black struggles, and the ramifications of arson and gunfire in protests. We had sent some discussion questions to get the ball rolling, but mostly they let the conversation take its own course, speaking with admirable frankness and vulnerability. The result is an important historical document, of interest to anyone who might one day participate in something similar.

This transcript originally appeared in the 12th issue of Rolling Thunder, which examines the movement that spread across the United States from Ferguson in great detail. It is the first of a series of texts we will be publishing this week to commemorate the anniversary of the uprising.

Read the discussion.

Episode #39: The Rojava Revolution, Part II
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#39: The Rojava Revolution, Part II – In the latest episode of the Ex-Worker, we continue our discussion of the unfolding social revolution in the autonomous Kurdish territories of Rojava. Building on our coverage in Episode 36, we share two interviews themed around international solidarity with the struggle for autonomy and the fight against ISIS. In the first, a member of Rojava Solidarity NYC, the group of American anarchists that produced the book “A Small Key Can Open a Large Door”, discusses democratic confederalism and the council system in the cantons, compares and contrasts the Zapatista uprising with the Rojava revolution, and describes the solidarity projects they’ve undertaken and what’s at stake for anarchists in our response to the events in Kurdistan. In the second, a member of the Turkish anarchist group Social Insurrection discusses his experience fighting with the United Freedom Forces militia. We address some critiques of the revolutionary structures in Rojava as well as our coverage of them and trace the emergence of international solidarity brigades. A member of Antifa International announces the formation of an International Anti-fascist Defense Fund, and we share info about several recently released anarchist publications. Our discussion of the news takes on Obama’s sudden transformation into a prison reform advocate, indigenous resistance to profiteering off alcoholism, and the outing of a corporate infiltrator into the animal rights movement, while our indignant coverage of Syriza’s entirely predictable betrayal of Greek social movements in their EU bailout austerity proposal concludes with a helpful diagnosis of “The Five Stages of Leftism”.

You can download this and all of our previous episodes online. You can also subscribe in iTunes here or just add the feed URL to your podcast player of choice. Rate us on iTunes and let us know what you think, or send us an email to podcast@crimethinc.com. You can also call us 24 hours a day at 202–59-NOWRK, that is, 202–596–6975.

#38: Anarchism in Lake Worth, Florida
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#38: Anarchism in Lake Worth, Florida – How do anarchists organize outside of major cities? In Episode 38 of the Ex-Worker, we offer a profile of anarchism in Lake Worth, a small coastal town in southern Florida with a surprisingly active and vibrant culture of resistance. Participants in the Everglades Earth First!, the Earth First! Journal, the South Florida Prison Books Project, the former Night Heron Infoshop, and Prison Legal News discuss some of the many radical projects that operate out of Lake Worth. We even hear from a former anarchist elected official discussing the contradictions and possibilities of that position! The episode also includes a CrimethInc. tour announcement, feedback from listeners about online crypto-anarchism, appeals for solidarity, plenty of news from all over the world, and more.

You can download this and all of our previous episodes online. You can also subscribe in iTunes here or just add the feed URL to your podcast player of choice. Rate us on iTunes and let us know what you think, or send us an email to podcast@crimethinc.com. You can also call us 24 hours a day at 202–59-NOWRK, that is, 202–596–6975.

To Change Everything US Tour
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Calling All Anarchists
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We’re organizing a US tour for this September and October including anarchists from the groups that have produced versions of To Change Everything in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans, as well as North America. Together, they will present a panel discussion comparing experiences from the recent global wave of uprisings and exploring the significance of anarchism in the 21st century. We’re excited to facilitate this exchange of perspectives across different continents and struggles, in hopes of helping to foster more global connections and solidarity.

But we need your help! If you are able to host an event, please contact us at rollingthunder@crimethinc.com. We’re especially interested in setting up events outside the usual venues. We would love to hear from student groups, community centers, and anyone else with a good idea.

A description of the presentation is after the jump.

#37: The Hambacher Forest Occupation
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#37: The Hambacher Forest Occupation – In this episode, the Ex-Worker offers an in-depth profile of the struggle to defend the Hambacher Forest. In the Rhineland coal country of western Germany, a group of angry locals, environmentalists, anarchists and squatters have converged to challenge the destruction of one of the region’s oldest forests by the energy giant RWE’s brown coal mining. In these moving interviews recorded live in the Hambacher Forest in spring 2014, Clara gets a tour of the occupation and discusses the recent history of actions and broader political context. Through insightful and often hilarious informal conversations, the occupiers point out distinctive features of the forest, show the gritty and frequently comical day to day realities of squatter life, discuss their personal motivations for resisting the destruction of the forest, and offer poignant insight into the logic of resistance as a way of life. The episode concludes with recent updates from the occupation, ways to participate and show solidarity, and reflections on its significance for radicals across the world.

You can download this and all of our previous episodes online. You can also subscribe in iTunes here or just add the feed URL to your podcast player of choice. Rate us on iTunes and let us know what you think, or send us an email to podcast@crimethinc.com. You can also call us 24 hours a day at 202–59-NOWRK, that is, 202–596–6975.

The Secret World of Terijian zine
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To warm the hearts of children and enivironmentalists everywhere, we present an imposed pdf of our children’s book, The Secret World of Terijian, ready for grassroots printing and distribution. The Secret World of Terijian tells the story of two children who set out to defend the wilderness in their back yards, and the comrades they meet along the way.

The best review of The Secret World of Terijian is still probably the one penned by Kirk Engdall, United States Attorney for the District of Oregon, in his response to Daniel McGowan‘s Motion for Amended Judgment: “The story line of this children’s book romanticizes the criminal activities of the Earth Liberation Front and encourages children to become involved in similar criminal conduct…” We hope this zine version will be useful to everyone who is organizing events for the June 11 day of solidarity with Marius Mason and all long-term anarchist prisoners. Print some copies to raise donations for Marius and everyone else behind bars in the struggle for a better world.

Imposed PDFs for print reproduction (4.7MB): B&W : Color

Standard PDF for reading on screens (2.2MB)

This is at least the fifth edition of The Secret World of Terijian since it appeared a decade ago. It features the illustrations by Ingi Jensson that were originally published in the Icelandic translation, Hulduheimur Heiðarlands, in 2010. The photo above shows the Slovakian version, published earlier this year.

Announcing Rolling Thunder #12!
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We are thrilled to announce the twelfth issue of North America’s premier anarchist journal, Rolling Thunder. As usual, this issue is the biggest and best yet, and we can’t wait to share it with you. If you have a subscription, you should be receiving your copy right about now—they were sent out last week. Yet another reason to support us by subscribing!

The centerpiece of this issue is a 64-page feature on the protests against police and white supremacy that spread from Ferguson, Missouri across the United States. It traces the conflict from its origins in the antebellum South, offering a timeline of the clashes vividly illustrated with narratives from the front lines. We especially urge everyone to read the transcript of a debrief discussion among anarchist participants from Missouri, reflecting on their role in predominantly black struggles and the ramifications of joining in street confrontations that include arson and gunfire.

Two more features elaborate an anarchist analysis of sex work, beyond the second-wave feminist discourse of victimization and the third-wave feminist discourse of empowerment. From across the Atlantic, we present interviews with Turkish anarchists who crossed the Syrian border to join Kurdish fighters in pushing the Islamic State out of Kobanê, and an analysis of the rise of new left parties in Greece and around Europe as a phase in the neutralization of autonomous social movements. Elsewhere in the issue, a testimonial recounts one daring individual’s efforts to rid his community of surveillance cameras by physically destroying them.

As for theory, this issue offers a critique of demand-based political organizing and an intimate look at how what Foucault termed biopower functions in jails and cancer wards. All this, plus poetry and graffiti from the Egyptian revolution—comics about Loukanikos, the celebrated riot dog of Athens—stories from the life of Biófilo Panclasta, the most mysterious and mythologized of anarchist vagabonds—the usual stunning photography, acerbic commentary, and strategic reflection—and much, much more! Altogether, this issue is 154 pages, which places it alongside the books we’ve published as one of our most ambitious projects.

Buy it here.