Thu, 18 December 2014
Rebellion has erupted around the country in the aftermath of grand jury decisions to allow the murderers of Mike Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in New York to go free without legal charges. Why did this happen, when authorities knew that this would spark furious protests and international condemnation? To try to understand the persistence of racist police violence, Clara and Alanis delve into the historical roots of capitalism and white supremacy from the origins of European conquest and colonization of the Americas. Along with a survey of resistance and backlash since the grand jury announcements, we share excerpts from the recent feature "The Thin Blue Line is a Burning Fuse," tracing the role of anti-police anger in catalyzing nearly all recent major social upheavals around the globe. Agency, a new anarchist media project, shares an excerpt from an article analyzing the Ebola outbreak and anarchist perspectives on public health. We run through a wide range of news, discuss listener comments on transcripts and international coverage, and even offer a radical holiday song!
Direct download: 32_White-Supremacy-and-Capitalism_From-1492-to-Ferguson.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:42am PDT |
Sat, 29 November 2014
Clara and Alanis attended the Carrboro Anarchist Book Fair on November 22nd, 2014, and decided to try an experiment: recording an episode of the Ex-Worker in front of a live anarchist audience! We started off with our usual Hot Wire news, and then interviewed a wide range of participants from the book fair about workshops or presentations they did or projects they represented. Interviewees spoke about a writing project on southern insurrectionary history; the Can Vries eviction and riots in Barcelona, Spain; rethinking prisoner support based on experiences with anti-authoritarian queer and transgender prisoners; a moving letter by Luke O'Donovan sent from prison specifically to be shared at the book fair; an update about an anarchist injured and arrested at a Philadelphia solidarity demonstration; and participants from the New York City Anarchist Black Cross, the Inside/Outside Alliance, and the UNControllables, an anarchist student group.
Direct download: 31_Live-from-the-Carrboro-Anarchist-Book-Fair.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:26am PDT |
Tue, 11 November 2014
The Ex-Worker keeps our eyes to the south as we continue our in-depth exploration of anarchism in Chile. While our last episode sought to provide context and history, this episode delves into two recent cases of repression by the Chilean State against anarchists and discusses the important of prisoner support in the anarchist movement. We interview Victor Montoya, an anarchist who was framed up and spent 16 months in pretrial detention, as well as Luciano "Tortuga" Pitronello, a comrade who faced terrorism charges after a bomb he was carrying prematurely detonated. While Tortuga's body was damaged in the course of this ordeal, his spirit remains resilient, and he shares inspiring stories and sage advice over vegan sandwiches at the autonomous library Sante Geronimo Caserio in Santiago. We'll offer a review of the Chicago Conspiracy, a documentary film which illustrates some of Chile's radical history and present through music, celebration, memory and riot, tackle some thoughtful listener feedback about democracy and anarchy, and top it all off with news from struggles around the globe. |
Thu, 9 October 2014
On September 11th, while patriotic Americans waved flags and listened to speeches, a few thousand miles south, Chileans massed in the streets and clashed with police on the anniversary of the 1973 military coup. Our 29th episode begins a two-episode series on anarchism in Chile: From popular power and militant resistance to the Pinochet dictatorship to today's clashes between encapuchados and Carabineros across burning barricades, we explore the history and background context necessary to understand the distinctive and militant anarchist struggles of contemporary Chile. From the recent anarchist book and propaganda fair in Santiago, several anarchists speak with us about the importance of radical neighborhoods, the evolution of public anarchist organizing, and political imprisonment in Chile. Attendees of the marches and actions during the recent Climate Convergence in New York City report on their experiences and reflect on how anarchists connect to broader environmental movements. Listeners weigh in on historical dates, pronunciation mistakes, and mind-controlled drones, alongside news, announcements, and prisoner birthdays.
Direct download: 29_Anarchism-in-Chile-Part-I_From-Popular-Power-to-Social-War.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:25am PDT |
Sun, 14 September 2014
In Episode 26, we shared a panorama of dramatic stories from the lives and struggles of 19th and early 20th century anarchist women... but we didn't focus much on their ideas. In the second episode of our three-part series on anarcha-feminism, the Ex-Worker returns to the first generations of rebels who brought together anarchist and feminist currents, this time to explore their distinctive revolutionary visions. We survey the context of early revolutionary and feminist ideas, and the distinct perspectives of early anarcha-feminists on marriage, sexuality, economic and bodily autonomy, suffrage, revolutionary sexism, and strategies for women's emancipation. The Chopping Block discusses Free Women of Spain, the classic study of the Spanish anarcha-feminist group Mujeres Libres. Listeners weigh in on sports, a special guest contributor offers a correction about indigenous resistance to fracking, and we begin a fascinating conversation on solidarity actions and anonymity amidst the news, event announcements, statements from political prisoners, and more.
Direct download: 28_Anarcha-Feminism-Part-II_Early-Critiques-and-Visions.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:59pm PDT |
Sun, 24 August 2014
Since the murder of Mike Brown by police on August 9th, Ferguson, Missouri has been the site of intense riots, looting, and clashes with police. In this episode, we share accounts from participants and reflections on the rebellion, as well as an analysis which unpacks the designation of "outside agitators." Two texts discussing other recent anti-police uprisings appear on the Chopping Block, while supporters of Luke O'Donovan update us on his trial and how to show solidarity. Clara and Alanis share a slew of listener feedback, exploring the origins of the term feminism, correcting some mistakes about the IWW, and getting into a testy debate over the politics of sports. News, prisoner birthdays, Contradictionary terms, and upcoming events round out another packed episode. |
Wed, 6 August 2014
What is anarcha-feminism, and what contribution has it made to both feminism and anarchism? In this episode we kick off a series exploring anarcha-feminism in the past and present. After framing the issue and dealing with some thorny questions around definitions of feminism and gender, we take a whirlwind tour through the history--or herstory, if you like--of anarchist women from the barricades of the Paris Commune to the front lines of the Spanish Civil War. In addition to Louise Michel, Lucy Parsons, Emma Goldman, and a few other big names, we'll share stories of Russian nihilists, Puerto Rican tobacco workers, Japanese journalists, Mexican guerrillas, and many other unsung heroines of late 19th and early 20th century anarchist struggles. The anthology Quiet Rumors: An Anarcha-Feminist Reader appears on the Chopping Block, and a member of the Revolutionary Anarcha-Feminist Group from Dublin, Ireland joins us for an interview. Clara and Alanis even take issue with a term from the Contradictionary, along with a packed calendar of upcoming events, news, and more.
Direct download: 26_Anarcha-Feminism-Part-I_Introduction-and-Herstory.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:07pm PDT |
Wed, 16 July 2014
The recent World Cup prompted widespread protests across Brazil. In our 25th episode, we discuss why these protests took place, who participated, and how they connected to the uprisings of the last year. We share an audio collage of protest voices, an interview with Brazilian anarchists, and a Situationist-inspired critique of mass sports spectacles. The new green anarchist journal Black Seed appears on the Chopping Block, while a Ukrainian anarchist offers perspective on why things may not be so bleak there for anarchists as we thought. And there's hooliganism, a June 11th rundown, prisoner updates, reflections on the "global village," and Juggalos to boot! |
Tue, 1 July 2014
From the incendiary writings of The Invisible Committee prompting arrests on charges of rail line sabotage in France, to the calculated analysis of Theorie Communiste and Aufheben, we may have skipped a few things in our previous two episodes about communism. The current known as communization emerged out of the struggles of May '68 in France, and to this day the question remains: can we enact communism ourselves, here and now? In this episode of the Ex-worker, we'll take another angle on communism, away from the backstabbing, newspaper-hocking, withering-state-types profiled in Episodes 20 and 21, instead focusing on those who share our dream of breaking with the misery of our conditions and dismantling this world (even if they still talk like Marxists.) In this episode we experiment with different ways of breaking through some of the heavy theoretical language and ideas, including a reportback from a rather unusual Endnotes reading group, and transmit a theme segment from an autonomous, anonymous podcasting cell. We'll travel to North and South Korea in our listener feedback section, hear an interview from Anarchist prisoner Michael Kimble about prison struggle in Alabama and the importance of supporting long-term prisoners, and round it out with news and prisoner birthdays. |
Sat, 31 May 2014
Another May Day come and gone! After we catch up on how radicals around the world celebrated it in the streets this year, we'll turn back the clock a few decades to a particularly notorious May: Paris in 1968. The strikes and riots that nearly toppled the French state—as well as the Situationist International, those Marxist-influenced art radicals whose theories influenced the uprising—are the topic of our main feature for this episode. One of the key texts coming from the Situationist tradition, Raoul Vaneigem's The Revolution of Everyday Life, appears on the Chopping Block. Listeners weigh in on future episodes, "Uncle Ted," and the Ukraine episode and anarchist strategy. And of course there's more news, events, prisoner birthdays, and other goodies.
Direct download: 23_May-68-and-the-Situationist-International.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:31pm PDT |