Riot Dogg: September 26, 2018: McDonalds workers on #MeToo strike, conflict over the Artesian Commons in Olympia, the dissolution of the International Revolutionary People’s Guerrilla Forces, and an interview about autonomously organized airdrop relief after Hurricane Florence on this episode of…

Rebel Girl: The Hotwire.

A weekly anarchist news show brought to you by The Ex-Worker

Riot Dogg: With me, the Riot Dogg.

Rebel Girl: And with me, the Rebel Girl.

Riot Dogg: A full transcript of this episode with shownotes and useful links can be found at our website, CrimethInc.com/podcast, where you can also find a radio-ready twenty-nine-and-a-half minute version of this episode for standard radio broadcasts, and no cussing!

Rebel Girl: And now, the news…

HEADLINES

Rebel Girl: On September 18…

Riot Dogg: Wait, you mean World Cheeseburger Day?!

Rebel Girl: Why yes, I do mean World Cheeseburger Day, and Burgerville workers at two locations in Portland celebrated by going on a one-day strike. The Burgerville Workers Union is organized through the IWW and it’s the first recognized fast food labor union in history! This recent strike was launched in protest of a corporate-imposed dress code after workers demanded the right to wear “Black Lives Matter” and “Abolish ICE” pins.

But that’s not even the biggest strike that happened on September 18.

Riot Dogg: You mean on World Cheeseburger Day.

Rebel Girl: You’re the cheeseburger. Anyway, on… that day, McDonalds workers in TEN US cities walked off the job to protest sexual harassment in the workplace, and hundreds of McDonalds workers demonstrated outside the company’s headquarters in Chicago, many under the viral #MeToo slogan that is more often associated with famous actresses already in the spotlight than with working class women whose stories of sexual harassment will never make it on the cover of glossy magazines.

Riot Dogg: Wow. Has anything like that happened before?

Rebel Girl: Well, Fight for 15 is saying that it’s the first strike in the US specifically against sexual harassment, but women-led strikes go back to the 1912 Lawrence textile strike we discussed last episode, and on March 8 this year, a reported 5 million Spanish workers participated in a nationwide feminist strike, and sexual harassment was definitely among the issues highlighted by organizers there.

Riot Dogg: Parkdale Organize reports that on Tuesday, tenants on rent strike at 1336 King in Toronto demonstrated outside the posh home of their landlord, Marina Grmusa who, in August, tried to strong arm some of the tenants into signing forms that would end their tenancy, a tactic she has shamefully used on tenants who are ill, elderly, or who have limited English.

Rebel Girl: In England, UberEats drivers and riders, also organized through the IWW, have been going on wildcat strikes in London, Cardiff, Glasgow, and Plymouth. It’s not the first time either, UberEats employees in Plymouth first went on strike in June over their measly pay.

Riot Dogg: Today, September 26, is the four-year anniversary of the massacre and disappearance of the 43 normalista students in Ayotzinapa, Mexico. In Guerrero, Mexico, masked rebels kept their memory alive by attacking a state infantry barracks with projectiles and Molotov cocktails hurled from the passenger seat of a truck!

And in Kiev, Ukraine, anarchists also set fire to a police training center.

Rebel Girl: The Artesian Commons in Olympia, Washington, whose literal closure we reported on in Hotwire #35, was popularly re-opened on September 22 in the middle of the day. A city council meeting on September 11 unsurprisingly did not open the park back up, despite a 60-person march to the meeting in support of repealing the no sit/no lie anti-houseless law that led to the eviction of the houseless community that depends on the Artesian Commons. So, at 1 in the afternoon on the 22, 100 people tore down the fence around the empty, unused park and filled it with banners and ribbons and chalk art, music and singing and basketball games, and there was also a free hot meal courtesy of Food Not Bombs. Police arrived two hours later, shooting pepper balls into the crowd and arresting two. Once the police had dispersed people out of the park, they left, so people went back and tore down the fence again, and police returned shortly with concussion grenades and attempting more arrests. Good luck to the Commons defenders in Olympia, we wish you victory. And remember what’s at stake—the enclosure of the commons is what set capitalism in motion.

Riot Dogg: That’s true!

Rebel Girl: Over the weekend, anti-fascists turned out in Memphis, Tennessee to oppose a pro-confederate group’s protests of removed confederate memorials. On Friday, anti-fascists crashed the pro-confederates’ interviews with local media by chanting the ever-classic “No Trump, No KKK, No Fascist USA!” then, in a novel move, disrupted the pro-confederates’ caravan by infiltrating it with their own cars, which led some confederate supporters to split off and get lost. Later on anti-fascists surrounded the pedestal of the former statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest and prevented the pro-confederates from gathering there. On Sunday, anti-fascists tailed the pro-confederates as they marched around town and taunted them when they were informed that their destination, a park that was the former site of a Jefferson Davis statue, was closed for the weekend.

The previous weekend, in Johnson City, Tennessee, a pathetic showing of just six League of the South racists gathered to harass the Pride celebration there. Over 40 anti-fascists were there to oppose them, and blocked them with banners so that parade participants didn’t even have to see them. During the parade, anti-fascists handed out flyers for a counter-protest of the League of the South’s next Tennessee appearance on September 29, however local media has been announcing that the pro-confederates have since cancelled that event. For the latest updates, stay tuned to @knoxradical on Twitter.

Riot Dogg: Last Tuesday was the No Bayou Bridge Pipeline National day of Action, and action there was. There were disruptions of banks funding the Bayou Bridge Pipeline pipeline in St. Louis, New Orleans, Knoxville, Tennessee, Portland, Oregon and at Harvard University and the University of Michigan.

Rebel Girl: In Bemidji, Minnesota, the indigenous women’s Ginew Collective erected tipis in the path of construction vehicles working on the Line 3 Pipeline while, as the Earth First! Newswire reports, “a local Anishinaabe woman held a water ceremony on the bank of the river offering medicine, prayers and songs.”

Riot Dogg: In Rojava, the anarchist fighting unit, dubbed the International Revolutionary People’s Guerrilla Forces, has announced its dissolution. The group was formed by anarchists who had already been fighting in Rojava in March of 2017. In their final communique, the IRPGF states, “In our formation statement, we stated that our role was to be an armed force for the defense of social revolutions in Rojava and across the world, and to struggle against all forms of power wherever they exist. Today, this role has not changed. In fact, we uphold this role and our principles with even more determination and resilience. But what has changed is our perspective on strategy of armed struggle and way of organizing….

“We call on and encourage all comrades to move on from the narratives and imageries of the IRPGF and to develop their own militant movements that are specific to their respective political, social, cultural or even religious contexts and backgrounds. Above all, we urge comrades not to abandon the struggle against hierarchy in all its forms, to keep on progressing in praxis and continue to organize in revolutionary ways.”

Rebel Girl: IRPGF, thank you for your struggle and your idealism in the face of myriad enemy forces. We look forward to more of your reflections and analysis from your experiences with armed struggle.

Riot Dogg: Earlier this month, a grand jury failed to charge cops from Portland State University over shooting and killing Jason Washington, a 45-year-old black man who was trying to break up a fight at a bar. In response, on Monday, students and angry community members launched an occupation on campus calling to disarm University police. We interviewed one person involved in the occupation.

Who are we speaking with and what’s going down at Portland State University?

Alyssa: My name is Alyssa Pariah. I’m the co-chair at Portland Jobs with Justice. And what’s going on at Portland State University is that the campus police, who were armed against the protest of students—even me when I was a student here, that’s how old this fight is—finally did what we always told them they would do, which was to kill somebody, and particularly a Black somebody. Jason Washington was a husband, father and grandfather, and his wife, kids and grandkids have been here, leading the struggle. And yesterday they helped us to lead the occupation, and we are on Day 2 now; we did not get swept last night. And the state newspaper, The Oregonian, have us on the front cover today. And all of the local news stations have been here, and were there for the rally yesterday that gave way to the occupation, and a press conference that we had this morning.

Riot Dogg: What would we see if we were there with you in the plaza?

Alyssa: Right now we have four tents, and about 5 just sleeping bags and mats of people sleeping on the sidewalk in front of the campus security office. And there is a food table because we’re doing all day food-serve, I got up at the buttcrack of dawn this morning and I’ll be here until we close up tonight. We’re getting donated food from local places around here that’re down with the movement. We also have an info table that is on top of the steps leading up to the main entrance, where there is a permanent vigil with candles and pictures of Jason and his family.

Riot Dogg: There’s been a bunch of occupations going on in Portland lately, right?

Alyssa: Yeah, Portland was the first city, as far as we know, that started an ICE occupation in front of the ICE building here where they regularly get people ready to deport that where they come in, do their check-ins and then, surprise surprise, we’re actually kicking you the fuck out. And—absolutely unacceptable. So when we did a vigil, on one of those nights that vigil also was a lead-in to the occupation that grew and grew every day, until we were finally swept out by DHS. And please don’t let our nice, nice, liberal mayor fool you: they absolutely worked in tandem with Portland Police Department and swept the camp, and us from it. And there are still comrades that we have to regularly do support for when when they come up for court. Occupation 2.0 is in front of the city hall building and across the street from it and that’s been swept multiple times, but brave comrades have gone back and re-established it. And there’s already crossover between us and them, because it’s a short walk, maybe ten blocks, between the two occupations in downtown Portland. 

Riot Dogg: Thanks so much for speaking with us, how can folks stay up to date and support y’all?

Alyssa: Yeah, the Portland State University Student Union is on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, so if people can sort of retweet, re-gram, re-Facebook the stuff that they post that they like and think would be helpful. Also we’re on PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, same thing, Portland State University Student Union.

Rebel Girl: The effects of Hurricane Florence are still ravaging the Carolinas. The official reports of how many billions of dollars of damage there is will never speak to the amount of suffering this natural disaster is causing. The waterways were inundated with millions of gallons of toxic coal ash, untreated hog waste, and sewage to name just some of what industry has infected people with. As an accent to the ongoing horrors perpetuated by the state, in South Carolina a Horry County Sheriff’s transport, with two prisoners from a mental health facility trapped inside, drove into rising floodwaters. After they lost control of the vehicle, the prisoners’ captors awaited rescue on its roof while the prisoners shackled below them drowned.

Riot Dogg: Can I say something—there’s nothing natural about all of that stuff. The only thing that made the poisoning of the waterways and the drowning of those two prisoners in South Carolina necessary is the way capitalism and the state orders society. Capitalism rewards those who pursue profit at the expense of our health and our earth, and while cops hide behind all that “protect and serve” nonsense, the degree to which they care about your life varies directly with how much you are literally, monetarily worth. The priorities of capitalism and the state are a standing death sentence for the unwanted of society, not to mention the planet.

The mainstream notion of “relief” suggests that there’s some hunky dory normal functioning of society that we should be trying to get back to, but like, even if someone’s house doesn’t flood or have a tree bust through its roof, the precarious situation that so many people already live in means that a few days or weeks without electricity, without drug clinics, without a paycheck or without the charity economy so many depend on can be just as devastating as what you see in any Habitat for Humanity ad that pops up on YouTube.

Rebel Girl: You’re right, there’s so much unnecessary suffering, and it doesn’t have to be this way. Instead of a world where all activity is valued for how much wealth is produces, anarchists believe in a world based in solidarity, where the plight of one is the concern of all. The reason disasters highlight social hierarchies is because they’re an interruption to the status quo—so the state and capitalism kick into high gear… but that interruption can also offer a glimpse into what an anarchist world might look like, because disasters often abound with examples of people defying the state and the logic of capitalist greed to help each other.

To illustrate that point, we have an interview with an anarchist involved in Operation Air Drop, an autonomous relief effort that has been flying food into hurricane affected areas…

Who are we speaking with and what is your involvement in the post-Florence relief efforts?

Pages: So, my name is Pages. I have been involved in organizing and activism now for 8 years and I initially focused on doing street medic work. And after Florence I had a whole bunch of street medic friends that were doing disaster relief out there but I couldn’t leave because of life, so I tried to find a different avenue to go in. That’s when I heard about a whole bunch of pilots flying out supplies to impacted areas that you couldn’t reach by car, and I jumped on the chance because that seemed like the fastest and most efficient way of making an impact.

My predominant role was working with ground contact, where they would contact us and needed supplies, and then also working with local organizations to make sure that their supplies that were going to their ground contact would be getting there, and then working with pilots to kind of figure out with another person who was a volunteer kind of payload capacities and which pilots could carry and make sure that everything was flowing smoothly.

In terms of this kind of organizing, I had never heard of it. As soon as I did, I was fully on board. I’m a utilitarian, so if it’s faster to get things to people who need it, I’m in. But I know there’s been lots of relief efforts across the country, especially during disasters where anarchists and leftists of all types step up. I know Common Ground down in New Orleans was an amazing, amazing relief effort after Katrina. I know there were things going on all along the Gulf Coast with almost every hurricane, and it continues to happen with every hurricane. I’ve heard of disaster work, I’ve worked with folks who have done disaster relief work that are anarchists, but in terms of general aviation, nope, I have never heard of it until I got involved with Operation Airdrop.

Rebel Girl: Would you call Operation Air Drop an anarchist effort?

Pages: So the first group that received relief, uh, that day we only a couple of flights and we kind of did a test flight first just to make sure everything’s going smoothly and it was with Mutual Aid Disaster Relief and then another organization on the ground, I believe called Dream Center, and it’s doing core inner city relief work that were the most impacted in Wilmington. So, there were anarchists involved and then there were also other organizations involved. I can’t give it all credit to the anarchists who received the first drop, it was definitely a coordinated effort.

What was, I think, one of the most beautiful things is that for a solid week politics were actually put to the side, they were all tabled.

It was just a whole bunch of people who got together, folks with planes who were pilots who wanted to help, soccer moms around the triangle, ex-military, we had six year olds make donations, churches make donations, we had organizations across the triangle of every variety helping out, we had, I think, thousands of volunteers or at least over a thousand volunteers in total. And I was just kind of one part of that as an anarchist.

I think one of the coolest parts was watching people do autonomous mutual aid without any kind of propping of ideology. They didn’t have to read Kropotkin, they didn’t have to understand anarchism, they didn’t have to know anything about what mutual aid was on an ideological level to do it. That was, I think, my favorite part, to realize the universality of mutual aid and how every single person who cares and is willing to step up and do something during a disaster and do relief work did mutual aid and they did it in a way that was of their own autonomous decision, they did it in their own way with whatever networks they had, regardless of their political affiliation. They probably wouldn’t even call it mutual aid, but at the end of the day that’s exactly what it was. 


I don’t want to have to hand somebody Mutual Aid or The Conquest of Bread for them to understand. I want it to be seen in our actions rather than our words, and that’s kind of where I came to from this is I didn’t have to give somebody a book or explain the concepts of anarchism to do anarchist work.

And my goal is, kind of moving forward, kind of showing that this kind of work can be done and hopefully change some minds on how all of our politics can be made into something that is leaning more towards anarchists or is autonomous

Rebel Girl: Thanks so much for speaking with us

Pages: I’m super glad to help and kind of help folks kind of get a perspective we wouldn’t otherwise have. It’s been the absolute honor of my life, so if other folks can kind of take that to heart and realize the power we have I’m super down.

Riot Dogg: You know, I’m not sure I agree with the whole putting-politics-to-the-side-thing.

Rebel Girl: What do you mean?

Riot Dogg: Well, I definitely get how Operation Air Drop is an example of how people naturally organize outside of the state or capitalism to get needs met, and that’s great, but without an analysis of who gets excluded from traditional relief efforts—y’know, like undocumented folks or other people who don’t want to risk being around cops—it’s hard to say whether we’re helping folks who wouldn’t otherwise see that relief, or just duplicating other efforts.

Rebel Girl: I mean, I can understand what Pages is saying though—in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, you just want to get stuff on the ground as fast as possible. You can’t wait to lay a perfect blueprint before you act. I think the most insidious stuff will come in the following months—I still remember how the government in New Orleans basically used Katrina as carte blanche to privatize schools and run poor folks out of their neighborhoods and gentrify the hell out of them.

Riot Dogg: But like, shouldn’t anarchist disaster relief also help lay a groundwork for organizing against that kind of exploitation of vulnerable people?

Rebel Girl: Kind of sounds like you want to use disaster situations to further your political goals there, Dogg.

Riot Dogg: When you put it that way, ok, no—but like, I do think that building community resilience should be the goal, not, in the words of last episode’s interviews, “the helpers helping the helpees.”

Rebel Girl: Dear listener, we want to know what you think. Drop us a line at podcast at crimethinc dot com and tell us what you think about anarchist disaster relief, especially if you have any experiences and reflections from doing that kind of work. If Sandy, Harvey, Irma, Maria, and now Florence are any indication, we are going to find ourselves more and more in disaster scenarios as climate change really sets in, and we’re interested in what y’all have to say about where anarchist approaches and ideas intersect with that.

REPRESSION ROUNDUP

Riot Dogg: In this week’s repression roundup…

ContraInfo reports that for the last “two weeks, the German energy giant, RWE, with the assistance of a large police-deployment from all over the country, has been evicting the Hambach Forest-occupation.” Since September 16 there have been five arrests of activists, all who are being held in jail. Far worse than this, however, is the death that took place last Wednesday after we went to air. From a platform about sixty feet in the air, movement journalist Steffen Morst Heyn was documenting police evicting tree-houses when he fell and died.

The report on ContraInfo states, “According to our information, there is no direct connection with the acute local police action at the time of the accident. But we know first-hand that the deceased only climbed into the trees because he was permanently prevented by the police from doing his press-work on the ground.”

Like our comrades at A Radio Berlin said last week, the police may say they are evicting the treehouse occupations of the Hambach Forest for the activists’ own safety, but the motivation behind their actions is pure profit. Steffen would not have died had it not been for the disorienting and forceful presence of the police actions that day. Rest in power Steffen—wherever you are, we hope you can rest easy knowing that the struggle to defend the forest continues. Just yesterday, one of the treehouse villages has been reoccupied, and a coal train was blocked by a lockdown on the tracks.

Rebel Girl: On September 15, 2018, two compañeros of the General Assembly of Peoples, Neighborhoods, Communities and Pedregales of Coyoacán were detained at the encampment in front of a real estate construction project in the south of Mexico City. Quickly mobilizing themselves, the assembly—along with the support and solidarity from neighbors, social organizations and collectives—gathered in front of the district attorney’s office where the compañeros were being held, to pressure the authorities to release the detained. After various hours, and in consequence of the mounting pressure from outside, the two compañeros were released without charge.

Riot Dogg: The FBI is making the rounds these days, harassing and visiting activists in southeast Michigan, which they’ve been doing since the spring following the Stop Spencer demonstration at Michigan State University. The FBI agents have been asking general questions regarding anti-fascist and other organizations, including Redneck Revolt, the IWW, and Solidarity and Defense. Visit miantirepression.org for more information.

Rebel Girl: And, both local police and the FBI have been harassing someone who was arrested in Chapel Hill, North Carolina during the toppling of the Silent Sam Memorial. No warrants or subpoenas have been issued at this time, but the local police has contacted this individual on behalf of the FBI. You can read their statement of noncooperation on ItsGoingDown.org. Remember, kids-never talk to the cops!

Riot Dogg: Anarchist prisoner Casey Brezek was recently transferred to the Farmington Correctional Center in Farmington, Missouri. In November, he will go before the parole board for the first and ONLY TIME and he needs your help! Thoughtful and well composed letters to the parole board by people who care about Casey and are willing to offer support to him during his transition back to life outside of prison can make it more likely that Casey will be released. Please write a letter on Casey’s behalf-it will only take a few minutes but it could make a big difference! We have a sample letter in our shownotes.

Rebel Girl: Prisoners held captive by the state of South Carolina have been on a ONE YEAR LOCKDOWN at Lieber Correctional. That’s right-for the last year, prisoners have been confined to their small cells 24/7. IWOC has organized a phone zap to demand the end of the lockdown. Call the Henry McMaster the South Carolina Governor at 803–734–2100 and Lieber Correctional Warden Randall William at 843–875–3332.

Riot Dogg: Maphuche leader, Facundo Jones Huala, was extradited to Chile last weekend has started a hunger strike on Wednesday, in protest against Argentina’s decision to ignore the United Nations Human Rights Committee’s demand to postpone the process. The Mapuche have been battling the government as they try to regain land lost during Chile’s 19th-century expansion southward into Mapuche-held territory. According to reports, Jones allegedly participated in a fire attack on a farm in 2013 in Chile, and was found in possession of a firearm. Six others were arrested, but later released for lack of evidence. His new trial in Chile will begin on Dec. 4.

Rebel Girl: In the aftermath of the 2018 prison strike prisoners incarcerated in California, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia have reported suffering prison abuses. But, Jailhouse Lawyers Speak reports that some prisoners are engaging in strike activities indefinitely. There are still prisoners going into their fourth week of a hunger strike in the California State Prison in Lancaster and David Easy and James Ward have reinitiated hunger strikes at Toledo Correctional Institution in Ohio.

Riot Dogg: In August, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a longtime U.S. resident protesting against ICE in San Antonio, Texas. The FBI (man, these f*ckers are everywhere, it’s like they’re trying to disrupt our social struggles or something…!) stepped in for an interrogation, telling the resident, 18-year-old Sergio Salazar-aka Mapache, that his immigration status had been revoked because he was a “bad person.”  They gave him the choice of either informing on his comrades who were simply involved in protesting ICE, or staying locked inside a detention facility. Finally, after about 40 days, Mapache decided to opt to be deported to Mexico and is now in Monterrey. While this means that he left the prison behind him, it also meant that for 10 years he is banned from returning to the United States, where he has lived almost his entire life.  There’s an excellent interview with Mapache up on itsgoingdown, check it out!

NEXT WEEK’S NEWS

Rebel Girl: And now for prisoner birthdays and next week’s news.

September 29 is the birthday of Jorge P. Cornell of the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation, who was targeted after working on gang truces and other street-level community organizing. Of course, the state doesn’t have a charge for community organizing, so like the J20 case and plenty of other political cases, the state used the vague language of conspiracy law to secure a conviction. Check out episode 17 of the Ex-Worker to hear an interview with an anarchist involved in Jorge Cornell’s support.

Riot Dogg: October 3 is the birthday of Skelly, one of four Occupy Cleveland activists who took non-cooperating plea deals after being entrapped in an FBI concocted bomb plot.

Rebel Girl: In our shownotes we have addresses for Jorge and Skelly, along with a useful guide for writing prisoners from New York City Anarchist Black Cross.

Riot Dogg: And now, for next week’s news, our list of events that you can plug into in real life.

Alerta! Alerta! Under the guise of a pro-open-carry-on-campus rally, the “Kent State gun girl” Kaitlin Bennett is coordinating with campus police to hold a rally with armed white supremacists from the group American Guard in attendance. The Facebook event has been postponed, but a post on It’s Going Down shows that she is still coordinating with fascists for it to take place, and calls for anti-fascists to show up on September 29 at Risman Plaza on Kent State University in Ohio from 1–5 PM.

Rebel Girl: In Berlin on September 29, there is a demo in defense of Liebig34, a self-organized, anarcha-queer-feminist house and social center. Gather at 6 PM in Wismarplatz square.

Riot Dogg: This weekend Mutual Aid Disaster Relief will present in Tucson, Arizona. On Friday, September 28 at 7 PM they will host Protectors v. Profiteers: Communities in Resistance to Disaster Capitalism, and on Saturday September 29 at 10 AM they will host Giving Our Best, Ready For The Worst: Community Organizing as Disaster Preparedness. Both workshops will be held at the MST Global Justice Center on East 26th street.

Rebel Girl: On October 1 in Raleigh, North Carolina, there is a noise demonstration to support prisoners facing retaliation from the national strike against prison slavery. Gather at 8 AM sharp outside the North Carolina Department of Public Safety on MLK Boulevard.

Riot Dogg: Anti-fascists in Providence, Rhode Island are calling for action against an alt-right “Resist Marxism” rally at the Rhode Island State House at 10 AM, October 6. In their call, the authors show that Resist Marxism organizers are fundraising to fly in known violent fascists from Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys, so on Sunday the anti-fascist group Ocean State Against Hate hosted a four hour long medic training—but whatever your skillset is, show up to Providence on October 6 to show the fash that wherever they come from, they’re not welcome.

Rebel Girl: A coalition of anti-fascist groups is calling for a unity demonstration against a far-right football hooligan event in London on October 13. E-mail LDNANTIFASCISTS at RISEUP dot NET for more info.

Riot Dogg: In Brooklyn, New York on October 19 there’s a benefit punk show to raise some funds for recently released long-term political prisoners. It’s at 8:30 PM at Pine Box Rock Shop and no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Rebel Girl: If you’re in the Balkans this weekend, make sure to visit the CrimethInc. table at the 12th annual Balkan Anarchist Bookfair on September 28–30 in Novi Sad, Serbia. The bookfair features presentations on Israeli anarchists in solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle, migrant solidarity work from Hungary to Bulgaria to Greece, and a CrimethInc. presentation on democracy and the rise of fascism. Find out more at bask2018, that’s B A S K 2018 DOT noblogs DOT ORG bask2018.noblogs.org

Riot Dogg: The anarchist book and propaganda gathering in Santiago, Chile is taking place October 13 and 14 in the historically rebellious neighborhood La Victoria. Find out more at encuentroanarquista.org

Rebel Girl: And that same weekend, there’s an anarchist tattoo and piercing gathering in Pelotas, Brazil.

Riot Dogg: On October 20 and 21 in London, England, instead of an anarchist bookfair comrades there are organizing a decentralized anarchist festival! If you want to be part of it e-mail anarchistfestival(at)riseup.net.

From October 26–28, there’s also an anarchist bookfair in Lisbon, Portugal.

And the Seattle anarchist book fair is taking place on November 17 and 18, with over thirty groups and publishers participating. SeattleAnarchistBookFair.net

Rebel Girl: And lastly, the 2019 Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners calendar is now out. The calendar is themed around is Health/Care, and it features art and writing from current and former political prisoners like David Gilbert, Mike and Chuck Africa, and Laura Whitehorn. Find out more at Certaindays.org

OUTRO

Rebel Girl: And that’s it for this Hotwire. As always thanks to Underground Reverie for the music, and thanks to Alyssa and Pages for the interviews. Stay in touch with us by e-mail to podcast[AT]CrimethInc[DOT]com or follow us on Twitter @HotwireWeekly. Don’t forget to check out all the links, mailing addresses, and useful notes we customized for this episode at CrimethInc.com.

Riot Dogg: You can subscribe to The Hotwire on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts, just search for The Ex-Worker. You can listen to us through the anarchist podcast network Channel Zero. Believe it or not, every Hotwire is radio-ready, so feel free to put The Hotwire on your local airwaves. If you do, let us know so we can plug your station.

Rebel Girl: Stay informed. Stay rebel. Plug into the Hotwire.