Rebel Girl: October 4, 2018: Brett Kavanaugh shouldn’t be on the Supreme Court, and neither should anybody else; police kill another black man in Portland, Oregon; plus a letter from one of the anarchists arrested defending the Hambacher Forest in Germany on this episode of…

The Hotwire.

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

Rebel Girl: With me, the Rebel Girl.

Alanis: Aaaand back by popular demand, me, Alanis!

Rebel Girl: Whaaat—Alanis?! What a nice surprise! But… what’s all this “popular demand” talk about? You of all people should know that here inside the CrimethInc. podcasting barracks, we don’t make demands. And that homogenous, 2-dimensional notion of “the people,” that the word popular is based on, actually serves to erase important social antagonisms that can broaden our understanding of how power itself flows and is reproduced throughout society. Being an anarchist doesn’t just mean activism against the latest horror committed by the state, it means challenging the way authority shapes the everyday relationships around us to restrict our freedom of WHAT and WHO we can BE, it means analyzing what social currencies we buy into that arbitrate the parameters of our morality, it means…

Alanis: Ok… Ok Rebel Girl. I SAID OK!! Sorry! I’m Sorry!!!

Rebel Girl: What?

Alanis: I’m sorry I said “popular demand.” It was just a turn of phrase! It’s not like there was actually a formal demand, let alone a popular one, that made me want to hop back in the host seat—which, I’ll add, is feeling much more like a hot seat right now. There was just this one, single comment about last week’s Hotwire on AnarchistNews.org where someone said, “ok but revive the exworker please.” And it made me miss when Clara and I would do The Hotwire.

Rebel Girl: [In a contemplative tone…] Hmm… the comments on AnarchistNews.org…yes, I think I’ve heard of those. And from everything I’ve heard, you’re off the hook, because it’s not exactly what one would describe as “popular.” But hey, another thing…

Alanis: Oh no, what now?

Rebel Girl: Wow, somebody’s cranky this morning!

Alanis: It’s just like, sheesh, you do an anarchist podcast for years and as soon as you take a break for a few months the new host scrutinizes every word you say! Maybe I should revive the Ex-Worker…

Rebel Girl: Honey no! I mean yes, you definitely should revive the Ex-Worker—I sure miss my monthly dose of anarchist theory and history. But all I was going to say is where’s the Riot Dogg this week?

Alanis: Oh, I was going to ask you the same thing.

Rebel Girl: Riot Doooggggg. Riiioooooootttt Doooooooooooggggggg

[howling sound effect]

Alanis: Well… that sure was spooky.

Rebel Girl: Well, it is October…

Alanis: Oh that’s right, the Fall.

HEADLINES

Alanis: Prison walls fell at three different prisons after the 7.5 magnitude earthquake that devastated Indonesia on Monday. In Palu City, over 500 prisoners took advantage of the prison’s collapsed walls right after the earthquake and tsunami to escape the rising waters. At another overcrowded facility in Palu, prisoners themselves broke through to the outside, and in Donggala, the local jail was set on fire and more than 300 detainees are on the run.

Rebel Girl: And godspeed to them! We applaud every prison break, but this is especially uplifting news after the horrifying story we reported on last Hotwire about the two cops in South Carolina that waited to be rescued from on top of a transport van, while the prisoners below them, shackled in the van, were left to drown in Hurricane Florence’s floodwaters. Prisons and police are an unnatural, unnecessary disaster.

And allow us to take this moment to remember that it isn’t just human beings that died as a result of their captivity during Florence. Over three million chickens, turkeys, and pigs also drowned. From hearing about the hog feces lagoons that have flooded the Carolina riverways, to hearing about undocumented workers who were fired for being a day too late for work after evacuating from the hurricane, and now hearing about the unimaginable number of quote-unquote “live inventory” that drowned… Yuck. Industrial animal agriculture is cruel to animals, cruel to workers, and cruel to the earth, all for the sake of profit.

Alanis: That’s capitalism for ya. And the state isn’t any less lethal—In Portland, Oregon, while the occupation against murderous campus police at Portland State University continues to grow, elsewhere in the city cops just couldn’t hold back from killing yet another black man. On Sunday, police killed Patrick Kimmons after shooting off, according to witnesses, over a dozen rounds.

The following day, protesters shut down the intersection where the police murdered him and left a memorial with candles, flowers, and signs demanding justice for Patrick Kimmons.

We caught up with one participant at the occupation of the intersection to hear what’s been going on.

Hi. Who are we speaking with and what has the scene been like since the shooting on Sunday?

DJ TW34K: I go by “tw34k” DJ_Tw34k on social media or “tw34k” on Mastodon. I’m very active with street level anti-fascist organizing. I’ve lived in Portland for most of my adult life, and notably - I live only a few blocks from where Patrick Kimmons, a husband, family man, and father of 4 was murdered by the Portland Police Bureau, that’s the PPB.

I am not “the” spokesperson for this vigil or direct action, it is first and foremost a memorial and is led jointly by many community groups here in Portland such as Black Lives Matter, PDX Resistance, and local anarchist/antifascist groups, and most importantly of course, the family of the man - Pat-pat who was shot 12 times in the back, and another man of color who was a bystander at the scene was also shot 4 times, and is according to recent reports that I’m aware of, currently listed in critical condition.

The action at 4th & Oak, and 4th & Harvey Milk street which is where Patrick Kimmons was actually shot and killed by the Portland Police Bureau started on Sept 30th which was Sunday, and has carried on ever since.

I should also note that on Saturday the 6th of October there is a march planned which is being planned by the family of the deceased. That is supposed to begin at 3rd & Washington in downtown Portland.

As far as the Portland Police Bureau, they were in attendance at the rally on the first day. There was at least six or seven officers there with loaded weapons. 
The police left shortly thereafter during the day on the 30th and have not been back to this particular community vigil and protest action.

There has been a regular stream of provocateurs. Fascists, proud boys, other just random community members/ drunk people trying to provoke but nothing too serious.

On the morning of October 2nd, several vehicles have plowed through the memorial and destroyed some of the signs and other things that were set up there. 
The one who calls himself the mayor of Portland Oregon has released a cowardly statement and is very likely going to take absolutely no action whatsoever towards the Portland Police Bureau or the officers who murdered this man and potentially killed a second person as well.
 Our community loves Patrick Kimmons and his family, and we will not forget his execution at the hands of the Portland Police. And if you are in the Portland area or anywhere near Portland Oregon, you are welcome to come down, bring candles, show solidarity, bring roses and flowers and anything else for the community, and join us at the ongoing vigil at 4th & Harvey Milk street right downtown.

And again, there is a march on Oct 6th which is a Saturday in memorial for Patrick Kimmons.

Alanis: Thanks so much for speaking with us.

DJ TW34K: Peace and love to you all. Solidarity forever. Anarchy forever. Black Lives Matter.

Alanis: Meanwhile, the occupation against Immigration and Customs Enforcement at City Hall in Portland officially ended on Monday. Its initial iteration in June was the first such encampment in the wave of occupations of ICE buildings that took place across the country this summer. While it’s always sad to see a resistance commune end, sometimes they reach their limits and can’t gain anymore ground. However, the anti-ICE occupation continues to make an impact even after its dissolution. The endurance of a conflictual tactic is not its only worthwhile measure—how much it spreads is just as important, and last episode one of the occupiers we interviewed at Portland State University took direct inspiration from the ICE occupation, and now there are multiple occupations cropping up across the city.

Rebel Girl: Over the last week millions of people followed the confirmation hearings for would-be Supreme Court justice, and supremely sketchy sexual assaulter, Brett Kavanaugh. While we appreciate all of the powerful conversations about sexual violence and gender oppression that the hearings have catalyzed around the country, building on the momentum of the increasingly widespread #MeToo movement, as anarchists we’re interested in asking some different questions from the ones we’re hearing on the news, or even from many feminist activists. To shift the dialogue towards a deeper critique of the structures of power in our society, we present a recently published article from the CrimethInc. blog, titled:

Alanis: Kavanaugh Shouldn’t Be on the Supreme Court. Neither Should Anyone Else.

Last week, millions watched the dramatic hearings pitting Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh against Christine Blasey Ford, who courageously narrated her experience of being sexually assaulted by him decades ago. Once again, Americans were confronted with the brazen entitlement of the male power establishment. The hearings stirred up traumatic memories for countless survivors, ratcheted up partisan tensions, and catalyzed furious responses from feminists and progressives in view of the implications of the court shifting further to the right. With Roe v. Wade hanging in the balance, critics point out the horrifying irony of an unrepentant sexual predator potentially casting the deciding vote to block abortion access to millions of women and others across the country.

We applaud the courage of Christine Blasey Ford and everyone who has supported her through this ordeal. We don’t want to see Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, either. But should any man be able to wield that much power over the lives of millions?

What if the Trump administration manages to find a judge with the same views, but with no history of sexual assault? Would that render the confirmation process legitimate and their decisions of the Supreme Court beyond question? Should people of conscience accept the sovereignty of a nine-person elite over the most intimate spheres of their lives?

If you don’t think so either, you may already be an anarchist.

What does it look like to resist the nexus of rape culture and far-right power that Kavanaugh represents? The usual suspects propose the conventional solutions: calling representatives, canvassing for Democrats, taking to the streets to hold signs indicating our displeasure. But even if these efforts forestall Kavanaugh’s nomination this time around, they won’t disrupt the relations of power in which hundreds of millions are held hostage to the machinations of a small, mostly male elite. A victory against this particular nominee would only reset the clock; eventually, Trump will force through a new candidate who will rule the same way Kavanaugh intends to. And even if Trump is impeached or a Democrat is elected and a progressive nominee is sworn in—we’re still in the same place we started, vulnerable to the whims of a judicial aristocracy and alienated from our own power and potential. We need an approach that challenges the foundations of the system that put us in this situation in the first place.

Meanwhile, progressive critics have demanded an FBI investigation as a way to give official weight to Ford’s testimony and hopefully discredit Kavanaugh as a candidate. They point out, reasonably, that Trump’s claim to be in favor of law enforcement while hesitating to order the FBI to look into Kavanaugh’s sexual misconduct reveals his hypocrisy. This logic positions progressives and feminists as the honest proponents of law enforcement—and police as protectors of women. Have we learned nothing from decades of rape crisis organizers explaining how the police and courts so often serve to retraumatize survivors, putting them on trial rather than those who attacked them? Can we ignore the feminists of color from INCITE to Angela Davis who call on us to remember that police and prisons do not stop rape but rather intensify poverty, racism, and injustice?

Democrats are trying to recast themselves as the real “law and order” candidates. This is not so much a change in strategy as a revealing of their true colors. Between the blue of “blue states” and the blue of “blue lives matter,” it’s only a difference of tone, not content.

In TV newsrooms and around water coolers across the country, the discussions about this case have focused on how “believable” or “credible” Ford’s testimony is versus that of Kavanaugh. Taking this approach, we become an entire nation of judges and juries, debating evidence and scrutinizing witnesses, choosing whose experience to legitimize and whose to reject. This adversarial framework has always benefitted those who wield privilege and hold institutionalized power. Even if we rule in favor of Ford, we are reproducing the logic of a legal system based in patriarchal notions of truth, judgment, and objectivity, a way of understanding reality that has always suppressed the voices and experiences of the marginalized, preserving the conditions that enable powerful men to sexually abuse others with impunity.

Unfortunately, calls for FBI investigations reinforce this logic and legitimize the murderous regime of surveillance, policing, and prisons as a means of obtaining justice rather than a source of harm. Rejecting the rape culture that Kavanaugh and his supporters represent necessarily means rejecting the patriarchal institutions through which they wield power. If we legitimize any of those institutions in the course of trying to be pragmatic in our efforts to discredit specific officials, we will only undercut our efforts: one step forward, two steps back.

This has broader implications for how we address rape culture in general. When we reduce the issue of sexual violence to the question of whether specific men have committed sexual assault or abuse, we frame these as crimes carried out in a vacuum by deviant individuals. As a result, entertainment corporations and government agencies can pretend to solve the problem by finding men who do not have sexual assaults on their record rather than addressing the misogynistic dynamics and power imbalances that are inherent in government, the workplace, and society at large. This confuses the social question of addressing sexual violence with the matter of finding candidates and nominees who can present a clean résumé; should they later turn out to also be implicated in doing harm, they can be replaced, just as the electoral system replaces politicians every few years without ever giving the rest of us self-determination. Rape, abuse, and other forms of violence are a systemic problem within our society, not a matter of individual deviance. We need a way of addressing rape culture that cuts to the root.   Are there other ways that we can think about how to respond to the threat that a judge like Kavanaugh poses to our bodies and communities? As anarchists, we reject the idea that judges or politicians deserve the authority to determine the course of our lives. Rather than only trying to pressure leaders to vote one way or the other in a winner-take-all system that reduces us to spectators in the decisions that affect us, we propose solutions based in direct action: taking power back into our hands by enacting our needs and solving our problems ourselves, without representatives.

As long as legislators and judges can determine the scope of our reproductive options, our bodies and lives will be subject to the shifting winds of politics rather than our own immediate needs and values. Instead of validating their authority by limiting ourselves to calling for better legislators and judges, we should organize to secure and defend the means to make decisions regarding what we do with our bodies regardless of what courts or legislators decree. In practice, this could mean networking with health workers who have the necessary skills, and sharing them widely; stockpiling and manufacturing the supplies we need for all sorts of health care; defending spaces where we can operate our own clinics; fundraising resources to secure access to health care and birth control options for all, regardless of ability to pay; and developing models for reproductive autonomy that draw on past precedents but address our current problems. We can do our best to render the decisions of would-be patriarchs like Kavanaugh irrelevant.

All this has already happened before. For example, from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, the Jane network, a vast clandestine effort centered in Chicago, provided illegal abortions to thousands of women. The fact that abortion was already accessible to so many women was a major factor in compelling the US court system to finally legalize abortion access in order to be able to regulate it. The most effective way to pressure the authorities to permit us access to the resources and care that we need is to present them with a fait accompli. Unfortunately, when it comes to standing up to elites like the Supreme Court and the police who enforce its decisions, there are no shortcuts.

We can extend the logic of direct action to every area in which a right-wing Supreme Court might inflict harm, from environmental destruction to indigenous sovereignty to labor organizing. All of the rights we have today are derived from the grassroots struggles of ordinary people who came before us, not from the wisdom or generosity of powerful officials.

FBI investigations and court processes will not end sexual violence or bring healing to survivors. To strike at the root causes that enable the Kavanaughs of the world to do harm, we have to tear up patriarchy and toxic masculinity by the roots. This involves a process of ongoing education around sexuality, consent, and relationships, developing strategies to intervene when we see violence of any kind in our communities, creating culture that models alternative visions of gender and intimacy, and reimagining justice as restorative and transformative rather than adversarial.

We can see how pervasive the problem is when we look at the narratives that underpin support for Kavanaugh. Leading up to the hearings, supporters focused on portraying Kavanaugh as a devoted family man. As multiple allegations of sexual assault surfaced, many commentators framed the question as a contradiction between Kavanaugh the loving husband and father and Kavanaugh the callous rapist, implying that these roles are mutually exclusive. Yet gendered violence continues at epidemic levels within proper heterosexual families; shocking rates of spousal rape and domestic violence permeate American marriages, while statistics on child sexual abuse indicate that family members make up a substantial proportion of abusers. Bill Cosby, the archetypical television husband and father, was recently sentenced to prison for drugging and sexually assaulting numerous women. The false assumption that a history of sexual assault is somehow incompatible with adhering to the conventions of heterosexual family life reflects the persistence of patriarchal norms and homophobia, as well as a refusal to honestly address the extent of gendered violence in our society. No Supreme Court could solve this problem, even if it consisted of the nine wisest and gentlest people in the world. When it comes to social change, there’s no substitute for widespread grassroots action.

Some American feminists have drawn parallels between the Kavanaugh case and the #NotHim movement in Brazil, in which women are rallying against a Trump-esque misogynist politician running for president.

The struggle of Brazilian feminists to resist the extreme-right threat deserves our attention and support. Yet as anarchists, we can take that model further in responding to the Kavanaugh nomination. Rather than Not Him, we can assert Not Anyone—no man, rapist or not, deserves the power to decide the reproductive options for millions of women and others. Perhaps the more appropriate slogan for the struggle against patriarchy and the Supreme Court would be the rallying cry of Argentina’s 2002 rebellion: “Que se vayan todos!”—get rid of all of them. They all must go.

The sooner we can do this—the more we can delegitimize the authority of Supreme Courts to shape our lives, and the more powerful and creative we can make our our alternatives—the less we will have to fear from the Trumps and Kavanaughs of the world. Let’s build a society that enables everyone to engage in genuine self-determination—in which no man can decide what all of us may do with our bodies—in which no state can take away our power to shape our future.

REPRESSION ROUNDUP

Rebel Girl: In this week’s repression roundup…

The Olympia Solidarity Network (OlySol) has launched a campaign against businesses that contract with the local private security firm, Pacific Coast Security (PCS). PCS operates nightly patrols in downtown Olympia, displacing and criminalizing people sleeping in alcoves and alleyways. This is a kind of second wave of repression that Olympia’s houseless population is facing after the closure of the Artesian Commons, which we discussed last Hotwire. You can express solidarity with houseless people in Olympia by calling Cooper Realty/Orca Construction, one of the businesses that contracts with PCS, at (360) 491–4580 and demand that they cancel their contract with Pacific Coast Security. There’s a sample script in our shownotes.

And speaking of orcas… At least half of the world’s orca populations are doomed to extinction due to toxic and persistent pollution of the oceans, according to a major new study released by an international team of researchers.

Although PCBs have been banned for decades, they are still leaking into the seas. They become concentrated up the food chain; and as a result, orcas, the top predators, are the most contaminated animals on the planet. Worse, their fat-rich milk passes on very high doses to their newborn calves. PCB concentrations found in orcas can be 100 times safe levels and severely damage reproductive organs, cause cancer and damage the immune system.

You might be wondering why this might be in the repression roundup, but if being poisoned into extinction by modern civilization isn’t repression, we don’t know what is.

There are extraction battles waged all across Central and South America, as communities fight to protect their communities and surrounding ecosystems. Despite the odds, the Guatemalan group “La Puya Peaceful Resistance” stands out as an example of how women can halt the spread of these projects. La Puya has, for now, completely stopped mining operations in its community.

Community leaders Ana Sandoval and Miriam Pixtun listed five key ingredients to their success: 1) include everyone–women and men, people of different ages and religions, etc.–in all planning and activities; 2) no direct dialogue with the company—3) develop collective processes with no single leader 4) fight simultaneously in the courts and in the streets, and 5) strengthen local culture to strengthen unity, identity and resistance.

Three environmental activists are believed to be the first people to receive jail sentences for protesting against fracking in the UK. The three were sentenced to 15 months last Wednesday after being convicted of causing a public nuisance. Another defendant was given a 12-month suspended sentence after pleading guilty to the same offence. The four people were charged after taking part in a four-day direct action protest that blocked a convoy of trucks carrying drilling equipment from entering the Preston New Road fracking site near Blackpool. Despite the arrests, a group of anti-fracking activists are continuing their campaign and blocked the entrance of Cuadrilla’s shale gas site near Blackpool this past Monday.

A group of non-profits is organizing a mass bail out of women and children in New York City, aiming to bail up to 1000 people out of Rikers Island and the Horizon Juvenile Detention Center. The bailout began this past Monday, you can learn more at massbailout.com

A Food Not Bombs activist has been imprisoned in the Philippines by the Duterte regime on trumped up drugs charges. We have a link to a fundraiser in our shownotes.

Last year in the UK, 15 people grounded a deportation charter flight for ten hours to prevent it taking off. Now, state has charged those brave individuals with terrorism-related offences that could result in life imprisonment.

They were all due to stand trial in March this year but after a series of agonizing delays the trial was adjourned. The retrial began this past Monday, and we’ll bring you updates as the trial progresses.

Alanis: A report on It’s Going Down from a prisoner solidarity noise demonstration in Raleigh, North Carolina says, “At least four NC prisoners are currently being held in segregation for their role in allegedly organizing participation in the August prison strike.” The solidarity demo took place on Monday, with over a dozen people holding up banners that read “No Retaliation 4 Striking Prisoners!” “Solidarity with Prison Rebels,” and one listing the strikers’ demands, including an end to the punishment the alleged organizers are facing—that is, solitary confinement.

If you weren’t one of Monday’s noble solidarity demonstrators, don’t worry! You can still support the alleged strike organizers by calling the director of North Carolina’s Department of Public Safety at 919 733 2126 and telling him to move the prisoners out of segregation and remove the infraction charges against them. We have a sample script you can use in our shownotes.

On February 1st, 2017, inmates in the C-building at Vaughn Correctional Center in Delaware took control of their unit and held staff hostage in an uprising that lasted over 18 hours. They called the media, released a list of demands, and explained their actions as motivated by their conditions of confinement as well as the election of Donald Trump as President. One prison guard, Steven Floyd, was killed by inmates during the uprising. Eight months later, the Vaughn 17 were indicted and charged with murder for the death of the corrections officer. The Vaughn prison rebels will be tried in groups with trials beginning soon, and we have the following statement from the Revolutionary Abolitionist movement about court support:

“RAM-NYC, RAM Philadelphia, and Vaughn 17 Support Philly are organizing court support for the brave comrades inside the walls: The Vaughn 17. We are calling on prison abolitionists and revolutionary comrades to attend the trial in a strong showing of solidarity in Wilmington, Delaware. The first group starts trial October 8th, and the final group starts February 11, 2019. We are now calling for volunteers for the trial starting October 8th; for jury selection starts October 8th, and the trial October 22nd. We will be holding banners outside the courthouse, attending the trial, and as the main supporters in that room, taking notes on the proceedings. Join this orientation to find to schedule a date to come and to find out how to do court support. Come show the prison rebels they are not alone! Get in touch with us for any questions about court support: revolutionaryabolitionistmovement@protonmail.com”

Ohio Prosecutor are seeking an execution date for Keith Lamar, who is a survivor of the Lucasville Uprising. Keith Lamar’s lawyers state that, “his conviction rests on prisoner testimony which is not independently corroborated; there is no physical or video evidence linking him to the crimes and he has always maintained his innocence.” Supporters are calling for amnesty and recognition that the state was ultimately responsible for the deaths that occurred at their “maximum security” prison in April of 1993. If the supreme Court of Ohio ignores his lawyer’s motion, Keith will likely be given an execution date for the year 2023.

Unlike Keith Lamar, Greg Curry did not receive the death sentence for his supposed role in the Lucasville Uprising but instead is serving life without the possibility of parole. Greg is seeking counsel to help get him get out of solidarity confinement and the Supermax Ohio State Penitentiary that he is being held in. Most prisoners must voluntarily accept being housed in the “atypical conditions” of the Supermax by signing a waiver. Greg did not sign the waiver, but regardless, he is being held there indefinitely. We have a link to a new poster about Greg Curry on our site, as well as his address to write him. And if you can help Greg’s legal battle in any way, please get in touch with his support campaign through his website gregcurry.wordpress.com/

Lastly, we want to remind you all that anarchist prisoner Casey Brezek will go before the parole board for the first and ONLY TIME in November 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 on the outside 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.

NEXT WEEK’S NEWS

Alanis: And now for political prisoner birthdays and next week’s news.

There’s a bunch of political prisoner birthdays this week, and we wanted to mention that one great way we keep up with how to stay in touch with our comrades on the inside is through the monthly rebel prisoners birthday calendar. It comes out each month and includes the birthdays and short bios for a bunch of political prisoners and prison rebels—here’s what it says for this week:

October 4 is the birthday of Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly H. Rap Brown, who, “was a black liberation leader serving as the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and later the Justice Minister of the Black Panther Party.” He went underground in 1970 after being indicted for inciting a riot that broke out after an attempt was made on his life, which left him with fragments of shotgun pellet in his forehead! In the 90s, Al-Amin was once again the target of a campaign of state harassment, which included recanted statements from people that the police had pressured into pointing the finger at Al-Amin for all sorts of crimes. He was eventually wrongfully convicted of murder in the year 2000.

Rebel Girl: October 6 is the birthday of another black liberation militant, Mike Davis Africa, who is one of the Move 9, the imprisoned black eco-revolutionaries each serving 100 years after being framed for the murder of a Philly cop in 1979. He is a loving father, grandfather, and the partner of Debbie Sims Africa, who was released from prison in June of this year.

Alanis: Also celebrating his birthday on October 6 is David Gilbert, whom the rebel prisoners calendar describes as, “a founding member of Columbia University Students for a Democratic Society and member of The Weather Underground Organization. Following ten years underground he was arrested with members of the Black Liberation Army and other radicals following a botched armored car robbery in 1981.” David Gilbert is also well known for his HIV-related prison activism and continued authorship from behind bars, including his memoirs Love and Struggle.

Rebel Girl: And last to celebrate his birthday this week is Malik Bey of the Virgin Island 5, anti-imperialist prisoners each serving 8 consecutive life sentences after being tortured into false confessions. Malik’s sentence was vacated in 2001, but he remains behind bars.

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

Rebel Girl: The alt-right “Resist Marxism” group is returning to Providence, Rhode Island this Saturday, and anti-fascists are calling for a counter-demonstration at the Rhode Island State House at 10 AM, October 6. Follow Ocean State Against Hate @RIagainstH8 on Twitter for more updates.

And in Montreal on October 7, there’s a mass anti-racist demonstration after the victory of a xenophobic right-wing party in Quebec’s provincial elections on Monday. Meet Sunday at 3 PM in Berri Square.

Alanis: Also on October 6, defenders of the Hambach Forest in Germany’s Rhineland are calling for a mass demonstration starting at 12 noon at the Buir, that’s B U I R, train station. The demonstration is in response to the coal company RWE and its police servants continuing to evict forest defenders despite an activist journalist falling to his death amidst last week’s evictions. The demonstration is also a precursor to a week of civil disobedience to save the forest from October 25 to the 29. If you’re in Europe, try to make it—Hambi is really magical. And if you’re not convinced of how magical it is, listen to episode 37 of The Ex-Worker, which is all about the Hambach Forest occupation.

And speaking of Hambi, the Rhineland Anarchist Black Cross has released a letter from a jailed anarchist who is only going by the name Winter. They were arrested when the tree-house evictions began two weeks ago.

It reads, “You lock us up and punish us, because we think and act independently, and decide ourselves, what is right and what isn’t. This is what makes us human: Ethics, autonomy, independence, empathy, thoughts about justice for the future, our unity of body, soul, and spirit. …

“How can you demand, that I deny my humanity, or subordinate myself to the profit-motive of a single company, or power-hungry politicians? How can you demand, that I should act as if tomorrow didn’t matter, even though everything in our system is based on a future? …

“You are telling me, that what I am doing is good, but that it is the wrong methods. That they are too extreme. Hmm. How extreme is this eviction then? As I was driven away from the forest, I could see the long line of police-cars, machines, eviction-tanks, etc… And I knew that it was just a fraction of these, that were inside the forest. I almost had to laugh, that’s how ridiculous it was…

“For you have nothing to fight for. You call us extreme, because we are different, because we are consistent, because we defend what we believe in. Because we can’t stop, otherwise we would betray ourselves. We were sitting in the lock-on, could barely move. Could barely turn. We could only look at each other, share words of courage and consolation. You came from all sides, slashed the roof over our heads, cut down the walls behind us. You have torn our lives apart. And then you accuse us of violence?

“You were laughing, as we were screaming in panic, that you were bringing the life of our friend on the Skypod in danger. We were screaming and screaming, and you cut the rope. Only the friction held it up…

“We are making you afraid, because we don’t fit inside your schemes, because what we are fighting for isn’t power or money, but the love of life itself, the wild urge for freedom, and the rage towards those who want to take all of this away. If I give you my identity, I will be let out of here. So probably a lot of you will say, it is my own fault that I am sitting here. But my identity isn’t something written on a piece of paper. My identity is that which makes me human, my essence, my soul, all that I have learned in this forest, all that the people there have showed me. All of that, which I would lose, if I told you who I am. To reduce myself to these few words. I will not use the unjust privilege of a German passport. I will stay in solidarity with those, who because of repression cannot give their identity. I am a human and I fight for the preservation of this earth. Everything else is irrelevant.”

Rebel Girl: GOD. DAMN. When the FUCK is that DEMO?

Alanis: October 6, 12 noon, Buir—B U I R—train station.

Rebel Girl: And, now an announcement submitted to us from Portland, Oregon. QUOTE, “Tuesday, October 9 is the inaugural launch of PDX Mobile Food Not Bombs. Recognizing that gentrification disproportionately displaces the poor working class, we seek to go wherever the people are to break bread and share ideas. Join us at 11 AM at the intersection of SE 82nd and SE Division adjacent to Portland Community College for a free meal and to find out where the next one will be or how to get involved.”

Alanis: 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.

Rebel Girl: 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.

Alanis: 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.

Alanis: 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 weekend of November 17 and 18 has anarchist book fairs in both Seattle, Washington and Boston, Massachusetts. More at SeattleAnarchistBookFair.net and BostonAnarchistBookFair.org.

Rebel Girl: And riot tourists take note that while the cold starts setting in towards the end of November in North America, things will be heating up on the other side of the equator in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The G20 summit, which faced days of uncontrollable, anti-capitalist rioting in Germany last year, is set to begin on November 30 in Buenos Aires. Argentina’s economy has been teetering for some time now, and anti-austerity protests have become a regular occurrence in capitol of Buenos Aires. Add to that the militant demonstrations with masks and Molotov cocktails that followed the disappearance of indigenous land-rights activist Santiago Maldonado, and I’d say the groundwork is pretty well laid for fierce resistance against the G20 this November. In cooperation with comrades in Germany, France, and elsewhere, CrimethInc. has prepared a detailed overview in four languages about the resistance to the G20 summit last year, with an eye towards the summit in Argentina. It’s called To Our Compas in Buenos Aires, and you can find it at Crimethinc.com.

Alanis: 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 and Mike Africa. 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, thanks to DJ TW34K, and thanks to Alannis from The Ex-Worker. 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.

Alanis: You can subscribe to The Hotwire on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts, just search for The Ex-Worker. And who knows, maybe that feed will bring you an occasional Ex-Worker episode from time to time. You can listen to us through the anarchist podcast network Channel Zero, and believe it or not, every Hotwire is radio-ready, with a twenty-nine and a half minute version found in each episode’s shownotes, 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.