The Hotwire #20: West Virginia teachers strike—Student walkouts everywhere—Youth liberation NOW!

The Ex-Worker

While students walk out of classes all over the country (and occasionally fight cops) we make the pitch for an anarchist youth liberation movement. In wild, wonderful, and apparently rebellious West Virginia, striking school employees have shut down every public school in the state, while treesitters are putting up resistance to the Mountain Valley Pipeline. We also share calls to support political prisoner Joy Powell, as well as a fundraising drive for a radical café in Istanbul. Listen until the end for announcements of three different speaking tours in March: one about anarchist responses to natural disasters, one about the anarchist critique of democracy, and one all about the J20 case and why the remaining 59 defendants deserve your utmost support. {February 28, 2018}

-------SHOW NOTES------

• Table of Contents:
  • Introduction {0:00}
  • Headlines {1:30}
  • Youth liberation now! {9:20}
  • Repression Roundup {21:35}
  • Next Week’s News {23:00}
• Download 29:30 long version
• Check out the Hamilton, Ontario anarchist bookfair this weekend!
• Join antifascists in Lansing, Michigan at noon on March 5 as they gather to oppose white nationalist Richard Spencer’s visit to Michigan State University.
• J20 support resources:
  • West Coast J20 solidarity speaking tour
  • J20 Legal Defense Fund
  • Twitter
  • Fed book
  • An Open Letter to Former J20 Defendants, with useful “do”s and “don’t”s
  • Teen Vogue: The J20 Arrests and Trials, Explained
• Other anarchist shows mentioned in this Hotwire:
  • End of the Line #12: Irreparable
  • This is Parkdale, documentary about tenant organizing and rent strike in Toronto
  • In Hotwire #19 we explain why radical social movements are better equipped to solve the problem of mass shootings than the state is
  • Trouble #9: Learning to Resist
  • Trouble #10: School’s Out
  • IGDcast: Audio Report from the Picket Lines of the West Virginia Teachers’ Strike
  • IGDcast: Mutual Aid Disaster Relief on Building Dual Power & Upcoming Tour
• Also, check out the decades of prison radio done by ex-death row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.
• Youth Liberation Texts, possibly to be used by anti-authoritarian youth looking to connect with others at March For Our Lives events on March 24:
  • No! Against Adult Supremacy
  • The Child and its Enemies
  • Youth Liberation
  • Anarchism and Youth Liberation
  • The Teenage Liberation Handbook
• Fundraising:
  • Donate to the anti-Mountain Valley Pipeline treesitters in West Virginia.
  • Support Kris Thompson, the widow of Kiwi Herring, a black trans woman who was murdered by St. Louis police, who is now facing charges
  • Donate to the new International Anarchist Defence Fund, even though they spell “defense” all weird
  • Please support Komşu Kafe, a radical spot in Istanbul that exists for everyone, “overwhelmed and disillusioned by exploitation, hierarchy, inequality and hate.”
• J20 solidarity speaking tour:
  • March 3: Seattle, WA – Pipsqueak Gallery (173 16th Ave), 7:00 PM
  • March 4: Olympia, WA – New Moon (113 4th Ave W), 7:00 PM
  • March 5: Portland, OR – Cider Riot (807 NE Couch), 6:30 PM
  • March 6: Eugene, OR – Wesley Center (2520 Harris St), 6:30 PM
• From Democracy to Freedom Speaking Tour by CrimethInc..
  • March 7: Pittsburgh, PA – 7 pm at the Mr. Roboto Project, 5106 Penn Avenue
  • If you’d like to arrange a presentation in your town or at your university, just contact [e-mail].
• Mutual Aid Disaster Relief tour
  • March 3 @ 5:00 pm CST First Congregational Church (Fight For 15 office) 1000 S. Cooper St. Memphis, TN 38104: Protectors v. Profiteers: Communities in Resistance to Disaster Capitalism
  • March 4 @ 12:00 pm CST First Congregational Church (Fight For 15 office) 1000 S. Cooper St. Memphis, TN 38104: Giving Our Best, Ready For The Worst: Community Organizing as Disaster Preparedness
  • March 6 @ 6:00 pm EST The Birdhouse 800 N 4th Ave Knoxville, TN 37917: Protectors v. Profiteers: Communities in Resistance to Disaster Capitalism
  • March 7 @ 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm EST The Birdhouse 800 N 4th Ave Knoxville, TN 37917: Giving Our Best, Ready For The Worst: Community Organizing as Disaster Preparedness
• Write to political prisoner imprisoned Reverend Joy Powell:
  • Reverend Joy Powell #07G0632 Bedford Hills CF Post Office Box 1000 Bedford Hills, New York 10507–2499
• Use this straightforward guide to writing prisoners from New York City Anarchist Black Cross.
• Also call in to Superintendent Joseph at 914–241–3100 and Don Venetozzi at 518–457–2337 and say, “Hello, I am calling to ask that DSS Michael Daye, Lt. McBride and Sgt. McDaniels NOT be allowed to harass inmates and violate the legal and medical safeguards of Joy Powell #07G0632 and that Joy Powell be released IMMEDIATELY from SHU, as she is a senior citizen with health issues, and has been placed in there in retaliation for speaking to the media about the abhorrent conditions at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility! I also request that she be allowed to have snacks on her at all times, that she be allowed to monitor her blood sugar three times daily and that she be free of harassment when going to and from the law library.”