The Ex-Worker

This Hotwire we bring you an interview with an anarchist in Managua about the past few weeks of anti-government revolt in Nicaragua. We also report on the arrests of anti-fascists in Georgia, a school bus drivers’ strike also in Georgia, a hunger strike in San Diego’s jails, and community resistance to ICE raids in North Carolina. Next week we’ll bring you our regular episode a day late, but look out for a May Day special we’re releasing to tide you over—and don’t forget to e-mail us your May Day action reports at podcast@crimethinc.com! {April 25, 2018}

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

• Table of Contents:
  • Introduction {0:00}
  • Headlines {1:30}
  • Interview: A Week of Revolt in Nicaragua {16:40}
  • Repression Roundup {27:10}
  • Next Week’s News {32:55}
• Download 29:30 minutes long version
• Events this weekend:
  • April 26–29: The Southeast Trans and/or Women Action Camp in the smoky mountains of western North Carolina. Find out more by e-mailing setwac@protonmail.com.  
  • April 26–28: the Anarchist Black Cross solidarity festival at EKH in Vienna, Austria.
  • April 28–29: The Revolutionary Organizing Against Racism Conference (ROAR) returns to Ohlone land, the so-called Bay Area, California, in both Oakland and San Francisco.
  • April 29: MACC in NYC is hosting a pre-May Day gathering in Tompkins Square Park at 1 PM.
• MAY DAY!
  • In Montreal, anarchists will gather at 6 PM on the corner of Amherst and Sherbrooke.
  • New York City: anarchist contingent in the big May Day march.
  • Durham, NC: autonomous actions and a march starting at the old Durham Police headquarters at 6 PM.
  • Seattle, WA: decentralized, autonomous actions
  • Olympia. WA: decentralized, autonomous actions
  • Portland, OR: coordinated, decentralized actions
  • Eugene, OR: a really free market at the First Christian Church on Oak Street.
  • Los Angeles, CA: a disruptive march
  • Make sure to e-mail your May Day action reports to podcast@CrimethInc.com by May 2 so we can include them in our May Day roundup.
• Fundraising:
  • Donate to the anti-fascists arrested in Newnan, Georgia on Saturday while protesting against neo-Nazis.
  • Donate to the legal support fund for the four people charged over last year’s May Day actions in Olympia.
• Other podcasts mentioned on this Hotwire:
  • Unicorn Riot and End of the Line podcast are keeping people up to date as the struggle against the Mountain Valley Pipeline unfolds.
  • We sample Alanis’ aetheistic rant from The Ex-Worker Holiday Special before we lambast The Church of Satan.
  • Hotwire 19 describes the anti-ICE organizing going on in Koreatown, Los Angeles.
  • Episode 50 of The Ex-Worker has an interview with about the Lucasville prison uprising and how it informs contemporary prison rebellion and organizing
  • We sampled the 99% Invisible episode “Church (Sanctuary, Part 1)” when discussing the sanctuary movement of the 1980s. Part 2 is also great.
  • Get inspired to do something AWESOME for May Day by listening to the very first episode of The Ex-Worker, which is all about Haymarket.
• Anarchist texts related to this Hotwire:
  • From Confronting Fascists to Facing the Police State: Reflections on the Anti-Fascist Mobilization in Newnan, Georgia
  • God and the State by Mikhail Bakunin
  • June 11: The History of a Day of Anarchist Prisoner Solidarity
  • The May Days: Snapshots from the History of May Day
• Start gearing up for a summer of anarchy in Quebec!
  • The anarchist film festival (May 17–20 in Montreal)
  • The Montreal International Anarchist Theatre Festival (May 22–23 in Montreal)
  • The Montreal Anarchist Bookfair (May 26–27 in Montreal)
  • The North American Anarchist Studies Network Conference (June 1–3 in Montreal)
  • Anti-G7 mobilization (June 7–9 in Quebec City)
• Mutual Aid Disaster Relief tour
  • April 25, 26, and 27 at 5:00 PM at Youth Initiative High School 500 East Jefferson St Viroqua, WI 54665
  • April 28 at 5:30 PM at Menomonie Market Food Co-op 814 Main Street E Menomonie, WI 54751
  • April 29 at 10:00 AM at Family & Learning Center 523 Cedar Ave. E. Menomonie, WI 54751
  • May 2 at 6:00 PM at Walker Community Church 3104 16th Ave S Minneapolis, MN 55407
  • May 3 at 6:00 PM at UROC 2001 Plymouth Avenue North Minneapolis, MN 55411
• Use this straightforward guide to writing prisoners from New York City Anarchist Black Cross to write birthday greetings to political prisoner Janine Phillips Africa.
  • Janine Phillips Africa #006309
    SCI Cambridge Springs
    451 Fullerton Avenue
    Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania 16403
    {Birthday: April 25}
  • Also, please write a letter to Cedar, a comrade in Ontario who is in jail over conspiracy charges stemming from the March 5 anti-gentrification march in Hamilton, Ontario. Please address the envelope to Peter Hopperton and the letters to Cedar:

    Peter Hopperton
    Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre
    165 Barton St
    East Hamilton ON
    L8L 2W6

• Phone zaps:
  • Call the warden of Central Ohio Correctional Facility at 330–743–0700 and use this script: “Hello, my name is _____. I’m calling to demand you reverse Friday’s policy changes that imposed new restrictions on prisoners impacted by the Lucasville uprising. None of these prisoners violated any rules and there’s no justification for rolling back important policies that help them survive the 25 years of solitary confinement the ODRC has cruelly subjected them to.”
  • Support the 200+ hunger strikers in Santa Clara County Jails by calling the Sheriff Administration at 408–808–4900 or the Board of Supervisors at 408–299–5001 and demanding that they enter into negotiations with the hunger strikers.
  • Call DeKalb County, GA School Superintendent Stephen Green at 678–676–1200 to demand immediate reinstatement, with no pay lost, of all fired drivers. You can use this script: “Hello, my name is ________. I would like to let you know that I support the school bus drivers. I think it is shameful that the immediate reaction in response to the sick- out was to fire drivers, rather than to negotiate with them. The drivers have a right to organize without fear of retaliation, including by withdrawing their labor. I support their efforts to improve their jobs, and demand that the district immediately reinstate all fired drivers, with no pay lost and no other kind of discipline. None of the drivers who participated should be retaliated against. I also demand that the district immediately recognize the drivers committee and begin negotiating with them. Will you agree to rehire the drivers and recognize their committee?”
  • Call the City of Olympia prosecutor’s office at 360–753–8449 to demand they drop the charges against the four May Day defendants.
• J20 support resources:
  • POSTER: The J20 Prosecution—Trumped up Charges
  • 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
  • Tell the prosecutor’s boss to drop the charges by calling (202) 252–7566