The Ex-Worker

This episode offers an audio version of “Don’t Stop: Continuing the Fight Against Cop City”, published on December 12th. It traces the activities of the movement to Stop Cop City and defend the Weelaunee Forest from June through December 2023, including accounts of the campaign for an Atlanta voter’s referendum on Cop City, the Sixth Week of Action, the relationship between clandestine direct action and public organizing, local Black organizing against the project, the Block Cop City march in November, and potential strategic pathways forward. Tune in for an in-depth evaluation of the latest phase in one of the most critical social struggles of our time. {February 4, 2023}

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• Table of Contents:
  • Introduction {0:37}
  • The Hour Is Drawing Late {2:37}
  • They Don’t Care About You {6:38}
  • The Referendum {8:24}
  • What Mass Organizing Makes Possible {11:19}
  • The Sixth Week of Action {17:58}
  • The New Balance of Forces {22:03}
  • Escalating Tactics {25:20}
  • Atlas Technical Consultants Drops Out {27:45}
  • Scooping the Mid-Range: Repressing Public Resistance {30:16}
  • The Storm Before the Storm {33:26}
  • Escalating Repression: RICO and the Furtherance of the Conspiracy {36:26}
  • RICO in Georgia {39:54}
  • You Can’t Break Us {41:12}
  • The Scope of Repression Broadens {43:30}
  • This is Not a Local Repression Strategy {45:37}
  • Attrition and Conflict {47:51}
  • From Atlanta to Gaza, No Cop City Anywhere {52:22}
  • Black Self-Organization {54:51}
  • Block Cop City {58:05}
  • Building a Common Understanding {1:01:10}
  • Anatomy of a March {1:03:26}
  • Forward, Arm in Arm {1:06:52}
  • Re-Grouping {1:14:16}
  • A Supporter of the Police? {1:15:45}
  • Gauging Success and Failure {1:17:40}
  • Victory and Defeat: A Chimera {1:27:13}
  • Fighting without Assurances {1:29:38}
  • Continuing Forward {1:31:14}
  • Winning by Attrition {1:35:03}
  • Outro/PSA {1:38:54}
• This episode offers an audio version of “ Don’t Stop: Continuing the Fight Against Cop City”, published by CrimethInc. on December 12th. It includes excerpts from “Don’t Panic, Stay Tight: Frontline Reflections on Block Cop City,” an account of the November 13th march in Atlanta.
• For background on the first two and a half years of the movement, see the following articles and podcast episodes:
  • “The City in the Forest,” (audio version) – chronicles the first year of the movement.
  • “The Forest in the City” (audio version) – chronicles the second year of the movement.
  • “Beneath the Concrete, the Forest” (audio version) – collects first-person accounts from the occupation of Weelaunee forest through the first half of 2022.
  • “Balance Sheet” – explores and evaluates the strategies that different currents in the movement have employed.
  • “Defending Abundance Everywhere” – essays on the webs of relationship linking all creatures and underlying the struggle to defend the forest.
  • “The Atlanta Police and Georgia State Patrol Are Guilty of Murder” – analysis of the assassination of Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán.
  • “Living in an Earthquake” (audio version) – chronicl...

The Ex-Worker Podcast Collective is kicking off the serialized release of our first full audiobook, No Wall They Can Build: A Guide to Borders and Migration Across North America. We’ve divided this riveting first person account of life and death in the borderlands into eleven chapters, and over the next three months, we’ll be releasing them in weekly installments each Wednesday. Today, you’ll hear Episode 1: Introduction, which describes how the book was written by a solidarity worker along the US/Mexico border over years of trials and tribulations, and lays out a basic framework for understanding the global apartheid enforced by the border regime. You’ll hear a heartbreaking story about the brutality of migrant detention, and an inspiring one about surviving the journey north against all odds. This episode sets the stage for the in-depth analysis and longer stories of the chapters to come. {April 3, 2019}

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• Table of Contents:
  • Introducing the Border {0:01}
  • Title and Front Matter {1:18}
  • Dedication {2:02}
  • Preface {2:11}
  • Epigraph, from Mojado by Ricardo Arjona {3:37}
  • Story #1 {4:35}
  • Introduction {11:17}
  • Story #2 {18:43}
  • Epigraph, from Edward Abbey {20:44}
  • Conclusion {21:08}
• Note: For this audiobook, we will not provide full transcripts of the text of each episode as we do for The Ex-Worker or The Hotwire. If you want to read along, you can find the book in PDF.
• Also, you can check out our poster diagramming the North American border regime and immigrant solidarity stickers.
• As we mentioned in our episode announcing the audiobook launch, the claim made in this episode that no volunteer with No More Deaths has ever been convicted of a crime for their humanitarian work in the desert, while true at the time the book was published, is no longer accurate. For the latest updates on the legal charges facing solidarity workers along the border, keep an eye on the No More Deaths legal defense campaign.
• If you’re feeling inspired to take action, follow the latest from the #BlockTheWall network. You can also check out this interview by the Final Straw with Comunidad Colectiva, a North Carolina-based group doing rapid response anti-ICE organizing.
• Stay tuned next week for Episode 2: Defining Terms, The Aftermath, and The Travelers.

From the Ukrainian revolution and war with Russia to the Bosnian uprisings, ISIS/Rojava/Kobane conflicts, the Brazilian World Cup protests, anti-police riots in Ferguson and beyond ... 2014 was one hell of a depressing, inspiring, roller coaster of a year! For our year in review, we wrote to anarchists around the world to ask them what they thought were the most significant events of the last year and what they anticipate in 2015. Responses came in from correspondents as far off as Brazil, Russia, Columbia, Slovenia, Finland, and Germany, as well as across North America, with reports about 2014 and analysis of the possibilities for resistance in the upcoming year. We also stop to take stock of the last year of the Ex-Worker, and reveal some schemes and dreams for our next year of anarchist podcasting. And as if that wasn't enough, we share an exclusive report on squatting, eviction, and resistance in Prague, an analysis of recent anti-police rioting in Oakland, and discussions on listener feedback about Agency's Ebola article and the police in relation to the state, along with plenty of news, prisoner birthdays, and more. {January 20th, 2015}

This week, you will hear updates from the Stony Creek tenant strike in Canada, some creative anti-ICE actions, and about some humorous and some of the alt-right’s recent losses. We interview Maya Little about the recent toppling of a confederate statue in North Carolina on Monday. Maya shares information about the impact of the statue on campus, some history, and some initial feelings after the fall of Silent Sam. We kick off the nationwide prison strike with an interview with an outside supporter of the strike, and a reportback from an attendee of a noise demonstration outside a prison. Finally, we wrap up the show with political prisoner birthdays and next weeks news. We’re glad to be back! Send us news, events, or ideas on how our show can better serve anarchist activity in your town by emailing us at [email protected]. {August 22, 2018}

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• Table of Contents:
  • Introduction {0:00}
  • Headlines {0:50}
  • #PrisonStrike {7:50}
  • Confederate monument toppling {20:10}
  • Repression roundup {33:00}
  • Next Week’s News {40:55}
• [Download 29:30 minutes long version.](http://traffic.libsyn.com/exworker/RADIO_VERSION_The-Hotwire_33_PrisonStrike-kicks-off_racist-statue-toppled-in-NC_alt-right-get-self-doxxed.mp3)
• The August 21 #PrisonStrike has begun! Check out the Incarcerated Workers website for more information, resources, and the list of prisoner’s demands. Also, episode #50 of The Ex-Worker is all about the 2016 national #PrisonStrike.
• Check out our newest article documenting how the confederate statue, Silent Sam, came down in North Carolina.
• Check out this article about Joseph Dibee – an alleged ELF fugitive who was just captured, and find out why this case matters.
• READ these texts written by Black Liberation Army prisoner Russel “Maroon” Shoatz:
  • The Dragon and the Hydra
  • The Real Resistance to Slavery in North America
  • Black Fighting Formations
• Read this hilarious story about a clever trick used to get people on the far-right to dox themselves!
• Anarchist prisoner Sean Swain is being held in solitary. Call Director Gary Mohr at 614–387–0588 or e-mail [email protected] or [email protected] (Administrative Assistant for Mohr). You can use this script: “I am calling on behalf of Sean Swain, inmate #243–205. I am a friend of Sean. I am calling to request the ODRC grant Mr. Swain’s appeal regarding his most recent disciplinary record, drop the charges, and lower his security level from 5b to 2. Mr. Swain is not a physical security risk, and there is no reason to keep him at such a high security rating where he will be unable to get the programming he needs to be eligible for rehabilitation and parole. Thank you for your consideration.”
• Ramona Africa has been hospitalized and needs monetary support, Donate to he Go Fund Me
• Use this straightforward guide to writing prisoners from New York City Anarchist Black Cross to write Joseph Dibee, Erik King and, Russell Maroon Shoat...

What do anarchists around the world think is in store for the new year? In Episode 45, we began our 2015 year in review, focusing on the US. In this episode, we share reflections on developments in 2015 and from anarchists in Chile, Finland, Brazil, Korea, Colombia, Czech Republic, and Rojava. There are also discussions about developments in fascism and anti-fascism, with reports from the UK and Australia, and an analysis by Gulf Coast anarchists of the environmental movement’s supposed "victory" over the Keystone XL pipeline in November. On the Chopping Block, we review the latest issue of Perspectives on Anarchist Theory, the journal of the Institute for Anarchist Studies, on the theme of "Justice." Long term black liberation political prisoner Herman Bell discusses his upcoming parole hearing, and we share plenty of news, including some reflection on a new round of revolts in Tunisia, plus prisoner birthdays, events, listener feedback, and more. {February 11, 2016}

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• On the Chopping Block, we reviewed the latest issue (Number 28, on "Justice") of Perspectives on Anarchist Theory, the journal published by the Institute for Anarchist Studies. You can order it through AK Press; you can also find them on Facebook, though you know how we feel about that.
• Our friends at the North American anarchist news website It's Going Down have announced plans to produce a print magazine! Check out their Kickstarter page if you want to show them some support.
• Former Black Panther and long term political prisoner Herman Bell is up for parole in February. Please check out this info from his support site about how to help with his parole hearing, including an online petition.
• Here's Glenn Greenwald's editorial critiquing the notion that internet encryption is responsible for the Paris terror attacks by the Islamic State.
• The report we shared on Rojava came to us from a group of anarchists and internationalists from Central Europe working for liberation in Kurdistan. If you're interested in reading more, CrimethInc. previously published a longer interview piece from this group titled "From Germany to Bakur: European Anarchists on the Kurdish Struggle".
• To learn more about the Guarani resistance in the state of Sao Paulo, mentioned in the report on 2015 resistance in Brazil, visit yvyrupa.org.br.
• Our friends who reported on the so-called "victory" over the Keystone XL pipeline sent links to some of the ongoing ecological resistance happening along the Gulf Coast, including folks fighting a massive 42" LNG export pipeline whose route from West Texas to Mexico cuts through Big Bend National Park - visit Defend Big Bend and the Big Bend Conservation Alliance; and the environmental justice group in Mobile, AL called ME...