#63: Anarchists in the Trump Era, Year One: 2017 in Review, Part III
Release Date: 02/07/2018
#113: Mutual Aid and Revolutionary Anti-Capitalism: Revisiting the Difference Between Mutual Aid and Charity
The Ex-Worker
This episode offers an audio version of “,” exploring why the best way to understand mutual aid as an effort to create participatory commons in which everyone can contribute and there is no fundamental division between organizers and beneficiaries. -------SHOW NOTES------ Table of Contents Introduction {0:30} Is It Mutual Enough? {1:34} Beyond Individualism {5:13} The Ones with the Problem Are Themselves the Solution {9:18} The Social Is the Material {13:14} Change from Below {15:17} Mutual Aid Means Resistance {19:33} This episode offers an audio version of “,”...
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#112: From Minneapolis to Los Angeles: The Origins of the Wave of Resistance to ICE
The Ex-Worker
This episode offers audio versions of “’” and “,” which trace the origins of the angry response to federal raids that spread across the United States in early June 2025. -------SHOW NOTES------ Table of Contents Introduction {0:34} Minneapolis to Feds: “Get the Fuck Out” {0:41} Account I: The Raid {8:11} Account II: The Response {11:51} Los Angeles Stands up to ICE {17:58} First Action, High Noon {19:48} Second Action, 4 pm {22:59} Third Action, 10 pm {24:35} This episode offers audio versions of “’” and “,” published by CrimethInc. on June 4, 2025 and June 6,...
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#111: Become an Anarchist or Forever Hold Your Peace
The Ex-Worker
This episode offers an audio version of “,” arguing that neither courts nor laws will halt the descent into autocracy. Massive numbers of people will have to take it upon themselves to organize concrete acts of resistance, to take direct action on a horizontal and participatory basis—in other words, to become anarchists. -------SHOW NOTES------ Table of Contents Introduction {0:36} Tyranny Is the Opposite of Anarchism {1:12} A Three-Sided Conflict {3:45} No Law Will Give You Freedom {8:32} Remember How We Got Here {12:02} Become an Anarchist or Forever Hold Your Peace...
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#110: It’s Safer in the Front
The Ex-Worker
This episode offers an audio version of “,” making the case that seeking safety by avoiding confrontation is not likely to be an effective strategy in a time of escalating political conflict. {February 25, 2025} -------SHOW NOTES------ Table of Contents Introduction {0:30} My Friend’s Grandfather {1:11} “Summit of the Americas,” Québec City, April 20, 2001 {3:41} George W. Bush’s Second Inauguration, Washington, DC, January 20, 2005 {5:10} Democratic National Convention, Denver, August 25, 2008 {6:34} Donald Trump’s First Inauguration, Washington, DC, January 20, 2017...
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#109: Sacrificial Violence and Retribution
The Ex-Worker
This episode offers an audio version of “,” exploring the responses to two different extrajudicial killings as a way to understand the different forms of violence that are contending in our society today. {November 22, 2024} -------SHOW NOTES------ Table of Contents Introduction {0:30} Sacrificial Violence {3:18} Retribution? {8:35} Beyond Martyrdom {14:11} This episode offers an audio version of “,” published by CrimethInc. on December 23, 2024. The article version includes a variety of hyperlinks providing citations for the claims made herein. To get deeper into René...
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#108: The Case for Resistance
The Ex-Worker
This episode offers an audio version of “,” laying out an analysis of what we can expect from Donald Trump’s second term and how we can prepare to confront it. “This is a pivotal moment, and everyone who isn’t cynically detached is sounding the alarm. Those of us who recognize the necessity of fighting had better find each other, identify the strengths and weaknesses of all the parties involved, recall the lessons of the past eight years, and strategize.” {November 22, 2024} -------SHOW NOTES------ Table of Contents Introduction {0:30} The Balance of Forces {2:44} How...
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#107: The Eye of Every Storm
The Ex-Worker
At a time when misinformation, rising authoritarianism, and disasters exacerbated by industrially-produced climate change are creating a feedback loop of escalating crisis, it’s crucial to understand disaster response as an integral part of community defense and strategize about how this can play a part in movements for liberation. In this reflection, a local anarchist involved in longstanding disaster response efforts in Appalachia recounts the lessons that they have learned in the course of dealing with the consequences of Hurricane Helene over the past six weeks and offers advice about...
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#106: First as Farce, Then as Tragedy
The Ex-Worker
Donald Trump has won the 2024 election. In order to understand what we’re up against, let’s look at how we got here. In many ways, the Democrats are responsible for Donald Trump’s return to power. Over the past four years, the Democrats have beefed up the institutions through which the fascists will enact their policies, normalized violence against the people that the fascists intend to target, turned over the communications platforms via which people share information, and discouraged people from the kind of tactics one needs to fight against a fascist regime is complicity. {November 6,...
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#105: Don't Stop: Continuing the Fight Against Cop City
The Ex-Worker
This episode offers an audio version of “”, 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...
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#104: Living in an Earthquake—The Fight against Cop City Confronts Unprecedented Repression
The Ex-Worker
At first, it appeared to be an ordinary forest defense campaign aimed at discouraging Atlanta city government from pouring money into an unpopular police training facility. But over the past two years, the fight against Cop City has escalated into one of the fiercest struggles of the Biden era, pitting a wide range of courageous people against a united front of politicians, prosecutors, and police. In their desperate efforts to deflect popular resistance and force through the project, police and prosecutors have pressed trumped-up domestic terrorism charges against almost every defendant...
info_outlineIn Episode 63 of the Ex-Worker, we conclude our series of reflections on 2017 with an audio version of the recently published essay “Anarchists in the Trump Era: Scorecard, Year One.” It analyzes five key turning points in 2017, assessing how anarchists took part and what lessons we can learn for the battles ahead. While recognizing all we’ve accomplished under incredible stress, it argues for the importance of broadening our efforts to challenge authority and dismantle hierarchy in every area of our lives and our societies in 2018. Afterwards, Clara and Alanis debate themes from the essay and our year in review episodes, around relating to non-anarchists on the left, organizational formats, resiliency and care, and more. {Feb 7, 2017}
-------SHOW NOTES------
- Table of Contents:
- Introduction {0:01}
- Anarchists in the Trump Era: Scorecard, Year One {2:02}
- Dawn of a New Apocalypse {3:43}
- J20: A Call to Revolt {6:20}
- The Airport Blockades: A Message to the Center {13:02}
- Shutting Down Milo in Berkeley: A Risky Escalation {16:16}
- Charlottesville: Moment of Truth {19:58}
- The First J20 Trial: Pushing Back the Reaction {26:25}
- What We Lost Along the Way {31:25}
- The Challenges Ahead {33:22}
- The Centrists {33:53}
- The Authoritarian Left {38:52}
- In Conclusion: Expanding the Anarchist Palette {43:09}
- Reflections {45:58}
- Prisoner Birthdays and Conclusion {58:45}
- This episode is based on the recently published CrimethInc. essay “Anarchists in the Trump Era: Scorecard, Year One.”
- The analysis we share in this episode is by no means comprehensive; for a detailed timeline of anarchist activity throughout 2017, check out the this report by It’s Going Down.
- Prisoner birthdays this month:
- Veronza Bowers, Jr. 35316–136
FMC Butner
Post Office Box 1600
Butner, North Carolina 27509
{February 4th} - Kamau Sadiki (Freddie Hilton) #0001150688
Augusta State Medical Prison, Building 13A–2 E7
3001 Gordon Highway
Grovetown, Georgia 30813
Address envelope to Freddie Hilton, address card to Kamau
{February 19th} - Oso Blanco (Byron Chubbuck) #07909–051
USP Victorville
Post Office Box 3900
Adelanto, California 92301
Address envelope to Byron Chubbuck, address card to Oso Blanco {February 26th}
- Veronza Bowers, Jr. 35316–136