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...
info_outline #104: Living in an Earthquake—The Fight against Cop City Confronts Unprecedented RepressionThe 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_outline #103: The Return of the Ultraliberal Right in ArgentinaThe Ex-Worker
A so-called “” has just been elected president in Argentina. What does this mean for anarchists and the prospects for revolutionary change in South America? Spoiler alert: it’s not looking good. In this episode, we share an account from analyzing the recent rise to power of Javier Milei, an extreme neoliberal economist, in the context of the global turn towards fascist and reactionary populist leaders like Trump and Bolsonaro. You’ll get an in-depth look at the history of center-left rule, military dictatorship, and neoliberal austerity that resulting in the powerful popular uprising...
info_outline #102: How They Stopped Work at RaytheonThe Ex-Worker
On November 13, 2023, demonstrators in southern California blockaded a facility of Raytheon, a defense contractor, in solidarity with the Palestinians on the receiving end of the bombs that it produces. They managed to block the facility for more than seven hours, supported by waves of hundreds of activists joining the action, and succeeded in shutting down operations for the day. This episode offers an audio version of , published on November 15th. Participants summarize how the action was organized and unfolded, police responses, the background of direct actions against the war machine and...
info_outline #101: Shutting Down the Port of TacomaThe Ex-Worker
On November 6, 2023, several hundred people showed up at the Port of Tacoma in Washington State to block access to a shipping vessel that was scheduled to deliver equipment to the Israeli military. This episode shares an account and analysis of the action published on November 10th as “.” Participants review the history of port blockades in the Puget Sound, share their experience at the protest, and seek to offer inspiration for continued transoceanic solidarity. {November 23, 2023} -------SHOW NOTES------ Table of Contents: Introduction {0:36} Escalating Resistance {1:41} Drawing...
info_outline #100: In Memory of Dmitry PetrovThe Ex-Worker
On April 19, 2023, a Russian anarchist named Dmitry Petrov was killed in battle near Bakhmut, Ukraine. In this episode, we offer as an uncompromising anarchist fighter who participated in an unbelievable amount of radical activity around the region. His extraordinary life spanned anarchist organizing as a teenager in Moscow; environmental defense, radical unionism, and refugee solidarity activism; years of underground direct action against police, military, and profiteers from gentrification; participating in the Maidan protests in Ukraine, uprising against dictatorship in Belarus, and the...
info_outline #99: Strategizing for Palestinian SolidarityThe Ex-Worker
As the Israeli bombardment of Gaza intensifies, with over 10,000 deaths recorded to date, it is more urgent than ever for people everywhere to take decisive action to stop the war machine. In this episode, we share the strategic reflections of based in the US on Palestinian solidarity. The authors propose a shift from making demands to taking direct action, relying not on appealing to the consciences of politicians but on concretely interrupting the functioning of the businesses and agencies that are enabling the slaughter. After offering historical context to Israeli settler colonialism and...
info_outline #98: From the Galilee to Gaza—A Voice From PalestineThe Ex-Worker
As the Israeli military escalates its slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza and societies around the world fracture and clash over the conflict, we want to amplify anti-authoritarian voices from within the territory to share their experiences and analysis. In this short but moving account, we present the perspective of a Palestinian living in the north of Palestine, who speaks about different aspects of life under colonization and about the struggle for liberation through grassroots organizing and solidarity. {November 1, 2023} -------SHOW NOTES------ Table of Contents: Introduction...
info_outline #97: Understanding the RICO Charges in AtlantaThe Ex-Worker
Prosecutors in Georgia have charged activists protesting against a planned police militarization facility known as "Cop City" with violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr has indicted 61 people on RICO charges. In this episode, we explore the ramifications of this more or less unprecedented stage of repression. {Oct 6, 2023} -------SHOW NOTES------ This episode is an audio version of the September 5th article “.” For more information, check out this video recording of an online seminar organized by the National...
info_outline #96: The Forest In The City: Two Years Of Forest Defense In Atlanta, GeorgiaThe Ex-Worker
This episode continues the Ex-Worker Podcast’s coverage of the movement to Stop Cop City and defend the Weelaunee Forest in Atlanta, Georgia. In this episode, we present an audio version of , originally published February 22, 2023, which continues the chronology of the movement whose origins we reported in episodes and . In this eloquent and nuanced narrative, you’ll hear a detailed account of the movement’s second year, from the frenzy of activity in spring 2022 through the third and fourth weeks of action, waves of backlash and repression, and the , up to the eve of the March 2023...
info_outlineThe Ex-Worker is back! Over the next three months, we will be releasing an audio version of CrimethInc.’s 2018 book, No Wall They Can Build: A Guide to Borders and Migration in North America, divided into eleven episodes released every week. In this short episode, we reflect on the evolution of the Ex-Worker podcast as a project, and set the scene for the forthcoming audiobook. In the year and a half since the book was released, much attention has focused on the US/Mexico border, and Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric have prompted widespread resistance. However, the crisis of raids, family separations, inhumane detention, and death and disappearance in the borderlands was in full swing during the Obama administration, and has roots stretching far back in the history of the United States. To provide context for what’s been going on around the border since the book was published, a volunteer from the solidarity group No More Deaths joins us to talk about changes and continuities between the Obama and Trump eras, the impact of the administration’s efforts to build a wall on communities around the border, updates on state repression against the group’s volunteers, and the wave of resistance and solidarity building towards a world of free movement. Want to learn more? We’ll be releasing the first installment of No Wall They Can Build later this week—stay tuned! {April 1, 2019}
-------SHOW NOTES------
- Table of Contents:
- The Ex-Worker is Back! {0:01}
- Migration, Borders, and Resistance in the Trump Era {4:05}
- Interview with No More Deaths Volunteer {10:29}
- Conclusion {27:30}
- We’ll be releasing an audiobook of No Wall They Can Build: A Guide to Borders and Migration in North America through eleven weekly episodes over the next three months. You can read the book in PDF or see the Spanish translation; also check out our poster diagramming the North American border regime and immigrant solidarity stickers.
- Take a moment to learn more about No More Deaths, including their legal defense campaign demanding that the charges be dropped against their volunteers and the [#WaterNotWalls campaign](http://forms.nomoredeaths.org/legal-defense-campaign/waternotwalls/) to ensure their ability to continue to provide humanitarian aid in the desert.
- Other organizations working to support migrants include Aguilas del Desierto (San Diego, CA), Florence Project, Mariposas Sin Fronteras (Tucson, AZ), People Helping People in the Border Zone (Arivaca, AZ), Protection Network Action Fund, Southside Workers Center (Tucson, AZ), South Texas Human Rights Center, and the Tohono O’odham Hemajkam Rights Network](https://www.facebook.com/tohrn520/).
- Some useful general resources about the border include the Radiolab podcast “Border Trilogy”, the books Storming the Wall by Todd Miller and The Land of Open Graves by Jason DeLeon, and the Telemundo/Weather Channel documentary “The Real Death Valley”.
- On “The Wall” and border militarization, see “America’s Virtual Border Wall Is a 1,954-Mile-Long Money Pit”, Tohono O’odham elder Ofelia Rivas’s Censored News Live Video interview “Welcome to Honduras Migrant Caravan”, and the books Operation Gatekeeper by Joseph Nevins and Border Games by Peter Andreas. - On conceptualizing interior checkpoints as an extension of The Wall, see “The 100 Mile Border Zone” by the ACLU, “Checkpoint America” by the Cato Institute, and “The Cost of Crossing” from the New York Times.
- On anti-immigrant border militias, see the Al-Jazeera article “Desert Hawks”, the Southern Poverty Law Center Report “Investigating Deaths of Undocumented Migrants on the Border”, and David Neiwart’s book And Hell Followed with Her.
- On the Border Patrol, see the books Migra! by Kelly Lytle Hernandez and Border Patrol Nation by Todd Miller, and the documentary Disappeared: How US Border Patrol is Fueling a Missing Person’s Crisis at the Border, part 1 and part 2.