Jun 18, 2017
This week we featured two conversations in the episode.
"Stop The Pipelines Action
Camp"
Firstly, Bursts chatted with erin. erin is a resident of the
Blacksburg VA area and an affiliate of Blue Ridge Rapid Response
Project (or BRRRP) and is helping to organize the "Stop The
Pipelines Action Camp" in that area from July 13-17th, 2017.
The action camp is being organized in hopes to spread resistance to
the Mountain Valley & Atlantic Coast Pipelines that are
traversing Appalachian West Virginia, Virginia and, in the ACP's
case, North Carolina. We talk about what it is to live in a place
and defend your home, to get to know your neighbors, to build the
skills needed to resist ecocidal, capitalist infrastructure
projects. More info at https://blueridgerapidresponse.wordpress.com. The
event is being co-sponsored by Smokey Mountain Eco-Defense
(SMED). You can find a flyer, here.
erin mentions pipeline security pursued by mercenary groups like TigerSwan as well as industry-sponsored astro-turf (or fake grassroots) group YourEnergy meant to muddy the water of community resistance to pipeline expansion and other infrastructural projects.
Errekaleor
Bizirik!
After that, Bursts chatted with 2 residents of the squatted
neighborhood of Errekaleor Bizirik in the Basque territory
within the borders of so-called Spain. The residents talk
about the history of Errekaleor Bizirik, feminism, energy
infrastructure, recent attacks by police on the project and
pre-figuring a post-capitalist life-way in the rubble of the
existent. For more info on the project, which translates to Dry
River (Errekaleor) Lives (Bizirik)!, check out:
The draft wikipedia page;
An IGD post about the project with
links and context;
Their Coopfunding page.
From their post on igd, is this quote:
"For those of you that are too
far away to personally attend, feel free to make a quick call to
the mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz Gorka Urtaran at +34 945 16 13
82 or +34 945 16 13 83 or send us a message at
errekaleorbizirik@gmail.com!"
We wanted to also state that the folks at Errekaleor reached out to
us for the interview, which was super awesome. If you have a
project, a book, an article, a fight that seems like it'd be
interesting to us and our listeners, send us an email at thefinalstrawradio@riseup.net and get the ball
rolling.
Find us on itunes and subscribe for free. You can rate us there as well, to help others find us more easily.
Announcement
The Arizona based humanitarian aid group No More Deaths (No Mas
Muertes in spanish) has been under semi constant surveillance by
Border Patrol for the past week. This is unprecedented attention;
since its foundation in 2004 this group has had a written
agreement, essentially a non interference good faith contract, with
Border Patrol that names the group as a health aid and humanitarian
group that has every right to be doing the work it's doing. NO More
Deaths is a group based on certain faith principles (it is an
official ministry of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Tuscon)
and on critical engagement with policy reform, nevertheless it is a
group that has a high degree of anarchist involvement and
solidarity with what could be called anarchist principles. It is
most famous for desert aid; volunteers hiking out and leaving
supplies such as water - essential in the 100 plus degree heat -
food, socks, blankets, other supplies, and directed first aid where
needed along remote corridors in the Sonoran Desert. The group also
engages with legal aid, abuse documentation, searching for missing
or disappeared people, helping getting belongings back from Border
Patrol, networking with other border solidarity groups in the area,
and consciousness raising and education to subvert the extremely
stale narrative that immigration has in the US.
A couple of days ago, after almost a week of constant surveillance,
Border Patrol raided a camp "in an
unprecedented show of force, [with] approximately 30 armed agents
raided the camp with at least 15 trucks, two quads, and a
helicopter to apprehend four patients receiving medical
care." We hope to talk with someone about this situation
soon for the radio show; the fact that this raid is coming now is a
clear sign of the administrations attitude toward this kind of
work. For more information on this issue and to keep up with No
More Deaths, you can go to their website https://nomoredeaths.org
Playlist