The Hotwire #25: Kentucky & Oklahoma teachers strike—anniversary of MLK’s death—report on Gaza

As we go to press, anti-police protests are ongoing over the police killing of Stephon Clark, students at Howard University in DC are still occupying the recently re-named Kwame Ture Student Center, and teachers in Kentucky and Oklahoma are on strike. This week we interview Uri Gordon, an anarchist from Israel, about the deadly repression in Gaza. We also reflect on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Plus announcements for upcoming bookfairs, gatherings, and protest mobilizations. {April 4, 2018}

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

• Table of Contents:
  • Introduction {0:00}
  • Headlines {1:45}
  • Remembering Paul Z. Simons {5:07}
  • Interview about deadly repression in Gaza {6:34}
  • Teachers strike in Kentucky and Oklahoma {11:05}
  • 50th anniversary of the assassination of MLK {13:25}
  • Repression Roundup {26:15}
  • Next Week’s News {32:00}

• Download 29:30 minutes long version  

• There’s a day of solidarity with J20 defendants called for April 10. The next trial is coming up April 17! Use this poster to spread awareness about the case, or call those responsible for the repression themselves and tell them to drop ALL the charges.

• J20 support resources:
  • 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
• Resources for the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
  • Reflection On Doctor King by Black anarchist and former Black Panther Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin
  • This nonviolent stuff’ll get you killed - Charles Cobb
  • Dixie Be Damned: 300 years of insurrection in the American South - Neal Shirley and Saralee Stafford
  • “It’s a Police State Mentality” — J20 and the Racist Origins of Criminalizing Protest – Sam Adler-Bell
  • Dr. King’s Long Assassination – Paul Street
  • The Ex-Worker #53: “Anti-Globalization” Walking Tour of Washington, D.C. features some history on the uprising in DC after Dr. King’s assassination, including an interview with one of the more militant participants.
• Events this weekend:
  • April 6–8: Anti-Colonial & Anti-Fascist Community Defense Gathering in Flagstaff, Arizona. Registration IS required, which you can fill out here.
  • April 6–8: The Opening Space for the Radical Imagination at Oregon State University in Corvallis. More than a few anarchist-sympathetic speakers, like Walidah Imarisha and Hillary Lazar are speaking.
  • April 6–8: The fourteenth Zagreb Anarchist Bookfair in Croatia. For more info in Croatian and English, go to ask-zagreb.org.
  • April 7: The Liverpool Anarchist Bookfair in England.
• Anarchist texts mentioned in this Hotwire:
  • We Don’t Need Gun Control, We Need To Take Control
  • Remembering Paul Z. Simons An Unyielding Anarchist, Author, and Rebel
  • Anarchists Against the Wall: Direct Action and Solidarity with the Palestinian Popular Struggle
  • Dixie Be Damned: 300 years of insurrection in the American South
  • Rojava: Democracy and Commune
  • From Democracy to Freedom
• 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)

• The Southeast Trans and/or Women Action Camp, taking place April 26–29 in Western North Carolina, has had their donation page shut down twice, so if you have some bucks to spare you can donate at PayPal.me/setwac2018.

• Mutual Aid Disaster Relief tour
  • April 4 @ 7 PM at Glitter Box Theater 460 Melwood Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213: Giving Our Best, Ready For The Worst: Community Organizing as Disaster Preparedness
  • April 6 @ 6 PM at Guide to Kulchur 5222 Lorain Ave, Cleveland, OH 44102: Protectors v. Profiteers: Communities in Resistance to Disaster Capitalism
  • April 7 @ 12 noon at Guide to Kulchur 5222 Lorain Ave, Cleveland, OH 44102: Giving Our Best, Ready For The Worst: Community Organizing as Disaster Preparedness
  • April 8 at 2 PM at Off Center 64 N. Huron Street, Ypsilanti, MI 48197: Giving Our Best, Ready For The Worst: Community Organizing as Disaster Preparedness
  • April 9 at 6:30 PM at Capital Area District Library – Downtown 401 S Capitol Ave, Lansing, MI 48933: Protectors v. Profiteers: Communities in Resistance to Disaster Capitalism
  • April 11 at 6:30 PM at First Presbyterian Church 510 W Ottawa St Lansing, MI 48933: Giving Our Best, Ready For The Worst: Community Organizing as Disaster Preparedness  

• Use this straightforward guide to writing prisoners from New York City Anarchist Black Cross to write birthday greetings to political prisoner Romaine ‘Chip’ Fitzgerald.

  Romaine ‘Chip’ Fitzgerald #B–27527
  California State Prison - LAC
  Post Office Box 4490
  B–4–150
  Lancaster, California 93539
  Address envelope to Romaine Fitzgerald, address card to Chip
  {Birthday: April 11}

• Herman Bell still needs help to secure his release from prison:

  1) CALL New York State Governor Cuomo’s Office NOW: 518–474–8390
  2) EMAIL New York State Governor Cuomo’s Office          3) TWEET at Governor Cuomo: use the following sample tweet: “@NYGovCuomo: stand by the Parole Board’s lawful & just decision to release Herman Bell. At 70 years old and after more than 40 years of incarceration, his release is overdue. #BringHermanHome.”

  Use this script for phone calls and emails:  “Governor Cuomo, my name is __________and I am a resident of [New York State/other state/other country]. I support the Parole Board’s decision to release Herman Bell and urge you and the Board to stand by the decision. I also support the recent appointment of new Parole Board Commissioners, and the direction of the new parole regulations, which base release decisions more on who a person is today than on the nature of their crime committed years ago. Returning Herman to his friends and family will help heal the many harms caused by crime and decades of incarceration. The Board’s decision was just, merciful and lawful, and it will benefit our communities and New York State as a whole.” 

• Robert Seth Hayes, one of the longest-held political prisoners in the U.S., who was active in the Black Panther Party and, later on, formed the Black Liberation Army, is in the infirmary and is need of support. The Jericho Movement calls on people to call the superintendent at Sullivan Correctional Facility and demand that Robert Seth Hayes be taken immediately to the Albany Medical Center. Superintendent Keyser’s number is 845–434–2080.