Leila Al-Shami with Updates from Syria + The Peoples Want

photo of a mural on the side of a multi-story building of Bashar Al-Assad with the face removed, plus "TFSR 12-21-25 | Leila Al-Shami with Updates from Syria + The Peoples Want"
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This week, we’re sharing a recent chat with Leila Al-Shami, co-author of Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War and host of Syria: The Inconvenient Revolution Podcast, to give us an assessment and update on situations in Syria since our last episodes on the subject, as well as an introduction to The Peoples Want, an initiative towards a new anti-authoritarian internationalism in which Leila is a participant.

  • Transcript
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  • Zine (Imposed PDF) – pending

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Featured Track:

  • Yal Harak Qalbe by Omar Souleyman from Elbir

Continue reading Leila Al-Shami with Updates from Syria + The Peoples Want

Michael DeForge on Art and Organizing + Xinacthli Medical Emergency

Michael DeForge

"Michael DeForge on Art and Organizing | TFSR 12-14-25" and a screenshot page of 4 black and white comic panels featuring bolt cutters cutting a fence ("We performed our little rituals around security"), masks reflected in windows ("the masks were one of them, 'skeletons' idea. we'd go on not knowing each others faces"), building in the dark with broken windows and masks hovering ("at the debrief later that night, I'd start an argument"), masked people walking ("I wouldn't participate in the argument, I'd instead set two other members off against each other, I'd instigate in a way that wasn't obvious")
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This week we’re sharing Ian’s talk with cartoonist Michael DeForge about the intersection of organizing and art. The conversation touches on Michael’s recent organizing efforts in solidarity with Mskwaasin Agnew, who was among those detained by Israel as part of the Flotilla to bring aid to Gaza. They also discuss the good and bad of instructive political stories and Michael shares details about his upcoming collection from Drawn and Quarterly, scheduled for release in early 2026.

Xinachtli

But first we’re sharing an interview that Outlaw Podcast did with Jazz from the support crew for Xinachtli. Xinachtli is a Chicano anarchist who’s been serving a 50 year sentence since 1996 for aggravated assault, and now, nearly 30 years into his sentence (22 of which have been in solitary confinement according to his support website) is suffering accumulated health issues. During a collapse of his health, he was moved to the infirmary but he’s been denied any treatment, diagnosis or access to his medical care. While in infirmary, he had personal items from his cell  thrown away, including his commissary card The demands for Xinachtli are simple and you can find the numbers and links in our show notes:

  1. Call to put pressure for his demands on TDCJ and McCConnell unit.

  2. We are asking organizations to sign our demand letter to TDCJ. Link can be found in our bio or tinyurl.com/xsupportletter

  3. Join us on December 13 to protest in Austin, Texas.

  4. Donate to the campaign to support legal expenses.

WHAT YOU CAN DO NO. 1: PHONE AND EMAIL BLAST

  • Call the McConnell Unit to demand they give X access to commissary and his medical records IMMEDIATELY. McConnell Unit: (361) 362-2300
  • Call TDCJ Health Services to demand X receive his medical records and is transfered to a hospital for treatment IMMEDIATELY.
    TDCJ Health Services: (936) 437-4271
  • Call or email TDCJ State Classification Committee to demand they reclassify X so he can be transferred to a medical facility.
    TDCJ SCC: (936) 437-6231
    [email protected]

Phone blast signup: https://bit.ly/xphoneblast

If you’re on instagram, you can learn more about Xinacthli’s condition and how to get involved via his site @FreeXinacthliNow and if you can hear our conversation from 2024 with Xinacthli or a recording of him speaking about his arrest from 2010.

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Featured Track:

Slip by Autechre from Amber

Signal Contingency Plan (Delta Chat with Fanny and Mary)

Delta Chat logo featuring a lower case Greek delta in a speech bubble
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This week, an interview we did with a couple of smart friends about the question: what would those of us who rely on Signal encrypted messaging do if that service were disabled in the US. First up, all participants in this discussion agree that Signal is amazing and always getting better, so this is not a take down of that app or it’s developers. But the buds do think that the weakest point for Signal is the centralization of infrastructure with US-based companies. My friends did some thinking and research and put it into a website called Signal-Contingency-Plan.Info and made a zine discussing it and what they consider the best alternative for their needs an app called Delta Chat.

So, for this discussion, they’ll talk about how encrypted apps work, what works so great about Signal, some ups and downs of other available encrypted chat apps and how folks might rebound if Signal got choked out in this manner. As a reminder, at the end of 2024 large parts of the region I’m in lost cellular and internet service and it came back in starts and staggers over a number of months, similar for running and potable water, roads and other infrastructure we rely on. Our hope in sharing this conversation is that people will consider threat modeling to develop social plans for contingency and alternatives for the infrastructures they rely on.

Delta Chat & having a backup for Signal:

Some reporting mentioned:

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Featured Track:

  • Creep (Instrumental) by TLC
  • Sad React by Emperor X from Sad React _ United Earth League of Quarantine Aerobatics

Palestine Action Prisoner Hunger Strikes, Elbit Systems and UK Complicity In Gaza (with Francesca)

"TFSR 11-30-25 | Palestine Action Prisoner Hunger Strikes, Elbit Systems and UK Complicity In Gaza (with Francesca)" featuring a picture of a hand slamming a Palestinian flag down, smashing a plate with the base of the flag pole
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This week, we’re joined by Francesca, a member of Prisoners For Palestine who is a former prisoner herself who speaks about Palestine Action, a group proscribed in the UK as a terrorist organization at the behest of the Israeli state and Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems for their successful direct actions against Elbits war profiteering and the UK’s role in assisting the genocide in Gaza. Currently, 6 incarcerated members of Prisoners For Palestine are on an open-ended hunger strike against their conditions and the continued operation of Elbit which has garnered support from around the world.

This last week, the UK government has begun it’s trial against the 29 Palestine Actionists, simultaneous to the legal challenge to the proscription being brought before the courts. You can keep up on the hunger strikers at PrisonersForPalestine.org and many of the other cases at FiltonActionists.com . Check our show notes for more links.

Then, you’ll hear a part of our interview with members of the DFW Support Committee that didn’t make the radio two weeks ago speaking about the application of terrorism charges to antifascists in the US, the wider repression of liberationist movements in the imperial core and the collaboration between far right governments paralleling this.

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Featured Track:

  • Wein Al Malayeen by Deena Abdelwahed from Nisf Madeena

Continue reading Palestine Action Prisoner Hunger Strikes, Elbit Systems and UK Complicity In Gaza (with Francesca)

Voices in Brazil for Radical Ecological Struggle (feat. Peter Gelderloos and Gah Te Iracema)

This week, we’re featuring three segments.

Peter Gelderloos of Weaving Paths to Ecological Revolution

A picture of a march of various communities of people behind a Teia Dos Povos (Web Of The Peoples) banner, plus “TFSR 11-23-25 | Voices In Brazil for Radical Ecological Struggle”
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First up, you’ll hear from anarchist and author Peter Gelderloos speaking about his ongoing trip to Brazil as a member of Weaving Paths to Ecological Revolution to listen to and network with indigenous, anarchist, autonomous, ecological and land reclamation projects in that country, coinciding with the COP30 UN climate conference.

  • Transcript
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  • Zine (Imposed PDF) – pending

Gah Te Iracema of the Kaingang

Then, we hear an interview with Gah Te Iracema of the Kaingang people from southern Brazil, speaking about their land reclamation, reforestation, their post-flood water distribution mutual aid in 2024 and other topics.

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Links

Anti-Maersk Action for Palestine, Copenhagen 2025

Finally, Črna luknja from the November 2025 episode of B(A)D News spoke a Danish activist about the February 2025 Cut Ties With Genocide action camp in Copenhagen which included an action against Maersk, a Danish shipping and logistics company facilitating arms transfers from the US to Israel. You can hear the rest of this interview in the upcoming B(A)D News, Angry Voices from Around The World, episode 96 for November of 2025 from the A-Radio Network.

  • Transcript
  • PDF (Unimposed) – pending
  • Zine (Imposed PDF) – pending

Links

  • Cut Ties With Genocide Action Camp: https://cuttheties.ukrudt.net/
  • Mask Off Maersk: https://www.maskoffmaersk.com/
  • B(A)D News: https://www.a-radio-network.org/bad-news-angry-voices-from-around-the-world/
  • Crna Luknja: http://radiostudent.si/druzba/crna-luknja

Announcement

Prisoners for Palestine Hunger Strike

Collective members of Prisoners for Palestine (PrisonersForPalestine.Org), a prisoner-led collective in Britain representing all those detained under charges related to Palestinian liberation, have entered their fourth week of their hunger strike as of the day of this podcast, with participation of Qesser, Amu, Heba, Jon, T, and Kamran. This week, the first of the Filton 24 trials began as well. From a press release of the collective’s website:

While suffering physically due to the effects of the hunger-strike, the six prisoners currently taking part in the protest remain strong, defiant, and committed to winning their… demands:

  1. An end to the censorship of letters and books, and freedom of expression.
  2. Immediate bail.
  3. The right to a fair trial.
  4. The deproscription of Palestine Action.
  5. The closure of all Elbit weapons factories in Britain.

We hope to conduct an interview soon with members of the Prisoners for Palestine on the proscription of Palestine Action, Elbit Systems, the conditions of confinement case and the hunger strikes.

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Featured Track:

Continue reading Voices in Brazil for Radical Ecological Struggle (feat. Peter Gelderloos and Gah Te Iracema)

Updates on the Prairieland Case (with NLG and DFW Support Committee)

Updates on the Prairieland Case (with NLG and DFW Support Committee)

photo of a mockingbird resting on barbed wire with the words "TFSR 11-16-25 | Updates on the Prairieland Case (with NLG and DFW Support Committee)
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This week, we’re featuring two interviews.

First up, you’ll hear form Xavier de Janon, NLG Director of Mass Defense who’s worked on the Stop Cop City case and is currently also working on the DFW case where Federal and Texas prosecutors have been seeing prosecution of 18 people (so far) related to the noise demo of July 4th, 2025 at the Prairieland Detention Center in Texas. We speak about the case and about the wider web of repression being pushed by the Trump administration in the name of battling ANTEEFAH. For more info, check out nlg.org

Then we’ll speak to two members of the DFW Defendants Support Committee following the announcement last Wednesday by the committee concerning pressure on the defendants to take plea deals and some updated perspective on the case. For more info and updates, you can visit DFWDefendants.wordpress.com. Support resources for Des Revol, check out Instagram @free-des-revol on instagram

  • DFW Support Committee PDF (Unimposed) – pending
  • DFW Support Committee Zine (Imposed PDF) – pending

Links

Past Episodes Referenced:

Announcement

Malik Muhammad Fundraiser

One quick announcement is that Malik Muhammad, 2020 Uprising prisoner you heard in August 17th, 2025 episode, has spent the better part of a year in solitary confinement and could use some support. There’s a post with more information plus a new fundraiser up at their support website, MalikSpeaks.NoBlogs.Org: https://malikspeaks.noblogs.org/post/2025/11/15/support-malik-with-funds/

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Featured tracks:

Continue reading Updates on the Prairieland Case (with NLG and DFW Support Committee)

Assessing The Israeli Ceasefire (with Abdaljawad Omar)

photo of Abdaljawad Omar in front a view of Bethlehem and “TFSR 11-09-25 | Assessing the Israeli Ceasefire (with Abdaljawad Omar)”
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This week, we’re sharing two segments: a chat with Palestinian writer and assistant professor Abdaljawad Omar and a segment of the October 2025 B(A)D News with network participants discussing thinking-through resisting the rise of fascism.

Assessing The Israeli Ceasefire

First up, an interview with Abdaljawad Omar, a writer, analyst and an Assistant Professor at Birzeit University in Bethlehem in the West Bank in Palestine. For the hour we speak about the status of the ceasefire, the continued killing by the Israeli state and the lack of significant humanitarian supplies of food and medicine in Gaza, ongoing violence in the West Bank and settlement expansion and settler impunity, representation of Palestinian resistance in Western media and meaningful solidarity from abroad.

Mr Omar’s writing is frequently featured on Mondoweiss and the newly launched Equator Journal and other journals listed in our show notes. He can be found on X and Bluesky and has a couple of books due out in the near future.

Appearances in:

Playing Out Resistance

The next segment was recorded at the annual A-Radio Network gathering that happened in Freiberg, Germany, by participants in the network in attendance. For this segment, you’ll hear people discuss a workshop they participated in about thinking through preparation for rising authoritarianism, keeping safe while preparing for social revolution. Feel free to reach out to projects on the participants page for the A-Radio Network website (we suggest you first try A-Radio Berlin as they’re quite good at answering their email) if you would like the materials used in the workshop to host one with your community.

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Featured Track:

Continue reading Assessing The Israeli Ceasefire (with Abdaljawad Omar)

Southerners Against Surveillance Systems and Infrastructure (with Ed)

black and white drawing of a cat wearing a balaclava with the word "SASSI" near the bottom + "TFSR 11-2-25 | Southerners Against Surveillance Systems & Infrastructure (with Ed)"
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Ed, co-founder of SASSI (Southerners Against Surveillance Systems & Infrastructure), speaks to The Final Straw Radio about the proliferation of surveillance infrastructure in the South (and more broadly in United States), methods of researching and a little into resisting them.

We speak about topics such as the increasing cooperation between the state and corporate surveillance companies, the desire of these companies to extract ever-increasing amounts of data from the public, the way the state uses private databases to sidestep traditional warrant processes, some of the specific technologies that cities in the south have contracts with and their efficacy. We also touch on how folks at SASSI investigate these topics, and what can be done to help with this effort and ways to think about individual and community safety.

Also of interest to listeners may be our prior episode, Pushing Back On Flock Cameras with Kate Bertash, which Ed references during the chat.

The following links provide more information about topics we briefly touch on in the chat.

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Featured Track:

  • Push by Liquid Liquid from Discography (1981-1984)

Continue reading Southerners Against Surveillance Systems and Infrastructure (with Ed)

Palestine Solidarity at East End Co-Op (with Iris and Fritz of UE 667)

East End Co-Op Union + BDS

photo of members of UE667 next to a table with a sign reading Feed Gaza
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This week, Ian spoke with member of UE local 667, organized workers at the East End Co-Op in Pittsburgh about the origins and goals of their organization and their divestment campaign to remove products from occupied Palestine from the shelves of their co-op.

Announcement

Shine White on Hunger Strike

White antiracist prisoner in North Carolina, Shine White, was transferred to a new facility and brutally beaten by guards as punishment for his organizing behind bars. Supporters have released this statement:

On October 7, Joseph “Shine White” Stewart was transferred from Foothills CI to Marion CI as punishment for his organizing efforts. Upon arrival, he was restrained, maced, tased on his face, and beaten by guards, sustaining injuries to his shoulder and ribs. This compounds existing injuries inflicted by guards at Foothills CI, for which he has been denied medical attention, in addition to ongoing medical neglect for preexisting chronic health conditions. In response to this ongoing repression, Shine went on a hunger strike after arriving at Marion CI. He is demanding proper medical treatment and to be transferred outside the jurisdiction of Western Regional Director, LaDonna Browning.

Make calls to the following officials on their direct lines Monday-Friday between 9am – 5pm EST:

  • Peter Richard Buchholtz – Deputy Secretary for Institutions (910) 916-0155
  • Josh Painter – Director of Prison Operations (910) 578-0215
  • Marquette Alexandra Frierson – Clinical Support Director (919) 828-4000
  • Valerie Langley – Chief Nursing Officer (252) 916-5645

Sample Script: “Hello. I am calling with regard to Joseph Stewart, OPUS number 0802041, who is currently on hunger strike after being brutally beaten by guards upon transfer to Marion CI and being denied medical care in retaliation for his organizing for prisoners. We are contacting you to demand that he receive immediate medical attention and be transferred outside the jurisdiction of Western Regional Director, LaDonna Browning. Joseph has made it clear that he will not end his hunger strike until he is transferred. Each day that goes by increases existing risks to his health. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.”

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Featured Track:

  • The Girl With The Sun In Her Brain by Orbital from In Sides

The “Gen Z” Uprising That Rocked The Nepalese State + 1st PGH Anarchist Book Fair

This week, the show has two segments.

Pittsburgh Anarchist Book Fair

"TFSR 10-19-2025 | Anarcho of Movement in Nepal and The Gen Z Uprising That Rocked The State" and a photo of someone climbing the gilded gates of the Nepalese parliament building, hanging a flag with a skull and crossbones and wearing a straw hat, with the parliament burning in the background
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First up, you’ll hear a brief interview with M, an organizer of the first Pittsburgh anarchist book fair, happening October 24-26 across a few venues in the Steel City

As is anarchist book fair tradition, everything will be free.
We’re renting a few spaces, and expecting a few other costs. Sharing that info here so folks can get a sense of what that looks like. If you/others are inclined and able to support, would be grateful for that.
Attached is an image of the break down as of today, and below is a link we’ll update live time as to what costs look like.
https://pad.riseup.net/p/r.ca0a70f3bd595bb58b9daab4e6d9a576
You can buy a beautiful book fair shirt (design by the illustrious N.O. Bonzo), or simply donate. Venmo: @pghbookfair. (If you’d like a shirt, indicate size in the note – S-3XL; if yr just donating, any emoji or strange note is fine!) Feel free to message for other ways to donate.

“Gen Z” Uprising In Nepal

Then, an interview that I conducted with Anarcho, a member of the Black Book Distro collective out of Kathmandu, Nepal, about the protests and aftermath of the September 2025 “Gen Z” anti-corruption protests that ousted the prime minister, released prisoners and left the parliament in smoldering ruins.

Because we don’t follow a strict chronology of events, we’re including a few articles linked in our show notes for further study. We worked heavily off the interview with members of the Black Book Distro and CrimethInc, which is among those in our show notes.

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Featured Track:

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Continue reading The “Gen Z” Uprising That Rocked The Nepalese State + 1st PGH Anarchist Book Fair

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