The Final Straw Radio

This week on The Final Straw Radio, we're featuring an interview with three participants in the feature length documentary Wood Street, about the community that formed in a parking lot at 1707 Wood Street in Oakland. The location was a destination for people evicted from encampments around the city, who either refused or were denied the low number of shelter beds available, or didn't fit into the city lots for camping or recreational vehicles aka RVs. Over the course of 10 years at a few spots on the street, as guest John Janosko explains, residents got to know each other and...

This week, we're sharing our interview with Elia Ayoub, an anti-authoritarian historian and essayist originally from Lebanon, co-founder of From The Periphery media collective, co-host of The Fire These Times podcast and many more things. We spoke about the US and Israeli war on Iran, it's escalations into the wider region of west Asia, the Axis of Resistance, nuclear weapons, motivations of the various actors involved and thoughts on where that leaves anti-authoritarians in the imperial core countries like the US. Elia links You can contact Elia by email at ayoub@thefirethesetimes.com or on Signal...

This week, we're sharing an interview with Julie and Jeremy, two anarchists and participants in the Asheville Community Bail Fund. We speak about the US system of pre-trial incarceration aka bail and bond, the work of the bail fund locally, the overcrowding of the Buncombe County Jail here in Asheville, the ICE holds happening in the local jail, and how local policy choices regarding criminalization are being compounded by recent and new North Carolina legislation. Even if you aren't in Asheville or North Carolina, it's likely that much of this conversation will be pertinent to goings-ons in your neck...

This week, you'll hear from Juan and Fatima, who people who've been organizing and thinking about the southern US border for a long time to speak about the escalations in border force violence and kidnappings by ICE and CBP around the US (including Minneapolis where Fatima resides), an explosion in proposed immigration detention (including near El Paso where Juan resides), the expansion of low intensity conflict and counter-insurgency in the southwest since the mixing in of language of the War on Crime, War on Drugs and the Global War on Terror and how autonomous mutual aid provides opportunities for...

This week, we're sharing two segments. First up, a chat with Cooper Quintin, a senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and developer of the Rayhunter. Rayhunter is open-source firmware to turn specific hotspots into IMSI-catcher, effectively scanning for and logging any signs of fake cell towers (often known under the brand-name of Stingrays) in the area. Law enforcement has at times deployed these as a way of collecting information about phones in the area and could use it to intercept some communications like sms or phone calls. Cooper talks about what's known of law enforcement...

This week, an interview with Aryanum, a member of the Persian-language anarchist group Anarchism Perspective, based in Iran and Afghanistan. Anarchism Perspective is a synthesist anarchist group based mostly in the region that organizes solidarity and resistance as well as publishing writings at Anarshism.com . For this episode, we speak about the recent uprising in Iran that was met with bloody repression by the regime, with internet blackouts and low-ball estimates of 30,000 dead at government hands from January 8th and 9th 2026 alone. Aryanum speaks about the posturing by monarchists supporting the return and enthroning of Reza Pahlavi II, the...

We're sharing this episode a little early so it's still timely as relates to the threats faced by the Rojava revolution in north and east Syria. First up, we'll hear some updates and assessments from Garzan, a member of Tekoşîna Anarşîst, an internationalist anarchist structure based in Rojava and aligned with the Syrian Defense Forces. Garzan's voice has been re-recorded for anonymity and a transcript of their audio is available in the show notes. Transcripts Garzan of TA Jînda PDF (Unimposed) Zine (Imposed PDF) Then, we hear from Jînda a western activi...

This week, we spoke with Donna Mae, a longtime resident of Minneapolis and registered nurse working mostly with people who are unsheltered and use injection drugs. Donna lives in a neighborhood of the city that has had very heavy ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and CBP (Customs and Border Patrol) activity and speaks for the hour about the last two months of invasion, organizing with neighbors, the legacy of the George Floyd Uprising and the aftermath of the murders of Renée Good and Alex Pretti, the recent General Strike and lessons for preparing in the next incursion, wherever t...

This week, we're sharing an interview with Will Gillis, author of the recently published book Did The Science Wars Take Place: The Political and Ethical Stakes of Radical Realism, published via C4SS where Gillis holds the position as The Voltairine de Cleyre Chair in Centrifugal Studies and technical coordinator. Transcript PDF (Unimposed PDF) Zine (Imposed PDF) For the hour we talk about the so-called Science Wars of the 1990's, debates involving scientific approaches and shared understandings of a a measurable physical reality, post-modernism, the roles leftists and anarchists played in the debates and how cults and a...

This week on The Final Straw Radio, we're featuring a conversation with our guest, Ketino, to speak about Especifist anarchism and anarchist approaches at anti-Imperialism. Ketino is a member in Florida of the Black Rose / Rosa Negra Anarchist Federation and they grew up in Cuba. You can learn more about Black Rosa, or BRRN, at BlackRoseFed.Org Transcript PDF (Unimposed) Zine (Imposed PDF) Other links: Black Rose's introduction to Anarchism Denunciation of Venezuela Coup by CALA (member groups listed) and sibling, BRRN ICOA -- International Coordination of Organized Anarchism wikipedia page Anarkismo Network Solidarity with Sudanese Anarchists (including...

This week, an interview with James Stout on his upcoming AK Press book: Against The State: Anarchists and Comrades at War in Spain, Myanmar, and Rojava, due out early January. You may recognize James as a contributor to the Cool Zone podcast It Could Happen Here (including the recent four parter, "Darién Gap: One Year Later" December 1-4th episodes, 2025), distributed by IheartMedia. For this episode, we talk about the idea of anarchist armies, discuss those three conflicts, left libertarian approaches to formalized armed resistance beyond a guerrilla unit, some of the novel technologies and international solidarities that ha...

This week, an interview we just conducted with Madeleine Wattenbarger and Axel Hernández of the Cooperativa de Periodismo in Mexico and Ambar Ruiz of Radio Zapote about the case of autonomous resistance and repression in the Mazateca community of Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón in Oaxaca, Mexico, so named for being the birthplace of the Cipriano Ricardo Flores Magón, revolutionary Mexican anarchist who was murdered by medical neglect by the US prison system in 1922 (check out our 2022 episode on the history). Transcript PDF (Unimposed) Zine (Imposed PDF) We talk about the rise to economic and...

In this episode, we have two segments. Ben Passmore First up, Ian talks with Philadelphia-based cartoonist Ben Passmore about his new book, Black Arms to Hold You Up: A History of Black Resistance. They discuss the research and making of the book, Passmores anarchism, the themes of inter-generational struggle, contextualizing history through lived experience, and the pitfalls of mythmaking. In addition, they spend some time discussing Ben's martial arts practice and the legacy of Assata Shakur in light of her recent passing. Transcript PDF (Unimposed) Zine (Imposed PDF) Other titles by Ben:...

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 PDF (Unimposed) – pending Zine (Imposed PDF) – pending Links Our prior interview with Leila Al-Shami and Elia Ayoub Last year's interviews with a member of Tekoşîna Anarşist and ano...

Michael DeForge 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 ("All The Cameras In My Room") from Drawn and Quarterly, scheduled for release in early 2026. Transcript PDF (Unimposed) Zine (Imposed PDF) Links: Bluesky: @michaeldeforge.bsky.social Instagram:@michaeldeforgecomics...

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...

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. Transcript PDF (Unimposed...

This week, we're featuring three segments. Transcript Peter Gelderloos Gah Te Iracema Mask Off-Maersk PDF (Unimposed) Voices from Brazil Mask Off-Maersk Zine (Imposed PDF) Voices from Brazil Mask Off-Maersk Peter Gelderloos of Weaving Paths to Ecological Revolution 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. Article about Weaving Paths to Ecological Revolution: https://organisemagazine...

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

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...