The Ex-Worker

This episode offers an audio version of "Iran: An Uprising Besieged from Within and Without," discussing the uprising that broke out across Iran on December 28, 2025, triggered by economic distress and escalating to call for the toppling of the government. It includes three analyses exploring the tensions within the uprising between grassroots movements and monarchist groups courting the support of the United States and Israel. -------SHOW NOTES------ Table of Contents: Introduction {0:41} Report on the Current Wave of Protests in Iran {2:57} Iran Protests Amid a Siege by Internal and External Enemies: A Report on the Recent Mass Uprising {6:53} I. The Fifth Uprising since 2017 {8:11} II. An Uprising Besieged by External and Internal Threats {10:51} III. The Spread of the Revolt {16:52} IV. The Geography of the Revolt {19:06} V. The Impact of the Twelve-Day War {22:46} VI. The Contradictions {28:11} VII. The Horizon {32:52} The View from Syria {38:45} This episode offers an audio version of "Iran: An Uprising Besieged from Within and Without," published by CrimethInc. on January 7, 2026. The online version includes footnotes and hyperlinks offering more information. Thanks to Ayman Makarem of From The Periphery media collective for reading and recording this episode. To learn more about previous waves of resistance in Iran, you could start with "Revolt in Iran," discussing the revolt that began on September 16, 2022, and "Jin, Jiyan, Azadi (Woman, Life, Freedom)—The Genealogy of a Slogan," exploring the background of that movement. For deeper background, you could read "There Is an Infinite Amount of Hope… but Not for Us," an interview publishing in 2020 discussing the pandemic, economic crisis, repression, and resistance in Iran. To learn more about the conditions that ethnic minorities experience in Iran, read Precarious Work Means Precarious Life, discussing the Rajaee Port Disaster and what it shoes about the situation confronting Baluch ethnic minorities. To understand how Iranians who oppose both the Islamic Republic government of Iran and the genocidal project represented by Israeli Zionism and US foreign policy in the region, read "Women, Life, Freedom" against the War and Against Apartheid and Tyranny.

This episode offers an audio version of "Mutual Aid, the Commons, and the Revolutionary Abolition of Capitalism," exploring why the best way to understand mutual aid as an effort to create participatory commons in which everyone can contribute and there is no fundamental division between organizers and beneficiaries. -------SHOW NOTES------ Table of Contents Introduction {0:30} Is It Mutual Enough? {1:34} Beyond Individualism {5:13} The Ones with the Problem Are Themselves the Solution {9:18} The Social Is the Material {13:14} Change from Below {15:17} Mutual Aid Means Resistance {19:33} This episode offers an audio version of "Mutual Aid, the Commons, and the Revolutionary Abolition of Capitalism," published by CrimethInc. on June 6, 2025. The article version includes a variety of hyperlinks offering more documentation about the events referred. To keep abreast of the prevailing discourse about the difference between mutual aid and charity, you could begin with Dean Spade's "Solidarity Not Charity." By contrast, this text presents some of the criticisms of the ways that the framework of mutual aid is used and misused. You can read read Peter Kropotkin's Mutual Aid: A Factor in Evolution here. You can read about Peter Kropotkin's influence of the origins of Alcoholics Anonymous here. You can read AA founder Bill Wilson's text "Benign Anarchy and Democracy," which is quoted in this episode, here. You can read read Errico Malatesta's "Mutual Aid" here. The allusion to "relations without measure" in this episode is a reference to the journal Killing King Abacus. For more perspective on how the non-profit industrial complex foreshortens the potential of movements for social change, read The Revolution Will Not Be Funded. You can read about mutual aid projects in Brazil, Puerto Rico, Poland, New York City, and many other places on our website. You can also learn about mutual aid projects like the Really Really Free Market. Finally, for a deeper dive into the background of revolutionary discourse about the commons in English-language traditions, you could read The True Levellers Standard Advanced: Or, The State of Community Opened, and Presented to the Sons of Men published by Gerrard Winstanley in 1649.

This episode offers an audio version of "Become an Anarchist or Forever Hold Your Peace," arguing that neither courts nor laws will halt the descent into autocracy. Massive numbers of people will have to take it upon themselves to organize concrete acts of resistance, to take direct action on a horizontal and participatory basis—in other words, to become anarchists. -------SHOW NOTES------ Table of Contents Introduction {0:36} Tyranny Is the Opposite of Anarchism {1:12} A Three-Sided Conflict {3:45} No Law Will Give You Freedom {8:32} Remember How We Got Here {12:02} Become an Anarchist or Forever Hold Your Peace {15:50} This episode offers an audio version of "Become an Anarchist or Forever Hold Your Peace," published by CrimethInc. on February 21, 2025. The article version includes a variety of hyperlinks offering documentation confirming the claims therein. If you're interested in learning more about anarchist ideas, you could start with To Change Everything, our introduction to anarchism, or with "The Secret Is to Begin," which offers further points of departure. To learn about direct action, start with this guide. You can read our argument that it was naïve for Democrats to invest so much hope in Robert Mueller's investigation of Donald Trump here. We published it well before that investigation ended in a complete washout. Along similar lines, our text "Take Your Pick: Law or Freedom" has proved prescient, accurately predicting some of the quandaries that fetishizing legality has created for Democrats as Donald Trump and his cronies gain control of more and more aspects of the government and judicial system. You can read our critical analysis of democracy in full in our book From Democracy to Freedom. We offer it in print or as a free PDF. For more background on the neoliberal nightmare that has unfolded in Argentina since the victory of Javier Milei, read this. For background on the damage that the Trump regime is doing to public health, consult this text. For background on the damage that the Trump regime is doing to medical research, consult this one. You can learn about how the cuts to USAID have impacted people around the world here. Elon Musk is even trying to make it impossible to keep up with the weather. Whatever you're imagining, what's happening is worse. For further discussion of how to resist rising authoritarianism, you could start with "The Case for Resistance: What We're Up Against—and What It Could Look Like to Fight," also available in audio form here. You could also listen to the previous episode of this podcast, "It's Safer in the Front," which picks up some of the same themes.

This episode offers an audio version of "Sacrificial Violence and Retribution," exploring the responses to two different extrajudicial killings as a way to understand the different forms of violence that are contending in our society today. {November 22, 2024} -------SHOW NOTES------ Table of Contents Introduction {0:30} Sacrificial Violence {3:18} Retribution? {8:35} Beyond Martyrdom {14:11} This episode offers an audio version of "Sacrificial Violence and Retribution," published by CrimethInc. on December 23, 2024. The article version includes a variety of hyperlinks providing citations for the claims made herein. To get deeper into René Girard's analysis of sacrificial violence, you can read the first chapter of his book Violence and the Sacred here. You can read an incomplete roundup of various responses to the shooting of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, here. In this news clip, you can see a representative speaking on CNN on behalf of a fundraising campaign in support of Luigi Mangione's legal defense. You can read a discussion of the causes of the anger directed at insurance executives here. You can read some statistics about gun violence in the United States in general here. For information about how much damage mass deportations are likely to inflict on the United States economy—not to mention the lives of millions of families—start here. To learn more about why people travel to the United States without documents and what role they play in the United States economy, read our book, No Wall They Can Build. Finally, for a further discussion of revenge and political violence, you could read an earlier article of ours, "Against the Logic of the Guillotine."

At a time when misinformation, rising authoritarianism, and disasters exacerbated by industrially-produced climate change are creating a feedback loop of escalating crisis, it's crucial to understand disaster response as an integral part of community defense and strategize about how this can play a part in movements for liberation. In this reflection, a local anarchist involved in longstanding disaster response efforts in Appalachia recounts the lessons that they have learned in the course of dealing with the consequences of Hurricane Helene over the past six weeks and offers advice about how to prepare for the disasters to come. {November 18, 2024} -------SHOW NOTES------ Table of Contents Introduction {0:37} Start Preparing Now {3:59} Communications {5:35} Supply Chain Logistics {7:23} Heavy Machinery {9:06} Breaking the Spell {10:29} Rumors and Misinformation {12:04} Vultures {14:19} Engaging with the State {16:28} Finances {18:42} Getting Organized {20:35} This episode offers an audio version of The Eye of Every Storm: Anarchist Response to Hurricane Helene, published by CrimethInc. on November 13. We present this in collaboration with Audible Anarchist, another collective producing audio content. For related content, you can listen to an interview with an anarchist involved in Mutual Aid Disaster Relief organizing in the wake of Hurricane Irma in 2017 in the fourth episode of The Hotwire. You can also read these accounts of anarchist relief efforts in North Carolina following Hurricane Florence in 2018. Finally, this analysis written in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida explores the colonial roots of the disasters that a series of hurricanes has inflicted upon New Orleans. You can read about how people responded to the impact of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico here. Anarchists in Brasil have made the case that capitalism is one of the chief causes of the suffering inflicted by the floods of May 2024. In episode 95 of the Ex-Worker Podcast, you can hear two perspectives on the responsibility of the Turkish and Syrian governments for the suffering caused by the earthquakes of February 6, 2023. For more information about how capitalism is implicated in the sort of industrially produced climate change that is exacerbating hurricanes and other "natural" disasters around the world, you could consult this short text by Peter Gelderloos. Finally, if you are looking to get connected to anarchist disaster relief efforts, you could start by learning more about Mutual Aid Disaster Relief.

This episode offers an audio version of "Don't Stop: Continuing the Fight Against Cop City", 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 struggles of our time. {February 4, 2023} -------SHOW NOTES------ Table of Contents: Introduction {0:37} The Hour Is Drawing Late {2:37} They Don't Care About You {6:38} The Referendum {8:24} What Mass Organizing Makes Possible {11:19} The Sixth Week of Action {17:58} The New Balance of Forces {22:03} Escalating Tactics {25:20} Atlas Technical Consultants Drops Out {27:45} Scooping the Mid-Range: Repressing Public Resistance {30:16} The Storm Before the Storm {33:26} Escalating Repression: RICO and the Furtherance of the Conspiracy {36:26} RICO in Georgia {39:54} You Can't Break Us {41:12} The Scope of Repression Broadens {43:30} This is Not a Local Repression Strategy {45:37} Attrition and Conflict {47:51} From Atlanta to Gaza, No Cop City Anywhere {52:22} Black Self-Organization {54:51} Block Cop City {58:05} Building a Common Understanding {1:01:10} Anatomy of a March {1:03:26} Forward, Arm in Arm {1:06:52} Re-Grouping {1:14:16} A Supporter of the Police? {1:15:45} Gauging Success and Failure {1:17:40} Victory and Defeat: A Chimera {1:27:13} Fighting without Assurances {1:29:38} Continuing Forward {1:31:14} Winning by Attrition {1:35:03} Outro/PSA {1:38:54} This episode offers an audio version of "Don't Stop: Continuing the Fight Against Cop City", published by CrimethInc. on December 12th. It includes excerpts from "Don't Panic, Stay Tight: Frontline Reflections on Block Cop City," an account of the November 13th march in Atlanta. For background on the first two and a half years of the movement, see the following articles and podcast episodes: "The City in the Forest," (audio version) – chronicles the first year of the movement. "The Forest in the City" (audio version) – chronicles the second year of the movement. "Beneath the Concrete, the Forest" (audio version) – collects first-person accounts from the occupation of Weelaunee forest through the first half of 2022. "Balance Sheet" – explores and evaluates the strategies that different currents in the movement have employed. "Defending Abundance Everywhere" – essays on the webs of relationship linking all creatures and underlying the struggle to defend the forest. "The Atlanta Police and Georgia State Patrol Are Guilty of Murder" – analysis of the assassination of Manuel "Tortuguita" Terán. "Living in an Earthquake" (audio version) – chronicles February through June of 2023, including the fifth week of action, the repression that followed, and the City Hall mobilizations. "Understanding the RICO Charges in Atlanta" (audio version) – analysis of the new wave of legal repression launched in September 2023. Stay up to date on developments with news from the Atlanta Community Press Collective The Uncover Cop City campaign is targeting the insurers whose coverage makes Cop City possible, including Nationwide Insurance and Accident Fund - follow the links to find office locations and contact information to show your opposition to the project.

A so-called "anarcho-capitalist" 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 an Argentinian anarchist 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 of 2001, along with an detailed assessment of the economic challenges, disillusionment with the political class, and failures of the left and radical social movements that facilitated Milei's rise. This is a disturbing but essential exploration of one of the year's most important political developments, with critical implications for those of us fighting the culture and politics and fascism around the world. {December 10, 2023} -------SHOW NOTES------ Table of Contents: Introduction {0:37} Back to the Future {1:30} "Viva la Libertad!"—Freedom to Work or Starve, to Submit or be Shot {5:53} History Repeats Itself Again {17:30} Ultraliberals, the Military, and Repression: A Love Story {27:18} The "Forces of Heaven" against the Orcs {35:04} Outro/PSA {42:31} This episode offers an audio version of Back to the Future: The Return of the Ultraliberal Right in Argentina, published by CrimethInc. on November 26th. The article quotes from a post-election statement by a coalition of "especifist" anarchist organizations in Argentina. For coverage of recent popular mobilization in Argentina, see our coverage of the 2018 G20 protests in Buenos Aires: Setting the Stage: Background Materials and Logbook November 14–16, Logbook November 17–19: Peronism, Counter-Summit Creativity, and the Schedule of Resistance, and Logbook November 20–22: Security Zones and Shantytowns. This episode discusses in depth the 2001 uprising that succeeded in driving the neoliberal regime from power. The classic zine account is Que Se Vayan Todos: Argentina's Popular Uprising. Argentina featured one of the world's largest and most powerful anarchist movements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including some of the earliest anarcha-feminist projects. To learn more about this history, you could start with some of these resources: "Anarchism in Latin America" by Ángel Cappelletti, "The Anarchist Expropriators: Buenaventura Durruti and Argentina's Working-Class Robin Hood" by Osvaldo Bayer, "Anarchism in Argentina" and "Resistencia Libertaria: Anarchist Opposition to the Last Argentine Dictatorship" by Chuck Morse, and "No God, No Boss, No Husband: The world's first Anarcha-Feminist group." In case you were confused on this point, "anarcho-capitalist" is an oxymoron. We explore this in more depth in Episode 18 of the Ex-Worker, "What Anarchism Isn't, Pt 1: Libertarianism and Anarcho-Capitalism."

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 "Shutting Down the Port of Tacoma: Reflections from the Salish Sea." 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 on Decades of Port Blockades {4:03} Gathering at the Port {7:23} Evaluation {11:27} Outro/PSA {17:36} This episode offers an audio version of Shutting Down the Port of Tacoma: Reflections from the Salish Sea. To read more about this action, see the reportback "The Boat That Wasn't Blocked" on Puget Sound Anarchists. For background on a previous blockade action in the region, check out Episode 61 on The Olympia Train Blockade of 2017. The recent history of port shutdowns in the Northwest includes the Port Militarization Resistance movement blockades of the ports of Olympia and Tacoma to protest against the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan in 2006–2009; coordination between Occupy/Decolonize Seattle ILWU port workers in Longview that shut down the Port of Seattle among other ports in 2011–12; the Block the Boat action in 2014; the "Shell No" lockdown in 2015, Shell No. and the Block the Boat delay of an Israeli-operated ship for weeks in 2021. Our coverage of the war in Palestine so far includes "Strategizing for Palestinian Solidarity: Expanding the Toolkit From Demands to Direct Action" - also available as Episode 99 of the Ex-Worker; "From the Galilee to Gaza—A Voice From Palestine" – also available as Episode 98 – and ""A Nuclear Superpower and a Dispossessed People": An Anarchist from Jaffa on the Escalation in Palestine and Israeli Repression". For further background, see "A Coup d'État in Israel? The Bitter Harvest of Colonialism" (March 27, 2023) – also available as Episode 92 of the Ex-Worker - "The Revolt in Haifa: An Eyewitness Report" (2021), and "Contemporary Israeli Anarchism: A History" (2013). For classic strategic analysis, you can also read more about why we don't make demands and what we mean by direct action.

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 a collective of Jewish anarchists 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 Palestinian resistance, this article connects the movement to defend the Weelaunee Forest and Stop Cop City to Palestinian solidarity struggles, and describes approaches used by different collectives involving targeting war profiteers and law enforcement/military exchange programs. A publisher's afterward reflects on the uses and limits of tertiary targeting through reflections on the SHAC model and the Green Scare. Tune in for vital strategic reflections on what we can do from wherever in the world we're listening to take action against militarism, displacement, and death in Palestine. {November 7, 2023} -------SHOW NOTES------ Table of Contents: Introduction {0:37} The Ceasefire in Gaza Starts Here {3:43} 75 Years of War {6:06} "Ceasefire now!" {10:33} How to Start a Ceasefire {15:44} Publisher's Afterword: The Uses and Limits of Tertiary Targeting {19:50} Outro/PSA {22:45} This episode offers an audio version of Strategizing for Palestinian Solidarity: Expanding the Toolkit From Demands to Direct Action, published on November 3rd, 2023. This episode includes the analysis of The Fayer Collective of Jewish anarchists. To learn more about their work, see their text "Finding Our Own Fire" and this article in Jewish Currents. Our coverage of the war in Palestine includes "From the Galilee to Gaza—A Voice From Palestine" – also available as Episode 98 of the Ex-Worker – and ""A Nuclear Superpower and a Dispossessed People": An Anarchist from Jaffa on the Escalation in Palestine and Israeli Repression". For further background, see "A Coup d'État in Israel? The Bitter Harvest of Colonialism" (March 27, 2023) – also available as Episode 92 of the Ex-Worker - "The Revolt in Haifa: An Eyewitness Report" (2021), and "Contemporary Israeli Anarchism: A History" (2013). For background on our discussion of tertiary targeting and direct action strategy, check out our critical assessment of The SHAC Model (2008) and the broader context of The Green Scare (2008). You can also read more about why we don't make demands and what we mean by direct action. The authors connect Palestinian solidarity to the movement to Defend the Weelaunee Forest and Stop Cop City. For our coverage of that movement, see Episodes 85, 86, 96, and 97 of the Ex-Worker for audio coverage; you can also read "The City in the Forest," chronicling the first year of the movement; "The Forest in the City", chronicling the second year of the movement; "Balance Sheet," exploring the strategies that different currents in the movement have employed; and "Living in an Earthquake," on the most recent wave of repression and resistance.

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 "Understanding the RICO Charges in Atlanta." For more information, check out this video recording of an online seminar organized by the National Lawyers Guild: Understanding the RICO Indictments Against Stop Cop City Activists. For more background on the ways that this law has been wielded as a tool of repression against social movements, see "On the Political Use of RICO Charges." For further coverage and analysis of the last year of struggle in the forest in Atlanta, check out the articles Balance Sheet: Two Years against Cop City–Evaluating Strategies, Refining Tactics {February 28, 2023}, which evaluates the strategic hypotheses that the movement has produced and tested over the past two years and reflects on the risks and possibilities of the next phase of the struggle; Defending Abundance Everywhere: A Call to Every Community From the Weelaunee Forest {March 2, 2023}, a collection of short essays that draws on the struggle to defend the forest to reflect on the abundance that exists in our communities and in the more-than-human world; Atlanta Police and Georgia State Patrol Are Guilty of Murder: The Evidence and the Motive {April 20, 2023}, which exposes the truth about the police's killing of Tortuguita in the forest; and "Living in an Earthquake: The Fight against Cop City Confronts Unprecedented Repression" {June 1, 2023}, which explains the latest rounds of repression and domestic terrorism charges. For more Ex-Worker Podcast audio coverage of the movement, check out Episode 85, "Stop Cop City / Defend Weelaunee Forest, Part I: History and Analysis", which presents an audio version of our April 2022 article The City in the Forest: Reinventing Resistance for an Age of Climate Crisis and Police Militarization; Episode 86, "Stop Cop City / Defend Weelaunee Forest, Part II: Accounts and Solidarity", which narrates the August 2022 article Beneath the Concrete, The Forest: Accounts From the Defense of the Atlanta Forest; Episode 96, which narrates the February 2023 account The Forest In The City: Two Years Of Forest Defense In Atlanta, Georgia. Stay up to date on the latest developments, calls to action, and more by following Stop Cop City Soliidarity – which includes a very helpful target map to help plan actions against the project's supporters and funders – the Atlanta Community Press Collective, StopCop.City, Defend the Atlanta Forest linktree, and the Atlanta Solidarity Fund. The Ex-Worker is a proud member of the Channel Zero Network, an English-language anarchist radio and podcast network run by radical media makers. You can find episodes from other anarchist podcasts covering the struggle to defend the forest in Atlanta and Stop Cop City, including The Final Straw Radio, This is America, from It's Going Down, and more.

On February 6, 2023, two powerful earthquakes hit southern Turkey and Northern and Western Syria, inflicting tremendous damage and killing tens of thousands of people. But there was nothing "natural" about this disaster: the lethal combination of negligence and repression imposed on the people of the region by the authoritarian regimes of the Turkish and Syrian states is directly responsible for the misery. This episode offers an audio version of the article "Disasters of State: The Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria", originally published on March 16, 2023. It includes two texts, the first from supporters of the movements for liberation in the regions of Bakur and Rojava and the second from supporters of the revolution in western Syria. These offer different vantage points on how the Turkish and Syrian governments not only failed to protect their subjects but used this catastrophe as an opportunity to consolidate power and target their adversaries via neglect, blockading, and even bombing. Against the opportunism and violence of the state, we are inspired by the international grassroots mobilization with which communities around the world have responded to the earthquake. But in order for these efforts to succeed, we have to understand both the earthquakes and the state as aspects of the same catastrophe and take action against both of them. {May 23, 2023} -------SHOW NOTES------ Table of Contents: Introduction {0:37} Disasters of State: On the Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria {2:16} Statement about the Earthquakes from the Bay Area Mesopotamia Solidarity Committee {4:59} In Syria, the Sieve of an Earthquake {12:57} Back to a Revolution {16:30} The Denial of Politics {19:39} Confronting the Ba'ath Regime and Its Supporters {24:03} This episode is an audio version of the article "Disasters of State: The Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria", originally published on March 16, 2023. The article includes a statement from the Bay Area Mesopotamia Solidarity Committee, and translation of a text by Hamza Esmili and Montassir Sakhi courtesy of some of our comrades from the Syrian Cantina in Montreuil. Some of the solidarity projects recommended by our comrades that you can donate to in support of relief efforts include: The White Helments, Molham Volunteering Team, Association Revivre, and Mehad. CrimethInc. has published many articles on the revolution in Rojava, the Syrian Civil War, struggles against the Turkish state, and the political dynamics of the region in recent years. To read more, we recommend: "War in Ukraine: Ten Lessons from Syria" {2022}, "One Year Since the Turkish Invasion of Rojava: An Interview with Tekosina Anarsist on Anarchist Participation in the Revolutionary Experiment in Northeastern Syria" {2020}, "The Roots of Turkish Fascism and the Threat it Poses" {2019}, "Why the Turkish Invasion Matters: Addressing the Hard Questions About Imperialism and Solidarity" {2019}, "Interview with the Internationalist Commune in Rojava" {2019}, "The Nationalists and the Jihadists Together, and Against Them Only Autonomous Resistance" {2019}, "The Threat to Rojava: An Anarchist in Syria Speaks on the Real Meaning of Trump's Withdrawal" {2018}, "The Struggle is not for Martyrdom, but for Life" {2017}, "The Syrian Underground Railroad: Migrant Solidarity Organizing in the Modern Landscape" {2017}, ["Rojava: Democracy and Commune" https://crimethinc.com/2016/05/19/rojava-democracy-and-commune) by Paul Z. Simons {2016}, "Understanding the Kurdish Resistance: A Historical Overview and Eyewitness Report" {2015}; "Turkish Anarchists on the Fight for Kobane" {2015}, and "Postcards from the Turkish Uprising" {2013}. We've also got a poster featuring Trump and Erdogan you can download. Several past episodes of the Ex-Worker have discussed the situation in the region, focusing on the movements building autonomy in Rojava as well as the political context in Turkey, Syria, and elsewhere in the region. To listen to more, check out Episode 36, "The Rojava Revolution" {May 2015} and Episode 39, "The Rojava Revolution, Part II" {July 2015}; and the four episode "Defend Rojava!" series in October 2019, including #66, "The Turkish Invasion", #67, "Understanding the Kurdish Resistance", #68, "The So-Called 'Ceasefire' and What's At Stake", and #69, "More Interviews on Revolution and Solidarity". Our friends at The Final Straw Radio have also produced several episodes in recent years on Rojava, Syria, and Turkey. An excellent book to read more about the early years of the Rojava Revolution is A Small Key Can Open a Large Door {2016}.

In France, a powerful protest movement has erupted against the government in response to an attempt to raise the retirement age. Millions have gone on strike and poured into the streets in the most substantial unrest in France since the Yellow Vest movement. President Emmanuel Macron and his henchmen have attempted to crush this movement by escalating police violence to lethal extremes. In this episode, we share two recently published texts on the movement against Macron's pension reform in France. In France: The Movement Against The Pension Reform—On The Threshold Of An Uprising?, published on March 22nd, we present an introduction and a translation of a French text, which explore the roots of the movement, an overview of its first phase, and an analysis of the issues at stake—which, our correspondents argue, goes beyond the democratic process or social benefits to a rejection of work itself. In France in Flames: Macron Attempts to Crush the Movement against the Pension Reform with Lethal Violence, published on March 30th, we offer a chronology of the events of the previous week, including a translation of an account by one participant in the brutally repressed demonstration at Sainte-Soline on March 25th and a statement from the parents of another who remains in a coma. As anti-government struggles with very different characters rage across the globe, from Peru to Iran to Israel, we're doing our best to transmit reports from anarchists on the ground about what's happening, about the possibilities and risks they present, and about how we can think critically about the currents of liberation inside of them. (April 15, 2023) -------SHOW NOTES------ Table of Contents: Episode Introduction {0:37} France: The Movement Against The Pension Reform—On The Threshold Of An Uprising? {2:22} Bedtime for the Macron Regime? {12:04} Alone against All {13:14} The Best Retirement Is Attack {16:31} A Critique of Violence {19:34} Learning the Lessons of Repression {22:13} Power Is Logistical—Let's Block Everything {27:40} Towards Infinity and Beyond {33:05} Ex-Worker PSA {34:40} France in Flames: Macron Attempts to Crush the Movement against the Pension Reform with Lethal Violence {35:05} The General Strike of March 23 {36:45} The Strike Continues {39:19} March 25: Bloodbath in Sainte-Soline {40:23} Reportback From Sainte-Soline {44:34} Communiqué from the Parents of Serge on March 29, 2023 {48:29} The Strike Continues {50:16} Conclusion {58:15} This episode narrates two articles: France: The Movement Against The Pension Reform—On The Threshold Of An Uprising? (March 22nd) and France in Flames: Macron Attempts to Crush the Movement against the Pension Reform with Lethal Violence (March 30th). This episode includes a translation of an anonymous report-back from the March 25 protest at Sainte-Soline, and a statement from the parents of Serge, who was critically injured by police violence at the protest. To understand the context for social upheavals in France today, you may want to check out our coverage from recent years, of the Yellow Vest movement of 2018–19—see The Yellow Vest Movement in France: Between Ecological Neoliberalism and Apolitical Movements (November 2018) and The Movement as Battleground: Fighting for the Soul of the Yellow Vest Movement—and of the movements that preceded it, as described in our 2017 article, From the Loi Travail to the French Elections: A Retrospective on Social Upheaval in France, 2015–2017. Our French correspondents argue that what's really at stake in the protests around the retirement age is a mass rejection of work itself. Well, we've had some things to say about work, too, if you want to read or listen. Our friends at Ill Will Editions offer some of the most insightful English-language coverage of social upheavals in France; this episode quotes from their article The Trap of Sainte-Soline. The episode makes reference to the text "Why All Cops Are Bastards". For more audio resources on similar themes, check out classic Ex-Worker episodes 5, "Still Not Loving Police" and 6, "Making Police Obsolete". For additional context, check out this article of strategic reflections on the spontaneous demonstrations of March 18 in Paris. If you want to support rebels in France, check out this comprehensive list of solidarity funds from across the country and this anti-repression solidarity fund.

In Brazil, a three-way contest is unfolding between the far right in the streets, the institutional electoral left in the halls of power, and autonomous radical movements caught between them. When authoritarian president Jair Bolsonaro was narrowly defeated at the polls in October, a popular right-wing movement emerged to contest the election results, culminating in a protest in which Bolsonaro supporters stormed government buildings in the capital of Brasilia. In this episode, we share two articles in which Brazilian anarchists analyze these developments: the first, published in October shortly after the election, assesses the limits of electoral strategies as pathways to social transformation or checks to fascist power; the second, published just after the right-wing attack on government buildings in January, analyzes the similarities and differences between the events in the US and in Brazil, and argues for the urgent necessity of autonomous direct action to counter both the limits of the left and the threat of the right. Anarchists in the United States and beyond can learn much from our Brazilian comrades as we strategize to push back against rising fascism in our own contexts. {March 3, 2023} -------SHOW NOTES------   Table of Contents: Introduction {0:36} Left Electoralism, Fascist Direct Action, and Anti-Fascist Resistance:The Brazilian Elections of 2022 {3:26} You Don't Defeat Fascism at the Polls {5:25} Autonomous and Anti-Fascist Resistance {11:28} Shine the Light of a Dead Star {15:18} January 8, the Brazilian January 6: Tracking the Rise of Fascism from the United States to Brazil {21:59} Elections Do Not Stop Fascism {24:41} The Revolt of Those Escorted by Cops {29:59} A Local Manifestation of a Global Fascist Wave {34:35} Conclusion {41:30} This episode narrates two previously published articles: Left Electoralism, Fascist Direct Action, and Anti-Fascist Resistance:The Brazilian Elections of 2022 (November 6, 2022) and [January 8, the Brazilian January 6: Tracking the Rise of Fascism from the United States to Brazil](https://crimethinc.com/2023/01/10/january–8-the-brazilian-january–6-tracking-the-rise-of-fascism (January 10, 2023). If you or folks you know speak/read Portuguese, check out pt.crimethinc.com, where you’ll find dozens of Brazilian Portuguese translations of articles and zines. This episode makes a lot of references—here are some links to learn more about them! The articles speak of the Latin American "Pink Tide" of progressive electoral victories beginning in 2008, which itself drew on momentum from popular uprisings across the region in the preceding decades, including the 1989 Caracazo uprising in Venezuela and the reintroduction of democracy in Brazil and Chile (which didn’t make people free—see the Brazilian anarchist critique of their democracy, or our critique of democracy itself, for some insights as to why). There’s also discussion of the 2013 mass protests against the government’s effort to raise public transportation prices and the 2014 protests against the FIFA World Cup. Want to learn more about resistance in Brazil in recent years? Check out Fighting in Brazil: Three Years of Revolt, Repression, and Reaction (2017), Brazil 2016–17: The Political Crisis and Coup d'État—An Anarchist Analysis (2018), Brazil: Rivers of Blood—Peace Is War, Security Is Hazardous, and Citizens Are the Targets of the State (2018), From Punk to Indigenous Solidarity: Four Decades of Anarchism in Brazil—An Interview (2021), Brazil: Epicenter of the Virus of Populism A Year of Catastrophe and Resistance (2021), and more. You can also listen to past Ex-Worker episodes on the 2014 World Cup protests and the 2013 fare hike protests. Printable zine versions are available for many of these articles, too! To learn more about trucker strikes and blockades as a popular right-wing tactics, see our coverage of the 2022 truck blockades in Ottawa, right-wing Chilean truck blockades in opposition to indigenous Mapuche activism, and a mainstream news account about how the CIA financed trucker strikes in 1972 and 1973 to disrupt the leftist administration of Salvador Allende in Chile.