Episode 23: "A View from France of US Collapse" feat. Alley Valkyrie

Alley Valkyrie is a social activist, writer, artist, spirit-worker and co-founder of GODS & RADICALS Press. Though she is a US American citizen, she has been living in France for the last few years. We spoke on July 6th, mostly about the many ways in which French and European culture differs from the US. Specifically: ideas of freedom, responses to COVID, the social safety net, education and cultural memory. I really enjoyed our conversation. It was refreshing to be reminded that the way things are in the US is not the way things are everywhere.

Gods & Radicals Press: https://abeautifulresistance.org/

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Ep. 24: "How Trump Stole 2020" feat. Greg Palast

"Voter suppression is simply class war by other means."

Greg Palast is an investigative journalist who has written for the Guardian, BBC Television, Democracy Now!, Rolling Stone, and more. In 2001, he exposed how Florida was stolen from Al Gore, and since then, one of his main focuses has been voter suppression in the US. On this topic, he has few peers and has unearthed numerous scandals that deserve greater attention.

Mr. Palast's new book, "How Trump Stole 2020: The hunt for America’s Vanished Voters," was released this week, and is available at gregpalast.com. I was fortunate enough to receive an advance copy from Seven Stories Press so I had a chance to read it before this interview. As with Palast's writing in general, it achieves that all too rare combination of being both informative and entertaining.

We discussed the moneyed interests behind voter suppression, including the Koch brothers, Paul "the Vulture" Singer, Georgia Pacific (the logging company), Georgia Power (the utility); the gutting of the Voting Rights Act in 2013; how exit polls show widespread voter suppression in 2016; the problems with mail-in voting; and how voter suppression is class war. At the end of our conversation, he extends an offer for how to get the audio book for free if you purchase the hard copy during this first week of release.

(One clarifying note: Mr. Palast talks to me here as though I'm an official staff member of Counterpunch, even though I'm merely an unpaid contributor. I didn't intend for him to get that impression, but that explains how he talks to me in a couple places.)

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Ep. 25: "Portland vs. The Feds" feat. Blank

First-hand report from the tear-gas filled streets

Federal officers have been in Portland, Oregon, for the last few days, on Trump's orders. They have been abducting people off the streets into unmarked vehicles and attacking protesters with a variety of "less than lethal" weapons including tear gas, pepper pellets and flash-bang grenades. George Floyd protests in Portland have been active downtown there for over fifty days, but numbers had dwindled to a few hundred a night. But with the arrival of the Feds, crowds have swollen into the thousands again, and last night (July 22nd) the mayor himself was tear-gassed.

Blank is an Indymedia comrade of mine from back in the day, and we logged a lot of hours on the streets together covering protests during the Bush regime. In his second appearance on this show, he gives us the low down on what he's been seeing, including what happened to the mayor. Blank is a life long Portland resident and has been providing streaming reports from Portland on a regular basis during the recent uprising.

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Solidarity in Portland feat. Cammie Pavesic

Cammie Pavesic is an actor, director, producer, activist and union thug. She has been attending the Black Lives Matter protests in Portland, Oregon, as a participant with the "Wall of Moms." She was born in Denver, grew up in Idaho, earned a Bachelors degree at Boise State University and attended the National Shakespeare Conservatory in NYC. She is married with one step daughter and two grandchildren. She directed the documentary, "Add the Words," about the campaign to add sexual orientation as a protected class to the Idaho constitution. You can find her on IMDB.

On July 25th, Cammie and I conversed on the phone, and started off about her 30 years of union organizing around the country. Regarding the protests in Portland, our discussion specifically focused on the efforts there to center people of color and Black Lives Matter (despite what the media might do). We ended by talking about her documentary.

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"Remembering the Freedom Rides" feat. Max Pavesic

A first-hand account of protest & imprisonment

In 1961, bus stations in much of the South were still segregated by race, in spite of a 1960 Supreme Court case that had declared the practice illegal. The Freedom Rides were a campaign in which whites and Blacks rode the buses together to defy the Southerners and force them to change. Many activists were beaten by locals, often while law enforcement looked on and did nothing. Many were also arrested.

Max Pavesic was a 21 year old student in Los Angeles when he decided to become a Freedom Rider. He rode from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Jackson, Mississippi, where he was arrested along with others, and imprisoned at Parchman Farms.

Segregation on the buses was ended in November of that year, and ended soon afterwards, in a clear victory for the activists. This was a campaign that worked.

I spoke with Max on July 30th, 2020, which happened to be the 59th anniversary of his arrest. In this episode, he tells his story.

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Ep. 28: "Update from Strawberry Rock Treesit" feat. Lupine

In this special breaking news episode, I talk again with Lupine, a tree sitter in Northern California, who I originally interviewed for episode 19, back in early June. Forest defenders have been occupying trees around Strawberry Rock, north of Eureka/Arcata since April 1st, and in the last week, Green Diamond, the logging company, has resumed work in the area, clearcutting the forest. Lupine has been witnessing this tragedy first-hand, from her perch, 60 feet up in one of the trees.

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redwoodforestdefense/

Website: https://sites.google.com/view/redwoodforestdefense/rfd

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"Joy of Resistance" feat. Bette Lee

Interview with an activist photographer

Bette Lee is a 70 year-old Asian American activist who's been involved in the struggle for justice and equality for over 30 years. She is a substitute teacher at an alternative high school for mostly Black and Brown students. She currently resides (and resists) in Portland.

In the early 2000s, when I was doing street journalism in Portland, it seemed like I ran into Bette Lee at every protest, rally and march I attended. I became a fan of her photography then, when she posted it regularly to the Portland Indymedia website. She was one of my favorite people in the activist scene there. So I was thrilled when, on July 31st, I saw an article published on Counterpunch under her byline: "Tear Gas and Thugs at the BLM Protests in Portland." I tracked her down on social media and arranged for this interview. It was a real pleasure to connect with her again.

Bette Lee's photography on Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/joyofresistance/

"Tear Gas and Thugs at the BLM Protests in Portland" by Bette Lee (Counterpunch, 8.31.2020) https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/07/31/tear-gas-and-thugs-at-the-blm-protests-in-portland/

Email: leebette (AT) gmail (DOT) com

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Ep. 30: How "Defund the Police" was Blocked in Minneapolis

In mid-July, Counterpunch published, “Minneapolis Ballot Measure to Dismantle the Police Will Test the Strength of Our Movement,” authored by Robin Wonsley & Ty Moore. Intrigued by this article, I contacted Robin, and less than a month later, I interviewed her for my podcast. But already the proposal—which had attracted so much national attention—was dead, killed by the city’s undemocratic and bureaucratic process. Robin and I talked in depth about how this happened, including how the activist community sabotaged itself by giving away its power to the City Council.

The movement against racist policing in Minneapolis is certainly not over, but a battle was lost, and Robin’s analysis will be helpful for that movement, not just in Minneapolis, but around the whole nation.

Robin is a labor organizer with Education Minnesota, a Black socialist, and plays a leading role in Twin Cities DSA. She was previously a staff organizer with 15 Now Minnesota and helped organize the fight to make Minneapolis the first midwest city to win a $15/hour minimum wage.

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Ep. 31: "The Liminal Space of 2020" feat. Jessica L'abbé

Jessica L'abbé is a resident of Alberta, Canada, where she is a nurse and a gardener among other things. In our wide-ranging conversation, we talk about the challenges and possibilities of 2020 on both sides of the border.

RADIO FREE SUNROOT: Podcasting by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume https://radiofreesunroot.com

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Ep. 32: "Right Wingers Descend on Portland" feat. Blank, a street journalist

On-the-ground reporting from our local correspondent

On Saturday, August 29th, right-wingers including Proud Boys and Trump supporters met up in the Portland area to stir up trouble with the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests. Hundreds of them met up in a shopping mall parking lot outside the city and caravanned downtown. Blank, a street journalist who is our Portland correspondent, happens to live near the mall, so he headed over and blended into the crowd so he could observe. He ended up driving with the caravan downtown, where a right-winger was shot dead under circumstances that are still mysterious. Blank tells us what he saw that day. We also touched on the history of racism in the state of Oregon and mayoral politics in Portland. This is Blank's third appearance on the podcast. See also episodes #14 & 25.

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