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 Monday March 24, 2008 21:50 by Andrew - personal capacity
American Anarchism is Full of Surprises
I spent the last month Greyhounding around the USA speaking about anarchism in Ireland. Fourteen cities, 20+ meetings in thirty days in cities with populations from thirty thousand to over eight million.
Related Links: Andrew's Archive | Black Cat Forum | Blog | Nefac: Cross border Makhnovites These interviews are a fragment of a picture, a selection of the hundred plus people I had conversations with, the ones where there was enough time and enough quiet to allow me to flip open a five year old laptop and hit record. I couldn't always do that so there are many fascinating conversations that are missing including one from a visit to one of the 100+ political prisoners still incarcerated in the US.I spent four days in NYC but the shortage of both time and quiet spots in that city where many work three jobs just to pay the rent means no recording from there. And then there were also the overheard conversations, on the train to Providence I listened to two recently returned Iraq vets compare their terror of camel spiders, in the Greyhound station in Springfield, Mass another vet screamed at a Bush broadcast on the TV. So for ease of access here are the six recordings with some 11 people already published to indymedia.ie and short summaries of each. Interview 1: Providence, Rhode island  Providence was the second stop on my tour. Senia and Mark talked to me about (the new) Students for Democratic Society (SDS), the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), anarcho-feminism in Puerto Rico and the US primaries. The interview opens with ten seconds of chanting from an SDS demonstration that happened to be taking place when I was in town. 50 minutes original post: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/86424 Interview 2: Boston
An interview with four members of the Boston union of the North Eastern Anarchist Communist Federation (NEFAC). NEFAC were the organisers of the NE tour which is why quite a few of the interviews are with NEFAC members. We talk about NEFAC, the Boston Irish, housing organization around the foreclosure crisis, unemployed workers organising and political prisoner support in the USA today. 27 minutes Original posthttp://www.indymedia.ie/article/86424 Interview 3: North Hampton, Western Massachusetts This was recorded on the morning after the Amherst meeting just after a visit to the local graveyard where the anarchist Dyer Lum is buried. Anne Marie tells me how she became an anarchist through reading her sons activist emails, the local anti-war movement and class struggle politics in a small town. We also talk about Dyer Lim. 27 minutes original post: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/86525 Interview 4: Washington DC This was actually recorded in a parked car in Virginia but Alex talks about the Washington DC specific problem of building a popular anarchism in a city where there are several protests every day. 8 minutes original post: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/86696 Interview 5: Richmond, Virginia
Recorded on a sunny day in the park mentioned in the interview, hence the occasional wind noise. Sean tells me about the Richmond slave insurrection of 1800, anarchism in Richmond since 1995, homeless activism. 23 minutes original post: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/86696 Interview 6: Syracuse
This was the second last stop and found me once more in the snow and ice after my brief Virginia spring two days travel to the south. Sara and Stephen, two members of the Syracuse Solidarity Network, talk about anarchist organising, local anti war and feminist movements and activism in a rust belt town. The second half is Stephen talking about how the experience of working with Common Ground in New Orleans after Kathrina radicalised him and in many ways is the most interesting segment of the six interviews. original post: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/86741 Andrew's Blog: http://anarchism.pageabode.com
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Comments (4 of 4)
Jump To Comment: 4 3 2 1Dipped my fingers in the Pacific today.
As to an audio of my talk I've recorded it at a few of the locations and intend to put it online with a collection of the questions and answers from a couple of dozen of the meetings when I've completed the tour. I'm holding off till then as obviously I want people to go to the meetings to hear it in person.
This is great work Andrew, must be tough being on the road so long.
really enjoying listening to these audio reports Andrew, well done, be interesting to get a recording of one of your presentations, both to hear what your report is and the audiences questions and feedback.
Ive sent this link to your audios onto friends from the US or in the US
related:
IMC-RADIO back online
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/87224
I've enjoyed listening to these Andrew, thanks for sharing.