The Ex-Worker

Another May Day come and gone! After we catch up on how radicals around the world celebrated it in the streets this year, we'll turn back the clock a few decades to a particularly notorious May: Paris in 1968. The strikes and riots that nearly toppled the French state—as well as the Situationist International, those Marxist-influenced art radicals whose theories influenced the uprising—are the top...

This week on the Ex-worker, we're responding to a few listener requests and presenting an analysis of the situation in Ukraine, largely borrowed from our recent feature The Ukrainian Revolution and the Future of Social Movements. We'll also hear an interview with a member of Belarus Anarchist Black Cross about repression in Belarus and Ukraine, courtesy of our comrades at A-Radio Berlin, as well a...

We're back with the second installment of our exploration of anarchism's complicated relationship with communism.  Ex-worker's Russia correspondents Misha and Anastasia come to us through the fuzzy airwaves of history, reporting live from the Russian revolution and what the anarchists are up to . . . we'll see how that goes.  We'll also hear some more feedback from everyone's favorite gubernatoria...

It turns out we have a lot to say about our relationship to communism, so we're breaking this theme segment up into a two-parter.  We'll start off our gargantuan exploration by covering some basic  definitions of communism and socialism, and dive headlong into some heated historical splits between Marx and Bakunin.  We'll hear statements from Jeremy Hammond, Marshall "Eddie" Conway, and anarchists...

Our discussion of communism will have to wait … because post-socialist Bosnia is erupting in rebellion! In this episode, we share two interviews with anarchists from the Balkans reflecting on the current uprisings, along with recent updates and a Bosnian hip hop artist's protest anthem. An Ex-Worker travels to Lima, Peru and sends back a report on a recent anarchist book and propaganda fair, inclu...

Anarchism ain't what it used to be … if you search iTunes or Youtube these days, you'll find defenders of capitalism and private property claiming the A word more than ever. In our 18th installment of the Ex-Worker, we kick off a two episode series discussing what anarchism isn't , as Clara and Alanis step in to debunk anarcho-capitalism. Surveying the range of libertarian ideologies in the US, we...

As we complete this episode, trial is about to begin for the NATO 3, Chicago anarchists facing domestic terrorism charges after being entrapped by informants during a 2012 protest summit. To understand the case and its context, the Ex-Worker explores the state's strategy to repress anarchists and social movements through the use of conspiracy charges and entrapment. We interview three activists fr...

It's a new year and a new episode of the Ex-Worker! In our sixteenth installment, we backtrack a little to cover our biggest topic ever: what is anarchism? What pathways led today's rebels to embrace anarchy, and what does it mean to them? We'll hear from historical and contemporary anarchists in a collage weaving together first person experiences and definitions. Also, listeners write in to elabo...

In our first-ever holiday special, Clara and Alanis take a whirlwind tour through two hundred years of blistering anarchist critiques of religion and morality. From romantic poets to guillotined dynamite artists, from Enlightenment philosophers to punk rockers, anarchists have never been so fiery as when they've denied the gods and affirmed our right to determine our own values. The discussion tou...

In this episode, Alanis and Clara allegedly break into an abandoned building to begin a conversation about squatting--and why it's so important to anarchists. This episode includes two interviews--one with participants in a squatted social center in the United States, and one from an anti-infrastructure land occupation project in France. We'll also hear the soothing sounds of listener feedback, re...

Some radicals believe the internet prefigures a decentralized utopia; others foresee a new digital feudalism of total management and surveillance. In this episode, Clara and Alanis take on the recent CrimethInc. feature "Deserting the Digital Utopia," teasing out some of the limitations and possibilities of resistance that engages with digital technologies. A supporter of imprisoned radical hacker...

Anarchist resistance to fascism has a long and colorful history. Our second episode on anti-fascism looks into how anarchists fought against Franco in the Spanish Revolution and beyond. We share an exciting interview with Occupied London about fascism and resistance in Greece, as well as a Free Speech FAQ to help anti-fascists circumvent civil libertarian defenses of fascist organizing. A special...

Recently murdered Greek anti-fascist rapper Killah P is just the latest casualty in a worldwide surge of fascist violence. In this episode, we analyze contemporary fascism and the resistance anarchists have mounted to it, including the history of Anti-Racist Action. Interviews with the One People's Project and New York City Anarchist Black Cross discuss the extreme right in the US today, tactics f...

Building on our previous exploration of insurrectionary anarchism, our tenth episode examines how these ideas apply to environmental struggles today, as we share excerpts from a debate about "The Issues Are Not The Issue," a critical discussion of tactics and strategy in eco-defense movements. We also take a look at Desert, an anarchist analysis of climate change and the possibilities for resistan...

We've thrown around the term insurrectionary anarchism in recent discussions, so in our ninth episode we seize the moment and dive headlong into this tendency, exploring where it came from and what it looks like today. We also review the classic Italian insurrectionary text Armed Joy; look back over a summer's worth of animal liberation actions; interview a supporter of the California Prison Hunge...

To conclude our series focusing on prisons and police, our eighth episode looks into strategies to dismantle the prison industrial complex and to hold each other accountable without the state. We interview members of Critical Resistance and Support New York, discuss a new collection of writings from political prisoner Russell Maroon Shoats, respond to listener feedback and anarchist perspectives o...

In our seventh episode of the Ex-Worker, we turn south to focus on the massive rebellions that broke out across Brazil in June. We share excerpts from the in-depth report we published from Brazilian anarchist comrades that traces a timeline of the demonstrations and analyzes their politics, tactics, and influences. There's also a review of the nihilist journal Attentat, tips on writing to prisoner...

So we're still not lovin' the cops—but how do we live without them? In our sixth installment of the Ex-Worker, we follow up on our last two episodes about prisons and police with a discussion of how to stay safe without the state. We also hear a Croatan Earth First! organizer report back on the Round River Rendezvous, review the latest issue of Fifth Estate Magazine, respond to some listener feedb...

In this episode, the Ex-Worker takes a crack at the police; we speak with Kristian Williams , the author of Our Enemies in Blue , and members of East Atlanta Copwatch . Join us for news from around the world and a review of To the Indomitable Hearts: The Prison Letters of Luciano 'Tortuga' Pitronello. Also, comrades from Turkey and from Atlanta give us the digs on their respective anti-police riot...

In this episode, we at the Ex-Worker's Collective steal enough hours from our jobs to discuss the state of the US prison system, the prison abolition movement, and the destruction of prisons. A comrade from supermax lock up and Midwest Pages to Prisoners Zine Distro join us! News and a review of Between Predicates, War by the Institute for Experimental Freedom round out the episode asking us to wo...

A short radio play about the Luddites kicks off our theme segment for this episode of the Ex-Worker, launching us into an exploration of the vibrant history and ideology of Green Anarchism. Alanis and Clara also bring us word from an activist fresh off the Tar Sands Blockade, a review of Fredy Perlman's seminal book Against His-Story, Against Leviathan! , and more international news than you can s...

Why is this podcast called "the Ex-Worker"? In this episode, hosts Alanis and Clara discuss work and how it works with a friend in a cafe, in the first installment of our series exploring anarchist critiques of capitalism. Episode two also features a special report on Mayday actions around the world, a review of Silvia Federici's "Caliban and the Witch," an interview and reportback from a Canadian...

In this first episode, hosts Alanis and Clara explore the 1886 Haymarket affair and the anarchist roots of Mayday. Also includes news from resistance around the world, a profile of the Lucy Parsons Center in Boston, a review of the journal Modern Slavery , upcoming events, and more.