Wednesday Night

Program Notes S H 02-22-24


12 AM


David Emory For the Record

Hitler’s Escape FTR841

Continuing the series of archival episodes Dave Emory has asked us to run, filling listeners in who may not have the full background on the persistence and continuity of the apparatus and personnel of the German Nazi party, philosophy and clandestine agents and agencies after their absorption into Western societies and governments after World War II as the US, UK and their new German allies pivoted to anti-communism and the “Cold War” with the Soviet Union.



1 AM

Grayzone Radio with Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate’

No One Uninvolved

Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate discuss the untimely death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the US-Israeli assault on multilateral institutions seeking to prevent famine in Gaza, the renewal of US starvation sanctions on Syria, and the looming catastrophe in Rafah.



CORRECTION: In discussing Alexey Navalny, Aaron erroneously says that there is video of Navalny meeting with a British official to seek foreign funding. In fact, the person filmed meeting with the British official was not Navalny but one of his top aides, Vladimir Ashurkov.



2 AM

The Final Straw Radio

Harm Reduction and Eco-Defense in Appalachia

First up, Ian chats with Tasha of Project Mayday, a harm reduction project operating in so-called West Virginia. They discuss harm reduction strategies and the political framework of their approach to mutual aid. The conversation also touches upon co-existing in the public health and non-profit space without compromising their radical values and some of the many ways that drug policy and pharmaceutical marketing affect people who use drugs. Listeners can contact Project Mayday at the links below and should watch those spaces for news about the benefit show coming up on April 28th.

Then, I spoke with Toby from Appalachians Against Pipelines and Madeline Ffitch, an activist recently arrested for locking down to a drill threatening to move the Mountain Valley Pipeline through Peters Mountain at Jefferson National Forest. We talked about the recent days of solidarity, direct actions against the MVP, repression of activists and related topics.



Project Mayday Links:

Email: maydayx ( at )proton.me

Website: https://maydayx.net

Instagram: @projectmaydayx

Twitter/X: @projectmaydayx

Facebook: @projectmaydayx

Threadless Web store: https://maydayx.threadless.com/

Bonfire web store: https://www.bonfire.com/store/project-mayday/

Paypal: @freiheit13

Cashapp: $xpmaydayx

Venmo: @maydayx



Appalachians Against Pipelines links

Website: https://aapsolidarity.org

Legal Defense Fund: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/applegaldefense?=2

AAP twitter:: @stopthemvp

AAP instagram and facebook: @AppalachiansAgainstPipelines

. ... . ..



Featured Track:

We Roll (instrumental) by Pete Rock from We Roll



The Final Straw is a weekly anarchist and anti-authoritarian radio show bringing you voices and ideas from struggle around the world. Since 2010, We’ve been broadcasting from occupied Tsalagi land in Southern Appalachia (Asheville, NC). We also frequently feature commentary (serious and humorous) by anarchist prisoner, Sean Swain.



3 AM

Out-FM from sister station WBAI in NY

Tributes to Pioneering Trans Activists Cecilia Gentili and Kathy Ottersten

Pauline Park will pay tribute to Cecilia Gentili following the death of the pioneering translatina activist who emigrated from Argentina and survived sex trafficking, rising to become a major advocate for services for the transgender community and the decriminalization of sex work. Even in death, Cecilia caused a ruckus with a funeral service at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan that outraged transphobic right-wing Catholics. For more information about Cecilia, read Pauline Park’s essay, "Cecilia Gentili & her legacy of transgender activism & decriminalization advocacy work."

In our second half, we pay tribute to a courageous trans and intersex AIDS and trans rights activist originally from New York, who died on January 31 at age 57 in their adopted home of Fairbanks, Alaska. Kathy Ottersten was born intersex, came out as bisexual in their early teens, later identified as a lesbian trans woman and more recently identified as nonbinary and used the pronoun they. Starting at age 19, they threw themselves into social justice activism on a range of intersectional issues. In 2018 they became the second openly intersex person elected to public office in the U.S., winning a seat on the Fairbanks City Council. Out-FMs Bob Lederer interviewed Hannah Gold, a journalist and adjunct professor at Columbia University and Pratt Institute, who interviewed Kathy in 2021 for the online magazine Jewish Currents. For Hannah's moving Feb. 2024 tribute to Kathy, click here.

In 1991, Kathy was one of eight ACT UP members and independent activists who distributed clean needles on the streets of Manhattan, becoming defendants in a critical test case. Those defendants mounted a necessity defense, calling expert witnesses to explain how needle exchange programs had been scientifically shown to reduce HIV infections and save lives, and they won an acquittal, thereby helping to legalize the harm reduction practice of needle exchange in New York.

In this segment, we will also play clips from an interview with Kathy for the ACT UP Oral History Project, as well as hearing Hannah’s reflections. And we will hear a tribute from Alexis Danzig, a former ACT UP colleague of Kathy.



4-6:00 AM

The Thom Hartmann Program

Final two hours from Thom’s earlier broadcast on Feb. 21, 2024