New schedule for live communiques, podcasts

Hello Unsettlers!

You may have noticed a lack of activity here, which is the result of other projects taking up a good portion of my time this month. I’m scaling back The Unsettler to accommodate these other creative outlets, and hoping to keep (improve, even) the quality of future installments of the NEU.

The 1st, 3rd, and occasional 5th Monday of each month, you’ll be able to catch The Unsettler on BostonFreeRadio.com at 5 p.m. ET; 2nd and 4th Mondays will be reruns. That means you can expect new podcast updates twice monthly on our SoundCloud and iTunes (leave a review and rating, if you have a moment).

Thanks for your support!
Eljasz

Communique 012: The Carceral State of the Nation

Stream or download on SoundCloud or iTunes.

Elias sits down with Dr. Christopher Petrella, a Lecturer in American Cultural Studies and Associate Director of Programs for the Office of Equity and Diversity (OED) at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, and contributor to Boston Review and Black Perspectives (African American Intellectual Historical Society) to discuss his work on exploring and exposing the private prison industry, which has previously been featured in The New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, The Nation, Boston Review, and The New Yorker, has appeared on ESPN and NPR, and has been debated in the U.S. House of Representatives. Strap in, Unsettlers, this is a good one!

Talking points:

Renown Scholar Forced to Discuss The Onion; a town with more prisons than stop lights; when private prisons become ubiquitous, are private prisons “normal”?; “mass incarceration” vs “the carceral state”; you don’t have to be in prison to be imprisoned–how are bodies criminalized?; immigration becomes a crime–crossing the Streamline; detainment as a “market”; bed quotas and minimum occupancy requirements for ICE and prisons; “if you build it, you will fill it”–empty prisons lead to uncomfortable questions; banks built the prisons; don’t get it twisted–“state-funded” prisons aren’t “better”; our previous “victories”; why stocks for private prison corporations surged after Trump’s win; race and the state; weaponizing a census; “real estate companies who dabble in incarceration.”

Related links:

Communique 010: Live from the Middle of the Muff

Communique 010 is up now! Athena and Elias discuss seizing the memes of production, and the week in absurd bullshit.

Talking points: The one that went away; weld-done, Tungsten Notaro; professional segue derailer; soda pop-ulism; fruit goth; flavorblast the state; new musiiiiiic; indoor brocialists doin’ the dew; Pepe is dead/long live Pepe!; s/o to Matt Furie; Jay Babcock’s NEW’sletter; quis troll ipsos trolls; #BostonRally; the return of Hot Cops; Alton Sterling’s killers go free while a woman faces a year in prison for laughing at Jeff Sessions; I apologize (I don’t apologize); affordable housing struggles in JP/Rox and Somerville; Day of Deluge; more FKJ PhD/NEU crossover; what is late-stage capitalism?; a manual macaron; Democracy Now feat. Anthony Kiedis; everything is terrible.

Special thanks to musicians Ross Ingram (Magic Landing), Thick Shakes, Beware the Dangers of a Ghost Scorpion, Dan Gonzales, Chris and Horsewind.

New Mountain Dew – DEW.S.A (Mtn. Dew Kid)
Pepe the Frog creator kills off internet meme co-opted by white supremacists
(Elle Hunt, The Guardian)
Day of Deluge: Call Mayor Joe ALL DAY
Rally Boston to Stand Against Hate
Officers Won’t Be Charged in Black Man’s Shooting Death in Louisiana (Rebecca R. Ruiz, The New York Times)
Woman found guilty and faces year in jail for laughing at Jeff Sessions (Clark Mindock, The Independent)
Why the Phrase ‘Late Capitalism’ Is Suddenly Everywhere
 (Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic)

French election results: The maps and charts that explain how Macron beat Le Pen to become President (The Telegraph)
Focus shifts to Senate after House GOP passes health-care bill (The Washington Post)
Edward Crawford: Ferguson, Mo., Activist in Iconic Photo Found Dead From Gunshot Wound (Kirsten West Savali, The Root)
Mysterious death of New York judge was initially called a suicide. Now, police think it’s suspicious (Barbara Demick, The LA Times)
11 Things Every Anarchist Should Be Doing (Justin King, The Fifth Column)

Podcast crossover alert! Feminist Killjoys, PhD’s Episode 51 w/ yaboy Elias

Elias was humbled and excited to be a guest on the excellent Feminist Killjoys, PhD podcast for their 51st episode on Radical Politics 101! He talked with Raechel and Melody about anarchist theory and practice in 2017, and is looking forward to hearing their next installement of RP101 featuring an intro to socialism and communism. Check out Ep 51 of FKJPhD here!

PS – Communique 010 was recorded and will be posted ASAP! Thank you for your patience, comrades.

Communique 009: It’s Gonna Be May Day

HAPPY MAY DAY! Elias and Athena bring you a brief history of May Day in Massachusetts and beyond, and discuss state efforts to subvert the holiday, the Janarchists of Fyre Festival, prank calling ICE, gay frog week, another awful beverage ad, and more!

Stream or download on SoundCloud or iTunes.

Talking points: Untouched by an angel; that little guy? I wouldn’t worry about that little guy; a-Maying grace; moderation is involved; open yr fresh can; Athena doesn’t like it; the Duke of Fuck-You vs Lord I-Do-What-I-Want; feedin’ the cedar meter; Puritans HATE him–click to see why!; the storied Malorkus’s of Braintree; the “Haymarket thing;” 1919: Boston PD become Hot Cops; kill Mayor Whitey; gargling foie gras; the Albert Parsons Project (oy); Loyalty Day, Law Day, and Labor Day; it’s okay if you keep laboring thaaanks; live every week like it’s #gayfrogweek; Rise of the Janarchists, climb in a megafauna and sautee a mouse in yr pee; spam on ICE; somebody’s Heiney is crowding my nice talks; Family Double Dare in a warehouse with alcohol and racists; literally “hold my beer;” painting Chase Bank on fire is not a crime; elaborate heist maps; Dali the chrono-terrorist; M’aidez Rhonda.

Relevant Links:
The incomplete, true, authentic and wonderful history of May Day (Peter Linebaugh, LibCom.org)
May Day 2017: Nothing is Over, Forward We Continue (It’s Going Down)
The Next 100 Days: May Day and Worker Resistance Under Trump / Los Próximos 100 Días: El Primero De Mayo Y La Resistencia Obrera Bajo Trump (Black Rose Federation/Federación Anarquista Rosa Negra)
Not to be a downer, but here’s a reality check on ‘Loyalty Day’ (The Los Angeles Times)
Activists stage sit-in to protest detention of immigrants (Lisa Wangsness, The Boston Globe)
Lizard People of NY and TruthBang.net
I Worked at Fyre Festival. It Was Always Going to Be a Disaster. (Chloe Gordon, New York Magazine)
$12,000 luxury Fyre Festival is basically a disaster zone (Alex Young, Consequence of Sound)
The Heineken Ad Is Worse Than The Pepsi Ad, You’re Just Too Stupid To Know It (DiDi Delgado, Medium)
Of Mead And Molotov (Rhyd Wildermuth, Gods and Radicals)
Alex Schaefer’s Paintings Of Burning Banks From His ‘Disaster Capitalism’ Series (Mutant Space)
Paganism, Anarchism and May Day (The Final Straw Radio)
The History of May Day (Resonance: An Anarchist Audio Distro)

Communique 008: Happy Belated Inhalants Day!

Aaand we’re back! Elias and Athena bring you another weekly roundup of late capitalist fuckery as the masses clamber for fully automated luxury queer space communism. Download or stream Communique 008 on SoundCloud or iTunes!

Talking points: Post-Patriots; Back from the Brink; Narcy Narc; Running Far, Slowly, for Free; .8 of a host does 0% research; internshit; sway (not power); floor sweepings in the Nazi cola; Raytheon–whatta crazy feelin’; Trump: war profiteer; when a Father of All Bombs and a Mother of All Bombs love each other very much; energy chunks; vote for Ben Ewen-Campen; shocking developments; libertarian municipalism; Make AntiFa Sexy Again?!; who’s in their lane; Happy Belated Inhalants Day; Happy Slight Dehydration Day; the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; small acts of resistance; Athena’s upcoming show; Bill O’Reilly got fired!; more like Henry Dolt, amiright?; s/o to Chapo; nuke volleyball; the Alex Jones meat sweats; don’t get directions from Trump; will Mass get a non-racist flag?!; let’s take down Casey Affleck next.

Related Links:
Sorry, Pepsi Haters, But Social Justice Needs Capitalism (Samuel Hammond, LiberalCurrents.com)
Donald Trump personally profited from missile-maker Raytheon’s stock jump after his Syria attack (Tom Boggioni, RawStory)
Trump’s For-Profit Presidency Takes Ugly Turn as He Makes Money by Attacking Syria (Hrafnkell Haraldsson, PoliticusUSA)
US drops ‘largest non-nuclear bomb’ in Afghanistan area populated by Isis members (Tom Batchelor, Will Worley, Mythili Sampathkumar, The Independent)
Father of All Bombs (Wikipedia)
Ben Ewen-Campen for Ward 3 Alderman, Somerville
Prospects for Social Democracy in the US: Insights From a Syndicalist in Sweden (Enrique Guerrero-López, Adam Weaver, Truthout)
IGDCAST: Louise Rosealma on Berkeley and It’s Implications
4/20 Is Bourgeoisie Bullshit, Proletariats Don’t Smoke Pot We Do Inhalants! (William Todd, Clash)
Remembering the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (Marcus Barnett, Jacobin)
Bill O’Reilly’s publisher stands by him after Fox sacking (Danuta Kean, The Guardian)
Chapo Trap House – Episode 100: Chapo Goes to College
Alex Jones’ first day in court went just great (Sam Barsanti, A/V Club)
Activity Spotted at North Korea Nuclear Test Site: Volleyball (William J. Broad, The New York Times)
Changing views may lead to re-examination of state seal (Andy Metzger, The Lowell Sun)
“All Star” By Smash Mouth But All Instruments Are Bill O’Reilly Saying His Name

Communique 007: In the Pocket of Big Parpo

Download/stream here, or find it on iTunes!

Elias and Athena with the week in bullshit: tone-deaf ads, war-mongering politicians, confusion in the White House, and more.

Talking points: Technical difficulties, “that’s too high,” there’s no such thing as a free information, 3 Infinite Jests’ worth of documents, the black pants-ers?, the Pepsi® blues, highly irregular products, Big Parpo, 6th-grader-birthday-size soda, the most orange of the Grey Champions, Right Hand Bansquantch, Steve the shitty dungeonmaster, Post-Nunes, why does anyone believe in anything?, V for Vagina Dentata, BORED–NEXT!, Somerville People’s Protection Units, extremely dense, don’t be a tankie, foreign policy negging, a different kind of shitty, what’s your favorite anti-North Korea military exercise name?

Relevant Links:
Fellowship of Reconciliation
Pepsi Pulls Controversial Kendall Jenner Ad (The Daily Beast)
How Devin Nunes is Threatening the Constitution (David Corn, Mother Jones)
Steve Bannon Believes The Apocalypse Is Coming And War Is Inevitable (Paul Blumenthal, JM Rieger, Huffington Post)
Syria’s war: a 5-minute history (Max Fisher, Johnny Harris, Vox)
Trump’s Options for North Korea Include Placing Nukes in South Korea (, ,

Playlist:
Talking Heads – Don’t Worry About the Government
Parquet Courts – Careers in Combat
Television Personalities – How I Learned to Love the Bomb

Aaaand the ad, as promised: