This episode contains two interviews. The first is with Shane Burley - filmmaker, journalist, and author of ‘Fascism Today: What It Is and How To End It.’ The second is with [RS] - journalist and radio host of [MF] on the Progressive Radio Network. Each of these interviews focus on the dynamics and recent developments within Abolish ICE movement, and specifically the OccupyICE encampments that have sprung up in recent weeks around ICE offices throughout the U.S., the largest and most prominent being in Portland, Oregon. The formation of these encampments are in response to the increasingly Gestapo-like policies and tactics currently being employed by the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, in particular regarding the agency’s active role in the detainment of immigrants crossing the southern U.S. border seeking asylum. Much of the anger, and subsequent action, in recent weeks has been in response to the Trump Administration’s policy of separating immigrant families and imprisoning them in privately-owned detention facilities along the U.S. border.
In my interview with Shane Burley, we discuss his recently published piece ‘Calls to abolish ICE grow as encampments multiply across the country.’ Shane breaks down the developments of the Abolish ICE movement, and describes the dynamics of the encampments that have arisen in recent weeks, forming barricades and camps intended to directly block ICE agents from being able to exit and enter their respective facilities and fulfill the agency’s directives. In the later half of this episode, [RS] discusses the themes in his recently published piece ‘From Occupation to Community: the Lessons From OccupyICE Portland.’ [RS] describes the community dynamics present in the OccupyICE encampment in Portland, as well as how important and absolutely necessary it is for this movement to continue to maintain and develop the community dynamics he witnessed and experienced firsthand in the Portland encampment.
Episode Notes:
- Read Shane Burley’s piece ‘Calls to abolish ICE grow as encampments multiply across the country’ here: http://bit.ly/2MLUbms
- Learn more about Shane work, including his book ‘Fascism Today: What It Is and How To End It,” here: https://www.shaneburley.net
[In the intro, I said his website was shaneburley.com - but it is shaneburley.net. Sorry Shane.]
- This episode features the song “Quiet Dog” by Mos Def from the album The Ecstatic.
- This episode features audio from the Patriot Prayer rally in Portland, Oregon on June 30th 2018. Sources: https://youtu.be/9jncZwz4pio / https://youtu.be/O9g1uuI62m0 / https://youtu.be/tgWmSUjDou8
