Mutual Aid Under Attack: A Conversation with the AVL Park Defendants

Long-running anarchist radio and podcast show The Final Straw presents an interview with three defendants who are facing trumped up felony charges for mutual aid organizing.

For this special mid-week podcast release, we are presenting a conversation with three defendants who are in an ongoing legal battle with the city of Asheville. This group of 15 people, three of whom are speaking today, are facing felony littering charges in connection with a demonstration in December of 2021 against a targeted camp sweep in a local park adjacent to the downtown district. For this interview, we will talk about their case, the issue of the mistreatment of houseless people generally, camp sweeps and what they mean specifically, the nationwide crackdown on mutual aid, their own organizing, and how to keep in touch with this situation and support the 15 defendants.

You can read all about their case and keep up with this ongoing situation at avlsolidarity.noblogs.org.

To donate to these folks you can venmo @AVLdefendantfund. The defendants would also like to plug the venmos of another AVL based mutual aid group Asheville Survival Program which is @AVLsurvival, and the local Anarchist Black Cross chapter Blue Ridge ABC and their venmo is @BlueRidgeABC.