Asheville’s Southside Community Farm

This week, we’re sharing a recent interview with Chloe Moore, a steward, farmer and educator at the Southside Community Farm, in the historically Black neighborhood of Southside in Asheville, NC. The farm has been serving the neighborhood and the region with free and inexpensive, fresh produce for a decade, providing educational opportunities, grocery deliveries, an herb garden and a BIPOC farmers market. The farm sits on land owned by the public Housing Authority of the City of Asheville (HACA) and there is currently a threat that HACA will destroy the farm. For the hour we talk about the work of the farm, the legacy of a community farm in the wake of government policies that destroy Black communities, and ways that community members can support the SCF and help it thrive.

 

 

 

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Featured Track:

• Rise Above by Ibeyi from Spell 31

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“Clean For Who? Safe For Who?”: Asheville Business Improvement District

We sat down with three local activists to talk about the proposed Asheville Business Improvement District, a model of service provision using public funding to increase policing in downtown by an un-elected and unaccountable body of largely business and property owners. For the hour, Grace, Madison and Elliot talk about attempts to ram the BID through public process, some of the businesses and individuals behind it, how bids have panned out in other cities around the country and what space there is left to oppose this further privatization of public space in Asheville. We didn’t mention it here, but there have also been rumblings of the BID model, a version of which was fought and never funded in 2012, being applied to other parts of Asheville, for example West Asheville. You can find more information and ways to get involved with folks organizing against the Business Improvement District at AshevilleBID.com and on Instagram at @NoAVLBid. This is our show for the week of May 12^th. A full version of this episode is available at our website.

As a quick note, there are a few acronyms frequently used in this conversation. One is RFP, which stands for Request for Proposals and is a process of contracting out an element of a project. Another acronym is ADA, in this case Asheville Downtown Association which is an independent pressure group made up of individuals, business and property owners. Not to be confused with the Asheville Downtown Commission, which was created by the City Council and contains appointed representatives from the ADA, city council, Buncombe County Board of Commissioners and few other community members including business owners.

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Featured Tracks:

• Asheville BID song (unknown artist)
• Moving Through The Streets (instrumental)

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This week, two segments. The full version, with slightly more from Bernard Jemison plus Sean Swain’s segment can be found at our website.

Don Bosco Park Defense in Bologna

First up, an interview submitted by audio comrades in Italy about the struggle against the cementization of the city of Bologna and the defense of Don Bosco park from the expansion of a university, highways… the whole urban landscape without the input of the residents so the city can move a school rather than renovate it. This struggle, including the occupation and defense of the park, represents an innovation in urban struggles in Italy which consciously takes inspiration from the struggle to Stop Cop City in so-called Atlanta and the activities of the park defenders has forced the left-leaning municipal government and mayor to temporarily suspend the cutting of trees.

Bernard Jemison on Conditions and Resistance in AL Prisons

Then, you’ll hear Bernard Jemison, an incarcerated activist held in Holman prison in Alabama talking about conditions inside the ADOC recent calls for prisoner strikes in the state by the Free Alabama Movement and their outside supporters, as well as his views on the demands being made.

The demands that we mention are the following:

1. BILL TO REPEAL THE HABITUAL OFFENDER ACT ON THE TABLE
2. CIVIL CLASS ACTION LITIGATION FOR PAROLE ALREADY FILED. EVERYONE NEEDS TO SIGN UP.
3. PAROLE BILL ON THE TABLE
4. WE NEED TO ABOLISH LWOP AND CREATE AN AVENUE FOR JUVENILE OFFENDERS.
5. NO MORE NITROGEN GAS EXECUTIONS..
6. STOP SELLING OUR ORGANS.

A few articles on the subjects worth reading include:

• https://www.yahoo.com/news/death-rate-alabama-prisons-five-091450767.html
• https://www.alabamasmartjustice.org/reports/hfoa
• https://www.al.com/news/montgomery/2024/03/alabama-legislature-seeks-to-solve-missing-organ-issue.html
• https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/crime/2024/03/15/death-rate-in-alabama-prisons-is-five-times-the-us-average/72936145007/
• Statement of support by CCR for a strike called for by Free Alabama Movement: https://ccrjustice.org/home/press-center/press-releases/center-constitutional-rights-stands-solidarity-mass-prison-strike

Social media accounts Bernard thinks are doing a good job covering these issues:

• @Hopedealersprisonreform is Bernard on TikTok
• @truthbehindbars is a private facebook Bernard contributes to
• @prison_toks on TikTok

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Featured Track:

• On Point (instrumental) by House of Pain

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Bursts O’Goodness (co-host, producer)
Amar and Ian (co-host)

The Final Straw Radio Archives, current Audioport  and Podcast. Sampling and remixing with attribution encouraged.

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