The film will start at 6:30pm, run roughly 30 minutes, and leave us about an hour for discussion of the contents afterwards.

From the description:

Trouble # 4: No Justice… Just Us

No Justice… Just Us: Movement Defense Against State RepressionThe struggle for a new, better world is not for the faint of heart. Movements of collective liberation, if they are effective, will inevitably face repression. The institutional pillars of domination and exploitation are well-entrenched in society, well-versed in manipulation, and utterly ruthless in their efforts to crush any and all threats to their legitimacy. At this critical juncture in history, our movements are confronted by incredibly powerful enemies, who use a variety of sophisticated methods to discredit, disrupt and deter resistance. Far-right populist movements, goaded on by corporate fear-mongering and neo-fascist propaganda, are increasingly resorting to violent vigilante attacks against their perceived enemies. And as if this wasn’t enough… standing firmly behind these new reactionary movements lies the naked power of the state – namely its heavily-militarized police, racist legal system and vast network of prisons. Yet despite this terrifying political atmosphere, our movements continue to grow. Our future success and growth demands that we develop the capacity to anticipate the strategies and tactics that the state will use against us, build our own infrastructure to defend against these attacks, and incorporate meaningful solidarity and collective defence into all facets of our organizing. In this month’s episode of Trouble, anarchist media collective subMedia interviews a number of individuals engaged in legal defence and prisoner solidarity, and looks at some of the ways we can begin to build movements that are more resilient in the face of state repression.

Trouble #23 – Prelude to a Disaster: Climate Change & Social War

Every day the news gets worse. Millions of people are displaced by record-breaking heatwaves and droughts, violent mega-storms and flash floods. Unprecedented wildfires burn out of control, scorching massive tracts of forest and brush, and plunging nearby urban metropolises into surreal scenes of mid-afternoon darkness. Meanwhile, scientists solemnly inform us that marine life could be wiped out by mid-century, as the oceans continue to be gradually transformed from vibrant areas of rich biodiversity into the plastic-filled graveyards of industrial civilization. Try as we might… the consequences of our consequence-free lifestyles are becoming harder and harder to ignore.

It’s become widely accepted that ‘global warming’ exists, and that our societies’ current rates of carbon emission are imperiling future generations. Millions of people agree that we are robbing our unborn descendants of their right to an inhabitable planet – something that their ancestors foolishly took for granted. This increasing awareness is translating into a growing consensus that our so-called ‘leaders’ need to intervene in order to fix this problem and correct this historic injustice. Unfortunately, most environmental activists continue to be hampered by a false understanding of how power operates in society, the scale of the problem that we face… and what would actually be required to fix it. In Trouble 23, subMedia takes a closer look at these dynamics, arguing for the importance of taking bold action to defend local bioregions, even as we work towards the total overthrow and replacement of the global capitalist economy.

or the pdf flyer for this weekend’s monthly events

Film Description:

Land & Freedom: Autonomy Through Anti-Colonial RevoltFrom the genocidal aftermath of Columbus’ accidental “discovery” of the New World, to the ever-deeper encroachments of Israeli settlements into the West Bank — five hundred years of European colonialism has cast a long shadow over this world. Colonization, in its supreme arrogance, carved up the globe according to the imperial logic of accumulation, imposing artificial borders on foreign lands and seeking to subjugate restive native populations through religious indoctrination and force of arms. But despite their military superiority, ideological warfare and constant recourse to savage brutality, colonial regimes have consistently failed to crush the will of colonized people to fight back. And the reason for this is simple. Occupation breeds resistance.

Anarchists, especially those of us who have never experienced the sharp edge of colonization, have much to learn from those waging this resistance. We also have a principled imperative to align ourselves with those facing acute forms of state violence and dispossession. To this end, this episode of Trouble draws on two examples of contemporary anti-colonial struggle – those waged by the Palestinians and the Mohawks of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy against their respective oppressors, the Israeli and Canadian settler-colonial states, in hopes of drawing out lessons and increasing our capacity for producing meaningful solidarity.

This month, first Friday of May, Firestorm will host the latest Trouble mini-documentary about the prison industrial complex in the United Snakes. See below for a preview. 

Here’s what sub.Media has to say:

Mental Health in all its complexities is a topic that impacts just about everyone… and yet is rarely talked about. Ableism, rooted in an assumed mental wellness, is prevalent even among communities that fight against other oppressive social norms such as hetero-patriarchy and institutionalized racism. For those of us experiencing depression, psychosis or any other form of madness, our struggles usually remain invisible and unacknowledged until they boil over into full blown crisis. When this happens the massive coercive potential of the state is used to force us back into line. If we are lucky enough to escape the prisons and psych wards that form the double-edged sword of carceral psychology, we are often left traumatized, heavily medicated and likely to face further institutionalization down the road.

In this month’s episode of Trouble, subMedia talks to people who are pushing back against this reality. Refusing to accept the notion that mental unwellness is the result of one person’s brain chemistry they instead recognize the fundamentally social and interconnected nature of people and our problems. Rather than allowing interventions to remain the territory of psychiatrists and police, our guests are reclaiming traditions, experimenting with self-therapy collectives and building relationships rooted in care and trust that form the resilient foundations so necessary for communities engaged in struggle.

Destroying Domination: Revolutionary Feminism in an Age of Misogynist Reaction

Today, decades of hard-fought victories in the struggle for female emancipation are under threat from waves of resurgent misogyny. From attacks on abortion and reproductive justice, to the revival and spread of religious fundamentalism and authoritarian nationalism… patriarchy is on the march. Meanwhile, as the corporate media celebrates the #TimesUp movement initiated by rich women in Hollywood, femicide, sexual exploitation and rape continue to tear more marginalized communities apart.

Systems of male domination lie at the very roots of capitalism and state power. During periods of political crisis and counter-revolution, women, and all those who eschew their socially-assigned gender roles, are often the first to be targeted for repression and increased violence. In part, this is because of the important position that women have always occupied, as the beating hearts of communities of resistance. But this repression is also intended as a token gesture to working-class men that are upset by their declining social and economic status, and who rather than focus their rage at their true enemies – the rich and powerful – have historically and consistently opted to clutch ever tighter to their positions of relative power and control over their would-be female comrades.

In this month’s edition of Trouble, sub.Media takes a look at patriarchy as an enduring system of social, economic and political control, and shares stories from some of the front-line struggles being waged by women around the world – from Indigenous communities fighting against the colonial dispossession of their lands, to the challenges faced by migrants forced from their homes by economic inequality, climate change, and war.
Love & Tacos,
The Troublemakers @ sub.Media

[osm_map_v3 map_center=”35.5786,-82.5882″ zoom=”18.403541860441013″ width=”100%” height=”450″ ]

This month, come and see their second episode on student organizing. The first, available for free at sub.media, covers the student strikes in Montreal of 2013, student revolt from the dictatorship through the Penguin Revolution til today, and anti-austerity organizing by students in Puerto Rico.

Flyer

Scroll down to see a preview of the episode.

Here’s a pdf flyer for the event.