Isbel Diaz Torres's guest appearances

Isbel Diaz Torres

The Final Straw Radio

Cory Doctorow

Joshua Clover

Kevin Tucker

Jeremy Bentham

Sophie Lewis

Leonard Peltier

Scott Campbell

Hurricane Michael

Chelsea Manning

Herman Bell

Barry Pateman

Nora Samaran

David Forbes

Andy Fleming

George Jackson

OwlTail

This week on the Final Straw, we’re sharing another audio gift from comrades. Isbel Diaz Torres is a participant in the Taller Libertario Alfredo López / ABRA in Havana, Cuba, recorded in late 2018. In this chat, Isbel talks about the ABRA which is the only openly anarchist organization in Cuba at the time, about the LGBTQ movement and abortion rights which are both facing repression due to pressure from Cuban Evangelical and Catholic churches on the Cuban government, political discourse and difference, government co-optation, neoliberalism, animal rights, repression of dissent and the erasure of anarchist history. In May of 2019, Isbel and his boyfriend Jimmy Roque Martinez were arrested on their way to the annual Conga Against Homophobia and Transphobia, essentially Cuba’s main Pride Parade and detained 24 hours in order to block their participation. As Isbel talks about in the interview, the state-run National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) had  bowed to pressure from right wing Christian groups and canceled the event so activists were planning to hold an autonomous Conga resulting in several more arrests. A report with updates on the subject can be found at the  Rosa Negra / Black Rose Federation website. You can also find  an audio statement from Mario from the TLAL space on the subject in Spanish via BRRN. To learn more about ABRA, they have a website at CentroSocialABRA.Wordpress.Com as well as a fedbook page as AbraCuba and one for Taller Libertario Alfredo Lopez. ABRA is affiliated with the Federacion Anarquista de Centro America y el Caribe, or the Caribbean and Central American Anarchist Federation, which can be found in Spanish at f-anarquista-cc.blogspot.com. Check our show notes for some useful articles and a link to Frank Fernandez’s book, “Cuban Anarchism”, which you can  order online or read for free online at  The Anarchist Library. Another book suggestion is “Anarchist Cuba: Countercultural Politics in the Early Twentieth Century” by Kirwin Shaffer.  Transcript PDF (unimposed) Zine (imposed PDF)  Sean Swain Sean's segment runs [00:35:56 - 00:42:36]. More details at KilledByPolice.Net Off-Topic Announcements We’d like to say a brief hello to our new listeners on Royalton Community Radio in eastern so-called Vermont, where this show will air every Saturday at 10pm following Nocturnal Combustion as well as Tuesday mornings at 5am! If you’d like to hear two recent interviews with the hosts of the show, check out last week’s FE-Live podcast (audio or video) with David Rovics for Fifth Estate Magazine, as well as the  final episode of the SoleCast from the end of 2020, soon to be renamed The Institute for Post American Studies.  . ... . .. Songs from this episode both performed by Eztafilokoko from Habana, Cuba (more by them at eztafilokoko.bandcamp.com):  En Mi Puto Barrio [00:00:00] as background Hey Maxim [00:33:16] 

This week on the Final Straw, we’re sharing another audio gift from comrades. Isbel Diaz Torres is a participant in the Taller Libertario Alfredo López / ABRA in Havana, Cuba, recorded in late 2018. In this chat, Isbel talks about the ABRA which is the only openly anarchist organization in Cuba at the time, about the LGBTQ movement and abortion rights which are both facing repression due to pressure from Cuban Evangelical and Catholic churches on the Cuban government, political discourse and difference, government co-optation, neoliberalism, animal rights, repression of dissent and the erasure of anarchist history. In May of 2019, Isbel and his boyfriend Jimmy Roque Martinez were arrested on their way to the annual Conga Against Homophobia and Transphobia, essentially Cuba’s main Pride Parade and detained 24 hours in order to block their participation. As Isbel talks about in the interview, the state-run National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) had <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-constitution/in-rare-campaign-for-cuba-churches-advocate-against-gay-marriage-idUSKCN1MQ2N7" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> bowed to pressure</a> from right wing Christian groups and canceled the event so activists were planning to hold an autonomous Conga resulting in several more arrests. A report with updates on the subject can be found at the <a href="https://blackrosefed.org/solidarity-with-detained-cuban-anarchist-and-lbgt-activists/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Rosa Negra / Black Rose Federation website</a>. You can also find <a href="https://soundcloud.com/brrn_fed/cuban-anarchists-on-the-detention-of-lgbt-activists" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> an audio statement</a> from Mario from the TLAL space on the subject in Spanish via BRRN. To learn more about ABRA, they have a website at <a href="https://centrosocialabra.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CentroSocialABRA.Wordpress.Com</a> as well as a fedbook page as <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AbraCuba/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">AbraCuba</a> and one for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TallerLibertarioAlfredoLopez/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Taller Libertario Alfredo Lopez</a>. ABRA is affiliated with the Federacion Anarquista de Centro America y el Caribe, or the Caribbean and Central American Anarchist Federation, which can be found in Spanish at <a href="https://f-anarquista-cc.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">f-anarquista-cc.blogspot.com</a>. Check our show notes for some useful articles and a link to Frank Fernandez’s book, “Cuban Anarchism”, which you can <a href="https://firestorm.coop/products/5521-cuban-anarchism.html?referral=finalstraw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> order online</a> or read for free online at <a href="https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/frank-fernandez-cuban-anarchism-the-history-of-a-movement.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> The Anarchist Library</a>. Another book suggestion is “<a href="https://firestorm.coop/products/12825-anarchist-cuba.html?referral=finalstraw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Anarchist Cuba: Countercultural Politics in the Early Twentieth Century</a>” by Kirwin Shaffer. <ul> <li><a href="https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2021/01/03/an-anarchist-view-from-havana-isbel-diaz-torres/#isbeldiaztorres" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Transcript</a></li> <li><a href="https://archive.org/download/tfsr20210103-Cuba/CUBA%20-%20Unimposed.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">PDF (unimposed)</a></li> <li><a href="https://archive.org/download/tfsr20210103-Cuba/CUBA%20-%20Imposed.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Zine (imposed PDF)</a></li> </ul> Sean Swain Sean's segment runs [00:35:56 - 00:42:36]. More details at <a href="https://killedbypolice.net" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">KilledByPolice.Net</a> Off-Topic Announcements We’d like to say a brief hello to our new listeners on Royalton Community Radio in eastern so-called Vermont, where this show will air every Saturday at 10pm following Nocturnal Combustion as well as Tuesday mornings at 5am! If you’d like to hear two recent interviews with the hosts of the show, check out last week’s FE-Live podcast (<a href="https://soundcloud.com/davidrovics/fifth-estate-live-with-bursts-from-final-straw-radio-podcast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">audio</a> or <a href="https://youtu.be/rRzmf7fNFSw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">video</a>) with David Rovics for Fifth Estate Magazine, as well as the <a href="http://www.soleone.org/solecast/2020/12/31/the-final-solecast-w-the-final-straw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> final episode</a> of the SoleCast from the end of 2020, soon to be renamed The Institute for Post American Studies. . ... . .. Songs from this episode both performed by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/livan.horta.7" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Eztafilokoko</a> from Habana, Cuba (more by them at <a href="https://eztafilokoko.bandcamp.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">eztafilokoko.bandcamp.com</a>): <ul> <li>En Mi Puto Barrio [00:00:00] as background</li> <li>Hey Maxim [00:33:16]</li> </ul>

An Anarchist View from Havana: Isbel Diaz Torres