Mobile Mutual Aid with the Auto(nomous) Body Shop

This is the final straw radio, a weekly anarchist and anti-authoritarian broadcast and podcast emanating out of occupied Solagy lands in southern Appalachia. We bring you voices and perspectives from projects and struggles all around the world and you can find our archives, transcripts, ways to follow us and support us at tfsr.media. This week we're featuring two segments. First up, you'll hear Crystal and Alicia of the Autonomous Body Shop from their website, quote, "The Autonomous Body Shop is a Pittsburgh-based mobile mutual aid resource, supporting bodily autonomy in community care. We provide free info and supplies and propaganda to support and empower folks to be the go-to friend for reproductive health, abortion care and harm reduction in their community. We also fundraise for repro care to break down barriers to care, conduct workshops collaborate with and support other mutual aid orgs." The discussion touches upon the many facets of their organizing in the Pittsburgh region, the climate for reproductive health care and gender affirming care in Pittsburgh and surrounding area, and their expansion into other regions of the state. The conversation also includes a discussion of their coalition-based strategy to broaden the breadth and depth of their efforts and the need for joyful celebration of their values and goals. To that end, the conversation gets into the social events and zine publications upcoming later this month. Then you'll hear an interview by Freakonsa out of Germany speaking with a guest about recent repression against queer people and organizations across Turkey from September 12th through 14th of 2026. This crackdown against activists, organizations and spaces was named, quote, "My family is safe," unquote. With the reactionary government of Erdogan's a K-party using a similar rubric of upholding cis heteronuclear families as the only healthy model against, quote, "gender ideology," unquote. As you hear from regimes in the US, Russia, and the right-wing movements around the world. A longer version of this interview can be found linked in our show notes. "My name is Alicia Ott, pronouns are she/her. I have worked in reproductive justice and health and sex ed for about 20 years. I'm founder and co-director of the autonomous body shop." "And my name is Crystal Grabowski, and my pronouns are they/them. I am one of the core members of the autonomous body shop, and I'm the co-director of the caravan program with the autonomous body shop, which is the Reproductive Health Abortion Fund, and I'm also an abortion doula and member of UEE Local 696." "And will you please offer listeners some background as to your respective political trajectories and how those have manifested in your organizing efforts? I guess, mostly as it relates to this, this project." "My respective political trajectories interesting because I actually grew up really conservative. I was conservative when I was like up to my mid teens, and then I don't know what happened. I think I just read enough books to, I don't know, start living in the real world. And then I went into a bunch of careers that really radicalized me because I started off as a teacher, and that's horrifying, just seeing family struggle, and seeing kids struggle, and then struggling myself, and it was a huge struggle fest. And then after I decided I didn't want to teach anymore, then I got into abortion work. So it was pretty much a constantly radicalizing trajectory. My work definitely sped everything along because of what I witnessed on day to day, both in the schools and the clinics. And yeah, you know, I went from a hyper conservative child to a socialist abortionist, so that's my trajectory." Yeah, I mean, I was raised Catholic, and I actually attended to March for Life events at Washington, D.C. when I was in high school, so look at me now. Look at both of us. Yeah, yeah. And it's interesting, you know, honestly, I would say that like when I first started questioning my role, or like where I fit in as a woman in the Catholic church, was kind of where I started to think about bodily autonomy, and my own control, yeah, over my life, my future, because I just started noticing I was like, "Well, wait a minute, how come women can't do X, Y, or Z?" Or like my mom, for example, she couldn't get communion because her and my dad hadn't gotten married in the church because he had gotten divorced, and it was just this whole, they had to have it annulled, and like her first marriage annulled, and all this stuff. And so that questioning was kind of happening at the same time, I was graduating high school, and I was taking political theory classes, and just kind of, again, yeah, like reading. There was a brief pause, I was like, "Oh, Democrats, yeah, let's roll." And then I was like, "This doesn't, and sorry, I'm gonna ramble a little bit." One of those people, they're called like answer, the world can't wait people. "Oh, yeah, that's basically the PSL group." Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was like, "Oh, this isn't intriguing." And then luckily other people were like, "Hey girl, no, this is bad scene." And then I got more firmly situated under the umbrella, I would say, or like viewpoint of anarchism, mainly guided under, yeah, bodily autonomy, mutual aid. And those are the guiding points, I would say, in my political work, you know, for the expert of our own lives. I trusted other people as well. I don't want people telling me what to do with my life or my body, and I support that for other people. So I think that's kind of like the backbone of, you know, the autonomous body shop. And the way that I kind of operate, so yeah. I wanted to add one thing to what Alicia said, because one thing that I really like about the politics of the autonomous body shop is how community oriented it is, and just conversation-based, because when I was in the conservative background, you know, just living in that like kind of isolated conservative environment, I felt like every conversation I had connecting with other humans was like so important, and also kind of part of the radicalization and movement to where I am now. So I just kind of really value those kind of like actual like one-on-one connections that you can make when you're just out there talking to people. And I feel like little conversations can like really move people politically sometimes. Yeah. Sure. And you know what I'll add, I haven't talked to a ton of people in my capacity doing this, but I've talked to quite a few and quite a few have sort of echoed that trajectory where there are some, you know, you're moving from a place that you, by the time that you're talking to somebody about it, it's just worlds away from where you started. And I think that that's, I think that's great. Yeah. For people who are outside of the Pittsburgh area, what does the healthcare landscape look like in your area, especially as it relates to reproductive care and gender affirming care? And one thing that I wanted to note, and I made my timing maybe off on this, but my understanding is that UPMC recently changed its policy regarding gender affirming care, and if that's the case, could you speak to that? So I would say that Pittsburgh is kind of like a healthcare hub in what's essentially a healthcare desert for many different types of care, but particularly reproductive care. We were pretty good for gender affirming care comparatively, but the eternal struggle there is gender affirming care for young people is really what's become, what the access is decreased, like with what UPMC's done, and what a lot of providers have done has made it harder for young people to access gender affirming care. But with reproductive healthcare, we do have abortion access up until 24 weeks in Pennsylvania. The downside is there's only two clinics in Pittsburgh, and there's an abortion ban in West Virginia, and Ohio has pretty good abortion laws now, which is based on a lot of them's organizing wins, but there's still just like not a ton of them, so a lot of people do end up traveling to Pittsburgh, because it's the closest clinic, and we also get people from other states as well. So basically, we have two little clinics, and then also McGee, a hospital that provides, but they don't advertise it really, providing access for like this huge region. So there's a lot of traveling for hours to get the health care that you need. Yeah, and I would also add, you know, Pennsylvania is a big ass state, and it's like in our area on the west and the western front of Pennsylvania, it's like Pittsburgh, and yeah, we have the two clinics here, and then Philly. Crystal, do you know, is there like independent clinics in Philly? I think there is. There's definitely a few clinics over there, like more than here. Oh yeah, because there's that one that we helped out. The reason I bring up Philly as well is because the auto body shop we are expanding slowly and Philly as well, so just, you know, trying to keep that landscape as mine and mine as well. But in the middle between Pittsburgh and Philly, it's just like, what do people call it like pencil-tucky? Yeah. Well, state college is in the middle, and that's like a huge college town. So we see a lot of college students having to travel to either Philly or Pittsburgh, it's kind of like choose your own adventure. Like you're in the middle, which way do you want to go for an abortion clinic? Yeah. Two, three hours this way or two to three hours that way. Yeah. Which is great for people who don't have cars. So then I would imagine given the number of options that, you know, there are capacity issues and stuff, is that correct? Well, definitely. You mean like for people I talk about, yeah, you know, weight listing and stuff like that, is that how that works? It's gotten better, but it's gotten better because the clinics have like worked very, very, very hard. Like I remember because I was working at the clinic when dobs happen in 2022. And it was just the last couple of years, it's been like a frantic, like scramble to build capacity for patients. And it's happened. I feel like we can see patients a lot quicker now. But a lot of people are still choosing to do pills by mail because of how difficult it is to get to a clinic. Okay. I would say one other thing that might be important to to talk about. sure right now or later, but our Pittsburgh landscape with our local independent clinic, things have been really bad there, vibes are atrocious. Easiest way to say it, but things have been really bad there, at least for more than a year now, with lots of layoffs and union busting. I mean, firings and union busting, and we used to have lots of friends that worked at that local clinic, and now they're down to like a skeleton staff. So that's also on our mind as well, where it's like, you know, we know people have to get care somewhere, but it's like, we still want them to have high quality options, you know, and I'm not saying they're not getting high quality care there, but things are not. You don't want the workers struggling. Yes, for sure. Like the success, the success of workers is pretty tight up in quality patient care, in my opinion, as a union member. Oh yeah, yeah. So with all that said, can you talk a little bit about the genesis of this project, how long have you all been organizing within this project, and what kind of events and actions have you undertaken? Yeah, so I started the autonomous body shop just by myself in the summer of 2023, mean like July, August of 2023, because I had a janky van, and you know, it's inspired by other like organizations that have mobile units, both locally and nationally, doing really cool, like grassroots on the groundwork and meeting people where they're at. And I also was trying to get more organized around the work that I was doing already, you know, like mainly supporting people through abortions with pills, helping people resource them, answering, you know, questions, just being emotional support, abortion, dual, or work, things like that. So I was seen as a community resource, but so many times people would come to me and ask for help regarding accessing some kind of reproductive health care. And in my head, I'm just like, okay, well, I'm thinking, you know, these are also often the same people that are like, oh, I really want to get involved. How can I help? What can I do? And I didn't really have great answers for them, or great, like, simple answers for them, besides maybe like, okay, volunteer, plan parenthood. And I guess one of the main goals of me starting this was of course, starting to like getting the info and supplies into the hands of more people, as many people as possible, you know, diffusing it, but a saying that I've, you know, said here and there's like, I want people to feel empowered with the knowledge and understanding that they can be a resource for their friend group, for their community. They can be the go-to friend in their crew. And so just kind of trying to get more people out there that people can turn to in those times of need. So yeah, just started taking the van to events that I was probably already going to anyway. Looking back on photos around that time, it's really funny because basically like, I don't know, the first time I was at University of Pittsburgh, I brought the van and the photo, and I can send it to you, but the photo, it's like, I have like three pieces of paper with magnets on the side of the van. It's just like random info. And, but I did have emergency contraception and condoms and pregnancy tests. I think I'll send Narcan for free. So that was cool. We got swarmed at pit, kids were really excited. Yeah, it was cool. So since then, I mean, we've been around for three years. And pretty I'm a yapper, you know, you could probably tell within 10 minutes of me being on this podcast. But I talked to a lot of people. I know a lot of people have a lot of connections. And within the first year, pretty quickly, made connections with people that were like, I want to be more heavily involved. And like some of the first people were students at University of Pittsburgh. They had started their own reproductive justice organization on campus. And, you know, at a certain point, they were like, we don't want this to just be part of the school. We would like it to maybe be a program of the van. And I was on the same page. So that kind of grew from there. There had also been people doing organizing work under the umbrella of what's it called abortion defense committee. And yeah, so that was like a local autonomous activist organizing group happening here in Pittsburgh. I think it was in response to fall fruit. Yeah, like the dobs decision. And it's funny because Crystal and I, people had been trying to connect Crystal and I for like years. It's really funny because I'm people like, Oh, do you know Crystal? You have to connect. I'm like, I've heard of Crystal. I probably know each other or we should. And it wasn't until like van world started happening that we, you know, deepened and got tight. And here we are. Yeah, because I was also out and about like connecting people. Yeah, just like another community resource basically. So it's kind of like community resources coming together to train other people to be community resources groups. Yeah. And since, so since then, I mean, we have grown so much. Like we have a core team. And it's kind of just grown organically. We have a core team of this point. I think it's like 15 people. Yeah. And those are people who are directing different programs. There's co directors of all of our programs. We have folks doing tech, security, managing our volunteers. Myself and Ty L are co directors of the auto body shop in general. We have two people who just moved to Philly and they're helping get things up and running over there. So you all kind of roll up to events. You all pour out of the van. Like clowns. Clowns with abortion stuff. That has to be what's the word? A very satisfying thing. Well, it is really satisfying. I think that I'll let you talk about the caravan fun crystal. But I can like the events are one aspect of what we do. It used to be like the main thing that we do. And we're still doing events. Like, for example, I was at an event yesterday. It just parked and, you know, we had been invited to it. It was called Ink for Impact. And it was lots of tattoo artists in Pittsburgh. It's a huge event put on by Pittsburgh action against rape. And people get tattoos. That money gets donated to Pittsburgh action against rape. It's also called par. And there's lots of different organizations and people tabling. So we were there. And yeah, it is cool to go to events. And then what we do is just open up the side door and all of our supplies and info, our posters, our banners. Everything is hanging on the side of the van. We utilize all van real estate with magnets. And did I put flags on the antenna? Or yeah, the antenna before. And yeah, we just hang it out there. And we put it all out there. And people pretty quickly come up to us. And they're like, Oh, what's this? We have signs on the side that are like a lot of our coolest stuff comes from shout your abortion. But things like abortion care is a community responsibility. We have one banner that says laws aren't real. I think that's also from them. We had a huge banner on the side of the van yesterday that we've made that says we love our trends and immigrant neighbors. So there's a lot of messaging. But definitely info about abortion and things like that. But sorry, this is a lot of info. The other programs we have are our pit stop program. So that's grown huge. We have probably like 50 plus different locations. That's a while because I remember we only had like a handful. Yeah, there are physical locations around the city. And we have like one in Erie and one in Ohio and some other random spots. But like bookstores, tattoo shops, coffee shops, salons where they have our basic supplies. And they're on a map. And so if people can't get to us at an event, they can look at this map and see the hours and locations of these places to go pick up supplies. And then the other program we have our harm reduction program. We don't have a clever name for that yet. We're working on it. We're going to get a van pun in there somehow. If anyone has an idea for harm reduction van puns, hit us up. Yeah. But that's Adrian's managing that right now with support from Calisa. And they are doing distribution outside of our local jail like twice a month with food not bombs, I think once a year. Now it's with our streets collective. Oh, and food not bombs. Sorry, it's with you. Yes. Yeah, there's multiple distros happening. Hygiene kits, Narcan test strips, just connecting people to the things that they need. We have our student van ambassador program. So that is by students and for students. So we take the van to to do workshops or kit making at universities. And then is the other program just the caravan fun crystal? Yeah, that's the only other one. Okay. Yeah, just the only other one that we have going on with that short list. So yeah, do you? It sounds to me like the thing that really makes this pop is that you that you all had such extensive networks in place when you when you kind of came to it, would you say that that's? Yeah, that's actually a really good way to put that I never thought about it that succinctly. So you see this project like it kind of stands and falls on your ability to work in in coalition with. Oh, yeah, absolutely. We wouldn't be able to do it without working with so many other organizations and groups. Yeah, that aren't even necessary. I mean, I would say most aren't specifically focused on reproductive health care. Yeah, we work with like harm reduction, just like general mutual aid. And that's kind of how you - Yes, food. - Yes, food. - Yes, a lot. - Prison, like, books to Prisoner's Project, the court support or like we yeah we've got a lot going on. We founded the caravan fund in April of this year so it's our I think are one of our most recent programs and it's really ambitious because it's an abortion fund plus basically we are also trying to well we are funding other kinds of OBGYN care including continuing pregnancy care and postpartum care as well as birth control so we're kind of trying to assist people with it just very holistically and comprehensively where it's kind of like well you don't because like nobody ever really just needs an abortion they also need like connection to health resources they sometimes need kids clothes baby clothes they need birth control they need like there's all it's like you know we never just have one thing going on in our life usually we have like a lot of things going on and that was something that me and Michelle and Nikki who are who are also abortion workers and I've worked in clinics we were like okay all these patients need more than just paying for abortion so let's try to come up with a fund that sees like kind of like the whole person and other things going on in their life rather than just the silo of abortion and that's been really fun because I absolutely love being able to help someone pay for their abortion and then also get them diapers for their one year old it's just such a common need and it's I just really love doing it because I feel like I can just focus on everything instead of just one thing and not seeing some like just nothing like okay this is just about abortion because it's abortion is connected to everything else yeah well that that comprehensive approach sounds to me like it is more you know it's it's obviously great to be there for anyone in that kind of acute moment of need but taking that comprehensive thing seems like it might be more radicalizing in a lasting way if that makes sense oh yeah definitely I think that I mean to to think on that a little bit more as well like you know like meeting an urgent need versus maybe investing in long-term support for someone or engaging people yeah and further than just meeting that urgent need you know oftentimes when we're we help somebody whether it's getting them plan B or helping fund their abortion or you know just connecting them to whatever resources we have I would say a lot of times people want to give back either to our organization or to help someone else either be prepared for a friend in the future or pay it forward to the next person and I think that's something that we are working on and you know we we do but I think we can deepen this area is offering up ways for people to like to fulfill that request from folks because that's you know part of our entire goal it's like now that person that we've just supported they can have the info and the the resources to support someone else and so I do offer that people like oh well how can I help what can I do thank you so much and you know sometimes these are people saying like I would like to donate money and it's like girl we just we just gave you money yeah like that's so true no we don't need your money and you know it would be much more meaningful and impactful is like we would love if you share this info about this organization and have emergency contraception on hand or you know just just let your friend group know that this exists so and so a lot of times it comes down to I'm sorry I didn't erupt um a lot of times it just comes down to knowing that people have these important supplies stashed away so when they're called upon they can give them to who needs them is that yeah I think so and I think like to touch in your question further down I'm not trying to jump to gun but talking about like propaganda sure I mean whenever people come to the van at events I tell people I'm like look this is the info zone this is where we have zines this is how you can have information about how to support people accessing abortion xyz this is our physical supplies so like Narcan pregnancy test loop etc and then this section down here is our swag and propaganda zone so there's lots of buttons and stickers and kuzis and pens so you can show the world that you are a safe person to talk to right yeah and I think that you know we'll trifecta of having something from each of those zones or you know this is really powerful because you know I tell people I'm like okay because I think you know right after dogs the dogs decision there were so many people that were like I'm buying every plan B that I can and it's like okay that is such a we we can tell that you care and you want to help but that's not going to be helpful if nobody knows that you have all this plan B plus there's expiration dates you need to know about it yeah you know you need to know how to store it properly yeah and so yeah and so I think this also goes back to like the networks um part as well it's like okay you can't just have this stuff at home for yourself when people take two plan B it they'll be like oh my gosh wait I can take another one like yes but please for me let your friends know that you're the plug okay they're like hell yeah I'm gonna do that um I've had a lot of really cool experiences being an abortion worker and an abortion doula but I would say one of my favorite things is that some people that I've like helped out in various ways whether I helped them uh help them fund their abortion or I counsel them before their abortion like I I work with them now and I like volunteer and like organize with them now and I absolutely love that and I know that you know I'm not the only one I know that the other people have probably had similar experiences but it's really cool to like work with someone and then like you're helping them and then later they're helping you like you're delegating tasks to them or they're delegating I don't know it's just so great and then also like when people tell us that like oh yeah my friend needed a plan B and I gave it to him or my friend needed Narcan and I gave it to them or you know like you know you do hear about people saying like oh yeah you know I was able to use the Narcan that you gave me and I was able to help someone and that's really nice that's awesome showy switch gears to talk about the upcoming event yeah I literally thought you were talking about like the election or something oh it's even cooler than that tell us about tell us about the movie screening yeah go ahead crystal yeah so I'm the horror film enthusiast in the group just like it's a personal interest of mine I just love horror movies I watch them every single day they're like my comfort thing and the van is so cool that they kind of like let they they took my little zines I was making and they made an event out of them and that was really nice because I didn't even ask them to they just were like we love what you love and then they made it into an event and I'm like wow that's so cool they're supporting my special interests but but yeah so we do have a horror movie screening coming up on October 15 because it is October it's the spooky month and the I it's based on a zina that I made which is called horror movies that are really about abortion because as a big horror movie fan one of the things I'm always really fascinated with is how horror movies really explore the big social fears and anxieties of different periods where they're coming from and that leads to a bunch of horror movies that take on pregnancy abortion miscarriage birth parenting having a child you know living like raising a child in a horrifying world and I absolutely love that and I you know put together a group of movies that are like abortion or the termination of pregnancy is a huge part of the conflict at the plot you know it influences the plot and it's very much a part of it though it's may not be explicit it could be implicit or explicit the movies that I focused on because there's a ton of them but the movies that I focused on were rosemary's baby alien the fly and black Christmas because those are some really you know classics and some of my favorite movies I haven't seen two of them I think yeah well you're gonna see alien so we for the first for the movie screening we're doing October 15th at brillo box I asked I basically just asked like the other core members of the van like which of these movies are you most interested in and aliens seem to be the one that people were the most excited about so that's the one that we're focusing on which is interesting because alien is actually the one that's the most the least explicitly about abortion and it's a lot more implicit but I absolutely love it and I think that other people are going to love making that connection and yeah that's basically really what it is it's just a fun movie screening where we can kind of think about the reproductive themes explored in a horror movie and the reason I really like that is that I think like yes it's a horror movie about a giant alien monster but also you know why do people watch horror movies. Well, yes, for entertainment. But then also, it's like, what are you, what makes you nervous? What scares you? Why does that scare you? Why does that feel with you with this anxiety? Why is this part in this movie frustrating? You know, like, why is this the plot point blah, blah, blah, blah, blah? So they facilitate conversations essentially? Yeah. I think that, I think that movies in general, but, you know, horror movies are a really great way to talk about politics as well. Like, because again, it's like, what are the big fears and anxieties, and both on a personal and social, like a big societal level, you know, when these movies are coming out, you know, like, why did the purge come out, which is honestly a pretty conservative movie. But anyways, you know, and that's the thing is a lot of the, a lot of horror movies have like really conservative themes, but they don't all, a lot of them are really like really interesting, like progressive themes to look through as well. You know, there's a little bit of mix of everything there, but it's fun to kind of look at the politics and the era that the movie's coming out of and then also looking at, you know, what's actually happening in the movie. I really enjoy that and Van kind of let me, you know, facilitate that and bring it to like a bigger audience. Well, can you talk about what the qualities of a good event are and what does, you know, a positive outcome for an event look like to you all? I, you know, I think that with this event, and Chris, I'm not sure we've even talked in depth about it, but, you know, I picture people leaving with, you know, one of those zines that Chris was made about horror movies with abortion, but then also I think we could make little packets that have just basic info on how people can access abortion. So they can take that home with them, you know, something from each of the zones that's talking about, you know, just like info, and we'll give some stickers, buttons, and we'll have supplies, of course, available as well for people to take home. But I think that for this event and other events as well, I think we try to make them fun, and things that people would want to do anyway, and that's, I mean, a huge part of our organization in general, like we crack jokes, we make memes, we have fun, and, you know, this kind of event, people are like, "Oh, would you get up to on Thursday?" "Oh, well, I went and saw this movie." And guess what? It was actually, we're talking about how it's actually about abortion. So I think that this kind of event is perfect for bringing information and resources into friendships. It's not just in a silo, it's not just like, "Okay, I went to a talk," and maybe none of my friends really are interested in going to like educational speakers or ex-wiresy, but maybe we all want to watch a movie together. I think it would be cool if people left and were like, "I want to do this with my friends next weekend with one of the other movies in the scene." I mean, it sounds like what you all are taking up is, again, this kind of, this, this continuous embodiment of, of your politics in such a way that it's just kind of always, always kind of simmering at a low level, so whenever someone is ready for it, it's, it's there for them. That, wow, I feel like I need to write down these things that you're saying. I guess they will be, I guess they'll be able to hear them because that really hits home to me because I did a, yes, to answer your question, yes. One thing that's really important to me is not being gatekeeping about activism or, you know, the things that we're doing. I really want there to be lots of entry points in invitations to regular-ass people, to get involved, to learn about abortion access, reproductive justice, mutual aid, bodily autonomy, and get, honestly, like, learn the difference between being a liberal or a Democrat and being radical. And so I think that, yeah, you put it perfectly, we always have an open invitation for people to join us and learn more and get involved, and we try to do that by making it fun and inviting. I think another thing too, because Alicia and I have talked about the ways in which we want to do this, but another thing too, which is kind of a low-key part of it, is also kind of taking over with the anti-abortion and conservative people do, but just kind of making them obsolete, because we have all these crisis pregnancy centers, which are like the fake abortion clinics, and they offer diapers, they offer baby clothes, they will help new moms and everything. And we're like, wait a second, but we can do abortions and that too. We can supplant them and push them out of the way and enter this space, but it's like comprehensive, where it's like habit abortion or have a baby, or, you know, or it's like in the middle and you need assistance and you need to help figuring things out. And we'll hear to do that in a unbiased, non-judgmental way. And then also, too, when it comes to like the more fun, kind of like horror movie aspect of it, one thing that always made a big impression on me growing up and seeing those like crisis pregnancy center anti-abortion signs, where they're like, they made it seem like pregnancy was so scary and abortion is so scary. And because one thing I was worried about with like horror movies that are really about abortion, I was like, well, people think that this is like anti-abortion and like I'm saying abortions are scary. And it's like, well, no, like the people do get scared by certain things. Like, oh my god, like it's scary to think about raising a child in the scary world, but then it's also scary to be pregnant when you don't want to be. And it's scary to have a child and you're like, you want them to be okay. But then all these things are happening. And you're like, what do I do? These are just inherently scary things in the world that we live in. And instead of letting anti-abortion people kind of like to capitalize on and exploit people's fear, I'm like, no, let's talk about the fear. Yeah, it is really scary. It's really scary to have to make a decision, period, like making a decision itself is scary. But also, even if you want to have a baby, that's scary. Because all this stuff is happening in the world. And it's really brave to make that decision. And also like, it's really scary to be pregnant. And you're like, you know, like medical things or anything going wrong. Like there is a lot of fear there that I think that the other, like the opposition, you know, people who are conservative and fascist and all these things exploit. And I've always been really interested in kind of engaging with that fear, but in like a progressive way, because I was watching the new Resident Evil movie, which is super good by Zach Kregger. And like I know other, like I the whole time I kept thinking like, oh my god, you know, what is this saying about, you know, being a man in fatherhood and whether having to decide whether you want to have a baby with someone. And then they're asking you this question and you have to answer, but you don't want to be a s*** head. But you're kind of a s*** head. I'm like, wow, this is such an interesting, interesting, like theme to explore. Like what is this saying about the idea of fatherhood in like this fascist or horrific world? And I was thinking that like the whole time I'm watching it and I'm like, I want to have these conversations with people because like it's coming out in the movies because, you know, it's like, should I have a child right now when the world is like this? And that's such a good question. And those fears, but then also those hopes and dreams are so legitimate. Like of course, yeah, like everybody wants to fulfill their dream of, you know, if they want to have a family, if they have that dream, you know, but then there's all these scary things around it. And like I love navigating that in a way that's progressive and aligned with my values. And kind of like, I feel like trying to take over from, because the conservatives and fascists really rely on fear and anxiety. And I want to like kind of pull that over on to, you know, like, yeah, let's explore that. Like this is scary. Let's talk about it. That's interesting point too, because like I think that in order to do the work that we do, we kind of have to help people confront fear and ourselves overcome it all the time. Like fear of not having money to cover your procedure, fear of not having anyone to support you, fear of like even reaching out to our abortion fund, the caravan fund, it's like, well, anybody answer my call. Well, you know, I'm not trying to get too dialed in on this, but like I do think that that is a core component of the work that we do is being people that can confront fear, get through it and help other people get through it. So I don't know, I feel even after this conversation, I'm like, well, I am even more, we're gonna do this every week. Christmas Halloween. This has been a great conversation. I kind of don't want to spoil it with any, any talk of elections or anything. Do you guys care if we bypass that? Oh, yeah, we don't, yeah, because we don't do anything with that. We're not, we're not a soup. We're not really electoral. No, that's what I figured. So with that in mind, we can, I can ask you the last two questions. What do you envision for the future of autonomous body shop, either in terms of events or in terms of organizing goals? How can people support the work you're doing? Yeah. Well, one other event that we are going to be doing later this month, it's not public. So I'm not going to like share the date or time, but we do these periodically throughout the year. And I would like us to do more of these called calling them PDAs. So like public displays. of affection where we just, you know, through word of mouth and through our volunteers invite people to meet us at busy intersections and, you know, have snacks and water and signs around like a particular theme in order to just directly engage with people driving by, walking by, and we've done one with that banner that I'd mentioned before. We love our trans and immigrant neighbors, so that was like more like an anti-ice, PDA, and supporting, you know, our trans friends who are, you know, being deeply impacted and terrorized by our government. And then we did one in support of Palestinian liberation, I don't know, Crystal, if you wanted to talk about that at all, but just, you know, to try to keep the conversation going about the genocide and what is happening in Gaza, and the one that we're having coming up is going to be about giving information about self-managed abortion and how people can have safe and effective abortions no matter what and how you are, you are loved. Abortion is normal, it is a normal thing. So those kind of events, the PDAs, I really like those, I think that everybody leaves them feeling energized, deeply in community with the people that were attending, and also driving by, just the honking, the waves, yes, it feels great. And honestly, it's like even the haters, if the haters see it, if they are yelling at us, which was very, very minimal on both of those events, like very small, like I would say less than a handful of haters, even if they see it, it's like they're going to talk about it to someone as well, and they're going to see it and know that there are people in opposition to their hate and ass beliefs. And then in general, I think that like I had said, I would like us to remain inviting to anyone really who wants to learn more about being a go-to friend in their network, their community, and a dream would be for us to have some kind of like storefront where people we would be like a good, like a crisis pregnancy center, but a good one, like an actual great place where people could come and get a free pregnancy test, get a free ultrasound, talk to people if they want to go over their options, and if they want to continue their pregnancy, we could help them access resources, and if they don't want to continue their pregnancy, we can help them access an abortion. So yeah, and just keep having fun and making lots more memes. Well, thank you both so much for talking to me, and thank you for all the work you're doing. Do you want to plug any socials or any horror movies or anything for the, for the month? Yeah, I would say yeah, our Instagram is pretty poppin' where at the auto body shop and there's a period in between each word, I would also just say f*** John Fetterman, that was the question. Yeah, John Fetterman. Yeah, he's a total piece of f***. Always has been. Yeah, Crystal, did you want to say any last words about horror movies? Well, we'd like to recommend watching that have significant abortion plots are Rosemary's baby, which is kind of more about like, you're sick and you're pregnant and nobody will talk to you about your options, and black Christmas, alien, and the fly, the fly, it's got Jeff Goldblum. Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, yeah. He's from Pittsburgh, those, I just, you know, watch those movies and think about abortion, and then also, if you've seen the new resident evil, think about, think about the question that he's faced with about, you know, his opinion about whether he should have a baby or not with her, and, you know, why, why is he so afraid? And I don't know, I feel like that movie really explores the fear of parenthood in like a nightmare landscape. So, I'm super into it, but I don't know if anybody else is reach out to me and let me know. All right. Well, thank you both so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If you want to support the fun straw radio, you can subscribe to our podcast via various streaming platforms, follow, rate, and share our materials online and learn more at tfsr.media. And if you'd like to fund our transcription work that allows for easier translation, more accessibility of content, and the zines that we produce for each interview, consider picking up some merch from us or making a one-time or recurring donation via PayPal, Stripe, Venmo, or LibrePay. Or joining our Patreon to access early release content and other goodies via the links that you can find at tfsr.media/support. Finally, if you'd like to hear us on your local radio station, visit tfsr.media/radio to find more info or reach out to us for some help. Thanks for listening. Thanks to Willowisper for the intro and outro music. Check our show notes for a link to their SoundCloud. Next up, a segment from our comrades at Frequence A about antiquier raids by the Erdogan regime in Turkey in September of 2026. Can you please introduce yourself with whatever name, pronoun, and your affiliation that makes sense for a talk? My name is Astler. I don't have any Parmas, I don't prefer, but you can also call me Deiden. It's also fine. I am a PhD student here in Germany. I'm working on transmigration here. I'm an individual activist, only trans and queer rights. We met to talk about the situation in Turkey. From two hours till four days of September, there was a nationwide crackdown on LGBT IQ people. Maybe some people missed it in the news. Maybe you can shortly just summarize what happened in Turkey at this time, or right now, also. It's a queer community. Yeah, look, it's especially between 12th and 14th September, the whole country with Master's Week, large scale, coordinated crackdown, targeting LGBT plus people, activist organizations and community spaces across the country. The operation was named "Islam Guander". My family is safe and was presented by the authorities in their language of protecting children, family and social narrowness. If I had time, I would like to give a context of what family means in Turkish, GY, the operation is named like that. But firstly, the operation involves rates on homes, LGBT plus organizations and mostly community spaces, in at least 15 provinces, maybe more right now. Urban organizations, including cows, G.S., the biggest one right now, one of the Turkish long standing LGBT plus organizations, were rated and activists and human rights defenders were detained. And the authorities associated with the investigations with accusations including obscenity, prostitution, so-called related offenses, azrak offenses and establishing an organization for the purpose of committing a crime. This is the thing actually, like criminalizing LGBT plus organizations and people, mostly. And this organizations have strongly rejected these accusations and argued that legitimate advocacy, the political organizing and community work, are being criminalized. And there was also an important digital dimension in this process, social media accounts and websites were blocked or restricted heavily. It was also like limiting the communities' ability to communicate and organize and make what is happening, visible, there, and the crackdown didn't end with this initial rates, people who gathered to protest this operations were also detained. And I guess in one week, it's also reported that at least more than 100 people, like 116, 18, 18 people, has been arrested, then also investigations had been opened against more than 160 people, so we are hearing that some, our friends are being released and some others are being incarcerated more, like at the moment it's like getting more people. But also, I think we also need to ask what's this language of family protection, protecting the family actually means in the context. of circuit today a little bit because families are already dealing with serious social and economic pressures. Here, I'm using Jopatriako, a language of cis-set family structures, actually, and children are affected by a poverty, rising living costs, food insecurity, inflation, and declining real wages have put enormous pressure on the whole population and household life and there are also very serious problems of domestic and gender-based islands, including Famicite. For example, in the first half of this year, more than 200 women were reported killed and most of them were done, like they were killed by a former or current partners or male family members. So here is important, which kind of safety and family were talking about. There's a striking political contradiction for me here. The state speaks very strongly about protecting this family structure, while many families are struggling with economic security and women and children continuing to face wireless and protection. So it's actually, this is a story of serious repression, but also a political moment with a long history of organizing that continues to defend its abilities to exist, organize, and resist. So this is happening right now. How did the queer community in Turkey and the terrible situation reacted? What happened? Firstly, like from my own perspective and experience, like I tried to reach my friends and I realized that it's not that easy to get real information through information, like who is in prison or who is in custody because our communication channels were also restricted, but the response from queer and trans community was immediate and multidobased directly. There was of course anger and fear, but also a very strong sense of solidarity, organizations and shutdown organizations, let's say, and activists quickly began documenting the arrests and raids, sharing information about detainees, coordinating lawyers and providing legal and practical support to those affected, which is really important, especially legal support, because I learned that two days ago, one person in prison can have one lawyer and this lawyer can't take any other cases in this operation, so everyone should have one lawyer, which is also making things difficult. 260 people? Yeah, but it was also good, people also took the streets and demonstrations on gatherings were organized in several places, also when people gathered outside the Istanbul courthouse to protest operations, they were themselves detained, so it was getting more and more, so even the act of publicly protesting the crackdown became a target of repression. Also, people continued to communicate and organize online mostly, despite social media accounts and websites are being blocked or restricted, and activists developed alternative channels to circulate information and maintain contact with one another. I think another important aspect is that resistance doesn't always look like a large demonstration, it can also be continued just to meet, checking on someone who has been detained, finding a lawyer or raising money for legal costs or living costs, translating information, documenting what is happening, so simply making sure that people do not feel isolated and lonely. Yeah, maybe I can add a little more about the queer or a movement's history in Turkey, it has a long history of organizing under difficult conditions, including the 80s military coups and 90s, that history matters here at the very moment. Well, the crackdown created fear and anger uncertainty of course, but it also activated the existing networks of solidarity. I mean, I don't want to romanticize this difficult times right now, or the conditions, but community functions differently when there is a crisis, and the people responded not only by just saying we will not accept this, but by continuing the care of one another and keep the community visible and connected, so that is in itself an important form of political resistance for me, but I also know that queer and trans people, especially the ones in prison are not doing mentally and physically good, well, and they are really tired of this ongoing repression, like also before this operation, a lot of people are having struggles with anxiety here. We also can't foresee what other steps the state and government will take, but there is also a huge visibility and solidarity from international communities. And usually, queer are often used as a, I don't know, they will like in the politics for a reason, it's not coming for out of nothing. Why do you think this operation happened right now, what for, at the end right now, need this? I think there are several things happening at the moment, at the same time, and I would be cautious about reducing it to, I don't know, one particle or motif, or claiming to know Erdog's personal intentions, but first the crackdown fits very clearly into the government's current political agenda and imposes on the family, in population growth and so-called traditional values, and Erdog has declared this year, 2026, as the year of family. Now, it became a decade of family and population, so it's announced like that, and the government has increasingly presented the protection of the heterosexual family as a national priority, and this operation itself was explicitly named "My Family is Safe". At the same time Erdog has increasingly framed what he calls "Blobel Gender Naturalization Policies". I guess Trump is also using this a lot as a threat to children and families, so queer people are being positioned as a symbolic opposite to the kind of, that family, social order that the government wants to promote, and there's also a political function to this kind of discourse, I think, when a government presents a particular group as a threat to the children, morality and family, it can transform a political conflict into a question of security and social protection, so this didn't begin actually in September, for me, there has been a gradual escalation of several years. Pride demonstrations have been prohibited, organizations have faced increasing restrictions and pro-positive legislation has repeatedly sought to criminalize aspects of queer and trans identities and expressions, so when you ask why now I think the most important point is that queer people are being incorporated into a broader political project around family, population, but I would also not say that we can know exactly what Erdog personally needs from this demonization, what we can observe is its political effect mostly, it's quite common that every month, every year, the state is creating another enemy, there are also some readings of this process, for example, I'm not sure if I would say that, but for years after, for years of resistance in Kurdish movement, now there is peace process in Turkey, and then this started, it's like there is always like one enemy, and it's like this is the way I guess Erdog is running the business of administration, let's say, this is my opinion. And then I would like also to ask about the society, the queer people in Turkey, inside of the Turkey is they alone in this resistance, in this fight, or there are some groups or broader solidarity inside of the country. I wouldn't say that queer people in Turkey are alone or forgotten, one of the most important things to emphasize right now is the existence of a broad network of solidarity inside the country, even though many of the organizations constituting this network are themselves being targeted and shut down, there's a long established organizational infrastructure, Maybe I can give names like cows, G.S, sports, lambda, Istanbul, panda, hi-hat, heavy legibity, muammo, ganchelagibity, unique queer, a lot of like among others. So these organizations work in different areas. Legal support, psychosocial support, translate rights, also HIV related rights, student organizing, I don't know, community building. This is particularly important in the context of the crackdown right now. And it's working, it's functioning in a different way, like I don't know how to describe it or maybe I can say a family as well. Like not everyone blows each other, but when there's a crisis like we are just coming together and we don't have to be friends, we don't have to know each other in person, but it's worked like that. It's also important to understand solidarity as something bigger than this formal organizations that communities in Turkey have developed very strong informal networks over decades. Friends supporting one another, sharing information about healthcare or low years helping someone after an arrest, providing accommodation, raising money, translating information. So to make sure that people are not left alone, so no I guess like they're not alone, but the fact that so many of this organizations and networks are now being targeted is what makes the current situation so serious. So the state is not only targeting individuals, it's also putting pressure on the infrastructure through which queer people have historically protected themselves. Also, like maybe it's a good thing to mention like a lot of queer people, trans people left the country, like I would say like in my own personal small community and circles maybe 67% of these people are not living in Turkey anymore. So this also created in this process, this transnational networks like really vastly activated also in Germany right now, like in every part of Germany, like people are organizing things, but we are also trying to, I don't know, combine things and putting the ideas together. So maybe inside, I have to say that people are quite tired of this process, so of course people are going to freeze and fighting against that, but it has been already really difficult for years and now there is a lot of fear and anger. What I hear from you you mean mostly the queer people from Turkey inside and outside Turkey which are resisting right now and before, how do you perceive the international solidarity outside maybe of the only Turkish exile or non-anxious activists? Do you feel it's enough? Was it big? What do you need from it? I find that this international solidarity is extremely important especially because repression often tries to isolate people and make them feel that they are facing it alone and they have seen solidarity from queer and human rights organizations, academics, activists, artists, communities around the world. In different ways, but I think meaningful solidarity also means listening to the people and organizations on the ground rather than speaking for them. Maybe it's important to mention that, for example here in livestock, we hit a meeting with some groups, I realized that there was no one from the region. In that meeting, I felt a little bit like, "Okay, more people, the subjects of repression should share more information actually because otherwise it's becoming something that is speaking for people who are not so much directly connected to the others." So, international solidarity actually can strike strength and that war is like the queer and trans-worses in Turkey and help create connections across borders. And there's also a meaningful solidarity in slogan. I find very powerful. We are dispersing and it responds to the attempt to disperse queer gatherings and communities but turns disperse into something else. It's like the cops, police, last announcements, this is the last call, disperse whenever we were having demonstration and then it became a slogan, "We are dispersing, dispersing and dispersing." It's also showing the new way of queer and trans migration and asylum. So, I feel. So, we made disperse across cities, countries and networks but we don't disappear basically, it means that. So, you carry your communities, relationships and resistance with that and that sends international solidarity is also a way of refusing isolation for me. It says, "We see what is happening, we are listening and you are not alone, you are not forgotten." Yeah, I guess this is what I would say, like how I perceive solidarity. And is there something concrete practical what you would say is needed? There are actually already many calls to action coming from organizations, activists in Turkey. I would just encourage people outside Turkey to follow those calls and respond to what is actually needed. At the moment, people who are detained and imprisoned need support in many different senses, not only legal support but also financial, emotional and practical support for their families and communities as well. I mean, I'm trying to be careful. But, yeah, this financial support is quite important, I would say. It's really difficult to find connections and how to deal with that. I'm going to support. That's the tricky part. So, yeah, I don't know how to put it, actually. But the most important thing is just to listen to the movement itself, I guess, even when we cannot publicly make call for action like specific action, we can still pay attention and share information, support people privately and materially. And keep the connections alive. Sometimes it's also about making sure that people who are being isolated by repression, no, that they are not alone, I would say. But I guess there are a lot of local, like small networks, like I would just recommend everyone just do it if they want to go to the meetings and joining online gatherings, then hearing what's happening and then finding the right ways to make connections and show solidarity. But also making this process visible is really important. Is it theoretically possible to write letters? Yes, I know. We can send the letters to lawyers and they can be written. Or publicly written letters are also possible. Then the lawyers can transfer this and show that. And which is really important that I forgot to mention, take a second, I'll say that this letters are a big part of solidarity, especially in prison people. For those who may be now touched by your words and want to follow the situation, are there some resources which you can recommend, like where to read, to stay updated? Yes, actually there are several resources, I can recommend, but I would especially encourage people to follow chaos, chaos, GN, K-A-O-S-G-L. And social media accounts, they also have to change them, they are also blocked. And it has been documenting LGBT+ rights, violations and political developments in Turkey for many years and doing the current crackdown. Its news channels have been particularly important for following arrests and court proceedings, everything from day to day. And for people who understand Turkish, I would definitely make chaos, GN, one of the first places to follow. but also there are also in English for English maybe I would recommend Velle, V-E-L, V-E-L, E. Another very important queer media platform, as well as the social media accounts of Istanbul Pride and Istanbul Trans Pride. Like there are two different. Yeah, these are important for following what's happening within the movement itself, and forcing calls for solidarity and updates. For broader and English reporting, I don't know, maybe I can say that organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch also been documenting, you know, news about the current crackdown. It's also great to follow more than one, sometimes we are trying to be really immediate and the reflexes are working in bad way. So yeah, I would recommend to follow more than one source at the same time. And maybe my last question would be how do you cope or what helps you cope with the situation? There are a lot of panic attacks. I'm talking from a privileged position, like I'm in Germany, but still like having physical distance is difficult. But this process also helped us the first time we tried to build a Turkey-speaking group, Jet Group. We were planning to do that for years, so it's the time right now to organize things and keep in touch. So it helps me also working on like making this visible and it helps, yeah, hacks and making calls with people in Turkey. Yeah, it's kind of like, okay, we have to work right now. It's kind of activating reflexes. Thank you so much. Is there anything else I forgot to ask? Yeah, I can just repeat that. It's like I think that this will not end tomorrow, so it will continue. So I put like everyone who would like to support like keeping it visible and not allowing, not letting these things forgotten, because like there are a lot of struggles across the world and so sometimes like easily forgetable something. So let's keep it visible and loud and thank you so much for having me. Thank you so much to and also solidarity and strengths and yeah, let's fight all these darkness together. Yeah, thank you. The Final Star Radio is a proud member of the Channel Zero Network of Anarchist Podcasts and here's a jingle from another member of CZN. Hell, oh, this is an ad for the spectacle. It's kind of a cultural analysis podcast, but also an anarchist podcast, but it's listening to the comedy section of Apple Podcasts, so everything we say counts as parody, nice try, Jay Edgar Hoover. It's for people who like low art and hate cop, just a bunch of nasty freaks, talking movies and because it's a really grand time to be a radical, we just wanted to make something stupid. I'm on that arm. Joy. If I can't do bits, it's not my revolution. It's fun. So come on by every so often and listen to the spectacle. The only podcast, it's the it's the only podcast. There's none left. There's none left. There was an accident and this is the only one now. The spectacle from Stranger's Entangle Wilderness on Channel Zero. This is the final straw radio. The show will later be archived at tfsr.media and you can mail us with questions and suggestions at the final straw radio at riseup.net or the final straw radio at protonmail.com. If you'd like to use any episode for your project or radio show, feel free to do so. Just send us an email to let us know. If you care to, you can send us letters at tfsr.pobox60004ashville, North Carolina 28816. Programming support is brought to you by Firestorm Books. Located at 1022 Haywood Road in West Asheville, Firestorm is a bookstore and social movement space owned by its workers in operation since 2008. 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