Mainline Presents: To the Left

In this special episode, Sylvia interviews Aja to learn more about what's next for The Mainline and various projects the publication is getting into this summer, including its brand new Patreon which is live as of today, June 1.

Aja talks about life on the road since leaving Atlanta to work on her new book projects, including 'The Land of the Let Go: A documentation of the working class in post-Trump & COVID America.' The Patreon will host stories from the book as well as community discussions in antiracist and antifascist work, which includes the inner revolution of dismantling our internalized capitalism and white supremacy. This type of documentation and reporting, Aja argues, is New Wave Journalism. (Note: This isn't a thing commonly referred to yet, but can be thought of as a modern-day extension of New Journalism. Join us on Patreon, you'll see.)

To subscribe to our Patreon and be part of this process, go to https://patreon.com/mainlinezine. You can join for as little as $5 a month and receive all bonus content. All subscription proceeds go to benefit The Mainline and directly fund local independent journalism in Atlanta. #solidaritynotcharity

Mainline contributor and researcher Sylvia Johnson speaks with fellow Mainline contributor and organizer AJ and community organizer Miriam Barcenas to begin to address the necessity for solidarity within communities, across racial and class intersections. The three discuss the fall-out from the March 16 Atlanta spa shootings, the insidiousness of white supremacist culture, what policing means to each of them, and community trauma. In Sylvia's words, "I want to talk with people about this work; to hear how our diverse backgrounds still lead to common lived experiences in America."

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In this week's episode, Aja & co-conspirator Ryan in Marketing are joined by event and music labor organizer Chris Tollack in Atlanta and Phillip Golub of the Musicians Workers Alliance in New York City. The four discuss what happened in Bessemer, the lengths corporations go with anti-union messaging, manufacturing consent, what the PRO Act does, and how it would empower musicians/artists/freelancers, and the "precariat" class. (This episode is Ryan's fault.)

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P.S. Abolish the police.

To learn more about what happened in Bessemer from lead organizer Joshua Brewer: https://labornotes.org/2021/04/inside-alabama-amazon-union-drive-interview-lead-organizer

Join the Debt Collective:
https://debtcollective.org/

Check out MWA:
https://musicworkersalliance.org/

"Breaking Down the PRO Act" by Brandon Magner (because none of us are labor law experts, and labor law is intentionally confusing): https://brandonmagner.substack.com/p/breaking-down-the-pro-act

Last week, Aja co-hosted a panel about the PRO Act and Organizing in the South along with Nolan Huber-Rhoades, as presented by Atlanta DSA. Aja & Nolan interview labor organizers from Communication Workers of America, Kellie Morgan (Political Director, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades), and James Williams (President, Atlanta North Georgia Labor Council). This episode also features additional insights and contexts from Aja regarding the PRO Act, informed by various interviews and research regarding the legislation and how it will impact workers, particularly freelancers and independent contractors. TLDR: it's good, and we all need the PRO Act. Listen to learn why.

To support our work, please visit mainlinezine.com/donate.

Jess, Sylvia, and Aja break down the most recent events concerning the Rayshard Brooks, Messiah Young, Taniyah Pilgrim, and Vincent Truitt cases — the most publicly known police brutality cases pending in the state of Georgia. The updates evolve into a roundtable discussion of the ripple effects of police brutality, particularly in the state of Georgia. Police brutality is not an isolated issue and is a symptom of predatory capitalism. The three dive down into Georgia's history of grand juries, what Fred Hampton thought of DAs and judges, mutual aid, houselessness, gentrification, media criticism, voter suppression, personal and community trauma, and education.

This episode features the track "Fire" by independent artist Often, whose next single comes out on April 5. Follow Often on Spotify and Instagram @oftenoftenoften.

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Hypernormalisation, a term coined during the final days of the U.S.S.R., is explained as when politicians, corporations, and those in power give up on the complexities of the real world and create a simpler "fake world" through delivering a false narrative. This false narrative is created by corporations and institutions and delivered to the masses by politicians via institutional media systems. We know they are lying, they know we know they are lying, but nobody can do anything about it and there doesn't seem to be any alternative.

But, there is an alternative. There's a third door. Tune in with Aja, Ryan, & Elliot as they discuss how hypernormalisation presents itself today, from GameStop to the impeachment trial to the ongoing debates of COVID-19 relief in the U.S., and come to the conclusion that there's another way to go about this than just "going along with it."

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This week, Aja and Jess talk with D.C. activist and artist AnaMarie King two days ahead of Inauguration Day in the midst of heightened tensions surrounding the Capitol following J6. The three discuss the fallout from the attack on the Capitol, calls for abolition and reimagining society, and healing through direct action, particularly in areas of gentrification and caring for unhoused populations. AnaMarie tells us about the movement in D.C. and its relationship with local police, and Jess expands on the importance of amplifying Black voices when it comes to matters of reimagining society and calls for abolition.

Last week in America's never-ending saga of "What the Fuck Just Happened?", Trump supporters sieged the nation's Capitol, effectively disrupting government procedure in the certification of states' Electoral College votes for President-Elect Joe Biden. Incidentally, this occurred the day after Georgia elected its first Black and Jewish senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff — another example of how white rage and violence has eclipsed the monumental work and stories of Black liberation. Aja and Ryan discuss how we got here and what role the media has played in bringing us to what needs to be the new point of no return. The only way out is taking bold steps in media reparations, press holding itself accountable, and saving local journalism. As the media continues to repeat its mistakes, even after the most explosive demonstration of white supremacy we've seen in our waking memory, the question has become, how far to the bottom must we go before reform is made?

To support our work, visit mainlinezine.com/donate to become a monthly or one-time contributing member.

A postmortem of 2020 with founding editor Aja Arnold and contributors Jess Izard and Sylvia Johnson. This year has been a long road revealing the effects of systems that fail to continuously center marginalized voices in regards to issues that affect them most. As we enter the next phase and the possibility of transformative justice, what do media reparations look like? What needs to happen on the ground level in our communities to affect change?

If we aren’t centering Black, Indigenous, women, queer, and trans voices in our movements and media systems, no collective action towards justice and reparations will be successful. This episode is the beginning of many conversations we need to have as we recap what mainstream media missed when covering police brutality, racial inequality, Atlanta communities, and the coronavirus pandemic.

Republican infighting. Rampant election disinformation. Trump's bogus lawsuit against Georgia's election results. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger comparing allegations of voter fraud to voter suppression. Trump's "victory rally" in Valdosta. Less than 30 days out from Georgia’s Senate runoff races, and there’s been no shortage of political foolery and manipulation as both parties fight to take control of the Senate.

Meanwhile, in Washington, Biden continues to rack up his cabinet with lobbyists and corporate interests and there’s new stimulus package discussions. Our advice? Don’t act surprised.