#firestormcoop — Public Fediverse posts

This Monday, Firestorm is teaming up with scholar Zane McNeill for a conversation on the terrifying new wave of anti-transgender rhetoric and political persecution. Speaking with activists Eric King and Josh Davidson, co-editors of "Rattling the Cages: Oral Histories of North American Political Prisoners," we'll put this federal attack on trans rights in historical perspective—connecting it to repression during the Red Scare, the Lavender Scare, Black Liberation and Gay Rights Movements, the Green Scare, and solidarity with Palestine.

We'll also explore what we can learn from past struggles—how organizers not only survived but built movements under constant FBI surveillance—highlighting harm and risk reduction strategies that remain relevant today.

Find more and register to join this free event at https://firestorm.coop/events/3478-gender-terrorism-surviving-magas-war-on-trans-people.html. The recorded conversation will also be shared via our YouTube channel for folks who cannot join live!

#TransLiberation #TransRights #LavenderScare #NoTrumpNoKKKNoFascistUSA #WeKeepUsSafe #QueerSouth #FeministBookstore #FirestormCoop (- L)

The morning Hurricane Helene hit Asheville, members of our collective sat in the dark, listening to the howling wind and the crack of huge trees falling all around. When we emerged Friday evening to take stock, a cardboard sign on our co-op’s door read “Community meeting here, Saturday at 2pm. Let’s talk about how we can take care of each other + community.” That first autonomous act by an anonymous neighbor set the stage for the week, with Firestorm becoming a container for other people’s brilliant, beautiful, and generous self-organizing.

About forty people attended the first meeting. Nearly four hundred attended the next one. The gatherings, now a daily anchor, have generated a multitude of connections and volunteer powered projects. Before city officials had finished assessing the damage, community members were sharing supplies, doing wellness checks, and serving hot meals. Over the next few days, things became more organized. Anarchist arborists collected chainsaws and dispatched crews to clear roads for trapped residents; activists mobilized to build long term water distribution systems capable of delivering 6k gallons/day; bike punks offered free repair clinics; a farmer began driving regular water supply loops to Firestorm from a nearby spring; and an enthusiastic DIY-er set up a tent to distribute dry toilets made from affordable materials.

In the midst of this anarchic moment, Firestorm isn’t setting the agenda or directing anyone—we’re offering a space that welcomes independent initiative, we’re supporting the exchange of critical information, and we’re modeling a do-it-ourselves approach that’s responsive, experimental, and human-scale.

Yes, government and NGO aid is now flowing into the region—but the work of caring for one another continues to be done by neighbors, grassroots organizations, small businesses, and activists. It’s done voluntarily, with thousands of autonomous actions synchronized through a shared solidarity. For a brief moment, the logic of the capitalist market is suspended, care is given freely, and everyone contributes what they can.

It’s a strange paradox that the utopia we dream of becomes most visible in the dark.

#HurricaneHelene #MutualAid #Anarchism #Cooperativism #MutualAidDisasterRelief #FeministBookstore #FirestormCoop

Join us tomorrow at 6pm ET for an in-person reading and workshop with NC poet Jennifer Conlon! 🐸🌤️

"Jennifer Conlon’s 'Taking to Water' is the most transformative collection of poems I’ve read. When Conlon’s speaker says 'let there be life in me / in my own beginning' we are given a home in this affirmation of queer resilience, where self-fulfillment can stretch the landscape until the landscape agrees. Taking to Water captures the search for the ways the world could make room for us, 'make room / for my body & all / that comes with it.' Conlon has given us a sharper, better lyric to inhabit and demand the world with." —C.T. Salazar, author of "Headless John the Baptist Hitchhiking"

After the reading, participants will have the opportunity to create their own self-glossary, which can be vulnerable and celebratory ✨

This free, in-person event has limited space, so please sign up through the link in our bio (or https://firestorm.coop/events/3095-taking-to-water-a-reading-and-workshop-with-jennifer-conlon.html)

#QueerSouth #QueerPoetry #QueerBooks #PoetryWorkshop #FeministBookstore #TakingToWater #FirestormCoop (-Esme)

Next month we're hosting NC poet Jennifer Conlon for a reading and workshop! In their debut collection, "Taking to Water," Conlon celebrates the survival of trans and nonbinary kids who live in places that don't allow them to thrive, turning their gaze toward the natural world that catalyzes dreams of possibility, transformation, and safety.

Using materials provided by the author, participants will be invited to write their own self-glossary—and optionally share it with others. This is a free, in-person event with limited space, so please sign up at https://firestorm.coop/products/20530-taking-to-water.html

#QueerSouth #QueerPoetry #QueerBooks #PoetryWorkshop #FeministBookstore #TakingToWater #FirestormCoop (- L)

This Wednesday, organizers from Block Cop City will be doing a local teach-in at our co-op! Their presentation will include information on the history of the land The Atlanta Police Foundation is attempting to build on, a history of the movement to #StopCopCity, an outline of the movement's next phase #BlockCopCity, and a short workshop to help interested folks form affinity groups and participate in the November weekend of action. We hope you'll join us!

"Aside from bringing people to Atlanta, we hope to spread skills and creativity related to mass direct action and participatory, democratic mass organizing, strengthening the prospects for other, local struggles."—Block Cop City organizers

#DefendTheAtlantaForest #WeelauneeForest #FeministBookstore #FirestormCoop (- L)