It Could Happen Here – CZM Book Club: Escape, Part One

Podcast: It Could Happen Here (Cool Zone Media & iHeartPodcasts)
Date: March 30, 2025
Host: Margaret Killjoy
Guest: Greg
Summary by: Podcast Summarizer

Overview of the Episode

This episode of the Cool Zone Media Book Club, a sub-series of It Could Happen Here, begins a two-part discussion of the speculative fiction story “Survival: a story about anarchists enduring mass raids,” originally published on crimething.com. Host Margaret Killjoy, joined by friend and self-described “anarchist technology enthusiast” Greg, reads and analyzes the first two sections of the story. The discussion blends technical advice, critique, and personal anecdotes, focusing on state repression, preparedness, the limits of tech security, and community survival, all through the lens of recent history and plausible dystopian scenarios.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Setting the Stage: Book Club Format & Story Premise

• Margaret introduces the story as a speculative fiction thought experiment on what mass raids against anarchists might look like in modern America, drawing parallels to real historical events (such as the 1919 Palmer Raids) but updating them for the era of advanced surveillance and digital vulnerability (04:22-05:45).
• Greg appreciates the scenario-based approach:

  “It's always good to write out things to imagine scenarios...so you can preemptively think through how you would deal with them.” (05:47)

Section One: Immediate Escape & the Digital Panopticon

The Story

• Characters respond as coordinated nationwide raids hit anarchist households, exploring realistic, moment-to-moment escapes and the paralyzing uncertainty and chaos that follows, including:
  • Jake escapes in boxers, improvising with hidden stashes and using learned local knowledge to disappear (06:21–20:12).
  • Vera must make split-second decisions about her phone, understanding the risks of digital surveillance, and dumps her device (08:07).
  • Julie and Maggie debate whether to go underground or appear “normal” while quietly prepping for escape (09:35).

Discussion

• Historical context: Margaret details the Palmer Raids and their focus on immigrant anarchists (20:15–21:50).
• Modern parallels: Greg notes that today's threat models may focus on perceived threats, not real ones—referencing recent political history where “anarchists” and “antifa” became scapegoats (22:03–23:15).
• Preparedness & Go Bags:
  • The traditional go-bag concept is reexamined for this scenario; Margaret highlights “urban camping” needs, like slipping away quickly, possibly with minimal gear (24:15–28:01).
  • Shoe choice and ease-of-escape from sudden danger becomes a practical concern.
• Tech Security & Real Limitations:
  • Phones are always potential tracking devices—even “encrypted” or “off.”

    “Even when a phone is off, it can be tracked. These are just facts.” – Greg (31:14)

  • Alternatives like Faraday bags and non-smart, analog gear (watches, maps) are discussed.

    “Do you have a map in your car?...I've thought about getting...a road atlas...just in case I don't have GPS service.” – Greg (28:25)

  • The group weighs the tradeoffs of convenience vs. security—phones are vital for everyday life, yet a profound liability in a crackdown (33:47, 34:27).
• Realism in the story:
  • Whether sudden escapes are likely (do police always surround a house?)
  • Small mistakes (short passwords, unsecured SD cards) and the impact on operational security (OPSEC).

Section Two: Resources & Adaptation in Collapse

The Story

• Jake uses his prepped stashes (cash, USBs with encrypted data) and adapts on the fly, scavenging, hiding, and improvising as digital communication crumbles (36:21–46:19).
• Vera finds refuge with a trusted, offline friend who maintains extreme OPSEC—emphasizing compartmentalization and analog trust structures (46:19).
• Julie and Maggie, navigating checkpoints, swap identities, de-queer themselves, and blend in, finally finding refuge at a rural farm. Community tensions, resource scarcity, and cross-group trust issues shape their survival.

Discussion

• Physical & Digital OPSEC:
  • Discussion of encryption tools:
    • KeePassX/C: Password manager (password hygiene is crucial!)
    • VeraCrypt: Full disk encryption; protects files/drives
    • GPG (GNU Privacy Guard): Asymmetric encryption; secure but “a pain in the ass”—easy to misuse for non-experts (62:29–62:49)
    • Tails OS: Bootable, amnesiac operating system for anonymized browsing (Tor-enabled); leaves no digital trace (64:07)
  • USBs as vital post-collapse survival gear:

    “I think I'm going to be a USB drive kingpin now and that's what I'm investing in.” – Greg (59:38)

• The limits of digital communication in repression:
  • Major encrypted services (Signal, ProtonMail) collapse; only highly technical or “manual” encryption (like GPG) remain.
  • The psychological and logistical burden of seeking news, contacts, or organizing—even as governments and ISPs whitelist only big corporate sites and communication becomes a luxury.
  • Emphasis on “security in diversity”:

    “The more people have secure practices, the more they can't pick people out...but for most people, the odds of needing to take a call from my sick family member...that's more important...” – Margaret (34:27–35:48)

• Social Fragmentation and Adaptation:
  • Even at “safe” refuges, trust is rationed, group tensions surge (race, politics, class, neurodivergence, and more).

    “There's fury over who has a device and who can be trusted to have a device, who is putting everyone else in danger, who has a right to be here, who has a right to anything.” – Margaret, reading the story (57:53)

  • Eventually, mutual projects and necessity begin to rebuild trust and community.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “This is a story...about anarchists enduring mass raids...one of the oldest definitions of speculative fiction...what would happen if...and what kind of science and technology can we use to address a set of problems?”
  – Margaret Killjoy (04:22)
• “If it has a circuit, I probably opened it up or played with it or learned how it works.”
  – Greg (04:18)
• “Your phone is a tracking device, even when it's off.”
  – Greg (31:14)
• “Do you have a map in your car?...I've thought about getting...a road atlas...just in case I don't have GPS service.”
  – Greg (28:25)
• “I'm going to be a USB drive kingpin now and that's what I'm investing in.”
  – Greg (59:38)
• “KeePassXC is an encrypted database of all of your passwords. So you use one big password...and you never have to remember your other passwords.”
  – Greg (60:14)
• “Tor...is a way to route your traffic through many other computers...so your traffic is not easy to track.”
  – Greg (64:07)
• “The reason people have moved to things like Signal...is not just for convenience, it's literally more secure because it's harder to fuck up.”
  – Margaret (63:04)
• “You all should be doing your own research...at the end of the day, you're going to make your own choices.”
  – Greg (69:14)

Important Timestamps

• [02:54] – Margaret introduces the Book Club, sets up the story and guest.
• [06:21–12:00] – Reading/explanation: Section One of the “Survival” story.
• [15:35] – Signal, OPSEC, and recommendations for secure communication.
• [20:15–22:03] – Palmer Raids and historical context of state repression.
• [24:15–28:01] – Go bags, preparedness, sleeping rough, and “urban camping”.
• [31:14–35:48] – Deep dive into phone security, passwords, encryption, and practical limitations.
• [36:21–46:19] – Section Two reading: resourcefulness, hiding, and digital collapse.
• [59:38–64:07] – USB drives, passwords, encryption tools explained (KeePass, VeraCrypt, GPG, Tails).
• [66:35] – Feasibility of Signal and ProtonMail “going down” in a crackdown.
• [69:14] – On WhatsApp, Signal protocols, and user trust.
• [70:08] – Wrap-up, next episode preview, and message to listeners.

Tone & Style

Conversational, curious, occasionally irreverent, and full of practical advice for anarchist-minded individuals or anyone thinking about how to survive state repression and information blackouts. Technical explanations are presented accessibly, balanced with humor and lived experience.

For Listeners Who Haven’t Heard the Episode

• No need to have read the story in advance; the hosts provide both summary and critique as they go.
• The episode is as much about the real-world questions raised by the fiction—on technology, surveillance, and survival under authoritarianism—as about the story itself.
• Margaret and Greg give both practical takeaways about security (password managers, encrypted comms, go-bags) and sociological insights about crisis solidarity and fragmentation.

Next Up

This is the first installment of a two-part Book Club episode. The next episode will continue the story and discussion, delving further into the mechanics of digital resistance and the practical and psychological challenges of surviving in a collapsing, repressive society.