In this episode, we're joined by Austin Cole to discuss the three-part series Black/African Liberation & Grassroots Economies, beginning with part one: "Rootedness for our people, our economies, our liberation."

We start with Toni Morrison's concept of rootedness and how it informs urban planning and economic development. From there, we'll dig into Strategies of Counter-war—how fascists are shaping local policy, and how BAP-Baltimore is building alternatives from the ground up. We examine the threat of elite capture and the strategic use of municipal power: how can engagement with the state enable collective self-determination rather than dilute it? Can it do such a thing? 

We also explore expanded notions of self-defense, the Black commune as theorized by George Jackson and Orisanmi Burton, and the four principles guiding grassroots efforts toward that vision.

Finally, we'll sit with the question of mass consciousness—what it demands of us now, and how we might cultivate it together.   Austin Cole was raised in Springfield, Ohio, and his people come from the Mississippi Delta and Birmingham, Alabama. He is an organizer, writer, and community development planning practitioner. His professional work focuses on environmental/climate justice, transforming economic systems, and Black/African liberation. He is a member of and currently serves as National Co-Coordinator for the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) and co-coordinates of BAP's Haiti/Americas Team.   Support our work via patreon!   Black/African Liberation & Grassroots Economies PT. I: "Rootedness" for Our People, Our Economies, Our Liberation   Black/African Liberation & Grassroots Economies PT. II: Situating  'Economy' and Ourselves in the Struggle from the Internal (Neo)Colony

Additional writings (not yet released as of the recording of this episode in late 2024)

Black/African Liberation & Grassroots Economies PT. III: Constructing the Counter-War That Our Liberation Demands

Black/African Liberation & Grassroots Economies PT. IV: Collective Struggle Is Our past and Future

 

This is the audio from a livestream video we hosted with Hala Sabbah from The Sameer Project on December 3rd, 2025. Hala returned to the program to talk about life in Gaza nearly two months into the so-called "ceasefire." We spoke about the realities on the ground and the needs of people in Gaza right now, what is getting into the strip and what is not, and how the Sameer Project is working within the current conditions in Gaza. We also talk about the need for continued organizing, boycotts, and direct action against the zionist entity. And we spoke about creative ways people can fundraise for Sameer Project and other local groups operating on the ground in Gaza.

RETURN HOME x The Sameer Project 

Sameer Project's linktree 

In this episode, we speak with Iker Suárez, who authored a searing piece in the Monthly Review titled "The Migrant Genocide: Toward a Third World Analysis of European Class Struggle." In it, he challenges the dominant humanitarian framing of migrant deaths at sea, arguing that it isn't a moral crisis but a structural necessity of late imperialism. What unfolds on Europe's shores, he contends, is but a violent expression of global capital's unraveling.

Further, diving into the works of scholars like Ali Kadri and Samir Amin, we explore how unresolved agrarian contradictions in the Global South, the accumulation of waste, and the labor-capital contradiction are converging in the form of the systemic genocide of migrants. We unpack why immigration is not a peripheral issue, but the return of capital's deepest contradiction to the imperial core—and how this rupture shapes Europe's ideological terrain, from the failures of social democracy to the rise of fascism.

Iker Suarez is an author and doctoral researcher. He studies neocolonialism in Europe and organizes in socialist, anti-racist and anti-imperialist movements in Madrid and New York. His work revolves around European borders, class struggle, and immigration politics from a political economy perspective grounded in the Third World. He co-authored a book on Spain's southern border enclave in northern Morocco (Melilla), focusing on the neocolonial dynamics that undergird European social democracies. His current research focuses on linking European state racism with a holistic understanding of imperialism to better think through strategy. You can follow his work at @ikersuarz.

If you like what we do and want to support our ability to have more conversations like this. Please consider becoming a Patron. You can do so for as little as a 1 Dollar a month. 

Related:

"War Is the Basis of Accumulation" - Ali Kadri on Genocide, Waste, Imperialism, and the Commodification of Death

Study Group Ali Kadri's Accumulation of Waste (only about 5 spots left)

This is the conclusion of our two-part discussion with Dr. Jared A. Ball on the release of the second edition of his book The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power. Part one can be found here.

Once again, Jared Ball is the host of imixwhatilike and co-host of Earn Your Liberation and the RemiX Morning Show over on Black Power Media. 

He works as Professor of Africana and Communication Studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD. His decades of journalism, media, writing, and political work can be found at imixwhatilike.org. 

In this part of the discussion we talk a little bit about hip hop and its modern relation to corporations and social media influencers. Content warning on that conversation especially for fans of modern hip hop music, as Jared Ball and Jared Ware both turn into old men shaking our fists at clouds and telling children to get off our lawns during that portion of the discussion.

Jared Ball talks a bit more about how nonsensical it is to confront his work around "Black Buying Power" with a demand for an alternative solution. From there we get into the After Party concept that Dr. Ball has shared on his platforms over the years, and get into some discussion of Green Party politics and Dr. Cornel West's campaign. All in all it's a pretty free ranging conversation where we discuss a variety of different topics. We had a lot of fun doing it and we hope you enjoy it half as much as we enjoyed recording it. 

We did record it a month ago back on June 20th. So you'll note at the end we referenced the launch party for the second edition, which unfortunately we weren't able to get this episode out in time to help promote, but we will link a recording of that in the show notes.

We will link to some other places folks can learn more about the book, as well as a link to where you can purchase a copy. 

We do want to mention that Black Power Media did get a strike from YouTube for their H8 Awards so their new content this week will be on Twitch, Twitter and Facebook, until they have served their 7 day sentence for that. You can also find all of the relevant links and information at blackpowermedia.org including ways to donate and support their work.

And last but not least if you like what we do, please become a patron of the show if you have the means to do so. You can do that for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Links:

Launch Party for the second edition of The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power

Our first conversation with Dr. Ball on the The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power

Discussions on the Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power

Purchase the hardback or e-book of The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power

Our conversation with Dr. Ball from the Journalism For Liberation and Combat Session 1: Internal Colonialism & Emancipatory Journalism with Dr. Jared A. Ball

"A Threat To This Day" Jared Ball on the Distortion and Erasure of Black Revolutionaries in Corporate Media

 

In this episode we welcome Dr. Jared A. Ball back to the podcast.

Of course we know Jared Ball as a host of imixwhatilike and co-host of Earn Your Liberation and the RemiX Morning Show over on Black Power Media. 

In addition he is of course Professor of Africana and Communication Studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD. His decades of journalism, media, writing, and political work can be found at imixwhatilike.org. 

He has previously joined us for multiple discussions which we will link in the show notes.

For this conversation we talk about the newly released second edition of his book The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power. We should note that we do have a previous conversation on the first edition and if you missed that it would be helpful to understand the work more holistically. Today we talk about some of the new sections in the second edition, including the chapter on Cryptocurrency and Cryptoganda targeted at Black audiences. We also talk to him about what it has been like to confront various promoters of the concept of Black Buying Power in the promotion of the book. 

There will be a second half of this conversation which we will release later this week where we wrap up our discussion of the second edition and get into some other topics.

We will link to some other places folks can learn more about the book, as well as a link to where you can purchase a copy. 

And if you like what we do of course as always, support our ability to continue to do it. You can become a patron of the show for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Links:

Our first conversation with Dr. Ball on the The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power

Discussions on the Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power

Purchase the hardback or e-book of The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power

Our conversation with Dr. Ball from the Journalism For Liberation and Combat Session 1: Internal Colonialism & Emancipatory Journalism with Dr. Jared A. Ball

"A Threat To This Day" Jared Ball on the Distortion and Erasure of Black Revolutionaries in Corporate Media

 

In this episode we welcome Thandisizwe Chimurenga and Yusef "Bunchy" Shakur to have a conversation that revolves around Sanyika Shakur's final book, Stand-Up, Struggle Forward: New Afrikan Revolutionary Writings on Nation, Class and Patriarchy.

Thandisizwe Chimurenga is an award-winning Los Angeles-based journalist. Having worked in print and radio/broadcast journalism, she is the author of No Doubt: The Murder(s) of Oscar Grant; Reparations … Not Yet: A Case for Reparations and Why We Must Wait; the soon-to-be-published Some Of Us Are Brave: Interviews and Conversations with Sistas on Life, Art and Struggle, published by Daraja Press, and Nobody Knows My Name: Coming of Age in and Resilience After the Black Power Movement co-written with Deborah Jones, to be published by Diasporic Africa Press.

Her commitment to infusing radical Black feminist/womanist politics within Revolutionary New Afrikan Nationalism, which she believes is key to destroying capitalism, patriarchy and white supremacist imperialism, has been informed by Aminata Umoja, Assata Shakur, Pearl Cleage, bell hooks, Angela Davis, Queen Mother Moore, Gloria Richardson, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ella Baker, Claudia Jones, Ida B Wells and the "Amazons" of Dahomey.

Yusef "Bunchy" Shakur is a father, neighborhood organizer, author of multiple books, educator and a member of Community Movement Builders. He organizes in Detroit, Michigan. Yusef wrote the foreword to Sanyika's Stand Up, Struggle Forward which we're discussing today and Sanyika Shakur wrote the foreword to Yusef Shakur's book Redemptive Soul. 

In this discussion Thandisizwe and Yusef talk about their own personal and political relationships with Sanyika Shakur and to his writings. We talk a little bit about New Afrikan political thought as it emanated from the New Afrikan Prisoners Organization particularly as was elaborated by Owusu Yaki Yakubu formerly known under the names James "Yaki" Sayles and Atiba Shanna. We discuss the importance of terminology within the New Afrikan Independence Movement and the contributions of Yaki and Sanyika to this body of political thought. 

Thandisizwe Chimurenga and Yusef "Bunchy" Shakur share reflections on Sanyika's writings on patriarchy, homophobia and transphobia and on revolutionary transformation. They discuss the difficulties of re-entry for politicized and political prisoners in an environment without a strong political home to return to, as well as the use of solitary confinement and control units as weapons against politicized figures.

Since the publication of our last episode Dr. Mutulu Shakur has transitioned beyond this realm and we want to send our condolences to all of his loved ones and co-strugglers, we also want to take this moment to recognize his indelible contributions to the New Afrikan Independence Movement and the cause of Black Liberation.

In the show notes we will link to the book we discuss which can be found through Kersplebedeb or leftwingbooks.net along with the writings of Yaki. We highly, highly recommend both. We will also include a link to many more related writings available digitally through Freedom Archives. 

And of course if you like what we do, bringing you these episodes on a weekly basis, become a patron of the show. You can do so for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Links:

Thandisizwe's website (includes ways to support her work)

Yusef "Bunchy" Shakur's website (includes a store with his books)

Stand-Up, Struggle Forward: New Afrikan Revolutionary Writings on Nation, Class and Patriarchy

Meditations on Frantz Fanon's Wretched of the Earth: New Afrikan Revolutionary Writings by James "Yaki" Sayles

Freedom Archives: New Afrikan Prisoner Organization Archives

"Pathology of Patriarchy: A Search for Clues at the Scene of the Crime" by Sanyika Shakur

Beneath My Surface - Thandisizwe Chimurenga (includes reflection on Sanyika's passing as discussed in the episode)

Day of the Gun (George Jackson Doc)

The Political Theory of Dr. Mutulu Shakur with Thandisizwe Chimurenga, Kalonji Changa, & Akinyele Umoja

 

This past May David Chávez, Steven Osuna, Alejandro Villalpando, and Jared Ware (co-host of MAKC) gave a panel presentation at the Abolitions Conference in DC. We wanted to have a conversation to share some of what we talked about, some of our reflections on the conference, discuss some of the possibilities, limitations and contradictions of Abolition within Academic spaces, as well as some of the potential ways that these spaces, jobs within them, or alternatives to them might be useful in advancing the abolitionist struggle. Before we get into this conversation we would like to thank organizers Whitney Pirtle and Tanya Golash-Boza for putting the conference together and welcoming us to it. And also shout out all the folks we were able to connect with there and the people who gave talks and shared their insights and their research.

We will include links to our presentation from the conference and encourage folks to check out others from the conferences if they're interested. There is a lot of good work that was presented and good discussions that were had. 

Joining J for this conversation: 

David Chávez teaches History & Ethnic Studies at Compton College. With his dissertation, "From Delinquents to Street Terrorists: L.A.'s War on Black and Chicanx Youth, 1945-1965," Chávez has studied the policing and criminalization of those populations in Greater Los Angeles. He also has many years of organizing experience, including with Critical Resistance.

Steven Osuna is an associate professor of Sociology at CSU Long Beach. He has written extensively on street organizations, policing, the so-called war on drugs, and the ravages of capitalism and neoliberalism. He also has experience organizing in the Philippine solidarity movement and other struggles. 

Alejandro Villalpando is an assistant professor in the Department of Pan-African Studies and the Latin American Studies Program at Cal State LA. He earned his Ph.D. in Critical Ethnic Studies from UC Riverside, and an M.A. from Latin American Studies at Cal State LA. His work lies at the intersection of Black, Central American, and Ethnic Studies. He also organizes with the Coalition for Community Control Over the Police.

We have had previous conversations with Alejandro and Steven and will link those in the show notes as well.

It is July. Over the months of June and May we released over 14 new episodes of material. We probably will not be able to keep that pace up for this month, but we could definitely use some support from our listeners. We unfortunately just missed our sustainability goal for June. So if you are listening and are able to support the show become a patron for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Links:

Our presentation at the UCDC Abolitions Conference "Advancing the Abolitionist Struggle, Everywhere" (starts at approximately 4:31:30 into the recording)

"The Day in Day Out Commitment to Abolition" - Alejandro Villalpando on Organizing, Building Connection, and the Abolitionist Horizon 

"We Need To Be Active In The Working Class Struggle For Socialism Globally" - Steven Osuna on Class Suicide 

One alternative to an academic conference is the recent Black Radical Organizing Conference, you can find video of it on Black Power Media 

Photos of panelists taken by Charles H.F. Davis III at the Abolitions Conference

In this episode we welcome on multiple activists and organizers involved in the struggle to stop cop city.

For this discussion Kamau Franklin from Community Movement Builders, and Micah Herskind return to the podcast, and K from Unity and Struggle, and Matthew Johnson from the Stop Cop City Faith Coalition join them to talk about various facets of the movement to stop cop city current strategic and tactical questions and concerns.

They each provide brief introductions during the show itself. We catch folks up on some of the important recent events in this struggle since our conversation on the movement last Fall. We discusss the repression of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, the use of domestic terrorism charges, and against firm and nearly unanimous public opposition the Atlanta City Council's recent allocation of the funding for the building of Cop City. 

We also get into the new referendum initiative and some of the tactical and strategic debates around that effort. Further all of our guests offer up multiple ways that people can get involved and plug into the struggle against cop city wherever they are. This week is a week of action in the struggle to Stop Cop City so we will include links with more information on ways people can get involved in that as well.

UPDATES which occurred after the recording (which are relevant to some discussions within the episode): The referendum effort is now underway, the county clerk approved the ability of organizers to begin collecting signatures a couple of hours after we recorded this conversation. Dekalb County DA Sherry Boston has withdrawn her office from the prosecution of 42 cases against stop cop city activists due to movement pressure. 

And we are almost at the end of the month, this is our 7th and final episode for the month of June. We are unlikely to hit our goal for new patrons of the month, as we are still over new 10 patrons away from reaching it. But any support you can offer is very much needed and appreciated. You can become a patron of the show for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Links:

Week of Action in Atlanta June 24 - July 1 

Contribute to the Atlanta Solidarity Fund

Referendum Effort - Cop City Vote (thread on helping with referendum)

stopcopcitysolidarity.org

communitymovementbuilders.org's Stop Cop City Page

Unity and Struggle's Three Theories of Victory in Atlanta

This is the Atlanta Way: A Primer on Cop City by Micah Herskind

defendtheatlantaforest.org

atlpresscollective.com

Our prior episode on the movement to Stop Cop City

In this episode we welcome members of the Kenya Organic Intellectuals Network to the podcast.

We discuss their most recent book Breaking the Silence on NGOs in Africa edited by Nicholas Mwangi, Lewis Maghanga and the contributors of the Kenya Organic Intellectuals Network.

Today we have Gacheke Gachihi, Comrade Maghanga, Sungu Oyoo, and Wanjira Wanjiru each from various formations including the Kenya Organic Intellectuals Network. 

Primarily the subject of our discussion is their book which follows on the work of Professor Issa Shivji who wrote a very important piece back in 2007 called Silences in NGO Discourse: The Role and Future of NGOs in Africa. The comrades from the Kenya Organic Intellectuals Network examine the conjuncture in which NGOs emerged in Kenya, they talk about their role in social movements, they share some of their own experiences working in NGOs or organizing in struggles where NGOs take a prominent role. And importantly they examine the contradictions, limitations  and historical role of NGOs in Africa, with a specific emphasis on Kenya. They also discuss their own efforts through organizations like the Revolutionary Socialist League, Communist Party of Kenya, Social Justice Centres, Kongamano la Mapinduzi, Mwamko, and the Ukombozi Library to cultivate progressive movements in Kenya and revitalize a larger revolutionary Pan Africanist movement with a scientific socialist orientation.

Guests:

Gacheke Gachihi is Coordinator at the Mathare Social Justice Center, and a member of the Social Justice Centres Working Group.

Comrade Maghanga is a member of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Socialist League, based in Nairobi, Kenya. He is an activist and organizer, and an active participant in the Pan African Movement.

Sungu Oyoo is a writer and organizer at Kongamano la Mapinduzi and a member of Mwamko.

Wanjira Wanjiru is a co-founder of Mathare Social Justice Center, host of the Liberating Minds podcast, and Matigari book club. 

 

Links: 

Mathare Social Justice Centre 

Kongamano la Mapinduzi 

Mwamko 

Ukombozi Library 

Revolutionary Socialist League (Kenya) 

Liberating Minds podcast 

Pio Gama Pinto book

Breaking the Silence on NGOs in Africa (Book)

And if you appreciate the work that we do, we're still work on our goal for the month to add 40 patrons to the show. We are running a little behind pace, but if a few comrades chip in we should still be able to reach it by the end of the month. You can support the show for $1 a month or more at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. 

 

For this episode Orisanmi Burton returns to the podcast.

This episode is about Dr. Burton's latest article which was released today on Truthout. This new piece is called, "New Docs Link CIA to Medical Torture of Indigenous Children and Black Prisoners."

In our conversation we will talk about the connections between the Central Intelligence Agency's MKULTRA program, former Governor Normal Rockefeller, the Rockefeller Foundation, McGill University, the Allan Memorial Institute and experiments that were conducted in New York State prisons. 

There are some references in this episode to our most recent episode with Orisanmi Burton in this discussion, when Dr. Burton makes mentions to things he discussed "earlier" or "before" they are to be found in that discussion which we will link as well. 

Content Warning: There is discussion of torture, rape, and other forms of state violence in this episode

We also encourage folks to pre-order Dr. Burton's forthcoming book Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt and will link that in the show notes.

If you would like to support our work we are running a little behind on our goal for the month of June. For as little as $1 a month you can contribute to that effort at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism and support our ability to bring you these episodes on a weekly basis.

Links: 

Our Mohawk Warrior Society episode

First episode with Orisanmi, 2nd episode with Orisanmi

Silent Cells (referenced in the discussion)

Acres of Skin

Recent agreement between Mohawk Mothers and McGill

In this episode Josh caught up with organizers from the National Network on Cuba, Shaquille Fontenot and Tee Maloney.

We will provide full bios of each guest in the show notes, but will share some highlights here.

Shaquille Fontenot (she/they) is an anti-imperialist, cultural worker. Shaquille currently serves as Chief Strategy Officer at Cedar Wolf Media Group, and is co-founder of the Lowcountry Action Committee (LAC), a Black-led grassroots organization dedicated to Black liberation through service, political education, and collective action in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Shaquille is also a member of the National Network on Cuba, the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, the Black Alliance for Peace, Charleston Climate Coalition, and others. Shaquille is also a founding member of the People's Budget Coalition and serves the National Network on Cuba as co-chair.

Tee Maloney is a revolutionary cultural worker who makes art and designs based in contributing to the global movement for African liberation and unity, and other movements related to the international struggle toward ending imperialist domination Tee is the Art Lead for the June 25th Action in DC and is a member of the Black Alliance for Peace, a work-study member of the All-African People's Revolutionary Party. They got involved in the National Network on Cuba as a brigadista from the most recent May Day delegation.

In this discussion they talk about the current revitalization of the movement to end the US blockade or embargo on Cuba, a 60 year blockade that is an egregious attack on the human rights of the Cuban people by the US government. They also discuss the NNOC's efforts to get Cuba taken off the state sponsors of terror list.   

Tee and Shaquille also discuss their trips to Cuba, what they've learned from those experiences, they combat some misinformation and also contextualize some protests and advocate that people really need to improve their social media literacy when evaluating how to respond to protests in other countries.

There are a number of events coming up as part of this renewed campaign to end the blockade and get Cuba removed from this list. The first one is tonight, June 15th at 7:30pm Eastern Time a webinar from Black Alliance For Peace which will be livestreamed on Twitter and YouTube. If you miss the livestream, a recording will be on BAP's Youtube page after the event as well.

There are a number of upcoming actions in solidarity with the Cuban people which we'll also list in the show notes, the biggest coming June 25th in DC. 

Our comrades at Prisons Kill and Massive Bookshop selected Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary to send into our incarcerated readers this month. Support that here.

And if you appreciate the work that we do here, become a patron of the podcast for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. Shout-out to each and every person who makes this show possible through your monthly or yearly donations. Thank you.

Links:

#OFFTHELIST CAMPAIGN

NNOC.ORG

TEE'S ART

 

 

In this episode we welcome Gabriel Rockhill to the podcast to discuss his latest piece "The Myth of 1968 Thought and the French Intelligentsia: Historical Commodity Fetishism and Ideological Rollback" which is out this month, in the June issue of Monthly Review.

Gabriel Rockhill is the Founding Director of the Critical Theory Workshop / Atelier de Théorie Critique, Professor of Philosophy at Villanova University, and the author or editor of nine books, as well as numerous articles and essays.

Many listeners have asked us to read and possibly have a discussion about Rockhill's recent work in particular which has included critical articles on Foucault, Žižek, the Frankfurt School and what Rockhill describes as "The Global Theory Industry" within his work. 

In this conversation we largely examine his most recent piece on the promotion of a certain sect of French intellectuals in the wake of the 1968 uprisings and strikes in Paris. Rockhill discusses the relationship or lack thereof that he sees between those thinkers who have been promoted as "68 Thinkers" and the actual activities of the period, the political decisions being made on the ground, and most urgently for Rockhill's concerns the incredibly vibrant worker movement of the period and the possibility of taking power and building a socialist project in France.

We hope folks enjoy this discussion which also examines the relationship between those who organize for socialism, grassroots uprisings, and the process through which publishers, state actors, and the media recuperate and commodify upheaval and then freely associate it with thinkers that are compatible with the maintenance of the status quo which is being protested. Alongside this cultural project there is of course also the violent repression of the state both overtly and clandestinely. Along those lines Rockhill also discusses Operation Gladio. 

We will include links to some of the projects that Rockhill mentions in the episode in the show notes, including the summer program at the Critical Theory Workshop.

And of course if you appreciate what we do here at Millennials Are Killing Capitalism, please become a patron of the show. Our show is only possible due to the contributions of listeners like you. For as little as $1 a month or $10.80 per year you can join all of the amazing folks who make this show possible at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism.

Links:

The Myth of 1968 Thought and the French Intelligentsia: Historical Commodity Fetishism and Ideological Rollback

Critical Theory Workshop / Atelier de Théorie Critique

Some of Rockhill's other work on the Global Theory Industry specifically on Foucault, Žižek, the Frankfurt School.

Thomas Sankara translations on Liberation School

Iskra Books (mentioned in the episode)

This is part 2 of our 2 part conversation with Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba on their new book Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care. (Part 1 is available here).

In this episode we continue our conversation with Kaba and Hayes on the idea that organizing is not match-making. They each talk about organizing across difference and dealing with some of the contradictions that can come up within struggles around shared objectives. They talk about some of the differences between friends and comrades and the transformation that can happen within the waging of struggle. 

We discuss about the phrase "hope is a discipline," what it means and doesn't mean, whether hope is a useful framework for people, and the notion of active hope that weaves through a lot of the book.

We also talk about seasonality within organizing, avoiding burn out, and how to deal with increasing visibility and remain responsible to the social movements you're in.

Mariame Kaba is currently raising funds for the Online Abortion Resource Squad, if folks are able to support that effort we encourage them to do so. 

Once again we want to thank Kelly and Mariame for having this conversation with us. You can pick up Let This Radicalize You from Haymarket Books, our friends at Massive Bookshop or your local radical bookstore. We will include a link to the resources mentioned in the episode and a few other items in the show notes.

We do want to thank all of the folks who support us on an ongoing basis or for however long they can. And we invite new listeners and those who haven't become patrons yet to do so. You can become a patron of the show for as little as $1 a month or $10.80 per year. We receive no revenue from foundations or advertisers, so it is only through the support of our listeners that we are able to bring you conversations like this on a weekly basis and often more frequently than that. Become a patron of the show at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Links:

Mariame Kaba is currently seeking to raise $50,000 for abortion funds. Support here.

Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care (resources page).

When We Fall Apart (mentioned in the discussion) 

The Prison Culture Blog

Movement Memos

Lifted Voices

Survived and Punished

Our first conversation with Mariame Kaba (2019)

Our previous (panel) discussion with Kelly Hayes (2022)

 

This is an episode recorded this week with Tara Alami to talk about a piece she wrote about Jordan for Vox Ummah last Spring. The essay's title is "The Price of Peace" and it delves into Jordan's role within the US-Imperialist led world system. And Alami discusses the history of the Hashemite monarchy, and the political legacy of Jordanian rulers with respect to Palestinians, Zionist colonizers, and western imperialism. This discussion gets into many of the contradictions of the history of Jordan, Tara's own family history as Palestinians living in Jordan, as well as her personal history as a student there. And she talks about the ideology promoted by the state, the enticement to maintain fealty to the monarchy, and the role Jordan plays as a buffer state in the region.  

Tara Alami is a Palestinian writer & researcher from occupied Jerusalem and occupied Yafa. Check out Tara's substack as well.

A reminder that on October 1st we launch our study group on Dr. Ali Kadri's The Accumulation of Waste: A Political Economy of Systemic Destruction. It's available to everyone who supports the show. There are only about 25 spots left in the group as we publish this, so if you want to join us, make sure you do so ASAP to reserve your space. 

As always if you like the work that we do, the best way to support the show is through either to be come a patron of the show at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism or through either an ongoing pledge or one time donation through BuyMeACoffee

For this conversation we are honored to welcome Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba back to the podcast. 

This is part 1 of a 2 part conversation on their latest book Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care.

For both of these folks, I'm going to read shorter bios today, and then link to more of their work, because for each of them I could easily spend 10 to 15 minutes just talking about their backgrounds.

Kelly Hayes is a Menominee author, organizer, movement educator and photographer. She is also the host of Truthout's podcast Movement Memos. Kelly is a co-founder of the direct action collective Lifted Voices and the Chicago Light Brigade.

Mariame Kaba is an organizer, educator and curator who is active in movements for racial, gender, and transformative justice. She has founded or co-founded a number of organizations including but not limited to the Chicago Freedom School, Project NIA, We Charge Genocide, and Survived and Punished. She is also the author or co-author of many books and zines including but not limited to No More Police and We Do This 'Til We Free Us.

Both of our guests today are known for their extensive organizing around, writing about, and advocacy of prison-industrial-complex abolition and all that entails as a liberatory horizon and arena of radical organizing.

Much like this conversation, the book is a radical invitation for folks to organize and take action in big and small ways, but most importantly in collective ways. We really appreciated this book and encourage all of our listeners to get a copy. The book is an excellent resource, it's funny, it's engaging, and no matter where you are coming from I'm sure you will find it useful for your organizing, activism and radical engagement with others. 

We want to extend our gratitude to Mariame and Kelly for this conversation and part 2 which we will release in a few days, for their organizing and writing and for the many ways that they invite people into abolitionist practice. We will include links to some free companions created for the book as well. These can deepen your study of the book, hopefully collectively, offer reading lists, reading questions and many other really great resources.

This episode marks our first episode of June, we released seven episodes in the month of May. That is only possible because of the support of our listeners. We have been experiencing a lot of folks unable to renew pledges lately on the show, which is understandable during harder financial times. We do want to thank all of the folks who support us on an ongoing basis or for however long they can. And we invite new listeners and those who haven't become patrons yet to do so. You can become a patron of the show for as little as $1 a month or $10.80 per year. We receive no revenue from foundations or advertisers so it is only through the support of our listeners that we are able to bring you conversations like this on a weekly basis and often more frequently than that. Become a patron of the show at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism.

Links:

Mariame Kaba is currently seeking to raise $50,000 for abortion funds. Support here.

Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care (look to resources heading on middle of page for the free workbook and discussion guide)

The Prison Culture Blog

Movement Memos

Lifted Voices

Survived and Punished

Our first conversation with Mariame Kaba (2019)

Our previous (panel) discussion with Kelly Hayes (2022)

In this episode we welcome Orisanmi Burton back to the podcast.

For this conversation, we discuss Dr. Burton's latest article, "Targeting Revolutionaries: The Birth of the Carceral Warfare Project, 1970 – 1978." Which he describes as a supplement to his forthcoming book, Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt. This piece was recently published in the May issue of Radical History Review which is on Political Imprisonment and Confinement.

In this discussion we pick up on our previous episode with Orisanmi Burton on carceral warfare. Here Burton talks about the role of Black Panther and Black Liberation Army veteran and former political prisoner Dhoruba bin Wahad's role in illuminating and analyzing the FBI's little known Prison Activists Surveillance Program (PRISACTS). Burton situates this program amid a broad set of counterinsurgency programs which operated in multiple theaters of war both internationally and domestically. Burton illustrates how within this international terrain of counterrevolutionary war, figures slipped between various programs, moving between military, intelligence, private defense contract, and domestic law enforcement and prison systems. Importantly, Burton reminds us that many state actors, including congressional bodies, presidents and governors recognized a threat of revolutionary activity in the streets in the 1960's and by the late 60's and early 70's they understood there to be a threat of revolutionary activity behind prison walls as well. To respond, they sought to use programs like PRISACTS to specifically undermine incarcerated revolutionaries. The legacy of this struggle offers a great deal to help us understand the role of US prisons today as sites of domestic warfare.

Just a note that there is a second portion of this conversation which we hope to release at a later date. It is briefly referenced in the opening question. Currently we are just waiting for the publication of that second article.  

Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt is available for pre-order you can find a link for that in the show notes. And the publisher does have a 40% off sale that goes through the end of May. I can't wait to have more discussion on that book upon its release.

This is our 7th episode of the month of May. We are still behind on our goal for the month. As of publication today we need 7 more patrons to hit that goal. You can become a patron of the show for as little as $1 a month or $10.80 per year at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. 

Links to references from the episode:

"Targeting Revolutionaries: The Birth of the Carceral Warfare Project, 1970 – 1978."

Previous MAKC interview with Orisanmi Burton 

Previous MAKC interview with Dhoruba bin Wahad 

Our Interview with Damien Sojoyner 

Interview with Orisanmi Burton and Dhoruba on BPM

"Resisting Living Death at Marion Federal Penitentiary, 1972" by Alan Eladio Gómez

You can pre-order Tip of the Spear at UC Press. It is 40% off through the end of May (with the promo code May40)

 

In this episode we interview Professor Elisabeth B. Armstrong. Armstrong is a professor of the Study of Women and Gender at Smith College. She teaches courses on feminist political praxis, with a focus on transnational feminist movements seeking social, economic and environmental transformation. Her courses include Marxist feminism, Women, Money and Transnationalism, decolonial feminist archives and gendered movements about the land, food and survival. Many of her courses are community-based research courses linked to regional and international community movements for the basic needs of land, food, labor, and embodied self-determination. In addition to the book we discuss in this episode Armstrong is the author of The Retreat From Organization: U.S. Feminism Reconceptualized, and Gender and Neoliberalism: The All-India Democratic Women's Association and Its Strategies of Resistance.

In this conversation we are here to talk about her latest book Bury The Corpse of Colonialism: The Revolutionary Feminist Conference of 1949. In 1949, revolutionary activists from Asia hosted a conference in Beijing that gathered together their comrades from around the world. The Asian Women's Conference developed a new political strategy, demanding that women from occupying colonial nations contest imperialism with the same dedication as women whose countries were occupied. This book tells the remarkable story of how these bold activists constructed a blueprint for anti-imperialist feminist internationalism and shows how movements create a revolutionary theory over time and through struggle.

The book is a great discussion of conjunctural analysis, the dedication of these women militants, from communist parties and other antifascist, anticolonial, and anti-imperialist formations in the 1940's. We talk to Dr. Armstrong about how these women developed their strategy, what they were experiencing in their struggles, and how they sought to put their strategy of an inside/outside approach to anti colonialism and anti-imperialism into practice in the middle of the 20th century as the international anticolonial movement was developing.

Also May is winding down and we're just 9 patrons away from hitting our goal for the month. This is our 6th episode for the month of May. If you appreciate the work we do releasing episodes like this on a weekly basis and running study groups, kick in $1 a month or more and help us sustain the work, which is only possible through the support of everyday folks like yourself. You can become a patron of the show at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Purchase the book from Massive Bookshop

 

This episode is focused on the campaign to free Sundiata Jawanza.

Sundiata Jawanza is a New Afrikan, abolitionist and human rights activist currently incarcerated in the South Carolina.

Today we have four guests, Audrey Bomse and Jenipher Jones both co-chairs of the Mass Incarceration Committee of the National Lawyers Guild, Darren Mack of Prison Lives Matter, and Roc, the Jailhouse Lawyers Speak Housing Program Coordinator. 

In this discussion J shares a bit about the Sundiata Jawanza's freedom campaign, a bit about the case itself, and primarily we focus on a political discussion of Sundiata Jawanza's work in part discussing his individual contributions, but primarily through the political work that he and his comrades have done through Jailhouse Lawyers Speak. As part of that discussion, we also discuss the overall importance of jailhouse lawyers to the legal education and opportunities at freedom and defense of human rights within US prisons. 

We want to ask all of our listeners to please get involved, to connect with Sundiata Jawanza, and to support his freedom campaign by writing the parole board on his behalf. Full details on how to do that can be found at SundiataJawanza.com.

To learn more about Jailhouse Lawyers Speak.

People can write JLS by mail at: 

JAILHOUSE LAWYERS SPEAK

PO BOX 673

MERCER, PA 16137

Or email jailhouselawyersspeak@protonmail.com or outthemud.jls@gmail.com

Some prior episodes with (or in solidarity with) Jailhouse Lawyers Speak:

Jailhouse Lawyers Speak's 2020 Call To Action 

"In The Spirit of Abolition" - Jailhouse Lawyers Speak Calls For Shut 'Em Down Demonstrations

"Building Infrastructure: Identifying Tactics for Sustainable Formations": A Panel Discussion Supporting Jailhouse Lawyers Speak's #SHUTEMDOWN2021 Demos

This is part 2 of our 2-part conversation with Felicia Denaud.

In this part of the discussion Denaud talks about what the category of political prisoner might do politically, in thinking about movement building through a lens of movement defense in this moment. We also continue our conversation on her work on the Master-State Complex and thinking about the state capacity for violence and the private outsourcing of that "sovereign" power that comes about with the slave trade, plantation economy and settler colonialism. It's worth saying that this conversation happened a week before Jordan Neely was murdered, but that case also relates deeply to these dynamics described in this conversation.

Denaud talks about the use of light and darkness in Fanon's work and talks about his concept of social treason as a potentially more robust language to deal with those who leverage political struggles for their own personal, political and monetary gain on the backs or at odds with the social movements that propel them to levels of power and accumulation.

This is our 4th episode of the month of May. We are behind on our goal for the month and looking to add 26 more patrons this month to hit our goal. If you're able to kick in at least a $1 a month or $10.80 per year you can become a patron of the show and join the amazing community of folks who make this show possible at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Links:

Lawrence Jenkins

Campaign to Free the Pendleton 2 // Our episode on this struggle

"Into The Clear, Unreal, Idyllic Light of the Beginning | A Will of the Night"

­­­­­­­"we've barely begun to speak/scream/sing: on frankétienne's dézafi"

Renegade Gestation: Writing Against the Procedures of Intellectual History 

Cooperation Jackson's Kali Akuno on the lessons of and the ongoing struggle in Jackson MS

More on political prisoners:

The Jericho Movement (political prisoners)

uprisingsupport.org/

atlsolidarity.org/

This is part one of a two part conversation with Felicia Denaud.

Felicia Denaud is a writer, poet, and professor of Africana Studies at the University of Cincinnati. She writes, in the words of Sylvia Wynter, toward the end of empire, war, and accumulation by elimination. She's listens, in the words of Dhoruba bin Wahad for "the last of the loud."

In this part of the discussion we get into Denaud's work around two key and very interesting concepts within her work. One she describes as the "Unnameable War," and the other the "Master-State Complex." We also begin to talk about the piece that spurred this conversation, Denaud's recent essay "Into The Clear, Unreal, Idyllic Light of the Beginning | A Will of the Night," which was published by The Caribbean Philosophical Association. In our discussion of that essay here we ask Denaud about what she draws from revolutionary Grenada and Safiya Bukhari. And we close this part of the discussion with Denaud sharing some of the areas of Haitian history that are not examined and appreciated with the care and inquiry they should be if we truly have a dedication to defending revolutions.

Felicia wanted us to highlight the fundraising campaign for Lawrence Jenkins, an incarcerated abolitionist who will be coming home soon in Washington state and the campaign to Free the Pendleton 2. We will include links to both of those campaigns .

And as always if you appreciate the work that we do bringing you conversations like this on a weekly basis, please become a patron of the show. You can do so for as little as $1 a month, our work is only possible through - and only funded by - the support of listeners just like you. Support at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Part two of this conversation with Felicia Denaud will be released this coming week.

Links:

Lawrence Jenkins

Campaign to Free the Pendleton 2 // Our episode on this struggle

"Into The Clear, Unreal, Idyllic Light of the Beginning | A Will of the Night"

­­­­­­­"we've barely begun to speak/scream/sing: on frankétienne's dézafi"

Renegade Gestation: Writing Against the Procedures of Intellectual History 

In this episode we interview Dr. Kris Manjapra.

Kris Manjapra works at the intersection of transnational history and the critical study of race and colonialism.  He is the author of five books, in this episode we discuss his comparative study of global emancipation processes and the implications for reparations movement today: Black Ghost of Empire: The Long Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation.  

In addition to his scholarly work, he is the founder of a site-based nonprofit, Black History in Action, dedicated to the restoration and reactivation of a Black cultural heritage center in Cambridge, MA.  Kris also co-organizes a free online community certificate course, entitled Black Futures Matter, serving people's assemblies across the US and the Caribbean.

Our conversation with Manjapra focuses on Black Ghosts of Empire and on unsettling our mystified and highly inaccurate dominant views of emancipation processes globally. Dr. Manjapra walks us through the origin and history of the legal apparatus of emancipation and takes a materialist approach to analyzing whose interests were served through these processes to demonstrate how these historical shifts preserved and upheld the interests of slave owners. He also demonstrates the various ways that emancipation processes were designed to place Black people into a state of indebtedness and delay their freedom from bondage. This is an excellent discussion for thinking through the ways that the white supremacist capitalist state and the property owning classes  seek to respond to crises in ways that preserve existing hierarchies and power relations.

We also discuss many of the vibrant Black abolitionist movements that demanded, organized, and struggled for alternative futures. Taking a look at some of the earliest Pan Africanist and Black Feminist thinkers, cultural workers, and organizers Manjapra stitches together a rich tapestry of movement lineage that carries into the current ongoing struggles for reparations for slavery and its long afterlives.

If you appreciate the work that we do we are on a push to add 40 patrons again this month. We are just a little bit behind the pace on our monthly goal so any support people can give is much appreciated. You will be joining a community of folks who make this show possible every week with their donations at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Links to some companion conversations:

Rinaldo Walcott - On Black Freedom and the Abolition of Property

Saidiya Hartman - Scenes of Subjection at 25

Robin DG Kelley - Freedom Dreams at 20

 

In this episode we interview Matyos Kidane and Shakeer Rahman two organizers with the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, a community organization founded in 2011, working to build community power toward abolishing police surveillance. They are rooted in the Skid Row neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles, based out of the Los Angeles Community Action Network. 

Recently the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition has been thrust into the spotlight due to backlash against their creation of the website watchthewatchers.net, which complies police data from multiple public records requests originally made by journalist Ben Camacho best known for his work with KNOCK-LA. While this so-called controversy is interesting and warrants some debunking of the lies being put forward by LA police, politicians and their allies, we also wanted to use the opportunity to highlight the organizing of the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition and learn from their process of collective study and how to use state archives, public records requests, community knowledge and analyses of police and local political economy to produce resources for abolitionist movements.

Along the way we talk about how Watch The Watchers has grown out of a longer history of Cop Watch practices and ways that this tool already been used by activists, journalists and community members.

In the show notes we'll include links to support the work of Stop LAPD Spying, to a toolkit opposing the Robot Dogs being proposed by the LAPD and a link to some examples of their work.

And if you appreciate the work that we do bringing you an assortment of discussions with organizers, activists, scholars and movement veterans on a weekly basis become a patron of the show. We have a goal to add 40 new patrons again this month to help us sustain the work that we do. You can join the amazing folks who make this show possible for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Links:

Stop LAPD Spying Coalition (Donation Page)

Toolkit for opposing Robot Dogs in LA (meeting on Friday May 5th)

automatingbanishment.org

Automating Banishment: The Data-Driven Policing of Stolen Land (Haymarket discussion) with Mike Davis and Stop LAPD Spying 

In this episode we welcome Damien Sojoyner to the podcast. 

Damien M. Sojoyner is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of First Strike: Prison and Educational Enclosures in Black Los Angeles and Joy and Pain: A Story of Black Life and Liberation in Five Albums.

For this episode we invite Dr. Sojoyner to the podcast to discuss his latest work Against the Carceral Archive: The Art of Black Liberatory Practice which offers a distillation of critical, theoretical, and Black organizing and activist work over the past three decades. Working from collections at the Southern California Library the book examines the study and practice of the LA chapter of the Black Panther Party,  the Coalition Against Police Abuse, Urban Policy Research Institute, Mothers Reclaiming Our Children, and the collection of geographer Clyde Woods. 

We ask Sojoyner about how he thinks about carcerality and the archive in relation to domestic warfare, and discuss the collections and documents he examines in the book and what they reveal about the practices of organizations grounded in the struggle for Black Liberation in Los Angeles. 

Against the Carceral Archive is a great text to come to grips with the level of rigorous study, analysis and dedication that are required for effective organizing agains  t the forces of racial capitalism and the imperialist state.

Thank you to Dr. Sojoyner for this book and for joining us for this conversation. We'll include links to the Southern California Library which provided collections for Sojoyner's research here and continues to be an amazing resource for people in struggle in Los Angeles.

And if you appreciate the work that we do, we strongly encourage you to become a patron of the show, you can so for as little as $1 a month & all of your support adds up to make this show - and our own study groups - possible on a weekly basis. 

Links:

Southern California Library

Pick-up a copy of Against the Carceral Archive: The Art of Black Liberatory Practice

 

In this conversation we welcome Dr. Nazia Kazi to the podcast.

Dr. Nazia Kazi is an anthropologist and educator based in Philadelphia. Her work explores the role of Islamophobia and racism in the context of global politics. 

She is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Stockton University in New Jersey, where she teaches courses on race, ethnicity, immigration, and Islam in the U.S. She is the author of Islamophobia, Race, and Global Politics. Kazi is also a faculty affiliate of the Rutgers Center for Security, Race, and Rights. 

This episode came about in response to the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq, which should be widely understood as a crime against humanity and an egregious violation of even the most basic application of international and human rights law.

We invited Dr. Kazi on the show to discuss how US media continues to cover this war, and the broader so-called "War on Terror" over 20 years later. Kazi demystifies some of the liberal multicultural discussion of Islamophobia and examines a more complex history of the US's relationship to Islam specifically by looking at CIA operations. She also examines the impact of post-9/11 policy making on government surveillance, the political expressions of Muslims in the US, inclusionary nonprofit politics, and extrajudicial political repression. 

We also discuss what it is that we are to #neverforget when it comes to 9/11 and how mainstream media and K-12 education have been a part of a political assault on both historical and political analysis around that day and around the impacts of the "war on terror" on politics and state repression both domestically and internationally.

And if you like what we do bringing you conversations like this every week then please become a patron of the show. Our show is 100% funded by our patrons and you can become one for as little as $1 a month. We're just 8 patrons away from hitting our goal for the month. So sign up and become a patron at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism 

 

Links:

How the 'war on terror' obscures America's alliance with right-wing Islam

What We Forget by Nazia Kazi and Anuj Shrestha

Dr. Nazia Kazi's website

Islamophobia, Race, and Global Politics (Updated) By Nazia Kazi

In this discussion we talk with Professor Corinna Mullin who is a member of the Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective. 

Corinna Mullin is an anti-imperialist academic who teaches political science and economics. Her research examines the historical legacies of colonialism and the role of capitalist expansion and imperialist imbrications in producing peripheral state "security dependency," with a focus on unequal exchange, super-exploitation, resource extraction, and other forms of surplus value drain/transfer as well as resistance. Corinna has also researched and published academic works on border imperialism, struggles around the colonial-capitalist university, fascism, multipolarity, and national liberation, with a focus on the Maghreb, West Asia, and Turtle Island. Corinna was a member of the Steering Committee for the International Peoples' Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism and organizes with CUNY for Palestine and Labor for Palestine. She serves on the Steering Committee of the Professional Staff Congress (PSC)-CUNY's International Committee and is a member of the Delegate Assembly. Full bio from AISC.

In this discussion we primarily discuss her piece, Zionism, Imperialism, and the Struggle Against Global Fascism: Palestine as the 'Hornet's Nest' of US Empire from the Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective blog The Pen Is My Machete 

And a little bit on her piece The 'War on Terror' as Primitive Accumulation in Tunisia: US-Led Imperialism and the Post-2010-2011 Revolt/Security Conjuncture from Middle East Critique 

Also I say more about this in the episode, but Dr. Mullin was fired from CUNY as a result of her stance and organizing with respect to Palestine. We will include a statement from AISC on this and a Statement in Solidarity with CUNY Faculty and Students Facing McCarthyite Retaliation for Palestine Solidarity which we have signed. 

There are also a number of other calls to action for faculty and students at CUNY that we will include in the show description. Corinna talks about those at the end of the episode and we strongly encourage folks to support those calls to action it only takes a minute of your time.

In this discussion Dr. Mullin talks a little bit about Dr. Ali Kadri's The Accumulation of Waste: A Political Economy of Systemic Destruction and it just so happens that we have a study group on that exact book starting on October 1st, it's available to everyone who supports the show, whether through patreon, BuyMeACoffee or as a YouTube member of the show. Details on that study group and how to join it are linked in the show description. But just to note that there are only about 40 spots left in the group as we publish this, so if you want to join us, make sure you do so ASAP to reserve your space.

Calls to Action: 

"Hadeeqa Arzoo Malik is being made an example of for the sake of setting the tone across the nation at public universities, as they seek further control over the student movement for Palestine. City College President Vincent Boudreau has already denied her appeal for a drop to the charges, without even an acknowledgement to the 2,000+ calls and emails from the community that demanded her reinstatement. Now, it is time to escalate both our tactics against CUNY and whom we pressure— Take it to the Board of Trustees. Your rage is needed to make it loud and clear that CUNY's repression will not go uninterrupted. 

CALL CUNY STUDENT AFFAIRS:

646-664-8800

EMAIL THE BOT:

https://tinyurl.com/Defendhadeeqaarzoo"

Free Tarek Bazrouk! Tarek is a 20-year-old Palestinian from NYC, unjustly convicted of federal charges stemming from his participation in protests against the genocide in Gaza.

"Demand Immediate Reinstatement of Terminated Adjunct Faculty and Defend Academic Freedom

Send a letter to Brooklyn College President Michelle Anderson, CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez, and CUNY Board Chairperson William Thompson urging them to reinstate the fired adjunct faculty and protect the rights of CUNY students and workers who stand in solidarity with Palestine.

The targeting of these individuals is part of a broader assault on higher education and academic freedom. Their fight is our fight—silencing them is an attack on us all.

Send your letter here ➔"

Sanctuary & Popular University Network (SPUN statement & instagram)

Related conversations:

War is the Basis of Accumulation with Ali Kadri

Charisse Burden-Stelly on Black Scare/Red Scare 

Link to the latest issue of Middle East Critique & the conversation with Matteo Capasso  

"Attica Is an Ongoing Structure of Revolt" - Orisanmi Burton on Tip of the Spear, Black Radicalism, Prison Rebellion, and the Long Attica Revolt 

Heading Towards Invasion? The US Empire's Campaign Against Venezuela with José Luis Granados Ceja 

Palestine's Great Flood with Max Ajl

In this conversation we welcome home Safear Ness. Safear is a formerly incarcerated organizer, a founder of In The Mix Prisoner Podcast, a writer, and a Revolutionary Abolitionist. 

In this conversation we discuss Safear's recent piece "Phone Resistance" from the Study & Struggle blog. We also talk about a zine he adapted from Dan Berger and Toussaint Losier's book Rethinking the American Prison Movement entitled Revolution: The Prison Rebellion Years, 1968-1972 (artwork by Paul Lacombe). We also get his reflections on organizing, social media, and the abolition movement as someone who became a prison abolitionist inside Pennsylvania prisons.

Safear also reflects on organizing inside, on Russell "Maroon" Shoatz concept of The Hydra, and other aspects of prison life including censorship 

There is a discussion of phone zaps as well and we get into Stevie Wilson's current situation facing repression in PADOC. The phone campaign for that is currently taking a break, but may start-up again soon. Stay in touch by following Stevie's twitter account operated by comrades outside the walls, and by following Dreaming Freedom, Practicing Abolition. 

For this month we will be sending copies of Mohawk Warrior Society: A Handbook for Sovereignty and Survival into our incarcerated readers. Thanks to PM Press for donating those copies and to Massive Bookshop and Prisons Kill for facilitating that project as always. You can support that project here.

We won't be plugging our patreon this week. But definitely would encourage folks to support projects like In The Mix and In The Belly where incarcerated people are developing their own podcast and journal projects. 

Links: 

In The Mix Prisoner Podcast

In The Belly Journal

Imam Jamil Action Network

The Jericho Movement

Campaign Against Prison Censorship and Book Banning

Martin Sostre Institute

Study & Struggle

Dan Berger & Toussaint Losier on the American Prisoner Movement

 

For this discussion we welcome Manolo de los Santos to discuss the book Our Own Path to Socialism: Selected Speeches of Hugo Chávez. 

Manolo de los Santos is the co-executive director of the People's Forum and is a researcher at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He co-edited, most recently, Viviremos: Venezuela vs Hybrid War and Comrade of the Revolution: Selected Speeches of Fidel Castro. He is a co-coordinator of the People's Summit for Democracy.

Our Own Path to Socialism: Selected Speeches of Hugo Chávez is the first book length English translation of a collection of speeches from Hugo Chávez. Chávez left behind thousands of hours of speeches, and this book collects seven of them, presenting his theories, perspectives, and his visions of 21st century socialism. An almost encyclopedic blend of songs, stories, and dreams of the Venezuelan people, his words are a tool for young people seeking to understand the ideas of Chavismo and the Venezuelan process of building socialism in South America.

This conversation is a combination of thinking with Chávez as a historian, as a student of socialist practice, a theorist, and as a revolutionary in his own right. We talk a bit along the way about the example of Cuba, Chávez's relationship to Fidel Castro, the influence of Mao Tse-Tung on his thinking, Chávez's thinking on urgency, socialism and the climate crisis, and on the critical importance of study to the revolutionary process.

The book is available from 1804 Books and we highly recommend it. We want to thank Manolo and the folks at 1804 Books for this book and conversation.

We also want to thank PM Press for donating 35 copies of the Mohawk Warrior Society for our incarcerated reading group (in partnership with Prisons Kill and Massive Bookshop). Thanks to their donation and contributions from listeners last month we do have enough to cover that book and the postage to send it in this month.

And if you like what we do bringing you conversations like this every week then please become a patron of the show. Our show is 100% funded by our patrons and you can become one for as little as $1 a month and find out about things like our Wretched of the Earth study group which is going to start later this month.

Some of our other conversations on Venezuela and Chávez:

"Venezuela The Present As Struggle" with Gilbert & Marquina

"Chávez Has A Present In Venezuela" with Gilbert & Marquina

Geo Maher On Revolutionary Solidarity with Venezuela

"Commune or Nothing" with Chris Gilbert

 

This is the second episode in our two part discussion on Socialist Yugoslavia with our guests Gal Kirn and Dubravka Sekulić.

Gal Kirn is Assistant Professor of Sociology of Culture at the University of Ljubljana. Kirn's research has focused on the theme of transition in (post)socialist context, in particular in the fields of art, politics and memory in the period of national liberation struggle and the socialist Yugoslavia. He published two monographs Partisan Ruptures (Pluto Press, 2019) and The Partisan Counter-Archive (De Gruyter, 2020), and recently co-edited (with Natasha Ginwala and Niloufar Tajeri) a volume Nights of the Dispossessed. Riots Unbound (Columbia Press, 2021), and with Marian Burchardt Beyond Neoliberalism (Palgrave, 2017)

Dubravka Sekulić is an architect, educator, and theorist. She is interested in popular spatial literacy and her research explores how political economy and legislative frameworks produce built environment. She teaches at the Royal College of Art, London (UK). Her  work includes PhD thesis called Constructing Nonalignment: The Work of Yugoslav Construction Companies in the Third World 1961-1989 and she is a co-author of Surfing the Black: Yugoslav Black Wave Cinema and its Transgressive Moments among other projects. 

In this part of the discussion our guests offer a brief synopsis of Yugoslavia's role in the development of the nonaligned movement. From there we discuss the role of Yugoslav architectural and construction firms in the construction of physical infrastructure within other non-aligned countries. This leads into some discussion around Yugoslavia and racialization, whiteness and what it means to be European. Connected to this is a discussion of Yugoslavia's market reforms the contradictions they produce for the country's workers, and an examination of how professionalization produced certain class contradictions and bourgeois or white aspirations that furthered certain racist and anti-solidaristic tendencies within Yugoslavia.

Just a quick note that the splicing of this conversation on Yugoslavia into two parts was arbitrary and based on the length of the discussion. There are references in this portion of the conversation to comments made in part 1. It is possible to listen to either episode independently but we strongly encourage folks to listen to both parts to get a fuller picture of the overall discussion.

Our monthly goal for April is to add 40 patrons this month again, to keep up with non renewals and help us continue to sustain our work here. So kick in $1 a month or whatever you can spare at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism and join the wonderful folks who make this show possible. Our next study group, which will focus on Frantz Fanon's Wretch of the Earth will begin later this month.

Links:

Part 1

Surfing the Black: Yugoslav Black Wave Cinema and its Transgressive Moments

Partisan Ruptures 

The Partisan Counter-Archive

This is part 1 of a 2 episode discussion on Socialist Yugoslavia, the legacy of the Yugoslav Partisan struggle, and on how we think about and understand transition with relation to Yugoslavia and post-Yugoslav context. For this discussion we are thrilled to welcome Gal Kirn and Dubravka Sekulić to the podcast. 

Gal Kirn is Assistant Professor of Sociology of Culture at the University of Ljubljana. Kirn's research has focused on the theme of transition in (post)socialist context, in particular in the fields of art, politics and memory in the period of national liberation struggle and the socialist Yugoslavia. He published two monographs Partisan Ruptures (Pluto Press, 2019) and The Partisan Counter-Archive (De Gruyter, 2020), and recently co-edited (with Natasha Ginwala and Niloufar Tajeri) a volume Nights of the Dispossessed. Riots Unbound (Columbia Press, 2021), and with Marian Burchardt Beyond Neoliberalism (Palgrave, 2017)

Dubravka Sekulić is an architect, educator, and theorist. She is interested in popular spatial literacy and her research explores how political economy and legislative frameworks produce built environment. She teaches at the Royal College of Art, London (UK). Her  work includes PhD thesis called Constructing Nonalignment: The Work of Yugoslav Construction Companies in the Third World 1961-1989 and she is a co-author of Surfing the Black: Yugoslav Black Wave Cinema and its Transgressive Moments among other projects. 

In this first part of the discussion we will talk about the transition out of Yugoslav socialism, and we talk a bit about histories of Yugoslav self-management economically, politically and culturally. We also discuss social or societal property, anti-fascism as a positive transnational political project, and why the nationalist and genocidal war in Yugoslavia was necessary to breaking up certain structures of Yugoslav socialism. 

In part two we will discuss more of Yugoslavia's role within the nonaligned movement, some of its interesting legacies of design, development and construction. And we think about Yugoslavia and racialization, including Yugoslavia and the various Post-Yugoslav states within a context of whiteness and what it means to be European. 

We were able to hit our goal in March both for postage for our incarcerated reading group, and also for patreon. We'll be picking a new book soon for the book club. Our monthly goal for patreon is to add 40 patrons this month again, to keep up with non renewals and help us continue to sustain our work here. So kick in $1 a month or whatever you can spare at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism and join the wonderful folks who make this show possible and you'll also get a notification when our study group starts back up later this month where we will be studying Frantz Fanon's Wretch of the Earth.

In this episode we interview Brooke Terpstra and James Carlin, members of Oakland Abolition and Solidarity. Oakland Abolition and Solidarity supports prisoners' efforts to organize for their own self-defense against inhumane treatment. They function as a liaison, building bridges between inside and outside to support prisoners organizing their local chapters. They advocate the abolition of incarceration, white supremacy, and capitalism.

We speak with Brooke and Carlin about a recent announcement made by California Governor Gavin Newsom, that claims that he will transform San Quentin prison into a Norwegian style prison. This claims has been widely disseminated within mainstream media, alongside visions of Newsom as some transformational prison reformer. Ultimately this is a form of carceral propaganda that serves a similar function of other forms of copaganda that we see all the times with relation to policing. 

Brooke and Carlin talk about some of the realities of San Quentin, its role in our imagination of prisons in the US which unsurprisingly out of step with the reality on the ground inside. We also talk about these concepts of "the Norway Model," or "Norwegian prisons," or "Scandinavian prisons," and how these concepts function in our society. Discussing the propaganda purpose they serve, which is more significant than the actual reality of these types of projects. There's also some discussion of efforts, which happen across the country, to develop a small set of programs inside individual prisons that can serve as smokescreens for the prison system as a whole. To have an individual prison capable of hosting tours, and producing 5 o'clock news segments of prisoners doing organic gardening, taking yoga classes, or training emotional support dogs as part of an effort to mystify the level of violence that is the every day reality of all prisoners locked up.

We also talk a little bit broadly about why the idea of Norwegian prisons has currency in the US, who this appeals to, and discuss possible motivations for politicians deploying this language and image through the media.  We close with a brief discussion of whether California actually represents a model for decarceration with its declines in prison population over the last 15 years or so. 

Most of this conversation is dedicated to debunking certain ideas and mythologies, but the work of groups like Oakland Abolition and Solidarity is extremely important. Here is a link to their website and also a link where you can donate to support their work. 

And for us we're really close to hitting our monthly goal on patreon, we only need 4 more new patrons at the time of this show. So kick in $1 a month or whatever you can spare at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism and join the wonderful folks who make this show possible. 

Other links:

Journalism For Liberation and Combat (featuring Brooke Terpstra and many other organizers and media workers)

Our previous episode with Brooke from 2019

 

This episode is about the Campaign to Free the Pendleton 2. In this discussion Too Black from the Defense Committee to Free the Pendleton 2 and from Black Myths Podcast returns to MAKC. He is joined by Rodney "Big R" Jones and TheKingTrill.

Big R, who was incarcerated in Indiana State Penitentiary in 1985 along with the Pendleton 2 talks about the events that led to the egregious political repression of John "Balagoon" Cole and Christopher "Naeem" Trotter.

Each of our guests share details of the case and the campaign. In discussing the campaign we get into some basics of organizing, and building an organization or coalition around a campaign that has a fighting chance in the midwest. Also a discussion about how we politicize issues and activate people into action and struggle around an issue, rather than resting at the level of sympathy and caring. Beyond that there's an important discussion around building connection inside and out, and on the ethic of care, and defense and preservation that animates the Pendleton 2, which is not unique to them at all, but is absolutely noteworthy and admirable.

Two quick plugs for us, we are sending copies of Decolonial Marxism by Walter Rodney into our incarcerated reading group this month. Support here.

Also we do have a push this month to add 40 patrons, we need 11 more new patrons to hit that goal, so if you appreciate the work we do bringing you these conversations on a weekly basis, your financial support is what really makes that possible. Join up with the other amazing folks who make this show possible for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

We're going to include a bunch more links about this struggle, ways to get involved, ways to learn more and do political education around it for yourself and for others, and stay tuned towards the end of the episode there's more discussion on what the campaign needs and how you can plug in and support directly.

Content Notice: This episode does contain discussions of anti-Black violence & brutality, but they are critical to understanding the campaign and supporting the freedom of the Pendleton 2.

Links:

Idocwatch.org

Trailer for the film, The Pendleton 2: They Stood Up Directed by TheKingTrill, Produced/Edited by Too Black, featuring Big R

LinkTree for ways to learn/support the Pendleton 2

TheKingTrill's Youtube Channel

Email for the Campaign To Free The Pendleton 2 is thependleton2 at gmail dot com

 

In this episode we have a roundtable discussion grounded around the book The Mohawk Warrior Society: A Handbook on Sovereignty and Survival. For this discussion we have all four of the editors of this book, Philippe Blouin, Matt Peterson, Malek Rasamny and Kahentinetha Rotsikarewake. In addition Karennatha and Kawenaa, two other members of Kanien'keha:ka Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) joined the conversation.

The book we discuss does a lot of things. It presents the works of Louis Karoniaktajeh Hall, it discusses what the Mohawk Warrior Society is, and Louis Hall's influence and participation and activation of that movement as an autonomous political force. It also discusses some of the history of their vibrant and at times quite successful struggles against colonialism, but also against forces of assimilation, annihilation, and appropriation. The book also provides a number of resources to help understand the philosophy embedded in Mohawk language and thought, in which the Mohawk Warrior Society is grounded. This is a sovereign tradition of anticolonial resistance to genocide that crosses the imposed colonial borders of the US and Canada, and still exists in defiance of setter law and ways of knowing. As is discussed in the show, it is also potentially a guide or an offering. The Mohawk Warrior Society has out of necessity often been a somewhat secretive formation, this book and conversation offer a glimpse into their world view, and it's incumbent upon us to listen in and take note.

This virtual roundtable features six guests. Due to time constraints there is just a lot that we weren't able to get to in this conversation and so we really encourage folks to pick up the book and read it. We'll include links in the show notes.

The book's editors and our guests are:

Kahentinetha Rotiskarewake is a Kanien'kehá:ka from the Bear Clan in Kahnawà:ke. Initially working in the fashion industry, Kahentinetha went on to play a key role as speaker and writer in the Indigenous resistance, a role which she has fulfilled consistently for the last six decades. During this time, she witnessed and took part in numerous struggles, including the blockade of the Akwesasne border crossing in 1968. She has published several books, including Mohawk Warrior Three: The Trial of Lasagna, Noriega & 20–20 (Owera Books, 1994), and has been in charge of running the Mohawk Nation News service since the Oka Crisis in 1990. She now cares for her twenty children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Kahentinetha means she who is always at the forefront.

Philippe Blouin writes, translates and studies political anthropology and philosophy in Tionitiohtià:kon (Montréal). His current PhD research at McGill University seeks to understand and share the teachings of the Teiohá:te (Two Row Wampum) to build decolonial alliances. His work has been published in Liaisons, Stasis and PoLAR. He also wrote an afterword to George Sorel's Reflections on Violence.

Matt Peterson is an organizer at Woodbine, an experimental space in New York City. He is the co-director of The Native and the Refugee, multimedia documentary project on American Indian reservations and Palestinian refugee camps.

Malek Rasamny co-directed the research project The Native and the Refugee and the feature film Spaces of Exception. He is currently a doctoral candidate in the department of Social Anthropology and Ethnology at the Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris.

And as I said Karennatha and Kawenaa who are two other members of Kanien'keha:ka Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) joined the conversation as well. It was an honor to host them.

And if you appreciate conversations like this, we are on a push for the month of March to add 40 patrons, we're about half way there, and we have just less than half of the month remaining so kick in $1 a month and join the wonderful people who make this show possible and become a patron of the show. You can do that at https://www.patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Other links:

Support the MAKC/Prisons Kill book club

Buy the book from Massive Bookshop

Buy the book from PM Press

Conversation at Concordia referenced in the episode.

 

In this episode Dylan Rodríguez returns to the podcast. 

Dylan Rodríguez is a teacher, scholar, organizer and collaborator who has maintained a day job as a Professor at the University of California-Riverside since 2001. His lifework focuses on liberationist, anticolonial, and abolitionist confrontations with the antiblack, colonial, and white supremacist violences that permeate the ongoing Civilization project. He was elected to serve as President of the American Studies Association in 2020-2021, and in 2020 was named to the inaugural class of Freedom Scholars. Since 2021, he has served as Co-Director of the Center for Ideas and Society.

Since the late-1990s, Dylan has participated as a founding member of organizations like Critical Resistance, Abolition Collective, Critical Ethnic Studies Association, Cops Off Campus, Scholars for Social Justice, and the UCR Department of Black Study, among others.

He is the author of three books, most recently White Reconstruction: Domestic Warfare and the Logics of Genocide (Fordham University Press, 2021), which won the 2022 Frantz Fanon Book Award from the Caribbean Philosophical Association.

In January of 2021 we published an episode with Rodríguez on his most recent book White Reconstruction: Domestic Warfare and the Logics of Genocide. In that conversation along with many of the other themes and topics from that book, Rodriguez began to frame out some thoughts with us on counterinsurgency. This past fall on Black Agenda Report, Dylan published an interview with Roberto Sirvent entitled "Insurgency and Counterinsurgency." 

In this episode we pick up that conversation, talking about counterinsurgency as a totality, as a curriculum, and as epistemic. We get into various elements of what that means to Rodriguez, and about the composition of the counterinsurgent bloc. We also talk about how we recognize it, resist it and embrace beautiful revolutionary wildness.

For this month our book for incarcerated readers is Walter Rodney's Decolonial Marxism. A big thank you to Verso Books for donating the copies. We do need to raise some money for shipping for those and there's a link in the show notes where you can pitch in to that effort over at Massive Bookshop.

We also have a big goal for this month, we're hoping to add 40 patrons for the show. Despite meeting our goal in February, we actually had more non-renewals than new patrons for the month. So we are hoping we can make up for that in March. Our show is totally supported by listeners like you, we don't sell ads and we don't run on any grants. So if you appreciate our work and get something out of it, then become a patron of the show for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Links: 

More of Dylan's books, edited collections, and writings (in collections) can be found at Massive Bookshop.

Dylan Rodríguez can be reached on Twitter (@dylanrodriguez), Instagram (dylanrodriguez73), and Facebook.

 

In this episode we are thrilled to welcome Dr. Gerald Horne to the podcast. 

Dr. Horne holds the Moores Professorship of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. His research has addressed issues of racism in a variety of relations involving labor, politics, civil rights, international relations and war. He has also written extensively about the film industry. Dr. Horne received his Ph.D. in history from Columbia University and his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and his B.A. from Princeton University. 

The author of over 30 books, just a few of Dr. Horne's most notable titles include The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism, Fire This Time, Paul Robeson: The Artist as Revolutionary, Confronting Black Jacobins, Race Woman: The Lives of Shirley Graham Du Bois, Race to Revolution, Black and Red: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Afro American Response to the Cold War, and White Supremacy Confronted. 

In this particular discussion we focus on Dr. Horne's recent book The Counter-Revolution of 1836: Texas slavery & Jim Crow and the Roots of US Fascism. Given that it is over a 600 page book, and our interview was just about an hour long we did not get into many of the threads in that fascinating text. The book examines the specific set of relations and contradictions that led settler separatists to create the Republic of Texas, as well as those that led to the return of Texas to the Union, Texas's role in the confederacy and the relationship of Texas settlers to slavery. It also examines the completely genocidal position Texas settlers held towards indigenous populations, and their relationship to Mexico which abolished slavery all the way back in 1829, exacerbating some of these contradictions among their slaveowning settler population in the northern part of Mexico that we now know as Texas. The book also extends beyond the Civil War period to look at the development of Jim Crow in Texas after Reconstruction. We strongly recommend people pick it up if they're interested in learning more about the forging of some of the most fascistic tendencies in US History.

We also talk to Dr. Horne about some of the critiques of his book The Counter-Revolution of 1776 and about the right wing assault against the teaching of US history in this country.

This is our sixth episode we've published in this short month of February, and a lot of hours of reading, developing questions, interviewing, and editing have gone into that. The best way to support our ability to continue to bring you this content along with the ongoing study groups that we hold is to become a patron of the show. You can do that for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. And if you already support the show, or if you're not able to support financially, retweeting, reposting, sharing, and liking episodes on social media does help to connect the episodes to more listeners.

Now here is our conversation with Dr. Horne on US History and counter-revolution.

In this conversation we interview Alejandro Villalpando. 

 

Alejandro Villalpando is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pan-African Studies and the Latin American Studies Program at Cal State LA. He earned his Ph.D. in Critical Ethnic Studies from UC Riverside, and an M.A. from Latin American Studies at Cal State LA. His work lies at the intersection of Black, Central American, and Ethnic Studies. His co-authored chapter entitled "The Racialization of Central Americans in the United States," can be found in the edited volume Precarity and Belonging (Rutgers University Press, 2021). He was also a co-founder, co-organizer, and co-facilitator for a year-long political education project entitled the Abolition Open School. Villalpando is also indelibly shaped and inspired to be part of and contribute to the crafting of a world rooted in justice, equity and dignity for all by his young child and partner who remain the bedrocks of his existence.

This discussion is primarily about organizing around the issue of police violence in Los Angeles, specifically south of Interstate 10 where Alejandro is born and raised and continues to live and organize. Villalpando shares a bit about his own experiences growing up in Los Angeles around police violence and around the organized abandonment and criminalization of his community by the state. He also discusses organized violence from a transnational perspective that attends to everything from imperialist wars and CIA counterinsurgency wars in Central America to both interpersonal violence and state violence in the Los Angeles area. Pushing back against these forces through political education, mobilization, and grassroots organizing, Alejandro speaks of the abolitionist work he and his partner engage in, and in the work they do with the Coalition for Community Control Over the Police and with many families who have had their loved ones taken by the state. Along the way Villalpando talks about a lot of the contradictions that come up when working to do abolitionist work in the real world with real people. And he talks about balancing some of the more practical day to day work of organizing around the vexed positions of responding to state violence, with the necessary work of world building and offering up the more expansive horizon of abolition.

Alejandro and his partner are co-convening Heal Together's Anti-Carceral Care Collective which is a space for anyone who needs a grief processing space that's anti-carceral.

We just sent off our latest book to our incarcerated reading group. We want to thank Pluto Press for donating copies of Josh Myers Of Black Study. We also want to thank Massive Bookshop for kicking in for postage, and also the folks who donated some funds for postage to make that happen. And finally we want to thank our partners over at Prisons Kill.

Lastly, there's 5 days left in the month of February, we only need 2 more patrons to hit our goal for the month of adding 28 patrons to the show. So if you want to support the show, kick in $1 a month or more be a part of the amazing community of folks that make episodes like this possible on a weekly basis at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism.

Other links:

Steven Osuna's episode (mentioned in this discussion)

Jury Nullification Toolkit (also discussed in the episode)

Villalpando social media links:

IG: @CentAmStudies IG 

IG: @SouthCentralCat911

Twitter: @CSULA_LAS

This is the lightly edited audio from a recent livestream episode we hosted with Nora Barrows-Friedman.

Nora Barrows-Friedman is a staff writer and associate editor at The Electronic Intifada, and is the author of In Our Power: US Students Organize for Justice in Palestine (Just World Books, 2014). She hosts the Electronic Intifada (EI) Livestreams that we all watch on Thursdays at noon eastern time. 

In this discussion, we talk about some of Nora's background as a journalist, her work covering student organizing around Palestine, and her recent piece, "Israel abducted starving children at Gaza "aid" sites, then tortured them." 

Nora also shares some of EI's journalistic methodology covering a war that is so highly propagandized. We also get into some of the differences between "Israeli" media and US corporate media in terms of how they cover the acts of the Israeli military and government and the genocide and war crimes that have taken place in Palestine. And we talk about how merely comparing reporting from the two contexts tears their atrocity propaganda narratives to shreds.

As many public officials, media personalities, and governments, who have facilitated and supported the genocide in Gaza shift their tone in recent days, we talk about what we think about this phenomenon. And we discuss concepts of accountability and justice as they relate to this horrific phase in human history.

If you appreciate the work that we do, until August 29th we are offering 30% off the first month of a monthly subscription or 30% off the first year if you sign up for a yearly subscription at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. This discount is available for all tiers starting with $5 a month, use discount code: 06E4A.

We hear from families in Gaza that prices have gone down a bit as some food has reached the markets in the last couple of days. There is a new tool called Lifeline4Gaza.com that some mutual aid organizers have put together that I wanted to share with folks as well. It allows people to find peer-to-peer authenticated campaigns from Gaza that have not received necessary support. At the top of the page will be campaigns who have received the least over the last 5 days. In a time where many families are in desperate need and where there is food available or purchase, a few dollars - and you sharing these campaigns - can make a critical difference for families in need.

In this episode, Joy James returns to the podcast and is joined by K. Kim Holder. 

Holder was a member of the Harlem Chapter of the Black Panther Party and his dissertation The Black Panther Party 1966-1972: a curriculum tool for Afrikan-American studies was the second dissertation written by a veteran of the Black Panther Party. It is credited with helping to usher in a new wave of academic interest in the party. He also contributed some reflections to Kuwasi Balagoon's A Soldier's Story Revolutionary Writings by a A New African Anarchist. 

Joy James is the Ebenezer Fitch Professor of the Humanities at Williams College. Whether as an author or editor, her books include Transcending the Talented Tenth: Black Leaders and American Intellectuals, Shadowboxing, Imprisoned Intellectuals, The New Abolitionists, Resisting State Violence, the Angela Y. Davis Reader and others. The book that occasions this conversation is her latest work In Pursuit of Revolutionary Love: Precarity, Power, Communities. It has a foreward from Da'Shaun Harrison, an afterword by Mumia Abu-Jamal. And features original articles, co-authored essays with Kim Holder, and interviews and discussions transcribed from various podcasts including Groundings, The Black Myths Podcast, our own interview with her from the summer of 2020 and several others.

In this discussion we talk to Dr. Holder about the pieces that he and Dr. James co-author in the book and about his experiences with the Black Panther Party in Harlem. We also discuss a number of the interventions and topics covered within this book, especially the captive maternal and the role of spiritual grounding and community in relation to struggle. The book is officially out now in the UK and comes out in March in the states, you can order a copy from Divided Publishing's website or pre-order it through other online booksellers. 

We want to thank Joy James and K. Kim Holder for joining us for this conversation. Also just want to note that Joy James is currently releasing weekly episodes along with Kalonji Changa and Jared Ball over on Black Power Media. That show, which is referenced in the discussion is called Guerrilla Intellectual University. Also because certain recent developing events are referenced in the discussion, this episode was recorded on January 22, 2023.

And of course if you appreciate the work that we do here bringing you these conversations on a weekly basis, the best way to help us sustain this work is to become a patron of the show. Our work is totally supported by our listeners we don't sell any advertisements or engage in any paid promotions for the podcast so become a patron for as little as $1 a month and join the amazing people who make this show possible at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

This is the 4th and final installment in our series of conversations with Zoharah Simmons, Michael Simmons, and their biographer Dan Berger. The conversations are inspired by Dan's new book Stayed on Freedom: The Long History of Black Power Through One Family's Journey, which covers the lives and struggles of Zoharah and Michael in SNCC and in a variety of organizations thereafter.

In this part of the discussion, we talk about the book as a love story. Not primarily of romantic love, but of the love that animates long term struggle. We also discuss Zoharah's efforts organizing with the National Black Independent Political Party, Michael's organizing work in Philadelphia, his efforts with the Philadelphia Workers Organizing Committee and work to develop a new national communist party. We also ask them to touch on their internationalist organizing efforts in the 1980's, 90's and beyond.

We really want to express our deep gratitude to Michael, Zoharah and Dan who each spent roughly six hours recording with us. As we have said throughout the series there are many aspects of the book, that even despite this lengthy treatment from us, we just couldn't get to, some of them beautiful, some of them very painful, but all of them full of lessons, information, and the making of history. Stayed On Freedom is out now and we hope folks will pick it up and read it for themselves.

One last reminder that we have a new study group that starts next week. We'll be reading Mao's On Practice and On Contradiction. We'll include a link to that in the show notes. And if you like what we do, please become a patron of the show, our show is 100% supported by our listeners through patreon. So join up for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism.

Links:

Purchase Stayed On Freedom

Support our book club for incarcerated readers.

Previous Installments in this series:

Part 1 

Part 2 

Part 3

 

 

This is the third installment of our conversation with Zoharah and Michael Simmons, and their biographer Dan Berger, as we discuss their lives in relation to Dan's new book Stayed on Freedom: The Long History of Black Power Through One Family's Journey.  

We discuss Michael and Zoharah's organizing against the Vietnam War, especially the issue of draft resistance.  Along those lines, we talk a bit about Michael's time locked up as a pre-trial detainee at the Atlanta Prison Farm, during the period where it served as a jail for Atlanta on the same location where Cop City has been proposed. Zoharah shares struggles against patriarchy and male chauvinism within movement spaces, specifically through her experiences at SNCC and the Nation of Islam. And she discusses her own efforts to combat it as a SNCC Program Director in Laurel, Mississippi. 

After Michael's incarceration for his resistance to the draft, both Michael and Zoharah talk about their years struggling within the American Friends Service Committee both in terms of their jobs there, but also the organizing that they launched beyond the scope of their duties, their struggles to unionize the AFSC, and dealing with the complicated relationship that a predominantly white Quaker organization had to folks like Michael, Zoharah and others who were coming out of the Black Liberation struggle with deep organizing commitments, experiences, and international solidarity. In particular Zoharah's discussion touches on her participation in work uncovering government surveillance, repression, and counterinsurgency. Michael discusses organizing predominantly Black workers and other workers of color while also building growing connections and mobilizing solidarity with movements in Africa and South America.

We want to thank Pluto Press again for donating 36 copies of the book Of Black Study by Joshua Myers. You can support shipping costs to send those books inside here. 

And we have set a goal of adding 28 new patrons to the show this month to keep up with non-renewals and maintain our support base for the show. If you like what we do and want to join the amazing listeners who sustain this project, you can do so by contributing as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. Also we do have a 3 week study group coming on Mao's lectures On Practice and On Contradiction. If you want to find out more about that we'll include a link to that in the show notes as well.

Even though this series represents one of our most sustained engagements with a subject, we also assure you that there are many wonderful stories and complicated struggle and issues covered in Stayed On Freedom that we were not able to get to in our discussion with Dan, Michael & Zoharah. We encourage folks to pick up the book if they haven't already. 

Additional Links:

SNCC/Atlanta Project/Anti-Draft Protests 

The Draft Program / Atlanta's Black Paper

 

 

 

 

This is the second episode in our series on Dan Berger's new book Stayed on Freedom: The Long History of Black Power Through One Family's Journey. 

We welcome back Dan Berger, and Michael and Zoharah Simmons for this discussion.

Make sure you check out part one if you missed it. In part 1 Zoharah and Michael Simmons share stories from their childhoods and their early politicization, as well as their first experiences organizing with SNCC in Mississippi and Arkansas. That conversation will enrich your understanding of part 2, but this conversation also works as a standalone discussion. In this episode the focus is on the organizing work that Zoharah and Michael were a part of, how SNCC approached community organizing in Mississippi, Arkansas and then with the Atlanta Project. Building throughout this episode are the influences and experiences that organically developed into what we know as Black Power. We discuss the Black Consciousness Paper also called the Black Power statement by some, which was developed by the Atlanta Project in Vine City, in which Zoharah and Michael organized. Along the way there are very interesting lessons, experiences, and ideas for organizers and an important discussion of what the actual interventions and implications of Black Power were within SNCC and the broader Black Liberation struggle. 

Make sure to pick up a copy of Stayed On Freedom by Dan Berger for more depth on many of the stories touched on here in discussion with Dan, Michael and Zoharah.

It is a new month, we are fortunate that we hit our goal for 31 new patrons in January on the last day of the month. This month we will set a goal of 28 new patrons. You can become one of them and support our work here for as little as $1 per month. You can join all of our amazing patrons for as little as $1 per month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Our January selection of our book club with Prisons Kill and Massive Bookshop was Joshua Myers book Of Black Study. We want to thank Pluto Press for generously donated 36 copies for those incarcerated readers. We do need to raise a little money for postage for that. You can support that here.

Links:

Our first conversation in this series with Dan Berger, Zoharah Simmons and Michael Simmons

Our (previous) conversation with SNCC organizers Jennifer Lawson and Charles Cobb Jr

Our (previous) conversation with SNCC organizers Jennifer Lawson and Dorothy Zellner

Our previous episodes with Dan Berger 

"The Black Consciousness Paper"

The Atlanta Project (SNCC Digital Gateway)

 

This conversation is centered on Dan Berger's new book Stayed on Freedom: The Long History of Black Power Through One Family's Journey. 

Stayed On Freedom brings into focus two unheralded Black Power activists who dedicated their lives to the fight for freedom.  

Zoharah Simmons and Michael Simmons fell in love while organizing tenants and workers in the South for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee or SNCC at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. Their commitment to each other and to social change took them on a decades-long journey that traversed first the country and then the world. In centering their lives, historian Dan Berger shows how Black Power united the local and the global across organizations and generations.  

We're really excited that for our discussion of the book we get to do something a bit different than we usually do, thanks to Zoharah and Michael Simmons who join us along with Dan Berger to offer some oral history of their decades of struggle. 

In this part of our conversation, we talk about their childhoods, their early politicization, defying their families in order to get directly involved in perhaps the most dangerous work in the Civil Rights Movement and we begin to talk about the Black communities they joined in the Deep South to be a part of those transformative struggles against Jim Crow. 

There will be at least 2 more episodes talking with Zoharah and Michael about their long-term commitment to what Berger calls "The Long History of Black Power." And we are so grateful to Dan, Michael and Zoharah for taking so much time to bring you these oral histories. Stayed on Freedom is on sale now and you can pick it up from our friends at Massive Bookshop and at bookstores everywhere. 

As a note we have done some previous oral histories with SNCC veterans and we will include those in the show notes as well, as they provide more context for one of the most important radical struggles in the history of this country.

It's almost the end of the month and we are behind our own goal for patrons which we set monthly to keep up with non renewals and attempt to build towards the greater sustainability of the labor we put into this podcast. We need 12 more patrons to hit that goal this month. So if you've been thinking about it, now is a great time to kick in and support the podcast at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Links:

Purchase Stayed on Freedom from Massive Bookshop

Our (previous) conversation with SNCC organizers Jennifer Lawson and Charles Cobb Jr

Our (previous) conversation with SNCC organizers Jennifer Lawson and Dorothy Zellner

Our previous episodes with Dan Berger 

This is the second half of our conversation with Joshua Myers on his latest book Of Black Study. In part one we covered Myers' goals for the project and the selection of thinkers he includes. We also reviewed in some detail his chapters on W.E.B. Du Bois and Sylvia Wynter, as well as his inclusion of June Jordan and Toni Cade Bambara.

In this part of the discussion we focus on the interventions of Jacob Carruthers and Cedric Robinson, who Myers often places in dialogue with one another. We talk about Carruthers work toward an African historiography, and around language and African Deep Thought, going into the terms mdw ntr and whm msw and talking a bit about their meaning and importance and conceptual relevance to the Black Radical Tradition and revolutionary possibility. 

Because we have two other discussions with Myers on Cedric Robinson, both of which go more in-depth on Black Marxism and Robinson's interventions there, we focused this time on Myers work around Terms of Order and An Anthropology of Marxism. Myers closes with a reflection on the inability of the western university to accommodate radical thought in general, and Black radical thought in particular, except as a means to discipline and control it, leaving open questions of where Black Study must go from here. 

We again want to thank Pluto Press for donating copies for our reading group of incarcerated folks which we support along with Massive Bookshop and Prisons Kill. This book comes out Friday on Pluto Press, so make sure to pre-order your copy or pick it up from your favorite radical bookstore. 

Shout-out to all the folks who are patrons of our show and support the work we do bringing you conversations like this. You can join them and become a patron of the show for as little as $1 a month or $10.80 per year at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism 

The discussion with Harold Cruse referenced in the episode.

Our first interview with Joshua Myers (on Cedric Robinson)

Our second interview with Joshua Myers (on his biography of Cedric Robinson)

Our interviews with authors and editors of the Black Critique series 

 

 

This is part one of a two part conversation with Joshua Myers on his latest book Of Black Study. 

In Of Black Study Joshua Myers examines the work of W.E.B. Du Bois, Sylvia Wynter, Jacob Carruthers and Cedric Robinson as well as June Jordan and Toni Cade Bambara, and what each contributed to Black Studies approaches to knowledge production within and beyond Western structures of knowledge. 

In this part of our two conversation on this book, Professor Myers talks about the selection of the six thinkers he centers the book around, and the type of project he is engaged in with the text. We also spend about an hour talking about two of the books chapters, the one centered around the interventions of W.E.B. Du Bois and Sylvia Wynter, as well as looking at each of their relationships to Marxist thought and analytical approaches, and their relationships to science, the humanities and academic disciplinary traditions. As well as what each of them finds among the Black masses and how what they finds there influences their work.

Of Black Study is a new release from the Black Critique series on Pluto Press. This is our third conversation with Joshua Myers, both of our previous two have been discussions centered around Cedric Robinson. We have also done a number of discussions with authors and editors of the Black Critique series over the years, including discussions with Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin, Bedour Alagraa, David Austin, and Michael Sawyer (links below).

We strongly recommend this book, for anyone interested in Black Study and/or the critical interventions of the thinkers the book focuses on. It is an indispensable resource. it officially comes out later this week, but you can pre-order your copy now through Pluto Press or through our comrades over at Massive Bookshop. If you pre-order from Massive, 20% of the proceeds go to fund the abolitionist organization Project NIA. We've received word that Pluto Press will also be donating copies of this book to all the participants in the incarcerated study group that we support in partnership with Massive Bookshop and Prisons Kill. So we want to send a big shout-out to Pluto Press and Joshua Myers for that as well. 

Part two - which focuses primarily on Myers' chapters on Jacob Carruthers and Cedric Robinson - will come out in the next couple of days. 

As always if you like what we do, and want to support our ability to do it, you can become a patron of the show for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. We have a goal of adding 31 patrons this month and currently we're at 13, so we're still working towards that goal. 

Our first interview with Joshua Myers (on Cedric Robinson)

Our second interview with Joshua Myers (on his biography of Cedric Robinson)

Greg Thomas's interview of Sylvia Wynter from Proud Flesh 

From Cooperation to Black Operation (Transversal Texts conversation with Harney & Moten) 

Bedour Alagraa's Interview with Sylvia Wynter "What Will Be The Cure?" 

Our interviews with authors and editors of the Black Critique series 

Beyond Prisons interviews with Dr. Anthony Monteiro (first interview, second interview)

 

 

In this episode we welcome J. Moufawad-Paul back to the podcast. Previously we had him along with Alyson Escalante and Devin Zane Shaw to talk about On Necrocapitalism a collectively authored book they all worked on together along with some other authors.

For today's episode we are focused on J. Moufawad-Paul's latest book Politics In Command: A Taxonomy of Economism. This book seeks to understand what economism is, how it is deployed through socialist analyses, and the ways in which various categories (economy, politics, class, practice, revolution, etc) are mobilized and classified according to its imaginary. 

Today we talk about a range of topics related to this book, including what economism is, ways it manifests, and related issues like workerism, the concept of the labor aristocracy, and arguments around so-called identity politics. We also get into a little discussion around Marx's model of Capital, what Samir Amin called "actually existing capitalism" vs "imaginary capitalism," and Cedric Robinson's idea of racial capitalism. And relatedly we talk about why class is not an identity, but rather as Moufawad-Paul puts it "class comes cloaked in the messiness of social relations."

Along the way JMP debunks some conspiratorial understandings of how capitalism works and how the ruling class reproduces itself. And we get into discussion of what Moufawad-Paul argues is the role of the vanguard party as an interventionist party that helps the working class understand itself as a combative class struggling for the overthrow of capitalism, rather than just fighting for immediate material gains in order to defend against the ravages of austerity.

As we mention in the show, this book is available through Foreign Languages Press, we will include a link to that in the show notes, as well as to several of Moufawad-Paul's other books, writings and interventions.

Happy New Year to those of you who live under a Gregorian calendar. We have a goal for January of adding 31 patrons to keep up with attrition and hopefully continue to build a little bit as well. Currently we are 23 patrons away from that goal. So it's a great time to sign up and support the show if you don't already. You can do that for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Politics In Command: A Taxonomy of Economism by JMP

JMP's Critique of Maoist Reason 

J. Moufawad-Paul's piece on sovereignty that we reference in the episode 

J. Moufawad-Paul's appearances on Revolutionary Left Radio 

Some of J. Moufawad-Paul's books from Kersplebedeb 

JMP's blog 

This is an episode we recorded about a month and a half ago for our 5th anniversary. Due to all the other stuff we were recording at the time we just held on to this one for the year end. 

In this episode we grapple with a bunch of questions sent to us by patrons of the show. We are not experts, and this conversation, like all of ours is not without its own limitations and shortcomings. We hope that our answers will be taken not from a position of authority but as an understanding of a bit of where we are on the specific questions posed to us by our listeners, and a bit of where we've come from, and our desires for the future.

Since this episode was released we have crossed the one million downloads threshold we mention in the episode, which is amazing. We just want to thank everyone, who listens to the show, who shares the show on social media and most of all our patrons who make the show possible and sustainable. Because we recorded this over a month ago, a few of the references are bit dated and there are certain developments since that we would've referenced if we'd recorded later. China Miéville's discussion on the Marxist understanding of the plasticity of humanity is a concept that we would've weaved in, if we'd had this conversation after that one. 

Also there's a brief mention of Defend the Atlanta Forest and the Save UC Townhomes struggles in this episode. We would be remiss if we didn't mention that Defend ATL Forest has experienced significant state repression lately, including at least half a dozen land defenders being charged with trumped up terrorism charges. We'll include a link where you can support them in the show notes. 

Also the movement to Save the UC Townhomes is still ongoing. We'll include links to continue to follow their work and hopefully support it as well in the show notes. 

Thanks to donations from Haymarket Books, China Miéville, and some additional donations for postage from our listeners as well as from Massive Bookshop, we were able to send 40 copies of A Spectre Haunting into our incarcerated reading group in partnership with Prisons Kill. We'll have a new book coming in January so be on the look out for that. 

And if you want to continue to support our work as always you can do it at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Also we do have a discord now, so we ended up editing out a discussion of that, but if anyone wants a link to the discord, hit us up on patreon, twitter, or IG and we can give you a link to that. We talk about suggestions for guests or show ideas and there is a channel in the discord where people can make those, or they can contact us on social media to make suggestions as well. 

Links:

The Atlanta Solidarity Fund (For Anti-Repression/Legal support of the ATL Forest Defenders) / Defend The Atlanta Forest website

Save The UC Townhomes Website

 

 

This episode is part 2 of Josh's conversation with Alex Charnley, Alana Lentin, and Michael Richmond. This conversation is extremely wide ranging, but focuses around topics of anti-racism, identity politics, neoliberalism, class politics, and politics of solidarity.

In this part of the conversation Alex, Alana, and Michael get a little deeper into discussions of anti-semitism, of historical fracturing and composition of social movements and class struggles, and of so-called anti-identity politics sentiment and anti-trans discourses as well. 

For full bios and introductions of the guests check out part 1. But just to remind folks this conversation centers primarily around Michael and Alex's book Fractured: Race, Class, Gender and the Hatred of Identity Politics and Alana Lentin's latest book Why Race Still Matters. But beyond that Alana discusses themes she's taken up in her  writing on racism and anti-racism over the past couple of decades, and Alex and Michael bring in some important perspective from their own involvements in social movements as well. 

Please continue to support our partnership with Prisons Kill and Massive Bookshop which sends books into prisoners every month. We will include another link to that in the show notes as well.

This is our 55th episode of the year. And if you appreciate our work and find it valuable for hopefully putting your politics into action or just for your own education, we are 100% supported by our listeners who are not millionaires or billionaires, but regular workers and students and activists and organizers like you. We are able to bring you episodes every week because of the financial support of folks just like you. So if you want to join the wonderful folks who make this show possible you can become a patron for as little as $1 a month or make a yearly contribution of $10.80 at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism.

Now here is part 2 of our conversation with Alana, Alex and Michael.

Links:

Alex Charnley tweets at @steinosteino

Michael Richmond tweets at @Sisyphusa.

The Prisons Kill Book Club

Fractured by Charnley and Richmond

Alana Lentin's books / AlanaLentin.net

We hosted an emergency livestream with Hala Sabbah of the Sameer Project back on July 21st to talk about the absolutely horrific situation in Gaza as a result of the US-funded and supported Israeli enacted genocide. Since conditions have not changed substantially, I wanted to also make sure to get a lightly edited version of that conversation out to our audio podcast feed. Just a reminder that due to our own limitations these days most of our work is on our YouTube page, where we host multiple conversations per week. 

This is our third conversation with Hala Sabbah from the Sameer Project since its founding during this genocide. We have a playlist with all three. 

You can support the Sameer Project via their linktree which we will include in the show description as well

Another conversation we held this week that I will link in the show description is our interview of Nora Barrows-Friedman of the Electronic Intifada, which we just hosted on Monday. 

Please continue to do what you can, wherever you can, to support people in Gaza and to put political pressure on all of those complicit in this genocide to make their position untenable.

Tomorrow, Thursday August 7th at 10 AM EDT we will host a livestream with socialist and Pro-Palestine barrister Franck Magennis. We encourage people to tune into that conversation as well. And on Monday August 11th we'll have a livestream with Abdaljawad Omar once again.

For the month of August if folks contribute at the $5 per month level or hiring we're offering a 30% discount to new patrons for their first month, or if you do a yearly subscription you can get 30% off the entire year. You can do that at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism or if you prefer to make a one-time contribution you can do so via our buymeacofee page: https://buymeacoffee.com/makcapitalism

 

In this episode Alex Charnley, Alana Lentin, and Michael Richmond all join the podcast.

Josh brought all three of these thinkers together for a discussion on anti-racism in the current conjuncture. This conversation took place across three continents and time zones that were as much as 16 hours apart. Due to its length, we've decided to release this episode in two parts, but because of how arbitrary the cut-off point is, we've also decided to release them simultaneously so folks can listen to both without having to wait for us to release part 2.

Teacher and writer, Alana Lentin is a Jewish European woman who is a settler on Gadigal-Wangal land (Sydney, Australia). She's the author of Why Race Still Matters (Polity 2020), The Crises of Multiculturalism: Racism in a neoliberal age with Gavan Titley (Zed, 2011) and Racism and Antiracism in Europe (Pluto, 2004). Her academic and media articles as well as videos, podcasts, and teaching materials are free to be used and available at www.alanalentin.net

Michael Richmond was a co-editor of the Occupied Times and of Base Publication. He has written for publications including OpenDemocracy, New Socialist and Protocols.

Alex Charnley was illustrator and co-editor of the Occupied Times and of Base Publication. 

They each provide broader discussions of their organizing, teaching and publishing backgrounds in the discussion. 

Michael and Alex's book Fractured: Race, Class, Gender and the Hatred of Identity Politics was just recently released on Pluto Press. Through an appraisal of pivotal historical moments in Britain and the US, including Black feminist and anticolonial traditions on both sides of the Atlantic, the authors question the assumptions of the culture war, offering a refreshing and reasoned way to understand how historical class struggles were formed and continue to determine the possibilities for new forms of solidarity in an increasingly dangerous world.

Alana Lentin's latest book Why Race Still Matters is a call to notice not just when and how race still matters but when, how and why it is said not to matter. Lentin argues that society is in urgent need of developing the skills of racial literacy, by jettisoning the idea that race is something and unveiling what race does as a key technology of modern rule, hidden in plain sight.

We want to thank them all for this rich discussion and definitely recommend that people pick up their books and engage with their work. 

Two final notes, please continue to support our partnership with Prisons Kill and Massive Bookshop which sends books into prisoners every month. We will include another link to that in the show notes as well.

This is our 54th episode of the year. We are able to bring you episodes every week because of the financial support of folks just like you. So if you want to join the wonderful folks who make this show possible you can become a patron for as little as $1 a month or make a yearly contribution of $10.80 at https://www.patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism.

 

Links:

Alex Charnley tweets at @steinosteino

Michael Richmond tweets at @Sisyphusa.

The Prisons Kill Book Club

Fractured by Charnley and Richmond

Alana Lentin's books / AlanaLentin.net

In this episode we interview China Miéville. 

China Miéville is the multi-award-winning author of many works of fiction and non-fiction. His fiction includes The City and the City, Embassytown and This Census-Taker. He has won the Hugo, World Fantasy, and Arthur C. Clarke awards. His non-fiction includes the photo-illustrated essay London's Overthrow. He is also the author of October: The Story of the Russian Revolution. He has written for various publications, and is a founding editor of the journal Salvage. He is also a former member of multiple socialist party formations and organizations.

In this conversation China joins the podcast to talk about his latest book, A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto. The book provides an introduction to The Communist Manifesto which provides readers with a guide to understanding the Manifesto and the many specters it has conjured. Through his unique and unorthodox reading, Miéville offers a spirited defense of the enduring relevance of Marx and Engels' ideas.

The book also contains the full text of the Manifesto and multiple prefaces penned by Marx & Engels. 

You can pick the book up directly from Haymarket Books at 40% off currently. We really want to thank Haymarket and China Miéville for donating 40 copies of the book (!!) and also for making a donation to help cover the cost of postage to our incarcerated book club through our partnership with Massive Bookshop and Prisons Kill. We do still need to raise about $150 more dollars to cover the cost of postage to get this book inside, and we'll include a link to contribute to that effort in the show notes. Last month we were able, along with some donations from Massive Bookshop and our patrons to provide 40 copies of Saidiya Hartman's Scenes of Subjection to those incarcerated readers.

As for the show itself, It is December, currently for the month we've had more nonrenewals than we have new patrons, which is not unexpected this time of year as people try to balance holiday expenses. However if you have the capacity to become a patron of the show, you can do so for as little as $1 a month or $10.80 per year, at patreon.com/millennialsarekilingcapitalism. We really want to thank all of the folks who support the show, or have supported it when they've been able to, as it is only through your support that conversations like this are possible. 

Links:

To purchase A Spectre, Haunting (currently 40% off): https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1990-a-spectre-haunting

To donate to the Prisons Kill book club (to help with postage for the donated copies): https://massivebookshop.com/products/prisonskill-book-club-donation

To check out the Salvage journal that Miéville talked about in the episode: https://salvage.zone

To support the show: patreon.com/millennialsarekilingcapitalism

[photos in the collage were taken by Guy Smallman, Callum Ford, and Martin Pope or otherwise found on Palestine Action's social media]

In this episode we interview co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori. Ammori has organized against British complicity in the colonization of Palestine and against British  support for the Israeli colonial apartheid regime in historic Palestine for years now. Palestine Action is an organization born out of that struggle. One that recognizes the need to take direct action approaches. Their core campaign, is the campaign to Shut Elbit Down (#ShutElbitDown). Elbit Systems is Israel's largest privately-owned arms company. It's largest single customer is the Israeli Ministry of Defense. 

In this episode Ammori shares some of her organizing history, her experience exhausting the modes of redress available through lobbying and protest, and the rationale behind Palestine Action's targeting of Elbit Systems. It is noteworthy that while Palestine Action has targeted Elbit in the UK, that there are a number of Elbit Systems facilities in the US, and that in addition to the deplorable and brutal violence that they enact in occupied Palestine, they are also a major contractor for Border Patrol and components of the US-Mexico border wall. 

This is a great conversation about an important ongoing campaign and we hope folks will listen in for ways they can act in solidarity and to consider some of the tactical and strategic considerations Ammori talks through as well. It is noteworthy of course that the British legal system is different from the US legal system, so obviously nothing that's discussed here should be considered legal advice. But the general point that Ammori makes about the difference between the legal and military framework that Palestinians are subjected to in Palestine versus the legal systems within the imperial core is still an important strategic consideration for movements that seek to be in solidarity with people in Palestine. 

Make sure to check out Palestine Action's website and follow them on social media to stay current with their campaign, and their legal cases and to look for ways to support and get involved. All of which we'll discuss further in the episode and include some links in the show notes.

As you all know, it's the last month of 2022, we have a number of things coming this month, we set a goal of adding 31 patrons this month and we've got 24 left to go to hit that goal. You can do either a small monthly or yearly contribution and of course you'll get emails with every episode that comes out, and when Josh or I publish any articles, and when the next round of our study group starts up. If you'd like to support the show, you can do so at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Links:

Palestine Action's website (includes ways to get involved and follow along with their campaigns)

Palestine Action's Twitter

Palestine Action's Instagram

The Commoner Interview referenced in the episode