Explore every episode of the podcast The Response
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Building (and rebuilding) mutual aid groups with Stephanie Rearick | 04 Mar 2025 | 00:38:13 | |
We’re back with the second installment in our Mutual Aid 101 Learning Series. Today, we're sharing the audio from the half of Session 2, and will be joined by Stephanie Rearick, to discuss how to start and build momentum for a new, or (re)newed mutual aid group. She’s a longtime organizer and advocate for cooperative economies, and the founder of the international Humans United for Mutual Aid Networks. We had Stephanie as a guest on the show a couple of years ago and knew she would have an important voice to feature in this series as well. Stephanie starts with a 25-minute presentation before addressing questions submitted by the live audience. Next week on The Response, we’ll feature Julian Rose from the New Economy Coalition and EndState ATL, who focussed on power dynamics and how to work with others during Session 2. Our next live event is tomorrow, Wednesday, March 5th, where we’ll focus on the benefits and limitations of formal structures, financial basics, and fintech for mutual aid, as well as how to understand risk and safety protocols for mutual aid projects. Presenters include: Erika Sato, Attorney of Sustainable Economies Law Center; Elijah Baucom, Founder of Everyday Security & Director of UC-Berkeley Cybersecurity Clinic; and Sarah Philips, a Campaigner at Fight for the Future. Resources:
Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts. The Response is an award-winning podcast series produced by Shareable exploring how communities respond to disaster — from hurricanes to wildfires to reactionary politics and more. Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in reaching new people who may otherwise not hear about this show. | |||
| Mutual aid for survival and resistance with Dean Spade | 25 Feb 2025 | 01:18:16 | |
Last week, we were blown away by the 2,200 people who registered for our new Mutual Aid 101 Series.
We were fortunate to have Dean Spade, organizer, teacher, and the author of "Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During this Crisis (and the Next)” and “Love in a Fucked Up World: How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell, Together” lead the first session.
Dean dropped some serious knowledge for nearly 90 minutes straight. All the while, the chat was on fire while a new learing community was being formed.
The series continues tomorrow, on Wednesday February 26th with Julian Rose from the New Economy Coalition and Endstate ATL and previous guest on The Response, Stephanie Rearick from Human’s United for Mutual Aid Networks. They’ll be focussing on how to build and sustain mutual aid projects while not burning out.
The first phase of this series runs through the end of March with several more trainings scheduled throughout the rest of the year.
There’s also the Mutual Aid 101 Community Canvas, where we’re posting recordings, resources, and session updates.
There are links to everything I just mentioned in the show notes.
Through out this season of The Response, we’ll be sharing a mix of original interviews, dispatches from the front lines of disasters, and excerpts from Mutual Aid 101 (like this one).
Today, we’ll be playing the full recording from Dean’s training. We’ve posted the video, slides, and transcript to Canvas, so you can create an account there to follow along. Resources:
Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts. The Response is an award-winning podcast series produced by Shareable exploring how communities respond to disaster — from hurricanes to wildfires to reactionary politics and more. Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in reaching new people who may otherwise not hear about this show. | |||
| Direct Action for Palestine with Mohamed Shehk | 14 Nov 2023 | 00:36:05 | |
On today’s show we brought on Mohamed Shehk, Campaigns Director for Critical Resistance and member of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center here in the Bay Area. In this conversation we talk about some of the recent actions taking place to support the struggle for Palestinian liberation, including recent actions aimed at stopping military cargo intended for Israel from leaving docks in Oakland and Tacama. We talk about the role of direct action in our movements, the horrific situation in Palestine, and some of the ways you can get involved. This is Robert's last interview with The Response! You can follow him and his work at Upstream. Resources:
Episode credits: Produced, hosted, and edited by Robert Raymond. Co-produced by Tom Llewellyn Theme Music by Cultivate Beats Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts. Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in reaching new people who may otherwise not hear about this show. The Response is published by Shareable.
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| [BONUS CROSS-POST] The Fire These Times: Roundtable on Israel-Palestine | 08 Nov 2023 | 01:22:08 | |
Today, we’re cross posting "A Roundtable on Palestine-Israel" from our friends at The Fire These Times podcast as a bonus episode for listeners of The Response.
The Fire These Times Co-hosts, Joey Ayoub and Daniel Voskoboynik are joined by Dana El Kurd, Orly Noy, and Yair Wallach to think through this moment, process their grief together, and articulate alternative visions for both peoples.
After listening to several inflammatory takes for the past month, this was exactly the conversation that we needed to be a fly on the wall for. We hope you learn or feel something new while listening as well.
Resources: Medical Aid for Palestinians | Adalah | Al-Shabaka | Gisha | Hamleh | Hamoked | The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel | Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre (JLAC) | MIFTAH: The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy | Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) | Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P) | Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) | Women's Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC)
Episode credits: Presented, hosted, and co-produced by Tom Llewellyn Edited by Robert Raymond Theme Music by Cultivate Beats Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts. Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in reaching new people who may otherwise not hear about this show. The Response is published by Shareable. | |||
| Mutual Aid Networks with Stephanie Rearick | 31 Oct 2023 | 00:59:46 | |
After a statement about the war in Palestine, we’re in conversation with Stephanie Rearick, a founder, and Director of the Madison Mutual Aid Network Cooperative and Humans United in Mutual Aid Networks, or HUMANS for short, which is a new type of networked cooperative ‘creating means for everyone to discover and succeed in work they want to do, with the support of their community’.
Stephanie talks about how mutual aid has changed since the pandemic began, how to create networks of Care that can actually support members of our communities long term, the new tech stack that they’re creating to support mutual aid work to scale, and what it means to live a POSHtarity Lifestyle. Resources:
Episode credits: Presented, hosted, and co-produced by Tom Llewellyn Edited by Robert Raymond Theme Music by Cultivate Beats Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts. Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in reaching new people who may otherwise not hear about this show. The Response is published by Shareable.
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| The United Auto Workers Strike with Teddy Ostrow | 16 Oct 2023 | 00:58:05 | |
Summer might be over for us in the Northern Hemisphere — but things are still heating up in the US labor movement. A ground-swell of labor action continues to heave and crack the crust which had been slowly hardening on the surface of the radical fires dormant under neoliberalism. The latest news in the ongoing strike wave comes out of the United Auto Workers Union, where workers at a number of plants have walked out and are engaging in a historic “stand-up” strike — fighting for better wages and better working conditions. To talk about the strike, the labor movement more broadly, and the current state of the class war between workers and capital, we’ve brought on Teddy Ostrow, a labor and economics journalist and host of the podcast Upsurge. In this conversation Teddy talks about what it’s been like out on the UAW picket lines, the revitalization and re-radicalization of the labor movement, where the labor movement in the United States is headed, and much more. Resources: Episode credits:
Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts. Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in reaching new people who may otherwise not hear about this show. The Response is published by Shareable.
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| From Relief to Resilience with Will Heegaard | 19 Sep 2023 | 01:02:34 | |
Anyone who's been in a disaster and experienced the initial government or major nonprofit response may have noticed that there's a lot of waste involved. From the thousands of single-use water bottles and throw-away medical supplies to the constant churning of diesel and gas-powered generators, there’s just really no other option. But what if there was? Would it be adopted? How could these large disaster response institutions even know that things could be done differently? That’s where Footprint Project comes in. Since 2017 they've been proving that it's possible to respond cleaner and build back greener by deploying 200+ kW of mobile solar and 600+ kWh of mobile battery storage on more than 20 disaster response and recovery missions, to provide emergency clean power access to over 28,000 people in some of the hardest hit communities following disasters. Today on the show, we’ve brought on Footprint Project’s Operations Director, Will Heegaard, who shares the genesis stories for how he got involved in disaster response work and the impetus behind launching the organization. He also unpacks the importance of building resilient communities and the role he feels that state agencies should play in disaster relief. And for those listeners who just completed our Emergency Battery Network Co-Lab (or are planning to check out the course recordings and Toolkit that are soon to be on our website), stick around for the full conversation to hear Will’s advice on how to build power in your community. Resources: Episode credits:
Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts. Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in reaching new people who may otherwise not hear about this show. The Response is published by Shareable. | |||
| Disaster Dispatch: The Maui Wildfires with Nicole Huguenin | 29 Aug 2023 | 00:46:00 | |
On today’s show we’re continuing our ongoing Disaster Dispatch series with a deep dive into the Maui wildfires. Earlier this month a series of wind-driven wildfires in Hawaii, predominantly in Maui, led to widespread devastation and destruction, killing at least 115 people and leaving 850 others missing in the town of Lāhainā. These numbers are estimated to actually be much higher as the search to find and identify victims remains painstakingly slow. To tell us more about what happened and what the community response has been, we’ve brought on Nicole Huguenin. Nicole is based in Maui and is the co-lead of Maui Rapid Response, an ahupua’a-based citizen disaster response team that’s part of a much broader community response ecosystem working all across the island to provide relief and mutual aid to residents of Maui. Resources:
Episode credits:
Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts. Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in reaching new people who may otherwise not hear about this show. The Response is published by Shareable. | |||
| Labor Battles and the Beer Industry with Pedro Mancilla | 22 Aug 2023 | 00:50:28 | |
This summer has truly turned out to be a hot labor summer, with a number of high-profile labor actions stretching across industries and across the country, from the streets of Hollywood to the shop floors at UPS — things are heating up. With that said, there is a story that hasn’t hit headlines in the same way as some of these other actions and confrontations. And that’s the story of Anchor Brewery in San Francisco. You might have seen their Anchor Steam beer in the beer aisle before, or heard about their unionization campaign that took place in 2019 after this locally beloved brewery was bought by a giant beer conglomerate, Sapporo. That unionization campaign was successful, but recently, Sapporo abruptly, and controversially, closed Anchor Brewing down. Now, some of the workers at Anchor who don’t want to see this centuries-old institution stripped for parts, want to turn the brewery into a worker-owned cooperative. This is really a sort of David and Goliath story, and to tell it, we’ve brought on Pedro Mancilla, who led the Anchor Brewery tour program, is a member of the ILWU Local 6 Warehouse Union, and is part of the team working on the cooperativization campaign. Pedro has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of beer and beer history, and he begins by giving us a sort of virtual tour of the San Francisco brewery’s history and also a bit of San Francisco labor history. He then talks about the union, the struggles with Sapporo, the effort to convert Anchor into a worker cooperative, and also, how local Bay Area beer producers and enjoyers are coming together in an act of true solidarity to stand behind the workers that have been the backbone of this historic brewery. Resources:
Episode credits:
Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts. Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in reaching new people who may otherwise not hear about this show. The Response is published by Shareable. | |||
| [RE-RELEASE] Documentary #9: Heatwaves and energy poverty in the Mediterranean | 07 Aug 2023 | 00:39:26 | |
All across the globe, temperatures are rising, and thanks to the most recent report published by the International Panel on Climate Change and recent U.N. projections, we know that even if we do make sweeping cuts to emissions, we’re still on course for a catastrophic temperature rise of 2.7 degrees Celsius by the year 2100. That means, the record-breaking floods, droughts, storms, wildfires, and heatwaves we’re currently seeing, or for many of us, directly experiencing, are just the beginning. Global warming is not just some distant thing to worry about in the future — it’s here. Right now. Although cataclysmic events like hurricanes and wildfires tend to monopolize most of the headlines on climate change, as paltry as it is to begin with, climate news coverage hardly ever focuses on the less flashy impacts. Things like heatwaves, for example, might draw some attention if they’re record-shattering — but oftentimes, the impacts of long-lasting higher temperatures are not covered in any depth by mainstream news outlets. In this episode of The Response, we’re going to focus on an issue that isn’t talked about hardly enough: energy poverty. When temperatures rise to the point where they become dangerous, what happens to people who can’t escape the heat? As temperatures continue to soar and extreme heatwaves become the norm, a lack of resources to stay cool — so, having access to things like air conditioning, for example, — is a huge issue across the world. This is especially true in southern Europe, a region that experienced a series of record-breaking, climate-fueled heatwaves this past summer. Episode credits:
This episode features:
Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts. Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in reaching new people who may otherwise not hear about this show. The Response is published by Shareable. | |||
| Decolonial Marxism with Sungmanitu Bluebird | 25 Jul 2023 | 00:58:10 | |
On our last show, a couple of weeks ago, we talked about Land Back with David Cobb — specifically, we discussed moving the idea of land back from a metaphor to a reality, by focusing on a specific case in northern California where the city of Eureka actually gave 200 acres of land back to its original stewards, the Wiyot tribe. On today's episode, we're going to continue the conversation, and, in a way, pull back from the specific policy examples of land back and look at it as an idea again, specifically, as a revolutionary ideological framework that exists as a part of Marxist thought, a continuation of Marxism-Leninism — what has been called decolonial Marxism. To do this, we've brought on Lakota activist and political educator Sungmanitu Bluebird. Sungmanitu grew up in both Detroit and on Pine Ridge reservation and is currently based in Michigan's upper peninsula. Sungmanitu’s work synthesizes Marxism with Indigenous knowledge and decolonial Marxist theory and practice. They are a former member of the Red Nation, a mutual aid movement builder, and an organizer with the Chunka Luta Network, a project meant to push decolonial Marxism-Leninism as described by the Guyanese Marxist academic, writer, and educator, Walter Rodney. Resources:
Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts. Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in reaching new people who may otherwise not hear about this show. The Response is published by Shareable. | |||
| Land Back with David Cobb | 11 Jul 2023 | 01:05:51 | |
The idea of Land Back — a growing movement to return occupied land to the Indigenous people that it rightfully belongs to, often exists as a metaphor for us. It can feel like the discussion around land theft and genocide by settler-colonists in the United States is often limited to land acknowledgments or statements of solidarity — both of which are important. But what about the most important element in these discussions — actually giving the land back? Today on the show, we’ve brought on David Cobb, a ‘people’s lawyer,’ self-proclaimed revolutionary, and advancement manager for the Wiyot Tribe’s Dishgamu Humboldt Community Land Trust in Northern California. Who are the Wiyot tribe and what is their history on the land we call Humboldt County? What is the ongoing response to the attempted genocide of this Indigenous community which took place almost two hundred years ago — a horrifying and all-too-common event in the history of the settler colony which is the United States? And how has the city of Eureka worked with the Wiyot tribe to rematriate land — to actually enact the practice and policy of land back, taking it from a metaphor to a reality? These are just some of the questions we’ll explore in this conversation. And along the way, we’ll touch on community land trusts, the global push for a social and solidarity economy, the People’s Network for Land and Liberation, the reality of end-stage capitalism, and how you can identify and support the Indigenous peoples on the land you inhabit today. Resources:
Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts. Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in reaching new people who may otherwise not hear about this show. The Response is published by Shareable. | |||
| Voices of The Response: Live at the Oregon Country Fair 2024 | 16 Jan 2025 | 00:44:17 | |
Nearly 20 years ago, The Response host Tom Llewellyn was fortunate to experience Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove’s Voices of a People’s History of the United States live at the Berkeley Community Theater. In 2018, after we finished our first set of audio documentaries for The Response, it was clear that the personal stories shared with us by those on the front lines of climate, political, and social disasters should also be brought to the stage. And so, in homage, we have called these live performances, Voices of The Response. We’re still developing the full performance, but we were invited to workshop excerpts at the Oregon Country Fair last year. With the support of Eric Brahman, we worked with local spoken word artists to perform unique pieces each day of the festival during the Storytelling Smorgasbord. Today you’ll hear the recordings from that event, including stories related to previous California wildfires. Resources:
Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts. The Response is an award-winning podcast series produced by Shareable exploring how communities respond to disaster — from hurricanes to wildfires to reactionary politics and more. Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in reaching new people who may otherwise not hear about this show. | |||
| Unions, Strikes, and the Labor Movement with Alex Press | 27 Jun 2023 | 00:38:16 | |
Today on the show we’ve brought on Alex Press, a staff writer at Jacobin Magazine, to explore labor power — specifically, looking at how the strengthening of the labor movement through unions, strikes, and other workplace actions, are serving as a response to not only the harms inflicted by neoliberalism, but also, how these institutions and actions can serve as direct responses to climate change-fueled disasters. It’s been said that one of the best disaster responses is an organized workplace. In this episode, we’ll explore what we mean by that, take stock of the current labor landscape in the United States, and discuss how unions, strikes, and other forms of labor power can serve as ways to strengthen our collective and solidarity-focused muscles in a world of neoliberal capitalism. Resources:
Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts. Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in reaching new people who may otherwise not hear about this show. The Response is published by Shareable. | |||
| People Power Battery Collective with Kansas, Crystal, and Yasir | 14 Jun 2023 | 00:53:52 | |
Last week, the skies over much of the east coast of the United States were orange, red, and almost entirely blacked out in some regions. Smoke from wildfires raging up north in Canada blew down to engulf many major U.S. cities in an apocalyptic glow that left New York City with the worst air quality in the world.
For those of us in California, seeing the apocalyptic images from the east coast going viral brought us back to the many times over the last decade that we experienced the same thing — wildfires raging from northern parts of the state like the Camp Fire in Butte County that completely incinerated the town of Paradise, or the fires in southern California, or Sonoma County, or the Santa Cruz Mountains — there’s too many to really keep track of.
Here in California, one of the many impacts of wildfires that we know all too well has been the loss of power — of electricity. PG&E, the scandal-ridden investor-owned electric utility that operates much of northern California’s grid, has not only been found guilty in the last several years for some of California’s most destructive wildfires. The company has also come under scrutiny for its implementation of rolling blackouts during wildfires, which it claims it does to protect dry landscapes from power lines that could overheat and spark deadly fires. PG&E’s power lines are notoriously poorly maintained and downed trees around power lines have been the direct cause of some of the most deadly and destructive wildfires in California’s history.
These massive power shut-offs have led to all sorts of auxiliary disasters over the years and have left millions of Californians without power during some of our most vulnerable times — amidst scorching heat wages and raging wildfires.
In this context, the People Power Battery Collective in the Bay Area launched a program to provide backup power during emergencies and increase the general understanding of energy access, consumption, and needs. On today’s show, we’ve brought on People Power Battery Collective members Kansas, Crystal, and Yasir to talk about their project in the context of climate-fueled disasters and community mutual aid.
Today’s episode is part of a new series we’re launching called “How-to-Respond” — where we’ll go deeper into the mechanics of community-led disaster response and mutual aid initiatives so that folks can replicate and adapt these efforts in other communities.
This ongoing series is a part of Shareable’s overall programmatic transition to a renewed focus on empowering people and communities to move from the point of inspiration to action. This week, we’re launching SolidarityWorks, a new program designed to “Empower Communities for Collective Liberation.” Over the coming years, we’ll join forces with a broad range of partners to create localized social infrastructure initiatives packed with creative solutions, tools for solidarity, and a deep embrace of the communities we collaborate with.
The first example of this program is actually the People Power Battery Collective. After working with them a couple of years ago on a how-to guide so other groups could adapt their model, we’ll now be partnering with them on a free course to directly support more communities to create battery collectives of their own. Resources:
Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts. Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in extending our reach and broadening our audience. The Response is published by Shareable. | |||
| Trans Liberation with Lee Shevek | 30 May 2023 | 00:41:08 | |
Today on the show we’ve brought on Lee Shevek, an anarchist, writer, and domestic violence researcher. Pride Month is just around the corner and we thought it would be a good time to take a deep dive into the reactionary politics side of this show — namely, the attacks from the right wing and from the state against our transgender comrades. States like Texas, Florida, and Missouri are on the frontlines of this politicized aggression, which is being waged by the forces of right-wing reaction, but is often accomplished with the complicity, and sometimes even with the approval, from more liberal-leaning state and media institutions. In this episode, we investigate the state of anti-trans and transphobic reaction in the United States more broadly and explore how trans communities and their allies are responding.We also get into what anarchism teaches us about these struggles — specifically, what we can learn from this political philosophy about trans issues and gender issues more broadly, and why it’s more important than ever for anarchists and those on the left to support trans people in their struggle for liberation from reactionary forces. Resources: Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts. Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in extending our reach and broadening our audience. The Response is published by Shareable. | |||
| Anarchism with Daniel Baryon | 15 May 2023 | 00:46:14 | |
Today on the show we’ve brought on Daniel Baryon, an anarchist and organizer who runs the Youtube channel Anark. When we talk about horizontal power structures, for example in the context of grassroots mutual aid response, we're talking about a concept situated within a very specific theoretical framework. Likewise, when we explore the concepts of "prefiguring" the new world within the old — practicing solidarity and mutual aid— for example, we're also talking about concepts that have unique theoretical underpinnings. Perhaps, then, it could be helpful to explore the theories behind the themes that we talk about a bit more, to help ground and place ourselves within historical traditions that stretch to the present. This is what we're planning on doing in this new, ongoing series on theory. We're keeping it casual for now, so just expect to see a few episodes here and there in the coming months, but our first dive into the theory framing this show is going to be today's episode on anarchism. Specifically, we’ll explore what anarchism is and isn’t; how many of the themes of this show — things like disaster collectivism and mutual aid — come out of anarchist theory and practice; we’ll give some examples of anarchism in action; and explore what we can learn from this rich and beautiful tradition in terms of radical transformation and revolution in our modern world. Resources:
Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts. Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in extending our reach and broadening our audience. The Response is published by Shareable. | |||
| Building the New in the Shell of the Old with Joey Ayoub | 02 May 2023 | 00:59:05 | |
On this episode of The Response we’ve brought on Joey Ayoub, a Geneva-based writer, researcher, activist, and host of The Fire These Times podcast, which asks the questions: How do we build the new in the shell of the old? How do we tackle global warming and its associated crises? How do we build bonds across nation-states and groups? How do we make it easier to imagine the end of capitalism than the end of the world? Resources: Episode credits:
Make sure to follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org or wherever you get your podcasts. Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The Response is a podcast series from Shareable.net. | |||
| The Assault on Medicinal Abortion with Breya Johnson | 17 Apr 2023 | 00:43:33 | |
Today on the show we’ve brought on Breya Johnson, an abortion doula, reproductive justice organizer, writer, curator, and the Deputy Director of Organizing at Girls for Gender Equity.
Since the Dobbs decision was passed last year, we’ve continued to see the right wing’s assault on legal abortion and bodily autonomy escalate. Most recently through a ruling by a Trump-appointed, anti-abortion Federal Judge in Texas that intends to revoke the FDA's approval of the abortion pill mifepristone — part of a 2-part medicinal cocktail used in self-managed abortions — the most common form of abortion in the United States.
This ruling is perhaps the most outrageous ruling since Dobbs, and in this episode, we’ll explore the attacks from the right on legal abortion and their implications more broadly. We also explore what self-managed abortions are, everything you need to know about how they work and where you can access abortion pills, and we also explore what a broader framework of reproductive justice looks like and how we can get there.
Resources:
Episode credits:
Make sure to follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org or wherever you get your podcasts.
Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
The Response is a podcast series from Shareable.net. | |||
| The French Uprising with Konstantin | 03 Apr 2023 | 00:43:44 | |
Today on the show we’ve brought on Konstantin — a Parisian garbage collector and union militant. For the past two months, France has been in a state of agitation. A growing movement of workers has been engaged in protests and strikes which erupted in Paris and other cities in response to President Emmanuel Macron unilaterally raising the French retirement age from 62 to 64. You may have seen the viral images of piles and piles of garbage bags out on the streets in Paris — this is because garbage collectors in the city have been on a series of strikes to protest the new pension reform. We spoke with Konstantin about the state of the movement and what it’s been like organizing and participating in the strikes, the long string of events that have led to this current uprising, why it’s more important than ever to build class consciousness and solidarity — not just in France but internationally, and where he sees this movement headed. Episode credits:
Make sure to follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org or wherever you get your podcasts. Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The Response is a podcast series from Shareable.net. | |||
| All Power to the People with Jesse Barnett | 21 Mar 2023 | 00:53:30 | |
Today on the show we’ve brought on Jesse Barnett, a musician and a co-founder of All Power Books in L.A. All Power Books is more than a bookstore: it’s a volunteer-run community space that offers a wide range of programs, from a free store with food, cleaning supplies, and menstrual products; to a free community clinic; to music classes, poetry readings, and reading groups; sewing and repair workshops; film screenings, bike repairs, the list goes on. We spoke with Jesse about the origins of All Power Books, the importance of mutual aid and building connections with neighbors, why the left can feel so divisive sometimes — and how to avoid it — the economic and political realities of Los Angeles, and a whole lot much more. Resources:
Episode credits:
Make sure to follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org or wherever you get your podcasts. Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The Response is a podcast series from Shareable.net. | |||
| [RE-RELEASE] Abortion Access & Reproductive Justice in a Post-Roe Landscape | 14 Mar 2023 | 00:58:33 | |
In this documentary episode, we take a deep dive into how communities are responding to the growing abortion access crisis in the United States, sharing the stories of those impacted and highlighting a number of radical grassroots, mutual aid, and solidaristic efforts aimed at helping people access abortion in the places where it's currently outlawed or restricted. Abortion access has always been limited here in the United States, but since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June of 2022 and the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision held that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion, things have gotten dramatically worse. In the face of trigger laws banning and criminalizing abortion in many states — as well as state-sanctioned harassment and targeted campaigns against people seeking abortions — the centuries-old movement for reproductive rights and justice has only grown and strengthened. This is a special re-release of this episode for International Women's Day. The episode was originally published as two separate parts but we have combined those two parts into one continuous episode. Episode credits:
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| Forced Labor and Immigrant Dreams: Saket Soni in Conversation with Rebecca Solnit | 06 Mar 2023 | 00:55:02 | |
Today on the show — a special presentation of a live conversation between Saket Soni and Rebecca Solnit on Saket Soni’s new book, The Great Escape: A True Story of Forced Labor and Immigrant Dreams in America.
The Great Escape is the harrowing story of how 500 disaster relief workers from India were trafficked to the United States under false pretenses and exposed to inhumane conditions while rebuilding New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Rebecca Solnit has described the book as being “paced like a thriller, written like a poem, and full of vivid characters who’d enliven any novel, but it’s the true story of one of the largest modern-day trafficking incidents in recent history and how Saket Soni and his crew went after the powerful perpetrators. A story as important as it is riveting to read.”
Saket Soni is the co-founder and executive director of Resilience Force, the national voice of the resilience workforce — whose labor helps us prepare for, and repair after, climate disaster. He will be in conversation with renowned author Rebecca Solnit, who wrote, A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster — a book that inspired the creation of this show and which we’ve talked about many times in past episodes.
This conversation is a recording of a live event co-organized with The Green Arcade in San Francisco on March 3rd. The Green Arcade is a bookshop featuring socially conscious nonfiction, plus select literature & kids' titles, located on Market St. Episode credits:
Make sure to follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org or wherever you get your podcasts. Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The Response is a podcast series from Shareable.net.
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| Indigenous disaster response: The fight against a mining giant in Brazil with Allen Myers | 21 Nov 2024 | 00:35:38 | |
In this episode of The Response, we explore a devastating and ongoing story of environmental disaster, Indigenous resistance, and corporate exploitation in Brazil. This powerful installment brings listeners face-to-face with the catastrophic failures of Vale, a multinational mining corporation, and the resilient efforts of the Kamakã Mongoió people to protect their sacred land and water. The episode features a compelling conversation with journalist, filmmaker, and community organizer Allen Myers, whose recent article for Shareable, Modern Day Colonialism and the Disastrous Fate of an Indigenous Water and Land Protector, offers a chilling look at the ongoing struggles in the region. Myers shares insights from his 2022 trip to Brumadinho, Brazil, where he witnessed the enduring scars left by a 2019 dam collapse and the fight for justice that followed. In January 2019, a toxic dam operated by Vale in the State of Minas Gerais failed catastrophically, releasing 12 million cubic meters of sludge into the surrounding environment. The disaster claimed 272 lives and decimated the livelihoods of countless others. This was not an isolated incident—just four years earlier, the Mariana dam collapse, also operated by Vale, caused Brazil’s worst environmental catastrophe. Despite warnings and inspections highlighting structural vulnerabilities, Vale failed to act, prioritizing profits over safety. For the Indigenous Kamakã Mongoió, the collapse was not just a distant tragedy but a direct assault on their way of life. Chief Merong, a prominent leader of the tribe, emerged as a steadfast protector of his community's land and water, standing against the encroachments of Vale. He and other Kamakã Mongoió have faced threats, harassment, violence, and even death for their resistance, a chilling manifestation of what Myers calls “modern-day colonialism.” While the subject matter of this episode of The Response is tragic, it’s also a call to action. Myers draws parallels between the disasters in Brazil and the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California, highlighting the universal dangers of corporate negligence and environmental exploitation. Both of these stories serve as stark reminders that disasters exacerbated by greed are not inevitable but preventable. Resources: Episode credits:
Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts. The Response is an award-winning podcast series produced by Shareable exploring how communities respond to disaster — from hurricanes to wildfires to reactionary politics and more. Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in reaching new people who may otherwise not hear about this show. | |||
| The Disastrous Response in East Palestine, Ohio with Prem Thakker | 23 Feb 2023 | 00:42:40 | |
Today on the show, we’ve brought on Prem Thakker, a journalist with The New Republic who has been reporting on East Palestine, Ohio. Prem’s recent piece is titled: “Life After the Ohio Train Derailment: Trouble Breathing, Dying Animals, and Saying Goodbye.”
In this episode, we’ll bring you up to date on everything happening in the aftermath of the February 3rd train derailment — from the health concerns and experiences of the residents of East Palestine, to Norfolk Southern’s bungled and oftentimes horrifying response, to what coverage of the event has looked like and why so many politicians have remained silent on the issue for so long, and to the small glimmers of hope that disasters like this can present in terms of building community strength and solidarity. Resources:
Episode credits:
Make sure to follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org or wherever you get your podcasts. Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The Response is a podcast series from Shareable.net. | |||
| Disaster Dispatch: Bomb Trains & Death Plumes with Rebecca Burns | 14 Feb 2023 | 00:27:12 | |
Today on the show we’ve brought on Rebecca Burns, co-author of the recent piece in The Lever, Rail Companies Blocked Safety Rules Before Ohio Derailment.
On February 3rd, 150-car train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. The train was carrying several cars of vinyl chloride, an extremely hazardous and toxic chemical used in plastics manufacturing. The derailment triggered a gigantic fireball, which, if you’ve seen pictures of it, looks like a giant, billowing mushroom cloud, which sent a plume of black smoke miles and miles across multiple counties.
After the initial explosion the town was evacuated, but residents have since been allowed to return. However, the situation is far from resolved. The extent of impacts on people living in the area, as well as on the local ecology, are difficult to imagine — and this story is not getting the attention that it deserves.
Norfolk Southern, the company responsible for the disaster, has been on the cutting edge of lobbying for industry deregulation, killing federal safety rules and slashing its workforce to dangerous levels. Incidentally, the company has also been seeing record profits.
In this Disaster Dispatch episode of The Response, journalist Rebecca Burns will explain what’s going on in East Palestine, Ohio, what the technical and political causes of this disaster are, and how disasters like this are just part of a broader ecosystem of industry deregulation and corporate cost-cutting which could serve as a death sentence for the rest of us. Episode credits:
Make sure to follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org or wherever you get your podcasts. Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The Response is a podcast series from Shareable.net. | |||
| Surviving the Collapse, Agroecology, and Mutual Aid with Andy C. of Poor Prole's Almanac | 07 Feb 2023 | 00:58:52 | |
Today on the show we’ve brought on Andy C. from Poor Prole’s Almanac to talk about a wide range of fascinating topics — from agroecology and sound ecological practices regarding the growing of food and the stewardship of land, to native seed bombing and other forms of mutual aid and disaster preparation, to the difference between right-wing prepperism and left-wing prepperism, to why building collective power and resilience is the best way to ensure that we not only survive the slow but inevitable societal collapses that have already begun — but to thrive through them and build a better world out of the ashes of the old. Resources:
Episode credits:
Make sure to follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org or wherever you get your podcasts. Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The Response is a podcast series from Shareable.net. | |||
| Stop Cop City with Jesse Pratt López & Nolan Huber-Rhoades | 31 Jan 2023 | 00:59:29 | |
For the past couple of years, the City of Atlanta, George, has been pushing forward a project nicknamed “Cop City” — a tactical training compound featuring a mock city which has been referred to as a kind of war base where police will learn military-style maneuvers. The 90 million dollar compound would be built on somewhere between 60 and 300 acres of forest in Atlanta — a space known as the Weelaunee Forest, one of the largest urban forests in the country. As a result of this controversial and extremely unpopular development, a grassroots response has taken shape to stop “Cop City.” One of the responses has been by those known as forest protectors, forest defenders, or tree dwellers — activists who have camped out in the forest hoping to stop the clearcutting, bulldozing, and destruction of the forest from happening. On January 18th, one of these forest protectors, known by their forest name “Tortuguita,” or “Little Turtle” was killed by police during a raid in the forest. This killing has launched the story of “Cop City” — and the grassroots movement fighting against it — into national and even international headlines. In this episode of The Response we’ve brought on two individuals who are part of that movement to break things down for us. Jesse Pratt López is a photographer, documentarian, and organizer involved in the stop cop city movement based in Atlanta. Nolan Huber-Rhoades is a community journalist and filmmaker currently working on a documentary on “Cop City” who has also been covering the events since April of 2021. What are the forces behind “Copy City”? What has the community response looked like — not just to the development itself but also to the brutal police response which has terrorized those protecting the forest? And how does the Stop Cop City movement bring together police abolition, climate change, land back, surveillance capitalism, and the right to protest all in one place? We explore all of these questions and more in this episode with Jesse and Nolan. Resources:
You can find Jesse Pratt López on Twitter and Instgram & Nolan Huber-Rhoades on Twitter and Instagram. Episode credits:
Make sure to follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org or wherever you get your podcasts. Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The Response is a podcast series from Shareable.net. | |||
| Mutual Aid and Police Accountability with Tha Hood Squad | 24 Jan 2023 | 00:38:32 | |
From a chicken coop providing omelet breakfasts to underserved communities, to a network of farms stretching from Oakland to East Palo Alto, to a night watch program aimed at keeping the police accountable and protecting marginalized communities from police violence, to providing grassroots disaster relief during the most recent storms in the Bay Area — The Hood Squad seems to do it all. In this episode, we’ve brought on JT, Savage, and Nay from The Hood Squad, a mutual aid and police accountability organization based out of the Bay Area. Through their six principles of peace, love, harmony, balance, unity, and justice, the Hood Squad aims to shift the systematic oppression which has targeted the disenfranchised communities of the world. We discuss their origins as a grassroots art and media collective, their expansion into a very broad array of mutual aid work including police patrols or “night shifts” and disaster relief work, and how the Hood Squad reinvests into their community with farming and training for self-sufficiency, self-awareness, and communal responsibility. Follow Tha Hood Squad on Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube. And support their work at thahoodsquad.com Episode credits:
Make sure to follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org or wherever you get your podcasts. Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The Response is a podcast series from Shareable.net exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters | |||
| Survival of the Richest with Douglas Rushkoff | 09 Jan 2023 | 00:42:51 | |
Today on the show, we’ve brought on Douglas Rushkoff to talk about his new book, Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires. Douglas is Professor of Media Theory and Digital Economics at Queens/CUNY and a research fellow at the Institute for the Future. Named one of the world’s ten most influential intellectuals by MIT, he hosts the Team Human podcast and has written many award-winning books including: Team Human, based on his podcast, as well as the bestsellers Present Shock, Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus, Program or Be Programmed, Life Inc, and Media Virus. He coined such concepts as “viral media,” “screenagers,” and “social currency,” and has been a leading voice for applying digital media toward social and economic justice. In this interview we explore the strange, dark expressions of AI futurism and tech utopianism growing within the billionaire class. Island bunkers, missions to mars, the Metaverse and the impulse to escape in the face of looming climate and social collapse. These are the fantasies of the rich and powerful, but there is an alternative path for humanity, one anchored in mutual aid, disaster collectivism, and human interdependence. We’ll explore all of this and more in this episode. Episode credits:
Make sure to follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org or wherever you get your podcasts. Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The Response is a podcast series from Shareable.net exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters
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| [RE-RELEASE] Documentary #1: A Radical Approach to Disaster Relief | 27 Dec 2022 | 00:30:35 | |
How do we respond to natural disasters? What comes to mind? Large relief organizations like the American Red Cross? Or perhaps the Federal Emergency and Management Agency? Well, those images are certainly part of the story — but they're not the whole story. In our new podcast series, The Response, we aim to share a perspective that isn't extensively covered in the mainstream media. Specifically, we ask the question: how do communities come together in the aftermath of disasters — often in the face of inadequate official response — to take care of each other? In the first-ever episode of The Response, we began to answer that question by taking a deep dive into the Rockaways Peninsula in New York City, to explore how, in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, a grassroots network of activists and volunteers emerged to coordinate one of the most effective relief efforts in the city. The group became known as Occupy Sandy, and in this episode, we tell their story, focusing on the personal narratives of three New Yorkers who were thrown into this spontaneous relief effort. We'll explore how, in the midst of the unfolding catastrophe, unlikely friendships were formed, deep bonds were cultivated, and a perhaps dormant side of New York City was awakened — one based on collectivity, mutual aid, and solidarity. Episode Credits:
Music by: The Response is a podcast series from Shareable.net exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters | |||
| Common Humanity Collective with Genean | 13 Dec 2022 | 00:33:55 | |
Today on the show, we’ve brought on Genean from Common Humanity Collective — a mutual aid organization based out of California’s Bay Area. When the pandemic began in 2020, it felt like there was a huge spike in mutual aid efforts — in fact we did an entire series of episodes on many of the community-led responses to COVID that year including an audio documentary that highlighted the work done by a local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA, in Chico, California. But where are things now? What have mutual aid organizations, and the left more broadly, learned from the last couple of years? How do we continue to make sure that the mutual in mutual aid remains a central pillar of our efforts? And how can we politicize our work within the communities we’re engaging with? We explore these pressing questions in this week’s interview — along with a lot other stuff on mutual aid and ways to plug in. Episode credits:
Additional Resources: Check out Common Humanity Collective and get more information on their air purifier build coming up on December 17th and their mask build on January 22nd on their website. And make sure to follow them on Twitter, Instagram, and on Mastadon. Make sure to follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org or wherever you get your podcasts. Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The Response is a podcast series from Shareable.net exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters | |||
| Disaster Dispatch: Earthquakes in Indonesia with Meena Palaniappan | 05 Dec 2022 | 00:14:38 | |
This week, we’re bringing you the first installment of a new series that we'll occasionally produce: Disaster Dispatches. Each dispatch focuses on a specific disaster and will feature a short conversation with someone within or near a specific disaster zone who can provide insight into how things look on the ground and, in many cases, share first-hand accounts of the response. First up, we have Meena Palaniappan joining us once again, this time to talk about the recent 5.6 magnitude earthquake that struck the city of Cianjur, which is in the West Java region of Indonesia, on Nov 21st. Meena Palaniappan is the Founder and CEO of Atma Connect. She's an Ashoka Fellow, Fulbright Fellow, and awardee of the Million Lives Club. Since 2014, Meena has led Atma Connect to become a globally recognized technology company focused on helping vulnerable people connect, neighbor-to-neighbor, by sharing practical information and solutions, taking collective action, and building community resilience. AtmaConnect built and deploys AtmaGo, a neighborhood-level mobile app in Indonesia and Puerto Rico for users to share real-time information and solutions to better prepare for disasters, improve their access to basic needs, and address chronic vulnerabilities. AtmaGo has reached over 10 million people in Indonesia and Puerto Rico. Make sure to check out our full-length interview with Meena, where we take a deep dive into her work with Atma Connect more broadly. Episode credits:
Make sure to follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org or wherever you get your podcasts. Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The Response is a podcast series from Shareable.net exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters | |||
| Disaster Collectivism on an App with Meena Palaniappan | 29 Nov 2022 | 00:38:53 | |
The last decade has shown us that information on social media cannot always be trusted. In fact, it's oftentimes weaponized by nefarious forces. So how do we ensure that the information that is being shared during particularly sensitive periods — such as during natural disasters — is accurate and timely? Enter Atma Connect. Atma Connect on an award-winning organization building the digital infrastructure to connect people together so they can share vital information and create bottom-up change. Meena Palaniappan is the Founder and CEO of Atma Connect. She's an Ashoka Fellow, Fulbright Fellow, and awardee of the Million Lives Club. Since 2014, Meena has led Atma Connect to become a globally recognized technology company focused on helping vulnerable people connect, neighbor-to-neighbor, by sharing practical information and solutions, taking collective action, and building community resilience. AtmaConnect built and deploys AtmaGo, a neighborhood-level mobile app in Indonesia and Puerto Rico for users to share real-time information and solutions to better prepare for disasters, to improve their access to basic needs, and to address chronic vulnerabilities. AtmaGo has reached over 10 million people in Indonesia and Puerto Rico. Episode credits:
Make sure to follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org or wherever you get your podcasts. Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The Response is a podcast series from Shareable.net exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters | |||
| Resisting gentrification and displacement with Andrew Lee | 31 Oct 2024 | 00:42:40 | |
On this episode of The Response, we’re joined by author and organizer Andrew Lee. In his book Defying Displacement: Urban Recomposition and Social War, Andrew writes about how gentrification is often seen as inevitable or automatic and an “economic, social plan.” In that sense, the resulting displacement of people from their homes and communities is, in essence, a planned disaster. Andrew brings a nuanced perspective to this issue, drawing from his work and experiences in neighborhoods facing rapid economic transformation. Gentrification, as he sees it, is not just about rising rents or new developments but about the displacement of people, histories, and cultures that have shaped these communities for generations. Much like our previous episodes—whether discussing mutual aid in disaster-hit regions or grassroots movements reclaiming public space—this conversation reminds us that collective action is a powerful tool. Andrew shares stories of resistance: how communities are organizing to protect their homes, create alternative housing models, and ensure that development serves the people already rooted in these spaces. Thanks for tuning into The Response. We’re back after an unanticipated summer break. We love making this show, but have a small team at Shareable, and often have to redirect our efforts to other parts of our work. That said, we’ve got new monthly episodes scheduled for the rest of the year. Please email TheResponse@shareable.net with feedback about the show or if you have suggestions for people you want to hear us interview. Resources:
Episode credits:
Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts. The Response is an award-winning podcast series produced by Shareable exploring how communities respond to disaster — from hurricanes to wildfires to reactionary politics and more. Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in reaching new people who may otherwise not hear about this show. | |||
| Mutual Aid with Joshua Potash | 15 Nov 2022 | 00:31:50 | |
Mutual aid is a concept and practice that has come up many times in the stories we tell on The Response — so we thought it would be helpful to devote an entire episode to exploring what mutual aid is with someone who is deeply immersed in it on the ground. Joshua Potash — an anti-capitalist abolitionist based in New York City. Joshua co-founded Washington Square Park Mutual Aid which provides free food, clothing, and various supplies once a week in the New York City park. They also co-host events like film screenings, skill shares, and various trainings. The group was founded in response to NYPD violence with the aim of creating a counter-narrative and being a community hub for folks in the park and surrounding area. In this episode, we explore some of the history and theory behind mutual aid and how it presents a counternarrative to capitalist ideology and a practical path away from it. We also learn about Joshua’s work on the ground in New York City and discuss the concepts of municipalism, police abolition, and much more. Episode credits:
Additional Resources: Joshua Potash on Twitter, Instagram, and Substack Washington Square Park Mutual Aid Make sure to follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org or wherever you get your podcasts. Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The Response is a podcast series from Shareable.net exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters | |||
| Documentary #12: Abortion Access and Reproductive Justice in a Post-Roe Landscape (Part 2) | 08 Nov 2022 | 00:36:16 | |
In the second of this 2-part series of The Response, we pick up where we left off in Episode 1 and continue our deep dive into how communities are responding to the growing abortion access crisis in the United States, sharing the stories of those impacted and highlighting a number of radical grassroots, mutual aid, and solidaristic efforts aimed at helping people access abortion in the places where it's currently outlawed or restricted. Abortion access has always been limited here in the United States, but since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June of this year and the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision held that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion — things have gotten dramatically worse — especially in parts of the southern United States, the Great Plains, and parts of the midwest. In the face of trigger laws banning and criminalizing abortion in many states — as well as state-sanctioned harassment and targeted campaigns against people seeking abortions — the centuries-old movement for reproductive rights and justice has only grown and strengthened. This movement takes many forms, and in the second part of this series we’re going to explore mutual aid efforts focusing on medical abortion pills and emergency contraception. You can listen to Part 1 of this series here. Episode credits:
This series features:
Additional Resources: Lists of Abortion Funds by state/region: The Response is a podcast series from Shareable.net exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters | |||
| Documentary #11: Abortion Access and Reproductive Justice in a Post-Roe Landscape (Part 1) | 01 Nov 2022 | 00:27:53 | |
In the first of this 2-part series of The Response, we take a deep dive into how communities are responding to the growing abortion access crisis in the United States, sharing the stories of those impacted and highlighting a number of radical grassroots, mutual aid, and solidaristic efforts aimed at helping people access abortion in the places where it's currently outlawed or restricted. Abortion access has always been limited here in the United States, but since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June of this year and the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision held that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion — things have gotten dramatically worse — especially in parts of the southern United States, the Great Plains, and parts of the midwest. In the face of trigger laws banning and criminalizing abortion in many states — as well as state-sanctioned harassment and targeted campaigns against people seeking abortions — the centuries-old movement for reproductive rights and justice has only grown and strengthened. Episode credits:
This series features:
Lists of Abortion Funds by state/region: The Response is a podcast series from Shareable.net exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters | |||
| Documentary #10: Wartime Mutual Aid in Ukraine | 19 Jul 2022 | 00:43:45 | |
Documentary #10: Wartime Mutual Aid in Ukraine Short: For the 10th audio documentary episode of The Response, we’re going to focus on the war in Ukraine. As the fighting grinds on, what kinds of solidarity and mutual aid actions are taking place in the country and in bordering countries to provide relief and assistance to refugees? Long: In February, after a month’s long prelude which many never believed would come to fruition, Russian troops landed in Mariupol and Odessa along the Azov and Black sea coasts, and Russian tanks rolled in through the Belarussian border crossing of Senkivka in the north. The Russian invasion of Ukraine had officially begun. A lot has happened since then, and what started as an anticipated speedy “decapitation” of the Ukrainian government, to quote the Kremin, has now revealed itself to be a war with no immediate end in sight. The impacts have been devastating to Ukraine and its effects have rippled out globally. And as the carnage continues, it’s difficult to say just how devastating this invasion will be on the Ukrainian people in the months, years, and decades to come. In the face of this horror, the Ukrainian people are not just fighting back against an imperial war of aggression, they’re also coming together to take care of each other. Millions of people have been displaced by the war, both within Ukraine and as refugees to other countries — it’s a humanitarian crisis on a scale much larger than the other disasters we’ve covered on The Response. In this episode, we’re highlighting stories of Ukrainian resistance and solidarity. A small but significant glimpse into how the Ukrainian people have come together to survive the war, to strengthen their communities, and to fight for each other and their autonomy. The transcript is available here: The Response with Tom Llewellyn is a podcast series from Shareable.net exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disastersEpisode credits:
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| But Next Time: "Higher Ground" | 05 Apr 2022 | 00:30:58 | |
But Next Time: "Higher Ground" On this week's episode of Shareable's The Response podcast, we’re continuing to delve into community-rooted responses to disasters with "Higher Ground," part four of BUT NEXT TIME, a limited-run podcast that spotlights powerful stories of community-led disaster prevention and recovery. In this episode of The Response we’ll travel to Houston, Texas, with Chrishelle Palay and Rose Arrieta, hosts of But Next Time, to meet these changemakers in the final episode of their limited-run podcast. When communities face the aftermath of catastrophes, what does it take to ensure that the next time will be different? In Houston, it takes a city council member who bicycles in her neighborhood to hear from constituents about what they need most. It takes 12 moms who organize to take legal action against the landlords that have kept their families in moldy, substandard apartments. And it takes a city official who blows the whistle on corrupt and dangerous practices related to housing policy.Listen in to hear their stories as they work tirelessly to ensure that next time will be different. The Response is an award-winning documentary film, book, and podcast series from Shareable.net exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters with host Tom Llewellyn. Episode credits:Host and executive producer: Tom Llewellyn Series producer: Robert Raymond Theme Music: “Meet you on the other side” by Cultivate Beats Let us know what you think of the show: info@shareable.net
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| But Next Time: "Rising Waters" | 23 Mar 2022 | 00:30:03 | |
But Next Time: "Rising Waters" On this week's episode of Shareable's The Response podcast, we’re continuing to delve into community-rooted responses to disasters with "Rising Waters," part three of BUT NEXT TIME, a limited-run podcast that spotlights powerful stories of community-led disaster prevention and recovery In this episode we meet activist-parents who are fighting to save their families’ homes despite a perfect storm of greedy landlords and hurricane-related flooding. Along the way, they connect with leaders in Puerto Rico who have also been resisting and rebuilding in the wake of ongoing disaster. Whether they are educating their communities, building back power grids, or bringing their fight to the courtroom, these community leaders are working together to shape the healthier future we all deserve. Listen in to hear their stories as they work tirelessly to ensure that next time will be different. To go deeper into some of the ongoing mutual aid projects in Puerto Rico that emerged following Hurricane Maria, our award-winning documentary film, “The Response: How Puerto Ricans Are Restoring Power to the People,” is now available on YouTube with Spanish, French, and Portuguese subtitles (in addition to the original version in English). And if you’re interested in hosting a screening of the film for your community, organization, or university, we’ve got a step-by-step guide to help you out. The Response is an award-winning documentary film, book, and podcast series from Shareable.net exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters with host Tom Llewellyn. Episode credits:Host and executive producer: Tom Llewellyn Series producer: Robert Raymond Theme Music: “Meet you on the other side” by Cultivate Beats Let us know what you think of the show: theresponse@shareable.net | |||
| But Next Time: "From the Ashes" | 09 Mar 2022 | 00:29:35 | |
But Next Time: "From the Ashes" On this week's episode of Shareable's The Response podcast, we’re continuing to delve into community-rooted responses to disasters in California, from the fires to the pandemic with "From the Ashes," part two of BUT NEXT TIME, a limited-run podcast that spotlights powerful stories of community-led disaster prevention and recovery Following climate-fueled wildfires and the pandemic, people banded together to build mutual aid networks, translate emergency messages in Spanish and indigenous languages, and disseminate crucial recovery information to their communities. In Sonoma County organizers hit the fields with information about where to get food, shelter, and support. In San Francisco, they set up a strong response to COVID-19 in the city’s Mission District. Tune in to hear how these leaders act collectively to confront those in power, work for justice before and after disaster, and together answer one vital question: how can next time be different? The Response is an award-winning documentary film, book, and podcast series from Shareable.net exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters with host Tom Llewellyn. Episode credits:Host and executive producer: Tom Llewellyn Series producer: Robert Raymond Theme Music: “Meet you on the other side” by Cultivate Beats Let us know what you think of the show: info@shareable.net | |||
| But Next Time: "Toward the Fire" | 24 Feb 2022 | 00:29:32 | |
This week, we're continuing our collaboration with the Rise-Home Stories Project to bring you the first episode of BUT NEXT TIME, a limited-run podcast that spotlights powerful stories of community-led disaster prevention and recovery. As fires ravaged California's world-famous wine country in 2017, a community radio station, emergency dispatcher, and tenant organizers helped the most vulnerable in their community survive and recover. Community organizers and hosts of the podcasts But Next Time, Chrishelle Palay and Rose Arrieta, bring us the first of four stories of hard-won lessons learned from people on the front lines of California’s wildfires and Texas’ storms as they work to answer the question, how can next time be different? The Response is an award-winning documentary film, book, and podcast series from Shareable.net exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters with host Tom Llewellyn. Episode credits:Host and executive producer: Tom Llewellyn Series producer: Robert Raymond Theme Music: “Meet you on the other side” by Cultivate Beats Let us know what you think of the show: info@shareable.net | |||
| "But Next Time": How can we ensure that next time disaster strikes will be different? | 17 Feb 2022 | 00:38:02 | |
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing episodes from BUT NEXT TIME, a limited-run podcast that spotlights powerful stories of community-led disaster prevention and recovery. Sounds familiar, right? BUT NEXT TIME answers one vital question: how can we ensure that next time will be different? On today’s show, we’re featuring a conversation I had with BUT NEXT TIME co-hosts Chrishelle Palay & Rose Arrieta and senior producer Leah Mahan to get a better understanding of why they produced this series, their storytelling process, and what they’re hoping listeners will take away from it. Starting next week, we’ll be sharing full episodes of their show. The Response is an award-winning documentary film, book, and podcast series from Shareable.net exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters with host Tom Llewellyn. Episode credits:Host and executive producer: Tom Llewellyn Series producer: Robert Raymond Theme Music: “Meet you on the other side” by Cultivate Beats Let us know what you think of the show: info@shareable.net | |||
| Eleni Myrivili, Chief Heat Officer for the City of Athens, Greece | 17 Nov 2021 | 00:42:18 | |
The Response is an award-winning documentary film, book, and podcast series from Shareable.net exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters with host Tom Llewellyn. A clear and present danger awaits our species if we are unable to keep global temperature below the 1.5 degrees Celsius rise that climate scientists have identified as proverbial the line in the sand. Even at current levels things are looking and feeling pretty dire. But it’s not all doom and gloom, significant actions are being taken at the city level in spite of the mostly disappointing (inter)national policies coming out of COP26. On this week's episode, The Response producer Robert Raymond interviews Eleni Myrivili, the first Chief Heat Officer for the City of Athens, Greece. Episode credits:Host and executive producer: Tom Llewellyn Series producer: Robert Raymond Theme Music: “Meet you on the other side” by Cultivate Beats Let us know what you think of the show: info@shareable.net | |||
| Covering Palestine: The impact on journalists on the frontlines and abroad with Arvind Dilawar | 09 May 2024 | 00:34:37 | |
On this episode of The Response, we're joined by Arvind Dilawar, an independent journalist who has recently written a piece for Shareable about the union supplying Palestinian journalists with safety gear amid the ongoing Israeli genocide. His articles, interviews, and essays on everything from the spacesuits of the future to love in the time of visas have appeared in The New York Times, Time Magazine, The Daily Beast, and elsewhere. He was also formerly a columnist at Pacific Standard. In the following conversation, Arvind illuminates the dire situation in Gaza and the challenges journalists face amid the turmoil. Arvind reports back on his conversations with journalists on the ground in the West Bank and shares the story of the protective equipment library that has been set up by the Palestinian Journalist Syndicate (PJS) to provide journalists with the essential tools they need. Arvind also highlights how journalists face increasing repression for covering Palestine, both in the US and abroad, and the impact of media censorship and biased narratives on the perception of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, particularly among Western outlets. Join us as we uncover the crucial role of independent journalism in times of crisis and how we can collectively support those documenting the reality of the frontlines. Resources:
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Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts. The Response is an award-winning podcast series produced by Shareable exploring how communities respond to disaster — from hurricanes to wildfires to reactionary politics and more. Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in reaching new people who may otherwise not hear about this show. | |||
| No Name Kitchen: Solidarity with asylum seekers in the Western Balkans | 04 Nov 2021 | 00:29:37 | |
The Response is an award-winning documentary film, book, and podcast series from Shareable.net exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters with host Tom Llewellyn. It’s the first week of November in 2021 and COP26 is in full swing. Many people had low expectations going into it, this is the 26th COP after all and the outlook for Climate Change is only getting worse year after year. With all of the moneyed and political interests influencing the framework for discussions, could the agreements coming out of the conference actually meet the moment? Probably not... One aspect of climate change that isn’t talked about nearly enough, is the mass migration of people that it’s already forcing. According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, more than 75% of the 40 million internal displacements last year were caused by disasters. And a 2020 report from Institute for Economics and Peace, found that over a billion people lived in 31 countries that aren’t sufficiently resilient to withstand ecological threats. With the increasing number of climate-fueled disasters impacting nearly every corner of the world, the number of displaced peoples will most likely only go up from here. With all of that in mind, we want to resurface an episode from season 3 which offers an inside look at an active migration route into the continent that’s hosting this year’s Climate Summit, Europe. The Western Balkans are the entryway for asylum seekers from places like Afghanistan, Syria, and Northern Africa to enter into the European Union. As they approach this region, many are hunted down by authorities, violently beaten, and forced into camps with terrible conditions. In the face of this crisis, a project emerged to help provide food and other basic necessities to these asylum seekers. It’s known as No Name Kitchen, but don’t let the name fool you, as you’ll see, the project is much, much more than just a community kitchen. Response producer Robert Raymond, spoke with one of the project’s co-founders, Bruno Morán, about what exactly is going on in the region and how No Name Kitchen is helping to build community while providing mutual aid to one of the most vulnerable populations in the world. https://www.nonamekitchen.org/en/ Episode credits:Host and executive producer: Tom Llewellyn Series producer: Robert Raymond Theme Music: “Meet you on the other side” by Cultivate Beats Let us know what you think of the show: info@shareable.net | |||
| Climate adaptation: resilience, self-sufficiency & systems change | 29 Oct 2021 | 00:55:19 | |
This weekend marks the beginning of COP26. After being delayed for nearly a year because of COVID, diplomats, scientists, corporate lobbyists, NGOs, students, demonstrators, corporations, heads of state, and many, many other invited and uninvited guests are already making their way to Glasgow Scotland for what has been projected to be the most consequential U.N. climate change conference since the Paris Agreement was struck in 2015. Earlier this week, the Arkbound Foundation published a new anthology, "Climate Adaptation: Accounts of Resilience, Self-Sufficiency and Systems Change." This episode features a discussion I hosted with three of the book's co-authors. Featuring: Morgan Phillips is UK co-director of the Glacier Trust, head of insight at Global Action Plan, and author of “Great Adaptations: In the Shadow of a Climate Crisis” (UK) Carol Manetta is Executive Director of Reap Goodness (USA) Ashish Kothari is the founder-member of Kalpavriksh, co-coordinator of Vikalp Sangam, and a co-editor/author of several books including “Churning the Earth” and Pluriverse: A Post- Development Dictionary (India) Episode credits:Host and executive producer: Tom Llewellyn Series producer: Robert Raymond Theme Music: “Meet you on the other side” by Cultivate Beats The Response from Shareable.net, is a documentary film, book, and podcast series exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters. Let us know what you think of the show: info@shareable.net | |||
| The story of Onagawa, Japan after the triple disaster of 2011 | 21 Oct 2021 | 00:12:16 | |
In this bonus episode, Bob Stilger recounts his experience in Japan following the triple disaster of 2011 and shares how one community that was completely wiped away by the Tsunami, took the opportunity to truly build back better from the ground up. Bob Stilger is the founder of New Stories and author of the book, “AfterNow: When We Cannot See the Future, Where Do We Begin?” Episode credits:Host and executive producer: Tom Llewellyn Series producer: Robert Raymond Theme Music: “Meet you on the other side” by Cultivate Beats The Response from Shareable.net, is a documentary film, book, and podcast series exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters. Let us know what you think of the show: info@shareable.net | |||
| Crisis as a Catalyst for Transformation | 12 Oct 2021 | 00:42:34 | |
Last week we participated in a panel discussion during the Regenerative Communities Summit where we talked about how Crisis can be a Catalyst for Transformation. This episode features a recording of the second half of that event. We’ve decided to omit the presentations that were delivered by each panelist, so there are a few times when you’ll hear references to what was presented earlier. If you would like to watch the entire event, you can access the recording by registering for the summit at TransitionUS.org. The speakers in this episode have been addressing the challenges, crises, and disasters we’re currently facing while finding new and innovative ways to not only respond but to open new opportunities and to use the times we are living in as a way to build better, more resilient communities. Featured Speakers: Jul Bystrova, co-founder of the Inner Resilience Network and Director of the Eomega/Era of Care project John Liu, catalyzed the creation of The Ecosystem Restoration Camps movement which has grown to nearly 50 camps in 6 continents Elaine Miller-Karas, Co-Founder and Director of Innovation of the Trauma Resource Institute and author of the book, “Building Resilience to Trauma: the Trauma and Community Resiliency Models” (2015). Bob Stilger, founder of NewStories and author of the book, “AfterNow: When We Cannot See the Future, Where Do We Begin?” Episode credits:Host and executive producer: Tom Llewellyn Series producer: Robert Raymond Theme Music: “Meet you on the other side” by Cultivate Beats The Response from Shareable.net, is a documentary film, book, and podcast series exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters. Let us know what you think of the show: info@shareable.net | |||