Black Autonomy Podcast

This episode is about the Black anarchist struggle against prisons and state slavery. Lorenzo and JoNina discuss the relevance of overturning the entirety of the state apparatus in the struggle for prison abolition rather than stopping at mere reforms.   

This special Valentine's Day episode is about Lorenzo and JoNina's relationship. Listen as they recount the story of their encounter and discuss how they relate to one another as partners, thinkers, and coconspirators. This episode covers topics like gender roles, dating, and conflict resolution.  

This episode covers the life of co-host JoNina Ervin. As an author and veteran activist, JoNina Ervin offers important insights from her life in an interview with Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin. ​​She was a member of the Black Panther Party for nearly a decade and was the last editor of the Black Panther newspaper. She was also a news correspondent at the 2001 U.N. World Conference Against Racism and was once the managing editor of Black Scholar magazine.

In October 2021, Pluto published the definitive edition of Anarchism and the Black Revolution by Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin. The book first connected Black radical thought to anarchist theory in 1979, and now amidst a rising tide of Black political organizing, this foundational classic has been republished with a wealth of original material, including forewords by William C. Anderson and Joy James.   This episode of Black Autonomy Podcast is brought to you in collaboration with the Pluto Press podcast 'Radicals in Conversation,' in which JoNina Ervin hosts a discussion between Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin and William C. Anderson about Black anarchism across the generations.   Ervin and Anderson discuss the reasons for the continued relevance and increasing popularity of Black anarchism today, what an ‘ungovernable' radical movement might look like, and the contradictions inherent to single-issue and state-orientated political projects from the left. They also discuss Black nationalism, and put Anderson's book The Nation on No Map in conversation with Anarchism and the Black Revolution. --- ‘Anarchism and the Black Revolution' by Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin: www.plutobooks.com/9780745345819/anarchism-and-the-black-revolution/   ‘The Nation on No Map' by William C. Anderson: akpress.org/nationonnomap.html

This episode discusses the legacy of medical neglect and institutional racism in healthcare. Lorenzo and JoNina talk about how Black people have legitimate skepticism and distrust when it comes to vaccination and medical care. However, drawing from their experience in the Black Panther Party, they discuss how intercommunalism can be used to meet the needs of people who aren't vaccinated and subject to shortages. The following episode contains clips from the following films and videos: HIV/AIDS: The Plague Years - Center for strategic & international studies (Think Tank) - Anthony Fauci One Woman's Mission to Get Vaccines To Her Rural Alabama Town | The New Yorker Documentary Tuskegee Legacy Stories | COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative | Ad Council Susan Moore - Facebook Post This episode was produced by a collaboration between writer William C. Anderson (@williamcson) and Black Autonomy Federation. 

This episode discusses how movements can connect mutual aid efforts and survival programs to build a survival economy. Lorenzo and JoNina's discussion places emphasis on the need to move beyond being passive consumers in order to foment a revolutionary alternative that can be transition to stateless socialism. They look at relevant topics like the recent crises during the Texas winter storm, Puerto Rico, and Hurricane Katrina to make their case.  This episode was produced by a collaboration between writer William C. Anderson (@williamcson) and Black Autonomy Federation. 

This episode discusses some of the Black civil rights protests and anti-klan movements that practiced armed self-defense. Certain groups were linked to the NAACP and defended protesters at Southern civil rights marches. These self-defense groups laid the foundation for the emergence of the Black Panther Party in 1966, an urban organization that created a Black anti-fascist movement. The relevance of having such a movement shouldn't be lost on us today. This episode was produced by a collaboration between writer William C. Anderson (@williamcson) and Black Autonomy Federation. 

This episode of Black Autonomy discusses building a poor people's survival movement to mobilize masses of working-class and poor people around immediate needs while advancing towards revolution.  This episode was produced by a collaboration between writer William C. Anderson (@williamcson), Black Autonomy Federation, and members of Black Rose/Rosa Negra Anarchist Federation (@BRRN_Fed). The interlude music is "I Used to Love Hip-Hop" by Audiobinger.

Dual power can be explained as the building of a transitional program for political, social, and economic transformation. By creating survival programs to oppose state power we can develop a new type of autonomous public sector when the state intentionally oppresses and abandons people. This is how to go beyond protest to building a liberatory societal infrastructure.  This episode was produced by a collaboration between writer William C. Anderson (@williamcson), Black Autonomy Federation, and members of Black Rose/Rosa Negra Anarchist Federation (@BRRN_Fed).

In this premiere episode of Black Autonomy Podcast, JoNina and Lorenzo introduce the podcast and discuss elections, the Democratic Party, and political power in Black politics while proposing direct democracy as an alternative. This episode was produced by a collaboration between writer William C. Anderson (@williamcson), Black Autonomy Federation, and members of Black Rose/Rosa Negra Anarchist Federation (@BRRN_Fed).