Indigo Radio

Host Becca sits down with Dax who recently return from working and learning in India at Vandana Shiva's project Navdana. We discuss the historical and current work of agriculture. Navdana began as an example and teaching farm, showing that a farm without chemicals can exist. We also discuss on of the main aspect of the project, seeds saving as resistance to global capitalism.

Indigo host Anna sits down with Dr. Ari Brazier, community organizer & educator in Atlanta - Ari talks with us all about the #stopcopcity movement here in ATL, race, education, their work with ParentLab, children, abolition, and more! *Photo of Remix, provided by Dr. Ari Instagram accounts to follow @atlparentlikeaboss @stopcopcity @thehighlanderschoolatl @saveweelaunee Songs: 1) Hard Times, Baby Huey 2) Violent, 2Pac 3) I Wish I Knew How to be Free, Nina Simone 4) Overjoyed, Stevie Wonder

Indigo host Anna sits down with Jasmine Burnett and Aja Arnold, organizers with Mainline ATL to talk about the upcoming Summer of Resistance here in Atlanta, learnings from past movements, organizing, and more. "Through this campaign—which will include a series of rallies, demonstrations, teach-ins, and a three-day music festival & convergence hosted by Mainline—organizers and community members hope to reignite various types of activism and community building in the city. While the fight to #StopCopCity continues, organizers say it's time to bring all intersections of Southern struggle and resistance together to fight against elements that preceded Cop City and allow police militarization to continue." To connect with Summer of Resistance and follow events check out: www.mainlineatl.com, Instagram pages: mainline_atl; strikeblac_scc; saveweelaunee; and stopcopcity Songs: Neith Sankofa - Hummingbird Medicine Blue Scholars - Proletariat Blues James Brown - Say it Loud: I'm Black and I'm Proud Show notes and resources: https://www.mainlineatl.com/atlanta-organizers-announce-summer-of-resistance-stop-cop-city-juneteenth/ https://www.mainlineatl.com/police-escalate-harassment-south-atlanta-cop-city-site/ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/08/cop-city-tortuguita-human-rights-investigation Books Guests are reading: Fanshen: A Documentary of Revolution in a Chinese Village by William Hinton The German Ideology by Karl Marx In the Courts of the Conqueror by Walter R. Echo-Hawk

On the morning of April 25th, 2024 students at Emory University began their Gaza Encampment in the national movement to end the genocide and for academic institutions to divest from Israeli apartheid. Listen to the speeches of these brave students along with Rev Keyanna Jones as they peacefully speak out; and continue to center what they are fighting for. Minutes later they were met with violent repression from the Atlanta PD, GA state patrol, and Emory police. Student Op-Ed https://mondoweiss.net/2024/04/we-are-occupying-emory-university-to-demand-immediate-divestment-from-israel-and-cop-city/

Hosts Anna & Chris sit down with Jayna Ahsaf & Jonathan Elwell of FreeHerVT. This show is Part II of our look at Vermont and prisons - from the historical context of VT carceral systems to today's campaign to stop new prison construction. Jayna Ahsaf is the lead field organizer for FreeHerVT and Jonathan an organizer. We talk with them about the FreeHerVT campaign, women in prison, criminalization of certain populations, & abolition. You can find Part I here: https://on.soundcloud.com/oT6SmwM8e6F6iPhJ8 Songs: 1) Loretta Lynn "Women's Prison" 2) Wanda Jackson "Tennessee Women's Prison" 3) Lightnin Hopkins "Jailhouse Blues" Show notes: - National website: https://www.nationalcouncil.us - FreeHer Zine: drive.google.com/file/d/11hILxjEc…qg9zTc-8ut3/view - VT's website: https://www.nationalcouncil.us/vermont - VT Landing page (more info & links): http://the-council.us/freehervt - Jonathan's article: https://www.rakevt.org/2024/01/04/behind-the-smoke-and-mirrors-the-true-story-of-prin/ - Mariame Kaba's zine: https://www.interruptingcriminalization.com/what-about-the-rapists

Part I of a two-part show on Vermont and incarceration. Hosts Chris and Anna spend the hour with Jonathan Elwell, organizer with the FreeHerVT campaign. In Part I, Jonathan speaks with us about the purpose of prisons, the history of incarceration and surveillance in Vermont, and the criminalization of the poor. Part II will air next week and will focus on the FreeHerVT campaign with Jayna Ahsaf and Jonathan. Songs: 1) Tom Waits: "Fish in the Jailhouse" 2) Warren Zevon: "Prison Grove" 3) Felice Brothers: "Rockafeller Drug Laws" 4) Public Enemy: "Black Steel" Photo: VT State Prison, Windsor 1907 show notes: FreeHer: https://www.freehercampaign.org/vermont FreeHer zine https://drive.google.com/file/d/11hILxjEcUBBU8KcjJOqxIqg9zTc-8ut3/view Books: Tip of the Spear - Orisanmi Burton Golden Gulag - Ruth Wilson Gilmore

Host Anna sits down with Emory University students Bella and Zach Hammond, two leading organizers with Students for Socialism @ Emory. Bella and Zach talk about what influences shaped their political thoughts, organizing at Emory (and beyond!), media role, and hopes they have. Info on GILEE https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/atlanta-mayor-rejects-demand-end-israel-police-training Songs: 1) "Change Tomorrow" by DAM 2) "Yama" by Gitkin 3) "Me Gustan Los Estudiantes" by Mercedes Sosa

In a recent interview on Democracy Now, director of “Unseen” Set Hernandez quoted Ursula Le Guin: “Hard times are coming, when we'll be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now. … We'll need writers who can remember freedom — poets, visionaries — realists of a larger reality.” In this episode we invited Emily and Nora Khilfeh, two Palestinian students: Emily is graduate student of writing at Arizona State University and she shares her poetry in our show today, Nora is a student at Edmonds College in Seattle. Both students share their experiences as Palestinian college students, their visits to their family home in Palestine, and poetry that speaks truth to power. Song #1: Lowkey - Long Live Palestine ft Frankie Boyle, Maverick Sabre (Part 3) [Music Video] | GRM Daily (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhEFrv-Xwtw) Song #2: Ramallah Underground - Sijen ib Sijen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlRVdbMZSJk)

Listen to high school students in Vermont share their thoughts about what is happening in Gaza. C

On Sunday, March 10th ATLradicalart held a rally outside the High Museum in Atlanta, GA. Their rally was to say No Artwashing Israeli Apartheid! They ask: "How does Empire use Art against the people and to cover up complicity in genocide?" Listen to the voices from outside on the streets! Songs/Speakers in order: 1) Song and chant - Priscilla Gay Smith 2) Opening with Rozina Shivaz Gilani 3) Umaymah Mohammad 4) Song by Emmanuel Lockett 5) Andrea Ornelas - Gaza Monologue 6) Nushrat Nur 7) Poem by Keara Skates 8) Gaza Monologue 9) Cristy York 10) Libre Sankara - Gaza Monologue 11) Song by Divina Salam

We spend the hour with Umaymah Mohammad - Palestinian, organizer, and current MD/PhD student at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. Umaymah speaks with us about her own history, rejecting the silence of the university in not protecting the safety of those students who have been targeted by racist, anti-Palestinian, xenophobic, and Islamophobic harassment , international solidarity, and what she calls "victory outside of empire." Read Umaymah's Open Letter: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19WveLfyzyxalsmLg6SdKQ0O7oeLjqcbv/view Read here: an Open Letter to Emory Jan 24, 2024 by a coalition of community and civil rights organizations, writing on behalf of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students and students perceived to be Palestinian or Muslim at Emory University. https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/open-letter-on-the-anti-palestinian-and-islamophobic-environment-at-emory-university/

Part II in of our conversation with Dr. Sewell. Dr. Sewell is an Associate Professor in Sociology at Emory University in Atlanta, GA and also the founder and director of the Race and Policing Project. In part II, Dr. Sewell speaks on race in Atlanta, policing and adverse health, "carceral grief," and teaching. Listen to Part I https://on.soundcloud.com/3Khfp Dr. Sewell: https://sociology.emory.edu/people/bios/Sewell-Alyasah%20A..html https://www.abigailasewell.com/index.html

Indigo host Chris and Anna talk poetry, teaching, hope, and struggle. Chris shares some of the work that he is doing with his students at Springfield High School in Springfield, Vermont. Poems: Pablo Neruda "United Fruit Company" https://genius.com/Pablo-neruda-the-united-fruit-company-annotated Article: "From Guernica to Gaza" https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/12/25/from-guernica-to-gaza/ Songs: Marvin Gaye: "Inner City Blues" LowKey: Instrumental Palestine Newsies Musical

On the heels of MLK Day we air our annual poetry and conversation show with Spark faculty, alum, and Indigo hosts. We read poems that speak to the moment as we look forward to 2024. With poems by: Derek Johnson -- D.C. teacher & Spark alum Reads: "Climate Justice and Food Sovereignty Now!" by Elizabeth Mpofu Katie Behan -- RI teacher & Spark alum Reads: "All of us or None" by Bertolt Brecht Josh Wyman - Spark faculty, W. Mass Reads: "The Prison Cell" by Mahmoud Darwish Patrice Strifert - Spark faculty & Keene state professor, NH Reads: "Refugee God" by Mahmoud Darwish and an original poem Kyra Swain - Spark alum and Vermont education, VT Shares an original poem Dr. Janaki Natarajan - Spark founder Shares an original poem SONGS: 1) Nina Simone, Why? (The King of Love is Dead) 2) Public Enemy, By the Time I get to Arizona

Indigo host Anna Mullany interviews Dr. Alyasah “Ali” Sewell of Emory University. Dr. Sewell is Associate Professor of Sociology at Emory and Founder and Director of The Race and Policing Project. Advancing quantitative approaches to racism studies, they assess empirical links between the political economy of race and racial health(care) disparities using policing and housing policy data. In Part I, we learn about Dr. Sewell's current work on housing and firearm epidemic in Atlanta, gentrification, housing & health, and their thoughts on Cop City and the surrounding areas. Part II will air in a few weeks!

Indigo hosts Anna & Josh spend the hour with Reverend Keyanna Jones. Rev. Jones, born and raised in Atlanta, GA, is a community activist and organizer. She talks with us about the #stopcopcity movement in Atlanta, the history of the Weelaunee forest, policing, the GILEE program & militarism, the connections between Gaza and Atlanta, and necessary international solidarity. Songs: The Revolution Can Not be Televised - Gil Scott Heron So Grows the Flame - Matt Rivers Fight the Power - Public Enemy

On November 14, 2023 public health workers against Cop City held a rally outside of the American Public Health Association (APHA) annual meeting held in Atlanta, GA at the Georgia World Congress Center. Listen to the voices from the rally. CopCity is a public health issue & Atlanta is one of the most well-funded PDs in the country. From Atlanta to Palestine - militarization has got to go! Song played - Matt Rivers: "So Grows the Flame (The Ballad of Tortuguita)" Speakers: 1) Rita Valenti - Project South 2) Devin Franklin - Southern Center for Human Rights 3) Dominique Grant - Women on the Rise 4) Felipe 5) Omid 6) Dr. Katie Huffling - Alliances of Nurses for a Health Environment 7) Devin Barrington Ward -Black Futurists Group, Community Org 8) Dr. Mark Spencer -- introductions to Felipe, Omid, and Devin

Indigo Radio spoke with 4 educators in our back-to-school special. We discussed what is happening in students' and teachers' lives within and outside of schools, what their work looks like beyond the classroom, what gives them strength to meet the challenges facing, and more.

Indigo Radio interviewed Fred Magdoff, former Professor of Plant and Soil Science at University of Vermont. He is a director of the Monthly Review Foundation, and has written on political economy for many years. We discussed the importance of soil, how soil is alive, how human activities have impacted our soils, and what we can do to care for our soils. Fred helps us to make connections between environmental, social, political, and economic aspects in order to build an environmentally sound and economically just society. Find Fred's book Building Soils for Better Crops online for free https://www.sare.org/resources/building-soils-for-better-crops/.

We spend the hour talking about the life a Tina Turner though her music. As the first black person and women on the cover of Rolling Stones, Tina continued to strive despite the obstacles. Listen now to learn more and enjoy the tunes!

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for honoring and mourning the U.S. military personnel who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces According to the Costs of War Project at Brown University, U.S. wars since the September 11th attacks have cost over $8 trillion. A separate report by the group estimates 4.6 million people have died since 9/11 as a result of the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Somalia. And over the past 16 months, Congress has approved more than $113 billion for Ukraine following Russia's invasion. This Sunday, we replay our show on how young people are targeted by the military and highlight the amazing work that is being done to counter that recruitment. We will hear from Amanda Jordan-Starks about the work of Project YANO based in San Diego and Joanne Sheehan from the War Resisters League.

In the first of our series on the Atlanta Forest Defenders and Weelaunee Forest, we talk with a climate activist and forest defender about their time in the Weelaunee Forest during the March 2023 week of protest and action. J talks about the urgency of solidarity, resistance to Cop City, the beauty of Weelaunee Forest, and hope for all of our futures. Photo Credit: by a Forest Defender, sketch of the living room in Weelaunee

Today our society has developed through conquering lands and peoples, destroying our relationships with one another and the land in order to exploit and consume. We see ourselves above nature rather than a part of nature. Permaculture, rooted in the knowledge generated by indigenous communities worldwide, is a return back to earth based practices that encourage actions based on the rules of nature to enhance living systems and promote abundance. Listen to the track to hear more about permaculture and Greening the Desert in Jordan.

Indigo host Anna Mullany talks with Noa Isabella & Frank Osten, both health justice organizers with Out in the Open. They talk with us about the HEART program, rural health, & what we can all learn in supporting our LGBTQ+ community members in VT.

To commemorate Earth Day 2023, we spend the hour on Nepal -- Nepal is considered the 4th most vulnerable country in terms of climate-related disasters. Today we speak to two graduate students from Nepal - Prakriti Shresthra & Chhimi Sherpa, who are both working toward their Master's degree in the International Dev., Community, and Environment department at Clark University in Worcester, MA. Prakriti and Chimmi speak with us about climate, health, gender, and youth activism in Nepal and share their hopes for our futures. *Photo: Ilam, Nepal

All new show this Sunday with host Anna and her Clark undergraduate students in the What is Public Health? course. Students discuss the issue of menstrual inequity at Clark University in Worcester, MA. From the students: "We chose to discuss menstrual equity because of its lack of visibility and the taboo around menstruation. We certainly learnt a lot from our discussion, and we hope you do too!"

We spend the hour with Leticia Gonzalez, a Visiting Fulbright Scholar at Clark University in Worcester, MA in the International Development, Community and Environment department. Leticia is working on her Ph.D looking at rural women and family farms in Latin America. She talks with Indigo about family farms, rural women, and what we can learn from women's movements in Argentina.

This week, Indigo host Anna Mullany passes the show over to her undergraduate students at Clark University in Worcester MA where she is currently teaching. A group of her public health students created a show - "Let's Talk About It: Sexual Assault at Clark" - this show tackles the very real issue of sexual assault on the Clark campus. Bringing in existing literature, Bea, Claudia, and Sarah investigate the structural causes of sexual assault and the underreporting of it. To supplement their conversation, they are joined by Clark's Title IX coordinator Brittany Brickman to explain more about Title IX and initiatives at Clark, as well as by Amira, who herself experienced assault at Clark.

Indigo Radio interviewed Ellen Schwartz, Sheila Adams, and Grace Beninson of the Vermont Worker's Center. They talk to us about their ongoing political education and health care issues as a front to also work on issues of poverty, race, food access, and social justice.

Humans are depleting and polluting the remaining clean water on our earth, already causing severe problems for many. Who owns the water and what happens when our water is privatized? are just some of the questions that asked by our hosts, broadcasting from Morocco!

Today's show is about the recent unilateral decision by the soon to be Vermont State University to downgrade NVU Johnson's sports teams from NCAA to USCAA, and downgrading Randolph and Williston sports teams to clubs, and to digitize the library system. We'll start out with looking at how changes in the sports teams impact students, and students of color. I spoke with Winston Salisman, Jr and NVU Johnson student Chase Matlock. Here at Indigo Radio we make connections with broader social issues, so we're going to take a look at the history of NCAA, Black players, and access to education, then we'll look Vermont State University's decisions in the context of a broader national trend of stripping and attacking education and libraries which are last holdouts of public goods.

Join us to hear Dr. MLK Jr.'s 1967 Speech "Beyond Vietnam" - read by Indigo hosts, Spark Teacher Institute faculty and Spark alum Nina Kunimoto, Kyra Swain, Anna Mullany, Kelly Junno, Patrice Strifert, and Katie Behan

Indigo Radio was in conversation with Ryan Emerson, a labor organizer and political activist currently working as the Government and Labor Affairs Manager at Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 99, which represents over 30,000 education support staff across Los Angeles County. We reflect on the 2019 LA teacher strikes and what place a teacher union has in larger struggles against school privatization and other neoliberal takeovers.

In this show, we discuss some of the hidden layers of politics within sports around the world. Specifically, we discuss the 2022 World Cup and how we can analyze the world through sports entertainment. We interview two Moroccans about their thoughts on the Moroccan team's performance in the World Cup and football (soccer) in general.

We discuss how politics in sports are acceptable as long as the messages uphold the dominant narratives of militarism, masculinity, and consumerism. But politics that question the political and economic structures are seen as a disruption to the game. Not so different from the ways social justice education is deemed too "political" for our classrooms.

Indigo Radio's Mikaela Simms and Nina Kunimoto was in conversation with Dr. Karanja Keita Carroll a faculty member in the Department of Black & Latinx Studies at Baruch College (CUNY). His teaching and research interests revolve around African-centered theory & methodology, with an emphasis on social and psychological theory. As an advocate of Prison Education, Dr. Carroll has also taught, held workshops and/or lectured in state-sanctioned correctional facilities throughout Pennsylvania and New York.

Guest hosts - Clark University students Gelian Rosa, Emma Cheyney, Aiman Khan, and Erin McInerney host this week's Indigo Radio. They are students in Indigo host Anna Mullany's "What is Public Health?" course at Clark in Worcester, MA. They share their learnings on depression amongst college students and why this should be considered a public health issue. Thanks to Gelian, Emma, Aiman, and Erin for hosting! Songs: 1) Bruno Mars "Count on Me" 2) Reverie "Give it Time" 3) Alicia Keys "We are Here"

Indigo host Anna interviews Jeff Noh, writer & Visiting Professor in the English department at Clark University, Worcester, MA. Jeff talks with us about how history and global political forces shape us, reads an excerpt from his upcoming novel, gives insight into what the incorporation of resistance movements within fiction can teach us, and shares history of the Korean peninsula.

We welcome Martín Espada into the studio today to read from his award-winning book of poetry, Floaters. Espada has won the 2018 Ruth Lilly Prize in poetry and was a 2021 National Book Award winner for poetry. Martín talks with us about Puerto Rico, the legacy of his father, Frank Espada, political art, activism, and teaching. Martín will be reading at the Brattleboro Literary Festival Oct 15th, 11:30am at Epsilon Spires along with poet, Doug Anderson.

Indigo hosts Patrice and Nik interview Ksenia Voropaeva on her work with About Face - a group of post-9/11 US war veterans who work against militarism at home and abroad, support social movements here in the US, and urge young people to think twice before they enter the military. Check out: aboutfaceveterans.org for more information!

Bharat Rathod has a doctorate degree in International Education from University of Massachusetts Amherst and his research interest comprises caste, higher education in India and diversity, equity and inclusion framework. His book, Dalit Academic Experiences: Stories of Caste, Stigma and Exclusion in Indian Higher Education, will be published in 2022. He worked in in the ‘Inclusive Universities: Linking Diversity, Equity and Excellence for the 21st Century' research project (2014 – 2017) which was funded by the United States-India Educational Foundation. Bharat is a trained facilitator and facilitated workshops on development topics and also worked as an instructional technologist at University of Massachusetts Amherst. He worked in the nonprofit sector and served as a leader in a community-based organization in his underprivileged neighborhood in India. Over the last decade, he has been associated with youth mentoring activities to promote higher education among the excluded communities in India. Bharat is developing an online mentoring platform, RiseUp Mentoring, to mentor and offer online resources to underrepresented youth from India. He has been associated with community development initiatives in India and involved with civil society organizations in India and the United States.

Dr. Olya Clark and Dr. Anna Mullany, both professors in public health, are in conversation with Indigo Radio. They help us re-frame reproductive health not as a matter of choices, which depending on your social location you may or may not have, but within larger social forces. They also connect us to the work that is being done in Mexico, Russia, and elsewhere to make abortion available.

Dr. Olya Clark and Dr. Anna Mullany, both professors in public health, are in conversation with Indigo Radio. They help us re-frame reproductive health not as a matter of choices, which depending on your social location you may or may not have, but within larger social forces. They also connect us to the work that is being done in Mexico, Russia, and elsewhere to make abortion available.

Indigo Radio interviewed Perpetual Hayfron on doula work, its entanglements in enslavement and medicalization, and Black women's health. Perpetual is a Certified Full Spectrum Doula & Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She is also a creative and beautiful human being.

50 years ago on Aug 7 police assassinated Jonathan Jackson for trying to free his brother George Jackson who was murdered on this day, August 21, 1971 by police guards. In remembrance of their murders and Black August, we interviewed Dr. Keith Jones, poet and professor of Africana Studies at UMass Boston.

Part 1, we talked to youth about how the overturning of Roe v Wade impacts them. In this second part, we speak with Dr. Karen Cangialosi about the elimination of the Women and Gender Studies Program as a major at Keene State College in New Hampshire. We also discuss the dangers of historical amnesia without such programs and its impact on resistance.

Last week the body of Mary Anderson, 23, of Harvard, Mass., was found in Brattleboro, VT. Today we re-air our show on IPV in rural areas with Indigo host Anna along with 5 of her UMass undergraduate public health students.

Mikaela Simms and Kyra Swain invite youth voices to talk about what the overturning of Roe v Wade means to them and their lives.

This week Vermont Gov. Phil Scott vetoed a bill aimed at stemming the state's overdose crisis. The bill was a way to explore supervised consumption or injection sites. Those sites would allow people to consume drugs under medical supervision to prevent an overdose. Scott says this is not the right strategy for Vermont.

Poems and discussion with local BUHS student Z'aira Pacheco & hosts Mikaela Simms, Nina Kunimoto, Sergio Arroyo, and Anna Mullany. Today's show is dedicated to all the children/students around the world who have lost their lives to gun violence. We link mass shootings here in the U.S. to U.S. militarism and violence around the world.

We speak with Dr. Aline Gubrium and Dr. Elizabeth Salerno Valdez of UMass Amherst School of Public Health & Health Sciences who work to improve outcomes and reduce inequities in sexual and reproductive health among adolescents - Join us to hear about comprehensive sexuality education and reproductive justice. *Photo Credit: by J - taken as part of the STRIVE Youth Participatory Action Research Fall 2021 Retreat