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This week, we're sharing an interview with Garret Felber, author of the book A Continuous Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Martin Sostre, out May 5 from AK Press. Garret speaks about the life of Martin Soster, famed jailhouse lawyer who successfully won cases related to the constitutional rights of prisoners, was politicized in prison by the Nation of Islam in the 1950's, ran radical Afro-centric bookstores in Buffalo NY to radicalize the youth, embracing anarchism during his time imprisoned on a frame up during which he was a celebrated political prisoner resisting cavity searches through the courts, went on to organize after his release for tenants rights and rehabilitating disused buildings for community centers and helping run a childcare. Sostre was a mentor to Lorenzo Komb'oa-Ervin and Ashanti Alston and laid important foundations for modern Black Anarchism in the US. Transcript PDF (Unimposed) Zine (Imposed PDF) There's a lot in here and we hope you enjoy the book and that the story inspires complex, creative and combative resistance to all forms of domination. MSI: https://www.martinsostre.com/ Study and Struggle: https://www.studyandstruggle.com/ Those Who Know Don't Say: The Nation Of Islam, the Black Freedom Movement, and the Carceral State Free the Mississippi Five: https://www.studyandstruggle.com/ms5 Free Society People's Library: https://www.instagram.com/freesocietylibrary/ Justice for Geraldine and Martin: https://www.instagram.com/justiceforgeraldineandmartin/ In the Belly: https://www.bellyzine.net/ In the Mix: https://inthemixprisonerpodcast.libsyn.com/ video of JEEP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwmELJwEsk8 Some past episodes touching on Black anarchism: Black Autonomy Reader: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2024/09/29/mutt-on-the-incomplete-black-autonomy-reader/ Ashanti Alston at ACAB2024: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2024/09/01/solidarity-spirituality-and-liberatory-promise-on-a-turtles-back-with-ashanti-omowali-alston/ Matt Meyer on Kuwasi Balagoon: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2019/06/04/free-them-all-matt-meyer-on-kuwasi-balagoon/ Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2013/04/03/memphis-organizes-against-police-and-the-kkk-a-conversation-with-lorenzo-komboa-ervin/ William C Anderson (first & second) Announcement Kevin Rashid Johnson From the SFBayView Newspaper: Rashid was “compacted” on May 1 to the Perry Correctional Institution in South Carolina, 430 Oaklawn Rd., Pelzer, SC 29669. His ID number in South Carolina is 397279. In the transit van, he was severely injured – probably a broken bone – in his left leg. He has not been given any treatment for it. He is in solitary confinement, with only a concrete slab to sleep on. He can make only one phone call per week. A comrade is helping him get onto the “GTL Getting Out” app so that he can communicate with everyone. Meanwhile, he has been on hunger strike since he got there. He lost 17 pounds during the first week. He appeals for maximum publicity and pressure. The phone numbers listed for the prison are: 864-243-4700 and 803-737-1752. Make calls and spread the word. Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, ID number 397279, must be treated humanely, given good medical care and a decent place to sleep and allowed full access to communicate with his lawyers and supporters. Tell the authorities to meet his demands so he can end his hunger strike. . ... . .. Featured Track Standing At The Crossroad by Eddie and Ernie from Lost Friends
The United States' history with the death penalty runs from colonial gallows to modern lethal injections. Under Trump's presidency, understanding history is more important than ever. In this episode, we're sitting down with William C. Anderson, the activist, writer, and author of "The Nation on No Map," to unpack why capital punishment still grips this nation and what's at stake for us all. To find out more about William and his work, please visit https://williamcanderson.info _____________________________________________________________ Explore what it means to adapt and evolve together. Check out Say More with Tulaine Montgomery wherever you find podcasts _____________________________________________________________ — This podcast is brought to you by PushBlack, the nation's largest non-profit Black media company. You make PushBlack happen with your contributions at BlackHistoryYear.com. Most folks do 5 or 10 bucks a month, but truly, anything helps. Thanks for supporting the work. With production support from Leslie Taylor-Grover and Brooke Brown, Black History Year is produced by Cydney Smith, Darren Wallace, and Len Webb, who also edits the show. Lilly Workneh is our Executive Producer, and Black History Year's host is Darren Wallace. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This is a conversation withWilliam C. Anderson, author of the bookThe Nation on No Map (AK Press 2021) and co-author ofAs Black as Resistance (AK Press 2018). He's also the co-founder ofOffshoot Journal and provides creative direction as a producer of theBlack Autonomy Podcast.The Fire These Times is a proud member of From The Periphery (FTP) Media Collective. Check out other projects in our media ecosystem: the Mutual Aid Podcast, Politically Depressed, Obscuristan, andAntidote Zine. To support FTP please head toPatreon.For more:William C Anderson has awebsiteElia Ayoub is onMastodon,IG,Bluesky, and he hasa newsletterThe Fire These Times is onIG and YouTube and has awebsite From The Periphery is onPatreon,YouTube,Instagram, and has awebsiteTranscriptions: Transcriptions are done byAntidote Zine and will be published on The Fire These Times' transcript archive.Credits:Host: Elia Ayoub | Guest: William C Anderson | Music:Rap and Revenge | TFTT theme design:Wenyi Geng | FTP theme design:Hisham Rifai | Sound editor: Elliott Miskovicz | Team profile pics: Molly Crabapple | Episode design: Elia Ayoub | Producer: Elliott Miskovicz and Elia AyoubFrom The Periphery is built by Elia Ayoub, Leila Al-Shami, Ayman Makarem, Dana El Kurd, Karena Avedissian, Daniel Voskoboynik, Anna M, Aydın Yıldız, Ed S, Alice Bonfatti, israa abd elfattah, with more joining soon!The Fire These Times by Elia Ayoub is licensed underAttribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International
“If you're trying to destroy things that are as massive as the structures and the institutions that we talk about wanting to get rid of, that we talk about wanting to overthrow, you're going to have to sustain yourself,” says organizer and author William C. Anderson. In this episode, Kelly takes a trip to the Northwest Territories and talks with Anderson, Robyn Maynard, Harsha Walia, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Mahdi Sabbagh, and others about the crises of trauma, grief, and overwhelm in our communities, and the kind of healing activists need to stay in the fight. Music: Son Monarcas, Leela Gilday & Wiiliideh Drummers You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: truthout.org/audio/let-this-conversation-with-mariame-kaba-radicalize-you/ If you would like to support the show, you can donate here: bit.ly/TODonate If you would like to receive Truthout's newsletter, please sign up: bit.ly/TOnewsletter
Episode Summary This week on Live Like the World is Dying, Margaret and Dean continue to talk about the ways that mutual aid helps communities prepare for disasters that are already here and disasters that have yet to come. They talk about what things like hope and success can look like even as the world crumbles around us. Guest Info Dean Spade is an American lawyer, writer, trans activist, and associate professor of law at Seattle University School of Law. You can find Dean's work at Deanspade.net, and you can read the article that Margaret and Dean talk about, "Climate Disaster is Here--And the State Will Never Save Us" on inthesetimes.com. You can also find Dean on Twitter @deanspade or on IG @spade.dean. Host Info Margaret (she/they) can be found on twitter @magpiekilljoy or instagram at @margaretkilljoy. Publisher Info This show is published by Strangers in A Tangled Wilderness. We can be found at www.tangledwilderness.org, or on Twitter @TangledWild and Instagram @Tangled_Wilderness. You can support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. Transcript Live Like the World is Dying: Dean Spade on Mutual Aid as Preparedness pt. II **Margaret ** 00:15 Hello, and welcome to Live Like the World is Dying, your podcast for what feels like the end times. I'm your host, Margaret Killjoy, and this is part two of a conversation with Dean Spade. So I should probably listen to part one, but I'm not your boss. This podcast is a proud member of the Channel Zero Network of anarchist podcasts, and here's a jingle from another show on the network. **Margaret ** 00:42 Okay, I have a kind of final-ish question, I think. And it can be "ish" on the final part. But at the beginning of this, you said that your politics have been moving towards anti-statism, or, you know, possibly anarchism, or whatever. And I'm wondering if you want to talk about that. In some ways, I feel like you've implied a lot of maybe what has drawn you more towards those politics, but I'm really curious about the kind of route you took--not like where you've landed, and what labels you want to throw on things--but what has led you towards those politics? **Dean ** 01:56 I just talked with somebody yesterday who I know from the anti-Zionist Jewish world who was talking about the. . . about how he feels like people haven't thought. . . that he hasn't thought a lot about anti-State or anarchist politics, and he was like, "Why do you think some people haven't and some people haven't?" and I was like, "Oh, I think people just come to our politics. Like, we just kind of stumble into them." It's like, if somebody stumbled into a punk scene in 1999, they probably found anarchism sooner than me. I stumbled into all this queer, anti-police stuff, and we were doing a lot of identity-based work, and people weren't talking about political tendencies in the same way--in part also, because it had been really divisive, at certain points, in our movements where people had gotten so obsessed with their ideology that they'd been able to work together and got really insular. So there was a lot of, I think, push away for some people from that. I think, also, we have lived in times for the last, at least 100 years, that are so deeply reactive anti-anarchist, in particular, because of the history of anarchism in the US and elsewhere. There's a really great piece by William C. Anderson that came out a while--like not that long ago--after the Atlanta indictment about how policing in the United States itself developed through policing anarchism, that I highly recommend. But anyway, I think a lot of us also just haven't gotten. . . Like, it's like you were told, "Anarchists are just people who want chaos and who are dirty white people," or whatever. There's a lot of things that erase the contributions of anti-colonial anarchists and anarchists who aren't white in all these things. Anyway, Or, anti-State tendencies that aren't anarchism in the European sense. But for me, I think what happened is that I've been in movements that have been benefiting from a range of genealogies, including women of color feminism--specifically Black feminism--and other political knowledges and methods that have been anti-institutional, in really great ways have had critiques of the borders and the cops and the military have also had a focus on practices of collectivity and horizontality with us, you know, inside our movements, which are very. . . You know, that really parallel with a lot of anarchist methodologies like "Let's not have a boss in this group," you know? And so all of those things really dovetail with anarchism, but I wasn't ever studying anarchism itself. Some people who were in groups I was in maybe identified as anarchists, but it didn't seem like an essential thing for me to study for a number of years. And I didn't think a lot about whether or not that was my position, because also I just had the same caricatures in my mind that other people did. And I also was like, "Do anarchists think that people shouldn't get welfare?" I don't know. I had some of my own, you know. As somebody who grew up on welfare, I had some questions about that, that I didn't have resolutions to. And then over time, especially doing abolitionist work, it just was so clear to me more and more not only that everything I was already doing dovetailed with anarchism: my interest in mutual aid, my interest in horizontal tactics inside our groups, and building group culture where we learned how to share with each other, and not boss each other around, and all that stuff. But also, the ways in which, I think, abolitionist frameworks are just. . . like, they're so deeply anti-State. It's like, 'Yeah, don't build a better cop. Don't build a better jail. Don't build a better prison. Don't build a better social services framework that's actually still a cop," or you know. And, that you can't have a country without cops, borders, and military. That's what a country is made of, you know? You can't have a Capitalist economy without a boot on everybody's neck making us participate in it. So I just came to realize like, I'm not only--I always knew I was against the United States settler colonial slavery project--but I was like, "Oh, my God, I'm against countries. I'm against that." And then I did start actually reading about this stuff and I was like, "Oh, my God, they're a recent invention. They don't need to be able to organize themselves. That's not how people have always organized themselves." And I also started to see how it actually makes a difference in our tactics about what we're going to do today, if we know this about ourselves, right? Like how we're going to get basically co-opted by projects of "Oh, let's let's do a let's do a million local elections and try to take over a city council 'thing.'" A lot of that work steals the oxygen out of local movements really intensely. And I'm not gonna say it should never ever be done, but I just feel like so much of it actually has a lack of a conversation about what can happen in those spaces behind it and then is incredibly resource intensive and doesn't lead to the things I think people hope it will lead to, like, "Oh, we're gonna have an abolitionist prosecutor and abolitionist city council person or mayor and it's gonna change everything," right? And then not seeing that happen. I think we've seen that it's played out. Or the, you know, I think this is even sharpened for me with the period of the "Defund [the police]" work--which I care a lot about, trying to defund the police--and seeing the fights inside city councils and how deeply impenetrable--like even when you supposedly, in 2020, get the whole city council saying we want to defund the police and there's so much effort on that side--it's like our cities are run by real estate developers, chambers of commerce, and police departments. And the entire apparatus of the city councils--which is in some ways more accessible than any other level of government, of course--is still unmovable. Like you can't. . . you can be right all day long. You can do every kind of research. You can show you can turn up with all the people every single time. And as soon as they can turn around and reestablish their nonstop march to constantly increase the police budget, that's what they'll do. And that is what they have done since 2020 after all this amazing work by so many people. So I think I'm just continually evaluating "Wow, where are there still parts of my own approach to politics that are assuming we can convince governments of things?"--even while I want to get rid of those kinds of governments--and why do I ever think they will voluntarily put down their weapons? And why do I think about getting any different people inside there, inside that machine? I don't believe that about the military. I'm not like, "Well, maybe if Margaret Killjoy was the general, it would all be fine." I know, that's not true. So why do I, and where have I still. . . And I, you know, I forgive myself and all of us. We're all just trying shit our whole lives. And there's so many things I've been involved in that I think were not that generative, but you know, we couldn't have known that. Or, where there was a backlash so that the thing that was generative for a while stopped or, you know, was turned on us in a way that undermined our hopes. But I think that for me it's just an ongoing deepening with different anti-State frameworks, an ongoing deepening of reading history, and understanding why different revolutionary projects that then took on State forms became authoritarian, trying to understand what this kind of insight--which is very hard, because it's about letting go of a lot of hope and a lot of tactics that people are putting a lot of effort into--like, what it directs us to do to most immediately support people's well being, and take down the apparatuses that are hurting us that are, honestly, just like continuing to grow. Like they're all. . . Like the level of surveillance we are under right now compared to five years ago. Like, the capacity for political repression that the State has right now compared to five years ago. I don't know if you saw this, but like-- maybe it was this week--Georgia is going to outlaw bail funds, is going to criminalize bail funds. Tennessee's trying to do the same thing. Like, tiny things we have in our movements to try to support people facing repression, even those they are directly going after. So, yeah, it's really hard to face these conditions. And also, I see a lot of people working really hard on the ground blaming themselves for the effects of the conditions like "Oh, why can't we? Why can't we do a better job stopping these homeless sweeps in our city?" It's like it's not because you're not doing a really good job trying to. There are a lot of really bad conditions. And I think that it goes back to this humility, like, "Okay, wow, things are so dire. What if I let myself know this so that I could talk with my friends about what's possible--given how things actually are--and let go of some of the fantasies?" I think I talked to you briefly before we started the podcast but I recently rewatched those two videos that Naomi Klein and Molly Crabapple--both of whom I really, really respect--made a few years back. They're both videos about what the world could be like after the Green New Deal and after many wonderful uprisings. And they feel so, so misleading to me, watching them right now. Like they imagine a world in which people just protest a lot. And then everyone has things that are better. And also, we still have countries and jobs. It very weirdly doesn't get rid of Capitalism or the nation state. But it's like, there's a kind of like. . . I think that it's very dangerous, those fantasies, that we can do certain kinds of tactics and our opponents will just turn over. And I think those are inside a lot of people's--a lot of very wise people's--messages. And I just increasingly, when I encounter them, feel much more concerned about what they teach us and how they mislead us. **Margaret ** 11:00 I just think that we have to always look clear-headedly at what our actual threats are, at what's actually happening, and then make our decisions based on how to actually address that, rather than being like, "I want to become just like this person I read about in history, so I'm going to do whatever they did." And this could be true of, "I want to be a principled pacifist and get arrested just like Gandhi," or whatever, right? You know, it could also be, "I want to be just like the following anarchist in the 1880s who decided it was time to start shooting people," you know? We just need to actually look at what's happening and make our decisions based on that. And it's hard, because what we're facing is different from what anyone else has ever faced in history. Not necessarily worse--although the overall ecosystem is worse than anything minus whenever all the. . . you know, before humans evolved, and various other mass die offs that have happened or whatever. But it's different and it's bad. And we just need to look at it and then come up with solutions. Or even some of this is, "How do we solve this problem?" And some of it is like, "How do we live with this?" Not accept it but accept that it's going to have consequences on us and that fighting it isn't going to be easy and we might not win. But what are the best tools by which we can fight it, and/or what are the best tools that we can use to live meaningful lives in the process? You know, so that when we inevitably die, at 103 or 33, we can be proud of who we were. You know, and obviously, there's theological or metaphysical considerations into exactly what that process looks like that'll be different for different people. But, you know, I think that that's what to do. **Dean ** 13:06 It's also about not trying to feel better. I think there's just something so intense about how people are like, you know, "If you talk about collapse, it makes me feel bad." And there's an assumption that that will demobilize me. And it's like, actually, Capitalism is like, either feel bad or feel good, you know? And that's not how life is. Life is like, fuck. . . For example, you have a terrible loss and you live with grief. And you also still enjoy this beautiful meal. And you're still grieving. And you're in pain. And being willing. . . or--I see a lot of my students--they're like, "Oh, my God, the things I'm learning in your class, I'm so worried about these terrible things in the world that I didn't know we're going on. This is so awful." And they want to instantly know what to do to feel better. And I'm like, I can't make. . . I don't want you to do things feel better. I want you to do things to try to be part of something and you'll never know if they worked or not. Because that's the nature of it. You don't know what our opposition's next countermove is or whether we'll regret some parts of it, but it's the trying stuff, it's the listening to feedback about what didn't go well or how it hurts somebody else. The goal is connection and belonging with each other and experimentation. And, you know, it doesn't always feel good to receive negative feedback, but often it's like incredibly growthful. It's like feeling good can't be the goal. Feeling, Yes. And sometimes feeling good. And pursuing pleasure, absolutely. But not like, "I want to have a pat" happiness where I don't have to worry or be concerned or be critical. Like of course nobody who sees themselves as radical should be wanting that, but I still think that craving--when it comes to conversations about collapse--where it's like I want the one thing that will make me feel better. Or, people feel that about Gaza. Like, "Oh my God, I just found about about this horrible genocide that's happening. I've not known about this before. I want to be able to go to one action and feel I did something and to then be better and post it on Instagram. And it's like, A) love them for waking up to what's happening in Gaza. I love, love any moment where people become more interested in the wellbeing of all people and stopping violence, and we have to be willing to take in how overwhelming this is, how unmovable the war machine feels, and still take action against it, but not because we're guaranteed that what we did today works, or something. You know what I mean? Like that feels--that simplicity--really cheats us of the really complex position we're actually in, that if we can let ourselves be in it, might allow discernment towards better action, hopefully, you know? **Margaret ** 15:30 No, and I like how you tie that to the way that capitalism makes us think that happiness is the goal. Like, I like happiness. But my goal in life is not specifically to lead a happy life; it's to have a meaningful life and to have as complete of a life as--I mean, every life is complete. And, you know, when you look at. . . Anyone who's ever known a child who's died has had to come to terms with the fact that every life is complete, you know, is a thing that I've been dealing with because of some stuff. And, you know. . . Yeah, the idea that you're just supposed to be happy is some fucking McDonald's shit. You know? And don't get me wrong, seek happiness. Do it. It's great. You know? But yeah, sometimes you just need to accept. . . Like, I want to live a beautiful life and I think that is a different thing, you know? And maybe because I'm like a goth, or whatever, I find a lot of different things beautiful than some other people. But. . . No, I. . . I like that. And it does. It helps get people beyond the like, "Oh, good, I can sleep at night because I went to one protest," you know? And instead, like learning to sit with the discomfort of all these things happening and understanding where we do and don't have agency and. . . Imean, don't get me wrong, people should be going to these protests. You know, if nothing else that are good ways to find the other people who care. **Dean ** 17:04 Yeah, meet other people and try stuff. I mean, I want to live in reality. I want to know that. . . I want to. . . If I've been working on a strategy for 10 years and it has actually not been helping, it's been hurting people, I want to know. I don't want to keep doing it just because my ego is attached to it, or my paycheck. I've seen that a lot in the dilemmas with the [uninterpretable] movements, you know, where I want to. . . Yeah, absolutely, I'm like, be promiscuous about the stuff you try. Go to all the protests. Go to anything. Try anything. But it's that willingness to keep open the possibility that I'm going to get feedback or learn that. . . learn the impacts, or learn my position on the world, or learn how the clothes I'm wearing impact people who made them, or what. . . I just like, I just want to be in reality, and that includes the reality of how unbearably beautiful being alive is, how the entire... how my entire body was structured to receive pleasure from this incredible landscape. That reality too, which is Capitalism also shuts down and tells me to only be entertained by video games and chips, or whatever. You know, I want to live fully in the reality of how beautiful and abundant and gorgeous this life is and how heartbreaking and devastating these systems are, and how little control I have over them. And then, the moments when I do feel a connection, or am of service to something in my community, like how that is--like all of that, you know? But not through the filter of liberalism, that's just like, "I need to find out that I'm a good person. TM [trademarked]," you know? **Dean ** 17:04 Okay, so in that vein, to bring it back to kind of some of the preparedness stuff that you've been writing more about and engaging with more, I was wondering if you want to talk about, like, what do you what is preparedness looking like for you right now? Or, you know, how is it affecting you as much as you feel like talking about anything personal? Like, how is it affecting the kind of decisions that you're making about how you want to live or how you prepare? **Dean ** 18:55 That's such a good question. I mean, in general, my study of collapse is affecting a lot of things for me. I'm thinking a lot about the ethics of the fact that I travel on planes and how to reduce that or eliminate it. And also I don't want to get stuck somewhere really far away from my people when things are bad. So I've been thinking a lot about shifting and changes around that. I've been thinking a lot about how much I want to work a job. What are the other options here? You know what I mean? Just like when will I know that I don't want to do that? Or whatever. I've been writing a book for 10 years that's kind of like a relationships self-help book for radicals, you know, kind of thing, because I've spent so much time in our movements watching people, you know, tear each other in our groups apart with our own unexamined relational patterns that are very, you know, the pattern across the culture. So, I've been writing a book about that. And part of me is like, "At this point, I just need to recognize I'm writing this for pleasure. Like, I don't know that there's time for this to be of any use to anyone," you know what I mean? That's an interesting move to shift from thinking the, you know, probably totally ridiculous fantasy any of us have when we write anything, that people will read this and it will help them do something, and be like, "Or not?" Or I'm just really working on a book for 10 years, just for me...because that's what I did with those 10 years of my life. Okay. Like, that's an interesting move to let go of outcomes even more than ever. And I don't think I ever thought that I would have been terribly impacted by even the little hope of that. **Dean ** 18:55 Yeah, I think just to. . .just to gas you up really quick. I've seen your cultural impact for years now, and it's always been positive. So I appreciate it. But please continue. **Dean ** 20:44 I mean, I think about whether I want to live in the country, whether the cities will be the hardest places to be. And I have friends who have moved to rural places and like really cultivated deep relationships with people, even across political differences in the places they're living. And I'm like, "Huh." And then I think about some really, some really, you know, detailed specific things. Like, if I'm going to live in the country, in the Pacific Northwest where I live, how can I live less near all of the scariest...you know, right-wing neo-Nazis and closer instead to some of the rural people who are a little more like fruits and nuts, you know? So I asked myself that question. I think about what that would look like, you know, off grid? You know, I'm not somebody who can like buy a vacation house or something. So like what kind of off-grid small sort of thing can I do with anybody I know who already has a land project. I think about that. I think about. . .I think I've been thinking a lot about--I think maybe I mentioned this to you--of thinking a lot about doing something like go bag parties even in subcultural scenes in my own town. Like doing things to get more people to talk about disaster and collapse, you know? And if they want to think about it as an earthquake go bag, awesome. That's a danger in Seattle for sure. If they want to think about it like that. You know, like, having people just, I was thinking about, like, how do you make those parties fun? Like, you know, having there be giveaways, having there be like. . . having people bring. . . You know, is it also a clothing exchange? Like, is it a sex toy exchange? Like, I've been just imagining different, you know, what would that look like for my queer-er friends versus what will it look like for people on my block, versus what would it look like with my students? Like, just kind of what would be different. . . what would help different people try it and then also think they could put one on, you know? Like, just how to really--especially because I feel like this podcast is very user-friendly in that way, so I've been really inspired by some of your episodes to think about what are the ways I could take what I love about mutual aid organizing, how I love meeting people, and I love making an event happen, making it welcoming, having people make new friends, and how can that be oriented towards people thinking about preparedness? And how much--some of the questions I've asked myself are--how much would there be any talking and programming at such an event or how much would it just be like, "come and grab this stuff. And here's some printouts of things you could have in your go bag. And here's a pile of bags. And there's a pile of, you know, emergency blankets. And here's a pile of whatever," right? So I've had those kinds of questions about how to do. . . I think that's what's next for me is to actually try on some of that organizing with some people that are actually interested in that. **Margaret ** 23:10 When you do that, can you come back on and talk about how it went? I feel like people will learn from that a lot. **Dean ** 23:15 Yeah, and I'd love to, if other people have tried it--I'm curious--please reach out to me. Curious to hear their experiences. **Margaret ** 23:21 Me and one of my friends who does this kind of work too, we put on a day of preparedness. We did a, you know, where you get. . . There were a bunch of different talks by different people who lived in that area who came and they talked about the projects they're working on. There was someone who was like, "Oh, I'm really into mesh networks." And someone else is like, "Oh, I'm doing things like water collection and rainwater and things like that." And there were multiple. . . There were, I think, a total of maybe about six events at. . . So you could pick between two at any given point, like the way that conferences work, or whatever. And it was, you know, a local food. . . a local food distro did lunch that was free for everyone. But then dinner was a giant potluck. And I've actually never seen a giant potluck work so well as the one that I went to. It was cool. And then there was a big talk that was everyone and it was more in the evening. Some people only came for that. And it was, you know, we used me as sort of a keynote-ish person but then it was. . . Immediately from there. It was a facilitated roundtable of the people who live in that town talking about their needs and how to meet them. And I'm now thinking maybe I talked about this before on the show. I have no idea. And then at the very end, we made a long term food bucket. You know, a mylar bag, rice, and beans thing, which is way easier to do if you buy it all in bulk. And then it was kind of fun. And it was. . . My favorite part about it was that theoretically I was organizing it. And I know how to make the bucket. But I don't know how to necessarily make the 15 people figure out how to make sure that all the food goes evenly to these different buckets or whatever. And people were like, "How do we do that?" and I was like, "Figure it out. I don't know." And then everyone's self organized it and it worked perfectly fine. And then like everyone felt more invested, because they were...everyone was in charge and figuring things out together. And it was like a nice little microcosm of those, those nice moments in so many ways. And, you know, and then it was. . . I would say a good third of the people didn't have any money--and so didn't pay for their buckets--and a good third of the people were like, "I can easily pay twice as much as what this bucket cost," you know, because those buckets, if you make your own are only like 20 bucks. If you buy them at a prepper store--if you buy them at a reasonable prepper store, they're 50 bucks--if you buy them from Alex Jones and all that shit, then they're not very good and they're way more than that. And so that worked, that model works really well. And we're hoping to replicate it. And so, but I really like the way that you're talking about it. I really like the idea of like, yeah, how would it be different? How would the go bag party be different for your block versus your students versus your queer friend group, but I'm fascinated. I want to hear how it goes. **Dean ** 26:07 Yeah, I love what you said about people having to figure things out. I noticed this a lot when we had that police free zone in Seattle during the 2020 uprising, how many people who showed up who'd never done anything political in their life. they've never, ever, ever, and they like to come to it. Like they're coming to the movement. And they arrived at the field, at Cal Anderson Park, and they wanted something to do, you know? They wanted to do part of an art build, or they. . . Like people don't want to just sit and watch, you know? And then once you are a part of doing something, you're helping move a barricade--whatever--then you're like, it's like a transformative. Like, "I was there and I was part of it. And I was important to it." It lets you have it be your...it's your identity, instead of "I went and watched the movement," you know? Whatever it is, I just thought that moment, when you said--"agency" is the word you use earlier--I feel like that you can. . . that can happen anywhere. But part of the way it happens is not like overly babying, you know, everybody. You know, yes, making things accessible and trying to make it really welcoming, but also putting people to work if they're up for it helping coordinate, you know? **Margaret ** 27:11 This actually goes full circle to something we were talking about at the beginning. We were talking about how we talk about disasters with people, right? And the note, the words that I wrote down in my notes that I take while I'm interviewing people, is I wrote down "disaster fatigue," because that's the. . . like the way that I think about it, you know, the. . . The way that I. . . A long time ago, I did forest defense and I would go sit in trees and fight against clearcutting and stuff like that. But I, I actually avoided going to West Virginia and fighting mountaintop removal for a long time, even though I knew it was happening, because it was too much of a problem. A clearcut is something that is a horrible crisis. And you can wrap your head around it even as people kill ancient trees. The Appalachians are like older than air, or something. I don't even know. They're old as shit. They are some of the oldest mountains in the world, right? And, the fact that people were clearcutting the mountain, like blowing up the mountain, was just too much. I couldn't wrap my head around it. And so I just didn't think about it. And I think that overall, that's what people do with climate change. There's big, major things that are happening, that are really big. And I'm not trying to say that other crises that are happening aren't really big. Climate change is the mother of all crises. You know? It is the most existential threat to all life on Earth that has existed since there was sentient life. And I'm not just including humans in that, you know? And, so people don't want to think about it. And I think that makes sense. And I think that the people who put in the work to be like, "Hey, come to Mountain Justice Summer Camp, or Spring Break Camp or whatever, and made these spaces where people could show up and learn about what was happening and get engaged. I think that maybe climate change. . . Yeah, it's the. . . Have people show up and give them something to do or tell them that work needs doing and that they can figure out what to do, you know? But we kind of, as a movement, a little bit too much are like, "I don't know, just figure it out." Because then the current people who like making. . . There's actually some people doing amazing work. There's a lot of people fighting pipelines and there's people fighting extraction. And I'm not even like mad at the people who like throw food at paintings or whatever, but it's not something that invites a lot of people in--from my perspective. I'm not. . . Honestly, I try not to talk shit on tactics. I try to be like...I try to do the "more stuff" model of critique where instead of talking shit on their tactic, I should do a different tactic. And what am I doing? I mean, whenever. I'm running around trying to help people get prepared. I actually think I'm doing a lot. But anyway. I just got excited about what you were saying. **Dean ** 30:11 Yeah, that thing. I mean, it's like. . . I think a lot about how the Young Lords said--you know, who are. . . they're fighting Puerto Rican liberation in the 1970s and modeled themselves after the Black Panthers. And they said in their early texts, you know, that they believed that their own people seeing their people fight in the streets with the cops would radicalize people. So that like having escalated tactics--and this is similar to the Ireland story you told--escalated tactics, confrontational tactics, liberals will tell us we're going to alienate people. . . What did you say? **Margaret ** 30:44 Setting fire to trash on the streets. I really like the Young Lords. **Dean ** 30:47 Yeah, like, escalated tactics don't alienate people, they bring a lot of people in. And the people who think they're alienated from them might feel scared of them and stuff, but the cultural shift and change that they produce still brings people along. In the end, they're like, "Oh, no, no, I'm not racist," or whatever, you know? It's like it moves everyone. It moves the needle. And so I think we need escalated tactics and we need invitations and inroads. And for a long time, I've said I think mutual aid is one of the best on ramps, and historically has been one the best onramps for movements. **Margaret ** 31:16 Absolutely. **Dean ** 31:17 Most people get involved in movements through trying to immediately help somebody, you know, because that's what. . . when you're fired up, that's what you want, or because they got help through a mutual aid project of some kind and that's what politicized them. They're like, "Who are these people who are giving away this thing that I need that I can't get anywhere else," you know, "Who are not mean to me and who tell me it's not my fault, and that, actually, the system's fucked, huh? What are they saying? And they're right," you know? So that, I believe deeply in the mutual aid onramp. And I also think that moments like riots and stuff can be an onramp when people are like, "I'm joining in. And now I'm burning a cop car," and that feeling that kind of power. And then, "I want to learn more about who these people were, who I met in the streets," or whatever. And for some people, the on ramp is that they first encounter. . . I mean, I have a friend who's a really incredible anarchist organizer who does really massive mutual aid projects, and is just so brilliant, and told me that they're. . . they first were like. . . they joined the Bernie campaign. And then we're really involved in the Bernie Sanders campaign and then we're like, "Wait, I don't know if this is really working," you know? But like, everyone comes in somehow, you know? And so part of it too, is that we should be in all those places trying to encourage people to learn more about movement history or horizontal tactics or bold tactics that are. . . I just went to an amazing event at an anarchist space in Seattle called Pipsqueak. The event was surrounding. . . they had collected all these accounts of kind of sabotage and vandalisms and shut-down types of actions related to opposing the genocide in Gaza. So many stories I hadn't heard, you know? They collected this huge amount. They had this really wonderful hour of like, you could come and read this zine they'd printed out with all this stuff and think it through, and then a really, really well facilitated discussion for an hour and a half. And I was like, that's like. . . Like, making sure people can find out about the rad stuff that's happening, that's not going to be reported in the news. That's so cool. And also then people got to discuss all their dilemmas about tactics. Like, "Oh, my gosh, I've been going to all these kind of more, you know, media spectacle events about Gaza. I thought these things about that. What's it like to learn about these other things people are doing?" You know, people get to have those juicy conversations about what they think about the tactics they're using. **Margaret ** 33:28 I love it. And we talked about twice as long as we thought we were going to and now this is two episodes. So you all listening had to wait an extra week to hear the other half of the conversation. Do you have any kind of last thoughts on preparedness, mutual aid, how your thinking has shifted, all the topics that we've been talking about today? **Dean ** 33:50 Well, the thing that's spurred us having this conversation was that I wrote that piece for In These Times that was about my experience of reading two sci-fi--cli-fi novels--one is "Ministry of the Future," and one was "The Deluge." And I encourage people to read that piece if you want to hear my thoughts on those books. But one of the things that happened from reading those books and then writing about what I thought was a failure of different aspects of those books was how now--I did think about this because you are an amazing fiction writer--like how part of what happens to me now when I read almost any speculative book, any book, that's fiction that takes place somewhat in the future, is I am like, it feels instantly conservative because it never includes collapse, right? Because inevitably they've got us 50 years ahead and there's some AI. Or there's been some disruption from climate stuff. Like, it's never as bad as it actually is. And that is fascinating to me, you know? And they always have all this intense tech development in such books in ways that I like--I really recommend people actually listen to Kelly Hayes podcast episodes about AI. Really useful for me in trying to understand the hubris of the tech sector, and the way they talk about AI and the way they're making people afraid of or hopeful about AI, and how off base it is, and kind of what the deal really is. But anyway, I just want to say that I have historically found speculative fiction to be a vital place for trying to help myself think about crisis and collapse and also now I feel so strongly because I--I think I may have mentioned this to you, once--I've been very moved by this person Jem Bendell, who's like this. . . in many ways, he does not share all of our values. And it's coming from a very different place. But he's this academic kind of whistleblower about how bad climate stuff really is. And he. . . I find myself often like, I find myself going into my own denial about what's happening and retreating from what I know and then I listened to the introduction to his book, "Breaking Together," again to remind myself about the stakes of what I'm living through. And I feel like in some ways I used to use--and I still somewhat use speculative fiction in that way--but I'm just increasingly like. . . even most speculative fiction is telling us the wrong message about how long the systems we live under are going to last and how much they're going to flourish with the technologies that I just don't think is real. **Margaret ** 36:12 You know, what's funny, some of this--a little bit of it--is baked into a problem of writing fiction where if you. . . I've actually gotten--not in trouble with--but I've had editors take out dates in my writing before, right? Because I'll write a short story about a sort of collapse-y world or whatever and I'll be like, "After 2022, when the. . ." because I wrote this in like 2018, or whatever, because I was trying to write on a realistic timeline where I was like, "Oh, the world's not gonna be the same in 2022." And I feel like I was pretty accurate about that, right? But they have to future proof their magazine, right? And so, you know, you don't want to make certain types of claims about the next three years because you want your story to be...to have a shelf life of that long. And so some of it is baked in as a problem in publishing and in science fiction writing. And that said, I think most people. . . Did you ever read that book "Desert," the green nihilist book. . . **Dean ** 37:12 Yeah, I've read like half of it. **Margaret ** 37:15 I haven't read it in a long time. I remember reading it and being like, "Well, this is naively optimistic." [Laughing] **Dean ** 37:23 That's the one where they're like, "7/8ths of people are gonna die." **Margaret ** 37:27 Yeah, I can't even remember exactly. **Margaret ** 37:28 But yeah, it was like climate change isn't going to be stopped, and we have to re-address how things work on a fundamental level. And because where I've been at. . . I don' t know. I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm with you on. . . like, when I read stuff about the future, where it's like, "And then it'll all work." I actually still really like "Ministry for the Future," and maybe actually should have you on just specifically to talk about "Ministry of the Future" at a different point. But it. . . you know, because it's a complicated. . . It's a caveated, "I like this book," you know? **Dean ** 37:28 It's intense. **Dean ** 38:02 That's how I feel about "The Deluge." It's like, I like "Deluge" even though I think it also has the same problem. **Margaret ** 38:06 I haven't read "Deluge" yet. **Margaret ** 38:08 Oh, there's no character development in "Ministry." **Dean ** 38:08 I think it's really worth reading. I think it's way better character development than "Ministry." It's way better. **Dean ** 38:14 Oh god, yeah. "Ministry" is so dry. **Margaret ** 38:17 Kim Stanley Robinson does not write people. Kim Stanley Robinson writes ecosystems. **Dean ** 38:21 Yeah, and "Deluge" really ropes in a lot more of rise in fascism with climate crisis and has characters that are more different class, race, gender than "Ministry" and is just like. . . it's way more compelling, unfolding, even though in the end it still imagined that states will turn around and like fix things. **Margaret ** 38:47 Well, I think there's plenty more we could talk about. And I hope we get to talk about it soon at some point. But in the meantime, how can people find you or your work? Or what would you like people to. . . or if you want to shout out any specific projects that you want to draw attention towards whether they're yours or other people's. **Dean ** 39:07 Mostly everything I do I put on--I mean, I'm kind of bad at it--but I'll put a lot of things at deanspade.net, which is my website where I collect the things I write and the videos and the many things. So that's a pretty good source for the backlog. **Margaret ** 39:23 If people want to read the specific article that we've been talking about, if you just. . . it's called "Climate Disaster is Here and the State Will Never Save Us." But also if you type in--the way I found it just now while we're...when I was trying to come up with the title--I just typed in "Dean Spade, Kim Stanley Robinson," personally, and it came up, you know. But, okay. Anything else? **Dean ** 39:47 Thanks for having me. **Margaret ** 39:48 Thank you. **Margaret ** 39:54 Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, then you should run around screaming that the sky is. . . No, don't do that. You should make bug out bags for your friends or do whatever you want. You should think about. . . Whatever we already told you what we think. But you can also support this show. And if you want to support the show, you can do so by telling people about it. And you can support the show by supporting us financially on Patreon. Do not feel obliged to do it. This is a free show. However, we're incredibly grateful because people's donations are how we manage to pay our transcriptionist, which is very important to us the show is transcribed, and then also our audio engineer. And one day--I keep promising this but we don't know when this day will come--one day, it'll pay the hosts or the guests. But for now it doesn't. And that's okay because, you know, the world works the way it works. You can support us on Patreon by supporting our publisher, which is Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness at patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. And in particular, we would like to thank Ephemeral. Oh, there's new names on here. That's really exciting. Ephemeral. Appalachian Liberal Liberation Library. And they wanted to specifically point--I would never make this--but they specifically pointed out it's Appalachian [App-a-latch-un], not Appalachian [App-a-lay-shun]. That's in the description of how we're going to read this. Portland's Hedron Hackerspace. Boldfield, E, Patoli, Eric, Buck, Julia, Catgut, Marm, Carson, Lord Harken, Trixter, Princess Miranda, BenBen, Anonymous, Funder, Janice & O'dell, Aly, paparouna, Milica, Boise Mutual Aid, theo, Hunter, S. J., Paige, Nicole, David, Dana, Chelsea Staro, Jenipher, Kirk, Chris, Mic Aiah, and, as always, the immortal, Hoss the dog. And when you support Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness, you're supporting this show and you're also supporting a show called The Spectacle. We renamed Anarcho Geek Power Hour to The Spectacle. And you're also supporting the podcast called Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness and a whole bunch of other projects. So that's that thing where I do the outro and I hope you all are doing as well as you can, and we'll talk to you soon. Find out more at https://live-like-the-world-is-dying.pinecast.co
The ongoing fight against capitalism and white supremacism requires radical Black anarchism. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the book The Nation on No Map: Black Anarchism and Abolition by William C. Anderson, which explores state power, abolition, and ideological tensions within the struggle for Black liberation while centering the politics of radical Black anarchism and Black autonomy, and what we learn from this outstanding book and analysis in our continued understanding of and work for abolition and collective liberation. Follow us on social media and visit our website! Website, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Leave us a voice message, Merch store
Please join Linda Quiquivix, William C. Anderson, & Mohamed Abdou for a round table conversation on "Palestine 1492: Settler-colonialism, Solidarity & Resistance." They will situate Palestine transnationally in relation to 1492, & discuss admirable acts of solidarity by activists and organizers as well as common pitfalls within leftist social movement circles drawing on Zapatista, Black, Palestinian, Arab-North African & Muslim lenses. Speakers: Linda Quiquivix is a geographer and seed saver based in California. She places her university training at the service of under-resourced communities in the U.S., Mexico, and Palestine who seek clean water, land, and tools to build and strengthen their collective autonomies. William C. Anderson is a writer and activist from Birmingham, Alabama. His work has appeared in The Guardian, MTV, Truthout, British Journal of Photography, and Pitchfork, among others. He is the author of The Nation on No Map (AK Press 2021) and co-author of As Black as Resistance (AK Press 2018). He's also the co-founder of Offshoot Journal and provides creative direction as a producer of the Black Autonomy Podcast. His writings have been included in the anthologies, Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect? (Haymarket 2016) and No Selves to Defend (Mariame Kaba 2014). Dr. Mohamed Abdou is a North African-Egyptian Muslim anarchist interdisciplinary activist-scholar of Indigenous, Black, critical race, and Islamic studies, as well as gender, sexuality, abolition, and decolonization with extensive fieldwork experience in the Middle East-North Africa, Asia, and Turtle Island. This year, he is the Arcapita Visiting Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African studies (MESAAS) at Columbia University. He is a former Assistant Professor of Sociology at the American University of Cairo and recently completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell University. He has also taught at the University of Toronto & Queen's University. His research stems from his involvement with the anti-globalization post-Seattle 1999 movements, organizing for Palestinian liberation, the Tyendinaga Mohawks and the sister territories of Kahnawake, Akwesasne, and Kanehsatake, during the standoff over the Culbertson tract, as well as the anti-war protests of Iraq and Afghanistan, the Indigenous Zapatista movement in Chiapas, and the 2011 Egyptian uprisings. He is author of Islam & Anarchism: Relationships & Resonances (Pluto Press, 2022). He wrote his transnational ethnographic and historical-archival PhD dissertation on Islam & Queer-Muslims: Identity & Sexuality in the Contemporary (2019). This event is sponsored by Haymarket Books and is part of Until Liberation: A Series for Palestine by Haymarket Books cosponsored by Palestinian American Organizations Network, Mondoweiss, Spectre, Dissenters, Tempest, Palestine Deep Dive, The New Arab, and more. While all of our events are freely available, we ask that those who are able make a solidarity donation in support of our important publishing and programming work. A portion of the proceeds from this event will be donated to Palestine Legal. Watch the live event recording: https://youtube.com/live/J9-emuwWeP8 Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks
This week on TFSR, we'll be airing a presentation by Diane Stevens, a member of the Jane Collective in Chicago in the 1960's. This presentation was recorded at the 2023 Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair in so-called Asheville, NC. From the presentation description: The Abortion Counseling Service, now better known as Jane, started out as a referral service in Chicago in the late 1960s, providing counseling and support to women before and after their procedures. Members of the group learned to do the abortions and then were able to do the procedures for whatever the women could afford to pay. Seven women were arrested and charged with the felonies of abortion and conspiracy to commit abortion. These charges were ultimately dismissed. It is estimated that about 11 thousand abortions were preformed before the group disbanded in 1973. Diane Stevens was born in Chicago. She went to school in the suburbs before moving back into the city where she joined the Abortion Counseling Service. Following the Roe v Wade decision and dismissal of all the criminal charges, Diane went on to have a career in health care and worked as a nurse practitioner in a variety of settings. Her work for reproductive justice has resumed with joining the Reproductive Rights Coalition in Charlotte and being a clinic escort. You can hear another presentation we recorded from the ACABookfair 2023 in this week's IGD Podcast, which is sharing Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin and JoNina Abron-Ervin in conversation with William C. Anderson. . ... . .. Featured Track: I Can See Clearly Now (Instrumental) by Trem One from Amateurs EP
In this special episode of the It’s Going Down podcast, we present an audio recording from the recent Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair in so-called Asheville, North Carolina in August, 2023. The recording features a conversation with author and activist, William C Anderson and JoNina and Lorenzo Ervin, two longtime anarchist organizers who have been directly... Read Full Article
Black radical resistance in response to the prison industrial complex, white supremacy, racism, violence, intolerance, oppression, and more continues to be necessary work for the liberation for all people. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the book As Black as Resistance: Finding the Conditions for Liberation by Zoé Samudzi and William C. Anderson, which calls for a new form of transformative politics for Black (and collective) liberation, and what we can all take away from this unflinching resource for our continued learning and unlearning work for social justice. Follow us on social media and visit our website! Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Website, Leave us a voice message, Merch store
This special issue of the Anarchist Essays podcast features a discussion between JoNina Ervin, Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin, and William C. Anderson. It originally appeared on the Black Autonomy Podcast. 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. This episode of ‘Anarchist Essays' was supported by a grant from The Lipman-Miliband Trust Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro Artwork by Sam G.
Producer Dan Hill presents a 2017 interview with writer and medical sociologist Zoe Samudzi and activist William C. Anderson on their piece "The Anarchism of Blackness" piece in Roar Magazine. Dan also has this week in Rotten History, and reads more of the listeners' answers to this week's Question from Hell!. https://roarmag.org/magazine/black-liberation-anti-fascism/
This is a conversation with William C. Anderson, author of the book The Nation on No Map (AK Press 2021) and co-author of As Black as Resistance (AK Press 2018). He's also the co-founder of Offshoot Journal and provides creative direction as a producer of the Black Autonomy Podcast. Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes Website: http://TheFireThisTi.Me Substack: https://thefirethesetimes.substack.com Twitter + Instagram @ firethesetimes Topics Discussed: Long conversation on Black anarchism The influence of Zen Buddhism Seeing the world as a janitor Critiques of black nationalism, capitalism and liberalism The legacy of slavery and Reconstruction on Black people in the US Tensions between ‘reform' and ‘revolution' The legacy of the Black Panthers Party Internationalism vs Intercomunalism Afro-futurism and Solarpunk Recommended Books: A Map to the Door of No Return by Dionne Brand The Terms of Order: Political Science and the Myth of Leadership by Cedric J. Robinson Facing Reality by C.L.R. James and Grace C. Lee The James Baldwin clip I mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAmL3F5uylo&feature=emb_imp_woyt
This is a conversation with Nat Muller, an independent curator, writer and academic living between the UK and Amsterdam. Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes Website: http://TheFireThisTi.Me Substack: https://thefirethesetimes.substack.com Twitter + Instagram @ firethesetimes She is an expert in contemporary art from the Middle East and curated the Danish pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale, showing Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour. She has curated shows at major venues, including Eye Film Museum Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, The Mosaic Rooms in London and ifa Gallery in Berlin. She is an AHRC Midlands3Cities-funded PhD student at Birmingham City University working on science fiction in contemporary art from the Middle East. We primarily talked about her paper "Lunar Dreams: Space Travel, Nostalgia, and Retrofuturism in A Space Exodus and The Lebanese Rocket Society". Topics Discussed: Space travel and science fiction Space travel and the Arab world A Palestinian space exodus and the Lebanese Rocket Society The prolonged present and stolen futures The role of nostalgia The mnemonic imagination Who is space for? It is easier to reach the moon than Jerusalem The limitations of the nation state in Arabic science fiction Afro-futurism Resources Mentioned: The Future Palestinian Present: https://www.mangalmedia.net/english//the-future-palestinian-present Film: Erased, Ascent of the Invisible by Ghassan Halwani: https://joeyayoub.com/2019/12/01/ghassan-halwani-and-the-reclaiming-of-lebanons-imaginaries/ Film: Those Who Remain by Eliane Raheb Film: Ila Ayn? by Georges Nasser Film: Safar Barlik by Henry Barakat The Legacy of the Great Lebanon Famine (with Lina Mounzer and Timour Azhari): https://thefirethisti.me/2021/07/16/85-the-legacy-of-the-great-lebanon-famine-with-lina-mounzer-and-timour-azhari/ The Nation on No Map: Black Anarchism and Abolition by William C. Anderson (upcoming guest): https://www.akpress.org/nationonnomap.html Article on The Lebanese Rocket Societythat I wrote in 2013 https://hummusforthought.com/2013/03/12/lebanese-rocket-society-a-review/ Recommended Books: The Anthropocene Unconscious: Climate Catastrophe Culture by Mark Bould The Nutmeg's Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis by Amitav Ghosh Refugee Heritage by Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti
To celebrate Black History Month in the US, we've gone through the Radicals in Conversation archive and curated a series of extracts in which our panellists discuss different aspects of Black history in America. Extract 1: Episode 26 (December 2019) - Bill Mullen and Megan Williams discuss the evolution of the radical politics of James Baldwin, as it was expressed in his writing and in his activism as a public intellectual. Extract 2: Episode 45 (August 2021) - Farah Thompson and Jules Joanne Gleeson talk about transgender experiences, race and organising in contemporary America. Extract 3: Episode 49 (December 2021) - Lorenzo Kom'Boa Ervin and William C. Anderson speak to JoNina Ervin about Black Anarchism in a collaboration with the Black Autonomy Podcast. Extract 4: The New Intellectuals Episode 1 (April 2020) - Jordan Camp interviews Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor for The New Intellectuals - a series produced in collaboration with The People's Forum. They talk about the history of Black home ownership in the twentieth century. ---- 30% off our Black Reading List for Black History Month: plutobooks.com/black-history-month-reading-list/
This week we are really pleased to feature Scott conducting an interview with author and activist William C. Anderson about his new book The Nation on No Map: Black Anarchism and Abolition which is out now from AK Press. In this interview they speak on the book and its many facets, and Black anarchism more broadly, some of the failures of euro-centric and white anarchism, and many many more topics. If you would like to see more of Anderson's work you can visit https://williamcanderson.info To see his books The Nation on No Map and As Black As Resistance, you can visit akpress.org and search his name, or visit firestorm.coop and do the same to support a queer and trans run anarchist book store in Asheville
During this final episode of the season, Edna Bonhomme spoke with Zoé Samudzi. This is Edna's last episode with the podcast after which Edna will continue to focus more on writing essays and books. You can get updates about Edna's work from www.ednabonhomme.com, Twitter @jacobinoire, or Substack Newsletter Mobile Fragments https://ednabonhomme.substack.com/ Zoé Samudzi is a writer whose work has appeared in The New Inquiry, Verso, The New Republic, Daily Beast, Art in America, Hyperallergic, and other outlets. She is a contributing writer at Jewish Currents. Along with William C. Anderson, she is the co-author of As Black as Resistance: Finding the Conditions for Liberation (AK Press). Samudzi was a 2017 Public Imagination Fellow at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and holds a Ph.D. from the University of California San Francisco. References As Black as Resistance: https://www.akpress.org/as-black-as-resistance.html The Holocaust Analogy: https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/3908-the-holocaust-analogy Looking After: https://www.artforum.com/slant/zoe-samudzi-on-museums-and-human-remains-86153 The Paradox of Plenty: https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/otobong-nkanga-2-1234583810/ For some info on the Herero and Nama genocide, you can read more about it here: https://www.ushmm.org/collections/bibliography/herero-and-nama-genocide
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
In this episode we speak with veteran of the Black Panther Party, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and co-founder of the Black Autonomy Federation Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin. A former long-time political prisoner, we talk to Ervin about the recent release of the definitive edition of his book Anarchism and the Black Revolution on Pluto Press. Anarchism and the Black Revolution was written during Ervin's political imprisonment, and is considered a foundational text for Black Anarchist traditions. We talk to Ervin about what he drew out of his experiences with SNCC and the Black Panther Party that contributes to his understandings of Black Anarchism or Black Autonomy. We ask about the circumstances that led to his political imprisonment, and critiques of state socialism. Ervin also shares reflections on his political mentor Martin Sostre. Ervin discusses the sit-in movement as a form of autonomous action taking up by the youth in the 60's, which he describes as oppositional to both the establishment and the politics of major civil rights organizations at the time. In conversation Ervin also pushes back against notions of chaos, disorganization, individualism, and nihilism that are often associated with anarchism, and which some folks identifying themselves as anarchists take up. In contrast Ervin provides concrete explanations of the types of mass organizing he believes Black Anarchists should be engaged in, in the development of their own struggle. Ervin discusses the subversive trap of electoral politics. We also ask about fascism, anti-fascism, dual power and problems with unaccountable leadership and celebrity as well as what differentiates a political revolution from a social revolution. If you've never read Anarchism and the Black Revolution or want this new definitive edition which includes new sections, a new introduction, a recent interview and new Forwards from Joy James and William C. Anderson, you can grab that on Plutobooks.com. If you would like to learn more about Black Autonomy from Lorenzo along with his partner Jo'Nina Ervin and William C. Anderson, check out their work at the Black Autonomy Podcast. Black Autonomy Podcast has a patreon of its own which benefits Lorenzo and JoNina, we encourage folks to support them directly. And as always if you like what we do, and want to sustain our ability to continue to do this work please become a patron of our show on patreon if you are able to do so. You can do so for any amount, even $1 a month if that's what you can afford.
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 organising, this foundational classic has been republished with a wealth of original material, including forewords by William C. Anderson and Joy James. This month's episode of Radicals in Conversation is brought to you in collaboration with the Black Autonomy Podcast, 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 recent book The Nation on No Map in conversation with Anarchism and the Black Revolution. Find out more about the Black Autonomy Podcast: blackautonomy.libsyn.com patreon.com/blackautonomy The Nation on No Map by William C. Anderson: akpress.org/nationonnomap.html Anarchism and the Black Revolution by Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin: www.plutobooks.com/9780745345819/anarchism-and-the-black-revolution/
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.
Lorenzo Kom' Boa Ervin ANARCHISM AND THE BLACK REVOLUTION-Black Panther Party For Self DefenseA powerful – even startling – book that challenges the shibboleths of 'white' anarchism'. Its analysis of police violence and the threat of fascism are as important now as they were at the end of the 1970s. Perhaps more so' - Peter James Hudson, Black Agenda ReportAnarchism and the Black Revolution first connected Black radical thought to anarchist theory in 1979. Now amidst a rising tide of Black political organizing, this foundational classic written by a key figure of the Civil Rights movement is republished with a wealth of original material for a new generation.Anarchist theory has long suffered from a whiteness problem. This book places its critique of both capitalism and racism firmly at the center of the text. Making a powerful case for the building of a Black revolutionary movement that rejects sexism, homophobia, militarism and racism, Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin counters the lies and distortions about anarchism spread by its left- and right-wing opponents alike.New material includes an interview with writer and activist William C. Anderson, as well as new essays, and a contextualizing biography of the author's inspiring life.circa un anno fa #anarchism, #black, #boa, #defense, #ed, #ervin, #for, #kom', #lorenzo, #lorenzo kom' boa ervin anarchi, #opperman, #panther, #party, #report, #revolution-black, #self, #spreaker
Lorenzo Kom' Boa Ervin ANARCHISM AND THE BLACK REVOLUTION-Black Panther Party For Self DefenseA powerful – even startling – book that challenges the shibboleths of 'white' anarchism'. Its analysis of police violence and the threat of fascism are as important now as they were at the end of the 1970s. Perhaps more so' - Peter James Hudson, Black Agenda ReportAnarchism and the Black Revolution first connected Black radical thought to anarchist theory in 1979. Now amidst a rising tide of Black political organizing, this foundational classic written by a key figure of the Civil Rights movement is republished with a wealth of original material for a new generation.Anarchist theory has long suffered from a whiteness problem. This book places its critique of both capitalism and racism firmly at the center of the text. Making a powerful case for the building of a Black revolutionary movement that rejects sexism, homophobia, militarism and racism, Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin counters the lies and distortions about anarchism spread by its left- and right-wing opponents alike.New material includes an interview with writer and activist William C. Anderson, as well as new essays, and a contextualizing biography of the author's inspiring life.circa un anno fa #anarchism, #black, #boa, #defense, #ed, #ervin, #for, #kom', #lorenzo, #lorenzo kom' boa ervin anarchi, #opperman, #panther, #party, #report, #revolution-black, #self,
Lorenzo Kom' Boa Ervin ANARCHISM AND THE BLACK REVOLUTION-Black Panther Party For Self Defense A powerful – even startling – book that challenges the shibboleths of 'white' anarchism'. Its analysis of police violence and the threat of fascism are as important now as they were at the end of the 1970s. Perhaps more so' - Peter James Hudson, Black Agenda Report Anarchism and the Black Revolution first connected Black radical thought to anarchist theory in 1979. Now amidst a rising tide of Black political organizing, this foundational classic written by a key figure of the Civil Rights movement is republished with a wealth of original material for a new generation. Anarchist theory has long suffered from a whiteness problem. This book places its critique of both capitalism and racism firmly at the center of the text. Making a powerful case for the building of a Black revolutionary movement that rejects sexism, homophobia, militarism and racism, Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin counters the lies and distortions about anarchism spread by its left- and right-wing opponents alike. New material includes an interview with writer and activist William C. Anderson, as well as new essays, and a contextualizing biography of the author's inspiring life. circa un anno fa #anarchism, #black, #boa, #defense, #ed, #ervin, #for, #kom', #lorenzo, #lorenzo kom' boa ervin anarchi, #opperman, #panther, #party, #report, #revolution-black, #self,
Lorenzo Kom' Boa Ervin ANARCHISM AND THE BLACK REVOLUTION-Black Panther Party For Self Defense A powerful – even startling – book that challenges the shibboleths of 'white' anarchism'. Its analysis of police violence and the threat of fascism are as important now as they were at the end of the 1970s. Perhaps more so' - Peter James Hudson, Black Agenda Report Anarchism and the Black Revolution first connected Black radical thought to anarchist theory in 1979. Now amidst a rising tide of Black political organizing, this foundational classic written by a key figure of the Civil Rights movement is republished with a wealth of original material for a new generation. Anarchist theory has long suffered from a whiteness problem. This book places its critique of both capitalism and racism firmly at the center of the text. Making a powerful case for the building of a Black revolutionary movement that rejects sexism, homophobia, militarism and racism, Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin counters the lies and distortions about anarchism spread by its left- and right-wing opponents alike. New material includes an interview with writer and activist William C. Anderson, as well as new essays, and a contextualizing biography of the author's inspiring life. circa un anno fa #anarchism, #black, #boa, #defense, #ed, #ervin, #for, #kom', #lorenzo, #lorenzo kom' boa ervin anarchi, #opperman, #panther, #party, #report, #revolution-black, #self, #spreaker
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.
In this episode we talk to Zoé Samudzi. Dr. Samudzi has a PhD in Medical Sociology from the University of California, San Francisco. Her dissertation was about German colonialism, the Herero/Nama genocide, and the afterlife of that genocidal structure in the present. Her writing has appeared in Art in America, The New Republic, The New Inquiry, Jewish Currents, and other outlets. She is co-author of As Black as Resistance, which we spoke with her and co-author William C. Anderson back in 2018. In this conversation we talk about a range of topics related to settler colonialism and colonization in Africa, specifically in modern day Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Zoé shares with us some of the historical fights between European nation states, and European settlers in Southern Africa. She also shares a little bit of history on the Nama/Herero genocide and how it was utilized by the British to undermine the German Empire. Josh and Zoé explore the relationship between colonialism and fascism. And Zoé also shares some thoughts on the film Exterminate All The Brutes and challenges US exceptionalism in relationship to our analysis of settler colonialism and genocide. Finally, Zoé talks about museums as ongoing sites of colonial violence and we discuss this in relationship to the recent revelations about the U Penn museum and U Penn and Princeton’s use of the remains of Delisha and Tree Africa, two MOVE children killed in the 1985 bombing, whose remains were taken from their families without consent or notice. MOVE has an event scheduled for May 15th in recognition of the 36th Anniversary of the MOVE bombing. You can also see their press conference addressing U Penn. And there’s a petition for the repatriation of the remains of Tree and Delisha, and financial reparations to the affected families. Suggested readings from Zoé Samudzi: - Mobilizing Black Germany by Tiffany Florvil - The Problems of Genocide by Dirk Moses - Potential History: Unlearning Imperialism by Ariella Aïsha Azoulay - The Brutish Museums by Dan Hicks - Multidirectional Memory by Michael Rothberg - Exterminate all the Brutes by Sven Lindqvist - Alabama in Africa by Andrew Zimmerman May is a really busy month for us, beyond this great conversation we have a number of other exciting new episodes planned. If you are able to become a patron of the show, you can do so for as little as $1 a month.
Air Date 6/17/2020 Today we take a look at the uprising sparked by the killing of George Floyd in the context of a world in which that event was just the last straw in an innumerable series of straws. Be part of the show! Leave us a message at 202-999-3991 or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com MEMBERSHIP, Gift Memberships and Donations! (Get AD FREE Shows & Bonus Content) MERCHANDISE! REFER-O-MATIC! Sign up, share widely, get rewards. It's that easy! CHECK OUT OUR BOOKSHOP! SHOW NOTES Ch. 1: A Decade Of Watching Black People Die - Code Switch - Air Date 5-31-20 The last few weeks have been filled with devastating news — stories about the police killing black people. At this point, these calamities feel familiar — so familiar, in fact, that their details have begun to echo each other. Ch. 2: Tamika Mallory Nationwide Uprising Against State Violence Shows People Have Reached Breaking Point - Democracy Now - Air Date 6-4-20 Tamika Mallory: “At this point, we’re looking at a nation and a world that has decided that what we saw happen on camera … is no longer acceptable... people have taken to the streets to demand change." Ch. 3: Trevor Speaks Out About the Murder of George Floyd - The Daily Show - Air Date 6-1-20 Trevor discusses the murders of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, the Minneapolis protests, and how racial injustice and police brutality continue to impact black Americans. Ch. 4: Why The 2020 Anti-Racism Uprisings Feel Different - News Beat - Air Date 6-5-20 A veteran of the 1967 Newark Rebellion discusses George Floyd’s death, the culture of police brutality, and whether today's movement can produce change. Ch. 5: Structural robbery, mass resistance with William C. Anderson - This Is Hell! - Air Date 6-4-20 Writer William C. Anderson on the real theft in capitalist society and the uprisings against it, and his article "Forget 'Looting.' Capitalism Is the Real Robbery" for Truthout. Ch. 6: Uprisings Against Police Killings of Black People - Sojourner Truth Radio - Air Date 6-3-20 After a week of protests, the nationwide (and now worldwide) uprising against racism and police killings of Black people in response to the murder of George Floyd continues to grow. Ch. 7: The thin blue line between looting and standard economics - The Bugle - Air Date 6-6-20 Andy, Hari and Tom react to the protests in the USA. Ch. 8: "Get Your Knee Off Our Necks" At Memorial for George Floyd, Mourners Condemn 400 Years of Racism - Democracy now - Air Date 6-5-20 We hear the voices of Floyd’s brother Philonise and Reverend Al Sharpton, who urged those gathered “to stand up in George’s name and say, 'Get your knee off our necks!'” Ch. 9: Protests Sweep Across the Globe - The Daily Show - Air Date 6-9-20 Americans take to the streets in historic numbers to protest police brutality, the demand for books about racism skyrockets, and meaningful police reform catches on. Ch. 10: This Is Not a Game - In The Thick - Air Date 6-12-20 Maria and Julio get into how race and activism show up in sports - historically and in the current Black Lives Matter movement - with Howard Bryant, a senior writer for ESPN and correspondent for NPR’s Weekend Edition. Ch. 11: NFL's Roger Goodell We Were Wrong, #BlackLivesMatter - The Young Turks - Air Date 6-5-20 NFL's commissioner has released a statement saying they were wrong to stop protests. Ch. 12: Amanpour Knows an Uprising When She Sees One - Brian Lehrer Show - Air Date 6-9-20 CNN International anchor Christiane Amanpour has seen a lot of unrest around the globe. She says we have to see the George Floyd protests for what they are. An uprising. Ch. 13: The Racial Justice Uprising in the U.S. is Taking Hold Overseas - The Takeaway - Air Date 6-8-20 Many foreign leaders have condemned the killing of George Floyd, but demonstrators outside of the U.S. are also attempting to call attention to racial injustice within their own borders. Ch. 14: Protest, Pain & Hope with Karen Attiah - Stay Tuned with Preet - Air Date 6-4-20 Washington Post Global Opinions editor Karen Attiah discusses the ongoing protests sparked by police brutality, legacies of racial violence in America, and the language we use to speak about inequality. Ch. 15: Roundtable On Police Killings & Global Resistance - Sojourner Truth Radio - Air Date 6-5-20 We look at the international response to the police killing of George Floyd. Countries are now being forced to face their own racism and the inter-relationship between racism and imperialism. Ch. 16: #DefendBlackLives: Join the #SixNineteen (#Juneteenth) Rallies 6/19-21 Virtually, Locally or in DC via @Mvmnt4BlkLives Ch. 17: Voices of the uprising - Sojourner Truth Radio - Air Date 6-5-20 Highlighting the voices of protesters TAKE ACTION Join The Movement for Black Lives' SixNineteen mobilization: 6/19 (Juneteenth) through 6/21 Visit SixNineteen.com to find events near you, participate virtually, join the D.C. action, or register your own event Text DEFEND to 90975 to get updates on #SixNineteen and future actions Follow @Mvmnt4BlkLives and use #DefendBlackLives , #SixNineteen , #BlackLivesMatter ,& #DefundthePolice on Twitter EDUCATE YOURSELF & SHARE #SIXNINETEEN: Movement For Black Lives Calls For Juneteenth Actions (Essence) An American Uprising (The New Yorker) Black Lives Matter Chapters What Exactly Does It Mean to Defund the Police? (The Cut, NY Magazine) America, This is Your Chance (NY Times Op-Ed, Michelle Alexander) Police Erupt in Violence Nationwide (Slate) Freedom to Thrive: Reimagining Safety & Security in Our Communities (Popular Democracy) Resources for White People to Learn and Talk About Race and Racism (Fractured Atlas) A Letter to White People Engaged in Conversations Around the Phrase “Defund The Police” (Medium) Louisville police release the Breonna Taylor incident report. It's virtually blank (Louisville Courier Journal) This Is How Hard It Is to Invest in Black Neighborhoods (Bloomberg CityLabs) Researched and Written by BOTL Communications Director Amanda Hoffman MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions): Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Support the show via Patreon Listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | +more Check out the BotL iOS/Android App in the App Stores! Follow at Twitter.com/BestOfTheLeft Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com Review the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Facebook!
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.
We are continuing to mirror Black Autonomy Podcast on our feed ... This episode of Black Autonomy discusses building a poor people's survival movement to mobilize the multi-racial masses of working class and poor people around immediate needs while building towards revolution. JoNina Abron-Ervin is a former editor of The Black Panther newspaper, author of Driven by the Movement: Activists of the Black Power Era, and a co-founder of the Black Autonomy Federation. Lorenzo Komboa Ervin is the author of Anarchism and the Black Revolution, a co-founder of the Black Autonomy Federation, and a former member of the Black Panther Party. This podcast is produced by a collaboration between writer William C. Anderson (@williamcson) and members of Black Rose/Rosa Negra Anarchist Federation (@BRRN_Fed). Artwork by Third Aye (@Thirdayetheory). Introduction music is an instrumental version of "Song 33" by Noname. Interlude music is "I Used to Love Hip-Hop" by Audiobinger.
From Below podcast will continue to mirror episodes of the Black Autonomy podcast ... Dual power can be explained as the building of a transitional program for political, social, and economic transformation. It creates survival programs to oppose state power and creates a new type of autonomous public sector when the state fails the people. This is how to go beyond protest to building an anarchist societal infrastructure. JoNina Abron-Ervin is a former editor of The Black Panther newspaper, author of Driven by the Movement: Activists of the Black Power Era, and a co-founder of the Black Autonomy Federation. Lorenzo Komboa Ervin is the author of Anarchism and the Black Revolution, a co-founder of the Black Autonomy Federation, and a former member of the Black Panther Party. This podcast is produced by a collaboration between writer William C. Anderson (@williamcson) and members of Black Rose/Rosa Negra Anarchist Federation (@BRRN_Fed). Artwork by Third Aye (@Thirdayetheory). Introduction music is an instrumental version of Song 33 by Noname.
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).
A special announcement From Below Below listeners! We apologize for our absence but we are back with a new and exciting collaboration project, Black Autonomy Podcast, which will host discussions on the intersection of anarchism and black liberation movements. Our comrade Ambar introduces the series which we will be mirroring here on our feed but be sure to subscribe using these links: iTunes / Spotify / Libsyn In this premier episode of Black Autonomy Podcast, JoNina and Lorenzo introduce the podcast and discuss elections, the Democratic Party, political power in Black politics, proposing direct democracy as an alternative. JoNina Abron-Ervin is a former editor of The Black Panther newspaper, author of Driven by the Movement: Activists of the Black Power Era, and a co-founder of the Black Autonomy Federation. Lorenzo Komboa Ervin is the author of Anarchism and the Black Revolution, a co-founder of the Black Autonomy Federation, and a former member of the Black Panther Party. This podcast is produced by a collaboration between writer William C. Anderson (@williamcson) and members of Black Rose/Rosa Negra Anarchist Federation (@BRRN_Fed). Introduction music is an instrumental version of Song 33 by Noname. --- Help spread the word by telling your friends, comrades, and co-workers about our show. You can also help us reach more listeners by leaving us a positive review on iTunes. Connect with us on social media: Facebook or Twitter Send us feedback by visiting our website at: www.frombelowpodcast.com Sign-up for our email list for episode announcements.
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).
MEMBERSHIP and Gift Memberships! (Get AD FREE Shows & Bonus Content) MERCHANDISE! REFER-O-MATIC! Sign up, share widely, get rewards. It's that easy! Air Date 6/29/2020 Today we take a look deeper at the concept of "I can't breathe," going beyond the literal utterances by victims of police brutality and COVID-19 sufferers to the metaphorical epidemic of exhaustion, burnout, depression and disaffection in the US and around the world. Be part of the show! Leave us a message at 202-999-3991 or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com SHOW NOTES Ch. 1: Black Lives Matter Protests, "Outside Agitators," and the Coronavirus - DOOMED with Matt Binder - Air Date 5-30-20 Matt Binder discusses the Black Lives Matter protests, the police killing of George Floyd, the media's narrative on the protests, riots, and looting, the "outside agitator" trope, and the looming cloud of the coronavirus pandemic. Ch. 2: Structural robbery, mass resistance with William C. Anderson Part 2 - This Is Hell! - Air Date 6-4-20 Writer William C. Anderson on the real theft in capitalist society and the uprisings against it, and his article "Forget 'Looting.' Capitalism Is the Real Robbery" for Truthout. Ch. 3: George Floyd, you, me… us - Jim Hightower - Air Date 6-9-20 There’s a growing understanding that we really are “all in this together,” so we’ve got to stand up for George Floyd, each other… and the America we want. Ch. 4: The End of Policing with Alex Vitale Part 1 - Tysky Sour, Novara Media - Air Date 6-3-20 Aaron Bastani interviews author of ‘The End of Policing’, Alex Vitale, to ask just how bad law enforcement is in the United States, and what can be done about it. Ch. 5: America, Racism & Patterns of Change (with Heather Cox Richardson)- Stay Tuned with Preet - Air Date - 6-11-20 Boston College History Professor Heather Cox Richardson joins Preet to discuss the evolution of the Republican Party, the utility of historical parallels in this time of protest, and the policies that might help heal our nation. Ch. 6: The End of Policing with Alex Vitale Part 2 - Tysky, Novara Media - Air Date 6-3-20 Aaron Bastani interviews author of ‘The End of Policing’, Alex Vitale, to ask just how bad law enforcement is in the United States, and what can be done about it. Ch. 7: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor on how racism & racial terrorism fueled nationwide anger - Democracy Now! - Air Date 6-1-20 “These are not just repeats of past events,” says scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. “These are the consequences of the failures of this government and the political establishment … to resolve these crises.” Ch. 8: The End of Policing with Alex Vitale Part 3 - Tysky, Novara Media - Air Date 6-3-20 Aaron Bastani interviews author of ‘The End of Policing’, Alex Vitale, to ask just how bad law enforcement is in the United States, and what can be done about it. Ch. 9: The Uprising and Its Leadership: What Does it Look Like in This Moment? - The Takeaway - Air Date 6-10-20 The Uprising and Its Leadership: What Does it Look Like in This Moment? How can leadership lead a social movement to victory? Ch. 10: Cornel West: Nationwide uprisings herald "America's moment of reckoning" - Democracy Now! - Air Date 6-1-20 Professor Cornel West calls the U.S. a “predatory capitalist civilization obsessed with money, money, money.” He also makes connections between U.S. violence abroad and at home. FINAL COMMENTS Ch. 11: Final comments on how we all push ourselves until we can't breathe MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions): Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr Thannoid - Bodytonic Hickory Shed - Onesuch Village Coronea - Marisala Cloud Line - K4 Decompression - Rayling Jackbird - Feathers Cat's Eye - Marble Run Rafter - Speakeasy Lord Weasel - Molerider Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com
Michelle and guest host, Dallas Verity, tackle Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect?: Police Violence and Resistance in the United States, A Truthout Collection. Their conversation covers defunding the police, marginalized communities, injustice, and more. From the back cover: "What is the reality of policing in the United States? Do the police keep anyone safe and secure other than the very wealthy? How do recent police killings of young black people in the United States fit into the historical and global context of anti-blackness? This collection of reports and essays (the first collaboration between Truthout and Haymarket Books) explores police violence against black, brown, indigenous and other marginalized communities, miscarriages of justice, and failures of token accountability and reform measures. It also makes a compelling and provocative argument against calling the police. Contributions cover a broad range of issues including the killing by police of black men and women, police violence against Latino and indigenous communities, law enforcement's treatment of pregnant people and those with mental illness, and the impact of racist police violence on parenting, as well as specific stories such as a Detroit police conspiracy to slap murder convictions on young black men using police informant and the failure of Chicago's much-touted Independent Police Review Authority, the body supposedly responsible for investigating police misconduct. The title Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect? is no mere provocation: the book also explores alternatives for keeping communities safe. Contributors include William C. Anderson, Candice Bernd, Aaron Cantú, Thandi Chimurenga, Ejeris Dixon, Adam Hudson, Victoria Law, Mike Ludwig, Sarah Macaraeg, and Roberto Rodriguez." About Dallas: "Dallas Verity is a podcaster, former pastor, husband, and father. He loves Jesus... he just hasn’t figured out any of the other stuff yet."
"Anarchism is actually a highly organized idea that requires a lot of cooperation and planning because it doesn't rely on forms of authoritarian and state violence," anarchist William C. Anderson says. Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Find us on Twitter @1A.
In this episode, Nashwa is joined by longtime online friend Zoé Samudzi to sit down and chat about anti-racist booklists, the need to buy from independent sellers, the surge in popularity of anti-racist books, diverse syllabi, Jessica Krug and the expanded universe of faking race in academia, and the Whitney Museum's parasitic Mutual Aid project. We also share our love for another friend of the show Lauren Michele Jackson, and her piece What is an Anti-Racist Reading List For?; additionally, we highlight a piece from the Boston Review by Melissa Phruksachart entitled The Literature of White Liberalism. Another topic we touch upon is The Combahee River Collective Statement and the morphing role of the words identity politics. An informative piece about Warren B. Kanders, former art collector and vice chair of the Whitney Museum, can be found here. Lastly, we end by considering what happens or what we do with people who are race tourists, as well as Zoé's top five dissertation writing songs.If you liked this episode please consider supporting us on Patreon, following us on Twitter @habibtiblease, and/or subscribing to our Substack https://habibtiplease.substack.com/subscribe. Shukran bezaf habibtis & habibis! Guest Information:Guest of the week: Zoé SamudziAs detailed in this episode, Zoé is the co-author of a book with William C. Anderson titled As Black as Resistance (AK Press), which engages the anarchistic position of Black people in the United States. It can be ordered here.Find Zoé on Twitter @ztsamudzi and check out her website.Additional Resources:As mentioned in the episode, here is a list curated by Zoé of good Latinx writing that isn't American Dirt:Tell Me How it Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions by Valeria Luisellito love and mourn in the age of displacement by Alan Palaez LopezSigns Preceding the End of the World by Yuri HerreraCruel Fictions by Wendy TrevinoUnforgetting: A Memoir of Family, Migration, Gangs, and Revolution in the Americas by Robert LovatoThe Afro-Latin@ Reader: History and Culture in the United States edited by Miriam Jiménez Román and Juan FloresBlack and Indigenous Owned Bookstores in America and Canada: https://secondstorypress.ca/wavemaker/2020/6/12/black-and-indigenous-owned-bookstores-in-canada-and-the-usaIndependent bookstores in Canada: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/canadian-independent-bookstores-deliveryIndependent bookstores in America: https://www.newpages.com/independent-bookstoresProduction Credits:Hosted by Nashwa Lina KhanMusic by Johnny Zapras and postXamericaArt for Habibti Please by postXamericaProduction by Nashwa Lina Khan and Johnny ZaprasProduction Assistance by Raymond KhananoSocial Media & Support:Follow us on Twitter @habibtipleaseSupport us on PatreonSubscribe to us on Substack This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit habibtiplease.substack.com/subscribe
This conversation with Zoé Samudzi was recorded to operates as a complement of her text “Reparative Futurities: Thinking From the Ovaherero and Nama Colonial Genocide,” commissioned for and published in The Funambulist 30 (July-August 2020) REPARATIONS. Zoé begins by contextualizing the history of the first 20th century genocide, which was committed by the German settler colonial army against the Ovaherero and Nama nations in what is now Namibia. We then talks of the various forms of coalition settler colonial powers practice with each other, but also how the struggles against them can, in turn, form large solidarity fronts worldwide. Finally, Zoé describes the argument of her piece in The Funambulist 30 about the notion of reparative futurities. Zoé Samudzi is a writer and doctoral candidate in Medical Sociology at the University of California, San Francisco. She is also a photographer and the archivist with MATATU Nomadic Cinema. Along with William C. Anderson, she is the co-author of As Black as Resistance: Finding the Conditions for Our Liberation (AK Press, 2018). She is currently a fellow with Political Research Associates. https://thefunambulist.net/podcast/zoe-samudzi-namibian-history-anticolonial-solidarities-reparative-futurities
On Blackness and Anarchy This week on the Final Straw, we are taking a break from consistently bringing fresh content over the last few months (frequently twice a week, instead of just the usual Sunday episodes) and re-airing this segment form a prior episode 2 years ago. Here we re-present a speech by William C. Anderson, keynote of the 2018 Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair in so-called Asheville, NC. William is the co-author with Zoe Samudzi of the book “As Black As Resistance: Finding The Conditions For Liberation” (AK Press, 2017). From the original post: The talk he is giving here is based heavily on the first chapter of the book called Black in Anarchy, and in addition to laying the groundwork of how he and Samudzi wrote the book, he speaks about the truly conditional nature of so called “citizenship” that many people living in the US face, the continuing evolution of race and the reliance of white supremacy to Black subjugation, and he places Blackness in proximity to Anarchy, and much more. From the back cover: “As Black As Resistance makes the case for a new program of self-defense and transformative politics for Black Americans, one rooted in an anarchistic framework that the authors liken to the Black experience itself. This is not a book of compromise, nor does it negotiate with intolerance. It is a manifesto for everyone who is ready to continue progressing towards liberation for all people.” We hope you will enjoy this talk, and if you are curious about the book As Black As Resistance by Zoe Samudzi and William C. Anderson, you can head over to AK Press to learn more! We'll be back with new content soon, once we've re-energized. If you are in the radio listening audience and are fiending for more voices from the streets, radical authors and more, consider checking our website for a backlog of episodes going back to 2010. You can play on our website, or subscribe to our podcast stream with your smart phone, tablet or computer, and you can also find all of our content for free on those nasty, streaming platforms like spotify, youtube, google podcasts, itunes ad nauseum. Announcements Anarchist Media Comrades at Sub.Media have had some really exciting projects hit the web in the last week or so. First up, after ending their monthly Trouble series, they have inaugurated a new series entitled “System Fail”, this first episode is entitled ‘Riots Across America', is hosted by a Dee Dos and features an interview with Oluchi Omeoga of Black Visions Collective and Reclaim The Block in so-called Minneapolis. While it's currently unavailable on youtube, it can be watched via Archive.org and their website, Sub.Media. Sub.Media has also announced, in collaboration with AntiMidia in Brazil, is launching ‘Kolektiva', an anarchist and anti-colonial video platform based on peer-tube. This project already features videos in French, German, English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Greek and Arabic and they are looking for more rad video collectives to participate and more folks to help with translation. You can check it out and learn more at Kolektiva.Media Fundraisers There are a number of ongoing fundraisers for folks arrested during the Uprising for Black Lives aka ACAB Spring, many of which can be found at ItsGoingDown.org among other places. One group that could use the funds is the Free Deyanna Davis legal defense fund in Buffalo, NY. You can learn more by visiting gofundme.com/f/free-deyanna-davis-legal-defense-fund Also, from Black Hills Bail and Legal Defense Fund: “On July 3rd, 2020, Indigenous People and our allies were arrested in the process of defending our sacred lands in the Black Hills. Acts of courage and civil disobedience resulted in arrests and criminal charges. We were protesting the desecration of sacred lands that were stolen by our people.” To support the 15 arrestees from July 3rd, consider visiting BHLegalFund.org. The SF Bay View National Black Newspaper has been producing a print newspaper since 1976 featuring voices from the Bay Area in California, voices from imprisoned people, stories about struggles for ecological justice in working class communities of color and views and news online and in print up til today for Black Liberation. The paper is sent to prisoners and thus acts as a powerful conduit for ideas and action behind bars and with the outside. I had a chance to speak with the editor, Mary Ratcliff a few years back about the paper. Mary, who is in her 80's, has been diagnosed with breast cancer and her husband and the publisher, Willie Ratcliff, has his own serious health issues and she is his care giver. They are fundraising with a GoFundMe at the moment to help bring on board the soon to be released, but currently incarcerated, Comrade Malik to become editor. Malik has been acting as assistant editor of the Behind Enemy Lines column and is set to be released from Federal custody in September and is excited to take on this responsibility. If you are excited and want to learn more about how to help, you can visit GoFundMe.com/f/fund-liberation for more information and how to help sustain the SFBayView in this exciting transition. And you can check out the paper at SFBayVIew.com Prison Related Prisoners at Coffee Correctional in Georgia are facing a major spike in the pandemic and are requesting a phone zap beginning Monday, July 6th in response to this crisis. You can learn more at the Atlanta IWOC facebook, instagram or twitter accounts. And you can hear the audio again with call-in information via the audiogram. To hear more recent updates about political prisoners and their struggles in the so-called U.S. including some context about the recent uprisings and arrests, check out the latest addition to the ‘Prison Break' column at ItsGoingDown.Org. For a wider view of the impacts of the pandemic and resistance to it behind bars, IGD also just published a new installment of their ‘Break Out' column featuring views from members of the Philadelphia chapter of the Revolutionary Abolition Movement and Oakland Abolition and Solidarity (formerly Oakland IWOC). Both are linked in our show notes. There is an invitation for folks to organize events in their cities and to share the call for an international action week in solidarity with anarchist prisoners August 23-30th. You will find the call at www.solidarity.international (available in 5 languages), on Twitter (@solidarity_week), Facebook (@WeekOfSolidarity), Mastadon (@tillallarefree) and you can share your actions by writing to tillallarefree@riseup.net . Their pgp key is up on the contact page of their website. . ... . .. The featured track in this episode was: Unbound Allstars - Mumia 911 (Rocks Tha World Full Length Mix Instrumental) - Mumia 911
[ INTERNAL VOICE LOG : ANGEL-CLASS SHIP A456-J7N “CATACLYSM” :: CAPTAIN’S LOG : CAPTAIN AYAT AYER :: TIMESTAMP : 68 YEARS AGO ] System check. … All system’s nominal. This is Captain Ayat Ayer of the A456 Cataclysm. Beginning asynchronous gate-independent transit from Homily to unidentified exoplanet Zeta orbiting star 948-Endymion. Distance 4.98 light years. Bearing 283.6, all systems nominal. Clearances: 89427, 673-gold, Y-351. Transit is estimated at 46 hours from Homily to Zeta. Distortion estimated at 0.004%. Asynchronous gate drive running at 99.887% power, 27% capacity. Margin of error, 0.17%. Initiating asynchronous gate drive in 5… 4… 3… 2… Wish me luck. This week, on Tango Sector: After their falling out with the crew of Pelagian, Cash Black sets out on their own path to set things right, and picks up a well-paying job for Synchronicity with a new acquaintance along the way. BLACK LIVES MATTER AND POLICE/PRISON ABOLITION RESOURCES: Listen: Radical Imagination, on Police Abolition - https://radicalimagination.us/episodes/police-abolition The Appeal, What Abolitionists Mean When They Talk About Abolition (with William C. Anderson) - https://theappeal.org/the-appeal-podcast-episode-7-what-abolitionists-mean-when-they-talk-about-abolition/ The Beyond Prisons Podcast, hosted by Kim Wilson and Brian Sonenstein - https://shadowproof.com/beyond-prisons/ Read: Starer resources - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wdmTPwiZkiPZnwKauzmcZLqUTdUe00WrCIwj7r4A7Zk/edit?usp=sharing Prisons, Police & Abolition syllabus - https://becauseweveread.com/index.php/book/prisons-police-abolition/ Twitter thread of resources - https://twitter.com/time2ryot/status/1265707093509566469?s=20 The End of Policing by Alex S Vitale (free Ebook) - https://www.versobooks.com/books/2426-the-end-of-policing Against Police Violence collection (free Ebook) - https://sevenstories.com/books/4260-against-police-violence A World Without Police - http://aworldwithoutpolice.org/ Donate & Support: Ways to Support Black Lives Matter - https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/ Ways to support Black Trans People - https://www.thecut.com/2020/06/ways-you-can-support-the-black-lgbtq-community.html Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/unexploredcast Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/unexploredcast Art by Julianne Stone: https://twitter.com/Juli_Aria Music by Andrew: https://andrewperricone.bandcamp.com/
Air Date 6/29/2020 Today we take a look deeper at the concept of "I can't breathe," going beyond the literal utterances by victims of police brutality and COVID-19 sufferers to the metaphorical epidemic of exhaustion, burnout, depression and disaffection in the US and around the world. Transcript Be part of the show! Leave us a message at 202-999-3991 MEMBERSHIP ON PATREON (Get AD FREE Shows & Bonus Content) Support us on PodHero Support us on Flattr EPISODE SPONSORS: Clean Choice Energy IF YOU’RE GOING TO SHOP AMAZON, SAVE THESE: Amazon USA | Amazon CA | Amazon UK SHOW NOTES Ch. 1: Black Lives Matter Protests, "Outside Agitators," and the Coronavirus - DOOMED with Matt Binder - Air Date 5-30-20 Matt Binder discusses the Black Lives Matter protests, the police killing of George Floyd, the media's narrative on the protests, riots, and looting, the "outside agitator" trope, and the looming cloud of the coronavirus pandemic. Ch. 2: Structural robbery, mass resistance with William C. Anderson Part 2 - This Is Hell! - Air Date 6-4-20 Writer William C. Anderson on the real theft in capitalist society and the uprisings against it, and his article "Forget 'Looting.' Capitalism Is the Real Robbery" for Truthout. Ch. 3: George Floyd, you, me… us - Jim Hightower - Air Date 6-9-20 There’s a growing understanding that we really are “all in this together,” so we’ve got to stand up for George Floyd, each other… and the America we want. Ch. 4: The End of Policing with Alex Vitale Part 1 - Tysky Sour, Novara Media - Air Date 6-3-20 Aaron Bastani interviews author of ‘The End of Policing’, Alex Vitale, to ask just how bad law enforcement is in the United States, and what can be done about it. Ch. 5: America, Racism & Patterns of Change (with Heather Cox Richardson)- Stay Tuned with Preet - Air Date - 6-11-20 Boston College History Professor Heather Cox Richardson joins Preet to discuss the evolution of the Republican Party, the utility of historical parallels in this time of protest, and the policies that might help heal our nation. Ch. 6: The End of Policing with Alex Vitale Part 2 - Tysky, Novara Media - Air Date 6-3-20 Aaron Bastani interviews author of ‘The End of Policing’, Alex Vitale, to ask just how bad law enforcement is in the United States, and what can be done about it. Ch. 7: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor on how racism & racial terrorism fueled nationwide anger - Democracy Now! - Air Date 6-1-20 “These are not just repeats of past events,” says scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. “These are the consequences of the failures of this government and the political establishment … to resolve these crises.” Ch. 8: The End of Policing with Alex Vitale Part 3 - Tysky, Novara Media - Air Date 6-3-20 Aaron Bastani interviews author of ‘The End of Policing’, Alex Vitale, to ask just how bad law enforcement is in the United States, and what can be done about it. Ch. 9: The Uprising and Its Leadership: What Does it Look Like in This Moment? - The Takeaway - Air Date 6-10-20 The Uprising and Its Leadership: What Does it Look Like in This Moment? How can leadership lead a social movement to victory? Ch. 10: Cornel West: Nationwide uprisings herald "America's moment of reckoning" - Democracy Now! - Air Date 6-1-20 Professor Cornel West calls the U.S. a “predatory capitalist civilization obsessed with money, money, money.” He also makes connections between U.S. violence abroad and at home. FINAL COMMENTS Ch. 11: Final comments on how we all push ourselves until we can't breathe MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions): Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr Thannoid - Bodytonic Hickory Shed - Onesuch Village Coronea - Marisala Cloud Line - K4 Decompression - Rayling Jackbird - Feathers Cat's Eye - Marble Run Rafter - Speakeasy Lord Weasel - Molerider Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Support the show via Patreon Listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | +more Check out the BotL iOS/Android App in the App Stores! Follow at Twitter.com/BestOfTheLeft Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com Review the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Facebook!
Bio: Akiva Malamet is completing his BA in Government at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC) in Israel. He is an incoming MA student in Philosophy and member of the interdisciplinary program in Political and Legal Thought (PLT) at Queen’s University, Kingston, and Frédéric Bastiat Fellow in political economy and public policy with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He has written for Liberal Currents, Libertarianism.org, and other publications. He was a winner of the 2018 ‘Carl Menger Undergraduate Essay Contest’ for his paper “Spontaneous Order as Social Construction”, from the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics (SDAE). Essays for show notes: https://www.liberalcurrents.com/fearing-ourselves-dignity-and-disgust-in-a-pandemic/ https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/vice-virtue-nationalism https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/reconciling-libertarian-leftist-views-power-equality https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/postmodernism-libertarian-introduction https://www.liberalcurrents.com/if-not-now-when/ https://sweettalkconversation.com/2018/06/03/the-zen-of-chaos/ https://www.spreaker.com/user/camilomgn/akivamalamet Black anarchists/radicals: https://www.8toabolition.com/ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/opinion/sunday/floyd-abolish-defund-police.html https://www.akpress.org/as-black-as-resistance.html https://www.akpress.org/burn-down-the-american-plantation.html Hello and welcome to Mutual Exchange Radio, a project of the center for a stateless society. This is your producer, Alex McHugh, filling in for host Zachary Woodman. Zach has been dealing with a flooded house, but we wanted to get another episode out this month, so today I’m in the host chair, interviewing Akiva Malamet. Zach and his family are okay, but obviously it’s a stressful situation to deal with. Before we get started, I have just a few programming notes. First, I want to apologize for the slow production schedule these past few months. We’ve of course been dealing with pandemic-related chaos, followed by Zach’s house flooding, and now many of us are involved in organizing in our cities as accomplices to the movement for black lives. We’re trying to get back onto a regular production schedule, but we appreciate your patience in the meantime. Next a quick content note: at the beginning of this interview we talk a bit about the movement for black lives, racialization, and white supremacy. It’s directly relevant to Akiva’s work on nationalism and identity formation, but I want to note that Akiva and I are both white and encourage listeners to seek out the voices and writings of black anarchists and radicals in this time. There are a few essays and manuscripts in the show notes that I would recommend, including the work of William C. Anderson and Mariame Kaba, who are both black radicals worth reading. Finally, an update on podcast merch! We’re planning on releasing new Mutual Exchange Radio merchandise in the fall. Thanks to everyone who responded to our poll on Patreon, it was helpful in deciding what items to stock. All patreon supporters will get one piece of merch for free when we release the line up, and it looks like coffee cups were the most in demand. Before the merch is finalized, we’re also updating the MER logo, so look out for a newer, slicker logo towards the end of the summer, and a whole line of new swag shortly after that. With all that out of the way, let me introduce today’s guest…. Thanks for listening everyone, and special thanks to our associate producers: James Tuttle Dt Jacob Tyspkin And Alex Gutowski These folks support us with a pledge of $10 or more per month on Patreon. If you’re interested in becoming a patron of Mutual Exchange Radio, you can find us at https://www.patreon.com/c4ssdotorg. Supporters gain access to bonus episodes, free C4SS swag, and opportunities to submit questions for our upcoming guests. Thanks again! Questions: If Not Now, When - Why study nationalism, fascism, and white supremacy? - You talk about the ways in which whiteness shifts and how white supremacy seeks to divide and pit minorities against each other. Do you see this happening in the context of the current BLM protests? There's been some discussion about antisemitism and personally I’ve seen people pointing to the participation of groups like the Black Hebrew Israelites as evidence of this. - What’s the difference between actual concern trolling as a means to divide & conquer and the way it’s used by those on the alt right? virtue of nationalism (review) “Finally, he radically oversimplifies Jewish tradition, misrepresenting a complex faith with competing values of both universalism and particularism.” What are the major divides at work here? Benedict Anderson & "imagined communities" -- Are bottom up nationalisms as dangerous as top down nationalisms? On the abstract application of values -- Smash mouth or anime title trolley problem Is there a case for national anarchism? --> nationalism as self determination, self-governance & pluralism Postmodernism -- the formation of identity, values & sense of self Talk to me about heavy metal shows, liminal space, & the pit --zen of chaos What are some poignant examples of expert failure? What’s your take on Szasz? Fearing ourselves (pandemic & disgust) what of animal rights & liberation? Does the case for expanding dignity extend to non-human animals? Is dignity a redeemable/useful social value? Libertarian & left conceptions of power views on privilege & the bread & roses concept of anarchism (do we aim for the necessary minimum of abundance or expansive abundance?) Explain the “means of predation” theory. How worried are you about “soft” coercion in the “economic mode” of interaction? Tell me about Austrian class theory one quibble: “Leftists are correct to highlight that market dominance provides businesses with influence, but overlook how such power can rapidly shift if consumers decide to abandon certain products or services. Big companies, unlike states, are continually subject to competition.” Are they though? Who competes with Amazon? --> though i think youre right about the causes of rent seeking and similar effects How does the “equality of authority” approach prevent class division? (plug Long episode) Quotes / Passages to look at https://www.liberalcurrents.com/fearing-ourselves-dignity-and-disgust-in-a-pandemic/ As a result, our notion of extreme separation, which distances us from our physical selves, often prevents us from recognizing or fully acknowledging the impact of ordinary biological, chemical, and physical processes on our ability to survive and flourish. Invading the body Because we experience such a profound disconnect between our self-image and our reality, we are quick not only to examine the biological nature of illness, but to frame its emergence as part of some larger narrative, to metaphorize it. The urge to metaphorize is a function of the psychological discomfort with being vulnerable. If I am susceptible to something so primitive as disease, it must be because I or someone else is deeply flawed, rather than because such threats are inherent to our world. https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/vice-virtue-nationalism Neglected in his account is that such group membership exists only as strongly as a given individual buys into it. Hazony does not consider that while I might be born in one place, family, and community, I may choose something else later in life. I can also be part of multiple groups and communities which perform different functions and command different loyalties. This ability is imperfect because group statuses (such as race) are often imposed from outside, but we nevertheless possess significant freedom to determine who we are. Hazony rejects moral universalism, as well as any account of human rights. He provides a version of an argument familiar to readers of Edmund Burke and other conservatives and communitarians, as well as the tradition of empiricism associated with David Hume. This says that moral relationships and duties are established through the communities of which we are a part, through the people with whom we interact and hold ongoing relationships. Universal claims are intellectual fictions and morality is only grounded in the norms of specific communities. This means that since each society has its own way of doing things, and that communities differ, we should give space for plurality. By contrast, a universal morality, such as that proposed by Locke, Kant, Mill, Rawls, and other liberal philosophers, is a motivation for imperialism, because universal norms and duties require universal enforcement. https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/reconciling-libertarian-leftist-views-power-equality true liberty requires equality among persons, in a society not fundamentally organized around divisions of power. This is a view held and defended by liberal and libertarian heroes such as Smith, Mises, Hayek, and many others, as well as by major thinkers of the left from Marx and Engels to Foucault and Butler. true liberty requires equality among persons, in a society not fundamentally organized around divisions of power. This is a view held and defended by liberal and libertarian heroes such as Smith, Mises, Hayek, and many others, as well as by major thinkers of the left from Marx and Engels to Foucault and Butler. Liberalism takes a decidedly different approach. For this tradition, what is important is not control over the means of production, but rather over the means of predation. The central instrument for control and dominance over other people is not the market, but the state. More radically, property requires justification not only in terms of the fruits of one’s labour, but in terms of whether it contests or engenders coercion. It is certainly true that property rights are essential to a free society. They allow us to pursue a variety of independent plans and projects, to make free choices without permission from others, to innovate, and create economic surplus. In particular, property allows people to exit from situations and choose a variety of alternatives—what David Schmidtz calls “the right to say no.” It is highly significant that early fights by feminists and other equality movements have been over the right to own property. https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/postmodernism-libertarian-introduction Postmodernism challenges our notions of what the twin tools of reason and empirical observation can accomplish. It also challenges the idea of a universal, clearly demonstrable, and binding morality. In this regard, postmodernism might be an issue for libertarians, who frequently view ourselves as heirs to the Enlightenment, which is often understood as claiming to establish all of these. https://www.liberalcurrents.com/fearing-ourselves-dignity-and-disgust-in-a-pandemic/ Our capacity for self-awareness, combined with our capacity for abstract thinking often gives us a sense of psychological distance from our animal cousins. We see ourselves as mental or even spiritual beings, distinct from the rest of nature. The practical defenses developed by modern medicine have reinforced this sense of separateness, as well as a sense of purity. We can see this when we think about the concept of dignity in human culture. Dignity is often talked about as a synonym for respect, but this is to simplify a more complex feeling and concept. To be dignified means to be set apart. Dignity has a transcendental quality. There is a sense that to be dignified is to be raised above material or instrumental matters in favor of some higher purpose, station, or meaning. It arguably emerges from the notions of holiness present in Abrahamic religious traditions, but altered in the transition to our modern secular context. Notably, the word for “holy” used in the Hebrew Bible is “kadosh” (variants: “kodesh” or “kedushah”) which means “separate” or “different.” Because we experience such a profound disconnect between our self-image and our reality, we are quick not only to examine the biological nature of illness, but to frame its emergence as part of some larger narrative, to metaphorize it. The urge to metaphorize is a function of the psychological discomfort with being vulnerable. If I am susceptible to something so primitive as disease, it must be because I or someone else is deeply flawed, rather than because such threats are inherent to our world. https://www.liberalcurrents.com/if-not-now-when/ We think the relative clarity of this moment yields an opportunity for Jewish, Arab, and Muslim Americans to recognize and exit the mental and social system by which right-wing, white Christian culture controls and dominates political discourse by feigning and manipulating concern for the groups they dominate.
Air Date 6/17/2020 Today we take a look at the uprising sparked by the killing of George Floyd in the context of a world in which that event was just the last straw in an innumerable series of straws. Be part of the show! Leave us a message at 202-999-3991 MEMBERSHIP ON PATREON (Get AD FREE Shows & Bonus Content) Support us on PodHero Support us on Flattr EPISODE SPONSORS: Clean Choice Energy IF YOU’RE GOING TO SHOP AMAZON: Amazon USA | Amazon CA | Amazon UK SHOW NOTES Ch. 1: A Decade Of Watching Black People Die - Code Switch - Air Date 5-31-20 The last few weeks have been filled with devastating news — stories about the police killing black people. At this point, these calamities feel familiar — so familiar, in fact, that their details have begun to echo each other. Ch. 2: Tamika Mallory Nationwide Uprising Against State Violence Shows People Have Reached Breaking Point - Democracy Now - Air Date 6-4-20 Tamika Mallory: “At this point, we’re looking at a nation and a world that has decided that what we saw happen on camera … is no longer acceptable... people have taken to the streets to demand change." Ch. 3: Trevor Speaks Out About the Murder of George Floyd - The Daily Show - Air Date 6-1-20 Trevor discusses the murders of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, the Minneapolis protests, and how racial injustice and police brutality continue to impact black Americans. Ch. 4: Why The 2020 Anti-Racism Uprisings Feel Different - News Beat - Air Date 6-5-20 A veteran of the 1967 Newark Rebellion discusses George Floyd’s death, the culture of police brutality, and whether today's movement can produce change. Ch. 5: Structural robbery, mass resistance with William C. Anderson - This Is Hell! - Air Date 6-4-20 Writer William C. Anderson on the real theft in capitalist society and the uprisings against it, and his article "Forget 'Looting.' Capitalism Is the Real Robbery" for Truthout. Ch. 6: Uprisings Against Police Killings of Black People - Sojourner Truth Radio - Air Date 6-3-20 After a week of protests, the nationwide (and now worldwide) uprising against racism and police killings of Black people in response to the murder of George Floyd continues to grow. Ch. 7: The thin blue line between looting and standard economics - The Bugle - Air Date 6-6-20 Andy, Hari and Tom react to the protests in the USA. Ch. 8: "Get Your Knee Off Our Necks" At Memorial for George Floyd, Mourners Condemn 400 Years of Racism - Democracy now - Air Date 6-5-20 We hear the voices of Floyd’s brother Philonise and Reverend Al Sharpton, who urged those gathered “to stand up in George’s name and say, 'Get your knee off our necks!'” Ch. 9: Protests Sweep Across the Globe - The Daily Show - Air Date 6-9-20 Americans take to the streets in historic numbers to protest police brutality, the demand for books about racism skyrockets, and meaningful police reform catches on. Ch. 10: This Is Not a Game - In The Thick - Air Date 6-12-20 Maria and Julio get into how race and activism show up in sports - historically and in the current Black Lives Matter movement - with Howard Bryant, a senior writer for ESPN and correspondent for NPR’s Weekend Edition. Ch. 11: NFL's Roger Goodell We Were Wrong, #BlackLivesMatter - The Young Turks - Air Date 6-5-20 NFL's commissioner has released a statement saying they were wrong to stop protests. Ch. 12: Amanpour Knows an Uprising When She Sees One - Brian Lehrer Show - Air Date 6-9-20 CNN International anchor Christiane Amanpour has seen a lot of unrest around the globe. She says we have to see the George Floyd protests for what they are. An uprising. Ch. 13: The Racial Justice Uprising in the U.S. is Taking Hold Overseas - The Takeaway - Air Date 6-8-20 Many foreign leaders have condemned the killing of George Floyd, but demonstrators outside of the U.S. are also attempting to call attention to racial injustice within their own borders. Ch. 14: Protest, Pain & Hope with Karen Attiah - Stay Tuned with Preet - Air Date 6-4-20 Washington Post Global Opinions editor Karen Attiah discusses the ongoing protests sparked by police brutality, legacies of racial violence in America, and the language we use to speak about inequality. Ch. 15: Roundtable On Police Killings & Global Resistance - Sojourner Truth Radio - Air Date 6-5-20 We look at the international response to the police killing of George Floyd. Countries are now being forced to face their own racism and the inter-relationship between racism and imperialism. Ch. 16: #DefendBlackLives: Join the #SixNineteen (#Juneteenth) Rallies 6/19-21 Virtually, Locally or in DC via @Mvmnt4BlkLives Ch. 17: Voices of the uprising - Sojourner Truth Radio - Air Date 6-5-20 Highlighting the voices of protesters TAKE ACTION Join The Movement for Black Lives' SixNineteen mobilization: 6/19 (Juneteenth) through 6/21 Visit SixNineteen.com to find events near you, participate virtually, join the D.C. action, or register your own event Text DEFEND to 90975 to get updates on #SixNineteen and future actions Follow @Mvmnt4BlkLives and use #DefendBlackLives , #SixNineteen , #BlackLivesMatter ,& #DefundthePolice on Twitter EDUCATE YOURSELF & SHARE #SIXNINETEEN: Movement For Black Lives Calls For Juneteenth Actions (Essence) An American Uprising (The New Yorker) Black Lives Matter Chapters What Exactly Does It Mean to Defund the Police? (The Cut, NY Magazine) America, This is Your Chance (NY Times Op-Ed, Michelle Alexander) Police Erupt in Violence Nationwide (Slate) Freedom to Thrive: Reimagining Safety & Security in Our Communities (Popular Democracy) Resources for White People to Learn and Talk About Race and Racism (Fractured Atlas) A Letter to White People Engaged in Conversations Around the Phrase “Defund The Police” (Medium) Louisville police release the Breonna Taylor incident report. It's virtually blank (Louisville Courier Journal) This Is How Hard It Is to Invest in Black Neighborhoods (Bloomberg CityLabs) Researched and Written by BOTL Communications Director Amanda Hoffman MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions): Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr PolyCoat - The Cabinetmaker Eventual Victory - Codebreaker Astrisx - Bodytonic Parade Shoes - Arc and Crecent Quaver - Codebreaker Derailed - The Depot Tripoli - Pecan Grove Chilvat - Lillehammer LaBranche - Bayou Birds Arizona Moon - Cholate Around Plastic Card Tables - Desert Orchard Minutes - Pacha Faro Chrome and Wax - Ray Catcher Turning - Lathe Tar and Spackle - Plaster Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Support the show via Patreon Listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | +more Check out the BotL iOS/Android App in the App Stores! Follow at Twitter.com/BestOfTheLeft Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com Review the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Facebook!
[ an excerpt from a public access pamphlet entitled UNINCORPORATION TODAY: A MANIFESTO FOR MOVEMENT, pseudonymously attributed to Professor Emeritus ] “Union” used to be a word that meant something: solidarity, collectivity, cooperation, unity. It used to be a word which stood for something, against the hegemonic control of capitalist interest and the fungibility of worker. It may seem like ancient history now, but at one point a “union” meant a collective of workers. Our Union is a lie, a corruption of the very idea of what a union should be. Our Union calls itself a union while mechanics and engineers on Torus Station die of dehydration because the rich on Themis withhold their water. Our Union calls itself a union while factory workers on Thistle develop lung infections from the pollution levels because the rich on Themis refuse to share their air filters and purifiers. Our Union calls itself a union while miners on Snowmelt freeze to death trying to meet their quotas because Blackford & Desai needs to mass-produce engines for luxury ships that sit in dock to let the rich flaunt their wealth. What we need is not a Union: what we need is a unity. What we need is to spread the word, far and wide, that the Union does not have our best interests at heart, and that when we stand together we are more numerous, more powerful, more valuable than the Union is. What we need is to spread the word that they know we are more numerous, more powerful, more valuable than the Union is. What we need is movement: together, as one, against those who would see us starve to put food on their table, to see us suffocate so that their air is clean. What we need is to move beyond the reaches of the Sector as the Union has defined them and understand that there are better, more possible ways of living beyond their narrow constraints, and all we need to find those is each other. This week, on Tango Sector: After a smooth entrance breaking into the Martinet prison on Rho, the crew of Pelagian comes across an unexpected complication in their attempt to break out Emeritus Na. Claus plants a disruptor. Liam does what he does best. Flux gets showy. Baz gets explosive. BLACK LIVES MATTER AND POLICE/PRISON ABOLITION RESOURCES: Listen: Radical Imagination, on Police Abolition - https://radicalimagination.us/episodes/police-abolition The Appeal, What Abolitionists Mean When They Talk About Abolition (with William C. Anderson) - https://theappeal.org/the-appeal-podcast-episode-7-what-abolitionists-mean-when-they-talk-about-abolition/ The Beyond Prisons Podcast, hosted by Kim Wilson and Brian Sonenstein - https://shadowproof.com/beyond-prisons/ Read: Starer resources - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wdmTPwiZkiPZnwKauzmcZLqUTdUe00WrCIwj7r4A7Zk/edit?usp=sharing Prisons, Police & Abolition syllabus - https://becauseweveread.com/index.php/book/prisons-police-abolition/ Twitter thread of resources - https://twitter.com/time2ryot/status/1265707093509566469?s=20 The End of Policing by Alex S Vitale (free Ebook) - https://www.versobooks.com/books/2426-the-end-of-policing Against Police Violence collection (free Ebook) - https://sevenstories.com/books/4260-against-police-violence A World Without Police - http://aworldwithoutpolice.org/ Donate & Support: Ways to Support Black Lives Matter - https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/ Ways to support Black Trans People - https://www.thecut.com/2020/06/ways-you-can-support-the-black-lgbtq-community.html Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/unexploredcast Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/unexploredcast Art by Julianne Stone: https://twitter.com/Juli_Aria Music by Andrew: https://andrewperricone.bandcamp.com/
[[ COMMUNICATIONS ARCHIVE OF SLEEPER-CLASS SHIP S-7680 “THE ARENDT” // LAST RECEIVED TRANSMISSION // COMMUNICATION SIGNATURE: EMERITUS NA ]] Monument— I think we’re really getting close, finally, to putting this plan into action. Keep on track and let Baz know I’ll be needing a favor from them in a few days. Might want to get your bags packed and have Glitch keep his ear to the ground, so to speak, for anything coming out of the Court. More coming tomorrow. —Na This week, on Tango Sector: Working alongside the Unity Anti-Union Unincorporation, the crew of Pelagian scopes out a hidden black site prison on the surface of the abandoned planet Rho in order to break out Unity’s incarcerated leader. Claus does some tinkering. Liam gathers some invaluable intel. Flux looks for options. Baz takes control. BLACK LIVES MATTER AND POLICE/PRISON ABOLITION RESOURCES: Listen: Radical Imagination, on Police Abolition - https://radicalimagination.us/episodes/police-abolition The Appeal, What Abolitionists Mean When They Talk About Abolition (with William C. Anderson) - https://theappeal.org/the-appeal-podcast-episode-7-what-abolitionists-mean-when-they-talk-about-abolition/ The Beyond Prisons Podcast, hosted by Kim Wilson and Brian Sonenstein - https://shadowproof.com/beyond-prisons/ Read: Starer resources - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wdmTPwiZkiPZnwKauzmcZLqUTdUe00WrCIwj7r4A7Zk/edit?usp=sharing Prisons, Police & Abolition syllabus - https://becauseweveread.com/index.php/book/prisons-police-abolition/ Twitter thread of resources - https://twitter.com/time2ryot/status/1265707093509566469?s=20 The End of Policing by Alex S Vitale (free Ebook) - https://www.versobooks.com/books/2426-the-end-of-policing Against Police Violence collection (free Ebook) - https://sevenstories.com/books/4260-against-police-violence A World Without Police - http://aworldwithoutpolice.org/ Donate & Support: Ways to Support Black Lives Matter - https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/ Ways to support Black Trans People - https://www.thecut.com/2020/06/ways-you-can-support-the-black-lgbtq-community.html Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/unexploredcast Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/unexploredcast Art by Julianne Stone: https://twitter.com/Juli_Aria Music by Andrew: https://andrewperricone.bandcamp.com/
Writer William C. Anderson on the real theft in capitalist society and the uprisings against it, and his article "Forget 'Looting.' Capitalism Is the Real Robbery" for Truthout. And in a Moment of Truth, Jeff Dorchen attends the Get Real Shabbat. https://truthout.org/articles/forget-looting-capitalism-is-the-real-robbery/
Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Glen Ford, along with my co-host Nellie Bailey. Coming up: Much of what you read in the corporate media is pure propanganda, a fictionalized account of the world. Margaret Kimberley and other reporters unmasked these lies before a packed crowd in New York City; we’ll get a report on the racial dimensions of the struggle for socialism in Venezuela; and, activists say “F” the police and their brutal presence in the New York subway system. Activist and author William C. Anderson says radicals should not bow to pressures to tone down their demands, just to get along with the Democratic Party. Anderson co-authored a book called “As Black as the Resistance,” and recently wrote an article for Truthout titled ,”No Matter Who’s Elected, We Must Keep Demanding More.” Margaret Kimberley, co-founder and senior columnist for Black Agenda Report, teamed up with acclaimed journalists Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate before a packed house in midtown Manhattan. The subject was Propaganda – the lies that corporate media tell in service to US imperialism. The socialist government that the late President Hugo Chavez brought to power in Venezuela 20 years ago is still standing, despite the efforts of three US presidents to overthrow it. Dario Azzelini is a visiting fellow at the Latin American Studies Program, at Cornell University. He’s an Italian who was raised in Germany and lived for years in a poor barrio in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. Azzelini wrote a book, titled, “Communes and Workers' Control in Venezuela,” in which he argues that workers and peasants are building socialism from below in that country. We asked him why the right-wing has not been able to mount a successful coup against the Venezuelan government, despite crippling US sanctions and total support for regime change from the American media and the two corporate political parties. Shannon Jones is an organizer with Bronxites for NYPD Accountability, part of a coalition from across New York City that has mobilized against high subway fares and police brutality underground. The coalition recently brought a thousand protesters to confront the police in Brooklyn, under the banner of “F.T.P” We asked Shannon Jones what “F.T.P” stands for.
Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I'm Glen Ford, along with my co-host Nellie Bailey. Coming up: Much of what you read in the corporate media is pure propanganda, a fictionalized account of the world. Margaret Kimberley and other reporters unmasked these lies before a packed crowd in New York City; we'll get a report on the racial dimensions of the struggle for socialism in Venezuela; and, activists say “F” the police and their brutal presence in the New York subway system. Activist and author William C. Anderson says radicals should not bow to pressures to tone down their demands, just to get along with the Democratic Party. Anderson co-authored a book called “As Black as the Resistance,” and recently wrote an article for Truthout titled ,”No Matter Who's Elected, We Must Keep Demanding More.” Margaret Kimberley, co-founder and senior columnist for Black Agenda Report, teamed up with acclaimed journalists Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate before a packed house in midtown Manhattan. The subject was Propaganda – the lies that corporate media tell in service to US imperialism. The socialist government that the late President Hugo Chavez brought to power in Venezuela 20 years ago is still standing, despite the efforts of three US presidents to overthrow it. Dario Azzelini is a visiting fellow at the Latin American Studies Program, at Cornell University. He's an Italian who was raised in Germany and lived for years in a poor barrio in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. Azzelini wrote a book, titled, “Communes and Workers' Control in Venezuela,” in which he argues that workers and peasants are building socialism from below in that country. We asked him why the right-wing has not been able to mount a successful coup against the Venezuelan government, despite crippling US sanctions and total support for regime change from the American media and the two corporate political parties. Shannon Jones is an organizer with Bronxites for NYPD Accountability, part of a coalition from across New York City that has mobilized against high subway fares and police brutality underground. The coalition recently brought a thousand protesters to confront the police in Brooklyn, under the banner of “F.T.P” We asked Shannon Jones what “F.T.P” stands for.
Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I'm Glen Ford, along with my co-host Nellie Bailey. Coming up: We'll take a look at the state of racism in Hollywood, and find out if Atlanta really is the Mecca for Black film-makers. And, When liberals call Donald Trump “un-American,” aren't they playing the same chauvenist game as he is? The Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations held its national conference in St. Louis, this month. The Coalition was formed ten years ago, during Barack Obama's first year in the White House. Black Agenda Report executive editor Glen Ford is a co-founder of Black Is Back. That was BAR executive editor Glen Ford. Omali Yeshitela is chairman of the Black Is Back Coalition, which is made up of a diverse group of radical Black organizations. Yeshitela is also the leader of the African People's Socialist Party, which has long been intimately involved with the African liberation movement. President Trump's rhetoric gets raunchier by the day, as the 2020 election draws near. Some of Trump's critics seem to think that calling him “un-American” is an effective argument. But political analyst William C. Anderson doesn't think so. Anderson recently wrote an article for TruthOut titled, “Using Patriotism to Deflect Racism is a Deadly Mistake.” Hollywood is a lot Blacker than it used to be, but that's not saying much. Most Hollywood studios still work on the assumption that movies geared to Black audiences don't make much money. Maryann Erigha is a Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at the University of Georgia. She's got a new book out, titled “Hollywood Jim Crow: The Racial Politics of the Movie Industry.”
Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Glen Ford, along with my co-host Nellie Bailey. Coming up: We’ll take a look at the state of racism in Hollywood, and find out if Atlanta really is the Mecca for Black film-makers. And, When liberals call Donald Trump “un-American,” aren’t they playing the same chauvenist game as he is? The Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations held its national conference in St. Louis, this month. The Coalition was formed ten years ago, during Barack Obama’s first year in the White House. Black Agenda Report executive editor Glen Ford is a co-founder of Black Is Back. That was BAR executive editor Glen Ford. Omali Yeshitela is chairman of the Black Is Back Coalition, which is made up of a diverse group of radical Black organizations. Yeshitela is also the leader of the African People’s Socialist Party, which has long been intimately involved with the African liberation movement. President Trump’s rhetoric gets raunchier by the day, as the 2020 election draws near. Some of Trump’s critics seem to think that calling him “un-American” is an effective argument. But political analyst William C. Anderson doesn’t think so. Anderson recently wrote an article for TruthOut titled, “Using Patriotism to Deflect Racism is a Deadly Mistake.” Hollywood is a lot Blacker than it used to be, but that’s not saying much. Most Hollywood studios still work on the assumption that movies geared to Black audiences don’t make much money. Maryann Erigha is a Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at the University of Georgia. She’s got a new book out, titled “Hollywood Jim Crow: The Racial Politics of the Movie Industry.”
Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Glen Ford, along with my co-host Nellie Bailey. Coming up: Black victims of police lawlessness keep piling up, year after year, yet almost all the officers involved get off with no punishment whatsoever. We’ll talk with an activist about impunity for killer cops. Nellie Bailey gets the real story on why record numbers of Puerto Ricans have been in the streets. And, I’ll have a report on the history of America as a White Man’s Country. William C. Anderson is a prolific writer, whose latest article in Truthout is titled, “Reparations is One Step in a Long Fight to End Racial Capitalism.” Lots of Democratic presidential candidates have endorsed the principle of Black American Reparations. But they all have different ideas on what shape reparations should take. Anderson says its up to Black people to craft demands for reparations, and the subject is not open to debate. Black people are owed, period. Why Accountability, New York, is determined to make killer cops accountable for their crimes. Shannon Jones is an activist in Why Accountability. She and others last week marked a host of unpunished deaths at the hands of police, including Sandra Bland, in Texas, four years ago, and Eric Garner, five years ago, in Staten Island, New York. Neither of the cops involved was indicted. Jones talks about impunity and killer cops.Record Breaking Puerto crowds have been demanding the resignation of that island colony’s governor, Ricardo Rosello. To explain why Puerto Ricans are protesting, we spoke with activist Danny Vila, Labor Coordinator, Sisa Patiki Cultures and Labor Center, in Queens, New York. He says Puerto Rican have a multitude of grievances. But what set it of,f was a chat thread
Over the course of United States history, resistance against oppression and the gains made from various struggles for everyone's equality have often been Black led. However, liberal politics and the lack of strong leftist political power are two problems impeding the continued progress of Black America. Expanding on their original essay "The Anarchism Of Blackness," Zoé Samudzi and William C. Anderson make the case for a new program of transformative politics for Black Americans, one rooted in an anarchistic framework likened to the Black experience itself. This is not a compromising book that negotiates with intolerance. As Black as Resistance is a declaration for everyone who is ready to continue progressing towards liberation for all people.
William C. Anderson This week on The Final Straw, we are super pleased to present a talk given at the most recent Asheville Anarchist Bookfair by William C. Anderson, who co authored the book As Black As Resistance with Zoe Samudzi. The talk he is giving here is based heavily on the first chapter of the book called Black in Anarchy, and in addition to laying the groundwork of how he and Samudzi wrote the book, he speaks about the truly conditional nature of so called “citizenship” that many people living in the US face, the continuing evolution of race and the reliance of white supremacy to Black subjugation, and he places Blackness in proximity to Anarchy, and much more. From the back cover: “As Black As Resistance makes the case for a new program of self-defense and transformative politics for Black Americans, one rooted in an anarchistic framework that the authors liken to the Black experience itself. This is not a book of compromise, nor does it negotiate with intolerance. It is a manifesto for everyone who is ready to continue progressing towards liberation for all people.” We hope you will enjoy this talk, and if you are curious about the book As Black As Resistance by Zoe Samudzi and William C. Anderson, you can head over to AK Press to learn more! Announcements Phone Zap for Prisoners at McCormick CI IWOC announces that prisoners at McCormick CI in South Carolina are being forced to march around the square in only their boxer shorts, including in front of female staff. Among these prisoners are the Muslim prisoners whose religion demands that they cover their bodies. Check out the above link for a number and call script. Charlottesville Solidarity There has been a request for legal support for an anti-racist comrade who was arrested on August 12th, the year anniversary of the resistance to the United The Right rally on A12 in Cville in 2017. This trans comrade was arrested with the help of active doxxing efforts of a far-right troll this month, he was "genital checked" (read fondled and assaulted) by police without any non-police witnesses, and arrested and could use funds to help in court-support. You can donate to the legal support via a friend at https://paypal.me/lara757 , request that the police and city remove the comrades dead name and photo from their website and follow @SolidCville for future court support in September for this person. There is also a call up to support Toby & Veronica, two anti-racist organizers from Cville in court on August 23rd at 9:45 AM at the Charlottesville General District Court at 606 E. Market St, Charlottesville, VA. If you want to see analysis on antifascist events that have occurred thusfar, in DC and Cville, you can head to crimethinc.com and read interviews done with folks who were on the ground there, as well as listen to the most recent Hotwire episode which deals with these topics. Support Maya Little, #TakeEmAllDown On Monday, August 20th at 7pm at Peace & Justice Plaza at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, there will be a demonstration in support of Maya Little, an anti-racist activist who faces charges for allegedly throwing paint and her own blood on a confederate statue on UNC campus known as "Silent Sam." #August21 AAAnd DO NOT FORGET that in just a few days will kick off the 2018 Prison Strike, scheduled for August 21st thru September 9th. Coming just two years after the largest prison strike in US history, this one has the potential to be even bigger. If you would like more resources and ideas on how to get engaged with this strike and to learn about the striker's demands, go to prisonstrike.com, and additionally you can listen to the Rustbelt Abolition Radio episode entitled Prelude to the 2018 Prisoner Strike done with two members of IWOC Oakland. #August21 Meetup in Asheville On Tuesday, August 21st from 5pm to 7 or so at Firestorm Books & Coffee, join Blue Ridge Anarchist Black Cross for a series of updates and discussions concerning the Nationwide Prison Strike from August 21 - September 9th, 2018. BRABC will talk about the repressions that have already occurred as prisons around the country ramp up in fear of prisoners flexing their collective muscles by putting down their tools, educating each other, organizing and refusing meals. They'll provide you with some tools and knowledge to help you amplify the voices of those on the inside. For a list of events around the country to support #August21, check out igd or PrisonStrike.Com. Hunger Strike at Sterling Correctional in Colorado Denver ABC passed on information about a hunger strike that's started at Sterling CI in Colorado. The demands of the prisoners and updates can be found at the DABC website. NAABC Conference Fundraiser in AVL Also, on August 29th at The Odditorium in Asheville, BRABC will be hosting a benefit concert to raise funds for travel costs for formerly incarcerated folks and former Political Prisoners attending the North American Anarchist Black Cross conference in Colorado this fall. The show will feature performances by Too Bad (from Florida) and the local talents of Autarch, Good Grief & Harsh Mike. . ... . .. Playlist pending
We didn't always have police and prisons as we know them today—in fact, they're fairly recent inventions. Abolitionists like William C. Anderson ask us to radically rethink the necessity of police, and our practice of throwing people in cages. Anderson traces the origins of modern punishment from slavery to debt peonage to Jim Crow to the co-called War on Drugs.
This week we have two really exciting guests Zoé Samudzi is a writer and doctor student in Medical Sociology at the University of California, San Francisco. William C. Anderson is a freelance writer. His work has been published by the Guardian, MTV, Truthout, and Pitchfork among others. We had Zoé on the show all the way back in episode 2, and for William we’ve been wanting to have him on the show for a long time and this was a great opportunity. This week we’re talking to them about their new book which comes on today June 5th on AK Press. So please, if you haven’t already bought a copy, log on to AKpress.org or visit your local radical bookstore and get yourself a copy. "As Black As Resistance makes the case for a new program of self-defense and transformative politics for Black Americans, one rooted in an anarchistic framework that the authors liken to the Black experience itself. This book argues against compromise and negotiation with intolerance. It is a manifesto for everyone who is ready to continue progressing towards liberation."
This Is Hell's favorite interviews of 2017. Rebecca Liao on the reordered politics of authoritarian capitalism. [00:01:50] Eliott Sperber on the rise of the neoliberal border wall. [53:20] Zoé Samudzi and William C. Anderson on the anarchism of Blackness [1:34:07] Max Haiven on financialization and reactionary authoritarianism. [2:26:42] Tasos Sagris on the work of anarchists in austerity-era Greece [2:55:46] Mary Otto on America’s most and least visible healthcare crisis. [3:19:28]
In 1972, Air Force navigator Gene Hambleton was shot down over enemy territory in Vietnam, and a ferocious offensive beat back every attempt to rescue him. In today's show we'll learn how his lifelong passion for golf became the key to his escape. We'll also learn about a videogame based on the Dyatlov Pass incident and puzzle over why a military force drops bombs on its friends. Sources for our feature on Gene Hambleton: William C. Anderson, BAT-21, 1980. Darrell D. Whitcomb, The Rescue of BAT 21, 1998. George Esper, "Commando Team Snatches Downed Airmen From Midst of Enemy's Invasion Force," Associated Press, April 25, 1972. Dennis McLellan, "'Gene' Hambleton, 85; His Rescue Depicted in 'Bat-21' Books, Film," Los Angeles Times, Sept. 27, 2004. Listener mail: The full text of Arthur Conan Doyle's story "The Problem of Thor Bridge" is on Wikisource. The videogame about the Dyatlov Pass incident is called Kholat. (It's named after Kholat Syakhyl, the mountain on which the Dyatlov hikers pitched their tent.) This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Mike Martin. Here are two corroborating links (warning -- these spoil the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and all contributions are greatly appreciated. You can change or cancel your pledge at any time, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation via the Donate button in the sidebar of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Thanks for listening!