
Haymarket Books Live
Haymarket Books Live is a regular online series of urgent political discussions, book launches, organizer roundtables, poetry jams, and more, hosted by Haymarket Books. The podcast features recordings of our livestreamed video event series.
Haymarket Books is a radical, independent, nonprofit book publisher based in Chicago.
Latest episodes

Jun 14, 2021 • 1h 30min
Uprooting Violence w/ Keeanga Yamahtta Taylor, Aja Monet, & more (Beyond the Bars 2021)
Join us for a discussion on uprooting violence with Danielle Sered, Sonya Shah, Jose Saldana and Anthonine Pierre, remarks from Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and a performance from Aja Monet.
Beyond the Bars - Towards Freedom: Violence, Safety and Abolition in 2021 This year marks the 11th annual Beyond the Bars Conference, coming one year after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in which multiple crises have unfolded, and the growth of social movements struggling for a more just and safe world have increased significantly. Given this, we hope to create deep and thoughtful conversations about the many forms of violence that our society has experienced; to surface and examine the ways in which movements are pushing for community and public safety in ways that do not reenforce the carceral state; and to explore why abolition has become so prevalent in the conversations, strategies and demands in the work of transforming approaches to justice and safety. In addition, we will take time to honor and celebrate the leadership of women impacted by incarceration, and the leadership of Black women, and all that we have and can learn from their work. And we will spend time building and amplifying the work of grassroots organizing.
Conference Sponsors The Ford Foundation, Trinity Church Wall Street, the New York Women's Foundation, Columbia School of Social Work Student Services, Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Diversity and Inclusion, the Eric H. Holder Jr. Inititiave for Civil and Political Rights, the Division of Social Science, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University.
Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/3aBzqIIM6LQ
Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org
Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Jun 12, 2021 • 1h 7min
Celebrating Black Women's Leadership, Then & Now (Part II)
Join Roberta Meyers Douglas, Fallon McClure, Fenika Miller, and Tiffany Roberts for Part 2 of “Celebrating Black Women’s Leadership, Then and Now” part of the 11th annual Beyond the Bars Conference.
Beyond the Bars - Towards Freedom: Violence, Safety and Abolition in 2021 This year marks the 11th annual Beyond the Bars Conference, coming one year after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in which multiple crises have unfolded, and the growth of social movements struggling for a more just and safe world have increased significantly. Given this, we hope to create deep and thoughtful conversations about the many forms of violence that our society has experienced; to surface and examine the ways in which movements are pushing for community and public safety in ways that do not reenforce the carceral state; and to explore why abolition has become so prevalent in the conversations, strategies and demands in the work of transforming approaches to justice and safety. In addition, we will take time to honor and celebrate the leadership of women impacted by incarceration, and the leadership of Black women, and all that we have and can learn from their work. And we will spend time building and amplifying the work of grassroots organizing.
Conference Sponsors The Ford Foundation, Trinity Church Wall Street, the New York Women's Foundation, Columbia School of Social Work Student Services, Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Diversity and Inclusion, the Eric H. Holder Jr. Inititiave for Civil and Political Rights, the Division of Social Science, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University.
Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/pX4C0fucXjk
Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org
Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Jun 11, 2021 • 1h 7min
Celebrating Black Women's Leadership w/ Angela Davis, Barbara Ransby, & more
Join Barbara Ransby, Angela Davis, Andrea James, LaTosha Brown, and M Adams for “Celebrating Black Women’s Leadership, Then & Now” part of the 11th annual Beyond the Bars Conference.
Beyond the Bars - Towards Freedom: Violence, Safety and Abolition in 2021 This year marks the 11th annual Beyond the Bars Conference, coming one year after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in which multiple crises have unfolded, and the growth of social movements struggling for a more just and safe world have increased significantly. Given this, we hope to create deep and thoughtful conversations about the many forms of violence that our society has experienced; to surface and examine the ways in which movements are pushing for community and public safety in ways that do not reenforce the carceral state; and to explore why abolition has become so prevalent in the conversations, strategies and demands in the work of transforming approaches to justice and safety. In addition, we will take time to honor and celebrate the leadership of women impacted by incarceration, and the leadership of Black women, and all that we have and can learn from their work. And we will spend time building and amplifying the work of grassroots organizing.
Conference Sponsors The Ford Foundation, Trinity Church Wall Street, the New York Women's Foundation, Columbia School of Social Work Student Services, Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Diversity and Inclusion, the Eric H. Holder Jr. Inititiave for Civil and Political Rights, the Division of Social Science, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University.
Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/pX4C0fucXjk
Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org
Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Jun 7, 2021 • 1h 30min
The Power of Community-Generated Research in our Work for Justice
Join Haymarket Books, and a coalition of partners for a discussion of the power of community-led research, education, & knowledge creation.
This is a panel discussion with speakers and groups whose deep commitment to work grounded in community, in liberatory processes, and in challenging injustice at its core, are deeply inspiring and so relevant for this moment. Speakers will share their wisdom, experience, and analysis as we think together about the ways that our work for justice is strengthened and deepened by truly embodying a commitment to community-rooted and community-generated processes --and what that looks like in practice.
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About the groups:
Makan is a Palestinian-led educational organization based in the UK. Through its knowledge and capacity-building programs, Makan strengthens voices calling for Palestinian rights across the grassroots and advocacy sphere.
https://www.makan.org.uk/
Justice For Muslims Collective is a grassroots organization that works to dismantle structural and institutionalized forms of Islamophobia in the greater Washington region through political consciousness and narrative shifting, community organizing and healing justice, and building alliances.
https://www.justiceformuslims.org/
Confronting white supremacy, hegemonic masculinity, heteronormativity, & colonial heritages, the Democratizing Knowledge Project focuses on producing transformative knowledges & collectivities that result in inclusive publics in higher education. Feminist Freedom Warriors (FFW) is a first of its kind digital video archive that uses oral history to document the lives & work of feminist scholar-activists of the later 20th century to today.
https://democratizingknowledge.syr.edu/
http://feministfreedomwarriors.org/
PARCEO is a resource and education center, rooted in principles of Participatory Action Research, that partners with community groups & institutions seeking to deepen their work for justice.
https://parceo.org/
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Speakers:
Tamara Ben-Halim, co-founder and co-director, Makan
Darakshan Raja, co-director, Justice for Muslims Collective
Chandra Talpade Mohanty and Linda Carty, co-founders Democratizing Knowledge & Feminist Freedom Warriors
Nina Mehta, co-director, PARCEO (Moderator)
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Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/gdOOsPz5048
Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org
Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Jun 4, 2021 • 1h 34min
Lawyering for Liberation w/ Derecka Purnell and Amna Akbar
Join Law for Black Lives, Amna Akbar and Derecka Purnell for a discussion about what it means for lawyers to build the power of the law.
Law for Black Lives is a national community of radical lawyers and legal workers committed to transforming the law and building the power of organizing to defend, protect and advance Black Liberation across the globe.
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Speakers:
Amna Akbar is a professor of law at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. She writes about policing and social movements, with a focus on grassroots demands for social change.
Derecka Purnell is is a human rights lawyer, writer, and organizer. Since graduating from Harvard Law School, she has worked to end police and prison violence nationwide by providing legal assistance, research, and trainings to community based organizations through an abolitionist framework. Derecka is currently a columnist at The Guardian and Deputy Director of Spirit of Justice Center. She is the author for the forthcoming book Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom.
Marbre Stahly-Butts, Executive Director of Law for Black Lives works closely with organizers and communities across the country to advance and actualize radical policy. Marbre is currently a member of the Advisory Committee for National Bail Out Collective, the group behind Black Mama's Day Bail Out. She currently serves on the Leadership Team of the Movement For Black Lives Policy Table and helped develop the Vision for Black Lives Policy Platform. Since graduating from Yale Law School in 2013, Marbre has supported local and national organizations from across the country in their policy development and advocacy. She joined the Center for Popular Democracy as a Soros Justice Fellow in Fall 2013. Her Soros Justice work focused on organizing and working with families affected by aggressive policing and criminal justice policies in New York City in order to develop meaningful bottom up policy reforms. While in law school, Marbre focused on the intersection of criminal justice and civil rights and gained legal experience with the Bronx Defenders, the Equal Justice Initiative and the Prison Policy Initiative. Before law school Marbre received her Masters in African Studies from Oxford University and worked in Zimbabwe organizing communities impacted by violence and then in South Africa teaching at Nelson Mandela’s alma mater. Marbre graduated from Columbia University, with a BA in African-American History and Human Rights.
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This event is co-sponsored by Haymarket Books and Law for Black Lives.
Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/Jxvem9THmsc
Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org
Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Jun 3, 2021 • 1h 24min
PIC Abolition, the War on Terror, and the Deportation Machine
Join Amna Akbar, Aziz Rana, Darakshan Raja, and Silky Shah for a discussion of how the War on Terror fuels our deportation machine and how to dismantle both.
Immigrant and racial justice organizers are calling for the abolition of the war on terror and the deportation machine. This panel will discuss how recent campaigns change the terrain of debates within policy spheres and create new openings for organizing. The panel will analyze developments within contemporary abolitionist organizing and put it in conversation with the internationalism of 20th century left social movements.
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Speakers:
Silky Shah is the Executive Director of Detention Watch Network, a national coalition building power to abolish immigration detention in the United States. She has worked as an organizer on issues related to immigration detention, the prison industrial complex, and racial and migrant justice for nearly 20 years.
Darakshan Raja is the co-director of the Justice For Muslims Collective, a community-based organization that works to dismantle structural Islamophobia through community organizing and empowerment, raising political consciousness and narrative shifting, and building strategic alliances across movements.
Aziz Rana is a professor of law at Cornell University, and his research focuses on how shifting notions of race, citizenship, and empire have shaped American legal and political identity. He is the author of The Two Faces of American Freedom (Harvard University Press, 2014).
Amna Akbar is a professor of law at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. She writes about policing and social movements, with a focus on grassroots demands for social change.
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Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/o2IER14CyMA
Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org
Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Jun 2, 2021 • 1h 28min
Free, Free, Palestine! Biden, Israel and the Fight for Palestinian Liberation
Join Tithi Bhattacharya, Sumaya Awad, Khury Petersen-Smith, and Nerdeen Kiswani for a discussion of Israel, US Empire, and the struggle for Palestinian liberation.
Despite Israel’s brutal occupation of Palestine, the Biden administration continues to support it to the hilt, whatever qualms it has with Netanyahu’s far right regime. This webinar will explain the reasons for Washington’s alliance with Israel, what it means for the for Palestinian liberation struggle, and the tasks of the international Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.
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Speakers:
Tithi Bhattacharya, Editor, Spectre Journal
Sumaya Awad, Co-Editor, Palestine: A Socialist Introduction
Nerdeen Kiswani, President, Students for Justice in Palestine at CUNY School of Law
Khury Petersen-Smith, Middle East Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies
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This event is sponsored by Spectre Journal and Haymarket Books.
Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/yK1o1WV5EuQ
Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org
Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

May 26, 2021 • 1h 23min
Black Lives Matter at School: Iowa Edition
Education activists Lisa Covington, Jesse Hagopian, Denisha Jones, Lucket Kiche, and Matè Muhammad, in conversation about the struggle against systemic racism in schools, how we can win real educational justice and other lessons from Black Lives Matter at School organizing in Iowa and beyond.
Order your copy of Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice from Prairie Lights Bookstore here: https://www.prairielightsbooks.com/book/9781642592702
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Speakers:
Matè Muhammad is an activist, organizer and cultural worker from Des Moines, IA. Matè is a passionate writer, graffiti artist and musician and began his activism in 2014 after the tragic police murder of Michael Brown. In 2019 Matè created @theblackartivist - a revolutionary creative vehicle - and in 2020 Matè co-founded the Des Moines Black Liberation Movement of which he is currently the Field Operations Director.
Lucket Kiche (He/They) is a Black, Queer, Non-Binary Transman teaching in the Iowa City Community School District. Born in Nairobi, Kenya, he came to Iowa City as an infant and has yet to leave. He spends time serving as an At-Large Board member for Iowa City Pride. As an educator, Lucket pushes and advocates for the equitable treatment of all minorities and strives to teach about as many intersectionalities that time will allow. They also continue to remind others that we can no longer be complacent with a system that has superficial protections for marginalized people.
Denisha Jones is a member of the national Black Lives Matter at School steering committee and Director of the Art of Teaching, graduate teacher education program, at Sarah Lawrence College. She is the co-editor of Black Lives Matter at School.
Jesse Hagopian is a member of the national Black Lives Matter at School steering committee and teaches Ethnic Studies at Seattle’s Garfield High School. He is the co-editor of Black Lives Matter at School, an editor for Rethinking Schools magazine and is a co-editor of Teaching for Black Lives.
Lisa Covington, M.A. is a youth development professional, curriculum developer and PhD Candidate at The University of Iowa studying Sociology of Education, Digital Humanities and African American Studies. In 2020, Lisa received the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Award from the Iowa Department of Human Rights. As the Director of the Ethnic Studies Leadership Academy in Iowa City, Lisa works with Sankofa Outreach Connection to provide an educational leadership program for African American girls to learn Black history and advocacy strategies through developing competencies in digital humanities, social sciences and the arts. Lisa also works with teachers across the state through Black Lives Matter at School-Iowa.
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This event is sponsored by Prairie Lights Bookstore, Black Lives Matter at School-Iowa and Haymarket Books.
Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/QIALE2cLpb0
Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org
Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

May 25, 2021 • 1h 28min
Border Abolition Now w/ Harsha Walia, Gargi Bhattacharyya, & Maya Goodfellow
Harsha Walia, Gargi Bhattacharyya and Maya Goodfellow discuss the global migration crisis, racial capitalism, and the ascendant far-right.
How do borders divide the international working class and consolidate imperial, capitalist, and racist rule?
Amidst a global pandemic, governments around the world have accelerated border closings, imposed more barriers to asylum seekers, and expanded immigrant detention. In Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism, Harsha Walia disrupts easy explanations for the migrant and refugee crises, instead showing them to be the inevitable outcomes of conquest, capitalist globalization, and climate change generating mass dispossession worldwide.
Join Harsha Walia, Maya Goodfellow and Gargi Bhattacharyya for a discussion about this timely book.
UK readers, purchase Border and Rule here: https://housmans.com/product/border-and-rule-global-migration-capitalism-and-the-rise-of-racist-nationalism/
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Speakers:
Gargi Bhattacharyya is one of the UK's leading scholars on race and capitalism. She is the author of Rethinking Racial Capitalism (2018), Dangerous Brown Men (2008), Traffick (2005) and co-author of Empire's Endgame (2020).
Harsha Walia is the award-winning author of Undoing Border Imperialism (2013) and, most recently, Border and Rule. Trained in the law, she is a community organizer and campaigner in migrant justice, anti-capitalist, feminist, and anti-imperialist movements, including No One Is Illegal and Women’s Memorial March Committee.
Maya Goodfellow is a Research Fellow at SPERI, University of Sheffield. She is also a regular broadcast commentator and writer, having written for the New York Times and the Guardian, among others. Maya is the author of Hostile Environment: How Immigrants Became Scapegoats (2020).
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This event is sponsored by Housmans Bookshop and Haymarket Books.
Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/dSETYvreYZI
Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org
Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

May 24, 2021 • 54min
America on Fire w/ Elizabeth Hinton & Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Join Elizabeth Hinton and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor for a conversation on themes from Hinton's new book, America on Fire.
From one of our top historians, American on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s is a groundbreaking story of policing and “riots” that shatters our understanding of the post–civil rights era.
What began in spring 2020 as local protests in response to the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police quickly exploded into a massive nationwide movement. Millions of mostly young people defiantly flooded into the nation’s streets, demanding an end to police brutality and to the broader, systemic repression of Black people and other people of color. To many observers, the protests appeared to be without precedent in their scale and persistence. Yet, as the acclaimed historian Elizabeth Hinton demonstrates in America on Fire, the events of 2020 had clear precursors—and any attempt to understand our current crisis requires a reckoning with the recent past.
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Elizabeth Hinton is associate professor of history and African American studies at Yale University and a professor of law at Yale Law School. The author of America on Fire and From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime, she lives in New Haven, Connecticut.
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor writes and speaks on Black politics, social movements, and racial inequality in the United States. She is author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation and editor of How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective. Her third book, Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership, published in 2019 by University of North Carolina Press, was a finalist for a National Book Award for nonfiction, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for History.
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To support our partnering indie bookstore, pre-order your signed copy here: https://www.midtownscholar.com/preorders/america-on-fire-signed
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This event is co-sponsored by Liveright Publishing, Midtown Scholar Bookstore and Haymarket Books.
Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/p3njQGGxK_g
Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org
Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks