Haymarket Books Live

Join Robin D.G. Kelley, Grace Blakeley, and Brian Jones for the opening plenary of Socialism 2020 Virtual. Register for the conference at www.socialismconference.org. We open the conference with a panorama of our present political landscape: a global pandemic, racialized health disparities backed by racist police violence, and the likelihood of a major economic crisis. This panel will situate our moment and prepare us for what is to come by explaining the contours of the new world we are entering, and how it has been shaped by the racialized capitalist system we still have with us. The conference will open with a performance of Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Socialism 2020 is sponsored by Haymarket Books, Jacobin, and the Democratic Socialists of America. Learn more at socialismconference.org. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/L0sAiaJf-A8 Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Join us for a discussion on abolishing the police and policing with Mariame Kaba, Maya Schenwar, and Victoria Law. ——————————————————— Recent Black Lives Matter protests have already gained some significant victories, reaching further toward abolition than many may have thought possible in this lifetime. As we stand on the precipice of so much potential change, there’s an understandable impulse to reach for “replacements” -- institutions to fill in for police and prisons. Yet we can’t simply call for social workers to replace police. As we fight to defund or abolish police and imprisonment, we need to be wary of ways that strengthen other forms of surveillance and control. Drug courts, mandatory psychiatric treatment, and sex worker “rescue” programs might seem like better alternatives to our current system but they still disproportionately target Black, Brown and marginalized people, keeping them under coercive systems. Meanwhile, social workers, teachers and medical professionals--while vital to a flourishing society--can’t be called upon to simply “replace” police, thus drafting them into roles of surveillance and punishment. We must also beware of the ways in which “community”-based forms of policing, including neighborhood watch programs and the expansion of the child welfare system’s mandated reporting, replicate many of the same oppressive dynamics as traditional policing. A just society will not be achieved until we stop looking for ways to make policing and prisons more humane and focus on building the society we actually want to live in. Join abolitionist organizer Mariame Kaba and journalists Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law, authors of the forthcoming book Prison By Any Other Name, for a discussion of the urgent need to use this moment for transformative change. Many thanks to Sarah Waltcher for the transcription of this video, which facilitated accurate captions. ——————————————————— To get a copy of Prison By Any Other Name: https://thenewpress.com/books/prison-by-any-other-name Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/qt-JDtL0OnE Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Join Cornel West, Eddie S. Glaude Jr., and Maya Marshall for an indispensable conversation about James Baldwin's America and its urgent lessons for our own. ames Baldwin grew disillusioned by the failure of the civil rights movement to force America to confront its lies about race. In our own moment, when that confrontation feels more urgently needed than ever, what can we learn from his struggle? We live, according to Eddie S. Glaude Jr., in a moment when the struggles of Black Lives Matter and the attempt to achieve a new America have been challenged by the election of Donald Trump, a president whose victory represents yet another failure of America to face the lies it tells itself about race. From Charlottesville to the policies of child separation at the border, his administration turned its back on the promise of Obama's presidency and refused to embrace a vision of the country shorn of the insidious belief that white people matter more than others. We have been here before: for James Baldwin, these after times came in the wake of the civil rights movement, when a similar attempt to compel a national confrontation with the truth was answered with the murders of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. In these years, spanning from the publication of The Fire Next Time in 1963 to that of No Name in the Street in 1972, Baldwin transformed into a more overtly political writer, a change that came at great professional and personal cost. But from that journey, Baldwin emerged with a sense of renewed purpose about the necessity of pushing forward in the face of disillusionment and despair. In the story of Baldwin's crucible, Glaude suggests, we can find hope and guidance through our own after times, this Trumpian era of shattered promises and white retrenchment. Mixing biography—drawn partially from newly uncovered interviews—with history, memoir, and trenchant analysis of our current moment, Begin Again is Glaude's endeavor, following Baldwin, to bear witness to the difficult truth of race in America today. It is at once a searing exploration that lays bare the tangled web of race, trauma, and memory, and a powerful interrogation of what we all must ask of ourselves in order to call forth a new America. Eddie S. Glaude Jr. is a scholar who speaks to the black and blue in America. His most well-known books, Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul, and In a Shade of Blue: Pragmatism and the Politics of Black America, take a wide look at black communities and reveal complexities, vulnerabilities, and opportunities for hope. He is the William S. Tod Professor of Religion and African American Studies and chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University. Cornel R. West is Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard Divinity School. He is best known for his classics Race Matters and Democracy Matters, and his memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud. He is the host with Tricia Rose of a new podcast, The Tight Rope. —————————— To order Glaude’s Begin Again from Labyrinth Books, please visit labyrinthbooks.com and enter the discount code Baldwin at checkout to receive free shipment on your order. Order a copy of Cornel West's memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Outloud: https://bookshop.org/a/1039/9781401921903 Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/RdHlORnIqT0 Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

At its start, the Syrian Revolution in 2011 was a mass popular uprising for democracy and equality against Bashar al-Assad’s brutal dictatorship. It included people from all ethnicities and religious groups who liberated sections of the country and tried to build a new democratic society. This panel will discuss the causes, nature and trajectory of this struggle for liberation, and the reasons for its defeat. ———————————————————— Anand Gopal is an award-winning journalist and assistant research professor with the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict and the Center on the Future of War at Arizona State University. Loubna Mrie is a Syrian photographer, journalist, and writer. She covered the Syrian war as a photojournalist for Reuters from 2012 to 2014. Her work has been published in The Nation, Time Magazine, Vice, and The New Republic. She is currently writing her first book, about the war in Syria, for Penguin Random House. Yasser Munif is a Sociology Assistant Professor in the Institute for Liberal Arts at Emerson College. He is the author and co-founder of the Global Campaign for Solidarity with the Syrian Revolution ———————————————————— Co-sponsored by Haymarket Books: https://www.haymarketbooks.org Pluto Press: https://www.plutobooks.com/ ———————————————————— Order a copy of Anand Gopal's book, No Good Men Among The Living here: https://bookshop.org/a/1039/9781250069269 Order a copy of Burning Country: https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745337821/burning-country/ Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/uMaRawAa9WY Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Join us for a conversation with organizers from #8toAbolition about why abolishing the police and prison system can't wait.- ------------------------------------------------------------------ Abolition can’t wait. While communities across the country mourn the loss of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Jamel Floyd, and so many more Black victims of police murder, Campaign Zero released its "8 Can’t Wait campaign", offering a set of eight reforms they claim would reduce police killings by 72%. As police and prison abolitionists, we believe that this campaign is dangerous and irresponsible, offering a slate of reforms that have already been tried and failed, that mislead a public newly invigorated to the possibilities of police and prison abolition, and that do not reflect the needs of criminalized communities. We honor the work of abolitionists who have come before us, and those who organize now. A better world is possible. We refuse to allow the blatant co-optation of decades of abolitionist organizing toward reformist ends that erases the work of Black feminist theorists. As the abolitionist organization Critical Resistance recently noted, 8 Can’t Wait will merely “improve policing’s war on us.” Additionally, many abolitionists have already debunked the 8 Can’t Wait campaign’s claims, assumptions, and faulty science. Abolition can’t wait. The 8 Demands of #8toAbolition: 1. Defund the Police 2. Demilitarize Communities 3. Remove Police From Schools 4. Free People from Prisons and Jails 5. Repeal Laws That Criminalize Survival 6. Invest in Community Self-Governance 7. Provide Safe Housing for Everyone 8. Invest in Care, Not Cops Find out more here: https://www.8toabolition.com Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/QfSm7JDhGL4 Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

A conversation with Bettina Love, Gholdy Muhammad, Dena Simmons and Brian Jones about abolitionist teaching and antiracist education. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- What would freedom look like in our schools? How can abolitionist educators make the most of this moment to fight for humane, liberatory, anti-racist schooling for black youth and for all youth? The coronavirus pandemic has transformed the US education system overnight. The antiracist rebellion in the streets has shown a light on the deep racial inequality in America. Educators and activists who have nurtured radical dreams for public schools now face an unprecedented moment of change, and the challenge of trying to teach and organize online in the midst of unfolding crises. Scholar and author Bettina Love’s concept of abolitionist teaching is about adopting the radical stance of the movement that ultimately overthrew slavery, but persisted and insisted on freedom long before that victory. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bettina L. Love is an award-winning author and the Athletic Association Endowed Professor at University of Georgia. She is the author of We Want To Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom and Hip Hop’s Li’l Sistas Speak: Negotiating Hip Hop Identities and Politics in the New South. Dr. Gholnecsar (Gholdy) Muhammad is an Associate Professor of Language and Literacy at Georgia State University. She also serves as the director of the GSU Urban Literacy Clinic. Dr. Muhammad’s scholarship has appeared in leading educational journals and books. Some of her recognitions include the 2014 recipient of the National Council of Teachers of English, Promising New Researcher Award, the 2016 NCTE Janet Emig Award, the 2017 GSU Urban Education Research Award and the 2018 UIC College of Education Researcher of the Year. She is the author of Cultivating Genius: An Equity Model for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy. Dena Simmons, Ed.D., is an activist, educator, and student of life from the Bronx, New York. She is the Assistant Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and an Associate Research Scientist at the Yale Child Study Center. She writes and speaks nationally about social justice and culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy as well as creating emotionally intelligent and safe classrooms within the context of equity and liberation. She is the author of the forthcoming book, White Rules for Black People (St. Martin’s Press, 2021). Brian Jones is the Associate Director of Education at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. He writes about black education history and politics. Co-sponsored by: Haymarket Books: https://www.haymarketbooks.org The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture: https://www.nypl.org/locations/schomburg Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/uJZ3RPJ2rNc Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Disruption, innovation, entrepreneurial spirit – Silicon Valley is viewed by many as the cradle of technological development and progress in our world today. But, behind the luster of unlimited growth and unbounded ambition lies Capitalism’s standard blend of exploitation and concentration of individual wealth at the expense of public good. ———————————————————— At a time when technology is seeping even deeper into our lives, how can we reclaim it for the many and not the few? Join authors, activists and radicals Rob Larson and Wendy Liu for a discussion on Big Tech’s monopolistic power today, and how we can respond to it with a radical vision of digital socialism. Rob Larson is a professor of economics at Tacoma Community College and author of Bit Tyrants: The Political Economy of Silicon Valley, and Capitalism vs. Freedom. He writes for Jacobin, In These Times, Current Affairs and Dollars & Sense. Wendy Liu is a tech commentator, software engineer and former startup founder who left the tech industry to pursue a masters degree in inequality from the London School of Economics. She has written for Logic Magazine, Tribune, and New Internationalist, and has been featured in articles for The Atlantic and CNBC on tech worker union organizing. ———————————————————— Cosponsored by Haymarket Books and the Left Book Club. The Left Book Club is a subscription book club for everyone interested in left politics. Relaunched along the lines of Victor Gollancz’s ground-breaking organisation active in the 1930s, the LBC seeks to popularise ideas from the left across the UK and abroad. Subscribe today to receive the best books on radical politics: https://www.leftbookclub.com/ ———————————————————— To Join the Left Book Club: https://www.leftbookclub.com/member In the US, order a copy of Bit Tyrants here: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1447-bit-tyrants To order a copy of Abolish Silicon Valley: https://bookshop.org/a/1039/9781912248704 Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/yrnBZMhKCnY Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Join us for a discussion about raising antiracist kids with author of the new book, AntiRacist Baby, Ibram X.Kendi in conversation with Derecka Purnell. –––––––––– A new uprising across the country demanding racial justice is a powerful reminder that families of all backgrounds need to be pro-active in raising children to understand racism and discrimination, and helping our kids to be a force for anti-racist change in the world. How do families raise actively anti-racist children? AntiRacist Baby written by Ibram X. Kendi; illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky (Kokila Books; on sale June 16, 2020; ages 0-3) Ibram X. Kendi is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and the Director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University. He is an Ideas Columnist at The Atlantic, and a correspondent with CBS News. He is the author of four books including Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won National Book Award for Nonfiction, and the New York Times bestsellers How to Be an Antiracist and STAMPED: Racism, Antiracism, and You, co-authored with Jason Reynolds. His next book, AntiRacist Baby, will be published in June. 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. –––––––––– Co-sponsored by: Haymarket Books: https://www.haymarketbooks.org Antiracist Research & Policy Center: https://antiracismcenter.com/ Labyrinth Books: https://www.labyrinthbooks.com/ Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/FnqS49Zfrjw Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

The BreakBeat Poets Live! is a virtual, multi-generational showcase of some of the illest writers on the planet rock. Each chapter features writers and performers who are part of the Haymarket Books family. Mixing lofi soul instrumentals with funk influences and smooth vocals. Elton Aura has a unique knack for words, flow, and beat selection. He opened up for Noname on her Room 25 tour in 2019 and is in the later stages of his next project coming in 2020. Cortney Lamar Charleston is a Cave Canem fellow and Pushcart Prize-winning author of Telepathologies (Saturnalia Books, 2017) and the forthcoming Doppelgangbanger (Haymarket Books, 2021). Aracelis Girmay is the author of the poetry books Teeth, Kingdom Animalia, and the black maria, and the picture book changing, changing. She is on the editorial board of the African Poetry Book Fund and recently edited a new Selected of Lucille Clifton poems entitled How to Carry Water. --- Juan J. Morales is the son of an Ecuadorian mother and Puerto Rican father. He is the author of three poetry collections, including The Handyman’s Guide to End Times, Winner of the 2019 International Latino Book Award. He is a CantoMundo Fellow, a Macondo Fellow, the Editor/Publisher of Pilgrimage Press, and Professor and Department Chair of English & World Languages at Colorado State University-Pueblo. --- José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants. His book, Citizen Illegal, won of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize and was named a top book of 2018 by NPR. ​He holds fellowships from CantoMundo, Poets House, and the Bronx Council on the Arts. Olivarez was awarded the Author and Artist in Justice award from the Phillips Brooks House Association and named a Debut Poet of 2018 by Poets & Writers. He is a recipient of the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation. --- Willie Perdomo is the author of The Crazy Bunch, which recently won the New York City Book Award for poetry, The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Smoking Lovely, winner of the PEN Open Book Award, and Where a Nickel Costs a Dime, a finalist for the Poetry Society of America Norma Farber First Book Award. He is also a co-editor of The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Poetry, The Best American Poetry 2019, and African Voices. He is currently a Lucas Arts Literary Fellow and teaches at Phillips Exeter Academy. --- Diamond Sharp is a poet and essayist from Chicago. She has performed at Chicago's Stage 773 and her work has been featured on Chicago Public Radio. She has been published in the New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, Vice, Pitchfork, Lenny, PANK, and others. A Callaloo fellow, she has also attended the Wright/Hurston workshop and is a member of the inaugural Poetry Foundation Incubator class. Her debut book of poetry, Super Sad Black Girl, is forthcoming from Haymarket Books. Diamond is an alumna of Wellesley College. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/9fyjCPbIKCM Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Join Barbara Ellen Smith, Lesley-Marie Buer, and Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson as they discus single health issues such as black lung, overdose deaths, HIV and hepatitis C, COVID-19, in Appalachia and what they reveal about the cracks in America's health and health care systems in general. ———————————————————— Most responses to these single issues have done little to change the overall systems, but there are initiatives and groups that offer glimpses of what change could look like. They will explore topics such as mutual aid, researcher/clinician/community member coalitions, harm reduction, street medics and how they can be applied in Appalachia and beyond. Lesly-Marie Buer is an activist and public health practitioner at Positively Living/Choice Health Network in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her work on substance use and harm reduction has appeared insuch publications as Boston Review, the Journal of Appalachian Studies, and North American Dialogue. Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson is a 33 year old, Affrilachian (Black Appalachian), working class woman, born and raised in Southeast Tennessee. She is the Co-Executive Director of the Highlander Research & Education Center in New Market, TN. She has served as president of the Black Affairs Association at East Tennessee State University and the Rho Upsilon Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She is a long-time activist working around issues of mountaintop removal mining, and environmental racism in central and southern Appalachia, and has served on the National Council of the Student Environmental Action Coalition. She is an active participant in the Movement for Black Lives and is on the governance council of the Southern Movement Assembly. Barbara Ellen Smith has participated in and written about movements for social justice in Appalachia and the U.S. South for more than forty years. She is professor emerita at Virginia Tech ———————————————————— To order a copy of Rx Appalachia: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1496-rx-appalachia To pre-order a copy of Digging Our Own Graves: https://bookshop.org/a/1039/9781642592757 For more info on the Highlander Research & Education Center: https://www.highlandercenter.org/ Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/Gi2rOa2Wvo0 Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks