Movement Memos

“This system was designed to do exactly what it is doing and has been doing: concentrating wealth and facilitating racial capitalism and colonialism and extraction,” says author and activist Dean Spade. In this episode, Kelly and Dean discuss some common traps that activists fall into when discussing repression and how we can strengthen our practice of solidarity. Music: Son MonarcasYou can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: truthout.org/series/movement-memos/If you would like to support the show, you can donate here: bit.ly/TODonateIf you would like to receive Truthout's newsletter, please sign up: bit.ly/TOnewsletter

“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 DrummersYou can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: truthout.org/series/movement-memos/If you would like to support the show, you can donate here: bit.ly/TODonateIf you would like to receive Truthout's newsletter, please sign up: bit.ly/TOnewsletter

The Luddites, who smashed machines in the 19th century, in an organized effort to resist automation, are often portrayed as uneducated opponents of technology. But according to Blood in the Machine author Brian Merchant, “The Luddites were incredibly educated as to the harms of technology. They were very skilled technologists. So they understood exactly how new developments in machinery would affect the workplace, their industry, and their identities.” In this episode, Kelly talks with Brian about the history and legacy of the Luddite movement, and what workers who are being oppressed by the tech titans of our time can learn from the era of machine-breakers.Music: Son Monarcas & David CelesteYou can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: truthout.org/series/movement-memos/If you would like to support the show, you can donate here: bit.ly/TODonateIf you would like to receive Truthout's newsletter, please sign up: bit.ly/TOnewsletter

“If you think about all the cop shows and you think about the birthright tours and you think about all the friendship visits of U.S. officials to Israel, where it's as if there's no Palestine, and you think about Coffee With A Cop, these are all in the same school of actually deeply violent, militaristic propaganda that tries to soften something that only exists to control vulnerable people,” says journalist Lewis Raven Wallace. In this episode, Raven Wallace talks with Kelly about the similarities between copaganda, which launders the image of US policing, and the pro-Israel bias of corporate media outlets.Music: Son Monarcas & PulsedYou can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: truthout.org/series/movement-memos/If you would like to support the show, you can donate here: bit.ly/TODonateIf you would like to receive Truthout's newsletter, please sign up: bit.ly/TOnewsletter

“At UChicago, they were chanting, ‘40,000 people dead. You are fighting kids instead,’” says author and University of Chicago faculty member Eman Abdelhadi. “Palestine has laid open all the contradictions that are at the core of our society, and the sheer absurdity of trying to suppress this movement.” In this episode, Kelly talks with Abdelhadi and Alex, who participated in the Palestine solidarity encampment at Northeastern University, about what we can learn from the recent wave of student-led protest, and where the movement should go from here.Music: Son Monarcas, David Celeste & Curved MirrorYou can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: truthout.org/series/movement-memos/If you would like to support the show, you can donate here: bit.ly/TODonateIf you would like to receive Truthout's newsletter, please sign up: bit.ly/TOnewsletter

"When people come from outside your community or your campus, it makes you feel like you're connected to a bigger whole," says Solidarity co-author Astra Taylor. "It makes you feel like what's happening there matters. It creates a sense of a larger coalition. And that's powerful, which is exactly why the people in power don't like it." In this episode, Kelly talks with Taylor and Leah Hunt-Hendrix about solidarity, divide-and-conquer tactics, and the concept of “outside agitators.”Music: Son Monarcas, Curved Mirror, Pulsed & David CelesteYou can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: truthout.org/series/movement-memos/If you would like to support the show, you can donate here: bit.ly/TODonateIf you would like to receive Truthout's newsletter, please sign up: bit.ly/TOnewsletter

While Kelly is away on medical leave, we revisit a fan-favorite episode in which Kelly and Mariame Kaba talk about lessons from their book Let This Radicalize You. "I have experienced countless losses, but there have also been some magnificent wins, so I know that these are possible," says Kaba. Music: Son Monarcas & David CelesteYou 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/TODonateIf you would like to receive Truthout's newsletter, please sign up: bit.ly/TOnewsletter

Kelly is still on medical leave, so we are revisiting their conversation with Dorothy Roberts about the fall of Roe and the carceral nature of the family policing system. “This strategy of making fetal protection more important than the lives and freedom of women and other pregnant people began with the prosecutions of Black women, who were pregnant and using drugs,” said Roberts, author of Torn Apart and Killing The Black Body.Music: Son Monarcas and PulsedYou can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: truthout.org/audio/the-end-of-roe-will-lead-to-more-family-separation-and-child-disappearance/If you would like to support the show, you can donate here: bit.ly/TODonateIf you would like to receive Truthout's newsletter, please sign up: bit.ly/TOnewsletter

While Kelly is on medical leave, we hope you enjoy this fan favorite from the archives. In this episode, Kelly talked with Sarah Jaffe about surveillance, criminalization, and lessons from Jaffe's book, "Work Won't Love You Back."Music: Son Monarcas You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: truthout.org/audio/work-isnt-fulfilling-because-capitalism-is-a-death-march/If you would like to support the show, you can donate here: bit.ly/TODonateIf you would like to receive Truthout's newsletter, please sign up: bit.ly/TOnewsletter

The podcast delves into the exploitation of care work in the U.S. economy, advocating for a shift away from profit-driven dynamics. It explores the devaluation of care work in society, the impact of gig economy on workers, and the crisis of social reproduction in the care industry. Radical care projects and mutual aid initiatives are highlighted as transformative resistance against exploitation.