
Movement Memos
An ongoing call to action for movement work and mutual aid efforts around the country. Kelly Hayes connects with activists, journalists and others on the front lines to break down what’s happening in various struggles and what listeners can do to help.
Latest episodes

Apr 28, 2022 • 54min
Indigenous Abolitionists Are Organizing for Healing and Survival
“We want a world where people are supported, where our people are not made forcibly vulnerable to violence, and where interventions occur long before someone goes missing." In this episode of Movement Memos, Kelly talks with and Morning Star Gali talk about how Indigenous abolitionists are addressing the crisis of missing and murdered women, girls and two spirit people.If you need a transcript, you can find that on our website: bit.ly/movementmemosIf 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

Apr 22, 2022 • 59min
Politics as Usual Has Never Prevented Mass Shootings. We Must Break the Cycle.
Our entrenched, public reactions and political rituals around mass shootings are growing shorter, as these nightmare scenarios become an almost normalized aspect of the U.S. landscape. In this episode, Kelly talks with author and educator Patrick Blanchfield about what isn’t working, why and what we need to do instead.If you need a transcript, you can find that on our website: bit.ly/movementmemosIf 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

6 snips
Apr 14, 2022 • 1h 22min
Ruth Wilson Gilmore on Abolition, the Climate Crisis and What Must Be Done
“For anybody who is caught up in the systems that are shaped by extractive capitalism and organized violence, there is a cumulative and compounded effect on their persons and their lives,” says scholar and activist Ruth Wilson Gilmore. In this episode of “Movement Memos,” Gilmore talks with Kelly Hayes about prison abolition, the climate crisis, and what must be done.If you need a transcript, you can find that on our website: bit.ly/movementmemosIf 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

Mar 24, 2022 • 36min
O'ahu Organizers Are Defending the Earth Against U.S. Militarism
“The Pentagon has a blanket exemption from all global climate agreements – in effect, a license to kill the natural world without consequence,” says Kelly Hayes. In this episode, Kelly and Kawenaʻulaokalā Kapahua discuss the U.S. military’s role in environmental devastation and explore lessons from the campaign to shut down the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility on the island of O'ahu – and what activists and organizers can learn from this struggle.If you need a transcript, you can find that on our website: bit.ly/movementmemosIf 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

8 snips
Mar 17, 2022 • 54min
Dean Spade Is Asking Activists, “How Much Bolder Could You Be?”
“None of us know where this is going,” says author and activist Dean Spade. “It's not looking good, but what do I want to spend the rest of my life doing? Being fully alive, being with other people, being in it together, taking risks, being really, really caring, [and] learning to love people even if they annoy me.” In the spring of 2020, the U.S. saw an unprecedented wave of mutual aid projects in response to the pandemic. What became of that energy, and what lessons have organizers learned from efforts that thrived and projects that collapsed? In this episode, Kelly and Dean Spade discuss mutual aid, overcoming burnout and demobilization and how we can support trans young people in the face of fascistic Republican attacks.If you need a transcript, you can find that on our website: bit.ly/movementmemosIf 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

Mar 10, 2022 • 38min
Harsha Walia: “To Become Ungovernable Is Central”
“I think we can reframe and re-understand the immigrant rights movement, not just as one of many movements, but something that is fundamentally connected to how we remake the world,” says Harsha Walia. In this episode, Kelly and Border & Rule author Harsha Walia talk about the plight of Black students fleeing Ukraine, borders, the climate crisis, and taking action in these times.If you need a transcript, you can find that on our website: bit.ly/movementmemosIf 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

Mar 3, 2022 • 35min
Incarcerated Organizers Are Resisting Amid Deteriorating Conditions
While officials spin false narratives blaming violent crime on bail reform, and police insist too many people are getting out of jail, conditions in U.S. jails and prisons remain nightmarish. In this episode, Kelly Hayes talks with organizer Brooke Terpstra about a hunger strike at the Santa Rita Jail in California, and about some of the complexities and political dynamics of organizing in jails and prisons.If you need a transcript, you can find that on our website: bit.ly/movementmemosIf 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

Feb 25, 2022 • 52min
Young Activists Are Challenging the U.S. War Machine as Tensions Escalate With Russia
“What we cannot do is rally our compassion on the basis of whether or not we think the U.S. war machine can drop some bombs and make it better. Making things better is not what the war machine is for,” says Kelly Hayes. In this episode, Kelly talks with organizer Yaira Matos from the youth anti-war group We Are Dissenters about militarism, international solidarity, and why the U.S. war machine cannot be made good.If you need a transcript, you can find that on our website: bit.ly/movementmemosIf 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

Feb 17, 2022 • 47min
Trans Youth Are Facing Right-Wing Attacks and a Solidarity Shortage
“What we have is a situation where our opponents are fixated on us and our allies are leaving us behind,” says trans attorney and activist Chase Strangio. Republicans have made attacks on trans youth a signature policy item at the state level. In this episode, Kelly and Chase talk about the avalanche of transphobic legislation Republicans have generated, the role of fascist politics in this onslaught and why trans students are not getting the support they need.If you need a transcript, you can find that on our website: bit.ly/movementmemosIf 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

Feb 10, 2022 • 45min
Activists Are Building a Counterculture of Care in Apocalyptic Times
“This will be an era defined by who is deemed worthy of survival, and who isn’t, who gives a damn, and who doesn’t, and how we keep each other alive during and in between catastrophes,” says Kelly Hayes. In this episode, Kelly talks with Shane Burley, the author of Why We Fight and Fascism Today, about right-wing power, the apocalypse, and organizing a counterculture of care.If you need a transcript, you can find that on our website: bit.ly/movementmemosIf 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
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