The Antifada

This is audio of CRUSH reading series no.37, Benefit for Palestine featuring Kamelya Youssef, Jenna Hamed, Tenaya Nasser, Tilghman Goldsborough, and Aristilde Kirby, with musical accompaniment by Paco Cathcart.Recorded at Woodbine Nov 3, 2023.The reading was a benefit for Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA). Donate here- https://secure.everyaction.com/3aJf-w9toEewrIbfQf-XtA2See a short clip of the performance here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CzUJSiOuNtd/CRUSH reading series is curated by Suzanne GoldenbergA zine accompanying the performance: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z2Qk716YmqbEMiamBDRKhhKJ6tR2MK9z/view

The arcane numbering system is gone, but Sean and Varn have (surprise!) a new miniseries. Inspired by current events - such as the Russo-Ukrainian War, Israel's ongoing atrocities in Gaza, and the turn towards post-neoliberal economic nationalism - we're going to explore all manner of Marxist and non-Marxist theories on the nation state to help get our heads around the current mess the world is in and hopefully chart a pathway out.How did the nation-state rise in the early modern world? what role has nationalism played in capitalist development? What are the historical legacies of Lenin and Stalin's nationalities policies? Rhetoric aside, what is the relationship (if any) between national liberation movements and the communist project?This is an extended preview. For access to the entire episode, become a patron today at www.patreon.com/theantifada. To see the video recording of this episode and get all of C. Derick Varn's amazing content, subscribe at www.patreon.com/varnvlogFor this first episode we mention various theorists - Harun Yilnaz, Ze'ev Sternhell, Benedict Anderson, Benjamin Studebaker, Eric Hobsbawm - and also look at this essay: https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/atc/3587.html

For the full episode support us on patreon at http://patreon.com/theantifadaJ. Sakai's Settlers Chapter 9 - Neocolonial Pacification in the US discusses how the Settler Nation integrated Native American and Black leaders into its ranks. Topics include: Native American self-governance, the rise of Marcus Garvey's UNIA, international solidarity with Ethiopia after Italy's 1935 invasion, the STFU (Southern Tenant Farmers Union), A. Phillip Randolph, the March on Washington, Black Power, and Settlers-pilled Scorsese. For the full episode support us on patreon at http://patreon.com/theantifadaSettlers Ch. 9: https://readsettlers.org/ch9.htmlPaul Prescod on A. Phillip Randolph: https://jacobin.com/2020/05/a-philip-randolph-socialist-civil-rights-march-bscpMarcus Garvey and Ethiopia: https://republic.com.ng/august-september-2023/marcus-garvey-ethiopia-and-the-oau/Song: Hepcat - Marcus Garvey

Andy and Sean discuss the invasion in Gaza, Israel's move towards ethnic cleansing, the history of proletarian resistance in Palestine, and theorize class conflict between the Israeli and Palestinian national projects and its working classes. We also talk about what all this means for those communists in the US removed from the conflict. Some of our reading for the episode:https://decompositions.noblogs.org/files/2023/10/Explosion- Point.pdf https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2023/10/18/israel-the-shattering-of-a-dream/https://brooklynrail.org/2015/03/field-notes/negation-of-the-diasporahttps://libcom.org/article/worldwide-intifada-1https://parallaxviews.podbean.com/e/tamara/Shir Hever’s Political Economy of Israel’s OccupationAzzam Tamimi's Hamas: A History from Within Song: Hawkwind - Who's Gonna Win the War?

Sean is joined by @DaneilTutt, host of the @torsion_groups and @emancipations_ podcast, to talk about the life of Friedrich Engels through the Tristam Hunt's 2009 biography Marx's General.Is there truth to the argument, developed in the 1920s, that Engels was responsible for a serious distortion of Marx's theory? What do we make of his 'double life' as both a carousing bourgeois and a disciplined revolutionary? How did the political views of Marx and Engels change over he course of the 19th century? What was The Dialectics of Nature and how has so-called 'dialectical materialism' helped to dogmatize scientific socialism? And what remains of Engels' thought and practice today?Join us for a fun and informative episode on one of the revolutionary greats. For the full discussion, and tons more bonus content, become a patron at patreon.com/theantifadaSong: Dispatch - The General

Michael Hardt, philosopher and political theorist, discusses the subversive movements of the 70s. Topics include autonomist social movements, intersectional radical feminism, gay liberation, Italian autonomists, and antinuclear activists. The discussion explores the transition and reconfiguration of radical groups, the concept of leadership in popular organizations, escalation without militarization, life beyond empire, reflections on protests, and book recommendations.

We continue reading J. Sakai's Settlers - The Myth of the White Proletariat, chapters 7 and 8. We begin the episode with a discussion of the war in Israel and Palestine with Sakai's national-liberation framework in mind.For the full episode support the show at patreon.com/theantifadaLeftcom statements mentioned: https://en.internationalism.org/content/17406/neither-israel-nor-palestine-workers-have-no-fatherland http://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2023-10-11/the-latest-butchery-in-the-middle-east-is-part-of-the-march-to-generalised-warRead along: https://readsettlers.org/ch7.html https://readsettlers.org/ch8.htmlTampa Red - New Deal Blues

Jamie Merchant, author of incisive articles on capital, finance, and permanent crisis, joins the hosts to discuss topics such as the rate of profit to fall, the limits of 'financialization' discourse, the politics of crisis theory, industrial policy, anti-anti-globalization, and the Palestine-Israel conflict.

In this episode, the hosts talk about their moves and the next chapter of their lives. They discuss the influx of asylum seekers to NYC, the crisis of the WTO, and right-wing opposition to industrial plants in Michigan and East Germany.

Sean and Varn continue the second part of their miniseries on left strategies and orientations. Central to the discussion is the definition and role of what is called 'Rank and File' organizing, something that means many things to many people, but whose bases are often conflated in literature and debate, for example in the DSA. This episode tackles, in turn, the tendencies associated with Joe Burns, Jane MacAlevey, Kim Moody, Marxist-Leninists and syndicalists.Taking a cue from current events, the conversation revolves around the ongoing United Autoworkers strike in the Midwest: what it might mean for the industry, how a victory might galvanize the broader working class, and how a defeat might play out.Become a patron of The Antifada for the extended, two-and-a-half hour audio episode, and/or a patron of VarnVlog to watch the video recording.