Millennials Are Killing Capitalism

In this conversation Charisse Burden-Stelly returns to the podcast, and is joined by Jodi Dean to talk about their new book Organize, Fight, Win: Black Communist Women’s Political Writing.  Charisse Burden-Stelly is an Associate Professor of African American Studies at Wayne State University. Along with Gerald Horne she co-authored W.E.B. Du Bois: A Life In American History. She is a co-editor of the book Reproducing Domination On the Caribbean and the Postcolonial State. She is also the author of the forthcoming book Black Scare / Red Scare. She is a member of Black Alliance for Peace and was previously the co-host of The Last Dope Intellectual podcast. Jodi Dean teaches political, feminist, and media theory in Geneva, New York. She has written or edited thirteen books, including The Communist Horizon, Crowds and Party, and Comrade: An Essay on Political Belonging. She is also a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. The first collection of its kind, Organize, Fight, Win brings together three decades of Black Communist women’s political writings. In doing so, it highlights the link between Communism and Black liberation. Likewise, it makes clear how Black women fundamentally shaped, and were shaped by, Communist praxis in the twentieth century. Organize, Fight, Win includes writings from card-carrying Communists like Dorothy Burnham, Williana Burroughs, Grace P. Campbell, Alice Childress, Marvel Cooke, Esther Cooper Jackson, Thelma Dale Perkins, Vicki Garvin, Yvonne Gregory, Claudia Jones, Maude White Katz, and Louise Thompson Patterson, and writings by those who organized alongside the Communist Party, like Ella Baker, Charlotta Bass, Thyra Edwards, Lorraine Hansberry, and Dorothy Hunton. Dr. CBS and Dr. Dean introduce the text further in the discussion, and read some excerpts from it along the way as well. In conversation we talk about a number of the interventions made by Black Communist Women that are collected in Organize, Fight, Win. We also talk about how many of these women have often been written about, frequently to further intellectual frameworks that are not the Black Communist analysis and modes of organizing that they themselves espoused. We discuss the interventions these women made in relation to unionization efforts, anti-imperialism, anti-fascism, and the struggle for peace. We also discuss the difference between common manifestations of identitarian politics  today and the materialist analysis these Black Communist Women deployed.  We also talk about the internal critiques that they leveed against certain positions of the CPUSA, not in attempts to destroy the party, but in dedication to its mission. Organize, Fight, Win is available for pre-order from Verso Books and it will come out on this coming Tuesday. Black Alliance for Peace has a webinar kicking off the International Month of Action Against AFRICOM on Saturday October 1st. We’ll include links to those as well as to pre-orders for Socialist Reconstruction: A Better Future all of which are named in the episode. We’ll also include links to some previous discussions that relate to topics covered here. And as always if you like what we do, please support our work on patreon. You can become a patron of the show for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism.  Relevant links: Socialist Reconstruction: A Better Future   Black Alliance for Peace webinar on AFRICOM  Black Alliance for Peace's International Month of Action Against AFRICOM  Our previous conversation with Dr. CBS which provides a lot of useful context on anti-communism and anti-blackness and other terms and frameworks that are relevant to this discussion. Our previous discussion on Lorraine Hansberry’s time at Freedom Our conversation with Mary Helen Washington (who was also referenced in the show)    

In this conversation we speak with Robyn Maynard and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson  Robyn is the author of the bestselling and award-winning book Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present. She is also an assistant professor of Black Feminisms in Canada at University of Toronto. She also has a lengthy history of writing about and organizing with social movements against borders, state violence and for abolition. Leanne is a Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar, writer, musician, and member of Alderville First Nation. She is the author of seven books including A Short History of the Blockade and As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom through Radical Resistance. In this conversation we discuss their latest book Rehearsals for Living. This will be part 1 of a 2 part discussion with the authors. Robyn and Leanne discuss world-endings and world-building as realities and practices of Black and Indigenous existence and resistance. They talk about grappling with building a necessary relationality and solidarity between Black and Indigenous movements in so-called Canada as well as internationally against white supremacy, capitalism, settler colonialism and other structures of violence and domination. They also talk about ways of living that are necessary to recall and to continue or renew practices of in the face of already existing climate change and devastation. And they discuss how social movements build upon each other continuing to produce knowledge that grows and sustains and builds their capacity for stronger bonds of solidarity and more effective modes of resistance.  As a note there is a portion of this episode and of Rehearsals for Living that builds on a conversation we published with Stefano Harney and Fred Moten back in July of 2020. Here is a link to that conversation for anyone who wants that context or wants to revisit it after hearing Leanne’s reflections. Rehearsals for Living is a really powerful read and we encourage you to pick it up from Haymarket Books or from your local bookstore. This is our fourth episode of the month, we’ve just hit our goal of adding 25 patrons for the month. We want to thank everyone who signed up to support the show this month. It is only through the support of our listeners through patreon that we are able to sustain this work. If you would like to join them in supporting the show and its hosts and continue to grow our work, you can become a patron of the show for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism.

In this episode Dr. Jesse Benjamin returns to the podcast. Like our previous conversation with Jesse we’re connecting to talk about a recently released book by Walter Rodney, in this case it’s Decolonial Marxism: Essays From The Pan-African Revolution, which is a previously unpublished collection of Rodney’s essays on race, colonialism and Marxism. Jesse Benjamin is a scholar, activist, publisher, and board member for the Walter Rodney Foundation, and he is the co-editor of Decolonial Marxism. We talk about how Decolonial Marxism showcases Rodney’s range as a theorist and a thinker, as an educator, and as an activist. This collection of essays across a range of topics really provides practical examples of what we think Rodney meant by the term “guerilla intellectual.” It also gives us a glimpse of how Rodney assessed some of the movements and key theorists and leaders of his lifetime, particularly with respect to anticolonial nationalists and socialists on the African continent. Jesse Benjamin offers insights into how he reads Rodney’s work in these pieces with respect to pedagogy and epistemology. We also talk about the title Decolonial Marxism and how Rodney takes up the questions of the relevance of Marxism to African peoples and other peoples of the so-called Third World. Jesse also talks about the significance of many of Rodney’s interventions in a range of areas and approaches that are really groundbreaking or, at the very least, would’ve been quite cutting edge during Rodney’s lifetime. And all of us marvel at how relevant and insightful Rodney’s contributions remain decades after his assassination. We strongly recommend the book for anyone who appreciates Walter Rodney’s work and if you’re not familiar with Rodney’s work it’s really essential stuff and we highly recommend it. Verso Books has published this text and they also have editions of 3 other Rodney books all of which are authorized by the Walter Rodney Foundation and Rodney’s family. And everything is 40% off over there at Verso for the rest of September. Make sure you get connected with the Walter Rodney Foundation every year they host a Walter Rodney Symposium which is an amazing event. And if you like what we do here we hope you will consider joining up with all of our wonderful patrons in supporting the show. We currently have a drive to add 25 new patrons this month. We only need 10 more to hit our goal for this month, so head on over to patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism and become a patron if you can spare $1 a month or more. Also while you’re there we currently have a poll to determine our next study group book, so make sure you vote on that and be on the look out for updates because we will be reconvening our study group in October. Our previous conversations that deal most directly with Walter Rodney's work and life (from most recent to oldest): “Almost As If Their Spirits Are Still There” - David Austin on The 1968 Congress of Black Writers "Our Enemies Know the Power of Books" - Louis Allday and Liberated Texts "The Wealth of Europe is the (Stolen) Wealth of Africa" with Devyn Springer Walter Rodney's Russian Revolution - A View From The Third World with Dr Jesse Benjamin Devyn Springer Discusses Walter Rodney  

For this episode we welcome Noam Chomsky and Vijay Prashad back to the podcast. This is our second conversation on The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of U.S. Power (Part 1 is here) As we noted in our previous conversation we weren’t able to get to all of our questions in the first discussion, but Noam and Vijay were generous enough to agree to record a part 2. We recorded this conversation on September 2nd, which is interesting because some information on the war in Ukraine had been revealed between our two conversations and we get into that in discussion. We will link the article they reference in the show notes. This conversation, begins with discussion of the Tet Offensive and Noam facing potential trial for his resistance during the US war in Vietnam. Vijay talks about Noam’s piece “The Responsibility of Intellectuals.”  From there we get into discussion about “the Pentagon System,” and the military industrial complex.  They both share some thoughts on Manufacturing Consent and the role of the media, and discuss a few examples of how this functions. Talk about imperialism with regards to resources and power. And Noam discusses how NATO and the Pentagon rebranded their purposes after the Cold War. From there we get into the invention of “humanitarian intervention,” and how concepts of human rights and genocide have been manipulated by the US despite US’s total lack of accountability within the frameworks of international law.  We close with some discussion on how to recompose and reconstitute movements in the imperial core, against imperialism and toward better horizons. Both this conversation and our previous conversation with Noam and Vijay are based on questions developed on their book The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of U.S. Power. Which is on sale now and we definitely recommend it. We will also link the previous discussion the authors had with Guerrilla History that we reference in the episode. If you don’t listen to Guerrilla History check them out, we really like the work they do and hopefully you will as well. We’re down a few patrons this month. We’re working to maintain the sustainability of the podcast in these difficult times. To that end we have a goal of adding 25 patrons this month. You can become one for as little as $1 a month or $10.80 per year. All support, adds up and makes this show possible and keeps us completely independent, ad free, and able to bring you conversations like this every week. So head over to patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism and help out if you can. The Hill and Stent article (the one that references the April peace agreement) Reflections on a Political Trial  The Responsibility of Intellectuals 

In this episode we are honored to host a conversation with Noam Chomsky and Vijay Prashad, to discuss their brand new book The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of U.S. Power.  Part 2 of the conversaiton can be found here. Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historical essayist, social critic and political activist. While we couldn’t find a complete bibliography, from what we could gather, it seems that at this point he has written over 100 books, on a wide range of topics.  Vijay Prashad is an executive director of Tricontinental: institute of Social Research, the Chief Editor of LeftWord Books, and a senior non-resident fellow at Chonyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China. He is also the author of over 20 books and a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). In this conversation we talk about the recent U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the so-called “China threat,” The Godfather attitude of U.S. imperialism, the war in Ukraine, sanctions, and international law. We also question whether we should look at the U.S. as a declining power or just an empire in transition. As you will see we were not able to get through all of our questions in this conversation, but Noam and Vijay were kind enough to record a part 2 with us as well, which we will release in the coming days. This part of the conversation was recorded on August 30th. We want to thank all of our patrons for making our show possible. It’s a new month and we have a new goal to add 25 patrons again this month. You can become a patron of the show for as little as $1 a month. All of the support for our show comes from listeners like you as we have no grant funding and we don’t sell any ads. You can become a patron by signing up at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism And be on the look out for part 2 of this conversation in the coming days.

In this episode we interview Marika Sherwood. As she mentions in the episode, Sherwood was born into a Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary in 1937. After World War 2, the surviving members of her family emigrated with her to Australia, she was briefly employed in New Guinea, and eventually emigrated to England, finding employment as a teacher in London. She will discuss on the episode how she became dedicated to researching and publishing Black history. Along with Hakim Adi and others, Sherwood is one of the founders of the Black and Asian Studies Association in the UK. For us, this conversation was primarily spurred by our reading of her book Kwame Nkrumah and the Dawn of the Cold War, The West African National Secretariat 1945-1948. In this conversation Sherwood touches on some of the methods used by British government and the British press to suppress the organizing Kwame Nkrumah - along with others like George Padmore - was engaged in, during this crucial post-war period. She also talks about areas where she sees a need for further research on anticolonial movements and counterintelligence operations against them. Sherwood also stresses the need for the UK to release more documentation on its own counterintelligence operations against Nkrumah, Padmore and others. We encourage people to check out Sherwood’s other work as well. To give you an idea, she sent us a list of her publications and it was 8 pages long, including over 20 books. In addition to Kwame Nkrumah, her books include work on Pan-Africanism, Claudia Jones, and Malcolm X. In many ways this is a conversation about dedication, for Sherwood we get some understanding of why she has dedicated so much of her life to studying African movements and Black History. It also hopefully give us some sense of the dedication that Kwame Nkrumah had to all the peoples of Africa. And it also highlights the dedication of British Empire to undermining the conditions for true self-determination on the African continent and their dedication to deliberately hiding that legacy out of public record.  We hope you enjoy this episode. This is our fifth episode of August, we already have a bunch of really exciting conversations slated to come out in September and October as well. If you’d like to become a patron of the show, you can become one for as little as $1 a month. It is with the generous support of our listeners that we can continue to bring you these conversations every week.

In this episode we interview Dr. Gao Yunxiang. Dr. Gao is professor of history at Toronto Metropolitan University and the author of Sporting Gender: Women Athletes and Celebrity-Making during China’s National Crisis, 1931-1945. For this conversation we are honored to have Dr. Gao join us to talk about her book Arise, Africa! Roar, China! Black and Chinese Citizens of the World in the Twentieth Century. It is a very interesting book that examines the lives and interconnectedness of three seminal figures of the Black Left in W.E.B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson, and Langston Hughes as well as two very interesting Chinese internationalist cultural workers and activists Liu Liangmo and Sylvia Si-lan Chen. Of course in examining Du Bois and Robeson the work also examines the politics and lives of Shirley Graham Du Bois and Eslanda Robeson. We initially planned to have a conversation on the whole book for this episode, but due to some time constraints we recorded this as a part 1 primarily focusing on W.E.B. Du Bois and Shirley Graham Du Bois and Yunxiang’s scholarship on them which breaks ground from archival sources that have often been ignored by western academics due to lack of access to Chinese archives or due to linguistic barriers. At a later date we plan to record an additional conversation that looks more in-depth at the other central figures in Dr. Gao’s book, namely Langston Hughes, Si-Lan Chen, Liu Liangmo and the Robesons.  This discussion examines the conversation behind the famous photo of W.E.B. Du Bois laughing with Chairman Mao, the impact of Shirley Graham Du Bois and Eslanda Robeson on their husband’s views toward Communist China, and why Shirley Graham Du Bois is buried in China. As well as, how she navigated the Sino-Soviet split and her role within China through  the shifting landscapes of Chinese Communist policy, including the Cultural Revolution. This is our 4th episode of the month. We’re on a current push to add 10 patrons before the end of the month. You can be one of those 10 folks to help us meet that goal for as little as $1 a month. We want to extend our gratitude to all the patrons of the show and to folks who share these episodes with friends, family and comrades. You can become a patron of the show at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism.  Documentary on Du Bois in China mentioned in the episode.

In this episode we interview Claude Marks the co-director Freedom Archives. The Freedom Archives the best archive we know of documenting the history of revolutionary, radical and progressive movements of the 1960’s through the 1990’s.  In this conversation we talk about Freedom Archives and its collections, most of which are available at FreedomArchives.org.  Claude shares a brief overview of his own radical media work and participation in struggles which led to his political imprisonment. And talks about the plight of political prisoners, and the broader communities targeted and impacted by the prison system, in the US today.  Claude also shares some reflections that are timely for Black August including historical importance and current relevance of George Jackson, which Freedom Archives honored with their excellent 99 Books digital exhibit last year. We talk about the FBI’s counterintelligence program, which is detailed in the Freedom Archives documentary COINTELPRO 101 and ask Claude about the relationship he sees between the state’s counterinsurgency in that era and today. He emphasizes the importance of studying movements that were successful and of understanding the work of political prisoners as part of the struggle that is embraced and supported within more advanced movements.  We close by asking about projects that Freedom Archives has on the horizon and ways that folks can get in touch with them and also support their critical work. You can donate here to Freedom Archives. And as always if you like what we do, please consider becoming a patron of our show. You can do so at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism for as little as $1 a month. We offer sincere gratitude to everyone who finds a way to support us and if you can’t contribute monetarily right now, share an episode on social media or introduce some friends to the podcast.  This episode will include audio clips from George Jackson, Assata Shakur, Corky Gonzales, Dylcia Pagan, & the BPP Kids (these last three are all a part of the Vinyl Project of Freedom Archives) we include these just to showcase some of the amazing material that Freedom Archives brings together. We’ll include links in the show notes to all of these clips, some of which are available in longer form on Freedom Archives. 

In this episode we interview Rasheda Alexander and Sterling Johnson. They are both participants in the struggle to defend the UC Townhomes, which residents have renamed the People’s Townhomes in Philadelphia. This one of the most recent flashpoint struggles in Philadelphia in a long struggle to defend the neighborhoods Black Philadelphians were originally segregated into from the forces of gentrification and displacement. Sterling who is an organizer with Philadelphia Housing Action joined us previously in part 1 of our conversation on the book How We Stay Free to talk about the massive housing struggles for homeless people in Philadelphia in 2020. In this episode both Rasheda and Sterling offer personal context, overarching analysis, and talk about the issue of housing among other things as a racial justice issue, as a disability justice issue, and as an issue of justice for the elderly.   Rasheda provides listeners with a concrete understanding of the liberatory potential of struggles like this, how they can transform relations among participants and be an example of abolition in practice. Sterling provides a great deal of analysis and context around the forces housing organizers have to fight, and advocates for a proliferation of encampments as a tactic in that struggle.  It is important context to know that the protest camp, by which I mean basically the pallets and the tents, was removed by the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office this past Monday. When we had spoken on July 27th it was supposed to originally have been removed on that day. It was through organizing, resistance, and support from other groups in Philly including organized labor that the encampment lasted as long as it did. I’m going to play a quick clip of audio of Philadelphia’s Sheriff who brands herself as a “social justice warrior” as she is removing the encampment. In the background you can hear residents and protesters chanting “we ain’t goin’ nowhere,” which has been a clarion call of the Save UC Townhomes movement.  Even with the encampment’s tents and barriers removed, the protest and the fight to Save UC Townhomes will continue. Please connect with them by following them on social media for more updates on how to support their struggle. And get involved in housing struggles in your own community. Even if it is not your home being impacted, these fights affect all of us. We’ll include more links in the show notes, including an Opinion piece that came out in the Philly Inquirer after the demolition of the encampment: “We are still waiting for the Mayor’s Office to respond to our demands. However, I am grateful for all of the support that our protest camp has received, and look forward to continuing our fight regardless of the court or the sheriff’s decision to dismantle it. I cherish this community and I will continue to fight for it until I can’t anymore.” That quote by Maria Lyles, who is a resident of UC Townhomes, sums up the perspectives from residents who have been struggling to defend their community in this fight. It also echoes much of Rasheda’s sentiment in this conversation. An editors note, this episode was a live conversation much of which the interviewees were outside, or at UC Townhomes. So there were a couple parts that had to be clipped, and there are still some issues that remain in the audio, in all cases they are brief and clear up quickly. At Millennials Are Killing Capitalism we had an initial goal of adding 25 patrons this month to keep up with attrition. We’re only 6 patrons away from hitting that goal as we publish this on August 11th, so hopefully we can exceed that goal this month. Thank you to all the folks who support us on patreon, and if you would like to join them you can do so for as little as $1 a month on patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. Our music is provided by Televangel. Now here is our conversation with Rasheda Alexander and Sterling Johnson. https://savetheuctownhomes.com https://www.instagram.com/saveuctownhomes/ https://twitter.com/saveuctownhomes Frank Rizzo, the UC Townhomes, and the fight to save Black Philadeplhia by Rasheda Alexander and Sterling Johnson Article referencing the Black Bottom Tribe (mentioned in episode)  I'm being evicted from University City Townhomes by Maria Lyles Philadelphia Housing Action      

In this episode we are honored to welcome Dr. Ruth Wilson Gilmore to the podcast. Ruth Wilson Gilmore is Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences and Director of the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics at the City University of New York Graduate Center. Co-founder of many grassroots organizations including the California Prison Moratorium Project, Critical Resistance, and the Central California Environmental Justice Network, she is author of the prize-winning Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California. In this episode, we ask questions primarily from Wilson Gilmore’s latest book Abolition Geography: Essays Toward Liberation. Along the way we talk about consciousness, conjunctural analysis, the horizon of abolition, and various modes of organizing against premature death. We also ask a couple of questions facing abolitionists today, and Ruth Wilson Gilmore offers some insights into the various forms of struggle in which she finds hope. We strongly encourage folks to pick up Abolition Geography which is packed full of insights from Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s past 30 years of thinking and writing about abolitionist struggle, much of which she participated in directly.  Our music as always is provided by Televangel. We want to give a huge thank you to all of our patrons for supporting the show. Our work here is only possible because of your support. We don’t sell ads, we don’t put our episodes behind a paywall and we don’t charge guests fees. We don’t do any of those things because we don’t want any corporate interests influencing our content, and we want all of our episodes to be freely available to anyone who wants to listen. So if you aren’t already a patron, and you enjoy this conversation please become a patron of the show. You can do so for as little as $1 a month or $10.80 per year at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism.