Millennials Are Killing Capitalism

In this interview we wanted to do a discussion about the law, politics and abolition. We thought that this was an important thing to have some discussion on, in light of all the recent Supreme Court rulings which have rightfully caused a lot of anger, indignation, protest and organizing.  Our guests for this week are Sophia G and Nathan Y. Sophia is a lawyer defending criminalized immigrants and a PIC and border abolitionist. Nathan is an abolitionist lawyer defending criminalized immigrants and defending Cuba from economic imperialism.  In conversation they both work to demystify concepts like the law and rights as neutral concepts or principles. They emphasis the importance of seeing courts as a site of struggle, where any wins or losses made do not come a result of good legal arguments, but as a result of larger social forces and power struggles.  Both emphasize the importance of keeping politics front and center, and of viewing the law as something to be understood, only so that we can disrespect it and overcome it, rather than putting it on a pedestal. And that lawyering like any other skill or trade, needs to be put in service of social movements, which means dispensing with the mythology and decorum of the law, and liberal understandings of it. Along the way they discuss interesting tactics, such as jury nullification (Beyond Criminal Courts Jury Nullification toolkit) in the wake of Dobbs and new anti-abortion laws and mass participatory defense campaigns for people facing criminalization and deportation. They also talk about some of the work of Survived and Punished New York. So also follow them on social media for ways you can support struggles like the ones described by Nathan and Sophia in this episode. This is an important discussion for organizers, activists, people who have been activated by recent Supreme Court decisions, and for attorneys and law students who are trying to understand how they can use their legal skills in ways that frankly are pretty foreign to most folks in the legal profession. One struggle mentioned near the end of the episode:  "Assia's community is calling on folks to sign her pardon petition (https://bit.ly/AssiaPetition) and is inviting folks to a speakout featuring her and other criminalized New Yorkers facing deportation. The speakout will highlight how New York's tools of criminalization facilitate mass deportations—and will call on the governor to grant clemency to the speakers fighting for their right to remain in the US. Details: August 8, 2022, 6:00 PM ET. Tentative Title: "New York's Complicity in the Deportation Machine: Beyond 'Sanctuary' and Other So-Called Protective Laws." Zoom link: https://bit.ly/NYDeportationMachine Meeting ID: 882 5834 8400 / Passcode: 295136 One tap mobile +16468769923,,88258348400# US (New York)" This is our fifth episode of July at Millennials Are Killing Capitalism. Every episode we do requires many hours of research, preparation, recording, editing and production. We operate the show totally independently and without any advertising or financial backing other than the support of our listeners. It’s super easy to become a patron of the show and you can do it for as little as $1 a month or $10.80 per year at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. By doing that you will of course be notified of each new episode as well as every time we start up a new session of our ongoing study groups.

In this episode Chris Gilbert returns to the podcast. Chris Gilbert is a professor of Political Science in the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela in Caracas, Venezuela. His articles have appeared in Venezuela Analysis, Monthly Review, CounterPunch and various other publications. Gilbert is the creator of the Marxist educational program “Escuela de Cuadros,” broadcast on Venezuelan public television. Along with Cira Pascual Marquina, Chris is also the co-editor of the book Venezuela: The Present As Struggle: Voices From The Bolivarian Revolution which we did a two-part episode on last year. This conversation is framed around a recent article of Gilbert’s that was published in the Monthly Review. The piece is called “Mészáros and Chávez: The Philosopher and the Llanero” and it tells the story of the relationship, personal, theoretical and practical between István Mészáros and Venezuelan revolutionary and former president Hugo Chávez.  At the heart of the discussion is the question of the commune. And the theory of communes as the basis for a transition to socialism, as while as the practice of communes in Venezuelan society. Along the way, Gilbert also contextualizes the discussion in Mészáros’ theory, Chávez’s programs and experimentation, and in the material practice of existing communes in Venezuela today.  We also discuss Mészáros’ critiques of 20th Century Socialism and his explanation of the Capital System as a metabolic system, that must be broken down and replaced by a completely new metabolism. And of course Gilbert reminds people in the US, Canada and Europe that they should be pressuring their governments to end the inhumane sanctions on Venezuela. We hope you enjoy this episode. We want to thank all of our patrons for your support. If you like what we do and can afford a small monthly or yearly contribution, head over to patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. Our podcast is 100% funded by our patrons and we put out new episodes every week. Links: The piece this episode is in dialogue with  Part 1 of our discussion Gilbert & Marquina's book Venezuela The Present As Struggle Part 2 of that discussion. Huge Chávez's speech "Golpe De Timon" or "Strike At The Helm" Hugo Chavez's - Aló Presidente Teórico #1 (since we coudln't find a full English translation we linked two related pieces: Venezuelanalysis /Utopix on Aló Presidente Teórico #1   Angel Prado The Commune Holds the Solution to the Crisis A film referenced by Gilbert on the episode as well: 5 Factories Film - Worker Control In Venezuela  Our music is by Televangel 

In this conversation we interview Tracy Rosenthal who is a co-founder of the Los Angeles Tenants Union. Their book, Abolish Rent, written with Leonardo Vilchis, is forthcoming from Verso.  We talk to Tracy about their recent piece “Inside LA’s Homeless Industrial Complex” which discusses the aftermath of LA’s Echo Park encampment from 2020, and current trends in social control with respect to unhoused people in Los Angeles. Tracy examines the relationship between police and ostensibly social service oriented nonprofit organizations in developing new forms of carceral containment, under the auspices of so-called interim housing.  We also talk a bit about some of the organizing that unhoused folks are undertaking in response to these trends. As well as the work Tracy and others are doing with the LA Tenants Union and the Autonomous Tenants Union Network.  And we are as always working to maintain our capacity to bring you these shows as frequently as we do. Doing that requires monetary support. We appreciate every single one of our patrons. If you are looking to join them in financially sustaining this show, you can become a patron for as little as $10.80/year, or $1/month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. And if you’re not able to give monetarily, boost the patreon link on your social media or share an episode with someone. It all helps. Music for our podcast is provided by Televangel.  Articles discussed in the episode:  “Inside LA’s Homeless Industrial Complex” "101 Notes On The LA Tenants Union" Tenant Organizing: LA Tenants Union and the Autonomous Tenants Union Network.   

In this episode Dr. Jared Ball returns to the podcast. Jared Ball is a professor of communication studies at Morgan State University. He is the author of The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power and I Mix What I Like!: A Mixtape Manifesto and he is the co-editor along with Dr. Todd Steven Burroughs of the book A Lie Of Reinvention: Correcting Manning Marable’s Malcolm X.  He is one of the founders of Black Power Media and the host of the iMiXWHATiLIKE program, which can be found on that platform. He is also a co-host of BPM’s Remix morning show.  This time around we focus on his work in the realm of media criticism.  In particular Jared has for many years engaged in criticism around representations of Black Radical figures in both mainstream media and academic work created for the mass market.  In this conversation we talk about the tactics used to distort, misrepresent, or erase entirely the legacies of figures like Malcolm X and Kwame Ture. We also get Jared’s take on whether or not Judas and the Black Messiah represents a break from a history of demonization of Black revolutionaries in US mainstream media. On top of that we have a lot of fun talking about some of Jared Ball’s favorite radical movies. We encourage folks to watch and support Black Power Media if you don’t already, you can find them on YouTube or at BlackPowerMedia.org. And we’ll include links to some of Jared Ball’s work that informed this discussion. Thank you as always to all of our patrons for your support. And if you like what we do, our conversations are totally supported by our listeners. You can become a patron for as little as $10.80 per year, or a dollar a month over at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism Links: BlackPowerMedia.org imixwhatilike.org Prior appearances of Jared Ball on MAKC Great Harlem Debates (Jared Ball cites this in the show with reference to Barack Obama's presidency) Journalism For Liberation and Combat Seminar Series  The Vernon Philosophy of Black Media Avoidance Defining Black Power: Jared Ball Debates Peniel Joseph The Assassinations of Malcolm X Literal and Posthumous: A Contributors Roundtable Myth: The Malcolm X Movie is Accurate (w/ Dr. Jared Ball) - The Black Myths Podcast Bonus Cut Revolutionary Reflections, Revolutionary Vision: Kwame Ture at 80 From Black Power Back to Pan-Africanism Selma, Media and Dr. John Henrik Clarke Remembered Judas & the Black Messiah - JAB's first thoughts  & Chairman Fred Hampton Jr & Rosa Clemente discuss Judas & The Black Messiah with Jared Ball    

In this episode we interview two organizers to discuss the struggle for National Democracy in the Philippines and solidarity with that struggle. Jen Benitez has been a community organizer with the Philippine-US Solidarity Organization since 2019. Her family is indigenous Zapotec migrants from Oaxaca, Mexico. Her desire to support the Filipino people’s struggle for justice stems from a shared history of colonialism, forced migration and anti-imperialist solidarity between Mexico, the U.S., and the Philippines.  Jaz Tabar is a cultural worker and community organizer with Anakbayan Long Beach as well as a regional leader for BAYAN Southern California. Since they started organizing in 2017, they have been able to study and apply the revolutionary history and lessons of Filipino resistance to their own experiences as a diasporic Filipino organizing to build a mass movement for the achievement of National Democracy in the Philippines! Both Jaz and Jen get into more detail on their organizations in the episode. In conversation they talk about what drew them both to organizing in solidarity with the masses in the Philippines. And talk about the struggle for National Democracy in the Philippines against what they describe as the three basic problems, feudalism, bureaucrat capitalism, and imperialism.  They discuss their political education programs, which include a study of Philippine Society and Revolution (which can be found in this collection) and why they understand the Philippines as a semi-feudal, semi-colonial society. They also talk about the campaign to pass the Philippine Human Rights Act and end US military aid or so called “security assistance” to the Philippines. They discuss why their organizations have a history of calling for the ousting of dictators in the Philippines, a call that they continue with the new heads of state Bongbong Marcos & Sara Duterte. Jaz & Jennifer also explain the context of red-tagging and anti-terrorism laws in the Philippines and the way these efforts provide a blanket pretext for the silencing of dissent and other forms of violent, carceral and even deadly repression both in the Philippines and among the international solidarity movements. We also have a discussion of the importance of land reform for the Philippine masses, as a society that is made up of 75% peasants.  We will include some more ways people can get involved below. And again if you like what we do, new months always do mean that some patrons can’t renew with us for financial reasons. We’ve set a modest goal of adding 15 patrons again this month to keep up with those monthly declines. We want to thank those who have continued to support us and if you haven’t become a patron yet, please do so for as little as $1 a month so we can continue to bring you content like this every week. You can become a patron at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. Links: PUSO: https://linktr.ee/puso.socal PUSO IG: @puso.socal Philippine Human Rights Act: humanrightsph.org  Anakbayan IG: @anakbayanusa BAYAN IG: @bayan_usa Anakbayan LB: @anakbayanlb   

In this episode we interview Dr. Mary Helen Washington. Mary Helen Washington is an accomplished African-American literary scholar and the editor and author of many books including Midnight Birds and Black-eyed Susans: Stories by and about Black Women, Invented Lives: Narratives of Black Women 1860-1960, Memories of Kin, and the book we focus on in this discussion on The Other Blacklist: The African-American Literary and Cultural Left of the 1950s. Mary Helen Washington is also a  Distinguished Professor in the English Department at the University of Maryland, College Park. She previously served as the president of the American Studies Association. Washington worked for many years developing Black Studies programs, including in Detroit where she has stated she was “part of the ground troops helping in the activities of the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM), an offshoot of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers.” In this conversation we specifically focus on the work of Gwendolyn Brooks prior to her joining the Black Arts Movement in the late 1960’s, within the Black cultural and literary left that Washington analyzes in The Other Blacklist.  Mary Helen Washington situates Brooks within this Black cultural milieu as a member of the South Side Community Art Center in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood and as someone who was connected and had relationships to Black communists, and other communists and progressives as well as to cultural institutions and magazines of the Popular Front. Washington highlights Brooks' attentiveness to working class concerns and critiques of racism both interpersonally and institutionally in her writing as far back as the 1940’s. She also highlights Brooks’ work in dialogue with critiques reflected by other communist and progressive Black women of her era, including Claudia Jones, Lorraine Hansberry and Alice Childress. In doing so, Washington argues that Brooks’ work offers early blueprints for Black Left Feminism operating within her poetry, essays and her novel Maud Martha. The discussion is also firmly attentive to the racial politics and the anticommunism of the 1950’s, in which racially radical or progressive analyses were automatically cause for suspicion, surveillance, and potentially repression.  Additionally, Mary Helen Washington talks about other important figures from her book The Other Blacklist including other communist and leftwing Black figures of the 1950’s including visual artist Charles White, and authors Lloyd Brown, Alice Childress, and Frank London Brown. We want to thank all of the patrons who support our show. We are funded solely by our listeners and patrons. You can become a patron of the show for as little as $1 a month or 10.80 per year at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism.  

In this episode we interview Matt Deitsch, artist, journalist, organizer and former founder and director of March For Our Lives.  This episode is a bit different from many of ours. Rarely have we engaged with the politics of gun control, or with an area so tightly situated and controlled within the arena of electoral politics and non profit organizing. But we felt that interviewing Matt offered a unique opportunity to examine the politics of gun control in the so-called United States, and the relationship between movements against gun violence and mass shooters and the Democratic Party, their think tanks, well funded non profit organizations and the ruling class.  Matt presents a specifically interesting perspective, as someone who was activated by the devastating gun violence in Parkland Florida, and politicized through the organizing efforts they and others undertook through their organization March For Our Lives. Also as someone who provides a highly critical reflection around the work they and others undertook in relation to that movement, but who also believes they learned valuable lessons for mass organizing. Along other things Matt talks about organizing as youth, the strengths, limitations and contradictions of that, discusses moments of dialogue with other organizers and youth, particularly ones from different class and racial backgrounds and how these relationships and discussions altered their own political viewpoint around the scope of issues of violence. As someone who has spent much of the last 4 years deeply involved in electoral organizing, Matt cautions against the amount of energy put into it and highlights some of the forces most invested in that use of organizer time and effort. Ultimately Matt argues for the essential work of political education, of building power outside of the electoral arena, and holding a political horizon based in anti-imperialism, abolition, and socialism. They draw out linkages of different forms of violence and highlights the bipartisan influence of the police state and the military industrial complex on the politics of gun control reform as an antidote to violence, within the politics of either dominant party. Just as a note, this episode was recorded prior to the new bipartisan gun legislation or the court’s recent decision around concealed carry restrictions, which would likely have had minimal impact on the discussion. It was also recorded before the courts officially gutted Roe. But there are many cautionary perspectives and suggested approaches that we think warrant consideration and are relevant to a new generation of people hopefully pushed into action by the violence of all aspects of the US state. Lastly just want to thank all of our patrons for your support. These are difficult times for everyone with rising costs, and our show is totally dependent upon your support. So if you like what we do and want to contribute to our work please become a patron at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

In this episode we interview Dr. Dorothy Roberts. Dorothy Roberts is the George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, where she directs the Penn Program on Race, Science, and Society. The author of four books, including Killing the Black Body, Fatal Invention and Shattered Bonds. She lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.   In this conversation we’re honored to host Dr. Dorothy Roberts to discussed her latest book Torn Apart: How The Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families—And How Abolition Can Build A Safer World.  We talk to Dr. Roberts about how family policing or the so-called child welfare system functions within a larger carceral web in the United States. She talks about the geographic zones of family policing and discusses the origins of our family policing system in slavery, settler colonialism and Elizabethan poor laws. Roberts discusses the deep ableism that undergirds the family policing system and talks about how family policing has been a frontline for the war on drugs. She talks about how the system overwhelmingly disrupts predominantly Black and Brown families in the US, along with those of poor white people, noting that it also criminalizes children and is in many ways indistinguishable from other parts of the prison industrial complex. Along the way, Dr. Roberts lifts up the many struggles of families against this system, with stories of the ways the system terrorizes families, as well as the many ways that people are organizing against the system. As we close the conversation, these examples of resistance, mutual aid and organizing provide a foundation for building a reality in which family policing is abolished and replaced by a much more powerful network of care that is more effective at preventing and resolving issues of familial violence and abuse. We are only able to bring you episodes like this due to the support of our listeners. You can support us at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism for as little as $1 a month or $10.80 per year. We are down a few patrons again this month, so if some new folks can join in and support that’d be really helpful in ensuring we can continue to bring you these episodes on a weekly basis. 

UPDATE: Transcript of the episode is now available here. In this episode we interview Karim from Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement (NYC) and author Wendy Trevino.  Karim is an anti-prison, anti-police anarcho-communist. And an author of the book Burn Down The American Plantation. Wendy Trevino was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. She lives and works in San Francisco. She is the author of Brazilian Is Not a Race and Cruel Fiction. Wendy is not an experimental writer. This conversation is a bit different than many of ours. We wanted to have a critical conversation about the western left’s response to the war in Ukraine, but often we associate anti-imperialist analyses with Marxist-Leninists.  Within the anarchist left and other parts of the western left there are those who support the Ukrainian war effort for various reasons. Although we don’t often take explicit positions as a platform, we at Millennials Are Killing Capitalism think any support for the Ukrainian war effort is mistake. Josh has co-hosted a conversation on their other platform Return To The Source podcast, and now we host this one here. In this episode Karim and Wendy provide an analysis of the situation in Ukraine, and they grapple with several of the common misconceptions or positions they encounter. They also talk about the state of affairs for the antifascist movement in the US. And they remind folks that there are many other international struggles that need support, and that there are struggles that need to continue to be waged against fascism, borders, and prisons right here in the belly of the beast. It’s a new month and as always we need the support of our listeners to keep this show going. We truly appreciate all of the folks who do contribute to the show at whatever level they can, it means everything to us and to our ability to bring you these episodes weekly. Our only financial support for this show is the support from our listeners. You can become a patron of the show for as little as $1 per month and you get emails with each episode plus periodic invitations to study groups and things like that. We’ll have another study group starting up soon this summer.  Links: RAM-NYC Burn Down The American Plantation: Call for a Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement Cruel Fiction Brazilian Is Not a Race (PDF)  

In this episode we interview Ed Mead. Mead is a veteran of the revolutionary underground organization the George Jackson Brigade which operated in solidarity with prisoner, anti-racist, and anti-imperialist struggles. A prolific organizer and participant of prisoner struggles both inside and outside of prisons, Ed also co-founded the prisoner organization Men Against Sexism. He also worked with a number of other organizations and struggles over the years including work with the Prairie Fire Organizing Committee, the Attica Brothers Legal Defense Committee, the National Lawyers Guild, Prison Legal News, and California Prison Focus.  In this conversation we talk about some lessons along the way of Ed’s political development, from social prisoner to jailhouse lawyer to organizer to revolutionary to political prisoner.  Ed offers unvarnished reflections from a life in struggle, characteristically with no holds barred for what he refers to as “the tamed left.”  Our conversation was informed by Ed Mead’s autobiography Lumpen and by Daniel Burton-Rose’s books on the George Jackson Brigade. We will include a full list of sources in the show notes. Links: Lumpen: The Autobiography of Ed Mead Theory and Practice of Armed Struggle in the Northwest: A Historical Analysis Creating A Movement With Teeth: A Documentary History of the George Jackson Brigade Guerilla USA: The George Jackson Brigade and the Anticapitalist Underground of the 1970's Sundiata Acoli's Support Fund Washington Prison History Project Oral Histories