Millennials Are Killing Capitalism

In this episode Josh interviews Charlie Frank, an independent marxist researcher currently studying the history of AIDS in the United States. He is on the general staff of Cosmonaut magazine, a member of St Louis DSA and a candidate member of the Marxist Unity Group. Josh interviews Charlie about his article in Cosmonaut Magazine, entitled “ACT UP, Fight Back: A History of AIDS in America.” In conversation Charlie talks about the history of AIDS and how imperialist capitalism or international monopoly capitalism fueled the spread of the AIDS epidemic in the US.  The bulk of the conversation is about the development of political resistance to the AIDS crisis, most prominently in the organization ACT UP. Charlie also discusses the weak governmental response to the crisis, and areas where ACT UP was successful, as well as areas in which the response to the AIDS crisis continues to fall short - in eliminating the epidemic among Black and racialized populations in the US, and internationally - due to the problems created by a capitalist health system and an insufficient organizing response.  Along the way Josh asks Charlie about some resonances between the responses to the COVID pandemic and the AIDS epidemic in the political economy of the US. And they discuss their perspectives on some of the issues that come up when socialist organizations try to engage or alternatively don’t engage in mass struggles like the AIDS crisis, or the most recent rebellions after the police lynching of George Floyd. Our episodes are completely funded by our listeners. No ads, no corporate money, no grants. And this allows us the independence to cover history like this from a radical perspective. If you like what we do please support our work at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. 

In this episode we interview two organizers with O'ahu Water Protectors. O‘ahu Water Protectors is an organization that formed out of a coalition of Kanaka Maoli organizers, Sierra Club members and supporters, Hawai‘i Peace and Justice, and other groups working toward sovereignty, decolonization, and demilitarization. Mikey Inouye is an independent filmmaker born and raised in Hawai‘i, community organizer and member of O‘ahu Water Protectors. Shelley Muneoka is a Kanaka Maoli woman and water drinker from He‘eia Uli on the island of O‘ahu. Her work focuses on the care of past, present and future elders of all kinds --  human, more than human and elements like water. In this conversation Mikey and Shelley discuss the crisis posed by the decrepit fuel tanks at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, above the Pearl Harbor Naval Base. They sit just 100 feet above the aquifer which provides the water supply for the island of O’ahu, the most populous island in Hawaii. Just a few months ago, the drinking water of 93,000 residents was contaminated by fuel from these tanks, closing down two wells. Organizers and residents have fought to shut down Red Hill, the Navy currently has until February 2nd to submit its plan to defuel the tanks at the base. Mikey and Shelley discuss the crisis and the multi-pronged organizing they’ve been a part of around this issue. They also spend significant time discussing the history of colonialism, US imperialism, and the US military in Hawaii. This includes conversations on environmental degradation, water contamination, as fundamental byproducts of US militarism. They also discuss the unique history of the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor as a site of militourism, and its ideological role as a site of alleged US victimhood and the need for defense of the US against amorphous and alleged “asian threats.” This in contrast with the reality that Hawai‘i was not even a US state at the time of the attacks, but was itself a colonized territory the US used as an occupied military outpost and that the preservation of these tourist attractions continues to contaminate the natural beauty and resources on the Island of O’ahu. We encourage folks to follow O’ahu Water Protectors on Twitter and Instagram and support their campaign to defend their water. More updates are sure to come soon as this story develops.  We’ll include their social media accounts and some additional links in the show notes. And as always if you like what we do, please contribute to our patreon, we don’t sell any ads, we don’t have any corporate or foundation sponsors, so everything we are able to do here at Millennials Are Killing Capitalism is funded by you. You can become a patron at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism Follow O'ahu Water Protectors on Twitter or on Instagram also follow Puuhuluhulu on Instagram for updates on Mauna Kea  Shelley's speech referenced in discussion Mikey's speech Speech from another O'ahu Water Protector, Tina

In this episode we talk to Lara and Stephen Sheehi about their recently published book Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine.  Lara Sheehi is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at the George Washington University Professional Psychology Program.  Stephen Sheehi is a Professor of Middle East Studies and Director of the Decolonizing Humanities Project at William & Mary.  Full bios here Their work in this text is heavily influenced by Frantz Fanon and critically engages theories of decoloniality and Liberatory psychoanalysis. It centers the stories and struggles of clinicians and their clients in Palestine.  In this conversation Lara & Stephen talk about the historical relationship between psychoanalysis and colonialism, and how power relations and epistemology structure those relations.  Upending those relations of course are anti-colonial or decolonial theories of psychoanalysis and in this context relationships forged between Palestinian clinicians and their Palestinian clients. Both are subjected to the same settler colonial apartheid regime that necessitates a national liberation struggle. Along the way they talk about the different forms of every day and extreme oppression faced by Palestinian people, we talk about the work of Palestinian clinicians to confront that harm, and how confronting that requires transgressive acts, organization and ultimately resistance.  We take up problems like ideological misattunement between Israeli clinicians and Palestinian clients, talk about concepts like disalienation, and conscientisation and other key concepts in Fanonian and decolonial psychoanalytic theory. Providing key insights for resisting individuation, alienation and colonial oppression.  Lara Sheehi also mentions that she and others have some networks of anti-colonial and anti-capitalist therapists and BIPOC anti-imperialist therapists for folks who are looking for that you can connect with Dr. Sheehi to find out more information. Also just a note, we realize that this book is priced too high for most people to purchase it for themselves. You can ask your public or school library to purchase a copy - as this was really the publishing model that the publisher chose for this text. The authors are committed however to making sure that anybody who wants to read it can find a way to get access to the text. So if you aren’t able to get your hands on it, please reach out to Lara. If you like what we do please support our work on patreon.  Links & Resources: Palestinian Global Mental Health Network Gaza Community Mental Health Programme Maana Centre  Palestinian Counseling Center The Guidance and Training Center for the Child and Family Cafe Palestine Index Stephen Sheehi's website Twitter Handles: Lara: @blackflaghag Stephen: @zghartawi IG handles: @psychoanalystactivist, @decolonizingphotography, and bipocanalysis

In this episode we interview Andrew J. Douglas and Jared A. Loggins to discuss their recently published book, Prophet of Discontent: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Critique of Racial Capitalism.  Andrew Douglas is a professor of political science and a faculty affiliate in Africana studies and international comparative labor studies at Morehouse College. Douglas is also the author of In the Spirit of Critique: Thinking Politically in the Dialectical Tradition and W.E.B. Du Bois and the Critique of Competitive Society.  Jared Loggins is a visiting assistant professor of Black Studies and political science at Amherst College We talk to Jared and Andrew about the mutually informing theoretical legacies of Martin Luther King Jr and Cedric Robinson. Loggins and Douglas share their insights on Robinson’s theoretical work around racial capitalism, the Black Radical Tradition, and leadership and examine some of King’s most potent radical critiques in dialogue with these concepts. We also ask about King’s legacy as a dialectical thinker, and the authors share their insights on King’s critiques around the materialistic nature of the capitalist system in dialogue with Marx’s critique of commodity fetishism.  Douglas and Loggins also engage King’s thinking around guaranteed basic income, the welfare state, and building and learning through communal struggle. They also explore King’s thought around riots, the organized abandonment coinciding with deindustrialization, and the ways his thinking anticipates the neoliberal turn that comes after his assassination. Finally they share thoughts on King’s anti-imperialism and their own thinking around rebuilding a Black radical counter public, and building the types of formations and institutions that can resist the patterns of capture and cooptation that continue to plague Black movements and Black thought in the 21st Century. You can read a free online copy of their book Prophet of Discontent: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Critique of Racial Capitalism or purchase a paperback copy. We’ll include links to it in the show notes.  And it’s a new year and we really need folks’ continued support to sustain this podcast. So if you appreciate what we do, please chip into support our efforts here. You can become a patron for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. 

In this episode we once again get the opportunity to sit-down with Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army veteran Jalil Muntaqim. Muntaqim was a political prisoner of the United States for 49 years due to his involvement in the Black liberation struggle. He was released from prison in October of 2020 after eleven parole denials. He is the author of We Are Our Own Liberators, and Escaping The Prism… Fade to Black, which we discuss parts of in this episode. This is the second conversation we’ve had with Jalil Muntaqim and if you missed the first you will want to also check that out to get more information about Jalil’s personal history and what led to the Spirit of Mandela Tribunal this past October. In this episode we caught up with Jalil on December 13th to talk about the outcomes of the Spirit of Mandela Tribunal and next steps for the conveners of this historic event.  In this conversation Jalil Muntaqim discusses the legal outline of why the conduct of the United States of America constitutes genocide against Black and Indigenous people. Jalil talks about the relationship between white supremacy, capitalism and US imperialism. Muntaqim shares thoughts on the life of his Jericho Amnesty Movement co-founder Safiya Bukhari. We talk about recent releases of David Gilbert, Jaan Laaman, and Russell “Maroon” Shoatz. Maroon passed away 4 days after this episode was recorded, we send our condolences to his family, loved ones and comrades, and our own gratitude to him and his spirit for a life engaged in unrelenting struggle. We also talk about the current struggles for freedom of several political prisoners, including Kamau Sadiki, Leonard Peltier, Veronza Bowers, Dr. Mutulu Shakur and Sundiata Acoli among others. We discuss Mumia Abu Jamal’s struggle for freedom after the recent passing of the 40th anniversary of his capture. And we talk about Larry Hoover and why he is recognized by the Jericho Amnesty Movement. We will include several links in the show notes to the episode on how people can get involved and support these and other political prisoners. We also talk to Muntaqim more about Arm The Spirit the first national newspaper created and written by prisoners, which he was central to organizing. Muntaqim offers several recommendations for prisoner solidarity and prison abolition organizers. And we get Muntaqim to share a story of cadre and mass based organizing that he was involved in while inside. Jalil also shares his thoughts on resisting political imprisonment, and how to handle political imprisonment if you are incarcerated for your political activities. A couple more final notes, we will link to ways people can stay informed and get involved in the ongoing work of the Spirit of Mandela campaign, as they look to move their findings forward into a legal case and a broader international movement. We also want to again plug the Mutual Aid Fund For Veteran Black Panther Party Members.  Every month this fund brings in money and those funds are distributed to elders from the Black Panther Party, we contribute to this fund and we encourage others to do the same. There are links throughout this to support individual political prisoners and organizations. Below are some organizations & related efforts: Spirit of Mandela Jericho Amnesty Movement Northeast Political Prisoner Coalition Anarchist Black Cross Warchest Program  

In this episode we were honored to host Kali Akuno, co-director and co-founder of Cooperation Jackson and Kamau Franklin is the founder of Community Movement Builders and a co-host at Black Power Media’s Remix Morning Show.  We brought Kali and Kamau into conversation under a banner of discussing strategy. Strategy is something that Josh and I feel is both essential and often lacking within a lot of formations in the US left.  The conversation is wide-ranging and touches on a number of topics that may prompt folks to need greater context. In the show notes we will include some links to other readings and discussions with Kali and Kamau on what the Jackson plan is, why they left the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and what their current work entails.  Beyond strategy, in this episode we get into discussion of political education, neoliberal socialization, burnout, fickle organizers, reflection and criticism, Democratic Centralism, cadre and mass organizing, climate change, ecological collapse, food sovereignty, self-defense, revolutionary violence, and the capture of social movements through the nonprofit industrial complex and Democratic Party electoral politics. It is our greatest hope that conversations like this one provide folks with tools, insights and provocations that they can bring with them into their organizing efforts so that we can build more effectively going forward for the alternatives are clearly bleak and dystopian.  Both Community Movement Builders and Cooperation Jackson do accept donations. So we will also provide links to both organizations in our show notes if people would like to give them a donation. And please support Black Power Media as well.  And of course, we need your support to continue to bring you these conversations freely, and in non-commoditized form. All of our work is available ad-free and none of our episodes are behind a paywall and we hope that we can always keep it that way so that all of these conversations are freely available to organizers, activists, students, workers, the poor, and the oppressed. To support our ability to do that you can contribute to our patreon for as little as $1 a month or for a yearly contribution of just $11 a year. For more context: Cooperation Jackson's Kali Akuno on the lessons of and the ongoing struggle in Jackson MS Community Movement Builders and Liberated Zones Theory with Kamau Franklin The Jackson-Kush Plan: The Struggle For Black Self-Determination and Economic Democracy Jackson Rising: The Struggle for Economic Democracy and Black Self-Determination in Jackson, Mississippi  

Alyson Escalante, J. Moufawad Paul, and Devin Zane Shaw discuss pacification and capture in response to the rebellions of 2020, unequal exchange, the climate crisis, settler colonialism, and the nuances of racial regimes in the US and Canada. They also touch on liberal pacification, declining ranks in movement work, the dangers of state support for settler vigilantism, and the re-emergence of proletarian patriotism. The podcast explores the impact of the uprisings on American politics, responsibilities within the global capitalist system, and the preservation of radical movement texts.

In this episode we speak to three of the contributors to On Necrocapitalism: A Plague Journal, which is available from Kersplebedeb and you can find that at leftwingbooks.net.  On Necrocapitalism was collectively authored by a writing group known as M.I. Asma which included J. Moufawad-Paul, Devin Zane Shaw, Mateo Andante, Johannah May Black, Alyson Escalante, and D.W. Fairlane. In this conversation we speak with Alyson Escalante, J. Moufawad Paul and Devin Zane Shaw.  The authors introduce themselves in a little more detail in the episode, but Alyson Escalante you probably know as the co-host of Red Menace Podcast and J. Moufawad Paul and Devin Zane Shaw have both written multiple books.  First written in blog form, On Necrocapitalism was written through weekly entries throughout the first year of the pandemic.  The authors approached the pandemic as an occasion to think capitalism according to what it always has been, what the pandemic reveals about its current ideological deployment, and how we can think about a communist alternative in the face of exterminism. As we deal with the omicron surge and in the US as we deal with dimensions of capitalism that have only continued to become more necrotic after the pacification of the electoral process. This two part conversation and the book On Necrocapitalism are as timely as ever. Reminding us of the death worlds of the pandemic we’re still in, the possibilities of rebellion and the ways in which our uprisings can ultimately be pacified.  By the end of the year, we will have put out 49 episodes of Millennials Are Killing Capitalism this year.  With all of the planning, outreach, reading, editing, and recording time we put into this it has become a full-time endeavor for us. A reminder that if you enjoy these conversations, and can afford to give even $1 a month towards our patreon, it all adds up and goes a long way towards sustaining the level of output we’ve been able to maintain this year. In this part we talk about the origin of the On Necrocapitalism project. Discussing the necrosis that is always within capitalism. The bad bourgeois and “left pundit” frames that were trotted out in the beginning of the pandemic. The way the pandemic most impacted groups of people on specific margins of bourgeois society. We touch on the authors’ use of proletarian feminism and social reproduction theory. We talk about how the pandemic shifted amid rebellion, talk about the entry of abolitionist demands into the mainstream and begin to discuss the onset of pacification - an issue we will delve into more deeply in part 2. Links to some (not all) of the work of our guests, beyond On Necrocapitalism: Alyson Escalante - Red Menace Podcast Some of Alyson's writings at Cosmonaut and Regeneration Beyond Negativity: What Comes After Gender Nihilism? J. Mouwafad-Paul - MLM Mayhem Blog A Communist Necessity Continuity and Rupture Critique of Maoist Reason Demarcation and Demystification Methods Devour Themselves Austerity Apparatus Devin Zane Shaw Politics of the Blockade Philosophy of Antifascism Egalitarian Moments We also had a conversation with Devin Zane Shaw on Philosophy of Antifascism earlier this year.  

In this episode we speak with veteran of the Black Panther Party, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and co-founder of the Black Autonomy Federation Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin. A former long-time political prisoner, we talk to Ervin about the recent release of the definitive edition of his book Anarchism and the Black Revolution on Pluto Press. Anarchism and the Black Revolution was written during Ervin’s political imprisonment, and is considered a foundational text for Black Anarchist traditions. We talk to Ervin about what he drew out of his experiences with SNCC and the Black Panther Party that contributes to his understandings of Black Anarchism or Black Autonomy. We ask about the circumstances that led to his political imprisonment, and critiques of state socialism. Ervin also shares reflections on his political mentor Martin Sostre.  Ervin discusses the sit-in movement as a form of autonomous action taking up by the youth in the 60’s, which he describes as oppositional to both the establishment and the politics of major civil rights organizations at the time. In conversation Ervin also pushes back against notions of chaos, disorganization, individualism, and nihilism that are often associated with anarchism, and which some folks identifying themselves as anarchists take up. In contrast Ervin provides concrete explanations of the types of mass organizing he believes Black Anarchists should be engaged in, in the development of their own struggle.  Ervin discusses the subversive trap of electoral politics. We also ask about fascism, anti-fascism, dual power and problems with unaccountable leadership and celebrity as well as what differentiates a political revolution from a social revolution.  If you’ve never read Anarchism and the Black Revolution or want this new definitive edition which includes new sections, a new introduction, a recent interview  and new Forwards from Joy James and William C. Anderson, you can grab that on Plutobooks.com. If you would like to learn more about Black Autonomy from Lorenzo along with his partner Jo’Nina Ervin and William C. Anderson, check out their work at the Black Autonomy Podcast.  This book is part of the Black Critique Series on Pluto Press. Black Autonomy Podcast has a patreon of its own which benefits Lorenzo and JoNina, we encourage folks to support them directly.  And as always if you like what we do, and want to sustain our ability to continue to do this work please become a patron of our show on patreon if you are able to do so. You can do so for any amount, even $1 a month if that’s what you can afford.

In this episode we interview António Tomás, author of the recently published biography Amílcar Cabral: The Life of a Reluctant Nationalist. Tomás is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. He is a native of Angola, and holds a PhD in Anthropology from Columbia University. He has worked as a journalist in Angola and Portugal and has written extensively on issues related to Lusophone Africa.  Recently we held a study group on Cabral’s Return To The Source, but one of the things that stood out to many of us in the group was how little we really knew about Guinea Bissau, about the PAIGC and about Cabral and the context in which his writings and thought were produced.  The official archives available to scholars on Cabral and the PAIGC are limited due to the fascistic nature of the Portuguese state at the time among other factors. In 2020 we did an interview with Sónia Vaz Borges on the PAIGC’s Militant Education program which filled in some gaps, and we hope that this interview will fill in more.  There are more questions we’d like to ask about his relationships with Frantz Fanon, Kwame Nkrumah, and Sékou Touré all of whom were influential to Cabral important to the PAIGC and are discussed in the book. And more broadly about the network of African liberation movements at the time. Perhaps when our schedules permit we can record a part two to fill in some of those gaps.  Hopefully this conversation will deepen our understandings of Cabral, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and the liberation struggle of the PAIGC. And ultimately of the contradictions which deepen our understanding both Cabral’s fate and the developments of the years after his death. Understanding the inner workings of Portuguese colonialism, counterinsurgency, and of the contradictions of the revolution led by the PAIGC, demonstrate just how relevant many of Cabral’s theoretical contributions and insights are to struggles against the global capitalist system, and against different forms of colonialism and counterinsurgency.  While the unity Cabral sought to lead between Cape Verdeans and Guineans may have been fraught, it is perhaps in this struggle against its own contradictions that we can find important lessons for movements that at times seem impossible or incommensurable.  Reminder, if you like what we do, please contribute to our patron if you are able. Even if you give $1 a month, it is through many people making contributions like that, that we sustain this show. We are still trying to sustain at least 1,000 patrons of the show, and currently we are at 977, so we can get back to that goal this month, and hopefully sustain that going forward with your support. Now here is António Tomás on the Life of Amílcar Cabral and the Struggle of the PAIGC