Millennials Are Killing Capitalism

Orisanmi Burton is a social anthropologist, his research examines grassroots resistance and state repression. He is an assistant professor of anthropology at American University. Currently, as he will discuss briefly in the episode, he is working on a book on prisoner organizing in the New York State prison system, and the Attica Rebellion.   In this episode we are talking about Burton’s recent essay, “Captivity, Kinship & Black Masculine Care Work Under Domestic Warfare.” It was published in the scholarly journal American Anthropologist so if listeners are unable to access a copy and would like to get their hands on one feel free to hit us up or reach out to Orisanmi directly. His twitter is @orisanmi.  In this discussion we talk about understanding prisons as a zone and technology of domestic warfare, about the Black radicals who have theorized this understanding and their place within current academic thought on the prison system. We also talk a bit about Joy James’s concept of the captive maternal, and how letter writing with prisoners has informed Burton’s own intellectual work, specifically around the role that care work or socially reproductive labor has among Black incarcerated men  as a mode of resistance to the war waged against Black familial, kinship and communal structures. Just a reminder, that if you like what we do, running this podcast is a full-time project for us at this point. Becoming a patron is the way that you can ensure our ability to continue to bring you these conversations every week with these amazing guests. You can do that at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism and you can do it for as little as $1 a month, or become an annual patron for less than $11 dollars a year, all of it adds up to make this show possible.

In this episode we host Joshua Myers, to talk about his recently published book Cedric Robinson: The Time of the Black Radical Tradition. Folks will recall that last year we had a conversation with Josh Myers about Cedric Robinson much of which centered around the content and concepts within Black Marxism.  While there is a slight overlap between this conversation and that one, the two are quite distinct and mutually inform each other. So we invite folks to revisit that alongside this conversation, or to listen to both for the first time to get a more complete picture of Myers’ extensive knowledge and analysis of Robinson’s life and work. Beyond that of course we encourage folks to pick up this book as it really does a great job of grounding Robinson’s intellectual work within the context of his life, organizing and relationships. In this conversation we talk more about young Cedric’s developing anti-imperialist and anti-colonial consciousness. His disenchantment with the aims, strategies and tactics of the Civil Rights Movement. His critiques of leadership, and analysis of charisma, which set the ground for his first book The Terms of Order. And we discuss how Robinson’s work has always aimed to assault the foundations of academic disciplines. We discuss the relationship between Robinson and CLR James, and the practices of study and development of undercommons spaces for colleagues and students. We also talk about the relationship between Cedric and Immanuel Wallerstein and Modern World Systems Theory.  We talk briefly about the arguments Robinson takes up in An Anthropology of Marxism and Forgeries of Memory and Meaning and of course we can’t resist a couple of questions on recent readings, mis-readings, and non-readings of Robinson’s most well-known work Black Marxism. We are only six patrons away from returning to 1,000 patrons, so if you have been waiting for that moment to become a patron of Millennials Are Killing Capitalism, it’s a great time to join up and help sustain the work that we do here, bringing you conversations like this.

In this episode we speak to Geo Maher. Maher is an educator, organizer, political theorist and the author of four books, including We Created Chavez, Building the Commune, and Decolonizing Dialectics. In this episode, we talk about Geo’s latest book, A World Without Police: How Strong Communities Make Cops Obsolete. In this discussion we talk about Maher’s grounding of the abolitionist struggle in W.E.B. Du Bois’s seminal work of history Black Reconstruction in America.  Geo discusses the specific relationship between whiteness and policing which develops through history in the US context. From there we get into a discussion of how to break police power in the US, starting with expelling police associations from labor unions and federations. Geo also talks about abolition in an international context, examining international struggles we can draw from, while also discussing about why abolitionist struggle has a specific relevance and relationship to revolutionary struggle in the US.  Along the way we examine other important questions for the abolitionist movement today at a time when the ideas of abolition have as much popular resonance as ever, but there is still a need to develop the political forces to fight for and implement them. The “Camden Model” Is Not a Model. It’s an Obstacle to Real Change by Brandon McQuade A Critical Analysis of the Demand to Defund The Police by Max Rameau and Netfa Freeman Editing note: there are a few moments of slight distortion or static in the audio, in each instance the clear up pretty quickly and hopefully are only a minor distraction And as always if you like what we do, please consider contributing to our patreon. We are still down several patrons from last month, so if you’re able to join it’ll help get us back on the right track, building towards the sustainability of this platform and our ability to bring you all these conversations.  

In this episode Josh interviews Eric Stanley about their most recent book Atmospheres of Violence: The Structuring Antagonism and the Trans/Queer Ungovernable. Eric is also the co-director of two films, Homotopia and Criminal Queers. And the co-editor of Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibility and Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex.  In this conversation, Josh interviews Eric about their latest work. Discussing the continuum of anti-trans and anti-queer violence, and grappling with what it might take to end it. They briefly discuss the lives of Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, and the marketing of their likenesses and hollowing out of their political memory.  Eric also shares the historical link between colonialism and HIV and reflects upon suicide not as a set of “individual losses of broken children,” but rather “as evidence of a murderous world.“ While the conversation does not go into detail, I do just want to acknowledge for folks that obviously based on the subject matter there are discussions of anti-trans and anti-queer violence and of suicide along with other heavy subject matter in this episode. And a quick reminder, if you like what we do here at Millennials Are Killing Capitalism, we are back working on our goal of hitting 1,000 patrons. We hit it briefly last month, but lost some patrons with the start of the new month. We need 27 new patrons this month to return to that goal. So join now if you haven’t. 

This week’s special report, features Hassan M. Hassan is a scientist and writer. He is a contributing editor for the Peoples Anti-Colonial Press and co-host at TheKulture.TV, a new weekly anti-imperialist roundup. He is currently researching the relationship between dialectical materialism and the history of the philosophy of science. In special reports, we interview journalists, activists, scholars and organizers on shorter pieces. These might be essays, articles, short stories or even poems. “Special Reports” will be typically shorter than our full episodes, ranging somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour and will have a limited focus. Our goal with these is to talk about current events and ways that people are analyzing and seeking to intervene in them.  In this episode Hassan joins us to discuss his recent piece published on Regenerationmag.org entitled “American Patriotism Or National Liberation.” In the piece, and in this discussion Hassan analyzes the question using the method of dialectical materialism and specifically takes up the question of where people and nations oppressed by US imperialism especially Black and Indigenous folks fit into the vision of “Patriot Socialists.”  As a reminder, with the addition of these special reports we’re hoping to increase our content to about 6 episodes a month. If you want to support our ability to do this please contribute to our patreon if you are able to do so.  In the photo collage is a piece of original artwork by Shenby @leftaesthetic (on Instagram)

In this episode we interview Alex Turrall, an independent researcher and primary school teacher. We talk to Alex about two reviews they've written for Liberated Texts. Liberated Texts is an independent book review website which features works of ongoing relevance that have been forgotten, underappreciated, suppressed or misinterpreted in the cultural mainstream since their release. Liberated Texts focuses on texts with anti-colonial, anti-imperialist themes and those related to the history of Marxism, communism and revolution globally. We ask Alex to talk about the work of Soviet pedagogues Anton Makarenko and Vasily Sukhomlinsky. In doing so Alex touches on the interventions of these Soviet educators at two key points in Soviet history, after the revolutionary rupture with the Tsarist Russian Empire and in the aftermath of World War II. Along the way, Alex touches on different techniques and strategies illuminated by the books they reviewed for Liberated Texts. Alex also talks about the influence of these pedagogical figures within the socialist world and among liberation movements. We’ll links to the articles, the video Alex references and some other resources in the show notes. We apologize in advance for all the mispronunciation in this episode, as we try to pronounce various names in unfamiliar languages to us. As of publishing this episode, we have hit our big goal of 1,000 patrons. Thank you so much all for your support. Both Josh and I are doing this work full-time now, and we couldn’t do it without you all. So if you are listening and haven’t become a patron of the show yet, it’s still a great time to do so. Now here is our conversation with Alex Turrall on Makarenko and Sukhomlinsky.  Links: A Pedagogy of Nature: Vasily Sukhomlinsky's My Heart I Give to Children by Alex Turrall (Liberated Texts) A Pedagogy of the Collective - From The Soviet Union To Latin America: Makarenko, His Life and Work by Alex Turrall (Liberated Texts) Sukhomlinsky's Lesson Las Makarenkas Educadoras (Cuba) MST, Agro-ecology and Pedagogy Makarenko Archives    

For this special report we talk to Jon Ben-Menachem. Jon is a researcher and journalist, currently working on his PhD in Sociology at Columbia University, where he researches political economy and punishment. As a journalist he’s published on policing, incarceration and austerity for The Appeal, Slate, Shadowproof, Current Affairs, Truthout and New York Daily News. Today we invite Jon on to discuss his latest piece “What Media Gets Wrong About Last Year’s Uptick In Murders” which was published at Slate. There’s been a deluge of local and national media copaganda pushing for more cops and increased police budgets since the George Floyd protests and calls to defund police and abolish police that came along with them. It’s important to disrupt these copaganda narratives, and we thought Jon’s piece is helpful in that effort. The "Special Report" is a new segment where we interview journalists, activists, academics and organizers on shorter pieces. These might be essays, articles, field reports direct from organizers and/or incarcerated people, short stories or even poems.  These interviews will be typically shorter than our full episodes, ranging somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour and will have a limited focus. Our goal with these is to talk about current events and ways that people are analyzing and seeking to intervene in them. Sometimes - as with this episode - there will be contradictions raised that we aren’t able to resolve neatly, but need to be grappled with.  This is part of our effort to bring you all more content. We are both doing this full-time now and we hope to continue to bring you all about 4 of our full episodes monthly, but also sprinkle in about 2 of these special reports or smaller discussions each month as well. To support this work we are on a current pledge drive to hit 1,000 patrons and we’re only 20 patrons away from that big goal as we publish this. So if you haven’t become a patron yet, now is a great time to do so. And thank you to all of the people who have been supporting us along the way.    

In this episode we interview Ashon Crawley. Ashon is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and African American Studies at the University of Virginia and author of Blackpentecostal Breath: The Aesthetics of Possibility and The Lonely Letters. In this discussion we ask Ashon questions from both books. Ashon delves into the context in which both works were created. Along the way Ashon shares reflections on religion, doctrine, on spirituality, theology, sense capacity, aesthetics, Blackness, Queerness and the crises, breakdowns and breakthroughs created through incommensurability.   The conversation is also animated by joy, by love, by loudness, by thinking of ways to be together, and of the otherwise worlds we can imagine and those that already exist. Thanks to Ashon Crawley for sharing so much with us in this conversation.  If folks like what we do here at Millennials Are Killing Capitalism and want to support our capacity to do so. We are on a current pledge drive to reach 1,000 patrons for the show. As of this recording we only need 41 more patrons to hit that goal. Thanks to all who have contributed and those who will contribute in the future.

This is a special episode, as today - October 4th - is our 4th anniversary of releasing episodes of Millennials Are Killing Capitalism. In this episode Josh and Jay look back on 4 years of doing the podcast, and on different contradictions and issues we’re thinking about currently. Some folks might read this as a bit of a pessimistic conversation, and to the extent that this comes across, neither of us want to encourage a pessimistic outlook. We simply don’t have the time for that. However, it is incumbent upon us and upon every person who cares about having a future, every person who cares about a livable world, much less a better world, to take a self-inventory of both ourselves as individuals and of our social relationships, relationships to Empire, and our own involvement in organization to build power to make our ideas a collective reality before it truly is too late. For any comments that come across as petty, our goal is not to call individual folks out, or to suggest that ones position within an institution or society precludes them from making revolutionary sacrifices. Rather, we want to encourage folks to think critically about the cultivation of revolutionary culture and how to be better stewards of that collectively. We would especially like to thank all of our guests, anyone who has shared time and thought with us over the last 4 years. We are primarily a guest driven platform and wouldn’t be what we are without so many amazing people sharing their time with us. So thank you.  We’d also like to express gratitude to all of the people who have used conversations we’ve had in their classrooms, in their organizations, in their study groups. It’s been really meaningful to hear that these conversations are generating others, particularly in movement spaces or in classrooms where teachers are committed to providing students with different discourses than they find within the mainstream. Lastly, of course to everyone who has contributed to the show monetarily, although we are both deeply committed to this work, it is likely that the show would not still be here - and it certainly would not have as many episodes - without the financial support that has made this possible.  We would also like to thank Televangel, who we neglected to shout-out in the introduction. Televangel has provided the music for a couple years now and you can check out his great work here.  It is our 4 year anniversary and we are on a current push towards sustainability, our goal is to reach 1,000 patrons for the show. As of recording this we are approximately 75 patrons away from that goal so if you like what we do, just know you can support us for as little as $1 a month, the same amount (without factoring inflation!) that Paul Robeson’s Freedom was requesting of readers in the 1950’s. Also we shout-out a lot of political prisoners and former political prisoners in this conversation. We encourage folks to contribute to the Mutual Aid fund for Veteran Black Panther Party Members and other organizations that support political prisoners and movement veterans.

In this episode we inter view Torkil Lauesen. Lauesen is a long-time anti-imperialist activist and writer living in Denmark. From 1970 to 1989 he was a full-time member of a communist anti-imperialist group, supporting Third World liberation movements by both legal and illegal means. In connection with support work, he has traveled in Lebanon, Syria, Zimbabwe, South Africa, the Philippines, and Mexico. In the 1990’s, during his political imprisonment, he was involved in prison activism and received a Masters degree in political science. He is also the author of multiple books, including The Global Perspective: Reflections on Imperialism and Resistance and The Principal Contradiction. He is currently a member of International Forum, an anti-imperialist organization based in Denmark. Today we talk to him about his latest book Riding The Wave: Sweden’s Integration into the Imperialist World System. Which is a thorough investigation into the development of the so-called “Swedish Model” considered by many to be the pinnacle of social democracy. Many US based social democrats, have even gone so far as to describe it this model as a form of “socialism.” Torkil explains the relationship of this economic model to colonialism and imperialism, arguing that the accomplishments of the Social Democratic Party, and trade union movement, would not be possible if one took imperialism out of the equation. We hope you enjoy this conversation, and definitely recommend Lauesen’s new book Riding The Wave, which is not only a great history of the conditions that produced the “Swedish Model,” but deals with many other global phenomena at some length, including how neoliberalism restructured the capitalist world system. A reminder that we are still slowly working our way toward 1,000 patrons for the show, which is our current goal. You can become a patron at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. Our next episode will be a set of reflections between Josh and I on four years of doing Millennials Are Killing Capitalism as we’re a little more than a week away from our 4 year anniversary. Leftwingbooks.net, is having a 20% sale the rest of September on books on its “Against War and Empire” category. Use the code: AGAINSTEMPIRE all one word, all caps at checkout to get that discount.