Millennials Are Killing Capitalism

In this interview we talk to Dr. Joy James. Joy James is the author of Shadowboxing: Representations of Black Feminist Politics, Transcending the Talented Tenth: Black Leaders and American Intellectuals, and Resisting State Violence: Radicalism, Gender and Race in US Culture. Her edited books include: Warfare in the American Homeland, The New Abolitionists: (Neo) Slave Narratives and Contemporary Prison Writings, Imprisoned Intellectuals, States of Confinement, The Black Feminist Reader (co-edited with TD Sharpley-Whiting), and the Angela Y. Davis Reader. Dr. James also serves as a Professor of Humanities at Williams College. This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the murder of George Jackson and the subsequent Attica Rebellion. In our discussion with Dr. James we talk about both of those events, as well as about key Black August figures Jonathan Jackson and George Jackson. We also discuss James’ piece Airbrushing Revolution for the Sake of Abolition and ask her questions about Davis’s trial, and contradictions from within mass international campaigns like the campaign to free Davis.  Along the way we work-in questions on many of the topics of her writing on political prisoners, state violence, rebellion, and the Captive Maternal. We close by asking Dr. James to talk about the inspiration she finds in the speeches of Amilcar Cabral. If you like what we do and want to support our ability to have more conversations like this, please consider becoming a patron of the show. You can do that for just $1 a month. We bring you these conversations totally supported by our listeners with no corporate, state or grant funding. References: Imprisoned Intellectuals (pdf) "New Bones" Abolitionism, Communism and Captive Maternals Airbrushing Revolution for the Sake of Abolition George Jackson Dragon Philosopher and Revolutionary Abolitionist The Plurality of Abolitionism - Groundings (hosted by Devyn Springer & Felicia Denaud) BPP's Letter To The Hip Hop Community and we also had a conversation with BLA/BPP veteran Jamal Joseph about this letter Warfare In The American Homeland Black Panther Party Veteran Mutual Aid Fund

In this episode we interview Dr. Soyica Diggs Colbert about her recently published book, Radical Vision: A Biography of Lorraine Hansberry. Most well known as the playwright behind A Raisin In The Sun, Hansberry was a journalist and editor for Paul Robeson’s Freedom, which covered domestic and international politics and social movements from a Black Radical perspective in the 1950’s. In the 50’s Hansberry was firmly embedded in a radical milieu that included Robeson, Du Bois, William Patterson, Claudia Jones, and Alice Childress among others in the Popular Front left of the era.  An anti-imperialist activist and supporter of anti-colonial movements, Hansberry’s radical past was obscured or unknown in the press reports following the success of her play A Raisin In The Sun. Colbert’s work discusses the breadth of the radical journalism, organizing and thought that exists within Hansberry’s archive and how it weaves into her more well known published work. We talk to Colbert about Hansberry’s internationalism, her comrades, her friends, and her theoretical contributions as a Black Queer Radical, in a 1950’s and early 60’s era when anti-black racism, McCarthyism, patriarchy and homophobia meant that Hansberry’s most radical contributions were delivered under multiple forms of duress and at times anonymity. Nevertheless, her contributions to Black Internationalism, the Civil Rights Movement, and the politics of gender and sexuality were all substantial and prototypical of the elaborations of Black Left Feminism that would evolve after her untimely death at just 34 years of age. We will include in the show notes, links to the archives of the publication Freedom and links to some of Lorraine Hansberry’s speeches and recorded interviews. Lastly August is upon us, and we’re getting ready to make some announcements and have some more big episodes in the coming weeks. We are about 150 patrons short of hitting 1,000 patrons, which is our new goal. So if you have not become a patron of the show, please do, you can join for as little as $1 a month.

In this episode we talk to Peter Cole, historian and author of Ben Fletcher, The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly.  Fletcher was among the most successful union organizers in the early 20th century, and a Black leader of the Local 8 union - a component of the Industrial Workers of the World - which organized on the docks in South Philadelphia beginning in 1913. Local 8 of the IWW's Marine Transport Workers Industrial Union, was the most powerful interracial union of its era, and the IWW or the Wobblies were the most radical union organizing in the US in the early part of the 20th Century. We talk to Cole about the life and times of Ben Fletcher, about the successes of Local 8, the repression Fletcher faced as a political prisoner, Fletcher’s relationships to other members of the Black left, and what we know about the successes and eventual demise of Local 8 after a decade of radical union work on the docks in Philadelphia. Stay tuned to the end of the episode to hear more about how Cole is looking to further commemorate Fletcher’s legacy, and about Cole’s work around the Chicago Race Riot of 1919. As we publish we are just 7 patrons away from our July goal. We have some more amazing work coming in August that we’re very excited about. So if you haven’t become a patron of the show, and are able to spare $1 a month or more, please support us on patreon. 

Dr. Rinaldo Walcott, a professor at the University of Toronto and abolitionist author, dives deep into the struggle for Black freedom. He argues that true emancipation goes beyond legal frameworks established by European descendants. The conversation touches on the necessity of abolishing property to dismantle modern policing and prisons. Walcott also discusses the role of Rastafarianism in shaping Black identity and autonomy, while exploring the interconnected histories of Black and Indigenous peoples. He advocates for a holistic approach to freedom, emphasizing the importance of collective futures and meaningful reparative measures.

In this episode we interview Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army veteran Jalil Muntaqim. Muntaqim was political prisoner for nearly half a century due to his involvement in the liberation struggle. He was released from prison in October of 2019 after eleven parole denials. He is the author of We Are Our Own Liberators, which we discuss some in the episode, and Escaping The Prism… Fade to Black, a collection of poetry and essays. In this discussion we talk about some of Muntaqim’s life, political development, and organizing both before being incarcerated, and during his 49 years in prison. Muntaqim recounts some of the thinkers who most strongly influenced his political development. He also talks about many political prisoners still held in US prisons that people need to fight for. In terms of that struggle, he highlights the importance of In The Spirit of Mandela International Tribunal on US Human Rights Violations which is upcoming in October of 2021. This Spirt of Mandela campaign is a continuation of a long history of international human rights efforts led by the Black Left in the United States. Muntaqim talks about The Spirit of Mandela Tribunal’s relationship to the 70th Anniversary of the We Charge Genocide campaign led by William Patterson and Paul Robeson. And we ask Muntaqim about his own efforts organizing international human rights campaigns from behind the walls. Millennials Are Killing Capitalism has signed on as an endorser of The Spirit of Mandela campaign and we encourage others to do the same. It is an international effort, so endorsers outside of the US can participate in supporting this campaign as well. Go to SpiritofMandela.org to learn more, to endorse the tribunal, and to support financially. Additionally, we seek Muntaqim’s insights on the ways that the iconography of the Black Panther Party has been co-opted and profited from, and how these efforts in no way support the political legacy or financially support actual members of the Black Panther Party who are often political prisoners or veterans of the movement needing financial support after years of sacrifice and repression. In light of this, we also are becoming monthly patrons of the patreon fund that has been set up for Mutual Aid for Veteran Black Panther Party Members. And we encourage others to do the same.

In this episode we interview Max Ajl, author of the new book A People’s Green New Deal.  Max Ajl is an associated researcher with the Tunisian Observatory for Food Sovereignty and the Environment and a postdoctoral fellow with the Rural Sociology Group at Wageningen University. He has written for Monthly Review, Jacobin and Viewpoint. He has contributed to a number of journals, including the Journal of Peasant Studies, Review of African Political Economy and Globalizations, and is an associate editor at Agrarian South & Journal of Labor and Society In this discussion we talk to Ajl about his critiques of various forms of climate policy emanating from the capitalist and imperialist ruling class, and he situates the AOC/Markey Green New Deal as sharing a great deal ideologically and in terms of program with other capitalist so-called solutions to the climate crisis.  What Ajl advocates instead is an anti-colonial perspective, and a total infrastructural and agricultural transformation in the Global North, and strong solidarity movements and convergences with climate proposals coming from the Global South, such as those laid out in the Cochabamba People’s Accords.  We strongly recommend this book as key to framing what a liberatory horizon can be for climate struggle on the left. If you appreciate the work we do, we continue to try to put out about an episode a week, if you are able to support us by becoming a patron of the show for as little as $1 per month, you can help continue to make this show possible and accessible for those who cannot afford to make such a contribution.  Now here is Max Ajl on his book A People’s Green New Deal.

In this episode we interview Rawan and Fathi, co-founders of decolonizepalestine.com. Rawan is the co-founder of decolonizepalestine.com. While studying political science, Middle Eastern studies and Arabic at university, Rawan organized for Students for Justice in Palestine and the Democratic Socialists of America before moving to Palestine and working for a feminist organization in Ramallah. Fathi Nemer is a political scientist, activist, and co-founder of decolonizepalestine.com. He is a former teaching fellow at the Democracy and Human Rights program at Birzeit University. He specializes in the politics of the Middle East and North Africa, decolonization and discursive resistance. In this episode we talk about their recently launched website decolonizepalestine.com. We also talk about a recent events in occupied Palestine, the fight to #SaveSheikhJarrah, and a number of the myths that get deployed by zionists in support of the state of Israel’s policies of apartheid and ethnic cleansing. We also talk about what decolonization means for them in relation to Palestine and why the latest ceasefire represents a significant step forward in the Palestinian struggle for liberation in their estimation.  Finally they talk about several ways people around the world can support the struggle for Palestinian Liberation and organizations that folks can support financially as well. Make sure to check out decolonizepalestine.com yourself if you haven't yet, and support them on patreon.  Some articles referenced on the episode: If they steal Sheikh Jarrah by Mohammed El-Kurd Dispossession and Eviction in Jerusalem: The cases and stories of Sheikh Jarrah  The Genocide of the Palestinian People: An International Law and Human Rights Perspective  Can Palestinian Men be Victims? Gendering Israel's War on Gaza By Maya Mikdashi  Surveillance and Control in Israel/Palestine: Population, Territory and Power  And of course if you appreciate the work that we do here, and are able, please support us on patreon as well.

In this episode are joined by Dan Berger, Emily K. Hobson and Barbara Smith to discuss the recently published book Remaking Radicalism: A Grassroots Documentary Reader of the United States, 1973-2001 edited by Berger and Hobson.  Dan Berger is an associate professor of comparative ethnic studies at the University of Washington Bothell and the author of Captive Nation: Black Prison Organizing in the Civil Rights Era among other titles. Emily K. Hobson is an associate professor of history and gender, race, and identity at the University of Nevada, Reno, and the author of Lavender and Red: Liberation and Solidarity in the Gay and Lesbian Left. Barbara Smith is a scholar, activist, critic, lecturer, author and publisher of Black feminist thought. She is also the cofounder of the Combahee River Collective and Kitchen Table Press. Barbara Smith joins us to discuss Remaking Radicalism with the editors Dan and Emily, and contextualize organizing within the period the book discusses. The book offers an incredible look into the vibrancy and diversity of movements on the left in the period. It features 164 written documents, 20 images, and 32 short essays that reflect a wide mix of organizations, campaigns, tactics, and visions from the period of 1973 to 2001.  If you appreciate conversations like this, please consider becoming a patron of the show. You can do it for as little as $1 a month on patreon.

In this interview we talk to Joseph R. Fitzgerald, associate professor of history and political science at Cabrini University and author of The Struggle Is Eternal: Gloria Richardson and Black Liberation. Perhaps most known today as the subject of an iconic photo where she pushes away a bayonet and stares down the national guardsman whose wielding it, Gloria Richardson was a dynamic leader of the Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee. We talk to Dr. Fitzgerald about Ms. Richardson’s life, her time at Howard University, and her leadership in the Cambridge Movement. We also talk about her relationship to Malcolm X and other prominent figures in the Black Liberation Movement, and her role in the development of Black Power politics. Fitzgerald also talks about Ms. Richardson’s thoughts on electoralism, cooptation, and her experience at the March on Washington. Ms. Richardson turned 99 years old earlier this month, and along with Dr. Fitzgerald’s biographic commentary we’ve weaved in some brief excerpts from an interview she gave several years ago. A link to that interview is found in the show notes, and we encourage folks to also seek out interviews with her and read The Struggle Is Eternal: Gloria Richardson and Black Liberation, which provides a deep exploration of her life, her organizing and her political thought. As always if you like what we do and have the means, please support us on patreon, you can become a patron of the show for as little as $1 a month.

This is a dialogue between Hanif Abdurraqib and Fred Moten. Hanif Abdurraqib has been on the show twice before, but we really have not done a proper episode to honor his work. So we wanted to figure out a unique way to commemorate the release of A Little Devil In America: Notes In Praise of Black Performance. It dawned on us that a lot of Fred Moten’s work was wrestling with many of the same questions explored in Hanif’s. So we invited both of them to join us in a dialogue, and they both graciously accepted. Due to the improvisational casual nature of the conversation, it did not make sense to edit the episode the way we normally do. Aside from attempting to align the mic levels as much as possible and removing a few minor audio blemishes, what you hear is true to the live discussion. Certainly something is lost in you all not having been there with us, but hopefully something has been found and preserved as well.