Millennials Are Killing Capitalism

For this episode we offered our platform to some organizers inside and out, who put together a series of discussions on the state and needs of prisoner movements today. This is the third segment of a series of political discussions focused on building support for Jailhouse Lawyers Speak’s 2021 National Call To Action “Shut ‘Em Down” and looking forward to next summer’s 2022 National Prisoner Strike and Boycott. The first two panels were hosted by George Jackson University and Final Straw Radio, we’ll link to both in the show notes and people should really listen to all these conversations in dialogue with one another. From various New Afrikan perspectives, panelists discuss cadre development and political education as a crucial strategies toward building sustainable formations and community infrastructure. They discuss how these formations and related infrastructure can propel the prisoners’ resistance movement towards the abolition of prisons. The moderator of this panel is coco. coco is a conscious New Afrikan engaging in prisoner solidarity work along with political education & New Afrikan resistance. The panelists for this discussion are: Kwame “Beans” Shakur. Kwame is Chairman and Co-Founder of the New Afrikan Liberation Collective (NALC) and National Director for the Prison Lives Matter Movement. Kwame is a political prisoner currently being held in Indiana DOC solitary confinement (SHU) in an attempt to silence his work inside & out. Nomi Isaac, pronouns they/them/theirs, is an afro-futurist cultural organizer, and earth liberation advocate engaged in class struggle taking place on Pamunkey Land, or what is commonly known as Richmond Virginia. They co-produce the Black Feminist podcast Race Capitol and are a proud member and support the work of prisoner solidarity efforts within VA Prison Abolition Collecitive (VPAC), NALC, and the Richmond Community Bail Fund. Abbas Muntaqim is a New Afrikan Muslim educator and organizer who co-chairs People’s Programs, an Oakland based New Afrikan/Pan Afrikan organization. He also co-hosts Hella Black Podcast. One note on audio, apologies but there were some technical difficulties with the audio coming from Kwame Shakur who was calling us from inside. Those clear up after the first couple of responses, but I encourage folks to stick with the conversation despite the distortion in the audio in his first couple of segments. A reminder that as we publish on September 8th, tomorrow is the 50th Anniversary of the Attica Rebellion and a second set of “Shut ‘Em Down” demonstrations are scheduled around the country in response to Jailhouse Lawyers Speak’s Call to Action.  

In this episode we interview Ray Luc Levasseur. During his time underground Levasseur was a purported member of the United Freedom Front, and the Sam Melville Jonathan Jackson Unit. Prior to that Levasseur organized in several above ground formations, including the Southern Student Organizing Committee (SSOC), Vietnam Veterans Against The War, and SCAR. We talk to Ray about his early life, and the influence of his experience in Vietnam on the development of anti-imperialist politics and commitments.  He also shares his first incarcerated organizing experiences in Tennessee. And we have brief discussions of his time in SSOC, Vietnam Veterans Against The War, and SCAR. After that we discuss Ray’s time underground, and the claimed activities the Sam Melville Jonathan Jackson Unit and the United Freedom Front.  Specifically he discusses IBM’s involvement in Apartheid, and the targeting of the military and prison industrial complexes by those underground groups.  We end with a discussion of Ray’s time in Marion and the refusal there by Levasseur and other political prisoners to build weapons for the federal government. Ray also shares thoughts on his experiences during 13 years of solitary confinement at Marion and later at ADX. And discusses why small acts of generosity and care on the outside can mean a great deal to people experiencing extreme repression.  He leaves the discussion with several ways folks can get involved in supporting political prisoners. We will include links in the show notes for folks who want to get involved in that necessary work. One quick urgent note, political prisoner David Gilbert goes before the parole board this month. He needs letters of support. They must be submitted by Wednesday September 8th at 6pm Eastern Time. Please go to friendsofdavidgilbert.org to get full details on the process and do that for him.  And just a quick reminder that if you like what we do and want to support our ability to continue to do it. Become a patron of the show. We’re still working on our current goal to get 1,000 patrons of the show. Get involved with: Sundiata Acoli (he needs his petition signed!) Jericho Movement Spirit of Mandela Tribunal Anarchist Black Cross Federation Write to Jennifer Reznicek Support Eric King Check out Freedom Archives for ways to support political prisoners, and also for their amazing archives of radical movements, which including communiques from the UFF.

In this episode we interview SNCC veterans Jennifer Lawson and Dorothy Zellner. This is our second conversation with SNCC veterans we encourage folks to listen to this along with our conversation last year with Jennifer Lawson and Charles Cobb Jr.  SNCC is about to host it’s 60th Anniversary conference, you can register at sncc60thanniversary.org. We encourage folks to do that and connect with these amazing veterans of the Black Freedom Struggle. In this conversation we talk about communications work as an aspect of SNCC’s organizing, interfacing with the press, communicating with community, and elevating stories of resistance and struggle.  We talk about the climate of imminent danger that organizers navigated and confronted together, touching on the Freedom Summer, the Lowndes County Freedom Party, segregation, anti-communism, solidarity with Palestinians, and the 1964 Democratic Convention. If you appreciate the work we do, we’re currently working to hit a goal of 1000 patrons, we only need about 80 more patrons to hit that goal. You can become a patron here.  Music for this episode is provided by JayOhAye (former two time guest of the show), from his new album Pride. Here is the piece Dorothy Zellner references, that she recently wrote about Palestine. Hands on the Freedom Plow is also referenced in the conversation.

In this episode we speak with Da’Shaun Harrison. Da’Shaun is a Black trans writer, abolitionist, and community organizer. Da’Shaun serves as Managing Editor for Wear Your Voice Magazine.  In this conversation we speak with Da’Shaun about their recently published book Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness. We talk to Da’Shaun about their analysis of how the logic of anti-fatness works in relation to anti-blackness. This includes a discussion of Da’Shaun’s perspectives on “pretty privilege” and desirability politics. They also talk about the relationship between anti-blackness anti-fatness and sexual violence and abuse.  Da’Shaun touches on the lack of analysis that exists related to the particular relationship police violence and state violence have to the overlapping identities of Fat, Black and poor. Josh and Da’Shaun discuss the necessity of applying the abolitionist lens to gender politics. And we speak to Da’Shaun about the influence of afro-pessimism in their work. If you appreciate the work that we do please consider becoming a patron of the show. We’re on a current drive to reach 1,000 patrons and we’re less than 100 patrons away from that goal. You can help us get there for just a dollar a month. 

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.