Millennials Are Killing Capitalism

Leila Shomali and Lara Kilani discuss anti-zionism and decolonization, covering settler colonialism, Oslo Accords, human rights discourse, and the role of indigenous communities. They tackle defunding racism, challenging political parties, and the importance of a unified movement for Palestine. The chapter descriptions delve into the distortions of anti-zionism, limitations of decolonization discourse, and the need for honest conversations.

Paul Le Blanc, an activist and historian, discusses Lenin's flexibility, his belief in Marxism as a guide to action, the concept of the United Front, Lenin's analysis of imperialism and authoritarianism, and his insights on bringing about change in today's world.

In this podcast, they discuss the shift in politics during the 1970s and how movements responded to it. They explore the debate between violence and nonviolence, analyze the Black Panther Party and Fatsa Commune, and discuss the concept of political multiplicities. They also talk about the need for revolutionary thinking and the relevance of past struggles to contemporary movements.

This is part 1 of a 2-part conversation on Michael Hardt’s recent book The Subversive Seventies.  Michael Hardt teaches political theory in the Literature Program at Duke University. He is co-author, with Antonio Negri, of the Empire trilogy and, most recently, Assembly. He is co-director with Sandro Mezzadra of The Social Movements Lab.  A couple of things I need to say up front. This conversation was recorded in September and initially would have been released in October, but obviously our programming took a quick turn to solidarity work on the Palestinian struggle in light of those events. As I mentioned in the intro to our most recent episode we will continue to do that solidarity work primarily though not exclusively through our YouTube page for a while just so that we can get some of these other conversations out on the podcast feed. Nonetheless, this conversation and the book and the problems it poses I think are as interesting and relevant today as they were in September. I mostly note it's recording date for two reasons, one it will be glaring that we don’t talk at all about events in Palestine in the conversation. The second reason I mention the date is that in the intervening months Michael Hardt’s long-time collaborator Antonio Negri passed away. Negri was of course a very serious and renowned political philosopher, militant organizer, and a political prisoner, coming out of some of the very movements that Michael Hardt discusses in this book. May he rest in peace and our condolences to Michael for the loss of his friend and collaborator. This discussion is about Michael Hardt’s book The Subversive Seventies which was one of the more interesting books we read last year on the podcast. And we would definitely recommend it both for its value as a historical text as well as for the theoretical work Hardt is engaged in in the text. As is laid out quite well I think on the publisher’s website, it is a book that attempts to reconstruct the history of revolutionary politics in the 1970’s, to systematically approach political movements of the seventies within a global framework of analysis, and to bring together a wide range of political movements from the decade highlighting the ways movements in different countries resonated with and were inspired by one another. Part 2 of the conversation will be released this coming week.  I would also be remiss if I didn’t say rest in power to Sekou Odinga who passed away earlier this week. We hope to be able to do more in honor of him and as a tribute to his legacy in the coming weeks and years.  If you appreciate the work we do, our work is only possible through the support of our patrons. You can support our show for as little as $1 a month or $10.80 per year at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

In this podcast, guest Steven Salaita, an educator and author, discusses topics such as the Palestinian resistance, Israel's genocidal retaliation, settler colonization theory, the complex nature of Hamas, anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia, understanding settler colonialism, the nuclear threat of Israel, strategies for protests and resistance movements, and the significance of cultural and intellectual work.

Boots Riley, film director, producer, screenwriter, rapper, and communist, discusses labor upsurge and strikes in the US, limitations of protests, CIA's influence on art, challenges for artists supporting resistance, potential for collective organizing in the arts, and future plans including 'I'm a Virgo' season two.

In this episode Steven Osuna returns to the podcast. Steven Osuna is an associate professor of Sociology at CSU Long Beach. He has written extensively on street organizations, policing, the so-called war on drugs, and the ravages of capitalism and neoliberalism. He also has experience organizing in the Philippine solidarity movement and other struggles.  Shout-out and solidarity to all of the Cal State University faculty as I know have been on rolling strikes and are negotiating  their new contracts currently. In this conversation Osuna talks to us about Mao’s speech & essay “On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People.” This is a part of our series of episodes with guests where they pick a piece of communist, socialist or other radical thought and we read it as well and we come together and we talk about it.  This conversation was recorded back in August, so you won’t hear references to the current struggle in Palestine or other current events, but this discussion is relevant as always to organizing among the people and so it is relevant to today nonetheless.  Thanks again to Steven Osuna for this conversation. We’ll include links in the show notes to the Philippine solidarity campaigns he uplifted as well as the Foreign Languages Press website and their journal new Material. Also once again we do have a Sylvia Wynter study group coming up. That is for patrons or YouTube members only. It will be Wednesdays at 7:30 PM ET during the month of January. You can become a patron of the show for as little as $1 a month and support our work at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism   Philipine Human Rights Act International Coalition for Human Rights in the Phillippines  Foreign Languages Press & their new journal "Material" ; 

Abdaljawad Omar, a podcast guest, discusses various topics in this episode. Some of the most interesting topics include labor organizing, strike waves, solidarity with Palestine, and getting anticapitalist art through Hollywood. The conversation also delves into resistance, mourning and melancholy in the Palestinian context, and the power and impact of resistance in the struggle for Palestinian liberation. Other topics covered include prisoner exchanges, the experiences of Palestinians in 48, and settler responses to immigrants.

This is a slightly edited version of our recent livestream with Abdaljawad Omar.  Abdaljawad Omar is a writer, analyst, and lecturer based in Ramallah, Palestine. He currently lectures in the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Studies at Birzeit University. In this conversation we discuss some of his recent writings which we will include in the show notes. Specifically we talk about the Palestinian resistance in relation to concepts of hope, grief, and melancholy. We discuss Abdaljawad’s recent piece “Hopeful pathologies in the war for Palestine: a reply to Adam Shatz” and also got to give folks a sneak peak at some of the arguments that Abdaljawad would bring to his response to Judith Butler which was just published this week. We’ll include links to these pieces as well as the ones he’s critiquing in the show notes in addition to his recent interview with Louis Allday. And if folks like this conversation tomorrow November 30th at 9:30 AM ET we will be live with Abdaljawad again on our YouTube channel. A great reason to go subscribe to that, turn on your notifications and so on. If you miss that livestream it will be up for you to view anytime on our YouTube page. And as I have said before we will be releasing audio versions of many of those conversations as podcasts as we are doing here. And I think as things slow down a bit we will probably settle on 2-3 livestreams each week and at least 1 podcast episode per week.  If you want to support our ability to do more, whether that’s editing more audio or doing more livestreams the best way to do that is to become a patron of the show at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism for as little as $1 a month. Huge shout-out to all the people who do support us and make this show possible.    "Can the Palestinian Mourn?" in response to Judith Butler's "The Compass of Mourning"   The original Adam Shatz piece and Abdaljawad's response “Hopeful pathologies in the war for Palestine: a reply to Adam Shatz” "An Unyielding Will to Continue" with Louis Allday in Ebb Magazine     

We recorded this conversation just before the world shifted on October 7th. We actually have several conversations that we still need to release that we recorded in August and September, but I wanted to get to this one first due to the urgency of Shaka Shakur’s situation. Shaka Shakur is a New Afrikan Political Prisoner who has been behind the walls for the majority of his life since he was 16 years old. He’s currently held captive at Beaumont Correctional Center in Virginia. He was mentored by figures such as Zolo Azania and James “Yaki” Sayles. Shaka has an extensive track record of prisoner organizing and exposing injustices and human rights violations behind the walls. I’ll include a more extensive bio from his Jericho Movement page in the show notes. Shaka had reached out to me after the publication of our discussion with Thandisizwe Chimurenga and Yusef “Bunchy” Shakur on Sanyika Shakur’s political writings. He wanted to share some things and also offer the perspective of someone from Sanyika's generation who spent many years studying and struggling in the same circles, and communicating with Sanyika through the Prison News Service and other publications that circulated behind the walls connecting New Afrikan prisoners and other political and politicized prisoners. Shaka also describes similar experiences of becoming politicized during their first period of incarceration at a young age, struggling upon his return to the outside & ultimately ending up back behind the walls. Shakur shares his reflections on that era, on changes in the prison movement and outside support movements over time and on the disconnect that often exists between revolutionary rhetoric and revolutionary action in the US left in recent years.  Importantly, Shaka Shakur is currently dealing with multiple urgent health issues, including his battle with cancer and we have multiple links and ways people can support his legal campaign and his request for clemency. We will have links to all of this in the show notes, but just to say that he is still asking people to call in and put pressure the Department of Correction for further medical testing. That call is in the show notes as well.  This episode was also recorded before the passing of Ed Mead who we mention in this discussion. Rest well Ed, you've earned it.  The last thing I will say is that although this was recorded before the Palestinian struggle took center stage, I think many of Shaka’s reflections are relevant to that movement as well as the US based solidarity efforts that are currently underway so keep that in mind as you listen. Shaka Shakur Medical Needs/Update Shaka Shakur's Clemency Petition Shaka Shakur's Jericho Movement page Shaka Shakur's Legal Defense Fund Documentary: Shaka Shakur Human Rights Held Hostage Shaka Shakur's Defense Link Tree Aidan Elias co-edited & co-produced this episode