Millennials Are Killing Capitalism

Our guests for this discussion are Frances Hasso, a brilliant scholar and friend of the show, and author of Buried in the Red Dirt: Race, Reproduction and Death in Modern Palestine, and our friend Sina Rahmani, host of The East Is A Podcast. 

No show notes today. Listen to the conversation or don't. And if you want to be on the right side of history, take action in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

We recorded this on October 12th, at roughly 9 PM ET (US)

Some links provided by a comrade below:

And continue to look for local actions that you can pariticpate in or start one up. 

Donate to Medical Aid for Palestinians’ Emergency Appeal here

Palestine Trauma Centre in Gaza – statement and link to donate

Gaza Mental Health Foundation

In this episode is the conclusion of our 2 part conversation with Max Ajl. 

Max Ajl is an educator and a researcher and the author of A People’s Green New Deal, which we highly recommend and had a previous discussion of back in 2021. He is also the associate editor of Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy.

Here we continued our discussion of his piece “Theories of Political Ecology: Monopoly Capital Against People and the Planet."

In this section of the conversation we talk about China’s role in the world system and Max discusses the question of imperialism with regard to China, specifically on the African continent. From there we get into a discussion of degrowth, what Ajl sees as its strengths and weaknesses as a camp of ecological thought engaging at a popular level. We also dig deeper into Max’s interventions in the realm of ecologically unequal exchange, something we began to discuss in part 1 of the conversation.

We thank Max Ajl for this conversation and will include links to a bunch of the citations in the show notes as well as to the article we’re discussing and Agrarian South Journal.

We recorded this conversation way back in early August, but this is the first episode we’ve released since the most recent phase of Palestinian Resistance to apartheid and colonialism began on October 7th and since the apocalyptic Israeli siege on Gaza began as a form of collective punishment. We want to express our unequivocal solidarity with the Palestinian people in this time in their anticolonial struggle, and enduring the crimes against humanity that the Israeli state is enacting on the whole population of Gaza. We will be looking to do some more work on that specific topic soon. But for now we want to make sure to relay that to our listeners along with this episode.

Links/Citations:

“Theories of Political Ecology: Monopoly Capital Against People and the Planet.” by Max Ajl (the subject of the episode)

https://www.agrariansouth.org

Ching Kwan Lee's The Specter of Global China

The Future is Degrowth

Jason Hickel 

Ali Kadri

Danny Faber 

Vladimir Kontorovich 

Zeyad El Nabolsy -  pieces on Cabral

In this episode Max Ajl returns to the podcast.

Max Ajl is an educator and a researcher and the author of A People’s Green New Deal, which we highly recommend and had a previous discussion of back in 2021. He is also the associate editor of Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy.

We caught up with Max back in early August to talk about one of his recent pieces, from Agrarian South. The article is entitled “Theories of Political Ecology: Monopoly Capital Against People and the Planet.” 

It’s a very interesting article that covers a range of ostensibly left-wing approaches to ecology and the ecological crisis through a critical lens. Recording this conversation in the middle of summer there were a number of events and conversations we reference that folks will recall. This will be a two-part release.

In this first portion we talk about the theory of ecologically unequal exchange, wheat and cereal grains as weapons of imperialism, bananas and fresh fruits in the first world, and get into some of Alj’s critiques of different strains of political ecology. In particular in this episode Max talks about Andreas Malm’s formulation of “Fossil Capitalism,” and also critically engages with the frameworks of eco-modernism and extractivism. 

Ajl challenges the euro-centric variants of Marxism that dominate much of the first-world Marxist engagement with ecological questions, raising the importance of bringing anti-imperialist analysis, a world-system level understanding of capitalism and solidarity with national liberation movements into the theory and practice of ecological movements. 

We will link the article we discuss in the show notes as well as some of the articles that Max mentions in the discussion. 

In part two of this conversation which will come out in a few days, we will talk a little more about eco-modernism and get into degrowth as well.

This is our first episode of the month of October, we thankfully hit our goal of new patrons for the last month. And have set a goal once again to add 40 new patrons this month to keep up with nonrenewals and hopefully slowly increase our base of support for the show. Thanks to everyone who contributes. You can become a patron of the show for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Links/Citations:

“Theories of Political Ecology: Monopoly Capital Against People and the Planet.” by Max Ajl (the subject of the episode)

Patrick Higgins articles referenced

Charlotte Kates article referenced

Archana Prasad mentioned

In this conversation Breht from Revolutionary Left Radio join the podcast to talk about the Friedrich Engels’ short piece, "The Principles of Communism." This piece which is presented in Question and Answer form was a draft that would inform the creation of The Communist Manifesto. This is part of our series of episodes we’ve been doing lately where we talk to friends of the podcast about some of their favorite works, particularly works by authors who are no longer with us. So far we’ve talked to Thandisizwe Chimurenga & Yusef “Bunchy” Shakur about Sanyika Shakur’s Stand Up, Struggle Forward, we’ve discussed an E.P. Thompson piece with Ivan Stoiljkovic. We also have an episode with Steven Osuna where we discuss Mao’s “On The Correct Handling of Contradictions Among The People,” which will be coming soon. 

We definitely want to give a big shout-out to Revolutionary Left Radio, Guerrilla History, and the Red Menace podcast. Breht puts countless hours into those projects and I don’t listen to a lot of podcasts, but I do check out work from all of those projects and encourage others to do the same and support them financially if you’re able to do so. 

Now of course it is time to remind listeners that this is our seventh, and likely final episode for the month of September. If just five people either become new patrons or increase their pledge in these last four days of the month we will hit our goal, so we’re really close, it’s within reach and if you’ve been thinking about kicking in even just a $1 a month it’ll help us hit that goal and keep sustaining the show. You can do that at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism.

One final plug I will be joining Sina Rahmani of The East Is A Podcast over on his YouTube page for a live episode on this Thursday September 28th. We would love it if folks would come through hang out with us, it’ll be more relaxed, we’ll just be having fun talking about current events and hopefully if some folks come through we’ll even get a little bit of Q&A in with the audience. 

Other Links:

Is Marxism Just Religion By Another Name?

What is this document and why are we discussing it?

What is the proletariat and why is it important to communist theory?

China Miéville discussions on the Communist Manifesto: Rev Left's, ours

Other Red Menace Episodes on Engels, including the 3-part episode on The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State 

Red Menace episode on Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire

This is the conclusion of our discussion with César “che” Rodríguez (part 1 is here), who works as a faculty member of Race & Resistance Studies at San Francisco State University, is a rank-and-file union member of the California Faculty Association, and organized with Change SSF. 

Here we get into the actual history of the murder of Oscar Grant, trigger or content warning on that discussion for folks. It’s not needlessly graphic, but it is descriptive of the events as they took place. Then we get into how various types of citizen journalism, movement journalism, organizing, protest, popular mobilization, and rioting broke the cycle of police impunity for a moment in time.

We talk about that, weigh the limitations of the so-called reforms put in place and think about implications for future struggles against the relentless scourge of police terrorism in this country. 

We’re getting closer to our goal for the month of September, with just 5 days left in the month we’re 10 patrons away from it. Shout-out to all of our new patrons this month and to the folks who have been contributing for years. You can become a patron of the show at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism for as little as $1 a month or $10.80 per year.

Links:

https://www.indybay.org

https://sfbayview.com

“‘Oscar Did Not Die in Vain’ Revelous Citizen Journalism, Righteous/Riotous Work, and the Gains of the Oscar Grant Moment in Oakland, California” - The essay we're discussing in the episode

In this episode we welcome César “che” Rodríguez to the podcast.

We had a lengthy conversation about Rodríguez’s piece, “‘Oscar Did Not Die in Vain’ Revelous Citizen Journalism, Righteous/Riotous Work, and the Gains of the Oscar Grant Moment in Oakland, California,” which we will link in the show notes.

César “che” Rodríguez works as a faculty member of Race & Resistance Studies at San Francisco State Univeristy, is a rank-and-file union member of the California Faculty Association, and organized with Change SSF. 

As we got into discussion with che, we had some questions about his own relationships with Clyde Woods and Cedric Robinson and his use of certain methodological concepts. These questions led to in-depth discussion which offered so many insights into Cedric Robinson’s concepts of racial capitalism and racial regimes, and Clyde Woods’ concept of the blues epistemology and academic necrophilia. We decided to release that portion of the discussion as part one of the conversation. In particular che spends a good portion of this discussion laying out how he works with Robinson’s concept of racial regimes dialectically, providing an example of how he uses tools from Cedric Robinson, Antonio Gramsci, Stuart Hall and others to offer a conjunctural analysis of racial capitalism in Oakland in the lead up to what he calls the Oscar Grant moment. And we get into che’s concept of the hyphy corrido ché's concept linking Woods’ blues epistemology with Robinson’s mandate that ethnic studies scholars “record the noise.”

In part two we will get into a more detailed discussion of the movement that came together and protagonized in the wake of the of state murder of Oscar Grant, including a detailed discussion of the citizen journalism, the organizing and rebellion, and some thoughts on what we should take away from the Oscar Grant moment for movements against police impunity and popular struggles more broadly.

This is already our 6th episode of September, our 53rd of the year. We are currently 17 patrons away from hitting our goal for the month. That’s ambitious, but if a few folks sign up for as little as $1 a month, it is still within reach. Become a patron here. We want to thank all the people who support the podcast through patreon and make the show possible. We also want to give a shout-out to folks who like and share the episodes on social media or write reviews of the podcast wherever they listen to it. 

Links:

“‘Oscar Did Not Die in Vain’ Revelous Citizen Journalism, Righteous/Riotous Work, and the Gains of the Oscar Grant Moment in Oakland, California” (the article from the episode)

Cedric J. Robinson - Critical Ethnic Studies Conference 2013

In this conversation we talk to Santi Elijah Holley about his recently published book An Amerikan Family: The Shakurs and the Nation They Created. 

A history of the political family that included Tupac, Assata, Afeni, Dr. Mutulu, Salahdeen, Lumumba, Zayd and many others. What does it mean to take the name Shakur? What were some of the key relationships and sites of politicization for these folks? Holley’s book gets into many of these questions, and examines the radical organizing and political activity of many of the Shakurs and of their comrades like Sekou Odinga and Bilal Sunni-Ali. 

There are aspects of this book we appreciated as there’s a lot of important history here that gets brought into one place. These figures are often looked at in isolation, in a depoliticized context, as icons or simulacra. In other places we read about them as individual figures in histories of formations like the Black Panther Party or the Republic of New Afrika. So we appreciated seeing them discussed in relation to one another and some of the events and people who shaped their political development. As you will see in this discussion both Josh and I also have our criticisms of this book and how it presents this history. As usual, we do not debate with the author here, but we do ask multiple critical questions about aspects of the book that we felt either did not do justice to the legacy of people being examined or do not help people see the New Afrikan Independence Movement as a living struggle that people still engage today in a variety of ways in various organizations. As always, we welcome further dialogue on that from folks who are involved in those movements if they wish to engage with us. We will also link some of our other discussions about that history and with people who struggle in the tradition of New Afrikan independence today.

Most importantly today we want to uplift Baba Sekou Odinga who features prominently in this book, and prominently in the history of Black Liberation struggle in this country. He was recently hospitalized and has been released to a rehabilitation facility, but he needs our support. We are not going to plug our patreon this episode and instead ask that folks contribute to this fund for Immediate Relief Support for Sekou Odinga

Other related links:

Sekou Odinga episode

Jamal Joseph episode 

Claude Marks episode 

Dhoruba bin Wahad episode 

Jalil Muntaqim episodes 1, 2 

Thandisizwe Chimurenga and Yusef “Bunchy” Shakur on Sanyika Shakur

Kamau Franklin and Kali Akuno

Kamau Franklin on Liberated Zones Theory  

Stop Cop City discussions: 1  & 2 

Free The Land! Edward Onaci on the History of the Republic of New Afrika

Building Infrastructure: Identifying Tactics for Sustainable Formations: A Panel Discussion Supporting Jailhousee Lawyers Speak

Content Notice: This episode contains discussions of sexual violence & rape

This is the conclusion of our discussion on Orisanmi Burton’s forthcoming book Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt. This discussion was recorded on the same day as the previously released episode, so you may catch references back to that conversation or to others we’ve had with Burton over the last couple of years. We’ll link those in the show notes.

Here we largely move into discussion of Attica itself, but this is not the blow by blow rendition that you have likely heard elsewhere. We talk about Attica through George Jackson’s idea of the Black Commune, and Ruth Wilson Gilmore's Abolition Geography, we talk about how in the words of the Institute of the Black World “the men of Attica were different than their captors,” and we talk about the demand that prisoners be repatriated to a non-imperialist country. We also talk about Burton’s findings on the repression faced by the prisoners after the slaughter of 39 men 52 years ago today. While we don’t talk in graphic detail about all of that repression, a trigger warning is still necessary as we talk about sexual violence in that discussion. 

We close by talking about Burton’s work on the Black Liberation Army and how examining the prison as a site of struggle helped him develop a more capacious view of the BLA than what we find in most representations of who they were and what animated their activities.

We’re very grateful for the time that Orisanmi Burton has spent with us over the course of this interview and our other conversations over the past couple of years. We hope folks get as much out of these conversations as we do, and we strongly recommend that people pre-order Tip of the Spear if they haven’t already.

This is our 4th episode for the month of September. If you appreciate the work that we do, the best way to keep it coming is to join the amazing folks who make this show possible at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism by giving as little as $1 a month or $10.80 per year. 

Links:

pre-order Tip of the Spear

Part 1 of this discussion

Prior episodes with Orisanmi Burton

This is a conversation about Andaiye who was born 81 years ago today on September 11th 1942.

For this discussion we speak with Alissa Trotz, who like Andaiye was born in Guyana. Alissa teaches in Women and Gender Studies and Caribbean Studies at the University of Toronto. For the last 15 years she has edited In the Diaspora, a weekly newspaper column in a Guyanese daily newspaper, the Stabroek News. Alissa has worked with Red Thread, the women’s organization co-founded by Andaiye, for over two and a half decades. She is the editor of the book we discuss today, The Point is to Change the World: Selected Writings of Andaiye published by Pluto Press. The book also has a recently translated Portuguese version, published by Edition Funilaria in Brazil.

Andaiye was one of the Caribbean's most important political voices. She was a radical activist, thinker, and comrade of Walter Rodney. 

Through essays, speeches, letters and journal entries, Andaiye's thinking on the intersections of gender, race, class and power are profoundly articulated, Caribbean histories emerge, and stories from a life lived at the barricades are revealed. We learn about the early years of the Working People's Alliance, the meaning and impact of the murder of Walter Rodney and the fall of the Grenada Revolution. Throughout, we bear witness to Andaiye's acute understanding of politics rooted in communities and the daily lives of so-called ordinary people.

We discuss various writings from this collection. Touching on concepts like negation and self-negation, self-criticism as a political method, Andaiye’s concept of the conspiracy of mutual caring, some of her reflections on her time with Walter Rodney in the Working People’s Alliance, and a good deal discussing Andaiye’s thought around the importance of autonomy in organizing. There are also some discussions of the importance of cross-racial organizing in a context like Guyana with a working class politically divided along racial lines. Alissa shares with us reflections on the work of Red Thread, in which again she and Andaiye both organized. We touch on work around wages for housework, social reproduction and care, and how Andaiye organized around many different issues from violence against women and children to her own battle with cancer.

And if you appreciate the work that we do. Our work is 100% funded by our listeners and so if you like the content that we bring you multiple times per week, please join the wonderful folks who support this show and make these conversations possible at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Links:

Purchase the book from our friends at Massive Bookshop or directly from Pluto Press or in Portuguese from Edition Funilaria.

Visit their website and read more about Red Thread.

Find more of Alissa Trotz's work here, In The Caribbean Diaspora, and at Stabroek News

Orisanmi Burton returns to the podcast to discuss his forthcoming book Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt.

We recorded this episode on August 21st the anniversary of the assassination of George Jackson, and we release it on September 9th, the 52nd anniversary of the Attica Rebellion. We spoke with Dr. Burton for over three hours and will release the conversation in segments. In this episode we talk about Dr. Burton’s methodology and why this book is different from other historical renderings of Attica, something that will immediately be apparent as we get into the discussion. 

We talk in this episode about the relationship between prisons, slavery, war and the law. Burton also shares reflections on the New York City Jail Rebellions of 1970, also known as the Tombs Rebellion or the Tombs Uprising. We talk about ways that Dr. Burton works with political Blackness and different notions of manhood through meditations from Queen Mother Moore and Kuwasi Balagoon. Burton reflects on how rebels gained leverage in zones of captivity and recalibrate our understanding of the Panther 21 by examining their impact and influence as political actors amid their repression. We also discuss different aspects of the lesser known November 1970 Auburn Prison Rebellion.

In the remainder of our conversation with Orisanmi Burton we will discuss his work’s treatment specifically on the Attica Revolt. This is our 4th conversation with Orisanmi Burton and we will link the others as even though they are on separate writings, they all relate to this book and interventions within it and fill in gaps we don’t cover in this episode. 

If you haven’t already, go out and pre-order this book. I mean no disrespect to the other authors who’ve written great books this year, there are some other great contenders, but this is the best book that I’ve read this year.

And if you like what we do, please become a patron of the show. As I mentioned last time, this podcast keeps me more than busy with full-time work. And I know it keeps Josh extremely busy as well. You can become a patron of the show for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. We have some special announcements coming soon there too that you won’t want to miss. 

Our previous episodes with Orisanmi Burton

In this discussion we talk to CalvinJohn Smiley about his book Purgatory Citizenship: Reentry, Race, and Abolition, which examines how individuals returning to society navigate and negotiate this process with diminished legal rights and amplified social stigmas. 

CalvinJohn Smiley, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Sociology Department of Hunter College-City University of New York. He also has worked to abolish the death penalty, and currently volunteers at Rikers Island and Horizon Juvenile Center facilitating restorative justice programming.

We talk to Smiley about his concept of purgatory citizenship, and understanding reentry as a verb rather than a noun. We talk through his application of Walter Rodney’s analytical tools from How Europe Underdeveloped Africa to the history of Newark, NJ. Much of this conversation is centered on the experiences of folks returning from prison, and barriers presented by parole and probation processes, navigating housing, employment and many other visible and less visible hurdles. We also discuss the Prison Reentry Industry and its role within the Prison Industrial Complex or Carceral Continuum.

You can pick up this book from our friends over at Massive Bookshop. 

And speaking of radical abolitionist re-entry work. Our comrades over at Jailhouse Lawyers Speak have been working to build a housing center for women returning from prison. That is still a work in progress and can be supported so we’ll put a link to that project in the show notes where you can learn more and support their work there. https://www.jlshousingcenter.com

And of course a friendly reminder to support the podcast on patreon if you can. Between the study, the preparation, the editing and all the other aspects of running this show it is more than a full time job for me. Josh also puts in a significant number of hours to the show in addition to other work obligations. We really appreciate all the folks who chip in and make this show possible and if you are a listener who has not yet become a patron of the show, if you can afford to part with as little as $1 a month you can help us keep this show going. We have struggled to hit our goals in recent months and are hoping we can hit our goal for the month of September.  So kick in at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism if you can.

[This episode was conducted bilingually in French & English and there is also a French version of the episode here]

In this episode we speak with Inemesit Richardson and Wendlassida Simporé of the Thomas Sankara Center for African Liberation and Unity in Burkina Faso. They are also both members of the All African People’s Revolutionary Party.

The Thomas Sankara Center for African Liberation and Unity is a Pan-African library and political education center in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

The Thomas Sankara center is a free community lending library supplying books about Pan-Africanism, socialism and Third World liberation. They host film screenings, debates and other free events. They also run an after-school young pioneers children's education program for primary school students ages 8-14 and  have a work-study circle for adults which meets regularly to critically study revolutionary books and put theory into praxis in their community.

We talk to both of our guests about recent events in the region. In particular, about the most recent coup in Niger. They discuss the pulse on the ground with regards to Burkina Faso’s current leadership, these anticolonial coups, the region’s relationship to Russia, and the role of the CFA Franc in France’s neocolonial system in the region. We recorded this conversation on August 10th and there have been multiple developments since then, we’ll include some additional articles in the show notes. It should be noted that when we discuss a potential ECOWAS invasion during the episode, that this has not actually occurred yet, although ECOWAS is sanctioning Niger and threatening to use force to overthrow the current leadership. Mali and Burkina Faso have vowed to defend Niger’s leadership with military force. And there is ongoing discussion about the development of a regional federation.

We will include a link to where you can support the work of the Thomas Sankara Center in Burkina Faso. 

In this French language version of the episode, you will hear Inemesit translate the questions into French, and you will hear both Inemesit and Wendlassida answer the questions in French as well. There is also an English language version of this episode.

Links:

Thomas Sankara Center for African Liberation and Unity in Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso & Mali vow to defend Niger’s new leadership with force

The People of Niger Want to Shatter Resignation

Africa's Last Colonial Currency - The CFA Franc Story

[French version of MAKC, the English version of this episode is available here]

Dans cet épisode, nous parlons à Inemesit Richardson et Wendlassida Simporé du Centre Thomas Sankara pour la libération et l’unité africaine. Elles sont les deux des membres du Parti Révolutionnaire de Tous Les Peuples Africains.

Le Centre Thomas Sankara pour la libération et l’unité africaine est une bibliothèque panafricaine et un centre de l’éducation politique à Ouagadougou au Burkina Faso. Le centre est une bibliothèque de prêt, gratuite au public, qui fournit des livres sur le panafricanisme, le socialisme et la libération du Tiers-monde. Le centre organise et présente des séances de cinéma, des débats, et d’autres événements gratuits au public. Le centre dirige un programme de garde parascolaire des « Jeunes Pionniers » pour les enfants des âges 8 à 14 et organise également un cercle d’études-travail des adultes qui se réunit fréquemment pour étudier de façon critique des livres révolutionnaires et pour mettre en pratique la théorie dans la communauté.

Nos invitées discutent des actualités dans la région, y compris le coup d’état récent au Niger. Elles discutent des dernières nouvelles par rapport aux leaders actuels du Burkina Faso, de cette tendance des coups d’états anticoloniaux, de la relation entre la région et la Russie, et du­ rôle du franc CFA dans le système néocolonial français dans la région. Nous avons enregistré cet épisode le 10 août, et depuis cette date, plusieurs événements ont eu lieu. Nous allons mettre des articles supplémentaires dans les shows notes.

Il faut bien noter que notre discussion d’une invasion éventuelle de la Cédéao est en ce moment spéculative et qu’une invasion ne s’est pas encore passée. Cependant, la Cédéao a déjà imposé des sanctions et d’autres pénalités, et la Cédéao menace les leaders nigériens d’une intervention militaire pour renverser le gouvernement. Les pays voisins, le Mali et le Burkina Faso, s’opposent aux menaces de la Cédéao et font front commun pour défendre les militaires nigériens. Il y a un débat en cours sur l’établissement d’une fédération régionale.

Nous allons inclure un lien où vous pouvez aider le Centre Thomas Sankara au Burkina Faso. Dans cette version française, vous écouterez Inemesit qui traduit les questions en français. Vous trouverez les réponses en français d’Inemesit et de Wendlassida. Il y a aussi une version anglaise de cet épisode.

Afficher les notes et l'introduction traduites par Jacob Dennis

Links:

Le Centre Thomas Sankara pour la libération et l’unité africaine

Burkina Faso & Mali vow to defend Niger’s new leadership with force

The People of Niger Want to Shatter Resignation

Africa's Last Colonial Currency - The CFA Franc Story

In this episode we interview Cappy, an organizer from UprisingSupport.org. In response to massive state repression during the George Floyd rebellions, Uprising Support is a website that was founded by a small group of folks who have a background in doing anti-repression organizing and education. Three years after the George Floyd uprising many people are locked up behind the walls for taking bold action amid the largest mass protests of many of our lifetimes. 

We really encourage everyone to listen to this episode, it’s a great practical discussion about organizing, about anti-repression work and its relationship to political prisoner support and abolitionist organizing. There are many valuable lessons for people engaged in prisoner support work of any kind, but also to newcomers, and to people who organize in other areas where repression is ultimately inevitable if you are organizing in any way that challenges the state or capitalism. 

Along the way Cappy talks about anti-repression work as memory work. As a mode of becoming more effective as organizers, as a way of extending networks of care, and a method of building resilience in our organizations and movements. 

You can check out the website at uprisingsupport.org and get involved.

And if you like the work that we do, we did not hit our goal for the month of August, and we do need your support to keep the show going. For as little as $1 a month, you can be a part of the amazing group of people who have made it possible for us to bring you 44 episodes already for 2023 patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. You will get emails with each of our episodes as well as when we relaunch our study group in a few weeks.

The Final Straw interview referenced in discussion

Uprising Support Contact Page 

In this episode we talk about a forthcoming graphic novel adaptation of C.L.R. James’ play Toussaint Louverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History. 

The text of this graphic novel is a play by C.L.R. James that opened in London in 1936 with Paul Robeson in the title role. For the first time, black actors appeared on the British stage in a work by a black playwright.

In this conversation we talk to Sakina Karimjee and Nic Watts who adapted James’ play into graphic novel form and illustrated it. We talk about how C.L.R. James dramatized the Haitian Revolution and its various contradictions and characters and how they sought to tell this story through a graphic novel, using James’ script.

Along the way we talk about many aspects of the revolution, about the story’s protagonist Toussaint Louverture, about the relentless imperialist pursuit of Haiti, which was ongoing throughout the revolutionary period and continues into the present day. And we also discuss why the Haitian revolution is so suppressed in popular culture and popular representations of history, despite being one of the single most important events in world history. 

The book will be out on October 10th from Verso Books, but in the meantime you can pre-order it wherever you buy books.

Mamyrah Prosper on the History of Imperialism in Haiti, the Current Crisis and Questions of International Solidarity 

“The Messages We Refuse To Learn From” - Felicia Denaud on the Unnameable War and Afro-Assembly

Jemima Pierre on Haiti's Significance in Our Americas

The Continued Occupation of Haiti - Jemima Pierre on Luqman Nation on Black Power Media

You can join the Black Alliance for Peace Newsletter, which will keep you updated on issues impacting Haiti and many other issues of Black Internationalism. There are many other ways you can get involved in their work too that you can find on their website.

And to support our work at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. This is our fifth episode of the month and unfortunately so far this month we have more non-renewals on pledges than we have new patrons. So if you’ve been thinking about supporting the show or increasing your support of the show, it’d be hugely appreciated at this time. 

In this episode we interview Anthony Dest. 

Anthony Dest is assistant professor of anthropology at Lehman College and currently a faculty fellow at the Center for Place, Culture and Politics. He is also a member of the Colombia Freedom Collective.

We talk with Anthony about three of his essays about political economy, organizing and resistance in Colombia. This conversation primarily focuses on the organization of Black Colombians in formations like the Black Communities Process (PCN), as well as indigenous communities and other grassroots social formations. 

Dest touches on the history of the US sponsored war on drugs in Colombia, the Peace Accords process in Colombia between the FARC and the Colombian government and on the resistance of the Liberation of Mother Earth Process. We also talk about some of the contradictions created by neoliberal reforms in Colombia and through an examination of the dialectical relationship between inclusion and autonomy, how Black and indigenous communities have organized in light of those reforms, while also looking at the various contradictions that have arisen along the way.

Finally we talk about coordinated action and more spontaneous rebellion amid national strikes, and the election of the Petro and Márquez administration as well as other local electoral efforts. We close with an important conversation on the political prisoners who have been repressed in response to some of the uprisings we discuss, and ways that people can materially support the Colombia Freedom Collective, which we encourage folks to do.

You can support the Colombia Freedom Collective at colombiafreedomcollective.org we’ll include that link in the show notes as well as a place where you can access Dest’s writings.

And of course if you appreciate the work we do, please consider becoming a patron of the show. You can do so for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

In this conversation Josh interviews Zachary Levenson and Marcel Paret discussing their article on “The South African tradition of racial capitalism,” which serves as the introduction to a special issue of Ethnic and Racial Studies on the same subject.

Zachary Levenson is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Florida International University in the United States and a Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. He is the author of Delivery as Dispossession: Land Occupation and Eviction in the Postapartheid City and a member of the Spectre editorial board.

Marcel Paret is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Utah and Senior Research Associate in the Center for Social Change at the University of Johannesburg. He is the author of Fractured Militancy: Precarious Resistance in South Africa After Racial Inclusion (Cornell University Press, 2022).

Levenson and Paret situate the South African tradition of racial capitalism against the organizational backdrop of the anti-apartheid movement, and outline the key theses of this South African tradition of racial capitalism.

They discuss how these activists, comrades, organic intellectuals and/or theorists within this tradition theorized the role of the state and capital in the development of racist policy, and the contradictions this created as well as the potential avenues of resistance it enabled. 

And if you like the work that we do here at MAKC, this month we’re trying to reach a goal of adding 50 patrons to the show. We should be launching a new study group in the coming months as we are winding down with our Wretched of the Earth study group so keep your eye out for that too. You can stay informed on that and support the show by giving as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Links:

Ethnic and Racial Studies Journal (the issue we discuss will be released in October)

Fractured Militancy: Precarious Resistance in South Africa After Racial Inclusion

Delivery as Dispossession: Land Occupation and Eviction in the Postapartheid City

Spectre

South African History Online

In this conversation we talk to Ivan Stoiljkovic. 

Ivan is the General Secretary of Katarokwi Union of Tenants, the Kingston Peace Council and a member of the Communist Party of Canada.

This conversation is a part of a newer series of conversations where we talk to people about texts that they find politically useful and important. It’s a different approach that moves beyond a typical author talk - which we will continue to do - to engage theory and history with people who are seeking to put theory into practice, or organize with others to deal with the concrete situation they face. Our first episode that came from this idea was last month our discussion with Thandisizwe Chimurenga and Yusef “Bunchy” Shakur on the political writings of Sanyika Shakur. 

In this discussion we are talking about E.P. Thompson’s essay “Time, Work Discipline and Industrial Capitalism” 

In that discussion we discuss the imposition of time and time discipline that came with the onset of industrial capitalism. We talk a bit about the various ways that workers resisted the imposition of this sense of time, and then began to fight over time itself. Ultimately however, the fight is to abolish time, which can only be achieved through the abolition of capitalism. 

Prior to that discussion, we start with a little bit of Ivan’s personal and political history, including his childhood in socialist Yugoslavia, and then delve into a discussion of multiple aspects of Thompson’s essay. 

If you appreciate the work that we do, for August we have an ambitious goal of adding 50 patrons to the show. You can help us meet this goal by either increasing your pledge or pledging as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. This is just our second episode of August, but we plan to feature at least four more discussions this month. 

Links:

Ivan Stoiljkovic's Twitter

Ivan's FB Page

Katarokwi Union of Tenants FB page and website

The Yugoslavian leftist group called ‘Crvena Dijaspora’ which he describes in the discussion

E.P. Thompson’s essay “Time, Work Discipline and Industrial Capitalism” 

In this episode we welcome an organizer who goes by Grandma to talk about the campaign to Stop Camp Grayling.

Encompassing roughly 150,000 acres of land, Camp Grayling is already the largest National Guard training facility in the United States. For about a year now there has been a concerted effort to expand it to an even larger area. In this conversation we talk to Grandma about the campaign to fight its expansion, about the environmental impacts of the current facility and the further devastation that could be generated by its expansion. We also talk about the relationship between the National Guard and settler colonialism, imperialism, and the fascistic management of human populations impacted by the worst impacts of climate change. 

Of course, many around the country have also become more familiar with the national guard’s role in domestic counterinsurgency and pacification during times of social unrest such as the rebellions in 2020 in the wake of the extrajudicial killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others.

Understanding these roles of the National Guard and also Camp Grayling’s utility to the testing and development of new technologies of warfare and to the training of military and police forces domestically and internationally, Grandma also situates this intended expansion within various attempts to build new “cop cities” including but not limited to the struggle in Atlanta.

We also discuss some of the actions that folks in the movement have taken, some of the repression they have faced, and some of the contradictions of local politics that create different spheres of opposition to the project than for instance the cop city project in Atlanta.

I apologize that I did not get this episode out in time for the week of action, as I recently took a short vacation from production work, but hopefully there will be more of those coming in the future. You can follow them at @GraylingCamp on the website formerly known as twitter or email them at stopcampgrayling at proton dot me.

This is our first episode of August, our goal for the month is get 50 people to either become patrons of the show or increase their pledge to the show. We’ll be looking to publish at least 6 episodes this month. So if you’ve been thinking about either increasing your pledge or becoming a patron you can do so for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism.

Links:

Follow them on X/Twitter or instagram

The Base Among the Jack Pine: notes on the Camp Grayling Expansion on Anishnabewaki (zine we discuss in the podcast)

In this episode we discuss the brand new authorized English translation of Domenico Losurdo’s Stalin: History and Critique of a Black Legend, pre-orders are now being fulfilled, from Iskra Books. 

Joining us for this conversation are the translators of the text Henry Hakamäki and Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro. 

Henry Hakamäki is best known as the co-host of the Guerrilla History podcast. And of course among many other things, he is also the co-translator and editor of the book we will be discussing today. You can follow him on Twitter at @huck1995.

Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro is Professor at the Geography Department of SUNY New Paltz and is chief editor for the journal Capitalism Nature Socialism.  His book Socialist States and the Environment is available from Pluto Press. 

We talk to the two translators about why this book has taken so long to receive an authorized translation into English. How Henry and Salvatore got involved in the project. We also talk about how the book helps us deconstruct and reorient ideas and understandings about Stalin’s legacy and in doing so hopefully helps to pave the way for better understandings of the larger social processes during a critical era of Soviet History as well. 

We talk about how Losurdo addresses the false equivalence often made between Stalin and Hitler. Which also sets up a false equivalency between fascism and communism. Our guests discuss problem of comparing abstract universalist ideals with concrete attempts to build socialism. How Losurdo deals with and situates the purges and terror with regards to Stalin’s legacy as well as contradictory charges that Stalin was both bumbling and incompetent and an absolute dictator that made every decision of any importance across the whole of the USSR. We close with some discussion of Stalin on the national question and his stance on language in the early USSR.

The book is available now for pre-order and we will include a link in the show notes where folks can purchase the book. The free pdf should be available through the Iskra Books website by August 9th.

We also just want to send a shout-out to Guerrilla History the podcast which Henry is a regular co-host. They have another episode on the book that is out that goes in more detail over some of the aspects of the book that we do not touch on as much so check that out and while you’re there subscribe and check out their other content and support their work if you appreciate what they do.

And lastly this is our fifth episode of the month of July. We did hit our goal for new patrons for the month, so thanks to everyone who contributed to that. And if you have been thinking about becoming a patron of the show we can always use your support to sustain what we do here. You can become a patron of the show for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism

Links:

Purchase the book (paperback)

Purchase the book (hardback)

Free PDF will be available here in the coming days

Guerrilla History episode on the book