For this episode Orisanmi Burton returns to the podcast. This episode is about Dr. Burton’s latest article which was released today on Truthout. This new piece is called, “ New Docs Link CIA to Medical Torture of Indigenous Children and Black Prisoners .” In our conversation we will talk about the connections between the Central Intelligence Agency’s MKULTRA program, former Governor Normal Rockefeller, the Rockefeller Foundation, McGill University, the Allan Memorial Institute and experiments th...
Jun 22, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 215
In this episode Josh caught up with organizers from the National Network on Cuba, Shaquille Fontenot and Tee Maloney. We will provide full bios of each guest in the show notes, but will share some highlights here. Shaquille Fontenot (she/they) is an anti-imperialist, cultural worker. Shaquille currently serves as Chief Strategy Officer at Cedar Wolf Media Group, and is co-founder of the Lowcountry Action Committee (LAC), a Black-led grassroots organization dedicated to Black liberation through s...
Jun 15, 2023•51 min•Season 1Ep. 214
In this episode we welcome Gabriel Rockhill to the podcast to discuss his latest piece “ The Myth of 1968 Thought and the French Intelligentsia: Historical Commodity Fetishism and Ideological Rollback ” which is out this month, in the June issue of Monthly Review. Gabriel Rockhill is the Founding Director of the Critical Theory Workshop / Atelier de Théorie Critique , Professor of Philosophy at Villanova University, and the author or editor of nine books , as well as numerous articles and essays...
Jun 10, 2023•1 hr 51 min•Season 1Ep. 213
This is part 2 of our 2 part conversation with Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba on their new book Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care . ( Part 1 is available here ). In this episode we continue our conversation with Kaba and Hayes on the idea that organizing is not match-making. They each talk about organizing across difference and dealing with some of the contradictions that can come up within struggles around shared objectives. They talk about some of the diff...
Jun 05, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 212
For this conversation we are honored to welcome Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba back to the podcast. This is part 1 of a 2 part conversation on their latest book Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care . For both of these folks, I’m going to read shorter bios today, and then link to more of their work, because for each of them I could easily spend 10 to 15 minutes just talking about their backgrounds. Kelly Hayes is a Menominee author, organizer, movement educator ...
Jun 02, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 211
In this episode we welcome Orisanmi Burton back to the podcast. For this conversation, we discuss Dr. Burton’s latest article, “ Targeting Revolutionaries: The Birth of the Carceral Warfare Project, 1970 – 1978 .” Which he describes as a supplement to his forthcoming book, Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt . This piece was recently published in the May issue of Radical History Review which is on Political Imprisonment and Confinement. In this discu...
May 29, 2023•1 hr 26 min•Season 1Ep. 210
In this episode we interview Professor Elisabeth B. Armstrong. Armstrong is a professor of the Study of Women and Gender at Smith College. She teaches courses on feminist political praxis, with a focus on transnational feminist movements seeking social, economic and environmental transformation. Her courses include Marxist feminism, Women, Money and Transnationalism, decolonial feminist archives and gendered movements about the land, food and survival. Many of her courses are community-based res...
May 26, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 209
This episode is focused on the campaign to free Sundiata Jawanza. Sundiata Jawanza is a New Afrikan, abolitionist and human rights activist currently incarcerated in the South Carolina. Today we have four guests, Audrey Bomse and Jenipher Jones both co-chairs of the Mass Incarceration Committee of the National Lawyers Guild, Darren Mack of Prison Lives Matter, and Roc, the Jailhouse Lawyers Speak Housing Program Coordinator. In this discussion J shares a bit about the Sundiata Jawanza’s freedom ...
May 21, 2023•49 min•Season 1Ep. 208
This is part 2 of our 2-part conversation with Felicia Denaud. In this part of the discussion Denaud talks about what the category of political prisoner might do politically, in thinking about movement building through a lens of movement defense in this moment. We also continue our conversation on her work on the Master-State Complex and thinking about the state capacity for violence and the private outsourcing of that "sovereign" power that comes about with the slave trade, plantation economy a...
May 15, 2023•59 min•Season 1Ep. 207
This is part one of a two part conversation with Felicia Denaud. Felicia Denaud is a writer, poet, and professor of Africana Studies at the University of Cincinnati. She writes, in the words of Sylvia Wynter, toward the end of empire, war, and accumulation by elimination. She’s listens, in the words of Dhoruba bin Wahad for “ the last of the loud .” In this part of the discussion we get into Denaud’s work around two key and very interesting concepts within her work. One she describes as the “Unn...
May 13, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 206
In this episode we interview Dr. Kris Manjapra. Kris Manjapra works at the intersection of transnational history and the critical study of race and colonialism. He is the author of five books, in this episode we discuss his comparative study of global emancipation processes and the implications for reparations movement today: Black Ghost of Empire: The Long Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation . In addition to his scholarly work, he is the founder of a site-based nonprofit, Black His...
May 10, 2023•1 hr 27 min•Season 1Ep. 205
In this episode we interview Matyos Kidane and Shakeer Rahman two organizers with the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition , a community organization founded in 2011, working to build community power toward abolishing police surveillance. They are rooted in the Skid Row neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles, based out of the Los Angeles Community Action Network. Recently the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition has been thrust into the spotlight due to backlash against their creation of the website watchthewatchers....
May 03, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 204
In this episode we welcome Damien Sojoyner to the podcast. Damien M. Sojoyner is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of First Strike: Prison and Educational Enclosures in Black Los Angeles and Joy and Pain: A Story of Black Life and Liberation in Five Albums . For this episode we invite Dr. Sojoyner to the podcast to discuss his latest work Against the Carceral Archive: The Art of Black Liberatory Practice which offer...
Apr 29, 2023•1 hr 37 min•Season 1Ep. 203
In this conversation we welcome Dr. Nazia Kazi to the podcast. Dr. Nazia Kazi is an anthropologist and educator based in Philadelphia. Her work explores the role of Islamophobia and racism in the context of global politics. She is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Stockton University in New Jersey, where she teaches courses on race, ethnicity, immigration, and Islam in the U.S. She is the author of Islamophobia, Race, and Global Politics . Kazi is also a faculty affiliate of the Rutgers Cen...
Apr 24, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 202
In this conversation we welcome home Safear Ness. Safear is a formerly incarcerated organizer, a founder of In The Mix Prisoner Podcast, a writer, and a Revolutionary Abolitionist. In this conversation we discuss Safear’s recent piece “ Phone Resistance ” from the Study & Struggle blog. We also talk about a zine he adapted from Dan Berger and Toussaint Losier’s book Rethinking the American Prison Movement entitled Revolution: The Prison Rebellion Years, 1968-1972 (artwork by Paul Lacombe). W...
Apr 20, 2023•2 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 201
For this discussion we welcome Manolo de los Santos to discuss the book Our Own Path to Socialism: Selected Speeches of Hugo Chávez . Manolo de los Santos is the co-executive director of the People’s Forum and is a researcher at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He co-edited, most recently, Viviremos: Venezuela vs Hybrid War and Comrade of the Revolution: Selected Speeches of Fidel Castro . He is a co-coordinator of the People’s Summit for Democracy. Our Own Path to Socialism: Selec...
Apr 14, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 200
This is the second episode in our two part discussion on Socialist Yugoslavia with our guests Gal Kirn and Dubravka Sekulić. Gal Kirn is Assistant Professor of Sociology of Culture at the University of Ljubljana. Kirn's research has focused on the theme of transition in (post)socialist context, in particular in the fields of art, politics and memory in the period of national liberation struggle and the socialist Yugoslavia. He published two monographs Partisan Ruptures (Pluto Press, 2019) and Th...
Apr 09, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 199
This is part 1 of a 2 episode discussion on Socialist Yugoslavia, the legacy of the Yugoslav Partisan struggle, and on how we think about and understand transition with relation to Yugoslavia and post-Yugoslav context. For this discussion we are thrilled to welcome Gal Kirn and Dubravka Sekulić to the podcast. Gal Kirn is Assistant Professor of Sociology of Culture at the University of Ljubljana. Kirn's research has focused on the theme of transition in (post)socialist context, in particular in ...
Apr 07, 2023•1 hr 43 min•Season 1Ep. 198
In this episode we interview Brooke Terpstra and James Carlin, members of Oakland Abolition and Solidarity. Oakland Abolition and Solidarity supports prisoners’ efforts to organize for their own self-defense against inhumane treatment. They function as a liaison, building bridges between inside and outside to support prisoners organizing their local chapters. They advocate the abolition of incarceration, white supremacy, and capitalism. We speak with Brooke and Carlin about a recent announcement...
Mar 28, 2023•1 hr 42 min•Season 1Ep. 197
This episode is about the Campaign to Free the Pendleton 2. In this discussion Too Black from the Defense Committee to Free the Pendleton 2 and from Black Myths Podcast returns to MAKC. He is joined by Rodney “Big R” Jones and TheKingTrill. Big R, who was incarcerated in Indiana State Penitentiary in 1985 along with the Pendleton 2 talks about the events that led to the egregious political repression of John "Balagoon" Cole and Christopher "Naeem" Trotter. Each of our guests share details of the...
Mar 22, 2023•1 hr 48 min•Season 1Ep. 196
In this episode we have a roundtable discussion grounded around the book The Mohawk Warrior Society: A Handbook on Sovereignty and Survival . For this discussion we have all four of the editors of this book, Philippe Blouin, Matt Peterson, Malek Rasamny and Kahentinetha Rotsikarewake. In addition Karennatha and Kawenaa, two other members of Kanien'keha:ka Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) joined the conversation. The book we discuss does a lot of things. It presents the works of Louis Karoniaktajeh...
Mar 17, 2023•1 hr 55 min•Season 1Ep. 195
In this episode Dylan Rodríguez returns to the podcast. Dylan Rodríguez is a teacher, scholar, organizer and collaborator who has maintained a day job as a Professor at the University of California-Riverside since 2001. His lifework focuses on liberationist, anticolonial, and abolitionist confrontations with the antiblack, colonial, and white supremacist violences that permeate the ongoing Civilization project. He was elected to serve as President of the American Studies Association in 2020-2021...
Mar 10, 2023•1 hr 56 min•Season 1Ep. 194
In this episode we are thrilled to welcome Dr. Gerald Horne to the podcast. Dr. Horne holds the Moores Professorship of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. His research has addressed issues of racism in a variety of relations involving labor, politics, civil rights, international relations and war. He has also written extensively about the film industry. Dr. Horne received his Ph.D. in history from Columbia University and his J.D. from the University of California,...
Feb 26, 2023•58 min•Season 1Ep. 193
In this conversation we interview Alejandro Villalpando. Alejandro Villalpando is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pan-African Studies and the Latin American Studies Program at Cal State LA. He earned his Ph.D. in Critical Ethnic Studies from UC Riverside, and an M.A. from Latin American Studies at Cal State LA. His work lies at the intersection of Black, Central American, and Ethnic Studies. His co-authored chapter entitled "The Racialization of Central Americans in the United States...
Feb 23, 2023•2 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 192
In this episode, Joy James returns to the podcast and is joined by K. Kim Holder. Holder was a member of the Harlem Chapter of the Black Panther Party and his dissertation The Black Panther Party 1966-1972: a curriculum tool for Afrikan-American studies was the second dissertation written by a veteran of the Black Panther Party. It is credited with helping to usher in a new wave of academic interest in the party. He also contributed some reflections to Kuwasi Balagoon’s A Soldier’s Story Revolut...
Feb 16, 2023•1 hr 46 min•Season 1Ep. 191
This is the 4th and final installment in our series of conversations with Zoharah Simmons, Michael Simmons, and their biographer Dan Berger. The conversations are inspired by Dan’s new book Stayed on Freedom: The Long History of Black Power Through One Family’s Journey , which covers the lives and struggles of Zoharah and Michael in SNCC and in a variety of organizations thereafter. In this part of the discussion, we talk about the book as a love story. Not primarily of romantic love, but of the...
Feb 10, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 190
This is the third installment of our conversation with Zoharah and Michael Simmons, and their biographer Dan Berger, as we discuss their lives in relation to Dan’s new book Stayed on Freedom: The Long History of Black Power Through One Family’s Journey . We discuss Michael and Zoharah’s organizing against the Vietnam War, especially the issue of draft resistance. Along those lines, we talk a bit about Michael’s time locked up as a pre-trial detainee at the Atlanta Prison Farm, during the period ...
Feb 05, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 189
This is the second episode in our series on Dan Berger’s new book Stayed on Freedom: The Long History of Black Power Through One Family’s Journey . We welcome back Dan Berger, and Michael and Zoharah Simmons for this discussion. Make sure you check out part one if you missed it. In part 1 Zoharah and Michael Simmons share stories from their childhoods and their early politicization, as well as their first experiences organizing with SNCC in Mississippi and Arkansas. That conversation will enrich...
Feb 01, 2023•1 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 188
This conversation is centered on Dan Berger’s new book Stayed on Freedom: The Long History of Black Power Through One Family’s Journey . Stayed On Freedom brings into focus two unheralded Black Power activists who dedicated their lives to the fight for freedom. Zoharah Simmons and Michael Simmons fell in love while organizing tenants and workers in the South for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee or SNCC at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. Their commitment to each other and to...
Jan 25, 2023•1 hr 41 min•Season 1Ep. 187
This is the second half of our conversation with Joshua Myers on his latest book Of Black Study . In part one we covered Myers’ goals for the project and the selection of thinkers he includes. We also reviewed in some detail his chapters on W.E.B. Du Bois and Sylvia Wynter, as well as his inclusion of June Jordan and Toni Cade Bambara. In this part of the discussion we focus on the interventions of Jacob Carruthers and Cedric Robinson, who Myers often places in dialogue with one another. We talk...
Jan 18, 2023•1 hr 25 min•Season 1Ep. 186
