In this episode we discuss the role of Black liberalism in the US political landscape, particularly its relationship with the Democratic Party. And how Black liberalism often neglects the interests of the black working poor in service of the ruling class. We contemplate the influence of social media on political discourse and the Black elite’s capturing and commodification of Black cultural expressions in service of empire at the expense of the global working-poor. We touch on Black apathy towar...
Sep 05, 2024•2 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 274
In this episode we speak with Lydia Pelot-Hobbs, about her book Prison Capital: Mass Incarceration and Struggles for Abolition Democracy in Louisiana . Lydia Pelot-Hobbs is an assistant professor of Geography and African American & Africana Studies at the University of Kentucky. In addition to Prison Capital , she is the co-editor of The Jail Is Everywhere: Fighting the New Geography of Mass Incarceration (Verso Books 2024). Her research, writing, and teaching is grounded in over 15 years of...
Aug 08, 2024•2 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 273
In this episode, we speak with Roderick Ferguson about two of Josh's all-time favorite books, One-Dimensional Queer and Aberrations in Black: Toward a Queer of Color Critique . The former which problematizes single-issue politics that came to dominate, disrupt, capture, and destroy the gay liberation movement—and has continued to plague queer (anti-) politics today. And the latter which discusses the regulation of sexual difference and its role in circumscribing Black-African culture. Throughout...
Jul 25, 2024•1 hr 30 min•Season 1Ep. 272
In this episode we welcome Dani Manibat to the podcast. Dani Manibat is an organizer in the National Democratic Movement in the Philippines and this article was written for the journal Material . Recently we hosted another conversation with J. Moufawad-Paul on Settler Ideology on our YouTube channel. A little bit about Material from their website: “Material’s editorial framework is guided by a Maoist perspective, and so, this journal is a platform for contending schools of thought with non-antag...
Jul 13, 2024•2 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 271
This is part two of a two-part discussion on two of Joy James' recent books. This part of the discussion is focused on Contextualizing Angela Davis: The Agency and Identity of an Icon Part one of the conversation was on New Bones Abolition: Captive Maternal Agency and the (After)Life of Erica Garner (Common Notions). MAKC Host Josh Briond is joined by special guest hosts Akua N and Noah Tesfaye for this conversation. Joy James is the Ebenezer Fitch Professor of the Humanities at Williams College...
Jul 11, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 270
This is part one of a two-part discussion on two of Joy James' recent books. This part of the discussion is focused on New Bones Abolition: Captive Maternal Agency and the (After)Life of Erica Garner (Common Notions) as well as a recent essay How to Live (after we die): On Protest, Social Media, and queer Black death - Logos Journal by Isaiah Blake. MAKC Host Josh Briond is joined by guest hosts Akua N and Noah Tesfaye for this conversation. Joy James is the Ebenezer Fitch Professor of the Human...
Jun 30, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 269
In this episode Damien Sojoyner returns to the podcast to talk about his book First Strike: Educational Enclosures in Black Los Angeles. This episode was recorded in November and unfortunately its release was delayed due to the circumstances of the world today, which have necessitated for us a lot of media work in solidarity with Palestinian resistance, and against the genocide being enacted on Palestinians most visibly and egregiously in Gaza. I also had the chance to catch up with Damien Sojoy...
Jun 25, 2024•2 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 268
In this episode Josh was joined by special co-host Noah Tesfaye and they interviewed several organizers from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) who have been organizing solidarity encampments this spring. This interview took place about a month ago, so the events they describe are not reflections of the most current activity on their campuses, but nonetheless this conversation is a useful look into the organizing going on in student encampments across the country. We also hosted livestreams...
May 27, 2024•52 min•Season 1Ep. 267
In this episode we speak with Paul Renfro about his book Stranger Danger: Family Values, Childhood, and the American Carceral State Paul Renfro is an associate professor of history and an affiliate faculty in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program at Florida State University. In addition to Stranger Danger, He is also the coeditor of Growing Up America: Youth and Politics since 1945 , and the author of the forthcoming book The Life and Death of Ryan White: AIDS and Inequality in Amer...
May 25, 2024•1 hr 55 min•Season 1Ep. 266
In the episode members of the Kenya Organic Intellectuals Network returns to the podcast. Folks will recall that we had a conversation with them last year on their book Breaking the Silence on NGOs in Africa . This conversation started thinking about the situation in Haiti. We previously had a discussion with Dr. Jemima Pierre on the current situation and the western backed invasion of Haiti for which Kenya is sending police. But also I was interested in how the struggle in Palestine was being r...
May 19, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 265
In this episode Josh interviews Amba Guerguerian and Harry to discuss the New York War Crimes project and their efforts to get people to Boycott, Divest, and Unsubscribe from the New York Times. Amba Guerguerian is an associate editor at The Indypendent and a contributor at The New York War Crimes . Harry is a writer, educator and organizer with Writers against the War on Gaza and a contributor at The New York War Crimes . The New York War Crimes is a project dedicated to de legitimizing the imp...
Apr 20, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 264
In this episode Abdaljawad (Abboud) Omar returns to the show. This is the lightly edited audio from a livestream we recorded on March 24th 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. He has written extensively in Arabic. In English Abboud has contributed to Electronic Intifada, Mondoweiss, and Ebb Magazine among other outlets. We discuss his essay " Bleeding Form...
Apr 02, 2024•1 hr 34 min•Season 1Ep. 263
In this conversation we welcome Eugene Puryear back to the podcast to talk about the recently published book The Black Belt Thesis: A Reader which was compiled by The Black Belt Thesis Study Group and features a foreword by Eugene Puryear. The reader itself was published by 1804 Books, and they have published a lot of really good stuff recently that I just want to take a moment to shout-out. They recently along with the Palestinian Youth Movement translated and published The Trinity of Fundament...
Mar 27, 2024•1 hr 31 min•Season 1Ep. 262
In this episode we interview Tammy Kovich and El Jones to discuss the book Antifascism Against Machismo Published by our good friends at Kersplebedeb, and described as “ An intergenerational dialogue on the meaning of feminist antifascism. Anti-Fascism Against Machismo collects and continues a conversation begun by Tammy Kovich (as “Petronella Lee”) in 2019. Four feminist, antifascist revolutionaries jump off from each other’s reflections and bring the particularities of their varied contexts to...
Mar 21, 2024•1 hr 49 min•Season 1Ep. 261
In this conversation we talk to Zeyad el Nabolsy about two of his recent pieces on Marxism-Leninism in the East African context. One piece is entitled, “ Lenin in East Africa: Abdul Rahman Mohamed Babu and Dani Wadada Nabudere ” from The Future of Lenin: Power, Politics, and Revolution in the Twenty-First Century and the other is “Questions from the Dar es Salaam Debates” which is in the book Revolutionary Movements in Africa: An Untold Story which was recently released from Pluto Press . Zeyad ...
Mar 11, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 260
For this episode we interview Ernest McMillan to discuss his memoir Standing: One Man's Odyssey During the Turbulent '60s which came out last summer. McMillan grew up in the highly segregated heart of Dallas, Texas. We talk to him about his childhood experiences within his segregated Black community, and his experiences organizing against white supremacy in Dallas and across the South with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). McMillan’s story is one of the power of organizing, b...
Feb 28, 2024•2 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 259
In this episode we speak to Pulitzer Prize winning composer and musician Henry Threadgill and the co-author of his autobiography Brent Hayes Edwards. The book we discuss, which was published last year is entitled Easily Slip into Another World: A Life in Music . Henry Threadgill was born in Chicago in 1944. He is one of the most significant and innovative composers of the 20th and 21st Century. In addition to being an award winning composer is an amazing saxophonist and flautist. He also is know...
Feb 12, 2024•59 min•Season 1Ep. 258
In this episode we welcome Chris Gilbert back to the podcast to discuss his new book, Commune or Nothing! Venezuela’s Communal Movement and its Socialist Project . Chris Gilbert is a professor of political studies at the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela and creator and co-host of Escuela de Cuadros, a Marxist educational television program and podcast. Gilbert is co-author with Cira Pascual Marquina of Venezuela, The Present as Struggle (Monthly Review, 2020). We’ve hosted three previous dis...
Feb 07, 2024•1 hr 45 min•Season 1Ep. 257
For this episode I’m joined by Haydar of The Resistance Report which is a podcast that was launched after October 7th by a Palestinian news organization known as the Al Falasteniyeh Media Network or AFMN. In this discussion we talk to Haydar about AFMN, their approach, their media work including The Resistance Report, and their efforts to uplift the analyses of Palestinians from Palestine to those in the diaspora. We talk a little bit about their analysis of the resistance’s position and of the ...
Feb 03, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 256
For this week’s episode we interview Leila Shomali and Lara Kilani Leila Shomali is a Palestinian PhD candidate in International Law at Maynooth University Ireland and a member of the Good Shepherd Collective. Lara Kilani is a Palestinian-American researcher, PhD student, and is also a member of the Good Shepherd Collective. We interviewed them on January 12th to talk about their recent piece “Anti-Zionism As Decolonisation” which is published in the brand new debut physical edition of Ebb Magaz...
Jan 30, 2024•1 hr 38 min•Season 1Ep. 255
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Vladimir Lenin. A couple months ago we had the pleasure of speaking with Paul Le Blanc, the author of a new book entitled Lenin: Responding to Catastrophe, Forging Revolution . Paul Le Blanc is an activist dating all the way back to Students for a Democratic Society or SDS in the 1960’s. He is also an acclaimed historian who teaches at La Roche University in Pennsylvania. He is the author of too many books to name, but several on Lenin, Trotsky, ...
Jan 21, 2024•1 hr 31 min•Season 1Ep. 254
This is the conclusion of our 2-part conversation with Michael Hardt on his recently published book The Subversive Seventies . Part 1 is here . In this conversation we talk about the turn among management and the ruling class in the 1970’s away from a politics of mediation and discuss the various ways that movements in the 1970’s sought to deal with this shift in the political terrain. We talk about the false problem of the so-called debate between non-violence and violence. We discuss various m...
Jan 20, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 253
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 pro...
Jan 14, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 252
This is a lightly edited version of a livestream we hosted back on December 13th with Steve Salaita. We’ll include a link to that livestream for folks who want to watch the conversation, which is one of my favorites we’ve hosted since we launched our Youtube Channel as a companion with this audio podcast. Steven Salaita is an educator and the author or editor of eight books. His written work includes Inter/Nationalism: Decolonizing Native America and Palestine, Uncivil Rites, Israel's Dead Soul ...
Jan 08, 2024•1 hr 47 min•Season 1Ep. 251
This is the slightly edited version of our December 5th livestream with film director, producer, screenwriter, rapper, and communist Boots Riley. He is the lead vocalist of the musical groups The Coup and Street Sweeper Social Club. He wrote and directed the film Sorry to Bother You and is the creator and director of the television series I’m A Virgo . We talked to Boots Riley about the recent labor upsurge, including the wave of strikes and increasing militancy among workers in the US. We brief...
Dec 31, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 250
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 contrac...
Dec 14, 2023•1 hr 21 min•Season 1Ep. 249
In this episode we welcome Abdaljawad Omar back to the podcast. This is another slightly edited livestream that we’ve converted to an audio podcast. You can check out the video on our YouTube channel, we’ll put that link in the show notes. And Also just to note that we’ve continued to put lots of content out there, including an interview with Boots Riley from The Coup also the director and creator of the film Sorry To Bother You and the hit series I’m A Virgo . We talked to him about labor organ...
Dec 10, 2023•2 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 248
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 recen...
Nov 29, 2023•1 hr 48 min•Season 1Ep. 247
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 ...
Nov 23, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 246
In this episode we talk to Ali Kadri. Ali Kadri is the author of Arab Development Denied: Dynamics of Accumulation by Wars of Encroachment, The Unmaking of Arab Socialism: Anthem Frontiers of Global Political Economy and Development and The Cordon Sanitaire: A Single Law Governing Development in East Asia and the Arab World Max Ajl recently recommended that everyone needs to be reading Dr. Kadri’s work in these times, and so we reached out to have a conversation with him and I’m so glad that we ...
Nov 16, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 245
