“The best way to respond to fear and intimidation tactics is to just show we're not afraid. We're going to keep showing up. We're going to keep speaking out,” says musician Jocelyn Walsh, who is facing federal charges for protesting ICE activity in Chicagoland. In this episode of “Movement Memos,” Walsh and Chicago organizers Gabe Gonzalez and Rey Wences talk with host Kelly Hayes about what activists have learned from months of raids, repression, and escalating authoritarian violence. Music: So...
Dec 11, 2025•1 hr 28 min
“We’re very aware that things are awful … That means that we’re alive, and that we want something different. That’s a really important starting point, is just to even have that kind of repulsion and to have that awful feeling about things,” says Tamara Nopper. “So, I want more of that energy, but I want more of that energy to be connected to some more skills.” In this episode, Tamara and Kelly discuss the urgency of political education in our current fascist climate, what people are learning in ...
Nov 27, 2025•1 hr 10 min
What happens when our movements start to run on empty? In this episode, Kelly talks with organizer and WildSeed Society strategist Aaron Goggans about trauma, dysregulation, burnout, and the myth that we can just push through. They discuss why nervous system regulation is a crucial part of political strategy, how neurodivergent organizers hold essential wisdom for this moment, and why rest, ritual, and mutual care must be built into our fight against fascism. Whether you’re feeling frozen, overw...
Nov 13, 2025•1 hr 8 min
“It's all hands on deck and we have to fight. This is the only way,” says Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. In this episode, Leanne and Kelly discuss lessons from Leanne’s book Theory of Water: Nishnaabe Maps to the Times Ahead and the ongoing struggle against ICE in Chicago, where Kelly is involved in rapid response efforts. Music: Son Monarcas and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: truthout.org/series/movement-memos/ If you woul...
Oct 30, 2025•1 hr 14 min
“We can only be brave together,” says Mariame Kaba. In this episode, Kelly talks with Maraime and writer and organizer Red Schulte about political education, collective courage, and the mistakes we’ll make along the way. Music: Son Monarcas & Sarah, the Illstrumentalist You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: truthout.org/series/movement-memos/ If you would like to support the show, you can donate here: bit.ly/TODonate If you would like to receive Trutho...
Oct 16, 2025•1 hr 19 min
"You're either on the side that is singing and showing up and holding other people, or you're on the side of the helicopters and the gas canisters and the guns,” says Eman Abdelhadi. In this episode, Eman, Maya Schenwar, and Kelly discuss immigration raids and the violent repression of protesters in Chicago, the administration’s war on free speech and the organized left, and lessons from the upcoming book, Read This When Things Fall Apart: Letters to Activists in Crisis . You can find a transcri...
Oct 02, 2025•1 hr 11 min
“History shows us that repression always breeds resistance. Fear can never kill solidarity," says Chicago organizer Miguel Alvelo Rivera. In this episode, Kelly uplifts the voices of activists and organizers across Chicago as the Trump administration's "Operation Midway Blitz" terrorizes communities across the Chicagoland area. Benji Hart, Stacy Davis Gates, Arti Walker-Peddakotla, Ric Wilson, and others discuss Trump's threats to send in the National Guard, ongoing ICE raids, and the solidarity...
Sep 18, 2025•1 hr 6 min
“There's no rule of law that's going to get us out of where we are,” says author and organizer Andrea Ritchie. In this episode, Andrea and Kelly discuss the role of criminalization in authoritarian and fascist regimes, and why “we need more outlaws” and less fetishization of “law and order.” You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: truthout.org/series/movement-memos/ If you would like to support the show, you can donate here: bit.ly/TODonate If you would like...
Sep 04, 2025•1 hr 8 min
What does gentrification have to do with authoritarianism? In this episode, Kelly talks with organizer and author Andrew Lee about how displacement, surveillance, and “quality of life” policing function as tools of social control—and why housing struggles are class struggles. “Anti-displacement fights are interesting,” Lee says, “because of the revolutionary implications of what’s really an incredibly modest demand.” You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: t...
Aug 21, 2025•1 hr 1 min
“The People's Movement Assembly process provides a unique opportunity for people to build a democracy that has yet to be born,” says Denzel Caldwell. In this episode, Kelly and Denzel discuss the power and potential of People’s Movement Assemblies, and how the practice of direct democracy can help us fight fascism. Music: Son Monarcas and David Celeste You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: truthout.org/series/movement-memos/ If you would like to support th...
Aug 07, 2025•1 hr
“They understand that what they're doing is devastating, and they're doing it anyway,” says Astra Taylor. In this episode, Astra and Kelly unpack the apocalyptic politics of the right—and why we need “a movement that is attuned to the fact that the people we're up against are traitors to this planet, and its people, and the other species who we share the earth with.” Music: Son Monarcas, Isobel O’Connor & David Celeste You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) h...
Jun 26, 2025•1 hr 9 min
“Fascism and authoritarianism are deployed through law enforcement,” says Silky Shah. In this episode, Silky and Kelly discuss immigration raids, rising authoritarianism, mass protest, innocence narratives, and what it means to organize effectively in this moment. Music: Son Monarcas & David Celeste You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: truthout.org/series/movement-memos/ If you would like to support the show, you can donate here: bit.ly/TODonate If yo...
Jun 12, 2025•1 hr 1 min
“Making durable changes isn't always about the raw numbers,” says Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò. In this episode, Olúfẹ́mi and Kelly talk about protest, why large “awareness raising” events will not defeat Trump, and the kind of actions and formations we need in these times. You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: truthout.org/series/movement-memos/ If you would like to support the show, you can donate here: bit.ly/TODonate If you would like to receive Truthout's newsle...
May 29, 2025•1 hr 11 min
“Part of my work as a community safety and security practitioner is about offering tools for people to feel and move through fear so that we can continue to keep more of us in this fight,” says Che Johnson-Long. In this episode, Che and Kelly discuss safety planning and practical actions that individuals and organizations can take right now to create as much safety as possible in our lives and our movements. You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: truthout.o...
May 15, 2025•1 hr 4 min
"We need to think deeply about cultivating that mindset of collective survival, of needing to understand each other and work together, even if we don’t like each other, and would never actually choose each other, because this is the 'us' we’ve got in an us versus them situation," says Kelly Hayes. In this episode, Kelly and guest Shane Burley discuss the realities of organizing under a federal government that’s been captured by the far right. Music: Son Monarcas and David Celeste You can find a ...
May 01, 2025•1 hr 13 min
“We're not just contending with right-wing movements. We're talking about movements that have reached one of their goals, which is to take over the government,” says organizer and grassroots strategist Ejeris Dixon. In this episode, Ejeris and Kelly discuss fascism, coalition building, and the compassion and shared knowledge we need to create safety and justice in these times.
Apr 17, 2025•1 hr 9 min
“Our movements are pretty much just made of our relationships — whether we can move together, coordinate, collaborate, figure out disagreements [and] stay loyal to each other when the repression comes down,” says Dean Spade. In this episode Dean and Kelly discuss the lessons of Dean's new book, Love in a F*cked-Up World: How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell Together . Music: Son Monarcas, Pulsed & David Celeste You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resou...
Apr 03, 2025•57 min
“We need each other, and interdependence is key to survival for human beings,” says Mariame organizer Kaba. In this episode, Mariame and Kelly talk about what their book Let This Radicalize You brings to this moment. They also discuss the fight for reproductive justice, the problem with schadenfreude, and the need to build collective courage. Music: Son Monarcas and Pulsed You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: truthout.org/series/movement-memos/ If you wou...
Mar 20, 2025•1 hr 13 min
“ This kind of repression, part of its intention is to isolate people,” says organizer Nikki Marín Baena. In this episode, Kelly talks with Nikki about community defense organizing and how communities are fighting back against Trump’s mass deportation agenda. Music: Son Monarcas and Heath Cantu You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: truthout.org/series/movement-memos/ If you would like to support the show, you can donate here: bit.ly/TODonate If you would l...
Mar 06, 2025•50 min•Season 8Ep. 3
“We are really good at finding what's wrong with each other,” says author and podcaster Margaret Killjoy. “We really need to challenge ourselves to be ready to let people be better.” In this episode, Kelly and Margaret talk about preparedness, collective survival, and the organizing lessons we need in these times. Music: Son Monarcas, Curved Mirror, Pulsed, and David Celeste You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: truthout.org/series/movement-memos/ If you w...
Feb 20, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Season 8Ep. 2
“ Our power comes from knowing who's around us, from trusting who's around us, and from strategizing with every lever that we have,” says tenant organizer and Abolish Rent co-author Tracy Rosenthal. In this episode, Rosenthal and their co-author Leonardo Vilchi talk with Kelly about what rent strikes and tenant unions can teach us about the work of collective survival in this moment. Music: Son Monarcas, Isobel O'Connor, and David Celeste You can find a transcript and show notes (including links...
Feb 06, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 8Ep. 1
“It’s inherently a racial justice and economic justice fight,” says Silky Shah, executive director of Detention Watch Network. In this episode, Kelly talks with Silky about the threats posed by the incoming Trump administration, how organizers are preparing to defend immigrant communities, and what actions we can take to prepare and respond. Music: Son Monarcas, Curved Mirror & David Celeste You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: truthout.org/series/mov...
Dec 05, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 7Ep. 16
“Our enemies are waging a war, and to many of them, it’s a holy war,” says host Kelly Hayes. In this episode, Hayes and guest Talia Lavin discuss the emotional impacts of the presidential election, the expansive agenda of the Christian right, and how everyday people can resist what Lavin calls “our nation's precipitous slide into autocracy.” Music: Son Monarcas, David Celeste & Heath Cantu You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: truthout.org/series/movem...
Nov 21, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Season 7Ep. 15
“We really have a big opportunity right now to decide, within traumatic conditions and circumstances, how we are going to show up, again and again, for ourselves and each other,” says Tanuja Jageranauth. In this episode of “Movement Memos,” host Kelly Hayes talks with radical therapist Dorian Ortega and Healing Justice practitioners Tanuja Jagernauth and Chiara Galimberti about trauma, and some of the tools and practices that can help us heal. Music: Son Monarcas, David Celeste & Peter Sandb...
Nov 06, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Season 7Ep. 14
“ The capitalist system also doesn't care if we die. So insisting on the value of human life, insisting on grieving, particularly grieving publicly and collectively, is a real statement against this entire death-making system,” says author Sarah Jaffe. In this episode, Kelly talks with Sarah about the lessons of Sarah’s latest book, From the Ashes: Grief and Revolution in a World on Fire . Music: Son Monarcas, David Celeste & Peter Sandberg You can find a transcript and show notes (including...
Oct 24, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 7Ep. 13
“I've seen a lot of people lashing out at people horizontally, and my gut sense is that sometimes it happens because the folks who are lashing out are definitely super traumatized, in crisis, feel and are really powerless in a lot of ways,” says Disability Justice organizer Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. In this episode, Kelly talks with Leah and Elliott Fukui, who develops community safety strategies for emotional wellness and safety, about why people are struggling right now, what’s keeping...
Oct 10, 2024•1 hr 28 min•Season 7Ep. 12
“This war is not a civil war, it's a counter-revolutionary war against civilians. It's a war of military elites against the entire civilian population,” says Sudanese organizer Nisrin Elamin. Sudan is currently experiencing the largest mass displacement event in the world today. Thousands are dead and famine is “almost everywhere” in the country. In this episode of “Movement Memos,” Elamin, organizer Yusra Khogali, and host Kelly Hayes discuss the historical and political roots of the violence, ...
Sep 26, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 7Ep. 11
“This is a moment that is going to be looked back on 50 years from now, 100 years from now, and what is going to be said of us is how we came out of this moment,” says M4BL organizer M Adams. In this episode, Kelly talks with Adams and community organizer Montague Simmons about the last decade of Black-led organizing, the state of movements against police violence, and where prison and police abolitionists should go from here. Music: Son Monarcas, HATAMITSUNAMI, and Guustavv You can find a trans...
Sep 12, 2024•1 hr•Season 7Ep. 10
“The immediacy of the crisis that we're in demands a new society and not in some imagined future, but now,” says Rehearsals for Living co-author Robyn Maynard. In this episode, Kelly talks with Maynard and David K. Seitz, author of A Different Trek: Radical Geographies of Deep Space Nine , about the radical legacy of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and how science fiction can shape our politics. Music: Son Monarcas, Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen & Howard Harper-Barnes You can find a transcript and ...
Aug 29, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 7Ep. 9
“We don't have a housing system, we have an unhousing system,” says author and organizer Tracy Rosenthal. In this episode, Kelly and Tracy examine the impacts of the Supreme Court’s recent decision allowing municipalities to criminalize the act of sleeping outside. Tracy and Kelly also examine the larger terrain of criminalization unhoused people face, why cities are working to expel unhoused populations, and how communities can defend their unhoused neighbors. Music: Son Monarcas, Pulsed & ...
Aug 15, 2024•53 min•Season 7Ep. 8
