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Movement Memos

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An ongoing call to action for movement work and mutual aid efforts around the country. Kelly Hayes connects with activists, journalists and others on the front lines to break down what’s happening in various struggles and what listeners can do to help.

Episodes

“Palestine Is About Living in Spite of Everything”

“Belonging isn't about a claim of ownership, it's actually about this notion of love and longing. And so I've come to say, I don't claim that Palestine belongs to me. I just know that I belong to Palestine,” says Palestinian author Rana Barakat. In this episode, Rana and host Kelly talk about Palestinian history, Indigenous solidarity, how colonial violence disrupts ancestral and familial relationships, and what resisting that disruption can look like. Music: Son Monarcas, David Celeste, Raymond...

Dec 07, 202355 minSeason 6Ep. 11

Native Organizers Celebrate Solidarity, Grieve Losses and Work to Reduce Harm

“We're connected to each other and these liberation fights across the globe,” says Indigenous Justice organizer Ashley Crystal Rojas. In this episode of Movement Memos, Rojas and Morning Star Gali talk with host Kelly Hayes about Native solidarity with Palestine, how Native communities have reclaimed the “Thanksgiving” holiday, tools for harm reduction, and how Native organizers are supporting Indigenous victims of violence and their families during the holiday season. Music: Son Monarcas You ca...

Nov 23, 202350 minSeason 6Ep. 10

Vigil for Palestine: We Mourn and Consider What Solidarity Demands of Us

“During a genocide, there is no silent vigil. There are no pauses without action,” says organizer Nadine Naber. In this episode, Naber, Iman Abid, Mike Merryman-Lotze, Leanne Simpson, Shane Burley, Brant Rosen, and others join Kelly to hold vigil for Palestine, and to talk about what solidarity demands of us in this moment. Music: Son Monarcas and David Celeste You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: bit.ly/movementmemos If you would like to support the show...

Nov 07, 20231 hr 1 minSeason 6Ep. 9

Practicing New Worlds in a Time of Collapse

“Our survival is at stake, and so, let's think about all the best things that can help us better understand how we can ensure the collective survival of as many of us as possible,” says author and organizer Andrea Ritchie. In this episode, Kelly and Andrea discuss organizing, solidarity with Palestine, and why activists cannot defer the work of practicing new worlds. Music: Son Monarcas and David Celeste You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: bit.ly/movemen...

Oct 26, 20231 hr 11 minSeason 6Ep. 8

Israel's Tools of Occupation Are Tested on Palestine and Exported Globally

“The danger now is not just in Palestine for Palestinians. It's gone well beyond that now. It's exported, the idea that you can export occupation, you can export the tools of occupation, the tools of apartheid. That is where we currently are in the early 2020s,” says The Palestine Laboratory author Antony Loewenstein. In this episode, Kelly talks with Loewenstein about how Israel has used Palestine as a laboratory for surveillance and war-making technologies. Loewenstein argues that Israel is al...

Oct 12, 20231 hr 3 minSeason 6Ep. 7

To Fight Big Tech, We Must Seize the Means of Computation

“If you've never tried to organize a movement without the internet, I'm here to tell you, it's really hard. We need to seize the means of computation, because while the internet isn't the most important thing that we have to worry about right now, all the things that are more important, gender and racial justice, inequality, the climate emergency, those are struggles that we're going to win or lose by organizing on the internet,” says author and activist Cory Doctorow. In this episode, Kelly tal...

Sep 28, 20231 hr 4 minSeason 6Ep. 6

We Can Survive Together By Becoming Kin

“I want the land to know me, to claim me. I want to feel at home in it in a way that's reciprocal … When we talk about land back, we're not talking about laying claim to land the way that the U.S. might say, or the way that other countries might say, of claiming ownership, it's claiming relationship, and it's claiming a relationship that's reciprocal,” says Becoming Kin author Patty Krawec. In this episode of Movement Memos, Krawec and host Kelly Hayes discuss decolonization, and how activists a...

Sep 14, 20231 hr 10 minSeason 6Ep. 5

Our Movements Need Infrastructure for Care, Recovery and Belonging

“What are the ways we could organize people into new social forms in which new human, more humane, more liberatory capacities would emerge that we could use for our own liberation?” asks Aaron Goggans of the WildSeed Society. In this episode of “Movement Memos,” Goggans and host Kelly Hayes talk about how activists can resist the trends of late capitalism, including the alienation imposed by the tech world, by cultivating modes of communication and communal care that defy the norms of our indivi...

Aug 31, 20231 hr 8 minSeason 6Ep. 4

Rocket-Launching Billionaires Promise a New Pie in the Sky

“What we're getting from both Musk and Bezos is this classically new age-y religious drama of disaster and salvation. They preach, they tell us that the end is near, the disaster is coming, that the world is going to end, but there is another world that everybody can build together, a new world and a place that they've never seen and a place that seems totally impossible,” says professor Mary-Jane Rubenstein, author of Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race. In this episo...

Aug 17, 20231 hrSeason 6Ep. 3

AI Won’t Overthrow Us, But It Will Optimize the Capitalist Death Machine

“How are these tools going to be used to increase the power of employers and of management once again, and to be used against workers,” asks Paris Marx. In this episode, Paris and Kelly break down the hype and potential of artificial intelligence, and what we should really be worried about. You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: bit.ly/movementmemos If you would like to support the show, you can donate here: bit.ly/TODonate If you would like to receive Trut...

Aug 03, 20231 hr 2 minSeason 6Ep. 2

Bizarre and Dangerous Utopian Ideology Has Quietly Taken Hold of Tech World

“It's really important for people to understand what this bundle of ideologies is, because it's become so hugely influential, and is shaping our world right now, and will continue to shape it for the foreseeable future,” says philosopher and historian Émile P. Torres. In this episode, Kelly and Émile discuss what activists should know about longtermism and TESCREAL. You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: bit.ly/movementmemos If you would like to support the...

Jul 20, 20231 hr 19 minSeason 6Ep. 1

Cop City is Only the Beginning, Unless We Fight

“This is a global struggle against fascism, it's a global struggle against the militarization of the police and state violence against folks whose dissent is being oppressed,” says Jasmine, an organizer in Atlanta. In this episode, Kelly talks with authors Alex Vitale and Stuart Schrader about the frightening trajectory of policing in the United States. Kelly also talks with Chicago activist Benji Hart, and Jasmine, an organizer in Atlanta who is engaged in the struggle to Stop Cop City. You can...

Jun 01, 20231 hr 6 minSeason 5Ep. 21

Palestinian Organizers: We Honor Our Grief by Practicing Hope

“Whenever there is grief, there is unity, and in unity, there is strength, and we feel it.,” says Jalal Abukhater. In this episode of Movement Memos, host Kelly Hayes talks with Abukhater, a Palestinian writer living in Jerusalem, and Palestinian activists Jeanine Hourani and Lea Kayali, about the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, resistance in the face of Israeli aggression, and how hope sustains their work. You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: bit.ly/movem...

May 18, 202358 minSeason 5Ep. 20

To Transform Conflict in Movements, We Must Learn How to Stay in It Together

“It's never too late to pause and reevaluate the purpose, the structure, or the norms that you're operating with as a group of people trying to make a change in the world or get something done together,” says Aarati Kasturirangan. In this episode, Kelly talks with facilitators Aarati Kasturirangan and Rebecca Subar about how organizers can transform conflict in movement spaces. You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: bit.ly/movementmemos If you would like to...

May 05, 20231 hr 12 minSeason 5Ep. 19

Let This Conversation With Mariame Kaba Radicalize You

“Hope for me is in the doing of things,” says Mariame Kaba. In this episode of Movement Memos, host Kelly Hayes talks with Mariame Kaba about their upcoming book, Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care. You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: bit.ly/movementmemos If you would like to support the show, you can donate here: bit.ly/TODonate If you would like to receive Truthout's newsletter, please sign up: bit.ly/TOnewsletter...

Apr 20, 20231 hr 3 minSeason 5Ep. 18

Latin American Feminism Has Much to Teach US Left on How to Fight for Abortion

In this episode of Movement Memos, Kelly talks with Camila Valle, translator of Set Fear on Fire: The Feminist Call That Set the Americas Ablaze by LASTESIS. Kelly and Camila discuss the struggle for abortion rights and access in Chile and Argentina, the need for democratic structures in movement wor, and how LASTESIS has used art and performance to bring feminist theory to the streets. You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: bit.ly/movementmemos If you woul...

Apr 07, 20231 hrSeason 5Ep. 17

Labor History Can Help Us Learn to Fight Like Hell

In this episode of Movement Memos, host Kelly Hayes talks with Kim Kelly, labor reporter and author of Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor, about labor history and how understanding union struggles, past and present, can help us get free. You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: bit.ly/movementmemos If you would like to support the show, you can donate here: bit.ly/TODonate If you would like to receive Truthout's newsletter, please sign up: ...

Mar 23, 20231 hr 1 minSeason 5Ep. 16

We Need Collective Healing, Not Commodified “Self-Care”

In this episode, Kelly talks with Cara Page and Erica Woodland, authors of Healing Justice Lineages: Dreaming at the Crossroads of Liberation, Collective Care, and Safety about collective healing, collaborative care, and surviving the onslaughts of our oppressors. You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: bit.ly/movementmemos If you would like to support the show, you can donate here: bit.ly/TODonate If you would like to receive Truthout's newsletter, please s...

Mar 09, 20231 hr 2 minSeason 5Ep. 15

Disability Justice Organizers Dream Big and Resist a Culture of Disposability

In this episode of Movement Memos, host Kelly Hayes talks with Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, author of The Future is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes and Mourning Songs about disability justice, interdependence, rejecting human disposability in the COVID era and the practice of grief as stewardship. You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: bit.ly/movementmemos If you would like to support the show, you can donate here: bit.ly/TODonate If you would like to...

Feb 23, 20231 hrSeason 5Ep. 14

Antifascists Are Adapting to a Strange New World

In this episode of Movement Memos, host Kelly Hayes and Shane Burley, editor of No Pasarán!: Antifascist Dispatches from a World in Crisis, discuss the state of the far right, antifascism and how we can build power and sustain empathy in these times. You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: bit.ly/movementmemos If you would like to support the show, you can donate here: bit.ly/TODonate If you would like to receive Truthout's newsletter, please sign up: bit.ly...

Feb 09, 20231 hr 9 minSeason 5Ep. 13

The Death of a Forest Defender at Stop Cop City

“It's all hands on deck for the forces of the prison industrial complex, the forces of capitalism … they are willing to use any and all tactics and tools available to them, whether that's literal murder, whether that's trying to deter the broader movement by slapping people with domestic terrorism charges. As environmental catastrophe is upon us, I think the forces of capital are organizing themselves,” says Atlanta organizer Micah Herskind. In this episode of Movement Memos, Herskind and host K...

Jan 26, 20231 hr 6 minSeason 5Ep. 12

Building New Worlds in an Era of Collapse

“We know that capitalism, which is already racial, gendered and violent, is not inevitable. And there's nothing natural about it,” says Robyn Maynard. In this episode, host Kelly Hayes talks with Rehearsals for Living authors Robyn Maynard and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson about about organizing and parenting amid catastrophe, and how organizers can build new worlds, even as the worlds we know collapse around us. You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: bit.ly/...

Jan 12, 20231 hr 3 minSeason 5Ep. 11

Navigating Grief and Cultivating Hope at the End of 2022

“How do we practice deep and reciprocal relationships as resistance to our culture of transactionalism and extraction?” asks Tanuja Jagernauth. In this year-end episode of “Movement Memos,” Jagernauth and host Kelly Hayes discuss the cultivation of hope, how activists can practice reciprocal care, the importance of celebrating big and small victories, and how to process painful feelings without being consumed by them. You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: ...

Dec 16, 20221 hr 12 minSeason 5Ep. 10

We Need Harm Reduction With a Liberatory Vision

“Liberatory Harm Reduction is concrete. It is a framework, but it is also a daily practice, and it is also a set of strategies. So what strategies do we need that prioritize self-determination and body autonomy right now? And how can we come up with whatever it is that we need collectively to get us through?” asks Shira Hassan, author of Saving Our Own Lives. In this episode, Shira talks with Kelly about healing justice, the radical origins of harm reduction, and how we can save ourselves and on...

Dec 01, 20221 hr 6 minSeason 5Ep. 9

Abolition Is About Escaping the Death Trap of “Normalcy”

“There's no doubt that we have to abolish the carceral state. And there's no doubt that policing and racial capitalism go hand in hand so that we can't be pursuing abolition in a capitalist context,” says author and organizer Andrea Ritchie. In this episode, Andrea and Kelly talk about why the Democrats will not save us, the relationship between abolition and the state, and why it’s so hard for most people to imagine political transformations. You can find a transcript and show notes (including ...

Nov 17, 20221 hr 3 minSeason 5Ep. 8

Copaganda Arrests Our Imaginations

"There's so much deference to police around everything to do with public safety. What they say is taken as gospel without question, without requiring proof of concept, without requiring any kind of accountability for when what they're saying actually doesn't line up with the facts or people's experiences," says author and organizer Andrea Ritchie. In this episode of Movement Memos, Andrea and Kelly discuss Ritchie's new book, No More Police, co-authored with Mariame Kaba, and talk about how copa...

Nov 03, 20221 hr 5 minSeason 5Ep. 7

Prepping for the Apocalypse Means Building Community

“Our mutual investment in one another’s survival is our greatest resource, and our greatest hope,” says Kelly Hayes. In this episode of “Movement Memos,” Hayes talks with anthropologist and survivalist instructor Chris Begley about the lessons of his book The Next Apocalypse: The Art and Science of Survival, and why many of us might be preparing for the wrong apocalypse. You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: bit.ly/movementmemos If you would like to suppor...

Oct 20, 20221 hr 7 minSeason 5Ep. 6

Confronting the “Elite Capture” of Identity Politics in Our Movement Spaces

“We have to be politically serious about how much agreement and how much alignment we're going to require in a world of a resurging far-right fascist movement across the globe,” says philosopher and author Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò. In this episode of Movement Memos, Táíwò and Kelly Hayes discuss the lessons of Táíwò’s book, Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else). You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: bit.ly/movementmemos...

Oct 06, 20221 hr 11 minSeason 5Ep. 5

Philly Families Faced With Eviction Are Rising Up, Refusing to Leave Their Homes

“I want you to fight, I want you to organize, I want you to talk to your neighbors, I want you to have a meeting, I want you to get a spreadsheet and just the same way that we can organize a barbecue, we can all figure out what it means to actually take control of some of these housing units,” says organizer Sterling Johnson. In this episode, host Kelly Hayes talks with Johnson and UC Townhome resident Rasheda Alexander about gentrification, organized abandonment and an ongoing struggle in West ...

Sep 22, 20221 hr 9 minSeason 5Ep. 4

Fascism Has Gone Mainstream

“Forces that have been awakened are not ones that can be tucked away. And it will be a struggle, perhaps, for the rest of our lives,” says Tal Lavin, author of Culture Warlords: My Journey into the Dark Web of White Supremacy. In this episode, Lavin and host Kelly Hayes talk about how right-wingers get radicalized, liberal and left-wing complicity, and the avoidance of despair. You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: bit.ly/movementmemos If you would like to...

Sep 09, 20221 hr 7 minSeason 5Ep. 3