Two founders of the prison abolition movement—renowned thinkers and doers Craig and Ruth Wilson Gilmore—speak on the prison industrial complex's California roots. Also discussed: Why focusing on closing private prisons is too narrow a vision, and Gavin Newsom's campaign to put a kinder, gentler face on mass incarceration via the medicalization of imprisonment (eg. increasing conservatorship, forced rehab, and slapping the words "Rehabilitation Center" on San Quentin). Support us and find links t...
Feb 10, 2025•49 min
It started when San Jose State University's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion office sponsored a visit from CSU's premier Zionist. Sang Hea Kil describes the repression she experienced as the only faculty member who joined an encampment of Muslim students in solidarity with Palestine last year at the school. Later in the episode, G, a former worker at GLIDE Church (a San Francisco nonprofit where the head of "Social Justice" is a Zionist rabbi), speaks about explicit and implicit Zionist bias at p...
Feb 03, 2025•1 hr 15 min
A crowd of people set fire to a robotaxi last Lunar New Year in San Francisco's Chinatown. Jasmine explains how Asian American influencers and corporate media outlets used the "death" of a Waymo "self-driving" vehicle to stoke fear about anti-Asian violence. Fundraiser for Yazan in Gaza [https://chuffed.org/project/115145-yazan] Write to Casey Goonan [https://www.abcf.net/blog/update-on-casey-goonans-legal-case] LA Public Press Podcast: https://lapublicpress.org/the-tenant-association/ Episode r...
Jan 27, 2025•49 min
Churches, nonprofits and politicians have turned the anti-sex trafficking movement into a billion-dollar industry. The lives and stories of migrant sex workers get used as an excuse to hire more cops, and criminalize a form of labor that pays better than most. Chanelle and Elene, on their new book featuring the stories of migrant sex workers from across North America. Not Your Rescue Project (Haymarket Books) [https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2258-not-your-rescue-project] Butterfly: Asian an...
Jan 20, 2025•47 min
"Abolish Rent" is a new organizing bible from Leonardo Vilchis and Tracy Rosenthal, laying out the reasons why capitalism will never provide everyone with the basic human need of shelter. They discuss tactics from successful rent strikes, how California's COVID-19 eviction moratorium was both a success and failure of tenant activism, and the attempt by landlords to rebrand as "housing providers." Buy Abolish Rent [https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent] "Privatizing Public Housin...
Jan 13, 2025•55 min
Hanin, Mai and Nadina met and became friends through the Palestine solidarity movement in Tokyo a little over a year ago. We cover some of the recent successes of the movement, including Israeli defense company Elbit Systems losing contracts, and Israel being disinvited from the yearly event in Nagasaki that memorializes the day the US dropped an atomic bomb. They speak to some of the particularities of organizing against imperialism from inside Japan, and ways to sustain the organizing as the l...
Jan 06, 2025•1 hr 28 min
Mama Ganuush and Toshio bring you AIPAC Zombies: people in American culture who have been possessed by the worst Zionist brainrot. Our first episode: California politician Scott Wiener. More: "Scott Wiener's Appalling Legacy as San Francisco Supervisor" (Patrick Range McDonald, Housing is a Human Right) [ https://www.housingisahumanright.org/scott-wiener-appalling-legacy-san-francisco-supervisor/ ] "Gay Neoliberal Candidate in San Francisco Disproves Myths About LGBT Values" (Toshio, Truthout) [...
Jan 01, 2025•52 min
Join Tofu and Toshio on an end of the year, stream-of-consciousness check-in. New episode of Sad Francisco on January 3. AIPAC Zombies with Mama Ganuush premieres January 1. Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco
Dec 23, 2024•34 min
A check-in with Mama Ganuush where we hear about their recent hunger strike, their visit with family who evacuated Gaza for Egypt, and discuss how US elections are bought and sold by AIPAC. SF Drag Artist Leads Hunger Strike Against US Funding of Israel (Nastia Voynovskaya, KQED) https://www.kqed.org/arts/13967427/sf-drag-artist-leads-hunger-strike-against-us-funding-of-israel Mama Ganuush on Instagram HALA Collective Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco...
Dec 02, 2024•55 min
[This episode went up back in September, but it felt OK to put it back on the feed for anyone who might've missed it. New episodes soon.] As liberation movements face intense repression from CEOs, cops, landlords, politicians, and Zionists, Dean Spade and friends put together a list of questions we can all ask ourselves, so we don't reproduce the logics of the state. Dean is author of the classics Mutual Aid and Normal Life: Administrative Violence and the Limits of the Law, and future classic L...
Nov 14, 2024•45 min
Lavender Phoenix https://lavenderphoenix.org/ SF People's Budget: https://www.instagram.com/sfpeoplesbudget/ #JusticeForAkaiGurley: AAPI response to people supporting Peter Liang, the NYPD officer who killed Akai Gurley. https://caaav.org/justiceforakaigurley-national-sign-on-letter Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco *People's Budget Coalition listed for ID purposes only....
Nov 04, 2024•44 min
Originally from San Francisco, Brandon Lee was working as a journalist in Ifugao in the Philippines when he survived an assassination attempt–a shooting carried out by forces close to the US-backed Duterte regime. Brandon talks about surviving the attack, the US disinformation machine, and why the Bay goes so hard for liberation in the Philippines. Website: Justice4BrandonLee.org IG: Justice4BrandonLee: https://www.instagram.com/justice4brandonlee/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/Justice4BrandonLee...
Oct 28, 2024•30 min
Jeremy Mack (from The Phoenix Project, which exposes dark money in Bay Area politics) is back for a discussion about upcoming elections, TogetherSF, the billionaire-funded, "pro-moderate" astroturfing group behind SF's Prop. D, and Balaji Srinivasan's plan for "The Network State," a techbro-led New World Order complete with a walled-off Hayes Valley. The Phoenix Project: https://www.phoenixprojectnow.com/ Instagram: @phoenixprojnow | Twitter: @phoenixprojnow Past episodes mentioned: -Alison Coll...
Oct 21, 2024•1 hr 4 min
Mama Ganuush hosts a discussion on whether people in the US actually stand a chance under American democracy, when money rules everything around us. Guests from The Phoenix Project (exposing dark money in Bay Area politics) and Pups for Palestine (what it says :) ). Salon HALA will return in 2025. Salon HALA on Instagram The Phoenix Project Zinedogs | Instagram @zinedogssf Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco...
Oct 14, 2024•47 min
It's one year since the start of the most recent wave of Israel's US-backed genocide of Palestinians. This episode was recorded last fall with Loubna Qutami (co-founder of the Palestinian Youth Movement and a member of the Palestinian Feminist Collective), and one of her mentors, and ours, Dylan Rodriguez (co-founder of Critical Resistance and the Critical Ethnic Studies Association). Both organizers and professors, Loubna (UCLA) and Dylan (UC Riverside) discuss Zionist repression, and why we mu...
Oct 09, 2024•54 min
"Brothers in recovery" Matt Dorsey (an ex-SFPD staffer turned politician) and Tom Wolf (the rightwing influencer who said the impending closure of a Macy's store was "San Francisco's 9/11") are examples of how conservatives are using their drug rehab journeys to prop up the war on drug users. With enemies like Tom Wolf, rightwing lobbyist Christopher Rufo, and conservative misinformation machine PragerU, our guest, Tenderloin-based writer Lea McGeever, must be doing something right. Lea: Substac...
Sep 30, 2024•1 hr 12 min
Project 2025 soft launched in San Francisco years ago, with successful attempts to replace politicians with people who are obedient to the rightwing. Because it's the Bay, these replacements are registered as Democrats and they virtue signal about diversity, but make no mistake, they are deeply aligned with rightwing forces like the Heritage Foundation. This episode's guest Alison Collins is a SFUSD teacher and former school board member who was recalled in a rightwing recall campaign in 2022. A...
Sep 23, 2024•50 min
Mutual aid and relationships with people we trust are gonna be key to surviving the political and climate apocalypses ahead. Brooke, Lauren and Mama Ganuush on Bay2Gaza Mutual Aid, and how to sustain connections with people living through the genocide in Palestine, as the US and Israel do everything they can to repress signals of solidarity. Bay2Gaza Benefit is 9/20 at Oakland Secret https://www.instagram.com/p/C_ggDqUyDoj/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== https://www.Bay2Gaza.org Thank you to LoCura for t...
Sep 17, 2024•1 hr 1 min
"Cultivating Solidarity in Times of Escalating Repression" (Dean, with Community Justice Exchange, Jocelyn Simonson, Pilar Weiss, Atara Rich-Shea and Zohra Ahmed: http://bit.ly/cultivatesolidarity As liberation movements face intense repression from CEOs, cops, landlords, politicians, and Zionists, https://unicornriot.ninja/2023/over-60-people-indicted-on-rico-charges-in-atlanta-allegedly-promoting-anarchist-ideas/ Official Indictment: https://unicornriot.ninja/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/atlanta...
Sep 09, 2024•42 min
Debt is a tool of control wielded by rich people. Maddy Clifford and Debt Collective (the union for people dealing with debt) want to wipe it out. Maddy's Linktree https://linktr.ee/madlines Debt Collective https://debtcollective.org/ Tenant Power Toolkit https://tenantpowertoolkit.org/ "They Want to Keep You in Debt" (Maddy at More Perfect Union) https://perfectunion.us/the-secret-student-debt-fight/ "It's a system that's rigged. It's messed up, and we're the ones that have to bear that burden....
Sep 02, 2024•50 min
Hate to be that bummer podcast, but Zionism has invaded party culture, too. Mama Ganuush discusses Adam Swig, a party promoter from the real estate empire that brought you San Francisco's posh Fairmont and St. Francis hotels. Next, we talk Israel's colonization of the Playa, complete with a Nova Music Festival memorial, and a "No donations for Doctors Without Borders" policy at the queer Comfort & Joy camp. More episodes on with Zionist culture-washing: "Civic Joy Brings Sorrow" with Mama Ga...
Aug 26, 2024•50 min
Elections suck people's energy, money, and imagination, while legitimizing a system where a few elites cling to most power and wealth. (Not to mention the multiple genocides.) What's not to love? Edxi's Linktree linktr.ee/bettsurevolt I'm NOT Dreaming of a White 'Insurrection': How the Right Wing Stole Crisis https://edxithatradgworl.substack.com/p/im-not-dreaming-of-a-white-insurrection?r=327odc&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com...
Aug 19, 2024•59 min
Love to everyone who listens to the podcast. Short announcement today. BTW, if you're a member, the new Patreon-only content is up today! Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco
Aug 13, 2024•3 min
Homelessness is becoming even more criminalized thanks to the Grant's Pass decision at the Supreme Court, plus the desire by politicians to suck up to their Nextdoor.com lurker donors. Permanent supportive housing (PSH) is one way to give people a roof over their heads without taking away their self-determination. Jordan Davis discusses living in, and fighting for, permanent supportive housing. Jordan's columns in Street Sheet Jordan on Instagram: www.instagram.com/veganpaczki or reach out direc...
Aug 05, 2024•57 min
The Civic Joy Fund is an artwashing front for nefarious causes like Zionism and the Police Officers Association, helmed and funded by sociopaths like Manny Yekutiel of Manny's in the Mission, crypto bro Chris Larsen, and Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie. Mama Ganuush on the boycott directed at the aforementioned rich guys and the milquetoast art they're funding. HALA Collective - Mama Ganuush-founded artist collective (Toshio is a member) https://www.mamaganuush.com/hala Our episode with Deeg on t...
Jul 29, 2024•32 min
For RIMPAC, 29 countries and so-called Israel are in Hawaii to explode some old naval ships, waste a ton of money, kill some birds and dolphins, and make local kids feel like they're under a perpetual state of siege. Abbey Irodistan is with the Filipino anti-imperialist group BAYAN USA NorCal, which is joining Hawaiians to call for an end to RIMPAC forever. "SF Against APEC" episode with Anakbayan CCSF BAYAN USA NorCal (Instagram) Anakbayan USA Gabriela USA SF Committee for Human Rights in the P...
Jul 22, 2024•38 min
Sad Francisco fam Brooke Lober (Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area), Deeg (Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism), and Mama Ganuush on why Zionists started putting rainbow flags on tanks destroying Gaza, and the Bay Area roots of Brand Israel's gay hasbara campaign. Recorded June 27, 2024 at the Queer & Trans Artists for a Free Palestine closing at SOMArts, hosted by the BLOOM Collective. Palestinian queer group alQaws: "Reflecting on Queerness in Times of Genocide" Mama Ganuush on queers for Pa...
Jul 19, 2024•1 hr 7 min
Abe Woodliff on how it's impossible to actually predict when a meme will hit, writing, and the shocking lack of negatives there are to existing authentically. Plus his recent piece on who wins and loses from fake narratives around crime rates. "Crime is Down in the Bay Area, Why Are People Pretending It's Not?" at Broke-Ass Stuart Abe Woodliff on Substack | Instagram | Twitter | Abe's Book @realbayareamemes on Instagram | Facebook...
Jul 09, 2024•57 min
YIMBY billionaires are buying up thousands of acres northeast of the Bay, to build a planned community of rich tech types. To sell their East Solano Plan (f.k.a. "California Forever") to locals, its founders launched a PR campaign complete with artwashing and more. Vallejo-based Anna Kirsch of Artists Against Billionaires is part of the resistance. Artists Against Billionaires on Instagram Anna Kirsch (@girlonbus) on Instagram...
Jul 01, 2024•33 min
Kevin L. Jones from Doomloop Dispatch–"the podcast about the worst parts of the San Francisco Bay Area" reached out! Him and Toshio speak on the ongoing death of traditional corporate news, plus background on the origins of Sad Francisco. Doomloop Dispatch is on all the podcast platforms, plus Twitter and Instagram . Toshio Meronek and Tofu Estolas are Sad Francisco. Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco...
Jun 24, 2024•58 min
