In this episode we interview Mohammed Khatib and Thomas Hofland from the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.  This is our third interview with members of Samidoun since October 7th 2023, and we will link the others in the show description.  Mohammed Khatib is a Palestinian refugee from Ain el-Helweh camp in Lebanon. He lives in Belgium and is the European coordinator for Samidoun. Thomas Hofland is the coordinator of Samidoun Netherlands. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner...

This is an (almost) unedited version of our livestream with Kali Akuno from this morning (11/10/24) Here Kali Akuno offers thoughts on where we go from here after the re-election of Trump. Our previous video discussion with Kali Akuno provides more of the nuts and bolts of the type of organizing he's callling for, but this conversation underscores the urgency of this program now that we are in the reality (at least in terms of electoral politics and control of government) that he predicted...

In this episode we interview 20 year old organizer Calla Walsh to talk about her experiences as a co-founder of Palestine Action US, as well as the political repression she and others have faced in the case of the Merrimack 4. She talks about why we should view their case as a win, and underlines the need for continued escalation for Palestine thirteen months into the genocidal response to Al-Aqsa Flood In this interview she offers in-depth discussion of the importance of risk-taking, and...

This is part two of our conversation with Jason W. Moore, a historical geographer at Binghamton University. In this discussion we delve into the concept of "substance fetishism" within Marxian social theory, the dangers it poses, and its implications for understanding the web of life.  Part 1: Against Climate Doomism and the Bourgeois Character of American Environmentalism  Moore raises concerns about the misguided focus on substance fetishism, which prioritizes the management of...

In this interview, we are joined by friend and special co-host Casey where we are in conversation with Jason Moore discussing the historical and ideological roots of contemporary environmentalism, tracing its origins to the post-Civil War era in the United States. He argues that environmentalism has historically been an elite-driven movement, often serving the interests of capitalism by promoting resource management and conservation in ways that benefit economic growth. Moore critiques the...

In this episode we interview Austin McCoy to discuss his piece “'Disorganize the State': The Black Workers Congress’s Visions of Abolition-Democracy in the 1970’s", which Austin wrote for the Labor and Employment Relations Association’s publication A Racial Reckoning in Industrial Relations: Storytelling as Revolution from Within.  Austin McCoy is a historian of the 20th Century United States with specializations in African American History, labor, and cultural history.  He is currently...

In July of 2023, we published a conversation on the Iskra Books translation of Domenico Losurdo’s Stalin: History and Critique of a Black Legend with Henry Hakamäki and Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro (book/listen to part 1 here). We found the book really fascinating and had lots of questions, so we were only able to cover about half of our questions in our first conversation. This conversation is essentially the part 2 of that conversation, in which Henry and Salvatore are joined by Iskra editors...

In this interview, we are joined by Mary Turfah  who discusses a couple of her recent articles including the broader context of medical neutrality and the targeting of healthcare workers in Gaza. She addresses the historical context of medical neutrality, which emerged in the mid-1800s as a means to ensure medical immunity on the battlefield. Turfah explains how this concept has racialized limitations, particularly in colonial contexts where colonizers often do not need the medical facilities...

In this episode Fathi Nimer and Abdaljawad Omar rejoin the podcast to talk about recent events including the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, the assassination of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and the Iranian retailatory strikes, which took place on October 1st. We conclude by talking a bit about the meaning of October 7th, 2023 one year later. Here is a video version of the episode if you prefer to watch the conversation. Despite the difficulty in fully drawing meaning from something we’re still in...

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...

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...

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.  ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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. ...