Millennials Are Killing Capitalism

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 David Peat and Ben Stankhe. Of course by the time we got around to recording this episode in late October, we were three weeks into Israel's genocidal counterinsurgency campaign against Palestinians, after the heroic uprising known as Al-Aqsa Flood. Obviously, I didn't intend to delay the release of this episode for almost a year, but at the time I kept telling myself there would eventually be a ceasefire and a new normal would be established. One year later that hasn't happened yet, and doesn't necessarily seem and closer than it was a year ago. All that is really by way of an apology to Ben, David, Henry, and Salvatore for not getting this episode out sooner. It absolutely warrants your attention and it actually relates in many ways to not only the struggle of Palestinians today, but to all struggles for national liberation, socialism, and communism. We also just hosted another conversation on Domenico Losurdo's work last week on our YouTube channel. In that one, Gabriel Rockhill discusses the English translation of Losurdo's 'Western Marxism: How it was Born, How it Died, How it can be Reborn,' which he edited and was just released on Monthly Review Press (book/episode). There are a number of references in the episode which I have tried to link in the show notes. First and foremost head over to Iskra books and check out their catalogue of books. As Henry mentions all of their books are available as free pdfs, but I definitely also encourage you to support their work. They're doing really important stuff, and we plan to highlight more of their work going forward. I've also linked a conversation we had a couple months ago on another Iskra Books release Ruehl Muller's Building a People's Art which is about the role of art and artists in the Vietnamese liberation struggle (book/episode) As Henry and Salvatore mention at the end of the episode, Communism: The Highest Stage of Ecology, which is an agroecological history of the Soviet Union and Cuba, which will be out via Iskra later this year. You can follow all of Iskra's releases on Iskrabooks.org and just a reminder that free PDFs are available for this book and all of their others on their website. We plan to highlight more Iskra Books publications going forward. Including a soon to be scheduled episode on a book they published on Yugoslavian film, and on October 28th at 10 AM EDT we'll host Conor McCabe to discuss The Lost & Early Writings of James Connolly, the Irish revolutionary (book/livestream) And lastly, this is our third audio episode of October, and we are trying to get back to releasing audio content with more regularity. To that end it would be really helpful if some of our listeners who do not yet support the show on patreon, became patrons for as little as $1 a month. The main purpose of becoming a patron is of course to support our work, but we do have a recent patreon-exclusive episode with several folks from Black Liberation Media including Jared Ball from IMIXWHATILIKE, Renee Johnston from Saturday's with Renee, and Geechee Yaw from Earn Your Liberation. Shout-out to all of them and if you become a patron of the show you will get access to that recent conversation which primarily focuses on social media, YouTube and censorship. Sign up at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism Guest bios: Henry Hakamäki is best known as the co-host of the Guerrilla History podcast. And of course among many other things, he is also the co-translator and editor of the book we will be discussing today. You can follow him on Twitter at @huck1995. Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro is Professor at the Geography Department of SUNY New Paltz and is chief editor for the journal Capitalism Nature Socialism. His book Socialist States and the Environment is available from Pluto Press. Ben Stahnke is an educator, organizer, and artist working on the intersection of political ecology, education, and print. Ben holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in environmental studies, a M.A. in political philosophy, and is currently pursuing a second doctorate in education. David Peat serves as an editor and copy-editor for both Iskra Books and Peace, Land, and Bread, is a student of Marxism-Leninism from Lancashire, England, who organises with Red Fightback. He has a B.A. in philosophy and is interested in political economy, ecology, and revolutionary education.

Dr. Mary Turfah, a resident physician and researcher focused on the Nakba's trauma memory, delves into the complexities of medical neutrality amid settler colonialism. She discusses the alarming targeting of healthcare workers in Gaza, revealing how this strategy cripples medical infrastructure and threatens future care. Turfah critiques the historical misuse of medical neutrality, highlighting its racialized limitations. She emphasizes the humanity of healthcare professionals often depicted through a biased lens, urging a reevaluation of narratives surrounding these systemic issues.

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 the midst of, Fathi and Abboud do offer excellent analysis of the current state of the war, and of the importance of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. Fathi Nimer is Al-Shabaka's Palestine policy fellow. He previously worked as a research associate with the Arab World for Research and Development, a teaching fellow at Birzeit University, and a program officer with the Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies. Fathi holds a master's degree in political science from Heidelberg University and is the co-founder of DecolonizePalestine.com, a knowledge repository for the Palestinian question. Fathi's research revolves around political economy and contentious politics. His current focus is on food sovereignty, agroecology, and the resistance economy in Palestine. Abdaljawad Omar is a writer, analyst, and lecturer based in Ramallah, Palestine. He has written extensively in Arabic. In English Abboud has contributed to Electronic Intifada, Mondoweiss, and Ebb Magazine among other outlets. This is his 13th episode on MAKC. All of those episodes are collected in this playlist. Giving direct aid to people in Gaza is a way of directly intervening against the genocidal policy of zionist settler colonialism and US imperialism. We recommend the Sameer Project as a a grassroots direct-aid organization that provides tents, water, food and medical aid to Palestinians in Gaza, including areas of the north where the Zionist entity does not allow NGOs to function. We'll link a recent livestream we hosted with Hala from the Sameer Project as well as links to their funds. We also just passed our 7th anniversary at Millennials Are Killing Capitalism, this episode today marks our 275th audio episode of MAKC. In addition, in just the last year we've hosted 126 livestreams on our YouTube channel. With me primarily operating in the video realm over the past year in order to respond more quickly to developing events, we have had to pay for some outside support on some of the audio production but also that process has slowed a bit. Our most recent payment for October from patreon was our lowest level of support from patrons since May of 2023. There are a variety of factors contributing to that I'm sure, but if people are able to become patrons of the show we can really use your support to support what we're already doing and to pay for production work as well to get more audio episodes released. Join for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. We will have a patreon member exclusive episode this week on the contradictions of using Youtube as a platform for this work. Jared Ball, Renee Johnston, and Geechee Yaw who I recently did a two part video collaboration with about elections, will join us for that conversation as well. I recently participated in a two part discussion with them on elections which we held on MAKC & Black Liberation Media. We're hosting our discussion on censorship on patreon so we can speak totally freely about YouTube as a platform.

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 towards internationalism and passive or active support for imperialism and how this behavior of betraying the interests of the oppressed is learned domestically before being applied internationally. We touch on the petit-bourgeois character of electoral politics and how the poor are largely disappeared in mainstream political discussions and processes. Momodou Taal is a PhD student in the Africana department at Cornell university. He is also the host of The Malcolm Effect podcast. Too Black is a poet, member of Black Alliance For Peace, host of The Black Myths Podcast which can be found on Black Liberation Media, he's also the author of Laundering Black Rage, and one of the organizers of the Campaign to Free the Pendleton 2. If you like what we do and want to support our ability to have more conversations like this. Please consider becoming a Patron. You can do so for as little as a 1 Dollar a month. We bring you these conversations totally independently with no corporate, state, or grant funding. You can do that at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism Too Black's recent essay: Unburdened by Palestine: Shedding Black liberalism for anti-imperialism Momodou Taal's recent essay: Dear Black liberals: Palestine TikTok activists aren't the enemy There is also a video version of this episode which was released by Black Liberation Media.

In this enlightening discussion, Lydia Pelot-Hobbs, an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky, delves into her book, which explores Louisiana's staggering history of mass incarceration. She highlights the intersection of economic forces, systemic racism, and grassroots activism that has shaped the state's penal landscape. The conversation touches on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the role of policing in New Orleans, and the vital need for transformative change. Lydia also discusses the shift from reform to abolition, emphasizing the importance of addressing deep-rooted social inequities.

Roderick Ferguson, a Yale professor and author examining the intersections of queer politics and race, dives into the shortcomings of single-issue politics in the gay liberation movement. He critiques how capitalism and racial violence have reshaped Black family structures. Ferguson emphasizes the importance of intersectionality and the complexities of queer identity within gentrifying urban landscapes. The conversation also explores historical shifts in queer narratives and challenges conventional liberal views on diversity, revealing systemic exclusions faced by marginalized communities.

Dani Manibat, an organizer in the National Democratic Movement in the Philippines, talks about the importance of social investigation and class analysis from a Marxist perspective. They delve into understanding societal classes, critique of science, representation of black and LGBT individuals in media, class rejectionism, and revolutionary perspectives on gay marriage in the Philippines.

Dr. Joy James discusses Angela Davis' iconic status and challenges faced in archival war. Reflects on personal connections to the Black Panther Party and collaborations beyond scholarship. Explores uncomfortable historical truths and complexities of revolutionary leadership. Discusses counterinsurgency tactics and the impact on societal narratives.

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 Humanities at Williams College. A political philosopher who works with organizers seeking social justice and an end to militarism, James is the editor of The Angela Y. Davis Reader; Imprisoned Intellectuals; and co-editor of The Black Feminist Reader. James's most recent books include: In Pursuit of Revolutionary Love; New Bones Abolition: Captive Maternal Agency and the (After)Life of Erica Garner; and, Contextualizing Angela Davis: The Agency and Identity of an Icon. Her forthcoming volumes ENGAGE: Indigenous, Black, Afro-Indigenous Futures and Beyond Cop Cities will be published this summer and fall. James' website and instagram page (@captivematernalstruggles) which we are using to update and archive talks, events, essays, etc. Please feel free to follow and tag us/post collab when the episode is live. Isaiah Blake is an incoming PhD student in Geography at the University of California, Berkeley. As an artist, thinker, and educator, Blake is committed to producing work that prioritizes critical thinking combined with a devotion to Black ways of knowing and being. You can find Isaiah on IG. Akua N is a Chicago-based doctoral student in education policy studies, exploring the intersection of mass media, counterinsurgency, white supremacy, and schooling in capitalist contexts. Noah Tesfaye is a researcher and organizer based in the Bay Area. His work focuses on the political philosophy of the Republic of New Afrika and New Afrikan Independence Movement, particularly in its relationship to contemporary organizing around self-determination for Black people within the "United States." This episode is edited and produced by Aidan Elias Links: Steinem Papers Pendleton 2 (our episode with links on ways to support/connect) Sekou Odinga & James at the Death Penalty Conference: This is the exchange Prof. James mentioned with the young Black activist and the panel. I have linked the video below with the time stamps The young activist question: (1:55:00) Baba Sekou's Response: (2:08:00) James' Response: (2:16:18) How to Live (after we die): On Protest, Social Media, and queer Black death - Logos Journal Slave Rebel or Citizen (Inquest) Our roundtable on Kuwasi Balagoon Links for Book Purchasing: New Bones Abolition (2023) Contextualizing Angela Davis (2024) Beyond Cop Cities (August 2024)

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 Sojoyner at the Archives Unbound conference at UC Santa Barbara a few weeks ago, and you can find a brief interview I conducted with them here. This book First Strike (Currently 50% of with the code: MN91620 through June 30th) is one that I had been wanting to discuss with Damien since I learned of it, because it very much relates to various intersecting interests of mine, the Black Radical Tradition, abolition, the prison industrial complex, and public education. Disrupting common framing of a school-to-prison pipeline Sojoyner really examines how we might understand public schools, and different regimes of education as enclosures upon more radical possibilities. And we get into a discussion of the warehousing function of schools, the psychological warfare aspects and more. As there is a lot of connection between this discussion and the discussion we had with Damien last year on his book Against the Carceral Archive, we have linked that in the show notes as well. We will have more audio content coming for you later this week as well as more video content on our YouTube channel. We've created playlist from the Cedric and Elizabeth Robinson Archives Unbound conference. If you appreciate the work we do at Millennials Are Killing Capitalism the best way you can support our work is as always to become a patron of the show. We are still working to find better solutions to getting all of the audio content we have backlogged released to you as quickly as possible. This has meant paying for some additional help in many cases. All that is to say, we really appreciate all of you who have been contributing to our work some of you for many years now. If people are not patrons of the show yet and are able to give $1 a month or more that's deeply appreciated as well. You can become a patron at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism