Conversation on Current Events in Amerikkka

In this episode we provide a report back on the organizing happening in LA in response to ICE raids. We are joined with an anonymous contribution from a member of People's City Council. In this episode, we discuss what's occurred over the last thirty+ days, how organizations and community have responded, how we can improve, and the lessons that can be learned.References/Sources/Recommended Texts:Opening Audio: Democracy Now interview with Ron Gochez from Union del Barrio (starts at 20:35)Interview with member of People's City Council LA, It's Going DownPeace Police Are Police: How Protest Marshals Sabotage Liberation and Protect the StateCommunity Self-Defense Fights ICE Fascism - John Parker of Harriet Tubman CenterCentro CSOCommunity Self Defense Coalition IGStop LAPD Spying IGUnion del Barrio

References/Sources/Recommended TextsMay 19th Communist Organization from the Freedom ArchivesM19CO Principles of Unity pamphletTracy and Moore, No Fascist USA!: The John Brown Anti-Klan Committee and Lessons for Today's Movements (2020)Susan M. Reverby, Co-conspirator for Justice: The Revolutionary Life of Dr. Alan Berkman (2020)Orisanmi Burton, Tip of the Spear (2023)RAPP Campaign (Release Aging People in Prison)Trail of Broken Treaties 20-Point Platform (1972)The FBI’s War on the Black Panther Party’s Southern California Chapter - MIM, Oct. 1999On the Black Liberation Army - Jalil Muntaqim (1997) - ZineBLA-CC, “Message to the Black Movement”Timeline of clandestine armed actions from white anti-imperialist groups in the 1980s Trial statement of Kuwasi BalagoonDhoruba, Assata, and Mumia, Still Black, Still Strong (1993)Communiques from the Armed Clandestine Movement 1982-1985AUDIO/VIDEOWeather Underground, May 19th Communist Org, the White Left and Political Prisoners with Laura Whitehorn, on Black Liberation Media (1 hour interview)Activism, Bombings & 23 Years in Federal Prison with Laura Whitehorn (1-hour interview).“Mother Country Radicals”: Weather Underground’s Bernardine Dohrn & Bill Ayers’s Son Makes New Podcast - 1-hr long interview with Bernardine Dohrn on Democracy NowMother Country Radicals (10-episode series from Zayd Dohrn, Bernardine Dohrn’s son.COINTELPRO 101, Documentary, Freedom Archives“Dope is Death” Podcast (on Lincoln Detox and BAAANA)MAKC podcast with Orisanmi Burton on Tip of the SpearBlack Liberation Media conversation on the political thought and practice of Dr. Mutulu ShakurBlack Liberation Media interview with M19CO cadre Silvia BaraldiniMAKC livestream “Remembering Kuwasi Balagoon” with ​​Ashanti Omowali Alston, David Gilbert, dequi kioni-sadiki, Matt Meyer, Meg Starr, & Bilal Sunni-Ali

This special explores revolutionary movements during "the long 1960s" in Amerikkka. We trace the development of two revolutionary traditions: an anti-imperialist third worldist solidarity tradition alongside a party-building revolutionary model for achieving revolution. We examine key organizations including SNCC, RAM, the Black Panther Party, SDS, and the Weather Underground, alongside influential figures like Robert F. Williams, Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford), Malcolm X, and Kwame Ture. We analyze how these organizations responded to global events like the Bandung Conference, the Cuban Revolution, and independence movements across Africa and Asia. This is the first in a series exploring revolutionary history in Amerikkka.TIMESTAMPS0:00: Introduction3:20: Part 1: The late 1950s6:05: Civil Rights Movements and its limitations (SNCC)10:20: Robert Williams, NAACP and RAM14:20: El-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz (Malcom X)20:19: Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford) and Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM)31:20: Kwame Ture and Black Power37:42: Black Panther Party46:51: Global 19681:00:15: David Gilbert 1:08:10: SDS Split1:31:10: 1970s, Widespread repression, & COINTELPRO1:40:33: Panther 21 Open Letter to Weather Underground.REFERENCES/RESOURCESJericho MovementRevolutionary Nationalism and the Afro-American (1962)- Harold CruseMalcolm X: Message to the Grassroots (1963) SNCC Statement on ‘Vietnam’ Jan. 1966RAM’s “World Black Revolution” [1966]Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM): A Case Study of an Urban Revolutionary We Must Destroy the Capitalism System Which Enslaves Us - Kwame Ture in Cuba (1967)U.S. Imperialism by David Gilbert and David Loud (1968)"You Don't Need A Weatherman To Know Which Way The Wind Blows" by RYM leadership (The Weathermen) (1969)Young Lords 13-Point Program (1970)"New Morning - Changing Weather" by the Weather Underground, 1970George Jackson: Black Revolutionary by Walter Rodney (1971)Remembering the Real Dragon: An Interview with George Jackson (1971)Open Letter to the Weather Underground - the New York Panther 21 (1971)⁠On the Black Liberation Army - Jalil Muntaqim, 1979/1997⁠A Brief History of the Black Panther Party. It’s Place in the Black Liberation Movement - Sundiata Acoli, 1995Ignore Gore, Bush – Remember Jackson by Jonathan Farley, 2000Revolution is Illegal: Revisiting the Panther 21 at 50 by Orisanmi Burton (2021)BOOKS AND THESESMovement in Western Capitalist Society. Max Stanford’s MA Thesis, May 1986. Includes Selected RAM Documents.Black Like Mao: Red China and Black Revolution by Robin D.G. Kelley and Betsy Esch Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity (2006) by Dan BergerLove and Struggle: My life in SDS, the Weather Underground, and Beyond - Davild Gilbert (2012)Enemies of the State: An Interview with Anti-Imperialist Political Prisoners (David Gilbert, Laura Whitehorn, Marilyn Buck)Look for Me in the Whirlwind: From the Panther 21 to 21st-Century Revolutions (2017)Revolution in the Air: Sixties Radicals Turn to Lenin, Mao, and Che by Max Elbaum (2018)A History of the Revolutionary Action Movement - John Jones, Thesis, 2019Free the Land: The Republic of New Afrika and the Pursuit of a Black Nation-State by Edward Onaci (2020) (review from AAIHS editors)Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt - Orisanmi Burton (2023)AUDIO/VIDEOA Look Back at the 1968 Democratic Convention and its Relevance Today - PBS (2024)- Link here. 9 min PBS video (3:15 min-onward).long interview with Kwame Ture on SNCC/Black political struggle in the 1960s, late 1980sDavid Gilbert - A Lifetime of Struggle, [1998]: link here.Exclusive: Freed Panther Sekou Odinga on Joining the Panthers, COINTELPRO, & Assata Shakur’s EscapeAudio of Michael Cetewayo of the New York chapter of the BPP reads his essay “Capitalism Plus Dope Equals Genocide” (in Look for me in the Whirldwind.

In this episode, we sit down with an outside agitator with Unity of Fields who was involved in the Columbian encampments and the occupation of Hinds Hall, to review the 2025 documentary, 'The Encampments' produced by Watermelon Pictures.As more and more encampments are doing screenings of the documentary, we feel that it’s important to provide some much needed criticisms that have not been engaged from the complete erasure of the Palestinian resistance to its erasure of US-led imperialism, this is a misleading film of a subject without a predicate.Timestamps0:00: Excerpt of speech by Imam Jamil Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown) in front of Hamilton Hall, 1968.3:32: intro5:07: introducing UoF6:45: Al-Aqsa flood, student intifada, and PalAction10:30: Beginning of critique15:29 timeline of columbia encampment, ‘68, and policing23:59: Returning to film38: Film painting an image of reality of false unity39:40: Who was Yahya Sinwar?42:26: Who/What is the Axis of Resistance?45:33: Critique of the films’ universalist position rather than a partisan perspective.50:30: Revisionist History of 196854:35: Occupation of Hinds HallReferences/Resources:Audio/VideosExcerpt of speech from Imam Jamil Al-Amin at Hamilton Hall occupation, 1968⁠Imam Jamil Al-Amin Mixtape from the Anti-Imperialist Archive⁠Red Star, "Palestine and the Axis of Resistance" with Max Ajl (Youtube Video)Texts:Imam Jamil Action NetworkUnity of Fields website: https://unityoffields.net/"I Want them Free" Interview with Sinwar, 2018. Statement from students in Gaza referring to the student intifada, May 2024Anatonomy of a Counter-Insurgency - Monthly Review (2020) Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino, "Towards a New Cinema"

"I suggest that the real contradiction may be that we really are not about the same thing, the same goals, and some of us are not willing to admit it. Not yet, anyway..." - Safiya BukhariTimestamps:5:34: Fear in the present moment.9:28: George Jackson, "Blood in my Eye"12:00: J. Sakai and Don Hamerquist, "Confronting Fascism"16:15: Tariffs and the Labor Aristokkkracy24:15: Studying anti-colonial/anti-imperialist movements and present national organizations in Amerikkka34:00: Critique of marchesSources/Resources:Workers in Palestine: https://www.workersinpalestine.org/who-arms-israel#the-usaGeorge Jackson, Blood in My Eye: https://files.libcom.org/files/2022-08/BloodInMyEye_text_0.pdfDon Hamerquist and J. Sakai, "Confronting Fascism": https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/anti-racist-action-confronting-fascismSafiya Bukhari, The War Before: https://archive.org/details/Safiya-bukhari-the-war-before-the-true-life-story-of-becoming-a-black-panther-ke/mode/2upCasey Goonan legal fund: https://chuffed.org/project/supportcaseyUpstream Podcast interview with Calla Walsh (came out after we recorded this but with a lot of crossover in themes/discussion, highly recommended!): https://open.spotify.com/episode/34Wf8bClXaje6SM9k36obV?si=12ncRYABSEeUw3MebBs0iQ

Timestamps3:40: Definition and Key Concepts11:52 - Genealogy22:00 - Key Thinkers48:13: WS Theorists before WST59:14 ConclusionReferences/Recommended ReadingsRather than World Systems Analysis: An Introduction, read this essay:Immanuel Wallerstein: The Rise and Future Demise of the World Capitalist System: Concepts for Comparative Analysis (1974): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FpqIxQnQwqPYtGcK1H391HV0PGAt5Mxh/view?usp=sharingWalter Rodney - How Europe Underdeveloped Africa: https://monoskop.org/images/8/81/Rodney_Walter_How_Europe_Underdeveloped_Africa_rev_ed_1981.pdfEric Williams - Capitalism and Slavery: https://glc.yale.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/capatlism_and_slavery.pdfImmanuel Wallerstein - The Modern World System (vol. 1): https://dl1.cuni.cz/pluginfile.php/495082/mod_resource/content/1/Wallerstein-Modern%20World-System%20I.pdfSamir Amin - Unequal Development (1976): https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/archive-files3/unequal_development_by_samir_amin.pdfSamir Amin - The Future of Maoism (1980): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SwS6rQ_bZacf7BE3ZEl9aXC-_4qN9gkC/view?usp=sharingSamir Amin - A Note on the Concept of Delinking: (1987) https://open.metu.edu.tr/bitstream/handle/11511/110904/Samir%20AM%C4%B0N%201984-1-2.pdfGiovanni Arrighi - The Long Twentieth Century: https://dokumen.pub/the-long-twentieth-century-9781844673049.htmlAndre Gunder Frank - "The Development of Underdevelopment": http://ereserve.library.utah.edu/Annual/POLS/2100/Lehman/pols2100devun.pdfGeorge Jackson - Blood in my Eye: https://files.libcom.org/files/2022-08/BloodInMyEye_text_0.pdf

On this episode we do a deep dive on the labor aristocracy.Timestamps:The first 12:20 seconds: definitions to make this episode more accessible.12:20-18:25: On the fires in LA.18:25- On the Labor Aristocracy58:13: Common questions on the labor aristocracyResources:The essay from FRSO that we are responding to:Marxism-Leninism and the Theory of Settler-Colonialism in the United States, J. Sykes, December 2024Engels to Kautsky, 1882Lenin: “The International Socialist Congress in Stuttgart, 1907 The 'Labor Aristocracy' in Context - Barbalet, 1987Contemporary Imperialism and the Agrarian Question, Samir Amin, 2012⁠Exploring Working-Class Consciousness: A Critique of the Theory of the 'Labour-Aristocracy" - Charles Post, 2010⁠Lenin and the "Aristocracy of Labor" - Eric Hobsbawm, Monthly Review 2012The Worker Elite - Bromma, 2014The Proletariat of the Privileged Countries Participates in the Exploitation of the Third World - Arghiri Emmanuel, 2021AFL-CIO's Secret War Against Developing Country Worker: Solidarity or Sabotage? - Kim Scipes (On LibGen)

Part two with Dr. Max Ajl, (@maxajl) In this episode we discuss the overthrow of Syria. What does this mean for the present. Resources: The Cradle.co Al-Mayadeen English Middle East Critique Agrarian South Journal of Labor and Society Excellent podcasts from comrades on Syria ⁠compiled by the Good Shepherd Collective

In our inaugural episode with a guest, we are pleased to invite Dr. Max Ajl (@maxajl) to speak about Syria. This is a two part interview. Part one is a historical materialist primer on Syria, the groundwork you need to be able to understand the present moment. Part two will be helping us understand recent developments and de-developments. A quick note, as Max works and lives in Tunisia, he says Tunisia/Tunisian at several points when he means Syria/Syrian. Resources: Patrick Higgins' "Gunning for Damascus: The US War on the Syrian Arab Republic," Middle East Critique Max Ajl, "The Political Economy of Thermidor in Syria: National and International Dimensions," from Linda Matar and Ali Kadri's Syria: From National Independence to Proxy War (209-245). Linda Matar, "The Political Economy of Investment in Syria" Excellent podcasts from comrades on Syria compiled by the Good Shepherd Collective For an excellent overview of what happened at the start of the so-called Syrian Civil War, read William Van Wagenen's two part essays Salafis Throwing Bombs: How American and British Planners Partnered with al-Qaeda Affiliated Groups at the Start of the Syrian Civil War (Dec. 28, 2021) "Creative Chaos: How U.S. Planners Sparked the Anti-Government Protests of the So-Called Arab Spring in Syria(Jan. 31, 2022)

References: Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang, "Decolonization is Not A Metaphor": https://clas.osu.edu/sites/clas.osu.edu/files/Tuck%20and%20Yang%202012%20Decolonization%20is%20not%20a%20metaphor.pdf "We Remember the Attempts to be Free" Joy James on Black August and the Captive Maternal" https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/millennials-are-killing-capitalism/id1292638162?i=1000531844926 Max Ajl, "Logics of Elimination and Settler Colonialism: Decolonization or National Liberation?" https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/19436149.2023.2191401?casa_token=fi5MSn12KIgAAAAA:H_l0Xv2oZteXv-lWgNzMjqU2MmJMZJyG8qJ0CyTBgN68WuBE61DOJx2uhC4p3JTSTHBnZVF19Lye Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: https://archive.org/details/intheoryclassesn0000aija Paulo Freire, Pedagogy in Process: Letters to Guinea-Bissau: https://archive.org/details/pedagogyinproces0000frei_m5v5 Curry Malott, How Amilcar Cabral shaped Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy: https://mronline.org/2021/09/03/how-amilcar-cabral-shaped-paulo-freires-pedagogy/ Joma Geneciran, Global Historical Materialism and Decoloniality," https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.62191/ROAPE-2024-0035https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.62191/ROAPE-2024-0035