Unruly Subjects

What can you do right where you are, with the people you already know? Organizer and educator Mariame Kaba joins Chenjerai to talk about finding your role in a movement. You might be the person who brings people together, teaches a skill, or keeps track of who needs help. Kaba tells the story of Communiversity, a community education initiative in New York City that brings people together to learn how to care for one another. Kaba shares what that looks like in practice, from workshops on first aid and herbalism to conversations about how to work through conflict. They also get into what Kaba calls “DoorDash relationships,” why movements can’t leave their biggest demands up to elected officials, and what it takes to change your mind in public.📣 DON’T JUST LISTEN - PASS IT ONIf you know someone who would appreciate this conversation, send it to them. Seriously, text them right now. Send a screen shot. Forward it in an email. Drop it in the group chat.🚨 HELP US BUILD FULLY INDEPENDENT MEDIA!We’re up to 136 members on Patreon, including 55 paid supporters. To everyone who’s joined us: THANK YOU!🎯 OUR GOAL: 100 paid subscribers by December 1. We’re past halfway, and we need 45 more listeners to pitch in. Your support helps us keep making the show and bring you more conversations like this one.We’re doing this work from the muscle, and if we want to keep making the show, expand our coverage, and bring you more conversations like this one, we need more of our listeners to pitch in.🙏 If you value worker-owned, independent journalism, join our Patreon community for as little as $5/month. Help us build listener-backed media at unrulysubjectspodcast.com.Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod. Get in touch at [email protected] Subjects is also now on YouTube! Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@UnrulySubjectsProduction Help From Aowen CaoUnruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome ProductionsFurther reading & sources from this episode:Communiversity: A Brooklyn community education series organized by Interrupting Criminalization and hosted by Women Building Up. The 2026 series focuses on healing justice and collective care.Making a Plan: A printable workbook from Mariame Kaba and Interrupting Criminalization to help you figure out where you can contribute and turn that into a plan. “Not everyone is an organizer, but your community still needs you”: The essay by Zedé that Kaba brings up when she talks about the many roles that keep a community going.“Mariame Kaba: Everything Worthwhile Is Done With Other People”: The Adi Magazine interview with Eve L. Ewing that Chenjerai quotes, about why relationships are central to Kaba’s organizing. https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2876-songs-my-mother-taught-meSupport the show

What does it mean to build an independent media platform, and what responsibilities come with it? Recorded before a live audience in New York City, Chenjerai talks with political commentator and streamer Hasan Piker about his path from The Young Turks to Twitch, playing Fortnite while discussing Israel and Palestine, and why telling the truth requires more than claiming neutrality.They also discuss holding Zohran Mamdani accountable, why movements must remain bigger than their leaders, and why Palestinian journalists’ reporting is so often ignored until Western outlets catch up.📣 DON’T JUST LISTEN - PASS IT ONIf you know someone who would appreciate this conversation, send it to them. Seriously, text them right now. Send a screen shot. Forward it in an email. Drop it in the group chat.🚨 HELP US BUILD FULLY INDEPENDENT MEDIA!Unruly Subjects is growing. In the last 30 days, 34 new members have joined our Patreon community. To every one of you: THANK YOU!🎯 OUR GOAL: 100 paid subscribers by December 1st. We’re almost halfway there. We need 52 more listeners to step up and support us financially so that we can build something sustainable.We’re doing this work from the muscle, and if we want to keep making the show, expand our coverage, and bring you more conversations like this one, we need more of our listeners to pitch in.🙏 If you value worker-owned, independent journalism, join our Patreon community for as little as $5/month. Help us build listener-backed media at unrulysubjectspodcast.com.Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod. Get in touch at [email protected] Subjects is also now on YouTube! Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@UnrulySubjectsProduction Help From Aowen CaoUnruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome ProductionsFurther reading & sources from this episode:Hasan on TwitchWatch Hasan’s livestream, where he combines news, political commentary, and gaming.“The Battle for the Bros” by Andrew Marantz, The New YorkerA profile of Hasan and the debate over reaching young men through online media.“More Truth,” Scene on RadioReported by Lewis Raven Wallace, with John Biewen and Chenjerai Kumanyika, this episode explores journalism, objectivity, and democracy.Trailer for Nazahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIBRLEEaueoTrailer for Palestine ‘36https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1PWKE_9YtU https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2876-songs-my-mother-taught-meSupport the show

What does it take to move from being right about the world to actually having the power to change it? What happens within our movements and organizations and in our hearts when we stop believing that we can actually win? Organizer, facilitator, and writer Yotam Marom joins Chenjerai to talk about what our movements can sometimes get wrong about power, leadership, conflict, strategy, and winning. They also discuss what it might take to build movements big and strong enough to meet this moment. Yotam’s new book is called For Louder Days: Reaching Beyond a Politics of Powerlessness.📣 DON’T JUST LISTEN - PASS IT ONIf you know someone who would appreciate this conversation, send it to them. Seriously, text them right now. Forward it in an email. Drop it in the group chat.Help us grow the Unruly community and organize so that we can move from just being right to actually building power.🚨 HELP US BUILD FULLY INDEPENDENT MEDIA!Unruly Subjects is growing. As I write this we now have 119 members in our Patreon community, including 45 people who have stepped up to support the show financially. To every one of you: THANK YOU!🎯 OUR GOAL: 100 paid subscribers by December 1st. We’re almost halfway there. We need 55 more listeners to step up and help us build something sustainable.We’re doing this work from the muscle, and if we want to keep making the show, expand our coverage, and bring you more conversations like this one, we need more of our listeners to pitch in.🙏 If you value worker-owned, independent journalism, join our Patreon community for as little as $5/month. Help us build listener-backed media at unrulysubjectspodcast.com.Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod. Get in touch at [email protected] Subjects is also on YouTube! Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@UnrulySubjectsProduction Help From Aowen CaoUnruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome ProductionsFurther reading & sources from this episode:Yotam Marom, Four Louder Days: Reaching Beyond a Politics of PowerlessnessFrom Bernie to Mamdani, how the Occupy movement transformed American politics. Yotam Marom, who helped lead Occupy Wall Street, discusses why power must be built through movements, not simply through elected officialshttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/21/yotam-moram-occupy-movementWhy bravery and heartbreak are essential to organizing. Reflecting on decades of organizing — from Occupy to Mamdani’s campaign — Yotam Marom’s book “For Louder Days” offers a powerful guide to making hard choices.https://wagingnonviolence.org/2026/08/yotam-marom-for-louder-days-book-review/“Undoing the Politics of Powerlessness” - Yotam Marom https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2876-songs-my-mother-taught-meSupport the show

Unruly Subjects is back in the building and back in your feed! After a long, hot summer hiatus we’re returning with a very special episode recorded live at the Socialism Conference in Chicago, featuring a conversation with the legendary scholars and thinkers Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò. Chenjerai, Femi, and Ruth dig into these big questions: How do we reckon with this moment? And where do we go from here? (A huge thank you to our comrades at Haymarket Books for organizing the conference and for their ongoing support of independent media.)🚨 HELP US BUILD FULLY INDEPENDENT MEDIA!To bring you this episode, the Unruly team traveled from Philly and NYC to Chicago to record live on the ground. That kind of independent coverage takes real resources and it costs money. Unruly Subjects episodes have been downloaded tens of thousands of times. And for that, we say THANK YOU! But right now, only 39 people are stepping up to help support the show financially. We’re doing this work from the muscle, and to keep going, expand our coverage, and talk to more folks, we need your support.🎯 OUR GOAL: We need 61 more listeners to step up by December 1st to hit our target of 100 paid subscribers.🙏 If you value worker-owned, independent journalism, join our Patreon community for as little as $5/month. Help us build listener-backed media at unrulysubjectspodcast.com.Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod. Get in touch at [email protected] Subjects is also now on YouTube! Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@UnrulySubjectsProduction Help From Aowen CaoAdditional Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Grizzly BeatzUnruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome ProductionsFurther reading & sources from this episode:By Ruth Wilson Gilmore:Chenjerai interviews abolitionist Ruth Wilson Gilmore on the Intercepted PodcastGolden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing CaliforniaAbolition Geography: Essays Towards LiberationBy Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò:Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And What We Can Do About It)Reconsidering Reparations https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2876-songs-my-mother-taught-meSupport the show

Before we relaunch our new season later this month, we wanted to share a special update! We just dropped an interview with journalist and media producer Natalie Bencivenga for our Patreon community. [ LISTEN HERE ]Natalie is also joining us at the Socialism Conference this weekend, where Chenjerai will be taking the stage across four live events alongside a lineup that includes Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Hasan Piker, Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Demetrius Noble, Cat Salonek Schladt, Alex Hanna, Sarah Jaffe, and Yotam Marom.Plus, we're staging our marquee live event: UNRULY SUBJECTS Live: A Reckoning with Our Moment!Chenjerai will be sharing behind-the-scenes updates from the conference all weekend long, and if you get a chance to say hello in person, he might just give you a sneak peek at our brand-new Unruly merch... so don't miss out!👉 Click here for Chenjerai's full Socialism Conference session schedule, panel topics, location details, and the Natalie Bencivenga interview.If you value independent, worker-owned media, please step up and support our Patreon community for as little as $5/month!Support the show

This week, Chenjerai interviews reporter Daniel Boguslaw about his recent WIRED article, US Law Enforcement Warns of ‘Anti-Tech Extremism’ as AI Hatred Grows. They discuss how tech corporations, law enforcement at the federal level, and even local institutions are collaborating to frame people in the fast growing resistance to AI and data centers as terrorists and threats to domestic security. Bogsulaw lays out what’s happening in detail and also tells us how people are fighting against these labels. 🙏 We make Unruly Subjects 100% independently! Support the show on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjects 📝 Got a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself?  Take the Unruly Subjects Audience Survey.☀️Unruly Subjects is going into summer mode☀️ This just means fewer and shorter episodes over the next couple months, while we plan for SEASON TWO in the fall. Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod. Get in touch [email protected] Subjects is also now on YouTube! Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@UnrulySubjectsAdditional Music in this episode is from Blue Dot SessionsUnruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome ProductionsFurther reading & sources from this episodeUS Law Enforcement Warns of ‘Anti-Tech Extremism’ as AI Hatred Growshttps://www.wired.com/story/us-law-enforcement-warns-of-anti-tech-extremism/https://danboguslaw.substack.com/ https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2876-songs-my-mother-taught-meSupport the show

This week, Chenjerai reports from ground zero outside Delaney Hall, the detention facility in Newark, NJ where hundreds of ICE detainees have been on hunger strike due to the horrible, egregious conditions. You’ll hear an interview that Chenjerai recorded with Sally Pillay, an immigration activist with the Eyes on Ice Coalition who volunteers outside the detention center, helping to support the families visiting the facility.  🙏 We make Unruly Subjects 100% independently! Support the show on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjects 📝 Got a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself?  Take the Unruly Subjects Audience Survey.Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod. Get in touch [email protected] Subjects is also now on YouTube! Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@UnrulySubjectsAdditional Music in this episode is from Blue Dot SessionsUnruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome ProductionsFurther reading & sources from this episodeSupport our families LinktreeLetters from Detainees https://www.lahuelga.com/freedomAbout Eyes on ICE NJ Coalition https://www.facebook.com/PaxNJ/posts/eyes-on-ice-is-a-broad-based-coalition-of-dozens-of-orgs-with-a-broad-network-of/948292381077652/Mami Chelo Foundation  https://mamichelo.org/what-we-do/ https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2876-songs-my-mother-taught-meSupport the show

🙏 We make Unruly Subjects 100% independently! Support the show on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjects This week, Unruly Subjects is diving back into one of our most popular and urgent topics: the explosive growth of corporate data centers and the community-led movements rising up to stop them. We are joined by Astra Taylor (writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of the Debt Collective) and Saul Levin (environmental policy advocate and host of the new podcast The Hum).Drawing from their co-authored article in The Guardian, they break down why the battle over AI infrastructure isn’t just an environmental issue—it’s a fundamental battle for democracy, human labor, and the future of our communities.But first, host Chenjerai tells the story of what he saw on the frontlines while visiting Delaney Hall, an ICE detention center in Newark, NJ, where detainees have launched a hunger strike. Hear Chenjerai read a letter written by one of the men detained at Delaney Hall.Plus, stick around until the end to hear a performance from 11-year-old hip hop phenom RoqueStarz, son of RodrigoStarz of Rebel Diaz.📝 Got a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself?  Take the Unruly Subjects Audience Survey.Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod. Get in touch [email protected] Subjects is also now on YouTube! Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@UnrulySubjectsAdditional Music in this episode is from Blue Dot SessionsUnruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome ProductionsFurther reading & sources from this episodeSaul Levin’s Podcast: The HumErin Brockovich Launches Data Center MapTake Back The Land (People’s Remix) by Rebel DiazAstra Taylor and Saul Levin’s Article from The GuardianHear Chenjerai Read "Our Cry: A Letter From Inside Delaney Hall" https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2876-songs-my-mother-taught-meSupport the show

This week’s show is about informed consent, pregnancy, drug testing, hospitals, and the family policing system. Specifically, we break down a form of surveillance called “test-and-report” that's being used to punish parents and newborns in medical settings. And we hear from a coalition that's been organizing against it.📝 Got a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself?  Take the Unruly Subjects Audience Survey.🙏 We make Unruly Subjects 100% independently! Support the show on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjects Chenjerai interviews Dr. Erinma Ukoha and Desseray Wright about their work with the Informed Consent Coalition and their fight against the family policing policy of "test-and-report".Desseray Wright is a Parent and Policy advocate at the Bronx Defenders, where she works to challenge and transform the family regulation system. Dr. Ukoha is a board-certified obstetrician, gynecologist, and maternal fetal medicine specialist at the Mount Sinai Hospital. This interview was recorded just before Mother’s Day. We also give you a sneak preview of the new season of Scene on Radio, which premieres on May 27th. Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod. Get in touch [email protected] Subjects is also now on YouTube! Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@UnrulySubjectsAdditional Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Grizzly BeatzUnruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome ProductionsFurther reading & sources from this episodeInformed Consent New Yorkhttps://www.informedconsentny.com/Bronx Defenders https://www.instagram.com/bronxdefenders/Movement for Family Power  https://www.movementforfamilypower.org/ https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2876-songs-my-mother-taught-meSupport the show

This week, we hear the story of how the "punishment bureaucracy" uses narrative and media to maintain state violence. We’re looking at the devastating impact of jailing someone simply because they cannot afford to pay bail. We dive into how punishment systems defend themselves and the stories that police, prosecutors, politicians, and media institutions tell in order to make cages sound like safety.🙏 We make Unruly Subjects 100% independently! Support the show on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjects.First, Chenjerai talks with Alec Karakatsanis, founder of Civil Rights Corps and author of the book Copaganda: How Police and Media Manipulate Our News. Alec tells the story of the fight against wealth-based detention—from the devastating reality of the cash bail system to the ways "copaganda" is used to attack reform victories and justify the jailing of people because they are poor.Later, Chenjerai is out for a ride in New York City when his bike breaks down, leading to an encounter that sticks with him. He meets a bike mechanic who is clearly living without much of a safety net, but who carries an incredible archive of skill, a set of tools and a deep willingness to help others. It’s a reflection on the genius that lives all around us, and the uncomfortable reality of the city’s inequality.📝 Got a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself? Take the Unruly Subjects Audience Survey.Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod. Get in touch at [email protected] Subjects is also now on YouTube! Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@UnrulySubjectsAdditional Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Grizzly BeatzUnruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome ProductionsFurther reading & sources from this episodeAlec Karakatsanis’s book: Copaganda: How Police and Media Manipulate Our NewsCivil Rights Corps: Learn more about their litigation and advocacy workThe Puerto Rico Report: The Transformation of the Puerto Rico Police BureauThe Body Camera: The Language of our Dreams by Alec KarakatsanisThe California Supreme Court Ruling: The Marshall ProjectDebt Collective: Carceral Debt https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2876-songs-my-mother-taught-meSupport the show