On this three-part episode of SPS, Sophia and Pamela catch up to discuss Shaka King’s Judas and the Black Messiah (2021). They reflect upon the director’s interpretation of the Black Panther Party and how questions of black nationalism, the police and the authoritarian state bear on our present moment.

In the second segment Sophia sits down with Novara Media’s Commissioning Editor, Rivka Brown to consider the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (PCSC Bill) and the anti-austerity Left. Rivkah touches on what the potential abolition of the police might mean for the ‘Left’. Finally, Platypus’ Chief Pedagogue, Chris Cutrone, introduces our Summer Reading Groups and gives a taster of what’s in-store.

You can find our more about our Summer Reading Groups here:

Summer Reading Group 2021: Adorno’s Negative Dialectics

https://platypus1917.org/2021/05/08/summer-2021-adornos-negative-dialectics/

Summer Reading Group 2021: Hegel and Marxism

https://platypus1917.org/2021/05/11/summer-2021-hegel-and-marxism/

Summer Reading Group 2021: The Black Question and the Left from 1776 to BLM

https://platypus1917.org/2021/05/21/summer-2021-the-black-question-from-1776-to-blm/

Resources and Reference Links:

Online: Novara Media, https://novaramedia.com/

Rivkah’s Links:

Book: Adam Elliott-Cooper, Black Resistance to British Policing, 2021

Book: Mark Neocleous, A Critical Theory of Police Power: The Fabrication of the Social Order, 2000

Platypus Links:

Article: Chris Cutrone, Republicans and riots: The Left in death, 1992 and 2020, https://platypus1917.org/2020/07/01/republicans-and-riots/

Interview: with Bobby Seale (Black Panther Party), 2019

https://platypus1917.org/2019/02/03/the-black-panther-party-and-community-organizing-an-interview-with-bobby-seale%EF%BB%BF/

Interview: with Kathleen Cleaver (Black Panther Party), 2019

https://platypus1917.org/2019/02/03/the-black-panther-party-malcom-x-and-the-question-of-revolutionary-politics-today-an-interview-with-kathleen-cleaver/

Panel: Police Brutality and the Left (July 11, 2020) Panelists: Gerald Smith (Oscar Grant Committee), Larry Holmes (Workers World Party), Andrea Pritchett (Berkeley Copwatch), and Conrad Cartmell (DSA, Class Unity Caucus). https://platypus1917.org/2020/09/01/police-brutality-and-the-left/

Panel: Platypus at Left Forum NYC 2010: The American Left and the "black question:" from politics to protest to the post-political (2010) [Audio] Panelists: Tim Barker, Columbia U.; Benjamin Blumberg, Platypus; Pamela Nogales, Platypus; Chris Cutrone, Platypus. https://archive.org/details/PlatypusAtLeftForumNyc2010TheAmericanLeftAndTheblackQuestion

Panel: Platypus Public Panel Series: “Black Politics and State Violence” (2015) University of Chicago (03/20/15) [Audio]Panelists: Michael Dawson and Mel Rothenberg, https://platypus1917.org/2015/05/22/5-21-2015-black-politics-and-state-violence-a-panel-discussion-university-of-chicago/

Panel: Platypus Public Panel: “The American left and the ‘Black Question’: From politics to protest to the post-political” (Chicago, 2015) Panelists: Toby Chow, Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (SOUL) and The People’s Lobby; Brandon Johnson, Chicago Teachers Union (CTU); August Nimtz, author of Lenin's Electoral Strategy from 1907 to the October Revolution of 1917 (2014) https://platypus1917.org/2015/05/02/american-left-black-question-politics-protest-post-political/

Hosted by Sophia, Pamela and Andreas W., with original tracks by Tamas Vilaghy, and editing assistance by Michael Woodson.