Groundings

This is part two of a special report on Venezuela, in collaboration with Venezuelanalysis.com.

First I speak with Christina Schiavoni, scholar and activist who deals with issues of food, food sovereignty, and agriculture. Her work in Venezuela has been very important to dispelling misinformation about food, food shortages, and agricultural production in Venezuela, as well as the great strides towards food sovereignty that the Bolivarian Revolution has made. We specifically reference an essay of hers titled "The Politics of Food in Venezuela" that masterfully combats myths and intentional misinformation surrounding the subject.

Then Jeanette Charles of Venezuelanalysis.com interviews Dr. Akinyele Umoja, head of Georgia State University's Black Studies department and co-founder of the Malcom X Grassroots Movement. Akinyele is a friend of the Walter Rodney Foundation and has an incredible ability to tie relevant historical information in Black history with the social, political, and cultural movements of today. In this interview he discusses the long history of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement doing solidarity work with Afro-Venezuelans, how the Bolivarian Revolution was a Black revolution, and how the government has taken great strides to help African people both in Venezuela and throughout the entire diaspora. Dr. Umoja has traveled several times to Venezuela, including for the International Meeting on Reparations for African peoples which was held in Caracas.

A very special thank you to Jonathan Chai-Chang Azterbaum, who did post-production for this episode, as well as part 1. If you missed part 1, where we cover the grassroots activist perspectives of the importance of the Bolivarian Revolution and elections in Venezuela, you can listen here.

In collaboration with Venezuelanalysis.com, this is part one of a two-part special on current events in Venezuela, as well as the historical developments which have led to the country being the target of an international imperialist campaign, conducted by the U.S., to remove the popularly elected President Maduro and install a Western puppet via a coup. We remove the imperialist propaganda dominating the news and interview four different people whose analyses are key to understanding Venezuela, the Bolivarian Revolution, U.S. imperialism, grassroots activism, sanctions, race, gender and agriculture in the country, and so much more.

For part one, you will hear an interview with Jeanette Charles from Venezuelanalysis.com, who gives a general overview of what is occurring in Venezuela: Western governments, lead by the U.S., supporting a coup attempt by an unelected representative of an elite opposition party. Then we speak with human rights lawyer and author Dan Kovalik, who was an official observer of Venezuela's elections, who discusses the important process of elections and the trend of U.S. election meddling across the world.

Writer, academic, and activist Max Ajl discusses his critique of the Green New Deal, which particularly looks at the ways in which the Green New Deals intentionally leaves out the Global South and functions to preserve a "green" version of industrial capitalism.

Then he explains what ecological catastrophe like global warming could mean for the Global South if left in our current state of global capitalism, and we explore revolutionary, agricultural alternatives to the Green New Deal that have emerged from the Third World. In short, full decolonization marks the future of hope in combating global ecological catastrophe.

Finally, we end on a conversation about food and agricultural sovereignty before Samir Amin's 'delinking' theory, which Ajl wrote about here, and says can be a powerful model for moving forward.

Documentary filmmaker, activist, and writer Rebecca Pierce discusses her work documenting the resistance of those most oppressed by the Israel apartheid state. We discuss the ways her work highlights the oppression and resistance of African migrants in Israel, how Palestinians exercise solidarity with those migrants, and how many groups that are oppressed by Israel form linkages of solidarity and action.

We also discuss the recent mass shootings at a synagogue in Pittsburgh and a Kroger in Kentucky, specifically how these two incidents are connected by similar white supremacist violence and how Rebecca, as someone who is both Jewish and Black, was impacted by these events. Then we briefly cover the legacy of Black-Palestinian solidarity.

You can find Rebecca's documentary work here, follow her on Facebook here, and on twitter @Aptly_engineerd.

Organizer and academic Annie Olaloku-Teriba discusses her recent essay, which is a critique of Afro-Pessimism, "anti-blackness" theory, and how these two things often negatively impact organizing spaces. We try to break down lots of academic jargon and wordy concepts to dive into a conversation which is crucial right now for Black studies and the movements it represents.

This is one of my favorite episodes yet; a conversation which dives deep into the world and currently contemptuous debates occurring in Black Studies, however discussed without leaving unfamiliar listeners behind—we make sure at every step to explain the contexts and meaning to what we're discussing.

A few of the books mentioned:

(This episode was a Patreon exclusive for several days prior to release elsewhere. )

In this episode, Native activist and writer Dani Miller breaks down the various ways that the brand identity of Coca-Cola, a brand known and admired worldwide, is built on a mountain of anti-Indigenous tropes, racism, and what she calls "conglomerate imperialism." She then discusses the need for a Native anti-imperialist perspective, connecting Indigenous struggles in the U.S. to struggles globally, and explores how normalizing the racist, imperialist marketing tactics of corporations like Coca-Cola has material impacts on Indigenous communities everywhere.

You can support this podcast on Patreon, follow Devyn on Twitter, and make sure to subscribe to stay updated on the latest episodes. If you or someone you know would make a great guest for an episode, send a tweet to Devyn and let them know!

Co-host of Millennials Are Killing Capitalism Jared Ware joins me for a conversation on the material practice of prison abolition. Prison abolition is such an imaginative theory, but beyond simply discussing Abolition as an idea, we target the question of what does abolitionist organizing look like, and what are we doing to work towards abolition? More than just this, we discuss what abolition means on a global scale, especially given the colonial and imperialist roots of the global prison-industrial-complex.

Then Jared discusses prison strikes, both the ways they come about and how incarcerated revolutionaries sustain them. Finally, Jared gives us the context of the upcoming nationwide #August21 prison strike. Then, Jared gives context to the #August21 nationwide prison strike and how folks can find ways to get involved.

This episode is in collaboration with and cross-posted between the #GroundingsPodcast (which you can support here) and Millennials Are Killing Capitalism (which you can support here).

In this episode I speak with writer, activist, and academic Yasmin Nair, who is highly critical of liberal narratives of "diversity" and TLGBQ+ "inclusion" inside of violent and imperialist institutions like the US military. Recently, Nair co-wrote a piece with Eli Massey which gave a radical left and queer critique of the mainstream push for trans inclusion in the military, and that serves as the basis for our discussion. Then, we discuss the intentional erasing of the legacy of radical queer anti-capitalist/anti-imperialist organizing, the problematic nature of reactionary gay politics like "legalize gay" and how they serve a white/capitalist class. Finally, we discuss the book "Against Equality", which she co-wrote.

In this special interview, we speak over the phone with two Black immigrants who are detained in Atlanta City Detention Center, as well as Kevin Caron, a local Atlanta organizer and abolitionist that does tremendous work with immigrant communities. Throughout the interview you will notice difficulties with telephone connection and communication; we decided not to edit these things out, and instead to leave these various difficulties in the audio as to expose the listeners to the vast difficulties that often come with trying to communicate with incarcerated people.

Mohammed, who is from Ghana, discusses his journey of coming to the US, the difficulties he has faced being a Black, Muslim immigrant in jail, the impact incarceration has on mental health, and the impossible challenges he has faced in trying to navigate the US immigration system.

The Richard, from Jamaica, discusses the inhumane conditions they face within the jails/detention centers, the legal battles that he has endured, and how these issues of immigration specifically impact African and Caribbean immigrants.

Finally we end with an interview with Kevin Caron, a local Atlanta organizer and abolitionist who does tremendous work with detained immigrants and throughout many immigrant communities. Kevin works with both Georgia Detention Watch and A World Without Police.

[DISCLAIMER: This interview was recorded in the beginning of May, and a few weeks after this interview was recorded we got word that Mohammed was freed in June and has safely returned to his home in Ghana.]

listen to our other episodes at Groundings.Simplecast.fm

Multi-disciplinary artist Bocafloja, one of Mexico's first rappers, discusses global politics and capitalism where they intersect with hip-hop. He also discusses his documentary Nana Dijo which explores anti-Blackness in Latin America. Along with this, we also have an in-depth conversation on navigating the capitalist music industry, cultural hegemony, and the social construct of the "conscious rapper."