Midwest Socialist

It has been fifty years since the summer of 1968, when Chicago was turned on its head by popular action and police violence. This month, we will publish the first-hand accounts of people who lived through that summer. At this year's May Day march, we spoke to Chicago documentary filmmaker Peter Kuttner, who worked with the Newsreel collective and the Mobe to record images of the protests that overtook the city.

For this episode we talked to a Chicago based sex worker about her experiences and the effect that the recently passed FOSTA/ SESTA legislation has and will have on her and other sex workers.

Because sex work is stigmatized, to protect her identity we are calling her by the pseudonym Kit.

For the first half of the podcast we discuss her views on the FOSTA/SESTA legislation specifically and in the second half we talk more about sex work as physical and emotional labor. As a feminist, anarchist kit brings a unique perspective to the topic.

***CONTENT WARNING: This episode discusses topics including human trafficking, sexual assault and abuse. It has not been censored for content or language.

For more information on how to fight FOSTA/SESTA check out @supporthosechi and @SWOPchicago

André and Eleanor attempt to have a wedding that aligns with their politics. We touch on themes of the personal as the political, tradition versus individuality, and the challenges of making a life together under capitalism.

Frank Diekman speaks to Chicago anti-war activists.

Frank Diekman and Sean Duffy talk about war propaganda, and a vet of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars talks about combat and trauma. The first of two episodes on the subject of war.

We spoke with members of the CDSA Labor Working Group about organizing labor in Chicago and elsewhere.

CDSA members talk about their own relationships to religion.

Philip Dinolfo leads a roundtable on religion and atheism in socialism. We speak to Kimball Avenue Church pastor Bruce Ray and lead organizer for Seminarians for Justice, Samantha Nichols.

If you'd like to learn more about the campaign to secure mental health resources for Logan Square and Hermosa, please visit the Logan Square Ecumenical Alliance on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/LoganSquareEcumencialAlliance/

The CDSA Electoral Working Group churns through the results of last week's Illinois primary.

Seven long years of civil war in Syria have displaced millions of people and empowered terrorists groups such as the Islamic State. But amid the chaos, a Kurdish-led coalition in the northern part of the country has established a self-governing democracy known as the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria, or Rojava, dedicated to a socialist feminist vision of society built around grassroots civic participation. In this episode, Chicago DSA’s Charles Austin speaks about the movement for democracy and equality in Syria with activists in Chicago and a member of the YPG combat forces in Rojava.