A debate/discussion, about whether working people should support the Democratic Party, between 3 guests:

Samuel Doten - A lifelong Minnesotan, who was an uncommitted delegate to the 2024 Democratic National Convention. Also a previous chair of Stonewall DFL and a founder of the Democratic Socialist Caucus of the DFL.

Penelope Mace - A resident of Southeastern Minnesota and long time leftist activist. One of the first campaigns she worked on was the United Farmworkers Organizing Committee consumer boycott of table grapes.

Tracy Carson - Podcaster and one of the Lead Organizers for the Cornel West for President 2024 campaign out of Indianapolis, Indiana.

Special Interview Recorded (1/9/2025) and Uploaded (1/30/2025)

In this special we speak with Tom Goodkind long time Socialist and Labor Activist based in Boston. He is a member of Liberation Road and wrote the article, “Stop Talking About That” Working-class politics can’t avoid fighting white and male privilege, which appeared on Liberation Road Notes on Substack (https://liberationroad.substack.com/p/stop-talking-about-that)

Links related to today's interview:

“Stop Talking About That” Working-class politics can’t avoid fighting white and male privilege: https://liberationroad.substack.com/p/stop-talking-about-that

The Path for Socialism Is Focus: https://inthesetimes.com/article/socialism-economic-populism-democrats-harris-trump

Fred Hampton (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hampton

Rainbow Coalition (Fred Hampton) (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Coalition_(Fred_Hampton)

Labor's "Barbarossa" Moment: https://liberationroad.substack.com/p/labors-barbarossa-moment?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Los Angeles Teachers’ Road to Durable Power, Part 1: 2014–2016: https://convergencemag.com/articles/los-angeles-teachers-road-to-durable-power-part-1-2014-2016/

How Labor Can Fight Trump’s Authoritarianism: https://convergencemag.com/articles/how-labor-can-fight-trumps-authoritarianism/

Special Interview Recorded (12/3/2024) and Uploaded (1/23/2025)

In this special we speak with longtime South Minneapolis resident Matt Pogatshnik (https://www.instagram.com/bozodeluxe/). "Matt Pogatshnik likes to walk." That is the first line of an article titled Where’s All the Good Garage Art in South Minneapolis? These Guys Know (https://racketmn.com/wheres-all-the-good-garage-art-in-south-minneapolis-these-guys-know). The article is by Em Cassel and in it Pagatshnik discusses where to find good garage murals in South Minneapolis.

In this special we discuss South Minneapolis, Garage Murals and The Situationists (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situationist_International).

I read some of the introductory paragraphs from this work:

The Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord: https://files.libcom.org/files/The%20Society%20of%20the%20Spectacle%20Annotated%20Edition.pdf

Other Links to Items Covered in this podcast:

The Stroll (Andy Sturdevant): https://www.minnpost.com/category/stroll/

Andy Sturdevant’s Professional Website: https://andysturdevant.com/

NEWS + REVOLUTIONARY OPTIMISM PERSPECTIVES + MUSIC

NEWS:

City invests nearly $18.5 million into affordable housing projects: https://www.longfellownokomismessenger.com/stories/city-invests-nearly-185-million-into-affordable-housing-projects,94203

Someone Thought this was a Good Idea: https://alleynews.org/2025/01/someone-thought-this-was-a-good-idea/

No injuries reported in 2 separate south Minneapolis encampment fires: https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/fire-burns-south-minneapolis-encampment/

A letter to highway removal skeptics: https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/01/09/a-letter-to-highway-removal-skeptics/by.

St. Paul encampment residents unsure where to relocate in face of impending eviction: https://sahanjournal.com/housing/st-paul-homeless-encampment-hmong-eviction/

King’s fight for justice is a universal struggle: https://spokesman-recorder.com/2025/01/11/mlk-speaks-on-justice-minnesota/

Strike at Essentia’s Deer River hospital stretches into second month — and other labor news: https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/01/10/strike-at-essentias-deer-river-hospital-stretches-into-second-month-and-other-labor-news/

L.A. Fires Should Be a Climate Wake-Up Call: 5 Dead, 130K+ Evacuated in Uncontained “Apocalypse”: https://www.democracynow.org/2025/1/9/la_wildfires_2025_climate_crisis

Hollywood Reporter Declares FROM GROUND ZERO: "Nothing Short of a Miracle": https://www.michaelmoore.com/p/hollywood-reporter-declares-from?utm_source=substack&publication_id=320974&post_id=154688352&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&utm_campaign=email-share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true&r=27g35e&triedRedirect=true

The War in Ukraine, Trump’s Election and the Fall of Assad’s Regime: https://www.socialistworld.net/2024/12/09/the-war-in-ukraine-trumps-election-and-the-fall-of-bashar-al-assads-regime/

SNV Special Interview: Discussion On The Developments In Syria: https://soundcloud.com/socialistnewsandviews/snv-special-interview-discussion-on-the-developments-in-syria

EXTRA: Update From Syria - Full Interview with Thomas Schmidinger: https://soundcloud.com/socialistnewsandviews/extra-update-from-syria-full-interview-with-thomas-schmidinger

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REVOLUTIONARY OPTIMISM PERSPECTIVES

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MUSIC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zldBpcAEWM

(NOTE: A video version of this podcast is available on Urban Cabins Studios YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW1Tfz0I6nA&t=3s)

Special Interview Recorded (1/2/2024) and Uploaded (1/9/2024)

In this special interview we speak with:

Hisham Arafat a Kurdish Syrian journalist from Rojava who has been covering the conflict in Iraq and Syria for over 10 years. In 2023 he was the winner of the 2023 Kurt Schork News Fixer Award in International Journalism by Thomson Reuters.

Lucas Chapman also joins us. Chapman worked in Northeast Syria for many years as a journalist an editor and correspondent for North Press Agency and now works freelance.

Syria war live tracker: Maps and charts (Dec 11 2024): https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/3/syria-tracker-maps-and-charts

#Kurdish #Syrian #Rojava

(****UPCOMING EVENT: Healthcare Workers for Palestine - Twin Cities - Sick From Genocide - Monday January 6th from 10:30am-12pm at Stewart Park - 2700 12th Ave S - Across from Abbott Hospital)

Special Report Recorded (12/27/2024) and Uploaded (1/2/2024)

On November 20th 2024 I attended an online event titled Jubilee School: Fund Healthcare, Not Genocide with Debt Collective (https://debtcollective.org/) and Healthcare Workers for Palestine (https://sites.google.com/view/hcwforpalestine?usp=sharing).

In this special we speak with Emily Birnbaum who is a Family Nurse Practitioner and is in school to become a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. Birnbaum is organizing for Medical Debt Abolition within Debt Collective which works for Debt Abolition.

If you want to be involved in the Debt Strike for the Abolition of Medical Debt please reach out to Emily by email at: emily(at)debtcollective.org

Special Report (12/26/2024)

In this special we discuss the 1984-85 UK Miners Strike (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984%E2%80%931985_United_Kingdom_miners%27_strike) which took place 40 years ago. That year was the year I was born. That winter my parents took me with them when they went to bring Christmas presents to the Miners children in Wales.

This special gives an overview of some of the coverage from the Socialist Press month by month during the strike for a very brief overview of events. My parents also both share the experience of visiting the Miners children. We end with a recipe (https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1005633704916943&set=a.455473069933012) and also sprinkle in a couple great working-class carols from Emmett Doyle (https://edoylemusic.weebly.com/)

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LINKS TO ITEMS DISCUSSED IN THIS SPECIAL:

Miners Strike - TV-am feature - 7th March 1984: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq8m0syu2N4

Socialist Action (Mar 1984): https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/socialist-action-uk/049-mar-16-1984-SA-UK.pdf

Now Rest Us All We Working Folk: https://soundcloud.com/user-310458959/now-rest-us-all-we-working?in=user-310458959/sets/radical-christmas-carols

Workers Hammer (Mar 1984): https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/workers-power-uk/Workers%20Power%20no52-Mar84.pdf

Trade Union Revolutionary Opposition (April 1984): https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/uk.hightide/rcpb-miners.pdf

Step Up the Mass Struggles of the Workers for Their Rights and Against the Capitalist Exploiters!

May Day Statement of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist)

May 1, 1984: https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/uk.hightide/rcpb-may-84.htm

Tony Cliff - Miners after three months – a crisis of leadership (9 June 1984): https://www.marxists.org/archive/cliff/works/1984/06/miners.html

SPartacists Britain (July 1984): https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/spartacist-uk/059_1984_07_british-spart.pdf

The Leninist (August 1984): https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/sections/britain/periodicals/the-leninist/The%20Leninist%20n11.pdf

Workers Socialist Review - Magazine of the Workers Socialist League (Autumn 1984): https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/wsl/WSR4-editorial.htm

This is Class War: https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/socialist-organiser-uk/n198-September-27-1984-so.pdf

Miners' strike 1984: Why UK miners walked out and how it ended: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-68244762

Renew the Offensive: https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/workers-power-uk/Workers%20Power%20no66-Nov84.pdf

Socialist Action (Dec 21 1984) (CHRISTMAS on PAGE 10): https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/socialist-action-uk/083-dec-21-1984-SA-UK.pdf

Miners Message to Thatcher: https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/militant/1985/734-01-02-1985.pdf

Anarchy, Defeat and the Miners (Page 6): https://freedomnews.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Freedom-1985-03.pdf

Molotovs! (tune of "Jingle Bells"): https://soundcloud.com/user-310458959/molotovs-tune-of-jingle-bells?in=user-310458959/sets/radical-christmas-carols

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OTHER READINGS:

Alex Callinicos & Mike Simons - The Great Strike (1985): https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/callinicos/1985/miners/index.html

John Saville - An Open Conspiracy - Conservative Politics and the Miners’ Strike 1984-5: https://www.marxists.org/archive/saville/1985/08/miners.htm

Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) - Protracted Struggle and the Working Class:

Jack Robertson - 25 years after the Great Miners’ Strike: https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape//isj2/2010/isj2-126/robertson.html

Dave Hayes - Thirty years on: the Socialist Workers Party and the Great Miners’ Strike: https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/isj2/2014/isj2-142/hayes.html

#syria #kurdistan #marxism

In this interview we speak with Thomas Schmidinger, who is an Associated Professor at the University of Kurdistan Hewlêr (UKH) in Iraqi Kurdistan. He also teaches at the University of Vienna and he is a Political Scientist and a Social Anthropologist focused on Syria, Iraq, Kurdistan, religion & state, and religious extremism.

He is also the author of several books including the following:

Rojava: Revolution, War and the Future of Syria's Kurds: https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745337722/rojava/?fbclid=IwY2xjawHOvOZleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHYLrSdd3-n9O5M58NylNonYmJtu7owrvApnB3HwV-Acvoql1tpLj5KSulA_aem_aViAhk8L6uVNjj8Q3E5yTQ

The Battle for the Mountain of the Kurds: Self-Determination and Ethnic Cleansing in the Afrin Region of Rojava (e-book): https://www.pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1039&fbclid=IwY2xjawHOvOtleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHa_IhEvxKlohHLPVJPzpbEpSxCkM9DBYPFiKPR8p7h-ijPBViGKc2KX9CA_aem_BKS6cddcvo0zLh5p279rgw

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria: https://www.tplondon.com/product/autonomous-northeast_syria/?fbclid=IwY2xjawHOvPBleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHef077kTfs6jZVeVob9XLq8lUbtEdkBsz_X7zrzu_9iV1XMduUAPAmHcjw_aem_cXUM1o-ErfwGy-PHSCVMvg

NEWS + ESSAY + SPEECH by Julius Nyerere - The Party Must Speak For The People.

NEWS:

‘Frustrating and disappointing’: Internal emails reveal Minnesota Pollution Control scrambled to respond to Smith Foundry pollution, downplayed harm : https://sahanjournal.com/climate-environment/mpca-epa-smith-foundry-minneapolis-scrambled-response/

FBI raids Minnesota autism treatment centers for alleged fraud, notes ties to Feeding Our Future case: https://sahanjournal.com/news/autism-center-raid-minneapolis-st-cloud-feeding-our-future/

Advocates brace for demand on Minnesota’s reproductive healthcare system in face of second Trump term: https://sahanjournal.com/health/minnesota-abortion-reproductive-health-access-donald-trump/

Liberals, the Dems and Non-Profits Are Bankrupt and Have No Answers: https://twincitiesdsa.org/2024/12/liberals-the-dems-and-non-profits-are-bankrupt-and-have-no-answers/

Uhuru 3 beat prison time at sentencing hearing: https://fightbacknews.org/articles/uhuru-3-beat-prison-time-at-sentencing-hearing

(FULL VIDEO) of Update From Syria: Socialist News and Views Interview with Thomas Schmidinger, who is an Associated Professor at the University of Kurdistan Hewlêr (UKH) in Iraqi Kurdistan. He also teaches at the University of Vienna and he is a Political Scientist and a Social Anthropologist focused on Syria, Iraq, Kurdistan, religion & state, and religious extremism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q75yNr-pR_4&t=51s

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ESSAY "Gallinas/Chickens": https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hens-dr-vivek-k-n-singh-bgabe

by anarchist Rafael Barrett: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Barrett

Agustin Barrios - Salida del Paraguay 1910 - 1912: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1XyK-oXdsA

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SPEECH by Julius Nyerere - The Party Must Speak For The People: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1MXsB7A89Y/

Julius Nyerere: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Nyerere

Tanzania National Anthem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0-6s9RYVtA

Special Interview Recorded (12/3/2024) and Uploaded (12/12/2024)

(NOTE: A video of this interview is available from Urban Cabin Studios here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2PYfyuCKSc)

In this special we speak with Robbie Orr about his book that came out this year titled Crashing Into America: A Radical Passage From India.

You can pick up a paperback or e-book of Crashing Into America: A Radical Passage From India by Robbie Orr here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/crashing-into-america-robbie-orr/1145316488