If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon page for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!
On this episode, Roqayah and Kumars are all alone! No guest this week, but plenty of discussion about what we've learned during this first year of Delete Your Account. It's been a difficult year for everyone left-of-center, and, if we are going to be honest with ourselves, a lot of our assumptions have been seriously challenged. We talk about some of the most important lessons we learned from our guests over the past 29 episodes, and how we can utilize those lessons to work toward a better world in 2017 and beyond. Kumars and Roqayah also talk about what the Holiday season means to each of them, and there's even some singing at the end. We promise the singing is short and relatively painless.
Merry Christmars!!!
If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon page for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!
On this episode, Kumars and Roqayah speak with Melissa Mays, a resident of Flint, Michigan and mother of three who founded Water You Fighting For, a grassroots organization dedicated to spreading awareness of the Flint water crisis and fighting for justice for the residents of Flint. For nearly three years, the residents of Flint, Michigan, have had contaminated water running through their faucets, tainted by lead and other dangerous pollutants since the city started drawing its water from the polluted Flint River in April of 2014. Since then, the people of Flint have been forced to rely on bottled water for everything from drinking to cooking. To date, as many as 12,000 children in Flint have been exposed to high levels of lead.
Melissa tells us about the serious health consequences she and her family have dealt with as a result of using their own tap water. She describes how Michigan's emergency manager law allowed an un-elected bureaucrat to switch Flint's water source, and how a $150-a-day corrosion control method was eliminated, causing $1.5 billion in damage to infrastructure alongside immeasurable damage to the health of Flint residents. She also talks about the role of the state and federal governments in covering up the true extent of the crisis.
We also ask Melissa how she went from being a music promoter with no activism experience to being the leader of a social justice organization. We talk about how race and class have impacted both the government's response to the crisis, as well as her organizing work. She gives tips for people who are considering organizing around water quality and access in their own communities, as well as advice for how to connect with organizers in other cities doing this work.
You can find Melissa on twitter at @FlintGate.
If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon page for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!
On this episode, Kumars and Roqayah speak with Alexis Goldstein, a writer, activist, and Senior Policy Analyst at Americans for Financial Reform, a non-profit coalition of more than 200 groups fighting for a financial system that serves the interests of all people, rather than just the interests of rich oligarchs. Alexis used to work for Wall Street before she started working against Wall Street, participating in the Occupy Wall Street movement and co-authoring Occupy the SEC’s 325-page comment letter to financial regulators urging for stronger regulation of big banks.
Alexis tells us about Trump's choice for Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs banker Steven Mnuchin, and his history of racist lending practices and profiting off of the backs of mistreated homeowners. We also discuss Trump's pick for Director of the National Economic Council, Goldman Sachs President and COO Gary Cohn, and what his choice means for the future of financial policy. We ask Alexis about ways to fight back, including rolling jubilees, debt strikes, and creative projects like the Angry Alumni Association. We also talk about ways we can pressure local and state governments, as well as powerful establishment groups like the Human Rights Campaign, to resist the erosion of our financial regulatory system.
Read Alexis' letter to Human Rights Campaign calling on them to exert more pressure on financial institutions.
You can find Alexis on twitter at @alexisgoldstein. Also check out her podcast Humorless Queers.
Resources discussed on the show:
Fun links from the show:
Actual trailer for Westworld that we spoofed
Write-up about the podcast in Merry Jane
Show transcript coming soon!
If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon page for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!
On this episode, Kumars and Roqayah speak with returning guest Mariame Kaba, though most of you know her as @prisonculture on Twitter. If you're not familiar with Mariame, she's a brilliant organizer whose work focuses primarily on dismantling the prison industrial complex. She's the founder of Project NIA, which is an advocacy group focused on ending youth incarceration. She's also co-founded a number of other organizations including the Chicago Taskforce on Violence against Girls and Young Women.
Mariame had such a positive impact on us when she was on our show last and we wanted to make sure to have her back on the show post-Trump. We ask Mariame her thoughts on what kinds of organizing groups people should be getting involved with, and whether she feels engaging with the Democratic party on the local level is a viable strategy or a waste of time. We discuss the recent controversy surrounding identity politics and why Mariame thinks the mythical concept of unity is a distraction. We also discuss various strategies for organizing and the roles that direct action and confronting fascists head-on will play in the next several years. Mariame tells us the next big fight will be on Medicare privatization, and that it presents a perfect opportunity to put our best organizing theories to the test. Mariame throws down the gauntlet: Get. Your. People.
Also, don't forget to check out Mariame's writing on her blog!
Finally, check out the interview transcript.