Interdependent Study

With the increased presence of ICE in our cities, schools, and health care facilities, it is more important than ever for the media, journalists, and health care workers to avoid copagandist rhetoric and activity for the safety and well-being of our communities. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the resource “Don’t Be A Copagandist: Health Care Workers Edition” by Interrupting Criminalization, wh...

Policing (and the police state) is deeply connected to and intertwined with capitalism, imperialism, and anti-Black racism. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the book Their End Is Our Beginning: Cops, Capitalism, and Abolition by brian bean (and published by Haymarket Books), which explores and analyzes the history and roots of policing in global capitalism around the world, how policing is inter...

The leadership of the Democratic Party is way too focused on the surge of support for left-wing and democratic socialist candidates as opposed to the fascist administration running the country. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the piece “The Democrats’ ‘Woke’ Panic and the Left’s Response”, featuring a conversation between the Hammer & Hope team with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor in Hammer & H...

There are so many ways that we are financially contributing to corporate power and the oppression economy through our collective money. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the piece “How Our Money Feeds Corporate Power”, featuring a conversation between Emanuel Nieves (Liberation in a Generation), Sue Holmberg (Institute for Local Self-Reliance), and Lenore Palladino (University of Massachusetts Am...

Surveillance technology from Flock Security has been installed across the country and is being used in suspicious and dangerous ways by law enforcement agencies. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the pieces “Cops Are Using Flock to Spy on People for the Crime of Standing Around” by Sam Biddle and “Flock Wants the Most Detailed Map of its Surveillance Cameras Taken Offline” by Nikita Mazurov in Th...

There is a clear connection between zombies and foreign bodies—the racialized Other—in our media, pop culture, politics, and society, especially in the aftermath of the September 11th Attacks. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the pieces “Post-9/11 zombie terrorism” and “Zombies at the border” by Sherronda J. Brown in Scalawag, which highlight and analyze the history, role, and impact of the conc...

There’s so much to learn from the life, work, and legacy of civil rights activist, organizer, and lawyer Walter Riley. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the book Civil Rights and Structural Attacks: Conversations with Walter Riley, edited by Jesse Strauss (and published by AK Press), which features a conversation between Walter Riley and Jesse Strauss in which Riley shares political reflections a...

There is a clear and chilling connection between the actions of the authoritarian regime of the United States and the authoritarian regime of Israel. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the piece “Israel’s New Lynching Law Was Inspired by America’s Death Penalty” by Khury Petersen-Smith in Hammer & Hope, which highlights and analyzes the planning and passage of Israel’s new Death Penalty for Te...

The role and impact of public banking and broadband infrastructure and services is critically important in our lives and for our communities. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the piece “Lessons From Fights For Public Control of Banking and Broadband Infrastructure”, featuring a conversation between Adem Sengal, Trinity Tran, and Sean Gonsalves in The Forge (in collaboration with Liberation in a...

Anti-trans ideology and rhetoric has escalated over the years, and it is important for the media to be responsible with its reporting and coverage of these issues. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the resource “Don’t Be A Copagandist: Trans Criminalization Edition” by Arielle Rebekah (from Trans & Caffeinated Communications) and Lewis Raven Wallace and Andrea J. Ritchie (from Interrupting Cr...

The role and impact of carceral AI technologies on our children in our schools and communities is extremely troublesome and only serves to push our children into the school-to-prison pipeline. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the piece “The Algorithmic School-to-Prison Pipeline” by Nicholas E. Stewart in Inquest, which highlights and analyzes the dangerous impact of various carceral AI technolog...

The lessons learned from the history of Indigenous resistance are an important part of our collective liberation. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the book Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance by Nick Estes (originally published by Verso Books and republished by Haymarket Books), which outlines and analyzes th...

The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Louisiana v. Callais has essentially reversed the profound progress that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 helped to usher into this country. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the piece “The Supreme Court Blesses the Destruction of Black Electoral Power” by Vincent M. Southerland in Hammer & Hope, which analyzes the Supreme Court’s recent Louisiana v. Callai...

The role and impact of corporate power and monopoly power in this country on the economy and on marginalized communities has been significant. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the piece “How We Beat Corporate Power Before”, featuring a conversation between Adem Sengal, Ron Knox, and Candace Milner in The Forge (in collaboration with Liberation in a Generation), which explores and analyzes the hi...

There is power in community-based organizing and mutual aid to care for each other and fight for the world we all need and deserve. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the book Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next) by Dean Spade (and published by Verso Books), which outlines and analyzes mutual aid as an organizing tactic and strategy for building solidarity and addressi...

The language in and about the Declaration of Independence is telling of the current state of the United States today. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the piece “Do You Understand Your Own Language?” by Robin D. G. Kelley in Hammer & Hope, which explores the language in and about the Declaration of Independence and critiques and analysis of the document by Black radicals, thinkers, and aboli...

There is a clear connection between anti-Blackness and racism to the state of the political economy of the United States. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the piece “Over 160 Years After Abolition, Anti-Black Racism Still Structures US Economy” by CJ Polychroniou in Truthout, which is a conversation between CJ Polychroniou and economic scholars Michelle Holder and Jeannette Wicks-Lim about how a...

The role and impact of carceral AI technologies in our criminal punishment system and on our society is significant, outrageous, and dangerous. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the piece “Precrime Is No Longer Science Fiction” by Sarah Fathallah in Inquest, which highlights and analyzes the dangerous impact of biometric technologies to predict the likelihood of crime and criminality and expand t...

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s work with Black and Latino gang members in Chicago in the 1960s shows his commitment to engaging young people in the Black freedom struggle. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the piece “The Martin Luther King Jr. We Don’t Know” by Jeanne Theoharis in Hammer & Hope, which highlights and analyzes the history of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s lesser known work with Bla...

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is here, but it is fueled by an undercurrent and history of sportswashing and corruption. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the book Red Card: The 2026 World Cup, Sportswashing, and the FIFA Greed Machine by Jules Boykoff (and published by OR Books), which analyzes and critiques the history and impact of sportswashing, politics, corruption, and authoritarianism on FIFA and...

The role and impact of carceral AI technologies in our criminal punishment system and on our society is significant, outrageous, and dangerous. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the piece “Carceral AI is here. It’s time to fight back” by Dasha Pruss in Inquest, which highlights and analyzes the harmful effects of carceral AI technologies in our criminal punishment system across the country and ho...

The organizing work to curb runaway corporate power in the United States in the fight for housing justice is critically important and necessary. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the piece “When Disaster Strikes: Housing Inequality and The Rising Threat of Disaster Capitalism” featuring a conversation between Andrea Portillo, Iris Craige, Stella Adams, and Audrey Aradanas in The Forge (in collabo...

The powerful #StopCopCity movement is part of the larger fight for police abolition, for racial, social, Indigenous, and environmental justice, and for the survival of every living creature on the planet. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the book No Cop City, No Cop World: Lessons from the Movement, edited by Kamau Franklin, Micah Herskind, and Mariah Parker (and published by Haymarket Books), w...

The effects of plantocracy, slavery, racism, capitalism, and white supremacy have had a lasting impact on labor and life in the South. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the piece “May Day: Exporting the Southern Plantocracy” by Sherronda J. Brown, Tea Troutman, and Aarohi Sheth in Scalawag, which explores and analyzes the ways the ruling class in the South has combined anti-Blackness and anti-lab...

The organizing work to curb runaway corporate power in the United States is critically important and necessary. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss two pieces in The Forge, including “The Corporate Power of It All” by Adem Sengal and Emanuel Nieves and “The Contours of Corporate Power” featuring an interview between Katherine Diaz, Sofia Lopez, and Corrine Hendrickson, which highlight and analyze t...