Movement Memos

“In the coming years, we are going to have to practice our skills and our politics in ways that we probably can’t fully imagine right now, because we live in unprecedented times.” In this episode, Kelly and organizer Carlos Saavedra talk about burnout, building power and how our pandemic exhaustion could give way to an era of breakthroughs. You can find a transcript, audio and show notes on our we...

“Texas is playing by its own rules on immigration and deputizing police from as far away as Iowa to participate in Abbott’s state-level war on migrants. The implications here are just horrifying,” says Kelly Hayes. In this episode of Movement Memos, Kelly examines recent events in Del Rio, Texas, where Black asylum-seekers were brutalized and faced mass deportations, and also highlights Operation...

We have witnessed the evolution of a social and moral binary in the United States: vaccinated and unvaccinated. Immersed in a culture of blame and condemnation, around the spread of COVID-19, we have also seen the rise of a brand of humor that Kelly characterizes as “recreational dehumanization.” So how should we be talking about vaccination and mass death, and how can we be constructive? In this...

“Fascist ideologies really rely on systems of bordering and ordering, of deciding who has the right to life and under what conditions,” says Harsha Walia. In this episode of Movement Memos, Kelly Hayes examines the state of right-wing power in the United States, and engages with commentary from authors Shane Burley and Sarah Kendzior, writer and organizer Harsha Walia, and President of the Texas ...

Ten years after Occupy Wall Street embodied the hopes and outrage of people across the country, Kelly and labor journalist Sarah Jaffe talk about what we can learn from a movement that launched a new and unruly era of protest. You can find a transcript, audio and show notes on our website.

“We're talking about a heavily armed populace that's radicalizing itself [and] self traumatizing through its own mythology.” In this episode, Kelly talks with author Shane Burley about the state of fascism in the Biden era, mutual aid, and building movements during apocalyptic times. For a transcript, audio and show notes, you can check out our website: https://truthout.org/series/movement-memos/

“People end up in prison for a reason, but it's not the reason that we're fed by all of these cop shows." In this episode of Movement Memos, Kelly Hayes talks with journalist Victoria Law about prisons, why they don’t work, and what even well-meaning people tend to get wrong about incarceration. You can find a transcript, audio and show notes on our website: https://truthout.org/series/movement-me...

"The goal of a supremacist state is to have a monopoly on the legitimacy of violence," says Palestinian writer and organizer Lea Kayali. In this episode, Kelly and Lea Kayali explore the history of Israeli violence against Palestinians – and the colonial dynamics that enable it – and discuss what you can do about it. For a transcript, audio and show notes, you can check our website: https://trutho...

Republicans are waging a nationwide attack on voting rights and the right to protest. Kelly compares these efforts with the laws and conventions that ushered in the Jim Crow era, and talks with voting rights organizer Toni Watkins about how targeted communities are fighting back. For a transcript, audio and show notes, you can check out our website: https://truthout.org/series/movement-memos/

After a year of upheaval and pandemic, and the unlikely conviction of a police officer, Minneapolis organizers Jonathan Stegall and D.A. Bullock talk with Kelly about what they have built and learned in the last year, what Derek Chauvin’s conviction does not accomplish, and what they hope people will do now as the struggle against policing continues. For a transcript, audio and show notes, you can...

“There are so many ways the system robs people of life, and police are out there daily, enacting that theft.” Kelly talks about the Chauvin verdict and the murder of Adam Toledo, and discusses the history and current state of policing with Alex Vitale, author of the book, The End of Policing. You can find a transcript, audio and show notes on our website: truthout.org/series/movement-memos/

Our pre-pandemic "normal" was a deathtrap. So what should we be building instead? And how should we talk about it? In this episode, Kelly talks with artist and organizer Jayeesha Dutta about letting normalcy die and creating something new. You can find a transcript, audio and show notes on our website.

Capitalism is a death march, but it’s one we’re told we should find fulfilling. In this episode of Movement Memos, Kelly talks with author Sarah Jaffe about the manipulation, surveillance and criminalization of workers under capitalism, and what we can do about it. You can find a transcript, audio and show notes on our website.

As we navigate the wreckage of the Trump administration, how can we respond to crisis from a place of power? In the season finale of Movement Memos, Kelly Hayes and Ejeris Dixon talk about the dangers we still face, the relationships we need, and how we can help each other do more than simply survive these times. For a transcript, audio and show notes, you can check out our website.

“Now that Donald Trump is going to be out of the office, and the narrative is that he is out of office illegitimately, it gives them a defining cause. They now live in a stolen country, a failed state where they're the renegade truth tellers. And that's the kind of bonding that can last for years." Kelly talks with Shane Burley about confronting far-right violence in the Biden era. For a transcrip...

As Trump’s reality TV presidency comes to an end, Kelly Hayes and author Sarah Kendzior talk about what to expect in these final days, and what the future might hold. You can find audio, a transcript and show notes on our website.

2020 was a year of catastrophe and collective struggle. Now, we have a new era of organizing and action to gear up for. In this special New Year's episode of Movement Memos, Kelly revisits some of the lessons we learned this year from guests like Mariame Kaba, Shane Burley, Brant Rosen and L.A. Kauffman.  You can find audio, a transcript and show notes on our website.

The second wave is killing 130 people per day in Illinois. So why are Chicago Public Schools reopening on January 11? Kelly talks with Chicago public school teacher Silvia Gonzalez about the perils of Chicago’s hybrid reopening plan and why “simultaneous instruction” simply doesn’t make sense. You can find a transcript audio and show notes on our website.

It’s easy to forget in the fog of Trumpism that mass privatization, the dismantling of this country’s social safety net, escalating corporate welfare and the mass expansion of prisons are all bipartisan projects. Kelly talks about the neoliberal policies we can expect from the Biden administration and how we can fight them. You can find a transcript, audio and show notes on our website.

The Senate runoffs in Georgia could change everything. Here’s what you need to know, what you can do to help, and what you absolutely should not do. For a transcript, audio and show notes, you can check out our website.

"Our society created the framework for this atrocity just like the trenches of World War I created perfect incubation zones for the 1918 flu." Kelly talks with Eric, an organizer with Oakland Abolition and Solidarity about the escalating COVID-19 outbreak at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility, where some imprisoned people have launched a hunger strike over unsafe, unlivable conditio...

Now that the Trump administration has an expiration date, some have argued that Trump's refusal to concede and his retaliatory governance will be of no consequence. But Trump is a showman rebelling against a narrative of loss and humiliation. Kelly talks about what's at stake and why downplaying the risks we face is irresponsible. For a transcript with audio and show notes, you can check out our w...

Need a break from doom scrolling? Kelly Hayes and Tanuja Jagernauth interrupt the aggravating suspense of Election Day with a grounding conversation about learning to inhabit uncertainty. You can find a transcript, audio and show notes on our website.

What will protest look like during a fascist power grab? Kelly talks with Shane Burley, author of Fascism Today: What It is and How to End It, about what protesters will be up against in the coming days and what it will take to win. For a transcript, audio and show notes, you can check out our website. You won't want to miss the training and action resources in the show notes of this week's episod...

Fear can crowd out our imaginations and dampen our compassion. What does it take to hold onto hope in these times? Kelly reflects on the worldbuilding poetics of organizing. You can find a transcript, audio and show notes on our website.