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Podcast Series

Socialism Conference

The Socialism Conference is a four-day conference bringing together thousands of socialists and radical activists from around the country to take part in discussions about social movements, Marxism, abolition, working-class history, and the debates and strategies for organizing today. Every year, the Socialism conference aims to be a place where activists can share lessons from their struggles—from the BDS campaign for Palestine to the fight for gender liberation, from strike organizing and support to the struggle to stop the destruction of the planet, the fight against racism, and more. Socialism 2025 took place in Chicago over July 4th weekend, July 3-6. Recordings from many sessions at Socialism 2025 will be released here. Socialism 2026 will take place in Chicago, September 4-7, 2026. Learn more: socialismconference.org

Episodes

All Seasons Season 0
Dec 10, 2024
Season 0 Episode 0

Ending Sacrifice Zones: Fighting Racism and Imperialism through Climate Justice

Ray Acheson, Janene Yazzie, and Oscar Sanchez speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2024. This session was sponsored by CounterPunch. This panel will explore the frontline, grassroots struggles, and ongoing resistance to imperialism in so-called Sacrifice Zones, from battles against AUKUS in Australia to uranium mining in New Mexico to the toxic legacy on the Southside of Chicago. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, July 3-6. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!
Dec 10, 2024
Season 0 Episode 0

Solidarity Without Exception: The Left and the Struggle for National Liberation

Rafael Bernabe, Binish Ahmed, Denys Bondar, and Shireen Akram-Boshar speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2024. This session was sponsored by The Real News Network, Ukraine Solidarity Network, Against the Current, and Tempest. Oppressed nations from Palestine to Puerto Rico and Ukraine are fighting for liberation from their imperialist and sub-imperialist overlords. First in a series of panels to be broadcast on the Real News Network, speakers from these countries will explain why the international left should support their struggle for self-determination. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, July 3-6. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!
Dec 10, 2024
Season 0 Episode 0

Christian Zionism 101: What it is, Who's Behind it, & How to Fight it

Rev. Dr. Naomi Washington-Leaphart, Aidan Orly, Ben Lorber, Rev. Cristal Silva-McCormick and Annie Wilkinson speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2024. This session was sponsored by Political Research Associates. Researchers and anti-Zionist Christian faith leaders/organizers will explain what the Christian Zionist movement is and how it mobilizes Christians in the US and beyond to build support for Zionism and political power for its broader authoritarian agenda, and facilitate an informed audience discussion about how we can organize and build power to counter it. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, July 3-6. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!
Dec 10, 2024
Season 0 Episode 0

An Independent Guåhan: Indigenous Resistance and Self-Determination in the Face of US Imperialism

Michael Lujan Bevacqua, Monaeka Flores, Aren Quenga Kerr and Nathan Samayo speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2024. This session was sponsored by DSA. Guåhan (Guam), with its remote location in the Pacific and modest population of less than 170,000, is frequently neglected in discussions about US imperialism and decolonization. Despite this, the Chamoru people have resisted Western imperialism since Spanish colonization 400 years ago. Today, as an unincorporated territory of the US, the island is exploited by the military as the 'tip of the spear' in ongoing posturing with China. This panel will focus on the growing self-determination movement on Guåhan, driven by the urgent need to protect the island's cultural heritage and fragile ecosystem from catastrophic damage wrought by US imperialism. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, July 3-6. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!
Dec 10, 2024
Season 0 Episode 0

Abolishing the Child Welfare (aka Family Policing) System

Alan Dettlaff, Maya Pendleton, Josie Pickens, and Connease Warren speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2024. This session was sponsored by upEND Movement. The state has used the forcible separation of Black children from their families as a tool for over 400 years, and this continues today through the modern child welfare system. This session will discuss the harm this system perpetuates and the growing movement to work toward its abolition. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, July 3-6. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!
Dec 5, 2024
Season 0 Episode 0

The Gaza Genocide in Context: Histories and Futures of Palestinian Liberation

Abdel Razzaq Takriti speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2024. During the 1948 Nakba, most of southern Palestine was ethnically cleansed by settler-colonist militias. Many refugees ended up in Gaza, playing a key role in the development of Palestinian revolutionary thought and practice. This talk examines the centrality of Gaza to Palestinian liberation, as well as the repeated settler-colonial attempts to attack, besiege and, ultimately, to destroy it. Placing the genocide in historical context, it also reflects on future emancipatory prospects and the role of international solidarity. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, July 3-6. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!
Dec 5, 2024
Season 0 Episode 0

The Movement Mayor? A Critical Assessment of Brandon Johnson's First Year

Jasson Perez and Rousemary Vega speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2024. This session was sponsored by Rampant Magazine. A massive effort by working people in Chicago to put former CTU organizer Brandon Johnson in office. This session will bring together Chicago organizers to assess both the positive and negative results of this experiment, the contradictions of the mayoral office itself in our stage of capitalism, and some lessons for left strategy today. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, July 3-6. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!
Dec 5, 2024
Season 0 Episode 0

I Guess It Was My Destiny To Live So Long: Exploring the Work of June Jordan

Hanif Abdurraqib speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2024. Join Hanif Abdurraqib in exploring both politically radical poems and love poems from June Jordan's body of work and mapping how those two impulses (love and a radical politic) intersect, and are not at all disparate. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, July 3-6. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!
Dec 5, 2024
Season 0 Episode 0

175 Years Since the Communist Manifesto: Why Marxism (Still) Matters

Phil Gasper, Nancy Holmstrom, and Robert Cuffy speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2024. This session was sponsored by New Politics. Since it was first written in 1848, The Communist Manifesto has been translated into more languages than any other modern text. All across the world it has been debated, shared, brandished, invoked, banned, burned, and even declared “dead." This session will discuss the continued relevance of Marx's (and Engels') ideas in today's political landscape. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, July 3-6. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!
Dec 5, 2024
Season 0 Episode 0

Palestine and the Limits of International Law

Noura Erakat speaks in this session recorded at Socialism 2024. Since the early 20th century, Palestinians have leveled a racial and anti-colonial critique of Zionism. That critique crystallized vividly during the apex of Third World Revolt particularly in the UN General Assembly Resolution 3379 condemning Zionism as a form of racism and racial discrimination. While the Oslo Agreement offered Israel a lifeline to protect its Zionist settler sovereignty, the State incrementally and steadily dismantled the prospect of a Palestinian state. In 2020, several legacy human rights organizations echoed the Palestinian critique of Israel following Israel’s passage of the Nation-State Law declaring that only Jews have the right to self-determination in Palestine making clear that Israel intended to be the only sovereign between the River and the Sea. This history and analysis seemed to fall by the wayside after October 7th, which lifted Gaza outside of geographical and political context and suggested that history began in 2023. This lecture will discuss this historical development with an eye on the Palestinian intellectual and political tradition in order to offer commentary on the limits of international law in this moment. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, July 3-6. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!