Cinder Bloc.

You are listening to Social Movements Lab hosted by Michael Hardt & Sandro Mezzadra. To kick off the new season, Michael and Sandro speak with Paola Rivetti and Frieda Afary, navigating the social crises in Iran undergirding the upheaval known as the Woman Life Freedom struggle.  Social Movements Lab is brought to you by Red May in coordination with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University, Dinamopress, and EuroNomade.

Sean and Kyle talk with Lainie Cassel about her time as an independent journalist in Venezuela during the Bolivarian Revolution. We dig into what it felt like to be at the reelection of Chavez, how western media portrayed the Bolivarian Revolution, and how to become a journalist. Kyle also draws heavily from Naomi Schiller’s book, Channeling The State: Community Media and Popular Politics in Venezuela [https://www.dukeupress.edu/channeling-the-state]. Aside from her journalistic work, which can be found on her YouTube Channel [https://www.youtube.com/c/INTERRUPTION/featured], Lainie is also a Nutritional Therapist Practitioner and Strength Coach. You can find her on her website [https://lainiecassel.com/] and Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/lainiecassel/] Our stellar theme song, Cosmic Background Radiation, was composed by Occult A/V. Check out more over on bandcamp [https://occultav.bandcamp.com/].

Kyle and Sean talk with Idris Robinson about the realities of pain in cycles of crisis and struggle as well as the notion of destitution. This is followed by a 2020 recording of an early draft of Robinson's forthcoming essay "the Destituent Urge" given in Olympia, WA. Idris Robinson is, among other things, a philosopher and writer living in Texas.  On Pain [https://endnotes.org.uk/posts/idris-robinson-postscript-on-pain]  The Revolt Eclipses Whatever the World has to Offer [https://www.tillfallighet.org/tillfallighetsskrivande/the-revolt-eclipses-whatever-the-world-has-to-offernbsp-idris-robinson]  Letter to Michael Reinoehl [https://illwill.com/letter-to-michael-reinoehl]  How It Might Should Be Done [https://illwill.com/how-it-might-should-be-done]  Our stellar theme song, Cosmic Background Radiation, was composed by Occult A/V. Check out more over on bandcamp [https://occultav.bandcamp.com/].

Sean talks with Elle Herman about the varieties and modalities of fascism and the carceral dynamics at stake in the institution of criminal prosecution. Elle recently gave a talk for the Karasu Philosophical Society in Albuquerque titled "The Problem of Prosecuting Fascism." In the talk, she focuses on two recent prosecutions of notorious 2020 American vigilantes: Kyle Rittenhouse's trial for fatally shooting Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum and non-fatal shooting of Gaige Grosskreutz at the Jacob Blake protests in Kenosha, WI; and the trial of the McMichaels and William Bryan for the pursuit and murder of Ahmaud Arbery around Brunswick, GA. On Monday, the McMichaels were each sentenced to life in prison +, while Bryan received a sentence to serve 35 years. While Sean interviewed Elle last week, the problems she approaches in her talk are all the more significant to consider in light of these sentencings. Listen to our brief interview at the beginning followed by a recording of Elle Herman's talk, "The Problem of Prosecuting Fascism," from earlier this year. Elle Herman is, among other things, a union and labor organizer and doctoral student at UNM.  We will release a video of this talk in the next couple of weeks. Special thanks to Idris Robinson and the Karasu Philosophical Society for sending us a recording of this talk. Our stellar theme song, Cosmic Background Radiation, was composed by Occult A/V. Check out more over on bandcamp [https://occultav.bandcamp.com/].

Andrew Anastasi joins Kyle and Sean for Cinder Bloc to discuss class antagonism, political dynamics, and the (prophetic) theoretical lens of the young Mario Tronti. Andrew talks about the European and Italian preconditions that led Tronti, and those that would compose the intellectual base of the Operaismo movements, toward new communist horizons and understandings of the complex momentum of class in the party (and partisan) dynamic. Andrew Anastasi is, among other things, a sociologist, translator, writer, and editor with Viewpoint Magazine [https://viewpointmag.com/]. Andrew compiled and edited the early writings of Italian communist Mario Tronti. The Weapon of Organization: Mario Tronti’s Political Revolution in Marxism can be picked up at Common Notions [https://www.commonnotions.org/the-weapon-of-organization]. A Betrayal Retrieved [https://viewpointmag.com/2020/02/25/a-betrayal-retrieved-mario-trontis-critique-of-the-political/]  The Autonomy of the Political [https://viewpointmag.com/2020/02/26/the-autonomy-of-the-political/]  The Young Mario Tronti Dossier [https://viewpointmag.com/2016/10/03/the-young-mario-tronti/]  A Not Merely Charitable Alliance: Anti-Poverty Workers Within and Against the State [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/johs.12375]  Crisis Maneuvers [https://viewpointmag.com/2020/04/15/crisis-maneuvers/] Our Theorist of Outrage: Memories of Stanley Aronowitz (1933-2021) [https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/5170-our-theorist-of-outrage-memories-of-stanley-aronowitz-1933-2021]  Our stellar theme song, Cosmic Background Radiation, was composed by Occult A/V. Check out more over on bandcamp [https://occultav.bandcamp.com/].