In this episode we inter view Torkil Lauesen. Lauesen is a long-time anti-imperialist activist and writer living in Denmark. From 1970 to 1989 he was a full-time member of a communist anti-imperialist group, supporting Third World liberation movements by both legal and illegal means. In connection with support work, he has traveled in Lebanon, Syria, Zimbabwe, South Africa, the Philippines, and Mexico. In the 1990’s, during his political imprisonment, he was involved in prison activism and received a Masters degree in political science. He is also the author of multiple books, including The Global Perspective: Reflections on Imperialism and Resistance and The Principal Contradiction. He is currently a member of International Forum, an anti-imperialist organization based in Denmark. Today we talk to him about his latest book Riding The Wave: Sweden’s Integration into the Imperialist World System. Which is a thorough investigation into the development of the so-called “Swedish Model” considered by many to be the pinnacle of social democracy. Many US based social democrats, have even gone so far as to describe it this model as a form of “socialism.” Torkil explains the relationship of this economic model to colonialism and imperialism, arguing that the accomplishments of the Social Democratic Party, and trade union movement, would not be possible if one took imperialism out of the equation. We hope you enjoy this conversation, and definitely recommend Lauesen’s new book Riding The Wave, which is not only a great history of the conditions that produced the “Swedish Model,” but deals with many other global phenomena at some length, including how neoliberalism restructured the capitalist world system. A reminder that we are still slowly working our way toward 1,000 patrons for the show, which is our current goal. You can become a patron at . Our next episode will be a set of reflections between Josh and I on four years of doing Millennials Are Killing Capitalism as we’re a little more than a week away from our 4 year anniversary. , is having a 20% sale the rest of September on books on its “Against War and Empire” category. Use the code: AGAINSTEMPIRE all one word, all caps at checkout to get that discount.&nbsp;

"The Swedish Model," Social Democracy the Imperialist World System with Torkil Lauesen

This interview with J. Sakai was conducted June 17, 2003 on KPFT Pacifica Radio. Sakai is author of "Settlers: Mythology of the White Proletariat" as well as many articles on race, class and radical politics. The transcript of this audio became the pamphlet, "Stolen At Gunpoint: Interview with J. Sakai On the Chicano-Mexicano National Question," but the audio is being offered for those interested to hear Sakai in his own words.

J. Sakai (author, Settlers) Interview

In this special May Day segment of Rustbelt Abolition Radio, we speak with acclaimed scholar Robin D.G. Kelley to explore the critique of racial capitalism, the history of class struggle across the color line, and the abolitionist horizon.

We release this episode on May Day, or International Workers Day, celebrated annually by millions across the world in commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket Square massacre and the ongoing global struggle for a world without capitalist exploitation and racial domination. 

Robin D.G. Kelley is a professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA. Kelley’s intellectual work spans the far reaching histories of the black freedom movement, African American history, culture, music, and aesthetics, and the politics of the black radical imagination. His books include Africa Speaks, America Answers!: Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times and Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination, among many others.

To Make Our World Anew: May Day special ft. Robin D.G. Kelley

Abolitionists are committed to creating a world without police and prisons, but what alternative visions and practices of addressing intimate harm might point the way toward such a world? In this episode we explore efforts to re-imagine the politics of violence, harm, safety, and redress, spearheading practices of accountability and healing that move beyond the punitive logic of the carceral state.

Mia Mingus from the Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective discusses alternatives to carceral feminism, and how the movement to end child sexual abuse points the way toward radically re-imagining practices of justice. We also speak with Claudia Garcia-Rojas, co-director of The Chicago Taskforce on Violence Against Girls & Young Women, and Maya Schenwar, Editor-in-Chief of Truthout and author of Locked Down, Locked Out: Why Prison Doesn’t Work and How We Can Do Better.

Beyond Punishment: The Movement for Transformative Justice

In Reports from the Prisoner Resistance Movement, released on the anniversary of the 1971 Attica prison rebellion, we reflect on the intensifying political struggles behind bars by examining two extraordinary flashpoints: Amerika’s nationwide September 9, 2016, prisoner strike, and the August 19, 2017, Millions for Prisoners march. 

Ben Turk of the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee of the Industrial Workers of the World and Firehawk of Unstoppable discuss strategies developing within the contemporary prisoner resistance movement, while Krystal Rountree of the iamWe Prison Advocacy Network explains the organizing efforts inside and outside that made the August 19 Millions for Prisoners March possible. We close the episode with D, an incarcerated organizer with Jailhouse Lawyers Speak who tells us about what went down inside in the wake of August 19 -- and what’s next.

For more reporting on the prisoner resistance movement, check out Michigan's Kinross Prison Strike: Reflections from Inside, an exclusive audio archive we’ve created with the help of correspondents behind bars and MAPS: Michigan Abolition and Prisoner Solidarity. You can find links to the archive on our website.

Reports from the Prisoner Resistance Movement

As reports of the 2018 prison strike actions and state retaliation continue to come in, we speak with Amani Sawari, organizer and media contact with Jailhouse Lawyers Speak, about ways to support prison rebels. We also hear from J, a prison rebel who’s among the strikers inside a South Carolina Prison.

Reports from the 2018 Prison Strike

On this episode we interview Clarissa Brooks who is an organizer, journalist, and activist in Atlanta. We talk about music journalism, protesting Hillary Clinton, as well as Shaun King's recent threats to sue her.

#HellaBlackPodcast Ep 34: #ISupportClarissa (feat @ClarissaMBrooks)

On this episode of Hella Black we review Assata's autobiography and talk about Black Joy.

EP 53: Assata's Autobiography Pt. 1

Vijay Prashad (@vijayprashad) from the Tricontinental (@tri_continental)&nbsp;talks about imperialism, socialist writing, and the politics of hope.

"Nothing human is alien to me" w/ Vijay Prashad

Thousands of prisoners in Argentina are on hunger strike. We speak with militant intellectual Liliana Cabrera about her experience inside Argentinean jails, her involvement with the organization Yo no fui, and also about this extraordinary event of the global prisoner resistance movement.

Prisons on Hunger Strike in Argentina

We created this podcast in recognition that there are a number of podcasts for the American “left,” but many of them focus heavily on the organizing of social democrats, progressives, and liberal democrats. Aside from that, on the left we are always fighting a war of ideas and if we do not continue to build platforms to share those ideas and the stories of their implementation from a leftist perspective, they will continue to be ignored, misrepresented, and dismissed by the capitalist media and as a result by the general public.

Our goal is to provide a platform for communists, anti-imperialists, Black Liberation movements, ancoms, left libertarians, LBGTQ activists, feminists, immigration activists, and abolitionists to discuss radical politics, radical organizing and share their visions for a better world. Our goal is to center organizers who represent and work with marginalized communities building survival programs, defense programs, political education, and counterpower.

We also plan to bring in perspectives on and from the global south to highlight anti-capitalist struggles outside the imperial core. We view solidarity with decolonization, indigenous, anti-imperialist, environmentalist, socialist, and anarchist movements across the world as necessary steps toward meaningful liberation for all people. 

Too often within the imperial core we focus on our own struggles without taking the time to understand those fighting for freedom from beneath the empire’s thumb. It is important to highlight these struggles, learn what we can from them, offer solidarity, and support with action when we can. It is not enough to Fight For $15 an hour and Single-Payer within the core, while the US actively fights against the self-determination of the people of the global economically and militarily.

We recognize that except for the extremely wealthy and privileged, our fates and struggles are intrinsically connected. We hope that our podcast becomes a meaningful platform for organizers and activists fighting for social change to connect their local movements to broader movements centered around the fight to end imperialism, capitalism, racism, discrimination based on gender identity or sexuality, and sexism. 

Follow us on twitter @MAKCapitalism, like us at Facebook.com/MAKCapitalism, become a patron at www.patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. We appreciate you listening, and your support.

"The Swedish Model," Social Democracy the Imperialist World System with Torkil Lauesen

Millennials Are Killing Capitalism

Related tracks