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The Lit Review

The idea is simple: interview organizers about books. Our goal is to share out the lessons and theor Think spark notes in podcast form! Keep Reading.

o many for a variety of reasons: financial, academic jargon, low literacy rates, time barriers, etc. Their hope is that this will make critical knowledge more accessible to the masses.

18/05/2022

"How come landlords aren't on the front lines of ?"

We talk to journalist Maya Dukmasova about the book Evicted, how evictions cause poverty, and what can we do to expose landlords’ exploitative profit off of low-income people.

To tune in and read the transcript:
https://www.thelitreview.org/season4

Spotify is currently still giving us some technical difficulties, but we’ll update you when it’s resolved!

ID: An audio clip of Maya speaking with captions over a blueish grey graphic with her photo and a photo of the book.

16/05/2022

"We can’t have a conversation about affordable housing without having a conversation about landlord profit.” If you were mad about landlords before, just wait until you listen to this conversation. The mainstream narrative on affordable housing has revolved largely around public housing, but a glaring absence is a much larger demographic: low-income renters.

To close out our season, we talked with Maya Dukmasova, former Chicago Reader reporter, current senior reporter at Injustice Watch, about Matthew Desmond’s book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. Maya brilliantly breaks down Desmond’s objective that eviction is not just a symptom of poverty, but a cause of poverty, and her own reporting on the eviction crisis in Chicago.

https://www.thelitreview.org/season4

ID: A blue graphic with the outline of a faded flame across the background. The words "Evicted with Maya Dukmasova" in white text appear above a photo of Maya and a photo of the book Evicted overlapping. At the bottom of the graphic is the Lit Review podcast logo and the words "Episode 64" also in white font.

05/05/2022

It's Thursday! Let's keep it moving with another post. In season 2, episode 48, we discussed a sector of movement work that permits its own barriers, the non-profit industrial complex (NPIC). We were fortunate enough to talk with Joy Messinger (.meets.world), a q***r disabled femme organizer, former Program Officer at , and currently the Director of Training and Leadership at Funders for Justice. Joy sits down with Monica and Page to discuss the book The Revolution Will Not Be Funded crafted by INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence. This book provided us with knowledgable points and wisdom about the toxicity that can arise from the NPIC within our movement work. Joy breaks down what exactly is the NPIC, and what we can do to create sustainable models to work around them.

https://www.thelitreview.org/season2

Of course, make sure you're subscribed to us on all of our streaming platforms, as well as on our socials so you don't miss any updates. Take care!

ID: A graphic promoting the episode. A red background with the words "Revolution Will Not" in white font repeating in a pattern down to the bottom of the image. A picture of Joy Messinger is in a white border, with a picture of the book The Revolution Will Not Be Funded in a white border as well. The words "Episode 48: The Revolution Will Not Be Funded" in white font, in the top left corner of the picture.

04/05/2022

“So I was just really waking up. I have to say I was very, very naive. So I didn't do anything about it. I wrote a paper. Lord knows what it said. But I did remember it. I did remember it. In that sense, it didn't change my life that day. I didn't have a eureka moment, but I think that's what books do sometimes. They embed themselves in you and the next time and the next time and, finally, you say, "I have to do something." As you might know, it was years later when Dr. King came to Chicago, and I was a law student here. I was like, "Okay." - Bernardine Dohrn, Episode 63

We had the pleasure of talking with Bernardine Dohrn, a comrade who we hold very dear to our hearts, and someone whose commitment to movement work has inspired us deeply. We had a heavy but intriguing conversation about the role of torture that state entities have practiced against people, and how storytelling plays a key role in ending this practice. Anytime we chat with Bernardine we're always left with so much wisdom, so here's one of our favorite moments from our most recent release.
Listener’s note: This episode contains descriptions of torture and violence. Please listen with care.

https://www.thelitreview.org/season4

ID: An audiogram promoting the episode. A dark blue image with an enlarged flame in the background. A picture of Bernardine Dohrn in a white border is placed next to the book "The Question" that's also in a white border. In white font the words "The Question with Bernardine Dohrn" are in the top left corner. The Lit Review logo is in the top right corner. Above the pictute of the book, "The Question" is an animated waveform depicting the movement of sound from the quote that's being displayed.

02/05/2022

In our second to last episode of the season, we sat down with legendary radical activist, movement lawyer, and retired law professor, Bernardine Dohrn, to dicuss The Question by Henri Alleg. Bernardine first read this anti-war, anti-colonial, anti-racist pamphlet from 1958 as a student in high school. The Question, banned in France after selling over 60,000 copies in the first two weeks of its release, recounts French journalist Henri Alleg’s experience of thirty days of torture in Algeria during the War for Independence. Though it would be years before Bernardine began organizing and taking revolutionary direct action, this class assignment marked a radicalizing moment in her life. We were honored to have a conversation with this fierce feminist powerhouse about the roles that witnessing and storytelling play in ending the practice of torture.

https://www.thelitreview.org/season4

ID: A graphic promoting the episode with a red orange background that says "The Question with Bernardine Dohrn" at the top in white font, a photo of Bernardine Dohrn speaking into a mic is in the center of the graphic, and another smaller image of the book is overlapping that photo. The bottom left corner is the Lit Review podcast logo, and the bottom right corner says "Episode 63".

28/04/2022

We can't believe we're already more than halfway through Season 4! We're so appreciative of the close to 13K plays we've had since the season kicked off. We're not gone yet though so don't worry—episode 63 is dropping Monday, May 2nd.

For this week's , let's get into Season 3, Episode 55 where we sat down with Christian Snow of Assata's Daughters and the People's Law Office to talk about the book Groundwork: Local Black Freedom Movements in America, edited by Jeanne Theoharis, Komozi Woodard, and Charles Payne. Groundwork sheds light on instances of erasure of people, places, and struggles that laid the foundation for the Civil Rights movement. We discuss: What is left out and how does that historical interpretation interfere with our current movement practices? What is “ground” or “spade” work and how has it been a part of Black freedom struggles?

Tune into the episode here: https://www.thelitreview.org/season3

ID: A graphic promoting the episode. An orange background with a picture of a mural in a white border, and a picture of the book Groundwork: Local Black Freedom Movements in America, edited by Jeanne Theoharis, Komozi Woodard, and Charles Payne in a white border as well. The words episode 55, ground are in the top left corner in black font. The Lit Review logo is in the bottom right corner.

27/04/2022

¨Recognizing wholeness...The idea that people are not just their disability, not just what they can offer, that they're whole, that they're messy. They're not going to be some magical kind of savior. They're not someone who just has all this wisdom, but can't be wrong. Really the idea of not treating people as symbols in any kind of way, but how can we see people as humans?¨

Episode 62 with q***r South Asian organizer, Heena Sharma was a very insightful dialogue. We had the honor of being able to hear from Heena as she guided us through her journey of self-realization that was inspired through the book Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Laksmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. We discussed how care work and access are a constant, everchanging process. There's so much to learn and unlearn, and this episode just touched on the surface of disability justice lineages and principles, and how we can work towards no body left behind in our movement spaces, and most importantly, our everyday lives.

ID 1: An audiogram promoting the episode with a an orange background, a picture of Heena Sharma in a white border, a picture of the book care work in a white border. The words Care Work with Heena Sharma in white font in the top left corner, the lit review logo in the top right corner. A white line that's animated to depict sound is above the picture of the book Care Work.

You can find this episode here: https://www.thelitreview.org/season4

25/04/2022

In episode 62, we had a very necessary conversation with q***r South Asian organizer, Heena Sharma. Together, we discussed disability justice, survivorhood, sustainability, recognizing wholeness, and so much more, centered around the book Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Laksmi Piepzna-Samarasinha.

Even as we commit to transcripts for each episode, image descriptions, and captions in audio, we know there are no shortcuts to disability justice, and that access is a process, not a list that can be checked off in our organizing work. Part-manifesto, part guide, part-memoir, and so many more parts, Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice is a necessary intervention in our largely ableist movements and world.

Tune in: https://www.thelitreview.org/season4

Image Description: A graphic with a forest green color and faded flame in the background, promoting episode 62 of the Lit Review podcast. In the foreground is a square photo of guest Heena Sharma and to the left is a smaller image of the book Care Work.

20/04/2022

Did you know that Audre Lorde was a Black, disabled, le***an communist? In our latest episode with K Toyin Agbebiyi, co-host Page May asks K to expand on the connections between sexuality and communism. K dives in and says: “I think a lot of times, especially with social media, a lot of times people will identify as Black feminists and through using that term, what they mean is that typically they're Black women who believe in feminist ideals, but when it comes to actually really practicing it, they might not actually have a commitment to ending capitalism or practicing internationalist politics. So for me, one of the things that drew me to Black feminism, especially Black feminism that's been theorized by le***ans, is just learning about those aspects, learning about what it means to be a communist and how that shows up in our practice, even if we might not explicitly name it like that.”

Tune into this episode before our new episode drops next week!
http://www.thelitreview.org/season4

ID 1: An audiogram promoting the episode. Graphic is a red orange background, with a lightly faded enlarged flame overlaying. A picture of K Toyin Agbebiyi holding the book Zami by Audre Lorde. Next to the photo is a white circle that's animated with audio, and captions in black font at the bottom.

ID 2: A graphic with a red orange background with white text with the quote from the audiogram.

19/04/2022

Audre Lorde is revered for her poetry and writings- rightfully so! Her works are fundamental to the development of Black Feminism. But what did she have to say about her own life? What were the themes and lessons she learned from her experiences? Our guest for this episode is K Toyin Agbebiyi, a Black le***an and disabled organizer, writer, and macro social worker from Georgia. K has created and participated in a number of campaigns and projects including 8 to Abolition, the No New Jails Campaign, Inside Outside collective, and Survived and Punished New York. This thoughtful conversation dives deep into questions around grief, love, loss, and the challenges and teachings of relationships.

http://www.thelitreview.org/season4

Image Description: A graphic promoting the episode. A purple colored background with a lightly faded enlarged flame in the background. A photo of K, a Black nonbinary person with glasses is centered and they are holding a first edition copy of the book Zami by Audre Lorde, still in its plastic wrapping. Text reads "Zami with K Agbebiyi and Episode 61" with the Lit Review podcast logo is in the bottom left corner.

14/04/2022

Our latest episode with Angela Davis caught some amazing traction with nearly 2,500 listens in the last few days! We're so thankful for the support of our TLR community; it's part of the reason why we do what we do! Stay tuned for another episode coming y'all way, but first let's take it back for this week's Throwback Thursday episode.

In Season 3, Episode 53, we got a chance to talk with Trina Reynolds-Tyler of the Invisible Institute and had a challenging but beautiful conversation about Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza written by the late Gloria Anzaldúa.

We were so thrilled to have this dialogue because of the layers it presented us to dig through. We know this text is considered a fundamental text in Chicanx and Latinx studies, and we also had to have the difficult conversation of acknowledging the erasure of Black, Indigenous, and trans peoples—all identities that are existing and resisting in/at the borderlands. It's important that we take time to analyze literature that is often brought up in movement spaces in all of it's forms. It was a pleasure to talk with Trina as she shared with us the ongoing influence this book has had on her as a Black woman living on the borderlands of Chicago’s south side.

Tune in! http://www.thelitreview.org/season3

Image 1: a picture of Trina Reynolds-Tyler, next to it a picture of the book Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza written by the late Gloria Anzaldúa. The Lit Review logo is in the bottom right corner, and the words Episode 53 and Borderlands in black font is in the top left corner.

12/04/2022

We told y'all this was an episode to look out for, and we're hyped to see close to 1,500 listens in 24 hours since releasing! In case you missed it, in episode 60 we talked with Angela Davis to break down Karl Marx's "Capital". We have been waiting a long time to dig into this book, and we were fortunate enough to break it down with one of our inspirations! This raw moment with Angela stood out for us as she hammers into the "tyranny of the universal":

“I think it helps us to understand why it is that the U.S. has proclaimed itself to be a democracy for so long, and at the same time, there was colonialism. At the same time, indigenous people were subject to genocide. At the same time, there was slavery of people of African descent. All of this is related to ideology. I think one of the real values of Marx and Engels' work, is its insistence on examining the impact of ideology. How is it that we can engage in this kind of thinking that so clearly excludes vast numbers of people?”

http://www.thelitreview.org/season4

Image 1: an audio clip of Angela playing over a light brown graphic with a photo of Angela next to a photo of the book.

11/04/2022

We're back everyone! I hope everyone took some time to prioritize moments of rest and joy within this past week. We said we have a very special guest for you all, so let's get right into it! In episode 60, we had the honor of talking with radical activist, educator, author, and founder of Critical Resistance, Angela Davis - yes, THEE Angela Davis, to break down Marx’s (and Engels’!) key ideas with her professorial brilliance, and to explain the importance and ongoing relevance of what Marx had to say.

Since the start of this podcast, the Lit Review has always wanted to feature Marx’s Capital with someone who could really help organizers dig into it. Published in 1867, this 1,000+ page text offers a thorough, interdisciplinary critique of capitalism. This book is rich with history, philosophy, and is a classic of political economy. It is a great privilege to have been able to be in discussion to tackle all the complexities of this book with someone who has helped to shaped our outlook on all things related to movement work.

We left this conversation extremely full and with a lot more questions than answers! As you follow along with the episode, we pulled out some key questions to look to that we explore. For these key questions, transcript, and links to the episode on all of your favorite podcast platforms, visit: http://www.thelitreview.org/season4

ID: a red orange background with a zoomed in image of a candle overlaying it. On top in big white font the words "Capital with Angela Davis" are above a picture of Angela Davis, and the book Capital by Karl Max in a white border. Underneath the words Episode 60 in white font, as well as The Lit Review logo in the bottom left corner.

07/04/2022

For this week's Throwback Thursday let's take a listen to Season 2. In episode 42, we sat down with Frank Chapman- Executive Director of the National Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression, and former political prisoner, to further ourselves in discussion around the book, Black Reconstruction in America by W.E.B Du Bois. Frank gave us his insight on Du Bois and the social, economic and political changes that were taking place leading up to and through Reconstruction. Some questions we tackled with Frank Chapman: How did anti-blackness evolve during Reconstruction? What is communism? Why is this book so important for organizers to read?

You can access this episode through our linktree and clicking any one of the apps we stream on! https://linktr.ee/thelitreviewpodcast

Image Description: a black background, with the words Black reconstruction in white font repeating in a pattern. A picture of Frank Chapman holding the book Black Reconstruction is overlaying, as well as a picture of the book right next to it. In big white font, the title of the episode and the book is at the top.

03/04/2022

Hey community, we hope everyone had a smooth week! We mentioned earlier that this year we are practicing radical care, which includes taking necessary moments of rest, so there is no new episode release this week.

If you're able to see signs of burnout before it catches up to you—take those couple of days off! Pick up a new book, start on a new painting, finish that poem, spend some time baking, or most importantly, take that nap! And of course, take some time to catch up on our latest episodes! 😉

We'll be back next Sunday, April 10th. This is an episode we've been excited to release for a while, and we know you all will share the same excitement, see you then!

31/03/2022

It's , and we're sending so much love to our trans and gender non-conforming friends and community! We remain committed to not only fighting for trans visibility, but trans liberation, and a world where trans and gender expansive people can live and thrive, free from threats and acts of violence. One of the many tools in that fight is political education, and so today we're throwing it back to 2017, Season 1 again, with not one, but two episodes on the book Transgender History by Susan Stryker, which covers transgender history from the mid-twentieth century to today.

In episode 4, Monica and Page sat down with Benji Hart to discuss historic moments trans communities have resisted, what can we learn from this history, especially in current organizing work against police violence, and how we can better grow our movements for gender liberation.

http://www.thelitreview.org/season1_13to1

Then in episode 33, Monica met up with author of the book, Susan Stryker, to discuss the second edition, covering trans issues in the '80s, trans resistance, the pathologization of trans people, and why organizers should read this book.

http://www.thelitreview.org/season1

Image 1: A yellow-green graphic that shows a black and white photo of Benji holding the book Transgender History next to their face with a half-smile, and then another photo of the book, in color, is next to it.

Image 2: A blue graphic that shows a black and white photo of Susan Stryker reading from the book while speaking into a microphone on a table top stand, and then there's a photo of the book, in color, next to it.

29/03/2022

"...the Trauma Center Campaign was one of the most amazing healing justice campaigns, that I think we've seen."

Did you miss our most recent release? Don't worry, you still got some time to check it out before episode 60 drops this upcoming Sunday! We had the honor of talking with Shira Hassan, co-founder of Just Practice and former Executive Director of the Young Women’s Empowerment Project and had a very heavy, but needed conversation around the book "Kindling" by Aurora Levins Morales. Through the book, we discussed ableism, disability, healing justice, bodies and capitalism, and so much more. We shoutout some brilliant people and initiatives throughout the conversation, such as Kelly Hayes, Tanuja Jagernauth, and The Trauma Center Campaign on the south side of Chicago! Shira is one of our sheroes and teachers so we hold this episode very close to us, and hope that you all find parts to connect to!

Make sure you're subscribed to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Soundcloud so you never miss when an episode drops! You can find this episode's transcript on our website's homepage, or under Episodes > Season 4 at thelitreview.org.

Audio Transcript: "“Yes, wouldn't it be a good thing if we could prioritize self-care? And can we look at the systemic reasons, and the work that we're doing that gets in the way of that? And can we organize, for example, one of the main campaigns that's happening, that's an example of a healing justice campaign? Right now is the campaign to shut down the detention center in Georgia that was forcing sterilization on women who were crossing the border. And so that is a healing justice campaign that's being led by healer organizers. We also have examples of that in Chicago though. And so at home, here we can see like for the Trauma Center Campaign was one of the most amazing healing justice campaigns, that I think we've seen.”

27/03/2022

Happy Sunday everyone! In episode 59, we discuss ableism, disability, healing justice, and the book Kindling by Aurora Levins Morales with one of our sheroes and teachers, Shira Hassan, co-founder of Just Practice and former Executive Director of the Young Women’s Empowerment Project.

We hope you all are able to take away as many gems as we did from this conversation. The healing justice movement is an incredibly intersectional and organized resistance to the state and state violence, so why is it so often misunderstood as simply an opposition to grind culture or a massage? This conversation exercises using the power of vulnerability and storytelling to tackle heavy topics.

Some key questions we go over with Shira: What is (and isn’t) healing justice? What connections can we make between healing justice and movements that center gender, racial, economic, environment, and abolition? What might healthCARE look like and what alternatives already exist that we can learn from? Tune in at thelitreview.org or on Spotify, Soundcloud, or Apple Podcasts!

Image Description: A graphic with a navy blue colored background, with a picture of Shira Hassa smiling and holding the book "Kindling" by Aurora Levins Morales. In big letters and white font, Shira's full name and the title of the book above their picture. At the bottom The Lit Review, and Episode 59 in white font as well. A faint, zoomed in image of a candle is behind everything.

24/03/2022

We're stoked about Season 4, but have you all gotten a chance to check out some episodes from our earlier seasons? Here's a throwback for your Thursday afternoon: Let's dive back into season 1, episode 13. We had the pleasure of sitting down with Dr. Eve Ewing to talk about the book The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, discussing the importance of organizers reading speculative fiction.

http://www.thelitreview.org/season1_13to1

Image Description: A graphic with a mustard yellow colored background and a black & white photo of Eve Ewing smiling and holding the book The Underground Railroad up to her face. Another photo is next to Eve's photo, which is a larger, color image of the book.

23/03/2022

"We were the organizers, clearly we were the organizers."

In case you missed it, we launched season 4 on Sunday! We sat down virtually with Stacy Davis Gates, VP of the Chicago Teachers Union, to have a multi-layered conversation about the book Ain’t I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism by the late bell hooks and it's connection to Stacy's political awakening. This was one of our favorite moments that transpired when Stacy began reflecting on the labor, legacy, and erasure of Black women during the Civil Rights movement.

http://www.thelitreview.org/season4

Audio transcript: “You think about Mahalia Jackson, she didn't just sing at the March on Washington, hell, she made the March on Washington because she was the one who called Martin [Luther King Jr.] to a higher place in that moment to provide the thing that is most notable about his legacy, it was his vision for what America could be. That was her. She knew the moment, she knew what she heard him say already, and she knew how it would impact everyone who they had captive in that moment...and I think they came out of it with the question of why they're not the person in that moment, right? Why aren't they the one standing behind the lectern, giving the speech? We were the organizers, clearly we were the organizers.”

20/03/2022

The day is finally here! Hopefully you can get outside to celebrate Spring Equinox AND listen to our first episode of the new season!🌺🌞

bell hooks left us in this world with a literal STACK of wisdom and analysis about love, life, and feminism. Her work has transformed the thinking of many people we know in our organizing community. We couldn’t think of a better way to honor bell hooks' legacy than starting off a new season with this virtual interview with the one and only Stacy Davis Gates, Vice President of the Chicago Teacher's Union. Stacy shares the stories of her personal transformation and political awakening after reading Ain’t I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism bt the late bell hooks, and shares her struggles and lessons learned from finding affirmation through bell's words to applying this information to her lifelong journey as a Black woman in building community power in coalition with Black men and non-Black people.

We hope you all enjoy this episode as much as we did.
bell, we thank you for everything. Ashe.

https://www.thelitreview.org/season4.html

Image Description: A graphic promoting the episode. A redish orange colored background with a lighter, faded enlarged flame in the background. A photo of Stacy Davis Gates is centered with a small image of the book Aint I A Woman floating to the right of her. Text reads "Episode 58: Ain't I A Woman with Stacy Davis Gates." The Lit Review podcast logo is in the bottom left corner.

16/03/2022

In Season 4, we're diving into many topics that are integral to our collective efforts for liberation! Some of our conversations are heavy, but with the power of vulnerability and storytelling, we're tackling these issues with curiosity and a fierce commitment to our people.

We want to recognize some folks who are part of the team in making Season 4 happen! We have B. Russelburg joining us on production for a second season, Alycia Kamil helping out with social media, PR support from H-Kapp-Klote, and graphic design support by Grae Rosa. Let’s show them some love!

13/03/2022

It’s been a year since our last season, but we’re back! We've been using this time to rest and respect the amount of capacity we had. This is something we want everyone to practice! It helps to avoid burnout, and it’s a radical practice to sustain yourself for a lifetime of working towards justice and abolition.

Join us in celebrating the Lit Review's brilliant upcoming season guests: Angela Davis, Stacy Davis Gates, Shira Hassan, Bernardine Dohrn, K Agbebiyi, Maya Dukmasova, and Heena Sharma!

Along with practicing sustainability, we’re working on making our podcast accessible. Thanks to a grant, we are able to prioritize transcriptions not only for Season 4, but for all of our previous ones, too! All previous episode transcripts available by Summer 2022. All new episodes moving forward will have transcripts ready upon release.

In this upcoming season, we had some truly elevating conversations that we’re excited to share with the world. Our first episode of Season 4 is dropping Sunday, March 20. Thanks to the for supporting Season 4. And huge thanks to our Patreon subscribers: Your support makes this podcast available to everyone year-round! We’re so grateful for all of you believing in our work enough to financially keep us pushing. Stay tuned, subscribe to the Lit Review podcast on Spotify, Soundcloud, and Apple Podcasts, and support us on Patreon for as low as $5 a month.

Image Description: A light brown graphic with a faded silhouette of a flame in the background and the Lit Review podcast logo in the left bottom corner. Main text in black font reads: Season 4 Premieres Sunday, March 20 with Page May and Monica Trinidad. Featuring: Angela Davis, Stacy Davis Gates, Shira Hassan, Bernardine Dohrn, K Agbebiyi, Maya Dukmasova, and Heena Sharma.

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"How come landlords aren't on the front lines of #FightFor15?" We talk to journalist Maya Dukmasova about the book Evicted, how evictions cause poverty, and what can we do to expose landlords’ exploitative profit off of low-income people. To tune in and read the transcript: https://www.thelitreview.org/season4#episode64 Spotify is currently still giving us some technical difficulties, but we’ll update you when it’s resolved! ID: An audio clip of Maya speaking with captions over a blueish grey graphic with her photo and a photo of the book.

“So I was just really waking up. I have to say I was very, very naive. So I didn't do anything about it. I wrote a paper. Lord knows what it said. But I did remember it. I did remember it. In that sense, it didn't change my life that day. I didn't have a eureka moment, but I think that's what books do sometimes. They embed themselves in you and the next time and the next time and, finally, you say, "I have to do something." As you might know, it was years later when Dr. King came to Chicago, and I was a law student here. I was like, "Okay." - Bernardine Dohrn, Episode 63 We had the pleasure of talking with Bernardine Dohrn, a comrade who we hold very dear to our hearts, and someone whose commitment to movement work has inspired us deeply. We had a heavy but intriguing conversation about the role of torture that state entities have practiced against people, and how storytelling plays a key role in ending this practice. Anytime we chat with Bernardine we're always left with so much wisdom, so here's one of our favorite moments from our most recent release. Listener’s note: This episode contains descriptions of torture and violence. Please listen with care. https://www.thelitreview.org/season4#episode63 ID: An audiogram promoting the episode. A dark blue image with an enlarged flame in the background. A picture of Bernardine Dohrn in a white border is placed next to the book "The Question" that's also in a white border. In white font the words "The Question with Bernardine Dohrn" are in the top left corner. The Lit Review logo is in the top right corner. Above the pictute of the book, "The Question" is an animated waveform depicting the movement of sound from the quote that's being displayed.

Did you know that Audre Lorde was a Black, disabled, lesbian communist? In our latest episode with K Toyin Agbebiyi, co-host Page May asks K to expand on the connections between sexuality and communism. K dives in and says: “I think a lot of times, especially with social media, a lot of times people will identify as Black feminists and through using that term, what they mean is that typically they're Black women who believe in feminist ideals, but when it comes to actually really practicing it, they might not actually have a commitment to ending capitalism or practicing internationalist politics. So for me, one of the things that drew me to Black feminism, especially Black feminism that's been theorized by lesbians, is just learning about those aspects, learning about what it means to be a communist and how that shows up in our practice, even if we might not explicitly name it like that.” Tune into this episode before our new episode drops next week! http://www.thelitreview.org/season4#episode61 ID 1: An audiogram promoting the episode. Graphic is a red orange background, with a lightly faded enlarged flame overlaying. A picture of K Toyin Agbebiyi holding the book Zami by Audre Lorde. Next to the photo is a white circle that's animated with audio, and captions in black font at the bottom. ID 2: A graphic with a red orange background with white text with the quote from the audiogram.

We told y'all this was an episode to look out for, and we're hyped to see close to 1,500 listens in 24 hours since releasing! In case you missed it, in episode 60 we talked with Angela Davis to break down Karl Marx's "Capital". We have been waiting a long time to dig into this book, and we were fortunate enough to break it down with one of our inspirations! This raw moment with Angela stood out for us as she hammers into the "tyranny of the universal": “I think it helps us to understand why it is that the U.S. has proclaimed itself to be a democracy for so long, and at the same time, there was colonialism. At the same time, indigenous people were subject to genocide. At the same time, there was slavery of people of African descent. All of this is related to ideology. I think one of the real values of Marx and Engels' work, is its insistence on examining the impact of ideology. How is it that we can engage in this kind of thinking that so clearly excludes vast numbers of people?” http://www.thelitreview.org/season4#episode60 Image 1: an audio clip of Angela playing over a light brown graphic with a photo of Angela next to a photo of the book.

"...the Trauma Center Campaign was one of the most amazing healing justice campaigns, that I think we've seen." Did you miss our most recent release? Don't worry, you still got some time to check it out before episode 60 drops this upcoming Sunday! We had the honor of talking with Shira Hassan, co-founder of Just Practice and former Executive Director of the Young Women’s Empowerment Project and had a very heavy, but needed conversation around the book "Kindling" by Aurora Levins Morales. Through the book, we discussed ableism, disability, healing justice, bodies and capitalism, and so much more. We shoutout some brilliant people and initiatives throughout the conversation, such as Kelly Hayes, Tanuja Jagernauth, and The Trauma Center Campaign on the south side of Chicago! Shira is one of our sheroes and teachers so we hold this episode very close to us, and hope that you all find parts to connect to! Make sure you're subscribed to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Soundcloud so you never miss when an episode drops! You can find this episode's transcript on our website's homepage, or under Episodes > Season 4 at thelitreview.org. Audio Transcript: "“Yes, wouldn't it be a good thing if we could prioritize self-care? And can we look at the systemic reasons, and the work that we're doing that gets in the way of that? And can we organize, for example, one of the main campaigns that's happening, that's an example of a healing justice campaign? Right now is the campaign to shut down the detention center in Georgia that was forcing sterilization on women who were crossing the border. And so that is a healing justice campaign that's being led by healer organizers. We also have examples of that in Chicago though. And so at home, here we can see like for the Trauma Center Campaign was one of the most amazing healing justice campaigns, that I think we've seen.”

"We were the organizers, clearly we were the organizers." In case you missed it, we launched season 4 on Sunday! We sat down virtually with Stacy Davis Gates, VP of the Chicago Teachers Union, to have a multi-layered conversation about the book Ain’t I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism by the late bell hooks and it's connection to Stacy's political awakening. This was one of our favorite moments that transpired when Stacy began reflecting on the labor, legacy, and erasure of Black women during the Civil Rights movement. http://www.thelitreview.org/season4#episode58 Audio transcript: “You think about Mahalia Jackson, she didn't just sing at the March on Washington, hell, she made the March on Washington because she was the one who called Martin [Luther King Jr.] to a higher place in that moment to provide the thing that is most notable about his legacy, it was his vision for what America could be. That was her. She knew the moment, she knew what she heard him say already, and she knew how it would impact everyone who they had captive in that moment...and I think they came out of it with the question of why they're not the person in that moment, right? Why aren't they the one standing behind the lectern, giving the speech? We were the organizers, clearly we were the organizers.”

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The Lit Review; a movement podcast

Sparked by a moment of urgency in November of 2016, Monica Trinidad and Page May recognized that mass political education was key. Every week, your Lit Review hosts will chat with people they love and respect about relevant books on Black struggle, movement history, gender, cultural organizing, speculative fiction, political theory, and more. They recognize that political study is not accessible to many for a variety of reasons: financial, academic jargon, low literacy rates, time barriers, etc. Their hope is that this will make critical knowledge more accessible to the masses. Think spark notes in podcast form! Keep Reading.