In this episode of By Any Means Necessary, hosts Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman are joined by Atlanta-based organizer Monica Johnson to discuss a new fetal heartbeat law passed in Georgia as attacks on the bodily autonomy of women continue in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the dangerous risk of criminalization and harm this law exposes women in Georgia to, how this law and the attacks on reproductive autonomy in the south reflect the dynamic of slavery in its entrenchment of control of the reproductive autonomy of women, and how a movement of poor and working people have met the refusal of Democratic politicians to levy a significant challenge to this law.
In the second segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Zoe Pepper-Cunningham, a journalist with People’s Dispatch to discuss victories won by the national strike in Panama and the continuing negotiations between the government and the movement, the alliance of indigenous and labor organizations that are organizing massive protests, the lessons that the movement in the US can take from the movement in Panama on uniting different sectors of poor and working people, and how the tide of progressive politics in Latin America has changed the consciousness of people in the region and driven a desire for an end to exploitation.
In the third segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Coimbra (Portugal). His most recent book is Decolonising the University: The Challenge of Deep Cognitive Justice and he is the recipient 2022 Frantz Fanon Lifetime Achievement Award to discuss the geopolitical ramifications of the conflict in Ukraine on the power of the west, what the difference is between a contraction of power and an imperial decline, the social and human fallout of this contraction as the west’s sanctions come back to bite its own economies, and the emergence of a renewed non-aligned movement among nations that have refused to follow the marching orders of the western imperial project.
Later in the show, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Nino Brown, an organizer with the Boston Jericho movement and the editor of the book Revolutionary Education: Theory And Practice For Socialist Organizers to discuss the profile of Olena Zelenska on the cover of Vogue magazine and the use of celebrity culture to push the narrative of the west on the conflict in Ukraine, why and how celebrity culture and individualization should be met with political education, and the upcoming Black Panther film and why organizers can gain from engaging in pop culture even when it has a clear propaganda purpose.
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