Join Salvage and Haymarket Books for a discussion of the war in Ukraine and how the international left should respond. We are joined by the Russian socialist and anti-war activist Ilya Matveev—co-founder of openleft.ru—and Ukrainian sociologist Voldoymyr Ishchenko, for a special edition of Salvage Live on the war in Ukraine. How did we get to this crisis? What might the future hold? How secure is Putin? Does this mark the passing of unipolar American hegemony, or not, and how should we understand imperialism today? As rival blocs spread carnage, socialist internationalism once again issues an urgent call to save the world from the flames. ———————————————————————————————— Speakers: Ilya Matveev is a researcher and lecturer based in St Petersburg, Russia. He is a founding editor of Openleft.ru and a member of the research group Public Sociology Laboratory. Volodymyr Ishchenko is a sociologist based in Kyiv. He has published articles and interviews in the Guardian and New Left Review. Barnaby Raine is writing his PhD at Columbia University on visions of ending capitalism. He teaches at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This event is sponsored by Salvage and Haymarket Books. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/0VK_1JBC55w Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Join Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò and Robin D.G. Kelley for a conversation about the politics of solidarity in the fight against racial capitalism. “I was waiting for this book without realizing I was waiting for this book.”—Ruth Wilson Gilmore, author of Change Everything: Racial Capitalism and the Case for Abolition “Olúfémi O. Táíwò is a thinker on fire. He not only calls out empire for shrouding its bloodied hands in the cloth of magical thinking but calls on all of us to do the same. Elite capture, after all, is about turning oppression and its cure into a (neo)liberal commodity exchange where identities become capitalism’s latest currency rather than the grounds for revolutionary transformation. The lesson is clear: only when we think for ourselves and act with each other, together in deep, dynamic, and difficult solidarity, can we begin to remake the world.”—Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination Through a substantive engagement with the global Black radical tradition and a critical understanding of racial capitalism, Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò identifies the process by which a radical concept can be stripped of its political substance and liberatory potential by becoming the victim of elite capture—deployed by political, social, and economic elites in the service of their own interests. Táíwò’s crucial intervention both elucidates this complex process and helps us move beyond a binary of “class” vs. “race.” By rejecting elitist identity politics in favor of a constructive politics of radical solidarity, he advances the possibility of organizing across our differences in the urgent struggle for a better world. --------------------------------------------------------- Speakers: Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. He is the author of Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else) and Reconsidering Reparations. His work exploring the intersections of climate justice and colonialism has been featured in The New Yorker, The Nation, Boston Review, Dissent, The Appeal, Slate, Al Jazeera, The New Republic, Aeon, and Foreign Policy. Robin D.G. Kelley is Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA and the author of many books, including Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination, Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class, and Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression. This event is sponsored by Haymarket Books and Dissent Magazine. Get the book: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1867-elite-capture Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/BpLX8T6phOQ Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Join feminists from Ukraine and around the world for a critical discussion on building solidarity against the war and global capitalism. Since Russia’s full-scale imperialist invasion of Ukraine was launched by Vladimir Putin on February 24, Putin’s speeches, Russian state propaganda and the actual massacres and rapes committed by the Russian army have revealed the genocidal and misogynist character of this invasion. At the same time, the resistance of the Ukrainian people has been heroic. There have been many other expressions of opposition to this war as well, ranging from global protests to humanitarian aid convoys and initiatives by individuals and groups to help the resistance in Ukraine. Ukrainian feminists have been an active part of the resistance both in actual combat and in various other invaluable capacities such as health care, child care, food production, communications and strategizing through social media as writers, leaders and spokeswomen. Among the more than five million Ukrainian refugees in Europe who are mostly women and children, many women are promoting valuable communication with the world. The Russian Feminist Anti-War Resistance, though much smaller in comparison, has brought together forty different feminist groups inside Russia to oppose the invasion. They have also attempted to fight state disinformation by publicizing facts about the war through a Telegram channel. However, many of their members along with other opponents of the war within Russia have been arrested and silenced by the Russian police state and its campaign of disinformation. Desperately needed is a coordinated global feminist solidarity effort to support the Ukrainian popular resistance and their struggle to maintain their country’s independence and democratic rights. This panel will argue that solidarity with Ukraine is critical for the present and future of women’s rights, anti-racism, labor rights, environmentalism, LGBTQ+ rights, and the right to truth and social justice seeking. Speakers: Yuliya Yurchenko is the author of Ukraine and the Empire of Capital: From Marketization to Armed Conflict (Pluto Press, 2018). She is a Senior Lecturer in Political Economy at the Political Economy, Governance, Finance and Accountability Institute at the University of Greenwich, UK. She is also vice-chair of the Critical Political Economy Research Network. Oksana Dutchak is a Ukrainian sociologist and co-editor of Commons: Journal of Social Criticism, a journal of the Ukrainian left. She is the deputy director of the Center for Social and Labor Research in Kyiv, where she has studied work and working conditions as well as gender inequalities. She is now a refugee. Wonda Powell is Professor Emerita of History at Los Angeles Southwest College. She continues her work in Ethnic Studies. Sasha Talaver is a Ph.D. candidate (Gender Studies, CEU, Vienna) and currently, she is a fellow at ZZF (Leibniz Center for contemporary History Potsdam). Sasha explores the role of the state-supported women’s organization in the Soviet Union, the Soviet Women’s Anti-Fascist Committee, in Soviet policy-making. Her previous research project was on the underground women's movement in Soviet Leningrad, Sasha has co-edited the book Feminist Samizdat: 40 Years After (Moscow: commonplace, 2020). Frieda Afary is an Iranian American librarian and translator in Los Angeles and author of the forthcoming book Socialist Feminism: A New Approach (Pluto Press). This event is sponsored by Commons: Journal of Social Criticism (Ukraine), New Politics Magazine, Internationalism From Below, and Haymarket Books. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/dXMnZ0uKzIA Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Join Haymarket Books and Internationalism from Below for a discussion of the multiplying crises and the emergence of a new protest movement in Sri Lanka. ***Please note: This discussion was recorded on May 16, 2022 and while the situation on the ground in Sri Lanka has changed, the background provided here remains indispensable.*** Internationalism from Below (IfB) is a grassroots, all-volunteer network of socialist internationalists whose primary orientation is to support and popularize mass struggles from below of working and oppressed peoples throughout the world. IfB opposes all kinds of state and imperial violence, and aims to provide a positive alternative to the elements of the anti-war left that whitewashes the violence of repressive regimes. Since the beginning of the year, Sri Lanka has been facing its largest economic crisis since the country’s independence from Britain in 1948. Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s regime has defaulted on the foreign loans Sri Lanka has amassed over the years, especially sovereign bonds, and struggled to deal with the economic collapse triggered by multiple factors, including the collapse of tourism revenues with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Sri Lanka’s currency, the rupee, is being rapidly devalued, while average citizens cannot afford basic necessities. Since March, protests have spread across the country, and the President’s cabinet except for the Prime Minister resigned. The Rajapaksa administration—which has spent the past several years attempting to consolidate power through authoritarian measures—has ignored the growing consequences of the economic crisis caused by the build up of foreign loan obligations. How do we make sense of the different political visions and actors in the region in light of the growing contradictions of the neoliberal economy and the limitations of authoritarian regimes to manage the effects of crisis? How are the Sri Lankan mass protests providing a new political vision against the forces of debt-run globalization as they continue to decimate regions of the global South? How do we reckon with the movement’s limits—its complex relationship with Tamil self-determination, and the historical legacy of the electoral left’s betrayal of independent mass politics, among other factors? This panel aims to provide an introduction to the situation in Sri Lanka today from left-wing perspectives, while contextualizing it in the region’s larger political and economic history and issues. The speakers will touch on topics like Sri Lanka’s political economy, local dynamics of racism and authoritarianism in blocking class politics, and grassroots feminist movements’ program and demands. Speakers: Devaka Gunawardena is an independent researcher who holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a general focus on political economy. Rohini Hensman is a writer, researcher, and activist who comes from Sri Lanka and is resident in India and has written extensively on workers’ rights, feminism, minority rights, globalisation, and a Marxist approach to struggles for democracy. Her most recent books are Workers, Unions, and Global Capitalism: Lessons from India and Indefensible: Democracy, Counter-Revolution, and the Rhetoric of Anti-Imperialism. She has also written two novels: To Do Something Beautiful, inspired by her work with working-class women and trade unions in Bombay, and Playing Lions and Tigers, set in Sri Lanka. Niyanthini Kadirgamar is a Ph.D. student in Education at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is part of the Feminist Collective for Economic Justice. Moderator: Promise Li is an activist and writer from Hong Kong and Los Angeles. He organizes international solidarity work with Internationalism from Below and Lausan Collective. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/o4SE9pBf4JY Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Join a panel of Yemeni scholars and activists for a bottom-up perspective on the conflict in Yemen. ***Please note: This discussion was recorded on May 17, 2022 and while the situation on the ground has changed, we hope the background provided here remains informative.*** The recent ceasefire in Yemen and upcoming peace talks promise a possible end to a nightmarish six-year-long conflict that has generated one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. International commentary tends to frame the conflict as a proxy war between regional powers and remains narrowly focused on dynamics between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis. Missing from this picture are the projects and priorities of Yemeni activists, social movements, and grassroots organizations. We rarely hear the voices of Yemeni women, youth, or ordinary people. Yet these forces will be essential to the post-war peace-building process. Yemeni civilians are doing more than simply surviving against punishing odds. A durable settlement to the conflict will be impossible without them. How might both the war in Yemen and the prospects for peace look different with these voices at the center? By featuring Yemenis who work directly in and with these movements, this panel will provide an important bottom-up perspective that can supplement and challenge prevailing accounts of the conflict. Speakers: Azal Alsalafi is a Research Fellow at the Yemen Policy Center in Berlin and Protection and Advocacy Officer at the Peace Track Initiative, which was founded by Yemeni women inside and outside Yemen who came together in 2015 to support the peace process in Yemen. Her research and work focus on pathways of protection, feminist foreign policies, socio-economic dynamics and their impact on human rights and peace-building. Yazeed al-Jeddawy is a fellow at the Yemen Peace Forum and an independent research consultant. He has co-authored papers and policy briefs on youth, arts, transitional justice, development and peace-building in Yemen. He previously worked as a coordinator of youth-focused projects/programs at Youth Without Borders Organisation for Development (YWBOD), and as Education Program Manager at Nahda Makers Organization. Stacey Philbrick Yadav is Associate Professor of International Relations at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. She is the author of Yemen in the Shadow of Transition: Pursuing Justice Amid War, which will be published in September 2022, and Islamists and the State: Legitimacy and Institutions in Yemen and Lebanon (2013). She co-edited The Fight for Yemen, a special issue of Middle East Report, the magazine of the Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP). Since 2019, she has been working with Yemeni colleagues on internationally sponsored projects for everyday peacebuilding in Yemen. Hassan El-Tayyab is Legislative Director for Middle East Policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) in Washington. Prior to joining FCNL in August 2019, he was co-director of Just Foreign Policy, where he led the organization’s lobbying work to advance a more progressive foreign policy in the Middle East and Latin America. He played a major role in the successful passage of the War Powers Resolution to end U.S. military participation in the Saudi-led coalition’s war and blockade on Yemen. This event is sponsored by the Internationalism From Below and Haymarket Books. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/WF8AlZuWrVM Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Join Haymarket and Spectre Journal for a launch of Kim Moody’s new book, Breaking the Impasse. Unlike most countries, the US has no labor party, let alone a mass socialist party. In an effort to overcome this predicament, a new generation of militants hope to transform the Democratic Party or use its ballot to build forces inside it for an eventual “dirty break.” In his new book, Moody argues this electoral orientation is a trap and that socialists should instead build class and social struggle and galvanize a militant minority as the preconditions for the formation of a working class party. Get the book, Breaking the Impasse: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1873-breaking-the-impasse Speakers: Kim Moody was a founder of Labor Notes in the US and the author of several books on labour and politics including Breaking the Impasse: Electoral Politics, Mass Action & the New Socialist Movement in the United States (2022); Tramps & Trade Union Travelers: Internal Migration and Organized Labor in Gilded Age America (2017); and On New Terrain: How Capital Is Reshaping The Battleground Of Class War; all from Haymarket. He has a PhD from the University of Nottingham and is currently a Visiting Scholar at the University of Westminster in London. He is a member of the University and College Union and the National Union of Journalists. Joe Burns is a veteran union negotiator and labor lawyer with over 25 years experience negotiating labor agreements. He is currently the Director of Collective Bargaining for the Association of Flight Attendants, CWA. He graduated from the New York University School of Law. Prior to law school he worked in a public sector hospital and was president of his AFSCME Local. He is the author of Class Struggle Unionism, Strike Back: Rediscovering Militant Tactics to Fight the Attacks on Public Employee Unions and Reviving the Strike: How Working People Can Regain Power and Transform America. Keon Liberato is a railroad track construction worker and president of Track Local 3012 in the Teamsters Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division (BMWED) Teamsters Rail Conference. He is a co-founder and co-chair of the BMWED-IBT Rank & File United reform caucus. Liberato is a member of the Democratic Socialist of America where he served as a member of the National Political Committee from 2020-2021. Lois Weiner, Professor Emerita, New Jersey City University, is a career teacher, education researcher, and teacher union activist. Her new book, as yet untitled, takes up what the Left can learn about defending social justice and workers' rights by examining capitalism's latest project to deprofessionalize teaching, undercut teachers' labor activism, and destroy public education. Chapters One and Two have been published by New Politics and Tempest. --------------------------------------------------------- This event is sponsored by Spectre Journal and Haymarket Books. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/W0xxhv1ZOtQ Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks