In her latest essay, “The Pandemic Is a Portal” — from her forthcoming Haymarket Books publication Azadi: Freedom. Fascism. Fiction. — Arundhati Roy writes: What is this thing that has happened to us? It’s a virus, yes. In and of itself it holds no moral brief. But it is definitely more than a virus. Some believe it’s God’s way of bringing us to our senses. Others that it’s a Chinese conspiracy to take over the world. Whatever it is, coronavirus has made the mighty kneel and brought the world to a halt like nothing else could. Our minds are still racing back and forth, longing for a return to “normality,” trying to stitch our future to our past and refusing to acknowledge the rupture. But the rupture exists. And in the midst of this terrible despair, it offers us a chance to rethink the doomsday machine we have built for ourselves. Nothing could be worse than a return to normality. Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it. Join the acclaimed author to discuss this essay and her recent writings on the existential threat posed to Indian democracy by an emboldened Hindu nationalism, India’s new citizenship laws that discriminate against Muslims and marginalized communities and could create a crisis of statelessness on a scale previously unknown, and the meaning of freedom in a world of growing authoritarianism. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/QmQLTnK4QTA Buy books from Haymarket: haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Editors José Olivarez and Willie Perdomo will be joined by special guests Diannely Antigua, Rigoberto González, Janel Pineda, and Raquel Salas Rivera, for an event to launch the new anthology The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext. In the dynamic tradition of the BreakBeat Poets anthology, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext celebrates the embodied narratives of Latinidad. Poets speak from an array of nationalities, genders, sexualities, races, and writing styles, staking a claim to our cultural and civic space. Like Hip-Hop, we honor what was, what is, and what's next. Get the book: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1491-the-breakbeat-poets-vol-4 Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/MIBC7OtkrkA Buy books from Haymarket: haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Join us for a discussion on the state of the global economy with activist economists David McNally and Hadas Thier. As the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold across the world it has become increasingly obvious that we’ve only seen the first wave of shocks it will send through the global economy before things “return to normal.” Each week brings a new and completely unprecedented turn—from record setting unemployment claims, to the total implosion of oil prices. And while the conditions of lockdown are undoubtedly the catalyst for the turmoil roiling through global markets, what if it’s Capitalism’s “normal” that paved the way for the economic crisis looming on the horizon? In this virtual teach-in, radical economists David McNally (author of the essential Global Slump) and Hadas Thier (author of the forthcoming A People’s Guide to Capitalism) will try to help activists make sense of the twists, turns, and sudden collapses in the world economy that have been playing out in the background during this global health emergency. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/zWIDsEFVGZQ Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Celebrate May Day with a discussion from leading labor voices Sara Nelson, Stacy Davis Gates, and Sarah Jaffe about how we can build a radical working class response to the current crisis. What is our vision as the working class for a different future, one free from exploitation and corporate greed, and how do we organize to win it? May Day, international workers' day, is a time to honor and celebrate the radical traditions of the labor movement. In the midst of the current crisis it is more important than ever to build on the militant legacy of May Day and organize a fighting, working-class resistance that demands a better world for us all. Sara Nelson is the International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO and she represents 50,000 of aviation’s first responders at 20 airlines. In 2019, The New York Times called her "America's most powerful flight attendant" for her role in helping to end the 35-day Government Shutdown by calling for a general strike. Stacy Davis Gates is the Vice President of the Chicago Teachers Union. This past fall, she helped to lead a 15-day strike and to negotiate an historic contract that provides for smaller class sizes, ensures a nurse and social worker in every Chicago public school, secures sanctuary protections for immigrant families, and supports students and families experiencing homelessness. Sarah Jaffe is a reporting fellow at Type Media Center, the author of Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt and the forthcoming Work Won't Love You Back, both from Bold Type Books. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/TEmgk2i2DFc Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Join us for a conversation with Kimberlé Crenshaw, hosted by Janine Jackson, about why intersectionality matters in this moment of crisis. äThe past few months have prompted unprecedented levels of turmoil and unpredictability due to rising alarm over COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2). Coronavirus did not create the stark social, financial, and political inequalities that define life for so many of us, but it has made them more strikingly visible than at any moment in recent history. Meanwhile, the most vulnerable to societal neglect remain most impacted. Unfortunately, some of the intersectional dimensions of these structural disparities remain undetected and unreported. Kimberlé Crenshaw, Professor of Law at UCLA and Columbia Law School, is a leading authority in the area of Civil Rights, Black feminist legal theory, and race, racism and the law. Her work has been foundational in two fields of study that have come to be known by terms that she coined: Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality. She is the host of the African American Policy Forum's Under The Blacklight: The Intersectional Failures that COVID Lays Bare, an ongoing livestream series in which thought leaders around the country discuss the current crisis, explore how we can move forward together to protect and uplift the most vulnerable among us, and imagine the world we hope to see emerge on the other side. Crenshaw is also the host of Intersectionality Matters. Janine Jackson is the program directors at Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) and producer/host of FAIR’s syndicated weekly radio show CounterSpin. She contributes frequently to FAIR’s newsletter Extra!, and co-edited The FAIR Reader: An Extra! Review of Press and Politics in the ’90s (Westview Press). She has appeared on ABC‘s Nightline and CNN Headline News, among other outlets, and has testified to the Senate Communications Subcommittee on budget reauthorization for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Her articles have appeared in various publications, including In These Times and the UAW’s Solidarity, and in books including Civil Rights Since 1787 (New York University Press) and Stop the Next War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism (New World Library). For more info on our sponsors: Haymarket Books - https://www.haymarketbooks.org African American Policy Forum (AAPF) - https://aapf.org/ Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) - https://fair.org/ Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/otload6iBhA Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Join author-activists Toni Gilpin and John Nichols for a conversation on the historic consequences of ousting the Democrats' progressive wing. To get a copy of John Nichols' new book: https://www.versobooks.com/books/3082-the-fight-for-the-soul-of-the-democratic-party To get a copy of Toni Gilpin's new book: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1449-the-long-deep-grudge —————————————————————————— Seventy five years ago, Vice President Henry Wallace’s antiracist, progressive political vision—as well as his nomination to remain vice president—was sidelined by Democratic big city bosses and southern segregationists. As history repeats itself through Democratic insiders' staunch rejection of the Sanders campaign, how should radicals engage with the Democratic Party? Wallace's ouster set the stage for a continued pattern of Democratic concessions to the right, and a series of blows to labor unions. As organized labor collapsed, so did the standard of living for the American working class. In this virtual teach-in, the authors will contend with this history and offer takeaways for radicals from the campaign trail to the factory floor. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/MJPmhEHcDds Buy books from Haymarket: haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks