Movement Memos

Apr 03 2025 143 ep. 51 mins 686

Movement Memos Podcast artwork

An ongoing call to action for movement work and mutual aid efforts around the country. Kelly Hayes connects with activists, journalists and others on the front lines to break down what’s happening in various struggles and what listeners can do to help.

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Let's Be Politically Promiscuous

Apr 03 2025 56 mins

“Our movements are pretty much just made of our relationships — whether we can move together, coordinate, collaborate, figure out disagreements [and] stay loyal to each other when the repression comes down,” says Dean Spade. In this episode Dean and Kelly discuss the lessons of Dean's new book, Love in a F*cked-Up World: How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell Tog

We Must Burst Our Algorithmic Bubbles and Build Together Across Difference

Mar 20 2025 73 mins

“We need each other, and interdependence is key to survival for human beings,” says Mariame organizer Kaba. In this episode, Mariame and Kelly talk about what their book Let This Radicalize You brings to this moment. They also discuss the fight for reproductive justice, the problem with schadenfreude, and the need to build collective courage. Music: Son Monarcas and Pulsed Yo

Fight Fear, Build Power: Community Defense Works

Mar 06 2025 49 mins

“This kind of repression, part of its intention is to isolate people,” says organizer Nikki Marín Baena. In this episode, Kelly talks with Nikki about community defense organizing and how communities are fighting back against Trump’s mass deportation agenda. Music: Son Monarcas and Heath Cantu You can find a transcript and show notes (including links to resources) here: trut

Let’s Learn and Live Lessons in Collective Survival Together

Feb 20 2025 71 mins

“We are really good at finding what's wrong with each other,” says author and podcaster Margaret Killjoy. “We really need to challenge ourselves to be ready to let people be better.” In this episode, Kelly and Margaret talk about preparedness, collective survival, and the organizing lessons we need in these times. Music: Son Monarcas, Curved Mirror, Pulsed, and David Celest

We Won't Take Risks Alone. Our Relationships Make a Better World Possible.

Feb 06 2025 62 mins

“Our power comes from knowing who's around us, from trusting who's around us, and from strategizing with every lever that we have,” says tenant organizer and Abolish Rent co-author Tracy Rosenthal. In this episode, Rosenthal and their co-author Leonardo Vilchi talk with Kelly about what rent strikes and tenant unions can teach us about the work of collective survival in this mo

How Immigration Organizers Are Gearing Up for Another Trump Era

Dec 05 2024 64 mins

“It’s inherently a racial justice and economic justice fight,” says Silky Shah, executive director of Detention Watch Network. In this episode, Kelly talks with Silky about the threats posed by the incoming Trump administration, how organizers are preparing to defend immigrant communities, and what actions we can take to prepare and respond. Music: Son Monarcas, Curved Mirror

We Must Contest the Christian Right’s Agenda in Every Venue of Our Lives

Nov 21 2024 78 mins

“Our enemies are waging a war, and to many of them, it’s a holy war,” says host Kelly Hayes. In this episode, Hayes and guest Talia Lavin discuss the emotional impacts of the presidential election, the expansive agenda of the Christian right, and how everyday people can resist what Lavin calls “our nation's precipitous slide into autocracy.” Music: Son Monarcas, David Cel

To Transform Our Trauma, We Must Nurture Movements for Change

Nov 06 2024 82 mins

“We really have a big opportunity right now to decide, within traumatic conditions and circumstances, how we are going to show up, again and again, for ourselves and each other,” says Tanuja Jageranauth. In this episode of “Movement Memos,” host Kelly Hayes talks with radical therapist Dorian Ortega and Healing Justice practitioners Tanuja Jagernauth and Chiara Galimberti a

From the Ashes: How Grief Shapes Our Struggles

Oct 24 2024 63 mins

“The capitalist system also doesn't care if we die. So insisting on the value of human life, insisting on grieving, particularly grieving publicly and collectively, is a real statement against this entire death-making system,” says author Sarah Jaffe. In this episode, Kelly talks with Sarah about the lessons of Sarah’s latest book, From the Ashes: Grief and Revolution in a Wo

Keeping Each Other Alive: Mental Health and Collective Survival

Oct 10 2024 87 mins

“I've seen a lot of people lashing out at people horizontally, and my gut sense is that sometimes it happens because the folks who are lashing out are definitely super traumatized, in crisis, feel and are really powerless in a lot of ways,” says Disability Justice organizer Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. In this episode, Kelly talks with Leah and Elliott Fukui, who develops