Coffee with Comrades Recommends

In Ep. 9: "Remember, Remember the 5th of November," we discuss the motion picture adaptation of Alan Moore's powerful graphic novel, V For Vendetta. We grapple with the story's political themes, the film's lackluster portrayal of its female and LGBTQ+ characters, the problematic antics of its titular "hero," the process of radicalization, and so much more.

Pearson sits down with Shane Burley, author of Fascism Today: What It Is and How to End It, in Ep. 26 of Coffee with Comrades. Shane is a film-maker and journalist based out of Portland, OR. His work has appeared in numerous outlets including Jacobin, Alternet, TruthOut, Salon, ThinkProgress, Waging Nonviolence, and many more.

Ep. 61 of Coffee with Comrades, "Anarchy or Annihilation," features a discussion of Post-Scarcity Anarchism by Murray Bookchin.

In Ep. 63 of Coffee with Comrades, "Exiles from the Future," we sit down for a conversation with Nick Estes, assistant professor at the University of New Mexico and author of Our History is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance. We spend the hour discussing indigeneity, decolonization, revolution, the Red Deal, the Red Power Movement, anti-imperialism, internationalism, and so much more.

In this seventy-fifth episode of Coffee with Comrades, we are joined by the historian and professor Danny Evans, author of the brand new book Revolution and the State: Anarchism in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939, out now from AK Press! 

In Ep. 82: "Messy Beautiful," Cindy Milstein sits down for a conversation with Pearson about her new edited anthology, Deciding For Ourselves: The Promise of Direct Democracy. In this episode, we chat about joy, grief, organizing in an era of COVID-19, direct democrac(ies), and the beautiful messiness of participatory praxis and collaborative decision-making. 

In Ep. 86: "Tilting at Windmills," Pearson got to sit down for a whirlwind conversation with scott crow, anarchist, author, purveyor of fine records, and long-time community-organizer. We chat about scott’s radicalization, compassionate self-critique, the shortcomings of mass movement-centric forms of organizing, media and perception, and so much more. 

In Ep. 99: "Outward, Not Upward," Ruth Kinna joins Pearson to talk about her book, Great Anarchists. Ruth is an anarchist and professor at Loughborough University where she teaches Political Theory. Ruth is also the editor of Anarchist Studies, a biannual academic journal on anarchism. 

For Ep. 101: "Proletarian Shopping," the lovely Vicky Osterweil, author of the new book In Defense of Looting: A Riotous History of Uncivil Action, joined me for a wide-ranging conversation. We talked about the inextricable nature of class and race, the abolition of whiteness as a necessary step for police and prison abolition, the efficacy of riots, and why joy is what scares cops and politicians the most whenever the looting starts. 

I recently got the chance to sit down with my friends in ABC w/Danny and Jim for a collaborative episode to interview Ruth Kinna about her book, The Government of No One. The resulting discussion was an absolute blast. You can check out the conversation in Ep. 113 of Coffee with Comrades, "Anarchize Everything."

In Ep. 114: "History from Below" we sat down with John, one of the blokes behind the Working Class History project. In this edition of the program, we discuss WCH’s new book, Working Class History: Everyday Acts of Resistance and Rebellion, WCH’s unique approach to historical records and story-telling, how to use WCH’s new book to enrich historical education, the efficacy of punching Nazis, and the secret history of tea breaks. 

In Ep. 117: "Militant Joy," I sat down with Carla Bergman, co-author of Joyful Militancy and co-host of Silver Threads and Grounded Futures, to discuss militant joy. This conversation lead us on a whirlwind of topics. We discussed unschooling, ridiculed rigid radicalism, analyzed Joyful Militancy and The Dispossessed, geeked out over Ursula K. Le Guin's rendition of the Tao Te Ching, talked about Breaking Bad, and generally just shot the shit. Check it out!