The Healing Project: An Abolitionist Story (Encore)
Composer, pianist, and vocalist Samora Pinderhughes tells us about The Healing Project. The Healing Project, a fundamentally abolitionist project, explores the structures of systemic racism and the prison industrial complex. This story first aired February 2023. The Healing Project takes action towards abolition with forms such as musical songs, films, an exhibition, community gatherings, live performances, and a digital library of...
Reproductive Justice: The Ongoing Struggle for Bodily Autonomy (Encore)
Today we share excerpts from “She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry,” a documentary filled with stories that still resonate today as women face new challenges around reproductive rights and sexual violence. The documentary tells the stories of the activists of the Women’s Liberation Movement that gained traction in the late 1960s and led to social and policy changes that set women on a path towards equality and reproductive...
Gaza, Solidarity, and the Movement for Palestinian Liberation
For weeks people around the world have been witness to Israel’s deadly assault on Gaza. Today, we uncover the military corporations profiting from the war, and highlight the activism in every corner of the world in support of Palestinian liberation. We’ll hear from Rami Almeghari, a Gaza-based journalist, to get insight on the conditions on the ground in Gaza before zooming out with Nora Barrows-Friedman to look at...
Powerlands (Encore)
On this week’s Making Contact, we bring you a special encore of an episode that first aired in June. We’ll hear an extended interview with Ivey Camille Manybeads Tso, a queer Diné filmmaker and director of the award-winning documentary Powerlands. Powerlands traces how multinational energy corporations extract resources and profits while displacing and harming Indigenous communities around the world. The film follows...
Agitation to a System: Trans Resistance in Louisiana
Hundreds of bills targeting the trans and queer community have been introduced across state legislatures this year – a new record. Louisiana, like many other states, has seen a slew of anti-LGBTQ+ bills this session. But the state is somewhat of an outlier in the South, and activists have been successful in pushing back against these types of bills in the past. Sophie Ziegler joins today’s episode to show us what legislative...
Powerlands
On this week’s Making Contact, we feature an extended interview with Ivey Camille Manybeads Tso, a queer Diné filmmaker and director of the award-winning documentary Powerlands. Powerlands traces how multinational energy corporations extract resources and profits while displacing and harming Indigenous communities around the world. The film follows Indigenous activists in Navajo Nation, Colombia, Mexico and the Philippines who...
The Response: Mutual Aid with Joshua Potash
Joshua Potash is an anti-capitalist abolitionist based in New York City. Joshua co-founded Washington Square Park Mutual Aid, which provides free food, clothing, and various supplies once a week in the New York City park. They also co-host events like film screenings, skillshares, and various trainings. The group was founded in response to NYPD violence with the aim of creating a counter-narrative and being a community hub for folks...
Generation Putin, Ten Years Later
This week Jessica Partnow offers a look at the state of youth activism in Russia from 2012 to today. She revisits her reporting from Ukraine and Russia and speaks with the people in those stories against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine. First, she shares the story of re-connecting with her childhood pen pal Sasha, a Ukrainian boy who witnessed the fall of the Soviet Union and is now fighting to protect his country from the...
George Floyd Anniversary & Reimagining Public Safety: Special YES!/PNS Report
Making Contact · George Floyd Anniversary & Reimagining Public Safety: Special YES!/PNS Report Minneapolis, MN – May 25 marks the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Floyd’s death – captured on video that showed Chauvin’s knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes – sparked a global uprising in defense of Black lives...
Grace Lee Boggs: Sister Revolutionary (Updated Encore)
Making Contact · Grace Lee Boggs: Sister Revolutionary (Updated Encore) Anti-Asian violence and hate has increased since the start of the pandemic last year. #StopAsianHate became a viral hashtag much like #BlackLivesMatter in the wake of Black people killed by police officers. The relationship between Black and Asian Americans is complicated. However, the groups are united in their efforts to call out white supremacy as the...