Under the Tree: A Seminar on Freedom with Bill Ayers

Under the Tree with Bill Ayers
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Under the Tree: A Seminar on Freedom with Bill Ayers

“Under the Tree” is a new podcast that focuses on freedom—a complex, layered, dynamic, and often contradictory idea—and takes you on a journey each week to fundamentally reimagine how we can bring freedom and liberation to life in relation to schools and schooling, equality and justice, and learning to live together in peace. Our podcast opens a crawl-space, a fugitive field and firmament where we can both explore our wildest freedom dreams, and organize for a liberating insurgency. "Under the Tree" is a seminar, and it runs the gamut from current events to the arts, from history lessons to scientific inquiries, and from essential readings to frequent guest speakers. We’re in the midst of the largest social uprising in US history—and what better time to dive headfirst into the wreckage, figuring out as we go how to support the rebellion, name it, and work together to realize its most radical possibilities—and to reach its farthest horizons?

  1. Citizen Printer with Amos Paul Kennedy Jr.

    2 DAYS AGO

    Citizen Printer with Amos Paul Kennedy Jr.

    Amos Kennedy, self-described “humble negro printer” and author of Citizen Printer, is a visionary treasure, an imaginative freedom-fighter, and the creator of type-driven messages of justice, freedom, and Black Power. He understands that freedom comes to life in action, and that we are most truly (and paradoxically) free when we name the obstacles to our humanity, and then throw ourselves against the imposing wall of unfreedom. His weapon of choice, the sledgehammer with which he bangs away day by day, is letterpress printing, and every image he brings to life urges voyages—wobbly rambles away from the cold reality of the world we inhabit into worlds that could be or should be but are not yet. Join Bill Ayers and Amos Kennedy “under the tree”—in this case, amidst the unique randomness and studied messiness of his Detroit studio, seated on folding chairs between presses and with stacks of paper and trays of type as far as the eye can see—as we dance the dialectic, discussing history and the future, politics and  resistance, inspiration and aspiration, justice and freedom.  His book is available here: https://www.madejacksonhole.com/products/amos-paul-kennedy-jr-citizen-printer?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwu-63BhC9ARIsAMMTLXRHIz_eZ1HcQf5xLPBaPxLz2TfhEVDJa-44hPfEkEaWZvTFBuUquMsaAl7rEALw_wcB

    54 min
  2. “A” is for Abortion with Alicia Hurtado

    SEP 18

    “A” is for Abortion with Alicia Hurtado

    At a time when women’s bodily integrity is under sustained assault, and simultaneously huge numbers of women across a wide political spectrum have rallied, mobilized, ands refused to accept a medieval definition of their rights, we sit down with Alicia Hurtado, a Chicago-based grass-roots organizer, activist, and advocate to discuss the state of the movement and where we need to go from here.

    1h 18m
  3. When Freedom is the Question Abolition is the Answer: Reflections on Collective Liberation

    SEP 4

    When Freedom is the Question Abolition is the Answer: Reflections on Collective Liberation

    with Guest Hosts Lisa Lee and Adam Bush interviewing Bill Ayers, and with surprise interventions from Light Ayli, Barbara Ransby, and Tom Morello. What is freedom? What are the "freedom dreams" that encourage us and move us forward? How do we get free? Join our brilliant guest hosts as they chop these questions up in dialogue with Bill Ayers.

    1h 14m
  4. The Whole World is Watching with Medea Benjamin, Code Pink, and Eleanor Stein

    AUG 15

    The Whole World is Watching with Medea Benjamin, Code Pink, and Eleanor Stein

    The activists from the militant peace organization Code Pink—in conjunction with the Dissenters, Jewish Voice for Peace, Students for Justice in Palestine, and a host of others—are calling for mass mobilizations in Chicago at the Democratic National Convention, which will be held from August 19-22, 2024. Their goal is to issue a thundering response to the US-sponsored, Israeli-led and preannounced genocide in Gaza, and to shine an illuminating light on US complicity with Israel in destroying Palestinian lives and communities. This episode is a broadcast of a webinar with Eleanor Stein, Medea Benjamin, and Bill Ayers organized by Code Pink earlier this month. We urge everyone to come to Chicago if at all possible, and to contribute to building an irresistible peace and justice movement NOW!

    1h 6m
  5. Project 2025 with Kevin Kumashir

    AUG 7

    Project 2025 with Kevin Kumashir

    Years of coordinated effort by the reactionary Heritage Foundation has culminated in a frighteningly dystopian document describing the future society they hope to build: Project 2025. At 900-plus pages, it’s been described as a blueprint for a second Trump presidential term, but it's so much more than that. It is in fact a sweeping manifesto, and a massive mapping of the key issues facing society. Project 2025 will outlive Trump by decades, providing a vision, guidance, and energy for organizing campaigns based on authoritarian themes and Christian Dominionist theology well into the future. Significantly, this effort has organized 110 disparate right-wing organizations and thousands of individuals into a united front. Attention peace activists, freedom fighters, and justice  organizers: this is what we’re up against! Our comrade and dear friend Kevin Kumashiro, author of several books including a new edition of his classic Against Common Sense, joins Under the Tree for a record third time to help us unpack the significance of Project 2025.

    1h 16m
  6. Organizing Your Own: The White Fight for Black Power with Say Burgin

    JUL 24

    Organizing Your Own: The White Fight for Black Power with Say Burgin

    The centuries-old struggle for Black Freedom is filled with victories and defeats, tragedy and triumph, forward motion and backlash. Today we sit down with historian and engaged scholar Say Burgin to uncover some of the myths that pass as history, focusing particularly on the historic turn toward Black Power and the resulting strategy of “racially parallel organizing” with white comrades. Say Burgin’s illuminating book is urgent and relevant for anti-racist organizers and activists today.

    1h 3m
  7. Ella Baker & The Black Freedom Movement with Barbara Ransby and Asha Ransby-Sporn

    JUL 10

    Ella Baker & The Black Freedom Movement with Barbara Ransby and Asha Ransby-Sporn

    The dynamic and engaging Socialism 2024 conference will meet in Chicago from August 30 through September 2, shortly after the sure-to-be chaotic Democratic National Convention, bringing together thousands of socialists, activists, abolitionists, and organizers from across the country and around the world to name this political moment, build community, and gather strength for the struggles ahead. We hope you will join us. In anticipation of the coming gathering we’re looking back to the spirited Socialism 2023 conference, and highlighting an inspiring and relevant intergenerational conversation between legendary scholar-activist Barbara Ransby and the peace and justice organizer/activist Asha Ransby Sporn.

    1h 28m
  8. Road Trip! This is My Life I’m Talking About with Danny Lyon

    JUN 26

    Road Trip! This is My Life I’m Talking About with Danny Lyon

    Join me for a classic American road trip with the legendary photographer, photo-journalist, writer, and film-maker Danny Lyon. Danny left the University of Chicago in the 1960s and headed South to join the great Civil Rights Movement, where he became the official photographer of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. We will visit the Black Freedom Movement together, but we will also revisit his groundbreaking documentary photographs of prison life in Texas, the gripping story of a friend of his who was also one of America’s Ten Most Wanted fugitives, and his involvement with the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club, which he documented in The Bikeriders (1968), a collection of black and white photographs with accompanying interviews that was released the year before the classic “Easy Rider.” That work of photojournalism is the inspiration for Jeff Nichols’ contemporary film of the same name. His memoir, This is My Life I’m Talking About, was just released. Danny Lyon’s website is bleakbeauty.com where you can read his blog, and view his films for free on Vimeo.

    58 min
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4.9
out of 5
68 Ratings

About

“Under the Tree” is a new podcast that focuses on freedom—a complex, layered, dynamic, and often contradictory idea—and takes you on a journey each week to fundamentally reimagine how we can bring freedom and liberation to life in relation to schools and schooling, equality and justice, and learning to live together in peace. Our podcast opens a crawl-space, a fugitive field and firmament where we can both explore our wildest freedom dreams, and organize for a liberating insurgency. "Under the Tree" is a seminar, and it runs the gamut from current events to the arts, from history lessons to scientific inquiries, and from essential readings to frequent guest speakers. We’re in the midst of the largest social uprising in US history—and what better time to dive headfirst into the wreckage, figuring out as we go how to support the rebellion, name it, and work together to realize its most radical possibilities—and to reach its farthest horizons?

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