Best Under The Tree With Bill Ayers Podcasts (2025)

1
The Invisible Institute with Maira Khwaja and Trina Reynolds-Tyler 1:15:51

4d ago1:15:51

1:15:51

The Invisible Institute—with its evocative and mysterious name—exists in the proud tradition of “guerrilla journalism,” a difficult to define or pigeon-hole practice of human rights inquiry and documentation. This dazzling collection of journalists, archivists, writers, thinkers, organic intellectuals-without-portfolio, organizers, activists, data …

1
The Right to Think at All with Katherine Franke 46:47

12d ago46:47

46:47

Thousands of student visas cancelled by the government! Legal residents snatched off the streets by masked agents, detained and deported! Federal research grants to universities scrapped! The government asserting a special right to oversee academic departments and curriculum decisions! The frequency of events like these across the country are dizzy…

1
Big Data/Predatory Data with Anita Say Chan 57:14

19d ago57:14

57:14

To be ruled is to be spied upon and inspected, quantified, measured, and ranked, and then registered and regulated with all the inherent structural violence packed into those arrangements. To be free is to abolish all of it, to reject that system’s hold over our minds as well as to defeat its power in the world. What kind of society do we want to l…

1
Everything for Everyone with M.E.O’Brien and Eman Abdelhadi 55:26

26d ago55:26

55:26

What is your North Star? What are you fighting for, and what are you struggling to overcome, or leave behind? The goal is not a precise and detailed roadmap—that way lies dogma, orthodoxy, and worse—but rather a vision and a hope with which to gauge and partially frame our work in the here and now. The great Uruguay revolutionary, Edwardo Galeano, …

1
A Radical Reframing with Jeanne Theoharis and Erik Wallenberg 1:06:36

1M ago1:06:36

1:06:36

When a popular leader emerges from the whirlwind of a struggle for justice, power always stands in opposition—ignoring the rising demands where possible, ridiculing and coopting, and eventually fighting with everything in their arsenal. When the popular leader is gone—murdered or passed on—power makes them into a mythical hero while simultaneously …

1
Beyond Prison with Jimmy Soto 1:04:38

2M ago1:04:38

1:04:38

James (Jimmy) Soto was released from Stateville Prison in November, 2023, after suffering 42 years and 2 months in custody for a crime he did not commit. A month before his release he had received his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University. He and his co-defendant, Tyrone Ayala, also exonerated, were the longest serving wrongfully convicted…

1
How We Get Free with Barbara Smith 1:24:12

2M ago1:24:12

1:24:12

Barbara Smith is a Movement legend— the kind of courageous activist, powerful thinker, persistent organizer and whole-hearted doer who keeps the Movement moving. She is co-founder of the Combahee River Collective and co-author of the acclaimed 1977 statement that has been one of the most influential Black feminist documents of the twentieth century…

1
Culture/Counterculture with Alex Zamalin 1:01:22

3M ago1:01:22

1:01:22

Human beings are suspended in webs-of-significance—we make sense and we make meaning—and culture is nothing more nor less than the webs. Those webs-of-significance are alive, forever trembling and vibrating, evolving and regenerating, changing and developing as messages and stories and ways-of-being vibrate across the surface. So culture can never …

1
To be Close to Books with Emily Drabinski 52:03

3M ago52:03

52:03

In America is in the Heart, Carlos Bulosan describes his good fortune at landing a job in a library where he could be close to books: “I was beginning to understand what was going on around me, and the darkness that had covered my present life was lifting.” Ursula Le Guin writes of a library’s sacredness: “its accessibility, its publicness.” She ca…

1
Comix Theory with Eve Ewing and Ryan Alexander-Tanner 56:15

3M ago56:15

56:15

Comix is a distinct art form—sequential art—that expresses ideas with multiple images, most often combined with text. It's a hybrid (think co-mix) and, importantly, it’s a medium not a genre—don’t confuse the two in the presence of a comix creator or you might get your head bit off (for a real-life dramatization, see the opening of To Teach: the jo…

1
Goodbye to All That—Let’s Begin Again with Bill Ayers 35:08

4M ago35:08

35:08

When Freedom is the Question… was published on September 10, and we had a book launch that night at our home-away-from-home, Pilsen Community Books, in conversation with Eve Ewing. We traveled to Women and Children First, Seminary Coop, The Wooden Shoe in Philadelphia, Book and Puppet in Easton, PA, Riff Raff in Providence, Firestorm in Asheville, …

1
Brave Community with Janine de Novais 50:51

5M ago50:51

50:51

The word “racism” can apply to a specific person or to the social structure, and in our hyper-individualistic culture, the word most commonly devolves to a singular individual who did something obviously prejudiced: Cliven Bundy, the Nevada cattle rancher, Amy Cooper, the New York person who called the cops on a bird-watcher who’d asked her to keep…

1
Reckoning with the Wreckage with Davarian Baldwin and David Stovall 1:00:09

5M ago1:00:09

1:00:09

This is the country we live in…no doubt about it: white nationalists well-organized and rising; a fascist in the white house surrounded by his loyal Renfields; a preannounced genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza underway, funded and fueled by our taxes; raging, racialized police violence unchecked; capitalist-induced climate collapse on …

1
From White Folks Who Teach in the Hood with Christopher Emdin, Sam Seidel, and co-host Adam Bush 1:06:54

6M ago1:06:54

1:06:54

Let’s talk about teaching, which means let’s also talk about racism—attitudes, stereotypes, prejudices, for sure, and much, much more. Let’s talk about structures and institutions, as well, about laws and legacies, cultures and the dogma of common sense. Co-host Adam Bush and I are joined in conversation with Christopher Emdin and Sam Seidel. After…

1
Parenting Toward Abolition with Maya Schenwar and Kim Wilson 1:07:29

6M ago1:07:29

1:07:29

Abolition can perhaps best be understood as a collection of creative and complex acts of world-building—what kind of world would we need to build in order to have no slavery? our forebears asked. And what kind of world could we begin to create today that would render prisons and police and militarism obsolete, predation and exploitation relics of a…

1
Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle with Lawrence Grandpre 55:44

7M ago55:44

55:44

We’re in conversation today with Lawrence Grandpre from the group Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS), a grassroots think-tank that advances the public policy interests of Black people in Baltimore through youth leadership development, political advocacy, and autonomous intellectual innovation. Founded by young freedom fighters, you can find them…

1
Citizen Printer with Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. 53:32

7M ago53:32

53:32

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 …

1
“A” is for Abortion with Alicia Hurtado 1:18:26

8M ago1:18:26

1:18:26

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 th…

1
When Freedom is the Question Abolition is the Answer: Reflections on Collective Liberation 1:13:37

8M ago1:13:37

1:13:37

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.…

1
The Whole World is Watching with Medea Benjamin, Code Pink, and Eleanor Stein 1:06:02

9M ago1:06:02

1:06:02

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…

1
Project 2025 with Kevin Kumashir 1:15:30

9M ago1:15:30

1:15:30

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…

1
Organizing Your Own: The White Fight for Black Power with Say Burgin 1:02:35

10M ago1:02:35

1:02:35

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 …

1
Ella Baker & The Black Freedom Movement with Barbara Ransby and Asha Ransby-Sporn 1:27:47

10M ago1:27:47

1:27:47

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 communi…

1
Road Trip! This is My Life I’m Talking About with Danny Lyon 58:05

10M ago58:05

58:05

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…

1
Tea and Reparations with Aaron Hughes and Amber Ginsburg 51:50

11M ago51:50

51:50

Patriotism can never express a common human aspiration nor a universal moral code—if everyone on earth claimed to be a fierce and focused patriot today, 20 % of the world’s people would be Chinese patriots, and only 4.4 % patriotic Americans. Patriotism promises a steady anchor, but it is, in reality, entirely unstable. We note that every human bei…

1
The Real Dragon with Stanley Howard 1:03:14

11M ago1:03:14

1:03:14

This centennial episode of Under the Tree features an enlightening conversation with Stanley Howard, the legendary jailhouse lawyer and founder of the Death Row 10, a group of African American men on Illinois' death row who organized a powerful campaign from their prison cells to save their lives and to spark a new abolitionist movement decades ago…

1
Breathe, Now Push with Jennifer Dohrn 58:56

12M ago58:56

58:56

Every aspect of life in our society is lived on the hard-edge of racial hierarchy and class division—and the American way of birth is no exception. Black maternal mortality is 69.9 per 100,000 live births, nearly 3 times the rate of white women—and that’s only part of the story. We’re delighted to be meeting up at Pilsen Community Books with my mag…

1
American Precariat with Zeke Caligiuri 1:05:03

1y ago1:05:03

1:05:03

Precarious times, phenomenal times. As protests for peace and freedom explode across the country and around the world, we’re searching for and finding democracy in the streets and in the campus encampments, in prison study groups and collectives of artists and writers. We’re honored tonight to be meeting up at our beloved Pilsen Community Books wit…

1
Again, Winter with Mark Nowak 59:18

1y ago59:18

59:18

You may already know that 15 US governors recently rejected federal funds available for families who qualify for free school lunches that would provide $120 per child per month through the summer. If you forgot, I get it—your cruelty/stupidity quotient may have reached capacity, and your brain simply couldn’t accommodate one more item. We’re joined…

1
Rattling the Cages with Eric King and Josh Davidson 54:33

1y ago54:33

54:33

Prison and police abolitionists, rebels and radicals, peace activists and environmental warriors, freedom fighters and dissidents, political prisoners of every type—the voices of dissent and defiance—are gathered together in a dazzling collection from AK Press called Rattling the Cages: Oral Histories of North American Political Prisoners. Join us …

1
Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy with Nathan Thrall 58:07

1y ago58:07

58:07

As the savagery in Gaza continues unabated, we’re deeply honored to be joined from Jerusalem by the brilliant writer Nathan Thrall for a conversation about his latest book, A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy. Here in one family facing one heartbreaking moment, we experience Israeli apartheid up-close and personal—its e…

1
SPECIAL EDITION: Primary Election Voting with Girl, I Guess & InJustice Watch 36:06

1y ago36:06

36:06

For voters in Chicago it’s been a strenuous non-stop election cycle for the last couple of years. We're all tired and burned out – but as always, we must carry on! So as we head into the last weekend before the election, we offer up this incentive to get those among us motivated and informed about why this election, while not changing the world - d…

1
Community as Resistance with Rashid Khalidi 1:06:55

1y ago1:06:55

1:06:55

Chicagoland area is home to more Palestinians than anywhere else in the U.S., with over 18,000 living in Cook County alone. The Palestinian community has led powerful protests that have led to Chicago becoming the largest city in the country to endorse a ceasefire resolution. It is in the midst of this atmosphere that we gathered for an urgent exch…

1
Guilty of Journalism with Kevin Gosztola 54:35

1y ago54:35

54:35

Julian Assange who founded WikiLeaks in 2006 went on to win multiple awards for his investigative journalism covering, among other stories, political killings in Kenya and social unrest in Tibet. Assange came to wide international attention in 2010 when WikiLeaks published a series of leaks from US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, includi…

1
Care with Premilla Nadasen 59:01

1y ago59:01

59:01

The brutality of capitalism is apparent in every direction: war, invasion, and occupation throughout the world; militarized police forces at home; super-exploitation at the point of production; the looming catastrophic climate collapse; the banality of evil in the increasingly pervasive carceral state. Capitalism willfully and skillfully nurtures o…

1
Investigating Apartheid with Omar Shaktir 1:00:44

1+ y ago1:00:44

1:00:44

As Israel’s crimes against humanity multiply and mass death and indiscriminate destruction escalates, as the world unites around a near-universal call to stop the genocide against the Palestinian people and militant resistance to US complicity deepens here at home, we are fortunate to be joined by Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine Director at Human…

1
SPECIAL: All Eyes on Palestine 1:17:22

1+ y ago1:17:22

1:17:22

As Israel continues to execute its pre-announced genocide of the Palestinian people, ethnically cleanses Gaza, and attempts to liquidate an enclosure that they themselves created, everyone of goodwill around the world is calling for a ceasefire. As of now 22,000 Palestinians have been murdered, close to 2,000,000 displaced in Gaza, countless hospit…

1
Survival and Resistance with Janie Paul 1:12:49

1+ y ago1:12:49

1:12:49

In this episode we’ll be heading over to the dazzling Pilsen Community Books, a regular stop on our freedom tour, for a conversation with Janie Paul, Professor Emerita at the School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan, and curator and co-founder with her late husband, Buzz Alexander, of the Exhibitions of Artists in Michigan Prisons, a …

1
Palestine on my Mind 35:31

1+ y ago35:31

35:31

Images from Gaza crowd into the available space, disrupting sleep, shattering the calm, demanding to be taken into account. Dead children and babies piled upon one another, body parts littering a hell-scape of demolished homes and apartment buildings, collapsed bridges and towers, refugee centers burned to the ground, hospitals in utter ruin. This …

1
Coming Together as Things Fall Apart with Astra Taylor 48:57

1+ y ago48:57

48:57

Charles Dickens would recognize our predicament at once: the winter of despair and the spring of hope; an age of foolishness and an age of wisdom; Darkness in combat with Light. Life is never one thing isolated from every other thing; a lot of things can be—and are—happening at once. Contradiction—the dynamic, noisy, frenetic magnificence of life a…

1
Stop the Genocide of the Palestinian People! Stop Cop City! 1:14:19

1+ y ago1:14:19

1:14:19

A group of Chicago writers brought together by the worker/owners of Pilsen Community Books gathered to support and raise resources for our comrades in Atlanta fighting to Stop Cop City. But events ran ahead of us, as they often do, and by the time we gathered, the preannounced genocide against the Palestinian people was in full swing. The connectio…

1
Indigenous Language Politics and Resistance with Mneesha Gellman 1:02:58

1+ y ago1:02:58

1:02:58

A favorite political poster hangs on a wall in my office: “Homeland Security” it proclaims in bold letters above a photo of a group of Indigenous elders holding rifles; below it reads, “Fighting Terrorism Since 1492.” It’s a reminder of the centuries of settler colonial policy and genocidal terror carried out by the US government against Indigenous…

1
Mass Supervision with Vincent Schiraldi and special guest Renaldo Hudson 1:13:20

1+ y ago1:13:20

1:13:20

Listeners of Under the Tree are well aware of the fact that the US is a Prison Nation, with over 2,000,000 people locked inside cages every day, aware, as well, that we are abolitionists involved in the movement-making and world-building work that will one day make prisons obsolete. But the carceral state is a many-legged monster with dangerous ten…

1
Voices of the Movement with Anthony Arnove & Haley Pessin 1:35:32

1+ y ago1:35:32

1:35:32

These are terrible times—escalating wars, racialized police violence, environmental collapse on full display, democratic institutions on life support, bodily integrity under assault. On the other hand—26 million people poured into the streets in response to the police murder of George Floyd, women across a wide political spectrum have refused to ac…

1
Monsters! with Claire Dederer 1:05:40

1+ y ago1:05:40

1:05:40

These are terrible times—an escalating cold war with China, a proxy war in Europe, racialized police violence unchecked, environmental collapse on full display, fragile and often anemic democratic institutions on life support, religious authoritarianism on the rise, women’s bodily integrity under sustained assault. On the other hand—26 million peop…

1
From the River to the Sea- Journeys in Solidarity 1:08:58

1+ y ago1:08:58

1:08:58

We’re bombarded with relentless and punishing propaganda that places the US at the epicenter of the whole wide world. We are the exceptional nation, it says, the indispensable nation, the most remarkable people who ever lived, a shining beacon on a hill to the lesser nations. The propaganda is so unremitting that it can take on the color of common …

1
Help This Garden Grow with Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger of AirGo 48:46

1+ y ago48:46

48:46

We were at the Winter Garden of the Harold Washington Library this month for the launch of “Help This Garden Grow,” a new docuseries that tells the story of Hazel Johnson, a visionary of the Environmental Justice movement and a resident of the Altgeld Gardens community on the far South Side of Chicago. “Help This Garden Grow” is a project of Respai…

1
Fire and Freedom with Will Harling and Leif Carlson 58:26

1+ y ago58:26

58:26

For millennia and all over the world fire was a powerful tool in the hands of Indigenous peoples. As they stewarded the land generation after generation, fire was understood to be a natural and necessary element for an abundant world—fire was regeneration and revitalization. But fire was taken away from Native people and handed over to agencies and…

1
The Ghost Forest with Greg King 1:34:28

2y ago1:34:28

1:34:28

The forest is disappearing—it’s becoming a ghost—and along with its entire ecosystems. This is not something distant from us; it is us—the power of a tree is the air we breathe. Two and a half billion years ago enough oxygen had built up on earth to support multicellular life, and the first trees evolved about 400,000,000 years ago. The first prima…

1
Stranger in My Own Land with Fida Jiryis 1:09:51

2y ago1:09:51

1:09:51

The Palestinian people’s ongoing struggle for self-determination and basic human rights has appropriately drawn the attention and support of freedom lovers the world around. Invasion and occupation, ethnic cleansing and segregation as both policy and law are all part of the continuing and everyday catastrophe. Rick Ayers co-hosts this episode, and …

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Under The Tree With Bill Ayers Podcasts

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