In this episode, Denée and Sean explore a new book by the Pinko Collective, After Accountability: A Critical Genealogy of a Concept. We discuss the older lineages of accountability in socialist organizations (including criticism/self-criticism), as well as more recent efforts like INCITE or Critical Resistance. The concept of “community” looms behind all these conversations (and this podcast), and the book offers some critical insight into the meaning of community in a revolutionary sense.
You can get a copy of After Accountability here: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2455-after-accountability
A Tender Riot will be going on hiatus for a bit this summer, but we may pop in with some guest hosts before we’re back up and running later this year!
A Tender Riot is a podcast about abolition, socialism, and relating to each other as whole human beings.
31 Mar 2025
Third Spaces (Pilsen Community Books)
In this episode, we’re joined by Mandy Medley of Pilsen Community Books (PCB) in Chicago to talk about Third Spaces, worker cooperatives, and radical community-building. We discuss how PCB has come to be a beloved radical book store and an important hub of many activist communities in Chicago through grit, vision, and warm vibes.
Here is an article about third spaces: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/third-spaces-and-gen-z_l_675ca0fee4b0a6324e3b58ad?air
Write to us with your thoughts at tender.riot.pod@gmail.com!
A Tender Riot is a podcast about abolition, socialism, and relating to each other as whole human beings.
21 Mar 2025
Fissures in MAGA, Uniting on the Left
In this episode, Denée and Sean discuss the composition of Trump’s ruling class coalition, what binds the America First crowd with the Silicon Valley far right, and the importance of bursting the bubble of their fear campaign.
They also talk about the need for unity on the left, the practical difficulties of uniting with folks we disagree with over substantial issues (or who spent the last year and a half cracking down on the Palestine solidarity protests), and the new openings offered by the shift in terrain and meeting people on a human level.
Link to “Trump’s Bid at a New Fusionism”: https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/trumps-bid-at-a-new-fusionism
Link to “It’s Time for a United Front to Take on Billionaire Rule”: https://inthesetimes.com/article/labor-unions-trump-musk-doge-billionaires
Write to us with your thoughts at tender.riot.pod@gmail.com!
A Tender Riot is a podcast about abolition, socialism, and relating to each other as whole human beings.
12 Mar 2025
Nervous Systems and Le Guin
In this episode, Denée and Sean talk about the experience under the new Trump administration, do some nervous system exercises, and talk about Ursula Le Guin’s short story, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.”
Link to Le Guin’s short story: https://shsdavisapes.pbworks.com/f/Omelas.pdf
Write to us with your thoughts at tender.riot.pod@gmail.com!
A Tender Riot is a podcast about abolition, socialism, and relating to each other as whole human beings.
20 Dec 2024
Loving Corrections
Denée and Sean discuss adrienne maree brown's 'Loving Corrections' with a focus on externalized vs. internalized accountability and the importance of living with wonder for life and the earth.
3 Dec 2024
Birth Politics
Denée and Sean, authors and abolitionists, discuss the politics of birth, revealing how the medical industrial complex has commodified childbirth and the need to reimagine parenthood as a choice based on love, not material security.
19 Nov 2024
Carceral Higher Ed
We talk to Joshua Hamilton about being an abolitionist and socialist working within carceral universities, the attack on DEI policies, and the contradictions of building community in these spaces.
Read Joshua’s article at Tempestmag.org: https://tempestmag.org/2024/10/a-racist-counter-offensive-in-texas
Write to us with your thoughts at tender.riot.pod@gmail.com!
A Tender Riot is a podcast about abolition, socialism, and relating to each other as whole human beings.
21 Oct 2024
Octavia Butler & Patterns of Change
Denée and Sean talk about Octavia Butler’s visionary science fiction and the larger political ideas invoke: What kind of future are we creating? Are we ready for the change? What does it mean to shed cynicism, break patterns, and commit to building a liberated future?
Write to us with your thoughts at tender.riot.pod@gmail.com!
A Tender Riot is a podcast about abolition, socialism, and relating to each other as whole human beings.
4 Oct 2024
Abolitionist Antifascism
In this episode, Denée and Sean talk about sitting with grief in these very difficult times. They also dive into a new book, “The Black Antifascist Tradition,” to discuss fascism, neoliberalism, and abolition from a historical and contemporary perspective.
“The Black Antifascist Tradition: Fighting Back From Anti-Lynching to Abolition” is written by Jeanelle K. Hope and Bill V. Mullen, and you can get it here: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2223-the-black-antifascist-tradition.
Write to us with your thoughts at tender.riot.pod@gmail.com!
A Tender Riot is a podcast about abolition, socialism, and relating to each other as whole human beings.
9 Aug 2024
The “Lesser Evil” and the Nonprofit Industrial Complex
Denée and Sean discuss the more sophisticated argument for pouring our energy into the Democratic Party electoral campaign, namely, the idea that fighting to get the “lesser evil” elected now will provide time and space for the left to build something beyond the Democratic Party trap. We also discuss whether getting Democrats elected is really a strategy for blocking or fighting fascism.
The provocation this week is a chapter from the book “The Revolution Will Not Be Funded” about the Nonprofit Industrial complex, the role of nonprofits within contemporary capitalism, and the effects that the nonprofit model has on left-wing organizing.
You can get The Revolution Will Not Be Funded by INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence here: https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-revolution-will-not-be-funded
A Tender Riot is a podcast about abolition, socialism, and relating to each other as whole human beings.
19 Jul 2024
Strike for Palestine at UCLA
A Tender Riot’s first guest, Benjamin Kersten (he/they), talks about his organizing experience with the UAW and JVP as a graduate student at UCLA. We explore the dynamics of worker action on campuses, community-building through mobilization, and the role of unions in larger social movements.
This episode was recorded in early June, during the UCLA strike.
A Tender Riot is a podcast about abolition, socialism, and relating to each other as whole human beings.
18 Jun 2024
Palestine Solidarity Organizing & Affinity Groups
In this episode, Denée and Sean discuss an article in The Forge about “how the movement for a free Palestine has adopted and transformed the affinity group model of mass movement organizing.”
You can read Arielle Klagsbrun’s article, “How The Fight for Free Palestine is Changing Organizing,” here: https://forgeorganizing.org/article/how-fight-free-palestine-changing-organizing
You can find the Blessing read at the beginning here: https://www.poetrynw.org/shelby-handler-blessing-over-organizing
A Tender Riot is a podcast about abolition, socialism, and relating to each other as whole human beings.
18 Jun 2024
Beyoncé, Worldbuilding, and the Politics of Culture
How do we shape and develop our worldviews? Denée and Sean talked about the politics of country music, Beyoncé’s new album, and different forms of political knowledge.
Our provocation this week is a passage on political education, organizing, and radical imagination from “Let This Radicalize You,” a book by Mariame Kaba and Kelly Hayes.
You can get “Let This Radicalize You” here: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1922-let-this-radicalize-you
A Tender Riot is a podcast about abolition, socialism, and relating to each other as whole human beings.
11 Jun 2024
Welcome to A Tender Riot!
Denée and Sean introduce themselves, the podcast, and its themes of political education, activism, and attentiveness to relationships in our everyday interactions.
Our provocation for discussion this week is Mariame Kaba’s essay, “Moving Past Punishment,” which you can find here in audio form: https://forthewild.world/listen/mariame-kaba-on-moving-past-punishment-151. Kaba's interview can also be found in print as part of her book, We Do This ’Til We Free Us (https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1664-we-do-this-til-we-free-us).
A Tender Riot is a podcast about abolition, socialism, and relating to each other as whole human beings.
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
13 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 15 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
11
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YouTube
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Engagement
51
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