Author: Time To Say Goodbye

credit: @penpencildraw

Hello!

Andy here with a Friday episode in discussion with historian Meghna Chaudhuri (NYU, Boston College) on the COVID disaster currently unfolding in India: the officially reported death count is 240,000 but may actually be more than one million.

Meghna and I talk about what everyday life has been like for her, quarantining with family in Kolkata during this second wave, which broke out last month -- from the free-for-all search for treatments and hospital supplies to navigating misinformation around vaccines and medicines. 

We also assess the past year of governance by the ruling party BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi; why this wave is not just a natural but also political disaster; the BJP’s longstanding “anti-science” stance and the appeal of the BJP’s perverted anti-imperialism in an economically stagnant India; misinformation in both corporate and social media (“Whatsapp Uncles”); and why we should probably not expect an international panacea to save India in the short-term (e.g., the TRIPS waiver) and instead focus on some very basic questions about competent local governance.

Some further reading:

* “India’s COVID-19 Emergency” in The Lancet

* “A Report Card on the End Times Brought Upon Us by Hindutva” by Meena Kandasamy in The Wire (India)

* “Parking Lot Crematoria Burn Through the Night as Covid-19 Overwhelms Delhi” by Fahad Shah in The Nation

And for those looking to contribute from abroad, Meghna suggested some avenues for (more) direct assistance could be found at Mutual Aid India

*Had a few audio issues with this one — sorry! I tried my best to edit out the weird feedback noises but not all could be fixed.

Please share, contact us, and subscribe!

* Email: timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com

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Hello! 

A long but focused discussion this week—on two new essays that attempt to write recent history.

First, Tobi Haslett’s “Magic Actions” (n+1), recovering the explosive potential of last year’s George Floyd uprising, institutional attempts to domesticate it, and ongoing struggles for abolition and Black liberation. 

Second, Brendan O’Connor’s “When the Party’s Over” (The Baffler), a look at social-democratic politics after the thrill and demise of the Bernie campaign, the drudgery of party work, politician fandom, and finding a (new) base for socialism in 2021. 

ICYMI: Our conversation with the good folks at Jewish Currents, archived on YouTube:

Thanks to everyone who came to our picnic in Brooklyn on May 2! And thanks also to our listeners who gathered for a hike, book chat, and carbs in Los Angeles this past weekend!

Support our pod (and join the Discord!) at Patreon or Substack, and be in touch with questions and comments via Timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com or @TTSGPod.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Hello!

This is Jay. This week, we have my conversation with sociologist, writer, and data artist Tamara K. Nopper. She’s been an invaluable resource for me for years now — if I ever actually sound like I know what I’m talking about, it’s likely because of something Tamara sent me to read over the years. Today, we talk about this moment that I’ve been fascinated with for years — what happened after ‘92, not just in terms of what happened on the ground in Black and Korean communities, but also within the academy, where a seemingly new type of scholarship emerged to make sense of it all.

We talk about that, Korean banks, “the secret history” of Third Worldism, and a whole lot more. There’s a lot we agree about but also a lot we disagree about on these topics.

Tamara recently did a great talk with our friends at the Asian American Writer’s Workshop. Watch it!

Tamara also edited ‘We Do This ‘Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice,’ a book of Mariame Kaba’s writings and interviews (Haymarket Books), and researched and wrote several data stories for Colin Kaepernick’s Abolition for the People series.

——

Thanks to everyone who made it out to the inaugural TTSG picnic this past weekend! We had a huge turnout. And thanks again to everyone who joined in our first book club, where we discussed Alien Capital. The building of the community both on the discord and on social media has been really overwhelming. If you’d like to join, please either subscribe to the newsletter on Substack or on patreon at patreon.com/ttsgpod.

thanks!

Jay

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Hello from the AAPI Oscars!

This week, we begin with a guessing game from George Mason University’s “Speech Accent Archive” (thanks, listener Jai Kang!). Join us and guess along as we make horribly essentialist assumptions about Asian accents (h/t danyo and sansmouton!). 

In our main segment, we dig into the murderous policy of global vaccine apartheid. We first discussed this topic back in November, and things have only gotten worse, with India being the most visible site of a world-historical crisis.

To guide our conversation, we rely primarily on a recent piece by Alexander Zaitchik at The New Republic that explains how Bill Gates, the Gates Foundation, Big Pharma, and global intellectual-property rules have brought us to this point. How should we understand this moment in the context of the last 30 years? Can ordinary people defeat supra-state oligarchs?

Links:

* Contrary to what Gates has said, there are, in fact, many capable vaccine factories around the world waiting to be mobilized (thanks, listener Stephen Buranyi).

* The WTO is debating a temporary waiver to the IP regime known as TRIPS. Will the Biden administration listen to the will of the people?

SAVE THE DATE!

On Monday, May 3, at 7pm ET, we’ll be doing a free event with our friends at Jewish Currents magazine (we subscribe!).

Please register here and join us in exploring the possibility of diasporic internationalism against the backdrop of US imperial decline!

And, as always, support our pod (and join the Discord!) at Patreon or Substack. You can send questions and comments to Timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com or @TTSGPod.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Hello!

We spoke with special guest Michelle Zauner aka Japanese Breakfast about her memoir, Crying in H Mart; her forthcoming album, Jubilee; her life as an artist; and how to cook with Maangchi.

Enjoy!

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Hello,

A special episode this week with filmmaker Ursula Liang about her new film Down a Dark Stairwell. It’s out now on PBS and we hope everyone who listens to the show watches this nuanced, thoughtful and brave film. I (Jay) first saw Ursula’s work in 9-Man, a film about sports in Chinatown. Since then, I’ve followed her career carefully because what she does — deep community reporting, thoughtful portrayals of the concerns of all types of people, and the care with which she makes her films — exemplifies everything good about journalism and documentary filmmaking.

This is a film about many things, but at it’s core, it’s about how two communities deal with a police killing. And through verite footage and intimate interviews, it shows how people both come together and split apart while trying to navigate problems that fall well outside the easy consensus. On the show, we talk a lot about the need to go beyond rigid identity categories and simple, doctrinaire explanations. If you want to watch what that looks like, watch this film.

The film is available in both Chinese and English — both versions available to stream here.

—

As always, thanks for supporting the show. If you’re new to us, you can sign up at goodbye.substack.com, where there’s an option to subscribe for bonus episodes and access into our chat community. Or you can do the same at patreon.com/ttsgpod.

Thanks!

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Greetings from Substack hell!

It’s just the three of us this week, talking about the union defeat in Bessemer, Alabama, labor history, and the future of organizing in an Amazon economy.

We discuss labor expert Jane McAlevey’s tactical post-mortem on the RWDSU campaign (rebuttals here and here), Tammy’s critique of McAlevey from last year, and Andy and Jay’s critiques of Tammy!

Plus, the divergent strategies of Amazonians United and Athena; media influence (or interference?); and how the PRO Act, some decent regulation, and a huge investment in organizing could transform the labor movement.

And finally, the economics of unionization in US history, the racial and geographic specificity of Bessemer, and the paradox of our current moment: a broad sympathy for labor paired with an almost unprecedented concentration of power by tech monopolies like Amazon.

Recommended: Lauren Kaori Gurley on Vice News Reports podcast, with an in-depth look at the union drive and the history of Bessemer. 

Comments and questions!

Email timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com

Twitter @ttsgpod

Join our Patreon (and discord) community!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Hello!

Today’s subscriber episode is a wide-ranging conversation Asad Haider, one of the founding editors of Viewpoint Magazine and the author of Mistaken Identity: Race and Class in the Age of Trump. Jay talked to Asad about his concept of “depoliticization,” his book on identity politics, and political exhaustion.

*- note from Jay: When we started the podcast, Asad was at the top of the list of guests I wanted to invite onto the show. I was really excited to talk to him at length. Mistaken Identity was a very eye-opening book for me to read and everyone should read it, although with these recent pieces.

On Depoliticization, in Viewpoint.

Emancipation and Exhaustion, in Saaganthology

Dismissal, in The Point.

And a little housekeeping: we tried something different with the audio levels for this one, so please let us know if it sounds better.

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Hello from Jay’s backyard Easter egg hunt!

It’s just Andy and Tammy this week, with special guest Naomi Murakawa, a professor of African American Studies at Princeton and the author of The First Civil Right: How Liberals Built Prison America.

Naomi talks with us about her J-A roots in Oakland, how her dad’s career in the criminal-legal system got her thinking about carceral politics, why police reform has long been a trap, and the history of hate crimes legislation in the US. She shares her observations on Black Lives Matter, the emergence of abolitionist thinking, and the discourse around “anti-Asian violence.”

What can crime statistics tell us about the world? How do we stop ourselves from thinking like cops? Which groups are pushing Asian America in a more punitive direction? And how should “Asian American history 101” inform our analyses of recent violence?

“The we-ness is something we make through struggle.”

Naomi shouts out:

– Mariame Kaba’s new book, We Do This ’Til We Free Us (foreword by Naomi; and check out the rest of the abolitionist series Naomi curates for Haymarket)

– Victoria Law’s new book, “Prisons Make Us Safer” and 20 Other Myths about Mass Incarceration

– Christina B. Hanhardt’s Safe Space: Gay Neighborhood History and the Politics of Violence

– Chandan Reddy’s Freedom With Violence: Race, Sexuality, and the US State

– Stuart Hall’s Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, and Law and Order

– The work of Dylan Rodriguez and Ruth Wilson Gilmore

– The abolitionist organizing of Incite!, AAAJ-Atlanta, and Red Canary Song and allies

Thanks for listening, supporting, and spreading the word. Stay in touch via email (timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com), Twitter, and/or Patreon—and see you in our Discord!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Hello!

This week, your intrepid hosts had the pleasure to speak with journalist Daniel Denvir and his podcast “The Dig,” with Jacobin Radio.

Daniel engaged us on a number of topics we’ve touched upon recently, including: the Atlanta shootings and the question of anti-Asian violence; the connection between anti-China foreign policy and domestic anti-Asian racism; the potential for an Asian backlash against liberalism and the Democratic party; affirmative-action fights and the enduring mythology of “model minorities”; and the coherence and usefulness of “Asian” identity.

If you’re curious, please check out The Dig’s other podcast episodes, found here:

https://www.thedigradio.com/

As always, please reach out to us with comments and questions:

timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com

@ttsgpod on twitter

and you can support us through:

https://www.patreon.com/ttsgpod

https://goodbye.substack.com/p/support-the-show-through-substack

Addenda: some sources referenced by Andy.

1) Alien Capital by Iyko Day, named on the show.

2) On the link between Japanese and US “comfort stations” in Asia, see Sara Kang’s work in this article last week (Harper’s Bazaar).

3) On the role of Asian American ‘model minority’ fantasies in the infamous 1965 Moynihan Report on “the Negro family,” see Ellen Wu’s The Color of Success.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe