Discussion with Ricardo Levins Morales hosted by Autumn Brown at Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis, February 6, 2025. In Ricardo’s first ever book event, he reads from and discusses The Land Knows The Way: Eco-Social Insights For Liberation.
The audio is 74 minutes. See below for timestamps, and click “continue reading” to read the transcript.
0:00 Autumn Brown introduces the event, how she met Ricardo, and the book
7:53 Ricardo introduces the book
10:26 Reading of the chapter “Haiti and the physics of fire”
20:35 Ricardo discusses the elements of the book: personal narrative, history, ecology, and organizing principles
21:20 Autumn asks about when Ricardo first began to notice and teach the connection between Ricardo’s ecology and organizing
22:26 Ricardo responds
25:36 Ricardo talks about the chapter “Organic tensions, birds and windfall”, and polarization in movements
28:44 Autumn speaks to the current moment and asks Ricardo, what is the medicine that you’re offering right now?
29:48 Ricardo responds and talks about what keeps him grounded in times of confusion and danger, and about grief and despair
34:30 Autumn reflects about emotional wounds and healing
35:57 Ricardo talks about restoring power in the face of trauma and emotional injury
37:27 Autumn asks, how is this moment the same and different from other periods of fascistic rise in history?
38:38 Ricardo responds by talking about childraising advice he was given, and about how fascism and authoritarian looks different in different times and places. He talks about differences in how elite factions respond, and about how we can rely on principles like not surrendering public space, using tactics to see us through when we don’t have strategy, and defending those most immediately targeted.
46:53 Autumn reflects about the heat sources of people’s movements
47:40 Ricardo elaborates on how it’s not a time to be purists, and about making alliances from a position of strength
49:19 Autumn asks, what do you think will be possible seven generations from now?
50:15 Ricardo responds and reads a short book excerpt and discusses the emotional and cultural chemistry of change,
55:28 Ricardo talks about regime change in ecosystems using the Everglades as an example
1:00:25 Autumn asks the audience for questions rooted in dilemmas about organizing work
[the questions are audible but are at very low volume in the recording]
1:04:11 Ricardo responds to audience questions by speaking about connecting with the world outside one’s own trauma
1:06:23 Ricardo talks about collectively addressing the feeling of powerlessness and modeling a way of new being
1:09:40 Ricardo concludes by discussing the useful concept of the enemy, that sharp analysis and compassion have to go together, with the Black Panthers’ Rainbow Coalition as an example
1:13:44 End
Continue reading (Audio & Transcript) “The Land Knows The Way” Book Launch at Moon Palace Books
