Uploaded January 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Kate Aronoff, coeditor of “We Own the Future,” in conversation with volume contributors Sarah Leonard, Tejasvi Nagaraja, and Aviva Stahl.
Filmed at Verso Books in Brooklyn on January 23, 2020. Cosponsored by The New Press and Dissent magazine.
“We Own the Future: Democratic Socialism—American Style” (The New Press) offers a road map to making an anti-capitalist alternative a reality, giving readers a practical vision of a future that is more democratic, egalitarian, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable. The book includes a crash course in the history and practice of democratic socialism, a vivid picture of what democratic socialism in America might look like in practice, and compelling proposals for how to get there from 2020 and beyond.
With contributions from some of the nation’s leading political activists and analysts, “We Own the Future” articulates a clear and uncompromising view from the left—a perfectly timed book that will appeal to a wide audience hungry for change.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:
Journalist Kate Aronoff’s writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Nation, Dissent, Jacobin, and the New York Times. She is the co-editor of “We Own the Future: Democratic Socialism—American Style” (The New Press) and co-author of “A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal” (Verso 2019). She lives in Brooklyn.
Aviva Stahl is a Brooklyn-based journalist who primarily writes about prisons, national security, and immigration detention. She received her B.A. at McGill University and holds a Master’s in the Sociology of Race from the London School of Economics. Her work has been published by a number of outlets, including The Nation Magazine, Rolling Stone, the Guardian, the Intercept, Harper’s, Vice Magazine, Gothamist, the Village Voice and many others.
Sarah Leonard works at the intersection of old and new left-wing publications in New York City. She has co-edited two books: “Occupy!: An OWS-Inspired Gazette” (Verso 2011) with literary magazine n+1, and “The Future We Want: Radical Solutions for the 21st Century” (Metropolitan, forthcoming). Her writing about feminism, work, and technology has been widely published. She lives in New York City.
Tejasvi Nagaraja is assistant professor of history at the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. He previously worked at New York University, Harvard, and the New School. His research considers how social movements grapple with war, militarization, empire, and solidarity—from New Deal labor unions and World War II to black freedom and Vietnam, and beyond. He is completing a book on intersecting movements among the anti-fascist “Greatest Generation”—a transnational history of military-industrial labor struggles, black soldiers’ civil rights activism against criminal-justice racism, and veterans' protest of US foreign policy.
Kate Aronoff, coeditor of “We Own the Future,” in conversation with volume contributors Sarah Leonard, Tejasvi Nagaraja, and Aviva Stahl.
Filmed at Verso Books in Brooklyn on January 23, 2020. Cosponsored by The New Press and Dissent magazine.
“We Own the Future: Democratic Socialism—American Style” (The New Press) offers a road map to making an anti-capitalist alternative a reality, giving readers a practical vision of a future that is more democratic, egalitarian, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable. The book includes a crash course in the history and practice of democratic socialism, a vivid picture of what democratic socialism in America might look like in practice, and compelling proposals for how to get there from 2020 and beyond.
With contributions from some of the nation’s leading political activists and analysts, “We Own the Future” articulates a clear and uncompromising view from the left—a perfectly timed book that will appeal to a wide audience hungry for change.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:
Journalist Kate Aronoff’s writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Nation, Dissent, Jacobin, and the New York Times. She is the co-editor of “We Own the Future: Democratic Socialism—American Style” (The New Press) and co-author of “A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal” (Verso 2019). She lives in Brooklyn.
Aviva Stahl is a Brooklyn-based journalist who primarily writes about prisons, national security, and immigration detention. She received her B.A. at McGill University and holds a Master’s in the Sociology of Race from the London School of Economics. Her work has been published by a number of outlets, including The Nation Magazine, Rolling Stone, the Guardian, the Intercept, Harper’s, Vice Magazine, Gothamist, the Village Voice and many others.
Sarah Leonard works at the intersection of old and new left-wing publications in New York City. She has co-edited two books: “Occupy!: An OWS-Inspired Gazette” (Verso 2011) with literary magazine n+1, and “The Future We Want: Radical Solutions for the 21st Century” (Metropolitan, forthcoming). Her writing about feminism, work, and technology has been widely published. She lives in New York City.
Tejasvi Nagaraja is assistant professor of history at the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. He previously worked at New York University, Harvard, and the New School. His research considers how social movements grapple with war, militarization, empire, and solidarity—from New Deal labor unions and World War II to black freedom and Vietnam, and beyond. He is completing a book on intersecting movements among the anti-fascist “Greatest Generation”—a transnational history of military-industrial labor struggles, black soldiers’ civil rights activism against criminal-justice racism, and veterans' protest of US foreign policy.
