Recent Free Public Talks
Video Archive
2025 (February-December)
A place to meet and talk unmediated by corporations, official spokespeople, religion, political parties, or dogma.
All events are free.
We host indoor discussions at 518 Valencia Street, near 16th, in San Francisco (close to 16th Street BART) about a dozen times a year.
To subscribe to our Talks as a podcast, paste the link into your favorite podcast software (iTunes, Podcast Addict, etc.)
Wednesday, May 14, 7:30 pm
HUAC and the New McCarthyism
Sixty-five years ago, in 1960, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) held its last-ever public hearings in San Francisco City Hall. Police turned fire hoses on peaceful student protesters while fiery rebukes were issued to the reactionary congressmen by Communist Party “witnesses.” This was a crucial turning point between the bone-chilling McCarthyism of the 1950s and the soon-to-explode movements for social liberation of the 1960s. We will show highlights from "Operation Abolition," the public film made by HUAC to "prove" communists dominated the protests, and Chris Carlsson will briefly describe the longer history of anti-communism set in motion by liberal democrats in the late 1930s and how Democratic President Harry Truman launched the Cold War after WWII. We welcome David Palumbo-Liu to discuss what we might we learn about today as we witness transphobia on the rise, efforts to stamp out all pro-Palestinian speech, and other attacks on resistance in a strange echo of the ghosts of Cold War hysteria eight decades ago.
Co-sponsored by Left in the Bay
Video here.
Wednesday, April 16, 7:30 pm
Explosivity! Port Chicago & Beyond
Javier Arbona-Homar is the author of the new book, Explosivity: Following What Remains, an exploration of the racial violence embedded in San Francisco's landscapes as exposed by five disastrous explosions from the last two centuries. His presentation covers the geography of memorials, critical military studies, and social practice art. Specially commissioned site photography by artist Andrea Gaffney accompanies conceptual musings on sites of explosions. Javier is an assistant professor in American Studies and Design at UC Davis, and a co-founder of the DEMILIT landscape arts collective.
Video here.
Wednesday, March 26, 7:30 pm
Lessons for the Biosphere
In our seat upon the California Coast, we who live in the territory of Yelamu are favored with remarkable biodiversity. A conversation between Obi Kaufmann, author of the California Field Atlas series, and Sara Moncada, the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone Director of Native Ecology, looks at the uniqueness of place and locates us within it. From our state rock and unique ecosystem to the concept of bioregionalism that began with Peter Berg and Planet Drum to the subject of fire in our state, join us for an exploration of the biosphere and the knowledge we gain from it.
Video here.
Wednesday, February 26, 7:30 pm
New Luddites vs. Biopiracy and AI
“New Luddites” Camila Morena and Jim Thomas (and special addition Paris Marx) join us fresh from the latest conference on biotech at Asilomar. Up close and deep in the international negotiations on biodiversity, climate change, and synthetic biology, both of them have seen how the proponents of AI are working to inject their techno-fantasies into every realm. They share a cogent presentation of what’s going on beyond our view, and how a new Luddism is the sensible response.
Video here.