Bennett Carpenter
Bennett D. Carpenter is the husband of Attila Nemecz. He is an organizer, movement strategist and popular educator. As Lead Organizer at Durham For All, Carpenter helped build a member-driven IPO that successfully elected movement candidates and worked with them to implement transformative policies around participatory budgeting and community-based alternatives to policing. Since then he has trained hundreds of people to organize, run for office, and step into other leadership roles rooted in a shared co-governance framework oriented towards building power with and for directly impacted communities.
Bennett Carpenter holds a PhD from Duke University, where he was a founding member of the Duke Graduate Student Union (Local 27, SEIU Southern Region). Hia dissertation (“Lumpen: Vagrancies of a Concept from Marx to Fanon… and on”) explored questions of political subjectivation at the intersection of socialist, feminist, and Black radical thought. Bennett Carpenter lives in small-town Eastern North Carolina with his husband Attila Nemecz.[1]
Bennett Carpenter serves on the National Executive Committee of Liberation Road.[2]
Marx over MAGA
Renee Paradis Socialist Majority, Jayanni Webster North Star Socialist Organization, Bennett Carpenter Liberation Road, Kristian Hernandez.
Liberation Road stand, Socialism 2024
Chicago, August 2024.
Martin Eder, Agustin Arreola, Bennett Carpenter.
Liberation Road leaders
In 2023 Nzinga Amani, Bennett Carpenter & Anca Stefan served on the National Executive Committee of Liberation Road.[3]
Liberation Road
Waging a Two-Pronged Battle: Socialists Assess How to Win From a Biden Candidacy
Road Signs asked three socialists who are deep in the trenches of electoral organizing in the US South to share their perspective on what’s at stake in the 2020 election. How should we engage the battle to defeat Trump, even as we grow our independent political bases, build pressure on Biden to embrace progressive demands, win people to Socialism and shift the U.S. political terrain?
- Whitney Maxey (WM) she/her is a movement organizer in Memphis, Tennessee
- Melanie Barron (MB) is a labor organizer based in Knoxville, Tennessee.
- Bennett Carpenter (BC) (they/them) is a movement organizer in Durham, North Carolina
BC: Liberation Road has long advocated an inside/outside strategy, both to electoral politics and the Democratic Party: contest for victories inside the system, while building up the capacity of independent political organizations outside of it. I think the events of the past few years—heck, even just the past few months—have proven the fundamental correctness of this strategy. I know the Bernie defeat feels like a devastating blow. But when have we ever seen a self-avowed socialist wracking up 30-40% of the primary vote? And winning absolute majorities to universalist policies like Medicare for All? And building up a massive, volunteer-led organizing initiative, rooted in the multiracial working class? If you had told me that ten years ago, it would have sounded like a pipe dream.
So I think we build our forces by building independent political organizations within and across election fights, with a particular focus on hotly-contested swing states. Luckily we now have amazing organizations in many of these states: New Virginia Majority; Florida New Majority; Dream Defenders; the Ohio Organizing Collaborative; and here in North Carolina the Carolina Federation. Socialists in swing states should join those organizations; socialists in deep blue (and deep red) states should figure out how to resource them, whether by contributing financially, phone and text- banking remotely, or traveling to key swing states to put boots on the ground in the run-up to November. And wherever we are, we should be joining mass organizations: unions, DSA chapters, Our Revolution chapters, etc.[4]
LEAD NC
In March 2021 Bennett Carpenter joined LEAD NC training political candidates to address structural and racial inequities across NC.
Durham for All leadership
Durham for All leadership team 2020. Bennett D. Carpenter, Ociele Hawkins, Shanise Renee, Anthony Maglione, Sendolo Diaminah.
Durham for All Public Facebook group members
Durham for All Public Facebook group members April 30 2020 included Bennett Carpenter.
Durham for All leaders
Durham For All February 23 2020·
Shout out to the amazing folks who came out to our first leadership training of the year!
Sign up to join the team that will be knocking doors, hosting meetings and building the power we need in Durham to defeat Trump and take the Senate at: bit.ly/d4aaction
This year, Durham voters have the power to play a critical role in defeating Trump and his allies in North Carolina. But in order to win, we have to fight back against centuries of racist voter suppression and depression used to silence our communities. That’s why we’ve set the bold goal of reaching 17,000 voters of color who did not vote in 2016. If you’re ready to take action - whether that means canvassing our neighborhoods or entering data in our office - click the link above and join the movement to take back our government! — with Shanise Renee, Stephena Digsby Jones, Hashim Benford, Bennett Carpenter and Ociele Hawkins.
Durham for All
Durham for All February 13 2019:
We are excited to bring on a new member to our staff! Next month, Bennett Carpenter will be joining the team as our Lead Organizer.
Bennett has been part of the Durham for All family since 2017 and last year led our fundraising efforts. We are excited about their labor organizing background, commitment to leadership development, groundedness under pressure, and strategic creativity that they will bring to the Lead Organizer role!
Come through this Friday to congratulate Bennett and hear about progress on our Decriminalize Durham co-governance work, plus a sneak peek at the campaign we'll be launching later in the year.
Photo: Bennett (second from left) with our Decrim Campaign Organizer Shanise Renee (second from right) and D4A friends Aaron Gamal (far left) and Tony Marimbondo Macias far right), in ATL at the GIFT grassroots fundraising conference last year.
"10K Strong Campaign Team"
- Most members of our 2017 10K Strong Campaign Team, looking real cute after our year-end gathering.
Durham for All people
Durham For All June 21, 2017 · We had a busy weekend with our 2nd Monthly Mass Meeting, a Campaign Team mid-year retreat, and a base-building Community Dinner!
Durham folks, JOIN OUR 10K STRONG SQUAD: durhamforall.org/pledge
Let's win political power and build a Durham for All!
- 10KSTRONG
Sendolo Diaminah, Kaji Reyes, Laila Nur, Jillian Johnson, Bennett D. Carpenter, Melissa Norton, Tim Stallman, Salma Mirza, Elena Everett, Aiden Riley Graham, Tony Marimbondo Macias, Anna Duncan, Anna Grant, Ade Oh, Zaina Alsous, Jadebroo KS, Sijal Nasralla, Anthony Maglione, Ashlyn Nuckols.
Revolutionary Strategies to Beat the Rising Right Wing
Revolutionary Strategies to Beat the Rising Right Wing, was a nationwide conference call organized by Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Sunday October 30, 2016.
- What's the nature of this right-wing threat? What has this election cycle changed about the political terrain we're fighting on? How do we need to prepare for whats coming after the election? Hear about these crucial questions from our panel of top political strategists, including Nelini Stamp, Bill Fletcher, Jr., Linda Burnham, and Sendolo Diaminah.
Those indicating they would attend, on Facebook included Bennett D. Carpenter.[5]
Communist
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
Bennett Carpenter is a Freedom Road Socialist Organization supporter.
Amandla Training
Sendolo Diaminah February 1 2018
- Hey Black organizers & those who love us: BOLD has re-opened our application period for Amandla, our organizer training program. We have just a few more slots we wanted to make available, so now is your chance if you missed the deadline!
Alicia Garza, Ajamu Dillahunt, Aaron Gamal, Whitney Maxey, Hashim Benford, Ociele Hawkins, Bryan Proffitt, Bennett D. Carpenter, Courtney Sebring, Cazembe Murphy Jackson, Reece Chenault, Charlene Carruthers, Chanelle Croxton, D’atra Jackson, Dove Kent, Fresco Steez DeLaflyy, Maria C. Fernandez, Aiden Riley Graham, Kaji Reyes, Laila Nur, Theo Luebke, Maria Poblet, N'Tanya Lee, Taliba O Njeri, Orisanmi Burton, Quinton Harper, Roberto Tijerina, Mary Hooks, Serena Sebring, Adaku Utah, Vanessa Moses, Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, Thomas Wayne Walker, Jayanni Elizabeth, Jayda Rasberry, Amber Evans, Dara Cooper, Yotam Marom.
Decrim Durham Election Forum
Sendolo Diaminah April 12 (2018).
Want to meet the candidates for sheriff and district attorney? Want to hear community folks ask them the questions we care about? Come through this saturday for our election forum co-hosted with SpiritHouse NC, All Of Us Or None NC, Southerners On New Ground and BYP100 Durham Chapter! Can't make it? Share it with your friends :)
Aiden Riley Graham, Aidil Ortiz, Nia Wilson, D’atra Jackson, Alec Greenwald, Carolina Alzuru, Carol Reiner-Yepez, Anna Duncan, Bennett D. Carpenter, Elainiel Baldwin, Bryan Proffitt, Hashim Benford, Osunfunke Omisade Burney-Scott, Mikel Barton, Courtney Sebring, Chanelle Croxton, Dove Kent, Danielle Purifoy, Raymond Eurquhart, Thaddaeus Allen Edwards, Tom Feltner, Felicia Arriaga, Gen Na, Magan Gonzales Thigpen, Holly Hardin, Kori Higgs, Jesse Huddleston, Mya Hunter, Undreya Hudson, Parker T. Hurley, Sufia Ikbal-Doucet, Jennifer Frye, Kimber Jean, Turquoise LeJeune Parker, LeAndre Demond Blakeney, Lisa McCool-Grime, Pierce Freelon, Quinton Harper, Quita Tinsley, Rodrigo Dorfman, Serena Sebring, Santos Flores, Matthew Sears, Seamus Robertson, Vernetta R. Alston.