The Dig

The second episode in a series on the history of Indonesia: a hinge in the world system where colonialism and revolution have decisively shaped the trajectory of global history. This installment traces the first four decades of the 20th century and the Awakening Period that shaped the foundation of modern Indonesian politics, including its three main currents: communism, nationalism, and Islam. Featuring Rianne Subijanto, Made Supriatma, and Farabi Fakih. RSVP to the May 20 Dig party in Seattle! eventbrite.com/e/the-dig-x-house-our-neighbors-party-tickets-1986843010930 RSVP to the May 26 Dig party in LA! eventbrite.com/e/a-party-in-la-for-the-dig-friends-tickets-1987008568116? Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Get 50% off Rising for Palestine, or any first book purchase from plutobooks.com with code ‘DIG50’ Buy How to End Family Policing at Haymarketbooks.org

Featuring Aslı Bâli, Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, and Nicholas Mulder on the economic warfare unfolding with the US-Israeli war on Iran—and beyond. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Find Ethnic Studies at the Crossroads at UCPress.edu Buy Cold War on Five Continents at Haymarketbooks.org

Nusantara is a new Dig series on the history of Indonesia: a hinge in the world system where colonialism and revolution have decisively shaped the trajectory of global history. This episode traces a long period of European plunder and domination that began with the Portuguese and then continued, for centuries, under the Dutch—a story stretching from the murderous mercantilism of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) seeking to monopolize the spice trade to a modern colonial administration profiting from plantations, petroleum, and countless commodities. The first installment features Rianne Subijanto and Made Supriatma. Other scholars of the archipelago will join us in the episodes that follow. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Sign up for SUDAN: Confront Empire Together by April 5th at comrades.education Find Boom to Bust: How Streaming Broke Hollywood Writers at UCPress.edu

Featuring Ben Mabie and Salar Mohandesi on what the war on Iran tells us about US imperialism, and why the US doesn’t have a massive anti-war movement even amid historic anti-war public sentiment. Capitalist states have changed war-making in ways that insulate imperialism against popular resistance. We must make movements that can thrive and win under new conditions. Find Venezuela in Crisis at haymarketbooks.org Find Anti-Eviction at UCPress.edu Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Dig party in London with Equator magazine this Friday March 13. Tickets all claimed but sign up for the waitlist and you can probably come anyhow. Info here: eventbrite.com/e/the-dig-x-equator-party-tickets-1982694479561?

Featuring Geoff Simpson on Justice Democrats’ massive 2026 slate of insurgent House candidates taking on AIPAC/Big Tech money. Also: the history of post-Bernie 2016 primary challenges, the Israel lobby’s legitimacy crisis, radicalizing liberals, and the role of electoral politics in the larger left project. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Dig party in London with Equator magazine on March 13. Info and RSVP here eventbrite.com/e/the-dig-x-equator-party-tickets-1982694479561? Subscribe to Heat the Ground Up from Haymarket Originals tinyurl.com/heatthegroundup Find Leave if You Can: Migration and Violence in Bordered Worlds at UCPress.edu

Featuring Peter Linebaugh on the Luddites’ machine-breaking revolt against the enclosure of handicraft production, the central role played by capital punishment in the consolidation of the capitalist state, and remaking the struggle against enclosure for the 21st century. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Dig party in London with Equator magazine on March 13. Info and RSVP here eventbrite.com/e/the-dig-x-equator-party-tickets-1982694479561? Find Solidarity With Children: An Essay Against Adult Supremacy at Haymarketbooks.org Find Revolutions: A New History at Versobooks.com

Featuring Peter Linebaugh on the long histories of commons and commoning, connections between enclosures in Europe and imperial conquest abroad, and writing history from below. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Engineered Conflict: Structural Violence and the Future of Black Life in Chicago at Haymarketbooks.org Buy Global Casino: How Wall Street Gambles with People and the Planet at Versobooks.com Dig party in London with Equator magazine on March 13. Info and RSVP here eventbrite.com/e/the-dig-x-equator-party-tickets-1982694479561?

Featuring Emilia González Avalos, Greg Nammacher, and JaNaé Bates Imari on how Minneapolis achieved its fight back against ICE/Border Patrol occupation. A decade building aligned mass movements has made Minneapolis among the best organized cities in the country. Those carefully-built structures, however, had to be nimble in confronting the federal onslaught. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Listen to Unruly Subjects, a new podcast from Chenjerai Kumanyika and The Dig’s producer, Alex Lewis https://pod.link/1849696769 Check out equator.org for long-form articles, public events, and reading groups

Featuring Nick Srnicek on Silicon Empires: The Fight for the Future of AI. A deep exploration of the political economy of AI: the fulcrum of the authoritarian tech oligarchy—and of global contests for economic and military dominance. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Cold War on Five Continents at Haymarketbooks.org Check out equator.org for long-form articles, public events, and reading groups

Featuring Aslı Bâli and Greg Grandin on the MAGA model of US imperialism. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Subscribe to the Unite and Win podcast at podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unite-and-win-a-guide-to-workplace-organizing/id1866713309 Check out equator.org for longform articles, public events, and reading groups

Featuring Alejandro Velasco, Gabriel Hetland, and Yoletty Bracho on the US attack on Venezuela and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro. An expansive conversation analyzing Trump’s imperialist project and assessing Chavismo and its oppositions from Chávez through Maduro. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out equator.org for longform articles, public events, and reading groups Buy Middle Class New Deal at UCPress.com

Featuring Andrew Epstein on the Zohran campaign’s savvy, funny, sharp, disciplined, and moving comms operation. As one hundred thousand volunteers knocked three million doors, Andrew and a team of strategists, speechwriters, designers, and filmmakers wrote a giant love letter to New York City and inoculated voters against a lavishly-funded fusillade of smears and attacks. Guest hosted by Micah Uetricht. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy After Savagery at Haymarketbooks.org Buy From Apartheid to Democracy at UCPress.com

Featuring Sumaya Awad, Sumathy Kumar, and Nathan Gusdorf on building power on the ground as our allies exercise it from above in the service of a larger hegemonic project to transform the United States. As Zohran Mamdani takes office on January 1, it’s time for governance—and all of the opportunities, constraints, and contradictions that entails. A recording of last week’s live Dig in Brooklyn. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig we have so much cool new merch Buy After Savagery at Haymarketbooks.org Buy From the Clinics to the Capitol at UCPress.com

Featuring Eric Blanc, Leah Greenberg, and Waleed Shahid on the liberal resistance’s sharp left turn since Trump returned to the White House. Libs are voting Zohran at the ballot box, fighting ICE in the streets, and just generally looking favorably upon socialism. This discussion puts the moment in historic context and plots out the strategic exigencies and opportunities ahead. Rest in power Asad Haider. Check out our 2018 interview with Asad on his book Mistaken Identity: Race and Class in the Age of Trump thedigradio.com/podcast/mistaking-identity-politics Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Learning to Live in the Dark at Haymarketbooks.org Buy Will Work for Food at UCPress.com

Featuring Tascha Van Auken on how Zohran’s campaign mobilized an army of 100,000 volunteers to knock three million doors. Van Auken has been an architect of NYC-DSA’s field operation and its general electoral strategy since the beginning. Organizers everywhere have a lot to learn. Guest hosted by Micah Uetricht. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Live Dig in Brooklyn on December 10: Zohran and the Return of Municipal Socialism. Navigating opportunities and contradictions of governance with NYC-DSA leaders Sumathy Kumar and Sumaya Awad alongside the Fiscal Policy Institute’s Nathan Gusdorf. Free entry but please RSVP. Party afterwards! eventbrite.com/e/zohran-and-the-return-of-municipal-socialism-tickets-1972951976472 Buy No Neutrals There: US Labor, Zionism, and the Struggle for Palestine at Haymarketbooks.org Read the latest issue from The Nation‘s Books & the Arts section TheNation.com/books-and-the-arts

Featuring Malcolm Harris on What’s Left: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis. An open-minded and anti-sectarian discussion about an ecumenical book that plots out three paths forward for the left—arguing we must embrace all three, simultaneously. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Live Dig in Brooklyn on December 10: Zohran and the Return of Municipal Socialism. Navigating opportunities and contradictions of governance with NYC-DSA leaders Sumathy Kumar and Sumaya Awad alongside the Fiscal Policy Institute’s Nathan Gusdorf. Free entry but please RSVP. Party afterwards! eventbrite.com/e/zohran-and-the-return-of-municipal-socialism-tickets-1972951976472 Buy No Neutrals There: US Labor, Zionism, and the Struggle for Palestine and Solidarity With Children: An Essay Against Adult Supremacy at Haymarketbooks.org

Featuring Brace Belden, Liz Franczak, Gabriel Winant, Aziz Rana, Sumaya Awad, Thea Riofrancos, and Alex Lewis. Toasts and roasts celebrating 500 episodes of The Dig. Plus a short speech from Dan. Live at Brooklyn’s Littlefield. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Live Dig in Brooklyn on December 10: Zohran and the Return of Municipal Socialism. Navigating opportunities and contradictions of governance with NYC-DSA leaders Sumathy Kumar and Sumaya Awad alongside the Fiscal Policy Institute’s Nathan Gusdorf. Free entry but please RSVP. Party afterwards! eventbrite.com/e/zohran-and-the-return-of-municipal-socialism-tickets-1972951976472

Featuring Thea Riofrancos on Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism. The green energy transition requires a vast array of inputs: copper, cobalt, rare earth elements, and the focus of this discussion, lithium—all of which must be mined from the earth. This is a wide-ranging discussion stretching from Chile to Nevada, and from the dawn of colonialism to the geoeconomic conflict between the US and China—and a lot more. In New York City? See Thea discuss Extraction with David Wallace-Wells. Friday, November 14 at McNally Jackson Seaport. Say hi to Dan if you attend! Tickets here: mcnallyjackson.com/event/thea-riofrancos-david-wallace-wells Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Black History is for Everyone at Haymarketbooks.org Get your first month free at OVID.tv using promo code DIG25

Featuring Fernando Haddad on Brazilian political economy and where Brazil fits into a world capitalist system structured by relationships of domination and unequal exchange. Haddad is Finance Minister of Brazil. He served as mayor of São Paulo and in 2018 was the Workers’ Party (PT) presidential candidate. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy From Apartheid to Democracy at UCPress.com Read the latest issue from The Nation‘s Books & the Arts section TheNation.com/books-and-the-arts

Featuring Walden Bello and Jane Nalunga on neoliberalism’s defeat of Third Worldist radical projects and the Global South social movement and civil society networks that rose from the ashes to take on neoliberal globalization. A wide-ranging interview with two important, long-standing Global South leaders. Call in to leave a question for The Dig’s mailbag episode: speakpipe.com/ListenerMailbag Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Dan in the New Yorker newyorker.com/magazine/2025/11/03/daniel-denvir-digs-zohran-mamdani Buy From Apartheid to Democracy at UCPress.com Read the latest issue from The Nation‘s Books & the Arts section TheNation.com/books-and-the-arts/