The Malcolm Effect

What is neoliberalism? What is the nature of US capitalism today? How does the dollar act as a function of US imperialism? Listen in to the brilliant Radhika Desai.    Dr. Radhika Desai is Professor at the Department of Political Studies, and Director, Geopolitical Economy Research Group, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. She is the author of Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire (2013), Slouching Towards Ayodhya: From Congress to Hindutva in Indian Politics (2nd rev ed, 2004) and Intellectuals and Socialism: ‘Social Democrats’ and the Labour Party (1994), a New Statesman and Society Book of the Month, and editor or co-editor of Russia, Ukraine and Contemporary Imperialism, a special issue of International Critical Thought (2016), Theoretical Engagements in Geopolitical Economy (2015), Analytical Gains from Geopolitical Economy (2015), Revitalizing Marxist Theory for Today’s Capitalism (2010) and Developmental and Cultural Nationalisms (2009). She is also the author of numerous articles in Economic and Political Weekly, International Critical Thought, New Left Review, Third World Quarterly, World Review of Political Economy and other journals and in edited collections on parties, political economy, culture and nationalism. With Alan Freeman, she co-edits the Geopolitical Economy book series with Manchester University Press and the Future of Capitalism book series with Pluto Press. She serves on the Editorial Boards of many journals including Canadian Political Science Review, Critique of Political Economy, E-Social Sciences, Pacific Affairs, Global Faultlines, Research in Political Economy, Revista de Economía Crítica, World Review of Political Economy and International Critical Thought   I.G. @TheGambian Twitter: @MomodouTaal @CTayJ

What is the material basis of fascism? Listen in as Dr. Mullin masterfully details the political economy of fascism and how Palestine fits into US' current juncture of capitalist crisis.   Corinna Mullin is an anti-imperialist scholar who teaches political science and international political economy at John Jay College and Brooklyn College (CUNY). Corinna's research examines global South security dependency through a world system analytical framework, with a focus on colonial legacies, imperialism, unequal exchange and delinking. Corinna has also researched and published academic works on anti-/decolonial theory and praxis, the colonial-capitalist university, land and labor struggles.  Corinna is a member of  CUNY4Palestine and The Committee of Anti-Imperialists in Solidarity with Iran (CASI). She is on the Editorial Board of the journal Science & Society and is an Editor of Middle East Critique.   Links:    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SrveH0c5XA3a2CksdCcz6M5H7YTjboP93iLftqq8yUA/edit   https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SrveH0c5XA3a2CksdCcz6M5H7YTjboP93iLftqq8yUA/edit

What does an anti-imperialist position on the question of Syria sound like?   Max Ajl is a fellow at MECAM/University of Tunis, a Senior Fellow at University of Ghent and an associated researcher at the Tunisian Observatory for Food Sovereignty and the Environment. He is an associate editor at Agrarian South and Journal of Labor and Society, and has written for The Journal of Peasant Studies and the Review of African Political Economy. His book, A People’s Green New Deal, was published in 2021 with Pluto Press.   I.G. @TheGambian Twitter: @maxajl @MomodouTaal @Khamis_AC

What does our present moment require from us? Listen in as Dr. Nina Farnia and I discuss the responsibility of those who live in the imperial core, particularly the US.   Nina Farnia is a law professor and legal historian whose research focuses on US imperialism and anti-imperialist dissidents. Her forthcoming book is entitled Imperialism: An American Story (Stanford University Press).   Twitter: @MomodouTaal @NinaFarnia  

Why is it the case that so many leftists in the West fail on the question of imperialism? Listen in as Professor Rockhill takes us through the problems with Western Marxism Dr. Gabriel Rockhill is the Founding Director of the Critical Theory Workshop / Atelier de Théorie Critique, Professor of Philosophy and Global Interdisciplinary Studies at Villanova University, and the author or editor of ten books, as well as numerous scholarly and general public articles. He is also the Associate Director of Cultural Studies at Villanova University, Research Associate at the Laboratoire d’anthropologie politique – LAP (EHESS, Paris), one of the editors-in-chief of the World Marxist Review, and co-editor of the book series AIM–Anti-Imperialist Marxism. He has made numerous media appearance related to his scholarship and interventions in public debates. Click here to contact Dr. Rockhill for speaking engagements or interviews. Twitter @GabrielRockhill @CTayJ @MomodouTaal

Listen in to this super informative episode on Marx's methodology and place within the western philosophical canon   Colin Bodayle teaches philosophy at Villanova University. His main research areas are Marxism, Classical German Philosophy, and anti-colonial philosophy. You can find him on social media on Twitter @colinbodayle or on Substack.   @momodoutaal @ctayj

In this episode we take a look at the life and work of Khalil Gibran

Listen in as we discuss how we build socialism whilst our subjectivities have been constituted under neoliberalism.   Arun Kundnani is a writer interested in race, Islamophobia, surveillance, political violence, and radicalism. Born in London, he moved to New York in 2010 and now lives in Philadelphia. The Guardian has described him as “one of Britain’s best political writers.” Kundnani is the author of What is Antiracism? (Verso, 2023), The Muslims are Coming! (Verso, 2014) and The End of Tolerance (Pluto, 2007), which was selected as a New Statesman book of the year. He has written for the Nation, the Guardian, the Washington Post, Vice, and The Intercept.  A former editor of the journal Race & Class, he was educated at Cambridge University, and holds a PhD from London Metropolitan University. He has been an Open Society fellow and a scholar-in-residence at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library.   I.G. @TheGambian   Twitter: @MomodouTaal @FanonIsCanon @CTayJ

Listen in as Dr Myriam Francois and I discuss the recent elections in France.   Myriam François is a British journalist, filmmaker and writer. Her work has appeared on the BBC, Channel 4 and Al Jazeera. She is the founder and CEO of production company mpwr Productions, which specialises in documentary films centred on minority voices.   I.G. @TheGambian @Myzfrancois Twitter:   @MomodouTaal @MyriamFrancoisC

Listen in as we discuss BLMUK's political education program: Project Timbuktu   The full programme for the festival of collective liberation: https://ukblm.org/festival-2024

What does a principled stance toward Iran sound like? With increasing US imperialist aggression toward Iran, folks often focus on the internal contradictions within Islam rather than focusing on the role of US imperialism. Listen in as Dr. Helyeh Doutaghi and I discuss Iran's history and struggle for sovereignty.   Helyeh Doutaghi is the Deputy Director of the Law and Political Economy Project and an Associate Research Scholar at Yale Law School. Her research explores the intersections of the Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), encompassing Marxian and postcolonial critiques of law, sanctions, and international political economy. Helyeh's doctoral dissertation draws on the mechanisms, harms, and beneficiaries of the sanctions regime imposed on Iran, centering questions of value transfer and wealth drain. Additionally, she is interested in International Humanitarian Law (IHL), having written about its history, practice, and the production of knowledge (and ignorance), particularly in the context of the U.S. military.    Twitter: @Helyeh_Doutaghi @MomodouTaal

BLMUK’s Festival of Collective Liberation will be centring Black women elders and developing solidarity with anti-colonial/anti-imperialist struggles across the world.  The one-day festival will be comprised of panel discussions, strategy debates, keynote speeches, workshops, trainings and art and music. As well as international solidarity, it will explore Black resistance in the labour movement, police and prison abolition, migration and climate justice, bodily autonomy, cultural and artistic resistance and Black radical education. It will also launch Project Timbuktu, BLM's inaugural political education course. Register for tickets here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/blacklivesmatteruk/1267185 Email hello@ukblm.org for any questions

What is the agrarian question? How are struggles over land connected to global anti-imperialism? Listen in as we discuss 'The Agrarian question' with Dr. Max Ajl   Max Ajl is a fellow at MECAM/University of Tunis, a Senior Fellow at University of Ghent and an associated researcher at the Tunisian Observatory for Food Sovereignty and the Environment. He is an associate editor at Agrarian South and Journal of Labor and Society, and has written for The Journal of Peasant Studies and the Review of African Political Economy. His book, A People’s Green New Deal, was published in 2021 with Pluto Press.   I.G. @TheGambian Twitter: @maxajl @MomodouTaal @CTayJ @Khamis_AC

Listen in as Dr. Bikrum Gill discusses an analysis of Palestinian resistance; historically and contemporarily. We also discuss the Palestinian struggle in relation to wider struggles against imperialism and for global struggle of liberation.    Dr. Gill is currently working on a book manuscript titled “Race, Nature, and Accumulation: A Decolonial Political Ecological Analysis of Land Grabbing.”  This book examines the motives and consequences of the post financial crisis phenomenon of large-scale agricultural land grabbing, with a particular focus on the “South-South” case of Indian agricultural companies expanding into the Gambella province of Ethiopia. Combining political ecology, political economy, and decolonial theory, this work situates the land grab within the longue duree of colonial-capitalist modernity, and advances the argument that the land grab, as a distinctive post-crisis phenomenon, signifies an attempt to re-constitute the racialized social-ecology of global capitalist development.

Listen in as we discuss structures, agency and the role of political economy.   Naeem Inayatullah is professor of politics at Ithaca College. He has taught at the University of Denver, University of Colorado, Syracuse University, and for a short period in Brazil. He is associate editor of the Journal of Narrative Politic   I.G. @TheGambian Twitter:   @MomodouTaal @CTayJ

Listen in as Dr. Matteo Capasso offers a marxist analysis of Iran's retaliation to Israel's attack on their consulate.    Matteo Capasso is @mscactions research fellow at @cafoscari and @columbia, whose work focuses on imperialism and the Global South.  He is the author of 'Everyday Politics in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya' and co-editor of @mideastcritique. His work has appeared in @ripe, @roap and @journalPolitics.  He is also a rapporteur at in the International Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism: Sanctions Blockades, and Unilateral Coercive Measures @sanctionstrib   I.G. @TheGambian Twitter: @capassomat @MomodouTaal @CTayJ @Khamis_AC

As the US gears up for yet another intervention in Haiti, what do those who are plugged into movements on the ground make of the current situation? Listen in as Kweku Lumumba takes us through his perspective on contemporary Haiti   I.G. @TheGambian Twitter:   @MomodouTaal @CTayj @Aldanmarki    

[This episode was recorded February 27th]   Many of us have heard what is happening in Senegal listen in as Fatima and Florian take us through what has led to this current moment.    I.G. @TheGambian Twitter: @Nestawane @FloTok    

The Ansarullah in Yemen continues their blockade of the red sea of all ships headed toward Israel. Who are they?   Listen in as Rune discusses the history of Ansarullah and their place within Yemen's society.   Rune Agerhus Political Commentator & Member of the Organization of Solidarity with the Yemeni Struggle (OSYS   I.G. @TheGambian Twitter:   @MomodouTaal @CTayj @Aldanmarki    

History did not start on October 7th. Listen in as Tara contextualizes October 7th and gives a long history of Palestinian resistance.   Tara Alami is a Palestinian writer and organiser from occupied Jerusalem and occupied Yafa, based in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal).   I.G. @TheGambian Twitter: @MomodouTaal @taraxrh