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This is a free preview of the episode "Venezuela Pt. 2: Socialist Communes and Anti-Imperialism w/ Chris Gilbert." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episodes, and other benefits like stickers and bumper stickers—depending on which tier you subscribe to. access to bi-weekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to make Upstream a weekly show, and it will also give you access to our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes along with stickers and bumper stickers at certain subscription tiers. You’ll also be helping to keep Upstream sustainable and allowing us to keep this project going. In Part 2 of our ongoing series on Venezuela, Chris Gilbert joins us to discuss Venezuela's socialist communes from a Marxist, anti-imperialist perspective. Chris Gilbert is a professor at Venezuela’s Bolivarian University and a writer based in Caracas. Grounded in a Marxist perspective, his research includes communes, socialist strategy, social reproduction theory, and imperialism. He's the author of Commune or Nothing! Venezuela’s Communal Movement and its Socialist Project and Venezuela, the Present as Struggle: Voices from the Bolivarian Revolution with Cira Pascual Marquina. He's also a co-host of the Marxist educational podcast and television program Escuela de Cuadros. In this episode, we open with a discussion on the socialist commune itself and what Marx had to say about communes as they relate to socialism before we examine the Venezuelan commune movement, distinguishing it from the hippy communes of popular culture and also from more anarchist-inspired communes like the Zapatista Autonomous Regions in Chiapas or the communes of Rojava. We discuss the way the Bolivarian revolution unfolded from the early 1990s to the present and the role that communes have played in laying the foundations for anti-imperialism and socialism. In the second half of the conversation we take a look at current events, taking stock of the Trump administration's escalation of aggression and tackling the narrative of Venezuela as a narco-state, the Trump administration's obsession with Tren de Aragua, and more.   Further resources: Chris Gilbert's website and books "Socialist Communes and Anti-Imperialism: The Marxist Approach," by Chris Gilbert A Special Issue on Communes in Socialist Construction, by Chris Gilbertand Cira Pascual Marquina The staggering death toll of Western sanctions, Jason Hickel Changing Venezuela by Taking Power: The History and Policies of the Chavez Government, by Gregory Wilpert   Building the Commune: Radical Democracy in Venezuela, by Geo Maher Related episodes: Listen to our ongoing series on Venezuela Listen to our ongoing series on China Listen to our onging series on the Alliance of Sahel States Marx's Capital Vol. 1 w/ David Smith Marx's Capital Vol. 2 w/ Richard Wolff and Shahram Azhar [UNLOCKED] Oil, Monopoly Capitalism, and Imperialism w/ Adam Hanieh Western Marxism w/ Gabriel Rockhill Washington Bullets: A History of the CIA, Coups, and Assassinations, by Vijay Prashad Immigration, ICE, and Working Class Rebellion w/ Cecilia Guerrero Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

In this episode, Part 5 of our ongoing Post Capitalist Parenting series, Jo delAmor joins us for a wide-ranging conversation about raising children in the midst of a global crisis. We open our discussion with a nod to the late scholar and activist Joanna Macy and the Work That Reconnects which she developed and which has shaped and influenced both Jo and Della's work. We then talk about Jo's framing of the power over and thriving life paradigms and the role they play in how we parent under capitalism. Della and Jo talk about the false paradigm of separation and how this can be overcome through a deep understanding and practice of interconnectedness and how this can be imparted to our children. And finally, Jo invites us to see parenting as activism and to relearn the world alongside our growing children, partnering with them on behalf of life. Jo is the author of Raising Children in the Midst of Global Crisis: A Compassionate Guidebook for New Paradigm Parenting. She is also a mother, coach, and Work That Reconnects facilitator who has cared for and worked with hundreds of other people’s children of all ages in a wide variety of contexts over twenty years. In all her work with children, she has paid close attention to what the next generations truly need at this pivotal time on Earth, charting what works, what doesn’t, and what is being called forth from us as parents, mentors, neighbors, and teachers. Further resources: Radiant Balance Raising Children in the Midst of Global Crisis: A Compassionate Guidebook for New Paradigm Parenting, by Jo delAmor Parenting in Tumultuous Times: an online Work That Reconnects program for parents Paradigm as Choice in the Great Turning: a Work That Reconnects Network Webinar with Woman Stands Shining (Pat McCabe) Postactivism, Transraciality and Decoloniality: a WTR Network Webinar with Bayo Akomolafe Braiding Sweetgrass Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer Raising Free People, by Akilah Richards Braiding Sweetgrass Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer Columbus and Other Cannibals The Wetiko Disease of Exploitation, Imperialism, and Terrorism, by Jack Forbes Related episodes: Listen to our ongoing Post Capitalist Parenting series The Work That Reconnects with Joanna Macy Intermission music: "Believe" by Amanda West Upstream is entirely listener funded. No ads, no promotions, no grants—just Patreon subscriptions and listener donations. We couldn't keep this project going without your support. Subscribe to our Patreon for bi-weekly bonus episodes, access to our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, and for Upstream stickers and bumper stickers at certain subscription tiers. Through your support you’ll be helping us keep Upstream sustainable and helping to keep this whole project going—socialist political education podcasts are not easy to fund so thank you in advance for the crucial support. patreon.com/upstreampodcast For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

This is a free preview of the episode "Alliance of Sahel States Pt. 3: Hyperimperialism w/ Mikaela Nhondo Erskog." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episodes, and other benefits like stickers and bumper stickers—depending on which tier you subscribe to. access to bi-weekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to make Upstream a weekly show, and it will also give you access to our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes along with stickers and bumper stickers at certain subscription tiers. You’ll also be helping to keep Upstream sustainable and allowing us to keep this project going. In this episode, Part 3 of our series on the Alliance of Sahel States, Mikaela Nhondo Erskog joins us for a wideranging conversation about hyperimperialism and the Sahel's fight against it. We begin the conversation talking about the anti-LGBTQ law that was passed in Burkina Faso criminalizing "acts of homosexuality." We explore the law itself (part of a broader family code bill) and explore how we in the West can wrestle with the contradictions it presents. We then focus our conversation on hyperimperialism, looking at how Western Africa is responding to decades of colonialism and neocolonialism. We talk about what the decline of the US portends for the future of the Global South, the on-the-ground development projects that the AES is embarking on with Russia and China, how the AES and other states on the African continent are attempting to reverse decades of underdevelopment and unequal exchange, and much more.  Mikaela Nhondo Erskog is a researcher at Tricontinental. a doctoral student in International Relations at Fudan University in Shanghai, and regional coordinator of the International People's Assembly in Pan Africanism Today. Further resources: Tricontinental The Sahel Seeks Sovereignty Hyper-Imperialism: A Dangerous Decadent New Stage International People's Assembly Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) 2025 Yearbook Related episodes: Our onging series on the Alliance of Sahel States Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism w/ Breht O'Shea and Alyson Escalante Post Capitalist Parenting Pt. 3: A Dialectical Perspective w/ Breht O'Shea NATO Pt. 1: An Anti-Imperialist Introduction w/ Elina Xenophontos Third Worldism and the Bandung Spirit w/ Pranay Somayajula Listen to our ongoing series on China (Chinese) Socialism vs (U.S.) Capitalism Artwork: Soviet-era propaganda poster by Eduard Artsrunyan titled “Colonialism is Doomed!”  Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at  upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

In this episode, Part 4 of our ongoing Post Capitalist Parenting series, Robina Khalid joins us to talk about the process of birthing from the perspective of a midwife. Robina is a mother of four, a writer, former academic, and activist. In this conversation, Robina shares with us the fascinating history of the field of obstetrics and its white supremacist, colonialist, and capitalist roots. We explore what midwifery is, the role it has traditionally played in society, and how capitalism's devaluing of this important health science and profession has negatively impacted the birthing experience in the contemporary world. Additionally, in this episode, Della shares about her recent birthing experience and Robina describes how we can simultaneously hold an appreciation for modern medicine while being critical of Western medicine under capitalism. Finally, Robina shares with us her vision of what post capitalist birthing could look and feel like and provides some invitations for everyone listening.  Further resources: Small Things Grow Midwifery Small Things Growing (Substack) "Beyond too little, too late and too much, too soon: a pathway towards evidence-based, respectful maternity care worldwide," Lancet Mama Sana Vibrant Woman Related episodes: Listen to our ongoing Post Capitalist Parenting series A Socialist Perspective on Abortion with Diana Moreno & Jenny Brown Decolonizing Medicine with Rupa Marya and Raj Patel Post Capitalism w/ Alnoor Ladha Intermission music: "Labour of Love" by Carsie Blanton Covert art: Palestine Poster Project, Naim 1975 Upstream is entirely listener funded. No ads, no promotions, no grants—just Patreon subscriptions and listener donations. We couldn't keep this project going without your support. Subscribe to our Patreon for bi-weekly bonus episodes, access to our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, and for Upstream stickers and bumper stickers at certain subscription tiers. Through your support you’ll be helping us keep Upstream sustainable and helping to keep this whole project going—socialist political education podcasts are not easy to fund so thank you in advance for the crucial support. patreon.com/upstreampodcast For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

This is a free preview of the episode "Venezuela Pt. 1: A Socialist Introduction w/ Vijay Prashad." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episodes, and other benefits like stickers and bumper stickers—depending on which tier you subscribe to. access to bi-weekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to make Upstream a weekly show, and it will also give you access to our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes along with stickers and bumper stickers at certain subscription tiers. You’ll also be helping to keep Upstream sustainable and allowing us to keep this project going. In Part 1 of our new, ongoing series on Venezuela, Vijay Prashad joins us to discuss Venezuela’s history, politics, and its ongoing fight against US imperialism. Vijay Prashad is a journalist, political commentator, and Executive Director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He’s the author of many books, including The Darker Nations, Washington Bullets: The History of the CIA, Coups, and Assassinations, and Red Star Over the Third World. In this episode, we discuss Venezuela's political and economic conditions prior to the Bolivarian Revolution of 1999 when Hugo Chávez came to power. We discuss how oil colonialism kept Venezuela in a state of underdevelopment and poverty. Vijay tells us about the promise of the Bolivarian Revolution and how it was delivered, the obstacles that Venezuela continues to face in its fight against imperialism, the hybrid war of coup attempts, sanctions, and propaganda campaigns imposed by the US, what socialism in Venezuela actually looks like, the most recent escalation by the Trump administration, and much more.   Further resources: Tricontinental's work on Venezuela Washington Bullets: A History of the CIA, Coups, and Assassinations, by Vijay Prashad The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces, by Seth Harp The Politics of Heroin:CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, by Alfred W. McCoy Related episodes: The Fight for The Congo w/ Vijay Prashad China Pt. 3: Bourgeois Democracy vs Socialist Democracy w/ Vijay Prashad A History of the CIA, Coups, and Assassinations w/ Vijay Prashad The Logical Case for Socialism (and Against Capitalism) w/ Scott Sehon Artwork: Political Repression in Latin America Poster printed by La Raza Silkscreen, 1975. Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at  upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

In this episode, Part 15 of our ongoing Palestine series, we've invited on two guests for a wide-ranging conversation around the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and the movement it's part of: Chris Smalls and Huwaida Arraf. Chris Smalls is a labor organizer, founder and former President of the Amazon Labor Union, and was a member of the most recent Freedom Flotilla voyage to Gaza. In this conversation, Chris shares about his experience on the Handala—the boat that sailed from Italy to the coast off of Gaza in an attempt to break Israel's illegal siege and blockade of food, medicine, and other lifesaving necessities in Palestine. We talk about the IOF's siege of the Handala in the waters of the Mediterranean just off the coast of Gaza and Chris's treatment after being kidnapped by Israel. We also explore the connection between working class politics in the United States and the struggle for liberation in Palestine, the complicity of the Western labor movement and the Democratic Party in the Palestinian genocide, the need for a labor party in the US, and what's next for the Freedom Flotilla missions.  Huwaida Arraf is a Palestinian-American human/civil rights attorney, co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement, and organizer with the Freedom Flotilla. In this conversation, Huwaida tells us about the history of the Freedom Flotilla and the various voyages to Gaza from 2008 to the present. We discuss the framework of international law, whether or not it still exists in a meaningful way, and how Israel and the US routinely violate it. Finally, we talk about a possible future where those responsible for the Palestinian siege and genocide, from Israeli leaders to IOF foot soldiers, are held accountable for their war crimes and crimes against humanity, and what the future holds for more freedom flotillas defying the brutal and illegal siege on Gaza.    Further resources: Donate to ANERA (American Near East Refugee Aid) Donate to MECA (Middle East Children's Alliance) Freedom Flotilla Amazon Labor Union International Solidarity Movement The Hind Rajab Foundation Taxpayers Against Genocide Global Sumud Flotilla Thousand Madleens to Gaza US Boats to Gaza Related episodes: Listen to our ongoing Palestine series From the Frontlines: Organizing Against Amazon w/ Chris Smalls and Mars Verrone What Is To Be Done? with Breht O'Shea and Alyson Escalante Intermission music: A section of "Deepwater Horizon Dream" by Robert Raymond Covert art: Palestine Poster Project, Abel El Hameed Upstream is entirely listener funded. No ads, no promotions, no grants—just Patreon subscriptions and listener donations. We couldn't keep this project going without your support. Subscribe to our Patreon for bi-weekly bonus episodes, access to our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, and for Upstream stickers and bumper stickers at certain subscription tiers. Through your support you’ll be helping us keep Upstream sustainable and helping to keep this whole project going—socialist political education podcasts are not easy to fund so thank you in advance for the crucial support. patreon.com/upstreampodcast For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

This is a free preview of the episode "China Pt. 7: A Socialist Response to the COVID Pandemic w/ Creighton Ward, Alessandro Zancan, and Kevin Li." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episodes, and other benefits like stickers and bumper stickers—depending on which tier you subscribe to. access to bi-weekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to make Upstream a weekly show, and it will also give you access to our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes along with stickers and bumper stickers at certain subscription tiers. You’ll also be helping to keep Upstream sustainable and allowing us to keep this project going. In this episode, Part 7 of our ongoing series on China, we take a deep dive into one of the most impressive and underreported achievements of the 21st century: China's Zero COVID policy. Zero COVID was a mostly successful attempt by the world's largest socialist state to protect its population (and, as we'll see, the world's population) from the SARS-CoV virus. Creighton Ward, Kevin Li, and Alessandro Zancan are our guests for this conversation. Creighton is a member of the Friends of Socialist China, Qiao Collective, and a Long COVID, ME/CFS patient advocate. Kevin is a member of Qiao Collective working as a writer and translator and is trained in public health and epidemiology. And Alessandro is a Marxist artist and developer, a member of the Iskra Books editorial board and a member of the Friends of Socialist China Britain Committee. In this conversation we unpack the various elements of China's Zero COVID policy—contact tracing, mass testing, border quarantine, and, of course, lockdowns. We talk about the results that Zero COVID had, which could perhaps be characterized as one of the most remarkable achievements of the 21st century. We compare China's socialist COVID response to that of the West—particularly the US and the UK—and discuss how these very different political and economic systems operate and what this means about how they value human life and societal well-being. We explore China’s international solidarity during the initial phases of the pandemic, dispel some of the most common myths about China’s COVID response, explore a bit about China’s overall healthcare system, and analyze the different experiences of living in a country with socialist values versus living in a country where capital accumulation is all that matters. Further resources: Qiao Collective Friends of Socialist China  A look back on three years of China’s anti-Covid-19 fight, by Tings Chak Let Them Eat Plague! UCLA Covid Behind Bars Data Project Comparing the response to Covid-19 in China and the US Related episodes: Listen to our ongoing series on China Health Communism with Beatrice Adler-Bolton COVID and the Pandemic with Beatrice Adler-Bolton Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at  upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

In our inaugural episode on Marx’s Capital, we took a deep dive into Capital Vol. 1, the first of three volumes on political economy written by Karl Marx in the late 19th century. Capital Vol. 1, though, is just the beginning—and unfortunately most people stop there. But Vol. 1 really just looks at one aspect of capitalism—how surplus value is produced. It doesn’t dive into the entire circulation process—or what we refer to as the circuits of capital. Vol. 2 provides the full picture of how capitalism functions—and we’ve brought on two terrific guests to help us make sense of it all.   Richard Wolff is an economist, Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, currently a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School in New York, host of the Economic Update and The Dialectic at Work podcasts, and founder of Democracy at Work.  Shahram Azhar is a political economicst, musician, Associate Professor of Economics at Bucknell University and host of The Dialectic at Work podcast.  In this episode, we talk about the process that went into writing and compiling Marx’s Capital Vol. 2. We talk about how Capital Vol. 2 builds off of Vol. 1, going from an analysis of how surplus is produced in the productive circuit of capital to really looking at the whole process of capital circulation. We talk about capital as a process as opposed to a thing, the various stages it passes through, what the implications are for the concept of the working class, the different antagonisms between the various kinds of capitalists—industrial, merchant, banking—and much more.  Further resources: Democracy at Work The Dialectic at Work Capital Volume Two (marxism.org) Contending Economic Theories: Neoclassical, Keynesian, and Marxian, by Richard D. Wolff and Stephen A. Resnickolff  On the Question of Free Trade Related episodes: Marx's Capital Vol. 1 w/ David Smith Trade Wars and Tariffs w/ Richard Wolf Inflation with Richard Wolff and Dean Baker Dialectical Materialism w/ Josh Sykes Intermission music: Ultrabonus Covert art: Berwyn Mure Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at  upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

This is a free preview of the episode "Third Worldism and the Bandung Spirit w/ Pranay Somayajula" You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episodes, and other benefits like stickers and bumper stickers—depending on which tier you subscribe to. access to bi-weekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to make Upstream a weekly show, and it will also give you access to our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes along with stickers and bumper stickers at certain subscription tiers. You’ll also be helping to keep Upstream sustainable and allowing us to keep this project going. Third Worldism—a term that might feel outdated but which is anything but—is on the rise. When we talk about the Third World, or the Global South, we are talking about the nations of the world which have been subjugated and exploited by the global imperialist order over the past several centuries. Colonialism, far from ever being abolished, is alive and well in these countries in a new and even more insidious way. And in order to help us understand exactly what this means, and what Third Worldism is, we’re going to take you back to 1955—the year that the Bandung Conference was held in Indonesia—to look at a view of colonialism and imperialism, and the resistance to it‚ from within the Third World.  Pranay Somayajula is a writer, organizer, political educator, researcher, and host of the podcast Return to Bandung. He’s the author of several pieces that we’ll be discussing today, including most recently a piece from his Substack titled "this is the human race speaking..." reviving the bandung spirit in a multipolar world." In this conversation, we talk about the Bandung Conference—a groundbreaking and pivotal meeting of many newly decolonized—and we’ll unpack this term much more as we go along—states in Asia and Africa. We’ll explore what was so significant about the Bandung Conference, the global context in which it occurred, the fight by the imperialist powers to keep the Third World subjugated all throughout the 20th century, how the spirit of Bandung lives on, and much, much more.  Further resources: Return to Bandung podcast Pranay's Substack "this is the human race speaking..." reviving the bandung spirit in a multipolar world, Culture Shock Bandung's Ghosts, Protean Magazine Decolonization and Its Discontents, Monthly Review Related episodes: Our onging series on the Alliance of Sahel States Our ongoing series on Iran Our ongoing series on China Our ongoing series on NATO Western Marxism w/ Gabriel Rockhill The Fight for The Congo w/ Vijay Prashad A History of the CIA, Coups, and Assassinations w/ Vijay Prashad Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at  upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

It’s not hyperbole to suggest that the imperialist wars waged upon the Global South by the United States and the imperialist bloc that it leads are akin to a protracted genocide. The sheer amount of death, carnage, destruction, immiseration, crushed dreams, is almost unfathomable. But it’s real. And it’s the status quo for what we love to refer fondly to as "Western Civilization." And there’s no other force more responsible for implementing this protracted genocide on the Third World than NATO. And in today’s conversation—Part 2 of our ongoing series on NATO—we’re going to explore the role that this military alliance has played in the long war on the Third World.  Pawel Wargan is an organizer and researcher based in Berlin and the coordinator of the secretariat of the Progressive International. He’s the author of the Monthly Review piece “NATO and the Long War on the Third World” which we’ll be focusing our conversation around today.  In this episode, Pawel tells us about the fascist roots of NATO, its “dark mandate” which ushered in an era of terror against the populations of the Global South leading to a protracted genocide that has left tens of millions dead and even more immiserated. We talk about the way that NATO operates in Africa, Poland, and how NATO has served as a leading opposition to liberation struggles in the Third World and across the globe.  Further resources: NATO and the Long War on the Third World, Monthly Review Progressive International Related episodes: Our ongoing series on NATO Our ongoing series on Iran Our ongoing series on Palestine Our ongoing series on China Our ongoing series on the Alliance of Sahel States Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism w/ Breht O'Shea and Alyson Escalante The Imperial Boomerang w/ Julian Go Intermission music: "Black Serpent" by Noroth Covert art: Soviet anti-NATO propaganda poster Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at  upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

This is a free preview of the episode "Alliance of Sahel States Pt. 2: A View from Within w/ Inem Richardson." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episodes, and other benefits like stickers and bumper stickers—depending on which tier you subscribe to. access to bi-weekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to make Upstream a weekly show, and it will also give you access to our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes along with stickers and bumper stickers at certain subscription tiers. You’ll also be helping to keep Upstream sustainable and allowing us to keep this project going. It can be quite difficult for someone on the left in the United States or the UK—or in any Western state for that matter, to feel patriotic. Patriotic? About what, exactly? I mean, for most of us, the American flag is a symbol that represents nothing but pain, immiseration, destruction, genocide…so it’s hard to imagine what it must feel like to be a part of a state project that you’re actually proud of. One that’s standing up to that blood-drenched American flag—standing up to the flags of all the imperialists and genocidaires across the globe.  But there are countries where national pride is well-deserved, where patriotism is appropriate, and where hope for a better future is alive and well. And in Part 2 of our series on the Alliance of Sahel States, we’re going to be in conversation with someone who is right in the middle of one of those countries.  Inem Richardson is the President and Co-Founder of the Thomas Sankara Centre for African Liberation and Unity, a member of the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party, and a journalist with African Stream based out of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. In this conversation, Inem tells us about the journey which brought her to Burkina Faso and led her to co-founding the Thomas Sankara Centre. We talk about what it was like to live through Burkina Faso’s revolution, some of the undertakings and achievements of Ibrahim Traore’s government, what the Alliance is up against, and what its future might hold, and why the world should be paying attention to what’s happening right now in the Sahel.   Further resources: The Thomas Sankara Centre The All-African People's Revolutionary Party The Coalitioin for the Elimination of Imperialism in Africa (Instagram) Africa's Last Colonial Currency: The CFA Franc Story by Fanny Pigeaud and Ndongo Samba Sylla Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Related episodes: Our onging series on the Alliance of Sahel States Our ongoing series on Iran Western Marxism w/ Gabriel Rockhill Listen to our ongoing series on China The Fight for The Congo w/ Vijay Prashad Walter Rodney, Marxism, and Underdevelopment with D. Musa Springer & Charisse Burden-Stelly Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at  upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

NATO—The North Atlantic Treaty Organization—far from being just a defensive alliance between the United States and Europe, is actually the spear tip of imperialism’s military arm. It’s the force used to discipline any global actor who dares to defy US hegemony and dominance on the world stage. From Greece to Libya to Ukraine—NATO is where we must look to understand how destabilization occurs and how defiant states across the globe are subjugated and opened up to Western markets and capital. And we’re lucky enough to have a terrific guest on today to tell us all about how it all takes place.  Elina Xenophontos is an international law and economic globalisation specialist. She produces much of her own material on her Substack and is also featured regularly on the Colonial Outcasts podcast.  In this episode, Part 1 of what will be an ongoing series on NATO, Elina presents a history of NATO, exploring its role as a force against communism and for capitalist discipline in Europe and the Global South and laying the foundations for what will be deeper dives in coming episodes. We explore its expansion during the Cold War and post-Cold War periods as a military arm of imperialism, its role in Yugoslavia, Libya, Ukraine, Iran, and other wars or conflicts, its drive to destabilize any state that refuses to be subjugated under the boot of US imperialism, and why it’s crucial for the Western left to correctly identify NATO’s role in global capitalism and imperialism in order to effectively combat it.  Further resources: Support Elina's work on Patreon Elina Xenophontos (Substack) Elina Xenophontos (Youtube) Colonial Outcasts Related episodes: Our ongoing series on NATO Our ongoing series on Iran Our ongoing series on Palestine Our ongoing series on China Our ongoing series on the Alliance of Sahel States Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism w/ Breht O'Shea and Alyson Escalante Intermission music: "Love Life" by Daily Ghost Covert art: Soviet anti-NATO propaganda poster Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at  upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

This is a free preview of the episode "Immigration, ICE, and Working Class Rebellion w/ Cecilia Guerrero." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episodes, and other benefits like stickers and bumper stickers—depending on which tier you subscribe to. access to bi-weekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to make Upstream a weekly show, and it will also give you access to our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes along with stickers and bumper stickers at certain subscription tiers. You’ll also be helping to keep Upstream sustainable and allowing us to keep this project going. It’s easy to get lost in the narratives that are fed to us by the very same institutions that oppress us. Whether liberal institutions or far right ones, there’s always something crucial missing—some component of analysis that’s left unaddressed, some root cause that remains misidentified or distorted. And the reason is because when it comes to the class war that we are all engaged in—whether we like it or not—the issues of class, of imperialism, and of monopoly capitalism are never, ever part of the mainstream discussion.  So, what are the root causes of immigration? What do the ICE terror campaigns look like on the ground in cities like LA or Nashville? What happens when we apply a materialist lens to the conversation about mass deportations and conversation about the scapegoating of the more vulnerable groups in society? And what happens when we shift the frame from the more liberal, rights-based approach to activism to one based on unified, solidaristic class struggle? Well, we’ve brought back on the perfect guest to help us unpack some of these pressing questions.  Cecilia Guerrero is Chair and Founding Member of A Luta Sigue, an organization based in Nashville, Tennessee, which incubates and trains young people and workers within advanced sectors of the working class to build and lead their own class struggle organizations. In this episode, we talk about the terror campaign being waged on immigrants throughout the country and the responses coming from working class communities who are standing up for themselves and standing in solidarity with the oppressed and exploited classes across the globe. We talk about ICE, the role that immigration plays in the imperialist global system, the attempts by liberal institutions to co-opt and neutralize our radical movements, and what the MAGA right gets wrong about the root cause of their immiseration.  Further resources: A Luta Sigue Poder Popular Tennessee Drivers Union Southern Youth Solidarity Network Capitalism and Workers’ Immigration, V.I. Lenin Marx to Sigfrid Meyer and August Vogt In New York, Karl Marx Related episodes: From the Frontlines: Class Struggle and Class War in the US Southeast w/ Cecilia Guerrero The Imperial Boomerang w/ Julian Go Artwork: CPSU propaganda poster Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at  upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

As seems to be the case with most of the countries that the United States goes to war with—much of the population here doesn’t know very much about those countries. And what they do know is usually Western propaganda, misinformation, or outright lies. This couldn’t be more true with Iran, where if it were up to our political leaders and corporate media, the story that Iran was a perfectly happy democracy that was abruptly and rudely destroyed by a rabid and power hungry group of Ayatollahs would never go unquestioned. They certainly wouldn’t want you to know about the Western backed coup of a left-leaning government in 1953, or that Iran suffered greatly during the Shah’s reign. But that’s why we’re here today—to help combat some of that propaganda, dispel some of those myths, and hopefully to provide a dose of reality to a nation whose war drums never cease to beat. And we’ve brought on a terrific guest to help us do it.  Séamus Malekafzali is a freelance journalist whose work focuses on the Middle East and Global South. In this episode, Part 1 of our new series on Iran, we give a potted history of Iran from the colonial period up to the present, introducing the Pahlavi dynasty, touching on important events like the rise of Mohammad Mosaddeq and the attempt to nationalize Iran’s oil industry which was sabotaged by Western powers. We explore the rise of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the repressive regime he led as a Western puppet. We talk about the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the role Iran now plays as a leading state in the Axis of Resistance against US hegemony. And, of course, we talk about the ongoing war being waged against Iran by the United States and its proxy, Israel and explore the regional and global implications.  Further resources: Séamus Malekafzali The Greatest Sin podcast Related episodes: Palestine Pt. 13: Al-Aqsa Flood and the Resistance Axis w/ Matteo Capasso Our ongoing series on Palestine Our ongoing series on China Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at  upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

One of the most radical things you can do is live your life in direct opposition to the forces that control our society. Not just fighting for policies or organizing your community, although those are certainly important parts of it, but also living with values that oppose the values of our dominant society. And even more importantly, raising the next generation to embody those values—not in a coercive way, but through organic parenting and role modeling that make radicalism irresistible. This is how we raise revolutionaries: instilling community, love, egalitarianism, and a need for justice into children. And this is just what our guest in today's episode has devoted himself to doing. Breht O’Shea is an activist, organizer, political educator, and host of the podcast Revolutionary Left Radio and co-host of the podcasts Red Menace and Shoeless in South Dakota. He is a father of three based out of Omaha Nebraska.  In this conversation, Part 3 of our Post Capitalist Parenting series, Breht shares with us insights about parenting that he's learned over the years as a father of three and what Marxism teaches us about parenting. We discuss the classic text by Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, which is a dialectical materialist analysis of patriarchy and the family, tracing the emergence of the patriarchal family and it took through various iterations of class society but also exploring what families have looked like under actually-existing socialism and also what it might look like under communism. We also explore the anti-natalist position which attempts to argue that having children is immoral, why this perspective is deeply flawed, what Buddhism can teach us about parenting, and much, much more. Further Resources The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, Freidrich Engels Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence, by Kristen Ghodsee Related Episodes: Listen to our ongoing Post Capitalist Parenting series Revolutionary Leftism with Breht O'Shea Buddhism and Marxism with Breht O'Shea What is To Be Done? with Breht O'Shea and Alyson Escalante Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism w/ Breht O'Shea and Alyson Escalante Red Menace: "The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and The State" by Friedrich Engels (Pt. 1) Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism w/ Kristen Ghodsee Intermission music: "Cool 4 U" by Club Cafe Upstream is a labor of love—we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at  upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

This is a free preview of the episode "China Pt. 6: The Long Transition Towards Socialism w/ Gabriel Rockhill." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episodes, and other benefits like stickers and bumper stickers—depending on which tier you subscribe to. access to bi-weekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to make Upstream a weekly show, and it will also give you access to our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes along with stickers and bumper stickers at certain subscription tiers. You’ll also be helping to keep Upstream sustainable and allowing us to keep this project going. The transition to socialism is not going to be an overnight project—and no amount of willing it to be so can change that. No, the transition towards socialism is going to be a long and winding road, traveled with fits and starts, peppered with retreats and losses. But despite it not being an overnight project, it is still a project that is being undertaken with a degree of passion and discipline that should give us hope that its outcome, perhaps not guaranteed, is at least a real possibility worth fighting for. And China, despite what imperialist propaganda wants you to think, is on this path towards socialism. In fact, it's leading it. And our guest for today's episode, Part 6 of our series on China, makes a very compelling case to support this thesis.  Gabriel Rockhill is a philosopher, cultural critic, and activist teaching Philosophy and Global Interdisciplinary Studies at Villanova University and he runs an educational nonprofit called the Critical Theory Workshop. He is the editor of multiple books, including Western Marxism: How it was Born, How it Died, How it can be Reborn, by the Italian Marxist Domenico Losurdo. Western Marxism was the focus of our conversation with Gabriel in October last year. Gabriel is also the author of the upcoming book, Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism? Volume I of The Intellectual World War: Marxism versus the Imperial Theory Industry, which is forthcoming in December, 2025 by Monthly Review Press. In this conversation, we talk about what Gabriel refers to as the intellectual world war waged by imperialists against the rest of us and how this pertains to anti-China propaganda, we discuss socialism as a process that unfolds over time versus a utopian vision that we can achieve instantly, what China learned from the socialist project of the USSR, the connections between China and the Alliance of Sahel States, the limits of liberal identity politics and China's strategy of spreading socialist economic development throughout the Global South. We dispel the myth that China is imperialist and reveal it as a propaganda by the imperialists themselves as an attempt to disparage and discredit China, the distinction between tactics and strategy in the context of the dialectics of socialism, and what the rising tensions between China and United States mean for the global world order in the coming decades and beyond. Further resources: Gabriel Rockhill Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism? Volume I of The Intellectual World War: Marxism versus the Imperial Theory Industry, by Gabriel Rockhill (forthcoming in 2025 by Monthly Review Press) Western Marxism: How it was Born, How it Died, How it can be Reborn, by Domenico Losurdo "Lenin & the Dialectics of Socialism," Gabriel Rockhill Rainbow Solidarity in Defense of Cuba, Leslie Feinberg Climate Vanguard: Is China Imperialist? The Dragon's Gift :The Real Story of China in Africa, by Deborah Brautigam On Ascending a High Mountain, V. I. Lenin Poll shows more countries hold a favorable view of China than US Related episodes: Western Marxism w/ Gabriel Rockhill Listen to our ongoing series on China Historical Materialism w/ Torkil Lauesen Towards Socialism and the End of Capitalism: An Introduction The Alliance of Sahel States Pt. 1: Burkina Faso – A Socialist Introduction w/ Prudence Iticka Walter Rodney, Marxism, and Underdevelopment with D. Musa Springer & Charisse Burden-Stelly Artwork: CPC Propaganda Poster titled “Unite and work hard to build the four modernizations.” Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at  upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

Imperialism is the primary contradiction facing the globe—and the split of the world into two poles, the imperialists and the anti-imperialists, is going to continue to shape our revolutionary struggles moving forward. This anti-imperialist struggle is occurring all over the Global South, and perhaps nowhere quite as prominently as in Africa's Sahel region, where the countries of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have been waging a struggle against neocolonialism and building a movement towards pan-Africanism through the Alliance of Sahel States—an alliance that has received the praise of anti-imperialists across the globe, and which has also raised the ire of imperialists who are not happy to see Africans fight to take back control of their resources and their labor.  In this episode, we've brought on Prudence Iticka, a Camaroonian pan-Africanist and member of United African Diaspora and The Coalition for the Elimination of Imperialism in Africa, to tell us more about the AES and the struggle it's currently undertaking.  We begin with a brief history of Burkina Faso during the colonial period, and explore the rise of Thomas Sankara and the anti-imperialist movement he lead, his assassination and the neocolonial puppet that replaced him for three decades, and the recent rise of the revolutionary leader Captain Ibrahim Traoré. We talk about the Alliance of Sahel States (AES)—Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger—and how they are the seeds for a pan-African future and the leading spear in the fight against imperialism and neocolonialism. We explore imperialism as the primary contradiction in the world, how imperialist propaganda infiltrates Africa and what the AES are doing to combat it, and much, much more. Further resources: United African Diaspora The Coalitioin for the Elimination of Imperialism in Africa (Instagram) The Coalition for the Elimination of Imperialism (Substack) Comité de Kinshasa Defending the AES, report back from Africa’s liberated zones Alliance of Sahel States (AES) Solidarity Fund A United Front Against Debt, speech by Thomas Sankara The Thomas Sankara Library Related episodes: Our onging series on the Alliance of Sahel States Western Marxism w/ Gabriel Rockhill Listen to our ongoing series on China The Fight for The Congo w/ Vijay Prashad Walter Rodney, Marxism, and Underdevelopment with D. Musa Springer & Charisse Burden-Stelly Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at  upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

If you look around at the state of the world—and the despair that comes with the reality of climate change, fascism spreading its tentacles around the world, the ethnic cleansing of Gaza—it’s very difficult to feel hope. It begins to feel like the forces of destruction and death have colonized our futures, limiting our dreams and stifling our imaginations.  It’s in these times specifically that it’s essential we remember that the future, our dreams, our imagination—that these things are political. And that exercising our hope for a just and beautiful future is an important, in fact, crucial political act. Not on its own, of course, but imagining and dreaming fuels our actions and gives soul and spirit to our revolutionary movements. And as the poet Rainer Maria Rilke once wrote, "The future must enter into you long before it happens."  Rob Hopkins is the co-founder of Transition Network and of Transition Town Totnes, and the author of several books including The Transition Handbook, From What is to What if, and most recently, How to Fall in Love with the Future: A Time Traveller's Guide to Changing the World. In this episode, we explore what it’s like to be a time traveler from Rob’s perspective, how dreams and imagination are powerful tools for driving change, and the role that art and music play in the fight for a better future. We explore examples of communities that have made a claim on the future, from the Afro-futurism and Black Utopianism of jazz musician Sun Ra to the occupation of Waterloo Bridge in London and the pop-up community that arose as a result. And finally, we look at how the future is not just an abstract concept, but something that can be felt, touched, heard, seen, and smelled.  Further resources: How to Fall in Love with the Future: A Time Traveller's Guide to Changing the World, by Rob Hopkins Field Recordings from the Future Crowdfunder: Field Recordings From The Future Immersive Show Sun Ra’s Chicago: Afrofuturism and the City, by William Sites From What If to What Next: 72 - What if we shifted to a not-for-profit economy? Related episodes: Transition Towns with Rob Hopkins Beer: Crafiting a Better Economy (Documentary) Everyday Utopia and Radical Imagination with Kristen Ghodsee Extinction Rebellion with Gail Bradbrook The Work that Reconnects with Joanna Macy A World Without Profit with Jennifer Hinton Doughnut Economics with Kate Raworth Fully Automated Luxury Communism with Zarinah Agnew and Eric Wycoff Rogers Intermission music: "A Car-Free Neighbourhood" by Field Recordings for the Future Artwork: Aga Kubish This episode was produced in collaboration with EcoGather, an experimental educational project focused on heterodox economics, collective action, and belonging in an enlivened world. EcoGather hosts gatherings to bring some Upstream episodes to life—this is one of those episodes. The EcoGathering for this episode will be held on Friday, June 27th. Find out more at ecogather.ing. This episode of Upstream was made possible with support from listeners like you. Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

This is a free preview of the episode "Alliance of Sahel States Pt. 1: Burkina Faso – An Anti-imperialist Introduction w/ Prudence Iticka." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episodes, and other benefits like stickers and bumper stickers—depending on which tier you subscribe to. access to bi-weekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to make Upstream a weekly show, and it will also give you access to our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes along with stickers and bumper stickers at certain subscription tiers. You’ll also be helping to keep Upstream sustainable and allowing us to keep this project going. Imperialism is the primary contradiction facing the globe—and the split of the world into two poles, the imperialists and the anti-imperialists, is going to continue to shape our revolutionary struggles moving forward. This anti-imperialist struggle is occurring all over the Global South, and perhaps nowhere quite as prominently as in Africa's Sahel region, where the countries of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have been waging a struggle against neocolonialism and building a movement towards pan-Africanism through the Alliance of Sahel States—an alliance that has received the praise of anti-imperialists across the globe, and which has also raised the ire of imperialists who are not happy to see Africans fight to take back control of their resources and their labor.  In this episode, we've brought on Prudence Iticka, a Camaroonian pan-Africanist and member of United African Diaspora and The Coalition for the Elimination of Imperialism in Africa, to tell us more about the AES and the struggle it's currently undertaking.  We begin with a brief history of Burkina Faso during the colonial period, and explore the rise of Thomas Sankara and the anti-imperialist movement he lead, his assassination and the neocolonial puppet that replaced him for three decades, and the recent rise of the revolutionary leader Captain Ibrahim Traoré. We talk about the Alliance of Sahel States (AES)—Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger—and how they are the seeds for a pan-African future and the leading spear in the fight against imperialism and neocolonialism. We explore imperialism as the primary contradiction in the world, how imperialist propaganda infiltrates Africa and what the AES are doing to combat it, and much, much more. Further resources: United African Diaspora The Coalitioin for the Elimination of Imperialism in Africa (Instagram) The Coalition for the Elimination of Imperialism (Substack) Comité de Kinshasa Defending the AES, report back from Africa’s liberated zones Alliance of Sahel States (AES) Solidarity Fund A United Front Against Debt, speech by Thomas Sankara The Thomas Sankara Library Related episodes: Western Marxism w/ Gabriel Rockhill Listen to our ongoing series on China The Fight for The Congo w/ Vijay Prashad Walter Rodney, Marxism, and Underdevelopment with D. Musa Springer & Charisse Burden-Stelly Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at  upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

There is nothing natural about the way we arrange families under capitalism—in fact, there are many who would argue that there is something quite unnatural about narrowing the experience of romance and child-rearing into the rigid form of the nuclear family. That there are much better ways of arranging these things might come as a surprise to some—but for those who have researched it, it’s no shock: there are much better ways of arranging things, and there’s quite a bit of evidence to back this up.  Kristen Ghodsee is Professor of Russian and East European Studies and a member of the Graduate Group in Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the critically acclaimed author of Everyday Utopia: What 2,000 Years of Wild Experiments Can Teach Us About the Good Life, Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism and Red Valkyries: Feminist Lessons From Five Revolutionary Women. In today’s episode, Part 2 of our ongoing series on Post Capitalist Parenting, we take a deep dive into Kristen Ghodsee’s work around the family and parenting. What restraints and barriers are imposed upon us through the capitalist nuclear family? What do the pro-natalists get wrong about the obsession with birthrates and the “return to tradition” when it comes to childrearing? And what alternative arrangements are out there which can provide parents and children alike with an experience that is arguably much more healthy and sustainable than the way we do things now? These are just some of the questions we explore in this conversation with Kristen Ghodsee.  This episode was produced in collaboration with EcoGather, an experimental educational project focused on heterodox economics, collective action, and belonging in an enlivened world. EcoGather hosts gatherings to bring some Upstream episodes to life—this is one of those episodes. The EcoGathering for this episode will be held on Sunday, May 25th from 11-12:30pm ET. Find out more at ecogather.ing. Further resources: Everyday Utopia: What 2,000 Years of Wild Experiments Can Teach Us About the Good Life by Kristen Ghodsee  Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence by Kristen Ghodsee Red Valkyries: Feminist Lessons From Five Revolutionary Women by Kristen Ghodsee  The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind by Melissa S. Kearney "Women’s Unpaid Labor is Worth $10,900,000,000,000" by Gus Wezerek and Kristen R. Ghodsee Related episodes: Listen to our ongoing Post Capitalist Parenting series Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism w/ Kristen Ghodsee Everyday Utopia and Radical Imagination with Kristen Ghodsee A Socialist Perspective on Abortion with Diana Moreno & Jenny Brown Post Capitalism w/ Alnoor Ladha Intermission music: "Venus (feat. Alex Mansour)" by Stratøs This episode of Upstream was made possible with support from listeners like you. Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at  upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.