Upstream

This is a free preview of the episode "Decolonizing Money (plus an Introduction and Exchange on Anarchism) w/ Julio Linares." 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 biweekly 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 Julio Linares joins us for a wide-ranging conversation on anarchism, debt, the U.S. dollar, and mich more. Julio Linares is an economic anthropologist and author of Decolonizing Money: The Promise of Abolishing the US Dollar. Our conversation begins with Julio describing how his study of microfinance and microlending led him on the…

We have unlocked our episode "Nathan Fielder's 'The Curse' w/ Carlee." Enjoy! What happens when the contradictions of living under late capitalism are revealed in excruciating detail? What happens when our performances break down? When they break us? When they break those around us? What happens when you take all of this and wrap it up in a faux reality TV show which is itself about a reality TV show? Well, you get The Curse—the 2023 masterpiece by comedian, actor, writer, director, and producer, Nathan Fielder along with Benny Safdie. You may know Nathan from his satirical docu-reality comedy television series, Nathan For You. You may know him from his more recent TV series The Rehearsal or his brand new movie You Can See Everything. Or you may not know him at all. It doesn't really matter, because in this episode we're going to explain everything you need to know about how Nathan Fielder produces masterful media and art—and we're going to do so by taking a deep dive into the 10 episode mini-series The…

In this conversation, episode 12 in our ongoing series on Cuba, we're joined by Niki Franco, AKA Venus Roots, for a discussion on what the radically different histories of Cuba and Puerto Rico can teach us about colonialism, capitalism, socialism, and the struggle for liberation in the Caribbean and beyond. Niki Franco is a Caribbean abolitionist community organizer, writer, facilitator of spaces for collective study, and author of Flies in the Tropics published this month by 1804 Books. The conversation begins with Niki describing her connection to Puerto Rico and introducing us to her working class family history in Puerto Rico and presenting the colonial, imperialist nature of the U.S.'s relationship to Puerto Rico. Niki then describes her upbringing in Miami and the reactionary, far-right politics of much of south Florida before describing how she broke out of the city's suffocating anti-communism and embraced socialism. We then begin our discussion on Cuba and Puerto Rico—beginning with their…

This is a free preview of the episode "The Crushing Despair of Class Society." 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 biweekly 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 of our reading series, Robbie reads a piece of his own titled "Extreme Inequality Is Driving Anxiety and Depression in the US" published by Truthout in 2019. The piece is about the environmental impacts on mental health, focusing specifically on the impacts of economic inequality. The reading opens with a look back to the dawn of the COVID era, exploring how the pandemic and…

In this episode we're joined by Max Haivan for a conversation on gamified capitalism and 21st century fascism. Max Haiven is Canada Research Chair in Radical Imagination at Lakehead University and author of many books, including most recently, The Player and the Played: From Gamed Capitalism to 21st-Century Fascism, which is open-access. He is the designer of the board game Billionaires & Guillotines and teaches a popular education course titled Fighting Fascist Feelings. The conversation begins with a broad overview of Max's thesis connecting games and capitalism—what he calls gamified capitalism—introducing the concept of 21st century capitalism as a sort of cruel and unwinnable game in which we are all trapped. We discuss the financialization of capitalism as the foundation upon which gamification has flourished, describing the emergnce of the "cheated player" navigating a never-ending series of financialized games—from dating apps to prediction markets. Max explains how fascism on both a micro and macro…

This is a free preview of the episode "Cuba Ep. 11: Actually Existing Ecology w/ Henry Hakamäki & Salvatore Engels-Di Mauro." 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 biweekly 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 2 of a 2-part miniseries, Henry Hakamäki & Salvatore Engels-Di Mauro join us to discuss the ecology of communism as described in the book, Communism, the Highest Stage of Ecology by French scholar Guillaume Suing. Salvatore Engels-Di Mauro is Professor at the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at SUNY New Paltz.…

This is an unlocked version of our Patreon episode "Communism, the Highest Stage of Ecology w/ Henry Hakamäki & Salvatore Engels-Di Mauro." In this episode, Part 1 of a 2-part miniseries, Henry Hakamäki & Salvatore Engels-Di Mauro join us to discuss the ecology of communism as described in the book, Communism, the Highest Stage of Ecology by French scholar Guillaume Suing. Salvatore Engels-Di Mauro is Professor at the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at SUNY New Paltz. Henry Hakamäki is co-host of Guerrilla History and the editor and translator, along with Salvatore, of Iskra Books' Stalin: History and Critique of a Black Legend, by Domenico Losurdo as well as the book we'll be discussing today, Communism, the Highest Stage of Ecology​, by Guillaume Suing Our conversation begins by outlining how capitalism as an ideology and as a world-system harms ecology by unpacking the logic behind the profit motive and infinite growth characteristic capitalism system. Henry and Salvatore then discuss…

In this episode, we're joined by Carsie Blanton for a conversation on communist folk music and the role of politics in art. Carsie Blanton is a songwriter, touring musician, and organizer with Artists Against Apartheid and People's Songs—an organization of musicians dedicated to adapting, distributing, and performing songs for liberation. The conversation begins with Carsie giving us a sense of her experience as a Jewish, anti-Zionist musician after Oct 7th and how the repressive atmosphere and her experience on the Global Sumud Flotilla shaped the way she thinks about art and political discourse. She tells us how this experience led her to (re)launch an organization from the 1940s named People's Songs dedicated to adapting, distributing, and performing songs for liberation. We discuss the ways that communist musicians organized historically and what the response from the FBI and repressive apparatus was to this organizing. We talk about the Congress for Cultural Freedom, for example, and other soft power…

This is a free preview of the episode "China Ep. 11: Tibet w/ Ken Hammond." 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 biweekly 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 conversation, episode 11 in our ongoing series on China, we're joined by Ken Hammond to talk about Tibet. Ken Hammond is Professor of History at New Mexico State University, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, or PSL, and the author of several books, including China's Revolution and the Quest for a Socialist Future and China and the World. Our conversation begins by…

In this conversation, episode 7 in our ongoing series on Venezuela, we're joined by Cira Pascual Marquina and Chris Gilbert for an on-the-ground assessment of how Venezuela is navigating the latest phase of US imperialism. Chris Gilbert is a professor at Venezuela's Bolivarian University and a writer based in Caracas. He's the author of Commune or Nothing! Venezuela's Communal Movement and its Socialist Project. Cira Pascual Marquina is a researcher and popular educator at El Panal commune in Venezuela. She's the author, along with Chris, of The Present as Struggle: Voices from the Bolivarian Revolution and co-host, also along with Chris, of the Marxist educational project Escuela de Cuadros. The conversation opens by discussing the new oil agreement imposed on Venezuela by the US regime and examining how it compares to other oil agreements in Latin America, how it compares to past agreements under Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, and what the most problematic components of it are. We dicuss some of the other…

This is a free preview of the episode "Communism, the Highest Stage of Ecology w/ Henry Hakamäki & Salvatore Engels-Di Mauro." 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 biweekly 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 1 of a 2-part miniseries, Henry Hakamäki & Salvatore Engels-Di Mauro join us to discuss the ecology of communism as described in the book, Communism, the Highest Stage of Ecology by French scholar Guillaume Suing. Salvatore Engels-Di Mauro is Professor at the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at SUNY New…

In this episode we're joined by Abby Martin for a conversation on her film, "Cuba after Castro: The Island in the Crosshairs." Abby Martin is a journalist, activist, founder of "The Empire Files," and director of the films "Gaza Fights for Freedom," "Earth's Greatest Enemy," which was the topic of our first episode with Abby, which was actually our first live show ever, and the film we'll be discussing today, which she co-directed with Matt Belen, "Cuba after Castro: The Island in the Crosshairs" which features the first and only interview conducted by an American journalist with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel. The conversation opens with Abby explaining her connection to Cuba and why she chose to interview Cuba's President Miguel Díaz-Canel for this film. We explore President Miguel Díaz-Canel's story and talk about the series of crises that Cuba is facing as a result of U.S. aggression—a kind of slow genocide. We then explore parts of Abby's interview with President Díaz-Canel, beginning by situating…

This is a free preview of the episode "China Ep. 10: The Dialectics of Chinese Labor w/ Immanuel Ness" 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 biweekly 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, Immanuel Ness joins us to discuss trade unions in China and the landscape of Chinese labor more broadly. Immanuel Ness is Professor of Political Science at the City University of New York and Visiting Professor of Sociology at the University of Johannesburg. He's the author of Migration as Economic Imperialism: How International Labour Mobility…

In this episode we're joined by Charisse Burden-Stelly for a conversation on Cuba and the long history of US red scares through the lens of the US Department of State's recent report on Cuba: "Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism." Charisse Burden-Stelly is an associate professor of African American studies at Wayne State University, a member of the Black Alliance for Peace, Movement Builders, and the Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective. She's the author of Black Scare/Red Scare: Theorizing Capitalist Racism in the United States. The conversation opens with an outline of the US State Department report as well as the related "National Security Presidential Memorandum 7: Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence"—more commonly referred to as NSPM-7. We go through the report and examine some of its contents and some of the claims it makes and then explore what the purpose of this report is, asking: why Cuba, and why now? Dr. CBS then introduces her thesis in Black Scare / Red Scare,…

This is a free preview of the episode "Inventing Reality: The Politics of News Media" 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 biweekly 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 of our reading series, Robbie reads and provides real-time analysis of the opening chapter of the classic book, Inventing Reality: The Politics of the Mass Media by Michael Parenti. The text explores the role that the media play in capitalism using a materialist, Marxist-Leninist analysis. The reading begins with Robbie comparing and contrasting Inventing Reality with the…

In this episode we're joined by Mohamed Khougali for a conversation exploring the history and politics of Sudan from the perspective of a Sudanese psychotherapist who participated in the 2018-2019 revolution. Mohamed Khougali is a socialist who was part of the Sudanese revolution of 2019. He's the author of Politically Unconscious: The Psychic Aftermath of the Sudanese Revolution, published by Iskra Books. He is currently residing in Germany, where he started the Black Radicals to incorporate the Black Radical Tradition into the German Left. The conversation opens with an overview of Politically Unconscious and then dives into Mohamed's work as a psychotherapist and his approach of praxis psychotherapy. We then take some time to orient ourselves to Sudan geographically and give some important context around its regions before we begin to explore Sudanese history. We discuss Sudan's history beginning with the Anglo-Egyptian colonization period which lasted from the late 19th century to 1956. He discusses how…

This is a free preview of the episode "250 Years of Bourgeois Democracy w/ August Nimtz" 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 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, August Nimtz joins us to discuss 250 years of bourgeois democracy. August Nimtz is professor of political science and African American and African studies and Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of many books including The Ballot, the Streets, or Both? From Marx and Engels to Lenin and the October Revolution, which we had…

In this episode Cecilia Guerrero joins us to pick apart the sordid origins and class orientation of the Democratic Party. 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. The conversation opens with a history of the Democratic Party, which is also a history of the development of US capitalism. Cecilia takes us back to the formation of the Democratic Party and describes the role it played in opposition to the Republican Party during slavery and up to the Civil War. She then outlines how the party shifted and evolved up through the Robber Barron days around the turn of the century up to WWI. We then explore how the Communist Party of the USA (CPUSA), despite its successful origins, succumbed to opportunism and failed to be a vehicle for the working class in the United States. This resulted in the…

This is a free preview of the episode "Iran Pt. 5: Is the US-Iran Deal a Trap for Iran? w/ Elina Xenophontos" 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 biweekly 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. Although the episodes build on each other in certain ways, all of our series are designed so that each episode can be listened to as a standalone In Part 5 of our ongoing series on Iran, Elina Xenophontos joins us to discuss the US-Iran deal and what it could mean for Iran's economic sovereignty. Elina Xenophontos is an international law and economic globalization…

The hyper-individual, anti-collectivist ideology that defines and permeates Western societies has profound consequences in multiple realms, from mental health to ecological health to economic health—it's a way of living and thinking that has stained our society from the start. No one knows this more than those individuals and cultures who have, for thousands of years, practiced life in a different way. And among those are many Indigenous cultures and nations which have prioritized a way of life that emphasizes the collective over the individual—not erasing the individual, but weaving the individual back into the fabric of society and the web of life. One of the defining questions of our time is this: how can we learn from Indigenous wisdom to reimagine the world? How can we reimagine the scarcity, competition, and hoarding that defines Western society and replace these values with reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude? And how does connecting with the natural world help us as we reimagine? This is…

This is a free preview of the episode "China Ep. 9: Taiwan w/ Charles Xu and Feiyang Sun." 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 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. Charles Xu and Feiyang Sun join us for a conversation on Taiwan. Charles Xu is a member of Qiao Collective and Sovereign Media. Feiyang Sun is a member of Qiao Collective. Our conversation begins with an introduction to Taiwan geographically and historically prior to the modern period and into the early modern period, including the colonization by Japan in the early 20th…

In this episode we're joined by Fadhel Kaboub for a conversation about the US dollar, its hegemony over the globe, and the emerging challenges to this hegemony. Fadhel Kaboub is a Tunisian-American economist, professor of economics at Denison University, president of the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity, and author of Global South Perspectives on substack. The conversation opens with a historical overview of how the US dollar became the dominant global currency and the power that this brought with it—exploring the petrodollar, the use of sanctions, and other neocolonial mechanisms upheld by the dollar. We then introduce BRICS and exploring how BRICS challenges US dollar hegemony and the limitations to this challenge. Fadhel then unpacks the ways that US dollar hegemony is and can continue to be challenges through focusing on food sovereignty, energy sovereignty, and industrial/technological sovereignty, which Fadhel unpacks in depth. We then explore some examples of attempts to achieve this kind…

This is a free preview of the episode "Cuba Ep. 8: Lessons from the Fall of the USSR w/ Helen Yaffe." 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 biweekly 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 8 of our ongoing Cuba series, we're joined again by Helen Yaffe for a conversation exploring the lessons Cuba learned from the crisis brought on by the fall of the USSR—known as Cuba's "special period". Helen Yaffe is a professor of Latin American political economy at the University of Glasgow. She is the author of We Are Cuba! How a Revolutionary…

Helen Yaffe joins us for a conversation exploring what the attempts to build socialism in Cuba look like in a practical sense—from housing to food distribution to economic management. Helen Yaffe is a professor of Latin American political economy at the University of Glasgow. She is the author of We Are Cuba! How a Revolutionary People Have Survived in a Post-Soviet World, and Che Guevara: The Economics of Revolution. She is also the cohost of the Cuba Analysis podcast and the documentary Cuba's Life Task: combating climate change. The episode begins by bringing back the lens and exploring what we mean when we talk about socialism and communism and transitional states, inserting the centrality of development and underdevelopment into the conversation of building socialism and situating Cuba into this framework. We break down the main components of Cuban socialism, which include central planning, the decentralization of feedback mechanisms (deep democracy), the commitment to social welfare with a particular…

This is a free preview of the episode "Cuba Ep. 6: The Political Thought of Fidel Castro w/ Renzo Llorente." 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 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. Renzo Llorente join us for a conversation on the political thought of Fidel Castro. Renzo Llorente is associate professor of philosophy at Saint Louis University-Madrid and the author of the books The Political Theory of Che Guevara and The Political Thought of Fidel Castro, which we'll be discussing in today's episode. Our conversation begins with a brief…

Manolo De Los Santos & Liz Oliva Fernández join us for a conversation exploring the current state of the island and how Cubans are responding to Trump's oil blockade. Manolo De Los Santos is a founder of the People's Forum and a researcher at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He is the co-editor Viviremos: Venezuela vs. Hybrid War, Comrade of the Revolution: Selected Speeches of Fidel Castro, and Our Own Path to Socialism: Selected Speeches of Hugo Chávez. Liz Oliva Fernández is a Havana-based journalist with Belly of the Beast (a U.S.-based independent media outlet) and the presenter of The War on Cuba. The first half of the episode is our conversation with Manolo De Los Santos and begins with him recounting what he witnessed and experienced during his recent trips to Cuba. Manolo brings us up to date on the Trump regime's efforts to impose blockades and sanctions on Cuba and then describes what the impact of these assaults look like on the ground on the island. He then tells about the Cuban…

This is a free preview of the episode "The Long Transition Towards Socialism and the End of Capitalism w/ Torkil Lauesen." 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 we're joined by Torkil Lauesen for a wide ranging conversation exploring what the transition…

In this episode we're joined by Ramsey Robinson for a conversation exploring the need for socialism in California (and beyond). Ramsey Robinson is a mental health social worker, organizer, and revolutionary based in San Francisco. He is running for Governor of California with the Peace and Freedom Party. The conversation begins with Ramsey discussing what compelled him to run for Governor of California with the Peace and Freedom Party, and in doing so we outline many of the problems facing US society—problems that stem from the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of one class and with the problems coming from this arrangement falling disproportionately onto the rest of us. We introduce the topic of liberation psychology and talk about how it has influenced Ramsey's work and politics—looking at how the mental health crisis in America is fueled by capitalism and what can be done about it. Ramsey then tells us about the Peace and Freedom Party—giving us a sense of its roots and also contrasting it…

This is an unlocked version of the episode "Palestine Ep. 17: Capital Accumulation at Any Cost w/ Jason Hickel." You can help to support our work and access Patreon-only episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast In this episode we're joined again by Jason Hickel for a conversation on Palestine and the role that Palestinian liberation plays in the global fight against imperialism and capitalism. The conversation opens with a discussion on why Palestinian liberation is a threat to capitalism globally—we unpack the role that Palestine plays geopolitically in West Asia and the role that West Asia plays in global capital accumulation. We go on to talk about Israel's role as the US's proxy force and attack dog, not just in West Asia, but throughout the globe as well, from Argentina to Guatemala. We then talk about Trump's so-called "Board of Peace," and its vision for Gaza before discussing what's taking place in the West Bank and the official death of the Two State…

This is a free preview of the episode "Iran Ep. 4: Towards a Multipolar World / Matteo Capasso." 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 biweekly 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. Matteo Capasso joins us to discuss the global implications of the war on Iran. Matteo Capasso is professor of Middle East Studies based in China and the editor of Middle East Critique, a peer-reviewed Middle Eastern studies journal published by Taylor & Francis. Our conversation begins with a brief overview of the so-called ceasefire agreement, taking a zoomed out look instead…

Renzo Llorente joins us for a conversation exploring the counterrevolution to Cuba's 1959 revolution and the various forms it took. Renzo Llorente is associate professor of philosophy at Saint Louis University-Madrid and the author of the books The Political Theory of Che Guevara and The Political Thought of Fidel Castro. The conversation begins with a look at the current assault on Cuba from the Trump administration and situates it within the context of a long counterrevolution, which has been by and large a bipartisan project since the revolution's inception. We then discuss why counterrevolution occurs in socialist societies and the toll that it takes on the revolutionary ambitions of societies attempting to lay the foundations for socialism. We look at examples of sabotage—from assassination attempts to economic disruption, examples of outright military excursions like the Bay of Pigs invasion, and more. We then look at how Cuba has been forced to respond to these perpetual attempts at counterrevolution…

In this episode, we're joined again by Jason Hickel for a conversation on Palestine and the role that Palestinian liberation plays in the global fight against imperialism and capitalism. The conversation opens with a discussion on why Palestinian liberation is a threat to capitalism globally—we unpack the role that Palestine plays geopolitically in West Asia and the role that West Asia plays in global capital accumulation. We go on to talk about Israel's role as the US's proxy force and attack dog, not just in West Asia, but throughout the globe as well, from Argentina to Guatemala. We then talk about Trump's so-called "Board of Peace," and its vision for Gaza before discussing what's taking place in the West Bank and the official death of the Two State Solution. We then broaden the conversation out and situate what's happening in Palestine into the context of the United States' quest for geopolitical hegemony, what this means in terms of the Second Cold War with China, and the implications for Palestine,…

Helen Yaffe joins us for a conversation exploring Cuba's transition to socialism after the revolution through Che Guevara's contributions. Helen Yaffe is a professor of Latin American political economy at the University of Glasgow. She is the author of We Are Cuba! How a Revolutionary People Have Survived in a Post-Soviet World, and Che Guevara: The Economics of Revolution. She is also the cohost of the Cuba Analysis podcast and the documentary Cuba's Life Task: combatting climate change. The episode begins with a brief introduction to Che Guevara, providing an overview of Che's life and biography. We then discuss what the Cuban revolutionaries inherited in terms of Cuba's semi-colonial economic and political state—unemployment, poverty, inequality, underdevelopment, and dependency. We talk about how socialism became the guiding light of revolutionary Cuba and how the revolutionary government became more radical in response to the United States' attempts to sabotage it. We discuss Che Guevara's role in…

Although the episodes in our series build on each other in certain ways, all of our series are designed so that each episode can be listened to as a standalone. In Episode 1 of our new series on Lebanon, Hussein Assaf joins us to discuss the ongoing assault on Lebanon by Israel and the United States. Hussein Assaf is a journalist with Vocal Politics based out of Beirut. Our conversation begins with an update on the ongoing assault on Lebanon by Israel and backed by the United States. We then talk about the political forces at play in Lebanon, giving a brief history of the political makeup of the country to help put the current assault in context. We talk about Hezbollah and the relationship it has with the Islamic Republic, unpacking the common talking point in the West that Hezbollah is an Iranian "regime" proxy and instead providing a more appropriate analysis (and in doing so, giving insight into how the United States treats its proxies). We close on a discussion on the information and psychological…

Although the episodes in our series build on each other in certain ways, all of our series are designed so that each episode can be listened to as a standalone. In this episode, part 3 of our ongoing series on Iran, we're joined again by Bikrum Gill for a conversation exploring sovereignty and imperialism in Iran. Our conversation opens with an unpacking of the intersections and distinctions of imperialism, sovereignty, colonialism, and capitalism in a theoretical sense. Once these foundations are laid, we then apply this framework to Iran, answering the question of why Iran's sovereignty is so threatening to the United States. We then jump into current events and explore the thread that ties together the US's assault on Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, Palestine, etc.—and this brings China into the conversation. We talk about the construction of client states and why so many states in Latin America and West Asia have refused to intervene on behalf of Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, and Palestine. Finally, we discuss the…

This is an unlocked version of the Patreon episode "Atlantic Slavery and the Plantation System w/ David McNally." You can support us through Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast. 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 we're joined by David McNally to discuss his new book, Slavery and Capitalism: A new Marxist History, a systematic Marxist account of the capitalist character of Atlantic slavery. David McNally is a radical socialist activist and award-winning scholar. He currently holds the Cullen Distinguished Professorship of History & Business at the University of Houston. The conversation opens with an introduction to the idea that the Atlantic slave system and the plantation system were forms of…

Manolo De Los Santos joins us for a conversation on the Cuban Revolution. Manolo De Los Santos is a founder of the People's Forum and a researcher at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He is the coeditor Viviremos: Venezuela vs. Hybrid War, Comrade of the Revolution: Selected Speeches of Fidel Castro, and Our Own Path to Socialism: Selected Speeches of Hugo Chávez. The conversation picks up where Episode 1 left off, in the early 50s, setting the stage for the lead up to the 26th of July Movement and introducing some of the main characters of the revolution, including, of course Fidel Castro and Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Manolo tells us about the attack on the Moncada Barracks, Fidel's exile to Cuba where he meets Che and begins training, and their return on the Granma to Cuba's Sierra Maestra mountains where they reignite the revolutionary guerrilla army of the 26th of July Movement. We talk about the Battle of Santa Clara which led to Batista's overthrow on January 1st, 1958, and the triumph of the…

This is an preview of the Patreon episode "The Political Economy of Love in Capitalism w/ Kristen Ghodsee." 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 we're joined by Kristen Ghodsee to discuss the political economy of love in capitalism. Kristen Ghodsee is…

In this episode we're joined by Gabriel Rockhill to discuss his new book, Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism, which takes a fascinating dive into the world of anticommunist Marxism and the role that the CIA and other nefarious imperialist forces play in dividing and neutralizing the left. 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. The conversation opens with an overview of Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism, orienting us towards Gabriel's analysis of bourgeois intellectual production and its role in perpetuating anticommunism among the left. We then bring in the Epstein files and discuss their relevance to our conversation before exploring what led to Gabriel writing about…

This is a free preview of the episode "Iran Ep. 2: The Impacts of Economic Strangulation w/ Elina Xenophontos." 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 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. Elina Xenophontos joins us to discuss the history and impacts of sanctions on Iran—including the impacts on the current crisis in the country. Elina Xenophontos is an international law and economic globalization specialist. She produces much of her own material on her Substack and is also featured regularly on the Colonial Outcasts podcast. Our conversation…

This is an unlocked version of the Patreon episode "Venezuela Ep. 6: The Empire Strikes w/ José Luis Granados Ceja Andreína Chávez." You can listen to our entire 5-part series on Venezuela by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber, you'll get access to biweekly 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. José Luis Granados Ceja and Andreína Chávez join us to discuss the aftermath of the abduction of Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores and the United States' attempted takeover of Venezuela. José Luis Granados Ceja is a journalist with Drop Site News based in Mexico City who has been covering Venezuela for 20 years. Andreína…

Manolo De Los Santos joins us to explore Cuba before the Cuban revolution. Manolo De Los Santos is a founder of the People's Forum and a researcher at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He is the co-editor Viviremos: Venezuela vs. Hybrid War, Comrade of the Revolution: Selected Speeches of Fidel Castro, and Our Own Path to Socialism: Selected Speeches of Hugo Chávez. The conversation opens with an exploration of Cuba's Indigenous peoples and their culture and practice of resistance to European colonialism which continues to this day. We then talk about the early history of the Caribbean and Cuba's position in the Atlantic slave trade and early industrial plantation capitalism as well as some of the many rebellions led by enslaved Africans on the island of Cuba. Manolo also tells us about Cuba's "independence" in 1902, or what he refers to as a false independence and the imposition of US imperialism on the island. We then introduce Fulgencio Batista and the period of dictatorship beginning in the…

This is an unlocked version of the Patreon episode "How Fascism Works." RIP Michael Parenti, (September 30, 1933 – January 24, 2026) In this episode of our reading series, Robbie reads and provides real-time analysis of the opening chapter of the classic book Blackshirts & Reds: Rational Fascism & the Overthrow of Communism by Michael Parenti. The text covers the topics of plutocracy and autocracy, whom the fascists last century supported, a bit of history on Hitler and Mussolini, the rational and irrational aspects of fascism, patriarchy and pseudo-revolution, collaboration, and much more. The analysis provided in the reading brings this text into our current conditions and looks at where Parenti's analysis holds up and where it might need to be stretched and adapted to help us understand the rise of neofascism in the United States under Trump and his modern day fascist footsoldiers. We explain why it's more important than ever to resist collaboration and to stand in full solidarity with all of the…

This is a free preview of the episode "Alliance of Sahel States Ep. 4: The Life, Politics and Legacies of Thomas Sankara w/ Amber Murrey." 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 biweekly 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. Amber Murrey joins us for a conversation on Thomas Sankara's, legacy, and politics. The conversation opens with an exploration of Sankara's early life and how his experience with French colonialism shaped his politics and philosophies. We talk about how those philosophies were implemented into policy after a 1983 coup d'etat that put…

In this episode, part 2 of our 2-part miniseries on US labor and imperialism, Jeff Schuhrke joins us to take a deep dive into his new book, No Neutrals There, exploring US labor's support of Zionism. Jeff Schuhrke is a labor historian, journalist, union activist, and assistant professor at the Harry Van Arsdale Jr School of Labor Studies, SUNY Empire State University. He's the author of Blue-Collar Empire: The Untold Story of US Labor's Global Anticommunist Crusade, and No Neutrals There: US Labor, Zionism, and the Struggle for Palestine. The conversation opens with a history of Zionism, looking at the rise of Zionism and crucially contrasting it to the Jewish Labor Bund and their different approach to Jewish emancipation. We then present a history of the settler-colonial project which became Israel, looking at the labor landscape in Palestine during the first half of the 20th century (the Great Arab Revolt, WWII, the period of the Holocaust) and exploring US labor's role in supporting the Zionist project…

Note: We have unlocked this Patreon episode which originally aired on Jun 23, 2025 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…

Happy Holidays! In this annual tradition, Della is joined by two fellow podcast hosts to reflect on insights and questions from the past year and share visions for the year ahead. They discuss how to not get stuck in embitterment, concerns and questions about AI, and where they are currently finding hope in these dark times. Manda Scott is a novelist, smallholder, and host of the Accidental Gods podcast, which showcases individuals and organizations at the emerging edge of our world to set the foundation for a future we'd be proud to leave to the generations that come after us. Manda's latest novel, Any Human Power, is out now and available here. Nathalie Nahai is a behavior science advisor, author and host of the podcast The Hive, which focuses on psychology, technology, and human behavior. Nathalie is the author of Webs Of Influence: The Psychology of Online Persuasion and is also the founder of Flourishing Futures Salon, a project that offers curated gastronomical gatherings that explore how we can thrive…

This is a free preview of the episode "Reconnecting to the Land and to Place." 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 of our ongoing Patreon reading series, Robbie reads an essay titled "The Place, The Region, The Commons" by the poet, author, an…

In this episode, part 1 of a 2-part miniseries on US labor and imperialism, Jeff Schuhrke joins us for a conversation on how US labor aided and at times even led the US's global fight against communism throughout much of the 20th century. Jeff Schuhrke is a labor historian, journalist, union activist, and assistant professor at the Harry Van Arsdale Jr School of Labor Studies, SUNY Empire State University. He's the author of Blue-Collar Empire: The Untold Story of US Labor's Global Anticommunist Crusade, and No Neutrals There: US Labor, Zionism, and the Struggle for Palestine. In this conversation we take a deep dive into Jeff's book Blue-Collar Empire, exploring US labor's role in fighting global communism during the 20th century. The conversation opens with a history of the early US labor movement, anchored by the AFL, the CIO, and the IWW which all presented different approaches and ideological orientations towards labor and capital. We then look at how labor was systematically deradicalized over the…

This is a free preview of the episode "Mexico Ep. 2: Morena and The Fourth Transformation w/ Stephanie Weatherbee Brito." 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 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 Episode 2 of this series, we're joined by Stephanie Weatherbee Brito to discuss the rise of Morena and Mexico's Fourth Transformation. Stephanie Weatherbee is a popular educator and coordinator for the secretariat of the International Peoples' Assembly. Stephanie is also an occasional researcher with Tricontinental, where she recently co-authored…