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This is a free preview of the episode "The 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 LibraryRelated 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-StellyUpstream 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.
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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. GhodseeRelated episodes:
Post Capitalist Parenting Pt. 1: Parenting Under Capitalism w/ Toi Smith 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 LadhaIntermission 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.
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Fehlende Folgen?
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This is a free preview of the episode "The Imperial Boomerang w/ Julian Go." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast
As a Patreon subscriber you will have access to bi-weekly 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 imperial boomerang, colonial feedback, fascism returning home. These are all phrases that convey the same basic idea—that the mechanisms of repression that originate in the colonies will, inevitably, return back home to the core where they will be utilized against not only marginalized populations here, but against the entire population as a whole. The boomerang exists in many different forms, but the form that we’ll be focusing on today is the form of police militarization. And we’ve brought on a terrific guest to walk us through how it all works.
Julian Go is Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago and author of the book Policing Empires: Militarization, Race, and the Imperial Boomerang in Britain and the US, published by Oxford University Press.
In this conversation, we explore the history of civil police forces starting with the Metropolitan Police Force of London back in the early 19th century. We explore the colonial roots of this historic force and how its architects were inspired by military tactics, tools, and technologies from England’s colonies in Ireland and elsewhere. We explore how racialized subjects were criminalized at home and treated as colonized subjects were abroad, how different waves of police militarization in the US mirrored various colonial wars and occupations through the past few centuries, and how the most recent wave of militarization is just one flow of a continuously rising tide of colonial repression boomeranging back home, the only differences being the subjects targeted and the specific tactics and tools utilized to shut down dissent and criminalize a racialized subproletariat that capitalism both relies on and simultaneously disdains.
Further resources:
Policing Empires: Militarization, Race, and the Imperial Boomerang in Britain and the US, by Julian Go Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe #CareNotCopsRelated episodes:
Abolish the Police (Documentary) The End of Policing with Alex Vitale Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism w/ Breht O'Shea and Alyson Escalante Our ongoing series on Palestine Black Scare / Red Scare with Charisse Burden-Stelly Stop Cop City with Keyanna Jones and Matthew JohnsonArtwork: 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.
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Chris Smalls had no idea the direction his life would take when he was discharged in 2020 for organizing a walk out in protest against Amazon’s safety protocols during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. He had no idea he was about to embark on one of the most challenging David and Goliath unionization efforts of our century.
In this episode, we speak with Chris Smalls, the founder and a former president of the Amazon Labor Union, or ALU, as well as Mars Verrone, a filmmaker, musician, and educator from Los Angeles who recently produced the documentary film, Union, following Chris and the other organizers in their fight for better working conditions at Amazon. We hear the origin story of the Amazon Labor Union, learn about the internal and external challenges faced by Amazon labor organizers, and explore a broader view of the union movement and its crucial role in advocating for systemic change. Chris and Mars also talk about the importance of unions in today’s political landscape—especially under the Trump Administration—and the significance of this year's May Day and its resonance for workers around the world fighting for justice, dignity, and a post-capitalist future.
This episode was sponsored by EcoGather, an experimental educational project focused on heterodox economics, collective action, and belonging in an enlivened world. As EcoGather's active phase comes to a close its self-paced online courses are being made freely available at www.ecogather.ing and its vibrant community is reconvening in a new organization called otherWise. Find out more at www.otherwise.one.
Further Resources
Union: A Documentary Film Request a Screening Follow Union on social media @unionthefilm Amazon Labor Union Donate to Amazon Labor Union Congress of Essential Workers DegrowNYC Film Workers for PalestineRelated Episodes:
International Workers' Day w/ John from Working Class History Technofeudalism w/ Yanis Varoufakis Prefigurative Politics and Workplace Democracy w/ Saio Gradin and Nicole Wires Our ongoing From the Frontline series International Workers' Day w/ John from Working Class HistoryIntermission music: "You Are Not a Number" Original score for Union by Robert Aiki and Aubrey Lowe
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.
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This is a free preview of the episode " China Pt. 5: A Socialist Approach to Ecological Development w/ Tings Chak". You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast
As a Patreon subscriber you will have access to bi-weekly 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.
One of the primary challenges facing Global South countries in the 21st century is the question of sustainable and just development—how do you raise living standards and eliminate poverty, what some refer to as the process of industrialization, without going down the same ecologically destructive and often deadly path that Western capitalist countries went down—the path of slavery, genocide, colonization, and now, a form of neocolonialism that is essentially colonialism in all but name. How can you compete in a global capitalist economy against countries that have no qualms about ethnically cleansing an entire people just so that they can build a “riviera of the Middle East”?
Well, this is a massive question that cannot be answered in a single episode, but we can begin to chip away at it and uncover some lessons and explore some evidence-based analyses that can help us to at least understand the alternative approaches that at least some Global South countries are experimenting with—because, despite what the monsters in power want us to think—there are alternatives to capitalism.
In this conversation, we’ve brought on Tings Chak to talk about China’s attempts to balance ecological and human development through the lens of a specific environmental project. Tings Chak is the Art Director and Asia Coordinator at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and Editor of Wenhua Zongheng. She is the co-author of the recent piece “Reviving Erhai Lake: A Socialist Approach to Balancing Human and Ecological Development” published in Tricontinental.
In this conversation, we talk about Erhai Lake—which is the site of a restoration and cleanup project that China has been working on for quite some time now. A decade ago, Erhai Lake was a microcosm of how China’s rapid economic development led to ecological devastation. Today, it’s an example of quite the opposite—how China aims to move towards its own stated goal of creating an ecological civilization that represents a harmonious balance between ecological and human development.
How and why did the Communist Party of China initiate a massive poverty reduction and ecological restoration project across the country, and how does Erhai Lake fit into it? What can be learned from this project by other Global South countries looking for alternatives to the capitalist model of development? And why should we be exploring these questions in the first place? This is just some of what we cover in this conversation between Robert and Tings Chak.
Artwork: Tricontinental
Further resources:
Reviving Erhai Lake: A Socialist Approach to Balancing Human and Ecological Development, by Xiong Jie and Tings Chak Wenhua Zongheng China and CoronaShock Serve the People: The Eradication of Extreme Poverty in China Chinese-Style Modernization: Revolution and the Worker-Peasant Alliance, by Lu Xinyu Without Culture, Freedom Is Impossible: The Thirty-Eighth Newsletter (2022) Culture as a Weapon of Struggle: The Medu Art Ensemble and Southern African LiberationRelated episodes:
(Chinese) Socialism vs (U.S.) Capitalism Listen to our ongoing series on ChinaUpstream 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. -
“What is the price of an assassin’s bullet? Some dollars here and there. The cost of the bullet. The cost of a taxi ride, a hotel, an airplane, the money paid to hire the assassin, his silence purchased through a payment into a Swiss bank, the cost to him psychologically for having taken the life of one, two, three, or four. But the biggest price is not paid by the intelligence services. The biggest price is paid by the people. For in these assassinations, these murders, this violence of intimidation, it is the people who lose their leaders in their localities. Each bullet fired struck down a Revolution and gave birth to our present barbarity. This is a book about bullets.”
These are the words of Vijay Prashad in the opening paragraphs of his book, Washington Bullets: The History of the CIA, Coups, and Assassinations—a fascinating and meticulously researched and gut-wrenchingly evocative book which takes readers on a tour of the US empire’s wide-ranging project of global dominance.
Vijay Prashad is a journalist, political commentator, and Executive Director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He’s the author of many books including Red Star Over the Third World, The Darker Nations, and the book that we’ll be discussing today, Washington Bullets.
This conversation explores many of the concepts outlined in the Washington Bullets, from the CIA’s manual for regime change to how economic shock and military coups were utilized to achieve said regime changes in countries like Chile. But more than just a chapter by chapter overview, today’s conversation with Vijay takes many side-alleys and side-paths that range from the importance of art and emotion in politics, why we need to rethink the idea of conspiracy theories, why cancel culture is a dead end, and why the left needs to reexamine its use of language and propaganda in the face of a US cultural apparatus that won the PR campaign against socialism decades ago.
Further Resources
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research Washington Bullets, by Vijay PrashadRelated Episodes:
China Pt. 3: Bourgeois Democracy vs Socialist Democracy w/ Vijay Prashad The Fight for The Congo w/ Vijay PrashadIntermission music: "Stolen Empires" by Andrew Glencross
Artwork: Tings Chak
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.
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This is a free preview of the episode "How Fascism Works." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast
As a Patreon subscriber you will have access to bi-weekly 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 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 racialized and criminalized "others" in order to combat the fearmongering and scapegoating that fascism relies on in order to grow in strength.
Further resources:
Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism, by Michael ParentiRelated episodes:
From the Frontlines: State Repression and Anti-Imperialist Organizing w/ Calla Walsh Capitalism, The State, and How We Got Here with Christian ParentiUpstream 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. -
The moniker The Merrimack Four might be something you’re already familiar with—perhaps you saw the headlines in the late fall of 2023 about a handful of direct actionists being arrested on the rooftop of a facility owned by a major weapons manufacturer in New Hampshire. Maybe you heard about the multiple felony charges that were being pressed against these actionists, the concern about RICO charges…or maybe you haven’t heard about any of this at all. Regardless of how familiar you are with the Merrimack Four, you’d be hard-pressed not to be gripped by the story you’re about to hear recounting the events of November, 2023 from someone who was actually on that rooftop facing down US empire.
Calla Walsh is an anti-imperialist organizer and activist who was part of the Merrimack Four—a group of activists who faced severe state repression in response to an action organized by Palestine Action US against an Elbit Systems facility in Merrimack, New Hampshire—Elbit is one of the major arms suppliers to the IDF—or more accurately IOF—in Israel.
In this conversation, Calla tells us about the momentous event which changed her life forever. She talks about Palestine Action—an organization who you might be familiar with if you’ve been listening to our series on Palestine—and walks us through the action in New Hampshire, her arrest along with her fellow actionists, and the long and winding journey through the legal system which landed her in jail. We talk about state repression more broadly, looking at what is taking place right now under the Trump administration with abductions and deportations, talk about some cases that haven’t made it into the mainstream coverage, and end with a discussion about why Palestine is the tip of the spear when it comes to the fight against US imperialism.
Further Resources
Calla Walsh The case against the Merrimack Three is an attack on the Palestine movement as a whole, Mondoweiss Palestine Action Support Women in Valley Street Jail (GoFundMe) Struggling single mama looking for help (GoFundMe) Capitailsm Plus Dope Equals Genocide Perfect Victims And the Politics of Appeal, Mohammed El-Kurd Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network #FreeCaseyNow: On Casey Goonan and the Abandonment of Political Prisoners in the Pro-Palestine MovementRelated Episodes:
Palestine Pt. 7: Direct Action w/ Max Geller of Palestine Action Palestine Pt. 11: Israel and the U.S. Empire w/ Max Ajl Palestine Pt. 12: Resistance in the West w/ Max Geller and Sanyika Stop Cop City with Keyanna Jones and Matthew Johnson Listen to our 14-part series on Palestine Listen to our ongoing From the Frontline seriesIntermission music: "Erase" by Scary Hours
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.
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This is a free preview of the episode "China Pt. 4: Unlearning Anti-China Propaganda w/ Li Jingjing". 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.
Living in a world dominated by the United States leaves us all with a lifetime of propaganda to unlearn. No matter what corner of the globe we’re in, we’re not immune to Western hegemony and the hard and soft power deployed to brainwash our minds, exploit our bodies, and destroy our cultures. But there are, despite the power of capitalist PR and commodity fetishism—alternative pathways. There are ways to unlearn the propaganda. And in today’s episode, we’re going to attempt to do just that: break at least some of the chains of imperialist propaganda when it comes to China.
Li Jingjing is a multimedia reporter at China Global Television Network, or CGTN, based in Beijing, China. And despite the scare-tactics of Mark Zuckerberg and our other tech overlords labeling her Instagram account as “China state-controlled media”—which is a real pot calling the kettle black moment as the oligarchs in the White House text their plans to bomb hospitals in Yemen to high-profile journalists—despite these red-scare labels applied to Li only meant to fearmonger and propagandize, Li’s social media is a breath of fresh air when it comes to unlearning Western propaganda on China.
In this conversation, Part 4 of our China series here on Patreon, we bring some Li’s shorter videos dispelling propaganda to you in a more longform way, starting with a conversation about her recent coverage of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which we introduced in Part 2 of this series with Ken Hammond. Li explains to us how the political system in China works and what some of the policy outcomes of these conferences were before embarking on a fascinating conversation that weaves together personal anecdotes and stories with data and statistics to dismantle many of the myths we believe about China and which reveal a picture of a society that our warmongering policymakers and their lapdogs in the media don’t want you to know about.
Artwork: Chinese Communist Party propaganda poster commemorating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the party.
Further resources:
CGTN Li Jingjing on Twitter, Instagram and Tiktok Studies show strong public support for China’s political system, Jason Hickel Ne Zha 2 (film)Related episodes:
(Chinese) Socialism vs (U.S.) Capitalism Listen to our ongoing series on ChinaUpstream 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. -
Capitalism is a social phenomenon—yes, it is deeply grounded in concrete, material reality—but it’s a reality that ultimately relies on a series of tricks and spells, awash in deceit and veiled in subterfuge.
What is capitalism, exactly? How does it function? Why are we seemingly trapped inside of it? And, perhaps most importantly, how can we break free? Well, in this episode we’re taking a very deep dive into the crowning achievement of a man who spent his entire adult life seeking answers to these questions. Karl Marx wrote Capital Vol. 1 over ten years, spending countless hours researching and redrafting this crucial text until it was finally published in 1867. It incorporates vast amounts of historical data, concrete examples, and brilliant theorizing and is ultimately one of the most important books to ever be written. In it, Marx explains how capitalism functions. And in this episode, we’ve brought on a scholar and expert on Marx to walk us through it.
David Smith is Professor of Sociology at the University of Kansas and author of the book Marx’s Capital Illustrated. In this conversation, we explore Capital Vol. 1 through the lens of David’s accessible guide, illustrated by Phil Evans. We explore and unpack concepts like the commodity, use and exchange value, and abstract and concrete labor. We talk about what money is, what capital is, and unpack the famous concept of commodity fetishism and the role it plays as the guiding spirit of capital accumulation. We talk about how capital accumulates while taking a journey into the history of expropriation and the creation of the propertyless proletariat during the enclosures in Britain and in other parts of the world. We talk about how profit is generated by capitalists through our surplus labor, what the rate of profit is and why it has a tendency to fall, and finally, why Capital Vol. 1 remains an essential text for understanding the world around us.
Further Resources
Marx's Capital Illustrated, by David Smith (Illustrated by Phil Evans) Capital: A Critique of Political Economy Vol. 1, Karl Marx Why Socialism? by Albert Einstein How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Walter Rodney Planet of Slums, Mike Davis Roots of the Current Economic Crisis: The Falling-Rate-of-Profit Tendency, Insufficient Destruction of Capital, and Bubbles, Andrew KlimanRelated Episodes:
Historical Materialism w/ Torkil Lauesen Dialectical Materialism w/ Josh Sykes Marxism for the Masses w/ Savannah from All Power Books The Myth of Freedom Under Capitalism (Documentary) Walter Rodney, Marxism, and Underdevelopment with D. Musa Springer & Charisse Burden-StellyIntermission music: "November Rain" by Mount Eerie
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.
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The world that we all grew up in is no longer a reality—although, in many ways, those in power are grasping onto it with the desperation of drowning men flailing, lashing out—furious, terrified, and in denial of what is staring them in their faces: imminent death. The rest of us are watching this process unfold before our very eyes—also terrified, but seemingly powerless. It’s a weird time to be alive. But when has it ever not been?
As we watch, experience, and feel the collapse of the state that we live within—or for those of us not currently living in the belly of the beast, the imperial world that this state rules over—it feels like an important time to explore this collapse. Specifically, it’s an important time to understand what’s happening in the imperial world order, and in order to do that, we must understand China.
In this conversation, we’ve brought on a regular guest—a guest who you all know and love—Jason Hickel, to talk about China.
Jason Hickel is a professor at the The Institute for Environmental Science and Technology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the author of the books The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and its Solutions and Less is More: How Degrowth will Save the World.
In this conversion we first take a brief dive into modern Chinese history, looking at the pre-revolution period, the 1949 communist revolution itself, the Mao period, the Deng period, and the Xi period. We analyze what the rise of China means in terms of the current world order and the implications for the United States. We tackle some common questions and dispel some common myths about China—like, is China capitalist? Is it imperialist? We analyze some current events like trade wars and Tiktok bans, and finally, we explain why it’s crucial not to fall into the trap of U.S. propaganda when it comes to how we on the Western left analyze China.
Artwork: Berwyn Mure
Further resources:
The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and Its Solutions, Jason Hickel Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save The World, Jason Hickel "Unequal exchange of labour in the world economy," (Nature Communications) Hickel, Lamos, Barbour "Imperialist appropriation in the world economy: Drain from the global South through unequal exchange, 1990–2015," (Global Environmental Change) Hickel, Dorninger, Wieland, Suwandi "Plunder in the Post-Colonial Era: Quantifying Drain from the Global South Through Unequal Exchange, 1960–2018," (New Political Economy) Hickel, Sullivan, Zoomkawala "Quantifying national responsibility for climate breakdown: an equality-based attribution approach for carbon dioxide emissions in excess of the planetary boundary," Jason Hickel (The Lancet) Capital and Imperialism: Theory, History, and the Present, Utsa Patnaik and Prabhat Patnaik Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalism’s Final Crisis Paperback, John Smith "Capitalist reforms and extreme poverty in China: unprecedented progress or income deflation?" Dylan Sullivan, Michail Moatsos & Jason HickelRelated episodes:
(Chinese) Socialism vs (U.S.) Capitalism Better Lives for All w/ Jason Hickel How the North Plunders the South w/ Jason Hickel The Divide – Global Inequality from Conquest to Free Markets with Jason Hickel International Development and Post-capitalism with Jason Hickel How Degrowth Will Save the World with Jason Hickel The Green Transition Pt.1 – The Problem with Green Capitalism Listen to our ongoing series on ChinaUpstream 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. 3: Bourgeois Democracy vs Socialist Democracy 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.
It’s a difficult task to compare bourgeois democracies to socialist democracies—and not just because it’s difficult to be living in the belly of the beast as it enters into its death spiral all while watching social and technological advancements take place in what we’re told are “authoritarian” communist “regimes”—but because in many ways the democratic experiments of the Atlantic world originated in an entirely different context as the socialist democratic experiments in places like China—and they have almost entirely different aims. What are those aims? And how are they—and are they not—being advanced?
To explain the differences to us, we’ve brought back onto the show Vijay Prashad. Vijay is a journalist, political commentator, and executive-director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He’s the author of many books, including Washington Bullets: The History of the CIA, Coups, and Assassinations, and Red Star Over the Third World.
In this conversation, Part. 3 of our China series here on Patreon, we explore the differences between bourgeois and socialist democracies more broadly before taking a deep dive into specific examples comparing China and the United States. We dispel a number of myths about Chinese society, ask Vijay to share his perspective on what is taking place with the Uyghers, the role of Western propaganda in destabilizing communism, and much more.
Artwork:
Further resources:
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research Democracy Perception Index Washington Bullets: A History of the CIA, Coups, and Assassinations, by Vijay Prashad Reviving Erhai Lake: A Socialist Approach to Balancing Human and Ecological Development, TricontinentalRelated episodes:
Listen to our ongoing series on China The Fight for The Congo w/ Vijay PrashadUpstream 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. -
Marxism is not some esoteric philosophy meant to be analyzed and discussed in the ivory towers of the academy—not that appreciating Marxism from an intellectual perspective is wrong, or anything—we do that quite a bit—but at its essence, Marxism is a weapon. It’s a tool for change—revolutionary change. It helps us understand the world around us not just for the sake of knowledge—but so that we can act accordingly.
This is the focus of our episode today—and the focus of our guest, who came to Marxism through real life struggle and teaches it to others with the very same spirit. Savannah is a co-founder of All Power Books—a radical bookstore and community space in Los Angeles. She developed and teaches Marxism 101 and 102 classes as part of All Power’s People’s Education Program.
In this conversation, we take a deep dive into these classes which aim to bring the social science of Marxism up to speed for our time and context. These classes are taught at an 8th grade level to be universally applicable and easy to understand—but they are crucial not just for newcomers to Marxism but for those of us hoping to improve in our communication and dissemination skills when it comes to radical theory and practice. In an incredibly effective and accessible way, Savannah teaches us about the differences between Private and Personal property, what the ‘Means of Production’ are, who owns them, how to easily grasp Dialectical and Historical Materialism, and more—all while dispelling some of the most prevalent myths about Marxism along the way.
Further Resources
All Power Books Savannah on Instagram Socialist Reconstruction: A Better Future for the United States, by PSL What Is To Be Done? by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Marx's Capital Illustrated, by David Smith (Illustrated by Phil Evans)Related Episodes:
Breaking the Chains of Empire w/ Abby Martin (Live Show) [UNLOCKED] From the Frontlines: Revolutionary Disaster Response in Los Angeles w/ Gage and Sean of All Power Books Walter Rodney, Marxism, and Underdevelopment with D. Musa Springer & Charisse Burden-Stelly Palestine Pt. 14: Decolonial Marxism w/ Patrick Higgins Historical Materialism w/ Torkil Lauesen Dialectical Materialism w/ Josh Sykes The Myth of Freedom Under Capitalism (Documentary) (Chinese) Socialism vs (U.S.) Capitalism What Is To Be Done? with Breht O'Shea and Alyson Escalante The Logical Case for Socialism (and Against Capitalism) w/ Scott SehonIntermission music: "Keep Planting Flowers” by Stick to Your Guns
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.
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This is a free preview of the episode "China Pt. 2: Socialist Democracy and Democratic Centralism 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 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.
“China is an authoritarian dystopia.” That’s probably the totality of your understanding when it comes to Chinese society and the political system it’s governed by if all you know about China is what you hear on MSNBC or Fox News. But is that really accurate? Is China a dystopian, authoritarian police state? Or is that just propaganda force fed to the mass of Americans because it serves the interests of Western capital? Well—the answer is an obvious and emphatic “no.” China is not authoritarian—in fact, the opposite is true. Their system of democracy is arguably and demonstrably much, much deeper and more effective than ours here in our bourgeois society. Don’t believe us? Well, we’ve brought on an expert on China to help explain why.
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 most recently, China and the World.
In this conversion we dispel the myth that China is not a democratically run society. We take a deep dive into the mechanisms of democracy in China, exploring how democratic centralism and the mass line shape how the Communist Party of China and Chinese society practice and participate in democracy. We look at the history of Chinese democracy, get into the nuts and bolts of how democratic decision making and policy proposals take place, and end with an analysis of current geopolitical events when viewed within a historical materialist context.
This episode is Part 2 of our Patreon series on China. Part 1, A Socialist Introduction with Jason Hickel, was published two weeks ago. Part 3, if all goes as planned, will feature Vijay Prashad and will build on today’s conversation to really focus in on the differences between bourgeois democracy and socialist democracy—so stay tuned, we’ve got a lot of material on China planned for the coming months.
Artwork: The cover art for today’s episode is from 1804’s publication of Ken’s 2003 book, China’s Revolution and the Quest for a Socialist Future, designed by Hannah Craig.
Further resources:
China's Revolution and the Quest for a Socialist Future, by Ken Hammond China and the World, by Ken Hammond Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) Pivot to PeaceRelated episodes:
China Pt. 1: A Socialist Introduction w/ Jason Hickel (Chinese) Socialism vs (U.S.) Capitalism Climate Leninism w/ Jodi Dean and Kai Heron [UNLOCKED] Voting for Socialism w/ Claudia De La Cruz & Karina Garcia Listen to our ongoing series on ChinaUpstream 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. -
Capitalism has placed us under many spells that influence and limit what we believe to be normal and natural. Parenting is one intimate site where capitalism’s spell is particularly impactful. Often leaving parents and children to feel especially isolated, alone, and precarious—perfect for keeping working people separated and oppressed and for grooming children into docile workers under capitalism.
To kick off our new series on Post Capitalist Parenting, we’ve invited on Toi Smith, mother of four and a Growth and Impact Strategist. Toi’s work centers on doing life, business, and motherhood differently and collaborating with people who are countercultural, liberatory, and revolutionary. In this conversation, we start to reveal and unlearn what Capitalism has told us about what parenting should look like and what it is for. We deconstruct motherhood under capitalism and explore post capitalist parenting strategies, tools, and resources. And we look at how viewing parenting as a political act can help to empower, connect, and liberate both families and communities.
This episode was produced in collaboration with EcoGather, a collapse-responsive co-learning network that hosts free online Weekly EcoGatherings that foster conversation and build community around heterodox economics, collective action, and belonging in an enlivened world. In this collaboration, EcoGather will be hosting gatherings to bring some Upstream episodes to life—this is one of those episodes. We hope you can join the gathering on March 8, 2025 at 12pm - 1:30pm EST to discuss the topics covered in this episode. Find out more here.
Further Resources
Toi Smith Loving Black Single Mothers Deconstructing Motherhood The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History By David F. Walker, Illustrated by Marcus Kwame Anderson An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People By Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Adapted by Jean Mendoza and Debbie Reese Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World By Anand Giridharadas Ejaculate Responsibly: A Whole New Way to Think About Abortion, By Gabrielle Stanley Blair Cannibal Capitalism: How our System is Devouring Democracy, Care, and the Planet – and What We Can Do About It by Nancy Fraser Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto by Cinzia Arruzza, Tithi Bhattacharya and Nancy Fraser Black Scare / Red Scare: Theorizing Capitalist Racism in the United States by Charisse Burden-Stelly A People's Guide to Capitalism: An Introduction to Marxist Economics, By Hadas Thier Social Reproduction Theory: Remapping Class, Recentering Oppression, Edited by Tithi Bhattacharya Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines, Edited by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, China Martens, and Mai’a WilliamsRelated Episodes:
Black Scare / Red Scare with Charisse Burden-Stelly A People's Guide to Capitalism with Hadas Thier Feminism for the 99 Percent (Documentary)Cover art: Carolyn Raider
Intermission music: "Left Fist Evolution" by Bianca MikahnUpstream 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. 1: A Socialist Introduction w/ Jason Hickel." 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 world that we all grew up in is no longer a reality—although, in many ways, those in power are grasping onto it with the desperation of drowning men flailing, lashing out—furious, terrified, and in denial of what is staring them in their faces: imminent death. The rest of us are watching this process unfold before our very eyes—also terrified, but seemingly powerless. It’s a weird time to be alive. But when has it ever not been?
As we watch, experience, and feel the collapse of the state that we live within—or for those of us not currently living in the belly of the beast, the imperial world that this state rules over—it feels like an important time to explore this collapse. Specifically, it’s an important time to understand what’s happening in the imperial world order, and in order to do that, we must understand China.
In this conversation, we’ve brought on a regular guest—a guest who you all know and love—Jason Hickel, to talk about China.
Jason Hickel is a professor at the The Institute for Environmental Science and Technology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the author of the books The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and its Solutions and Less is More: How Degrowth will Save the World.
In this conversion we first take a brief dive into modern Chinese history, looking at the pre-revolution period, the 1949 communist revolution itself, the Mao period, the Deng period, and the Xi period. We analyze what the rise of China means in terms of the current world order and the implications for the United States. We tackle some common questions and dispel some common myths about China—like, is China capitalist? Is it imperialist? We analyze some current events like trade wars and Tiktok bans, and finally, we explain why it’s crucial not to fall into the trap of U.S. propaganda when it comes to how we on the Western left analyze China.
Artwork: Berwyn Mure
Further resources:
The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and Its Solutions, Jason Hickel Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save The World, Jason Hickel "Unequal exchange of labour in the world economy," (Nature Communications) Hickel, Lamos, Barbour "Imperialist appropriation in the world economy: Drain from the global South through unequal exchange, 1990–2015," (Global Environmental Change) Hickel, Dorninger, Wieland, Suwandi "Plunder in the Post-Colonial Era: Quantifying Drain from the Global South Through Unequal Exchange, 1960–2018," (New Political Economy) Hickel, Sullivan, Zoomkawala "Quantifying national responsibility for climate breakdown: an equality-based attribution approach for carbon dioxide emissions in excess of the planetary boundary," Jason Hickel (The Lancet) Capital and Imperialism: Theory, History, and the Present, Utsa Patnaik and Prabhat Patnaik Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalism’s Final Crisis Paperback, John Smith "Capitalist reforms and extreme poverty in China: unprecedented progress or income deflation?" Dylan Sullivan, Michail Moatsos & Jason HickelRelated episodes:
(Chinese) Socialism vs (U.S.) Capitalism Better Lives for All w/ Jason Hickel How the North Plunders the South w/ Jason Hickel The Divide – Global Inequality from Conquest to Free Markets with Jason Hickel International Development and Post-capitalism with Jason Hickel How Degrowth Will Save the World with Jason Hickel The Green Transition Pt.1 – The Problem with Green Capitalism Listen to our ongoing series on ChinaUpstream 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. -
If you know anything about the way the world works—and even more so if you’re someone who’s an expert in economics, political economy, etc.—then you’ll know that the narratives and rhetoric coming out of the White House on a whole variety of topics is, well, with the kindest interpretation, confused. Some harsher critics might say these narratives do a violence to reality. And it’s no different with the current discussion around tariffs: it’s all bluster, bloviation, and, ultimately, theater.
What are tariffs, how are they being deployed and weaponized, and why? If these are questions you’ve considered over the past few weeks, you’re in the right place and today’s guest will walk you through all of the answers you wish you didn’t have to ask about what’s happening with the trade wars being concocted by the US against China, Mexico, and Canada.
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 podcast, and founder of Democracy at Work.
In this episode, we explore what tariffs are, how they work, and how and why the Trump administration is weaponizing them against China, Mexico, and Canada. We explore the impending decline of the U.S. as the leading global imperial power, why politicians in this country are in denial about the trajectory of the country’s economy, and much more.
Further Resources
Democracy at WorkRelated Episodes:
The Recession isn't Over, but is Capitalism? with Richard Wolff The Sickness is the System with Richard Wolff Inflation with Richard Wolff & Dean BakerIntermission music: "The System Works for Them” by Aus Rotten
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.
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This is a free preview of the episode "(Chinese) Socialism vs (U.S.) Capitalism." 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 in our reading series, Robbie reads a piece written by Indrajit Samarajiva titled "How Communism Is Outcompeting Capitalism." Why is the entire techno-capitalist class, along with their loyal handmaidens in the media, freaking out about DeepSeek—a Chinese AI company's an open-source large language model? Why are electric vehicles (EVs) so much cheaper, efficient, and better in China? Why is the United States ramping up anti-China hysteria in this country? And why are living standards and life expectancy in China overtaking those in the United States?
The answer is simple: socialism is better than capitalism. On every single front. And in this reading series, Robbie reads and reflects on Indrajit Samarajiva's piece as it provides a brief history of the rise of communism in China, the period of Deng Xiaoping's market reforms, and the superiority of socialist economies over capitalist ones.
Further resources:
How Communism Is Outcompeting Capitalism "Capitalist reforms and extreme poverty in China: unprecedented progress or income deflation?" Sullivan, Moatsos, Hickel in New Political Economy: Volume 29, 2024 - Issue 1 The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)Related episodes:
Historical Materialism w/ Torkil Lauesen Towards Socialism and the End of Capitalism: An Introduction Towards Socialism and the End of Capitalism: An Introduction [UNLOCKED] How the North Plunders the South w/ Jason Hickel Socialism Betrayed w/ Roger Keeran and Joe Jamison The Logical Case for Socialism (and Against Capitalism) w/ Scott Sehon The Green Transition Part 1: The Problem with Green Capitalism The Green Transition Part 2: A Green Deal for the PeopleUpstream 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. -
Class is the thread that ties different systems of oppression together—whether it’s patriarchy, national oppression, racist oppression, reproductive injustice, anti-trans oppression. Although these forms of oppression impact individuals, they operate on systemic levels. These forms of oppression cannot be understood as single, isolated, or parallel struggles—they are all manifestations of class society and can only be abolished with the end of class society. Class is what ties it all together.
When we understand this, we can begin to appreciate the importance of class-based organizing. We begin to understand why it’s crucial to identify class positions, class interests, and class politics when we talk about organizing workers, organizing tenants, or organizing around any issue within capitalism.
This is what we’ll be focusing on in today’s episode in this second installment of our “From the Frontlines” series—where, far from simply analyzing these ideas from an armchair, we’ll be talking about them with someone who has spent many years organizing and building worker power—particularly in the Southeast of the United States.
Cecilia Guerrero is a 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 conversation we explore what it’s like organizing a wide variety of working class people in Nashville, Tennessee—from Uber and Lyft drivers to construction workers—most of whom are refugees and immigrants. We talk about the importance of injecting militancy and radical politics into labor organizing, of the failures of liberalism and the Democratic party, how A Luta Sigue identifies revolutionary classes and individuals and helps to incubate them and coordinate campaigns, organizing under Trump, the need for a communist party in the United States, and much, much more.
Further Resources
A Luta Sigue Poder Popular Tennessee Drivers Union Southern Youth Solidarity Network Marxist-Leninist Perspectives on Black Liberation and Socialism, Frank Chapman "The Tyranny of Structurelessness," Jo Freeman The Communist Necessity, J. Moufawad-Paul The Long Transition Towards Socialism and the End of Capitalism, Torkil LauesenRelated Episodes:
What is to Be Done? with Breht O’Shea and Alyson Escalante The Sharing Economy? (Documentary) The Missing Revolution w/ Vincent Bevins Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism w/ Breht O'Shea and Alyson Escalante Historical Materialism w/ Torkil Lauesen Towards Socialism and the End of Capitalism: An Introduction Listen to our ongoing From the Frontline seriesIntermission music: "Payday at Coal Creek” by Odetta & Larry
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.
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One thing that has become quite clear in recent decades is that the best form of disaster preparedness is …community. Being plugged into an organized community can make all the difference when disasters hit. This is just as true for the slow violence perpetrated against all of us under capitalism as it is for responding to emergencies like hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, or wildfires.
In today’s episode, we’re going to be talking about organizing in our communities—specifically focusing on some of the organizing taking place in response to the LA wildfires—but also zooming out much more broadly to talk about organizing in general. It’s the inaugural episode of our organizing series here on Patreon, taking deep dives into a wide variety of different organizing spaces and issues, from immigration to labor to issues around abortion access and trans rights and much more.
Although we focus most of our political education work on upstream root causes—taking deep dives into many radical ideas and revolutionary theories—it’s crucial to also focus on the practice itself, the on-the-ground work taking place on the frontlines, so that we can, as Frank Chapman has so eloquently put it, also practice our way into correct thinking. And, of course, as Fred Hampton famously put it: "Theory's cool, but theory with no practice ain't shit. You got to have both of them—the two go together."
In this inaugural episode, we’ve invited on two friends and comrades from the incredible All Power Books in Los Angeles to talk about their involvement in the grassroots, community response to the fires whose impacts are still being felt—and will be for years—on the broader Los Angeles population.
Gage is a co-founder of All Power Books as well as an artist whose work is featured prominently at All Power. Sean is a co-founder and leader of the All Power Free Clinic. All Power Books is a radical bookstore and community space in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles. They co-hosted our very first live episode last year with Abby Martin.
In this conversation we talk about Gage and Sean’s experiences during the first hours of the fires which erupted on January 7th. We talk about the emergence of mutual aid and survival programs which focus specifically on disaster response, the challenges and lessons that emerge from this kind of work, the role that disaster plays in capitalism, how to build class consciousness and infuse on-the-ground survival work with political education, the failure of the official response, All Power’s free clinic, and much more.
Outro music by Stick to Your Guns
Further resources:
All Power Books Support All Power Books AP Free Clinic Socialist Rifle Association Chinatown Community for Equitable Defense (CCED) Palms Unhoused Mutual Aid (PUMA) Aetna Street Solidarity Ktown For All Southbay Mutual Aid Care Club People's Struggle San Fernando Valley A Paradise Built in Hell, Rebecca Solnit Mutual Aid LA Midnight Books Mask Bloc LARelated episodes:
Capitalism, The State, and How We Got Here with Christian Parenti Breaking the Chains of Empire w/ Abby Martin (Live Show) Listen to our ongoing From the Frontline seriesUpstream 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
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