Shows
Return to BandungImperialism and Resistance in Mexico with Alex AviñaIn this episode, I’m joined by Alexander Aviña, historian of Mexico and associate professor of Latin American history at Arizona State University, to discuss imperialism and anti-imperialist resistance in Mexico. We discuss the long history of revolutionary struggles in Mexico, the imperial origins and present-day violence of the U.S.-Mexico border, and how Mexico’s relationship with the United States has shaped the last century of American imperialism in the Western Hemisphere—as well as how all of this has been affected by recent developments in the last decade of Mexican politics.About the show:
2026-02-181h 23Return to BandungThe Problem with Western Marxism with Gabriel RockhillIn this episode, I’m joined by guest host Ashwin Shantha of the Journal of International Solidarity podcast to interview Gabriel Rockhill, professor of philosophy at Villanova University and author of Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism? (Monthly Review Press, 2025) about how the ‘imperial theory industry’ has served to undermine actually-existing socialist projects and national liberation struggles while maintaining a superficial guise of ‘radical’ politics. We discuss the political economy of knowledge production, the longstanding entanglements between Western academia, the national security state, and the capitalist ruling class, and what it means to understand the cultural and intellectual spheres as...
2026-02-041h 19Return to BandungTrump's Revival of the Monroe Doctrine with Guillaume LongIn this episode, I’m joined by Guillaume Long, former Foreign Minister of Ecuador and current Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, to discuss the ‘Monroe Doctrine’ and its role in shaping the trajectory of U.S. imperialism in Latin America. We discuss the history of this foreign policy doctrine, its evolution over the last two centuries, and why it is so important for understanding the particular shape that American imperial aggression in the Western Hemisphere has taken under the Trump Administration—especially in light of the United States’ illegal invasion of Venezuela and kidnapping...
2026-01-211h 10
The ChatterboxThe Political Economy of Global Shipping with Laleh Khalili Podcast: Return to Bandung (LS 32 · TOP 5% what is this?)Episode: The Political Economy of Global Shipping with Laleh KhaliliPub date: 2025-11-26Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationIn this episode, I’m joined by Laleh Khalili, Professor of Gulf Studies at the University of Exeter and author of Sinews of War and Trade: Shipping and Capitalism in the Arabian Peninsula (Verso, 2020), to discuss the incredibly important but often-overlooked role of international shipping and logistics in the capitalist-imperialist world system. We discuss how the globa...
2025-12-201h 13
UpstreamUS Labor & Imperialism Pt. 1: the War Against Communism w/ Jeff SchuhrkeIn 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. ...
2025-12-161h 52Return to BandungDebating the National and Colonial Questions with Ashwin ShanthaIn this episode, I’m joined once again by Ashwin Shantha, host of the Journal of International Solidarity podcast, to revisit a crucial but often-overlooked episode in international left history—the 1920 debate between Vladimir Lenin and the Indian Communist leader M.N. Roy over the national and colonial question. In this conversation, posted as a collaborative episode with the Journal of International Solidarity, we summarize the contours of this debate, situating it within the historical context of the Second World Congress of the Communist International, before tackling a wide-ranging discussion of what lessons this debate holds for contemporary internationalists as w...
2025-12-101h 20Return to BandungThe Political Economy of Global Shipping with Laleh KhaliliIn this episode, I’m joined by Laleh Khalili, Professor of Gulf Studies at the University of Exeter and author of Sinews of War and Trade: Shipping and Capitalism in the Arabian Peninsula (Verso, 2020), to discuss the incredibly important but often-overlooked role of international shipping and logistics in the capitalist-imperialist world system. We discuss how the global shipping industry relates to everything from transnational labor exploitation to environmental devastation to the genocide in Palestine, as well as the power of organized labor in this crucial industry to bring the capitalist system to a grinding halt. About the sh...
2025-11-261h 13Return to BandungInternal Colonialism in the United States with Sam KlugIn this episode, I’m joined by intellectual historian Sam Klug, author of The Internal Colony: Race and the American Politics of Global Decolonization (University of Chicago Press, 2025), to discuss the idea of ‘internal colonialism’ as it applies to the situation of African Americans and other racialized peoples in the United States. We explore how this concept developed within the Black radical tradition, how it evolved over time, and how it was taken up by an astoundingly diverse array of thinkers and activists across the ideological spectrum, and discuss what this radical way of thinking about the politics of race c...
2025-11-121h 00Return to BandungWorldmaking After Empire with Adom GetachewIn this episode, I’m joined by political theorist Adom Getachew, author of Worldmaking After Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination (Princeton University Press, 2019), to discuss the politics of ‘anticolonial worldmaking’ that swept across the Third World throughout the latter half of the 20th century, when Global South leaders envisioned new ways of radically reshaping the international order into one founded on principles of international justice and sovereign equality. We explore what became of this worldmaking political project, its contemporary legacies and reverberations, and what lessons we can draw from it as we work to build a more equita...
2025-10-291h 03Return to BandungAnti-Imperialist Political Education with Ashwin Shantha (1-Year Anniversary Episode)For this special one-year anniversary episode of Return to Bandung, I’m joined by my comrade Ashwin Shantha to discuss our shared project of anti-imperialist political education. In this conversation, posted as a collaborative episode with Ashwin’s excellent International Solidarity Podcast (itself a part of Ashwin’s larger Journal of International Solidarity project), we explore the importance of political education in our current moment of crisis, the challenges of raising anti-imperialist consciousness in the imperial core, the contradictions and opportunities that from working within Western academia, and much more.About the show:Return to Bandun...
2025-10-151h 23
Socialism ConferenceThis is the Human Race Speaking: Reviving the Bandung Spirit in a Multipolar WorldPranay Somayajula speaks in this session recorded at Socialism 2025.As U.S. empire decays and the world order becomes increasingly multipolar, internationalist solidarity is more important than ever before. In this talk, Pranay Somayajula will discuss the worldmaking legacy of the Third Worldist movement, and argue for the re-centering of genuine anti-imperialism as a core pillar of the Left's radical agenda.The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, September 4-7, 2026. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket...
2025-10-0233 minReturn to BandungDefending Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution with Cira Pascual Marquina and Chris GilbertIn this episode, I’m joined by scholars Cira Pascual Marquina and Chris Gilbert, coauthors of Venezuela, The Present as Struggle: Voices from the Bolivarian Revolution (Monthly Review Press, 2020), to discuss the history and current situation of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution. Situating our discussion in the context of escalating imperialist attacks against Venezuela’s socialist project, this wide-ranging conversation explores the relationship between state power and grassroots organization, the role of communes in Venezuelan socialism, and how the Chavista grassroots has mobilized to defend the Bolivarian Revolution against U.S. sanctions and imperialist aggression. About the show:R...
2025-10-011h 09The ChatterboxReviving the Bandung Spirit (Socialism 2025 Conference Lecture) Podcast: Return to Bandung (LS 32 · TOP 5% what is this?)Episode: Reviving the Bandung Spirit (Socialism 2025 Conference Lecture)Pub date: 2025-09-03Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationThis is the recording of a lecture that I gave in July at the Socialism 2025 conference in Chicago, titled “‘This is the Human Race Speaking…’: Reviving the Bandung Spirit in a Multipolar World.” In the lecture, which I also published as an essay on Substack, I reflect on the 70th anniversary of the Bandung Conference and the legacies of the Third...
2025-09-2052 minReturn to BandungImperialism and Global Inequality with Jason HickelIn this episode, I’m joined by economic anthropologist Jason Hickel, author of The Divide: Global Inequality from Conquest to Free Markets (W.W. Norton, 2018), to discuss the complex and interconnected relationship between imperialism—both past and present—and global economic inequality. We examine why mainstream liberal frameworks for understanding the divide between rich and poor countries inevitably fall short, instead presenting an alternative account of global inequality that centers the crucial role of colonial plunder (as well as unequal exchange in the supposedly ‘postcolonial’ era) in keeping vast swaths of the world trapped in conditions of poverty, underdevelopment, and econom...
2025-09-171h 11
Upstream[TEASER] Alliance of Sahel States Pt. 3: Hyperimperialism and the Fight for Sovereignty w/ Mikaela Nhondo ErskogThis is a free preview of the episode "Alliance of Sahel States Pt. 3: Hyperimperialism w/ Mikaela Nhondo Erskog." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episodes, and other benefits like stickers and bumper stickers—depending on which tier you subscribe to. access to bi-weekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Pa...
2025-09-1631 minReturn to BandungReviving the Bandung Spirit (Socialism 2025 Conference Lecture)This is the recording of a lecture that I gave in July at the Socialism 2025 conference in Chicago, titled “‘This is the Human Race Speaking…’: Reviving the Bandung Spirit in a Multipolar World.” In the lecture, which I also published as an essay on Substack, I reflect on the 70th anniversary of the Bandung Conference and the legacies of the Third Worldist movement, arguing that the global left—particularly in the United States and other Western countries—urgently needs to revive the ‘Bandung Spirit’ of anticolonial internationalism in order to remain relevant in the face of today’s increasingly multipolar global or...
2025-09-0352 minThe ChatterboxDevelopment and Imperialism with Jayati Ghosh Podcast: Return to Bandung (LS 32 · TOP 5% what is this?)Episode: Development and Imperialism with Jayati GhoshPub date: 2025-07-16Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationIn this episode, I’m joined by critical development economist Jayati Ghosh to discuss the complex relationship between imperialism and international development. In this wide-ranging conversation, we explore the problematic assumptions underlying mainstream ideas of ‘development,’ why GDP is a profoundly inadequate measure of a country’s economic well-being, and how the globalization of the international economy has shaped the structu...
2025-08-0259 minReturn to BandungThe Politics of International Solidarity with Pawel WarganIn this episode, I’m joined by Pawel Wargan, Coordinator of the Secretariat of the Progressive International, to discuss the past, present, and future of left internationalism and international solidarity. In this wide-ranging conversation, we unpack what ‘internationalism’ really means, how debates over internationalism have evolved on the left over time, and what a politics of solidarity across borders can and should like amid the present moment of global upheaval.Return to Bandung is hosted by Pranay Somayajula, an Indian-American writer, researcher, and organizer based in Washington, D.C. His work explores themes of diaspora, (inter)nationalism, antico...
2025-07-301h 18
Upstream[TEASER] Third Worldism and the Bandung Spirit w/ Pranay SomayajulaThis is a free preview of the episode "Third Worldism and the Bandung Spirit w/ Pranay Somayajula" You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episodes, and other benefits like stickers and bumper stickers—depending on which tier you subscribe to. access to bi-weekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is...
2025-07-2222 minReturn to BandungDevelopment and Imperialism with Jayati GhoshIn this episode, I’m joined by critical development economist Jayati Ghosh to discuss the complex relationship between imperialism and international development. In this wide-ranging conversation, we explore the problematic assumptions underlying mainstream ideas of ‘development,’ why GDP is a profoundly inadequate measure of a country’s economic well-being, and how the globalization of the international economy has shaped the structural dynamics of imperialism as a world system—as well as some of the ways that the global economy needs to be restructured in order to deliver genuine justice and sovereignty for the Global South. Return to Bandung is...
2025-07-1659 minReturn to BandungOutsourcing Imperialism in Africa with Samar Al-BulushiIn this episode, I’m joined by Samar Al-Bulushi, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at UC Irvine and author of War-Making as World-Making: Kenya, the United States, and the War on Terror (Stanford University Press, 2024), to discuss how the United States outsources the violence of empire to countries in the Global South—particularly in Africa—in the context of the War on Terror. Focusing on Kenya as a case study, we explore the nuances and contradictions of the United States’ so-called ‘security partnerships’ with Global South states, examining what this cooperation looks like in practice and how the governments and populations...
2025-07-021h 10Return to BandungColonizing Kashmir with Hafsa KanjwalIn this episode, I’m joined by Hafsa Kanjwal, Professor of South Asian History at Lafayette College and author of Colonizing Kashmir: State-building Under Indian Occupation (Stanford University Press, 2023), to discuss the long and complex history of colonization and resistance in Kashmir. We explore how the rights and agency of the Kashmiri people have been denied for decades by the Indian state’s settler-colonial project, how Kashmiris have resisted settler logics of assimilation and erasure, and what a genuinely liberated future for Kashmir might look like. Return to Bandung is hosted by Pranay Somayajula, an Indian-American writer, rese...
2025-06-181h 05Return to BandungThe Politics of Decolonization with Priyamvada GopalIn this episode, I’m joined by Priyamvada Gopal, Professor of Postcolonial Studies at the University of Cambridge and author of Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance and British Dissent (Verso, 2019), to discuss the complicated and often fraught politics of decolonization. We explore how the idea of ‘decolonization’ has evolved over time, the many and often contradictory meanings that this term has taken on, and what a truly radical and liberatory politics of decolonization might look like in our present moment. Return to Bandung is hosted by Pranay Somayajula, an Indian-American writer, researcher, and organizer based in Was...
2025-06-041h 03Return to BandungImperialism, Debt, and International Finance with Ndongo Samba Sylla and Farwa SialIn this episode, I’m joined by critical development economists Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa Region Director for Research and Policy at the International Development Economics Associates (IDEAs), and Farwa Sial, Asia Region Director for Research and Policy at IDEAS, to discuss the international financial system and its role in upholding empire. We explore how this system has been structurally designed to keep Global South countries trapped in a state of perpetual dependency and underdevelopment through predatory lending and unsustainable debt burdens, and discuss what a more just global financial order might look like.Return to...
2025-05-211h 05Return to BandungEmpire and the Polycrisis with Tim SahayIn this episode, I’m joined by Tim Sahay, co-director of Johns Hopkins University’s Net Zero Industrial Policy Lab and co-editor of Phenomenal World’s The Polycrisis newsletter, to discuss the many interconnected crises facing our world today, from the climate crisis to the rise of the authoritarian far-right to the collapse of the liberal international order—an intersection that some have termed ‘the polycrisis.’ We dig into the scope and meaning of this concept, its usefulness as a tool to make sense of our shifting global order, and the ways it can help us deepen our understanding of global im...
2025-05-071h 09Return to BandungMaking Sense of Dollar Imperialism with Radhika DesaiIn this episode, I’m joined by Radhika Desai, professor in the Department of Political Studies and director of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group at the University of Manitoba, to discuss dollar imperialism and the key role that the U.S. dollar plays in upholding American dominance on the world stage. We dig into the history of the dollar system from the early 20th century onwards, examining the significance and contradictions of the dollar’s status as global reserve currency in the capitalist world system, and explore the concept of ‘de-dollarization’ and what it means for the future of American...
2025-04-2358 minReturn to BandungImperialism and Resistance in West Africa with Black Alliance for PeaceIn this episode, I’m joined by Netfa Freeman, Coordinating Committee member of the Black Alliance for Peace and Co-Coordinator of BAP’s Africa team, to discuss the history of imperialism and anticolonial resistance in West Africa, with a specific focus on the developments in the Sahel region over the last few years. Examining the ongoing legacies of French colonialism and neocolonialism in this region, and the current upsurge of mass anticolonial sentiment that has manifested most recently in the rise of military leaders like Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Traoré, we situate these developments within a longer history of West Af...
2025-04-0952 minReturn to BandungChina's Role in the Global Order with Tings ChakIn this episode, I’m joined by Tings Chak, Art Director at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and Editor of Wenhua Zongheng: A Journal of Contemporary Chinese Thought, to discuss China’s role in the shifting global order. We examine the achievements of China’s socialist revolution, its meteoric rise on the world stage in recent decades, and the complex dynamics of the ‘New Cold War’ that the United States is waging against China. In particular, we focus on the most common myths and misconceptions regarding China’s engagement with African nations and other countries in the Global South, and work to...
2025-03-2656 minReturn to BandungImperialism and Resistance in Haiti with Black Alliance for PeaceIn this episode, I’m joined by Erica Caines, Coordinating Committee member of the Black Alliance for Peace and Co-Coordinator of BAP’s Haiti/Americas team, to discuss the history of imperialism and anticolonial resistance in Haiti. We explore Haiti’s historical position as the world’s first Black republic, and the imperialist onslaught that has continued unabated against the country from the moment it first won independence from France in 1804. Delving into the complexities of the current crisis in Haiti, we examine how Haiti has come to function as a key laboratory for imperialist violence and aggression in the Amer...
2025-03-1253 minReturn to BandungIndigenous Resistance in North America with Nick EstesIn this episode, I’m joined by Nick Estes—associate professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota, cofounder of The Red Nation, and author of Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance (Verso Books, 2019)—to discuss the long and rich history of Indigenous resistance to colonialism in North America. We explore the different ways that Indigenous peoples have stood up against settler-colonial displacement and erasure, both historically and in the present, and situate this history within a broader international context, tying together Indigenous struggles for la...
2025-02-261h 04Return to BandungThe Imperial Boomerang with Julian GoIn this episode, I’m joined by Julian Go, professor of sociology at the University of Chicago and author of Policing Empires: Race, Militarization and the Imperial Boomerang in the US and Great Britain (Oxford University Press, 2023), to discuss the intertwined relationship between imperialist violence abroad and fascism and state repression here at home—a concept known as the “imperial boomerang.” We explore the concept's origins in anticolonial analyses of Nazism’s rise in 20th-century Europe, as well as the ways in which this important idea can help us understand the resurgence of fascism and neo-fascism in our current political...
2025-02-1259 minReturn to BandungMaking Sense of Settler Colonialism with Sai EnglertIn this episode, I’m joined by Sai Englert, lecturer in the political economy of the Middle East at Leiden University’s Institute for Area Studies, to talk about the frequently invoked (but less frequently understood) concept of settler colonialism. We explore the nuances of what the term ‘settler colonialism’ really means, as well as how this phenomenon has historically manifested and continues to manifest in different contexts—from North America to Palestine and beyond. We also discuss the framework for understanding settler colonialism that Sai puts forth in his book Settler Colonialism: An Introduction, and how this framework overlaps w...
2025-01-291h 07Return to BandungThird Worldism and its Legacies with Vijay PrashadEpisode summary:
In this episode, I’m joined by Vijay Prashad, Executive Director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and author of forty books including The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World, to talk about the history and contemporary legacies of Third Worldism. We discuss the origins and trajectory of Third Worldism and the ‘Bandung Spirit,’ what became of this radical worldmaking project, and what lessons this rich history holds for anti-imperialist organizing and internationalist solidarity in the present day. We also discuss the challenges and contradictions of internationalism, and what it really means to sta...
2025-01-1557 minReturn to BandungBuilding an Anti-Imperialist Cultural Front with Writers Against the War on GazaIn this episode, I’m joined by Tiana Reid, an assistant professor of English at York University in Toronto and a member of Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG), to talk about WAWOG’s work organizing a revolutionary cultural front against Zionism and imperialism. We discuss the crucial role that cultural production and political education have historically played in anti-imperialist struggle, and the urgent need for writers, artists, musicians, and other cultural workers to use their art and their platforms to stand in solidarity with Palestinians against apartheid, occupation, and genocide.
Return to Bandung is hosted by P...
2025-01-0858 min
Socialism ConferenceNot in Our Names: Organizing Against Supremacy and Towards SolidarityRebecca Vilkomerson, Alissa Wise, Beth Howard, and Pranay Somayajula speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2024.
A powerful source of resistance to systems of domination and violence comes from within the very communities that are used to justify and uphold those systems. The past decades have seen impactful solidarity organizing of Jews against Zionism, Hindus against Hindutva and white people against white supremacy and Christian nationalism. Join organizers from these movements as they share lessons and discuss strategies and challenges of solidarity organizing.
The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, July 3-6. Learn more about the Socialism Conference...
2024-12-1234 minReturn to BandungResisting Imperialism in Korea with Nodutdol Episode summary:
In this episode, I’m joined by Jia Hong, an organizer with Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, to discuss the history and contemporary politics of imperialism and anticolonial resistance in Korea. We dive into the long history of foreign imperialism in the peninsula, from the Japanese occupation in the early 20th century to the ongoing U.S. military presence and its role in inflaming North-South tensions, and discuss the impact of the incoming Trump administration on Korea’s future. We also discuss the U.S. Out of Korea campaign that was launched earlier this summer by N...
2024-12-1159 minReturn to BandungLabor and Anti-Imperialist Politics with Alex PressIn this episode, I’m joined by Alex Press, a staff writer and labor reporter for Jacobin Magazine, to examine the complex relationship between the U.S. labor movement and anti-imperialist politics—its history, the current situation, and where we go from here. We discuss the historical entanglement of American labor with imperialism during the Cold War, the complexities and contradictions of anti-imperialist labor organizing in the imperial core, and the role that labor unions have played in the ongoing Palestine solidarity movement over the last year.
Return to Bandung is hosted by Pranay Somayajula, an Indian-American writ...
2024-11-2753 min
Inform Your ResistanceHAF Way to Supremacy: Rebranding Hindu Supremacy as Minority Rights, a Conversation with Safa Ahmed and Pranay SomayajulaThis interview with Savera Coalition partners Safa Ahmed and Pranay Somayajula dives into an expose on the immensely influential Hindu American Foundation, or HAF, as a Hindu supremacist institution masquerading as a civil rights organization. We discuss HAF's reputation as a leader in civil rights and its true agenda to perpetuate caste discrimination and support for the authoritarian Indian Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP regime in the United States.We discuss HAF's roots in the Hindu supremacist or Hindutva movement and its recent, more explicit shift towards the broader U.S. multiracial far right. We conclude with...
2024-11-211h 01Inform Your ResistanceHAF Way to Supremacy: Rebranding Hindu Supremacy as Minority Rights, a Conversation with Safa Ahmed and Pranay SomayajulaThis interview with Savera Coalition partners Safa Ahmed and Pranay Somayajula dives into an expose on the immensely influential Hindu American Foundation, or HAF, as a Hindu supremacist institution masquerading as a civil rights organization. We discuss HAF's reputation as a leader in civil rights and its true agenda to perpetuate caste discrimination and support for the authoritarian Indian Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP regime in the United States.We discuss HAF's roots in the Hindu supremacist or Hindutva movement and its recent, more explicit shift towards the broader U.S. multiracial far right. We conclude with...
2024-11-211h 01Return to BandungThe BRICS' Push for a Multipolar WorldEpisode summary:
In this episode, I discuss the BRICS—what it is, where it came from, and what significance it holds for the future of international politics. Reflecting on the bloc’s history and the most recent BRICS summit that took place last month, I explore the BRICS’ relationship to the emerging multipolar world order, and tackle the question of how we on the anti-imperialist left should think about projects like the BRICS, which pose a threat to Western hegemony without directly or explicitly challenging the capitalist-imperialist world system.
Return to Bandung is hosted by Pranay...
2024-11-1356 minReturn to BandungVisualizing Palestine with Aline BatarsehIn this episode, I’m joined by Aline Batarseh, Executive Director of Visualizing Palestine, to reflect on the past year of genocide and resistance in Palestine and beyond. We discuss the current state of the global Palestine solidarity movement, the importance of the information front in the fight against Israel's occupation and apartheid regime, and the crucial work that Visualizing Palestine is doing to combat propaganda and shed light on the truth about what’s really happening in Palestine.
Return to Bandung is hosted by Pranay Somayajula, an Indian-American writer, researcher, and organizer based in Washington, D.C. H...
2024-10-301h 06Return to BandungBuilding a New International Economic Order with Michael GalantIn this episode, I’m joined by Michael Galant, member of the Progressive International’s Secretariat and senior researcher at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (here on the show in his personal capacity!). Michael and I talk about the decades-long campaign to build a New International Economic Order—a radical proposal, first articulated in 1974, for radically reshaping the entire global economy as we know it in order to level the playing field for the nations of the Global South. We discuss the history and trajectory of the NIEO, the connections between this worldmaking project and the broader Third...
2024-10-1659 minReturn to BandungPilotAbout this episode:
Return to Bandung is a podcast that explores questions of imperialism, resistance, and internationalist solidarity throughout history and into the present day, and seeks to make the case for why anti-imperialist politics are as important in our current moment as ever before. In this pilot episode, I introduce Return to Bandung, provide a brief overview of the anti-imperialist history and analysis behind the show, and share more about my vision for the show going forward.
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave a review or rating, and...
2024-10-0923 minReturn to BandungReturn to Bandung TrailerWelcome to the Third World.
My name is Pranay Somayajula. I’m a writer, organizer, and host of Return to Bandung—a podcast that explores questions of imperialism, resistance, and internationalist solidarity throughout history and into the present day.
Through historical analysis, interviews with expert guests, and deep dives into classic works of anticolonial theory, Return to Bandung seeks to make the case for why anti-imperialist politics are as important in our current moment as ever before.
With new episodes dropping every two weeks, be sure to subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wher...
2024-10-0701 min
Unpacking ZionismHindutva with Pranay SomayajulaIn this episode, Pranay Somayajula helps us unpack the term hindutva as a keyword in Critical Zionism Studies. Hindutva is a strain of ethnic supremacy and Indian nationalism that Pranay will help us unpack in the episode. It is specifically anti-Muslim, and – like Zionism – it has been fueled by British colonialism. In the present, Hindutva is more and more entwined with Zionist politics. In our conversation, Pranay untangles hindutva’s parallels and connections to Nazism and to Zionism.In fact, this episode covers a lot of ground - we discuss the close military, political, and diplomatic relationship betwee...
2024-07-1538 min
Anarchist EssaysEssay #74: Pranay Somayajula, ‘Nationhood Beyond Nationalism: Towards an Anarchist Politics of Anti-Colonial Liberation’In this essay, Pranay Somayajula critically examines the anarchist movement’s relationship to anticolonial politics. Drawing on a rich history of anticolonial movements, from the Kurds in Rojava to the Zapatistas in Chiapas, who have sought national liberation and self-determination without being confined by the nation-state, he argues for an anarchist politics of anticolonial solidarity rooted in a radical conception of nationhood without nationalism.
Pranay Somayajula is an Indian-American writer, researcher, and cultural critic currently based in Washington, D.C. His writing has appeared in outlets including Jacobin, The Nation, and The Drift, as well as on his Sub...
2024-02-1217 min
This Is Hell!Great Replacement World Tour / Pranay SomayajulaChuck welcomes writer and journalist Pranay Somayajula to the show to talk about his Jacobin article "From Buffalo to India, the Right’s Demographic Paranoia Fuels Deadly Violence." We will also have this week's Rotten History *and* this week's Moment of Truth with Jeff Dorchen *and* this week's winning answer to the Question from Hell!
2022-06-081h 45This Is Hell!Great Replacement World Tour / Pranay SomayajulaChuck welcomes writer and journalist Pranay Somayajula to the show to talk about his Jacobin article "From Buffalo to India, the Right’s Demographic Paranoia Fuels Deadly Violence." We will also have this week's Rotten History *and* this week's Moment of Truth with Jeff Dorchen *and* this week's winning answer to the Question from Hell!
2022-06-081h 45