The Anti Empire Project with Justin Podur

At the same time that the European empires were scrambling for Africa, they held a scramble in the Pacific. For the British Empire the base was Australia, and we begin with the scramble for Australia, the story of the theft of (another) continent beginning in 1788. Always was, always will be, aboriginal land.

The biggest player in the Scramble for Africa was England. Second place to France, third to Germany. But there were many other European powers at the Berlin Conference in 1884 and the plunder of Africa was shared among even the smallest of European countries. Who and how, in this episode of the Scramble for Africa.

In June 2022 a small activist group in Boston created mapliberation.org, a project mapping primarily policing institutions in Massechussetts and their connections to corporations, organizations, and politicians who are implicated in the prison-industry complex, in throwing people out of their homes to create investment opportunities, in grabbing Indigenous land, in colonizing Palestinian land, and other … Continue reading "AER 112: BDS Boston makes a map and chaos ensues"

In September 1904 several Nama scouts slipped away from the Germans after the battle of Waterberg and the genocide of the Herero, to warn their leader, Hendrik Witbooi, of what the Germans were capable of. Hendrik Witbooi then called all the Nama leaders to war, a war where they used guerrilla tactics to confound the … Continue reading "Scramble for Africa 20: Germany (pt3) genocides the Nama, 1908"

Colombia, in a run-off vote, elected Leftist ex-rebel Gustavo Petro to the presidency in a narrow, historic election. We are joined by Colombian doctor and political activist, MANUEL ROZENTAL. Justin Podur joins us for this roundtable on the impact of the elections in Colombia. This is a joint operation with The Anti-Empire Project and The … Continue reading "Gustavo Petro wins Colombia’s presidency – what next?"

Stan Cox joins us for June’s dispatch of In Real Time. As he prepares to travel to Washington DC for a protest (the report on that will follow next dispatch) Stan actually talks to us about local struggles: Indigenous struggles against pipelines, and the remarkable story of the LA Bus Riders Union. All that and … Continue reading "In Real Time with Stan Cox 3: The People vs Petrocracy"

The devastating story of the Herero genocide, complete with von Trotha’s extermination order, Samuel Maharero’s resistance, the battle at the Waterberg, and the concentration camps at Swakopmund and elsewhere. We’re using Erichsen and Olusoga 2011, The Kaiser’s Holocaust: Germany’s Forgotten Genocide and the Colonial Roots of Nazism.

An update on the dynamic situation in Pakistan. Fan favorite Waqas Ahmad (@worqas on twitter) is back to talk about the massive march and nationwide protest of May 25 in Pakistan, which ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan called. Imran Khan called the protest off on May 26 in the face of escalation and repression, giving … Continue reading "AER 111: Imran Khan’s Long March in Pakistan"

Instalment 2 of our monthly discussion on environmental topics with Stan Cox – this week Justin talks about some problems with what he calls “western environmentalism”; then we go over Stan’s latest dispatch (which will be up May 16 at citylights.com/blog) about voter suppression and protest suppression and how it’s changing US politics.

We begin the story of Germany in the Scramble for Africa with the question: was Germany really as bad as their enemies say they were? (spoiler: worse) We talk about Bismarck’s reluctance to own colonies, about why he started to change his mind as Germany caught a growing colonial fever; we talk about the harrowing … Continue reading "Scramble for Africa 18: Germany in the Scramble pt1 – from Karl Peters to the war on Mkwawa and the Wahehe"