Return to Bandung

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 Bandung is hosted by Pranay Somayajula, an Indian-American writer, researcher, and organizer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His work explores themes of diaspora, (inter)nationalism, anticolonial politics, and the many lives and afterlives of empire. You can learn more about Pranay and read his writing on his website, as well as on his Substack blog, culture shock.If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave a review or rating, and subscribe to the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!Sources and helpful links:Journal of International SolidarityInternational Solidarity PodcastAshwin Shantha — The Dispossession of International Students by Canadian Higher Education as a form of Imperialist Extraction from the Global South (Potentia: Journal of International and Public Affairs, September 2025)Ashwin Shantha — Why Indians Must See Themselves in Palestine (Journal of International Solidarity, June 2024)Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — Strategy for the Liberation of Palestine (1969)Metro DC DSA — Beyond the Bombs: Anti-Imperialist Summer School (May-June 2025)China vs. India: Divergent Paths of Development (International Solidarity Podcast, April 2025)Frantz Fanon — The Wretched of the Earth (Grove Press, 1963)Social links:Return to Bandung:Twitter: ⁠twitter.com/returntobandung⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/returntobandung/⁠Pranay Somayajula:Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/p_somayajula⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/pranay.somayajula/⁠Website: ⁠https://www.pranaysomayajula.com/⁠Substack: ⁠https://www.culture-shock.xyz/⁠Journal of International Solidarity:Substack: https://intlsolidarity.substack.com/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6pbGw76EukzP0xPisBS9SjYouTube: https://youtube.com/@JournalofIntlSolidarityInstagram: https://instagram.com/journalofintlsolidarityTwitter: https://twitter.com/revintlist

In 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:Return to Bandung is hosted by Pranay Somayajula, an Indian-American writer, researcher, and organizer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His work explores themes of diaspora, (inter)nationalism, anticolonial politics, and the many lives and afterlives of empire. You can learn more about Pranay and read his writing on his website, as well as on his Substack blog, culture shock.If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave a review or rating, and subscribe to the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!Sources and helpful links:Venezuelanalysis websiteCira Pascual Marquina and Chris Gilbert — Venezuela, The Present as Struggle: Voices from the Bolivarian Revolution (Monthly Review Press, 2020)Chris Gilbert — Commune or Nothing!: Venezuela’s Communal Movement and its Socialist Project (Monthly Review Press, 2023)Cira Pascual Marquina and Chris Gilbert (eds.) — Communes and Socialist Construction (Monthly Review July-August 2025 Special Issue)Mark Weisbrot and Jeffrey Sachs — Economic Sanctions as Collective Punishment: The Case of Venezuela (Center for Economic and Policy Research, April 2019)Francisco Rodriguez — How Sanctions Contributed to Venezuela’s Economic Collapse (Global Americans, January 2023)Nick Estes — Empire, Colonialism and Solidarity (interview with Venezuelanalysis, August 2025)Pino Arlacchi — The Great Hoax Against Venezuela: Oil Geopolitics Disguised as ‘War on Drugs’ (Venezuelanalysis, September 2025)Communal (and Working Class) Resistance — Venezuelanalysis interview series with grassroots participants in the Bolivarian RevolutionGregory Wilpert — Changing Venezuela by Taking Power: The History and Policies of the Chavez Government (Verso, 2007)Hugo Chavez — Speech to the United Nations General Assembly (September 2011)Social links:Return to Bandung:Twitter: ⁠twitter.com/returntobandung⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/returntobandung/⁠Pranay Somayajula:Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/p_somayajula⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/pranay.somayajula/⁠Website: ⁠https://www.pranaysomayajula.com/⁠Substack: ⁠https://www.culture-shock.xyz/⁠Venezuelanalysis:Website: https://venezuelanalysis.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/venanalysis Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/venanalysis/

In this engaging discussion, economic anthropologist Jason Hickel explores the intricate links between imperialism and global economic inequality. He critiques mainstream narratives that portray inequality as a natural phenomenon, instead emphasizing capitalism’s and colonialism's roles in perpetuating poverty. Hickel introduces the concept of unequal exchange, using modern examples like the iPhone to illustrate value transfer from the Global South to the North. He also highlights the need for anti-colonial frameworks and global solidarity to combat entrenched disparities.

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 order.About the show:Return to Bandung is hosted by Pranay Somayajula, an Indian-American writer, researcher, and organizer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His work explores themes of diaspora, (inter)nationalism, anticolonial politics, and the many lives and afterlives of empire. You can learn more about Pranay and read his writing on his website, as well as on his Substack blog, culture shock.If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave a review or rating, and subscribe to the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!Sources and helpful links:Socialism Conference Website“‘This is the Human Race Speaking…’: Reviving the Bandung Spirit in a Multipolar World” (lecture text published on Substack)Social links:Return to Bandung:Twitter: ⁠twitter.com/returntobandung⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/returntobandung/⁠Pranay Somayajula:Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/p_somayajula⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/pranay.somayajula/⁠Website: ⁠https://www.pranaysomayajula.com/⁠Substack: ⁠https://www.culture-shock.xyz/⁠

In 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, anticolonial politics, and the many lives and afterlives of empire. You can learn more about Pranay and read his writing on his website, as well as on his Substack blog, culture shock.If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave a review or rating, and subscribe to the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!Sources and helpful links:Vladimir Lenin and M.N. Roy — Theses on the National and Colonial Questions (1920)Progressive International — The People’s AcademyAditya Iyer — The Indian Radical Who Helped Found the Mexican Communist Party (Jacobin, August 2021) Religion Dispatches coverage of the 2024 National Conservatism ConferenceReactionary International websiteDomenico Losurdo — Western Marxism: How it was Born, How it Died, How it can be Reborn (Monthly Review Press, 2024)Paris Yeros — A Polycentric World Will Only Be Possible by the Intervention of the ‘Sixth Great Power’ (Agrarian South, December 2023)Jason Hickel — How Unequal Exchange Shapes Our World (Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, July 2025)Vijay Prashad — Resurrecting the Concept of the Triad (Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, June 2023)Nick Burns — Never Forget Portugal’s Revolution (Jacobin, April 2024)Aimé Césaire — Discourse on Colonialism (1950)Robin D.G. Kelley — Fighting Fascism: Lessons From the Colonies (Lecture at Socialism 2025 conference)Social links:Return to Bandung:Twitter: ⁠twitter.com/returntobandung⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/returntobandung/⁠Pranay Somayajula:Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/p_somayajula⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/pranay.somayajula/⁠Website: ⁠https://www.pranaysomayajula.com/⁠Substack: ⁠https://www.culture-shock.xyz/⁠Pawel Wargan:Twitter: https://twitter.com/pawelwargan Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pawelwargan/ Progressive International:Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProgIntl Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/progintl_en/Website: https://progressive.international/

In 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 hosted by Pranay Somayajula, an Indian-American writer, researcher, and organizer based in Washington, D.C. His work explores themes of diaspora, (inter)nationalism, anticolonial politics, and the many lives and afterlives of empire. You can learn more about Pranay and read his writing on his website, as well as on his Substack blog, culture shock.If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave a review or rating, and subscribe to the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!Sources and helpful links:Amiya Bagchi — Perilous Passage: Mankind and the Global Ascendancy of Capital (Bloomsbury, 2008)Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven, Surbhi Kesar, and Devika Dutt — The Colonial Origins of Economics (Economic and Political Weekly, October 2024)Jostein Hauge — This year’s Nobel prize exposes economics’ problem with colonialism (The Conversation, October 2024)Benjamin Selwyn — Walt Rostow’s Development Theory Shows That Capitalism Relies on Brutal Violence (Jacobin, June 2023)Walter Rodney — How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)Daniela Gabor and Ndongo Samba Sylla — The Global South Must Be at the Center of the Making of a Just Global Economic Order (interview in Jacobin, February 2023)Jayati Ghosh — Let’s Count What Really Matters (Project Syndicate, June 2022)Jayati Ghosh — Globalization and the End of the Labor Aristocracy (Dollars and Sense, March 2017)Jayati Ghosh — A Life in Development Economics and Political Economy (Real World Economics Review, 2022)Social links:Return to Bandung:Twitter: ⁠twitter.com/returntobandung⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/returntobandung/⁠Website: https://www.returntobandung.com/Pranay Somayajula:Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/p_somayajula⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/pranay.somayajula/⁠Website: ⁠https://www.pranaysomayajula.com/⁠Substack: ⁠https://www.culture-shock.xyz/⁠Jayati Ghosh:Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jayati1609

In 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 of these states navigate the complexities of this dynamic.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, anticolonial politics, and the many lives and afterlives of empire. You can learn more about Pranay and read his writing on his website, as well as on his Substack blog, culture shock.If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave a review or rating, and subscribe to the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!Sources and helpful links:Samar Al-Bulushi — War-Making as World-Making: Kenya, the United States, and the War on Terror (Stanford University Press, 2024)Chinyere Obasi — It’s Time to Ratify the Rome Statute. No, Really This Time. (Harvard Political Review, November 2021)Samar Al-Bulushi — The US Plan to Outsource Its Imperialism in Haiti to Kenya (Jacobin, May 2024)Samar Al-Bulushi — The Global Stakes of Kenya’s Protests (Jacobin, July 2024)Black Alliance for Peace — U.S. Out of Africa CampaignInternational Crisis Group — Overkill: Reforming the Legal Basis for the U.S. War on Terror (September 2021)Tim Krüger — Kenya’s Tax Protests Have Ignited a Movement (New Internationalist, July 2024)Non-Aligned Movement — Kampala Declaration (January 2024)Pranay Somayajula — Bandung’s Ghosts (Protean, April 2025)Patrice Lumumba — Speech at the opening of the All-African Conference in Léopoldville (August 1960)Social links:Return to Bandung:Twitter: ⁠twitter.com/returntobandung⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/returntobandung/⁠Pranay Somayajula:Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/p_somayajula⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/pranay.somayajula/⁠Website: ⁠https://www.pranaysomayajula.com/⁠Substack: ⁠https://www.culture-shock.xyz/⁠Samar Al-Bulushi:Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/samar42

In 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, researcher, and organizer based in Washington, D.C. His work explores themes of diaspora, (inter)nationalism, anticolonial politics, and the many lives and afterlives of empire. You can learn more about Pranay and read his writing on his website, as well as on his Substack blog, culture shock.If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave a review or rating, and subscribe to the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!Sources and helpful links:Hafsa Kanjwal — Colonizing Kashmir: State-building Under Indian Occupation (Stanford University Press, 2023)Stand With Kashmir — The Kashmir SyllabusStand With Kashmir — Militarization, Surveillance, and Silencing: The 75th Year of Indian Occupation in Kashmir (May 2023)Pranay Somayajula — Holiday in Kashmir (The New Internationalist, November 2023)From Domicile to Dominion: India’s Settler Colonial Agenda in Kashmir (Harvard Law Review, May 2021)Leoni Connah — ‘Everyone lives in fear’: trapped between two warring nuclear giants, the people of Kashmir continue to suffer (The Conversation, May 2025)Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons and Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society — Torture: Indian State’s Instrument of Control in Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir (February 2019)Nusaybah and Asfur — “We Know Where You Live” How to See the Surveillance in Kashmir (Verfassungsblog, December 2022)Mir Aiyaz — Kashmir’s residents are living under the watchful eye of surveillance (Index on Censorship, May 2025)Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons — Half Widow, Half Wife?: Responding to Gendered Violence in Kashmir (July 2011)Human Rights Watch — Getting Away With Murder 50 Years of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (August 2008)Arundhati Roy — Come September (September 2002)Social links:Return to Bandung:Twitter: ⁠twitter.com/returntobandung⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/returntobandung/⁠Pranay Somayajula:Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/p_somayajula⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/pranay.somayajula/⁠Website: ⁠https://www.pranaysomayajula.com/⁠Substack: ⁠https://www.culture-shock.xyz/⁠Hafsa Kanjwal:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colonizingkashmir

In 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 Washington, D.C. His work explores themes of diaspora, (inter)nationalism, anticolonial politics, and the many lives and afterlives of empire. You can learn more about Pranay and read his writing on his website, as well as on his Substack blog, culture shock.If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave a review or rating, and subscribe to the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!Sources and helpful links:Priyamvada Gopal — Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance and British Dissent (Verso, 2019)Pranay Somayajula — Decolonization and its Discontents (Monthly Review, May 2025)Jan C. Jansen and Jürgen Osterhammel — Decolonization: A Short History (Princeton University Press, 2017)Priyamvada Gopal — Empire and its Enemies (interview with Jamhoor, August 2022)Kira Huju — How ‘decolonial Hindutva’ marries nativist politics with left-wing vocabulary (Scroll, April 2024)Mike Gonzalez — José Carlos Mariátegui Was the Great Pioneer of Latin American Marxism (Jacobin, February 2023)Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang — Decolonization is Not a Metaphor (Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 2012)Pranay Somayajula — We Are All Palestinians: Notes on Solidarity and Collective Resistance (culture shock, June 2024)Priyamvada Gopal — On Decolonisation and the University (Textual Practice, May 2021)Frantz Fanon — The Wretched of the Earth (Grove Press, 1963)Social links:Return to Bandung:Twitter: ⁠twitter.com/returntobandung⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/returntobandung/⁠Pranay Somayajula:Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/p_somayajula⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/pranay.somayajula/⁠Website: ⁠https://www.pranaysomayajula.com/⁠Substack: ⁠https://www.culture-shock.xyz/⁠Priyamvada GopalTwitter: https://twitter.com/priyamvadagopal

In 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 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, anticolonial politics, and the many lives and afterlives of empire. You can learn more about Pranay and read his writing on his website, as well as on his Substack blog, culture shock.If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave a review or rating, and subscribe to the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!Sources and helpful links:⁠International Development Economics Associates (IDEAs) website⁠IDEAs — ⁠70 Years After Bandung: Challenges and Struggles on the Road to Self-Determination and South-South Solidarity conference⁠Ndongo Samba Sylla and Kai Koddenbrock (editors) — ⁠Delinking and Global Reparations⁠ (Transcript Publishing, 2025)Maha Ben Gadha, Fadhel Kaboub, Kai Koddenbrock, Ines Mahmoud and Ndongo Samba Sylla (editors) — ⁠Economic and Monetary Sovereignty in 21st Century Afric⁠a (Pluto Press, 2021)Ndongo Samba Sylla (editor) — ⁠Imperialism and the Political Economy of Global South’s Debt⁠ (Emerald Publishing, 2023)Dan Smith — ⁠How Capitalists Created International Financial Institutions to Rule the Planet⁠ (Jacobin, October 2022)Jason Hickel — ⁠Apartheid in the World Bank and the IMF⁠ (Al-Jazeera, November 2020)Vladimir Lenin — ⁠Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism⁠ (1917)Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research — ⁠How Neoliberalism Has Wielded ‘Corruption’ to Privatise Life in Africa⁠ (November 2024)James Baratta — ⁠Activists Are Challenging Laws That Enable Vulture Funds to Exploit Global South⁠ (Truthout, January 2022)Bodo Ellmers — ⁠Vulture funds: US court ruling on Argentina enrages debt justice campaigners ⁠(Eurodad, September 2013)Eric Toussaint — ⁠The World Bank and the Third World Debt Crisis in historical Perspective⁠ (CADTM, March 2002)Michael Galant —⁠ The Shackles of Debt in the Global South Weigh Down Workers Everywhere⁠ (Jacobin, June 2021)Larry Elliott — ⁠Developing countries face worst debt crisis in history, study shows⁠ (The Guardian, July 2024)UN Trade and Development — ⁠Debt crisis: Developing countries’ external debt hits record $11.4 trillion⁠ (March 2025)Ndongo Samba Sylla — ⁠The Conceptual Roots of the Global South’s Debt Crisis ⁠(Project Syndicate, January 2024)Jason Hickel — ⁠How Britain stole $45 trillion from India⁠ (Al-Jazeera, December 2018)Daniela Gabor and Ndongo Samba Sylla — ⁠The Global South Must Be at the Center of the Making of a Just Global Economic Order⁠ (Jacobin, February 2023)Ndongo Samba Sylla — ⁠Live as African: On the Relevance of Thomas Sankara‘s Agenda for Economic Liberation⁠ (University of Bayreuth, 2022)Thomas Sankara — ⁠A United Front Against Debt⁠ (1987)Social links:Return to Bandung:Twitter: ⁠twitter.com/returntobandung⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/returntobandung/⁠Pranay Somayajula:Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/p_somayajula⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/pranay.somayajula/⁠Website: ⁠https://www.pranaysomayajula.com/⁠Substack: ⁠https://www.culture-shock.xyz/⁠Ndongo Samba Sylla:Twitter: https://twitter.com/nssyllaFarwa Sial:Twitter: https://twitter.com/farwasialInternational Development Economics Associates (IDEAs)Twitter: https://twitter.com/deveconnetworkWebsite: https://www.networkideas.org/