Return to Bandung

In 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 African resistance to imperialist violence and exploitation. 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:Tanupriya Singh — Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger form Alliance of Sahel States to advance collective defense (People’s Dispatch, September 2023)Ndongo Samba Sylla — The CFA Franc: French Monetary Imperialism in Africa (Africa at LSE blog, July 2017)Achy Ekissi — “People make the revolution:” charting an anti-imperialist path in West Africa (Interview in People’s Dispatch, October 2023)Burkina Faso Launches $12 Million Tomato Factory (CGTN Africa, December 2024)Black Alliance for Peace — ECOWAS Fact SheetKwame Nkrumah — Neo-colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism (1965)Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and The Socialist Movement of Ghana’s Research Group — Defending Our Sovereignty: US Military Bases in Africa and the Future of African Unity (June 2023)Samar Al-Bulushi — What Is AFRICOM? How the U.S. Military is Militarizing and Destabilizing Africa (Teen Vogue, July 2023)AnneClaire Stapleton and Mitch McCluskey — Mali severs diplomatic relations with Ukraine for providing intelligence to rebels for Wagner ambush (CNN, August 2024)Black Alliance for Peace — US Out of Africa campaignBlack Alliance for Peace — Join the US Out of Africa NetworkThe anti-imperialist upsurge in the Sahel is irreversible, say leaders at historic conference in Niamey (People’s Dispatch, November 2024)Antonio Cascais — How Sahel states ditched Western mining interests (Deutsche Welle, February 2025)Abhijit Mohanty — Uranium in Niger: When a Blessing Becomes a Curse (Geopolitical Monitor, April 2018)Niger revokes French nuclear group’s licence at major uranium mine (Al Jazeera, June 2024)Jasper Saah — Why is the U.S. government targeting African Stream? (Liberation News, October 2024)Black Alliance for Peace US Out of Africa Network — Report: The Anti-Imperialist Upsurge in the Sahel and the Historic Conference in Niamey (Black Agenda Report, November 2024)Martina Schwikoswky and Philipp Sandner — Are Niger's uranium supplies to France under scrutiny? (Deutsche Welle, September 2023)Sean Jacobs — Sankara: daring to invent Africa's future (The Guardian, October 2008)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/⁠Netfa Freeman:Twitter: https://twitter.com/netfafree Radio show: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wpfw-voices-with-vision/id1155206169Black Alliance for Peace:Twitter: https://twitter.com/Blacks4PeaceInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackallianceforpeace/Website: https://www.blackallianceforpeace.com/

In 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 break down some of the anti-China propaganda that is frequently spread in American media outlets. 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:Wenhua Zongheng: A Journal of Contemporary Chinese ThoughtJayati Ghosh — Interpreting Contemporary Imperialism: Lessons From Samir Amin (Monthly Review, March 2021)Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research — Hyper-Imperialism: A Dangerous Decadent New Stage (January 2024)Yao Zhongqiu — Five Centuries of Global Transformation: A Chinese Perspective (Wenhua Zongheng, March 2023)Deborah Brautigam and Meg Rithmire — The Chinese ‘Debt Trap’ Is a Myth (The Atlantic, February 2021)China Africa Research InitiativeTricontinental: Institute for Social Research — How Neoliberalism Has Wielded ‘Corruption’ to Privatise Life in Africa (November 2024)Li Minqi — China: Imperialism or Semi-Periphery? (Monthly Review, July 2021)John Kerry — Remarks at the U.S.-African Union High-Level Dialogue (May 2014)Full text of Li Keqiang's speech at Africa Union (China Daily, May 2014)“China’s Ecological Transition” issue of Wenhua Zongheng Xiong Jie and Tings Chak — Reviving Erhai Lake: A Socialist Approach to Balancing Human and Ecological Development (Wenhua Zongheng, December 2024)Tings Chak — Creation is a Political Action, and a Writer is a Politicised Person: The Eighth Tricontinental Art Bulletin (Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, October 2024)Mao Zedong — Statement Supporting the Panamanian People's Just Patriotic Struggle Against U.S. Imperialism (January 1964)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/⁠Tings Chak: Twitter: https://twitter.com/t_ingsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/tingschak/ Tricontinental Institute for Social Research:Twitter: https://twitter.com/tri_continentalInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetricontinental/

In 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 Americas.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:Black Alliance for Peace — Zone of Peace campaignBlack Alliance for Peace — Haiti resourcesBlack Alliance for Peace — Haiti and ColonialismBlack Alliance for Peace — CARICOM and Haiti: Integration or Imperialism Black Alliance for Peace — Fact Sheet on the Core GroupBlack Alliance for Peace — BAP Backgrounder: Haiti Behind the Headlines (March 2024)Erica Caines and Austin Cole — The Unspoken Colonial Contradiction of Haiti (Hood Communist, October 2023)The New York Times — Haiti ‘Ransom’ ProjectJake Johnston — How US “Foreign Aid” Has Helped Destabilize Haiti (Jacobin, March 2024)Samar Al-Bulushi — The US Plan to Outsource Its Imperialism in Haiti to Kenya (Jacobin, May 2024)Jemima Pierre — Haiti as Empire’s Laboratory (NACLA Report on the Americas, September 2023)Nato Koury — Guantánamo Bay’s forgotten history of detaining Haitian migrants (Liberation News, February 2025)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/⁠Black Alliance for Peace:Twitter: https://twitter.com/Blacks4PeaceInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackallianceforpeace/Website: https://www.blackallianceforpeace.com/

In 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 land and liberation across the globe—from Turtle Island to Palestine. 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:Nick Estes — Our History Is the Future:Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance(Verso Books, 2019)Indigenous Environmental Network and Oil Change International — Indigenous Resistance Against Carbon (August 2021)Julian Brave NoiseCat and Anne Spice — A History and Future of Resistance (Jacobin, September 2016)Julian Brave NoiseCat — When the Indians Defeat the Cowboys (Jacobin, January 2017)Kyle Stokes — The long, bitter fight over Minneapolis’ Roof Depot site, explained (MinnPost, February 2023)Nic Sanford Belgard — The Land at The Center of Cop City and Why We Must Defend It (Indigenous Peoples Power Project, March 2023)Delilah Friedler — What Will Replace the Minneapolis Police? The City’s Native American Community Has Some Ideas. (Mother Jones, June 2020)American Indian Movement — Trail of Broken Treaties 20-Point Platform (1972)NDN Collective — LANDBACK websiteNick Estes – The Radical Origins of International Indigenous Representation (Verso Books blog, December 2019)Nick Estes — interview with Daniel Denvir (The Dig podcast, June 2019)Nick Estes — Settler “Self-Defense” and Native Liberation (Indigenous Solidarity With Palestine, October 2024)The Red Nation — Leonard Peltier is going home! (January 2025)Leonard Peltier — Prison Writings: My Life is my Sun Dance(St. Martin’s Griffin, 2000)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/⁠Nick Estes: Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickwestesSubstack: https://nickestes.substack.com/The Red Nation:Twitter: https://twitter.com/The_Red_NationInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/therednationmovement/Website: https://www.therednation.org

In 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 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: Julian Go — Policing Empires: Militarization, Race, and the Imperial Boomerang in Britain and the US (Oxford University Press, 2023) Ammar Ali Jan — The US protests and the echoes of imperial violence (Al Jazeera, June 2020) Aimé Césaire — Discourse on Colonialism (Monthly Review Press, 2000) Seth Stoughton — Law Enforcement’s “Warrior” Problem (Harvard Law Review, 2015) George Padmore — Fascism in the Colonies (Controversy, February 1938) Jessica Katzenstein — The Wars Are Here: How the United States’ Post-9/11 Wars Helped Militarize U.S. Police (Brown University’s Costs of War project, September 2020) Tynetta Hill-Muhammad — Chicago Nixed Its Racist Database of Gangs. Other Cities Should Follow. (Truthout, October 2023) Nick Turse — U.S. Military Service Is the Strongest Predictor of Carrying Out Extremist Violence (The Intercept, January 2025) Researching the American-Israeli Alliance and Jewish Voice for Peace — Deadly Exchange: The Dangerous Consequences of American Law Enforcement Trainings in Israel (September 2018) Angela Davis — Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement (Haymarket Books, 2016) Social links: Return to Bandung: Twitter: ⁠twitter.com/returntobandung⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/returntobandung/⁠ Pranay Somayajula: Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/p_somayajula⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/pranay.somayajula/⁠ Website: ⁠https://www.pranaysomayajula.com/⁠ Substack: ⁠https://www.culture-shock.xyz/⁠ Julian Go: Twitter: https://twitter.com/jgo34 Website: https://voices.uchicago.edu/juliango/

In 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 with and differs from dominant understandings of this crucial concept. 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: Sai Englert — Settler Colonialism: An Introduction (Pluto Press, 2022) Sai Englert, Michal Schatz, and Rosie Warren (eds.) — From the River to the Sea: Essays for a Free Palestine (Verso Books, 2023) Sai’s lecture at the Socialism 2024 conference in Chicago, IL Patrick Wolfe — Settler colonialism and the elimination of the native (Journal of Genocide Research, 2006) Arghiri Emanuel — White-Settler Colonialism and the Myth of Investment Imperialism (New Left Review, May/June 1972) Gerald Horne — The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America (New York University Press, 2014) Ho Chi Minh — Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (September 1945) Massimiliano Tomba — Insurgent Universality: An Alternative Legacy of Modernity (Oxford University Press, 2019) Nick Estes — Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance (Verso, 2019) Mahmood Mamdani — When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda (Princeton University Press, 2001) Mahmood Mamdani — Neither Settler nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities (Harvard University Press, 2020) Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang — Decolonization is Not a Metaphor (Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 2012) Zapatista National Liberation Army — Fifth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle (July 1998) Social links: Return to Bandung: Twitter: twitter.com/returntobandung Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/returntobandung/ Pranay Somayajula: Twitter: https://twitter.com/p_somayajula Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pranay.somayajula/ Website: https://www.pranaysomayajula.com/ Substack: https://www.culture-shock.xyz/

Episode 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 stand in solidarity with anti-imperialist struggles in the Global South from within the imperial core. 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: Vijay Prashad — The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World (The New Press, 2007) Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research website Hyper-Imperialism: A Dangerous Decadent New Stage (Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, January 2024) The Churning of the Global Order (Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, January 2024) Vijay Prashad, No Cold War, and West Africa Peoples’ Organization — In Africa They Say, ‘France, Get Out!’ (Tricontinental newsletter, May 2024) Vijay Prashad — Ten Theses on the Far Right of a Special Type (Tricontinental newsletter, August 2024) Fidel Castro — Speech at the 4th Conference of Nonaligned Nations (September 1973) Social links: Return to Bandung: Twitter: twitter.com/returntobandung Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/returntobandung/ Pranay Somayajula: Twitter: https://twitter.com/p_somayajula Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pranay.somayajula/ Website: https://www.pranaysomayajula.com/ Substack: https://www.culture-shock.xyz/ Vijay Prashad: Twitter: https://twitter.com/vijayprashad Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/possiblehistory Tricontinental Institute for Social Research: Twitter: https://twitter.com/tri_continental Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetricontinental/

In 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 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: Christina Sharpe — The Shapes of Grief: Witnessing the Unbearable (The Yale Review, September 2024) WAWOG’s "Creating a Revolutionary Cultural Front” Syllabus Cedric Robinson — Capitalism, Marxism, and the Black Radical Tradition: An Interview with Cedric Robinson (Perspectives on Anarchist Theory, Spring 1999) Amílcar Cabral — National Liberation and Culture (Lecture at Syracuse University, February 1970) Fayez Sagegh — Zionist Colonialism in Palestine (Palestine Liberation Organization, September 1965) Amiri Baraka performing “Black Art” (1967) Remi Kanazi performing “This Poem Will Not End Apartheid” (2011) Pranay Somayajula — "To Make Revolution Irresistible": Notes on the Politics of Literary Production (culture shock, August 2024) Fargo Nissim Tbakhi — Notes on Craft: Writing in the Hour of Genocide (Protean, December 2023) Printing the Movement (WAWOG Bulletin, November 2024) New York War Crimes Lylla Younes — “Think of It as a Genocide of Journalists”: An Interview With a Member of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate About the Unprecedented Killing of Reporters in Gaza (The Nation, January 2024) Marina Magloire — “Moving Towards Life” (Los Angeles Review of Books, August 2024) Basel El Araj — Exiting Law and Entering Revolution (The Bad Side, April 2024) Social links: Return to Bandung: Twitter: ⁠twitter.com/returntobandung⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/returntobandung/⁠ Pranay Somayajula: Twitter: ⁠https://x.com/p_somayajula⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/pranay.somayajula/⁠ Website: ⁠https://www.pranaysomayajula.com/⁠ Substack: ⁠https://www.culture-shock.xyz/ WAWOG: Website: https://www.writersagainstthewarongaza.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/wawog_now Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/wawog.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wawog_now WAWOG Toronto Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wawog_to

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 Nodutdol, a grassroots organization of diasporic Koreans and comrades organizing against imperialism in Korea and around the world. 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: US Out of Korea Campaign Website Nodutdol Website Nodutdol’s Korean War Syllabus Jia Hong and Erica Jung — The Sacrifice of Human Health and Environment in South Korea Under US Military Occupation (Science for the People, 2023) What Does a Trump Presidency Mean for Korea? (Statement from Nodutdol, November 2024) Sanctions of Empire (Zine by Nodutdol, October 2020) Max Balhorn — South Korea’s “Economic Miracle” Was Built on Murderous Repression (Jacobin, May 2021) Social links: Return to Bandung: Twitter: twitter.com/returntobandung Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/returntobandung/ Pranay Somayajula: Twitter: https://x.com/p_somayajula Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pranay.somayajula/ Website: https://www.pranaysomayajula.com/ Substack: https://www.culture-shock.xyz/ Nodutdol: Twitter: https://twitter.com/nodutdol Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nodutdol

In 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 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! Social links: Return to Bandung: Twitter: ⁠twitter.com/returntobandung⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/returntobandung/⁠ Pranay Somayajula: Twitter: ⁠https://x.com/p_somayajula⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/pranay.somayajula/⁠ Website: ⁠https://www.pranaysomayajula.com/⁠ Substack: ⁠https://www.culture-shock.xyz/ Alex Press: Twitter: https://twitter.com/alexnpress Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexnpress