We created this podcast in recognition that there are a number of podcasts for the American “left,” but many of them focus heavily on the organizing of social democrats, progressives, and liberal democrats. Aside from that, on the left we are always fighting a war of ideas and if we do not continue to build platforms to share those ideas and the stories of their implementation from a leftist perspective, they will continue to be ignored, misrepresented, and dismissed by the capitalist media and as a result by the general public. Our goal is to provide a platform for communists, anti-imperialists, Black Liberation movements, ancoms, left libertarians, LBGTQ activists, feminists, immigration activists, and abolitionists to discuss radical politics, radical organizing and share their visions for a better world. Our goal is to center organizers who represent and work with marginalized communities building survival programs, defense programs, political education, and counterpower. We also plan to bring in perspectives on and from the global south to highlight anti-capitalist struggles outside the imperial core...
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episode 165: Imperialism and the Responsibility of Intellectuals with Noam Chomsky and Vijay Prashad
For this episode we welcome Noam Chomsky and Vijay Prashad back to the podcast.
This is our second conversation on The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of U.S. Power (Part 1 is here)
As we noted in our previous conversation we weren’t able to get to all of our questions in the first discussion, but Noam and Vijay were generous enough to agree to record a part 2. We recorded this conversation on September 2nd, which is interesting because some information on the war in Ukraine had been revealed between our two conversations and we get into that in discussion. We will link the article they reference in the show notes.
This conversation, begins with discussion of the Tet Offensive and Noam facing potential trial for his resistance during the US war in Vietnam. Vijay talks about Noam’s piece “The Responsibility of Intellectuals.”
From there we get into discussion about “the Pentagon System,” and the military industrial complex.
They both share some thoughts on Manufacturing Consent and the role of the media, and discuss a few examples of how this functions. Talk about imperialism with regards to resources and power. And Noam discusses how NATO and the Pentagon rebranded their purposes after the Cold War.
From there we get into the invention of “humanitarian intervention,” and how concepts of human rights and genocide have been manipulated by the US despite US’s total lack of accountability within the frameworks of international law.
We close with some discussion on how to recompose and reconstitute movements in the imperial core, against imperialism and toward better horizons.
Both this conversation and our previous conversation with Noam and Vijay are based on questions developed on their book The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of U.S. Power. Which is on sale now and we definitely recommend it. We will also link the previous discussion the authors had with Guerrilla History that we reference in the episode. If you don’t listen to Guerrilla History check them out, we really like the work they do and hopefully you will as well.
We’re down a few patrons this month. We’re working to maintain the sustainability of the podcast in these difficult times. To that end we have a goal of adding 25 patrons this month. You can become one for as little as $1 a month or $10.80 per year. All support, adds up and makes this show possible and keeps us completely independent, ad free, and able to bring you conversations like this every week. So head over to patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism and help out if you can.
The Hill and Stent article (the one that references the April peace agreement)
Reflections on a Political Trial
The Responsibility of Intellectuals