The Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective

Anti-Imperialist Scholar Collective
  • 4.9 (10)
  • POLITICS

The Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective (AISC) is a group of scholars committed to challenging US-led imperialism and supporting liberation movements of the Global Majority through critical knowledge production and international solidarity.

Episodes

  1. FEB 7

    Iran against Empire: Negotiations, War, or Both?

    On this episode, AISC member Navid Farnia speaks with guest and friend of the show, Professor Setareh Sadeqi (@Leelako). They discuss all things Iran and the United States, including the renewed negotiations between the two countries, the brutal Zionist-U.S. urban war against Iran in January, the possibility of U.S. military aggression, and Iran's preparedness. Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel (Coming soon!) Follow AISC  X (@penandmachete)  Instagram (@penandmachete) Visit our website to join the newsletter and find our blog, The Pen is My Machete. Donations to the producer of this show, Sina Rahmani, are welcome at www.patreon.com/east_podcast

    57 min

  2. JAN 9

    The US attack on Venezuela: Imperialism vs Sovereignty

    This episode, hosted by AISC member Bikrum Gill, addresses the recent US attack on Venezuela and the brazen kidnapping of President Nicholas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores. We are joined by journalist Camila Escalante, who begins the episode with important updates on the situation in Venezuela and shares key insights regarding the need to be vigilant against psychological warfare in this moment. This is followed by a roundtable discussion with AISC members Layla Brown, Jemima Pierre, Diego Alcala Laboy, and Tamanisha John. Here, we discuss the history of the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela, why the Bolivarian state poses such a distinct threat to US imperialism, and how the struggle in Venezuela links to broader anti-imperialist struggles in the region and globally. Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel  Follow AISC  X (@penandmachete)  Instagram (@penandmachete) Visit our website to join the newsletter and find our blog, The Pen is My Machete. Donations to the producer of this show, Sina Rahmani, are welcome at www.patreon.com/east_podcast

    1h 32m

  3. JAN 4

    The Bolivarian and Iranian Revolutions vs. US Imperialism

    Hosted by AISC co-founder Nina Farnia, this episode features two distinguished guests and friends of AISC, Venezuela's former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Ron and University of Tehran professor Mohammad Marandi. We initially filmed a 2025 anti-imperialist roundup on December 30, 2025, but just a few days later the US invaded Venezuela and abducted President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flires. We brought our guests back after the abduction to discuss the invasion, the abduction, and the future of the Bolivarian Revolution in the face of US imperialism. Both episodes are included here. Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel  Follow AISC  X (@penandmachete)  Instagram (@penandmachete) Visit our website to join the newsletter and find our blog, The Pen is My Machete. Donations to the producer of this show, Sina Rahmani, are welcome at www.patreon.com/east_podcast

    1h 41m

  4. 12/24/2025

    Russia Today and the Crisis of Western Imperialism: A Marxist Perspective

    In this episode, Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective members Jeannette Graulau and Corinna Mullin are joined by Arto Artinian for a wide-ranging discussion on the US/NATO proxy war in Ukraine, drawing on a recent AISC-convened roundtable and special issue edited by Jeannette Graulau on "Russia Today." At a moment when Russophobia dominates mainstream discourse and critical scholarship is increasingly marginalized within Western academia, the conversation works to restore historical and political clarity. Situating the war within the longer arc of Western encirclement, sanctions warfare, and attempts to recolonize the post-Soviet space, the discussion challenges dominant narratives that frame Russia as an imperialist aggressor. Arto Artinian is a musician and political theorist whose work focuses on Marxism, imperialism, and Eastern European political thought. Raised in Bulgaria and the Soviet Union, he later pursued his studies in the United States. His current research includes Homo Datum, an examination of political subjectivity under contemporary capitalism, and June 1941: Soviet Ukraine, a historico-philosophical reconstruction challenging revisionist accounts of the Nazi invasion. He is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Borough of Manhattan Community College (CUNY) and a member of the editorial collectives of Marxism & Sciences and Situations: Project of the Radical Imagination. Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel Follow AISC  X (@penandmachete)  Instagram (@penandmachete) Visit our website to join the newsletter and find our blog, The Pen is My Machete. Donations to the producer of this show, Sina Rahmani, are welcome at www.patreon.com/east_podcast

    1h 26m

  5. 12/14/2025

    Labor Zionism, Labor Imperialism, and Labor Internationalism — from Palestine to Venezuela

    Hosted by AISC members Bikrum Gill and Corinna Mullin, this episode features Suzanne Adely, a movement lawyer, longtime Arab community organizer, and president of the National Lawyers Guild with decades of experience in international labor solidarity, and Sachin Peddada, Research Coordinator at Progressive International whose work maps military supply chains and the political economy of war. Together, they examine labor imperialism and labor Zionism through the intertwined struggles of Palestine and Venezuela. Situating the conversation in the wake of the November 28–29 Disarm Genocide Now days of action—when workers, unions, students, and communities mobilized to hold labor bureacrats accountable, uphold the Palestinian BDS picket line, and boycott Black Friday—the episode traces the historical role of U.S. labor institutions in sustaining Zionist settler colonialism and imperialist power, while recovering suppressed traditions of anti-imperialist and anti-racist labor internationalism from below. Moving from supply-chain disruption in solidarity with Palestine to the AFL-CIO's role in undermining the Bolivarian socialist revolutionary project in Venezuela, the discussion shows how labor struggles against genocide and sanctions are part of a single global fight against capitalist-imperialist accumulation—and why building militant, internationalist working-class power is essential to confronting both. Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel Follow AISC  X (@penandmachete)  Instagram (@penandmachete) Visit our website to join the newsletter and find our blog, The Pen is My Machete. Donations to the producer of this show, Sina Rahmani, are welcome at www.patreon.com/east_podcast

    1h 36m

  6. 11/19/2025

    The Trials and Tribulations of Zionist-Imperialism

    On Episode 5 of the AISC podcast, members Diego Alcalá, Bikrum Gill, and Navid Farnia discuss the U.S. continued buildup in the Caribbean, focusing particularly on the implications for Venezuela and Puerto Rico. They also explore the ongoing imperialist attacks against Lebanon, the West's failing military campaign against Russia, and the popular discourse on the relationship between the Zionist entity and the United States. Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel Follow AISC  X (@penandmachete)  Instagram (@penandmachete) Visit our website to join the newsletter and find our blog, The Pen is My Machete. Donations to the producer of this show, Sina Rahmani, are welcome at www.patreon.com/east_podcast

    1h 34m

  7. 11/19/2025

    Russia Today: An Anti-Imperialist Perspective

    The Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective's inaugural roundtable focuses on the modern role of Russia in the world system today, highlighting the constellation of local, regional, hemispheric, and global forces that shape Russia's place in the world.  Three central questions guide the discussion: What structural relations define Russia's position in the world today?  How do these relations unfold at local, regional and inter-continental levels?  What is Russia's relationship to the Global Majority? Panelists discuss these questions and more. Date of recording: Saturday, November 15, 2025 Featuring: · Andrey Ivanovich Kolganov · Radhika Desai · Pawel Wargan · Arto Artinian . Henry Hakamäki  Moderated by:  Jeannette Graulau Follow AISC  X (@penandmachete)  Instagram (@penandmachete) Visit our website to join the newsletter and find our blog, The Pen is My Machete. Donations to the producer of this show, Sina Rahmani, are welcome at www.patreon.com/east_podcast

    2h 3m

  8. 11/10/2025

    Fascist repression from the Caribbean to the internal colony

    In this episode of the AISC podcast, Charisse Burden-Stelly, Diego Alcala, Khadija Haynes, and Corinna Mullin take an anti-imperialist lens to discuss the distortion of Assata Shakur's legacy and the U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean, with a focus on Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, and Cuba. They trace how imperialist war abroad connects to the resurgent fascist war at home- from ICE raids and university repression to cuts in SNAP and other essential programs- and the social forces that are resisting. Follow AISC  X (@penandmachete)  Instagram (@penandmachete) Visit our website to join the newsletter and find our blog, The Pen is My Machete. Donations to the producer of this show, Sina Rahmani, are welcome at www.patreon.com/east_podcast

    1h 34m

  9. 10/19/2025

    Imperialism's Political, Economic, and Military Machinations: From the Caribbean to Asia

    On this episode of the AISC podcast, members Bikrum Gill and Navid Farnia address the US's ongoing military buildup in the Caribbean and the energy conflict between the US and China.  They also provide more analysis of the Gaza "ceasefire" and comment on the flareup between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel   Follow AISC on X (@penandmachete) and Instagram (@penandmachete). Visit our website to join the newsletter and find our blog, The Pen is My Machete. Donations to the producer of this show, Sina Rahmani, are welcome at www.patreon.com/east_podcast

    57 min

  10. 10/19/2025

    Anti-Imperialist Struggle: Lessons from Assata and Gaza

    On this episode of the AISC podcast, members Charisse Burden-Stelly and Navid Farnia discuss the passing of the revolutionary Assata Shakur, the ceasefire in Gaza, the Nobel Peace Prize as a mechanism to ramp up imperialist pressure on Venezuela, and the US government's overture to universities in order to induce ideological alignment. Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel Follow AISC on X (@penandmachete) and Instagram (@penandmachete). Visit our website to join the newsletter and find our blog, The Pen is My Machete. Donations to the producer of this show, Sina Rahmani, are welcome at Patreon.com/east_podcast

    1h 23m

  11. 10/19/2025

    Imperialist Wars against Haiti, Venezuela, and Palestine

    ***Producer's note: This episode was recorded before the ceasefire was reached on October 9, 2025*** On this episode of the Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective podcast, AISC members Alex Aviña, Bikrum Gill, and Jemima Pierre discuss and historicize the current imperialist occupation of Haiti. They consider the ramifications of the US-led occupation for the broader Caribbean region and specifically, for the US's military buildup and hybrid war against Venezuela. They also respond to the "peace plan" presented by the US imperialists and their regional collaborators to the Palestinian resistance  Follow AISC on X (@penandmachete) and Instagram (@penandmachete). Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel Visit our website to join the newsletter and find our blog, The Pen is My Machete. Donations to the producer of this show, Sina Rahmani, are welcome at Patreon.com/east_podcast.

    1h 40m

  12. 10/07/2025

    Introducing AISC and Our Principles of Unity

    On this inaugural episode of the Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective podcast, AISC members Diego Alcalá and Bikrum Gill introduce the collective and highlight our Principles of Unity. Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel Follow AISC on X (@penandmachete) and Instagram (@penandmachete). Visit our website to join the newsletter and find our blog, The Pen is My Machete. Donations to the producer of this show, Sina Rahmani, are welcome at Patreon.com/east_podcast.

    57 min
  • 12 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

4.9
out of 5
10 Ratings

About

The Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective (AISC) is a group of scholars committed to challenging US-led imperialism and supporting liberation movements of the Global Majority through critical knowledge production and international solidarity.

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