Upstream

This is a free preview of the episode "The Crushing Despair of Class Society." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber, you'll get access to biweekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to make Upstream a weekly show, and it will also give...

In this episode we're joined by Max Haivan for a conversation on gamified capitalism and 21st century fascism. Max Haiven is Canada Research Chair in Radical Imagination at Lakehead University and author of many books, including most recently,  The Player and the Played: From Gamed Capitalism to 21st-Century Fascism, which is open-access. He is the designer of the board game Billionaires & Guillot...

This is a free preview of the episode "Cuba Ep. 11: Actually Existing Ecology w/ Henry Hakamäki & Salvatore Engels-Di Mauro." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber, you'll get access to biweekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to mak...

This is an unlocked version of our Patreon episode "Communism, the Highest Stage of Ecology w/ Henry Hakamäki & Salvatore Engels-Di Mauro." In this episode, Part 1 of a 2-part miniseries, Henry Hakamäki & Salvatore Engels-Di Mauro join us to discuss the ecology of communism as described in the book,  Communism, the Highest Stage of Ecology by French scholar Guillaume Suing. Salvatore Engels-Di Mau...

In this episode, we're joined by Carsie Blanton for a conversation on communist folk music and the role of politics in art. Carsie Blanton is a songwriter, touring musician, and organizer with Artists Against Apartheid and People's Songs —an organization of musicians dedicated to adapting, distributing, and performing songs for liberation. The conversation begins with Carsie giving us a sense of h...

This is a free preview of the episode "China Ep. 11: Tibet w/ Ken Hammond." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here:  https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber, you'll get access to biweekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to make Upstream a weekly show, and it will also give y...

In this conversation, episode 7 in our ongoing series on Venezuela, we're joined by Cira Pascual Marquina and Chris Gilbert for an on-the-ground assessment of how Venezuela is navigating the latest phase of US imperialism. Chris Gilbert is a professor at Venezuela's Bolivarian University and a writer based in Caracas. He's the author of Commune or Nothing! Venezuela's Communal Movement and its Soc...

This is a free preview of the episode "Communism, the Highest Stage of Ecology w/ Henry Hakamäki & Salvatore Engels-Di Mauro." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here:  https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber, you'll get access to biweekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to m...

In this episode we're joined by Abby Martin for a conversation on her film, "Cuba after Castro: The Island in the Crosshairs." Abby Martin is a journalist, activist, founder of " The Empire Files ," and director of the films " Gaza Fights for Freedom ," " Earth's Greatest Enemy ," which was the topic of our first episode with Abby, which was actually our first live show ever, and the film we'll be...

This is a free preview of the episode "China Ep. 10: The Dialectics of Chinese Labor w/ Immanuel Ness" You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here:  https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber, you'll get access to biweekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to make Upstream a weekly sh...

In this episode we're joined by Charisse Burden-Stelly for a conversation on Cuba and the long history of US red scares through the lens of the US Department of State's recent report on Cuba: " Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism. " Charisse Burden-Stelly is an associate professor of African American studies at Wayne State University, a member of the Black Alliance for Peace , Movement Bui...

This is a free preview of the episode "Inventing Reality: The Politics of News Media" You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here:  https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber, you'll get access to biweekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to make Upstream a weekly show, and it will a...

In this episode we're joined by Mohamed Khougali for a conversation exploring the history and politics of Sudan from the perspective of a Sudanese psychotherapist who participated in the 2018-2019 revolution. Mohamed Khougali is a socialist who was part of the Sudanese revolution of 2019. He's the author of Politically Unconscious: The Psychic Aftermath of the Sudanese Revolution , published by Is...

This is a free preview of the episode "250 Years of Bourgeois Democracy w/ August Nimtz" You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episodes, and other benefit...

In this episode Cecilia Guerrero joins us to pick apart the sordid origins and class orientation of the Democratic Party. Cecilia Guerrero is chair and founding member of  A Luta Sigue , an organization based in Nashville, Tennessee which incubates and trains young people and workers within advanced sectors of the working class to build and lead their own class struggle organizations. The conversa...

This is a free preview of the episode "Iran Pt. 5: Is the US-Iran Deal a Trap for Iran? w/ Elina Xenophontos" You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episod...

The hyper-individual, anti-collectivist ideology that defines and permeates Western societies has profound consequences in multiple realms, from mental health to ecological health to economic health—it's a way of living and thinking that has stained our society from the start. No one knows this more than those individuals and cultures who have, for thousands of years, practiced life in a different...

This is a free preview of the episode "China Pt. 9: Taiwan w/ Charles Xu and Feiyang Sun." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episodes, and other benef...

In this episode we're joined by Fadhel Kaboub for a conversation about the US dollar, its hegemony over the globe, and the emerging challenges to this hegemony. Fadhel Kaboub is a Tunisian-American economist, professor of economics at Denison University, president of the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity , and author of Global South Perspectives on substack. The conversation opens with a...

This is a free preview of the episode "Cuba Pt. 8: Lessons from the Fall of the USSR w/ Helen Yaffe." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episodes, and...

In this episode, part 7 of our ongoing series on Cuba, we're joined by Helen Yaffe  for a conversation exploring what the attempts to build socialism in Cuba look like in a practical sense—from housing to food distribution to economic management. Helen Yaffe is a professor of Latin American political economy at the University of Glasgow. She is the author of  We Are Cuba! How a Revolutionary Peopl...

This is a free preview of the episode "Cuba Pt. 6: The Political Thought of Fidel Castro w/ Renzo Llorente." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episode...

In this episode, part 5 of our ongoing series on Cuba, we're joined by Manolo De Los Santos & Liz Oliva Fernández for a conversation exploring the current state of the island and how Cubans are responding to Trump's oil blockade. Manolo De Los Santos is a founder of the People's Forum and a researcher at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research . He is the co-editor Viviremos: Venezuela vs. H...

This is a free preview of the episode "The Long Transition Towards Socialism and the End of Capitalism w/ Torkil Lauesen." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to c...

In this episode we're joined by Ramsey Robinson for a conversation exploring the need for socialism in California (and beyond). Ramsey Robinson is a mental health social worker, organizer, and revolutionary based in San Francisco. He is running for Governor of California with the Peace and Freedom Party . The conversation begins with Ramsey discussing what compelled him to run for Governor of Cali...