Red Star Over Asia

On March 20th, home care workers in New York went on a hunger strike to demand an end to the dreaded 24-hour workday. States in the Global North seek to alleviate their aging populations by bringing in workers from the Global South, where imperialism and neoliberal policies have forced these workers to immigrate to global metropoles such as New York City, only to end up trapped in sweatshop labor....

Red Star Over Asia interviews Sun Cheol, who explains how the South Korean climate justice movement emerged out of tensions with the broader environmental movement's reluctance to confront "green capital," building ties with trade unions and social movements, the historical role global solidarity played, as well as resisting co-option by the state. Sun Chul is a climate activist and...

We are back after a long hiatus, with a brilliant guest to discuss China, a topic many of our listeners have long asked us to cover. Our guest is Yueran Zhang is a PhD student in sociology at UC-Berkeley studying workers democracy movements in China, particularly in the 1970s-1980s. This episode was initially intended to be focused on the specific era of workers' self-organization in the late...

Both Koreas have a historically frought relationship with Japan, due to the history of colinization. Beginning in the late 19th century, there were waves of Korean immigration to Japan. This accelerated dramatically with Japan's formal annexation of the Korean pennisula in the early 20th century. In Japan today, the descendants of these Koreas are known as Zainichi. We are joined on this episo...

The South Korean intelligence services and police raided the headquarters of a major umbrella labor union in central Seoul in late January 2023, on dubious suspicion that some members had violated national security laws. This is the audio version of a recent video livestream correct the record and discuss how this is an attack on South Korea's young democracy that risks dragging us back to the dar...

This is audio from a live stream on the South Korea truckers strike. In November, South Korean cargo truckers representated by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) launched a nationwide strike around the extension of a minumum wage guarantee and related work safety issues.   The Yoon administration has responded aggressively, issuing an executive order for truckers to return t...

We're thrilled to present this new epsiode with Joe Buckley, author of a fascinating new book, 'Vietnamese Labour Militancy: Capital-labour antagonisms and self-organised struggles' Vietnam has been undergoing significant changes, with a new Labour code that became law in 2021 allowing workers to join ‘worker representative organisations. Together with the increasing penetration of global capital...

Vladimir Tikhonov, also known by his pen name Pak Noja/박노자, is a Russian-born scholar of Korean Studies and a Professor at the University of Oslo in Norway. He has written numerous articles and books on Korean politics, particularly on the history and legacy of Korean socialist and Communist movements. His lastest book (currently only available in Korean) is available here: https://tinyurl.com/...

This is part two of a two-part episode. Part one covered the origins of the Korean Communist movement and how they survived multiple splits and waves of repression by the Japanese Empire. Now, with part two, we jump forward to 1945. World War II has just ended, taking the Japanese Empire with it. Korean communists have to deal with occupying American and Soviet armies, which help create the condit...

The history of Korean Communism has long been obscured by the myth making of anticommunist regimes in the South, but also in the North, where Korean leftists outside of the partisan tradition have been erased. In the first part of this interview with historian Owen Miller, we uncover the birthplace of Korean communism in the expatriate communities in Siberia and Manchuria, review how fair Korean c...

For this episode, the crew discuss two recent articles. The first, 'The Specificity of Imperialism' by Salar Mohandesi, engages with some recent debates around whether 'imperialism' is still a relevant concept for understanding contemporary capitalism.   In the second piece, 'Towards an East Asian Solidarity from Below', South Korean militant Myungkyo Hong argues in favor of a recalibrated interna...

This is part two of a two-part episode with Sofia Japardize, a labor activist based in Tblisi, Georgia. Before preceding, we highly recommend hitting the pause button and starting with part 1! Georgia is in some ways ‘a land between’. Red Star tends to focus on East Asian topics, but we had the opportunity to have on a good friend of the show, Sopo Japardize. She's a labor organizer based in Tblis...

For this episode, we go to the far Western edges of ‘Asia’, the Republic of Georgia. Georgia is in some ways ‘a land between’. Red Star tends to focus on East Asian topics, but we had the opportunity to have on a good friend of the show, Sopo Japardize. She's a labor organizer based in Tblisi, Georiga, a fascinating country located at the nexus of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Most listeners wi...

This is part 2 of a two-part episode on Cuba with Rodrigo Huamachi. We recommend listening to part 1 first! Part 1 of our discussion focused on the history and legacy of the Cuban Revolution, as well as the structure and dynamics of Cuba's political and electoral system. Here in part 2, we cover the recent July 2021 protest wave in Cuba and unpack some of the false media narratives around it. We a...

We're back for Season 2 with an epic two-part episode on Cuba! You might be asking yourself, "this is ‘Red Star Over Asia’, why is there an episode about Cuba?" Well, the Cuban Revolution has had a profound impact all over the world. Cuba historically supported anti-colonial colonial movements in Asia, Africa etc. and the Cuban experience offers a lot of lessons for socialists anywhere on the glob...

May 18th is the anniversary of the Gwangju Uprising, when the citizens of Gwangju launched an armed uprising against South Korea’s military regime. On October 26, 1979, South Korea's longtime military dictator, Park Chung Hee was assassinated by his own head of secret police, ending the infamous Yushin regime. However, in December of that year, General Chun Do Hwan, chief of South Korea's internal...

(This is part 2 of a 2 part discussion. We highly recommend listening to part 1 before starting this episode). In February of 2021, Myanmar's military leadership annulled the results of a general election and removed the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, from power. Popular resistance immediately erupted in response to the coup, but the military has responded with an in...

In February of 2021, Myanmar's military leadership annulled the results of a general election and removed the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, from power. Popular resistance immediately erupted in response to the coup, but the military has responded with an increasingly violent crackdown. The military has dominated politics in Myanmar for decades, with NLD and Suu Kyi...

The panel (minus Jay - he was out sick for this episode) discusses the nature of anti-Asian racism in the U.S., in the aftermath of the March 16th Atlanta shootings. *Disclaimer*: this was recorded in the immediate aftermath of those tragic events, when details were unclear. Please excuse any factual inaccuracies in our description of the shooting. That aside, we think you will find the general di...

Ashok Kumar joins this week to discuss the farmers' movement in India, the Indian left generally, and his new book Monopsony Capitalism: Power and Production in the Twilight of the Sweatshop Age. Since last year, an energized mass movement of farmers has erupted across India in response to the Modi government's attempt at a neoliberal restructuring of agriculture. The panel goes deep on this episo...

The panel discusses how and why various Asian governments and the U.S. state have handled pandemic response the way they have.

The Red Star crew discusses the challenges of doing meaningful 'international solidarity' - with Korean-American organizer and special guest 'Nokdu'.

Bori, Jack, Jay and Mike introduce the podcast. Red Star Over Asia covers politics, social movements and history across the continent from a socialist perspective. Future episodes will feature guests and discussions on a range of topics.