The Pen is My Machete:
An Anti-imperialist Podcast

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. 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

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. 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

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. 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

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. Follow AISC on X (@penandmachete) and Instagram (@penandmachete). Visit anti-imperialists.com to join the newsletter and find our blog, The Pen is My Machete. Donations to the producer of this show are welcome at www.patreon.com/east_podcast.

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. Follow AISC on X (@penandmachete) and Instagram (@penandmachete). Visit anti-imperialists.com to join the newsletter and find our blog, The Pen is My Machete. Donations to the producer of this show are welcome at www.patreon.com/east_podcast.

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. Follow AISC on X (@penandmachete) and Instagram (@penandmachete). Visit anti-imperialists.com to join the newsletter and find our blog, The Pen is My Machete. Donations to the producer of this show are welcome at www.patreon.com/east_podcast.

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. Follow AISC on X (@penandmachete) and Instagram (@penandmachete). Visit anti-imperialists.com to join the newsletter and find our blog, The Pen is My Machete. Donations to the producer of this show are welcome at www.patreon.com/east_podcast.

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 (note: this episode was recorded before the ceasefire was reached on October 9). Follow AISC on X (@penandmachete) and Instagram (@penandmachete). Visit anti-imperialists.com to join the newsletter and find our blog, The Pen is My Machete. Donations to the producer of this show are welcome at www.patreon.com/east_podcast.

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. Follow AISC on X (@penandmachete) and Instagram (@penandmachete). Visit anti-imperialists.com to join the newsletter and find our blog, The Pen is My Machete. Donations to the producer of this show are welcome at www.patreon.com/east_podcast.