The player is loading ...
Sign up to get updates from us
Today on the show I'm talking with Rainer Shea. Rainer is a friend and comrade I've gotten to know over Facebook and Twitter. He's a writer, a podcaster, and a revolutionary socialist. We're talking about Anti-Imperialism, and the reason I feel this is a conversation worthy of having in his historical moment is that I think many Americans are feeling like we're witnessing the decline of the American Empire.
Things are really bad right now in the United States, both domestically and on the world stage. As we lose favor and respect among our geopolitical allies and hemorrhage credibility, America's standing in the world is on a steady decline. The world order established at the end of World War 2, with the United States being the premier military power and strongest economy, has dissipated. Although the military budget is still roughly three times the size of the Chinese military budget, our country has found itself unable to contend with any other obstacles other than a foreign war. In fact, we are a country that has made its peace with being perpetually at war, and in so many ways, America's imperialism has come home to haunt us.
The rise of the police state, the surveillance state, and the patriot act leave the American public in a panopticon - but the very people who feel they're trapped in this failing capitalist system know American Empire is wounded, overextended in its territories, occupied by wars abroad and crisis at home.
With all of this in our national conversations, I felt like Rainer, who makes anti-imperialism the central focus of his work, would be the perfect person to speak to about this.
Our conversation is vast, but as far as tracing it back to theory, there's some Marx, Lenin, Gramsci, Althusser, and Mao.
Rainer Shea - You can follow Rainer on Twitter @rainer_shea and read his journal on his website www.RainerShea.com . His podcast 'Revolutionary Socialist Review' can be found on his YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2thakxq.
Music as always is provided by Samuel Thomas 'Self Taut' and you can check out his Soundcloud here: https://soundcloud.com/samuel-thomas-2/
