Is there a place for justice movements inside the confines of capitalism?

In this episode of the Art of Citizenry Podcast, Manpreet Kalra is joined by Dr. Marcia Chatelain, historian and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America. Together, we dig into the intersections of civil rights, economic justice, and corporate accountability, exploring how the pursuit of liberation has too often been commodified under the guise of economic empowerment.

Dr. Chatelain reminds us that food justice isn’t just about what’s on our plates – it’s about the systems shaping access, health, and community power. We discuss how corporations like McDonald’s embedded themselves in Black communities by co-opting civil rights advocacy, reshaping not only economic life but also the very language of empowerment and progress.

This conversation takes us beyond individual choices and into the systemic structures that dictate our options:

• The American blueprint for corporate co-optation of justice movements
• The pitfalls of framing entrepreneurship and capitalism as a blueprint to freedom
• How DEI and corporate “justice” strategies are often inseparable from profit motives

From the civil rights era to today, we unpack the corporate playbook: social movements absorbed, monetized, and repackaged as market opportunities. 

📚 Get Marcia Chatelain’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America.

🎧 Tune in as we ask the deeper questions – who profits, what gets repackaged as justice, and how do we reclaim community power in a system designed to commodify it?

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To keep the content flowing, I am asking you to support in any way you can by donating via Paypal,  joining my Substack subscriber community, or by contributing via Patreon. No amount is too small—every single contribution makes a difference.

📌 Support us as we critically explore, challenge, and unravel mainstream narratives by empowering listeners with accessible, nuanced perspectives. 

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Explore Past Episodes of the Art of Citizenry Podcast with Manpreet Kalra: https://www.artofcitizenry.com/podcast

Thank you for listening, for being part of this community, and for believing that independent journalism is worth fighting for!

For more, you can find the full show notes of every episode at https://www.artofcitizenry.com/episodes

In this special, more casual, episode of the Art of Citizenry Podcast, host Manpreet Kaur Kalra is joined in conversation by show producer, Aly Honoré as they dive into news stories that say a great deal about the state of American democracy, culture, and press freedom.

From a $16 million “settlement” between Paramount and the Trump administration that raises red flags for journalistic independence to a fashion campaign steeped in coded racial and cultural messaging, this episode invites listeners to slow down and ask: What does this reveal about the rules — written and unwritten — that shape our society?

Timestamps:

1:45 Paramount’s $16 Million settlement to the Trump Administration

19:10 Kamala Harris announces she is not running for office, says, “The system is broken”

27:15 “Sydney has great jeans” Eugenics & American Eagle Ad

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

• The Paramount settlement and what it signals for press freedom.
• The cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and what it reveals about corporate influence.
• What a vice president’s low-profile departure suggests about the state of democracy
• How American Eagle’s latest campaign taps into racialized, gendered language — and why it’s worth unpacking.

By connecting the dots between media consolidation, political power, and the commercialization of cultural narratives, this conversation examines the fragile boundaries of what’s considered acceptable — and what happens when those boundaries shift.

🎧 Tune in to explore how seemingly small stories can reveal seismic shifts in our political and cultural landscape.

Mentioned: 

• John Stewart on the cancellation of The Late Show - The Daily Show
• Media Freedom - Freedom House
• VP Kamala Harris’s with Stephen Colbert - The Late Show
• Paramount-Skydance Deal Subverts Free Speech and the Free Press in America - Open Market Institute
• How the Right Shaped the Debate Over the Sydney Sweeney Ads - NY Times
• American Eagle Stock Soars After Trump Backs Sydney Sweeney Ad - AdWeek

📌Support the Podcast: Art of Citizenry is proudly independent. Support us as we critically explore, challenge, and unravel mainstream narratives by empowering listeners with accessible, nuanced perspectives. 

• Contribute via Paypal: https://visit.artofcitizenry.com/paypal
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• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/manpreetkalra

Is there a topic you would like us to explore on the show? Share it with us here! https://visit.artofcitizenry.com/episode-ideas

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Explore Past Episodes of the Art of Citizenry Podcast with Manpreet Kalra: https://www.artofcitizenry.com/podcast

Thank you to our producer, Aly Honoré, and editor, Steven Blevins. The music featured in the podcast was created by Katrina Zemrak.

For more, you can find the full show notes of every episode at https://www.artofcitizenry.com/episodes

The genocide unfolding in Gaza is being sustained by corporate interests. In this episode, we unmask the corporations and governments underpinning Israeli occupation by diving into the findings of a landmark report by United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese.

Since the assaults on Gaza began, the Tel Aviv stock exchange has risen by 179%. Titled "From economy of occupation to economy of genocide," the report identifies corporations across sectors profiting from or contributing to Israel’s crimes in Gaza and the West Bank. These businesses – from weapons manufacturing and tech to finance, construction, and academia – are complicit in structural human rights violations, including apartheid, annexation, and genocide.

Business and human rights scholar Manpreet Kaur Kalra is joined by Lydia de Leeuw, researcher and strategic litigation lead at SOMO, the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations. Together, they delve into the report’s findings on how corporations are enabling, sustaining, and profiting from genocide in Gaza. Their conversation explores the broader implications for international law and emphasizes the urgent need for binding, enforceable mechanisms to hold corporations accountable for their role in human rights violations.

During this episode, we examine:

• The findings of the UN report and what they reveal about profit-driven complicity in genocide
• What legal mechanisms are proposed and available to hold corporations and their executives accountable
• The U.S. government’s unprecedented response and what it signals
• How this moment fits into the broader conversation of corporate accountability for human rights abuses abroad

Resources & References

• UN Report: From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide
• Economic Sanctions Now: the EU is Israel’s largest investor by SOMO
• Business as usual in Palestine? by SOMO

The complicity of corporations in international crimes is not accidental, it's structural. The economies of occupation and genocide are deeply intertwined. This episode exposes an entire economy and profit-making industry built on dispossession, surveillance, and militarized control, enabled by some of the most powerful companies in the world. Without enforceable accountability, corporate actors will continue to profit from the destruction of Palestinian life. The call is urgent—complicity must end and those responsible must be held to account.

📌Support the Podcast: Art of Citizenry is proudly independent. Support us as we critically explore, challenge, and unravel mainstream narratives by empowering listeners with accessible, nuanced perspectives. 

• Support Art of Citizenry’s Independent Journalism and Advocacy Efforts: https://www.artofcitizenry.com/support
• Substack: https://artofcitizenry.substack.com/
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/manpreetkalra

Thank you to our producer, Aly Honoré, and editor, Steven Blevins. The music featured in the podcast was created by Katrina Zemrak.

For more, you can find the full show notes of every episode at https://www.artofcitizenry.com/episodes

In this episode, we’re pulling back the curtain on social entrepreneurship – not to dismiss its promise, but to grapple with its pitfalls and benefits. Social entrepreneurship has emerged as a popular model for those seeking to tackle social issues by reimagining business for good. But the rise in its popularity requires us to pause for deeper reflection on how the model is used, who is included, and whether it is truly disrupting the systems it aims to transform, or simply replicating them in more marketable ways.

Host and social impact advisor, Manpreet Kaur Kalra, sits down with Concepción Galdón, Vice-Dean of Business with Purpose at IE Business School in Madrid and co-author of: Promise, Pitfalls, and Potential of Social Entrepreneurship. Together, they challenge the very definitions that underpin social entrepreneurship and how to move beyond heropreneurship to build more restorative approaches to social change.

During this conversation, we examine: 

• Who defines what “impact” means in different cultural and economic contexts 
• How heropreneurship narratives harm both entrepreneurs and communities
• Why traditional expectations around scalability and growth pose challenges
• The hurdles with impact measurement and impact investing

This episode is a call to slow down, to listen more deeply, and to rethink the definitions, expectations, and power dynamics that shape the world of social enterprises.

📌Support the Podcast: Art of Citizenry is proudly independent. Support us as we critically explore, challenge, and unravel mainstream narratives by empowering listeners with accessible, nuanced perspectives. 

• Support Art of Citizenry’s Independent Journalism and Advocacy Efforts: https://www.artofcitizenry.com/support
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• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/manpreetkalra

For more, you can find the full show notes of every episode at https://www.artofcitizenry.com/episodes

This week, while we take a break, we found it timely and important to recast this episode: Criminalization of Immigration with Anthony Enriquez.

In episode 19 of Art of Citizenry Podcast, Manpreet is joined by Anthony Enriquez, the VP of U.S. Advocacy and Litigation at RFK Human Rights. Together, they discuss the complexities of immigration detention in the U.S., focusing on the financial motivations behind privatized detention centers, the historical shifts in immigration policy, and the role of race in shaping these policies. Anthony highlights the significant abuses occurring in detention centers and the need for advocacy and reform to address these issues. This conversation delves into the complex issues surrounding immigration detention centers, their economic impact on local communities, the evolving political narratives around immigration, and the structural challenges within immigration policy. It highlights the importance of local advocacy and the need for oversight and accountability in immigration detention practices, emphasizing the role of community-led movements in shaping a more just immigration system.

Meet Our Guest

Anthony Enriquez is the Vice President of U.S. Advocacy and Litigation at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. He is an attorney working to reduce mass incarceration in the United States by exposing and stopping human rights abuses in the criminal legal and immigration systems. Anthony leads a team of advocates fighting in U.S. courts and international human rights mechanisms in solidarity with grassroots campaigns for accountability for state-sponsored racial discrimination, torture, and extrajudicial killings.

“Immigration detention is more than an immigrants' rights issue alone. The power we give to the U.S. government to inflict abuses on immigrants is inevitably used against citizens: from racial profiling to mass surveillance to prolonged civil detention and even deportation itself. The public funds we use to transform rural economies into private prison towns could have been used for investments in small businesses, manufacturing, and vocational and educational training instead of multi-million-dollar CEO salaries.”  

Take Action.

At this moment the safety of many is under threat. With much uncertainty, members of our communities are living in fear of what lies ahead. The current administration is attempting to fast-track deportations without due process and have already passed a series of executive orders that further push hardline immigration policies and threaten Constitutional rights. Moments like this demand our action. Now is the time to support the efforts of local grassroots organizations and immigration legal services. Also, take a moment to know your rights – regardless of status, you have rights under the U.S. Constitution.

Thank You for Listening

Please subscribe and leave a five-star review for Art of Citizenry wherever you listen to podcasts. Also, if you want to connect, please feel free to follow along and share your thoughts on Substack - artofcitizenry.substack.com

For more, you can find the full show notes of every episode at https://www.artofcitizenry.com/episodes

For more, you can find the full show notes of every episode at https://www.artofcitizenry.com/episodes

From slavery to Jim Crow, from colonial conquest to today's global labor exploitation—racism has always been foundational to capitalism. But what exactly is racial capitalism, and how does it continue to shape our economy and daily lives?

In this episode, Manpreet Kaur Kalra sits down with renowned historian Robin D. G. Kelley to unravel how capitalism has always been a racialized and gendered colonial project. Together, they examine how systemic racism is ingrained in economic structures, shaping everything from labor practices and property rights to state power and global migration.

Meet Our Guest: Dr. Robin D. G. Kelley is Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA.  His books include Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination and Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression.

In this deeply insightful conversation, we examine:

• how race and gender hierarchies have historically been used to justify exploitation
• the role of slavery in shaping modern labor systems
• Juneteenth and the reality of emancipation in the U.S., reframing the history we’ve been taught
• Jim Crow as a response to interracial labor movements
• ongoing impacts of colonialism on labor practices and immigration policy today
• the importance of solidarity in dismantling systems of oppression

Dr. Kelley makes clear that racial capitalism isn’t just history, it’s the blueprint behind our current economic order. Understanding its roots and mechanisms is critical to any movement seeking genuine liberation and systemic change.

“If the goal is liberation, two things have to go: modern capitalism and systemic racism.” — Robin D.G. Kelley

📌 Robin D.G. Kelley’s work critically examines race, capitalism, labor, and radical social movements, offering powerful insights on the struggle for collective liberation. For more about Juneteenth, listen to his episode on the Majority Report.

Support the Podcast: Art of Citizenry is proudly independent. Support us as we critically explore, challenge, and unravel mainstream narratives by empowering listeners with accessible, nuanced perspectives. 

• Support Art of Citizenry’s Independent Journalism and Advocacy Efforts: https://www.artofcitizenry.com/support
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For more, you can find the full show notes of every episode at https://www.artofcitizenry.com/episodes

In this episode, host Manpreet Kaur Kalra invites listeners into a reflective and urgent conversation about the enduring legacy of "divide and rule," one of colonialism’s most insidious and effective strategies of domination. Often treated as a historical tactic, divide-and-rule remains deeply embedded in today’s global systems, from political polarization to economic dependency. Manpreet reflects on how this strategy was not merely about creating divisions, but about surgically engineering hierarchies that pit communities against one another in service of control.

Through a historical lens, the episode examines how colonial regimes fractured societies along religious, ethnic, and social lines to undermine solidarity and resistance. The legacy of these interventions lives on — in borders, in conflict, and in the structural inequalities that underpin the Global North-Global South divide.

🔍 In this episode, we explore:

• Historical examples of divide and rule, including:
  • The 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan
  • The creation of Bantustans under apartheid South Africa
  • Colonialisms use of tribal divisions in Rwanda to weaken collective governance and how that underpinned the Rwandan Genocide
• The evolution of these tactics into modern-day “soft power” mechanisms used by:
  • Global institutions like the UN, IMF, and WTO
  • Multinational corporations that exploit weak regulatory environments and divided societies for profit

The episode draws a direct line from historical divide-and-rule policies to the scapegoating and “othering” seen in today’s politics—from anti-immigrant legislation to the assault on trans rights. These are not disconnected events, but rather the continuation of a well-worn strategy designed to distract and divide, making it harder for communities to organize and challenge dominant power structures.

💭 Reflection Prompt: How do the tactics of divide-and-rule show up in your daily life, your community, or your field of work—and what does it look like to build across those divides?

Whether you’re a student of history, a social justice advocate, or simply curious about the ways power operates in our world, this episode offers a thoughtful, grounded look at how the past continues to shape our present—and how we might start to imagine something different.

Support the Podcast: Art of Citizenry is proudly independent. Support us as we critically explore, challenge, and unravel mainstream narratives by empowering listeners with accessible, nuanced perspectives. 

• Support Art of Citizenry’s Independent Journalism and Advocacy Efforts: https://www.artofcitizenry.com/support
• Substack: https://artofcitizenry.substack.com/
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/manpreetkalra

For more, you can find the full show notes of every episode at https://www.artofcitizenry.com/episodes

If you caught Episode 25, you know the story: approximately 250 Guatemalan garment workers are still owed $500,000 in severance from Lucky Brand after the closure of the Industrial Hana factory. But what started as a case study in wage theft quickly revealed something bigger—how private equity is transforming fashion supply chains behind the scenes.

In this follow-up episode, Manpreet Kaur Kalra reconnects with Anna Canning of Partners for Dignity & Rights to peel back the layers of fashion’s financial structure. Together, they trace how corporate ownership is intentionally opaque, and how firms like Authentic Brands Group are profiting by fragmenting responsibility. From bankruptcies and brand buyouts to complex licensing deals, together, we unpack how private equity is redefining who owns what—and why that matters for the future of corporate accountability. 

We talk about the companies you don’t see on tags—the ones pulling the strings behind brand names by diving into: 

• How private equity uses debt, licensing, and outsourcing to extract value
• The growing trend of intellectual property empires
• Why bankruptcy is now a business tactic, not a failure
• What Forever 21, Shaquille O’Neal, and mall landlords have to do with all of it

Private equity isn’t just reshaping fashion—it’s financializing daily life. From healthcare to the roads we drive on to legacy fashion brands, this episode is a deep dive into the real cost of profit-maximizing business models—and the urgent need for structural accountability.

“If the goal is to maximize returns on investment at any costs, then the working people at the bottom are always the ones who pay.” — Anna Canning

Meet Our Guest

Anna Canning leads the Worker Rights team at Partners for Dignity and Rights. Prior to that, she was with the Worker-driven Social Responsibility Network. Throughout her career, Anna has led creative campaigns taking on corporate power and the fairwashing used to cover corporate abuses. Anna has over 20 years of experience working in supply chains and in movements for food justice and human rights.

📌 Partners for Dignity and Rights is a non-profit that advocates for human rights, especially the rights to dignified work, housing, and public education.

Read the full show notes: https://www.artofcitizenry.com/podcast/private-equity-in-fashion

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Around the world, far-right and ultra-conservative movements are gaining power—mainstreaming ideologies once confined to the political fringes. From the recent elections in Germany to the United States, we’re witnessing a rise in extremist rhetoric, the rollback of human rights protections, and a troubling erosion of democratic norms. As these forces grow bolder, many leaders – from businesses to major media companies to higher education – are choosing silence over resistance. But neutrality in moments like these is not apolitical; it’s complicity. When leaders remain quiet, they protect the very systems that threaten the fabric of a just and equitable society.

In this episode, Manpreet Kaur Kalra is joined by longtime collaborator and CEO of El Puente, Jette Ladiges, whose voice as a business leader serves as a source of inspiration in the face of political silence. Together, they unpack why “neutrality” is not neutral, and what it means to lead fearlessly in an era defined by rising authoritarianism.

“Choosing to stay silent is just as much a political decision as taking a stand.” – Jette Ladiges, CEO of El Puente

This episode examines how rising far-right ideologies and authoritarian movements threaten not just governments, but the global economy. Manpreet and Jette discuss the recent elections in Germany and how extremist political movements in Germany, the United States, and globally pose a critical need for continuous and collective rebellion against the spread of dangerous ideologies and oppression. Against this backdrop, they argue that silence—especially from institutions with power and influence—is not a neutral position, but a tacit endorsement of harm. 

Together, they discuss how we can rethink current economic structures, the importance of small-medium size businesses, and the role of businesses in advocating for democracy and human rights. The conversation explores the urgent need for leaders across all sectors to drive structural change and lead with values, particularly in the face of today’s mounting global challenges.

They also examine how stakeholder-led governance models can disrupt extractive economic systems and serve as blueprints for systemic transformation. The discussion challenges entrenched Global North–Global South dichotomies, highlights the precarious future of Germany’s Supply Chain Due Diligence Act, and reflects on the fragility of democracy across borders. This is a conversation about rejecting complacency and recognizing that building ethical, resilient systems requires collaboration, community, and confronting extremism head-on.

Meet Our Guest

Jette Ladiges is the CEO of El Puente, a Germany-based social enterprise and member of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO). Her work has always been rooted in the social enterprise movement. She also serves on the board of the World Fair Trade Organization and Forum Fairer Handel, the German Fair Trade association and advocacy office, where she advocates for business models that put people and the planet first.

Read the full show notes: https://www.artofcitizenry.com/podcast/a-call-for-humanity-standing-against-extremism

Support the Podcast: Art of Citizenry is proudly independent. Support us as we critically explore, challenge, and unravel mainstream narratives by empowering listeners with accessible, nuanced perspectives. 

• Support Art of Citizenry’s Independent Journalism and Advocacy Efforts: https://www.artofcitizenry.com/support
• Substack: https://artofcitizenry.substack.com/
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/manpreetkalra

For more, you can find the full show notes of every episode at https://www.artofcitizenry.com/episodes