Essential Dissent

This episode is audio from a webinar sponsored by and held at the International Action Center in NYC on March 5th, 2026.

https://iacenter.org

Speakers:

Larry Holmes

Sunday

Omowale Clay

Sara Flounders

Bahman Azad

Plus:

Activist songwriter Ben Grosscup performing "The Money They Stole".

https://www.youtube.com/c/BenGrosscup

A segment by Caitlin Johnstone titled "Meditations on a Delivery Robot Steering to Avoid a Homeless Man On the Sidewalk", read by Tim Foley.

This episode is audio from a talk titled "The Long War on Iran", which features Behrooz Ghamari in conversation with Narges Bajoghli.

Ghamari’s recent book of the same name draws on two decades of political analysis to explore the history of US intervention in the region, focusing on the enduring sanctions imposed on Iran and the persistent perception of the Islamic Republic as a major obstacle to American power.

By challenging the conventional image of Iran as a totalitarian regime, Ghamari urges readers to appreciate the country’s diverse society and complex political landscape.

Narges Bajoghli is a scholar, award-winning author, and public intellectual exploring the intersections of media, power, and resistance in global politics.

The event was sponsored by OR Books, and took place at the Francis Kite Club in New York City on March 4th, 2026.

This episode is “Celebrating the Revolutionary Contributions of Michael Parenti”, a webinar organized by the International Manifesto Group and Critical Theory Workshop. It took place on February 21, 2026.

Michael Parenti, who passed away on January 24, 2026 at the age of 92, was a towering figure in Marxist scholarship and activism.

Among the topics discussed were Parenti’s profound impact on the study of imperialism, war, propaganda, fascism, and the difficulties of socialist construction, as well as his unwavering commitment to the global class struggle.

https://internationalmanifesto.org/

https://criticaltheoryworkshop.com/

Speakers:

Ali Kadri (Professor, Sun Yat-sen University)

Ben Norton (Editor, Geopolitical Economy Report)

Corinna Mullin (Associate Editor, Middle East Critique)

Immanuel Ness (Professor, City University of New York)

Gabriel Rockhill (Author, Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism?)

Sara Flounders (Co-director, International Action Center)

Shiran Illanperuma (Researcher, Tricontinental Institute)

Barry Lituchy (Professor, City University of New York)

Chair: Carlos Martinez (Co-editor, Friends of Socialist China)

This episode is a talk by Gabriel Rockhill to mark the publication of his new book, titled “Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism?”

For Rockhill, an American philosopher, writer, cultural critic, and Professor of Philosophy at Villanova University, the term "Western Marxism" is not simply a geographic label or a neutral academic category.

Instead it denotes an ideological formation that depoliticizes Marxism and detaches it from revolutionary struggle, transforming it into a politically defanged cultural-philosophical discourse.

In his view, Western universities, foundations, cultural institutions, Cold War anti-communism, and state and corporate funding structures

His goal is to redirect Marxist theory back toward revolutionary praxis, global anti-imperialist movements, and material political struggle.

Gabriel Rockhill spoke on December 11, 2025 in a panel discussion sponsored by Critical Theory Workshop.

https://criticaltheoryworkshop.com

Aly Wane is an undocumented alien who has been organizing around immigration issues for over 20 years.

An abolitionist immigration activist is someone who believes the current U.S. immigration enforcement system—ICE, Border Patrol, detention centers, deportation courts, and the laws that empower them—is fundamentally harmful and should be dismantled rather than reformed.

The term “abolitionist” signals a radical reimagining of how societies handle migration—moving away from punishment, surveillance, and exclusion, and toward care, mobility, and belonging.

Aly Wane spoke on February 9, 2026 at a webinar sponsored by the Syracuse, NY Peace Council.

https://peacecouncil.net

This episode is audio from a webinar titled From Venezuela to Minneapolis, Stop the Wars at Home and Abroad!

The webinar was held on January 15, 2026, and was sponsored by UNAC, the United National Antiwar Coalition.

It focused on various forms of US aggression, including attacks and threats against Venezuela, Iran and other areas around the world.

The participants connected this aggression with the militarization of our cities and the ICE attacks, and discussed how to fight back.

The Moderator was UNAC coordinator Joe Lombardo, and the speakers were:

Erica Caines, National Co-coordinator, Black Alliance for Peace,

Scott Ritter, political analyst and former UN weapons inspector, and

Sara Flounders, UNAC Administrative Committee.

This episode is “Father David Gierlach - Priest for Peace”.

Father Gierlach, originally from upstate NY but now based in Hawaii, was a sucessful attorney for many years, but then chose to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a priest.

Unlike most members of the clergy, who go along to get along even if that means ignoring or even supporting war and genocide, Father Gierlach has been outspoken in his insistence that the church must build the beloved community, one based on peace and respect for human rights.

Father Gierlach was interviewed by longtime peace activist and civil resister Jack Gilroy on December 16, 2025.

An anthology by social justice activists, journalists and commentators

A project of Friends of Socialist China

A book launch held Dec. 6, 2025 at the International Action Center in New York City.

"China Changes Everything" can change how people understand China – and what we can hope for!

The exciting descriptions of what is new and the many personal stories can help counter the endless U.S. threats, lies, fake news and false propaganda.

The authors of this book are leading voices in a united celebration of China’s breakthrough achievements and an in-depth analysis of how China really is changing everything!

This was an in-person only event – with authors offering personal comments on their chapters.

Authors, in order of appearance:

Margaret Kimberley

Sara Flounders

Sydney Loving

Mick Kelly

Ju-Hyun Park

Sue Harris

Janet Mayes

Greg Dunkel

Megan Russell

Che Marino

Michael Kramer

Dee Knight

Sourced from a YT video called "Are Fascism and Liberalism Partners in Capitalist Crime?”, by Critical Theory Workshop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vnn_bWDmizw&t=2611s

The talk is from 2024, but I'm unsure of the exact date.

Gabriel Rockhill is Professor of Philosophy at Villanova University, and Founding Director of the Critical Theory Workshop.

This episode is Police Against the Movement: The Sabotage of the Civil Rights Struggle and the Activists Who Fought Back, a talk by author Joshua Clark Davis to mark the publication of his book of the same name. Joshua Clark Davis is an associate professor of U.S. history at the University of Baltimore, and his research has earned awards from the Fulbright Program, the Silvers Foundation, and the NEH Public Scholars Program.

He's joined by moderator Chenjerai Kumanyika (CHEN-jer-ai COO-man-YEE-ka), host of the podcast Empire City, and son of Herb Callendar, a '60s era civil rights activist who later changed his name to Makaza Kumanyika.

Joshua Clark Davis' book, Police Against the Movement, shatters one of the most pernicious myths about the 1960s: that the civil rights movement endured police violence without fighting it. Instead, activists confronted police abuses head-on, staging sit-ins at precinct stations, picketing department headquarters, and blocking traffic to protest officer misdeeds. In return, organizers found themselves the targets of overwhelming political repression in the form of police surveillance, infiltration by undercover officers, and retaliatory prosecutions aimed at derailing their movement.

The talk took place on November 6, 2025 at The Word Is Change, a radical bookstore in Brooklyn, NY.

https://www.thewordischange.com