Victor's Children

Episode 33: Chinese Imperialism

Episode 31 of this podcast looked at the imperialism of the US, which despite its relative decline is still the most powerful component of global capitalism. In this episode Kevin Lin and Ashley Smith look at the rise of China and US-China rivalry.

Suggestions for Reading:

Ashley Smith, "As US-China Tensions Mount, We Must Resist the Push Toward Interimperialist War"

https://truthout.org/articles/as-us-china-tensions-mount-we-must-resist-the-push-toward-interimperialist-war/

Todd Gordon and Jeff Webber, "Complex Stratification in the World System: Capitalist Totality and Geopolitical Fragmentation" in the academic journal, Science and Society(unfortunately paywalled but the file may be findable elsewhere online), isn't an easy read but suggests a better way of understanding imperialism today than the more influential frameworks. https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/10.1521/siso.2020.84.1.95

Is BRICS+ an Anti-Colonial Formation Worth Cheering From the Left? Far From It.

https://truthout.org/articles/is-brics-an-anti-colonial-formation-worth-cheering-from-the-left-far-from-it/

Taiwan Shouldn't Be Used As A Geopolitical Pawn

https://jacobin.com/2022/11/taiwan-geopolitical-pawn-china-us-international-relations-cold-war-history

Lausan Collective

https://lausancollective.com

New Bloom Magazine -- Radical Perspectives On Taiwan And The Asia Pacific

https://newbloommag.net

The War in Ukraine Drags On: A Conversation with a Russian and a Ukrainian Socialist

A year and a half after Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine, the war

goes on and unfortunately the war is still not well understood

by much of the left outside of those countries. Hanna Perekhoda and

Ilya Matveev discuss Putin's war, some common political

ideas about it on the Western left, the situation in Ukraine and Russia

today, and what people on the left elsewhere can do to help

socialists in Ukraine and Russia.

Hanna and Perekhoda and Ilya Matveev will be participating in a

speakers' tour in several US cities in September 2023

sponsored by the Ukraine Solidarity Network. For details see

https://linktr.ee/ukrainesolidaritynetwork

For a list of groups in Ukraine to support, see:

https://www.midnightsunmag.ca/support-the-left-in-ukraine-and

solidarity-with-the-peoples-of-turkey-kurdistan-and-syria/

Posle, a site of the Russian anti-war left with some content in English:

https://posle.media/language/en/about/

On the arrest of Russian socialist Boris Kagarlitsky:

https://newpol.org/im-a-ukrainian-leftist-this-is-why-i-support-boris-kagarlitsky/

A July 2023 article by Gilbert Achcar worth reading:

https://newpol.org/ukraine-and-the-abstraction-of-violence-my-reply-to-tom-dale/

Episode 31: U.S. Imperialism Today

Although no longer the world's unchallenged dominant power, the

U.S. remains the most powerful state in the economic and political

system of global capitalism. Ashley Smith discusses U.S. imperialism

from the end of the Cold War to today.

Articles by Ashley Smith:

After Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

https://againstthecurrent.org/atc219/after-russias-invasion-of-ukraine/

Biden’s Chip War With China Is an Imperial Struggle for High-Tech Supremacy

https://truthout.org/articles/bidens-chip-war-with-china-is-an-imperial-struggle-for-high-tech-supremacy/

Biden’s National Security Strategy Is a Defense of US Domination, Not Democracy

https://truthout.org/articles/bidens-national-security-strategy-is-a-defense-of-us-domination-not-democracy/

The Politics of the Family, w M.E. O'Brien

Families are political -- part of how most people survive under

capitalism, places of love and support as well as often violence, other

forms of oppression, and suffering. ME O'Brien's new book "Family

Abolition: Capitalism and the Communizing of Care" is an important

radical analysis of families in capitalist society and communist politics

of the family from the mid-1800s to today. David thinks it's one of the

best books of marxist theory he's read in a while, and this episode is

an interview with ME O'Brien about the politics of families and care.

Family Abolition Capitalism and the Communizing of Care

by M. E. O'Brien

https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745343846/family-abolition/

Against the Market, w/ David McNally

Even though capitalism's problems are becoming increasingly obvious, commitment to fight for an alternative to capitalism – rather than a regulated capitalism -- is still weak. Part of the problem is

the belief that markets are the least-bad way of producing and distributing goods and services. This episode is an interview with David McNally, editor in chief of the journal Spectre, about capitalism, markets and the alternative of democratic planning. 2023 is the 30th anniversary of the publication of his book.

Against the Market

https://www.versobooks.com/en-ca/products/1432-against-the-market

The Right vs Trans People: Understanding the Attacks and Fighting Back in the U.S. and Canada

Eric Maroney and Skyler discuss the right-wing forces attacking transgender people in the U.S. and so-called Canada and how to organize to beat back their attacks.

To learn more:

Understanding the big picture:

Misha Falk, “Neither Liberalism Nor Fascism But Trans Liberation and Socialism”

https://www.midnightsunmag.ca/neither-liberalism-nor-fascism-but-trans-liberation-and-socialism

Eric Maroney, “The Alt-Right Anti-Trans Crusades”

https://www.tempestmag.org/2022/10/the-alt-right-anti-trans-crusades/

Episode 12 of Victor’s Children, w/ Jules Joanne Gleason:

https://soundcloud.com/user-737267994/episode-12-transgender-liberation-transgender-marxism

About organizing and the right in the U.S.:

Tempest Magazine coverage of successful drag defence in NYC

https://www.tempestmag.org/2023/03/jackson-heights-defends-drag-story-hour-nyc/

A discussion of organizing against the far right in Ohio

https://www.tempestmag.org/2023/04/were-all-here-for-the-same-reason/

Fundraiser for drag story hour defender arrested in Akron

https://www.gofundme.com/f/rocknroll-humanist-drag-queen-story-hour?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-

sheet&utm_content=undefined&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer&utm_term=undefine

d

Erin Reed, independent journalist tracking anti-trans legislation

https://erininthemorn.substack.com/

Madison Pauly, “Inside the Secret Working Group that Helped Pass Anti-trans Laws Across the Country”

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/03/anti-trans-transgender-health-care-ban-legislation-bill-minors-children-lgbtq/

A resource:

Safety planning for actions

https://www.communitysolidarityottawa.ca/safety-plan

About Future on Fire and Victor's Children

André Goulet interviews David about his new book "Future On Fire" and the Victor's Children podcast. This episode is a re-post from the Harbinger Society Presents podcast.

On April 15, 2023 at 1:00 pm Eastern Time, the online magazine Midnight Sun and Haymarket Books present an online discussion: Fighting Capitalism's Ecological Death Cult. For more information and to RSVP:

www.haymarketbooks.org/events/528-fi…al-death-cult

Suggestions for episode topics or guests? Feel free to email victorschildren at gmail.com

The Socialism We Need

What kind of society is possible and worth fighting for? What would it take to begin a transition to socialism? What should people who yearn for liberation be doing today? James Graham, Saima Desai and John Clarke join David in a multi-generational conversation.

A few readings relevant to this episode:

A Revolutionary Way of Doing Politics Is Taking Shape in Sudan - New Politics

https://newpol.org/issue_post/a-revolutionary-way-of-doing-politics-is-taking-shape-in-sudan/

Revolution Means Smashing The State

https://www.tempestmag.org/2023/01/revolution-means-smashing-the-state/

A Letter From Canadian Comrades

https://socialistworker.org/2019/03/21/a-letter-from-canadian-comrades

The Most Important Strike in Years: the Education Workers Strike in Ontario

The law-defying strike by the 55, 000 workers in CUPE's Ontario School Board Council of Unions in November 2022 was brief but arguably the most important strike in so-called Canada in almost two decades. Peter Hogarth talks about the background to the strike, how it unfolded, why it ended the way it did, and its lessons.

Some articles worth reading:

Peter Hogarth, "Who Killed Bill 28?"

https://springmag.ca/who-killed-bill-28-ontario-workers-and-the-threat-of-a-general-strike

Martin Lukacs and Emma Paling,

The inside story of how education workers beat back Doug Ford

https://breachmedia.ca/the-inside-story-of-how-education-workers-beat-back-doug-ford/

John Clarke, Doug Ford underestimated the power of workers—but so did union leaders

https://breachmedia.ca/doug-ford-underestimated-the-power-of-workersbut-so-did-union-leaders/

John Clarke, Beyond the Rituals of Class Compromise

https://www.midnightsunmag.ca/beyond-the-rituals-of-class-compromise/

Future on Fire: Capitalism and the Politics of Climate Change

On this episode, Sara Birrell, Saima Desai, James Hutt and David Camfield discuss ideas raised by David's Future on Fire: Capitalism and the Politics of Climate Change in an online book launch event hosted by Fiona Jeffries.

In Canada you can order the book from Fernwood Publishing:

https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/future-on-fire

In the UK you can order it from PM Press's UK site:

https://pmpress.org.uk/product/future-on-fire/

Everywhere else, you can order it from PM Press in the US:

https://pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1263