Empire, Oppression, and "Hell, No!" to ICE
Videos with Richard Wolff, Sonali Kolhatkar, and Omar Zahzah
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THE FALL OF EMPIRE HAS BEGUN (w/Richard Wolff)
Empires are machines built to hide their violence from themselves—until one day they can’t. Richard Wolff and I discuss the many signs that this process of collapse has already begun for the American empire. Its carefully constructed façade is collapsing into transparent brutality. What once passed for “security” now looks like desperation, as the U.S. flails to project strength through cruelty. Economic parasitism, moral decay, and propaganda: they’re all signs of a global power approaching its terminal stage. But we can still choose to reject the failing imperial paradigm for a world built on cooperation.
OMAR ZAHZAH: Algorithms of Oppression in Palestine
Writer, poet, and organizer Omar Zahzah discusses his new book, “Terms of Servitude: Zionism, Silicon Valley, and Digital Settler Colonialism in the Palestinian Liberation Struggle.” The book traces the role of social media and other digital tech in the oppression of Palestine with tactics that include erasure (anti-Palestinian content moderation) , shadowbanning, bot swarms, and highly organized hasbara “cyber-soldiers,” as well as militarized AI systems like “Lavender,” “Gospel,” and “Where’s Daddy?”
We also discuss tactics of resistance to “digital settler colonialism.”
SAYING “HELL, NO!” TO ICE THUGS (w/Sonali Kolhatkar)
Sometimes heroes wear polka dots.
Zero Hour Senior Correspondent Sonali Kolhatkar discusses the anti-ICE resister who went viral as “the woman in the polka-dot dress” after fighting back against uniformed bullies in New York—and the networks of resistance that are organizing against Trump’s paramilitary forces across the country.