What does this look like on the ground, and what are people doing about it now?
See the pedagogy document for what this lens does across all themes.
Imperialism today is a debt a country cannot pay, a war fought over resources, a factory relocated to where labor is cheapest, and a border militarized to keep the people out. It is also the movements against all of these: anti-war organizing, debt resistance, Palestine solidarity, and the internationalism that links struggles across borders. This lens brings the theme to the present and asks what solidarity across the world system actually requires.
Anchor questions
- Whose wars is your government fighting or funding now, and who profits?
- What is the IMF, and what does it do to a country that owes it money?
- What does solidarity across borders actually require, beyond a slogan?
- How do sanctions work, and who do they hurt?
- What are people near you doing about war, occupation, or the border?
Materials
Free unless marked otherwise. A note on sources: this lens deals with live geopolitical conflict, and some outlets have their own state or movement vantage points. Those are named so the room can read them critically rather than take any source as neutral.
Journalism and reporting
- Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research (2018 to present). A movement research institute publishing free monthly dossiers on imperialism, debt, and national liberation, written for organizers as much as academics. Each dossier is short enough to anchor a single session. Free: thetricontinental.org
- Monthly Review and MR Online (1949 to present). A long-running socialist journal with sustained analysis of imperialism and political economy; MR Online carries free web content. Free: monthlyreview.org
- Africa Is a Country (2009 to present). A left publication on African politics and culture that pushes back on stereotype and covers extraction, migration, and anti-imperial politics. Free: africasacountry.com
- Al Jazeera Untangles (Al Jazeera). Accessible documentary explainers on the Portuguese, Spanish, French, and British empires. A Qatari state-funded outlet with strong Global South reporting; name its context when using it. Free: aljazeera.com
- Progressive International (2020 to present). A global network publishing grassroots journalism and monitoring on debt, Palestine, labor, and imperial power, and an organizing hub as much as an outlet. Free: progressive.international
Films and documentaries
- Life and Debt (Stephanie Black, 2001, 86 min). A documentary on how IMF and World Bank policies reshaped Jamaica after independence, narration adapted from Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place. The core resource for the debt and structural-adjustment strand. Not free; streams on Netflix and rents on Amazon; background at pbs.org.
- Even the Rain (Icíar Bollaín, 2010, 103 min). A drama set around the 2000 Cochabamba water war in Bolivia, linking colonial conquest to present-day water privatization and extraction. Free with ads: watch.plex.tv
- Gaza Fights For Freedom (Abby Martin, Empire Files, 2021, 84 min). A feature documentary on the Great March of Return, from a movement-media outlet with an explicit standpoint. Strong for the practical Palestine-solidarity strand. Free: youtube.com/watch?v=HnZSaKYmP2s
Practical handbooks and how-to material
- BDS organizing toolkits (Palestinian BDS National Committee). The movement’s official hub with concrete organizing guides, boycott targets, and local-group guidance. Ready for workshops. Free: bdsmovement.net
- Hyper-Imperialism: A Dangerous, Decadent New Stage (Tricontinental, 2024). A data-rich study of the US-led bloc’s military and financial dominance, base counts, and spending shares, designed as a teaching text with translations in several languages. Pairs contemporary evidence with the classical theory. Free PDF: thetricontinental.org
Podcasts and interviews with organizers
- The Dig (Daniel Denvir, Jacobin, 2016 to present). Long-form interviews with a deep back catalog on empire, colonialism, and Palestine. Deep-dive episodes pair well with reading groups. Free: thedigradio.com
- Guerrilla History (Henry Hakamäki and Adnan Husain, 2020 to present). A “reconnaissance report of global history for the activist left,” using history to read present anti-imperialist struggles. Free: guerrillahistory.libsyn.com
- The East is a Podcast (Sina Rahmani, 2018 to present). Critical analysis of West Asia and North Africa through expert interviews and archival audio, strong on Iran, sanctions, and Palestinian resistance. Free: eastisapodcast.libsyn.com
- Blowback (Brendan James and Noah Kulwin, 2020 to present). Narrative seasons on US interventions, Iraq, Cuba, Korea, Afghanistan, Cambodia, and Angola, told as history. Free: blowback.show
Explainers on video
- “How The US Took Over The World” (Second Thought, 2024). Roughly 23 minutes, about 573,000 views. A socialist explainer of US empire, military bases, and dollar hegemony that bridges the theoretical and practical lenses. youtube.com/watch?v=NpjDyhGyjNk
Status
First pass, and it may be a while before there is a second. Contributions welcome, especially accounts from anti-war, migrant-justice, and debt-cancellation organizing, and material on extraction and land defense in the Global South.