The Anti Empire Project with Justin Podur
The Anti Empire Project with Justin Podur examines how modern empire operates and how people resist it. Host Justin Podur offers analysis and interviews on imperialism, geopolitics, and social movements. The show covers topics such as war, sanctions, colonialism, and grassroots organizing. It aims to connect current events to deeper structures of power.
Episodes
Interwar 19 Germany pt2: The Uprising of 1919
From the SPD perspective, with the Kaiser gone, the German Revolution was complete in 1918. But to the Spartacists, there was still a real revolution to be won – worker’s government and socialism. The agonizing decisions leading up to the Uprising of 1919, concluding with the assassinations of revolutionary leaders Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemberg.
Interwar 18 Germany pt1: The German Revolution of November 1918
The Kaiser abdicates. The Social Democratic Party arrives to power. Karl Liebknecht stands on a balcony and tells the workers: “The rule of capitalism, which turned Europe into a cemetery, is henceforward broken.” But this is just part 1 of 4.
Interwar 17: USA the wrap-up
A departure from our normal historical narration: Dave reacts to contemporary USA headlines and politics with a view to American Interwar history. A short review of the whole history of the USA, to wrap up our series on the Interwar US… before we return to form to cover Interwar Germany.
Interwar 16: The US Occupation of Haiti, 1915-1934
The sordid and criminal US occupation of Haiti 1915-1934 with resistance heroes like Charlemagne Peralte, occupiers like Smedley Butler, a young FDR who hoped he’d be remembered as a “Haiti man”… US racial obsessions and atrocities. And Haiti’s anomalous and scrupulous payment of the debts imposed on it, making it a paradise of American financial … Continue reading "Interwar 16: The US Occupation
Interwar 15: Gunboat Diplomacy: Interwar USA in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Costa Rica
A roundup of Interwar US imperialism in four Central American countries
Interwar 14: Sandino battles the Americans for Nicaragua, 1927-1933
We go way back, at first, to the rise and fall of the filibustering William Walker, who wanted to be king of Nicaragua. You’ll meet Smedley Butler as well, but this episode on Interwar Nicaragua focuses on the rebel leader who dared to fight the American occupation, Augusto Sandino, who fought from 1927-1933 and has … Continue reading "Interwar 14: Sandino battles the Americans for Nicaragua, 1927
Interwar 13: America invades the Dominican Republic, 1916-1924
In the Interwar years America invaded many Central American and Caribbean countries. The major ones included Haiti, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. We start with the DR, 1916-1924, who nonetheless managed to get the Americans to withdraw.
Interwar 12 America: The Scopes Monkey Trial, Sacco & Vanzetti framed
A showdown over evolution at the Scopes Monkey Trial. A frame-up of Sacco and Vanzetti. A pair of Interwar trials define America in this period.
Interwar 11: The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921
Back when we covered the US Civil War, we talked about how the US ultimately un-did the Reconstruction. But undoing the Reconstruction went on and on, and the Tulsa Race Massacre (formerly known as the Tulsa Race Riot) was a major moment of the destruction of a prosperous Black community. The history, the aftermath, the … Continue reading "Interwar 11: The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921"
Interwar 10 America pt2: American Racism – Reservations, Black Labor, the KKK
Continuing our series on Interwar America including Indian Reservations, Black Labor, the Garveyite Movement, and the KKK.
Interwar 9 America pt1: Autos, Cinema, Airplanes, Finance, Prohibition, Gangsters
A little bit of everything as we take two hours to start to paint a picture of Interwar America.
Interwar 8: The rise of the first Reza Shah Pahlavi
After the Cossack Coup, a power struggle between rivals leads to Reza Khan rising to the top. He defangs an American financial mission, jails and executes his rivals, plunders the tribes, makes a personal bank, and becomes not only Shah, but in Gholi Majd’s words, “the largest private landowner… in all likelihood in the recorded … Continue reading "Interwar 8: The rise of the first Reza Shah Pahla
Interwar 7: Reza Khan and the Cossack Coup of 1921
The 1919 Anglo-Persian Agreement made every Persian government that followed unviable. Britain wanted Iran to be a colony, but couldn’t find a viable collaborator in the Qajjar Shahs or the Majlis. So, in 1921, they used one of their favorite moves: they organized a coup to overthrow a government they had installed and supported. The … Continue reading "Interwar 7: Reza Khan and the Cossack Coup o
Interwar 6: Iran the Semicolony and the Anglo-Persian Agreement of 1919
Iran’s Constitutional Revolution was in 1905, but the British are there and bent on colonizing it. The struggles of the last of the Qajjar Shahs, the British occupation during WWI, and the British imposition of the hated Anglo-Persian agreement of 1919, which no Iranian government can survive…
Interwar 5: Ireland from Easter Rising to Partition
In the aftermath of the Easter Rising of 1916, the Irish Revolutionaries regrouped. We trace their path through armed struggle against Britain, negotiation, the formation of the Dail and its role. The larger than life characters including Michael Collins and events like Bloody Sunday. How England’s first colony fought the Empire between the world wars.
AER 153: Venezuela War Begins with Maduro’s Kidnapping
In the early morning of January 3, 2026, the US bombed Venezuela and kidnapped its president and its first lady. As of Day 1 of the war, Venezuela’s government is intact and popular mobilizations are calling for their president’s return. Trump has said that the US will run Venezuela and take its oil. Some insights … Continue reading "AER 153: Venezuela War Begins with Maduro’s Kidnapping"
Interwar 4: The Anglo-Afghan War of 1919: Amanullah wins Independence
Our last episode of 2025. Did you know that Amanullah’s decision to wage war for Afghanistan’s independence from the British Empire had everything to do with Amritsar and the struggle underway in India in 1919? Some details on this war that you may not have heard, including the British besieging Peshawar, displacing whole towns full … Continue reading "Interwar 4: The Anglo-Afghan War of 1919: Ama
Interwar 3: India 1919: Massacre at Amritsar, Uprising in Malabar…
Using Anita Anand’s book, The Patient Assassin, among other sources, we tell the story of India from 1919 to the 1920s, including the massacre at Amritsar, the Malabar Uprising of 1921, Bhagat Singh, Gandhi, and of course Udham Singh. Ghadar and the Indian revolutionaries. We won’t be back to India again until the 1930s, so … Continue reading "Interwar 3: India 1919: Massacre at Amritsar, Uprising
Interwar 2: The 1919 Strikes!
1919 was the year of strikes in North America. How general strikes in Winnipeg and Seattle shook the North American rulers, even though both were contained.
AER 152: The Third Ceasefire Begins…
Jon Elmer joins. We discuss the beginning of the third Ceasefire in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
Interwar 1919-1931 episode 1:The Looting System
Reading the first two chapters of Michael Hudson’s Superimperialism, we study the transformation of the world financial system after World War I. That transformation is driven by a surprising decision by the US to insist on repayment of its loans to its allies, which in turn leads the allies (UK and France) to insist on … Continue reading "Interwar 1919-1931 episode 1:The Looting System"
Civ 1919: Treaty of Versailles 14 – Final Roundup of Critics of the Treaty – Dulles, Churchill, Hitler
A final roundup of critics of the Treaty of Versailles, including some big names.
AER 151: Running for Party Leader as an anti-Genocide candidate
Yves Engler is a lifelong Palestine activist – fighting Canada’s complicity in the Gaza genocide – who is running for leadership of Canada’s New Democratic Party. We talk about the platform of policies that Yves is presenting in the run for the nomination, including Land Back, Anticolonization, Anti-Imperialism, and Socialism.
Civ 1919: Treaty of Versailles 13 – The Economic Consequences of the Peace
The second-last episode on the Treaty of Versailles 1919 is about Keynes’s critique of the treaty, the Economic Consequences of the Peace. What he got right, what he got wrong, critics of him at the time, and the impact of his book on the way the Interwar period unfolded.
Treaty of Versailles 12: German, English, American critics
Was the treaty too hard on Germany? German, English, and American reactions after 1919.
Treatyof Versailles 11: Ataturk wins again
Details of how Ataturk foiled the imperialists’ final plans to partition Anatolia. Once he secured Turkey, he modernized it and it became a model that other Central Asian countries tried to emulate (with varying degrees of success). Here’s why this secular leader is still revered in Turkey a century later.
Civ 1919 – Treaty of Versailles 10: England gives Palestine to the Zionists
On November 2, 1917, England’s foreign secretary sent a letter to an English Baron, declaring that the land of Palestine, which was in the process of being taken militarily from the Ottoman Empire by England, would be given to the Jewish people as their homeland. Known to history as the Balfour Declaration, the first draft … Continue reading "Civ 1919 – Treaty of Versailles 10: England gives Pales
AER 150: Kung Fu Yoga with Carl Zha on the new Trump Tariffs
Carl Zha joins for our occasional Kung Fu Yoga series where we talk about India and China. Trump’s slapped new tariffs on India and given China another break. We go back to the Independence era, talk about Import Substitution Industrialization vs Export-Led Growth, the Chip War, the short India-Pakistan war a few months ago, and … Continue reading "AER 150: Kung Fu Yoga with Carl Zha on the new Tr
Civ 1919: Treaty of Versailles 9 – Carving up the Ottoman Empire
Mustafa Kemal foils the Great Powers’ plan to carve up Anatolia, but they do tear up the Arab lands. The fate of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, where local elites’ belief in the Fourteen Points were crushed by the Powers as they set the table for Zionism and neocolonial mandates.
Civ 1919: Treaty of Versailles 8 – Greece negotiates too well
The story of Greece’s negotiator Eleutherios Venizelos, and how his success at negotiating sowed the seeds of future disasters.
AER 149: SIT REP JUNE 14 2025
Initial reactions to the new war (audio of the regular youtube sit rep).
Civ 1919: Treaty of Versailles 7 – Japan and China
Japan takes a stand on the principle of racial equality, but it’s a non-starter with the white powers. The Japanese insist, and ultimately yield so they can take a piece of China.
Civ 1919: Treaty of Versailles 6: Italy leaves
Italy joined the allies late and wanted a lot of Yugoslavia. The dress rehearsal for Mussolini, Gabriele d’Annunzio, gathers Argonauts and makes a big move. Another seed of the next war planted at the conference in Paris 1919.
AER 148: The myth of nonviolence
Frederik Soderholm and Mehmet Ali Arslan interviewed me (Justin) for their Fredshetsarna (Swedish) podcast about nonviolence and military matters in West Asia.
Civ 1919: Treaty of Versailles 5 – Eastern Europe
Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Hungary’s fates are decided at the conference in Paris in 1919.
AER 147: Sudan Civil War, the RSF, and the UAE’s subimperialism
Hamza from Defund the UAE joins to talk about the Sudan war. How did it start? Who are the belligerents? What makes the RSF the greater evil? What is the UAE doing in this war? What can be done from the West to help? Hamza mentions Sudanfunds.com and SudanNewsEnglish on telegram, to start.
Civ 1919: Treaty of Versailles pt4 – Germany
The Anglo-Americans blamed the Germans for World War I, and won. Now they would impose terms. But if they sought too high an indemnity, Germany’s economy would collapse and they would never pay. If they helped Germany rebuild, what kind of punishment would that be? In the end, the Allies chose a path that guaranteed … Continue reading "Civ 1919: Treaty of Versailles pt4 – Germany"
Civ 1919: Treaty of Versailles pt3 – the Balkans
The Balkans are where the Great War began; there were two Balkan wars before the Great War and there was a Balkan war in the Great War. In Paris, delegations from the region made their cases, the Great Powers made their dispensations. New countries formed and new borders drawn, which would be changed again in … Continue reading "Civ 1919: Treaty of Versailles pt3 – the Balkans"
Civ 1919: Treaty of Versailles pt2
The biggest player at the peace conference, Woodrow Wilson, wants a League of Nations, which in the age of imperialism, is a rather underdeveloped idea. The other problem is, how to continue colonialism but with a nicer name? And so were invented the Mandates.
Civ 1919: The Treaty of Versailles pt1
At the end of WW1, the Americans and British went to Paris to decide on the fate of Germany and the future of the world. The Treaty of Versailles and the conference in Paris in 1919 set up the Interwar period and made World War 2 inevitable. Here we begin our short series on the … Continue reading "Civ 1919: The Treaty of Versailles pt1"
World War Civ 51: The Debrief
Two and a half years. 50 episodes. 100+ hours. When we set out to cover World War I back in September 2022, after our Scramble for Africa and our Civilizations (1400-1900) series, we had a plan for how we were going to go about it. In this debrief, Dave and I talk about what we … Continue reading "World War Civ 51: The Debrief"
Was World War I an Immense Anglo-American Conspiracy?
We have come to the end of our study of World War I, gone over its causes, events, and costs in great detail. Now it’s time for a plot twist: the idea that the whole war was conceived and extended by a conspiratorial group of race patriots at the heart of the Anglo-American elite. We … Continue reading "Was World War I an Immense Anglo-American Conspiracy?"
World War Civ 49: How the war changed how things work
From the transformation of all the technologies of war – railways, air travel, wireless, tanks, poison gas – to the changes to the institutions of daily life (notably health care) World War I made many changes into the world we recognize today. Also – my apologies – in the second half, my recurrent audio issue … Continue reading "World War Civ 49: How the war changed how things work"
World War Civ 48: Great War, at what cost?
Counting the costs and losses of World War I. 8.5 million killed on the battlefield, 21 million wounded. 10 million civilian deaths, then a flu epidemic that killed tens of millions more. The global economy transformed beyond recognition. The beginning of the end of the colonial empires. And various measures that are inevitably going to … Continue reading "World War Civ 48: Great War, at what cost
World War Civ 47: Germany Collapses 1918
Ludendorff’s final gamble has failed, fizzling out like every mass offensive of this war. The war is now unwinnable for Germany. But the Germans won’t admit it, and can’t find anyone to sign an armistice. Eventually someone is found, and the myth of the “stab in the back” begins to be written, a myth that … Continue reading "World War Civ 47: Germany Collapses 1918"
World War Civ 46: Ludendorff’s Last Gamble Spring 1918
With peace in the East, Germany can finally try to win the war against France in the West, and the clock is ticking before America’s troops make the war unwinnable. In addition to assembling a gigantic army and the largest artillery barrage in history, Ludendorff introduces Storm Troopers and a new tactic of “infiltration” past … Continue reading "World War Civ 46: Ludendorff’s Last Gamble Spring
AER 146: Martial Arts Pedagogy and Politics
If politics is in everything, then what are the politics of martial arts as they’re studied and practiced today? For audiences of this show, it’s not a pretty sight. But Sam from Liberationist MA is trying to do things differently. He joins to talk about his play-based martial arts pedagogy, the world view it’s embedded … Continue reading "AER 146: Martial Arts Pedagogy and Politics"
World War Civ 45: Russia and Germany make peace at Brest-Litovsk
The Bolsheviks had made their revolution promising Peace, Land, and Bread. But peace meant a deal with Germany, which could bring British and French subversion of their nascent revolution. How could Lenin get out of this impossible dilemma? By sending Trotsky to lead the negotiations with Imperial Germany. Did Trotsky go rogue? Was he following … Continue reading "World War Civ 45: Russia and Germ
World War Civ 44: The Agony of the Allies
It’s 1917. The French are suffering mutinies and the Entente is desperate for a breakthrough anywhere. It’s not to be. Arras, Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele, Cambrai, and Caporetto – hundreds of thousands of men killed and no breakthrough. At the end of the year, the Germans have reason to believe they could win the whole war … Continue reading "World War Civ 44: The Agony of the Allies"
World War Civ 43: America Enters the War
When Russia withdrew from the war, Britain and France were in the lurch, but America saved the day. Why? Successful war propaganda, propinquity, or making good on investments and seizing a chance for world domination?
AER 145: Remembering Nasrallah
Nora joins and we go over our memories of following Seyed Hassan Nasrallah’s speeches over the decades. He led the resistance for 32 years and freed Lebanon from occupation once. His successors will operate under a new set of rules of engagement.
World War Civ 42: The Origins of War Propaganda
The scientific principles of war propaganda that we’re all suffering from today were laid down by Anglo-American writers amazed by their own performance in World War 1. What are these principles? Why did Anglo-American propaganda work better than German?
World War Civ 41c: October 1917
From July through to Red October 1917. The Kornilov Affair to the Bolshevik takeover. The culmination of our series on the Bolshevik Revolution.
AER 144: The Seventh Venezuela Coup is Being Defeated
With Joe Emersberger. The co-authors of the Monthly Review Press book Extraordinary Threat: The US Empire, the Media, and Twenty Years of Coup Attempts in Venezuela, discuss the seventh coup attempt on Chavismo which is in the process of being defeated.
World War Civ 41b: Russian Revolution pt2 – Lenin and Trotsky
Way back in World War Civ 6,7, and 8, we covered the Russian Revolution of 1905 including future main characters Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin. Now as the 1917 Revolution unfolds we revisit these protagonists and study their actions and writings in the years leading to October 1917. Perhaps history is grand movements of masses, but … Continue reading "World War Civ 41b: Russian Revolution pt2 – Lenin
AER 143: Escape from Christian Zionism with Jamin Hubner
A scholar who grew up in a Christian Zionist tradition, Jamin Hubner joins to talk about how the ideology is unrolled to kids and how he found his way out of it.
World War Civ 41a: 1917 Russian Revolution pt1: to February
The leadup to the February 1917 Revolution, including the assassination of Rasputin, the abdication of tsar Nicholas II, and the rise of dual power between the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet.
AER 142: Gaza War Sit Rep Day 224 – Abu Obeida speaks as Jabalia and Rafah battles rage
A report with Jon Elmer on the fierce fighting in Gaza on day 224 of the war and a breakdown of Qassam spokesman Abu Obeida’s speech on that day.
World War Civ 40: How Britain Took Palestine in 1917
General Allenby, Sharif Hussein and his son Feisal, and their handler TE Lawrence array the forces of the British Empire and the Arab Revolt against the Turco-German forces in Palestine. The battle starts in Gaza and ends with Allenby walking into the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem. The story of the fateful campaign that brought British … Continue reading "World War Civ 40: How Britain Took Palestine in
AER 141: Gaza War Sit Rep Day 213 – the invasion of Rafah has begun
On the Anti-Empire Project Youtube Channel there are frequent situation reports or Sit Reps that are posted late at night. Not all of them are reposted here to this podcast, but we’re posting this one on the day of the Rafah invasion. A breakdown of the ceasefire negotatiations and an assessment of where the war … Continue reading "AER 141: Gaza War Sit Rep Day 213 – the invasion of Rafah has begu
World War Civ 39: War Takes to the Skies
From crashing test flights to close air support and strategic bombing – on the breakneck innovation in aerial warfare over the course of WW1. An issue with some implications today, you’ll agree?
World War Civ 38: The War at Sea from 1916-1918
It could be argued that World War I was decided at sea. The British blockade; the Germans try unrestricted submarine warfare, and massive consequences follow. We talk about Jutland, Skaggerak, the Luistania, and civilian hardships, in the war at sea.
World War Civ 37: Women in the Great War
Among the many changes wrought by WW1 was an irrevocable change in the status of women. “Munitions girls”, women running the Paris Metro and the buses in London, policewomen and auxilaries. We conclude with some notes on a conscription crisis in Canada that also played a role in women getting the vote.
WW Civ 36: The Easter Rising in Ireland 1916
The conditions may not have been optimal but they didn’t look to be getting better – so the Irish Revolutionaries made their move in Easter 1916. A week of urban warfare followed – the revolutionaries lost – but they succeeded in transforming the Irish question forever and setting the nation on the inevitable road to … Continue reading "WW Civ 36: The Easter Rising in Ireland 1916"
Tankie Therapy on Day 163: Do we debate genocide?
We didn’t have quorum for a tankie therapy session but we got together anyway – Matteo and Alex joined for a discussion of several psychological warfare methods being used on us: normalizing crimes, treating the criminals like they are a natural phenomenon, and the abuser’s method of “look what you made me do”, absolving the … Continue reading "Tankie Therapy on Day 163: Do we debate genocide?"
World War Civ 35: Agony and Slaughter 1916
The battles of Verdun, the Somme, and the Brusilov Offensive. Epic, tragic military errors, horrors of trenches, battles that killed hundreds of thousands and changed the course of history.
AER 140: The Gaza Siege
The siege on Gaza and the role of the Palestinian Authority are critical context for the Israel’s assault on Gaza. On this episode we take a look at the history of the blockade and how Israel has ghettoized the Palestinian population. Co-production with The Brief.
World War Civ 34: The Armenian Genocide 1915-16
Genocides happen in broad daylight – it is only afterwards that they are covered up. There are still fewer countries that recognize the Armenian Genocide than countries that do not. We read scholars that take the view that it was a genocide as well as a scholar that describes the events without using the label, … Continue reading "World War Civ 34: The Armenian Genocide 1915-16"
AER 139: Pakistan Election Rigging Fails
Waqas Ahmad is back and we recap Pakistan politics since the 2022 coup against Imran Khan. After assassination attempts, vexatious lawsuits, thousands of arrests, torture, and the banning of Imran Khan’s party and symbol, voters still foiled the best-laid plans of the Pakistan military. Where things stand after the elections of February 8, 2024 in … Continue reading "AER 139: Pakistan Election Rig
World War Civ 33: Colonial Troops
In desperation, the European empires turn to the people they’ve colonized and press them into sacrificing their lives for their imperial masters, setting off a chain of events that makes decolonization in a few decades inevitable.
AER 138: October 7 Hannibal
Israeli media recently published a minute-by-minute chronology of the morning of October 7th from the Israeli military perspective. Jon and I go over it as part of my youtube series of Gaza Sit Reps (for Day 104). Cross-posted over at The Brief, reposted here in case you missed it.
World War Civ 32: Britain’s plans for Arab lands – Sykes-Picot, 1916
Early in the Great War Britain decided to dismantle the Turkish Empire and made promises to Arab leaders of independence if they would rebel against Britain’s Turkish enemy. While one British leader was making these promises, another, Mark Sykes, was making a deal with other imperialists for the division of Arab lands between them. Follow … Continue reading "World War Civ 32: Britain’s plans for A
World War Civ 31: Towards Total War
By the end the World War had mobilized 65 million troops, killed 20 million people and wounded 21 million more. The money was supposed to run out in a year, the armies were big but never that big. How did the war go on? Because the belligerents made immense and irreversible changes to their economies … Continue reading "World War Civ 31: Towards Total War"
AER 137: Gaza War Sit Rep Day 91
Solo episode discussing Nasrallah’s speech about the war on the Israel-Lebanon border and an analysis of the 2006 war based on a US military analyst’s paper titled, “We Were Caught Unprepared”.
World War Civ 30: Allied Disasters 1915
Germans use poison gas on the battlefield at Ypres, British lose 60,000 and Germans 40,000. French attack at Artois with casualties of 100,000 and German 75,000. Russians lose 2 million casualties fighting Germany on the Eastern front. British defeated at Loos, lose 50,000 and Germany 20,000. French offensive in Champagne results in 190,000 casualties and … Continue reading "World War Civ 30: Alli
AER 136: Tankie Group Therapy #8 on Gaza War Day 78
Our usual group gets together to talk about the Gaza War but this time we’re joined by Lara, an actual therapist, who guides us through as we try to understand where things stand on Day 78 of the war.
World War Civ 29: The War Widens 1915
World War 1 goes global in 1915, as Japan takes advantage to seize more territory in Asia; Turkey fatefully aligns with Germany; Italy joins the Entente.
AER 135: Gaza War Day 73
Joined by Nora and Jon from The Brief / Electronic Intifada to talk about the War in Gaza. More information emerges about what happened on October 7; New atrocities committed since Refaat Alareer’s murder, including bulldozing patients at a hospital and snipers killing women at a church. Some strategic speculations using the history of the … Continue reading "AER 135: Gaza War Day 73"
AER 134: Tankie Therapy 7 – in honor of Refaat Alareer
Our usual group gets together to talk about the Gaza War, this time we all share some words about literature prof, teacher, poet and hero Refaat Alareer, assassinated by Israel a couple of days ago. Some discussion of military tactics and strategies as always.
World War Civ 28: The Eastern Front 1914
Russia invades Germany and loses badly at Tannenberg. Austria-Hungary fights Serbia. The Russian losses in 1914 force a reevaluation of the whole strategy pursued by the Russia-France-England alliance, and before long will cause even bigger changes than that.
