62. America’s Back: Empire Update w. Abby Martin

Rundown In this episode, Mexie talks with journalist, activist, and documentary film-maker, Abby Martin, about U.S. empire under Biden. We discuss his scary cabinet picks, his administration’s positioning with respect to various countries that have long been in the imperial crosshairs, and the importance of building a powerful anti-war and anti-imperialist movement. Sources and Links * Empire Files: theempirefiles.tv* Empire Files on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG29FnXZm4F5U8xpqs1cs1Q * Empire Files Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/empirefiles* Media Roots Radio: https://soundcloud.com/media-roots * Gaza Fights for Freedom: https://gazafightsforfreedom.com/ Support the Show   Transcript F1:  [MUSIC] How can we not only discover more compassionate relations with human beings but how can we develop compassionate relations with the other creatures with whom we share this planet? F2:  There’s an us before the wound, there’s an us before oppression, and to me pleasure is the way that we tap down into that. F3:  We live in capitalism.  Its power seems inescapable.  So did the divine right of kings. MEXIE: Hello everyone.  Welcome to the Vegan Vanguard.  This is Mexie and I — I’m having a time.  I am having a time.  It is the last month that I have too many jobs all at once.  It’s the last couple weeks of my lecturing term.  I have some fantastic guests lined up that I am so excited to bring to your ears.  But this month I’m going to be releasing two really amazing talks that I had with activists and academics on my YouTube channel.  I posted about this on Patreon and everyone said that they were very interested to have me release both of these on the Vegan Vanguard, so that is what I am doing. The first, what you will hear today, is my talk with Abby Martin about US empire under the Biden administration, looking at his very scary cabinet picks and the way that his administration is posturing, or the policies that they are either enacting or planning to enact in various countries of geostrategic interest of the US.  It was a really fantastic conversation and I was actually just speaking with Abby and Robbie Martin, her brother, on their podcast Media Roots, so I believe this will be coming out around the same time, so you can go and check out my talk with them on that platform as well.  I will link that in the description box as soon as it is available.  The next talk that I am planning to release probably next week or maybe just a few days after this one will be my talk with Dr. Richard Wolff. Well, my series of talks that I will kind of edit together where I spoke with Professor Wolff about covid-19, about the end of capitalism and about building a post-capitalist future in part through democratizing our workplaces.  So, I very much hope you enjoy and thank you so much to all the patrons who stick with us even through the hard months.  Next month I am going to resume with some amazing new guests and I’m really, like I said, just really excited about it.  Before we get started, I would like to say that this is a donor-funded show, so if you would like to become a sustaining member, you can go to patreon.com/veganvanguard or give us a one-time donation via PayPal o...