In this episode, we are visited by anti-imperialist scholar and professor Dr. Bikrum Gill. We delve into the critical historical and political arguments for why separating the Iranian "people" from the Islamic Republic of Iran at this moment is a dangerous ideological move that reproduces the logic of imperialism. We explore how the 1979 Islamic Revolution overthrew a brutal, Western-backed client regime and established a state explicitly opposed to U.S. imperialism and Zionist settler colonialism. Drawing on the work of scholars like Bikrum Gill, we challenge the comfortable liberal distinctions that echo imperialist rhetoric, such as "We support the Palestinian people, not Hamas" or "I support civil rights but not like that." Bikrum makes clear why standing against the war and sanctions on Iran requires a clear stand for the resistant, anti-imperialist state structure—internal contradictions and all—that has held the line when others surrendered. Bikrum is a a scholar of international political economy. His research is guided by third world Marxist political and methodological commitments. He is concerned, in particular, with how the contradictions of capitalist imperialism bear upon the sovereign capacity of peoples in the Global South. His research and writings have inquired into this question through a focus on agriculture and development, the climate crisis, sanctions, and anti-colonial/anti-imperialist resistance. His work has been published in a range of academic and non-academic venues, including
Politics,
Globalizations,
Canadian Food Studies,
Developing Economics,
Red Pepper, and
Ebb Magazine.
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