The Red Nation Podcast The Imperial Slingshot w/ Charisse Burden-Stelly
Feb 23, 2026
Charisse Burden-Stelly, Associate Professor and anti-imperialist scholar, discusses the 'imperial slingshot' concept linking domestic repression and foreign intervention. Short takes cover parallels like policing and extraction, Haywood’s Black Belt thesis and self-determination, crisis of legitimacy and lawfare, and the need for study, mutual aid, local defense, and sustained organizing.
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Imperialism Moves At Home And Abroad Together
- Imperialism operates simultaneously at home and abroad rather than simply 'boomeranging' back.
- Charisse Burden-Stelly argues the US projects techniques of domination on domestic and foreign fronts together, like a slingshot's two sides creating tension.
Haywood Framed Black Oppression As Internal Imperialism
- Harry Haywood framed Black national oppression as rooted in imperialism and argued Black people in the Black Belt have the right to self-determination.
- Haywood saw the South as semi-feudal, generating super-exploitation that undergirds US capitalism and requires revolutionary land reform.
Minneapolis ICE Occupation Tied To Resource And Policing Strategies
- Minneapolis' federal occupation coincided with attacks on Somali residents and resource extraction projects in northern Minnesota.
- Nick Estes recounts Line 3's reroute, Enbridge escrow policing fund, and the federal buildup as linked to local repression and resource access.
