The Red Nation Podcast

TRN Podcast Nick Estes live in conversation with Kim TallBear about the conference they organized, Holding Our Ground: Voices and Strategies Against Self-Indigenization. You can watch the individual panels that were livestreamed on our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKWiQX270BMoLRv25dDskRfsJ2pptPf3Z Conference description: "This two-day, hybrid symposium will convene leading experts, community members, and "first responders" to the global issue of self-Indigenization, particularly in the form of "Indigenous ethnic fraud," or "pretendianism," as it is referred to in North America. The symposium will be held in Minneapolis, on the traditional homelands of the Dakota people, who were imprisoned and eventually exiled in 1863 to aid settler appropriation of "Minnesota," a word also taken from the Dakota. On top of seizing land, US citizens have for centuries "played Indian" via sports mascots and appropriating Native nation names and iconography in scouting and in industries including the military. In the twenty-first century, we see ballooning numbers of US citizens make mythological claims to belong to Native lineages and nations. Some capitalize on those claims to appropriate Indigenous resources and opportunities, and to seize governance of institutions. We see an obviously violent example of self-Indigenization in the Department of "Homeland Security" whose agents seize governance of these lands, terrorize, imprison, and threaten to exile. As multiple forms of self-Indigenization converge, not all are grasped as violent, yet they combine to further colonial extraction. Extractive self-Indigenization, including Indigenous ethnic fraud, not only targets American Indians, but also First Nations, Métis, and Inuit in Canada; and global Indigenous communities in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, and elsewhere. This symposium will bring participants together to engage in critical discussions, learn from one another, and discuss actionable strategies to disrupt this global problem." Empower our work: GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/empower-red-medias-indigenous-content Subscribe to The Red Nation Newsletter: https://www.therednation.org/ Patreon https://www.patreon.com/redmediapr

Red Power Hour co-host Melanie Yazzie hosts a conversation with Kelsey Fryman and Cloud Runner, and Kristen on the Prairieland 19, a group of Anti-ICE protestors who have been incarcerated for months on fabricated charges of supporting terrorism. DFW Support Committee: https://prairielanddefendants.com/ Legal Defense Fund: https://www.givesendgo.com/supportDFWprotestors GoFundMe to help Maricela Rueda's family: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-maricelas-family-while-she-fights-for-justice GoFundMe to help Des: https://www.gofundme.com/f/get-artist-des-revol-an-immigration-attorney Empower our work: GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/empower-red-medias-indigenous-content Subscribe to The Red Nation Newsletter: https://www.therednation.org/ Patreon https://www.patreon.com/redmediapr

TRN Podcast host Nick Estes live in conversation with Sina Rahmani, host of The East is a Podcast and producer of The Red Nation Podcast, on the wider context of the Ramadan War and what is at stake in this historic confrontation. Watch the livestream edition on The Red Nation Podcast Empower our work: GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/empower-red-medias-indigenous-content Subscribe to The Red Nation Newsletter: https://www.therednation.org/ Patreonhttps://www.patreon.com/redmediapr

A lively look at Smoke Signals as a landmark Indigenous-made film and why it still matters. They unpack themes of grief, masculinity, and redemption through Victor and Thomas. Conversation covers Sherman Alexie’s influence and the fallout around his misconduct. Calls for more Indigenous women, Two Spirit, and queer storytellers and critique of limited female roles appear throughout.

Two critics break down Avatar: Fire and Ice with sharp takes on cultural appropriation and pretendianism. They map how settler futurism and recycled white savior tropes reshape Indigenous futures. The conversation skewers caricatured Na'vi, dubious origins, and how settlers are written into indigeneity. Expect close readings of symbolism, cringe moments, and comparisons to Hollywood colonial fantasies.

Alex Aviña, an ASU history professor who traces the transnational roots of the war on drugs, and Oswaldo Zavala, a scholar-journalist studying narcotrafficking discourse and militarization, unpack how state narratives and U.S.-Mexico flows shape violence. They discuss manufactured "Mr. Big" myths, militarized counterinsurgency tactics, media sensationalism, transnational arms and policy flows, and links between extraction and depopulation.

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.

Michael Lujan Bevacqua, Co-Chair of Independent Guåhan and decolonization organizer; Melvin Won Pat-Borja, Executive Director of the Guam Commission on Decolonization. They discuss why Bill 242-38 would erase Chamoru-led voting rights. Conversations cover Guam and Micronesia’s decolonization history, unequal U.S. citizenship and militarization, and visions for an independent, peaceful Micronesia.

RPH is BACK! Amy Bowers-Cordalis joins RPH Co-host Elena Ortiz to talk about her new book, the liberation of the Klamath River and her family's contributions to that struggle. This is a story of hope and triumph. Watch the video edition on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel Empower our work: GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/empower-red-medias-indigenous-content Subscribe to The Red Nation Newsletter: https://www.therednation.org/ Patreon https://www.patreon.com/redmediapr

Operation Metro Surge is just two months old. In this episode, TRN Podcast host Nick Estes examines the recent history and the historic community resistance against the deadly and traumatic federal invasion. Fort Snelling: The Advance Guard of Federal Invasion Since 1805: https://racketmn.com/fort-snelling-the-advance-guard-of-federal-invasion-since-1805 Watch the video edition on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel Empower our work: GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/empower-red-medias-indigenous-content Subscribe to The Red Nation Newsletter: https://www.therednation.org/ Patreon https://www.patreon.com/redmediapr