Hauntologies
The Fire These Times
58/ Democracy, Counterrevolution and the Rhetoric of Anti-Imperialism (with Rohini Hensman)
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58/ Democracy, Counterrevolution and the Rhetoric of Anti-Imperialism (with Rohini Hensman)

Today we’ll be talking to Rohini Hensman.

She is an India-based Sri Lankan labor activist and feminist and an  independent scholar whose book “Indefensible: Democracy,  Counterrevolution, and the Rhetoric of Anti-Imperialism” I’ve reviewed some years ago, and which will be the topic of our conversation today.

In that book, she argues that the apparent anti-imperialism of many  self-professed socialists amounts to explicit or implicit support for  totalitarianism, fascism, Islamist theocracy and, ironically enough,  imperialism.

She goes through the examples of Syria, Iran, Iraq, Bosnia, Russia and Ukraine.

This has been a concern of mind for a few years now and I wanted to  take this opportunity to bring it to a wider audience, so I invited  Rohini on to explore how such a supposedly noble political position –  anti-imperialism – can be so easily corrupted.

You don’t have to identify with any -ism to find this topic  informative. You just need to be someone who opposes authoritarian  politics.

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Music by Tarabeat.

Photo taken from ‘The Syrian People Know Their Way’

Discussion about this podcast

Hauntologies
The Fire These Times
A podcast project working to uplift internationalist dialogues on human rights, climate change, and visions of bold futures. Our unique editorial team are deeply committed to weaving together radical perspectives from the periphery. By Elia Ayoub, Leila Al-Shami, Ayman Makarem, Dana El Kurd, Karena Avedissian, Daniel Voskoboynik, Anna M, Aydın Yıldız, Ed S, Alice Bonfatti & Israa Abdel Fattah.
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