Episode 117: James Schneider - the American empire at home and abroad
James Schneider is a writer, organiser and political commentator, a co-founder of Momentum, the grassroots left-wing organisation that helped Jeremy Corbyn become leader of the Labour Party.
He joins us on episode 117 of Beer Christianity to talk about the ‘imperial boomerang’, where the violence an empire uses overseas eventually returns to terrorise its own population. The interview was recorded earlier this year for Shibboleth magazine’s issue about American imperialism abroad and militarised violence at home. and covers (some of) the history of American violence overseas, the role of Christians in the American regime’s violence, and what can be done.
James Schneider will be familiar to most of us as a leftist pundit on TV and radio debates, whose clear analysis cuts through the right-wing propaganda that seems to dominate the media. He currently heads up Communications for Progressive International, a group that unites and mobilises trade unions, leftist parties, peasant movements and groups like Code Pink, the Democratic Socialists of America and South Africa’s shack dwellers movement. He holds a degree in Theology, and has played chess at an international level (which is not particularly relevant to the discussion, but is very cool).
It's an excellent episode if you're interested in the US anti-ICE movement, the history of US aggression around the world, and what part religion is playing in it all.
James is the author of Our Bloc: How We Win, and you should get a copy.
If you want to read an edited version of the interview, as well as more pieces about what's happening in and because of the US, check out Issue 7 of Shibboleth magazine.
You can listen to Episode 117 anywhere: at an anti-ICE protest in the US; in a country destabilised or exploited by US force; in a country that pretends to have a ‘special relationship’ while being little more than a piece of land for US bases; or right here…
Shibboleth, our sister publication, is available now, in print.
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