Jacobin Radio

This is a special, extra episode of Long Reads.

It’s now two weeks since the US attack on Venezuela and the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro. Donald Trump and Marco Rubio made explicit threats to countries like Colombia and Cuba in the aftermath, washed down with the usual fantasies about drug trafficking.

Tony Wood joins Long Reads to discuss the attack on Venezuela and what it means for the Latin American left. How have left-wing governments and parties been reacting, and what are the long-term implications going to be?

Tony is a professor of Latin American history at the University of Colorado Boulder and a regular contributor to publications such as New Left Review, the London Review of Books, and Jacobin: https://jacobin.com/author/tony-wood

Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies with music by Knxwledge.

Featuring Aslı Bâli and Greg Grandin on the MAGA model of US imperialism.

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The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

This week’s episode of Long Reads is the second part of a two-part interview about the history of Western Sahara. Our last episode covered events leading up to Morocco’s invasion of the country. This episode examines the fifty years of occupation and the recent push by the Trump administration to legitimize Moroccan rule.

Our guest Jacob Mundy is a professor of peace and conflict studies at Colgate University. He’s the co-author of Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution.

Read his piece for Jacobin, “For 50 Years, Morocco Has Denied Western Sahara Freedom”: https://jacobin.com/2025/11/morocco-western-sahara-freedom-colonialism

Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies with music by Knxwledge.

Alejandro Velasco analyzes the situation in Venezuela. Eric Blanc defends Victor Berger, Milwaukee’s sewer socialist, against charges of racism.

Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.

The kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro on January 3rd was a shocking escalation in the United States’s ongoing strangulation of Venezuela. This has immediately provoked questions about the domestic Venezuelan power struggle and the demise of the Bolivarian Revolution.

In this episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber is joined by Gabriel Hetland, author of the Catalyst essay titled “From Chávez to Maduro.” Together, they analyze the US’s imperial meddling, Delcy Rodríguez’s shaky interim leadership, and Maduro’s legacy in the context of the Pink Tide.

Read the essay here: https://catalyst-journal.com/2024/12/from-chavez-to-maduro

The latest issue of Catalyst is out and you can subscribe for just $20 using the code CONFRONTINGCAPITALISM: https://catalyst-journal.com/subscribe/?code=CONFRONTINGCAPITALISM

Have a question for us? Write to us by email: [email protected]

Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.