Podcast
The Red Nation Podcast
Hosted by The Red Nation · EN
The Red Nation Podcast features discussions on Indigenous history, politics, and culture from a left perspective. Hosted by Nick Estes and Jen Marley with help from our friend and comrade Sina. The Red Nation Podcast is also the home of Red Power Hour, hosted by Melanie Yazzie and Elena Ortiz.
Our show is entirely supported by our patrons on Patreon, support the show and get access to bonus content and other patron exclusive benefits here: Patreon.com/redmediapr
Website: therednation.org
Follow the hosts on Twitter @nickwestes and @JenMarley1680 and the Red Nation @The_Red_Nation.
Theme song: "Dead Horse" by Weedrat https://weedrat.bandcamp.com/
34episodes
Episodes
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Return to Bandung (#39) - From Minneapolis to Iran w/ Nick Estes
6d ago01:17:54Tap to summarize***Producer's note: Reposting an episode Nick recorded with Return to Bandung*** In this episode, I'm joined by returning guest Nick Estes—associate professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota, cofounder of The Red Nation, and author of Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance(Verso Books, 2019)—to discuss last winter's federal occupation of Minnesota during the Trump Administration's 'Operation Metro Surge.' In this wide-ranging conversation, we attempt to complicate the artificial distinction between the 'domestic' and 'foreign' spheres, instead situating the fascist violence of Metro Surge within a larger context of both settler-colonial violence in the United States and escalating global aggression by the decaying American empire. About the show: Return to Bandung is hosted by Pranay Somayajula, an Indian-American writer, researcher, and organizer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His work explores themes of diaspora, (inter)nationalism, anticolonial politics, and the many lives and afterlives of empire. You can learn more about Pranay and read his writing on his website, as well as on his Substack blog, culture shock. Support Return to Bandung: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave a review or rating, and subscribe to the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts! If you're able, please also consider supporting my work—which encompasses both my writing and this podcast, as well as various other political education projects by signing up as a paid subscriber to my Substack or making a one-off contribution: Become a paid Substack subscriber Buy Me a Coffee Sources and helpful links: Nick Estes — Our History Is the Future:Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance (Verso Books, 2019) Pranay Somayajula — Fighting for the future in occupied Minneapolis (The Drift newsletter, January 2026) Minnesota 15 Anti-Repression Committee website Return to Bandung episode with Nick Estes on Indigenous resistance in North America (February 2025) Adam Serwer — Minnesota Proved MAGA Wrong (The Atlantic, January 2026) The Red Nation Podcast episode with Nick Estes and Jimmy Patiño on Red, Black, and Brown Power in the Twin Cities (August 2024) Benjamin Prostine — "'Communal Sensibility': the Minneapolis Mass Strikes of 1934 and Today" (Labor and Working-Class History Association, March 2026) Nick Estes — Transcript of remarks at January 23 'ICE Out of Minnesota' rally (January 2026) Amelia Schafer — Former Native American concentration camp lies beneath current immigration detention center (ICT News, January 2026) Nick Estes — US Imperialism is an Indian War (Middle East Critique, October 2025) Return to Bandung episode with Guillaume Long on Trump's revival of the Monroe Doctrine (January 2026) Return to Bandung episode with Julian Go on the imperial boomerang (February 2025) The Red Nation Podcast episode with Charisse Burden-Stelly on the imperial slingshot (February 2026) Ken Klippenstein — ICE Unloads (Substack post, January 2026) George Jackson — Blood in My Eye (Black Classic Press, 1990) Social links: Return to Bandung: Twitter: twitter.com/returntobandung Instagram: instagram.com/returntobandung/ Pranay Somayajula: Twitter: twitter.com/p_somayajula Instagram: instagram.com/pranay.somayajula/ Website: pranaysomayajula.com/ Substack: culture-shock.xyz/ Nick Estes: Twitter: twitter.com/nickwestes Substack: nickestes.substack.com/ The Red Nation <p class="preFlex flexIn" data-rte...
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The Willingness to Destroy: RPH vs. Exterminate All the Brutes (pt.1)
2w ago01:34:00Tap to summarizeRed Power Hour is back! Co-hosts Elena Ortiz and Melanie Yazzie tackle Exterminate All the Brutes (2021), a documentary television miniseries revolving around colonization and genocide, directed and narrated by Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck. 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
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RPH - Storytelling as resistance (pt.1) w/ Deborah Miranda
3w ago01:04:25Tap to summarize***Note: This is part one of a two-part episode. Patrons of Red Media can access the entire interview, so join the Patreon today for as little as $2 a month if you haven't already!!*** Red Power Hour is back! Co-hosts Melanie Yazzie and Elena Ortiz interview scholar, writer, and poet Deborah Miranda on her work, including her memoir, Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir (2014) Watch the video edition on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel https://youtu.be/-JbcBOu-H14 Check out some of the articles mentioned in the episode on her Academic.edu page https://wlu.academia.edu/DeborahMiranda 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
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The New Red Scare
4w ago00:55:47Tap to summarizePresident Trump is fomenting a right-wing fever dream of a communist plot to destroy America. TRN Podcast host Nick Estes, debunks this myth. Watch the video edition on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel https://youtu.be/A7nl1X_XwAg 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
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"The Truth is Not Out There": RPH vs. Disclosure Day (2026)
Jul 1301:16:10Tap to summarizeRPH is back!!! Co-hosts Melanie Yazzie and Elena Ortiz discuss Steven Spielberg's latest summer blockbuster. 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
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What Indigenous People Think of the 250th: The First America Podcast Series w/ Rebecca Nagle
Jul 601:02:45Tap to summarizeTRN Podcast host Nick Estes speaks to returning guest and friend of the show Rebecca Nagle about her new podcast series, First America. Watch the video edition on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channelhttps://youtu.be/A7nl1X_XwAg NOTE: WE ARE REPUBLISHING THE FIRST EPISODE OF THE SERIES ALONGSIDE THIS EPISODE. DESCRIPTION BELOW Native people have been written out of the American story, but without us you don't know what happened. This summer the United States will celebrate the 250-year anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. When you read the Declaration, you realize it is a list of complaints. The last entry, the climax in our founders' reasons for rebellion against the Crown, is this: "He has excited… the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions." We have been told the Revolution was fought over taxation and representation. But what the founders were most angry about in our country's most famous document was Indian affairs. How did generations of Americans miss this? The first armed rebellion against the Crown was an attack on British forts that traded with tribes. When colonists threw tea into the Boston harbor, they dressed up like members of the Mohawk tribe—not for disguise, but because pretending to be Indian symbolized freedom and rebellion. The founding fathers' first government failed because Indigenous nations were too powerful; war and diplomacy with Native people is why we have a central federal government. Hosted and reported by Rebecca Nagle and featuring leading Native historians, First America unveils how the founders' treatment of Indigenous nations—and their resistance—shaped US democracy. The show does not simply add another blemish to the image of the founding fathers, it reveals the real story of why the colonists rebelled, what kind of government they created, and, crucially, how our current political moment was 250 years in the making. FirstAmerica.info 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
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First America S3.E1: Merciless Indian Savages
Jul 600:36:39Tap to summarize"Native people have been written out of the American story, but without us you don't know what happened. This summer the United States will celebrate the 250-year anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. When you read the Declaration, you realize it is a list of complaints. The last entry, the climax in our founders' reasons for rebellion against the Crown, is this: "He has excited… the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions." We have been told the Revolution was fought over taxation and representation. But what the founders were most angry about in our country's most famous document was Indian affairs. How did generations of Americans miss this? The first armed rebellion against the Crown was an attack on British forts that traded with tribes. When colonists threw tea into the Boston harbor, they dressed up like members of the Mohawk tribe—not for disguise, but because pretending to be Indian symbolized freedom and rebellion. The founding fathers' first government failed because Indigenous nations were too powerful; war and diplomacy with Native people is why we have a central federal government. Hosted and reported by Rebecca Nagle and featuring leading Native historians, First America unveils how the founders' treatment of Indigenous nations—and their resistance—shaped US democracy. The show does not simply add another blemish to the image of the founding fathers, it reveals the real story of why the colonists rebelled, what kind of government they created, and, crucially, how our current political moment was 250 years in the making." FirstAmerica.info
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We have a planet to save! The Red Deal 5th Anniversary
Jun 2902:09:17Tap to summarizeAn all-star cast of hosts, friends, and comrades take part in this extra-long episode commemorating the 5-year anniversary of The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth. Watch the livestream edition on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel https://youtube.com/live/urroZOLfdW4 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
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Colonialism is the Angel of Death: RPH vs. Exposure (2024)
Jun 2201:51:51Tap to summarizeRPH is back! Co-hosts Elena Ortiz and Melanie Yazzie discuss Ramona Emerson's Exposure (2024) Check out our earlier episode on Ramona's previous novel, Shutter (2022) 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 www.patreon.com/redmediapr
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Say NO to Magellan Pipeline w/Mark Tilsen
Jun 1401:36:20Tap to summarizeMark Tilsen, Oglala Lakota Poet Educator from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, returns to the show to discuss the Megellan Pipeline. Watch the video edition on our YouTube channelhttps://youtu.be/WNF9_v2zpAo 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 www.patreon.com/redmediapr
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