Empire Files
192 episodes - English - Latest episode: 15 days ago - ★★★★★ - 663 ratingsThe podcast version of a documentary & interview series on war and inequality from the heart of Empire hosted by Abby Martin. Empire Files is donor-funded, independent and add free. Help keep us going by becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/empirefiles.
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Episodes
Episode 43 - Steve Bannon Exposed: Goldman Sachs to Chief Propagandist
December 19, 2017 17:50 - 25 minutes - 23.8 MBSteve Bannon has been propelled over the last year from fringe media outlier to top propagandist of the U.S. Empire as Trump's Chief Strategist. From his Wall Street roots and apocalyptic film career to his cultivation of alt-right bigots at Breitbart News, Abby Martin exposes Bannon's true character in this explosive documentary. Dissection of Bannon's ideology of "economic nationalism" and desire to "Make America Great Again" reveals the danger of his hand in Trump's agenda. FOLLOW // htt...
Episode 42 - Israeli Soldier's Explosive Tell-All: "Palestinians are Right to Resist"
December 19, 2017 17:43 - 27 minutes - 24.8 MBIn a rare, candid conversation, Abby Martin interviews a former Israeli Army combat soldier who served as an occupier in Palestine’s Hebron City. Eran Efrati spent years as a sergeant and combat soldier in the Israeli military, but has since become an outspoken critic of the occupation of Palestine and Israeli apartheid. Efrati gives explosive testimony on the reality of his service and explains how war crimes are institutionalized, as well as how systematic the oppression against Palestini...
Episode 41 - Chris Hedges & Abby Martin: Trump, the Alt-Right & Christianized Fascism
December 19, 2017 17:37 - 25 minutes - 277 MBFor the first time in modern history, a fringe wing of Christian extremists have obtained the highest seats of power in the US government—from Mike Pence to Betsy DeVos. This new development is coupled with the emergence of the Alt Right, the Trump movement, and the rise of fascist movements abroad. Renowned journalist and author Chris Hedges has embedded himself in what he calls “Christianized Fascism” and warns that this is the biggest danger we face under Trump. FOLLOW // http://twit...
Episode 38 - Inside the Hotbeds of Israeli Settler Terror
December 17, 2017 22:48 - 24 minutes - 22.7 MBAbby Martin goes on-the-ground to the epicenters of state-backed settler terrorism in Palestine’s West Bank, in Part II of her report on illegal Israeli settlements and home demolitions. This installment visits both the rural countryside of Duma—interviewing the surviving members of the Dawabsheh family, victims of a horrific arson attack that left three dead—and the urban center of Hebron, a glaring example of Israeli apartheid under intense military occupation. [[LISTEN TO PART I HERE: ht...
Episode 37 - Israel Accelerates Land Theft & Home Demolitions
December 17, 2017 22:44 - 23 minutes - 21.2 MBThe demolition of Palestinian homes for Israeli settlements reached a ten-year high in 2016. While this activity led by the fanatical settler movement is illegal under international law, it is completely aided and abetted by the Israeli government. With hundreds on notice to be evicted and their homes destroyed, Abby Martin goes on-the-ground throughout the West Bank investigating this dire human rights situation. She speaks to residents living under regular settler attacks from encroaching s...
Episode 33 - Chevron vs. the Amazon
December 17, 2017 07:50 - 1 hour - 59 MBThe complete version of Abby Martin's three-part series covering Chevron's disaster in Ecuador, on teleSUR's The Empire Files. Abby launches a deep investigation into Chevron Texaco's intentional spilling of 19 billion gallons of oil and waste in Ecuador's pristine Amazon rainforest--and the 25-year-long legal battle that followed. Featuring interviews with victims, expert and Ecuadorean heads of state, this documentary reveals the full breadth of Chevron's crime, and its outrageous acts a...
Episode 18 - The Empire's War on the Border
December 17, 2017 03:54 - 47 minutes - 43.2 MBJoin Abby Martin as she investigates why there are thousands of bodies on the US Mexico border--and uncovers a hidden war--in this full-length documentary, originally aired as a two-part series. Discover what is not only a shockingly high body count, but a humanitarian crisis manufactured by the U.S. government. Sinister tactics by a bloated Border Patrol, a for-profit prison pipeline, and a court system that looks more like a slave auction, all surround the senseless death of thousands. F...
Episode 40 - Post-Soviet Russia: America's "Colony" to #1 Enemy
December 01, 2017 16:36 - 27 minutes - 25.3 MBThe increased aggression towards Russia from US politicians and media is made more clear when taking into account the real history of the post-Soviet period. The hidden story of Boris Yeltsin’s presidency explains how deeply the US government, along with Western capitalist institutions, cheered, shaped and exploited the country after the fall of the Soviet Union, paving the way for the political system they all condemn today. To uncover just how much the US Empire has interfered in Russia’s...
Episode 39 - Russia Expert on Great Danger of New Cold War
December 01, 2017 16:15 - 22 minutes - 20.8 MBLeading scholar on US-Russia relations addresses the claim being trumpeted by politicians and media on both sides of the political spectrum that Russia is now the "number one" threat to the United States. Given the proxy wars in Syria and Ukraine, Dr. Cohen tells host Abby Martin that the real alarming danger today is "a new, multi-front Cuban missile crisis." Dr. Stephen Cohen is Professor Emeritus at Princeton University and New York University where he taught Russian Studies. He has been ...
Episode 36 - Touring Palestine's Besieged Refugee Camps
November 30, 2017 18:01 - 30 minutes - 27.7 MBIn her first on-the-ground report from Palestine, Abby Martin gives a first-hand look into two of the most attacked refugee camps in the West Bank: Balata and Aida camps. With over seven million displaced Palestinians around the world, hundreds of thousands are refugees inside their own country—many live packed into these refugee camps after being ethnically cleansed from their villages just miles away. They are blocked from returning home, in violation of international law. Watch the esse...
Episode 35 - Legendary Native Leader: From Genocide to Standing Rock
November 30, 2017 16:09 - 23 minutes - 21.8 MBA historic gathering is taking place against the Dakota Access pipeline at Standing Rock. Thousands of people, and around 300 Native nations, have gathered to stop Big Oil’s pipeline, which threatens sacred Native grounds and the environment. To give an eyewitness account of this growing movement, as well as essential historical context, Abby Martin interviews legendary Native leader Dennis Banks. Banks is a founder of of the American Indian Movement (AIM), a leader in the 1973 Wounded Knee...
Episode 34 - The Untold History of Palestine & Israel
November 30, 2017 15:35 - 22 minutes - 20.4 MBPreviewing Abby Martin’s on-the-ground investigation in Palestine, The Empire Files looks at the long history of Zionist colonization, expansion and expulsion of Palestine’s indigenous inhabitants. Giving critical historical context the occupation today, this timeline explores the creation of the state of Israel and how it came to cover so much land since. From the early settlements, to the Nakba, to it’s conquest of the West Bank, Abby Martin reveals the brutally honest root of what is beh...
Episode 32 - Inside the UN Fight Against Corporate Impunity
November 29, 2017 20:06 - 22 minutes - 20.6 MBAbby Martin interviews Ecuador's United Nations representative and Chair of negotiations creating a new international instrument to hold transnational corporations accountable for human rights and environmental crimes. Transnational corporations--many with larger economies than the countries they operate in--have enjoyed immunity from charges for destroying the environment and taking human lives. But Ecuador is leading a fight in the UN to create an international treaty and standards tha...
Episode 30 - Puerto Rico: Colonial Bondage & Resistance
November 29, 2017 19:29 - 28 minutes - 26.1 MBPuerto Rico’s massive debt has been discussed at length in Congress and the media, all omitting the most important fact: the history of being a colonial subject for over 500 years, still owned and controlled by the United States. Abby Martin talks to two professors of Latin American studies, Luis Barrios and Danny Shaw, about the long struggle of Puerto Rico to break the shackles of US and Spanish colonialism—from indigenous resistance to the Young Lords in Harlem. Learn how the US Empire o...
Episode 29 - Imperial Japan, the Bomb & the Pacific Powder Keg
November 29, 2017 19:21 - 27 minutes - 24.8 MBObama’s high-profile trip to Hiroshima was accompanied by a media storm that gave endless justifications for the US use of the atomic bomb on Japanese civilians. The myths are widely accepted in society, and underpin the notion of American exceptionalism. Abby Martin interviews Dr. Peter Kuznick, co-author with Director Oliver Stone of the bestselling book and HBO series "The Untold History of the United States,” about the real story behind the use of the atomic bombs—as well as the untold h...
Episode 28 - Monsanto, America's Monster
November 29, 2017 18:42 - 23 minutes - 21.8 MBFew corporations in the world are as loathed—and as sinister—as Monsanto. But the threat it poses to people and planet could be reaching new heights, as the World Health Organization has recently upgraded Monsanto's main product as carcinogenic to humans. With protests against the agrochemical giant held in over 40 countries in May, learn why the global movement against Monsanto is of critical importance to our future. In this episode of The Empire Files, Abby Martin issues a scathing expo...
Episode 27 - Propaganda & Engineering Consent for Empire with Mark Crispin Miller
November 29, 2017 18:30 - 25 minutes - 23.7 MBWith thousands of advertisements seen by Americans everyday, and a corporate media that reinforces the needs of Empire, propaganda in the U.S. is more pervasive and effective than ever before. The manipulation of public opinion through suggestion can be traced back to the father of modern propaganda, Edward Bernays, who discovered that preying on the subconscious mind was the best way to sell products people don't need, and wars people don't want. To get a deeper understanding of how propag...
Episode 26 - Fighting Hillary is How Progressives Win - Councilwoman Kshama Sawant
November 29, 2017 18:10 - 24 minutes - 22.4 MBAs the flailing Hillary Clinton camp steps-up its attacks on Bernie Sanders, her poll numbers continue to drop—and for the first time, have her losing to Donald Trump in a general election. On the cusp of the Democratic Party Convention, millions of Sanders' supporters are wondering what to do other than vote for a 'lesser of two evils.' To gain some insight, Abby Martin interviews Kshama Sawant, an open socialist who just won re-election to Seattle's city council—who also ran an insurgent ...
Episode 25 - Used & Betrayed - 100 Years of US Troops as Lab Rats
November 29, 2017 17:53 - 30 minutes - 28.2 MBOn Memorial Day and Veterans Day, politicians will speak at ceremonies all over the country and repeat their favorite mantra: "Support the troops." This pledge is hammered into the American psyche at every turn. But there is a hidden, dark history that shows that the politicians are in fact no friend to service members--but their greatest enemy. An easy way to prove this truth is to look at how they so quickly betray and abandon their soldiers after purposely ruining their lives, and even ...
Episode 24 - Hillary Clinton's Business of Corporate Shilling & War Making
November 29, 2017 17:49 - 27 minutes - 24.7 MBDigging deep into Hillary's connections to Wall Street, Abby Martin reveals how the Clinton's multi-million-dollar political machine operates. This episode chronicles the Clinton's rise to power in the 90s on a right-wing agenda, the Clinton Foundation's revolving door with Gulf state monarchies, corporations and the world's biggest financial institutions, and the establishment of the hyper-aggressive "Hillary Doctrine" while Secretary of State. Learn the essential facts about the great d...
Episode 23 - How the World Runs on Looting the Congo
November 29, 2017 17:17 - 27 minutes - 25.3 MBEvery drone flown by the U.S. military has inside a piece of the Democratic Republic of the Congo--a valuable mineral, of which the DRC has trillions of dollars worth buried underground. For five centuries, the continent of Africa has been ravaged by the world's Empires for its vast untapped treasure. Today, the U.S. Empire is increasing it's military role through their massive command network, AFRICOM, carrying out several missions a day. With the Congo being arguably the biggest prize fo...
Episode 22 - Abby Martin & Pres. Candidate Dr. Jill Stein: America's Multi-Organ Failure
November 29, 2017 16:46 - 23 minutes - 21.8 MBPart of the way the U.S. Empire's elections are rigged is the corporate media's censorship of third-party candidates, despite their nationwide campaign efforts. The Green Party, running Dr. Jill Stein for President, has been totally ignored by the establishment. Abby Martin sits down with Dr. Stein to look at how her career in medicine helped her diagnose America's "multi-organ failure," and why her ideas pose such a threat to Empire. FOLLOW // http://twitter.com/empirefiles LIKE // http:...
Episode 21 - Marxism 101: How Capitalism is Killing Itself with Dr. Richard Wolff
November 29, 2017 16:37 - 35 minutes - 32.4 MBDespite a concerted effort by the U.S. Empire to snuff out the ideology, a 2016 poll found young Americans have a much more favorable view of socialism than capitalism. Though he died 133 years ago, the analysis put forward by one of the world’s most influential thinkers, Karl Marx, remains extremely relevant today. The Empire’s recent rigged presidential election has been disrupted by the support of an avowed socialist, Bernie Sanders, by millions of voters. To find out why Marx’s popular...
Episode 20 - The MOVE Bombing - When Police Plotted to Exterminate a Family
November 29, 2017 05:02 - 29 minutes - 27.3 MBOn May 13, 1985, one of the most shameful, horrific attacks by U.S. police ever took place in West Philadelphia. 11 people—including five children—were killed in a deliberate massacre. A racist and political attack on a radical community group known as the MOVE Organization, city and police officials were revealed to have intentionally set their home ablaze, let the fire rage, and violently kept escaping men, women and children trapped inside. Featuring a harrowing first-hand account with t...
Episode 19 - Cornel West & Mumia Abu-Jamal Uncensor Radical Black History
November 29, 2017 02:45 - 23 minutes - 21.8 MBDuring Black History Month, as the U.S. pays homage to African Americans who have changed the course of history, the establishment shows us a revised version that omits a critical piece: the Black radical political tradition. Featuring interviews with Cornel West and others, and with speeches from legends like Mumia Abu-jamal and Angela Davis, Abby Martin provides a snapshot from the 'Black Radical Tradition In Our Time' conference held in Philadelphia. This conference brought together ar...
Episode 17 - Unraveling the Syria War Chessboard
November 29, 2017 02:14 - 23 minutes - 21.4 MBThe war in Syria is an unparalleled crisis. Having gone far beyond an internal political struggle, the war is marked by a complex array of forces that the U.S. Empire hopes to command: Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kurdistan, Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and more. To simplify this web of enemies and friends in the regional war, Abby Martin interviews Dr. Vijay Prashad, professor of International Studies at Trinity College and author of several books including “The Poorer Nations", "A People’s History of the...
Episode 16 - Untouchable Big Oil Threatens All Life On Earth
November 29, 2017 02:07 - 28 minutes - 25.8 MBAll life on Earth is threatened by catastrophic climate change--the main culprit is so powerful that the U.S. government is setup to serve it, rather than regulate it. The oil industry is a powerhouse with control over land, resources, politics and more. In this episode of The Empire Files, Abby Martin uncovers big oil's strong-arm reach--its growth, its crimes, its power and its impunity. Featuring interviews with two investigative journalists who have covered oil disasters on-the-ground...
Episode 15 - A Deeper Look at Islamophobia in the U.S. Empire
November 29, 2017 01:53 - 27 minutes - 25.2 MB2015 wrapped up as the most dangerous year for Muslims in America, setting records for hate crimes against them. There have been dozens of attacks on mosques, including firebombings, and physical assaults like stabbings, shootings and beatings against Muslims--and perceived Muslims--grew to the highest numbers ever recorded. Abby Martin interviews Dr. Deepa Kumar, professor of media studies at Rutgers University and author of Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, about the roots of this a...
Episode 14 - Ralph Nader & Abby Martin on Rigged Corporate Elections, Clinton Criminals
November 28, 2017 22:57 - 25 minutes - 23 MBOn this week’s episode of The Empire Files, Abby Martin interviews American political figure Ralph Nader about the 2016 presidential race—from the “Brown Shirt” Trump movement to “corporate criminal” Hillary Clinton—and the reality of who has power in America. Known for his widely-popular presidential run in 2000, he also ran presidential campaigns against corporate power in 1996, 2004 and 2008. A consumer advocate since the 1950’s, his work against auto industry giants forced the creatio...
Episode 13 - Bush Military Official: The Empire's Ship is Sinking
November 28, 2017 22:42 - 23 minutes - 21.8 MBAbby Martin interviews retired U.S. Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former national security advisor to the Reagan administration, who spent years as an assistant to Secretary of State Colin Powell during both Bush administrations. Today, he is honest about the unfixable corruption inside the establishment and the corporate interests driving foreign policy. Hear a rare insider's view of what interests are behind U.S. wars, the manipulation of intelligence, the intertwining of the military ...
Episode 12 - The US School That Trains Dictators & Death Squads
November 28, 2017 22:37 - 28 minutes - 25.8 MBOn November 22, thousands gathered at the gates of Fort Benning, GA at the 25th annual protest of the School of the Americas to memorialize the tens of thousands of people who lost their lives at the hands of the U.S. Empire’s brutally repressive juntas it used to rule Latin America by force. The dictators and death squad leaders, who committed acts of genocide, were trained within the gates of Fort Benning, at the School of the Americas – otherwise known as the “School Of Assassins.” Abb...
Episode 11 - Thanksgiving to 'Redskins' - Dispelling American Myths That Hide Native Genocide
November 28, 2017 22:10 - 24 minutes - 22.8 MBEach November, Americans celebrate a mythical version of U.S. history. Thanksgiving Day's portrayal of the experience of Native Americans under the boot of settler-colonialism is one of the Empire's most cherished falsehoods. To hear about the true story of native peoples' plight - from genocide to reeducation - Abby Martin interviews Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, renowned indigenous scholar and activist, about her most recent book "An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States." FOLLOW // h...
Episode 10 - Jewish-American on Israel's Fascism: "No Hope For Change From Within"
November 28, 2017 22:03 - 27 minutes - 25.5 MBAbby Martin interviews journalist and author Max Blumenthal on the current situation in Palestine and the Israeli occupation. This episode covers what is behind today's rebellion, the rising dominance of far-right, ultra-racist ideology in Israel, eye-witness accounts of the aftermath of the Gaza war, and the Israeli government's fear of Palestinian resistance. Max Blumenthal is an award-winning journalist and New York Times Best Selling author. He has written two books on Palestine, "Golia...
Episode 9 - The Distortion & Death Behind Israel/Palestine Coverage
November 28, 2017 21:39 - 25 minutes - 23.1 MBA crisis in Palestine is again all over the headlines. From stabbings and molotov cocktails, to killing of protesters and anti-Arab lynch mobs--how much of the mass media coverage can we really trust? Abby Martin takes a look at how the so-called "Israel-Palestine conflict" has been covered by the mainstream press during the last crisis in the region, and the variety of tactics employed by the state of Israel to control the narrative: from it's Hasbara propaganda machine, to outright killing...
Episode 8 - Who Is To Blame For The Refugee Crisis?
November 28, 2017 21:19 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBToday 60 million human beings are displaced from war and extreme poverty. Many European countries are responding to the crisis with racist hysteria, polices and police state measures. Abby Martin exposes the facts that are left out of the mainstream reporting: the role of criminal wars, disastrous neoliberal economics and why mass displacement is a permanent feature under this system. Featuring interviews with Atossa Abrahamian, journalist and author of the new book "The Cosmopolites: The C...
Episode 7 - Noam Chomsky & Abby Martin: The Empire's Election Extravaganza
November 28, 2017 21:04 - 25 minutes - 23.2 MBIn this episode of teleSUR's The Empire Files, Abby Martin interviews world-renowned philosopher and linguist Professor Noam Chomsky. Prof. Chomsky comments on the presidential primary "extravaganza," the movement for Bernie Sanders, the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal, the bombing of the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, modern-day libertarianism and the reality of "democracy" under capitalism. FOLLOW // http://twitter.com/empirefiles LIKE // http://facebook.com/theempirefiles...
Episode 6 - America's Unofficial Religion — The War On An Idea
November 28, 2017 20:39 - 28 minutes - 26.5 MBThe Empire has a range of weapons to maintain its power: from its courts to its military. But it also has effective ideological weapons. Everyone in the United States knows that "socialist" or "communist" is considered a bad word. How did things get that way? Abby Martin explores the history of anti-communism in America, and the heavy repression of an idea that became an unofficial religion. Featuring interviews with: Brian Becker, founder of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (Twit...
Episode 5 - Inside Saudi Arabia: Butchery, Slavery & History of Revolt
November 27, 2017 23:42 - 27 minutes - 24.8 MBMeet the new head of the United Nations panel on Human Rights: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Abby Martin takes us inside the brutal reality of this police-state monarchy, and tells the untold people's history of resistance to it. With a major, catastrophic war in Yemen and looming high-profile executions of activists, The Empire Files exposes true nature of the U.S.-Saudi love affair. FOLLOW // http://twitter.com/empirefiles LIKE // http://facebook.com/theempirefiles Music by Fluorescent Gre...
Episode 4 - Abby Martin & Chris Hedges: War, Propaganda & the Enemy Within
November 27, 2017 23:20 - 28 minutes - 26 MBAbby Martin interviews Chris Hedges on American myths, war and revolt. Hedges explains the 'folly of Empire,' the dangers posed by right-wing extremism and the urgent need for a new system. Chris Hedges is a former New York Times journalist and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. He is the author of several books including his most recent, "Wages of Rebellion: the Moral Imperative of Revolt." He publishes a weekly column on Truthdig.com and is the host of Days of Revolt, airing every Monday nigh...
Episode 3 - Tortured & Enslaved: Enter the World's Biggest Prison
November 27, 2017 22:59 - 27 minutes - 25.5 MBThe Empire holds by far the most prisoners than any other country on earth, in both absolute numbers and per capita. Abby Martin explores the dark reality of America's prisons: their conditions, who is warehoused in them, and the roots of mass incarceration. Featuring interviews with Eddie Conway, former political prisoner unjustly incarcerated for 44 years, and Eugene Puryear, author of "Shackled and Chained, Mass Incarceration in Capitalist America." FOLLOW // http://twitter.com/empiref...
Episode 2 - 9/11 and the Belligerent Empire
November 27, 2017 22:41 - 24 minutes - 22.7 MBIn September 11th's episode of The Empire Files on TeleSUR, Abby Martin examines the two major wars launched under the "Global War on Terror"--their historical development and their aftermath. Featuring former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, this episode digs into the tragedy of a region shaped by Empire. FOLLOW // http://twitter.com/empirefiles LIKE // http://facebook.com/theempirefiles Music by Fluorescent Grey: https://soundcloud.com/fluorescentgrey Additional music by Identity Theft
Episode 1 - The Rise of History's Biggest Empire
November 27, 2017 21:46 - 25 minutes - 23.4 MBAbby Martin debuts teleSUR's The Empire Files exploring the U.S. Empire, its rise to world hegemony and its impact on people and the planet. FOLLOW // http://twitter.com/empirefiles LIKE // http://facebook.com/theempirefiles Music by Fluorescent Grey: https://soundcloud.com/fluorescentgrey