This year has been marked by the U.S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive approach to foreign policy. From the seizure of the Venezuelan president in January to the ongoing war in Iran, the U.S. government is unashamedly entering into a new era of American Imperialism.
Impacts of the U.S. bids to tighten its imperialist domination are felt deeply all over the world. Cuba is inching deeper into a health crisis. The U.S. fuel blockade on Cuba has entered its fourth month, blackouts are disrupting the country’s medical services and garbage is piling in the streets because waste removal has been reduced to save fuel. Iranians continue to face violence at the hands of the U.S. and Israel, with an attack on May 6 targeting a Beirut suburb.
In Canada, thousands have lost their jobs amid tariffs on Canadian goods that push companies to shutter their Canadian operations. Workers everywhere are struggling under the weight of rising prices driven by oil supply disruptions during the war in Iran.
As conditions worsen for the average working person under American imperialism, the hunger to oppose this aggressive trend has grown. Our next edition of the Off the Hill panel series will bring together experts to discuss how to make sense of the chaotic state of the world and struggle for better.
Join us in conversation with writers and researchers Gabriel De Roche, Madelaine Drohan, Thomas Ponniah and rabble’s own parliamentary reporter Karl Nerenberg on Tuesday, May 19, 2025 at 4:30pm PT / 7:30pm ET. Hosted by Nick Seebruch and Gabriela Calugay-Causga.
About our guests
Gabriel De Roche is a political scientist and public opinion survey researcher working on global, national, and local projects with a particular focus on the politics of climate change and the clean energy transition. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of California, San Diego, and currently works at The 2035 Initiative at UC Santa Barbara where he is the Director of Polling and Survey Research and a Postdoctoral Fellow. He is also the founder and principal of a public opinion consultancy, Pluriel Research. Based in Santa Barbara, California, and Toronto, Ontario, he is the co-host of the Canadian podcast, Culture Lab, a show about how the zeitgeist shapes our political culture.
Madelaine Drohan is a senior fellow at the Graduate School of Public and International Policy, University of Ottawa. She is a former Canada correspondent for The Economist, and a former foreign correspondent for The Globe and Mail. During her long journalism career, she covered politics, economics, and business in Africa, Asia, Canada, and Europe. Her latest book is: He Did Not Conquer: Benjamin Franklin’s Failure to Annex Canada. She lives in Ottawa.
Thomas Ponniah is a co-writer of Unholy Trinity: the IMF, World Bank, and WTO, co-editor of Another World is Possible: World Social Forum proposals for an Alternative Globalization, co-editor of The Revolution in Venezuela: Social and Political Change Under Chávez, and contributor of 76 articles for rabble.ca.
Karl Nerenberg is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and filmmaker, working in both English and French languages. He is rabble’s senior parliamentary reporter.
About Off the Hill
Since 2019, Off the Hill has been rabble.ca’s live monthly panel. Through this series, we break down important national and international news stories through a progressive lens.
This webinar series invites a rotating roster of guest activists, politicians, researchers and more to discuss how to mobilize and bring about progressive change in national and international politics — on and off Parliament Hill.
The live, digital show is one hour long – 45 minutes of moderated discussion followed by 15 minutes of audience participation.
