Let's dive into a transformative, summer-long online education series that will empower you to become a powerful advocate for antiwar activists for people and the planet! You'll gain in-depth knowledge and vital skills through bi-weekly classes to make a real impact. Led by CODEPINK leaders and peace movement experts, each session will include an educational deep dive into resistance history, theories of change, and where we go from here. Each session will give you tools to drive real change in your community.
Below is a curated list of what to watch, read and uplift before each summer school session. These resources will enrich your experience with our guests speakers, topics, and calls to action! Feel free to recommend other materials for us to share.
We begin by tracing the roots of U.S. imperialism, revealing how military dominance and colonial expansion laid the groundwork for modern forms of fascism and racialized violence. Understanding this history is key to resisting its ongoing impact.
From indigenous displacement and the war with Mexico to the occupations of Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Hawai‘i. We’ll explore key moments like the Spanish-American War, Cold War interventions, and post-9/11 wars, while connecting overseas empire-building to domestic policies like policing and racism. We’ll also highlight resistance—from global movements to U.S. voices like W.E.B. Du Bois, the Black Panthers, and anti-war veterans.
Watch
“United States” to Imperial America: Our Hidden Empire
Read
We Can’t Understand Islamophobia Without Recognizing Its Roots in Imperialism An interview with Deepa Kumar
How to Hide an Empire Introduction Book by Daniel Immerwahr
Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism Kristen R Ghodsee
The CIA’s Greatest Hits By: Arthur Naiman & Mark Zepezauer
Take Action!
Trump and Congress Need to Reduce Pentagon Spending!
This session unpacks how current U.S. military strategies, surveillance, and domestic policing uphold systems of white supremacy and gendered violence. We explore how feminist resistance can disrupt these patterns of state violence.
From Palestine to China, Ukraine to the Congo. We’ll explore how sanctions, hybrid warfare, and global surveillance reinforce U.S. power and how these policies impact people both globally and at home. We'll also connect militarism to climate change, mass incarceration, and “America First” nationalism, including tariff wars. Together, we’ll unpack the real cost of U.S. imperialism in a rapidly shifting world.
Watch
Naomi Klein on Trump, Musk, Far Right & "End Times Fascism" Democracy Now
Trump Directs MILITARY Be Used For U.S. Law Enforcement
Trump’s Monroe Doctrine 2.0: Cuba, Venezuela Targeted in Hybrid War
Fascism, imperialism, and the law with Nina Farnia
Read
Israel Always Wanted to Exterminate Gaza. Now, It’s Seizing the Opportunity. By Qassam Muaddi
Trump’s Budget: Starving Everything Except the Military By Stephen Semler
Take Action
Tell Congress: Stop Taking Money From the Zionist Lobby!
Trump and Congress Need to Reduce Pentagon Spending!
We examine the intersection of capitalism, militarism, and patriarchy in sustaining a war-driven economy. Feminists will gain insight into how economic systems are used to advantage and how alternative economic models can challenge authoritarian rule.
From weapons makers to big investment firms like BlackRock and Vanguard, we’ll look at how profits from war touch everything from universities to tech. We’ll also talk about how war is used to grab land, exploit workers, and extract resources in places like the DRC, SWANA, Bolivia, and Venezuela. Most importantly, we’ll ask: what would the world look like if that money went toward care, not conflict?
Read
The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth By the Red Nation
Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex By William D Hartung
The world weeps while the military industrial complex keeps winning | Responsible Statecraft By William D Hartung
Disinformation and propaganda are central tools of fascist movements. This session arms participants with critical media literacy skills to recognize and counter right-wing narratives, while reclaiming storytelling as a form of resistance.
Using examples from Vietnam, Iraq, China, and Palestine, we’ll examine how media frames who deserves peace, who deserves violence, and who must be controlled. We’ll unpack cultural imperialism through Hollywood, “copaganda,” and antiwar suppression; financial narratives that obscure exploitation; and military messaging that portrays other nations as ungovernable. We’ll also explore how propaganda affects us, including those on the left, and develop tools to think more critically and independently.
Watch
Gaza Fights For Freedom (2019) | Full Documentary Directed by Abby Martin
How Israel uses 'hasbara' to shift narratives in its favour
Read
Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky on Politics & Media By: Luke Dunne
Understanding Hasbara: Israel's propaganda machine By: Sam Hamad
We analyze how dissent is criminalized and movements are suppressed—especially those led by women, queer people, and people of color. Participants will explore organizing strategies to resist repression and protect each other.
Through a CODEPINK-inspired theory of change and anti-imperialist feminist lens, we will analyze state repression, from the crackdown on Palestine solidarity encampments and student activists to ICE detention and deportations. Participants will engage with firsthand testimonies from organizers and explore practical strategies for resisting repression, building collective resilience, and protecting one another in the struggle for justice.
Read
The Encampments: A portrait of a protest for Palestine that moved America By: Azad Essa
Under Attack For Trying To Stop Genocide And Ethnic Cleansing By: Margaret Flowers
Mahmoud Khalil's Arrest is the Start of a New Red Scare - Inkstick By: Danaka Katovich
Watch
Are colleges obstructing free speech for Pro-Palestinian student activists?
The series concludes by looking outward, toward global liberation movements. This session centers transnational feminist solidarities that transcend borders, offering pathways to resist fascism collectively and build transformative futures.
We are joined by two transnational feminist visionaries, Mikaela Nhondo Erskog and Tica Moreno.
Grounded in revolutionary living histories and the legacies of Third World feminist struggles, we will examine how women and queer communities in the Global South resist imperialism, fascism, and war—and how their strategies inform global resistance. Centering anti-imperialist critiques and feminist foreign policy, we ask: How can solidarity transcend borders? What does it mean to organize internationally to challenge our governments? And how do we build futures rooted in collective survival and transformative justice?
Read:
U.S. militarism and the sexual colonization of women | MR Online By: Megan Russell
Does Your Feminism Include Palestine? By: Nour Jaghama and Grace Siegelman
Our Feminist Future Includes a Liberated Palestine By: Danaka Katovich and Jodie Evans
Watch:
Feminist Movement Building: Resisting Co-optation & Practicing Our Values
Genocide in Palestine is a Global Feminist Issue: Protecting the Web of Life
What Does a Feminist Foreign Policy Look Like? Views from the Global South