Art of Citizenry

Patagonia is a vast region spanning southern Chile and Argentina. It is also the name of a multibillion-dollar outdoors company that has spent more than 50 years turning the region’s landscapes and mythology into a symbol of wilderness and adventure. Now, Patagonia Inc. is suing drag queen and climate activist Pattie Gonia for trademark infringement and dilution. But beneath all the legal questions lies a more complicated one: How did a U.S. corporation acquire the power to control the commercial meaning of a geographical area in the first place? Tune into this conversation with Professor Alexandra Roberts, a scholar of trademark law at Northeastern University.

In this episode of the Art of Citizenry Podcast, host Manpreet Kaur Kalra is joined by author Elaine U. Cho in conversation about her new sci-fi novel Teo’s Durumi. Together they unpack techno-orientalism – exploring how her work contends with capitalism, colonialism, and identity – and why using our unique lens in art matters now more than ever.

H.R. 1, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, expands the Deportation Industrial Complex, allocating more than 170 billion dollars over four years for border and interior enforcement, with the explicit goal of deporting 1 million immigrants every single year. Behind those staggering numbers lies another story: who profits. Among the biggest winners are private equity firms and the billionaire class they represent. In this episode of the Art of Citizenry Podcast, Manpreet Kaur Kalra is joined by Azani Creeks, Senior Researcher at the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) to unpack how this bill opens the floodgates for private equity firms to profit from detention, deportation, surveillance, and border militarization as engines of profit for billionaires.

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Corporations are enabling, sustaining, and profiting from genocide in Gaza. In this episode, we unmask the corporations and governments underpinning Israeli occupation by diving into the findings of a landmark report by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese.

This week, while we take a break, we found it timely and important to recast this episode: Crimminalization of Immigration with Anthony Enriquez. In episode 19 of Art of Citizenry Podcast, Manpreet is joined by Anthony Enriquez, the VP of U.S. Advocacy and Litigation at RFK Human Rights. Together, they discuss the complexities of immigration detention in the U.S., focusing on the financial motivations behind privatized detention centers, the historical shifts in immigration policy, and the role of race in shaping these policies. Anthony highlights the significant abuses occurring in detention centers and the need for advocacy and reform to address these issues. This conversation delves into the complex issues surrounding immigration detention centers, their economic impact on local communities, the evolving political narratives around immigration, and the structural challenges within immigration policy. It highlights the importance of local advocacy and the need for oversight and accountability in immigration detention practices, emphasizing the role of community-led movements in shaping a more just immigration system. Meet Our Guest Anthony Enriquez is the Vice President of U.S. Advocacy and Litigation at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. He is an attorney working to reduce mass incarceration in the United States by exposing and stopping human rights abuses in the criminal legal and immigration systems. Anthony leads a team of advocates fighting in U.S. courts and international human rights mechanisms in solidarity with grassroots campaigns for accountability for state-sponsored racial discrimination, torture, and extrajudicial killings. “Immigration detention is more than an immigrants' rights issue alone. The power we give to the U.S. government to inflict abuses on immigrants is inevitably used against citizens: from racial profiling to mass surveillance to prolonged civil detention and even deportation itself. The public funds we use to transform rural economies into private prison towns could have been used for investments in small businesses, manufacturing, and vocational and educational training instead of multi-million-dollar CEO salaries.”

In this episode, host Manpreet Kaur Kalra invites listeners into a reflective and urgent conversation about the enduring legacy of "divide and rule," one of colonialism’s most insidious and effective strategies of domination. Often treated as a historical tactic, divide-and-rule remains deeply embedded in today’s global systems, from political polarization to economic dependency. Manpreet reflects on how this strategy was not merely about creating divisions, but about surgically engineering hierarchies that pit communities against one another in service of control. Through a historical lens, the episode examines how colonial regimes fractured societies along religious, ethnic, and social lines to undermine solidarity and resistance. The legacy of these interventions lives on—in borders, in conflict, and in the structural inequalities that underpin the Global North-Global South divide.

Around the world, far-right and ultra-conservative movements are gaining power—mainstreaming ideologies once confined to the political fringes. From the recent elections in Germany to the United States, we’re witnessing a rise in extremist rhetoric, the rollback of human rights protections, and a troubling erosion of democratic norms. As these forces grow bolder, many leaders – from businesses to major media companies to higher education – are choosing silence over resistance. But neutrality in moments like these is not apolitical; it’s complicity. When leaders remain quiet, they protect the very systems that threaten the fabric of a just and equitable society. In this episode, Manpreet Kaur Kalra is joined by longtime collaborator and CEO of El Puente, Jette Ladiges, whose voice as a business leader serves as a source of inspiration in the face of political silence. Together, they unpack why “neutrality” is not neutral, and what it means to lead fearlessly in an era defined by rising authoritarianism. This conversation moves beyond performative ethics and into real structural stakes: how governance models can resist extraction, why business has always been political, and how shared power, not concentrated profit, can shape a more just future.