The Globalization of Resistance with Andrew

In the late 19th century, empires didn’t just spread control—they accidentally built the infrastructure for global resistance. Andrew Sage explores how the Spanish repression of anarchists in Barcelona’s Montjuïc prison became a crucible for international revolutionary networks. Fernando Tarida del Marmol, a Cuban Creole math teacher, used his imprisonment to publish a damning indictment of colonial violence, linking Spain’s domestic crackdowns to its brutal rule in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. His writings, amplified by French anarchists like Jean Grave and Georges Clemenceau, helped ignite a transnational movement. This network extended to the Philippines, where Isabelo de los Reyes—imprisoned under Spanish rule—absorbed anarchist ideas and later returned to Manila to found the first national labor federation, the Union Obrera Democrática. Despite U.S. repression, the movement’s ideas endured, shaping future socialist and nationalist struggles. The episode reveals a radical truth: the tools of empire—prisons, print, travel, and ideology—were co-opted by the oppressed to build a global resistance. As Andrew puts it, 'The same infrastructure that empires use to extend their reach across their claimed territories is the same infrastructure that radicals can use to fight.' This isn’t just history—it’s a blueprint.