The Updraft Company is a worker-led cooperative dedicated to producing radical, anti-imperialist media. Our mission is to amplify the voices of the working class, expose the systems of oppression that sustain capitalism and colonialism, and mobilize communities toward liberation. We aim to challenge bourgeois narratives with uncompromising journalism, creative content, and actionable analysis rooted in the principles of socialism and solidarity.
Updraft Media exists to create a space where workers control the narrative, breaking free from capitalist and imperialist frameworks. We aim to produce journalism and analysis that reflects the struggles, triumphs, and voices of the global working class.
We envision a world where media serves as a tool for education, empowerment, and resistance—not profit. By decommodifying storytelling and centering marginalized voices, Updraft Company seeks to create a media landscape that advances collective liberation and inspires revolutionary action.
Core Values:
Anti-Imperialism: We stand against all forms of colonialism, neocolonialism, and imperialist domination. We teach workers to shed the mental chains of imperial ideology. From our position within the imperial core, we must combat the pervasive culture of individualism and consumerism that perpetuates capitalist hegemony.
Worker Empowerment: Our cooperative model ensures that all members have equal ownership, decision-making power, and access to resources. Media should serve as a tool to reframe how workers see themselves—not as isolated individuals, but as part of a collective capable of wielding power. Stories of resistance, labor victories, and alternative visions can inspire a revolutionary imagination.
Solidarity: We collaborate with grassroots movements, unions, and international anti-capitalist organizations to amplify their struggles and victories.
Decolonization: Our work deconstructs systems of racial, economic, and cultural exploitation while uplifting indigenous and third-world perspectives. Revolution starts in the mind; true liberation requires dismantling internalized systems of oppression.
Transparency: We commit to open, ethical practices in both our operations and storytelling. Revolutionary organizing must educate workers about the systems that oppress them, grounded in historical materialism. We must be plain and clear with our work, free from gatekeeping methodologies and exclusionary academic jargon.