2025: A Year of Relentless Struggle! Big plans for 2026

Report from CPI Founder and Director Caleb Maupin explaining all that has been achieved in 2025 and the plans for upcoming activities.

How do we even begin to describe the activities of the Center for Political Innovation in the year 2025, and what this year meant for our movement? So much has gone on.

Our post-pandemic culture has trained a lot of people to just kind of hide in their internet bubble and listen to podcasts. People remain isolated, only hearing people that they agree with and being polarized against each other, fighting over cultural issues. But the Center for Political Innovation exists to break people out of this artificial bubble with constant outreach, coming together, learning to be brothers and sisters as we carry out operations to promote anti-imperialism and our vision for a new America. We are an organization of “go! go! go!” activism, bringing the message to the people and building a solid community.

So how do we sum up the year 2025? Well, we could start with the numbers.

Hundreds of people attended our convention that took place in Chicago. Hundreds more attended our workshops around the country or participated in the demonstrations, protests, and national days of action that we organized in cities across the country as well. In addition to that, over 3,000 copies of our book Who Are the Houthis and What Are They Fighting For? were distributed across the country. Thousands more copies of our newly published books were sold. Thousands of people saw us in the streets of Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles with our banners and our messages. Thousands more watched us on international media—whether it was my interviews on Iranian television, whether it was the interviews that were given by our members about Hands Off Venezuela, whether it was the speeches that were given by myself and other members who participated in international gatherings, or whether it was the radio interviews I did regularly on WBAI NYC radio promoting anti-imperialism.

We were getting out the message, and thousands and thousands of people in this country became familiar with the anti-imperialist, pro–working families message because of the work of the Center for Political Innovation.

Now, in the next section of this message, I am going to go over everything we did in the year 2025. I’m going to give you a timeline. And I do warn you, it’s a little bit long, because we’ve done so much this year to promote anti-imperialism and to solidify our community. So get ready. This is everything we did in the past 12 months.

Timeline for 2025 Activites

January 20 – We started off the year with an event marking Donald Trump’s inauguration. The day of the inauguration, we were in the streets of Washington, D.C., with our two big banners: “Only Peace Can Make America Great Again” and “Build the Peace Bridge,” highlighting the Bering Sea Tunnel connecting Russia to the United States via Alaska. We distributed thousands of pamphlets to those attending Trump’s inauguration in Capital One Arena. That night, we had an event at a nearby hotel with speeches, music, and all kinds of different messages highlighting anti-imperialism.

January 30 – I attended Tulsi Gabbard’s confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill and watched her take questions from the congressional committee about her record as an anti-war activist and her efforts to make peace.

February 22 – We had a workshop in Minneapolis. This workshop was a little different than others because there were 15 protesters outside accusing CPI of being a cult, screaming that we were too sympathetic to Russia. But that didn’t stop us. Despite the fact that we faced some woke Antifa disruptions, we had a tremendous workshop and got to know and solidify our relationship with a lot of great people in the Minneapolis area.

March 14–16 – John McCarthy represented us at the Uhuru Solidarity Movement’s national convention. John McCarthy was presented with an award for all that he had done to stand with the Uhuru Movement and to connect the Uhuru Movement and the Center for Political Innovation with each other throughout the process.

April 7 – As we were gathering in Chicago to start the process of building for the convention, we held a demonstration in Millennium Park. At the demonstration, we emphasized “No War Against Iran.” We unfurled our banner and did quite a bit of outreach. It was a great way to kick off activities leading up to the convention.

May – Our member Geoff Young went and participated in the Great NATO Debate at Dayton Public Library—a debate about the role of NATO as the NATO summit and anniversary celebration was happening. It was really great that a member of the Center for Political Innovation could be chosen as the anti-war voice.

May 24 – We had an all-day workshop in Los Angeles themed around our booklet Do You Believe in Growth? We had a lively Q&A, discussion, and solidified more relationships in the Los Angeles area.

June 5–6 – I represented the Center for Political Innovation at the Global Digital Forum held in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. At the gathering, I had the opportunity to make a presentation to hundreds of anti-imperialist voices, telecommunications experts, and others from the African continent, from Asia, from countries like Vietnam and South Africa, North and South Korea, and more. I emphasized in my remarks that Western media was on the defensive, and that now was the time not to fall into the manipulations and efforts to divide anti-imperialists using social media schemes.

June 13–24 – As Israel and Iran were exchanging missiles, I was featured every night as a guest on Press TV, giving lengthy interviews and presenting the anti-war perspective to Iranian audiences. It was really an honor to be trusted enough to give an anti-war perspective at a time that Israel and Iran were in an active war situation. It was really important that I was able to speak and represent the anti-war perspective coming from an American voice to the Iranian viewers who were watching their country be bombed.

June 24 – We hit the streets of Chicago to honor Ibrahim Traoré and to do educational work promoting this new African leader who is leading the Union of Sahel States. The rally went viral in African media and was seen all over the world. It was a really big deal that people in America, on the streets of Chicago, were honoring Ibrahim Traoré, the great African anti-imperialist. We also received a phenomenal response from hundreds of Chicago residents who were walking by, took our leaflets, and learned about this great African leader.

July 12 – We held our national convention in Chicago, themed around “Working Families First: Defeat the Deep State for a New World of Peace and Innovation.” It was quite a gathering. It was attended by over 260 people, and we gave awards to prominent guests. It was a tremendous step forward for our organization.

July 13 – We held the Chicago Sessions, a gathering for a lengthy Q&A in Chicago to discuss the future of the Center for Political Innovation. It was a great day as well.

July 15 – We gathered to have yet another rally to support Ibrahim Traoré, this time on the streets of Rockford, Illinois, where we raised awareness and again received a very positive response. It was great to get out into the streets and do anti-imperialist educational work.

August 7 – We co-signed an official letter to the United Nations from the Islamic Human Rights Commission of Iran, condemning Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians and calling for international action to stop Israeli atrocities.

August 15 – Members of CPI in eight different cities participated in a national day of action to support the peace talks taking place in Alaska between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. We raised the slogan: “We support peace talks—end the Ukraine war.” We also made a point of thanking Tulsi Gabbard for her revelations about the Russiagate hoax that made it possible for Donald Trump and Putin to meet and take steps toward ending the Ukraine conflict.

August 25 – We published the book Trotsky and the Neoconservatives, which became an immediate smash-hit success. It was number one on Amazon in the category of radical political thought. I did interviews about the book with Kim Iversen, Due Dissidence, and a number of other hosts. The book has received quite a positive reception for explaining the continuity between Trotskyite petty-bourgeois revisionism and the neoconservative bloodlust and war drive that has been guiding U.S. foreign policy.

August 29 – Noah and I drove out to Detroit for the People’s Conference for Palestine, where we distributed over 1,000 copies of the book Who Are the Houthis and What Are They Fighting For? We went into the conference knowing that the PSL organizers would be hostile—and they were. We were removed by PSL thugs because they don’t really support the Houthis, and they don’t really support anti-imperialism, and they really didn’t want our message to be heard. But that didn’t stop us from getting thousands of books into the hands of pro-Palestine activists and showing them what a real anti-imperialist organization that doesn’t tail after wokeness is really like.

September 19 – I was able to speak with Roger Waters, the Pink Floyd rock star, about his support for the Palestinians as well as his support for the Houthis of Yemen. It was a dynamic conversation that was seen all over the world.

September 20 – Noah Schenk represented the Center for Political Innovation at the World Youth Festival gathering in Russia, as well as at the Intervision International Songwriting Competition. Russia was banned from the Eurovision competition, so they launched their own Intervision, and it was an amazing international event featuring artists from all across the world. It was really great to have CPI represented there—with really the only American in attendance being Noah Schenk of the Center for Political Innovation.

October 4 – We held yet another national day of action to support peace talks. This time, not only did we raise the call to negotiate with Russia and end the conflict in Ukraine, we also called for prosecuting John Bolton and the war makers who promoted the Russiagate hoax that marched us toward the war.

October 17 – I had the honor of attending a very important gala in Moscow to commemorate the founding of RT. It was held at the Bolshoi Ballet Theater in Moscow and was attended by George Galloway, former president of Ecuador Rafael Correa, and other very important guests. It was really special that we, as an organization, could be represented at this very important international gathering to commemorate the rise of anti-imperialist media and alternative voices that challenge Western narratives.

October 18 – The Democratic Party called “No Kings” rallies around the country—and we decided to crash the show. We disrupted the No Kings rallies, saying “Hands Off Venezuela,” and in cities across the country CPI was on the scene to bring an anti-war message to this Trump-derangement-syndrome foolishness that the Democratic Party had organized.

In Minneapolis, our members disrupted Keith Ellison as he spoke, as well as other Democratic Party officials. In Los Angeles, our members were featured on the prominent No Jumper podcast, interviewed about why it’s important to have solidarity with Venezuela.

October 24 – Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of the Russia Direct Investment Fund, came to New York City to negotiate with the Trump administration. I was able to be there as one of those who greeted Dmitriev outside of his hotel. That night, we organized a demonstration in Times Square to say, “Russia is not our enemy. We support peace talks.” It was certainly exciting.

October 27 – We launched a national outreach campaign aimed at food banks across the country. Due to the government shutdown, 42 million Americans were poised to lose their food benefits. We went to food banks across the country raising a message of anti-imperialism, explaining who our government really works for and what could be done if we had a government that actually worked in the interests of America’s working families and not the Wall Street globalist imperialist system.

November 1 – The Center for Political Innovation was happy to join the Hands Off Uhuru annual Black Is Back march. We were proud to join this rally that has been happening in Washington, D.C., outside the White House for the past 17 years as allies of the Uhuru Movement. I was able to give a message at the press conference the day before and to speak at the actual rally outside the White House. It was very important to be there.

November 16 – The Center for Political Innovation was involved in organizing a rally in Times Square to support Dr. Hak Ja Han, the “Mother of Peace,” a key figure in arranging for Donald Trump to visit North Korea in his first term and a key advocate of the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula. Dr. Hak Ja Han is currently being held in detention as her trial goes on in South Korea on trumped-up bribery charges that are politically motivated. We were very happy to be involved in organizing this important rally to support a friend of North Korea and call for the release of an 82-year-old woman who has dedicated her life to advocating peace.

November 27 – CPI members in Minneapolis decided to mark the holiday by doing banner drops over a major highway. The banners said: “Hands Off Venezuela” and “Jobs, Healthcare, Schools for America—Not Weapons for Ukraine.” They also got together, had a meal, and made plans to expand our activities in the Minneapolis area.

December 6 – CPI members in Los Angeles attended a Hands Off Venezuela demonstration, and they were actually featured on local TV as advocates in opposition to attacks on Venezuela—supporting the Venezuelan people and exposing the false claims about drug trafficking being used to target Venezuelan fishermen. Our members in LA have been doing relentless outreach: hitting the streets of Venice Beach, going to farmers’ markets—everywhere they can—to raise an anti-imperialist message, saying “Hands Off Venezuela” and opposing imperialism. They’ve gotten involved with local bookstores and have been doing a huge amount of outreach. The LA branch certainly deserves credit for their relentless efforts to spread the message, as do the folks in Minneapolis who are constantly doing outreach. Our members are go, go, go.

December 13 – We were part of an important webinar by the Uhuru Movement to launch a coalition to overturn the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). This was a very important webinar, because this campaign could open the door to a lot more security and protection of civil liberties for those of us who oppose war and want peace with anti-imperialist countries. We are very excited about the campaign that has been launched to overturn the Foreign Agents Registration ActWhy This Year-in-Review Matters

Why is it that at the end of every year I do a message like this and go over all the outreach and all the workshops and all the national days of action that we convene?

It’s because out there, there are a lot of people who claim to agree with what the Center for Political Innovation stands for who really don’t do anything. We live in the age of podcasts and constant social media drama, but CPI is real. We are organizing people. We are meeting new people who would never go looking for this kind of message online, and we are training them to get to know each other and to organize and do real outreach. We are building an in–real life activist project to promote anti-imperialism.

And it’s important. Many people in our society right now are feeling left behind and forgotten, and CPI has given them a place where they can belong while being educated about how we can struggle to build a new America.

New Jersey Event January 11th, Convention August 15th

We’ve got some big plans for the coming months.

First of all, on January 11th, we are kicking off the new year with a great event in New Jersey. It’s going to be a spectacular event themed around the name “The Earth Is Awakening—America Should Join.” We will be giving awards to four different important anti-imperialist activists. In addition to that, there will be speeches, music, Garland Nixon is attending, and some rather important international guests are going to be there. There’s going to be a full dinner buffet. It’s going to be a tremendous time. I hope that you register at the link down below and come to our event in New Jersey, because it’s going to be a spectacular day, with CPI members from around the country making plans to build. REGISTER FOR JANUARY 11th EVENT IN NEWARK, NEW JERSEY

We’re planning to have yet another national convention, this time once again in the Chicago area. We’re picking the date of August 15th. The date is significant because it will be the anniversary of Trump and Putin’s meeting in Alaska, which points toward an improved relationship and the transition of the United States toward joining the rising new economy around the world. We plan to convene a major anti-imperialist gathering in the heartland of America. We need you there on August 15th.

Between now and August, we’re planning a series of regional workshops in areas with active Innovation Circles so we can get to know local people, tell them about the organization, and excite them about the upcoming convention.

On March 15th, we’re looking to have regional house parties for Citybuilders Day to tell the story of the assassination of Julius Caesar and what it means for us in the age of declining imperialism here in the United States of America.

Themes for the upcoming year will include the important effort to overturn the Foreign Agents Registration Act and defend civil liberties. We also plan to focus on demanding that the peace deal with Russia be signed and the Ukraine war come to an end. In addition to that, we plan to emphasize that China is not our enemy, that Israel does not work in the interests of America’s working families, that Iran and the Yemeni people are not our enemies, and that solidarity with the people of the world in their struggle against the same big banks and corporations that are destroying the lives of American working families is essential.

We’re going to be doing lots of outreach, lots of education, and partnering with lots of different organizations to spread awareness and push the truth in difficult times.

Support Our Work!

The end of the year is a great time to donate. At this point, we need money. All of these workshops, all of these educational outreach activities—they all require funds. If you donate to CPI, you will be helping fund important anti-imperialist educational work.

Now would be the time to send us an end-of-the-year contribution or to sign up to become a monthly contributor to the convention fund, to help us have a convention on August 15th of 2026 that is even more successful than the one we held last year. Please donate at the link down below. Sponsor our activities. You will not be wasting your money by any means. We have lots of work to do.

One of our focuses in the coming year will be on setting up shop: finding a location in the country where we can set up a community center and really complete our “out of the movement, to the masses” mission—operating in the community and not being an internet niche for anti-imperialists, but rather being an organization that people in the community rely on while being educated about anti-imperialism.

It’s not easy to set up shop, but it is necessary. The clock is ticking and the floodwaters are rising. The time for building and solidifying a base among the population is now. The storm is coming, and what I’ve referred to as “strategic equilibrium” could soon be the reality facing America. We have got to be prepared. It is time to set up shop in communities.

Solidifying & Sharpening Our Organization and Tactics

The Center for Political Innovation has gone through multiple phases as an organization. We have been learning as we organize and build.

The year 2023 was the year of the comeback. We relaunched the organization and did some spectacular things. We sponsored the Rage Against the War Machine protests in Washington, D.C., and hosted Scott Ritter. We also had a great national convention in Portland, Oregon.

The year 2024 was a year of sharpening and solidifying our organization. There were some key organizational struggles that took place, where we had to make clear we were no longer seeking to categorize ourselves as a communist organization, but instead having a more accurate orientation that reflected where the global anti-imperialist movement is currently at and what our vision for an America beyond globalism and imperialism—where human creativity is invested in and cultivated—would really be like.

We also, in the year 2024, launched a struggle against Khrushchevism, because members of our organization had become infected with the kind of liberal thinking that makes organizing a serious organization in America almost impossible. We had to struggle against those who were enamored with internet personalities or too scared of being labeled a cult of personality to really get real work done. The Innovationist turn took place in the year 2024, and it was a great step forward organizationally, solidifying those who were with us.

We also got to participate in the World Youth Festival and speak directly with the Russian President, and we played a very important role in the Uhuru trial and the proceedings that went on. We intervened in the U.S. election with our “Peace MAGA” operation. The Kamala Harris book, which went viral. That was the year 2024.

Now, this year, 2025, has been the year of relentless struggle. This has been a year where we’ve been in the streets all over the country preaching anti-imperialism.

Something very glorious is happening with our organization. As our strategy has become more clear to us, as our ranks have become more solidified, the optimism that flows from our members is becoming more and more apparent. People who interact with us can tell we have something very, very special. We are filled with hope. Our organization is playing a vital and important role.

As there is hope for ending the conflict in Ukraine, as more and more Americans are waking up to the role of the Israel lobby and the hopelessness and fruitlessness of these endless wars, as there is a rising awareness that the greed of Wall Street shouldn’t be the basis for our economy, the role of our organization is becoming more and more important. Our members are learning to work with each other, to be in solidarity with each other, and to engage with people in ways they never have before. New people are trickling into our ranks. It’s a very, very exciting time.

The Center for Political Innovation is marching ahead. This has been a great year of huge successes for our organization, and in addition to that, it has been a moment where our role is becoming more and more vital and more and more important.

So, if you can send us a contribution to help fund our activities, that would be great. We’ll see you in January in New Jersey. We’ll see you in August in Chicago. And we hope that you can become a member and get involved in our activities. A lot of exciting things are happening.

It’s time to loudly scream from the heavens:

Russia is not our enemy.
China is not our enemy.
We need a government of action to fight for working families.

Dare to struggle, dare to win. The Center for Political Innovation is marching forward.

Happy New Year.