Abolition, Liberation, Solidarity: A Here4TheKids Production

Sonali Gulati is a Brown, caste-privileged, agnostic, queer, cis-woman, documentary filmmaker, activist, educator and first-generation Indian immigrant to Turtle Island. She is a Guggenheim fellow who has been making award-winning documentary and experimental films for over two decades that have screened at over 500 film festivals, and public & cable television worldwide.

Gulati was born and raised in New Delhi by a single mother who believed that good girls studied hard, kept long hair, and found nice Indian husbands through penpalship. Sonali studied hard, got admission at Mount Holyoke College, majored in Critical Social Thought, graduated in 3 years, shaved her head, and came out as lesbian. You can follow her on Instagram @sonalifilm.

Sonali and Saira discuss the role of Hollywood and Bollywood in creating and distributing propaganda worldwide, plus the connections between so many tragedies in our world and the rich and powerful.

In this episode, Saira also announces that this podcast will be pausing new episodes after the decision by producer Heath Racela to step back from his role. Heath has been producing podcasts and sharing his writing for more than five years and he has decided he needs some space to process grief at the state of our world.

You can read more about Heath’s decision to take an extended break on his recent Substack post.

Today, Saira welcomes Lebanese-American reporter and producer Afeef Nessouli to the podcast.

As you’ll hear in today’s conversation, Afeef’s work has brought him to the front lines of the conflicts in Palestine and Lebanon, giving him a first-hand understanding of the current situation.

Afeef has produced for The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Show, and CNN. He’s also a contributor to The Slow Factory.

Afeef shares what’s happening on the ground in Southern Lebanon, how he and other diaspora Lebanese are getting through their days amidst an expanding genocide, and how the queer scene of Beirut gives him hope.

Please make sure to follow him on Instagram and TikTok. 

Today, Jo Lorenz interviews Joe Williams, a Wiradjuri/Wolgalu First Nations Aboriginal man from Australia. 

Joe began his career as a professional rugby player and boxer.

Although forging a successful professional sporting career, Joe battled the majority of his life with mental health challenges. Along the way, Joe felt his purpose was to help people who struggled with similar obstacles. He founded The Enemy Within, a mental health & wellbeing organization.

In this conversation, Joe will discuss how all Indigenous struggles around the world are connected, plus he describes how a reconnection with the Earth and a deep presence is the antidote to so many of the problems with our modern world.

Joe’s autobiography is Defying The Enemy Within. Please make sure to follow him on Facebook and X. 

Today, Saira welcomes London-based actor, writer, and podcaster Kelechi Okafor to the podcast.

Kelechi and Saira discuss how in both American and British politics, opposing political parties ultimately represent the same goals. They also talk about the British Monarchy, the role of AI in our internet discourse, and how to keep moving through a world on fire.

Kelechi’s book Edge of Here˛combines the ancient and the ultramodern to explore tales of contemporary Black womanhood, asking questions about the way we live now and offering a glimpse into our near future. 

Today, Saira welcomes writer and publisher Sarah Durham Wilson to the podcast. Her recently launched revolutionary feminist zine MIELE aims to flip celebrity on its head by centering activists and the Polycrisis instead.

Sarah's first job was at Rolling Stone magazine. She went on to work at GQ, VH1, Vanity Fair, and Interview magazines.

In 2022, she wrote "Maiden to Mother" a book on the rite of passage to the Mature Feminine.

She's a witch in the woods of Maine with her child Avalon and their familiars, Ridley and Odin, named after the God of the Runes, in a nod to her Celtic heritage.

You can connect to her on Instagram.

Today, Saira welcomes author and academic Dr. Mohamed Abdou to the podcast. Abdou describes himself as an interdisciplinary scholar of Indigenous, Black, critical race, and Islamic studies, as well as anti-racism, feminism, gender, sexuality, women, decolonial and post-colonial studies with extensive fieldwork experience in the Middle East-North Africa and Turtle Island.

He most recently was a professor at Columbia University and was an outspoken advocate for the students participating in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment this past spring. He was called out in front of Congress during testimony by then-university president Minouche Shafik, becoming the target of harassment. He was fired from Columbia and lost his American work visa, causing him to flee the U.S.

Abdou recently filed a wrongful termination suit against Columbia University. From the press release dated August 26th: “Author and scholar Dr. Mohamed Abdou filed a wrongful termination suit against Columbia University yesterday evening, citing prejudice surrounding his anti-colonial academic discourse and vocal support of Palestine. The public awareness campaign, WeAreMohamed, launched today to share Abdou’s story and spotlight the institutional repression and slander faced by those who publicly challenge the United States government’s unconditional support of Israel, and settler-colonialism in Israel and the U.S.”

Dr. Abdou is the author of the book Islam and Anarchism: Relationships and Resonances.

You can connect to his work and social handles through his website.

Today, Saira welcomes Michael Schirtzer to the podcast. Michael Schirtzer is a white Jewish American comedian who’s been loudly anti-Zionist for a long time. 

Since 2021, he has co-hosted The Palestine Pod podcast and he also performs as a standup comedian.

Michael joins Saira to discuss his own anti-Zionist awakening, his thoughts on American Imperialism, and his advice for getting involved at the community level.

For more, please follow Michael on Instagram.

Amanda Seales is an actor, comedian, author, podcast host, and so much more. You may know her from the HBO comedy series Insecure, her comedy specials, her radio show The Amanda Seales Show or her podcast Small Doses.

While most of Hollywood has been either openly pro-Israel or silent on Israel and America’s genocide of Palestinians, Amanda has been the exact opposite- speaking the truth to her millions of followers on a daily basis. She’s a fierce advocate for social justice, for collective liberation – for those in Palestine, Sudan, Congo, and for Black and brown folks here in the USA.

In this conversation, Amanda discusses the challenges of building true community in the era of social media and her decision to step away from Instagram.

For more, please subscribe to Amanda’s newsletter and her Patreon.

Author and novelist Sunny Singh is widely recognized as a champion for decolonization and inclusion across all aspects of society. 

Sunny was born in Varanasi, India and has studied in the U.S., India, and Spain. She is now based in London.

Her books include the highly acclaimed novel Hotel Arcadia, a study of Amitabh Bachchan for the BFI’s film star series, and her newest book A Bollywood State of Mind.

In this conversation, Sunny describes her experience as a teenager in the United States, her view that the Civil War has been ongoing since the 1860s, and her belief that America is on the brink of collapse.

This episode also features a quick check in with Frederick Joseph about the presumed candidacy of Kamala Harris.

Frederick Joseph is the award-winning author of The Black Friend, Patriarchy Blues, Better Than We Found It (which he co-wrote with his wife Porsche), and The Courage to Dream, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. 

His new poetry collection We Alive, Beloved is out next week.

Fred and Saira discuss the current state of the world, U.S. politics, shadow banning and censorship on social media, and poetry.