CounterPunch Radio

In this episode of CounterPunch Radio, editor Joshua Frank and Pilsen Community Books worker-owner Erik Wallenberg talk with Ray Acheson, Director of Reaching Critical Will, the disarmament program of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Ray provides analysis and advocacy at the United Nations and other international forums on matters of disarmament and demilitarization. They served on the steering group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its work to ban nuclear weapons, and is also involved in organizing against autonomous weapons, the arms trade, war and militarism, the carceral system, and more. They are also author of Banning the Bomb, Smashing the Patriarchy (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021) and Abolishing State Violence: A World Beyond Bombs, Borders, and Cages (Haymarket Books, 2022). Ray is a regular columnist at CounterPunch+. Two of their most recent articles are “Solidarity to Stop AUKUS: Saying No to Nuclear Subs” and “Divest from Death: Resisting the Complexes of Empire.”

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Join Counterpunch Radio contributor Rebecca Maria Goldschmidt, in conversation with activists and community organizers, Alakaʻi Kapānui and Fatima Abed, to discuss the Palestinian Solidarity movement in Hawai’i.

From being the first “state” to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, to the #CancelRIMPAC campaign against the world’s largest Navy exercises, Hawai’i organizers are drawing deeper connections between the military occupations of Hawai’i, Palestine, and the Israeli apartheid state. Decades of Native Hawaiian-led demilitarization efforts and current Palestinian and Jewish-led grassroots community are finding ways to collaborate towards genuine security.

Alakaʻi Kapānui is a Kanaka ʻŌiwi and Jewish activist and community organizer. She is the poʻo (head) of Kona 4 Palestine and co-founder of Huliau o Nā Wahi Kapu both of which focus on the demilitarizations and deoccupations of Hawaiʻi and Palestine. She has been a Hawaiian Kingdom and sovereignty activist since 2018 through Hui Aloha ʻĀina and with a heavy focus on cultural reconnection and practice. She is a kiaʻi o Mauna a Wākea, Mākua, Kaloko Loko ʻIa, and Pōhakuloa.

As the head of Kona 4 Palestine, she has been able to begin to reconnect to her Jewish heritage and since started working with other pro-Palestine organizations by hosting a series of teach-in events that directly address Palestine and global imperialism. And as a co- founder of Huliau o Nā Wahi Kapu, she has been able to focus on the ends of military leases and occupations such as Pōhakuloa Training Area, Mākua Valley, and the parallel military occupation of Palestine. Aloha ʻāina ʻoiaʻiʻo.

Fatima Abed (she/they) is a Palestinian and Puerto Rican human rights and animal activist residing in Hawaiʻi. She is the founder of Rise for Palestine, a grassroots organization focused on lobbying for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and a free Palestine. Spearheading the campaign to adopt a ceasefire resolution in Hawai‘i at the “state” level, Rise for Palestine hosted teach-ins and film screenings, led rallies, and mobilized nearly 26,000 emails and phone calls to elected officials from residents throughout the islands. Once resolutions were given hearings, Rise for Palestine led the effort to mobilize testimony, helping to secure more than 1,600 pages of written testimony and numerous, powerful verbal testimonies in support of a permanent ceasefire in Gaza in the State House and Senate. These efforts led to Hawai‘i becoming the first “state” in the nation to adopt a resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire resolution for Gaza, with 72 of Hawai‘i’s 76 elected legislators voting in support.

Fatima has also led events to support Sulala Animal Rescue in Gaza, the only animal rescue still operating under fierce bombardment. You can follow Sulala and Saed on instagram: @Sulalaanimalrescue

Fatima is currently traveling the continent, gathering the stories of Palestinian-Americans, and activists and students who are fighting for a free Palestine. She is headed towards the DNC as an elected “Uncommitted” delegate for the “state” of Hawai’i. Here she will uplift and echo all of the voices of the activists she encountered during this genocide in Gaza to US media and elected officials.

Follow her journey and support here: https://gofund.me/8c8b0b1e

And on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RiseforPalestine

Follow Rise for Palestine on Instagram: rise_for_palestine

If you know anyone interested in sharing their stories you can contact her at [email protected].

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In this episode of CounterPunch Radio, Joshua Frank and Erik Wallenberg interview Silky Shah, author of “Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition” (Haymarket, 2024). Silky has been working as an organizer on issues related to racial and migrant justice for over two decades. Originally from Texas, she began fighting the expansion of immigrant jails on the US-Mexico border in the aftermath of 9/11. In 2009, she joined the staff of Detention Watch Network, a national coalition building power to abolish immigrant detention in the United States, and now serves as its executive director.

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Rebecca Maria Goldschmidt, sitting in for Eric Draitser on CounterPunch Radio, talks with Hanin Siam, a Palestinian organizer based in Tokyo, Japan. They discuss the challenges of organizing the Palestine solidarity movement in Japan, including the nuances of their communities in Tokyo and Hiroshima. From the history of Japanese support for Palestine, to BDS, to the social and legal limitations of protest, Rebecca and Hanin cover the diverse strategies and public response to the fight for Palestinian Liberation in Japan. Follow @palestinejapan for more. Edited by Kryzia Villada.

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This time on CounterPunch Radio we sit down with Sahar Aziz and Mitchell Plitnick, co-authors of “Presumptively Antisemitic: Islamophobic Tropes in the Palestine-Israel Discourse,” a critical new report published by Rutgers University Law School’s Center for Security, Race, and Rights. The conversation explores the political and social context for this report, as well as the timing of its release, published as it was against the backdrop of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. The discussion broadens beyond the report to explore various aspects of the Palestine issue and its continued central importance for the US and western countries, as well as for the “Middle East,” world politics and global affairs.

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Eric Draitser sits down with CounterPunch Editor Joshua Frank to discuss the reasons why CounterPunch Radio has been mostly quiet in recent months. Eric details some of his physical and mental health issues in recent months, and the prospects for his return to regular podcasting.

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This time Eric welcomes activist, author, and neuroscientist Yoav Litvin back to CounterPunch to discuss Palestine, Zionism, and the Israeli war. Yoav discusses his upbringing in both US and Israel, his time in the IDF in Lebanon, and the ways in which he first confronted his Zionism and began to decolonize his mind. From there, the conversation explores the nature of Zionism and the Zionist project in Palestine, the importance of non-Israeli Jewish opinion internationally, the necessity of being in solidarity with Palestinians, the centrality of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Movement, Israeli politics and the future of Netanyahu, the role of the US and Israel’s place within US imperialism, the specter of Trump’s return, and so much more. Don’t miss this important conversation only on CounterPunch!

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Conversation originally recorded in January 2022

This time Eric chats with Dr. Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University and author of The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance 1917-2017.

The conversation explores the early years of the Zionist movement and how it was perceived by prominent Palestinians, including Dr. Khalidi’s ancestors, and the inextricable link between Zionism, colonialism, and imperial power. Eric and Rashid discuss everything from attempts to erase Palestinian culture and history to the impact that Israel’s rightward shift has had on younger generations of Jews, especially in the US. So many topics covered in this important conversation with one of the most prominent voices of opposition to Israeli policies and oppression. Don’t miss this CounterPunch Radio!

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This week, CounterPunch Radio presents another conversation between CounterPunchers Richard Falk, Matthew Stevenson, and Daniel Warner about Trump, the nature of Trump’s fascism, the internationalization of fascist politics, and much more. Note: This conversation was recorded prior to the events of October 7, 2023 and the Israeli attack on Gaza.

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