Kalam

Palestinian theatre has been around for thousands of years through the tradition of the Hakawati, the storyteller. In modern times, the Palestinian theatre has inevitably served as an liberatory artistic platform. Palestinian theatre cannot be separated from the Palestinian struggle more generally.

But as today’s guest, Iman Aoun argues, there’s a more universal dimension to this: Palestinian theatre serves not only to liberate Palestine but all of humanity, from the evils of colonialism, oppression and racism.

Iman Aoun and her husband Edward Muallam founded Ashtar Theatre in 1991, riding the wave of the highly inspirational popular First Intifada. An innovative, non-violent, women and grassroots-led revolt against Israeli domination. In today’s episode, Iman reflects on the particularities of Palestinian theatre as well as the abyss of our current moment.

If you enjoy Kalam Podcast and want to support the show, there is an excellent way to do so - by signing up to our Patreon. For just $3 a month you'll gain access to full length interviews with all our guests and lots of bonus material - including our series Kalam Shorts: 10-15 explainers of concepts like Zionism and Orientalism. Join at patreon.com/kalampodcast

For continuous updates on the podcast and content about Palestine and the Middle East, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast

Please subscribe to Kalam Podcast in whatever podcast application you're listening to right now - and give us a rating. It helps other people find out about us.

This episode is in Arabic! Sorry to all our non-Arabic speakers. You can watch the full episode with English subtitles on Youtube.

Is there such thing as Palestinian cinema? And what has the genoc!de in Gaza meant for film in the strip?

Ola Salama, herself from Gaza, is the Executive Director of Film Lab Palestine, an organisation aimed at revitalising the culture of films in Palestine, liberating it from the grasp of conventional European filmmaking industries and Hollywood.

In this episode, Ola and Edgar speak about the war in Gaza and the destruction it has wrought on the strip's cultural life.

If you enjoy Kalam Podcast and want to support the show, there is an excellent way to do so - by signing up to our Patreon. For just $3 a month you'll gain access to full length interviews with all our guests and lots of bonus material - including our series Kalam Shorts: 10-15 explainers of concepts like Zionism and Orientalism. Join at patreon.com/kalampodcast

For continuous updates on the podcast and content about Palestine and the Middle East, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast

Please subscribe to Kalam Podcast in whatever podcast application you're listening to right now - and give us a rating. It helps other people find out about us.

What will a Trump presidency mean for the war in Gaza and Lebanon and for the Middle East more broadly? Probably complete disaster, but still worth a discussion.

Sam and Edgar spend the lion's part of the 14th installment of Kalam Digest speaking about Trump's stunning and decisive victory. As well as the crucial Arab vote which mostly sided with the man who last time around implemented the "Muslim Ban".

We also mention the firing of former Israeli Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant. What does this mean for the future of the Middle Eastern wars?

If you enjoy Kalam Podcast and want to support the show, there is an excellent way to do so - by signing up to our Patreon. For just $3 a month you'll gain access to full length interviews with all our guests and lots of bonus material - including our series Kalam Shorts: 10-15 explainers of concepts like Zionism and Orientalism. Join at patreon.com/kalampodcast

For continuous updates on the podcast and content about Palestine and the Middle East, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast

Please subscribe to Kalam Podcast in whatever podcast application you're listening to right now - and give us a rating. It helps other people find out about us.

Unbelievably, the destruction and killing of Gaza continues and is, in fact, escalating. Israel's relentless and genocidal war seems to know no bounds.

In this week's news summary, Sam, Edgar and Nora speak about the impending doom that is the US elections. Muslims for Trump and floating piles of garbage aka Rudy Giuliani.

The political opposition in Israel, Yair Lapid of the party Yesh Atid, admits to higher casualty figures than has been previously reported. Lapid also chastised Netanyahu for NOT going after more targets in the latest strike on Iran.

If you enjoy Kalam Podcast and want to support the show, there is an excellent way to do so - by signing up to our Patreon. For just $3 a month you'll gain access to full length interviews with all our guests and lots of bonus material - including our series Kalam Shorts: 10-15 explainers of concepts like Zionism and Orientalism. Join at patreon.com/kalampodcast

For continuous updates on the podcast and content about Palestine and the Middle East, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast

Please subscribe to Kalam Podcast in whatever podcast application you're listening to right now - and give us a rating. It helps other people find out about us.

What are the politics of Palestine, who can take over a Palestinian state when it is conceived?

Aboud Hamayel, also known under his pen name Abdaljawad Omar is a writer and theorist and a Lecturer of Philosophy at Bir Zeit University on the Occupied West Bank. Abdaljawad gives us a detailed outline of the history of different political currents in Palestine. Interestingly, he does not give as much credence to the idea of an Islamist-secular split as other scholars of this field.

This episode was recorded, as usual, in Sirdab Studio in Ramallah in the summer of 2024.

If you enjoy Kalam Podcast and want to support the show, there is an excellent way to do so - by signing up to our Patreon. For just $3 a month you'll gain access to full length interviews with all our guests and lots of bonus material - including our series Kalam Shorts: 10-15 explainers of concepts like Zionism and Orientalism. Join at patreon.com/kalampodcast

For continuous updates on the podcast and content about Palestine and the Middle East, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast

Please subscribe to Kalam Podcast in whatever podcast application you're listening to right now - and give us a rating. It helps other people find out about us.

In this the first part of a miniseries Samuel and Edgar discuss the origins of Likud Party. For the last 30 years the Likud has dominated Israeli politics, and thus set the tone for the international politics of the region, not to mention the question of Palestine.

Today it is an ultra-conservative party with neoliberal economics, bent on making the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories permanent, but what are the roots of the Likud Party? What leading figures shaped its policy, and what does its founding charter actually say about its charachter?

This is part one of a two part series on this political party. To hear the full episode head to patreon.com/kalampodcast and sign up for just $3/month.

For continuous updates, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast

Once again we are delighted to have Lebanese political analyst and researcher Ralph Baydoun on the show. Ralph joins us live from Beirut, a city under constant Israeli bombardment.

In today's episode Ralph and Edgar speak about Israel's plan to redraw the map of the Middle East, and how this can have unintended consequences as other powerful actors in the region attempt to take advantage – namely Erdogan's Turkey.

If you enjoy Kalam Podcast and want to support the show, there is an excellent way to do so - by signing up to our Patreon. For just $3 a month you'll gain access to full length interviews with all our guests and lots of bonus material - including our series Kalam Shorts: 10-15 explainers of concepts like Zionism and Orientalism. Join at patreon.com/kalampodcast

For continuous updates on the podcast and content about Palestine and the Middle East, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast

Please subscribe to Kalam Podcast in whatever podcast application you're listening to right now - and give us a rating. It helps other people find out about us.

The attack in the Turkish capital, Ankarra, considered by Turkish authorities to be a terrorist attack, seems to have been carried out by Kurdish militants affiliated with PKK. This has led to Turkey striking Kurdish positions in Syria and Iraq.

At the same time, Israel is attempting to redraw the map of the Middle East - something Turkey wants to benefit from, many analysts believe.

The war in Lebanon and Gaza is intensifying, Sam and Edgar look at a remarkable piece of journalism, where CNN interviewed Israeli soldiers openly admitting to have committed war crimes - where we are supposed to feel bad about them.

If you enjoy Kalam Podcast and want to support the show, there is an excellent way to do so - by signing up to our Patreon. For just $3 a month you'll gain access to full length interviews with all our guests and lots of bonus material - including our series Kalam Shorts: 10-15 explainers of concepts like Zionism and Orientalism. Join at patreon.com/kalampodcast

For continuous updates on the podcast and content about Palestine and the Middle East, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast

Please subscribe to Kalam Podcast in whatever podcast application you're listening to right now - and give us a rating. It helps other people find out about us.

There are 18 recognised religious "sects" in Lebanon, including various Christian denominations, Shia and Sunni Muslims, the Druze and Jews. Sects in this context does not refer to a kind of cult but rather different religious groupings.

How did the Lebanese republic organise itself and how did the sectarian system contribute to the bloody civil wars fought in the mid to late 20th century?

Find out in part two of a two-part series for Kalam Shorts about sectarianism in Lebanon, available exclusively for our Patreon subscribers. Sign up at patreon.com/kalampodcast for just $3/month.

For continuous updates on the podcast and content about Palestine and the Middle East, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast

Please subscribe to Kalam Podcast in whatever podcast application you're listening to right now - and give us a rating. It helps other people find out about us.

This week we saw harrowing images of Gazans literally burning alive when Israel struck a makeshift hospital in Northern Gaza. One person was in a hospital bed hooked up to an IV when the flames engulfed and ultimately killed him.

Why are we seeing this brutal escalation, and how is this affecting the front in Lebanon?

Israel demanded that the UN peacekeeping troops in Lebanon be removed "from harms way", after several UN soldiers were injured as a result of Israeli fire. This request was denied by the governments of France, Spain and Ireland.

If you enjoy Kalam Podcast and want to support the show, there is an excellent way to do so - by signing up to our Patreon. For just $3 a month you'll gain access to full length interviews with all our guests and lots of bonus material - including our series Kalam Shorts: 10-15 explainers of concepts like Zionism and Orientalism. Join at patreon.com/kalampodcast

For continuous updates on the podcast and content about Palestine and the Middle East, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast

Please subscribe to Kalam Podcast in whatever podcast application you're listening to right now - and give us a rating. It helps other people find out about us.