Makdisi Street

Makdisi Street episodes:

• 05.01.2024

  "The process of liberation is irresistible and irreversible" w/ Vijay Prasad

  The brothers welcome historian and journalist Vijay Prasad (@vijayprashad) to the show to discuss the emergence of Palestine as the keystone struggle of the Global South, the importance of the PLO, the question of sovereign national interests vs. solidarity with Palestinian...

  
• 04.24.2024

  “Learning how to be colonialists" w/ Rashid Khalidi

  The brothers welcome the historian Rashid Khalidi of Columbia University to the show to discuss the history of the Palestinian people’s struggle against the Zionist project in Palestine, the colonial affiliations of Zionism, the background to the 1948 Nakba, and...

  
• 04.17.2024

  (Preview) "Distraction and Denial"

  [Producer's note: This is a preview of the latest bonus episode of Makdisi Street. You can listen to the entire episode by subscribing to the Patreon for as low as $5 a month and get access to other great bonus...

  
• 04.08.2024

  "Famine is never a natural occurrence" w/ Michael Fakhri

  The brothers welcome to the show Michael Fakhri, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food and Professor of Law at the University of Oregon, to discuss the ongoing starvation war against Gaza and how intentional law can be wielded...

  
• 03.29.2024

  “Stadiums are completely ungovernable spaces, spaces of liberation” w/ Tony Karon and Sean Jacobs

  The brothers welcome Tony Karon (@TonyKaron) and Sean Jacobs (@africasacountry) to the show to discuss their experience of the politics of sport in their native South Africa, the lessons that the country’s anti-apartheid struggle might have for the struggle for...

  
• 03.20.2024

  “Two sides of the same coin”

  The brothers discuss, among other things, Zionism and denial; Israel’s engineered starvation of Gaza; US-Israeli collaboration.   Watch the episode on our YouTube channel Date of recording: March 19, 2024 Follow us on X: @MakdisiStreet Follow us on YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Follow us...

  
• 03.16.2024

  "A kind of intergenerational civil war" w/ Peter Beinart

  The brothers welcome Peter Beinart (@PeterBeinart) to the show to discuss the role of the Gaza genocide in the generational transformation taking place in the United States (including within Jewish communities across the country), as well as the campaign to redefine...

  
• 03.16.2024

  In solidarity with Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian

  The brothers reflect on the suspension of Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian for having committed herself to justice, equality, rights, freedom and love: principles which Zionist institutions and the Zionist state clearly find themselves to be incompatible. Call to Action: Support academic freedom...

  
• 03.08.2024

  “There is so much love in Palestine" w/ Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian

  The brothers talk with Dr. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian (link) about life under occupation in East Jerusalem, the scattering and reconstitution of Palestinian bodies and Palestine itself, and the affirmation of life and love that lie at the heart of the Palestinian...

  
• 02.28.2024

  "The world has been lied to" w/ Chris Gunness

  The brothers interview Chris Gunness (@MyanmarAProject), former chief spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), about journalistic coverage and distortion, the shaping of representation of Palestine, the work of the...

  
• 02.21.2024

  “Every single Palestinian is traumatized" w/ Dr. Hanan Ashrawi

  The brothers welcome the Palestinian educator, political intellectual, and activist Dr. Hanan Ashrawi (@DrHananAshrawi) to discuss the political horizons after the trauma of Gaza, as well as the pitfalls of the so-called peace process, Oslo, the PLO vs PA, and...

  
• 02.17.2024

  "The purpose of lawfare is to distract us" w/ Dima Khalidi

  The brothers welcome Dima Khalidi, founder and director of Palestine Legal (@pal_legal), to the podcast to talk about the institutionalized Zionist assault on academic freedom and free speech in the United States as well as the convergence between the Zionist...

  
• 02.07.2024

  "They carried a memory in their head" w/ Dr. Salman Abu Sitta

  The brothers welcome to the show the preeminent scholar and Nakba survivor Dr. Salman Abu Sitta to discuss his personal journey after 1948, the relative simplicity of implementing UN resolution 194 for Palestinians to return to their lands, and his...

  
• 01.30.2024

  "The ground zero of a liberated world is Palestine" w/ Robin DG Kelley

  The brothers invite the American historian Robin DG Kelley to the show to discuss the status and visibility of Palestine in Black American political culture from the 1940s through MLK and Malcolm X to Black Lives Matter and the present--and...

  
• 01.24.2024

  “The murder of our colleagues has to stop” w/ Jeremy Scahill

  The brothers welcome the investigative journalist, Intercept Senior Correspondent and Intercepted podcast host Jeremy Scahill (@jeremyscahill) to discuss the parameters of the media coverage of the genocide in Gaza and to reflect on the patterns, structures and limitations of Western...

  
• 01.17.2024

  “To think about Palestine is to be human”

  (Note: We are considering launching a Patreon feed to help defray the costs of producing this show, whereby for a low monthly rate, supporters will get access to different kinds of bonus content: a monthly Q&A;, reposting of episodes hosts...

  
• 01.09.2024

  “Legitimacy does, in the end, prevail" w/ Richard Falk

  The brothers talk with the distinguished legal scholar Richard Falk about the possible political, legal, and moral consequences of the International Court of Justice case brought by South Africa against Israel on the charge of genocide. Date of recording:...

  
• 01.02.2024

  "I truly hope this is our year” w/ Diana Buttu

  The brothers welcome Palestinian lawyer Diana Buttu (@dianabuttu) to the show to provide a broader political context for the crisis in Gaza, including the growing contradictions within Israeli politics, the struggle for hegemony within Palestinian politics, the legacy and possible...

  
• 12.24.2023

  Christmas—and Christians—in Palestine w/ Dr. Mitri Raheb

  The brothers welcome Dr. Mitri Raheb to the show to talk about the role and visibility of Christians in Palestine’s ecumenical culture, so-called Christian Zionism, and how the Bible can be read either as a...

  
• 12.21.2023

  The day after in Gaza w/ Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah

  The brothers welcome this extraordinary Palestinian physician, @GhassanAbuSitt1, to the show, to talk about his recent experience in Gaza in comparison with other Israeli attacks on Gaza (2014, 2008-9).  “One of the aims of catastrophization, the creation of a self-sustaining catastrophe...

  
• 12.13.2023

  "The beginning of the end of the Zionist project?" w/ Ilan Pappé

  In this episode, the brothers interview the historian Ilan Pappé, best known for his 2006 book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, in order to gain some historical perspective on the catastrophe unfolding in Gaza as well as what the current...

  
• 12.04.2023

  "I just look for the day there will be justice" w/ Francesca Albanese

  The Makdisi brothers welcome Francesca Albanese (@FranceskAlbs), the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, to the podcast.  The discussion covers international humanitarian law, the concept of self-defense as it is understood in international law, the...

  
• 11.26.2023

  "Saying ‘pauses’ implies there’s more harm to come"

  In this episode, we discuss the international backdrop to the Gaza ceasefire/truce/pause (and what the distinctions are among all those terms).  We also cover Israeli and US aims for Gaza in view of resistance on the ground and their failure...

  
• 11.25.2023

  "An unmitigated human catastrophe"

  In this episode, we discuss the coverage and framing of the ongoing Israeli bombardment of Gaza including media narratives, gaps between popular and establishment positions, and the stifling of dissent in the academy. Date of Recording: November 14, 2023. ...