S3E12 ‘One man’s terrorist’: Resistance and radicalism in Gaza and Beyond - with Gulwali Passarlay and Zahera Harb

10.26.2023 - By Mathilda Mallinson and Helena Wadia Play

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The war in Gaza involves everyone, as the global community is drawn onto a battlefield of competing sympathies - sympathies that should coexist.

Propagandists, Islamophobes and antisemites alike are pushing black-and-white narratives that feed violence and hate. The independent press should be a bulwark against this.

But we do not think the press are doing enough. Western news media is failing to educate the public about geopolitical biases, and to expose us to worldviews that challenge our own.

We cannot hand our listeners the truth, but we can better equip you to identify it.

In this investigation, Media Storm uncovers firsthand stories of militancy in Northern Ireland and Apartheid South Africa which shine new light on terror and resistance: Tony Doherty, the son of a Bloody Sunday victim who sought justice through the IRA, and Black South African freedom fighters who waged war against the Apartheid. Testimonies of "terrorism" are largely absent from mainstream news. We believe that seeking out human perspectives to explain resistance and radicalism is not only a journalist’s right, but a journalist’s imperative.

We have very special guests joining for our season 3 finale. They challenge listeners to look beyond the Western worldview and teach us how to spot propaganda in the news: former UN Security Council President, Kishore Mahbubani; Lebanese war reporter and journalism professor, Zahera Harb; and Afghan author and political refugee, Gulwali Passarlay.

The episode is created by Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall) and Helena Wadia (@helenawadia). The music is by Samfire (@soundofsamfire). Tayyibah Apabhai assisted as researcher.

Learn more

Download Kishore Mahbubani’s free e-book, along with 3.3 million other users: https://mahbubani.net/the-asian-21st-century/

Read Tony Doherty’s autobiography, This Man’s Wee Boy…

…and Gulwali Passarlay’s: The Lightless Sky

Speakers

Tony Doherty @tonydutchdoc

Liberation Struggle for War Veterans, South Africa

Kishore Mahbubani @mahbubani_k

Zahera Harb @HarbZ1

Gulwali Passarlay @gulwali_passarlay