Some radio stations broadcast content. Radio Alhara creates neighborhoods.

In this episode of Forward Moves, host Raja Haddad sits down with Yousef
Anastas and Saeed Abu Jaber—two of the five founders behind Radio Alhara, the
Palestinian online radio station that turned quarantine isolation into global
connection. What started in March 2020 as friends dropping audio files into a
shared drive has become something far more radical: a sonic public square where
sound becomes resistance, gathering, and everyday life all at once.

Yousef and Saeed didn't set out to build a platform. They built a neighborhood—
one without borders, curators, or institutional funding. No agenda. No plan. Just
an open calendar and a simple invitation: play what you love, not what the club
demands. Sunday morning sets over Saturday night bangers. Cooking shows
alongside protest takeovers. 11,000 shows that exist but aren't archived—because
sometimes the most radical act is to let something be ephemeral.

This episode explores:
● Openness as curation: Why they ask DJs for "Sunday morning, not
Saturday night"—unlocking personal music collections nobody hears at
clubs
● The anti-institutional move: Rejecting funding to stay DIY, messy, and
honest—avoiding agendas and the flattening of culture
● Radio as political gesture: How lending someone a sound card in another
city becomes resistance—local networks going global
● The archive question: Why 11,000 shows remain inaccessible by design
—"you either listen or you miss it"
● Radio from anywhere: How a station rooted in Bethlehem became a
blueprint for any place that struggles for something

Yousef and Saeed's story is a reminder that the most powerful projects aren't
designed—they're lived. Radio Alhara is proof that cultural resistance doesn't
need permission, funding, or a five-year plan. It just needs people willing to press
play.

Tune in, subscribe, and join us as we chart the creative journeys shaping the
Middle East. Until then—keep moving forward.

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