🎙️In this episode of the Sumud Podcast, Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate Mohsen Mahdawi joins Dr. Ed Hasan to share the story behind the headlines. Born in a refugee camp in the West Bank, Mohsen reflects on loss, displacement, and the experiences that shaped his commitment to justice. He discusses his journey to the United States, his activism on campus, and the moment he was arrested during his own citizenship interview. Blending personal memory with political insight, Mohsen speaks about resilience, Palestinian liberation, and the deeper human struggle behind the fight for freedom.

🌍Mohsen Mahdawi was born and raised in Al-Far’a refugee camp in the West Bank of Palestine. Mohsen's early years were defined by Israeli military occupation. At twenty four, he moved to the United States and experienced freedom and safety for the first time in his life, finding in Vermont a true home rooted in belonging and the strength of a supportive community. At Columbia University, he became a leading voice for Palestinian rights through dialogue and coalition-building, including with Jewish and Israeli communities. In April 2025 when Mohsen walked into an immigration office for his citizenship interview and was handcuffed and detained by ICE in retaliation for his pro-Palestinian activism. Mohsen continues his graduate studies in Diplomacy while defending his rights in courts and building an organization dedicated to human rights and nonviolent conflict resolution.

🔑 In this conversation, we explore

→ Growing up in a West Bank refugee camp

→ The loss of family members and the trauma of occupation

→ Childhood grief and the path toward healing

→ Discovering freedom after arriving in the United States

→ Building community and mentorship in Vermont

→ Campus activism and confronting the Israeli narrative

→ His framework for Palestinian liberation and justice

→ Being arrested during his U.S. citizenship interview

⏱ Chapters

00:00 Opening message

01:00 Introducing Mohsen Mahdawi

03:30 Growing up in a refugee camp

12:00 Loss, trauma, and childhood memories

28:00 Coming to America and discovering freedom

45:00 Community, mentors, and learning English

58:00 Activism and confronting power on campus

01:10:00 Arrest at the citizenship interview

01:20:00 Resilience and message to Palestinians

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🎙️In this episode of the Sumud Podcast, clinical psychologist and author Dr. Lara Sheehi joins Dr. Ed Hasan to discuss her book "From the Clinic to the Streets: Psychoanalysis for Revolutionary Futures" and the concept of psychic militancy. She explores how systems of power intrude upon the mind, normalize oppression, and bend reality, particularly in the context of Palestine. Drawing on Frantz Fanon and anti-colonial struggle, Lara challenges psychology’s neutrality and calls for an unbending, liberation-centered political commitment.

🌍Dr. Lara Sheehi is a Research Fellow at the University of South Africa's Institute for Social and Health Sciences, a licensed clinical psychologist, and the host of the Psychic Militancy podcast. Lara’s work focuses on psychoanalysis, the psychic refusals central to liberation struggles and life-making in the Global South, the psychic dimensions of resistance and revolution, and critical Zionism studies. She is co-author with Stephen Sheehi of Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine (Routledge, 2022) which won the 2022 Palestine Book Award for Best Academic Book. Lara is a member of the founding collective for the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism and is on the advisory board for Forensic Architecture. Her new book, From the Clinic to the Streets: Psychoanalysis for Revolutionary Futures will be released by Pluto Press in May 2026.

🔑 In this conversation, we explore

→ Growing up in Lebanon during civil war

→ Racism inside Western psychology classrooms

→ The Zionist disruption at a Palestine panel

→ Psychic intrusion and reality bending

→ Edward Bernays, propaganda, and psychological warfare

→ Frantz Fanon and liberation psychology

→ De-specializing knowledge and reclaiming theory

→ Why neutrality protects power

→ What psychic militancy actually demands

⏱ Chapters

00:00 Opening message

01:00 Introducing Lara Sheehi

03:00 From Lebanon to U.S. psychology

08:30 Racism and misattunement in therapy

12:00 The Palestine panel confrontation

18:00 Psychological operations and propaganda

27:00 Reality bending and psychic intrusion

41:30 Frantz Fanon and revolutionary practice

52:00 De-specializing psychology

01:05:00 Psychic militancy explained

01:20:00 Message to comrades

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🎙️ In this episode of the Sumud Podcast, filmmaker and activist Rob Bliss joins Dr. Ed Hasan to unpack the story behind White Man Walking, his 1,500-mile journey from Jackson, Mississippi to Washington, DC wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt through some of the most hostile towns in America. Rob reflects on standing in the “most racist town in America,” confronting armed strangers, walking through sensory isolation and physical collapse, and discovering that much of the anger he encountered was rooted in fear. They explore race, risk, privilege, loneliness, improv comedy as survival, and what it means to use your body as a form of protest.

🌍 Rob Bliss launched his career by creating free and unique community events through Facebook. These events, from flash mobs to music festivals, totaled for an attendance of 100,000 people in his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. His career took off further after creating YouTube videos and short form documentaries, amassing over a billion organic views. His bold, socially charged works, including "10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman" and "Holding a BLM Sign in America's Most Racist Town", cemented his reputation for daring work with global resonance. These successes led to a Hulu television series entitled, “Blissful Thinking". In May 2025, he premiered his first feature film documentary, "White Man Walking", on BBC and Arte (Germany/France), chronicling his 1,500-mile walk completed in just 2.5 months.

🔑 In this conversation, we explore

→ Holding a BLM sign in Harrison, Arkansas

→ Walking 25 miles a day for 2.5 months

→ Armed confrontations and threats in rural America

→ Fear as the root of hostility

→ The racist memorabilia store encounter

→ Unexpected kindness and emotional breakdowns

→ Privilege, access, and why he could take that risk

→ Sensory deprivation and mental endurance

→ What “loud” social justice actually means

⏱ Chapters

00:00 Opening message

01:00 Welcome Rob Bliss

02:40 Harrison, Arkansas and the viral sign

09:00 The walk begins in Mississippi

17:30 Guns, threats, and near violence

24:55 The racist store encounter

30:30 Unexpected kindness on the road

34:00 Physical and emotional breaking points

41:00 Why a White man did this walk

48:00 Free Palestine hypothetical

49:45 One takeaway

54:40 Message to future activists

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🎙️ In this episode of the Sumud Podcast, Palestinian American creator Mo Hamzeh joins Dr. Ed Hasan for a raw conversation about censorship, fatherhood, and refusing to stay silent. Known for his sharp, fact-driven breakdowns and repeated bans across major platforms, Mo shares the story behind the viral clips, growing up bullied for being Palestinian, hiding his identity to survive, and ultimately deciding to go all in. They unpack Meta’s aggressive takedowns, the rise of alternative platforms, the emotional toll of witnessing Gaza in real time as a parent, and why slowing down now would mean losing the moment.

🌍 Moath Hamzeh is a Palestinian-American that was born and raised in the United States. Mo is a husband and father of 2 beautiful children.Mo's family is from Palestine through and through with his father side being from Ein Karem, which is just outside of Jerusalem, and his mother's side from Tubas. His great grandparents and grandparents among their children were displaced as a result of the Nakba of 1948 where they were forced to seek refuge, which forced many of his family to flee to Jordan. Mo has been relentless in his advocacy and activism online to the point where Meta has deleted a total of 42 of his Instagram accounts and banned him from their platform. Mo looks forward to the day that in our millions, in our billions, we will all walk hand-in-hand in a free Palestine.

🔑 In this conversation, we explore

→ Growing up Palestinian and navigating identity in America

→ Breaking the silence and embracing “psychic militancy”

→ The research discipline behind viral political content

→ 41+ Meta account removals and digital censorship

→ Creative alter-egos, masks, and beating the algorithm

→ UpScrolled and the migration away from censored platforms

→ Being physically targeted and protecting your family

→ Fatherhood, grief, and watching Gaza as a parent

→ The flotilla mission and his father volunteering to go

⏱ Chapters

00:00 Opening message

01:20 Welcome Mo Hamzeh

04:10 Growing up bullied for being Palestinian

09:30 Breaking the silence and going all in

16:40 Meta censorship and account removals

23:50 UpScrolled and digital resistance

31:20 Being targeted in public

37:40 Fatherhood and witnessing Gaza

46:10 The flotilla and his father’s decision

55:30 Final message don’t slow down

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🎙️ In this episode of the Sumud Podcast, Dr. Ed Hasan speaks with Chris Smalls, founder of the Amazon Labor Union, about organizing inside one of the world’s most powerful corporations and what it takes to confront corporate retaliation. Smalls recounts the walkout that led to his firing, the fight to unionize Amazon workers, and how labor struggle connects to global resistance. He also reflects on why he stands with Palestine and shares his firsthand experience joining the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.

🌍 Christian Smalls is the founder and former president of the Amazon Labor Union, the first independent, worker-led union to organize Amazon workers in U.S. history. He also founded The Congress of Essential Workers (TCOEW), a national collective fighting for safe working conditions, fair wages, and justice for essential workers across the country. In 2025, Smalls volunteered with the Gaza Freedom Flotilla to help break the siege on Gaza and amplify global awareness of the humanitarian crisis. He is also the creator of the Labor Party USA, a grassroots political movement built to move beyond the two-party system and center the needs of working people. Before emerging as a national labor leader, Smalls spent five years as an Amazon supervisor, helping launch multiple major warehouse facilities in the Northeast. He was fired in 2020 after leading a walkout over unsafe pandemic conditions—an event that propelled him into the national spotlight and international media.

🔑 In this conversation, we explore

→ Organizing Amazon workers and confronting corporate power

→ Warehouse labor, exploitation, and modern-day slavery

→ Systemic racism inside corporate America

→ Retaliation, walkouts, and union-busting tactics

→ Black liberation, trade unionism, and Palestine

→ Saying “Free Palestine” and the cost of solidarity

→ The Gaza flotilla, imprisonment, and state violence

→ Why people power beats billionaire money

⏱ Chapters

00:00 Opening message

01:00 Welcome Chris Smalls

05:00 Inside Amazon: labor, exploitation, and racism

12:00 COVID, the walkout, and retaliation

20:00 Building the Amazon Labor Union

30:00 Black liberation, labor history, and Palestine

40:00 Saying “Free Palestine” and the cost of solidarity

52:00 The Gaza flotilla and imprisonment

1:05:00 People power, resistance, and final message

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🎙️ This episode of the Sumud Podcast features a wide ranging conversation with Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib on what it means to carry Palestine inside an institution where Palestinian humanity is denied. Dr. Ed Hasan and the congresswoman talk candidly about the loneliness of voting “no” while colleagues enable mass death, the pressure campaigns and intimidation that try to silence dissent, and the power of the outside movement to force Congress to move. Rashida shares stories of her sitis, Southwest Detroit, and growing up the eldest of 14, tracing how family, faith, and lived experience shaped her politics. The episode also explores her environmental justice roots, including the moment she literally collected petroleum coke samples to prove what residents were breathing, and closes with a message to the next generation: stay rooted, dream big, and never let anyone take your voice.

🌍 Rashida Tlaib is a U.S. Congresswoman representing Michigan’s 12th Congressional District, rooted in Detroit and surrounding communities. Born and raised in Detroit to Palestinian immigrant parents, she is the oldest of 14 children and a lifelong advocate for working families. Rashida made history as the first Muslim woman elected to the Michigan Legislature and later to Congress. A former public interest attorney, she is known for centering constituent services, holding polluters and corporations accountable, and fighting for dignity, justice, and equity at the local and national level.

🔑 In this conversation, we explore

→ Congress and funding genocide

→ Palestine as the political “exception”

→ AIPAC pressure and intimidation

→ Standing alone and collective power

→ Sitis and Palestinian women

→ Southwest Detroit and being eldest of 14

→ Healthcare racism and grief

→ Environmental justice and petcoke

→ Student encampments and divestment

→ Why outside movements move Congress

⏱ Chapters

00:00 Opening message

01:00 Welcome Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib

03:00 “How are you doing” carrying Gaza inside Congress

06:30 Dehumanization the “exception” for Palestinians

10:10 Being alone on the floor and the truth about support

14:20 Sitis, Beit Hanina and the fuel of family

20:00 Southwest Detroit eldest of 14 translator survival mode

28:40 Healthcare racism grief and losing her parents

36:30 Environmental justice the petroleum coke samples story

46:30 Students encampments divestment and litigation as resistance

56:30 How to support her the outside movement moves Congress

1:02:00 Message to the next generation stay rooted dream big

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🎙️ This episode of the Sumud Podcast features a wide ranging conversation with Guy Christensen on finding political clarity through Palestine and the cost of speaking out against power. Dr. Ed Hasan and Guy trace his path from conservative Mormon culture and the alt right pipeline to learning about the Nakba, Gaza as an open air prison, and the role of human rights reporting in challenging dominant narratives. The episode examines paid propaganda, harassment, and his expulsion from Ohio State later overturned by a federal court and closes with a call to speak up, build community, and resist systems rooted in oppression.

🌍 Guy Christensen is a student activist, organizer, and influencer whose educational work has reached over 1 billion people since the start of Israel's genocide. Last year, he spearheaded the viral Fast For Gaza challenge which has so far distributed over half a million dollars in aid to Gaza. Guy’s storytelling and advocacy work across social media, grassroots organizing, and national media platforms have earned him a reputation for mobilizing young people and turning outrage into tangible impact.

🔑 In this conversation, we explore:

-Growing up in conservative Mormon culture and leaving the alt right pipeline

-Personal experiences that shaped empathy and political direction

-Learning about the Nakba, Gaza, and human rights reporting

-Paid propaganda and influencer recruitment efforts

-Harassment, doxxing, and coordinated smear campaigns

-Expulsion from Ohio State and the legal fight that followed

-Independent media, journalism, and digital resistance

-Why speaking up matters even when it is risky

⏱ Chapters

00:00 Introduction and opening message

04:30 From Mormon upbringing to political awakening

10:20 Discovering Palestine Nakba Gaza and human rights reports

18:45 Paid propaganda harassment and online targeting

28:30 High school confrontation and early public backlash

36:50 Ohio State censorship and expulsion

50:10 Legal fight ACLU support and court victory

1:03:40 Independent media student activism and speaking anyway

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🎙️ This episode of the Sumud Podcast features a wide ranging conversation with Mother Agapia on what she witnessed living and working in Palestine from the late 1990s through the Second Intifada and beyond. Dr. Ed Hasan and Mother Agapia trace how the promise of Oslo collapsed into deeper control, how settlements expanded while Palestinian life narrowed, and how walls, checkpoints, curfews, and violence reshaped daily existence. Through firsthand stories from Jerusalem and the West Bank, she challenges the framing of the crisis, rejects Christian Zionism as a distortion of Christianity, and describes the shared community life of Palestinian Muslims and Christians. The episode closes with reflections on Sumud as lived resilience and the moral responsibility of people in the United States to act.

🌍 Mother Agapia Stephanopoulos is a Greek American Orthodox nun in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. She moved to Jerusalem in 1996 and later helped lead and administer a girls’ school in the West Bank, where she witnessed the realities of occupation firsthand. Now based in New York, she continues her work through prayer, education, pilgrimages, and public advocacy for Palestinians, Christian and Muslim alike.

🔑 In this conversation, we explore

➡ What brought Mother Agapia to Jerusalem and the West Bank

➡ Life inside the convent and beyond the walls

➡ The girls’ school and daily life under occupation

➡ Oslo, settlements, the wall, and the collapse of the “peace process”

➡ Eyewitness accounts of violence and confinement

➡ Christian Zionism and American political theology

➡ Sumud, dignity, and why Palestinians remain rooted

⏱ Chapters

00:00 Introduction and setting the context

05:10 Faith, Jerusalem, and life inside the convent

13:40 From the convent to the West Bank school

24:30 Oslo, settlements, and the architecture of occupation

36:50 Violence, checkpoints, and daily survival

48:20 Christian Zionism and U.S. political power

1:02:10 Sumud, dignity, and paths forward

Sponsored by The Karate Attorney (@karateattorney) fighting for justice inside and outside the courtroom. Visit KarateAttorney.com

Sponsored by The School of Radical Imagination (@school.of.radical.imagination), a community based learning space turning knowledge into action. Sumud listeners receive 10% off with code SUMUD10 at checkout. Enroll at RadicalImagination.school

You can find the courses here: https://www.radicalimagination.school/explore-courses

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🎙️ This special episode of the Sumud Podcast centers the Gaza Soup Kitchen and the people sustaining it under siege. Dr. Ed Hasan is joined by Hani Almadhoun to reflect on how a grassroots mutual aid effort became a lifeline amid blocked aid, collapsed infrastructure, and constant bombardment. The episode honors the legacy of Chef Mahmoud Almadhoun and features real footage filmed by Gaza Soup Kitchen videographers and photographers Omar Almadhoun, Leena Almadhoun, Khaled Qadas, and Mai Almadhoun, offering a direct window into life, labor, and survival in Gaza.

🌍 Hani Almadhoun is a Palestinian American humanitarian and the Senior Director of Philanthropy at UNRWA USA. He is also the co founder of the Gaza Soup Kitchen, a grassroots initiative launched in early 2024 to provide hot meals, food parcels, and water to families across Gaza amid siege and famine. Based in the United States, Hani coordinates fundraising, advocacy, and media engagement while supporting operations on the ground.

🔑 In this conversation, we explore

➡ How the Gaza Soup Kitchen began

➡ Operating under siege with cut telecom, closed banks, and constant displacement

➡ The photographers and volunteers working on the ground in Gaza

➡ Chefs, kitchens, and survival logistics including hot meals, food parcels, and water trucks

➡ UNRWA, aid access, and competing aid models in Gaza

➡ Chef Mahmoud’s legacy, his killing, and why the work continues

➡ What people outside Gaza can do to show up and sustain support

⏱ Chapters

00:00 Introduction

02:00 How the Gaza Soup Kitchen started

05:00 Operating under siege with money, telecom, and logistics

08:00 Identity and documentation

13:00 The photographers and storytellers

23:00 Courage and exhaustion

28:00 Hopes and dreams under siege

31:00 The chefs and the kitchens

38:00 Chef Mahmoud’s story and legacy

45:00 What the diaspora can do

Sponsored by The Karate Attorney (@karateattorney) fighting for justice inside and outside the courtroom. Visit KarateAttorney.com

Sponsored by The School of Radical Imagination (@school.of.radical.imagination), a community based learning space turning knowledge into action. Sumud listeners receive 10% off with code SUMUD10 at checkout. Enroll at RadicalImagination.school

https://www.radicalimagination.school/explore-courses 

This video is for educational purposes only. It offers personal testimony and political analysis meant to inform and document.

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🎙️ This week on the Sumud Podcast, we sit down with retired US Army Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Aguilar for one of the most difficult and urgent conversations we have ever hosted. What he believed was a humanitarian mission quickly revealed the truth of Gaza under siege. Anthony describes arriving to find Rafah destroyed, witnessing American contractors and Israeli forces firing on starving civilians, and meeting a young boy he calls Amir whose death changed everything. He reflects on complicity, conscience, and why he ultimately resigned, returned home, and began briefing US lawmakers on the atrocities he witnessed. This is a raw and necessary conversation about genocide, impunity, and the moral cost of silence.

🌍 Anthony Aguilar is a retired US Army Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel and former Green Beret who served for 25 years across Iraq, Afghanistan, and other conflict zones. In 2025 he worked with the newly formed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation through its subcontractor, UG Solutions, on what was presented as a neutral humanitarian mission. Once on the ground, he says he witnessed a coordinated system of forced displacement, engineered famine, and violent “aid” operations carried out in close coordination with Israeli authorities and supported by US contractors. His testimony has since informed media reporting, human rights investigations, and congressional briefings on US involvement in Gaza.

🔑 In this conversation, we explore

➡ How a supposed aid mission became a mechanism of displacement and control

➡ The destruction of Rafah and the true scale of civilian death

➡ Daily violence against starving families by American contractors and the IDF

➡ The ideology driving many US contractors

➡ The story of Amir and the smear campaign that followed

➡ Boston Consulting Group and the architecture of Gaza’s erasure

➡ Why Anthony chose to resign and speak publicly

➡ What the world must understand about the ongoing genocide in Gaza

⏱ Chapters

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Sponsored by: The School of Radical Imagination (@school.of.radical.imagination), a new learning space turning knowledge into action through live, community-based courses on justice, liberation, and creativity. Enroll at www.RadicalImagination.school.

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