The Field Between

Just before recording this, Mosab Abu-Toha reported through his Instagram page that Israel murdered hundreds of people as it resumed its genocide in full force and reports from Gaza have only gotten worse since then.

Yasmine carries most of this episode with discussion of what's happening at Columbia and the reverberations for academia in general. Be safe, everyone.

We really enjoyed our conversation with two people who are doing incredible work in their respective fields: Hamid Bendaas, formerly in comms for Bernie Sanders and current communications director for IMEU Policy Project, and award-winning journalist/media critic Sana Saeed.

We discuss the question of whether Muslims (and other people) should continue abandoning the Democratic Party as well look toward future elections. This was already an ongoing strategy in some states in 2024, but we felt it's worth seriously revisiting the question now that we know a bit more about how the second Trump administration is shaping up.

We hope you enjoy the episode, and we'd be especially interested in heard more thoughts on the topic. Feel free to drop us a comment on Youtube, or DM us on Instagram @the_field_between_pod

We discuss Noura Erakat's article, 'The Boomerang Comes Back', in Boston Review, as well as some of the articles linked in the citations.

We then quickly reflect on the one-year mark since Aaron Bushnell's self immolation. We highly recommend reading Ryan D'Souza's article about Aaron.

We weigh in on the news of the week, primarily on the murder and martyrdom of Imam Muhsin Hendricks in South Africa, and why Muslims need to keep pushing for queer Muslim spaces.

Professor Yasmine gives her perspective and insight on the cuts in education spending. We then discuss Trump floating his plan to ethnically cleanse Palestine and how no one in the opposition party or press is embarrassing him for continuing the longstanding tradition of U.S. Presidents being Netanyahu's lapdogs. Lastly, we discuss the sovereign wealth fund order Trump signed, and why we're CAUTIOUSLY hopeful.

We have a delightful conversation with Hoda Abrahim (@watshoodie), half of the matchmaking duo on Hulu's forthcoming show Muslim Matchmaker, about her journey as a Muslim matchmaker, love, courtship, and more.

You can watch Muslim Matchmaker on Hulu starting February 11th and, if you're a single Muslim looking for that special someone, you can find out more about Hoda's matchmaking service here: https://www.findloveia.com

We discuss the IHRA definition of antisemitism and what it means that Harvard adopted it.

We spend most of the time discussing the ceasefire on this one. We hope to do another episode in which we can bring on an expert who can help us cut through some of the noise.

Help us out by subscribing/rating our show wherever you listen to podcasts (it really does help us improve our reach), and follow us on Instagram @The_Field_Between_Pod. We also launched our Youtube channel! We hope to have some video content soon. You can find that at @TheFieldBetween.

We talk about Nosferatu (no spoilers, but the story is also more than a century old, so c'mon), Ramaswamy & Musk's support of the H1-B program, and a medical article that has rocked Yasmine's world in the last month.

We are joined by Hossam El Hamalawy, a revolutionary socialist and journalist. You can find his work on Middle East Eye and his Substack 3rabawy, where he provides commentary on Egypt's military, security services, foreign policy, and local dissent.

Links:

Hossam's Substack newsletter 3arabawy

https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/hossam-el-hamalawy

Rosa Luxemburg Foundation