Zina's Buqalah

Equipto is a rapper and political activist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In his teens, he founded Bored Stiff, a long-running hip hop group -- and led the Frisco Five hunger strike outside San Francisco's Mission District police station, to protest police brutality and killings of unarmed civilians. He has performed and toured with many notable hip-hop acts, including KRS-One, De La Soul, Mac Dre, and Nas. He has also released music with Andre Nickatina.Equipto is of mixed Japanese and Colombian ancestry. He is named after Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the first leader of the Soviet Union. His father, Art Sato, was born in a Japanese internment camp in Colorado.

Podcast beats by Monk HardToStop & Evaclear

On October 17th, 1961, less than a year before Algeria won its independence – the French state committed a massacre in the heart of Paris.

During a peaceful march, over 12,000 people were arrested in a matter of hours. Algerians were beaten, shot with live ammunition, and their bodies thrown into the Seine River.

For decades, the official death count was no higherthan 7, though the truth is that dozens (most likely hundreds) of Algerians were murdered or disappeared that day.

Some historians call this day the most violent and repressive response to a street protest in modern Western European history. The French state has never taken full responsibilityfor this colonial massacre, never prosecuted anyone for the crimes.

October 17th, 1961 is etched in our hearts and carved intoour people’s memory, as a reminder that France’s hands are still dripping with the blood of Algerians (and that of many other African nations). This is our duty to memory.

Beats by Monk HTS & Evaclear. Follow Zina's Buqalah on Instagram.

As we mark 2 years since the start of this most recent phase of genocide against the people of Palestine and Gaza, people took to the streets of Oakland - demanding an arms embargo.

A dozen people shared their reflections, drawing connections to indigenous peoples and working class struggles from all over the world. From the calls to abolish the Prison Industrial Complex to the violence that the state and ICE unleashes against communities of color daily - the message is clear: local organizing works!

Free Palestine also means LAND BACK from these Ohlone lands on Turtle Island to all colonized and occupied lands everywhere.

Keep your eyes on Sudan, Congo, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Yemen, Syria, Kanaky Islands, Nepal, Madagascar, Kenya, the Philippines, El Salvador and more. The people united will never be defeated.

Beats by Monk HTS & Evaclear. Follow Zina's Buqalah on Instagram!

For the 1st ever Algerian football team, who for the last 4 years of the battle for independence, became ambassadors for the cause and traveled the world to raise awareness and build international support for the resistance to French colonialism - for the land of a million martyrs.

Excerpt:

"We the 3arabs, the villains from distant lands in so

I say us time and time again, because we're all lumped into one big stereotype anyway."

Beats by Evaclear & Monk HTS.

In this episode, we sit with Raheem Divine 🎙️ - a poet, journalist, sociologist & educator born & raised in Oakland, Califas.

This episode was recorded live at La Peña Cultural Center, as part of a benefit show for displaced families in Palestine, Sudan and Congo.

Podcasts guests include Turha'ak from Community Ready Corps, Tina of Gabriela Oakland, Maisa of the Palestinian Feminist Collective, Jesus from Stop Cop City Ohlone Lands, and Haneen of the Sudan Tapes Archive.

We’re continuing to build across nations & movements for liberation. We have so much to learn from each other’s lineage and histories. Empire has tried to bury many truths that we carry within our bones.
Our people have always known how to organize and resist - in the streets, through culture and ancestral practices, and in community.

The system thrives on single stories, simplified versions of history, and stereotypes — but we know our stories and lived experiences are complex & layered & rich in diversity. These are the words we’re continuing to build a platform for.
This moment calls on us to keep building and deepening our relations & movement connections - to escalate & rise up for occupied and exploited territories across the globe. From Turtle Island to Falisteen, the Congo & Sudan… until all of our peoples and lands are liberated!

Beats for this podcast were created and produced by Monk HTS and Evaclear. Cover art by Jackie Espejo.

This episode was recorded live on May 4th, at the Eastside Arts Alliance in Oakland, Califas - at the "Seeds of Resistance" benefit show.

interviewed @rumman.eh • @shah__noor • @sheridanoelani - representing Lebanon, Sudan & Hawai’i on @burn_the_wagon_ (which was dreamt up and operates on Pomo lands).

A rich episode with Nadya Tannous, host of Arab Amp Folktales.

Nadya is a passionate community organizer, writer and researcher, born and raised in the Bay Area (Unceded Ohlone Territory), with a focus on refugee rights, inter-community empowerment, and returning land to the people and people returning to the land. She is a Creative Partner of Donkeysaddle Projects and is a member of the Arab.Amplify Team through Temescal Arts Center, entering their second season of Arab.Amp Folktales. She is published most recently in Al-Shabaka Palestinian Policy Network, The Funambulist, The Electronic Intifada, Mondoweiss, and is a panelist this year in the Palestine Writes Literature Festival. She holds an MSc in Forced Migration and Refugee Studies from the University of Oxford and a BA in Anthropology and Sociology from UC Santa Cruz. She is a founding member of the Ghassan Kanafani Resistance Arts Scholarship, a project of the Palestinian Youth Movement. Nadya currently serves as the Director of Operations at Honor the Earth.

The beats for this season were produced by local artists ⁠Monk HTS⁠  and ⁠Evaclear⁠.

For more updates, follow Zina's Buqalah on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠Facebook⁠. And if you like what you hear, make a recommendation and please tell a friend or two. Shukraaan!