Gaza Conversations
Gaza Conversations consists of a series of podcast episodes where we connect and converse with individuals who have unique positions as activists, poets, writers, journalists, academic, and thinkers. These conversations explore topical issues related to the work of our guests who can offer us fresh perspectives on current situation across the world as it pertains to Gaza. We hope these podcast episodes offer listeners opportunities to consider aspects of the current systematic violence that are not typically addressed in academic or public discourses.
Resisting the Ratcheting Up of Repression in Academia and On Campus
This conversation will address the ratcheting up of repression we witness in academia and on campus as the fall semester commences. Our guest will also identify and examine the organizational infrastructure driving this escalation in an attempt to stifle, silence, and criminalize objections to Israel's Genocide, which continues unabated despite the incredulous killing of more than 40,000 Palestinians, including 16,000 children, and the destruction of nearly all homes/infrastructure in Gaza. Emmaia will also talk about the overlap and coordination between these groups and other right wing organizations that have a history of targeting higher education.
Palestinian Experiences in Israeli Universities
In this conversation, our speakers explore the unique experiences of Palestinian citizens of Israel. In particular, we explore the various issues, tensions, problems, barriers, and possibilities that emerge for Palestinians studying and teaching Israeli universities. How does the second-class citizenship of Palestinians in Israel affect their educational aspirations and access to higher education? Furthermore, how do the dozens of laws discriminating against Palestinians and non-Jewish citizens shape the futures of Palestinian students? Finally, how do Palestinian students in Israeli universities manage the increased racism and crackdowns against them since October of 2024?
Israel, Iran, and Hizballah:
Between Deterrence and Escalation...
On the Margins of Genocide in Gaza
In this timely conversation, our speakers will address the impetus for regional war and the tactics of deterrence as Israel, Iran, and Hizballah repeatedly weigh their options. With Israel viewing regional escalation more favorably, how might matters spin out of control in the coming days and weeks? To what extent can we take the cautionary statements of the United States at days and weeks? To what extent can we take the cautionary statements of the United States at face value? How does an actual escalation reorder the priorities of all actors involved, state and non-state, in the region and beyond? How might escalation affect Israel's onslaught in Gaza?
Portrait of a Palestinian Life:
Remembering Ref`at Al-Areer
Ref`at al-Areer is a beloved Palestinian writer, poet, and scholar who was killed by an Israeli strike on 6 December along with his brother and his son, his sister and her three children. His killing reverberated the world over, with his latest poem, “If I Must Die,” translated into more than 200 languages and recited publicly by poets, scholars, and celebrities in Palestine and internationally. He is celebrated as a symbol of Gaza’s steadfastness and conscience. Watch the conversation with Jehad Abusalim, a former student and friend, in conversation with Bassam Haddad.
Flooding New York for Palestine:
Surveillance, Brutality and
Censorship of "Within Our Lifetime"
Organizers and protesters in New York have seen a new wave of government surveillance, brutality, and harassment targeting their communities due to their steadfast solidarity with Palestinians. In this conversation, organizers from Within Our Lifetime will tell their story of four months of mass protest and their efforts to resist a coordinated repression campaign against the movement in New York City by the NYPD, big tech companies, universities, and right-wing journalists.
The Intersection of Academic Freedom and the War on Gaza: A View from the Region
February 5 of this year marked the ninth anniversary of Dr. Sami Al-Arian leaving the US for Turkey after living in America for 4 decades. It was the culmination of a 12 year saga that started in 2003 when he was targeted and arrested by the US government because of his activism on Palestine. After a 6 months trial in 2005, he was not convicted on a single charge. Yet he was kept in prison and house arrest until the charges were dismissed in 2014.
We sit down across an ocean and a sea to discuss a view from the region regarding recent developments in the War On Gaza. Our guest will delve into the current situation ahead of an impending total Israeli invasion of Rafah by the IDF, the ICJ ruling and its (lack of) concrete consequences on the ground, and scenarios for the future of Palestine.
We sit down across an ocean and a sea to discuss a view from the region regarding recent developments in the War On Gaza. Our guest will delve into the current situation ahead of an impending total Israeli invasion of Rafah by the IDF, the ICJ ruling and its (lack of) concrete consequences on the ground, and scenarios for the future of Palestine.
Aesthetics of Return:
Palestinian Poetry with Fady Joudah
In this stream, we discuss Fady Joudah's new poetry collection as it relates to the Palestinian aesthetic in engaging the world and how the poems came about in a time of genocide, and continue to come forth. We will also discuss some of Darwish's final pieces which coincided with the earliest Israeli wars on Gaza in 2006-7, collected in his last book, The Trace of the Butterfly which exists in English as A River Dies of Thirst.
Rawan Damen on The Deadly Precarity of Journalists and Journalism in Gaza
International journalists are barred from entering Gaza. Coverage persists solely through Palestinian Journalists, mostly freelancers, despite the grave risk of losing all their media equipment, and/or their lives. ARIJ (Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism) stepped in to replace equipment for 150 journalists, with the support of ordinary people and organizations like RSF and CPJ. Hundreds of journalists are still in need of support. How might you lend a hand? What methods can be employed to sustain ongoing coverage? What audiovisual resource aids are available? Join us for a timely conversation with ARIJ Director, Rawan Damen.
Palestine As a Universal Cause:
Israel’s Genocide in Gaza and Its Reverberations in France
In this sit-down interview in Paris, Alain Gresh discusses Israel’s Genocide in Gaza and its reverberations in Europe, with a focus on France and its domestic politics. He also addresses Islamophobia, accusations of Antisemitism, protests, censorship, the Left, and the history of the French position in relation to Israel-Palestine. Gresh also discusses his new book 7 octobre.: Palestine, un peuple qui ne veut pas mourir (2024).
