Discourse that allows us to express a wide range of ideas, opinions, and analysis that can be used as an opportunity to critically examine and observe what our experience means to us beyond the given social/cultural contexts and norms that are provided us.
For our Memorial Day special broadcast, we speak with Jerusalem-based journalist and author Nathan Thrall, who discusses Israel's ceasefire talks with Hamas and Israel's intensified crackdown in the West Bank, and responds to the cancellation of some of his book talks in Germany.
Then, we revisit an earlier conversation with Thrall and Abed Salama, the subject of the book for which Thrall just won a Pulitzer Prize. A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy focuses on the 2012 death of Salama's son, 5-year-old Milad, who was killed in a fiery bus crash during a school field trip to a theme park. What followed was a desperate daylong search by Salama and his family to locate Milad's body across different cities and hospitals, encountering numerous barriers due to the Israeli occupation system, like different ID cards giving varying levels of access through military checkpoints, and lack of help from any Israeli authorities.
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.
In Rafah, we speak with Gaza-based journalist Akram al-Satarri about Israel tightening restrictions on humanitarian aid, refusing a ceasefire deal and planning to invade the city where over a million Palestinians are sheltering. Israel’s military seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, blocking humanitarian aid from entering the besieged territory, and trapping Palestinians under heavy Israeli bombardment. This comes after Israel also closed the Karem Abu Salem crossing in southern Gaza this weekend after a Hamas attack killed four Israeli soldiers. “Israel is not allowing the entry of the humanitarian aid to Gaza, which is perceived as a lifeline,” says al-Satarri, who reports Palestinians are “in despair” as Israel orders a third of Rafah’s population to move ahead of their invasion. “They understand that more destruction, more devastation, more death and deprivation is coming for them.” Al-Satarri also speaks about Israel banning Al Jazeera, one of the only international outlets with reporters in Gaza. “I think they want to silence Al Jazeera and they want to silence all the free media for the sake of preventing any further exposure of the things that are happening on the ground.”
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.
Since
2021, several Israeli and mainstream human rights organizations, have
concluded what Palestinians have long known and insisted upon: Israel is
an apartheid regime. Despite the welcome, and long-awaited, synergy
between them, there remains significant analytical divergence among
these organizations and Palestinian activists and scholars. In
particular, while the reports emphasize that Israel has become an
apartheid regime as a result of its failure to establish a Palestinian
state, Palestinians have pointed to Zionist ideology to insist that
Israel did not become become a discriminatory regime but is defined by
such discrimination. This lecture will explore the implications of this
analytical divergence by examining the juridical framework of apartheid
embodied in the 1973 Convention consecrating it as a crime against
humanity. It will also trace the Palestinian intellectual tradition to
highlight that Zionism is not like apartheid but that the ideologies
constitute intellectual and political bedfellows. Finally, by visiting
the drafting history of UNGA Resolution 3379 (1975) declaring Zionism as
a form of racism and racial discrimination, the lecture will help fill a
glaring lacuna in the recent apartheid reports regarding racial
theories of Zionism.
Noura
Erakat is an associate professor of Africana Studies and in the Program
in Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, and non-resident fellow of
the Religious Literacy Project at Harvard Divinity School. Her research
interests include human rights law, laws of armed conflict, national
security law, as well as critical race theory.
Noura is the author of
Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine (Stanford University
Press, 2019), which received the Palestine Book Award and the Bronze
Medal for the Independent Publishers Book Award in Current
Events/Foreign Affairs. She is co-founding editor of Jadaliyya and
editorial board member of the Journal of Palestine Studies. She has
served as Legal Counsel for a Congressional Subcommittee in the US House
of Representatives, as Legal Advocate for the Badil Resource Center for
Palestinian Refugee and Residency Rights, and as national organizer of
the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. Her recent scholarship
includes, “Geographies of Intimacy: Contemporary Renewals of
Black-Palestinian Solidarity” (American Quarterly, 2020) and “The
Sovereign Right to Kill: A Critical Appraisal of Israel’s Shoot-To-Kill
Policy” (International Criminal Law Review, 2019).
Noura has also
produced video documentaries, including "Gaza In Context" and "Black
Palestinian Solidarity." She has appeared on CBS News, CNN, Fox News,
and NPR, among others.
Uncle Bobbie's welcomed author-scholar and activist Noura Erakat for a book talk and signing of her anticipated release "Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine."
About the book: Law is politics, and its meaning and application depend on the political intervention of states and people alike. Within the law, change is possible. International law can serve the cause of freedom when it is mobilized in support of a political movement. Presenting the promise and risk of international law, Justice for Some calls for renewed action and attention to the Question of Palestine.
About the author: Noura Erakat is a human rights attorney and assistant professor at George Mason University. She has served as legal counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives and as a legal advocate for Palestinian refugee rights at the United Nations. Noura's research interests include human rights and humanitarian, refugee, and national security law. She is a frequent commentator, with recent appearances on CBS News, CNN, Fox News, and NPR, among others, and her writings have been widely published in the national media and academic journals.
Interviewer and host/producer Dr. Marc Lamont Hill is one of the leading intellectual voices in the country.
He is currently the host of Al Jazeera UpFront,
and the Coffee & Books podcast. An award-winning journalist, Dr.
Hill has received numerous prestigious awards from the National
Association of Black Journalists, GLAAD, and the International Academy
of Digital Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Hill is the author or co-author of eight books, including the
award-winning Beats, Rhymes, and Classroom Life; Nobody: Casualties of
America’s War on The Vulnerable from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond; We
Still Here: Pandemic, Policing, Protest, and Possibility; Except For
Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics; and Schooling Against The
Prison.
Dr. Hill holds a Ph.D. (with distinction) from the University of
Pennsylvania. His current research and writing explore the relationships
between race, culture, politics, and education in the United States and
the Middle East.
Dr. Hill is also a Presidential Professor at the City University of New
York Graduate Center, where he teach courses in Anthropology, Urban
Education, and Middle Eastern Studies. Prior to that, he held positions
at Morehouse College, Temple University, and Columbia University.
Since his days as a youth in Philadelphia, Dr. Hill has been a social
justice activist and organizer. He has worked on campaigns to end the
death penalty, abolish prisons, and release numerous political
prisoners. Dr. Hill has also worked in solidarity with human rights
movements around the world. He is the founder and director of The
People’s Education Center in Philadelphia, as well as the owner of Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books.
Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine
Featuring Noura Erakat, Human Rights Attorney and Associate Professor at Rutgers University, Department of Africana Studies and the Program in Criminal Justice; Fellow in Conflict in Peace at the Religion, Conflict, and Peace Initiative (RCPI), a joint initiative of Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School and the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School
Mary Ellen O'Connell (Respondent), Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law and Research Professor of International Dispute Resolution
Erakat offers a new approach to understanding the Palestinian struggle for freedom, told through the power and control of international law.
"Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine," the new book by Noura Erakat, offers a new approach to understanding the Palestinian struggle for freedom, told through the power and control of international law. Focusing on key junctures—from the Balfour Declaration in 1917 to present-day wars in Gaza—Erakat shows how the strategic deployment of law has shaped current conditions. Over the past century, the law has done more to advance Israel's interests than the Palestinians’. But, Erakat argues, this outcome was never inevitable. Presenting the promise and risk of international law, Erakat calls for renewed action and attention to the question of Palestine.
Angela Davis & Noura Erakat on Palestinian Solidarity, Gaza & Israel’s Killing of Ahmad Erekat
On Sunday, many Arab, Muslim and Palestinian communities boycotted President Biden’s virtual Eid celebration. We play a statement of solidarity from legendary activist and scholar Angela Davis on Sunday for “Eid with Palestine: A Protest of the White House Eid Event.” Davis also co-wrote piece for The Nation with our guest Noura Erakat about how Erakat’s 26-year-old cousin Ahmad Erekat was shot by Israeli occupation forces after his car appeared to have accidentally crashed into a booth at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank while he was on the way to pick up his mother and sister on her wedding day. Erakat says Israel still refuses to release his body to his family. “All Palestinians are deemed a threat for their mere existence,” says Erakat. “What we see happen to Ahmad has been a pattern.”
#DemocracyNow
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on nearly 1,400 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday.
Historian Rashid Khalidi discusses the pending United Nations Security Council vote on suspending fighting in Gaza to allow the entry of humanitarian aid, and the future of Palestine. The Biden administration reportedly delayed the U.N. vote and pushed other countries to water down the language. This comes as Israel and Hamas leaders have signaled they are open to another truce and hostage exchange. Israel's relentless assault on Gaza has now killed nearly 20,000 Palestinians and displaced over 90% of the Gaza Strip's 2.3 million people. "The situation in Gaza is unspeakable," says Khalidi, the Edward Said professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia University. "We are talking about traumatic events that are going to scar generations to come."
He also discusses how the Gaza war risks sparking a regional conflict, ways to pressure Israel, and how U.S. leaders are prompting anger from "whole generations" in the Arab world and beyond.
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday.
Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.
As pressure builds for a ceasefire after 27 days of Israel's bombardment of Gaza, author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates joins us in a broadcast exclusive interview to discuss his journey to Palestine and Israel and learning about the connection between the struggle of African Americans and Palestinians. "The most shocking thing about my time over there was how uncomplicated it actually is," says Coates, who calls segregation in Palestine and Israel "evil." "There's no way for me, as an African American, to come back and stand before you, to witness segregation and not say anything about it." Coates acknowledges the suppression of those advocating for Palestinian rights but says this is not new for Black writers and journalists. "I have to measure my fear against the misery that I saw."
Thousands rallied at the U.S. Capitol this week calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, in what organizers with IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace called the largest-ever protest of Jews in support of Palestine. Hundreds were also arrested during a sit-in of the Cannon House Office Building. We feature addresses by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, and author Naomi Klein.
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.
Barbara Ransby & David Sirota Warn of Close Links Between Biden’s Cabinet Picks & Corporate Power
Democracy Now! November 25, 2020
President-elect Joe Biden declared “America is back” this week as he
revealed some of the people who will staff his administration in key
national security posts, vowing to roll back Donald Trump’s “America
First” foreign policy and embrace multilateralism. Among his picks are
longtime adviser Tony Blinken for secretary of state, diplomatic veteran
Linda Thomas-Greenfield as ambassador to the United Nations, and former
Secretary of State John Kerry for a new Cabinet post as climate czar.
Historian, author and activist Barbara Ransby says Biden’s picks so far
mostly come from the centrist establishment of the Democratic Party and
lack progressive voices. “We need people who have compassion, who have
accountability to the most vulnerable, who pledge to defend the planet,
people who have a clear understanding and commitment to fighting white
supremacy and police violence,” says Ransby. We also speak with
investigative journalist David Sirota, who says Biden’s picks represent
“an attempt to restore the old Washington.” Sirota served as an adviser
and speechwriter for Senator Bernie Sanders during his presidential
campaign.
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on nearly
1,400 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream
8-9AM ET: https://democracynow.org
AOC Says Killing of Suleimani Was an Act of Aggression by the United States by Amy Goodman January 6, 2020 Democracy Now!
Over the weekend, Democracy Now! spoke with New York Congressmember
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and asked her response to the assassination of
Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. “We need to be tactical about how we
can actively resist further escalation on already an unprecedented level
of escalation and aggression by the president, and therefore by the
United States,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “He did this on behalf of our entire
country. And that’s what makes the potential illegality of his action
so flagrant, because he did not consult Congress and this was not done
with the support of the United States.”
TRANSCRIPT:
AMY
GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman. Over the weekend, I
caught up with New York Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She had
come to the showing of a film that’s just been shortlisted for the
Oscar, Knock Down the House, which chronicled her race, her unlikely
victory in Queens and the Bronx to become a congressmember from New
York. I asked her for her response to the assassination of the Iranian
commander, Qassem Soleimani.
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO–CORTEZ:
Well, we’ve been really looking at how we’re going to respond, because
it’s not enough to just say no war in Iran. We need to be tactical about
how we can actively resist further escalation on already an
unprecedented level of escalation and aggression by the president, and
therefore by the United States. He did this on behalf of our entire
country. And that’s what makes the potential illegality of his action so
flagrant, because he did not consult Congress and this was not done
with the support of the United States. But in his seat as the president,
this has now been an act of aggression committed by the United States.
And so, one is that we have to hold him accountable, which, you
know, to me, I believe we need to enact the War Powers Resolution,
demand that he come before Congress, and without getting permission, we
must draw back support. But also I believe that Representative Ro
Khanna, he introduced an amendment to the defense authorization last
year that could have prevented all of this. He introduced an amendment
that prevented any funding for offensive action in Iran. And it was
overwhelmingly passed, bipartisan. It passed the House with Republican
and Democratic support, and then it was stripped by Democratic and
Republican leadership. And so, had his amendment passed, it would have —
it could have prevented all of this. But nevertheless, it can prevent
further horrific actions from occurring and undemocratic actions from
occurring. And I think we need to reintroduce his amendment as a
stand-alone bill and see if we can pass it again.
But again,
none of this happens, we don’t fix any of this, domestically or in terms
of — or internationally, without the votes and without the political
will. And that’s why I think that inspiring people to enter this
process, you know, we’ve got to get — we’ve got to get the votes, inside
and outside, you know, out in the streets and in Congress. And the way
that we do that is by inspiring people and demystifying this process for
everyday people to be able to engage. And I think whether it’s this
vehicle or Instagram or, you know, engaging on social media ourselves,
that’s one of the ways that we can truly powerfully transform our
democracy.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s New York Congressmember Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez speaking on Saturday after a screening of the
Oscar-shortlisted documentary Knock Down the House.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM HOST:
Amy Goodman is the host and executive producer of Democracy Now!, a
national, daily, independent, award-winning news program airing on more
than 1,100 public television and radio stations worldwide. Time Magazine
named Democracy Now! its “Pick of the Podcasts,” along with NBC’s “Meet
the Press.”
"I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it's for or against."
W.E.B. DuBois (1868-1963)
"There is but one coward on earth, and that is the coward that dare not know."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)
"Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent. "
James Baldwin (1924-1987)
"Precisely at the point when you begin to develop a conscience you must find yourself at war with your society."
"A civilization that proves incapable of solving the problems it creates is a decadent civilization. A civilization that chooses to close its eyes to its most crucial problems is a stricken civilization. A civilization that uses its principles for trickery and deceit is a dying civilization."
Nina Simone (1933-2003)
"There's no other purpose, so far as I'm concerned, for us except to reflect the times, the situations around us and the things we're able to say through our art, the things that millions of people can't say. I think that's the function of an artist and, of course, those of us who are lucky leave a legacy so that when we're dead, we also live on. That's people like Billie Holiday and I hope that I will be that lucky, but meanwhile, the function, so far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times, whatever that might be."
Amilcar Cabral (1924-1973)
"Always bear in mind that the people are not fighting for ideas, for the things in anyone's head. They are fighting to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children ....Hide nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories..." .
Angela Davis (b. 1944)
"The idea of freedom is inspiring. But what does it mean? If you are free in a political sense but have no food, what's that? The freedom to starve?”
Duke Ellington (1899-1974)
“Jazz is the freest musical expression we have yet seen. To me, then, jazz means simply freedom of musical speech! And it is precisely because of this freedom that so many varied forms of jazz exist. The important thing to remember, however, is that not one of these forms represents jazz by itself. Jazz simply means the freedom to have many forms.”
Amiri Baraka (1934-2014)
"Thought is more important than art. To revere art and have no understanding of the process that forces it into existence, is finally not even to understand what art is."
Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)
"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” --August 3, 1857
Cecil Taylor (1929-2018)
“Musical categories don’t mean anything unless we talk about the actual specific acts that people go through to make music, how one speaks, dances, dresses, moves, thinks, makes love...all these things. We begin with a sound and then say, what is the function of that sound, what is determining the procedures of that sound? Then we can talk about how it motivates or regenerates itself, and that’s where we have tradition.”
Ella Baker (1903-1986)
"Strong people don't need strong leaders"
Paul Robeson (1898-1976)
"The artist must take sides. He must elect to fight for freedom or for slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative."
John Coltrane (1926-1967)
"I want to be a force for real good. In other words, I know there are bad forces. I know that there are forces out here that bring suffering to others and misery to the world, but I want to be the opposite force. I want to be the force which is truly for good."
Miles Davis (1926-1991)
"Jazz is the big brother of Revolution. Revolution follows it around."
C.L.R. James (1901-1989)
"All development takes place by means of self-movement, not organization by external forces. It is within the organism itself (i.e. within the society) that there must be realized new motives, new possibilities."
Frantz Fanon (1925-1961)
"Now, political education means opening minds, awakening them, and allowing the birth of their intelligence as [Aime] Cesaire said, it is 'to invent souls.' To educate the masses politically does not mean, cannot mean, making a political speech. What it means is to try, relentlessly and passionately, to teach the masses that everything depends on them."
Edward Said (1935-2003)
“I take criticism so seriously as to believe that, even in the midst of a battle in which one is unmistakably on one side against another, there should be criticism, because there must be critical consciousness if there are to be issues, problems, values, even lives to be fought for."
Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)
“The challenge of modernity is to live without illusions and without becoming disillusioned. There must be pessimism of the intellect and optimism of the will.”
Susan Sontag (1933-2004)
"Do stuff. Be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration’s shove or society’s kiss on your forehead. Pay attention. It’s all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager."
Kofi Natambu, editor of The Panopticon Review, is a writer, poet, cultural critic, and political journalist whose poetry, essays, criticism, reviews, and journalism have appeared in many literary magazines, journals, newspapers, and anthologies. He is the author of a biography MALCOLM X: His Life & Work (Alpha Books) and two books of poetry: THE MELODY NEVER STOPS (Past Tents Press) and INTERVALS (Post Aesthetic Press). He was the founder and editor of SOLID GROUND: A NEW WORLD JOURNAL, a national quarterly magazine of the arts, culture, and politics and the editor of a literary anthology NOSTALGIA FOR THE PRESENT (Post Aesthetic Press). Natambu has read his work throughout the country and given many lectures and workshops at academic and arts institutions. He has taught American literature, literary theory and criticism, cultural history and criticism, film studies, political science, creative writing, philosophy, critical theory, and music history and criticism (Jazz, Blues, R&B, Hip Hop) at many universities and colleges. He was also a curator in the Education Department of Detroit’s Museum of African American History. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Natambu currently lives in Berkeley, California with his wife Chuleenan.
