Hope and Activism for Palestinian Liberation

In this episode we present excerpts from the recent conversation (June 2024) as part of SAND’s “Conversations on Palestine” around the premiere of the film Where Olive Trees Weep hosted by the directors of the film and co-founders of SAND, Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo.

You can watch this full conversation and 22 others. SAND has created a program with leading historians, spiritual teachers, trauma therapists, poets and performers to complement the themes explored in the film and provide a larger historical, cultural and social context to the plight of the Palestinian people.

In this conversation, legendary activist and scholar Angela Davis and Dr. Gabor Maté, physician and author, explore the intersections between the Palestinian struggle for freedom and broader global movements for justice, equity, and human liberation.

Drawing parallels between the oppression faced by Palestinians and the systemic injustice confronting marginalized communities around the world, Angela and Gabor will shed light on the common roots of violence, occupation, and dehumanization. They will examine how trauma, both individual and collective, perpetuates cycles of conflict and how healing these wounds is integral to achieving genuine liberation.

Bios

Angela Y. Davis, Distinguished Professor Emerita in the History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies Departments at the University of California, Santa Cruz, is an internationally renowned activist, scholar, and writer who has dedicated her life to combating oppression in the U.S. and abroad. With a long-standing commitment to prisoners’ rights and a powerful critique of racism in the criminal justice system, Davis is a founding member of Critical Resistance, a national organization working to dismantle the prison industrial complex. She is the author of nine books, including Are Prisons Obsolete? and Women, Race, and Class, and has lectured in all fifty states and across the globe. Despite facing persecution for her activism and membership in the Communist Party, USA, which led to her false imprisonment and a massive “Free Angela Davis” campaign, Davis remains a tireless advocate for social justice and prison abolition.

Gabor Maté, M.D. is a specialist on trauma, addiction, stress and childhood development. After 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience, Dr. Maté worked for over a decade in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness. For his groundbreaking medical work and writing he has been awarded the Order of Canada, his country’s highest civilian distinction, and the Civic Merit Award from his hometown, Vancouver. Gabor is also the creator of a psychotherapeutic approach, Compassionate Inquiry, now studied by thousands of therapists, physicians, counselors, and others in over 80 countries.

Topics

• 00:00 – Introduction and Welcome
• 01:28 – Background on the Conversation
• 02:10 – Angela Davis and Gabor Mate: Biographies
• 03:01 – Current Situation in Gaza and the West Bank
• 04:04 – Global Resistance and Solidarity
• 04:37 – Personal Reflections and Historical Context
• 05:42 – The Moral Litmus Test of Palestine
• 22:09 – The Role of Violence in Liberation Struggles
• 27:36 – The Impact of Incarceration
• 31:35 – Unity and Emotional Connection
• 42:17 – Reflections on Activism and Change
• 48:55 – Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Episode artwork: Wadsworth Jarrell, “Revolutionary” (1972)

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