Makdisi Street

The Brothers welcome journalist and founder of Zeteo, Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) to the pod. They have a spirited discussion about anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias in the mainstream media, the price of compromise to gain access, and whether voting for Harris is a vote against fascism or a vote endorsing genocide. Watch the episode on our YouTube channel Date of recording: Oct 22, 2024. Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii *Sign up at Patreon.com/MakdisiStreet to access all the bonus content, including the latest bonus episode: a live conversation with Samir Makdisi*    

Maya Berry (@imayaberry), Executive Director of the Arab American Institute, joins the brothers for a wide-ranging conversation covering anti-Arab racism in the United States, hate crime tracking, the location of Arab Americans in the US racial lexicon, and the impossible position Arab Americans find themselves in the build-up to the 2024 presidential election. Watch the episode on our YouTube channel Date of recording: Oct 10, 2024. Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii *Sign up at Patreon.com/MakdisiStreet to access all the bonus content, including the latest bonus episode: a live conversation with Samir Makdisi*  

The brothers welcome Laila al-Arian, executive producer for the Al Jazeera English documentary series Fault Lines. They discuss the anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim orthodoxies of the mainstream Western media, the coverage of the genocide in Gaza, the dissenting spaces opened up by critical alternative and social media, and Laila’s harrowing documentary The Night Won’t End that tracks the ordeals of 3 Palestinian families in Gaza, including the family of six-year old Hind Rajab who was killed by Israel. Are there actual prospects for changing the narrative framework on Palestine and the Palestinians? Watch the episode on our YouTube channel Date of recording: Oct 3, 2024. Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii *Sign up at Patreon.com/MakdisiStreet to access all the bonus content, including the latest bonus episode.*  

The brothers welcome the war correspondent Elijah Magnier (@ejmalrai) to the show to discuss the expansion of Israel’s war on civilians to Lebanon, as well as the tactical and strategic challenges and opportunities in confronting it on the ground and the implications of Iran’s direct intervention in what is already a regional war. Watch the episode on our YouTube channel Date of recording: Oct 4, 2024. Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii *Sign up at Patreon.com/MakdisiStreet to access all the bonus content, including the latest bonus episode.*  

The brothers welcome Trita Parsi (@tparsi), co-founder and Executive Vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, to discuss the three-way relationship between the US, Israel, and Iran, the pathetic state of US diplomacy, the role of the Zionist lobby in defining US interests, and the consequences of any potential Iranian military intervention. Watch the episode on our YouTube channel Date of recording: Sept 26, 2024. Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii *Sign up at Patreon.com/MakdisiStreet to access all the bonus content, including the latest bonus episode.*  

The brothers discuss the latest developments from the Gaza genocide, the murder of American citizen Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi followed by the wholesale media silence around it, and to what degree the US is calling the shots over the looming regional war. Watch the episode on our YouTube channel Date of recording: Sept 11, 2024. Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii *Sign up at Patreon.com/MakdisiStreet to access all the bonus content, including the latest bonus episode.*  

The brothers welcome Yara Hawari (@yarahawari), Co-director of Al-Shabaka, to discuss how the Oslo Accords transformed Palestinian civic life, the emergence of the PA from the PLO, the significance of the increasing number of political and social ruptures among Zionist settlers, and what role the Global South can play in the movement to liberate Palestine. This episode is co-published with Al-Shabaka's Rethinking Palestine podcast Watch the episode on our YouTube channel Date of recording: Sept 2, 2024. Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii *Sign up at Patreon.com/MakdisiStreet to access all the bonus content, including the latest bonus episode.*  

The brothers welcome distinguished writer, novelist, and intellectual of the New Left Review Tariq Ali to Makdisi Street. They discuss the similarities and differences between the anti-Vietnam war demonstrations of the 1960s and 1970s and contemporary demonstrations against the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza; the role of the U.S. empire and global capitalism as a bitter opponent of popular liberation globally; the loss of India as opposed to gaining South Africa on the question of Palestine, the significance of the huge divergence between U.S. and British politics on Palestine and popular sentiment in both countries, the question of whether there is still a Global South, the loss of the hegemony of Zionism in the West evidenced by both mass student protests and the overt repression of these students, Biden’s delusional contention that he has done more than anyone to help the Palestinians, the question of hope and realism, and the meaning of a new left for new generations. Watch the episode on our YouTube channel Date of recording: July 16, 2024. Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii *Sign up at Patreon.com/MakdisiStreet to access all the bonus content, including the latest bonus episode.*      

The brothers gather in the garden of their family home in the mountains of Lebanon to discuss recent Israeli escalations and the possible consequences from Lebanon, Iran and elsewhere, following the Israeli bombings in Beirut and Tehran; the focus of the discussion is the fact that, despite inflicting massive and irreparable trauma on civilian life in Gaza, the Israelis have been sinking deeper and deeper into a losing war in Gaza, and may now be looking for a way to drag the US into a wider war to “save” themselves.   Watch the episode on our YouTube channel   Date of recording: August 3, 2024. Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii *Sign up at Patreon.com/MakdisiStreet to access all the bonus content, including the latest bonus episode.*  

The brothers welcome journalist Lina Attalah (@linaattalah), the co-founder and chief editor of MadaMasr, an independent online Egyptian newspaper. They discuss the current situation in Egypt, political despotism and the war on normal politics, media censorship, the question of Camp David and why the political and military elite are so wedded to it, the nature of Egyptian sovereignty in Sinai, and the popular as well as official attitude toward the genocide in Gaza and towards the Palestinian people. Watch the episode on our YouTube channel Date of recording: June 18, 2024. Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii *Sign up at Patreon.com/MakdisiStreet to access all the bonus content, including the latest bonus episode.*