The East is a Podcast

Alex Axina (@Alexander_Avina) returns as guest host to interview Taylor Miller about the meaning of Gaza "humanitarian pier" against the wider historical backdrop of genocidal settler colonialism. Check out Taylor's article, "Land Grab, By Sea" Consider supporting the podcast www.patreon.com/east_podcast

A reduced crew for Tankie Group Therapy featuring Nora, Alex, and Sina discussing the end of the Syrian Arab Republic and its wide-ranging consequences. Video edition coming soon!   Consider supporting the show www.patreon.com/east_podcast

Adnan Husain, a Medieval European and Middle Eastern historian from Queen's University and co-host of Guerilla History, dives into the chaotic geopolitical landscape of the Levant. He reveals the recent ceasefire in Lebanon as a strategic illusion, critiques the Israeli military's failings, and highlights the humanitarian crisis affecting civilians. Husain also discusses the complex dynamics of regional players like Hezbollah and Iran and underscores the urgent need for reevaluating international alliances amidst ongoing conflict.

A conversation with GSC founders Bana Abu Zuluf and Cody O'Rourke. Watch the video edition on The East is a Podcast YouTube channel "The Good Shepherd Collective was formed in Palestine in 2017 in response to the restrictive NGO system and its inability to meet the needs of the moment. GSC understands oppression as rooted in the systems and laws guiding civil formation and order. As such, we are an anti-zionist, anti-colonial, and, by definition, anti-capitalist organization. We advocate for justice through a process of decolonization that ushers in a future where the material resources and political process are decoupled from capitalist systems of control and returned to the indigenous peoples. To learn more about our programs, click here." Support their work

Actual therapist Lara Sheehi joins us with Justin, Sina, Mikey and Nora in the group. We talk about psychic intrusions, shame, the tricky ecosystem of the colonial assault on the mind, and setting the precondition as liberation. Watch the video edition on the Anti-Empire Project YouTube channel  

An extra large helping of Tankie Group Therapy featuring Sina, Mikey, Joe, Nick Estes and, in his debut, Adnan Husain, and also two surprise guests!  Watch the video edition on The East is a Podcast YouTube channel   Consider supporting the show www.patreon.com/east_podcast  

Conor McCabe (@CMacCaba) is a research fellow with Queen’s Business School, Queens University Belfast and editor of The Lost & Early Writings James Connolly (2024), published by Iskra Books. Download the book for free or purchase a copy here https://www.iskrabooks.org/lost-and-early-writings   Watch the fantastic conversation between Conor and Jay from Millenials are Killing Capitalism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj6oMP4mMyM&ab_channel=MillennialsAreKillingCapitalismLive%21   Video edition available on the East is a Podcast Youtube channel https://youtu.be/UMr1D29SB-A   TikTok played during the episode    Consider supporting the show www.patreon.com/east_podcast

Small therapy group convenes with Sina, Joe, and Alex. We talk about denial, shame, fear, historical lies and current ones. Watch the video edition on The Anti-Empire Project YouTube channel Consider supporting the show www.patreon.com/east_podcast

*Audio recording of a panel orgnized by friend of the show Frances Hasso. Video edition coming soon!* Convened by Dr. Frances S. Hasso, Professor of Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies, History, and Sociology, as part of The Palestine Seminar at Duke University https://gendersexualityfeminist.duke.edu/literary-gaza-hybrid Speakers “My Age is Thirty-five Years Old and Five Wars" Basman Aldirawi  Basman Aldirawi (also Basman Derawi) is a Palestinian and Gazan, a refugee from Bi’r al-Saba`, and currently in Egypt due to the aggression on Gaza. He works as a physiotherapist at the Gaza Ministry of Health and since 2018 has been a member of the Gaza Poets Society, the first spoken word community in Gaza. He has contributed dozens of stories and poems to many online platforms and publications, including We Are Not Numbers (2019), Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire (2022), and the We Are Not Numbers online platform that gives a voice to the victims of Israeli aggression in Gaza/Palestine. "The Demon of Gaza" Esmat Elhalaby Esmat Elhalaby is an Assistant Professor of transnational history at the University of Toronto. He works principally on the intellectual history of West and South Asia, particularly colonial and anti-colonial thought. “The 5 Stages of Grief, According to a Palestinian” Samah Serour Fadil Samah Serour Fadil is an Afro-Palestinian writer, editor and translator. Her work has been featured at the Yale University Art Gallery, Fresno State University and The Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery at Haverford College, among others.  “Tent in the Sky” Alaa Na`eem `Ali Al-Qatrawi:   Alaa Na`eem `Ali al-Qatrawi completed her PhD in 2022 in Arabic Literature and Criticism at the Islamic University in Gaza, focused on the poetry of Adonis. Her MA thesis at the Islamic University, which examined Ahmed Bakhit’s poetry, won the Award for Best MA thesis in the Humanities in 2015. Dr. Al-Qatrawi is an accomplished poet and short story and operetta writer, winning among others the Abdulaziz Al-Babtain Award for the best poetry collection in the category of young poets in 2022, first in the Union of Palestinian Writers Competition in 2015, first in the Ministry of Culture’s poetry competition among all Palestinian universities in 2013, first in short stories in the Arab world in the international competition organized by Chinese Books and Dar Fadaat Publishing House in Amman (2019), and first in the Letter to Jerusalem competition (2010). She works as an Arabic Language teacher in UNRWA schools at the elementary and secondary levels. She has previously worked as a linguist and screenwriter for UNRWA children’s programming. Dr. Alaa’s Instagram and Facebook pages. Sponsor Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies, Duke University Co-Sponsor(s) Asian & Middle Eastern Studies Program (AMES); History Department; Middle East Studies Center (DUMESC); Asian American & Diaspora Studies Program

Asa Winstanley (@AsaWinstanley) is an investigative journalist with the Electronic Intifada and author of Weaponising Anti-Semitism: How the Israel Lobby Brought Down Jeremy Corbyn (2022).   Check out his latest bombshell on the widespread employment of the "Hannibal Directive" by the Zionist colonial military forces and police on October 7th, 2023.   https://www.asawinstanley.com/   Watch the video edition on The East is a Podcast YouTube channel   Consider supporting the show www.patreon.com/east_podcast