0:00

hey

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there it's marked by gone from a utopia

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presents and i wanna tell you about

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a new series from our fellow really utopia

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show radio diaries it's

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called the unmarked grave yard in

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the waters off new york city there's a

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narrow strip of land called hart

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island more than a million

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people are buried there and mass graves

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we know headstones over the next few weeks

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the award winning team at radio diaries will be

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untangling mysteries from america's

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largest public cemetery

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neil harris was last seen in him with new

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up on december so many questions so

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my questions you can't help but wonder

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what her life has been i never went

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back in right never look well again

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subscribe to read your diaries

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wherever you get your podcasts from

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mermaid palace and radio tapia

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welcome to

0:51

the heart i'm

0:55

caitlin past so

1:02

what i promised is the second episode of

1:04

the shadows which

1:06

is it serialize story about

1:08

a die romantic who

1:10

falls in love with a die hard

1:12

realist

1:15

and as i sat down to write

1:19

nothing was coming

1:23

i found myself incapable of of

1:26

thinking about doing anything right

1:29

now it isn't

1:31

about palestine

1:34

everybody that i know is hurting

1:38

about this my

1:40

friend ali his grandfather

1:43

left jerusalem in nineteen forty eight

1:45

their family home has his settlers today

1:48

ali and guitar and tax

1:50

it our friend group links to by journalists

1:53

he some cards that will work in

1:55

the midst of the electricity and internet shutdowns

1:59

either what I'm feeling today is a

2:03

reckoning that the grief

2:05

that I've been experiencing

2:08

over the last month almost

2:11

has undoubtedly had a severe

2:14

impact on the way that I view the world.

2:19

My friend Mahika, who's

2:21

from India, living in New York. It's

2:25

the backdrop of what's happening in Palestine.

2:28

It's been feeling really, really, really hard.

2:31

It's

2:31

a fucking shit show. My

2:33

friend Max. I am an

2:36

American Jew who grew up in,

2:38

not staunchly, but still

2:41

a Zionist household, right? And

2:43

I grew up with being

2:46

taught that Israel was

2:48

there to keep

2:50

Jews safe.

2:53

And there's

2:56

not a fucking thing that has happened in my entire

2:59

life that that

3:01

place has done or the people who support

3:03

it have done that have ever made me feel safer.

3:08

None of this makes anybody safer. My

3:11

friend Rosa, she

3:13

lives in Athens now.

3:15

I met her in the intro classes of a political

3:17

science degree that I didn't finish back

3:20

when I thought that that was how I was going to give my heart

3:22

to the world. She kept with it and

3:24

went all the way into working in humanitarian

3:27

aid. Yeah, just the sheer

3:29

logistics of getting aid in. That's

3:31

very controlled by Israel. The

3:34

amount of water they let go in, if

3:37

they actually, hypothetically,

3:39

if they distributed that to everybody that

3:42

is alive now in Gaza, everybody gets

3:45

like .5, like 50 milliliters of

3:50

water. And the global

3:52

standard of the minimum amount of water

3:54

a person needs a day is 15 meters. And

3:58

that's just like a global humanitarian aid.

3:59

in the like, fierce standard. My

4:03

friend Shawnee, who I talked about two episodes ago, the

4:05

composer and sound designer for the

4:07

shadows and movies in your head, she

4:10

lives in Tel Aviv and she's writing to me telling me

4:12

that her friends are getting the shit kicked out of them for

4:14

voicing descent.

4:16

So I am sending

4:18

this with a newborn feeding

4:21

on my chest and it's

4:22

pitch black. My friend Becky, who

4:25

lives in Australia, just had

4:27

a baby.

4:29

I can't stop thinking

4:31

about the mothers. We've

4:34

failed, plain and simple.

4:36

And I'm not even talking about, from a geopolitical

4:39

or human rights perspective, how much we've failed

4:41

Palestine and the Palestinian people. I

4:43

say it as a humanitarian. We've worked

4:45

in a variety of conflict-effective communities

4:48

in the high tip crisis, trying

4:50

to figure out how to get assistance to those

4:52

in need when they need it the most. And

4:55

the mothers who are pregnant.

4:58

I'm ashamed to call myself a humanitarian

5:00

right now.

5:01

The both sides of them just like,

5:04

can't wrap their head around the fact that just like,

5:07

it just feels like gaslighting

5:09

on just like the most massive scale

5:11

and fuck, you know, like when is enough.

5:14

Now we see it so

5:17

vividly and

5:18

it makes me a bit ashamed

5:20

of how distant we

5:23

all were about it before now. I'm

5:25

sorry to the Palestinians

5:28

that we can't do anything

5:31

other than to raise

5:33

the voice of

5:36

Palestinians and their history

5:38

and protect some

5:41

sense of humanity.

5:43

My heart is like breaking.

5:55

I decided to scrap what I thought I was going to

5:57

put out this week and

6:02

Create this episode that is just

6:05

processing what's

6:05

going on, offering a moment

6:09

to breathe,

6:10

reflect, pray,

6:13

meditate, and

6:15

grapple with the question of

6:18

what to do.

6:20

Some housekeeping before

6:23

we begin. This episode

6:25

is not a deep dive. I made a

6:28

recording on Halloween and then

6:30

edited it in a couple of days. I

6:33

don't get into nitty-gritties about the conflict

6:35

or the history or why I take the stance

6:38

that I do. I'm speaking

6:40

in general terms about matters

6:43

of the soul,

6:44

the larger significance of what these events mean

6:47

for our humanity,

6:49

what it means to be a bystander, and

6:51

what hope there could be for anyone

6:54

who wants to do something to

6:56

make the movement stop. I will not

6:58

explain my position. I will not complicate

7:00

what this is.

7:03

I will speak from an uncomplicated

7:05

stance that what's happening is

7:07

genocide.

7:09

And

7:11

if it feels complicated for you, I can

7:14

understand why. My

7:17

invitation is to listen

7:20

all the way through and use

7:22

this as a way of exploring what you think, how

7:24

you feel,

7:25

even if you disagree with me.

7:28

While I spend most of the time in this episode speaking

7:30

to people in my position, people

7:33

on the outside of this, for

7:36

all of you out there or Palestinian,

7:38

and have roots going

7:40

back to Palestine,

7:43

my heart

7:44

is with you,

7:46

first and foremost.

7:49

My heart is

7:51

with you.

7:54

Watching the world be confused, missing

7:57

a point, playing devil's advocate.

8:00

There's another trauma on top of the trauma

8:03

of what this has been for decades, and

8:05

the new trauma of what

8:07

it has become.

8:11

So now we begin with

8:15

a moment of silence,

8:19

a moment of prayer

8:23

for all of the people, the

8:26

children, the lovers,

8:28

the teenagers, the mothers, the fathers,

8:31

the grandparents,

8:33

the kids, the babies

8:39

that are afraid for their lives right

8:41

now in this very moment, that

8:44

are fighting for their lives right

8:47

now in this very moment.

8:51

Close your eyes.

8:55

Open your

9:18

heart. Open those people.

9:20

Love.

9:26

Strength.

9:30

Now I want you to send that love,

9:33

those

9:33

prayers, and that strength to

9:37

the people who have the power to stop this.

9:41

Send them

9:43

the strength to turn

9:45

the ship around.

10:18

We have the power to stop this.

10:22

I have

10:24

spent a lot of my adulthood making

10:27

up excuses not

10:29

to feel things

10:32

like this.

10:34

When I read about or watch

10:36

news footage of atrocities

10:39

that are happening far away,

10:42

I gave myself the excuse

10:44

to ignore it or avoid it because

10:47

I felt like it wouldn't be fair

10:49

to all of the other atrocities happening

10:50

in the world to care about

10:53

one of them.

10:55

And if I started caring about one thing that

10:57

was happening far away, I

10:59

would have to care about all the things that were happening

11:02

far away. And it just

11:04

seemed like too much.

11:05

I'm filled with emotion that I don't know what

11:08

to do with and

11:09

all of the things that I try to do seem like

11:14

they don't work.

11:16

Protesting, calling

11:19

government officials,

11:21

donating money.

11:24

I think that I'm powerless. I

11:26

let all of those feelings, all of those thoughts

11:30

stop me from opening

11:32

my heart. And

11:35

today

11:36

I'm deciding to overcome

11:39

my cynicism and my false

11:41

sense of powerlessness.

11:43

This time I decided that I was

11:45

going to open my heart and I was going to feel this,

11:47

read

11:48

the headlines, that I was going to watch the

11:50

news, that I was going to listen to what's happening.

11:53

There's something about this one that feels

11:55

like it's about everything.

11:59

I started out by liking all of the

12:02

posts from the feeds that I was already following so that

12:04

more content that's against the genocide

12:07

would show up in my feed.

12:09

This is from

12:11

official Jake Gyllenhal—official

12:15

Jake Gyllenhalal. That's

12:19

a funny Instagram handle.

12:22

This post put into words

12:25

what I've been feeling.

12:27

Palestinian liberation is not just

12:29

for Palestinians.

12:30

It is about queer liberation.

12:32

It is about black liberation. It is about

12:34

liberation for all people of color. It is about

12:37

liberation for all genders. It

12:39

is also about Jewish liberation. Queer

12:42

Palestinians, queer non-Palestinian,

12:44

we are also doing this work. I have plenty

12:46

of videos that you can watch about this. Over

12:48

two million Palestinians are being carpet bombed as

12:51

we speak. We are paying for those bombs. And

12:53

all forms of communications and internet have been

12:55

cut off. We don't really know what's happening there.

12:58

U.S.-backed Israeli airstrikes are carpet

13:00

bombing, maskering. Who

13:03

knows how many people right now and we aren't

13:05

just letting it happen, we are making it happen. So

13:07

yes, you are complicit and you are responsible to

13:09

end this today. We're

13:12

not just letting it happen.

13:14

We're making it happen.

13:17

This is more than just an

13:19

international conflict far away.

13:22

This is about

13:24

the lie that we tell

13:26

about

13:28

what the West is, what

13:30

the United States is. This

13:33

is extermination. This is genocide. This

13:36

is about white supremacy,

13:38

the ugliest and most dangerous

13:41

and evil and violent expression

13:44

of white supremacy. This

13:47

is about a

13:48

way of being in the world that we're trying to grow

13:51

out of.

13:52

Domination,

13:54

coercion,

13:56

flexes of power,

13:59

clinging to power.

13:59

power?

14:01

Do we really want to live in a world

14:03

where the people who are the most powerful will

14:06

justify anything

14:10

to maintain their dominance? What

14:15

does that mean

14:16

for our humanity? Those

14:20

of us who live in the places that benefit

14:23

from

14:23

that dominance? This

14:25

is about

14:26

what white people can get away with.

14:29

At the same time, this

14:32

is about

14:34

trauma.

14:36

This is about the great burden that

14:39

any population or person

14:41

that

14:43

experiences intergenerational trauma

14:45

that originates

14:47

from a historic atrocity. It's

14:50

about the burden of

14:52

healing that trauma

14:54

without passing it on.

14:59

We are standing at the edge of

15:01

a precipice. This

15:04

precipice is

15:07

our humanity,

15:10

our hearts.

15:12

All of us who live in the countries that

15:14

benefit from being world dominators. This

15:17

is about what kind of violence we're willing

15:19

to overlook

15:22

in order to enjoy our comfortable lives.

15:26

This is another thing that I saw on

15:28

Instagram that stood out to me.

15:30

This is Dr. Norman

15:32

Finkelstein in 2009. My father

15:36

was an Auschwitz

15:38

concentration camp. My right

15:40

mother was in my diamond concentration

15:43

camp. Every single member

15:45

of my family on both sides was

15:48

exterminated. Both of my

15:50

parents were in the Warsaw ghetto uprising

15:54

and it did precisely and

15:56

exactly because of

15:58

the lessons my parents

17:59

After the break, a look at the

18:02

power

18:02

that we, the regular-ass people

18:04

who live in North America and other

18:07

countries that are not

18:09

Palestine, the

18:11

power that we have to change this outcome.

18:19

A moment of reflection.

18:28

I watched a very cool

18:31

horror movie today. It

18:33

just so happens to be Halloween. By

18:36

the time you listen to this, it will not be Halloween anymore.

18:38

But if you like Halloween-y kind of

18:40

scary movies, I highly recommend this

18:43

one. It's called Assassination Nation. And

18:47

in it,

18:50

one of the characters says, 10% of

18:52

people are cruel.

18:56

10% of people are

18:59

merciful.

19:03

And the other 80% can be

19:05

swayed either way.

19:09

And I feel so overwhelmed

19:12

about violence

19:13

that is happening that feels far

19:15

away from my day-to-day life. There's

19:18

a quote that I always come back

19:20

to. It's actually

19:22

from the Talmud, which is a Jewish

19:25

sacred text.

19:32

Do not be daunted

19:35

by the enormity of

19:38

the world's grief.

19:42

Do justly

19:45

now. Love

19:48

mercy now.

19:50

Walk

19:53

humbly now.

19:58

You are not obligated.

19:59

to complete the work,

20:03

but neither

20:05

are you free to

20:07

abandon it.

20:25

And we're back. Now

20:29

the question that many of us are asking, what

20:32

power do I really have? What can I

20:34

do? What will make

20:35

a difference? I

20:37

started listening to Al Jazeera again, and

20:39

I found this podcast episode that helped me.

20:41

In

20:41

it you're going to hear Malia

20:44

Hloti,

20:45

who served as Pakistan's ambassador to

20:47

the United Kingdom, the United States

20:49

and the United Nations, Rani

20:51

Khasrils, former South African

20:53

government minister, and Hanan

20:56

Ashrawi, a Palestinian political

20:58

leader, and the host is James Bayes.

21:00

It's a panel, and I'm going to let it run for

21:03

about 15 minutes. Please listen

21:05

to the whole thing. It really helped me. I think

21:07

it'll help you too. After this,

21:10

some reflections on power

21:11

and responsibility,

21:13

some resources for taking action, and

21:16

a closing meditation slash

21:18

manifestation exercise that I would love

21:21

for you to do with me. This is from the

21:23

Inside Story.

21:24

The title of the episode is, What Influence

21:27

Could International Opinion Have

21:30

on Gaza?

21:31

In it, they're talking about a vote that the General Assembly

21:33

did that was two-thirds in

21:36

favor of a ceasefire in

21:38

Gaza, and they're

21:41

also talking about the Security

21:43

Council. The Security Council is made

21:45

up of 15 countries and the colonial

21:49

countries mostly,

21:51

and they vetoed the recommendation.

21:54

Ambassador Lodi, Malia, can I ask

21:56

you first about the General Assembly? Tell

21:59

me why the General Assembly-

21:59

is important?

22:02

I think the General Assembly is important because

22:05

when there's a deadlock in the Security Council,

22:08

as we saw when several resolutions

22:11

didn't get through, which

22:13

were aimed at stopping the

22:15

bloodshed or at least getting a humanitarian

22:17

pause,

22:18

then the General Assembly kicks in.

22:20

It's often called the

22:23

Parliament

22:23

of the World,

22:24

where every country has one vote,

22:27

and that's a body that

22:30

really does reflect global opinion.

22:32

The Security Council, after all, is only made up

22:34

of 15 members,

22:36

but the General Assembly with 193

22:37

members does

22:40

demonstrate what the world is thinking. I

22:43

think what we saw in this

22:45

resolution and the vote for the resolution was where

22:48

the world was standing. It was standing on

22:50

the right side of history.

22:51

It was conveying that it wants

22:54

an end to the bloodshed, to the carnage,

22:56

to the genocide that is going on. It

22:59

was a rebuke to those members

23:01

of the Security Council who used

23:03

the veto,

23:04

the United States primarily,

23:07

to prevent any kind of a ceasefire

23:09

or any kind of a pause in the fighting. I think,

23:12

okay, the resolution is non-binding,

23:15

but I think the force of public opinion

23:17

and global opinion is extremely important.

23:20

Okay. Hannah Mashwari, if I could talk

23:23

to you about the resolution itself. It

23:25

took a lot of negotiation led by

23:27

Jordan of the Arab group. Let me just read

23:29

out what it called for, an immediate,

23:31

durable and sustained humanitarian truce,

23:34

but it also called for humanitarian

23:37

aid to come in, immediate, continuous, sufficient

23:39

and unhindered. Interestingly,

23:41

it specified what should go in, water,

23:44

food, medical supplies, fuel

23:47

and electricity. This would be,

23:49

would it not, for the Palestinian people, wonderful

23:52

if this was actually complied with.

23:55

Yeah, I wouldn't say it's wonderful, but

23:57

it would be beginning to undo the horrendous.

24:00

injustice and damage and violence that

24:02

has been inflicted on the

24:04

Palestinians of Gaza in terms of ending

24:07

Israel's genocidal siege

24:09

and prevention of all normal

24:12

requirements of an ordinary life, frankly

24:14

speaking. So yes, it

24:16

should have taken place. It shouldn't be even

24:19

under question or doubt. And

24:21

it's very tragic that the superpowers,

24:24

particularly in the West,

24:26

give themselves the right to take decisions

24:28

over the life and death of the two million

24:31

Palestinians. This is incredible.

24:34

Ronnie, when we saw that

24:37

vote, and it's done with electronic

24:39

voting in the UN General Assembly, it was really

24:41

a snapshot of international

24:44

opinion and where each country stands.

24:46

Every single ambassador and representative

24:48

had to say where they stood on

24:50

the war in Gaza.

24:53

Were you surprised by the way the vote went?

24:56

No, not at all,

24:58

because we've seen over

25:01

months and years what world opinions

25:03

are about. And we've seen the

25:05

enormous response to

25:08

this gross criminality

25:10

of Zionist Israel and the support the

25:12

United States and others give it. So

25:15

one was not surprised. I was

25:17

very pleased to see that

25:19

we had a two-third majority, and

25:22

it showed the Palestinian people, the

25:24

people of Gaza, that they are

25:26

not alone, that the world stands

25:28

by them.

25:30

This is a very strong message

25:32

to Washington.

25:33

The message is very clear. The world

25:35

wants the bloodshed to start.

25:38

And President Biden, by encouraging

25:41

Israel, is really becoming complicit

25:44

in what is going on. And I think that's how

25:47

world opinion is going. It's not

25:49

just in the General Assembly. You look at the

25:51

streets, not just the Arab Street,

25:53

you look at streets across the world. One

25:55

of the largest demonstrations has taken place

25:57

in London. There have been large demonstrations.

26:00

in my country, Pakistan. So

26:02

I think the message should be

26:05

responded to, and I think the United

26:07

States should shift course now

26:10

and take the side of peace and

26:12

justice. What the global South

26:15

clearly see is the duplicity

26:18

of the former colonial powers

26:22

with the USA, the

26:24

imperialist power

26:26

that wants to master and dominate

26:29

the world that this shines

26:31

through. You can see the

26:34

millions are so outraged

26:38

at this absolute slaughter

26:40

that the USA and the EU

26:43

states those Western powers are

26:45

party to. They are criminals, and

26:48

we must find a way to also

26:51

ensure that they know where

26:53

we stand and that we're not going to go along

26:55

with their game. It's vital

26:57

now, it's crucial.

26:59

Malia, I want to bring you in on this and the

27:01

whole idea of double standards and

27:04

the West because you have a unique

27:06

perspective, not only were you Pakistan's ambassador

27:08

to the United Nations, you were also

27:10

Pakistan's ambassador to the United States and

27:13

you were ambassador, actually, it's called High Commissioner, to

27:16

the United Kingdom. So give us your perspective.

27:18

I think it's long been known that

27:21

the West or the US-led West

27:23

has practiced double standards.

27:25

They talk about human

27:27

rights in countries that they

27:30

are opposed to, but they don't really

27:32

show much concern for human rights.

27:34

I mean, in my country's

27:36

neighborhood, there is the issue of

27:38

occupied Kashmir, which like

27:40

Palestine is an occupied territory

27:43

and has also seen huge violations

27:46

of human rights, but we've not heard any

27:49

sound or any comment

27:51

from Western countries about these

27:53

violations. So I think what

27:56

this will do is to bring into

27:58

much sharper relief.

27:59

the kind of double standards and

28:02

hypocrisy

28:03

that many Western countries, I think it would

28:05

be unfair to club all Western

28:07

countries together. Some have stood

28:09

for Palestine, for example, Ireland. I

28:12

think it's taken a very courageous position.

28:14

So I think one has to be a little careful. But I will

28:16

say that what it does reinforce

28:19

is the shift in global influence

28:22

from the US-led Western

28:24

bloc of countries to the rest. Ronni,

28:27

let me bring up what actually seems to have

28:29

happened on the ground in Gaza, in

28:31

addition to the water being cut,

28:33

the electricity being cut, no

28:36

fuel coming in, very limited aid coming

28:38

in. Now, it seems that

28:40

Gaza is going black to the world. The

28:43

cell phone services, internet services

28:46

have been cut. What do you make of this

28:48

latest blow by Israel

28:50

to the people of Gaza?

28:53

Well, it's all part of the master

28:55

plan. They want

28:57

to cut Gaza out

29:00

of the world entirely. They want

29:02

to black it out. So this is what

29:04

their game is, totally.

29:07

But I believe that

29:10

the world voice, together

29:12

with the submort, the resistance

29:15

of the Palestinian people will

29:17

prevent that happening.

29:18

Malih, some of

29:21

the consequences of the internet

29:23

and phones being cut off means that people

29:25

cannot ring for ambulances. It

29:27

means that UN agencies, aid

29:30

agencies can't speak to their staff.

29:32

They can't do their work. Journalists

29:34

cannot report and get the news out. As

29:37

a former ambassador to the UN, do

29:39

you believe these are additional

29:42

war crimes by Israel?

29:45

Oh, there's no doubt about it. I think

29:48

Israel has been committing war crimes for

29:50

over 50 years, if

29:52

not more. But what it

29:54

is doing now, I

29:56

think it has completely defied

29:58

international opinion.

29:59

And what is going on is the kind

30:02

of bloodshed

30:03

that I think in modern history, we have

30:05

not really witnessed this before. Plus,

30:08

I think we also must

30:10

look at the consequences for those countries

30:13

that have been backing Israel,

30:14

that have been going on and on, not

30:17

caring about the people dying

30:18

and the civilians who are dying in the

30:21

thousands

30:21

in Gaza, but they've

30:23

been going on and on about Israel's right

30:25

to defend itself.

30:27

This is defense

30:29

where you're taking the lives of innocent people.

30:31

I think there will be consequences

30:33

for these countries. They're already confronting

30:36

a crisis of credibility

30:38

of humanity. And actually,

30:40

I think their own people, certainly,

30:43

if you look at some of the demonstrations which are going

30:45

on in cities in the United States itself,

30:48

you'll see that public opinion there also

30:51

is watching with horror

30:53

and anguish

30:55

about how their own government

30:57

is encouraging a country

30:59

that is carrying out ethnic cleansing

31:02

by, I mean, millions

31:04

of people are being affected by this.

31:07

Hannon, can I bring you in on that

31:10

point that Malia has made about protest

31:13

around the world? Because we've

31:15

seen very, very large protests taking place all

31:17

over the world. In fact, we saw one in Grand

31:19

Central Station very near the U.N., which

31:22

was Jewish people campaigning

31:25

to stop the war. Do you think this

31:27

protests are going to have an effect, maybe

31:30

even more of an effect than a vote in the U.N.

31:32

General Assembly?

31:34

Certainly, yes. Certainly,

31:37

they will have an effect because the

31:39

Jewish Voice for Peace and If

31:41

Not Now are two organizations

31:44

that have been active for some time, including

31:46

others, Jewish organizations. That we have worked

31:48

with for years. I remember before

31:51

we

31:51

used to call for a demonstration or a

31:53

protest, and there were 20, 30 people.

31:55

Now you have thousands. They

31:57

went into the capital, into countries.

31:59

They went

32:02

into Grand Central Station in the thousands

32:04

and they made a tremendous spectacle and

32:07

they gave the Palestinians a sense

32:09

of enormous support

32:11

that you are not alone, that Jewish

32:14

people of conscience are standing with you. This

32:16

is very important because Israel

32:19

wants to claim that it stands for

32:21

old speaks on behalf of old Jews and

32:23

so on, and that old Jews are Zionist, or

32:25

old Jews share in its genocidal

32:28

policies, but that's not true. And

32:30

they stood out and they stood on the side of

32:32

justice. Now, that impact will

32:35

not only be felt in Israel,

32:37

but it is being felt clearly in

32:40

the U.S. I mean, look at the

32:42

public opinion polls. The ratings of

32:44

Biden have gone down enormously

32:46

as a result of

32:47

his blind support of Israel

32:50

and his embrace of

32:52

these war crimes and his entering

32:54

into a partnership with these war crimes. And

32:57

I think ultimately the International Criminal

32:59

Court should look

33:00

at these things, not just at the Israeli

33:02

perpetrators, but at the partners and supporters

33:04

and enablers.

33:05

Let

33:07

me bring in Ronnie quickly. Ronnie, we

33:10

don't have much time left, but people power. How

33:12

important do you think it can be at this point?

33:16

Well, just to recall what happened

33:18

in the struggle against apartheid, South Africa,

33:21

rather similar. The South African government

33:24

wanted to ignore all the resolutions,

33:27

the United Nations and the protests around the

33:29

world. It built up to

33:31

an incredible torrent of

33:34

people's power and in

33:36

South Africa itself. And

33:39

one cannot underestimate the

33:41

power of international solidarity,

33:44

the power in the streets, the power

33:47

to pressurize governments

33:49

like the U.S., like France, the

33:51

U.K. We had the same opponents

33:54

in our struggle against apartheid. And

33:56

in the end, they were forced to

33:58

battle. This is a very

34:01

important weapon, a peaceful

34:03

weapon, a highly active

34:06

militant weapon, and we'll do everything

34:09

possible to mobilize the forces

34:11

that are growing and growing, and

34:13

we will succeed in the end. Palestine

34:16

will live for sure. How

34:31

can you help

34:35

me?

34:42

Listening to this helped me feel

34:45

more certain that the one thing I can do is publicly

34:48

and loudly and

34:50

constantly say that this is not okay.

34:53

It could actually

34:55

make a difference.

34:57

If you are white and if you're North

34:59

American from,

35:01

you know, the colonialist

35:03

countries, let's just fucking say it, colonialist

35:06

countries, if you're white and you are from a

35:08

colonialist country, you

35:11

have proximity to the powers that are making

35:13

this happen.

35:15

To say that we are powerless, to say that

35:17

I am powerless, to look to say to feel

35:19

apathetic or overwhelmed about

35:22

what to do, it's absurd.

35:24

It is our job

35:27

to counteract and repair the violence that

35:29

affords us our ill-gotten privilege.

35:32

It is our job to use that privilege to

35:34

convince the white people who are part of the 10%

35:37

cruel and 80% swayable

35:40

to stop the violence. This

35:42

is a moment

35:44

for you to speak up. This is a moment

35:47

for you to take a stand. Your voice

35:49

matters in this.

35:57

A manifestation exercise. I

36:01

believe in the power of manifestation. I believe

36:04

in the power of large groups of people believing

36:07

in something, praying for something. I believe

36:11

that what we're able to imagine isn't

36:15

intangible, that what we're able

36:17

to imagine actually often

36:19

turns into

36:21

something tangible. For

36:25

example, the fact that sci-fi writers on

36:27

Star Trek basically imagine cell phones and iPads

36:29

into existence.

36:32

I've been talking to Joe Biden

36:33

in my head.

36:38

I've been imagining a possibility,

36:41

and

36:43

I'd like for you to imagine this with me.

36:48

He's looking in a mirror

36:50

at his own eyes.

36:53

A rare moment

36:55

has opened up,

36:57

where for some reason he feels a sense

36:59

of distance from the

37:02

people and the government that he sees

37:03

every day, all of the people

37:05

who surround him that support his decision to back

37:08

this violence,

37:09

all of the people he would disappoint

37:13

if he decided to oppose it.

37:15

Distance from the specter of the geopolitical

37:18

and tactical reasons for supporting this war,

37:20

the domino effect of what

37:22

pulling out would mean for diplomatic

37:25

relationships and financial relationships,

37:28

somehow

37:30

all of that feels far

37:33

away.

37:37

The mountain he climbed to become the president

37:39

of the most powerful country in the world and the sense

37:41

of importance

37:42

that that affords him feels far away.

37:46

He looks into his own eyes and sees

37:49

a man.

37:51

A man who believes that he's good.

37:53

A

37:55

man who got into politics

37:58

for good reasons.

38:02

And suddenly, everything that felt

38:05

complicated

38:07

becomes

38:09

simple.

38:12

A moment of

38:14

extreme clarity

38:17

comes over him.

38:24

He says to himself,

38:27

I'm going to stop this. This

38:30

is going to be my legacy.

38:32

I'm going to stop the violence.

38:38

Suddenly, he realizes how much support

38:40

he'll have

38:40

to do this.

38:42

He realizes that he will be championed

38:44

and adored. He

38:46

washes his hands

38:49

and walks out to

38:51

speak to the people on his team that he knows

38:54

and silently hoping he would make this call. And

38:58

with their support, he announces it to the world.

39:01

And then everything that needs to happen to stop

39:04

this

39:06

begins to set itself in motion.

39:11

So let's have a moment of

39:13

hoping, of

39:15

believing, honestly, believing,

39:18

believing, believing

39:19

that that can happen, believing, believing

39:21

that it can happen tomorrow. It can happen next

39:23

week. It can happen now. It can

39:25

happen today.

39:27

It can happen today. It

39:30

can happen in a couple of hours. Imagine

39:35

that it's already happened. You

40:00

to

40:28

close out the show a track

40:30

from MC Abdul who started rapping

40:33

when he was a kid. He's

42:00

I'm a major loser, my son's a monster,

42:02

I'm a useless loser, I'm a chaser, I'm a

42:06

tough-a-thon, I'm a fight-a-bomb, I'm

42:08

a win-a-chop, but not my

42:10

sister could at least try to stop her cries,

42:13

I thought it was high-wars, I was doing her

42:15

lines, where's the cold vision? This

42:17

is hardness, it's like they want a strong,

42:20

infinite darkness, talking no

42:22

water, going to like, twisty for hours,

42:24

they're knocking flowers, but that's not nothing

42:26

to power that I have in my mind when I'm waiting

42:29

to move. The mother of the booty,

42:31

the only thing possible, and

42:33

that's the way that I can speak my mind, I

42:35

wonder how does the fighter play, let's sleep

42:37

at night, know when he controls the kitty,

42:39

just so young all of a sudden slaughtering families

42:42

with the push of a button. I want

42:44

freedom for the population,

42:47

two million prisoners living in dislocations,

42:49

helping us evolve, nothing is ever

42:52

changing. I want life under

42:54

an occupation, I want freedom

42:56

for the population, two million

42:59

prisoners living in dislocations, helping

43:01

us evolve, nothing is ever changing.

43:04

That's life under an occupation.

43:07

That was MC Abdul.

43:14

Yep, so this is this episode, it's

43:17

just me processing

43:20

this

43:23

historic atrocity that's happening

43:25

right now.

43:27

Next week there will be more

43:31

audio fiction, love story,

43:33

escapism. So

43:36

they mention

43:37

JVP, which is the Jewish

43:40

Voice for Peace. On

43:42

their website it says, we have a plan to

43:44

end US support for Israel's oppression

43:46

of Palestinians. Jewish Voice

43:48

for Peace is the largest progressive Jewish

43:51

anti-Zionist organization in the world. They

43:54

are a grassroots, multiracial, cross-class

43:57

intergenerational movement of US Jews

43:59

in South America.

43:59

solidarity with Palestinian freedom

44:02

struggle.

44:04

If you've been looking for a political home,

44:07

for Jews on the left in this perilous

44:09

moment, if you've been wanting

44:11

a Jewish community with justice at

44:13

the center,

44:15

if you've been looking to turn your

44:17

rage and grief into meaningful

44:19

strategic action,

44:21

they say, join us. You

44:23

belong here. Yeah, they

44:25

have a, they have a, you know, a section

44:28

where it's called take action and it says

44:31

urgent, demand a ceasefire

44:33

now. Millions of

44:34

lives depend on it.

44:36

And then they have links

44:38

that you can click

44:39

on to take action in different

44:41

ways. So

44:44

JVP, Jewish voice for peace.org.

44:47

There's resources and links in

44:50

the show notes. So

44:54

please take care. Take care,

44:57

take care, take care.

45:08

Between the time that I recorded this on

45:11

Halloween and the time that I'm

45:13

putting it out on Saturday

45:16

night, the day of a national protest

45:18

that happened here in Canada, Joe Biden

45:21

did order a pause,

45:23

a humanitarian

45:24

pause, and there has

45:26

not been a ceasefire ordered.

45:29

But if we

45:31

are loud enough, he will

45:34

make the ceasefire happen. If we

45:37

are loud enough.

46:01

RadioTopia. From

46:04

PRX.