Disclose! Divest!: Behind the Fight Over College Endowments
As graduation approached this year, students around the country began protests after calls for divestment from Israel were initially ignored by university leadership. The campus encampments were met with physical violence and the mainstream press dismissed the students’ demands as naive and immature. But, it turns out that there’s a lot we should be asking about college endowments. We take a look at what an endowment is...
Borders: What are they good for?
What are borders, and why do we have them? And how is violent border enforcement at the US-Mexico border connected to Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza? And what happens when borders cross living land and communities? We’ll dig into these questions in this week’s episode with the help of Heba Gowayed, sociology professor at CUNY Hunter College and Graduate Center. And then we’ll hear a story brought to us by In...
Help Us Support Journalism from Gaza
Click here to donate to our Gaza Reporting Fund! Over the next few weeks, we are running a special campaign to fundraise for our Palestinian colleague Rami Almeghari. He is currently in Gaza with his family as Israeli military forces continue their genocidal assault on the residents of what has been called “the world’s biggest open-air prison.” Rami has been a longtime journalist and friend to Making Contact, and his work has...
The Origins of Zionism
In this episode with a brief report from Gaza-based journalist Rami Almeghari, we talk to Rashid Khalidi about his book “The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine” to learn about the early history of the Zionist movement and his argument that it was, from the start, a settler-colonial endeavor. Featuring: Rami Almeghari – Palestinian reporter from Gaza Rashid Khalidi – Historian and Edward Said Professor of...
Gaza, Solidarity, and the Movement for Palestinian Liberation
For weeks people around the world have been witness to Israel’s deadly assault on Gaza. Today, we uncover the military corporations profiting from the war, and highlight the activism in every corner of the world in support of Palestinian liberation. We’ll hear from Rami Almeghari, a Gaza-based journalist, to get insight on the conditions on the ground in Gaza before zooming out with Nora Barrows-Friedman to look at...
The Nakba: 75 Years On
This week marks the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, or the “catastrophe” in Arabic. It refers both to the events starting in late 1947, when Zionist militias expelled over 700,000 Palestinians from their homes, and the ongoing destruction and occupation of their lands. Today, Palestinians continue to commemorate the Nakba by reclaiming their history, resisting the occupation, and calling for their right to return. We start...