"Many of us can't think about anything but Palestine" w/ Tariq Ali
Makdisi Street
Bayt al Makdisi
4.9 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 18 August 2024
⏱️ 94 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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.
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Date of recording: July 16, 2024.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Then when I came to study at Oxford, the Vietnam War had proceeded. It was beginning to start. |
| 0:07.7 | American troops were beginning to go in. And you know, when I look back, I have to be honest, |
| 0:13.6 | as someone from that region, I couldn't think about anything else. It's like today, many of us |
| 0:20.4 | can't think about anything but |
| 0:22.4 | Palestine and how it's going to end it was the same at that time with the Vietnam |
| 0:27.5 | welcome everyone to a new episode of the Mahdii Street podcast my name is |
| 0:33.9 | Usama and I'm joined as always by my brothers, Sari and Karim. |
| 0:38.9 | Special thanks to our producer, Sina Rahmani, who reminds us all to tell all our listeners and viewers to please subscribe, like, and give a five-star review. |
| 0:48.8 | If and when you can to whatever platform or on whatever platform you are listening or watching this show. |
| 0:55.0 | You can also support the show by signing up for our Patreon subscription, the link for which is in the description below. |
| 1:03.0 | Today, July 16th, we're delighted to have with us, Tarah Ali, who is, of course, an extraordinarily famous Pakistani British political |
| 1:13.6 | activist, writer, novelist, journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. |
| 1:19.6 | Tara Ali has been deeply critical, as everyone who knows anything about the new left, has been deeply critical of imperialism and of the domestic despotisms in places like Pakistan and analyzes them all together. |
| 1:36.3 | He's a member of the editorial committee of the New Left Review and contributes to the Guardian, counterpunch, the LRB. |
| 1:43.3 | He studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford, and he's the Guardian, counterpunch, the LRB. He studied philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford, |
| 1:47.8 | and he's the author of many, many books, |
| 1:50.2 | including the one that many people know is, |
| 1:54.6 | of course, the clash of fundamentalisms, |
| 1:56.5 | Crusades, jihads, and modernity, which came out in 2002. |
| 2:00.7 | He's also the author of the Obama Syndrome and also of the Extreme Center, a warning, which |
| 2:07.1 | is published in 2015. |
| 2:09.6 | In 2020, Tara Ali was a member of the Belmarsh Tribunal organized by the Progressive International, |
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