May 20, 2021 • 39 mins
This week, Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa take a look back at the historical and material ties between Black liberation movements and the Palestinian liberation struggle, tipping their hats to Palestinian emcees DAM and Belly along the way.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You are listening to Waiting on Reparations, a production of
I Heart Radio, Yo Yo Yo. You don't know us
thinking we won't touch like his's hammer time, wait on
reparations and literation of Palestine, talents flying. If you criticize,
you can chast a size while they turned the city
blocks into disaster sides. Take a pick rasterized flight on
(00:22):
panic line. Put it on the screen, let them see
and read the caption line. It ain't all right. The
far right ship and millions of people living in the
partis grip. Black people know the struggle. Imperialists degreed, Go
ahead and grab a blood. We're gonna tell you what
you need. Linn with Franka Dope Knife. I don't want
the stems to seed. I'm saying, dope ship, hoping you
remember me living in for me, my name's Dope Night.
(00:52):
We are waiting on reparations and freedom for palestime. Yeah, well, okay, okay,
So this is one of those episodes where something's going
on in the news or in the world around us that, yeah,
it just kind of makes me feel like we have
to touch on the subject and we can't just go
(01:12):
on with the regular scheduled programming, you know, like makes
us feel like at least we should talk about something
that's kind of related to the subject, you know. So
with that, we're going to be discussing a little bit
about the situation going on in the Middle East with
Israel and Palestine. This past Saturday was Knock the day,
the annual commemoration of the destruction of Palistin villages and
(01:34):
the expulsion escape of more than seven hundred thousand in
Palestinian eras, about half of pre war Palestines Arab population
UM from their homes during the Palestine War. I know
that you were before that we you know, started the show,
mac you're talking about marches going down down in Savannah.
Oh yeah, they were marching earlier today down by City Hall. UM.
(01:56):
I mean, I've been seeing a lot of that in
the news, just like people all over the world arching
in solidary of Palestine. UM. All over the country. UM.
On Saturday, people marched in the streets to show their
solidarity with the folks UM who have been living under
occupation and are currently you know, getting bomber shipped in Palestine.
But here in Atlanta, we had, you know, thousands of
(02:18):
people marching the streets for Palestinian Liberation, and interestingly, the
Knockba March in Atlanta ended up joining this Justice for
Jabell Robinson rally. Jabril Robinson in two thousand and sixty
and was shot twice in the back and once in
the head by Atlanta police after leaving an altercation in
its girlfriend's house. People are still calling for justice and
(02:38):
his name to this day. And so when the marches converge,
Jabberl's family started chanting from Palestine and then the palest
Stinian Solidarity marchers began saying say his name, And this
beautiful moment where these two movements came together to to
like reflect on the linkages between our struggles and how
our liberation is all sort of bound up together. And
(03:03):
the black liberation in Palestinian liberation movements actually have a
long history of going to connect a struggle um and
today we are going to explore some of those connections
between the fights for black and Palestinian lives, stretching back
to the black liberation movements of the nineteen sixties and
seventy is all the way up to you what's been
going on today? So what is going on today over there?
I mean pretty much in a nutshell. The Israeli military
(03:25):
and Hamas are lobbying missiles at each other, with people
caught in the crossfire. Um It's further the New York
Times a week of fighting has left more than two
hundred people dead in the Israeli occupied territories, the vast
majority of them Palestinians killed by Israeli air strikes and
the Gaza Strip. The violence is intensified over the past
eight days as diplomatic efforts of stalled and Israel has
(03:47):
scaled up its bombing campaign against SAMAS. The war is
being fought on multiple fronts. According to the Israeli Air Force, AMAS,
the militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, has fired
more than three thousand rockets towards Israeli cities and towns,
killing at least ten people. Israeli forces and settlers have
killed twenty Palestinians during the unrest in the West Bank,
(04:07):
a Palestinian human rights group said, and the wave of
mob attacks hit at least one mixed Arab Jewish city
in Israel. I agree with some people to the extent
when they say that the Israeli Palestinian conflict is very complicated,
but there are some things that aren't that complicated. Yeah,
when you like you know how and then and there
are immediate parallels as someone that's been involved in like
(04:28):
Black Lives Matter too, you know, very different in scale,
but similar in UM in what's the word for it,
in asymmetricality of force UM that we see here and
we're seeing over there right now. So, yes, motherfucker's a
shooting rockets at each other. But you've got one side
that has you know, billions of dollars in military technology
(04:51):
and weapons, the backing of the US government UM, A Navy,
air force, a military UM attacking people who are largely
throwing rocks and yeah, shooting rockets sometimes, but like dispossessed
from their lands, only have electricity several hours a day,
(05:12):
many of whom don't have clean drinking water, and so
you just have to think about who has got the
power to do more harm and how are they using
it UM, Which is kind of how I've come to
like understand like, even if the history is very fraught,
there's some things that are not fraught. That's very clear
asymmetricality in this struggle. Similar to when we are out
(05:34):
of these protests in the United States, someone might throw
a water bottle. Next thing we have no, No, you
have rubber bullets, shoot like taking your eye out, uh,
to your gas building, your lungs, and the you know,
the the state is able to drag you off to
jail and charge you, um, and then didn't you perhaps
(05:54):
for decades for participation in an expression of freedom of speech.
And so this asymmetricality between like the powers of a
state that's militarized to the teeth, armed to the teeth,
funded to the teeth, and the people you know, in
the streets just trying to like maintain and survive UM
is part of the lens through which I've come to
understand what's happening UM in Israel and Palestine right now. Well,
(06:19):
the the thing that I'm noticing this go around is
just that at least, you know, uh, opinion over the
situation there has definitely been traditionally more nuanced and objective
in other countries than the US, like just historically, like
(06:41):
you know, like for for the for the most part,
other countries, you know that the general population is kind
of you know, have an understanding that it's like, hey,
this this situation is is you know, Palestine is getting
a real raw deal in this situation, Like most people
can recognize that, but in the here in the US,
because of obvious propaganda, I think we've all been you know,
(07:06):
like for a long time, people were conditioned to just
kind of you know, tow the lines like nope, uh,
it's terrorists, you know, Israel it has to defend themselves.
Israel has to defend themselves. And it's like this go around,
there seems to be a lot more like public if
not necessarily support, But just like the situation isn't being
(07:30):
painted as black and white as it has in the past,
just from a like media perspective. I mean it granted,
there's tons and tons of awful coverage of this whole
situation if you watch the corporate news, but you know,
I could get into some headlines and some like digging
into the grammatical constructions of agency and victimhood or lack
(07:55):
thereof in a lot of these New York Times articles
and just like all of the place sort of erasing
the humanity of one side of the people in the struggle.
Um no, you were mentioning John Oliver had like a
scathing session and there was a couple other clips that
went viral. Um I think it was all from MSNBC,
(08:16):
but media San had one. Yeah he had one. He
had one as well. And it's just you know, even
back in when they were going at it, you wouldn't
have seen like a segment like that on either on
the that channel. And yeah, you wouldn't hear Palestinian voices
in these conversations. Social media particularly, I think under the pandemic,
(08:40):
the way people have become really really in like Wisconsin
spheres like Twitter, um, it allows for voices to be
elevated that previously would get quashed as well. I think
through the the radicalization of the general public, the shift
of the Overton window left with regards to the military
and policing, and this desire are for under represented voices,
(09:03):
under represented perspectives. People are like I like, they just
want to know like this, like they've just we've never
been given the chance to understand the Palestine inside of
this situation. People just are thirsty to hear what, like
what they have to say. I think all of this
post I think the post pandemic era in terms of
people's awareness of like global situations and things like that,
(09:27):
I think we're gonna will be in for a pleasant
surprise at least on that end, because I think it's important.
I think this happening now between Israel and Palestine, the
way that it's being viewed is very different because it's
it's being viewed in a world that's just been shaped
(09:48):
by a year of COVID and everything that's followed with it,
and in America the election that we just had, the trauma,
the post trauma that we're going through, you know. So
I think I think all that makes everybody have like,
you know, more of a unique perrective and then also
you know, it's got a new generation that's a lot
(10:08):
more progressive in and confute things in the light that
you know, I think it should be so right, did
a challenge, challenge the dominant narrative, like you just rather
than passively receiving knowledge just like m like that, like
authentically like there are two sides in this, in this
and I want to hear from both of them. From
(10:31):
hearing from one, and when you hear from the other,
when you see the children, you know, walking around in
the rubble, or you hit the story of the fifteen
year old kid who threw his self off of the
eight story building because his entire family have been obliterated
by rockets like you do with that information what you will? So, yeah,
you mentioned to the fourteen, one of the more recent
(10:53):
uh flare reps of conflict that I think captured the
collective consciousness um in the United States. Since we're gonna
get into that to that's of fourteen, we're gonna go
back even further than that, talk about Malcolm X, talk
about quam Terrey, talk about uh Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee,
and various other black liberation groups that have weighed in
on the struggle previously. After the Jump, Black power activists
(11:28):
have long identified with the Palestinian struggle against Israel, seeing
in the former of kindred people of color fighting for
freedom against imperialist domination. Now Historically, a bevy of thinkers
have seen the United States and Israel as white supremacist,
settler colonial projects that shared core tenants, oppressive tactics, aggressive strategies,
(11:50):
propaganda techniques, and apparatus is. As a result, key historical
figures such as Malcolm X, James Baldwin, A Mere Baraka,
and various other black organizations, including Student Non Violent Coordination
Committee and the Black Panthers of All express support for Palestine.
For example, the Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee, which was
a civil rights group form to give younger black people
(12:12):
more of a voice during the civil rights movement, declared
solidarity with Palestine during the Arabs really War in nineteen seventies.
In nine seven, a couple of years later, the League
of Revolutionary Black Workers formed in Detroit. Nine nine. It's
one of the first workers organizations to take up the
cause of Palestinian liberation. Black and Arab autoworkers joined together
to participate in l RBW led wildcat strikes, and the
(12:36):
group's solidarity with Palestine became a point of struggle between
them and the city's ruling class. The l RBW transform
the Wayne State University student newspaper into a radical citywide paper,
but after publishing pro Palestine articles, the administration used false
charges of anti Semitism to launch an all out attack
on the LBW on campus. So they've been doing that stuff,
(13:00):
you know, for fifty years. That's the aspect of it
that really annoys me, because it's like my whole ship
is I'm just like I don't funk with right wing stuffy,
Like I don't care if the right wing, if the
right wing stuff isn't is white, I don't funk with it.
(13:22):
If the right wing stuff is black, I don't funk
with it. If it's Muslim right wing stuff, I don't
work with it. And if it's Jewish right wing stuff,
I don't funk with it. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, period.
And obviously the world is rife with anti Semitism that
we have to get rid of. That you can easily
point to for an example, but simply not the basis
(13:43):
of this criticism. My whole ship is. I just don't
understand how, oh well, the bad guy was hiding amongst
all the kids, so we had to kill everybody. I
don't understand how that is the explanation, Like, how is
that a thing? Um? Not just there is an anti
Semitism within um with with like you know, famous figures
(14:05):
within uh, like Black liberation struggles historically. You know that
Malcolm X tow the lines sometimes and perhaps crossed it. Um.
But you know, I think a movement that rejects both
of us saying that you can leverage logical critiques, you know,
based on the facts, while also you know, not smearing
(14:27):
a people as necessarily you know, uh, monolithic or you
know all all all these folks, you know, I think
this way or something like that. Like its it requires nuance.
But it's critical because we can't fall forward the same
right wing shit that you know, that uh, that we
(14:47):
claim to reject. We can't fall for that ship. We
can't we can't get tack into that. No funk that
I mean if if some if somebody from like I
don't know, if somebody from like Norway who was like, man,
funk Trump, it just seems like for my reactually be like,
why are you talking about me? Why would you why
(15:08):
would you exactly exactly? Oh, you hate America, you hate
my family? No, man, I hate this guy that's doing
racist like oppressive ship to people. This guy's enacting policy.
But anyway, so um so. The Black Panther Party was
also supporters of the Palestinian struggle. In his article on
(15:30):
the Middle East, Black Panther Party leader Huey Newton states,
we support the Palestinians just struggle for liberation. We will
go on doing this and we would like for all
progressive people around the world to join our ranks in
order to make a world in which all people can live.
Is The BPP evolved into an internationalist organization focusing not
only on struggle for black liberation the United States, but
(15:54):
seeing the linkages between other resistance movements against subjugation of
peoples of color and the way that the way that
they use similar tactics of militarization and police occupation in
other countries. The Black Panther Party recognized that in order
to end the oppression of people United States say to
work to end imperialism all over the world, because the
(16:15):
United States not only perpetrating a form of genocide against
black people here, but you know the way that we've
been exploiting Africa, the way that we fund uh the struggles,
and the way we fund oppression through um you know,
military coups in South America, like all over the world.
We got our fingers and some ship. It's all imperialism.
(16:37):
And so for them, Palestine with the forefront of that
worldwide confrontation. Malcolm X was a known staunch opponent of Zionism.
He contended against it in an article that was published
by the Egyptian Gazette called Zionist Logic Goes Back in
nineteen sixty four, and the document Malcolm X notes the
parallels between subjugation of Palestinians and Africans. He pointed out
(16:58):
the strategic value of Israel to world imperialism. He stated,
the ever scheming European imperialist wisely placed Israel where she
could geographically divide the Arab world infiltrate and so seeds
of dissension amongst African leaders who also divide the Africans
against Asians. Damn, that would have been a good opportunity
to my Denzel Washington voice. So what do you what
(17:19):
do you think about that? He saw how like the
powers that be, like the elites, they wanted us to
like to and and we see this happening now like
oh well, um, I didn't see you come out to
the you know, stop Asian hate rally. So why should
I put a Black Lives Matter to found in my
front yard and vice versa? Or oh, we gotta like
look out for our people in our country first, so
(17:41):
that we can you know, and funk whatever is happening
in me and mar or you know, or Vietnam. But
it's all part of the same system and same struggle,
same struggle. Yeah, And so we sow dissension among African leaders,
so they're fighting amongst themselves or you know, so hatred
for the four Asians among the Africans, or you know
(18:04):
among uh for Africans among the Asians. That way they
can't come together to fucking fight off the people who
are really fucking up everyone. Ship and he saw that, yeah,
and the n Actually he was one of the first
African American leaders to meet with the newly formed Palestine
Liberation Organization. So fast forwarding a little bit too present.
More recently, um, when Israel unleashed war on Lebanon thousand six,
(18:27):
h Tony Morrison, along with seventeen other prominent intellectuals, issued
very principled statement condemning Israeli aggression and refusing to equivocate
in the face of the demonization of the Palestinian National
Liberation Forces. Is stated, the subsequent arguments, accupuizations, and vows
all served as a distraction in order to divert world
attention from the long term military, economic, and geographic practice
(18:49):
whose political aim is nothing less than liquidation or of
the Palestine Palestinian nation. So like not no both size
is um coming from Tony Morrison on a ship. The
solidarity continues today on many fronts, including support for International Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions movement. Prominent black intellectuals including Angela Davis,
(19:10):
Cornell West, Alice Walker, they've all endorsed the call for BDS,
which you know that even itself has been, you know,
a hot button topic. They've actually been passing anti BDS
laws where um companies or or people who are involved
in b D in anti or in b DS protests
(19:34):
or boycotts, they can't get government contracts to do things.
So for example, if you've been involved in it and
you have like a cleaning business, then like they've got
your cleaning business on like a list that you can
never get like a government contract. I'm just pulling out
cleaning business out of the hat. But yeah, like yeah,
(19:56):
so that's another point of contention too. So let's let's
jump head to two thousand and fourteen. Black Lives Matter
start popping off in Ferguson, Missouri. There was a famous
well not when he got famous through this Palestine and
activist by the name of Bassim Masuri who was very
engaged in the protests in St. Louis after Mike Brown
was murdered, live stream lots of events around Ferguson during
(20:17):
the uprising and was arrested and interrogated in the protests.
And actually he was one of many Ferguson activists who
has died since two thousand fourteen, which we talked a
little bit about in our very our second episode wire
Tap reps but Um at the time of the Ferguson protests,
Masury wrote, when Mike Brown was murdered in Ferguson, my
people in Gothap were being slaughtered by Israel and Operation
Protective Edge. The timing of the two events woke up
(20:39):
a lot of people. When Mike was killed, much of
the media started demonizing him in the protesters, often the
same sources that blame Palestinians for their own deaths and Gaza.
He went on to say, when the police use military
tanks and checkpoints to imprison the residence of Ferguson, I
was reminded of life in the West Bank, where I
saw the Israeli military used the same tactics of repression.
Our common goal it's to live in peace and to
(21:01):
not fear our children's lives when they are walking down
the street. That same summer, at the beginning of the
Black Lives Matter, Israel launched yet another military assault in Gaza,
killing more than two d two thousand and two hundred Palestinians,
including five hundred children, and people like Angela Davis have
highlighted the links between Israel's widespread use of detention imprisonment
(21:23):
against Palestinian the way it evokes the same kind of
mass incarceration black people United States experience. Um companies like
GFRS profit off the racist mass incarceration of both African
Americans the United States and Palestinians and Palestine. H G
Forest describes itself as the world leading provider and security
solutions and provide security services for over forty embassies around
(21:44):
the world. They've supplied security equipment and services and maintenance
for use to Israeli prisons, checkpoints and settlements of the
West Bank, including the highly controversial Israeli West Bank Barrier.
In October two thousand ten, three G four est guards
restrained and held down forty six year old and Golden
Deporti Jimmy Mumbenga on departing British Airways Flight seventy seven.
(22:08):
This is a Heathrow Airport. Security guards kept them restraining
the seat as he began shouting and seeking to resist
this deportation. Later, the guards were accused of forcing Mbenga's
head down as he sat handcuffed from behind for thirty
six minutes. The restraint technique is UH. The restraint technique
used is known as carpet karaoke and it's known to
(22:31):
create risk of asphyxia. Mumbenga was pronounced dead later that
evening in Hillington Hospital. So In October two thousand thirteen,
the BBC report allegations of prisoners being tortured at Mangwang
Prison in South Africa. The BBC sided research from which
Justice Project at was University in Johannesburg, which claimed that
dozens of the nearly three thousand inmates of the G
(22:52):
four prison I've been portrayed using electro shock and forced injections.
And then this is a fucking crazy twist um. In
June two th sixteen, Chief Ors employee or Omar mateen Um,
via the u S subsidiary G Forrest of Care Solutions,
was identified the perpetrator of the two thousand sixteen or
(23:13):
Lando nightclub shooting, the second deadliest mass shooting in US history, which, okay,
the others. The other instances highlight the way that like
this one company with global reach is perpetrating similar kinds
of violence on people of color in countries all over
the world, whether it's in Palestine, whether it's in the
United Kingdom, whether it's in South Africa, whether it's um
(23:35):
in there's another incident that happened, I think it was
in Jacksonville, Florida. Um And then the way that these
people are trained in violence that ends up eking out
into the way they deal with people in the their
day to day life. So this guy who worked for
g Fors goes on to fucking splatter fifty LGBTQ people
(23:58):
in a nightclub because on his day job, he's a
part of the system that's killing people. All of that
humanize people all over the world. So all around the world,
this company is making money off incarcerations and sometimes torturing
and killing people of color, and it is part of
the Black Liberation of Palestine solidarity movement involves understanding these
global systems of capital and power, how they're used against
(24:21):
people of color in different countries, and how liberation for
us all involves taking these systems down. Yeah, if you
take down, you take down for us. That's Palestinian liberation.
Its liberation for the people in South Africa. That's liberation
for the young folks in Jackson and Ville, Florida that
are that are in child detention facilities like that's that's
that's kind of the link that people in the Black
(24:42):
Lives Matter movement and the you know, in the Palestina
Palestinian liberation movements are coming to see these days. Well,
one thing I think it is really beautiful is that
the way that under this bombardment, under the suppression, under
the living in this open air prison, the people of
Palestine have shown up for the Black Lives Matter movement,
perhaps and in a way that I don't think was
reciprocated until recently. So with the acquittal of George Zimmerman
(25:06):
in the case of Trade Bon Martin's murder, because it
sparked outrage and demonstrations all over the United States and
all over the world, Palestinians took to the streets and
circulated pictures of themselves holding signs that are at Palestinians
stand with those who mourned trade on Martin's death. We
know what it feels like to lose level ones and
watch the murderers of aid justice. So they were out
there in the streets for US way before, honestly, way before.
(25:29):
I think like there was a mass movement in the
United States here reciprocating that support. Circling back to the
story of Jabrielle Robinson and the Atlanta Police. Here in
Georgia there exists a unique relationship between the military and
police oppression experienced by the Palestinians and the police violence
in which black Georgians are subjective. We returned to considering
the Gilley Program, the law enforcement exchange between police officers
(25:54):
in Georgia and law enforcement officials in Israel to like
learn tactics from n HL there. So it started in
preparations to secure UH the Olympic Games in Atlanta, go
to State University and the law enforcement community established the
Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange GILLY. The program UM was
given three objectives. To enhance inter agency cooperation between the
(26:16):
State of Georgia law enforcement agencies and the police for
the Force of Israel of the State of Israel. To
offer an educational professional programmed to senior is Really law
enforcement officials in Georgia. To offer an educational professional program
for senior Israeli law enforcement officials primarily in the areas
of counter terrorism and drug interdiction. So effectively, these motherfucker's
(26:39):
just learning fund up shop from each other. Going over
to Zerio, learn how to prut a lot of people,
fun people up bringing back to Georgia. Shoot Jibral Johnson
twice in the back as he is walking away. When
I lived in Africa, UM Cameroon specifically, there was definitely
like a contingent of some Israeli military that we're trading
the Cameroonian military. They exported their tactics and and when hardware,
(27:01):
you know, all of the world. So GILLY, with the
Israeli law enforcement as their primary exchange partners, teachers police
officials the tactics of military militarized police forces that treat
communities as enemies. For example, GILLY has thought that officers
should inspire fear by racking their firearms when they hosted them,
flash their vehicles blue lights when patrolling neighborhoods, and limit
(27:24):
free speech by targeting incitement to quote unquote. So in
addition to the abuses we've seen by global companies like GFRS,
there's programs like GILLY that like literally give opportunity for
these motherfucker's to like learn the worst of each other
ship and bring it back to wherever they live. But
(27:45):
in the spirit of Palestinians solidarity, this week we're gonna
be checking out some tracks by some Palestinian hip hop artists.
Oh yeah, what we what you guy for us this week? Mac? Alright?
So first up, we got the group Damn or e
a M. They are founded in by brothers Tamer and
(28:06):
Chanel Nafar and their friend Ma Dudjeri. I think that
that's not how you pronounce it, I assure you. Um.
Their songs are largely about racism and poverty. It's protests
driven stuff um, centering around the fight against depression, Israeli occupation, drugs,
(28:26):
and the fight for women's rights. So let's check out there.
What was their first breakthrough single almost fifteen years ago.
It's a song called min Ira mean Irabi or who is?
Who's the terrorists? Me it happy? I'm not happy happy
one blady me it happy and happy bl So they
(28:52):
talk about how like, oh, you're the witness, you're the
lawyer and the judge, like you control every arm of
the of the judicial system. So of course you're like,
you know what what justice can't exist for me if
like the folks that have already decided on the terrorists,
the one controlling every aspect of my judgment in sentencing.
(29:13):
I mean, yeah, there, it's it's it's it's an exclamation
of the underlying sources of aggression, of housing aggression, like well,
of course I ended up quote unquote terrorists, like you
buried my parents under rubble. Uh, you know, like what,
I don't know what else do you think I'm supposed
to do? I like that hooked the reframe who's the
(29:35):
terrorists and my terrorists? Who's the terrist? That's actually pretty yeah,
it is. It is fine. It definitely like the instrumental
it's got that um like it's either like a single
you know, single individual key sort of piano riff sample,
which is like really reminiscent of like that early Immortal
(29:59):
technique or of Jedi mind tricks sort of style where
it's like it's like that early two thousand's political rap beat.
Like pretty much, you know, it's pretty understand it and
it just lets the lyrics do all the talking. Yeah beautiful,
Yeah exactly. Now that was flying um And now we're
(30:20):
gonna switch it up because you know, Damn is probably
uh the premier Palestinian rap groups. So they've been around
for a while now. So you know, we're going back
to the early two thousands, so we're gonna flash forward
in time and check out something that's a bit new
from them. Um this song I could not this O.
(30:42):
This doesnt have the translation in it. This is their
song the Milder at looking and it sounds like some
missy ellie. It like I just noticed a parallel, so
(31:03):
we said, should I pay off my debts or fight
the system? Reminds me of that line from the Vince
Staples song. Um, it's caught between my conscious and the
skin that's on my body. Man, I need to fight
the power, but I need that new Ferrari like like
same ship, the same ship. We also want the same thing,
all right, I just stopped it. Okay. Yeah. So it's
like it's sort of like a I don't even want
(31:26):
to say it's like a clubby Joint, but it's definitely
like a lot more accessible, like if the first Joint
was kind of like their underground early two thousand's sort
of beggar. This is a very very modern but still
in keeping with what they do, but it's very like
made for for mainstream consumption. Yeah, this if this ship
(31:50):
is what's this If you're gonna go throw rocks at
the I d F. This is this is the ship
you put on to get hyped up exactly. Um, It's
it's like, uh, you know, they're they're talking about the
powers that be trying to keep us separated and not
have us unify, you know, unify like we're talking about
in this episode. But there's a one line that stood out.
(32:11):
I like that. It was, you know, they spend billions
of dollars to keep us separated. That the thing. Yeah,
that's a direct indictment of the infusion of of dollars,
billions of dollars a military aid to uphold this our
part apartheid regime. When we were listening to it, I
was mentioning that it gave me Missy Elliott vibes. The
(32:34):
instrumental was very The instrumental sounded like if you went
on YouTube and found like Timberland type beat. Yeah, one
of those you know, not the disrespect. It just sounded
very Timberland influence, but that that era of Timberland, you
know what I'm saying. And and they were rocking at
The video also is dope, but it starts off with
(32:57):
all three of the members heads on the ground. Yeah yeah, yeah,
with boots on top of it, sort of like they're
in an interrogation rooms fresh moves with some strobe lights
going on. Later on in this yeah yeah, they had
that b boy be girl vibe with the dancers. Yeah, no,
it was that was really fresh and that was nineteen too,
(33:20):
so yeah, yeah, like you just you just heard Mariah
since she's putting that in her Spotify playlist, so that
ship is certain. We don't we don't normally do it,
but that should have certified waiting on reparations fresh. So
for this last track, we're gonna go to a English
speaking rapper, Palestinian Canadian rapper who I first heard of
(33:45):
him from a pretty popping freestyle that he did on
some radio thing that was a YouTube clip for a while.
But this is the rapper Belly. He's also a singer
and songwriter as well. But this is his track history
of Violence. Let what has been to Palestinaian right? Flipping
(34:06):
these freedom of all aimed just to religion life, just
shut them. I like that. He's like, I'm not trying
to say that we're perfect, you know, like he had
you know, amidst that, like, yo, yeah, we kind of
you know, there's been some fun up ship, but there's
a history of violence. You gotta understand the whole like
where all of this began, like who did what, to
(34:27):
whom win and to what degree? Which again coming back
to that asymmetricality I was talking about at the top,
um in order to like understand how things became the
way that they are. That was fresh. You know, it
started off kind of wobbly for me personally as far
as like the styles I like, but he picked it up,
especially with that second verse. He um. One of the
(34:49):
things that I really appreciated him mentioning was the second
or third class apartheid level living conditions the Palestinians have
to live in, not not having the proper municipalities and
running water or you know what I mean, and and
stuff like that. Um. Yeah, now that was I'm still
(35:12):
kind of taken aback. That was. I'd recommend y'all go
listen to that full song that was and it's like
it's like couching a bit of like direct material historical context,
but like if you strip that out. It sounds like
it could have been written in Compton. It sounds like
it could have been written in It sounds I could
have been written in Chicago, given that he's like an
(35:33):
actual songwriter, like he he writes for other people and
stuff too. I kind of the sense that I got
from it. I have no idea because I'm not in
his head, but the sense that I got from it
is that was the intent of that song was to
wrap about it in a way that it could just
be like he was rapping about Compton or rapping about
any hood that we you know what I mean that
(35:55):
that the people could recognize here in the US, but rapping,
but what like the he's actually talking about his Palestine,
And I think that is a cool concept to the instrumental.
The instrumental was it it left some to be desired. Um,
not that it was bad, but you know, it's just
kind of like you know, yes, I mean yeah. But
(36:19):
then again, it's a testament to Belly because his lyrics,
like his his pen game was so strong. As with
um the first Damn song we listened to, like the
Beata's understated in order for the songwriting to shine. I
felt like you're listening very intently to the words, because
you're not like bopping your head that hard to the
(36:40):
eight O waits there anything? And I dig how like
his uh. I felt like the more that the song
went on, the more complex I guess he started to rhyme,
you know what I mean. It started off very basic,
which for me was like, okay, so that's that's the
(37:00):
sort of rapper that he does, you know what I mean.
And it's like as you got into the middle of
the first verse, he started picking it up. In the
second verse, he just started going in like oh, oh okay,
Like yeah, so if the song covers a lot of fronts,
it's it's got really good rapping, and you know, the
subject matter and how he's going about discussing it is
(37:24):
a pretty fresh take. Yeah. Well that's all we got
for this week. Please go check out these artists and
support UM as well as you know, advocate for the
dismantling of the military industrial complex in the person industrial
complex worldwide. Preach Preach my name is Dope Knife. Wait
(37:44):
wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait.
How the hell am I like trying to close the
shift off, Like I'm just trying to like end ship
like niggas ain't wrapped. I'm just trying to like like,
I'm like, no, we can't even do it like that.
I'm sorry, y'all, Like, how could I forget a my
homie Joel? Can we can we get an instrumental? Please? Uh?
(38:12):
I was gonna start, yo, yo, yo yo. I don't
gotta truly to spit when it comes to written versus.
I am truly legit on another different curve in school
with you, Brick, because when I dropped, give the urge,
kick a dude, and the ship proven it this bit
of scene words, and then I did. I stacked my
brain and that means work, and I persist. I mixed
(38:34):
the red and the green herb, and I quit, come
off the head with a mean verse and let it rip.
I can't rip because I lost my place, danger, danger
of loss of space, and I've lost some pace. I
looked greater, quit awesome, tick. That's what I can do it,
yo yo. My name's Dope Knife Franca, and we are
(38:56):
waiting on reparations. See you next week, See you next week.
Listen to Waiting on Reparations on the I Heart Radio app,
Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts m h
m hm
You are listening to Waiting on Reparations, a production of
I Heart Radio, Yo Yo Yo. You don't know us
thinking we won't touch like his's hammer time, wait on
reparations and literation of Palestine, talents flying. If you criticize,
you can chast a size while they turned the city
blocks into disaster sides. Take a pick rasterized flight on
(00:22):
panic line. Put it on the screen, let them see
and read the caption line. It ain't all right. The
far right ship and millions of people living in the
partis grip. Black people know the struggle. Imperialists degreed, Go
ahead and grab a blood. We're gonna tell you what
you need. Linn with Franka Dope Knife. I don't want
the stems to seed. I'm saying, dope ship, hoping you
remember me living in for me, my name's Dope Night.
(00:52):
We are waiting on reparations and freedom for palestime. Yeah, well, okay, okay,
So this is one of those episodes where something's going
on in the news or in the world around us that, yeah,
it just kind of makes me feel like we have
to touch on the subject and we can't just go
(01:12):
on with the regular scheduled programming, you know, like makes
us feel like at least we should talk about something
that's kind of related to the subject, you know. So
with that, we're going to be discussing a little bit
about the situation going on in the Middle East with
Israel and Palestine. This past Saturday was Knock the day,
the annual commemoration of the destruction of Palistin villages and
(01:34):
the expulsion escape of more than seven hundred thousand in
Palestinian eras, about half of pre war Palestines Arab population
UM from their homes during the Palestine War. I know
that you were before that we you know, started the show,
mac you're talking about marches going down down in Savannah.
Oh yeah, they were marching earlier today down by City Hall. UM.
(01:56):
I mean, I've been seeing a lot of that in
the news, just like people all over the world arching
in solidary of Palestine. UM. All over the country. UM.
On Saturday, people marched in the streets to show their
solidarity with the folks UM who have been living under
occupation and are currently you know, getting bomber shipped in Palestine.
But here in Atlanta, we had, you know, thousands of
(02:18):
people marching the streets for Palestinian Liberation, and interestingly, the
Knockba March in Atlanta ended up joining this Justice for
Jabell Robinson rally. Jabril Robinson in two thousand and sixty
and was shot twice in the back and once in
the head by Atlanta police after leaving an altercation in
its girlfriend's house. People are still calling for justice and
(02:38):
his name to this day. And so when the marches converge,
Jabberl's family started chanting from Palestine and then the palest
Stinian Solidarity marchers began saying say his name, And this
beautiful moment where these two movements came together to to
like reflect on the linkages between our struggles and how
our liberation is all sort of bound up together. And
(03:03):
the black liberation in Palestinian liberation movements actually have a
long history of going to connect a struggle um and
today we are going to explore some of those connections
between the fights for black and Palestinian lives, stretching back
to the black liberation movements of the nineteen sixties and
seventy is all the way up to you what's been
going on today? So what is going on today over there?
I mean pretty much in a nutshell. The Israeli military
(03:25):
and Hamas are lobbying missiles at each other, with people
caught in the crossfire. Um It's further the New York
Times a week of fighting has left more than two
hundred people dead in the Israeli occupied territories, the vast
majority of them Palestinians killed by Israeli air strikes and
the Gaza Strip. The violence is intensified over the past
eight days as diplomatic efforts of stalled and Israel has
(03:47):
scaled up its bombing campaign against SAMAS. The war is
being fought on multiple fronts. According to the Israeli Air Force, AMAS,
the militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, has fired
more than three thousand rockets towards Israeli cities and towns,
killing at least ten people. Israeli forces and settlers have
killed twenty Palestinians during the unrest in the West Bank,
(04:07):
a Palestinian human rights group said, and the wave of
mob attacks hit at least one mixed Arab Jewish city
in Israel. I agree with some people to the extent
when they say that the Israeli Palestinian conflict is very complicated,
but there are some things that aren't that complicated. Yeah,
when you like you know how and then and there
are immediate parallels as someone that's been involved in like
(04:28):
Black Lives Matter too, you know, very different in scale,
but similar in UM in what's the word for it,
in asymmetricality of force UM that we see here and
we're seeing over there right now. So, yes, motherfucker's a
shooting rockets at each other. But you've got one side
that has you know, billions of dollars in military technology
(04:51):
and weapons, the backing of the US government UM, A Navy,
air force, a military UM attacking people who are largely
throwing rocks and yeah, shooting rockets sometimes, but like dispossessed
from their lands, only have electricity several hours a day,
(05:12):
many of whom don't have clean drinking water, and so
you just have to think about who has got the
power to do more harm and how are they using
it UM, Which is kind of how I've come to
like understand like, even if the history is very fraught,
there's some things that are not fraught. That's very clear
asymmetricality in this struggle. Similar to when we are out
(05:34):
of these protests in the United States, someone might throw
a water bottle. Next thing we have no, No, you
have rubber bullets, shoot like taking your eye out, uh,
to your gas building, your lungs, and the you know,
the the state is able to drag you off to
jail and charge you, um, and then didn't you perhaps
(05:54):
for decades for participation in an expression of freedom of speech.
And so this asymmetricality between like the powers of a
state that's militarized to the teeth, armed to the teeth,
funded to the teeth, and the people you know, in
the streets just trying to like maintain and survive UM
is part of the lens through which I've come to
understand what's happening UM in Israel and Palestine right now. Well,
(06:19):
the the thing that I'm noticing this go around is
just that at least, you know, uh, opinion over the
situation there has definitely been traditionally more nuanced and objective
in other countries than the US, like just historically, like
(06:41):
you know, like for for the for the most part,
other countries, you know that the general population is kind
of you know, have an understanding that it's like, hey,
this this situation is is you know, Palestine is getting
a real raw deal in this situation, Like most people
can recognize that, but in the here in the US,
because of obvious propaganda, I think we've all been you know,
(07:06):
like for a long time, people were conditioned to just
kind of you know, tow the lines like nope, uh,
it's terrorists, you know, Israel it has to defend themselves.
Israel has to defend themselves. And it's like this go around,
there seems to be a lot more like public if
not necessarily support, But just like the situation isn't being
(07:30):
painted as black and white as it has in the past,
just from a like media perspective. I mean it granted,
there's tons and tons of awful coverage of this whole
situation if you watch the corporate news, but you know,
I could get into some headlines and some like digging
into the grammatical constructions of agency and victimhood or lack
(07:55):
thereof in a lot of these New York Times articles
and just like all of the place sort of erasing
the humanity of one side of the people in the struggle.
Um no, you were mentioning John Oliver had like a
scathing session and there was a couple other clips that
went viral. Um I think it was all from MSNBC,
(08:16):
but media San had one. Yeah he had one. He
had one as well. And it's just you know, even
back in when they were going at it, you wouldn't
have seen like a segment like that on either on
the that channel. And yeah, you wouldn't hear Palestinian voices
in these conversations. Social media particularly, I think under the pandemic,
(08:40):
the way people have become really really in like Wisconsin
spheres like Twitter, um, it allows for voices to be
elevated that previously would get quashed as well. I think
through the the radicalization of the general public, the shift
of the Overton window left with regards to the military
and policing, and this desire are for under represented voices,
(09:03):
under represented perspectives. People are like I like, they just
want to know like this, like they've just we've never
been given the chance to understand the Palestine inside of
this situation. People just are thirsty to hear what, like
what they have to say. I think all of this
post I think the post pandemic era in terms of
people's awareness of like global situations and things like that,
(09:27):
I think we're gonna will be in for a pleasant
surprise at least on that end, because I think it's important.
I think this happening now between Israel and Palestine, the
way that it's being viewed is very different because it's
it's being viewed in a world that's just been shaped
(09:48):
by a year of COVID and everything that's followed with it,
and in America the election that we just had, the trauma,
the post trauma that we're going through, you know. So
I think I think all that makes everybody have like,
you know, more of a unique perrective and then also
you know, it's got a new generation that's a lot
(10:08):
more progressive in and confute things in the light that
you know, I think it should be so right, did
a challenge, challenge the dominant narrative, like you just rather
than passively receiving knowledge just like m like that, like
authentically like there are two sides in this, in this
and I want to hear from both of them. From
(10:31):
hearing from one, and when you hear from the other,
when you see the children, you know, walking around in
the rubble, or you hit the story of the fifteen
year old kid who threw his self off of the
eight story building because his entire family have been obliterated
by rockets like you do with that information what you will? So, yeah,
you mentioned to the fourteen, one of the more recent
(10:53):
uh flare reps of conflict that I think captured the
collective consciousness um in the United States. Since we're gonna
get into that to that's of fourteen, we're gonna go
back even further than that, talk about Malcolm X, talk
about quam Terrey, talk about uh Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee,
and various other black liberation groups that have weighed in
on the struggle previously. After the Jump, Black power activists
(11:28):
have long identified with the Palestinian struggle against Israel, seeing
in the former of kindred people of color fighting for
freedom against imperialist domination. Now Historically, a bevy of thinkers
have seen the United States and Israel as white supremacist,
settler colonial projects that shared core tenants, oppressive tactics, aggressive strategies,
(11:50):
propaganda techniques, and apparatus is. As a result, key historical
figures such as Malcolm X, James Baldwin, A Mere Baraka,
and various other black organizations, including Student Non Violent Coordination
Committee and the Black Panthers of All express support for Palestine.
For example, the Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee, which was
a civil rights group form to give younger black people
(12:12):
more of a voice during the civil rights movement, declared
solidarity with Palestine during the Arabs really War in nineteen seventies.
In nine seven, a couple of years later, the League
of Revolutionary Black Workers formed in Detroit. Nine nine. It's
one of the first workers organizations to take up the
cause of Palestinian liberation. Black and Arab autoworkers joined together
to participate in l RBW led wildcat strikes, and the
(12:36):
group's solidarity with Palestine became a point of struggle between
them and the city's ruling class. The l RBW transform
the Wayne State University student newspaper into a radical citywide paper,
but after publishing pro Palestine articles, the administration used false
charges of anti Semitism to launch an all out attack
on the LBW on campus. So they've been doing that stuff,
(13:00):
you know, for fifty years. That's the aspect of it
that really annoys me, because it's like my whole ship
is I'm just like I don't funk with right wing stuffy,
Like I don't care if the right wing, if the
right wing stuff isn't is white, I don't funk with it.
(13:22):
If the right wing stuff is black, I don't funk
with it. If it's Muslim right wing stuff, I don't
work with it. And if it's Jewish right wing stuff,
I don't funk with it. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, period.
And obviously the world is rife with anti Semitism that
we have to get rid of. That you can easily
point to for an example, but simply not the basis
(13:43):
of this criticism. My whole ship is. I just don't
understand how, oh well, the bad guy was hiding amongst
all the kids, so we had to kill everybody. I
don't understand how that is the explanation, Like, how is
that a thing? Um? Not just there is an anti
Semitism within um with with like you know, famous figures
(14:05):
within uh, like Black liberation struggles historically. You know that
Malcolm X tow the lines sometimes and perhaps crossed it. Um.
But you know, I think a movement that rejects both
of us saying that you can leverage logical critiques, you know,
based on the facts, while also you know, not smearing
(14:27):
a people as necessarily you know, uh, monolithic or you
know all all all these folks, you know, I think
this way or something like that. Like its it requires nuance.
But it's critical because we can't fall forward the same
right wing shit that you know, that uh, that we
(14:47):
claim to reject. We can't fall for that ship. We
can't we can't get tack into that. No funk that
I mean if if some if somebody from like I
don't know, if somebody from like Norway who was like, man,
funk Trump, it just seems like for my reactually be like,
why are you talking about me? Why would you why
(15:08):
would you exactly exactly? Oh, you hate America, you hate
my family? No, man, I hate this guy that's doing
racist like oppressive ship to people. This guy's enacting policy.
But anyway, so um so. The Black Panther Party was
also supporters of the Palestinian struggle. In his article on
(15:30):
the Middle East, Black Panther Party leader Huey Newton states,
we support the Palestinians just struggle for liberation. We will
go on doing this and we would like for all
progressive people around the world to join our ranks in
order to make a world in which all people can live.
Is The BPP evolved into an internationalist organization focusing not
only on struggle for black liberation the United States, but
(15:54):
seeing the linkages between other resistance movements against subjugation of
peoples of color and the way that the way that
they use similar tactics of militarization and police occupation in
other countries. The Black Panther Party recognized that in order
to end the oppression of people United States say to
work to end imperialism all over the world, because the
(16:15):
United States not only perpetrating a form of genocide against
black people here, but you know the way that we've
been exploiting Africa, the way that we fund uh the struggles,
and the way we fund oppression through um you know,
military coups in South America, like all over the world.
We got our fingers and some ship. It's all imperialism.
(16:37):
And so for them, Palestine with the forefront of that
worldwide confrontation. Malcolm X was a known staunch opponent of Zionism.
He contended against it in an article that was published
by the Egyptian Gazette called Zionist Logic Goes Back in
nineteen sixty four, and the document Malcolm X notes the
parallels between subjugation of Palestinians and Africans. He pointed out
(16:58):
the strategic value of Israel to world imperialism. He stated,
the ever scheming European imperialist wisely placed Israel where she
could geographically divide the Arab world infiltrate and so seeds
of dissension amongst African leaders who also divide the Africans
against Asians. Damn, that would have been a good opportunity
to my Denzel Washington voice. So what do you what
(17:19):
do you think about that? He saw how like the
powers that be, like the elites, they wanted us to
like to and and we see this happening now like
oh well, um, I didn't see you come out to
the you know, stop Asian hate rally. So why should
I put a Black Lives Matter to found in my
front yard and vice versa? Or oh, we gotta like
look out for our people in our country first, so
(17:41):
that we can you know, and funk whatever is happening
in me and mar or you know, or Vietnam. But
it's all part of the same system and same struggle,
same struggle. Yeah, And so we sow dissension among African leaders,
so they're fighting amongst themselves or you know, so hatred
for the four Asians among the Africans, or you know
(18:04):
among uh for Africans among the Asians. That way they
can't come together to fucking fight off the people who
are really fucking up everyone. Ship and he saw that, yeah,
and the n Actually he was one of the first
African American leaders to meet with the newly formed Palestine
Liberation Organization. So fast forwarding a little bit too present.
More recently, um, when Israel unleashed war on Lebanon thousand six,
(18:27):
h Tony Morrison, along with seventeen other prominent intellectuals, issued
very principled statement condemning Israeli aggression and refusing to equivocate
in the face of the demonization of the Palestinian National
Liberation Forces. Is stated, the subsequent arguments, accupuizations, and vows
all served as a distraction in order to divert world
attention from the long term military, economic, and geographic practice
(18:49):
whose political aim is nothing less than liquidation or of
the Palestine Palestinian nation. So like not no both size
is um coming from Tony Morrison on a ship. The
solidarity continues today on many fronts, including support for International Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions movement. Prominent black intellectuals including Angela Davis,
(19:10):
Cornell West, Alice Walker, they've all endorsed the call for BDS,
which you know that even itself has been, you know,
a hot button topic. They've actually been passing anti BDS
laws where um companies or or people who are involved
in b D in anti or in b DS protests
(19:34):
or boycotts, they can't get government contracts to do things.
So for example, if you've been involved in it and
you have like a cleaning business, then like they've got
your cleaning business on like a list that you can
never get like a government contract. I'm just pulling out
cleaning business out of the hat. But yeah, like yeah,
(19:56):
so that's another point of contention too. So let's let's
jump head to two thousand and fourteen. Black Lives Matter
start popping off in Ferguson, Missouri. There was a famous
well not when he got famous through this Palestine and
activist by the name of Bassim Masuri who was very
engaged in the protests in St. Louis after Mike Brown
was murdered, live stream lots of events around Ferguson during
(20:17):
the uprising and was arrested and interrogated in the protests.
And actually he was one of many Ferguson activists who
has died since two thousand fourteen, which we talked a
little bit about in our very our second episode wire
Tap reps but Um at the time of the Ferguson protests,
Masury wrote, when Mike Brown was murdered in Ferguson, my
people in Gothap were being slaughtered by Israel and Operation
Protective Edge. The timing of the two events woke up
(20:39):
a lot of people. When Mike was killed, much of
the media started demonizing him in the protesters, often the
same sources that blame Palestinians for their own deaths and Gaza.
He went on to say, when the police use military
tanks and checkpoints to imprison the residence of Ferguson, I
was reminded of life in the West Bank, where I
saw the Israeli military used the same tactics of repression.
Our common goal it's to live in peace and to
(21:01):
not fear our children's lives when they are walking down
the street. That same summer, at the beginning of the
Black Lives Matter, Israel launched yet another military assault in Gaza,
killing more than two d two thousand and two hundred Palestinians,
including five hundred children, and people like Angela Davis have
highlighted the links between Israel's widespread use of detention imprisonment
(21:23):
against Palestinian the way it evokes the same kind of
mass incarceration black people United States experience. Um companies like
GFRS profit off the racist mass incarceration of both African
Americans the United States and Palestinians and Palestine. H G
Forest describes itself as the world leading provider and security
solutions and provide security services for over forty embassies around
(21:44):
the world. They've supplied security equipment and services and maintenance
for use to Israeli prisons, checkpoints and settlements of the
West Bank, including the highly controversial Israeli West Bank Barrier.
In October two thousand ten, three G four est guards
restrained and held down forty six year old and Golden
Deporti Jimmy Mumbenga on departing British Airways Flight seventy seven.
(22:08):
This is a Heathrow Airport. Security guards kept them restraining
the seat as he began shouting and seeking to resist
this deportation. Later, the guards were accused of forcing Mbenga's
head down as he sat handcuffed from behind for thirty
six minutes. The restraint technique is UH. The restraint technique
used is known as carpet karaoke and it's known to
(22:31):
create risk of asphyxia. Mumbenga was pronounced dead later that
evening in Hillington Hospital. So In October two thousand thirteen,
the BBC report allegations of prisoners being tortured at Mangwang
Prison in South Africa. The BBC sided research from which
Justice Project at was University in Johannesburg, which claimed that
dozens of the nearly three thousand inmates of the G
(22:52):
four prison I've been portrayed using electro shock and forced injections.
And then this is a fucking crazy twist um. In
June two th sixteen, Chief Ors employee or Omar mateen Um,
via the u S subsidiary G Forrest of Care Solutions,
was identified the perpetrator of the two thousand sixteen or
(23:13):
Lando nightclub shooting, the second deadliest mass shooting in US history, which, okay,
the others. The other instances highlight the way that like
this one company with global reach is perpetrating similar kinds
of violence on people of color in countries all over
the world, whether it's in Palestine, whether it's in the
United Kingdom, whether it's in South Africa, whether it's um
(23:35):
in there's another incident that happened, I think it was
in Jacksonville, Florida. Um And then the way that these
people are trained in violence that ends up eking out
into the way they deal with people in the their
day to day life. So this guy who worked for
g Fors goes on to fucking splatter fifty LGBTQ people
(23:58):
in a nightclub because on his day job, he's a
part of the system that's killing people. All of that
humanize people all over the world. So all around the world,
this company is making money off incarcerations and sometimes torturing
and killing people of color, and it is part of
the Black Liberation of Palestine solidarity movement involves understanding these
global systems of capital and power, how they're used against
(24:21):
people of color in different countries, and how liberation for
us all involves taking these systems down. Yeah, if you
take down, you take down for us. That's Palestinian liberation.
Its liberation for the people in South Africa. That's liberation
for the young folks in Jackson and Ville, Florida that
are that are in child detention facilities like that's that's
that's kind of the link that people in the Black
(24:42):
Lives Matter movement and the you know, in the Palestina
Palestinian liberation movements are coming to see these days. Well,
one thing I think it is really beautiful is that
the way that under this bombardment, under the suppression, under
the living in this open air prison, the people of
Palestine have shown up for the Black Lives Matter movement,
perhaps and in a way that I don't think was
reciprocated until recently. So with the acquittal of George Zimmerman
(25:06):
in the case of Trade Bon Martin's murder, because it
sparked outrage and demonstrations all over the United States and
all over the world, Palestinians took to the streets and
circulated pictures of themselves holding signs that are at Palestinians
stand with those who mourned trade on Martin's death. We
know what it feels like to lose level ones and
watch the murderers of aid justice. So they were out
there in the streets for US way before, honestly, way before.
(25:29):
I think like there was a mass movement in the
United States here reciprocating that support. Circling back to the
story of Jabrielle Robinson and the Atlanta Police. Here in
Georgia there exists a unique relationship between the military and
police oppression experienced by the Palestinians and the police violence
in which black Georgians are subjective. We returned to considering
the Gilley Program, the law enforcement exchange between police officers
(25:54):
in Georgia and law enforcement officials in Israel to like
learn tactics from n HL there. So it started in
preparations to secure UH the Olympic Games in Atlanta, go
to State University and the law enforcement community established the
Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange GILLY. The program UM was
given three objectives. To enhance inter agency cooperation between the
(26:16):
State of Georgia law enforcement agencies and the police for
the Force of Israel of the State of Israel. To
offer an educational professional programmed to senior is Really law
enforcement officials in Georgia. To offer an educational professional program
for senior Israeli law enforcement officials primarily in the areas
of counter terrorism and drug interdiction. So effectively, these motherfucker's
(26:39):
just learning fund up shop from each other. Going over
to Zerio, learn how to prut a lot of people,
fun people up bringing back to Georgia. Shoot Jibral Johnson
twice in the back as he is walking away. When
I lived in Africa, UM Cameroon specifically, there was definitely
like a contingent of some Israeli military that we're trading
the Cameroonian military. They exported their tactics and and when hardware,
(27:01):
you know, all of the world. So GILLY, with the
Israeli law enforcement as their primary exchange partners, teachers police
officials the tactics of military militarized police forces that treat
communities as enemies. For example, GILLY has thought that officers
should inspire fear by racking their firearms when they hosted them,
flash their vehicles blue lights when patrolling neighborhoods, and limit
(27:24):
free speech by targeting incitement to quote unquote. So in
addition to the abuses we've seen by global companies like GFRS,
there's programs like GILLY that like literally give opportunity for
these motherfucker's to like learn the worst of each other
ship and bring it back to wherever they live. But
(27:45):
in the spirit of Palestinians solidarity, this week we're gonna
be checking out some tracks by some Palestinian hip hop artists.
Oh yeah, what we what you guy for us this week? Mac? Alright?
So first up, we got the group Damn or e
a M. They are founded in by brothers Tamer and
(28:06):
Chanel Nafar and their friend Ma Dudjeri. I think that
that's not how you pronounce it, I assure you. Um.
Their songs are largely about racism and poverty. It's protests
driven stuff um, centering around the fight against depression, Israeli occupation, drugs,
(28:26):
and the fight for women's rights. So let's check out there.
What was their first breakthrough single almost fifteen years ago.
It's a song called min Ira mean Irabi or who is?
Who's the terrorists? Me it happy? I'm not happy happy
one blady me it happy and happy bl So they
(28:52):
talk about how like, oh, you're the witness, you're the
lawyer and the judge, like you control every arm of
the of the judicial system. So of course you're like,
you know what what justice can't exist for me if
like the folks that have already decided on the terrorists,
the one controlling every aspect of my judgment in sentencing.
(29:13):
I mean, yeah, there, it's it's it's it's an exclamation
of the underlying sources of aggression, of housing aggression, like well,
of course I ended up quote unquote terrorists, like you
buried my parents under rubble. Uh, you know, like what,
I don't know what else do you think I'm supposed
to do? I like that hooked the reframe who's the
(29:35):
terrorists and my terrorists? Who's the terrist? That's actually pretty yeah,
it is. It is fine. It definitely like the instrumental
it's got that um like it's either like a single
you know, single individual key sort of piano riff sample,
which is like really reminiscent of like that early Immortal
(29:59):
technique or of Jedi mind tricks sort of style where
it's like it's like that early two thousand's political rap beat.
Like pretty much, you know, it's pretty understand it and
it just lets the lyrics do all the talking. Yeah beautiful,
Yeah exactly. Now that was flying um And now we're
(30:20):
gonna switch it up because you know, Damn is probably
uh the premier Palestinian rap groups. So they've been around
for a while now. So you know, we're going back
to the early two thousands, so we're gonna flash forward
in time and check out something that's a bit new
from them. Um this song I could not this O.
(30:42):
This doesnt have the translation in it. This is their
song the Milder at looking and it sounds like some
missy ellie. It like I just noticed a parallel, so
(31:03):
we said, should I pay off my debts or fight
the system? Reminds me of that line from the Vince
Staples song. Um, it's caught between my conscious and the
skin that's on my body. Man, I need to fight
the power, but I need that new Ferrari like like
same ship, the same ship. We also want the same thing,
all right, I just stopped it. Okay. Yeah. So it's
like it's sort of like a I don't even want
(31:26):
to say it's like a clubby Joint, but it's definitely
like a lot more accessible, like if the first Joint
was kind of like their underground early two thousand's sort
of beggar. This is a very very modern but still
in keeping with what they do, but it's very like
made for for mainstream consumption. Yeah, this if this ship
(31:50):
is what's this If you're gonna go throw rocks at
the I d F. This is this is the ship
you put on to get hyped up exactly. Um, It's
it's like, uh, you know, they're they're talking about the
powers that be trying to keep us separated and not
have us unify, you know, unify like we're talking about
in this episode. But there's a one line that stood out.
(32:11):
I like that. It was, you know, they spend billions
of dollars to keep us separated. That the thing. Yeah,
that's a direct indictment of the infusion of of dollars,
billions of dollars a military aid to uphold this our
part apartheid regime. When we were listening to it, I
was mentioning that it gave me Missy Elliott vibes. The
(32:34):
instrumental was very The instrumental sounded like if you went
on YouTube and found like Timberland type beat. Yeah, one
of those you know, not the disrespect. It just sounded
very Timberland influence, but that that era of Timberland, you
know what I'm saying. And and they were rocking at
The video also is dope, but it starts off with
(32:57):
all three of the members heads on the ground. Yeah yeah, yeah,
with boots on top of it, sort of like they're
in an interrogation rooms fresh moves with some strobe lights
going on. Later on in this yeah yeah, they had
that b boy be girl vibe with the dancers. Yeah, no,
it was that was really fresh and that was nineteen too,
(33:20):
so yeah, yeah, like you just you just heard Mariah
since she's putting that in her Spotify playlist, so that
ship is certain. We don't we don't normally do it,
but that should have certified waiting on reparations fresh. So
for this last track, we're gonna go to a English
speaking rapper, Palestinian Canadian rapper who I first heard of
(33:45):
him from a pretty popping freestyle that he did on
some radio thing that was a YouTube clip for a while.
But this is the rapper Belly. He's also a singer
and songwriter as well. But this is his track history
of Violence. Let what has been to Palestinaian right? Flipping
(34:06):
these freedom of all aimed just to religion life, just
shut them. I like that. He's like, I'm not trying
to say that we're perfect, you know, like he had
you know, amidst that, like, yo, yeah, we kind of
you know, there's been some fun up ship, but there's
a history of violence. You gotta understand the whole like
where all of this began, like who did what, to
(34:27):
whom win and to what degree? Which again coming back
to that asymmetricality I was talking about at the top,
um in order to like understand how things became the
way that they are. That was fresh. You know, it
started off kind of wobbly for me personally as far
as like the styles I like, but he picked it up,
especially with that second verse. He um. One of the
(34:49):
things that I really appreciated him mentioning was the second
or third class apartheid level living conditions the Palestinians have
to live in, not not having the proper municipalities and
running water or you know what I mean, and and
stuff like that. Um. Yeah, now that was I'm still
(35:12):
kind of taken aback. That was. I'd recommend y'all go
listen to that full song that was and it's like
it's like couching a bit of like direct material historical context,
but like if you strip that out. It sounds like
it could have been written in Compton. It sounds like
it could have been written in It sounds I could
have been written in Chicago, given that he's like an
(35:33):
actual songwriter, like he he writes for other people and
stuff too. I kind of the sense that I got
from it. I have no idea because I'm not in
his head, but the sense that I got from it
is that was the intent of that song was to
wrap about it in a way that it could just
be like he was rapping about Compton or rapping about
any hood that we you know what I mean that
(35:55):
that the people could recognize here in the US, but rapping,
but what like the he's actually talking about his Palestine,
And I think that is a cool concept to the instrumental.
The instrumental was it it left some to be desired. Um,
not that it was bad, but you know, it's just
kind of like you know, yes, I mean yeah. But
(36:19):
then again, it's a testament to Belly because his lyrics,
like his his pen game was so strong. As with
um the first Damn song we listened to, like the
Beata's understated in order for the songwriting to shine. I
felt like you're listening very intently to the words, because
you're not like bopping your head that hard to the
(36:40):
eight O waits there anything? And I dig how like
his uh. I felt like the more that the song
went on, the more complex I guess he started to rhyme,
you know what I mean. It started off very basic,
which for me was like, okay, so that's that's the
(37:00):
sort of rapper that he does, you know what I mean.
And it's like as you got into the middle of
the first verse, he started picking it up. In the
second verse, he just started going in like oh, oh okay,
Like yeah, so if the song covers a lot of fronts,
it's it's got really good rapping, and you know, the
subject matter and how he's going about discussing it is
(37:24):
a pretty fresh take. Yeah. Well that's all we got
for this week. Please go check out these artists and
support UM as well as you know, advocate for the
dismantling of the military industrial complex in the person industrial
complex worldwide. Preach Preach my name is Dope Knife. Wait
(37:44):
wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait.
How the hell am I like trying to close the
shift off, Like I'm just trying to like end ship
like niggas ain't wrapped. I'm just trying to like like,
I'm like, no, we can't even do it like that.
I'm sorry, y'all, Like, how could I forget a my
homie Joel? Can we can we get an instrumental? Please? Uh?
(38:12):
I was gonna start, yo, yo, yo yo. I don't
gotta truly to spit when it comes to written versus.
I am truly legit on another different curve in school
with you, Brick, because when I dropped, give the urge,
kick a dude, and the ship proven it this bit
of scene words, and then I did. I stacked my
brain and that means work, and I persist. I mixed
(38:34):
the red and the green herb, and I quit, come
off the head with a mean verse and let it rip.
I can't rip because I lost my place, danger, danger
of loss of space, and I've lost some pace. I
looked greater, quit awesome, tick. That's what I can do it,
yo yo. My name's Dope Knife Franca, and we are
(38:56):
waiting on reparations. See you next week, See you next week.
Listen to Waiting on Reparations on the I Heart Radio app,
Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts m h
m hm
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