Palestine and the systems of oppression (ft. Hasanain Jaffer) - Ep152

The Muslim Vibe Podcast is back and so is our former host Salim Kassam! It's been almost 8 months since our last episode and two years since Salim was in the hot seat, but we're back in action and plan to publish an episode every 2 weeks (inshallah!).
In our first episode back, Salim talks to Hasanain Jaffer, a social justice educator and activist who speaks regularly on racism, white supremacy, imperialism and capitalism. We discuss the injustices taking place in Gaza today in the context of the wider systems of oppression.
You can find Hasanain on Instagram here: ⁠ hjaffer⁠
Hasanain's suggested reading as mentioned at the end of the podcast:
- The New Age of Empire by Kehinde Andrews (⁠amzn.to/4aaOie2⁠)
- Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Davis (⁠amzn.to/4a5MDqn⁠)
- Less is More by Jason Hickel (⁠amzn.to/3T6VFgK⁠)
- Tangled in Terror by Suhaiymah Manzoor Khan (⁠amzn.to/3NbnFMw⁠)
- Palestine a Socialist Introduction by Sumaya Awad (⁠amzn.to/3R9tcnL⁠)
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[@alimwatch14]

Welcome back

[@murtazamerali585]

Mashallah Hasnain's beard game very strong

[@matthewcohen4907]

Finally on a personal note to Salim. Keep doing the amazing work you do to support those less fortunate in the most challenging conflict zones in the world. i may not agree with you on some or all of your points, but that doesn’t mean I don’t admire you.

[@matthewcohen4907]

Paraphrasing this part - regarding the “powerful benefitting from the democratic system with the UK and it not working for you”. In *any* system of government, you have winners and losers, the few and the many. It’s not unique to democracy. In fact, democracy is an attempt to have checks and balances. You are both welcome (as is your right) to form a political party and challenge the status quo. That right is not bestowed upon citizens of every country. The fact that you’re even able to make this podcast with this content, is testament to the fact that you live in a liberal democracy. You wouldn’t be able to make this type of critique of a political system under other systems such as authoritarian regimes. It’s up to you both to drive the change you seek.

[@matthewcohen4907]

On the point of “because they’re not white” when regarding the plight of Palestinians refugees. This ignores the history of the Palestinian diaspora in the Middle East. The Egyptians, for example, continue to significantly curtail the movement of people at the Rafah crossing. Could this be because the Palestinians in Gaza elected Hamas (an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood - the latter declared a terrorist organisation by the Egyptian government)? Or if we look at where the PLO was expelled from in the 1970s and 1980s (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria etc). The history of Palestinian resistance within the countries they’ve been accepted as refugees is likely the major cause of why Palestinian refugees have not been accepted in the current conflict. Black September still likely lives in the minds of people in the Middle East and could be a factor in deciding the suitability in the Arab world of accepting refugees. Albeit, economic issues (Lebanon) or civil war (Yemen, Syria) also could explain this.

[@matthewcohen4907]

First in a series of comments. Thank you for your time and effort in producing this podcast. I will try and provide a differing perspective to the one presented in this podcast. The idea of Israel being a colonial power (akin to UK, Belgium, France, USA) is far from the reality. The largest populous of Israeli citizens is comprised of Middle East and African Jews expelled from countries such as Iraq, Morocco, Libya, Yemen, Iran, Algeria etc. In the large majority of cases, they were forced to leave (expelled) or subject to significant abuse (pogroms) or subjugation (inability to purchase land etc) Many of these places (particularly N Africa) imported Islam through Arab Colonialism and trade. Salim, if we look at your Kenyan heritage, as an example. Are you not a product directly of Islamic colonialisation in East Africa somewhere in your lineage? Colonialism comes in many shapes and forms. It’s a part of human history since the dawn of man and can be driven by geographical factors, innovation or through ideals embedded in supremacy (amongst others). My point being, modern day Israel is largely a state populated by refugees. So it’s hard for me to see how this is fits with your narrative of colonialism.