In this episode of Habibti Please, Nashwa was joined in person by Wet’suwet’en Matriarch, activist, filmmaker, chef, and community organizer Marlene Hale, in Montreal last May. Marlene is the founder of Our Decision, Our Future, now evolving into Beyond the Ballot, and is currently working on a documentary film examining systemic racism, land defense, and Indigenous resistance across so-called Canada.

The conversation centres Matriarchy as a lived role, shaped through mentorship, listening, and accountability to land, people, and future generations. Moving between Wet’suwet’en feast house protocols, food sovereignty, climate justice, youth political organizing, and Bannock as pedagogy, Marlene offers a grounded vision of leadership rooted in care instead of hierarchy.

Rather than treating matriarchy as symbolic or historical, this episode understands it as active governance, survival, and responsibility, carried through everyday practices and intergenerational relationships.

This episode offers many learnings. Marlene generously explains that becoming a matriarch is not automatic or symbolic, it is a lifelong process of being mentored by grandmothers, mothers, and aunties. Knowledge is passed through observation, correction, and presence, beginning in childhood and continuing throughout life. She also describes feast houses as places where governance is learned through protocol, seating, service, and respect. Young people learn by watching elders closely, understanding roles, and asking questions when guided to do so. As mentioned in the episode, I first met Marlene in May 2025 during a rally at Montreal’s Cabot Square to honour missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Although I have long been honoured to do work with and alongside Indigenous people I had rarely heard the kinds of connections Marlene made to pipelines and Missing and Murdered Indigenous women. Marlene connects resource extraction projects and, increased violence against Indigenous women. logging roads, and man camps to broader forms of harm: disrupted animal migration, food insecurity, environmental risks These are not separate issues, but interconnected outcomes of extractive systems.

Marlene reflects on how families once lived off the land year-round through hunting, fishing, drying, and berry picking,canning while today, forest fires, industrial development, and ecological destruction have made those practices difficult, forcing people far from their territories. To close we talk about a project Marlene spearheads Our Decision, Our Future and how it grew into Beyond the Ballot Box after witnessing deep political alienation among young people. Voting, she emphasizes, is only one step, while real democracy requires ongoing accountability to youth whose futures are most at stake.

Throughout the conversation, Marlene stresses that Youth and Elders. Elders create time and space and experience; Youth bring urgency serious issues and imagination, and each share stories. Marlene returns often to awareness: ofLand, Food Systems, and people, and as a form of survival and responsibility in a rapidly changing and often hostile political environment.

Film & Ongoing Work

Marlene is currently filming a documentary film grounded in years of organizing, The film examines systemic racism across health, education, justice, and environmental systems, while situating Wet’suwet’en struggle within global Indigenous movements.

Furthermore, since the pandemic hit,she has been raising awareness through her weekly webinar series, “Marlene Webinars Solidarity Action Group”. She has created this space for youth, elders, activists and more to share news and support each other through the many issues to its depth.

Follow & Support Marlene Hale

● Website: www.ourdecisionourfuture.ca

* https://chuffed.org/project/126670-our-decision-our-future

● Instagram: @OurDecisionOurFuture

● Bio: Marlene Hale - Our World

● Webinar: Marlene Solidarity Webinar

● Film: chefmaluh.ca

Video Interviews, Talks & Panels

Baking Bannock & Battling Environmental Racism with Marlene Hale.

POP Symposium – Day 3: Marlene Hale & Stefan ChristoffThe Artist’s Role in Indigenous Land Struggles.

Marlene Hale Solidarity Update.

Additional Talk on Indigenous Struggle & Resistance.

Wet’suwet’en Chef, Turned Activist in Quebec Ready to Take on the Politicians.(APTN News – video)

https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/wetsuweten-chef-turned-activist-in-quebec-ready-to-take-on-the-politicians-to-get-answers-for-her-people-in-b-c/

Further Reading & Viewing

A curated list to deepen the themes of matriarchy, Indigenous feminism, land defense, food sovereignty, and political accountability discussed in this episode.

Indigenous Matriarchy & Women’s Leadership

Reid, Teela. “The Power of the First Nations Matriarchy: Warrior Women Reckoning with the Colony.” Griffith Review.https://www.griffithreview.com/articles/the-power-of-the-first-nations-matriarchy/

Murray, Roxann. “The Healing Power of Matriarchs.” YES! Magazine, 2024.https://www.yesmagazine.org/opinion/2024/04/22/women-native-healing-matriarch

“Indigenous Matriarchal Traditions: A Tribute for Women’s History Month.” Owamniyomni.https://owamniyomni.org/2024/03/21/indigenous-matriarchal-traditions-a-tribute-for-womens-history-month/

Hale, Marlene. “The Making of a Matriarch.” BILD-LIDA.https://bild-lida.ca/blog/uncategorized/the-making-of-a-matriarch-by-marlene-hale/

Indigenous Feminism, Care, & Knowledge Practices

Tuck, E., Stepetin, H., Beaulne-Stuebing, R., & Billows, J. (2022).“Visiting as an Indigenous Feminist Practice.” Gender and Education.https://poche.mdhs.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/4740723/2022-Tuck,-E.,-_Stepetin,-H.,-_Beaulne-Stuebing,-R.,-_-_Billows,-J.-2022.-Visiting-as-an-Indigenous-feminist-practice.-Gender-and-Education,-1-12.pdf

“An Indigenous Feminist Commemoration of Canada 150.” University of Winnipeg — Weweni.https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/indigenous/weweni/past-wewenis/an-indigenous-feminist-commemoration-of-canada-150.html

Palmater, Pamela. “#MeToo and the Secrets Indigenous Women Keep.” The Walrus.https://thewalrus.ca/metoo-and-the-secrets-indigenous-women-keep/

Law, Governance & Indigenous Feminist Frameworks

This section brings together Indigenous feminist scholarship that interrogates how law, governance, and state systems shape and often enable violence against Indigenous women, girls, Two-Spirit, and gender-diverse people. These works are essential for understanding why extractive projects, policing, and jurisdictional gaps continue to produce harm, and how Indigenous feminist legal thought offers pathways toward accountability, relational governance, and land-based justice.

Deborah McGregor — Indigenous Feminisms, Environmental Justice, and the Law

In this work, Deborah McGregor advances Indigenous feminist approaches to law and environmental governance. McGregor demonstrates how settler legal systems and extractive governance models marginalize Indigenous women’s authority, responsibilities to land, and knowledge systems, while reproducing colonial and gendered violence. Her work is foundational for understanding how environmental decision-making, resource extraction, and legal regimes intersect with the MMIWG2S crisis.https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/scholarly_works/2924/

Cherry Smiley — Indigenous Feminism, Colonial Violence, and Resistance

In her doctoral research, Cherry Smiley offers a rigorous critique of how colonial governance, state feminism, and liberal legal frameworks obscure and perpetuate violence against Indigenous women. Smiley centers Indigenous feminism as a site of political resistance, challenging racialized and patriarchal narratives while foregrounding Indigenous women’s leadership in struggles against sexual violence, disappearance, and state harm.https://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/id/eprint/990510/

Pipelines, Man Camps & Violence Against Indigenous Women

Content note: The following resources discuss colonial and gender-based violence, sexual violence, disappearance, and murder of Indigenous women, girls, Two-Spirit, and gender-diverse people. We share these readings to deepen understanding of the structural conditions that create harm and to honour the leadership and analysis of Indigenous communities.

This set of readings explores how resource extraction projects, particularly pipelines and associated “man camps” intersect with the ongoing crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit, and gender-diverse people (MMIWG2S). Together, these pieces show how extractive economies, colonial jurisdictional gaps, and temporary industrial workforces create conditions that heighten risk and violence for Indigenous communities.

Selected Readings & Resources

• Pipeline of Violence: The Oil Industry and Missing and Murdered Indigenous WomenThis legal and human rights analysis examines how oil and pipeline projects intensify violence against Indigenous women through jurisdictional failures, lack of accountability, and the social impacts of extractive economies on Indigenous lands.https://lawblogs.uc.edu/ihrlr/2021/05/28/pipeline-of-violence-the-oil-industry-and-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women/

• Pipeline Fighters – Missing & Murdered Indigenous Persons Resource HubA community-based resource linking pipeline resistance with MMIWG2S advocacy. This page connects extractive infrastructure to patterns of violence and offers pathways to further reports, inquiries, and Indigenous-led organizing.https://pipelinefighters.org/resources/indigenous-resources/missing-murdered-indigenous-persons/

• Pipelines, Man Camps and Murdered Indigenous Women in Canada (Al Jazeera)This feature centers Indigenous voices describing how pipeline construction and transient work camps have led to increased harassment, intimidation, and violence in nearby communities, echoing findings from Canada’s National Inquiry.https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2020/5/5/pipelines-man-camps-and-murdered-indigenous-women-in-canada

• What Do Pipelines Have to Do with Sexual Violence? (Vancouver & District Sexual Violence Prevention Alliance)A clear, accessible overview explaining how pipeline projects and man camps can contribute to sexual violence, particularly in rural and Indigenous territories, and why prevention must be built into project planning and policy.https://vsdvalliance.org/press_release/what-do-pipelines-have-to-do-with-sexual-violence/

• For Indigenous Women, More Pipelines Mean More Threats of Sexual Violence (The Revelator)An environmental justice perspective highlighting how fossil fuel infrastructure projects increase risks of sexual violence for Indigenous women, drawing on community testimony and land-based resistance.https://therevelator.org/fossil-fuel-indigenous-women/

• Wet’suwet’en Isn’t Just About a Pipeline, but Keeping Indigenous Women Safe (VICE)Reporting from Wet’suwet’en territory that situates land defense as a form of community safety, emphasizing how opposition to pipelines is also about protecting Indigenous women and girls from violence.https://www.vice.com/en/article/wetsuweten-isnt-just-about-a-pipeline-but-keeping-indigenous-women-safe/

• Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQI+ People – Resource Guide (Canadian Human Rights Commission)A comprehensive guide to reports, inquiries, community organizations, and educational materials — including Reclaiming Power and Place — offering broader context on the MMIWG2S crisis in Canada.https://humanrights.ca/resource-guide/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-girls-and-2slgbtqi-people

P.S.

I also want to name that today feels politically important. Last year I attended Avi Lewis’ NDP leadership launch in Ottawa, and it left me feeling something I haven’t felt in a long time in formal political spaces: a sense of movement, seriousness, and possibility.

As many of you know, including from my essay Voting Is Not Harm Reduction I’m not someone who believes party politics will resolve our crises, or that electoral wins replace organizing, mutual aid, land defense, or movement work. I don’t see voting as the horizon of change.

But I do think moments like this can be openings. A leadership race like this one is a chance to push a mainstream party toward bolder climate justice, anti-war politics, and accountability to movements including Indigenous land defense and feminist struggles against violence. For me, this feels less like an endorsement of party politics, and more like a strategic intervention: an attempt to widen what’s politically sayable and possible.

If this resonates, you can sign up for an NDP membership (as little as $10) to be able to vote for Avi Lewis before before midnight PST/3 am EST today, on January 28.. I’m sharing the link here for anyone who wants to join me. An invitation, offered in the spirit of collective experimentation and hope.

For further context on why this leadership race matters strategically for the broader left, I recommend Martin Lukacs’ article “The left case for joining the NDP — and voting for Avi Lewis,” which lays out how building party membership now can expand space for movement politics.

As always, thank you for listening, for thinking alongside me, and for holding these conversations with care.

In this episode of Habibti Please, Nashwa Lina Khan joins Local 514 for a deep-dive conversation unpacking the recent visit of the Swedish royal family to Montréal, Ottawa, and so-called Canada, a visit largely framed by mainstream media as ceremonial, benign, and cultural. This episode argues otherwise.

What begins as a seemingly innocuous royal tour reveals a much deeper story about arms deals, NATO expansion, Canada’s growing role in the military-industrial complex, and how cities like Montréal are quietly being positioned as hubs fo r weapons manufacturing and military AI.

Royal visits are not Neutral. The Swedish king and queen were not simply visiting for diplomacy or cultural exchange. Their presence functioned as high-level corporate lobbying on behalf of Sweden’s arms industry, specifically the push to sell Saab Gripen fighter jets to Canada amid tensions with the United States and a reassessment of F-35 procurement.

Sweden’s carefully cultivated global image as progressive, neutral, humanitarian collapses under closer scrutiny. The episode traces Saab’s history of corruption allegations across South Africa, Brazil, Central Europe, and beyond, raising urgent questions about why Canada would deepen military partnerships with a company repeatedly implicated in bribery and misconduct. “Humanitarian arms exporters” do not and will never exist.

Far from being peripheral, Montréal is already deeply embedded in global weapons supply chains. Montreal is indeed a weapons hub. From aerospace manufacturing to AI research institutes, public funds and public institutions are increasingly tied to military production often without public debate or consent. Montreal is already a weapons hub, you can read more from Arms Embargo Now here. The Swedish delegation’s visit to Montréal’s AI research institutions highlights how “innovation” rhetoric is used to normalize military tech development. Civilian research spaces are quietly absorbed into war-oriented futures under the banner of jobs and competitiveness.

The promise of “10,000 high-paying jobs” is interrogated head-on. The episode asks: Why are weapons framed as the only viable economic growth strategy? What would job creation look like if public money were invested in housing, climate resilience, care work, or food security instead? Why jobs implicated in war instead of justice?

While politicians insist Canada is not directly exporting weapons to conflict zones, the episode lays out how Canadian-made components feed into global arms supply chains including those linked to Gaza, Sudan, Yemen, and beyond. Canada is and has been quietly complicit.

This conversation invites listeners to move beyond surface-level nationalism and media complacency. It challenges the idea that Canada or Sweden can position itself as peace-loving while expanding war infrastructure. It also asks Montréalers to reflect on what kind of city we are being shaped into, and who benefits from that transformation. or clear, evidence-based reporting on how Canadian-made weapons and components continue to circulate globally despite official denials, spend time with this investigation from Arms Embargo Now: https://armsembargonow.ca/.

As this episode reminds us, militarized economies are life-taking economies and they require permanent war to sustain themselves.

Complicity Is Not a Mystery: Canada, Arms, and the Architecture of Denial

Canada often describes itself as a peacekeeping nation, restrained, principled, and guided by “benevolant” international law. Yet the evidence tells a different story. Over and over, Canadian-made weapons, components, and technologies surface in sites of mass violence: Gaza, Sudan, Yemen. Each time, the response follows a familiar pattern. Officials insist exports are frozen. Ministers emphasize complexity. Responsibility is displaced onto allies, intermediaries, or technical classifications.

What this bibliography reveals is not a failure of information, but an architecture of denial.

Civil society reports show how Canadian arms complicit in violence globaly reach places through U.S. supply chains. Investigative journalism documents contracts approved after internal reviews flagged extensive human rights violations. Parliamentary interventions warn that Canada is “on notice” of potential complicity under international law. Faith institutions and humanitarian organizations call for embargoes and sanctions. Still, the machinery continues.

Complicity here is not accidental. It is bureaucratic. It lives in export permits, Crown corporations,Canadian ports, risk-mitigation language, and procurement contracts framed as “industrial benefits.” It is reinforced through diplomacy, royal visits, trade missions, defence partnerships that normalize militarism as innovation and economic growth.

Looking at Sudan makes it impossible to dismiss as rooted on a single conflict. Canadian rifles appear in the hands of militias accused of massacres. Canadian exports pass through the UAE despite clear diversion risks. The same loopholes, the same rationales, the same denials reappear.

What changes when we read these sources together is scale. The question is no longer whether Canada knows. The record shows it does. The question is whether Canada is willing to act when accountability threatens profit, alliances, or national myth.

This archive exists to interrupt that myth and to insist that responsibility does not end at the border, the permit, or the press release.

Canada, Arms, and Complicity: A Starter Reading List

This short list is designed for people who want to learn about the issue issue or need a clear entry point. Each item attempts to answer a different “first question.”

1. Arms Embargo Now (2025)

Exposing Canadian Military Exports to Israelhttps://armsembargonow.ca/report/

Why start here:This is the clearest overview of what Canada is exporting, how it moves (especially via the U.S.), and why official claims of a “freeze” don’t match the evidence.

2. CBC News (2025)

Report suggests arms still flow from Canada to Israel despite denialshttps://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/arms-ammunition-shipments-israel-canada-1.7596091

Why start here:Shows how mainstream journalism confirms what civil society has documented and where government messaging breaks down.

3. Project Ploughshares (2025)

Canada under contract to supply the IDF with artillery propellanthttps://ploughshares.ca/canada-under-contract-to-supply-the-idf-with-artillery-propellant/

Why start here:Introduces the idea of indirect complicity and how Canadian goods flow through U.S. contracts and Crown corporations.

4. The Maple (2025)

How Canada’s purchases of Israeli weapons fuel genocidehttps://www.readthemaple.com/how-canadas-purchases-of-israeli-weapons-fuel-genocide/

Why start here:Shifts the conversation from exports to imports and how Canada financially sustains Israel’s military industry.

5. Yellowhead Institute (2023)

Canada’s Role in the Colonization of Palestinehttps://yellowheadinstitute.org/2023/candas-role-in-colonization-palestine/

Why start here:Provides historical grounding on how Canada’s relationship to Palestine did not begin in 2023.

6. Anglican Church of Canada (2025)

General Synod Resolution C012: Arms Embargo on Israelhttps://gs2025.anglican.ca/resolutions/c012/

Why start here:This is no longer a fringe position, institutions are publicly calling for an embargo.

7. Local 514 (2025)

The Swedish royal couple in Montréal to sell warplanes? (video of this episode)

Why start here:Connects arms exports to diplomacy, monarchy, and the normalization of militarism.

PART II — DEEP-DIVE APPENDIX

A. Export Loopholes & State Risk Assessments

* Project Ploughshares & Amnesty International Canada —“No Credible Evidence”: Canada’s flawed analysis of arms exports to Saudi Arabiahttps://ploughshares.ca/special-report-no-credible-evidence-canadas-flawed-analysis-of-arms-exports-to-saudi-arabia/

* The Maple —Government export agency noted 99 Israeli crimes but OK’d arms salehttps://www.readthemaple.com/government-export-agency-noted-99-israeli-crimes-but-okd-arms-sale/

* Middle East Monitor —Canada reviewing report on U.S. loophole sending military parts to Israelhttps://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20251122-canada-reviewing-report-on-us-loophole-sending-its-military-parts-to-israel-despite-freeze/

B. Civilian Infrastructure

* The Rover —Are passengers on flights from Montréal sitting above shipments of bullets?https://therover.ca/gaza-are-passengers-on-flights-from-montreal-sitting-above-shipments-of-bullets-for-israels-war/

C. Sudan, the UAE, and Global Spillover

* CBC News —Sudanese fighters accused of massacres use Canadian-made rifleshttps://www.cbc.ca/news/world/sudan-rsf-massacres-canadian-rifles-sterling-cross-9.6969856

* Truthout —As Canadian weapons enter Sudan, activists decry Canada’s deepening UAE tieshttps://truthout.org/articles/as-canadian-weapons-enter-sudan-activists-decry-canadas-deepening-uae-ties/

* CJPME —Canada must halt arms exports to the UAEhttps://www.cjpme.org/pr_2025_10_30_sudan

D. Parliamentary & Institutional Accountability

* Senate of Canada — Kim Pate (2025)Senate intervention on Gaza and risk of Canadian complicityhttps://sencanada.ca/en/senators/pate-kim/interventions/671800/51

* Oxfam Canada —3 actions to limit Canada’s complicity in genocidehttps://www.oxfam.ca/story/3-actions-to-limit-canadas-complicity-in-genocide/

Listen + read more

Subscribe to Habibti Please on Substack for extended analysis, reading lists, and companion essays:habibtiplease.substack.com

Follow Nashwa Lina Khan’s work at the intersections of disability justice, anti-militarism, and feminist decolonial analysis.

Stay Connected:

* Follow us on Twitter: @habibtiblease and the habibti please instagram

* 🌳Our Linktree

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Subscribe to Habibti Please on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Substack to keep up with future episodes, resistance reading lists, and conversations from the frontlines of feminist, abolitionist, and anti-colonial struggles. Habibti Please is a proud member of the Habinger Media Network, get weekly updates from Canada’s politically and socially progressive podcast community at Habingermedianetwork.com.

Medicine is never neutral. In this episode of Habibti Please, host Nashwa Lina Khan speaks with Dr. Yipeng Ge, a public health physician and activist who has worked in Gaza during the genocide. They speak about the entanglement of healthcare, colonialism, and liberation struggles.

From Six Nations of the Grand River to Gaza, this conversation connects Indigenous resistance, Palestinian liberation, and the responsibilities of healthcare workers who refuse silence in the face of genocide. Dr. Ge shares first-hand experiences working in Rafah, witnessing severe malnutrition and attacks on Gaza’s hospitals, and reflects on the responsibilities of physicians to act politically, not just clinically.

They also discuss the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s largest-ever mission, the Sumud flotilla, which set sail with over 50 boats from 44 countries to break Israel’s illegal blockade — and the increasing risks activists face as Israel escalates attacks and labels them “terrorists.”

To practice medicine is to confront colonialism, speak out against genocide, and understand care as inseparable from justice. Yipeng reflects on their education at McMaster, where Indigenous leaders like Dawn Martin Hill fought for the creation of Indigenous Studies, shaping a transformative understanding of privilege, responsibility, and solidarity. Drawing on the words of Dr. Nidal Jabbour, the conversation underscores that liberation and freedom — not aid alone — are essential for health and survival in Palestine and beyond.

Solidarity is an act of risk: putting one’s voice and body on the line, following the direction of oppressed communities, and standing in the way of erasure. Propaganda and lobbying in Canada and Western media erases and dehumanizes Palestinians while legitimizing settler state violence. Activism can be a driver of systemic change, from Burnaby declaring itself an apartheid-free city to Italian ports blocking Israeli arms shipments and a recent general strike.

Yipeng shares his experience working in Gaza, describing malnourished children, the destruction of hospitals like Nasser Medical Complex, and the resilience of Palestinian healthcare workers who continue to care for their people under siege. The Global Sumud Flotilla, international intervention from Italy and Spain in deploying naval ships to support the flotilla, 1 million Italians striking and shutting down the country for action, are critical escalation of global solidarity, even as the genocide intensifies.

The history of Western medicine is one that is complicit in slavery, eugenics, and Indigenous genocide. Yipeng reflects on disrupting these structures from within the profession. Hope is not passive, but a discipline — an active practice of persistence and resistance, embodied by Palestinian steadfastness and echoed in abolitionist struggles.

This episode is a call to understand medicine as resistance, solidarity as risk, and hope as a discipline — forged through collective struggle, from Gaza to Turtle Island.

Resources & Links

* Freedom Flotilla Coalition – Global Sumud Flotilla

* Countries part of the global flotilla

* Doctors Against Genocide

* Independent Media mentioned: The Maple, The Grind, Ricochet

* Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta’s work: https://drghassanabusittah.com/

* Follow Yipeng: Twitter | Instagram

* Subscribe: Habibti Please Substack

Academic / reports / analyses/ advocacy / activist/ coalition / grassroots resources

* A Health Analysis of the Gaza Genocide (Public Health and Human Rights Initiative, PHRI) This report frames much of the health system collapse in Gaza through the lens of genocide law. (רופאים לזכויות אדם)

* Safeguarding healthcare workers in Gaza and throughout conflict zones — Khanji et al., 2025 Focus on legal / ethical imperatives for protecting medical personnel in conflict. (PMC)

* Gaza’s healthocide: medical societies must not stay silent — The Lancet (Editorial) A call to medical institutions to break selective silence and act. (The Lancet)

* “Healthocide and medical neutrality: a call for action and accountability” — (Abi-Rached et al.) BMJ Global Health

* “The Rhetoric of Decolonizing Global Health Fails to Address the Reality of Settler Colonialism: Gaza as a Case in Point” — International Journal of Health Policy and Management

* Doctors Against Genocide — Medical Resources A live, updated resource hub including webinars, profiles of Gaza health workers, and advocacy materials. (Doctors Against Genocide)

* The Sameer Project A Palestinian-led medical / relief operation in Gaza. Their public pages (e.g. Open Collective) explain their work in shelter, medical care, supplies, etc. (Open Collective)

* Librarians & Archivists with Palestine — Readings & Resources A curated and updated reading list and resource guide (nonfiction, fiction, archives, etc.). (Librarians with Palestine)

* Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) statements on Gaza / doctors’ calls to action MSF has publicly described that doctors in Gaza “face the devastating reality that they cannot stop genocide.” (MSF UK)

* “Gaza’s healthcare system is being destroyed by targeted attacks” (The Guardian)

* Doctors who visited Gaza speak of ‘atrocities,’ collapsing healthcare” (Reuters)

* Healthcare collapse and disease spread: a qualitative study of challenges in Gaza strip Abuzerr, S., Zinszer, K., & Mahmoud, H. (2025). BMC Public Health (Open Access) — examines how the collapse of healthcare infrastructure is driving infectious disease spread in Gaza. (BioMed Central)

* Barriers faced by primary healthcare providers in addressing emergencies in the Northern region of Palestine before and during the Gaza war Hamshari, S., Hamadneh, S., Ghneem, M. et al. (2024). BMC Primary Care (Open Access) — focuses on what primary healthcare providers are experiencing, before & during the genocide. (SpringerLink)

* Resilience amid chaos: The role of Gaza medical points — from PMC (Open Access) — looks at “medical points” (mobile / temporary clinics) and how they function under severe shortage, damage, and conflict pressure. (PMC)

* Rebuilding the health sector in Gaza: alternative humanitarian voices Blanchet, K., Najem, M., Shadid, L., et al. (2024). Conflict and Health (Open Access) — perspectives from humanitarian actors on how the health system can be rebuilt and what alternative / grassroots voices are calling for. (BioMed Central)

* Defending the right to health in Gaza: a call to action by health workers Mohammed, F., Elgailani, U.S.A., Ibrahim Ali, S.Y., et al. (2024). Conflict and Health (Open Access) — health workers’ statement about the destruction of the health system, challenges, and what is urgently needed. (SpringerLink)

* The Urgent Struggle for Health Justice in Gaza: A Crisis of Human Rights and Inequity Mansour, W., Theobald, S., Fouad, F.M., et al. (2025). International Journal of Health Planning and Management (Free Access) — an editorial framing Gaza’s situation as part of a broader struggle for health justice. (Wiley Online Library)

* Critical care in Gaza amidst military pressure: the struggle of healthcare workers in Gaza’s Warzone — from PMC (Open Access) — detailed account of how critical care (ICUs, surgeries, anesthesia, etc.) is being impacted by conflict, blockades, hospital damage etc. (PMC)

* Frontiers | The War on Gaza and Its Impact on Public Health: Challenges and Pathways to Recovery Al Bakri, Khader, Khatib, et al. (2025). Frontiers in Public Health (Open Access) — discusses present public health emergencies in Gaza and what pathways there might be for recovery. (Frontiers)

* The cost of conflict: how war is crippling Gaza’s healthcare system Sajid, F. (2025). Egyptian Journal of Neurosurgery (Open Access) — letter-style piece detailing how war is affecting healthcare, capacity, infrastructure, etc. (SpringerOpen)

* “Medicine is being strangled”: An MSF doctor on collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system. Médecins Sans Frontières. (2024). Doctors Without Borders.

* Famine and disease escalate: Gaza’s humanitarian disaster. (2024). Annals of Medicine & Surgery.

* Public Health Crisis in Gaza — The Responsibility of US-Based Academic Medical Journals. Ijaz, N., & Habib, A. R. (2024).JAMA Network.

* Doctors for Global Health Statement on Gaza. Social Medicine.

* As a Medical Student in Gaza, I Studied Malnutrition. Now It’s All Around Me. by Hend Salama Abo Helow Truthout (First-Person Essay).

Stay Connected:

* Follow us on Twitter: @habibtiblease and the habibti please instagram

* 🌳Our Linktree

* 💕Habibti Please is proud to be part of the Harbinger Media Network

Subscribe to Habibti Please on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Substack to keep up with future episodes, resistance reading lists, and conversations from the frontlines of feminist, abolitionist, and anti-colonial struggles. Habibti Please is a proud member of the Habinger Media Network, get weekly updates from Canada’s politically and socially progressive podcast community at Habingermedianetwork.com.

In this incisive episode, host Nashwa Lina Khan speaks with Canadian journalist Emma Pailing about how mainstream media in Canada—especially outlets like CBC—shape public understanding of Palestine and Israel.

With the Genocide in Gaza currently accelerating with mass starvation now compounding the daily killing it is vital to recognize how the dehumanizing language and double standards appear frequently in mainstream news coverage of Gaza, reflecting biased narratives and systemic narratives. Mainstream outlets often adopt dehumanizing frames when covering Gaza or censor to further the colonial project of empire. PR firms play a significant role in shaping public opinion behind the scenes by engineering consent and influencing media narratives to favor particular perspectives. Emma’s work has extensively covered this and media bias at CBC following October 2023 revealing whose voices are prioritized and whose are erased, highlighting disparities in coverage and representation.

If you appreciate the work we do please support groups like the Glia Project and the Palestinian Youth Movement’s weekly protests and listen to the last episode of Habibti Please Bearing Witness in Gaza: A Conversation with Dr. Sarah Lalonde.

Emma also broke a story on the surveillance, silencing, and repression of pro-Palestinian anti-genocide voices on Canadian campuses, illustrating the broader challenges faced by activists and educators advocating for justice especially given the settler-colonial existence of what we call Canada. While activists across social justice issues try to get organized, urban development, especially condo projects, are reshaping class dynamics and transforming grassroots organizing within cities, often reinforcing social inequalities. Nashwa and Emma then explore what a decolonial, anti-capitalist Canadian media landscape that would challenge these entrenched narratives, centering marginalized voices and emphasizing justice would look like. Both journalists and readers have a crucial role in demanding more accountability and integrity from our media institutions to foster truth and equity in public discourse.

With the genocide in Gaza accelerating—now marked by mass starvation alongside daily bombings—it’s vital to examine how mainstream Canadian media upholds systems of violence through dehumanizing language and double standards. From selective reporting to outright censorship, dominant outlets often reinforce colonial narratives that erase Palestinian life and struggle.

Public relations firms play a powerful, behind-the-scenes role in shaping public opinion—engineering consent and directing media narratives to align with state and corporate interests. In this context, journalism often serves empire rather than accountability.

A detailed investigation revealed how CTV/Bell Media banned the use of the word “Palestine,” framing it as “non-existent,” while disproportionately amplifying Israeli perspectives and sanitizing Palestinian suffering (Breach Media). Similarly, CBC’s The National showed stark imbalance in its post-October 7 coverage, featuring significantly more Israeli voices compared to Palestinian ones, often leaving Palestinians unnamed (Breach Media). Editorial policies at CBC have also been found to sanitize language around Palestinian deaths, avoiding terms like “murderous” or “brutal,” which are reserved only for Hamas (Breach Media). Adding to these media silencing tactics, Global News reportedly refused to air critical interviews that challenged Israeli policies due to pressure from pro-Israel lobby groups (Read The Maple).

Surveillance and repression extend beyond media, reaching into academic spaces. After a meeting between former Minister Selina Robinson and the UBC president, the Anthropology department was ordered to remove a statement condemning “genocidal violence in Gaza,” with warnings that political statements might bring liability, raising serious concerns about academic freedom (Breach Media).

While activists across social justice sectors strive to organize, urban development—especially condo-driven gentrification—reshapes class relations and disrupts grassroots networks. New reporting from Read The Maple details how Canada’s “condo class” has fragmented political organizing by displacing communities and weakening local power (Read The Maple).

Journalist Emma Paling has extensively covered these intersecting issues, including media bias at CBC following October 2023, and uncovered the surveillance, silencing, and repression of pro-Palestinian activism on Canadian campuses (Breach Media).

Together, Nashwa Lina Khan and Emma Paling explore what a decolonial, anti-capitalist Canadian media landscape might look like: one that challenges entrenched empire-aligned narratives, centers Indigenous, Palestinian, and other marginalized voices, and demands justice and accountability. Both journalists and audiences share the responsibility to push for media institutions that foster truth, equity, and meaningful public discourse.

Resources and Further Reading:

* Follow Emma Pailing on Twitter: @emma_pailing

Emma Paling – Selected Work

* Emma Paling's portfolio – A full overview of her published journalism and investigations.

* CTV’s racist double standards in Palestine coverage – An exposé on Bell Media’s internal censorship and disproportionate framing favoring Israel.

* Global News refused to air anchor’s reports on Israel – Reporting on internal silencing of critical voices within Canadian broadcast journalism.

* CBC avoids “murderous” language when Palestinians are killed – A critical look at editorial double standards and dehumanizing language at CBC.

* How Canada’s condo class disrupted political organizing – On urban gentrification and its impact on grassroots activism.

* Canada ramps up immigration enforcement while cooperating with ICE – A cross-border analysis of migration enforcement and its racialized consequences.

* Professors backing Palestine motions face alleged hack and legal intimidation – On repression of academic freedom and digital targeting.

* Canadian newspapers fail to disclose military experts' ties – Investigating conflicts of interest and lack of transparency in defense reporting.

* $95 million in Canadian military goods could flow to Israel by 2025 – A deep dive into arms exports amid ongoing genocide.

* Falsehoods about Palestine go unchallenged on Canadian talk radio – How unchecked misinformation fuels anti-Palestinian racism.

* Companies ask court to keep Israel export details secret – On legal attempts to block public access to export data.

* Emma Paling profile at Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) – Highlights her reporting on Palestine, media, and accountability.

When Genocide Wasn’t News

Check out When Genocide Wasn’t News — a powerful anthology from The Breach that exposes how Canadian mainstream media actively distorted, downplayed, or erased coverage of Israel’s assault on Gaza. Through essays by journalists and advocates, the book challenges the complicity of institutions like CBC and CTV, and uplifts the stories that were silenced.

Visualizing Palestine Is Worth Exploring

One resource that powerfully shifts narrative away from erasure and toward truth-telling is Visualizing Palestine. This organization uses data-driven visual storytelling to document the structural violence of settler colonialism, apartheid, displacement, and resistance in Palestine. Their work is rooted in research, yet rendered in accessible infographics and animations that challenge mainstream distortions—especially those deeply embedded in Western and Canadian media systems, as Emma Paling critiques.

At a time when Palestinian voices are either silenced or stripped of political context, Visualizing Palestine offers tools to make complexity legible. Their graphics are used by educators, grassroots organizers, faith groups, and student campaigns worldwide, and have reached over 26 million people in the past year alone. Their recently released book, Visualizing Palestine: A Chronicle of Colonialism and the Struggle for Liberation, is a beautiful and grounding archive that reflects over a decade of visual resistance work. It’s not just a resource—it’s part of a growing movement to reclaim how the story of Palestine is told to the world.

If we’re thinking about narrative power—what gets framed, what gets buried—then Visualizing Palestine is essential reading and viewing.

About Emma Pailing

Emma Pailing is a Toronto-based journalist and writer with a focus on geopolitics, media, and social justice issues. Her work explores international conflicts, media narratives, and the influence of corporations and governments in shaping public discourse. Emma has contributed to various outlets, including The Canadian Dimension, Middle East Eye, and others, where she critically examines issues such as Israel-Palestine, media bias, and Canada's role in global conflicts. She is dedicated to uncovering the stories often left out of mainstream conversations and amplifying marginalized voices.

Organizations Mentioned:

* Palestinian Youth Movement

* Labour for Palestine

* Health Workers Alliance for Palestine

Take Action:

* Share this episode with friends, colleagues, and comrades to push back against media bias.

* Support independent journalism and media reform efforts in your community.

* Stay loud about Palestine, censorship, and the need for truth-telling in Canadian media.

Note from Nashwa:

While this episode focuses on the role of Canadian media and PR in shaping public perception of Palestine, it's essential to also acknowledge the unprecedented violence faced by Palestinian journalists. Since October 2023, more than 230 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza — making it the deadliest war for journalists in modern history (Al Jazeera, Middle East Monitor). Many face starvation and targeted attacks while continuing to report (CBC, ABC).

We must also remember Shireen Abu Akleh, a veteran Al Jazeera journalist, whose killing remains a haunting reminder of the impunity with which Israel targets the press (The Guardian). Canadian media rarely covers these deaths — or does so with hesitation — despite their significance for press freedom and international law.

Stay Connected:

* Follow us on Twitter: @habibtiblease and the habibti please instagram

* 🌳Our Linktree

* 💕Habibti Please is proud to be part of the Harbinger Media Network

* Subscribe to Habibti Please on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Substack to keep up with future episodes, resistance reading lists, and conversations from the frontlines of feminist, abolitionist, and anti-colonial struggles. Habibti Please is a proud member of the Habinger Media Network, get weekly updates from Canada’s politically and socially progressive podcast community at Habingermedianetwork.com.

Production Credits:

Hosted by Nashwa Lina Khan

Art for Habibti Please by postXamerica

Production and Editing by Andre Goulet

Social Media & Support:

Support us on Patreon

Subscribe to us on Substack

In this episode of Habibti Please, Nashwa speaks with Dr. Sarah Lalonde in Monreal a Montreal-based emergency and family physician who recently returned from Gaza. Dr. Lalonde shares what she witnessed while working in the emergency department at the European Gaza Hospital amidst ongoing Israeli attacks—including the deliberate targeting of health workers, collapsing infrastructure, and the catastrophic impact on children.

Together, we explore what it means to bear witness, the emotional toll of working under siege, and how Canadian healthcare systems are complicit in global injustice. This episode is a continuation of our series on medical solidarity, following our previous conversation with Dr. Tarek Loubani of Glia.

We recorded this conversation on July 11th, 2025, in Montreal at Halte 24-7.

“Solidarity without cost is not solidarity.” – Dr. Sarah Lalonde

Sarah is a Montreal-based physician who recently returned from Gaza a few months ago where she joined a team of international medics working in the ruins of a healthcare system under siege. What she witnessed, what she lived through, is not just a humanitarian crisis—it is the architecture of genocide, laid bare.

There’s something haunting about the way Sarah describes a hospital that no longer functions as a place of healing, but as a site of mass death. About treating children whose bodies are broken not by rare diseases, but by bombs. About watching colleagues—nurses, surgeons, paramedics from afar—targeted and killed. In her words and in her silences, there’s a clarity: this is not a natural disaster or humanitarian crisis. It is a man-made horror.

Sarah also speaks to the impossible conditions that define what it means to be a healthcare worker in Gaza. To heal is to resist. But resistance can mean death. In that double-bind, neutrality is a lie—and the idea of “do no harm” becomes a radical, life-threatening commitment. Since October 2023, we've seen Canadian healthcare institutions fail to rise to this moment. Instead of standing up against genocide, they've punished those who do. We've seen students, nurses, residents, and physicians silenced, suspended, blacklisted. Meanwhile, those who justify or ignore the destruction of life go unchallenged. As Sarah reminds us, medicine has never been apolitical. You either uphold life actively—or you make peace with systems that end it.

As listeners, as comrades, as people who care, our work isn’t just to hear these stories—it’s to act on them. To connect Gaza to Canada. To understand that the siege abroad is mirrored by silence at home. That every institutional reprimand for speaking up is part of the same machinery.

Please consider sharing this episode. Talk to your colleagues. Interrupt the silences. Support groups like the Glia Project and the Palestinian Youth Movement.

Habibti Please is a proud member of the Harbinger Media Network. Get weekly updates from Canada’s progressive podcast community at harbingermedianetwork.com.

About the Guest

Dr. Sarah Lalonde (@dr.sarah.lalonde)

Dr. Lalonde is an emergency and family physician specializing in rural, remote, and community medicine, particularly within Indigenous communities. She has worked internationally with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Guinea, Albania, Togo, and Chad, and is recognized as Quebec’s provincial physician expert on human trafficking. In Gaza, she served at the European Gaza Hospital as part of an international medical mission.

Resources & Links

Previous Episode

→ Dr. Tarek Loubani on Glia, Open-Source Solidarity, and Gazahttps://habibtiplease.substack.com/p/medicine-under-siege-dr-tarek-loubani

Support Medical Work in Gaza

→ Glia – Global organization for low-cost, open-source medical tools

https://glia.org

→ Donate to support Dr. Lalonde & Dr. Loubani’s ongoing work

https://glia.org

🚢 Track the Flotilla

→ Follow the Freedom Flotilla & Dr. Yipeng Ge’s journey aboard the Handala Freedom Flotilla Tracker

Related Reading & Reports

* “Gaza’s Health System Under Siege” – New York Times doctor interviews (2024) NYT Interactive

* Canadian Complicity in Arms Sales – CJPME CJPME on Canadian Arms to Israel

* Gaza’s Nasser Hospital will turn into ‘silent graveyard’ if siege and fuel shortage persist, doctors say

* 65 Doctors, Nurses and Paramedics: What We Saw in Gaza

Follow

* Dr. Sarah Lalonde – @dr.sarah.lalonde

* Dr. Tarek Loubani – @trklou

* Freedom Flotilla Coalition – freedomflotilla.org

💌 Call to Action

→ Donate if you can to medical missions and grassroots aid efforts like Glia → Share this episode with others who care about justice, healthcare, and solidarity. → Bear witness—listening is not passive. Let it move you to action.

Humanitarian & Community Aid:

* Islamic Relief Canada – Palestine Emergency Appeal

* Humanity Auxilium

* Palestinian Youth Movement

* Palestinian Youth Movement – Popular Cradle Podcast

* Support the Glia Project: Donate or amplify their open-source medical tools: glia.org

* Donate to frontline organizations: Support trusted orgs like Islamic Relief Canada, Doctors Without Borders and Humanity Auxilium

* Organize within your profession: If you're a healthcare worker, speak out, form collectives, and protect each other from institutional repression. Check out Health workers Alliance for Palestine

* Stay loud: Refuse silence in your classrooms, hospitals, unions, and friend groups. Silence is complicity. Check out Labour for Palestine

* Educate yourself: Study the roots of this genocide—settler colonialism, white supremacy, and global capitalism. Check out The Anti-Empire Project

Suggested Readings & Resources

This section provides some contextual readings and links to explore.

* Glia Project

* How Gaza’s doctors endure the impossible

* 'Appalled' Trudeau calls for inquiry after Canadian doctor wounded in Gaza - The Guardian

* Canadian doctor who works in Gaza makes 3D-printed face shields for COVID-19

* From Canada to Gaza, physician uses 3D printing to make medical face shields

* Tarek Loubani: 3D Printing High-Quality Low-Cost Free Medical Hardware

* ‘Shock and grief’ as senior doctor killed in Israeli airstrike in Gaza

* People in Gaza 'starve or risk being shot': NGOs urge end to aid work backed by U.S., Israel as deaths rise

* I’m in northern Gaza. I would rather starve than take GHF aid

* Marking a year of heartbreak: A letter from MSF USA chief executive officer Avril Benoît

On the Targeting of Canadian Healthcare Workers:

* Doctor suspended from U of O residency after pro-Palestinian social media posts

* 'Chilling effect': People expressing pro-Palestinian views censured, suspended from work and school

* ‘Abuse of power’: Hospitals, med schools crack down on Palestine advocacy

* Protect medical trainees from anti-Palestine bigotry in medical placement process!

* A List Of Some People In Canada Fired For Pro-Palestine Views

* OPINION: Ontario Nurses’ Association Must Speak Out Against Gaza Atrocities

Production Credits:

Hosted by Nashwa Lina Khan

Art for Habibti Please by postXamerica

Production and Editing by Andre Goulet

Social Media & Support:

Follow us on Twitter @habibtiplease

Support us on Patreon

Subscribe to us on Substack

Closing Song: Closing Song: Muhannad Khalaf - Allah M7yeh Falastin (2021) / مهند خلف - الله محيي فلسطين

Hi habibtis, and welcome back. In this episode, I sit down with Sean Orr—writer, musician, activist, and newly elected Vancouver City Councillor with COPE—for a conversation about politics, activism, and the urgency of global solidarity.

Sean shares his journey from Vancouver’s punk and arts scenes to becoming a sharp political writer and now, a municipal politician. We talk about the challenges of holding radical commitments while working inside political systems, and the complexities of balancing grassroots movements with electoral politics.

We also get into the social and political history of Vancouver, including gentrification, policing, and the Downtown Eastside and some reflections on global struggles against apartheid and fascism—from Palestine to local politics including the win of Zohran Mamdani in New York.

This episode also highlights the importance of not letting activism become abstract, the role of stories in movement-building, and how bringing humor and heart into political spaces can help engage new people without losing sight of the seriousness of the work.

I really loved this conversation—it felt honest, thoughtful, and full of the kind of political clarity we need more of right now. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Follow Sean Orr:

Twitter X: @seanorrBluesky: seanorr.bsky.socialInstagram: @seanorrofficial

READINGS

Reading group: AUTONOMIA, OCCUPY, COMMUNISM: LEGACIES AND FUTURES

Spill the Tea: Gentrification of Vancouver Chinatown

Vancouver’s Little Saigon Facing Gentrification?

Crackdown Podcast

From dishwasher and punk rocker to city councillor: Sean Orr’s unique path to City Hall

Sean Orr’s Writing

Some highlights from Sean’s Writing

On Rampaging White Men, Dummy Mayoral Candidates, and Even More Problems with the Police

Get to Know: Overdose Prevention Society

Barge Chilling Beach

On Gas Hoarding, House Hoarding and Finding A New Frequency.

Medicine Under Siege: Dr. Tarek Loubani on Gaza, Resistance, and Refusing Silence

In this episode of Habibti Please, Nashwa sits down with Dr. Tarek Loubani—emergency physician, humanitarian, and founder of the Glia Project—to talk about the politics of medicine in Palestine, and what it means to be a healthcare worker under siege.

Drawing from his over 15 years of medical work in Gaza, Tarek shares harrowing, deeply personal stories of treating patients in war zones, responding to mass casualty events, and witnessing the deliberate destruction of Palestine’s healthcare infrastructure. From the starvation of children to the maiming of protesters, this conversation offers a sobering look into the conditions Palestinians face daily—and the impossible choices doctors like him must make.

We also talk about the origins of the Glia Project, which produces affordable, open-source medical devices like tourniquets and stethoscopes—designed for use in the Global South and under blockade. For Tarek, creating these tools is not only about saving lives, but about resisting the imperial systems that profit from crisis.

We turn the mirror toward Canada, discussing the coordinated effort to silence healthcare workers speaking out for Palestine. From healthcare worker suspensions and other efforts to silence anti-genocide healthcare professionals, Nashwa and Tarek unpack the dangers of enforced neutrality, and the urgent need for medical professionals and the general public to reject complicity.

This episode is about medicine, yes—but also about ethics, empire, and what it means to stay human in inhumane systems. It is both a grief document and a call to action.

Suggested Readings & Resources

This section provides some contextual readings and links to explore.

* Glia Project

* How Gaza’s doctors endure the impossible

* 'Appalled' Trudeau calls for inquiry after Canadian doctor wounded in Gaza - The Guardian

* Canadian doctor who works in Gaza makes 3D-printed face shields for COVID-19

* From Canada to Gaza, physician uses 3D printing to make medical face shields

* Tarek Loubani: 3D Printing High-Quality Low-Cost Free Medical Hardware

* ‘Shock and grief’ as senior doctor killed in Israeli airstrike in Gaza

* People in Gaza 'starve or risk being shot': NGOs urge end to aid work backed by U.S., Israel as deaths rise

* I’m in northern Gaza. I would rather starve than take GHF aid

On the Targeting of Canadian Healthcare Workers:

* Doctor suspended from U of O residency after pro-Palestinian social media posts

* 'Chilling effect': People expressing pro-Palestinian views censured, suspended from work and school

* ‘Abuse of power’: Hospitals, med schools crack down on Palestine advocacy

* Protect medical trainees from anti-Palestine bigotry in medical placement process!

* A List Of Some People In Canada Fired For Pro-Palestine Views

* OPINION: Ontario Nurses’ Association Must Speak Out Against Gaza Atrocities

Humanitarian & Community Aid:

* Islamic Relief Canada – Palestine Emergency Appeal

* Humanity Auxilium

* Palestinian Youth Movement

* Palestinian Youth Movement – Popular Cradle Podcast

* Support the Glia Project: Donate or amplify their open-source medical tools: glia.org

* Donate to frontline organizations: Support trusted orgs like Islamic Relief Canada, Doctors Without Borders and Humanity Auxilium

* Organize within your profession: If you're a healthcare worker, speak out, form collectives, and protect each other from institutional repression. Check out Health workers Alliance for Palestine

* Stay loud: Refuse silence in your classrooms, hospitals, unions, and friend groups. Silence is complicity. Check out Labour for Palestine

* Educate yourself: Study the roots of this genocide—settler colonialism, white supremacy, and global capitalism. Check out The Anti-Empire Project

You can follow Tarek here and check out his site here. Subscribe to Habibti Please on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Substack to keep up with future episodes, resistance reading lists, and conversations from the frontlines of feminist, abolitionist, and anti-colonial struggles.

Production Credits:

Hosted by Nashwa Lina Khan

Art for Habibti Please by postXamerica

Production by Andre Goulet

Social Media & Support:

Follow us on Twitter @habibtiplease

Support us on Patreon

Subscribe to us on Substack

Editing Support by Nabeela Jivraj and Kalden Dhatsenpa

Closing Song: Dana Salah - Ya Tal3een (full version) يا طالعين

In this episode, Nashwa speaks with Danaka Katovich, a national co-director at CODEPINK, about global anti-war organizing, challenging U.S. imperialism, and building anti-war movements from the ground up. The conversation explores Danaka’s work supporting campaigns against U.S. military intervention in Yemen, Iran, and Palestine, as well as her reflections on international solidarity, grassroots activism, and the current threats to peace.

Together, Nashwa and Danaka reflect on their respective trips to Cuba, what they learned from the Cuban people, the movement to end the war on Yemen, sanctions, and how to get involved even when one might be feeling disengaged or that it’s hard to make a difference.

This episode was recorded before the Freedom Flotilla but we feel that it is important to highlight what the flotilla reveals about the risks—and necessity—of global solidarity work. You can find some interesting reads in the shownotes.

Guest Bio:

Danaka Katovich is the national co-director of CODEPINK. Since 2018, she has been organizing to end U.S. involvement in the war in Yemen and challenging U.S. sanctions and military aggression in the Middle East and beyond. Her writing has appeared in Jacobin, Salon, Truthout, and CommonDreams.

Further Reading & Resources:

Danaka wittingly points to how media literacy is a muscle, we have to work it out. We really hope you do work it out, with some selected readings you will find below.

This Week’s Curated Reading List:

Liberation, Resistance & Feminist Critique of Empire

Revolution, Uprising & the Limits of Liberal Reform

Vincent Bevins – If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution

A comprehensive and compelling analysis of global mass protests from 2010–2020, examining why many failed to achieve lasting change.

* Read the full book on Internet Archive

* Listen to an audiobook excerpt on SoundCloud

* Vincent's Site With some Articles

* Vincent's Substack

Frantz Fanon – The Wretched of the Earth

A foundational text in anti-colonial thought, exploring the psychological and political impacts of colonization and the necessity of decolonization.

* Read the full book on Internet Archive Another link to download the book

Feminism, Islam & Decolonizing the “Rescue” Narrative

Lila Abu-Lughod – Do Muslim Women Need Saving?

A critical examination of Western narratives that portray Muslim women as needing liberation, challenging simplistic assumptions.

* Read more about the book here

Saba Mahmood – Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject

An ethnographic study of women's mosque movements in Egypt, challenging liberal feminist notions of agency and secularism.

* Read the book here

Lila Abu-Lughod (ed.) – Remaking Women: Feminism and Modernity in the Middle East

A collection of essays rethinking modernity and gender in the Middle East, resisting Western feminist frameworks.

* Download the PDF here

Empire, Imperialism, Resistance & Knowledge Production

Leila Ahmed – Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate

A comprehensive historical analysis of Islamic thought and colonialism's impact on gender discourses.

* Yale University Press

Angela Davis – Women, Race & Class

A classic work analyzing the intersections of gender, race, and class in the U.S., from slavery to the women's liberation movement.

* Read the book here

Other Readings

* Edward Said – Culture and Imperialism

* Helen Yaffe – We Are Cuba!: How a Revolutionary People Have Survived in a Post-Soviet World

* Noura Erakat – Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine

* Isa Blumi – Destroying Yemen: What Chaos in Arabia Tells Us About the World

* Che Guevara – Colonialism is Doomed

* Joseph Massad – Islam in Liberalism

Current Events & the Gaza Freedom Flotilla

* CODEPINK’s Statement on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Attack

* CODEPINK’s Latest Update on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla

* Why Was a Gaza 'Freedom Flotilla' Ship Attacked? | The Take – Al Jazeera

* Gaza-Bound Freedom Flotilla Attacked in International Waters – Democracy Now!

* Organizers Say Ship Carrying Aid for Gaza Hit by Drones Near Malta – The Washington Post

* About the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition

Danaka Katovich’s Work & Writing

* Danaka Katovich's Articles on Truthout

* “The Drone War You Don’t Hear About” – Truthout

* Jacobin: Cancel the F-35 Program and Replace It With Nothing

* CommonDreams: “Biden Must End U.S. Support for the Blockade on Yemen”

* Congress, Do Your Job, End US Support for the War in Yemen – Common Dreams

* Why is the U.S. Bombing Yemen? A Short History – CODEPINK Video

CODEPINK’s Campaigns for Peace & Sanctions Relief

* CODEPINK’s Campaign to End the Cuba Embargo

* CODEPINK’s Campaign to Lift Sanctions on Cuba

* Ontario Code Pink Chapter

* Download Code Pink Resources

Subscribe, rate, and review to support the show—and follow @CODEPINK on Twitter/X for updates.

In this episode of Habibti Please x Deathnography, we’re asking what voting even means anymore? Canada just had the highest advance voter turnout in history — with over 7.3 million ballots already cast. This new record speaks to something in larger Canadian society but in all honesty, for us, the vibes feel more like collapse than hope.

As e-day approaches this Monday, we were compelled to make this episode because of the deep weirdness of the “Elbows Up” Canada energy right now: tariffs, carbon taxes, immigration panic, wild anti-Trudeau/Trump energy, but also the sense that electoralism inside a settler colony doesn’t actually offer a way out.

We start with a vibe check: why is turnout up? Fear, anger, dread — not necessarily belief in change. Are we being gaslit into feeling like voting is meaningful, even when everything points to systemic collapse?

We get into the real question: does Canada even deserve to be saved? What are we voting for — reform? Harm reduction? And why is voting not harm reduction despite many arguing that it is. Or just legitimizing a settler colonial project? There’s real ethical tension about participating in a system that is actively involved in genocide, imperialism, and ongoing harm.

We talk about Jagmeet Singh being the only leader saying things that sound reasonable right now — but is that enough?

Is it giving "Obama knew Edward Said" vibes? Did he have the right tools all along and only step up now – or just another case of performance politics where representation masks deeper harms?

We witness a longer mapping and analysis of Singh and the party’s stance, we cite Yves Engler’s thread on Singh raising the genocide during the French Federal debate.

The NDP question is messy: is voting for them useful, useless, or actively bad? What do we do when our local candidate (like Clare Hacksel) is actually good — pro-Palestine, willing to use words like “genocide”? How do we balance local wins with provincial and national betrayals?

We get into the Vote Palestine Pledge and why it’s complicated. Some sus people are on it, but it’s still a political litmus test that's hard to ignore. We unpack critiques of strategic voting, symbolism, and what it means when "voting for Palestine" gets reduced to a checkbox.

Finally, we ask: what are the limits of electoralism in a settler colony? Is voting just giving consent to a system that’s already broken? How do we respond to the argument that “it’s privileged not to vote”? And if electoralism isn’t enough (which it isn’t), what are we actually building outside of it?

We end on some reflections about how to live your politics daily — not just in a ballot box. How to make space for grief, anger, and clarity. How to move beyond voting into something real, rooted, and lasting.

Thanks for joining the show! And happy voting or not voting.

Production Credits:

Hosted by Nashwa Lina Khan, Henry Lee, and Shah

Art for Habibti Please by postXamerica

Production by Nashwa Lina Khan and Andre Goulet

Shownotes support by Nabeela Jivraj

Social Media & Support:

🎧 Listen Now: Wherever you get your podcasts! (spotify/apple)

📬 Subscribe: Deathnography on Spotify

📬 Subscribe: Habibti Please Substack

✨ Support Us on Patreon

🐦 Follow Habibti Please on Twitter: Habibti Please

🐦 Follow Nashwa Lina Khan on Twitter: Nashwa on twitter

🌳Our Linktree

💕Habibti Please is proud to be part of the Harbinger Media Network

This week on Habibti Please, we're joined by Niall Clapham Ricardo — jurist, activist, and New Democratic Party candidate for Papineau. Niall and I first crossed paths on a cold January night outside Parc station, remembering the victims of the Quebec mosque shooting. Since then, I’ve gotten to know him not just as a political voice, but as a deeply thoughtful friend and community member.

In this episode, we talk about what it means to show up — on the campaign trail, in the courts, in the streets, and at birthday parties. Niall shares how his personal background shapes his advocacy, the stakes of talking about Palestine as a Jewish voice, and why he's choosing to run in a riding as complex and storied as Papineau — the one once held by Justin Trudeau.

This episode is about the messy, meaningful work of showing up — in politics, in movements, in community, and in friendships. Together with Niall, we begin to unpack:

* Electoralism, especially in the context of settler colonialism, what do terms like “harm reduction” and “strategic voting” really mean — if they mean anything at all?

* Is strategic voting actually strategic — or just another trap? In the context of electoral politics within a settler colonial system, how meaningful — or empty and harmful — are concepts like harm reduction and strategic voting? We conclude there is no value in lacking precise language or being tepid.

* How buzzwords from social justice spaces are being absorbed (and often diluted) in the world of electoral politics.

* Trade union stories and the future of labour

* Legal advocacy and international human rights work

* The riding of Papineau and what people are really saying at the doors

* Revolutionary love, hope, and being a present friend in the middle of it all

* Visions of the “good life” and what it takes to create a world where everyone can thrive.

* Friendship, political clarity, and holding onto hope in deeply uncertain times.

From Parc Station to Papineau our friendship and origin story of meeting at a protest imbue the episode. As community organizers who do believe that activism starts in our communities and home we know the importance of how friendship is meant to expand and challenge one’s desire for a better world and a good life. With this spirit, this set of shownotes features readings that are from the thinkers Niall references in the episode - they were curated around themes of abolition, revolutionary love, Indigenous Resistance & global struggles for justice.

Niall reminds us to always laugh. Something everyone fighting to build a better world should weave into their engagements.

Some pictures of the campaign moment, with moments of laughter, joy, and a fight for a good life and better world together.

Guest Bio:

Niall Clapham Ricardo is a jurist practicing in Tiohtià:ke / Mooniyang / Montréal. He formerly served as the Francophone spokesperson for Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) and is currently the NDP candidate for Papineau. Niall’s work spans labour, legal, and international human rights struggles — and is grounded in deep relational care, solidarity, and a commitment to justice from the ground up.

Follow Us:

Habibti Please — wherever you get your podcasts

Hosted by Nashwa Lina Khan

Produced by Andre Goulet at Harbinger Media Network

Editing Support from Nabeela Jivraj

Reading List from talking with Niall:

Reading List inspired from my chat with Niall and the thinkers that inspire him.

1. Lula - Live a Good Life

* Letters to Lula in prison tell story of Brazil’s ‘invisibles’

* “Lula Is Right About Israel’s Genocide in Gaza” – Jacobin

* “Lula’s Victory Is a Testament to Solidarity” – Jacobin

2. Angela Davis

* Are Prisons Obsolete? – Full PDF

* The Meaning of Freedom: And Other Difficult Dialogues ( A selection)

* Angela Davis: 'Palestine is a moral litmus test for the world'

* On Transnational Feminist Solidarity: The Case of Angela Davis in Egypt

3. Noura Erakat

* Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine (Stanford University Press)

* Nothing Will Ever Be the Same Again

* Race, Palestine, and International Law

* "A Campaign of Genocide": Noura Erakat Speaks to Ta-Nehisi Coates About Israel's War on Gaza

* Can the ICJ Survive Israel's Genocide on Gaza?

* Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine with Professor Noura Erakat

4. Enzo Traverso

* The End of Jewish Modernity

* Historian Enzo Traverso: Israel Is Using the Memory of the Holocaust to Justify Genocide in Gaza

* The End of Jewish Modernity

* Enzo Traverso on Fascism, Marxism and Israel

* Germany’s Reckoning With the Past Is No Longer a Model An interview with Enzo Traverso

* No, Post-Nazi Germany Isn’t a Model of Atoning for the Past

5. Che Guevara on Love & Revolution

* The Che Reader

* Socialism and Man in Cuba

* Che Guevara on Love, Injustice, Revolution, and Socialism.

6. Ellen Gabriel

* Over 30 Years of Indigenous Resistance with Mohawk Land Defender Ellen Gabriel

* Ellen Gabriel and the ‘watershed moment’ that was the Siege of Kanehsatà:ke

* Ellen Gabriel: to imagine a better world, we must challenge colonialism

* Short Documentary: Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance

7. James Baldwin

* The Fire Next Time

* No Name in the Street

* A Talk to Teachers

* Jimmy’s Blues and Other Poems

A Niall Clapham Ricardo Reading List (in brief)

Niall’s work as a legal thinker and activist is also reflected in his published writings, particularly in Pivot, where he offers critical perspectives on international solidarity and systemic racism in Québec.

* De militants à candidats : Papineau, Spinoza et le NPD – Radio Canada/CBC (2025)

This week Radio-Canada profiled Niall, they write on his life as a Jewish Montreal activist and member of Independent Jewish Voices, his advocacy for Palestinian rights while challenging the conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism. The piece also highlights how activists like Ricardo are turning their community engagement into political candidacies—such as in the Papineau riding—to promote social justice and international solidarity.

* De l’Ukraine à Gaza : qui a le droit de se défendre ? – Pivot (2022) A compelling argument on the double standards in international law and media narratives surrounding self-defense and state violence.

* « L’islamophobie n’existe pas », mais elle tue – Pivot (2023) A searing critique of how Islamophobia is dismissed in public discourse while continuing to harm communities in Québec and beyond.

* See all of Niall’s contributions at Pivot

In this exciting comeback episode of Habibti Please, we dive into the intersections of technology, capitalism, and social justice with special guest and friend of the show Paris Marx—a leading tech critic, author, and host of the acclaimed podcast Tech Won’t Save Us.

In this episode, Paris shares the story behind Tech Won’t Save Us—what inspired him to start the podcast in 2020 and how the conversations have evolved since. We also explore how gig platforms like Uber and DoorDash are reshaping the labor market. Are stronger labor protections the answer, or is a complete overhaul needed?

We dig into the future of work and discuss whether governments are ready to handle the social and economic impact of automation and artificial intelligence. Paris also speaks to which policies could change Big Tech’s growing influence.

We also examine how surveillance technology plays a role in occupation, genocide, and other fascist suppression with a focus on Gaza and occupied Palestine, Pegasus spyware, and Israel’s use and export of surveillance tools abroad. We discuss how to push back against the normalization of these practices, and can governments ever truly strike a real balance between privacy and public interest?

Throughout, Paris highlights why collective, community-driven solutions are essential to building more equitable futures.

Join us for a thought-provoking conversation about the power dynamics in tech and what it will take to build a better future.

Readings that accompany this episode:

Forensic Architecture tracks surveillance of activists and journalists by Hakim Bishara (2021).

The Technology of Occupation Has Become One of Israel’s Main Exports by Antony Loewenstein (2023).

Tools to Explore and read about:

Understanding Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for CUPE Members (2023)

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has created this guide to help members understand the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace. It highlights both the opportunities and risks associated with AI, including issues like workplace surveillance, discrimination, and the acceleration of work processes. The guide emphasizes the importance of union involvement in shaping AI's role in public services to protect workers' rights and enhance job quality.

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Information on Shutdown of the Mobile Justice App

The ACLU has announced that the Mobile Justice app will be discontinued on February 28, 2025, due to evolving privacy laws and concerns over surveillance technology. For a decade, the app has been a critical tool for documenting police encounters. While the app is shutting down, the ACLU continues its work in police accountability, protest rights, and public safety. Find Know Your Rights resources, legal advocacy efforts, and ways to get involved through ACLU’s website.

Secure Communication & Encryption

* Signal – End-to-end encrypted messaging, voice, and video calls.

* Session – Decentralized, anonymous messaging app.

* ProtonMail – Encrypted email service based in Switzerland.

* Jitsi Meet – Secure, open-source video conferencing.

* Element – Secure, federated messaging using the Matrix protocol.

Anonymous Browsing & Online Privacy

* Tor Browser – Anonymizes web browsing and hides your IP address.

* Brave – Privacy-focused browser with built-in ad and tracker blocking.

* DuckDuckGo – Search engine that doesn’t track you.

* Tails OS – A portable, live operating system that leaves no digital trace.

Anti-Surveillance & Digital Security

* ObscuraCam – Removes metadata and blurs faces in images.

* Haven – Turns your phone into a motion-sensitive security device.

* Umbrella – Security guidance for activists, journalists, and human rights defenders.

* Calyx VPN – Free VPN from a nonprofit privacy group.

* Riseup VPN – VPN for activists, provided by the Riseup collective.

Counter-Surveillance & Digital Investigation

* ProofMode – Cryptographic timestamps for verifying photos and videos.

* Maltego – OSINT tool for network analysis and data mapping.

* OSINT Framework – Open-source intelligence tools for digital investigations.

Protest Safety & Documentation

* Security in a Box – A comprehensive guide to digital security for activists.

* Holistic Security Manual – A guide to physical and digital security for activists.

Guest Information:

Guest of the week: Paris Marx

Check out Paris’ show Tech Won’t Save Us

Check out Paris’ newsletter Disconnect

Production Credits:

Hosted by Nashwa Lina Khan

Music by Johnny Zapras and postXamerica

Art for Habibti Please by postXamerica

Production by Nashwa Lina Khan and Andre Goulet

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