The Malcolm Effect: Recent Episodes
Momodou
Listen in as Mohamed Khougali, author of Politically Unconscious: The Psychic Aftermath of the Sudanese Revolution, discusses his latest book whilst offering a dialectical analysis of Sudan.
This is Part 2 of our series, “The Theological Underpinnings of Modernity.” In this episode, we move from al-Andalus to Columbus and the role of apocalyptic Christianity in the making of empire.
You've probably seen Sovereign Media. Listen in, as its founder, Ahmed Kabllo, discuss how it came about.
What does Islam say about justice? Listen in as Imam Shayan and I discuss this question and more.
Listen in as TooBlack and I discuss how and why non-violence is still violence.
Discussing his article:
https://www.grassrootsthinking.com/nonviolence-is-violence-too-somebodys-gotta-die/
In the third installment of this series with Professor Zubairu Wai, we start by examining Libya, its collapse and the far-reaching consequences across the world. From there, we turn to the question of method, unpacking the different analytical frameworks used to understand Africa and the ongoing project of African liberation.
"Why isn't China doing more to help?
Listen in as Dr. Capasso historically situates China within the Arab-Iranian region, offering a dialectical approach to understanding China's posture
Is the US really declining? What do we mean by decline? What does a material analysis of US decline sound like? Listen in as Alan Freeman responds to these questions and more!
With the Arab-Iranian region once more under attack by US-Zion*st imperial aggression, it is important that we understand this war is not a bug in the system but necessary within global capitalism. Listen in as the Dr. Ali Kadri explains this relationship.
In this episode, Professor Zahir Kolia and I discuss the importance of considering the role of theology and theological discourses in the story of modernity.
This is the second instalment in a 3-part series with Dr Bikrum Gill, in which we discuss a Third World Marxist approach to understanding geopolitics. What do we mean by anti-imperialism? Listen in here
There are several discourses that seek to explain anti-semitism in this moment, but what is often missing are the material questions? Tune in as we discuss Barnaby's article titled "What Do People Panic About When They Panic About Anti-Semitism?"
In this first instalment of this 3 part series, we discuss with Dr. Bikrum Gill: what is imperialism? More specifically, what is capitalist-imperialism? And what does it mean to be anti-imperialist?
This is the second episode in a 3-part series on African thought. In this second instalment, we discuss with Professor Zubairu Wai: What is missed by focusing on 1492? Coloniality and decolonisation, and so much more.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@CTayJ
@ZubaWai
In this far-ranging episode, we discuss:
Why is Shaykh Khaled so different?
What colonialism did to Islamic institutions
The story of Lut and much more!
There are many theories that attempt to explain the "special" relationship between US imperialism and the Zionist entity. Listen in to this masterclass as Max Ajl explains and details the historical roots of this relationship
Max Ajl is a fellow at MECAM/University of Tunis, a Senior Fellow at University of Ghent and an associated researcher at the Tunisian Observatory for Food Sovereignty and the Environment. He is an associate editor at Agrarian South and Journal of Labor and Society, and has written for The Journal of Peasant Studies and the Review of African Political Economy. His book, A People’s Green New Deal, was published in 2021 with Pluto Press.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@maxajl
@MomodouTaal
With Assad gone, what does an anti-imperialist line on Syria now sound like? Listen in as Professor Navid Farnia responds to many commonly asked questions about Syria.
Navid Farnia is an Assistant Professor in the Department of African American Studies. His research broadly explores the relationship between racial oppression in the United States and U.S. imperialism in the context of revolution and counterrevolution. Dr. Farnia’s book manuscript, National Liberation in an Imperialist World: Race, Counterrevolution, and the United States, traces the U.S. national security state’s evolution by examining how U.S. officials responded to national liberation movements at home and abroad from the 1950s to 1980. The book looks at several cases, including the U.S.-orchestrated coups in Iran and Guatemala, the Cuban Revolution, the 1960s
This is the first episode in a 3-part series on African thought. In this first instalment, we discuss with Professor Zubairu Wai how African thinkers concerned with decolonisation have thought about and theorised The Continent. In this episode, we discuss decolonisation through the lens of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o & Valentin-Yves Mudimbe.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@CTayJ
@ZubaWai
As the West continues to malign China in an attempt to give life to imperialism. Professor Rockhill details how his recent visit went.
Dr. Gabriel Rockhill is the Founding Director of the Critical Theory Workshop / Atelier de Théorie Critique, Professor of Philosophy and Global Interdisciplinary Studies at Villanova University, and the author or editor of ten books, as well as numerous scholarly and general public articles. He is also the Associate Director of Cultural Studies at Villanova University, Research Associate at the Laboratoire d’anthropologie politique – LAP (EHESS, Paris), one of the editors-in-chief of the World Marxist Review, and co-editor of the book series AIM–Anti-Imperialist Marxism.
Journals: Monthly Review, World Marxist Review, International Critical Thought Books: China's Economic Dialectic, People's China at 75, The East Is Still Red, China's Path to Development, Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, Class Struggle (Losurdo), China's Global Strategy, The Dragon's Gift Twitter
@GabrielRockhill
@CTayJ
@MomodouTaal
Listen in as we discuss the story of US imperialism in central America and how it relates to today.
Aviva Chomsky is an American professor, historian, author, and activist. She is a professor of history and the Coordinator of Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Studies at Salem State University in Massachusetts.
Listen in as we discuss how drones have changed the landscape of war.
Khalil Dewan is a dedicated researcher and practitioner with a strong focus on international law and human rights.
Currently pursuing a PhD in Law at SOAS University of London, he is also a Member of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS), SOAS Centre for Human Rights Law, and the Centre for the Study of Colonialism, Empire and International Law.
Khalil's research primarily centers around the intersection of UK counter-terrorism practices, drone targeted killings, and international law. His work incorporates critical legal theories and the socio-legal method, with a particular emphasis on lived experiences. Khalil's academic journey includes the successful completion of an LL.M in International Law with merit at SOAS.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@IbnSafad
@KhalilDewan
Listen in as we discuss what the future holds for the Arab-Iranian region with Professor Marandi
Mohammad Marandi (Persian: سید محمد مرندی; born 1966 in Richmond, Virginia) is an Iranian-American academic and political analyst.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@CTayJ
@s_m_marandi
What does the world look like from a Pan-Africanist perspective? Listen in as we discuss what it means to be "authentically" African and see the world from the vantage point of Africa.
Zubairu Wai is Associate Professor of Political Science and Global Development Studies at the University of Toronto, Canada
I.G. @TheGambian
@Ethan_Levine_
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@CTayJ
@EthanLevine0
Featuring:
Haya Adam
Tara Mann
Abel Harvie-Clark
Alex Cachinero-Gorman
@democratise.education
@soasliberatedzone
@hiitshayaa
@abel.su.dem.ed
@alejandre.cachivache
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241201-soas-student-union-is-supposed-to-be-independent-but-it-has-been-completely-silenced/
What is neoliberalism? What is the nature of US capitalism today? How does the dollar act as a function of US imperialism? Listen in to the brilliant Radhika Desai.
Dr. Radhika Desai is Professor at the Department of Political Studies, and Director, Geopolitical Economy Research Group, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. She is the author of Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire (2013), Slouching Towards Ayodhya: From Congress to Hindutva in Indian Politics (2nd rev ed, 2004) and Intellectuals and Socialism: ‘Social Democrats’ and the Labour Party (1994), a New Statesman and Society Book of the Month, and editor or co-editor of Russia, Ukraine and Contemporary Imperialism, a special issue of International Critical Thought (2016), Theoretical Engagements in Geopolitical Economy (2015), Analytical Gains from Geopolitical Economy (2015), Revitalizing Marxist Theory for Today’s Capitalism (2010) and Developmental and Cultural Nationalisms (2009).
She is also the author of numerous articles in Economic and Political Weekly, International Critical Thought, New Left Review, Third World Quarterly, World Review of Political Economy and other journals and in edited collections on parties, political economy, culture and nationalism.
With Alan Freeman, she co-edits the Geopolitical Economy book series with Manchester University Press and the Future of Capitalism book series with Pluto Press.
She serves on the Editorial Boards of many journals including Canadian Political Science Review, Critique of Political Economy, E-Social Sciences, Pacific Affairs, Global Faultlines, Research in Political Economy, Revista de Economía Crítica, World Review of Political Economy and International Critical Thought
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@CTayJ
What is the material basis of fascism? Listen in as Dr. Mullin masterfully details the political economy of fascism and how Palestine fits into US' current juncture of capitalist crisis.
Corinna Mullin is an anti-imperialist scholar who teaches political science and international political economy at John Jay College and Brooklyn College (CUNY). Corinna's research examines global South security dependency through a world system analytical framework, with a focus on colonial legacies, imperialism, unequal exchange and delinking. Corinna has also researched and published academic works on anti-/decolonial theory and praxis, the colonial-capitalist university, land and labor struggles. Corinna is a member of CUNY4Palestine and The Committee of Anti-Imperialists in Solidarity with Iran (CASI). She is on the Editorial Board of the journal Science & Society and is an Editor of Middle East Critique.
Links:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SrveH0c5XA3a2CksdCcz6M5H7YTjboP93iLftqq8yUA/edit
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SrveH0c5XA3a2CksdCcz6M5H7YTjboP93iLftqq8yUA/edit
What does an anti-imperialist position on the question of Syria sound like?
Max Ajl is a fellow at MECAM/University of Tunis, a Senior Fellow at University of Ghent and an associated researcher at the Tunisian Observatory for Food Sovereignty and the Environment. He is an associate editor at Agrarian South and Journal of Labor and Society, and has written for The Journal of Peasant Studies and the Review of African Political Economy. His book, A People’s Green New Deal, was published in 2021 with Pluto Press.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@maxajl
@MomodouTaal
@Khamis_AC
What does our present moment require from us? Listen in as Dr. Nina Farnia and I discuss the responsibility of those who live in the imperial core, particularly the US.
Nina Farnia is a law professor and legal historian whose research focuses on US imperialism and anti-imperialist dissidents. Her forthcoming book is entitled Imperialism: An American Story (Stanford University Press).
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@NinaFarnia
Why is it the case that so many leftists in the West fail on the question of imperialism? Listen in as Professor Rockhill takes us through the problems with Western Marxism
Dr. Gabriel Rockhill is the Founding Director of the Critical Theory Workshop / Atelier de Théorie Critique, Professor of Philosophy and Global Interdisciplinary Studies at Villanova University, and the author or editor of ten books, as well as numerous scholarly and general public articles. He is also the Associate Director of Cultural Studies at Villanova University, Research Associate at the Laboratoire d’anthropologie politique – LAP (EHESS, Paris), one of the editors-in-chief of the World Marxist Review, and co-editor of the book series AIM–Anti-Imperialist Marxism.
He has made numerous media appearance related to his scholarship and interventions in public debates. Click here to contact Dr. Rockhill for speaking engagements or interviews.
@GabrielRockhill
@CTayJ
@MomodouTaal
Listen in to this super informative episode on Marx's methodology and place within the western philosophical canon
Colin Bodayle teaches philosophy at Villanova University. His main research areas are Marxism, Classical German Philosophy, and anti-colonial philosophy. You can find him on social media on Twitter
@colinbodayle or on Substack.
@momodoutaal
@ctayj
Listen in as we discuss how we build socialism whilst our subjectivities have been constituted under neoliberalism.
Arun Kundnani is a writer interested in race, Islamophobia, surveillance, political violence, and radicalism.
Born in London, he moved to New York in 2010 and now lives in Philadelphia. The Guardian has described him as “one of Britain’s best political writers.”
Kundnani is the author of What is Antiracism? (Verso, 2023), The Muslims are Coming! (Verso, 2014) and The End of Tolerance (Pluto, 2007), which was selected as a New Statesman book of the year. He has written for the Nation, the Guardian, the Washington Post, Vice, and The Intercept. A former editor of the journal Race & Class, he was educated at Cambridge University, and holds a PhD from London Metropolitan University. He has been an Open Society fellow and a scholar-in-residence at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@FanonIsCanon
@CTayJ
Listen in as Dr Myriam Francois and I discuss the recent elections in France.
Myriam François is a British journalist, filmmaker and writer. Her work has appeared on the BBC, Channel 4 and Al Jazeera. She is the founder and CEO of production company mpwr Productions, which specialises in documentary films centred on minority voices.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Myzfrancois
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@MyriamFrancoisC
Listen in as we discuss BLMUK's political education program: Project Timbuktu
The full programme for the festival of collective liberation: https://ukblm.org/festival-2024
What does a principled stance toward Iran sound like? With increasing US imperialist aggression toward Iran, folks often focus on the internal contradictions within Islam rather than focusing on the role of US imperialism. Listen in as Dr. Helyeh Doutaghi and I discuss Iran's history and struggle for sovereignty.
Helyeh Doutaghi is the Deputy Director of the Law and Political Economy Project and an Associate Research Scholar at Yale Law School. Her research explores the intersections of the Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), encompassing Marxian and postcolonial critiques of law, sanctions, and international political economy. Helyeh's doctoral dissertation draws on the mechanisms, harms, and beneficiaries of the sanctions regime imposed on Iran, centering questions of value transfer and wealth drain. Additionally, she is interested in International Humanitarian Law (IHL), having written about its history, practice, and the production of knowledge (and ignorance), particularly in the context of the U.S. military.
Twitter:
@Helyeh_Doutaghi
@MomodouTaal
BLMUK’s Festival of Collective Liberation will be centring Black women elders and developing solidarity with anti-colonial/anti-imperialist struggles across the world.
The one-day festival will be comprised of panel discussions, strategy debates, keynote speeches, workshops, trainings and art and music. As well as international solidarity, it will explore Black resistance in the labour movement, police and prison abolition, migration and climate justice, bodily autonomy, cultural and artistic resistance and Black radical education. It will also launch Project Timbuktu, BLM's inaugural political education course.
Register for tickets here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/blacklivesmatteruk/1267185
Email hello@ukblm.org for any questions
What is the agrarian question? How are struggles over land connected to global anti-imperialism? Listen in as we discuss 'The Agrarian question' with Dr. Max Ajl
Max Ajl is an associated researcher with the Tunisian Observatory for Food Sovereignty and the Environment and a postdoctoral fellow with the Rural Sociology Group at Wageningen University. He has written for Monthly Review, Jacobin and Viewpoint. He has contributed to a number of journals, including the Journal of Peasant Studies, Review of African Political Economy and Globalizations, and is an associate editor at Agrarian South & Journal of Labor and Society.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@maxajl
@MomodouTaal
@CTayJ
@Khamis_AC
Listen in as Dr. Bikrum Gill discusses an analysis of Palestinian resistance; historically and contemporarily. We also discuss the Palestinian struggle in relation to wider struggles against imperialism and for global struggle of liberation.
Dr. Gill is currently working on a book manuscript titled “Race, Nature, and Accumulation: A Decolonial Political Ecological Analysis of Land Grabbing.” This book examines the motives and consequences of the post financial crisis phenomenon of large-scale agricultural land grabbing, with a particular focus on the “South-South” case of Indian agricultural companies expanding into the Gambella province of Ethiopia. Combining political ecology, political economy, and decolonial theory, this work situates the land grab within the longue duree of colonial-capitalist modernity, and advances the argument that the land grab, as a distinctive post-crisis phenomenon, signifies an attempt to re-constitute the racialized social-ecology of global capitalist development.
Listen in as we discuss structures, agency and the role of political economy.
Naeem Inayatullah is professor of politics at Ithaca College. He has taught at the University of Denver, University of Colorado, Syracuse University, and for a short period in Brazil. He is associate editor of the Journal of Narrative Politic
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@CTayJ
Listen in as Dr. Matteo Capasso offers a marxist analysis of Iran's retaliation to Israel's attack on their consulate.
Matteo Capasso is @mscactions research fellow at @cafoscari and @columbia, whose work focuses on imperialism and the Global South. He is the author of 'Everyday Politics in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya' and co-editor of @mideastcritique. His work has appeared in @ripe, @roap and @journalPolitics. He is also a rapporteur at in the International Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism: Sanctions Blockades, and Unilateral Coercive Measures @sanctionstrib
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@capassomat
@MomodouTaal
@CTayJ
@Khamis_AC
As the US gears up for yet another intervention in Haiti, what do those who are plugged into movements on the ground make of the current situation? Listen in as Kweku Lumumba takes us through his perspective on contemporary Haiti
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@CTayj
@Aldanmarki
[This episode was recorded February 27th]
Many of us have heard what is happening in Senegal listen in as Fatima and Florian take us through what has led to this current moment.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@Nestawane
@FloTok
The Ansarullah in Yemen continues their blockade of the red sea of all ships headed toward Israel. Who are they?
Listen in as Rune discusses the history of Ansarullah and their place within Yemen's society.
Rune AgerhusPolitical Commentator & Member of the Organization of Solidarity with the Yemeni Struggle (OSYS
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@CTayj
@Aldanmarki
History did not start on October 7th. Listen in as Tara contextualizes October 7th and gives a long history of Palestinian resistance.
Tara Alami is a Palestinian writer and organiser from occupied Jerusalem and occupied Yafa, based in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal).
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@taraxrh
What is the axis of resisance? How did they emerge?
In this episode, Dr. Matteo Capasso gives us an introduction to the axis of resistance.
Matteo Capasso is @mscactions research fellow at @cafoscari and @columbia, whose work focuses on imperialism and the Global South. He is the author of 'Everyday Politics in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya' and co-editor of @mideastcritique. His work has appeared in @ripe, @roap and @journalPolitics. He is also a rapporteur at in the International Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism: Sanctions Blockades, and Unilateral Coercive Measures @sanctionstrib
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@capassomat
@MomodouTaal
@CTayJ
In this episode, I speak with Azhaar, a PhD student at Cornell, on what is happening in Sudan.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
AzhaarSholgami
An in-depth look into what is currently taking place in DRC.
Kambale Musavuli, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo and one of the leading political and cultural Congolese voices, is a social entrepreneur and an international human rights advocate working with youth groups across the African continent. He writes on issues affecting the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and has served for the past decade as the national spokesperson for the Friends of the Congo, a group that raises global consciousness about the situation in Congo and provides support to local institutions in Congo. He is currently an analyst at the Center for Research on Congo with a focus on Kwame Nkrumah’s legacy in the development of Ghana through a Pan-African lens.
My current organization’s website is https://www.cereck.org
@Kambale
@MomodouTaal
@TheGambian
Starting the new year with a special episode on 'Love' in James Baldwin's archive.
Quincy Diallo is a double major in African-American studies and English at Yale University.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Quincy.Diallo
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
Palestine remains the litmus test. As our movements continue to gain momentum, Arun and I discuss what are the stakes when organizing for Palestine in the west.
Arun Kundnani has been active in antiracist movements in Britain and the United States for three decades. He is a former editor of the journal Race & Class and was a scholar-in-residence at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@ArunKundnani
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https://www.patreon.com/TheMalcolmEffect
A historical overview of the creation of the Zionist state of Israel.
Professor Lentin's bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronit_Lentin
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
Support The Malcolm Effect:
https://www.patreon.com/TheMalcolmEffect
In this episode, Yara Shoufani details what this current iteration of the Palestinian resistance represents for Palestinians specifically and the world more broadly.
Yara Shoufani is an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement in Toronto. She holds a master's in political science, with a research focus on colonisation and gentrification in Occupied Palestine.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@Yaraxsh
Support The Malcolm Effect:
https://www.patreon.com/TheMalcolmEffect
In this episode, Barnaby Raine succinctly details a history of Zionism whilst speaking to our current moment.
Barnaby Raine is an intellectual historian writing his PhD at Columbia University. His doctoral research seeks to explain the decline of thinking about the end of capitalism from Marx through to debates in twentieth century Britain, amid the end of formal empire. He holds a Masters in History from Columbia and a BA in History and Politics from Oxford. He has broad interests in the history of social theory and modern political thought, the history of the political left and methodological questions in intellectual history, as well as theories of contemporary antisemitism. His writing has appeared in The Guardian, n+1, and numerous other venues.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@CTayJ
Professor Russell Rickford, whom I have had the fortunate experience of studying with, is under malicious attack from Zionists. His commitment to justice has been unwavering and there is a vicious campaign calling for his resignation. This baseless campaign is based on a 2 minuted doctored audio without context. Please find attached a petition that seeks to protect Professor Rickford and those who have the courage to affirm the basic humanity of Palestinians. Please share with others.
This audio is his speech in full, any well-meaning person listening will be able to understand how they have twisted his words.
Transcript to full speech found here
Petition: https://www.change.org/p/save-professor-russell-rickford-a-stand-for-academic-freedom-and-free-speech?recruiter=1319666233&recruited_by_id=c7672730-6ebb-11ee-ba2a-bfb0a48ef6e9&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_content=cl_sharecopy_37702492_en-US%3Acv_489296
Listen in to this important analysis of the recent coups in the West. Professor Siba Grovogui situates today's events in history
Support The Malcolm Effect:
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Professor Grovogui is a professor of international relations theory and law at Cornell University.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
This episode is in honour of Omar Blondin Diop, as today marks his birthday. Listen in as we talk about this inspiring radical figure
Support The Malcolm Effect:
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Florian Bobin is a Dakar-based researcher in history who studies liberation struggles and state violence in 1960s-1970s Senegal, author of a forthcoming biography of revolutionary philosopher Omar Blondin Dio.
@flotok
In this episode, Deej and I discuss with Professor Alana Lentin the current war on "wokeism"
Support The Malcolm Effect:
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Alana Lentin is Professor of Cultural and Social Analysis at Western Sydney University. She is a Jewish European woman who is a settler on Gadigal land (Sydney, Australia). She works on the critical theorization of race, racism and antiracism. Her latest book is Why Race Still Matters (Polity 2020) and she previously published The Crises of Multiculturalism: Racism in a neoliberal age with Gavan Titley (Zed, 2011). She co-edits the Rowman & Littlefield ‘Challenging Migration Studies’ books series and the ‘Decolonization and Social Worlds’ series at Bristol University Press. She is an editorial board member of Ethnic and Racial Studies and Identities among other journals. Her academic and media articles as well as videos, podcasts, and teaching materials can be found at www.alanalentin.net
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@AlanaLentin
@FanonIsCanon
We often hear that China is colonising Africa. Or that Russia's actions are imperialist in Africa. Christian and I spoke to one of my favorite thinkers, about all things Africa vis-a-vis China & Russia
Zubairu Wai is Associate Professor of Political Science and Global Development Studies. He is the author of Epistemologies of African Conflicts: Violence, Evolutionism, and the War in Sierra Leone (2012), which won the ATWS Toyin Falola Africa Book Award for 2013, and co-editor (with Marta Iñiguez de Heredia) of Recentering Africa in International Relations: Beyond Lack, Peripherality, and Failure (2018). His research takes up epistemological questions regarding the nature, conditions, and limits of disciplinary knowledge and practices in International Relations, Development Studies, Conflict and Security Studies, and African Studies. Specifically, he focuses on how the intersections of power and coloniality frame the discourses and political economy of knowledge, violence, conflict, development, and state formation in Africa, and the Global South more broadly. His most recent manuscript, Thinking the Colonial Library: Mudimbe, Gnosis, and the Predicament of Africanist Knowledge, which interrogates the contaminating vectors of the colonial archive and its implications for epistemic decolonisation, will be published by Routledge early next year.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@CTayJ
Listen in as I speak to Gary Wilder on his generation of scholars and their disavowal of class analysis.
Gary Wilder is a Professor in the Ph.D. Program of Anthropology, with cross-appointments in History and French, at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where he is also Director of the Committee on Globalization and Social Change.
Wilder’s work on the French empire, Francophone West Africa and the Caribbean, and Black Atlantic social thought is located at the intersection of historical anthropology, intellectual history, and critical theory (with special emphasis on Marxism, postcolonialism, and poststructuralism).
You’d be hard pressed to scroll through social media without seeing a discussion on gender. Listen in as I discuss with Micah Valetentine.
Micah Valentine is a stem cell researcher who has an interest in Radical Black politics and labour history.
I.G. @TheGambian
@_micahvalentine
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
TikTok:
Micahvalentine
@Afroconfetti
Listen in as Deej, Christian, and I discuss AfroPessimism with Professor Frank Wilderson
Frank B. Wilderson III is an American writer, dramatist, filmmaker, and critic. He is a Professor of African American Studies at the University of California, Irvine.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@FanonIsCanon
@CTayJ
In this episode, I sat with my Uncle as we discussed the radical history of The Gambia and its connection to movements beyond its borders.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
Listen in as Sita, Deej and I discuss Sita's book "Deadly and Slick:Sexual Modernity and the Making of Race"
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@FanonIsCanon
Listen in as we discuss with Judith Butler on their assessment of discussions surrounding gender today.
Judith Pamela Butler[3] (born February 24, 1956) is an American philosopher and gender studies writer whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism,[4] queer theory,[5] and literary theory.[6] In 1993, Butler began teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, where they[a] have served, beginning in 1998, as the Maxine Elliot Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Program of Critical Theory. They are also the Hannah Arendt Chair at the European Graduate School (EGS).[9]
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@FanonIsCanon
@CTayJ
Listen in as Obi Egbuna jr, Deej and I discuss what Pan African organising in the US should focus on today.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@FanonIsCanon
In this episode, we discuss with Dr. Matteo Campasso the history and mechanism of sanctions.
Matteo Capasso is @mscactions research fellow at @cafoscari and @columbia, whose work focuses on imperialism and the Global South. He is the author of 'Everyday Politics in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya' and co-editor of @mideastcritique. His work has appeared in @ripe, @roap and @journalPolitics. He is also a rapporteur at in the International Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism: Sanctions Blockades, and Unilateral Coercive Measures @sanctionstrib
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@capassomat
@MomodouTaal
@CTayJ
In this episode Dr. Norman Finkelstein talk to Annie, Christian, and Momodou about how he sees the class struggle today.
Norman Gary Finkelstein is an American political scientist, activist, former professor, and author. His primary fields of research are the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the politics of the Holocaust. He is a graduate of Binghamton University and received his Ph.D. in political science at Princeton University.
In this episode, Professor Radhik Desai gives us a masterclass on our geopolitical situation.
Dr. Radhika Desai is Professor at the Department of Political Studies, and Director, Geopolitical Economy Research Group, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. She is the author of Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire (2013), Slouching Towards Ayodhya: From Congress to Hindutva in Indian Politics (2nd rev ed, 2004) and Intellectuals and Socialism: ‘Social Democrats’ and the Labour Party (1994), a New Statesman and Society Book of the Month, and editor or co-editor of Russia, Ukraine and Contemporary Imperialism, a special issue of International Critical Thought (2016), Theoretical Engagements in Geopolitical Economy (2015), Analytical Gains from Geopolitical Economy (2015), Revitalizing Marxist Theory for Today’s Capitalism (2010) and Developmental and Cultural Nationalisms (2009).
She is also the author of numerous articles in Economic and Political Weekly, International Critical Thought, New Left Review, Third World Quarterly, World Review of Political Economy and other journals and in edited collections on parties, political economy, culture and nationalism.
With Alan Freeman, she co-edits the Geopolitical Economy book series with Manchester University Press and the Future of Capitalism book series with Pluto Press.
She serves on the Editorial Boards of many journals including Canadian Political Science Review, Critique of Political Economy, E-Social Sciences, Pacific Affairs, Global Faultlines, Research in Political Economy, Revista de Economía Crítica, World Review of Political Economy and International Critical Thought
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@CTayJ
Borders are not just lines on a map. Listen in as Harsha Walia, Deej and I discuss bordering regimes
Harsha Walia is a Canadian activist and writer based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She has been involved with No one is illegal, the February 14 Women's Memorial March Committee, the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre, and several Downtown Eastside housing justice coalitions.[2][3] Walia has been active in migrant justice, Indigenous solidarity, feminist, anti-racist, and anti-capitalist movements for over a decade.[4]
Walia is the author of Undoing Border Imperialism (2013) and Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism (2021), co-author of Never Home: Legislating Discrimination in Canadian Immigration (2015), and Red Women Rising: Indigenous Women Survivors in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (2019).[9] She has also contributed to over thirty academic journals, anthologies, magazines, and newspapers.[4] She is a frequent guest speaker at campuses and conferences across North America.[10]
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@FanonIsCanon
Musa Springer joined me for an introduction to Walter Rodney.
Musa Springer is a cultural worker and community organizer, host of the Grounding podcast, and a volunteer with the Walter Rodney Foundation.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Paranoid_Alive
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@HalfAtlanta
In this episode, we discuss what are the some of questions the African intellectual should be considering in our current moment.
Grovogui is a professor at Cornell university of international relations theory and law.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@FanonIsCanon
In this episode, I discuss with Shaykh Khaled Abou El Fadl about his current activities and how we can re-engage Islam in our time.
Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl is one of the world’s leading authorities on Shari'ah, Islamic law and Islam, and a prominent scholar in the field of human rights. He is the Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law where he teaches International Human Rights; Islamic Jurisprudence; Political Asylum and Refugee Law; The Trafficking of Human Beings: Law and Policy; Political Crimes and Legal Systems; and Muslims, Race and Law. He was also formerly the Chair of the Islamic Studies Interdepartmental Program at UCLA. He is the founder of the Institute of Advanced Usuli Studies ("The Usuli Institute"), a non-profit educational institute dedicated to ethics, beauty and critical thinking in the Islamic intellectual tradition.
If you wish to support the Shaykh's work:
www.LaunchGood.com/projectilluminesirah
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
In this episode, we discuss Dr. Joy James' latest publication: In pursuit of revolutionary love with.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@FanonIsCanon
A crossover episode discussing the Balkans from a decolonial perspective.
Piro Rexhepi is a researcher based in London. He holds a PhD in politics and writes about borders, racism, religion, and sexuality. He is the author of “White Enclosures Racial Capitalism and Coloniality along the Balkan Route.” It was published by Duke University Press in December 2022 and is discussed in today’s episode.
Adem Ferizaj is a PhD student at the Centre for Gender Studies at SOAS University of London. His dissertation is an epistemological study of the roles of Muslim-majority populations from the Balkans in the global hierarchies of whiteness. He has previously worked as a graduate teaching assistant at SOAS.
@ademfer
@Pirorexhepi
In this episode, we speak to Dr. Alison Phipps regarding some of the challenges for feminism in our current moment.
Alison Phipps is a UK-based scholar, writer, and teacher working in the area of gender, with a specific focus on sexual violence. She is currently a Professor of Sociology at Newcastle University. Her most recent book is called Me, Not You: the trouble with mainstream feminismand is published by Manchester University Press.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@Too_Black_
@FanonIsCanon
We spoke to Ashok Kumar around the themes in his book “Monopsony Capitalism”
Ashok Kumar is a Senior Lecturer of Political Economy Birkbeck University.
His most recent book Monopsony Capitalism: Power and Production in the Twilight of the Sweatshop Age (Cambridge University Press) was the winner of the American Sociological Association's 2021 Paul Sweezy Outstanding Book Prize and the 2022 Immanuel Wallerstein Memorial Book Award.
The book demonstrates that the production process under global capitalism is governed by a universal logic that shapes the structural bargaining power of workers.
He’s a member of the editorial collective of the journal Historical Materialism.
Twitter:
@broseph_stalin
@momodoutaal
@ctayj
Instagram:
TheGambian
Broseph_stalingram
Ctayj
In this episode we discuss why Marxism in our current moment has a new lease on life?
Stephan Hammel’s work is focused on developing a historical materialist framework for the study of music. His research encompasses the history of Marxist approaches to the subject—both “Western” and “Eastern” variants—as well as the role of music in the communist movement. In addition, he harbors an interest in musical modernism in Latin America, especially as it relates to Left politics. Both agitator and educator, he frequently gives talks on political education. He has delivered papers at Left Forum, Historical Materialism, the American Society for Aesthetics, and the American Musicological Society.
I.G. @TheGambian
@CtayJ
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@Ctayj
In this episode, we spoke to Professor Jodi Dean regarding what a socialist future would look like. And how we can make steps in advancing to a socialist project in the United States
In this episode, we discuss the legacy of Guinean's first president and Pan-Africanist Ahmed Sekou Toure.
Grovogui is a professor at Cornell university of international relations theory and law.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
What is Islamic Liberation Theology? Listen in as we speak to Professor Farid Esack on how we may utilise Islamic liberation theology in our fight for justice
Farid Esack (born 1955 in Wynberg, Cape Town) is a South African Muslim scholar, writer, and political activist known for his opposition to apartheid, his appointment by Nelson Mandela as a gender equity commissioner, and his work for inter-religious dialogue.
I.G. @TheGambian
@MetalMaoMustafa
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@AshaariML
In this episode we speak to Dr. Gerald Horne on all things elections. He gives us his post-midterm election analysis whilst delving into the utility of elections and much more!
Gerald Horne, is an American historian who currently holds the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston.
I.G. @TheGambian
@CtayJ
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@Ctayj
We're talking film, arts and politics with Comrade Yami
Xtian Osagiede is a Nigerian American artists and filmmaker. He's committed to creating Transgressive Cinema that depicts visceral, emotionally intense experiences.
“Christian, also known as comradeyami on IG”
“Check out HUNTED his debut short film here:
https://vimeo.com/704682201
In this episode Annie and I discuss Cedric Robinson's Black Marxism. Its rise to prominence, the position it occupies within the academy and what are some critiques?
Annie Olaloku-Teriba is a PhD student based in London, working on legacies of empire and the complex histories of race.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@Annie_etc_
I spoke to Yahya Birt regarding his article. We cover why so many Muslim scholars in the West have decided to align themselves with right wing ideologies.
Yahya Birt has published over a dozen peer-reviewed articles on Islam in Britain and co-edited British Secularism and Religion (2016), Islam in Victorian Liverpool (2021) and The Collected Poems of Abdullah Quilliam (2021). In 2022, he published his first poetry collection, Pandemic Pilgrimage. As a research director at the Ayaan Institute in London, he published Ummah at the Margins: The Past, Present, and Future of Muslim Minorities (2022). He is a co-editor of the Oxford British Muslim Studies series for the Oxford University Press. He lives in West Yorkshire with his family and cat. He likes walking and being grumpy about the state of the world.
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@YBirt
In this episode, Deej takes over The Malcolm Effect for part 2 of the discussion with Too Black on his essay, ' Laundering Black Rage'
Article can be found here
Too Black is a poet, traveling and teaching artist, and author fusing historical content, current events, creative practice, and interpersonal interaction on international stages. He is currently the host of the Black Myths Podcast: a podcast debunking the BS said about Black people while also the producer for The Last Dope Intellectual: an unapologetically radical Black web show hosted by Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly and Dr. Layla Brown.
Too Black blends critical analysis with biting sarcasm. He has headlined various stages and events including the historic Nuyorican Poets Café in New York City, Princeton University, and Johannesburg Theater in South Africa. His words have been published in online publications such as Black Agenda Report, Left Voice, Blavity, and Hood Communist.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@Too_Black_
@FanonIsCanon
In this 2 part episode, we unpack Too Black's recent article, titled 'Laundering Black Rage'.
Too Black is a poet, traveling and teaching artist, and author fusing historical content, current events, creative practice, and interpersonal interaction on international stages. He is currently the host of the Black Myths Podcast: a podcast debunking the BS said about Black people while also the producer for The Last Dope Intellectual: an unapologetically radical Black web show hosted by Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly and Dr. Layla Brown.
Too Black blends critical analysis with biting sarcasm. He has headlined various stages and events including the historic Nuyorican Poets Café in New York City, Princeton University, and Johannesburg Theater in South Africa. His words have been published in online publications such as Black Agenda Report, Left Voice, Blavity and Hood Communist.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@Too_Black_
In this episode we speak to Dr. Cornel West about our current moment and his assessment of where we are today.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@FanonIsCanon
@CtayJ
@CornelWest
In this episode, Isa puts forwards arguments against the sex trade using a materialist analysis.
Isa is a 20 year old trans woman with a background in socialist organising. Isa is an avid reader who is able to teach complex theory in a digestible manner. Isa was recently involved a worldwide missing persons case that resulted in their abduction.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@EndSanctions
This segment is a new addition to The Malcolm Effect in which we aim to release a weekly news update in line with the spirit of internationalism
(This episode was recorded on the 26th June 2022)
In this episode, Dana takes us through the history and legacy of imperialism in Puerto Rico
Dana López (she, her, ella) 39 years old lives in Aguadilla Puerto Rico with her daughter, partner, and 2 cats. Studying Master of Social Work remotely at Columbia University School of Social Work (Clinical Social Work and Social Welfare Policy)
Dana grew up in several places across what is currently known as the United States racialized and socialized as a "middle class" white woman.
She returned to university as an adult to complete undergraduate work in Psychology, Social Science and Writing. Then went on to graduate school at Columbia and through the process of education and returning to Puerto Rico during the pandemic to live closer to her partners family, became deeply interested- if not obsessed with the ways that oppressive US imperialist policy is enacted and impacts the people of Puerto Rico. She discusses the throughlines from invasion to current issues of "status" of Puerto Rico. The ongoing displacement and gentrification of Puerto Ricans and the ways that the US obscures the colonial and imperialist "relationship" between Puerto Rico and the US.
Only some of many books, articles and names for further learning about this issue:
-War Against All Puerto Ricans, Nelson A. Denis
-How to Hide an Empire, Daniel Immerwahr
-La Mordaza (The Gag Law), Ivonne Acosta Lespier
-Free Puerto Rico, Pedro Albizu Campos (anything about Albizu Campos)
-Disaster Capitalism, Naomi Klein
-For those who like Marx and poetry... Read Lo Terciario/The Tertiary by Raquel Salas Rivera
-Centro Archives at Hunter College CUNY
https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/library/#archivesSection
-Boricua College Archives
-University of Puerto Rico Archives
Policy list and key points mentioned for further research: El Grito de Lares
Carta de Autonomia
The Jones Act
The Gag Law
US Public Law 136 (forced sterilization of women in Puerto Rico)
Cornelius Rhoades
Ponce Massacre
Nationality Act
Act 20/22/60
PROMESA/ La Junta
Vieques bombings
History of pharmaceutical business, contraception testing
UN Decisions on decolonization of Puerto Rico
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@DLopezsocialwrk
This segment is a new addition to The Malcolm Effect in which we aim to release a weekly news update in line with the spirit of internationalism
(This episode was recorded on the 10th June 2022)
In light of recent mass shootings, Professor Gerald Horne takes us through a historical analysis of US gun laws.
Gerald Horne, is an American historian who currently holds the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston.
I.G. @TheGambian
@CtayJ
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@Ctayj
In this episode I spoke to Aurelien Mondon regarding how those on the left should, if at all, respond to the current iteration of 'the culture war'
Aurelien Mondon is a Senior Lecturer in politics at the University of Bath. His research focuses predominantly on the impact of racism and populism on liberal democracies and the mainstreaming of far right politics through elite discourse. His first book, The Mainstreaming of the Extreme Right in France and Australia: A Populist Hegemony?, was published in 2013 and he recently co-edited After Charlie Hebdo: Terror, racism and free speech published with Zed. His new book Reactionary democracy: How racism and the populist far right became mainstream, co-written with Aaron Winter, is now out with Verso.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@AurelMondon
In this episode, I spoke to Aaron as they broke down what is materialism and why they choose to adopt a materialist politic when thinking about Black liberation.
Aaron Booe is an organizer with the Claudia Jones School for Political Education in Washington, D.C. Currently, they are studying Political Science and Economics at Howard University.
I.G. @TheGambian
@aaron_bo02
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@Afromaterialism
In this episode, I spoke to the dope Too Black regarding how we should organise and build politically, particularly focusing on what our approach should be towards the Black bourgeoisie
Too Black is a poet, traveling and teaching artist, and author fusing historical content, current events, creative practice, and interpersonal interaction on international stages. He is currently the host of the Black Myths Podcast: a podcast debunking the BS said about Black people while also the producer for The Last Dope Intellectual: an unapologetically radical Black web show hosted by Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly and Dr. Layla Brown.
Too Black blends critical analysis with biting sarcasm. He has headlined various stages and events including the historic Nuyorican Poets Café in New York City, Princeton University, and Johannesburg Theater in South Africa. His words have been published in online publications such as Black Agenda Report, Left Voice, Blavity and Hood Communist.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@Too_Black_
We often hear that race is a social construct, however that doesn't actually tell us what race is doing. In this episode Alana Lentin calls us to think of race as a technology of power. Listen in for another amazing episode.
Alana Lentin is Professor of Cultural and Social Analysis at Western Sydney University. She is a Jewish European woman who is a settler on Gadigal land (Sydney, Australia). She works on the critical theorization of race, racism and antiracism. Her latest book is Why Race Still Matters (Polity 2020) and she previously published The Crises of Multiculturalism: Racism in a neoliberal age with Gavan Titley (Zed, 2011). She co-edits the Rowman & Littlefield ‘Challenging Migration Studies’ books series and the ‘Decolonization and Social Worlds’ series at Bristol University Press. She is an editorial board member of Ethnic and Racial Studies and Identities among other journals. Her academic and media articles as well as videos, podcasts, and teaching materials can be found at www.alanalentin.net
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@AlanaLentin
Borders are imaginary however, their maintenance requires a series of material policies. Listen in as Gregk unpacks the nature of bordering and what a Marxist analysis of borders and space sounds like
Gregk Foley is an independent researcher based in the UK. His research interests concern the political geographies of border/ing regimes, policing, security and war.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@Gregkfoley
In this episode I was joined by Dr. Gerald Horne & Christian, as we speak about Black politics today.
Gerald Horne, is an American historian who currently holds the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston.
I.G. @TheGambian
@CtayJ
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@Ctayj
Listen in as Dr. Jairo I. Fúnez breakdowns what exactly is decolonial theory and decolonisation.
Jairo I. Fúnez-Flores, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Curriculum Studies at Texas Tech University. His research works at the intersections of sociocultural studies of education, curriculum studies, decolonial theory, and qualitative methodology. He has a particular interest in the ways in which Latin American student movements create alternative pedagogical spaces within and beyond educational institutions. Through critical ethnography his work interprets how student activists construct political identities, knowledges, pedagogies, and practices of resistance that unsettle neoliberal education reform. Jairo’s research also theorizes the geopolitics of curriculum and examines how curriculum reform perpetuates coloniality within the context of neoliberal globalization. His most recent work advances transgressive decolonial hermeneutics in activist education research and examines the conceptual and methodological points of convergence between the decolonial and ontological turn in social theory.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@Jairo_I_Funez
What is Imperialism? Is revolution feasible in our current moment? Listen in as Vijay Prashad, Christian Joseph and I think through these questions and more,
Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian, journalist, commentator, and a Marxist intellectual. He is an executive-director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and the Chief Editor of LeftWord Books.
I.G. @TheGambian
@PossibleHistory
@CtayJ
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@VijayPrashad
@Ctayj
Trigger Warning Some of the topics discussed here cover sexual violence
Super excited to share this conversation with you all. Listen in as Professor Curry, Annie and I discuss the project of Black Male Studies.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@Annie_etc_
@DrTJC
First episode of the new year and there’s no better way than to be in conversation with Deej on Black Men, Black Feminism(s), and Gender.
Khadijah Diskin is a PhD Researcher in Psychology. Her research explores the psychosocial dimension of Black students experiences in British higher education, using Lacanian discourse analysis to interrogate the intersubjective convergences of race, coloniality and neoliberalisation.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@FanonIsCanon
Yara joins me again on The Malcolm Effect to discuss what a material analysis of Palestine sounds like.
Yara Shoufani is an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement in Toronto. She holds a master's in political science, with a research focus on colonisation and gentrification in Occupied Palestine.
Super dope episode! Listen in and share!
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@Yaraxsh
All things gender! Listen in as Dr. Haffaf takes us through an introduction to gender studies and an explanation of the current debates
Dr. Melyssa Haffaf is the Program Director of the Georgetown University Gender+ Justice Initiative, where she also teaches Women's and Gender Studies courses. She holds a Bachelor Degree in Sociology and Philosophy from the University of Paris IV – La Sorbonne, and a Doctorate in Literary, Cultural and Linguistic Studies with a focus on Gender from the University of Miami. Her dissertation entitled Shifting Masculinities from North Africa examined discourse and literary representations of masculinity in post-colonial Algeria, Egypt and Morocco.
Dr. Haffaf’s research interests include North African cultural productions, Islamic studies, gender studies, feminist theory and praxis, and decolonial and racial theory.
All things political economy! An introduction to Political Economy with Dr. Gill
This episode gives an introduction to political economy and Marxian economies, we define key terms that we often hear in our circles.
Dr. Gill is currently working on a book manuscript titled “Race, Nature, and Accumulation: A Decolonial Political Ecological Analysis of Land Grabbing.” This book examines the motives and consequences of the post financial crisis phenomenon of large-scale agricultural land grabbing, with a particular focus on the “South-South” case of Indian agricultural companies expanding into the Gambella province of Ethiopia. Combining political ecology, political economy, and decolonial theory, this work situates the land grab within the longue duree of colonial-capitalist modernity, and advances the argument that the land grab, as a distinctive post-crisis phenomenon, signifies an attempt to re-constitute the racialized social-ecology of global capitalist development.
Dr. Gill’s subsequent work will build off from some of the larger implications of the book project, and will seek to intervene in particular into the emergent “epoch” debates which are centered upon locating the social-ecological crisis of climate change within a distinctive geological epoch defined by the rise of the human as geological agent. Specifically, he is concerned with the Eurocentric premise of the major approaches, whether identified as Anthropocene or Capitalocene, as they are all united in granting historical priority to the generative agency of the European human. His approach aims to extend the debate beyond such Eurocentrism, by foregrounding instead how the structuring relations defining the epoch of the climate crisis are born out of the European settler/master’s racialized response to the social-ecological world-making knowledge and agency of non-European peoples. This project thus engages a deeper global history and broader geography of social-ecological co-constitution in order to emphasize first how non-Europeans have been involved in landscape formation for millennia prior to the colonial-capitalist era, and, second, how such knowledge and practice have been both appropriated and erased by colonizing forces.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@realDrcabbie
I believe that the discourse that Islam is an anti black religion, is a disingenuous engagement and routinely attempts to remove the revolutionary possibilities that have been found in Islam by figures such as Malcolm. Listen in as my bro Mustafa Briggs responds to the question.
Mustafa Briggs, is a graduate of Arabic and International Relations from the University of Westminster whose dissertation focused on Arabic Literature and Literacy in West Africa. Mustafa started an MA in Translation at SOAS, University of London with a specialisation in Arabic and Islamic Texts, before going onto al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt where he is currently doing another degree in Islamic Studies and Arabic.
Mustafa rose to international acclaim for his ‘Beyond Bilal: Black History in Islam’ lecture series which saw him explore and uncover the deep routed relationship between Islam and Black History; and the legacy of contemporary African Islamic Scholarship and its role in the International Relations of the Muslim World as well as the vital role Female Scholarship plays in the West African Islamic Tradition, which he presented at over 30 Universities across 3 continents, including Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Yale.
Mustafa has also been featured on international media such as AlJazeera and Islam Channel to discuss themes such as Islamic History and Blackness and Islam and is currently working on forthcoming translations of Traditional West African Islamic Texts.
I.G. @TheGambian
@MustafaBriggs
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
In this episode, I speak to Manolo about the reality on the ground in Cuba, how we can truly be in solidarity with those who are victims of imperial violence amongst many other topics.
Manolo De Los Santos is Co-Executive Director of The People’s Forum and researcher at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He co-edited, most recently, Viviremos: Venezuela vs Hybrid War (LeftWord 2020).
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@manolo_realengo
What is material analysis? And why is it important to take a material analysis to race and understanding blackness? A masterclass on why we must take a material analysis when thinking about the dispossession of black people.
Annie Olaloku-Teriba is an independent researcher based in London, working on legacies of empire and the complex histories of race.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@Annie_etc_
I was joined by anti-imperialist author, Justin Podur, as he breaks down the situation in Afghanistan today whilst highlighting key historical events that have contributed to the present moment.
Justin Podur is the author (with Joe Emersberger) of Extraordinary Threat: The US Empire, the Media, and 20 Years of Coup Attempts in Venezuela (Monthly Review 2021), of America’s Wars on Democracy in Rwanda and the DR Congo (Palgrave Macmillan 2020) and Haiti’s New Dictatorship (Pluto Press 2012). He has contributed chapters to Empire’s Ally: Canada and the War in Afghanistan (University of Toronto Press 2013) and Real Utopia (AK Press 2008). He is an Associate Professor at York University’s Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change.
In fiction Justin is the author of three novels: The Path of the Unarmed (self-published on Wattpad 2020), Siegebreakers (Roseway 2019) and the Demands of the Dead (self-published 2014).
A fellow of the Independent Media Institute’s Globetrotter project, he has previously reported from India (Kashmir, Chhattisgarh), Afghanistan, Pakistan, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico (Chiapas), and Israel/Palestine for ZNet, TeleSUR, rabble.ca, Ricochet, and other publications.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@JustinPodur
An engaging conversation with Tristan, a thinker and activist from Jamaica as we speak about the things he is thinking through politically.
Tristan Graham was born on January 15, 2001, in Kingston, Jamaica. He is a Revolutionary Pan-Africanist and young author who specializes in African/African Diaspora history, Philosophy, Gender Studies, and Political Science.
Tristan is a well-read young scholar who has an insatiable yearning for knowledge. He currently divides his time amongst, reading articles/books, university, and his love of sports.
The words of Malcolm X’s - You Can’t Hate The Roots of A Tree And Not Hate That Tree speech ignited a flame in his heart and mind at the age of 18. Since then, he has dedicated himself to rigid philosophical, historical, and political studies via his library of approximately 60 books.
Among his main influences are Malcolm X, Kwame Nkrumah, Ahmed Sekou Toure, Julius Nyerere, Kwame Ture, Marcus Garvey, Thomas Sankara, Dr Yosef Ben Jochannan, Cheikh Anta Diop, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Clenora Hudson-Weems, Dr. Cornel West, Karl Marx, Socrates, and Lao Tzu.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@TristanG300
What is imperialism? Which countries are imperialist? Listen in as I discuss with all things imperialism with Yara
Yara Shoufani is an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement in Toronto. She holds a master's in political science, with a research focus on colonisation and gentrification in Occupied Palestine.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@Yaraxsh
Listen in as Zifeng eloquently and succinctly introduces us to the life of the revolutionary Claudia Jones.
Zifeng Liu is an intellectual historian of the 20th-century Africana world with specializations in Black internationalism, anticolonial thought, and Afro-Asian solidarity. His current project "Redrawing the Balance of Power: Black Left Feminists, Mao’s China, and the Making of an Afro-Asian Political Imaginary" explores how Black leftist women’s understandings of race, class, gender, sexuality, and empire evolved as they sought Afro-Chinese solidarity within often difficult geopolitical contexts. His research has been featured in The Economist and CGTN. And his essays and reviews in English and Chinese on Black radicalism and African American political culture have been published in the Journal of Intersectionality, Journal of African American History, Journal of Beihang University, The Paper, Initium Media, and SINA News. Zifeng Liu is currently a doctoral candidate in Africana Studies at Cornell University.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@Zifeng_Liu
In this weeks episode, I am joined by Nkazi from South Africa in which we discuss the all too often familiar phenomena of the black bourgeoisie/middle class, with a particular focus on the South African post apartheid context.
Nkazimulo Moyeni is a Zulu storyteller who has been blessed with the opportunity to use corporate law, photography and writing as mediums of expressing his narrative. A father and a husband to a loving wife, who ensured that the whole house was silent while we did the podcast, ( it’s important that your listeners know this, or else that will be the last silence I experience)
I.G. @TheGambian
Nkosi_nkazi
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
Got to catch up with none other than Asad as we talk all things politics as it pertains to our current moment
Asad Dandia is a Brooklyn-born writer, organizer, and teacher. He recently graduated Columbia University with an MA in Islamic Studies and holds a BS in social work from NYU. He was a co-plaintiff in the historic 'Raza vs City of NY' lawsuit which challenged NYPD surveillance on behalf of Muslim communities and organizations. He writes on modern Islamic thought, radical/labor politics, and post/de-colonial theory. He is co-host of the New Books in Middle East Studies podcast on the New Books Network and his writing has been featured in Al-Jazeera English, the LA Review of Books, the Washington Post, among other publications. His MA Thesis at Columbia was entitled, “Rethinking Islamic Studies: Muhammad Iqbal’s Philosophy as Decolonial Critique.”
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@DandiaAsad
@MomodouTaal
Dr. Layla Brown joins me for another discussion on all things Pan-Africanism. Listen in as we discuss the pan Africanism as defined by Sékou Toure and Kwame Nkrumah, as well the problems with ADOS, Neo-colonialism and much more!
Layla Brown is a member of the All African People’s Revolutionary Party-GC and currently works as an Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Layla earned a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University in her home state of North Carolina where her research focused on Black racial identity formation in Latin America and the US and its impact on Black Radical Organising in the era of Black Lives Matter. She is currently working on her first book manuscript Return to the Source: The Dialectics of 21st Century Pan-African Liberation based largely on her dissertation research.
Layla spent all of 2020 as a Visiting Research Fellow at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study where her research expanded to examine the crisis of racial capitalism and the COVID-19 pandemic. In the fall of 2021 she will be a Senior Research Fellow at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research. Her most recent scholarly work “The Pandemic of Racial Capitalism: Another World Is Possible” can be found in From the European South: A Transdisciplinary Journal of Postcolonial Humanities.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@PanAfrikFem_Phd
@MomodouTaal
In this episode I speak with Dr. Joy James and Khadijah Diskin in which we talk all things liberation. We spoke on black feminism today, sources of our struggle, how we can develop a language that speaks to the race, class and function dynamics and so much more
Joy James is the Ebenezer Fitch Professor of the Humanities at Williams College.
James is author of: Shadowboxing: Representations of Black Feminist Politics; Transcending the Talented Tenth: Black Leaders and American Intellectuals; Resisting State Violence: Radicalism, Gender and Race in U.S. Culture. Her edited books include: Warfare in the American Homeland; The New Abolitionists: (Neo) Slave Narratives and Contemporary Prison Writings; Imprisoned Intellectuals; States of Confinement; The Black Feminist Reader (co-edited with TD Sharpley-Whiting); and The Angela Y. Davis Reader. James is completing a book on the prosecution of 20th-century interracial rape cases, tentatively titled “Memory, Shame & Rage.” She has contributed articles and book chapters to journals and anthologies addressing feminist and critical race theory, democracy, and social justice.
She is the recipient of grants, fellowships or awards from: the Fletcher Foundation; the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities; the Rockefeller Foundation; the Bellagio Fellowship; the Aaron Diamond Foundation/Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; the Ford Foundation; and the Gustavus Myers Human Rights Award.
Khadijah Diskin is a PhD Researcher in Psychology. Her research explores the psychosocial dimension of Black students experiences in British higher education, using Lacanian discourse analysis to interrogate the intersubjective convergences of race, coloniality and neoliberalisation.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@FanonIsCanon
In this episode, Aurelien and I discuss what the left needs to do to win.
Aurelien Mondon is a Senior Lecturer in politics at the University of Bath. His research focuses predominantly on the impact of racism and populism on liberal democracies and the mainstreaming of far right politics through elite discourse. His first book, The Mainstreaming of the Extreme Right in France and Australia: A Populist Hegemony?, was published in 2013 and he recently co-edited After Charlie Hebdo: Terror, racism and free speech published with Zed. His new book Reactionary democracy: How racism and the populist far right became mainstream, co-written with Aaron Winter, is now out with Verso.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@AurelMondon
A 3 way conversation with the legendary Robin Kelley. In this episode Christian and I discuss with Robin Kelley on matters related to our present moment and his works.
Born in New York City, Kelley earned his Bachelor's degree from California State University, Long Beach, in 1983. By 1987 he had earned a masters in African history and doctorate in US history from UCLA.[8]
After earning his doctorate, he began his career as an Assistant Professor at Southeastern Massachusetts University, then to Emory University, and the University of Michigan, where he was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. He later moved to the Department of History at New York University, where he was promoted to the rank of Professor and taught courses on U.S. history, African-American history, and popular culture. At the age of 32, he was the youngest full professor at NYU.[8] He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford.
Kelley has spent most of his career exploring American and African-American history, with a particular emphasis on radical social movements and the political dynamics at work within African-American culture, including jazz, hip-hop, and visual arts.[9][10][11]
Although influenced by Marxism, Kelley has eschewed a doctrinaire Marxist approach to aesthetics and culture, preferring a modified surrealist approach. He has described himself in the past as a "Marxist surrealist feminist who is not just anti something but pro-emancipation, pro-liberation."[12]
Kelley has also used the concept of racial capitalism in his work
I.G. @TheGambian
@Ctayj
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@CtayJ
What is revolutionary education? Sham and I discuss the current educational system and why reading Paulo Freire's Pedagogy can provide much needed insight into developing a radical education
Sham is a Baghdad born Masters in Law graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Development. Sham so the co-founder of A is for Activism, a local grassroots bookclub that focuses on works of radical Marxists
I.G. @TheGambian
@CurlyThug
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@BitterArab
Are you aware how racism plays a role in climate justice activism? Athian helps me unpack how the two are connected.
Athian Akec is an 18 year old activist, writer and speaker. His main areas of focus are climate change, youth violence and racial inequality. As a part of this he's written for the Guardian, Independent, Huffpost, I-d magazine, Huck Magazine, Hunger Mag and other national newspapers. Additionally he's spoken in the House of Commons as a part of the UK Youth Parliament. Athian also sits on the board of a youth charity and a commission in Camden focusing on economic renewal following the pandemic.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
Twitter:
@Athianakec_
@MomodouTaal
A catch up with my dear friend Christian on some of the things we’re thinking about currently.
Christian Joseph is a recent college graduate, who has a keen interest in political economy and questions that concern Black liberation
I.G. @TheGambian
@Ctayj
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@CtayJ
We often here that you cannot separate race from capitalism or that we can reform capitalism and make it more ethical. Listen in as I discuss with Dr. CBS on what is the link between race and capitalism, the myth of black capitalism, black liberals and advice on how we should organise
Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly is the 2020-2021 Visiting Scholar in the Race and Capitalism Project at the University of Chicago and an Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and Political Science at Carleton College. She is the co-lead of the Black Alliance for Peace Research & Political Education Team. A scholar of critical Black studies, political theory, political economy, and intellectual history, Burden-Stelly is the co-author, with Gerald Horne, of W.E.B. Du Bois: A Life in American History. She is currently working on a book manuscript titled Black Scare/Red Scare: Antiblackness, Anticommunism, and the Rise of Capitalism in the United States. Burden-Stelly’s published work appears in journals including Small Axe, Souls, Du Bois Review, Socialism & Democracy, International Journal of Africana Studies, and the CLR James Journal. Her public scholarship can be found in venues including Monthly Review, Boston Review, and Black Perspectives. She is the host of “The Last Dope Intellectual” podcast, which is part of the Black Power Media network and the co-editor of The Black Agenda Review.
I.G. @TheGambian Blackleftaf Twitter: @MomodouTaal @Blackleftaf
We are still reeling from the government’s terrible race report. Listen in to my conversation with Deej about what our focuses should be in terms of organising and going forward.
Khadijah Diskin is a PhD Researcher in Psychology. Her research explores the psychosocial dimension of Black students experiences in British higher education, using Lacanian discourse analysis to interrogate the intersubjective convergences of race, coloniality and neoliberalisation.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@FanonIsCanon
The Government’s Race report has concluded that there is no institutional racism in the U.K.
Listen in as I discuss with Dr. Nick Guyatt as we unpack the report
Nick Guyatt teaches American history at the University of Cambridge in the UK. He’s written about history, race and politics for the Guardian, the New York Times, the London Review of Books and many other publications. His most recent book is Bind Us Apart: How Enlightened Americans Invented Racial Segregation (Basic Books, 2016).
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@NicholasGuyatt
A lot of you asked me to do a breakdown of commonly used terminology that we hear in politics and economics. So I sat down with Vijay Prashad, where we talk all things Marxism.
Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian, journalist, commentator, and a Marxist intellectual. He is an executive-director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and the Chief Editor of LeftWord Books.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
@PossibleHistory
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@VijayPrashad
Loved this conversation surrounding the role of meditative practices in activism Nabila “Nebulosity” Wasi, M.A., Wellness Entrepreneur and Founder of MindBodySol Wellness, is an Educational Leader/Educator, a Program Management Professional, Certified Holistic Health Coach and Yoga Teacher, community organizer, researcher, multi-genre storyteller, and abolitionist. Her current programming and research emphasis is rooted in holistic and prophetic wellness, anti-racism education, distance learning and instructional design, social impact storytelling, transformation coaching, and women’s leadership development. For her commitment to leadership, social justice, and cultivating community, she was selected as a Champions for Change Leaders of Color Fellowship.
She holds a Master of Arts degree from California State University, Sacramento in Education Leadership, as well as a BA in Psychology and Spanish, with a minor in African/African American Studies from the University of California, Davis. As a lifelong seeker of sacred Islamic knowledge, she has studied under a variety of renowned Islamic teachers, attended courses at Zaytuna College, and traveled the world spreading and studying Islam.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
@NebulaNabila
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
What does it mean to be a pan African feminist? In this episode I had the privilege to speak to Dr. Layla Brown-Vincent as she helped unpack these terms.
Layla Brown-Vincent is a member of the All African People’s Revolutionary Party-GC and currently works as an Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Layla earned a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University in her home state of North Carolina where her research focused on Black racial identity formation in Latin America and the US and its impact on Black Radical Organising in the era of Black Lives Matter. She is currently working on her first book manuscript Return to the Source: The Dialectics of 21st Century Pan-African Liberation based largely on her dissertation research.
Layla spent all of 2020 as a Visiting Research Fellow at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study where her research expanded to examine the crisis of racial capitalism and the COVID-19 pandemic. In the fall of 2021 she will be a Senior Research Fellow at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research. Her most recent scholarly work “The Pandemic of Racial Capitalism: Another World Is Possible” can be found in From the European South: A Transdisciplinary Journal of Postcolonial Humanities.
I.G. @TheGambian
Twitter:
@PanAfrikFem_Phd
@MomodouTaal
In this episode I discuss with Janine on how we adopt a politic that is the highest form of love for black people.
Janine Francois is a Black British Feminist, Critic and Writer and her practices deconstructs whiteness (and race) within cultural and academic institutions by way of writing, curating/ producing, research and teaching. Janine is also a Ph.D candidate at University of Bedfordshire/ Tate.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
Twitter:
@ItsJaninebtw
@MomodouTaal
Always a pleasure speaking to Dr. Aaron Winter. In this episode we discuss Fascism, Populism, The Right, Deplatforming and much more
Aaron Winter is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of East London. His research is on the far-right with a focus on racism, mainstreaming and violence. He is co-editor of Discourses and Practices of Terrorism: Interrogating Terror (Routledge 2010), Historical Perspectives on Organised Crime and Terrorism (Routledge 2018) and Researching the Far Right: Theory, Method and Practice (Routledge 2020), and co-author with Aurelien Mondon of Reactionary Democracy: How Racism and the Populist Far Right Became Mainstream (Verso 2020). He is also an associate editor of Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power and co-editor of the Manchester University Press (MUP) book series Racism, Resistance and Social Change.
I.G. @TheGambian
@AaronZWinter
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
In an age of misinformation and hot takes from non-experts. I was joined by Dr. Azza, who helped me understand all things Covid. Ranging from what viruses are to how the vaccine was produced and much more
Dr. Azza Gadir, PhD is an immunologist who completed her postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School / Boston Children’s Hospital. Her published research is focused on the role of the gut microbiome in protecting against diseases early in life. For this work, she holds issued and pending patents and has collaborated with industry partners to accelerate the discovery of microbiome-related immunotherapies. Azza currently serves as the Director of Research and Development at Seed Health. She grew up in London and received her PhD at 26 from University College London.
CORRECTION: We mention that Sweden had the lowest gdp as a result of their COVID-19 no-lockdown policy compared to other Nordic countries, however this was the case in Q2 2020 before they put restrictions in place (Sweden's GDP slumped 8.6% in Q2 more sharply than its neighbours). Read more here.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
@AzzaGadir
Twitter:
@AzzaGadir
@MomodouTaal
In this episode I discuss with Tyler Greene about how he developed a radical politic at such a young age
Tyler Greene is the Founder of Covid Classroom, an online platform that provides HBCU students with a forum to have meaningful discussions and the resources to network, collaborate, and serve our community while a distance. He is also a Freshman Sociology major from East Orange, New Jersey with interests in social psychology, philosophy, and political science. With a passion for community empowerment, he currently serves as the President of the Class of 2024 at Morehouse College.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
@TylerGreeene
Twitter:
@TylerGreeene
@MomodouTaal
Had the absolute pleasure of speaking to Athian, who I believe will be a force for transformative change in the future. We discussed progressive politics, activism and are young people more political today than ever before.
Athian Akec is an 18 year old activist, writer and speaker. His main areas of focus are climate change, youth violence and racial inequality. As a part of this he's written for the Guardian, Independent, Huffpost, I-d magazine, Huck Magazine, Hunger Mag and other national newspapers. Additionally he's spoken in the House of Commons as a part of the UK Youth Parliament. Athian also sits on the board of a youth charity and a commission in Camden focusing on economic renewal following the pandemic.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
Twitter:
@Athianakec_
@MomodouTaal
Thoroughly enjoyed this conversation with the self styled and inspirational ‘President of Gen Z’, Elijah Manley
We talk about his personal life, how he got involved in politics and his future plans
Elijah Manley was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. As of June 2020, Manley was attending Broward College for undergraduate study. Manley's career experience includes working in insurance and holding an active 2-14 license. He has been affiliated with the National Youth Rights Association as a board member and immediate past vice president, with the Black Lives Matter Alliance of Broward, as a vice-chair with the Broward school board's human relations committee, and with the United Nations Youth Assembly.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
@RealElijahManley
Twitter:
@iElijahManley
@MomodouTaal
Yusuf joins me in this episode as we speak about reimagining law & order, activism, ‘defund the police’, abolition, political slogans and much more!
Yusuf Abdul-Qadir is the Inaugural Senior Strategist for Racial Justice at the New York Civil Liberties Union. As the Senior Strategist for Racial Justice, he advances and integrates an intersectional racial justice lens and across departments within the NYCLU, and manages a docket that includes environmental/climate justice, indigenous rights, and reparations among other racial justice issue areas at the NYCLU. He is a co-chair of the Racial Justice Working Group.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
@YusufAQ
Twitter:
@YusufAQ
@MomodouTaal
Dr. Adam Elliot-Cooper joins me in this episode as I ask questions that help us better understand racism and race relations in the U.K.
Dr Adam Elliott-Cooper is a research associate in sociology at University of Greenwich. His research interests including policing and anti-racism, and his book, Black Resistance to British Policing will be published in May 2021. He sits on the board of The Monitoring Group and organises with UKBLM
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
Twitter:
@Adamec87
@MomodouTaal
Amandla and I discuss his journeys across West Africa as a journalist.
Amandla Thomas-Johnson is a London-born journalist of African-Caribbean descent based in Dakar, Senegal, covering West Africa. He has worked for Middle East Eye, the Daily Telegraph, BBC, The Guardian, Aljazeera and Channel 4 Dispatches. He is the author of Becoming Kwame Ture, a biography of the civil rights activist formerly known as Stokely Carmichael.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
Twitter:
@TjAmandla
@MomodouTaal
This past week we witnessed the capitol building being overrun by white supremacists and many of us can’t help but think what would have happened had the perpetrators been black or non-white, further reinforcing what we already know to be true, that there are two Americas. Arqum Rashid discusses with me what we witnessed.
Arqum Rashid is the Resident Scholar and Imam at the Islamic Society of Central Delaware in Dover, Delaware and the Director of Riwaq Institute. He is a graduate of Al-Azhar University with a degree in Sharia (Islamic Law) and a graduate of Delaware Law School with a J.D. (Juris Doctor). Arqum is a licensed Attorney and currently pursuing a Master's in inter-religious studies at Hartford Seminary.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Arqum.Rashid
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
The subject of black people’s hair, particularly women’s, continues to dominate our public discourse. Listen in as we discuss all things related to what, is at times a contentious subject, black hair.
Marie Claire is in her final year of her sociology and criminology degree at Goldsmiths university, London.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
@Emcebih
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
The past often informs our present. Listen in to a history lesson on the Confederacy and how America decides to deal with its black citizens
Born and raised in Washington D.C, Amir Webb is a public historian that focuses on Civil War history, especially Confederate history."
We often hear the terms trauma and healing on social media. But what do they actually mean? Are there merely terms to explain our bad behaviour and personality or is there something to deeper to it? Dr. Kameelah and I discuss.
Kameelah is the Founder and President of Muslim Wellness Foundation (MWF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting healing and emotional well-being in the American Muslim community through dialogue, education, and training. Muslim Wellness Foundation envisions a future in which faith communities are at the forefront of mental health advocacy and committed to developing an inclusive culture of compassion, understanding, and holistic health.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
@DrMamaKam
Twitter:
@KameelahRashad
@MomodouTaal
Is astrology real? Or merely a superstition that ancient societies once believed in?
Professor Ali discusses all things astrology with me in what was a truly eye opening conversation
Ali A Olomi is an Assistant Professor of History at Penn State Abington. He researches, writes, and teaches on how Muslims imagined their world through the intersection of science and religion in the service of empire. His work examines discourses of cosmology, geography, and gender and sexuality and how they were drawn together to fashion ideas of a Muslim "homeland." He also examines how premodern intellectual history was drawn into the religious nationalism of the 19th and 20th century.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
Twitter:
@aaolomi
@MomodouTaal
We often hear that we live in a post racial society and in fact it is actually the white working classes who are being left behind in society. I discuss this and more with Dr. Aaron Winter
Aaron Winter is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of East London. His research is on the far-right with a focus on racism, mainstreaming and violence. He is co-editor of Discourses and Practices of Terrorism: Interrogating Terror (Routledge 2010), Historical Perspectives on Organised Crime and Terrorism (Routledge 2018) and Researching the Far Right: Theory, Method and Practice (Routledge 2020), and co-author with Aurelien Mondon of Reactionary Democracy: How Racism and the Populist Far Right Became Mainstream (Verso 2020). He is also an associate editor of Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power and co-editor of the Manchester University Press (MUP) book series Racism, Resistance and Social Change.
How easy is it to stay true to yourself whilst working in a system that is designed to disadvantage you? Does selling out help you rise the ranks in your career or is it purely based on merit? Sultana and I discuss
Sultana is a human rights, international law and criminal justice barrister. She defends in high profile cases, including counter terrorism and national security cases. She is part of the OSCE Roster of Experts dealing with Counter Terrorism; the Convenor of the Muslim Lawyers Action Group; Convenor of Oxford Advocates on Human Rights; Member of the Legal Expert Advisory Panel for Fair Trials International; and Member of the Detention ExPEERience of Avocat Sans Frontieres.
Sultana also advises large multi-national corporations on Diversity & Equality matters. She is also the Founder of Modest Fashion Festival which attracted a global audience of 1.56 billion.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
@ModestFashionFestival
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
If you’re white, does it mean you’re racist?
I discussed with author and lecturer Daniel Blight. I pushed back on separating systems of oppression and white supremacy versus the people these ideas filter through. Nonetheless it was a truly insightful and interesting conversation.
Daniel C. Blight is a writer based in London. He works on various forms of the essay, fiction and poetry, and has written for 1000 Words, Aperture, Foam, frieze, The Guardian, Philosophy of Photography, Photoworks, Vogue Italia, Manchester Art Gallery, UCL Art Museum, Art Museum of Estonia, FOMU Belgium and the Australian Centre for Photography. His first book, The Image of Whiteness: Contemporary Photography and Racialization, was co-published by SPBH Editions and Art on the Underground in September 2019. He is Lecturer (Assistant Professor), Historical & Critical Studies in Photography, School of Media, University of Brighton.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@DanielCBlight
Inside the system, but this time on the defence. Is this the best way to ensure justice in a unjust system? Omran Belhadi details why he chose to work as a defence barrister. Omran mentions some heartbreaking cases, why representation matters and we play a game of hypotheticals.
Not official legal advice
Omran Belhadi is a criminal barrister at Nexus Chambers. He works on a range of cases including protest cases, large scale drugs and firearms conspiracies and serious violence. Omran has an interest in cases where the State has abused its power. Before practicing as a barrister, Omran worked on cases of detention without trial, drone strikes and torture at Reprieve. Omran is the co-head of the Racial Justice Working Group at the Muslim Lawyers Action Group.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@BelhadiOmran
In a system that statistically and routinely disadvantages many groups of society, particularly people of colour. Is there much hope of transforming it from within and is this the best course of action. Hauwa Shehu a prosecutor for crown prosecution service discusses it here
Hauwa is a Criminal Barrister with experience in the Criminal Justice Sector, both domestically in the UK and internationally. Hauwa was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2013 and joined the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in 2014.
Hauwa has a breadth of experience prosecuting a range of criminal offences including serious violent and sexual assaults, domestic abuse, hate crime, youth cases and organised crime. She has extensive experience of working with vulnerable victims and witnesses and dealing with cases in the Magistrates, Crown and High Courts.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
Britain’s Got Talent finalist Nabil Abdulrashid, was probably the most talked about contestant in this year’s contest. His act saw ITV receive several complaints. He speaks on his experience as a comedian, his time on the show, perfecting his craft and much more
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
@ManLikeNabz
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@Nabilu
A truly insightful conversation with Baroness Warsi, where we discuss activism, political apathy, the state of politics today and much more.
Sayeeda Hussain Warsi, Baroness Warsi is a British lawyer, politician and member of the House of Lords who served as co-Chairwoman of the Conservative Party from 2010 to 2012.
She served in Cameron–Clegg coalition, first as the Minister without portfolio between 2010 and 2012, then as the Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and as the Minister of State for Faith and Communities (styled as "Senior Minister of State"), until her resignation citing her disagreement with the Government's policy on the Israel–Gaza conflict in August 2014.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
Twitter:
@MomodouTaal
@SayeedaWarsi
Charity and the saviour complex? Is charity is lesser economically developed countries merely a new form of colonialism?
Bushra has worked in protection, inclusion and safeguarding in humanitarian work for an international non-government organisation. Prior to this, she worked as a research officer for another humanitarian organisation. She holds a master's in conflict, security and development and has received an award from the Development Studies Association for her dissertation on disability inclusion for displaced Syrian refugees in Jordan.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
@psicomantis90
Twitter: @MomodouTaal
Critical race theory is on the tongues of many in our current climate. Whilst many deem it a necessary tool to understand racism, there are many who deem it as divisive.
Dr. Yassir Morsi in this episode breaks down what critical race theory is and responds to some of the criticisms.
Dr Yassir Morsi is a lecturer in politics at La Trobe University and previously a post-doctoral Researcher at the International Centre for Muslim and Non-Muslim Understanding at the University of South Australia. His main area of research is the critical analysis of contemporary racism and Islamophobia.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
Twitter: @MomodouTaal
Calling himself The Ugandan Shnack, Arif is basketball player, model, entrepreneur and a creative content creator who has modelled for places like Gym Shark, Puma, Adidas, GQ, JD and many others.
He joins me to speak on male body positivity and his experiences as a black man in the modelling world.
He offers quite a few insights to the aspect of the industry that many are unaware of.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
@MrUgandanSchnack
Twitter: @MomodouTaal
For this episode in conjunction with Black History Month (U.K) Host Momodou Taal explores the question 'Is Britain Racist?'.
I.G. @TheGambian
@Kultural.Renaissance
Twitter: @MomodouTaal
To help you navigate this post-Covid world we wanted to discuss your concerns, anxieties and conspiracies with Dr. Anthony Fauci and Tedros Adhanom. Unfortunately we didn’t have the budget.
Instead I brought my friend Ridwan along to discuss conspiracies with us.
Ridwan has a Masters in Pharmacy, a Masters in Islamic Studies and is less than a year away from completing his third (THIRD!) degree in medicine. You read that correctly; he has no social life.
In all seriousness, I couldn’t think of a better, nicer and competent person to discuss this topic with and I hope you guys enjoy listening as much as I had recording.
A deep and personal account of host and founder Momodou Taal's journey so far.
IG: @TheGambian
Twitter: @MomodouTaal
@Kultural.Renaissance