Dear friends & comrades,

After many months, we are finally ready to release the first season of the Justice for Palestine Magandjin podcast, which we launched officially last night at Wreckers Artspace in Woolloongabba.

These first three episodes aim to set out the terms on which the struggle for Palestinian liberation has unfolded over the past few years here in so-called brisbane: as a struggle against settler colonialism grounded in (as Dr. Jamal Nabulsi puts it in episode 3) “the material fact of Indigenous sovereignty” both here in this colony, and in Palestine.

In the first episode, you’ll hear recordings from the movement here in so-called brisbane that attest to the scale of violence being perpetrated against Palestinians since October 2023 (and long before). You’ll hear speeches from rallies, public meetings and discussions where Palestinians describe the horrors that are unfolding in Gaza and beyond, and which contextualise these recent atrocities in relation to the longer history of Israeli settler colonialism, apartheid and occupation. We end the episode with a special reading from Dr. Jamal Nabulsi’s incisive 2021 essay Righting the History of Palestine (available here), to better understand the historical conditions that have created the conditions for genocide in the present, and to foreground the powerful and continuing history of Palestinian resistance.

In the second episode, we dig deeper into the origins of zionism as a modern political ideology, and learn from anti-zionist Jewish academics and activists about the importance of challenging the conflation of zionism and Jewishness wherever it occurs. We also learn more about the role of zionism in shaping the settler colonial occupation of Palestine, with Palestinian organisers and academics reflecting on the role of zionist colonialism in shaping their own histories of dispossession and displacement. And finally, we are offered the critical reminder that the genocidal settler colonial occupation of Palestine can never resolve the problem of anti-semitism, white supremacy, and racism: because, as Dr. Liz Strakosch puts it, “there is no safety in building a fortress on stolen land….the only safe world is a world where white supremacy has ended.”

Finally, in episode three, we ground these understandings of settler colonialism and racial violence in the history of this place, finding clear connections between the struggle against colonisation on this continent and the fight for Palestinian liberation. We learn about the history and importance of Blackfulla Palestinian solidarity, and the ways that Indigenous sovereignty is reconfiguring resistance practices in the present conjuncture.

In the notes for each episode, you’ll find some links to follow up on key materials and read more about the key themes. And a reminder, as always, that the main purpose of this podcast is to encourage listeners to participate actively in the ongoing struggle against genocide in Palestine. There are so many fronts on which we need to be organising and resisting, and there are roles for everyone to play in these movements. Please get in touch with us if you’re interested in getting involved but not sure where to begin.

Yours in solidarity,

Anna for the Radio Reversal Collective