Making Contact

This week marks the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, or the "catastrophe" in Arabic. It refers both to the events starting in late 1947, when Zionist militias expelled over 700,000 Palestinians from their homes, and the ongoing destruction and occupation of their lands. Today, Palestinians continue to commemorate the Nakba by reclaiming their history, resisting the occupation, and calling for their right to return. We start today's show with a story about how the desperation of life in Gaza under the Israeli blockade is forcing Palestinians to leave by sea. Then, we'll learn more about the history of the Nakba and the role that foreign powers like Britain and the United States have played. Like this program? Please show us the love. Click here: http://bit.ly/3LYyl0R and support our non-profit journalism. Thanks! Featuring: Rami Almeghari, Gaza-based journalist and poet; Marie Choi, former Making Contact producer and host; Rabab Abdulhadi, founding director and Senior Scholar of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) Studies at San Francisco State University; Hasan Hammami, Nakba survivor from Jaffa, Palestine; Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University and author of The Hundred Years' War on Palestine Host: Lucy Kang Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Interim Senior Producer: Jessica Partnow Engineer: Jeff Emtman Audio from Rashid Khalidi is drawn from a 2021 KPFA book event where he was in conversation with Nora Barrows-Friedman. Hasan Hammami's firsthand account is drawn from "The Nakba and its Generational Impact on Palestinian lives: Memory, Identity, and a Future rooted in Justice," organized by the Foundation for Middle East Peace and Project48 in 2021. Music Credits: Minimal Documentary by penguinmusic via Pixabay Qnoun instrumental with out mix from HOPE SPOKEN/BROKEN Learn More: Making Contact: The Nakba, the Naksa, and the Future of Palestine (2016) "The Nakba and its Generational Impact on Palestinian lives: Memory, Identity, and a Future rooted in Justice," organized by the Foundation for Middle East Peace and Project48 in 2021 Rashid Khalidi & Nora Barrows-Friedman: The Hundred Years' War on Palestine, organized by KPFA in 2021

Grand juries are supposed to safeguard against the government charging people with a crime when it lacks sufficient evidence. But because prosecutors control what happens in grand jury proceedings, they almost always get an indictment. That is, unless the accused is a police officer. This week on Making Contact, we hear a story from our podcast partner 70 Million about a case of police brutality in Dallas that evaporated after going before a grand jury in an edited version of "Grand Juries, The Black Box of Justice Reform?" Like this program? Please show us the love. Click here: http://bit.ly/3LYyl0R and support our non-profit journalism. Thanks! Featuring: Parker Nevilles, Jantzen Verastique, Dondi Morse - protestors targeted by police Ric Simmons, Professor, The Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law Roger Rudloff, police officer Unidentified Police Officer David Henderson, civil rights attorney 70 Million Team: Episode Reporter: Mark Betancourt Editor: Monica Lopez and Juleyka Lantigua Host: Mitzi Miller Sound Designer: Erica Huang Photo Editor: Michelle Baker Staff Writer and Designer: Kori Doran Lead Fact Checker: Catherine Nouhan Lead Producer: Pamela Kirkland Episode Photographer: Miles Moffeit & Eli Hiller Creator/Executive Producer: Juleyka Lantigua Making Contact Staff: Anita Johnson, Episode Host Amy Gastelum; Lucy Kang; and Salima Hamirani, Staff Producers Jina Chung, Executive Director Jessica Partnow, Interim Senior Producer Learn More: 70 Million: https://70millionpod.com/season-5 Making Contact is a 29-minute weekly program committed to investigative journalism and in-depth critical analysis that goes beyond the breaking news. On the web at www.radioproject.org.

The Silicon Valley Bank collapse brings with it memories of the wider 2008 economic crisis. Jeet Heer and John Nichols from The Nation join us to discuss the 2018 bank deregulations that set the stage for this moment and the risky investment strategy at the bank itself. They argue that bailout and FDIC's role in the collapse could set the stage for a dangerous economic future. Like this program? Please show us the love. Click here: http://bit.ly/3LYyl0R and support our non-profit journalism. Thanks! Featuring: John Nichols, national affairs correspondent for The Nation; Jeet Heer, national affairs correspondent for The Nation Host: Salima Hamirani Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Interim Senior Producer: Jessica Partnow Engineer: Jeff Emtman Music Credits: Blue Dot Sessions - Boston Landing Rocky Marciano - Chamem Me D Dieter van der Westen - Heading for Bamako Frequency Decree - Lithosphere Learn More: The Nation: Democrats Face a Terrible Reckoning on Bank Bailouts: https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/democrats-bank-bailouts/ The Nation: Silicon Valley Learns to Love Socialism for the Rich: https://www.thenation.com/article/economy/svb-failure-socialism-rich/ The Nation: Bankers Lobbied for Deregulation, Congress Capitulated, and Now Banks Are Collapsing: https://www.thenation.com/article/economy/silicon-valley-bank-congress-deregulation/

Abortion access is piecemeal and complex in the US. And while access to abortion volleys among the court system, the organization PlanCPills.org helps people access pills to manage their own abortions, despite confusing, mercurial laws.

On today's show, we'll be looking at the environmental impact of the rail industry and hear from people in two communities currently impacted by rail-related contamination. In February, a Suffolk Northern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, and residents are still recovering from the disaster over two months later. In Houston's Fifth Ward, residents have been living with the dire health effects of creosote used to treat railroad ties decades ago.

On today's show, we'll travel to Seattle to hear indigenous voices and Coast Salish languages, and to reflect on the importance of the Salish Sea and connecting waters, by immersing ourselves in an audio experience called "Saltwater Soundwalk."

A new philosophy steeped in the ideas of Artificial Intelligence, space colonization, and the long-term survival of the human species is gaining ground among the wealthy. However, there are reasons to question its goals and its ethics. Longtermists believe that not only could we colonize space and create simulated humans in giant servers around stars, but that we must. Anything short of a trillion-year multi-planetary existence for our species would be a moral failing. They also believe that all of our ethical actions should focus on the countless lives that may exist in that dim future, instead of on the people alive today. Is this the kind of ethics we should all accept, however? Philosopher and historian Emile P Torres joins us to discuss Longtermism and its dangerous pitfalls.

While wages have flatlined for most working class people, rents have reached new highs, leaving most people struggling. But it's not just in the US. The rising cost of living is affected the entire world. Samuel Stein's new book, Capital City and the Real Estate State, highlights the growing influence of investment capital into land as the driving force behind gentrification and the power developers have over city and local governments. We talk to Samuel about the rise of the global real estate market and we look at how radical city planning, rent control and socialized land projects can help fight gentrification.

On this episode, we turn our focus to how journalists and historians today are covering the Tulsa Race Massacre. KalaLea, producer and host of the podcast series Blindspot: Tulsa Burning, talks about how she led coverage of the brutal 1921 attack on a prosperous Black Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma known as Black Wall Street. And, we'll hear from members of Tulsa's Tri-City Collective who continue to investigate the history there.

To mark the three year anniversary of the official start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we'll be looking at two alternative supply chains for masks that emerged in the fallout of the Trump administration's failure to prepare.