Radicalizing the Youth: The Significance of Campus Protests

Bryce Greene talks about his arrest during campus anti-Zionist protests, and how the slaughter in Gaza is radicalizing young Americans.

Bryce Greene was recently arrested during campus protests in support of Palestine. Steve, who believes ignoring the slaughter in Gaza is akin to ignoring the holocaust, invited him to describe his experience and insights into the student encampments and the anti-Zionist movement in the US.

Bryce is a writer and organizer currently working towards his PhD in Informatics. His work focuses on media and geopolitical analysis. He emphasizes the importance of dismantling the myths and narratives surrounding American support for Israel and the oppression of Palestinians. He believes that studying Palestine brings understanding of the broader forces and processes that define American Empire. He goes into the impact of social media and alternative platforms in challenging the traditional narratives and gatekeepers that shape the public’s understanding. Or misunderstanding.

They talk about the brutality of the Israeli state, including land grabs, settlements, and military violence against Palestinians. Bryce expresses frustration with the manipulation and gaslighting that occurs when the Holocaust is used to justify these atrocities.

They also touch on the topic of university complicity in supporting Israel, criticizing universities for partnering with companies that enable genocide.

Bryce discusses the use of counterterrorism measures against peaceful protesters and the surveillance of activists. He warns of the growing infrastructure for surveillance and repression, which could have serious consequences for organizing and activism.

Bryce Greene is a writer, student and organizer based in Indiana. His work focuses on media and geopolitical analysis. He has appeared in Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, as well as many other venues. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Informatics.

Bryce Greene

on Substack

@TheGreeneBJ on Twitter

---

FULL TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Steven Grumbine: All right folks,

this is Steve with Macro N Cheese.

Today's guest is Bryce Greene.

Bryce Greene is a writer,

a student,

and an organizer based in Indiana.

His work focuses on media and geopolitical analysis

and has appeared in Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting

and other venues.

He's currently pursuing a PhD in informatics

and he was most recently arrested

during some of the campus encampments

that have been put in place by students.

I mean, just amazing uprising

that I haven't seen

even in history books since,

I don't know,

maybe we saw a little bit of it during the Iraq War

and kind of

the blowback that we saw from that.

But it's been since Vietnam

since I've seen something this incredibly invigorating

and mobilizing.

Bryce recently was arrested

during these protests on campus

and I wanted to bring him on to tell his story.

He covers geopolitical issues

and so

he's very up to date on Gaza

and I'd like to be able to get

a little bit of background on the whole thing.

I mean, most of us that have been following it...

there's a whole group of people out there

who have buried their head in the sand

that this is not happening.

And that old saying that

if you ever wondered what was happening during the Holocaust

it's happening right now.

This is what you would be doing,

you would be just ignoring it.

And it's good to see students rising up

it gives me some hope for the future.

So with that I'll bring on my guest.

Bryce, welcome to the show, sir.

[00:02:15] Bryce Greene: Thanks for having me.

[00:02:16] Steven Grumbine: Man, when I saw you get arrested

I was like "Oh my God, this is real."

Like, it's real.

You're seeing it.

Just like the Gulf War part one,

when you turned on CNN back in the day

and you see the tracer bullets flying and all this stuff,

and it's like 'Oh my God, we're really at war.'

And it's like 'Oh my God, we're about to have another Kent State

here in the United States.'

It's just horrible.

It looks like thugs

as they attacked the Black Lives Matter protests

and so forth in the past,

and now here we're watching it happen

in Ivy league schools no less.

Oh my God!

Does this mean something will finally change?

Tell me what got you involved in the campus encampments

and these protests?

How did you get involved?

[00:02:56] Bryce Greene: Yeah so, I've been involved in the struggle for Palestine

and the struggle to get America to end support for Israel

for a few years now.

As part of the leftist education that a lot of people get,

a lot of people get it far too late in life.

But I was lucky enough to start mine

around sophomore year of college,

and one of the things that you learn about the American empire

is this support for this country called Israel

and the oppression of these people in Palestine.

And the more and more

you read about the broader history of empire,

the more and more

you realize that Palestine is really a microcosm

of all of these trends and forces

and all of these internal logics and processes

that define American empire.

And by studying Palestine

you can learn a lot about the system we are in, at large. Dismantling these myths that you have of empire

is really the most important thing

that someone can do in their life.

You learn about all the evil being done in your name

how they lied us into war after war.

about Vietnam,

they lied about the Gulf War

and the terrorist wars in Central America.

They lied about Iraq,

Afghanistan,

lied about Syria,

Libya.

But throughout all of this

they're lying about one war that's been going on

for almost 80 years,

and that's the war of the Zionist

state, Israel,

against the people of Palestine.

And this is different, in a way,

because not only does it involve all the death and destruction

that is hallmark of American empire,

is that that there's a major organized constituency in America

aimed at making sure that this war persists

making sure that no real solution has ever been found.

And making sure that America,

this machine,

keeps supporting Israel no matter what involves not just propaganda on the basics

and not just like

making marketing material

doing all these conferences and whatnot,

but it extends to academia.

They have professors

who do nothing but write fawning stuff about Israel

and about how awful antisemitism is.

Media organizations,

some of whom will just straight up hire Israeli intelligence assets.

I'm specifically thinking of the New York Times in this,

but the general assumptions that the media class makes

about what the world is,

what America's role in the world is,

what Israel's role in the Middle East is.

You always hear about this 'only democracy in the Middle East.'

So why are the kids fighting against democracy?

All of these myths contribute to a general climate

in which the path of least resistance for institutions

is to support Israel and support Israeli apartheid

that's really been the status quo since the 1967 war,

the Six Day War

that started this phase of the occupation.

But every brutal Israeli incursion into Gaza,

or Lebanon,

or in general

shakes that support a little bit

so in 1982, you had the invasion of Lebanon

brutal images coming across Americans television screen

eventually Ronald Reagan tells Begin and the Israelis to stop

and they take stock of what they have

there's a big blow against public opinion

you have the Sabra and Shatila massacre

further blows against public opinion

but of course the lobby persists

then you have the the first intifada

again, more support for Israel's declining

but the lobby is still entrenching itself in American politics

and then you have the second intifada

and then of course

the Lebanon War in '06

you have Cast Lead

Protective Edge

all these things keep happening

and the movement for Palestinian rights strengthens

but at the same time

the lobby is strengthening as well

to defend against this shift in public opinion.

But over the last few years has been a major sea change

because- for a number of reasons

not only has the oppression gotten worse and worse

Gaza was unlivable before October 7th

before Operation Iron Swords [Swords of Iron] it was still unlivable

and people are starting to notice.

But also the media environment of younger people is changing

so that the gatekeepers

that traditionally frame all of the facts on the ground in Palestine

that would frame the Palestinians as terrorists and Israelis as victims,

the gatekeepers are being circumvented by all these platforms

now I don't want to sound like a social media triumphalist.

I don't want to sound like...

I'm not naming my child Facebook or anything.

But these tools allow people to go around the traditional narratives

that this Israel lobby has sought to cement in the public mind.

And so now

people see people getting blown up

they see homes getting bombed

neighborhoods getting wiped off the map,.

They no longer have these media figures

to tell them why it doesn't matter

that it's just collateral damage

to tell them that Palestinian lives don't matter

or that it's all necessary for some greater good.

Those narratives, they still exist within the mainstream legacy press

and they influence public policy

but for the younger generation

those narratives are consigned to exactly where they should be.

You know, the garbage.

Because people are able to more authentically

engage with the material in front of their faces.

And so young people are waking up to the reality of all this

and again, this was true before October 7th.

And so then October 7th happened

where we have all these narratives floating around

about what happened on October 7th,

about who is Hamas and what do they want

and why did they do what they did.

There's all these narratives about what happened during that day;

you heard about the 40 beheaded babies,

the horrific stories of mutilation that were amplified

that later turned out to be false.

But this propaganda machine whirred into high gear

and some people

like myself

were worried that this was it

that all of the gains

that were made over the years of watching this brutality

might have been undone

because this propaganda campaign was just so overwhelming.

But again, the gatekeepers weren't able to keep the lid on the story

more people than ever

are alive to the problems of Israel,

and more Americans than ever

are alive to the problems of America's role in supporting Israel.

And so, you really have this moment where

I'm talking to people who are organizing with us

and they say that they had vaguely heard about Palestine beforehand

but they really didn't feel the need to dig deeply into it.

Like most Americans

don't need to know what's happening outside of the empire's walls.

But they're learning.

They're learning about all the evils that Israel does

and by extension

all the evil that America supports,

and by extension

all the evil that the empire comprises of,

and they're being radicalized.

There are people who,

college freshmen wanting to be business majors or entrepreneurs.

And then after October 7th,

after watching Israel's brutality,

after watching the lies,

they are radicalized.

They want to be organizers

they can't stand that the world is like this

and they want to rise up and change it.

And so, that's the state of affairs with activism today

after October 7th.

And you're seeing it culminate in these encampments,

in all these young people in Columbia

Harvard

UT

UCLA

all these schools around the country.

I think it's well into the hundreds,

170 something,

but all these students are joined together

finding new ways to combat and analyze the systems of oppression

that they're suffering from

but also complicit in

and so, you have an interesting moment in history

 that's being seized right now..

And so, as young people start to move away

from the pro-Israel bipartisan consensus

they're also moving away from this general sense of militarism,

this general jingoistic framework

in which America can do no wrong

and are the World Sheriff.

And they're also moving away from the traditional political system.

They're no longer saying that 'okay, well we've got to vote blue no matter who'

'it's Joe Biden, if we don't get Biden we're going to get Trump, and Trump's going to be horrible'

but then they see their friends getting beat up by police under Joe Biden,

then they see a genocide being committed under Joe Biden,

and that doesn't square with the message that they've been given their whole lives

about...

'vote blue no matter who'

'Trump is the biggest threat'

' the Republicans are the fascist ones'

'but Democrats are the good guys.'

That's all being shattered

right before our eyes

and institutions are reacting to that. They're pretty open about how TikTok

has allowed people to circumvent the gatekeepers.

I'm not praising TikTok,

I think it should be banned for a whole host of other reasons.

But lawmakers are pushing back.

They're saying we've got to restrict the way that people can acquire information

and they're sending these goon squads in

to evict these students from peaceful encampments

just to show them that

this is what happens if you rise up.

This is what happens if you tangle with the highest echelons of power.

He had Netanyahu explicitly say that Biden needs to deal with these encampments

because they're threatened.

 They wouldn't be so concerned with these encampments

if they weren't threatening.

If they didn't signal a shift in American policy

that could signal a shift in how we treat and view Israel,

they wouldn't be concerned if that weren't a real possibility.

 That should be motivating to a lot of people to keep these up,

to keep these encampments up,

to expand the way that they can organize.

Don't just stop here.

If encampment becomes less effective

don't be married to it.

People are learning how to adapt their tactics,

they're learning how to problem solve in new environments,

we're training a new generation of organizers

that will then go on to shape the future of America

and of course, the future of Palestine.

[00:12:35] Steven Grumbine: That is amazing

the way you put that.

 Go back to the 2016 DNC

and remembering the big protests of how the Democrats appeared to do Bernie wrong.

And all the folks that earnestly put their hearts on their sleeve

and put their money out there for that campaign

only to have the DNC crush it.

And what you ended up seeing was infiltrators. Of course

you saw infiltrators then,

and then during even Trump's inauguration

as we had Occupy Inauguration

you saw infiltrators come through there, breaking windows,

doing things that would make the righteousness of the protests look bad.

And now what do you see?

You see naked aggression towards students by pro-Zionists pigs

quite frankly, literally going and violently attacking students.

And the police and the media are putting their hands behind their back

kicking stones and looking around like, "what? I don't see anything"

I mean, this is beyond just the standard police state US

Brownshirt tactics.

 We've gone to a whole new level

where the Proud Boys that we were so worried about under Trump

are basically the Zionists coming and attacking these students.

What are your thoughts on that?

[00:13:54] Bryce Greene: The comparisons to traditional aesthetics of fascism are impossible to avoid.

I mean you have police standing by

while... I'm perfectly comfortable calling the Zionists fascist

both in Israel and in America they're pro-fascist.

A racial apartheid system

They support a genocide based on annihilating the improper race

and building a city on the graves of the annihilated.

I mean , that's what they believe.

And there's been multiple attacks against students by Zionist agitators

and very little response from the police about it.

 Even at our own encampment here at Indiana University

there are multiple instances in which Zionists would verbally abuse

and sometimes physically harass students on the ground,

and there'll be little response from the police.

And so once again

this is part of that education I was talking about.

People are learning about these institutions

that are ostensibly designed to serve them and protect them

and to make their lives better,

aren't actually there for them.

They're there to enforce some sort of abstract calm

defined and decided by the people in power.

That's why at Indiana University

the president decided that a tent on a field

was such a danger to the university

that they had to call in

not only a bunch of university police

but also they had to call in state police

complete with armored vehicles,

body armor,

helmets,

shields,

they had a chopper circling overhead,

they had assault rifles,

there's shotguns,

grenade launchers,

they had a drone in the sky.

And then they put a sniper on the roof overlooking everything.

Like, does this make sense to anybody?

No, but again,

it taught the students

and it reinforced this lesson that the military force

that is embodied in our police organizations

are not here to protect us,

they're here to serve the powerful.

And so, when we put up that tent

such a big threat

they sent in an army

not once, but twice

They sent an army twice.

And it was only after massive pushback from the faculty

and the staff

and the constituency of the university

did they actually stop sending in these armed goons.

But around the country it keeps happening.

And around the world it keeps happening.

So, what are we supposed to make of our so-called

'democratic institutions' of liberal democracy

when this is the response of institutions of power

when young people [students] are protesting against

one of the worst humanitarian disasters,

one of the worst crimes against humanity in the 21st century.

When students are trying to stop a genocide

you beat them with a stick.

What does that say about our democracy?

How can you square this idea

that we are on the good side of this global divide,

that we're on the good side of the new Iron Curtain.

I'm sure you're familiar with that almighty map

known as 'the world'-trademark ,

in which you have the US

Europe

and Australia

and Japan.

And you know, they'll vote to recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization,

or they'll all vote against making water a human right, or something like that.

It's that group of countries that are showing their illegitimacy on the world stage.,

How much longer can the world accept this idea

that the US

and its satellites

and its empire

make all the world's decisions

when they only represent around like 14- 15% of the world's population?

Countries like China

and Russia

and Iran

and India,

all of these countries are taking note.

And of course the third world,

they're taking note of how American marketing material is being undone,

is being usurped by American behavior.

And countries and populations

that might have once looked at America with some positive gaze;

over the last few years

between the 'global war on terror,'

the Ukraine crisis,

and now Gaza,

they're having a different view.

And countries like Russia and China

are providing a new pole in the world

that these third world countries can turn to

as they notice that America is beating their students for protesting genocide,

or trying to force countries to implement sanctions on Russia,

or trying to bolster its allies in preparation for encircling Taiwan.

The world is noticing that,

they're saying 'that's dangerous, we don't want to go that way.'

And in some small way

the student movement is contributing to that

by forcing all of these contradictions to be displayed in full effect

and by pushing the culture of America to the point

where they might be more adequately able to deal with some of the problems that are coming.

All these political problems

like, is America going to continue to be insane

and supporting Israel

and being unpopular

and dominating the world?

Or are they going to change?

One path leads to destruction and conflict and war

the other path has a chance at peace and stability.

And what we do now,

what the students are doing now;

how people are reacting to this Gaza situation,

the genocide,

this unfettered support for Israel.

How people are reacting to that

determines which path America is going to go down.

And based on what I'm seeing,

I'm more and more confident

that we're going to have the ability to actually change the world.

[00:19:19] Steven Grumbine: Hillary Clinton came out the other day

and basically did what she always does,

opens her mouth and out comes a pile of insanity.

And she basically crapped all over the students.

So did Biden.

They've each made the students out to be the bad guys.

I mean, this is our future,

this is the children that will inherit this country.

And interestingly enough

we know that you can be poor black or brown and have problems

and complain for 20-30 years,

the minute you start hitting wealthy white people,

and let's be fair

these Columbia's of the world

and UCLA's and stuff like that,

I mean, this is where people with money go

this isn't where the poor kids go.

This is where people with money go,

and all of a sudden

they're getting bashed.

Do you think that this willl bring about the kind of awakening?

I hate that it requires a class difference like that

to make any difference,

but that is traditionally what it's taken every time

is for the precious rich kids to finally feel the pain

and then it becomes a thing.

Your thoughts.

[00:20:33] Bryce Greene: This is

as any Marxist will tell you

that it requires these contradictions to cause these events

that push major changes

or ensure that major change is possible.

People are roused by when things happen.

And that is a tragic truth about the human condition

is that it takes a lot of death and destruction to spur change.

But the question for organizers

and activists

and people who are committed to radical change is

how are they going to mobilize the people in their community

when one of these events happen?

When there is a shock that awakens public consciousness,

when there is one of these moments that you can seize

to bolster your organizing capacity,

bolster your institutions,

and set the stage

and groundwork

and foundation for a better world.

And that's the real question.

A lot of people are going to be waking up

and the question is:

what can organizers do to put them to work

and to channel that energy to a cause

or a process that could eventually lead to the radical change

that we talk about all the time?

And that seems to be where a lot of previous organizing has failed, right?

I keep saying 'imagine if there was the organizing capacity we have now, before October 7th.

What could we have pulled off?'

Well, it's a hypothetical, you'll never know,

but you can only ensure that when the next thing happens

that you're organized and ready to go.

I mean, like

the genocide in Gaza has been going on for decades.

The deliberate starvation of children

the 'putting them on a diet,'

the de-development,

the bombing of the airport,

the not letting materials get in.

They've been destroying that country for a while

and after Cast Lead,

after Protective Edge,

there were flare ups of organizing.

But imagine if they had been able to solidify in a bigger way.

I mean, the only reason we're able to mount the response that we have been

is because decades ago, people had been doing work.

So we need to carry on that tradition

in order to

again, ensure that this will be a moment that is a significant turning point in history.

We can't let it go and let it pass.

And that's what this moment means, I think.

And with the students

and especially with the global moment

where you have the rise of China,

Russia,

and the BRICS bloc in general,

you're going to have to develop these political movements

and these political institutions

to ensure that America doesn't blow up the world

as its hegemony is being challenged.

To ensure that there will be some sort of soft landing from empire

and that the people who are crapping on the students;

the Hillarys,

and the Bidens,

and the Blinkens,

and all of them,

don't get to dictate the future.

[00:23:19] Steven Grumbine: You know, January 6th

has been a big part of our national discourse

now obviously since Trump yielded to Biden.

And that entire process became [I believe]

a precursor to the tactics that would be used

and the rationale that would be used

to crack down on leftist movements and leftist organizing

such as we're seeing now.

It seems like even the additional IRS agents

and the potential for stalking down political activists

as targets for audits and things like that,

as well as places like Cop City

around the country.

And the fact that these police are not Mayberry RFD

we don't have Barney Fife with a six shooter.

The folks you see going into a raid in Iraq during the Gulf War

you see them wearing the same exact gear here at home, today,

with the same weaponry

the same everything.

How do you think that the event of January 6th

and all that surrounds that

has been leveraged to impact leftist movements

as we move forward?

[00:24:34] Bryce Greene: Well, since 9-11 there's been a lot of inching,

a lot of jumping towards the dystopian surveillance totalitarian state.

When you had the warrantless wire tapping

and the global war on terror

and the Snowden leaks told us a lot more about the integration with big tech companies.

And of course you have this development of counter-terrorism,

these imperial forms of violence that are typically directed abroad

they're now directed inside at the country's own population.

During Occupy Wall Street for example

the FBI was surveilling peaceful demonstrators under their counterterrorism protocols.

And of course, when you say that someone's a terrorist or potential terrorist

that allows the security state to implement more drastic measures than they normally would,

it allows them to convince the bureaucrats to sign off on all sorts of draconian surveillance.

And so that was at Occupy Wall Street,

that was over a decade ago

[Indeed]

Since then we've seen the definition of Terrorist expand,

we've seen the capabilities of the security state expand.

When Biden came into office, right after January 6th

his administration put together a list of new categories that they would call Terrorists.

And I can't remember the precise name of this report

but it included things like-

people who were

radical climate activists,

or radical anti-capitalist,

or anti-imperialist.

These identities were provided in a memo to the FBI

and the Department of Homeland Security

to guide them in their domestic counter-terror activities

and so, if they're using the January 6th pretext

to expand the security state into ways that-

or into areas that have nothing to do with the people who did January 6th,

to expand it to leftists,

well then it pretty much shows that this moment

this protest moment

is going to be surveilled in a similar

if not harsher fashion.

And we can tell that there has been some surveillance

and that there has been some involvement of counterterrorism forces.

I mean, the very fact that they're calling people terrorists

and they're alleging links to outside actors

means that they're trying to build a case

for using some of the foreign intelligence surveillance on domestic people.

Biden just renewed FISA.

What FISA allows

is for foreign intelligence targets-

if they have contact with an American target, a domestic target-

then the rules that prevent Americans from siphoning up all that data are relaxed

because this person is now being included in a foreign intelligence data collection operation.

And imagine this diaspora of Palestinians of Arabs,

of all these people around the world.

Of course they're talking to people who are outside the country,

so it'd be very easy to turn those tools-

even with the proper bureaucratic channels- inward.

And so that, I think,

is the tip of the iceberg that activists should be worried about.

They should be protecting themselves

and then, of course

all this information is being channeled through these fusion centers

and these joint command task force centers all across the country

where the NSA and all these larger intelligence agencies,

these foreign intelligence agencies,

are collaborating with and exchanging information with the FBI

and local police departments.

And even some corporate surveillance.

And so you have this infrastructure built for massive surveillance and massive repression,

and we're seeing parts of it being activated against these students.

All in the service of supporting genocide,

of supporting the Israel lobby domestically,

of supporting the state of Israel in their advancement of imperial goals,

and it doesn't bode well for the future.

 Gaza, what's going on there is evil and destructive enough.

But the way the empire is headed

there could be a larger war soon enough

that dwarfs the conflict in Gaza.

The US is trying to provoke a war in Taiwan

the same way they provoked a war in Ukraine.

They have soldiers six miles off of the Chinese coast on Kinmen Island.

Why would they do this, if not to provoke a war?

This is what's in our future, if we're not careful enough.

[00:29:19] Steven Grumbine: I think about what you just said, in particular

because these are a chain of events.

But they're really not a chain of events

they're kind of a modus operandi,

they're kind of the MOP, the Method Of Procedure of empire.

We go in, destabilize a region

by putting military assets in places that we know threaten their sovereignty

or, quite frankly, it's a hostile move.

And then our media apparatus covers it up by

basically, being the mouth for the CIA and the rest of the deep state.

And then the people that listen to The View

and other normie stations

repeat this ad nauseum at the water cooler

and it becomes the way it is.

I'm interested in seeing...

what, have been your experiences with talking with various students

and others in this activist space?

Have you seen the lights go on?

Like, have you actually been there for that conversion moment

where they go from 'normie' to wide awake?

[00:30:19] Bryce Greene: It's more of a gradual process with some people

One of my favorite kinds of interaction

is when you see that seed being planted.

Is when a lot of students would come up to the encampment-

while school was still in session-

and ask us 'what are you guys doing?'

This is America

so you're able to turn on, tune in, and drop out.

You can set your social media filters

to the point where you never see a lick about Gaza

or the rest of the world at all,

so you have a lot of people who are completely insulated

and isolated from what's really going on.

But they're curious about why there are a bunch of kids camping in a park on campus,

and they're curious about why the campus decided to send in an army to evict them,

and they're curious about why the kids came back.

So they'll ask about

What's going on in Palestine?

What's going on in Gaza?

What's going on in Israel?

And you can explain it to them, even if they have no basis

you can say:

"oh there's a group of people who wanted the land

and they kicked off the people on the land

and for the last 80 years

the people who got kicked off, are fighting back

and that's what October 7th was."

They understand that on an intuitive level

and the people who have tuned out,

they understand...

Again, this generation trusts the traditional gatekeepers-

and the mainstream legacy press

and opinion makers-

they trust them a lot less than previous generations have.

So they're open to

when people like me-

or other other protesters-

are explaining the situation to them.

We explain how Israel is oppressing Palestine

we explain how this is only possible with American weapons

and political and diplomatic support.

 We explain all that, and they're like-

'well, that's pretty bad; that's awful'

they don't necessarily know how to process all of that information.

It can be a lot.

 Oh Yeah

I remember the first time I learned that America was evil.

It was a lot.

But you planted the seed,

and with any luck

they'll be able to go forth and research

or at least have a different perspective when they're given the traditional narratives

about American superiority

and moral clarity

and purity

and whatnot

blah, blah, blah...

We're seeing a lot of people go on that path.

In fact, some Zionists.

Some people from the pro-Israel groups on campus,

they've come by,

stumbled through in the middle of the night

looking for trouble.

But we'd deescalate, we don't want to start anything

So, we just talk to them.

We'd say 'Oh, what do you believe?'

'What do you think we believe?'

And you'd be surprised at the number of people who come away being like:

'well, I misjudged you guys'

'I didn't know that you guys weren't a bunch of terrorists'

'I didn't know that this was happening in Palestine'

'I didn't know that Palestinians couldn't go on the same roads'

'and I didn't understand how they had to do checkpoints.'

So, again

that's one of those moments that gives me hope

that even though people have been propagandized-

in the most brutal way possible

to accept some of the most brutal things possible-

the indomitability of the human spirit says that

they can be made to understand, sometimes.

And we're seeing that light go on in some people,

that's an impact we're making.

And some people who might've understood these things

but not necessarily seeing what they could do about it,

we're seeing the light go on for them.

They're saying that

"not only do I know that there is injustice

I don't have to sit back and watch it happen and cry at night.

I can go out into the street and fight,

I can go out and do something:

organize my community,

talk to my neighbors,

make the change happen."

What is the saying?

Be the change you want to see in the world

People are learning that is possible

and that they can do that.

[00:33:49] Steven Grumbine: That's amazing.

One of the things that

i think, really radicalized me in this space

and I'm older, I'm 55

and so, some of these things-

I'm a late bloomer

I wish I would have started learning the things you learned

at the age you learned them-

it took me a whole lot of Republican thinking

a whole lot of right wing living

the way I was raised,

the community I was in, etc.

So, it's been a life of breaking away from things I thought I once knew

and relearning the way things really are,

and having a dialectical perspective on things.

One of the things that jumped out though

is what Zionism is all about.

Kind of like

why they do what they do

and more importantly

what do they do?

And some of the issues of just

literally snatching a Palestinian's home and claiming it for their own, illegally.

Like, this is part of the deal

this is what we do.

The settlements

The absolute dehumanization of the Palestinian people.

But obviously it's more in your face

with bombs falling and seeing children mashed up

I think the last count

before they destroyed all the hospitals

was something like 15,000 dead children

I am sure it's significantly more than that

now that there's no one there to really count

or take care of that stuff

[00:35:08] Bryce Greene: Definitely

Absolutely

[00:35:10] Steven Grumbine: 20,000 - 25,000 dead children

I don't even know how you can stomach that. But take me prior to the bombs.

Obviously bombs have been a part of this since day one

so it's hard to do that.

Just, the business as usual mindset of Zionism

the whole dual citizenship.

You've got people that aren't even Jews

that are claiming their right to-

as Protestant Christians-

to be Zionist

and these rich kids

going from New York City and Soho, out to Israel

and suddenly, they've got their own home

something that they've taken from a Palestinian family.

Talk a little bit about that whole experience

[00:35:50] Bryce Greene: Right.

So, Israel is-

first and foremost-

a settler society.

So, all those logics that we learned about with the imperialism,

when we learned about the Spanish in the New World

or the Portuguese, or the French, or the British,

they operate under those precise logics.

The movement of Zionism can trace its roots back to the late 1800s,

around 1880,

when European Jews were politically motivated to form their own state.

This was during the rise of nationalism in general

where people were starting to ethnically identify with the geographic area.

In the 1880s to right before World War I

the movement settled on this place called Palestine,

which was talked about as a traditional homeland for Jewish people.

But the Jewish diaspora in Europe

was completely separated from the Mizrahi Jews that still lived in Palestine.

But still, they viewed this land-

it was in their stories that were passed down-

as theirs.

And they viewed themselves as God's chosen people.

Now, this wasn't all Jews, of course.

Many Jews didn't agree with this political project

of building a state and forming a military and what not.

But some did,

and they had the backing of the British

who wanted to solidify their hold in the Middle East

by having a state that they controlled, more or less,

or supported,

or were allied with.

And so, this mentality-

that they could go in and take the land-

was baked in from the beginning

regardless of who was there at the beginning.

The land of Palestine, of course, was inhabited by people.

The Zionists, in their writings

they explicitly said that

'these people would have to go'

and that they didn't really care how it happened

they just needed their homeland,

they just needed the the Holy Land to themselves.

And so, with this arrogance

the day to day interactions after the Nakba

after they expelled 750,000 Palestinians from their land in 1948

the day to day interactions have been colored by this ideology.

The state of Israel is driven by a logic of expansion.

So this means not only blatant land grabs like in 1967

but it also means slower land grabs, like settlers.

So they would expand settlements into these areas

and the settlers themselves of course

animated by this ideology

would be horrible to the Palestinians.

Shooting sprees just for fun,

all supported by the Israeli military,

they would go and burn down Palestinian olive trees,

they would go murder a child and then claim they had no idea who did it.

This was a regular thing.

And this is what colored the Palestinians' resistance for so long.

And of course

if they weren't being attacked by settlers,

if they were within this military occupation directly,

they would have to undergo checkpoints

arbitrary searches,

military violence that is uncontrollable.

It's a really brutal situation.

This logic of the state

that they're the chosen people who own this land

and can do whatever they want,

it gives the state the legitimacy

to enact these apartheid rules

to make separate roads for Palestinians,

to allow settlers to go crazy on Palestinian civilians

and of course, ultimately

to allow for the horrible wars that Israel launches on Palestine.

And especially this most recent

most brutal genocide.

And so all of that doesn't happen in a vacuum.

All of the destruction we see on our screens today

is happening because of this ideology,

because of this framework

that puts Palestinians at the bottom of the totem pole

and that puts a certain group above all others.

Recently, Israel passed a national law

that officially defines the State of Israel

as the home of the Jewish people.

Not the home of its citizens,

not a state for everyone around the world,

but for Jewish people specifically.

And that means that

while Jewish citizens of course, of Israel

are treated as first class.

While non-Jewish citizens are treated as second class.

Even Jewish non-citizens of Israel

are treated better than the non-Jewish citizens of Israel

because they've expanded the ownership of the state,

or the state's mandate,

to include everyone in the world who can claim a Jewish heritage.

Which is contrary to almost any other state in human history.

But again, this logic shows how much they're willing to exclude Palestinians.

During the debates for this law

the Palestinians in the Israeli Knesset, the parliament,

the small faction that are able to get elected there,

they tried to include the language

that would make sure that Palestinians,

that non-Jewish citizens of Israel

were included in this rule

and they were rejected.

So, this is an explicitly ethno-supremacist declaration from the state of Israel.

As if you needed it written down.

The reality on the ground said it enough,

but they're willing to write it down.

They're willing to thumb their nose at international norms.

As long as the Americans let them do it,

they can do whatever they want.

They can say things like 'the children of Gaza have brought this on themselves.'

They can say things like 'the Hague will not stop us.'

They can do all that

because with the US military and empire on their side,

no one can really stand against them.

Again, that seems to be changing.

The world is no longer tolerating US hegemony, Israeli lawlessness,

and American people are starting to tolerate it a hell of a lot less too.

[00:41:19] Steven Grumbine: Everybody has grown up hearing about the Holocaust that occurred in Nazi Germany

and the horrors of Auschwitz

and all the other concentration camps and so forth

that were set up during the Nazi regime.

And it's horrible.

I don't think anybody would stand for genocide

for the Jews even,

for anyone.

It's horrible,

abjectly horrible,

just straight up horrible.

That said, as I watch people use the term 'Never Again'

and totally skip it on the Palestinians,

and watch the crocodile tears;

the outright fake cry-babying,

the cry-bullying,

the shaming that occurs

using these tropes to pull on your heart strings.

How does a sane person deal with that kind of gaslighting?

I mean, it is obviously [on its face] horrible

to think of any Holocaust

much less 8 million Jews killed

in one way, shape or form

during the Nazi regime.

But the leverage of that constant reminder

and the actual use of that as a cudgel

against anyone that says anything about anything that they do;

this weaponization of a really horrible situation

is being used to do the very same thing today.

What are your thoughts on that kind of cry-bullying?

[00:42:44] Bryce Greene: You're going to hear some crazy things

come from people that you thought were your friends

or people you could trust.

You're going to hear the media say the most off-the-wall things

that you could possibly imagine.

And you're going to have to get used to all of it

because that's just the world we live in.

You're gonna have to listen to people

abuse the memory of the Holocaust

and use it to justify the unspeakable.

You're gonna hear people

comparing the people protesting genocide

to black shirts.

You're gonna hear people

claim that they are being threatened or under attack

when you say free Palestine.

You're gonna hear all of that

but you just have to deal with it.

The only way to stay sane is to a inoculate yourself,

but also keep yourself busy.

It's much easier to live with the horror of the world

when you know that you are doing something to try to end it.

It's not everything,

you don't know for certain what the fruits of your labor will be,

but you get to go to bed knowing that there will be some fruits of your labor.

That there is a labor that can bear fruit.

And knowing that,

and being around people who similarly understand the reality of the situation,

who are oriented to the realities of empire,

of Zionism,

of America,

of Israel,

of capitalism,

that's definitely a far better way to stay sane.

You can joke around with people

who you know their heart is in the right place.

It's much harder to joke around with people

when you know that they're completely oblivious,

and it's much harder to engage with them.

That's just something that every organizer goes through,

watching people who aren't engaged in the same struggles you are

go about their day like it's normal.

Back when I was in classes,

[before I was banned]

I was sitting there in class watching the news go by,

watching hospital get blown up,

watching a neighborhood get blown up,

just scrolling, then looking up having to answer a question in class

and just trying to code switch.

And doing that enough will make you crazy.

But it's getting down to talking to organizers

and with like minded people who are fighting the good fight.

That's the only way you're going to even come close

to keeping your head on straight.

[00:44:56] Steven Grumbine: That brings me to the final thing I really want to talk about

and I hope I didn't bury the lede by leaving this last.

But I wanted folks to hear it as the exclamation point

because people run around with that 'I just voted' sticker on their forehead

like they've done something.

Like somehow or another

playing in the Oligarch Olympics

they have done something.

And you've already expressed,

whether explicitly or indirectly,

the fact that we're literally living in a Biden funded genocide right now.

I'm not here to stump for Trump

or stump for Biden.

I'm here for the things I'm here for,

which are anti-capitalist,

which are anti-war,

which are for the working class,

the people,

ending empire,

doing this that and the other,

and lo and behold Bryce Greene gets arrested.

And we've seen videos,

we've seen thousands and thousands of cops beating people up in the streets. George Floyd,

the list of police brutality is so ridiculously long.

How do you even remember them all?

It's like if you've seen one

you've seen a thousand.

Tell us about your experience with getting arrested on campus

[00:46:08] Bryce Greene: You are right,

I was arrested on campus.

I was arrested on the second day of police violence at IU.

We started the encampment on Thursday [that's April 25th].

Well, hours before,

the school had met and changed the policy for putting structures in the field.

Prior to that, you were allowed to put up tents,

you just weren't allowed to stay the night.

But the administration got together in the middle of the night.

They had heard our announcement for a rally

that they linked to these other encampments around the country

and they said "NO, you're not allowed to do that."

After we set up the tents,

they then sent in some local IUPD, [the campus police]

who then told us to leave,

and then they sent in the state troopers as backup.

The local Bloomington police seemed to not want to get involved,

but the state troopers came in.

Again, with all that military getup that I was talking about.

And they cleared the camp, but then they left

the next day, people came back and set up the camp again,

and it was fine.

And the day after that, the state troopers came back,

and this is the day I got arrested.

I was on the field with the bull horn,

I later learned that the police scanner actually had my description

and labeled me an instigator.

You know how it goes...

'a black man with an afro and black shorts and a blue shirt,'

and so I have a recording of that audio.

But I was arrested,

and it seemed that it was very clear that they were targeting me

because I was hanging behind

trying not to be arrested.

I was helping people up and telling them like

'okay, go get some water'

like 'it's okay, they got the tent, fall back.'

But an officer locked eyes with me

and then I started backpedaling.

I was like 'this isn't good,'

but then he pointed at me,

he started chasing me, pushed through the crowd.

And then he pointed at me, he said "don't run!"

And as someone who doesn't want to die, I did not run.

And I was arrested.

So, I was arrested

and they took us in for processing along with

I think, something like 30+ other people.

 While in processing, they gave me the letter that stated

that I was banned from IU Bloomington campus for a year

from 2024 to 2025.

I asked them, I said

"Hey, you do you guys want to change this to 2024

so I'm only banned for a day?"

Well, they said "No."

But later, after I got released

after i got processed, booked, and all that stuff;

after I got released, I get the sheet back

they change it from 2025.

They cross it out [and this is in the paper]

and they make it 2029.

So I get a five year ban.

So, I'm banned from campus for five years.

I'm still technically a student,

I'm still able to enroll in classes, technically.

But I am not able to go [physically] on the campus

without risking a level six felony.

So, that's one of the ways in which the university

and our American institutions support Israel.

By punishing the people who speak out against Israel,

who speak out against America's unfettered and unconditional support for genocide,

they arrest them, then they ban them for five years.

It's very obvious that they want to discourage people,

discourage their students from engaging in any organizing,

and that's a tragedy.

Because we're fighting against some of the most horrific issues in our time,

and our university is directly connected to it

through study abroad programs,

partnerships with companies that help Israeli apartheid.

I mean, we're one of Lockheed Martin's partnership institutions.

We're complicit in this genocide,

and the administration is punishing people like me

and others who speak out against it.

[00:49:52] Steven Grumbine: I don't know if you're familiar with him

I assume you are, but I'll start that you aren't

the guy's name is Davarian Baldwin.

He's a brilliant scholar

he wrote a great book about the In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower

about univerCITIES,

and how universities are the largest landowners in communities

and they're buying up and gentrifying regions

and they're making them impossible for the local folks to afford to live

and simultaneously building up police forces and everything else

to, kind of, keep the locals out.

While simultaneously selling the benefits to all the rich kids, for the campus life

and all the while you're experiencing what you just said

that these are nonprofit institutions

that can bring in partnerships with folks like Boeing [and others]

to get R and D done, for tax free

while they're getting huge grant money from the federal government

at no cost to them.

Because I'm an MMT podcaster, I've got to be clear:

NOT taxpayer dollars.

The idea here is that

these universities are literally cleaning cash.

They are literally an entity enabling the worst of the capital order

through these militarized research and development grants

that allow students to get plugged in with their internships

with these large military contractors.

Basically, the companies that are enabling genocide

Your final thoughts

[00:51:25] Bryce Greene: Yeah, I'm glad you point out the taxpayer thing.

I mean, it's a common talking point

that our taxpayer dollars are going to support x, y, and z

but MMTers know a little bit better.

It's more complicated than that

but I mean that it's an irrelevant point

because the taxpayer dollar argument

is really just meant to convey a sense of complicity

which is very real

regardless of the mechanics used to enforce it.

And so, this university gets a lot of federal funding,

gets a lot of money and then develops its research capabilities

and develops a student body.

And then they're channeling that

and they're aiming it to the military industrial complex

to this machinery of war

and death

and destruction.

And so, it's a really perverse way of laundering public money

and public funds and resources

to some of the worst actors in the entire world,

that's really what we're fighting against.

There's been a push for universities to become less like universities

and more profit driven, numbers driven.

More like real estate companies

that own a lot of land and are evicting people,

or more like hedge funds

that have a lot of investments that they need to take care of

or just corporations in general.

Where they view students not as pupils

to be nurtured and developed and sent into the world,

but as potential labor stock

that they can increase their human capital

so they can be of more value and generate more wealth.

It's a pollution of the ideal of a university.

What's more troubling

is that it's been integrated with this whole Israel project.

One of the partnerships that Indiana University has

in addition to becoming more corporate and neoliberal

is also more imperialistic.

They're partnered with Israel On Campus Coalition

which is a lobby group

aimed at promoting Israeli points of view and policies on college campuses.

It's as blatant as that,

but the university doesn't see any problem

and apparently the public doesn't either,

with all of these institutions being connected

to this enterprise of genocide, and militarism, and war making.

So, all of these incentives are pushing the university in this direction,

and it takes some internal pressure

some contradiction

that'll push the university out of these partnerships

out of this direction

and to something that's more human centered

and something that can really change the world for the better.

It's high minded when I say things like that

but I mean, that's really what it is

this is the future of humanity

this is what we're gonna send our children

and our children's children into

and I think it's worth giving some thought

and doing some work

to ensure that they are not living in a dystopian hellscape.

One in which Gaza has been wiped off the map

in which our money has been used to do it.

I mean that's a depressing future

[00:54:11] Steven Grumbine: Bryce, you've been wonderful

I want to give you the final word

I did my best to try and give well rounded questions

to draw out the most rich stories

but your last thoughts

anything that we missed

that you would like people to come away with after hearing this

[00:54:27] Bryce Greene: Well,I know your audience knows most of the facts of the case

they know that Biden's lying

they know that there is no real concern from Biden

all these stories about the concern about the genocide

telling Israel to calm down.

It's all fake.

If he wanted Israel to slow down ,

he would stop the weapons.

Simple as that .

All of these people who are crying crocodile tears over anti-semitism,

and how some students on campus

aren't feeling safe because of the protest,

It's all lies.

It's all nonsense

You're gonna hear a lot of that.

Don't believe it for a second,

you all know what's up.

Keep fighting the good fight,

support your local encampment.

They need food,

they need guidance and support,

they need the money to feed themselves

and to do all this other stuff.

Go out and do something.

There's a local organization that you probably heard of,

go join it.

Or if you haven't heard of one

go find out what your local organizations are and join them.

Develop these institutions to ensure that when a shock happens

you're able to capitalize on it for real change.

The whole world changes because people [you've never heard of] decide one day

'hey, this is not good, this is enough and we want to change it'

if you want to support our encampment

I can send you a link to a PayPal or Venmo

[00:55:42] Steven Grumbine: Absolutely.

We have an extras part of this

and we also have show notes

curated, edited transcripts

so whatever you want to put in there, we'll make sure it gets in there

[00:55:53] Bryce Greene: Ok, absolutely

I'll send that over to you

[00:55:55] Steven Grumbine: You got it man

well listen, Bryce it has been an amazing talk

I really appreciate the time you took today

I hope I can have you back on

Last time I talked to you, it was about Ukraine on Status Coup

it's nice to have you over here on our podcast

Macro N Cheese.

I really appreciate your work

you're a voice of reason.

And I gotta tell you, you gave me hope

which I have been starving of.

Having not had any hope at all

but just hearing how you interacted with the Zionists that came into the camp

and just said 'Hey listen, maybe you can hear something different'

That really was powerful to me

so I want to thank you.

[00:56:34] Bryce Greene: It's possible

it's possible.

Most of them are insane, let me be clear

so be safe

but you know, every so often

someone is actually eager and curious.

[00:56:45] Steven Grumbine: Well, you gave me a lot of hope sir

I appreciate it

Alright folks, my name is Steve Grumbine.

I'm the host of Macro N Cheese

this is a part of Real Progressives which is a 501c3 nonprofit

all donations which is what we live by the way are tax deductible

so go ahead if you're interested

and you believe in the work that we're doing

and want to support us

by all means, we are not going to turn our nose up

we need all the donations we can get

and also please support these students

and take a look at our show notes

we'll be giving you links to be able to help those encampments

and without further ado, we bid you adieu

from Macro N Cheese, Bryce, myself

We Are Outta Here!

---

EPISODE EXTRAS

GUEST BIO

Bryce Greene

a writer, student and organizer based in Indiana. His work focuses on media and geopolitical analysis. He has appeared in Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, as well as many other venues. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Informatics.

Twitter (X)- @TheGreeneBJ

Encampment Fund:

Food & Supplies: Venmo- @spoonsforolives

Bail Fund:  PayPal-  https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/helpourselves

From This Episode

“... and by studying Palestine you can learn a lot about the system we are in- at large. And so, dismantling these myths that you have of empire is really the most important thing that someone can do in their life. You learn about all the evil being done in your name; how they lied us into war after war. They lied about Vietnam, they lied about the Gulf War, and the terrorist wars in Central America, they lied about Iraq , Afghanistan, lied about Syria,  Libya ... but throughout all of this they're lying about one war that's been going on for almost 80 years and that's the war of the Zionist groups and the Zionist state, Israel against the people of Palestine.“

ORGANIZATIONS

TikTok (11:32)

From a fairly inconspicuous app mainly used for lip-syncing during its days as Musical.ly, TikTok has grown exponentially in terms of popularity and user count. Now some of the most viral videos and trends that you find on other platforms can be traced back to TikTok. That’s just how popular the app is today.

What Is TikTok? – Everything You Need to Know in 2024 (influencermarketinghub.com)

“... Worries also persist in Washington that Beijing could influence the views of Americans by dictating what videos are boosted on the platform. That concern has only become heightened seven months before a presidential election...”

TikTok sues U.S. ban in court, says it violates the first amendment : NPR

2016 DNC (12:47)

{Democratic National Convention of 2016}

PHILADELPHIA—As President Barack Obama took the stage at the Democratic National Convention inside the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday night, a chaotic situation erupted nearby that led to seven arrests.

As Obama speaks, chaos and arrests outside DNC (usatoday.com)

“... Inside the arena of the Democratic National Convention last night, the party pulled out all the stops to unite delegates behind Hillary Clinton. Outside of the arena, NPR's Jeff Brady reports, there were plenty of pro-Bernie Sanders protesters and police.”

A Look Inside The Protests Around The Democratic Convention : NPR

DNC (13:05)

{Democratic National Committee}

“The DNC is dedicated to building on our wins from 2020 and 2022. We’re working hard to elect Democrats up and down the ballot by empowering grassroots activists, mobilizing voters, and organizing in every ZIP code.”

We are the Democratic Party - Democrats

Indiana University (14:39)

“Founded in 1820 as the State Seminary, Indiana University offered its first classes in 1825 on a section of land located southwest of the current IU Bloomington campus. It was here that the school expanded to Indiana College in 1828 and Indiana University in 1838. IU eventually moved to its current campus in the 1880s when a catastrophic fire burned down one of the main buildings on the old campus.”

Seminary Square: Historical Timelines: IU History: Indiana University Bicentennial: Indiana University

Columbia (20:04)

A major private institution of higher education in New York, New York, U.S. It is one of the eight Ivy League schools, widely regarded for their high academic standards, selectivity in admissions, and social prestige.

Founded in 1754 as King’s College, it was renamed Columbia College when it reopened in 1784 after the American Revolution. It became Columbia University in 1912.

Columbia University | History & Enrollment | Britannica

UCLA (20:06)

The campus opened in September 1919, offering courses in two undergraduate programs: the College of Letters and Science and a two-year teacher-training program in the Teachers College. About 1,350 students enrolled in 1919 at the twenty-five acre campus. 

100 Years in creating UCLA (arcgis.com)

BRICS (23:03)

An informal grouping of countries that has developed into an intergovernmental organization. The term originally denoted a collection of countries experiencing rapid economic growth that would, if growth were maintained at similar rates, emerge as the dominant economic players of the 21st century. The acronym has since been adopted as the name of a formal intergovernmental organization that aims to create greater economic and geopolitical integration and coordination among member states. 

The BRICS organization is commonly understood as an attempt to form a geopolitical bloc capable of counterbalancing the influence of Western-dominated global institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

BRICS | Members, History, Name Origin, & Proposed Currency | Britannica

IRS (23:58)

“The IRS mission is to provide America's taxpayers top quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and to enforce the law with integrity and fairness to all.” Statutory Authority: We're organized to carry out the responsibilities of the Treasury secretary per Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 7801. The IRS was created based on the secretary's authority to administer and enforce the internal revenue laws.”

About IRS | Internal Revenue Service

Mayberry, RFD (24:14)

{TV series, 1968-1971} A spin-off of the wildly popular comedy series “The Andy Griffith Show”. Set in the fictitious town of Mayberry; perhaps loosely based on the hometown of Andy Griffith (Mt. Airy, North Carolina).

Mayberry R.F.D. (TV Series 1968–1971) - IMDb

Department of Homeland Security (26:15)

The Department of Homeland Security has a vital mission: to secure the nation from the many threats we face. This requires the hard work of more than 260,000 employees in jobs that range from aviation and border security to emergency response, from cybersecurity analyst to chemical facility inspector. Our duties are wide-ranging, and our goal is clear - keeping America safe.

About DHS | Homeland Security

NSA (27:55)

The National Security Agency/Central Security Service (NSA/CSS) leads the U.S. Government in cryptology that encompasses both signals intelligence (SIGINT) insights and cybersecurity products and services and enables computer network operations to gain a decisive advantage for the nation and our allies. Throughout the site, NSA/CSS will be referred to collectively as NSA.

National Security Agency | About NSA Mission

CIA (29:58)

The CIA is a U.S. government agency that provides objective intelligence on foreign countries and global issues to the president, the National Security Council, and other policymakers to help them make national security decisions.

About CIA - CIA

The View (30:03)

Daytime American television show.

“A priority destination for our guests and must-see viewing for our loyal fans with up-to-the-minute Hot Topics and invaluable conversations with live broadcasts five days a week featuring Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, Alyssa Farah Griffin and Ana Navarro.”

About The View TV Show Series (abc.com)

The Hague (41:07)

Seat of government of the Netherlands,situated on a coastal plain, with the city centre just inland from the North Sea. The Hague is the administrative capital of the country and the home of the court and government, though Amsterdam is the official capital.

The city’s name recalls the hunting lodge of the counts of Holland, which was located in a woodland area called Haghe, or “hedge” (whence ’s-Gravenhage, “the counts’ private enclosure”). Count William II built a castle there in 1248, around which several buildings came to be clustered, and these became the principal residence of the counts of Holland... The European Patent Office is located in The Hague, and several large oil companies also have their international headquarters in the city. The Hague is also a leading centre for international conferences... To the north the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the United Nations’ International Court of Justice are housed in the Peace Palace, an imposing building that was completed in 1913 with an endowment from the American industrialist Andrew Carnegie.

The Hague | History, Art Museums, Convention, Court, Map, & Facts | Britannica

IUPD (46:56)

{Indiana University Police Department} “Indiana law gives accredited universities such as IU the authority to appoint police officers (IC 21-39-4). Our officers are fully certified and meet the same standards as all other law enforcement officers in the state of Indiana. Student cadets also assist with public safety.”

About: Protect IU: Indiana University

Bloomington PD (47:04)

The City of Bloomington (Indiana) Police Department is a full-service police agency, providing police protection to a city of approximately 85,000 residents and a land area of approximately 20 square miles. The Police Department employs 153 full-time persons: 105 sworn officers and 50 civilian employees. As part of the department, the Central Emergency Dispatch Center (CEDC), gathers and maintains law enforcement records and provides general operations and maintenance support.

Police Department | City of Bloomington, Indiana

Lockheed Martin (49:50)

A major American diversified company with core business concentrations in aerospace products—including aircraft, space launchers, satellites, and defense systems—and other advanced-technology systems and services. About half of the company’s annual sales are to the U.S. Department of Defense. 

Lockheed Martin Corporation | Aerospace & Defense Giant | Britannica Money

Over half a decade, Lockheed Martin managed to grow its earnings per share at 7.5% a year. 

Lockheed Martin's (NYSE:LMT) investors will be pleased with their notable 58% return over the last five years (yahoo.com)

Boeing (50:48)

Major U.S. firm that is the world’s largest aerospace company and foremost maker of commercial jet transports. It was founded by William E. Boeing (1881–1956) in 1916 (as Aero Products Company). In the late 1920s it became part of United Aircraft and Transport Corp., but it reemerged as an independent entity in 1934 when that company was broken up to comply with antitrust legislation. Boeing pioneered the development of single-wing planes in the 1930s; its B-17 Flying Fortress (first flown 1935) and B-29 Superfortress (1942) played prominent roles in World War II. After the war the company developed the B-52 jet bomber, long a mainstay of U.S. strategic forces. It produced the first U.S. jetliner, the Boeing 707 (in service 1958), and went on to develop a highly successful series of commercial jet transports. By the start of the 21st century these formed seven families—the narrow-body 737 and 757; wide-body 747, 767, and 777; 717 (formerly McDonnell Douglas MD-95); and MD-11. In the 1960s Boeing built the Lunar Orbiters, Lunar Roving Vehicles, and the first stage of the Saturn V rockets (see Saturn) for the U.S. Apollo program. Beginning in 1993, it served as NASA’s prime contractor for the International Space Station. In 1996 it purchased the aerospace and defense units of Rockwell International Corp., and a year later it bought McDonnell Douglas Corp. It acquired the satellite business of Hughes Electronics in 2000.  

Boeing Co. summary | Britannica

In the first week of 2024, a Boeing 737 Max 9 passenger jet lost a rear door plug in midflight, terrifying people on board. The large door plug plummeted into the backyard of a high school science teacher in Portland, Ore. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of similarly configured Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft for weeks. "This incident should have never happened and it cannot happen again," the FAA said at the time. The news hasn't gotten much better for Boeing, whose reputation was already tarnished by deadly crashes of its 737 Max 8 jets in 2018 and 2019, and a host of problems with its 787 Dreamliner a decade ago.

Timeline lists Boeing's problems in 2024 : NPR

Campus Coalition (53:15)

“Our mission is to inspire American college students to see Israel as a source of pride and empower them to stand up for Israel on campus.”

About Us - Israel on Campus Coalition (israelcc.org)

Status Coup News (56:14)

Independent News outlet, founded and led by Jordan Chariton. “We do something different than most outlets, we go ON-THE-GROUND to find out what is really happening in the world and GIVE THE MICROPHONE TO REAL PEOPLE. By doing this we not only showcase the reality that corporate media ignores, but we also uncover stories that would never have been found out without this specific line of work.

Status Coup News - Home

CONCEPTS

Israeli Apartheid (5:38)

Amnesty International’s new investigation shows that Israel imposes a system of oppression and domination against Palestinians across all areas under its control: in Israel and the OPT, and against Palestinian refugees, in order to benefit Jewish Israelis. This amounts to apartheid as prohibited in international law.

Laws, policies and practices which are intended to maintain a cruel system of control over Palestinians, have left them fragmented geographically and politically, frequently impoverished, and in a constant state of fear and insecurity.

Israel's apartheid against Palestinians - Amnesty International

1967 War (5:43)

Brief war that took place June 5–10, 1967, and was the third of the Arab-Israeli wars. Israel’s decisive victory included the capture of the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, Old City of Jerusalem, and Golan Heights; the status of these territories subsequently became a major point of contention in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Six-Day War | Definition, Causes, History, Summary, Outcomes, & Facts | Britannica

Six Days War (5:44)

{See 1967 War above}

Gaza (5:51)

Gaza Strip, territory occupying 140 square miles (363 square km) along the Mediterranean Sea just northeast of the Sinai Peninsula. The Gaza Strip is unusual in being a densely settled area not recognized as a de jure part of any extant country. The first accurate census, conducted in September 1967, showed a population smaller than had previously been estimated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) or by Egypt, with nearly half of the people living in refugee camps. Pop. (2017) 1,899,291; (2023 est.) 2,226,544.

…

On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a coordinated land, sea, and air assault that took Israel by surprise. At least 1,200 Israelis were killed in the attacks—the deadliest day for Israel since its independence—and about 240 were taken hostage. Israel’s response led to hundreds of deaths in the Gaza Strip on that same day. On the following day, Israel declared war for the first time since the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

Gaza Strip | Definition, History, Facts, & Map | Britannica

Lebanon (5:52)

Country located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of a narrow strip of territory and is one of the world’s smaller sovereign states. The capital is Beirut.

Lebanon | People, Economy, Religion, & History | Britannica

1982 Invasion of Lebanon (5:58)

On Sunday 6 June 1982 Israel’s tanks crossed the border into Lebanon while its navy landed forces close to Sidon. It was the start of a conflict, code named, Operation Peace for Galilee, designed in the words of Ariel Sharon to, “eradicate the PLO,” and lasting until the end of 1984. However it wasn’t until January of the following year that the Israeli cabinet finally agreed to pull the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) out of Lebanon.

The 1982 Israeli Invasion of Lebanon – Back Story | World History

Sabra & Shatila Massacree (6:13)

“It was one of the most harrowing massacres committed in the Lebanese civil war, a conflict known for its brutality. Shatila, a Palestinian refugee camp, and the adjacent neighbourhood of Sabra are located southwest of Lebanon’s capital city Beirut. The refugees were victims of the 1948 Nakba, or “catastrophe” in Arabic, fleeing the violent ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Zionist militias as Israel was formed. But between September 16 and 18, 1982, the refugees, now living in Shatila and Sabra, along with Lebanese civilians, were attacked by a right-wing Lebanese militia, in coordination with the Israeli army. Between 2,000 and 3,500 people were killed.”

Sabra and Shatila massacre: What happened in Lebanon in 1982? | Explainer News | Al Jazeera

Intifada (6:20)

Either of two popular uprisings of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip aimed at ending Israel’s occupation of those territories and creating an independent Palestinian state. The first intifada began in December 1987 and ended in September 1993 with the signing of the first Oslo Accords, which provided a framework for peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The second intifada, sometimes called the Al-Aqsa intifada, began in September 2000. 

Intifada | History, Meaning, Cause, & Significance | Britannica

2006 Lebanon War (6:31)

War between Israel and Hezbollah that began on July 12, 2006, and ended on August 14. Its proximate cause was a cross-border attack by Hezbollah fighters that culminated with the kidnapping of a pair of Israeli soldiers and the killing of eight others.

2006 Lebanon War | Summary, Casualties, & Israel | Britannica

Operation Iron Swords (6:58)

The IDF extensively uses drones and small aerial vehicles as part of its operational doctrine in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, and the northern border, saving the lives of dozens, if not more, soldiers.

Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza is the first drone war in history - The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)

Triumphalist (7:22)

: an attitude or feeling of victory or superiority: such as

  a: the attitude that one religious creed is superior to all others

  b: smug or boastful pride in the success or dominance of one's nation or ideology over others

 {triumphalist noun or adjective}

Triumphalist Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Collateral Damage (7:49)

: injury inflicted on something other than an intended target

specifically : civilian casualties of a military operation

Collateral damage Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Legacy Press (7:58)

Legacy media refers to traditional forms of media that have been largely superseded by newer digital technologies. This includes print media (newspapers, magazines), broadcast media (television, radio), and to some extent, film.

Unveiling the Legacy Media Enigma: Definition, Significance, and Future (zonaside.com)

October 7th (8:19)

conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants, especially Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), that began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a land, sea, and air assault on Israel from the Gaza Strip. The October 7 attack resulted in more than 1,200 deaths, primarily Israeli citizens, making it the deadliest day for Israel since its independence.

Israel-Hamas War | Explanation, Summary, Casualties, & Map | Britannica

Propaganda (8:44)

: the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person

Propaganda Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Bipartisan (10:45)

: of, relating to, or involving members of two parties

a bipartisan commission

specifically : marked by or involving cooperation, agreement, and compromise between two major political parties

Bipartisan Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Jingoistic (10:51)

Jingoism: extreme chauvinism or nationalism marked especially by a belligerent foreign policy

Adjective- Jingoistic

Jingoistic Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Genocide (11:13)

: the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group

Genocide Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Fascist (11:23)

{FASCISM}: a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition {Fascist- noun or adjective}

Fascist Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Goon Squads (11:47)

NOUN a group of hired thugs used to perform ruthless or violent acts

(coined between 1935-40)

GOON SQUAD definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary (collinsdictionary.com)

Echelons (11:57)

(1): an arrangement of a body of troops with its units each somewhat to the left or right of the one in the rear like a series of steps

(2): a formation of units or individuals resembling such an echelon

Echelon Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Brown Shirt Tactics (13:50)

{Brown Shirts origin & purpose} “…Dictators, autocrats, and strongmen thrive on chaos in the beginning of their rise to power. At first they come to that power legally, within domestic law. Once in power the autocrat takes the law and uses it and bends it, eventually shaping it to his will. This is not an easy process and history shows that this phase of totalitarianism can be marked with strife, chaos, and even bloodshed in the streets. Though the law is a bulwark against tyranny it can also advance it. Germany went through this tension early in the 1930s as Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist German Workers Party came to power. A mix of nationalism and racism, the party had been lurking in the shadows since the early 1920s. The Nazis, as they were known, had both, a political as well as a military purpose. Adolf Hitler was the head of the party overall, but he let Ernst Roehm loose with his brown shirted thugs called the Sturmabteilung (Assault Division) to sow division, chaos, and feed on the anger of a society in distress due to reparations from losing World War I and the beginning of the Great Depression.”

Vigilantes, Brown Shirts, and the Attack on the Rule of Law - JURIST - Commentary - Legal News & Commentary

Zionist (14:33)

Zionism : an international movement originally for the establishment of a Jewish national or religious community in Palestine and later for the support of modern Israel 

Zionist: noun or adjective

Zionist Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Agitators (14:44)

: one who stirs up public feeling on controversial issues

Agitators Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Liberal Democracy (16:25)

a form of democracy in which the power of government is limited, and the freedom and rights of individuals are protected, by constitutionally established norms and institutions.

Liberal democracy | Definition, Principles, Origins, Francis Fukuyama, & Facts | Britannica

Iron Curtain (16:55)

Political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union after World War II to seal off itself and its dependent eastern and central European allies from open contact with the West and other noncommunist areas. The term Iron Curtain had been in occasional and varied use as a metaphor since the 19th century, but it came to prominence only after it was used by former British prime minister Winston Churchill in a speech at Fulton, Missouri, U.S., on March 5, 1946, when he said of the communist states, “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.”

Iron Curtain | Definition & Facts | Britannica

Ukraine (18:08)

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 signalled the start of a grave international security crisis and a hasty deterioration of the relationship between Moscow and the West. The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, has harked back to Cold War-era rhetoric by accusing Ukraine’s western backers of waging a proxy war by sending military assistance to Kyiv back in April. But the question of whether the war in Ukraine is a proxy one is not only a Russian government propaganda claim: it’s but also a subject of genuine academic debate.”

Is the war in Ukraine a proxy conflict? | Feature from King's College London (kcl.ac.uk)

Third World (18:13)

former political designation originally used (1952) to describe those states not part of the first world—the capitalist, economically developed states led by the U.S.—or the second world—the communist states led by the Soviet Union. 

Third World | Definition & Facts | Britannica Money

Sanctions (18:21)

Economic statecraft takes many different forms, including both positive and negative sanctions. Negative sanctions are actual or threatened punishments, whereas positive sanctions are actual or promised rewards. Examples of negative sanctions include the following: refusing to export (embargoes), refusing to import (boycotts), covert refusals to trade (blacklists), purchases intended to keep goods out of the hands of target countries (preclusive buying), deprivation of ownership (expropriation), punitive taxation, aid suspensions, and asset freezes. Examples of positive sanctions include preferential tariffs, subsidies, foreign aid, investment guarantees, and preferential taxation of foreign investment.

Economic statecraft | Sanctions, Trade & Diplomacy | Britannica

Taiwan (18:28)

First inhabited by Austronesian people, Taiwan became home to Han immigrants beginning in the late Ming Dynasty (17th century). In 1895, military defeat forced China's Qing Dynasty to cede Taiwan to Japan, which then governed Taiwan for 50 years. Taiwan came under Chinese Nationalist (Kuomintang, KMT) control after World War II. With the communist victory in the Chinese civil war in 1949, the Nationalist-controlled Republic of China government and 2 million Nationalists fled to Taiwan and continued to claim to be the legitimate government for mainland China and Taiwan, based on a 1947 constitution drawn up for all of China. 

cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/taiwan/#introduction

Marxist (20:43)

Marxism : the political, economic, and social principles and policies advocated by Marx

especially : a theory and practice of socialism (see SOCIALISM sense 3) including the labor theory of value, dialectical materialism, the class struggle, and dictatorship of the proletariat until the establishment of a classless society Marxist-noun or adjective

Marxist Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Gaza Atrocities (pre-October 7th) (22:15)

Since 2007, Israel has kept Gaza under an illegal military siege, counting calories allowed in and permitting the water in Gaza to become undrinkable, creating a humanitarian crises widely condemned by the international community. In November 2022, the most right-wing government in Israeli history came to power, led by Benjamin Netanyahu and including far-right extremist politicians in its coalition. Ethnic cleansing of Palestinians has always been Israeli policy. Over the past year, under the leadership of the most right-wing government in Israeli history, the Israeli military and settlers have led an escalated campaign of displacement, dispossession, and violent repression against Palestinians across Israel and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Countdown to genocide: the year before October 7 - JVP (jewishvoiceforpeace.org)

Hegemony (23:13)

: preponderant influence or authority over others : DOMINATION

Hegemony Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

January 6th (23:28)

Storming of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, by a mob of supporters of Republican President Donald Trump. The attack disrupted a joint session of Congress convened to certify the results of the U.S. presidential election of 2020, which Trump had lost to his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden. Because its object was to prevent a legitimate president-elect from assuming office, the attack was widely regarded as an insurrection or attempted coup d’état.

How Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2001 | Britannica

Barney Fife (24:15)

Fictional character, inept sidekick to Mayberry sheriff Andy Griffith. Ingrained in the American psyche as the beloved character, perhaps the best known role for legendary comedic actor, Don Knotts.

Barney Fife | Mayberry Wiki | Fandom

Iraq (24:21)

Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990 ended in Iraq’s defeat by a U.S.-led coalition in the Persian Gulf War (1990–91). However, the Iraqi branch of the Baʿath Party, headed by Saddam Hussein, managed to retain power by harshly suppressing uprisings of the country’s minority Kurds and its majority Shiʿi Arabs. To stem the exodus of Kurds from Iraq, the allies established a “safe haven” in northern Iraq’s predominantly Kurdish regions, and allied warplanes patrolled “no-fly” zones in northern and southern Iraq that were off-limits to Iraqi aircraft. Moreover, to restrain future Iraqi aggression, the United Nations (UN) implemented economic sanctions against Iraq in order to, among other things, hinder the progress of its most lethal arms programs, including those for the development of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.

Iraq War | Summary, Causes, Dates, Combatants, Casualties, & Facts | Britannica

9/11 (24:45)

September 11 attacks, series of airline hijackings and suicide attacks committed in 2001 by 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda against targets in the United States, the deadliest terrorist attacks on American soil in U.S. history. The attacks against New York City and Washington, D.C., caused extensive death and destruction and triggered an enormous U.S. effort to combat terrorism. Some 2,750 people were killed in New York, 184 at the Pentagon, and 40 in Pennsylvania (where one of the hijacked planes crashed into the ground after the passengers attempted to retake the plane); all 19 terrorists died (see Researcher’s Note: September 11 attacks). Police and fire departments in New York were especially hard-hit: hundreds rushed to the scene of the attacks, and more than 400 police officers and firefighters were killed.

September 11 attacks | History, Summary, Location, Timeline, Casualties, & Facts | Britannica

Dystopian (24:49)

: of, relating to, or being an imagined world or society in which people lead dehumanized, fearful lives : relating to or characteristic of a dystopia

Dystopian Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Totalitarian (24:52)

1  a: of or relating to centralized control by an autocratic leader or hierarchy : AUTHORITARIAN, DICTATORIAL especially : DESPOTIC

    b: of or relating to a political regime based on subordination of the individual to the state and strict control of all aspects of the life and productive capacity of the nation especially by coercive measures (such as censorship and terrorism)

2 a: advocating or characteristic of totalitarianism

   b: completely regulated by the state especially as an aid to national mobilization in an emergency

   c: exercising autocratic powers Totalitarian- noun

Totalitarian Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Warrantless Wire Tapping (24:55)

(April 20, 2024) WASHINGTON — President Biden on Saturday signed legislation reauthorizing a key U.S. surveillance law after divisions over whether the FBI should be restricted from using the program to search for Americans' data nearly forced the statute to lapse.

Barely missing its midnight deadline, the Senate had approved the bill by a 60-34 vote hours earlier with bipartisan support, extending for two years the program known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Biden thanked congressional leaders for their work.

Biden signs reauthorization of surveillance program into law despite privacy concerns : NPR

Global War On Terror (24:57)

Term used to describe the American-led global counterterrorism campaign launched in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In its scope, expenditure, and impact on international relations, the war on terrorism was comparable to the Cold War; it was intended to represent a new phase in global political relations and has had important consequences for security, human rights, international law, cooperation, and governance.

War on terrorism | Summary & Facts | Britannica

Occupy Wall Street (25:16)

In the summer of 2011, the Canadian magazine Adbusters put out a call for 20,000 demonstrators to descend on Wall Street. The participants were asked to bring tents & “ stay for a few months”. A few hundred protestors marched the first day of what would become Occupy Wall Street, later pitching those tents in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City 's Financial District. The occupation lasted for fifty-nine days—from September 17 to November 15, 2011. 

Occupy Wall Street Changed Everything (nymag.com)

Draconian (25:37)

1 law : of, relating to, or characteristic of Draco or the severe code of laws held to have been framed by him  2: CRUEL also : SEVERE

Draconian Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Security State (25:49)

“As the 20th century draws to a close, both the US and Soviet Union appear to have become obsessed with national security, each unable because of its internal structure to establish durable, peaceful relations with the other. The search for security by the superpowers has not been notably successful for either side. jBy any measure the United States today is far less secure than in 1945, despite the expenditure of roughly three trillion dollars for the military establishment. The Soviet Union is also 15 minutes from annihilation and neither its leaders nor its people give much evidence of feeling secure.”

Barnet, Richard J. “The Ideology of the National Security State.” The Massachusetts Review, vol. 26, no. 4, 1985, pp. 483–500. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25089685. Accessed 23 May 2024.

The Ideology of the National Security State on JSTOR

Unnamed Biden Report (26:02)

On his first full day in office, President Biden directed his national security team to lead a 100-day comprehensive review of U.S. Government efforts to address domestic terrorism, which has evolved into the most urgent terrorism threat the United States faces today. As a result of that review, the Biden Administration is releasing the first-ever National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism to address this challenge to America’s national security and improve the federal government’s response.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/06/15/fact-sheet-national-strategy-for-countering-domestic-terrorism/

FISA (27:03)

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) regulates certain types of foreign intelligence collection including certain collection that occurs with compelled assistance from U.S. telecommunications companies. Given the techniques that NSA must employ when conducting NSA's foreign intelligence mission, NSA quite properly relies on FISA authorizations to acquire significant foreign intelligence information and will work with the FBI and other agencies to connect the dots between foreign-based actors and their activities in the U.S.

National Security Agency/Central Security Service > Signals Intelligence > FISA (nsa.gov)

Diaspora (27:28)

1 capitalized, Judaism

a: the Jews living outside Israel, members of the Diaspora 

b: the settling of scattered communities of Jews outside ancient Palestine after the Babylonian exile 

c: the area outside ancient Palestine settled by Jews

2a: people settled far from their ancestral homelands

  b: the place where these people live

  c: the movement, migration, or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland

Diaspora Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Kinmen Island (29:20)

As tensions rise with China, Taiwan’s defense minister has hinted that U.S. troops have been training the Taiwanese military on outlying islands that would be on the front lines of a conflict with its neighbor.  The defense minister, Chiu Kuo-cheng, didn’t offer details of the U.S. deployment, but the outlying islands include Kinmen, which sits 3 miles east of the Chinese coastal city of Xiamen and more than 100 miles from Taiwan’s main island.

Taiwan Acknowledges Presence of U.S. Troops on Outlying Islands - WSJ

Modus Operandi (29:37)

: a method of procedure especially : a distinct pattern or method of operation that indicates or suggests the work of a single criminal in more than one crime

Modus operandi Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Sovereignty (29:40)

1a: supreme power especially over a body politic

b: freedom from external control : AUTONOMY

c: controlling influence 

2: one that is sovereign especially : an autonomous state

Sovereignty Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Gatekeepers (31:42)

2: a person who controls access

Gatekeeper Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Dialectical (34:29)

5) usually dialectics plural in form but singular or plural in construction philosophy

a: any systematic reasoning, exposition or argument that juxtaposes opposed or contradictory ideas and usually seeks to resolve their conflict : a method of examining and discussing opposing ideas in order to find the truth

Dialectic Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Settler Society (36:02)

Jun 10 Written By Shreya Shah “According to the Oxford Dictionary colonialism is “the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.” Settler colonialism more specifically is a term for when the colonizer comes to stay and as such the distinction between the colony and the imperial nation is lost. Settler colonialism as a structure requires genocide. It is enacted through practices like the creation of reserves, residential schools, enfranchisement and abduction into state custody as well as practices like the extraction of natural resources through mining, pipelines and more. In settler colonialism “colonizers impose their own cultural values, religions, and laws, make policies that do not favour the Indigenous Peoples. They seize land and control the access to resources and trade.” Settler colonialism involves the total appropriation of Indigenous life and land rather than the selective appropriation for profit (as is the case in other forms of colonialism). It is also distinct from other forms of colonialism because the colonizer comes with the intention of making a new home on the land and as such insists on “settler sovereignty over all things in their new domain.” In settler colonialism the most important thing is land (water, earth, and air), because it is the source of capital and the new home of the settlers. It is also key to settler colonialism because “the disruption of Indigenous relationships to land represents a profound epistemic, ontological, cosmological violence.” This violence continues with every day of occupation as settler colonialism is a structure and not an event.”

What is Settler Colonialism? — The Indigenous Foundation

WWI (36:37)

World War I, an international conflict that in 1914–18 embroiled most of the nations of Europe along with Russia, the United States, the Middle East, and other regions. The war pitted the Central Powers—mainly Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey—against the Allies—mainly France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan, and, from 1917, the United States. It ended with the defeat of the Central Powers.

World War I | History, Summary, Causes, Combatants, Casualties, Map, & Facts | Britannica

Mizrahi Jews (36:48)

(Hebrew: “Spiritual Centre”), religious movement within the World Zionist Organization and formerly a political party within Zionism and in Israel. It was founded in 1902 by Rabbi Yitzḥaq Yaʿaqov Reines of Lida, Russia, to promote Jewish religious education within the framework of Zionist nationalism; its traditional slogan was “The Land of Israel, for the people of Israel, according to the Torah of Israel.”

Mizraḥi | Sephardic, Middle Eastern & North African | Britannica

Holy Land (37:43)

Palestine, area of the eastern Mediterranean region, comprising parts of modern Israel and the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip (along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea) and the West Bank (west of the Jordan River). The term Palestine has been associated variously and sometimes controversially with this small region, which some have asserted also includes Jordan. Both the geographic area designated by the name and the political status of it have changed over the course of some three millennia. The region (or at least a part of it) is also known as the Holy Land and is held sacred among Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Since the 20th century it has been the object of conflicting claims of Jewish and Arab national movements, and the conflict has led to prolonged violence and, in several instances, open warfare.

Palestine | History, People, Conflict, & Religion | Britannica

“From the Euphrates to the Nile”, it is claimed, is the expanse of territory to which a “Greater Israel” aspires. Yasir Arafat has frequently reiterated this charge and many of his followers have taken up the cry, citing the Bible, Israel’s supposed political atlas, as their source. The Bible, it is claimed, identifies the area “from the Euphrates to the Nile” as the Promised land of the Jews, as the Holy Land.

Wolffsohn, M. (2021). What Is the Holy Land?—Biblical Borders?. In: Whose Holy Land?. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74286-7_6

What Is the Holy Land?—Biblical Borders? | SpringerLink

Nakba (37:50)

Every year on May 15, Palestinians mark a sombre occasion: the Nakba (“catastrophe” in Arabic) that befell Palestinians in the lead-up to and during 1948, when they were expelled from their historic and ancestral land by Zionist militias.

The Nakba: Five Palestinian towns massacred 75 years ago | Israel-Palestine conflict News | Al Jazeera

Knesset (40:30)

Unicameral parliament of Israel and supreme authority of that state. On February 16, 1949, the Constituent Assembly—elected in January of that year to prepare the country’s constitution—ratified the Transition Law and reconstituted itself as the First Knesset.

Knesset | Meaning, Parliament, & Israel | Britannica

Ethnosupremacist (40:46)

ethno- {combining form} : race : people : cultural group

supremacist (noun) : an advocate or adherent of the supremacy of one group : a person who believes that one group of people as identified by their shared race, ethnicity, sex, gender, or religion is inherently superior to other groups and should have control over those other groups

Supremacist Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Holocaust (41:31)

the systematic state-sponsored killing of six million Jewish men, women, and children and millions of others by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II. The Germans called this “the final solution to the Jewish question.”

Holocaust | Definition, Concentration Camps, History, & Facts | Britannica

Nazi Germany (41:39)

Nazi Party, political party of the mass movement known as National Socialism. Under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, the party came to power in Germany in 1933 and governed by totalitarian methods until 1945. Anti-Semitism was fundamental to the party’s ideology and led to the Holocaust, the systematic, state-sponsored killing of six million Jews and millions of others.

Nazi Party | Definition, Meaning, History, & Facts | Britannica

Auschwitz (41:47)

KL Auschwitz was the largest of the German Nazi concentration camps and extermination centers. Over 1.1 million men, women and children lost their lives here.

Auschwitz-Birkenau

{Nazi extermination camps, et al}

Extermination camps were used by the Nazis from 1941 to 1945 to murder Jews and, on a smaller scale, Roma . To implement the ‘ Final Solution ’, the Nazis established six purpose built extermination camps on Polish soil. These were:

• Chełmno (in operation December 1941-January 1945)

• Bełżec (in operation March-December 1942)

• Sobibór (in operation May-July 1942 and October 1942-October 1943

• Treblinka (in operation July 1942-August 1943)

• Majdanek (in operation September 1942-July 1944)

• Auschwitz-Birkenau (in operation March 1942-January 1945)

Extermination camps – The Holocaust Explained: Designed for schools

Tropes (42:12)

1. a: a word or expression used in a figurative sense : FIGURE OF SPEECH

             b: a common or overused theme or device : CLICHÉ

           plural -tropes

Trope Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Gaslighting (42:18)

: psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one's emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator

Gaslighting Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Cudgel (42:36)

: a short heavy club

Cudgel Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Oligarch (45:22)

1: a member or supporter of an oligarchy

2 (in Russia and other countries that succeeded the Soviet Union) : one of a class of individuals who through private acquisition of state assets amassed great wealth that is stored especially in foreign accounts and properties and who typically maintain close links to the highest government circles

Oligarch Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Working Class (45:48)

"Working class" is a socioeconomic term used to describe persons in a social class marked by jobs that provide low pay, require limited skill, or physical labor. Typically, working-class jobs have reduced education requirements. Unemployed persons or those supported by a social welfare program are often included in the working class.

Working Class Explained: Definition, Compensation, Job Examples (investopedia.com)

Instigator (47:42)

Instigate-transitive verb

: to goad or urge forward : PROVOKE

INSTIGATOR noun

Instigator Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Felony (49:10)

Felony vs. Misdemeanor: Each state defines crimes as either misdemeanors or felonies, according to the seriousness of the crime as defined by statute. The primary differences between the two are:

• Prison or jail time: Felonies carry a potential prison sentence, whereas misdemeanors often involve incarceration in a local jail.

  • Length of incarceration: Generally, misdemeanor sentences are no longer than one year in jail. Felony sentences, however, are longer and some may even result in the death penalty if the state allows.

  • Post-conviction consequences:A person with a felony conviction may suffer long-term consequences due to the felony charges appearing on their criminal record. These include losing the right to vote, possess firearms, and to hold certain jobs or positions. Many employers refuse to hire convicted felons. By contrast, those with a misdemeanor conviction generally find the long-term consequences not to be as severe.

Felony - Definition, Examples, Degrees, Classes, and Types (legaldictionary.net)

Gentrifying (50:21)

: a process in which a poor area (as of a city) experiences an influx of middle-class or wealthy people who renovate and rebuild homes and businesses and which often results in an increase in property values and the displacement of earlier, usually poorer residents

Gentrification Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

R & D (50:50)

Research and development (R&D) is the series of activities that companies undertake to innovate. R&D is often the first stage in the development process that results in market research product development, and product testing.

What Is Research and Development (R&D)? (investopedia.com)

MMT (50:58)

MMT began as a description of Federal Reserve Bank monetary operations and accounting, which are best thought of as debits and credits to accounts as kept by banks, businesses, and individuals. In 1992 Warren Mosler independently originated what has been popularized as MMT. In 1996 he introduced it to the academic community through an internet discussion group, and while subsequent research has revealed writings of authors who had similar thoughts on some of MMT’s monetary understandings and insights, including Abba Lerner, George Knapp, Mitchell Innes, Adam Smith, and former NY Fed chief Beardsley Ruml, MMT is unique in its analysis of monetary economies, and therefore best considered as its own school of thought.

http://moslereconomics.com/mandatory-readings/a-general-analytical-framework-for-the-analysis-of-currencies-and-other-commodities/

MMT White Paper 7/26/2021 - Google Docs

Hedge Funds (52:38)

A hedge fund is a pool of money that is invested in stocks and other assets. Hedge funds are generally more aggressive, riskier, and more exclusive than mutual funds. Their managers have freer rein to invest in a wide variety of assets and to use bolder strategies in pursuit of higher profits, and are rewarded with much higher fees than mutual funds charge.

What Is a Hedge Fund? (investopedia.com)

Labor Stock (52:51)

{see next entry, Human Capital}

Human Capital (52:54)

The term human capital refers to the economic value of a worker's experience and skills. Human capital includes assets like education, training, intelligence, skills, health, and other things employers value such as loyalty and punctuality.

Human Capital Definition: Types, Examples, and Relationship to the Economy (investopedia.com)

Neoliberal (53:12)

: a liberal who de-emphasizes traditional liberal doctrines in order to seek progress by more pragmatic methods

Neoliberal Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Crocodile Tears (54:55)

: false or affected tears

also : hypocritical sorrow

Crocodile tears Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

PEOPLE MENTIONED

Ronald Reagan (6:03)

Ronald Reagan-1911-2004, 40th POTUS 

Ronald Reagan | Biography, Facts, & Accomplishments | Britannica 

Begin (6:05)

Menachem Begin (16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of Israel.

Menachem Begin - Wikipedia

Joe Biden (11:04)

(born November 20, 1942) American politician who is the 46th and current president of the United States since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 47th vice president from 2009 to 2017 under President Barack Obama and represented Delaware in the United States Senate from 1973 to 2009.

Joe Biden - Wikipedia 

Trump (11:06)

(born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.

Donald Trump - Wikipedia 

Netanyahu (11:58)

Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu[a] (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician, serving as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office in 1996–1999 and 2009–2021.

Benjamin Netanyahu - Wikipedia

Hillary Clinton (19:28)

(born October 26, 1947) American politician and diplomat who served as the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a U.S. senator representing New York from 2001 to 2009, and as the first lady of the U.S. to president Bill Clinton from 1993 to 2001. 

Hillary Clinton - Wikipedia

Blinken (23:23)

Antony John Blinken (born April 16, 1962) is an American lawyer and diplomat currently serving as the 71st United States secretary of state.

Antony Blinken - Wikipedia

Snowden (24:57)

Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983)  American and naturalized Russian citizen who as a former U.S. computer contractor leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013 when he was an employee and subcontractor. He is currently under indictment for espionage.[4] His disclosures revealed numerous global surveillance programs, many run by the NSA and the Five Eyes intelligence alliance with the cooperation of telecommunication companies and European governments and prompted a cultural discussion about national security and individual privacy.

Edward Snowden - Wikipedia

George Floyd (46:01)

George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was a black American man who was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd may have used a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill, on May 25, 2020.[3] Derek Chauvin, one of four police officers who arrived on the scene, knelt on Floyd's neck and back for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, causing his death from a lack of oxygen.[4] After his murder, protests against police brutality, especially towards black people, quickly spread across the United States and globally. His dying words, "I can't breathe", became a rallying slogan.

George Floyd - Wikipedia

Davarian Baldwin (50:07)

Leading urbanist, historian, and cultural critic. His work largely examines the landscape of global cities through the lens of the African Diasporic experience. Baldwin’s related interests include universities and urban development, the racial foundations of academic thought, intellectual and mass culture, Black radical thought and transnational social movements, the politics of heritage tourism, and 20th and 21st Century art, architecture, and urban design.

Baldwin is the author of In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities are Plundering Our Cities 

Faculty Profile: Davarian Baldwin (trincoll.edu)

More From This Episode

“... the only way to stay sane is to inoculate yourself, but also keep yourself busy. 

It's much easier to live with the horror of the world when you know that you are doing  something to try to end it. It's not everything, you don't know for certain what the fruits of your labor will be; but you get to go to bed knowing that there will be some fruits of your labor -that there IS a labor  that can bear fruit.”

PUBLICATIONS

{ https://bookshop.org/shop/realprogressives }

In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities Are Plundering Our Cities a book by Davarian L. Baldwin (bookshop.org)