Kalam

"How can you be gay and support Palestine?" is a question that bugs Swedish club icon Fredrik "Apollo" Asplund. For him, it's obvious - the 1969 Stonewall Riots (protesting New York police harassing the city's queer communities) and the Palestinian Intifada are about the same struggle for freedom and dignity.

In the 80's and 90's gay people were killed in the millions by AIDS. Today, the people of Gaza are subjected to genoc!de. For Apollo - the solidarity is clear.

Listen to Edgar speak to his old friend Apollo - born in Kiruna but who made his way to New York, Paris, Mexico, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

Read Apollo’s essay in Parabol Press about his solidarity with Palestine here: https://www.parabol.press/varfor-jag-som-gay-stodjer-gaza/

If you enjoy Kalam Podcast and want to suppor the show, there is an excellent way to do so - by joining Klub Kalam on patreon. For just $3 a month you'll gain access to full length interviews with all our guests and lots of bonus material - including our series Kalam Shorts: 10-15 explainers of concepts like Zionism and Orientalism. Join at patreon.com/kalampodcast

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We proudly present Dr. Hanan Ashrawi – one of the foremost Palestinian activist and politicians of the last half century. On this episode she speaks to Edgar about the First Intifada, of which she was a guiding spirit and a crucial player. And the Oslo Peace Process – which was the fruit of much of her labour, while resulting in catastrophe.

So what does this Palestinian political veteran think about our current moment? Find out on this Kalam Podcast EXCLUSIVE - Hanan Ashrawi is not giving interviews currently, but made an exception for us.

If you’d like to support the work we’re doing at Kalam Podcast you can do so, by joining Klub Kalam on patreon.com/kalampodcast - for just $3/month you’ll gain access to full length interviews with all our guests as well as awesome bonus content.

For continuous updates follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast

What is the Kuffiyeh, known by many simply as the “Palestine scarf”? How did this humble piece of clothing come to take on the political overtones it does today – and what more exactly does it signify?

In this episode, Sam speaks to Edgar about the origins, both historical and etymological, of this iconic scarf.

The sound above is a teaser, to listen to the full episode sign up to Klub Kalam at patreon.com/kalampodcast.

For continuous updates, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast

Diana Buttu speaks to Edgar in the city of Haifa in historic Palestine, today's Israel. The impending war with Lebanon and the genocide in Gaza is strongly felt in this mixed city of Israelis and Palestinians.

Diana speaks about what it is like to be a Palestinian citizen of Israel in this moment - living in a "sick society".

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Since its inauguration in 1869 the Suez Canal has played an immensely important part in the history, politics and economics of the Middle East and the World.

In this episode Sam and Edgar discuss its role in both the occupation of Egypt by the British and its liberation from imperialist domination, as well as the latest developments since October 7th, with the Houthis of Yemen establishing a de facto blockade of the canal.

This is a free episode in the Kalam Shorts series, where we introduce important concepts and phenomena. For all future Kalam Shorts please join Klub Kalam at patreon.com/kalampodcast. For just $3/month you'll gain access to lots of bonus content and full-length interviews with all our guests.


Pictured: The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower transits the Suez Canal en route to the Mediterranean Sea.

The renowned Israeli-British historian Avi Shlaim speaks to Edgar about the Jews of Iraq and the Arab-Jews in general - an identity that was largely destroyed in the wake of the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.

Avi Shlaim, Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford, speaks to Edgar about the Jews of Iraq, who numbered 130,000 in 1948, and what led to every single one of them leaving. It is a candid conversation in which Avi Shlaim answers difficult questions about his own past. He was born in Baghdad in 1945 to a prosperous, upper-middle class family. At the age of five they left Iraq and arrived in Israel as impoverished second class citizens.

If you want to learn more about the Iraqi Jews and their tragic plight, please check out Avi Shlaim's brilliant book Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew.

The video recorded version of this interview is available at the Kalam Podcast Youtube channel.

If you enjoy Kalam Podcast and would like to support the show you can do so, by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/kalampodcast. For just $3/month you'll gain access to lots of bonus content and full-length interviews with all our guests.

Please like and subscribe to this channel - it helps other people find out about us. For continuous updates on Kalam Podcast follow us on Instagram, @kalampodcast

We are delighted to announce the first instalment of our series, Munadama. For the full length episode, sign up at patreon.com/kalampodcast

In Arabic, the meaning of Munadama is akin to a hearty discussion session with accompanied drinks. In these episodes, the team behind Kalam Podcast, Edgar Mannheimer (host), Sam Carlshamre (research & production) and Arthur Mannheimer (sound design) sit down for a drink and a talk.

In this first episode, we introduce ourselves and reflect on the first few episodes of Kalam. In the future, we hope to invite other guests to sit with us.

As always, follow us on Instagram for continuous updates @kalampodcast

Germany has descended into madness as its security apparatus violently attacks peaceful Palestinian protesters, accusing them of anti-Semitism. This happening in parallell to the far right and not-so-subtly anti-Semitic political party AfD is surging in the polls.

In this episode, Edgar speaks with Palestinian activist from Germany, Salah Said about the conditions for pro-Palestinian activism in the country, and about the twisted anti-anti-Semitism bureaucracy.

For continuous updates on the show, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast

We recently launched our Youtube page - check that out here!

If you want to support independent journalism about Palestine and the Middle East, you can do so! By joining Klub Kalam on Patreon. For just $3/month you'll gain access to full length interviews and bonus material.

On this video recorded episode of Kalam, Edgar sits with the Gazan poet and very much a friend of the podcast, Mosab Abu Toha, for a discussion about, among other things, the history of Arabic poetry.

Why are poets so venerated in the Arab world, and what did poetry sound like before Islam?

As always, follow us on Instagram for continuous updates @kalampodcast

If you want to support independent journalism about Palestine and the Middle East, you can do so! By joining Klub Kalam on Patreon. Sign up for just $3/month and gain access to full length interviews with all our guests and loads of bonus content.

Why aren't we seeing massive pro-Palest!ne demonstrations in Egypt, when we know an overwhelming majority of its people support the liberation of Palest!ne?

Dr. Aida Seif El-Dawla, a retired psychiatrist and human rights defender conveys the sense of defeat and tragedy many progressives in Egypt feel. The revolution of 2011 came so close to achieving the change Egypt so desperately needs - and it also came very close to changing Egypt's policy toward its neighbour Israel. But in the end it failed.

Today's episode can be sen as a lament of the Egyptian revolution, specifically as it pertains to the issue of Palest!ne.

For continuous updates and posts about Middle Eastern history, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast. If you want to support us, you can do so by joining the Kalam Community at patreon.com/kalampodcast

In this Kalam Podcast special, Edgar speaks with the journalist and author Bernt Hermele, who recently opened an exhibition on the Nakba at Medelhavsmuseet in Stockholm, Sweden.

Bernt Hermele is Jewish, and his mother was killed in a terrorist attack in Israel during the Second Intifada in 2002. This tragic moment changed Bernt's life. He left the world of business reporting and began documenting eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust. He then did the same with survivor's of the Nakba.

For continuous updates and posts about Middle Eastern history, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast. If you want to support us, you can do so by joining the Kalam Community at patreon.com/kalampodcast

Why are Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims so often portrayed as violent and stupid savages in American film, and how can we change that?

Munir Atalla is the head of production and acquisition at Watermelon Pictures, the newly founded film production and distribution company rooted in Palestinian culture and creativity.

An old friend of Edgar's, Munir speaks about the limits of representation in cinema and the need to produce films that empower and mobilise the Palestinian community.

For continuous updates and posts about Middle Eastern history, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast. If you want to support us, you can do so by joining the Kalam Community at patreon.com/kalampodcast

Zionism, the political movement to create a Jewish state in Palestine, has had an immense impact on the modern history of the Middle East. But what were its theoretical foundations, and in what political context did it take shape?

In this new episode of Kalam Shorts, Sam and Edgar discuss the roots of Zionism, starting from Theodor Herzl’s (1860-1904) The Jewish State (Der Judenstaat) from 1896 — the book which launched Zionism as a political movement. This episode will be the first of several exploring the different forms of Zionism which have appeared over the last 130 years.

To gain access to the full episode, join the Kalam Community at patreon.com/kalampodcast for just $3 a month.

For continuous updates on the podcast and historic perspectives on the Middle East, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast

What is Settler Colonialism, and can it be applied to Israel? In this instalment of Kalam Shorts, Sam and Edgar explore this terminology and talk about the French Jewish scholar, Maxime Rodinson, and his seminal 1967 work, "Israel: A Settler Colonial State?"

To gain access to the full episode, join the Kalam Community at patreon.com/kalampodcast for just $3 a month.

For continuous updates on the podcast and historic perspectives on the Middle East, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast

The death and destruction, wrought by Israel's bloody war in Gaza has been highly publicised and discussed, rightly so. But what about the day to day lives of those who survive?

How do women manage menstrual cycles when fleeing bombardment and living in refugee camps with tens of thousands of strangers?

In today's episode, Edgar speaks with 23 year old Donia Ashour, a translator from Gaza who had recently graduated with a degree in English Literature when the war began on October 7.

Back in October, Edgar interviewed Donia for Swedish Radio when she was still living in a refugee camp in Khan Younis. Today, she and her family managed to escape to Cairo.

For continuous updates and posts about Middle Eastern history, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast. If you want to support us, you can do so by joining the Kalam Community at patreon.com/kalampodcast

The Eurovision finals were held in Malmö on May 11 2024, and because of Israel's participation huge demonstrations were organised. Tens of thousands are estimated to have marched in Malmö on the days preceding the finals.

An alternative song contest was also organised, Falastinvision: "The genocide free song contest". Edgar travelled to Malmö and attended Falastinvision, where the Palestinian pop artist Bashar Murad performed.

This is a KALAM 5ASA instalment, a feature episode of the Kalam podcast. The regularly scheduled episodes released on Thursdays will not be affected.

For continuous updates and posts about Middle Eastern history, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast. If you want to support us, you can do so by joining the Kalam Community at patreon.com/kalampodcast

A democratic Egypt is impossible without a liberated Palestine and vice versa. This is the argument put forth by the Egyptian writer, researcher and DJ, Nihal El Aasar. Nihal is a member of the London branch of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), where she lives.

In today's episode, Nihal speaks to Edgar about why the West has a vested interest in keeping Egypt's government authoritarian and anti-Democratic, as well as the ecumenical nature of the term Arab - before the creation of the state of Israel.

For continuous updates on Kalam, as well as biographical introductions to historical figures in the Middle East, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast

If you'd like to support Kalam you can do so by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/kalampodcast for just 3 USD a month. There, you'll gain access to full length interviews with all our guests and our new series, Kalam Shorts - 10 to 15 minute explainers of important terminology like Orientalism, Zionism and Settler Colonialism.

Are Edgar and Sam, the two white men behind Kalam, actually orientalists? Listen to find out!

In this first instalment of Kalam Shorts, Middle Eastern scholar Samuel Carlshamre discusses Edward Said's seminal book Orientalism. What is it about, and what do his critics say?

Kalam Shorts are 10-15 minute explainers of terminology important to understand when studying and learning about the Middle East. This first episode is free but coming Kalam Shorts will only be available for our Patreon supporters (subscribe via patreon.com/kalampodcast). Upcoming shorts will look at topics like Settler Colonialism, the Kuffieh and Zionism.

Included in the shorts is a literature guide for further study!

Follow us on Instagram at @kalampodcast

Across the United States and increasingly in Western Europe, students are establishing encampments on university campuses. Encampments in solidarity with Palestine. Students want to protest against the ongoing war on Gaza and to demand that their institutions divest from Israel.

In today's episode Iraqi writer, poet and literary scholar, Sinan Antoon, speaks to Edgar about this movement and its implications for the broader movement to liberate Palestine. Sinan is an Associate Professor at NYU in New York City and was arrested by the NYPD for peacefully protesting.

For continuous updates on the podcast and on all things Palestine and Middle East, follow us on instagram @kalampodcast

If you want to support independent, in-depth journalism on Palestine and the Middle East, you can do so by joining our Patreon community, at patreon.com/kalampodcast

The Palestinian-Egyptian journalist Youmna El Sayed was for many people the media face of the war on Gaza.

Soon she found herself in the surreal position of reporting on the same calamities she was facing herself. She and her husband and children have been displaced several times and at times did not have enough food or water. She has since chosen to evacuate Gaza for the sake of her kids. At the moment, she’s travelling the Western world, advocating for the Palestinian cause. 

Follow us on social media @kalampodcast for updates about the show and information on Palestine and the Middle East.

Support independent journalism about the Middle East and Palestine by joining our Patreon community. For just 3 USD a month you will gain access to full length interviews and bonus content.

What if all the Palestinians would disappear? Not in a figurative sense, or even through ethnic cleansing or genocide. What if they simply vanished out of thin air? What would that do to israeli society? This is the premise of the Palestinian author Ibtisam Azem’s Book of Disappearance, first published in Arabic in 2014. 

It’s a truly fascinating read, and Ibtisam Azem, who grew up as a Palestinian citizen of Israel, masterfully portrays the hard truths and complexities of Israeli society.

This episode can be seen as a sequel to Episode 1 with Suad Amiry, as her novel talks about the very real disappearance of Palestinians during the 1948 Nakba.

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To support independent journalism about Palestine and the Middle East more broadly, join our Patreon community at patreon.com/kalampodcast.

It's been six months since the October 7 attack. Since then, over 33,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israel's bombing campaign and ground invasion of Gaza, nearly 14,000 of whom are children.

The renowned Gazan poet Mosab Abu Toha joins Edgar today for a discussion about what it means to grow up in what Masha Gessen likens to a Nazi concentration camp.

We would like to dedicate this episode to all the murdered poets of Gaza.

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If you want to support independent journalism on the Middle East and Palestine, please consider joining our Patreon community.

The Second Intifada (~2000-2008) came out of the failure of the Oslo Accords, the failure of the PLO to create a Palestinian state, the crippling of the Palestinian economy through Israeli restrictions and Israel’s increasingly aggressive and violent settler expansion and colonial oppression.

In contrast to the First Intifada, the Second Intifada was marked by a series of bloody terrorist bombings against Israeli civilians. The renowned Palestinian historian Rashid Khalidi laments this dark development in his book “The 100 Years’ War on Palestine”, describing how different Palestinian armed factions from Hamas to Fatah expressed their rivalry through a kind of competition in suicide bombings. Part of it was desperation, part of it was blind revenge against the Israeli population for the Israeli Occupation Forces’ heavy handed response to Palestinian protests - where thousands of Palestinians throwing rocks were gunned down down by Israeli soldiers.

It was always the case however, and still is, that far more Palestinians were killed than Israelis. During this uprising, Khalidi estimates that 4,916 Palestinians and 1,100 Israelis were killed.

Episode 5 of the Kalam podcast explores this difficult period, with the General Director of the Palestinian prisoner support organisation, Addameeer, Sahar Francis.

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In Late 1987 Palestine erupted. The Israeli occupation was closing in on 20 years and getting comfortable. But seemingly out of nowhere, a mass movement of protests, strikes and boycotts shook Israel and the world. For the first time, the West gained sympathy for Palestine, as images of heavily armed Israeli soldiers brutalising Palestinian women and children were broadcast on TV screens around the world.

Today, Associate Professor Islah Jad joins Edgar for a conversation about the First Intifada. Islah has written the book, Palestinian Women’s Activism: Nationalism, Secularism, Islamism and was an active participant in the First Intifada.

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For full length episodes, poetry and reading lists and bonus episodes, please consider donating to us at Patreon.

In June of 1967 Israel launched an attack against its immediate neighbours, the combined Arab armies of Egypt, Syria and Jordan. In a flash it managed to dismantle Egypt's entire air force, and defeated the Arab forces in just six days. This led to the occupation of Egypt's Sinai peninsula, Syria's Golan Heights and the occupation of all Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza. This is where the occupation of Palestine begins.

The seminal historian Dr Khaled Fahmy, Edward Keller Professor of North Africa and the Middle East at Tufts University, joins Edgar in a discussion about the war, focusing on the popular culture at the time. How is it that the Israeli and Arab public believed the Arab forces were superior while the military elite on both sides knew the opposite was true?

Towering figures like Umm Kulthum and Abdel Halim Hafez played their part in egging on the war. Equally, they played a huge part in trying to understand the defeat.

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For full length episodes, poetry and reading lists and bonus episodes, please consider donating to us at Patreon.

In 1948 an estimated 750,000 Palestinians were displaced as Zionist militias paved the way for the establishment of the state of Israel. Many historians refer to this ethnic cleansing. For Palestinians, it is known as the Nakba, Arabic for catastrophe.

In this episode, the renowned Palestinian author and architect, Suad Amiry, speaks to host Edgar Mannheimer about what the Nakba means to the Palestinians. Her 2022 novel, Mother of Strangers, follows several characters in Jaffa between 1947-1951.

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For full length interviews, poetry and reading lists and bonus episodes, please consider joining our Patreon club.

In the previous episode of the Kalam Podcast, Suad Amiry walked us through the horrors of the 1948 Nakba. In this episode we try to answer the question of who those early Zionists who carried out the Nakba were, and they were motivated by. And what exactly Israelis celebrate when they commemorate the Nakba as their Independence Day.

The Israeli journalist and political dissident Gideon Levy joins Edgar to try to explain these phenomena.

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For full length interviews, poetry and reading lists and bonus episodes, please consider joining our Patreon club.