This episode is the second part of a two part series. In part two we focus on the work of the Allamin Foundation, and of Hamsatu Allamin the organization’s founder. The Allamin Foundation works on the ground in Northeastern Nigeria with survivors of Boko Haram.
Episode one is focused on the origins of Boko Haram, its framing in the media, and some of the problems that have arisen in the national and international responses to the organization.
This episode is the first of a two-part series. In part one we learn who and what Boko Haram is, the different ways they have been framed in the media, and about some of the problems that have become evident in the national and international responses to this organization.
Our guest for part one is Mercy Ette, a Nigerian journalist and a visiting research fellow at the University of Leeds where she is working to establish a survivor group to tackle stigmatization and isolation among survivors of Boko Haram. Allamin Foundation, which is featured in the second part of this two-part series, is one the local partners on this project. Mercy’s partner on this project at the University of Leeds is Nicolas Salazar Sutil, our guest from episode 78.
For this bonus episode I’m going to be doing something I’ve rarely done on this show, I’m not going to interview anyone. This is me speaking with no notes or preparation, just off the cuff and from the heart about some issues that have weighed heavily on me for a long time, issues that I think a lot of people in my line of work are afraid to talk about, especially in the US. It deals with why we rarely see Western media and Western nonprofits representing the perspectives of Palestinian youth with any depth or nuance.
I first recorded the following remarks as a video on my phone. If you want to watch the video version you can find the link to the original Facebook post here.
Less than a week after the January 6th attack on the US Capital building attorneys Diala Shamas and Tarek Ismail co-authored a piece for the Washington Post titled, "Calling the Capital riot 'terrorism' will only hurt communities of color."
Our conversation explores some of the less publicized consequences of anti-terrorism legislation and law enforcement priorities going back decades, to the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.
Diala Shamas is an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York and Tarek Ismail is an associate professor at the CUNY School of Law.
For all of the movies, books, and policy debates on the topic, and given that the largest, most expensive, and longest hot war in US history is being waged in its name, why isn’t there a coherent and consistent definition for Terrorism? Get ready to rethink everything you think you know about this word and its application.
Our guest is visual anthropologist Amanda Rogers PhD, a specialist in analyzing the propaganda of Islamic State.
Host’s closing remarks at 1:16:14
Recommended by our guest
David Shanks is the Chief Censor for New Zealand. As his title implies he is responsible for determining what is and what is not fit for public consumption, what ratings should be applied to various media, as well as other less obvious details that highlight the elusive line between protected speech and speech that constitutes a danger to public safety. We first reached out to David’s office after the BBC highlighted a series of videos from the government of New Zealand encouraging parents to discuss online porn consumption and cyber bullying with their kids. One of the defining moments of David’s tenure as censor came when a terrorist live streamed the mass murder of 51 people during Friday prayers at a mosque and an Islamic center in Christchurch on March 15, 2019.
INTERVIEW STARTS: 5:41
CLOSING THOUGHTS: 1:03:38
